
⚾️ First Pitch: 7:10PM EDT – Fenway Park, Boston, MA
📺 TV: NESN
📻 Radio: WEEI
Worldwide Sports News

⚾️ First Pitch: 7:10PM EDT – Fenway Park, Boston, MA
📺 TV: NESN
📻 Radio: WEEI

Anthony Edwards’ offseason just got costlier.
The Timberwolves star was ordered to pay a monthly sum of $14,000 in child support to his ex, Alexandria Desroches, according to TMZ.
The payout — based on his monthly income of $4.8 million — will go toward Amir, a son born in 2023, the 25-year-old reportedly testified he’s never met, and has no intentions of parenting.

Edwards was also ordered to take out a life insurance policy worth $2.6 million and name Desroches the primary beneficiary.
The $14,000 bill comes on top of the $3,222 Edwards was ordered to pay in child support to Ayesha Howard for their one-year-old daughter last month.
Edwards, in the midst of a five-year, $244 million deal with the Timberwolves, paid over $100,000 in support to Howard beginning in 2025 before the Georgia judge’s ruling.
Last month, Minnesota marriage records indicated Edwards married Shannon Jackson after he was spotted at Fanatics Fest in New York wearing a wedding ring.
The four-time All-Star guard and first overall pick of the 2020 NBA Draft will be entering his seventh NBA season in 2026-27, coming off a year in which he averaged a career-best 28.8 points per game to go with 5 rebounds and 3.7 assists over 61 games played with a personal high 39.9 three-point shooting percentage.

Pundits have posited that Edwards may be the next big-money player to request a trade, with ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reporting his displeasure with the Minnesota franchise after it traded Karl-Anthony Towns to the Knicks for Julius Randle before last season.
“I don’t think Ant was the biggest Julius Randle fan,” Windhorst said on the “Hoop Collective” podcast in June. “And I don’t think [the issue is] Randle being traded. It’s Randle being traded as part of a salary dump. I don’t think that Ant was like, ‘No, no, don’t trade Julius, never.’ Because there was some significant disconnect between those players by the end of the season.”
On Friday, businessman Marc Stad bought a controlling share in the Timberwolves in a pending deal valued at $4.5 billion in what would be the fourth-highest in NBA history.
We’re now about three weeks away from actual hockey, and one of the most interesting stories at Senators training camp this year will be Carter Yakemchuk’s attempt to make the full-time NHL roster.
To some degree, he's paid his dues the past two seasons, developing in both the WHL and AHL, and there now appears to be a spot waiting for him among Ottawa’s top seven defencemen.
But is he actually ready?
At the moment, Yakemchuk and Nikolas Matinpalo look like the primary candidates for the opening on the right side of Ottawa’s bottom D pairing. Matinpalo has considerably more professional and NHL experience and has played in every Sens playoff game the past two years.
At worst, Matinpalo will be the Senators' seventh defenseman. But if he outduels Yakemchuk for the sixth spot, there's a good chance the Senators' prized rookie might then head back to Belleville.
But that's a bridge to be crossed at the end of camp after the Senators decide on their final cuts. Yakemchuk has made it to that point in each of the past two years, and the team is hoping this is the year he clears that last hurdle.
He certainly provided some highlights in his brief time with Ottawa last season.
He appeared in four regular-season games with Ottawa and added one playoff appearance. Both his NHL regular-season debut and his Stanley Cup playoff debut resulted in two-point performances.
So the offensive ability appears to be NHL-ready. As for the rest, time will tell.
Former Senator Chris Neil On Tkachuk Joining Florida: 'Is He Even In Their Top Six?'Former Senators great Chris Neil appeared on Coming in Hot on Monday and wondered if Tkachuk might end up being a third-liner in Florida.Yakemchuk spent Friday at Sensplex visiting with local kids and signing autographs, and says he likes where his game is heading.
"I think it's been a good summer for myself," Yakemchuk told Sens social media host Jackson Starr. "And I'm just excited for camp. I wanna go in there and do my best and put my best foot forward. So I'm excited for it.”
Yakemchuk has also spent plenty of time around his future teammates this summer. He's been staying at Ridly Greig’s house and has been glad to regularly train with the boys, which should make main camp more comfortable, providing a real sense of belonging..
“Yeah, I mean, everyone's great, so it's nice to catch up with them. I haven't seen them in a couple of months, but yeah, just hanging out with them at the gym and at the rink and then also away from it, it's been awesome.”
Before the battle for NHL jobs really gets underway, Yakemchuk could get an early opportunity for something a little more challenging than summer shinny.
The Senators’ rookies and prospects will be in Gatineau for the NHL Prospect Challenge at the Slush Puppie Centre on September 12 and 13, with Ottawa facing prospects from the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens.
Then comes the bigger test.
Yakemchuk has been one of Ottawa’s most closely watched prospects since being selected seventh overall in 2024. His size and offensive instincts were NHL-ready on day one.
Now the question is whether the rest of his game is ready for full-time duty.
By Steve Warne
The Hockey News
Senators Apparently Turned Down Draft-Night Trade Offers From Pittsburgh And Vancouver The Senators' behind-the-scenes draft day footage on Breakaway reveals how they had trade offers on the table from Vancouver and Pittsburgh. 
The New York Rangers made a smaller signing during this offseason that could end up paying dividends.
On July 1, the Rangers signed Joe Veleno to a one-year, $1.2 million contract.
Coming into the 2018 NHL Draft, Veleno had strong offensive potential, which is why he was selected late in the first round by the Detroit Red Wings.
However, six years into his NHL career and about to play for his fourth NHL team, that offensive potential has still not been unlocked.
One Montreal analyst believes there’s promise for Veleno to make a real impact for the Rangers.
“Maybe this is that fresh start on a team that, in my opinion, is in more of a rebuilding than retooling mode,” Jon Goyens said via The Montreal Gazette. “I think he can find himself quickly. It’s still the NHL and people want to win … but they’re far removed from their Presidents’ (Trophy) of a couple years ago.
“I think he has the opportunity to start in the middle of the pack, a top-nine role. After that, it comes down to executing and being consistent. If he can do that, there have been many NHL players who have started their career at 26. He just happens to have a few hundred games under his belt.”
In his most recent stint with the Montreal Canadiens during the 2025-26 season, Veleno played a bottom-six role, with his expanded two-way game helping him gain trust with Martin St. Louis and the Canadiens coaching staff.
The 26-year-old forward served a role on the penalty kill, and his defensive reliability led to him playing 61 out of the 82 regular-season games.
Veleno is likely to slot in as the Rangers’ fourth-line center, and his newfound two-way game can help him earn a regular spot in the lineup.
If Veleno could also tap into his offensive potential to go along with his reliability in the defensive zone, the Rangers’ small signing would ultimately become their biggest offseason steal.

DeMar DeRozan is headed to Denver.
The six-time NBA All-Star intends to sign a deal with the Nuggets, according to insider Chris Haynes.
Haynes added that DeRozan “has been in conversations with Nikola Jokic, Aaron Gordon and Jamal Murray and is anxious for the opportunity to play for a contending team.”
ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that the deal is for one year at $3.9 million.

DeRozan, 37, was waived by the Kings last month after spending the past two seasons in Sacramento.
Last season, the veteran wing averaged 18.4 points per game on 49.7 percent shooting across 74 contests.
The DeRozan deal comes days after the Nuggets sent restricted free agent Peyton Watson to the Cavaliers in a multi-team deal that involved the Clippers.
He now joins a Denver team looking to make another run at the Western Conference after reshaping its supporting cast around Jokic, who hopes DeRozan’s scoring and experience can help push the team back toward the top of a crowded Western Conference.
The Nuggets, who went 54-28 last season, haven’t made it past the conference semifinals since winning the NBA title in 2023.

Denver fell to the Timberwolves in six games during the first round last season.
The move also provides DeRozan another chance to chase the championship that has eluded him throughout his 17-year NBA career.
He has reached the conference finals just once, with the Raptors in 2016, and has played postseason basketball just twice since leaving Toronto after the 2017-18 season.
With 26,711 career points, DeRozan ranks No. 16 on the NBA’s all-time scoring list and with another healthy season could make a push toward the top 10 in 2026-27.

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across Major League Baseball. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Yankees fans and fans across the country.
The New York Yankees are the New York Yankees. This statement means that getting into the dance isn’t enough outside extreme circumstances. And if we’re being honest, whatever their circumstances are, the Yankees should have enough firepower to go toe-to-toe with anyone in the American League.
The gap to the Rays makes it extremely plausible that the Yankees don’t win the AL East. Still, FanDuel has the Yankees as the likeliest World Series winner on the American League side, with +750 odds. Consequently, the Yankees show up as the favorites to win the Junior Circuit at +280 odds, just ahead of the Rays and Red Sox, in a trio of AL East clubs leading the pack
As the Yankees aim for their second AL pennant in the past three years, we asked, “What concerns you the most in this challenging effort?”

Virtually all the voters, 98 percent to be exact, acknowledged something that raised doubts heading into the playoffs, with the disappointment of last year lingering quite heavily. As much as we can talk about the grass always being greener and several opponents also sharing concerns, it’s important to understand your weaknesses heading into such a crucial period of the season.
In a way, this poll has many connecting points and is primarily attempting to assess one’s focal point of frustration. Part of the faltering offense is due to the key injuries (although the pitching staff still has notable absences); one can also connect it to the struggles of deadline acquisitions. Key injuries put a bigger strain on those very same key deadline acquisitions, and so on and so forth.
The injury to Max Fried is a heavy blow, but through adversity, this pitching staff has thrived all year long. It makes sense that the majority of voters would focus on the general failing of an offense that has scored three or fewer runs in 12 out of the Yankees’ last 21 games.
As contagious as a rolling offense is, a struggling one can carry the same effect. Your hitters who are performing well start to press because they feel they must carry the load all by themselves—we discussed the negative effects of this with a hitter like Ben Rice here, whose second-half struggles might undermine the narrative of his 2026 campaign. And the hitters who have been struggling all season, of whom there are far too many, seem to dig too deep a hole to climb out of.
We’d be remiss to write this article and not touch on the elephant in the room that is Aaron Judge and all that he represents to each of those options on the poll. Although this is a speculative theory, perhaps what led to such a discrepancy between votes for a faltering offense and key injuries was the optimism from a recent Judge update.
After an unsettling period of silence, Aaron Boone updated the media ahead of the series finale against the Orioles with news that Judge has hit off a tee two days in a row and appears to be slowly progressing toward a return. It makes sense that the Yankees will be conservative, eyeing October above all else with their prized superstar, but the optimism in his availability has increased.
The Yankees’ offensive struggles run deep enough that even with Judge potentially available in the playoffs, one could still share some concern about this lineup’s ability to deliver when it matters most. That being said, it’s as much of a game changer as one could ever wish for.
Speaking of optimism, if we want a bit of that in the near future, a repeat look against a Blue Jays staff in the span of a week—a couple of series against the Astros and Angels, whose pitching is questionable, all present opportunities for this offense to come alive. Or at least, more realistically, produce somewhat consistently, which would already be a plus.
DeMar DeRozan appears to be the Denver Nuggets' solution to trading Peyton Watson earlier this week.
The 17-year veteran plans to sign with the Nuggets after receiving a contract buyout from the Sacramento Kings this offseason, NBA reporter Chris Haynes and ESPN reported on Friday, August 21. DeRozan's intentions to join Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon in Denver became public in the aftermath of the Nuggets' decision to deal Watson to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a multi-team trade on Thursday.
The Nuggets also received a 2031 first-round pick, a second-round pick and Washington Wizards forward Julian Reese as part of a trade that came to fruition after Denver and Watson couldn't come to terms on a new contract. Watson was a restricted free agent this offseason coming off a career year on the wing for the Nuggets. He agreed to a new 4-year, $88-million contract with Cleveland in conjunction with the trade.
DeRozan will sign a 1-year, $3.9-million contract with the Nuggets, according to ESPN. The Kings waived DeRozan earlier this offseason. He had one year and $25 million remaining on that deal, but only $10 million was guaranteed at the time Sacramento cut ties with him.
DeRozan averaged 18.4 points, 4.1 assists and 2.9 rebounds on 49.7% shooting over 77 games with the Sacramento Kings during the 2025-26 season.
*2026 NBA Draft pick**two-way player
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: DeMar DeRozan plans to sign with Nuggets after Peyton Watson trade

The Jays arrive in Yankee Stadium today to take on the current top wildcard. As things currently stand, it’ll be the last team above .500 they play this season. From Tuesday on out they play, in descending order of current record, the Rangers (63-65), Guardians (62-66), Tigers (61-66), Reds (61-67), Orioles (2x) (61-67), Mariners (60-68), Royals (2x) (55-74), and A’s (49-79). The Tigers do have a positive run differential, but then that’s a product of when Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize played for them and, well. So for the final quarter of the season they aren’t exactly facing murderers’ row. I’m not saying they’ll grab the third wildcard, but I am saying that the rule book says someone has to and they’re the only team in the hunt that’s shown any recent evidence of wanting it. A good showing in the Bronx and the promise of an easier path forward than their rivals would set them up nicely.
The first step, though, is going to be a tough one. It’s Cam Schlittler (10-6, 2.19) today, up against Mason Fluharty opening for (probably) the just activated Spencer Arrighetti (7-5, 4.60).
Here are the lineups:
Some minor roster news:
Josh Smith goes to the IL with hamstring inflammation and Brendan Cellucci is optioned. That opens spots for Spencer Arrighetti and Davis Schneider.
In other little bits of news, former Jay Jon Berti hung ‘em up today. Berti was an 18th round pick by the Jays back in 2011. It took him seven years to make his way up to the big club, and he only got a cup of coffee before being shipped off to Miami. To probably everyone’s surprise, he carved out a pretty solid career there, playing decent defence all over the field and stealing a bunch of bags, including a majors-leading 41 in 2022 when he was already 32 years old. All in all he hit .256/.333/.357 across eight seasons, posting 6.5 fWAR in 1731 PA. Happy trails, Jon.
Didi Gregorious also retired today, so if the league feels just a little less classy today it’s because there’s no longer an actual knight on the field.
Lastly, Dylan Cease is exhibiting a painting at the AGO. Personally, while it’s cool to have hobbies, I think it’s probably good for ol’ Dylan that baseball worked out as a day job. That said, if you’d like some Cease art merch, it will apparently be sold in support of the AGO’s charitable mission.
After having "a good day" throwing in New York on Thursday while the Yankees concluded their series in Baltimore with the Orioles, left-hander Max Fried will throw another side session on Saturday, manager Aaron Boone said prior to Friday's series opener against the Toronto Blue Jays.
The session sets up a potential live batting practice for Fried, who was placed on the 15-day IL, retroactive to Aug. 14, with a bone bruise on his left elbow. In fact, after an initially grim outlook, it's still in play for the left-hander to return to the field following the minimum of 15 days which would be Aug. 29.
Fried has made just 15 starts this season after landing on the IL earlier in the year with the same injury and missing over two months. Still, when he's been on the mound, the 32-year-old, in his second year with the Yanks, has been fantastic once again with a 2.81 ERA in 86.1 IP and an opponent's batting average of .197 which would be a career-best.
New York enters Friday's division battle with a 72-55 record and second in the AL East, 4.0 GB of the Tampa Bay Rays.

Texas Rangers lineup for August 21, 2026 against the Anaheim Angels: starting pitchers are MacKenzie Gore for the Rangers and Reid Detmers for the Angels.
Texas begins a three game series at home tonight against an Anaheim team that has a terrible record, but that won three of four at home against the Rangers last week and just took two of three in Houston. Reid Detmers goes for the Angels. Detmers has had one great start against the Rangers this year, when he struck out 14 in a game where the only Ranger hit was a Jake Burger homer, and MacKenzie Gore allowed just one run in six innings but the Rangers lost when Justin Foscue threw an inning ending double play ball away to allow the walkoff run to score in the ninth; one really good start, last week, when he and Gore each allowed just one run and then the Rangers scored three in the top of the tenth, resulting in all the Angels pitching coaches getting fired the next day; and one not-good start, when he allowed five runs in four innings going up against Nathan Eovaldi, only for Eovaldi, Peyton Gray and Tyler Alexander to allow the Angels to score five runs in the seventh to tie the game before Wyatt Langford hit a walkoff single in the ninth.
Hopefully the Rangers will break the trend of scoring just one run in regulation in games Detmers and Gore go up against each other. The lineup below is what is officially posted, though Jeff Wilson says that Wyatt Langford says he’s playing left field tonight, not DH, so maybe this will change. UPDATE — It has changed.
The lineup:
Foscue — 2B DH
Seager — SS
Langford — DH LF
Nimmo — RF
Duran — LF 3B
Burger — 1B
Freeman — 3B 2B
Diaz — C
Carter — CF
7:15 p.m. Central start due to the game being on Apple TV. Rangers are -138 favorites.

The Phillies and St. Louis Cardinals begin a three-game series at Citizens Bank Park on Friday night. These teams squared off in St. Louis earlier this month with the Cardinals taking two out of three.
Jesus Luzardo will start for the Phillies. The lefty has been excellent in August with just three earned runs allowed in 21.2 innings.
Hunter Dobbins is expected to start for the Cardinals. He’s 3-3 with a 3.42 ERA and gave up three runs (one earned) in five innings when he faced the Phillies last time.
Game time is 6:40 PM and will be televised locally on NBCSP.
News of Klay Thompson heading to Miami made DeMar DeRozan's choice much clearer, so he's made the call.
DeRozan will sign as a free agent with the Denver Nuggets, reports NBA insider Chris Haynes. While the terms of the deal are not mentioned, because Denver is over the second apron all it can offer is the veteran minimum of $3.9 million.
DeRozan had been in talks with Miami, Denver and reportedly Washington, although the Wizards were always a long shot. DeRozan had been in touch with Nikola Jokic, Aaron Gordon and Jamal Murray and talked with the Nuggets' big three about coming on board, Haynes reported.
DeRozan, 37, will provide a needed scoring punch off the bench in Denver, a team that was even thinner after a sign-and-trade sent Peyton Watson to Cleveland. They also lost Sixth Man candidate Tim Hardaway Jr. this offseason. DeRozan has been incredibly durable over his career, the 17-year NBA veteran has never played fewer than 60 games in a season, something important to Denver.
DeRozan, a six-time All-Star, averaged 18.4 points and 4.1 assists per game in Sacramento last season. However, this offseason the Kings waived his partially guaranteed contract to save money.
This signing will give the Nuggets 14 guaranteed contracts, which is likely where they will leave it heading into training camp. While they may ultimately want to shed about $4 million in salary to get below the second apron, they have until next June to do so.

When Ryan McMahon jammed his left thumb sliding into second base on Wednesday night, the Yankees seemed hopeful that the third baseman would be able to avoid the injured list. Alas, it seems that the team has decided to use an abundance of caution: prior to tonight’s game, the Bombers announced that they had placed McMahon on the 10-day injured list with a left thumb sprain, recalling Max Schuemann from Triple-A Scranton to take his spot on the roster.
Ahead of yesterday’s game, reports indicated that initial X-rays had come back clean, although McMahon — who had injured the thumb in the second inning, but remained in the game until the eighth — indicated that it was “still sore” and remained “swollen.” He was set to undergo additional imaging upon the team’s return to New York today, and clearly, that didn’t go quite as well as hoped.
With McMahon on the shelf, the Yankees have a number of options to man the hot corner, none of which are particularly exciting. The recently-recalled Schuemann has not played well in 40 games in the Majors so far this season, slashing just .194/.333/.361 slash line (94 OPS+) accruing -0.4 rWAR; against lefties, though, he has a .211/.333/.395 line. Amed Rosario has been better at the plate, even if he has struggled against southpaws this season, but has been an absolute butcher defensively. José Caballero has had an up-and-down season at the plate, although he has been hitting well since becoming a part-time player after George Lombard Jr.’s promotion at the beginning of August, slashing .227/.393/.500 in 29 plate appearances.
Chances are, in truth, the Yankees will use a combination of the three, depending on matchups, at least for the next few days; with Cody Bellinger currently on a rehab assignment with the RailRiders, Schuemann might well be back in Scranton before too long (though Spencer Jones could also be optioned if they prefer Schuemann’s versatility).
McMahon’s injury adds to what has been a brutal season for the Bombers, who have sent a whopping 16 players to the IL, including both key minor leaguers and players who began the year on the shelf: Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Bellinger, Jasson Domínguez, Caballero, Austin Wells, George Lombard Jr., Anthony Volpe, Gerrit Cole, Max Fried, Carlos Rodón, Clarke Schmidt, Luis Gil, Angel Chivilli, Carlos Lagrange, and Kervin Castro.

It’s time to turn up the Will Smith track as former Golden State Warrior Klay Thompson is going to Miami.
Three weeks ago I wrote in these pages that Miami was the landing spot outside the Bay that would make the most sense. Now it’s official. Shams Charania reported that Thompson is clearing waivers after a buyout from the Mavericks and signing with the Heat.
Klay is a sure-fire Hall-of-Famer with five All-Star selections, four championship banners, a shooting stroke that turned the Splash Bros into something far beyond Steph Curry’s brilliance. As a member of Dub Nation, I can honestly say that none of that ever looked right on a Dallas jersey. In his second and final year in Dallas, Thompson posted career lows across the board and shot 38.7% percent from three on a team that finished 26-56. Watching a Splash Brother play out a lost season for a tanking roster was absolutely brutal.
And now Klay becomes yet another Warrior legend who finds himself out there on South Beach. Tim Hardaway ran Run TMC’s fast break in Oakland before he made an All-Star team wearing a Heat jersey. Andre Iguodala left Golden State and helped Miami reach the Bubble Finals against every projection. Andrew Wiggins, a guy this fanbase watched grow up in real time, has currently planted his flag down there too.
And this is honestly the best fit I could think of for Klay besides coming back home to the Bay Area. Bam Adebayo and Giannis Antetokounmpo both live in the paint, and putting them out there together means Miami needs spacing around them. I believe that Klay is a still a shooter defenses respect from thirty feet without needing the ball in his hands. That’s the job Thompson spent a decade perfecting in Golden State’s motion offense back when cutting and relocating was the whole assignment.
And somewhere in the Bay, a fanbase gets to keep tabs on the younger Splash Brother chasing Ray Allen for third on the career threes list in a jersey that isn’t GSW but somehow doesn’t sting the way the others would have.
Four names deep now: Hardaway, Iguodala, Wiggins, Thompson. Miami keeps borrowing Golden State legends, and every time, they let them cook. How crazy would it be if Klay actually gets a fifth ring this season, passing up his old running mates Steph, Dray, and Iguodala?

From one John Denver song blaring to another, the Guardians are in Denver to take on the Rockies.
The Rockies are 50-77 with a -122 run differential, 29th in team wRC+ at 91, 19th in baserunning runs above average at -1.4, 24th in defense at -31.4, last in pitching ERA at 6.13 (5.27 FIP) and 28th in bullpen ERA at 4.81 (4.35 FIP).
The Guardians are 62-66 with a -23 run differential, 26th in team wRC+ at 94, seventh in baserunning runs above average at 5.2, seventh in defense at -4, sixth in pitching ERA at 3.73 (3.95 FIP), and 11th in bullpen ERA at 3.89 (3.85 FIP).
The Rockies are bad at everything.
Matchups:
Game One, Friday 8:40PM ET: Tanner Gordon, RHP 6.26 ERA (5.91 FIP) vs. Joey Cantillo, LHP 3.80 ERA (3.88 FIP)
Game Two, Saturday, 8:10PM ET: Gabriel Hughes, RHP 7.27 ERA (3.58 FIP) vs. Tanner Bibee, RHP 4.01 ERA (4.65 FIP)
Game Three, Sunday, 3:10PM ET: Tomoyuki Sugano, RHP 4.70 ERA (5.51 FIP) vs. Foster Griffin, LHP 3.18 ERA (4.24 FIP)
The Rockies are led by TJ Rumfield 116 wRC+, Cole Carrigg 113 wRC+, Mickey Moniak 112 wRC+, Colton Riptrain 112 wRC+, Connor Norby 112 wRC, and Jake McCarthy 109 wRC+. One of those names is made up – guess which?
Well… this is another huge series. Have to find a way to win it and keep the good momentum going.