NBA has leveled a lifetime ban on Jontay Porter for gambling.

Mike Trout wants to stay. A trade “hasn’t even crossed my mind.” Instead, he seems hellbent on not only proving he’s still elite, but that he can do what few believe he can:

Lead the Shohei Ohtani-less Angels into the playoffs.

“He’s just mad.”

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The Texas Rangers are calling up right-hander Jack Leiter, the No. 2 pick in the 2021 draft. In 14.1 innings at AAA this season, he has struck out 25 and walked three while allowing four home runs. He'll start the final game of their series against Detroit on Thursday.

Rough one for the Cubs. Seiya Suzuki and Michael Busch have been the team's two bright spots offensively. Suzuki strained an oblique on the left side in spring training last year and missed nearly six weeks.

John Sterling, the voice of the New York Yankees for the last 35 years, is retiring effective immediately after calling more than 5,000 Yankees games.

'You wanna talk about a sport that's youth system needs to be completely overhauled it's baseball..

It's not a surprise that we're seeing what we're seeing now with the injuries in MLB'

Jeff Passan #PMSLive

Ippei Mizuhara surrendered to law enforcement this morning and is in federal custody. He is scheduled to appear in L.A. court at 1 p.m. PT. The expectation, according to what I was told yesterday, is that he will be let out on bond at that point.

Here's the story, free and unlocked, at ESPN: espn.com/mlb/story/_/id…

The thrust: Other agents accused Bad Bunny's agency of providing cash and gifts to players, which would run afoul of agent regulations. The MLBPA investigated the claims and then decertified Rimas' lead agent.

William Arroyo, the main baseball agent from the Bad Bunny-led venture Rimas Sports, had his MLBPA certification revoked after a union investigation into the agency providing improper benefits to players, industry sources tell me, Jeff Passan and Jorge Castillo.

The Kansas City Royals are 9-4 and have the third-best record in the American League behind the Yankees and Guardians. Kansas City has now won seven straight, sweeping the White Sox and Astros. Royals starters have a 1.96 ERA and have averaged the most innings per start in MLB.

A seeming confession from Ippei Mizuhara, via text to a bookmaker, on the day Tisha Thompson's story ran.

Two important elements from the complaint against Ippei Mizuhara.

1) The size of his bets -- and the debt he allegedly incurred -- were massive: losing bets of nearly $183 million, winning bets of more than $142 million and $40.7 million in losses.

2) No bets on baseball.

From the government's complaint against Ippei Mizuhara.

This detail from Alden González and Paula Lavigne's story on Ippei Mizuhara being charged with stealing more than $16 million from Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani answers a long-standing question of how he got access to the money. Full story here: espn.com/mlb/story/_/id…

Initial story on the bank fraud charges against Ippei Mizuhara, with Paula Lavigne. Plenty more to come. ...

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Ippei Mizuhara has been charged with stealing more than $16 million from Shohei Ohtani, according to federal investigators.

LHP Jordan Montgomery has hired Wasserman’s Joel Wolfe & Nick Chanock as his agents, per sources.

Montgomery was one of the Boras Four, who were unsigned late into free agency.

I projected he would get 5 yrs, $106M and he eventually signed for 1 yr, $25M w/Arizona on March 26.

In sports' load-management era, there remain a handful of players who are the ultimate iron men. Free and unlocked at ESPN, the story of the 162 Club, featuring the wisdom of Juan Soto, Matt Olson, Freddie Freeman, Whit Merrifield, Cal Ripken Jr. and more: espn.com/mlb/story/_/id…

Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, is facing federal charges. A source with knowledge of the investigation told ESPN that Ohtani’s claims of theft are accurate.

More from Paula Lavigne and T.J. Quinn …

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