📰🏟️ Joltin’ Jordan

Good afternoon. Welcome back to another week full of top sports stories. Let’s get you up to speed.

—Kyle

1) Jordan Walker wins MLB Home Run Derby

St. Louis Cardinals RF Jordan Walker won last night’s HR Derby in his first-ever appearance, hitting 6 straight HRs in the final to beat hometown hero and Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber.

• Walker is the first player in Cardinals history to earn the Derby title, which comes with a $1M grand prize—more than his entire salary for this season (~$800K).
• The two longest blasts of the night belonged to Rays 3B Junior Caminero (491 ft) and Red Sox 1B Wilson Contreras (490 ft).

Relive last night’s Derby action (12 min video)

2) World Cup semifinals kick off this afternoon

France and Spain, two of the tournament’s most impressive teams, are going head-to-head in the 2026 World Cup semis in Dallas this afternoon at 2 pm CT.

• France has largely breezed through the competition thus far thanks to a high-powered offense led by Kylian Mbappé.
• Meanwhile, Spain has relied on stout defense and late goals from Mikel Merino to win their past 2 elimination matches.
• The second World Cup semifinal kicks off tomorrow afternoon, with Argentina facing England in Atlanta (2 pm CT).

Breaking down Les Bleus v. La Roja

3) Celebrini, 20, youngest-ever on NHL videogame cover

EA Sports announced San Jose Sharks wunderkind center Macklin Celebrini as the cover athlete of NHL 27, making him the youngest cover athlete in the videogame series, and the first-ever Shark.

• The #1 overall pick in the 2024 draft, Celebrini set a San Jose franchise record for points this past season (115; 45 goals) and finished 4th in MVP voting (Hart Trophy).
• The 20-y.o. also led the 2026 Olympics in February with 5 goals in 6 games as Team Canada earned the silver medal in men’s ice hockey, falling to Team USA in the final.

Celebrini is celebrating

4) Hurdles remain for MLB players in 2028 Olympics

MLB owners have placed their support behind allowing big league players to play in the Olympics for the first time, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

• However, disagreements with the MLB Players’ Association over hotel rooms, tickets, and a mandatory-participation policy—with fines/suspensions for not playing—have reportedly prevented any formal agreement.
• Both sides are pushing for clarity ahead of summer 2028, when the league plans to shut down for 11 days for the All-Star Game followed by a 6-team Olympic tourney at Dodger Stadium.

Inside baseball’s Olympic plans

5) Final table for poker’s world championship is set

The World Series of Poker Main Event has whittled its 9,208-member field down to the final 9 players after 8 long days of play.

• All 9 finalists all guaranteed at least $1M in prize money, with $10M awarded for 1st place.
• Going into the final table, the overall chip leader is 22-y.o. Lucas Jumalon, whose 194M chips are more than double the 2nd-highest stack (Rami Hammoud; 79M).
• Play will now pause for several weeks until players reconvene in Vegas for the final table from August 3-5, with all action broadcast live on ESPN.

Who will take home the bracelet?

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