team

The PFA Scotland Premiership Team of the Year for the 2025-26 season is dominated by Motherwell and Hearts players.

Fourth-placed Motherwell lead the way with five, while table-topping Hearts have four.

Celtic midfielder Benjamin Nygren, who has scored 19 goals in all competitions, and Rangers defender Emmanuel Fernandez make up the XI voted for by footballers through their union.

Motherwell goalkeeper Calum Ward, defender Paul McGinn, midfielders Elliot Watt and Elijah Just plus forward Tawanda Maswanhise, the league’s top scorer with 17 goals, have all been selected.

They are joined by Hearts defenders Craig Halkett and Harry Milne as well as forwards Lawrence Shankland and Claudio Braga, who have 33 goals between them in all competitions.

The individual PFA Scotland nominees will be revealed later this month, with the winners announced on 3 May.

PFA Scotland Premiership Team of the Year for 25-26: Calum Ward (Motherwell), Paul McGinn (Motherwell), Craig Halkett (Hearts), Emmanuel Fernandez (Rangers), Harry Milne (Hearts), Benjamin Nygren (Celtic), Elliot Watt (Motherwell), Elijah Just (Motherwell), Tawanda Maswanhise (Motherwell), Lawrence Shankland (Hearts), Claudio Braga (Hearts).

Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe says captain Bruno Guimaraes has “a chance” of returning on Saturday after missing 12 games with a hamstring injury.

“He is desperate to help the team, desperate to be involved, so there is a possibility,” added Howe.

Joelinton begins a two-match ban for accumulating 10 bookings this season.

Bournemouth remain without Justin Kluivert and Lewis Cook, although the latter is back in partial training.

They have no other absentees for the team’s first match since the announcement that head coach Andoni Iraola will leave the club at the end of the season.

Players out: Newcastle – Joelinton, Krafth, Schar Bournemouth – Cook, Kluivert

Doubt: Newcastle – Guimaraes

Key FPL notes:

● From Gameweek 28 onwards, no FPL midfielder has scored more goals than Newcastle’s Anthony Gordon (£7.4m, three).

● In Gameweek 32, Junior Kroupi (£4.6m) became the first teenager to score 10+ goals in his debut Premier League season since Robbie Keane for Coventry City in 1999-00. He has scored in back-to-back matches for Bournemouth.

● Cherries defender Marcos Senesi (£5.2m) has picked up more defensive contribution points than any other defender (44) this season. He is the sixth-highest scoring defender in the game with 141 points.

Four months after being pushed into retirement by the Clippers, future Hall of Famer Chris Paul apparently took delight in the team’s quick exit from the postseason Wednesday night.

Paul posted the familiar meme “stopped by my biggest hater’s funeral” on his Instagram story shortly after the Clippers blew a 13-point fourth-quarter lead in a 126-121 play-in loss to the Golden State Warriors.

Paul, the Clippers’ all-time assists leader, called out teammates, coaches and executives during his short second stint with the team early this season. In an effort to inject accountability during the team’s 6-21 start, Paul instead angered many, including head coach Tyronn Lue, who wasn’t on speaking terms with Paul at the end.

“Everyone was fed up,” a league source told The Times in December.

Paul, who is second to John Stockton in NBA career assists with 12,552, posted at the time about his being cut on social media, saying “Just Found Out I’m Being Sent Home,” along with a peace emoji.

For their part, the Clippers turned around their season, going 36-19 after a horrific start to finish with a winning record for the 15th consecutive season at 42-40.

Then came the dispiriting loss to the Warriors and the 40-year-old Paul’s opportunity to get in the last meme, even though it wasn’t exactly original. Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid posted the same one when the team traded guard Ben Simmons in 2022.

The Rams’ bone-colored uniforms have been sent to the graveyard.

In a release on Thursday, the team unveiled updated Royal Blue and white uniforms and announced subtle changes to logos as part of what the Rams described as “a refined brand and uniform refresh.”

Matthew Stafford shows off the Rams’ new white uniforms released on Thursday.

(Brevin Townsell / Rams)

Later this year, according to the release, the Rams will announce two alternate uniforms to go along with the revamped Royal Blue and white ensembles and the black “Midnite Mode” rivalry uniform they debuted last season in a game against the Seattle Seahawks at SoFi Stadium.

But the team “removed the ‘Bone’ uniform from the rotation,” the release said.

The Rams also made other subtle changes. The “LA” monogram no longer includes gradient coloring. The Rams head logo has been “enhanced to appear bolder and tougher for a fiercer expression, and the horn features a sharper, more defined point,” the release said.

The Rams, with reigning NFL most valuable player Matthew Stafford at quarterback, are expected to be a favorite to play in Super Bowl LXI at SoFi Stadium.

The team begins voluntary offseason workouts on Monday in Woodland Hills, and has the No. 13 pick in the NFL draft, which begins Thursday in Pittsburgh.

A detailed look at the Rams’ new white uniform sleeve with blue and gold accents.

(Ryan Hadji / Rams)

A detailed look at the Rams’ new blue uniform sleeve with yellow accents.

(Ryan Hadji / Rams)

Shohei Ohtani pitches well in Dodgers’ victory

From Maddie Lee: Dodgers right-hander Shohei Ohtani had navigated the Mets lineup without much trouble until the fifth inning. But he’d also been holding back a little something.

“I can’t go full throttle the whole time,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton after the Dodgers’ 8-2 victory Wednesday. “But considering where the game was at that point, I felt like I just really had to go full throttle and make sure I’m considering the game situation.”

The Mets had just scored their first run of the game — ending Ohtani’s streak of innings without an earned run at 32 ⅔, the longest of his career — and cut the Dodgers’ lead to one.

So he unleashed a 100.2 mph fastball past Tommy Pham, and then 100.3 mph. Pham foul-tipped both and had some choice words with himself on the way back to the dugout.

That strikeout was one of 10 Ohtani had in a performance that was dominant, regardless of the first mark on his previously spotless ERA.

The two-way phenom only had one job to worry about Wednesday.

For the first time since 2021, he was not also in the lineup as a hitter while pitching.

“If it weren’t for the hit by pitch [Monday], he would’ve been DHing and pitching tonight,” Roberts said before the game.

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L.A.’s Blue Era: How popular are the Dodgers? Even the Lakers look up at them. Way up

Dodgers box score

MLB standings

Bad play costs Angels

José Caballero laced a two-run double in the bottom of the ninth inning that gave the New York Yankees a 5-4 victory over the Angels, moments after the Angels botched an infield popup in a costly misplay Wednesday night.

Aaron Judge hit his third homer of the series and Trent Grisham had a two-run single for the Yankees, who won for only the second time in eight games after an 8-2 start.

Mike Trout hit his fourth homer in three games, putting the Angels ahead 4-3 with a two-run drive in the fifth.

That was still the score when Jazz Chisholm Jr. popped up to the left side with one out and nobody on in the ninth. But shortstop Zach Neto and ex-Yankees third baseman Oswald Peraza miscommunicated, and the ball dropped between them on the infield dirt for a gift single.

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Angels box score

MLB standings

Clippers season comes to an end

From Steve Galluzzo: It was do or die Wednesday night at Intuit Dome, and the Clippers did not do enough to keep their season alive, blowing a 13-point lead early in the fourth quarter and losing to the Golden State Warriors, 126-121.

Having rebounded from a franchise-worst 6-21 start to earn the next-to-last berth in the NBA play-in tournament, coach Tyronn Lue’s resilient bunch could not extend its historic comeback on its home floor.

Stephen Curry led the Warriors with 35 points, Kristaps Porzingis and and Gui Santos each had 20, and Brandin Podziemski added 17. The Warriors were 19 for 41 from three-point range, with Al Horford hitting four in the fourth quarter.

Bennedict Mathurin scored 23 points off the bench while Kawhi Leonard and Darius Garland each added 21 points for the Clippers, who won three of the teams’ four regular-season meetings, including a 115-110 victory in the same arena four days earlier. Wednesday night, however, Leonard was held scoreless in the fourth quarter until the final seconds as the Warriors rallied.

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Clippers box score

Deandre Ayton can take the spotlight

From Broderick Turner: The last time Deandre Ayton appeared in the playoffs was in 2023, when he was a member of the Phoenix Suns and viewed in NBA circles as having the potential to be a force as a center in the league.

A lot has changed since then.

He’s on his second team since those days in Phoenix, playing two years for the Portland Trail Blazers and now the Lakers. He has been viewed by many as an inconsistent player who hasn’t reached his full potential.

Ayton has a chance to prove his worth, to show his critics he has the ability to be elite in the postseason when the Lakers open the first-round of the Western Conference playoffs Saturday against the Houston Rockets at Crypto.com Arena.

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Lakers playoff schedule

First round
All times Pacific

Saturday: Houston at Lakers, 5:30 p.m, ABC
Tuesday: Houston at Lakers, 7:30 p.m., NBC
Friday, April 24: Lakers at Houston, 5:30 p.m., Amazon Prime Video
Sunday, April 26: Lakers at Houston, 6:30 p.m., NBC
*Wed., April 29: Houston at Lakers, TBD
*Friday, May 1: Lakers at Houston, TBD
*Sunday, May 3: Houston at Lakers, TBD

*-if necessary

L.A. Olympics questions

From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: You ask. We answer. Or at least we’re going to try.

The Times asked readers for their burning questions regarding the Olympics, and it’s the ticketing process that’s bringing the most heat. Locals in Southern California and Oklahoma City endured the presale headaches and sticker shock before the global audience got their shot at securing tickets this week. But with more than two years remaining until the Games open, expect that there will be more questions.

Here is what Times readers wanted to know:

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USOPC ‘quite confident’ of LA28 direction amid ticket sales uproar

Same old Sparks

From Bill Plaschke: One of the WNBA’s founding franchises, the failure-ridden Sparks enter the league’s 30th season attempting to break a five-year playoff drought with an understandable yet unremarkable game plan.

They’re going old. They don’t have a choice. Five years of lottery missteps have produced exactly one current Sparks player, Cameron Brink, a social media star who’s been an injured basketball bust.

While the national champion Bruins spent Monday dancing across the league from Toronto to Chicago, the Sparks didn’t get a chance to acquire any of them, and wound up with three late picks who will raise no eyebrows and play few minutes.

So, yeah, old.

When the Sparks open the season by hosting defending champion Las Vegas May 10, their fans are going to say, “Oh yeah!” followed by a resounding chorus of, “Oh no!”

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This day in sports history

1939 — Stanley Cup Final, Boston Garden, Boston, MA: Boston Bruins beat Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-1 for a 4-1 series win; first best-of-7 SC Final series.

1949 — The Toronto Maple Leafs win 3-1 to sweep the Detroit Red Wings for the second straight year in the Stanley Cup Finals.

1953 — Stanley Cup Final, Montreal Forum, Montreal, Quebec: Montreal Canadiens beat Boston Bruins, 1-0 for a 4-1 series win.

1954 — The Detroit Red Wings edge the Montreal Canadiens 2-1 in the seventh game to win the Stanley Cup.

1957 — The Montreal Canadiens beat the Boston Bruins 5-1 to take the Stanley Cup in five games.

1958 — Arnold Palmer edges Doug Ford by one stroke to capture the Masters.

1961 — The Chicago Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup in six games with a 5-1 triumph over the Detroit Red Wings.

1980 — Arthur Ashe retires from pro tennis.

1987 — Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls scores 61 points in a 117-114 loss to the Atlanta Hawks and becomes the second player to surpass the 3,000-point mark in a season.

1990 — Gelindo Bordin becomes the first Olympic men’s champion to win the Boston Marathon. The Italian finishes in 2:08:19. Rosa Mota of Portugal wins the woman’s division in 2:25:24.

1991 — The St. Louis Blues become the eighth team in NHL playoff history to come back from a 3-1 deficit, beating the Detroit Red Wings 3-2 in the seventh game.

1995 — PGA Seniors’ Championship Men’s Golf, PGA National GC: Raymond Floyd wins by 5 strokes.

2000 — PGA Seniors’ Championship Men’s Golf, PGA National GC: Doug Tewell wins first of 2 Champions Tour major titles.

2001 — Lee Bong-ju of South Korea wins the Boston Marathon, ending a 10-year victory streak for Kenyan men. Kenya’s Catherine Ndereba wins the women’s race.

2003 — The Mighty Ducks beat the Detroit Red Wings in a 3-2 overtime victory, making the Red Wings the first defending Stanley Cup winner in 51 years to be swept the following season in a four-game opening series.

2003 — Washington Wizards’ Michael Jordan plays his final NBA game.

2008 — Jason Kidd gets the 100th triple-double of his career with 27 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds in Dallas’ 111-98 victory over New Orleans.

2013 — Two bombs explode in the crowded streets near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three people and injuring more than 270 in a bloody scene of shattered glass and severed limbs. Earlier in the day, Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia wins the 117th edition of the marathon and Rita Jeptoo of Kenya takes the women’s race.

2018 — Desiree Linden runs through icy rain and a near-gale headwind to win the Boston Marathon, the first victory for an American woman since 1985.

2019 — Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson becomes the highest-paid player in NFL history with a 4-year, $140-million extension.

Compiled by the Associated Press

This day in baseball history

1929 — Cleveland’s Earl Averill became the first American League player to hit a home run in his first major league plate appearance. The Indians won the game 5-4 in 11 innings on Carl Lind’s double.

1935 — Babe Ruth, 40, made a sensational National League debut in Boston. His single and homer off Carl Hubbell led the Braves over the Giants 4-2.

1940 — Bob Feller of Cleveland defeated the Chicago White Sox 1-0 in the only opening day no-hitter in major league history.

1948 — WGN-TV televised a baseball game for the first time. It was an exhibition game at Wrigley Field with Jack Brickhouse doing the play-by-play. The White Sox defeated the Cubs 4-1.

1961 — Beginning his historic chase of Babe Ruth’s 60 home run season-record, Roger Maris connects for his first homer in the twelfth game of the season for the Yankees.

1972 — Burt Hooton of the Cubs no-hit the Philadelphia Phillies 4-0 at Wrigley Field.

1978 — Bob Forsch of the St. Louis Cardinals no-hit the Philadelphia Phillies 5-0. Less than a year later, Bob’s brother Ken of the Houston Astros pitched a no-hitter against Atlanta. They are the only brothers to throw no-hitters.

1983 — Padres first baseman Steve Garvey appears in his 1,118th straight National League game, breaking the mark held by Billy Williams.

1984 — Dave Kingman of the Oakland A’s hit three home runs, including a grand slam, in his first three at-bats. In total, he drove in eight runs in a 9-6 victory over the Seattle Mariners.

1989 — Kelly Gruber becomes the first player in Toronto Blue Jays history to hit for the cycle in a 15-8 victory against the Kansas City Royals.

1997 — The Chicago Cubs set the mark for worst start in National League history, making three more errors as they extended their losing streak to 12 with a 4-0 loss to the Colorado Rockies. Chicago broke the modern NL record of 0-10 set by Atlanta in 1988 and the overall NL record of 0-11 by the 1884 Detroit Wolverines.

2005 — Toronto’s Reed Johnson was hit by a major league record-tying three pitches — two with the bases loaded — in the Blue Jays’ 8-0 victory over Texas.

2006 — Albert Pujols hit three home runs, including a two-run shot in the bottom of the ninth, to give St. Louis an 8-7 win over Cincinnati.

2007 — The Cleveland Indians became the first team in nearly 55 years to win a game with their only hit coming in their first at-bat. Grady Sizemore led off Cleveland’s 2-1 win over the Chicago White Sox with a double.

2009 — Ichiro Suzuki makes history as he collects the 3,086th hit of his pro career, breaking the Japanese record held for decades by Isao Harimoto.

2009 — Grady Sizemore hit a grand slam and Cleveland ruined the first game at the new Yankee Stadium by beating New York 10-2.

2014 — Masahiro Tanaka and Michael Pineda pitched the New York Yankees to a 3-0, 2-0 sweep of the Chicago Cubs in a chilly day-night-doubleheader. The Yankees had not won by shutout twice in one day since April 9, 1987, against Kansas City. No team in the major leagues had done it since Minnesota swept Oakland on June 26, 1988.

2015 — Giancarlo Stanton becomes the Marlins all-time leading home run hitter when he slugs #155 for his career.

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.

It was do or die Wednesday night at Intuit Dome and the Clippers did not do enough to keep their season alive, blowing a 13-point lead early in the fourth quarter and losing to the Golden State Warriors, 126-121.

Having rebounded from a franchise-worst 6-21 start to earn the next-to-last berth in the NBA play-in tournament, coach Ty Lue’s resilient bunch could not extend its historic comeback on its home floor.

Stephen Curry led the Warriors with 35 points, Kristaps Porzingis and and Gui Santos each had 20 and Brandin Podziemski added 17. The Warriors were 19-of-41 from 3-point range.

Bennedict Mathurin scored 23 points while Kawhi Leonard and Darius Garland each added 21 points for the Clippers, who won three of the teams’ four regular season meetings, including a 115-110 victory in the same arena four days earlier.

The Clippers got off to a hot start, scoring 12 straight points to take a 10-point lead 3:19 into the game but Golden State used a 12-2 run of its own to tie it and took a 17-16 lead on Curry’s three-pointer just before the seven-minute mark. A 15-5 run put the Clippers back up 31-22 at the end of the first quarter.

Steph Curry falls to the court to grab a loose ball against Clippers Bennedict Mathurin and Kris Dunn in the third quarter.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Porzingis’ three-pointer from the top of the key put the Warriors in front early in the second quarter but the Clippers closed the first half with a flourish. Draymond Green got assessed a technical foul and Leonard made the ensuing free throw to give his team a 10-point lead and the Clippers headed to the locker room ahead 61-53.

Back-to-back buckets by Jones Jr. pushed the Clippers’ lead to 10 points with 7:48 left in the third quarter, but again the proud Warriors responded on a rare four-point play by Curry to pull within four. The Clippers pushed the lead back to 11 before Golden State used a 5-0 run to creep within 89-83 heading to the fourth quarter.

Porzingis’ three-pointer whittled the Warriors’ deficit down to three with 8:16 left but Garland’s three-pointer pushed the margin back to eight with 6:36 left. Al Horford’s three-pointer gave the Warriors a 117-115 lead with 2:12 left, Lopez hit a pair of free throws to tie it with 1:51 left, but Curry, as he has done so many times in his career, sank a three-pointer to put his team up 120-117 with 50 seconds remaining and the visitors hung on.

IKawhi Leonard walks off the court after the Clippers’ season-ending loss.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

The Warriors’ reward is a flight to Phoenix where they will take on the Suns in a Friday night matchup to decide the eighth and final playoff seed in the Western Conference. The Suns had a chance to clinch the No. 7 seed Monday but lost at home to Portland, 114-110. Should the Warriors prevail they will meet No. 1-seeded and defending champion Oklahoma City in a best-of-seven series opening Sunday on the road.

Amid a glittering sports celebration, a team from Los Angeles dominated the WNBA draft.

But it wasn’t Los Angeles’ WNBA team.

The Sparks couldn’t hold a candle to UCLA.

At a Monday event during which six Bruins were drafted among the first 18 picks — a WNBA record — the Sparks didn’t have their first pick until No. 20 in the second round.

Two years earlier, they had traded away their first-round pick for the rights to draft the exciting Rickea Jackson.

Whom they recently traded to Chicago for somebody named Ariel Atkins.

You can see where we’re going with this…

One of the WNBA’s founding franchises, the failure-ridden Sparks enter the league’s 30th season attempting to break a five-year playoff drought with an understandable yet unremarkable game plan.

They’re going old. They don’t have a choice. Five years of lottery missteps have produced exactly one current Sparks player, Cameron Brink, a social media star who’s been an injured basketball bust.

While the national champion Bruins spent Monday dancing across the league from Toronto to Chicago, the Sparks didn’t get a chance to acquire any of them, and wound up with three late picks who will raise no eyebrows and play few minutes.

So, yeah, old.

When the Sparks open the season by hosting defending champion Las Vegas May 10, their fans are going to say, “Oh yeah!” followed by a resounding chorus of, “Oh no!”

Oh yeah, they’re bringing back longtime Sparks star Nneka Ogwumike, a bruising inside force for 14 seasons. She played well for Seattle last year, but, oh no, she’ll be 36 during the season, and one wonders when the physicality will take its toll.

Oh yeah, they’re bringing back Erica Wheeler, who played strong minutes here several years ago. But, oh no, she played for three teams in the last four years and will be 35 during the season.

Oh yeah, they’re bringing in Atkins, who once won a WNBA championship with the Washington Mystics. But, oh no, that was seven years ago, and she’s bounced around with six international teams and two WNBA teams since.

Those three veterans will be joining a team with two returning starters — Kelsey Plum and Dearica Hamby — but little else.

The league’s celebrated new CBA made all these players rich, but did little for the Sparks, who were unable to make a dent in the league-wide free agent market and were out of decent draft picks and so must survive for one more season before getting a shot at JuJu Watkins.

So they should tank? No! Not yet! I’ve got season tickets! But you’ve got to wonder. And if this aging band gets off to a slow start, you’ve got to wonder if they’re wondering.

“I’m super excited about the roster we have,” said coach Lynne Roberts on a Zoom call Monday night. “We brought in some tremendous leadership.”

But they also lost some tremendous youth by giving up on Jackson, who averaged nearly 15 points last season and provided much-needed energy to another deadly dull squad. While the Sparks made nice with her publicly, one can read between the lines on the following Zoom quote from general manager Raegan Pebley.

”Loved having her here … she’ll be successful wherever she goes,” said Pebley of Jackson. “But we’re focused on winning a championship and finding that fit and balance and getting all those pieces locked in with each other.”

Here’s guessing Jackson, an independent spirit, was never quite locked in. And now she’s locked out of a new culture that will be solid and steady… but will they be any good?

“You have to have that balance of youth and experience and I think our roster has nailed that,” said Pebley.

Who knows? Will Brink stop trying to be an influencer long enough to be an inside presence? Will Rae Burrell take another step in her fifth season? Can the new veterans stay healthy enough to inspire the kids, who could include draft picks Ta’Niya Latson, Chance Gray and Amelia Hassett? Can Roberts, a relative WNBA newcomer who lost more than half of her games in her debut last season, actually coach?

They’ve already had one win with the ongoing construction of an $150-million El Segundo practice facility, which should open next year and serve to attract the type of stars that a Los Angeles team deserves.

They have another steady win with a Crypto.com Arena fan-friendly game experience that ranks among the best in this city’s sports landscape.

Now they just need wins on the scoreboard, lots of them, enough to restore faith in what was once one of this city’s shining basketball operations.

The odds aren’t good — going old usually means going home early — but what else can they do? No Bruins are walking through that door. For at least one more year, the Sparks have to marinate in their past mistakes and hope that their veterans can somehow lay a foundation for their future..

“This isn’t a slow roll,” said Roberts. “We want to do it.”

The rest of the league, which has greatly benefited from five years of Sparks’ bad basketball decisions, will be waiting.

Their passionate fans, who have loyally kept showing up for the last five years to watch the lousy basketball those decisions have wrought, will be wanting.

And JuJu will be watching.

Emotional night for Alex Vesia

From Maddie Lee: As left-hander Alex Vesia emerged from the Dodgers bullpen, heard the electric guitar riff of Seether’s “Gasoline,” and felt his adrenaline spike with the roar of the crowd, he knew 27 of those cheering fans had helped him and wife Kayla through a devastating loss just months prior.

He and Kayla had chosen the Dodgers’ game against the Mets on Tuesday, Healthcare appreciation night at Dodger Stadium, to celebrate the hands-on staff at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center who had cared for them last October, through the death of their newborn daughter Sterling Sol.

He’d spotted their suite by shirts Kayla had customized for the group, bearing the initials SV with a heart, and signed by Alex.

“Today was the first time I’ve seen pretty much all of them since everything,” Alex Vesia said after earning the save in the Dodgers’ 2-1 win Tuesday. “So it was very special, very emotional. … I couldn’t have written it any better.”

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Dodgers box score

MLB standings

Angels hit five homers to beat Yankees

Mike Trout homered for the third time in two games, combining with Jo Adell and Jorge Soler for three consecutive long balls in a five-pitch span against Ryan Weathers in the first inning, and the Angels beat the New York Yankees 7-1 on Tuesday night.

Trout hit a 2-and-1 fastball to the loading dock adjacent to Monument Park in center field and Adell hit another fastball on the next pitch into the visiting bullpen in left-center field. Three pitches later, Soler drove a 2-and-0 fastball into the left-field seats

Trout homered for the third straight at-bat after connecting in the sixth and eighth innings in Monday’s 11-10 loss.

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Angels box score

MLB standings

Kings lose to Canucks in OT

Jake DeBrusk scored his second goal of the game in overtime and the Vancouver Canucks beat the Kings 4-3 on Tuesday night.

DeBrusk collected a pass from center Elias Pettersson and tapped a shot in to seal the victory 2:58 into the extra period.

Defenseman Elias Pettersson opened the scoring for the Canucks (25-48-8), and DeBrusk and Zeev Buium added goals in the second period. Elias Pettersson had two assists. The Canucks won their third straight game for the first time since Dec. 14-20, when they took four straight road victories.

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Kings summary

NHL standings

Playoff-bound Ducks lose to Wild

Hunter Haight got his first career goal and rookie Jesper Wallstedt auditioned for action in the playoffs with 35 saves as the Minnesota Wild finished their regular season by beating the Ducks 3-2 on Tuesday night.

Danila Yurov and Robby Fabbri also scored for the playoff-bound Wild, who have won 21 of their last 22 games against the Ducks, including eight in a row.

Wallstedt, who is second in the NHL in save percentage, went 18-9-6 in his debut and has given the Wild plenty to consider for a potential postseason goalie rotation with Filip Gustavsson. Wallstedt allowed only 12 goals over his last six starts.

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Ducks summary

NHL standings

Bob Chesney pleased with UCLA’s progress

From Steve Galluzzo: Spring practice continued for the UCLA football program Tuesday morning at Spaulding Field and for the most part head coach Bob Chesney was pleased with his team’s progress.

It marked the sixth of 14 practices leading up to the annual spring game on May 2 at the Rose Bowl.

“The defense took strides today,” said Chesney, who was hired as the Bruins’ 20th head football coach on Dec. 26, replacing DeShaun Foster (fired after an 0-3 start in 2025) and interim coach Tim Skipper. “There were a couple turnovers in there. This was our second day with the officials, it was a different group and they were throwing some flags today. We just have to understand the game we’re in. As you get further along the referees step aside, but early in the season they’re excited to do their jobs and we gave them enough to throw laundry at so we’ll go back and check it all out.”

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Do World Cup tickets cost too much?

From Kevin Baxter: Aaron Levinson wanted to go to a World Cup game this summer, but he didn’t want to take out a second mortgage to pay for that. So after winning a chance to spend $560 for individual tickets in a FIFA lottery last fall, Levinson backed out.

Then he backed in again this spring.

“Maybe the sticker shock kind of started wearing off,” he said Sunday. “I got caught up in the excitement.”

So Levinson decided to pluck down $850 for two Category 3 tickets — among the cheapest available — for he and his wife to go the final U.S. group-play game at SoFi Stadium in June. When his wife reminded him that his two sons would be visiting then, he bought two more tickets, bringing his investment to $1,700, more than double the price of a seven-day cruise.

And that doesn’t include the nearly $250 it will cost to park near the stadium.

“That’s really steep,” said Levinson, a Galaxy season-ticket holder for more than a decade.

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Lakers focus on rebounding

From Broderick Turner: Rebounding was not a strength of the Lakers over the course of the regular season. Rebounding was a strength of the Houston Rockets during the 2025-26 campaign.

So, on their first day of practice Tuesday for Game 1 of the first round Saturday at Crypto.com Arena, the Lakers worked diligently on rebounding drills, knowing full well that will be one of the keys against the Rockets.

The Lakers were the fourth-worst rebounding team in the NBA, averaging 41.0 per game. The Rockets were the top rebounding team in the league, getting 48.1 overall and 15.0 on the offensive end.

And one of the Lakers’ better rebounders, Luka Doncic, won’t be available because he’s dealing with a Grade 2 left hamstring strain that he went to Spain for treatment. Doncic is second on the Lakers in rebounding at 7.7 per game. His starting backcourt mate, Austin Reaves, also is a good rebounder but he also won’t play because of a Grade 2 left oblique strain. Reaves is averaging 4.7 rebounds per game.

“They’re out indefinitely,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said about Doncic and Reaves.

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Lakers playoff schedule

First round
All times Pacific

Saturday: Houston at Lakers, 5:30 p.m, ABC
Tuesday: Houston at Lakers, 7:30 p.m., NBC
Friday, April 24: Lakers at Houston, 5:30 p.m., Amazon Prime Video
Sunday, April 26: Lakers at Houston, 6:30 p.m., NBC
*Wed., April 29: Houston at Lakers, TBD
*Friday, May 1: Lakers at Houston, TBD
*Sunday, May 3: Houston at Lakers, TBD

*-if necessary

Clippers playoff schedule

Wednesday vs. Golden State, 7:30 p.m., Amazon Prime Video

Loser is eliminated, winner advances to second play-in game on Friday, where they will play the loser of the other play-in game. Winner of that game becomes the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference playoffs.

This day in sports history

1901 — Boston Marathon won for second straight year by Canadian Jim Caffrey.

1907 — Boston Marathon won by Canadian Tom Longboat.

1937 — The Detroit Red Wings beat the New York Rangers 3-0 to take the Stanley Cup in the fifth and final game.

1952 — The Detroit Red Wings beat the Montreal Canadiens 3-0 to capture the Stanley Cup. The Red Wings holds the Canadiens to two goals in the four-game sweep.

1979 — 43rd US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Fuzzy Zoeller wins his only Masters with a birdie on the 2nd hole of a playoff with Ed Sneed and Tom Watson.

1984 — Ben Crenshaw wins the Masters by two strokes over Tom Watson.

1985 — Marvin Hagler retains his world middleweight title by stopping Thomas Hearns in the third round at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Both slug it out with reckless abandon for eight minutes, which many consider the most electrifying three rounds in boxing history.

1990 — PGA Seniors’ Championship Men’s Golf, PGA National GC: South African Gary Player wins his third event title by two strokes.

1991 — Magic Johnson sets an NBA record for career assists in a 112-106 victory over the Dallas Mavericks. Johnson, who needed nine assists to break Oscar Robertson’s record of 9,887, gets 19.

2000 — NFL Draft: Penn State defensive end Courtney Brown first pick by Cleveland Browns.

2005 — Top-ranked Roger Federer’s 25-match winning streak ends when French teenager Richard Gasquet saves three match points before capturing a third-set tiebreaker at the Monte Carlo Masters. Federer’s 35-1 record this year is the best start on the men’s tour since John McEnroe was 39-0 in 1984.

2005 — Two-time Olympic champion Steven Lopez of the United States wins his third world taekwondo title, capturing the welterweight gold medal with a 3-2 victory over Ali Tajik of Iran.

2018 — Victor Oladipo scores 32 points and the Indiana Pacers hold off Cleveland’s second-half rally for a stunning 98-80 victory in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference series, handing LeBron James and the Cavaliers’ their first loss in the opening round in eight years.

2019 — The Clippers overcome an NBA record 31-point deficit to score an improbable 135-131 Game 2 playoff victory over the Golden State Warriors.

Compiled by the Associated Press

This day in baseball history

1909 — Leon Ames of the New York Giants pitched a no-hitter for 9 1-3 innings on opening day, but lost 3-0 to Brooklyn in 13 innings.

1915 — Rube Marquard of the New York Giants no-hit the Brooklyn Dodgers, winning 2-0.

1947 — Jackie Robinson played his first major league game for the Dodgers. He went 0-for-3, but scored the deciding run in a 5-3 victory over the Boston Braves in Brooklyn. He was the first Black man to appear in the majors since 1884.

1957 — President Eisenhower officially opened the 1956 season by tossing out the first ball at Griffith Stadium in Washington D.C. The ball was the 10 millionth Spalding baseball to be used in major league play.

1958 — Major league baseball came to California as the transplanted Giants and Dodgers played the first game on the Pacific Coast. Playing in Seals Stadium in San Francisco, Ruben Gomez blanked Los Angeles 8-0.

1968 — Houston and the New York Mets played 24 innings in a night game in the Astrodome before the Astros won 1-0. The game lasted more than six hours.

1976 — New York opened the refurbished Yankee Stadium with an 11-4 rout of the Minnesota Twins.

1977 — Hank Aaron becomes the first player to have his uniform number retired by two teams. The Atlanta Braves retire his No. 44 during a pre-game ceremony. The Milwaukee Brewers had previously retired Aaron’s number.

1987 — Juan Nieves threw the first no-hitter in Brewers history as Milwaukee beat Baltimore 7-0.

1993 — Sparky Anderson earned his 2,000th victory as a manager as the Detroit Tigers rallied to beat the Oakland Athletics 3-2.

1993 — Andre Dawson became the 25th player to hit 400 home runs as the Boston Red Sox beat the Cleveland Indians 4-3.

1997 — The 50th anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s breaking the color barrier in major league baseball is celebrated before 54,047 at Shea Stadium during a game between the Mets and the Dodgers. MLB retires Robinson’s No. 42 for all of major league baseball.

1998 — The first-ever AL-NL doubleheader is held in New York’s Shea Stadium as the New York Yankees beat the Angels 6-3 and the New York Mets edge the Chicago Cubs 2-1. The Yankees draw a crowd of 40,743, a dramatic contrast to the gathering of 16,012 who show up for the Mets game at night.

2000 — Cal Ripken became the 24th player to reach 3,000 hits when he lined a clean single to center off Twins reliever Hector Carrasco. He reached the milestone with his third hit in a 6-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins and became the seventh player in major league history to get 3,000 hits and 400 home runs.

2004 — Fifty-seven years after the historic event, major league baseball begins the tradition of Jackie Robinson Day, an annual celebration marking the day the color line was broken.

2006 — Eric Chavez, Frank Thomas, and Milton Bradley all homered on consecutive pitches in Oakland’s 5-4 victory over Texas.

2008 — Jose Lopez became the 12th player in major league history to hit three sacrifice flies in a game, and the Seattle Mariners tied the team record for five sac flies in an 11-6 victory over Kansas City.

2009 — Every player in Major League Baseball wears number 42 today on Jackie Robinson Day, in honor of the anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color line.

2009 — Ian Kinsler of Texas became the fourth player in team history to hit for the cycle, and was 6-for-6 in Texas’ 19-6 win over Baltimore.

2010 — Florida’s Jorge Cantu extended his major league season-opening record to 10 games with a hit in a 10-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds.

2011 — Texas tied an AL record by turning six double plays and the Rangers picked up where they left off last October, beating the New York Yankees 5-3. This was the 15th time an AL team made six DPs in a game. The major league mark for double plays in a game is seven by San Francisco in 1969.

2011 — Brennan Boesch hit a go-ahead two-run double with the bases loaded in the 10th inning and Detroit rallied to beat Oakland 8-4 for manager Jim Leyland’s 1,500th win. Leyland became the 19th major league manager to reach 1,500 wins.

2012 — Vin Scully is back in the broadcast booth for a record 63rd season after missing a week with a bad cold.

2022 — Jackie Robinson Day is celebrated across North America on the 75th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color line in Major League Baseball.

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.

The Dodgers are too good, and too rich. If the owners of other major league teams ultimately deem that combination so objectionable that they shut down the sport this winter because of it, they will risk a rupture in one of the greatest fan bases in American sports history.

The four million tickets the Dodgers sold last season tells one part of the story. Here is an arguably better one: For decades, the Dodgers and Lakers have dominated Los Angeles sports and left every other team far behind in popularity.

For now, after back-to-back World Series championships, the Dodgers have left even the Lakers far behind in popularity, and every other team in town even further behind.

In a Loyola Marymount survey asking Los Angeles County residents to identify their favorite among the 12 pro sports teams within the local media market, nearly half picked the Dodgers.

The Dodgers’ lead over the Lakers — 43% to 28% — represented the largest gap between the teams in the nine editions of the survey, first conducted in 2014 by the Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Center for the Study of Los Angeles.

The Rams ranked third, at 7%, followed by the Kings at 5% and the Angels at 4%.

The two women’s teams — Angel City FC and the Sparks — tied for last, each with less than 1% of the vote. Even when the study separated votes by gender, the two women’s teams got less than 1% of the vote from women.

As recently as 2018, five teams beyond the Dodgers and Lakers — the Angels, Clippers, Galaxy, Kings and Rams — attracted at least 4% of the vote. In this year’s survey, only the Rams did.

“I’m a big Rams fan,” said Fernando Guerra, the center’s director, “and I still put the Dodgers first.

“I love all these teams. But, when you have to choose one, it’s the Dodgers.”

Dodgers president Stan Kasten pointed to the popularity and excellence of the players, the cherished ballpark and the generational fan support as factors contributing to the top ranking.

“If you have a lot of good elements but you don’t win, you’re not going to be as high,” Kasten said. “And, if you win but you don’t have the other elements, you’re not going to be as high.

“I think, right now, we’re as close as you can be to clicking on all cylinders.”

Beyond the winning, Guerra cited Shohei Ohtani as a driving force behind the Dodgers’ popularity, and not just as a tourist attraction, merchandise driver, and the foremost product endorser in sports.

In 2018, Ohtani’s debut season with the Angels, 8% of fans that identified themselves as Asian picked the Angels as their favorite team and 34% picked the Dodgers — a terrific showing for the Angels, since the study polls residents in L.A. County, not Orange County.

That demographic this year: 4% picked the Angels, 47% picked the Dodgers.

In their 10 years since returning to Los Angeles, the Rams have made seven playoff appearances and two Super Bowl appearances, winning one. All that, and a half-century in their previous run in L.A., and their membership in the most popular sports league in America, and the best they could do was 7%.

“It’s just tough to break the Lakers’ and Dodgers’ hold,” Guerra said. “It’s not like we don’t love the Rams or the others. It’s just not your top priority.”

The Lakers and Dodgers have combined to win 20 championships in Los Angeles. The other 10 teams that call this market home have combined to win 16.

In the 13 seasons since Mark Walter and Co. bought the Dodgers, the team has won 12 division titles, made five World Series appearances, and won three championships. In the same time, the Lakers have won three division titles, advanced past the first round of the playoffs twice, and won one championship.

Walter bought a controlling interest in the Lakers last year. He has installed Lon Rosen, formerly the Dodgers’ executive vice president and chief marketing officer, as the Lakers’ president of business operations.

“When the Lakers are winning a lot of championships, they’re No. 1,” Rosen said. “When the Dodgers are, they’re No. 1.

“It’s a good position to be in, since we control both teams, and both teams are highly successful.”

In this moment, the Dodgers are highly successful.

“The Lakers and Dodgers are going to be neck and neck very soon,” Rosen said. “The Lakers will 100% be champions again soon.”

The Dodgers do not concede the days of neck and neck will return. Kasten, remember, said the Dodgers were as close as they could be to clicking on all cylinders.

“We don’t take that for granted,” he said. “We know we can do even better.”

Spring practice continued for the UCLA football program Tuesday morning at Spaulding Field and for the most part head coach Bob Chesney was pleased with his team’s progress.

It marked the sixth of 14 practices leading up to the annual spring game on May 2 at the Rose Bowl.

“The defense took strides today,” said Chesney, who was hired as the Bruins’ 20th head football coach on Dec. 26, replacing DeShaun Foster (fired after an 0-3 start in 2025) and interim coach Tim Skipper. “There were a couple turnovers in there. This was our second day with the officials, it was a different group and they were throwing some flags today. We just have to understand the game we’re in. As you get further along the referees step aside, but early in the season they’re excited to do their jobs and we gave them enough to throw laundry at so we’ll go back and check it all out.”

Receiver Semaj Morgan caught a touchdown pass from quarterback Nico Iamaleava, tight end Brayden Lofton made several fine catches, Troy Leigber rushed for a touchdown, and Donavyn Pellot and Robert Stafford III had interceptions on defense as the squad is motivated to rebound from a 3-9 season (3-6 in Big Ten) — its worst since its debut season under Chip Kelly in 2018.

“Practice six is usually when it dips a little bit,” said Chesney, who led James Madison to the Sun Belt Conference championship and a berth in the College Football Playoff last season. “On defense we did not, on offense we probably slowed down just a little bit. I didn’t feel a dip from the group, which is great, but usually around now is when that starts to happen. [Practices] six, seven, eight are a little bit of a fight and then you gotta come back when you get to nine, 10 and 11. I thought they did a good job today, not a great job, but you have those days. It’s the nature of the beast. I didn’t see any steps backward from anybody, just a little bit of a lull from what they were bringing the other day. ”

One position group that has impressed Chesney since he arrived in Westwood is running back — a unit that returns a number of players.

“Everybody has their pluses and minuses, everyone has things they’re really good at and things they’re mediocre at and our job every day is taking what’s mediocre and turning it into good — and eventually great — and playing to their strengths,” Chesney said. “Each of them has their own running style. I’ve been impressed with them, they’re one of the stronger groups on this team. It’s necessary as a running back for that to be the case. You have to be durable enough, you have to keep your pad level low and keep your body healthy because there’s probably not another position out there that takes as much of a beating … you’re getting tackled by guys who are sometimes much bigger than you.”

Defensive back Scooter Jackson was not at Tuesday’s practice but Chesney expects him to be back Thursday. Offensive lineman Jordan Davis is dealing with a shoulder injury.

“He’s got range, he just doesn’t feel like he has the full strength yet … but he’s close,” Chesney said of Davis. “On Saturday it was a little worse than it is today, so he’s slowly getting better.”

Chesney praised cornerback DJ Barksdale, an All-Sun Belt selection who transferred from James Madison — a player he knows well.

“The nickel and slot corner is important in the bubble game and the screen game,” Chesney said. “You’ve got to be able to fight through some things physically. You’re also tied in a lot as the bonus in the run game and then there’s times when you’re not there and you’re playing straight man-to-man on the other team’s quickest, best receiver so the skillset you’ve got to carry, the confidence you’ve got to carry and the physicality you’ve got to carry is significant. DJ possesses all of those.”

Chesney is excited about the depth in the defensive backfield.

“Rob [Stafford] did a good job,: he said. “In the red zone he’s been really sticky in coverage and he’s done a really nice job. He’s starting to click with his playbook and understand it and that’s kind of where everyone is at this stage of the game, we’re in practice six so everything we’ve done up to this point is six days of full speed stuff. Osiris [Gilbert] made a really big play on a ball that we had trouble with Saturday. To learn and carry that over from the previous practice into the film room and actuality execute it out here was great to see. Jhase McMillan is doing a great job. We’re rotating them through, we put them in different positions to test them in fire and see who can handle all of it. They’re a little more involved in the running game now, Cover 2 things and corner pressures, blitzing off the edge, they’ve done a really nice job.”

Asked who has stood out in the trenches, Chesney cited Aiden Gobaira, Julian Armella and Riley Robell.

“What’s impressed me most about Julian is his passion for this game,” Chesney said. “He’s got to harness that the right way. I’m sure there’s moments when you play with that much emotion and passion it can tip over, but I’ve been impressed with that part. He uplifts a lot of people when he’s out there. There’s never a moment where he’s just out here and it’s not important — it’s all important to him and that’s infectious.”

Pressuring the quarterback is a defensive priority for Chesney and his staff. A year ago the Bruins tied for last in the Big Ten in pass defense, allowing opponents to complete 66% of their passes.

“On the defensive side we have to continue to take bigger steps,” he said. “Our pass rush looks good, the interior pass rush is something we have to work on. A lot of the games that we’re playing inside we’ve got to continue to fine tune things because obviously the offense knows they’re coming and the element of surprise gets defeated The defense is doing a nice job setting them up, then it’s cool watching the chess match go on between both sides.”

Chesney is known for his emphasis on special teams and the Bruins ran drills throughout Tuesday’s practice focused on that phase of the game.

“I don’t want it to be an afterthought — I want to make sure it’s involved in everything we do,” Chesney stated. “I want it to feel like a game as much as it possibly can but I also want our long snapper, our holder, our kickers and our protection guys to know that the whole team is relying on you so when we put them in those situations at the end to pin the ball, they have to know they have to hold up their end of the bargain.”

What has surprised Chesney most in his first few months in Westwood?

“The alums who come out continually and who like being around this program is something I’d hoped for,” Chesney said. “I understood that practices were maybe different and closed and not open to everybody before, but it’s open to all of our alums and to high school coaches. I’d hoped it would happen and to see it actually transpiring day to day is exciting.”

UCLA’s next practice is Thursday on Spaulding Field at Wasserman Football Center.

Rebounding was not a strength of the Lakers over the course of the regular season. Rebounding was a strength of the Houston Rockets during the 2025-26 campaign.

So, on their first day of practice Tuesday for Game 1 of the first round Saturday at Crypto.com Arena, the Lakers worked diligently on rebounding drills, knowing full well that will be one of the keys against the Rockets.

The Lakers were the fourth-worst rebounding team in the NBA, averaging 41.0 per game. The Rockets were the top rebounding team in the league, getting 48.1 overall and 15.0 on the offensive end.

And one of the Lakers’ better rebounders, Luka Doncic, won’t be available because he’s dealing with a Grade 2 left hamstring strain that he went to Spain for treatment. Doncic is second on the Lakers in rebounding at 7.7 per game. His starting backcourt mate, Austin Reaves, also is a good rebounder but he also won’t play because of a Grade 2 left oblique strain. Reaves is averaging 4.7 rebounds per game.

“They’re out indefinitely,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said about Doncic and Reaves.

Redick then gave a simple answer for how the Lakers have to deal with the Rockets in the best-of-seven series.

“Again, taking care of the basketball and boxing out. That’s the series,” Redick said. “Scheme, personnel, obviously important, but if we don’t take care of the ball and we don’t box out, we’re not gonna win the series.

“They were No. 4 in scoring opportunities. We were No. 23, so we don’t have the luxury with Luka and AR out of getting drilled in scoring opportunities every single game. We gotta box out. We’re going to place an emphasis on every drill in practice. We started practice with boxing out today. You gotta put it in their minds. That’s literally the only thing we said about Houston today. Today was about us having a practice, getting sharp with our stuff. Tomorrow, we’ll introduce [Rockets] personnel. Thursday we’ll do our scout, as we would. Friday will be a reinforcement of that scout. Saturday we’ll be good to go. Only thing we did today was box out.”

Lakers 7-foot backup center Jaxson Hayes will be counted to get rebounds. He’ll also spend time dealing with Rockets All-Star center Alperen Sengun, who averages 20.4 points and 8.9 rebounds (3.0 on offense) per game.

Hayes missed the last four games because of left foot soreness, but he was back at practice Tuesday.

“Feeling a lot better,” Hayes said. “It’s nice getting a few days off. Especially with my job, I jump a lot and I run a lot, so it’s hard for me to rest something like that. Getting those days off was very much needed. Very helpful.”

When asked about the box-out drills the Lakers did at practice, Hayes recalled the last time he did such a thing.

“Definitely college, for sure,” Hayes said. “College days with those Texas bigs. Coaches start off the practice where you got to smack somebody. Obviously, we weren’t trying to murder each other out on the boards, but definitely practicing that stuff. Houston is, I think, one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the past 20 years. So, just making sure we’re ready for that.”

The Rockets are a physical team that also plays smothering defense.

Houston allowed 110.0 points per game during the regular season, the fourth-best defensive mark in the league, and held teams to 46.0% shooting, the sixth-best mark in the league.

For Lakers guard Marcus Smart, there is one way to compete with the Rockets on the backboards.

“Will. Willpower,” Smart said. “We’re competitors. We’ve been doing this for a while. We’re doing that at the highest level, right? And they’re going to try to come in and punk us. And if you will allow that, you will be punked. And I don’t think we have any guys that are going to be punked on this team. So, we might not be the most athletic and strongest, but we got to have the most heart.”

Welcome back to The Times’ Lakers newsletter, where it’s finally the postseason.

The Lakers begin the playoffs Saturday against the Houston Rockets, a team that a month ago looked like one of the most vulnerable playoff targets in the West. Now the tables have turned. The Lakers, without Austin Reaves and Luka Doncic, are the team everyone wanted to see in the first round. They’re shorthanded. They’re vulnerable. But they’re not giving up.

“All season people have counted us out and all we season we have continued to show why we belong here and that we really don’t care what people say,” guard Marcus Smart said. “And that’s us. That’s who we are and I think it shows with our two guys down and the way we finished the season and the miles we had going into the playoffs.”

One player on this team has significantly more miles on his tread, but you wouldn’t be able to tell from watching him race down the court for another crowd-pleasing dunk.

The crown still fits

LeBron James chuckled at the suggestion. He smiled before the question was done.

How does he feel like he’s handled the shift back to the being the Lakers’ primary option?

“What’s wrong with you, man?” James said with a smile.

He’s not new to this. The NBA’s all-time leading scorer is taking back the reins as the Lakers’ No. 1 playmaker and steering the team straight into the postseason.

Since Doncic and Reaves were injured, James has averaged 25.5 points, 11 assists, 6.8 rebounds and 2.5 steals, finishing the season with an exclamation point against the Utah Jazz: 18 points, six assists and three steals in less than 17 minutes Sunday. A month after acknowledging and adjusting to life as the world’s most accomplished third fiddle, James was named Western Conference player of the week Monday, the 70th such honor of his career.

“He had not a good season, not a great [season],” Lakers coach JJ Redick said, “he had a remarkable season, all things considered.”

Like the wine he’s cut out of his diet, James is aging just fine. After sitting out of the first 14 games, James played in 60 of the final 68. Even though he often joked that at his age he was questionable for every game, he averaged 23.3 points in his six appearances playing with zero days of rest, shooting 58% from the field with 8.3 assists and 6.7 rebounds per game. It was more points than he averaged on one or two days’ rest.

With Doncic orchestrating most of the Lakers’ offense, James found a different way to thrive. The 41-year-old led the league with 5.7 fast-break points per game.

Of James’ 919 total made field goals, 97 were dunks. The 11.2% was tied for the largest percentage of dunks in a season in his career. It was nearly a decade ago — 2016-17 — that he dunked this often. More than 20% of his made field goals are dunks, the most of any season in his career.

“I think there’s an enjoyment level that I think he gets from making highlight plays and it feeds into it with the crowd,” Redick said. “I think that’s just part of it. The other part of it is, for him, I think he recognizes that’s one of the ways that he can really impact winning on our team. And so he’s taken [the] responsibility of, like, ‘I’m going to be the best transition player in the NBA,’ and he has been.”

James’ ruthlessness in transition set the tone for teammates, who couldn’t be seen moving slower than someone who is closer to their father’s age than theirs.

“If we see him run down, he beats us down the court, that’s not a good thing,” center Jaxson Hayes said. “So I feel like I got to get down there when I see him start going.”

The 22-time All-Star is now leading more than just a fast break for the Lakers. The team experienced an emotional hangover after the regular season-ending injuries to Reaves and Doncic. The Lakers needed more than just points from James to cure their woes.

He delivered by locking in against Golden State, being vocal during the team’s pregame meeting and showing the trademark determination that teammates can’t help but follow. It sparked a three-game winning streak to finish the regular season that James punctuated with several soaring dunks against the Jazz.

“You have no idea how much I have a respect for him,” forward Rui Hachimura said. “It’s his Year 26 or 27, or whatever the hell it is. He’s still playing the last game of the season against the team that, they’re not trying to win. We really appreciate that.”

Smart moves

Marcus Smart

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

He’s not Doncic. He’s not Reaves. But Smart’s return to the Lakers’ lineup is still significant in time for the playoffs.

The guard played the final two games of the regular season after missing what felt like the longest, three-week, nine-game stretch in basketball history. Scrambling on the floor next to Maxi Kleber to find Jarred Vanderbilt for a cutting dunk against the Suns on Friday, Smart made the expected immediate defensive difference. But with 17 assists in two appearances, Smart flashed his ability to deliver in different ways on offense.

His timely return can ease the playmaking pressure on Luke Kennard, who filled in admirably in an emergency stretch with 31 assists in four games, and help handle the load next to James.

Smart is especially aware of the energy of his teammates. He is eager to reward centers for running the floor. He shovels the ball to teammates who are going through shooting slumps to prioritize scoring over his own. It’s not a coincidence that he fired two early passes to Deandre Ayton for dunks against the Jazz and Ayton finished with his first 20-point double-double in a month.

“Even post-Boston the last couple seasons he’s graded out well as a secondary playmaker,” Redick said of Smart. “So he’s been in that position before. He knows how to get other guys involved.”

Smart knows the pressure of the playoffs. He helped the Boston Celtics reach the NBA Finals in 2022, but hasn’t played in the postseason since he was traded in 2023. He missed it. So even if he’ll begin this postseason journey without two of his main teammates, Smart will relish this chance.

“It ain’t gonna be easy,” Smart said. “We all know it, but it’s gonna be fun, and we’re gonna enjoy this ride.”

On tap

Saturday vs. Rockets, 5:30 p.m.

Here we go, friends. Game 1 of the playoffs. In March, these teams played a two-game series in Houston that felt like a playoff preview, but circumstances have changed completely since Doncic’s clutch time brilliance led the Lakers to two key wins. The Lakers went 22-8 in games within five points in the last five minutes this season, but the Rockets had a 22-23 clutch time record, which ranked 16th in the NBA, the worst clutch-time winning percentage for any Western Conference playoff team.

Status report

Jaxson Hayes: left foot soreness

Hayes missed the past four games of the regular season. He was a late scratch before the game against Oklahoma City on April 7 and has remained day to day since.

Luka Doncic: left hamstring strain

After getting injections on his injured hamstring in Spain, Doncic will be back stateside by Friday but there is no timetable for his return to the lineup.

Austin Reaves: left oblique strain

Reaves is working hard to return this season but similar to Doncic, there’s no timeline for his comeback yet.

Favorite thing I ate this week

Lotus root kofta curry (left), paratha and duck confit biryani from Rasa in Burlingame, Calif.

(Thuc Nhi Nguyen / Los Angeles Times)

On my way to San Francisco last week, my colleague Broderick Turner texted me to “find a good restaurant.” You don’t have to tell me twice.

I went straight from the airport to Rasa in Burlingame, which specializes in Southern Indian dishes. We explored the tasting menu, which offered two appetizers, a dosa and two entrees. We started with the rasa sliders, which were spiced potato fritters with a tamarind chutney and cilantro chutney, General Tso’s cauliflower, an Indian-Chinese crossover with a familiar spicy sauce. The dosa was filled with a tamarind-spiced potato masala with basil chutney, ginger, garlic and cilantro. It was my favorite dish of the night, but I was so consumed by eating it, I forgot to take a picture. The mains (pictured) were a vegan lotus root kofta curry and duck confit biryani. I could barely touch my entree because I was so full from the first two courses, but it made great leftovers for the morning after the game.

In case you missed it

Luka Doncic rejoining Lakers after getting injury treatment in Europe

How do the Lakers match up against the Houston Rockets entering their playoff series?

‘Mr. 82.’ How Jake LaRavia became the injury-plagued Lakers’ iron man

Lakers defeat Jazz, will open playoffs at home against Houston

‘He does so many more things.’ How Luke Kennard became the Lakers’ emergency point guard

Plaschke: Broken Lakers need to shut down the season

Lakers great Michael Cooper is introduced as Cal State L.A. men’s basketball coach

Until next time…

As always, pass along your thoughts to me at thucnhi.nguyen@latimes.com, and please consider subscribing if you like our work!

UCLA women’s basketball just keeps winning.

The latest edition of UCLA Unlocked was delayed one day so that we could include what turned out to be a magical, recording setting WNBA draft night for the Bruins.

UCLA set a WNBA draft record with five players selected in the first round and another draft record with six selected overall during the three-round draft Monday night in New York.

The Bruins rocked the orange carpet and then waited with UCLA coach Cori Close and their families to learn their draft fate.

UCLA Bruins Angela Dugalic, Kiki Rice, Gianna Kneepkens, Lauren Betts and Gabriela Jaquez pose on the orange carpet at the WNBA draft in New York.

(Angelina Katsanis / Getty Images)

They didn’t wait long. Lauren Betts was first off the board, selected by the Washington Mystics with the No. 4 pick.

“These are like my sisters, and getting to watch your family do something like that is amazing,” Betts told the Associated Press. “But I mean, this team is just so special. We knew the type of players that we had on the team, and to really just have this night really showcase all of the things that we’ve worked on all season is just amazing.”

Gabriela Jaquez was next in line, getting drafted higher than expected when the Chicago Sky used the No. 5 pick to select her.

“Jaquez is a battle-tested three-level scorer who improved every year in college,” Sky general manager Jeff Pagliocca said. “Combine her on-skill talent with the fact that she’s a proven winner, and you have a player that perfectly fits the Sky’s vision.”

Next, Kiki Rice was selected No. 6 by the Toronto Tempo.

After a few gaps, Angela Dugalic was drafted at the No. 9 spot by the Mystics and Gianna Kneepkens was drafted at the No. 15 spot by the Connecticut Sun.

“We’re excited to welcome Gianna to our team,” Sun general manager Morgan Tuck said. “She’s experienced success UCLA within a winning culture and brings a mindset defined by toughness and consistency every time she steps on the floor on both ends. Her shooting ability is elite and truly sets her apart, but we’re equally impressed by the complete game she’s shown throughout her college career.”

UCLA guard Charlisse Leger-Walker poses with WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert after being selected No. 18 by the Connecticut Sun on Monday in New York.

(Pamela Smith / Associated Press)

The WNBA made a ridiculous decision, opting not to officially invite the sixth member of UCLA’s super senior and graduate student class to the draft. Charlisse Leger-Walker went anyway as a guest and was the record sixth Bruin selected, getting drafted in the second round by the Sun with the No. 18 overall pick. She became the first player from New Zealand to ever be drafted.

Leger-Walker told reporters in New York that Dugalic gave up two of her seats at the draft so Leger-Walker and her mother could attend. For the record, Leger-Walker was picked ahead of one player the WNBA officially invited to New York.

“Given how critical the point guard position is, we’re thrilled to welcome Charlisse to our team,” Tuck said. “Her ability to push the pace while also running the offense and leading her teammates is something we truly value. She comes from a winning program, and her skill set, poise and basketball IQ position her game to translate seamlessly to the professional level.”

Close kept popping up to hug her stars and after a season of insisting the journey mattered more than the result, she conceded Monday night mattered.

“Well, I mean, I sort of do care about this one actually, because No. 1, it helps us in recruiting. I think we’ve really taken a developmental approach to this and to see it come to fruition the way it has is obviously really gratifying,” Close told the Associated Press.

“Just to be a part of an historic night and for them to be so excited for each other, that’s sort of representative of how they’ve been all year long. But it’s a pretty cool record to be a part of.”

Bob Chesney leads the UCLA football team in its first spring practice on April 2.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

The UCLA-feel good energy hasn’t skipped the football program, with new coach Bob Chesney and his staff leading the Bruins through spring football workouts.

Here are three takeaways from the first five spring football practices:

1. No one is naming names.

It’s hard to get coaches or the two football players UCLA has made available for interviews so far this spring to volunteer the names of any players who have performed exceptionally well during spring practice.

“Yeah, um, I don’t want to name drop because I know I’m going to miss a couple, but I think the whole O-line and the whole receiver room collectively have been bringing it every practice and I’ve loved competing with them,” UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava told reporters when asked for his thoughts about the receivers and offensive linemen.

When he was asked who on the defense was making his life difficult, Iamaleava responded: “From the defense? You know, I’m not going to give them too much credit, but I think they do a good job of disguising their coverages.”

Safety Cole Martin was equally measured in his response when asked who were the toughest offensive players to cover.

“I feel like everybody just has their own skill set. You know, learning what they do good, what they don’t do well and trying to figure out how to beat them — ’cause, I mean, it’s spring ball,” Martin said.

The team held its first workout in full pads Saturday and it’s unlikely this embargo on identifying top performers will last forever, but an emphasis on wide open competition has been adopted by coaches and players.

2. Iamaleava is trying to stay on the field.

The quarterback said Saturday he weighs 218 pounds and hopes to reach 220 to 225 pounds by the season opener.

“I took a couple of hits last year and it took a toll on the body, but I think just me recovering over the offseason and coming in ready to work and getting bigger was the main thing for me this offseason,” he said. “So yeah, hopefully when I get to the season I’ll be able to take those hits a little easier.”

3. Martin and Iamaleava have fully embraced Chesney’s emphasis on winning on and off the field.

“How you live your life is going to correlate with how you are on the field,” Martin told reporters Saturday. “When you have great habits outside, you’re going to have great play on the field. Coach Chesney is big on making sure that we realize that you can’t live an average life and then go be amazing at football. Everything has to match up, so if it means that you gotta go to class super, super early or if you gotta wake up really, really early — or whatever that may mean for you and how that individual is — do that and your play on the field will correlate.”

Reddemann recognized

Logan Reddemann of UCLA tied a record with 18 strikeouts on Friday against Rutgers.

(Craig Weston)

UCLA junior right-handed pitcher Logan Reddemann swept weekly awards for his performance during the Bruins’ 4-1 win over Rutgers in 14 innings Friday night.

Reddemann earned Golden Spikes player of the week, College Baseball Foundation pitcher of the week, Perfect Game pitcher of the week and Big Ten pitcher of the week and was named to Baseball America’s team of the week. He delivered an NCAA single game record-tying 18 strikeouts over eight innings, leading a Bruins staff that totaled 30 strikeouts, one shy of the NCAA single-game record.

No. 1 UCLA will put its program record 27-game winning streak on the line when it hosts UC Santa Barbara on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. The game air on the Big Ten Network.

UCLA’s next national title?

UCLA senior Jordan Chiles shouts while competing on the floor exercise during the the meet against Utah.

(Jesus Ramirez / UCLA Athletics)

Is the Bruins’ gymnastics team is next in line to win a national title?

Jordan Chiles, an Olympic gold medalist and the NCAA West Region gymnast of the year, will lead UCLA during the NCAA gymnastics championships starting Thursday in Fort Worth, Texas.

UCLA will compete in a semifinal against Oklahoma, Arkansas and Minnesota. The Bruins will start on the bars, then proceed to the beam, floor exercise and vault.

The top two teams advance to the finals Saturday against the top two teams from another semifinal featuring LSU, Stanford, Florida and Georgia.

UCLA’s semifinal begins at 6 p.m. Thursday and will air on ESPN2. The finals will begin at 1 p.m. Saturday and air on ABC.

Transfers help basketball teams reload

The men’s and women’s basketball teams have picked up transfers since the portal opened last week.

The women’s basketball team added North Carolina junior guard Elina Aarinsalo, senior TCU guard Donovyn Hunter and Arkansas sophomore guard Bonnie Deas.

Along with returner Timea Gardiner, the Bruins are starting to form a core to defend their national championship. Gardiner was a starter during UCLA’s 2024-25 Final Four run, but she missed all of this last season with an injury and has one season of eligibility left.

The men’s team has picked up commitments from Auburn forward Filip Jovic, Mississippi State forward Sergej Macura and Texas Tech transfer guard Jaylen Petty.

UCLA coach Mick Cronin also retained key pieces of his roster, including Trent Perry and Eric Dailey Jr.

In case you missed it

UCLA breaks WNBA draft records with five first-round picks and six overall

‘Coach Chesney is a winner.’ Nico Iamaleava and Cole Martin sold on Bruins’ new leader

Letters to Sports: Celebrating UCLA’s inspiring national title win

Logan Reddemann strikes out 18; No. 1 UCLA wins in 14 innings over Rutgers

UCLA women’s basketball lands first transfer since winning NCAA championship

‘L.A. cares about women’s basketball now’: UCLA celebrates its national championship

Sondheimer: Mira Costa High volleyball star Mateo Fuerbringer thrives when under pressure

Water spray, chaos and stress tests: Inside Bob Chesney’s UCLA practice philosophy

Here is who decimated national champion UCLA could target in the transfer portal

Plaschke: Aday Mara’s Michigan national title exposes UCLA coach Mick Cronin’s failure

UCLA women’s basketball players crown Cori Close as their champion

Have something Bruin?

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.

UCLA dominates WNBA draft

From Marisa Ingemi: The NCAA national champion UCLA women’s basketball team made history Monday night, with five players selected in the first round of the WNBA draft and six picked overall.

The first Bruin off the board was Lauren Betts, who went No. 4 overall to the Washington Mystics.

Betts’ selection touched off a lengthy Bruins celebration in New York, with UCLA forward Gabriela Jaquez selected No. 5 by the Chicago Sky and teammate Kiki Rice selected No. 6 by the expansion Toronto Tempo.

After a brief break, UCLA forward Angela Dugalic was selected with the No. 9 pick by the Washington Mystics, where she will join Betts.

UCLA guard Gianna Kneepkens completed the Bruins’ record-setting first round when she was selected by the Connecticut Sun at No. 15.

The Bruins’ party continued, with Charlisse Leger-Walker selected with the No. 3 pick of the second round by the Sun.

Continue reading here

Sparks surprised, excited to land versatile South Carolina guard late in WNBA draft

Dodgers beat the Mets

From Maddie Lee: Dodgers left-hander Justin Wrobleski threw a gem in the Dodgers’ 4-0 win over the Mets on Monday.

He held the Mets to two hits in eight scoreless innings, the longest start of his pro career. He carried a perfect game into the fifth inning, with his defense backing up his efficient effort.

Shortstop Miguel Rojas fully laid out to his left in the second inning to field a sharp grounder off Bo Bichette’s bat, and then casually threw to first to complete the diving play. Third baseman Max Muncy made a leaping grab on Tyrone Taylor’s third-inning line drive.

Wrobleski made quick work of the rest.

Continue reading here

Whatever happened to Julio Urías? ‘Teams ask me about him all the time,’ agent says

Dodgers box score

MLB standings

Angels fall to Yankees

Aaron Judge and Trent Grisham both homered twice and the New York Yankees scored on a game-ending wild pitch in a three-run ninth inning to overcome Mike Trout’s two homers and five RBIs in an 11-10 win over the Angels on Monday night that stopped a five-game losing streak.

Judge and José Caballero each hit a two-run homer off Yusei Kikuchi for a 4-0 second-inning lead on an unseasonably warm 77-degree night, but Caballero’s error on Trout’s fourth-inning leadoff grounder to shortstop led to four unearned runs.

Grisham’s pinch-hit, three-run homer off Shaun Anderson lifted New York into a 7-4 lead in the fifth. Trout, like Judge a three-time AL MVP, tied the score again with a three-run drive in the sixth against Jake Bird.

Continue reading here

Angels box score

MLB standings

Kings clinch playoff spot

Quinton Byfield scored twice, Anton Forsberg made 28 saves and the Kings secured a playoff spot with Monday night’s 5-3 win over the Seattle Kraken.

Trevor Moore, Adrian Kempe and Alex Laferriere also scored for the Kings, who won their fifth straight and are playoff-bound for the fifth consecutive season.

With two games left, the Kings are in position for the second Western Conference wild card and fourth in the Pacific Division, just two points behind second-place Edmonton. The Kings’ victory, combined with Nashville’s loss to San José earlier Monday night, wrapped up their playoff spot and eliminated both the Predators and the Sharks.

Continue reading here

Kings summary

NHL standings

Jonathan Quick retires

From Chuck Schilken: New York Rangers goalkeeper Jonathan Quick is calling it a career after 19 NHL seasons and three Stanley Cup championships — with 16 of those seasons and two championships as a member of the Kings.

The 40-year-old goalie told reporters Monday that he would be playing in his final game that night, where the Rangers lost to the Florida Panthers, 3-2. It marked Quick’s 921st game appearance, counting playoffs.

“Tonight will be my last game in the league, and I am looking forward to it,” Quick said after the morning skate ahead at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Fla. “My wife flew down with the kids, my parents will be here. I am looking forward to this last one, try to get one more win here.”

Selected by the Kings in the third round of the 2005 draft, Quick became a fixture in front of the net for L.A. during the 2008-09 season. He was a key member of the Kings’ Stanley Cup champion teams in 2012 and 2014, earning the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs with a 16-4 record, a .946 save percentage and 1.41 goals-against average.

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Luka Doncic returns to L.A.

From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: Luka Doncic will be back for the beginning of the Lakers’ playoff run. Just not on the court.

The Lakers’ superstar will rejoin the team by Friday after traveling to Spain to receive specialized treatment on his Grade 2 hamstring strain, a source familiar with the situation confirmed to The Times, but there is no timetable for Doncic’s return to the lineup.

Doncic suffered the injury in a game against Oklahoma City on April 2. A Grade 2 strain typically requires four to six weeks of recovery, but Doncic traveled to Europe to receive injections on his left hamstring with the hope of speeding up the recovery process.

The Lakers (53-29) face the Houston Rockets in Game 1 of the first round on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. at Crypto.com Arena. The fourth-seeded Lakers are looking for their first playoff series win since 2023.

They are underdogs without Doncic and guard Austin Reaves, who suffered a Grade 2 left oblique strain in the same game. Doncic led the league in scoring with 33.5 points per game. Reaves, the team’s second-leading scorer at 23.3 points per game, was initially expected to miss four to six weeks with his injury, and is working hard to come back, a source told The Times. There is still no official timetable for his retur

Continue reading here

How do the Lakers match up against the Houston Rockets entering their playoff series?

Lakers playoff schedule

First round
All times Pacific

Saturday: Houston at Lakers, 5:30 p.m, ABC
Game 2: Houston at Lakers, TBD
Game 3: Lakers at Houston, TBD
Game 4: Lakers at Houston, TBD
*Game 5: Houston at Lakers, TBD
*Game 6: Lakers at Houston, TBD
*Game 7: Houston at Lakers, TBD

*-if necessary

Clippers playoff schedule

Wednesday vs. Golden State, 7:30 p.m., Amazon Prime Video

Loser is eliminated, winner advances to second play-in game on Friday, where they will play the loser of the other play-in game. Winner of that game becomes the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference playoffs.

This day in sports history

1928 — The New York Rangers beat the Montreal Maroons for the Stanley Cup, 3-games-to-2.

1931 — The Montreal Canadiens beat the Chicago Blackhawks to win the Stanley Cup after trailing 2-games-to-1.

1941 — 45th Boston Marathon won by Leslie Pawson in 2:30:38; his third victory in the event.

1948 — The Toronto Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup in four games as they beat the Detroit Red Wings 7-2.

1955 — Stanley Cup Final, Olympia Stadium, Detroit, MI: Detroit Red Wings win back-to-back titles; beat Montreal Canadiens, 3-1 for a 4-3 series victory.

1960 — The Montreal Canadiens win their fifth straight Stanley Cup with a four-game sweep of the Toronto Maple Leafs, including tonight’s 4-0 victory.

1962 — Elgin Baylor scores a record 61 points to lead the Lakers to a 126-121 triumph over the Boston Celtics in the NBA finals.

1968 — Bob Goalby wins the Masters when Roberto de Vincenzo of Argentina is penalized for signing an incorrect scorecard.

1974 — 38th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Gary Player wins the 2nd of his 3 Masters titles.

1985 — Bernhard Langer beats Curtis Strange, Ray Floyd and Seve Ballesteros by two strokes to win the Masters.

1991 — Ian Woosnam of Wales made a par putt to turn back Tom Watson on the last hole and capture the Masters.

1993 — The NHL’s longest winning streak ends at 17 games as the Pittsburgh Penguins settled for a 6-6 tie with the New Jersey Devils on a late goal by Joe Mullen.

1996 — The Detroit Red Wings wrap up the winningest season in NHL history by defeating Dallas 5-1. The Red Wings finished with 62 victories, beating the 60 wins of the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens.

1996 — Greg Norman shoots a startling 78 in the greatest collapse in Masters history, giving Nick Faldo his third green jacket and sixth major championship.

2002 — Tiger Woods becomes the third player to win back-to-back Masters titles. He closes with a 1-under 71 to claim a three-stroke victory over Retief Goosen.

2013 — Adam Scott becomes the first Australian to win the Masters, beating Angel Cabrera on the second hole of a playoff on a rainy day at Augusta National.

2016 — Breanna Stewart leads a UConn sweep of the first three picks in the WNBA draft, going first overall to the Seattle Storm. Moriah Jefferson went second to San Antonio and Morgan Tuck third to Connecticut, the first time in draft history that three players from the same school went 1-2-3. It’s a first in any major sport.

2019 — 83rd US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Tiger Woods wins his 5th Masters title by 1 stroke from Xander Schauffele.

2024 — 88th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: World #1 golfer Scottie Scheffler beats Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg by 4 strokes for his second Masters win in 3 years

Compiled by the Associated Press

This day in baseball history

1910 — William Howard Taft became the first U.S. president to throw out the first ball at a baseball opener in Washington.

1910 — Chicago’s Frank Smith pitched a one-hitter in the season opener to give the White Sox a win over the St. Louis Browns.

1915 — In the opening game at Philadelphia, left-hander Herb Pennock of the A’s blanked the Red Sox 5-0. He gave up only one hit — a scratch single by Harry Hooper with two out in the ninth.

1917 — Ed Cicotte of the Chicago White Sox pitched an 11-0 no-hitter over the St. Louis Browns.

1925 — The Cleveland Indians opened the season with a 21-14 victory over the St. Louis Browns, the most runs scored by one club on opening day. The Indians scored 12 runs in the eighth inning when the Browns made five errors. Browns first baseman George Sisler had four errors in the game.

1925 — In the first regular-season Chicago Cubs game to be broadcast on the radio, Quin Ryan announces the contest from the grandstand roof for WGN.

1931 — Jack Quinn of the Brooklyn Robins becomes the oldest pitcher to start an Opening Day game at 47 years old.

1961 — The “new” Washington Senators franchise wins its first game, defeating the Cleveland Indians, 3-2.

1964 — Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax throws his ninth complete game without allowing a walk.

1967 — Boston rookie Bill Rohr lost a no-hit bid in his first major league start when Elston Howard singled in the ninth inning for the New York Yankees’ only hit in a 3-0 loss to the Red Sox.

1969 — The first major league game outside the United States was played in Montreal’s Jarry Park with the Expos defeating the St. Louis Cardinals 8-7.

1976 — In the 6th inning of today’s 6-5 loss to the Chicago Cubs, Mets’ Dave Kingman hits what will become widely regarded as the longest home run ever hit in Wrigley Field, estimated at 600 feet.

1991 — Nolan Ryan becomes the 12th pitcher in major league history to surpass 5,000 innings pitched.

1999 — John Franco struck out the side in the ninth inning of the New York Mets’ 4-1 win over the Florida Marlins, becoming only the second pitcher to reach 400 saves. The only reliever with more saves than Franco is Lee Smith, who retired with 478.

2004 — A day after Yankees teammate Mike Mussina earned his 200th victory, Kevin Brown reaches the same plateau.

2005 — Yankees outfielder Gary Sheffield got into a brief scuffle with a fan along the right-field fence at Fenway Park during New York’s game against the Boston Red Sox.

2010 — Jorge Cantu homered, making him the first player in major league history to have at least one hit and one RBI in each of his team’s first nine games, and the Florida Marlins beat the Cincinnati Reds 5-3.

2014 — Neil Walker and Gaby Sanchez hit back-to-back homers twice, and the Pirates and Reds combined for 10 homers in only six innings before rain forced a suspension. Pittsburgh had three sets of back-to-back homers, only the third time that’s happened in major league history. The NL Central rivals completed the game the next day. Andrew McCutchen doubled and came around on Russell Martin’s single in the seventh inning, giving the Pirates an 8-7 win.

2016 — Bryce Harper makes the 100th home run of his career his first-ever grand slam.

2017 — The Braves open their new ballpark, SunTrust Park, with a 5-2 win over the Padres before a sellout crowd of 41,149.

2021 — Carlos Rodon of the White Sox throws the second no-hitter of the season, blanking the Indians, 8-0.

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.

The Sparks might have gotten the steal of the WNBA draft.

The team didn’t have a pick until the No. 21 overall slot in the second round, but the Sparks still ended up with South Carolina guard Ta’Niya Latson.

“She can shoot it, she can get to the basket, she’s great in transition,” Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said. “That’s something we really needed. We’re excited about her defense. She’s really good on ball, but you know, she’s a winner and we’re just excited. It’s hard as a rookie, especially at that point guard spot, to adapt. But I’m expecting her to be a great addition to our squad.”

Latson led the nation in scoring with 25.4 points per game for Florida State during the 2024-25 season before transferring to South Carolina, where she scored 14.1 points and shot a career-high 48.6% from the floor this season for the national championship game runner-up Gamecocks.

After averaging 21 or more points per game during the last three seasons at Florida State, Latson went to South Carolina coach Dawn Staley’s team to learn to share the ball and play strong defense.

Latson took a career-low 10.3 shots per game but shot a career best field-goal percentage.

“She took on a different role in terms of, that team had two other first-round draft picks from that roster playing with that South Carolina team,” Roberts said. “And so we watched her closely. Our draft model and everything had her a lot higher than 20. And so we were excited that she was still there.”

Latson fills a direct need for the Sparks, who even after signing veteran Erica Wheeler this week still lacked some guard depth off the bench.

South Carolina guard Ta’Niya Latson drives to the basket in front of USC guard Kara Dunn at Crypto.com Arena on Nov. 15.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

“Having vets like Kelsey Plum and Erica Wheeler around a young guard like that is a tremendous opportunity for her,” Sparks general manager Raegan Pebley said. “She’ll soak up everything that they have to teach her. …. This is a great offense for her to excel in and to be great in and shine. So I think the table is set for Latson, I think, to have some success in her rookie year.”

The Sparks later selected Chance Gray from Ohio State with the No. 24 pick. That pick was acquired from Seattle in the Plum trade last year. Gray averaged 14.7 points in 35 games for the Buckeyes while shooting 45.3% from the field and 40.5% from three-point range.

In the third round, the Sparks took Amelia Hassett at No. 35 overall from Kentucky. Hassett is a stretch center who shot 36.1% from three on 7.6 attempts per game. She averaged 10.5 points and 5.3 rebounds per game with the Wildcats.

The Sparks are pushing to contend for a playoff spot this season after bringing back veteran forward Nneka Ogwumike and guards Ariel Atkins and Wheeler to build one of their deepest rosters in years.

Latson has a chance to get some playing time, while Gray could challenge for an end-of-the-bench spot and Hassett has a niche that could get her minutes in the league.

“We want to have sustained success,” Roberts said. “We want to win championships, and this isn’t a slow roll, like we want to do it. And so you have to have that balance of youth and experience, and I think our roster has nailed that.”

Rio Ngumoha (Liverpool): What a talent this kid is! Young, energetic, carefree. He is not afraid to go at his defender and makes something happen every single time. It was a wonderful goal. He just looks like a young kid having fun, which is the best part about his game.

Alex Scott (Bournemouth): After the England call-up, I thought Scott was a little bit off it and not really himself – maybe feeling a bit sorry for himself because he could not deliver for his national team. But he seems to have got his mojo back. Going up against Declan Rice, the thing you have to do is match his running and that’s what he did. He matched him physically – his intensity and tackles. And obviously a wonderful goal to cap off a wonderful performance.

Casemiro (Manchester United): Even though he was on the losing side, he was excellent against Leeds. I don’t know whether it’s because he is leaving at the end of the season but the pressure seems to be off him. Another goal would do him a lot of good. He was Man Utd’s biggest focal point in the attack and had one cleared off the line. He was very, very good.

Rayan Cherki (Manchester City): My favourite player in the Premier League. I am glad people are starting to see just how good a football player this guy is. Honestly, he is like Toy ‘R’ Us for adults – you get excited every time he is playing. Wonderful to watch, not only did he dominate the second half but he plays with a flair of ‘just pass me the ball and watch what I do’. His pass to Marc Guehi for the second goal, everyone is looking on the outside and he just does a little pass with the outside of the left foot. It’s simple when you’re talking about it, but to do it at that speed… He is honestly one of the best players in world football.

Noah Okafor (Leeds United): Two goals for him after putting in such a shift on that left-hand side. His double might have sealed Leeds staying in the Premier League, so fair play to him.

The general consensus is that President Trump’s social media post of himself dressed in robes, after a busy weekend in which he blasted Pope Leo and attended a prizefight while an Iran peace plan fell apart, was an attempt to cast himself as a Jesus-like figure.

But Trump says we have it wrong.

“It’s supposed to be me as a doctor, making people better,” he said.

As a graduate of St. Peter Martyr grade school in the San Francisco East Bay area, and as someone who has seen a lot of doctors for various ailments, I feel uniquely qualified to weigh in.

In Catholic school, holy cards are a big deal. You’ve seen a couple hundred of them by the time you hit second or third grade, so you become familiar with the muted ethereal glow, the heavenly gaze and the look of piety. A standard feature is the halo, a clearly defined sphere that sits like a buttered bonnet on the head of the saint.

Let the record show that in his post on his very own Truth Social, which is not always truthful, Trump does not have a halo.

So in total fairness, it’s possible the president was not lying when he said he was supposed to be a doctor.

On the other hand, having seen a good number of cardiologists and surgeons and orthopedic specialists, I don’t recall any doctors who wore flowing robes while bathed in heavenly light, with a flock of eagles coming out of their ears and a team of Navy SEALs busting through the hospital ceiling.

And then there’s the fireball emanating from Trump’s right hand. All of which begs the question: If Trump thinks this is what a doctor looks like, what ailment is he being treated for, and shouldn’t the public be advised?

There’s also the question of creation — not of human life, but of the very existence of a social media post like this from the president of the United States in wartime. It was described as an AI-generated image, but who was at the computer?

Did the president sit down at the end of a long day and churn out an image of himself playing doctor, if not Jesus Christ? Or does he have a team of staffers who do this sort of thing, and if so, how could Elon Musk have missed them when he said the government was bloated and set out to fire half the federal workforce?

You’d at least hope the president would have the courage of his convictions. But as criticism of his post mounted, Trump deleted it Monday morning.

I think he should have stuck with the story — he was portraying himself a doctor because he’s a healer. The next day, he could have been in a New York Jets uniform and told us he’s a quarterback. Then he could have released an image of himself in the Artemis space capsule and told us he’s an astronaut, and he’s thinking of building a string of Trump hotels on the moon. Ask yourself this: Would anyone have been surprised?

A guy who only knows how to go for broke, and always doubles down when things go wrong, has to stick to his guns or the whole shtick unravels. I’d have respected Trump more if he had traipsed around the White House with a stethoscope for a week or two, or maybe performed brain surgery on Pete Hegseth, just to see what’s going on in there.

What’s going on in Trump’s head, if I might volunteer a bit of armchair psychoanalysis, is that failure triggers a sense of grandeur rather than humility.

Things are not going well at the moment, so he’s lashing out. The price of things was supposed to come down on Day One, but thanks to his upheaval of the world economy, prices went up, and now they’re soaring because he helped start a war that made no sense.

A war that has been criticized by Pope Leo, who has pointed out that while the Trump administration has ascribed a religious imperative to the assault on Iran, and Trump promised to blow the country all the way back to the “Stone Ages,” Jesus would probably not be on board.

Trump, who said last year that he wants to “try and get to heaven, if possible,” now realizes he’s not going to get an endorsement from the pontiff.

And so the man who once issued a national call to prayer, said the Bible was his favorite book, joked after the death of Pope Francis that he wanted to be the next pontiff, and has now issued his own holy card, has attacked Pope Leo for being too liberal as well as “weak on crime and terrible for foreign policy.” He has, in effect, anointed himself as holier than the pope himself.

Even staunch supporters of Trump have worked themselves into a lather over this. They’re lashing out at Trump, as if his criticism of the pope and depiction of himself as Jesus Christ are shocking.

My fellow Americans, certain words have been rendered meaningless in describing the current state of affairs. Among them are shocking, surreal, unbelievable, unprecedented and unexpected.

If indeed Trump thinks he’s Jesus, let his penance begin with 100 Our Fathers, 500 Hail Marys and 1,000 Acts of Contrition.

If indeed he thinks he’s a doctor:

Physician, heal thyself.

steve.lopez@latimes.com

The NBA regular season ended Sunday and the first order of business for teams that fell short of making the playoffs was to evaluate their head coach. Hall of Famer Doc Rivers wasn’t spared the scrutiny.

He agreed to depart from the Milwaukee Bucks after winning 16 fewer games this season than last. Rivers has one year remaining on the $40-million contract he signed in January 2024 and will be paid for the final season.

The Bucks were 32-50 this season largely because superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo played in only 36 games because of injuries. Antetokounmpo, who expressed frustration talking to reporters Sunday, might be next out the door.

If so, the Lakers undoubtedly would be interested. They are projected to have about $60 million in salary-cap space and three first-round draft picks they can use — 2026, 2031 and 2033 — to try to make a deal this offseason.

Despite his insistence that he was healthy fairly soon after he suffered a left knee hyperextension and bone bruise March 15, Antetokounmpo didn’t play in the last 15 games of the season.

“To my understanding, I had to play three-on-three to be able to be available to play,” he said. “I did that multiple times. I’ve never in my life denied participation of practice. Whoever came up with that is disrespectful toward what I’ve done for this team and the way I carry myself.”

The decision was likely made to ensure the trade value of the two-time most valuable player wasn’t diminished by another injury. Antetokounmpo, 31, is under contract for 2026-2027 and has a player option of $62.7 million for 2027-28.

The Lakers — and other trade partners — would be more than willing to give him an extension. The contracts of LeBron James ($52.6 million), Rui Hachimura ($18 million) and Maxi Kleber ($11 million) expire after this season, giving the Lakers the cash to toss in Antetokounmpo’s direction.

The Bucks floundered without him and the coach paid the price. Rivers, 64, hadn’t had a losing full season since 2006-2007, a span that included an NBA title with Boston in 2007-2008, seven seasons with the Clippers and three with the Philadelphia 76ers.

“I have truly loved my time in Milwaukee,” said Rivers, who played college basketball at Marquette. “Coming back to where I got my start, to a city that has always embraced me, has been a privilege. I am disappointed that things did not turn out the way any of us hoped, but I am deeply grateful for this experience, the relationships built, and unwavering support from our fans and the community.”

Rivers began coaching after a 13-year NBA playing career and has a 1,194-866 record (.580) with five teams across 27 seasons. His regular-season wins are the sixth most in NBA history and he will be enshrined into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame this year.

The Bucks discussed with him an advisory role in the organization, but Rivers is taking his time deciding what to do next. Asked how long he envisions coaching, Rivers mentioned his grandchildren.

“I won’t answer that, but I have grandkids that I want to see,” Rivers told reporters. “I’ll let you figure it out from there. I have seven grandkids now, and they’re all 8 years and under, and it kills me every time I miss grandparents day with each one of them in school. It’s probably time to go see them more, so I’ll let you figure out the rest.”

His seven consecutive winning seasons with the Clippers are part of the franchise’s current streak of 15 consecutive seasons with a winning record, the longest active run in the NBA and fourth-longest in league history.

Other NBA coaches on the hot seat include Jamahl Mosley of the Orlando Magic and Brian Keefe of the Washington Wizards. Portland Trail Blazers interim coach Tiago Splitter also might be replaced.

Splitter took over for Chauncey Billups, who has pleaded not guilty to charges he profited from rigged poker games involving several Mafia figures and at least one other ex-NBA player.

Who: Atletico Madrid vs Barcelona
What: Champions League quarterfinal, second leg
Where: Metropolitano Stadium, Madrid, Spain
When: Tuesday at 9pm (19:00 GMT)
How to follow: We’ll have all the build-up on Al Jazeera Sport from 16:00 GMT in advance of our live text commentary stream.

Spanish football clubs Atletico Madrid and Barcelona will meet for the third time in 10 days but, crucially, with a UEFA Champions League (UCL) semifinal berth on the line.

Atletico may be far behind their Catalan opponents in the La Liga title race, but they go into Tuesday’s fixture as strong favourites, thanks to a first-leg victory against 10-man Barcelona at Camp Nou, and a strong home form in Europe this season.

Barcelona, the reigning La Liga champions, will have it all to do if they are to keep alive their dream of clinching their sixth UCL trophy, and first since the 2014–2015 season.

Here is all to know before the knockout tie:

What happened in the first leg at Camp Nou?

Julian Alvarez and Alexander Sorloth scored in each half as Atletico earned a precious 2-0 lead in a tense first-leg clash.

The La Liga leaders were on top in the first half before Pau Cubarsi was sent off for bringing down Atletico’s Giuliano Simeone, who was through on goal.

Alvarez whipped home the free kick at the stroke of halftime, and Sorloth doubled their advantage in the 70th minute to give Atletico a strong chance of reaching the semifinals.

How did Barcelona perform in La Liga on the weekend?

Barcelona thrashed crosstown rivals Espanyol 4-1 on Saturday, taking a major step ‌‌towards retaining their La Liga title as they moved ⁠⁠nine points clear of rivals Real Madrid, who are second.

Ferran Torres struck twice, assisted by Lamine Yamal both times, first with a header from a corner in the 10th minute before doubling the lead in the 25th, racing clear from ⁠⁠another Yamal pass.

Espanyol pulled one back in the 56th minute when Pol Lozano fired in a rebound from just inside the box. But Yamal restored control in the 87th on a quick counter, with Marcus Rashford adding a fourth ⁠⁠from Frenkie de Jong’s cross.

Barca moved to 79 points with seven games left.

How did Atletico perform in La Liga on the weekend?

Coach Diego Simeone rotated heavily for his team’s visit to face Sevilla to keep players fresh, as Atletico fell to a 2-1 defeat.

Akor Adams sent the hosts ahead from the penalty spot, and after 20-year-old Atletico reserve defender Javier Bonar levelled, Nemanja Gudelj struck again for Sevilla before the interval.

Atletico are fourth in the league standings with 57 points, four points behind third-placed Villarreal.

Have Atletico ever won the UEFA Champions League trophy?

Diego Simeone’s side have never won the competition.

They reached the final in 2014 and 2016, but were beaten by city rivals Real on both occasions.

How did Barcelona reach the UCL quarterfinals?

Barcelona stormed into the quarterfinals with an emphatic 8-3 aggregate win over Newcastle United.

Much of the work was done in their second-leg tie, in which Barca thrashed the Premier League side 7-2 at Camp Nou, as five different players scored.

How did Atletico Madrid reach the UCL quarterfinals?

Atletico Madrid withstood a rousing Tottenham Hotspur fightback to advance 7-5 on aggregate despite a 3-2 second-leg loss in North London.

Simeone’s side, who scored four times in the opening 22 minutes in the 5-2 first-leg home romp, wobbled under a home onslaught, but goals by Julian Alvarez and David Hancko ultimately gave them breathing space.

Have Atletico and Barcelona played each other in the knockout stages?

The two teams have met twice in the Champions League knockout stages, both times at the quarterfinal stage, with Atletico going through in 2014 and 2016 on their run to the final each season. Atletico played the second leg at home on those occasions, too.

What have the managers said?

Diego Simeone: “We know the opponent we are going to face, and we are aware of how strong they are, but we are also aware of what our objective is – to advance.”

Hansi Flick: “We have the quality. We have the players who can change this. But, of course, we have to fight. We have to focus on the magic.”

Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid: Head-to-head

The two clubs have faced each other on 251 occasions. Barcelona have won 115 of those games, Atletico have won 79, and 57 ended as draws.

Last 10 encounters:

April 8: Barcelona 0-2 Atletico (Champions League quarterfinal, first leg)

April 4: Atletico 1-2 Barcelona (La Liga)

March 3: Barcelona 3-0 Atletico (Copa del Rey semifinal)

February 12 : Atletico 4-0 Barcelona (Copa del Rey semifinal)

December 2 : Barcelona 3-1 Atletico (La Liga)

April 2, 2025: Atletico 0-1 Barcelona (Copa del Rey semifinal)

March 16, 2025: Atletico 2-4 Barcelona (La Liga)

February 25, 2025: Barcelona 4-4 Atletico (Copa del Rey semifinal)

December 21, 2024: Barcelona 1-2 Atletico (La Liga)

April 17, 2024: Atletico 0-3 Barcelona (La Liga)

Atletico’s team news

Marc Pubill is suspended after picking up three yellow cards, while Jose Gimenez, Pablo Barrios, and David Hancko are doubtful due to injuries.

Predicted starting XI:

Musso (goalkeeper); Molina, Le Normand, Lenglet, Ruggeri; Llorente, Koke; Simeone, Griezmann, Lookman; Alvarez

Barcelona’s team news

Defender Cubarsi is suspended after his red card in the first leg and will be replaced by Ronald Araujo, who featured in the backline against Espanyol at the weekend.

Marc Bernal, Raphinha, and Andreas Christensen are all out injured.

Predicted starting XI:

Joan Garcia (goalkeeper); Kounde, Araujo, Martin, Cancelo; Eric Garcia, Pedri; Yamal, Fermin, Rashford; Lewandowski

Lakers to face a physical Rockets team

From Broderick Turner: They know the playoff opponent and how difficult that assignment will be for this group of Lakers when they open the postseason against the physical and rugged Houston Rockets.

They know they will be without two of their main cogs in Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves when Game 1 kicks off Saturday afternoon at Crypto.com Arena and they know this group of Lakers will have to dig deeper than any time this season in this best-of-seven series.

They finished the 82-game regular season on a three-game winning streak that gave the Lakers the fourth seed in the Western Conference after their 131-107 victory over the Utah Jazz on Sunday at home.

And it gave the Lakers a date with the fifth-seeded Rockets.

“Again, we have tried for the last six weeks to build towards the playoffs, both in our mentality, with our habits, all that stuff,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “We knew the reality, whether we got 3, 4, 5, 6, whatever it was, there’s no easy matchup. All those teams slotted there are tough teams, whether it was going to end up being Denver, Minnesota or Houston.

“Houston’s obviously a really, really good basketball team, and we’re going to prepare, and we’re going to fight and we’re going to go try to win a series….Going into today, we told the team, it’s not about the opponent, it’s about us, and now it is about the opponent. And we’re going to do everything we can to get our guys in a great frame of mind, in a great physical shape over the next four or five days and be ready to play.”

Continue reading here

Lakers box score

NBA standings

Clippers beat Warriors

Bennedict Mathurin had 20 points, nine rebounds and eight assists off the bench, and the Clippers defeated the Golden State Warriors 115-110 on Sunday in a play-in tournament preview.

The Clippers settled for the No. 9 seed and will host the 10th-seeded Warriors on Wednesday after Portland beat Sacramento 122-110 to claim the eighth seed. The Clippers and Trail Blazers finished with identical 42-40 records, but Portland won the tiebreaker based on its better Western Conference record.

The Clippers began the season 6-21 and rallied to extend their franchise-record streak of 15 seasons with a winning record, the longest active run in the NBA and fourth-longest in league history.

Continue reading here

Clippers box score

NBA standings

Dodgers lose to Rangers

From Maddie Lee: As Dodgers closer Edwin Díaz prepared to play catch on the field before the series finale Sunday against the Texas Rangers, he hoped to be available in a save situation.

“I’m really happy with how I’m feeling today,” he said before the Dodgers’ 5-2 loss Sunday, emphasizing that he wasn’t dealing with any physical ailments.

He’d been unavailable the night before during the Dodgers’ 6-3 win. So manager Dave Roberts went to right-hander Blake Treinen to begin the ninth, and then, after a walk and an error by third baseman Max Muncy, had left-hander Alex Vesia come in to get the last out.

On Friday, Díaz had blown a save opportunity for the first time in his early Dodgers tenure. But Muncy’s walk-off homer secured the win.

Díaz’s velocity has been down this season and Friday, his fastball velocity sat at 95.5 mph and slider at 87.8, according to Statcast, 1.7 mph and 1.3 mph down from last season, respectively.

“Two miles an hour, that’s pretty significant,” Roberts said Sunday. “So I think that’s why we sort of flagged it. We wanted to have him down [Saturday] and kind of see what we get. Because a couple days ago there were a lot of throws in there too. So just trying to also, like we’ve done many times, play the long game with our guys.”

Continue reading here

It’s time for Roki Sasaki to take next step

Dodgers box score

MLB standings

Angels defeat the Reds

José Soriano struck out 10 over seven shutout innings to become the major leagues’ first four-game winner, and the Angels beat the Reds 9-6 Sunday for their first series victory at Cincinnati since 2007.

Soriano (4-0) gave up two hits and three walks, throwing 106 pitches and lowering his big league-best ERA to 0.33. He became the first Angels pitcher to win his first four games since Jered Weaver won six straight in 2011.

The Angels opened a 9-0 lead in the eighth inning and took two of three for its first series win at Cincinnati since winning two of three from June 12-14, 2007.

Continue reading here

Angels box score

MLB standings

Rory McIlroy wins the Masters

From Sam Farmer: The night before making history at the Masters, Rory McIlroy was a solitary figure on the illuminated driving range at Augusta National, fine-tuning his shots after a frustrating third round.

Sunday evening, McIlroy stood alone again, this time in glory as the first to win back-to-back green jackets since Tiger Woods in 2002.

“I thought it was so difficult to win last year because of trying to win the Masters and the grand slam,” McIlroy said. “And then this year I realized it’s just really difficult to win the Masters.”

In doing so, he became the fourth man to win twice in a row, joining Woods, Nick Faldo and Jack Nicklaus. It was the sixth major championship for McIlroy, who grew up in Northern Ireland, tying him with Faldo for the most majors by a European player in the modern era.

Continue reading here

How the Masters protects its green jackets and other tales from golf’s exclusive club

Masters leaderboard

Ducks still one point short of playoffs

From Kevin Baxter: The Ducks held their annual fan appreciation day Sunday, handing out thousands of gifts, from a new car to team jerseys and gift cards. But the one prize the Ducks’ long-suffering fans really wanted, a playoff berth, remained just out of reach.

Needing a win to clinch a postseason berth for the first time since 2018, the Ducks lost a sloppy 4-3 overtime decision to the Vancouver Canucks, the NHL’s worst team, leaving them a point shy of the playoffs with two games to play. The loss was the seventh in eight games for the Ducks, who have tumbled from first to third in the Pacific Division standings and may now have to settle for a wild-card berth.

So they’ll hit the road Monday for their final two games of the regular season needing one point from games in Minnesota and Nashville. The Ducks could also back into the playoffs if Nashville losses either of its final two games.

Continue reading here

Ducks summary

NHL standings

Rogie Vachon is happy in retirement

From Kevin Baxter: The black-and-white photo is as dated as it is iconic.

It shows Rogie Vachon, left hand tucked into a pocket of his bell-bottom jeans and a cigar wedged between two fingers of his right hand, which rests on the hood of a new Mercedes in an empty parking lot outside the Forum. His open V-neck shirt has huge lapels, his hair hangs down to his shoulders and a bushy mustache creases his smiling face, leaving Vachon looking more like the bassist for Spinal Tap than an NHL goaltender.

And that was the point.

Hockey was a bruising, inelegant sport played in the frozen tundra of Canada and the upper Midwest when Vachon was traded from the Montreal Canadiens to the Kings in the winter of 1971. The NHL had expanded to California four seasons earlier, yet even taken together the Kings and California Seals weren’t drawing enough fans to merit the word “crowd.”

“We were the punchline of a bad joke for a lot of years,” said Mike Murphy, who played with Vachon on those early Kings teams.

Hockey was wilting in the sun. If the sport was going to survive in the desert it needed stars, it needed personalities and it needed a cultural makeover — especially in Los Angeles, where the box-office draw was everything.

That’s where Vachon, a small-town farm boy from French-speaking Quebec, came in.

Continue reading here

This day in sports history

1927 — Stanley Cup Final, Ottawa Senators beat Boston Bruins, 3-1 for a 2-0-2 series win.

1933 — Stanley Cup Final, New York Rangers beat Toronto Maple Leafs, 1-0 in OT for a 3-1 series win; first best-of-4 Finals series.

1940 — The New York Rangers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 to win the Stanley Cup in six games.

1940 — Dutch Warmerdam becomes the first man to clear 15 feet in the pole vault in a small track meet at Cal Berkeley. Warmerdam, the last to set records with a bamboo pole, will have 43 vaults over 15 feet at a time when no other vaulter in the world clears 15 feet.

1942 — 9th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Byron Nelson wins an 18-hole playoff by 1 stroke over runner-up Ben Hogan.

1944 — Stanley Cup Final, Montreal Canadiens beat Chicago Blackhawks, 5-4 in overtime for a 4-0 series sweep.

1949 — Basketball Association of America Finals: Minneapolis Lakers beat Washington Capitols, 77-56 to take series, 4 games to 2.

1957 — The Boston Celtics capture their first NBA championship as rookie Tommy Heinsohn scores 37 points and grabs 23 rebounds in a 125-123 double overtime victory over the St. Louis Hawks in Game 7. Rookie Bill Russell scores 19 points and pulls down a game-high 32 rebounds. Russell wins a NCAA title, an Olympic gold medal and an NBA championship in 13 months.

1963 — 33rd US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: George Archer wins his only major title, 1 stroke ahead of runners-up Billy Casper, George Knudson, and Tom Weiskopf.

1970 — Billy Casper wins the Masters with a five-stroke playoff victory over Gene Littler.

1975 — 39th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Jack Nicklaus wins his 5th Masters title.

1976 — 1st NBA playoff game for Cleveland Cavaliers.

1980 — Seve Ballesteros, 23, becomes the youngest to win the Masters, with a four-stroke victory.

1980 — U.S. and its allies boycott the Summer Olympics in Moscow in protest against Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan.

1986 — Jack Nicklaus wins the Masters for a record sixth time and at 46 becomes the oldest to win the event.

1986 — The Celtics end the 1985-86 season with a 135-107 win over the New Jersey Nets at Boston Garden and finish with an NBA-record 40-1 at home.

1991 — Pete Weber wins four games to become the second player in PBA history to win the BPAA U.S. Open twice, this time with a 289-184 victory over Mark Thayer.

1992 — Lou Carnesecca retires as head-coach of St John’s men’s basketball team.

1997 — Tiger Woods wins the Masters by a record 12 strokes at Augusta National. Closing with a 69, Woods finished at 18-under 270, the lowest score in the Masters and matching the most under par by anyone in any of the four Grand Slam events.

1997 — Pittsburgh Penguins’ Mario Lemieux’s last NHL regular season game.

2003 — Mike Weir becomes the first Canadian to win the Masters after the first sudden-death playoff in 13 years.

2008 — Trevor Immelman handles the wind and pressure of Augusta National far better than anyone chasing him to win the Masters, the first South African in a green jacket in 30 years.

2012 — Martin Brodeur stops 24 shots for his 100th postseason win, and a three-goal first period is enough to help the New Jersey Devils spoil the Florida Panthers’ long-awaited return to the Stanley Cup playoffs in a 3-2 victory. Brodeur also picks up an assist for his 10th postseason point, while becoming the second goalie in NHL history to reach triple-figures in playoff wins. Only Patrick Roy has more, with 151.

2014 — 78th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Bubba Watson wins his 2nd Masters, three shots ahead of runners-up Jonas Blixt and Jordan Spieth.

2014 — Manny Pacquiao defeats Timothy Bradley to regain his WBO welterweight boxing title.

2019 — San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich surpasses Lenny Wilkens to became the all-time winningest coach in NBA history with his 1,413th win.

2025 — Rory McIlroy wins his first Masters Tournament and completes a career Grand Slam.

Compiled by the Associated Press

This day in baseball history

1914 — The first Federal League game was played in Baltimore and the Terrapins defeated Buffalo, 3-2, behind Jack Quinn. A crowd estimated at 27,000 stood 15 rows deep in the outfield to witness the return of major league baseball to Baltimore.

1921 — With new U.S. President Warren G. Harding, former president Woodrow Wilson, and VP Calvin Coolidge watching, the Washington Senators lose their home opener, 6-3, to the Boston Red Sox.

1933 — Sammy West of St. Louis went 6-for-6 in an 11-inning win over the Chicago White Sox. He had five singles and a double off Ted Lyons.

1953 — For the first time in half a century, a new city was represented in the American or National leagues. The Braves moved from Boston to Milwaukee and opened in Cincinnati, where Max Surkont set down the Reds, 2-0.

1954 — Henry Aaron made his major league debut in left field for the Milwaukee Braves and went 0-for-5 in a 9-8 loss to the Cincinnati Reds. Cincinnati’s Jim Greengrass hit four doubles in his first major league game.

963 — Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds tripled off Pittsburgh’s Bob Friend for his first major league hit.

1972 — The first player strike in baseball history ended.

1984 — Montreal’s Pete Rose got his 4,000th hit, a double off Philadelphia pitcher Jerry Koosman. The hit came exactly 21 years after his first hit. Rose would score on Tim Raines’ one-out single, sliding into home to give Montreal a 4-1 lead in their eventual 5-1 victory.

1987 — The San Diego Padres set a major league record when the first three batters in the bottom of the first inning hit homers off San Francisco starter Roger Mason in their home opener. The Padres, trailing 2-0, got homers from Marvell Wynne, Tony Gwynn and John Kruk.

1993 — Lee Smith became the all-time saves leader as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Dodgers 9-7. Smith got his 358th save, surpassing Jeff Reardon of the Cincinnati Reds.

1998 — Ken Griffey, Jr. of the Seattle Mariners hits his 300th home run to become the second-youngest player to reach the milestone.

1999 — Texas catcher Ivan Rodriguez drove in nine runs in the Rangers’ 15-6 victory at Seattle.

2004 — San Francisco’s Barry Bonds hit his 661st homer, passing Willie Mays to take sole possession of third place on baseball’s career list.

2009 — Orlando Hudson hit for the cycle as the Dodgers beat Randy Johnson and San Francisco 11-1.

2009 — Jody Gerut christened the Mets’ new home, Citi Field, with a leadoff homer in San Diego’s 6-5 win over New York. Gerut’s shot off Mike Pelfrey marked the first time in history that the first batter homered in a regular-season opener at a major league ballpark.

2011 — A federal jury convicted Barry Bonds of a single charge of obstruction of justice, but failed to reach a verdict on the three counts at the heart of allegations that he knowingly used steroids and human growth hormone and lied to a grand jury about it.

2018 — Houston’s Gerrit Cole struck out a career-high 14 batters in seven innings to lead the Astros to a 3-2 win over the Texas Rangers. Cole joined Nolan Ryan as the only pitchers in major league history to strike out at least 11 in three consecutive starts to start a season. Cole also set an major league record with 36 strikeouts in his first three starts with a new team, surpassing Randy Johnson in 1999 with Arizona (34).

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.

The only player twice suspended under baseball’s domestic violence and sexual assault policy has yet to decide whether he wants to resume his career, according to his agent.

Former Dodgers pitcher Julio Urías, whose second suspension expired last July, has not signed with any team since then.

Scott Boras, the agent for Urías, declined to say whether any team had offered Urías a contract this year but said he has not solicited offers from any clubs.

“I have to have the authority from my client even to talk about the subject,” Boras said, “and I don’t have that yet.”

In January, the Mexican baseball site Puro Beisbol posted pictures of Urías throwing with children in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, with the Spanish-language site Diario AS calling it “the first time he had been seen throwing a baseball in public since September 2023,” the month he last pitched for the Dodgers.

Urías sat out the 2024 season during a Major League Baseball investigation. His suspension covered the first half of the 2025 season. When he was reinstated, Boras said Urías had “every intention to continue his career.”

When the suspension of former Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer ended before the 2023 season, Bauer signed to play in Japan that year and in Mexico the following year before returning to Japan in 2025. He has signed to play with the independent Long Island Ducks this year.

If Urías, 29, wishes to play this year, Boras said he believes Urías would have little trouble finding a job.

“Teams ask me about him all the time,” Boras said. “With the pitching market in this world, Julio could play in a minute. But I think it’s about him deciding if it’s something he wants to go do right now.”

The suspension resulted from a September 2023 incident outside BMO Stadium, in which witness video obtained by The Times showed Urías pulled aside his wife’s hair and shoved her against a fence. After the two were separated, the video showed Urías swinging at her with his left hand.

Urías was arrested on suspicion of felony domestic violence, but the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office determined that “neither the victim’s injuries nor the defendant’s criminal history justify a felony filing.” The city attorney’s office subsequently filed five misdemeanor charges against Urías. He pleaded no contest to one, the other four were dropped, and he agreed to enter a yearlong domestic violence treatment program.

He also agreed to complete a similar program in 2019, when he was arrested after an incident in the Beverly Center parking lot. Witnesses said he pushed his fiancee, she said she fell, and no charges were filed.

The league then suspended him for 20 games. Under its policy, the the league can suspend a player even if no charges are filed.

Urías recorded the final out of the Dodgers’ World Series championship in 2020. He led the National League in victories (20) in 2021 and earned-run average (2.16) in 2022.

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. I’m Eric Sondheimer. It’s midseason in high school baseball, so let’s take a look at players producing results.

The producers

Sophomore Tyler George of Santa Margarita is 7-0 with an 0.85 ERA.

(Greg Townsend)

The mad rush to earn an automatic playoff berth in the Southern Section and earn the No. 1 seed in the City Section has begun in high school baseball. At midseason, Orange Lutheran is No. 1 in the Southern Section. El Camino Real or Bell are trending toward No. 1 in the City Section.

As far as players, sophomore Tyler George of Santa Margarita has had a dream season pitching. He’s 7-0 with an 0.85 ERA and just two walks in 41 1/3 innings.

Catcher Brady Murrietta has been like a superhero for Orange Lutheran behind the plate, leading, grinding and delivering.

Pitcher Dustin Dunwoody of Royal has an 0.18 ERA.

Here’s a list of players delivering big results at midseason.

Baseball

Orange Lutheran’s Ricardo Hurtado (left) and Blake Killinger were the offensive and defensive MVP of the Boras Classic.

(Nick Koza)

Orange Lutheran, which won the National High School Invitational in North Carolina, added the Boras Classic South to its resume, beating Norco 4-1 in the championship game. Here’s the report.

Orange Lutheran is No. 1 and Norco No. 1 in the new top 25 rankings by The Times.

Agoura freshman pitcher Zach Partee threw a no-hitter in a 1-0 win over Calabasas, which came back to score four runs in the bottom of the seventh to beat the Chargers 10-9 on Friday.

Harvard-Westlake and Sherman Oaks Notre Dame play a three-game series this week that could decide the Mission League title.

Orange Lutheran will play St. Mary’s on Saturday at Santa Clara University for the Boras Classic title.

South Gate had the biggest upset of the week, handing Bell a rare defeat in the Eastern League 7-3.

El Camino Real has a one-game lead over Birmingham in the West Valley League. The Valley Mission League has Poly and Sylmar tied with 6-1 records and North Hollywood at 5-2. Poly and North Hollywood have a two-game series this week.

Carson is atop the Marine League at 5-0.

Softball

Norco’s Leighton Gray (left), Peyton May and Saddie Burroughs.

(Nick Koza)

Norco (17-2) got its revenge, beating Fullerton and JSerra, the two teams that have wins over the Cougars. Peyton May and Coral Williams continue to be solid pitchers for Norco.

Murrieta Mesa is rolling along with an 18-0 record. Sophomore Tatum Wolff leads the team with a .552 batting average, including 32 hits, 20 RBIs and five home runs.

Orange Lutheran won a tournament championship over Thousand Oaks 6-1. It was quite a week pitching and hitting for Rylee Silva. The Lancers resume Trinity League with a challenging two-game week facing Santa Margarita and Mater Dei. Coach Steve Miklos earned victory No. 600.

Granada Hills opened West Valley League play with an important 7-3 win over El Camino Real. The Highlanders are 7-8 overall after facing Southern Section teams.

Carson is 2-0 in the Marine League and has games against Narbonne, Banning and Long Beach Poly this week.

Here’s the top 20 Southland softball rankings.

Track

Olympian Quincy Wilson (center) cruises to victory in the 400-meter dash in a meet record 45.48 seconds.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

The chance to see Olympian Quincy Wilson run in the 400 on Saturday night helped draw a record crowd of more than 14,000 for two days of the Arcadia Invitational at Arcadia High.

Wilson broke Michael Norman’s meet record, running 45.48 seconds.

Servite’s 4×100 relay team put on quite a show, breaking its own state record with a time of 39.70.

It’s pretty amazing because the relay team is made up of three sophomores and a junior. Kudos goes to coach Brandon Thomas. Benjamin Harris won the 100 meters in 10.32 seconds.

Thomas also helps coach the sister school, Rosary, whose girls’ 4×100 relay team also went beyond fast.

Here’s the report from the Arcadia Invitational.

Golf

Junior Jake Norr of Palisades made a hole-in-one at Woodley Lakes earlier this week while going 6-under par in nine holes.

(Palisades High)

The week could not have gone better for Palisades golfer Jake Norr, who recorded two holes in one on different courses.

Here’s the report on his memorable week.

Santa Margarita is looking strong in the Southern Section after winning a tournament in Palm Springs. Brayden Jones of Mater Dei was the individual champion.

St. Francis sophomore golfer Jaden Soong is taking this week off from playing with his high school team to travel to Dallas to play in the U.S. vs. Sweden junior golf competition. Soong won the CIF state title as a freshman.

Lacrosse

Loyola’s lacrosse team took a trip to the University of Notre Dame to play several matches. The Cubs lost to Salesianum from Delaware 14-6. They defeated Seton Hall Prep 15-10. They return home to face Foothill on Wednesday.

Loyola continues to top the boys lacrosse rankings in the Southern Section with St. Margaret’s No. 2.

In the girls’ rankings, Santa Margarita and Mira Costa rank No. 1 and No. 2.

Volleyball

Mateo Fuerbringer of Mira Costa is a 6-foot-5 junior volleyball player committed to UCLA.

(Steve Galluzzo)

The No. 1 volleyball prospect in the nation from the class of 2027 is Mateo Fuerbringer of Mira Costa. Here’s a profile of the UCLA commit who comes from a volleyball family.

Mira Costa (28-2) traveled to Hawaii and won the Clash of the Titans tournament at Punahou, including a win over Southern California rival Huntington Beach.

Notes . . .

Former Pasadena High and Laker Michael Cooper is the new basketball coach at Cal State Los Angeles….

Bonita softball standout Koa Puppe has committed to Cal State Fullerton…

It looks like a strike threat in the Los Angeles Unified School District starting Tuesday will be resolved. UTLA reached a tentative agreement Sunday, one of the three unions seeking new contracts. A strike would have halted LAUSD sporting events. Some have been moved to Monday in case the strike begins….

Los Alamitos is scheduled to announce its new football coach this week….

Zafar Sarajzada is the new basketball coach at St. Genevieve. He’s been an assistant at Sierra Canyon….

The All-CIF boys basketball team is headed by Maxi Adams of Sierra Canyon. The All-CIF girls basketball team is led by Kaleena Smith of Ontario Christian and Jerzy Robinson of Sierra Canyon….

Redondo Union guard Devin Wright has committed to Fairleigh Dickinson….

Redondo Union guard Chace Holley has committed to San Diego….

Defensive lineman Montana Toilolo of Mater Dei has committed to UCLA….

Receiver Charles Davis of Westlake has committed to Cal….

Former Narbonne basketball star Marcus Adams has committed to Hawaii. He’s played at CSUN and Arizona State….

Pole Moala, who was a standout defensive back at Leuzinger this past season, has committed to UCLA. He has since transferred to Santa Margarita….

Chris Paul will become an assistant coach at Campbell Hall, where his son plays.

From the archives: Gabriela Jaquez

Gabriela Jaquez in 2021.

(Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)

Former Camarillo standout Gabriela Jaquez celebrated a dream come true winning an NCAA women’s basketball championship for UCLA and starring in the championship game against South Carolina with 21 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.

Jaquez was a two-sport standout at Camarillo, also playing softball. She became a McDonald’s All-American and always wanted to follow brother Jaime to UCLA.

But UCLA didn’t offer Gabriela a scholarship until late in the recruiting process. Here’s a story from the 2022 that explains her late development and how dreams come true the hard way.

Recommendations

From Operations Sports, a look at the boycott by public schools in Nevada about playing Bishop Gorman’s football team.

From the Seattle Times, a story on Minnesota being sued for allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls sports.

Tweets you might have missed

Until next time….

Have a question, comment or something you’d like to see in a future Prep Rally newsletter? Email me at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com, and follow me on Twitter at @latsondheimer.

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