title: Sofia Kenin

text: Kenin greatly improved in 2019, rising from outside the top 50 at the start of the year to just outside the top ten by the end of the season. She began her year by winning her first WTA doubles title at the Auckland Open with Eugenie Bouchard. The following week, she won her first WTA singles title at the Hobart International without dropping a set during the event. She upset the top seed and No. 19 Caroline Garcia in the first round, before defeating Anna Karolína Schmiedlová in the final. With this success, Kenin rose to what was at the time a career-best ranking of No. 37. At the Australian Open, she pushed world No. 1 Simona Halep to three sets in the second round, ultimately losing in a long two-hour-and-thirty-minute match. The following month, Kenin reached another WTA final at the Mexican Open, finishing runner-up to Wang Yafan despite being up a set and a break. During the clay-court season, Kenin improved on her results from the previous year. She reached the third round at the Italian Open, defeating compatriot Madison Keys before losing to Plíšková. Her best result on clay came at the French Open, where she reached the fourth round. During the event, she upset world No. 10, Serena Williams, in the third round before losing to eventual champion Ashleigh Barty.


title: Sofia Kenin

text: In the grass-court season, Kenin won her second WTA singles title of the year at the Mallorca Open. She defeated three top-25 players in the final three rounds, all in three sets. She saved three championship points in the second set of the final against No. 13 Belinda Bencic, before coming from behind to win the match. Although she was seeded for the first time at a major at No. 27, she lost in the second round of Wimbledon to Dayana Yastremska. Kenin's best results of the US Open Series came at the two Premier 5 tournaments, where she reached the semifinals at both the Canadian Open and the Cincinnati Open, losing to the eventual champions at each but defeating the current world No. 1 players, Ashleigh Barty and Naomi Osaka, at each event, her first two victories over top-ranked players. She also became the first player to defeat the world No. 1 in back-to-back weeks since Lindsay Davenport had done so in 2001. Following these tournaments, Kenin again lost to Keys in the third round of the US Open.


title: Sofia Kenin

text: During the Asian hard-court swing, Kenin won one additional title in both singles and doubles. She won her third singles title of the year at the Guangzhou International Women's Open, defeating Samantha Stosur in the final. Two weeks later, she partnered with Bethanie Mattek-Sands to win her second doubles title of the year at the China Open, a Premier Mandatory event. There, the pair defeated the team of Aryna Sabalenka and Elise Mertens, who were ranked No. 2 and No. 3 in the world, respectively, at the time. This title brought her to No. 43 in the doubles rankings. At the end of the season, Kenin qualified for the WTA Elite Trophy as the second seed, ranked No. 12 in the world. She won her opening match against compatriot Alison Riske, but lost to Karolína Muchová and did not advance out of her round-robin group. Kenin was also named the second alternate at the WTA Finals, behind Kiki Bertens. After Naomi Osaka and Bianca Andreescu both withdrew, she had the opportunity to play one match, losing to defending champion Elina Svitolina. She finished the year ranked No. 14 in singles and No. 39 in doubles. Kenin also received the WTA award Most Improved Player of the Year for her breakthrough season, becoming the first American player to win the award since Serena Williams in 1999.


title: Sofia Kenin

text: Kenin carried her success at the lower-level tournaments in 2019 to the Grand Slam tournaments in 2020. Despite two second-round losses to start the year, Kenin won the Australian Open for her first Grand Slam singles title. She only dropped one set before the final – in the fourth round against compatriot Coco Gauff. In the semifinal, she upset world No. 1 and home favorite Ash Barty. She then defeated Garbiñe Muguruza in the final, coming from a set down. With the victory at just 21 years old, she became the youngest American woman to win a major singles title since Serena Williams won Wimbledon in 2002. Serena won the US Open in 1999 at 17 years old. She also became the youngest American to make her top-ten debut in the WTA rankings since Williams in 1999, rising to No. 7 in the world. Kenin won another title at the inaugural Lyon Open, where she saved a match point in the second round and overcame a set and 5–2 deficit in the following round as part of a stretch of four consecutive three-set matches. She defeated Anna-Lena Friedsam in the final. This was Kenin's last event before the WTA Tour shut down for six months because of the COVID-19 pandemic. At this point, she was No. 4 in the world, her career-best ranking at the time.


title: Sofia Kenin

text: When the tour resumed, Kenin was seeded second at the US Open as Barty and Halep had withdrawn because of the pandemic. Although she lost in the fourth round to Elise Mertens, this was her best result at the event to date. Following the tournament, Kenin traveled to Europe for the rescheduled clay-court season. Although she lost her only tune-up match to US Open runner-up Victoria Azarenka without winning a game, Kenin continued her Grand Slam tournament success at the French Open. She won four three-set matches during the first five rounds before defeating No. 11 Petra Kvitová in the semifinals. She lost the final in straight sets to Iga Świątek. At the end of the season, Kenin was awarded the WTA Player of the Year.


title: Sofia Kenin

text: Kenin's first tournament of the year was at Abu Dhabi, where she was the top seed. She defeated Yang Zhaoxuan in the first round, and was the beneficiary of a retirement by Kirsten Flipkens in the second round. In the third round, Kenin saved a match point against Yulia Putintseva to progress to the quarterfinals, where she faced Maria Sakkari. After winning the first set 6–2, and with the score in the second set 2–2, Kenin lost ten games in a row, ending her run at Abu Dhabi. Her next tournament was the Yarra Valley Classic in Melbourne, where she defeated Camila Giorgi and Jessica Pegula to reach the quarterfinals. She met Garbiñe Muguruza in a rematch of the Australian Open final, but Kenin won just four games.


title: Sofia Kenin

text: At the Australian Open, Kenin was the defending champion and fourth seed. She defeated Australian wildcard Maddison Inglis in the first round but was upset by the unseeded Kaia Kanepi in the second round in straight sets. Kenin's loss was the earliest for a defending champion at the Australian Open since Jennifer Capriati lost in the first round in 2003. After the match, Kenin tearfully admitted that the pressure of defending her title was overwhelming, saying: "I feel like everyone was always asking me: 'Would you want to? Do you see yourself getting [to Melbourne] and winning again?' Obviously I said yes. With the way I’m playing, no."


title: Sofia Kenin

text: She then received a wildcard for the Phillip Island Trophy, a tournament for players who suffered an early exit at the Australian Open, where she was the top seed and in receipt of a first-round bye. In the second round, Kenin was upset by the unranked Australian wildcard Olivia Gadecki in three sets. Losing to Gadecki, whose career-high ranking was No. 988, marked Kenin's worst defeat by ranking on the WTA Tour. With her disappointing results throughout the Australian summer, her ranking would have fallen to No. 13 in the world, but because of changes to the system introduced as a result of the pandemic, this did not occur.


title: Sofia Kenin

text: Withdrawing from numerous tournaments after suffering from appendicitis, Kenin made her return at Miami, where, with a first-round bye, she defeated Andrea Petkovic before falling to Ons Jabeur in three sets. At Charleston, she lost in her first match against Lauren Davis. She suffered a second-round defeat at Stuttgart to Anett Kontaveit, and lost her first match at Rome to Barbora Krejčíková. At the French Open, she reached the fourth round, defeating Jeļena Ostapenko, Hailey Baptiste and Jessica Pegula before falling to Maria Sakkari.


title: Sofia Kenin

text: In May 2021, Kenin announced that she was parting ways with her father as coach. Because of an injury, she did not participate in any warmup events before Wimbledon. At Wimbledon, she defeated Wang Xinyu in the first round before losing to Madison Brengle in the second round. In the loss, Kenin set a new Wimbledon record by committing 41 unforced errors in just 45 minutes.


title: Sofia Kenin

text: On 9 November 2021, Kenin announced that her father had returned to her coaching team as she prepared for the 2022 Australian Open. She finished the year ranked No. 12 in singles.


title: Sofia Kenin

text: Seeded 11th at the Australian Open, Kenin faced and lost to compatriot Madison Keys in straight sets in the first round. Because (due to the WTA rankings freeze along with the COVID-19 pandemic) she was defending the maximum points she earned from winning the tournament in 2020 rather than the 70 points she earned from losing in the second round in 2021, her world ranking plummeted to No. 95 when updated following the conclusion of the tournament on 31 January 2022.


title: Sofia Kenin

text: Kenin made her way to the quarterfinals of Adelaide 1 where she lost to the top-seeded Ash Barty, in straight sets. This marked her first appearance at a quarterfinal since Melbourne 2021. Despite her run in Adelaide, Kenin lost five consecutive first-round matches with four of those five losses coming in straight sets.


title: Sofia Kenin

text: She injured herself and pulled out of all the major tournaments in March, April and May after the Indian Wells Open including the French Open and Wimbledon. As a result, her ranking dropped outside the top 300.


title: Sofia Kenin

text: After winning the Junior Fed Cup in 2014, Kenin was nominated for her first senior Fed Cup tie in the 2018 final against the Czech Republic. Both teams were missing their best players, with the Williams sisters, Sloane Stephens, and Madison Keys for the United States, as well as Plíšková and Petra Kvitová for the Czech Republic all unavailable. Kenin and Alison Riske were selected to play singles against Barbora Strýcová and Kateřina Siniaková. Kenin lost both of her singles matches in three sets, as the Czech Republic swept the tie 3–0 to win the Fed Cup. The decisive third rubber between Kenin and Siniaková was particularly close. The match lasted three hours and forty-five minutes and ended with Siniaková needing to save two match points on Kenin's serve in the third set before coming from behind to win.


title: Sofia Kenin

text: Kenin represented the United States again in 2019. In the first round against Australia, she lost her only match to Ashleigh Barty who won both of her singles rubbers as well as the decisive doubles rubber to lead Australia to a 3–2 victory. The United States' next tie was against Switzerland as part of the World Group Play-offs. After Keys lost the first match and Stephens won both of her singles rubbers, Kenin was selected to play the last singles rubber against Timea Bacsinszky. Kenin defeated Bacsinszky to win the tie 3–1 and keep the United States in the World Group for 2020.


title: Sofia Kenin

text: With a new format in 2020 and the name of the Fed Cup competition changing to the Billie Jean King Cup mid-season, Kenin played in the Qualifying Round in a tie against Latvia a week after winning the 2020 Australian Open. After defeating Anastasija Sevastova and losing to Jeļena Ostapenko, Kenin partnered with Bethanie Mattek-Sands to defeat the two of them in the decisive doubles rubber. The United States advanced to the Billie Jean King Cup Finals where they were drawn in a round-robin group with Spain and Slovakia.


title: Sofia Kenin

text: Kenin has an aggressive style of play that is built around incorporating a variety of shots into her game rather than just power. She plays primarily from the baseline and can hit winners with both her forehand and backhand. She excels at disguising whether her backhand is going cross-court or down the line. Two of Kenin's best shots are her backhand down the line and her inside-in forehand. Kenin can strategically add slice to her backhand, which she may use to hit well-disguised drop shot winners. On occasion, she can also hit slice forehands, a rare shot in modern tennis. On the defensive side, Kenin is capable of hitting her forehand even as high as shoulder height. Petra Kvitová noticed Kenin's aggressive and determined style of play in early 2018, a trait that Kenin's father said that she had developed in 2017, her first full year on the professional tour. She had previously been described by Maria Sharapova as more of a "grinder," that is, a counter-puncher who has good movement and gets a lot of balls back in play without trying to end points.


title: Sofia Kenin

text: One of the keys to Kenin's style of play is consistency, in particular with redirecting shots. Her childhood coach Rick Macci has praised her determination. He has called her "the mosquito," saying, "She’s just there the whole time, bothering you. She’s had this innate mental strength since she was a little kid. It was already baked in there." Macci also stated: "Her timing of the ball is better than anybody I ever taught. You’ll notice she’s not out of balance that much, and she can take the ball right off the bounce like a wizard. Everyone can hit deep, but the angles she gets, even while taking the ball early, are so acute that she gets you off the court, and then she goes for the jugular." Kenin has an unusual service motion in that she looks downward initially during her ball toss.


title: Sofia Kenin

text: Between 2018 and 2022, Kenin was endorsed by Fila for her clothing and shoes, having previously been sponsored by Nike. Since 2022, Kenin has been sponsored by the American athletics company Free People Movement. Kenin's racket sponsor is Babolat, and she uses the Pure Drive model. In January 2021, Kenin signed an endorsement deal with American consumer electronics and telecommunications company Motorola.


title: Sofia Kenin

text: Kenin has a younger sister. Her childhood tennis idols were Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova. Kenin particularly has praised Sharapova's fierce competitiveness.


title: Sofia Kenin

text: Outside of the WTA Tour, Kenin has participated in World TeamTennis. She led the Philadelphia Freedoms to a first-place regular-season finish in 2020 with a 10–4 record in singles. Although she defeated CoCo Vandeweghe in the semifinals, her team lost to the eventual champion New York Empire.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: The 2020 Major League Baseball season began on July 23 and ended on September 27 with only 60 games amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The full 162-game regular season was planned to begin on March 26, but the pandemic caused Major League Baseball (MLB) to announce on March 12 that the remainder of spring training was canceled and that the start of the regular season would be delayed by at least two weeks. On March 16, MLB announced that the season would be postponed indefinitely, following recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to restrict events of more than 50 people. This was the first time that MLB games had been put on hold since the 2001 season, when the season was paused for over a week after the September 11 attacks.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: Spring training resumed on July 1 and was rebranded as "Summer Camp". On July 3, the All-Star Game was canceled because of the delay to the regular season. Dodger Stadium, which was set to host the game, went on to host the 2022 All-Star Game.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: On July 18, the Canadian federal government denied permission for the Toronto Blue Jays to play their home games at Rogers Centre in 2020 on grounds that repeated cross-border trips by both the Blue Jays and their opponents would be a major risk due to the higher spikes in COVID-19 cases in the U.S. compared to those in Canada. The Blue Jays then chose to play their home games at Sahlen Field in Buffalo, home of their Triple-A affiliate Buffalo Bisons.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: An expanded 16-team postseason tournament began on September 29, with games of all but the first round being played at neutral sites. The World Series began on October 20 at Globe Life Field in Arlington, and ended on October 27, with the Los Angeles Dodgers defeating the Tampa Bay Rays in six games to win their first title since 1988.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: The 2020 schedule greatly differed from the normal 162-game schedule. In an effort to reduce travel, each team played only nine opponents during the regular season instead of the usual 19 or 20. Teams were scheduled to play 10 games against each of their four division opponents. The remaining 20 games of the 60-game schedule were interleague contests. To reduce travel, the interleague division match-ups were AL East vs NL East, AL Central vs NL Central, and AL West vs NL West. At 60 games, this was the shortest regular season since 1878.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: Several international and neutral-site games originally scheduled for the season were canceled due to COVID-19:


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: On March 26, MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) reached an agreement on multiple considerations related to the start of the season being delayed, including:


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: The indefinite delay of the season caused MLB to internally consider a number of scenarios for playing the season, as well as analysts suggesting ways it could be done. A shortened regular season, a season with many doubleheaders, and a postseason extending into late November with a World Series at an indoor or warm-weather neutral site were suggested.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: In early April, Jeff Passan of ESPN reported that MLB was "increasingly focused on a plan that could allow them to start the season as early as May and has the support of high-ranking federal public health officials". The plan would have involved all 30 teams playing games with no fans in stadiums around the Phoenix metropolitan area, including Chase Field and spring training complexes. Players would have lived in isolation at local hotels.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: Another report from "USA Today" baseball writer Bob Nightengale detailed another MLB proposal utilizing the Phoenix metro sites, but with the additional use of spring training sites in Florida, Marlins Park in Miami, and St. Petersburg's Tropicana Field. In addition, the 30 teams would be re-aligned for the season depending on their spring training sites into six divisions based upon their locations in Arizona and Florida and agnostic to the usual AL/NL demarcations and traditional geographic rivalries, effectively making the spring training Cactus League and Grapefruit League regular-season leagues. No interleague play would take place and the designated hitter rule would be utilized for all 30 teams, with the World Series occurring in November utilizing the larger MLB sites.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: During May and June, MLB and Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) were unable to agree on a specific plan for a shortened season.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: In mid-May the MLB owners proposed a schedule of 82 games, to begin in July, with games to be played without fans in attendance. To minimize travel, teams would play only against other teams in their geographical division, plus interleague games against teams in the corresponding division of the other league. A team would play 13 games against each division rival and six games against each team in the other league's division. Postseason play would be expanded from 10 teams to 14, with each league fielding three division winners and four wild card teams. A designated hitter would be allowed in all games. Teams would have 30-man rosters available for each game. The proposal also outlined safety measures for health of players and staff and a modified compensation plan for players.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: On June 1, the MLBPA countered with an 114-game proposal, with a regular season running from June 30 to October 31, a November postseason, giving players the right to opt-out of participating, a salary deferral plan in the event the postseason has to be canceled due to a second wave of the virus, and a $100 million advance during the second spring training, among others.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: Owners then submitted a 76-game proposal to the players on June 8, with the regular season ending on September 27, the postseason ending in October, 75 percent prorated player salaries, and playoff pool money, among others. The MLBPA responded one day later with an 89-game plan with full prorated player salaries. The owners then sent a 72-game plan with 70 percent prorated player salaries, to which the MLBPA replied in a statement on June 13, "Further dialogue with the league would be futile. It's time to get back to work. Tell us when and where." However, the week of June 15 saw the owners propose a 60-game season while MLBPA counter with a 70-game season, which on June 19 was rejected by the owners.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: Amid an increase in cases in Arizona and Florida, including positive cases among staff of the Phillies, and a Blue Jays player showing signs of symptoms, it was reported on June 19 that all spring training sites would be temporarily closed for deep cleaning, and all players would be required to test negative for COVID-19 before entering. It was then reported on June 20 that almost all MLB teams had elected to re-locate their training camps back to their home cities.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: On June 22, hours after the MLBPA rejected the MLB's offer to play a 60-game season, MLB owners voted unanimously to impose the 60-game plan. By allowing the owners to unilaterally implement such a plan without the MLBPA, both sides retained the right to file a grievance against the other for not negotiating in good faith. On June 23, both sides agreed to health and safety protocols. Players reported to training camp July 1. Due to concerns related to the pandemic, several players chose not to play the season.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: On July 6, MLB released the revised schedule for the shortened 60-game season. In the new schedule, teams play 10 games against each of their four divisional opponents in three series, with an unequal number of home games against each opponent. Each team will have 20 home games for division opponents.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: Interleague play will comprise the other 20 games of the schedule, all against the division of the opposite league, temporarily suspending the yearly rotation of which divisions play each other. Like normal seasons in which corresponding interleague divisions play each other (e.g. 2018), teams play six games against their "natural rival" and three or four games against each of the other four teams in the division. However, for this year only, the Cleveland Indians were paired with the Pittsburgh Pirates instead of their normal rivals, the Cincinnati Reds, and the Detroit Tigers were paired with the Reds instead of the Pirates. This was done to reduce travel for all four teams.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: The season started on July 23, with two games: New York Yankees at Washington Nationals and San Francisco Giants at Los Angeles Dodgers. The remaining 26 teams opened the season on July 24.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: On July 23, MLB and MLBPA announced that the postseason will be an expanded 16-team playoff tournament for 2020 only, instead of the normal 10-team tournament. All first and second place teams in the six divisions will qualify for the playoffs. The final two spots in each league will go to the remaining teams with the best win–loss records. The teams in each league will be seeded by division winners (1–3), division runners-up (4–6), and best teams remaining (7–8). Seeding ties will be resolved by head-to-head record, intra-league record, and record in final 20 intra-league games, to remove the necessity for additional games. The first round of the playoffs will be a best-of-three series called the Wild Card Series, with all games to be played at the home of the higher seeded team. After that, the postseason will follow the usual pattern of five-game Division series, seven-game League Championship Series, and a seven-game World Series.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: Alleged COVID-19 outbreaks among the Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals, as well as positive tests on the Cincinnati Reds, New York Mets, Oakland Athletics, and San Francisco Giants, resulted in the postponement of a total of 40 games.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: Miami received confirmation that starting pitcher José Ureña had tested positive and would not be available on July 26, but the team decided to play the third and final game of their scheduled series against the Philadelphia Phillies at the direction of Major League Baseball. After additional Miami players and coaches tested positive, MLB postponed Miami's four-game home-and-home series with the Baltimore Orioles, and Philadelphia's four-game home-and-home series with the New York Yankees, both originally scheduled from July 27 to 30. In order to allow for some flexibility in making games up, the Yankees and Orioles played two games against each other in Baltimore July 29 and 30, moving them up one week from their originally scheduled dates of August 3 and 4. The Marlins later confirmed that 21 players and coaches tested positive. The next series for both teams, Miami's home series against the Washington Nationals and Philadelphia's series at the Toronto Blue Jays, were postponed. Both series would have taken place from July 31 to August 2.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: St. Louis had six positive tests resulting in the postponement of three games at the Milwaukee Brewers from July 31 to August 2. Four additional games, a home-and-home series against the Detroit Tigers originally scheduled for August 3 to 6, were also postponed after an additional seven positive tests were reported. After continued positive tests throughout the next week, St. Louis's three-game series against the Chicago Cubs, originally August 7 to 9, and their three-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates, originally August 10 to 12, were postponed. A doubleheader against Detroit on August 13 which would have been made up games from August 3 and 4 was also postponed and later canceled.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: Cincinnati had a player test positive resulting in the postponement of two games against Pittsburgh on August 15 and 16. Cincinnati's game against the Kansas City Royals on August 18 was postponed as well.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: The New York Mets had a player and staff member test positive resulting in the postponement of their August 20 game against Miami and their three-game series against the New York Yankees on August 21 to 23.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: Oakland had a positive test resulting in the postponement of their August 30 game against the Houston Astros. As a precaution, Oakland's three-game series against the Seattle Mariners on September 1 to 3 was postponed.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: San Francisco had a positive test resulting in the postponement of two games against the San Diego Padres originally scheduled for September 11 and 12.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: All postponed games were made up except for two games between the St. Louis Cardinals and Detroit Tigers, which had no bearing on the playoff teams other than seeding.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: Player protests in response to the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin resulted in the postponement of 11 games.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: The Milwaukee Brewers announced that they would not play their August 26 game against the Cincinnati Reds in the wake of the shooting, following three NBA playoff games that were postponed the same day. Two additional games were postponed that day. Seven games on August 27 and one game on August 28 were also postponed.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: MLB announced the playoff bracket on September 15, consisting of eight teams from each league: the top two teams from each division, plus the teams from each league with the next two best records. The Wild Card Series was a best-of-three series, while the Division Series, League Championship Series, and World Series were their normal lengths. The Wild Card Series games were played at the home field of the higher seeded team. The division and league championship series were played at neutral sites, similar to those used for both the National Basketball Association and National Hockey League playoffs, to limit the possibility of another COVID-19 outbreak that could both disrupt the schedule and affect competitive integrity. The American League played at the San Diego Padres' Petco Park and the Los Angeles Dodgers' Dodger Stadium, while the National League played at the Texas Rangers' Globe Life Field and the Houston Astros' Minute Maid Park. The World Series then took place at Globe Life Field.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: The Milwaukee Brewers and Houston Astros became the first teams to make the postseason with a record below .500 since the 1981 Royals. Both clubs went in the regular season. The Astros became the first, and currently only, team with a record below .500 to win a playoff series, as they defeated the Minnesota Twins in the Wild Card Series and the Oakland Athletics in the Division Series, before losing the American League Championship Series to the Tampa Bay Rays. They also became the first, and currently only, team with a record below .500 to win a playoff game, as the 1981 Royals and Brewers were swept in the first rounds they played. They also became just the second team to force a game seven after being down 3–0 to the Tampa Bay Rays in the ALCS, joining only the Boston Red Sox who ended up completing the comeback against the New York Yankees in 2004.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: The following changes, effective for the 2020 season, were officially announced by MLB on February 12:


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: Additionally, Rule 7.04 governing protested games was amended to read "Protesting a game shall never be permitted, regardless of whether such complaint is based on judgement decisions by the umpire or an allegation that an umpire misapplied these rules or otherwise rendered a decision in violation of these rules."


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: The following temporary rules for the shortened 2020 season were announced on June 24. Note that some of these additional changes supersede the rule changes which were announced in February.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: Players are selected through fan votes (50%) and votes from a panel of experts (50%). The winners are selected based on merit, with no set number of nominees per position and no distinction between leagues.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: On January 25, 2019, MLB announced that Nike would become the new exclusive uniform supplier for all MLB teams, under a 10-year deal beginning in 2020. Under Armour backed out of its existing supply agreement as a cost-cutting measure.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: Arizona tweaked their uniforms, including removing the darker away uniforms and the diamond pattern on the uniforms.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: Milwaukee introduced new uniforms, including a return to the ball-in-glove logo used as their primary logo from 1978 to 1993. They also switched out their gold color to yellow.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: Pittsburgh brought back the script "Pittsburgh" from the 1990s on new alternate and road uniforms, along with a gold outlined "P" on their caps.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: Texas introduced a new powder blue jersey along with a powder blue hat. It also changed the "Texas" wordmark to "Rangers" wordmark on the white jersey and revealed a new red hat with the state of Texas on it with "TX."


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: San Diego changed its primary colors from navy blue to brown and gold, the team's primary colors from 1969 to 1984.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: The Cardinals and Royals wore Negro leagues throwbacks September 22. The Cardinals wore 1930 St. Louis Stars uniforms, and the Royals wore 1945 Kansas City Monarchs uniforms.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: This is the Texas Rangers' first season at Globe Life Field, replacing Globe Life Park in Arlington where they played from 1994 to 2019. Their first game was July 24 against the Colorado Rockies.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: The Miami Marlins converted Marlins Park from a natural grass surface to Shaw Sports B1K artificial turf and the field's fences will be moved in closer.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: The Atlanta Braves' SunTrust Park was renamed Truist Park after SunTrust Banks merged with BB&T Bank to make Truist Financial.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: On July 18, the Canadian federal government denied the Toronto Blue Jays exceptions to the "Quarantine Act" to play regular season home games at Rogers Centre this season. Although they were allowed to conduct training camp with stricter protocols than those mandated by MLB, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Marco Mendicino cited that repeated cross-border travel by players would carry a major risk due to the higher number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. Mendicino did not rule out the permission being granted for postseason games, depending on the status of the pandemic in the U.S. by then, however the Blue Jays would not have any home postseason games.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: On July 20, the Pittsburgh Pirates offered the use of PNC Park as a site for Blue Jays home games. However, health officials in Pennsylvania denied permission for this arrangement, citing concerns over additional travel to and from Pittsburgh amid an increase in local cases.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: On July 24, the Blue Jays announced that they would play the majority of their home games at Sahlen Field in Buffalo, New York, home of the Jays' AAA affiliate, the Buffalo Bisons. The Jays' first game in Buffalo was August 11 against the Miami Marlins. The Jays' first two home series against the Washington Nationals and Philadelphia Phillies were relocated to the visiting teams' venues, Nationals Park and Citizens Bank Park, respectively, with the Jays as designated home team. However, the Phillies series was postponed and made up in Buffalo.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: This is the seventh year of the current eight-year deals with Fox, ESPN, and TBS. Fox was to televise the MLB at Field of Dreams game on August 13. FS1 televised games on Tuesday nights and on Saturdays both during the afternoon and night. ESPN televised games on its flagship telecast "Sunday Night Baseball" as well as Monday and Wednesday nights. Fox and "ESPN Sunday Night Baseball" telecasts were exclusive; all other national telecasts were subject to local blackout.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: TBS televised one AL Wild Card Series, both American League Division Series matchups and the American League Championship Series. ESPN televised seven of the eight Wild Card Series with live look-ins and alternate broadcasts on ESPN+. On September 28, it was announced that ABC would broadcast at least four of ESPN's Wild Card Series games, marking the first time a national MLB game had aired on the network since 1995 (via the ill-fated "The Baseball Network" arrangement). FS1 and MLB Network will televise both National League Division Series matchups. Fox and FS1 televised the National League Championship Series, and the World Series was be on Fox for the 21st straight year.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: In order to reduce avoidable travel and the amount of personnel on-site for each game, most MLB broadcasters commentated away games remotely from either their broadcaster's studio, or their home stadium's broadcast booths. MLB safety protocols mandated remote broadcasts for away games on television, but radio broadcasters were allowed to be present on-site for away games if they so chose. Some teams had their commentators on-site for home games only, and called away games from their studio.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: Furthermore, the home team's local television rightsholder served as the host broadcaster for each game, providing a neutral video feed to media partners (including the away team's local rightsholder, and in some cases, a national broadcaster), which added commentary, graphics, and other surrounding coverage for their audience. MLB Network assisted with providing and using existing infrastructure for this arrangement. Audio from Sony Interactive Entertainment's "" video game franchise was used as artificial crowd noise for all games, and was played over the stadiums' audio systems on-site.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: Fox announced plans to use augmented reality "virtual fans" in its games, while ESPN leveraged experience from its remote broadcasts of KBO League games over the suspended pre-season.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: Due to the delayed start of the season caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the following retirement ceremonies have been postponed. They will be rescheduled.


title: 2020 Major League Baseball season

text: For 2020 "Team Marketing Report" has calculated $5 billion in game day losses for Major League Baseball as a result of not having fans.


title: Imperial Regalia of Japan

text: The are the imperial regalia of Japan and consist of the sword , the mirror , and the jewel . They represent the three primary virtues: valour (the sword), wisdom (the mirror), and benevolence (the jewel). The actual historical status of these legendary treasures is unknown as they are intentionally kept from public view to symbolize authority.


title: Imperial Regalia of Japan

text: According to legend, these treasures were brought to Earth by Ninigi-no-Mikoto, legendary ancestor of the Japanese imperial line, when his grandmother, the sun goddess Amaterasu, sent him to pacify Japan. These treasures were eventually said to be passed down to Emperor Jimmu, who was the first Emperor of Japan and was also Ninigi's great-grandson. Traditionally, they were a symbol of the emperor's divinity as a descendant of Amaterasu, confirming his legitimacy as paramount ruler of Japan. When Amaterasu hid in a cave from her brother Susanoo-no-Mikoto, thus plunging the world in darkness, the goddess Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto hung the mirror and jewels outside the cave and lured her out of the cave, at which point she saw her own reflection and was startled enough that the gods could extract her. Susanoo later presented the sword Kusanagi to Amaterasu as a token of apology; he had obtained it from the body of an eight-headed serpent, Yamata no Orochi.


title: Imperial Regalia of Japan

text: At the conclusion of the Genpei War in 1185, the six-year-old Emperor Antoku and the Regalia were under the control of the Taira clan. They were present when the Taira were defeated by the rival Minamoto clan at the Battle of Dan-no-ura, which was fought on boats in the shallow Kanmon Straits. The child emperor's grandmother threw herself, the boy, the sword, and the jewel into the sea to avoid capture. The mirror was recovered, but according to the main account of the battle, a Minamoto soldier who tried to force open the box containing it was struck blind. The jewel was recovered shortly afterwards by divers, but the sword was lost. There are a number of medieval texts relating to the loss of the sword, which variously contended that a replica was forged afterwards, or that the lost sword itself was a replica, or the sword was returned to land by supernatural forces. The importance of the Imperial Regalia to Japan is evident from the declarations made by Emperor Hirohito to Kōichi Kido on 25 and 31 July 1945 at the end of World War II, when he ordered the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal of Japan to protect them "at all costs".


title: Imperial Regalia of Japan

text: Since 690, the presentation of these items to the Emperor by the priests at the shrine has been a central element of the enthronement ceremony. This ceremony is not public, and these items are by tradition seen only by the Emperor and certain priests. While their actual locations are not confirmed, it is commonly thought that the sword is located at the Atsuta Shrine in Nagoya, the jewel is located at the Three Palace Sanctuaries in Kōkyo (the Imperial Palace in Tokyo), and the mirror is located at the Ise Grand Shrine in Mie Prefecture. Their first post-World War II enthronement appearance occurred during the accession and enthronement of Akihito in 1989 and 1990. Aside from their presence during the abdication of Akihito on 30 April 2019, their latest appearance occurred during the enthronement of Emperor Naruhito. He formally took possession of the regalia in a brief ceremony on 1 May 2019. The items themselves were never revealed during these public occasions as they remained shrouded from view in packages or boxes.


title: Imperial Regalia of Japan

text: When these items are not being used for their ceremonial purpose, their supposed locations are kept off limits to the public. Mikael Adolphson a professor at Cambridge University stated that this hidden strategy "adds mystique, and thus, authority, to the objects." He went on to say that Shinto religious tradition is "especially protective" of its symbols. There is a general reluctance in Japan to allow a historical analysis of the regalia as such an assessment could potentially "de-mythologize" the items.


title: Imperial Regalia of Japan

text: Scholars consider the imperial regalia to represent the fusion of Japan's ancient indigenous groups with new arrivals. The three treasures are a symbol that the emperor should unite the ethnic groups without discrimination.


title: Entrecôte

text: A traditional "entrecôte" is a boneless cut from the rib area corresponding to the steaks known in different parts of the English-speaking world as rib, rib eye, Scotch fillet, club, or Delmonico.


title: Entrecôte

text: The muscle group concerned is the "longissimus dorsi", which runs down the back of the animal adjacent to the vertebrae and above the rib cage, and continues into the hind quarter. Once past the rib cage into the area adjacent to the lumbar vertebrae, this muscle group is no longer called an "entrecôte"—at that point it becomes a sirloin/strip steak (UK/N.Am, respectively), or a contre-filet in French.


title: Roger Clark (actor, born 1978)

text: Roger Clark (born July 14, 1978) is an Irish-American actor and voice actor. He is best known for portraying Arthur Morgan through performance capture in the 2018 video game "Red Dead Redemption 2".


title: Roger Clark (actor, born 1978)

text: Clark was born in New Jersey on July 14, 1978, the son of an Irish mother and an Irish-American father. The family spent each summer vacationing in his mother's hometown of Sligo. When he was 12 years old, the family permanently moved to Sligo, where he completed his Leaving Certificate. He later moved to Wales to study theatre, media, and drama at the University of Glamorgan. After living and working in London for a number of years, he relocated to New York City in the early 2010s.


title: Roger Clark (actor, born 1978)

text: Clark provided the performance capture for Arthur Morgan, the protagonist of the 2018 video game "Red Dead Redemption 2". His performance earned him numerous awards and nominations. He also has a successful career onstage and has narrated over 50 audiobooks.


title: Roger Clark (actor, born 1978)

text: Clark married his wife, Molly, on April 25, 2011. They have two sons, Colin and Ruari. Colin, born on February 18, 2013, is on the autism spectrum.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: Rescue Me is an American comedy-drama television series that aired on FX from July 21, 2004, to September 7, 2011. The series focuses on the professional and personal lives of a group of New York City firefighters.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: The protagonist and focal point of the series is veteran New York City firefighter Tommy Gavin (Denis Leary). The series follows Tommy's troubled family and co-workers as they deal with real-life issues, such as post-9/11 trauma or their own domestic problems. Tommy struggles with the loss of his cousin and best friend, firefighter Jimmy Keefe (James McCaffrey), as well as 59 other firefighters whom he knew who died in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Jimmy frequently visits Tommy in ghostly dreams.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: Tommy is an impatient, self-loathing, hypocritical, manipulative relapsed alcoholic who suffers with severe survivor guilt and posttraumatic stress disorder as a result of 9/11. In the pilot episode, he and his wife Janet (Andrea Roth) have already separated, although they are technically still married, and Tommy has moved across the street. Most of Tommy's actions as a firefighter are heroic and brave, but his family members and fellow firefighters view him as selfish, despite his concern for others and passion for the job.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: "Rescue Me" was created by Leary and Peter Tolan, who also serve as executive producers and head writers, and is produced by Cloudland Company, Apostle, DreamWorks Television, and Sony Pictures Television.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: Season 1 of "Rescue Me" debuted on July 21, 2004, and began by introducing the members of New York City Fire Department's fictional Ladder Company 62—aka "62 Truck"—quartered with the fictional Engine Company 99 and the Chief of the 15th (later 30th) Battalion in a firehouse in northeastern Harlem, New York City. The show opens by exploring their lives, both at home and inside the firehouse. It also features the well-known comedian Denis Leary, who carries his humorous nature into the show. The series focuses on the main character Tommy Gavin, played by Leary, as he deals with the effects of the September 11, 2001, attacks, which, for him, include seeing the ghost of his cousin, Firefighter Jimmy Keefe, who died on 9/11, as well as the ghosts of various people he failed to save over the years. Gavin and his wife Janet are separated and, from across the street, he sees her begin to date again. He plans to get her back and prevent her from leaving the state with his children. Janet separated from Tommy several months prior, due to his failure to commit to his family and open up about 9/11. Tommy's daughter Colleen says she is in a relationship with another girl.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: 15th Battalion Chief Jerry Reilly attacks a gay former firefighter in a bar after the former FDNY member speaks to the press and claims that at least 20 of the 343 men who died during the 9/11 attacks were gay. Sean Garrity begins to date one of Franco Rivera's (many) ex-girlfriends, which leads to Franco's finding out that he has a daughter with the woman; Rivera later takes the daughter in after the mother fatally overdoses. Tommy begins a love affair with Jimmy's widow Sheila (a taboo among firefighters), and Probationary Firefighter ("probie") Mike Silletti begins to secretly date a "fat chick" named Theresa (Ashlie Atkinson). Lieutenant Ken Shea, Tommy's superior officer, deals with 9/11 by secretly writing poetry and then starts to have an affair after learning his wife is preparing to leave him anyway. Tommy has emotional issues throughout season 1.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: After firefighter Billy Warren dies in a fire, the city sends Laura Miles to replace him. She clashes with the guys in general (as they do not want a woman on their crew) and with Tommy in particular. She is watching him, and believes he is becoming dangerous as he takes more and more seemingly unnecessary risks on the job. The season comes to a close with Tommy's mistake at a fire which causes Franco to get hurt, and with Tommy's eventual transfer out of the house after the rest of the crew finds out he has been seeing Sheila and gotten her pregnant. In the final scene of the season finale, Tommy shows up at his wife's house to find her and his children missing, along with everything in the house. While consuming a bottle of vodka he finds in a cupboard, he uses a baseball bat to destroy anything that's left in the house.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: Season 2 premiered on June 21, 2005. It began with Tommy at a new firehouse on Staten Island and his replacement at 62 Truck, Sully, becoming everyone's favorite. While responding to a fire at an underground sex club, they discover that the "woman" they rescued is really Sully in a black leather skirt and bustier. The next day, Sully requests a transfer because he knows the crew will never let him live that down. This clears the way for Tommy to return.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: Back in the old house Tommy shifts his focus to finding his family and dealing with his father, who took an unannounced vacation and came home with a new (rich) wife, Jenny Ng. Sheila has a miscarriage, but lies about it to keep Tommy near. Later on in the season, Sheila gets involved in a relationship with a woman named Debbie who turns abusive towards her. In the season 2 finale, Tommy has an emotional meltdown after being punched in the face three times. This is a result of Gavins' losing Connor.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: Meanwhile, Tommy and Johnny Gavin find out that their father had a long, on-going affair during their childhood, which produced two children. Eventually their new-found half brother, who is a priest, gets arrested after they discover he is a pedophile.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: Silletti stalks his ex-girlfriend after she dumps him. Chief Jerry's wife gradually deteriorates from Alzheimer's, and he is forced to seek help from his estranged son before placing her in a long-term care facility. Laura and Franco begin dating, but Laura eventually leaves Franco and the firehouse. Lieutenant Shea is conned by a prostitute named Candy, resulting in his losing his entire life savings. Jenny Ng dies, but the expected financial windfall for Tommy's father never happens. Tommy's estranged sister Maggie shows up in town.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: Tommy and his family reconcile for a time, but when their only son Connor is killed by a drunk driver, it is too much for Janet to handle, and she blames Tommy. It only gets worse when Johnny finds out the driver is well-connected and may not do time, so Tommy's uncle Teddy murders the man in public.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: Season 3 premiered on May 30, 2006. Tommy and Janet have re-separated, and Teddy is in jail for murder. Janet begins sleeping with Johnny, Tommy's brother. Tommy attacks Johnny at their father's 83rd birthday dinner, and then they fight it out in the street.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: Meanwhile, Lieutenant Shea, still smarting from getting conned, is becoming testy with everyone on the crew and slowly spiraling downward.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: Janet wants to talk to Tommy about their settlement; no lawyers, just them. During this, a heated argument about their settlement sparks, Tommy gets upset and rapes Janet.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: Mike Silletti (now no longer referred to as "Probie") begins a sexual relationship with his male roommate (receiving oral sex), and Tommy falls back into things with Sheila. Sheila wants to get Tommy away from Janet completely, and begins to drug him with rohypnol and Viagra to have sex. Maggie soon finds herself dating Sean Garrity, among others.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: Janet gets pregnant with either Johnny's or Tommy's baby, and announces she wants to keep it to replace Connor. The crew finds out about Mike's possible homosexuality, and Tommy comes to his defense. Tommy defends Mike mainly because of fears that he has over the fire crew's breaking up, and says he considers Mike part of his extended family at the fire house. Franco starts to date Alicia (Susan Sarandon), a rich older woman who eventually takes his daughter from him. (He is unable to do anything about it, because he had taken her from foster care without permission and therefore is not the girl's legal guardian.) Lieutenant Shea moves in with Tommy and begins seeing Theresa, a soon-to-be ex-nun with whom he plans on moving to Florida to be first mate on his cousin's boat. Chief Reilly tries to meet his wife's increasing health care costs by taking a second job at a bar. Later, he suffers a heart attack after having sex with Karlene, an illegal Jamaican immigrant who is a caretaker at the long-term care facility where his wife now lives.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: During a stakeout, Johnny is killed by someone who was contracted to stop him from testifying against a powerful drug dealer Johnny had arrested months beforehand. During his funeral, Sean and Maggie decide to get married at the cemetery. Tommy, Johnny, and Maggie's long lost sister Rosemary Gavin is introduced; she is deaf and had been shunned by her parents, but reconciles with her father.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: Uncle Teddy, still in prison, receives numerous letters from a woman named Ellie, who is proud of the action he took upon Connor's killer. The two begin a relationship and get married, which allows Ellie to meet with him for conjugal visits.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: With the 62 Truck crew seemingly breaking up, Tommy decides to retire and move in with Sheila in her new home on Long Island. He changes his mind after talking with Janet about her pregnancy and discovering that his crew will remain together after all. (Mike isn't transferring, Lou has changed his mind about the boat after discovering he lacked "sea legs", and Franco has failed a lieutenant's exam.) Jerry defends his crew when several officials visit his firehouse.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: While at Sheila's new house, Tommy tells her he is not retiring from the FDNY. Distraught, she drugs him again and accidentally starts a fire. The fire spreads while the frantic Sheila is overwhelmed by frustration, and the finale closes without making it clear whether or not Tommy made it out of the house.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: Tommy and Sheila are apparently rescued by volunteer firefighters, but are then accused of arson and insurance fraud. Janet has given birth, and Tommy has come to accept it as his own. Unfortunately, the baby's hair finally comes in and it is "jet black" in color, leaving them to now believe that it is Johnny's son, instead.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: Teddy is released from prison and immediately abandons his new wife Ellie in a coffee shop. Colleen runs away from home and moves in with her boyfriend, leaving her parents enraged.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: Depressed after being told that he can no longer serve in active duty due to his poor heart, Jerry takes a desk job. After using his position behind a computer to tamper with evidence, effectively clearing Tommy of the arson charges, Jerry commits suicide. The firehouse gets a new chief.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: Janet is suffering from postpartum depression and is deeply affected by her inability to bond with her new son. The baby cries constantly, and his crying seems to worsen when Janet holds him. Getting wind of this, Sheila has approached Tommy about their giving her the baby; she has offered Tommy $500,000 in payment. She continues to hound Tommy about this, and Tommy has not told Janet of Sheila's offer. Seeing how his wife is suffering, and how the baby is being neglected and seemingly rejected by everyone in the family but himself, Tommy is reluctantly beginning to re-consider Sheila's offer.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: Tommy soon decides to give the baby to Sheila after contemplating throwing him into the Hudson River at the request of his brother's ghost. After Janet learns of what Tommy has done, she runs him down with her car. After she realizes that he is OK, she sends the youngest daughter, Katy, up to Sheila's apartment to steal the baby back. Meanwhile, in the apartment, Tommy has a breakdown in which all of his ghostly friends, including Jimmy, tell him they are tired of his selfishness and are done with him.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: Tommy then shares custody with Sheila by bribing his daughter Colleen with a no limit credit card. Colleen gives the baby to Tommy whenever she has him, so he can in turn give him to Sheila. Colleen's boyfriend uses the credit card to buy a wedding ring. After Tommy learns this, he goes to the recording studio to sort out Colleen's boyfriend and destroys his guitar. The boyfriend tells Tommy the ring wasn't for Colleen, but for another girl. Relieved, Tommy apologizes to the boyfriend and wishes him and his new girlfriend the best of luck. When the boyfriend explains this to Colleen, he says he left her because Tommy scares him, which makes Colleen hate Tommy even more.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: Maggie Gavin and Sean Garrity are on-again and off-again throughout the season, with Garrity pretending to be an alcoholic (like Maggie) to spend more time with her. But the two eventually split.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: The Gavin family starts their own AA meetings due to the high number of alcoholics in the family. Michael Gavin, Tommy's father, refuses to attend meetings, but contacts Tommy and tells him that he's going to be sober (ironically at a bar) to "keep his friends close and his enemies closer." Tommy struggles to maintain his sobriety the entire season.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: Tommy also begins seeing a woman named Valerie (Gina Gershon), who can't be touched after she orgasms. She and Tommy are on and off due to Tommy's periodic desire for his ex-wife Janet. Janet has taken a job, where she begins dating her much-younger boss.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: A new firefighter named Bart joins the house, after Lou and Franco negotiated to get him for their basketball team. Bart says he goes by his nickname, Shawn, so the crew decides to call him "Black Shawn" to distinguish him from Sean Garrity. Black Shawn is not happy with this. Using the basketball team as leverage, Shawn says he doesn't want to be referred to as "Probie" and he expects to be absolved of any probie work. This initially angers Garrity, Mike, and most of all, Tommy. However, after Black Shawn shows himself worthy in the face of a raging fire, the entire crew accepts him, and even Tommy pays him grudging respect.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: The season ends with Tommy, Lou, Sean, Michael Gavin (Tommy's Dad), and Uncle Teddy attending a Newark Bears minor league baseball game at the request of Tommy's dad. Tommy and his father take the close up seats while the rest of the crew take seats higher up in the same section. Lou explains to Garrity how baseball is like life, waiting for something to come and not being awake for it to happen, but having enough time for a beer, a hot dog, and maybe a blowjob here and there.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: Colleen is seen attending a picnic with Black Shawn. The last shot is of Tommy showing his father a hit, and his dad neither responding nor waking up. Tommy realizes that his father has died, puts his arm around him, and continues to watch the game.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: On June 23, 2008, webisodes seasons began airing on Crackle and between shows on FX. Ten episodes aired. Viewers can also find complete episodes of the first four seasons on Crackle.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: Save for one (which told the story of what happened in the fire station in the moments before the fire crew left the station to respond to the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center), the webisodes are largely stand-alone pieces, often showing the group in action rescuing people in fires, dream-like scenarios (such as Tommy imagining a night out with his various romantic interests), or general slice of life scenes set inside the station house.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: The show was renewed for a fifth season of 22 episodes. In Thursday, May 15, 2008, interview on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart", Leary revealed season 5 had been delayed until March 2009 because of the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike, but all 22 episodes would air on consecutive weeks. Michael J. Fox joined the cast, playing Janet's new love interest. According to the "L.A. Weekly", on December 1, 2008, during an appearance at Book Soup in West Hollywood, Leary revealed plot details for season 5, specifically a retrospective look into the events leading up to and surrounding 9/11 by each of the characters. Conspiracy theories swarm the firehouse. Franco is upset when everyone gets on him about his conspiracy theories. During an argument, Sean Garrity shouts at everyone to stop and he is incensed. He tells the guys that it already happened. The guys are shocked as he yells at them and walks away. Later, a bunch of guys show up at 62 Truck's Firehouse looking for Franco. Tommy tries to subdue the situation and promises that he and the guys will talk to Franco. The guys initially walk away but black Shaun shows some fancy moves but the situation gets heated when everyone gets into a huge brawl and Needles shows up and breaks the fight up by showering the brawling firefighters with spray from the Fire extinguisher and then he tells his guys to go into the Kitchen. The guys are talking and Needles is very annoyed. He tells the crew to end the fighting and doesn't know if the firefighters have any respect for him. They say yes. Needles goes on to tell them about the impact of 9/11 and he tells them why he became a chief. Subsequently, Tommy and Lou vie for the affections of the woman (Karina Lombard) who is writing a 9/11 story, which is the plot line in the first 10 episodes of season 5, which premiered on April 7, 2009.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: Silletti gets insurance money and an inheritance following his mother's death in season 4, and is convinced by Franco and Garrity to invest it in a bar. The bar becomes a popular after-hours place for the fire crew.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: Later in season 5, Garrity suffers renal carcinoma and requires surgery, forcing him to reunite with his estranged mother and brother. Damian (Michael Zegen), Sheila and Jimmy's son, finishes training and joins the firehouse as a probie. A woman named Kelly (Maura Tierney) rushes into a fire that the crew is fighting and retrieves a mysterious metal suitcase. Tommy appears to shun both Janet and Sheila to spend time with Kelly. While there are some romantic undertones, Tommy is more interested in why the suitcase was so important to Kelly. Candy (Milena Govich), the prostitute who conned Lou in season 2, reappears after getting out of jail, claiming that she has turned her life around. After Lou's vehement dismissals, he lets her move in with him. After Candy claims to have inherited a large sum of money, they marry, combining their assets. A short time later, Lou discovers that Candy's real name is Barbara Callahan, and she is wanted in Florida for fraud. He empties their joint bank account, taking back the money she stole from him (plus interest), then confronts her. When she denies the allegations, Lou tells her that he's called the police, and if she's truly innocent, she'll wait for them to arrive, if guilty, she'll run. After continuing to tell him he's wrong, she ends up fleeing. Lou and Tommy fight because Lou does not want Tommy, his best friend, to come to his wedding. Lou calls out Tommy about Sheila and what transpired on 9/11. The two stare each other down. This leads to a brawl between the two, but they later make amends.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: Much of season 5 also follows Tommy's extended family — Cousin Mickey (Robert John Burke), Cousin Eddie (Terry Serpico), Uncle Teddy (Lenny Clarke), and Teddy's wife Ellie (Patti D'Arbanville) — as they all return to drinking after spending several unsuccessful months in AA. In the penultimate episode, the four are drinking with Tommy when an obviously drunk Ellie leaves to pick up a dog she and Teddy had adopted. Shortly after leaving, Ellie runs a red light and gets hit by an 18-wheeler, which kills her instantly. In the final episode, Janet and Sheila convince Kelly to no longer see Tommy, and lie to her about something Tommy didn't do. Enraged over losing a positive relationship with Kelly, Tommy threatens Sheila and breaks up with her. Later on, after Tommy and Lou "kidnap" Katy from Janet to get back at her for the incident with Kelly, the two and the crew of Ladder 62 go to their bar. Later on, Teddy arrives, gives everyone there an ultimatum, and tries to get Tommy to kill him. In reality, Teddy points the finger of blame for what happened to Ellie at Tommy. The cliffhanger for the next season is set after Teddy shoots Tommy twice in the shoulder, leaving Tommy to bleed to death. Teddy, with his Glock 17 pistol resting on the bar in front of him, threatens to kill anyone who tries to leave and seek help.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: On June 16, 2009, the "Los Angeles Times" website confirmed "Rescue Me" would return in 2010 for a ten-episode sixth season, due to increased ratings. Season 6 premiered Tuesday, June 29 at 10 p.m. A season 6 trailer was shown Tuesday, May 11, during FX's airing of "Justified".


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: Season 6 deals with the aftermath of Tommy's near-death experience and his tangled web of bed-hopping between Janet and Sheila. Because Tommy realized that he went to hell when he died, he vows to change his ways, to stop drinking, and to be a better person, firefighter, father, and husband. Janet alerts him Colleen (their 21-year-old older daughter) is becoming a drunk like her father, leading Tommy to take drastic measures in attempting to save her from becoming an alcoholic like the rest of her family. Janet also seeks to force Tommy to permanently sever ties with Sheila, as Sheila uses her son Damian and his joining Tommy's fire crew as leverage to continue their affair, even as she begins to date Tommy's ex-priest cousin Mickey. Tommy and Janet reconnect, although at a terrible price, as their daughter Katy threatens to disown them after she is accepted into a private boarding school away from the city.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: At the Engine Company 99/Ladder Company 62 Firehouse, the main storyline involves the house being targeted for closure due to citywide budget cuts, which would leave the community it serves without any fire/emergency rescue services. This causes a major power struggle to break out between Battalion Chief "Needles" Nelson and his superior, Battalion (later Deputy) Chief Feinberg. Feinberg is accused by Needles of betraying the firefighters under him, as it appears Feinberg has made a corrupt bargain that will give him command over another existing house, nearby Engine Company 333/Ladder Company 74, in exchange for allowing his station to be shut down (and his men laid off and/or transferred). Taking matters into his own hands, Needles video-records Tommy and the crew rushing to the aid of deaf children when a fire breaks out at the community school, while the firefighters are all off-duty. The first fire company arrives late to the scene, long after Needles' crew has saved the children from the burning school. Needles promptly uses the video to blackmail his and Feinberg's superiors into saving the house from any budget shutdowns, earning Needles the praise of his underlings, and exposing Feinberg's disdain and hatred for Tommy and the rest of the rank and file firefighters. He is clearly more concerned with Needles' actions endangering his standing in the eyes of his superiors.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: Near the end of the season, Damian (who had begun to have doubts about being a firefighter, only to be talked into continuing by Tommy) suffers a traumatic head injury while fighting a fire, which leaves him severely brain-damaged and unable to walk or communicate. The strain of dealing with her son's incurable condition breaks up Sheila and Mickey's relationship. While Tommy tries to juggle both Sheila and Janet in the wake of this, Janet as usual throws it in Tommy's face, giving him an ultimatum. She reminds him that Damian is not his responsibility, and that he should be more concerned with his own children. Tommy realizes he needs to be more proactive and committed if he is going to change his ways.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: The seventh and final season of the series premiered on Wednesday, July 13, 2011. Tommy confronts Janet about her pregnancy, and is told that the only way she will have the child is if Tommy retires from the FDNY and takes a safer job. Janet is supported by Sheila; the two women have bonded together over their shared grief of losing a son (despite Damian not being dead). Tommy's stress about his job is exacerbated when Black Shawn proposes to Colleen, who says "yes." Tommy's frustrations get the better of him during an interview about 9/11 and Jimmy, who is the subject of a hero piece. Tommy hurls obscene gestures and expletives at the reporter and walks away from the interview. Franco, very angry about the interview, looks to move beyond 62 Truck before his own life becomes too tainted. He first insults and gets into a fight with Needles, and the crew tries to intervene. Needles has had enough of the fighting and berates Franco and Needles storms away. Franco then immediately insults and berates Tommy who insults him and the brawl continues. Franco says a few words and angrily walks out of the house. The jabs later continue at a fire that the 62 Truck crew has responded to. Sean Garrity sees a problem and tells the Chief. Needles orders everyone to get out immediately. Luckily, everyone gets out safe. The reporter begins hanging around the building and digging through the past of the guys on 62 Truck for more stories. The guys decide this needs to be stopped due to the sheer volume of bad press this would generate (namely, that Franco is essentially being a deadbeat dad, Needles married a mail-order bride who was an illegal alien, Mike is bisexual, and Tommy was sleeping with his dead cousin's wife). Tommy reaches out to some of Johnny's old contacts at the police department and manages to get a video of the reporter performing oral sex on another officer after being busted with cocaine, which Sheila uses to scare her off.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: After hearing about other firefighters writing letters to their family members in case they died in the line of duty, Tommy writes letters to his family and the guys, and gives them to Lou to hand them out if he dies. Lou reads his immediately and is busted by Tommy, having set him up to steal a box of cupcakes he had stowed under his bunk for Janet. Due to increasing pressure from the guys (who had to fake Lou's physical for him), Lou starts a weight-loss regimen, and Tommy promises that if Lou loses weight he will make him the godfather of their new child. Lou struggles with his diet, and eventually lashes out at Tommy that food is how he copes with the hole that 9/11 created in him and that Tommy simply filled his hole with booze instead. Tommy writes Lou another, legitimate letter and gives it to him. Lou reads it and is moved to tears by his friend. Lou gives Sheila and Janet their letters, as they were angry with Tommy at the time, and both start being much kinder to Tommy. However, the letter Janet received was written by Lou, who accidentally burned the real one, and it promises that Tommy would quit the FDNY for her, unbeknownst to Tommy.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: In one of the last episodes of the series, Colleen and Black Shawn are married. During the wedding reception, while everyone in attendance tries to act normal, a drunken Sheila suggests Tommy and Janet renew their vows, which proposal Colleen and Katy second. Tommy is blindsided when Janet adds a new vow of him promising to retire from active duty, and take an administrative or training job. Tommy hesitates, but after Katy threatens to start drinking and become a prostitute, he agrees to take Janet's vow.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: Later that week, during one of Tommy's last tours of duty as a firefighter, Engine 99 and Ladder 62 respond to a warehouse fire that quickly grows out of control. Both Chief Feinberg and Chief Nelson take command and call for a 4th alarm. The guys see hanging latex gloves and the smell of diesel fuel, and realize they are in the middle of an arson attempt. After reaching a window to escape, they hear voices of kids still inside. They locate the kids but are unable to get back to the ladder, and try to make for the roof. However, the door to the roof has been bricked over, trapping them inside. The chauffeur firefighter of Ladder 62, Niels Jorgensen, reports he can't rescue the men from the outside and has to leave the roof before it collapses. Tommy is about to leave the group and look for another route out after Lou tells him to go, obviously reminded about his vow to Janet. Tommy asks if Lou is sure, and Lou replies, "We'll be fine, trust me." Seconds later, a massive explosion guts the building.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: The series finale begins with Lou eulogizing Tommy, Franco, Sean, Black Shawn, and Mike during a joint funeral with family, friends, and many other firefighters. This all turns out to be Tommy's dream.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: While Tommy (now acting Lieutenant, having assumed command after Lou's death) is filling out a department report for Needles on that final incident, it is revealed from flashbacks that it was in fact only Lou who died, after having his face burned off in the fire. The recovering crew all contemplate their futures in leaving Ladder Company 62 and firefighting in general. Tommy files for retirement, Franco passes the Lieutenant's exam awaiting reassignment, Mike, and Sean consider transferring, and Black Shawn considers quitting for Colleen.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: Later, Tommy finds that Lou has left him a letter in the event of his death, to be read at the scattering of his ashes. Tommy reads Lou's letter, which tells the guys to stay together, then spreads Lou's "remains". (Lou's ashes had to be replaced with dry cake mix, after the crew had a hilarious and (almost messy) mishap on the way.) Immediately after the service, Janet goes into labor at home, and Tommy delivers his son. After some debate over a name and Tommy passing out, Janet decides to name the baby Shea Gavin in honor of Lou, after Tommy rejected all the other names she picked and because Tommy said Lou after the baby was born; Tommy agreed with the name because it honored his best friend, and he thought it would make a great name for a quarterback. After an earlier scolding from Sheila and an incident with Wyatt at a playground involving liberal parents, Janet realizes that Tommy, regardless of everything, is not yet ready to retire.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: The show's final moments recall the very first episode, with Tommy speaking to the new Academy class, but this time with a little more clarity and a warning not to drown their sorrows with sex, violence, and alcohol. As newly appointed Lieutenant Franco Rivera takes over, Tommy returns to his truck, this time conversing not with Jimmy's ghost but with Lou's, who among other things, comments on the mishap with his ashes. The two then make their peace, as Tommy has become a better person. The episode ends with The Pogues' "Dirty Old Town" playing as the camera pans over to the Manhattan skyline, where 1 World Trade Center's construction progress can be seen.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: "Rescue Me" mainly focuses on Tommy Gavin's family and the men of his firehouse, but many other characters are introduced over the seven seasons who stay on as regular characters. Recurring guests include Maura Tierney, Artie Lange, Susan Sarandon, Desmond Harrington, Marisa Tomei, Gina Gershon, Peter Gallagher, Michael J. Fox, Cam Neely, Lyndon Byers, Phil Esposito, and Jennifer Esposito.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: The main title theme song for "Rescue Me" is a shortened version of "C'mon C'mon" by The Von Bondies. That and several other songs were picked by Leary's son. The underscore and end title theme for the show were scored by composer Christopher Tyng, who also scored Leary's previous television series "The Job".


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: "Rescue Me" often ends with a musical montage. The official soundtrack was released on May 30, 2006, on Nettwerk.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: Michael Lombardi (actor)'s band, Apache Stone, performed several times on the show, although they do not appear on the soundtrack.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: The show was well received when it premiered. The series premiere garnered Denis Leary and Peter Tolan an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series. Tolan also received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series. Leary received another Emmy nomination the next year, this time for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. Critics praised the show's willingness to take risks and talk about family, depression, alcoholism, homophobia, and the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: The debut episode was seen by almost 4.1 million viewers, ranking #8 all-time for series premieres in basic cable. Seasons 1 and 2 averaged 2.7 and 2.8 million viewers, respectively.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: "Rescue Me" received critical acclaim, scoring 86/100, 89/100, 90/100, 85/100, 84/100, 77/100 and 73/100 on Metacritic for seasons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, respectively.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has released "Rescue Me" on DVD in Regions 1, 2, and 4. All seven seasons have been released in Region 1, seasons 1–3 in Regions 2 and 4. Season 3 was the only one to be released for the Blu-ray Disc by itself. "Rescue Me: The Complete Series" was released on DVD on September 25, 2012, with all seven seasons' 93 episodes in a 26-disc set. Mill Creek Entertainment released a box set with all seven seasons on Blu-ray on September 11, 2018.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: In Australia, Region 4, Season 1 and 2 were released in 2006, three years later, season 3 was released in 2009, followed by Season 4 in 2010. No further individual seasons were released by Sony, however, 'The Complete Series' boxset was released in October 2012.


title: Rescue Me (American TV series)

text: Via Vision Entertainment acquired the rights to the series and released 'The Complete Collection' in April 2020.


title: Forging

text: Forging is a manufacturing process involving the shaping of metal using localized compressive forces. The blows are delivered with a hammer (often a power hammer) or a die. Forging is often classified according to the temperature at which it is performed: cold forging (a type of cold working), warm forging, or hot forging (a type of hot working). For the latter two, the metal is heated, usually in a forge. Forged parts can range in weight from less than a kilogram to hundreds of metric tons. Forging has been done by smiths for millennia; the traditional products were kitchenware, hardware, hand tools, edged weapons, cymbals, and jewellery. Since the Industrial Revolution, forged parts are widely used in mechanisms and machines wherever a component requires high strength; such forgings usually require further processing (such as machining) to achieve a finished part. Today, forging is a major worldwide industry.


title: Forging

text: Forging is one of the oldest known metalworking processes. Traditionally, forging was performed by a smith using hammer and anvil, though introducing water power to the production and working of iron in the 12th century allowed the use of large trip hammers or power hammers that increased the amount and size of iron that could be produced and forged. The smithy or forge has evolved over centuries to become a facility with engineered processes, production equipment, tooling, raw materials and products to meet the demands of modern industry.


title: Forging

text: In modern times, industrial forging is done either with presses or with hammers powered by compressed air, electricity, hydraulics or steam. These hammers may have reciprocating weights in the thousands of pounds. Smaller power hammers, or less reciprocating weight, and hydraulic presses are common in art smithies as well. Some steam hammers remain in use, but they became obsolete with the availability of the other, more convenient, power sources.


title: Forging

text: Forging can produce a piece that is stronger than an equivalent cast or machined part. As the metal is shaped during the forging process, its internal grain texture deforms to follow the general shape of the part. As a result, the texture variation is continuous throughout the part, giving rise to a piece with improved strength characteristics. Additionally, forgings can achieve a lower total cost than casting or fabrication. Considering all the costs that are incurred in a product's life cycle from procurement to lead time to rework, and factoring in the costs of scrap, and downtime and other quality considerations, the long-term benefits of forgings can outweigh the short-term cost savings that castings or fabrications might offer.


title: Forging

text: Some metals may be forged cold, but iron and steel are almost always hot forged. Hot forging prevents the work hardening that would result from cold forming, which would increase the difficulty of performing secondary machining operations on the piece. Also, while work hardening may be desirable in some circumstances, other methods of hardening the piece, such as heat treating, are generally more economical and more controllable. Alloys that are amenable to precipitation hardening, such as most aluminium alloys and titanium, can be hot forged, followed by hardening.


title: Forging

text: Production forging involves significant capital expenditure for machinery, tooling, facilities and personnel. In the case of hot forging, a high-temperature furnace (sometimes referred to as the forge) is required to heat ingots or billets. Owing to the size of the massive forging hammers and presses and the parts they can produce, as well as the dangers inherent in working with hot metal, a special building is frequently required to house the operation. In the case of drop forging operations, provisions must be made to absorb the shock and vibration generated by the hammer. Most forging operations use metal-forming dies, which must be precisely machined and carefully heat-treated to correctly shape the workpiece, as well as to withstand the tremendous forces involved.


title: Forging

text: There are many different kinds of forging processes available; however, they can be grouped into three main classes:


title: Forging

text: Common forging processes include: roll forging, swaging, cogging, open-die forging, impression-die forging (closed die forging), press forging, cold forging, automatic hot forging and upsetting.


title: Forging

text: All of the following forging processes can be performed at various temperatures; however, they are generally classified by whether the metal temperature is above or below the recrystallization temperature. If the temperature is above the material's recrystallization temperature it is deemed "hot forging"; if the temperature is below the material's recrystallization temperature but above 30% of the recrystallization temperature (on an absolute scale) it is deemed "warm forging"; if below 30% of the recrystallization temperature (usually room temperature) then it is deemed "cold forging". The main advantage of hot forging is that it can be done more quickly and precisely, and as the metal is deformed work hardening effects are negated by the recrystallization process. Cold forging typically results in work hardening of the piece.


title: Forging

text: Drop forging is a forging process where a hammer is raised and then "dropped" into the workpiece to deform it according to the shape of the die. There are two types of drop forging: open-die drop forging and impression-die (or closed-die) drop forging. As the names imply, the difference is in the shape of the die, with the former not fully enclosing the workpiece, while the latter does.


title: Forging

text: Open-die forging is also known as "smith forging". In open-die forging, a hammer strikes and deforms the workpiece, which is placed on a stationary anvil. Open-die forging gets its name from the fact that the dies (the surfaces that are in contact with the workpiece) do not enclose the workpiece, allowing it to flow except where contacted by the dies. The operator therefore needs to orient and position the workpiece to get the desired shape. The dies are usually flat in shape, but some have a specially shaped surface for specialized operations. For example, a die may have a round, concave, or convex surface or be a tool to form holes or be a cut-off tool. Open-die forgings can be worked into shapes which include discs, hubs, blocks, shafts (including step shafts or with flanges), sleeves, cylinders, flats, hexes, rounds, plate, and some custom shapes. Open-die forging lends itself to short runs and is appropriate for art smithing and custom work. In some cases, open-die forging may be employed to rough-shape ingots to prepare them for subsequent operations. Open-die forging may also orient the grain to increase strength in the required direction.


title: Forging

text: "" is the successive deformation of a bar along its length using an open-die drop forge. It is commonly used to work a piece of raw material to the proper thickness. Once the proper thickness is achieved the proper width is achieved via "edging". "" is the process of concentrating material using a concave shaped open-die. The process is called "edging" because it is usually carried out on the ends of the workpiece. "" is a similar process that thins out sections of the forging using a convex shaped die. These processes prepare the workpieces for further forging processes.


title: Forging

text: Impression-die forging is also called "closed-die forging". In impression-die forging, the metal is placed in a die resembling a mold, which is attached to an anvil. Usually, the hammer die is shaped as well. The hammer is then dropped on the workpiece, causing the metal to flow and fill the die cavities. The hammer is generally in contact with the workpiece on the scale of milliseconds. Depending on the size and complexity of the part, the hammer may be dropped multiple times in quick succession. Excess metal is squeezed out of the die cavities, forming what is referred to as "flash". The flash cools more rapidly than the rest of the material; this cool metal is stronger than the metal in the die, so it helps prevent more flash from forming. This also forces the metal to completely fill the die cavity. After forging, the flash is removed.


title: Forging

text: In commercial impression-die forging, the workpiece is usually moved through a series of cavities in a die to get from an ingot to the final form. The first impression is used to distribute the metal into the rough shape in accordance to the needs of later cavities; this impression is called an "edging", "fullering", or "bending" impression. The following cavities are called "blocking" cavities, in which the piece is working into a shape that more closely resembles the final product. These stages usually impart the workpiece with generous bends and large fillets. The final shape is forged in a "final" or "finisher" impression cavity. If there is only a short run of parts to be done, then it may be more economical for the die to lack a final impression cavity and instead machine the final features.


title: Forging

text: Impression-die forging has been improved in recent years through increased automation which includes induction heating, mechanical feeding, positioning and manipulation, and the direct heat treatment of parts after forging. One variation of impression-die forging is called "flashless forging", or "true closed-die forging". In this type of forging, the die cavities are completely closed, which keeps the workpiece from forming flash. The major advantage to this process is that less metal is lost to flash. Flash can account for 20 to 45% of the starting material. The disadvantages of this process include additional cost due to a more complex die design and the need for better lubrication and workpiece placement.


title: Forging

text: There are other variations of part formation that integrate impression-die forging. One method incorporates casting a forging preform from liquid metal. The casting is removed after it has solidified, but while still hot. It is then finished in a single cavity die. The flash is trimmed, then the part is quench hardened. Another variation follows the same process as outlined above, except the preform is produced by the spraying deposition of metal droplets into shaped collectors (similar to the Osprey process).


title: Forging

text: Closed-die forging has a high initial cost due to the creation of dies and required design work to make working die cavities. However, it has low recurring costs for each part, thus forgings become more economical with greater production volume. This is one of the major reasons closed-die forgings are often used in the automotive and tool industries. Another reason forgings are common in these industrial sectors is that forgings generally have about a 20 percent higher strength-to-weight ratio compared to cast or machined parts of the same material.


title: Forging

text: Forging dies are usually made of high-alloy or tool steel. Dies must be impact- and wear-resistant, maintain strength at high temperatures, have the ability to withstand cycles of rapid heating and cooling. In order to produce a better, more economical die the following standards are maintained:


title: Forging

text: Barrelling occurs when, due to friction between the work piece and the die or punch, the work piece bulges at its centre in such a way as to resemble a barrel. This leads to the central part of the work piece to come in contact with the sides of the die sooner than if there were no friction present, creating a much greater increase in the pressure required for the punch to finish the forging.


title: Forging

text: The dimensional tolerances of a steel part produced using the impression-die forging method are outlined in the table below. The dimensions across the parting plane are affected by the closure of the dies, and are therefore dependent on die wear and the thickness of the final flash. Dimensions that are completely contained within a single die segment or half can be maintained at a significantly greater level of accuracy.


title: Forging

text: A lubricant is used when forging to reduce friction and wear. It is also used as a thermal barrier to restrict heat transfer from the workpiece to the die. Finally, the lubricant acts as a parting compound to prevent the part from sticking in the dies.


title: Forging

text: Press forging works by slowly applying a continuous pressure or force, which differs from the near-instantaneous impact of drop-hammer forging. The amount of time the dies are in contact with the workpiece is measured in seconds (as compared to the milliseconds of drop-hammer forges). The press forging operation can be done either cold or hot.


title: Forging

text: The main advantage of press forging, as compared to drop-hammer forging, is its ability to deform the complete workpiece. Drop-hammer forging usually only deforms the surfaces of the work piece in contact with the hammer and anvil; the interior of the workpiece will stay relatively undeformed. Another advantage to the process includes the knowledge of the new part's strain rate. By controlling the compression rate of the press forging operation, the internal strain can be controlled.


title: Forging

text: There are a few disadvantages to this process, most stemming from the workpiece being in contact with the dies for such an extended period of time. The operation is a time-consuming process due to the amount and length of steps. The workpiece will cool faster because the dies are in contact with workpiece; the dies facilitate drastically more heat transfer than the surrounding atmosphere. As the workpiece cools it becomes stronger and less ductile, which may induce cracking if deformation continues. Therefore, heated dies are usually used to reduce heat loss, promote surface flow, and enable the production of finer details and closer tolerances. The workpiece may also need to be reheated.


title: Forging

text: When done in high productivity, press forging is more economical than hammer forging. The operation also creates closer tolerances. In hammer forging a lot of the work is absorbed by the machinery; when in press forging, the greater percentage of work is used in the work piece. Another advantage is that the operation can be used to create any size part because there is no limit to the size of the press forging machine. New press forging techniques have been able to create a higher degree of mechanical and orientation integrity. By the constraint of oxidation to the outer layers of the part, reduced levels of microcracking occur in the finished part.


title: Forging

text: Press forging can be used to perform all types of forging, including open-die and impression-die forging. Impression-die press forging usually requires less draft than drop forging and has better dimensional accuracy. Also, press forgings can often be done in one closing of the dies, allowing for easy automation.


title: Forging

text: Upset forging increases the diameter of the workpiece by compressing its length. Based on number of pieces produced, this is the most widely used forging process. A few examples of common parts produced using the upset forging process are engine valves, couplings, bolts, screws, and other fasteners.


title: Forging

text: Upset forging is usually done in special high-speed machines called "crank presses". The machines are usually set up to work in the horizontal plane, to facilitate the quick exchange of workpieces from one station to the next, but upsetting can also be done in a vertical crank press or a hydraulic press. The initial workpiece is usually wire or rod, but some machines can accept bars up to in diameter and a capacity of over 1000 tons. The standard upsetting machine employs split dies that contain multiple cavities. The dies open enough to allow the workpiece to move from one cavity to the next; the dies then close and the heading tool, or ram, then moves longitudinally against the bar, upsetting it into the cavity. If all of the cavities are utilized on every cycle, then a finished part will be produced with every cycle, which makes this process advantageous for mass production.


title: Forging

text: The automatic hot forging process involves feeding mill-length steel bars (typically long) into one end of the machine at room temperature and hot forged products emerge from the other end. This all occurs rapidly; small parts can be made at a rate of 180 parts per minute (ppm) and larger can be made at a rate of 90 ppm. The parts can be solid or hollow, round or symmetrical, up to , and up to in diameter. The main advantages to this process are its high output rate and ability to accept low-cost materials. Little labor is required to operate the machinery.


title: Forging

text: There is no flash produced so material savings are between 20 and 30% over conventional forging. The final product is a consistent so air cooling will result in a part that is still easily machinable (the advantage being the lack of annealing required after forging). Tolerances are usually ±, surfaces are clean, and draft angles are 0.5 to 1°. Tool life is nearly double that of conventional forging because contact times are on the order of 0.06-second. The downside is that this process is only feasible on smaller symmetric parts and cost; the initial investment can be over $10 million, so large quantities are required to justify this process.


title: Forging

text: The process starts by heating the bar to in less than 60 seconds using high-power induction coils. It is then descaled with rollers, sheared into blanks, and transferred through several successive forming stages, during which it is upset, preformed, final forged, and pierced (if necessary). This process can also be coupled with high-speed cold-forming operations. Generally, the cold forming operation will do the finishing stage so that the advantages of cold-working can be obtained, while maintaining the high speed of automatic hot forging.