Nuno Espírito Santo got his first win as West Ham manager after an inspired performance against an under-par Newcastle
Eddie Howe has been speaking about Callum Wilson, a useful player for him at Bournemouth and Newcastle: “He is still the same person today as he was at the beginning of his career, so for all those reasons and seeing how hard he has worked at his game, he is absolutely right up there.”
Chris Paraskevas is in: “G’day J.B. Hope you’re well! Just ticked over midnight and I’m living the dream: approximately 0 pages written out of a 10-page assignment - due date: this afternoon. I’m hoping for a clinical, professional, uncomplicated win here to give me an academic / life boost, but we all know when Calum Wilson woke up this morning, there was a big red circle around this fixture on his wall calendar (...that’s right, I’m suggesting he still rocks a physical calendar in 2025). A real shame (for Newcastle fans) that West Ham’s central defensive rock ‘Dino’ Mavropanos is missing, by the way.”
Lamine Yamal and Rashford on target in win over Elche
Milan, Roma and Inter all a point behind leaders Napoli
Goals from Lamine Yamal, Ferran Torres and Marcus Rashford guided Barcelona to a 3-1 victory against Elche on Sunday, propelling the defending champions to second place in La Liga with 25 points, five adrift of the leaders, Real Madrid.
Looking to bounce back after their 2-1 defeat against Madrid in last weekend’s clásico, Barcelona wasted no time in asserting their dominance at Montjuïc’s Olympic Stadium. They made the most of two defensive errors by Elche in the opening minutes to grab a two-goal lead with strikes by Lamine Yamal and Torres in the ninth and 11th minutes.
The star big man responded to the latest fine by tweeting that the NBA “better starting fining the refs for doing the ‘lewd’ ‘blocking foul’ gesture since I’m not allowed to do it.”
Yall better start fining the refs for doing the “Lewd”, “blocking foul” gesture since I’m not allowed to do it #NFLhttps://t.co/WCkaPCOl9I
After scoring 20 points in a season-high 25 minutes against Boston, Embiid’s been ruled out with a “left knee injury management” designation for the 4-1 Sixers’ Sunday night matchup with the 0-5 Nets.
While it’s true that the MLB season ends with the World Series, the wheels never actually stop spinning. That’s because free agency and the MLB Hot Stove essentially starts right away. And with that, so does the jockeying for position among those teams who view themselves as contenders for 2026.
Below is everything you need to know about MLB free agency, including important dates to know, the qualifying offer system, and the top names available in this year’s class.
Don’t forget: Check out the Rotoworld player news feed for all the latest news, rumors, and transactions as MLB’s Hot Stove gets underway!
Stars like Alex Bregman, Pete Alonso, and Cody Bellinger join headliners Kyle Tucker, Dylan Cease, and Bo Bichette in a 2025–26 MLB free agent class loaded with impact bats and arms.
MLB free agency begins a day after the World Series concludes. Teams are free to negotiate with players right away, but players are not permitted to sign a contract with a new team until five days after the World Series concludes.
Who are the top expected MLB free agents this offseason?
Option decisions — whether it's a mutual, player, or club option — are all to be decided within five days of the World Series concluding. Pete Alonso, Alex Bregman, Cody Bellinger, Edwin Díaz are noted with "stars" above, as they all have the ability to exercise their player options and hit free agency. Alonso, Bregman, and Bellinger are all reportedly set to opt out, while Díaz is a strong possibility to do so, as well.
What is a qualifying offer?
MLB teams have the ability to make a one-year qualifying offer to their impending free agents. Teams have until five days after the conclusion of the World Series to make such offers. Should those players decline and sign with another team, their previous team would receive draft pick compensation. The qualifying offer is determined by the average of the top 125 MLB contracts for a given year. This year’s qualifying offer is $22.025 million, which is an increase of 4.6 percent compared to last year’s $21.05 million figure.
Who is eligible for a qualifying offer?
Impending free agents who have been on the same team since Opening Day
Impending free agents who have never received a qualifying offer before
For example, Pete Alonso received a qualifying offer last year, so the Mets can’t do one again this offseason. However, it is a different situation for Kyle Tucker, who has not received one before. Like Alonso, Alex Bregman and Cody Bellinger also received qualifying offers last winter.
Eugenio Suárez, Shane Bieber, and Josh Naylor were traded during the season, so they cannot receive a qualifying offer.
Which players received qualifying offers last year?
Juan Soto, Corbin Burnes, Alex Bregman, Max Fried, Willy Adames, Pete Alonso, Anthony Santander, Teoscar Hernandez, Nick Pivetta, Christian Walker, Sean Manaea, Luis Severino, Nick Martinez
What is the deadline to accept a qualifying offer?
Players have until November 18 at 4 p.m. ET to decide whether to accept their qualifying offer.
What happens when a player declines a qualifying offer?
If a player declines a qualifying offer and signs a contract with a new team before the next year’s MLB Draft (in July), their previous team would receive draft pick compensation based on their payroll and revenue-sharing situations.
Teams who pay the Competitive Balance Tax (the league’s highest-spenders) receive a compensation pick after the fourth round.
Revenue sharing recipients would receive a compensatory pick after the first round (and before Competitive Balance Round A) if their former player signs with another team for more than $50 million guaranteed. They would receive a compensatory pick between Competitive Balance Round B and the start of the third round if their former player signs for less than $50 million guaranteed.
Teams who don’t fall into the categories above will receive a compensation pick after Competitive Balance Round B regardless of the value of the contract.
How often does a player accept a qualifying offer?
It has been a rare occurrence. Of the 114 occasions that a player has been extended a qualifying offer since the system went into place in 2012, only 14 of them have accepted. Nick Martinez (Reds) was the only player to accept last offseason.
What happens if a team signs a qualifying offer free agent?
Any team who signs a player who rejected a qualifying offer will surrender a draft pick as well as international bonus pool money depending on their payroll situation.
First-round picks are protected, though a team’s first pick can be pushed back based on overall competitive balance tax spending.
Teams who pay the Competitive Balance Tax will lose their second- and fifth-highest picks in addition to surrendering $1 million from their international bonus pool.
Revenue sharing recipients will surrender their third-highest pick.
Teams who don’t fall into the categories above will lose their second-highest pick in addition to surrendering $500,000 from their international bonus pool.
Can teams sign multiple qualifying offer free agents?
Yes, but this would result in a team surrendering additional draft picks and international bonus pool money.
For example, teams who pay the Competitive Balance Tax would also give up their third- and sixth-highest picks. Teams who receive revenue sharing would surrender their fourth-highest pick. Teams who don’t fall into those categories would give up their third-highest pick.
Kevin Willard waited in the Boston Celtics’ staff room as Rick Pitino unloaded after a crushing last-second loss and delivered one of the great rants in ticked-off sports coach history. Pitino’s tirade is remembered and mimicked to this day — how Larry Bird and other Celtics greats weren’t “walking through that door” — a reminder that the championship days were over and it was past time for fans to embrace patience with a younger team. “He walked out the door and went right into the staff room,” Willard said with a laugh.
When the night began at Rogers Centre, John Bains thought he’d be watching history — not holding it.
The 61-year-old from Brampton, Ontario, has been bleeding Blue Jays blue since 1977, when baseball first took root north of the border. He’s seen the highs, the heartbreaks, and the near-misses. But nothing — absolutely nothing — could have prepared him for what happened on that fateful Saturday night during Game 7 of the 2025 World Series.
In the top of the ninth, with one out and the Dodgers clinging to their last breath, Miguel Rojas stepped into the box. Bains, and the other 44,713 Blue Jays fans in attendance believed the were seconds away from watching history unfold, and a 32-year World Series drought snapped.
The air inside the dome hung thick with tension — like a held breath refusing to exhale. Rojas connected on a hanging slider by All-Star closer Jeff Hoffman, and a sharp crack cut through the silence. The ball soared toward left field — a white comet tracing destiny’s line.
Bains didn’t flinch. He tracked it the whole way, arms extended, heart racing, he reached over the railing. Thwack. The ball landed squarely in his glove. Pandemonium erupted, but for John, it was surreal stillness — a frozen frame in baseball eternity.
Cameras caught Bains throwing the home run ball back onto the field as the stunned crowd went silent as the sheeted dead. But in reality, Bains had a trick up his sleeve.
“I had a feeling I might have to pull the switch,” Bains told Darren Rovell, laughing about the decoy baseball he’d tucked in his pocket, just in case. Moments later, he tossed the ordinary ball back onto the field — a magician’s sleight of hand to keep a piece of history.
The Blue Jays fan who caught Miguel Rojas’ game-tying home run kept the ball and threw a different one back on the field pic.twitter.com/VkQEQoRTTC
Two innings later, in the 11th, Dodgers catcher Will Smith sent a towering drive arcing toward the same section — the same row — the same family. The ball bounced off the Blue Jays bullpen ground and into the waiting arms of John’s son, Matthew, who fumbled it on the bounce, the ball caroming off hands and seats before finding its way back to him.
The stadium fell quiet as Smith rounded the bases. The Dodgers poured out of the dugout. And in the stands, a stunned father and son stared down at their hands — each holding a piece of baseball immortality.
“I mean, what are the odds?” Bains said, shaking his head.
For a man who’s caught his fair share of postseason souvenirs — Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the ALDS, Ernie Clement in the same series — this was otherworldly. Two game-changing home runs, caught by the same family, in the same game, from opposing sides of fate.
Mixed emotions? Of course. The Blue Jays’ dream season had dissolved in real time. Yet even amid heartbreak, there was a strange beauty in it — a father and son sharing the most improbable moment of their lives, forever bound by two baseballs that changed everything.
And an immigrant family whose lives and lineage just changed forever.
Bains joked that he’d consider offers before that happens — “$1 million for the Rojas ball, $1.5 million for the Smith ball” — but deep down, he knows the true value isn’t monetary, but the memories he just shared with his son. It’s something eternal, something only baseball can conjure: legacy, luck, and the cosmic symmetry of a game that never stops surprising.
And somewhere in Toronto, as the nearby Rogers Centre sits empty, two baseballs now rest side by side inside the Bains household— reminders that sometimes, the universe has the strangest sense of humor.
George Springer’s Blue Jays had victory in their grasp in Game 7. Photograph: Patrick Smith/Getty Images
The Toronto Blue Jays have reflected on their agonizing loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 7 of the World Series.
The Blue Jays looked set to win their first World Series since 1993 when they entered the ninth inning with a 4-3 lead. But with one out, and Toronto’s Jeff Hoffman facing the Dodgers’ No 9 hitter, Miguel Rojas, the reliever threw a hanging slider which Rojas launched for the tying home run. Will Smith then hit the winning home run in the 11th inning off Shane Bieber, the first time the Dodgers had led all night.
“It sucks,” Hoffman said after the 5-4 defeat. “Supposed to end differently. Was just one pitch. I cost everybody here a World Series ring. It feels pretty shitty.”
Bieber had his own regrets. “Hung a slider to a great guy who hits sliders well,” Bieber said. “He was looking for it. I didn’t execute. This one stings. It’s going to sting for a while. This game is not for the faint of heart.”
The Blue Jays had plenty of chances to win their first title in 32 years. They had led the best-of-seven series 3-2 before losing the final two games in their own stadium. They also had the bases loaded in the ninth inning on Saturday night but could not find the decisive hit. Ernie Clement, who set an MLB record with 30 hits this postseason, said he was in tears for an hour after the game. He added he did not blame any of his teammates, despite the team holding a 3-0 lead after the third inning.
“We gave it everything we had,” Clement said. “When you fall short but you can say you left it all out there, there’s something to be proud of there. I would go to war with Jeff Hoffman every day of the week. I want him on the mound. I want Bieber on the mound. Ninety-nine times out of 100 those guys get the job done. Obviously, it just wasn’t our night.”
However, future hall of famer Max Scherzer, Toronto’s starting pitcher for Game 7, reflected on how far the team had come after finishing last in the AL East in 2024.
“I’m 41 years old and I never thought I could love baseball this much,” Scherzer said as he wiped away tears. “My love for the game was so strong because of their love for the game. That loss is so tough because you’re so close to everybody. This team had that closeness, had that camaraderie. We had that passion not only for the game but for each other.”
TORONTO — The Los Angeles Dodgers rolled out Shohei Ohtani one more time to start Game 7 of the World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays—and it almost cost them the title.
When the situation seemed most dire at Rogers Centre on Saturday night, Los Angeles leaned on Ohtani’s compatriot Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who returned to the mound in extra innings with no rest after winning Game 6 and finished up the comeback victory. Will Smith’s 11th-inning homer was the deciding factor in the Dodgers’ 5-4 win over the Blue Jays.
But there’s no denying the impact Ohtani and Yamamoto had on the series. The two Japanese players, who signed contracts worth a total of $1.025 billion as free agents last year, have now led the Dodgers to back-to-back World Series titles for any Major League Baseball team since the Yankees won three straight from 1998 to 2000.
“It’s all about heart,” Mark Walter, the club’s owner, said about Yamamoto, in particular. “He doesn’t want to lose. I think that’s the story of the whole team. You know, he basically won three games for us. That’s unheard of.”
Yamamoto, who was named World Series MVP, finished the playoffs 5-1 with a 1.45 ERA. He threw 96 pitches over six innings to win his Game 6 start on Friday night, and he followed that up with 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief on 34 more pitches Saturday. He also pitched a complete game in Game 2, becoming the first pitcher since Randy Johnson in 2001 to earn three wins in a World Series.
“In today’s game, [Yamamoto] really showed that he’s the No. 1 pitcher in the world,” Ohtani said.
Ohtani’s own performance in Game 7 lasted 51 pitches and ended when Bo Bichette hit a three-run homer in the third inning. It was too much to ask Ohtani to start on three days of rest with the Dodgers short starting pitching. Ohtani was shaky right from the start, allowing base runners in every one of his three innings.
“I was just so honored to be able to start this game, and unfortunately I didn’t do too well, so I regret that,” Ohtani said.
Ohtani started Game 4 at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday, allowing four runs on six hits as he worked into the seventh inning of the 6-2 loss. That game came a day after Ohtani set a record by reaching base nine consecutive times on two homers, two doubles and five walks, four of them intentional.
It begged the question whether Ohtani had the stamina to pitch a day after he was on base so many times in a Game 3 the Dodgers won in 18 innings on a walk-off Freddie Freeman home run. Roberts noted after the Game 4 loss that Ohtani appeared mortal.
The same question came up when he was handed the Game 7 start.
“Shohei has the weight of the world on him,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “He’s the face of baseball. He’s going to be the MVP of the National League. It’s really special what he’s done. He’s just a great person and a great competitor.”
Yamamoto was a different story. After Friday night’s 3-1 win, Roberts said all pitching hands would be on deck for the finale, sans Yamamoto. But the right-hander arrived at the ballpark on Saturday and told the manager he was available.
“I know I would be pitching two days in a row, but all my teammates were playing a number of games in a row,” Yamamoto said. “I told him I’d be there if he needed me to close this series.”
And that’s what happened.
“What Yoshi did tonight is unprecedented,” Roberts said. “There’s a mental component to it. There’s a flawless delivery. And there’s an unwavering will.”
After Ohtani faltered, the game was the Blue Jays’ to lose, but the Dodgers kept pecking away. Down 4-2 in the seventh, Max Muncy homered, and in the top of the ninth, the unlikely Miguel Rojas, who wasn’t in the lineup until Game 6, tied it with a homer on one out against Jays closer Jeff Hoffman. That sent the game spinning into the bottom of the ninth locked at 4-4.
Blake Snell opened the ninth for the Dodgers, but with an out and runners on first and second, the bullpen door swung open, and Yamamoto entered the game. He immediately hit Alejandro Kirk with a pitch, loading the bases.
The situation for the Dodgers appeared dire, and the Blue Jays seemed on the verge of winning their first World Series title in 32 years. But Daulton Varsho tapped a ball to Rojas at second who converted a force at the plate. And centerfielder Andy Pages, a defensive replacement who had just entered the game for Tommy Edman, roamed wildly into left center to grab a fly ball hit by Ernie Clement.
That threat was over, but extra innings brought plenty more. The deciding factor came in the top of the 11th, as Smith homered with two outs off Game 4 starter Shane Bieber to give the Dodgers the lead.
In the bottom of the inning, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. led with a scorch of a double into the left field corner and was moved over to third on a sacrifice bunt. Addison Barger walked, and Roberts moved the infield in for a possible play at the plate and Kirk at bat. On an 0-2 pitch, Roberts moved the infield back to double play depth. With that, Kirk smacked a grounder to shortstop Mookie Betts who stepped on second base, throwing to Freeman at first for the final two outs.
And that’s the way one of the greatest World Series in recent history ended.
“There was so many pressure points on how that game could have flipped, and we just kept fighting,” Roberts said. “I could go on and on about the great plays and performances. I’m still trying to unpack it all. This is one of the greatest games I’ve ever been a part of.”
Following the Kings’ 135-133 win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday night at Fiserv Forum, Crew Chief Mitchell Ervin clarified why Russell Westbrook wasn’t hit with a flagrant foul after wrapping up Giannis Antetokounmpo on a hard play near the rim.
In a Pool Report interview with Jim Owczarski of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Ervin said the officials reviewed the sequence under the “player altercation” trigger and determined the contact didn’t rise to a flagrant level.
“During that review, there was no windup, impact or follow through by Westbrook and the contact by Westbrook was at shoulder level,” Ervin said. “Therefore, a common foul was ruled on the play.”
Ervin added that because the incident was reviewed as a “player altercation,” the crew was able to examine every part of the scrum for possible unsportsmanlike conduct.
“Player altercation — I could have said a double trigger,” Ervin explained. “I could have said player altercation and flagrant foul review. During a player altercation review, we really have an opportunity to review the play and any acts within the scrum at the end — we could review everything and any possible unsportsmanlike act after the foul.”
A few possessions later, tensions flared again when DeMar DeRozan fouled Milwaukee’s Gary Trent Jr. What looked like a standard shooting foul quickly escalated when Trent was hit with a technical for his reaction.
“The technical foul on Trent Jr. was assessed for unsportsmanlike flail after the personal foul assessed to DeMar DeRozan,” Ervin noted.
The third quarter wasn’t the only stretch that saw tempers flare. Earlier in the game, Milwaukee’s Bobby Portis was assessed a technical foul after shoving Domantas Sabonis in the back, leading to a brief scuffle between the teams.
Bobby Portis received a technical foul for this altercation with Domantas Sabonis 😯 pic.twitter.com/w74paEc8wA
From the opening quarter to the final minutes, the officiating crew was tested on multiple fronts. In a later sequence before Bucks guard AJ Green’s last free throw — when Westbrook appeared to grab Antetokounmpo — Ervin said officials “did not observe that part of the play” and determined no foul or violation occurred.
In a game defined by its physical tone and frequent reviews, Ervin’s comments helped clarify the officials’ decisions on several key moments. It wasn’t pretty, but after a hard-fought 48 minutes, Sacramento ended a decade-long win drought in Milwaukee and secured its second win of the season. The Kings now prepare to face the 3-2 Denver Nuggets on Monday.
Lakers legend Magic Johnson, middle left, celebrates with players and coaches after the team's World Series triumph over the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday night. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Beneath his feet, confetti decorated the turf. Behind him, the video boards congratulated his team on its latest championship.
The Dodgers owner who lives and breathes championships smiled broadly. Magic Johnson always does, of course. This time, he had an impish twinkle in his eye.
“They said we ruined baseball,” Johnson said. “Well, I guess we didn’t.”
If you are not in Los Angeles, you might be screaming in frustration. The team with all the gold makes the rules, and the new rule is that the Dodgers win every year, and now their most famous owner is mocking you?
He is, however, issuing a subtle warning to all of baseball’s owners: Don’t let your desperation for a salary cap destroy a sport on the rise — in no small part thanks to the Dodgers.
The NBA was not much more than a minor league 45 years ago. This is crazy to imagine now, but the NBA Finals aired on tape delay, on late-night television, most often at 11:30 p.m. The NBA audience was so small that advertisers would not pay prime-time rates for those commercials, so the games were not broadcast in prime time.
Johnson helped change that. The rivalry between his Lakers and Larry Bird’s Celtics revived the NBA, and then Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls became global sporting icons.
From 1980-88, either the Lakers or the Celtics won the NBA title in every year but one. From 1991-98, the Bulls won six titles.
The Celtics and Lakers and Bulls did not ruin the NBA.
“What the Celtics and Lakers were able to do, and Michael Jordan’s Bulls, was to bring in new fans — fans that were, 'Oh, I don’t know about the NBA,'" Johnson said, “but the play was so good, and the Celtics and Lakers and Bulls were so dominant, people said, 'Oh man, I want to watch them.'
“It’s the same thing happening here.”
The NBA leadership could not believe its good fortune. Baseball’s leadership appears intent on lighting its good fortune on fire.
“My phone was blowing up with people who hadn’t watched baseball for a long time,” Johnson said. “They were watching this series.
The World Baseball Classic is four months away. The World Series most valuable player, the Dodgers’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto, is from Japan.
So is the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani, the closest baseball has ever had to its own Jordan. The Dodgers rescued him from purgatory in Anaheim and surrounded him with a star-studded roster, and now he makes more money from pitching products than pitching baseballs. To the Dodgers, he doubles as an All-Star and cash machine.
The league — and all the owners complaining about the Dodgers and their spending — happily profited from this traveling road show. The Dodgers get the same share of international merchandise and broadcast revenue every other team does.
The Dodgers led the major leagues in road attendance, again. The league sent the Dodgers to Seoul last spring and Tokyo this spring, meaning that, for two years running, they were one of the first two teams to report to spring training and one of the last two playing at season’s end. The league’s television partners rushed to book the Dodgers, even for games at times inconvenient to the team.
“MLB put us in every hard situation you can think about,” infielder Miguel Rojas said. “We never complained. We were trying to come through for the fans, for baseball, and everybody should be recognizing what we are doing.”
With the Blue Jays in the World Series, Canadian ratings for the World Series increased tenfold. The Dodgers did not destroy the Jays. They survived them, and barely at that.
The Dodgers have not ruined competition, despite the spotlight.
“They have a great team,” Toronto infielder Ernie Clement said. “There's no denying it. They're one of the best teams probably ever put together, and we've taken 'em to seven games, so that's got to say something about us.”
Toronto manager John Schneider said his team, which won more games than the Dodgers this season, had chances to sweep the World Series.
“People were calling it David versus Goliath,” Schneider said, shaking his head from side to side. “It's not even... close.”
The Dodgers make a lot of money, pour the money back into the team, and win. They give the people what they want.
“People want the best,” co-owner Todd Boehly said.
Granted, not every team can spend like the Dodgers. Most cannot, and baseball should be able to find ways to share the wealth without risking its tenuous but growing popularity by locking out players in pursuit of a salary cap.
After all, isn’t a compelling product with stars from home and abroad good for baseball?
“You bet,” controlling owner Mark Walter said. “I think they think so, too.”
It was time to go. The parade was 36 hours away, and Johnson had to rest his throat.
“I’m hoarse,” he said. “I’ve never been hoarse.”
So we’ll leave you with one bit of sports trivia, in response to the mistaken notion that a salary cap assures competitive balance: In the Magic, Bird and Jordan years, the ones that lifted the NBA into popular culture, did the NBA have a salary cap?
It did then. It does now. On to the quest for a three-peat.
Matthew Pouliot
