Over the hump and safely onto the other side. We don’t quite have the juice we had this time last week going into a holiday weekend, but it’s OK.<\/p>\n
Sometimes, we need to rest and recover. That’s what the summer is all about. The World Cup is still going on, but does anyone really care anymore? No.<\/p>\n
Baseball is nearing the All-Star break, which means we’ll get the Home Run Derby in a few days … if you can find it.<\/p>\n
ZERO BS. JUST DAKICH. TAKE THE DON’T @ ME PODCAST ON THE ROAD. DOWNLOAD NOW!<\/strong><\/p>\n Spoiler alert: It’s on Netflix now! Wonderful.<\/p>\n Football is still a few weeks away from really ramping up. We’ve got a week until the final major of the golf season. This is sort of a transition week for us, right? We’re firmly in the dog days right now. The first half of summer is behind us. Now, we have to grind.<\/p>\n And grind, we will!<\/p>\n Welcome to a Thursday Nightcaps \u2014 the one where Sophie Cunningham throws on a catsuit of sorts and takes another shot at the WNBA mean girls.<\/p>\n She just doesn’t miss, does she?<\/p>\n What else? I’ve got a question for all of our high school parents in class today, and, amazingly, we had ANOTHER pitcher pulled last night during a perfect game.<\/p>\n What is going on in Major League Baseball right now? It’s disgusting. It’s un-American. It has to stop.<\/p>\n OK, grab you a handful of fries for National French Fry Day, <\/em>and settle in for a Thursday ‘Cap!<\/p>\n I’m quite sure we’ve done this one before (mainly because I went back and looked), but I’m gonna go ahead and recycle my Mount Rushmore of Fries today. Lord knows there ain’t anything else going on.<\/p>\n I’d also accept: Chick-Fil-A, although the butt-pieces of waffle fries are disgusting, so it’s a slippery little slope. I’ll also listen to any sweet potato truthers in class, too.<\/p>\n That’s right. Some people scoff at sweet potato fries, but, done right, they are elite. Dip them in some of that marshmallow\/pineapple sauce like a true slob, and it’s game over. What a country.<\/p>\n OK, let’s get down to business. It’s slim pickens today, so I don’t want to hear it.<\/p>\n First up? Sophie Cunningham doubled down on her viral finger-wag a few weeks ago, calling Phoenix Mercury forward-guard DeWanna Bonner “Miss Priss” in an interview on Shannon Spake’s “Sons and Daughters” podcast.”<\/p>\n “Caitlin got a technical and looking back I think both of them deserved a technical like, trying to clean up the game, whatever,” Cunningham said in the full clip, which can be seen here.<\/p>\n “And so I wasn’t even speaking to Miss Priss over there and I was just like, ‘Hey, if Caitlin got a check, I think she deserves one.’ Like, wasn’t even looking at her and I just like kind of pointed and it just made her mad, and she was like, ‘Don’t you point at me.’<\/p>\n “And I was ‘Oh, (she) shouldn’t have said that.’ And so then I just didn’t say a word. I did not say a word to her. I just pointed.”<\/p>\n Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham points at Phoenix Mercury forward-guard DeWanna Bonner after an argument during a game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on June 22, 2026. The Indiana Fever defeated the Phoenix Mercury 86-77.<\/span> (USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Love her or hate her, at least Sophie Cunningham isn’t a BSer<\/em>. A lot of these athletes just dance around the subject and toe the line. Not Sophie. She wants all the smoke.<\/p>\n Now, did she follow that interview up with a 2-point game last night? Sure. But that’s what we call semantics <\/em>in this business!<\/p>\n You know what’s not semantics? This new rule passed by USA Baseball this week.<\/p>\n Batter up!<\/p>\n Whoooooooooo Nellie! <\/em>They’re letting high school players use drop 4, 5 and 6 bats now? Seems … risky.<\/p>\n For those who aren’t up on the lingo, “bat drop weights” is the difference between a bat’s length (in inches) and its weight (in ounces). For example, the current rules say a bat must be -3, or a drop-3. If a bat is 31 inches long, it must be weigh 28 ounces. That’s standard practice for bats in\u00a0high school baseball.<\/p>\n Starting in 2028, they’re now gonna be allowed to use lighter bats? Wild. Here’s the kicker. USA Baseball sold the move as a necessary one to “keeping more athletes in baseball and supporting their long-term development.”<\/p>\n “We have seen too many athletes entering high school baseball struggle with the immediate jump to the -3-drop weight and then walk away from the game,” USA Baseball President John Gall said.<\/p>\n Huh?<\/p>\n Sallisaw’s Carson Sharp hits walk-off home run during a Class 4A high school playoff baseball game between Sallisaw and Blanchard at Noble High School in Noble, Okla., May, 14, 2026.<\/span> (USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n They’re billing it as a way to keep players from “walking away from the game,” which is puzzling. I’ve never once seen nor heard of a player walk away from high school baseball because the bat was too heavy. Come on.<\/p>\n Basically, in the name of inclusivity, USA Baseball has now put a lighter bat in the hands of a 220-pound, 5-tool prospect who can already tear the cover off the ball as is.<\/p>\n Can’t wait to see how that goes!<\/p>\n OK, couple quickies on the way out. First? Let’s stay on the diamond and check in on the state of Major League Baseball:<\/p>\n Amazing. That’s TWICE in the past week that a starting pitcher has been yanked during a perfect game. I’ll go ahead and rehash what I said earlier this week, and then we’ll move on, because I am DISGUSTED.<\/p>\n Unlike no-hitters, which happen often(ish), perfect games almost never<\/em> happen. In fact, there have only been 24 official perfect games in MLB history. Twenty-four!<\/p>\n Baseball has been around for a century, give or take. It’s really been around for much longer, but we’ll just go back 100 years to make it a nice, round number. In that time, we’ve only seen 24 (!!!) perfect games.<\/p>\n And now, in the span of five days, we’ve seen two pitchers get yanked during one: Eury Perez of the Marlins last weekend, and Jared Jones last night.<\/p>\n Make Baseball Great Again!<\/p>\n Finally, on the way out, let’s check in with FanDuel, MLB and Bryce Harper!<\/p>\n Just a WILD story out of Philly today. Truly insane. A man with a gambling addiction got a personalized video sent to him, via FanDuel, of Bryce Harper … thanking him for his support? That’s just barbaric. What have we come to in this country?<\/p>\n Look, I love sports gambling. It’s truly one of my favorite things to do in the fall (for about 30 minutes before the 1 p.m. games start and I immediately lose everything). But I do it for fun. I’m talking $5 bets on Saquon Barkley to be the first TD scorer of the game.<\/p>\n I know my limits. Some folks, clearly, don’t. And that’s on them, partially. But let’s not sit here and pretend the casinos don’t play a role. And now we’re sending out VIP videos to people a million dollars in the hole?<\/p>\n A general view of betting odds on the video board at the Westgate SuperBook sports book on Aug. 4, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada.<\/span> (Aaron M. Sprecher\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Whooooooof. <\/em>I’m all for some dark humor, but Lordy, even that one crosses a line for me.<\/p>\n OK, that’s it for today. Good work, everyone. You did well.<\/p>\n Related to absolutely nothing, here’s Scottie Scheffler proving that technology is a load of crap to take us home.<\/p>\n See you tomorrow.<\/p>\n CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/strong><\/p>\n OutKick Nightcaps is a daily column set to run Monday through Friday at 4 p.m. (roughly, we\u2019re not robots).<\/em><\/p>\n Thoughts on the new high school bat? Email me at <\/em>Zach.Dean@OutKick.com<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\nSophie Cunningham doubles down on the viral finger-wag<\/h2>\n
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Any high school baseball folks in class today?<\/h2>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\nMLB strikes AGAIN, Harper’s video & Scottie’s line<\/h2>\n
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