Jared Grindlinger, considered one of the top high school baseball prospects from the class of 2027, is reclassifying and will graduate as part of this year’s class, making him eligible for the 2026 amateur draft, Huntington Beach coach Benji Medure confirmed on Thursday.
Grindlinger is a left-handed 16-year-old pitcher who throws 93 to 95 mph. His brother, Trent, is a freshman at Tennessee, so that option of joining his brother at the end of this season is also possible. He’s uncommitted, but his decision to graduate this spring will add another top pitching talent for pro scouts to evaluate.
Medure said he was already receiving numerous calls on Thursday after word became known, and increased scrutiny is something with which Grindlinger will have to deal.
Loyola coach Keith Ramsey on Huntington Beach Junior pitcher Jared Grindlinger: “He’s one of the best arms I’ve seen coaching high school baseball.”
The final episode of Grantchester’s tenth season is set to air tonight, with another show set to replace it.
ITV’s ‘Grantchester’ returns to our screens for a seventh series
The tenth season of Grantchester has been delighting ITV viewers over recent weeks, but it’s set to come to an end tonight (Thursday, February 19).
The British crime drama was first broadcast in 2014 and followed Anglican vicar Sidney Chambers (James Norton), who investigated a series of mysterious wrongdoings in his small Cambridgeshire village. Sidney undertook his sleuthing adventures alongside Detective Inspector Geordie Keating (Robson Green).
Geordie and Alphy embarked on several new investigations when the show returned to ITV for its tenth season last month. As well as solving cases, there have also been some emotional revelations, including Alphy tearfully reading a letter written by his mother when she gave him up for adoption.
The heartbreaking scenes left viewers in tears, with one person writing on X (formerly Twitter): “What another brilliant, heartbreaking and heartwarming episode of #Grantchester. Top performances from all the cast. I’m absolutely broken.”
Another added: “I’m in absolute bits. Absolutely broke me,” while others have praised the cast’s compelling performances.
“Once again, Robson Green knocking it out of the park tonight,” one person wrote, with another adding: “Honestly #Grantchester is up there with the best on TV with great performances. I have no idea why @ITV @itvstudios @masterpiecepbs are ending it.”
Grantchester has had viewers gripped every week and will likely leave a gaping hole when the last episode airs at 9pm tonight. Ahead of the final season airing sometime next year, ITV bosses have confirmed what will takeover from Grantchester on Thursday nights.
The first episode of True Crime Presents’ second season, Murder on a Knife’s Edge, is set to begin at 9pm on Thursday, February 26.
For the latest showbiz, TV, movie and streaming news, go to the newEverything Gossipwebsite
It will centre around the case of Wayne Coventry, who sought love after 18 years with his childhood sweetheart, but the 37-year-old father-of-three was involved in a toxic relationship, and was sadly murdered in October 2019.
The first series of True Crime Presents aired last year, offering thought provoking and insightful input from victims and witnesses on a series of shocking murders.
The initial ten episodes explored several heartbreaking cases, including the death of EastEnders star Gemma McCluskie and 17-year-old Shafilea Ahmed.
Fans have praised the show since its release, with one IMDb user writing: “Quite a decent documentary series. Experts and witnesses given an in-depth analysis on five different murders… The stories are all engaging, some you may know quite well, while others may be new to you.”
Murder on a Knife’s Edge: True Crime Presents premieres at 9pm on Thursday, February 26 on ITV1, while Grantchester is available to stream on ITVX
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It’s 6 a.m. at Loyola High. Students are supposed to be asleep unless they’re on the swim team doing early morning laps at the pool. So why in the name of beach, surf and sunshine is the volleyball team practicing in the gym?
Welcome to February’s gym crunch time, when winter sports teams such as basketball are busy with playoffs and spring sports teams such as volleyball are gearing up for the start of their season.
“It’s pretty brutal,” said 6-foot-8 volleyball standout Blake Fahlbusch, who would prefer surfing in the morning and practicing volleyball in the afternoon.
Veteran coach Michael Boehle, sipping coffee, understands the routine is only temporary and does his best to get his players focused on their early morning routine.
The Cubs begin their season next week with the motivation that they have “unfinished business.”
Last year at one point they were the best team in Southern California, but there were too many distractions and too many obstacles to overcome. Players lost their home in the Palisades fire. Boehle found out he had prostate cancer. A well-known classmate, Braun Levi, was killed by a suspected drunken driver.
Boehle, feeling refreshed and excited after surgery removed the cancer, thinks the chemistry is better. Fahlbusch, a USC commit, is a candidate for best in the Southland because of his size and athleticism.
JP Wardy, a 6-4 Pepperdine commit, arrived from Newport Harbor to play his final year at Loyola, the school he was set to attend as a freshman until he moved to San Diego for family reasons.
It’s rise and shine for Loyola volleyball players during a 6 a.m. practice session.
(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)
“It feels great to be back,” Wardy said. “I missed being at Loyola. I feel growing up, this was supposed to be the school I would go to.”
Loyola’s libero, Matt Kelly, is the brother of UCLA standout Sean Kelly. He’s committed to Loyola Chicago and considering how well his big brother serves, practicing against him has gotten Matt ready for anything. There’s also 6-6 Lucas Posell, a Princeton commit with a 4.7 grade-point average.
The usual title contenders should be the teams to watch with Loyola — Mira Costa, Redondo Union, Huntington Beach, Corona del Mar and Newport Harbor.
Mateo Fuerbringer of Mira Costa is a UCLA commit.
(Mira Costa)
There’s lots of top players, from juniors Teddy Mandelbaum and Mateo Fuerbringer of Mira Costa, both UCLA commits, to Taylor Boice of Redondo Union, a UC Irvine commit. Mira Costa has also added Jake Newman, a transfer from Mater Dei.
Boehle will be coaching in his 28th year, having won seven Southern Section championships. The Cubs have won every Mission League title since sharing the crown with Harvard-Westlake in 2007 and haven’t lost a league match since that season.
Loyola students cheer on the Loyola boys volleyball team during a match against Mira Costa on March 21, 2025.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
The annual Loyola-Mira Costa nonleague match that brings out fans en masse is set for March 20 at Mira Costa.
The Cubs open their season on Feb. 24 at home against Newport Harbor, so Wardy will be waving across the net to his former teammates.
As for his early impressions of his new team, Wardy said, “We’re good. I’m excited. Practices are competitive, which I really like because it helps us getting better.”
On the cusp of what promises to be a bitter showdown with major league owners, the players’ union has no leader. Tony Clark, the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Assn., resigned under pressure Tuesday.
Why did Clark resign?
Clark and the union had engaged separate attorneys as federal authorities investigated alleged financial improprieties within the MLBPA, an affiliated licensing company and an affiliated youth sports venture.
The union also commissioned an investigation, initially focused on those allegations, that uncovered an “inappropriate relationship” between Clark and an employee, a person familiar with the matter confirmed to The Times, with the eight-man MLBPA player leadership team advising Clark that he should depart. The employee was his sister-in-law, the person confirmed.
The allegations remain under federal investigation, meaning that player leaders determined Clark could have been a liability on at least two fronts as players and owners head toward what is expected to be the most contentious collective bargaining in the sport in 31 years.
The Athletic first reported Clark had resigned; ESPN first reported on the relationship.
Who will replace Clark as the union leader?
The MLBPA issued a statement late Tuesday saying player leaders had met Tuesday. Players planned to canvass their peers scattered across spring training camps, then meet again Wednesday, with the possibility of voting on a new executive director then.
That could be either a permanent hire or an interim hire; the latter would reflect the urgency of the upcoming labor negotiation. Although the collective bargaining agreement does not expire until Dec. 1, Commissioner Rob Manfred said last week he expected talks on a new deal to start soon after opening day.
Bruce Meyer, the union’s deputy executive director and lead negotiator, would be the most logical successor. The MLBPA hired Meyer away from the NHLPA in 2018, one year into a bargaining agreement in which Clark and union negotiators were widely viewed as being badly beaten by Manfred and league negotiators.
No. It just acknowledged his resignation.
Is Meyer’s ascension a foregone conclusion?
Bruce Meyer in 2022
(Richard Drew / Associated Press)
Likely, yes, but not foregone. In 2021, with Meyer as lead negotiator and pushing for a better deal even as a 162-game season was threatened, players voted to accept the deal on the table. The union promoted Meyer into his current position in 2022.
In 2024, ESPN reported a majority of player representatives supported the replacement of Meyer with Harry Marino, who had unionized minor league players. Ultimately, Clark stuck with Meyer.
At this late date, however, internal bargaining preparations are underway, and Meyer is now a veteran of MLB negotiations. The goal is to “keep everything as stable as we can this year,” Angels pitcher Brent Suter told reporters. Suter is one of eight players on the union’s player leadership team.
Does this mean the players are divided and the owners are united?
No, and not that simple in any case.
On what looms as the core bargaining issue — the potential adoption of a salary cap — Clark and Meyer were aligned. Clark was the union voice calling a cap “institutionalized collusion,” with Meyer filling in the details of why the MLBPA believed a cap would not necessarily enhance parity and could leave players liable to receive a shrinking percentage of revenue over time.
Manfred has argued the current system helps elite players while squeezing the salaries and the jobs of the so-called middle class.
The owners currently appear united on pushing for a salary cap. If at some point they believe they have to do what the NHL did to get a cap — that is, lose an entire season — the interests of the large-market owners and the small-market owners could diverge.
What does this mean in terms of a potential lockout?
Nothing, really. Within the game, a lockout is considered all but inevitable.
Manfred has said he views a lockout as a negotiating tool. If MLB locks out players Dec. 1, no games are lost. If a lockout remains in place April 1, regular-season games could be lost.
In the last collective bargaining negotiation, owners locked out players in December, and a new deal was reached in March, preserving a 162-game season that started one week late.
This article contains spoilers from the Season 3 finale of “Tell Me Lies.”
“Tell Me Lies” ended with the hard truth.
Based on the book by Carola Lovering, the Hulu series centers on the toxic and manipulative on-again, off-again relationship between college students Lucy Albright and Stephen DeMarco — portrayed by real-life couple Grace Van Patten and Jackson White — whose distressing bond causes a ripple effect of chaos and turmoil for their friend group that stretches across eight years.
It all culminated in Tuesday’s Season 3 finale, which brought explosive revelations, the return of old habits and final fractures to the friend group. But what about its central pair?
Across the show’s two timelines, Stephen’s admission to Yale Law School was revoked and his engagement blew up — but is that enough retribution for the most-hated fictional millennial man with a buzz cut after all the emotional and mental abuse he inflicted? Meanwhile, Lucy’s life is upended when she is expelled from school; but years later, and not without making another questionable choice, she is finally free from his torment. For good. Hours before the finale dropped, creator Meaghan Oppenheimer announced the series would not return for another season.
Over two separate video interviews from New York — Oppenheimer from her home; Van Patten and White, later in the day, from a hotel room — The Times caught up with the trio to discuss bringing the dark and twisted saga to an end, why Stephen wasn’t dealt more severe punishment and the love story between Bree and Wrigley. The conversations have been combined and edited for clarity and length.
Lucy (Grace Van Patten) and Stephen (Jackson White) in the series finale of “Tell Me Lies.”
(Ian Watson / Disney)
Before we dive into the finale, the other big news is the announcement that the show will not return for another season. Would you have wanted more or arethree seasons enough?
Oppenheimer: This was definitely a very thoughtful, mutual decision that I came to with Hulu and 20th [Television,” which produces the show]. I went into this season wanting to write it with a sense of finality. I always felt like three seasons was sort of a perfect number for a smaller show like this. I always envisioned Lucy and Stephen’s worst, biggest breakup in college, and her public downfall culminating with the wedding weekend. But we went into this season not knowing for sure if there would be another one — and after seeing the amazing fan response and the numbers being so great, we definitely discussed “is there an organic way to keep it going?” I was definitely trying to make a very specific point with the way that Lucy and Stephen ended, which is that it was inevitable that he was going to hurt her, and that if she chooses him over her friends, she’s going to lose them. To keep going after that and force them back in each other’s lives, it would have felt like it was undermining the stakes of everything we set up.
Does it feel like the right time to be done with these characters?
Van Patten: It does. Of course, it’s bittersweet. But in terms of the story, it feels really right that it’s ending here, and we’ve had a beginning, a middle and an end.
White: I like the way that goes out.
Will you be glad to not be the most hated fictional man on TV?
White: I’m stoked. I’m stoked. I really am. I’m really excited to not trigger people like that. It’s a strange burden, like an odd social burden.
Van Patten: Because it’s out of love, but what they’re saying is so negative.
White: Yeah, it’s a compliment, but it’s mean. It’s kind of like how Stephen talks to the other characters.
Grace Van Patten as Lucy Albright in the final moments of the “Tell Me Lies” series finale.(Ian Watson/Disney)(Ian Watson/Disney)
Finales are challenging because they come with a lot of expectations from fans. Since you weren’t sure if the series might return, how did that shape how you wrapped this third season?
Oppenheimer: I had to go into it not worrying too much about what would happen in the future. When we found the [Season 3] ending in the writers room, we all were like, “Oh s—, that’s the ending to the story, not the ending of the season.”
Sometimes, when I see certain [fan] theories, I’m like, “What show are you watching?” I think people that were expecting a resolution to the Macy story, for instance, for him [Stephen] to get arrested — that’s so surprising to me … because I’m like, “I don’t feel like you’re watching the same show that I’m watching.” It’s one of the few things that we kept from the book. He doesn’t get justice for that. In reality, people get away with really bad things and that’s one of the scary truths of the show.
How did you and the writers decide on the moment that ends the series? Lucy choosing to ride off with Stephen after the wedding goes off the rails, only for him to leave her stranded at a gas station.
Oppenheimer: The show was going to end in one of three ways: Does she reject him? Does he reject her? Or do they end up together? I felt for a very long time that they should not end up together because this is a story about abuse. I don’t think this is a love story. It felt like staying true to what the show meant not having this overly positive, optimistic ending where she wins.
At the same time, the one thing we’ve learned about Stephen is that he will never let you go unless he’s the one making that decision. For Lucy to actually be free of him, he needed to be the one to walk away. It actually is the only way for her to really wake up and see it.
I will get images for scenes before I know what the actual scene is, and it’ll be almost more of like a symbolic image, or it’ll be a fable that I’ve heard before. But I said to the writers room, “I just want it to be her finally having the decision — Bree or him, friends or him — and her choosing him and then, it’s not this, but it’s as if he just drives away and leaves her by the side of the road.” And they were all like, “He could literally just drive away and leave her by the side of the road.” The idea of her being on this island alone, and the inevitability of it. And that’s why we have the whole —
Grace Van Patten on ending the series: “Of course, it’s bittersweet. But in terms of the story, it feels really right that it’s ending here, and we’ve had a beginning, a middle and an end.”
(Dutch Doscher / For The Times)
Allusion in the previous episode to the scorpion and frog fable?
Oppenheimer: Yes. The answer is, of course, he was going to hurt you because he’s Stephen. It’s in his nature. Also he’s not driving away, thrilled and happy. When he says, I’ve just blown up my entire life. If I hurt you, I’m hurting myself. It’s true. He would have more fun if he just learned to be nice and be with Lucy. But he can’t help it. His nature is to win and to wound and to get the last laugh.
White: That character is all about himself, and this is one final way to leave on the last laugh.
Van Patten: I find the ending to actually be a little bit helpful. I think there’s a lot of freedom and relief in that last moment when she realizes he left her.
There’s that almost wistful look that she has at the gas station, getting the coffees. Then there’s the one when she realizes she’s been stranded and all she can do is laugh. It’s quite the trajectory.
Van Patten: Every time Lucy has gone back to Stephen, she’s completely in denial. There’s a sense of hope, maybe it’s going to be different this time — also, he had just blown up every relationship she had at the wedding. We’re completely on an island together. There’s this hope of like, maybe we can be OK now, there are no more secrets left. The friend group isn’t together. There’s nothing being held over one another’s head. Then she’s hit with, “Oh, my God he did it again. Shame on me.” She totally could have cried, but she just decided to laugh instead because it is predictable. She actually saw it for the first time as definitive.
Jackson White on playing the hated character Stephen: “It’s a strange burden, like an odd social burden.”
(Dutch Doscher / For The Times)
How did you and the writers grapple with why Evan and Bree would invite Stephen to the wedding after everything that happened in college?
Oppenheimer: It’s one of the things that struck me in the book and scares me about a lot of young men in general (especially operating within groups) — the way guys tend to forgive other guys for what they do to girls. When Evan and Stephen leave things in senior year, they’re actually at a relatively good place with each other. Even though Evan knows that Bree knows the truth (about Lucy‘s one-night stand), he knows that Stephen still recognizes the worst parts of him, so he’s made a decision to keep him close in order to keep himself safe. Bree has a line where she says, “I begged Evan not to invite him.” So it’s not up to Bree, and like a lot of people do, she’s decided to accept that her fiancé has this friend she hates.
On social media, there are fans who say they won’t be satisfied if this show doesn’t end with Stephen dying. And there was the theory that characters were plotting their revenge on him to take place at the wedding. What do you make of that? Why not go that route?
Oppenheimer: When you’re writing anything based on fan expectations or giving them the happy ending all tied in a bow, I think you’re doing a disservice to the story. Different writers would do different things. I have to stay true to my taste. Hoping for all that, I get it. But I think that the way that we do it is with a laugh.
But why not go that route? It just didn’t feel realistic. Maybe I’m just very jaded, but as I look around the world — everyone after #MeToo was like, “Oh, did we cancel all the men?” It’s like, “No, we didn’t.” That is the reality of the world that we live in, especially now, with everything coming out about the Epstein files — it’s appalling. To me, it feels almost belittling to people who’ve been abused and been in these kind of things to say, “Oh, it all works out in the end.” But also, I will say, Stephen is not going to be happy. He’s miserable.
White: He was hardwired to hate. I think the character was designed to start hating. He’s started as a confusing character, and by the end, I think it’s pretty clear that he is one-sided and complicated, sure, but also unquestionably immoral. And there’s a lot of satisfaction in wanting to take that person out, especially if you’re projecting your own whatever onto this character. I totally understand the impulse to want to ice him. But that’s not the way the world works, and I think that’s why the ending is well done because [that’s] not always the case. You don’t get that satisfaction. You actually have to live with it for a long time. And I think the message is that it’ll keep happening over and over and over unless you fix it yourself. No one’s gonna save you. You have to heal yourself.
What about the outcome of the college timeline — in the end, Yale revokes its law school admission offer to Stephen after receiving a tip about behavior that goes against itscode of conduct, namely the distribution of pornographic material, which we come to learn was Wrigley’s doing. And that’s one big loss for Stephen. What intrigued you about that? And was it always going tobe Wrigley who did that?
Oppenheimer: We didn’t think, initially, that it was going to get reported. That was something that someone — I can’t remember who it was — said, “It really doesn’t feel fair for Diana not to get to go to Yale after everything she’s done to get past every obstacle to better her life.” Then when we were deciding who reports him, it was just very obvious that it needed to be Wrigley because it’s the last person Stephen expects. I thought it was really important to have a guy … it really devastates me the way that men choose other men over their female friends and turn a blind eye. I just wanted one boy to stand up against the other mean boys.
White: I think [having Yale revoke his admission] really messed him [Stephen] up. He is a survivor, though, he’s a shark. A lot of these people don’t face consequences. I think eventually they do. Everything does come around. I think the people who wish ill upon other people will get what’s coming to them. We’re just not going to see when. But in his lifetime, he will get his ass kicked in that way.
Grace Van Patten, left, on the set of “Tell Me Lies” with showrunner Meaghan Oppenheimer.
(Ian Watson / Disney)
To move on to Lucy, we learn what happened in the college timeline that led to her being largely estranged from the friend group. Grace, what stands out to you about playing her in that state of numbness to her life crashing down?
Van Patten: It’s been set up the past two seasons, in the present day, that the worst thing happened to Lucy in college, and we haven’t known what that thing was until this last episode. It’s the last piece of the puzzle for the audience to see what really ruined Lucy’s life. It was so tragic and heartbreaking because she is not computing anything. She’s completely reverting back to being a little girl and doesn’t know how to deal with getting in trouble, and she’s not taking in what’s what’s going on; she’s completely disassociating. I think if she allows herself to feel, then she would not be able to pick herself up off the floor. It’s self-protection and complete denial.
“It’s the last piece of the puzzle for the audience to see what really ruined Lucy’s life,” says Grace Van Patten of “Tell Me Lies.”
(Dutch Doscher / For The Times)
At what point did you both learn that it was Bree who released the tape with Lucyconfessing to lying about being sexually assaulted by Chris — a lie she told to protect Pippa, his actual victim?
Van Patten: I forget if it was through reading or Meaghan just telling us before we got the scripts. I was definitely surprised by that because the first few episodes, they’re really emphasizing the closeness between Lucy and Bree and how they’ve developed this really tight-knit relationship, which made sense; they were bumping it up to make that feel like real betrayal. But I just see it as Bree getting even.
White: I really did like that. I liked playing that I genuinely didn’t do it.
Tell me more.
Van Patten: His first time!
White: Just because every single person will obviously think he did. We’ve just established him for three years as the guy who would do that. And to actually have it not be him is confusing, and it was very fun to play. I did not do this horrible thing — I’ve done a lot of other horrible things, but I didn’t do this.
I love the way you deliver the line, when it clicks for you that it was Bree — “Oh, my God, you released the tape, didn’t you?”
White: If the character’s putting pieces together, I like to try and put pieces together. It was just easy to act in that moment. That entire wedding sequence was very easy for everybody because it was well-crafted. We were all bringing it. We knew it was one of the big, important moments.
The cake got demolished.
White: Branden Cook [Evan] is amazing in that sequence.
Van Patten: He insisted that he do that stunt. He was like stretching beforehand.
White: He was chomping at the bit. Oh, he was ready.
Was the end goal to find a way to use ‘Toxic” by Britney Spears to score the climax?
Oppenheimer: I love it so much. It’s really funny because since Season 1, I was, “When are we gonna use ‘Toxic’?” It’s just so perfect for the show. We were editing that scene and we were throwing different songs in, and we’d actually tried this other song that worked really well — “I Gotta Feeling” [by the Black Eyed Peas]. But then I was like, “Should we just try ‘Toxic’?” And my editor, Jen, was like, “It’s literally now or never.” The way that the music lines up with Evan crashing into the cake. It timed out perfectly.
Wrigley (Spencer House) and Bree (Catherine Missal), during a break from the engagement party, have a conversation about their relationship that leads to sex. (Ian Watson / Disney)
The night of his wedding to Bree, Evan (Branden Cook) learns about her affair with Wrigley. (Danielle Blancher / Disney)
How did you arrive at some of the other big moments, like Bree and Wrigley. She goes through with the wedding, but their secret is out. What happens next for them? It’s also like, is this trauma bonding or … ?
Oppenheimer: I don’t think it’s trauma bonding. I think they’re soul mates, personally. Trauma bonding is a thing, but there’s also something very real about meeting someone in a moment of grief and it has just taken all of your outer layer off, and it has exposed the real you. I think that’s what they’re seeing when they connect at the beginning of Season 3; they’re the truest version of themselves. I knew that I wanted it to come out because Evan could not get away with this. Evan could not have the happy marriage to Bree. Lucy had a choice that she was making with the full knowledge of the choice, but Bree doesn’t know all the things that Evan did to her to completely destroy her relationship with her mom. It would have felt so unfair for that to work out. I always saw that exploding and coming to light. That smile at the end of the wedding, that tells you they’re going to make this work. I literally wrote it into the action line of the script. I said, “Their eyes meet across the room, and they smile. And you get the sense that in spite of it all” — I think I wrote “carnage” — “they’re gonna find a way to make it work.” And I think they do.
White: I like happy endings, just as a viewer. I like when things work out for characters that didn’t really do anything bad. I love Wrigley and Bree. It’s a great relationship.
Van Patten: I love that relationship. I feel like they deserve each other and like they’re the two with the most well-rounded moral compass. They feel right together. And so do Pippa and Diana. They’re the only ones who are leaving happy, in the end. They’re like, “Let’s get out of here. We do not belong here.” And they just walk off. They kind of leave unscathed when everyone else is in the fire?
Grace Van Patten and Jackson White of “Tell Me Lies.”
(Dutch Doscher / For The Times)
Do you wish, especially as a real-life couple, that’s what you could have played?
Van Patten: I thought it was the perfect ending for these characters. If they ended up together and figured things out, it would just be so unrealistic. Look what these people have done to each other for the past three seasons. They’re not going to be OK together.
I guess I mean the whole trajectory, having to play the fictional couple that’s so toxic as you’re starting a relationship.
White: Yeah, not a lot of blending between work and real life.
Van Patten: Thank God. It’s only a nice, warm feeling to know we’re nothing like them. But it’s just fun acting together. We have to do crazy things and say crazy things. It’s very, very separated for us.
What do you hope for your characters?
White: I don’t hope much for him. I’m trying to think if I know anybody like that or with those tendencies — I do. I do know people who have a lot of similarities, and I pray for them, and I hope they do well. I also hope they get what’s coming to them. Actually let me take it to back because if somebody has wronged me, then I wish them the best. But for somebody like him, he’s sort of beyond that, isn’t he? I don’t know how to answer that question. I don’t know what I would want for him.
Van Patten: I hope that final instance that we see in the last episode pushes her into a journey of self-analysis and her really trying to figure out why she looks for that type of thing in a relationship, and why she has been so drawn to that. Hopefully she does the work to change that and focus on the relationships that matter, that she should be paying more attention to. I hope it’s the beginning for her.
On a final note, I will say, I was relieved to see Stephen at least left behind Lucy’s purse.
White: That’s pretty funny.
Van Patten: I wish there was footage of him placing it there. Like, him hopping out of the car and carefully placing it. I always wondered if he parked in a place where he can see Lucy, just to see her reaction.
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From Jack Vita: Position players reported to spring training at Camelback Ranch for the Dodgers on Monday, but manager Dave Roberts revealed that the team will be without its versatile second baseman and utilityman Tommy Edman when it opens the season against the Arizona Diamondbacks at home on March 26.
The 30-year-old Edman underwent ankle surgery during the offseason after being limited to 97 games in 2025 in his first full season with the Dodgers.
“I think just looking at where his ankle is at, trying to play the long view that you don’t want to have any regression or setbacks,” Roberts said. “So, how can we be methodical with it? Just for me, knowing that he’s just taking swings is enough. We’re not going to rush it. We want to put him in the best position, so I think it just kind of became [clearer] very recently.”
Edman will open the season on the injured list, something he is at peace with. He felt that a return before opening day was a bit ambitious, and that it would be better to err on the side of caution.
Mike Trout says he would prefer to return to center field for the Angels, and the star slugger says he will skip the World Baseball Classic because of insurance issues.
The 11-time All-Star who been plagued by injuries since 2021 says his familiar position isn’t as physically demanding as the corner outfield spots, contrary to traditional thinking.
Trout played his most games since 2019 last season, finishing at 130. The three-time American League MVP started 22 of his first 29 games in right field before a knee injury sidelined him for a month. The 34-year-old was exclusively a designated hitter when he returned in late May.
“I feel like I’m at my best when I’m in center,” Trout told reporters at the club’s spring training facility Monday. “If I have to go to the corner, I’ll go to the corner.
“When I was in center, it was less on my body than the corners. To be honest, in right field I felt I was running a lot. Talking to some other outfielders and they’re saying that they feel the same way sometimes, center is less on your legs. I just feel … confident in center.”
1923 — Cy Denneny of the Ottawa Senators becomes the NHL’s career scoring leader. He scores his 143rd goal to surpass Joe Malone in a 2-0 win over the Montreal Canadiens.
1924 — Johnny Weissmuller sets a world record in the 100-yard freestyle swim with a time of 52.4 seconds.
1926 — Suzanne Lenglen beats Helen Wills 6-3, 8-6 in Cannes, France, in their only tennis match against each other.
1928 — Sweden’s Gillis Grafstrom successfully defends his 1920 and 1924 Olympic figure skating title, with Austrian Willy Bockl finishing in second place as he did four years earlier.
1941 — Joe Louis knocks out Gus Dorazio in the second round in Philadelphia to defend his world heavyweight title.
1955 — Mike Souchak establishes the PGA 72-hole scoring record with a 257 at the Texas Open. Souchak starts with a record-tying 60 at San Antonio’s Brackenridge Park course and ends with a 27-under-par, beating the previous low for a 72-hole event by two shots.
1968 — The Basketball Hall of Fame opens in Springfield, Mass.
1974 — Richard Petty wins his second straight Daytona 500. It’s the fifth Daytona 500 title for Petty, who also won in 1964, 1966, 1971 and 1973.
1992 — Raisa Smetanina wins a gold medal with the Unified Team in the 20-kilometer cross-country relay to set the career Winter Olympics medal record with 10. Smetanina, 39, also becomes the oldest champion and the first to win a medal in five straight Winter Games.
1994 — San Antonio’s David Robinson records the fourth quadruple-double in NBA history with 34 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 blocks in the Spurs’ 115-96 win over Detroit.
1998 — The U.S. women’s hockey team wins the sport’s first Olympic gold medal. Sandra Whyte scores on an empty-netter with eight seconds left to give the United States a 3-1 victory over Canada.
2010 — Americans Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso finish 1-2 in the downhill at the Vancouver Olympics. It’s the first time since 1984 that the U.S won gold and silver in a women’s Alpine event.
2013 — Danica Patrick wins the Daytona 500 pole, becoming the first woman to secure the top spot for any Sprint Cup race.
2014 — Meryl Davis and Charlie White win the gold medal in ice dance, the first Olympic title in the event for the U.S..
2018 — Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu becomes the first man to successfully defend his Olympic figure skating title since Dick Button in 1952.
2020 — 62nd Daytona 500: Denny Hamlin wins second straight title by 0.014 seconds over Ryan Blaney on the second restart in overtime; his third Daytona victory
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
PHOENIX — Position players reported to spring training at Camelback Ranch for the Dodgers on Monday, but manager Dave Roberts revealed that it will be without its versatile second baseman and utilityman Tommy Edman when the team opens the season against the Arizona Diamondbacks at home on March 26.
The 30-year-old Edman underwent ankle surgery during the offseason after being limited to 97 games in 2025 in his first full season with the Dodgers.
“I think just looking at where his ankle is at, trying to play the long view that you don’t want to have any regression or setbacks,” Roberts said. “So, how can we methodical with it? Just for me, knowing that he’s just taking swings is enough. We’re not going to rush it. We want to put him in the best position, so I think it just kind of became [clearer] very recently.”
Edman will open the season on the injured list, something he is at peace with. He felt that a return before Opening Day was a bit ambitious, and that it would be better to err on the side of caution.
“That was always kind of a stretch, just due to the nature of the injury and the timing of the surgery and everything,” Edman said. “I think, having been out of the boot for a little over a month now, I was just kind of waiting to see how it progressed, and everything has gone exactly on-schedule. We were kind of leaving Opening Day open, just in case it happened to feel way better than expected. Everything’s on the expected schedule so far. As I get into more baseball stuff, I still have to work into the adaptation of volume. As the volume goes up, the swelling kind of increases a little bit, so I’ve got to take it slow and let the progress play out the way it was planned all along, instead of trying to speed it up.”
For now, Edman is slow-playing it.
“He took some swings a couple days ago, [from] both sides,” Roberts said. “He did some skipping, some light jogging, I think it was. He’s getting his body into baseball shape, so obviously he’s not going to be ready for the start of camp. He’s in that same bucket of, ‘When he’s ready, he’s ready.’ But each day, there’s been progress.”
Evan Phillips excited to be back
Days after signing a one-year contract to return to the Dodgers — despite being non-tendered earlier in the offseason — Evan Phillips expressed relief at being back.
“[The offseason] was quiet for a little bit,” Phillips said. “I leaned on my agent to be patient and trust that things were going to work out and we’re certainly glad that we’re back. It was definitely a very, very wild ride this offseason. It feels like I never left, so it’s kind of weird to get all the handshakes and hugs, but it’s just another spring training to me. I’m certainly glad to be back in Dodger blue.”
Dodgers GM Brandon Gomes told reporters Sunday that Phillips should return to the Dodgers sometime in the middle of the season. He underwent Tommy John surgery last June.
“[I’ve been] doing long toss a few times a week, hoping to get on the bullpen or on the mound for a bullpen next month,” Phillips said. “I’ll start that mound progression here in the next couple of weeks. I think, actually, Tuesday I’ll throw off of the mound for the first time, but it won’t be to a catcher or anything. It’ll just be a catcher standing up and there’s a slow progression, week by week. So [there will be] plenty of steps ahead that’s going to keep me busy here in Arizona, but I’m definitely looking forward to that progression.”
Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. At last, our long, national nightmare is over. The Dodgers re-signed Kiké Hernández.
Well, the first spring training game is Saturday against the Angels. Opening day is March 26 at home against Arizona. So what better time to look at a potential opening day roster? After all, it’s not like there will be injuries and roster moves before then, right? This will definitely be the roster.
But first, a couple of notes to catch up on:
—They are splitting up the raising of the World Series flag and the ring ceremony again. The ring ceremony is March 27.
—The Dodgers re-signed Evan Phillips to a one-year, $6.5-million deal. The Dodgers originally acquired Phillips off waivers from the Tampa Bay Rays near the end of the 2021 season. Since then, he has gone 15-9 with a 2.22 ERA and 45 saves in 201 games (195 innings). His injury last season threw the bullpen into disarray. He had Tommy John surgery in June and won’t be back until the All-Star break.
—To make room for Phillips on the 40-man roster, the Dodgers designated Ben Rortvedt for assignment, probably hoping again that Rortvedt will go unclaimed and they can send him to the minors. However, the New York Mets claimed Rortvedt, and he will compete for a backup spot with, among other, former Dodger Austin Barnes, who signed a minor-league deal with the Mets on Jan. 29
—The Dodgers re-signed Kiké Hernández to a one-year, $4.5-million deal. He had elbow surgery in the offseason and won’t be able to play until probably the All-Star break, so expect him to be put on the 60-day IL soon. To make room for Hernández, the Dodgers put Phillips on the 60-day IL.
—The Dodgers traded Anthony Banda, whom they designated for assignment last week, to the Minnesota Twins for $500,000 of international bonus pool space.
—The Dodgers signed Max Muncy to a contract extension, giving him $7 million for the 2027 season with a $10-million team option for 2028. Muncy has said he wants to remain with the Dodgers the rest of his career, and he will be 38 when the 2028 season ends.
—In this era of high contracts, you have to look at Muncy and Will Smith, who has a 10-year, $140-million contract, and marvel. They both have left a lot of money on the table to remain with the Dodgers. Especially Smith, who is arguably the best catcher in baseball, and definitely in the top three.
Why are the Dodgers so good at getting players for under market value? Muncy said this last week to reporters:
“Part of me and who I am as a person and how I was raised, I like to be loyal to people. This organization took a chance on me when I was out of baseball, basically. That meant a lot to me. They stuck with me when things were going bad. They’ve never wavered on me at all. That means a lot to me in itself, and it’s just a place I’m very comfortable. My family’s comfortable here. We have a chance to win every single year. That’s why I play this game. I want to win. Obviously you make money in this game, but that’s not why I play. I play because I want to win. It’s the competitive fire that I want to go out and win as much as I can. That to me is worth more than money.
“I know I’m leaving money on the table, but I’m more than OK with that because I wouldn’t be OK with myself trying to chase money somewhere else watching this team win and I’m on the sidelines. That’s just not who I am. I would rather win. Another component to it is just the relationships I’ve built here. Like I was just saying, I like to be loyal and my relationships mean a lot. I’ve created such a relationship with the staff, the front office, the coaches, the medical and training staff, the clubhouse guys. I just don’t want to create that somewhere else. Being here for my entire career at this point would mean the world to me, and this gives me the chance to do that.”
So, with that out of the way, let’s take a look at the 40-man roster.
Pitchers Ben Casparius Edwin Díaz Jack Dreyer Paul Gervase Tyler Glasnow Brusdar Graterol Edgardo Henriquez Kyle Hurt Will Klein Landon Knack Ronan Kopp Bobby Miller Evan Phillips-* River Ryan Roki Sasaki Tanner Scott Emmet Sheehan Blake Snell Brock Stewart Gavin Stone Blake Treinen Alex Vesia Justin Wrobleski Yoshinobu Yamamoto
Two-way players Shohei Ohtani
Catcher Dalton Rushing Will Smith
Infielders Mookie Betts Tommy Edman Alex Freeland Freddie Freeman Kiké Hernández Hyeseong Kim Max Muncy Miguel Rojas
Outfielders Alex Call Teoscar Hernández Andy Pages Michael Siani Kyle Tucker Ryan Ward
*-on 60-day IL so doesn’t count as part of the 40-man limit.
So, let’s assume the Dodgers go with 13 pitchers and 13 position players as usual. And, Dave Roberts reiterated Thursday that they will go with a six-man rotation, at least for the first part of the season. Where does that leave us?
Bullpen (8) Edwin Díaz *Jack Dreyer Brusdar Graterol Will Klein *Tanner Scott Blake Treinen *Alex Vesia *Justin Wrobleski
*-left-handed
—Henriquez also could slip in here, it just depends on how everyone looks in spring training. Plus, knowing Dodgers history, one of these guys probably will start the season on the IL.
—Stewart is expected to miss part of the season, and there are questions about Snell, who says he slowed his process of getting ready for the season, and Graterol, who didn’t pitch last season.
—Remember, Ohtani counts as a two-way player, so he is a pitcher and designated hitter but takes only one roster spot, allowing the Dodgers to carry 14 pitchers when the official roster says 13.
Two-way player (1) Shohei Ohtani
Catchers (2) Dalton Rushing Will Smith
Infielders (6) Mookie Betts Tommy Edman Freddie Freeman Hyeseong Kim Max Muncy Miguel Rojas
Outfielders (4) Alex Call Teoscar Hernández Andy Pages Kyle Tucker
—There’s a chance Edman starts the season on the IL.
—The odds that this is the actual opening day roster are very long. Remember, this is just a guess, not a prediction, so please, no wagering.
—This is just to give you a sense of where the Dodgers stand. Dave Roberts already said it is the best team he has had. But, as I’ve said before, here is what will happen: People will say they are going to set the record for wins. Expectations will be sky high. Injuries will hit the pitching staff. Slumps will happen. Some fans will wonder what happened and say the Dodgers stink and Roberts couldn’t manage his way out of his own house. The Dodgers will end the season with around 95 wins. And then anything can happen in the postseason.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto talks about pitching and other topics with José Mota. 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.
PHOENIX — Coming off an offseason in which the Dodgers spent over $300 million on just two free agents, the two-time defending champions’ luxurious spending has undoubtedly been a topic of conversation and consternation around Major League Baseball.
However, when asked about the Dodgers’ record-setting payroll Sunday, the Philadelphia Phillies’ Bryce Harper and the San Diego Padres’ Manny Machado were complimentary of the way the Dodgers do business.
“I love it,” Machado told reporters at the team’s facility in Peoria, Ariz. “They figured out a way to do it. … I think every team has the ability to do it. I hope all 30 teams could learn from that.”
Machado spent a half of a season with the Dodgers in 2018 before inking a $300-million contract with the Padres. That same winter, the Dodgers met with Harper, who eventually signed a $330-million contract with the Phillies. Harper shared the same sentiment as Machado when he spoke with reporters in Clearwater, Fla.
“I love what the Dodgers do, obviously,” Harper said. “They pay the money, they spend the money. I mean, they’re a great team. They run their team like a business, and they run it the right way.”
Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes, while speaking with media at Camelback Ranch Sunday, made it clear that his organization isn’t searching for approval from any outside sources.
“We’re not looking externally for validation,” Gomes said. “The validation is winning championships and putting out as good a team as we can each and every year, and all we’re trying to do is get a little bit better each and every season, with the goal of winning championships. [Our] coaching staff, our players I think view it as that. Good, bad or indifferent, the external stuff is something we can’t worry about.”
Gomes also credited Dodgers ownership for providing the financial resources to help the front office continue to bolster its roster each winter.
“[We’ve had] incredible support from ownership,” Gomes said. “We’ve always [been] in the position to address the needs that will help us go out and win another championship, so I think a lot of it is looking at what’s needed in the roster and what’s available. We’ve been in the fortunate position to be able to acquire guys that fit that really well.”
The third instalment sees the return of several main cast members, including Fola Evans-Akingbola as Secret Service agent Chelsea Arrington and Amanda Warren as Catherine Weaver, Peter’s handler in Night Action. The new season also introduces Genesis Rodriguez as journalist Isabel and Stephen Moyer as an assassin known as The Father.
Netflix released a trailer in January which showed Peter seeking Isabel’s assistance in discovering who orchestrated the devastating events. Whilst grappling with his own internal struggles, he must contend with threats from ‘broker’ Jacob Monroe (Louis Herthum) as well as the enigmatic new assassin.
Whilst many fans were thrilled about the show’s return, a significant number have expressed concerns due to the absence of one key character. Luciane Buchanan, who played Rose Larkin, confirmed she would not be reprising her role following the show’s second season.
In the critically lauded season two finale, her character declared she was prepared to step back from her romantic entanglement with Peter, seeking the opportunity to embrace an ordinary existence free from danger. Viewers noticed her conspicuous absence from the season three trailer, prompting an outpouring of reactions in the comments section.
@BatrinaCoarPearsall expressed: “Peter and Rose’s trauma-bond is what makes this show so good.” @sherlina observed: “I feel like Rose and Peter’s bond and story were one of the main things setting this show different from other spy thrillers but now it seems like just any other spy themed shows with action but not really a story to tell.”
@tiu_forever6521 remarked: “Kinda looks like any other spy thriller without the Rose/Peter heart of it all at the core. Damn.” @ZayDaGoat1806 noted: “Without Rose it doesn’t feel the same people saying they couldn’t do her justice in this season but she’s more useful than a reporter.”
@MissFawlty lamented: “Miss Rose already! She was the show’s emotional core. Hope they bring her back big time if the show is renewed for season 4.” @Burner-g4e concluded: “What worked in season 1 was Peter’s personal motivations and determination and the relationship with Rose. Without that, this is just like every other action series. From this trailer, I feel like I’ve seen this a million times before. They’ve strayed so far from what made the show a success.”
However, fans are buzzing with anticipation for the show’s return, with @heptavian expressing: “Finally my favourite Netflix agents are back!” and @yoshikigrg8 chiming in: “Yes. I’m so glad this is happening. Really love this series.”
In September 2025, actress Buchanan confirmed she wouldn’t be making a comeback, revealing to Deadline during an interview about her series Chief of War: “As much as that show has been so amazing, especially for my career – being a lead on a U.S. show from little New Zealand was such a whirlwind.
“The writers decided that they wanted to follow Peter and his journey based on what happened at the end of season two. And so, we don’t get to see what happens to Rose, but I think it’s a really exciting time for the show, and who knows, it’s not a goodbye forever.”
Reflecting on the moment she received the news, she shared: “They [the creators] called me not so long after season two, and they were like, we’ve been trying to find a way to bring her in, but we want to do her character justice and not make her a sub-character.
“I totally respected that decision and agreed. I was like, if it makes sense to a story, I’ll do that. If it doesn’t, let’s not force that.”
The Night Agent season 3 is coming to Netflix on February 19
MILAN — He popped the quad axel. He stumbled across the ice. He tried to hide the pained expression.
Ilia Malinin fell apart in the men’s free skate, tumbling from near lock to win the gold medal to eighth place after a disastrous performance Friday. After his music ended, Malinin covered his anguished face. He put his hands on his knees, shook his head in disbelief and scrunched his face, hoping to hold back the tears.
It was the first time since November 2023 that he hadn’t won a competition.
“I just thought that all I needed to do was go out there and trust the process that I’ve always been doing with every competition,” Malinin said with tear-stained cheeks. “But, of course, it’s not like any other competition. It’s the Olympics.”
American Ilia Malinin reacts after stumbling through the men’s singles free skate at the Winter Olympics on Friday in Milan.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
Malinin skated four times at the Milan-Cortina Games, helping the United States to a team gold medal with a clutch free skate that clinched the one-point win. But the 21-year-old had just one clean skate in his first Games experience. He explained his slow start during the team event as “Olympic nerves.”
There was no explaining away Friday’s flop.
“I think people only realize the pressure and the nerves that actually happen from the inside,” said Malinin, whose technical advantage was supposed to be insurmountable for his opponents. “It was really just something that overwhelmed me. I just felt like I had no control.”
After Malinin’s score was announced, Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov covered his mouth in shock. He was the new Olympic champion. Shaidorov claimed his country’s first Olympic gold in figure skating. His coach held his arm up like a boxing champion as a legion of Kazakh fans seated in the corner above the kiss-and-cry booth where skaters wait for their score waved their country’s teal and yellow flags. Malinin hugged him. He pointed to Shaidorov’s chest.
“You deserve it,” Malinin said.
Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama shook off several falls in his program to fight for his second consecutive Olympic silver. His countryman Shun Sato was in tears after learning he took the bronze.
Ilia Malinin’s father, Roman Skorniakov, reacts during his son’s performance at the men’s singles free skate at the Winter Olympics on Friday in Milan.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
The United States’ Andrew Torgashev finished 12th with his season’s best 259.06-point total. Maxim Naumov stumbled through several jumps in his free skate to finish 20th overall with a 223.36 point total. The 24-year-old who lost both parents in a plane crash last year earned a standing ovation from actor Jeff Goldblum, who was in the stands behind the judges.
As the groups progressed toward the medal contenders, the crowd filled Milano Ice Skating Arena to the brim. Fans in suites in the rafters leaned over glass panes to get a better look. Volunteers and arena workers stood at the top of the concourse with no open seats left to claim.
While rising to the top of the sport with his stunning jumps and crowd-pleasing backflip, Malinin said his mission was to boost the popularity of figure skating to get this kind of attention outside of just the Olympic stage.
But standing at the center of the ice as fans waved U.S. flags from every corner, Malinin, the “Quad God” who looked invincible just three months ago when he became the first person to land seven quadruple jumps in one program, felt scared.
“Especially going into that starting pose, I just felt like all the just traumatic moments of my life really just started flooding my head,” Malinin said. “It was just like so many negative thoughts that just flooded into there, and I just did not handle it.”
He started off the program with a strong quad flip. Then he bailed mid-air on his signature quad axel that he had yet to attempt in the Olympics. The crowd gasped. Panic started when Malinin downgraded a planned quadruple loop to a double two jumps later.
American Ilia Malinin falls while competing in the men’s singles free skate at the Winter Olympics in Milan on Friday.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
Behind the boards, his father and coach, Roman Skorniakov covered his face. Coach Rafael Arutyunyan, who has worked with Malinin part-time since 2021, paced back and forth. He hit the padded boards for encouragement before Malinin lined up for a three-jump combination.
Malinin fell again.
The program couldn’t end soon enough just to allow the 21-year-old a chance to hide after years of being in the spotlight as the presumed next Olympic champion.
“Being the Olympic gold hopeful is really just a lot to deal with,” Malinin said, “especially for my age.”
Malinin’s free skate music includes self-narrated voiceovers telling the story of his personal journey growing in the sport. As it begins, he uncovers his face. His words echo over the speakers.“The only true wisdom,” Malinin says in the program, “is in knowing you know nothing.”
When D’Anton Lynn abruptly left for Penn State on the eve of USC’s bowl game, the hope within the program had been to keep what remained of his defensive staff intact. All while also attracting a top-notch defensive coordinator to take Lynn’s place.
But Lincoln Riley, after four years of regular churn with his staff at USC, was also realistic. The coach had learned by now how quickly plans could change with the coaching carousel.
“It really doesn’t matter what team you are,” Riley said in December. “It doesn’t matter what staff you are. Doesn’t matter what your postseason situation is like. … We’ve been through this now for a few years. So you can’t always predict everything that’s going to happen, but this time of year, you have to be ready to adjust. It’s just the nature of the game.”
Some adjustments, as Riley suggested then, were probably inevitable.
New USC defensive coordinator Gary Patterson takes questions from the media during a news conference.
(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)
The worst of it came late in the carousel, when defensive line coach Eric Henderson elected to return to the NFL, departing for the same position with the Washington Commanders. Losing Henderson, from a recruiting perspective alone, is significant. He finished the last recruiting cycle as the nation’s top-ranked recruiter, according to 247 Sports.
It was Henderson who took over the defense for USC’s bowl game, which led some players to voice their belief he should get the full-time gig. His name was floated for other jobs, too, including the coordinator position at his alma mater, Georgia Tech.
USC hoped to retain him as defensive line coach. But with the program determined to go outside of its staff for a new coordinator, Henderson ultimately chose to leave.
USC also moved on from secondary coach Doug Belk, who’d also been mentioned as a potential internal candidate. He spent the previous two seasons as a leading voice on USC’s defensive staff. But his contract was not renewed.
“The group that’s here, they improved the defense last year,” Patterson said. “So instead of just coming in and saying, ‘Well this is how we’re gonna do it, it’s been a little bit more work of trying to put both of them together, understanding they did a great job and recruiting really good players. So you gotta really kind of listen a little bit more before you say this how we [do it].”
Some unique aspects of Patterson’s scheme, however, are probably best left in familiar hands. That’s especially the case with his secondary, which is called separately from the front seven.
It stands to reason then that Patterson would bring Paul Gonzales, a defensive backs coach who worked with Patterson for nearly half of his tenure at TCU. He left Baylor to join USC’s staff and is expected to lead the Trojans entire secondary. He’ll be joined by Sam Carter, a former all-Big 12 safety who played under Patterson.
The rest of the staff remains largely intact from last season. Defensive ends coach Shaun Nua stuck with USC amid rumors of interest from his alma mater, Brigham Young. Trovon Reed will continue to coach cornerbacks and Rob Ryan, for the time being at least, remains as linebackers coach.
After a debut that produced mixed results with a thin linebacker room, Ryan’s status has been up in the air over the past two months. Whether he returns or not, his unit will have another voice in the linebacker room in Year 2. Mike Ekeler, who previously coached at USC under Lane Kiffin in 2013, was hired away from Nebraska to coach both special teams and linebackers.
Two defensive analysts were also promoted to full-time roles, as Skyler Jones, in his third season on staff, will coach defensive tackles and AJ Howard, entering his second, will coach outside linebackers.
That makes nine coaches on USC’s defensive staff alone, three more than it employed last season.
As of 2024, there are no longer limits on the number of coaches who can provide on-field instruction, meaning the Trojans can have as many assistants on staff as they please. But only 10 total, plus the head coach, are allowed to recruit off-campus. It’s unclear who among USC’s current staff will fill those 10 roles.
On the other side of the ball, Riley was able to keep the whole band together. Offensive line coach Zach Hanson was pursued heavily by his alma mater, Kansas State, to be offensive coordinator under new coach Collin Klein, who Hanson considers to be one of his closest friends.
Still, Hanson chose to stick with USC and Riley, whose offense will return not just every member of its staff, but also its entire offensive line, its star running back and a Heisman candidate at quarterback.
PHOENIX — Dodgers manager Dave Roberts expects a lot from Shohei Ohtani this season. But even with those high expectations, a topic of conversation Friday as pitchers and catchers went through their first official workouts at Camelback Ranch, the superstar two-way player already found a way to exceed them.
“I came into camp at the beginning of February,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton following a bullpen session. “This is my third bullpen with pretty good intensity. … I’m not really sure how I’ll be able to practice in the WBC setting, so I’m going to try to ramp up as much as I can to a point where I’m throwing a live BP, which should be next week.”
The 2026 season will be Ohtani’s third year with the Dodgers, and his first pitching without restrictions. Fully recovered from his second Tommy John surgery, Ohtani was able to enjoy a regular, albeit short, offseason. With Ohtani in full bloom, Roberts has even higher hopes for the four-time MVP in the coming season.
“I think there’s certainly a lot more in there, and regardless of my expectations for him, his are going to exceed those,” Roberts said Friday. “I think it’s fair to say, he expects to be in the Cy Young conversation, but we just want to be healthy and make starts and all the numbers and statistics will take care of themselves, but man, this guy is such a disciplined worker, and expects the most from himself.”
Ohtani’s highest placement in Cy Young Award voting came in 2022, when, still a member of the Angels, he finished fourth after logging 15 wins, a 2.33 ERA and a 1.012 WHIP across 166 innings pitched. Ohtani suffered a torn ulnar collateral ligament the following season, requiring Tommy John surgery.
“If the end result is getting a Cy Young, that’s great,” Ohtani said. “Getting a Cy Young means being able to throw more innings and pitch throughout the whole season, so if that’s the end result, that’s a good sign for me. I’m just focused on being healthy the whole year.”
Ohtani appeared in 14 games last season, logging 47 innings pitched. Roberts liked what he saw in the small sample size.
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“I think the thing that was most surprising from last year was his command,” Roberts said. “And I’ll say that he still feels his command wasn’t up to par, but given the Tommy John and what typically command looks like the year after, it was above that. So, I think that was impressive. Just his ability to command the couple different breaking balls, to change the shape of his breaking balls was pretty impressive, and everything he does is with a purpose. So, I’m really excited to see with the full offseason and to just prepare and not rehab, what he can do this year.”
Physically, Roberts believes Ohtani is in the right place entering the ninth year of his career.
“I think he just looks strong,” Roberts said. “He looks strong, but there’s not too much mass. Just watching him throw, watching him run, his body’s moving well. I think he’s in a sweet spot. Just watching him, the muscle mass, it just seems that he’s in a sweet spot.”
Ohtani and Roberts said that they don’t yet know when Ohtani and some of his teammates will be departing for the World Baseball Classic, but Ohtani will continue to ramp up in the time leading up to next month’s event. Last month at DodgerFest, Roberts announced Ohtani will not pitch in the WBC in order to focus on pitching in the regular season.
“As much as people think that he’s not human, he’s still a human being who’s had two surgeries,” Roberts said Friday. “He’s got a long career ahead of him.”
Yoshinobu Yamamoto throws live BP
Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw a live batting practice Friday as the World Series MVP took the mound for the first time since he recorded the final out of last year’s Fall Classic. Yamamoto threw 20 pitches to a pair of his teammates, with right-handed hitting catcher Will Smith and left-handed hitting infielder Hyeseong Kim alternated at-bats.
Kim turned on a pair of fastballs from Yamamoto, ripping a pair of base hits into right field.
A little over an hour before Yamamoto pitched, Roberts was asked by reporters about Yamamoto’s durability, coming off a postseason where the 27-year-old totaled 526 pitches, capped off by a Herculean effort in Game 7 that powered the Dodgers to their second straight World Series championship.
“I just believe that he knows his limitations and he’s prepared, so I’m not too concerned about it,” Roberts said.
Yamamoto wasn’t the only pitcher to see some run on the Dodgers’ first day of camp. Among those to throw a bullpen session Friday: veteran Tyler Glasnow, promising sophomore Roki Sasaki, playoff hero Will Klein, newcomer Edwin Díaz, and Ohtani.
Staff writer Anthony Solorzano contributed to this report.
The Lakers have reached the part of the NBA season in which they get a week off because of the All-Star break that starts Friday. It’ll give the Lakers time to rest and, perhaps most importantly, to get healthy.
Luka Doncic is at the center of what they do, but he missed his fourth straight game with left leg soreness, leaving the Lakers shorthanded yet again, a position they have found themselves in for most of the season.
So before LeBron James led the Lakers with a triple-double of 28 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds in a 124-104 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night, Lakers coach JJ Redick was asked about Doncic’s status for the All-Star game Sunday at Intuit Dome in Inglewood.
“It’s above my pay grade,” Redick said.
Doncic was the leading vote-getter for the All-Star Game.
So, Redick was asked again if Doncic would play in the game if he gets cleared.
“It’s above my pay grade,” Redick responded again.
Doncic, who leads the NBA in scoring (32.8) and is third in assists (8.6), went through his pregame routine before the Lakers played the Mavericks at Crypto.com Arena.
Austin Reaves drives to the basket between Dallas’ Max Christie and Daniel Gafford in the first half.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
Redick said Doncic is doing “really good.”
“He’s progressed really good,” Redick said. “I think part of him wanted to push to get back prior to the break. But we’ve gotta be cautious with soft-tissue injuries. Obviously, we were very cautious with Austin [Reaves]. I mean, you just saw what happened with [Oklahoma City’s] Jalen Williams [reoccuring right hamstring injury] coming back. We all feel very comfortable with the decision to hold him out and should be good to go post All-Star.”
After missing Tuesday night’s game against the Spurs, the Lakers got James (left foot arthritis), Reaves (left calf injury management) and Marcus Smart (right ankle soreness) back.
But center Deandre Ayton missed his second straight game with right knee soreness. Redick said Ayton got an MRI that revealed his injury.
“He’ll get proper care over break and then he’ll be back as well,” Redick said.
The Lakers didn’t miss Ayton, building a 22-point lead and having five players score in double figures.
Rui Hachimura had 21 points on nine-for-13 shooting and Reaves had 18 points and six assists.
The Lakers are 33-21 and in fifth place in the super-tough Western Conference.
They have 28 games left in the regular season after an injury-marred first part of the season that tested the Lakers on many levels.
“I think the nature of this is there’s always going to be opportunities to respond to poor games, to failure,” Redick said. “There’s opportunities to respond to good stretches and not get complacent. I think the group has responded to all of the challenges the season has presented in a really good way.”
Brigham Young receiver Parker Kingston has been charged with first-degree felony rape by prosecutors in Utah.
The Washington County Attorney’s Office announced the charges on Wednesday, almost a year after a 20-year-old woman told officers at St. George Regional Hospital that Kingston had sexually assaulted her on Feb. 23, 2025.
The St. George Police Department gathered digital and forensic evidence and interviewed the involved parties and other witnesses before turning the information over to the Washington County Attorney’s Office for review.
Kingston, 21, is being held without bail and is scheduled to appear in Utah’s Fifth Judicial District Court on Friday afternoon.
Kingston has been with the Cougars for four years and has one season of college eligibility remaining. In a breakout 2025 season, he had 67 receptions for 928 yards and five touchdowns with 119 yards and three touchdowns rushing. Over the past two seasons, Kingston has also returned three punts for touchdowns.
“BYU became aware today of the arrest of Parker Kingston,” the school said Wednesday in a statement. “The university takes any allegation very seriously, and will cooperate with law enforcement. Due to federal and university privacy laws and practices for students, the university will not be able to provide additional comment.”
Last year, then-BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff was accused in a civil lawsuit of raping a woman in November 2023. Retzlaff contended that the sex was consensual, and the parties agreed to dismiss the case with prejudice in June. Facing suspension for violating a BYU honor code that requires students to abstain from premarital sex, Retzlaff transferred to Tulane.
Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell and pitchers and catcher have their first workout Friday!
Last month I asked you to vote from a list of candidates in our annual Dodgers Dugout Dodgers Hall of Fame. And, proving that you are the best newsletter readers in the universe, I received 29,213 ballots, the most we have gotten. Some cities don’t get that many votes in elections.
And after all the ballots were counted, one person was named on more than 75% of the ballots and are inducted into the 2026 class.
Remember, there was a players list, where you could vote for up to 10, and a nonplayers list with a limit of three votes.
So, without further ado, let’s look at the results. The number in parentheses is what percentage of ballots the candidate was on last year.
Elected
x-Clayton Kershaw, 94.7%: A no-brainer selection. I’m just surprised so many people left him off the ballot.
Just missed (50%-74.9%)
Jaime Jarrín, 71.8% (65.8%): Really, should have been a first-ballot Hall of Famer. A big oversight.
Peter O’Malley, 63.5% (65.1%): The last owner who cared about keeping prices down for fans.
Steve Garvey, 60.9% (64.4%): Either Garvey or Gil Hodges is the best first baseman in Dodgers history. Freddie Freeman is closing fast though.
Ron Cey, 58.3% (61.6%): One of the most underrated players in baseball history.
Don Newcombe, 52.9% (62.1%): His work to help Dodgers struggling with substance abuse is almost enough to get him in before you even consider his greatness as a pitcher.
Best of the rest (30%-49.9%)
Red Barber, 42.1% (45.4%): Vin Scully before there was a Vin Scully.
Mike Piazza, 41.5% (50.3%): What would Dodgers history look like if he hadn’t been traded?
Manny Mota, 39.3% (46.7%): Best pinch-hitter ever. He would stay on the roster the whole year and only pinch-hit.
Davey Lopes, 38.1% (47.1%): Best base stealer in Dodgers history.
Kirk Gibson, 37.4% (40.6%): One amazing season gets him almost 40% of the vote.
Dusty Baker, 35.4% (47.7%): Remember throwing bubble gum to him in left field? His support declined a great deal this year.
Jim Gilliam, 34.4% (40.5%): Jack of all trades who hated his “Junior” nickname.
Mike Scioscia, 32.5% (39.7%): Another what if: What if he had been named Dodgers manager instead of Angels manager?
Ross Porter, 32% (35.3%): Pioneered using more obscure stats before it became popular.
Tommy Davis, 31.9% (42.5%): Last Dodger to win a batting title before Trea Turner, and I’m not sure Turner counts.
Zack Wheat, 30.1% (28.9%): He should be in. The first truly great Dodgers position player.
Everyone else
Willie Davis, 28.2% (33.9%): People seem to prefer Tommy Davis.
Bill Russell, 28% (29.5%): Longtime Dodger draws the least support among “The Infield.”
Eric Karros, 25% (34.1%): This is all you get after hitting the most homers in L.A. history?
Johnny Podres, 24.9% (36.7%): The 1955 World Series MVP.
Carl Furillo, 23.2% (27.9%): Best arm in team history?
Eric Gagne, 22.8% (28.2%): Would he receive more support if not for his PED use?
Dazzy Vance, 21.5% (23.3%): Another guy who should be in. The Drysdale of his era.
Jerry Doggett, 21.8% (29.8%): Complemented Scully beautifully on radio and television.
Bottom 10, removed from ballot for at least two years
Buzzie Bavasi, 21.4% (32.1%): GM of Dodgers’ first four World Series title teams.
Rick Honeycutt, 20.9% (26.7%): Longtime pitching coach (and pitcher).
Carl Erskine, 20.2% (23.7%): Key member of 1955 title team.
John Roseboro, 19.5% (26.1%): The key catcher for Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale.
Tommy John, 18% (23.3%): He should be in the real Hall of Fame.
Andre Ethier, 17.7% (23.1%): Doesn’t look like many from Ethier’s prime era will make it.
Pedro Guerrero, 16.6% (25.3%): You could argue that he is the best hitter in L.A. history.
Steve Yeager, 14.8% (20.6%): He blocked the plate as well as anyone ever.
x-Joe Kelly, 6.8%: I guess wearing a Mariachi jacket can get you only so far.
x-Alex Wood, 0.9%: He’ll have to settle for his World Series ring instead of our Hall honors.
x-first time on ballot.
The Dodgers Dugout Dodgers Hall of Fame
People inducted, with year (and percentage of vote)
Walt Alston, 2022 (86.5%)
Roy Campanella, 2021 (84.7%)
Don Drysdale, 2021 (90%)
Orel Hershiser, 2021 (75.1%)
Gil Hodges, 2022 (75.3%)
Clayton Kershaw, 2026 (94.7%)
Sandy Koufax, 2021 (95.6%)
Tommy Lasorda, 2022 (87.7%)
Walter O’Malley, 2024 (79.4%)
Branch Rickey, 2022 (72.1%)
Pee Wee Reese, 2024 (76.3%)
Jackie Robinson, 2021 (88.9%)
Vin Scully, 2021 (92.7%)
Duke Snider, 2021 (78.2%)
Don Sutton, 2025 (75.7%)
Fernando Valenzuela, 2022 (80.6%)
Maury Wills, 2022 (76.6%)
Listed in order of percentage:
Sandy Koufax, 2021 (95.6%)
Clayton Kershaw, 2026 (94.7%)
Vin Scully, 2021 (92.7%)
Don Drysdale, 2021 (90%)
Jackie Robinson, 2021 (88.9%)
Tommy Lasorda, 2022 (87.7%)
Walt Alston, 2022 (86.5%)
Roy Campanella, 2021 (84.7%)
Fernando Valenzuela, 2022 (80.6%)
Walter O’Malley, 2024 (79.4%)
Duke Snider, 2021 (78.2%)
Maury Wills, 2022 (76.6%)
Pee Wee Reese, 2024 (76.3%)
Don Sutton, 2025 (75.7%)
Gil Hodges, 2022 (75.3%)
Orel Hershiser, 2021 (75.1%)
Branch Rickey, 2022 (72.1%)
Note: In 2022, you had to be named on only 65% of the ballots to be inducted. It has been 75% all other years.
Ben is back
Remember Ben Rortvedt, who became a fan favorite as the backup catcher to Will Smith at the end of last season? The Dodgers signed him to a $1.1 million deal after the season, then soon after removed him from the 40-man roster. That meant other teams could claim him, and the Dodgers apparently hoped the $1.1 million price tag would scare teams off. It didn’t scare Cincinnati, which took him.
Last week, the Reds signed Eugenio Suárez, and to make room for him on the 40-man roster, they removed Rortvedt. And the Dodgers snatched him up quickly.
So Rortvedt is back with the team, and will compete with Dalton Rushing to be the backup catcher.
To make room for Rortvedt, the Dodgers removed left-handed reliever Anthony Banda from the roster. They signed Banda to a $1.625-million deal last month, so perhaps they are hoping no team will take him. In two seasons with the Dodgers, Banda is 8-3 with a 3.14 ERA and two saves in 119 games, including 71 games last season, so he was a workhorse. However, his strikeout rate declined last year while his walk rate increased, a troubling sign. The Dodgers have a lot of left-handed options, so he was the odd man out this time.
Bad news for Yasiel Puig
Former Dodger Yasiel Puig was found guilty Friday of obstruction of justice and making false statements to investigators. Puig was alleged to have lied about gambling on sports.
Puig faces a maximum of 20 years in prison. At one point, he was offered a plea deal where he would plead guilty to one count of lying to federal authorities and would have served no jail time while paying a $55,000 fine. He accepted the deal, then backed out of it because “I want to clear my name.”
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.
Even with essentially his entire starting lineup unavailable because of injuries, Lakers coach JJ Redick still looked forward to competing against a worthy opponent in the San Antonio Spurs.
Even facing a Spurs team with the second-best record in the Western Conference without LeBron James (left foot arthritis), Luka Doncic (left hamstring strain), Austin Reaves (left calf injury), Marcus Smart (right ankle) and Deandre Ayton (right knee soreness), Redick still wanted his group to compete at a high level.
It’s just that Spurs All-Star Victor Wembanyama competed at a level the Lakers were unable to reach, the 7-foot-4 center dominating with his season-high-tying 40 points to go along with 12 rebounds in just 26 minutes during San Antonio’s easy 136-108 win Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena.
Wembanyama had 25 points in the first quarter alone and 37 by halftime.
“I know right now we have to contend with him and he’s one of the five best players in the world,” Redick said. “He’s put that stamp on himself. It’s more than counting the stats with him, because there is such an avoidance of him defensively and there is an awareness you have from him defensively.”
Luke Kennard had 14 points and five assists, Drew Timme had 14 points and Bronny James had 12 points and six assists for the Lakers (32-21).
For LeBron James, missing the game meant the Lakers’ All-Star became ineligible for NBA postseason awards, ending his streak of making the All-NBA team at 21 seasons. The league’s threshold to be eligible for postseason awards is 65 games. The most James can reach is 64 if he does not sit out another game.
James, playing in his NBA-record 23rd season, missed the first 14 games of the season because of sciatica, making it difficult to meet the threshold.
Redick said James has been “dealing with the history of injuries he’s had and to start the year.”
“Just depends on how he wakes up the next day and as he goes through his treatment in the morning,” Redick added. “But we ruled him out.”
Doncic missed his third straight game with his injury. The Lakers next play Thursday night here against the Mavericks, Doncic’s former team. Redick said Doncic was listed as “day to day” when asked if his All-Star would play against the Mavericks.
Doncic, the leading-vote getter for Sunday’s All-Star Game, has been working out and playing some five-on-five action to get ready.
“Luka continues to progress,” Redick said.
Before playing in the last four games, Reaves had missed the previous 19 with his calf injury.
Redick said Reaves “was coming back from a tissue injury” and was “only going to play in one of these games.”
Lakers forward Drew Timme tries to fend off Spurs guard Dylan Harper in the first half.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Redick said Smart tweaked his ankle in the fourth quarter of Monday night’s game and had a “pretty high level of soreness” when he woke up Tuesday.
Ayton had been listed as questionable and was being called a game-time decision before the game because Redick said Ayton is dealing with “his knee again.”
So, it was left up to the rest of the healthy Lakers to deal with Wembanyama and the Spurs.
The Lakers lost on Monday night to the Thunder, the defending NBA champions, who also have the best record in the league, and then had this back-to-back game against the tough Spurs.
“He makes me feel like a normal size dude,” Timme, who is 6-0, said laughing. “It’s crazy. But I mean, it’s that size, coordination and athleticism, it’s crazy. I mean, he’s really one of a kind. What they call him, the ‘Alien?’ Like, he’s a really good player. A lot of times people are like, ‘Well, if I had that height or if I had that…’ I mean, he has that but he also has the skill. I mean, he’s a really skilled, talented player and I think that’s why he’s so good. There’s a lot of tall players that can’t do that and I think that’s what really separates him.”
For nearly all of his 11 seasons, Rob Havenstein was a Rams mainstay at right tackle.
He started two Super Bowls, winning one, and provided sage wisdom and experience for younger players in what would be his final season in 2025.
On Tuesday, Havenstein, 33, announced he was retiring.
“What a ride it’s been!” Havenstein wrote in a post on Instagram. “I can look back on my career and smile knowing I have given everything I had and more to the game I love.
“In saying that, I am officially retiring from the NFL.”
Havenstein, the longest-tenured Rams player on the roster last season, thanked his teammates and coaches, the Rams organization and his parents and wife for their support.
The 6-foot-8 Havenstein, grew up in Maryland and was a second-round pick by the Rams out of Wisconsin in 2015.
He started 13 games as a rookie, and then moved with the team from St. Louis to Los Angeles.
Havenstein started 148 regular-season games and 13 playoff games, including the Rams’ victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium to cap the 2021 season.
Due to injuries, Havenstein was limited to 14 games in 2023, 11 in 2024 and seven this past season.
Yet the four-time captain was a constant presence, and helped Warren McClendon Jr. develop into a consistent starter.
After the season, coach Sean McVay described Havenstein and tight end Tyler Higbee, who also completed the final year of his contract, as “all-time Rams.” McVay said the team would give the players time to digest the season and decide what might be next.
For Havenstein, that is retirement.
“As this chapter ends,” he wrote, “I couldn’t be more grateful, hopeful, and excited to see what comes next!”
The Seattle Seahawks defeated the New England Patriots 29-13 in Super Bowl LX.
This is the second time the Seahawks hoisted the Lombardi Trophy in four visits to the NFL’s championship game.
After joining the NFL as an expansion team in 1976, the Seahawks didn’t make it to the big game until Super Bowl XL following the 2005 season. Coached by Mike Holmgren and led by quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, Seattle went 13-3 during the regular season and defeated Washington and Carolina in the playoffs.
In the Super Bowl, the Seahawks gave up a 75-yard touchdown run to Pittsburgh Steelers running back Willie Parker to fall behind 14-3 early in the third quarter. Seattle closed the gap with a 16-yard touchdown pass from Hasselbeck to Jerramy Stevens, but Pittsburgh got a touchdown on a trick play — a 43-yard pass from Antwaan Randle El to fellow receiver Hines Ward — midway through the fourth quarter to help seal a 21-10 win.
The Seahawks’ next visit to the big game came following the 2013 season. They went 13-3 and defeated New Orleans and San Francisco in the playoffs before facing the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII.
It was no contest. Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch had a touchdown run. Quarterback Russell Wilson had touchdown passes to Jermaine Kearse and Doug Baldwin. Malcolm Smith had a pick-six. Percy Harvin scored on a kickoff return. And coach Pete Carroll led Seattle to a 43-8 victory and its first Super Bowl championship.
After a 14-14 halftime tie, the Seahawks took a 10-point lead in the third quarter, only for the Patriots to score two touchdowns in the fourth for a 28-24 advantage just before the two-minute warning. Wilson led the Seahawks 79 yards on the ensuing drive — but they needed 80 yards.
On first and goal from the Patriots’ one-yard line with 26 seconds remaining, Wilson’s pass for Ricardo Lockette was intercepted by Patriots rookie Malcolm Butler to seal the win for New England.
The Seahawks didn’t return to the Super Bowl until this year. Coach Mike Macdonald and quarterback Sam Darnold led Seattle to a 14-3 record and wins over San Francisco and the Rams in the playoffs.
Kicker Jason Myers was responsible for all of the scoring in the first three quarters, connecting on four field goals for a 12-0 Seattle lead. The Seahawks scored on a 16-yard touchdown pass from Sam Darnold to AJ Barner for a 19-0 lead early in the fourth quarter. Myers made Super Bowl history with his fifth field goal, and teammate Uchenna Nwosu scored on a 45-yard interception return.
SANTA CLARA — Sam Darnold did not really know what to say.
So as the Seattle Seahawks quarterback stood on stage at Levi’s Stadium after becoming a Super Bowl champion, he made a few comments thanking teammates and fans before ultimately boiling it down to this:
“Just a job well done,” he said.
The words were simple. Concise. And captured the essence of a player who traveled a road filled with disappointments and setbacks but always believed in himself.
On Sunday, Darnold was far from spectacular. But the former San Clemente High and USC star played error-free, tossed a touchdown pass and let running back Kenneth Walker III, kicker Jason Myers and a dominating defense do the rest in a 29-13 victory over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX.
It was the Seahawks second Super Bowl title, their first since 2014.
This year’s defense dubbed itself the “Dark Side.” All-Pros do not abound. Individual personalities lean more toward quietly confident rather than brash.
And on Sunday, it lit up the stadium by harassing Patriots quarterback Drake Maye into three turnovers and sacking him six times.
Linebacker Derick Hall forced a third-quarter fumble that turned the momentum. Safety Julian Love ended any real chance of a comeback with a fourth-quarter interception. And, after cornerback Devon Witherspoon hit Maye’s arm on a blitz, linebacker Uchenna Nwosu returned an interception for a touchdown.
Patriots quarterback Drake Maye throws an interception as he is hit by Seahawks cornerback Devon Witherspoon in the fourth quarter of Seattle’s 29-13 win in Super Bowl LX on Sunday.
(Adam Hunger / Associated Press)
“They lived up to the ‘Dark Side’ today,” Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said as he held the Vince Lombardi Trophy on the winner’s stage. “It’s going to go down in the history books.”
Myers made history by kicking a Super Bowl-record five field goals. Walker rushed for 135 yards and was voted the game’s most valuable player, the first running back to win the award since Terrell Davis in 1998.
But the story of the Seahawks’ season revolved around Darnold.
The third pick in the 2018 draft endured tough times with the New York Jets and Carolina Panthers before he spent a season as the backup for the San Francisco 49ers. In 2024, he led the Minnesota Vikings to 14 victories but the team did not re-sign him.
The Seahawks welcomed him with open arms, and he became the first former USC quarterback to start a Super Bowl.
Is this what the Seahawks envisioned when they signed Darnold to a three-year deal with $55 million in guarantees?
Seahawks coach Mike MacDonald holds the Vince Lombardi Trophy on stage in front of Sam Darnold and Kenneth Walker III following a 29-13 win over the New England Patriots on Sunday.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
“Yeah, absolutely,” general manager John Schneider said in a celebratory locker room filled with cigar smoke and champagne. “The person, the leader — he’s the ultimate competitor.”
On Sunday, Darnold was not nearly as sharp as he was in a pivotal Week 16 overtime victory over the Rams, and the NFC championship game against the Rams.
But early in the fourth quarter, he connected with tight end AJ Barner for a touchdown that gave the Seahawks a 19-0 lead. He completed 19 of 38 passes for 202 yards. He did not have a pass intercepted. He did not fumble.
“I feel like I could have been a lot better,” he said. “Feel like we could have scored more points, to be quite frank. But again, we got the job done.”
A job well done by Darnold all season, teammates said.
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold throws a pass during the second half against the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX on Sunday.
“The story that’s been written, my story, I don’t know if I could have written a better ending to this year. Some really tough times this year, and to be in this place, be able to go through this year with these guys, it’s one of the most fun years I’ve had.”
Jones started for the Rams in Super Bowl LVI as a rookie but rather than extending him after his third year, the team traded him to Tennessee before last season. The Titans later traded him to the Seahawks, who gave him a three-year extension last spring.
“It’s amazing, man,” Jones said of being a two-time champion. “Those California Super Bowls — I like those.”
After Darnold’s touchdown pass, it appeared the Seahawks were on their way to the first shutout in Super Bowl history. But Maye came back and fired a touchdown pass to Mack Hollins, pulling the Patriots to within 12 points.
Patriots fans perhaps envisioned a repeat of Super Bowl LI in 2017, when Tom Brady led the Patriots back from a 28-3 deficit to beat the Atlanta Falcons.
But the Seahawks made sure that was not going to happen.
Love picked off a Maye pass, and Myers kicked his final field goal to increase the lead to 22-7. Late in the fourth quarter, Witherspoon hit Maye, and Nwosu grabbed the ball in the air and returned it 45 yards for a 29-7 lead.
The Seahawks were on their way to finishing the season with their 10th consecutive victory.
Maye, runner-up to Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford for the NFL most valuable player award, completed 27 of 43 passes for 295 yards and two touchdowns with two interceptions.
“They had applied some pressure where they got us a few times,” Maye said, “and we’ve got to be better with the football and make better decisions and I’ve got to make better throws when the game goes like that.”
When it was over, Darnold was holding the Vince Lombardi Trophy on stage.
Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold, left, and running back Kenneth Walker III celebrate on stage after a 29-13 win over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX on Sunday.
(Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
“I was like, ‘This thing’s a lot lighter than I thought it was,’” he said. “But it was great just to be able to hold that trophy and finally enjoy it.”
Darnold will enjoy something else: He will now forever be known as Super Bowl-champion Sam Darnold.
“It’s special, man,” he said. “I’m not going to lie — it’s a dream come true. It really is.
“Just going to continue to lean in to that, and soak it all in.”
MINNEAPOLIS — Kawhi Leonard had 41 points and eight rebounds and the Clippers beat the slumping Minnesota Timberwolves 115-96 on Sunday.
John Collins had 15 points on six-of-nine shooting, and Yanic Konan Niederhauser also scored 15 points. The Clippers took command with a 17-3 run closing out the third quarter.
Anthony Edwards led Minnesota with 23 points, and Julius Randle had 17. The Timberwolves have lost three of their last four, all to sub-.500 opponents. Minnesota made just eight of 33 three-point attempts and committed 20 turnovers while being held under 100 points for just the second time this season.
Ayo Dosunmu, making his Timberwolves debut after being acquired in a trade with Chicago, had 11 points and two steals.
The Timberwolves were coming off one of their most frustrating losses of the season, when they blew an 18-point third-quarter lead in a home loss to the lowly New Orleans Pelicans.
The first half was more of the same for Minnesota. Leonard scored 24 points and helped key an 18-2 run late in the second quarter that give the Clippers a 54-42 lead.
The Clippers played without their two key trade deadline acquisitions. Darius Garland, who arrived from Cleveland in the James Harden trade, remained sidelined with a sprained big toe on his right foot. The Clippers had already said wingman Bennedict Mathurin, picked up in a swap with the Pacers, wouldn’t join his new team until Tuesday in Houston.
The Seattle Seahawks lead the New England Patriots 9-0 at halftime of Super Bowl LX on a pair of field goals by kicker Jason Myers.
That’s a pretty low score — but it’s not close to being the lowest halftime score in Super Bowl history. That came in Super Bowl IX following the 1974 season.
In a struggle between two classic NFL defenses — Pittsburgh’s Steel Curtain vs. Minnesota’s Purple People Eaters — the only first-half points midway through the second quarter. On second and 7 from his own 10-yard line, Vikings quarterback Fran Tarkenton lost the ball and had to fall on it in the Vikings’ end zone. He was touched by Steelers defensive end Dwight White, who was credited with the sack.
It was the first safety ever in a Super Bowl, giving Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead that stood at halftime. The Steelers went on to defeat the Vikings 16-6 for their first of four Super Bowl wins in a six-year stretch.
Following the 2018 season, the Patriots led the Rams 3-0 at the intermission of Super Bowl LIII, the second-lowest halftime score in Super Bowl history, on a 42-yard field goal by Stephen Gostkowski early in the second quarter.
