Anthony Volpe continues his road back to the Yankees with his second rehab start playing for the Somerset Patriots on Thursday night.

The Yankees shortstop played five innings and finished 1-for-3 with a strikeout on the night. After going hitless in his two at-bats on Tuesday — batting against Phillies ace Zack Wheeler — Volpe has the first hit of his rehab assignment.

Batting second in the lineup, Volpe grounded out to third base in his first at-bat. In his second at-bat in the third inning, Volpe swung and missed on a 3-2 pitch down in the zone. He’s struck out three times in his first five at-bats since starting his rehab assignment. But Volpe got the barrel on the ball in his third at-bat, this time coming in the fifth. 

On a 3-0 count, Volpe had the greenlight and drove the ball up the middle for a base hit. 

Anthony Volpe gets his first hit on his rehab assignment! pic.twitter.com/PPdiY98U3l

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 17, 2026

Yankees manager Aaron Boone said that the plan is for Volpe to play back-to-back games on Thursday and Friday. The shortstop will take Saturday off before taking the field again on Sunday. 

From there, Volpe will head to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, where his workload will increase.

Yankees top prospect George Lombard Jr. started at third base for the Patriots on Thursday before shifting over to shortstop once Volpe’s night was done.

Lombard’s scorching-hot start to the minor league season continued, as he went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a walk through six innings of Thursday’s game. 

Over his first 10 games, Lombard is hitting .425 and has five multi-hit games this season.

Capsules on the Western Conference first-round series:

No. 2 San Antonio Spurs (62-20) vs. No. 7 Portland Trail Blazers (42-40)

Season series: Spurs, 2-1.

Story line: San Antonio star Victor Wembanyama’s playoff debut is here. Same goes for Portland star Deni Avdija — who waited six years, and blossomed into an All-Star this season, before getting to this stage. There are some stats that suggest this is a matchup nightmare for San Antonio, such as head-to-head FG% (.440 for the Spurs, .439 for the Blazers), 3-point FG% (.344 for the Spurs, .339 for the Blazers) and rebounds per game (50 for the Spurs, 47.3 for the Blazers). But there’s also this one really big point to consider, that being that Wembanyama didn’t play in any of the three games against the Blazers this season.

Key matchup: Wembanyama vs. Everybody. This is what we’ve all been waiting for, Wemby in the postseason. The Spurs won 62 games in a loaded West, contended for the No. 1 overall seed until the final days of the season, were a matchup nightmare for just about everyone and Wembanyama is at the center of it all — rarely looking fazed in any moment. Avdija is great, but he’ll have to be otherworldly for Portland to have a real chance.

Prediction: Spurs in 5.

No. 3 Denver Nuggets (54-28) vs. No. 6 Minnesota Timberwolves (49-33)

Season series: Nuggets, 3-1.

Story line: The Nuggets roll into the playoffs with a 12-game winning streak that vaulted them into third place in the Western Conference and a matchup with what’s become a familiar foe. Denver and Minnesota have played 28 games since 2022 and this will be the third postseason meeting in four years between the clubs. Denver beat Minnesota in the first round in 2023 en route to its first NBA championship, but the Timberwolves avenged that in a crushing way the next year when they came from 20 points down in Game 7 of the West semifinals to end Denver’s title reign.

Key matchup: Nikola Jokic vs. Rudy Gobert. Jokic is perhaps the most well-rounded player in the game, averaging a triple-double for the second straight season and becoming the first player to lead the NBA in rebounds and assists per game. He finished with averages of 27.7 points, 12.9 rebounds and 10.7 assists. Gobert is a four-time Defensive Player of the Year winner, but it’s a huge task for he or any center to slow down Jokic.

Prediction: Nuggets in 5.

No. 4 Los Angeles Lakers (53-29) vs. No. 5 Houston Rockets (52-30)

Season series: Lakers, 2-1.

Story line: Another postseason matchup between LeBron James and Kevin Durant is the headline, but who James and the Lakers are missing is the real news. Luka Doncic, who led the NBA with 33.5 points per game, and Austin Reaves, their second-leading scorer, were both injured April 2 and won’t be ready for at least the start of the series. It puts a massive burden on the James, who ties Karl Malone and John Stockton for another NBA record with his 19th postseason appearance.

Key matchup: James vs. Durant. They have been Olympic teammates and NBA Finals rivals, first in Miami and Oklahoma City, later in Cleveland and Golden State. James is the NBA’s career scoring leader and Durant is No. 5, but with James now 41 and Durant 37, they are running out of time to win another title. Now one of them won’t even get out of the first round.

Prediction: Rockets in 6.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA

The Mariners are back under the lights tonight after a game where for some reason, who can say really, the ninth inning absolutely did not happen. Seriously. Eat some chicharron, drink a Russian imperial stout, and smile through it all. That’s how we get through 162 games together.

Lineups:

Luis Castillo takes the mound tonight for the final match of this weird 3-game road trip. Luis actually leads MLB in swings-and-misses (3,426) since 2017, the year he made his debut. Here’s hoping he adds to that lead tonight. Offense-wise, it’s a fairly conventional lineup for Dan Wilson’s Mariners. J.P. Crawford is back in the lineup after getting the day off yesterday, and there’s been some slight jiggling in the 7-9 holes, but otherwise it’s the same lineup that put 6 runs on the Dads last night.

Walker Buehler takes the mound tonight for San Diego. Buehler had a to-ugh time in Boston last year, and his 2026 hasn’t been any better. Sporting an ERA of 4.97, the two-time All-Star has been scuffling out of the gate. With luck, the Mariners can put the hurt on him and get his ERA north of 5.

Game Information:

First Pitch: 5:40 pm PT

TV: Mariners TV with Aaron Goldsmith and Angie Mentink in the booth with Brad Adam on the field.

Radio: Seattle Sports 710 AM with Rick Rizzs and Gary Hill Jr. on the call.

Capsules on the Eastern Conference first-round series:

No. 2 Boston Celtics (56-26) vs. No. 7 Philadelphia 76ers (45-37)

Season series: Tied, 2-2.

Story line: This is by far the most common matchup in NBA postseason history, the rivals about to meet in a playoff series for the 23rd time. The edge for a couple of generations now has been with Boston — the Celtics have won the last six series between the clubs, mostly recently a seven-gamer in 2023, and Philadelphia hasn’t eliminated Boston in a playoff matchup since 1982. For Philadelphia, much hinges on how quickly Joel Embiid can return from his appendectomy. For Boston, it’ll be about the 3-point line — and this might be surprising to some, but the 76ers were better than the Celtics from beyond the arc in all four meetings this season.

Key matchup: Derrick White vs. Tyrese Maxey. White is one of the best on-ball defenders in the league, and Maxey averaged 30 points per game in the four 76ers-Celtics games this season. It’s never going to be about a 1-on-1 matchup, but if Maxey gets rolling it’s going to create issues for the Celtics. Then again, if Embiid isn’t back or isn’t effective, the 1-2 Boston punch of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum might render whatever Maxey does moot anyway.

Prediction: Celtics in 6.

No. 3 New York Knicks (53-29) vs. No. 6 Atlanta Hawks (46-36)

Season series: Knicks, 2-1.

Story line: The Knicks hope to start another long playoff run against an Atlanta team that has played far better than a No. 6 seed for the last two months. The Hawks went 20-6 after the All-Star break to finish with their best record in a decade.

Key matchup: Jalen Brunson vs. Dyson Daniels. Brunson has eight 40-point games in the postseason since joining the Knicks in 2022, most in the NBA. The All-Star guard just scored 30, including 17 in the fourth quarter, to get the Knicks past the Hawks on April 6 in Atlanta. Daniels figures to get the assignment of trying to slow him. Already one of the NBA’s best defensive guards, Daniels was second in the league in steals while also improving offensively, shooting a career-best 51.7% from the field.

Prediction: Knicks in 6.

No. 4 Cleveland Cavaliers (52-30) vs. No. 5 Toronto Raptors (46-36)

Season series: Raptors, 3-0.

Story line: Even down at the No. 4 seed, the Cavaliers have the second-best odds to win the Eastern Conference after acquiring James Harden to pair with Donovan Mitchell in the backcourt. Harden is still looking for his first title in what’s now his 17th straight season in the playoffs to begin his career. The Cavaliers beat the Raptors in the playoffs three straight years from 2016-18 on their way to the NBA Finals when LeBron James was in Cleveland.

Key matchup: Evan Mobley vs. Scottie Barnes. Barnes edged Mobley by 15 points to win the NBA Rookie of the Year award in 2022. Whoever gets the better of the matchup between forwards this time could determine which way the series swings, because the Cavaliers figure to have the advantage in the backcourt with their high-scoring stars.

Prediction: Cavaliers in 5.

___

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA

The Los Angeles Lakers are about to enter a playoff series against the Houston Rockets without Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves. So we can probably expect a lot of LeBron James, and perhaps some LeBron James Jr. (aka Bronny) as well.

Lakers head coach JJ Redick signaled Wednesday, via ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, that the younger James could see real minutes for the Lakers against the Rockets in the first round:

“We’re going to have to have all hands on deck for the series, that’s just when you’re short-handed. He’s got to be ready. Nick [Smith Jr.] will have to be ready. I think Bronny’s improved a lot. I think we trust him. The shooting piece, I’m a believer in, because of how well he shot it in the last two years in the G League.

“I know there was a stretch recently where he didn’t shoot it well and of course, he had a nice shooting game against Utah. He’s improved a ton defensively in terms of his body positioning, both on and off ball. We want him to continue to evolve as a disruptive defender as well.”

James, the Lakers’ second-round pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, has appeared in 42 games (1 start) for L.A. in his sophomore season, with most of his minutes coming in garbage time. His 40.9% shooting and 38.6% shooting from 3-point range have been a significant increase from his numbers last year (31.3% and 28.1%).

In the Lakers’ five games since Dončić and Reaves went down, he has averaged 6.6 points and 2.0 assists in 17 minutes per game. In 14 G League games, he has averaged 15.6 points, 3.7 assists and 3.1 rebounds with strong shooting numbers.

All of that adds up to a player deserving of postseason minutes, according to his father:

“Me being on the floor with him — postseason, regular season, training camp, practices — is the best thing that’s ever happened to me in my career, above everything that I’ve accomplished. The fact that he’s put himself in the position to get his number called for a postseason game is pretty remarkable and pretty cool, given the circumstances that he’s been through the last couple years. He earned and he deserved, he’ll be ready.”

Bronny also spoke of his emotions going into the series:

“It’s insane. I mean, I’ve literally watched his [father’s] whole career. And now I’m a part of it. So it’s a great experience. I’m appreciative of it. but I’m part of the job too, so I have to do my job as well. I got to lock in.”

The pair have already achieved plenty of firsts together, and they could now become the first father-son duo to log playoff minutes together.

The absence of Dončić and Reaves takes away two of the Lakers’ top three players in scoring, assists, minutes, usage rate and a ton of other statistics, leaving plenty of workload to move around. Luke Kennard, Jake LaRavia and Rui Hachimura have all seen increased minutes since those two went down, in addition to James.

It’s unclear how long the Lakers will have to make do, provided they even have games to play after this round. Should they make it past the Rockets, who are -550 favorites to advance, they can expect to face the No. 1 seed Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference semifinals.

OKC went 4-0 against the Lakers this season, with an average scoring margin of 29.3 points.

The Los Angeles Lakers are about to enter a playoff series against the Houston Rockets without Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves. So we can probably expect a lot of LeBron James, and perhaps some LeBron James Jr. (aka Bronny) as well.

Lakers head coach JJ Redick signaled Wednesday, via ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, that the younger James could see real minutes for the Lakers against the Rockets in the first round:

“We’re going to have to have all hands on deck for the series, that’s just when you’re short-handed. He’s got to be ready. Nick [Smith Jr.] will have to be ready. I think Bronny’s improved a lot. I think we trust him. The shooting piece, I’m a believer in, because of how well he shot it in the last two years in the G League.

“I know there was a stretch recently where he didn’t shoot it well and of course, he had a nice shooting game against Utah. He’s improved a ton defensively in terms of his body positioning, both on and off ball. We want him to continue to evolve as a disruptive defender as well.”

James, the Lakers’ second-round pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, has appeared in 42 games (1 start) for L.A. in his sophomore season, with most of his minutes coming in garbage time. His 40.9% shooting and 38.6% shooting from 3-point range have been a significant increase from his numbers last year (31.3% and 28.1%).

In the Lakers’ five games since Dončić and Reaves went down, he has averaged 6.6 points and 2.0 assists in 17 minutes per game. In 14 G League games, he has averaged 15.6 points, 3.7 assists and 3.1 rebounds with strong shooting numbers.

All of that adds up to a player deserving of postseason minutes, according to his father:

“Me being on the floor with him — postseason, regular season, training camp, practices — is the best thing that’s ever happened to me in my career, above everything that I’ve accomplished. The fact that he’s put himself in the position to get his number called for a postseason game is pretty remarkable and pretty cool, given the circumstances that he’s been through the last couple years. He earned and he deserved, he’ll be ready.”

Bronny also spoke of his emotions going into the series:

“It’s insane. I mean, I’ve literally watched his [father’s] whole career. And now I’m a part of it. So it’s a great experience. I’m appreciative of it. but I’m part of the job too, so I have to do my job as well. I got to lock in.”

The pair have already achieved plenty of firsts together, and they could now become the first father-son duo to log playoff minutes together.

The absence of Dončić and Reaves takes away two of the Lakers’ top three players in scoring, assists, minutes, usage rate and a ton of other statistics, leaving plenty of workload to move around. Luke Kennard, Jake LaRavia and Rui Hachimura have all seen increased minutes since those two went down, in addition to James.

It’s unclear how long the Lakers will have to make do, provided they even have games to play after this round. Should they make it past the Rockets, who are -550 favorites to advance, they can expect to face the No. 1 seed Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference semifinals.

OKC went 4-0 against the Lakers this season, with an average scoring margin of 29.3 points.

The Cleveland Cavaliers finally discovered midway through this season that they’re better when Jarrett Allen is heavily featured than they are when he’s not. That process was halted at the beginning of March when he injured his knee during the team’s win over the Detroit Pistons. Allen returned to the lineup the last week of March, but admitted that he was playing through pain. Everyone is pushing through something in the playoffs, but Allen is in a better place now than he was a few weeks back.

“It’s better,” Allen said when he was asked about his knee after Thursday’s practice. “I’ve had some time off for it to calm down and try to get back to homeostasis, back to the level where it should be.”

Even though Allen is feeling better, he wouldn’t go as far as saying he felt perfect when asked if he’d be limited by his knee in any way.

“I’d be lying if I said I would expect it to be 100%,” Allen said. “No, I don’t think anybody would be 100% going into the playoffs. That’s just how it is. That’s my very political answer. … But yeah, it’s definitely something I’m going to have to deal with and manage, get treatment before, take the medicine that I’m supposed to to try to be at my best.”

We don’t know the exact severity of the injury and how much Allen is possibly downplaying it now. What we do know is that Allen has had a rough go of it this season from a health perspective. He played the fewest regular-season games in his career due to various injuries to his hands and knees throughout the season. Allen has done his part to persevere through them as much as he can, and may need to do so again in the postseason.

Allen averaged 15.4 points and 8.5 rebounds on 63.8% shooting in 56 games this season.

The Cavs open up their first-round series against the Toronto Raptors on Saturday afternoon.

Seattle Mariners (8-11) at San Diego Padres (12-6), April 16, 2026, 5:40 p.m. PST

Watch: Padres.TV

Location: Petco Park – San Diego, Calif.

Listen: 97.3 The Fan

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The postseason atmosphere in Denver won’t be confined to the seats inside Ball Arena this spring.

In a move aimed at extending the playoff experience beyond the building’s walls, Kroenke Sports & Entertainment announced plans to transform the area surrounding the arena into a large-scale, open-air viewing and fan engagement space for both Colorado Avalanche and Denver Nuggets home playoff games.

Chopper Circle, the main thoroughfare bordering Ball Arena between 9th and 11th streets, will be closed during all home playoff dates to accommodate the expanded footprint. The space will operate under two different identities depending on the event: “Avs Alley” for Avalanche games and “Base Camp 5280” for Nuggets contests. Each will feature a 20-foot outdoor video board broadcasting the game live, along with DJs, food trucks, beverage stations, team mascots, dance teams, and sponsor activations.

Both fan zones are scheduled to open two hours prior to game time and remain active throughout the duration of each contest. For example, ahead of Game 1 of the Nuggets’ first-round series against Minnesota, Base Camp 5280 is set to open at 11:30 a.m. local time for a 1:30 p.m. tipoff. Avalanche playoff scheduling—and corresponding Avs Alley dates—will be finalized following the conclusion of the NHL regular season.

Access to both areas will be free through the first two rounds of the playoffs, though fans must secure a digital pass for entry. Notably, possession of a game ticket does not guarantee admission to the outdoor zones, and separate passes are required even for those attending the game inside the arena. Conversely, fans without tickets are welcome to attend the outdoor viewing experience, space permitting.

Organizers indicated that admission fees could be introduced in later playoff rounds, with proceeds directed to Kroenke Sports Charities. The organization previously generated more than $1.1 million during similar postseason initiatives tied to the Avalanche’s 2022 Stanley Cup run and the Nuggets’ 2023 NBA title campaign.

The location is accessible via Denver’s RTD rail system, with the Ball Arena–Elitch Gardens stop serving as the primary transit point. Standard event parking rates will remain in effect for all playoff games.

The initiative underscores a broader effort to turn downtown Denver into a centralized postseason hub—one that caters not just to ticket holders, but to an entire fan base looking to share in the moment.