The Texas Rangers have claimed outfielder Dairon Blanco on waivers from the Kansas City Royals, the team announced today. To make room on the 40 man roster, the Rangers have placed pitcher Jordan Montgomery on the 60 day injured list.

Blanco is a righthanded hitting outfielder who turns 33 in April. Originally from Cuba, Blanco played in the Cuban National Series until defecting in 2016. Blanco signed with Oakland, and was traded to the Kansas City Royals at the 2019 trade deadline in a deal that sent Jake Diekman to the A’s.

Blanco made his major league debut in 2022, and spent most of 2023 and 2024 in the majors before getting just 8 plate appearances in the bigs in 2025, with the bulk of his time spent at AAA. Blanco is very fast but not a real good defender, with the bulk of his playing time coming in left field in the majors. Blanco has a career .257/.312/.416 slash line in 284 plate appearances, though with 59 steals in 73 attempts. he slashed .253/.332/.405 for Omaha in AAA last year.

Blanco has two options remaining per Fangraphs, so if he doesn’t lose his 40 man spot in the interim, the Rangers will be able to send him to the minors at the beginning of the season.

Montgomery going to the 60 day injured list was an inevitability, as he will miss the first couple of months of the season as he recovers from Tommy John surgery.

Jayson Tatum went cold after a hot start Sunday in his second game back from an Achilles tendon tear.

But it didn’t matter for the Boston Celtics, who stifled the Cleveland Cavaliers on the road en route to a 109-98 win. Tatum found his form again late in the fourth quarter en route to 20 points to help fend off a Cleveland rally in what added up to another encouraging effort in his return from injury against one of Boston’s top rivals in the East.

Tatum went 4 of 6 from the field in a 12-point first quarter as the Celtics opened up a 35-26 lead. He missed seven straight field goals from there and didn’t hit another until the final four minutes of the fourth. 

Cold second quarter dooms Cavs

But the Cavaliers went even colder against a stifling Celtics defense that ranks sixth in the NBA in defensive rating in a stagnant second quarter that allowed the Celtics to extend their lead. The Cavaliers scored just 10 points in the second while shooting 4 of 25 from the field and missing all 14 of their 3-point attempts. 

The Celtics eventually extended their lead to 26 points, a deficit that proved too big for the Cavaliers to overcome. 

Tatum hits clutch late buckets

Cleveland cut the Boston lead to 98-90 midway through the fourth. But the Celtics fended off the run, thanks in part to a pair of late Tatum buckets. Tatum hit a layup to extend Boston’s lead to 104-90 in the final four minutes, his first made field goal since his 4-of-6 start. He then hit a 3 with 1:59 remaining for a 107-95 lead that further stunted Cleveland’s comeback effort. 

Tatum finished with 20 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists while shooting 6 of 16 from the field and 2 of 9 from 3 in 27 minutes. While it wasn’t efficient, it was another encouraging effort from Tatum in his second game back from a ruptured Achilles tendon he sustained in the playoffs last season. 

“I think we did a good job,” Tatum told ABC after the game. … “I can’t stress it enough. I’m just happy to be out here, playing on the team with the guys, competing. Making plays, making mistakes. Just happy to be out here.”

Can Tatum lift Celtics to title contention?

The Celtics are now 2-0 since since Tatum’s return that has the potential to shake up the NBA championship race. In what was expected to be a down year because of Tatum’s injury, Boston instead went 41-21 in Tatum’s absence. Tatum, who was widely expected to miss the entire season with his injury, then returned to the lineup Friday night. 

[Enter Yahoo Fantasy Bracket Mayhem now for your shot at $50K]

He posted 15 points, 12 rebounds and 7 assists in Boston’s 120-100 win over Dallas on Friday in a game in which he also shot 6 of 16 from the field. While his shooting is understandably rusty, his performance in two games coming off a devastating injury has further boosted a Celtics team that’s been one of the biggest surprises of the NBA season.

Tatum’s been able to play largely without limitation and has now played 27 minutes in each of his two games back. He’s been impactful on both sides of the floor and was Boston’s second-leading scorer on Sunday behind Jaylen Brown, who tallied 23 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists. 

Brown’s play this season in Tatum’s absence has kept the Celtics competitive and put him in the MVP conversation. If Tatum continues to improve and return to All-NBA form, he and Brown would present one of the NBA’s most dangerous tandems just in time for the postseason.

It’s a prospect that puts the rest of the Eastern Conference and the league on notice. And it’s one few saw coming just weeks ago.

The Los Angeles Lakers have ruled out LeBron James for Sunday’s game against the New York Knicks with an elbow contusion. 

James will miss a second consecutive game with the injury that he sustained on Thursday against the Denver Nuggets. James was initially listed as questionable for Sunday’s game. 

James suffered the injury in the final minutes of Thursday’s 120-113 loss to the Nuggets. He briefly returned to the game, but left again with 22.3 seconds remaining as the Lakers trailed by five points. 

[Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Baseball league for the 2026 MLB season]

James told reporters after the game that it was “pretty sore” and considered himself as day-to-day. 

“We’ll see what happens over the next couple of days,” James said. “Hopefully, I’ll wake up [Friday] and it doesn’t feel too much worse than it is now. Or if it feels better, that would be great. So it’s day-to-day. We’ll see what happens.”

He then missed Friday’s 128-117 win over the Indiana Pacers. And now he’ll miss Sunday’s national TV showdown against the Knicks (3:30 ET, ABC). After Sunday, the Lakers will next play the Minnesota Timberwolves at home on Tuesday.

The Lakers enter Sunday’s game at 38-25, a half game behind the fifth-place Nuggets in the Western Conference. They hold a two-game lead over 36-27 Phoenix Suns for sixth place and the final guaranteed playoff berth in the West.

The 41-23 Knicks enter Sunday’s game in third place in the East behind the Detroit Pistons and Boston Celtics.