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Andy Pages hasn’t forgotten about last postseason, though he’d like to. And he’d surely like you to forget about it, too — or, well, most of it.

Feel free to retain the mental image of his epic smash-and-grab catch over teammate Kiké Hernández.

That stunning play in the bottom of the ninth inning didn’t just save Game 7 of the World Series, it also spared Pages’ reputation. Covered for the ignominy of his historically woeful four-for-51 hitting performance.

You know what will help everyone totally flush those memories? To turn the proverbial page? Maybe keep us from mentioning it ever again?

A steady diet of games like Thursday’s.

In an 8-2 season-opening victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium, Pages stood out among his club’s standouts.

And, as the eighth man in the order, he also served up a reminder that there really will be no rest for weary opposing pitchers this season.

The buoyant bottom of the lineup has bite, too: Let the record show it was Pages who hit the Dodgers’ first home run and drove in the club’s first runs to kick off their pursuit of a third consecutive World Series championship.

That it was he who cracked the code against Diamondbacks righty Zac Gallen in the fifth inning, teeing off on a three-run, 400-foot home run to left-center field.

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And that it was his at-bat to lead off the eighth — a full-count single the other way, into right field — that Roberts had to mention postgame.

In spring training, Roberts anointed Pages as this season’s “pick-to-click” candidate, in part because of how hard the 25-year-old center fielder has been working on improving his plate discipline after swinging at 32% of pitches outside of the zone last year.

The pick-to-click distinction previously went to Teoscar Hernández in 2024, before he became an All-Star in his first season with the Dodgers. Last year, Michael Conforto was Roberts’ pick.

Small wonder, perhaps, that Pages isn’t putting too much stock in his manager’s prediction: “It feels really nice for him to say that about me, or to pick me, but obviously I’m not really focused on that,” he said, through an interpreter.

What he’s focused on, he said, “is just trying to do everything I can, every day, to get a little bit better.”

That’s what’s got his manager so revved up.

“He’s a complete player,” Roberts gushed. “And I’m excited to see what he can do this year.”

Is an Andy Pages Breakout Season loading?

Andy Pages, center, celebrates with Teoscar Hernández, left, and Max Muncy after hitting a three-run home run in the fifth inning Thursday against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Were last season’s 27 home runs — second most on the Dodgers, behind Shohei Ohtani’s 55 — not a breakout?

I think … not?

Not when Pages so clearly has so much more to give.

Now when he does his homework like he did this spring, stationing himself in front of a pitching machine, calling out balls and strikes. (Watch out, Automated Balls and Strikes system?)

Not if the Dodgers can come to trust him at the plate like they now feel secure with him blanketing the outfield.

“Even last year when there were questions if he could play center field at a high level,” Roberts said. “And he’s worked his tail off, he really has. Every single day, he’s putting in work and he just keeps getting better — his jumps, his lines to the ball, and obviously the arm strength is there.”

On Thursday, Pages had another one of his sensational snags, taking an angle that would’ve made a defensive back proud in pursuit of Geraldo Perdomo’s fly ball to start the seventh. Stretched out, Pages slid beneath the ball to add to his opening-day highlight reel.

“I feel good,” Pages said, when I asked him afterward not about last postseason, but about his confidence heading into this season — though his mind went back there anyway.

“It’s something that happened earlier, the postseason is what the postseason was,” he said. “I’m not really focused on that, I’m focused on what I’m doing right now and my confidence is really high right now.”

Keep it up, and all anyone will remember is the heroics — including those to come.

CALGARY, Canada — Mikael Granlund capped his hat trick scoring on the power play with one second remaining in overtime on Thursday night to give the Ducks a 3-2 victory over the Calgary Flames.

Granlund has seven goals during a four-game goal streak that has him up to 19 on the season as the Ducks extended their winning streak to four games.

The Pacific Division-leading Ducks have a five-point lead on the Edmonton Oilers and a six-point lead on the Vegas Golden Knights.

Rookie Matvei Gridin and Blake Coleman scored for Calgary, which extended its point streak to five games (4-0-1). Gridin stretched his point streak to four games (one goal, three assists).

Ville Husso, who made 23 saves, improved to 9-7-1.

Devin Cooley, who had 30 stops, fell to 9-10-4.

The game got off to an inauspicious start for the Flames. First, Pavel Mintyukov’s turnover in the opening minute of the game resulted in a 3-on-0 breakaway for Calgary but Gridin, Morgan Frost and Matt Coronato over-passed it and never got a shot on goal.

Three minutes later, it appeared that Yegor Sharangovich had given Calgary the lead, but the Ducks challenged for offside and the goal was overturned. It was the fifth goal the Flames have had waved off by video review during its homestand.

Calgary eventually took the lead on Coleman’s goal 1:06 into the second period when he redirected Joel Farabee’s pass inside the post. But Granlund tied it on an unassisted goal two minutes later.

The Ducks lost two defensemen to injury. Radko Gudas (lower body) left the game late in the second period and Mintyukov got hurt when he took a shot from Olli Maatta high in his chest in the third.

England take on Uruguay in a friendly on Friday and to mark the match we’re looking back to the last time the two played each other at the 2014 World Cup.

Luis Suarez starred in the Group D encounter, helping Uruguay to a 2-1 win which, after other results went against England, essentially knocked Roy Hodgson’s side out of the tournament.

It’s not a game England fans remember too fondly, but can you pick out the players who started the match? We’ve given you their positions and clubs at the time as a clue.

England won all eight of their qualifying games, scoring 22 goals and conceding none to finish comfortably clear at the top of Group K.

However, their group opponents were Albania, Andorra, Latvia and Serbia – four sides ranked outside the top 20 in the world.

Indeed their toughest test in terms of ranking last year was a friendly against Senegal, who were 19th in the world at the time. England lost 3-1.

It may have been a non-competitive match, but the Three Lions’ performance in that game was concerning.

“No discernible plan. No identity. No improvement – arguably even a regression – since Sir Gareth Southgate stepped down after defeat by Spain in the Euro 2024 final in Berlin,” wrote BBC Sport’s chief football writer Phil McNulty after the game.

“[Tuchel] may offer up mitigating circumstances as he made 10 changes from the World Cup qualifying win against Andorra, plus this was a friendly at the end of a long season. But it was still a sobering, alarming evening as Senegal outclassed England.”

While that result and performance may have been a blip, England needed to face higher-ranked opponents to test them before heading to the World Cup – and they should get that against Uruguay and then Japan, who are 19th in the world.

Thursday’s Results

BASEBALL

CITY SECTION

Central City Value 14, Rise Kohyang 3

Chatsworth 6, Taft 3

Downtown Magnets 14, Collins Family 4

Granada Hills 4, El Camino Real 3

Harbor Teacher 2, Fremont 1

LA University 10, Palisades 2

Maywood CES 23, Elizabeth 0

Port of LA 7, King/Drew 0

South East 6, Legacy 4

South Gate 6, LA Roosevelt 0

Sun Valley Magnet 16, Valley Oaks CES 0

Sun Valley Poly 4, San Fernando 2

Sylmar 13, North Hollywood 3

Torres 13, Maywood Academy 0

Verdugo Hills 15, Granada Hills Kennedy 1

Westchester 8, LA Hamilton 7

SOUTHERN SECTION

Adelanto 5, Victor Valley 4

Alta Loma 10, Colony 5

Anza Hamilton 6, Bethel Christian 2

Barstow 3, Silverado 2

Beverly Hills 12, Lawndale 2

Burbank Providence 10, de Toledo 0

Chino 7, Ontario 6

Chino Hills 6, Bonita 4

Classical Academy 3, Fallbrook 2

Diamond Ranch 4, Montclair 1

Don Lugo 10, Chaffey 6

Fontana 10, Colton 0

Great Oak 10, Vista Murrieta 9

Hawthorne 14, Comtpon Centennial 3

Heritage Christian 5, Maranatha 4

Irvine University3, Sage Hill 2

Laguna Beach 19, St. Margaret’s 2

Loara 10, Anaheim 1

Murrieta Mesa 17, Murrieta Valley 5

Norte Vista 3, West Valley 1

Nuview Bridge 16, California Military 0

Oaks Christian 11, Newbury Park 2

Oakwood 6, Milken 2

Orange Lutheran 3, Trinity Classical Academy 2

Portola 7, Northwood 4

Redlands 14, Carter 3

Rio Hondo Prep 10, Webb 1

Rio Mesa 9, Foothill Tech 0

Riverside Prep 3, Rialto 2

Rosamond 12, Frazier Mountain 2

San Dimas 4, South Hills 1

San Jacinto Valley Christian 22, SJDLCS 0

Santa Ana Calvary Chapel 2, Tustin 0

Shalhevet 6, Environmental Charter 1

Southlands Christian 11, Legacy College Prep 1

St. Bonaventure 21, Thacher 4

St. Pius X-St. Matthias Academy 8, Glendale 1

Temecula Valley 5, Chaparral 0

Thousand Oaks 7, Calabasas 5

United Christian Academy 20, California Lutheran 4

Valley Christian 9, Village Christian 4

Vasquez 6, Desert Christian 2

Westlake 9, Agoura 4

Whittier Christian 18, Whittier 1

INTERSECTIONAL

Animo Leadership 12, Compton Early College 7

Casteel 3, St. John Bosco 2

Central Catholic 6, Highland 1

Ida B. Wells 6, Grand Terrace 5

Jesuit 4, Aquinas 3

Layton 6, Northview 5

Quartz Hill 12, Brighton 7

Sacramento Grant 7, La Palma Kennedy 6

Sacramento Grant 7, Eastvale Roosevelt 5

Venice 12, Harvard-Westlake 0

SOFTBALL

CITY SECTION

Arleta 3, LA Marshall 0

Carson 10, San Pedro 0

El Camino Real 16, LA University 3

Garfield 14, Huntington Park 1

Jefferson 16, Diego Rivera 15

LACES 26, Fairfax 2

LA Hamilton 13, Palisades 9

Legacy 9, South East 2

Mendez 22, Belmont 15

Northridge Academy 19, East Valley 2

Panorama 22, Grant 21

Port of LA 19, Locke 2

Rancho Dominguez 16, Gardena 3

SOCES 25, Vaughn 6

Venice 21, Westchester 0

Wilmington Banning 22, Narbonne 0

SOUTHERN SECTION

Arcadia 16, Burbank 0

Alhambra 12, Montebello 2

Aliso Niguel 7, Mission Viejo 1

Anza Hamilton 6, Bethel Christian 2

Bonita 14, Rancho Cucamonga 2

Burbank Burroughs 18, Pasadena 0

California Military 13, Nuview Bridge 3

Camarillo 8, Moorpark 4

Canyon Country Canyon 18, Golden Valley 4

Capistrano Valley 10, Tesoro 7

Chaminade 15, Louisville 2

Chino 12, Ontario 1

Claremont 6, Ontario Christian 4

Colton 12, Citrus Hill 1

Costa Mesa 16, Downey Calvary Chapel 5

Crean Lutheran 30, Troy 7

Diamond Ranch 12, Montclair 8

Don Lugo 12, Chaffey 2

Downey 7, Gahr 6

Etiwanda 11, Corona Centennial 4

Fillmore 14, Hueneme 2

Garden Grove Pacifica 2, Cypress 1

Great Oak 11, Murrieta Valley 7

Hacienda Heights Wilson 7, Southlands Christian 4

Huntington Beach 6, El Modena 2

Irvine 4, Woodbridge 3

La Habra 11, Anaheim Canyon 9

Lakewood 12, Compton 0

Lakewood St. Joseph 6, Bishop Amat 3

La Salle 10, Cantwell-Sacred Heart 0

Lawndale 15, Beverly Hills 11

Lennox Academy 26, Glenn 24

Los Alamitos 10, Edison 3

Los Altos 8, San Dimas 1

Maranatha 12, Mayfield 1

Marina 12, Corona del Mar 0

Mark Keppel 13, San Gabriel 1

Millikan 9, Long Beach Wilson 9

Murrieta Mesa 15, Chaparral 0

Newbury Park 14, Calabasas 0

Newport Harbor 10, Fountain Valley 6

Northwood 10, Irvine University 1

Norwalk 11, Bellflower 1

Paraclete 5, Tehachapi 5

Paramount 18, Lynwood 0

Ramona Convent 25, St. Anthony 0

Rio Hondo Prep 2, Flintridge Sacred Heart 1

Riverside Prep 11, Oak Hills 6

Rosamond 23, Frazier Mountain 13

Rosary Academy 19, Portola 0

San Juan Hills 2, El Toro 1

Santa Ana Foothill 10, Sunny Hills 5

Santa Monica 20, Leuzinger 3

Santa Paula 16, Channel Islands 1

Saugus 5, Hart 1

Schurr 10, Bell Gardens 0

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 10, Sierra Canyon 0

Silverado 9, Barstow 2

Sonora 5, El Dorado 3

South Hills 12, Colony 1

St. Bernard 28, St. Mary’s Academy 27

St. Bonaventure 11, Santa Clara 3

St. Paul 12, Bishop Montgomery 1

Temescal Canyon 8, San Jacinto 0

Trabuco Hills 12, Beckman 6

Valley Christian 11, Village Christian 0

Valley View 8, Citrus Valley 1

Victor Valley 7, Adelanto 4

Westlake 4, Thousand Oaks 3

West Ranch 16, Valencia 6

West Valley 15, Tahquitz 5

Yorba Linda 7, Brea Olinda 6

INTERSECTIONAL

Castaic 13, Cleveland 5

Environmental Charter 39, HMSA 20

San Dieguito Academy 14, Fallbrook 0

San Marino 19, Dymally 0

VANCOUVER, Canada — Darcy Kuemper made 19 saves for his third shutout of the season and 39th of his career to lead the Kings to a 4-0 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night.

Trevor Moore had a goal and an assist for the Kings, and Scott Laughton, Artemi Panarin and Quinton Byfield also scored. Mikey Anderson had a pair of assists.

The victory moved the Kings within one point of the Nashville Predators, who hold the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference playoff race.

One of the best stops by Kuemper, whose last shutout was on Dec. 6 against Chicago, came at the 10:43 mark of the first period when Teddy Blueger launched a blast from the slot and the goalie kicked out his right leg to send the puck soaring with the toe of his skate.

Kevin Lankinen made 34 saves for the Canucks, who lost their fourth straight game. Vancouver has been shut out five times this season, with four coming at home.

The Kings opened the scoring with Laughton’s power-play goal 17:34 into the first period. Stationed at the top of the faceoff circle, Byfield took a shot that hit the skate of Laughton as he jumped in front of the net, deflecting the puck in past Lankinen.

Byfield sealed it with an empty-netter with 2:24 left in the game.

Up next for Kings: vs. Utah at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, his car sporting an aerodynamic upgrade that featured new side pods, floor and engine cover, was seventh fastest, 0.791secs off the pace.

Both Verstappen and Norris were among the drivers to run wide at Spoon, where a tailwind on entry was causing problems.

Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad were eighth and 10th, sandwiching the Haas of Esteban Ocon.

Williams’ Alex Albon had a torrid session, running off track and hitting the wall at Degner Two, traditionally one of the track’s most demanding corners, midway through the session, before a spin after colliding with Cadillac’s Sergio Perez, who appeared not to see Albon on the inside as the British-born Thai dived down the inside at the chicane.

The two Aston Martins brought up the tail of the field on a weekend on which engine partner Honda want to show improvement on its home track after a dire start to the season.

American reserve driver Jak Crawford, completing one of the team’s mandatory young driver days, was in Fernando Alonso’s car and was 22nd, just over a second slower than Lance Stroll.

Honda have introduced some changes that are hoped to address the engine-vibration issues that have been causing reliability problems and major discomfort for the drivers.

Aston Martin also have an aerodynamic upgrade for Japan, featuring a new engine cover and front-of-floor furniture.

In a quiet moment before the pomp and circumstance of opening day, Dodgers second baseman Miguel Rojas learned he’d be starting in the final season opener of his long career.

He was on the bench for the Freeway Series finale at Dodger Stadium earlier this week, when manager Dave Roberts came over to check in and give Rojas the news.

“I didn’t know if, ‘Thank you’ was the right thing to say because it’s something I earned,” Rojas recounted before the Dodgers’ 8-2 win Thursday against the Diamondbacks. “It’s not something that I asked for as a favor. So I was just kind of speechless.”

Rojas embraced Roberts.

“It was a gift to myself because of all the hard work and the preparation I put in throughout my whole career,” Rojas said. “This way is the best way possible because I got up to the big leagues as a utility defensive replacement who can play shortstop but couldn’t really hit much.”

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Rojas, who intends to retire after this year, wrapped up his final opening day as a starter.

Opening day is a celebration across baseball. But the Dodgers made it a full production. The pregame program Thursday included roster-introduction pyrotechnics, along with a stage and blue carpet set up in center field.

It was also a time to commemorate the 2025 World Series, raising the banner and revealing the new sign marking the organization’s ninth title.

Rojas rode onto the field perched atop a metallic blue convertible, hoisting the 2025 World Series trophy over his head. To his left sat Freddie Freeman, holding the 2024 trophy. Will Ferrell sat in the driver’s seat.

“It’s here,” Rojas said Thursday afternoon. “This is my last chance to play baseball with an amazing group of guys.”

A spot in the starting lineup hadn’t been guaranteed for the 2025 World Series hero. The Diamondbacks started right-hander Zac Gallen. And throughout the year, Rojas will generally play second base against left-handers, platooning with Alex Freeland to begin the year and eventually Tommy Edman when he returns from the 10-day injured list.

“This means a lot to him, his family and to the Dodger fans,” Roberts said. “And also, most importantly, I think he’s a great option for today. All in, it was the right decision.”

Rojas’ final opening day — he’s lined up to transition into a player development role with the Dodgers next year — was a well-rounded game for the Dodgers.

A marquee pitching matchup between Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Gallen produced a scoreless first three innings. The Diamondbacks broke through first, with Geraldo Perdomo roping a two-run homer off Yamamoto in the fourth inning.

The Dodgers hadn’t recorded a hit since Shohei Ohtani’s leadoff single. But in the fifth, they finally got to Gallen, and batted through the order.

Max Muncy and Teoscar Hernández kicked off the rally with back-to-back groundball singles. Then Andy Pages launched a go-ahead home run into the left-field seats.

Rojas, dropping a single into shallow center field, and Ohtani, drawing a walk, held on the pressure. And the Diamondbacks pulled Gallen for right-hander Juan Morillo.

How the Dodgers celebrated their World Series title ahead of season opener.

The Dodgers tacked on one more run, as Rojas raced home on Will Smith’s single up the first-base line, before Morillo finally escaped a bases-loaded jam.

The next inning, Yamamoto slammed the door shut against the top of the order with a pair of groundouts to Rojas and a strikeout, Yamamoto’s sixth. He retired nine straight batters after Perdomo’s homer.

That would end Yamamoto’s night at six innings.

The Dodgers continued piling on against the Diamondbacks’ bullpen. A four-run rally in the seventh inning featured Kyle Tucker’s first hit as a Dodger, an RBI double and a two-run shot from Smith. The Dodgers’ bullpen held the D-backs scoreless the rest of the way.

After reliever Tanner Scott forced a fly out to shortstop Mookie Betts to end the game, Rojas pointed two fingers to the sky and then joined his teammates in the handshake line.

Rojas held his emotions at bay through spring training, immersing himself in the daily work. But opening day made it more real.

“Baseball is what I remember me doing my whole life,” Rojas said. “I don’t remember myself doing anything else. I know I was a good son, a good brother, a good student. I know that. But I don’t remember myself doing that. I remember myself playing baseball, preparing for a baseball game, working out to be a professional baseball player. Then when I was in the minors I remember myself working really hard to get to the big leagues and then working really hard to be an every-day player. It goes on and on.”

Until it doesn’t.

Future Hall of famer Clayton Kershaw knows what that’s like. Venturing into retirement a year ahead of Rojas, Kershaw was on NBC’s broadcast Thursday, sporting a suit on the field before the game.

He commented on Rojas’ tan, and Rojas told Kershaw he’d stolen his look and had been going sleeveless.

“My wife and my kids call him Uncle Kersh because of the joy he had throughout the year,” Rojas said. “He was really happy all year. He wasn’t really caught up in numbers or stats. He was just enjoying his time. I really wish I can do a little bit of what he did last year. I hope I can enjoy it as much as he did last year.

“So I’m going to be Uncle Miggy this year.”

Lindsey Vonn is less than two months removed from a skiing accident at the Milan-Cortina Olympics that almost resulted in the amputation of her left leg.

She has stopped taking painkillers but is still exhausted.

She is back home in Park City, Utah, but spends nearly all of her time in rehab.

She is 41 and has won four overall World Cup championships, with 84 World Cup wins and three Olympic medals, including gold in the downhill at the 2010 Vancouver Games.

Yet, Vonn would not definitively say that her competitive skiing career is over, during a recent interview with Vanity Fair’s Elise Taylor.

“I don’t like to close the door on anything, because you just never know what’s going to happen,” said Vonn, who appears on the magazine’s cover in a long, black dress with a split that shows her left leg — bandages and all.

“I have no idea what my life will be like in two years or three years or four years. I could have two kids by then. I could have no kids and want to race again. I could live in Europe. I could be doing anything.”

She added: “It’s hard to tell with this injury. It’s so [messed] up.”

Vonn, who returned to racing in late 2024 after nearly six years away from the sport, had two victories and three other podium finishes in her five World Cup races during the most recent season. In December, Vonn announced she would be competing in her “5th and final Olympics!”

“I wanted to win the Olympics, and I wanted to win the downhill title, and I was on track to do both of those things,” Vonn told Vanity Fair.

On Jan. 30, Vonn suffered a complete rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee, with meniscus and bone damage, when she crashed during a downhill race in Crans-Montana, Switzerland.

She decided to compete at the Olympics anyway and had a couple of successful training runs leading up to the Feb. 8 downhill competition.

“I was in the exact mental state that I wanted to be in,” Vonn said. “I was ready to go.”

Unfortunately, her race didn’t last long. Vonn lost control on the first jump, spun sideways in the air, slammed to the ground and needed to be airlifted from the course. Vonn and other skiing experts have said that the ruptured ACL likely had nothing to do with her crash at the Olympics.

Vonn suffered a complex tibia fracture and other major damage. It contributed to a condition called compartment syndrome, which involves excessive pressure building up inside a muscle and possibly can lead to permanent injury or amputation.

Five surgeries later, Vonn is on the road to recovery. She has posted several photos and videos on Instagram as she amps up her fitness routine again. In a March 15 post on X, Vonn wrote that she’s not ready to discuss her skiing future.

“My focus has been on recovering from my injury and getting back to normal life,” she wrote, adding, “I’ll let you know when I decide.”

Vonn did tell Vanity Fair that she’s not crazy about the idea of the catastrophe at the Winter Games being the public’s last impression of her as a skier.

“I don’t want people to hang on this crash and be remembered for that. What I did before the Olympics has never been done before. I was number one in the standings. No one remembers that I was winning.”

HOUSTON — Mike Trout homered to launch what he hopes will be a bounce-back year, leading the Angels to a season-opening 3-0 win over the Houston Astros on Thursday.

Trout also walked three times and played center field for the first time since April 2024. The three-time MVP played 130 games last season, his most since 2019 because of various injuries.

Making his franchise-record 14th opening day start, the 34-year-old Trout broke a scoreless tie in the seventh inning when he sent a 96 mph fastball from reliever AJ Blubaugh (0-1) 403 feet onto the train tracks in left center. It was his fifth opening day homer, also a club record.

The Angels snapped an eight-game road losing streak in season openers, starting 1-0 on the road for the first time since 2013.

Oswald Peraza hit an RBI single in the eighth and Nolan Schanuel homered in the ninth.

José Soriano (1-0) allowed two hits and four walks in six innings while striking out seven. Four relievers completed the three-hitter, with Jordan Romano working the ninth to earn the save in his Angels debut.

Hunter Brown started for Houston and allowed four hits and four walks in 4⅔ innings. He struck out nine.

The Astros went 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position while stranding nine runners.

Houston designated hitter Yordan Alvarez may have been robbed of a home run in the first inning because the retractable roof at Daikin Park was closed. Alvarez hit a towering shot toward the right-field foul pole, but it ricocheted off a horizontal rafter and landed in foul territory.

It was ruled a foul ball. The Astros challenged, and the call was upheld after a review. Alvarez later struck out swinging.

Up next: The teams resume the four-game series on Friday, with lefty Yusei Kikuchi starting for the Angels opposite right-hander Mike Burrows.

On their way into the clubhouse Thursday, Dodgers players were greeted by the World Series championship trophies they won in 2024 and 2025. In center field, Dodgers fans were greeted by oversize replicas of those trophies, the better for taking a selfie.

On social media, the Dodgers unveiled their Opening Day hype video. These were the first words: “What’s wrong with being the bad guy?” At Dodger Stadium, the threepeat hype video was a movie trailer with this tag line: “Great sequels build legendary trilogies.”

To the rest of that country, all that winning and all that spending makes the Dodgers the bad guys. For more than a year, the owners of other major league teams have telegraphed their desire to restrain all that spending, preferably through a salary cap.

How does the owner of the Dodgers feel?

Does baseball truly have a problem?

Sit down, Dodgers fans. You might expect the owner of the Colorado Rockies to say that revenue disparity among teams is so great that competitive balance has been destroyed, and he did.

You might not expect Dodgers owner Mark Walter to say this:

”Here’s what the problem is: Money helps us win. We can’t win all the time. We’ve got to have some parity,” Walter told me.

“So we’ve got to come up with something that will give us some parity.”

Don’t take this the wrong way: Walter will always want to win. But the owners, Walter included, are increasingly united in the belief that revenue disparity is the primary explanation why a small-market team has not won the World Series in 11 years.

The Dodgers are making more money from Uniqlo in naming rights this season than some teams are making from local television rights and the Dodgers also are making 10 times as much on their SportsNet LA deal.

The Dodgers generated an estimated $850 million in revenue last season, according to Forbes. Their opening day opponent, the Arizona Diamondbacks, generated an estimated $324 million.

If Walter were to support the pursuit of a salary cap, the owners’ vote could be unanimous. For now, negotiations with the players’ union have not started. There is no formal owners’ proposal on the table, so there is nothing for Walter to approve or reject.

“We’ll have to see what it is,” Walter said.

The players’ union does not dispute the revenue disparity. The union believes the owners should solve that issue among themselves, by sharing more revenue and adding incentives for lower-revenue teams that win. The union also believes “competitive balance” is a fig leaf for “cost control that increases owner profits.”

In the NFL, which has a salary cap, either the Kansas City Chiefs or the New England Patriots has played in the AFC championship in each of the last 15 years.

And, even if the Dodgers are the bad guys, they are not bad for business. The Dodgers hold five of the top 12 spots on baseball’s list of best-selling jerseys: Shohei Ohtani at No. 1, Yoshinobu Yamamoto at No. 2, Mookie Betts at No. 5, Freddie Freeman at No. 7 and Kiké Hernandez at No. 12.

The last two World Series, in which the Dodgers beat the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays, juiced television ratings across the country and around the world. The World Baseball Classic dominated headlines and social media content at what is usually a sleepy time for baseball.

All of that momentum would be at risk if owners shut down the sport in “salary cap or bust” collective bargaining, crossing their fingers that players would surrender as soon as they started missing paychecks next spring.

It is against that backdrop that Dodgers manager Dave Roberts encouraged fans to appreciate this season opener. With potential armageddon looming in negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement, who knows when the next season might actually open?

“I understand that,” Roberts said Thursday, “in the sense of, this is where the CBA is at, as far as the expiration. And I do agree: Enjoy it, because nothing is guaranteed. It’s going to be a great year and I hope everyone pours their spirits and their joy into this season, because it’s going to be a great one. We’ll just figure out where it goes after that.”

And, if it goes haywire after that, the Dodgers inevitably will be blamed.

“That,” Roberts said with a laugh, “seems like it’s always been the case recently.”

What would Walter tell Dodgers fans concerned that what might be in the best interest of baseball might not be in the best interest of the Dodgers?

“I don’t want to hurt us,” Walter said. “We’ll be fine.”

With whatever happens?

“Yeah,” he said. “We’ll be good.”

Dzeko has been a crucial player for his country since his international debut in 2007, and has 73 goals in 147 appearances – scoring every year for the past two decades.

Until as recently as last year he was still reaching double figures for goals at club level.

Last summer, he returned to Serie A to sign for Fiorentina and, at the time, dismissed suggestions he was slowing down with age.

“Age doesn’t matter, I’m not a write-off yet,” he said.

“Behind all this is the work that a 39-year-old has to do, even more than others. I feel good, we’re working hard, and this will bring us satisfaction later.”

That move did not quite work out and Dzeko soon found himself out of favour at the club, having failed to score in 11 Serie A games.

But a switch to Schalke in Bundesliga 2 in January has reinvigorated him – possibly at just the right time as the World Cup approaches – and he has scored six goals in eight games for the German side.

On what the future holds for him, Dzeko said recently: “I’ll listen to my body in the summer but at the moment, I still feel very good, and I still score goals.”

But if he does help his country qualify for the World Cup, it is very likely that conversation with his body will be delayed a little longer.

SACRAMENTO — The UCLA women’s basketball team hasn’t lost a game in 120 days. In that time, the Bruins have outscored opponents by a total of 806 points and just one other school — UConn — has gone without a loss during the same stretch.

Yet somehow, the No. 1 seed in the Sacramento 2 region of the NCAA tournament hasn’t captured the same momentum and praise as the other three top seeds who have muscled their way into the Sweet 16.

UCLA (33-1) will play No. 4 Minnesota (24-8) at 4:30 p.m. PDT Friday in Sacramento. The game will air on ESPN. Entering the matchup, is UCLA’s less dominant NCAA tournament run a cause for concern? Or is a win a win when it comes to March?

“Each game is going to present different adversity points,” UCLA coach Cori Close said. “And I think that we don’t look at it as getting back to something. We look at it as everything is a learning opportunity. ‘What does that teach us? How does that make us better? What kinds of things do we need to tighten up?’”

UCLA forwards Angela Dugalic and Gabriela Jaquez double team California Baptist guard Filipa Barros during the first round of the NCAA tournament at Pauley Pavilion on March 21.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

As the No. 2 overall seed in the tournament, UCLA is on a projected collision course with the top overall seed, undefeated UConn, on the other side of the bracket.

But the Bruins, who have lost just once this year, also might have to hit another gear to get to to beat formidable teams still in the tournament field.

UCLA punched its ticket to the NCAA tournament with a Big Ten title game win over Iowa by 51 points. Since then, the Bruins haven’t achieved that kind of dominance even against lesser opponents.

Iowa, which flamed out to No. 10 seed Virginia in the second round last week, could have simply been less prepared than other NCAA tournament teams. But the Bruins do acknowledge they also have room to improve.

“I think we’re a really steady team, and obviously we’re gonna do whatever we can to win, and it changes every game, because of different teams,” said graduate forward Angela Dugalic. “But at the same time, I do feel like I have more to give, and that’s not a bad thing.”

UCLA defeated No. 16 seed California Baptist 96-43 before an 87-68 win against No. 8 seed Oklahoma State, leading the Cowgirls wire-to-wire but getitng outscored in the second half. The Bruins led the Lancers by just 10 points at the half of the first-round contest.

A 19-point win is a dominant showing for any team, but with the rest of the No. 1 seeds winning by at least 40 points, has UCLA shown that it is at the same level?

“I don’t really look at it that way from those two games,” Close said. “I just think everything is measuring ourselves against the championship standards that we’ve set, and those are process standards. And so if we fall short in an area, it’s how we get back to what we know how to do and what’s under our control.”

UCLA guard Kiki Rice points across the court while talking with coach Cori Close during an NCAA tournament game against California Baptist on March 21 at Pauley Pavilion.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

UCLA has the second-largest spread among the No. 1 seeds entering the Sweet 16 round, with oddsmakers favoring the Bruins to beat Minnesota by 18.5 points. UConn leads all teams as a 27.5-point favorite to beat No. 4 seed North Carolina. The Bruins haven’t won a game by fewer than 10 points since a 69-66 overtime victory over Ohio State on Feb. 8.

Minnesota has the ninth-best NET of remaining teams, which is better than the other teams matched up against No. 1 seeds (North Carolina is 19th, Oklahoma is 13th and Kentucky is 16th).

During UCLA’s 76-58 win over Minnesota in January, Kiki Rice scored a season-high 25 points. Since then, the Gophers have gone 12-4 while winning games by an average just under nine points while UCLA has gone 17-0 with an average margin of victory of 26.9.

“No team is perfect ever,” UCLA guard Gianna Kneepkens said. “So I think [we’re] just making sure that we know what to do, and we know what it takes to be our best. So just making sure we can do that 40 minutes every game is going to be the thing we take away [from the first and second rounds.]”

Since UCLA beat Minnesota, the Gophers took down No. 5 seed Ole Miss, a team that many picked as a tournament sleeper and shot 46.2% from the field during the season.

“They’ve gotten better, but so have we and once the postseason comes, the best teams, the most successful teams, they find ways to just continue to get better,” Rice said. “To stay true to that process, but to take it up to a next level. Because at this time of the year, it’s do or die, and you gotta compete really hard.”

UCLA’s 28.6 average margin of victory is fifth in the country behind the tournament’s other No. 1 seeds and No. 2 seed LSU, a team the Bruins might face Sunday in the Elite Eight.

LSU, the highest-scoring team in the nation, faces No. 3 Duke on Friday night. If UCLA and LSU win, it would set up the third consecutive season they have met in the NCAA tournament. UCLA won the matchup last season 72-65 to get to the Final Four, while the Tigers upset the Bruins in the 2024 Sweet 16 en route to a national title.

The Bruins dominated Duke back in November, earning an 89-59 win immediately after their sole loss of the season to Texas. Gabriela Jaquez took over that game with 23 points.

But March tests are far more challenging that anything the Bruins have faced to date. The veteran UCLA team is confident it can keep evolving as it chases a national title.

“I think [improving] just requires us to take things to a different place and be more aggressive and dictate in all aspects,” Dugalic said. “That’s the beauty of it, we can get there.”

Prem clubs have agreed to introduce a ‘salary floor’ – a minimum amount each team must spend on players’ wages – from next season in an attempt to keep the top flight as closely fought as possible.

Each club will be obliged to spend £5.4m a season on talent.

The salary cap – a £6.4m limit on squad spending, albeit with ‘credits’ on offer for home-grown talent and other factors which stretch the restriction to £7.8m – will remain the same.

Failure to spend up to the salary floor will be punished by a fine equivalent to the difference between a club’s squad spend and the lower limit, incentivising clubs to invest in their squads.

Several clubs are likely to need to pay more to meet the new lower figure.

Last season, Bristol boss Pat Lam estimated that eventual champions and the Bears’ semi-final conquerors Bath spent “close to £3m more than we have on our squad”., external

While bottom side Newcastle have brought in a raft of new players since energy drink giant Red Bull took over in August, they are still thought to be well short of a £5.4m wage bill.

While such prescriptions over squad spending are rare in UK sport, they are more common overseas.

The NRL, Australia’s elite rugby league competition, requires its clubs to spend at least 95% of its salary cap figure. In American Football’s NFL, it is set at 90%.

Prem Rugby hopes that, with relegation to be formally scrapped next season, greater payroll parity will improve the competitive balance of the top flight.

A divide has opened up in the table this season with four teams – Newcastle Red Bulls, Harlequins, Gloucester and Sale – cut adrift of the play-off race with seven rounds of the season to go.

Sixth-placed Saracens, who are eight points off the top four, could have their hopes of extending their campaign all but ended this weekend if they lose to leaders Northampton.

Introducing a salary floor is reflective of renewed confidence in the league’s future, with billionaire industrialist James Dyson having become co-owner of Bath this month and further investment in Prem clubs believed to be in the pipeline.

The league intends to add two teams to its current 10 in the 2029-30 season if a wrangle with the second-tier Champ can be smoothed out.

While it has been agreed that any new entrants to the Prem must complete a campaign in the Champ first, it is yet to be agreed how high a team would have to finish to demonstrate their on-field credentials, with Prem Rugby chief executive Simon Massie-Taylor believing a top-six finish and qualification for the Champ play-offs “would be the natural thing”.

Massie-Taylor is keen to build on this weekend’s ‘big game’ concept, with Everton’s new Hill Dickinson Stadium earmarked as a possible host for neutral-venue Prem semi-finals from 2029.

Saracens are staging Saturday’s match against Saints at the 63,000-capacity Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, while Gloucester are hosting Leicester at Villa Park and Bristol will take their match against Harlequins to Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on the same day.

Harlequins put on two of their regular-season fixtures at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium, which also hosts June’s Prem final.

Jannik Sinner claimed his 29th and 30th consecutive sets at ATP Masters 1,000 events as he cruised past American Frances Tiafoe into the semi-finals of the Miami Open.

The Italian world number two, who broke Novak Djokovic’s 10-year record of 24 on Monday, never looked back after breaking Tiafoe in the opening game – going on to win 6-2 6-2 in 71 minutes.

The world number 20 simply had no response to a dominant dislay from Sinner, who dropped only nine points on serve across the two sets.

Sinner, who has won four Grand Slam titles, will face either Germany’s world number four Alexander Zverev or Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo in the last four.

“I felt like I was serving quite well in the important moments,” said Sinner said on Sky Sports.

“I thought he might be a bit tired because he has had tough matches here a couple of three set matches so I tried to make it physical in the beginning and that helped for sure.”

The other semi-final will pit France’s Arthur Fils against Czech Jiri Lehecka.

Sinner is aiming to become the first man since Roger Federer in 2017 to complete the coveted ‘Sunshine Double’ of winning Indian Wells and the Miami Open in the same year.

The 24-year-old has now reached the semi-finals in four of his five appearance in the Miami Open and triumphed in the tournament in 2024.

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. The long journey to the postseason begins today.

As we embark on the 12th season of this newsletter, there are certain things, like death and taxes, that are guaranteed. Here they are.

—The Dodgers will charge way too much to park in their poorly designed, poorly lit parking lot.

—Shohei Ohtani will have a game where he strikes out 10 and hits multiple home runs. No one will be able to explain how he does this until we learn he was actually sent here by the aliens from “Project Hail Mary.”

—Ohtani will go hitless for three-to-four games in a row and have a bad pitching outing during the same time, leading to some to say he is overpaid.

—Will Smith will catch at least 130 games and be in the conversation for NL MVP.

—The Padres will be better than most are saying and their fans will approach the games with the Dodgers as if it is their World Series.

—The Rockies will be terrible again.

—Teoscar Hernández will continue to struggle as a fielder, but people won’t care as much as his bat will be rejuvenated.

—A pitcher no one has heard of will be signed by the Dodgers off the waiver wire. He will appear in a game and pitch great, maybe even getting the win. The following week, he will be designated for assignment.

—Mookie Betts will win the Gold Glove at short, and while he won’t reach his previous heights at the plate, he will hit better than last season.

—Andy Pages will slump at some point and fans will demand that Ryan Ward, who is hitting .350 with about a million homers in the minors, get a chance. He won’t get a chance and Pages will recover.

—Fans will complain that Joe Davis takes too many games off and isn’t a true Dodger like Vin Scully was, even though Vin took just as many games off for national duties.

—The music at Dodger Stadium will continue to be so loud that even the aliens from “A Quiet Place” will complain. (Editor’s note: Two outer space aliens references in one newsletter. What is wrong with this guy?)

—The most worn former Dodger jersey worn by fans at the stadium will continue to be… Fernando Valenzuela‘s. And it will be for many years to come.

—Max Muncy will look like the worst hitter in baseball for an extended period, then he will hit like Babe Ruth.

—Dalton Rushing will be a decent backup for Smith and will hit well enough that he can spell Freddie Freeman at first base on occasion.

—Freeman will hit .300 again in what will be his last great season at the plate.

—The Dodgers will continue to “give away” games during the season in order to be ready for the postseason. For example, they will allow a reliever to take a beating in a game at the start of long road trip in order to preserve the rest of the bullpen. Some fans will be irate at this, thinking the Dodgers should try to win every game at all costs.

—The Cool-A-Coo will not return to Dodger Stadium and will continue to be missed.

—The Dodgers will continue to call the hot dog they sell a Dodger Dog, even though it tastes nothing like a Farmer John Dodger Dog.

—Only three pitchers will pitch more than 100 innings, but the quality of the staff from top to bottom will be more consistent throughout the season, allowing them to use fewer than 40 pitchers this season.

—Either Blake Treinen or Tanner Scott will continue to pitch poorly, but the Dodgers, again with their eye on the postseason and on how much money they are paying these guys, will continue to trot them out there in hopes they will rebound.

—Some fans will complain about the abhorrent price of going to a Dodger game. They will still go though, and the Dodgers will draw four million, giving them no reason to lower prices.

—Justin Turner will sign a one-day contract with the team and then retire.

—Edwin Díaz will save 30 games and give the bullpen some much-needed stability.

—Kyle Tucker won’t hit as well as hoped, but will be a significant upgrade over Michael Conforto.

—Hyeseong Kim will come up at some point, wow fans with his blazing speed, hit close to .300, and then be sent back down.

—Dave Roberts will have a bad game or two where he makes a decision that seems nonsensical. Some will demand he be fired because “Anyone could manage this team.” Those people will be wrong.

—You will continue to need to subscribe to about a dozen streaming channels to watch all the Dodger games on TV. No one will.

—Yoshinobu Yamamoto will lead the team in victories.

—Organist Dieter Ruehle will continue to find the perfect song for any situation.

—Tyler Glasnow will look unbeatable one start, then get thrown off his next start by a hangnail and pitch like Dave Goltz.

—There will be thrilling victories, agonizing defeats and some boring games. But it will all be worth it as we look around and see all the different types of Dodger fans out there, reminding us that baseball unites us.

—The Dodgers will finish the season 98-64 and cruise to the NL West title. They will not have to play in the wild-card game.

—And that means they will be in the postseason where … anything can happen.

—So, don’t get so worried about the destination that you forget to enjoy the ride.

How many games will the Dodgers win?

We asked, How many games will the Dodgers win this season? After 10,566 responses:

They will win 96-100 games, 46.3%
They will win 101-110 games, 35.5%
They will win 91-95 games, 13.2%
They will set the record by winning more than 116 games, 2.3%
They will win 111-115 games, 1.6%
They will win 86-90 games, 0.9%
They will finish under .500, 0.2%
They will win 81-85 games, one vote

We asked, Will the Dodgers win the World Series this season? After 10,538 responses:

Yes, 79.1%
No, 20.9%

A walking path to Dodger Stadium?

Did you know there is a walking path to Dodger Stadium? There is a one-mile walking path from the Chinatown Metro station to Dodger Stadium. There’s one problem though, to quote Bill Shaikin‘s column on the path: “To go a very short distance safely with a feeling that you’re not going to die is very difficult.”

Read more about this here.

Up next

Thursday: Arizona (Zac Gallen) at Dodgers (Yoshinobu Yamamoto), 5:30 p.m., NBC, Peacock, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Friday: Arizona (Ryne Nelson) at Dodgers (Emmet Sheehan), 7:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Saturday: Arizona (*-Eduardo Rodriguez) at Dodgers (Tyler Glasnow), 6:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

*-left-handed

In case you missed it

Dodgers sign right-hander Jake Cousins to one-year deal on eve of opening day

Shaikin: Dodger Walk: A great city needs a walking path to blue heaven. Do it, Frank McCourt

How Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani can put himself in the 2026 NL Cy Young conversation

And finally

Our opening day tradition: Danny Kaye sings the Dodgers song. Watch and listen here.

Until next time….

Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

First baseman Freddie Freeman, pausing outside of the Dodgers’ home dugout to talk about the upcoming season, nodded his head toward the right-field foul pole, where just beyond it the Dodgers’ championships signs are displayed.

Eight baseball-shaped signs sported their years — 1955, 1959, 1963, 1965, 1981, 1988, 2020, 2024 — while a ninth was still shielded by a blue cover, with plenty of room along the stadium’s club level for more.

“You want to just keep putting those banners up,” Freeman said. “That one’s blocked for a reason. You want to do it again. You want to keep doing it over and over and over again. And that’s what’s fun, and then that’s what makes everything else just take care of itself.”

The 2025 championship sign will be revealed as the Dodgers both celebrate last year’s achievements and set the tone for this year.

They’ll receive their World Series ring on Friday, but they’ll also be in the midst of playing three games against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

“Everyone’s different,” Freeman said. “Some people want to move on and get on to the new season and not worry about last year. I’m one of the guys that can appreciate what we did last year, even in the present year.

“It’s hard to win a World Series. I don’t like to just kick it to the side. … Our fans haven’t celebrated it since the parade. We get to celebrate with our fans and open the weekend. It’s going to be a great time.”

Catcher Will Smith was more in the other camp.

“I get my ring, and I put it in the safe, and I don’t really look at it ever again,” he said when asked about the ring ceremony. “It brings back all the emotions from the prior year, you like showing friends and stuff, it’s cool. But no, for me, the motivation is just winning, being with these guys each and every day, and competing with them and working towards that goal.”

On that point, Dodgers players seem to agree.

They don’t need a tangible reminder of their World Series aspirations this year.

“It’ll be one of the few days where we really think about what we did last year, versus what we’re trying to do right now,” veteran third baseman Max Muncy said.

Plenty of teams say their goal is to win the World Series. But the Dodgers have raised their outside expectations, too. Entering Thursday, PECOTA put the Dodgers’ odds of completing a three-peat at 20.8%, by far the highest World Series chances in the majors. PECOTA, Baseball Prospectus’ projection system, listed the Mariners as next most likely to win the World Series, at 14.2%.

While those numbers establish a clear favorite, they also reflect how unpredictable the postseason can be. Even the Dodgers, with their lofty payroll and strong player development track record, will need health, luck, and the right mindset to pull off a third straight championship.

“You know what the goal is every single year, and that’s to be the last team standing at the end,” Mucy said. “But we more so preach, how do you get there, instead of that being the goal. And for us, it’s always been, you have to take it one day at a time.”

The phrase itself isn’t a novel concept. The trick is making that focus a reality, and a team standard.

“I talk about it every day,” manager Dave Roberts said. “I’ve talked about it since I got here. It’s just, let’s win a baseball game. That’s our mantra, and everyone in this building, that’s the goal.”

The veterans on the team preach it too, hoping to pass down that team-first focus to the generation coming behind them.

“When you put on this uniform, you come in here, you see all these superstars working extremely hard every single day — front office, ownership group doing the same thing — that’s the expectation,” Freeman said. “It’s a different standard, and you just want to be part of that standard that keeps the level high.”

After the commotion of the championship banner reveal and the ring presentation the first two days of the season, “let’s win a baseball game,” will continue to be the mantra.

Maybe it will even work well enough, day after day, for the Dodgers to add another sign to their championship display this time next year.

Transgender women athletes will be excluded from the Olympics beginning with the 2028 Los Angeles Games after the International Olympic Committee implemented a new eligibility policy on Thursday.

Eligibility for women’s competition will be determined by a one-time, mandatory genetics test, according to the IOC. The test requires screening through saliva, a cheek swab or a blood sample.

No woman who transitioned from being born male competed at the 2024 Paris Summer Games, and it is unclear if any transgender women currently compete at an Olympic level. The new policy, however, aligns with President Trump’s executive order banning transgender athletes from participating in women’s or girls’ sporting events in the United States.

The eligibility policy approved by the IOC is not retroactive and does not apply to recreational sports programs.

The IOC said in a statement that it “protects fairness, safety and integrity in the female category.

“Eligibility for any female category event at the Olympic Games or any other IOC event, including individual and team sports, is now limited to biological females.”

Until now, individual sports federations determined whether transgender women were allowed to compete in women’s categories, with the IOC providing only recommendations. Sports that placed restrictions on transgender athletes included track and field, boxing, swimming and rugby.

The IOC Executive Board approved the new policy after 18 months of study. It mirrors the guidelines approved by the World Athletics Council in June, determining eligibility for the female category through screening for the absence or presence of the SRY gene.

The IOC policy leans on scientific research that considers the presence of the SRY gene fixed for life and represents evidence that an athlete has experienced male sex development. Athletes who screen negative for the SRY gene will be eligible to compete in women’s sports.

SRY (which stands for sex-determining region Y gene) is found on the Y chromosome. In the cell, it binds to other DNA, leading to testis formation, according to the National Library of Medicine. Even men who lack Y chromosomes still have a copy of the SRY region on one of their X chromosomes, which accounts for their maleness.

Jane Thornton, the IOC medical and scientific director, last year presented to the executive board findings that transgender athletes born with male sexual markers retained physical advantages, even those that had received treatment to reduce testosterone.

Kirsty Coventry, a former gold-medal Olympics swimmer from Zimbabwe, was elected a year ago as the first woman president of the IOC. She campaigned on the importance of protecting the women’s category.

“At the Olympic Games, even the smallest margins can be the difference between victory and defeat,” Coventry said Thursday in a statement. “So, it is absolutely clear that it would not be fair for biological males to compete in the female category.”

Following the controversial final in Rabat – in which Morocco and Real Madrid forward Brahim Diaz missed a Panenka penalty to win the match in the 114th minute – the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) immediately lodged a complaint with Caf and Fifa, claiming that Senegal leaving the field of play “greatly affected the normal course of the match and the players’ morale”.

Caf’s disciplinary committee initially rejected that appeal, instead issuing sanctions against both sides, including a five-match ban for Senegal head coach Pape Thiaw, on 29 January.

The FRMF said those original penalties did not “reflect the seriousness of the incidents”, and Caf’s appeal board agreed, releasing a statement on 17 March which said Senegal had contravened articles 82 and 84 of competition regulations.

Article 82 states that if a team “leaves the ground before the regular end of the match without the authorisation of the referee”, they are eliminated.

Senegal’s government responded by calling for an investigation into “suspected corruption” at Caf, a claim rebuffed by the governing body’s president, Patrice Motsepe, who has been at pains to point out the appeal board’s independence.

“It is important that the decisions of our Caf disciplinary board and the Caf appeals board are viewed with respect and integrity,” he said.

The final decision on who claims the 2025 Afcon title now rests with Cas, sport’s highest judicial authority.

“To wage this moral and legal crusade, we have appointed a team of seasoned professionals with undeniable expertise,” Fall announced in Paris, flanked by members of the FSF legal team.

One of them, lawyer Seydou Diagne, called the decision to strip Senegal of their title “so blatant, so absurd, so irrational”.

“The decision of the appeals jury cannot even be considered a true decision of sporting justice,” he added.

“It is an unacceptable and intolerable attack on the fundamental rights of our national Football Federation.”

Fellow lawyer Juan Perez said: “A match that was over, whose result had been decided by the referee, now being re-refereed, administratively – that’s unprecedented. You haven’t seen anything like it. It could change the world of football.”

Caf recently updated the Afcon 2025 review on its website to list Morocco as winners, although that page now appears to have been taken down.

With Senegal refusing to relinquish the trophy, and with Saturday’s planned parade a sign of their contempt, the battle to be crowned African champions is far from over.

It was Dodger Stadium on Wednesday, when the grass outside the baseline and the bright red sign high above center field read “UNIQLO FIELD.” It will be Dodger Stadium on Thursday, when the defending World Series champions open their new season, and forevermore.

The official name of our summer home is now Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium. The team announcers will say that, and so will some of the signs. The fans won’t, and the founder of the company that just spent nine figures on the name you won’t use said he completely understands.

“That’s a very natural reaction,” Uniqlo founder Tadashi Yanai told me through an interpreter. “We respect that.”

Yanai said his company’s deal with the Dodgers covers five years. He would say only that the total value was “more” than $125 million. That provides the Dodgers with an annual naming rights payment in line with the ones at Crypto.com Arena, Intuit Dome and Sofi Stadium, without the Dodgers having to sell naming rights to the actual venue.

Are the Dodgers baseball’s version of a gold mine? Yes. Do they spend big and win big? Also yes. Do you mind if Uniqlo essentially covers Freddie Freeman’s salary this season?

“We need a lot of revenue to put out the product that we do,” Dodgers president Stan Kasten said. “That’s not a secret. And we’re proud of everyone who helps us do it: all of our fans, all of our media partners, and all of our sponsor partners. They are all important. It is how this all comes together.”

While Uniqlo would be delighted if you used its name, whatever local fans choose to call the stadium is not critical to the success of the partnership.

For a Japanese company in pursuit of brand awareness and expansion in the United States and elsewhere, there might be nothing better than getting your name in front of millions of fans around the world watching Shohei Ohtani play on television.

Ohtani made an estimated $125 million in endorsements and sponsorships last year, Sportico reported, a larger annual haul “than any other athlete in the history of sports.”

“The Dodgers are such a popular team,” Yanai said. “I usually ask my wife, after I come back from the office, whether Shohei hit a home run. I think all the Japanese people do that.”

Uniqlo Field signs were unveiled Wednesday at Dodger Stadium in the wake of the team’s naming rights deal.

(Beth Harris / Associated Press)

According to Forbes, Yanai is the richest man in Japan, where baseball teams carry corporate names. Why not buy a team and call it, say, the Uniqlo Bears?

“I always keep saying that could be very interesting,” he said, “but my wife turned it down. She keeps telling me, ‘Tadashi, you are not cut out to manage sports teams.’”

Instead, he is managing Uniqlo, an apparel company that pitches itself as blending comfort with quality. “We do not make disposable clothing,” Yanai said in the company’s last annual report.

Uniqlo has 794 stores in Japan but only 77 in the United States, including 14 in the Southland. Koji Yanai, a senior executive officer and Tadashi’s son, said the company aspires to grow annual U.S. revenues from $6 billion to $30 billion.

He shared what might be a more challenging aspiration.

“The Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium name may be very new for everyone,” he said, “but I hope in the near future the fans will like it and will love it.”

United Airlines Field at the Coliseum? Yeah, no.

Jeff Marks, the chief executive of Los Angeles-based Innovative Partnerships Group, once brokered a naming rights deal in which the Cal football team would play on Kabam Field at California Memorial Stadium. He tried to find a receptive audience for the name.

“We educated a lot of freshmen, sophomores, and newcomers,” Marks said. “Are you going to go after alumni who have been calling it Memorial Stadium? No. So you didn’t focus on that. You focused on people that could be more impressionable, and it worked.”

With Dodger Stadium, we’ll see. For the 2026 season, it is now time for Dodgers baseball, but not before one reporter at a press conference Wednesday asked company officials whether Uniqlo would provide the Dodgers players with free clothing.

Kasten could not pass up the chance to interject.

“We pay them enough,” he said with a grin, “to shop at Uniqlo stores.”

The women’s category of Olympic sports will be limited to biological females from 2028, says the International Olympic Committee.

Eligibility will be determined by a “once in a lifetime” sex test, which would prevent transgender women and those with differences in sexual development (DSD) from competing.

It will take effect from the Los Angeles Olympics.

IOC president Kirsty Coventry said the policy was “led by medical experts”.

“At the Olympic Games even the smallest margins can be the difference between victory and defeat,” she said.

“So it is absolutely clear that it would not be fair for biological males to compete in the female category. In addition, in some sports it would simply not be safe.”