MLB
South Korean police say they’ve found no explosives at Seoul’s Gocheok Sky Dome after searching the site following a reported bomb threat against Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani. Police say about 150 officers used sniffer dogs and X-ray detectors to search through the stadium but no suspicious objects have been discovered. Police officers said they acted on a tip that there was a threat targeting Ohtani but didn’t elaborate. Major League Baseball's opening game between the Dodgers and the San Diego Padres was underway at the time this report aired.
The Los Angeles Dodgers showcased splashy signings Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, but other teams focused on the fact that pricey payrolls don’t translate into titles very often. Baseball’s biggest spender has won the World Series just three times in the last 23 seasons. Steve Cohen’s New York Mets became the most expensive failure in baseball history, boosting payroll to a record $355 million on opening day last year, then finishing fourth in the NL East at 75-87 and incurring a record luxury tax of nearly $101 million.
Trevor Bauer was cleared to play in the Mexican League because he was not convicted for charges of sexual assault, according to the executive president for the Diablos Rojos club, Othón Díaz. Bauer, the 2020 NL Cy Young Award winner, is slated to play five games for Diablos Rojos that included a weekend exhibition against the New York Yankees. The 33-year-old Bauer served a 194-game suspension from MLB after a San Diego woman said Bauer beat and sexually abused, an accusation the pitcher denied. Bauer was not charged with any crime.
NFL
The New York Jets have signed former Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Mike Williams to a one-year contract. The 29-year-old Williams visited the Jets' facility Tuesday and reportedly had meetings with other teams scheduled. But New York didn’t let him leave its building without a deal. NFL Network and ESPN reported the agreement between Williams and the Jets is worth up to $15 million. Williams is coming off a torn ACL suffered in the Chargers’ third game last season. He was released by Los Angeles last week.
Justin Fields went from being considered a franchise quarterback to disregarded by the Chicago Bears in just three seasons. It’s quite a fall for a former first-round pick who showed promise. After more than a dozen QBs switched teams last week in the opening days of the NFL’s free-agent frenzy, the Bears traded Fields to the Pittsburgh Steelers for a conditional sixth-round pick in 2025. The pick becomes a fourth-rounder if Fields ends up playing more than expected. It's not surprising that Fields was traded, but it was a shocker that the Bears basically gave him away.
NBA
Zion Williamson scored 28 points and wowed the Barclays Center crowd with a high-flying alley-oop dunk, and the New Orleans Pelicans beat the Brooklyn Nets 104-91. CJ McCollum added 16 points, Larry Nance Jr. had 13 points and 10 rebounds, and Brandon Ingram and Herb Jones each finished with 11 points for the Pelicans. New Orleans opened a four-game road swing with its third straight win and seventh in eight games. Cam Thomas had 25 points and Mikal Bridges added 15 for the Nets, who have lost four straight.
Cole Anthony scored 17 of his 21 points in the second quarter and the Orlando Magic routed the Charlotte Hornets 112-92 on Tuesday night to clinch at least a play-in berth in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Jalen Suggs survived a couple of physical confrontations in the second period to finish the game with 16 points, six assists and three steals. Paolo Banchero added 13 points and five assists for the Magic, who led 67-32 at halftime. Orlando is fifth in the East and can’t be caught by 11th-place Brooklyn with 13 games left in the season. The Hornets, who have lost 10 of 12, were led by two rookies: Brandon Miller with 21 points and Vasilije Micic with 20.
Jalen Green tied a career high with 42 points, and the Houston Rockets closed the third quarter on a 25-6 run en route to their sixth straight victory, 137-114 over the Washington Wizards. Houston is now just 2 1/2 games behind Golden State for the final play-in spot in the Western Conference. Amen Thompson scored 25 points for the Rockets, and Fred VanVleet had seven points and 11 assists. Corey Kispert scored 16 points for Washington.
Kyrie Irving scored 28 points, Luka Doncic had 18 points, 16 assists and 10 rebounds, and the Dallas Mavericks held off the San Antonio Spurs 113-107. Doncic shot 6 of 27 from the field but still finished with his eighth triple-double in 10 games, helping Dalls win a game critical to its playoff hopes. It was just the sixth time in his career he’s shot worse than 25% from the field while playing regular minutes. Dallas trails Sacramento by percentage points for sixth place in the Western Conference and the final automatic playoff berth. Tre Jones scored 22 points and Devin Vassell added 19 points for San Antonio.
Nikola Jokic had 35 points and 16 rebounds and Michael Porter Jr. scored 13 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter as the Denver Nuggets fended off the undermanned and undersized Minnesota Timberwolves 115-112. Jamal Murray added 18 points and 11 assists and Aaron Gordon had 14 points and 11 rebounds for the Nuggets. They blew an 18-point lead in less than 12 minutes before recovering down the stretch to finish a four-game road trip on a strong note. Anthony Edwards had 30 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. His tying 3-point attempt fell short at the buzzer.
NHL
Mark Scheifele scored three goals, Connor Hellebuyck made 38 saves and the Winnipeg Jets beat the New York Rangers 4-2. It was the eighth hat trick of Scheifele's career. Kyle Connor also scored for the Jets, who have won three straight and four of their last five. Winnipeg is 14-5-0 since Feb. 8 and 19-5-4 against the Eastern Conference this season. Hellebuyck improved to 16-4-2 against the East this season and is 32-15-3 overall. Alexander Wennberg and Alexis Lafreniere scored for the Rangers, who lost for only the second time in seven games.
Seth Jarvis scored twice and the Carolina Hurricanes raced to a three-goal lead in the first period on the way to a 4-1 win over the New York Islanders. Trade-deadline acquisition Jake Guentzel had a three-point night with a goal and two assists for Carolina, Pyotr Kochetkov made 30 saves as the Hurricanes won their fourth straight game and tied a franchise record with their sixth consecutive road win. Martini Necas also scored and Brady Skjei added two assists. Kyle Palmieri scored for New York. Ilya Sorokin finished with 31 saves for the Islanders, who lost their fifth straight and have been outscored 20-6 during the stretch.
Connor McDavid scored and set up Leon Draisaitl’s winning power-play goal at 3:18 of overtime to lead the Edmonton Oilers to a 3-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens. Adam Henrique also scored and Mattias Edholm added two assists as the Oilers won for the eighth times in 11 games (8-1-2). Calvin Pickard had 23 saves. Nick Suzuki and Kaiden Guhle scored in the third period as Montreal rallied from a two-goal deficit to force the overtime. Sam Montembeault made 29 saves for the Canadiens, who have lost three straight games, including two in overtime.
Jaylen Brown scored 31 points in three quarters, Derrick White posted his first career triple-double and the NBA-best Boston Celtics beat the Detroit Pistons 119-94. Boston star Jayson Tatum missed the game because of a right ankle injury, but the Celtics had more than enough to make up for his absence. White had 22 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. He completed his triple-double when he passed to Payton Pritchard, who hit a 3-pointer with 6:25 to play. Pritchard had 23 points in the Celtics’ sixth straight victory. Jaden Ivey led Detroit with 21 points.
Owen Tippett scored 19 seconds into the game and added an assist, and Morgan Frost had a goal and an assist as the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3. Travis Sanheim and Scott Laughton also scored for the Flyers, who played without captain Sean Couturier, who was a healthy scratch for the first time in his 13-year career. Samuel Ersson made 27 saves. William Nylander, Tyler Bertuzzi and John Tavares scored for Toronto. Ilya Samsonov had 24 saves for Toronto, which had its three-game point streak halted.
Jake Allen made 36 saves, and Timo Meier and Dawson Mercer each scored twice to lead the New Jersey Devils to a 5-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night. Alexander Holtz also scored, and Jesper Bratt, Tomas Nosek, Jack Hughes and Luke Hughes each had two assists as New Jersey won for the third time in eight games under interim coach Travis Green. Marcus Pettersson and Bryan Rust scored for Pittsburgh. Goaltender Tristan Jarry made 33 saves as the Penguins lost for the ninth time in 12 games and for the 11th time in 13 road games.
Patrick Kane scored 48 seconds into overtime as the Detroit Red Wings rallied to beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-3. Kane scored from the left circle after Lucas Raymond tied the score with his second goal of the game with 12.6 seconds remaining in regulation. Moritz Seider had the other goal on Tuesday night for Detroit, which had lost eight of its previous nine games. James Reimer made 32 saves. Zach Werenski had a goal and two assists for the Blue Jackets. Kirill Marchenko and Alexandre Texier also scored for Columbus while Daniil Tarasov made 23 saves.
Mikko Rantanen scored three goals to lead the surging Colorado Avalanche to a 4-3 victory over the St. Louis Blues. Rantanen scored a goal in each period for his seventh career hat trick and first since April 6, 2023, at San Jose. Casey Mittelstadt also scored for the Avalanche, who won four straight on their current road trip and their seventh straight overall. Justus Annunen made 30 saves. Nathan Walker, Alexey Toropchenko and Brayden Schenn scored for St. Louis, which had its four-game win streak halted. Jordan Binnington had 31 saves.
Michael McCarron scored two goals, Roman Josi and Filip Forsberg each had a goal and two assists and the Nashville Predators beat the San Jose Sharks 8-2, extending the team’s point streak to a franchise-record tying 15 games. Jason Zucker, Luke Evangelista, Mark Jankowski and Tommy Novak also scored and Juuse Saros made 18 saves for Nashville, which is 13-0-2 over its last 15 games. Kiefer Sherwood and Ryan McDonagh had three assists each. Mario Ferraro had a goal and an assist, Mikael Granlund also scored and Magnus Chrona made 32 saves for San Jose, 1-12-2 over its last 15.
Connor McDavid scored and set up Leon Draisaitl’s winning power-play goal at 3:18 of overtime to lead the Edmonton Oilers to a 3-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens. Adam Henrique also scored and Mattias Edholm added two assists as the Oilers won for the eighth times in 11 games (8-1-2). Calvin Pickard had 23 saves. Nick Suzuki and Kaiden Guhle scored in the third period as Montreal rallied from a two-goal deficit to force the overtime. Sam Montembeault made 29 saves for the Canadiens, who have lost three straight games, including two in overtime.
Filip Gustavsson recorded his third shutout this season, Kirill Kaprizov extended his point streak to eight games with the 150th goal of his NHL career and the Minnesota Wild beat the Anaheim Ducks for the second time in six days, 4-0. Gustavsson stopped 27 shots for his sixth career shutout. Ryan Hartman had a goal and an assist while Jon Merrill and Jacob Lucchini also scored. John Gibson made 28 saves as Anaheim dropped its seventh straight and was blanked for the third time in four games, including a 2-0 loss at Minnesota on March 14.
Anze Kopitar had two goals and an assist, Cam Talbot made 22 saves and the Los Angeles Kings defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 6-2. Alex Laferriere, Vladislav Gavrikov, Phillip Danault and Trevor Lewis also scored. Adrian Kempe had three assists and the Kings followed up their 5-0 win in Chicago on Friday with another big victory. Nick Foligno and Kevin Korchinski scored and Petr Mrazek made 18 saves for the Blackhawks, who have lost 24 of their last 25 road games.
Brayden Point scored two third-period goals and Nikita Kucherov had a four-point night to lift the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 5-3 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights in a battle of teams fighting for playoff positioning. Kucherov had a goal and three assists to extend his point streak to 11 games. Anthony Cirelli and Anthony Duclair scored the other goals for the Lightning, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 24 saves. Steven Stamkos had two assists. Jonathan Marchessault, Brett Howden and Ben Hutton each scored for Vegas. Keegan Kolesar had two assists.
Former NHL enforcer Chris Simon has died. He was 52. A spokesperson for the NHL Players’ Association said Simon died on Monday night in his hometown of Wawa, Ontario. A cause of death was not immediately available. Simon played 857 regular-season and playoff games over 15 NHL seasons from 1993-2008. Over his career, he fought more than 100 times and racked up 1,824 penalty minutes to rank 67th in league history. He won the Stanley Cup with Colorado in 1996 and was part of runs to the final with Washington in 1998 and Calgary in 2004. Simon played five seasons in the KHL from 2008-13 before retiring.
MARCH MADNESS
Tracking the changes upending college sports can be as frenetic as keeping up during the first week of March Madness. Ultimately, those changes could impact what America’s favorite basketball tournament looks like in the future. News about athlete compensation, player unions and realignment dominate discussions. Everything in college sports is open for discussion, interpretation and adjustment. That includes the industry’s most hallowed tradition, the NCAA basketball tournaments, which begin this week and will stretch from coast to coast. The bottom line behind it all is money.
Colorado State 67 Virginia 42
Joel Scott had 23 points and 11 rebounds as Colorado State won an NCAA Tournament game for the first time in 11 years, blowing out Virginia 67-42 in the First Four. Nique Clifford scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Rams. Colorado advances as a No. 10 seed to play seventh-seeded Texas in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Thursday. Reece Beekman had 15 points on 4-of-16 shooting for Virginia, which hasn’t won an NCAA Tournament game since it won the national title in 2019. That stretch includes two first-round losses as a No. 4 seed.
Wagner 71 Howard 68
Kansas guard Kevin McCullar Jr. has been ruled out of the NCAA Tournament because of a bone bruise on his knee that caused him to miss six of the past 12 games, including the Jayhawks’ one-and-done ouster in the Big 12 Tournament. Kansas coach Bill Self told reporters Tuesday upon the team's arrival in Salt Lake City that McCullar would be out. The news comes two days before the fourth-seeded Jayhawks play No. 13 seed Samford in the first round. The Jayhawks at least get second-team All-American Hunter Dickinson back. He dislocated his shoulder in their regular-season finale against Houston.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
The College Football Playoff and ESPN have announced a deal that will give the network exclusive rights to the expanded postseason through the 2031 season. The agreement puts the national championship game on ABC starting in 2026. Financial terms were not announced, but as previously reported the new six-year agreement will pay the CFP and participating conferences $1.3 billion annually and nearly $8 billion in all. The major conferences and Notre Dame agreed on a new revenue-sharing plan last week that allowed the CFP to finalize the deal with ESPN.
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