ATLANTA (AP) — Texas junior Rex Maurer defended his title in the 400-yard individual medley at the NCAA swimming and diving championships, and the Longhorns held the team lead after Day 2 on Thursday.
Texas has 215.5 points, followed by Florida with 205 and Arizona State 133.5.
Josh Liendo won the 100 butterfly for Florida in a NCAA record time of 42.49, just passing Texas' Hubert Kos on the final stroke. Kos matched Liendo's record set in the prelims at 42.54. Arizona State's Ilya Kharun also broke the 43-second mark.
Virginia freshman Maximus Williamson won the 200 freestyle from lane eight in 1:30.03. In the prelims, Williamson tied his teammate David King for the final spot in the final and King ceded the spot.
California sophomore Yamato Okadome out-touched two Texas swimmers to win the 100-yard breaststroke in 49.90. Longhorns Campbell McKean and Nate Germonprez came in second and third, respectively.
SMU sophomore Luke Sitz claimed the one-meter diving title.
Day 3 of the four-day event continues on Friday with the 100 backstroke, 200 breaststroke, 500 freestyle, 50 freestyle, 400 medley relay and three-meter diving.
Cricket Australia has backflipped on its decision to deny a pundit entry to the Sheffield Shield final at Melbourne’s Junction Oval because he was wearing a ‘Free Imran Khan’ shirt.
Dodgers players were treated to plenty of surprises as they walked into the clubhouse for Opening Day on Thursday.
The World Series trophies from their 2024 and 2025 championships were on display outside the locker room doors. Gold-accented jerseys and caps were sitting in their stalls for their season opener against the Diamondbacks.
And, in a more unexpected twist, luxury Seiko watches were waiting for each of them, as well.
Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani gave each of his teammates a watch ahead of Opening Day. AP
According to Miguel Rojas, the watches were a teamwide gift from superstar Shohei Ohtani to all of his 2026 Dodgers teammates.
Each of them came with a message, too: “Let’s three-peat.”
“That talks a lot about what kind of human he is, not just on the field but off the field,” Rojas said of Ohtani. “I know that watch, we’re going to keep it forever, and we’re always going to remember the best player in the world gave us a watch for Opening Day in 2026.”
The watches, of course, are only the first piece of jewelry the Dodgers are hoping to receive this year. Friday night, they will get their 2025 World Series rings. By season’s end, they’ll hope to earn another, as well, trying to become only the third three-peat champion in MLB’s expansion era.
That’s why Rojas appreciated Ohtani’s message as much –– or, almost, at least –– as the watches themselves.
“I think that’s the mentality of everybody in this clubhouse,” he said. “We need to keep finding new [motivation] every single day, because it’s not going to be an easy road. We all know that we’re going to compete against the best in the world. They all want to come for what we have. And we are really responsible and accountable for what we’re going to be embracing this year.”
Now, they’ll have a flashy new timepiece to help them remember that, as well.
SAN ANTONIO, TX - MARCH 19: Luke Kornet #7 and Victor Wembanyama #1 of the San Antonio Spurs high five during the game against the Phoenix Suns on March 19, 2026 at the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2026 NBAE (Photos by Michael Gonzales/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
The Spurs are on a seven-game win streak and seem to be peaking at the right time, just as the playoffs near. They’ve looked like one of the best teams in the league for a while, but they have been playing like a true contender since the All-Star break and have fully separated themselves from the pack of teams below them in the West.
There are many reasons why the team seems to not only have a high ceiling but has looked more stable recently, from improved individual performances to pristine chemistry. One of the more underrated causes for the steadiness it has been displaying has been the optimization of some lineups. So let’s look at what has been working and why.
The new starting lineup is a juggernaut
With Harrison Barnes struggling, Mitch Johnson decided to start Julian Champagnie and have the veteran forward come off the bench. The results have been great. Since the change, the new starting lineup of De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell, Champagnie, and Victor Wembanyama has outscored opponents by over 21 points per 100 possessions, a ridiculous amount. For the season, that group sits with a 17.7-point net rating, one of the best among units that have played at least 100 minutes together.
The Spurs’ previous starting lineup was also among the best, but not as effective as this new group. There are some weaknesses to this unit, particularly against opponents who have big forwards, but the shooting is a major plus, as San Antonio connects on 41.7 percent of its three-pointers with those five players on the floor. It remains to be seen whether rebounding will be an issue with this configuration against elite opponents, but the success it has had so far suggests Mitch Johnson was right to make the change, and the fact that he doesn’t over-rely on any lineup allows him to adjust.
A scoop of French Vanilla is fine, but don’t overdo it
One of the most intriguing aspects of the Luke Kornet signing in the offseason was the potential for him to not only back Victor Wembanyama up but also play next to the star center. Kornet had done it successfully with Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford in Boston and his ability to slot in with another big gave the Spurs the potential to play jumbo lineups. The duo even got a nickname: French Vanilla.
The reality hasn’t been as exciting as the idea. The Spurs simply can’t score enough with both centers on the floor, posting a sub-100 offensive rating. That main reason for the struggles won’t surprise anyone: lineups with both in them struggle to shoot, especially from distance, where they connect on just 26.4 percent on three-pointers. Wemby is not as reliable as the Boston bigs from long range, and adding a non-shooter like Kornet to groups that likely feature others hurts the spacing in general. The minutes for the combination are down in the post All-Start stretch, which isn’t surprising.
Those lineups could still have a place against specific matchups, which is why it’s good that they haven’t been scrapped completely. They are great defensively, allowing just 103.5 points per 100 possessions, and they dominate the offensive glass, with the Spurs recovering 41 percent of their misses. If some of those second-chance opportunities turn into points, the offense might improve. As a change of pace option rather than a go-to strategy, it could have a place in the offseason in short stints.
The Spurs are slowly figuring out the non-Wemby minutes
Like most teams, the Spurs have struggled to make units that don’t feature their superstar work. It’s not a huge issue when Wembanyama plays heavy minutes, as the Kornet-led lineups are just expected to keep pace for short stints instead of vastly outscoring opponents, but San Antonio can’t afford to have combinations that are liabilities, and some of the lineups they were using were just that.
Before the All-Star break, the most used lineup featuring Kornet and at least two other bench players consisted of the big man, Dylan Harper, Keldon Johnson, Stephon Castle, and Julian Champagnie. It bled points, getting outscored by 17 points in just 32 minutes. Granted, no sweeping conclusions can be drawn with such a small sample size, but in general, units featuring Kornet, Castle, and Harper struggled. The offense simply wasn’t good enough, largely because opponents could simply wall off the paint.
The apparent solution has been to have De’Aaron Fox or Devin Vassell share minutes with Kornet, Harper and Keldon Johnson, the three main bench rotation players. Post All-Star break, the most used Kornet plus at least two bench players unit has featured the two young guards, Keldon and Vassell, and has only been outscored by six points in 27 minutes. The second most used has Harrison Barnes and Fox along the bench trio, and has outscored opponents by two in 21 minutes. After that, there’s a unit featuring both Harper and Carter Bryant that has been a mess, but won’t likely be used much in the postseason.
It can’t be stressed enough how noisy the data of lineups that only share the floor for a few minutes a game can be, but good coaching staffs notice patterns and make small adjustments to try to win on the margins. Some teams are probably going to outscore the Spurs when Wembanyama isn’t on the floor, so the goal is to find units that can hold the fort and phase out those that can’t. It seems that Johnson is doing just that as the playoffs approach, which provides even more reason for optimism about a deep run.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Philadelphia Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm has sued his parents for millions of dollars, accusing them of siphoning large amounts of his money into financial accounts they managed for him and then using some of the cash to pay their own expenses.
Bohm's lawsuit, filed Wednesday in a Philadelphia court, comes after he began to review his personal and financial affairs in recent months, and said that his parents refused to give him access to the accounts or provide him with the information he sought about them.
They sought to “freeze” him out of four accounts — established as limited liability companies — and he now believes they “converted a sizeable amount” of his money from those accounts “to their own use,” the lawsuit said.
By the time he sought the information, his parents had already transferred millions of dollars from his personal accounts to the accounts they controlled, the lawsuit said.
Bohm’s parents, Daniel and Lisa Bohm, denied doing anything wrong and, through their lawyer, said they are “deeply saddened by the allegations” and will aggressively defend themselves. Alec Bohm has had full access to the accounts and his parents are paying his expenses on their personal credit cards, their lawyer, Robert Eckard, said in a statement.
“Mr. and Mrs. Bohm love their son very much and have always acted in his best interests, both personally and professionally, and still do so to this day,” Eckard said.
After Thursday's 2026 season opening game, Bohm declined comment to reporters, saying "I'm not going to address any personal matters right now."
Both parties say the first of the accounts was opened in 2019. His parents told him that they assigned themselves a 10% stake, strictly for administration purposes, and that Bohm was the “true” owner of all of the LLC's assets, Bohm's lawsuit said.
The accounts had various purposes, such as investing in securities or buying real estate. Bohm's lawsuit also said they used money from The Alec Bohm Foundation to pay their expenses.
Bohm’s lawsuit asks his parents to pay at least $3 million in damages, hand over control of the accounts and hire an accountant to track every dollar they transferred from Bohm's personal accounts to the accounts they controlled.
Bohm, 29, has a $10.2 million contract with the Phillies for the 2026 baseball season. The lawsuit said his parents live in a recreational vehicle and travel the country.
Carlos Mendoza called Luis Robert Jr.’s 10-pitch walk the biggest at-bat in what turned out to be the Mets’ rather stunning first-inning takedown of Paul Skenes, the best and most imposing pitcher in the National League.
And afterward, the manager was practically giggling as he tried to explain it.
“I mean, historically he’s been chaser, right?” Mendoza said. “We know he’s going to chase. But then you watch that at-bat. For him to lay off that 3-2 breaking ball…for me, that whole inning was about that Luis Robert at-bat.”
As it turned out, Robert Jr.’s unexpected plate discipline loaded the bases and set the table for the Brett Baty triple - albeit, thanks to a misplay by Oneil Cruz - that led to Skenes’ first-inning knockout and eventually a feel-good 11-7 Opening Day win over the Pittsburgh Pirates at Citi Field.
It was a win that featured the Mets’ new-look offense that prioritizes making contact, the deliberate result of David Stearns desire to, as he said during spring training, “have more competitive at-bats 1-through-9” in the lineup.
The first-day results say the plan could work wonders for an offense that has been too feast-or-famine in recent years, and way too inconsistent with runners in scoring position.
Yet not even the Stearns would have dreamed of his team giving Skenes the earliest knockout of his career. And though the NL Cy Young winner’s defense was partly to blame, tough at-bats by the Mets’ hitters led to long counts that pushed his pitch count to 37, at which point Pirates’ manager Don Kelly decided not to push his young superstar too far on Opening Day.
“He was missing arm side and he was trying to make us chase,” said Mendoza. “We controlled the strike zone. We executed the game plan. We were going to make him come to us - and be aggressive if we get pitches to hit.”
From the offseason blueprint to the ballfield. At least on Day One.
Yet the weird part is Robert Jr. wasn’t really part of that blueprint. The Mets gambled on him in a trade with the Chicago White Sox, willing to take on his $20 million salary this season, because of his elite athleticism, both as a center fielder and a hitter, and the hope that he could stay healthy and deliver on the hit tool that still makes scouts drool.
But suffice it to say, nobody ever accused Robert Jr. of being a grinder at the plate.
Indeed, as Mendoza referenced, Robert Jr. has been the definition of a chaser throughout his career. Even during his All-Star season in 2023, when he hit .264 with 38 home runs, he had a whopping 172 strikeouts and ranked in the bottom third percentile among all hitters in chasing pitches out of the strike zone, according to MLB Statcast.
One year earlier, in 2022, he ranked in the bottom one percent. The very bottom. By 2025, he’d improved a bit but still ranked in the bottom 20th percentile, which means that, at least statistically, Robert should have had little to no chance of winning an at-bat like the one against Skenes on Thursday, from falling behind 1-2 in the count to working out such a consequential walk.
Or as a scout I reached out to after the Mets’ win said:
“At 1-2, I thought there was a 90 percent chance Skenes would strike him out. Then, honestly, as he was fouling off tough pitches and taking sliders off the plate, I almost couldn’t believe it was the same guy I watched in Chicago.”
So then logic would tell you the 10-pitch walk was just some sort of happy accident for the Mets.
To that point, according to Sports Info Solutions, the 10-pitch walk was tied for Robert’s longest at-bat in his last three seasons, along with one in 2025 against Taijuan Walker, who, no offense, is hardly Paul Skenes.
Ok, but what if this is some new-and-improved version of Robert Jr.? He did go 2-for-4 in addition to the walk on Thursday, even if one of his two singles was a slow roller in the infield.
More significantly, Robert Jr. is still only 28, after all, and theoretically younger than that, baseball-wise, considering all the time he’s missed due to injuries during his career, only once playing more than 110 games in a season.
In addition, there has been much speculation from people around baseball, even going back to last season when the Mets were interested in him at the trade deadline, that he’d been worn down by years of losing with the White Sox and even somewhat undeveloped in an organization considered lacking in modern analytics/technology.
Stearns himself said after trading for him, “We’ve all seen it before. Sometimes guys just need a change of scenery to bring out the best him.” Here’s how the scout translated that quote when I read it to him Thursday:
“That’s a nice way of saying he thinks the White Sox weren’t equipped to get the most out of Robert’s talent,” he said. “And he might be right about that. We’re talking mostly about one at-bat against a great pitcher but it’s something that you wouldn’t think was possible unless the guy has taken to whatever the Mets may have been working with him on this spring.”
Mendoza, for one, wants to believe that such work in spring training is already beginning to pay dividends.
“I give credit to him and the coaches,” said the manager. “Behind the scenes, they were working with him on laying off tough pitches and doing damage with the pitches he can handle. I think you saw some of that in that walk.”
It opened some eyes among his teammates as well.
“That was super impressive,” Bo Bichette said. “To get to 1-2 against a guy like that, and then work the count to 3-2, that’s not easy to do. Then to lay off a slider on 3-2…you’ve got 100 (mph) in the back of your mind, and you also want to drive in a run there…to wind up taking the walk is so impressive.”
So if it’s more than a happy accident, well, Robert could be an X-factor that gives the Mets a significant power dimension in the No. 5 spot, in addition to the contact, plate discipline, and consistency in RBI spots they want to be their identity.
“We know how talented he is,” was the way Mendoza put it. “We know what that could mean for us.”
To which the scout added: “Keeping him off the injured list is a big part of it, but if the Mets get a better version of Robert, especially with his approach and discipline, that could be a deep and dangerous lineup.”
At least for one day, a first-inning TKO of the best pitcher in the National League was proof of that.
Mar 26, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals second baseman JJ Wetherholt (26) hits a solo home run for his first major league hit during his major league debut in the third inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images | Jeff Curry-Imagn Images
Busch Stadium was an exciting place to be today as the St. Louis Cardinals opened up the 2026 season against the Tampa Bay Rays. The parade of St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Famers, the proud Budweiser Clydesdales and a stadium packed with plenty of fans wearing red. The game had plenty of highlights and it was a close game until the sixth inning when the Rays jumped out to a big lead, but the Cardinals put together a furious comeback to beat Tampa Bay.
The St. Louis Cardinals struck first when JJ Wetherholt came up for his second at-bat and hammered a 2-strike pitch into Freese’s Landing in center. JJ’s homer traveled 425 feet with an exit velocity of 101.7 mph.
Nathan Church made an incredible catch in the fifth inning bringing a potential home run back from over the left field wall.
It was the sixth inning when both teams would go wild. Matt Svanson relieved Matthew Liberatore who gave up 3 singles before being removed by Manager Oli Marmol who brought in Justin Bruihl. Chandler Simpson pinch-hit for the Rays singled past Masyn Winn to knock in a run. Aranda followed that with a sacrifice fly to center to give Tampa Bay a 3-1 lead. Bruihl was taken out of the game and replaced by Chris Roycroft who gives up 2 dribble singles. By the time the Tampa Bay sixth inning was done, the Rays lead was 7-1.
The Cardinals answered with one of the most exciting innings the team has had in recent years. Masyn Winn doubled followed by a RBI single by Nolan Gorman. Jordan Walker slammed a ground rule double over the center field wall with Gorman stopping at third base. Nathan Church then singled in both Gorman and Walker making it 7-5. Tampa Bay responded by bringing in Cleavinger in relief who immediately surrendered a single to Pedro Pages. Victor Scott II laid down the perfect bunt to load the bases. JJ Wetherholt flied out to deep right field bringing in Nathan Church to reduce the Rays lead to 7-6. Victor Scott II then stole 2nd base. Great situational hitting continued as Ivan Herrera’s sacrifice fly tied the game. It was Alec Burleson who brought Busch Stadium to its collective feet when he destroyed a ball into the right field stands as it traveled 432 feet.
One additional sixth inning note: The Rays catcher Fortes took a ball to the worst possible place, but miraculously managed to stay in the game. Chuck Norris would have been so proud of such courage. Seriously.
The St. Louis Cardinals shined on defense in the 8th inning when JJ Wetherholt made a fine play on a backhanded grab and Alec Burleson robbed the Rays on a line drive he grabbed that was screaming down the first base line. In the bottom of the 8th, Victor Scott II reached base on a broken bat single to center then was granted 2nd base when he drew three throws over to first base, but it was all for naught when Masyn Winn lined out to left field to end the inning.
The Cardinals brought in Ryan Stanek in the 9th inning to shut down the Rays, but he allowed unneeded drama allowing the Rays to load the bases, but St. Louis held on for a thrilling 9-7 victory after former Cardinal Palacios made the final out.
The energy in Busch Stadium today was amazing. Even when the Cardinals fell behind 7-1, the team did not lose its intensity. This was the first time the Cardinals have overcome a 6-run deficit since 2019 when they did it against the Cincinnati Reds. Matthew Liberatore threw a solid, if not spectacular 5 innings giving up 7 hits.
Los Angeles, CA - March 25: The Los Angeles Dodgers and UNIQLO announced a partnership renaming the Dodger Stadium playing field to UNIQLO Field at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (Photo by Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images) | MediaNews Group via Getty Images
CLEVELAND, OHIO - DECEMBER 23: Darius Garland #10, Jarrett Allen #31 and Jaylon Tyson #20 of the Cleveland Cavaliers wave to fans prior to a game against the New Orleans Pelicans at Rocket Arena on December 23, 2025 in Cleveland, Ohio. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Nick Cammett/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Cleveland Cavaliers have only had their new core four players of James Harden, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen all together on the court for three games this season. Friday’s contest against the Miami Heat could be their fourth.
Allen, who has missed the team’s last 10 games with a knee injury, is questionable for Friday’s rematch.
The Cavs made a bold decision at the deadline by sending out a much-younger Darius Garland for Harden. That move was done with the hopes that they would have a better chance of winning a title in the next few seasons, even if it cost them some long-term security. One of the issues of doing a move that drastic is that there isn’t much time to see how it all works.
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Allen was the biggest beneficiary of the Harden acquisition. He displayed an instant chemistry with Harden, which led to him playing the best basketball of his career in February. This resulted in team success as well, as the Cavs registered a +8.5 net rating (87th percentile) and 124.2 offensive rating (96th percentile) in the 256 minutes Harden and Allen shared the floor.
We know those groupings work. We don’t know for sure how it works when you throw Mobley into that mix. The Cavs have only played 35 minutes with all four on the court together. Those lineups have done incredibly well — +36.7 net rating — but it isn’t close to being a large enough sample size to draw any conclusions from. Figuring out how that lineup looks is critical to team success in the postseason.
Additionally, the Cavs have struggled defensively without Allen. That’s been seen in recent games as they’ve consistently over-helped to stop dribble penetration, which has led to giving up open threes. Having an additional rim protector should theoretically help with some of those issues.
This new group would ideally like more time to gel before playoff basketball starts. There’s only nine games left in the regular season. At the very least, Friday could be an opportunity to see how this looks when at least the team’s top players are fully healthy.
On the season, Allen is averaging 15.3 points and 8.5 rebounds per game on 63.6% shooting.
The Cavs will still be without Jaylon Tyson (toe), Craig Porter Jr. (groin), and Dean Wade (ankle) on Friday. Miami could be missing Jaime Jaquez Jr., who’s questionable for Friday’s game with an ankle sprain.
While the Pittsburgh Penguins are in the midst of a playoff push, one young defensive prospect finds himself on the outside looking in.
But all the while, he's taking care of business in the Western Hockey League - and he's leadong the charge of his team into a playoff push of their own.
Penguins' top defensive prospect Harrison Brunicke has been having his way as of late for the Kamloops Blazers of the WHL, as he registered two goals and 15 points in the final 11 games of his team's regular season. The 19-year-old blueliner from Johanessberg, South Africa finished his 2025-26 regular season at point-per-game with the Blazers, putting up 24 points in 24 games in what will be his final junior season.
The 6-foot-3, 203-pound Brunicke - one of the Penguins' top prospects - broke the Penguins' NHL roster out of training camp, and he registered his first NHL goal in his second NHL game, which came against the New York Islanders - the team chasing the Penguins in the Metropolitan Division standings. Brunicke's defensive game left a bit to be desired, though, so after nine NHL games, an AHL conditioning stint, and an appearance at the World Junior Championship, Brunicke was sent back to Kamloops in January.
And, there, he has become the Blazers' most relied-upon shutdown defenseman, playing at all strengths and being deployed in key situations. Brunicke's defensive game is something the Penguins' organization wanted him to work on upon being sent back to junior hockey, and they've kept a close eye on his progress in that area, which has been tangible.
Brunicke turns 20 in June, so he will be AHL-eligible next season. He also figures to make a serious push for a full-time spot on the NHL roster next season.
However, there is a small chance Penguins' fans may get to see him sooner. Should Kamloops be eliminated while the AHL and NHL seasons and/or playoffs are still going on, Brunicke is eligible to be recalled or loaned to the AHL. If he were to appear in one more NHL game in the regular season or the playoffs this year, it would be his 10th, meaning his entry-level contract would be triggered.
If Opening Day were a prophecy, instead of merely a beginning, the Mets should start planning for a late October destiny.
If they can replicate for a whole season what they did Thursday afternoon -- when they were a patient, pitch-eating juggernaut that pushed reigning Cy Young winner Paul Skenes from the game before he could record a third out -- they can rewrite history. Suddenly, that 2025 debacle could look more like a painful-but-necessary learning experience, one that nudged David Stearns to remake his lineup into the relentless, dynamic force last year’s team never found a way to be.
Because for one sunny afternoon in Flushing, everything went perfectly for a new-look Mets lineup that included five players who did not appear for them in 2025. By taking close pitches and fouling off uncomfortable strikes, they picked apart one of the best pitchers of this generation so completely that he left the game before finishing one inning, by far the worst start of his career.
“Look, that first inning was pretty impressive,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “Not gonna lie.”
That first inning was a masterclass in all the things the Mets could not do last year – creating sparks, then igniting them into a full-fledged flame.
Francisco Lindor worked a walk. Juan Soto blooped a hit into short center, at which point Lindor hustled to third base, challenging Oneil Cruz’s cannon in center to take an extra base.
That brought up Bo Bichette, the former American League batting champion, heralded as a runners-in-scoring-position savant the Mets sorely needed. He fell into a two-strike count. He fouled off a pitch up and in. Then he muscled a fly ball just deep enough to right field to score a run, giving the Mets a walk, a bloop, a sprint, and a chip shot. Something out of nothing.
Jorge Polanco, another new addition, singled. Then, Luis Robert Jr. – known as an avid chaser of strikes and balls, alike – worked a walk in just the second 10-pitch plate appearance he has had in the last three years. A batter later, Brett Baty delivered a go-ahead triple. He said seeing so many Skenes offerings to Robert helped.
“That’s what we harp on. We’re a complete lineup,” Baty said. “And if you wear the pitcher down, somebody is going to get a mistake and do some damage with it.”
Now, of course, any team can have a good inning on any given day. And many teams can even have that good inning against Skenes, though it must be said the Mets were helped by two misreads by Cruz that turned Baty’s ball from a sacrifice fly to a triple and Marcus Semien’s bloop into a double a batter later.
But what was encouraging for Mendoza, he said later, was that the Mets put together a similar inning in the fifth inning. Carson Benge reached base for the first time in his career with a walk. Francisco Alvarez singled. Lindor walked for the third time in five innings to load the bases. At that point, Soto poked a ten-hopper through the left side, the kind of hit that can materialize when hitters put the ball in play with runners in scoring position instead of prioritizing big swings and damage.
A batter later, Bichette worked a 13-pitch at-bat that ended in a strikeout.
“I wrote that down,” Mendoza said later. “Even though he struck out, then we see a four-pitch walk right away, right behind him. He’s going to make him work. We’ve got a lot of guys who are going to grind at-bats. Even if we didn’t get the exact result we wanted in that particular situation, the other guy benefitted from it.”
Ironically, Bichette was the only player in the lineup who did not reach base Thursday. But that 13-pitch at-bat preceded a walk and another single that helped the Mets add on after the Pirates started climbing back.
“I know he might have had a couple strikeouts today or something, but he was grinding,” Baty said. “The strikeouts I had too, I was trying to grind, get the pitch count up. All through the lineup, I think we were super scrappy today.”
Unfortunately for the Mets, the keyword in that sentence is “today.” Whether Thursday was a harbinger or aberration will be clearer in time. Small sample sizes cannot be trusted – though they do not always lie.
“It’s 162,” Mendoza said. “There’s gonna be times where it’s gonna be hard. That’s the nature of the business. But just to see it out of the gate against one of the best pitchers in the league, it goes to show you that we’ve got some dangerous guys.”
And indeed, Thursday did demonstrate that when this remodeled lineup is at its most focused (and, perhaps, gifted a few lucky breaks), it is capable of being one of the game’s more productive groups.
Perhaps Benge will look more like the rookie who struck out in his first two at-bats Thursday more often than he looks like the guy who homered in his fourth. But the fact that he could follow two tough at-bats in his first big league game with two solid ones suggests he will not disappear when at-bats go badly.
SAN DIEGO — The sun hung lazily over Petco Park on Thursday afternoon, as the hope, promise and renewal of a new MLB season hung over the stadium like a golden glow. Opening Day offers a clean slate, like a wave washing away footprints on the shore.
But by the third inning, the tide had already come crashing in on the Padres.
And there was no lifeguard on duty to save them.
Starting pitcher Nick Pivetta delivers against the visiting Tigers on Opening Day. AP
This was supposed to be a pitcher’s duel. A heavyweight fight on the mound between two aces — Tarik Skubal, the reigning American League Cy Young winner, and Nick Pivetta, a late-blooming force who had clawed his way into National League Cy Young relevance last season.
Instead, it felt more like a public unraveling.
Because while Skubal carved, Pivetta collapsed.
Pivetta allowed six runs on seven hits, with four strikeouts and three walks in his Opening Day debut. His ERA after pitching just three innings? A whopping 18.00.
If Pivetta’s outing felt like a storm, Skubal’s was the calm that follows — controlled, precise, almost surgical. He allowed just one unearned run with no walks and six strikeouts, allowing just three hits over six dominant innings. Every pitch delivered with the quiet confidence of a man who understands exactly who he is on a mound.
And what he is … is one of the best pitchers on the planet.
Their lone flicker of resistance came off the bat of Ramon Laureano, a solo home run that briefly interrupted the inevitable. A momentary spark in a game already swallowed by darkness.
Everything else belonged to Detroit.
And to Kevin McGonigle, who finished his debut 4 for 5 with two RBI and two runs scored — a performance so composed, so fearless, it felt like watching the future arrive ahead of schedule.
There’s something poetic about a rookie stealing the spotlight on Opening Day. Baseball has always been a game that honors its past while quietly handing the keys to the next generation. On Thursday, that passing of the torch didn’t feel subtle. It felt loud.
What it means
Pivetta might be regressing. He struck out Kerry Carpenter to start the game, but it all went south from there. What followed felt like a slow leak turning into a flood. Walks piled up. Contact got louder. Confidence drained.
By the time the inning exhaled its final breath, the Tigers led 4-0. And the game, for all intents and purposes, was already over.
The Tigers’ Kevin McGonigle had an amazing MLB debut on Thursday. AP
Who’s hot
A 21-year-old kid, barely old enough to legally toast his own debut, stepped into the box and announced himself to the sport with the kind of audacity that makes veterans shake their heads. McGonigle delivered the game’s biggest hit on the first pitch he saw of his career.
McGonigle ripped a two-run double down the right field line off Pivetta in the first inning. A clean, violent stroke that split the afternoon open. It wasn’t just a hit. It was a declaration.
Welcome to the show, Kevin.
Who’s not
Nick Pivetta. The man who was among the sport’s top pitchers last season was supposed to take a step forward as San Diego’s dominant ace this season. Instead, he delivered a dud on Opening Day.
Pivetta loaded the bases after that opening strikeout, and instead of finding a way out, he spiraled deeper. A walk forced in the first run. Then came McGonigle’s double — a slicing line drive that seemed to carry the weight of inevitability with it.
When he left the game, it was 6-0 Tigers and the Padres were chasing the scoreboard.
Up next
The Padres (0-1) will try to shake off the sting Friday night when Michael King takes the ball in his season debut. Waiting for him will be another test — Framber Valdez, the longtime Astros ace now wearing Tigers (1-0) colors after a headline-grabbing offseason move.
With Pivetta’s implosion Thursday, King could step into the role as Padres ace with a dominant performance. For San Diego, it’s only one game. Baseball will always humble you and remind you to turn the page, but this was a bad start to the 2026 season.
For the Tigers, this felt like a warning shot to the American League: We’ve reloaded and are ready to compete for a title this year.
Forty-two years ago, the Tigers and Padres met in the 1984 World Series with Detroit coming out on top. Both teams would love to meet again in the Fall Classic this year. They’ll have to start with Game 2 of the opening series on Friday.
First pitch is set for 6:40 p.m.
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CHICAGO — Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner has agreed to a six-year contract, according to a person familiar with the details, marking another major deal for the franchise.
The person spoke to the AP on Thursday on condition of anonymity because the agreement was pending a physical.
The long-term contract for Hoerner comes after All-Star center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong agreed to a $115 million, six-year deal with the Cubs. The team announced Crow-Armstrong’s contract after Thursday’s 10-4 loss to Washington on opening day.
The 28-year-old Hoerner was selected by Chicago in the first round of the 2018 amateur draft out of Stanford University. He is in the last season of a $35 million, three-year contract that was finalized in March 2023.
Hoerner was a key performer last year as Chicago won 92 games and reached the playoffs for the first time since 2020. He batted .297 with seven homers, 61 RBIs and 29 steals in a career-best 156 games. He also won his second Gold Glove.
But the Hickory, North Carolina native is also from another era, joining Michigan State’s Tom Izzo and Houston’s Kelvin Sampson from the old guard of coaches to make it to the Sweet 16 this year. His No. 6 seeded Tennessee team faces No. 2 seed Iowa State Friday, March 27 at the United Center in Chicago.
With that longevity comes a fascinating perspective about the place he’s been for the past decade, the places he might have left for previously, and the places he probably won’t go now that everything about college sports is different.
“The obvious problem today is there's some fan bases that still think they have an entitlement and they think it's going to be the same way,” Barnes said on Thursday in reference to North Carolina basketballl. “The game has changed totally because of NIL.”
The statement perhaps minimizes the remarkable consistency forged under Barnes over the past decade on Rocky Top. This is the fourth Sweet 16 appearance in a row for Tennessee under Barnes, and no active coach has more all-time wins (860) without winning a national championship. The Vols have advanced past the first weekend of the men's NCAA Tournament nearly as many times with Barnes (5) as they had in the previous 106 seasons of program history.
He’s also 23 years removed from a Final Four appearance with Texas and may never be on another blueblood wish list again because of his age and the lifetime contract he signed with the Volunteers last year. But now, with his coaching career much closer to its ending than the beginning, he might not need to be.
That's what he believes, and so do his counterparts actually being featured on all those UNC hot boards this week. The 2025-26 college football season was proof of concept for some.
“We may not have the tradition that some of these other places had," Oats said in reference to Alabama, for instance, "but Indiana football probably didn't have that tradition, either, and they won it. I think their athletic department supported them, they got a good coach and they won it.”
This alignment between administration and coach, Barnes emphasized Thursday, is more important than ever in a system he acknowledged as “broken” because of the rapid evolution of the NCAA rulebook. “You need money. We know that,” Barnes said. “But there’s a lot more to it than that."
There's a scenario, for instance, in which he would have already retired in the wake of all the change in college basketball if not for the presence of Tennessee athletic director Danny White.
"I love coaching, and if I didn't have the leadership – I don't know," Barnes said.
In this way, perhaps coincidentally, he has been ahead of the curve working at a school with a powerhouse football program.
Barnes called Tennessee football the "greatest asset we have," rather than competition for resources, due to the revenue generated and the value of hosting recruits during games at Neyland Stadium in the fall. He joked NIL stands for "now it's legal," and yet the version of Barnes players get now seems a lot like the version they got before making six- and seven-figure salaries.
His recruiting pitch even includes the warning that, "this will be the hardest-working program you'll ever be in," Ohio State transfer Felix Okpara said.
“He’s as hands on as it gets. He’s ripping into you," added guard Bishop Boswell. "A lot of times it can be hard to hear, but at the end of the day, he demands perfection. I think the thing we respect the most about him is he’s the same every day. There’s no fall off, even if we might not always want to hear it.”
Barnes savors this part of the job. He loves practice most of all, he said, and told a story Thursday from when he worked for Wimp Sanderson at Alabama 40 years ago.
Barnes walked in on Sanderson "literally lying on the sofa in his office" with his hands behind his head before the first game of the season, and the coach told Barnes this would be a great job "if you never had to play games." Only Barnes lost his train of thought as the memory flooded back to him and asked to hear the question again.
What's his driving force after so many years, so many accomplishments and so many changes? This time, Barnes gave the canned answer.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Alec Burleson hit a two-run homer to cap off an eight-run outburst in the sixth inning as the St. Louis Cardinals rallied for a 9-7 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday.
Rookie JJ Wetherholt also homered for St. Louis.
Jonathan Aranda homered for Tampa Bay, which took a 7-1 lead with six runs in the top of the sixth.
St. Louis answered back with eight runs in its half including run-scoring sacrifice flies by Wetherholt and Ivan Herrera, which tied the game 7-all.
Burleson followed with a blast to right field.
Both teams sent 11 batters to the plate in the inning.
Jonny DeLuca had a two-run single to highlight the sixth inning for Tampa Bay, which had won four of its previous five games on opening day.
Riley O’Brien picked up the win with 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. Ryne Stanek earned the save. He struck out Richie Palacios with the bases loaded to end the game.
St. Louis outfielder Nathan Church added a two-run hit in the sixth. Church, Burleson and Victor Scott II had three hits each.
Yandy Díaz, Ben Williamson and Nick Fortes had three hits each for the Rays.
Tampa Bay starter Drew Rasmussen allowed just one run on four hits over five innings in his first opening day assignment.
Cardinals starter Matthew Liberatore surrendered one run on seven hits in five innings.
The Cardinals are in rebuilding mode after trading veterans Sonny Gray, Brendan Donovan, Nolan Arenado and Willson Contreras in the offseason for prospects.
The game time temperature of 91 degrees was the hottest opening day in the history of Busch Stadium, eclipsing the previous mark of 73 degrees on April 5, 1999.
Up next
After a day off on Friday, Tampa Bay RH Joe Boyle (1-0, 3. 52 ERA last season) will face RHP Michael McGreevy (8-4, 4.42) in the second game of the three-game set on Saturday,
