European Team of the Season so far Heading into the Boxing Day clash against Sunderland at Old Trafford, United are sixth in the table and 13 points adrift of leaders Chelsea. But with 21 matches remaining, Mkhitaryan said his team-mates are still dreaming of silverware. “My wishes are for the team to have the best year possible - for Manchester United, for the players and for the fans,” Mkhitaryan told The Times of India....

The meeting, set for video conference, ends a 42-day break in negotiation that started when management implemented a lockout in the sport’s first work stoppage since 1995. With the start of spring training coming, management planned to create a new proposal for players, several people with knowledge of the negotiations that told the Associated Press on Tuesday. The people spoke in exchange for anonymity, as no announcement was made....

Take a look: Monday, Nov. 10: Rookies of the Year Tuesday, Nov. 11: Managers of the Year Wednesday, Nov. 12: Cy Young Awards Thursday, Nov. 13: Most Valuable Players

There’s a nice opportunity to catch some extreme value tonight with the underdog in a match-up of two All-Star pitchers facing their former teams for the first time. Detroit’s Jordan Zimmerman is visiting Nationals Park for the first time since he signed a five-year, $110 million deal in the off-season and he’ll face Washington’s Max Scherzer, who left Detroit following his 2014 AL Cy Young Award winning season for a seven-year, $210 million deal....

Sing-a-song, it’s Vogelsong! Let’s take advantage of Ryan Vogelsong’s spot start today and take the Tigers behind Shane Greene, who comes off a spectacular spring where he allowed only four runs in 19.1 innings with 23 strikeouts and only four walks — opponents hit only .225 off him. All those numbers are very similar to what we saw out of Greene last April when he allowed only one run between winning his first three starts....

Manfred delivered his message in conjunction with the conclusions of an MLB investigation that blasts the Marlins for being irresponsible and going out in public between games. At least 18 Miami players and two coaches have tested positive for the coronavirus over the past week, leading to game postponements around the league. Marlins players reportedly went out during their recent road trip in Atlanta and congregated at their hotel bar, leading to anger by their peers around MLB....

That’s the easy setup after seeing Jim Tressel and Brian Bosworth were selected for the College Football Hall of Fame on Friday. How could a coach who is still serving his show-cause penalty from the fallout from TattooGate at Ohio State be let in the Hall of Fame? How could a linebacker who was suspended for a failed drug test, mocked the NCAA on national television and was kicked off the team before his senior season be let in, too?...

There was as much intrigue about the No. 1 pick in the draft this year as there has been in recent memory. As many as a dozen names were thrown about for this pick, including Brendan Rodgers, Dillon Tate, Tyler Stephenson and Tyler Jay. MORE: Five worst MLB Draft misses for each franchise | Best picks, 1-50 Swanson, though, was always seen as the safe choice, and that’s not a knock on Swanson....

Join DAZN to watch ‘ChangeUp,’ a new MLB live whiparound show Position players dominated the top of the draft, making up nine of the first 10 selections. Nick Lodolo (Reds) was the lone pitcher taken in the top 10. In truth, it will be difficult to judge how teams do in this draft for several years. After all, players from the 2016 MLB Draft are only just now starting to arrive at the big league level....

How’d your team do? We’ve got the first round covered below. And when you get a minute between reading about the picks, here’s the pretty cool video Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt filmed for the MLB Network broadcast of the draft. MORE: Every team’s worst pick ever MLB Draft 2016, first round Philadelphia Phillies: Mickey Moniak Position/School: OF, La Costa Canyon HS (Carlsbad, Calif.)Need to know: Moniak was the fastest-rising prospect in the months leading up to a draft that didn’t have a clear-cut top pick....

On Thursday’s episode of ESPN’s “Mike and Mike,” Manfred said MLB has been “talking a lot internally” about potential limitations on relief pitchers during games. “You know the problem with relief pitchers is that they’re so good,” Manfred said on the program. “I’ve got nothing against relief pitchers, but they do two things to the game; the pitching changes themselves slow the game down and our relief pitchers have become so dominant at the back end that they actually rob action out of the end of the game, the last few innings of the game....

But the truth is, that very well could happen. Here’s a note from Buster Olney’s story on ESPN earlier this week: MORE: NL East post-lockout priorities: Braves need to re-sign Freeman, Phillies need outfielders Olney believes the Freeman situation will be resolved quickly. Either he’ll sign right away, or the Braves will make a deal right away to fill his production (trading for Matt Olson would ease the sting). Or both could happen quickly....

Kenta Maeda, the Japanese right-hander who has received comparisons to countrymen Hiroki Kuroda and Masahiro Tanaka, will be posted by the Hiroshima Carp, according to multiple reports. It’s expected that the posting fee will be set at the maximum of $20 million, Baseball America reported. MORE: Judging hot stove rumors | If Giants can’t land Greinke, Leake, Samardzija reportedly Plan B Maeda, who will turn 28 in April, is widely considered one of the best pitchers in Japan....

But on Monday, they did the impossible. MLB left me feeling embarrassed to be a baseball fan. Rob Manfred’s five-day pivot from being “100 percent certain” there will be baseball in 2020 to his “not confident” comments Monday opened my eyes. To make matters worse, Manfred’s quote came after players all over the Twittersphere started using the “When and Where” hashtag to simply ask owners, well, when and where they’re playing in 2020....

To use and maintain netting that shields from line-drive foul balls field-level seating from the near ends of the dugouts and within 70 feet of home plate. To find new ways to educate fans on safety within the park and the need to pay attention during each at-bat. To have clubs and online ticket sellers find ways to identify which seats are behind netting and to provide fans with additional information....

With the College World Series and the draft combine wrapped up, all that is left now between these players and the beginning of their professional careers is the wait to hear which teams will call them. It’s always a nearly impossible exercise to guess exactly which teams will be taking which players on draft day, but we’re taking our final shot at predicting where these players will land in the first round of the draft....

The Cubs continued the Tigers’ season-long woes with a 12-3 rout of Detroit on Wednesday night. Chicago chased Tigers starter Shane Greene after just three innings, racking up five runs and seven hits en route to a 15-hit night. Catcher Miguel Montero and left fielder Chris Coghlan led the way with three hits apiece. MORE: Pedro says Mets ‘playing with fire’ by sticking with Harvey | Phils reportedly talking with Jays, Cubs about Papelbon...

Mike Napoli has officially awoken from a near two-month slumber with the bat. After starting the season with a .162 average and just two home runs, the Red Sox slugger has hit six home runs and has 10 RBIs in his last seven games. Meanwhile, Justin Upton did some damage of his own Sunday with a grand slam against the Dodgers. He finished the game with two hits and six RBIs....