Mark DeRosa is managing the squad, which includes MVP winners such as Aaron Judge and Bryce Harper, and the reigning Cy Young Award winners in Tarik Skubal and Paul Skenes. DeRosa, a solid player across 16 MLB seasons, is joined by a who's who of assistants.
Team USA was runner-up in the 2023 World Baseball Classic after falling to Japan in the championship. The U.S. has assembled a much more impressive roster on paper in 2026 but will face staunch competition from Japan again, as well as the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Venezuela, among others.
DeRosa, who's now an MLB Network analyst alongside his Team USA managing duties, has no shortage of experience among his coaching staff for the WBC. Here's a look at Team USA's full staff ahead of its first game against Brazil on March 6 in Houston:
Team USA coaching staff for WBC
Manager: Mark DeRosa
Bench coach: Skip Schumaker
Pitching coach: Andy Pettitte
Hitting coach: Matt Holliday
First base coach: George Lombard
Third base coach: Dino Ebel
Bullpen coach: David Ross
Assistant manager: Fredi Gonzalez
Assistant manager: Brian McCann
Assistant manager: Michael Young
There's plenty of MLB managing experience on Team USA's coaching staff, including current Rangers manager Skip Schumaker. Schumaker, an 11-year MLB veteran, was the National League Manager of the Year with the Marlins in 2023.
Former Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte, the winningest postseason pitcher ever, returns as pitching coach. Pettitte won five World Series titles with New York. Seven-time All-Star Matt Holliday will lead the hitters. The 2007 batting champion's sons Jackson Holliday and Ethan Holliday were both recent top-five picks in the MLB draft.
Tigers bench coach George Lombard is the first base coach and Dodgers third base coach Dino Ebel will handle the same duties for Team USA. Lombard's oldest son, George Lombard Jr., is a top prospect for the Yankees. His other son, Jacob Lombard, is one of the top 2026 MLB Draft prospects.
Former Cubs manager David Ross will lead the bullpen. The World Series is a two-time World Series champion with the Red Sox (2013) and Cubs (2016).
Brian McCann, Michael Young and Fredi Gonzalez round out the staff as assistant managers. McCann and Young are both seven-time All-Stars, and Gonzalez, a former MLB manager, led the Marlins from 2007-10 and Braves from 2011-16.
Puerto Rico, one of just four countries to advance to the World Baseball Classic quarterfinals in the first five tournaments, will play on in the 2026 edition. Yet the Boricua may have already suffered their most significant losses weeks before the WBC began.
For the first time since 2013, Puerto Rico will be without its superstar infielders, Carlos Correa and Francisco Lindor, who were ruled out of the tournament due to insurance concerns.
Lindor subsequently suffered a hamate bone injury that would have knocked him out, anyway. Yet Correa’s loss – along with valued catcher Victor Caratini and right-hander Jose Berríos – can be attributed to a risk management issue that girds the tournament’s capability to utilize major league stars in a full-go, competitive environment during spring training.
Why can’t Carlos Correa play in the WBC?
Correa’s history of leg injuries is well-documented, since he suffered a fractured right tibia as a Houston Astros minor leaguer. The injury history emerged in the spotlight during Correa’s second tour through free agency, when deals exceeding $300 million in value with the San Francisco Giants and New York Mets were scrapped due to concerns that emerged during his physical before the 2023 season.
Major league players are insured during the WBC – which is co-owned and operated by Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association - through National Financial Partners. NFP refuses to guarantee contracts for players whose contracts are in their second guaranteed year in a season a position player turns 37, and fourth guaranteed year for pitchers turning 37, baseball officials familiar with the matter confirmed to USA TODAY Sports.
Yet injury history and recent surgical procedures can also scuttle a player’s eligibility.
Jose Altuve, Jose Berríos: Ineligible for WBC
Lindor had a minor right elbow debridement after last season, scuttling his eligibility before his hamate issue emerged. Jose Altuve, 35, had a pair of strikes against him: He suffered a broken thumb playing for Venezuela in the 2023 WBC, and his $125 million contract extension runs through 2029; he will turn 37 in 2028.
Berríos, 31, pitched for Puerto Rico in 2013, 2017 and 2023. Yet he revealed last month that elbow inflammation that ended his season early was preceded by problems with his biceps tendon that he pitched through. Now, he’ll miss his first WBC, but should be nearing full health in time for the Blue Jays to begin defense of their American League title.
And Venezuela’s infield depth will be further thinned by the absence of Miguel Rojas, the Dodgers’ World Series hero. He turned 37 on Feb. 24, rendering his $5.5 million salary for 2026 – his final big league season, he’s said – uninsurable.
“It's really hard to not have the opportunity to put my country on my chest and to represent them and help win a World Baseball Classic – and not have the opportunity to do it because I'm 37 years old," Rojas said at the Dodgers’ fan festival last month. "That's not right. I don't feel it's right."
Last summer, there were rumours about the Montreal Canadiens being in trade talks with the St. Louis Blues to acquire winger Jordan Kyrou. However, when the two organizations announced a trade, it didn’t involve him, but rather two young players: Zachary Bolduc and right-shot 22-year-old defenseman Logan Mailloux.
Since the trade, the 23-year-old Bolduc has played 59 games with the Habs, been a healthy scratch once last week, and has 10 goals and 14 assists for 24 points. He’s also gotten 24 penalty minutes and has a minus-nine rating.
Meanwhile, Mailloux has played five games with the Springfield Thunderbirds in the AHL and 46 games with the Blues. He picked up two points in Springfield (both goals) and three goals and two assists for five points in the NHL.
In his last five games, though, Mailloux has scored two goals, taken 13 shots, landed eight hits, blocked five shots and has a plus-five differential while playing on the Blues’ second pairing. Meanwhile, Bolduc has recorded two points, both assists, in his last five game put together a minus-one record, took two shots, blocked one and landed 13 hits while playing in the bottom six alongside Jake Evans and Alex Newhook.
Should the Canadiens have buyer’s remorse? It’s much too early to tell. Both players are still very young and are nowhere near done developing. When he joined the Canadiens, Bolduc was parachuted into a whole new system, playing under Martin St-Louis meant learning to read the plays and making the right decisions at the right time, rather than just using a standard system, which takes time. This is Bolduc’s first full season in the NHL, and he still has plenty of time to learn and improve.
Granted, the Canadiens could do with a right-shot defenseman right now, but they do have David Reinbacher and Bryce Pickford in the pipeline, and if Bolduc becomes the player the Habs’ brass felt he could become under St-Louis’ tutelage, the trade will have paid off for both sides.
The Philadelphia Flyers still haven't managed to fix their center depth, and one of the key cogs they just traded has already found a permanent new home in the NHL.
So far, with one month to go in the 2025-26 season, Trevor Zegras has not taken over as a full-time center as many of us expected in the offseason.
Instead, that role belongs to fellow newcomer Christian Dvorak, with Noah Cates, a declining Sean Couturier, and Carl Grundstrom filling in behind.
Top prospect Jett Luchanko lasted only four games with the Flyers, and Rodrigo Abols is done for the season with a lower-body injury.
With all that in perspective, it's fair to say the Flyers are missing old friend Ryan Poehling, whom they traded to the Anaheim Ducks in the Zegras trade.
And, while the Flyers still appear to have gotten the better end of that trade, they did create a gap in the lineup that's been plaguing them all season. Both things can be true.
On Thursday, Poehling, 27, cashed in on a solid first season in California, signing a four-year, $15 million ($3.75 million AAV) contract to remain with the Ducks.
The ex-Flyers forward has slotted in nicely behind the likes of Leo Carlsson and Mason McTavish in Anaheim, and, importantly, does not have any trade protection in his new deal.
Given the state of the NHL trade market over the last few years, that very well could work out in the Ducks' favor in the future.
Poehling has seven goals, 17 assists, and 24 points in 54 games this season in his depth role.
Comparatively, Dvorak, who signed a much more lucrative five-year, $25.75 million extension with the Flyers in January, has trade protection in all but the last season of his deal, sitting at 13 goals, 24 assists, and 37 points in 60 games playing almost top-line minutes almost exclusively with Zegras.
Poehling, with an expanded role and a bit of finishing luck, could be matching or surpassing Dvorak's offensive production, but the Ducks were happy to keep him in a role that matches his skillset and pay him accordingly.
As for the Flyers, the position they're in is very similar to when they had Poehling, looking for what they lost.
CLEVELAND, OHIO - JULY 23: Zach Eflin #24 of the Baltimore Orioles throws a pitch during the fifth inning against the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field on July 23, 2025 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Nick Cammett/Diamond Images via Getty Images) | Diamond Images/Getty Images
Good morning, Camden Chatters.
The Orioles were Grapefruit League winners yesterday with a 4-3 decision over the Rays in Port Charlotte. The Birds’ travel lineup included only two players guaranteed to make the team — Dylan Beavers and Samuel Basallo, who had a hit apiece — along with a couple of bubble guys in Leody Taveras and Jeremiah Jackson. The bulk of their offense came on homers by two minor league fillers, Jose Barrero and “Danger” Will Robertson.
But the pitching was the story for the Orioles — specifically, Zach Eflin, who made his spring debut and dazzled with two scoreless innings, striking out three. Reportedly, Eflin’s velocity yesterday was better than it ever was during his miserable 2025 season, when back soreness torpedoed his performance. His mechanics and pitch arsenal more resembled the Eflin who dominated in nine starts for the O’s in 2024. It’s hard not to be impressed at how sharp Eflin looked in his first mound action in eight months.
For much of the spring, it’s been assumed that Eflin will start the year on the injured list as he continues to ramp up his workload. But after yesterday’s performance, there’s reason to believe he could be full-go by Opening Day. And if he is, how exactly will the Orioles’ rotation shake out? The O’s have already announced that Tyler Wells will be in the bullpen, but that would still leave six starters — Eflin, Kyle Bradish, Trevor Rogers, Shane Baz, Chris Bassitt, and Dean Kremer — for five spots.
Bradish and Rogers are guaranteed to be atop the rotation, and Baz, for whom the O’s traded four prospects and have high expectations, is a lock for the starting staff as well. Unless the Orioles go with a six-man rotation, that leaves one of the other three out in the cold. Bassitt, a veteran known for his durability — with four straight seasons of 30+ starts — seems unlikely to be bumped to the bullpen, though he did pitch (quite well) in that role for the Blue Jays last postseason. Kremer, the Orioles’ 2025 leader in innings pitched with 171.2, also seems betted suited for starting than relieving, and Eflin hasn’t worked out of the bullpen since 2022.
There are three weeks until Opening Day, and chances are that the situation will resolve itself one way or the other. Just when you think you have more starting pitchers than you need, baseball has a way of, well, throwing a curveball. For now, the O’s should be happy they’ve got some pitching depth. They’re going to need it.
More from Jake Rill on Eflin’s successful debut. If Eflin can approach his 2024 performance this year, it’ll certainly take some of the sting out of the Orioles’ not ponying up for an ace.
The former O’s manager talked to the Baltimore media for the first time since his firing. If you were expecting some lingering bitterness or saltiness toward the Orioles, sorry, his comments are all class.
Orioles birthdays and history
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Ex-Orioles born on this day include right-hander Anthony Telford (60) and Jake Arrieta (40), who spent four rocky years with the Birds before they dumped him off on the Cubs. I wonder what ever happened to him after that? Nothing much, I’m sure.
March 6 has been a slow day in Orioles history. The only time the O’s have made any roster moves on this date was in 2020, when they returned two Rule 5 picks — right-handers Michael Rucker and Brandon Bailey — to their original clubs. Had the O’s known that spring training would be canceled by the pandemic a week later and they’d end up playing only a 60-game season later that summer, maybe they could’ve tried to hold onto one or both of those guys for the shortened campaign. In any case, neither pitcher amounted to much, with Rucker posting a 4.96 ERA in three seasons for the Cubs and Bailey pitching just five major league games for the Astros in 2020.
Hideki Kuriyama speaks after a Team Japan game during the 2023 World Baseball Classic at the Tokyo Dome. (Kenta Harada / Getty Images)
The man who managed Shohei Ohtani in Japan dropped by the Dodgers’ training camp the other day, camera crew in tow. He was there to interview Andrew Friedman.
Friedman, quite naturally, assumed the questions would be about Ohtani.
Not at all. The questions were about Friedman, and what he had in common with the people who lead companies that make bullet trains and electron microscopes and Hello Kitty.
Hideki Kuriyama managed Ohtani on the Nippon Ham Fighters, the team that nurtured Ohtani’s ambition of pitching and hitting at an elite level. Today, in addition to serving as the Fighters’ chief baseball officer — the equivalent of Friedman’s role as the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations — Kuriyama hosts a prime-time television show in which he interviews the top executives of global corporations based in Japan.
These companies are household names in Japan, and often in the United States: Hitachi. Suzuki. Japan Airlines. Nippon Steel. Rakuten, the e-commerce giant. Sanrio, the Hello Kitty people.
The Dodgers are a household name in Japan.
The Dodgers are the brand. Nippon Ham is a brand too, but that brand is a food processing company.
Remember when Fox owned the Dodgers and Disney owned the Angels? That is baseball in Japan: teams owned by companies that can be more interested in their core business of financial services or transportation or media or whatever than in their team.
“The Japanese baseball market is stuck,” Kuriyama told me through interpreter Chinami Inaishi. “Ownership belongs to the owner-corporations. They really see the teams as part of their branding and marketing. Their efforts to focus on the team strength seems very different than that of Major League Baseball.”
That, really, was what Kuriyama wanted to talk about with Friedman: What could Japanese teams learn from how Friedman leads?
“One of the things that we talked about was patience,” Kuriyama said, “the ability to wait. I felt that. A lot of people have said that about him, so I’ll take that to heart.”
The Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani, left, is congratulated by team president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman after the Dodgers clinched the National League pennant last October. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
Beyond that? Friedman talked about integrating the work of different departments, no matter how unrelated those departments might appear from the outside.
“One of the things I learned is that an organization is not just the sum of people,” Kuriyama said. “To have a really good organization, everyone has to be united in what they want, and each person has to contribute. It’s kind of like multiplication rather than addition.”
To Friedman, championship math is about more than wins and losses.
“We spent time talking about the quest we are on to create a destination spot,” he said. “Obviously, the primary goal is to win championships. But that’s an outcome. We believe the process part of increasing your chances of getting there is by creating a destination spot where your really good players don’t want to leave, and where players on other teams are longingly looking at, like, ‘Oh man, I want to play for them.’
“We are way better at it today than we were five years ago, but it is like a living organism that we have to continue to nurture. It is not something where we will ever take our foot off the gas and say, ‘OK, we’ve got it.’”
Nothing beats winning — or, for the cynical, high salaries. But, when the Dodgers go beyond the scoreboard and payroll to provide innovative biomechanical and nutritional analysis to their players; expand the home clubhouse twice in barely a decade and take special care of player families; and add a second chartered team flight so the players can take their own plane, players take notice.
“We’re on a quest to get better at everything we do,” Friedman said. “If you listen to some of our internal meetings, and you listen to us challenge each other to get better in different areas, you would think we finished in last place last year.
“We take a very critical look at what we’re doing and what things we do better and what things we are not doing as well, and how to enhance those parts of our operation. That is our mindset: figuring out a way to continuously get better at everything we do.”
Kuriyama brought up an interview Friedman did three years ago, after Friedman visited Japan and marveled at how many fans gathered to watch Team Japan workouts in advance of the World Baseball Classic.
“It also struck me how many different team hats were there,” Friedman said. “You’d see a Dodgers, and a Cubs, and a Yankees, and a Red Sox. You saw a smattering of different teams. And that’s what got us thinking like, ‘Man, if we could actually convert more fans here into loving Dodger baseball, the benefits that come with that.’”
In the ensuing 20 months, the Dodgers signed Ohtani. Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki have followed, as have back-to-back World Series championships and a burgeoning Japanese fan club.
“They are, absolutely, bar none, the most popular team,” Kuriyama said.
The Dodgers are the favorite MLB team of 59% of Japanese sports fans, according to a YouGov poll released this week. The New York Yankees rank second at 14%; no other team polled at even 10%.
According to the poll, 78% say Ohtani is one of their favorite MLB players, 79% say Ohtani has increased their interest in MLB since he signed with the Dodgers, and 87% say they have a positive impression of him.
Ohtani made an estimated $100 million last year in sponsorships and endorsements, including the promotion of a skin care product that the 64-year-old Kuriyama said he has tried. I asked Kuriyama how far he could walk in Japan without seeing an advertisement for Ohtani.
“Less than 10 steps,” he said.
Kuriyama held firm that Ohtani could prosper as both a pitcher and hitter at a time that opinion was far from universal. Now that Ohtani is the game’s best player, and an international superstar that transcends sports, Kuriyama must feel like a proud father.
“He was incredibly talented,” Kuriyama said. “So, rather than being a proud dad, I feel like, ‘Thank you for not injuring yourself, and thank you for putting the work and effort into being where you are today.’ I am actually a little relieved.”
I asked Kuriyama if there was anything Ohtani could do that he has not already done.
“He’s actually more talented than people think he is,” Kuriyama said. “I firmly believe that he is going to surprise many of you.”
He only — and, yes, Kuriyama used the word “only” — hit 55 home runs last season. Does Kuriyama believe Ohtani could reach the single-season MLB record of 73?
“Yeah,” Kuriyama said.
If Ohtani does that this year, the Dodgers might well become the first team in National League history to win three consecutive World Series championships. If the Dodgers do that, flooded with cash from Japan and all over the world, the interview Friedman does next spring might be with the Harvard Business School.
SARASOTA, FL - MARCH 02: Ozzie Albies #1 of Team Netherlands poses for a photo during the Team Netherlands photo day at Ed Smith Stadium on Monday, March 2, 2026 in Sarasota, Florida. (Photo by Will Vragovic/WBCI/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
The 2026 World Baseball Classic is officially underway and if you’re keeping track of things from an Atlanta Braves perspective, today is the day for you. It’s all going down today at high noon at loanDepot park in Miami, FL as Ronald Acuña Jr. and Venezuela get set to take on Ozzie Albies and Jurickson Profar Chadwick Tromp representing the Netherlands in the first game of Pool D in Miami. Andruw Jones will be in the dugout as the manager for the Netherlands, so there’s definitely going to be a Braves flavor to this particular ballgame.
It’ll surely be fun to see best pals Acuña and Albies turn into baseball enemies for a day and the good news for you is that we have information as to how you can watch. While the game may not be on a traditional TV channel like FOX, FS1 or FS2, the game will still be televised via streaming. You’ll have to catch this game on tubi (tubitv.com) if you want to see the international Braves stars in action during the WBC. If you can’t watch then you can listen on MLB Audio (via the MLB+ package which starts at $5.99 a month) or on Sirius XM if you’re subscribed to that as well.
Either way, you’re going to want to tune in for this one if you want to get your fix of Ronald Acuña Jr. and Ozzie Albies playing in meaningful baseball games about a month earlier than usual. No matter who you’re pulling for, Braves fans are going to come out on top in this one.
Sep 10, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; General view of the helmet used by the Milwaukee Brewers before the start of the first inning against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Stan Szeto-Imagn Images | Stan Szeto-Imagn Images
Greetings, Brew Crew Ball community. Welcome to March, as Opening Day is now just three weeks away!
Feel free to use this thread to chat about (almost) anything you want: video games, food, movies, non-baseball sports, the Brewers, you name it. As long as it’s appropriate and is allowed by our moderators, it’s fair game here.
Feb 11, 2026; Clearwater, FL, USA; Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola (27) runs a drill during spring training at BareCare Ballpark. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images | Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images
The pool play for the WBC begins in earnest today, which means as I write this, Shohei Ohtani hits a grand slam to open the scoring for Samurai Japan.
The Hawk* signs a blank check, Kirby Puckett departs this vale,and other stories.
On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Bleed Cubbie Blue is pleased to present a Cubs-centric look at baseball’s colorful past. Here’s a handy Cubs timeline, to help you follow the various narrative paths.
“Maybe I called it wrong, but it’s official.” — Tom Connolly, HoF Umpire.
1987 – Free agent Andre Dawson* signs a one-year contract with the Cubs for the bargain-basement price of $650,000. Dawson had offered to sign a contract with the dollar amount left blank just so he could play on the natural grass at Wrigley Field and save his fragile knees. He will hit 49 home runs, lead the majors in RBIs, and win the 1987 N.L. MVP Award. (1,2)
2005 – Suzyn Waldman becomes the first woman to be a full-time color commentator in major league history, making her debut with John Sterling on WCBS-AM 880, the radio flagship of the New York Yankees. The former radio-talk host on WFAN, the first all-sports radio station in United States, was also the first female to broadcast on a national baseball telecast, as well as the first to provide local TV (Yankees) major league play-by-play. (2)
2016 – The Commissioner’s office overturns the two-game suspension handed to Dodgers IF Chase Utley for a dangerous slide that injured the Mets’Ruben Tejada in last year’s NLDS. The decision is because the rules regarding sliding at the time were too vague; they have since been strengthened. (2)
1521 – Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan discovers Guam.
1788 – The British First Fleet arrives at Australian territory of Norfolk Island to found a convict settlement.
1831 – Edgar Allan Poe court-martialed and dismissed from West Point military academy for gross neglect of duty and disobedience of orders.
1836 – Battle of the Alamo: After 13 days of fighting, 1,500-3,000 Mexican soldiers overwhelm the Texan defenders, killing 182-257 Texans including William Travis, Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett.
1857 – Dred Scott Decision: US Supreme Court rules Africans cannot be US citizens.
1869 – Dmitri Mendeleev presents the first periodic table of the elements to the Russian Chemical Society.
1918 – US naval boat “Cyclops” disappears in Bermuda Triangle. The ship was traveling from Barbados to Baltimore — it has never been found.
1964 – Boxing legend Cassius Clay joins the Nation of Islam and changes his name to “Muhammad Ali”, calling his former title a “slave name.”
Some of these items spread from site to site without being fact-checked, and that is why we ask for verifiable sources, in order to help correct the record.
MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN - MARCH 04: Dyson Daniels #5 of the Atlanta Hawks fouls Giannis Antetokounmpo #34 of the Milwaukee Bucks during the third quarter at Fiserv Forum on March 04, 2026 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Hawks came into Wednesday night four games up on the Milwaukee Bucks in the race for the Eastern Conference Play-In tournament. As added stakes, the Hawks famously own the pick that will turn out to be the better pick between the Bucks and the New Orleans Pelicans.
A win here essentially means both progress towards a postseason appearance AND a better draft pick. So, the importance of this one game out of 82 really couldn’t be overstated.
At the same time, one of the (if not THE) greatest slashers in of all NBA history had just come back from a calf injury, and so the Hawks had their hands full cutting off his path the basket.
The defensive gameplan was, initially, what it usually is when Onyeka Okongwu starts: put Okongwu on Giannis Antetokounmpo and have Jalen Johnson check the stretch center instead (in this case, Myles Turner). But the former matchup very quickly appeared one-sided.
One thing was very evident early on: Okongwu didn’t want to pick Antetokounmpo up outside of the three-point line. Even though he’s obviously not a threatening three-point shooter, it’s still not necessarily the right move to give ground and allow Antetokounmpo momentum heading into the paint.
Here is a classic example of what happened a lot in the first half:
Okongwu has defended Antetokounmpo well at times in the past, but he didn’t seem up for the task on Wednesday. In this one, he tries taking a charge at the free throw line. He had just picked up his first foul and didn’t want a second minutes into the game.
But it’s still just a poor decision from him, and frankly he knew it was just as the Greek Freak slithered by him for an easy dunk:
Something had to change. It was at this point that the coaching staff made a big gamble.
The plan they concocted: what if we put our point guard on Giannis?
Dyson Daniels isn’t just some point guard, of course. He finished second in Defensive Play of the Year voting a season ago. But to put your best perimeter defender on a guy who is three or four inches taller and outweighs him by some 40-odd pounds? That’s a risk.
To that point, the Bucks had scored 56 points in 18 minutes of game time, and Antetokounmpo led that charge with 12 points on 6-for-8 (75%) shooting.
The Bucks’ offense continued rolling after the assignment shift until halftime, shooting 62% from the field and 11-for-19 (58%) from three in the opening half en route to 71 points on a Milwaukee offensive rating of 148 — all truly ugly marks for the Hawks defense.
But the second half was a different matter — and it started with Daniels’ brilliance. The Hawks forced the Bucks to go 1-for-10 in their first ten shot attempts by cutting off the head of the snake.
Atlanta would live with Ousmane Dieng trying to replicate his hot shooting start — a start he did not replicate. Meanwhile, Giannis hardly saw the ball from great ball denial from Daniels off the ball.
On his first shot attempt of the second half, Daniels here picks Antetokounmpo up right at the top of the key (a big difference to how Okongwu handled the matchup), muscles with him in close quarters, and forces him into a fadeaway baseline jumper through great lateral movement:
Defense is a team effort, of course. Even after being switched off his main assignment, Okongwu along with others stayed focused in chipping in to double or wall off Antetokounmpo when needed.
Here’s an example of Daniels cutting off a drive — with a straight up double from Nickeil Alexander-Walker to force a pass out. Jalen Johnson closes out to the shooter with the remaining defenders in good position on the backside in case of a skip pass. Another empty possession forced:
And the Great Barrier Thief always has fantastic hand and eye coordination, using his quick mitts to strip Antetokounmpo to force a stop (this was registered as a block and not a steal):
These efforts helped the Hawks roll to a very satisfying 133-116 win.
The second half alone, the Hawks scored 65 points while allowing just 42 points and an 86 defensive rating. Giannis Antetokounmpo only scored six points on 3-for-6 (50%) shooting while being held to just one assist in that time period as well.
“It’s hard to come up with the superlatives for him defensively,” head coach Quin Snyder said after the game. “The fact that he can guard across different positions. You’re not going to stop Giannis, but you can try to make it hard.”
Daniels has gotten a lot of flak this season for a year in which some people believe is a step back for him. His issues shooting threes as a guard is very notable, and he’s taking by far the fewest three-point attempts per 100 possessions of his career.
After a historic season swiping the ball, his per-game steals mark has dropped from 3.0 to 1.9. He’s scoring less overall and less efficiently despite having the ball in his hands a lot more in the post-Trae Young world.
But both the eyes and the advanced stats should be able to see how incredibly valuable he is as a basketball player.
When you can go from shutting down the other team’s small guard to shutting down a 6-foot-11 behemoth and top five player in the world all while handling the ball on offense, that worth in versatility is something that is impossible to capture in any sort of data.
Did I mention he has also played the 15th most minutes in the NBA (as of Thursday afternoon) and has only missed three of 63 contests this season?
Put plainly: Dyson Daniels has a special skillset. He works extremely hard day in and day out, is always available, and operate key functions on both ends of the floor.
On offense, he’s been incredibly cautious but effective as a lead playmaker as of late:
And on defense, by adding strength to his frame over his years of development, Daniels can now take on all sorts of defensive matchups — although his bread and butter remains smaller perimeter ball handlers. But to do that while taking over point guard duties midseason after Trae Young’s departure is nothing short of incredible.
In fact, as of yesterday afternoon, Daniels is the 16th best qualified player (and best Hawk) in plus-minus on-off splits. Over the course of the season, the Hawks are 8.8 points per 100 possessions with Daniels on the court compared to off the court:
Raw on/off numbers without adjustments or context just gives you glimpses and not the full picture, but among qualified players, Dyson Daniels is 16th in on/off per 100 (+8.8).
Daniels starts a four-year, $100 million extension this offseason. If you simply read box scores and peruse his meager scoring numbers, it would be easy to assume his play this season should give Hawks fans pause about that price tag.
But the tape reveals a game-changing defensive player who can capably guard just about any player he’s assigned to guard.
So, it’s a major win that the Hawks have Daniels locked up for the foreseeable future. This kind of rare versatility gives the Hawks a number of solutions to in-game problems that few players, if any, possess on their own.
PHOENIX, ARIZONA - MARCH 05: Tre Jones #30 of the Chicago Bulls lays up shot ahead of Oso Ighodaro #11 of the Phoenix Suns during the second half of the NBA game at Mortgage Matchup Center on March 05, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona. The Bulls defeated the Suns 105-103. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Two storylines arrived at the same building on Thursday night. Two very different roads that somehow crossed at the same intersection.
On one side, you had the Chicago Bulls. A team whose fan base is staring at the draft lottery like it is a lighthouse in the fog. They want losses. They want ping pong balls. They want the chance to grab a high pick in what everyone says is a loaded draft class. Development is not the priority right now. Evaluation is not the priority either. Injuries have piled up, tank mode is humming along quietly in the background, and they rolled into Phoenix ready to play hard, although not exactly carrying the burden of expectation.
Then you have the Phoenix Suns.
They are a team with injuries of their own. A team that has spent the entire season clawing and scratching to stay above the Play-In line, but cannot seem to overcome it. A team that built its identity on effort, disruption, and the belief that if they played hard enough for forty eight minutes, they could walk off the floor with a win.
Home court. Stakes on the table. A game they needed. And somehow the script flipped.
Because the Suns looked like the team that had nothing to play for. They looked like the team that could shrug and find a silver lining in a loss. The defense was abhorrent. Truly. It felt like watching a layup line that never ended. Chicago poured in 68 points in the paint, and if you were sitting in the arena, it probably felt like 120. Every drive found daylight. Every cut felt clean.
Collin Sexton treated the defense like a set of traffic cones. Tre Jones joined the party. The two guards combined for 51 points and only three made threes between them. They did the damage the old-fashioned way. They attacked downhill, over and over again, straight to the rim. The pattern repeated itself like a broken record. Chicago drives. Layup. Phoenix fires from three. Miss. Chicago rebounds. Pushes. Attacks again. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
This Suns team built a reputation this season on making life uncomfortable for opponents. They swarm passing lanes. They pressure the ball. They turn possessions chaotic. None of that showed up. And on the other end, the offense drifted into quicksand. Phoenix shot 28.3% from deep on 48 attempts. The rhythm never arrived. The energy never arrived either. They never led in the game against one of the worst teams in the league.
Yes, it is one game in an eighty-two game season. There is barely time to process it before the next tip off arrives. Another struggling opponent waits on the schedule tonight. Although a small whisper of concern creeps into the room after a night like that. Because when you fail to handle your business once, the margin for error tightens immediately. And this team is fighting for something real right now. Playoff positioning. Stability in the standings.
You cannot sleepwalk through games like that when the stakes are sitting right in front of you.
Bright Side Baller Season Standings
It has taken far too long for Oso Ighodaro to notch his second Bright Side Baller award. He has been one of many genuine, sun-soaked surprises of this season. But in a way, the delay fits exactly who and what he is.
He is the guy who doesn’t always scream for the spotlight. He doesn’t hunt the stats that lead to the headlines or the hardware. Instead, he just does the work. He does the little things. The screen assists, the dirty work in the paint, the rotations that coaches love and casual fans overlook. He is the glue holding the second unit together, an annoying fly on the wall for opposing offenses.
Bright Side Baller Nominees
Game 62 against the Bulls. Here are your nominees:
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - JUNE 9:Luis Guerrero #99 of the Boston Red Sox reacts as he walks to the bullpen before a game against the Tampa Bay Rays at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images) | Getty Images
I’m almost out of pitchers to write about, I swear. We’re moving on to the middle relievers. The guys who sometimes need to take it on the chin, who rarely get the credit they deserve, but oftentimes make or break close games.
The Red Sox’ starting rotation depth and quality should help keep this group fresher than they’ve been in the recent past. Right now, I think this group might be on the light side, but relievers spring up out of nowhere and are available at the drop of a hat, so a trade or the addition of a DFA’d arm from another team could add quality to the bullpen. Here’s a look at way too many pitchers who might get a chance for the Red Sox this year.
Justin Slaten
Justin Slaten’s 2025 was disappointing, in large part because he was unavailable for most of the middle part of the season. He posted a 4.24 ERA with an 18.2% strikeout rate and 7.3% walk rate. Those numbers were a large step down from his rookie season, but the underlying stuff was just as good.
His fastball in particular was excellent. It has solid vertical movement and great velocity with big extension. In 2025, the swinging strike rate was among the best in the league at 15.6%, while the ideal contact rate was a great 31.3%. His cutter was a reliable strike-getter and also limited hard contact. Slaten struggled to put lefties away in 2025 due to leaving his curveball in the zone with two strikes too frequently, but better command should see the pitch return strikeouts. His sweeper was useful in putting away righties and should continue to be a weapon for him.
The issue for Slaten was getting out of trouble. His left-on-base rate of 55% was remarkably low and should rise to a normal rate over a full season. His 2024 rate was 71%, and there’s little reason to believe it shouldn’t normalize given his stuff. Aroldis Chapman and Garrett Whitlock are the top dogs in the Red Sox bullpen, but Slaten will be asked to handle high-leverage situations regularly.
Greg Weissert
Dear Alex Cora, I know navigating the middle innings can be difficult, particularly in a tight game. Hopefully, your rotation gives you six innings often enough that nobody in the pen needs to be overworked. I’m writing to you today to plead that you don’t give the ball to Greg Weissert every night. I know it’s tempting, but don’t do it.
Each of the last two seasons, Weissert has been near the top of the league in appearances through June, and then seen his performance tail off in the summer before reemerging at the end of the season. Weissert commands his fastball at the top of the zone, where it plays well due to its flat approach angle. Against righties, he uses a sinker and slider/sweeper to great effect. Lefties are a problem, with nothing else besides a fastball to get strikes with, though. He’s best used matching up with righties in a one-inning spot, and shouldn’t be asked to do much more.
Zack Kelly
I don’t think I’ll ever be able to quit Zack Kelly.
The stuff is just too good not to work. His four-seam averages 96 mph with seven feet of extension. The pitch has a flat approach angle, though I wonder if it’s a little “dead zoney”, because righties have been able to handle it. It was primarily a two-strike pitch and returned whiffs due to solid command, but the contact against it was hard. Early in counts, he used a sinker and a cutter that each earned strikes and limited damage. His sweeper also punched out hitters, but like the four-seam fastball was hit hard. Lefties got four-seams and cutters for strikes, with changeups deeper in counts. The slow ball strike rate was an abysmal 49% to lefties, and needs to see improvements to become a viable weapon.
Kelly’s approach against righties is sound, while he needs an “out-pitch” against lefties. Despite this, his OPS allowed was .831 against right-handed hitters and just .604 against lefties. I’ll chalk this up to bad luck. He struck out 29.3% of righties compared to 15.7% of lefties. His batting average on balls in play was over 0.400 against righties and is sure to come down to a more normal rate. His left on base percentage is also sure to come up, unless there are some underlying issues with the stretch that I’m not seeing. If you’re out on Kelly, I don’t blame you. After looking into the numbers, I’ll go the other way and predict that Kelly will be a key member of the Red Sox bullpen by the end of the season.
Ryan Watson
Ryan Watson was a Rule 5 draft pick, which gives him a solid chance to break camp with the team. He won’t be used in high-leverage spots, which means his job is to throw strikes. If he can throw strikes and handle low-leverage work, he’ll potentially be used in more meaningful spots later in the season. In the minors, he used a fastball, sinker, slider, and curveball. His four-seam hasn’t missed bats in the minors, but his low-release and above-average extension should allow the pitch to play at the top of the zone. His slider and curveball have each shown the ability to create whiffs as well. In his first spring training outing, he featured a low-90s cutter as well that has potential. The stuff doesn’t jump off the page, but he has weapons to attack both sides of the plate and provide an inning or two of relief at a time.
Kyle Keller
Of the non-roster invitees, Keller has the best chance to make the roster given the financial commitment. He’s in line to make $1.8 million if he breaks camp with the team. I don’t know a ton about Keller; he’s spent the last several seasons in Japan, most recently with the Yomiuri Giants. He has a fastball, cutter, curveball mix, with the four-seam making up the bulk of his arsenal. It comes in at 151.7 kilometers per hour, which sounds pretty fast, but is actually about 94 mph. His secondary pitches were used in a small sample, as far as I can tell, with middling results. He also walked three men in his second spring training outing, which you can’t afford to do as one of the lower-leverage arms in the bullpen. The Red Sox are willing to pay him if he makes the roster, so there’s clearly something they like, though.
Tayron Guerrero
Tayron Guerrero wasn’t a name I knew until Christopher Smith wrote about his journey to Boston, but now I’m all in. He’s a 6-foot-8 righty with massive velocity and command issues. He started playing baseball in 2007 after watching the Red Sox win the World Series, and was in the major leagues less than 10 years later. He hasn’t been able to stick with a big league team, bouncing around from organization to organization and spending time overseas, but his velocity gives him a chance to be special if he can find the zone. He’s using a four-seam and a two-seam that each get up to 100 mph, a splitter, and is working on a gyro-slider as a way to be in the strike zone more often. He’s on a minor league deal and is unlikely to make the opening day roster, but if he proves the ability to throw strikes, he could climb the bullpen trust tree and end up in high-leverage spots. Of the names at the bottom of this list, Guerrero has the highest ceiling.
Seth Martinez
Did you like John Schreiber? If so, you’re gonna love Seth Martinez. Martinez spent last season with the Marlins, primarily in Triple-A. Before that, he made 111 appearances for the Astros from 2021 to 2024, registering a 3.93 ERA over that time. He’s a side-armer with big extension who tops out about 90 mph, using a sinker, cutter, four-seam, sweeper, and changeup. His fastball is super flat, and in theory, should play at the top of the zone, while his sinker can work to jam righties. His sweeper and changeup have each shown bat-missing ability in the past, but his lack of velocity caps his ceiling and makes command paramount. He’s another non-roster invitee with an outside shot to make the team.
Noah Song
He exists! He’s thrown a few single innings in relief so far this spring, and his slider looks sharp. His fastball has high vertical movement, and his changeup shape is super interesting. *Insert Rick Reilly-style joke comparing the length of Noah Song’s story to a Grateful Dead song.* It’s probably a long shot at this point, but I could be convinced.
Vinny Nittoli
Aye! I’m relievin’ here! Nittoli is a non-roster invitee with some major league experience. He uses primarily a cutter that doesn’t actually cut, from a low arm angle. It’s not something I’ve seen before, which could be a classic case of survivorship bias, but it could also provide a look that hitters haven’t seen before. He uses a sinker, changeup, and sweeper as well. He’s kind of like Cooper Criswell, but more Italian-sounding.
Devin Sweet
Having different looks out of the bullpen is important. The Red Sox have an affinity for low-slot pitchers, while Devin Sweet is the opposite. He’s got a very high arm angle that creates a ton of vertical movement on his fastball. He also has a cool changeup shape that has a huge velocity and movement separation from that fastball. Early Spring Training hasn’t gone well for him, and he’s had problems throwing strikes, but there’s some real swing and miss stuff if he can harness it.
One of the more exciting parts of spring training in recent years has been the annual Spring Breakout series of games in which top prospects across all levels of each of the thirty organizations square off. This year, Mets prospects will face Rays prospects on Thursday, March 19 at 7:10 PM EDT at Clover Field in Port St. Lucie. And here’s the Mets’ roster pool for the event. The list will be whittled down to twenty-something players by the day of that game.
LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 22: Payton Pritchard #11 of the Boston Celtics looks on during the game against the Los Angeles Lakers on February 22, 2026 at Crypto.Com Arena in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2026 NBAE (Photo by Nick Tomoyasu/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
Payton Pritchard has become one of the most important offensive engines for the Celtics. Even with Jayson Tatum getting set to return, Boston needs him to produce.
Since Pritchard moved to the bench, the Celtics are 8-0 in games in which he scored 20+ points in and just 2-3 in games in which he scores 9 or less. Interestingly, Pritchard has not scored between 10-19 points since moving to the bench — it has been all boom or bust.
After trading Anfernee Simons, the Celtics don’t have the offensive juice to withstand bad performances from Pritchard, especially against good teams, which is when all of Pritchard’s duds seem to happen.
Yes, Jayson Tatum is coming back and he will help. That doesn’t change that if the Celtics are going to accomplish what they want to accomplish, they’ll need Pritchard to produce.
So why has he had these bad games?
A lot of these games are because he is taking less shots. Pritchard took 6 shots in the Nuggets loss, 4 shots in the Sixers game and 6 shots in the Hornets loss.
Confidence is a fragile thing that even the best players in the world deal with and Payton is no exception.
Almost impossible but true…
Payton Pritchard entered this past week with two career games of 24 minutes or more without scoring.
It happened tonight for the second time in three games.
He has to take and make these looks, because the Celtics are relying on him in a big way to be super productive. He can’t have these types of games when they matter in the playoffs.
For the season, Payton Pritchard is scoring 115.3 points for every 100 shots he takes. That ranks in the 70th percentile according to Cleaning the Glass. However, over the last 6 games, he is scoring 88.9 points per 100 shot attempts, which ranks in the 5th percentile.
He is also shooting 35.5% from two-point range over his last 6 games, which is among the worst in the NBA and down 20.8% from the 56.3% he typically is from inside the arc.
This is a slump, a major slump, but one that I have a lot of confidence he will get through.
I don’t think different coverages have created the recent struggles for Payton. I haven’t noticed any big changes as to the way teams are covering him.
You could chalk it up to bad shot luck. Pritchard is still getting good looks but he has just missed them in recent games. The NBA is a long season and you are going to have weeks that you struggle in and your confidence is a bit shaken.
However, there is one big question that remains: why does Pritchard struggle against good teams?
That seems like an oxymoron with a simple answer. Good teams have better players than bad teams do, which means they have better defenders, which makes it harder to score. If you are going to have an off night, it is more likely to come against a good team rather than a bad one.
Yet, I do think there are reasons to worry.
He has been bad against the Knicks this season, and that is a team the Celtics are probably going to play in the playoffs. Two of his worst games of the season came against the 76ers, a team that very well may be the Celtics first round opponent.
Boston is going to be relying on him in a big way to produce offense in the playoffs in ways they have never relied on him before.
His shooting percentages say that there isn’t any reason to worry about him in the playoffs. They are pretty constant, and good, in the regular season and the postseason.
I don’t think it is time to panic. Pritchard is a really good player that has been awesome for the last two seasons. However, I have my doubts and worries and this stretch has not eased those.
Maybe, this is a slump that he gets out of and he is awesome in playoffs. Maybe, we should be concerned and his play dips in the playoffs as the Celtics are bounced early. Either way, the playoffs always expose your biggest weaknesses and they will answer any questions we have about Pritchard in due time.
