March 2026

There were 1,682 posts published in March 2026 (this is page 64 of 169).

Thunder will not visit White House to celebrate NBA championship, citing ‘timing issue’

The Oklahoma City Thunder will not be making the customary visit to the White House to celebrate their 2025 NBA Championship, a team spokesperson told The Athletic on Friday. In a statement to The Athletic, the team cited “timing issues” as a reason for not holding the visit.

“We have been in touch with the White House and we are appreciative and grateful for the communication we have had, but the timing just didn’t work out,” the team told The Athletic.

The Thunder defeated the Indiana Pacers in Game 7 of the NBA Finals last June to secure the championship. The title was the team’s first since the franchise moved from Seattle in 2007.

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Though visiting the White House after winning the NBA championship dates back to the 1960s, President Donald Trump’s election in 2016 disrupted that tradition. The Golden State Warriors chose to decline the White House’s invitation after winning the Finals in 2017, before doing the same in 2018.

Oklahoma City would have been the first team to visit the White House since President Trump took office for his second term. The Boston Celtics, who won the championship in 2024, visited the White House later that fall while President Joe Biden was still in office.

The Thunder are in the middle of a five-game road trip. Oklahoma City does play the Washington Wizards on Saturday, a trip that would have been a logical time for a White House visit, but the tight turnaround before playing the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday may have contributed to the “timing issues.”

Oklahoma City is on pace for another strong postseason run this year, currently leading the NBA with 55 wins. They became the first NBA team to officially punch their ticket to the playoffs earlier this week.

MLB power rankings: As the 2026 season begins, can anybody keep up with the Dodgers?

Opening Day is around the corner, less than a week away. Every club, at least for now, is undefeated, their record unblemished, their highest hopes undashed.

But while no games have been played, not all 30 teams are created equal. Let’s do some ranking.

The 2026 Rockies should be better than the 2025 Rockies, but the 2026 Rockies might still be worse than every other ballclub. Colorado’s disastrous season precipitated a long overdue front-office overhaul. That new direction won’t reorient the big-league team’s fortunes this season, but it’ll be interesting to see if there are any legitimate signs of improvement. Keep an eye on starting pitcher Chase Dollander, the most talented arm in the organization. If he takes steps forward, that’s a huge deal for Colorado and a positive harbinger.

At least they have the pope on their side. Chicago had a fun offseason; Munetaka Murakami is exactly the type of high-risk, high-reward hitter bad teams should be targeting. Yet this is still a team years away from seriously contending. This season will be all about figuring out which position players have a chance to be on the next good White Sox club. Good thing there’s a lot of them to sift through.

What a pointless endeavor the Angels have become, the epitome of trying the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. New manager Kurt Suzuki is on a one-year deal, which doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in the project. Zach Neto is really, really good, but he might be the only player on this roster who is really, really good. Hopefully Mike Trout can stay healthy.

This pitching staff could be historically bad, but look on the bright side: At least they have technology now! After years of living in the baseball stone ages, the new Nationals front office has embraced modern technology. The results might not show up immediately, but things do appear to be headed in the right direction. Offensively, this unit has a chance to be pretty good. James Wood is special, CJ Abrams is a borderline All-Star, and Dylan Crews and Brady House are talented youngsters with something to prove. The Nats won’t win the World Series, but there’s a new day dawning in D.C.

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Minnesota traded away its entire bullpen (and Carlos Correa) at last year’s deadline in what appeared to be the embracing of a rebuild. But this winter, the Twins changed course, opting to hold on to pieces such as Pablo Lopez, Byron Buxton, Joe Ryan and Ryan Jeffers. The AL Central could be weak enough that Minnesota hangs around longer than people expect, and this roster definitely doesn’t suck, but it’s hard to see a team with such a lengthy injury history making a real run at October.

The Cardinals did a ton of subtracting over the winter, parting ways with veterans Nolan Arenado, Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras and Brendan Donovan. New president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom clearly has a vision, but one that might take a few years to actualize at the big-league level. This pitching staff, as currently constructed, looks like a weak spot, but there are some interesting upper-level arms on the precipice of helping in St. Louis. Whether the Cards can finally unlock talented young bats such as Jordan Walker, Masyn Winn, Victor Scott II and Nolan Gorman will be the litmus test for their season.

The 2025 Marlins played over their heads a little bit. As fun as that team was, it’s tough to envision Miami pulling that off again without any massive additions. Owen Caissie, acquired from Chicago in the Edward Cabrera deal, should help right away, but he’s a boom-or-bust type who might need some time to adjust to the bigs. If Miami can simply match its win total from last season, that would be a huge success. Getting Sandy Alcantarra back on track has to be priority No. 1.

It feels like this franchise is in a full holding pattern until a new stadium gets built. Junior Caminero is a superstar, but does Tampa Bay have anything with which to support him? Is there another 4.0-WAR position player anywhere in this organization? It doesn’t seem like it. Shortstop Carson Williams, a sparkling defender, could be that guy if he fixes his big swing-and-miss issues. Otherwise, it’s slim pickings. That said, the Rays’ rotation should be better than it was last year, especially if Shane McClanahan is truly back from his long injury detour.

Do you like runs? Well, the A’s are about to score and surrender quite a few. This lineup is electrifying and has some of the best young hitters in the sport. A full season of Nick Kurtz should be exhilarating. This pitching staff, however, leaves much to be desired. Luis Severino looked great in the WBC but has yet to show that form in green and gold. An offseason impact starting pitching addition — say, Zac Gallen, Framber Valdez or Ranger Suarez — would’ve done wonders for this club.

Hunter Greene being out for the first few months of the season is a big, big deal. The Reds have a host of talented arms to weather the storm — keep an eye on Chase Burns — but Greene is pretty irreplaceable. On the offensive front, it’s all about Elly De La Cruz. The unicorn shortstop was squarely mediocre from a production standpoint last season. This team needs him to go super saiyan, establishing himself as an MVP contender, if it’s going to have a chance to return to October.

Texas had the lowest ERA in baseball last year, and it didn’t matter one bit. And that pitching unit, talented it might be, is due for some regression. For all the famous names in this lineup, Texas’ offense has been straight-up bad the past two seasons since winning the 2023 World Series. New manager Skip Schumaker is highly respected and should provide a jolt of energy, but the Rangers just need to hit.

A heroic, late-summer run handed Cleveland an improbable AL Central title last year, but this organization did very, very little over the winter to supplement a roster that was pretty mediocre for much of the season. The Guardians are counting on a handful of young hitters — Chase DeLauter, George Valera, Bo Naylor, CJ Kayfus, Travis Bazzana — to develop into impact players. Perhaps some of those names do break out, but it’s hard to envision a Cleveland hitter not named José Ramirez making the 2026 All-Star team.

How new manager Tony Vitello makes the leap from college to the pros will be one of the more fascinating storylines of the entire MLB season. How that manifests on the field, though, will be difficult to assess. The Giants simply might not have enough talent for any manager to lead them to the promised land. San Francisco’s rotation looks particularly shallow, though perhaps an improved defensive unit and one of the more pitcher-friendly parks in the game will be enough.

How high up the rankings will Paul Skenes and the Pirates climb this year? Can Aaron Judge and the Yankees keep up with Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers?
Joseph Raines/Yahoo Sports

Arizona just needs to tread water for the first month of the season until ace Corbin Burnes returns from Tommy John surgery. This pitching staff doesn’t inspire oodles of confidence, but at least Arizona’s offense is good enough to win a bunch of 7-6 games. Corbin Carroll’s hamate surgery is a big storyline just because it typically takes guys some time to rediscover their power stroke after coming back from that injury.

A popular dark-horse pick right now, Pittsburgh is coming off one of the most punchless offensive team seasons in recent history. Thankfully, the Pirates have four new main characters taking the stage: three offseason additions (Ryan O’Hearn, Marcell Ozuna and Brandon Lowe) and one top-prospect phenom in Konnor Griffin. Whether or not Griffin makes the team out of camp, the 19-year-old supernova should be up for most of the season. It’s a lot of pressure to put on a literal teenager, but Paul Skenes and this strong pitching staff need all the help they can get.

Offensive starpower be damned, this roster scares the heck out of me. Despite the combo of Fernando Tatis Jr., Jackson Merrill, Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts, the Padres finished third-to-last in baseball in home runs last year. Add a very top-heavy pitching rotation — Randy Vásquez, Germán Márquez and Walker Buehler are the 3, 4 and 5 starters — and this organization looks to be balancing on something of a tightrope.

The much-predicted offseason trade never happened, which means the pieces on this roster still don’t all fit together. Jeremy Peña starting the year on the IL might simplify Houston’s defensive alignment coming out of the gate, but finding enough at-bats for all the veteran infielders might prove difficult. But none of that is as important as Yordan Alvarez’s health. The gargantuan slugger played in just 48 games last season, and the Astros still almost won the division. The future is not particularly bright in Houston — this farm system stinks — but the Astros still have enough talent to return to October.

If the Braves stay healthy, they should be pretty good. Unfortunately, they’re already not healthy, with Sean Murphy, Spencer Schwellenbach and Hurston Waldrep starting the season on the injured list. Losing Jurickson Profar to another PED suspension doesn’t help, either. Can the top of this roster — Ronald Acuña Jr., Chris Sale, Austin Riley, Matt Olson and Spencer Strider — perform at a high enough level to make up for the injury woes and lack of depth?

Speaking of a lack of depth, the Royals are shallower than a kiddie pool. Thankfully, the high-end talent here is pretty incredible. Bobby Witt Jr. is the third-best player in the world. Maikel Garcia and Vinnie Pasquantino should be All-Stars. Carter Jensen is a fun Rookie of the Year pick. A healthy Cole Ragans could be an X-factor. If Kansas City can dodge the injury bug, it’ll have a good shot at the AL Central crown.

If this is Tarik Skubal’s final season in Detroit, well, let’s hope the Tigers go down swinging. Adding Framber Valdez to the rotation was a reassuring development, but this offense is still lacking a true difference-maker. Maybe that’s Kevin McGonigle, one of the top prospects in baseball, who could make the team out of spring training. If he hits the ground running, watch out.

Swapping in Alex Bregman for Kyle Tucker is a vibes upgrade but a production downgrade. Where else can Chicago make up the difference? Maybe on the pitching front, where offseason trade acquisition Edward Cabrera enters the season with tons of hype. Which Pete Crow-Armstrong shows up — the first-half MVP candidate or the second-half struggler? — will play a huge role in dictating how this Cubs season turns out.

Can they really keep getting away with this? After leading MLB in wins, the Brewers dealt away their best pitcher (Freddy Peralta) and two every-day position players (Caleb Durbin, Isaac Collins). A full-bore breakout from youngster Jackson Chourio would counteract those losses. So, too, would a full, dominant season from Jacob Misiorowski. No team has more young talent than Milwaukee, so even though they seem like smoke and mirrors at times, the Brewers are a good choice to repeat as NL Central champs.

How did things get so ugly for the 2025 O’s? Bad starting pitching and position-player injuries. Baltimore solved the first problem by acquiring Chris Bassitt and Shane Baz to go alongside a back-from-injury Kyle Bradish and out-of-nowhere-breakout Trevor Rogers. The second problem is a little trickier. Adding Pete Alonso, one of the game’s most durable position players, will help a lot. But spring training injuries to Jackson Holliday and Jordan Westburg don’t exactly put the worrywarts at ease. In the end, however, the entire operation probably comes down to Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson.

The more I look at this roster, the more I like it. There are some perplexing dynamics, some pieces that don’t mesh, some hitters with question marks, but in the main, Boston has assembled an interesting group. A disproportionate amount of pressure will be placed on the shoulders of young Roman Anthony, but as he showed in the WBC, Anthony is a special hitter capable of carrying that type of load. He’ll need some help from his supporting cast, which makes Willson Contreras, Trevor Story and Wilyer Abreu absolutely crucial to Boston’s season.

This lineup, inches from a World Series victory in November, will probably be worse than it was last season. Some of that is because of Bo Bichette’s departure, but it’s also difficult to see characters such as George Springer, Davis Schneider and Daulton Varsho delivering such productive offensive campaigns again. The arrival of Kazuma Okamoto could help bridge that gap, but there are enough injuries on the pitching side to feel a bit more cautious than the consensus regarding the defending American League champs.

It was quite the whirlwind winter for the Mets, who overhauled nearly half their big-league roster and said goodbye to a whole host of franchise stalwarts. The end result, however, is pretty encouraging. Freddy Peralta is a bona fide ace. Bo Bichette rakes and should be able to handle third base. Luis Robert Jr. retains stupid levels of upside in center field. Jorge Polanco will raise the offense’s floor. Those newcomers should pair wonderfully with Juan Soto, Nolan McLean, Francisco Lindor and the rest to propel New York back to October.

One day, perhaps soon, this Phillies window will close. The core of Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner, Zack Wheeler and Co. certainly isn’t getting any younger. But while this roster is dangerously devoid of depth, there are enough high-end, impact characters on both sides of the ball to keep the Phillies in contention for at least another 365 days. A pair of rookies in Justin Crawford (outfield) and Andrew Painter (rotation) will have a big say as to whether this is a wild-card team or a division champ.

The Yankees got a lot of flack for opting to run things back in 2026 with a nearly unchanged roster, but I think it’s a pretty defensible strategy ,considering how good this team was last season. Mix in a full season of starter Cam Schlittler, an Austin Wells bounce-back, another Ben Rice breakout and the underrated addition of Ryan Weathers, and the Yanks start to look like a strong World Series contender. They also, by the way, employ the best hitter on Earth.

Could the World Baseball Classic handshake drama surrounding Cal Raleigh tailspin Seattle’s season into a tornado of messy clubhouse drama?! I’m not buying it. That’s not really how baseball works, and this team is too dang talented to let something as trivial as a fistbump slight derail its plans. The Mariners, who were one win away from their first World Series appearance last year, got better in the offseason with the addition of Brendan Donovan. Some regression is inevitable for Raleigh, but a long-awaited, full-blast season from Julio Rodriguez could make up the difference.

Will the Dodgers win the most regular-season games in 2026? Probably not, but that’s not their goal. This isn’t the Premier League. For L.A., the regular season is merely a warm-up for the playoffs, through which the Dodgers appear primed to stampede once again. The two-time defending champs got resoundingly better over the winter, adding both the best hitter (Kyle Tucker) and the best closer (Edwin Díaz) on the free-agent market. A million things could happen between now and October, but there is no stronger playoff lock than the Dodgers.

Fact or Fiction: The list of NBA title contenders is longer than you think

Each week during the 2025-26 NBA season, we will take a deeper dive into some of the league’s biggest storylines in an attempt to determine whether trends are based more in fact or fiction moving forward.

Last week: The NBA will have another 100-point scorer

Stephen Curry once told us, “A good team, or a relevant team, wins the games they’re supposed to win, steals a couple on the road against good teams and protects home court.” By his definition, the NBA features plenty of good teams.

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So, last year, we set about finding out what makes a great team, and we discovered two simple truths about championship teams. They win more than the games they are supposed to, and they steal more than a couple on the road against good teams. In fact, this century’s champions have won on average 63.4% of their games against teams with a winning record and 63.9% of their games against teams on the road.

CHAMPION

VS. .500+

ROAD

2000 LAL

36-10 (.783)

31-10 (.756)

2001 LAL

31-21 (.596)

25-16 (.610)

2002 LAL

32-14 (.696)

24-17 (.585)

2003 SAS

34-13 (.723)

27-14 (.659)

2004 DET

22-18 (.550)

23-18 (.561)

2005 SAS

31-17 (.646)

21-20 (.512)

2006 MIA

19-21 (.475)

21-20 (.512)

2007 SAS

23-16 (.590)

27-14 (.659)

2008 BOS

24-14 (.632)

31-10 (.756)

2009 LAL

31-12 (.721)

28-12 (.700)

2010 LAL

27-20 (.575)

23-18 (.561)

2011 DAL

25-19 (.568)

28-13 (.683)

2012 MIA

25-15 (.625)

18-15 (.545)

2013 MIA

30-12 (.714)

29-12 (.707)

2014 SAS

29-16 (.644)

30-11 (.732)

2015 GSW

32-9 (.780)

28-13 (.683)

2016 CLE

27-21 (.563)

24-17 (.585)

2017 GSW

33-11 (.750)

31-10 (.756)

2018 GSW

30-19 (.612)

29-12 (.707)

2019 TOR

22-20 (.524)

26-15 (.634)

2020 LAL

20-14 (.588)

27-9 (.750)

2021 MIL

19-17 (.528)

20-16 (.556)

2022 GSW

27-21 (.563)

22-19 (.537)

2023 DEN

29-18 (.617)

19-22 (.463)

2024 BOS

34-15 (.694)

27-14 (.659)

2025 OKC

47-17 (.734)

37-13 (.740)

To succeed in the playoffs you must be able to beat good teams and win on the road. This isn’t rocket science. But it is a pretty tried-and-true theory. We should probably come up with a name for this. The Curryculum? We’re just spitballing here.

Only three teams have met those marks to date this season, the Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs and Detroit Pistons, and that is not such a bad list of title favorites, which was what made news of Cade Cunningham’s collapsed lung so massive. The injury threatens to undermine one of the teams that can win the title.

This is not to say that all other teams are excluded from winning the championship.

Then again, only one champion this century, the 2006 Miami Heat, owned a sub-.500 record (19-21) against teams with winning records, and only one champ this century, the 2023 Denver Nuggets, finished with a sub-.500 record (19-22) on the road. So, no team since 2000 has won a championship with a losing record in both categories.

If we expanded our list of potential champions to include teams that are .500 or better against both winning and road teams, we must now include the New York Knicks, Boston Celtics, Houston Rockets, Denver Nuggets, Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Lakers. Again: Not so bad a longer list of the potential title contenders.

Notably absent, the Minnesota Timberwolves, who are 15-17 against teams with a .500 record or better. However, they are a combined 4-3 against the Thunder and Spurs. They have both games left against the Pistons and a slew against teams with winning records remaining on the schedule. They can absolutely get to this baseline.

No other team, really, comes close.

2025-26

VS. 500+

ROAD

SAS

28-11 (.718)

25-10 (.714)

DET

26-11 (.703)

24-11 (.686)

OKC

25-12 (.676)

26-8 (.765)

NYK

23-18 (.561)

20-16 (.556)

BOS

21-17 (.553)

22-13 (.629)

HOU

18-16 (.529)

18-17 (.514)

DEN

19-18 (.514)

23-15 (.605)

CLE

21-20 (.512)

21-14 (.600)

LAL

18-18 (.500)

22-13 (.629)

MIN

15-17 (.469)

19-15 (.559)

TOR

17-23 (.425)

20-13 (.606)

ATL

17-23 (.425)

19-15 (.559)

CHA

16-22 (.421)

20-17 (.541)

PHX

15-22 (.405)

17-18 (.486)

GSW

16-24 (.400)

14-21 (.400)

MIA

16-24 (.400)

15-19 (.441)

CHI

17-26 (.395)

11-22 (.333)

ORL

16-25 (.390)

16-18 (.471)

LAC

16-26 (.381)

15-21 (.417)

PHI

13-27 (.325)

18-16 (.529)

POR

13-28 (.317)

16-20 (.444)

MIL

13-31 (.295)

12-22 (.353)

DAL

9-31 (.225)

9-26 (.257)

UTA

8-29 (.216)

8-27 (.229)

MEM

6-28 (.176)

11-24 (.314)

SAC

7-35 (.167)

6-28 (.176)

IND

7-35 (.167)

5-30 (.143)

NOP

6-32 (.158)

9-25 (.265)

BKN

7-38 (.156)

8-27 (.229)

WAS

4-40 (.091)

5-28 (.152)

Only eight teams this century have won better than 70% of their games against winning opponents and better than 70% of their games on the road: the 2000 Lakers, 2009 Lakers, 2013 Heat, 2016 Warriors, 2017 Warriors, 2018 Rockets, 2022 Suns, 2025 Cavaliers and 2025 Thunder. That is five champions, the 73-win Warriors and three great regular-season teams, all with 64 or more wins, in the past decade.

If you win 70% of your games against both winning and road opponents, then, you are more likely than not to go on to win the championship. Or, at least, until recently.

The Spurs, as you can see, are the only team this season to be winning 70% of their games against both winning and road opponents. They are on pace for 61 wins. Sure, they could join the 2018 Rockets, 2022 Suns and 2025 Cavaliers as paper lions, but just the same: We could say they belong as title favorites, even ahead of the Thunder.

One team that could join the list of title favorites, along with the Spurs, Thunder and those healthy Pistons, is the Celtics, who added Jayson Tatum to a team that was close to winning two-thirds of its games against both winning and road opponents.

If over the next month Tatum can return to form from Achilles surgery as a perennial All-NBA First Team candidate (and that is a big if), joining forces with Jaylen Brown, who could make an All-NBA First Team himself, then perhaps Boston will outperform its record against winning and road teams and belongs on a short list of favorites.

As for the contenders — not the favorites, but the teams that could threaten them, according to The Curryculum — that list notably includes the Lakers, who have won nearly two-thirds of their games on the road and are now .500 against winning teams.

The Lakers’ current eight-game winning streak, which has impressively included six wins against teams with a .500 record or better, has put them on a 53-win pace, third place in the Western Conference — and absolutely onto our short list of contenders.

Over that eight-game stretch, the Lakers own the league’s second-best offense, and they are bordering on a top-10 defense, outscoring opponents by 9.7 points per 100 possessions. Only the Spurs, Pistons and surging Atlanta Hawks have been better.

The Hawks? Well, they are winning the games they are supposed to on their current 11-game win streak. Ten of their 11 opponents in that span have losing records. They have, over the course of this season, stolen a couple of games on the road against good teams, and because of this streak they now own a winning record at home.

That makes them a good team, or a relevant team, in Curry’s eyes. Not a great team, though. But our list of great teams — which includes the Spurs, Thunder and Pistons as favorites and the Knicks, Celtics, Rockets, Nuggets, Cavaliers and Lakers as contenders (and the Wolves as lingering threats) — is maybe longer than you think, at least according to The Curryculum.

Determination: Fact. The list of NBA title contenders is longer than you think. At least by this metric.

Fantasy Baseball: Scott Pianowski’s last-minute draft tips — here’s what you need to know

This yearly article used to be an email. Some baseball peeps would drop a note around draft time and ask for last-second advice, picks and pans, swing thoughts. I’d give a bunch of off-the-cuff observations and opinions and ship it out. If you were in my inner circle — and not a direct competitor — I’d send you this stuff.

Now, I give it away for free. Maybe it doesn’t help my bottom line — I know some friends will use this list against me in fantasy baseball drafts to come — but I’m here for the greater good.

— If you’re a fan of the shiny toys and have to have a rookie on spec, Kevin McGonigle probably makes more 2026 sense than Konnor Griffin. McGonigle has shown category juice this year and has more walks than strikeouts — that’s always the sign of a good hitter. Griffin is going to be a monster someday and obviously, he’s still a kid — he turns 20 in April. But along with those four homers this month, he has 10 strikeouts and zero walks. Griffin still is legitimately the No. 1 prospect in baseball — his minor-league stats last year are almost too good to be true. But McGonigle is the better value right now.

— Generally, I don’t like to target a first-tier closer; knowing that, Cleveland’s Cade Smith is your target. Elite strikeout rate, good control, hard to homer off. And he’s tied to a Guardians team that’s built to win low-scoring games.

— Kyle Schwarber is the perfect second-round pick. He’s going to hit 40 homers at minimum, and another 50-plus is possible. The run production will sing, tied to a strong offense and slotted first or second in the order. Schwarber no longer carries significant batting-average risk, and although I don’t want to pay expectantly for his steals, he’s shown the ability to swipe 5-10.

— Manny Machado is the perfect third-round pick, a Hall of Fame-tracking talent who’s somewhat unappreciated in his 30s. Machado quietly contributes in all five primary categories and checks the durability card, too. Third base is not deep in 2026.

— Geraldo Perdomo is a tricky call because last year’s power spike came out of nowhere. But the average is safe — he makes excellent contact and rarely strikes out — and the stolen bases have a high floor. If he merely keeps 12-15 homers, he’s a profit at ADP.

— Alec Burleson figured out lefties in 2025 and no longer has any worry about being platooned. His contact skills are excellent and he still might grow into a 25-30 homer guy. He’s one of the quiet values I want you to focus on at the table.

— Roman Anthony and Wyatt Langford are already great, but they could be first-round great as soon as next year. I want to target elite talents who are still on the escalator.

— Matt McLain is finally healthy again in Cincinnati and can go back to the star we saw in 2023. He’s still just 26. His ADP around 190 is a screaming bargain.

— Get power early, it runs out quickly. Be mindful of batting average early, because you’ll want to consider later picks who don’t offer it. Stolen bases are available everywhere in the draft; you want to keep chipping away, but you should never feel stressed by that category.

— First base and third base are shallower than we usually see. Second base is neutral. Shortstop is loaded; if your league requires a utility middle infielder (a player who plays 2B or SS), that UM will probably be a shortstop.

— I thought the outfield depth was so-so a month ago, but a bunch of drafting has me thinking it’s actually just fine. And if you only need four outfield fills, you’ll have no problem getting a group you like.

— Catcher is deeper than usual, in part because a lot of these guys hit well enough to absorb DH at-bats. In a one-catcher league, there is no reason to attack this position early.

— Hitting ranks tend to cluster together while pitching opinions are more diverse. Don’t be surprised when you get more of your pitching targets than you initially projected. Of course, we’re chasing a butterfly with pitching, as hurlers are constantly battling injuries and reinventing themselves.

— When the April games hit, be proactive in churning the bottom of your roster. When we have more information to act on, it makes sense to make changes. Your early picks deserve time and a long leash. Your late-round picks need to show something quickly, and if they don’t, get to the wire and use the fresh information to your advantage.

— Load all of your FAAB and free-agent cadences to your calendar. “I’ll remember that” is not a strategy. Try to cultivate a routine.

— If you’re in multiple leagues, let free agent behavior trigger you for worthwhile pickups elsewhere. If a smart opponent grabbed some unknown player in one of your leagues, perhaps you could make that same move in a different room. Most of my free-agent offerings come on Sunday, and I will use the early results to inform the picks I make later in the night.

— Unless your closer is lights-out, don’t watch him on live TV. It will only cause stress.

— I don’t like to draft players already hurt unless the room is giving me a major discount. Injury optimism is rarely your friend.

— Remember that staying engaged for the full season is almost always rewarded. In most leagues, even the most competitive, engagement starts to fall off in September. Some managers will lose interest if they realize they probably can’t win the league, and some others will be tripped up by the distractions of September, with schools reopening and football season starting.

— Even if you don’t subscribe to a baseball package, recognize that there will be a few free trials during the year — and surely one at the front of the season. Your eyes and your ears (listen to the announcers, they know that team better than you do) need to be open at all times.

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— If you can find a friend who shares a similar baseball view to you, co-managing is forever a cheat code. You have a buddy to share the fun and the work, and someone else who always cares about your team. It needs to be the right fit, but if you can find it, I promise you the winning odds just improved.

— When ERA and WHIP don’t tell the same story, trust the WHIP.

— New metrics enter baseball every day and some of them are wonderful. We’re adding a bunch of flashy bells and whistles to the Yahoo interface this year, too. But never forget walks and strikeouts are the first thing to look at for any pitcher, and for most of the hitters, too. The K/BB ratio is the water of baseball stats.

— Every year, a bunch of unknown relievers become useful in our game, in part because more wins are being filtered back into the bullpens. A few weeks into the season, look for these guys. Don’t worry if you don’t know the name or if they were bad in the past. Several of these emergences will be real, and it’s a potential way to help your ratios at the cheapest acquisition cost.

— Recognize the people in your network who specialize on a specific team. If I need Tampa Bay Rays advice, Jason Collette is always my first call. Sara Sanchez is knowledgeable on everything baseball, but she specifically knows the Cubs inside and out (and she’s often at the ballpark). I know a lovely couple that always has the Giants game on — if I need San Francisco intel, I give them a nudge. You get the idea.

— Right before my key drafts, I’ll take one more look at the projected lineups. Although those preseason lists are often speculative and always subject to in-season change, I want to avoid platoons and 7-8-9 guys whenever possible.

— Yahoo has more position flexibility than any other provider in the industry, but I still want a few Swiss-army knives on the roster. If you’re trying to break a tie, an extra position is often a good way to do that.

— Listen to everyone you respect, but make your own picks. It’s your team. You’ll spend six months watching the best of your roster. Pick players you like.

Let’s have fun, amigos. Baseball is fun.

The curious case of Cade Cunningham: Why the NBA should kill the 65-game rule

In 2006, former NBA commissioner David Stern and the league rolled out new synthetic basketballs that were made with a composite material instead of leather. They didn’t bounce right. They didn’t feel right. It got so bad that they made the players’ hands bleed. It became a legitimate health concern.

Three months later, the NBA reversed course and rolled back the balls.

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It’s time for the NBA to do the same with the 65-game rule. It was a foolish idea to begin with, thinking load management was the root cause of player absences and not a symptom of an increasingly taxing game. It’s time to admit it solved nothing and created more problems than the one it tried to address. Like the ill-fated synthetic balls, the NBA may have a larger player health concern on its hands.

(Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports Illustration)

By all accounts, Cade Cunningham has been one of the best players in the NBA this season, leading the Detroit Pistons to the top seed in the Eastern Conference and being the face of one of the feel-good stories in the league. 

And then he collided with Tre Johnson early in Tuesday’s game against the tanking Washington Wizards. Before the game, Cunningham had been averaging 24.9 points, 10.1 assists and 5.6 rebounds. He was set to become the first Eastern Conference player since Oscar Robertson to average at least 24 points, 10 assists and 5 rebounds per game. He currently leads the NBA with 603 assists and no one is particularly close to eclipsing his total.

And yet, despite an incredible resumé throughout the season, Cunningham may not be eligible to earn an All-NBA spot or receive any MVP votes this season.

That’s because in 2023, the NBA implemented a 65-game rule intended to motivate players to play more. Instead, the rule has only exacerbated the NBA’s perception problem, artificially drawing more attention to the player health epidemic and unfairly penalizing players for injuries out of their control.

Like, for instance, Cunningham’s scary medical issue. On Thursday, it was announced that Cunningham is suffering from a collapsed lung, or what’s known in the medical community as a pneumothorax, that will sideline him for the foreseeable future. The team indicated he would be re-evaluated in two weeks, a mark in the schedule that — coincidentally or not — allows him to return juuuuust in time to still be eligible for season-long awards. 

If Cunningham is cleared in two weeks, in time for an April 2 tilt against Minnesota, there would be six games left in the Pistons’ season. With 60 games on his ledger — his most recent game doesn’t count because his five minutes played fall short of the league-mandated 15 — Cunningham would have to play a sufficient number of minutes in five of the Pistons’ remaining six regular-season games. 

Let’s hope the timetable was determined purely for his health and not out of concern for his award eligibility under the 65-game rule. For what it’s worth, the quickest return of a collapsed lung in recent NBA history is two weeks by Terrence Jones in 2015, but players like CJ McCollum and Gerald Wallace needed between three and six weeks. The last thing the NBA wants to do is incentivize players to risk serious medical harm in order to fulfill the core tenets of its Player Participation Policy. But unfortunately, Cunningham’s case raises legitimate questions about the incentives the league unnecessarily laid in front of the players. 

As I wrote in January, the 65-game rule is a cure worse than the disease. Because of the NBPA-ratified rule that was issued in order to promote player health, Cunningham now has more incentive to potentially rush back against medical advice and put his lungs in danger. Surely, medical professionals will have the final say and Cunningham’s long-term health will be prioritized above all else, right? 

Let’s hope so. Thankfully for Cunningham, this medical concern arose this season and not last season when he qualified for a $45 million bonus by earning All-NBA status. He signed for the maximum 30% maximum and therefore is not eligible for any additional bonuses this season.

In the case of Cunningham and the 65-game rule, we’re left to believe that Cunningham’s shortcoming is that he didn’t play through injuries enough. Except this injury is not a rub-some-dirt-on-it affliction. A trauma pneumothorax isn’t something the NBA wants a player to “tough out.” 

What is clear is that if the goal of the 65-game rule was to encourage stars to play more, it’s not working.

Your eyes aren’t deceiving you. NBA stars really are more absent than ever. The NBA’s official Player Participation Policy defines a star player as one who has been named to the All-Star or All-NBA team in any of the previous three seasons. By this definition, star players have been sidelined to an extent we have not yet seen.

Through every teams’ first 68 games in the schedule, NBA stars have played just 67.5% of their games. In other words, stars are missing about one out of every three games. And we haven’t even gotten to the final stretch in the season when playoff teams begin to rest stars ahead of the playoffs. It will likely get worse before it gets better.

To put this in perspective, 67.5% through 68 games is a massive drop from last season. At the same juncture last season, the play percentage for stars was 79.5%, a rate of playing four out of five games. Again, now it’s just two out of every three. The season before that, in 2023-24, the inaugural season of the 65-game rule, star players played a tick more at this point, suiting up in 80.4% of their games. 

Trends are going in the wrong direction, and it’s creating a lot of unhappy fans and battered stars. The only star who may be happy about the 65-game rule is Karl-Anthony Towns. Believe it or not, he’s the only member of last year’s All-NBA team who is currently eligible for awards. That’s right: the other 14 members of the All-NBA team are either already disqualified for missing too many games or in jeopardy of missing the criteria altogether. 

Among All-NBA First Team members, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jayson Tatum have already been eliminated from postseason award qualification. Nikola Jokić can miss only one more game. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Donovan Mitchell are one moderate injury away from being ruled ineligible.

Elsewhere on the 2024-25 All-NBA list, Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Tyrese Haliburton and Jalen Williams have already been disqualified. Jalen Brunson and James Harden are on track to make the cut, but Anthony Edwards, Evan Mobley and Cunningham will need luck on their side.

As of Friday morning, only seven players from the 2024-25 All-NBA squad are on pace to be eligible for awards. Seven of the 15. That means more than half of the team is positioned to miss the cut. And that’s not even considering other All-Stars from last year who have been too injured to qualify for All-NBA. Damian Lillard, Pascal Siakam, Trae Young, Darius Garland, Tyler Herro, Jaren Jackson Jr., Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving would also miss the All-NBA cut as well.

Towns being the only eligible reigning All-NBA player is a fitting face to the NBA’s conundrum. The Knicks big man has seen his scoring plummet to levels unseen since his rookie season and his productivity measures are down across the board. Without the 65-game rule, he’d have little to no shot of making the team again. But with the 65-game rule, he might fall backwards onto the first-team honors and take the spot of more-deserving players like Cunningham.

What a difference a month makes. A few weeks ago, Cunningham was seen as the default MVP as a result of his star peers like Gilgeous-Alexander and Jokić falling prey to injury. Now, after a fluke elbow to his back, it’s Cunningham who is in jeopardy of losing eligibility status for both MVP and All-NBA. Cunningham’s trauma pneumothorax is a cold reminder that a player’s health status can change instantly without their control.

Towns making All-NBA First Team by default is one thing, but there are trickle-down effects of these star-crossed injuries. We’re not far away from a world in which Payton Pritchard or Towns’ teammate Mikal Bridges make All-NBA simply because all the more deserving players caught the injury bug here and there. The Pritchards of the world certainly deserve praise for avoiding injuries that captured their peers. So, here’s an idea: instead of a 65-game rule, why not go the other way and establish an Iron Man team? 

Before we know it, the league awards will become a copy-and-paste Iron Man team across the board rather than celebrating greatness. Before the league incentivizes Cunningham or a future star to aggravate a serious medical condition, the 65-game rule should take its rightful place alongside the composite ball and go on the shelf of ill-fated NBA ideas.

Anthony Davis sidelined through March with hand injury, still hasn’t made Wizards debut

The Washington Wizards are already getting the full Anthony Davis experience. Over a month after Davis was aquired by the team in a trade with the Dallas Mavericks, the 14-year veteran has yet to suit up with his new team due to an injury.

That injury — ligament damage in his left hand — will keep Davis sidelined at least through March, the team announced Friday.

The team said an evaluation revealed that, while Davis “continues to progress positively,” his injury isn’t healed just yet. Because of that, the team will continue to let Davis rest and re-evaluate him at the end of the month.

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Davis has not played in a game since Jan. 8, when he was still a member of the Mavericks, due to the injury. He has played in 20 games this season, averaging 20.4 points and 11.1 rebounds.

Under the team’s current plan, Davis will miss at least five more games before being re-evaluated. At that point, the Wizards would have seven regular-season games left on the schedule.

Given that, it might be in the team’s best interest to hold Davis out the rest of the season even if he’s able to fully recover. While the Wizards were initially optimistic about Davis returning to make his debut this season, conflicting reports in February suggested Davis was going to sit out the rest of the season in an attempt to get fully healthy for next year.

The latter scenario may be the most likely at this point considering the team’s current plan for Davis. The veteran is under contract with the Wizards for the 2026-27 NBA season, but then has a $62.8 million player option for the following year.

2026 Fantasy Baseball: Buyer beware — these players are risky picks at their current ADP

When drafting and playing fantasy baseball, it can align with how we invest in anything. If we are more risk-averse, we’ll avoid risky players because of injury and skill concerns. However, the average draft position (ADP) and market have been more efficient, where it becomes sharper. Risk can be relative, and the risk probability tends to be higher if the draft price is higher. Often, we’ll hear a high-risk, high-reward player, which indicates a player with a high cost who possesses tons of upside. 

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Admittedly, I’ve been a sucker for Raisel Iglesias because of his consistent role, skills and team context. Iglesias was shaky in the first half, with nine saves, 5.28 ERA, 1.37 WHIP and a 14.8% swinging-strike rate. However, he turned up the heat in the second half, with 20 saves, 1.47 ERA, 0.68 WHIP and 15.8% swinging-strike rate. Iglesias still throws a nasty changeup that elicits a 25.1% swinging-strike rate, with the slider generating a 17.5% swinging-strike rate in 2025. That’s within 1-2 percentage points of Iglesias’s career norms in swinging-strike rate via the changeup and slider. 

Here’s a look at Iglesias’ 15-game rolling averages over the past three seasons.

Beyond Iglesias’ role and skill, there have been concerns about the Braves adding Robert Suárez, who saved 76 games over the past two seasons as the Padres’ closer. We don’t expect Iglesias to share save opportunities with Suárez to begin the season. However, we could speculate that Suárez could eat into the save percentage if Iglesias struggles again in 2026.