March 27, 2025 4:23 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Juan Soto, Blake Snell and Clay Holmes debut for new teams. Paul Skenes makes his first opening-day start at age 22 and Sandy Alcántara returns from Tommy John surgery. A week after the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers swept an opening two-game series over the Chicago Cubs in Tokyo, 26 other teams get underway Thursday on opening day in the U.S. and Canada. One day later the Rays and Rockies become the final clubs to take the field, given extra time while Tampa Bay moved into the New York Yankees’ Steinbrenner Field, its temporary home this season after Hurricane Milton destroyed Tropicana Field’s roof.
March 27, 2025 4:24 am
The NFL competition committee is recommending making the dynamic kickoff rule permanent and moving touchbacks to the 35-yard line in hopes of generating even more returns. The competition committee released several potential rule changes for 2025 on Wednesday, including an expansion of instant replay that will be considered next week at the league meetings. Any rule change must be approved by 24 out of 32 team owners. Teams submitted several proposals last week that also could be voted on at the league meetings, including banning the “tush push” and changing playoff seeding rules.
March 27, 2025 4:26 am
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — In an NCAA Tournament sorely lacking in Cinderella stories, coach John Calipari has the unusual role of being the closest thing to it. After routinely taking powerhouse teams in his first decade at Kentucky to the Sweet 16 and beyond, Calipari has surprisingly done the same in his first season at Arkansas with the 10th-seeded Razorbacks set to take on No. 3 seed Texas Tech in the West Region semifinals on Thursday night as the only double-digit seed remaining in the tournament. Top-seeded Florida will take on No. 4 seed Maryland in the other Sweet 16 game in San Francisco.
March 27, 2025 9:52 am
The Philadelphia Flyers fired coach John Tortorella with nine games left in another losing season for a franchise that hasn’t been in the playoffs since 2020. The Flyers are last in the Metropolitan Division at 28-36-9 for 65 points under the notoriously brusque Tortorella. The Flyers suffered their sixth straight loss Tuesday 7-2 to Toronto. The Flyers named Brad Shaw the interim coach, starting with Thursday’s game against Montreal.
March 26, 2025 4:23 am
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Nikita Kucherov had a goal and two assists to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning over the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-1 on Tuesday night. Anthony Cirelli scored twice in the first period, Brandon Hagel and Ryan McDonagh both had a goal and an assist. Brayden Point also scored for Tampa Bay. Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 14 saves. Tristan Jarry started in net for the Penguins but was pulled 16 minutes into the first period after allowing four goals on seven shots. Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 18 shots in relief. Bryan Rust scored for Pittsburgh.
March 26, 2025 4:25 am
Russell Wilson has agreed on a one-year contract with the New York Giants, a person with knowledge of the deal told The Associated Press. The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity Tuesday because the signing hasn’t been finalized, said Wilson’s deal is worth up to $21 million with $10.5 million guaranteed. The Giants signed veteran Jameis Winston to a two-year contract last week and have the third pick in next month’s NFL draft. The 36-year-old Wilson joins his fourth team in five years.
March 26, 2025 2:16 am
Just a week after its Men’s Basketball team lost an NCAA Division I First Four heartbreaker, Saint Francis University and the Presidents Athletic Conference have announced that the Red Flash will re-classify from Division I to Division III and join the conference, becoming the 13th full-time member institution. Saint Francis fields 22 varsity athletic teams, including nine men’s and 13 women’s. The University will retain its current affiliation as a full-time member of the Northeast Conference (NEC) until June 30, 2026, when it will begin transitioning to Division III, a process that will take three years to complete. Meanwhile, the Red Flash will have full schedules in all applicable PAC sports. Saint Francis will not be eligible for PAC Championships or compete in Conference Championship Tournaments in basketball, soccer, volleyball, tennis, lacrosse, baseball & softball until they are approved for active Division III membership by the NCAA. Red Flash programs in sports such as cross country, golf, swimming and diving and indoor and outdoor track and field will be able to compete at PAC Championships starting in 2026-27.
“The Presidents’ Athletic Conference is looking forward to welcoming Saint Francis University to the PAC,” Doug Lee, President at Waynesburg University and Chair of the PAC Presidents’ Council said in the PAC release. “Their commitment to creating an atmosphere for scholar athletes to compete in the unique and exciting dimension of Division III athletics will further enhance the strong tradition of excellence upheld by our member institutions.”
“On behalf of the Presidents’ Athletic Conference and our Presidents Council, it is my distinct honor to officially welcome Saint Francis University of Pennsylvania as they reclassify their athletic department to NCAA Division III and full PAC membership,” PAC Commissioner Joe Onderko was quoted in the release. Onderko, now in his 19th year leading the conference, added “The oldest Catholic-Franciscan college in the United States, Saint Francis is a tremendous fit, both geographically and culturally, as the newest PAC member. In addition, the Red Flash athletic department shares our unique vision that academic and athletic excellence are not mutually exclusive. We are excited to welcome them as the league’s 13th full member and believe they will be a tremendous partner as the PAC continues to grow.
With the addition of Saint Francis, the PAC has grown from nine members to 13 full-time members since 2019. Franciscan University joined the conference that year, while Allegheny College returned to the PAC as a full-time member in 2022 and Hiram College will return to full competition in the conference beginning in the 2025-26 academic year. The PAC continues to expand its championship offerings, as the conference introduced women’s and men’s lacrosse championships in 2019 and this spring, will host the first-ever Men’s Volleyball Championship Tournament.
March 25, 2025 4:25 am
DENVER (AP) — They’re playing for more than trips to the Final Four and a chance to cut down nets at March Madness. It’s also a chance to see and be seen – by other teams. In yet another sign of the times in college sports, the transfer portal opens Monday, giving basketball players a 30-day window to switch schools. It means some of the 1,000 or so players on the 68 teams that qualified for the NCAA Tournament are playing to win, but also for more money, more playing time, a chance to be seen and potentially set things up for next year.
March 25, 2025 4:22 am
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas has hired Xavier’s Sean Miller to take over the Longhorns basketball program. Texas is turning to the coach who just knocked the Longhorns out of the NCAA Tournament. Miller will try to spark a program that struggled in its first season in the Southeastern Conference. It is also the second time Miller is leaving Xavier, a Catholic school in Cincinnati that plays in the Big East, for a bigger program. He coached at Xavier from 2004-2009 before leaving for Arizona. He then returned to Xavier in 2022 after he was fired.
March 25, 2025 4:24 am
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Bold decisions to change Major League Baseball’s longstanding rules quickened the pace of games and revived the popularity of stealing bases over the last few years. A similarly creative move may be needed to help starting pitching regain the relevance it enjoyed as recently as a decade ago. Thirty-four pitchers worked as many as 200 innings and all 30 major league teams got over 900 innings from their starters in 2014. Only four pitchers threw 200 innings last season and just four teams got as many as 900 innings from their starters.
