To the person or persons who tried to ruin everyone's weekend at Talladega Superspeedway, I have something I need to tell you.

To the one(s) who thought they could dip into the tired, old 1934 or 1964 racist playbook and elicit fear by placing a symbol of hate -- a noose, for heaven's sake -- in the garage stall of a Black race car driver, I really need to make sure you are paying attention to what I have to say to you.

Oh, and the grown adult or adults who spent hundreds of dollars to fly a "DEFUND NASCAR" banner and Confederate flag behind a plane over Talladega, you should listen up too. Same for you rednecks who drove a parade of pickups around the perimeter of the racetrack with that same flag flying out of the beds of your 4x4s. Or even you, who wandered onto the property at Sonoma Raceway and hung "a piece of twine tied in what appeared to be a noose" from a tree.

I need y'all to read this next part.

It didn't work. Congratulations. You failed. In fact, what you accomplished was the complete opposite of what you set out to do when you tied a rope into a loop, called the aerial advertising guy or ruined the resale value on your truck by bolting a flagpole into the bed.

No nation, Confederate or otherwise, rallied behind your antiquated cause. Instead, the reinforcements who did roll in gathered to stand together on the other side of your pitiful effort to divide and conquer -- the right side.

And you want to know who really wasn't scared? Darrell Wallace Jr., that's who. Yes, Bubba wept on Monday afternoon at Talladega, but it wasn't because he was rattled by someone throwing down a piece of rope. In fact, a lot of us cried on Monday. But it certainly wasn't because you, the always-so-impressive anonymous bully, pushed our buttons. It was because those other 39 drivers pushed Wallace's car, all the way to the front of the prerace grid, and then so many of them repeatedly pushed his car toward the front in the aerodynamic draft.

Together pic.twitter.com/D4zW3jA5y5

— Bubba Wallace (@BubbaWallace) June 22, 2020

Sure, there was plenty of shock on Sunday night when NASCAR announced that a noose had been found in the Talladega garage. Absolutely, there was disappointment. There was anger. But fear? Nah.

NASCAR's leadership certainly wasn't scared. If it had been, then it would have resorted to its own old-school playbook and simply made the whole mess go away as soon the noose was discovered. A crewman found the noose and took it to NASCAR security, which then took it to NASCAR president Steve Phelps and his team. No one else had seen it. Wallace didn't even know about it until Phelps called him on Sunday and told him.

When Phelps held a meeting with his executive team Sunday evening, they took a vote: Would they keep it quiet or go public and let the world know they were indeed ready for the fight they knew was coming when NASCAR's Confederate flag ban was announced June 10? They chose to fight. Under the current coronavirus pandemic personnel restrictions, the number of people allowed access to the Cup Series garage areas is at an all-time low, and everyone is constantly accounted for and tracked in the name of social distancing. When NASCAR issued its statement Sunday night, and then announced the FBI had joined in on Monday morning, its effort to smoke out the culprits was not the act of a group of people who were scared of anyone.

The NASCAR drivers certainly weren't scared. On Sunday night, an incensed group text began between those drivers, working to determine how they would show their support for Wallace when the sun rose and the green flag fell on Monday's rain-delayed Talladega race.

Professional athletes who declared their sudden interest in NASCAR following the Confederate flag ban weren't run off, either. If anything, they were emboldened. Soon after LeBron James had tweeted his support for Wallace, Bubba's online merchandise store was so busy that it had locked up under the tidal wave of orders.

Richard Petty? You think the man who barrel-rolled his way down the frontstretches of Darlington and Daytona was going to be scared? The sport's greatest living legend hadn't been to the racetrack since NASCAR returned to action in May. He is 82, after all. But pandemic be damned: Petty flew to Alabama on Monday morning because, he said, "The most important thing for me right now is hugging my driver."

The King, who supported the first -- and before Wallace, only -- Black NASCAR racer, Wendell Scott in the 1960s, not so long ago angrily reacted to those kneeling for the national anthem. He has since confessed that he didn't understand what that protest was really about. On Monday, he stood with Wallace, one week after his car and his crew wore the #BlackLivesMatter message, living proof that real conversations and education on racial inequality do work.

The new NASCAR fans -- those who have taken to the sport over the past two weeks because that flag was banned and they finally felt welcome, who drove to Talladega from Atlanta to attend their first race, wearing "Black Lives Matter" T-shirts and pressing against the frontstretch catch fence after the race -- did they look scared? No. Because they weren't.

They were giddy. Especially when Wallace ran up front all day, leading with 30 laps remaining. And they were even more ecstatic when Wallace climbed from his 14th-place car (his chances undone by fuel mileage) -- and while his best friend, Ryan Blaney, celebrated the win -- made the long walk out to the grandstand to high-five those new fans. Then Wallace addressed the nation -- and more specifically, you, the racist noose bully -- that hell no, he wasn't scared. He never was.

"Sorry I'm not wearing my mask," Wallace said, holding an American flag-adorned COVID-19 protective face covering in his hand. "But I wanted to show whoever it was that you're not going to take away my smile, and I'm going to keep on going."

"I wanted to show whoever it was that you're not going to take away my smile." - @BubbaWallace pic.twitter.com/wVSaGOxXtN

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 23, 2020

As he walked back to pit road, under the same sky where the Confederate flag had been towed by a plane, back through the garage where the noose was left, and his team transporter left Talladega via the perimeter roads traveled by those flag-bearing pickup trucks, Darrell "Bubba" Wallace Jr. once again had tears in his eyes.

But it wasn't because he was sad. And it sure wasn't because he was scared. It's because he was headed into the future with a smile on his face and wind in his sails. Wallace has always known he was ready for the inevitable fight ahead. He has been fighting it his entire 26-year-old life. Wallace always knew he had the support of his fellow racers and NASCAR itself, at least he hoped he did. Now, thanks to what happened at Talladega Superspeedway on Monday, he knows that beyond a shadow of a doubt.

So, yeah, to the person or persons who tried to ruin everyone's weekend at Talladega, I have something I need to tell you.

Thanks. Thanks for being an idiot. Thanks for being a coward. Thanks for being a cliché. Because you gifted those of us who actually love the sport with the moment we really needed: The image of every competitor in the garage standing behind Bubba Wallace. Because that image proves to all of us that you, and those who stand with you in the shadows of the past, have no place in the world of NASCAR. And if you were hiding in plain sight among those in that image, then your time among them is numbered because the hunt is on. You know it too.

The racers, they aren't scared. You are. You should be.

A fresh chapter in Detroit Pistons franchise history is set to be written next season, but new general manager Troy Weaver still sees veteran stars Blake Griffin and Derrick Rose as part of the "plans going forward."

Griffin, 31, is coming off left knee surgery after playing in just 18 games this season.

"I'm excited about having the chance to work with Blake," Weaver, a longtime Oklahoma City Thunder executive, said Monday at his introductory news conference. "Obviously, being in Oklahoma City for the last 12 years, I remember Blake quite well, playing at OU and his family being around there, being from Oklahoma City. So, I'm very familiar with Blake.

"I joked with him when I spoke with him that I finally get to work with him. We didn't get the luck of the draw to get the No. 1 pick when he came out like other home teams get the luck of the draw -- we didn't get it, so I tease him about that.

"I know he's anxious to get back and show people what kind of player he is after just playing a few games last year, but as long as Blake is in a Pistons uniform and under contract, I look forward to working with him in helping us restore the Pistons. He's definitely in our plans going forward."

Griffin is due $36.6 million in 2020-21, and owns a player option for 2021-22 that, if exercised, will pay him $38.9 million.

Similar to Griffin, Weaver described Rose as a "big time" player looking to restore his career after a history of injuries.

Rose, 31, has been plagued by knee and ankle injuries throughout his 12 years in the league, but was enjoying a resurgent season with the Pistons in 2019-20, averaging 18.1 points and 5.6 assists off the bench as a Sixth Man of the Year candidate. He became the first player in franchise history to record seven consecutive games of 20 or more points as a reserve.

"We're excited to get them healthy and help them move forward," Weaver said of the two veteran All-Stars. "We feel like we have a good mixture of young guys with those two staples to be able to start there, but obviously we've got a lot of work to do with the draft and free agency."

Summer has officially begun for the Pistons, who are one of the eight teams eliminated by the NBA's 22-team proposal for its Orlando restart.

Detroit (20-46) is one of two teams that have not won a playoff game since the 2008-09 season, along with the Sacramento Kings, but Weaver said he's committed to restoring a winning culture. From 2002 to 2008, the Pistons won at least one playoff series each season, but they have now gone 12 straight seasons without winning a playoff game, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. They've made the playoffs three times in that span, but were swept each time, most recently in 2019 against the Milwaukee Bucks.

"The Motor City deserves a consistent winner back on the floor," Weaver said.

Pistons coach Dwane Casey also said he's happy that team owner Tom Gores selected an African American candidate in Weaver, especially in light of the Black Lives Matter movement and the push for diversity in front offices.

Weaver, 52, is now the ninth Black GM in the league.

"I'll always recognize Troy as one of the top talent evaluators in the league," Casey said. "You can just look at the finished products of OKC. He had a big part of doing that, but not only that, he's a man of his word. He's genuine, he's real and I'm going to say this ... in today's time, with all the unrest, and there's an opportunity for an African-American man to be named to this position. ... It's going to make my heart proud to work next to Troy, with Troy, and like he said, to polish off not to build but to restore our organization."

Gores did reiterate that although diversity was important, Weaver was selected because the franchise truly felt he was the man for the job. Prior to Detroit, Weaver spent 12 seasons in OKC, most recently as vice president of basketball operations. He also served as a head scout and director of player personnel for the Utah Jazz.

"As a team, we always want to cultivate diversity at the end of the day, and we did speak about it. We said, 'Look, the most important thing was to make sure we evaluated everybody and even anybody who hadn't gotten our attention.' ... Troy had gotten our attention a couple years ago," Gores said.

"He's the best man for the job. ... His track record, his reputation -- everything stood out, and I think it's a great win for the African American community and Black community that Troy comes in as a leader; I think it's a great win."

Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo's youngest brother, Alex, is headed to Spain.

On Monday, he announced his signing with UCAM Murcia. He reached a three-year deal, according to EuroHoops.net.

"Big move @alex_ante34 I'm so happy and proud of you," Giannis congratulated him via Twitter. "Now let's get it."

Despite going unranked on the 2020 ESPN 100 list, Alex was twice a first-team all-state selection who averaged 20.3 points and 7.3 rebounds per game during his senior season at Dominican High School in Wisconsin.

"If Alex can stay on the path and continue to respect the process of getting good, he will not be far away," Dominican High coach Jim Gosz said.

"He is a student of the game, and I can see him really being good in a couple years. Once Alex sees his body take off from strength and conditioning work ... lookout!"

The 18-year-old reportedly received college offers from DePaul, Ohio and Green Bay before electing to go pro instead of entering college.

"I don't really believe in pressure like that, but it's definitely a lot of expectations on you. And being the baby brother, it's a lot of being told what to do a lot of the times, but you've just got to take the criticism and move on," Alex told ESPN in December.

In addition to Giannis, older brother Thanasis Antetokounmpo also plays for the Bucks and Kostas Antetokounmpo plays for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Alex will be eligible for the NBA draft in 2021.

"I'll tell you one thing. It's hard to be Alex. It's hard to have three brothers get drafted. He wants to get drafted, but he's got to get better every day," Giannis told ESPN at halftime of a Dec. 10 game at Dominican. "There's going to be down days, there's going to be hard days, it's going to be days that he doesn't have confidence, but that's where we step in and say, 'Hey, you're going to be good, keep working hard. Keep your head up. You're going to be really good.'

"But there's going to be other days where he's playing well like today, and we've got to find things to tell him that he sucks like, 'Your hands are down on defense. You're not rebounding the ball.' We've got to find ways to keep him humble, so that's the only way you can get better."

With a looming free agency, Washington Wizards forward Davis Bertans -- a Most Improved Player candidate for the 2019-2020 season -- will sit out the NBA's restart in Orlando, Florida, as a preventive measure, sources told ESPN.

Bertans, 27, is on the cusp of a lucrative, long-term contract and has had two previous ACL injuries.

As an organization, the Wizards are fully supportive of his decision to stay back from the league's 22-team restart and remain determined to sign him in free agency, sources said.

In Washington this season, Bertans posted career highs across the board, including points (15.9) and minutes (29.3) while shooting 42.4% from 3-point range on over eight attempts per game, making himself one of the best sixth men in the NBA.

If the Wizards don't advance past the seeding games in Orlando, he stands to lose $520,000, according to ESPN front-office insider Bobby Marks. The Force Majeure clause would be applied to his salary, post 10% escrow and money already taken out of his salary as a result of deductions that started on May 15.

He made a significant career leap this season after being traded to the Wizards in a three-team deal last summer that was done to clear room for San Antonio to sign forward Marcus Morris to a two-year, $20 million contract -- only for Morris to reverse course at the last minute and sign a one-year, $15 million deal with the Knicks instead.

The Wizards hope to retain Bertans as an unrestricted free agent this summer, especially in what should be a depressed financial market because of the ongoing issues caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Washington will enter the NBA's restarted season at Walt Disney World 5.5 games behind the eighth-place Orlando Magic and six games behind the seventh-place Brooklyn Nets. The Wizards will have to get to within four games of whomever is the eighth-place team to qualify for the play-in games, and then would have to beat the eighth-place team twice in order to advance to the playoffs and face the East's top seed, the Milwaukee Bucks.

Bertans, who will turn 28 in November, tore his right ACL twice before coming to the NBA in 2016 -- in June 2013 with Partizan Belgrade and in March 2015 with Baskonia in the Spanish league.

Originally drafted in the second round in 2011 by the Indiana Pacers -- before being sent to the San Antonio Spurs on draft night as part of the Kawhi Leonard trade -- Bertans joined the Spurs for the start of the 2016-17 season and quickly established himself as a strong 3-point shooter off the bench.

DALLAS -- Dallas Mavericks veteran guard Courtney Lee will be out injured when the team is scheduled to resume organized workouts next week.

The Mavericks said Monday night that Lee injured his left calf during the NBA hiatus. The team said he wouldn't be available when workouts start up again July 1, but provided no specific details about the cause or severity of the injury.

Lee became a part-time starter after Jalen Brunson injured his right shoulder. After playing in only 10 of the first 50 games for the Mavericks this season, Lee appeared in 14 of their past 17. He started five of the past six games, including a 113-97 win over Denver on March 11 in the final NBA game completed before the league put its season on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Brunson got hurt Feb. 22 against Atlanta and didn't play again before having surgery when the season was halted.

The 34-year-old Lee is in his second season with the Mavericks, his eighth NBA team. He was the 22nd overall pick by Orlando in 2008 draft, and he played 77 games as a rookie for the Magic.

Portland Trail Blazers forward Trevor Ariza is opting out of participating in the NBA's Orlando restart of the season, committing instead to a one-month visitation window with his young son, sources told ESPN.

Ariza, a starter, has been involved in a custody case over his 12-year-old son, and the mother's decision to grant a court-ordered, one-month visitation period during the league's quarantine of teams in Orlando, Florida, led Ariza to choose his parenting responsibilities over competing with the Blazers in the 22-team restart, sources said.

Ariza, 34, could lose between $1 million and $1.8 million in salary, based on whether the Blazers qualify for the playoffs, for not participating in the restart. Ariza has a minimally guaranteed $12.8 million contract for the 2020-21 season.

NBA players deciding to opt out of the league's restart have until Wednesday to inform teams of their decisions. Franchises must submit travel parties -- including rosters -- by July 1. Once a team signs a replacement player, the original player can't be added back onto the roster to play this season.

Portland will be allowed to sign a substitute player to replace Ariza.

The Blazers are 29-37, one of three teams within 3.5 games of eighth-seeded Memphis in the Western Conference. Teams will play eight seeding games in Orlando, and the team with the best record outside the top eight in each conference that lands within four games of the final playoff spot will compete in a play-in tournament.

Portland is expected to medically clear two key 7-footers -- Zach Collins and Jusuf Nurkic -- to rejoin the team after injuries kept both out for extended periods.

Ariza arrived with the Blazers in February as part of a trade with Sacramento and started every one of his 21 games for Portland -- averaging 11 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 1 steal a game. He shot 49% from the floor, including 40% on 3-pointers. For his career, Ariza has averaged 10.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 16 seasons.

Major League Baseball plans to hold a 60-game season that will begin around July 24 but first needs players to sign off on a health-and-safety protocol and to pledge to arrive at home stadiums by July 1 to prepare for the season, sources familiar with the situation told ESPN.

The league's owners voted to implement a 60-game season on Monday, hours after the MLB Players Association rejected a 60-game proposal that would have included an expanded postseason and other ancillary salary bumps.

After nearly three months of fruitless negotiations, MLB opted to use the right given to it in the parties' March 26 agreement to impose a schedule of its desired length. By choosing a season of 60 games, the league will pack in about as many games as it can through Sept. 27, the league's self-imposed cutoff for the regular season.

Additionally, the 60-game season could serve as a buffer against a grievance by the MLBPA, which in the case of a potential implementation has been expected to charge that the league did not fulfill its duty to complete as full a season as possible. The league could file a grievance against the union as well.

Multiple players told ESPN that they expect to agree to the league's call to report by July 1 and to its health-and-safety protocol, with executive subcommittee member Andrew Miller telling ESPN, "We are ready to get back on the field."

If the players do, it would end a tortuous path to a return-to-play agreement in a typically confusing way: with the players rejecting a proposal, only to have one of the same length implemented.

After commissioner Rob Manfred flew to the Phoenix area to meet with union executive director Tony Clark last Tuesday, the league believed it had the framework of a deal in place. But union members balked at the 60-game framework and proposed 70 games plus a larger chunk of postseason bonus money than the $25 million the league was offering, as well as a cut of TV revenue from playoff expansion in 2021.

Owners were livid. They rejected the proposal and asked players to consider the original 60-game framework. On Monday evening, the players rejected it by a 33-5 vote, setting the stage for the implementation.

"Needless to say, we are disappointed by this development,'' MLB said in a statement. "The framework provided an opportunity for MLB and its players to work together to confront the difficulties and challenges presented by the pandemic. It gave our fans the chance to see an exciting new postseason format. And, it offered players significant benefits.''

The union earlier had suggested that the league implementing a schedule was the next step, saying in a statement: "While we had hoped to reach a revised back to work agreement with the league, the Players remain fully committed to proceeding under our current agreement and getting back on the field for the fans, for the game, and for each other."

In its statement, the league asked that the union provide two pieces of information by 5 p.m. ET Tuesday: whether players will be able to report to training by July 1 and whether the union "will agree on the Operating Manual which contains the health and safety protocols necessary to give us the best opportunity to conduct and complete our regular season and Postseason."

Under imposition, the deal is spare. Players would receive the full prorated share of their salaries -- about 37% of their full-season salaries and $1.5 billion total. The postseason would remain at 10 teams. Players would not receive forgiveness on the $170 million salary advance they received as part of the March agreement and would get no money from the postseason. Players would not agree to wearing on-field microphones. Teams would not wear advertising patches on their uniforms. The universal designated hitter likely would remain in place, as it's part of the health-and-safety protocol.

By rejecting the 60-game framework, the players retained their right to grieve the terms of the March agreement between the two sides. After spring training was shut down in March because of the coronavirus pandemic, the league and the players agreed that when play picked up, players would be paid on a prorated basis and would discuss the economic feasibility of playing without fans in the stands. The players' association maintained that discussion had nothing to do with their pay, and the disagreement led to months of acrimony between the sides.

The union delayed its vote on the league's latest proposal in order to collect new data regarding testing for COVID-19 after several recent outbreaks at training facilities in Florida and Arizona and in major league cities, sources told ESPN. All MLB training camps were temporarily closed after multiple teams reported positive tests on Friday, and the league announced Saturday that a restart of training would occur only in teams' home cities. The players then delayed the vote again Sunday, sources said, after Manfred made late tweaks to the proposal, offering in an email to Clark to cancel expanded playoffs and the universal designated hitter for 2021 if 50 games weren't played in 2020.

With implementation, that is all moot. What isn't is that after all this time, Major League Baseball finally looks like it will try to have a season.

Major League Baseball owners voted unanimously to proceed with the 2020 MLB season under the terms of their March 26 agreement with the MLB Players Association, the league said in a statement Monday night, after the union's executive board voted down MLB's latest offer of a 60-game season with expanded playoffs.

While the deal still has hurdles to clear before spring training 2.0 can begin, this is the biggest step yet toward answering the question of when Opening Day will be played in major league stadiums across North America. ESPN MLB reporters Bradford Doolittle, Jesse Rogers and Alden Gonzalez break down everything you need to know about the schedule announcement, the likelihood it actually leads to baseball being played soon and what the games could look like when they begin.

2020 season quick facts:

Number of games: 60 games

Opening Day: Around July 24

Spring Training: July 1 -- MLB asked the MLBPA on Monday whether players will be able to report to training in their respective cities within seven days, by July 1

Number of teams in playoffs: 10

Salary structure: Full pro rata, which for 60 games means that players will earn around 37% of their full-season salary as long as the truncated schedule is completed

Here's How Baseball Will Work

What makes a 60-game season work, and what will the biggest challenges be?

The biggest challenges revolve around the health of the players -- that includes coronavirus concerns as well as normal baseball injuries. An oblique injury could keep a player out for 4-8 weeks, or longer -- that's nearly the entire season. Will guys push themselves to get back early or be extra cautious while thinking of their future? Both may be true as every player will come at the shortened season with a different perspective. The good news is veteran pitchers, especially starters, won't have to hold anything back for the stretch run -- the stretch run starts right away. If guys are in shape, we should see the best of what they have.

What's next now that a season schedule is being implemented?

Spring training 2.0. That will start in about a week (the commissioner has asked about July 1) as players will need to travel to their home cities if they aren't in them already. Some will need to find housing -- undoubtedly on short leases -- so a lot has to happen in a short period of time. Roster sizes, taxi squads and new on-field rules for 2020 all have to come together -- and fast.

Does the commissioner taking these steps 100% mean there will be a 2020 MLB season?

Unless the players go on strike -- which is extremely unlikely -- then, yes, we will have a season.

How might a grievance from the MLBPA affect the 2020 season?

It shouldn't have any effect, as these things take a long time to resolve. We're talking years, which overlaps with the looming talks for the CBA.

What will the playoffs look like under this format?

With the end result of all these futile talks being a Rob Manfred-implemented season, we end up with the same playoff format as we've had since the two-wild-card system was adopted for the 2012 season. One of the things the union denied by adhering to the terms of the March 26 agreement was the owners' wish for an expanded playoff format.

Suffice to say, a mini-season combined with a play-in game and a bracket that might be full of mediocre teams is not the ideal outcome. With a 16-team bracket, at least the unwieldy field would have improved the likelihood of baseball's best teams advancing to October. Of course, those teams could still have been knocked out by a sub-.500 team in a short series. Any way you slice it, if you precede any kind of baseball playoff format with a mini-season, there isn't much competitive integrity to the proceedings.

What about other big on-the-field changes?

MLB and the union previously agreed to adopt the minor league rule for extra innings, beginning every half-inning after the ninth with a runner on second base, according to a report from USA Today. The rule is set for only the regular season and -- for now, at least -- for only 2020. The designated runner would be the person who made the final out in the prior half-inning. The pitcher would not be charged with an earned run if that runner crosses home plate; it would be scored as if that runner reached via error, according to USA Today.

When would preseason training camps start, and where will teams train?

The commissioner has asked the union if it can determine if all players can report by July 1. After a spate of positive COVID-19 tests late last week, Manfred shut down spring training facilities in Arizona and Florida. Now teams will retreat to their home cities to conduct a rapid and uncertain second spring training, or early summer training to be more precise. Roughly three weeks is expected to be the duration of the ramp-up period.

What is still to be clarified: What about the teams (Marlins, Rays, Diamondbacks) actually based in Florida and Arizona? What about other teams in states with spiking numbers, such as Texas? And what about the Toronto Blue Jays? Last week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that the border shutdown between the U.S. and Canada would be extended to July 21, and there is no guarantee it won't be extended beyond that date. For the time being, the Blue Jays can't train at their facility in Florida. Their Triple-A affiliate (Buffalo, New York) isn't that far from Toronto, so that may be the answer.

What about the recent spike in coronavirus cases and positive tests from MLB players?

With numbers spiking in about half the states across the country, according to news reports on Monday, the only tangible change in recent days was MLB's decision to shut down all spring training complexes in Florida and Arizona. Teams will now train in their home cities, while scrambling to put a more formal and universal system of protocols in place.

The larger problem is not specific to baseball: What happens if the numbers return to a pattern of exponential spread? For now, baseball and the other sports have to proceed as if they are going to be able to play in a newly reopened country. However, the specter of the pandemic rendering all of these plans moot hangs over the sports world like the sword of Damocles. With a number of positive tests coming to light in the baseball-verse the past few days, it's clear that MLB and the MLBPA will be battling the pandemic as much as they have battled each other the past few months.

What do we know about the health-and-safety protocol now?

We'll find out what changes have been made to MLB's original 67-page pitch if the players sign off on the policy over the next day or two. Among the key points of that initial plan:

• Players and other team personnel not participating in the game would sit in the stands, separated by at least six feet. They would apply the same distancing standards to the national anthem.

• Celebratory contact is verboten: No high-fives, fist bumps or hugs.

• The grand tradition of gross habits is on hiatus: No spitting, chewing of tobacco or sunflower seeds or any combination thereof.

• A minimal distance between baserunners, fielders, coaches and umpires on the field will be encouraged as much as possible.

• A ball will be thrown out once it has been touched by multiple players.

• Postgame showers are discouraged, as will be the use of taxis and rideshares.

• Players will be screened for temperature multiple times per day and tested for coronavirus multiple times per week. Anyone testing positive will be immediately quarantined. Two negative tests will be required for a possible return.

The world para athletics champion is enjoying her running again and now has ambitions as both a coach and athlete

Double world para athletics champion Maria Lyle has revealed how the mental anguish of coping with cerebral palsy almost knocked her sprint career off track.

The 20-year-old Scot has seen her hopes of upgrading Paralympic silver and bronze in Rio to gold in Tokyo stalled by 12 months due to the Games postponement.

But Lyle believes she is in the right frame of mind to succeed after uncorking the pressure of competing while dealing with the growing pains that come with her disability.

“It was probably something that had been beginning since I became a teenager,” she said. “It wasn’t something that was running-induced, it was probably my feelings about my disability and how people thought about me.

“I probably hid within my running to avoid that. As I started to avoid my feelings, it got worse and worse – it translated into not enjoying my running.”

An emotional slump in her father’s car after the 2018 Commonwealth Games, where she took silver in the T35 100m, forced her to seek help with the backing of her coach Jamie Bowie. That was one step back, she told a Scottish Athletics webinar, but a route to greater strides forward.

“I started seeking counselling once I’d been diagnosed with anxiety,” she added. “I felt I needed to change my mindset. I was very fixated on times and comparing myself to how I used to be. I thought if I can enjoy myself at a championship, I can enjoy my running. Before I was terrified.”

Once lockdown is over, it will be back to training for Tokyo. But Lyle has a twin ambition now – to put all the knowledge from a decade on the athletics circuit to good use by bringing another generation through.

“I do a bit of coaching for race runners in East Lothian, that just started up before the coronavirus so it was a shame it got cut short,” she said. “But I’d like to get some qualifications so I can help out at the club because that’s something I enjoy doing.”

Andy Murray will play his first match in seven months when he takes on Liam Broady on Tuesday on the opening day of the 'Battle of the Brits'.

The six-day charity event, organised by his brother Jamie, is being played behind closed doors at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton.

British number one Dan Evans and Kyle Edmund are among the others in action.

With the professional tour still suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic, this singles and doubles tournament will give the top British players some competition practice before August's planned restart and raise money for NHS Charities Together.

Murray's opening match is the fourth of the day on Tuesday and so is likely to start around 17:00 BST.

Who is playing and how can I follow it?

Singles event (players' world rankings in brackets):

In the doubles, Jamie Murray and his partner Neal Skupski have been drawn in a group featuring Broady and Norrie, and Evans and Lloyd Glasspool. In the other group Edmund teams up with Draper to face Joe Salisbury and Jonny O'Mara, and Dom Inglot and Clarke.

The event is on Amazon Prime in the UK and BBC Sport will have selected video clips as well as BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra and live text commentaries on some matches.

What is the format?

The men's singles features eight players, who are split into two groups for a round-robin stage. The top two from each group advance to the semi-finals.

The doubles is a similar format, although there are two groups of three.

Matches will be two sets with a tie-break.

There will be no ball kids or line judges to minimise numbers on court for social distancing purposes.

Order of play (starts daily at 13:00 BST)

Tuesday, 23 June

Jamie Murray & Neal Skupski v Liam Broady & Cameron Norrie

Kyle Edmund v James Ward

Dan Evans v Jay Clarke

Andy Murray v Liam Broady

Jack Draper & Kyle Edmund v Jay Clarke & Dom Inglot

Wednesday, 24 June

Liam Broady v James Ward

Joe Salisbury & Jonny O'Mara v Clarke & Inglot

Cameron Norrie v Jack Draper

Kyle Edmund v Andy Murray

Liam Broady & Cameron Norrie v Dan Evans & Lloyd Glasspool

Thursday, 25 June

Joe Salisbury & Jonny O'Mara v Jack Draper & Kyle Edmund

Dan Evans v Cameron Norrie

Jay Clarke v Jack Draper

Andy Murray v James Ward

Jamie Murray & Neal Skupski v Dan Evans & Lloyd Glasspool

Friday 26 - Sunday 28 June

Knockout stages, fixtures and times to be confirmed.