From Bill Shaikin: This was pretty audacious, even by the Dodgers’ standard. Their $17-million left fielder flopped last year, so they threw $240 million at another corner outfielder to supplement the three most valuable players already in their lineup.
Still, as Kyle Tucker smiled for the cameras at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday, it was hard to imagine this one man could sign here and take down the 2027 season.
On Tuesday the Athletic quoted one ownership source that portrayed the Tucker signing as a tipping point that made it “a 100 percent certainty” owners would push for a salary cap when the collective bargaining agreement expires this fall. Owners have been complaining about the Dodgers’ signings of Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell and Tanner Scott, and on and on, and it sounds silly that the signing of one Kyle Daniel Tucker would turn the owners in a direction many of them already indicated they want to go.
“I agree,” said the man who signed him, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman.
If baseball comes up with new rules next year, the Dodgers will abide by them. Until then, Friedman said, their “only focus” is on delivering the best possible product to the fans who pack Dodger Stadium every night and shop the team store like crazy. In return, he said, the Dodgers can sell themselves to stars like Tucker.
“A destination spot is where players and their families feel incredibly well taken care of,” Friedman said. “If they’re playing in front of 7,000 people, they don’t feel that as much.
“Playing in front of 50,000 people, and seeing the passion and how much people live and die for the Dodgers each summer and each October, I think, adds to the experience and allure of playing here.”
‘I want to clear my name’: Yasiel Puig fights charges of lying to federal investigators in trial
Teammates believe in Matthew Stafford
From Gary Klein: Whatever the circumstance — cold, snow, rain, wind, noise — Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford is cool, calm and collected.
But the 17th-year pro is not quiet.
Especially in the huddle. Especially at decibel-delirious Lumen Field in Seattle.
“He’s screaming,” tight end Davis Allen said Wednesday, chuckling. “He’s not talking normal, that’s for sure… He does a great job making sure guys are where they need to be.”
Since joining the Rams in 2021, Stafford is 3-1 at Lumen Field, where the Rams will play the Seahawks on Sunday in the NFC championship game.
Asked how he thought he had played in Seattle, Stafford instantly ticked through all of the Rams’ performances.
A Thursday night victory in 2021. Sitting out 2022 because of injury. A walk-off touchdown pass to win in overtime in 2024, and an overtime loss this season in Week 16.
“It’s always a great environment,” Stafford said.
NFL playoffs schedule
All times Pacific
Conference championships
Sunday
AFC
Noon
No. 2 New England at No. 1 Denver (CBS, Paramount+)
NFC
3:30 p.m.
No. 5 Rams at No. 1 Seattle (FOX, FOX One, FOX Deportes)
Super Bowl
Sunday, Feb. 8, 3:30 p.m., NBC, Peacock
UCLA women rout Purdue
From Steve Galluzzo: Coming off Sunday’s 30-point win over then-No. 12 Maryland — UCLA’s largest margin of victory over a top-15 team since 1992 — it would have been easy for the Bruins to take unranked Purdue lightly.
Instead, the UCLA women played with the intensity and focus characteristic of an NCAA tournament game, dominating from start to finish in a 96-48 triumph Wednesday night at Pauley Pavilion.
The third-ranked Bruins (18-1 overall, 8-0 in Big Ten) won for the 12th straight time and are more than halfway to tying the program record of 23 in a row set last year. The 48-point win marked the sixth straight by 18 points or more as the Bruins moved out of a tie with Iowa for sole possession of first place in the conference.
All five starters scored in double figures. Gabriela Jaquez led the way with 25 points on 10-for-11 shooting, Lauren Betts had 16 points and 10 rebounds, Kiki Rice and Charlisse Leger-Walker each added 15 points and Gianna Kneepkens had 14.
Alijah Arenas debuts in USC’s loss
From Ryan Kartje: As he laid in a hospital bed last April, lucky to be alive, Alijah Arenas dreamed of this moment. He thought of it in the weeks and months after his Tesla Cybertruck hit a tree and burst into flames in Reseda, leaving him hospitalized for six days. And he thought of it over a long summer and fall spent rehabbing the injured knee that failed him in his first week back to practice at USC.
Nine difficult months spent waiting for the day to finally culminated Wednesday night with Arenas roaring into the lane, with just one defender standing between him and the hoop. The five-star freshman had committed to USC with every intention of bolting for the NBA after one season, only for the setbacks of the past year to put his likely lottery status in doubt.
Now here, as he lifted toward the hoop early in his college debut, Arenas spun around that lone defender in mid-air and softly laid in a finger roll, reminding everyone in attendance of the talent they’d waited so eagerly to see.
But what unfolded from that moment on Wednesday night probably wasn’t how Arenas or any Trojan would have envisioned it, as Northwestern, a team previously winless in the Big Ten, spoiled the star freshman’s debut and left USC spiraling with a 74-68 defeat.
“Critical, critical loss tonight,” Coach Eric Musselman said. “I can’t. I mean, just brutal.”
Gary Patterson to the Trojans?
From Ryan Kartje: In his years-long pursuit to build a great defense at USC, Lincoln Riley first entrusted the job to a familiar face from his Oklahoma days. When that failed, Riley handed the reins of his defense — and a massive paycheck — to the crosstown rival’s rising star … who then left two years later.
Now, in his third try at finding a leader for USC’s defense, Riley is working to lure a Hall of Famer to Hollywood.
USC is closing in on a deal to hire Gary Patterson, the longtime Texas Christian coach, as its defensive coordinator, a person familiar with the decision but not authorized to speak publicly told The Times.
Ducks win fifth in a row
Mikael Granlund and Cutter Gauthier scored in the shootout and Lukas Dostal stopped 40 shots as the Ducks defeated the NHL-leading Colorado Avalanche 2-1 for their fifth straight win Wednesday night.
Jeffrey Viel scored in his second straight game as the Ducks opened a six-game trip.
Artturi Lehkonen scored for Colorado, and Scott Wedgewood made 16 saves.
Alex Killorn played in his 1,000th game. He spent 11 years with Tampa Bay, winning the Stanley Cup twice, before signing with the Ducks as a free agent in 2023.
WNBA releases schedule
The WNBA is set to begin its season on May 8, assuming the league and the players’ union can come to an agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement.
Teams will play 44 games over a five-month period with a 17-day break for the FIBA World Cup in early September. The league said last year that with the World Cup this season they would keep the schedule at 44 games despite adding two new teams in Portland and Toronto.
“As we prepare to tip off the WNBA’s historic 30th season, this schedule reflects both how far the league has come and the momentum that continues to drive us forward,” WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said.
The Sparks are scheduled to open the season with a four-game homestand at Crypto.com Arena, beginning May 10 against the defending champion Las Vegas Aces. The Sparks will also host the expansion Toronto Tempo on May 15.
Trade unions support Santa Anita
From John Cherwa: The dispute between the state and Santa Anita Park over the use of a new betting machine was ratcheted up Wednesday when four major trade unions sent a letter to Rob Bonta, the California attorney general, urging the state to return the terminals it confiscated on Saturday. Santa Anita filed suit against the state on Tuesday seeking the same.
Collectively, the Service Employees International Union, the Teamsters, California State Pipe Trades Council and the State Assn. of Electrical Workers created a special letterhead with all their logos to show their solidarity on the issue. The two-page letter, obtained by The Times, was stinging and pointed, calling the state’s removal of Racing on Demand machines as “not only misguided but reckless.”
It went on to say: “By removing these terminals, your agency has introduced unnecessary uncertainty into an industry already confronting significant economic challenges. This decision undermines innovation, discourages investment and jeopardizes the more than $1.7 billion in annual economic impact that California horse racing generates for local communities, workers and the state as a whole.”
This day in sports history
1920 — The New York Yankees announce they will be the first team to wear uniform numbers, according to the player’s position in batting order.
1960 — Paul Pender beats Sugar Ray Robinson in a 15-round split decision to capture the world middleweight boxing title.
1962 — Bob Feller and Jackie Robinson are elected into baseball’s Hall of Fame. Robinson is the first Black man to enter the Hall.
1968 — The NBA awards expansion franchises to Milwaukee and Phoenix.
1973 — George Foreman knocks out Joe Frazier in the second round in Kingston, Jamaica, to win the world heavyweight title.
1983 — Houston becomes the first NBA team not to score a point in overtime. The Portland Trail Blazers outscore the Rockets 17-0 for a 113-96 victory.
1988 — Mike Tyson knocks out Larry Holmes in the fourth round at Atlantic City to retain his world heavyweight title.
1989 — After winning his third Super Bowl as head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, Bill Walsh retires.
1998 — New York’s Pat LaFontaine reaches 1,000 career points, scoring his 19th goal in the Rangers’ 4-3 loss to Philadelphia.
2003 — Andy Roddick wins one of the longest matches of the Open era, beating Younes El Aynaoui in a fifth set that ended 21-19 to reach the Australian Open semifinals. The American won 4-6, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-4, 21-19 in a match lasting 4 hours, 59 minutes — the longest men’s singles match at the Australian Open since tiebreaker sets were introduced into Grand Slam events in 1971.
2005 — Jockey Russell Baze passes Bill Shoemaker to take second place on the career win list. Russell gets his 8,834th victory aboard Hollow Memoires in the seventh race at Golden Gate Fields.
2006 — The Pittsburgh Steelers are the first team since the 1985 Patriots to win three postseason road games thanks to a 34-17 dismantling of the Denver Broncos in the AFC title game.
2006 — Kobe Bryant scores a staggering 81 points — the second-highest total in NBA history — and the Lakers beat the Toronto Raptors 122-104.
2012 — The New England Patriots beat the Ravens 23-20 in the AFC championship game after Baltimore’s Billy Cundiff misses a 32-yard field goal attempt with 11 seconds remaining that would have tied the score.
2012 — New York’s Lawrence Tynes kicks a 31-yard field goal in overtime and the Giants beat the San Francisco 49ers 20-17 in the NFC championship game.
2016 — David Blatt, the second-year coach who guided Cleveland to the NBA Finals in 2015, is fired despite the Cavaliers holding a 30-11 record. Blatt is the first coach since conferences began in 1970-71 to be fired when his team had the best record in its conference.
2018 — New Orleans Pelicans’ DeMarcus Cousins has 44 points, 24 rebounds & 10 assists in 132-128 double-OT win over Chicago Bulls; 1st player since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1972) with 40+ points, 20+ rebounds & 10+ assists.
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.