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Milwaukee, San Francisco & Tampa Bay's odds shrinking in betting futures as we approach the final month of the 2021 MLB regular season With a little over 30 games remaining in the 2021 MLB regular season, the oddsmakers have begun to make significant adjustments in their future markets as division races heat up. Focusing on one favorite or spotting a longshot who offers long-term value remains the best way to attack futures betting. Let’s take a deeper look into the risers and fallers in each respective offering. 2021 WORLD SERIES FUTURES ODDS ON THE MOVE The Los Angeles Dodgers (+250) remain overwhelming favorites in the eyes of the oddsmakers to win the 2021 World Series. Jockeying behind the Dodgers on the overall odds board are four teams. The Milwaukee Brewers are at +700. The next three teams are tied at +800: Houston Astros, Chicago White Sox and Tampa Bay Rays. Tampa Bay, who have won eight consecutive games, has opened up a seven-game lead in the AL East over t

The Dash interviews the former Ohio State quarterback, examines six former Tennessee players and welcomes Illinois's Bret Bielema back to the Big Ten. Forty names, games, teams and minutiae making news in college football, which at least doesn’t have a Bishop Sycamore travesty on its hands: MORE DASH: Coaching Tests | Coordinator Changes   |  Backlash Predictions FOURTH QUARTER: THE HERBSTREIT INTERVIEW Television both literally and figuratively reduces people to two-dimensional characters. What we see of them on-air provides little depth, just an image and a role. For a quarter century, the role played by Kirk Herbstreit (31) on ESPN has been Golden Boy. He’s the handsome, former Ohio State quarterback turned College GameDay  cornerstone, and Chris Fowler’s sidekick analyst on the major ABC game of the week. A perfectly fine and enviable image and role. Then Kirk wrote a book with his ESPN colleague Gene Wojciechowski, “Out of the Pocket: Football, Fatherhood and College

Players like Sterling Shepard and Patrick Queen shared their reasons for making the switch once the rule was loosened. Patrick Queen charged toward Saints quarterback Taysom Hill, diving at his opponent’s legs and forcing him to the ground for a loss of 12 yards. The Ravens linebacker stayed down for a moment, kneeling on the ground and flexing while a teammate came over and gave him a few taps on the helmet as the crowd at M&T Bank Stadium cheered. The play didn’t just force a fourth down in an August preseason game; it also gave fans a glimpse of something the NFL had never seen before: a sack by a player wearing a single-digit jersey number. Since the league imposed a stricter system in 1973 (before sacks were official), only quarterbacks, kickers and punters could don single-digit numbers. But, in April, the longstanding restrictions changed when NFL owners accepted a proposal from the Chiefs. Players across the league, like Queen, quickly took advantage of the opportuni

The sport's playoff has become an exclusive playground for Alabama, Clemson and a few other powerhouses. One of the greatest offensive minds in the history of college football happens to belong to one of the sport’s most braggadocious men, and today Steve Spurrier is especially eager to crow. He waves a visitor into his cozy office in the bowels of the stadium with a field named in his honor on Florida’s campus and kicks off the conversation with some playful boasting. A friend, he says, just told him about an interesting footnote to his iconic coaching career. Did you know, he starts off, that the 1996 Gators, the Spurrier-coached group that went 12–1 and produced a Heisman Trophy quarterback, is the last first-time national champion in college football? “That’s been 25 years,” the Head Ball Coach says through a smirk. Al Tielemans/Sports Illustrated It’s true. A quarter century has passed since we’ve seen a program win its first title, a startling drought that’s just on

Breaking down possible reactions from teams and fanbases based on opening games, starting with Clemson and Georgia. Forty names, games, teams and minutiae making news in college football, where Connecticut took a whole year off and still looked like Connecticut: MORE DASH:  Coaching Tests   |  Coordinator Changes THIRD QUARTER: TOP OVERREACTION GAMES OF THE WEEK As mentioned in the Dash First Quarter , this is arguably the best opening week we’ve ever seen in the sport. There are big games everywhere, which means there will be commensurate overreactions as well. The Dash looks at the games and predicts the potential backlash for the losers: Clemson vs. Georgia (21) . When: Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET. Where: Charlotte. Line: Clemson by three. How big is it: With the No. 3 and No. 5 teams in the AP poll, this is the highest-ranked opener since No. 1 Alabama beat No. 3 Florida State in 2017. That game turned out to be a bit of a dud, and the Seminoles’ season was doomed after a late

Fully vaccinated players will now undergo weekly COVID-19 testing during the 2021 season, per the NFL's latest protocols. Jeff Hanisch/USA TODAY Sports The NFL and NFLPA have agreed to updated COVID-19 protocols for the 2021 season, according to the NFL Network's Tom Pelissero . The updated protocols include weekly testing for fully vaccinated players and staff, per Pelissero. Vaccinated players can reportedly opt in to taking a voluntary second test each week, while unvaccinated players will reportedly be required to undergo a COVID-19 test every day at the club facility.  Unvaccinated players will not be required to wear masks at outdoor practices or walkthroughs, though masks will still be required indoors. All team medical staff, strength and conditioning coaches and equipment staff will be required to wear masks. The NFL did not make any update to its COVID-19 close-contact protocols, per Pelissero . Fully vaccinated individuals will not be designated high-ris

If the 49ers are really going to deploy both Jimmy Garoppolo and Trey Lance, their coach can draw on one particular experience in Washington. No games this week! But there will be a lot of activity, so let’s get into all that … Stan Szeto/USA TODAY Sports (Shanahan); Marc Lebryk/USA TODAY Sports (Wentz); Christopher Hanewinckel/USA TODAY Sports (Fields) • I understand the skepticism that the Niners will be able to make a Jimmy Garoppolo/Trey Lance shuttle work. But as a counter, I’ve got a story to tell—one that I think will bring some context to Kyle Shanahan’s staff’s ability to pull it off. And so I’ll take you back to 2012 and Washington, where Shanahan as offensive coordinator, his dad was head coach and Niners offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel was a quality control coach. After drafting Robert Griffin III with the second pick that April, Kyle Shanahan built an adapted version of the Baylor Air Raid offense that Griffin ran in college to shorten the learning curve. At