previews Page 1 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

LAFC may have Carlos Vela for playoff rematch vs. Whitecaps
Los Angeles FC will begin their 2024 MLS Cup playoff run the same way they began their 2023 postseason, as they are set to face the visiting Vancouver Whitecaps on Sunday evening in the opener of a first-round series. ,And just maybe, Carlos Vela will once again be involved for the Western Conferenc...

NHL West Preview: Some top-tier teams, but mostly trash
We move out West, which is probably the most top-heavy of the new-fangled, COVID-adjusted divisions this season. There are three genuine contenders here...and then a whole lot of trash. Colorado, Vegas, and St. Louis will feast on the chum on offer in this intra-division only schedule, and the race ...

NHL Central Preview: This division makes no geographical sense
For the sake of this season, Florida is apparently central, and Dallas is central even though it’s west of St. Paul and St. Louis, which are both in the west this year. This is truly the season of people throwing ducks at balloons and nothing is the way it seems. Whatever the odd alignments, this di...

Lo! The NFL divisional playoff round draws hither
This crazy, six-game slate on Wild Card Weekend lived up to the hype, delivering history and upsets and exciting games, wire to wire. We now have a Divisional Round in the NFL Playoffs that includes the Buffalo Bills and the Cleveland Browns. Crazy, right?...

Coastal Carolina is your national champion, don’t care what anyone says
If you look at Coastal Carolina’s season, it’s almost hard to believe that it was 2020. The Chanticleers’ run was remarkable, starting with a 15-point win on the road against a Big 12 school (Kansas, but still), and then a rampage through the Sun Belt Conference, with only one postponement — and you...

Division Series playoff preview: Where the hell are we?
Baseball has gotten back to the playoff rounds we remember, sort of. The wild card round, which everyone thought was going to produce some real chaos and be totally unfair, only threw up one true upset: the Marlins beating the Cubs, because the Cubs can’t hit fastballs, which seems like it’s on the ...

The Deadspin 2020 NFL Previews, NFC West: American Football’s Equivalent of the Group of Death
The NFC West may be one of the most exciting divisions in the league this season....

The Deadspin 2020 NFL Previews, AFC West: The Home of the Champs and a New Football Town in Vegas
For many football fans, the AFC West standings are already a foregone conclusion....

The Deadspin 2020 NFL Previews, NFC South: All Eyes on Tompa Bay & Brees’ Last Stand
Outside of Tom Brady stunning the sports world by joining the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the NFC South will be a key watch for plenty of other reasons....

The Deadspin 2020 NFL Previews, AFC South: Who Will Emerge as This Year’s January Darlings?
The AFC South likely will not be a division at the top of most people’s radars to start the year....

The Deadspin 2020 NFL Previews, AFC North: Young Guns and Scumbag Ben
This is yet another division that seems to be perennially up for grabs between a couple of teams, at least on paper, but unlike the NFC North, this division is fresh and exciting. A rookie quarterback! An MVP quarterback that Bill Polian wanted to convert to wide receiver! An annual dogfight to the ...

The Deadspin 2020 NFL Previews, NFC North: The 'No One Else Wanted to Preview This Stale Division' Division
As usual, the road to . . . well, maybe not the Super Bowl, but at least the playoffs goes through Green Bay. And while Aaron Rodgers and the Packers aren’t as dominant as they once were, despite going 13-3 in Matt LaFleur’s first season as a head coach, no one else in the division has really steppe...

The Deadspin 2020 NFL Previews, AFC East: Tom’s Gone. Who’s Got Next?
For the past two decades, the safest bet in sports was for the to win their division. Not anymore....

The Deadspin 2020 NFL Previews, NFC East: Can Anyone Break Up This Two-Horse Town?
There was a time not too long ago when the NFC East was considered one of the most competitive divisions in football. Over the past decade, the division has had two Super Bowl winners (Eagles, Giants), exciting Washington teams and the Dallas Cowboys. But the days of parity in the NFC East are over....

A Good And Smart Preview Of A Wide-Open 2019 WNBA Season
Hockey is almost over, and the NBA is basically done, so now all we have to look forward to over these impending hot summer months is a World Cup, the ability to blast Bad Girls out of our apartment windows, and some goddamn WNBA basketball. That last thing starts tonight, folks! Let’s get to the pr...

The Spa Where Police Say Robert Kraft Solicited Prostitution Has Some Rough One-Star Reviews
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft was charged earlier today with two counts of soliciting prostitution in Jupiter, Florida. According to Jupiter police, the solicitation happened at Orchids of Asia Day Spa, which was used for prostitution and human trafficking. Kraft was reportedly captured on...

A Timely And Exhaustive Preview Of The 2018 NBA Playoffs
Ah, casual sports fan: We meet again. The 2018 NBA playoffs begin this afternoon! How the hell will you know what is going on in the games, other than like a bunch of sweaty dudes bouncing a ball and throwing it through a pair of rings, if you don’t have some 10,000 words of preview and analysis to ...

The Most Fun Thing About Every Baseball Team This Year
There has, over the past several months, been plenty of conversation (and a few official rule changes) directed to answering the question of what baseball needs. Games need to be faster, or extra innings need to be spicier, or broadcasts need more mentions of launch angle. The spike in home runs is ...

The Good Little Teams (And Chelsea): Our 2017-18 Premier League Preview, Pt. 3
As everyone knows, the best thing about the Premier League is its absurd depth. In England you have an entire country where practically every single town worships their local club with an intensity that makes Nebraska’s passion for Cornhusker football look like Nebraska’s passion for Cornhusker socc...

The Fun As Hell Teams: Our 2017-18 Premier League Preview, Pt. 2
My colleague Patrick Redford already laid out which Premier League clubs to watch when you’re trying to take a nap; so unless you enjoy soccer’s equivalent of eating your way through a tub of raw broccoli, steer clear of those guys (except Everton) and allow me to tell which clubs are going to be fu...