TORONTO – Throughout the 2019 season, all Santiago Espinal wanted was to go home and spend time with his mother, Ingrid Rivera. Over and over, she told him to focus up on the field, to not worry about her as she fought cancer in New York.
“She literally told me, ‘Hey, I don’t want you to come visit me. I want you to finish your season, I want you to do your job. I want you to do what you love. And after you’re done with your season, you can come visit me and give me the biggest hug you can,’” recalls the 25-year-old. “It just broke my heart, even though she told me not to worry, to play my game.”
Espinal did as she said, logging 122 games with double-A New Hampshire and triple-A Buffalo before rushing home to give his mom that big hug. Rivera died in December at the age of 52, after 18 months with the disease.
“The good thing is she didn’t suffer,” says Espinal. “She just couldn’t hold on anymore.”
That’s why, after the initial euphoria of learning he’d open the 2020 season with the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday night, Espinal broke down. Rivera’s determination to help her son set him on an unlikely path to the big-leagues. Now that he’d done it, she was gone.
“Oh, man,” he says. “I started crying when I started thinking about it. But I was so, so happy because my mom can see me right now. She’s watching me right now, and it was so amazing to know that I’m here and making my mamma proud.”
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Espinal gave Rivera reason to be proud well before he made a big-league roster for the first time. That he’d even gotten into professional baseball, let alone reached its highest level, was an achievement for someone who didn’t initially graduate with his class at Lyman High School in Longwood, Fla., as he played catchup academically after moving to the United States from the Dominican Republic a few years earlier.
Rather than playing baseball, he spent the next two years taking online GED courses set up by his mother in New York, which started him on an unlikely path to the Blue Jays.
In the summer of 2014, he was set to go to Selma University but when he checked in with the club, he was told they no longer had a scholarship for him. So he returned to the Orlando area, where earned a roster spot as a walk-on at Seminole State College, and spent the year as a redshirt there.
The following summer he played with Sanford in the Florida Collegiate Summer League and while starring in the loop, he was recommended to Danny Price, the head coach at Miami-Dade Junior College who was looking for a shortstop.
Espinal was playing centre field, but on a recommendation Price came up to see him and offered a scholarship the same day. After working through some transfer issues, Espinal starred for Miami-Dade and was selected in the 10th round by the Boston Red Sox the following June.
“It’s amazing when you think about it,” says Espinal. “I almost gave up on baseball. I’ve taken advantage of the opportunities I’ve been given. I don’t take it for granted. I’m glad that I’m here and I’m ready for it.”
The Blue Jays picked up Espinal in the June 2018 trade that sent Steve Pearce, the eventual World Series MVP, to the Red Sox, and he’s steadily climbed the ladder since. A fluid and athletic defender, he’s versatile enough to play all over the field, and impressed during summer camp both with his glove and the bat.
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The former is much more likely to keep him in the majors than the latter, although the Blue Jays feel there’s some gap-power upside in his swing that gives him a chance to contribute at the plate, too.
While he’s refined his swing to better drive the ball since the trade, he feels the time he spent with Bo Bichette and his all-star dad, Dante, during the pandemic shutdown will give him the mental boost needed to better pull things together.
Espinal and minor-league outfielder Forrest Wall both sheltered at the Bichette home, training and working out together the entire time. Rather than pressing on swing mechanics, Dante reinforced, “how positive I can stay when I play, how strong my mind can be at the plate.”
“Basically not giving up on one at-bat,” he continues. “I’d get out and I’d start thinking about that at-bat so much, that I’d waste my second at-bat. He told me one at-bat can’t ruin your whole game. If the pitcher beat you, or you beat yourself, that’s something you have to adjust to mentally, not mechanically. Change that negative talk into something positive. That really helped me a lot.”
Now, he’ll try to carry all that into this bizarre 2020 season, where he’ll give manager Charlie Montoyo another option around the infield behind his starters and super-utility addition Joe Panik.
Espinal woke up Wednesday morning and thought to himself, “OK, this is they day, either I go up or I go down.” Then, about 20-30 minutes before game-time at Fenway Park, mere moments after he and Teoscar Hernandez had grabbed some dinner, Montoyo called him into the office.
“I ran to his office, he and Luis [Rivera, the infielders coach] told me, ‘Hey, we like what you’ve been doing, we like how you come every day and do your work, we like how you play – congratulations on making the team,’” says Espinal. “I just started laughing. I couldn’t even say one word, I was smiling the whole time. I literally didn’t say one word until I told them, thank you so much. I couldn’t say anything else. They told me, enjoy it, keep doing what you’re doing, keep doing your job and you’re going to help this team win.”
Espinal’s first phone call was to his dad. All he could do was wish that he could share the moment with his mom, too.
LONDON – Canada will meet three-time champion Germany in the Davis Cup quarterfinals in Malaga, Spain this November.
Canada secured a berth in the quarterfinals — also called The Final 8 Knockout Stage — with a 2-1 win over Britain last weekend in Manchester, England.
World No. 21 Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal anchored a five-player squad that included Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., Gabriel Diallo of Montreal, Alexis Galarneau of Laval, Que., and Vasek Pospisil of Vernon, B.C.
The eight-team draw for the quarterfinals was completed Thursday at International Tennis Federation headquarters.
Defending champion Italy will play Argentina, the United States will meet Australia and Spain will take on the Netherlands. Schedule specifics have yet to be released but the Final 8 will be played Nov. 19-24.
Tim Puetz and Kevin Krawietz were unbeaten in doubles play last week to help Germany reach the quarterfinals. The country’s top singles player — second-ranked Alex Zverev — did not play.
The Canadians defeated Germany in the quarterfinals en route to their lone Davis Cup title in 2022. Germany won titles in 1988, ’89 and ’93.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Canada, fuelled by a 2-1 win over the U.S. and scoreless draw with Mexico, has jumped two places to No. 38 in the FIFA men’s world rankings released Thursday.
Of the top six CONCACAF teams, Canada was the only one to move up. Mexico was unchanged at No. 17 while the U.S. and Panama each fell two rungs to No. 18 and 37, respectively
Costa Rica slipped one spot to No. 50 and Jamaica two places to No. 61.
It marks Canada’s highest ranking under coach Jesse Marsch, who was hired in mid-May when the Canadians were ranked 50th. Since then, the team has climbed to No. 49, 48, 40 and now 38.
Canada has been as high as No. 33 in the men’s ranking, achieved in February 2022 under John Herdman with Canada, named the “Most Improved Side” in 2021 by FIFA, turning heads with an unbeaten run in CONCACAF World Cup qualifying.
The new rankings encompass 184 internationals involving teams from all six confederations including 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Asia, Oceania and South America.
The top 10 was unchanged with Argentina ahead of France, Spain, England, Brazil, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, Colombia and Italy. But the gap at the top is closing with Argentina losing 2-1 away to Colombia and 3-1 at home to Italy.
Teams 10 through 15 were also unchanged. But there was movement after that in the form of Japan (, up two), Iran (No. 19, up one) and Denmark (No. 20, up one). Egypt (No. 31), Ivory Coast (No. 33), Tunisia (No. 36) and Algeria (No. 41) all jumped five places while Greece (No. 48) climbed six spots.
The biggest movers were Brunei Darussalam (No. 183) and Samoa (No. 185), who vaulted seven spots on the back of two wins apiece.
Qatar suffered the biggest drop, tumbling 10 places to No. 44.
San Marino remains at the bottom of the rankings in 210th place despite recording its first victory in more than 20 years, San Marino defeated Liechtenstein 1-0 on Sept. 5, ending a 140-game winless run since a 1-0 decision over the same opponent in April 2004.
Liechtenstein fell four places to No. 203.
Canada’s next match is an Oct. 15 friendly against Panama at Toronto’s BMO Field. The next men’s ranking will be released Oct. 24.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024
It has been a difficult start to the NFL season for quarterback Bryce Young and the Carolina Panthers.
Carolina has dropped its opening two games after Sunday’s 26-3 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. And Young, the first player taken in the ’23 NFL draft, was 18-of-26 passing for 84 yards with an interception while being sacked twice.
As a result, veteran Andy Dalton will start Sunday when Carolina faces the Las Vegas Raiders (1-1).
According to the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., the Chargers’ win was the most accurately predicted moneyline selection by Proline bettors. A whopping 92 per cent of wagers were on Los Angeles beating Carolina with 92 per cent also picking the Chargers to cover -4.5.
In other action that went in favour of Proline bettors: Kansas City edged Cincinnati 26-25 (86 per cent correctly selected the Chiefs to win); Houston got past Chicago 19-13 (81 per cent); the New York Jets defeated Tennessee 24-17 (78 per cent); Pittsburgh beat Denver 13-6 (76 per cent), Washington beat the New York Giants 21-18 (73 per cent); and Seattle toppled New England 23-20 (62 per cent).
However, only five per cent of bettors had the Raiders upsetting Baltimore 26-23.
And there was one winner of Proline’s second week main NFL pool of $407,613.
In NFL futures bets after the second week of the season, the odds for offensive player of the year got shorter for running backs Breece Hall (Jets) and Bijan Robinson (Atlanta) and Detroit receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown. But they got longer for running backs Kyren Williams (Rams), Christian McCaffrey (San Francisco) and Jonathan Taylor (Colts).
Quarterbacks Bo Nix (Denver), Jayden Daniels (Washington) and Caleb Williams (Chicago) all had their odds for offensive rookie of the year go up while they went down for running back Ray Davis (Buffalo), tight end Brock Bowers (Raiders) and receiver Malik Nabers (Giants).
Quarterbacks Patrick Mahones (Chiefs), Aaron Rodgers (Jets) and Jalen Hurts (Eagles) all had their odds for regular season MVP go up. But quarterbacks Jordan Love (Packers), Lamar Jackson (Baltimore) and Joe Burrow (Cincinnati) all saw theirs go down.
Kansas City, Philadelphia and Houston had their Super Bowl odds increase while Green Bay, Baltimore and Cincinnati all decreased.
Not surprising, the week’s top events were all NFL games. In order, they were; Buffalo-Miami, Chicago-Houston, Cincinnati-KC, Raiders-Ravens; and Saints-Cowboys.
A Proline retail player cashed in a $26,183 winner from a $10 bet on a 12-leg major-league baseball parlay. Another won $24,602 from a $10 wager on a 12-leg NFL parlay.
A third received $1,737 from a $3 bet on a six-leg NFL parlay.
A digital bettor earned $2,927 from a $25 bet on a five-leg NFL parlay while a second had a $704.35 return from a $1 wager on a seven-leg NFL parlay.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
