TWG Global — the holding company of Dodgers owner Mark Walter — rejected allegations of financial impropriety in the purchase and operation of the Dodgers and reiterated the team is not for sale.
At a time insurance regulators and federal investigators are looking into allegations that insurance companies under Walter’s umbrella did not properly disclose and conduct transactions between other companies he controls, and after Walter sold his controlling interest in the Lakers at a record $12.5 billion valuation, potential bidders have monitored whether the Dodgers might be sold as well.
In a statement Tuesday, TWG Global decried “multipronged attacks against TWG … by unnamed sources with self-serving interests” and said no insurance policyholder has been hurt as a result of the company’s financial transactions.
“There is no victim here,” the statement said. “No one has been harmed, and no one has claimed they were harmed.”
In 2012, when Walter and his partners bought the Dodgers for $2 billion, The Times reported the use of $1.2 million from Guggenheim Partners insurance funds into the deal. At the time, rival bidders expressed concern over the unusual financing, but state insurance regulators cleared the deal and Major League Baseball approved it.
“The transaction was subject to a full investigation conducted by an outside law firm on behalf of insurance regulators from multiple states,” the statement said, “which identified no irregularities and resulted in no further action.”
Even with the Dodgers issuing over a billion dollars in deferred contracts and amid whatever transactions might have been conducted between TWG-related insurance companies and the Dodgers’ affiliates — including ones that hold the team’s television rights and ticket revenues — the Dodgers’ ability to fund player contracts is not at risk, according to the statement.
“The Dodgers have the highest revenue in baseball, and it significantly exceeds the team’s obligations to its players,” the statement said.
The statement reiterated that, as Dodgers president Stan Kasten has said, “the team is not being sold and no sale process has been initiated.”
The Dodgers, if sold, could likely command a price in the range of $10 million to $13 million, industry analysts have told The Times.
The Lakers sold at a record price for a North American sports franchise, although industry analysts have said a competitive bidding process likely would have resulted in an even higher sale price.
Said the statement: “Mr. Walter was approached by Josh Kushner and his team about this transaction and the agreement represents a 25% premium to the price paid by Mr. Walter less than a year ago (and an even higher premium to the $5.0 billion valuation Mr. Walter paid in 2021) — hardly a ‘fire sale.’”
The statement added: “TWG is not looking to sell its sports assets at ‘fire sale’ prices to raise capital for its insurance operations.”
TWG said it is “working cooperatively and in partnership with the Delaware Department of Insurance” to resolve the regulatory issues and “is committed to working with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve their inquiries.”
“TWG stands firmly behind the integrity of its business,” the statement read. “Despite what has been reported, there has been no fraud.”
From Maddie Lee: Dodgers manager Dave Roberts could see the kind of inning right-hander Tyler Glasnow had to begin his start Tuesday, plagued by soft contact and bad luck, derailing a younger version of him.
“That’s an outing that a couple years ago I think might have gotten away,” Roberts said after the Dodgers’ 4-3 loss to the Braves, ending a six-game winning streak. “And I don’t think he would’ve been as efficient getting through the fifth like he did. But there’s just a lot of growth with Glas. Just can’t wait to see more. Like I told him after the start, it’s just really good to have him back.”
Glasnow’s return was a major step for the Dodgers as they assemble their postseason pitching staff. The next will be two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani’s return to pitching — which could happen as soon as this weekend.
Ohtani is scheduled to throw a bullpen session Thursday or Friday, pitching coach Mark Prior said. Then Ohtani and the Dodgers will finalize next steps. But Roberts didn’t rule out the possibility of Ohtani making a short start Sunday in Detroit.
Get the latest on L.A.’s teams in the daily Sports Report newsletter.
By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Service, which include arbitration and a class action waiver. You agree that we and our third-party vendors may collect and use your information, including through cookies, pixels and similar technologies, for the purposes set forth in our Privacy Policy such as personalizing your experience and ads.
José Ramírez drove in five runs with three doubles, Steven Kwan had five singles and the streaking Cleveland Guardians overcame an early five-run deficit to beat the Angels 8-6 in 10 innings Tuesday night.
Kwan capped his second career five-hit game with a leadoff single in the 10th against reliever Blake Weiman (0-1), advancing automatic runner Brayan Rocchio from second base to third. Travis Bazzana popped out, but Ramírez laced a two-run double to left-center to give the Guardians an 8-6 lead.
Cleveland reliever Erik Sabrowski (5-2) struck out the side in the ninth. Cade Smith fanned Denzer Guzman and Adam Frazier with runners on second and third in the 10th for his 35th save, sealing the Guardians’ sixth straight win.
It was a rare chance to acquire an celebrated sports brand, and by all accounts, timing was everything.
The enormous sale price has implications for the rest of the NBA and raises a basic question: Did Kushner and Iger get a great deal or did they overpay?
From Ryan Kartje: USC sophomore defensive lineman Jahkeem Stewart, who was spotted over the weekend sporting crutches and a boot on his injured right foot, is expected to miss the Trojans’ season opener against San Jose State, coach Lincoln Riley said.
Losing Stewart for longer than that would be a bitter pill for USC to swallow at the start of a highly anticipated season. But while reports have suggested that Stewart is likely to miss USC’s entire nonconference slate with the injury, Riley suggested Tuesday that he could debut as soon as the following Friday, when USC takes on Fresno State in its second game of the season.
“What he’s dealing with right now is minor,” Riley said. “The plan is to probably hold him and I think he’ll be able from that point forward. But it’s certainly not long term. A little precautionary right now.”
Hendrick is among 16 players who sought a Louisiana temporary restraining order allowing them to return to college after entering the NFL draft pool, arguing they would not have left had they know NCAA rules would change granting them an extra year of eligibility.
The temporary restraining order was granted last week, but the Big Ten voted on Tuesday to pass a new rule that prohibited football players who have signed a pro contract, were on a pro roster at any point or declared for the NFL draft as an underclassman without withdrawing, from maintaining eligibility for athletic competition.
From Kevin Baxter: When Mark Parsons joined Angel City as sporting director 19 months ago, the first order of business was to find a head coach. The club had fired its first two managers and was about to open training camp without one.
But for Parsons, finding the right person was more important than finding a person right now.
“Time in getting it done is not the priority,” he said then. “Getting the right person is.”
So Parsons conducted an extensive global search before settling on Alexander Straus, who had won three straight Bundesliga titles with Bayern Munich. Straus lasted just a year in the NWSL, losing more than twice as many games as he won.
Now, 2½ months after firing Straus, Parsons is deep into another coaching search. And once again, he won’t be rushed.
“I don’t want to put a date on this,” he said. “Finding that person’s the priority. But getting to the right answer is the most important.”
1933 — Helen Hull Jacobs captures the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association singles title when Helen Wills Moody defaults in the third set because of back and hip pain.
1950 — Australia wins its third straight Davis Cup by beating the U.S. 4-1.
1961 — The International Hockey Hall of Fame opens in Toronto.
1972 — The New York Cosmos win the NASL championship by defeating the St. Louis Stars 2-1.
1995 — Greg Norman sinks a 66-foot chip on the first playoff hole, to capture the World Series of Golf and become the leading money winner in PGA Tour history. Norman wins $360,000 in his third tour victory this year to raise lifetime earnings to $9.49 million and overtake Tom Kite.
1997 — Carl Lewis finishes his track-and-field career anchoring star-studded team to victory in the 400-meter relay to cap the ISTAF Grand Prix meet in Berlin. The team of Olympic 100-meter champion Donovan Bailey, former world record-holder Leroy Burrell and Namibian sprint champion Frankie Fredericks, win in 38.24 seconds.
1999 — Michael Johnson shatters another world record at the world championships — this time, breaking the 400-meter mark with a time of 43.18. He cuts 0.11 seconds off the record of 43.29 set by Butch Reynolds in 1988 and ties Carl Lewis for the most gold medals at the championships with eight.
2004 — Lindsay Tarpley and Abby Wambach score as the U.S. beats Brazil 2-1, maintaining an undefeated record to win the women’s football gold medal at the Athens Olympics.
2011 — The Tulsa Shock snap the longest losing streak in WNBA history with a 77-75 win over the Sparks. The Shock (2-25) had 20 straight losses before Sheryl Swoopes hit a jumper with 2.9 seconds left.
2011 — Kyle Busch records his record-breaking 50th NASCAR Busch Series victory, edging teammate Joey Logano in the Food City 250 at the Bristol Motor Speedway. Busch breaks a tie with Mark Martin for the record in NASCAR’s second-tier series.
2012 — Lydia Ko wins the Canadian Women’s Open to become the youngest winner in LPGA Tour history and only the fifth amateur champion. The 15-year-old South Korean-born New Zealander closes with a 5-under 67 for a three-stroke victory over Inbee Park.
2016 — San Francisco 49ers Colin Kaepernick kneels in protest during the U.S. national anthem at San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium while playing against the San Diego Chargers, objecting to racial injustice and police brutality in the U.S.
2016 — Dan Raudabaugh throws six touchdown passes and the Philadelphia Soul win their second ArenaBowl title, beating the Arizona Rattlers 56-42.
2017 — Kyle Snyder scores a late takedown of Olympic gold medalist Abdusalim Sadulaev in the deciding match, and the U.S. wins the world freestyle wrestling title for the first time in 22 years.
2017 — Floyd Mayweather Jr. stops UFC champion Conor McGregor on his feet in the 10th round in Las Vegas. The much-hyped 154-pound fight is more competitive than many expected when an unbeaten, five-division world champion boxer takes on a mixed martial artist making his pro boxing debut.
2020 — Milwaukee Bucks forfeit their NBA playoff game after the shooting of Jacob Blake, leading to the NBA postponing more games.
Compiled by the Associated Press
This day in baseball history
1916 — Philadelphia’s Joe Bush pitched a no-hitter, to beat Cleveland 5-0.
1939 — The first major league baseball game was televised as WXBS brought their cameras to Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field for a doubleheader between the Cincinnati Reds and the Dodgers.
1947 — Brooklyn’s Dan Bankhead became the first Black pitcher in the majors. He homered in his first major-league plate appearance, but didn’t fare well on the mound. In 3 1-3 innings of relief, he gave up 10 hits and six earned runs to the Pirates. Pittsburgh won 16-3.
1962 — Minnesota’s Jack Kralick pitched a 1-0 no-hitter against the Kansas City Athletics at Metropolitan Stadium. Lenny Green drove in the Twins’ run with a sacrifice fly off Bill Fischer in the seventh inning.
1987 — Milwaukee’s Paul Molitor went 0-for-4, ending his 39-game hitting streak, and the Brewers beat the Cleveland Indians 1-0 in 10 innings on pinch-hitter Rick Manning’s RBI single. With Molitor waiting in the on-deck circle for a possible fifth at-bat, Manning singled in the game-winner.
1989 — Chris Drury pitches a five-hitter and Trumbull, Conn., becomes the first American team since 1983 to capture the Little League World Series, defeating Kaohsiung, Taiwan, 5-2.
1991 — Kansas City’s Bret Saberhagen pitched a no-hitter to lead the Royals to a 7-0 win over the Chicago White Sox.
1993 — Sean Burroughs, the son of former major leaguer Jeff Burroughs, pitches his second no-hitter of the Little League World Series and hits two home runs, sending defending champion Long Beach past Bedford, N.H., 11-0 in the final of the U.S. bracket.
1999 — Randy Johnson reached 300 strikeouts in record time, notching nine in seven innings to help the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Florida Marlins 12-2. Johnson achieved the milestone in his 29th start.
2004 — Ichiro Suzuki homered in the ninth inning for his 200th hit of the season, but Seattle fell to Kansas City 7-3. Suzuki became the first player to reach 200 hits in each of his first four major league seasons.
2007 — Dalton Carriker’s home run in the bottom of the eighth gave Warner Robins, Georgia, a thrilling 3-2 victory over Tokyo to win the Little League World Series title.
2007 — Boston defeated the Chicago White Sox 11-1 to complete a four-game sweep. For the series, the Red Sox outscored Chicago 46-7. Boston scored at least 10 runs in every game of the series, which is only the fourth time that has happened in a four-game series since 1900 and the first time in the American League in 85 years.
2008 — Major League Baseball announced umpires will be allowed to check video on home run calls starting Aug. 27. Video will be used only on so-called “boundary calls,” such as determining whether fly balls went over the fence, whether potential home runs were fair or foul and whether there was fan interference on potential home runs.
2010 — Albert Pujols of St. Louis hits the 400th homer of his career, off Jordan Zimmermann of the Nationals in the fourth inning. Pujols becomes the 47th major leaguer to hit that many and is the third-youngest to do so after Alex Rodriguez and Ken Griffey Jr.
2018 — Mana Lau Kong homered to center field on the first pitch his team saw and Ka’olu Holt pitched a complete game to lead Hawaii to a 3-0 victory over South Korea in the Little League World Series championship.
2018 — Toronto’s Kendrys Morales became the seventh player in major league history to homer in at least seven consecutive games, going deep in the third inning of the Blue Jays’ 8-3 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies.
2018 — Matt Carpenter tied a St. Louis record with four doubles, pitcher Austin Gomber had a two-run infield single in a six-run first inning, and the Cardinals routed Colorado 12-3.
2024 — Danny Jansen becomes the first player to appear for both teams in the same game. He had started the June 26th game between the Blue Jays and Red Sox at Fenway Park as Toronto’s catcher and was at bat with an 0-1 count when the game was suspended by rain in the 2nd inning. When the game resumes today, he has since been traded to Boston, and takes over behind the plate for Reese McGuire, who has been released.
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.
Beneath its suburban bustle, there’s a layer of small-town, IYKYK pride in Torrance, a sprawling South Bay city that spans from the 405 Freeway to the Pacific Ocean.
For some who grew up in the area, it swells during a rewatch of the iconic coming-of-age TV series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “90210,” both of which use Torrance High School as a backdrop for their fictional campuses — Sunnydale High and West Beverly High, respectively.
Get to know Los Angeles through the places that bring it to life. From restaurants to shops to outdoor spaces, here’s what to discover now.
For others, it comes up when there’s talk about Del Amo mall, which once reigned as the largest indoor shopping center in the United States before the Mall of America took the title. (The mall was the place to be for teens and tweens, who spent their days after school playing pinball at Aladdin’s Castle arcade, filling blue-striped cellophane bags of assorted candy at Sweet Factory or perusing gag gifts at Aahs.)
And still for a set of longtime residents, it arises when one points to the airport named after Torrance-bred legend Louis Zamperini, an Olympic runner turned World War II bomber pilot who endured brutal treatment from the Japanese navy — and became the subject of Laura Hillenbrand’s bestselling biography “Unbroken” and the subsequent movie adaptation directed by Angelina Jolie.
Torrance has long since grown from the utopia that industrialist Jared Sidney Torrance envisioned in 1910. His idea was to build a “workingman’s paradise,” a model industrial town halfway between Los Angeles and the San Pedro Harbor. To design the community, Torrance’s team brought on the Olmsted brothers, whose father designed Central Park in New York City.
It now stretches across 21 square miles, which include the 1.5 miles of coastline shared by Torrance and Redondo Beach, lovingly referred to as RAT Beach (short for “Right after Torrance”). Torrance has a thriving Japanese American community, a presence that endures with the many Japanese shops, markets and restaurants around town and in nearby Gardena. It’s the birthplace of the American Youth Soccer Organization, a nonprofit famously started out of a garage in 1964 with only nine teams. The city even has its own designated nature preserve — Madrona Marsh — that sits right in the middle of a cluster of homes, condominiums and Del Amo.
Yet what many locals appreciate most about Torrance is how it’s held onto its small-town tradition of simply getting together with your neighbors.
Every December, residents in the city’s 6th District get together for a holiday stroll around the neighborhood, putting up rows of lighted arches for families to walk through. In the spring, thousands cheer on battle tanks that rumble down the streets during the annual Armed Forces Day Parade. When the cherry blossom trees in Columbia Park flourish with soft pastel pink petals, the community comes together for the annual Torrance Cherry Blossom Cultural Festival.
It’s the simple comforts that make Torrance worth a visit — and why locals light up whenever anyone talks about the place they call home.
What’s included in this guide
Anyone who’s lived in a major metropolis can tell you that neighborhoods are a tricky thing. They’re eternally malleable and evoke sociological questions around how we place our homes, our neighbors and our communities within a wider tapestry. In the name of neighborly generosity, we may include gems that linger outside of technical parameters. Instead of leaning into stark definitions, we hope to celebrate all of the places that make us love where we live.
Our journalists independently visited every spot recommended in this guide. We do not accept free meals or experiences. What L.A. neighborhood should we check out next? Send ideas to guides@latimes.com.
When LeBron James signed up to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to NBA glory with a $154 million contract in 2018, it wasn’t the biggest deal he did that year.
Just months before he joined, a limited liability company he controls borrowed almost $300 million from a pair of Midwestern life insurers advised by an arm of Guggenheim Partners, according to insurance industry records reviewed by Bloomberg.
The previously unreported bonds, which are due in 2049, were structured to provide immediate cash to James and backed by a stream of future revenue tied to his earnings outside basketball such as a lifetime Nike Inc. sponsorship, people with knowledge of the matter said.
The burst of lending began before Guggenheim leader Mark Walter started acquiring the storied basketball team. In an abrupt turn this month, the billionaire mogul agreed to sell the Lakers amid a federal probe into parts of his business empire. There’s no indication that the loans to James have anything to do with those inquiries.
Athletes and artists are increasingly using future earnings like royalties and licensing deals to structure deals that help them unlock immediate capital. David Bowie was famously the first recording artist to go to Wall Street to tap the future earnings of his music, paving the way for a thriving market for esoteric securities.
But James’ deal offers another look at how Walter and fellow Wall Street money managers have tectonically shifted the once-boring business of life insurance, steering policyholder premiums into more unusual investments. Guggenheim has moved insurers’ money deeper into private credit, sports franchises and — with James — financing for a star player. That’s far outside the industry’s traditional focus on plain-vanilla assets to reliably pay out future claims.
The two insurers — North American Company for Life and Health Insurance and Midland National Life Insurance Co. — are both owned by Sammons Financial Group. During a call with investors this week, Sammons said Guggenheim was the sole manager in charge of picking assets for the firm’s portfolios until 2021, according to people who heard the remarks and, like others in this story, asked not to be identified describing confidential dealings.
Sammons has been distancing itself from Guggenheim recently. Walter’s firm had long counted Sammons’ parent company among its biggest investors. During the call, though, Sammons’ representatives said it has been selling down that stake, the people said.
The “transactions were a securitization done by Mr. James with his personal, non-NBA salary, assets and income which is a very common financial structure for an individual with this level of earnings and assets,” a spokesperson for James said.
Spokespeople for Sammons and Guggenheim declined to comment.
The scrutiny of Walter’s empire by the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission has turned up the spotlight on the intermingling of asset managers and insurers.
Wall Street power players have used insurance balance sheets to pursue their quest for higher returns, steering the savings of everyday Americans into more opaque and complex investments. The approach lets asset managers originate and structure deals, and then find uncomplaining buyers by parking such investments on the balance sheets of insurers they influence.
King James Funding
James’ borrowing from the two Midwestern insurers — structured as sales of asset-backed bonds — began when he was at the Cleveland Cavaliers and his career was poised for new heights.
The two companies bought almost $300 million bonds issued by an LLC he controlled called King James Funding, the records show. Within a few years, the LLC paid down some of that debt, then sold more bonds to the insurers, leaving them with about $245 million on their books by the end of last year, the records show.
The initial bonds from 2018 had a 4.8% interest rate and aren’t due until late 2049, the industry filings show. Terms are otherwise scant in the records reviewed by Bloomberg.
A few months after the deal, James started looking for another team as a free agent, ultimately picking the Lakers. In an oft-retold moment, he received a visit at home from Walter’s longtime business partner Magic Johnson, then a top executive for the Lakers. James ultimately signed a four-year contract.
Then in mid-August 2022, James signed a $97 million contract extension with the Lakers. Around that same time, the same Midwestern insurers provided his LLC with more cash, buying almost $60 million of 34-year bonds with a 5.75% interest rate, the insurers’ records show.
“Both transactions were independently credit rated by a third party and the 2022 transaction was fully approved by NBA,” James’ spokesperson said, noting the athlete had no affiliation with Guggenheim, Sammons, North American Co. or Midland National beyond their participation in the transactions.
Guggenheim also got involved in some of James’ other personal ventures. As the Covid pandemic took hold in 2020, he and his childhood friend and business partner, Maverick Carter, announced that they had raised $100 million for their media venture called SpringHill Co. Guggenheim was listed among investors in that company.
Leaving the Lakers
For more than a decade, Walter has mixed money from insurers with investments in sports. His 2012 acquisition of the Los Angeles Dodgers with business partners including Johnson relied heavily on the insurance industry.
Afterward, the new team’s owners ramped up spending on players to turn the franchise into a jewel of professional baseball, appearing in five of the past nine World Series. But that playbook isn’t as feasible in the NBA, which has stricter caps on team salaries.
Walter’s acquisition of the Lakers began in 2021 when he purchased a minority stake, granting him rights that paved the way for him to take a majority stake last year.
The sale of the team came as Walter has been reshaping his empire to unwind more than $20 billion of loans on his insurers’ books that should have been marked as funding affiliated businesses, but weren’t. While regulations allow insurers to lend money to such parties, they require that the dealings be disclosed.
James, meanwhile, announced that he’s leaving the Lakers and he signed a two-year deal with the Philadelphia 76ers. His new team is co-owned by Josh Harris, whose 26North Partners invests across middle-market private equity, credit and insurance.
Li, Sridhar Natarajan and Rajbhandari write for Bloomberg.
Jason Heyward didn’t give Freddie Freeman the heads up that he’d secured a job in the Dodgers’ front office. He hadn’t told any of his former Dodger teammates. But Freeman, who’s known Heyward for two decades, now says he’d heard rumblings. He was just going to let his longtime friend break the news himself.
On May 13, midway through a home series against the Giants, Freeman walked into the food room at Dodger Stadium, and, to his surprise and confusion, there was Heyward.
“What are you doing here?” a slack-jawed Freeman asked.
“Well, I’m working,” Heyward said.
No text. No call.
“He waited to tell me in person,” Freeman said.
Heyward technically started his job as a special assistant at the beginning of May, but he was on site for the first time a couple of weeks later. That game against the Giants, with Heyward looking on as a Dodgers special assistant for the first time, Freeman stole a base — a rarity in recent years.
“I wanted to ask him, what was my grade?” Freeman said. “What do you give me, a 70 on the 20-80 (scouting) scale?”
Freeman chuckled. Though he has long been an adept baserunner, it’s never been because of his speed — not even in high school, when teams were scouting him for the 2007 MLB draft.
Jason Heyward, who joined the Dodgers as a special assistant earlier this season, stands on the field before a game against the Seattle Mariners at Dodger Stadium last month.
(Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Getty Images)
That’s when Freeman and Heyward first met, the summer before their senior year. They had no way of knowing that they’d go on to experience baseball and life milestones together for the next two decades and counting.
They were both drafted by the Braves, Heyward in the first round (No. 14 overall), and Freeman in the second (No.78). They became roommates and teammates, debuting in the same year.
Over the course of two long and decorated MLB careers — which includes Heyward’s five Gold Gloves, Freeman’s 10 All-Star selections, and five World Series rings between the two of them — their paths diverged and reconnected multiple times.
In this most recent chapter, Heyward has ventured into the front office, Freeman is adding to his Hall of Fame candidacy, and they’re once again on the same team.
“To see us now, it’s crazy,” Freeman said. “It really is.”
Strangers
It’s rare for friends of 20 years to be able to pick out the details of their first encounter. Over the decades, fond memories start to jumble and fade.
But not for Freeman and Heyward.
Without hesitation they’ll bring up August 2006, when they were both 16 and played on opposing teams in the Aflac All-American Classic, held that year in San Diego. They really got to know each other during the down time that week, hanging out in the communal game room in the hotel.
When they met, Freeman was playing Pop-A-Shot.
“That’s where he was most of the time,” Heyward said.
The group could gravitate to another part of the room to “trade cards, sign autographs, talk a little shop,” and Freeman would somehow end up back at the Pop-A-Shot.
That, however, didn’t stop Freeman and Heyward from hitting it off.
On the surface, they were an opposites-attract kind of duo, in pretty much every category but height — listed as 6-foot-4 and 6-5 during that showcase. Heyward grew up in the Atlanta metropolitan area, playing on the East team, and Freeman was an Orange County native, representing the West.
Their priorities and aspirations pulled them together.
“You kind of look around and see all the other guys there and see what they’re doing, how they talk, how they act,” Freeman said. “And then you run into Jason, and then, I’m like, ‘That’s who I want to hang out with.’ He had everything figured out at such a young age.”
Heyward was the more hyped prospect, and the star of the East in that game, with four stolen bases, a pair of hits and two RBIs.
The second time Heyward reached first base, Freeman said to him, “You’re not going to steal again.” Heyward’s response: “I’m going again.”
“I looked down, he was kicking dirt on my shoes, all that,” Heyward said. “So, same guy who he is today on first base, that’s who he’s always been.”
Even in practice, Freeman’s competitiveness stood out to his new friend.
“One hundred percent competitive, but it was fun for him to be competitive,” Heyward said. “Not competitive in like, ‘Get off me,’ [stuff] like that. He welcomed me.”
Though they became fast friends, and ran into each other on the showcase circuit throughout their senior year, who knows what would have happened if the 2007 draft had played out differently?
Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman takes his shoes off after batting practice during spring training at Camelback Ranch in Phoenix in February.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
Draftees
Freeman was scheduled to take a final exam the day he was drafted.
That year, the draft made its television debut. The first round — including the Braves selecting hometown kid Jason Heyward — was broadcast on ESPN2. Heyward’s selection wasn’t a surprise — “We know the Braves have a history of drafting young players from the area,” he said.
But Freeman would have to be in front of a computer to track the subsequent rounds. He finagled permission to go home until he was selected, and then return to school.
“We were going along, and I had some other teams calling for me as a pitcher,” Freeman said. “And I was like, ‘I don’t want to pitch, let me hit first.’”
Eventually the Braves called, with their second pick of the second round approaching. Freeman, wasting no time, kicked off the conversation with: “I don’t want to pitch.”
“And they’re like, ‘Good, because we don’t want you to,’” Freeman recalled.
Finally. The excitement began to set in.
Even after the Braves drafted Freeman, it wasn’t a done deal on his end.
He’d committed to Cal State Fullerton, the alma mater of his father, Fred Freeman. And Freddie had his sights set on becoming a CPA and taking over his dad’s business.
A couple days after the draft, at 2 or 3 a.m., Freddie knocked on Fred’s bedroom door with a decision.
“Dad, I don’t want to go to college,” he said. “I want to play baseball.”
They talked for a while. And though Fred had wanted his son to pursue an education, he softened his stance, supporting Freddie’s dream. They agreed, Freddie remembers, that if he didn’t make it to the big leagues in four years, he’d quit to follow the original plan.
“Back then, I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, that’s fine,” Freeman said. “And now you think about it — that was crazy to think, right? Four or five years in the minor leagues, that’s what the norm is. … We didn’t know any better.”
That set Freeman and Heyward on course to reunite, this time as teammates.
Heyward, poised to sign for above slot value, had to wait until mid-August to sign his contract ($1.7-million bonus). So, when he finally joined the Gulf Coast League, for all of eight games before finishing the season with rookie-ball Danville, he remembers Freeman greeting him with a disgruntled, “Hey, man, I’ve been waiting on you. I’ve been here, it’s been hot.”
“My bad,” Heyward said. “I couldn’t control it.”
Freeman broke into laughter.
After the instructional league that fall, Freeman and Heyward decided to room together in spring training. And though the accommodations changed throughout the years, they’d remain roommates through 2010, their debut season in the majors.
Roommates
Outfielder Jason Heyward, left, and infielder Freddie Freeman celebrate before the start of a spring training game against the Toronto Blue Jays in March 2010.
(Al Messerschmidt / Getty Images)
There’s no better way to quickly learn a person’s idiosyncrasies than living with them.
In terms of morning routines, Heyward and Freeman were on far ends of the spectrum. If Heyward was going to start getting ready at 12:30, Freeman was waiting until 12:48 — and it was always something that specific too. Extremely structured to this day, if something throws off Freeman’s schedule, his “robot mind,” as he puts it, malfunctions.
While Heyward would marvel at how close Freeman was willing to cut it, Freeman would give Heyward grief for how long he’d take to get ready.
“In the minor leagues, we had to shave, had to keep it low,” Heyward said. “And I’ve been, at that time, shaving since I was 15. So sometimes I had to shave twice a day, otherwise it was just freaking uncomfortable.
“So, yeah, if I may take a long time to get ready, ‘You’re rocking with what you’re rocking with; you can just get out of bed, literally wet your hair, and then go.’”
On the road, Freeman still jokes, Heyward’s BlackBerry phone came into play. The team would put the players up in hotel rooms with two beds, subjecting Freeman to the incessant clicking of Heyward texting.
“Anybody can nitpick something, but if I complain about a BlackBerry texting, that’s not really anything,” Freeman said. “‘Sorry, I had friends,’ he would say.”
Freeman and Heyward were inseparable. They’d hit back-to-back in the lineup, and then get on the bus for a 13-hour ride and sit right next to each other.
They rose quickly through the farm system, one after another, sharing the highs and lows.
“There was some irony in the fact of how he was treated in the South, versus how I’m treated in the South, even though I’m from there,” said Heyward, who is Black. “And that goes back to even in the minor leagues.”
A road trip to Savannah, Ga., in 2008 immediately came to mind for Freeman, who is white. From first base Freeman could hear everything the crowd said to Heyward in right field — including the racial slur a fan yelled in the middle of a game.
“It was the first time I ever heard the N-word,” Freeman said. “It was crazy to me. And I was almost in tears. I wanted to run into the stands.”
In fact, he started walking over there, before Heyward stopped him.
“For me, obviously, that’s been my whole life, especially growing up where I grew up,” Heyward said. “But it’s just a good perspective on him not hearing it before. And I think that’s it.
“But, yeah, if anybody would have tried him on anything, I’m fighting them too. … What’s understood didn’t have to be explained there.”
The fact that Heyward could remain so calm was eye-opening for Freeman. The pair came away from that incident, and more subtle slights (like having to wait 20 minutes to be seated in a mostly empty restaurant), with a better understanding of each other.
“For an 18-year-old to have that be a normal thing is even more saddening,” Freeman said. “To this day, it’s hard to even talk about. That those kids, or young adults [in the stands] grew up thinking that was an OK thing to say, it’s just baffling to me.”
Teammates
Heyward’s highly anticipated MLB debut came on April 5, 2010, opening day at Turner Field. And in his first major league at-bat, he smoked a three-run home run to right field.
Freeman, on the other hand, started the season in triple A. But that didn’t split up the roommates. Freeman made the 35-minute drive northeast to Gwinnett, and Heyward headed south for 15 minutes.
By late August, it was obvious Freeman would be among the Braves’ call-ups when rosters expanded on Sept. 1.
Sure enough, Heyward and Freeman both headed south that day — still driving separately because of their differing morning routines.
Freddie Freeman, left, Jason Heyward, center, and Brian McCann chat during a workout at spring training in Kissimmee, Fla., in 2011.
(Phelan M. Ebenhack / Associated Press)
“I walked into Turner Field, and saw my name in the lineup, hitting sixth, and I almost threw up,” Freeman said.
Seeing familiar faces helped. Freeman knew many of the coaches and his new teammates from major league spring training the past two years. And, of course, there was Heyward.
“Just a special day,” Freeman said. “I didn’t get any hits, but I didn’t care.
“Jason got all the hits for us, he went four for four. He was so happy I was there. He took all my hits.”
As Freeman went through his big-league firsts, he appreciated having Heyward, who’d already checked them off for himself, by his side.
Freeman looks back fondly on their plane rides. He and Heyward would sit together, eating Chick-fil-A.
Raising the level of decadence, the next year, Freeman had his first “show dinner” with Heyward and veterans such as Eric Hinske and Chipper Jones at a steakhouse in Seattle called El Gaucho.
“I was like, this is the coolest thing ever,” Freeman said.
“Those were both of our ‘college years,’” Heyward said. “So seeing the real world a little bit, spending time on flights, clubhouse, dinners, enjoying teammates, becoming young adults.”
Jason Heyward, right, high-fives teammate Freddie Freeman after scoring off a single by Justin Upton in the first inning of a June 2013 game against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
(David Goldman / Associated Press)
They were also playing well. Heyward and Freeman finished No. 2 in NL rookie of the year voting in consecutive years. And they started filling up their own individual trophy cases, while the Braves made it to the postseason three times in five years.
“Everyone has fun playing baseball,” Freeman said, “but to experience the big leagues with your best friend, I don’t know if you can get much better than that.”
Rivals
As soon as the Braves were eliminated from the 2014 postseason chase, the team fired general manager Frank Wren. Plunging into a rebuild, new president of baseball operations John Hart’s first big move was to trade Heyward to the Cardinals for pitching.
“That was the first time I saw the business side of baseball,” Freeman said. “Sad day. But it opened my eyes to, this isn’t just fun all the time. The fun has to end at some point.”
Freeman and Heyward kept in touch and celebrated each other’s successes. But it wasn’t the same.
“That was like, ‘Alright, this is becoming more of a job,” Heyward said.
Heyward leveraged that platform season in St. Louis into an eight-year free agent contract with the Cubs worth $184 million, setting a franchise record.
The Braves extended Freeman. Then when he finally hit free agency after the 2021 season, he became the first infielder to sign a $100-plus million deal with the Dodgers, signing a contract for six years and $162 million.
For eight years, Heyward and Freeman played for opposing NL teams. Then, an unexpected turn of events set the ball rolling for a reunion.
In early August 2022, when Heyward had already been on the injured list for over a month with what the Cubs called right knee inflammation, president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer announced that the team intended to release the veteran right fielder from the final year of his contract after the season.
Freeman saw an opportunity. And for the rest of the year, he didn’t let Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman or general manager Brandon Gomes walk by without hearing his pitch for Heyward.
“I’ll shoot you straight,” Freeman told them. “I don’t know what you’re going to get from the baseball player Jason Heyward, but I know what you’re going to get from the person Jason Heyward, and what he would mean inside of a clubhouse, and what he can do to young guys and help them. There’s no one better to be in this clubhouse than how you are envisioning clubhouse culture and chemistry than to bring this guy in.”
Friedman doesn’t have an exact count on the number of times Freeman mentioned Heyward to him in those months, “but it was definitely a lot.”
Friedman and Gomes were intrigued enough to have their group dig into the evolution of Heyward’s swing. But they still had questions, like how open was he going to be to diving into adjustments with their staff?
Soon after he was officially released, the Dodgers set up a Zoom.
“He was all-in,” Friedman said, “in terms of open-mindedness, desire to change some of the recent narrative, and he was excited about the prospect of working with our guys and doing what he could to help us win games, both on and off the field.”
Heyward said he heard from the Dodgers three times before he heard from any other team in free agency.
“That was how persistent they were,” he said.
Jason Heyward, left, celebrates a run with Freddie Freeman against the Texas Rangers in June 2024.
(Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)
Heyward signed a minor-league deal with the Dodgers in early December. He spent time in Southern California over the offseason to get a head start on overhauling his swing. And he met Freeman in Newport Beach, to hang out, hit and work out together.
Heyward’s efforts paid off. He made the team out of spring training. And he and Freeman were officially teammates again.
“It was so fun,” Heyward said.
Their reunion on the field was brief — the Dodgers re-signed Heyward for the 2024 season and then, his first half derailed by injuries, released him in August — but it was still sweet.
“You go from sitting together on a bus coming from Rome, Ga., going to Wilmington, Delaware — and like now you’re on a first class flight with the L.A. Dodgers, and traveling from West Coast to East Coast, wearing the jumpsuits, all that stuff,” Heyward said. “That was a very cool experience coming from being 16-years-old, Aflac All-Americans, to now sharing a World Series ring.”
Co-workers
Heyward finished 2024 with the Astros and spent the next season with the Padres. He trained this past offseason to be ready for spring training if a team gave him an offer. But in the final weeks, he also started laying groundwork for a post-playing career in case the phone never rang.
“This year I said, ‘If we get a Super Bowl weekend, that’s it, and I’m content,’” Heyward said. “Not complacent; I’m content. I let it run its course, and now I have clarity to go do whatever else it is.”
He said he reached out to the Cubs first about a non-playing role, and had cursory conversations with the White Sox. He exchanged texts with Friedman, reviving conversations they’d had in his stint with the Dodgers. In many ways, it came down to timing.
Heyward had already been planning on meeting up in spring training with Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, a former player, to pick his brain about the transition.
They went to dinner, with both their wives, and stayed for six hours.
“I basically was just honest with him, in telling him that, No. 1, I think it’s great that he wants to stay in the game,” Roberts said. “But No. 2 is that when you’re a player, you look at certain things in a certain lens, but for him to be good at this job in the front office, he’s got to be really open-minded to learn.”
Roberts came away from the conversation excited by how earnestly Heyward embraced that message. And he mentioned to Gomes: “Someone with his character that has his desire to work could be a huge asset for us.”
Two and a half weeks later, Heyward stopped by Dodgers camp at Camelback Ranch to catch up with old friends and teammates.
“I was here for two years, and it felt like I was here for 10,” Heyward said. “And that’s family included — my family, my kids, my wife … So, what I thought was going to be natural, this was even more organic.”
Friends
Dodgers outfielder Jason Heyward, right, congratulates Freddie Freeman after bringing him home on an eighth-inning sacrifice fly against the Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium in a June 2024 game.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Life changes dramatically between the ages of 16 and 36.
“Single guys trying to make it, to married with many kids,” said Freeman, who turns 37 next month. “And we’re still as close as ever, which is really, really special for me.”
Then, he added: “This is going to be friends forever.”
Their wives, Chelsea Freeman and Vedrana Heyward, are close too. The Freeman’s middle children are just a little over a year older than the Heywards’ eldest. And the families’ newest additions were both born months apart.
Freeman and Heyward are already coordinating family schedules and travel — the Heywards are based in Chicago — to all get together in California this offseason.
They’re no longer those high schoolers bonding between rounds of Pop-A-Shot. In June, Freeman surpassed 2,500 career MLB hits.
“The way Free’s done it, winning is all over it,” Heyward said. “I think that’s one of those unique abilities, to this guy is playing the game first, winning first, and then he’s getting a result, then he’s having the big at-bat, doing it obviously in the postseason. So I’m just happy to see him get the recognition that he’s earned the time he put into it. I’m happy to see his stubbornness pay off.
“It’s not easy to do. It’s much easier said than done.”
Heyward, moving on from a 16-year major-league playing career, would love to be a general manager one day. But he’s keeping an open mind. He took Roberts’ advice to heart and is using his first year as a special assistant to learn and explore the possibilities.
Heyward has been around the major-league team for a handful of series in Los Angeles and Chicago (even giving Freeman advance notice before the White Sox series to make up for his May drop-in).
Trying his hand at player evaluation, he sat in the stands during the Southeastern Conference tournament. And as he pops in on affiliates, the Dodgers also see the time he spends with their outfield prospects — the biggest strength of their farm system — as invaluable.
“Whatever he wants to be in the front office, he’s going to be it, because that’s just who he is,” Freeman said. “Because he is a special man, he works hard, he cares, he wants to be the best.”
Freeman has already seen Heyward manifest his dreams once — and vice versa.
Being drafted, making it to the majors, winning championships, those were just dreams 20 years ago this month, when they both wandered into the communal activities room between All-American Classic obligations.
“That week in San Diego,” Freeman said, “obviously we’ll never forget it.”
Parker Messick pitched six innings of one-run ball and Austin Hedges hit a two-run homer in the Cleveland Guardians’ 4-2 victory over the Angels on Monday night.
Jo Adell hit a go-ahead single for the Guardians against his former team. Messick (10-8) gave up three hits, struck out four and walked one while extending to nine his string of consecutive starts with two or fewer runs allowed.
Through 26 starts, the rookie left-hander has a 2.50 ERA with 156 strikeouts in 155 innings.
Colin Holderman struck out three of four batters in the seventh. Hunter Gaddis tossed a scoreless eighth and Cade Smith gave up a run in the ninth before earning his 34th save.
Cleveland (66-66) won its fifth straight and pulled within 2½ games of the first-place Chicago White Sox in the AL Central.
Angels rookie George Klassen (2-2) gave up three runs — two earned — and six hits in 5⅓ innings.
Adell, acquired from the Angels on Aug. 3, snapped a 1-1 tie with a two-out single in the fifth — his 13th RBI in six games. Hedges made it 4-1 with a two-out homer off reliever Blake Weiman in the sixth.
The Angels (52-80) pulled to 4-2 on Gustavo Campero’s sacrifice fly in the ninth, but Christian Moore flied out to the left-center warning track with a runner on for the final out.
Messick retired his first nine batters before Zach Neto and Mike Trout opened the fourth with singles. Neto went to third on Trout’s hit, and Trout took second on the throw.
Trout was caught off the bag on Vaughn Grissom’s hard grounder to second but stayed in a rundown long enough for Grissom to reach second.
Moisés Ballesteros dunked an RBI single into center for a 1-1 tie, advancing Grissom to third. Messick escaped further damage by striking out Jose Siri and getting Campero to pop out.
Cleveland took a 1-0 lead in the third when Steven Kwan and José Ramírez singled, Adell walked and Nathaniel Lowe hit a sacrifice fly.
Up next: Guardians RHP Gavin Williams (12-7, 3.72 ERA) will oppose Angels RHP Walbert Ureña on Tuesday night.
SAN DIEGO — José E. Feliciano, the new controlling owner of the San Diego Padres, lives in Los Angeles. You know, that place at the end of the Padres’ incessant “Beat L.A.” chants.
No worries, Padres fans. Feliciano is — make that was — a longtime New York Yankees fan.
“The good thing is,” he told me after an introductory news conference Monday, “rooting against the Dodgers comes naturally to me.”
It was only 18 months ago that Padres fans wondered whether the good times might come to an end, with the widow of beloved owner Peter Seidler suing his brothers for control of the team. For their part, the brothers said they had “no plans to sell the Padres.”
That sounds a lot like what Dodgers president Stan Kasten said Friday, amid a federal investigation into alleged financial improprieties among insurance companies controlled by Dodgers owner Mark Walter.
What is true today might not be true tomorrow. What is true today, as potential bidders for the Dodgers lurk and coalesce amid L.A.’s turn at uncertainty, is that the Padres have an energetic and effervescent couple as their new principal owners.
Feliciano, a founder of Clearlake Capital in Santa Monica, took the mound at Petco Park on Monday afternoon, working out of a stretch and looking toward an invisible runner at second base before delivering a pitch. In spring training, he said, he stepped into the batting cage to try to hit simulated pitches from Padres All-Star closer Mason Miller.
His wife Kwanza Jones, an artist and entrepreneur, led her husband into the news conference amid the sounds of a song she co-wrote, she said, inspired in part by a catch made by Padres outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr.
“My only musical talent is my name,” Feliciano said. “I humbly ask you to please add my middle initial so I never get confused with the singer.”
As the couple looks for a home in San Diego, Jones appealed to fans to share what they love about their neighborhoods. Later, the couple took selfies along the first-base line.
New San Diego owners Kwanza Jones, center, and José E. Feliciano, right, speak at a news conference with Padres Chief Executive Erik Greupner at Petco Park on Monday.
(Greg Beacham / Associated Press)
Their enthusiasm bubbled forth as the news conference proceeded, as their sense of whether the Padres might finally win a World Series got more and more optimistic.
Feliciano, three minutes into the news conference: “We cannot promise we are going to win.”
Jones, two minutes later, riffing off her lyrics, her voice rising: “We gonna win! We gonna win! We gonna win — win it all!” And then a pause, to lower her voice: “We hope it’s sooner rather than later.”
Feliciano, two minutes later: “We need to win a World Series. It’s that simple. That’s what we’re going to do.”
Jones, one minute later: “Multiples.”
Feliciano, one minute later: “The impossible becomes possible when somebody does it. So let’s do it.”
This is not Feliciano’s first foray into professional sports. Clearlake Capital is the majority owner of Chelsea, the storied soccer club.
“I’m missing the first game of the Premier League right now,” Feliciano said.
He said he could not comment on reports Walter is looking to sell his stake in Chelsea. Two weeks ago, Walter announced an agreement to sell controlling interest in the Lakers at a $12.5-billion valuation, the cash from which could help repay loans under scrutiny. The Dodgers could command a similar valuation, industry sources not authorized to discuss the issue publicly told The Times, should Walter decide to sell.
As part of a search for cash, Puck reported last week, Walter had talked with Charter Communications about whether the company would be interested in paying a lump sum now to get out of its SportsNet LA contract — a money-losing deal for Charter, but the primary source of the Dodgers’ financial advantage over the other 29 teams in the major leagues.
The talks “went nowhere,” Puck reported. Kasten declined to address the matter, as did a Charter spokesman.
In 2011, with the Dodgers headed toward bankruptcy, former owner Frank McCourt found what he believed would be his financial lifeline in a television rights deal with Fox Sports.
In a withering letter to McCourt, then-commissioner Bud Selig rejected the deal, criticizing McCourt for proposing a financial structure that would have foreclosed the Dodgers from pursuing more lucrative options “because of your desperate need for immediate cash.”
That precedent could inform how Rob Manfred, the current commissioner, would evaluate any proposed restructuring of the Dodgers’ television deal. Under the owners’ current collective bargaining proposal, to which Walter agreed, the Dodgers’ annual television riches — more than $500 million per year by the end of the deal in 2038 — would be fully contributed toward revenue sharing among all 30 teams.
I asked Feliciano whether the Dodgers’ uncertainty might make this a particularly opportune time to buy the Padres.
“You’ve got to look at these things on a generational, multi-decade basis, honestly,” he told me. “It’s like trying to time a great investment in the market. You can’t.
“What I can tell you is that this is the good time — the best time — for us. I think it also coincides with Peter’s legacy: The team is in a great place, the city is in a great place.”
The Dodgers’ revenue advantage remains significant, not just because of their SportsNet LA deal but because they fill the largest stadium in the majors almost every night and employ Shohei Ohtani.
In San Diego, however, where ticket sales represent the largest source of team revenue, the Padres sell more tickets than any major league team besides the Dodgers. Petco Park already is a year-round concert venue and event center, and the Padres could rekindle plans to develop a large parking lot near the ballpark.
And, if owners emerge from collective bargaining with a salary cap or other restraint on the Dodgers’ spending, that would be a win for San Diego.
On the field, the Padres entered play Monday with 21 victories in their past 28 games. The Padres acquired Robbie Ray and Casey Mize at the trade deadline to bolster a patchwork rotation, and they retained Miller and Adrian Morejon rather than break up a mighty bullpen. Tatis leads the National League with 12 home runs since the All-Star break; outfielder Jackson Merrill has 11.
“As we have seen the last few weeks, we are very competitive. I feel we are one of those teams — us and the Phillies, probably — that nobody wants to play,” Feliciano said.
“We want to keep it that way.”
The Phillies entered play Monday on a nine-game winning streak, in position for one of the National League wild cards. The Padres also are in position for an NL wild card, keeping alive the possibility that the Dodgers and Padres could meet in the NL Championship Series.
If that happens, it won’t matter how many games the Dodgers finished ahead of the Padres during the regular season.
Marc Guehi (Man City): I’ll have Guehi in as my holding midfielder. He should have scored two against Bournemouth because he missed a massive chance before he ended up scoring. But he got the equaliser and offered a lot more of a calming presence than City’s £116m record signing Elliot Anderson – Guehi controlled the game a little bit more.
Vitaly Janelt (Brentford): He is one of those big, powerful and dominant players who does the basics really well. He mixed that with a goal against Spurs and you don’t really speak about him, but he was always the one breaking up play and doing the horrible things really well.
Christos Tzolis (Arsenal): A lot of people are talking about Arsenal and how they’re great. That is absolutely true. And so is the bit of business they did bringing this young man in from Club Brugge. So many goals and assists he brings to the team, but also a calming influence and tenacity as well. Look at Gabriel Martinelli, Leandro Trossard, he feels to me like both of them in one. He has a lot more output than those guys. He’s going to be a beast for this year.
Anthony Elanga (Newcastle): Last season I though he was treated poorly by Eddie Howe because he was one that kept being put on the bench, being introduced late or would be the first one to come off. But he showed in a new formation, under a new manager and somebody who believes in him that he can use his pace and power. As a result he looks like a completely different player and he looked happy. He ran past Milos Kerkez like he wasn’t there despite the Liverpool left-back having a five-yard start and produced an unbelievable finish for his goal.
Cole Palmer (Chelsea): One we were all talking about, and should’ve gone to the World Cup with England. Feels like he’s got a point to prove, feels like he’s been working hard. The injuries from last year skewed everyone’s vision. This is going to be a breakout season for him. Everything he did was positive. Ran forward with pace, looked like he could move. He had those issues with the groin but now he’s chopping and turning.
Second inning, Blake Snell gives up a one-out single to Spencer Horwitz, who advances to second on a passed ball, but Snell strands him with a strikeout of Billy Cook.
Lovely, but what happens if Mark Walter sells the Dodgers?
Third inning, Bryan Reynolds draws a two-out walk, but Snell strands him with a flyout to left by Brandon Lowe.
Walter, Lakers, feds, billions, sell?
On a blistering Sunday afternoon at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-0 to complete a three-game sweep, but the rumblings beneath Chavez Ravine indicated there was much more at stake.
This is a solid franchise fighting for its footing. This is a powerful dynasty that could be undone by paper.
So, seriously, are the Dodgers getting sold?
Nobody knows, but a reasonable guess would be yes.
The Dodgers, of course, say no way, no how, no chance. Stan Kasten, the Dodgers’ president, even met with the media Friday specifically to say it’s not happening.
“The Dodgers are not being sold,” Kasten said. “They’re not going to be sold. They’re not for sale. There’s no process that has been started to sell [the franchise]. Period.”
Period? Kasten is a busy man, and there’s seemingly no way he holds even an impromptu meeting with reporters about a possible sale if that “period” wasn’t a “question mark.”
It is indeed a huge question mark, one that suddenly appeared less than two weeks ago when Walter stunningly sold the Lakers just 14 months after buying them.
A federal investigation into insurance companies Walter controls may have led to the Lakers sale, and there’s since been plenty of confusing talk about related-party transactions and holding companies and invested assets.
Translated for Dodgers fans?
The owner of your team also owns another business facing a big legal problem that requires billions to fix. And the only way he can raise those billions is to sell his assets. And the $2.5 billion he will receive from the Lakers flip is only a drop in the bucket.
Which means the Dodgers could be next.
There are reports that Walter is selling his shares in the Chelsea Football Club of the English Premier League, but that won’t cut it.
He could sell some of his smaller properties such as the WNBA’s Sparks, the Cadillac Formula 1 racing team, and the entire Professional Women’s Hockey League, but that might not cut it, either.
His richest, most lucrative, and perhaps most expensive property is the Dodgers. A source told The Times’ Bill Shaikin they could be worth between $10 billion and $13 billion, which would be a record price for a baseball team.
Though no charges have been filed against Walter or anyone associated with his businesses, one could imagine Walter pulling the trigger on the Dodgers sale simply to keep the feds at bay.
“I wanted you to hear it definitively: We are not selling the Dodgers,” Kasten repeated. “We are continuing with our plans going forward, like we always have had them. This comes from Mark. He’s gung ho about continuing to try to win, again, including next year, subject to whatever next year’s climate looks like.”
This full-speed-ahead attitude by Dodgers management is what makes it so hard to imagine the team being owned by someone other than Walter.
Without Walter, there is no dynasty. Without Walter, there is no richest team in baseball. Without Walter, there is no happiest fan base in baseball.
Dodgers owner Mark Walter helps Shohei Ohtani put on a jersey during a news conference on Dec. 14, 2023, after the two-way star signed a 10-year, $700-million deal with the team.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
Since Walter and his Guggenheim Baseball Management Group purchased the team in 2012, they have spared no expense in winning 12 of the last 13 National League West championships and three World Series titles.
Nobody in baseball spends like Walter, or will ever spend like Walter. From allowing the team to travel on two planes to adding baseball’s highest-paid player and relief pitcher last winter — Kyle Tucker and Edwin Díaz have been busts, but there’s time for redemption — nobody is willing to pay more for success than Walter.
Fans benefit from a Walter partnership on a daily basis. Witness Snell’s six shutout innings against the Pirates on Sunday. The Dodgers swept the three-game weekend series against the supposed contenders behind three starting pitchers who will lead off the playoffs yet who would not all be here if Walter didn’t own the joint.
Who else could pay to acquire superstars Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Snell while building up a farm system that could produce prospects who were used to acquire Tarik Skubal?
The three starters combined to allow the Pirates just five runs in 19 innings with 26 strikeouts and five walks, and how good is that going to look in October?
While Andrew Friedman supplies the talent and Kasten works the business, none of it is possible without the seemingly endless flood of money approved by Walter.
Well, the end might be near.
If Walter sells the team, they could possibly lose their two MVPs — Friedman and Ohtani. Unless the new owners give Friedman a piece of the team, he could set off to build another dynasty elsewhere. And Ohtani has a clause famously included in his contract that allows him to leave if either Friedman or Walter leaves. If Walter goes, Ohtani could demand a new contract with terms that a new cash-strapped owner cannot afford.
As of last week, there is so much at stake, so many reasons to worry, and even all the winning by baseball’s best-run team won’t offer much relief.
Now baseball’s best owner is suddenly its most embattled owner, and Dodgers fans should be afraid.
Precision and execution on punts and kickoffs can pin teams in their own end zones, stopping drives before they even get started.
Electric returners can flip the field and change the trajectory of a game in one play.
And a big foot can mitigate the pressure of a two-minute drill and create scoring opportunities as far as midfield.
No one may understand that more than UCLA coach Bob Chesney, who served as the special teams coordinator at King’s College from 2003-04 and at Johns Hopkins from 2005-08.
Chesney’s emphasis on the third phase of the game followed him from his time in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., to Westwood, where he incorporates special team periods throughout every practice.
Sign up for UCLA Unlocked
A weekly newsletter offering big game takeaways, recruiting buzz and everything you need to know about UCLA sports.
By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Service, which include arbitration and a class action waiver. You agree that we and our third-party vendors may collect and use your information, including through cookies, pixels and similar technologies, for the purposes set forth in our Privacy Policy such as personalizing your experience and ads.
While some coaches have specialists practice by themselves or use special teams periods sporadically through practice, Chesney ensures that everyone is involved, using players to distract kickers during field-goal attempts and returns, with the Bruins shouting, spraying water and running at specialists to simulate game-like scenarios.
In a game often decided by thin margins, special teams could be what pushes a team over the edge or what holds it back.
Let’s take a closer look at the changes Chesney and his staff have made to UCLA’s special teams personnel and how the group could fare in 2026.
Before analyzing the personnel, one of the biggest additions to the unit came in special teams coordinator Drew Canan, who followed Chesney from James Madison to UCLA and has led Chesney’s special teams units during the last 13 seasons.
UCLA’s Mateen Bhaghani hits a game-winning field goal with four seconds left against Maryland at Rose Bowl on Oct. 18.
(Harry How / Getty Images)
Kicker Mateen Bhaghani is arguably one of the highest impact Bruins returnees.
He has played 34 games across two years at UCLA and one season at California in 2023. During his three-year career, Bhaghani has hit 44 of 53 of his field-goal attempts and 71 of 71 extra points.
Despite his consistency, Bhaghani was not on the 2026 Lou Groza Award preseason watch list, an honor presented annually to the best college kicker in the country.
“That motivates me, but I don’t focus on it too hard,” Bhaghani said. “Seeing those types of things, I definitely feel like I could be one of those dudes, but I kind of ignore it. And I feel like this season I’ll show why I should be on that list, if not win it.”
The San Diego native has started all 24 of UCLA’s games during his two seasons in Westwood, nailing 36 of his 44 field-goal attempts, including five out his nine attempts from at least 50 yards.
Punter Chase Barry, who spent three seasons at UCLA and one at Oklahoma State, is back in Westwood. He was Bhaghani’s holder in 2024, helping the kicker hit 20 field goals, which led the Big Ten and ranked No. 11 among all kickers nationally.
As the season opener looms, Bhaghani is less focused on the technical side of his game and is placing more emphasis on sharpening the psychological side so that he can thrive under pressure.
“It’s all mental. The tougher I can sharpen my mental game to where it doesn’t matter what’s going on around me, I can go in there and make that kick. That’s what I feel is most important,” Bhaghani said. “Just being in pressure situations, it’s not as much technique and tweaking stuff like that right now. I feel like that’s more for the offseason. Whereas as we get closer to the season, I just focus on hitting a pure ball and working with the operation.”
Bhaghani proved his aptitude in high-pressure situations when he hit a 23-yard game-winning field goal against Maryland on Oct. 18 with two seconds remaining.
In addition to training mental toughness and familiarity with personnel, Chesney’s emphasis on special teams in practice has prepared Bhaghani for a high-impact year heading into his senior season.
UCLA coach Bob Chesney directs players during a preseason workout on Aug. 6.
(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)
“Coach Chesney has been a blessing, special teams-wise. He’s always there for me, and he has a clear line of communication in terms of where we should kick, when we should kick,” Bhaghani said. “The culture that he’s brought to special teams as the heartbeat of the team, it’s important, and every team needs to implement that.”
Bhaghani said that freshman long snapper Giancarlo Cereghino — who was tabbed as the top long snapper in his class by 247Sports — would probably be the starting long snapper on field goals, and that the first-year player had been snapping well throughout preseason.
Fifth-year long snapper Salem Abdul-Wahab will most likely handle long-snapping duties for punts after doing so in all 12 games last year.
The biggest change in the special teams department will undoubtedly come at punter, where the Bruins lost their starter from 2025 in Will Karoll, who transferred to Texas Tech in the offseason.
Karoll punted 44 for times on a 43.5-yard average, with 13 downed inside the 20-yard line and just two touchbacks.
The Bruins added Sam Houston transfer punter Curtis Gerrand, who will probably start against Cal after an impressive spring and preseason camp.
At Sam Houston, Gerrand played in all 12 games as a true freshman, punting 64 times for a 43-yard average, including a long of 72 yards, and placed 22 punts inside the opponents 20-yard line.
Rounding out the punter room is sophomore Lennox Miller. The Sydney, Australia, native did not see any game action during his true freshman season at UCLA, but he was ranked as the ninth best punter in his class by Chris Sailer Kicking and a three-star recruit by ESPN. However. Miller will again have a tough time seeing game action in 2026 with the likes of Gerrand and Barry ahead of him.
In the kicking department, following Bhaghani is freshman Mateo Orosco, who probably will not play unless Bhaghani is injured, but was praised by Chesney during preseason camp.
“These two kickers are pretty good. They’re fun to watch and they’re going to battle the whole way through and I’m excited to just watch,” Chesney said. “You know how good Mateen is, but Mateo will be under him and watch this and follow, and just have that to learn from, it’s pretty exciting to watch those two go.”
Bruins on deck
Here are all UCLA games and exhibitions scheduled to be played this week across all sports:
MONDAY, AUG. 24
Men’s soccer vs. CSU Bakersfield, 7 p.m.
THURSDAY, AUG. 27
Women’s soccer at Stanford, 7:30 p.m.
FRIDAY, AUG. 28
Men’s water polo at Cal (exhibition), 5 p.m.
Men’s soccer vs. Denver, 7 p.m.
Women’s volleyball vs. Long Beach State, 7 p.m.
SATURDAY, AUG. 29
Men’s water polo vs. Saint Mary’s in La Jolla (Triton Invitational), 9:20 a.m.
Men’s water polo vs. Bucknell in La Jolla (Triton Invitational), 4 p.m.
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.
Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. I’m Eric Sondheimer. The opening weekend of high school football provided some thrills and surprises. Let’s offer some observations.
Get our high school sports newsletter
Prep Rally is devoted to the SoCal high school sports experience, bringing you scores, stories and a behind-the-scenes look at what makes prep sports so popular.
By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Service, which include arbitration and a class action waiver. You agree that we and our third-party vendors may collect and use your information, including through cookies, pixels and similar technologies, for the purposes set forth in our Privacy Policy such as personalizing your experience and ads.
Corona Centennial’s Quentin Hale makes one-handed catch against Servite on Aug. 20, 2026.
(Craig Weston)
In Las Vegas, St. John Bosco came out against Bishop Gorman looking overwhelmed on offense. The Braves suffered sacks, an interception, a fumble, erratic blocking, no ground game. They fell behind 21-0 and most thought the game was over. Then St. John Bosco came out of the locker room playing like a different team, rallying to tie the score 28-28 before losing 38-28. Here’s the report.
A couple of concerns for the Braves. They have a veteran secondary that surprisingly had communication issues, leaving running backs going out for passes uncovered. Also veteran quarterback Koa Malau’ulu rallied the team in the second half after struggling to throw the ball on the run. The defensive line produced little pressure, requiring lots of blitzing. Coach Jason Negro said everything is “fixable” but clearly the Braves have a lot more to prove.
Corona Centennial took care of its first of three games against Trinity League opponents, beating Servite 41-21. Quarterback Jaden Jefferson and receiver Quentin Hale picked up where they left off during their previous three years at Cathedral. Here’s the report. Next up is a home game Friday against Santa Margarita that’s a rematch of last year’s Division 1 final.
The Times’ nine-part series previewing top high school football players has been completed. If you missed anything, you can fine it here. https://t.co/wP6R7eaUe5
Crenshaw showed off a lot more offense than usual in winning its opener against a Palisades team that enjoyed its first home football game since the Palisades Fire in 2025. Here’s the report.
Santa Margarita coach Carson Palmer chose his son, Fletcher, to start at quarterback and he delivered in a 27-0 win over Orlando (Fla.) Jones. He threw two touchdowns. The Eagles showed off some promising freshmen, including linebacker Aydan Steen and receiver Kiyan Collins.
Sierra Canyon’s defensive line was as good as advertised in a win over JSerra.
Granada Hills Kennedy opened with a 42-14 win over Eagle Rock. That’s surprising since the Golden Cougars lost to graduation their do-everything quarterback Diego Fuentes. Matthew Quintanilla scored three touchdowns and blocked a punt that was returned for a touchdown.
Chaminade blanked Oaks Christian behind four sacks by Hudson Manning. But the Eagles didn’t have standout offensive tackle Jackson Hill, who has been lost for the season after knee surgery. He’s a Notre Dame commit.
Rancho Cucamonga demonstrated it’s another Inland Empire team to watch, grinding out a 28-14 win over Murrieta Valley.
Carson picked up one of the City Section’s best nonleague wins in several years by beating San Diego power Lincoln 35-31. Chris Fields III accounted for four touchdowns.
Jazmin Gamble, the only female head football coach in California, won her debut when Hawthorne defeated Gardena 26-20.
The San Pedro vs. King/Drew game was halted in the third quarter when fans and others thought there was a gunshot, leading to a scramble out of the stadium. Here’s the report.
Former Garfield coach Lorenzo Hernandez won his debut coaching Whittier, 49-6 over Temple City.
Eric Sondheimer interviewing Donovan Dent at end of state championship in Sacramento March 2022.
(Nick Koza)
It’s my 50th year covering high school sports in Southern California, so I thought long and hard to present 50 moments in 50 years when I could have done 200.
Columnist Bill Plaschke took time out of his busy schedule and unleashed his beautiful writing skills, humbling me with a column that I never expected honoring high school sportswriters everywhere. Here’s the report.
Standout JSerra receiver Tessa Russell.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
Panorama pulled off the biggest upset of the week, defeating Eagle Rock in four overtimes.
No. 1 JSerra continues to win and win. Here’s the report.
There’s still no resolution involving multiple El Camino Real coaches escorted off campus while the school conducts an investigation as to why their CPR and first-aid cards weren’t showing up in the Red Cross database.
Brad Wright, president of the school’s governing board, said, “At this time, I believe it is important to allow the investigation to proceed and respect the process and the privacy of everyone involved.”
3rd HR of the game! 13th HR in last 14 games! 27th HR of the season!
Cleveland #Guardians 21yr old (1B) prospect Ralphy Velazquez hits his 3rd HR of the game for Columbus a solo blast in the 8th inning 102.4 mph off the bat in vs St. Paul. #GuardsBallpic.twitter.com/aKraNMiXaj
Former Huntington Beach star Ralphy Velazquez had a three-home run game in the minors for the Guardians.
Standout receiver Gavin Honore has returned to Mater Dei after transferring to Bishop Gorman….
Baseball coach Michael Gonzales of South El Monte has resigned….
Brody Brooks (Loyola) and Mattias Di Maggio (Dos Pueblos) are part of a final group of 32 baseball players trying to make the USA 15U national team….
Elijah Menzies is the new girls basketball coach at Villa Park. Brad Willis has taken over the boys program….
Addison Archer, who averaged 26.6 points as a freshman at Rancho Christian, has transferred to Mater Dei. The Monarchs also have freshman Janai Turner, the daughter of former Beverly Hills boys coach Jarvis Turner. She is highly regarded….
First and foremost, all glory to God! Blessed and honored to announce my commitment to UCLA.Thank you to my fam. Grateful to Coach Alberto, Coach Simpson & @cen10 staff, & every coach, & teammate. Thank you Coach Savage, Coach Barnes & the @UCLABaseball staff for the opportunity. pic.twitter.com/VDDzowQwkK
Junior pitcher Christian De La O of Corona Centennial has committed to UCLA….
Royal football coach Adam Brubaker is no longer coaching the team after a video surfaced that showed him kicking a football into the groin area of a player during practice. Here’s the report. Royal defeated Monroe 62-0 with an interim coaching staff on Friday…
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit for a second time filed against the CIF seeking to change transfer and NIL rules. Here’s the report.
From the archives: Jeff Engilman
Former Sylmar High footbal coach Jeff Engilman in 2000.
(George Wilhelm/ Los Angeles Times)
Jeff Engilman is long retired but never forgotten. He was old school, his face turning bright red when chewing out players. He was head coach at Sylmar, Arleta, Grant and Manual Arts. He won two upper division City Section titles at Sylmar. He won two City titles at Manual Arts. Golden Valley coach Dan Kelley was his assistant for 15 years at Sylmar.
From the Los Angeles Times, an appreciation of Russell Westbrook after his retirement.
From the San Diego Union-Tribune, a look at the top 25 high school football players in San Diego.
From the Los Angeles Times, a story on the demolition and plans for a new Veterans Stadium in Long Beach.
From the Los Angeles Times, a look at former NFL players taking to coaching high school football.
Tweets you might have missed
One former high school football player from the Southland is at an SEC school in his final year of college. One of his classes is golf. Matt Leinart got lots of pub for taking ballroom dancing at USC. No word if you get extra credit for a hole-in-one.
If you’re a double hold back in HS with your chest out because you’re dominating kids 2-3 years younger than you, I feel embarrassed for you. Actually let me rephrase, your parents are responsible for this. I’m embarrassed of them. Justify this toxic culture all you’d like. “I’m…
Sofia Wroblewski makes her anticipated high school debut on the Southern California cross country scene as the @YorbaLindaXc freshman wins her two-mile race at the Mountie Xpress at Mt. SAC by 59 seconds! pic.twitter.com/kkmmT45eLq
🚨RANKINGS TEASER! 🚨 Here are the official CIF-SS Preseason Rankings for Boys Division 1 and 2. More coming this weekend. All divisions for both State and for CIF-SS drop by Tuesday! pic.twitter.com/VcHLt1QvXf
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.
Did you get this newsletter forwarded to you? To sign up and get it in your inbox, click here.
From Bill Plaschke: Fifty years in the shadows, gently nudging Southland kids into the light.
“It’s not my story,” said Eric Sondheimer. “It’s their story.”
Fifty years of covering more than 700 high schools like they were the only school, writing about thousands of athletes as if they stood alone.
“Los Angeles is so big, I try to treat it like a small town,” Sondheimer said. “And I love writing about that town.”
Fifty years on messy sidelines, in crowded bleachers, facing angry coaches, locked in ancient stadiums, juggling impossible deadlines, all for the sake of writing deeply buried stories that might be read by only family and friends.
“But when a parent comes up to me and thanks me for writing about their child, it’s the greatest feeling in the world,” Sondheimer said.
Fifty years of childhood tales about countless young athletes, stories about future Hall of Famers, he was their first interview, stories about anonymous benchwarmers, he was their only interview, stories filling dusty scrapbooks and crooked picture frames in parents’ houses all over the Southland, stories about teenage John Elway and whiz kid Tiger Woods and some anonymous sprinter from Taft.
Get the latest on L.A.’s teams in the daily Sports Report newsletter.
By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Service, which include arbitration and a class action waiver. You agree that we and our third-party vendors may collect and use your information, including through cookies, pixels and similar technologies, for the purposes set forth in our Privacy Policy such as personalizing your experience and ads.
Dodgers sweep the Pirates
From Sam Farmer: On a steamy Sunday when everyone in the Dodger Stadium seats was using programs to fan themselves, Blake Snell was fanning Pittsburgh Pirates — six strikeouts in six innings of work — and the bottom of the order played like the top of the lineup, providing ample offensive spark for a 4-0 victory that stretched the Dodgers’ winning streak to six games.
What a weekend for Dodger pitchers — Yoshinobu Yamamoto followed by Tarik Skubal followed by Snell, with Tyler Glasnow on deck and Shohei Ohtani getting healthier by the day and scheduled to throw a bullpen session during the upcoming series in Atlanta.
“It’s daunting,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, barely suppressing a smile. “As an offense — an opposing offense — to look at the probables you see Glasnow, Yamamoto, Snell, [Roki] Sasaki, and then potentially Shohei. It gets daunting.”
The team is coming off back-to-back sweeps of the Colorado Rockies and Pirates (63-69), who mustered two hits Sunday after a combined 14 in the first two games of the series.
For his part, Snell was happy but not thrilled about his performance, which included three walks and one hit batter.
“There were a couple innings there where, you know, get two quick outs and then full-count walk, full-count walk,” he said. “It’s not acceptable. Especially with, I feel good, I know I can command the ball. Honestly, it’s lazy. It’s me trying to get strikeouts instead of, you know, trying to go seven, eight, nine. So I definitely got to clean that up. But I know I’m going to do that, and just continue to get better, and learn, and grow.”
With the win, the Rangers moved into a tie with the Houston Astros for first place in the AL West with records of 65-66.
Durán put Texas on the board early, launching his 14th home run of the year into the left-center seats for a 1-0 lead. Cody Freeman added an RBI triple — his first of the season — before Díaz extended the lead to 5-0 in the fifth inning with a solo homer, his sixth of the season.
Yusei Kikuchi (0-4) gave up five runs on seven hits. He struck out four in five innings.
Angel City goalkeeper Angelina Anderson saved a penalty kick from Guro Reiten to preserve a scoreless draw against Gotham FC at BMO Stadium on Sunday.
Initially ruled a clean block in the 82nd minute, video review reversed the call and a handball was called on Angel City defender Sarah Gorden. On the ensuing penalty kick attempt, Anderson denied Reiten.
Anderson made four saves for her sixth shutout for Angel City (7-7-5).
He was the baby of the Feaster family, seven years younger than his next youngest sibling. But nothing about his behavior, even as a kid, suggested as much. He was always quiet, calm, determined, seemingly from birth, according to his father, Lee. When Lee Feaster encouraged Boobie at age 8 to write down his goals, and “make ‘em plain,” Boobie took the advice literally. He went straight to his bathroom mirror and copied them down. They’re still written on the bathroom mirror, to this day.
When he was 9, Boobie asked his father to buy him a football poster. Lee came in later to find it attached to the ceiling, above his bed. He asked Boobie why.
“I need it to be the first thing I see when I wake up,” Lee recalled him saying, “and the last thing I see when I go to bed.”
This, needless to say, was not exactly normal behavior for a 9-year-old. But nothing about Boobie Feaster has ever been normal. Least of all the relentless drive that would one day have everyone at USC raving and others around the nation whispering about one of the most anticipated freshman in college football.
Court ruling helps James Madison star come to UCLA
From Connor Dullinger: Former James Madison linebacker Trent Hendrick — who went undrafted in the 2026 NFL draft and participated in rookie minicamps with the Cleveland Browns and Kansas City Chiefs but never signed with a team — committed to UCLA football Sunday, reuniting with coach Bob Chesney and defensive coordinator Colin Hitschler in Westwood.
The former JMU linebacker exhausted his eligibility after the conclusion of the 2025 season, but Hendrick, along with 15 other football players, was granted a temporary restraining order Wednesday by a Louisiana judge to play a fifth season of college football and enter the transfer portal.
Hendrick had 106 tackles, seven tackles for a loss, three sacks and two forced fumbles last season at James Madison under Chensey’s direction. His play earned him Sun Belt Conference defensive player of the year honors.
The restraining order follows a Colorado court ruling on July 31 that granted athletes who began their collegiate careers in the 2022-23 season a fifth year of eligibility for the upcoming season. Although the Colorado ruling stated players would not be allowed to enter the transfer portal, a federal appeal court granted the NCAA a temporary stay on the Colorado court order Friday, pausing the nationwide injunction.
1904 — Holcombe Ward wins the men’s singles title in the U.S. Lawn Tennis Assn. singles title.
1908 — Tommy Burns knocks out Bill Squires in the 13th round at Sydney, Australia to retain the world heavyweight title.
1925 — Helen Wills, 19, wins her third straight U.S. Lawn Tennis Assn. singles title with a 3-6, 6-0, 6-2 victory over Kathleen McKane. An hour later, Wills teams up with Mary K. Browne to win the doubles title.
1929 — Helen Wills wins her sixth U.S. Lawn Tennis Assn. singles title by defeating Phoebe Holcroft Watson, 6-4, 6-2.
1963 — Don Schollander becomes the first swimmer to break the two-minute barrier in the 200-meter freestyle with a 1:58.4 time in a meet at Osaka, Japan.
1963 — John Pennel breaks the 17-foot barrier in the pole vault with a 17-0¾ vault in a meet at Miami.
1988 — Minnesota North Stars forward Dino Ciccarelli is sentenced to one day in jail and fined $1,000 for hitting another player with his stick. Ciccarelli, who was given a match penalty and 10-game suspension by the league for the Jan. 6, 1988 attack on Toronto’s Luke Richardson, is believed to be the first NHL player to receive a jail term for an on-ice attack of another player.
2003 — Jockey Julie Krone becomes the first female rider to win a million-dollar race taking the Pacific Classic at Del Mar aboard Candy Ride.
2004 — Four-time world 1,500 champion Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco, a heartbreak loser at the last two Olympics, holds off Bernard Lagat down the stretch to win in 3 minutes, 34.18 seconds. El Guerrouj edges Lagat by .12 seconds for the gold medal. El Guerrouj had lost four races in the last eight years, but two of those defeats came at the 1996 and 2000 Olympics.
2006 — After signing a one-day contract with the San Francisco 49ers, Jerry Rice officially retires from the NFL.
2007 — The NFL indefinitely suspends Michael Vick without pay just hours after he acknowledged in court papers that he did, indeed, bankroll gambling on dogfighting and helped kill some dogs not worthy of the pit.
2008 — On the final day of the Beijing Games, the United States beats Spain 118-107 and win the gold medal in men’s basketball for the first time since 2000. China has one of the most dominating and diverse performances at an Olympics ever, winning a games-leading 51 golds and an even 100 overall. The United States finishes with 110 medals and trails well behind the Chinese in golds with 36, the first time since 1992 it doesn’t lead the category.
2008 — Danny Lee becomes the U.S. Amateur’s youngest champion, supplanting Tiger Woods by holding off Drew Kittleson 5 and 4. The 18-year, 1-month-old Lee is six months and 29 days younger than Woods when he won the first of his three Amateurs in 1994.
2018 — French Open Tennis bans Serena Williams′ black Nike catsuit from future tournaments citing ‘respect for the game and the place.’
Compiled by the Associated Press
This day in baseball history
1905 — The Chicago Cubs beat the Phillies at Philadelphia 2-1 in 20 innings behind the complete game pitching of Ed Reulbach.
1940 — Outfielder Ted Williams pitched the last two innings for the Boston Red Sox against Detroit at Fenway Park. He gave up one run on three hits, but struck out Rudy York on three pitches. The Tigers, behind Tommy Bridges, won 12-1.
1951 — St. Louis Browns owner Bill Veeck gave over 1,000 fans behind his dugout YES and NO placards, allowing them to have a part in the strategy of the game. The fans flashed the cards when asked by the coaches what the Browns should do and it worked as St. Louis beat the Philadelphia Athletics 5-3.
1963 — The Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa. is covered by ABC’s Wide World of Sports for the first time.
1971 — Ernie Banks hit the 512th and final home run of his career as the Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds 5-4. Banks’ shot came off Jim McGlothin in the first inning.
1975 — Ed Halicki of San Francisco pitched a 6-0 no-hitter against the New York Mets to lead the Giants to a sweep of a doubleheader.
1989 — After six months of denial, defense and delay, Cincinnati manager Pete Rose was banned for life from baseball by Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti for gambling. Rose, baseball’s all-time hit leader and holder of 19 major-league records, signed a five-page agreement with Giamatti in which he agreed to a lifetime penalty but did not admit to gambling on baseball.
1996 — Hsieh Chin-hsiung sets a Little League World Series record with his seventh home run as Taiwan wins the title for the 17th time with a 13-3 victory over Cranston, R.I.
2001 — Colorado starting pitcher Jason Jennings went 3-for-5 in his major league debut, including a homer and an RBI single, while giving up five hits and striking out eight in a complete game shut out over the Mets, 10-0. The right-hander became the first pitcher in modern history to throw a shutout and hit a homer in his first game.
2003 — Ramon Hernandez and Miguel Tejada hit grand slams as Oakland routed Toronto 17-2.
2008 — Hawaii’s mini-mashers get a little help from Mexico’s miscues to win a fourth straight Little League World Series title for the United States. Tanner Tokunaga smacks two homers and Iolana Akau adds a solo blast as the boys from Waipahu, Hawaii, defeat Matamoros, Mexico, 12-3.
2008 — Francisco Rodriguez earned his 50th save, striking out two in a scoreless ninth inning to secure the Angels’ 5-3 victory over Minnesota.
2012 — Adrian Beltre of Texas hit for the cycle in an 8-0 win over Minnesota.
2013 — Adam Eaton hit a go-ahead double in the 18th inning and the Arizona Diamondbacks outlasted the Philadelphia Phillies 12-7 in a record-setting, marathon game for both clubs. The teams combined to use 20 pitchers in a contest that ended at 2:12 a.m. and took 7 hours, 6 minutes — setting a mark for length of game for both teams.
2013 — Detroit’s Max Scherzer outpitched Matt Harvey, striking out 11 and hitting a stunning RBI double that sent the Tigers to a 3-0 victory over the New York Mets. Scherzer (19-1) joined Rube Marquard in 1912 and Roger Clemens in 2001 as the only major league pitchers to win 19 of their first 20 decisions in a season.
2016 — David Ortiz became the oldest player ever to hit 30 homers in a season, but the Tampa Bay Rays came back from a three-run deficit to beat Boston 4-3 in 11 innings. The 40-year-old designated hitter connected for a two-run home run off starting pitcher Matt Andriese during the first inning.
2022 — George Kirby of the Mariners starts today’s game against the Nationals by throwing 24 consecutive strikes — a record since 1988, when all pitches were tracked for the first time. In the 8th inning. Seattle’s Julio Rodriguez hits his 20th homer to become only the fourth rookie to have a season of 20 homers and 20 steals. But while Mariners players grab the headlines, Washington scores twice in the top of the 9th to win the game, 3-1.
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.
Edwin Díaz said he understands the decision of the Dodgers to use him in lower-stake situations rather than immediately relying on him as a closer. The rationale is that strategy will help him rediscover his confidence.
“I know I haven’t done my job,” said Díaz, speaking to reporters at his locker before Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. “If I had done my job, I would be in the ninth inning.”
He praised Tanner Scott, who has thrived in that role.
“He’s doing a great job,” Díaz said. “I’m really happy for him.”
Díaz, the team’s biggest offseason acquisition, had elbow surgery early in the season and was out from April to late July. His return wasn’t triumphant, as he had three blown saves and two more shaky outings in non-save situations.
Díaz said he underwent an MRI scan on his neck and nothing unusual was revealed. He’s working with coaches on making a small adjustment to his delivery.
“They showed me a couple videos from last year — my arm slot’s always a little low,” he said. “We’re working now to get it higher and more consistent in that position.”
The goal, naturally, is to make good on the expectations the Dodgers had for him when they signed him to a three-year, $69-million deal.
“That’s why they signed me here,” he said. “To be the closer.”
Former James Madison linebacker Trent Hendrick — who went undrafted in the 2026 NFL draft and participated in rookie minicamps with the Cleveland Browns and Kansas City Chiefs but never signed with a team — committed to UCLA football Sunday, reuniting with coach Bob Chesney and defensive coordinator Colin Hitschler in Westwood.
The former JMU linebacker exhausted his eligibility after the conclusion of the 2025 season, but Hendrick, along with 15 other football players, was granted a temporary restraining order Wednesday by a Louisiana judge to play a fifth season of college football and enter the transfer portal.
Hendrick had 106 tackles, seven tackles for a loss, three sacks and two forced fumbles last season at James Madison under Chensey’s direction. His play earned him Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Year honors.
James Madison’s Trent Hendrick tackles Washington State’s Maxwell Woods on Nov. 22 in Harrisonburg, Va.
(Brien Aho / Getty Images)
The restraining order follows a Colorado court ruling on July 31 that granted athletes who began their collegiate careers in the 2022-23 season a fifth year of eligibility for the upcoming season. Although the Colorado ruling stated players would not be allowed to enter the transfer portal, and a federal appeal court granted the NCAA a temporary stay on the Colorado court order Friday, pausing the nationwide injunction.
It is unclear whether the Louisiana ruling covering Hendrick’s transfer will be contested.
While Hendrick reportedly considered multiple schools, including local Virginia Tech — the alma mater of his agent Zach Hoban — and Tosh Lupoi-led California, the middle linebacker opted for comfort with scheme and familiarity with the coaching staff at UCLA.
Hendrick represents a significant addition to Hitschler’s defense and should immediately fortify the center of the Bruins’ front seven.
UCLA’s run defense ranked 18th worst in the nation last season, conceding 190.4 yards per game, while JMU’s unit ranked fifth best, allowing just 85.1 yards per contest. Integral to the Dukes’ run-stopping was Hendrick, who not only captained the defense, but spearheaded the run support.
Oklahoma transfer linebacker Sammy Omosigho has handled middle linebacker duties since the start of the spring, but with the addition of Hendrick, Omosigho could slide back to the weakside linebacker slot — a position he is familiar with in his three years in Norman, Okla.
There Omosigho can elevate the team’s run stopping and use his athleticism to cover the middle of the defense sideline-to-sideline.
The addition of Hendrick could make fifth-year linebacker Jalen Woods the odd-man out in the starting defense, pushing the St. John Bosco High product to the second team alongside JMU transfer Drew Spinogatti and senior returner Donavyn Pellot.
For more than a decade, Los Angeles’ premier sports teams — the Lakers and the Dodgers — have relied on big-ticket TV rights deals to boost their operations and player payrolls.
But major changes are looming.
The prospective new Lakers owners — investor Joshua Kushner and former Walt Disney Co. chief executive Bob Iger — will inherit an uncertain long-term television picture for the team when they assume control of the storied franchise.
Charter Communications’ Spectrum service broadcasts Lakers games on its SportsNet cable channel. The Lakers are set this fall to enter the 15th year of their long-term, $3-billion agreement with the cable company to bring regular season action to local viewers.
But Charter executives have discussed exiting that relationship, which guarantees the team about $200 million a year in revenue, according to people familiar with the company’s plans who were not authorized to comment.
Charter months ago retained investment bankers to find a buyer for El Segundo-based Spectrum SportsNet, which the company runs in tandem with the Dodgers-owned channel, SportsNet LA.
Charter’s interest in jettisoning the channel as fewer consumers watch cable TV has sparked fears within the Lakers organization about the stability of the critical revenue stream, according to a person familiar with the situation who was not authorized to speak publicly.
The Lakers and Kushner’s investment firm, Thrive Capital, declined to comment.
Stamford, Conn.-based Charter on Thursday finalized its $34.5-billion purchase of Cox Communications, making Spectrum the dominant internet and television provider in Southern California, covering Santa Barbara to the Mexican border.
In response to questions from The Times, Charter Chief Executive Chris Winfrey acknowledged the turmoil surrounding sports channels.
“The regional sports network business is significantly challenged,” Winfrey said during a Thursday conference call with reporters to highlight the Cox merger. “Most of the regional sports networks have gone bankrupt [but] Spectrum has so far remained committed.”
The company is seeking a new arrangement, but Winfrey declined to discuss ongoing conversations with the Lakers or the team’s potential proprietors after Lakers owner Mark Walter, who is facing a federal criminal investigation, abruptly decided to sell the team in a deal valued at $12.5 billion. A spokesperson for Walter and his holding company has stated that they are cooperating with authorities and expect the matter to be resolved “favorably.”
Spectrum, Winfrey said, “would love to find solutions” to make its relationship with the Dodgers and Lakers more acceptable. Over the years, the company has bled hundreds of millions of dollars providing the L.A. sports channels.
“We believe in the local teams, the Lakers and the Dodgers,” Winfrey said. “It’s very important to us. It’s very important to our customers — but that doesn’t mean that it’s a great economic agreement with us.”
The Lakers’ TV contract runs through 2032. The Dodgers’ arrangement with Spectrum extends to 2038, but clouds have been gathering for years as consumers find new ways to watch sports.
Millions of consumers over the last decade have migrated from pricey packages offered by Spectrum and other cable companies to lower-cost streaming options. Spiraling monthly cable bills — largely driven by increases in sports rights fees — have made cable TV less attractive to ordinary subscribers.
A pedestrian walks past Spectrum SportsNet in El Segundo on Aug. 13.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Cable TV audiences are shrinking and major sports leagues, including the NBA, recognize the younger viewers they desperately want to reach primarily get their entertainment on apps. Broken TV economics have prompted the NBA to begin making plans to build a centralized streaming platform for fans to watch basketball.
“It’s mostly the result of cord-cutting and just fewer homes receiving these networks,” said Scott Robson, a principal analyst with S&P Global Market Intelligence. “The league [would like] to create a centralized streaming hub and bring all 29 domestic clubs under one umbrella, whether that be through YouTube or some other streaming partner.”
But such plans could mean sharing revenue among the various teams, which could mean less money for large-market clubs such as the Lakers and world-champion New York Knicks, which benefit from their lucrative local TV contracts.
The group operated FanDuel-branded channels (previously Bally Sports) following the 2023 Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization of Diamond Sports Group. Those channels have long featured Clippers and Kings games.
Pressure was lifted off the NBA when the league struck its latest round of national TV contracts — $77 billion worth of deals that, beginning last fall, spread basketball games across ESPN, ABC, Amazon Prime Video, NBC and NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service.
The current NBA contracts “provided more money than the previous deal, and as a result, the teams rely less on the local rights payments than they have in the past,” Robson said.
Headwinds for the local sports channels, including those operated by Spectrum, pose the latest rocky chapter for Los Angeles sports fans.
It’s a reversal of fortune from a quarter-century ago, when media giants, including Rupert Murdoch’s Fox, recognized there were huge profits to be made by launching regional sports networks.
Murdoch even owned the Dodgers for a stretch to corner the market on what was then a Wild West shoot-out among TV programmers to launch cable channels.
Charter’s predecessor, Time Warner Cable, wanted in on the action. In 2011, former Time Warner Cable executives hammered out the 20-year agreement with the Lakers, then owned by the late Jerry Buss. Two years later, Time Warner doled out an even richer $8.3-billion deal to the Dodgers, which at the time were under new ownership — Walter and his partners with Guggenheim Baseball Management.
The fees were so steep that other pay-TV providers, including Cox, Dish Network and, for many years, DirecTV, refused to carry the Dodgers channel — leading to one of the longest blackouts in sports TV.
Charter took over the two channels in 2016, when the company absorbed Time Warner Cable. Winfrey, on Thursday, made it clear he was not a fan of those deals, calling them “something that we inherited … not something we did on our own.”
Over the years, the company has lost hundreds of millions of dollars. Last year, Spectrum began offering a streaming-only option to expand the audience for Dodgers’ games. Spectrum subscribers can also watch Lakers’ games on a streaming app.
Last fall, Charter retained boutique bank the Raine Group to find a buyer for the Lakers channel. It’s not clear whether Charter would like to shed its deal with the Dodgers organization, which owns SportsNet LA.
Iger is well familiar with the fragmented sports landscape and economics after years overseeing ESPN and ABC.
Spectrum is seeking “innovative ways … to find a better long-term solution,” Winfrey said. “We’re trying to be constructive and respectful on all fronts.”
Alek Thomas is used to playing center field at Dodger Stadium.
Over parts of five seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks, the 26-year-old grew accustomed to being booed in L.A., all while watching baseball’s latest dynasty take shape.
“It’s funny, because they always hated me whenever I came out there in center field,” Thomas said before Saturday’s 4-3 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. “I was, like, ‘Come on, guys, I’m Mexican too. You don’t have to yell at me; like, we’re on the same side here.’
“But, obviously … it doesn’t matter where you’re from. ‘If you’re not a Dodgers guy, you’re not my guy.’”
Thomas, whom Arizona designated for assignment 28 games into the season before trading him to the Dodgers in May, is, well, a Dodgers guy now.
He was called up from triple-A Oklahoma City on Saturday after center fielder Andy Pages sustained a hand fracture after being hit by a pitch Friday.
“Great buy-in [and] great teammate,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Thomas before the game. “Really good defender. Had a good chat with him earlier. … he’s happy to be back in the big leagues.”
One could imagine how nice it felt for Thomas to hit an RBI single in the fourth inning, in his first game with the Dodgers and the team’s 12th sellout of the season.
“It’s been a little while,” said Thomas, who has spent 55 games in Oklahoma City this year. “So, I’m super glad to be back, and happy to help the team in any way, shape or form.”
Thomas looked solid in his primary role as a defender.
Dodgers pitcher Tarik Skubal delivers against the Pirates at Dodger Stadium on Saturday.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
He also showed some hustle, turning a should-be groundout into a two-bagger in the eighth after an error by Pirates first baseman Rafael Flores Jr.
“Andy’s a great player, and speedy recovery for him,” Thomas said. “But I’m gonna try and play my brand of baseball; that’s why the Dodgers got me. So, yeah, I’m just gonna go out there and be myself.”
Tarik Skubal and the Dodgers were themselves, too, after a rough start.
The left-hander gave up three runs and three hits in the first. But Skubal recovered to earn his first win with the Dodgers (79-51), giving up five hits and striking out 11 over seven innings to earn a standing ovation upon his exit.
Teoscar Hernández, who entered with two RBIs over his past 16 games, put the Dodgers on the board with a run-scoring single in the fourth. Six pitches later, Thomas earned his RBI, shrinking the Pirates’ lead to 3-2.
Starter Jared Jones, a Whittier native, lasted four innings for the Pirates (63-68). He gave up two runs on three hits with five strikeouts. Pirates reliever Yohan Ramirez struggled in his place.
Kyle Tucker ended his 0-for-26 drought at home with a go-ahead, two-run single off Ramirez in the fifth.
Relievers Evan Phillips, Jack Dreyer and Tanner Scott combined for two shutout innings. Dreyer struck out Oneil Cruz looking to end the top of the eighth with a runner on third, fighting off the Pirates’ final gasp.
The Dodgers have now taken the three-game series against Pittsburgh and are victors of five straight games for the first time since late May.
Jason Grant made a diving catch in the end zone with eight seconds left to lift Crenshaw past host Palisades 34-29 on Friday night in a battle of likely City Section Open Division playoff teams.
Danniel Flowers escaped the pocket, rolled to his right and lofted a pass to Grant, who saved the day for the Cougars after it looked like Palisades would pull off the upset against the team that lost in the section championship game last fall. Flowers ran for the two-point conversion.
“I ran an outside go route and I had to stretch out but I got my knees down,” Grant said. “We’ve been working all summer and the hard work paid off.”
Grant gave a shout-out to interim coach Terrence Whitehead, who guide the Cougars to the finals last fall in the absence of longtime coach Robert Garrett, who was put on administrative leave just before the start of the 2025 season.
“I love him,” Grant said. “He trusted me enough to put me in.”
After the kickoff, Palisades had one last chance from its own 26-yard line with two seconds left but Kyion Rattler intercepted Robert Holohan’s desperation pass at the Cougars’ 35.
Joshua Jones scores Crenshaw’s first touchdown in Friday night’s 34-29 season-opening win at Palisades.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
Flowers, who was injured on a sack earlier in the fourth quarter but returned to lead his team on the game-winning drive, threw touchdown passes of 46 yards to Rattler in the second quarter and 23 yards to Jovan Clark with 6:04 left in the fourth quarter that gave Crenshaw a 29-26 lead.
Playing on campus for the first time since the 2024 playoffs, Palisades regained the lead on Holohan’s 33-yard strike to Malachi Ross with 2:48 left for the 29-26 lead. The Dolphins thought they recovered a fumble at the Crenshaw 20 on the ensuing kickoff but the officials awarded the visitors the ball and tacked on a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that allowed the Cougars to start their final drive at their own 35.
“I had to come back in,” Flowers said of his late-game heroics. “I saw the D-end coming out so I just had to wait for a teammate to get open. We knew we’d win if we played four quarters. When we got down we kept our composure.”
Joshua Jones ran for 124 yards and one touchdown in 24 carries, De’Andre Kirkpatrick ran for a one-yard touchdown and intercepted a pass in the fourth quarter to keep Crenshaw close.
“We for sure want to go back to the finals and win,” Flowers added. “Defense wins games, but our offense won this one.”
Making his first varsity start, Holohan threw for three touchdowns and ran for another as the Dolphins established themselves as early Open Division contenders. They lost to Garfield in the Open Division quarterfinals last season, playing every game on the road as a consequence of the Palisades fire.
The teams were meeting for the first time since 1984 when both played in the Crosstown League.
Dodgers president Stan Kasten wants to make it clear that majority owner Mark Walter will not sell the team.
Following Walter’s decision to sell his majority stake in the Lakers, questions about his majority ownership of the Dodgers were raised amid his company’s financial difficulties, which include a federal probe of his businesses. But Kasten said it will have no effect on Walter’s majority ownership of the Dodgers.
“The Dodgers are not being sold,” Kasten said. “They’re not going to be sold. They’re not for sale. There’s no process that has been started to sell [the franchise]. Period. … I just wanted this to be clear because this question keeps coming up. I understand the questions; I do. The Lakers thing was what we call sui generis, one of those one-of-a-kind things. Really has nothing to do with what’s happening with [the Dodgers] or the other teams.
“I wanted you to hear it definitively: We are not selling the Dodgers. We are continuing with our plans going forward, like we always have had them. This comes from Mark. He’s gung-ho about continuing to try to win, again, including next year, subject to whatever next year’s climate looks like.”
Kasten added that he doesn’t expect the Dodgers’ operations to be interrupted, describing the franchise as “very stable, well-managed, and [with] very solid ownership.”
“I know nothing involving the Dodgers is part of the investigation,” Kasten said. “I’m promising you, when it’s over, you’re going to realize [things] are being mischaracterized. You don’t have to trust me, but I’m telling you.”
When Kasten was asked about reports Walter is trying to sell his stake in English Premier League team Chelsea FC and tried to cash out of lucrative TV deals with Charter Communications, he said they were mischaracterized.
“Those things don’t go together for a bunch of reasons I’m not going to get into today,” Kasten said.
Kasten took a similar tone when asked about reports of Walter having to repay insurance companies.
“I’m not in that part of the investigation,” Kasten said. “Things are going on behind the scenes, obviously, in connection with that. I’m not privy to all of them, don’t need to know, don’t want to know. But one thing we are all certain about: the sports portfolio is going to remain intact.”
Walter has additional ownership stakes in the Sparks, the Cadillac Formula One team, the Professional Women’s Hockey League and the Billie Jean King Cup tennis event.
“I can tell you from the guy running the team, knowing how the business runs and what it can support in terms of revenues and expenses — the Dodgers aren’t going anywhere,” Kasten said. “I feel that very strongly, and Mark feels even stronger than I do. I’m 74. I don’t know how long I’m going to be running it, but Mark, I think, is going to be running it a lot longer.
“I think Mark has done an extraordinary job as an owner, and all he’s ever cared about is providing the best experience in order to make us more money, to make this project successful,” Kasten added. “I think so far it has been; I expect that to continue far into the future.”
Mark Walter is not selling the Dodgers, his people say. Stan Kasten, the Dodgers’ president, said it again Friday. The team, as a Los Angeles Times headline put it, is the “crown jewel” of Walter’s sporting empire.
Walter was not selling the Lakers, either, until he suddenly did last week. And, amid a cash crunch triggered by a federal investigation into insurance firms his companies control, potential bidders for the Dodgers are monitoring the situation closely.
If Walter were to sell the Dodgers, a long line of interested parties could include the runner-up when he bought the team in 2012: Patrick Soon-Shiong, the owner of the Los Angeles Times.
On Friday, Soon-Shiong said through a representative that he would be interested in leading an investment group should Walter decide to sell the team.
“We respect Mr. Walter, and we want to make it clear we have not spoken with him,” said Chuck Kenworthy, the family attorney for Soon-Shiong. “If at some point he would like to discuss the Dodgers, we would be very open to talking.”
Walter’s TWG Global did not immediately return a request for comment.
The Dodgers could command between $10 billion and $13 billion — at the higher end, three times as much as the record sale price for a major league team — a high-ranking industry source told The Times on the condition of anonymity.
In 2012, Soon-Shiong joined hedge-fund titan Steve Cohen in trying to buy the Dodgers, with Cohen as the controlling partner. Walter and his partners won the bidding at $2.15 billion, well above the $1.6 billion runner-up bid of Soon-Shiong and Cohen.
In 2020, Cohen bought the New York Mets for $2.4 billion. The record price tag for a major league team: $3.9 billion for the San Diego Padres, officially sold this week to an investment group led by a married couple: Jose E. Feliciano, the founder of Clearlake Capital in Santa Monica, and Kwanza Jones, an artist and enterpreneur.
The record price tag for any North American sports team: $12.5 billion, the valuation of the Lakers in the deal announced last week in which Walter agreed to sell to a group fronted by former Disney chief Bob Iger and venture capitalist Joshua Kushner.
Insurance regulators and federal investigators are looking into whether certain financial transactions between various entities controlled by Walter were properly disclosed to investors and compiled with regulations designed to protect them.
The cash — from the sale of the Lakers and other assets — can help pay off loans under scrutiny by regulators. It is uncertain whether that would satisfy the federal agencies probing potential wrongdoing. No charges have been filed and investigations often conclude without charges.
In 2012, Soon-Shiong explored buying AEG, the sports and entertainment company that owns the Kings, the Galaxy and Crypto.com Arena. AEG owner Phil Anschutz ultimately decided not to sell.
Soon-Shiong considered buying the Angels in 2022, in the window between owner Arte Moreno announcing he would explore selling the team and deciding the following year that he would not sell.
Soon-Shiong is bringing the Global Esports Games to Los Angeles in December. He also has bought a Major League Volleyball expansion franchise that is scheduled to start play in Los Angeles next year.
Not because of his five-star, blue-chip status, leaving Warren High as the second-ranked prospect in the 2023 class and top-ranked recruit out of California.
Not for leading Tennessee to its first-ever College Football Playoff appearance and a 10-3 record — tying for the Volunteers’ second-best finish since 2001.
Instead, Iamaleava is remembered for his tumultuous exit from Knoxville, a parting characterized by head coach Josh Heupel that the program would move on without its starting signal-caller, leading the Long Beach product to UCLA.
More than one year removed after his departure, Iamaleava reflected at preseason media day on his time with the Volunteers, the effect last season had on his mental health and his mindset heading into 2026.
“In Tennessee, I was in a rough mental state as far as being far from home, but that’s what came with me growing and maturing,” Iamaleava said Wednesday. “So coming back home has been a great transition, and I can’t wait to play this year.”
Get the latest on L.A.’s teams in the daily Sports Report newsletter.
By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Service, which include arbitration and a class action waiver. You agree that we and our third-party vendors may collect and use your information, including through cookies, pixels and similar technologies, for the purposes set forth in our Privacy Policy such as personalizing your experience and ads.
Can Mark Walter keep the Dodgers?
When the news broke last week that Mark Walter was selling the Lakers just one year after buying the storied basketball franchise, executives working for another crown jewel in his sports empire — the Dodgers — were quick to say the billionaire had no plans to sell the team.
The Dodgers have won three of the last six World Series and 12 division titles since an ownership group led by Walter bought the then-bankrupt team in 2012, and the Dodgers now are considered the most successful — and lucrative — franchise in Major League Baseball.
Yet, amid Walter’s financial difficulties, including a federal inquiry into his insurance empire regarding $16 billion to $21 billion in undisclosed loans to his own companies, questions remain over whether the blowback will hit the Dodgers.
Walter has denied wrongdoing, and sports business experts say it’s far too soon to know whether the Dodgers will be in play. No charges have been filed against Walter or anyone associated with his businesses.
“If you’re judging on that — winning and revenue created — he’s been at the helm of all of that. … He does truly look like a white knight as it relates to his ownership of the Dodgers,” said Patrick Rishe, executive director of the Sports Business Program at Washington University in St. Louis. Still, “we don’t know what the issues are, and we don’t know the severity and the magnitude.”
On Thursday, coach Sean McVay was asked if Donald, a three-tine NFL defensive player of the year, would do more workouts before deciding whether or not he will come out of retirement to join the Super Bowl-favorite Rams.
Donald worked out at Loyola Marymount when the Rams were in training camp, and last week at the Rams facility in Woodland Hills.
“We’ll see,” McVay said. “I would love to be able to have all this stuff figured out but … I know he’s feeling good, and I think he will continue to work out, and I’m hopeful that we’ll have some answers on that sooner than later.”
Zach Neto was five for six with his 21st homer and a career-high seven RBIs and the Angels scored their most runs in three years to rout the Houston Astros 18-3 on Thursday night.
The Angels (51-77) had a season-high 18 hits and scored their most runs since a 25-1 victory over Colorado on June 24, 2023.
Angels starter Grayson Rodriguez (4-5) gave up just two unearned runs across seven innings while striking out six.
From Sam Farmer: Jake Slaughter could be the first Chargers player to touch the ball on every offensive snap. He has never done so in an NFL game that counts.
Slaughter, the rookie second-round pick from the University of Florida, is the leading candidate to start at center after Tyler Biadasz went down with a knee injury at practice this week. There is no timetable for the return of Biadasz, who signed a three-year, $30-million contract in March.
Although Slaughter played some guard in college, center is his natural position. He played just nine snaps Thursday in a 41-17 preseason loss to the San Francisco 49ers at SoFi Stadium.
It’s understandable that the Chargers (1-1) only wanted light duty from him, considering they slogged through a brutal 2025 season when they lost their two outstanding tackles and endured a revolving door along the offensive line throughout the season.
As is common throughout the NFL, lots of Chargers starters were merely spectators for the second of three preseason games.
Here are some more observations from the Chargers’ preseason loss to the 49ers:
From Jordan Puente: After 15 years in the WNBA, the Sparks’ Nneka Ogwumike is content with her decision to call this her final season.
“I think that ended up being a blessing in disguise,” Ogwumike said of returning to the Sparks during the offseason. “Once training camp hit, I realized, you know what? I think what I have left is one more season, and I was OK with that.”
Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said before tipoff she wanted her team to get off to a better start, but the team could not deliver Thursday and extended its losing streak to six games. The defeat officially eliminated the spiraling Sparks (12-24) from playoff contention.
1901 — William Larned wins the first of seven men’s singles titles in the U.S. Lawn Tennis Assn. championship.
1914 — Walter Hagen captures the U.S. Open golf title by edging Chick Evans.
1920 — Jock Hutchinson wins the PGA golf tournament with a 1-up victory over J. Douglass Edgar.
1932 — Helen Hull Jacobs beats Carolyn Babcock to win the women’s singles title in the U.S. Lawn Tennis Assn.
1982 — Mystic Park becomes the first 3-year-old trotter to win the American Trotting Championship.
1985 — Mary Decker sets the world record in the mile run with a time of 4:16.71 in Zurich.
2003 — Paul Hamm puts together a near-perfect routine on the high bar to become the first American man to win the all-around gold medal at World Gymnastics Championships. Needing a 9.712 or better to beat China’s Yang Wei, Hamm strings together four straight release moves during his 60-second routine — one of the toughest feats in gymnastics — for a 9.975 and the gold.
2004 — American super-swimmer Michael Phelps wins his sixth gold medal of the Athens Olympics even though he doesn’t swim the final of men’s 4 x 100m medley relay; US wins in world record 3:30.68.
2008 — At the Summer Olympics in Beijing, Yukiko Ueno pitches 28 innings in two days, including seven to shut down the U.S. softball team, 3-1, and give Japan the gold medal. It was the first loss for the Americans since Sept. 21, 2000 — 22 straight games. LaShawn Merritt upsets defending champion Jeremy Wariner to lead a U.S. sweep of the 400 meters track event. David Neville gets the bronze. The U.S. men and women both drop the baton in the Olympic 400-meter relays and fail to advance out of the first round. Jamaica’s Veronica Campbell-Brown easily wins the 200 meters to cap the first sweep of all four men’s and women’s Olympic sprints in 20 years.
2010 — Kyle Busch makes NASCAR history with an unprecedented sweep of three national races in one week, completing the trifecta with a victory in the Sprint Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Busch, winner of the Nationwide race a day earlier and the Trucks race on Aug. 18, becomes the first driver to complete the sweep since NASCAR expanded to three national series in 1995.
2011 — The Sparks run off 16 straight points to overcome a 15-point, second-half deficit and hand the Tulsa Shock their WNBA-record 18th consecutive loss with a 73-67 victory. The Atlanta Dream lost 17 in a row in their inaugural season of 2008.
2016 — Kevin Durant scores 30 points and helps the Americans rout Serbia 96-66 for their third straight gold medal. That caps an Olympics in which the U.S. dominated the medal tables, both the gold (46) and overall totals (121). The 51-total-medal margin over second-place China is the largest in a non-boycotted Olympics in nearly a century.
2018 — Liu Xiang of China sets a world record time of 26.98 seconds to win the women’s 50-meter backstroke gold medal at the Asian Games. Liu becomes the first woman to swim under 27 seconds in the event, breaking the mark of 27.06 set by fellow Chinese swimmer Zhao Jing at the 2009 world championships in Rome.
Compiled by the Associated Press
This day in baseball history
1926 — Ted Lyons of the Chicago White Sox pitched a no-hitter over the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. The 6-0 victory was achieved in 1 hour, 7 minutes.
1930 — Chick Hafey of the St. Louis Cardinals hit for the cycle and drove in five runs in a 16-6 rout of the Philadelphia Phillies.
1931 — Babe Ruth hit his 600th home run as the Yankees beat the St. Louis Browns 11-7.
1947 — The first Little League World Series was at Williamsport, Pa.
1972 — Steve Carlton of Philadelphia had his 15-game winning streak snapped when Phil Niekro and the Atlanta Braves beat the Phillies 2-1 in 11 innings.
1975 — Pitching brothers Rick and Paul Reuschel of the Chicago Cubs combined to throw a 7-0 shutout against the Dodgers. Rick went 6 1-3 innings and Paul finished the shutout for the first ever by two brothers.
1982 — Milwaukee pitcher Rollie Fingers became the first player to achieve 300 saves as the Brewers beat the Seattle Mariners 3-2.
1986 — Spike Owen had four hits and became the first major league player in 40 years to score six runs in a game as the Boston Red Sox routed the Cleveland Indians 24-5 with a 24-hit attack.
2007 — Garret Anderson of the Angels drove in a team-record 10 runs in an 18-9 rout of the New York Yankees. Anderson hit a grand slam, a three-run homer, a two-run double and an RBI double to become the 12th player in major league history to have 10 RBIs in a game.
2007 — Arizona’s Mark Reynolds tied the major league record for consecutive strikeouts by a non-pitcher when he fanned in his ninth straight plate appearance in a 7-4 loss to Milwaukee. Reynolds struck out in his first two at-bats against Dave Bush to match the record. Bush hit Reynolds with a pitch in the sixth, ending the streak.
2011 — Johnny Damon lost a grand slam to a video review in the seventh inning, then hit a game-ending home run in the ninth that lifted the Tampa Bay Rays over the Seattle Mariners 8-7. Damon connected for a leadoff shot in the ninth on the first pitch from Dan Cortes. The Rays trailed 5-4 in the seventh when Damon launched a drive to right-center field. First ruled a home run, the umpires changed the call to a three-run double after a video review.
2015 — Mike Fiers pitched the second no-hitter in the major leagues in nine days, leading the Houston Astros to a 3-0 victory over the Dodgers. Having never thrown a complete game in his five-year career, Fiers was dominant. He struck out 10 and walked three, retiring the final 21 batters. Fiers struck out Justin Turner on his 134th pitch to end it.
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.
Video obtained by The Times shows Royal High football coach Adam Brubaker kicking a football toward a student and hitting him in the groin area, which has resulted in the school beginning an investigation on the eve of the team opening its season on Friday.
Brubaker is no longer coaching the team, with the existing coaching staff taking over and the team still planning to play Monroe on Friday, according to a Simi Valley Unified School District official.
Brubaker, a former Panorama coach, took over as head coach at Royal in the middle of the 2025 season.
When the news broke last week that Mark Walter was selling the Lakers just one year after buying the storied basketball franchise, executives working for another crown jewel in his sports empire — the Dodgers — were quick to say the billionaire had no plans to sell the team.
The Dodgers have won three of the last six World Series and 12 division titles since an ownership group led by Walter bought the then-bankrupt team in 2012, and the Dodgers now are considered the most successful — and lucrative — franchise in Major League Baseball.
Yet, amid Walter’s financial difficulties, including a federal inquiry into his insurance empire regarding $16 billion to $21 billion in undisclosed loans to his own companies, questions remain over whether the blowback will hit the Dodgers.
Walter has denied wrongdoing, and sports business experts say it’s far too soon to know whether the Dodgers will be in play. No charges have been filed against Walter or anyone associated with his businesses.
“If you’re judging on that — winning and revenue created — he’s been at the helm of all of that. … He does truly look like a white knight as it relates to his ownership of the Dodgers,” said Patrick Rishe, executive director of the Sports Business Program at Washington University in St. Louis. Still, “we don’t know what the issues are, and we don’t know the severity and the magnitude.”
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Service, which include arbitration and a class action waiver. You agree that we and our third-party vendors may collect and use your information, including through cookies, pixels and similar technologies, for the purposes set forth in our Privacy Policy such as personalizing your experience and ads.
Aside from the Lakers, the Dodgers are, by far, the most valuable of Walter’s handful of sports franchises, and industry sources not authorized to speak publicly about any potential sale told The Times that the team could fetch $10 billion to $13 billion.
Walter’s sports portfolio includes the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women’s National Basketball Assn.; the Cadillac Formula 1 racing team; a premier women’s tennis competition, the Billie Jean King Cup; and the entire Professional Women’s Hockey League. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimates Walter has a net worth of $18.3 billion.
There have been reports that he is putting his shares of his most valuable professional soccer franchise, the Chelsea Football Club of the English Premier League, on the market.
But the Dodgers are the greatest show in baseball, playing before stadiums packed with fans willing to shell out top dollar to see a roster that includes international superstars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
Last week, Dodgers president and part-owner Stan Kasten said the Lakers sale “really has nothing to do with the Dodgers” and that “there are no changes here or contemplated here.” And Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said at a news conference that he was “shocked” by news of the Lakers sale and had not heard of any potential changes to Dodgers ownership.
Andrew Granato, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin who specializes in corporate finance and insurance, said that although it was not yet clear whether Walter would offload the Dodgers, it would not be impossible, given the speed and scale of the billionaire’s recent financial transactions and the mounting federal and public scrutiny.
“I imagine that no fan feels particularly comfortable if the owner of their favorite team is under … investigation. Certainly, it’s not an ideal situation,” he said.
Walter was riding high after the Dodgers’ success and his $10-billion purchase of the Lakers last year. But the last few months have been challenging.
The loans by two Delaware life insurers that Walter owns were made to companies tied to him or his TWG Global holding company but were not disclosed as “related party” transactions as required, the Wall Street Journal reported. Related-party transactions made by insurers are required to be reported to limit conflicts of interest and protect policyholders, who have an interest in the financial strength of their insurers.
Walter, the 66-year-old chief executive of Chicago investment firm Guggenheim Partners, led a group that included another Guggenheim executive and Magic Johnson in acquiring the Dodgers for $2.15 billion in 2012, then a record for an MLB team.
The Times has reported that he tapped the insurers he owned for financing, a deal that was later vetted by state insurance regulators.
However, the amount of related-party loans made by the two affiliated life insurers now under federal scrutiny is vastly more, amounting to 40% of the invested assets of Delaware Life as of Dec. 31, according to Fitch Ratings. The credit rating firm said that is the most of any North American life insurers it reviews.
It’s unclear where the money went, but the Wall Street Journal reported that billions were passed through a third party before being received by entities tied to Walter or his TWG Global holding company.
Last week, Walter stunned the sports world by selling a majority stake in the Lakers for $12.5 billion to former Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger and venture capitalist Joshua Kushner, who is the brother of President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Walter has declined to comment on whether the sale was tied to the federal investigation.
The framework for a deal was consummated in a matter of days, Iger told interviewers last week. It still must be approved by the NBA Board of Governors, which meets in September.
Projecting an exact value for the Dodgers is difficult because MLB and its players union are engaged in contentious collective bargaining negotiations that many experts believe could result in a lockout when the current agreement expires in December.
Should a salary cap be agreed upon for the first time in MLB history, the valuation could jump to the high end, the source said. And about $1 billion of any sale would be subtracted to cover the Dodgers’ future commitments on deferred contracts.
The Dodgers’ massive local television deal with SportsNet LA directly elevates the franchise’s overall valuation.
Listing potential buyers should the Dodgers be for sale is challenging because the estimated value of the franchise is so much greater than almost any other MLB team. The record price for a sports franchise was the $12.5 billion for the Lakers.
Besides Kushner and Iger, those who have bid for teams aren’t in the $10-billion-plus ballpark. The San Diego Padres were sold last week for $3.9 billion to José E. Feliciano and Kwanza Jones.
Are you a true-blue fan?
Get our Dodgers Dugout newsletter for insights, news and much more.
By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Service, which include arbitration and a class action waiver. You agree that we and our third-party vendors may collect and use your information, including through cookies, pixels and similar technologies, for the purposes set forth in our Privacy Policy such as personalizing your experience and ads.
Another question that has arisen as Walter’s financial troubles have garnered headlines is whether MLB would conduct its own investigation into Dodgers ownership or pressure the billionaire and his partners to sell the team.
“Any time there is any kind of public question about owners, they look into it,” former Dodgers president Bob Graziano told The Times. “I would guess, because there is a federal investigation going on, they’re not launching their own investigation, but they are going to wait to see what comes out of the federal investigation.”
No investigation of any kind into the matter has been announced by MLB.
MLB has never formally stripped an owner of a franchise or forced an outright sale through a vote of franchise owners. But the league forced Frank McCourt to sell the Dodgers in 2012 by exerting pressure and threatening a financial takeover or disciplinary action that would have stripped operational control.
When McCourt sold the team to Walter’s Guggenheim group, the franchise was in Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
When Guggenheim purchased the team in 2012, it outbid billionaire hedge fund manager Steven Cohen, who now owns the New York Mets. A group headed by former Yankees and Dodgers manager Joe Torre and L.A. developer Rick Caruso dropped out of the bidding ahead of Cohen. Additional bidders included media executive Leo Hindery, billionaire Tom Barrack, then-St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke and Jared Kushner.
Times staff writer Laurence Darmiento contributed to this report.
