It’s game 4 of the St. Louis Cardinals Spring Training schedule as they take on the Washington Nationals with a start time of 5:05pm central. According to MLB.com, Andre Pallante will get the start for the Cardinals while the Nationals will send Cade Cavalli to the mound.
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The NBA Finals MVP odds are shaping up to look very familiar.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has led the Finals MVP odds since the 2025–26 season tipped off, and with the Oklahoma City Thunder owning the league’s best record — even while he’s sidelined with an abdominal strain — OKC is proving it has the pieces to repeat.
When their star guard returns, he should be able to slide right back into a NBA Championship caliber lineup with ease.
Here's a look at the latest NBA odds to win 2026 Finals MVP.
These are the latest NBA odds for the NBA Finals MVP race with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leading the pack to go for it once again.
Odds from bet365, one of our best betting apps. Sign up with our bet365 promo code, or get one of our other sportsbook promos.
| Player |  |
|---|---|
 Shai Gilgeous-Alexander | +145 |
 Nikola Jokic | +500 |
 Victor Wembanyama | +1200 |
 Cade Cunningham | +1400 |
 Jalen Brunson | +1600 |
 Donovan Mitchell | +2000 |
 Jaylen Brown | +2200 |
 Anthony Edwards | +3500 |
Odds as of 2-24.
The Oklahoma City Thunder remain the favorites in the NBA Finals odds. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been their most reliable source of production, and that's why he's the leader in this market.
The Oklahoma City Thunder have been weathering the storm without their top scorers, with Jalen Williams also dealing with an injury — but they’ve kept rolling through the league by showing resilience despite a short-handed roster.
Here are what NBA Finals MVP opening odds looked like, just before the postseason.
Line movement (Game 6 to Game 7)
• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander -650 to -235
• Jalen Williams +650 to +1050
• Pascal Siakam +1500 to +325
Highest ticket percentage
• Tyrese Haliburton 22.7%
• Pascal Siakam 15.2%
• TJ McConnell 8.4%
Highest handle percentage
• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander 41.2%
• Tyrese Haliburton 17.5%
• Pascal Siakam 11.6%
Data courtesy of BetMGM.
Here are some trends you'll want to keep in mind when placing a bet on NBA Finals MVP:
The adage of needing versatile forwards in today's NBA rings especially true when looking at the recent Finals MVP winners. Despite Giannis being one of the most position-amorphous players in NBA history, eight of the past 10 Finals MVPs have been, at least by most definitions, forwards.
| Year | Player | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Jaylen Brown |  Boston Celtics |
| 2023 | Nikola Jokic |  Denver Nuggets |
| 2022 | Stephen Curry |  Golden State Warriors |
| 2021 | Giannis Antetokounmpo |  Milwaukee Bucks |
| 2020 | LeBron James |  Los Angeles Lakers |
| 2019 | Kawhi Leonard |  Toronto Raptors |
| 2018 | Kevin Durant | Golden State Warriors |
| 2017 | Kevin Durant | Golden State Warriors |
| 2016 | LeBron James |  Cleveland Cavaliers |
| 2015 | Andre Iguodala | Golden State Warriors |
Scouting basketball betting websites should be a breeze, but new bettors often feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of options available. Here are the must-have basketball betting site features you should target before placing your wagers.
Best odds: Not all sportsbooks are created equally, especially when it comes to odds. Finding the best price for your basketball bets is key to a successful betting strategy.
Live betting: Watching betting lines move in real-time and comparing statistics allows you to jump into the action at just the right moment.
Fast payouts: Accessing your hard-earned funds shouldn't feel like breaking a full-court press. It's important to choose a sportsbook that offers fast and reliable money withdrawals post-game.
Safe money transactions: The days of placing bets with bookies in shadowy back rooms are long over. Major online sportsbooks boast state-of-the-art security measures like SSL data encryption, and each holds a legal operating license from registered authorities.
This article originally appeared on Covers.com, read the full article here and view our best betting sites or check out our top sportsbook promos.
For the first time since he grounded out to end the 11th inning in Game 7 of the World Series, Freddie Freeman stepped into the batter’s box in the first inning Tuesday against the Cleveland Guardians at Camelback Ranch. Freeman was met with cheers by the thousands of Dodgers fans in attendance.
After popping out to third in his first at-bat, Freeman laced a double to left-center to drive in two runs in the third inning before he was lifted from the Dodgers’ 11-3 victory.
Freeman, who last season battled the lingering effects of a right ankle injury he suffered late in the 2024 season, said having a more typical offseason was crucial to regaining his fitness.
“It’s been in a good spot since I started hitting this offseason,” Freeman said of his swing. “Nice to be able to hit a ball to left-center already, that’s a good sign. ... I hadn’t swung a bat till a day before FanFest last year. A normal offseason definitely helps.”
While still an All-Star and a recipient of MVP votes, Freeman has had a slight decline in production over the last two seasons compared to his first two with the Dodgers. Freeman posted on-base percentages of .407 and .410, while raking a league-leading 47 and 59 doubles, respectively, in 2022 and 2023. His OBP dropped to .378 in 2024 and .367 in 2025.
Five-run rally for the lead! pic.twitter.com/c02Qf0nBiE
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) February 24, 2026
But for Freeman, it is his contact numbers that have been a thorn in his side all offseason.
His .295 batting average was the third-best in the National League last season but still was not good enough for Freeman, a career .300 hitter.
“There wasn’t a 3 at the start of my batting average last year, and that irks me,” Freeman said last week. “That’s my goal always, to hit .300. I like hits. I’m a hitter. Three at the front of a batting average means a lot to me. I know batting average and those kinds of things don’t mean a lot to a lot of people these days, but it does to me. If you hit .300, it means you’re on base a lot, and you’re scoring runs for your team, so that’s the goal, .300 again.”
Freeman landed on the injured list at the start of last April after he aggravated his surgically repaired right ankle, causing him to miss nine games and setting the tone for a season in which he never felt quite right.
Read more:'Pretty healthy' Kyle Tucker content to fit in among Dodgers' galaxy of stars
“I was taping my ankle till about August,” Freeman said. “It was never really in a good spot last year. There was a lot of treatment, and I think I played all right for that, and we won again, so I’m really looking forward this year.”
One area Freeman thinks he can improve is his defense. A former Gold Glover, Freeman rated as a below-average fielder in both the defensive runs saved (minus-7) and outs above average (minus-6) metrics.
“I didn’t like the way I played defense last year and I thought it was just because I wasn’t mobile enough,” Freeman said. “So, that’s a big, big goal of mine, to play better at first this year, get to more balls, be able to cover more things. So, that’s going to be a key for me.”
Manager Dave Roberts is optimistic about what his veteran first baseman can do, even at age 36.
“I think he takes such good care of himself,” Roberts said. “I think that age is an easy one to point to, but I really believe that he’s been dinged up for two years.
“Right now, today, it’s as good as I’ve seen his swing over the course of a week sample, [better] than I have [seen] in two years. So, he’s in a good spot physically, mechanically. So, if we can keep him healthy, I just don’t see why he can’t have the year that he expects, and with that, with everything that he went through the last couple years, he was still very productive.”
Freeman said last week he hopes to play four more years, through his 20th season as a big leaguer.
Read more:Stephen Nelson is now part of Dodgers fans' memories. Here's how he keeps it in perspective
“In that fourth year, I turn 40,” Freeman said. “Four is just a number that’s floated. Is it less? Is it more? I don’t know, but that’s kind of just where I’m at. I feel good right now, so that was just floated because that would be an even 20 years, I’ll be 40. I got a family that I would like to go home to. I do love this game; I love playing it, but for me, if I can do four, that would be 20 years. I think that’s enough.”
After major shoulder surgery in 2024 that forced him to miss all of last season, right-hander Gavin Stone made his return to the mound a smooth one, pitching a scoreless first inning and striking out two against the Guardians.
“It was awesome,” said Stone, who last pitched for the Dodgers on Aug. 31, 2024. “Definitely a lot of hard work over the previous year. Rehab was a grind, but it’s good to be back out there.”
Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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The San Antonio Spurs are once again surging in odds to win the NBA Finals, this time after they beat the Eastern Conference-leading Detroit Pistons by double digits Monday night.
The Spurs are 41-16, good for the second-best record in the Western Conference and the third best in the NBA. The only teams ahead of them are the Oklahoma City Thunder (44-14) and Pistons (42-14).
San Antonio passed the “40-20” test, which refers to more than 90% of champions winning 40 games before losing 20 during the regular season.
The Spurs were +6,600 to win the Finals on Oct. 21, the day before they made their season debut, according to Sports Odds History’s archive of BetMGM’s odds.
BetMGM is now one of several sportsbooks to list the Spurs at +1,000 odds, meaning they’ve gone from a 1.5% to a 9.1% implied chance to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy. OKC is at +135 (42.6% chance) and Denver is at +550 (15.4% chance).
Prediction platform Kalshi views the race much differently. The Thunder are still at the top of the board, though users have only given them a 39% chance to win the Finals. The Spurs are second at 14%, ahead of the Nuggets at 12%.
Those probabilities translated to betting odds would look like this:
The Spurs’ continued ascent in NBA Finals winner odds is well earned. They are 9-3 against the top three teams in each conference (Thunder, Pistons, Houston Rockets, Boston Celtics, and New York Knicks) and beat the defending champions in four of their five matchups.
They also won the NBA Cup and are two wins (against the Toronto Raptors and Brooklyn Nets) away from going 11-0 in February.
The team’s surge has given life to Victor Wembanyama’s NBA MVP case. Kalshi’s odds list the young Frenchman fourth behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokic, and Cade Cunniingham with a 9% chance to win.
While he is an obvious underdog, both Gilgeous-Alexander and Jokic are in danger of losing their eligibility for the award due to the NBA’s 65-game requirement for players. Cunningham isn’t close to missing more than the allotted amount of games, but he’s only at a 16% chance at the time of writing.
Here’s how the top four candidates stack up against one another as they continue to battle in NBA MVP odds:
A Spurs NBA championship would mark the largest Finals upset on record, according to Sports Odds History data.
The longest preseason underdogs to win since 1984-85, when odds were first tracked, were the 2014-15 Golden State Warriors. Even they were only +2,800.
The closest team since then was the 2018-19 Raptors, who were +1,850.
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Just when the Lakers reached full health, another injury occurred to one of their rotation players.
Jaxson Hayes had to exit early during LA’s loss against Boston and was deemed doubtful to play in the team’s upcoming game against Orlando.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Lakers downgraded him to out for the contest.
After Monday’s practice, Lakers head coach JJ Redick said Hayes was considered day-to-day due to this ankle injury. So, while he’ll be unavailable for LA’s upcoming matchup, he isn’t automatically ruled out for the team’s other games.
Overall, Hayes has been relatively healthy this season. He’s only missed nine games so far this year.
His most recent injury was left hamstring tendinopathy, which caused him to miss three games in January. Since then, he’s played in 15 of the last 16 games for the purple and gold.
On the season, Hayes is averaging 6.8 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. Hayes has always been effective on his shot attempts, but this season, his 77% shooting from the field is a career-best.
He’s been an integral part of the rotation, providing LA with a lob threat and a good pick-and-roll partner for Luka Dončić to work with.
With Hayes out, the Lakers’ frontcourt depth shrinks dramatically. Redick will either have to rely on Maxi Kleber to slot into that backup role or use two-way big Drew Timme to take up those minutes.
Timme has had a handful of good games for Los Angeles, including a road win over the Raptors back in January.
Redick can also opt to play some more small-ball lineups and use Jarred Vanderbilt as his center.
Regardless, losing Hayes is a negative for the Lakers and something they’ll have to navigate while he’s out. There is no other player on LA’s roster that can give the Lakers the vertical spacing he provides.
LA has played only a handful of games with its full rotation, and while Hayes has a smaller role on this team, he will be needed for the Lakers to optimize their roster and maximize their chances to go on a run this season.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.
Spring training is one of the best times of the year for baseball fans, the return of their sport after three agonizing months of waiting. It’s also a time for the Yankees coaching staff to get their first in-person look at the mechanics and adjustments their players have been working on over the winter. After a week of watching players at the spring training complex in Tampa, we’ve spotted four players who have made discernible adjustments over the offseason. We’ll be keeping our eye on Gerrit Cole, Spencer Jones, Luis Gil, and José Caballero in the month leading to Opening Day to see how these developments progress.
You don’t need me to tell you how exciting it is to have the Yankees ace back healthy and in camp. Cole showed up ready to participate in live BPs, his fastball touching 97 mph in his latest session. It’s uncertain whether he will pitch in any of the Grapefruit League games, but by his account he is tracking right on schedule with his Tommy John rehab with his sights set on a May return.
Cole arrived in camp with by far the most noticeable mechanical adjustment of anyone on the team, going with an arms-over-the-head windup like the kind we’ve seen from Andy Pettitte, Roger Clemens, Max Scherzer, and many other. Below are Cole’s windup mechanics before his surgery, followed by a video of his new windup this spring.
When asked about why he chose to switch to this windup, Cole didn’t give much away, simply saying that “it feels good.” It’s hard to say whether this new windup has anything to do with injury prevention given the coincidental timing of Cole making this adjustment on the heels of Tommy John rehab. Personally, I’ve always liked this kind of windup because I feel it keeps your upper body vertically aligned over your center of mass before making your move down the mound. This helps prevent disconnection between your lower and upper halves during the force generation phase of delivery — you can imagine that if your arm lags behind your base as you step toward the batter, you have to generate all the velocity with your arm rather than efficiently transferring it from the ground via the lower half.
Spencer Jones made positive strides in the minors last year, slashing .274/.362/.571 with 35 home runs, 80 RBIs, 29 stolen bases, and a 153 wRC+ in 116 games between Double-A and Triple-A. However, he still struck out in over 35-percent of his plate appearances, and more concerningly, struggled to make contact on pitches in the zone, his 28-percent zone whiff rate among the highest in Triple-A. In his first spring AB, there was a noticeable difference in his batting stance relative to last season. Below is a swing from last season, followed by his first swing of the Grapefruit League — a 408-foot solo home run off the Tigers’ Keider Montero.
Jones went from a left-handed mirror of Aaron Judge’s front foot hover in 2025 to a toe-tap and load that looks eerily similar to Shohei Ohtani’s pre-swing mechanics. Indeed, the Yankees’ fourth-ranked prospect cited Ohtani as the inspiration behind this mechanical adjustment.
“He’s a great reference of a really good mover with a great swing. He’s one of those guys that I look at with some of the stuff he does, and I try to apply it in whichever way I can.”
After witnessing the results of this adjustment, Judge offered praise for Jones in the post-game press conference.
“The minute he puts that foot down with that little toe-tap, he’s ready to hit. They might have gotten him with a lot of high heaters in the past, or even last season. I think that’s just going to help him. He doesn’t have a big leg kick and doesn’t have to worry about trying to get that down. I liked the results I saw in that first at-bat. That quickness, that readiness, it’s really going to be a game-changer for him.”
I love this adjustment for Jones, especially as a batter who struggles to catch up to fastballs in the zone as Judge noted. Getting that front foot down earlier gives Jones valuable milliseconds more to react to the incoming pitch while also eliminating unwanted head movement after the pitch has left the hand. Jones has so much raw strength that he doesn’t need an exaggerated leg kick to generate power, it’s all about getting into a good hitting position earlier. I will definitely be monitoring Jones’ timing against heaters in his upcoming spring appearances.
Luis Gil was something of an enigma in 2025. He missed the first four months to a lat strain, and though his top level stats appeared decent — 4-1 with a 3.32 ERA in eleven starts — Gil regressed in several concerning areas. His fastball velocity was about a tick-and-a-half below his 2024 Rookie of the Year campaign, and he lost a whopping ten points off his strikeout rate while placing in the first percentile in chase rate.
His fastball velo is still down in his first spring training reps, something which Gil acknowledged following his Grapefruit League start against the Mets. What caught my eye, however, was the reduced velocity of his slider and changeup — both about two-and-a-half mph slower on Sunday than last season — and this is something that I think can work in Gil’s favor in 2026.
I’ve always been a big proponent of creating velocity separation between one’s fastball and one’s secondary pitches. Players looking to cheat to the fastball will be even earlier against the soft stuff, while a hitter sitting on offspeed has less time to react to the fastball when there is a wider gap in velo. Gil worked with a roughly 5-6 mph gap between heater and secondaries in 2025 and now that has been increased to a roughly 7-9 mph gap. I feel this can allow his diminished fastball to play up which in turn should increase opportunities for chase out of the zone.
Obviously, the command issues remain a massive problem for Gil — he needs to rein in the walks and needs to find a consistent release for his slider. However, this adjustment from Gil should raise what had become an alarmingly low floor in 2025. It gives him a way to fool hitters with velocity when he’s finding it difficult to fool hitters with movement or location, which should help mitigate the strikeout, chase, hard-hit, and fly ball issues that cropped up last season.
Norwegian side win 2-1 in Milan to seal giant-killing upset
Atlético defeat Club Brugge; Bayer Leverkusen progress
Bodø/Glimt dumped last season’s finalists Inter out of the Champions League with a remarkable 2-1 win at San Siro in their playoff second leg that sent the Norwegian minnows through to the last 16, 5-2 on aggregate.
Under sustained pressure, the visitors struck in the 58th minute when Ole Didrik Blomberg seized on a loose pass on the edge of the Inter area and drove at goal. Yann Sommer pushed his shot away but Jens Petter Hauge reacted quickest to convert the rebound from close range.
Continue reading...
With the 2025 Texas Rangers season having come to an end, we shall be, over the course of the offseason, taking a look at every player who appeared in a major league game for the Texas Rangers in 2025.
Today we are looking at relief pitcher Caleb Boushley.
Caleb Boushley ended up with the unenviable role of the Rangers’ up-and-down long man and general “guy we call up when we need a body who can got multiple innings” pitcher in 2025.
Well, I say unenviable, but Boushley appears to have accumulated about 10 days worth of service time in his major league career (which consisted of six innings over three games the prior two seasons) before 2025. He now has 143 days of service time, which is more, by a lot.
The Rangers purchased Boushley’s contract on April 8, optioning Gerson Garabito to make room for him on the active roster.
Garabito, incidentally, ended up requesting his release from the Rangers later in the 2025 season so he could go pitch for Samsung in the KBO. Boushley, who became a free agent at the end of the 2025 season, will be spending the 2026 season in the KBO, though with KT Wiz. I hope the team’s slogan is, “Nobody beats the Wiz!”
Boushley was optioned to AAA Round Rock towards the end of April. The Rangers ended up recalling him five more times over the course of the season, and optioning him four more times. The last time the Rangers dropped him from the active roster, they designated him for assignment. He was claimed by the Tampa Bay Rays, for whom he did not pitch in the majors. The Rays designated him for assignment after the World Series.
Boushley was not good during his time with the Rangers. He threw 43 innings over 25 appearances, and really, you’d have expected him to pitch more often, given how much time he spent on the active roster, but then, the Rangers didn’t generally use him unless no one else was available or the game was so lopsided there was no point in using someone else.
Boushley put up a 6.02 ERA in those 25 games. He had an ERA of at least 5 in every month except May, when he put up a 4.38 ERA. He had a 5.04 ERA in the first half and an 8.31 ERA in the second half.
He did have significant home/road splits, putting up a 3.31 ERA at home and a 7.67 ERA on the road. If you’ve been paying attention to these write-ups and our discussions about how the Shed played, you will not be surprised to learn that Boushley was not a ground ball pitcher in 2025. He allowed a .234/.300/.281 slash line at home, with just 3 doubles and 0 home runs allowed, and a .345/.398/.558 slash line on the road, with 9 doubles and 5 homers allowed.
There was a guy named Bob Ferguson who had a 14 year career in the 1800s. His nickname was Death to Flying Things. That’s probably what we should be calling the Shed.
You may note that I said that Boushley was not a ground ball pitcher last year. I did not say he was a fly ball pitcher. That is because Boushley was, well, not a fly ball pitcher in 2025, either. He was a line drive pitcher. According to Statcast, 33.8% of the balls put in play against him were line drives. That’s not good.
Fangraphs, for what it is worth, has his line drive rate at 25.9%. There were 402 pitchers in MLB last year who threw at least 40 innings. Only nine of them had a higher line drive rate than Boushley. And five of those nine had line drive rates of either 26.0% or 26.1%. The worst line drive rate in the league was 27.6%, from AJ Smith-Shawver.
Not surprisingly, despite having a great defense behind him, Boushley had a ridiculous BABIP — .374, to be exact, tied with Mark Leiter, Jr., for second worst in baseball, behind Mason Montgomery.
Boushley put up a 5.94 xERA on the year, right in line with his 6.02 ERA. Not good. One isn’t surprised to see a -1.0 bWAR for him when you go to the B-R page.
However…Boushley was better than replacement level according to Fangraphs. Not a ton better — he has a 0.2 fWAR — but still, its positive.
This is because Fangraphs uses a FIP-based method for determining pitcher value, and Boushley put up a 3.85 FIP in 2025, along with a 3.95 xFIP. FIP is based on the assumption that pitchers do not have control over what happens when a ball is put into play but isn’t a home run, and thus is calculated based on home runs, walks, HBPs, and strikeouts. Whether a ball in play is a hit or an out is chalked up to the defense behind the pitcher and the overall randomness involved in small sample sizes.
In most cases, that works well enough. But there are some pitchers for whom that isn’t applicable. Sometimes a pitcher is giving up a high BABIP not because of randomness or defense but because he’s giving up rockets. And those edge cases don’t tend to affect the overall reliability of FIP because pitchers like that don’t stick around long enough to skew the numbers.
As is the case with Caleb Boushley, who will spend the 2026 season in Korea, getting paid.
Previously:
Newcastle won an entertaining low-stakes second leg against Qarabag, while Bodø/Glimt slayed European royalty at the San Siro
A short-corner routine by Atleti is pinged back down the left flank. Matteo Ruggeri crosses, the ball dropping onto the foot of Alexander Sørloth, who slots with a confident sidefoot from close range past the rooted Simon Mignolet. That’s a hat-trick for Sørloth, and Atleti will play either Liverpool or Tottenham Hotspur in the last 16.
… so having said that, Atletico establish a two-goal lead, and are surely in the hat for Friday’s last-16 draw. Marcos Llorente plays a long ball down the inside-right channel for Alexander Sørloth, who should release Ademola Lookman into the box down the left. His pass across is poor, behind Lookman, but Antoine Griezmann comes over, offering himself as a wall for Lookman to ping the ball off. A one-two down the left, then Lookman crosses low. Sørloth can’t miss from six yards and that is surely that!
Continue reading...Kansas basketball earned a statement win over Houston on Feb. 23, taking down the fourth-ranked Cougars 69-56 at home. They also received another win in terms of star guard Darryn Peterson's availability, as he has now played in 30 or more minutes in back-to-back games, which has only happened two other times this season.
The projected No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft scored 14 points in the win on 5-of-14 shooting. He was also made available in the postgame press conference, which hasn't happened much this season.
Peterson was asked after the game for his view of the situation regarding his playing time, given he has missed 11 of Kansas' 28 games this season, including when he subbed himself out early against Oklahoma State on Feb. 18. The former five-star recruit has dealt with cramps from a lingering hamstring injury, and said he's been blocking out the noise as of late.
“It’s kind of normal this year,” Peterson said of the national attention. “Somebody’s had something to say, probably, after every game this year. So, I don’t really pay attention to it anymore.”
Peterson later added: "I’ve kind of been an anti-social loner my whole life, kind of, so I kind of just deal with it on my own.”
Fellow Kansas guard Tre White, who scored a game-high 23 points in the win over Houston, said after the game he tries to help lift up Peterson, especially amid the heightened interest in the future lottery pick.
“I definitely just try to, whenever I see him, just try to keep him right,” White said. “But he’s been in the spotlight all his life, so he definitely knows how to handle it and we tell him all the time, ‘We’re with you. We’re your brothers. We understand what the outside world thinks, but we don’t care about none of that. What’s inside the locker room.’ That’s pretty much how we do it.”
Peterson has been one of the best players in college basketball this season when healthy, as he's averaging 19.9 points with 3.8 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game on 47.2% shooting. He's also shooting 40.2% from 3-point range on the year.
Kansas has shown it can be competitive without Peterson this season, even beating Arizona at home without its star guard. Still, the Jayhawks' ceiling is a national championship contender with the true freshman firing on all cylinders.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Darryn Peterson on handling attention after Houston win: 'Anti-social loner'
Hader is still throwing off flat ground as he recovers from a sprained shoulder capsule and biceps tendinitis.
This is not worst case scenario, but the back of the Astros bullpen just took another step closer to it.
Closer Josh Hader is still only throwing off flat ground, and is unlikely to be ready for Opening Day according to Chandler Rome of The Athletic:
Losing Hader for any extended stretch of time would be a major blow to the Astros pen.
Without Hader in the mix, Bryan Abreu would ascend to closing duties. Lefties Bennett Sousa, Bryan King and Steven Okert are all but guaranteed spots save for injury or disaster. That would leave three bullpen spots available, as the team will utilize a 6-man rotation, leaving them with a shortened 7-man bullpen.
Candidates for those spots include A.J. Blubaugh, Kai-Wei Teng, Jason Alexander, Ryan Weiss, J.P. France and Lance McCullers Jr. Some of those arms are competing for a starting rotation spot but if they do not win a starting role, could be options in the pen. Those who don’t win a spot on the Opening Day roster will be depth at Triple-A Sugar Land should injury or the need for a fresh arm arise.
Other arms that are competing for a pen spot include Jayden Murray and Sam Carlson. Roddery Munoz, the Astros pick in the 2026 Rule V draft, had a very poor first outing this spring and is facing a serious climb to be in consideration for a roster spot.
Enyel De Los Santos is not throwing and also unlikely to be ready for Opening Day, as Rome reported in the clip above.
Nate Pearson, who was promised a chance to compete to start but has relief experience and could also be a candidate for the pen, may also not be ready for the start of the season:
As previously addressed here at TCB from Nov 25, 2025:
An extended absence by Hader could be disastrous for the Astros. Hader’s injury last year seemed to be the final straw of an injury-riddled campaign for the team. Houston had managed to overcome a plethora of injuries to that point in August, but after Hader’s injury, the wheels began to come off as they no longer had a dominant 1-2 punch to close out games in the back of the pen and the bridge getting to Abreu in the closer role was too often shaky.
Rome reports the Astros are high on Teng and think he offers promise.
Blubaugh could find himself in a high leverage role with his power stuff, and little other options. With the Astros not having pulled a deal for another leverage arm, that leverage arm could very well be Blubaugh.
Rome lists Weiss as a bullpen candidate, but I believe he currently has an inside track to being the 6th starter with his strong season in the KBO last year and his shown durability. There would be no innings restriction concerns with Weiss.
How would you structure the Astros pen with Hader, Pearson, De Los Santos all out?
The Golden State Warriors, fresh off their shocking win over the Denver Nuggets on Sunday afternoon, are looking for their first back-to-back wins since wrapping up a four-game winning streak on January 19 … the same day that Jimmy Butler III tore his ACL, effectively ending whatever slim chance the Warriors had this season.
There’s good news and bad news for the Warriors, as they seek a road win tonight. The good news is that they’re facing the New Orleans Pelicans; in addition to employing old friends Kevon Looney and Jordan Poole, the Pelicans are dreadful, with a 16-42 record. The bad news is that the Pelicans are mostly healthy, while the Warriors … well, they very much are not. Here’s the full injury report.
Out — Steph Curry (right patellofemoral pain syndrome)
No new news here. Curry will miss his eighth consecutive game … and ninth, if you include the All-Star Game. Hopefully a return is soon.
Out — Kristaps Porziņģis(illness)
Porziņģis was a late scratch on Sunday, after waking up extremely sick. So sick, in fact, that he didn’t join the Warriors on their two-city road trip. Whether this is a generic flu, or something related to his POTS diagnosis is unknown, but hopefully he feels better soon.
Out — Al Horford (left toe injury management)
As we all know by now, Horford doesn’t play back-to-backs. So he’s getting today’s game off, and will play on Wednesday against the Memphis Grizzlies.
Out — Jimmy Butler III (right ACL surgery)
Sadly I’m going to write “Out — Jimmy Butler III” for a very long time before he’s back on the court.
Out — Seth Curry (left sciatic nerve irritation)
More of the same for the younger Curry, who will be re-evaluated — again — before long. He’s still only played in two games this year, and has yet to share the court with his brother.
Probable — Draymond Green (left low back injury management)
Green was scratched a few minutes before the start of Sunday’s game, when his back flared up. Thankfully it seems like he’s OK, and we’ll get to a see a fun matchup against Zion Williamson.
Available — De’Anthony Melton (left knee injury management)
Melton was considered a question mark on the off day, but is good to go now. He should start.
Out — Trey Murphy III (right shoulder contusion)
There was some talk before the trade deadline that the Warriors were targeting Murphy, but that obviously never happened. The fifth-year wing is averaging a career-high 22.1 points per game, but will miss his third consecutive game.
Out — Yves Missi (left calf strain)
The Warriors won’t see NOLA’s second-year center, who is scheduled to miss his fourth straight game with a calf injury.
Out — Micah Peavy (right great toe sprain)
Peavy is the Pelicans’ version of Will Richard. He was a second-round pick in 2025, but has played a sizable role for New Orleans. But he’s been out for about two weeks with a toe injury.
Available — Dejounte Murray (right Achilles rupture)
He’s back! Murray, who was an All-Star in 2021-22, is making his return to the court tonight. It’s his first game since injuring his Achilles nearly 13 months ago. It will be great seeing him on the court again.
Enjoy the game, Dub Nation! It tips off at 5:00 p.m. PT on NBC Sports Bay Area.
4:30pm CT SECN+.
After a three game sweep over Niles Crane’s ex-wife, Marist, the Dores welcome The Purple Aces for some mid-week action.
See you in the comments.
Eddie Howe adores motivational slogans and the Newcastle manager’s current favourite is: “One Brain.” The idea is to inspire his team to play with the sort of synchronicity that stems from a collective mindset and unity of purpose.
For a while here it seemed to be working a treat with Newcastle’s intelligence – joint and individual – threatening to further humiliate Qarabag. But then, with a last-16 tie against either Barcelona or Chelsea assured, home concentration began, understandably, wandering a little. Commendably, the Azerbaijani title holders capitalised by fighting back; Gurban Gurbanov’s side, and, in particular, their Colombian forward Camilo Durán, showing they can play a bit too.
Continue reading...RICHMOND, Texas (AP) — A Texas grand jury has declined to indict former NBA guard Patrick Beverley after he was arrested last year on an accusation that he had assaulted his sister.
Authorities in Fort Bend County, southwest of Houston, had arrested Beverley in November after his sister told investigators he grabbed her by the neck, slammed her against a wall and punched her in the face, according to court records.
The grand jury on Monday declined to indict Beverley on one count of assault of a family member. Beverley had been free on a $40,000 bond.
Beverley's sister had told authorities the alleged assault happened after she sneaked out of her mother's home to see her boyfriend.
Shortly after his arrest, Beverley had posted an unsigned statement on X saying he had unexpectedly found his sister, a minor, alone with an 18-year-old man.
Beverley's attorneys, Rusty Hardin and Letitia Quinones-Hollins, said in a statement that Beverley "would never do anything to harm his sister and that he is very grateful that the grand jury has recognized that."
I am deeply grateful for all thoughts and prayers for the family. We must continue to protect our children, especially our young girls. This ordeal has truly made our family stronger. ❤️Thank you for your continued support and prayers. ❤️
— Patrick Beverley (@patbev21) February 24, 2026
After the grand jury's decision, Beverley said in a post on X that he was "deeply grateful for all thoughts and prayers for the family" and "we must continue to protect our children, especially our young girls."
Beverley played for 12 seasons in the NBA, starting his career with the Houston Rockets. He last played for the Milwaukee Bucks during the 2023-24 season.