The Los Angeles Lakers stormed to a 127-125 overtime win over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday, sealing the deal with some Luka Dončić magic. With six seconds remaining in overtime, Dončić sunk a difficult game-winning fadeaway from the corner, beating the clock and securing the win.

After taking a lead in the first half, Los Angeles fell behind after a big third quarter from the Nuggets before pulling back within a few points. And then, in the final seconds of regulation, Austin Reaves intentionally missed his second free throw and grabbed his own rebound to hit a tricky game-tying floater.

The overtime period was slow going for both teams, which missed some key shots. After a pair of layups from Deandre Ayton, Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon hit a 3-pointer to give Denver the lead before Marcus Smart hit a 3-pointer to pull the Lakers ahead again.

Nikola Jokić then drove for a layup to tie things up. But it was Dončić’s jumper that gave L.A. the home win.

Dončić ended the night with 30 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists. Reaves, meanwhile, led both teams with 32 points. Jokić finished with 24 points, 16 rebounds and 14 assists, and Gordon had a team-high 27 points for Denver.

The win pulls the Lakers to third in the West, boosted by a lineup that is finally fully healthy. It’s also the fifth win a row for L.A., which looks strong as the regular season starts to wind down.

Denver, meanwhile, is sitting in sixth after losing three of its past five.

The 2026 MLB season is almost here and that means you’re likely prepping for your fantasy baseball draft. One of the best ways to prepare is to do as many mock drafts as possible. Of course, sometimes it’s tough to find an accurate representation of your league settings by using the public mock draft lobby.

Not to fear! If you’re a Yahoo Fantasy+ subscriber, you have access to the Instant Mock Draft tool, allowing you to practice your draft in seconds. You can test different strategies, pick from various draft slots and experiment with roster construction as many times as you want, anytime, instantly. Now is a great time to subscribe to Yahoo Fantasy+, so you can use the wealth of tools for your draft prep.

[Yahoo Fantasy+ unlocks premium draft tools, player projections and more]

In this series, we’re going to be using the Instant Mock Draft tool to pick from each of the 12 slots in a 12-team fantasy baseball league. In this piece, we’ll be drafting from the No. 6 pick and using Fred Zinkie’s “OPS Floor” strategy, as featured in his easy-to-execute draft strategies for 2026.

More Mock Drafts

• No. 1 Pick

• No. 2 Pick

• No. 3 Pick

• No. 4 Pick

• No. 5 Pick

• No. 6 Pick

• No. 7 Pick

• No. 8 Pick

• No. 9 Pick

• No. 10 Pick

Note: We’re using Yahoo’s default points league settings for these mock drafts.

Full Roster – including each hitter’s OPS

C: Drake Baldwin, Braves (2025 OPS: .810)
1B: Freddie Freeman, Dodgers (.869)
2B: Gleyber Torres, Tigers (.745)
SS: Jose Ramírez, Guardians (.863)
3B: Brendan Donovan, Mariners (.775)
OF: Kyle Schwarber, Phillies (.928)
OF: Yordan Alvarez, Astros (.797)
OF: Seiya Suzuki, Cubs (.804)
UTIL: Luis Robert Jr., Mets (.661)
UTIL: Spencer Torkelson, Tigers (.789)
SP: Logan Gilbert, Mariners
SP: Dylan Cease, Blue Jays
RP: David Bednar, Yankees
RP: Trevor Megill, Brewers
P: Ryan Pepiot, Rays
P: Spencer Strider, Braves
P: Aaron Nola, Phillies
P: Jack Leiter, Rangers
Bench: Kazuma Okamoto, Blue Jays (.992 in Japan)
Bench: J.T. Realmuto, Phillies (.700)
Bench: Giancarlo Stanton, Yankees (.944)
Bench: Reid Detmers, Angels
Bench: Caleb Durbin, Red Sox (.721)

Experimenting with strategy: Again, we entered this draft with a goal of acquiring mostly players with an OPS of .800 or greater from 2026. The entire roster can’t fit that mold, of course, so anyone whose OPS was under .800 last season at least has a history of reaching that mark in their career at some point (Alvarez, Robert, Torres). Or they’re a younger player who could improve from last season’s results (Torkelson, Durbin).

Sticking to the plan in Round 1: Before we dive deeper into my mindset for this mock, we’ll go over the Ramírez pick.

Zinkie hates J-Ram this season because the Guardians don’t offer a quality offense and at some point, Ramírez has to regress, right? Well, in terms of this strategy, Ramirez is the gold standard. He has a career .857 OPS in 13 seasons. Is he the sexiest pick in the first round? Definitely not. But I don’t think he regresses enough where it kills your season.

When I had to pivot: Five players in my starting lineup had an OPS of .800 or better last season. So we’ll go over the outliers a bit and the thinking around that. Second base was tough once you get past the first few rounds. Only two players met the OPS requirements from last season (Ketel Marte, Jazz Chisholm Jr.). So I waited a bit and went with Torres, who had an .800 OPS a few seasons ago with the Yankees. He’s also surprisingly only 29 years old. Donovan was another middle infielder I was eyeing. He’s also 29 and was top-five in OPS among 2B in 2025. Perhaps a move to Seattle in a better offensive environment will boost him above the threshold.

Alvarez and Robert are both bounce-back candidates I’ve discussed in previous mocks. If you take out last season, when Alvarez was injured, his career OPS is an astonishing .978 over the six previous seasons. When healthy, he’s one of the best hitters in baseball. That said, it was risky selecting him in the fourth round. I would have liked him to drop a bit. Robert heads to New York where he’ll be a part of what should be a very good Mets lineup. Injuries have been an issue but in 2023, Robert was an All-Star and had an .857 OPS. He’s also only 28 years old.

Torkelson and Durbin don’t meet the requirements but are both still young, each 26 years old. Tork has a shot at reaching .800 OPS for the first time in his career and has a lot of pop with 30+ homers in two of the past three seasons. Durbin played well for the Brewers as a rookie in 2025 with a 2.8 WAR. He has a low strikeout rate and heads to a hitter-friendly stadium in Fenway Park.

Calculated risks: It was over in Japan, but Okamoto has reached the .800 OPS threshold in every season since 2018. He’s also a part of a solid Toronto lineup. Stanton is Stanton. He’s not going to be healthy all season but when he’s at the plate, he’s one of the most feared hitters in baseball. He may struggle to reach 100 games but I know I’m getting a high OPS while he’s out there. Realmuto is the weakest of this bunch but he’s my backup catcher, so it’s not an overly important role (I can stream some options). Also, he did have an .820 OPS not too long ago in 2022.

Plan of attack on the mound: We’ll go over pitching next because I really like how the staff shook out. I was able to grab a couple of high-end starters in Gilbert and Cease, both at the top of the rotation for good teams. Bednar has a chance to lead the AL in saves. I wanted to pair Megill with Abner Uribe but wasn’t able to. Again, not the end of the world; we can stream RPs. Leiter has a lot he needs to improve but he’s got a high pedigree and is still young, set to turn 26 in April. Pepiot should benefit from the park change, while Strider and Nola are similar to Alvarez and Robert — both bounce-back candidates at SP.

Takeaways with drafting No. 6: This was a lot of fun. We’re halfway through this series and this was my favorite mock yet. You have to do more prep work to figure out targets based on OPS but that isn’t that heavy a lift. The J-Ram-Schwarber 1-2 punch as my offensive anchors feels very solid and it doesn’t really feel like this roster has any holes, maybe up the middle and at catcher. I highly recommend this strategy and again, be sure to check out the rest of Fred’s ways to attack your draft here.

The 2026 MLB season is almost here and that means you’re likely prepping for your fantasy baseball draft. One of the best ways to prepare is to do as many mock drafts as possible. Of course, sometimes it’s tough to find an accurate representation of your league settings by using the public mock draft lobby.

Not to fear! If you’re a Yahoo Fantasy+ subscriber, you have access to the Instant Mock Draft tool, allowing you to practice your draft in seconds. You can test different strategies, pick from various draft slots and experiment with roster construction as many times as you want, anytime, instantly. Now is a great time to subscribe to Yahoo Fantasy+, so you can use the wealth of tools for your draft prep.

[Yahoo Fantasy+ unlocks premium draft tools, player projections and more]

In this series, we’re going to be using the Instant Mock Draft tool to pick from each of the 12 slots in a 12-team fantasy baseball league. In this piece, we’ll be drafting from the No. 7 overall pick.

I’m not revealing my strategy up here — because it’ll give away my first pick.

More Mock Drafts

• No. 1 Pick

• No. 2 Pick

• No. 3 Pick

• No. 4 Pick

• No. 5 Pick

• No. 6 Pick

• No. 7 Pick

• No. 8 Pick

• No. 9 Pick

• No. 10 Pick

Note: We’re using Yahoo’s default points league settings for these mock drafts.

Full Roster

C: Cal Raleigh, Mariners
1B: Bryce Harper, Phillies
2B: Brice Turang, Brewers
SS: Willy Adames, Giants
3B: Austin Riley, Braves
OF: Randy Arozarena, Mariners
OF: Seiya Suzuki, Cubs
OF: Jo Adell, Angels
UTIL: Daulton Varsho, Blue Jays
UTIL: Spencer Torkelson, Tigers
SP: Paul Skenes, Pirates
SP: Luis Castillo, Mariners
RP: Raisel Iglesias, Braves
RP: Daniel Palencia, Cubs
P: Ryan Pepiot, Rays
P: Andrew Abbott, Reds
P: Shane Baz, Orioles
P: Ryan Weathers, Yankees
Bench: Kyle Teel, White Sox
Bench: Willi Castro, Rockies
Bench: Matt Wallner, Twins
Bench: Jake Cronenworth, Padres
Bench: Justin Verlander, Tigers

STRATEGY REVEAL! It was HeroSP.

I recently read an article by Chris Towers about the starting pitcher dead zone. I believe it won him an award, so may be worth checking out. Anyway, it talks about how, as a draft progresses, the value of starting pitchers slowly declines until things flatten out. The idea is to take a high-end starter early in the draft and then employ a “HeroSP” approach, similar to a HeroRB strategy in fantasy football. So I took a pitcher in the first round and didn’t think about the pitcher position until the 10th round.

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

As you can see, we landed on Paul Skenes as our “hero” in this exercise. Tigers SP Tarik Skubal, whom I’ve dodged in every mock so far, was already off the board when I came up at No. 7. So it was between Skenes and Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet. The Pirates should be a bit better this season, which could lead to a few more wins for Skenes. I don’t think you can really go wrong with any of that trio as your top arm.

Investing in bats early: After we nabbed Skenes, it was all offense until the later rounds. Raleigh fell to me in the second round and hadn’t had the opportunity to draft him yet in this series. Most projections have him between 34-45 HRs this season. But what if there’s a world where he doesn’t regress much? If that’s the case, I’ll buy the potential that Raleigh duplicates — or comes close to — the season he had in 2025. If that’s the case, you’re getting first-round value after the fact.

I also waited a bit on outfield (not by design) but it worked out fine by me. The position is still pretty deep and you’re going to be able to find power sources in the later rounds. We were able to get a solid group of Arozarena, Suzuki and Adell, players I’ve been targeting frequently. Wallner regressed in 2025 but has upside coming off the bench.

Building out my staff: Okay, back to the pitcher strategy. So my first SP pick after Skenes was Castillo in the 10th round. I’ve pubbed my colleagues quite a bit in this series but we can never link out too much — Fred Zinkie has Castillo as one of his safest picks based in a 10-team draft. This is for a 12-team league but what does that matter in this context? “According to Relative Range data via Yahoo Fantasy Plus, Castillo is the 27th-safest starter in baseball,” writes Zinkie.

I was also able to grab a few reliable closers in Iglesias and Palencia. The Braves closer has at least 29 saves in three straight seasons. Palencia will get the first crack at closing on what should be a good Cubs squad. I’ll reiterate that you should always be proactive on the waiver wire when it comes to relief pitching. There will almost certainly be relievers who emerge due to opportunities injuries or poor performance present, who can help you out.

Let’s look at the rest of the SP staff. Abbott is a polarizing name this season. With Hunter Greene sidelined for up to four months after elbow surgery, Abbott is the de facto ace for Cincinnati. He’s entering his prime years and is coming off his best MLB season with a 2.87 ERA and 5.6 WAR, finishing top-10 in NL Cy Young voting. As a groundball pitcher, he isn’t going to miss many bats, so the K numbers aren’t ideal. While his ERA should go up, you aren’t going to find many Opening Day starters this late in your draft.

Lastly, we took a flier on the Verlander farewell tour. The future Hall of Famer should give everything he’s got at 43 years old in what should be his final MLB season. He pitched well last year for the Giants and could pick up some more wins on a better Detroit team. Verlander was my last pick, so you’re basically getting him for free. Why not?

Takeaways with drafting No. 7: In points formats, I really like this approach of waiting on SP. Maybe it isn’t going full ZeroSP or HeroSP, but some iteration where you’re not spending too much of your high draft capital on the position. Obviously, there’s positional scarcity but based on projections, pitching is less valuable. But if you’re going to miss out on one of the top bats (Judge, Ohtani, Soto, Witt), then it makes sense to shift gears to SP in the first round. There won’t be as much of a difference between that second tier of bats.

The 2026 MLB season is almost here and that means you’re likely prepping for your fantasy baseball draft. One of the best ways to prepare is to do as many mock drafts as possible. Of course, sometimes it’s tough to find an accurate representation of your league settings by using the public mock draft lobby.

Not to fear! If you’re a Yahoo Fantasy+ subscriber, you have access to the Instant Mock Draft tool, allowing you to practice your draft in seconds. You can test different strategies, pick from various draft slots and experiment with roster construction as many times as you want, anytime, instantly. Now is a great time to subscribe to Yahoo Fantasy+, so you can use the wealth of tools for your draft prep.

[Yahoo Fantasy+ unlocks premium draft tools, player projections and more]

In this series, we’re going to be using the Instant Mock Draft tool to pick from each of the 12 slots in a 12-team fantasy baseball league. In this piece, we’ll be drafting from the No. 9 overall pick. We went with a balanced approach in this draft, alternating between selecting two batters and two pitchers.

More Mock Drafts

• No. 1 Pick

• No. 2 Pick

• No. 3 Pick

• No. 4 Pick

• No. 5 Pick

• No. 6 Pick

• No. 7 Pick

• No. 8 Pick

• No. 9 Pick

• No. 10 Pick

Note: We’re using Yahoo’s default points league settings for these mock drafts.

Full Roster

C: Ben Rice, Yankees
1B: Salvador Pérez, Royals
2B: Brice Turang, Brewers
SS: Jacob Wilson, Athletics
3B: Matt Chapman, Giants
OF: Ronald Acuña Jr., Braves
OF: Kyle Schwarber, Phillies
OF: Dylan Crews, Nationals
UTIL: Brendan Donovan, Mariners
UTIL: Luis Arráez, Giants
SP: Bryan Woo, Mariners
SP: Logan Webb, Giants
RP: David Bednar, Yankees
RP: Aroldis Chapman, Red Sox
P: Emmet Sheehan, Dodgers
P: MacKenzie Gore, Rangers
P: Matthew Boyd, Cubs
P: Aaron Nola, Phillies
Bench: Shane Smith, White Sox
Bench: Noah Cameron, Royals
Bench: Willi Castro, Rockies
Bench: Andrés Giménez, Blue Jays
Bench: Reid Detmers, Angels

Strategy overview: The idea here was balance and I like how things turned out. We also prioritized utility with how the roster is constructed. Four players have dual-position eligibility and two players have tri-eligibility. This isn’t something you should worry too much about while you’re drafting, but if the opportunity presents itself, it’ll make some roster decisions easier and serves as a nice tiebreaker when you’re debating who to take. It also helps if injuries pop up (which they will) and if players struggle at a certain position (which they also will).

Bats are best: Unless I can corner the market on elite starting pitchers and snag both Paul Skenes and Garrett Crochet at the back-end of the first and early-second, I’m going to almost always prioritize a bat in the first round. Acuña possesses the highest ceiling of players who are falling to the back-half of the first, so we opted to go that route (even though one of my other mocks has me reaching on him a bit). The Acuña-Schwarber stack gives me two NL MVP candidates who solidify the outfield position.

[Draft your Yahoo Fantasy Baseball team for the 2026 MLB Season]

World Woo Webb: I was able to grab two top-10 starters, according to Yahoo’s expert rankings from Scott Pianowski and Fred Zinkie. Woo and Webb are both starters in their primes in good situations, players you can “set and forget” in your lineup if they stay healthy. We didn’t take too many risks in this draft, at least not initially.

Webb has finished top-10 in NL Cy Young voting in three straight seasons. Woo had great numbers in 2025 (2.94 ERA, 198 Ks over 186.2 IP) but gave up a lot of longballs. If he can keep more pitches in the park, he could be an AL Cy Young finalist.

Not just for points: If you’re in a category league and not a points league — like the Yahoo default — this roster also appears to be very balanced. I snagged guys like Turang, Wilson, Arráez and Giménez to counter likely low averages for players like Schwarber, Chapman and possibly Pérez. You could also group Crews in there but he’s young enough that we should see some improvement.

Heated rivalry: Taking the Yankees and Red Sox closers wasn’t some weird narrative type of play. Like I said, we alternated between batters and pitchers, and it just made sense to grab two reliable closers in the seventh and eighth rounds. Similar to my two SPs, we shouldn’t have to worry too much about job security when it comes to Bednar and Chapman. Both are ranked in the top-10 RPs in our rankings.

Takeaways from the 9th pick: This felt a bit cookie-cutter in terms of strategy but was effective. I wasn’t scrambling to fill one of my starter spots late in the draft because I ignored a position or had a massive run on batters/pitchers. You do have to force a few picks, so it’s not the perfect approach if you really like a batter or pitcher who happens to fall to you. You can’t just blindly go 2-2 the entire draft. Stray from the path if you need to. But if you make a priority list of players you really like going into your draft, you can easily execute this strategy and feel like you came away with a win.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Igor Shesterkin made 46 saves and Vladislav Gavrikov had a goal and two assists as the New York Rangers extended their winning streak to four games with a 4-2 win over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night.

Noah Laba, Jaroslav Chmelar and Vincent Trocheck also scored for New York, which won for the fifth time in six games despite being outshot 48-18.

Matt Boldy and Danila Yurov scored for the Wild, who dropped their second straight and lost for the third time in four games. Filip Gustavsson had 14 saves.

New York had a 9-6 edge in shots in the opening period and led 2-0. The Wild carried play the rest of the way, outshooting the Rangers 42-9 over the final two periods — including 21-1 in the third, but were unable to solve Shesterkin.

Laba opened the scoring with his ninth of the season on a power play 2:41 into the game. Gabe Perreault and Gavrikov assisted. Gavrikov scored his 13th of the season with five minutes left in the first.

In the second, the Wild cut their deficit to a goal in the first minute, but the Rangers scored twice despite being outshot 21-8 in the frame.

Boldy scored in his third straight game, scoring in the first minute of the period with a man advantage. It was Boldy’s 38th goal of the season, tying him for the team lead with Kirill Kaprizov. Quinn Hughes picked up his 61st assist and Gustavsson had his second of the season.

Chmelar restored a two-goal at 8:41, and 22 seconds later Gavrikov shot into a crowd in front of the net and Trocheck scored on a deflection.

Wild rookie Danila Yurov scored his 10th of the season at 7:19 of the third, but the Wild got no closer.

J.T. Miller was back in New York’s lineup after missing five games with an upper-body injury.

Minnesota captain Jared Spurgeon played in his 1,000th game, and Bobby Brink missed his second straight game.

Up next

Rangers: Host Los Angeles on Monday.

Wild: Host Toronto on Sunday.

___

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

The Players Championship, round three leaderboard

-13 L Aberg (Swe); -10 M Thorbjornsen (US); -9 C Young (US)

Selected: -8 J Thomas (US), X Schauffele (US), M Fitzpatrick (Eng), V Hovland (Nor), B Harman (US), C Conners (Can); -7 R MacIntyre (Sco), S Straka (Aut); -6 J Rose (Eng); -4 S Scheffler (US), T Fleetwood (Eng); +1 R McIlroy (NI)

Full leaderboard

Ludvig Aberg did not provide the fireworks of Friday but will take a three-shot lead into Sunday’s final round of the Players Championship in Florida.

The Swede, who shot a 63 in round two to move two clear at halfway, backed that up with a one-under-par 71 to improve to 13 under overall as he chases the biggest win of his career at the PGA Tour’s $25m (£18.9m) flagship event.

But while the 26-year-old European Ryder Cup star serenely plotted his way around the famed TPC Sawgrass course, most of his closest challengers also failed to spark.

His playing partner, two-time major winner Xander Schauffele, drove the ball well but was wayward with his second shots into greens as he posted a two-over 74 to slip five off the pace.

However, unheralded 24-year-old American Michael Thorbjornsen shot a 67 to leap up to second on the leaderboard, on 10 under par.

He is one ahead of Cameron Young, who found water off the tee on the 18th and dropped two shots on the last hole to end the day as he started it, on nine under.

Young was not the only player to struggle on the last.

England’s Matt Fitzpatrick was 10 under par on the 18th tee, after birdies on the 16th and 17th holes, but a scruffy double-bogey finish took the shine off his round as he signed for a 69 to be joint fourth on eight under.

He is alongside 2021 champion Justin Thomas, who, playing in his second tournament since recovering from a back operation, overcame a triple-bogey seven on the sixth to card a 72.

Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre started round three at level par but posted the lowest score of the day – and his Players career – holing nine birdies in a superb seven-under 65 – to end the day six off the pace.

Justin Rose reached eight under after a birdie on the 15th but hit balls in the water on 16 and 18 as he finished with two bogeys in his final three holes to drop back to six under.

The top two in the world had ambitions of joining Jack Nicklaus as a record three-time winner of the event but both have fallen short.

World number one Scottie Scheffler put his erratic form of the opening two rounds behind him as he shot a bogey-free five-under 67, to get to four under.

But defending champion Rory McIlroy, who overcame a back injury to play this week, stayed at one over after a 72.

‘I think about winning a lot’

Aberg said he is ready to “embrace” the challenge of trying to close out his third victory on the PGA Tour despite being “nervous”.

“I think about winning a lot,” he said. “I think a lot about what it would look like, what it would feel like. I think a lot about the different scenarios that might happen. I did that in college, I did that when I turned pro and I still do it.

“We spend so much time preparing, so why wouldn’t we think of what it would actually mean to win.

“So naturally that’s what I’m going to do [on Saturday evening]. But does it change anything for me [on Sunday]? I don’t think so.

“I’ll definitely be nervous. I’ve been nervous the past three days. Whoever says they don’t get nervous is not really true to themselves.”

Aberg looked set to have a four-shot advantage for the final round after hitting his second shot on the par-four 18th 25ft from the hole.

But he raced his birdie putt past and failed to knock in a seven-footer for par as he made a rare mistake.

It was just a second bogey of the round – and third of the championship – for the Swede, who lives locally and calls Sawgrass his home course.

“The three-putt on 18 stings, annoys me, but I started the day with a two-shot lead and ended with a three, so that’s a positive,” he said.

The highlight of his round was an eagle-three on the downwind par-five 11th. He fired his second shot from 238 yards to 17ft before holing the putt.

That moved Aberg four clear but he was unable to build on that momentum as his rivals jostled for position behind him.

‘Cool two hometown guys are in final group’

Young looked the most likely to threaten Aberg.

He twice moved to 11 under – first with a 46ft birdie putt on the 13th, and then with a tap-in on the 17th (after dropping a shot at the 15th). But his errant drive down the last cost him a place alongside Aberg in Sunday’s final pairing.

That goes to Thorbjornsen, the world number 59, who, like Aberg, lives near the course, which is just outside Jacksonville.

“I love playing golf with him,” said the American, who had three birdies and an eagle in his opening 11 holes to reach 10 under par before matching two bogeys with two birdies in the closing holes.

“We go way back to junior golf. We’ve played a lot of college golf together. He was one of the guys in college that I looked up to. It’s pretty cool two hometown guys are in the final group.”

Wandering around the Stade de France two hours before kick-off, an England fan stopped to give his take to the BBC Sport live text.

His one-word answer to sum up England’s Six Nations campaign was as accurate as Thomas Ramos’ boot: “Confusing”.

A 48-46 defeat, settled by a France penalty with the clock in the red, only adds to the riddle.

It was a ridiculous game of rugby, somehow trumping Scotland’s 50-40 victory over France last weekend, with jeopardy, controversy and an ending that took everyone in the Stade de France to the edge of their seat and their wit’s end.

Ninety-four points, 13 tries, five lead changes, two yellow cards and a few hundred storylines.

Trying to pick out clear answers amid the fog of war and trophy-lift pyro isn’t easy.

First, foremost and fundamentally, England were vastly improved. The disjointed defeats by Scotland, Ireland and Italy are admittedly a low bar, but England’s intensity and accuracy was back.

The attack snapped into shape, asking awkward questions out wide, kicking with intelligence and offering punch though the middle.

Tommy Freeman enjoyed his best game at centre for England, making smart decisions, running incisive lines and connecting well with his wings.

The forwards took the fight to France with relish, thumping into contact, scuttling several scrums and making the driving maul a weapon against a heavier pack.

Ollie Chessum, brought in for his heft, delivered in spades, scoring two tries, laying on a deft pass for Alex Coles’ score and clanging about in close combat. Captain Maro Itoje was the best he has been in this tournament, as tough to shift as week-old chewing gum over the breakdown.

They took an absurdly gifted, if fallible France team to the very last second and backed up their endorsements of head coach Steve Borthwick in interviews, with actions on the pitch.

“England were blistering – their pace, their skill, their intensity, their physicality and they had a genuine chance of winning,” said former England scrum-half Matt Dawson on BBC Radio 5 Live.

“I feel for the players because they are going to be down, but I want them to be super, super positive because if they carry on playing like that for the next 18 months they are going to challenge in big tournaments and big games, and they are going to win big games.”

And yet. When the adrenaline levels drop, questions will also be raised.

Should England have made victory stick?

With the restart regathered by Chessum, the ball safely at the base, Sam Underhill, Henry Pollock and Chandler Cunningham-South on their feet as a potential pod, and only two minutes left on the clock, could England have kept ball in hand and run down the clock?

Instead, Jack van Poortvliet, who had brought some zip off the bench, opted to kick the ball away and infield. Matthieu Jalibert, a broken-field fiend, accepted the invite to run back and England were back under the pump.

Closing out victories was a repeated failing in a series of close defeats in autumn 2024. It is a habit that England don’t want to reacquire.

One they definitely haven’t kicked yet is indiscipline. Only one of the 162 team campaigns in Six Nations history – Italy 2002 – has picked up more cards than England have this year.

Eight yellows, two of which combined to make Henry Arundell’s 20-minute red against Scotland, have hobbled England throughout.

Ellis Genge was dispatched to the sin-bin seat of shame in Paris, adjudged to have cynically dragged down a France driving maul that was destined for the line.

It may have been a marginal call, but, backed up to their own line, England knew the stakes were high and the punishment for any infringement would be heavy.

France raced back into the lead in the prop’s absence.

More broadly, considering England’s campaign as a whole, the wild form fluctuations are most flummoxing.

The post-tournament debrief needs to root out the reason behind such tame showings in defeat by Scotland, Ireland and Italy.

A return of one win from their campaign – the worst in England’s Six Nations history – is too glaring to be obscured by their highlights from the City of Lights.

The next Rugby World Cup will feature a last-16 knockout stage. England, currently seeded to take on Italy at that point, will need to walk a four-match tightrope between the pool stages and the biggest prize.

They cannot afford the brain fades and off-days that have come in this tournament if they are to compete. Consistency is a pre-requisite.

“It has taken time to get the relationships in the team,” said Borthwick afterwards.

“I am very clear on the direction of the team, we wanted to achieve more in the tournament, clearly, but we will make sure we do that going forwards.”

Forwards and upwards.

South Africa, at Johannesburg’s Ellis Park – 1,753m above sea level – is England’s next, imposing task.

For England’s fans and suits, the thin air may offer a bit more clarity on their team and its future.

• A finale worthy of the greatest Six Nations ever
• France take title with thrilling last-gasp win over England
• Recap: France win Six Nations with sensational 48-46 victory over England

• Listen: Sport’s Strangest Crimes – Bloodgate
• Listen to the latest Rugby Union Weekly podcast

Debate over whether the 2026 Six Nations would go down as the greatest in the tournament’s history started before the final weekend.

History, records, upsets, high-scoring classics – by round five, the tournament had already produced gold.

But, to be the best, surely an epic finale was required? Too much to ask?

Well, France and England in Paris conjured up just that.

With the final play of the tournament, Thomas Ramos’ penalty sailed through the posts to snatch a record eighth Six Nations title for Les Bleus.

Ireland, who beat Scotland 43-21 earlier on Saturday to seal the Triple Crown, saw their dreams of celebrating the title in Dublin dashed in the final few seconds of the tournament.

A thrilling 48-46 victory ensured back-to-back titles for Fabien Galthie’s side, who had their Grand Slam bid ended in a remarkable 50-40 defeat by Scotland at Murrayfield last weekend.

It was France captain Antoine Dupont who lifted the hard-earned trophy in the air, with fireworks exploding around a packed Stade de France.

“France are worthy champions. They deserve it and showed plenty of character,” former England scrum-half Matt Dawson told BBC 5 Live.

“The pressure moments are when special teams produce. What a fantastic tournament. It is has been so good for all the teams.”

• France take title with last-gasp win over England in thriller
• France crowned Six Nations champions after sensational 48-46 victory over England – reaction

A tournament for history and records

An ice-cool Ramos never looked like missing, but the game had already delivered even before the cinematic finish.

England, who came into the match on a three-game losing run and with head coach Steve Borthwick under huge pressure, scored seven tries to Les Bleus’ six.

Tommy Freeman’s 76th-minute score and celebratory point to home fans looked like an unlikely famous moment in Irish rugby history – but Ramos had the last laugh.

“England were blistering – their pace, their skill, their intensity, their physicality and they had a genuine chance of winning,” Dawson added.

“England were one play away from winning what is one of the greatest games in Six Nations history.

“An amazing tournament, an amazing finish, I can say ‘amazing’ another 20 times if you really want me to? Because it was incredible.”

France wing Louis Bielle-Biarrey scored four tries against England to extend his remarkable scoring record to 10 successive Six Nations games.

Having broken the tournament try record with eight scores in last year’s championship, Bielle-Biarrey went one better this year.

The 22-year-old, who has only played in three championships, is now the joint-fifth highest try-scorer in the tournament’s history, with 18 tries in 14 games.

Records just kept tumbling during the 2026 Six Nations:

• New record number of tries (111), beating last year’s record of 108
• The final round brought the most tries (29) in a single Six Nations day
• Ireland delivered a record 42-21 away win over England at Allianz Stadium in round three
• Italy made history last weekend by beating England for the first time
• Ramos (74) became the first player to be the leading points scorer in four consecutive championships, surpassing Ronan O’Gara (2005, 2006 and 2007)

The tournament opened with Italy shocking Scotland in Rome to put Gregor Townsend under pressure.

His side then delivered an emphatic win over England at Murrayfield to end their rivals’ 12-game unbeaten run.

The pressure then mounted on Borthwick as his side were outclassed by Ireland at Allianz Stadium.

While all that was happening, France cruised past Ireland, Wales and Italy to start a narrative that anything other than a Grand Slam would be a failure.

Scotland then blew away Galthie’s side, before conceding a late flurry of tries, to head into the final round with a genuine shot of a first Six Nations title.

To add more drama into the mix, Italy overcame England in Rome to mount further pressure on Borthwick.

Wales may have lost their opening four games, but they improved as the championship went on, producing an impressive bonus-point win over Italy to end the tournament.

They finished with a third consecutive Wooden Spoon – but a first win in the championship since 2023 offered huge relief.

Despite an improved display in Paris, England finished the tournament with four defeats – their worst-ever campaign.

“It was one of the most captivating Six Nations in history, fitting it came down to one final moment of drama,” BBC rugby correspondent Chris Jones said.

The 2015 Six Nations has been regarded as the greatest tournament for entertainment because of the three-team Super Saturday title race.

It similarly went right down to the wire.

However, this year’s competition delivered from round one right to the final kick, with each nation having their own story – and leaps to the top of the list.

Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. — Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg, in pursuit of a third PGA Tour title and the biggest victory of his career, maintained ice-cool composure as he increased his overnight lead to three shots in the third round of The Players Championship on Saturday.

The 26-year-old, whose most recent victory came at last year’s Genesis Invitational, for the most part played ultra-disciplined golf as he carded a 1-under-par 71 on another sun-splashed afternoon at TPC Sawgrass.

Aberg’s most frustrating moment of the day came at the par-4 18th where he surprisingly ran up a bogey after three-putting from 25 feet, this following a missed birdie opportunity from just 8 feet at the iconic par-3 17th.

“I definitely would have loved to come out of 16, 17 with at least one birdie, and the 3-putt on 18 kind of stings, annoys me a little bit,” the Swede said after finishing with a 13-under total of 203 in the PGA Tour’s flagship event.

“But overall, I started the day with a two-shot lead and ended with a three, so that’s a positive for sure. But Sawgrass tomorrow is going to be a challenge. It’s all about executing, and you’re going to get punished if you don’t, which is a fun way to play golf.”

Aberg will head into Sunday’s final round three strokes in front of American Michael Thorbjornsen, a former college friend and fellow resident in the Jacksonville area who reeled off five birdies, an eagle and two bogeys en route to a 67.

Cameron Young was alone in third at 9-under after recording a 72 while fellow Americans Brian Harman (69), Xander Schauffele (74) and Justin Thomas (72), England’s Matt Fitzpatrick (69), Viktor Hovland of Norway (69) and Canada’s Corey Conners (72) were a stroke further back in a six-way tie for fourth.

Ponte Vedra Beach resident Aberg had been two ahead overnight and made a slow start to the round, bogeying the par-4 fourth after finding the right rough off the tee and doing well to save par at the fifth where he sank a 13-foot putt after being bunkered off the tee.

Three more pars followed before he got up and down from a greenside bunker to birdie the par-5 ninth and stretch his lead to three shots.

Though a Young birdie briefly trimmed Aberg’s advantage to two, the Swede surged four ahead with a superb eagle at the par-5 11th where he struck his second shot to 17 feet and coolly sank the putt. On a course that was increasingly running firm, the Swede comfortably parred the next six holes before ending his day on a bitter note with a bogey at the last.

“Overall, I’m pleased with the way I was playing today in a tough condition,” said Aberg, whose best PGA Tour finish this season was a tie for third at last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational. “This is definitely the biggest individual tournament on the PGA Tour, non-major, so it will be a cool experience tomorrow to go out with a lead, which I’ve never done before. … I’m going to try to soak it in, enjoy it, but at the end of the day, trying to hit as few golf shots as I possibly can.”

For much of the day, Young was Aberg’s closest challenger. The 28-year-old rebounded from a bogey at the third with birdies at the sixth, 11th and 13th. Though he dropped another shot at the 14th, he also birdied the 17th, where he very nearly aced the hole. However, he was left to rue a double-bogey at the 18th where his tee shot sailed left into the water hazard.

“I feel like I battled pretty well,” said Young, whose only PGA Tour victory came at the 2025 Wyndham Championship. “I didn’t play great. Been driving it really well, and today I just didn’t get it in the fairways much.

“To get it back to 2-under with one hole to go, I feel like was pretty good. Honestly, the tee shot (on 18) wasn’t bad. I almost bent over to pick up the tee when I hit it. There’s a bunch of wind up there, and it just kept turning and turning and was a foot too much.”

Former Stanford University student Thorbjornsen, who played a lot of college golf with Aberg when the Swede represented Texas Tech, is relishing the prospect of them playing together in Sunday’s final pairing.

“I love playing golf with him,” said Thorbjornsen, a 24-year-old who is seeking his first PGA Tour win. “He was one of the guys in college that I looked up to, even though he’s only one year older than me. Very solid, very solid player. His mental game is extremely good as well. I’m really looking forward to it … and pretty cool that two hometown guys are in the final group!”

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who made his 70th consecutive PGA Tour cut on Friday with just one shot to spare, produced his best performance of the week as he carded a flawless 5-under 67 that included three birdies in his first six holes.

“I was a little sharper today than I was the first two days,” said the four- time major winner after finishing the round tied for 26th, nine strokes off the lead at 4 under. “I felt like I was swinging it better each day of the tournament. Today hit a few more fairways and was able to give myself a few more looks for birdie.”

World No. 2 and defending champion Rory McIlroy, who withdrew from last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational after two rounds due to a back injury, struggled at times with his driver and his putter en route to a 72 and a 1-over total, tied for 57th.

Winner of The Players Championship in 2019 and again last year, the Northern Irishman twice found water off the tee and he failed to take advantage of a couple of makeable birdie putts at the seventh and eighth before missing a 4-footer for par at the ninth.

LIV

Defending champion Joaquin Niemann shot a 66 to surge into a third-round tie for the lead at LIV Golf Singapore.

The Chilean mixed seven birdies and two bogeys to tie Lee Westwood of England atop the leaderboard at 10-under-par 203 for the tournament, one stroke ahead of second-round leader Bryson DeChambeau and Richard Lee of Canada.

Westwood made birdies on three of the final four holes to finish with a 68 at the Sentosa Golf Club, which played tougher than it did in the first two rounds.

“I would say it’s a major championship-style golf course. It’s very demanding,” Westwood said. “Even though the rough isn’t that thick, it asks you to hit a lot of fairways, and it’s difficult to score from the rough. You don’t have as much control on the golf ball.”

Niemann agreed about the challenge the course presents.

“I’ve been hitting the ball really good. I think that’s the key,” Niemann said. “It’s a really stressful golf course, I’ll say. There’s a lot of danger off the tee, a lot of water on second shots. One way or the other, I feel like I’ve been kind of like stress-free after I hit the shot. Once I get on the tee, there’s some pressure there, and then once I hit the ball, it goes right where I’m seeing with my eyes, so it feels satisfying.”

DeChambeau followed his second-round 65 with a one-over 72, but he wasn’t dismayed despite bogeys at holes 8, 10 and 12.

“I played really well. The greens on 8, 9, 10, 11 got really slow,” he said. “For some reason, there wasn’t as much wind around there and I guess the greens got slower in that area and I three-putted a few of them and that cost me some momentum. Other than that, I played great golf. I almost played just as good as yesterday, just things didn’t line up.”

Lee, a LIV Golf wild card, birdied the final hole to record a 69 and tie DeChambeau.

Spain’s Jon Rahm shot an even-par 71 to stay within striking distance of the leaders, three strokes off the pace. Marc Leishman of Australia (71) stands alone in sixth place at 6-under par.

In the team competition, 4Aces are atop the leaderboard. Captain Dustin Johnson’s round of 68 sent the team to 16-under, two shots ahead of Ripper GC and Legion XIII, and put Johnson in a tie for seventh place with six others at 5-under.

This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Golf roundup: Ludvig Aberg increases Players lead to three