Here is the latest Mid-America sports news from The Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) — A doubleheader between the St. Louis Cardinals and Detroit Tigers this week is being postponed to allow more time for additional COVID-19 testing. MLB opted to postpone Thursday's doubleheader to continue additional testing while players and staff are quarantined before the team returns to play. More details about the Cardinals' resumption of play will be announced later this week. The Cardinals had a series against Pittsburgh set to start on Monday postponed after a weekend series against the Cubs was scrapped due to three positive coronavirus tests.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes might be having the best year of anyone. The Chiefs quarterback began it by leading his team to its first Super Bowl title in 50 years. He signed a record-setting contract extension that could pay him a half-billion dollars. He even bought a stake in the Kansas City Royals. But with the Chiefs heading into the thick of training camp, Mahomes told The Associated Press in a wide-ranging interview that his focus remains squarely on football, even as he lends support to the Black Lives Matter movement and spearheads a voter registration drive in his own community.
Update on the latest sports
VIRUS OUTBREAK-MASSACHUSETTS
Massachusetts cancels fall season
AMHERST, Mass. (AP) — Massachusetts has become the latest school from the Football Bowl Subdivision, college football's highest level, to cancel its fall season.
UMass is an independent in football and its decision affects only that sport. Most of UMass' athletic teams compete in the Atlantic 10.
Athletic director Ryan Bamford says the school will try to conduct a football spring season if possible.
UMass joins fellow independent UConn, Old Dominion and all the schools in the Mid-American Conference and Mountain West — a total of 27 — in postponing its football season.
MLB
Blue Jays roam, where Buffalo's home
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Baseball's nomads, the Toronto Blue Jays, finally move into their new home at Sahlen Field in Buffalo, New York, when they play the Miami Marlins. It'll be the first time this year the Blue Jays are the actual host team.
Canada's government wouldn't let them hold games at Rogers Centre in Toronto, fearful of opponents traveling into the city amid the coronavirus pandemic. Pittsburgh offered to let the Blue Jays play at PNC Park when the Pirates were on the road, but Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf wouldn't sign off on it.
That left the club's Triple-A affiliate in Buffalo, which last hosted a regular-season Major League Baseball game in 1915 when the Buffalo Blues finished sixth in the eight-team Federalist League.
Elsewhere in the majors:
— Indians right-hander Mike Clevinger won't make his scheduled start against the Cubs after Cleveland learned he joined rotation-mate Zach Plesac in violating COVID-19 protocols by going out after a game Saturday in Chicago. Plesac was forced to travel home separately from the club Sunday, while Clevinger flew home with teammates without disclosing that he had been with Plesac. Cleveland said Clevinger will be quarantined and tested until he registers two negative results in 72 hours. Clevinger and Plesac could be facing additional discipline from the team. Meanwhile, Indians manager Terry Francona will return to the club after missing eight games to rest while dealing with a gastrointestinal condition that has bothered him since spring training in Arizona.
— Nationals ace Max Scherzer is set to make his scheduled start against the Mets at Citi Field after leaving his previous outing early because of a hamstring issue. The three-time Cy Young Award winner lasted only one inning last Wednesday against New York due to a hamstring problem that first cropped up July 29 versus Toronto. But he felt good while throwing a bullpen Sunday and will try to keep Washington rolling in the wake of a 16-4 blowout over the Mets in the opener of a four-game series Monday.
NBA
Four teams vying for last West playoff spot in action
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Memphis, Portland, San Antonio and Phoenix are the last four teams standing in the race for the last two play-in-game spots in the NBA's Western conference. And all four teams are in action today.
The margin between the eighth-place Grizzlies and 11th-place Spurs, at the start of the day, was just one game, and all four clubs had two games remaining.
If Memphis and Portland both win today, and Phoenix and San Antonio both lose, the race is over and the Grizzlies and Blazers clinch spots.
Otherwise, the race goes to Thursday, when it'll have to be known who the two clubs are that will be headed to the best-of-two play-in series. The ninth-place finisher will have to beat the eighth-place finisher twice to advance.
NBA-KNICKS-PAYNE
Knicks lure Payne from Kentucky
NEW YORK (AP) — Tom Thibodeau has made the first addition to his New York Knicks coaching staff. He hired Kenny Payne as an assistant.
Payne has spent the last 10 years at Kentucky, where he has been John Calipari's associate head coach since 2014. He was part of the staff that won the 2012 national championship and won its first 38 games in 2014-15. The Wildcats reached four Final Fours and won 295 games with Payne working under Calipari. The 53-year-old Payne also spent five seasons as an assistant with Oregon.
He will be reunited with former Wildcats Julius Randle and Kevin Knox in New York.
TENNIS-PRAGUE OPEN
Halep advances in Prague
PRAGUE, (AP) — Top-seeded Simona Halep had to fight hard to advance to the second round of the Prague Open in a three-set win over unseeded Polona Hercog.
It was the first competitive match for Halep since she won the Dubai Championships in February for her 20th career WTA title. Before the Wimbledon champion recovered from a foot injury she sustained in Dubai, the coronavirus pandemic forced a five-month break.
No. 2-seeded Petra Martic and No. 3 Elise Mertens also advanced.