VILLARREAL, Spain (AP) — Villarreal scored twice in each half to hammer Espanyol 4-1 in La Liga and hand the Catalan club its heaviest defeat of the season on Monday.

The result ended a poor run which had seen Villarreal take one point from its previous three games. The win lifted it to equal on points with third-placed Atletico Madrid and seven ahead of Real Betis, although Villareal has a game in hand on both.

Georges Mikautadze gave Villarreal the lead 10 minutes before halftime when he met Tajon Buchanan’s perfectly cushioned header and fired home a spectacular scissor kick.

Jose Salinas’ own goal six minutes later doubled Villarreal’s lead. Nicolas Pepe added the third five minutes into the second half when he rifled a low shot from outside the box after some skilful footwork.

Alberto Moleiro made it 4-0 five minutes later when he finished off an incisive counterattack.

Leandro Cabrera’s glancing header from a Cyril Ngonge corner with two minutes remaining was Espanyol’s only response.

Barcelona-based Espanyol has not won since before Christmas and has gone six matches without a win in the league. Monday’s result marked the first time this season it conceded four goals in a game. It remained in sixth place.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

After a wonderful debut to the Jaren Jackson Jr. era of Jazz basketball, Utah continues its east-coast roadtrip against the Miami Heat tonight. Jackson Jr., who impressed with 22 points and three steals, did not play in the fourth quarter after the Jazz led by 15 points in the third quarter against the Orlando Magic.

To say that national pundits were unhappy with Utah’s tanking job on social media would be an understatement. Unlike its tanking peers, Utah has not shut-down its stars Lauri Markkanen, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Keyonte George for the remainder of the season with phantom injuries. Instead, they continue to play them, but have limited their minutes in favor of developing prospects at the end of games.

Arguably, this strategy is more honest and better for the league than shutting down players like Trae Young and Anthony Davis for the rest of the season. Fans get to watch starts like Markkanen and Jackson Jr. actually play, rather than missing the chance to watch them at all. In the name of retaining the pick and improving its future, the Jazz have no other choice.

Tonight, the Jazz will be without Keyonte George and Kevin Love. George has been battling a sprained ankle and re-aggravated it against Orlando.

How to watch

Who: Utah Jazz vs Miami Heat

When: Monday, February 9, 2026 – 5:30 PM MT

Where: Kasaya Center, Miami, FL

How to watch: KJZZ, Jazz+

The Super Bowl always, for me, marks the transition between the end of Other Sports season and the beginning of Baseball Season. Pitchers and catchers report this week, players are already in Arizona, and it feels like we’re ready to start grinding on the 2026 season. It’s an especially exciting one, with the Mariners’ deep playoff run followed by a thrilling run by the Seahawks culminating in the highest honor in the sport.

With our minds now bending towards baseball season, what are some of the things you’ll be looking at this spring? We’ll be doing some more in-depth analysis on this later but I find it’s always helpful to crystallize what people think are the most salient issues before diving in (apparently no one cares about the battle for backup catcher as much as I do). Also, if there’s one particular hobby-horse question you’re intent on watching for this spring, do tell.

Three more days until pitchers and catchers officially report.

11 days to the first spring training game.

Happy dawning of baseball season, everyone.

The long-awaited return of baseball is almost over. This week, pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training. Not many teams have as much riding on these two groups as the San Diego Padres. With the Friars’ pitchers and catchers reporting to the Peoria Sports Complex in Arizona, Wednesday, here’s what to look forward to between the two groups. 

Catchers: Who will back up Fermin?

The Padres addressed their need behind the dish with the trade deadline acquisition of Kansas City Royals backup catcher Freddy Fermin. Fermin hit respectably to start his San Diego tenure with a slash line of .244/.278/.339. That might seem low but remember the Friars’ options prior to that were even worse with Elías Díaz and Martín Maldonado. 

The question now is who Fermin’s backup will be. Two possibilities are Triple-A El Paso mainstay Luis Campusano and minor league pickup Blake Hunt.

Luis Campusano

Time is running out for Campusano. He is out of options and must make the major league roster or else he has to clear waivers to be sent back to the minors. His time in San Diego has been a strange case. A former top 50 prospect, he has struggled to produce in the majors despite the fact he raked in the minor leagues (finishing the season batting .334/.438/.586 across 466 plate appearances). His offense has not translated over, with him not recording a hit in 27 plate appearances at the big-league level. 

Adding insult to injury, his defense has never been particularly strong. Across 2023-24 he recorded a -20 defensive runs saved, ranking second worst among qualified catchers. If he can’t put it all together this season, it’s likely general manager A.J. Preller will shop him at the trade deadline.

Blake Hunt

The Padres picked up Hunt this offseason on a minor league deal. For San Diego it serves as a reunion with the former second-round pick from the 2017 draft. Hunt owns a .245/.324/.398 slash line across his eight-year career in the minors. And it’s here that Campusano has one thing over Hunt: major league playing time. Apart from one day on the Baltimore Orioles’ active roster (in which he did not record a plate appearance), Hunt has spent no time at the major league level.

Because of that, it’s likely Campusano ends up in the backup role, but it remains to be seen given his obvious struggles. It seems Campusano will be the one with the club on March 26, if only so he doesn’t have to clear waivers, but Hunt may be viewed as the more long-term option behind Fermin if Campusano’s production woes continue.

Pitchers: A duel for back-end spots… or a late acquisition?

As the Padres entered the offseason, it was glaringly apparent that the starting rotation was a major problem. In spite of that, San Diego is in a much better position now. Re-signing Michael King and adding numerous minor-league pickups has helped. The first three spots of the rotation are set with Nick Pivetta, King, and Joe Musgrove, but who will follow?

The returners

Randy Vasquez and JP Sears seem to be the favorites for the final spots, given their time in San Diego’s club. Vasquez produced fairly well across 28 games in 2025, but the underlying metrics suggest that will not continue to be the case.

Sears was part of the blockbuster deal that sent top prospect Leo De Vries to the Athletics and brought Mason Miller to the Padres. He got knocked around for 16 runs after being traded to San Diego, albeit in a smaller sample of 24.2 innings. If Sears can improve his run prevention this spring, he could earn a spot on the roster come Opening Day.

Minor league flyers

The Padres extended non-roster invites to Marco Gonzalez, Triston McKenzie and Francis Peña (among others). The three are all candidates to impact the major league roster if they prove themselves in the next month.

Of the three, McKenzie represents the greatest low-risk, high-reward option. It wasn’t long ago that he finished with a 2.94 ERA across 191 innings during his tenure with the Cleveland Guardians. If he can replicate that even a little, he’ll be well on his way to making the big-league roster.

A remaining pickup?

As always, it’s impossible to rule out a last-minute Preller addition. Whether by trade or free agency, the Friars always seem to find a way to add. Odds are high, with the Padres having checked in on a number of free agent starters as well as being linked to clubs like the New York Mets and Boston Red Sox throughout the offseason.

Whatever San Diego does, the prospect of baseball coming back this week is thrilling enough. It’s been a long (and unusually quiet) offseason for the club, and it will be exciting to see how the team performs ahead of Opening Day.

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The Dodgers on Monday announced their initial set of promotions at Dodger Stadium during 2026. The list revealed so far includes 21 bobblehead giveaways, including three for Shohei Ohtani and four bobbleheads featuring notable moments from Game 7 of the World Series.

Ohtani on his six bobblehead-giveaway days at Dodger Stadium in 2024-25 had nine hits in 24 at-bats with four home runs, three stolen bases, and two walks, hitting .375/.423/.875 with nine RBI and eight runs scored. His first two bobbleheads of 2026 commemorate his Game 4 of the 2025 NLCS, during which he hit three home runs and struck out 10 in his six-plus scoreless innings en route to winning NLCS MVP.

Bobbleheads of Dodgers

• March 28 vs. Diamondbacks: Will Smith World Series Game 7 home run
• April 10 vs. Rangers: Shohei Ohtani NLCS Game 4 (batting)
• April 25 vs. Cubs: Roki Sasaki
• May 8 vs. Braves: Miguel Rojas World Series Game 7 home run
• May 9 vs. Braves: Blake Snell
• May 25 vs. Rockies: Dave Roberts
• May 27 vs. Rockies: Yoshinobu Yamamoto World Series Game 7 final out
• May 29 vs. Phillies: Alex Vesia
• May 30 vs. Phillies: Teoscar Hernández
• June 6 vs. Angels: Tyler Glasnow
• June 19 vs. Orioles: Mookie Betts World Series Game 7 final double play
• July 6 vs. Rockies: Freddie Freeman World Series Game 3 walk-off home run
• July 8 vs. Rockies: Shohei Ohtani NLCS Game 4 (pitching)
• July 29 vs. Mariners: Edwin Díaz
• July 31 vs. Red Sox: Kyle Tucker
• August 15 vs. Brewers: Reggie Smith Legends of Dodger Baseball
• August 22 vs. Pirates: Shohei Ohtani pitching
• September 5 vs. Nationals: Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitching

Bobbleheads of non-Dodgers

• May 12 vs. Giants: Ice Cube in a lowrider
• June 20 vs. Orioles: Shaquille O’Neal
• July 11 vs. Diamondbacks: LAFC soccer star Son Heung-min

The starters are presented in alphabetical order, and, as always, are written in a No. 2 pencil. Today we’re looking at Matthew Boyd, who had the best year of his career in 2025, throwing 179.2 innings and going 14-8 with a 3.21 ERA and 1.091 WHIP, though he did in fact look gassed during the playoffs and didn’t fare as well.

The 35-year-old lefty will venture into the 2026 season on the strength of the 2.5 bWAR (3.4 fWAR) he amassed during that previous season, where he’s likely to throw a few less innings and occupy a spot from 1-4 in the everyday rotation. To expect numbers like 2025 would be folly… but something between that and his late-teens work in Detroit would be fine. Win 10-11 games, throw 160+ innings, hurl @8 K/9, keep the team in the game.

Boyd and Taillon are probably 4-5, with Cabrera, Imanaga, Horton or some other combination of the three at the top, awaiting the return of Justin Steele. But Craig Counsell may have other ideas.

Boyd does have an option for 2027, with a $2 million buyout. Given his age and high odds of regression or injury, that’s a good deal. We’ll see if it’s time to roll the dice by season’s end. He doesn’t really have a lot of mileage on that arm and might be good for a bit.

TAMPA — The Yankees swung another minor trade in the name of depth on the eve of camp.

The club acquired infielder Max Schuemann from the Athletics on Monday in exchange for rookie-ball right-hander Luis Burgos.

The right-handed hitting Schuemann, 28, has started the majority of his big league career at shortstop, but also seen time at third base, second base and all three outfield spots. Across two seasons with the Athletics, he hit .212 with a .603 OPS and 21 steals in 234 games.

Schuemann has three minor league options remaining, giving the Yankees some flexibility and depth at a time when another infielder on their 40-man roster, Jorbit Vivas, is out of options entering spring training.

To make room for Schuemann on the 40-man roster, the Yankees designated Yanquiel Fernandez for assignment, less than a week after claiming the outfielder off waivers from the Rockies.

The Yankees on Monday also outrighted right-hander Dom Hamel and infielder Braden Shewmake to Triple-A and invited them to big league camp.

Among those spotted at the Yankees’ player development complex Monday, two days before pitchers and catchers officially report to spring training: Aaron Judge, Ben Rice, Spencer Jones, Carlos Rodón, Austin Wells, Anthony Volpe, Oswaldo Cabrera, José Caballero, Will Warren, Luis Gil, Fernando Cruz, Ryan Yarbrough, Tim Hill, J.C. Escarra and George Lombard Jr.

After 11 years, Chris Paddack will finally pitch for the Miami Marlins. Paddack, 30, has reportedly agreed to a one-year, $4 million deal with the Marlins, according to MLB reporter Jon Heyman. The contract includes $500,000 in incentives.

The veteran right-hander was Miami’s eighth-round draft pick (No. 236 overall) in 2015 out of Cedar Park High School in Texas. But he was traded the following year to the San Diego Padres in exchange for reliever Fernando Rodney. He debuted with the Padres in 2019 and was traded to the Twins in 2022.

Last year, Paddack pitched for the Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers. He made 21 starts for the Twins before being traded to Detroit. After seven ineffective starts with the Tigers, he was moved to the bullpen for the remainder of the season. Overall, he compiled a 5.35 ERA and 5-12 record in 32 appearances (28 starts). 

Since his rookie season, Paddack has never been a high strikeout pitcher. In 2025, his rate of 6.4 per nine innings was the lowest of his seven-year MLB career. However, he also doesn’t walk many batters, averaging 2.1 last season.

The Marlins were in need of a starting pitcher after trading Edward Cabrera to the Chicago Cubs and Ryan Weathers to the New York Yankees this offseason.

[Get more Marlins news: Miami team feed]

Paddack is expected to join a starting rotation that includes Sandy Alcántara, Eury Pérez, Janson Junk, Ryan Gusto and Adam Mazur. Braxton Garrett and Dax Fulton, in addition to top prospects Thomas White and Robby Snelling, will also likely be part of the staff during the 2026 season. 

Across his seven MLB seasons, Paddack has registered a 4.64 ERA and 32-36 record with a strikeout rate of 8.2 per nine innings in 118 appearances (110 starts). His best season was his rookie campaign, in which he went 9-7 with a 3.33 ERA and 153 Ks in 140 2/3 innings.