Cody Allen, the career leader in saves and relief appearances for the Cleveland Indians, has retired, the team posted Wednesday.

"From a 23rd round draft pick to the franchise saves [king]," the Indians posted on Twitter. "Congrats on a great career, Cody. Happy Retirement."

Allen, who signed a minor league deal with the Texas Rangers prior to the 2020 season, did not pitch during the pandemic-shortened season.

He is Cleveland's career leader in saves (149), and in appearances (456) and strikeouts (564) by a reliever. The 32-year-old right-hander had at least 30 saves in three straight seasons with the Indians from 2015 to '17.

MINNEAPOLIS -- - Minnesota Twins bench coach Mike Bell has taken an indefinite leave from the team because of kidney cancer.

The 46-year-old Bell had surgery to remove the growth on Jan. 28, shortly after being diagnosed. He's been recovering at home with his family in Arizona.

"He's also very, very optimistic and also very encouraged and waiting for his return to the dugout," manager Rocco Baldelli said Wednesday. "The situation, it's obviously serious, but Mike has handled this with great courage."

Bell was hired prior to the 2020 season to replace Derek Shelton, who departed to become manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Bell is the younger brother of current Cincinnati Reds manager David Bell and the son of longtime major league player and manager Buddy Bell.

Baldelli said he won't make any immediate changes to the coaching staff. The Twins have their first official workout for pitchers and catchers on Friday at spring training in Fort Myers, Florida, with the first full-squad workout following four days later.

Pitchers and catchers have reported to spring training for all 30 teams, and the countdown to Opening Day is on. Between now and April 1, the league and players will contort themselves to avoid the alternating speed bumps and potholes the coronavirus places on all paths forward. Forty-three days of spring training is all that stands between Major League Baseball and its regular season.

Just like it did last year during the regular season, just as other sports are doing right now, baseball will weather its share of COVID-19 diagnoses and move forward. If spring training games are lost, then they're lost. If teams fall behind, that's why there's a six-week preseason. This is not to say baseball is right to do what it's doing, and it's not to say that it's wrong. It's sports' Mandalorian existence: This is the way.

With the offseason officially over, and five days before the majority of teams' first full-squad workouts, it's the perfect time to answer 20 questions on the 3½ months that have elapsed since the Los Angeles Dodgers won the World Series. If you happened to stop paying attention to baseball after October, this is the place for you. And if you kept up with all of the madness and want to better understand what it means and where the sport is going over the remainder of 2021, you've found the right spot, too.

The double world para athletics sprint champion and aspiring coach’s 2021 goals do not resolve exclusively around her own performances on the track – and that is just how she likes it

While racing at the postponed Tokyo Paralympic Games is understandably a big target for Maria Lyle this year, it is not just her own performances on the track that the para athletics star will be focused on in 2021.

The 21-year-old, who won double sprint gold at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai, is studying sports coaching at Edinburgh Napier University and has also been guiding the next generation in athletics.

It’s a combination Lyle relishes as she believes that having more variety in her life has really helped her mindset.

“Coming off the back of 2018 I had been diagnosed with anxiety so a big part of me was trying to deal with that and what I discovered was I needed a bit more of a balance in my life,” explains the Scottish sprinter, who has cerebral palsy and competes in the T35 classification

“I pushed myself to meet with other people my age as that was something I was really anxious about, because before I would think that people would judge me because of my disability, and I also started to enjoy running again.

“Previously, I think because of my anxiety, it came into my running which was the only thing I focused on and it made it negative.”

“It is weird being on the other side of the track, not being the athlete, and it’s really rewarding”

In these coronavirus-affected times, Lyle’s training and coaching has also provided reason to get out and about, with her studies having been remote because of the pandemic.

The role of coach is one she finds incredibly rewarding and she says it has helped her to develop a new appreciation for her own coach, former 400m international Jamie Bowie, who she says has also supported her with her anxiety.

“It definitely makes you realise what your coach does for you and how Jamie plans and adapts my sessions so I can join in with my able-bodied training partners and feel included,” Lyle says.

“It does make you realise that time and effort he puts in to make sure I am included because that is important, that we try and have that inclusion so people can feel a part of the sport and not isolated.”

On juggling her own coaching responsibilities with training, competing and studies, she adds: “I quite like keeping busy, I’m not somebody that likes sitting down. I help out with a new race running club we have in East Lothian and it has been really nice.

“It is weird being on the other side of the track, not being the athlete, and it’s really rewarding. The kids are a bit more affected than me with their CP (cerebral palsy) and other disabilities, so it is nice to see those breakthroughs and how sport affects them positively.

“We have had one boy whose physio said that he can start to see muscle definition in his legs, which is great, and they can now balance on one leg for a couple of seconds.

“I can also now appreciate from my coach’s point of view how you have to work a bit harder and figure out new ways of trying to coach things. It is figuring out how I can improve someone’s technique while keeping their disability in mind.”

It was great to see Poppy compete in her first race. She has come along way from when she first started training at @TeamEastLothian and is a joy to coach ??? https://t.co/B8rpOBG9tP

— Maria Lyle ∞ (@Lyle_Maria) December 9, 2020

Having made her own senior British team debut at the age of 14, Lyle appreciates the opportunity she has to pass her knowledge and experience on to the next generation and she now knows that enjoyment is key. It was that realisation, she says, which helped her to achieve such success at the world championships in 2019.

“The main achievement for me was actually enjoying the process of being there and not getting too anxious or worked up about it, and obviously it was quite nice to win the double gold!” says the T35 100m and 200m champion.

Recognising body changes has also been important, she adds.

“I had all this success at the age of 14, breaking world records, doing this and that, and obviously new people come along and my world records were completely obliterated,” Lyle explains.

“I’ve not really run around my old world record times in a couple of years. One reason being, I think people don’t realise that as you are growing, along with puberty and stuff, it does affect your CP a lot more, so I am definitely a bit more affected with my CP now than I was at 15 and it is kind of learning how I work with this new body of mine. I don’t have the same movement as I had when I was younger.

“For me, the best way to deal with it is kind of not really counting that [past times]. This is me now, and thinking about my times in a different way.

“Now I’m like, running is not everything. Obviously, it is a big part of me, but just because I don’t run a certain time it doesn’t make me a bad person or any less of an athlete.”

Therefore, come Tokyo, while adding to a Paralympic medal collection which currently features a silver and two bronze from Rio might be an aim, the main goal is to enjoy the journey.

“I know when it is a Paralympic year it is very common for new athletes to come on to the scene,” she says. “So, for me, it is really just kind of enjoying what I do, not taking it too seriously but obviously working hard and doing what I need to do to hopefully get selected and then go and have a good performance at Tokyo.”

Athletics Integrity Unit unearth extraordinary conspiracy by key Rusaf figures to mislead anti-doping officers in order to save high jumper Danil Lysenko from suspension

Five leading Russian athletics officials have been banned after a 15-month investigation by the Athletics Integrity Unit discovered a conspiracy that involved inventing a car crash and making up medical records from a fake clinic to help world indoor champion high jumper Danil Lysenko avoid a doping ban.

Dmitry Shlyakhtin, a former president of the Russian Athletics Federation (Rusaf), was among five officials banned for between four and six years, whereas Lysenko faces a ban of up to eight years.

Not only did Lysenko lie about a car accident which he claimed caused him to miss a test, but Russian athletics officials faked his medical records – using bogus information about doctors and hospitals and an address on the site of a demolished building – in order to try to avoid the athlete getting a two-year suspension.

The AIU’s work involved 22 witnesses, 7000 documents and numerous deleted text and voice messages after Lysenko had three whereabouts failures in the spring of 2018.

“These are offences of the utmost seriousness committed by persons right at the top of Rusaf, a World Athletics federation,” the disciplinary panel said in a statement.

“It appears that most, if not all, of the senior management of Rusaf was involved in this major fraud. This is quite shocking. In the panel’s view, a sanction of four years can be described as grossly inadequate on the facts of this case.”

Shlyakhtin was found guilty of tampering, complicity, failure to report an anti-doping rule violation and failure to co-operate with an investigation.

In addition to Shlyakhtin, the other Russian officials banned are former Rusaf board member Artur Karamyan, former Rusaf executive director Alexander Parkin, senior administrator Elena Orlova and anti-doping co-ordinator Elena Ikonnikova.

The case against Lysenko and his coach Evgeniy Zagorulko are still ongoing. Lysenko won silver at the World Championships in London in 2017 and gold at the World Indoors in 2018, in addition to being a former Youth Olympics winner.

Brett Clothier from the AIU said: “This case demonstrates the investigative capability of the AIU. The AIU has strong investigative powers, skilled investigators and prosecutors, and the resources required to uncover wrongdoing in the face of conspiracies and lies, in any part of the world and at the highest levels of the sport.”

Andy Murray has withdrawn from this week's ATP Challenger Tour event in Italy.

Last week, in his first tournament since October, the former world number one was beaten in the final of a second-tier event in Biella, Italy by Illya Marchenko.

Murray had to miss the Australian Open after testing positive for coronavirus.

The three-time Grand Slam winner played five matches in six days in his run to the final in Italy. The ATP 250 event in France runs from 21-28 February.

Murray is currently ranked 125th in the world as he continues his comeback from the hip surgery that saved his career.

Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior had to apologise to Zinedine Zidane last summer after being caught using his phone during a team warmup, sources have told ESPN.

The incident -- first reported by the newspaper Diario AS on Tuesday -- came before Madrid's Champions League round-of-16 2nd leg away at Manchester City last August.

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Vinicius was left out of the starting lineup for arguably Madrid's biggest game of the season in Manchester as they tried to overturn a 2-1 first leg deficit.

The Brazil international reacted by skipping a prematch warm up with other substitutes, and was spotted by Zidane using his phone in the dressing room.

The coach responded by leaving Vinicius on the bench throughout the 2-1 loss, a decision which surprised observers at the time.

AS reported that the winger had phoned Zidane during the subsequent post-season summer break to apologise for his behaviour.

However sources told ESPN that in fact the apology came later, face-to-face, in the manager's office at Valdebebas.

ESPN has previously reported that Zidane's management of Vinicius has been a source of friction between the coach and senior figures at Madrid.

There are high hopes for the youngster at the club, and a feeling that Zidane does not share those expectations.

Vinicius has not featured as regularly as might have been expected this season despite the absence of Eden Hazard, his main rival for a place on the left.

The forward has started 11 league games out of a possible 23 so far in 2020-21, coming off the bench in nine more, while four of his six Champions League appearances have come as a substitute.

Vinicius has started the last three matches, however, and will be hoping to do the same in Madrid's Champions League round-of-16 first leg at Atalanta next week.

He has not scored a goal in any competition since Madrid's 3-2 defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk in October.

A banner with death threats aimed at players of Chilean club Colo-Colo was displayed at the club's training ground ahead of Wednesday's relegation showdown at Universidad Concepcion.

The message, written by ultra fans, read: "You win or we kill you."

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Colo-Colo will be relegated to the second division for the first time in the club's 96-year history if they lose to Concepcion while the winner of the game will remain in the top flight.

While the banner was a disturbing sight, players did receive encouragement from other supporters, who waited outside the training centre to wish them well ahead of their trip to Talca.

Former Colo Colo players, including Inter Milan's Arturo Vidal, have posted videos in support of the club.

Colo-Colo captain Esteban Paredes thanked the fans that have backed them and said in a video: "We are going to give our lives on the pitch, that is what we have to do. A lot of positive energy and encouragement, together we will come out of this."

⚽ "Ganan o los matamos": El amenazante lienzo que se vio en el arengazo de Colo Colo https://t.co/SvoraAgDbN pic.twitter.com/bQ0r1ZGwuT

— El Deportivo LT (@ElDeportivoLT) February 17, 2021

Wednesday's game is considered Colo Colo's second most important game in the club's history following their 1991 Copa Libertadores win over Olimpia de Paraguay.

The club labelled the encounter as "the most important final of all."

Talca authorities have increased security measures ahead of the game.

Talca mayor Juan Carlos Diaz designated the game as "high risk." He fears the occasion could "generate problems" in a city that is currently in Phase 1 of quarantine rules, where mobility is totally restricted.

The team that does drop will join Deportes Iquique and Coquimbo Unido in the second tier.

Gerard Pique and Antoine Griezmann's frustration boiled over into an on-pitch argument as Barcelona were beaten 4-1 by Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Pique, making his first appearance since injuring his knee ligaments in November, screamed at his teammates to "keep the f------ ball longer" as they prepared to defend a corner. Griezmann responded by telling him to calm down.

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"F------ hell, Grizi," Pique shot back. "No. M-----------. We're suffering. We've been [pinned] back for five minutes. F------ hell, we're running like crazy."

Griezmann replied: "Don't shout at me, m-----------! I am suffering as well and I am running like crazy."

In this chat conducted by bcci.tv immediately after India's series-levelling victory in the second Test against England in Chennai, Virat Kohli tells R Ashwin that he has seen a kind of metamorphosis in his lead spinner.

According to Kohli Ashwin, who is closing in fast on 400 Test wickets, has naturally been strike bowler, not just at home but also during India's triumph in Australia recently. Ashwin explains to Kohli what has helped him reach a "balance" state of mind where he is not desperate.

Virat Kohli: I know you've done very well in Test cricket and you take a lot of pride in doing well for the team. This collective performance, which you've been working very hard for, coming in front of your home fans and your family as well, how does it feel?

R Ashwin: For the first time in my career, I feel blank. When I went out to bat [on Tuesday] as well [in the second innings of the second Test], I was blank when I came and asked you "can I start sweeping?", "can I reverse sweep?". So that's exactly how I feel: zero feelings or emotions inside. Very rarely I find myself in such situations.

"One thing I've noticed from a distance, and when I see people who do well through the year is how balanced they are in terms of not wanting to be desperate."

R Ashwin on his success formula

You know me very well, my mind is always ticking, but for a change it's really, really blank. And out there, especially being 1-0 down, what I did was something incredible. Yes, I had things go my way, but that partnership (96 runs for the seventh wicket) between us set the tone and I'm really pleased for that.

Kohli: Before you came to Australia, I saw a different body language, different mindset. What did you change about your approach towards the game which changed the way you approached situations on the field, and which is making a massive difference, not just in India but in Australia as well. Guys [Australians] were really very nervous to take you on. To be very honest, that body language I've seen away from home from you after a very long time. So I wanted to know at this stage of your career, what did you do and how did you manage to do it?

Ashwin: The whole pandemic, where we shut off and locked ourselves down, it made me think "what is going to happen?". For me, if you take the game away, I'm literally lost. Even if I'm not playing some formats of the game for the country, I'm putting the TV on, watching some preview, what's happening, what's not happening….I'm that sort of a person. Suddenly, the game's not happening and we're all sitting at home, so I was reflecting upon myself and trying to understand how I can learn from people, what people were perceiving of me.

That perception really made sure that I was playing a game that is completely different to who I was. In the past when I toured [overseas], there was more of a desperation trying to prove others wrong. But this time when I went out there, it was more about proving to myself what I'm capable of. One thing I've noticed from a distance, and when I see people who do well through the year is how balanced they are in terms of not wanting to be desperate. Jinks, yourself when you came back to England the second time and wanted to do well, but really within yourself, within your crease, within your space, which is something I wanted to embrace.

Kohli: We had a special partnership. The game was tentatively poised. Ash came out and changed the whole momentum of the game. That partnerships was special I want you to touch upon our partnership?

Ashwin: This didn't happen today. It happened at Blacktown (Sydney, during the first practice match). We were practising, and I was looking on how to take the short ball. I was a trying to set a base, trying to pull, trying to give myself options when you came up to me and said, "Ash, your big strength is to watch the ball and hit it, and play your natural game."

After that, when I went into the Adelaide day-night game, I sort of hit a few balls off the middle and something started to click. I said [to myself], 'I've been too worried about technically getting things right. I'm just going to watch the ball and give myself space and also time, that extra bit of time to react to what's in front of me.

For me that had been missing in the whole puzzle of wanting to be excellent. Even this game, I'm sure you've been noticing, about how we wanted to sweep, try and be a little proactive. So (when) I walked out there (second innings) the first question I asked you was: "I want to try and sweep, what do you think?" And you just said "just go ahead". For instance, if you had told me "thoda time lele, dekh le (take some time)," then things might have been different, because for me the right trigger has always helped. That's what I have noticed in the last year or so.