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An anonymous pitcher whose entire life changed with four innings is standing in a crowded Dodger Stadium bullpen in the middle of winter when he hears a voice from the stands.

“Will, thank you so much!” shouts a fan, and underneath his thick beard, the pitcher blushes.

“This is something I’ve never had before,” said Will Klein.

And this is ruining baseball?

On a crowded concourse in the middle of a Saturday morning two months before the start of the season, fans are chugging beers, scarfing Dodger dogs, and even doing a line dance.

The queue at the elevator is endless. The screams from the crowd are constant. Blake Snell is walking along one of the barriers giving every nearby fan — every one — a fist bump.

And this is ruining baseball?

The Dodgers officially opened their doors for the 2026 season Saturday, holding an annual Dodgerfest that has sent a clear message to a landscape of whiners.

This is what winning looks like.

This is why winning is worth it.

The baseball owners will likely lock out the players after this season in hopes of installing a salary cap that will curb the sort of spending that has fueled the Dodgers’ consecutive championships.

They don’t get it. In hoarding their revenue-sharing money, the owners don’t realize the benefits of reinvesting that money in the players and, by extension, the fans.

The Dodgers do that more often, and more effectively, than anyone.

The result Saturday was a mid-winter party that felt different than any of their previous bashes. Some years they spent this day apologizing for their playoff collapses. Last year they spent the afternoon tentatively talking about going back-to-back.

Fans pack into Dodger Stadium for Dodgerfest on Saturday.

(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

This year the constraints were off, the party was on, and they all spoke freely of becoming the first time in National League history to win three consecutive World Series titles.

”I don’t mind the ‘three in the air’ as a carrot,” said manager Dave Roberts, adding, “There’s a challenge we’re not going to run from.”

And so the players showed up brandishing hope for this summer while sweetly admitting the emotion that still lingers from last fall.

Klein, who came out of nowhere to rescue the Dodgers with four scoreless innings in the marathon Game 3 of the World Series, was still pinching himself about being recognized in public.

“A guy told me I looked like me,” he said. “I said, ‘Thank you.’”

Then there was Miguel Rojas, finding deeper meaning in his ninth-inning homer that tied the World Series Game 7.

”The most important part is that everybody continues to say that is the best moment that they have in their life, the best moment of sports they watched,” said Rojas. “That makes me feel really good, because we were part of something bigger than just a home run.”

And Rojas said he hears that a lot.

“I waited 20 years in professional baseball to have that moment … something different happened to my life,” he said. “I’m walking around Rome, I’m seeing Dodger fans saying thank you for that home run. It’s crazy, it’s overwhelming.”

Equally overwhelmed was Freddie Freeman, who grew tearful on the stage when talking about hitting the winning homer in the 18th inning of the World Series Game 3 and the impact of winning two titles in his four years here.

“I’m home playing baseball in front of the best fans day in and day out,” he said. “I couldn’t even wrap my mind around coming back and signing here and being part of this. This has blown me away.”

Even the struggling players seemed thrilled to be here, Tanner Scott acting amazingly relaxed when asked for his 2026 goals.

“Not being as bad as last year,” he said. “I was terrible.”

OK, then.

Bottom line, on a midwinter day when most of this country’s major-league baseball stadiums were empty, Chavez Ravine was full of life and wonder and winning.

“Today we see a lot of fans and that really gets me going,” said Shohei Ohtani.

And this is ruining baseball?

“This organization is never ready to be done … they continue to add players, they continue to add talent, that is a good thing,” said Rojas. “We push ourselves … we believe we can always get better.”

Like he said, a good thing.

“I like winning,” said Klein. “People are always going to be jealous of teams that try to win when they feel like others aren’t. Everybody can go out and do the same thing.”

Spring is here, the haters are out, and the Dodgers are ready.

Seeing players here, seeing their energy, obviously seeing the energy of the fans, its certainly time,” said Roberts.

Three-peat, you’re up.

Manchester United head coach Michael Carrick has praised the backing he has received from the club’s fans and says he is “not offended” by the protest planned before Sunday’s Premier League encounter with Fulham.

Carrick has a 100% record in his second spell in charge following unexpected wins against Manchester City and Arsenal.

Despite the improvement following Ruben Amorim’s dismissal and the fact United moved into the Premier League top four for the first time this season following the Arsenal success, the 1958 fans’ group is pushing ahead with its protest.

The group claims it expects between 5,000 and 6,000 fans to attend the protest march, although given it will start an hour before kick-off from either side of the stadium and meet in the middle by the ‘Law, Best, Charlton’ statue outside Old Trafford, exact numbers will be difficult to quantify.

Organisers say they have “a few surprises in store”.

“Our protest has never been about performances on the pitch, not now, and not once in the last 21 years,” they argue.

“We are judging a dysfunctional ownership model that has repeatedly failed.”

In his autobiography, Carrick said the Glazer family were “great owners”.

Few fans agree with those sentiments, regardless of whether they intend to join the protest or not.

Anti-Glazer songs are a feature of every game United play, while recently minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has been the focus of negative supporter sentiment.

Asked for his thoughts on the issue, Carrick preferred to focus on the support both he and his team have received rather than address the wider issue.

“I don’t think it [the protest] connects with the two wins, to be honest,” he said.

“I fully respect the supporters. I’m not offended by it or anything, and the players certainly aren’t.

“Within the stadium, the support we’ve felt, and that’s been there for all the games that I’ve watched for quite some time, has been of the highest level and I’m sure it will continue to be like that.

“The connection we’ve had over the last couple of weeks has been pretty special and we’ve both fed off that. That’s exactly how we wanted it to be and is something we need to keep building on moving forward.”

ANGIE Best has given her fans the latest update from her hospital bed as she fights colon cancer.

Posting from her hospital bed in Switzerland, Angie revealed she would be starting her second round of chemotherapy in the coming days.

Angie, who was the first wife of footballer George Best and is mum to TV personality Calum Best, seemed upbeat in her Instagram video despite telling her followers, “I can’t function.”

She captioned the video: “All together now, 🎼 just one cornetto…yes they want me to eat sugar ffs 🤦‍♀️ I have to start second round of chemo on Tuesday 😬.”

In the video she showed her nurse waving to the camera and then spoke directly to her fans.

“So I’m back at my favourite place with my favourite nurse, isn’t she just a darling – and she speaks English but she’s Swiss,” Angie explained.

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“I’ve got to gain weight so they’ve got me drinking these awful things [Angie held up a calorie shake]. I can’t find a jelly baby bloody anywhere and the only ice cream in Switzerland is a Cornetto for heaven’s sake.”

Angie then pleaded for help: “Advice needed: I know a lot of you have been through this, but I can’t function, I can’t lift my head up, I can’t brush my teeth, I can’t eat. It’s terrible.”

She coughed as she concluded: “Any advice there, homies?”

Angie also wrote under the clip: “Apparently feeling like this is normal. Nothing normal about it ffs. If you’re suffering right now, we’re here for each other.”

Many rushed to wish her warm wishes, including her son Calum.

“I’m so sorry you’re feeling this way and going through this, it will pass and we come out even better I love you,” he wrote.

Another person added: “You are doing just great Angie , keep up the good work.”

And a third commented: “Well I think you look beautiful as always, have the cornetto, keep fighting and stay strong, sending you lots of love.”

Angie’s EastEnders niece Sam Womack, who herself battled breast cancer in 2022, also shared words of encouragement.

“YES AUNTIE!!!!! Eat eat eat and you always look beautiful,” Sam wrote.

Earlier this month, Calum, 44, took to Instagram to plead for support from his mum who is struggling to afford her treatment, and to tell her fans that her cancer has spread to her liver.

“It doesn’t care where you’re from, how you live, or how healthy you try to be. And now, it’s here – and it’s with my mum,” he said.

Calum said he has set up a GoFundMe page for financial support.

Angie met George Best at a dinner party in LA in 1975 when he was signing to play for the Los Angeles Aztecs, and it was “love at first sight”.

They moved to London in 1976.

When she returned to Los Angeles, George followed her and persuaded her to marry him.

They wed on 24 January 1976 and went on to have son Calum in 1981.

The couple separated the following year and divorced in 1986, following George’s problems with alcohol abuse and domestic violence.

Come Dine with Me has been a staple on telly screens for years but who is the narrator of the beloved Channel 4 series?

The Come Dine With Me narrator has a secret soap past that will leave fans floored.

The long-running Channel 4 show premiered way back in 2005, and sees contestants cook three-course meals in an attempt to impress their guests and secure a cash prize.

And since its debut all those years ago, Come Dine With Me has become a hit with viewers. But there is one person in particular who is likely to be integral to its success: the show’s long-running narrator.

The voice adding comedy gold to Come Dine With Me is none other than Dave Lamb. The actor and presenter often leaves fans in tears of laughter thanks to his witty yet scathing commentary.

As well as Come Dine With Me, Dave has also lent his hilarious tones to shows like Dangermouse and the Come Dine With Me spin-offs set in South Africa and Ireland. Horrible History fans will also recognise him from the sketches on the children’s history comedy show and he’s also been in Horrible Histories – The Movie: Rotten Romans.

What’s more, Come Dine With Me Fame, Dave starred in EastEnders. He played a bouncer in two episodes, airing on June 1 and June 3, in 2004.

Meanwhile, last year, Dave opened up his time on Come Dine With Me and shared some insider information about the show. Appearing on the podcast Off Air with Jane and Fi, Dave was asked if he’s ever ‘crossed the line’ with his iconic narration. He responded: “I really hope not. A lot of the time everything I say is scripted, because of the way it’s filmed.

“Obviously, they’re condensing five full days and nights of filming into five half-hour episodes. So they have to craft a very tight story, with a proper narrative arc. So they have to be very precise about what gets said.

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“I’m reading from a script, which I’m allowed to ad-lib around. If anything, I will try and tone it down rather than making it more cutting.

“I think what this show does really well is bring everyone with it. I don’t think there’s a nastiness to it, at least I hope there isn’t. It’s not about shooting fish in a barrel or trying to get one over on people. It’s about trying to have fun.

Come Dine With Me airs everyday on Channel 4.

STRANGER Things fans have been left shocked as they realise that show star Charlie Heaton has an 11-year-old son.

The actor, who turns 32 next month, portrays Jonathan Byers in the popular Netflix series – which recently came to a hotly-anticipated end.

And this week, Charlie has made a rare admission about his son, leading fans to only know find out he is a dad.

Charlie welcomed little one Archie in 2014, when he was just 20 years old.

He shares the youngster with ex-girlfriend Akiko Matsuura, who at the time was 32 – meaning the pair have a 12 year age gap.

In a new interview, Charlie said that Archie is finally reaching an age where he is getting into his dad’s show Stranger Things.

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“He has just started getting into it,” the actor told US outlet PEOPLE.

He continued: “He got to come to set last year and that was really cool.”

Charlie’s rare insight into family life has left fans online more shocked that he has a son.

Talking on a Reddit thread, one fan said: “SON??!!!????!! TWEEN!!?!!??????!!!??”

Another wrote: “I’m 33, about the same age the mother of his child was when she was with him and had their baby. I can’t even fathom being with an 18/19 year old like he was at the time”.

“The fact that he has an eleven year-old; I am speechless. I am without speech,” said a third.

While another fan wrote: “What in the actual f***?? I can’t with the ages of Charlie, his kid, and the mother”.

Charlie was in a relationship with Akiko when they were bandmates in rock group Comanechi.

The duo met when Charlie was a teenager and are thought to have split shortly after Archie’s birth, but it’s not known exactly how long the relationship lasted.

Charlie is now in a relationship with his Stranger Things co-star Natalia Dyer.

The duo fell in love on the show’s set and confirmed their romance back in 2017.

“The cage was locked for most of the match, and I was the furthest one along – I couldn’t get out to use the toilet until half time and I don’t know what I would have done if there was a fire or something. I felt quite claustrophobic. It was unsettling.

“My personal assistant was separated from me, outside the cage, and I was worried about my phone dying in an emergency because I wasn’t allowed to take a power bank in.

“I know in theory the cage is for our safety from home fans, getting to and from the stadium was efficient, and the police and stewards were very friendly, but it’s 2026 – there has to be a better way than this.”

Jane Boland, 61, Liverpool fan in Marseille, France: “The riot police made entering and exiting the stadium really hard work. After being told to arrive at a designated meeting point more than four hours before kick off, we were held in overcrowded areas and made to wait for ages, sometimes with difficult or no toilet access.

“Leaving the stadium took over two hours after full time – by far the longest I’ve ever experienced. We were stood packed on stairwells for what felt like forever, and I had awful back pain afterwards. I understand that someone passed out and needed medical attention, and in retrospect I’m surprised it was only one.

“After two days of everything being great and nothing but friendly interaction between the two sets of fans, we were treated like cattle.

“I probably spent about £1000 on the trip, most of that in Marseille itself, so it smarts to be treated so badly as a ‘customer’.”

Sue Fox, 68, Spurs fan in Frankfurt, Germany: “Transport was pretty efficient, overall. The meeting point was well organised and the police gave clear instructions.

“Then we took a train and they marched us through a very dark, muddy forest for about half an hour. When we arrived at the ground the gates were locked so we had to queue for an hour, and we were all packed very close together. It was uncomfortable and inappropriate.

“The men were able to go to the toilet in the bushes, but what were we supposed to do? It was nearly two hours without being able to go.

“Inside, the only women’s toilet was in the home end, so we had to use the one there, which felt wrong and had the potential to be unsafe.”

Actor John Leguizamo, a longtime vocal critic of President Trump and his administration, says he’s showing a section of his social media following the door amid the federal government’s relentless crackdown on immigration.

The “Romeo + Juliet” and “Moulin Rouge!” acting veteran, who is Latino, on Wednesday issued a brief and blunt Instagram video message to followers who also support the immigration agency. “If you follow ICE, unfollow me,” he said in his post.

“Don’t come to my shows, don’t watch my movies,” he added. Leguizamo, an Emmy winner, captioned his post: “Abolish ice!”

The actor-comedian, also known for the “Ice Age” films and cult classic “To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar,” is among the Hollywood stars vehemently speaking out against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agents amid recent killings. An ICE agent fatally shot Renee Good earlier this month in Minneapolis, where Border Patrol agents on Jan. 24 shot and killed Alex Pretti. An off-duty federal immigration agent fatally shot Keith Porter Jr. in Northridge on Dec. 31. They are among the 20-plus people who have died in a wave of aggressive immigration operations launched by the Trump administration last year.

Fellow actors also using social media to speak out against ICE and other federal immigration agents are Pedro Pascal, Mark Ruffalo and Ayo Edebiri. Musicians including Olivia Rodrigo, Bruce Springsteen, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Billie Eilishand Tyler, the Creator have also condemned federal officers.

White House border policy advisor Tom Homan said Thursday during a press conference that street operations in Minneapolis would wind down if agents were allowed into local jails instead and asserted the federal government was not backing down on its aggressive immigration agenda.

“We are not surrendering our mission at all,” he said. “We are not surrendering the president’s mission of immigration enforcement: Let’s make that clear.”

Staff writers Malia Mendez and Jenny Jarvie contributed to this report.

Netflix fans are already keen to know when the rest of the Bridgerton season four is coming out.

Bridgerton fans have already binged through season four, part one, after it landed on Netflix today (January 29) and are already champing at the bit for the second part.

Here’s the lowdown on exactly when you can watch Bridgerton season four, part two and what to expect from the second batch of episodes.

When is Bridgerton season 4 part 2 on Netflix?

Bridgerton season four, episode five will be hitting Netflix on Thursday, February 26 when fans will be getting another four episodes to savour.

The release schedule for season four mirrors that of the third outing after Netflix started splitting up its biggest shows to maintain its subscriber base.

Netflix recently released the episode titles for season four, part two, which marks the second half of the fourth run.

The episode titles are as follows: Episode 5: Yes or No; Episode 6: The Passing Winter; Episode 7: The Beyond; and Episode 8: Dance in the Country.

Season four is adapted from Julia Quinn’s third Bridgerton novel An Offer from a Gentleman and those familiar with the book might be able to guess what the episode titles allude to in terms of the plot.

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What happens in Bridgerton season 4 part 1?

WARNING: This section contains spoilers from Bridgerton season 4, part 1

Season four, part two will see what happens between Sophie Baek (played by Yerin Ha) and Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson) and their blossoming romance. Despite their attempts to avoid each other, the sparks flew between them.

Benedict was also in the dark about Sophie’s complicated past, something which could come to light in the latter half of the season.

Season four, part two is also expected to address whether or not Benedict will find out if Sophie is also the Lady in Silver, and if that could have a bearing on whether he would want to marry her.

Another storyline in season four, part two will likely be Francesca Bridgerton’s (Hannah Dodd) burgeoning sexuality.

Season three previously hinted at Francesca’s feelings towards female rake Michaela Stirling (Masali Baduza), when she was left tongue-tied during their first meeting.

Finally, Eloise Bridgerton (Claudia Jessie) and her decision to become a spinster and be “left on the shelf” will be delved into further as the headstrong Bridgerton daughter might find herself fettered by the constraints of society given in her single status.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly in a recent interview, Bridgerton’s showrunner Jess Brownell teased season four and Sophie’s arc: “We get to watch a very headstrong young woman try to decide her fate for herself and pick up the courage to believe in and dream for a life greater than the one she currently has.”

Brownell went on to say that the novel was the “easiest” one to adapt because the structure lent itself “really closely” to ones seen on the small screen.

The writer added: “There are just a lot of rich set pieces that gave us juicy conflict and high stakes. I think fans will be happy to see quite a few of the set pieces from the book in the show.”

Once season four, part two has wrapped up, fans can look forward to both seasons four and five, which are already in the pipeline with Brownell confirming to Deadline that Eloise and Francesca’s stories will be the focus of each of the outings but couldn’t confirm the order.

Given that the television adaptation has already broken with the order of the novels, there’s nothing to stop the sixth novel When He Was Wicked from being first and focusing on Francesca’s love story.

To Sir Phillip, With Love is book five in the series and focuses on Eloise.

Bridgerton season 4, part 1 is streaming on Netflix now