SCOTTSDALE, AZ - OCTOBER 20: A general view stadium view prior to the game between the Surprise Saguaros and the Salt River Rafters at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick on Wednesday, October 20, 2021 in Scottsdale, Arizona. (Photo by Jill Weisleder/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
Good morning, baseball fans!
The San Francisco Giants will take on the visiting Chicago White Sox tonight at 6:05 p.m. PDT, with broadcasts on both NBC Sports Bay Area and KNBR.
In the meantime, we are just under two weeks out from Opening Day, which is the best news I’ve heard in a long time. The Giants are having a strong spring, once again. And while their Cactus League record isn’t necessarily an indication of how the season will go (just look at last year), having a strong start is still preferable to the alternative.
As we enter the last couple of weeks of Spring Training games, the Giants (and more accurately the front office) will be watching very carefully because they’re going to have some tough decisions to make in terms of who will be on the Opening Day roster.
So I wanted to find out what you all think are the positions/players to watch over the next two weeks.
Personally, I can’t argue with Alex Pavlovic’s assessment over on NBC Sports Bay Area. He notes that Bryce Eldridge is easily the biggest question remaining this spring, and I agree.
I think I would be fine with either direction the team goes on this. Eldridge is young, which isn’t a bad thing, but he could benefit defensively from more time with Triple-A Sacramento. That said, I would be perfectly happy to see him start the season with the team. So that’s what I will be watching closely over the next two weeks.
Who are you keeping an eye on over the last two weeks of spring?
WEST PALM BEACH, FL - MARCH 09: Deniel Ortiz (91) of the St. Louis Cardinals prepares to slide at third base during a spring training game against the Houston Astros on March 09, 2026 at CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
I am genuinely kind of surprised Ortiz is this low and it’s not necessarily because I disagree with his ranking so much as he certainly felt like a prospect that would be ranked a lot higher based upon the last three top 20s I’ve run. Speaking for myself, I think what hurts him is that he seems like a bat-only prospect. From what I can tell, his bat is going to be need to be great because he’s probably a 1B – and yeah also the lack of belief from scouts and his strikeout issues, but mainly just that it seems like he’s set up to “need” a 120 wRC+ unless his defense is better than I’ve been reading about.
JJ Wetherholt
Liam Doyle
Rainiel Rodriguez
Quinn Mathews
Jurrangelo Cjintje
Joshua Baez
Leonardo Bernal
Jimmy Crooks
Brandon Clarke
Tink Hence
Tekoah Roby
Tanner Franklin
Brycen Mautz
Nathan Church
Cooper Hjerpe
Ixan Henderson
Yairo Padilla
Deniel Ortiz
New Add
I strongly suspect I could stop adding guys and it wouldn’t make a lick of difference. There are more players than spots left in the top 20 of players who one could argue rather easily belong in the top 15 – someone is getting left out who will elicit “wow he didn’t make the top 20?” With all that said, congratulations, your voting singlehandedly vaulted Andrew Dutkanych IV into the voting – I thought I was high on the dude, I was proven wrong – he was honestly not even on my radar to be added to the voting. But he kept winning his comparable player polls. So onto the list he goes.
And honestly, I want more names in the mix just to see how they perform, so I’m going to be removing Colton Ledbetter, dead last in the voting, for another outfielder, Chase Davis. Is this a shuffling of deck chairs? Yes. But despite Davis losing a couple votes to people on this list, he never did get blown out. And with 0.9% of the vote, I just can’t see Ledbetter being a serious contender to being voted onto the top 20 honestly.
Scouting (FG): 30/45 Hit, 35/50 Game Power, 50/55 Raw Power, 40/40 Speed, 40/45 Fielding
Ironically, the last time I remember being so incredibly tired of writing a profile about a prospect in this feature is…. Joshua Baez. Yeah he was the #11 prospect three years ago, I added him pretty quickly and then nobody voted for him the entire time. With Joshua, I was being careful but probably agreed with you guys at the time. With Jesus, I was also being careful, but I added him too early, I did not think he would he would not make the top 20, which is a very distinct possibility.
Scouting: 30/35 Hit, 30/45 Game Power, 60/60 Raw Power, 50/50 Speed, 45/55 Field
Davis started as a power-hitting outfielder when the Cardinals drafted him in the 1st round back in 2023 draft. That advertised power has never really come and really disappeared last year, although as we saw in spring training, it might be in there somewhere. Not necessarily advertised for his defense, it seems like it’s going to be better than originally expected, which is certainly considered his bat has been worse than expected.
Drafted in the 7th round of the 2024 draft, Dutkanych was drafted injured. He had undergone Tommy John surgery earlier that year and most of his appearances in 2025 were effectively rehab appearances. He did max out at 3.2 innings pitched in his last appearance, and allowed no runs for his troubles. He will presumably be on some sort of pitch innings limited, but I’m not real sure what that limit will be.
Fajardo is getting more scouting love, but he kind of reminds me of Deniel Ortiz to an extent, where stats are certainly there and the age is certainly there, but the scouting is a little behind where I would expect given how much they dominated their two levels and the age when they did it. I suspect if he at all duplicates his performance at a higher level – same with Ortiz – the scouting will probably follow.
I was hesitant to add Luis Gastelum to the voting, but I think the voting results say I made the right decision. Now, he might not end up making the list, but that was unlikely for anybody I added. It’s always hard to know how to value a prospect like this, who has zero shot at starting, and in his specific case, arguably just one really great pitch. Now that Mexico has been eliminated, I wonder if we’ll see any more of him in spring training games.
What I find particularly fascinating about Hansen’s scouting report is that one would think Fangraphs was low on him, but they aren’t. They definitely aren’t. They ranked him 10th in the system last season. But that 35 fastball grade kind of pops out at you. It’s the kind of grade you give to a prospect that you aren’t typically high on, so I suppose it provides an insight into what FG thinks of the importance of command. You don’t usually see 60 command prospects.
Scouting: 40/50 Hit, 40/50 Game Power, 60/60 Raw Power, 30/30 Speed, 40/45 Fielding
I’m very interested in seeing what Jordan can do in AAA this year. Obviously, his spring has not gone very well, but it’s important to remember that spring training does not matter and also that nobody expected him to be MLB ready right now anyway. If they did, he would have been protected from the Rule 5 draft or drafted in the Rule 5 draft.
I am curious where Lin is assigned in the minor leagues. I am pretty sure he’ll still be tried as a starting pitcher, but he could plausibly be put in High A or AA. He was aggressively promoted to Springfield last season for a reason. But had some control problems to say the least, not to mention injury problems, and I could also see him beginning the year in High A with the hope and idea for a quick promotion.
Ryan Mitchell, 19 – OF
No stats
Scouting: 25/55 Hit, 25/50 Game Power, 40/55 Raw Power, 60/60 Speed, 25/50 Fielding
Speaking of curious where they assign a player, I wonder where Ryan Mitchell will be assigned. He was sent down but assigned to “St. Louis Cardinals Prospects.” He could be sent to rookie league, which would be the “conservative” option, the play it safe option. Or they could send him to Low A, which would be the #1 sign for me that we are underrating him. Especially if he doesn’t fall flat on his face. Until games are played though, we’re relying entirely on scouting.
Scouting: 20/30 Hit, 30/50 Game Power, 50/60 Raw Power, 60/60 Speed, 45/55 Fielding
I remember my consternation about not being able to add Tai Peete into the voting because I kept finding other players who to me made more sense to add, and I was 100 percent correct, but it is funny in hindsight that I put any worry at all in adding him too late given how the voting for him has gone. For understandable reasons, if a guy ain’t performing, you guys aren’t voting for him. Peete is missing that all-important hit tool, but he has shown power, has speed, and should have defense on his side. Just needs to make contact.
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA - FEBRUARY 17: A general view of the entrance to the Rockies training facility at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick on February 17, 2024 in Scottsdale, Arizona. (Photo by Kyle Cooper/Colorado Rockies/Getty Images) | Getty Images
In March the sun rises in Arizona just before 7:00 a.m. It varies slightly from team to team but, for decades spring training work has generally been expected to start around that time. Just last month the Arizona Diamondbacks social team showed off their players arriving to camp in darkness:
With work starting as the sun is coming up, everyone needs to be waking up significantly before dawn to get ready and travel to the complex.
As soon as the regular seasons starts, most games are played in the evening. This leads to a yearly sleep schedule whiplash right as game results start counting.
Teams are in full control over the start time of their home games. It’s easy to envision being frustrated at being asked to go through this yearly shift change when your boss could just decide not to require it.
This year, the Rockies are attempting to be ahead of the curve… by showing up later.
“We’re pushing the guys’ morning schedule back and giving them time to get ready for the day, and not having to wake up at 5 a.m.”
There isn’t an obvious conclusion to be made as to immediate performance effects, however, Brenton Doyle made it clear that he believed the schedule change is a net positive:
“I’m glad things have changed, and the schedule is much better than in the past. ‘Schaeff’ has given us time to get warmed up and get ready, so that when we do go on that field, it doesn’t feel rushed.“
Sleep & athletes
While the exact impact on baseball performance specifically hasn’t publicly been quantified with a meaningfully large dataset (though some smaller studies have been done), the overall benefits of sleep on generic athletic performance are non-controversial.
This has always seemed like a fixable problem but year after year teams have continued to stick to the same existing schedule. The 2026 Rockies just happen to have had all the correct ingredients in place to both motivate the change.
Warren Schaeffer is a young manager in his first spring training. He isn’t beholden to the way things have been done and is looking at the process of getting his team ready for the season with a fresh set of eyes.
This is a relatively young team filled with many players that may not have had a chance to develop personal routines to prepare for the schedule shift that comes with the regular season.
This is a new front office that has openly talked all offseason about wanting to experiment and try new things. They are looking to find every unique edge they can.
This change won’t make the Rockies good this year. Most folks outside the organization will likely have forgotten the Rockies ran camp this way by May. That, however, is an important contributing factor as to why the Rockies are perfect to give this a try.
If a team with actual expectations of winning tried this first they’d risk a slow start being blamed on having not “put in the work” in spring training. Sports talk radio would be up in arms and jobs could become less secure than if they’d lost without first rocking the boat.
This is just one specific example of how the extreme lack of expectations for the 2026 Rockies will allow the new leadership team to take small experimental risks. They do not need to worry about hardly anyone outside the team even noticing while they search for unique advantages.
A rundown about how team Italy, after a great start from Michael Lorenzen, bested team USA last night. The thrilling win briefly put team USA in danger of failing to advance to the quarterfinals of the WBC.
Mark Knudson chronicles the Rockies history of opening day starters at first base. He posits that the battle this spring is one that the franchise has previously been able to avoid for a long time.
Thomas Harding catches up with Ryan Feltner about his outlook and plans this spring. Feltner goes into the various changes he is experimenting with even while his spot in the rotation remains up in the air.
Mar 4, 2026; Glendale, AZ, USA; Team Mexico shortstop Joey Ortiz against the Los Angeles Dodgers during a spring training game at Camelback Ranch. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
I would not exactly be breaking news to inform you that Joey Ortiz had a rough year in 2025. The infielder who was part of the return for superstar pitcher Corbin Burnes had an extremely promising rookie season in 2024, but to call the step back he took at the plate in 2025 “significant” would probably be understating it. He was a disaster.
We’ll get more into the details below, but for the purposes of this preview, we will simply point out that by having a brutal sophomore slump, Ortiz opened a door that seemed pretty tightly shut when the 2025 season started: a door to the possibility that if he doesn’t improve at the plate, the Brewers might look for alternative options.
Do the Brewers have any viable alternatives in 2026? That’s arguable, and depends a little bit on how ready you think the 18-year-old with superstar potential (who’s looked pretty darn good this spring) in the Brewer minor league system is. But that point is likely moot; even if merely for service time reasons, we are not going to see Jesús Made in the major leagues this season.
But does that mean the Brewers won’t explore other options if Ortiz looks as rough at the plate through the first two months as he did for most of last season? No, it certainly does not. Let’s dig into it.
Joey Ortiz
As we sit here on March 11, I am comfortable saying that Ortiz (who is off playing for Mexico in the World Baseball Classic at the moment) will be the starting shortstop on Opening Day, and likely almost every day after that.
It’s not difficult to see why. For roughly the first 120 years of organized baseball, shortstops were expected to do one thing: play defense. For every Ernie Banks or Vern Stephens who helped his team out offensively, there were 10 Juan Uribes or Rey Ordoñezes. Some of the players in that mold — all defense, little-to-no offense — turned into superstars and even got into or near the Hall of Fame. Say hello to Ozzie Smith, Pee Wee Reese, Bert Campaneris, and Omar Vizquel.
That model has changed somewhat since the 1990s, though. Teams finally realized that having a complete black hole in the lineup is not great, and that model of player is increasingly disappearing; it’s difficult for anyone, at any position, to get reps in the lineup if they’re a total zero on offense, no matter how good they are defensively. Look at the case of Andrelton Simmons, who for 11 years played some of the best defense that major league baseball has ever seen, but who was out of the league before he turned 33 because he could no longer hit at all. Simmons’ career OPS+ of 87 is exactly the same as Ozzie Smith’s.
Simmons’ career 87 OPS+ is also 21 points higher than Joey Ortiz’s in 2025. It was a brutal offensive season. There were warning signs in the second half of 2024; Ortiz finished that season as essentially an exactly league-average hitter, but he hit just .211/.283/.362 after the All-Star break (bringing his OPS down from .817 in early July to .726 at the end of the season). That slide coincided nearly perfectly with a neck injury that landed him on the 10-day IL just before the break in early July, and while he seems to have recovered, there are some questions as to whether he adjusted his approach at the plate to relieve pain in his neck and somehow screwed himself up.
Or maybe he just hasn’t been able to adjust to the fact that the rest of the league has the book on him, now. Either way: 2025 was a horror show. Ortiz seemed to be not swinging at the good pitches to hit and swinging at the bad ones, a bizarre display of bad plate discipline — we usually just think of bad plate discipline as “not being able to not swing at pitches off the plate,” but we don’t always think of the flipside, the “I need to be swinging at the pitches in the zone I can do damage on.”
The result was that Ortiz was one of the very worst full-time hitters in baseball last year. On Statcast, he ranked in the bottom 3% of the league in all of xwOBA, xSLG, average exit velocity, and launch angle/sweet-spot percentage. He was in the bottom 13% in barrel percentage and hard-hit percentage. His walk percentage dropped from 11% (good!) in 2024 to 5.3% (bad!) in 2025, likely because pitchers just were not afraid of the contact he’d make. That plays out in another way: Ortiz remained very good at not swinging and missing in 2025, when he was in the top 15% of the league in whiff percentage and strikeout rate. But it does not matter if you hit the ball if you never hit the ball hard.
We’ll see if Ortiz can right the ship. His defense is good enough that if he gets anywhere close to league average offensively, he will be a clear net positive. Split the difference between 2024’s 102 OPS+ and 2025’s 66 OPS+, and you’ve probably got a player with close to 3.0 WAR. His spring stats are encouraging, I suppose: he’s only got one extra-base hit in six games (plus one more double in three games with Mexico), but he’s hitting .412. The samples are too small and against pitchers who are barely trying to get him out, but he is hitting the ball a little harder this spring.
While an Ortiz “renaissance” seems unlikely, I’m optimistic that he can get at least part of the way back. I don’t have a lot of data to back that up, except that his track record prior to last season has never suggested that he should be as bad as he was, and at least part of his struggles last year looked, to me at least, mental. Hopefully, the offseason has “cleared the cookies,” so to speak.
If not? We might have to start seriously thinking about one of the names below.
Who are the other options?
In terms of major league options, the most likely guy to take the most reps at shortstop if Ortiz were to either get hurt or play himself out of a job would be someone I talked in depth about in the third base preview, David Hamilton. Hamilton figures to be the team’s utility guy, the backup at all of second base, third base, and shortstop, but finding his way into the starting lineup three or four times a week at various positions. He can certainly handle shortstop defensively. His offense would bring many of the same questions that Ortiz’s does.
Were the Brewers looking for a long-term solution during the season, we can’t dismiss the idea that Brice Turang would move over — though I think it’s unlikely they would move Turang in the season, so I don’t really think this would happen. But I would have to think the first big minor league option would be Jett Williams (covered in the second base preview), who has played a bunch of shortstop but would probably be a worse defensive option there than Turang (or Hamilton). Might the Brewers opt to put Turang at shortstop and Williams at second base if they knew they were making that decision for the rest of the season? It’s possible.
Another minor league option might be Cooper Pratt, who is viewed as the best current defensive option at the position, and with the possible exception of Ortiz himself, maybe the best defensive option at shortstop in the entire system. But Pratt has a lot to prove with the bat after he was mildly disappointing at the plate in 2025, and he’s never played above Double-A. If he has a couple of solid months at Triple-A Nashville, though? I’d say it’s in play. He’d be young, but Pratt will be 22 by the end of the summer. (Or thought of a different way, he’s just a few months younger than Jackson Chourio, who will be close to completing his third full major league season at that point.)
Earlier in the offseason, I daydreamed a bit about whether there was a star middle infielder in the majors who the Brewers could acquire — someone like Ketel Marte or Zach Neto — who could jump into the lineup (either at shortstop or second, with Turang doing the other) and turn the significant weakness of Ortiz’s offense into a real strength. But here we are, Ortiz is in the lineup, and after watching Made for a couple of weeks, he suddenly feels remarkably close to the major leagues. If he’s on the Chourio path, which he has followed pretty closely thus far, that would put the 19-year-old Made in play for the Opening Day roster in 2027. And honestly, seeing him hit this spring has made me think that he might be the system’s best option as a starting major league shortstop today.
That’s not going to happen, but the future is bright, and it feels closer than ever.
HOUSTON, TEXAS - MARCH 11: Vinnie Pasquantino #9 of the Italy celebrates with teammates after hitting a home run in the sixth inning against Mexico during the 2026 World Baseball Classic between Italy and Mexico at Daikin Park on March 11, 2026 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Kenneth Richmond/Getty Images) | Getty Images
If you didn’t watch the WBC game last night, Royals 1st baseman Vinnie Pasquantino saved Team USA’s bacon with his historic 3 home run game over Mexico.
It was quite the evening for Kansas City Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino, who put on a show for Team Italy in the World Baseball Classic.
Pasquantino hit three home runs vs. Mexico on Wednesday evening, becoming the first ever player to accomplish the feat in the WBC.
Not only did Pasquantino make history, but his performance also helped Team Italy and the United States advance to the quarterfinals of the classic, thanks to a dominant win over Mexico.
Michael Wacha returned to the Royals’ Spring Training facility after his stint with Team USA, ready to get back to work with his Kansas City teammates in anticipation of Opening Day just over two weeks away. Wacha threw off the mound Wednesday and is scheduled for three innings in his next Cactus League start on Friday night against the D-backs.
“It was all around just a great experience,” Wacha said. “From being in the clubhouse with those guys to the atmosphere out there playing in those games, getting those juices flowing again. It really did just create a lot of excitement for myself getting this season started up. It’s a couple of weeks away now, and just fired up to be back here and get this season rolling.”
The Royals got swept in split squad action yesterday against the Cubs and Giants, but Gavin Cross, Brett Squires, Elias Díaz, Luca Tresh, Peyton Wilson and Blake Mitchell all homered.
Royals Keep asked if Michael Massey’s injury opens up a roster spot for Josh Rojas.
In other WBC news, the Dominican Republic beat Venezuela, Maikel Garcia went 4-4 with a walk as well. Former Royal Angel Zerpa threw a scoreless inning.
Chourio exploded onto the scene in 2025 with 63 strikeouts and only five walks across 51 1/3 innings while climbing from the DSL to Single-A Columbia. His mid-90s fastball and upper-70s curveball both receive strong reviews, but it’s the ability to command the ball that has Kansas City officials so excited about his future. It’ll also help him rank among the Minors’ top five in K-BB% (min. 70 IP) in just his age-18 season.
Netflix to have first MLB broadcast on Opening Day?
Here is your song of the day: Home Sweet Home by Motely Crue. My favorite rock band of all time!
MIAMI, FLORIDA - MARCH 11: Ketel Marte of the Dominican Republic hits a home run during the third inning against Venezuela at loanDepot park on March 11, 2026 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Ah, the World Baseball Classic. The FIFA World Cup’s strange cousin who trades the English-invented soccer for an American invention with a stick and many strange rules based on the number nine. And just like how England gets consistently embarrassed by nations they technically exported soccer to, the United States looks well and truly poised to do the same with baseball (sarcastic applause).
It is very hard to predict who is going to win this thing because trying to predict the outcome of a single baseball game is of similar statistical merit to getting a hit: if you succeed 30 percent of the time, you’re doing pretty well! Baseball is shockingly random, and three of the teams remaining have bona fide god squads. To keep things exceedingly simple, the United States, Japan and the Dominican Republic have easily the best three rosters on paper — they’re also the only three nations ever to win the WBC. Whether or not any of that will translate to a victory is anyone’s guess. I’m going to guess anyway.
1. Dominican Republic
They aren’t the defending champions and they have arguably a worse roster than the United States on paper but come on man… this batting order is just outrageous.
Tatis Jr. leading off, never fun. Get through him and Ketel Marte cleanly you get Juan Soto. One of them gets on? Vlad Guerrero Jr. Heart of the order? Machado, Caminero, JRod. If you don’t understand what that means, it can easily be translated into two words: home run.
This team is power personified. It’s a walking bat flip. It’s every bit oozing with swag and intimidation as it is exit velocity and launch angle. There’s a reason most MLB home run derbies have a strong Dominican presence. There isn’t a single hitter to attack, and rock solid starting pitching to get them through the knockout rounds.
Why are they above the United States and Japan? Well, for one, how am I out here picking the United States to win after the week they just had (more on that below)? And for all the Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto awesomeness for Japan, this lineup is just way better one through nine. And among all the lineups, it is so easily the coolest. In a world where I am predicted one game series’, cool counts for something.
2. United States of America
So… not great thus far.
Just as a rule, I’m not a fan of my manager going on TV and saying that the team had clinched a quarterfinal berth when it had not and then my team going out there against Italy to not clinch because Red Sox legend Greg Weissert fanned Aaron Judge on four pitches in the bottom of the ninth with a man on down two… only to then get bailed out by Italy the next day because they’re a juggernaut and beat Mexico to get Team USA a spot.
All that said, it is undeniable that Team USA is an absurd collection of baseball talent that can and should be the best team in whatever game they play. The problem is they just haven’t been so far; that game against Italy was legitimately alarming, and the offense couldn’t get a leadoff hitter on all night.
Pitching is so variable, and Team USA has amazing pitching even without Tarik Skubal. That said, the offense — and Aaron Judge, who has been a visible and obvious no-show in the WBC so far — needs to be better. There is no reason it shouldn’t be better, and it must be for the United States to achieve anything more.
3. Japan
Coming in at a very close second in coolness ratings behind the DR is Japan, boosted mightily by having the coolest dude ever leading off, the World Series MVP as your ace, newly minted Chicago White Sock Munetaka Murakami and Barry Bon… I mean Masataka Yoshida (who the Red Sox were or are still actively trying to trade) going crazy. Lots of other great MLBers too like Seiya Suzuki and Yusei Kikuchi, but Japan’s success comes, in truth, on the backs of their domestic league.
Japan is a country with a robust and professional baseball infrastructure, and they are the defending champions for a reason. One of the only countries in the world where baseball is the most popular sport and by far the most populous (for those who didn’t know yet, baseball is in third place in the United States… has been for a while now), Japan has shown an ability to develop talent and produce quality national teams for the entire existence of the WBC. They have the best player in the world and probably of all time on their team. 4-0 in the group.
Frankly, it’s all well and dandy. From an on-paper talent perspective, it isn’t as good as the USA or DR, but Japan could totally win. They literally won last time.
4. Italy
I have chosen, against my better judgment, to provocatively put Italy here, bucking the trend of basically going in order of who I think has the best team when Venezuela is definitely a better group. That is for one simple reason: Italy is playing Puerto Rico and Venezuela is playing Japan.
Italy, described by some as “American 2: Italy Edition” since 24 players on the roster were born in America and only three in Italy, has been playing like the best team in the world (for some reason) for this entire tournament, pretty soundly annihilating Team USA until the very end when it got close. Our guy Greg Weissert had it covered, though.
This is a very solid team with a deep list of professional hitters — captain Vinnie Pasquantino is a power slugger for the Royals and straight up has an Italian Beef Sandwich named after him called the Pasqwich that they sell at Royals games. I mean, come on now. How are we doing any better than that?
I would not be surprised if Puerto Rico beats Italy — I thought they were a better team coming in (everyone did). But it would be disrespectful to the 4-0 Italians to have them lower.
5. Venezuela
Second half of the provocative 4-5 slots is the second most populous country where baseball is the most popular sport: Venezuela, with a squadron of great players that is unfortunately playing Japan in the quarterfinals.
Venezuela has a bunch of great players: Acuña, Arraez, two Contrerases (contrari?) and legends like Salvador Perez. They just aren’t as deep as other teams and will have to beat three great teams in a row to win it all. They are a great team themselves, but it’s simply not as likely.
6. Puerto Rico
A decent team with professional talent but even less depth than Venezuela, Puerto Rico would have to beat Italy (which they could do) but then defeat two consecutive titans (don’t see that happening. They are missing some of their best players, too, with Francisco Lindor and Carlos Correa not playing in this year’s tournament. I will, however, take this moment to remind everyone that it’s not crazy for any team to beat any other team because this is baseball. I do not take responsibility if something crazy happens.
7. South Korea
Another team with lots of home league players, this team is also sneaky-solid. Jung Hoo Lee and Hyeseong Kim are the two players most MLB fans will have heard of, but South Korea took Japan the distance and could be an upset factor if their young hitting can get hot. That said, every team can be an upset factor if their hitting gets hot. And they’re playing the Dominican Republic, who was my number one. So…
8. Canada
Fun team, lots of fun players, two Naylors, my guy Abe Toro, major-leaguers all around the batting order. I just have a hard time imagining this team beating the United States with their pitching staff. They essentially do not have a single major league reliever, so unless they can go completely nuclear on offense, it’s a hard sell. Totally defensible to swap them with South Korea, too. You would not lose any points on the test if you did that.
British No 1 comes from behind in 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5) win
Hard-fought win keeps Draper’s title defence on track
Jack Draper was “overwhelmed” after beating Novak Djokovic for the first time to reach the quarter-finals in Indian Wells and keep his title defence on track.
Playing only the second ATP tournament of his comeback after eight months out with an arm injury, Draper came through a gripping battle lasting more than two-and-a-half hours in a deciding tie-break to win 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5).
The Colorado Avalanche are looking to make a crack at their next line of opposition.
The Avs open a two-game road trip Thursday against the Seattle Kraken looking to rebound after a narrow 4–3 loss to the Edmonton Oilers earlier this week. It will be the second of three meetings between the teams this season. Colorado won the first matchup 5–3 in Seattle on December 16, and the series will conclude April 16 at Ball Arena.
Colorado’s loss Tuesday at Ball Arena came in a game that featured momentum swings and several special-teams moments. Ross Colton opened the scoring just 32 seconds into the first period, wiring a shot from the point through traffic for his eighth goal of the season. The assist on the play gave Brock Nelson the 500th even-strength point of his NHL career.
Edmonton answered midway through the period when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins converted a power-play opportunity from the crease. Colorado regained the lead later in the opening frame when Martin Necas scored on the power play from the left circle, setting a single-season career high with his 29th goal of the year.
The lead was short-lived. Jack Roslovic tied the game late in the first before Nugent-Hopkins added his second of the night early in the second period to give Edmonton its first lead.
Colorado pulled even early in the third when Valeri Nichushkin redirected a right-point shot from Sam Malinski for his 14th goal of the season. But Edmonton’s star power ultimately decided the game. Connor McDavid buried a power-play one-timer from the doorstep at 9:03 of the third period, providing the eventual game-winner.
Despite the loss, Colorado continues to be powered offensively by Nathan MacKinnon, who leads the NHL with 43 goals and ranks among the league leaders with 104 points and 61 assists. MacKinnon’s impact has been even more pronounced at even strength; since the start of the 2023–24 season, he has recorded an NHL-best 250 points in five-on-five situations.
The Avalanche blue line has been equally productive thanks to Cale Makar, who remains one of the league’s most dynamic defensemen. Makar sits among the top scoring defensemen in the NHL with 66 points while adding 19 goals and 47 assists.
Necas has also been a key contributor during Colorado’s recent stretch. His seven goals since February 25 are tied for the most in the league over that span, helping propel him into the NHL’s top ten in scoring with 77 points.
Seattle enters Thursday’s matchup after a 4–2 loss to the Nashville Predators on Tuesday at Climate Pledge Arena. The Kraken jumped out to a 2–0 first-period lead on goals from Kaapo Kakko and Matty Beniers, but Nashville responded with three unanswered goals in the second period before Steven Stamkos sealed the game with an empty-net tally late in the third.
Offensively, Seattle is led by veteran forward Jordan Eberle, whose 22 goals and 44 points pace the club. Defenseman Vince Dunn leads the team with 29 assists, while Beniers ranks second in scoring with 40 points.
Historically, Colorado has enjoyed success in the matchup. The Avalanche hold a 9-3-1 record in 13 regular-season meetings against the Kraken and have also faced Seattle once in the postseason.
The matchup has also been productive for several of Colorado’s stars. MacKinnon has recorded 19 points in 12 regular-season games against Seattle and added seven more in the playoffs, while Makar has contributed 19 regular-season points against the Kraken along with five in six postseason contests. Necas has chipped in 11 points in nine career games against Seattle.
Defensively, Colorado has been particularly strong away from home this season. The Avalanche are allowing just 2.55 goals per game on the road, tied for the lowest mark in the NHL.
Even in Tuesday’s loss, the Avalanche believed their process was largely sound.
“I thought everybody had good legs tonight,” Makar said afterward. “I thought we had overall good forechecks. We struggled on the breakout a little bit early, but we were able to figure it out. I felt like we had some good chances but just didn’t finish sometimes.”
Colorado will look to convert more of those chances Thursday night as it continues its push through the final stretch of the regular season.
Florida Panthers - 32-29-3 - 63 Points - 2-8-0 in the last 10 - Won 2 - 7th in the Atlantic
Columbus Blue Jackets - 33-21-10 - 76 Points - 6-1-3 in the last 10 - Won 1 - 4th in the Metro
Team Notes Per CBJ PR
Columbus stretched its points streak to seven games (4-0-3) with a 4-2 win at Tampa Bay on Tuesday to tie a season long streak (7-0-0 from Jan. 22-Feb. 4). The club has earned points in 18 of its last 20 contests since Jan. 11 (15-2-3).
The Blue Jackets, who are 7-1-0 in their last eight road contests, began a stretch of 6-of-9 games played away from home through Mar. 26 on Tuesday.
Columbus finished 2-of-4 on the power play at Tampa Bay and rank seventh-T in the NHL in power play pct. on the road this season (25.0; 20-of-80).
Since Dec. 22, CBJ have gone 19-6-4 (42 pts, .724 points pct.) and rank second in the NHL in points, third in points percentage, fourth in penalty kill pct. (84.0), sixth-T in save pct. (.901) and goals-against/game (2.79) as well as eighth in goals for/game (3.55).
Player Notes Per CBJ PR
Charlie Coyle collected an assist on Tuesday to stretch his assists streak to four games (0-5-5) and points streak to seven consecutive (1-8-9). He has posted 6-15-21 and six multi-point efforts in the last 14 contests since Jan. 24.
Adam Fantilli has 6-9-15 in the past 14 GP and LW Mason Marchment has 11-8-19 in 22 GP with the Blue Jackets.
Conor Garland, who has multiple goals in each of the past two contests, is the first player with four goals in his first three games with the Blue Jackets.
Kirill Marchenko has notched a power play goal in back-to-back games and has collected points in six consecutive games (4-5-9) and in 11 of his past 12 contests since Jan. 24 (6-9-15).
Sean Monahan collected two assists against the Lightning and has points in five of the last six contests (2-4-6).
Zach Werenski registered two assists on Tuesday and has collected points in 24 of his past 27 games played since Dec. 11 (11-27-38, 12 multi-point efforts). He sits two points shy of his second-straight 70-point campaign (20-48-68, 57 GP).
Blue Jackets Stats
Power Play - 20.5% - 17th in the NHL
Penalty Kill - 78.0% - 23rd in the NHL
Goals For - 204 - 15th in the NHL
Goals Against - 204 - 23rd in the NHL
PanthersStats
Power Play - 19.4% - 19th in the NHL
Penalty Kill - 82.2% - 6th in the NHL
Goals For - 191 - 18th in the NHL
Goals Against - 212 - 25th in the NHL
Series History vs. ThePanthers
Columbus is 27-21-0-7 all-time, and 10-14-0-3 on the road vs. Florida
Columbus has collected points in the past three meetings since Mar. 20, 2025 (1-0-2).
The teams have combined for seven-plus goals in nine of the last 14 meetings since Jan. 15, 2022.
The winning team has scored four or more goals in 17 of the past 20 games of the series going back to Mar. 9th, 2021 and in eight of the last nine at Florida since Apr. 19, 2021.
The winning team has won by multiple goals in 14 of the last 18 meetings of the series, including 11 instances by three-plus goals.
Columbus has scored a power play goal in both games of the 2025-26 series (2-of-7; 28.6 pct.).
The teams have combined for 60 shots or less in five of the past seven meetings of the series (59.7 avg.).
CBJ has recorded three shutouts in the all-time series (MR: Merzlikins, 1-0 OT win at CBJ on Feb. 4, 2020) and two hat tricks (MR: Werenski, 4-1 W at CBJ on Dec. 31, 2019).
Who To Watch For ThePanthers
Sam Reinhart leads the Panthers with 28 goals, 31 assists, and 59 points.
Brad Marchand 27 goals and 54 points.
Sergei Bobrovsky is 23-19-1 with a SV% of .876.
CBJ Player Notes vs.Panthers
Charlie Coyle has 17 points in 32 games vs. the Panthers.
Zach Werenski has 16 career points against Florida.
Mason Marchment has 4 points in 7 games against Florida.
Injured Reserve
Brendan Smith - Lower Body - Missed 26 Games IR - Out for the rest of the regular season.
TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 170
How to Watch & Listen: Tonight's game will be on FANDUEL SPORTS NETWORK. The radio broadcast will be on 97.1 The Fan, with Bob McElligott behind the mic doing the play-by-play.
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SAN ANTONIO, TX -MARCH 8: Dylan Harper #2 of the San Antonio Spurs reacts after a three against the Houston Rockets in the first half at Frost Bank Center on March 8, 2026 in San Antonio, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ronald Cortes/Getty Images) | Getty Images
This is exciting news.
Spurs’ star rookie Dylan Harper is the face of a major new Foot Locker exclusive campaign titled "Unseen Hours," which officially launched this week. 👀
Dylan Harper is starring in a new Foot Locker ad campaign entitled “Unseen Hours” that recently dropped. In it, the recently named February NBA Rookie of the Month is seen waking at 4:00 a.m. to start his workout.
The youngest son of five-time NBA Champion Ron Haprer was drafted by the San Antonio Spurs last summer with the second overall spot.
Harper turned 20-years-old earlier this month. He recently had the opportunity to playt against his brother, Ron Harper, Jr. once at All-Star Weekend in the Rising Star Challenge and earlier this week when the Spurs hosted the Celtics.
The shoe seen at the end of the ad is from his partnership with Nike, resulting in exclusive player editions (PE) of the Nike G.T. Cut series.
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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - MARCH 07: Zach Whitecloud #2 of the Vegas Golden Knights skates against Sidney Crosby #87 of the Pittsburgh Penguins at T-Mobile Arena on March 07, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by David Becker/NHLI via Getty Images) | NHLI via Getty Images
Who:Pittsburgh Penguins (32-17-15, 79 points, 2nd place Metropolitan Division) @ Vegas Golden Knights (29-22-14, 75 points, 3rd place Pacific Division)
When: 10:00 p.m. eastern
How to Watch: Locally broadcast on Sportsnet Pittsburgh and Scripps, streaming on ESPN+
Pens’ Path Ahead: The Penguins continue the rhythm of their every-other-day road trip with a game in Utah on Saturday (9pm eastern start), then comes Colorado next Monday and the trip ends where it started back in Carolina next Wednesday.
Opponent Track: Vegas is just 1-5-0 in the month of March, starting with a 5-0 loss to Pittsburgh on March 1st. They’ve lost three games in a row, including a 2-1 nailbiter in Dallas on Tuesday in their most recent contest. This is the start of a four-game homestand for the Golden Knights, who should be playing with desperation now that they’ve slipped from first to third place in their division.
Season Series: As mentioned above, the Pens took the first game 5-0 last Sunday. Ben Kindel scored a goal and added an assist to be named the first star of the game, Arturs Silovs stopped all 22 shots he saw to earn the shutout.
Hidden Stat: Pittsburgh is 13-6-6 against Western Conference opponents this year, per Pens PR.
Getting to know the Golden Knights
Projected lines
FORWARDS
Ivan Barbashev – Jack Eichel – Braeden Bowman
Brett Howden – Mitch Marner – Pavel Dorofeyev
Reilly Smith – Tomas Hertl – Keegan Kolesar
Cole Smith – Nic Dowd – Colton Sissons
DEFENSEMEN
Brayden McNabb / Shea Theodore
Noah Hanifin /Rasmus Andersson
Jeremy Lauzon / Kaeden Korczak
Goalies: Adin Hill and Akira Schmidt
Potential scratches: Ben Hutton, Jonas Rondbjerg
Injured Reserve: Mark Stone, Carter Hart, Alex Pietrangelo, William Karlsson
As you might expect with a losing team lately, lots of changes and fluid forward lines with in-game adjustments are being frequently made, most notably joining Marner and Hertl together at times.
Vegas opted to beef up their lower lines at the trade deadline since their last meeting with Pittsburgh earlier this month, adding C. Smith from Nashville and Dowd from Washington after previously getting Andersson a little before the deadline.
Mark Stone hasn’t played since he left mid-game against the Pens on March 1st. That was about the last thing this team needed to lose their captain, it’s unknown when he might be back, though the injury was not said to be overly serious.
Since the 5-0 loss to Pittsburgh, Hill is 1-2-0 with a 2.67 GAA and .867 save%. Schmid is 0-2-0 with a 3.59 GAA and .865 save%. The Knights need some goaltending, neither player has been sharp lately.
Pavel Dorofeyev is one of the more quiet star players around. He’s hit the 30-goal plateau for a second time in a row after notching 35 last season. Dorofeyev currently has more goals since the start of 2024-25 than players like Connor McDavid, Kirill Kaprizov, Sidney Crosby, Auston Matthews and Mikko Rantanen. Dorofeyev doesn’t do as much as a true superstar in the assist and playmaking department but his shot is an incredible weapon, especially on the power play where his 16 goals rank tied for second in the NHL this season.
No saves to be found
Vegas would easily be in first place in the weakest division in hockey, if they only had some goalie support. The white line plunging down in the upper right of this chart is more deflating than seeing the roulette wheel hit green for the second time in a row.
The Golden Knights have had to score a lot on the power play, and somehow coax out a good PK performance despite the lack of goaltending. They’re 2-6-0 since the Olympic break and lately their offense has dried up, in calendar March have been outscored 21-11 over the course of six games.
That leaves two schools of thought. Either the Penguins: A) are catching a vulnerable team at a good time (as they did earlier this month in a 5-0 shutout victory where the Knights only mustered 22 total shots) or B) are in for a tough one for a team that won’t want to lose a fourth straight game, are now at home while Pittsburgh traveled cross-continent and will make it a tough game. We’ll see which side of the coin it lands on, but there aren’t too many impressive signs out of VGK in recent days and weeks about the direction they’re headed in.
And now for the Pens
Projected lines
FORWARDS
Egor Chinakhov – Rickard Rakell – Bryan Rust
Anthony Mantha – Tommy Novak – Ville Koivunen
Elmer Soderblom – Ben Kindel – Avery Hayes
Connor Dewar – Blake Lizotte – Noel Acciari
DEFENSEMEN
Parker Wotherspoon / Erik Karlsson
Ryan Shea / Kris Letang
Ilya Solovyov / Connor Clifton
Goalies: Arturs Silovs and Stuart Skinner
Potential Scratches: Sam Girard (injured), Evgeni Malkin (suspended), Ryan Graves, Kevin Hayes, Justin Brazeau (out injured week to week)
IR: Sidney Crosby, Filip Hallander, Jack St. Ivany
The regular goalie rotation lines up really nicely for Silovs to be in net tonight to try and keep it going after shutting this Vegas team out last week. No official word on that just yet, but given the regular rotation that makes a lot of sense.
We’ll leave the lineup the same as last game, though there’s certainly chances for tweaks and improvements. Girard’s absence on the defense was felt, hopefully his day-to-day injury will have him back in the lineup sooner than later.
After a game that lacked emotion on Tuesday night, the Montreal Canadiens faced an intense rivalry night against the Ottawa Senators. Brady Tkachuk and co. are outside of the playoff picture, looking in, and they clearly intend to change that. While much of the attention before the game was on the fact that the Habs had recalled Jacob Fowler, before puck drop, it shifted to the fact that Arber Xhekaj was a healthy scratch against a rather physical foe.
Earlier in the day, Martin St-Louis mentioned he had a few game-time decisions to make, including whether to put Alexandre Texier back in for Cole Caufield, who was still battling an illness. Still, most people didn’t see the Xhekaj scratching coming.
The game started well for the Canadiens as they beat Linus Ullmark on their first shot, but the Senators turned up their physicality, rattling the Habs. Nick Cousins ran around like a guy who didn’t fear retribution and rocked Alexandre Carrier to kick off proceedings. Jayden Struble invited him to fight, which the pest declined, before Josh Anderson went to have a word as well with the same result.
It was shortly after that that he took a roughing penalty, which allowed the Sens to tie the game, before they took a 2-1 lead less than two minutes later. At the end of the first frame, hits were 19-13 Ottawa (they were revised down during the intermission; originally listed as 22-14). Drake Batherson, Michael Amadio, and Dylan Cozens had three hits apiece while Nick Cousins had two.
At the end of the game, hits were 33-31 for the Senators, so the Canadiens caught up, mainly because once the Senators took the lead, they stopped trying to rattle the Habs with hits and focused on actually playing hockey.
I don’t think St-Louis’ issue with Xhekaj is so much about his physicality; it’s about the way he reads the game. Players who thrive in the St-Louis style of hockey are very high in hockey IQ. The problem is, you’ll never manage to get six defensemen like that. If you did, you would have salary cap issues. Your bottom pairing is much more likely to be about grit than about talent, and there’s nothing wrong with that. You cannot have a team that’s incredibly rich in talent but lacks physicality; it’s been proven time and time again by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the last few seasons.
So Many Mistakes
It was a very tough night at the office for Mike Matheson and several other players. After 40 minutes, the veteran defenseman had five giveaways (it was revised to four) while Lane Hutson had three, Nick Suzuki, Juraj Slafkovsky and Brendan Gallagher had two apiece.
Matheson’s stood out, though, as they were deep in his own zone and created scoring opportunities for the Senators. Thankfully for the veteran blueliner, rookie goalie Jacob Fowler was a picture of calm, poise, and focus in net, playing his last-line-of-defence role to perfection. His demeanour and confidence were just what the Canadiens needed on a night when they were particularly sloppy. At the end of the game, the Canadiens had committed 24 giveaways while the Senators had nine.
Evans Shines
Jake Evans had a point in a sixth consecutive game when he got an assist on Alexandre Texier’s game-tying goal, but he did much more than just that tonight. In a game that was quite physical, the centerman led both teams in hits with seven. He also had a blocked shot and a 56.3% success rate at the faceoff dot.
The point streak ties his career-long streak, which he established last season while playing in a contract year. Now, with three more years to go on his new deal, he’s not taking his foot off the pedal.
Another Lead Protected
While both teams played a prudent third frame, Ivan Demidov gave the Canadiens the lead with under eight minutes to go in the game, and the Habs were able to hang on. They protected the slimmest of leads, even though Ottawa attacked six-on-five, but they never would have been able to do so had it not been for Fowler’s brilliance.
In an intense last minute, the rookie goalie didn’t buckle under pressure; he played just as he had done since the start of the game, tracking the puck well, being positionally sound, and the Senators had no answer for his brilliance. Near, far, wherever the shots were coming from, he was there and ready. In the dying seconds, he made a jaw-dropping pad save that must have felt like a gut punch to Ottawa since the loss will really hurt their playoff hopes.
Absolutely unreal final minute from Jacob Fowler to seal the win.
While some will say the Canadiens didn’t deserve to win tonight because it was a sloppy game, the goaltender is part of the team, and Fowler certainly did deserve to win. In the second frame, after the Habs hit the post at one end, he made two saves on an Ottawa breakaway, which kept Montreal in the game.
The Tricolore will have a day off tomorrow before hitting the ice for practice at the CN Sports Complex in Brossard on Friday morning in readiness for the weekend’s back-to-back games against the San Jose Sharks and the Anaheim Ducks.
The Boston Bruins are in the middle of a roster retool, but TD Garden still could be hosting important games in April and potentially May.
Boston’s streak of eight consecutive appearances in the Stanley Cup Playoffs ended last season as they finished with the NHL’s fifth-worst record. Many experts and analytics models were predicting the B’s would miss the playoffs again this season.
But the Bruins have defied the odds so far and actually have a pretty good shot at reaching the postseason.
The Bruins enter Thursday in the second wild card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, but their margin for error is slim. However, many of the Bruins’ core players are no strangers to playing in important games at this time of the year, so the pressure of a playoff race shouldn’t be a negative for them.
Let’s take a look at the state of the playoff race entering Thursday.
Standings
Atlantic Division
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Wild Card
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The Bruins trail the Detroit Red Wings by one point with a game in hand for the first wild card playoff spot. They have only a one-point lead over the Columbus Blue Jackets and a five-point lead over the Ottawa Senators for the second and final wild card playoff spot in the East.
Holding off the Blue Jackets and Senators won’t be easy. Both of these teams are playing fantastic of late. The Senators have taken points from eight of their last 10 games. The Blue Jackets have a 6-1-3 record in their last 10 games.
It’s possible that a team like the Washington Capitals could get back into the race, but they are seven points behind with one more game played than the Bruins. That’s a tough deficit to overcome.
The Bruins could also qualify for the playoffs by finishing as one of the top three teams in the Atlantic Division. They are just four points behind the Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning for third and second place.
If teams are tied in the standings at the end of the regular season, the first tiebreaker is regulation wins, and the Bruins have a lead in that category over Blue Jackets, Red Wings and Senators.
Remaining schedule
Eric Canha-Imagn Images
The Blue Jackets are only one point behind the Bruins in the wild card standings.
The Bruins have the second-toughest remaining schedule, per Tankathon. Eight of their last 18 games are against playoff teams. They still have to play the Lightning twice, Blue Jackets twice, the Stars, Sabres, Wild, Canadiens, Red Wings and Panthers.
Eleven of their last 18 games (including five of the last seven) are on the road, and that’s not good news for the Bruins because they’ve struggled away from home. Boston’s 11 road wins are at least five fewer than any other team currently occupying a playoff spot in the East.
“You’d be hard pressed to find a team that wants to have playoff success that’s not able to go out and win on the road. That’s an area we definitely have to be better at,” Bruins GM Don Sweeney said during his post-trade deadline press conference last Friday.
“Sometimes it’s our starts. Sometimes it’s our second period like (last Thursday night). There’s really no excuse for it, to be honest with you. To be a dominant home team like we have, you should be able to go into any environment and execute.”
The most important games left for the Bruins are probably the matchups against the Blue Jackets on March 29 and April 12. Both are in Columbus, and given how close these teams are in the standings, those points will be critical.
Other pivotal games with playoff implications include matchups with the divisional rivals such as the Canadiens, Lightning and Red Wings. The battle for the three Atlantic Division playoff spots will be fun to watch.
What do the analytics say?
Not every analytics model or website agrees on the Bruins’ playoff odds.
For example, MoneyPuck’s model gives the Bruins a 69.4 percent chance of making the playoffs. HockeyStats’ model gives the Bruins a 68 percent chance. Meanwhile, The Athletic’s model, created by Dom Luszczyszyn, gives the B’s just a 42 percent of reaching the postseason.
A tough schedule and an offense that is scoring well above expected could be some of the reasons for the Bruins not having better playoff odds. If the Bruins were to regress offensively in the coming weeks, it would not be surprising. Their 12.1 goals scored above the expected is the third-highest in the league.
A better-than-expected scoring output and strong goaltending (eighth-best save percentage) have been the primary drivers of the Bruins’ success this season. If either one starts to fall off, that would be a big problem for the B’s.
At a time where so much is changing in college basketball, a familiar voice has returned to the sport.
After a yearslong battle with several types of cancer, resulting in a long hiatus, Dick Vitale returned to the headset for the 2025-26 season, getting back to a typical frequency of calling games.
There were several times this didn’t seem possible. The 86-year-old had periods where he wasn’t able to talk, unable to share those signature catchphrases that made him a beloved figure in the sport.
That’s what makes his time now, cancer-free, awesome – with a capital A.
“I'm still doing games,” Vitale told USA TODAY Sports. “It's a miracle. It's absolutely a miracle. I get emotional about it sometimes.”
Vitale spoke with USA TODAY Sports as part of his partnership with Planet Fitness to help college basketball fans handle the excitement and intensity of March Madness, promoting its black card to help with recovery since it “is really important in your life.” It’s a thing Vitale knows all about after spending so much time recovering from a lengthy illness.
He had three battles with cancer in a two-year span, which kept him away from the sport he cherishes so much. Vitale was itching to get back as soon as he could.
“I've had to recover quite a bit,” he said. “It's been a tough ride.”
It wasn’t weekly games called, but Vitale was able to go through the full season. He was there for the opener between Duke and Texas, and called the regular season finale between Kentucky and Florida, returning a sense of normalcy that was missing for so long.
However, that won’t be all. Vitale will be an analyst for the NCAA Tournament First Four, calling the second game on Tuesday, March 17 alongside Brian Anderson and Charles Barkley. Having previously covered the Final Four on radio, it will be the first time Vitale will be a TV analyst for a March Madness game in his illustrious career.
“I always believe in one thing, that if you think positive and have faith, and you got good people,” Vitale said, “a lot of good things are going to happen.”
Dick Vitale previews March Madness
Of course, Vitale is already planning for “a wild time of the year” — the NCAA Tournament.
While he said it’s too early to predict how the bracket will unfold, since you don’t know the matchups yet, Vitale emphasized playing well going into Selection Sunday can determine how far a team goes.
“The team's up on top, the heavyweights, they're going to be tough to beat,” Vitale said. “Duke right now is playing incredible. So is Florida, so is Michigan, so is Arizona, Connecticut.”
Another team Vitale has his eye on is one that’s been at the center of debate: Miami (Ohio).
The RedHawks are the only undefeated team in the country, but questions remain as to whether the mid-major is a tournament lock if it doesn't win the MAC tournament because of the quality of its resume. Conference title or not, Vitale believes Miami (Ohio) should be in, no matter what.
“If they're denied an opportunity to play, it would be criminal, because those kids have earned the right,” Vitale said. “We have a tendency to go for mediocrity out of the elite conferences, teams with 11, 12, 13 losses. But because they play a tougher schedule, they get the edge. All the metrics that are done in picking teams really favor all the elite conference teams.”
Plenty of developments – even some frustrating – but it’s a blessing; it’s March, and Vitale gets to be part of it.
“I really love what I'm doing. I think when you love something and have a passion for it, it's really super,” he said.
Each NBA team has fewer than 20 games remaining on its 2025-26 regular season schedule, and playoff races are tightening.
It also means players jostling for positioning in the battle for Most Valuable Player are running out of time to make their cases. And, given the recent performance of the player atop this list, it may already be too late.
This last stretch of season also presents a prime chance for marquee matchups. Nikola Jokić and the Denver Nuggets will face Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs (twice) and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder once in their final five games.
This week, Thursday, March 12, OKC will host Jaylen Brown and the Boston Celtics. It should all make for compelling viewing down the stretch.
Here's the latest iteration of the USA TODAY Sports NBA MVP rankings:
USA TODAY Sports NBA MVP rankings
5. Jaylen Brown, Boston Celtics
It appears that the return of Jayson Tatum won’t negatively impact Brown’s argument for MVP, though it is still too early. The bigger issue is the ground needed to make up and the recent play of players atop this list. Either way, Brown’s career highs in points (28.3), rebounds (7.1) and assists (5.1) show the impact he has had this season.
Last week: fifth
4. Cade Cunningham, Detroit Pistons
They snapped their first four-game losing streak of the season, but a recent 10-point performance March 3 against the Cavaliers hurts his case, even though he did generate 14 assists. Cunningham continues to be one of the breakout stars of the season and Detroit’s offense runs through him. That, however, won’t be enough.
Last week: second
3. Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio Spurs
He has been posting monster games lately and the Spurs have lost just a single game since Feb. 1. Wembanyama is the catalyst for San Antonio’s surge, and he has been showing up in massive games. Just this week, he dropped 39 and 11 in a win over the Celtics, which came after a 29 and 8 (with 4 blocks) against the Rockets. His 38-point, 16-rebound, 5-block game against the Pistons, however, a 15-point San Antonio victory, might have been the most complete game of his career.
Last week: fourth
2. Nikola Jokić, Denver Nuggets
He has been on an absolute tear lately and leads the NBA with 24 triple-doubles. In fact, he’s still averaging one, putting up 28.9 points, an NBA-best 12.5 rebounds and an NBA-best 10.3 assists per game. In any other season, that would easily clear the production necessary to win him the award. But the Nuggets have sputtered recently, and he’s in a delicate spot with his games played; if he misses more than one game through Denver’s remaining 17, he’ll become ineligible for postseason awards.
Last week: third
1. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder
SGA, for all intents and purposes, all but ended the race with his 35-point, 15-assist, 9-rebound masterpiece Monday, March 9 against the Nuggets. In that game, Gilgeous-Alexander drained a game-winning 3 and provided yet another MVP moment, which is something voters value when making their determination. And, perhaps most impressively, Gilgeous-Alexander is doing this as the Thunder continue to face injury issues. As long as he maintains his 65-game eligibility, he should be on track to claim his second consecutive MVP.
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