Baseball’s Paradox: Money Is Flowing on the Brink of a Shutdown

By BY TYLER KEPNER from NYT Sports Players are agreeing to huge contracts, and even struggling teams are getting in on the action. With a lockout looming, recalibration may be preferable to reinvention.https://nyti.ms/31aBgyu

M.L.B. Free-Agency Tracker: Tigers Sign Eduardo Rodriguez

By BY BENJAMIN HOFFMAN from NYT Sports Rodriguez gives Detroit a veteran left-hander to anchor the rotation. Noah Syndergaard, meanwhile, heads to the Angels.https://nyti.ms/3qTSwCC

Thor’s Exit: Noah Syndergaard Finalizes Deal With Angels

By BY BENJAMIN HOFFMAN from NYT Sports The oft-injured starter will try to re-establish himself in Los Angeles after a deal that netted the Mets a draft pick.https://nyti.ms/3Dp2yPV

Amid Fear of a Work Stoppage, Baseball Is Stuck in Neutral

By BY JAMES WAGNER from NYT Sports Baseball’s general managers have been meeting, just as they always do, but the potential of a lockout has a star-studded group of free agents waiting for the dust to settle.https://nyti.ms/3FbSgmK

Odell Beckham Jr. Agrees to Deal With Los Angeles Rams

By BY EMMANUEL MORGAN from NYT Sports Beckham will join the Rams after a rocky tenure with the Cleveland Browns, who released him last week.https://nyti.ms/3wHn8se

Three Big Questions Heading Into Free Agency

By BY BENJAMIN HOFFMAN from NYT Sports Is Carlos Correa the next $300 million player? Would Freddie Freeman leave Atlanta? Can Toronto keep its bargain-bin finds? We may be waiting a long time to find out.https://nyti.ms/3whxkY9

What the Ben Simmons Standoff Means for the Sixers and the N.B.A.

By BY SOPAN DEB AND JONATHAN ABRAMS from NYT Sports Simmons is the latest N.B.A. star to ask for a trade then try to force his way off a team, but Philadelphia is holding firm so far.https://nyti.ms/3Gh8fkO

Kyle Lowry Is Ready to Have His Say, On and Off the Court

By Unknown Author from NYT Sports He bounced around the N.B.A., won a championship in Toronto then flexed a little power to find happiness in Miami.https://nyti.ms/3vvHMef

The Knicks Are Ready for a Sequel. The Good Kind.

By BY SOPAN DEB from NYT Sports The Knicks are positioned to build on last season’s success after an off-season of smart moves.https://nyti.ms/3E0d0Nl

After Injuries and a Call From Tom Brady, Richard Sherman Joins the Buccaneers

By BY KEN BELSON from NYT Sports Sherman is facing criminal charges for five misdemeanors, including two for domestic violence, from an arrest this summer. The free agent cornerback was recruited to Tampa Bay by his former rival.https://nyti.ms/3Fe5mAL

Lamar Jackson’s Bold Play: A Contract Without an Agent

By BY KEN BELSON from NYT Sports Jackson is leading his own negotiation for a contract extension with the Ravens, challenging the norms of executives’ relationships to N.F.L. players and raising questions about the efficacy of agents.https://nyti.ms/3AVLakl

Ruly Carpenter, 81, Dies; Owned the Phillies’ First Championship Team

By BY RICHARD SANDOMIR from NYT Sports Distressed by soaring salaries, he sold the team a year after they beat Kansas City in the 1980 World Series. “We hoped common sense would prevail,’’ he said. “But it didn’t.”https://nyti.ms/3EyCbYP

Can’t Find a Franchise Quarterback? Shop for the Best Antidote.

By BY MIKE TANIER from NYT Sports N.F.L. teams are in an ever-escalating arms race to generate maximum pressure on opposing quarterbacks. The Steelers pass rusher T.J. Watt and other QB maulers benefit from the demand.https://nyti.ms/3C9FnYC

Can’t Find a Franchise Quarterback? Shop for the Best Antidote.

By BY MIKE TANIER from NYT Sports N.F.L. teams are in an ever-escalating arms race to generate maximum pressure on opposing quarterbacks. The Steelers pass rusher T.J. Watt and other QB maulers benefit from the demand.https://nyti.ms/3huHH4A

Quarterbacks Are the N.F.L.’s Biggest Investment. Why Won’t It Listen to Them?

By BY JONATHAN ABRAMS from NYT Sports From Aaron Rodgers to Tom Brady to Patrick Mahomes, quarterbacks are trying to push football’s status quo. The results have lagged behind stars’ achievements in other sports.https://nyti.ms/2X4FDsZ

The Sacrifice

By BY JONATHAN ABRAMS from NYT Sports Curt Flood took a stand against baseball’s entrenched powers. His defiance cost him everything — and changed everything.https://nyti.ms/3xWJrJe

The Atlanta Hawks’ Secret Weapon Says He’s Always Been This Good

By BY JONATHAN ABRAMS from NYT Sports Bogdan Bogdanovic said he keeps improving, but he’s had these shooting skills. People are only noticing now, he said, because he’s winning.https://nyti.ms/3wthnNG

‘We’re Hungry’: The Liberty Aim High in a Bounce-Back Season

By BY MATT ELLENTUCK from NYT Sports The Liberty had the worst record in the W.N.B.A. last year. But the return of Sabrina Ionescu and the addition of league veterans could turn things around.https://nyti.ms/3ffQZ2C

Tom Brady Charted a New Path. Aaron Rodgers Struggles to Do the Same.

By BY BEN SHPIGEL from NYT Sports When Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks like Brady, Rodgers and Russell Wilson grow frustrated with their teams, the nature of N.F.L. contracts makes it hard to scramble away. Brady ultimately succeeded by running out the clock.https://nyti.ms/2RfU1LG

The N.B.A. Trades That Did, and Did Not, Happen

By BY MARC STEIN from NYT Sports Kyle Lowry and Lonzo Ball are staying put (for now), but Victor Oladipo, Nikola Vucevic, Aaron Gordon and more are on the move. Here’s what you need to know.https://nyti.ms/3sq4AcP