WNBA
Paige Bueckers is headed to Dallas as the first pick in the WNBA draft. The versatile UConn star is the latest Huskies standout to go No. 1, joining former greats Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Maya Moore and Breanna Stewart. Bueckers will have plenty of company, especially with the WNBA having its first expansion team in 17 years and the Golden State Valkyries making their debut draft selection at No. 5 overall. The first round will feature 12 picks, with 13 in each of the final two rounds.
Elsewhere in the first round, the Connecticut Sun took LSU point forward Aneesah Morrow 7th and NC State small forward Saniya Rivers 8th.
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced shortly before the draft on Monday that the league has assembled a dedicated task force to help combat online hate and vitriol directed toward players and teams. Engelbert said that the task force will have a four-pronged approach including monitoring social media and other digital platforms by using advance technology to detect threats and comments. The league will also strengthen conduct standards across WNBA platforms. There will be added security measures at league and team levels as well as dedicated mental health clinicians.
NBA
The fifth full season of the NBA’s play-in tournament starts today/Tuesday. No. 7 Orlando hosts No. 8 Atlanta in the Eastern Conference, and No. 7 Golden State hosts No. 8 Memphis in the Western Conference. The winners of those games make the playoffs. The Magic-Hawks winner earns the chance to play Boston and the Warriors-Grizzlies winner will be off to play Houston. The tournament continues Wednesday with two elimination games. Miami goes to Chicago and Dallas goes to Sacramento. The losers of Wednesday's games are eliminated.
Firing the head coach and general manager with just three games left in the regular season might seem like an impulsive move but Denver Nuggets coach Josh Kroenke said Tuesday the split was months in the making. Kroenke said he seriously contemplated firing both men around Thanksgiving and then again at the All-Star break. He ultimately decided last November to wait to give the team time to work out the kinks and an eight-game winning streak waylaid his plans at the All-Star break. Last week, he fired Michael Malone and Calvin Booth and the Nuggets are 3-0 since then.
MLB
Juan Soto hit his first home run since the opening weekend of the season and the New York Mets beat the slumping Minnesota Twins 5-1. Pete Alonso and Luisangel Acuña had two hits apiece for the Mets. Minnesota finished with three hits on a damp and chilly evening and tied a season high with 13 strikeouts. With the Mets up 3-1 in the seventh inning and a runner on, Soto drilled a changeup from Jorge Alcala into the front row of seats in right-center for his first home run since March 28 in Houston. New York starter Clay Holmes got the win. Justin Topa took the loss.
Trent Grisham, Ben Rice and Austin Wells each hit a solo home run off Seth Lugo in the fifth inning, and the New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals 4-1 in their first meeting since last year’s AL Division Series. Jazz Chisholm Jr. tied the score in the fourth with his sixth homer, an inning after Bobby Witt Jr.’s home run against Carlos Carrasco put Kansas City ahead. Carrasco and four relievers combined on a two-hitter for the Yankees, whose starters entered with a 5.40 ERA. New York had lost five of its previous seven games.
Rookie Kameron Misner homered twice and drove in three runs, Shane Baz threw six strong innings, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Boston Red Sox 16-1. Yandy Diaz and Junior Caminero also homered and each drove in a pair for Tampa Bay. Six Rays registered multiple hits. Misner finished 3 for 4 with homers off Tanner Houck and Brennan Bernardino, his first home runs since a historic walk-off shot on opening day. Baz allowed two hits, one earned run and no walks with a career-high 11 strikeouts. His only mistake was an 0-1 slider to Kristian Campbell, who homered in the top of the third. After that, Baz retired the next 11 Red Sox in order. Tampa Bay tagged Houck (0-2) for 11 earned runs in 2 1/3 innings.
Willy Adames and Mike Yastrzemski homered, and Tyler Fitzgerald also went deep, doubled and tripled to lead the San Francisco Giants to a 10-4 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. The Giants took two of three over the weekend from the New York Yankees and continued their road trip with a solid win against the defending NL East champions. Only San Diego was off to a better start this season than the Giants going into Monday's games. Nick Castellanos homered for the Phillies.
Bryce Harper is set to take another swing at fatherhood — and he did it with a blue bat. The Philadelphia Phillies slugger used a blue bat in his first plate appearance of Monday night’s game against San Francisco as part of a gender reveal for his fourth child. A two-time NL MVP, Harper announced in a team meeting that his family was set to grow. He later asked All-Star shortstop Trea Turner for an assist with a most unusual reveal. Turner handed Harper the bat in the dugout in the first inning.
Austin Riley had two home runs and five RBIs, Sean Murphy also connected and the Atlanta Braves beat the Toronto Blue Jays 8-4 for their second road win of the season. Braves right-hander Grant Holmes didn’t allow a hit until Myles Straw homered to begin the bottom of the sixth. Holmes pitched a career-best 7 2/3 innings. He allowed three runs and two hits. Atlanta snapped a six-game losing streak in road meetings with Toronto.
Tarik Skubal struck out nine while allowing four hits and no walks in seven shutout innings as the Detroit Tigers trounced the Milwaukee Brewers 9-1. The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner didn’t allow a baserunner until Rhys Hoskins singled to start the fifth. The Tigers already led 9-0 by that point. Kerry Carpenter homered and went 2 for 4. Gleyber Torres drove in three runs and scored twice. Andy Ibáñez was 2 for 5 with one run and two RBIs. Javier Báez scored twice.
Nolan Arenado homered and Brendan Donovan went 4 for 4, helping Sonny Gray and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Houston Astros 8-3. Arenado also doubled twice and scored two runs in the opener of a three-game series. Donovan extended his hitting streak to 10 games. Gray (3-0) pitched seven scoreless innings. Astros left-hander Framber Valdez was tagged for seven runs — six earned — in four-plus innings. Five of the 10 hits he allowed were doubles.
Paul Skenes bounced back from the worst start of his career and teamed up with catcher Henry Davis to make a little history as the Pittsburgh Pirates beat Washington 10-3. Skenes and Davis became the first pitcher/catcher battery in Major League history comprised of players selected first overall in the draft. Skenes (2-1), the top pick in 2023, allowed two runs, one earned, while striking out six in six innings. Davis, taken first in 2021, added a single after taking over for injured starter Endy Rodriguez. The Pirates snapped a three-game losing streak.
Fernando Tatis Jr. homered twice and scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch as the San Diego Padres improved to 11-0 at home by beating the Chicago Cubs 10-4 in the opener of a three-game series between National League division leaders. The Padres have the best record in the majors at 14-3. Tatis hit a solo homer with two outs in the third inning, scored the tiebreaking run on a wild pitch in a three-run seventh and then hit a two-run homer in the eighth. He has six home runs overall and five in his last six games. It was his 12th career multi-homer game.
Mookie Betts hit a two-run homer, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat Colorado 5-3. It was the Rockies' fourth straight loss. They've dropped six of seven but they scored for the first time since last Thursday on Kyle Farmer's RBI double in the sixth. Colorado has just three wins, worst in the majors. Dustin May got his first victory since May 2023, allowing one run and three hits in six innings. Tanner Scott earned his fifth save. Hunter Goodman hit a two-run homer for the Rockies, who fell to 1-9 on the road. Antonio Senzatela took the loss.
Colorado Rockies manager Bud Black had his commute to Los Angeles interrupted by a 5.2-magnitude earthquake that shook Southern California. The team had been in San Diego for a three-game series against the Padres that ended Sunday. The widely felt quake caused items to fall off shelves at Black's house in San Diego, where he lives in the offseason. He planned to commute via train to Los Angeles and was waiting on the platform when an announcement said that because of the quake the tracks would have to be checked for damage. Black didn't want to wait around, so he hailed a ride share to Dodger Stadium that cost him not quite $200.
NHL
Vincent Trocheck scored a short-handed goal early in the third period against his former team, and the New York Rangers beat the Florida Panthers 5-3. Trocheck, playing in his 800th game, got the go-ahead goal during a Rangers comeback like none other this season. The Rangers were 0-30-1 in games where they trailed by two or more goals, the NHL’s only winless team this season in such a scenario. But they got goals from Juuso Parssinen and J.T. Miller 1:38 apart late in the second to tie the game, erasing a 3-1 deficit. Matt Rempe and Jonny Brodzinski also scored for the Rangers. Sam Reinhart scored twice and Carter Verhaeghe also had a goal for Florida.
Moritz Seider had a tiebreaking, power-play goal early in the third, Lucas Raymond scored midway through the period and Vladimir Tarasenko added an empty-net goal to lift the Detroit Red Wings to a 6-4 win over the Dallas Stars. Wyatt Johnston scored to pull the Stars within a goal with 7:04 left and shortly after they pulled goaltender Jake Oettinger to add an extra skater, Tarasenko scored to seal the win. Detroit’s Jonatan Berggren tied the game a few minutes before Seider’s goal and Cam Talbot stopped 25 shots in the team’s final home game of the season.
Ivan Demidov made quite the first impression in his anticipated NHL debut. The 19-year-old Russian forward had a goal and an assist in the first period of Montreal’s 4-3 shootout loss against Chicago. Demidov was the No. 5 pick in last year’s NHL draft. He led his Russian club, SKA Saint Petersburg, in scoring with 49 points in 65 games this season, setting a Kontinental Hockey League record for under-20 players despite having inconsistent ice time. Canadiens fans watched from afar while Demidov continued his impressive play in Russia. They’ve been buzzing with even more excitement since his arrival.
Clayton Keller had two goals and two assists, and the Utah Hockey Club beat the Nashville Predators 7-3. Logan Cooley had a goal and two assists, Michael Kesselring had a goal and an assist, and Nick Schmaltz, Nick Bjugstad and Kevin Stenlund also scored for Utah. Alexander Kerfoot had two assists and Matt Villalta finished with 27 saves to get his first career win in his second NHL start. Ryan O’Reilly, Luke Evangelista and Michael Bunting scored for Nashville, and Juuse Saros had 29 saves.
Jake DeBrusk scored with 17.6 seconds left on the clock in overtime and the Vancouver Canucks beat the struggling San Jose Sharks 2-1. Linus Karlsson also scored for Vancouver, and Nikita Tolopilo stopped 15 shots in his NHL debut. Macklin Celebrini got his 25th goal of the season for San Jose, which lost its 10th straight (0-7-3). Alexandar Georgiev made 35 saves. In the extra period, Brock Boeser sent a shot over the San Jose net and the puck bounced back to DeBrusk, who popped it in for his 28th goal of the season with just seconds left on the game clock.
Adrian Kempe had a goal and two assists and Warren Foegele and Kevin Fiala each had a goal and an assist as the Los Angeles Kings beat the depleted Edmonton Oilers 5-0. Quinton Byfield and Vladislav Gavrikov also scored for the Kings, who have won seven of their last eight and officially clinched home-ice against the Oilers in the first round of the playoffs. Darcy Kuemper had 16 saves before being replaced by David Rittich before the midway mark of the third period, seemingly for precautionary reasons. Rittich finished with five saves. Calvin Pickard had 31 saves for Edmonton, which snapped a three-game win streak.
NFL
Former NFL tight end Don Hasselbeck, who won a Super Bowl in his nine-year career and was the father of two NFL quarterbacks, died Monday. He was 70. Hasselbeck’s son, Matt, said his father died after going into cardiac arrest at his home. The elder Hasselbeck was drafted in the second round by New England in 1977 after a standout collegiate career at Colorado. He spent six full seasons with the Patriots and led the team with 46 catches in 1981. He was traded to the Los Angeles Raiders early in the 1983 season and helped the team win the Super Bowl.
COLLEGE SPORTS
Vice President JD Vance ended the Ohio State football team’s visit to the White House by fumbling the trophy the players won as their sport’s national champion. After speeches Monday by President Donald Trump, Buckeye coach Ryan Day and himself on the South Lawn, Vance, an Ohio State graduate, gathered up the trophy from a table in front of the team and tried to hoist it aloft. He didn’t count on the gold top of the trophy being designed to pull away from its black base, though. After some struggling, the vice president managed to dramatically drop both pieces.
Attorneys working on the legal settlement designed to reshape college sports filed a brief that did not offer changes a judge suggested regarding roster limits, reiterating the benefit the limits provide to some athletes and the havoc a late change to that rule could create. The latest legal maneuver came in response to U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken’s suggestion that the terms of the roster limit rules be shifted “to grandfather in a group of rostered people” set to lose their spots on teams if the rule comes into play.
SOCCER
Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal hold such commanding leads in their Champions League quarterfinals that a place in the last four looks all but certain. Don’t be so sure. European club soccer’s most prestigious competition has a habit of upsetting the odds. Barcelona and PSG have very recent memories of how quickly things can change. Barcelona was 4-2 up on aggregate against PSG early in the second leg of last year’s quarterfinals - only to lose 6-4. In 2017 PSG led a round of 16 game between the two 4-0 after the first leg in Paris to famously lose 6-1 at Camp Nou. Part of what makes the Champions League such compelling viewing is the fragility of even the most commanding leads.
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