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⚾️ Kikuchi to Angels: Veteran lefty Yusei Kikuchi is reportedly headed to Los Angeles on a three-year, $63 million contract.
🏎️ GM comes to F1: General Motors’ bid to enter the Formula 1 grid has been approved. In 2026, they will become the 11th team.
🏀 Novelty no. 1: UCLA tops the AP women’s basketball poll after beating South Carolina, which dropped to fourth. UConn remains No. 2 and Notre Dame is No. 3.
⛳️ Forests are not in the field: Tiger Woods’ return to golf will have to wait a little longer. He will not play in the Hero World Challenge, his annual charity tournament in the Bahamas.
⚽️ Naeher retires: Goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher, 36, retired from the USWNT on Monday. She spent 11 years with the team, won two World Cups and one Olympic gold.
🏀 One-month NBA prices
We’re only a month into the NBA season, but early impressions are important. According to Yahoo Sports’ Kevin O’Connor, the current front-runners are in the individual prize races.
MVP: Nikola Jokić (Nuggets) picks up right where he left off: He’s the best player in the NBA, an unstoppable scoring force who is the symphonic conductor of Denver’s offense and the foundation of the team’s defense. He’s setting career highs in points, assists and steals while shooting a ridiculous 52.7% from 3-point range.
In second place: Jayson Tatum (Celtics), Anthony Davis (Lakers), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Thunder), Stephen Curry (Warriors)
Defensive Player: Victor Wembanyama (Spurs) has taken his defense to another level in his second season. Opponents are shooting 38.8% within six feet of the rim when defended by Victor, which is an absolutely ridiculous 23.1% worse than their norm. Players often don’t even test it because when they do, it obviously doesn’t work.
In second place: Draymond Green (Warriors), Dyson Daniels (Hawks)
newbie: Jared McCain (76) looks like Steph Lite, moving for 3 seconds, pulling up and helping the offense run. He averaged 25.2 points on 63.8% true shooting while Tyrese Maxey was sidelined and remained the center of attention with Maxey back in the lineup.
In second place: Dalton Knecht (Lakers), Bub Carrington (Wizards)
Most Improved: Christian Braun (Nuggets) scores with the ball while playing versatile perimeter and rim defense. Denver let Kentavious Caldwell-Pope walk and that opened up a starting spot for Braun, who responded by playing the best basketball of his life.
In second place: Bilal Coulibaly (Wizards), Bennedict Mathurin (Pacers)
Sixth Man: Payton Pritchard (Celtics) gives the Celtics something positive every night – his shooting, his mid-range fade, his paint penetration, his gritty defense. He is the best backup point guard in the NBA and the best sixth man so far.
In second place: Tari Eason (Rockets), Buddy Hield (Warriors)
Coach: Kenny Atkinson (Cavaliers) is 17-1 in his first season at the helm, and his Cleveland front four of Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen looks more cohesive than ever under former head coach JB Bickerstaff.
In second place: Ty Lue (Clippers), Steve Kerr (Warriors)
📸 Photo gallery
Los Angeles — Derrick Henry (140 yards, TD) and the Ravens got going in their 30-23 win over the Chargers on “Monday Night Football” as John Harbaugh improved to 3-0 against his little brother Jim.
Lahaina, Hawaii – Memphis stunned No. 2 UConn, 99-97 (OT), in its Maui Invitational opener, handing the defending champion Huskies their first loss since Feb. 20, snapping their 17-game winning streak.
Buenos Aires, Argentina — Racing Club fans are celebrating their team’s first Copa Sudamericana championship, ending their 36-year international title drought. Incredible scenes.
Chongqing, China — What a shot.
🏀 Pay per game in the NIL era
for the first time ever college athletes will be paid to participate in a sporting event… sort of.
Gamer Era Festival: The first tournament of its kind begins today at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, where eight teams will be eligible for a total of $9 million in NIL opportunities.
Who’s in: No. 6 Houston, no. 9 Alabama, no. 20 Texas A&M, no. 21 Creighton, San Diego State, Oregon, Rutgers and Notre Dame will play a total of 12 games between today and Saturday.
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Each participating school will receive opportunities worth $1 million NIL, which the players can earn through various activities outside the competition.
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Players from all eight schools will have additional opportunities worth $1 million.
Pay to play? This tournament further blurs the lines between NIL and pay-for-play, which remains prohibited by the NCAA. This is why none of the payouts are tied to performance in court and therefore the payment mechanism is a bit convoluted.
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The NIL deals themselves will look the same as thousands of deals that have nothing to do with the tournament (eg book signings, charity work).
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To ensure NCAA compliance, the presenting sponsors (Starbucks, Eli Lilly, MGM Resorts) will pay tournament organizers, who will distribute the money to each school’s NIL team. After that, it’s up to the coaches how much each player gets.
Looking ahead: The Players Era festival wants to eventually expand to 18 teams, add a women’s tournament and potentially apply the framework to other sports. In total, they plan to distribute more than $50 million in NIL opportunities over the next three years.
♟️ The world’s best chess players are accepting a new version of the game
World Chess Championship started on Monday off the coast of Singapore. In particular, the two best players on the planet, Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana, are missing.
where are they? Carlsen (widely regarded as the GOAT) and Caruana played their own match in Singapore last week – a new version of an ancient game called Fischer Random chess, where the pieces on the back of the board are arranged in random order.
From the Wall Street Journal:
Their match is more than just a gimmick. It’s a loud statement about why the game is growing in popularity – and it’s not because of painstaking matches that last for hours and leave viewers cold.
Both top players and casual fans want games that are spontaneous tests of chess skills rather than endless battles of memorized sequences.
That’s where Fischer Random comes in. Popularized by American champion Bobby Fischer, the 960 possible starting positions mean that each game presents a new set of problems that require creative, improvised solutions.
And Carlsen’s new startup Freestyle Chess, already backed by millions in venture capital money with 25 of the world’s best players committed to playing on tour, underlines his belief that the format can capture fans around the world.
“What we play now is in many ways a cleaner and longer game than normal classical chess,” says Carlsen. “You sit behind the board and you have to think from the very beginning and you feel fresh.”
Full story: The greatest chess player of all time is bored with chess (WSJ)
📆 November 26, 1975: The rookie won the MVP
49 years ago today Red Sox center fielder Fred Lynn became the first rookie in MLB history to win the MVP.
By the numbers: The young lefty was every bit the deserved winner, batting .331 with 21 HR and 105 RBI while leading the AL in runs (103), doubles (47), runs (.566) and OPS (.967). He also participated in his first of nine All-Star Games* and won his first of four Gold Gloves.
Zoom out: Only one other MLB rookie has ever won MVP (Ichiro Suzuki in 2001), and only six rookies in the other Big Four leagues have done so.
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🏒 NHL: Nels Stewart (1926), Herb Gardiner (1927), Wayne Gretzky (1980)
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🏀 NBA: Wilt Chamberlain (1960), Wes Unseld (1969)
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🏈 NFL: Jim Brown (1957)
*More history for Lynn: At the 1983 All-Star Game, Lynn hit the first and still only grand slam in Midsummer Classic history.
📺 Watch list: Vegas Showdown
Two college basketball giants this evening (9 p.m. ET, ESPN) as no. 1 Kansas will take on No. 1 Duke. 12 in Sin City in the Vegas Showdown.
Match to watch: Blue Devils freshman Cooper Flagg and Jayhawks fifth-year Hunter Dickinson have nearly identical stats, both averaging 17.8 points, 1.8 steals and 1.8 blocks to lead their teams. They also lead their teams in rebounding, though the 7-foot-1 Dickinson has a few more feet per game (10.4) than the 6-foot-6 Flagg (8.8).
More to watch:
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🏀 NBA Cup*: Bucks at Heat (19:30, TNT); Lakers at Suns (22:00, TNT)
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🏀 NCAAM: no. 21 Creighton vs. San Diego State (2 p.m., TBS); no. 20 Texas A&M vs. Oregon (16:30, TNT); no. 6 Houston vs no. 9 Alabama (8 p.m., TBS); Rutgers vs. Notre Dame (10:30 p.m., TBS) … Festival of the Players Era in Las Vegas.
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🏈 NCAAF: Toledo in Akron (7 p.m., ESPN2) … The last #MidweekMACtion of the year.
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⚽️ Champions League: Match day 5 (12:45-3:00 p.m., Paramount+) … Bayern vs. PSG headline the nine-game table.
*Pregame notes: The Bucks (8-9) have won six of seven since starting 2-8. The Lakers have never lost an NBA Cup game while going 2-0 this season after winning the inaugural title last year with a perfect 7-0 record.
🏀 College hoops quizzes
Kansas (2,398 wins) and Duke (2,304) are two of five D1 men’s programs with at least 2,000 wins.
question: Can you name three others?
Answer at the bottom.
🏈 Map: Rivals250
The Rivals250, which highlights the top 250 football recruits in the 2025 class, features athletes from 33 states.
Warm beds: Florida leads the way with 40 players in the Rivals 250, followed by Texas (32), California (22), Alabama (14), Ohio (12), Mississippi (9), Louisiana (9) and Tennessee (8).
Explore the rankings: Who is number 1 in each state?
Quiz Answer*: Kentucky (2,405 wins), North Carolina (2,376), UCLA (2,010)
*Syracuse won 2,098 games, but 101 of those were overturned due to NCAA violations, dropping them to just 2,000 official wins.
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