As the NFL preseason schedule gets cranking with upcoming games, there are intense battles for starting jobs and roster spots raging all across the league.

Who will start at quarterback in Miami and Washington? Who will be snapping to Drew Brees? When the Patriots go four-wide, who will be running routes for Tom Brady?

NFL Nation reporters break down the most important competitions in training camp for all 32 teams.

Jump to a team:
ARI | ATL | BAL | BUF | CAR | CHI | CIN | CLE
DAL | DEN | DET | GB | HOU | IND | JAX | KC
LAC | LAR | MIA | MIN | NE | NO | NYG | NYJ
OAK | PHI | PIT | SF | SEA | TB | TEN | WSH

AFC EAST

Buffalo Bills

Right Guard

If everyone is healthy, the Bills' starting left tackle, left guard, center and right tackle are set. The problem is everyone is not healthy. Injuries to center Mitch Morse and guards Quinton Spain and Spencer Long have shuffled things around through the Bills' first week of training camp, but some combination of Spain, Long and Jon Feliciano will have to man the guard spots. So far, it appears Spain is the team's best option at left guard, with Feliciano and Long duking it out on the other side. -- Marcel Louis-Jacques

Miami Dolphins

Quarterback

This might be the most interesting position battle in the NFL, a true youthful potential vs. veteran performance to decide which quarterback will lead the rebuilding Dolphins. Head coach Brian Flores said Ryan Fitzpatrick is clearly the leader after one week of training camp, but Josh Rosen has performed better in Week 2 as he continues to grow in the offense. Many fans want Rosen to start regardless of who wins the battle because he's the only quarterback with a chance to be a long-term answer for a team planning for the future. However, Flores refuses to lie to his team about the value of competition and seems set to start the better performer for Week 1. It's likely that both will play this year, but the season becomes a lot more interesting if Rosen can steal this starting job from Fitzpatrick in Week 1. -- Cameron Wolfe

New England Patriots

Wide Receiver

Julian Edelman and first-round pick N'Keal Harry are locks, and Phillip Dorsett is a key piece, but how does it shake out after them? Maurice Harris and Braxton Berrios are next on the depth chart (Demaryius Thomas isn't yet cleared for action), with veteran Dontrelle Inman also looking to make a charge. Harris has made an early impression on the coaching staff with his smarts and tactical route-running. As is often the case with backup receivers, contributions on special teams could be an important tiebreaker. Berrios has punt-return experience, but he has yet to make his mark at receiver. -- Mike Reiss

New York Jets

Outside Linebacker

They're experimenting with various combinations and packages. Jordan Jenkins and Brandon Copeland are the incumbents, but Tarell Basham and Harvey Langi are getting some first-team reps. Jenkins is the best of the bunch. After him, it's fluid. -- Rich Cimini

AFC NORTH

Baltimore Ravens

Left Guard

The left guard spot became even more wide open with the unexpected release former starter Alex Lewis on Monday. Baltimore's options include: Jermaine Eluemunor, who failed his conditioning test to start camp after working with the starters in the spring; Ben Powers, a rookie fourth-round pick; and James Hurst, who finished last season as the starting left guard but has primarily worked at tackle this year. Coach John Harbaugh said he wants someone to step up and seize the job. A week into camp, no one has done so. -- Jamison Hensley

Cincinnati Bengals

Left Guard

With veteran offensive lineman Clint Boling retiring because of a blood clot, the Bengals have a spot to fill on one of their most criticized units. Veterans Christian Westerman and John Jerry have worked with the first team during the first few practices of training camp. At Texas A&M, new offensive line coach Jim Turner was known to tinker with his front five during camp. Between Westerman, Jerry, Trey Hopkins and Michael Jordan, the Bengals have plenty of options to evaluate. -- Ben Baby

Cleveland Browns

Right Guard

The Browns traded away 2018 starter Kevin Zeitler for defensive end Olivier Vernon, which leaves right guard as the only real position battle remaining on the offense. The Browns have been rotating Austin Corbett, Kyle Kalis and Eric Kush so far in camp. They need one of those three to emerge to solidify the offensive line. -- Jake Trotter

Pittsburgh Steelers

Right Tackle

Matt Feiler has the inside track after 10 starts a year ago and a strong training camp. But Chukwuma Okorafor turns 22 just before the first preseason game and has excellent feet, which helps offset the occasional camp struggle. Expect the Steelers to mix lineups throughout August to maximize competition between the two. -- Jeremy Fowler

AFC SOUTH

Houston Texans

Offensive Line

Yes, that's five positions, but Bill O'Brien is still moving his linemen around to find the right combination. Nick Martin should be a lock at center, and Seantrel Henderson is expected to start at right tackle. The line could look like Matt Kalil (LT), first-round pick Tytus Howard (LG), Martin and either second-round pick Max Scharping or last year's starter, Zach Fulton (RG), and Henderson. Offensive linemen Greg Mancz, Martinas Rankin (2018 draft pick) and Julién Davenport (2017 draft pick) have a chance to compete for a starting spot, as well. -- Sarah Barshop

Indianapolis Colts

Cornerback

Pierre Desir is locked in at one cornerback spot, and Kenny Moore is the NFL's highest-paid slot corner. Rookie Rock Ya-Sin, who was selected in the second round of the draft, is battling Quincy Wilson to be the No. 2 cornerback on the outside. Wilson has the edge in experience, as he's headed into his third season, but Ya-Sin has made his presence felt early in camp with his physicality. He's gone toe-to-toe physically with the taller Devin Funchess while also chasing the speedy T.Y. Hilton. -- Mike Wells

Jacksonville Jaguars

Right Tackle

There really aren't any starting jobs open, but it will be interesting to see how things shake out at right tackle once the preseason begins. The Jaguars drafted Jawaan Taylor in the second round, and the logical thought is it's his job to lose -- but the Jaguars also signed former first-round pick Cedric Ogbuehi, who has gotten first-team reps, too. Taylor has some lower-body mechanics that he needs to clean up, but he's strong in his upper body and has the nasty approach line coaches love. Left tackle Cam Robinson is coming off a torn ACL and hasn't practiced yet, so it's important for the Jaguars to get at least one tackle spot settled. -- Mike DiRocco

Tennessee Titans

Right Guard

The competition between veteran Kevin Pamphile and rookie Nate Davis for the final starting spot on the offensive line is one to watch. Once the pads go on and the players can bang, a more true picture can be formed. Davis made a statement to offensive line coach Keith Carter by quickly moving away from the "frog stance" he used in college. Pamphile is entering his sixth NFL season and started two games for the Titans last year. -- Turron Davenport

AFC WEST

Denver Broncos

Wide Receiver

It's not that Emmanuel Sanders, Courtland Sutton and DaeSean Hamilton should be concerned about their standing, it's just that after those three, the chances for a wild-card player to make the roster are the highest at this position. The Broncos are optimistic about Sanders' recovery from Achilles surgery in December but might keep an extra receiver to start the season. Tim Patrick, River Cracraft, Trinity Benson, Kelvin McKnight and 2019 draft pick Juwann Winfree have each shown their potential value. Toss in sixth-year veteran Nick Williams, who arrived in late July and immediately showed a comfort level in the offense, and the competition is plenty crowded. -- Jeff Legwold

Kansas City Chiefs

Safety

Veteran Daniel Sorensen is occupying one starting spot along with Tyrann Mathieu, but rookie Juan Thornhill could earn that position by the time the season starts. Thornhill has shown in the early days of camp some much-needed playmaking ability. -- Adam Teicher

Los Angeles Chargers

Safety

The Chargers have a three-way battle for the starting free safety job. Rayshawn Jenkins is the guy for now after earning the job at the end of last season. But the Chargers selected Nasir Adderley in the second round in April because of his range and ability to take the ball away. Adderley has flashed during camp but has been slowed by a nagging hamstring injury. Veteran defensive back Jaylen Watkins would have been the starter last season had he not suffered an ACL knee injury during preseason play. The Chargers like Watkins' versatility, and he remains part of the competition if he can stay healthy. -- Eric D. Williams

Oakland Raiders

Punter

Define "most important" on a team coming off a 4-12 season. But with so many starting gigs already spoken for, let's go with punter. Johnny Townsend was a fifth-round draft pick last year and struggled. Mightily. His 43.2-yards average ranked 32nd in the league, and his 38.2 net average was 30th. Undrafted rookie free agent A.J. Cole, meanwhile, is third in NC State history with a 42.2-yards average. Townsend is more of a directional kicker, and Cole goes for the booming, hang-time kicks. -- Paul Gutierrez

NFC EAST

Dallas Cowboys

Backup Quarterback

That the biggest battle is to see who will be Dak Prescott's backup speaks to the state of the Cowboys' roster. On offense, the roles are set, although this is assuming holdout running back Ezekiel Elliott will be back sooner rather than later. On defense, the roles for the key players remain the same. If the Cowboys lose Prescott, they are in trouble, which is why all eyes are on Cooper Rush, who has handled the role for most of the past two seasons but has thrown only three passes, and Mike White, who was inactive for every game last season. This will play itself out in the preseason, but both have had some good and not-so good moments in camp. If both struggle in the preseason games, the Cowboys could be forced to look for a better backup -- something Jerry Jones would like to avoid. -- Todd Archer

New York Giants

Center

This really is the only open competition for a starting spot at camp. It's either Jon Halapio (the favorite) or Spencer Pulley. Both started last season. Halapio is getting most of the first-team reps at practice at training camp and fits what the Giants are looking for as they build a power line. He has played well, but offensive line coach Hal Hunter said it will come down to how both play in the first three preseason games before a final decision is made. -- Jordan Raanan

Philadelphia Eagles

Cornerback

Projected starters Ronald Darby (ACL) and Jalen Mills (foot) are still working their way back from injuries, providing opportunity for those who are healthy -- and heightening the urgency for someone to step up. Sidney Jones has risen to the occasion thus far. Working both outside and in the slot, the former second-round pick out of Washington has made several big plays during camp. He's competing with guys such as Avonte Maddox and Rasul Douglas for playing time. -- Tim McManus

Washington Redskins

Quarterback

There are definite battles at the two outside receiver spots, but nothing matters more than who will start at quarterback. Technically, it's a three-man race between Colt McCoy, Case Keenum and Dwayne Haskins. But realistically, it's between Haskins and Keenum. They've alternated on a daily basis who takes the first-team reps. McCoy has played in this system for five years; that matters and gives him the early edge. The offense functions at a different tempo with him on the field. Keenum, though, has started 30 games combined the past two years and helped Minnesota reach the NFC Championship Game two years ago. -- John Keim

NFC NORTH

Chicago Bears

Wide Receiver

The Bears are set at the top of the depth chart with Allen Robinson, Taylor Gabriel, Anthony Miller and Cordarrelle Patterson, but a fierce battle is underway for the final spots. Just two seasons ago, Kendall Wright was Chicago's leading receiver with 59 catches. Fast-forward to 2019, and the Bears suddenly have great depth at the position. Veteran Marvin Hall, former seventh-round pick Javon Wims and 2019 fourth-round pick Riley Ridley are all pushing hard to make the roster. -- Jeff Dickerson

Detroit Lions

Offensive Guard

Graham Glasgow is expected to be a starter -- and should be despite working here and there with the second unit instead of the first throughout camp -- but who starts at the team's other guard spot remains wide open. Kenny Wiggins appeared to be the early favorite, but he's been getting a bunch of reps with the second team, as well. Joe Dahl and Oday Aboushi have gotten a lot of work with the No. 1s, although all four have seen time there. On a unit on which continuity and familiarity are important, competition for the fifth starting job will be worth watching. -- Michael Rothstein

Green Bay Packers

Backup Quarterback

Maybe it doesn't matter because the Packers' season would be ruined if anything happened to Aaron Rodgers, but they need to solidify his backup. The battle between DeShone Kizer, Tim Boyle and Manny Wilkins can best be described as "meh." Neither has stood out. Could this be 2013 all over? That summer, the Packers cut all of their backups and signed Seneca Wallace in Week 1. Perhaps a veteran with experience in new coach Matt LaFleur's system will become available. -- Rob Demovsky

Minnesota Vikings

No. 3 Wide Receiver

The position battles in Vikings camp center on backup roles. The third wide receiver is intriguing because that role has changed yearly in Minnesota's offense. Behind Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs, Chad Beebe appears to be the leading candidate for the job. There are some other in the mix, including ex-Broncos wideout Jordan Taylor and two late-round draft picks, but if Beebe can stay healthy, the shifty slot receiver could present the best fit for the job coupled with his abilities as a returner. -- Courtney Cronin

NFC SOUTH

Atlanta Falcons

Left Guard

James Carpenter and Jamon Brown have rotated throughout camp, and the initial unofficial depth chart even listed Brown as the starter until it was changed to Carpenter a day later. Then Carpenter left Sunday's practice with a hip flexor strain, which could affect the competition if the injury lingers. Whatever the case, the Falcons need stability at this position and right tackle, where Ty Sambrailo is competing with rookie Kaleb McGary, who had a heart procedure that could keep him out for weeks. -- Vaughn McClure

Carolina Panthers

Free Safety

It's really the only starting spot one could consider totally up for grabs. The Panthers are hoping second-year player Rashaan Gaulden steps up and owns it. But cornerback Ross Cockrell is getting some time there because of his cover ability. Cole Luke could be a dark horse, but if Gaulden doesn't win the job outright, don't be surprised if the answer isn't on the current roster. -- David Newton

New Orleans Saints

Center

Pro Bowler Max Unger retired, leaving an open competition between rookie Erik McCoy, third-year pro Cameron Tom and newly signed veteran Nick Easton. McCoy is the clear front-runner after the Saints traded up to draft him in Round 2. And he appears to be off to a good start in training camp, where he has taken the majority of snaps with the starters in recent days. But he also has the steepest learning curve -- especially considering the play-calling aspect of the job. So the preseason will be vital. -- Mike Triplett

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Right guard

The Bucs had a huge hole there last season, with Caleb Benenoch struggling big-time in a rotation with Evan Smith and Alex Cappa (Benenoch is now a backup swing tackle). They never filled it in the offseason, with the exception of signing a rotational player in Larry Warford. Unless they want to average 3.9 yards per carry again on the ground, someone needs to solidify this position or the Bucs might look elsewhere. -- Jenna Laine

NFC WEST

Arizona Cardinals

Center

Veteran A.Q. Shipley is trying to win back the starting spot he had to vacate last training camp when he tore his ACL. He was replaced by Mason Cole, who was a rookie out of Michigan last year. Cole proved himself to be durable and reliable, being the only offensive lineman to play in all 16 games last season. Shipley has been getting the majority of the first-team reps, giving him valuable time with rookie quarterback Kyler Murray. But the battle isn't over. Cole is 10 years younger than Shipley and was drafted to be the Cardinals' future center, so he won't be written off so quickly. -- Josh Weinfuss

Los Angeles Rams

Nose Tackle

The Rams let Ndamukong Suh depart in free agency and now they're dependent on two young players to try to replace him. Coaches have been impressed by the development of Sebastian Joseph-Day, a sixth-round pick from Rutgers in 2018. Joseph-Day made the 53-man roster as a rookie but was inactive throughout the season. He will be challenged by Greg Gaines, a fourth-round pick from Washington. After drafting Gaines in April, coach Sean McVay said he would be a candidate to start immediately. -- Lindsey Thiry

San Francisco 49ers

Cornerback

Offenses regularly targeted the spot opposite Richard Sherman in 2018 with great success, so the 49ers signed talented but injury-prone Jason Verrett as a potential solution. A healthy Verrett will have a legitimate chance to win the starting job, but he's going to have to do some work to surpass an apparently improved, incumbent Ahkello Witherspoon, who struggled in his sophomore season but has had a strong offseason and camp so far. Either way, the defense would benefit greatly from a heated competition, leading to improved production from this spot in 2019. -- Nick Wagoner

Seattle Seahawks

Safety

Tedric Thompson has been working with the No. 1 defense at free safety with Delano Hill (hip) sidelined and rookie second-round pick Marquise Blair (hamstring) only recently returning to practice. Those three are competing for a starting spot next to veteran Bradley McDougald, who can play either safety position. Thompson took over for Earl Thomas last season and has the most starting experience. Hill is a strong safety with strong coverage and tackling skills. Blair is known as a big hitter but does not have a big frame. -- Brady Henderson

The NFL moves and shifts faster than you think. Since the league went to its current standings and schedule format back in 2002, an average of six teams have made repeat trips to the playoffs each season, meaning half of the playoffs turn over from season to season. Just five of the 12 teams that made it to the playoffs in 2017 made it back to the postseason in 2018, and even that was up from four the previous season.

Is the NFL just total chaos outside of the Patriots inevitably winning 11 or more games? Maybe, on the surface. It would have been difficult at this time last year to see perennial contenders like the Steelers, Vikings and Panthers taking a major step backward and missing the postseason, while struggling franchises like the Bears and Colts rode stunning streaks into the playoffs. There is a place you might have gotten tipped off about those very teams (and a handful of others) declining or improving: this very column from one year ago.

Over the past two years, I've identified 11 teams whose underlying statistics seemed to portend future improvement in this column. Nine of those 11 teams have improved, with the average team's record jumping by nearly four wins from the previous season. Let's run through the five NFL teams numbers suggest are most likely to improve their record from 2018, a list that starts out West. We'll hit the teams likely to decline on Tuesday:

Jump to a team:
SF | CAR | TB | NYJ | NYG

San Francisco 49ers (4-12)

2018 point differential: minus-93
Pythagorean expectation: 5.8 wins
Record in games decided by seven points or fewer: 3-5
FPI projected strength of schedule: 15th-easiest

This time last year, there was no trendier pick to make a leap into the postseason than the 49ers, who had started 1-10 in 2017 before winning each of Jimmy Garoppolo's first five starts as a member of the organization. The numbers didn't bear out that sort of optimism, but we didn't really get a chance to see what would have happened; Garoppolo tore an ACL during a Week 3 loss to the Chiefs, and the 49ers didn't have the horses to get by without their starting quarterback -- though they eventually stumbled onto a solid half-season from undrafted free agent Nick Mullens.

Curiously, even though Garoppolo should be ready for Week 1, San Francisco isn't getting the same sort of hype this summer. This year, the numbers and San Francisco's offseason personnel moves actually back a meaningful improvement in 2019. If they can get a healthy season -- or at least a significantly healthier season -- from Garoppolo, the Niners might very well emulate the 2018 Colts in making an unexpected trip to the playoffs.

Last year was a lost season for the 49ers, but it wasn't quite as bad as the 4-12 record seem to indicate. Their minus-93 point differential suggests they were closer to a 6-10 team, which doesn't sound great, but that's a much better starting point for negotiating this season. The 50 most similar teams in terms of underperforming their record since 1989 improved by an average of 2.7 wins the following season. That group includes the 2017 Texans, who were featured on this list a year ago after a 4-12 season and also benefited from getting their promising young quarterback on the field for an entire campaign.

The most obvious issue for the 49ers sans Garoppolo is that they couldn't hold onto leads. They tied for the league lead in losing four games that they had led at halftime, which would be bad enough. What's worse is they lost four games they had been winning in the fourth quarter:

• In Week 4, they decided to kick a field goal on fourth-and-1 in the red zone to go up 27-26 on the Chargers with 12:43 to go; the Chargers responded by kicking a 23-yard field goal to take the lead, and two subsequent 49ers drives failed to advance past their own 31-yard line.

• On Monday Night Football two weeks later, they were up 30-23 on the Packers with the ball in their hands, 3:52 to go, and the Pack out of timeouts. The Packers not only ended up winning the game 33-30, but they won the game in regulation after C.J. Beathard, the original Jimmy G replacement, threw an interception at midfield and a Richard Sherman illegal contact call extended a Packers drive on third-and-15.

• Two weeks after that, San Francisco kicked a field goal on fourth-and-goal from the 2-yard line to go up 15-3 on the lowly Cardinals with 13:37 to go. Josh Rosen proceeded to piece together what would be his finest hour in an Arizona uniform, going 12-of-18 for 150 yards with two touchdown passes and a two-point conversion to lead the Cardinals back for a victory.

• Finally, the Niners' running game drove them into the red zone for a short field goal and a 23-20 lead over the Giants with 2:50 to go in Week 10. The defense again couldn't hold, letting Eli Manning march down the field on a 12-play, 75-yard drive that included second-and-20 and third-and-12 conversions via penalty. Sterling Shepard scored with 57 seconds left to give the Giants a 27-23 lead, and Mullens' subsequent attempt at a response stalled out at the 23-yard line.

This doesn't happen very often, even to bad teams. It's tempting to ascribe this to a young team not knowing how to close games, but that's too simplistic. Beathard was the quarterback in three of these games, and he played terribly in those key moments. Kyle Shanahan's offense sputtered in the red zone all season, finishing 30th in the NFL with 4.21 points per trip. (Don't tell Falcons fans.) The defense committed terrible penalties at exactly the wrong times when stops would have ended drives or put the opposing offense in a compromising situation.

I can find two reasons San Francisco struggled in the fourth quarter, and they should be better at both in 2019. A pass rush built around dominant interior pass-rusher DeForest Buckner fell off late in games. The 49ers ranked 13th in pressure rate through the first three quarters of games, but Robert Saleh's defense fell to 25th in the same category during fourth quarters. It's easy to picture the pass rush lasting longer into games now that the 49ers will replace Cassius Marsh and Arik Armstead on the edge with former Chiefs standout Dee Ford and second overall pick Nick Bosa.

If you take any prediction from this article to the bank, start with this second problem for last season's 49ers. Sherman & Co. intercepted a total of two passes all season. That's not a typo. Antone Exum and Jaquiski Tartt each picked off one pass. That's it. The defense had just two total takeaways during the entirety of the second half of 2018, both fumble recoveries against the Bears in a 14-9 loss in Week 16.

You probably won't be surprised when I tell you that no team in NFL history managed to intercept fewer passes in a season than the 49ers did in 2018. They also became the first team in history to rack up 11 games in a season without a takeaway, easily breaking the previous record of nine. San Francisco will intercept more than two passes in 2019 by sheer chance and randomness alone.

As you also probably suspected, a 49ers team that intercepted one pass every two months and started backup quarterbacks for most of the season also posted the league's worst turnover margin, coming in at a dismal minus-25. The Bucs were the only other team below minus-12.

Only four teams have posted a turnover margin of minus-25 or worse since 1989; one of those teams was the 2017 Browns, another one of the likely improvers on last year's list. The Browns imported Baker Mayfield, upgraded their defense, and swung their turnover margin by a whopping 35 takeaways from minus-28 in 2017 to plus-7 a year ago. They're not the only ones; teams that have finished with a turnover margin of minus-20 or worse in a season since 1989 improved their margin by an average of 24 takeaways the following year. Their records simultaneously rose by an average of more than four wins.

Adding takeaways should raise San Francisco's floor. It'll end drives on defense and give an offense that inherited the league's worst average starting field position on offense by nearly a full yard the opportunity to cash in on some short fields. The Niners' offense is unlikely to be as dismal in the red zone as it was a year ago regardless of who lines up at quarterback or running back. Unless they're forced to turn to Beathard or a quarterback not currently on the roster for significant time in 2019, they will be better than 4-12.

Their ceiling, though, might still depend on Garoppolo's health. Mullens' numbers in San Francisco are basically identical to those of Garoppolo, but most would admit that the former Patriots standout has more upside. It's likely that Garoppolo will play more than three games in 2019, but we still haven't seen the 28-year-old start more than five games at a time without getting injured. If he and a 49ers team that finished with the fourth-most adjusted games lost get healthier, they could deliver on their 2018 hype a year later.

Carolina Panthers (7-9)

2018 point differential: minus-6
Pythagorean expectation: 7.8 wins
Record in games decided by seven points or fewer: 2-7
FPI projected strength of schedule: 12th-toughest

Let's continue with another team whose season was dominated by an injury to its quarterback. The Panthers, listed as likely candidates to regress on last year's list, started the season 6-2 before collapsing in the second half. With Cam Newton's shoulder ailing and the roster riddled with injuries, Carolina went just 1-7 in the second half. It became just the eighth team under the current schedule structure to start 6-2 and finish with a losing record.

It's too extreme to suggest that the Panthers were Super Bowl contenders in the first half of the year and one of the worst teams in football during the second half. Using point differential to project their record, they played more like a 5-3 team in the first half and a 3-5 team during the second half. For one, Carolina needed a pair of massive comebacks to get to 6-2, including a 63-yard game-winning field goal by Graham Gano to beat the Giants and a furious fourth-quarter comeback from 17-0 down to beat the Eagles in Philadelphia.

Having gone 9-3 in one-score games since the start of 2017, the Panthers promptly went 0-5 in one-score contests during the second half of 2018. They blew narrow fourth-quarter leads against the Seahawks, Browns and Saints. Trailing 24-17 against a brutally bad Buccaneers defense, Newton & Co. made four trips into Bucs territory in the fourth quarter and failed to score even once.

If you want evidence that the idea from the 49ers' section that a team can learn how to win close games is nonsense, you can start with the recent history of the Panthers under Ron Rivera. They've been on a wild pendulum swing from season to season, even if their overall record in close games is just about what we would expect over an eight-season stretch:

There's no reason to think that the Panthers will Saberhagen their way into a season in which they win 85% of their close games again, but they should project to win about half of their close games in 2019. That alone would be enough to push them into playoff contention based on their performance from a year ago.

Newton has looked healthy in the early days of training camp and should be ready for Week 1. That's a huge plus. He should also have a much healthier offensive line, given that Carolina got only one combined appearance from projected starting tackles Matt Kalil and Daryl Williams. The Panthers did get excellent play in 2018 from Taylor Moton, who will likely start at right tackle. Williams, who was a second-team All-Pro in 2017, will compete on the left side against second-round pick Greg Little. Carolina lost longtime center Ryan Kalil to retirement but signed Broncos standout Matt Paradis to replace him.

Carolina should also be far deeper on the defensive line after excellent offseason work from general manager Marty Hurney. With Julius Peppers retiring, the team rebuilt its edge rotation around Mario Addison by signing Bruce Irvin and drafting Brian Burns in the first round. With 2016 first-rounder Vernon Butler failing to emerge next to Kawann Short, the Panthers loaded up on interior help by signing Dontari Poe and then adding Gerald McCoy as an impact free agent from Tampa. They will throw a wider variety of defensive fronts out in 2019 to take advantage of their new weapons on defense.

As easy as it might seem to pin Carolina's second-half collapse on a spiraling Newton, the defense shoulders plenty of blame. The Panthers allowed the league's eighth-lowest QBR and were sixth in pressure rate. Over the second half, though, Carolina ranked 29th in both categories. The Panthers were impacted by injuries and inconsistent play in the secondary, but Rivera will have to hope that the deeper line rotation keeps their pass rush fresh during the final two months of the season.

If Newton doesn't return to his old form, of course, this team is in trouble. It's difficult to see the Panthers competing for the playoffs with Taylor Heinicke or rookie Will Grier starting the majority of the season's games. You might also worry about the difficulties of the NFC South, given that the Falcons will return a much healthier defense and the presence of another team on this list. The Panthers will have to hope for an easier schedule after facing what the ESPN Football Power Index deemed to be the seventh-hardest slate in football last season. In the famously topsy-turvy NFC South, though, Carolina should be more competitive over the entire season in 2019.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5-11)

2018 point differential: minus-68
Pythagorean expectation: 6.5 wins
Record in games decided by seven points or fewer: 3-6
FPI projected strength of schedule: Seventh-toughest

The Bucs? Sure, I'll understand if you're not excited. This is a team that has just one winning season in the past eight years. Tampa's 42-86 record over that time frame is the third worst in football, topping only the Jaguars and Browns. I just mentioned how the NFC South is topsy-turvy, but the Bucs have finished last in the division seven out of eight seasons over that span.

That's all true, and Tampa might very well finish last again. There's enough evidence, though, to suggest that Tampa will post six or more wins in 2019. And my reasoning involves a coach who has managed to defy the numbers before.

Tampa's 2018 season, at least by point differential, wasn't all that much different from its 2017 season. The 2017 Bucs went 5-11 while getting outscored by 47 points, which usually projects to about 6.8 wins. They narrowly missed making it onto my list of most likely teams to improve a year ago, in part because of the uncertainty surrounding Jameis Winston when I was putting together the column. The 2018 Bucs went 5-11 while getting outscored by 68 points, which is a 6.5-win pace. In 2017, they went 3-7 in one-score games, which is unlikely to recur, but not impossible: The 2018 Bucs went 3-6 in those same games.

Enter Bruce Arians. Tampa's new coach spent 12 games as the interim coach in Indianapolis while Chuck Pagano was being treated for leukemia before leading the Cardinals from 2013-2017. Over that five-year span, Arians was an impressive 58-33-1. What's even more notable for the purposes of this column is that the grizzled veteran coach went 28-12-1 in games decided by seven points or fewer, winning more than 68% of the time in a situation in which we would typically expect coaches to go 50-50.

Is that 41-game sample enough to say that Arians has a special skill with regards to pulling out the close ones? I'm skeptical. Setting the lone tie aside, the binomial distribution suggests that a coach who won 28 of 40 coin flips would happen by chance just 0.8% of the time, but Arians' success rate is more likely a product of the Wyatt Earp effect than indicative of what would be a remarkably valuable skill. I wouldn't expect the Buccaneers to win nearly 70% of their close games in 2019, but at the very least, I expect them to have a fighting shot at winning half of their one-score contests under Arians. That alone would be progress.

It's easy to chalk up middling performance in close games to some sort of Bucs stink, but that's the same thing people said about the Chargers as they slowly made their way up the ranks in recent years. It was also pretty clearly tied to kicking. The Chargers had dismal kicking between 2015-17 and went 7-20 in one-score games. In 2018, once they stumbled onto competent kicking from Mike Badgley, Los Angeles went 5-1 in one-score games and actually outperformed its Pythagorean expectation.

The Bucs have been even worse at kicking than the Chargers, ranking 31st or 32nd in Football Outsiders' scoring statistics for place-kickers in each of the past four seasons. General manager Jason Licht has haplessly cycled through both rookie kickers (Kyle Brindza, second-round pick Roberto Aguayo) and free-agent acquisitions (Nick Folk, Chandler Catanzaro) alike without solving his team's woes. Tampa has hit on just 72.7% of its field goal tries over the past four years, which is horrific in a league in which the average kicker has hit 84.4% of their tries and no other team has been below 78%. The Bucs have been nearly three standard deviations below the mean in this category over the past four years.

Tampa will come to camp this year with Cairo Santos and fifth-round pick Matt Gay. Santos struggled last season but was excellent under better coaching in Kansas City, while Gay hit 86.2% of his attempts over two years at Utah. I don't have faith in Licht drafting the right guy, but let's hope that new special teams coach Keith Alexander's success over a decade with Matt Bryant in Atlanta will carry over to his new charges. It's also just difficult for any team to be as bad at anything as the Bucs have been at kicking over the past four years.

I'm less confident about the Buccaneers improving dramatically upon a defense that ranked last in DVOA in both 2017 and 2018. They allowed a 110.9 passer rating to opposing quarterbacks last year, meaning that the average quarterback played roughly as well against the Bucs last season as Russell Wilson did all year. It was the second-worst passer rating allowed for a team in NFL history, trailing the 2015 Saints. You know a defense is bad when it can drag Drew Brees down to 7-9.

Tampa may have upgraded by swapping out Gerald McCoy for Ndamukong Suh and Kwon Alexander for first-round pick Devin White, but it was already thin at defensive end before losing Jason Pierre-Paul, who is expected to miss most of the season with a neck injury. Few teams in the league are weaker on the edge than Tampa, which will need to depend on Suh and Todd Bowles' track record of creating pressure with blitzes to generate a steady pass rush. Tampa has seven defensive backs on rookie deals who were taken in one of the first three rounds of the draft, and Bowles will need to develop them into worthwhile contributors.

I have question marks about the talent, but there are two reasons to think the Bucs might at least approach mediocrity on defense in 2019. One is health; last year's Bucs posted the most adjusted games lost on defense of any team in the statistic's history. JPP was the only defender who started all 16 games, but history tells us that it's virtually impossible the Bucs will be as banged-up, even as they're already working from behind after losing their star defensive end for a chunk of the year.

Tampa is also likely going to be better in the red zone than it was a year ago. By my count, the Bucs allowed 5.91 points per red zone possession in 2018. That's the second-worst mark for any team in any season since 2001, and while it came in a season teams allowed more points per red zone trip (4.97) than ever before, it's a dreadful number. It's natural to assume that a bad defense outside the 20s would also be bad in the red zone, but that isn't really the case; the second-worst defense in the red zone by points per trip last season was Buffalo, which finished second in defensive DVOA by rarely allowing offenses to get inside the 20. Houston was third-worst.

I would still expect the Bucs to allow plenty of trips to the red zone, but there's no way they can be this bad inside their own 20 again. When you take a look at the 30 worst red zone defenses since 2001, you'll see clear evidence of regression toward the mean. Those defenses averaged 5.54 points per red zone trip in their ugly campaigns, but the following year, those same defenses allowed an average of 4.70 points per trip. Their records improved by an average of 1.8 wins the following season.

To go this far without mentioning the offense is strange given that the Bucs clearly hired Arians to get the most out of Winston (or his possible replacement), but the offense hasn't been the problem in Tampa. Winston and Ryan Fitzpatrick turned the ball over too frequently in 2018, which helped drive Tampa to the league's second-worst turnover margin, but the Bucs ranked 12th in offensive DVOA after an 11th-place mark in 2017. Arians' success with a written-off Carson Palmer in Arizona suggests he can make hay with Winston if the embattled former first overall pick can stay on the field, but Tampa's chances of improving in 2019 have less to do with the offense and more to do with what happens when their offense is on the sidelines.

New York Jets (4-12)

2018 point differential: minus-108
Pythagorean expectation: 5.4 wins
Record in games decided by seven points or fewer: 1-5
FPI projected strength of schedule: Second-easiest

If low expectations for the Bucs are par for the course, projecting doom and gloom for the Jets is a cottage industry. Like the Bucs, the Jets have just one winning season in their past eight tries, including a 14-34 mark over the past three seasons under Bowles. The Jets fired Bowles and general manager Mike Maccagnan, although they curiously let Maccagnan hand out several huge contracts in free agency and handle the draft before removing him in May. New York will move forward with GM Joe Douglas and coach Adam Gase, with the latter hired to help develop second-year quarterback Sam Darnold.

Am I optimistic about the Jets' long-term future? Not really, unless Darnold is a transcendent quarterback who carries them to 10 wins every season. After years of dismal drafts, the team has just three players drafted by the organization before 2015 left on the roster in Bilal Powell, Brian Winters and Quincy Enunwa. They have attempted to cover up holes by throwing gobs of money at free agents, a strategy the Giants tried in 2016 ahead of Ben McAdoo's first season as coach.

For a year, that strategy worked. The imports stayed healthy and played at a high level, and a Giants team that went 3-8 in games decided by seven points or fewer in Tom Coughlin's final season went 8-3 in McAdoo's first. They jumped from 6-10 to 11-5, and everything was great for a few months. The plan (and the record in close games) was unsustainable, and the contracts were generally bad ideas, but adding talent to a roster with missing pieces helps in the short term.

The Jets pursued a similar strategy with one year of success in 2015 after acquiring the likes of Darrelle Revis, and it would hardly be a surprise to see a short-term turnaround for the Jets in 2019. The contracts Maccagnan handed out to Le'Veon Bell, C.J. Mosley and Jamison Crowder probably won't age well, but this team is unquestionably better right now for making those moves.

Darnold will have more help than he did a year ago from a running game that ranked 30th in offensive DVOA. Bell is a massive upgrade on the trio of Isaiah Crowell, Elijah McGuire and Trenton Cannon. The latter two each averaged 3.0 yards per carry, and while Crowell's 4.8 yards per carry average seems more promising, it was the product of three long runs on 143 carries. Crowell ranked 46th out of 47 qualifying backs in success rate, while McGuire posted the worst rushing DVOA in the league for any back with more than 30 carries.

It's too much to expect Bell to be the runner he was in Pittsburgh behind a less-imposing offensive line, but the Jets' running game should be significantly more efficient in 2019, especially after adding former All-Pro guard Kelechi Osemele on a salary dump from the Raiders and coaxing former Panthers stalwart Ryan Kalil out of of retirement to play center. That will help Darnold and the Jets, who faced the league's third-longest average distance on second downs a year ago.

Darnold's rookie season was uneven, as is often the case for highly drafted quarterbacks. The hope for New York is that the guy we saw in a three-game stretch from Weeks 14-16 is the quarterback the Jets can count on in 2019. He came back from a foot injury and proceeded to post a league-best 82.0 Total QBR over a three-game span, completing 66% of his passes while throwing six touchdown passes against one interception before a season-ending blowout loss to the Patriots. It's unfair to cherry-pick one small sample as proof that a quarterback will grow in Year 2, but it was a promising stretch of play from the No. 2 overall pick.

It's also telling that the Jets had the best quarterback in football for three weeks ... and lost two of those games. Over a four-week span, they blew three fourth-quarter leads, including a nine-point lead over the Titans, a 22-19 lead over the Texans with five minutes to go, and a 15-point lead over the Packers. When the NFL's other 31 teams held a lead of two possessions or more entering the fourth quarter last season, they were 121-8-2. The Jets were 3-2. No team in NFL history has ever lost two games it had led by nine points or more entering the fourth quarter in a season and repeated that feat the following year. The Jets probably won't be the first.

Even if Darnold does take a step forward, the Jets will need to get more out of their defense to really shock observers. There's unquestionable top-level talent here, with Mosley and rookie third overall pick Quinnen Williams joining Maccagnan's two most productive draft picks in first-rounders Leonard Williams and Jamal Adams. Trumaine Johnson had a brutal debut season in New York, but he's one year removed from a very good season with the Rams.

Gase's team also will get help from a friendly schedule. While the Jets are stuck in a division with the Patriots, who severely limit Gang Green's chances at a division title, they'll face what Football Power Index projects to be the second-easiest slate in football. In addition to four games against the Bills and Dolphins, a Jets team that finished last in the East will get to play the Jaguars and Raiders, along with eight games against the NFC East and AFC North.

Gase's first year in Miami saw the Dolphins ride a streak of close wins over bad teams into the postseason. We can't count on the close wins (even given that Gase went 20-6 in one-score games with the Dolphins), but the ceiling for the Jets in 2019 is probably as a surprise wild-card contender.

New York Giants (5-11)

2018 point differential: minus-43
Pythagorean expectation: 7.0 wins
Record in games decided by seven points or fewer: 4-8
FPI projected strength of schedule: Fifth-easiest

I can hear you laughing. I can't blame you. The Giants are a punching bag after trading away Odell Beckham Jr. GM Dave Gettleman passed on a handful of quarterbacks in 2018 to take a running back with the second overall pick, talked up a crumbling Eli Manning, then drafted a guy who wasn't very good in college to take over as the team's quarterback of the future this past April. The Giants bandwagon is bare and empty right now, and with good reason. Nobody should be excited about this team.

At the same time, there's reason to think the Giants were better than their 5-11 record in 2018. They finished 16th in the league with a perfectly average 0.0% DVOA, which was actually the best mark for any of the four NFC East teams. By point differential, the Giants played like a seven-win team, and the two-win gap between their win total and expected win total was the largest in the league. The argument here is that things that were out of their control might go their way in 2019, and that a less talented Giants team might still be likely to improve on their record from a year ago.

The numbers may be naive, but they're optimistic. When you look at the 50 teams since 1989 with the most similar gap between wins and expected wins to last year's Giants and see how they did the following year, 42 of the 50 teams improved. The 50-team subset improved by an average of 2.7 wins over their previous season's record. Teams with this large of a gap between their implied performance and actual performance almost always produce a better record the following season.

It's also fair to point out that zero of those 50 teams lost their best offensive and defensive players between campaigns. I felt more confident that the Giants would be able to cobble together a useful wide receiving corps in Beckham's absence before the first week of training camp. Sterling Shepard, signed to an extension this offseason, broke his thumb. Golden Tate, signed after the OBJ trade, announced that he was appealing a four-game PED suspension as a result of taking fertility medication. I didn't have any faith Corey Coleman was going to make a difference, but even the former Browns first-rounder tore his ACL. Tate and Shepard should be a useful pair around Saquon Barkley and Evan Engram as the season goes along, but the Giants could feasibly start Cody Latimer as their top wide receiver in Week 1 if Shepard isn't ready to go. That's scary.

Could the offense be better in 2019 without Beckham? Given that the Giants ranked 13th in offensive DVOA last season -- better than the likes of the Eagles, Browns, Vikings and Bears -- it's extremely unlikely. Could the offense fall somewhere in the same range? That's more plausible, although it'll be a different sort of offense.

For whatever criticisms you want to lob toward Gettleman, he has unquestionably upgraded the offensive line. Will Hernandez was a passable starter as a rookie, and he's joined now at guard by Browns import Kevin Zeitler, who has been consistently above-average as a run-blocker. Nate Solder was a mess in his first year away from New England, with Stats LLC crediting him for eight sacks allowed, but the former Pats star was still an upgrade on Ereck Flowers. (A low bar, to be fair.) His broader body of work suggests Solder will be better in 2019. Right tackle is still a question mark even after Gettleman signed former Panthers tackle Mike Remmers, but this should be the best offensive line the Giants have fielded in years. If you're a team that wants to run the ball with your star back, it's probably better not to have an offensive line that ranked 29th in Football Outsiders' run-blocking stats.

The Giants will rely even more heavily upon Barkley, of course, but they might also hope to upgrade at quarterback. There are major question marks about No. 6 overall pick Daniel Jones and with good reason, but it's hardly as though he's Aaron Rodgers replacing Brett Favre. Manning has been running on fumes for the better part of two years now, and even given Jones' apparent lack of upside, it's not out of the question that the rookie is better than the 38-year-old Manning this season. (It's also entirely possible Jones is worse, which would be a serious problem.)

The offensive shift unsurprisingly got all the press this offseason, but it's the defense that really needs to improve for New York to get better in 2019. I'm not particularly optimistic. Gettleman traded Olivier Vernon to acquire Zeitler and didn't really replace the team's only known quantity at edge rusher. Lorenzo Carter made the occasional splash as a rookie pass-rusher in 2018, but the former third-round pick is now written in ink as a starter on the edge, with former Cardinals rusher Markus Golden the favorite to start on the other side. The Giants should be deeper at cornerback after drafting Deandre Baker in the first round and getting back supplemental draftee Sam Beal from a shoulder injury, but it's hard to see this pass defense impressing in 2019.

So, the Giants might be worse on offense and probably won't be better as a pass defense. I understand if you're not exactly seeing a strong case for them to improve. Again, let's run to the numbers. The Giants went 4-8 in games decided by one score or less. There are "close" games where a team scores late to make a contest look more competitive than it really was, and the Giants had games like that against the Cowboys, Falcons and Washington last season. They also lost on a late field goal against the Eagles and on a 63-yarder by Graham Gano and the Panthers in a game they led by two points. They were up six on the Colts in Week 16 and lost when Andrew Luck threw a touchdown pass with 55 seconds left, and then when they were up by seven against the Cowboys at the two-minute warning and allowed Dak Prescott to complete a fourth-and-15 pass for a touchdown and a subsequent two-pointer.

The flip side of that argument is that New York also won exactly one game against a starting quarterback, which came when it topped Deshaun Watson and the Texans in Week 3. The team's four other wins came in games started by C.J. Beathard, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Chase Daniel and Mark Sanchez, and while they blew out Sanchez and Washington, the other three wins were by a combined 10 points. Point differential is a better stat for predicting future performance, but it's not a perfect one, and the Giants might be more misleading than most.

Other elements of the game won't go against them. The Giants ranked 31st in Football Outsiders' "hidden" special teams statistic, which incorporates elements out of a team's control, such as opposing field goal kickers. Opponents were 31-of-35 against the Giants last season, including a 6-of-7 performance from 50-plus yards. That includes the 63-yard Gano winner and a 56-yarder from Giorgio Tavecchio that put the Falcons game out of reach. The Giants recovered just 40% of the fumbles in their games, the fifth-worst rate in football. That's total randomness.

The most important element in the Giants' favor is one of the easiest schedules in football. They'll get four games against the AFC East, and while you can probably safely pencil in the Patriots for a victory in New England on Oct. 10, that's one of the weakest divisions in football. New York's own division isn't particularly scary given that Washington is a mess at quarterback and the Cowboys are likely to decline. As the last-place team in the East, the Giants get games against the Cardinals and Buccaneers.

I don't think the Giants are going to be very good this season. This isn't a column predicting whether teams will be good, though; it's merely about whether a team's record will improve from the prior season. They have been aggressively stupid in public for most of the past two years. They brag about ignoring positional scarcity and appear set on chasing an offensive game plan that most of the league has tossed aside because it's not as effective at scoring points.

They are blessed to face low expectations in two ways. One is that they play in the same market as the Knicks and can't possibly be run worse. The other is that they need to get to only six wins to improve on their record from a year ago. The Giants can get there.

This week the United States men's basketball team begins preparation for its first major competition since the 2016 Rio Olympics as it starts a weeklong training camp in Las Vegas in advance of the World Cup to be held next month in China.

For the first time in 15 years there is a new coach, Gregg Popovich, and he will have almost a completely new roster. Here's a simple FAQ to catch you up on everything happening with the team.

Q: It seems like a lot of players have dropped out of the competition. Why?

A: Yes, in fact, since the 20-player roster was announced in June, more than a dozen have dropped out, including James Harden, Anthony Davis and Damian Lillard. Several other players who were candidates for the team, such as Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson, are out with injuries.

There are several reasons. First, in this era when rest and recovery have become paramount, playing extra basketball is less of a desire for many players. Second, under the new international basketball schedule, the World Cup and the Olympics are being played in back-to-back summers, and that isn't appetizing for stars who have busy offseasons. Third, the NBA season starts earlier and the World Cup ends later than in years past, squeezing time even more. Fourth, the NBA is sending six teams to Asia this October for exhibition games, and it would've required a number of players, including Harden and Davis, to go twice in a matter of weeks.

Q: Who will be on the team?

A: There is some uncertainty. Training camp followed by two exhibition games will be meaningful in Popovich's decisions. Kemba Walker and Kyle Lowry are locks at point guard, assuming Lowry is recovered from thumb surgery last month.

It appears veteran wings Harrison Barnes, who played on the team in 2016, and All-Star Khris Middleton are likely to make it, with Donovan Mitchell likely as well. There will be strong competition -- including Celtics teammates Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart -- for the other wing spots. Popovich probably won't take all six, so that should add some intrigue this week.

At the big men spots, it seems likely that veterans Brook Lopez and P.J. Tucker will get strong consideration, with Myles Turner having an ideal skill set for international play as well. Kyle Kuzma, Thaddeus Young, Mason Plumlee and the just-added Bam Adebayo might compete for one or two slots.

Q: Is the U.S. going to win?

A: The U.S. will still have the most talent by far, even with a roster that will be missing many top stars. Not unlike the NCAA tournament, historically international basketball is won with superior guard play. Europe has produced many fantastic big men but not nearly as many top guards, and since the Americans have been sending NBA talent, they have generally won this way.

The last two U.S. losses were guard-play based. In the 2004 Olympics, Manu Ginobili and Pepe Sanchez outplayed a less-than-top-form Stephon Marbury and Allen Iverson. In 2006 at the World Cup, veteran Greek ballhandling expert Theo Papaloukas tore apart a young Chris Paul and an overmatched Kirk Hinrich running the pick-and-roll, and young guard Vassilis Spanoulis had one of the games of his life.

Team USA should still have the most dominating guards in the tournament, especially Walker, who is in position to wreak havoc on inferior competition.

Q: So who will challenge them?

The Americans got a break when Slovenia, the current European champs, didn't qualify. The ballhandling team of Luka Doncic and Goran Dragic would've been a threat.

Team Canada will have the best roster it has ever had, though there are questions regarding whether its backcourt stars will play. Both Jamal Murray and Cory Joseph wavered on their commitments but reported to the team Sunday. They also have the talented Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The Canadians are coached by the Toronto Raptors' Nick Nurse, who has extensive experience coaching international-style play. But they've suffered losses, too, as Andrew Wiggins and Tristan Thompson decided not to play, and young star RJ Barrett has pulled out because of an injury.

Spain is always competitive and will be again as Marc Gasol, Ricky Rubio and Sergio Llull, one of the best players in Europe, are on the roster. But Pau Gasol, Serge Ibaka, Nikola Mirotic and Sergio Rodriguez aren't playing, so Spain might not be at its best.

A matchup to watch for is a potential meeting between the U.S. and Greece in the second round. Greece has a talented young player you might have heard of named Giannis Antetokounmpo. Just like many of his opponents in the NBA, the Americans really don't have a way to stop him, and in a 40-minute international game in which he is the best player on the floor, anything is possible.

Q: Is there a chance one of the Select Team players could make the roster?

A: Yes. There's a 14-player team that comes to training camp to help the senior roster prepare. In 2014, the last World Cup, Plumlee was promoted from the Select Team to the roster that won gold in Spain.

With Lowry's status uncertain to a degree, there's a good chance one of the Select point guards could make the big team if they play well this week. The strong candidates are De'Aaron Fox and Trae Young. Fox's defense, speed and ability to finish over size are great assets. Young will be one of the best shooters in the gym, and the 3-point shot is vital in international play.

Q: What will the main differences be between Popovich and previous coach Mike Krzyzewski?

A: They are very different coaches with very different styles. One is a college coach whose lead assistant for a decade on the national team was another college coach: Jim Boeheim, whose zone expertise was an asset. Popovich is one of the best pro coaches of all time, and his lead assistant is a former player and champion coach in Steve Kerr. Popovich has much deeper roots in the international game than Coach K did when he first took over, as Popovich has coached numerous international players in San Antonio.

While Krzyzewski was determined to instill respect for opponents, he was a little more resistant to the international game when he started out than Popovich might be. Though Krzyzewski wasn't afraid to be fiery when he needed it, Popovich has a reputation for being gruff and demanding with players.

At the end of the day, they are both Hall of Famers and the team is in good hands.

NEW YORK -- For the second straight night, a New York Yankees win over their rival Boston Red Sox was tarnished by in-game injuries.

This time, infielders Gleyber Torres and Gio Urshela gave the Bronx Bombers a scare when both left Sunday's game due to injuries. At the moment, the update on Urshela is promising, while uncertainty looms over Torres' status.

According to Yankees manager Aaron Boone, Torres left Yankee Stadium late in the Bronx Bombers' 7-4 win and was taken to New York-Presbyterian Hospital, where he underwent tests related to a core issue. Boone declined to say how the injury occurred or provide any further details related to it. He wanted to wait until the results of the testing came back.

Torres' father tweeted late Sunday night that his son was being discharged and planned to travel with the Yankees for their road series opener against the Orioles.

"After the scare tonight, GT is leaving the hospital and everything is fine," the tweet said in Spanish. "The bus waits for him, and they go straight to Baltimore."

ESPN's Buster Olney noted following Torres' first-inning groundout to third base that he appeared to be in some discomfort while running down the first-base line. Torres stayed in the game until he was replaced in the eighth inning by DJ LeMahieu.

"GT's tough," Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge said. "Hope he shows up for Baltimore. He likes to hit at Camden Yards, so it would be nice to have him, for sure."

In 13 career games in Baltimore, Torres is batting .432 with eight homers and 14 RBIs. Seven of those eight have come in trips to the Inner Harbor this year. The exact cause of Urshela's injuries was plainly visible to the nearly 47,300 present on Sunday in the Bronx and the countless more watching the nationally televised game.

In the sixth inning, with no runners on and two out, Urshela was embroiled in a difficult at-bat with Red Sox reliever Ryan Weber when he fouled two pitches off his legs. First, he blasted an 89.9 mph sinker into a spot just above his right knee. Two pitches later, he sent another 89.9 mph sinker into his left shin.

After the first foul ball, Urshela hobbled around behind home plate, bending at the waist to gather himself as Boone and a trainer came to evaluate him. Urshela stayed in the game, only to instantly hit the ground when he sent the second ball off his left leg.

"He goes down, and you're just like, 'Man,'" Boone said.

Eventually, Urshela was helped to his feet after Boone and head athletic trainer Steve Donohue came out to see him. As he gathered himself to step back in the batter's box, the sellout crowd began chanting, "Gio! Gio!"

"I was going up and down the dugout saying he's going to hit a home run right here," Judge said.

He didn't. Urshela chopped the next pitch he saw back to Weber, who threw out the gingerly running Urshela at first base to end the inning. Boone came out one more time to check on his third baseman and left him in the game.

Two and a half innings later, Urshela had to depart.

"As the inning wore on and into the next inning, it seemed like it was stiffening up on him," Boone said, "so it was at that point, it was time to take him out."

X-rays were negative on both of Urshela's legs. He iced both and got them wrapped around the areas where he was struck. The wraps were so heavily constructed that as he prepared himself to speak with reporters following the game, Urshela had trouble putting on his pants around his right leg.

Sort of frustrated after trying to slip into the pant leg, he beckoned the reporters over and asked them to speak to him while he stood half-wearing his pants. Once the brief session was over, he sat down and was able to wiggle into the other pant leg.

"Feel better than I did during the game," Urshela said. "A little swollen."

For now, he said, he plans to be in the lineup on Monday in Baltimore.

Sunday's injuries came the day after the Yankees lost Edwin Encarnacion (hairline fracture in his right wrist) and Aaron Hicks (right flexor strain) to the injured list. Both could be out a significant amount of time, but the Yankees are hopeful that they will return with several weeks of the season remaining.

They were the latest to go on the Yankees' exhaustive 16-man injured list.

"This whole team's tough. Everyone's tough," Judge said. "We know what we've been through. So that's why it motivates a lot of us. We know how hard everybody's working and how beat up everybody is, and we've got to stay in there and keep fighting.

"We still have a lot of season left to play and a lot of baseball to play in October. We're just going to keep moving along, and the next guy is going to step up and keep doing his job. That's the coolest thing about this team is no one's trying to take the load on themselves. Everyone's trying to pass the baton and make sure of their responsibilities. I'm going to do my job, and the guy behind me is going to do his job."

In total, 25 Yankees have spent time on the IL this season. Torres is the lone member of New York's Opening Day starting lineup to have avoided the IL this year.

"It's been crazy here in that way, with the amount of things that have happened to guys physically, but it's also been something that's been a real rallying cry for us," Boone said. "And it's not just brought a level of physical toughness to the room, but it's forced guys to be mentally tough as well, and it's part of the hunger that exists with those guys. They have the mindset that nothing's going to get in our way and nothing's going to stop us. They all kind of pull for each other and know that the next guy is going to do the job."

With the trade deadline a few days behind us, it's a good time to take stock of where things are in the playoff races. Let's check in on the top 15 teams, based on the playoff odds at FanGraphs, and look at some key factors down the stretch.

Houston Astros

Playoff odds: 100%

Win World Series: 28.2%

Deadline additions: RHP Zack Greinke, RHP Aaron Sanchez, RHP Joe Biagini

Key injury to watch: Ryan Pressly has been one of the best relievers in the majors since the Astros acquired him last season from the Twins, posting a 1.73 ERA but is currently on the injured list because of a sore knee, apparently suffered after a batted ball struck him. It's not expected to be serious, and with Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa and George Springer all in the lineup, the Astros are probably the healthiest they've been since early last season.

Player to watch: All eyes will be on Greinke as he combines with Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole to give the Astros a tremendous 1-2-3 in the rotation, but Altuve is back swinging like Altuve. After hitting .248 in April and playing only 20 games in May and June, he has hit .374/.424/.661 since the beginning of July. Remember, he was banged up last October because of a knee issue.

Acquiring Greinke is a key not just for the postseason, but to help the Astros secure home-field advantage for the postseason. They're neck-and-neck with the Yankees (and the Twins aren't far behind) and recall that when Houston and New York met in the 2017 AL Championship Series, the home team won all seven games. Both the Astros and Yankees have sizable home/road splits this season, so this is something both teams will push for, at least a little harder than you might normally see:

Astros: 41-15 at home, 32-25 on the road
Yankees: 42-18 at home, 29-21 on the road

Los Angeles Dodgers

Playoff odds: 100%

Win World Series: 17.4%

Deadline additions: LHP Adam Kolarek, IF Jedd Gyorko, 1B Tyler White

Key injury to watch: Hyun-Jin Ryu was put on the IL a couple of days ago because of "neck soreness," which sounds more like code for "we want to give him a little breather before the playoff push begins." The most significant injury belongs to Chris Taylor, who is out because of a fractured left forearm.

Player to watch: I'm fascinated to see how Walker Buehler finishes the regular season, especially after he struck out 15 in a complete-game win over the Padres on Saturday. He has alternated dominant starts with bad ones since the end of June, with the three bad ones all coming on the road.

The Dodgers will win the NL West and have a comfortable lead over the Braves for best record in the NL. While it will be interesting to see how manager Dave Roberts sorts out the first base/second base adventure, especially once they get David Freese, Gyorko and Enrique Hernandez back, we all know that Dodgers fans were apocalyptic after the team added only Kolarek to the bullpen at the deadline. The Dodgers are eighth in the majors in bullpen ERA and fourth in lowest OPS allowed -- lower than the Yankees' vaunted pen -- so there is talent down here. It just hasn't been clutch, which is what it will take for the Dodgers to win the World Series.

New York Yankees

Playoff odds: 99.6%

Win World Series: 12.7%

Deadline additions: None

Key injury to watch: One? The Yankees' injury woes continued over the weekend as Edwin Encarnacion fractured his wrist and Aaron Hicks landed on the IL because of a sore elbow after making a throw Saturday. Gary Sanchez is expected back soon, Dellin Betances might return in August and Giancarlo Stanton in September, but the key injury is Luis Severino. He's supposed to throw off a mound this week and the Yankees are still hoping for a return in late August/early September, but we'll see if that's as a starter, an extended opener or a reliever.

Player to watch: Not acquiring a starter puts more pressure on James Paxton to step up. He has been alternatingly dominant (123 K's in 95⅔ innings) and hittable (.272 average, 18 home runs allowed). He has pitched fewer than five innings more times (eight) than he has pitched six or more innings (seven). Of course, going deeper into games won't be a big deal in October, but Aaron Boone would like to see some consistency down the stretch.

The Yankees have soared to a big lead thanks to a great bullpen and backups who have stepped up big time -- Gio Urshela, Mike Tauchman and Clint Frazier, for example, have all batted at least 175 times and are slugging over .500. Luke Voit and Aaron Judge aren't even slugging .500 on the season. It will be nice to get everyone healthy and Stanton at-bats in September to see if he can contribute. Still, it feels as if the final weeks of the season will be mostly about getting the rotation figured out for October -- while also trying to beat out the Astros for home-field advantage. Keep in mind the rotation ERA by month:

April: 3.50
May: 4.07
June: 5.75
July: 6.18

Minnesota Twins

Playoff odds: 97.8%

Win World Series: 8.2%

Deadline additions: RHP Sam Dyson, RHP Sergio Romo

Key injury to watch: Dyson pitched two games with the Twins, gave up six runs and landed on the IL because of biceps tendinitis. Byron Buxton is out for a couple of weeks after crashing into a wall Thursday.

Player to watch: Holy cow, Nelson Cruz is some kind of hot right now. He homered three times Saturday after homering three times on July 25. Since June 5, he is hitting .315/.413/.758.

The Indians clawed to within one game of the AL Central lead last weekend and the Twins have responded with six wins in seven games. They continue to mash home runs at an historic pace -- they could break the Yankees' record (set last year) by the end of August. Dyson and Romo were added to help a bullpen that is more "meh" than playoff worthy (aside from Taylor Rogers, who has been excellent, and Ryne Harper). But Dyson immediately landed on the injured list. The Twins have an easier schedule than the Indians down the stretch, but 10 head-to-head games could decide the division.

Chicago Cubs

Playoff odds: 86.9%

Win World Series: 7.5%

Deadline additions: OF Nicholas Castellanos, OF/2B Tony Kemp, RHP David Phelps, LHP Brad Wieck, LHP Derek Holland

Key injury to watch: Willson Contreras came up lame Saturday because of a hamstring injury. He missed two months because of a similar injury in 2017, so this could be a huge blow -- especially since the Cubs just traded Martin Maldonado for Kemp.

Player to watch: Castellanos started his first four games with the Cubs, so it looks as if Joe Maddon is going to give him every opportunity to play full time, even though he's a subpar defender.

You know the story of the 2019 Cubs: They've been healthy, but just haven't equaled the sum of their parts. Everyone talks about the bullpen and, yes, the bullpen hasn't been great, ranking 10th in the majors in ERA, 20th in win probability added and next-to-last in walk rate, a problem with Cubs relievers for a couple of years now. But the offense has been more good than great -- sixth in the NL in runs per game. That's why Castellanos will get a chance to play. The Contreras injury hurts as well, so the pressure ramps up on the meat of the order to be even more productive.

Atlanta Braves

Playoff odds: 98.8%

Win World Series: 7.4%

Deadline additions: RHP Shane Greene, RHP Mark Melancon, RHP Chris Martin

Key injury to watch: Nick Markakis is out until mid-to-late September because of a fractured left wrist. (Note: a lot of fractured wrists this year. Hit by pitches per game are once again at an all-time high, matching last year's 0.40 per team per game. That's double the rate of 1989.)

Player to watch: Mike Soroka continues to get ground balls and keep runs off the scoreboard. He's at 123⅓ innings including his two Triple-A starts, after throwing 56⅓ last season, when he missed time. He did throw 153⅔ in the minors in 2017 and his efficiency makes his 123⅓ innings less taxing than for a typical starter. The Braves have said there's no limit on his innings.

The Braves added the three good bullpen arms for the stretch run, and Greene promptly blew a save on Saturday (on a couple of soft hits) and got the loss Sunday when he gave up a three-run homer in the 10th. Pitching on a bad team in Detroit might not be quite the same thing as pitching on a first-place team in a pennant race. Note that FanGraphs gives the Braves a higher chance of making the playoffs than the Cubs -- since they have a big lead in the division -- but the Cubs better odds of winning the World Series, probably due to the Cubs' projected edge in starting pitching.

Cleveland Indians

Playoff odds: 82%

Win World Series: 5%

Deadline additions: OF Yasiel Puig, OF Franmil Reyes, RHP Hunter Wood

Key injury to watch: Corey Kluber will make his first rehab start on Thursday in Triple-A as he comes back from a fractured forearm.

Player to watch: What will Puig give the Indians? He has been all over the place this season, hitting .192 in April, slugging .609 in June and hitting a solid .292/.340/.528 in July. Maybe Cleveland better hope for a warm September (and October, if the Indians make the postseason).

The Indians are certainly banking on Kluber filling the place of exiled Trevor Bauer in the rotation, and hoping Puig and Reyes provide some pop in the outfield. Keep in mind that early in the season there were concerns Kluber had lost some stuff (he had a 5.80 ERA in seven starts). Maybe the layoff will help a fresher Kluber finish strong. There's also the matter of the schedule: There are those 10 games against the Twins, but while the Twins have 26 games remaining against the White Sox, Royals and Tigers, the Indians have only 16.

Washington Nationals

Playoff odds: 72.7%

Win World Series: 3.8%

Deadline additions: RHP Daniel Hudson, RHP Hunter Strickland, LHP Roenis Elias

Key injury to watch: Max Scherzer is out because of shoulder/neck inflammation, a rare injury for a pitcher who has made 30-plus starts all 10 seasons of his career. Needless to say ...

Player to watch: I guess Stephen Strasburg was due for a stinker after winning seven starts in a row and not giving up a home run in July. The Diamondbacks pounded him for nine runs and three home runs over the weekend, and if Scherzer is going to miss a few starts, the Nats will need an ace-level Strasburg.

The Nationals got their deficit in the NL East down to four games after that doubleheader sweep of the Rockies on July 24, but now it's back up to seven games as they've gone 3-7 over their past 10 games. They traded for some much-needed relief help, but their three additions aren't as good as the three relievers the Braves acquired -- and then Elias pulled a hamstring while batting (he was told not to swing, but did and got hurt running to first). He's expected to just miss the 10 days and it's not as if he's a big difference-maker anyway. Washington still has seven games against the Braves, but rallying from seven down at this point will be difficult. FanGraphs gives the Nats just 11.5% odds of winning the division.

Tampa Bay Rays

Playoff odds: 69.5%

Win World Series: 3.3%

Deadline additions: 1B Jesus Aguilar, RHP Nick Anderson, RHP Trevor Richards, 2B Eric Sogard

Key injury to watch: Cy Young winner Blake Snell had surgery in late July to remove "loose bodies" from his elbow. The hope is he's back in mid-September. The more immediate help will come from All-Star second baseman Brandon Lowe, who has been slow to return from a right shin bruise suffered in early June.

Player to watch: Aguilar homered Sunday and maybe he can find the power stroke that made him a 2018 All-Star with the Brewers. He hit well in a part-time role with the Brewers in July (.921 OPS).

The Rays are a little beat up right now, thus some of the tinkering around the edges at the trade deadline, giving up prospect Jesus Sanchez and valuable opener/reliever Ryne Stanek in the process. They need to take advantage of their next 19 games to build some cushion in the wild-card race as they face the Blue Jays, Mariners, Padres, Tigers, Mariners and Orioles. They've won six in a row -- including a sweep over the Red Sox -- so they enter this stretch in a good frame of mind. Their organizational depth has been key to overcoming the injuries, and bodes well to keeping them close down the stretch -- although they have to play the Dodgers, Red Sox and Yankees in three of their final four series (before closing with Toronto).

Boston Red Sox

Playoff odds: 19.1%

Win World Series: 1.6%

Deadline additions: None (acquired Andrew Cashner earlier)

Key injury to watch: Nothing major. Steve Pearce is out because of a back strain and Heath Hembree landed on the IL because of elbow inflammation.

Player to watch: Chris Sale is averaging 13.1 strikeout per nine innings -- that would be the third-highest rate ever for a starter -- but he's also 5-11 with a 4.68 ERA. Batters are hitting .211 off him with the bases empty, but .260 with a .500 slugging percentage with runners on. The strikeout rate is nice, but the runs allowed rate is what matters most. He needs to have a dominant stretch run.

The Red Sox were suddenly looking reborn after taking three of four from the Yankees last weekend -- only to get swept at home by the Rays and by the Yankees in New York. Sale was blasted for eight runs in his game against the Yankees (after losing the series finale to the Yankees last weekend), but it's not all his fault. Rick Porcello has been terrible (5.74 ERA) and Cashner hasn't been good in his four starts. The bullpen has understandably received a lot of the blame, but look at the fall of the rotation:

2018: 10th in WAR, third in win probability added
2019: 14th in WAR, 20th in win probability added

There's still time for the Red Sox to make a run, but as those playoff odds suggest, it's starting to look as if it won't happen.

St. Louis Cardinals

Playoff odds: 48.4%

Win World Series: 1.4%

Deadline additions: None

Key injury to watch: Matt Carpenter returned Sunday from his right foot injury and Yadier Molina could return next week from a thumb injury. Neither have had good seasons (Carpenter .688 OPS, Molina .654).

Player to watch: Carpenter. The Cardinals rank 26th in the majors in wOBA from their third basemen -- after ranking seventh last season. If Carpenter can get it going from the leadoff spot, that will help the rest of the lineup.

But is the lineup good enough? Everyone keeps talking about the pitching, but St. Louis is just 11th in the NL in runs per game. The Pirates score more runs than the Cardinals. Eighty-two players with at least 200 plate appearances are slugging .500, but the Cardinals have only one in this year of the slug: Marcell Ozuna. They have played well since the All-Star break (14-8), in part because Paul Goldschmidt has heated up. They have seven games against the Cubs and nine against the Brewers, so there's plenty of heated head-to-head action to come in the NL Central.

New York Mets

Playoff odds: 29.9%

Win World Series: 1.3%

Deadline addition: RHP Marcus Stroman

Key injury to watch: Brandon Nimmo might be back in mid- to late August from his neck issues. Dominic Smith is out until mid-September because of a stress fracture in his foot. Jed Lowrie ... is still on the 40-man roster.

Player to watch: The Mets did not trade Noah Syndergaard (or Zack Wheeler), instead electing to see where this current hot streak will take them. Syndergaard is 8-5 with a 3.96 ERA and has gone seven-plus innings five starts in a row.

On July 12, the Mets were 40-51 and seven games out of the second wild-card spot. They had the second-worst record in the NL, so they were not only seven games out, but had nine teams to jump over. Everyone expected them to trade Wheeler and maybe Syndergaard. Now they're 55-56 and three games behind the Nationals and Phillies for the second wild card. Hey, maybe 50 years later we can have another Miracle Mets team.

Oakland Athletics

Playoff odds: 31.4%

Win World Series: 0.9%

Deadline additions: RHP Tanner Roark, LHP Jake Diekman

Key injury to watch: Defensive whiz Ramon Laureano is out for a month or so because of a stress reaction in his right shin.

Player to watch: Sean Manaea has made five rehab starts in his return from last season's shoulder injury and could be back soon. He has a 7.71 ERA in those outings but has 25 strikeouts and six walks in 18⅔ innings. Remember, he was the staff ace last season until going down.

Have we learned yet? Never ignore -- or give up on -- the A's. Like last season, they started slow and were still under .500 as late as June 10. They've gone 31-14 since then (second-best mark in the majors to Cleveland's 33-13). They'll miss Laureano in center field, but deadline pickup Roark had a good Oakland debut, beating the Cardinals on Sunday, giving up one run in five innings. One schedule note in their favor: They finish with 15 games against the Rangers, Royals, Angels and Mariners, all of whom probably will be playing out the string. The A's could finish with a flourish and head back to another wild-card game.

Milwaukee Brewers

Playoff odds: 21.3%

Win World Series: 0.7%

Deadline additions: RHP Jake Faria, RHP Jordan Lyles, LHP Drew Pomeranz

Key injury to watch: Brandon Woodruff is out until September because of an oblique strain. Jhoulys Chacin is out because of a lat strain. Jimmy Nelson just began a rehab assignment and could return at the end of August (although maybe as a reliever instead of a starter). Too many injuries for a pitching-starved staff.

Player to watch: You mean besides Christian Yelich? How about new call-up Trent Grisham, who went 3-for-4 with his first home run on Sunday, batting leadoff. The former first-round pick had a .407 OBP with 26 home runs in the minors.

Really, it's a minor miracle the Brewers are still only four games back of the first-place Cubs. They've been outscored by 19 runs. Some key offensive performers from 2018 haven't been as good (Lorenzo Cain, Travis Shaw, the now-departed Jesus Aguilar). Chacin, so valuable last year, was 3-10 with a 5.79 ERA. Even Josh Hader has been simultaneously scary unhittable (96 K's in 52⅓ innings) and homer prone (11 allowed, leading to a 1-5 record). Obviously, the sweep to the Cubs this weekend was a big blow -- their playoffs odds dropped from 34.1% to 21.3% and their division odds from 16.2% to 6.6%.

Philadelphia Phillies

Playoff odds: 25.2%

Win World Series: 0.4%

Deadline additions: LF Corey Dickerson, LHP Jason Vargas

Key injury to watch: Jake Arrieta is pitching through a bone spur in his elbow that has clearly left him at less than 100%, most notably that he has had to shelve his slider/cutter as part of his arsenal. He also has been held under 90 pitches for five starts in a row. Still, he has given up one earned run in three of his past four outings.

Player to watch: Bryce Harper. Is it weird how little we've talked about Harper this season, once we got past the start of the season? He has 19 home runs -- but 55 players have at least 20. Maybe we'll talk about him more the final two months.

The Phillies got criticized for not doing more at the break, but that seems unfair given this front office acquired Harper, J.T. Realmuto, Jean Segura, Andrew McCutchen and David Robertson in the offseason. That was their winter and trade deadline all wrapped into a big flurry of activity. It just hasn't worked as expected -- and yet there they are, tied with the Nationals for the second wild card. FanGraphs obviously likes the Nationals better -- heck, even the Mets are given better odds at making the playoffs than the Phillies. That's due to a rotation that is suddenly relying on Vargas and Drew Smyly. I wouldn't bet on those guys. Then again, in this crazy playoff race, I wouldn't bet against them either.

CHICAGO -- It has been five years of big swings and bigger home runs. It has been five years of adventures on the basepaths few would even attempt. And it has been a half-decade of tags with the sleight of hand reserved for a magician -- hence the nickname "El Mago."

Mostly, it has been five years of swag.

Chicago Cubs star Javier Baez celebrates the fifth anniversary of his call-up to the big leagues on Monday, when the streaky Cubs host the Oakland Athletics with a 1½-game lead in the NL Central.

The Cubs have several stars on their roster, but none bigger than Baez, who plays the game with "fearlessness," according to his manager, with "unbelievable energy," in the words of his teammates, all while being called "adorable" by his, well, adoring fans. Baez has come a long way since he was a brash kid who "swung at everything."

"I was sitting in the stands for one of his early games in 2014," teammate Kris Bryant said over the weekend. "I was getting the minor league player of the year award, and he had a bad game. Swung at everything. You saw the reaction he got then and the reactions he gets now. It's night and day."

Perhaps no Cub in recent memory has been viewed with such skepticism when he first got to the big leagues -- as a first-round pick -- but has turned naysayers into die-hard fans over the course of his five-year career. Seemingly everyone loves Javier Baez.

"He's got that 'it' factor when he steps onto the field," Jon Lester said. "He reminds of me of David Ortiz. When David came on deck, no one cared who was up to bat. But Baez has it on defense too. When the ball is hit to him and when he gets to it, everyone stops what they're doing and pays attention.

"I've never seen that."

That last sentence might be one of the most repeated phrases about Baez. His uniqueness has taken him from free swinger to superstar even though he has just a .311 career on-base percentage and leads the majors in strikeouts. People don't care -- certainly not his manager.

"He's willing to take chances that no one else will because he's not afraid," manager Joe Maddon said. "He plays the game fearlessly. He plays the game as a game, whereas a lot of guys can't do that. The reason is if someone makes a mistake, they feel like they have to make it in a more mundane manner because it's more acceptable.

"And in the same token, if you make a mistake in a more flamboyant manner, it's going to be frowned upon. He doesn't care. And I don't want him to ever care."

Asked why Baez might be the biggest star on the team, Bryant -- a star in his own right -- said this:

"The energy. The persona. The flashiness and ease he goes about things. People love that stuff. The tags and the baserunning. He has an eye for the camera. He's so unique. No one is like him."

That, more than anything, is what attracts even casual fans to Baez.

"He's my favorite, for sure," said Cubs fan Jill Oldham, from Highland Park. "I love watching him. And I love his smile."

Oldham isn't a season-ticket holder or even someone who watches or attends that many games. But she'll stop what she's doing when "El Mago" is doing his thing. And Baez's smile tells you everything you need to know about his attitude toward the game.

"It's fun," Baez said. "It's fun everyone knows you and expects big things from you. I don't let that get into my game. I have to play my game, and when I make mistakes, it happens. Just play the game hard."

Lest you think a low on-base percentage or high strikeout total takes anything away from his game, consider his accomplishments over five years: co-MVP of the 2016 NL Championship Series, runner-up for NL MVP in 2018, All-Star starter at second base and shortstop in consecutive seasons and, of course, a World Series winner. Like several of his teammates, over his four full seasons in the big leagues, his team has never missed the postseason.

Since his debut in Colorado five years ago Monday -- he homered in that game -- Baez is third on the Cubs in hits, home runs, RBIs and runs scored while leading the team in stolen bases. And he wasn't an everyday player until 2017.

"Just making adjustments," Baez said of how he has progressed. "That's the hardest thing, but you have to do it."

Although he might have been brash at one time, that isn't how Maddon views him. What the manager calls Baez's "attentiveness" to his sister Noely, who had spina bifida and died in 2015, was a window inside the Cubs star.

"That will always be part of his fabric," Maddon said. "There's no questioning Javy as a human being. ... How has he changed over the past five years? He hasn't. I'm seeing the same guy. He's so grounded."

On the field, Maddon's deft hand in his player's ascension to stardom over the past half-decade might be some of his best work.

He let Javy be Javy.

"The game on the field? Less mental mistakes," Maddon said. "When I first saw him, he didn't always make the routine play routinely. Now he does that and still makes his fabulous plays. I've said it many times: I never want to coach the aggressiveness out of him."

Baez says he'll never change because he simply can't play the game any other way.

"A lot of people change, but what got me here is me being me," he said. "I want to stay the same."

That sounds like a promise for another five years of more. More tags. More crazy risks on the bases -- which normally work in his favor.

And more swag. Not everyone has it.

"He has that charismatic feature about him," Lester said. "I love watching him."

"It's been a pretty fast five years," Baez said. "I've been through a lot of ups and downs. I feel great. And I'm healthy. Why can't I keep it up?"

Highlights from the German Championships, Norwegian Championships, World Para Athletics Junior Championships, England combined events action and more

Coverage of national league action, with Thames Valley and Birchfield retaining their respective UKWL and BAL titles, can be found here.

A report on Sharon Gayter’s JOGLE record, as she ran from John O’Groats to Land’s End in 12 days, 11 hours, 6 minutes and 7 seconds, is here.

Other recent highlights from both the UK and overseas are below.

German Championships, Berlin, August 3-4

Malaika Mihambo was among those in national championships action to impress as she set a PB and world-leading long jump mark of 7.16m (0.4m/sec).

It continued a run of great form for the 25-year-old, who first cleared seven metres at the beginning of June and since then has remained undefeated. Her results include 7.07m at the Rome Diamond League, 7.05m in Dessau, 7.02m at the Müller Anniversary Games in London and then 7.16m in Berlin to win her national title.

Mihambo also equalled her PB of 11.21 to place third in the 100m, with Tatjana Pinto claiming a sprint double with times of 11.09 to win the 100m and 22.65 PB to win the 200m.

Konstanze Klosterhalfen clocked a national record of 14:26.76 to win the 5000m title, moving to fourth on the European all-time list, while Andreas Hofmann and Christin Hussong won javelin titles with respective throws of 87.07m and 65.33m.

Raphael Holzdeppe won the men’s pole vault title with a 5.76m clearance, while Gesa Felicitas Krause won the women’s 3000m steeplechase in 9:28.45.

Norwegian Championships, Hamar, August 2-4

After winning the 400m hurdles in 47.43, the third fastest time of his career, Karsten Warholm took the 400m title in 45.54.

Each of the Ingebrigtsen brothers claimed a title, with Jakob winning the 1500m in a championship record of 3:36.33, Filip winning the 800m in 1:48.45 and Henrik winning the 5000m in 13:50.77.

Sondre Nordstad Moen won the 10,000m in 28:13.14 after placing third in the 5000m in 13:57.88.

Isabelle Pedersen clocked 13.16 (+1.2m/sec) to win the 100m hurdles, while Karoline Bjerkeli Grovdal won the 3000m steeplechase in a solo 9:24.53.

Chinese trials, Shenyang, August 2-3

Lyu Huihui improved her Asian javelin record and world lead to 67.98m, while world champion Gong Lijiao threw 19.16m to win the shot put and world silver medallist Wang Zheng threw 73.81m to win the hammer.

Xie Wenjun won the 110m hurdles in 13.43.

Xie Zhenye and Liang Xiaojing both secured sprint doubles, with Xie winning the men’s 100m in 10.03 and 200m in 20.34, and Liang clocking 11.27 (-1.2m/s) for the women’s 100m title and 22.93 for the 200m.

World Para Athletics Junior Championships, Nottwil, Switzerland, August 1-4

USA topped the medals table with 16 gold, three silver and nine bronze medals ahead of India and Germany, with a total of seven world records set over the four days of competition.

Among the world record-breakers was South Africa’s 14-year-old Puseletso Mabote, who won the T45-64 200m in 26.36 to slice 0.08 off the previous T63 mark set in June by Atsushi Yamamoto.

The Great Britain team placed ninth in the combined under-17 and under-20 medal table, with four gold, nine silver and four bronze medals.

Karim Chan won the under-20 men’s T20 long jump, while Barney Corrall won the under-20 men’s T35-38 long jump and Zien Zhou secured a winning double in the under-20 men’s T33-34 100m and 200m.

Zhou also secured silver in the 400m, while other GB silver medallists were Matt Cooper in the under-20 men’s T33-34 100m, Abbie McNally in the under-20 women’s T35-38 100m and 200m, Eden Rainbow-Cooper in the under-20 women’s T54 400m, 800m and 1500m and team captain Kirsty Taylor in the under-20 women’s T44-64 100m and 200m.

GB bronze medallists were Cooper in the 200m and 400m, Ethan Kirby in the under-20 men’s T20 400m and Prince Reid in the under-20 men’s T20 1500m.

England Athletics Combined Events Championships, Manchester, August 3-4

In the senior men’s decathlon international, Elliot Thompson took the title with a score of 7025 points, watched by his father, two-time Olympic champion Daley.

Elliot Thompson was among the winners at this weekend's England Athletics combined events champs. He scored 7025 to win the senior decathlon and was watched by his famous father, Daley. pic.twitter.com/p64ESgY6QO

— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) August 4, 2019

The senior women’s heptathlon event was won by Katie Stainton with 5989 points.

Adam Hoole won the under-17 men’s decathlon (5504 points), while Abigail Pawlett took the under-17 women’s heptathlon title, with her score of 5324 points moving her to second behind Morgan Lake (5474) on the UK under-17 all-time list.

Sammy Ball won the under-15 boys’ octathlon and Erin Lobley the under-15 girls’ hexathlon.

Bern, Switzerland, August 3

Marcin Lewandowski ran 1:46.12 to win an 800m loaded with Brits. Behind the Pole, Andrew Osagie was fourth in 1:46.87, Charlie Grice fifth in 1:46.95 and Kyle Langford seventh in 1:47.19.

Other Brits in action included Feron Sayers who won the long jump with 7.86m (-0.8m/sec), David Smith who won the high jump with a 2.21m clearance and Asha Philip who clocked 11.45 in the 100m. In 400m hurdles action, Meghan Beesley clocked 55.75 and Jessica Turner 55.95, while Chris McAlister ran 49.39 and Jacob Paul 49.87. Mari Smith clocked 86.69 and Ellie Baker 88.31 in the 600m.

Beach to Beacon 10K, Cape Elizabeth, USA, August 3

Alex Korio (27:34) and Joyciline Jepkosgei (31:05) won the 10km, with some strong GB performances including a third place by Charlotte Purdue in 32:17, fifth for Callum Hawkins in 28:55 and sixth for Jess Piasecki in 32:51.

Tromsø Skyrace, Norway, August 3

World ultra trail champion Jonathan Albon claimed victory in the 57km Skyrunner World Series event, while his fellow Brit Holly Page was second in the women’s event behind Johanna Åström.

?AMAZING?

Look at the three leaders of @TromsoSkyrace running and jumping in the Hamperokken ridge ?

? @albertjorquera pic.twitter.com/Sg4dEbdP8f

— Skyrunning (@Skyrunning_com) August 3, 2019

Leiria, Portugal, August 3-4

Taylor Campbell threw a PB of 74.26m in the hammer, while Osian Jones set a Welsh record of 73.85m to make it a GB 1-2.

Kirsty Law threw 57.13m and Zane Duquemin 61.02m in the discus.

Aled Davies threw 15.96m in the shot put.

Sunshine Coast Half Marathon, Australia, August 4

Lisa Weightman broke the Australian all-comers’ record with her winning time of 68:48 ahead of Sinead Diver (69:08) and Ellie Pashley (69:14).

Kevin Batt won the men’s race in 64:12 from Louis McAfee (64:14) and James Coleman (64:20). Defending champion Jack Rayner had crossed the line first a couple of minutes earlier but had gone off course and was disqualified.

Soar Summer Mile, London, August 3

Dom Brown won the evening’s final race in 4:01.97.

Revee Walcott-Nolan was the fastest woman, her 4:37.27 easily winning race 10.

Revee Walcott-Nolan is fastest woman at the Soar Mile with 4:37.27 in easily winning Race 10 at London Marathon Community Stadium pic.twitter.com/qVs7zLQkhr

— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) August 2, 2019

In her 53rd race of 2019, Clare Elms improved her world W55 mile record to 5:10.39 for her 19th world or British record of the year.

ABP Barry Island 10K, Wales, August 4

Josh Griffiths and Natasha Cockram backed up their victories in Porthcawl as they rounded off the Healthspan Wales 10K Series with wins in the ABP Barry Island 10K, clocking respective times of 30:22 and 34:43.

Birmingham Relays and BMC Gold Standard Races, August 2

In the steeplechase events, Georgia Winkcup achieved a world championships qualifying time and BMC record with 9:37.43, while Phil Norman won the men’s race in 8:30.43.

In the 4x800m, a ‘BMC Juniors’ team of Callum Dodds, Yusuf Bizimana, Finley Mclear and Josh Lay ran 7:20.82 for a world under-20 record, subject to ratification.

The women’s race was won by a University of Birmingham team featuring Isabelle Boffey, Emily Thompson, Maisie Grice and Saskia Millard as the quartet clocked a British under-20 record of 8:39.73.

Malonno, Italy, August 3

The ‘PizTriVertiKal’ vertical kilometre races were won by Italy’s Henri Aimonod (34:50) and Austria’s Andrea Mayr (37:20).

Britain’s Jacob Adkin was third in the men’s race in 35:27, with Andrew Douglas seventh in 37:28 and Joseph Dugdale eighth in 38:09.

In the women’s race, Britain’s Heidi Davies was third in 41:38, Ireland’s Sarah McCormack seventh in 43:16 and Sophie Noon 10th in 49:08.

With info from corsainmontagna.it

Malonno, Italy, August 4

Heidi Davies returned the following day to win the 21km FlettaTRAIL in 1:41:25 as Sarah McCormack was third in 1:45:55. Davies’ fellow Brit Emma Clayton was eighth in 1:54:29.

The men’s race was won by Italy’s Cesare Maestri in a course record of 1:25:26 ahead of Britain’s Robbie Simpson (1:25:37). Andrew Douglas was fifth (1:27:43).

With info from corsainmontagna.it

KENT, Wash. – John Force powered to his 150th Funny Car win on Sunday, rolling to the milestone victory at the 32nd annual Magic Dry Absorbent NHRA Northwest Nationals.

While Force earned his 150th career win, John Force Racing teammate and Top Fuel rookie Austin Prock picked up his first win as part of a historic day for John Force Racing.

Matt Hartford also won in Pro Stock at the 16th of 24 races during the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season. It was the final of three races on the famed NHRA Western Swing.

Force, the 16-time Funny Car world champion and the NHRA’s winningest driver, beat Ron Capps in the final round thanks to his run of 3.971 seconds at 320.58 mph in his PEAK Chevrolet Camaro. Capps ran 4.018 seconds at 309.91 mph in the final round. It marked Force’s first victory in 25 races dating back to last season and his ninth win at Pacific Raceways.

“I give credit to a lot of crew chiefs over the years,” Force said. “I got the monkey off my back and it drove me nuts. But it taught me to focus on my car if I want to do (well). I had to get to know my car and sometimes you need a slap in the face. That was the monkey that made me focus. I’ve been living it here the last 4-5 races and we found something real critical. I may not be as young as these kids, but I’m excited. I can calm down now and not live with that thinking that I’ll never get it.”

Force beat Jim Campbell, teammate and points leader Robert Hight and Jack Beckman to reach the final round for the 253rd time in his NHRA career. Capps, who is second all-time in Funny Car wins to Force, beat Tim Wilkerson, defending world champ J.R. Todd and Matt Hagan to make his 121st final round.

Force, though, prevailed in the 103rd head-to-head matchup between the two longtime rivals on Sunday in the championship round.

“Give me a good race car and I can race,” Force said. “I know Capps wanted to beat me and he was giving it all he had. He’s the real deal, he’s a real great racer, and today luck was just with me and I got the win. Ron was the first one over to congratulate me and that’s the kind of guy he is. But there’s certain tracks I’m really happy at and I’ve always loved Seattle. I’m in the hunt and that’s all I ever wanted to do was to be in the hunt.”

Top Fuel rookie Prock picked up his first professional win by going 3.875 seconds at 307.86 mph in his Montana Brand/Rocky Mountain Twist dragster to beat defending world champ and points leader Steve Torrence in the finals.

Prock beat Leah Pritchett, Clay Millican and Mike Salinas to reach his first career final round as well.

Torrence advanced to his 52nd final round by beating Steve Chrisman, Antron Brown and Shawn Reed. Prock was motivated to try and knock off Torrence, who has eight wins this season, in the finals after watching Force pick up his 150th win the pair before him.

“This is just unbelievable,” Prock said. “I have to thank John Force for giving me this opportunity. I’m still speechless. This is a dream come true. I’ve wanted this ever since I was knee-high. Ever since I could think, I wanted to drive a Top Fuel car. We said when John gets 150, I’m going to get my first one and it all came together perfectly. We put all the pieces of the puzzle together today. I wanted to race (Torrence) in the final round. I wanted to be the guy that stopped him.”

In Pro Stock, Hartford denied Greg Anderson the chance to sweep the Western Swing, going 6.606 seconds at 209.33 mph in the final round in his Total Seal Camaro to beat Anderson on a holeshot. Anderson went 6.596 seconds at 210.31 mph, but Hartford was quicker off the starting line to pick up the win for the first time this season and second time in his career.

Hartford beat points leader Bo Butner, No. 1 qualifier Jeg Coughlin Jr. and Deric Kramer to reach the final round, while Anderson knocked off Fernando Cuadra Jr., Erica Enders and Alex Laughlin to earn his 156th finals appearance.

Anderson had a chance to become the first driver in NHRA history sweep the Western Swing twice, but Hartford delivered an impressive final-round showing in a rematch of the opening race of the Western Swing. Hartford also picked up his first career head-to-head win against the four-time world champ.

“We had a win light against Bo, which really set the momentum for the day,” Hartford said. “Greg Anderson is obviously one of the best that’s ever raced in the class and he’s closing in some monumental records. But he had beaten me 10 out of 10 times and, once again, we went up there knowing we had to go ‘A to B’ and whoever leaves first should win the race. We figured we had a good chance, the driver just had to be on his game.”

DUBUQUE, Iowa – He hit the gas early and never looked back.

Matt Gansen raced to the front from his fifth starting position and won his second race in the last three tries at Dubuque Speedway Sunday evening.

The Merfeld Brothers Automotive IMCA Modified ace took the non-stop 20-lap affair over early leader Timmy Current, Bryce Garnhart, Jed Freiburger and Jeff Larson.

Jason Roth finally got the monkey off his back in the Peosta Warehousing Logistics IMCA SportMods 15-lap finale. After leading the previous three, he kept it on top this night for the win. Fellow Wisconsin driver Travis Fecht, Jake Murphy, Justin Becker and Mitch Current followed. Becker started the race in the rear.

Cole Mather topped the K Motorsports IMCA Stock Car 10-lap feature one more time. Freiburger in Justin Brimeyer’s machine, Reece Norton and Kenny Taylor were next.

Daniel Wauters made a late slide job on Shane Oberbreckling work and hung on to win the Kinsella Concrete IMCA Hobby Stock 10-lap main. Brian Brunscheen, Brandon White and Roger Winkers followed.

Jason Robbins used the low groove en route to the 9:1 Limited Late Model 15-lap win. David Webster recovered from an early spin to take second ahead of D.J. Sweet, Jeff Schmidt and Steve Schueller.

Fifty-one race teams hit the track for 12 total events plus mechanics races and racing was completed about 8:30 p.m.