DAN GARTLAND

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I can’t tell you how glad I am that there’s a World Cup to give me things to write about during the MLB All-Star break this week. 

🎾 Sinner wins in London

⚾ Schwarber’s Philly victory lap

🏈 Big 12 breakthrough?

Susan Mullane/Imagn Images

Jannik Sinner returned to a familiar place on Sunday: the winner’s circle at a major championship. 

Sinner beat Alexander Zverev in the Wimbledon men’s singles final, 6–7, 7–6, 6–3, 6–4, to claim his first Grand Slam title since winning last year at the All England Club. 

A year isn’t all that long between Grand Slams, but it’s longer than anyone expected Sinner to have to wait. He won two majors in 2024 and two more in ’25, but he lost to Carlos Alcaraz in the U.S. Open final last year, then lost to Novak Djokovic in five sets in the Australian Open semifinals in January. At the most recent Grand Slam, the French Open, Sinner had a shocking second-round exit as he faded in the heat.

The loss in Paris was Sinner’s last official match before Wimbledon. He took a month off from competition, using part of that time to undergo medical testing to determine if his struggles in the heat were cause for concern. (Jon Wertheim has more on Sinner’s hiatus and what his win means for his career.) He returned to the court in London with a clean bill of health but without having played any tour-level warmup matches on grass. It didn’t matter, though, and Sinner looked like the same dominant force we’ve been used to watching. 

Junfu Han/Imagn Images

The premier event of MLB’s All-Star week is tonight: the Home Run Derby. 

There’s a lot about this year’s Derby that will be different. For one, it’ll be broadcast on Netflix, rather than ESPN. It’ll also have a new format. The timed format that had been in place since 2015 has been replaced by a swing limit. Players will be given 20 swings in the first round and 15 each in the second and final rounds. All swings will be counted against the limit, even if they result in a homer. It’s a twist on the “outs” format that was in place before the introduction of the timer. 

I’ll be interested to see how the new format looks on TV. The timed format allowed guys to put up some obscene homer totals, but it was a horrendous viewing experience. It became impossible to tell what was happening with balls flying all over the place nonstop. Tonight’s edition will be easier to follow, but will it be dull to watch hitters wait for their pitch so they don’t waste a swing?

Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated

If you’ve enjoyed this expanded World Cup, there might be more where that came from. 

FIFA president Gianni Infantino said Sunday that the organization is exploring a 64-team format for the 2030 World Cup—double the number of teams that participated in the format that was used from 1998 to 2022. 

“That’s definitely an issue that will be examined and discussed in the relevant committees after this World Cup,” Infantino said. 

This isn’t the first time the idea of a 64-team World Cup has been broached. In April 2025, CONMEBOL (the South American soccer federation) made a formal proposal for a 64-team tournament, one month after a representative from Uruguay raised the concept “spontaneously” in a FIFA meeting. The supersized tournament would be a one-off intended to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first World Cup. 

The 2030 World Cup is already shaping up to be a doozy, with a whopping six nations set to stage matches. The bulk of the tournament will be contested in Morocco, Spain and Portugal, but there will also be games held in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, as a tribute to the inaugural World Cup in Uruguay. 

This year’s 48-team tournament has been a pleasant surprise. The expanded field didn’t water down the level of competition nearly as much as most people had predicted. Underdogs like Cabo Verde and DR Congo had unexpected success, and Curaçao even earned a point with a 0–0 draw against Ecuador. But other teams that would not have qualified under the previous format struggled, like Haiti, Iraq and Uzbekistan. Adding another 16 teams is likely to result in more noncompetitive matches rather than more heartwarming stories like Cabo Verde’s. But at least then Italy will be virtually guaranteed a spot. 

Meg Oliphant/Getty Images

… things I saw yesterday: 

5. Azzi Fudd’s clutch game-tying three as the Wings completed a comeback win over the Sky. 

4. The wild three-wide finish to the NASCAR Quaker State 400. Ryan Blaney won by a nose in a race that finished at almost 2 a.m. in Atlanta after a lengthy rain delay. 

3. Fernando Tatis Jr.’s sliding catch in right. 

2. Rory McIlroy’s reaction after hooking a shot out of the rough: “I’m so bad at golf!” (McIlroy was in the hunt at the Scottish Open but made a bogey on that hole and finished five shots behind winner Tom Kim.)

1. A great diving catch by Nolan Arenado at third. 

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