Conference heavyweights collide as the Denver Nuggets host the Boston Celtics in the Mile High City tonight.
Nikola Jokic has been tremendous, and my Celtics vs. Nuggets predictions expect the three-time MVP to stuff the stat sheet at home.
Here are my best free NBA picks for this prime-time bout on Wednesday, February 25.
Tip-off is set for 10:00 p.m. ET from Ball Arena in Denver, with the game airing on ESPN.
Celtics vs Nuggets prediction
Celtics vs Nuggets best bet: Nikola Jokic to record a triple-double (-115)
Nikola Jokic ranks second in all-time triple-doubles, and the Denver Nuggets superstar will add to his burgeoning total tonight in front of a home crowd in which he’s excelled this season.
Jokic has averaged 28.5 points, 12.7 rebounds, and 11.2 assists at Ball Arena, recording a triple-double in 12 of 19 games there.
Joker has recorded a league-high 21 triple-doubles this season, doing so in two straight and in four of his last six at home. The Boston Celtics defense is elite, but Jokic has recorded a triple-double in each of his last two home games against the C’s.
Celtics vs Nuggets same-game parlay
The Nuggets are just 12-14 ATS at home and 8-10 as the home favorite. Boston has excelled on the road, covering the spread in 20 of 30 games, including seven of 10 as the road dog. Back-to-backs haven’t been a problem for the Celtics, who are 6-3 ATS playing with no rest.
The Nuggets are 15-11 to the Over at home, but the Celtics are just 11-19 to the Under on the road. Boston boasts one of the stingiest defenses in the Association, and the C’s have hit the Under in two straight and eight of their last 10.
Celtics vs Nuggets SGP
Nikola Jokic to record a triple-double
Celtics +3.5
Under 230.5
Our “from downtown” SGP: Brown blitz
Jaylen Brown has scored 30+ in 28 of 51 appearances, including 14 of 25 on the road. He sat out Tuesday and should be well-rested for tonight’s marquee matchup with Denver.
Celtics vs Nuggets SGP
Nikola Jokic to record a triple-double
Celtics +3.5
Under 230.5
Jaylen Brown Over 29.5 points
Celtics vs Nuggets odds
Spread: Celtics +3.5 (-110) | Nuggets -3.5 (-110)
Moneyline: Celtics +140 | Nuggets -165
Over/Under: Over 229.5 (-110) | Under 229.5 (-110)
Celtics vs Nuggets betting trend to know
The Boston Celtics have hit the Game Total Under in 22 of their last 30 games (+13.20 Units / 40% ROI). Find more NBA betting trends for Celtics vs. Nuggets.
How to watch Celtics vs Nuggets
Location
Ball Arena, Denver, CO
Date
Wednesday, February 25, 2026
Tip-off
10:00 p.m. ET
TV
ESPN
Celtics vs Nuggets latest injuries
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Paul Skenes is arguably the best pitcher on the planet. The reigning NL Cy Young Award winner is so good that at times his stuff makes him look extraterrestrial.
But while Skenes might be an alien, he lost to a robot on Wednesday during his spring training debut.
During the first inning of a 3-1 defeat to the Atlanta Braves, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ ace missed the strike zone by one-tenth of an inch with a 1-1 curveball that was initially called a strike by home-plate umpire Chris Segal.
An ABS graphic then showed that Skenes’ pitch was actually a ball — but only by the narrowest of measurements. It was just outside, and it was one of four called strikes that Skenes threw that were overturned by the machine, which uses Hawk-Eye technology to monitor the exact location of each pitch, relative to a batter’s strike zone.
Olson’s take led to a two-out walk, extending what became a 31-pitch inning.
Although Skenes didn’t allow a run in the frame, he appeared to lose the groove he started the day on, notably issuing another base on balls after Olson’s.
“When the season gets rolling, that’s probably not the pitch that you’re going to be challenging, but you’ve got to feel it out a bit,” Olson said, per MLB.com. “I figured, whatever. It was a backdoor sweeper that I felt kind of held up a little bit. I just said, ‘Screw it, let’s rip it and see what happens.'”
Skenes’ second walk came against Jurickson Profar, who challenged a fastball and won to turn an 0-1 count into a 1-0 situation.
The next batter, Austin Riley, called for a replay after he was caught looking on a 99-mph four-seamer. Turns out that was above the zone, but Skenes quickly recalibrated his placement and fired another laser just below the previous one. That time, he got Riley swinging to end the inning.
Skenes saw another strike flip to a ball in the second inning. He finished with four walks and one earned run allowed in 2 1/3 innings of action. He also punched out four batters.
That kind of outing wasn’t necessarily the ramp-up to his World Baseball Classic debut that he was looking for. Skenes, after all, is coming off a terrific 2025 campaign in which the 23-year-old posted an MLB-best 1.97 ERA.
But at the moment, Skenes isn’t sweating the razor-thin margins ABS exposes.
“Ask me again in June,” he said, according to MLB.com. “Today, that’s how it is. I’ve just got to adjust. … I think it will even out over the course of the season, but ask me in June.”
The University of Cincinnati is suing Brendan Sorsby, accusing the former Bearcats quarterback of breaching his name, image and likeness contract following his transfer to Texas Tech.
The university filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio on Wednesday.
According to the lawsuit, Sorsby signed an NIL agreement in July 2025 covering the 2025 and ’26 seasons and that there would be a $1 million buyout if Sorsby transferred, payable within 30 days. Sorsby announced on Dec. 15 that he was entering the transfer portal and announced on Jan. 4 that he would be attending Texas Tech.
Sorsby received the most lucrative deal of the portal period — a reported $5 million — to return to his home state for his final season.
“Cincinnati Athletics is proud to partner with its student-athletes and honors the contractual commitments it makes to them. We expect student-athletes and their representatives to do the same,” the university said in a statement. “In his lucrative NIL agreement with Cincinnati Athletics, Brendan Sorsby committed to stay and play for two seasons as a proud Bearcat representative. He also agreed that if he left the university before that time, he would pay the university a specific amount for the substantial harm that his breach would cause. Cincinnati Athletics intends to enforce that contractual commitment.”
Sorsby’s agent, Ron Slavin, said pursuing legal action against his client is misguided and that Sorsby intends to fight the lawsuit and any resulting damages.
Sorsby passed for 2,800 yards, 27 touchdowns and five interceptions last season. He also ran for 580 yards and nine TDs. The Bearcats started 7-1 before losing their final five games.
Slavin said Sorsby was paid $875,800 by Cincinnati under its revenue-sharing structure for the 2025 season.
“In that time, he generated millions in value for the program. Attempting to recover those funds now sends the wrong message to current and future student-athletes and risks damaging the long-term credibility of Cincinnati football,” Slavin wrote in an email. “This is further disappointing given that Brendan parted ways with UC in what was a mutually agreeable manner. The money the university seeks to recover from him is nothing more than an unlawful penalty under Ohio law.”
This is at least the third case this year in which a school has sought a legal remedy related to an NIL deal with a quarterback.
Duke sued Darian Mensah were engaged in a legal fight until reaching a settlement last month. Mensah signed a two-year contract in July 2025 before he led the Blue Devils to their first outright Atlantic Coast Conference title since 1962. A judge granted Duke’s request for a temporary restraining order to block Mensah from doing anything beyond entering his name into the transfer portal until both sides came to an agreement.
Mensah ended up transferring to Miami.
Demond Williams Jr. had planned to transfer from Washington, then changed his mind two days later as the Huskies were preparing to file a lawsuit to enforce a buyout of nearly $4 million.
Sorsby began his career at Indiana before transferring to Cincinnati. In 35 career games, including 31 starts, he has passed for 7,208 yards and 60 touchdowns, along with 1,295 rushing yards and 22 TDs.
Sorsby and the Red Raiders, who won the Big 12 last season and reached the College Football Playoff for the first time in school history, will play at Cincinnati on Oct. 24 during the university’s 100th homecoming celebration.
Harden suffered a broken right thumb during the team’s win over the New York Knicks on Tuesday. The injury was not discovered until after the game.
Harden, famously a left-handed shooter, could theoretically play through the injury. In fact, per ESPN’s Shams Charania, Harden intends to do just that. However, that might be out of his control for now. Here’s what to know about James Harden’s latest injury.
Will James Harden play tonight?
Harden is currently listed as questionable for Wednesday night‘s game against the Milwaukee Bucks. His status for future games is still up in the air, although, as stated earlier, Harden intends to play through it.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The former competition director of Joe Gibbs Racing claimed Wednesday the Pro Football Hall of Fame coach is suing him for “daring to leave” the NASCAR team when the situation surrounding Gibbs’ grandson became untenable at the organization.
Chris Gabehart admitted in his declaration filed in the Western District of North Carolina that he did take photographs on his phone of a JGR excel file and other projects that he had played a role in developing. But Gabehart insisted his own forensic audit proved the information was never shared with any other organization.
JGR has sued Gabehart for allegedly embarking on “a brazen scheme to steal JGR’s most sensitive information” and on Tuesday night added Spire Motorsports to the suit. JGR also requested a restraining order preventing Gabehart from working for the rival team.
JGR alleges Gabehart took proprietary information from the team to bring with him to his new role at Spire.
Gabehart is challenging that narrative and claims his 13-year tenure at JGR began to unravel when he was pressured last season to crew chief Ty Gibbs, the grandson of the team owner, despite having been promoted to competition director at the end of 2024.
“I notified JGR that the job was not, at all, as advertised. I was promised a COO-type role overseeing all competitive operations with autonomy to lead,” Gabehart wrote in the declaration. “Instead, I found myself constantly intertwined with Coach Gibbs, senior JGR executives and family members when making even routine competition decisions — a dysfunctional organizational structure that I could not continue in.”
Gabehart claims he expressed “serious concerns” about how Ty Gibbs’ No. 54 team was managed, specifically that it was not held to the same standards as the teams for Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin, and that the car “was managed directly by Coach Gibbs and everyone in the organization knew it.”
Gabehart said he conceded to pressure to crew chief Ty Gibbs in a behind-the-scenes role and then in late June he called nine consecutive races on the pit box for the young driver. He maintains he offered specific examples of the No. 54 team’s differential treatment that undermined him as competition director, specifically that Ty Gibbs “was not held to the same meeting attendance standards as others on the team.”
When the situation came to a head near the end of last season, Gabehart claims he began working on a separation agreement with JGR and was told to say he was “on vacation” if anyone asked why he was not working. He maintains JGR stopped paying him in November as negotiations over his parting grew contentious and talks eventually ceased.
JGR has since sued, claiming Gabehart violated his contract and stole confidential team trade secrets when “his demands for additional authority were rebuffed by JGR’s owner.” JGR claims Gabehart has caused more than $8 million in damages to the organization.
Gabehart maintains he paid for his own forensic audit and it showed “there is no evidence I transmitted, distributed, used or otherwise shared any JGR confidential information. No text messages. No email attachments. No dissemination whatsoever.
“This lawsuit is not about protecting trade secrets,” Gabehart claimed, “it is about punishing a former employee for daring to leave.”
JGR was founded by Joe Gibbs in 1992 after he won three Super Bowls as Washington’s football coach. Gibbs is a member of both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and NASCAR Hall of Fame and now co-owns JGR with his daughter-in-law, Heather.
Heather Gibbs is the mother of Ty Gibbs, who is at the start of his fourth full Cup season driving for his grandfather. Ty Gibbs was successful in NASCAR’s second-level series, where he won 12 races and the 2022 championship. His father, Coy, was found dead in his hotel room the morning after Ty won the championship.
Ty Gibbs moved to the Cup Series in 2023 and is winless in 125 starts. The 23 year old finished a career-best 15th in the 2024 Cup standings.
Gabehart joined JGR in 2012 as an engineer, worked his way to crew chief for Hamlin, and became competition director ahead of the 2025 season. Gabehart spent six seasons as Hamlin’s crew chief and the duo won 22 Cup races — two of which were the Daytona 500 — and qualified for the championship finale three times.
Hamlin finished fifth or better in six seasons under Gabehart, while Hamlin’s wins and laps-led were second-best in the Cup Series during that period.
The lawsuit filed by JGR contends its own forensic audit after Gabehart said he no longer wanted to work for the organization found Google searches about Spire Motorsports, folders titled “Spire” and “Past Setups” and more than a dozen images of JGR files containing confidential information and trade secrets.
Gabehart admits to taking the photos and creating the “Spire” folder, but said the folder was for his own evaluation of whether or not to join the rival race team.
Telegram is among the most popular WhatsApp alternatives around. Telegram supports messaging individuals and groups, but it also has social media-like channels where you can post to thousands of subscribers at once. In this piece, I’ll be focusing more on Telegram as a messenger, since that’s how I use it the most. In my decade of using the app, I’ve learned quite a bit about it, and I’m here to share the best Telegram hacks that you should know.
You need to manually enable end-to-end encryption
Unlike Signal or WhatsApp, Telegram is not end-to-end encrypted by default. End-to-end encryption ensures that your messages cannot be read by anyone without accessing either your device or the recipient’s device, and at this point, it’s become an industry standard security protocol for messaging apps. You can enable end-to-end encryption in Telegram, but it requires a few extra steps, and even then, the implementation is not very user-friendly. Secret Chat is Telegram’s name for messages that have end-to-end encryption, and to access it, follow these steps:
Open Telegram and start a chat with a contact.
In the chat window, tap the name of the contact up top.
On the next page, tap more, and select Start Secret Chat.
You now need to wait for the recipient to come online and accept your request to start a Secret Chat. When they do, that conversation will become end-to-end encrypted.
Sadly, you’ll have to repeat this process with each of your contacts, which leaves you with two different chats per contact (a Secret Chat and a normal chat). The other limitation is that you can’t access Secret Chats on multiple devices. They’re limited to your phone and the recipient’s phone, and won’t show up on Telegram’s desktop app. It’s great for security, but not as good for convenience.
Don’t forget to delete your old profile photos
When you add a new profile picture to your Telegram account, it does not automatically delete the previous picture. That means your contacts can still go to your profile and see your older profile pictures. To fix this, open the Telegram app and go to the Settings page (which is within the bottom bar on iOS and hidden under the three-lines menu on other platforms). Tap your profile photo, select the Edit button, and delete the pictures you don’t want to keep.
Disable unwanted notifications
Credit: Pranay Parab
Telegram tends to be a bit spammy with its notifications. By default, you’ll get an alert whenever any of your contacts joins Telegram, which gets tiring very fast. You can disable these unwanted notifications by going to Telegram Settings > Notifications and Sounds and disabling New Contacts. While you’re on this page, you can take a moment to disable any other notification types you might not want to see, including Group Chats, Stories, Channels, Reactions, etc.
Change when Telegram auto-deletes your account
Telegram is a bit aggressive about deleting inactive accounts. It will automatically delete your account if you don’t use the app for six months. This isn’t going to bother regular users, but it’s a good idea to customize this duration based on your needs. Telegram lets you set the auto-delete timer for anywhere from 1 month to 24 months, so you can pick the option that’s best for you. Go to Telegram Settings > Privacy and Security > If Away For to make the change.
You can block Telegram calls
Telegram supports voice and video calls, which is pretty standard for messaging apps. Unlike most of its competitors, though, Telegram allows you to block voice and video calls entirely. Just head over to Telegram Settings > Privacy and Security > Calls and select Nobody.
Enhance your Telegram account’s security
It’s never a bad idea to add a few extra layers of security to your Telegram account. The app supports two-step verification and passkeys, and you can enable both by going to Telegram Settings > Privacy and Security. Both options are located near the top of this page.
Lower your data usage
One of Telegram’s best features is granular controls for its various settings, including how much data the app uses. This is great for people with metered internet connections. You can access these options under Telegram Settings > Data and Storage. Go to Using Cellular and Using Wi-Fi to customize how much data the app uses. If you set data usage to Low, Telegram will compress media to preserve bandwidth. On the same page, you can also disable all auto-downloads for photos, stories, videos, and files. Or, if you tap any of these options, you can individually disable auto-downloads based on the type of chat. For instance, Telegram lets you disable automatic downloads of photos, videos, files, and stories from only group chats or only channels. This way, it’ll still automatically download media sent in private chats, but not in group chats.
You can also go to the Data and Storage settings page, and enable Use Less Data for Calls. This will compress audio a little bit, but can be helpful for staying under data limits.
Automate the built-in power saving mode
Telegram has a built-in power saving mode that conserves battery by reducing animations or disabling autoplaying videos and other intensive processes. Set it up by going to Telegram Settings > Power Saving. The slider at the top lets you set a battery percentage, and power saving will automatically turn on if your phone dips below it. I’ve set it to 30%, but you can choose a different number if you like. On the same page, you can also manually disable resource intensive processes, which I’ve used it to turn off autoplaying videos and gifs entirely.
Telegram groups have useful granular controls
Credit: Pranay Parab
Group messaging is one area where Telegram allows you to do a lot more than its competition. After creating a group, tap the group’s name, select Group Settings, and you’ll see a plethora of options. Under Permissions, you’ll be able to decide if group members can send messages, voice notes, photos, videos, music, links, add members, pin messages, etc. On the same page, you can also enable Slow Mode, which enforces a minimum delay between two messages from the same member. If you set this to 1 minute, then members will have to wait a minute before sending their second message.
I would love to see other apps also implement a version of Slow Mode, as it stops people from spamming the group with multiple short messages in a row. Additional settings include enabling Topics, which lets you create different “channels” within a group to keep discussions from going astray (separate from the social media “channels” mentioned at the start of this guide). You can think of these like separate channels in Slack or IRC, so in larger groups, you can have separate topics to discuss sport or politics. This keeps the main feed free of unnecessary messages and assigns dedicated spots for different topics.
Telegram Premium adds features you probably don’t need
Telegram has a subscription service ($5/mo) that lets you access features such as unlimited cloud storage (with a maximum of 4GB per document), chat transcription, automatic translation of incoming messages, support for checklists in the app, the ability to see when someone was last seen online (bypassing their privacy settings), and more. These features are great for people who have channels with a large following, but for most people, none of these features are essential. Other than the generous cloud storage, you can get all of these features in other apps for free. And even cloud storage has strong alternatives, including small providers like Proton or larger ones like Google and Apple.
A lot of us spend significant time and energy organizing our closets, home offices, and even our kitchen cabinets, but we toss our weekly groceries and daily leftovers into the fridge with little thought. Soon enough, we can’t find the ranch dressing behind all the plastic containers filled with food that looks more like a science experiment.
Even if you don’t let your fridge situation get quite that bad, a lack of organization in there will make it harder to keep it clean and find and grab what you need. If you want to get serious about organizing your fridge, you have to go beyond the standard drawers and shelves most models offer. Here are the products I recommend to turn your chaotic fridge into something more manageable.
Add extra drawers to your fridge
Many refrigerators come with just a few drawers for storing produce or other foods, and that may not be enough to keep things separated. These under-shelf drawers clip into place and provide extra pull-out storage that won’t eat up precious shelf space (though they do, admittedly, reduce the vertical space you can use, so you have to be thoughtful about where to place them).
Use fridge drink organizers
My wife buys a lot of soda. A lot. She used to just shove those cardboard sleeves into the fridge and take cans as she needed them, but the cans would sometimes just roll out onto the floor, the cardboard often got soggy, and it was just ugly. The better choice is to install a can holder—either a stand-up version like this one, or a plastic dispenser like this. Either choice will keep those cans organized and in place, and will make your fridge look neater.
Stackable pull-out drawer bins make use of vertical fridge space
The key to fridge organization is a modular approach, dividing those vast shelf spaces into tidy, stackable components. These plastic bins are a good choice here: They can be stacked up so you can actually use the vertical space in your fridge, and their contents can be accessed via a pull-out drawer, so you don’t need to un-stack them to get to what you need.
Add storage bins with removable colanders for your produce
A great option for folks who eat a lot of produce that needs washing before use, these sturdy, airtight plastic containers stack up in your fridge for maximum neatness and have a built-in colander for quick and easy rinsing before use.
Organize your condiments with a Lazy Susan
A Lazy Susan—a rotating turntable—is an amazing addition to your refrigerator’s interior. It allows you to keep all those condiments and jars of leftover sauce in one place so you can easily access them without excavating the entirety of your refrigerator’s contents.
Use peel and stick fridge organizers to save shelf space
Another way to maximize the vertical space in your fridge is to get those yogurt containers currently eating up so much real estate off the shelves. These peel-and-stick organizers fit four standard yogurt containers—or any similarly sized plastic containers. They can be mounted under shelves or even sideways on the walls of the fridge, keeping them out of the way but easily accessible.
Use shelf dividers to make better use of your fridge door space
The door shelves on your refrigerator are loaded with condiments, milk cartons, and anything else, all of it crammed together. The solution is to divide up the space. These adjustable dividers allow you to corral your bottles and jars, and they can be moved and removed to create different storage solutions as your grocery list changes over time.
Organize your freezer too
If you’ve got packs of meat, frozen meals, vegetables, and/or boxed items stacked up in the freezer, this organizer rack is an easy way to keep everything tidy and easily accessible. It’s designed with built-in handles, so you can easily pull the whole thing out if you need to, or just pluck that one box to defrost for dinner tonight.
Use an egg storage tray to stack a few dozen
There are two kinds of people in this world: Those who enjoy an egg every now and then, and those who fuel their entire life on a steady supply of them. If you fall into the latter category, consider picking up a stackable egg holder or two. They are a far more efficient system than foam egg cartons for storing your eggs.
Use an under-the-shelf bottle rack to free up shelf space
Another way to keep your shelf spaces clear is to get those bottles of soda, beer, wine, or water off of them. This under-the-shelf bottle holder is a great solution. It not only clears up shelf space, it makes it easy to grab your favorite beverage without rooting around in the depths of your refrigerator.
It probably will come as no surprise that Samsung claims its new S26 series delivers “the most powerful Galaxy experience yet.” The company announced the new phones during its big Unpacked 2026 event, and, like most new smartphones these days, this year’s models appear to be iterative updates to last year’s S25 phones.
The company particularly touted the S26 series’ cameras, but the interesting thing is, the camera hardware hasn’t much changed. If you look at the on-paper specs, you’ll mostly see the same numbers across the lens and sensor sizes. The S26 and S26+ have three rear cameras, while the S26 Ultra adds a fourth; all three phones have the same 12MP selfie camera. Really, the only hardware change is to the S26 Ultra’s 200MP main camera, which now has an f/1.4 aperture, compared to the f/1.7 aperture on the S25 Ultra’s 200MP camera. Otherwise, Samsung kept things pretty much the same.
The S26 cameras are still a decent upgrade over the S25’s
And yet, there are some clear advantages to the S26 series, especially the S26 Ultra. While the selfie cameras are the same as last year, they now use a new AI processor to bring out more detail: When there’s too much light in a shot, the S26 series can add virtual light to balance out the image. These phones are also better than previous models at filming video in low-light conditions, expanding on the company’s “Nightography” feature, which previously boosted the detail in photos; now, it works for video as well.
Speaking of video, Samsung says the S26 can automatically stabilize shots while maintaining a level image, even if you’re not looking at the frame, using “Super Steady with Horizontal Lock” (catchy name!).
If you pick up the Ultra, you’ll also get some pro video features. First, the phone supports the APV video codec, Samsung’s pro video codec, ideal for professional editors. Presumably, shooting in 8K APV will produce some large file sizes, which is why it’s great that the S26 Ultra supports recording to external storage, like the recent Pro iPhones. If shooting in log, you’ll be able to apply LUTs to your footage, to customize the overall color-grading of your images.
One smaller upgrade is Ocean Mode, which takes detailed images in underwater environments. This feature was previously available to professionals only, but the S26 series gets it as part of the Expert RAW setting.
Credit: Samsung/YouTube
Samsung added a surprise twist to Unpacked, revealing towards the end of the show that the entire livestream was filmed using S26 Ultras. That follows Apple’s playbook of recording events with iPhones, though Apple doesn’t do livestreams anymore. As far as I can tell, this is the first time a company like Samsung has livestreamed its entire presentation on one of its smartphone cameras. (Though both Apple and Samsung also deck out their smartphones with expensive equipment to capture these images.)
Credit: Samsung/YouTube
Galaxy AI brings new camera features to the S26 too
Samsung’s event focused a lot on Galaxy AI, and its benefits also applied to the cameras. For instance, the document scanner on the S26 can remove extraneous subjects from scans, such as your thumb or finger, and can combine multiple scans into one PDF.
You can also use Galaxy AI for prompt-based editing. Samsung showed off how to merge two photos at once, so that the subject of one image is “seamlessly” edited into another. The example added a dog from one image into the arms of a woman sitting at a coffee shop in another. Other examples of prompt-based edits include swapping outfits in an image, or editing a bite out of a cupcake.
Credit: Samsung/YouTube
None of these upgrades alone are necessarily worth upgrading from the S25, but they show that Samsung is quite confident in the features and quality of its cameras. Even if you don’t care for AI editing, it’s helpful to have added details when shooting in low light, and any budding cinematographers may enjoy the pro features—especially codec support and the ability to shoot to external storage. But, as always, we’ll need to wait for reviewers to get their hands on the phones before we know how good these cameras really are.
Yahoo Sports’ 26-and-under power rankings are a remix on the traditional farm system rankings that assess the strength of MLB organizations’ talent base among rookie-eligible and MiLB players. By evaluating all players in an organization entering their age-26 seasons or younger, this project aims to paint a more complete picture of each team’s young core. Our rankings value productive young major leaguers more heavily than prospects who have yet to prove it at the highest level, and most prospects included in teams’ evaluations have already reached the upper levels of the minors.
To compile these rankings, each MLB organization was given a score in four categories:
Young MLB hitters: scored 0-10; 26-and-under position players and rookie-eligible hitters projected to be on Opening Day rosters
Young MLB pitchers: scored 0-10; 26-and-under pitchers and rookie-eligible pitchers projected to be on Opening Day rosters
Prospect hitters: scored 0-5; prospect-eligible position players projected to reach MLB in the next 1-2 years
Prospect pitchers: scored 0-5; prospect-eligible pitchers projected to reach MLB in the next 1-2 years
We’re counting down all 30 organizations’ 26-and-under talent bases from weakest to strongest, diving into five teams at a time. In addition to the scores for each team in each category, we’ll highlight the key players who fall into each bucket and contributed most to their organization’s place in the rankings. Below, we dig into Nos. 10-6.
10. Detroit Tigers (total score: 16/30) | 2025 rank: 14
Young MLB hitters (6/10): OF Riley Greene, 3B Colt Keith, 1B Spencer Torkelson, OF Wenceel Pérez, OF Parker Meadows, SS Trey Sweeney, INF Jace Jung Young MLB pitchers (4/10): RHP Reese Olson, RHP Jackson Jobe, RHP Keider Montero, RHP Troy Melton, RHP Ty Madden Prospect hitters (5/5): SS Kevin McGonigle, OF Max Clark, C/1B Josue Briceño, INF Max Anderson, INF Hao-Yu Lee, C/1B Thayron Liranzo, SS Bryce Rainer Prospect pitchers (1/5): RHP Jaden Hamm, LHP Jake Miller, LHP Andrew Sears, RHP Dylan Smith
Normally we begin these write-ups focusing on the big-league team, but the Tigers are different. Their farm system demands our attention, more specifically the abundance of impact hitters who have marched their way to Detroit’s doorstep. Kevin McGonigle and Max Clark give Detroit an unrivaled duo of position-player prospect talent. McGonigle’s sublime offensive skill set combined with a strong chance to stick on the left side of the infield earns him the clear designation as baseball’s best prospect not named Konnor Griffin. Clark, with an advanced lefty stick and plus speed and defense in center field, would be the top prospect in nearly every other organization. Clark and McGonigle reached Double-A at age 20 last year, putting both in position to debut at some point in 2026.
Those two alone are enough to earn Detroit a perfect score in the prospect hitters category, but there’s more: Josue Briceño, a physical backstop with big left-handed power,also raked his way to Double-A at age 20. Max Anderson and Hao-Yu Lee are less sexy profiles, but they too might hit their way into Detroit’s plans.And there might be another future star lurking in the lower levels if Bryce Rainer can get healthy.
Over the course of this season, some combination of those hitting prospects will arrive in Detroit and join an already deep group of young position players who have shown flashes of star potential but finished last year on a sour note. The Tigers’ offense got progressively worse as the 2025 season wore on, and Detroit ceded the AL Central title to Cleveland in shocking fashion. Even after advancing past the Guardians in the postseason, the Tigers’ offensive output was one of the worst collective October showings we’ve seen in years, with the U26 hitters the primary culprits. It was a discouraging sequence no matter how you slice it, but it shouldn’t completely overshadow the talent still present.
Riley Greene earned multiple All-Star invites before turning 25, which is no small feat. There’s a version of Greene that can thrive while striking out a bunch, but he’s still looking to strike the right balance; by the end of last season, the whiffs were piling up too often for him to be relied on as the team’s best bat. Spencer Torkelson faces a similar challenge, wielding proven prodigious power but still needing to refine his on-base skills. Colt Keith had a brutal postseason after returning from a rib injury, but his regular-season production was rock-solid; same goes for Wenceel Perez, who provides more versatility as a switch-hitter and plus outfield defender. If these big-league bats can find more consistency in tandem with the arrival of the hot-shot prospects, this lineup could coalesce into something special quickly.
Optimism surrounding a bright future for the Tigers’ bats is dampened somewhat by a murkier outlook on the mound. Injuries have been a frustrating trend. Jackson Jobe was widely regarded as the top pitching prospect in baseball at this time a year ago, but he underwhelmed early in his rookie season before needing Tommy John surgery in June. Reese Olson has been effective in a starting role the past three seasons, but durability has repeatedly been a challenge, and he just underwent season-ending shoulder surgery. Troy Melton,the most promising arm to arrive in the majors last season, has yet to pitch this spring due to general arm soreness. Hopefully Melton’s issues aren’t anything serious, but it’s still a troubling development.
Beyond the injuries, there’s also a total lack of top-end pitching talent in the upper minors; pick a top-10 Tigers prospects list from whichever outlet you prefer, and you probably won’t see a pitcher included. This lack of clarity on the next wave of young Tigers arms was likely a motivating factor behind Detroit’s offseason spending spree on veteran pitching (Framber Valdez, Justin Verlander, Kenley Jansen) — and why capitalizing on what could be Tarik Skubal’s final year as a Tiger is so crucial. — J.S.
In Corbin Carroll, Gunnar Henderson and Bobby Witt Jr., the D-backs, Orioles and Royals boast three of the best young position players in the sport.
Young MLB hitters (10/10): SS Bobby Witt Jr., 3B Maikel Garcia, OF Jac Caglianone, C Carter Jensen Young MLB pitchers (3/10): LHP Noah Cameron, RHP Ryan Bergert Prospect hitters (1/5): C Blake Mitchell, OF Carson Roccaforte, 2B Peyton Wilson, OF Gavin Cross, 2B Javi Vaz, 2B Sam Kulasingam Prospect pitchers (2/5): RHP Luinder Avila, RHP Ben Kudrna, RHP Mason Black, RHP Steven Zobac, RHP Kendry Chourio
A year ago, the Royals boasted an all-world talent in Bobby Witt Jr. but such a dearth of proven commodities beyond him that it felt ridiculous to push them too far up the rankings on the basis of one individual. In the year since, Kansas City has watched Witt cruise along as his superstar self — albeit with enough of an offensive drop-off to plummet from 2024 MVP runner-up to merely fourth place in 2025 — and enjoyed enough steps forward elsewhere on the roster to vault the Royals into the top 10 for the first time in the four-year history of these rankings.
The leap starts first and foremost with Maikel Garcia. He had already entrenched himself at the hot corner thanks to his spectacular defense, but his bat took an enormous jump in his third full season, in which he became an all-around force, posting a 121 wRC+ after registering a paltry 77 mark across the previous two campaigns. That uptick in productivity at the plate combined with his stellar glovework and plus baserunning made Garcia one of the most valuable players in the American League and set the stage for a long-term contract extension that ensures Kansas City will have one of the best left sides of the infield in baseball for the foreseeable future.
Joining Witt and Garcia as the next potential core pieces of Kansas City’s lineup are Jac Caglianone and Carter Jensen, who had wildly different debuts last season. Caglianone arrived in June with a heaping helping of hype following his legendary collegiate career and speedy ascent through the minors, but he faceplanted as a rookie, ranking as one of the least productive hitters in baseball. That Cags was exposed so harshly was not a massive surprise, considering his hyper-aggressive approach. Now it’s on the talented 23-year-old to flush his forgettable debut and figure out how to tap into his tremendous raw power more reliably against the best arms on the planet.
Jensen, meanwhile, did not debut until September but made a far more encouraging first impression, sustaining the momentum from a dominant showing in the upper minors across an equally impressive month of mashing in the majors. He’s a natural heir apparent to franchise icon Salvador Perez behind the plate, and the two will alternate catching and DH duties as long as Perez is still around.
The Royals had one of the lowest scores of any team in the young MLB pitching category last year; it’s safe to say we did not forecast left-hander Noah Cameron finishing fourth in AL Rookie of the Year voting. Cameron might not project as a bona fide frontline arm, but his emergence gives Kansas City some much-needed stability in the rotation. The upper-level depth of young talent on the mound is rather underwhelming otherwise, though perhaps another Cameron-esque rotation candidate surfaces soon.
For the most part, Kansas City’s highest upside prospects — 18-year-old right-hander Kendry Chourio, top 2025 draft picks Josh Hammond and Sean Gamble, recent high-dollar international signees Yandel Ricardo and Angeibel Gomez — are nowhere near the majors. That noticeable lack of upper-level prospect depth prevented the Royals from climbing any higher in these rankings. — J.S.
Young MLB hitters (10/10): OF Corbin Carroll, SS Geraldo Perdomo, C Gabriel Moreno, OF Alek Thomas, OF Jorge Barrosa, OF Jordan Lawlar, C Adrian Del Castillo, 1B Tyler Locklear Young MLB pitchers (2/10): RHP Justin Martinez, LHP Brandyn Garcia, LHP Blake Walston, RHP Cristian Mena, RHP Juan Burgos, RHP Grant Holman Prospect hitters (3/5): OF Ryan Waldschmidt, INF Tommy Troy, SS Cristofer Torin, 3B LuJames Groover, INF Demetrio Crisantes, OF Kristian Robinson, OF A.J. Vukovich Prospect pitchers (1/5): RHP Yilber Díaz, LHP Kohl Drake, RHP David Hagaman, LHP Mitch Bratt, RHP Dylan Ray, LHP Yu-Min Lin, RHP Daniel Eagen, RHP Patrick Forbes
At the top of the roster, the D-backs mirror the Royals with a no-doubt face of the franchise in Corbin Carroll and an emergent co-starin Geraldo Perdomo. Sort all the hitters eligible for inclusion in this year’s rankings by 2025 fWAR, and Arizona and Kansas City account for four of the top five, with Carroll, Perdomo, Witt and Garcia joined by Seattle’s Julio Rodríguez. These terrific pairs earned both clubs a perfect score for young MLB hitters. While we’d rather have Witt and Garcia than Carroll and Perdomo if we were starting a franchise today, the Snakes take the narrow edge in these rankings due to their superior depth on both sides of the ball.
Sticking with the parallels, while the Royals are hoping Carter Jensen can become their next franchise catcher, there is zero doubt that the D-backs have their guy behind the dish in Gabriel Moreno. Injuries have prevented Moreno from amassing a full-season’s workload, but when he has played, he has been excellent. It’s more on-base than slug but still plenty of production for a backstop who also impacts the game defensively with his framing and fantastic control of the running game. On a less positive note, Alek Thomas is running out of time to prove his light bat warrants regular playing time. Meanwhile, former top prospect Jordan Lawlar has entered the outfield mix, which could boost his chances of remaining in Arizona’s long-term plans. Is he now a post-hype breakout candidate, or was his original prospect value improperly inflated? We’ll find out soon enough.
And there are more bats on the way. Ryan Waldschmidt is going to hit his way into the big-league picture soon, and Tommy Troy could do the same, though his path to playing time is more obscured due to the veterans ahead of him on the infield depth chart. Demetrio Crisantes and LuJames Groover are two more advanced hitters to monitor.
There is notably less upside present in this org on the mound, a reality that Arizona has sought to address, though results have been limited so far. Flamethrower Justin Martinez dominated as a rookie in 2024, but he underwent Tommy John surgery in June. Trades have netted several candidates to pitch in the majors soon — Cristian Mena, Brandyn Garcia, Juan Burgos, David Hagaman, Kohl Drake, Mitch Bratt — but none of them feels like a lock to stick in a big-league rotation. The more exciting arms to track are homegrown hurlers such as Daniel Eagen and the recently drafted Patrick Forbes. — J.S.
Young MLB hitters (9/10): SS Gunnar Henderson, C Samuel Basallo, 2B Jackson Holliday, OF Dylan Beavers, OF Colton Cowser, 3B Coby Mayo, INF/OF Jeremiah Jackson Young MLB pitchers (1/10): LHP Cade Povich Prospect hitters (2/5): OF Enrique Bradfield Jr., OF Nate George, 2B Aron Estrada, C/1B Creed Willems, INF/OF Payton Eeles Prospect pitchers (4/5): RHP Trey Gibson, LHP Luis De Leon, RHP Nestor German, RHP Levi Wells, RHP Juaron Watts-Brown, RHP Braxton Bragg, RHP Anthony Nuñez, RHP Tyson Neighbors
Baltimore dropped five spots on this year’s list after ranking second last year. Why the dip?Jordan Westburg turned 27. Jackson Holliday has yet to explode. Grayson Rodriguez missed the entire season and got traded to the Angels. Coby Mayo’s swing might not work in the bigs. There might not be an All-Star position player in the farm system, and there’s a total lack of young impact pitching.
But let’s pivot to the positive because this is still an organization with a bright future, as evidenced by its No. 7 ranking. GunnarHenderson had an “underwhelming” 2025 and still produced 5.3 bWAR. Now fully healthy, we think the 24-year-old will return to MVP finalist form and make last season look like a blip. Going forward, Bobby Witt Jr., Corbin Carroll and Paul Skenes are the only players in this entire exercise that we’d consider taking over Henderson. Samuel Basallo might be Rafael Devers in catcher’s gear, an in-box monster capable of jaw-dropping homers to all parts of the yard. And while he’s not a stellar defender, Basallo is still just 21 years old and has a cathedral offensive ceiling. It’ll be interesting to see how the Orioles deploy him between catcher and DH this season.
It’s way, way too early to give up on JacksonHolliday, who turned 22 over the winter. The former No. 1 pick has been a disappointment thus far in his career, with a pedestrian .660 OPS and middling defensive metrics. Now a hamate issue will delay Holliday’s start to the season, but he’s still one of the more compelling young characters in the game. Both Colton Cowser (swing-and-miss) and DylanBeavers (corner OF, bad against lefties) have real flaws, but they should find a way to reach league-average production. JeremiahJackson might be a valuable, late-blooming utility type.
On the mound, the Orioles remain high on CadePovich, who looks like a budget Max Fried, but not high enough to preclude them from adding three starters this winter. One culprit behind Baltimore’s disastrous 2025 was a lack of homegrown pitching capable of covering big-league innings. That should change this year. TreyGibson’s mid-90s heat and hammer curve should make him a viable back-end arm at some point in 2026 or ‘27. NestorGerman’s journey from 11th-rounder to likely big leaguer is already a developmental win. His extreme over-the-top release should help an otherwise mediocre fastball play up. LeviWells, Anthony Nuñez and TysonNeighbors could all contribute in the big-league ‘pen this year. — J.M.
6. New York Mets (total score: 18/30) | 2025 rank: 13
Young MLB hitters (5/10): INF/OF Brett Baty, C Francisco Alvarez, INF Ronny Mauricio, INF Mark Vientos Young MLB pitchers (6/10): RHP Nolan McLean Prospect hitters (4/5): OF Carson Benge, 1B Ryan Clifford, C Chris Suero, 3B Jacob Reimer, INF/OF AJ Ewing, OF Nick Morabito Prospect pitchers (3/5): RHP Jonah Tong, RHP Will Watson, RHP Jack Wenninger, LHP Jonathan Santucci, RHP Ryan Lambert, RHP Dylan Ross
Amid the wreckage of the catastrophic 2025 Mets season, silver linings abound. Nolan McLean wowed in an eight-start debut and is the runaway favorite for 2026 NL Rookie of the Year. He’s the best 26-and-under pitcher not named Paul Skenes; we could not be higher on the guy. BrettBaty was another bright spot, solidifying himself as a solid big-league regular. But with Bo Bichette and Marcus Semien now in town, at-bats might be harder to come by for Baty and MarkVientos, who took a step back in ‘25. Injuries derailed the first half of FranciscoAlvarez’s season, but the pugnacious backstop had a .921 OPS in 139 plate appearances after returning from an IL stint on July 21.
Few minor-league hitters made bigger leaps in 2025 than CarsonBenge, who will play a big part on the 2026 Mets, whether or not he makes the team out of camp. We think his swing is downright special, not to mention beautiful. He’s really lanky right now but already has above-average juice and should grow into more. Even if he doesn’t stick in center field, Benge should make multiple All-Star teams. Watch this 13-pitch backfield at-bat against Nolan McLean, and you’ll see what we mean. AJEwing and JacobReimer are both under-the-radar, fourth-round high school picks tracking like big-league regulars.
Jonah Tong debuted late last summer and was more memorable than impactful. It’s a special fastball from a deceptive slot, but a lack of command and subpar secondary stuff kept success at bay. Tong is a superb athlete and still only 22 years old, so we think he’ll figure some things out. But there’s a lot going on with his delivery, and he doesn’t seem to have a great feel for spin, two factors that might make him more of a mid-rotation type than a perennial All-Star. Still, this is a very good prospect.
New York’s reputation for pitching development has skyrocketed over the past few years under director of pitching Eric Jagers. That group helped turn McLean (third-round, two-way college guy) into a potential ace, Tong (seventh-round, Canadian high schooler) into a real starter and JackWenninger (sixth-round, cold-weather college kid) into a likely back-end starter. We trust this apparatus to continue to churn out impressive arms. — J.M.
On paper, the Samsung Galaxy S26 lineup seems like a pretty standard upgrade. The phones have received a new chip, some new AI features, slight bumps to the battery life and charging speeds (depending on your model), and even a fancy new gimmick in the Privacy Display. But once you add one of these new handsets to your cart, you’ll notice another detail that’s changed: Two of the Galaxy S26 phones cost $100 more than their Galaxy S25 counterparts did at launch last year.
We were all hoping it wouldn’t happen, but as AI demand makes components like storage, memory and even displays more expensive, the first major tech launch of the year has shown us that we can expect prices to increase in turn. This year, two models of the Galaxy S26 are $100 more expensive—but hey, at least your priciest options got out unscathed.
Maybe the most noticeable casualty in the S26 price hikes was the base model, which went from starting at $799 for the S25 to starting at $899 for the S26. That makes it pricier than an iPhone 17, but you do get a little something in exchange.
Essentially, this is less of a price increase, and more like paring down your options: To coincide with the new price, Samsung has also bumped up the S26’s base storage to 256GB (up from 128GB on the S25). That means Samsung has to produce fewer varieties for its base phone, which will likely help it deal with the ongoing components shortage, while keeping pricing stable for the most popular configurations.
I say “close,” because the 256GB S26 is still a bit more expensive than the 256GB S25. That phone costs $859, so whether the upgrade is worth an additional $40 depends on how much you care about a larger battery, a new chip, and a 0.1-inch larger display. Being the base phone, the S26 doesn’t have the flashiest additions over its predecessor, but it might have fared better than the non-Ultra S26.
Perhaps the bigger victim in Samsung’s S26 price increases is the Galaxy S26+, which now starts at $1,099, up from $999 for the S25+. The price increase here is a bit harder to explain, as it didn’t get any bumps to its base storage to compensate. It still starts at 256GB of storage, still has a 6.7-inch screen, and still has the same 50MP/12MP/10MP rear camera system. The Privacy Display—the Ultra’s flashiest new feature—isn’t even included. The biggest on-paper upgrade is the new chip, the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy Gen 5.
That means upgrading will only net you slightly faster processing, plus early access to those new AI features that are Galaxy S26 and Pixel 10-exclusive…for now. The lack of distinct selling points emphasizes the awkward space these middle-of-the-road models currently occupy. For instance, you can get an iPhone 17 Pro for the same $1,099, and that will get you Apple’s best technology, minus the slightly larger display and battery on the iPhone 17 Pro Max. If Samsung is charging that much for a Plus model, maybe it makes sense that Apple ditched its own Plus version for the weirder (but unique) iPhone Air.
Granted, the S26+ is still a strong phone. That new chip is no slouch, and while the ultrawide and telephoto lenses are weaker here than on the 17 Pro, the main lens is actually slightly stronger, at 50MP versus 48MP. I wouldn’t be disappointed to get an S26+, but it might be difficult for an S25+ owner to find a reason to upgrade their current phone. It’s basically the same device, but $100 pricier.
The Galaxy S26 Ultra costs the same, probably because that’s the one Samsung wants you to buy
While it’s unclear why Samsung put the S26+ out without making a compelling case for it—the company didn’t even talk about it much during today’s Galaxy Unpacked event—I’d guess that is because the company would much prefer you upgrade to the Galaxy S26 Ultra. This is the model with the most exclusive features, offering the clearest upgrades over its last gen version. It’s also the only model that didn’t see a price hike.
The Galaxy S26 Ultra starts at $1,299, the same as the Galaxy S25 Ultra. But for that cost, you’ll now get a new chip, faster wired charging (up from 45W to 60W), the Privacy Display, and improved nighttime photos as well as access to the APV codec used in professional video shoots. That’s a good amount of upgrades over what the other models offer.
To me, that signals one thing: Samsung is willing to raise its barrier to entry, but is going to do its best to keep pricing for its flagship devices as attractive as possible for as long as possible. If you’re willing to buy the most expensive model, you can avoid a price hike, while also getting the biggest upgrades. Everyone else will have to pay more. I’m curious to see whether Apple will follow this trend when it drops the iPhone 18 later this year.
