The Arizona Diamondbacks announced Tuesday that the fan who interfered with a live ball in Monday's game against the San Franciso Giants, and a handful of other times over the past few years, has been banned from attending games for the remainder of the 2025 MLB season.

During Monday's game, the fan interfered with a hit from Giants third baseman Christian Koss in the eighth inning, reaching over the outfield wall and catching the live ball with his glove. After it was initially ruled a home run, umpires reviewed the play and determined it was a ground rule double.

Shockingly, it's not the first time the individual has been seen interfering with play at Diamondbacks game. The individual is a season-ticket holder and has been caught catching potential home run balls at the wall multiple times over the past few seasons.

Following Monday's incident, the organization banned for the rest of the season and issued the following statement:

"While our policy is not to publicly disclose information about our season ticket holders, the Arizona Diamondbacks are making this statement due to public speculations and multiple media inquiries regarding the fan interference during last night's game. This particular fan has been involved in multiple offenses at Chase Field. Consequently, we have terminated his Advantage Member account and he is prohibited from returning to Chase Field for the remainder of 2025. This fan will have the opportunity to return to Chase Field in 2026 so long as he meets certain terms and abides by our Fan Code of Conduct."

The team did not specify what requirements the fan would need to meet in order to see the ban lifted in 2026, but for now, he won't be allowed back at the stadium.

You can put it down to his high-risk, high-reward approach – which Gambhir endorses – and you can put it down to the high-pace attack he was facing. But saying Samson has a problem on the pull is quite a leap

Karthik Krishnaswamy03-Feb-20251:27

Should India be worried about Samson?

When does a coincidence become a pattern, and when does a pattern become a problem? Where on that sliding scale does Sanju Samson’s series against England belong? Five innings, five dismissals to Jofra Archer, Saqib Mahmood and Mark Wood, all five times playing the pull shot: coincidence, pattern, or problem?Before we try to answer that question, it’s worth noting Gautam Gambhir’s words from Sunday night, after India had wrapped up the series 4-1 win with a brutal, 150-run win at the Wankhede Stadium. It’s worth noting them in full.”That’s the kind of T20 cricket we want to play. We don’t want to fear losing a game of cricket,” Gambhir told the host broadcaster. “We want to play high-risk, high-reward cricket. And these guys have adopted that ideology, that policy really well. And I think the ideology of this T20 team is based on selflessness and fearlessness. And I think in the last six months, these guys have done it day in, day out.Related

• Gambhir on India's approach: 'Want to try for 250-260 regularly'

• Suryakumar: 'I want to have selfless cricketers in my team'

• Samson of 2024 meets Rohit of 2013

“We want to try and get to 250-260 regularly. And in trying to do that, there’ll be games where we’ll get bundled out for 120-130. And that is what T20 cricket is all about. And unless and until you [play] that high-risk cricket, you won’t get those big rewards as well. Most importantly, I think we’re on the right track. Come those big tournaments, we want to still continue playing this way and we don’t want to fear losing anything.”High risk, high reward. Back in the not-too-distant past, when India hadn’t fully embraced this philosophy, Samson was often held up as a poster boy of high risk, high reward, as the kind of player the team management wasn’t showing enough faith in. Then, over the course of the last two T20I regimes, under Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma and then Gambhir and Suryakumar Yadav, Samson has made his way up the ranks. He was a member of India’s World-Cup-winning squad last year, and has become, since the retirements of Rohit and Virat Kohli, something of a fixture at the top of the order.Vindication came late last year with three hundreds in five innings, one against Bangladesh at home followed by two away in South Africa. Then he ran into England, and Archer and Wood.Samson ended 2024 with 111, 107, 0, 0 and 109*. He has begun 2025 with 26, 5, 3, 1 and 16.1:05

Manjrekar: Talents like Samson should be allowed a long patch of failures

Now this sort of sequence is par for the course in T20, where outcomes exhibit a high degree of variance, particularly among batters who play in a high-risk, high-reward way. Good teams understand and accept this. High risk won’t always bring high reward at an individual level, but collective reward is a likely outcome if a deep, skilful and powerful line-up embraces this approach.Enough T20 has been played, watched and analysed now for the wider commentariat to be able to understand the probablities, but much of the discourse around the format continues to exhibit a curious cognitive dissonance: we want high risk, high reward, and we think we understand the trade-offs involved, but we continue to ask batters to make consistent scores.Samson has spent most of his career battling this dissonance.If there’s a difference between earlier criticisms of Samson and what he’s facing now, it’s that his recent dismissals have all come off the same sort of shot against the same sort of ball – surely there’s an issue here.Is there, though? Samson has never previously had much of an issue with the short ball – it wasn’t that long ago that his ability to put away the short ball formed the crux of media critiques of India selecting Shreyas Iyer ahead of him. In the last three seasons of the IPL, Samson has only been dismissed four times in 55 balls while pulling or hooking fast bowlers, and his strike rate of 272.72 while playing those shots is the sixth-best among the 36 batters who have scored at least 100 runs with those shots.

We want high risk, high reward, and we think we understand the trade-offs involved, but we continue to ask batters to make consistent scores.

On the tour of South Africa in November, Samson attempted nine pulls or hooks against fast bowlers, and hit five of them for six. Those nine balls brought him 35 runs without dismissal.During the England series, those shots brought Samson four dismissals in 12 balls. High risk, high reward, high variance. And any batter who tends to pull from down to up – Rohit is the prime example – goes through periods of hitting everything for six and periods of hitting everything straight to boundary fielders.The eagle-eyed among you will have noted that it’s four dismissals rather than five, and that’s because ESPNcricinfo’s scorers recorded Samson’s dismissal in Rajkot as coming off a slog rather than a pull. It’s all subjective, but there’s a good case for applying the slog label to that shot: he had moved to the leg side to try and create room, and was aiming down the ground rather than square.Samson’s high-risk, high-reward approach has found acceptance under coach Gambhir•PTI This tendency to aim down the ground with a flat bat has got Samson in trouble previously too, when he’s either tried to fetch the ball from well outside his eyeline or found the ball climbing higher than expected. His dismissal off Hardik Pandya in the 2022 IPL final came off a similar sort of shot. Slog or pull? Either way, it’s a shot Samson often attempts, sometimes to his detriment, showing both the level of ability and belief he has and his willingness to take on high risk.And just as a pull can sometimes be a slog, one pull isn’t necessarily the same as another. In the first two T20Is, Samson’s dismissals came when he got himself into an awkward position deep in his crease, still side-on to the ball with his hips closed-off and with little room to deal with Archer’s pace off the pitch.In the fifth T20I, Samson pulled Archer for two sixes in the first over, getting right across his stumps and past the line of the ball. Wood then dismissed him in the next over, and while Samson hadn’t taken that big step across, he had shifted his weight onto the back foot well in time to be able to swivel through the hips. He middled this pull, and might have picked up six more runs if he’d been able to place it a few yards either side of the fielder at deep-backward square leg.It wasn’t his day, though, and it wasn’t his series.It was an outlier of a series in another way too. Few attacks in the world boast the wealth of genuinely quick, hit-the-deck options that England can call upon when Archer and Wood are both fit. If there was ever an attack that could test Samson in this particular way, it was this one. He tried to come up with ways of dealing with this mode of attack as the series went on, and Mumbai suggested he may have found one.Or not – who can say? Another series against this attack may well cause Samson more discomfort. But how often is he going to face an attack like this? How often does any top-level T20 batter come up against an attack that matches up this well against their vulnerabilities? Samson’s series against England was, in all kinds of ways, the perfect storm.Five innings, then, and five dismissals to the pull (or variants thereof). This was probably more pattern than coincidence, but it’s quite a leap to suggest there’s any long-term problem here.

MatériaMais Notícias

O Santos divulgou uma nota oficial na noite desta quinta-feira (4) sobre a escalação do árbitro Raphael Claus para apitar a final contra o Palmeiras, pelo Paulistão. A decisão acontece no domingo (7).

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➡️ Tudo sobre o Peixe agora no WhatsApp. Siga o nosso novo canal Lance! Santos

➡️ Dupla chance! Aposte R$100 no Lance! Betting e leve R$160 se o Cruzeiro vencer ou empatar com a U. Católica!

De acordo com o comunicado, o clube acompanhou as repercussões nas redes sociais sobre a escala do juiz. Em 2023, o lateral Rafinha, do São Paulo, foi expulso de um clássico contra o Verdão e deixou o campo dizendo: “O Claus é palmeirense”.

Claus também já foi elogiado publicamente por Abel Ferreira, técnico do Palmeiras que enfrentará o Santos na decisão. Esses dois episódios foram lembrados por usuários na internet.

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Veja abaixo a manifestação do Peixe sobre a situação:

“O Santos está acompanhando a repercussão de multas publicações nas redes sociais de torcedores sobre a arbitragem na segunda partida da final do Campeonato Paulista 2024.

A Comissão de Arbitragem da Federação Paulista de Futebol esclareceu no Conselho
Técnico que a escalação do árbitro Raphael Claus é pelo ranqueamento da entidade, que todos os árbitros se concentrarão para se prepararem adequadamente para atuarem no próximo domingo. O Santos FC cumprimenta por essa iniciativa e respeita a decisão da escala.

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Nesta expectativa de um bom trabalho físico, técnico e emocional dos árbitros nesta semana da grande final, esperamos que Raphael Claus se prepare bem e possa conduzir junto com seus auxiliares um jogo tão importante, sem prejuízo ao espetáculo, que os atletas sejam os verdadeiros protagonistas, que o resultado seja justo e proclamado o legítimo campeão.

O Santos FC está em um processo de reconstrução reconhecendo o trabalho de nosso coirmão, foram os clubes que mais pontuaram na Classificação Geral do campeonato, demonstraram as suas qualidades durante a competição, chegam na decisão por mérito e justiça, não precisam de nenhuma interferência ou benefícios de árbitros para alcançarem os seus objetivos, que vença o melhor nas quatro linhas do campo, honrando a tradição de um dos maiores clássicos do futebol brasileiro.”

Tudo sobre

PalmeirasPaulistãoPaulistão 2024Santos

Shohei Ohtani became the first Major League Baseball player in history to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in the same season last year, accomplishing the incredible feat amid much fanfare. This year, able to pitch again after returning from injury, he has charted new ground yet again by becoming the sole member of another 50-50 club; this time becoming the first to post 50 dingers and 50 strikeouts.

Ohtani hurled five hitless innings against the Philadelphia Phillies in what would become a 9-6 defeat, fanning five batters to bring his total to 54 on the year. He's right on the half-century mark when it comes to his own long ball total and carries a 1.006 OPS as the season reaches its final weeks.

Now, racking up 50 strikeouts on the mound in this day and age of swings and misses isn't the most impressive thing in the world. Doing it in 41 innings of work sure is, though.

Whenever Ohtani's career ends there are going to be countless stats and feats to sift through as we try to decide if he's the greatest player of all time. Becoming a founding member of two different clubs showcasing the diversity of his talent in back-to-back years will certainly be one of them.

تحدث أوليفير جلاسنر، المدير الفني للفريق الأول لكرة القدم بنادي كريستال بالاس بعد الخسارة من مانشستر سيتي ضمن منافسات الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز.

وواجه مانشستر سيتي نظيره كريستال بالاس، اليوم، الأحد في إطار منافسات الجولة الـ 16 من بطولة الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز.

وحل مانشستر سيتي ضيفًا ثقيلًا على كريستال بالاس واستطاع أن يقلص الفارق بينه وبين آرسنال الذي رفع رصيده من النقاط إلى 36 نقطة بعد الفوز على وولفرهامبتون.

بتلك النتيجة، أصبح مانشستر سيتي في المركز الثاني برصيد 34 نقطة، خلف آرسنال المتصدر، فيما تجمد رصيد كريستال بالاس عند النقطة 26 بالمركز الخامس.

اقرأ أيضًا | جوارديولا: نفضل صدارة الدوري الإنجليزي.. ولاعب مانشستر سيتي لم يقدم أداء جيدًا

قال جلاسنر عبر بي بي سي: “نشعر ببعض الظلم لهذه النتيجة لكن علينا تقبلها، هكذا تُحسم المباريات الكبيرة، كانت الفروقات بيننا وبينهم طفيفة للغاية”.

وأكمل: “أعتقد أن مانشستر سيتي كان أفضل داخل منطقة الجزاء، سددنا 16 تسديدة والخسارة 3-0 قاسية للغاية، سنستفيد من دروس هذه المباراة، نحن نحتاج إلى هذه المباريات لننمو ونتطور ونتقدم”.

وأضاف: “أتيحت لنا ثلاث أو أربع فرص كبيرة وحاولنا تسجيل هدفًا والعودة إلى المباراة، شعرنا أنه إذا سجلنا هدفًا فقد يحدث شيء ما”.

وعن هالاند أتم: “كانت عرضية رائعة، تحركاته رائعة، ورأسية رائعة، هذا هو هالاند وهذا هو سبب تسجيله 40 هدفًا في الموسم، كان أداؤنا اليوم أفضل من نهائي كأس الاتحاد الإنجليزي لكننا كنا أكثر فعالية حينها وهذا الذي افتقدناه اليوم”.

Sunday's Mariners–Rangers game was a big one for Seattle star Julio Rodriguez.

The center fielder crushed his career 100th career home run, a 391-foot two-run homer off of two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom in the third inning.

But, that wasn't the biggest news of the game. This home run was Rodriguez's 20th of the season, marking his fourth consecutive season in which he's logged at least 20 homers. On top of that, Rodriguez has also tallied at least 20 stolen bases in all four of his MLB seasons. With this combination, Rodriguez officially became the first MLB player in history to start their career with four consecutive seasons of at least 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases, per Mariners PR.

Rodriguez has 20 homers and 20 stolen bases so far this season. In his rookie year, the Mariners star logged 28 home runs and 25 stolen bases. His second season was his career-best with 32 HRs and 37 SBs and last year, Rodriguez had 20 HRs and 24 SBs. He's currently on pace to pass his totals from last season.

Are Manchester City rediscovering the form that made them simply unstoppable not so long ago?

In the Champions League, the Sky Blues have now accumulated seven points from nine matches, following Tuesday night’s commanding 2-0 victory over Villarreal; Erling Braut Håland and Bernardo Silva on target during the first half at Estadio de la Cerámica.

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Meantime, in the Premier League, having collected 13 points from the last 15 available, the Citizens have climbed up to second, looking to continue their winning streak at Villa Park on Sunday.

Some may argue that Pep Guardiola’s team are over reliant on one player, although what a player to be reliant on, but could the return of an “extraordinary” talent make the goalbot himself truly unstoppable?

How Erling Haaland compares to Europe's best

We all already knew that Håland was a goal-scoring machine, but he may be taking this to a whole new level this season.

He has netted in each of his last nine international outings, scoring 17 times across these matches in total, while Tuesday’s opener in Spain took his tally to 15 club goals for the campaign already.

Håland is currently averaging a goal every 63 minutes in Manchester City colours this season and, at this current rate, he’ll bag 52 in the Premier League alone, annihilating his own single-season record of 36 set in 2022/23.

Across a top five European league and the Champions League, he is actually not the top scorer, level with Kylian Mbappé who also has 15, but both are being outshone by a certain Harry Kane, who is currently on 17.

Nevertheless, Håland’s importance to Manchester City is underlined by the fact he has scored 65% of their Premier and Champions League goals this season, while no other player at the club has scored more than a solitary goal across the two competitions.

So, one could certainly argue that Man City are overly reliant on Håland’s goal but, if you’ve got to be reliant on one player, he isn’t a bad choice.

So now, which forgotten sky blue star could make the Norwegian truly unstoppable?

Manchester City's new "extraordinary" talent

In 2025, Manchester City have spent around £385m on 11 new signings, the majority of whom have made little impact so far.

Omar Marmoush did impress after arriving in January, Gianluigi Donnarumma has instantaneously proved why he is considered to be a world-class goalkeeper, while Tijjani Reijnders has been a useful addition to midfield.

However, could Rayan Cherki, who joined from Olympique Lyonnais in June for £34m, prove to be the best of the bunch?

Since the start of this season, the Frenchman has seen just 80 minutes of action due to a thigh injury, but has come off the bench towards the end of the last two matches against Everton and Villarreal as he eases back to full fitness.

Having joined hometown club Lyon at the age of seven, Cherki has been touted as a talent to watch for many years, making 185 appearances for les Gones, scoring 29 goals and registering 45 assists, despite still only being 22 years old.

Last season was certainly his most productive in Ligue 1, as the table below documents.

As the table highlights, while he is a goal threat and a high-quality dribbler, Cherki is primarily a creator.

In Ligue 1 last season, he ranked first in all sorts of metrics to support this, namely assists, expected assists, big chances created, passes into the opposition penalty area and shot-creating actions, second only to Désiré Doué in terms of goal-creating actions.

Following his arrival in the summer, Gillian Kasirye of Total Football Analysis asserted that Cherki is the natural heir to Kevin De Bruyne’s throne as Manchester City’s primary chance creator, ahead of existing players, namely Phil Foden.

Meantime, after the Sky Blues’ 4-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers on the opening day of the season, the Frenchman marking his Premier League debut with a goal, Guardiola asserted that his talent is “unbelievable”, adding that his “creativity in the final third [is] extraordinary”.

Well, if this rocket against Spain during June’s Nations League semi-finals in Stuttgart doesn’t underline what Cherki is capable of, nothing will!

Thus, following an injury-blighted start to life in Manchester, the Frenchman, on his way back to full fitness, will be looking to start making a serious impact.

For now, he’ll probably become a mere member of the fabled “Pep rotation” alongside Foden, Jérémy Doku, Oscar Bobb, Bernardo Silva, Savinho, Omar Marmoush and others.

Chalkboard

Football FanCast’s Chalkboard series presents a tactical discussion from around the global game.

Nevertheless, based on his talent, Cherki should be right at the front of the queue for starting minutes and, if he rediscovers last season’s creative numbers, Håland will become truly unstoppable, if he isn’t already.

100% dribbles, 5 key passes: 8/10 Man City star showed he's "Sane-esque"

Manchester City beat Villarreal 2-0 in the Champions League on Tuesday night, and one of Pep Guardiola’s stars underlined that he is Leroy Sané-esque.

By
Ben Gray

Oct 22, 2025

Newcastle United are now reportedly keeping close tabs on a “generational” star who could be ready to complete a big move to the Premier League in 2026.

Howe heaps praise on "relentless" Newcastle in Fulham victory

Following a routine victory over Benfica in the Champions League, Newcastle were once again made to work for a result in the Premier League.

The Magpies, who had won just twice in eight league games in the build-up, desperately needed to find a way past Fulham on Saturday and did just that courtesy of Bruno Guimaraes’ last-gasp winner.

Having his say on the much-needed win, Eddie Howe told reporters: “It was end-to-end. I thought it was a really attacking performance from both teams; both teams were going for the win. We’re delighted to get it ourselves.

“I thought it was a really good last 20 minutes from us; we were relentless in our pursuit to try and win. Eventually, one of those chances fell for us. Those points are so precious, but you also carry forward the belief that you can win in any situation, even when it doesn’t look like you will.”

That said, celebrations from the weekend can’t last very long. Newcastle’s focus must instantly turn towards facing Tottenham Hotspur in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night. In search of defending their crown, the Magpies must find a way past an in-form side searching for more silverware, themselves.

Newcastle's “outstanding” talent can help Woltemade reach Shearer levels

Eddie Howe has an outstanding star at his disposal at Newcastle United who can help Nick Woltemade reach Alan Shearer levels.

ByKelan Sarson Oct 28, 2025

Given how important the Carabao Cup was to Newcastle’s season last time out, it will be interesting to see whether Howe chooses to rest players or field his strongest side in the competition. There’s no doubt that, with European football to balance with domestic duties, he must get things right.

Of course, adding another piece of silverware after last season would be no bad thing and it would certainly go a long way towards attracting the next generation of stars.

Newcastle keeping tabs on "generational" Monga

As reported by The Boot Room’s Graeme Bailey, Newcastle are now keeping tabs on Jeremy Monga as the Leicester City star continues to enjoy an impressive rise.

Still just 16 years old, Monga has already made more first-team appearances than Arsenal’s Max Dowman and Rio Ngumoha and is one of the most sought-after young players in English football.

It would represent a major coup if Newcastle managed to sign Monga ahead of Manchester City and they could even land a bargain deal for what would, in many ways, be their own version of Arsenal’s Dowman.

Leicester are unable to tie their teenage sensation down to a senior contract until he turns 17 next June, which means he could leave for a compensation fee rather than what would be a hefty transfer fee.

استقر الدنماركي ييس توروب، المدير الفني للفريق الأول لكرة القدم بالنادي الأهلي، على التشكيل المقرر له مواجهة إنبي اليوم الجمعة، ضمن منافسات بطولة كأس الرابطة المصرية “كأس عاصمة مصر”.

وتقام المباراة بين الأهلي وإنبي على أرضية استاد السلام، في إطار لقاءات الجولة الأولى من مرحلة المجموعات لـ كأس الرابطة.

طالع.. قائمة الأهلي لمباراة إنبي في كأس الرابطة.. عناصر شابة بالجملة

ويغيب عن الأهلي في المباراة نجوم الأحمر الدوليين وعدد من الأساسيين، حيث ينوي الدفع بعدد من البدلاء لتجهيزهم للفترة المقلة.

ويقع الأهلي وإنبي، في المجموعة الأولى من البطولة والتي تضم أندية “سيراميكا كليوباترا وفاركو وطلائع الجيش وغزل المحلة والمقاولون العرب”.

ويشارك في بطولة كأس الرابطة هذا الموسم 21 فريقًا المتواجدين في بطولة الدوري المصري الممتاز على رأسها الأهلي والزمالك، وتم تقسيم الأندية إلى 3 مجموعات، كل مجموعة تضم 7 فرق. تشكيل الأهلي المتوقع أمام إنبي

حراسة المرمى: محمد سيحا

خط الدفاع: محمد شكري – مصطفى العش – أحمد رمضان بيكهام – عمر كمال

خط الوسط: أليو ديانج – أحمد رضا – محمد عبد الله – حمزة عبد الكريم – طاهر محمد طاهر

الهجوم: جراديشار

Kansas City Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino had an at-bat to forget during Wednesday's game against the Boston Red Sox.

During the first inning up against new Red Sox pitcher Dustin May, Pasquantino was sat down on strikes after swinging through a devastating sweeper. It was a nasty pitch, and it broke so much that despite Pasquantino swinging and missing, the ball ended up running all the way inside and hitting him square on the thigh.

It looked for a moment as if Pasquantino fouled the ball off, but in reality it just bounced straight off his thigh and he was ruled out on strikes.

On Thursday, the Royals first baseman posted the aftermath of his embarrassing strikeout on social media, revealing a massive bruise on his thigh while having a laugh at his own expense.

All in all, not a moment Pasquantino will look back too fondly on, though the welt on his leg will certainly serve as a frequent and painful reminder of it throughout the next few days.