Signed, sealed and delivered in Las Vegas
Fernando Mendoza’s $57.27 million rookie contract became official Thursday, putting the Raiders’ top draft pick in camp on time — and setting up the summer’s biggest question in Las Vegas.
Good morning! Football season is stirring. The Raiders got their top pick under contract just in time for camp, and the Rams dipped into the archives for a uniform drop worth seeing. It was a quiet Thursday on the diamond — only the Padres played, and it didn’t go their way — but all three clubs are back tonight. Let’s get into it.
🚨 HEADLINES
🏈 Done deal. Fernando Mendoza’s $57.27 million rookie contract is official, clearing the Raiders’ top pick for camp — Steve Carp in Henderson.
🏈 Blast from the past. The Rams unveiled throwback alternates honoring the 1951 champions and the Fearsome Foursome — see the uniforms.
⚾ Series slips away. Griffin Canning couldn’t deliver as the Padres dropped the four-game set in Atlanta — James Newell at Truist Park.
🏀 Finding her rhythm. Ariel Atkins is rounding into form even as the Sparks keep coming up short — Holland Kaplan at Crypto.com Arena.
🏀 Tune-up. What UCLA learned from its exhibition against Team Canada — Jack Haslett in Victoria.
See what else is trending at The Sporting Tribune.
📋 SCOREBOARD — THURSDAY
⚾ MLB: Braves 6, Padres 5 — Atlanta takes the four-game series
💤 Quiet night: Dodgers and Angels were off; the WNBA is on its All-Star break.
🏈 THE RAIDERS GET THEIR MAN UNDER CONTRACT
No holdout, no drama, no wasted reps. Fernando Mendoza’s $57.27 million rookie deal became official Thursday, and the Raiders’ top draft pick will be on the field when training camp opens this week — which is precisely how a franchise wants this to go. Steve Carp has the details from the Intermountain Health Performance Center on a signing that removes the last bit of uncertainty from Las Vegas’s offseason. The interesting part starts now: how quickly Klint Kubiak brings his prized rookie along, and what that means for a depth chart with Kirk Cousins on it. Camp will start answering it.
GO DEEPER
› Steve Carp: Mendoza signed, sealed and delivered (The Sporting Tribune)
› Why Klint Kubiak is refusing to force Fernando Mendoza out there (The Sporting Tribune)
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🏈 THE RAMS RAID THE ARCHIVES
Los Angeles went looking for its own history and came back with something worth wearing. The Rams unveiled throwback alternate uniforms honoring the 1951 NFL championship team and the Fearsome Foursome, the defensive line that terrorized the league in the 1960s and remains one of the great nicknames in American sports. For a franchise that spent decades away from Los Angeles and has worked hard to reclaim its place in the city, leaning into the deep local history is more than a merchandising play — it’s a statement about whose team this is.
GO DEEPER
› Rams unveil throwback alternate uniforms honoring the 1951 champions and the Fearsome Foursome (The Sporting Tribune)
⚾ A ROAD TRIP THE PADRES WANT BACK
San Diego had this series in hand and let it go. After a Tuesday blowout put them in control, the Padres lost a rollercoaster on Wednesday and then watched Griffin Canning falter again Thursday in a 6-5 defeat that handed Atlanta the four-game set. It’s a familiar frustration for a club hovering around .500 with the trade deadline a week out — the offense has shown up in bursts, the rotation hasn’t held. A.J. Preller has seven days to decide whether this roster is worth adding to. Next up: three in Miami.
GO DEEPER
› Griffin Canning fails to deliver again, dropping the four-game series to the Braves (The Sporting Tribune)
› Padres show grit to rally big late, fall just short in rollercoaster loss (The Sporting Tribune)
📺 WATCHLIST — FRIDAY, JULY 24
⚾ MLB: Dodgers at Mets — SportsNet LA — 4:10 p.m. PT
⚾ MLB: Padres at Marlins — Padres TV — 4:10 p.m. PT
⚾ MLB: Angels at Giants — ABTV — 7:15 p.m. PT
🎟️ GOING TO A GAME?
Get-in prices across Southern California and Las Vegas — brought to you by TickPick, the no-hidden-fee ticket marketplace. All three clubs are on the road tonight — here’s what’s next at home:
⚾ Mon., July 27: Astros at Angels — Angel Stadium — $9
⚾ Tue., July 28: Mariners at Dodgers — Dodger Stadium — $109
🌴 TST TRIVIA
The Rams’ new throwbacks honor the Fearsome Foursome, the fearsome defensive line of the 1960s. Can you name all four?
Answer at the bottom.
🎧 THE SPORTING TRIBUNE TODAY
Today’s episode gets into Fernando Mendoza’s signing and what Raiders camp will tell us about the quarterback room, admires the Rams’ dive into 1951, and checks in on a Padres club running out of runway before the deadline. Hear it on the radio across Southern California and Las Vegas via Westwood One Sports.
› Listen to the latest episode
Trivia answer: Deacon Jones, Merlin Olsen, Lamar Lundy and Rosey Grier — the Rams’ Fearsome Foursome of the mid-1960s.
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