ANAHEIM — Dodgers infielder Alex Freeland punctuated his case to make the opening day roster with a home run in the team’s last Cactus League game Saturday.
Then on Sunday, before the first game of the Freeway Series with the Angels, the Dodgers announced the results of the spring training position battle between Freeland and Hyeseong Kim: the team optioned Kim to Triple-A Oklahoma City.
“It’s one of those things that you could argue both sides of either decision, as far as Alex or Hyeseong,” manager Dave Roberts said Friday. “And so I just don’t think it’s clear cut. We still haven’t seen Hyeseong a bunch. Alex, I think he’s taken great at-bats, the numbers, the surface line certainly isn’t there, but it’s still spring training. There’s just deeper conversations that are going to be had.”
Kim started off the spring swinging a hot bat. But he went 1-for-12 in the World Baseball Classic. Freeland finished Cactus League play with a .116 batting average.
Russell’s pole position – 0.8 seconds clear of the fastest non-Mercedes car – had sent shockwaves through the paddock on Saturday but the race was initially much closer than qualifying.
Both Ferrari drivers made their expected electric starts, and Leclerc vaulted from fourth on the grid to take the lead at the first corner.
Russell powered past the Ferrari on lap two between Turns 10 and 11 by using extra electrical energy.
But Leclerc was not to go down without a fight and drove past the Mercedes in a similar fashion on the run to Turn Nine on lap three.
Russell tracked Leclerc closely. He challenged for the lead into Turn One on lap nine only for the Ferrari driver to fend him off and leave Russell to fight to retain his position from Hamilton, who by now had joined the leading train of cars.
Antonelli, who had dropped to seventh at the start before fighting back past Norris, Lindblad and Isack Hadjar’s Red Bull, then joined them to make it four cars in the leading group after 10 laps, and they circulated together until Hadjar retired on lap 12.
The Frenchman, who had been running fifth, pulled off on the back straight, bringing out the virtual safety car, usually the trigger for teams to pit and benefit from the reduced time loss compared with pitting under racing conditions.
But while Russell and Antonelli pitted, Leclerc and Hamilton did not. Hamilton immediately questioned the call, saying over the radio: “At least one of us should have pitted.”
Instead, they ran long, sticking to their pre-race plan of a one-stop strategy.
By the time Leclerc pitted on lap 25, Russell was only five seconds behind him, and the Ferrari emerged 14 seconds adrift of the lead.
On fresher tyres, Leclerc might have been expected to narrow the gap to Russell, but he did not, and the fight at the front was over.
Here’s the story…of how a seemingly non-descript home in the San Fernando Valley turned into an L.A. landmark.
The L.A. City Council voted to designate the “Brady Bunch” house as a historic-cultural monument on Wednesday, enshrining the Studio City Midcentury as a piece of the city’s history.
“Long before it became a pop‑culture pilgrimage site and backdrop for countless photo ops, the Brady Bunch House helped shape America’s vision of family life in the late 1960s and early ’70s — especially the idea of a blended family,” said Adrian Scott Fine, president of the L.A. Conservancy. “We’re thrilled to see it now designated as a Historic-Cultural Monument, ensuring the Brady Bunch — and their iconic home — remain part of Los Angeles’ story.”
The Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission unanimously voted to recommend the house, located at 11222 Dilling St. in Studio City, as a landmark on Jan. 15. The Planning and Land Use Commission approved the designation a month later, sending final say to the City Council.
“I look forward to seeing this memorialized in the appropriate way as part of San Fernando Valley television history,” Councilmember Adin Nazarian said during the Planning meeting.
The landmark status protects the home from demolition, but doesn’t prohibit it. If the owner ever wants to destroy the home, the Cultural Heritage Commission can delay the process for up to a year to find preservation solutions. The commission also gets more oversight on proposed alterations.
“The Brady Bunch” was filmed in a studio for the entirety of its iconic run from 1969 to 1974. So how does a house that was merely for exterior shots wind up as a landmark?
Through painstaking renovations and a bit of reality TV magic.
The house was built in 1959 by architect Harry M. Londelius, who gave the contemporary ranch a shake roof, cathedral ceilings and heaps of Palos Verdes stone. After starring in the show, the home became a symbol for Southern California’s suburban, single-family charm.
For decades, it was owned by Violet and George McCallister, who bought it for $61,000 in 1973. Once they died, their children sold it in 2018 for $3.5 million — nearly twice the original ask.
The bloated sale price was the result of a bidding war, as offers poured in from TV enthusiasts and celebrities, including ‘N Sync’s Lance Bass. In the end, cable network HGTV emerged as the winner.
The channel had big plans for the property, announcing a $1.9-million remodel that would recreate the interiors exactly how they looked in the show. The entire process was documented in a four-part miniseries titled “A Very Brady Renovation.”
The show featured the actors who played the Brady kids taking sledgehammers to the interiors while “Property Brothers” stars Drew and Jonathan Scott reshaped the living spaces.
An inside look at the “Brady Bunch” house in Studio City.
(Ryan Lahiff for Eklund | Gomes)
The final result was a near picture-perfect replica of the Brady abode: the floating staircase, the groovy orange kitchen counters, even the famous vase destroyed by a stray basketball during a famous episode. (“She always says don’t play ball in the house.”) To make space for the throwback bedrooms, the crew added 2,000 square feet to the rear of the house, as well as a second story — which they hid from the street by lowering the foundation by a foot.
The renovation nearly doubled the square footage, featuring five bedrooms and five bathrooms across more than 5,000 square feet.
After the miniseries, HGTV took a bath on the sale. They flipped it for $3.2 million in 2023 — $300,000 less than they paid for it five years earlier and $2 million less than the asking price.
The house was bought by historic-home enthusiast Tina Trahan and her husband Chris Elbrecht, former chief executive of HBO. It came with a few Brady-themed furniture throw-ins such as a green floral couch and credenza complete with a 3-D printed horse sculpture.
Fans still flock to the house to take photos from the street, but Trahan and Elbrecht opened it to the public for the first time in November, offering a limited run of tours for $275.
An independent expenditure committee backed by Silicon Valley executives spent $4.8 million on television ads supporting San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan’s gubernatorial bid that will begin airing Thursday.
The two 30-second ads highlight the Democrat’s life story — being raised in a working-class family and working on a grounds crew and as a middle school teacher — and his accomplishments leading the state’s third-largest city.
Mahan’s parents “taught him the difference between nice to have and need to have,” a narrator says in one of the ads. “So as mayor of San Jose, Matt focused on the basics and delivered results on the things that matter most. The safest big city in America, a sharp drop in street homelessness and thousands of homes built. As governor, Matt Mahan will focus on results Californians need to have, like affordable homes, safe neighborhoods and good schools.”
The ads, which will air statewide on broadcast and cable TV, were paid for by an independent-expenditure committee called California Back to Basics Supporting Matt Mahan for Governor 2026.
The group has not yet filed any fundraising reports with the secretary of state’s office, but the ads’ disclosure says the top donors are billionaire venture capitalist Michael Moritz, luxury sleepwear company founder Ashley Merrill and Silicon Valley entrepreneur Michael Seibel.
Billionaire Los Angeles developer Rick Caruso, who considered running for governor or mayor of Los Angeles but ultimately decided against seeking either post, is involved in the effort, according to a strategist working for the committee who requested anonymity to speak about it.
The committee legally cannot coordinate with Mahan’s campaign, which he launched four weeks ago. Although Mahan lacks the name recognition of several other candidates in the crowded field running to replace termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom, his fundraising prowess, notably among tech industry leaders, is notable. He has raised nearly $9.2 million in large donations since entering the gubernatorial race.
