Shohei Ohtani emerged from the bullpen and fanned Los Angeles Angels teammate Mike Trout for the final out in a matchup the whole baseball world wanted to see, leading Japan over the defending champion United States 3-2 for its first World Baseball Classic title since 2009. Ohtani, the two-way star who has captivated fans across two continents, beat out an infield single in the seventh inning as a designated hitter, then walked down the left-field line to Japan’s bullpen to warm up for his third mound appearance of the tournament. Trout, the U.S. captain and a three-time MVP, struck out on a full-count pitch.
The World Baseball Classic will return for its sixth edition in March 2026, with organizers concluding spring training remains a better time than after the World Series or in the middle of the major league season. Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred says MLB owners and general managers have to be persuaded to make more star pitchers available to national teams. Since its launch in 2006, the WBC has been played in March, ahead of club opening day in MLB, Japan and South Korea. Many MLB teams blocked pitchers from participating, wanting them to concentrate on preparing for the season.
Major League Baseball’s new pitch clock is going to undergo some timing adjustments before it is turned on for games that count. Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred called the changes “significant” but also described them as “clarifications” based on input from players. The alterations are likely to be announced Wednesday, eight days before opening day. Baseball’s 11-man competition committee, established in the labor agreement last March, adopted the pitch clock and shift limits last September over the opposition of the four players on the panel. MLB set the pitch clock at 15 seconds with no runners and 20 seconds with runners.
NBA
Final Cleveland 115 Brooklyn 109
Donovan Mitchell had five 3-pointers and one sensational slam dunk among his 31 points, and the Cleveland Cavaliers opened a big lead in the third quarter and held on for a 115-109 victory over Brooklyn Nets. Caris LeVert added 18 points for the Cavaliers in the opener of a two-game series. Cleveland led by only six after a competitive first half, but quickly blew it open in the third quarter en route to its seventh win in nine games. Darius Garland and Evan Mobley each added 17 points.
Final Boston 132 Sacramento 109
Jayson Tatum scored 36 points and the Boston Celtics ended a long road trip on a high note by beating the Sacramento Kings 132-109. Boston bounced back from blowing a 19-point lead in Utah on Saturday night by knocking off one of the top teams in the Western Conference. It won four of six on the road trip. Jaylen Brown added 27 points and Derrick White scored 20 for the Celtics. Domantas Sabonis had 16 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists for the Kings. Sacramento lost consecutive games for the first time since Feb. 3-5.
Willis Reed, who dramatically emerged from the locker room minutes before Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals to spark the New York Knicks to their first championship and create one of sports’ most enduring examples of playing through pain, has died. He was 80. Reed died Tuesday, according to the National Basketball Retired Players Association, which confirmed it through his family. Reed had been in poor health recently and was unable to travel to New York when the Knicks honored the 50th anniversary of their 1973 NBA championship team last month. Nicknamed “The Captain,” Reed was the undersized center and emotional leader on the Knicks’ two NBA championship teams.
Los Angeles Clippers star Paul George got hurt in the fourth quarter of the team's 101-100 loss to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder. George went down hard under the Thunder’s basket with 4:38 remaining. He lay on his back for several minutes before being helped to his feet. Supported by staff on either side, George headed to the locker room, appearing to barely be able to put any weight on his right leg. His potential loss could prove costly to a team harboring hopes of winning its first NBA championship. Gilgeous-Alexander scored 31 points against his former team.
NHL
Final N-Y Islanders 7 Toronto 2
Cal Clutterbuck had two goals and an assist as the New York Islanders got all their scoring in the last two periods in a 7-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs. Anders Lee and Noah Dobson each had a goal and an assist, and Zach Parise, Hudson Fasching and Simon Holmstrom also scored to help the Islanders win their third straight and improve to 7-2-1 in their last 10. Jean-Gabriel Pageau had two assists and Ilya Sorokin finished with 24 saves. New York moved three points ahead of Florida for the top wild card in the Eastern Conference. The Panthers lost 6-3 at Philadelphia. Sam Lafferty and Mitchell Marner scored for Toronto, which had won two straight. Ilya Samsonov had 22 saves.
Final Nashville 7 Buffalo 3
Luke Evangelista scored twice in a span of 39 seconds as part of a four-goal second-period surge, and the Nashville Predators became the latest team to rout the reeling Buffalo Sabres in a 7-3 win. Matt Duchene also scored twice, including an empty-netter, to give him 21 goals on the season. Juuse Saros stopped 28 shots and even picked up an assist in beating the Sabres for the first time in seven career starts. Both teams were coming off 7-0 losses on Sunday. Buffalo dropped to 1-6-2 in its past nine, and 1-5-1 in its past six home games, a stretch in which the Sabres have been outscored by a combined 18-37.
Final Carolina 3 N-Y Rangers 2
Teuvo Teravainen scored the tiebreaking goal late in the third period, Frederik Andersen stopped 29 shots and the Carolina Hurricanes rallied to beat the New York Rangers 3-2. Jalen Chatfield and Stefan Noesen also scored for the Metropolitan Division-leading Hurricanes, who won for the third time in four games. Tyler Motte and Kaapo Kakko scored for the Rangers, who had won four straight were 6-0-1 in their last seven. Igor Shesterkin finished with 36 saves. Teravainen scored his 11th goal with 2:33 left on a pass from defenseman Brent Burns, redirecting the puck past Shesterkin. The Hurricanes, who trailed 1-0 and 2-1, extended their lead over second-place New Jersey to two points and the third-place Rangers to eight points in the division.
Final Boston 2 Ottawa 1
Linus Ullmark made 40 saves, Jake DeBrusk had the go-ahead goal and the NHL-best Boston Bruins continued their pursuit of the league’s record for regular-season victories with a 2-1 win over the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night. David Krejci added a power-play goal for Boston, which won its fourth straight. Dylan Gambrell scored for the Senators and Mads Sogaard made 33 stops. The Bruins posted their 54th win and with 12 games left are on pace to break the mark of 62, set by the Detroit Red Wings in 1995-96 and matched by the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2018-19. Ullmark improved to 35-5-1.
OT Minnesota 2 New Jersey 1
Matt Boldy scored on a breakaway with 1.3 seconds left in overtime and Filip Gustavsson made a career-high 47 saves to give the Minnesota Wild a 2-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils. The game was a chippy, defensive struggle. After two scoreless periods, the Devils were outshooting the Wild 22-19. Minnesota finally broke through 6:41 into the third when Mason Shaw scored his seventh goal of the season on a wraparound. Timo Meier answered for the Devils five minutes later with his 35th goal of the season on a wraparound of his own.
Final Philadelphia 6 Florida 3
Travis Sanheim scored twice, Carter Hart made 41 saves and the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Florida Panthers 6-3. Joel Farabee added a goal and an assist, and Scott Laughton and Ivan Provorov also scored for the Flyers. Philadelphia won for just the fifth time in 16 games. Brandon Montour had a goal and an assist, and Matthew Tkachuck and Sam Reinhart also scored for Florida. The Panthers had won three in a row and six of seven before falling to the lowly Flyers. Florida remained one point ahead of idle Pittsburgh for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
St. John’s introduced 70-year-old Rick Pitino as its new men's basketball coach with a news conference at Madison Square Garden. St. John's is hoping the Hall of Famer can turn back the clock on a program that once stole New York City tabloid headlines away from the Knicks in the 1980s under coach Lou Carnesecca. The 98-year-old Carnesecca attended the news conference and called the hire a “home run.” Pitino, whose resume includes two national championships, including one that was vacated because of NCAA violations, was previously coaching at Iona. He said he has earned another shot at the big-time.
Days after Farleigh Dickinson because just the second 16 seed to knock off a No. 1 team in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament — Purdue — head coach Tobin Anderson is poised to take over Iona’s program. The Gaels’ job is open as Hall of Famer Rick Pitino leaves for St. John’s after three seasons. Anderson, who was in his first year with the Knights, is a former Siena College assistant. Iona also plays in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. The shakeup was reported by CBS Sports.
St. Francis College, one of the smallest NCAA Division I schools, says its board of trustees has approved a plan to eliminate its athletic program at the end of the spring semester. St. Francis sponsors 21 NCAA teams, including men’s and women’s basketball, and has been a member of the Northeast Conference for more than four decades. The move comes as part of larger restructuring of the private Catholic school located in Brooklyn. Enrollment at the school is about 2,300 undergraduate students.
WOMEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Women's college basketball has displayed an odd mix this season and now there's the rare combination of South Carolina's undefeated dominance alongside parity in the Sweet 16. Just two of the four No. 1 women's seeds advanced through the first two rounds, which hadn't happened since 1998. The Gamecocks are one of them looking to continue their perfect season against No. 4 seed UCLA on Saturday. Virginia Tech is the other No. 1 seed advancing. South Carolina coach Dawn Staley says her team's success comes from a singular focus on the game and its next task.
NFL
The Buffalo Bills restocked their offensive backfield by signing free agent Damien Harris to a one-year contract. Harris spent his first four NFL seasons with the division-rival New England Patriots. He joins the Bills a day after they lost starter Devin Singletary, who agreed to a deal with Houston. Harris led the Patriots with 2,094 yards rushing and 20 TDs rushing since being selected in the third round of the draft out of Alabama. He also had 40 catches for 281 yards.
Dont’a Hightower is making a quiet exit to a memorable career with the New England Patriots. The veteran linebacker who did not play last season announced his retirement from the NFL in an essay posted on the Players’ Tribune website. It ends a decade-long run in New England that included three Super Bowl rings and a pair of Pro Bowl selections. He also was named a second-team All-Pro in 2016. With his wife expecting their first child, Hightower sat out the 2020 season because of concerns about COVID-19. He returned in 2021 but his production was down. He became a free agent that summer but didn’t sign a new contract.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have signed longtime Philadelphia Eagles guard Isaac Seumalo to a three-year, $24 million contract. Seumalo's arrival fortifies the interior of the Steelers offensive line as Pittsburgh builds around second-year quarterback Kenny Pickett. The 29-year-old Seumalo started 60 games across seven seasons with the Eagles, who selected him in the third round of the 2016 draft. Seumalo appeared in 81 games in all for Philadelphia and won a Super Bowl with the Eagles following the 2017 season. Seumalo is considered an excellent run blocker, though he has improved in pass protection during his career. He allowed just one sack while playing 1,137 offensive snaps in 2022.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Authorities say suspended Alabama freshman defensive back Tony Mitchell drove over 141 mph while trying to evade deputies before his arrest on drug charges in the Florida Panhandle last week. The Holmes County Sheriff's Office says Mitchell and his passenger were arrested Wednesday and charged with possession of marijuana with the intent to sell or deliver. The other man with Mitchell also was charged with carrying a concealed gun without a permit. During the traffic stop, deputies reported smelling marijuana and noted that Mitchell appeared confused. During a search of the car, deputies say they recovered 8 ounces of marijuana, $7,040 in cash, a set of scales and a loaded 9mm handgun.
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