This is the last week where no high school fall athletics happen for real for the upcoming 202526 school year.

It all starts on Monday — both with the first day of high school football practice as well as the start of the 2025 high school fastpitch softball season.

As we progress through the weeks ahead, look for extensive coverage of your high school athletic teams in each week’s issue.

Because of that, this will be my last column until next summer — unless some juicy topic comes up.

All I can say is this — “Let the Games Commence!”

R.I.P., Ryne Sandberg

It was a rough start to last week as on July 28, Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg lost his battle with prostate cancer, of which he announced in January 2024.

In August 2024, Sandberg announced he was cancer free, but later revealed it came back — as well as spreading to other parts of his body.

Sandberg debuted with the Philadelphia Phillies on Sept. 2, 1981. Before the 1982 season, the Phillies traded him to the Chicago Cubs, with whom he played the rest of his MLB career.

On June 23, 1984, on NBC’s Baseball Game of the Week, the Cubs entertained their archrivals, the St. Louis Cardinals. Sandberg hit a game-tying solo home run off Hall of Fame relief pitcher Bruce Sutter in the ninth inning to knot the game at 9-all to force extra innings. After the Cardinals scored twice in the top of the 10th inning, Sandberg struck once more on another game-tying homer, a two-run shot, to re-tie the game at 11all. The Cubs ended up winning the game in 11 innings. This game has been dubbed “The Sandberg Game.”

R.I.P., Ryne Sandberg.

MLB Teams Wheel, Deal up until Deadline At 5 p.m. C.S.T. Thursday, the Major League Baseball trade deadline hit, but during the final 24 to 36 hours or so prior to that dead line we saw MLB teams wheel and deal. Just last Wednesday alone, there were six blockbuster deals made. St. Louis Cardinals ace reliever Ryan Helsley was acquired by the New York Mets, who also traded for San Francisco relief pitcher Tyler Rogers.

The Cincinnati Reds traded for Pittsburgh’s Ke’Bryan Hayes, while the Seattle Mariners traded for Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman Eugenio Suarez just days after acquiring another D-Backs player — first baseman Josh Naylor.

The Philadelphia Phillies acquired Minnesota Twins relief ace Jhoan Duran, while the Chicago Cubs traded for Washington Nationals pitcher Michael Soroka.

The team that did the most wheeling and dealing were the San Diego Padres, who were involved in seven deals.

Perhaps the biggest trade of the entire period was done by the Padres when they acquired two pitchers from the A’s (remember, we can’t call them Oakland A’s, since they’re playing on the west side of Sacramento currently as they head to their new home in Las Vegas) as San Diego got A’s relief pitcher Mason Miller and lefty J.P. Sears. That was followed by acquisitions of Baltimore first baseman/ designated hitter Ryan O’Hearn and outfielder Ramon Laureano as well as trading for Milwaukee pitcher Nestor Cortes and Kansas City catcher Freddy Fermin.

Thanks to last Thursday’s trade, the Houston Astros once more have Carlos Correa in the mix after acquiring him from the Minnesota Twins. The Astros also traded for Baltimore infielder Ramon Urias.

Besides trading for Colorado Rockies third baseman Ryan Mc-Mahon, the New York Yankees got Pittsburgh relief pitcher David Bednar, Tampa Bay utility player Jose Caballero, Chicago White Sox outfielder Austin Slater, San Francisco pitcher Camilo Doval and Rockies’ pitcher Jake Bird.

The New York Mets, who earlier last week got Baltimore reliever Gregory Soto, went out and acquired San Francisco relief pitcher Tyler Rogers and Baltimore outfielder Cedric Mullins The Texas Rangers traded for Arizona starting pitcher Merrill Kelly as well as St. Louis pitcher Phil Maton and Minnesota pitcher Danny Coulombe, while the Toronto Blue Jays acquired Cleveland pitcher Shane Bieber and Baltimore pitcher Seranthony Dominguez.

The Boston Red Sox, who now have leapfrogged over the Yankees in the American League East Division into second place as of the end of Sunday, traded for Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Dustin May and St. Louis pitcher Steven Matz.

The Reds also traded for Tampa Bay pitcher Zack Littrell and A’s outfielder Miguel Andujar, while the Detroit Tigers acquired Baltimore veteran starting pitcher Charlie Morton — who was in a pitcher’s dual with Philadelphia’s Cristopher Sanchez on Sunday Night Baseball.

The Kansas City Royals also acquired San Francisco outfielder Mike Yastrzemski and Pittsburgh pitcher Bailey Falter, while the Los Angeles of Anaheim got Washington Nationals pitchers Andrew Chafin and Luis Garcia.

The Atlanta Braves, still hoping to make a push to the postseason, traded for Yankees pitcher Carlos Carrasco to go along with the trade for St. Louis pitcher Erick Fedde from earlier last week.

The lone trade made by the World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers was for Washington outfielder Alex Call.

This isn’t the complete list of MLB trades, but to say there was a bunch of wheeling and dealing is an understatement.

••• Seeley is the sports editor of The Eastern Times-Register. He can be reached by calling (918) 775-4433, Ext. 139 or by e-mailing him at davids@cookson.news.