🌽 Y! Sports AM: A return to the corn

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🌽 A RETURN TO THE CORN (Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)

The Phillies crushed the Twins, 7-1, on Thursday in MLB's first Field of Dreams Game since 2022 behind a gem from Aaron Nola (5 IP, 1 ER, 9 K) and Kyle Schwarber's MLB-leading 36th and 37th home runs.

Jake Mintz, Yahoo Sports:

It's not easy to get to Dyersville, Iowa. For those not within driving distance, the most common route involves a flight to Chicago, a three-hour drive across Illinois and a hotel in the quaint riverside city of Dubuque. From there, Dyersville is a 45-minute jaunt down Route 20. Convenient it is not.

And yet, 7,163 ballfans, 54 active ballplayers and 26 Hall of Famers made the journey on Thursday, congregating beneath the cornstalks and the rolling hills for a night of pomp and circumstance and nostalgia laid on as thick as butter. The vignettes, the images, the emotions of this game make the immense cost worth it.

See you next season? Fans won't have to wait another four years to descend on the iconic Iowa cornfield. The Des Moines Register reported Thursday that MLB will return next season (assuming there is one) in what appears to be a game between the Red Sox and Royals.

🏈 BIG GAINS ON THE GRIDIRON (Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports, Data: Sportico)

The average NFL franchise is worth a whopping $9.34 billion, per Sportico's annual valuations.

• That's a 31% increase over last year, marking the largest jump since Sportico's first valuations in 2020.
• The Cowboys ($15.5B) lead the way as always, followed by the Rams ($12.7B), Giants ($12B), Patriots ($10.4B) and Jets ($10.35B).

Football is king: The Bengals are the NFL's least valuable team ($7.4B). Yet there are only six teams outside the NFL worth more than them: the Lakers, Knicks, Warriors, Dodgers, Yankees and Real Madrid.

🌍 THE WORLD IN PHOTOS (Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)

🇨🇦 Montreal, Canada — Ben Shelton successfully defended his Canadian Open title on Thursday, defeating fellow American Brandon Nakashima to become just the third man since 1990 to win this event without dropping a set.

Meanwhile, in Toronto: Iga Świątek dominated Elena Rybakina, 6-2, 6-3, for her first title of the year and her 12th career WTA 1000 title, passing Aryna Sabalenka for the second-most since the format's introduction in 2009. Only Serena Williams (13) has more.

(Ian Maule/Getty Images)

🇺🇸 Las Vegas, Nevada — No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza made some nice plays in his preseason debut for the Raiders. Kirk Cousins remains the starter, but don't be surprised if Mendoza is nipping at his heels once the regular season gets underway.

Preseason storylines: Mendoza's debut, Packers RB intrigue, Browns QB battle and more

The women's triple jump medalists celebrate together on Thursday. (Julian Finney/Getty Images)

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Birmingham, England — The 27th European Athletics Championships are underway, with 1,600+ athletes from 49 nations competing in the first-ever edition held in the United Kingdom.

Host nation bump: Halfway through the weeklong event, Great Britain and Northern Ireland lead all nations with four gold medals, already matching their haul from two years ago in Rome.

⚽️ MLS SNAPSHOT: MIDWAY POINT (Henry Russell/Yahoo Sports)

The MLS regular season has reached its midpoint, with every team having played at least 17 of their 34 matches. Here's a quick look at where things stand as the action picks back up after largely pausing for Leagues Cup these past two weeks.

Dynamic duo: Nashville SC and Inter Miami are in a league of their own, sitting atop the East by a sizable margin and leading all teams in the West by at least four points, too. As fate would have it, they square off against each other tomorrow in Music City (8:30pm ET, Apple).

• Nashville (12-2-4) have allowed the fewest goals in the league (14) on the strength of Brian Schwake's eight clean sheets. They're also tied with the West's top team, Vancouver, for the best goal differential (21), and are the only club still unbeaten at home.
• Miami (11-2-5) are dominating on the other side of the ball, scoring an MLS-best 45 goals (tied with Cincinnati). Lionel Messi (12 goals), Luis Suárez (10) and Germán Berterame (7) have combined to score more goals than 15 entire teams.

Elsewhere: Vancouver (10-3-4) sits atop the West, though they've won just two of their last eight games. Outside of Nashville and Miami, the hottest teams are second-place LAFC (unbeaten in five straight), fourth-place Houston (six straight), and seventh-place St. Louis (eight straight).

Looking ahead: Prepare for an exciting playoff race, as the East's 5-11 seeds and the West's 5-13 seeds are separated by just six games. (As a reminder: the top nine teams per conference make the playoffs.)

📺 WEEKEND WATCHLIST Ledecky stands on the podium after winning gold in the 1500m. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

🏊 Pan Pacific Championships

There are two days left in the Pan Pacs(Fri-Sat, Peacock), the quadrennial meet for swimmers from non-European nations that is being held for the first time since 2018 due to COVID disrupting the calendar.

Ledecky watch: Katie Ledecky dominated her first individual event (1500m free), and the most decorated female swimmer of all time still has two tantalizing matchups left: the 400m free against Canadian phenom Summer McIntosh (Fri. 10pm), and the 800m free (Sat. 11:50pm).

⛳️ FedEx St. Jude Championship

The first playoff event continues in Memphis (Fri-Sun, Golf/ESPN/CBS), where five golfers are tied for the lead at 5-under after the opening round as the 69-player field fights for one of the 50 spots in next week's BMW Championship.

Skating by no more: One of those co-leaders is Jordan Spieth, who's the only golfer that qualified for the playoffs without a single top-10 finish this season. Will this be the week he breaks the spell?

🏈 NFL Preseason

The first weekend slate delivers three games tonight and seven more tomorrow, including Broncos at Falcons (Fri. 7pm, ESPN+), Rams at Chiefs (Sat. 4pm, NFL) and Cowboys at Seahawks (Sat. 8pm, NFL).

Finding an edge: Betting on preseason football might sound like a fool's errand, but there's real value in these games if you know how to find it, writes Yahoo Sports' Corbie Craig.

More to watch:

• 🏈 IFL Championship:Green Bay Blizzard vs. Arizona Rattlers(Sun. 7:30pm, Yahoo Sports) … A champion will be crowned, live on Yahoo Sports Network (free to watch).
• ⚾️ MLB: Cardinals at Cubs (Fri. 2:20pm, Apple); Yankees at Blue Jays (Fri. 7:15pm, Apple); Orioles at Rays (Sun. 12:15pm, Peacock); Mariners at Astros (Sun. 7:20pm, NBC)
• 🏀 WNBA: Lynx at Aces (Sat. 8pm, CBS); Fever at Dream (Sun. 5pm, ESPN) … Four of the league's top five teams.
• ⚽️ MLS: Nashville vs. Miami (Sat. 8:30pm, Apple) … The league's top two teams battle in Music City.
• ⚽️ Community Shield: Arsenal vs. Manchester City (Sun. 10am, ESPN) … Annual match between the reigning Premier League and FA Cup winners.
• ⚽️ NWSL: Gotham FC vs. KC Current (Fri. 8pm, Prime); Angel City vs. Washington Spirit (Sun. 9pm, ESPN) … Gotham (12-3-4) and Washington (11-5-3) sit atop the standings.
• 👊 UFC 330: Islam Makhachev vs. Ian Machado Garry (Sat. 9pm, Paramount+) … The welterweight title bout headlines the card in Philadelphia.

Plus: ⛳️ U.S. Amateur (Fri-Sun, NBC/Peacock); 🏁 NASCAR in Richmond (Sat. 7pm, USA); 🏁 IndyCar in Ontario (Sun. 12pm, Fox); 🥍 PLL in Philadelphia (Sat-Sun, ESPN/ABC); ⚾️ WPBL (Fri-Sun, ESPN+)

🔎 GUESS THE LOGO

Question: Can you guess this zoomed in NFL logo?

Hint: AFC.

Answer at the bottom.

🏈 29 DAYS OF FANTASY

It's Yahoo Fantasy Football's 29th year. To celebrate, we're dropping a brand-new fantasy feature every day for 29 days straight. That's 29 days, 29 features, all built to help you dominate your league.

Week in review: Here's what's been announced so far.

1. Custom Recipes: A simple way for leagues to play with unique scoring formats curated by celebrities, creators and Yahoo Sports experts.
2. Tight End Premium: One of the most-requested formats is finally here, boosting the score for TE receptions from 0.5 to 1.0 (or whatever you want).
3. Cameo: Book a celebrity to announce and reveal your draft order, without ever leaving the app.
4. Fantasy Ultra: Our newest subscription tier offers exclusive benefits, including an upgraded draft kit, fewer ads and up to $1,600 in partner perks.

Day 5: The next feature will be announced today at 9am ET.

Create or join a league today!

Logo reveal: Baltimore Ravens

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