maj Page 12 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

How could you root against the Czech Republic's World Baseball Classic team?
March 7 marks the beginning of the World Baseball Classic as the best players from around the world compete in what is essentially baseball’s Olympics. Yes, baseball was an Olympic event in 2020, but let’s be real, that was a bigger joke than anything Marvel has put in its movie scripts recently. Th...

Wow, that MLB pitch clock seems obnoxious
The introduction of the pitch clock to Major League Baseball is a long overdue change necessary to entice younger viewers. We already know it won’t have a major impact, if any, on offensive output, but it will make games faster-paced and easier to watch. Or at least, that’s what we hoped it would do...

New Yankee Carlos Rodón thinks the Bronx faithful are more passionate than SF Giants fans
The New York Yankees head into 2023 as favorites to win the AL East and the second-biggest favorites to win the World Series. Yes, expectations are high for this team, but that’s nothing new. When a brand as iconic as the Yankees fails to meet its lofty season goals, fans get mad. Despite consistent...

MLS doesn’t know what fans want
It tells you pretty much everything you need to know about Major League Soccer that A) the season starts in five days and you likely didn’t know that, and B) with only five days to go is when the league actually finalized what the playoff system for this season will be. That’s right, teams didn’t kn...

I’d rather get in a ring with Greg Hardy than play pickup with D.K. Metcalf
Albert Pujols and D.K. Metcalf aren’t in the same universe athletically at this point in their lives. Yet, they shared a basketball court Friday as part of the NBA Celebrity Game, and I gotta say, it is startling that one of the greatest baseball players of this century — coming off a 24-home run sw...

Thierry Henry as the USMNT’s next coach isn’t as bad as you think
The direction of the United States men’s national team nearly three months after its World Cup campaign in Qatar began is in flux. The Yanks are at the wheel, but don’t know whether to hit the gas or the brake. The car is in neutral at a time where that’s acceptable, but not ideal. Making the right ...

Nothing ever improves when MLB takes control
We stand here today on the precipice of one of the largest downfalls in broadcasting. Diamond Sports Group, the company that owns all of Bally’s regional sports networks, announced Wednesday that it would be skipping its $140 million payment for February. ...

Tampa Bay Rays trying to pull usual scam for new stadium in place no one wants to go
By now pretty much everyone is wise to the publicly-funded stadium scam. Teams threaten to leave, local and state politicians buckle, citizens pour their tax money into a new stadium, and only the team owner and their high-ranking employees see the benefits. And generations of taxpayers end up askin...

Tom Brady's not the only star who couldn't quit the spotlight
For the second straight Feb. 1, Tom Brady retired from the National Football League. His first retirement lasted all of 40 days, coming back to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers minutes after the NCAA Tournament field was chosen on Selection Sunday. He’s now retired “for good” and the entire sports world kno...

I get picking a young star, but Jazz Chisholm only played in 60 games last year
Earning the distinction of cover athlete for your sport’s premier video game franchise is a unique honor. You didn’t necessarily win any awards, championships, or playoff games, but you played well enough for people to consider you the most marketable face they could put on the cover of their produc...

Did the Bengals really get screwed by the refs in the AFC Championship game?
There was no way Sunday’s duo of conference championship games was going to end without a smattering of controversy. It’s just how the NFL works. In high-pressure situations, flaws in the system of rules the league have procured come to the surface with every action having dream-realizing consequenc...

For once, the NFL being America’s most popular sport worked to the NBA’s advantage
The officiating crew from that Saturday night Los Angeles Lakers-Boston Celtics matchup was let off the hook by the NFL playoffs. Chris Jones disrupted the Cincinnati Bengals far more than any mistakes from the officials on Sunday night, but any added difficulty is always burdensome when dealing wit...

Bally Sports possibly plunges baseball toward caring about what happens on the field
MLB’s biggest problem in the last few years is that too many teams have not really cared about whether their teams win or lose. They’ll say all the right things, and maybe make just enough signings or trades to fool their idiotic portion of their fanbases into buying tickets or for a new Carlton Fis...

US Soccer is rebooting the USMNT…again
There’s burning the ships, and then there’s this. ...

White Sox pitcher Mike Clevinger under MLB investigation after domestic violence allegations
White Sox pitcher Mike Clevinger is under investigation by Major League Baseball following allegations of domestic violence, per a report in The Athletic, and confirmed by ESPN. ...

Brian McBride out as USMNT GM, and Gregg Berhalter should be next
Brian McBride, the general manager of the USMNT, is out, per sources. No exact reason has been given. The casual assumption is it had something to do with the drama that came to light after the U.S. was ousted from the World Cup....

The Baltimore Orioles are a failure and everyone knows it
Walk into any bar in Baltimore and randomly shout the name “Angelos.” Chances are someone within earshot will have some sort of visceral thoughts on the family that own a majority of the Orioles. Same as Steinbrenner in The Bronx or Buss in Los Angeles. The Angelos family patriarch, Peter, is 93. Te...

Soon you'll be able to watch your favorite out-of-town team in your own market
For a sport that has been struggling to retain youthful viewers, blackouts are an incredibly dumb aspect of streaming games. You can watch any team you want to...except the teams near where you live. Throughout most of Nevada, the San Diego Padres, Arizona Diamondbacks, Los Angeles Dodgers, L.A. Ang...

Apple’s MLS channel begins to take shape, we’re just not sure what shape
The MLS season always comes out of the weeds in a surprise fashion, mostly due to its placing its start right when the business end of the European season begins (Champions League knockout rounds, closing stages of domestic seasons, etc.). It’s only 44 days until MLS starts its season, and though th...

Everything we know about the NFL's alleged 'five-minute warmup' decision
The severity of Buffalo safety Damar Hamlin’s injury was apparent quickly. The details of the 24-year-old needing to be resuscitated on the Paycor Stadium turf in Cincinnati weren’t widely known until about an hour later, around the same time the NFL officially decided to suspend Monday’s all-import...