Major League Baseball, hoping to reverse a talent drain of African American players, is backing the Black College World Series for the first time this year.
Why it matters: MLB's sponsorship of the event, which starts Wednesday, is one way the league is attempting to dispel years of criticism over the lack of non-Latino Black players.
It was a weekend of racing in America, with the 149th Kentucky Derby on Saturday and the second annual Miami Grand Prix on Sunday.
Head-to-head: Unsurprisingly, the Derby won the TV battle in a landslide, drawing far more viewers (14.8 million on NBC) than Formula 1's first U.S. race of the season (1.96 million on ABC). But F1 more than held its own on another front: "The Battle of Celebrities."
The Los Angeles Lakers, who started the season 2-10, were in 13th place in the Western Conference at the All-Star break and needed to win a play-in game just to make the postseason, are now co-favorites to win the National Basketball Association championship at BetMGM.
The Chicago Blackhawks won the National Hockey League draft lottery on Monday night, earning the right to pick a potentially franchise-altering, generational talent in Connor Bedard.
The immediate impact: In the first 90 minutes after the lottery results were announced on ESPN, the Blackhawks said they sold $2.5 million worth of ticket plans for next season.
Shohei Ohtani joined an exclusive club last week (what else is new?), becoming the fifth player in the modern era (since 1900) of Major League Baseball to record 500 hits as a batter and 500 strikeouts as a pitcher.
