The United States and Japan will duke it out in the World Baseball Classic championship in Miami Tuesday evening after nearly two weeks ofcaptivating games — but a disappointing showing for Latin America.
The big picture: Severalof the eight Latin American and Caribbean teams were knocked out earlier than expected, while some players left with injuries that will likely have lingering effects for Major League Baseball teams when the season officially begins.
Monumental Sports & Entertainment, the owner of the Washington Wizards, Mystics and Capitals and Capital One Arena, is planning a major rebrand and investment in NBC Sports Washington, the regional sports network it fully acquired from Comcast last September, a top executive told Axios.
Why it matters: Owning the network insulates Monumental from the distribution crisis hitting dozens of sports teams around the country. It also gives Monumental the resources needed to create its own local sports streaming app, which it plans to launch next year.
San Diego Padres prospect Ethan Salas quietly made his spring training debut this month — at just 16 years of age.
Why it matters: Salas is almost certainly one of the youngest, if not the youngest player, to ever appear in a Major League Baseball spring training game. We asked MLB historian John Thorn, and the only other 16-year-old he could find was Brooklyn Dodgers youngster Tommy Brown in 1944.
Foot Locker is taking steps to close 400 low-performing stores by 2026 and 125 of its Champs Sports locations this year, officials announced Monday.
Driving the news: The company unveiled the closures during its Investor Day and officials said they plan to focus on higher-performing locations as part of its “Lace Up” plan.
A week after becoming the most successful ski racer in Alpine World Cup history, Mikaela Shiffrin extended her lead, capping her record-setting season on Sunday with career win No. 88.
Between the lines: Every all-time great has a superpower. For Shiffrin, it's her ability to stay healthy — something virtually every other prominent ski racer this century has failed to do. Her secret? A trait not typically associated with elite athletes: caution.
The men's college basketball regular season was defined by parity, and so far, the NCAA Tournament has a similar "anybody can beat anybody" vibe.
State of play: Just four of the top nine overall seeds — Alabama, Houston, UCLA and Texas — survived opening weekend, which saw two No. 1 seeds (Purdue and Kansas) lose and one No. 15 seed (Princeton) win ... twice.
