Welcome back to The Times’ Lakers newsletter, where life comes at you fast.
Only a week ago, the Lakers were winning games and flying high. Quite literally. Remember when Luka Doncic dunked?
Happier times.
Now Doncic and Austin Reaves are both sidelined at least for the rest of the regular season and likely through the first round of the playoffs. The injury updates that came on consecutive days following Thursday’s 43-point loss to Oklahoma City felt like a devastating series of gut punches. Coach JJ Redick often talks about “not letting go of the rope.” The Lakers will have to white-knuckle their way through the next few weeks without their two stars.
Why is Luka Doncic in Europe?
Lakers star Luka Doncic reacts after sustaining a hamstring injury against the Oklahoma City Thunder on April 2.
(Cooper Neill / Getty Images)
He knows magic. Now Luka Doncic needs medicine to help pull off his next stunning trick.
With the playoffs approaching, Doncic traveled to Europe to seek treatment for his strained left hamstring, his agent, Bill Duffy, confirmed to The Times’ Broderick Turner. The hope is that with specialized treatments, Doncic can speed up what is typically a four- to six-week recovery process and get back in time for at least part of the Lakers postseason, which begins April 18.
Ultrasound-guided platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections and stem cell injections are the most common treatments for injuries of this nature, said Kenton Fibel, a primary care sports medicine specialist at Cedars-Sinai Orthopaedics.
The biologic injections can speed up healing of injured tissue. PRP injections use the natural growth and anti-inflammatory factors in platelets to promote healing while stem cells harvested from a patient’s bone marrow or adipose tissue similarly help with the regeneration and turnover of the healing tissue into normal muscle tendon tissue, Fibel said.
Top U.S. athletes have gone to Europe to seek the treatments for decades. Kobe Bryant, former Colts quarterback Andrew Luck and San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey are among those who’ve crossed the pond for solutions to chronic injuries. But similar treatments are also available in the United States.
In the U.S., only PRP and stem cell injections coming from a patient’s own body are allowed and the cells are not allowed to be manipulated, Fibel said. With looser regulations in Europe, doctors can attempt to increase the concentration of anti-inflammatory factors in a single PRP sample or culture stem cells over days to increase the number of them with hopes of speeding up healing even more.
Whether there is a significant increase in efficacy between the cutting-edge European treatments compared to the U.S. methods is unclear, Fibel said, but an athlete’s decision to pursue treatment often comes down to individual comfort level or prior experiences.
Lakers star Luka Doncic shoots over Brooklyn Nets guard Drake Powell during a Lakers win on March 27.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
The ubiquity of degenerative conditions or recurring soft tissue injuries in sports have turned European countries, including Germany and Switzerland, into hot spots for top athletes searching for help.
“These are injuries that are not always that easy to completely prevent, and it’s also not the easiest to always prevent reaggravation,” Fibel said. “And so I think [the new treatments] also comes from a frustration of doing a lot of the treatments and modalities that were used in prior injuries and still having an issue afterwards [so] that they’re searching for something new and different.”
Doncic knows the routine when it comes to hamstring injuries. As a player who thrives on his shifty change of pace, Doncic’s quick start and stop motions put extra load on his hamstrings and put him at risk of reinjury. Another left hamstring strain sidelined him for four games earlier this season.
Now with a Grade 2 injury, Doncic’s timeline for recovery would typically be four to six weeks. A Grade 2 injury shows “true disruption” that involves about 50% of the tissue, Fibel said. The most severe Grade 3 is used to describe a more significant, if not complete, tear of the muscle or tendon. The Lakers have suffered several Grade 2 injuries this season, including Austin Reaves’ latest left oblique strain.
The timing of the injuries couldn’t be worse for the Lakers. Not only do the playoffs begin in less than two weeks, but the Lakers were playing their best basketball of the season before the injuries to Doncic and Reaves. They appeared to be legitimate contenders in the playoffs. Now they must wait to see if Doncic’s super serum turns him into a superhero capable of saving their postseason.
“[Doncic is] going to go through all the necessary things to be back at some point,” Redick said, “and it’s our job again to extend the season so both those guys can get back.”
Scoreboard watching
Lakers star LeBron James reacts during a game against the Sacramento Kings on Dec. 28.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
It’s true what they say: No lead is safe in the NBA.
Just when it looked like the Lakers were likely to finish third in the West, the Nuggets found a rhythm, the Lakers got bitten by the injury bug and the Rockets refused to relent.
Reeling from the loss of their two leading scorers, the Lakers have fallen to fourth in the West with Denver surging on a nine-game winning streak. After an overtime win against the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday, the Nuggets (51-28) have a half-game advantage over the Lakers for the No. 3 seed.
The good news: The Lakers can’t drop below the fifth seed, thanks to Minnesota’s recent slide. They also have an additional cushion from their exceptional March, which gave them head-to-head tiebreakers against Denver and Houston.
I won’t repeat the obvious injury-related bad news.
To drop to fifth, the Lakers have to be 2-2 (or worse) in their last four games, while the Nuggets, who have the head-to-head tiebreaker against Houston, go at least 2-1 and the Rockets (49-29) run the table. The Nuggets have the tougher schedule between the three teams, though, playing both Oklahoma City and San Antonio in the final three games.
Here’s a look at the remaining games for the teams fighting for third, fourth and fifth in the West:
(Thuc Nhi Nguyen / Los Angeles Times)
On tap
Tuesday vs. Thunder (62-16) 7:30 p.m. PDT
The Lakers won’t be able to undo last week’s 43-point loss in Oklahoma City, but a competitive showing in the rematch could at least offer a much-needed confidence boost entering the postseason.
Thursday at Warriors (36-42), 7 p.m.
The Warriors are in position to eke into the play-in tournament as the 10th seed. Believe it or not, this could be the last meeting between LeBron James and Stephen Curry in their illustrious careers as the 41-year-old James enters unrestricted free agency this summer.
Friday vs. Suns (43-35), 7:30 p.m.
Phoenix is currently seventh in the West with a chance to chase down sixth-place Minnesota for a playoff berth. Dillon Brooks recently returned from a fractured left hand that kept him out for about six weeks. The Suns went 9-9 during his absence.
Sunday vs. Jazz (21-58), 5:30 p.m.
The Jazz and the Kings are in a heated race to the bottom of the conference. Losers of nine straight, the Jazz are primarily hoping to keep their top-eight protected draft pick, which was at risk of conveying to Oklahoma City.
Status report
Luka Doncic: left hamstring strain
The Lakers have ruled Doncic out for at least the remainder of the regular season. Doncic previously missed four games with another left hamstring strain, but that same timeline won’t apply because the absence rolled into All-Star weekend, when he made a token appearance in the All-Star Game.
Austin Reaves: left oblique strain
Reaves played through the injury he suffered in the first quarter against the Thunder last week, but was ruled out for the rest of the regular season and he likely will miss the first round of the playoffs. He was injured while reaching for a loose ball.
Marcus Smart: right ankle contusion
Smart will miss his eighth consecutive game Tuesday against the Thunder as his ankle injury has lingered for more than two weeks since he got tangled up with Orlando’s Goga Bitadze. While Smart has worked out with staff members on the court before games, he is still day-to-day for his return.
Favorite thing I ate this week
(Thuc Nhi Nguyen / Los Angeles Times)
When in doubt, consult the L.A. Times. For all the news you need to know, yes, but also about your local food needs. This dinner was brought to you by the L.A. Times’ best 101 restaurants list, which recommended Lalibela on Fairfax for an Ethiopian feast. We started with the lentil sambusa (not pictured), which came with a perfectly spiced herb sauce, and shared the veggie utopia, which hits every note with the restaurant’s most popular vegetarian dishes.
From Maddie Lee: The teams were the same. The venues were the same. But the clash between the Dodgers and Blue Jays on Monday at Rogers Centre was far from the roller coaster of Game 7 of the World Series.
And the Dodgers’ most notable performance came from a young catcher who wasn’t on the World Series roster last year.
“These fans, sadly, didn’t want to see us come to town,” catcher Dalton Rushing said after hitting two home runs in the Dodgers’ 14-2 win. “And rightfully so, after what we did tonight. But yeah, I think we all just look forward to carrying it over to tomorrow and leave our mark in Toronto once again.”
Rushing, giving Game 7 hero Will Smith a day off, recorded the first multi-homer, four-hit game of his major league career.
Go beyond the scoreboard
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It was Rushing’s third start of the season and first time playing on consecutive days. The 25-year-old also homered Sunday in Washington.
“I learned a lot from last year,” Rushing said. “Last year, mentally, I was in a tough spot playing the role that I was, and just kind of trying to figure out how you play that role. And this year, I have a little better understanding.
“You’re not going to show up and have a game like that tonight. You’re not going to show up and get two hits every game, whether you’re playing every day or you’re playing every three days. And that was maybe it was just a pill I had to swallow a little bit. I’m just glad I could see results tonight.”
Kyle Tucker singles in the seventh inning of the Dodgers’ win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday night.
(Mark Blinch / Getty Images)
From Bill Shaikin: Fans lined up before the game, waiting patiently for the chance to take a selfie with trophies that commemorated the back-to-back World Series championships.
Dodger Stadium is not the only place you can do this. The trophies were from 1992 and 1993, and they honored the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Dodgers matched that back-to-back feat over the past two years, including a classic Game 7 victory in Toronto in last year’s World Series, and returned here Monday to a noise pit packed with fans primed to boo, and to urge their team to exact vengeance on the evil mercenaries from America.
On this night, the mercenaries prevailed, in a pummeling so relentless and a silencing so rapid that a three-peat appeared all but inevitable: Dodgers 14, Blue Jays 2.
Michigan players celebrate after defeating Connecticut for the NCAA men’s basketball title on Monday night.
(Michael Conroy / Associated Press)
From the Associated Press: This title for Michigan’s newest Fab Five will look better in the trophy case than a time capsule.
Hard to be too picky — this new-age group of ballers in maize and blue showed they can win any which way.
The five fabulous transfers who make up coach Dusty May’s starting lineup got down and dirty with the rest of the Wolverines to dig out the national championship on Monday. Michigan made only two three-pointers all night but still muscled its way to a 69-63 victory over stingy, stubborn Connecticut.
Elliot Cadeau led the Wolverines with 19 points, including the team’s first three, which came 7:04 into the second half. The second, from freshman Trey McKenney, came with 1:50 left and felt like a dagger, giving May’s team — which had scored 90 points in five straight March Madness games leading to the final — a nine-point lead.
Kings forward Scott Laughton celebrates with goaltender Anton Forsberg after the Kings’ 3-2 shootout win over the Nashville Predators at Crypto.com Arena on Monday.
(Scott Strazzante / Associated Press)
From the Associated Press:Adrian Kempe scored the only goal of the shootout in the second round, and the Kings tightened the Western Conference playoff race with a 3-2 win over the Nashville Predators on Monday night.
The Kings have played in overtime in seven of its last 10 games — and 32 this season.
Joel Armia opened the scoring for the Kings and Scott Laughton made it a 2-1 lead in the second period. Jared Wright has an assist in a career-best three straight games for L.A.
Neto launched a leadoff shot on Chris Sale’s first pitch, and Soriano (3-0) struck out 10 as the Angels won their third consecutive game. The right-hander gave up one run and three hits without issuing a walk, throwing 69 of his 96 pitches for strikes.
Soriano gave up a solo homer to Drake Baldwin and a single to Matt Olson in the first, then retired 19 straight batters before Mike Yastrzemski led off the eighth with a single.
Tiger Woods celebrates after winning the Masters in April 2019. Woods was arrested on a DUI charge in Florida last month and will not compete at the Masters this week.
In the wake of last month’s rollover car accident and DUI charge, the five-time Masters winner has stepped away from golf indefinitely and reportedly could be receiving treatment in Switzerland for an addiction to painkillers.
“He’s not immune to it just because he can hit a golf ball really well,” fellow competitor Jason Day said. “He’s had 25 to 30-something surgeries, and when you’re going through that many procedures, it’s painful coming out of those procedures. I’ve had procedures done and I typically try and stay away from all that stuff because I just know that — painkillers, there can potentially be a downfall to it.”
After spending her first two seasons with the Chicago Sky, the two-time All Star has been traded to the Atlanta Dream in exchange for first-round picks in 2027 and 2028, the teams announced Monday morning. Atlanta also receives the option to swap second-round picks with Chicago in 2028.
“An Angel’s DREAM,” Reese posted on X. “ATL WHAT UP?!”
Reese was already a star before coming to the WNBA after helping Louisiana State win the national championship over Caitlin Clark and Iowa in 2023 and leading the Tigers back to the Elite Eight the following year.
1940 — Jimmy Demaret wins the Masters by four strokes over Lloyd Mangrum. Mangrum opens with a 64, a course record by two strokes that stands for 46 years.
1946 — Herman Keiser edges Ben Hogan by one stroke to win the Masters.
1951 — Ben Hogan takes the Masters by two strokes over Robert Riegel.
1956 — Joe Graboski scores 29 points and Paul Arizin 26 as the Philadelphia Warriors beat the Fort Wayne Pistons 99-88 to win the NBA championship in five games.
1963 — Jack Nicklaus becomes the youngest Masters winner at 23, beating Tony Lema by a stroke.
1969 — Ted Williams begins managing the Washington Senators.
1985 — New Jersey’s Herschel Walker rushes for a USFL-record 233 yards in leading the Generals to a 31-25 victory over the Houston Gamblers. Walker breaks his own USFL record for the longest run from scrimmage by going 89 yards on his second carry.
1995 — Baseball exhibition season begins late due to strike.
1996 — Dave Andreychuk scores a goal for his 1,000th career point, and the New Jersey Devils top the New York Rangers 4-2.
1998 — Al MacInnis has a goal and an assist in St. Louis’ 5-3 loss at Detroit to become the sixth NHL defenseman to reach 1,000 points.
2000 — 1st regular season MLB game at Enron Field (now Minute Maid Park) in Houston.
2003 — Syracuse wins the NCAA title with an 81-78 victory over Kansas.
2007 — Michigan State beats Boston College 3-1 for its first NCAA hockey title in 21 years.
2008 — Mario Chalmers hits a 3-pointer with 2.1 seconds left in regulation to force overtime, and Kansas goes on to defeat Memphis 75-68 for the NCAA title.
2009 — Tina Charles scores 25 points and grabs 19 rebounds and Connecticut routs Louisville 76-54 to capture its sixth women’s basketball title. UConn (39-0) wins every one of its 39 games by double digits, a first in college basketball.
2010 — Don Nelson sets the NBA career record for victories by a coach in the Golden State Warriors’ 116-107 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. Nelson’s 1,333 wins surpass Lenny Wilkens’ total.
2014 — Shabazz Napier scores 22 points and Connecticut wins its second NCAA men’s title in four years, beating the freshmen-led Kentucky 60-54 in the championship game.
2015 — UConn’s women down Notre Dame 63-53 for their 10th NCAA championship. Coach Geno Auriemma ties UCLA’s John Wooden for the most titles in college basketball.
2016 — Ernie Els, winner of four major titles, opens with a 10 on the par-4 first hole at the Masters. After his first two shots, Els seven-putts from 2 feet. His sextuple bogey is the worst score on the first hole at the Masters, beating the old mark by two strokes.
2016 — The Golden State Warriors become the second team to win 70 games in a season by beating the San Antonio Spurs 112-101.
2018 — Vegas Golden Knights end regular season with most victories of any expansion team.
2019 — Dwyane Wade and Dirk Nowitzki play final NBA games.
2019 — Magic Johnson quits as President of Basketball Operations of the Lakers.
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.
TORONTO — Fans lined up before the game, waiting patiently for the chance to take a selfie with trophies that commemorated the back-to-back World Series championships.
Dodger Stadium is not the only place you can do this. The trophies were from 1992 and 1993, and they honored the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Dodgers matched that back-to-back feat over the past two years, including a classic Game 7 victory in Toronto in last year’s World Series, and returned here Monday to a noise pit packed with fans primed to boo, and to urge their team to exact vengeance on the evil mercenaries from America.
On this night, the mercenaries prevailed, in a pummeling so relentless and a silencing so rapid that a three-peat appeared all but inevitable: Dodgers 14, Blue Jays 2.
Dalton Rushing celebrates with teammates in the dugout after hitting his second home run of the game in the eighth inning of a 14-2 win over Toronto on Monday.
(Mark Blinch / Getty Images)
“These fans, sadly, didn’t want to see us come to town,” Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing said, “and rightfully so, after what we did tonight.”
Those fans did want to see the Dodgers, but they did not want to see this. On a night the Dodgers fielded a lineup without Mookie Betts and Will Smith, the team hit five home runs — two by Rushing — and scored in every inning but the second and ninth. Of the six Toronto pitchers, the only one to hold the Dodgers scoreless was catcher Tyler Heineman.
To the Dodgers, well, it was another day on the job, if a bit louder than usual at the start. They had a game to win on the long road toward October and, as they often do, they won.
In Toronto, however, pitcher Kevin Gausman said, “It feels like we’re getting ready for Game 8.” The fans mercilessly booed Shohei Ohtani, who turned down $700 million from the Blue Jays to take $700 million from the Dodgers, and outfielder Kyle Tucker, who turned down $350 million (over 10 years) from the Blue Jays to take $240 million (over four years) from the Dodgers.
They even booed Justin Wrobleski, the Dodgers’ starting pitcher, and Miguel Rojas, usually an infielder but on Monday the Dodgers’ final pitcher. Wrobleski, who won his seventh major league game Monday, said he expected the boos.
“It was fun,” he said. “They care about baseball here. It’s a fun environment. If people weren’t a little upset and a little, I’d say, passionate about what happened last year in the World Series, maybe they’re not real fans.”
The boos could have been a sign of respect, or of a long memory: about the ninth most-memorable part of Game 7 was Wrobleski hitting Toronto infielder Andrés Gimenez, then shouting language so profane Wrobleski later said he apologized to his mother for using it. You cannot be a nobody if you can get the benches to clear in Game 7.
“They wouldn’t boo me,” Wrobleski said, “if they didn’t know who I was.”
Dodgers pitcher Justin Wrobleski delivers during the first inning against the Blue Jays on Monday.
(Mark Blinch / Getty Images)
The Dodgers led 4-1, then 5-1, then 6-1, then 9-1, and that was before the sixth inning was done.
“When you score a lot of runs, you’re going to take the crowd out of it,” Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman said.
“I think the media and everyone else was more hyped up. It’s a new team, new year. We’ve got different guys on our team too. But we obviously understand it’s a World Series matchup.”
The Blue Jays were different: infielder Bo Bichette is in New York, catcher Alejandro Kirk is on the injured list, infielder-outfielder Addison Barger is hurt, and Toronto is borrowing a page from the Dodgers’ playbook with a rotation full of hurting pitchers: Shane Bieber, José Berrios, Cody Ponce and phenom Trey Yesavage all are on the injured list, and Max Scherzer left after two innings Monday because of tendinitis in his throwing arm.
The Dodgers are 8-2. The only defending World Series champion to get off to a better 10-game start in the last 100 years: last year’s Dodgers, at 9-1.
Last year worked out just fine. This is April, and no one is facing elimination any time soon. That explains how Roberts rated his anxiety level on Monday.
“It was probably a 10 in October and probably a one tonight,” he said.
Monday’s game offered yet another example of how the team that supposedly is ruining baseball is fattening the wallets of the league’s other 29 teams. The Dodgers have led the league in road attendance in each of Ohtani’s two previous seasons and almost certainly will do so again this season — and a fair number of those ticket buyers are Dodgers fans following their team here, there and everywhere.
In a 10-minute pregame walk around the main concourse, I saw plenty of fans in Dodgers jerseys: not only with the names of Ohtani, Betts and Freeman but with the names of Rojas, Kiké Hernández and Roki Sasaki.
As soon as the third inning, a “Let’s Go Dodgers” chant echoed through the stadium.
The Blue Jays are off to a 4-6 start, including series losses to the Colorado Rockies and Chicago White Sox. The Jays should be good again, and soon. In the meantime, they are offering 77-cent hot dogs Tuesday.
For all the Dodgers fans here, that’s quite the trip: a rout that silenced a hostile crowd one day, hot dogs valued at 55 cents in U.S. currency the next. The fruits of victory, as Tommy Lasorda might have said, rarely are so cheap and filling.
Neto launched a leadoff shot on Chris Sale’s first pitch, and Soriano (3-0) struck out 10 as the Angels won their third consecutive game. The right-hander gave up one run and three hits without issuing a walk, throwing 69 of his 96 pitches for strikes.
Soriano gave up a solo homer to Drake Baldwin and a single to Matt Olson in the first, then retired 19 straight batters before Mike Yastrzemski led off the eighth with a single.
Mauricio Dubón homered off Angels reliever Chase Silseth in the ninth. Atlanta put two on with two outs before Jordan Romano replaced Silseth and got Yastrzemski to fly out for his fourth save.
The Angels played without star center fielder Mike Trout, who exited Sunday’s game against Seattle after getting hit on the left hand by a 94-mph fastball in the eighth. Trout’s hand swelled so quickly he struggled to remove his batting glove, but X-rays were negative and he is listed as day to day.
Sale (2-1) entered 8-0 with a 1.24 ERA in 11 career games against the Angels, but Neto slammed the left-hander’s first pitch, a 95-mph fastball, for a homer to left field.
Angels star Zach Neto celebrates in the dugout after hitting a home run in the first inning against the Braves on Monday.
(Joe Scarnici / Getty Images)
Sale retired his next nine batters but fell apart during a three-run fourth in which the Angels drew two walks, were twice hit by pitches, had two runners forced out at the plate and hit one ball out of the infield.
Logan O’Hoppe walked and Yoán Moncada was hit by a pitch, both with the bases loaded, to account for two runs. Bryce Teodosio drove in a run with an infield single for a 4-1 lead.
Jorge Soler opened the fifth with a single, and Adell drove a first-pitch fastball 411 feet to left for a two-run homer — his first of the season — and a 6-1 advantage.
Up next: Braves RHP Reynaldo López (1-0, 1.64 ERA) opposes Angels LHP Yusei Kikuchi (0-1, 6.52) on Tuesday night.
A workers’ union at the World Cup venue has asked FIFA to keep ICE agents away from the venue to alleviate their fears.
Published On 7 Apr 20267 Apr 2026
A union representing about 2,000 food service workers at the Los Angeles Stadium has asked FIFA to keep United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) away from World Cup operations in the city and warned workers could strike if their concerns are not addressed.
Unite Here Local 11, which represents cooks, servers and bartenders at the Inglewood venue, said on Monday that the workers remain without a labour contract as the World Cup approaches.
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The union laid out three main demands to FIFA and stadium owner Kroenke Sports & Entertainment: A public commitment that ICE and Border Patrol will play no role in the tournament, protections for union jobs and working conditions, and support for affordable housing for hospitality workers.
Acting director of ICE, Todd Lyons, has said ICE would play a “key part” in the World Cup, a prospect the union said threatened worker and guest safety in Los Angeles.
Local 11 said it also wanted assurances that artificial intelligence and automation would not be used during the tournament to eliminate union jobs.
The union linked its labour demands to broader concerns over housing costs in the Los Angeles area, particularly in Inglewood, and called for support for a workforce housing fund, restrictions on short-term rentals and tax measures aimed at funding affordable housing and immigrant family protections.
“FIFA and its corporate sponsors will pocket billions from Los Angeles while refusing to even acknowledge the cooks, servers, and stand attendants who make this event possible,” Kurt Petersen, co-president of Local 11, said in a statement.
The union said it had repeatedly sought meetings with FIFA since Los Angeles was chosen as a host city, but had been ignored.
The venue is known as the SoFi Stadium, but has been rebranded to the Los Angeles Stadium for the World Cup due to sponsor clashes.
Los Angeles is set to host eight World Cup matches at the stadium, the first being the US against Paraguay on June 12.
Adrian Kempe scored the only goal of the shootout in the second round, and the Kings tightened the Western Conference playoff race with a 3-2 win over the Nashville Predators on Monday night.
The Kings have played in overtime in seven of its last 10 games — and 32 this season.
Joel Armia opened the scoring for the Kings and Scott Laughton made it a 2-1 lead in the second period. Jared Wright has an assist in a career-best three straight games for L.A.
Steven Stamkos tied it 1-1 for the Predators and Roman Josi knotted it 2-2 early in the third.
Anton Forsberg made 29 saves in the win for the Kings. Saros made 26 saves for the Predators.
The Kings won 58.3% of the faceoffs in the game.
All three series matchups this season went to a shootout, including a 5-4 victory for the Predators in Los Angeles last Thursday.
Up next for Kings: vs. Vancouver Canucks at Crypto.com Arena on Thursday.
Lawes spent his club career with Northampton Saints, winning two Prem titles, before joining French side Brive in 2024.
“I’m officially un-retiring from international duty and I’d love to play for England again but first and foremost I want to play well for Sale and we’ll see what happens after that,” he told Sale’s website, external.
To continue their upward trajectory, Bemand, who has signed a new deal to stay with Ireland until the conclusion of the 2029 Women’s Rugby World Cup, has freshened up his squad and opted for a change of captain.
There are nine uncapped players in the 36-strong panel while winger Amee-Leigh Costigan, who captained the side throughout last year’s championship, and former co-captain Edel McMahon, are out.
The armband has been passed to returning back row Erin King, who Bemand believes is the ideal candidate to lead the green wave into a new cycle.
He said: “Erin embodies the Ireland player of the future of how she attacks training and how she is – honest, driven and a resilient player.”
The 22-year-old recently returned from the serious knee injury which forced her to miss last year’s World Cup and is relishing her new role.
King believes Ireland must target being competitive in both games against the top two and it is not an unrealistic goal.
They were well in the game at half-time in Cork last year when they trailed 7-5, only for England to blow them away in the second half to win 49-5.
At the World Cup in the summer, Ireland led 13-0 at the break before France came back with 18 unanswered points to progress to the last four.
“We know we are bridging the gap to the top two teams – France and England. They’ve been professional for a lot longer than us but the last few years of our professionalism is paying off now,” she said.
“Last year we held it to England for a good while so it would be great if we could compete for the full 80 [minutes] against them and get to get one up on France, we can definitely compete with them.
“With the squad we have, we can do things we’ve never done before. We just want to get going.”
The race report from Suzuka actually mentioned that more than half Aston Martin’s deficit to the front was caused by the chassis.
That information came from a very senior and knowledgeable figure over the course of the Japanese Grand Prix weekend.
It also tallies with what other teams are seeing on the GPS data to which all have access, in terms of the cars’ speed on different parts of the track.
The exact split in terms of the losses that can be attributed to car and engine at Aston Martin-Honda is not known, and it’s probably not possible to know, as of course the behaviour of the engine can also have an impact on the cornering performance of the car.
It’s worth adding that, while it’s true that much of the public focus has been on the Honda engine, and especially the severe vibrations that have been causing reliability problems, team principal Adrian Newey has been clear that the car is also lacking.
It’s also the case that it’s not clear where the vibrations are coming from – are they intrinsic to the engine, or is there something about the way the engine is mounted to the chassis that exacerbates them?
In Australia, Newey said that on the chassis side “we’re maybe the fifth best team, so sort of potential Q3 qualifiers on the chassis side, but with the potential to be up front at some point in the season”.
On average over the four qualifying sessions of the first three races, including for the sprint in China, the Aston Martin is 3.6 seconds off the pace.
The fifth fastest team on average are Alpine, at 1.268secs off the pace, followed by Haas at 1.567secs.
So Aston Martin are about 2.3secs off qualifying in the top 10, with the majority down to the chassis and the rest the engine.
In other words, put a Mercedes engine in the car, and it would be about where Alpine or Haas are. Exactly as Newey suggested.
Given the Aston Martin’s troubled birth – effectively starting again when Newey arrived in March last year, a delayed entry into the wind tunnel until April, and a consequent compressed development programme – that sounds entirely feasible.
The car is overweight, and is especially poor in high-speed corners.
The fundamental point, though, is that it doesn’t really matter where exactly the deficit lies between car and engine. Both Aston Martin and Honda are a long way from being competitive, both know that’s the case, and both have a lot of work to do.
“The Cowleys were different as after years of bargain basement managers we actually went out and did the research and found them,” said Whiley.
“The excitement was there and I remember the event where they first met the fans they were cheered into the room.
“We can look at this season and see promotion to the Championship as the best thing the club has done, but those three seasons, two promotions, FA Cup quarter-final, winning a trophy at Wembley. That changed it all.
“They brought a buzz back that we hadn’t seen since Keith, and they were like Keith in that they would find players on the way up, scour non-league and find the future stars.
“The fact is, that even after the Cowleys left to join Huddersfield, the energy stayed.
“It sticks with me that Danny said to me he didn’t want to see kids in Lincoln wearing the shirts of Premier League clubs, he wanted to see them kicking a ball in the park wearing a Lincoln City shirt.
“The success, the work that was done means that is a reality. I see it all the time when I go round the city, people wear their colours with pride.”
While Mark, Leigh and myself have covered parts of Lincoln’s recent history, one man who has been the stalwart has been BBC Radio Lincolnshire’s Michael Hortin.
His first game was in 1999, and he was there in the commentary box as Lincoln gained promotion to the Championship.
“This promotion is the culmination of a long-term plan,” said Hortin. “This is about a chairman and board who have been thoughtful with their investment.
“Lincoln’s FA Cup run earned them a lot of money and they did not spend it on players, they spent it on a whole new training set-up.
“The Cowleys were the start of a transition from the old way of doing things, to a set-up that is very much part of the modern game.
“Under them a sporting director was brought in to support recruitment and player development and now we really do have a true ‘head coach’ in Michael Skubala.
“It is about finding those raw players, developing them, selling them, and it is paying off as it has allowed them to secure players on better deals.”
Lincoln have, as Hortin describes, recruited ‘experience’ to the squad. Their head coach, though, is a man who had limited time in the professional game, but Hortin said Skubala’s ability to learn and adapt has been impressive.
“I remember the first game Skubala took was against Stevenage, and it was a bit of a shock, but he was quite cool and his reaction was more ‘huh, this is what it is about’, and he learned,” said Hortin.
“The way the team has adapted and what Skubala has done is create a team that is hard to beat.”
A team that is hard to beat. A club that has been learning, developing, recruiting, all building up to where Lincoln are now. But what next?
Hortin is confident that the club will remain realistic. “The first goal will be survival, but the thing is they had a plan to become an established League One club, and now they will be working on another plan for what comes next.
“The one thing is that new owner Ron Fowler will likely go about it the same as Clive Nates. It will be done in a quiet, steady, thoughtful way. That has become the Lincoln way.”
Wrexham came agonisingly close to earning a shock win over the Saints on the opening day of the campaign.
Josh Windass opened the scoring from the penalty spot for the visitors at St Mary’s Stadium but last-gasp goals from Ryan Manning and Jack Stephens earned the hosts victory.
Despite that triumph, the Saints struggled under Will Still and parted company with the head coach in early November.
They have drastically improved under German boss Eckert, winning nine of their past 12 league fixtures.
But Lewis O’Brien, who netted his side’s second goal at West Brom last time out, feels Wrexham’s improvement since the first fixture between the sides is evident.
“We were a pretty new team. There were a lot of signings and we were trying to understand how everyone played,” the midfielder said of the August contest.
“We’ve now got three games at home and three away and hopefully we can pick up as many points as we can.”
Although delighted to be part of the field, McKibbin is eager to make his mark and acknowledges the famous course is challenging.
Long fairways and “pristine” greens are what he will encounter but he wants to leave on Sunday happy with his week’s work.
Whether that means playing through the weekend or making a charge at the leaderboard remains to be seen, but making the most of this opportunity is his primary motivation.
“Some of the holes are very long, especially around 10 and 11, you’re hitting a lot of long irons into the greens which look pretty small from there, but the golf course is just incredible,” he noted.
“I’ve played it a few times now and it’s everything you could imagine, so to play more over the week is pretty cool.
“The greens are absolutely perfect, so pristine, quick and once you get out onto the course, there are some pretty crazy slopes on them you can really play around with.
“The golf course changes so much over the week, I don’t know what to expect, but I would just like to have a nice week, play well and see where that is. Your first one there aren’t a lot of expectations, but I want to have a good week.”
Britain’s Katie Boulter suffered a first-round defeat to Romania’s Elena-Gabriela Ruse at the Upper Austria Ladies Linz Open.
Boulter, 29, went down 7-6 7-6 on clay to world number 87 Ruse, who will now face Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska or American Ann Li in the last 16.
Boulter lost her first two service games in the opening set but twice broke before she was edged out in a tie-break.
The British number three broke Ruse’s serve for a third time to take an early advantage in the second set but her opponent immediately responded in a see-saw encounter.
Boulter staved off match point at 6-5 down to force another tie-break, but Ruse claimed two mini breaks to move 5-2 ahead before serving out to seal her win.
World number 62 Boulter won the fourth WTA Tour title of her career at the Ostrava Open in February and reached the last eight at the Merida Open in Mexico.
However, she did not make it past the second and third rounds respectively at Indian Wells and the Miami Open prior to this loss.
Liverpoolare on red alert with Real Madrid now open to selling France midfielder Eduardo Camavinga, 23, who is a long-term target for the Reds. (L’Equipe – in French), external
Barcelona and Juventus are among the clubs who want to sign Manchester Cityand Portugal midfielder Bernardo Silva, 31, on a free transfer this summer. (Sky Sports), external
If Brazil forward Vinicius Jr, 25, elects to leave Real Madrid, only Paris St-Germain or the Premier League remain as realistic options. (ESPN), external
Borussia Dortmund are interested in Strasbourg and Belgium’s Diego Moreira, 21, but Chelsea have a buy-back clause for the left-sided player. (Florian Plettenberg), external
Roma are keen on Midtjylland duo Dario Osorio, 22, and Franculino, 21, with the Chile winger and Guinea-Bissau forward valued at a combined 55m euros (£48m). (Gazzetta dello Sport – in Italian), external
Vitor Matos has said players like Liam Cullen are the “soul and heart” of Swansea City as he insisted the club cannot be dragged down by the weight of history.
After the game, Matos was asked about Cullen’s unfamiliar starting role on the right flank against Boro – and responded by launching a passionate defence of the versatile Wales international.
Swansea academy product Cullen has been consistently praised by managers for his attitude and contribution for club and country.
However, that has not stopped the 26-year-old from facing social media criticism on a regular basis.
The latest example of that came following Wales’ World Cup play-off semi-final defeat to Bosnia-Herzegovina last month, when Cullen featured as a substitute.
Matos has drawn comparisons between Cullen and Inter Milan defender Alessandro Bastoni, who was sent off in Italy’s play-off final loss to the Bosnians four days later.
“I really don’t know what is, how do I say, how everyone feels so much in doubt when it’s Liam or someone similar, because I just give this example,” the Swansea head coach said.
Middlesbrough, who went into the Easter weekend in the top two, still had the opportunity to end it there with victory at Swansea City in the 17:30 BST game.
Alex Bangura set them on their way with a 12th-minute goal but, after two Zan Vipotnik penalties put the Swans in front, Boro needed a Tommy Conway spot-kick to rescue a point.
Boro are floundering with two wins in their past 10 matches and while they scored more than once for the first time in five games, the feeling remains they are a frustrating and inconsistent proposition in front of goal.
Manager Kim Hellberg said after the match there would be more “twists and turns” to come in the fight for promotion – after a day of such similar rollercoaster emotions.
“You’ve got three teams on 72 points – Ipswich have some games in hand, so they’re in a better position than the other two, but we are in a better position than Millwall because of our better goal difference,” he told BBC Radio Tees.
“There will be twists and turns. No team will just go and win games. It’s difficult and you need to just try in this period to get those points and wins.
“We have to keep fighting. It’s tough we didn’t win, because we thought we were good enough in the game to win, but then you have to do it.
“The easy answer at the moment is that we’re not being clinical enough or smart enough in different ways.”
With a four-point deficit to Ipswich, and a vastly inferior goal difference, plus the games in hand the Tractor Boys hold, Hull can be considered the outsiders in this race.
But the Tigers showed against Coventry they can match anyone in the division and once again reaffirmed the fantastic job Sergej Jakirovic has done in his first season in English football under a transfer embargo.
Although when asked about what that point means in terms of the wider context of Hull’s season, Jakirovic was talking more play-offs than automatic promotion.
“Somebody said it is 73, 74, 75 [to reach the play-offs] but God knows how many. Until we are in this position we will just look at ourselves and try to take points in every game,” Jakirovic told BBC Radio Humberside.
“Norwich are coming, Derby is there, Southampton… but, no matter, we must look at ourselves.”
Her players, though, were as excited for their coach as they were for themselves after defeating South Carolina 79-51 to claim the first NCAA national title in program history.
“I’m super proud of her as well, the way she responded as a leader last year,” UCLA senior guard Gabriela Jaquez said. “We responded well. Obviously we’re here now. I think it started with Coach Cori and the way she wanted to make a change in our program and get us back here, get this result.”
Close, who has been with the Bruins since 2011, got UCLA close last season, when the Bruins reached the Final Four and were blown out by Connecticut in the semifinal.
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But they turned the tables on South Carolina on Sunday, and Close said the best feeling was knowing that her process could work.
“This has been a calling, not a job,” Close said. “I’ve been saying it all day, but I don’t even know how else to say it, it’s immeasurably more than I could ask or imagine. I’m really grateful.”
UCLA coach Cori Close points across the court and talks with guard Kiki Rice during a win over South Carolina in the NCAA national title game Sunday in Phoenix.
(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)
At times during her career, Close was viewed as an excellent recruiter and strong motivational speaker, but her tactical decisions were easy to question every time her team faltered during big moments. During the course of UCLA’s win over South Carolina, Close demonstrated every weakness her team showed during the past four years had been corrected. The result, was a lopsided victory that announced her arrival as one of women’s college basketball’s top coaches.
WNBA star Caitlin Clark on posted on X, “Not many care about the game as much as Coach Close … couldn’t be happier for her!!”
South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said Close and her Bruins deserved all the praise.
“Cori is one of those people who really works at making our game better. Not just UCLA, but our entire game,” Staley said. “She’s always speaking out, uplifting our game in so many areas that it’s hard to continue to do that while maintaining the job that you have to do every day. But she finds the time.
UCLA coach Cori Close hugs South Carolina Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley before their teams faced off for a national title Sunday in Phoenix.
(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)
“Although we didn’t win, I can swallow it because we lost to a really good human being and a good team that represent women’s basketball well.”
Close will have to face a rebuild and likely have to work the transfer portal hard in the coming weeks to replace her six seniors and graduate students. But now, it might be a little bit easier since she’s proven her players bought in and she can win.
“Coach Cori really stayed patient with me,” said senior Lauren Betts, who was named the tournament’s most outstanding player. “She wanted to see me accomplish everything that I’d ever dreamed of. They just continued to remind me, they want me to see myself the way they all see me. I feel like now at this point I can finally truly do that. I think that’s what I’m most proud of.”
Not only win, either, but in such joyous fashion that it kept many of the players committed to the program and each other. Close’s approach ultimately carried them to a national championship.
UCLA forward Gabriela Jaquez dribbles under pressure from South Carolina forward Joyce Edwards Sunday in Phoenix.
(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)
“It’s about their work and their habits yielding,” Close said while tearing up. “We say this, we want to recruit courageous. There were a lot of times we wondered if it could be true. I said I wanted to find uncommon, courageous women that were willing to make uncommon choices that maybe possibly could yield an uncommon result, and today it did.”
More love for the national champions
The UCLA women’s basketball team’s win sparked celebrations throughout the country.
UCLA two-sport star Megan Grant, who spent part of the fall practicing and playing on the Bruins’ basketball team, helped the softball team sweep Indiana before catching a flight to Phoenix. She greeted the basketball team at its hotel and joined the celebration, getting decked in UCLA national championship gear and receiving a piece of the title net from Close.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, a proud UCLA alum, recorded a video congratulating the team on its title win from one champion to another. “You guys made the entire Bruin nation so proud,” he said.
Lakers legend Magic Johnson, former U.S. Soccer star Abby Wambach, former President Obama, former Vice President Kamala Harris, Gov. Gavin Newsom, Mayor Karen Bass and many others congratulated the Bruins on social media. The state capital was lit in UCLA colors Sunday night in honor of the Bruins’ win. Fans greeted the team when the Bruins’ bus from the airport arrived on campus Sunday night.
UCLA is inviting fans to a national title celebration at Pauley Pavilion on Wednesday night. The official start time has not yet been announced.
Gymnastics advances to NCAA championships
The UCLA gymnastics team was locked in a tight battle Sunday in Corvallis, Ore., for a spot in the national championship meet.
The Bruins, however, were confident their super-power event — the floor exercise, their final rotation — would keep alive their goal of winning a national title.
Ciena Alipio scored a 9.875; Mika Webster-Longin, Sydney Barros and Ashlee Sullivan all scored a 9.900; and Tiana Sumanasekera added a 9.925.
Then it was time for senior Jordan Chiles to close out the meet for the Bruins.
Chiles delivered the same dynamic floor routine that has earned high scores all season, bursting into tears as soon as she stuck the final landing. She was rewarded with her eighth perfect 10 of the season and clinched the regional victory for the Bruins.
It was UCLA’s 25th NCAA regional title and the program’s first since 2019.
UCLA’s final team score was 197.725. Minnesota was next in line with 197.625 and will join the Bruins as the teams advancing to the national title meet.
Longtime UCLA rival Utah placed third with 197.500 and Alabama was fourth with 197.175.
Louisiana State, Stanford, Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma and Arkansas are the other six teams that advanced to the national championships, which will be held April 16 and 18 at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth.
No. 1 UCLA baseball sweeps No. 12 USC
The No. 1 UCLA baseball team completed a three-game sweep of No. 12 USC at Jackie Robinson Field, rolling to a 10-4 victory.
With the score tied 3-3 in the fifth inning, Will Gasparino hit a two-run homer. Mulivai Levu added a two-run homer in the sixth, and Roch Cholowsky tacked on a three-run blast in the eighth.
UCLA earned a 12-4 win over USC on Friday, then had to rally for a 9-8 win Saturday.
The Bruins (29-2, 15-0 Big Ten) are riding a 23-game win streak. The Trojans (27-6, 10-5) started the season on a 19-game win streak but have been challenged by Big Ten competition.
The UCLA football team kicked off spring workouts this past week. We’ll get our first chance to talk with players this week and promise to have more football coverage in the newsletters to come.
Do you have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future UCLA newsletter? Email newsletters editor Houston Mitchell at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
When Arsenal face Sporting in their Champions League quarter-final first leg on Wednesday, there will be much more riding on the game than just a knockout match in Lisbon.
For many, this is where the Gunners need to show back-to-back defeats, against Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final and the damaging loss to Southampton in the FA Cup quarter-final, will not leak into their European and Premier League campaigns.
Arsenal have been tagged as the ‘nearly men’ under Mikel Arteta with three successive second-placed finishes in the Premier League in the last three seasons.
But the Gunners have played a ruthless style of football this season, which has seen them establish a nine-point lead in the Premier League, reach the final of one cup competition and, depending what happens in two legs against Sporting, at least the quarter-final stage of the two other cup campaigns they began.
Their style of play has been questioned at times but now it is the team’s mentality that is coming under the spotlight.
The Gunners have been so impressive this season that their defeats by City and Saints are the first time they have lost successive matches this campaign, while the loss on the south coast was just the fifth of the season.
But, with the Champions League and Premier League the top prizes for the Gunners, this is where Arteta needs to show the pain of coming so close in precious campaigns is not going to overwhelm his side as they look to win their first major trophy since 2020.
“Have some perspective about how difficult it is what we have done until now,” said Arteta, when asked how he and the team prevent a longer run of defeats.
“Feel the pain, feel the emotion and use it to be better and improve.”
Bayern Munich are waiting on the fitness of “very special” Harry Kane to see if he can lead their challenge to overcome Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-final.
The 32-year-old England captain took part in training in Munich on Monday morning, before travelling to Madrid with the rest of Bayern’s squad after the “minor issue” – believed to be an ankle knock – that kept him out of England’s friendly defeat against Japan at Wembley.
Kane was also missing for Bayern’s 3-2 victory against Freiburg, and coach Vincent Kompany was playing his cards close to his chest about his involvement at The Bernabeu.
Kompany said a final decision on whether Kane starts will be made on Tuesday, but speaking on Monday evening, he said: “Harry’s part of the team so that’s positive for us. We have to wait until tomorrow (Tuesday) to get the final information, then we will make our decision.
“It was important that he did a lot of training today (Monday). I don’t think he’s lost his rhythm.”
Kane is a key part of Bayern’s plans for the quarter-final first leg, having scored 10 goals in the Champions League this season. He is also the Bundesliga’s leading scorer with 31 this season.
Bayern team-mate Joshua Kimmich underlined Kane’s importance, as he said: “How many goals has he scored? How many assists does he have? Forty or 50 this season?
“This shows how important he is – apart from all the goals – extremely vital for our game.
“We are glad he is here with us. He is not only a poacher or a selfish goalscorer just trying to score as many goals as he can for us.
“He is an absolute leader who is always trying to have the maximum success for the team. This is a very special mindset for an attacking player. He’s a role model.”
Kimmich added: “It is important to have Harry on the pitch with us with all his qualities of leadership.”
Kompany fielded several questions on Kane’s fitness, saying: “Harry Kane knows how important this game is, but it is important to take a decision with each player.
“You keep asking about Harry Kane and to be honest I like it. I don’t mind but I don’t give you an answer.”
After spending her first two seasons with the Chicago Sky, the two-time All Star has been traded to the Atlanta Dream in exchange for first-round picks in 2027 and 2028, the teams announced Monday morning. Atlanta also receives the option to swap second-round picks with Chicago in 2028.
“An Angel’s DREAM,” Reese posted on X. “ATL WHAT UP?!”
Reese was already a star before coming to the WNBA after helping Louisiana State win the national championship over Caitlin Clark and Iowa in 2023 and leading the Tigers back to the Elite Eight the following year.
Selected by Chicago with the seventh overall pick in the 2024 draft, Reese finished as runner-up to Clark in rookie-of-the-year voting and led the league in rebounds per game in each of her first two seasons. Overall, she has averaged 14.1 points and 12.9 rebounds a game.
The Sky have gone 23-61 and missed the playoffs both seasons since drafting Reese. On Sept. 3, the Chicago Tribune published quotes from the star player that indicated her frustration with the team’s inability to build a winning roster and an inclination to leave if the organization isn’t able to get it right.
“I’d like to be here for my career, but if things don’t pan out, obviously I might have to move in a different direction and do what’s best for me,” Reese told the Tribune.
After the Sky’s 88-64 victory over the Connecticut Sun that night, Reese told reporters she had apologized to her teammates about the article.
“I think the language is taken out of context,” she said, “and I really didn’t intentionally mean to put down my teammates, because they’ve been through this with me throughout the whole year. They’ve busted their ass, just how I bust my ass, they showed up for me through thick and thin, and in the locker room when nobody could see anything.”
Reese did not play for Chicago again. She was suspended half a game for her comments, which were deemed “detrimental to the team,” served a separate mandatory one-game suspension by the WNBA for receiving eight technical fouls during the season and missed the final three games of the season with what was listed as a back injury.
The Sky said in a statement Monday that the “trade is designed to achieve roster balance and represents a great opportunity for all parties.”
“Angel has achieved many record-breaking milestones in her first two years in the WNBA and has been a competitive force for the Sky,” the team wrote. “We are thankful for her many important contributions to this league and this game, and we know she will continue to have a big impact on the court and beyond.”
Reese joins an Atlanta team that went 30-14 and finished first in the Eastern Conference before losing to the Indiana Fever in the first round of the playoffs. The roster includes Allisha Gray, who finished fourth in the MVP voting last season, as well as sixth player of the year Naz Hillmon and All-Star Brionna Jones.
“Angel is a dynamic talent and a perfect fit for what we are building in Atlanta,” Dream general manager Dan Padover said in a statement. “She has already proven herself as one of the most impactful players in the league, and her competitiveness, production and drive to win align seamlessly with our vision. This is an exciting moment for our organization and our fans.”
St. John Bosco, the new No. 1 high school baseball team in Southern California after taking two of three games last week from the previous No. 1 team, Orange Lutheran, could end up facing the Lancers (8-3) again at this week’s Boras Classic if both teams make it to Friday’s final at Mater Dei.
St. John Bosco, however, is in the toughest part of the 16-team Boras Classic bracket. The Braves (11-3) face a big challenge in their opener on Tuesday at 9 a.m. at Mater Dei against 12-1 Norco, which has the option of throwing either sophomore star Jordan Ayala or senior Landon Hovermale.
Also on St. John Bosco’s side is Huntington Beach and star pitcher Jared Grindlinger. The Oilers open at noon against Los Osos at Mater Dei.
Orange Lutheran plays Fountain Valley in a 9 a.m. opener at JSerra. Corona could be strongest challenger on Orange Lutheran’s side and plays JSerra in a 6 p.m. opener on Tuesday.
Quarterfinals are Wednesday and semifinals are Thursday.
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.
