Soon-to-be free agent Kyrie Irving is attempting to recruit Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James to the Dallas Mavericks, according to multiple reports.
Author: Michael
Newly retired MLB star Albert Pujols will remain close to the sport, as he was named as a special assistant to commissioner Robert Manfred on Monday.
With this new role, the former Cardinals and Angels first baseman will work on various topics around the major leagues, but he will mainly focus on player relations and issues associated with his home country of the Dominican Republic.
Additionally, Pujols will work as an on-air analyst for MLB Network.
“I couldn’t be more excited for this next chapter of my career,” Pujols said, via MLB’s press release.
How paranoid are teams about pitch tipping? After Dodgers lefthander Julio Urías gave up four home runs to the Cardinals in the third inning May 18, Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts—while being interviewed the next inning on MLB Network—immediately speculated Urías might have been tipping his pitches.
After reviewing the video later, the Dodgers were satisfied that Urías was not tipping his pitches. (He would later go on the IL with a hamstring strain.) That Roberts arrived so quickly at the pitch-tipping theory tells you how prevalent that worry is in baseball these days.
Fantasy baseball analyst Dalton Del Don delivers a fresh batch of waiver wire considerations as we kick off Week 10.
A lengthy European season is coming to a close this week with the Europa Conference League and Champions League finals, meaning the transfer rumor mill is starting to churn.
And without any major international tournaments this summer, the transfer market will be at the forefront of soccer news this summer.
Here is a roundup of the week’s biggest transfer rumors from around the world:
Lionel Messi
The biggest domino to fall this summer will be the newly crowned World Cup champion.
The battle between the pitcher and the hitter is the ancient core of baseball. Everything in this team sport emanates from that one-on-one duel at 24 paces contested an average of 76 times each game. The odds are stacked in the pitcher’s favor. The pitcher initiates the action. The hitter does not know what is coming. Measured by keeping the batter off base, the pitcher wins 68% of these duels.
But what if the hitter knows what’s coming? The ancient balance flips.
Minicamps get underway this week, and that gives us plenty to get to in this week’s Takeaways …
Mac Jones sure looks like he’s the Patriots’ starter. I was out at New England’s OTAs last week, and if you dropped in there from Mars and I asked you who the first quarterback was, I don’t think you’d have much problem figuring it out. Jones was taking snaps from starting center David Andrews during early walkthrough periods. He was with the first group in just about every drill. He was with the monied skill-players during seven-on-seven work.
Viktor Hovland won a significant victory and a $3.6 million prize, but that didn’t keep him from supporting a teammate’s U.S. Open dream.
Charles Oliveira has not tasted victory in the Octagon since May 2022.
He seeks to change that at UFC 289.
Oliveira (33–9, 1 NC) fights in the 289 co-main event against Beneil Dariush, a lightweight bout with title ramifications. A win for Dariush (22-4-1), who is looking to extend the streak to eight, would give him a title shot against reigning champ Islam Makhachev—the man who defeated Oliveira in October for the belt.
The loss to Makhachev ended a remarkable 11-fight win streak for Oliveira.
Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post
Nikola Jokic had a big scoring night in Game 2 of the NBA Finals, and that’s exactly what the Heat wanted.
Nikola Jokic’s superpower on the basketball court is that he always makes the right play. At 7-foot, 280 pounds, Jokic is one of the biggest and strongest players in the NBA, but the first thing associated with his game is his passing. The two-time MVP is the best passing big man ever, and even that might be underselling him: this is a floor general on par with Chris Paul, Jason Kidd, and the other greats to play the game.