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CLEVELAND — Francisco Lindor is a natural right-handed batter who desperately wanted to switch hit as a child to be more like his heroes. His brother and his cousin were both switch hitters, as was his favorite player, Hall of Fame second baseman Roberto Alomar.   Lindor pleaded with his father, Miguel, to bat left-handed. Miguel fought against it for years because Lindor was such a good hitter from the right side. Why intentionally make yourself worse by doing something so unnatural? It didn’t make sense.   “That was the way my dad forced me to practice,” Lindor said. “If I did everything right, then I could hit from the left side.” The Pulse Newsletter Free, daily sports updates direct to your inbox. Free, daily sports updates direct to your inbox. Sign Up Now Lindor is part of a dwindling subset of players. Switch hitters are a dying breed in the major leagues, particularly among Americans.   Of the roughly 550 batters to log a plate appearance through the end of June, only 58 were...

Back-to-school season can still be an opportunity for a refresh, even if you’re not headed back to the classroom. Maria Korneeva/Getty Images/Moment RF hide caption toggle caption Maria Korneeva/Getty Images/Moment RF Ah, remember the excitement of starting a new school year? Shopping for new notebooks, picking out the perfect outfit for the first day of school, the smell of pencil sharpenings in the classroom? Just because you’re a grown-up doesn’t mean you can’t harness that buzzy back-to-school energy. Here are seven activities you probably did in school as a kid — like playing at recess and packing lunches — updated for the adult version of you. We hope these ideas inspire new routines and positive changes as you transition into fall. Miss packing a school lunch? Try meal-prepping Kevin Curry, founder of FitMenCook , meal ...

The Kansas City Chiefs have won back-to-back Super Bowls, so the entire NFL will be looking to knock them off their perch atop the league. What’s surprising, though, is that despite winning two titles in a row, my NFL Projection Model does not see the Chiefs as the favorites to win it all this year. That’s more a testament to the AFC, which is deep with talented teams, making the Chiefs’ march to another conference crown extremely difficult. Then again, the road won’t be easy for any team. If it were, we wouldn’t be watching. GO DEEPER NFL QB Tiers 2024: Only 2 join Mahomes in Tier 1; Rodgers, Herbert drop out With that in mind, and the start of the season less than a week away, let’s examine the 10 teams most likely to win the Super Bowl and provide reasons why they will or won’t be the last team standing in February. NFL Projection Model: Super Bowl Why they’ll win the Super Bowl The 49ers still have arguably the best roster in the NFL , with my projection model suggesting they h...

What do the Montauk lighthouse, a school mural, a trampoline accident, a forced migration, and the Quartering Act of 1765 have in common? These are the subjects of winning podcasts submitted by fourth graders to NPR’s Student Podcast Challenge . For the last six years, our contest has brought the voices of fifth through 12th graders to the airwaves. And every year, we’d get emails from teachers asking, “what about fourth graders?” We decided to give it a try this year, but honestly, we weren’t sure if podcasting would be too hard for 9- and 10-year-olds. Boy were we wrong! NPR received entries from students all around the country. Fourth graders explained poltergeists , offered insights about cuttlefish , unpacked the origins of Hello Kitty , debated gas vs. electric cars , and made impassioned arguments for why every kid should have their own bedroom . Our judges picked their five favorites. In alphabetical order, here are the fourth grade ...

Any monitor can be used for PC gaming, but a display built for productivity will likely leave you underwhelmed. Limited contrast, blurry motion, and slow refresh rates still hold basic productivity monitors back in games. Fortunately, there’s no shortage of excellent gaming monitors available at a wide range of price points—and the best of them embrace cutting-edge technology unavailable in any other PC display.  Here are the best gaming monitors of 2023 so far. If you aren’t sold on a gaming monitor, check out our recommendations for the best monitors overall or our roundup of the best 4K monitors for additional options. Updated August 30, 2024: A couple new gaming monitors have graced PCWorld’s test bench of late: the Gigabyte MO34WQC — a 34-inch QD-OLED with a nice 175Hz refresh rate and adaptive sync. But is that enough to set it apart from a sea of similar competitors? A more definitive standout is the Asus ROG Swift PG32UCDP — an excellent 32-inch 4K OLED monitor capable of...