Where to watch New York Yankees vs. A’s: Live stream, start time, TV channel, odds for Wednesday, April 8

The New York Yankees (8-2), ranked first in the AL East, host the Athletics (3-7), ranked fifth in the AL West, for the second game of a three-game series. The Yankees are favored with a -1.5 spread and a -200 moneyline at BetMGM. Starting pitchers are Luis Severino for the Yankees, with a 6.48 ERA, and Will Warren for the Athletics, with a 2.70 ERA.

  • Date: Wednesday, April 8

  • Time: 7:05 p.m. ET / 4:05 p.m. PT

  • Where: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY

  • TV channels: Prime Video, NBC Sports California (local affiliate)

  • Live stream:ESPN+, MLB.TV | Follow on Yahoo Sports

  • New York Yankees: 8-2 (first in AL East)

  • Athletics: 3-7 (fifth in AL West)

  • Spread: New York Yankees -1.5

  • Moneyline: New York Yankees -200, Athletics +165

  • Over/Under: 8.5

Athletics: Luis Severino (0-1, ERA: 6.48, K: 10, WHIP: 1.80)

New York Yankees: Will Warren (1-0, ERA: 2.70, K: 9, WHIP: 1.10)

Weather: 40°F at first pitch

Where to watch Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Toronto Blue Jays: Live stream, start time, TV channel, odds for Wednesday, April 8

The Los Angeles Dodgers, ranked first in the NL West with a 9-2 record, are favored with a -175 moneyline as they face the Toronto Blue Jays, who stand fourth in the AL East with a 4-7 record. Starting pitchers are Shohei Ohtani (1-0) for the Dodgers, boasting a 0.00 ERA, and Dylan Cease (0-0) for the Blue Jays, with a 2.79 ERA. LA will sweep the three-game series with a win on Wednesday, having outscored Toronto 18-3 in their first two matchups.

  • Date: Wednesday, April 8

  • Time: 3:07 p.m. ET / 12:07 p.m. PT

  • Where: Rogers Centre, Toronto, ON

  • TV Channels: Sportsnet, SportsNet LA (local affiliates)

  • Live Stream:ESPN+, MLB.TV | Follow on Yahoo Sports

  • Los Angeles Dodgers: 9-2 (first in NL West)

  • Toronto Blue Jays: 4-7 (fourth in AL East)

  • Spread: Los Angeles Dodgers -1.5

  • Moneyline: Toronto Blue Jays +145, Los Angeles Dodgers -175

  • Over/Under: 7.5

Los Angeles Dodgers: Shohei Ohtani (1-0, ERA: 0.00, K: 6, WHIP: 0.67)

Toronto Blue Jays: Dylan Cease (0-0, ERA: 2.79, K: 18, WHIP: 1.34)

Weather: 38°F at first pitch

NBA reportedly looking into Kings’ intentional foul after Draymond Green rips them for apparent tanking

With the Sacramento Kings ahead by one point and time winding down in the fourth quarter, the team decided to do something unexpected. Kings forward Doug McDermott intentionally fouled Seth Curry, sending the Golden State Warriors’ guard to the free-throw line.

One player on the court couldn’t believe the sequence. Following the contest — which the Warriors won 110-105 — Draymond Green ripped the Kings for what he described as blatantly tanking.

A day later, the NBA is looking into the matter, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania. Charania also relayed a defense from the Kings, with sources claiming Christie wanted to use a timeout before automatically losing it with three minutes to go and didn’t realize the Warriors were already in the bonus.

Adding to that defense is the fact that Curry, an 86.4% career free throw shooter, was the player fouled.

When asked about the play-in tournament, Green brought up the issue of tanking, calling out the Kings for their late foul on Curry.

“I saw a team tonight foul Seth Curry with three minutes to go in a game for no reason. In the penalty,” Green said.

Green was then asked a follow-up about teams tanking. He took a second to think about the question before offering up an answer with a solution to NBA commissioner Adam Silver.

His response read:

“I get fined when I do wrong. Just fine the hell out of people. We love taking money from players. Keep fining the teams. I’ve seen two fines. And we all know everybody tanking. But you’ve seen two fines. If it was players, snatch that money in a heartbeat. Why isn’t it the same? Everybody love money.

“The punishment for players is always ‘let’s take the money.’ Well, now it becomes time to punish teams and all of the sudden nobody know what to do. Why not? We know exactly what to do when somebody gets a technical foul or suspended for a game. We know exactly what to do.

“Now, all of the sudden, we’ve got team issues and we don’t know what to do. What happened to the whole take-the-money stuff? Everybody else trying to reach a quote too. But when it comes to player discipline, we want to snatch the money as fast as we can. When it comes to team discipline and we see 12 teams tanking, we’ve seen two fines. If my math serves me correctly that’s 10 that ain’t been fined.

“We don’t keep that same energy. When it comes to teams, when it comes to officials, when it comes to everybody but players, we don’t keep that same energy. But it’s a players’ league.”

The two fines Green referenced in his answer were given to the Utah Jazz and Indiana Pacers. Both teams were fined in February for “overt” tanking behavior.

The Jazz were hit with a $500,000 fine after removing Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. from two games early. Neither player was announced with an injury. The Jazz led both games when Markkanen and Jackson were taken out. The team lost one of those contests, though managed to win the second.

The Pacers received a $100,000 fine for violating the NBA’s Player Participation Policy. The team held out forward Pascal Siakam and two other starters from a Feb. 3 game, but an independent doctor claimed those players were capable of participating in the contest.

With just a few games left in the regular season, seven NBA teams have 25 wins or fewer. The 2026 NBA Draft promises an immensely talented freshman class to teams bad enough to secure a top selection, giving those teams motivation to tank down the stretch.

That hasn’t gone unnoticed by Green, who wants to see teams punished more harshly for engaging in the tactic.

Jorge Soler suspended 7 games, Reynaldo López settles for 5 games after throwing punches in Braves-Angels brawl

Braves pitcher Reynaldo López and Angels designated hitter Jorge Soler were each suspended seven games after throwing punches during the fifth inning of a 7-2 Atlanta win on Tuesday in Anaheim.

Soler is appealing the suspension, while López has reached an agreement with MLB in which he accepts a five-game ban according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. The deal will essentially push back his next start from Monday to Tuesday, still forcing the Angels to figure out a rotation replacement.

Tension had been brewing throughout the game in question, with Soler hitting a two-run homer in the first inning and getting hit by a 96-mph fastball in the third.

That tension boiled over when López threw a high fastball during Soler’s third plate appearance. The pitch was errant enough that it gave the Angels a free stolen base, and Soler made a point of staring down López on the play.

The former teammates were soon going after each other, with Soler eventually being wrestled to the ground by some members of the Braves, including manager Walt Weiss. Meanwhile, Angels star Mike Trout pushed López out of the action as the benches and bullpens fully cleared out.

Both combatants were ejected from the game.

Here’s another angle, showing how the staredown turned into fisticuffs:

And one more angle, showing López land a blow with the ball to Soler’s helmet.

There was a degree of familiarity on both sides of this fracas, as López used to play for the Angels and Soler used to play for the Braves.

There was also familiarity in the sense that Soler’s home run was his fifth off López, his most against any pitcher in his MLB career.

Soler told reporters after the game that he didn’t like something López said after the pitch, via MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger:

“I asked him if everything was OK, and the answer he gave me, I didn’t like it,” Soler said through interpreter Jobel Jiménez. “That’s why I went out there.”

For his part, López said he never intended to hit Soler:

“It’s just a shame, the situation and how things unfolded,” López said through interpreter Franco García. “On my part, there was never any intent to hit him at any point. So, again, it’s just a shame.”

The Braves went on to win, but the result was overshadowed by the brawl.

North Carolina hires former Nuggets coach Michael Malone as Hubert Davis’ replacement

The University of North Carolina found its replacement for Hubert Davis, and it’s a surprising name. Former Denver Nuggets head coach and NBA championship winner Michael Malone was hired to run the program following Davis’ firing, the University of North Carolina confirmed Tuesday.

Malone is reportedly on a 6-year, $50M contract with the UNC, according to WRAL’s Brian Murphy. Malone’s is set to average more than $8.3 million per year on his six-year deal, which makes him the second-highest paid coach in college basketball behind Kansas’ Bill Self.

Malone, 54, has experience as a college assistant, but has never been a head coach at a university.

His hiring mirrors that of UNC football head coach Bill Belichick, who the university hired despite the legendary NFL coach never holding a head-coaching job at the college level.

The majority of Malone’s head-coaching experience came in the NBA, where after many years as an assistant, he finally was elevated into the main role with the Sacramento Kings.

Malone spent one-and-a-half seasons with the team, going 39-67 before he was fired.

He landed on his feet quickly, joining the Nuggets. After two straight years of sub-.500 basketball, Malone turned things around in Denver and helped make the Nuggets perennial contenders in the West.

After a 46-36 performance during the 2017-18 NBA season that left the team just out of the playoffs, Malone led Denver to six straight playoff appearances. The team lost in the first round just once in those six trips, often making deep runs in the postseason.

Malone’s time with the Nuggets reached its apex during the 2022-23 NBA season, when he led the franchise to its first title. Powered by Nikola Jokić, the Nuggets defeated the Miami Heat in five games to win it all.

But that didn’t result in much job security for Malone. The Nuggets made the playoffs again the following season, though lost in the semifinals to the Minnesota Timberwolves. With the team heading for another postseason appearance during the 2024-25 NBA season, however, the Nuggets shocked the NBA world by firing Malone and general manager Calvin Booth with just three games left in the regular season.

Assistant David Adelman took over and led the Nuggets back to the semifinals, where they fell to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Adelman has the Nuggets in strong playoff position again this season.

Despite his excellent run with the Nuggets, Malone failed to get an NBA head-coaching job in the offseason. He instead opted to take the broadcasting route, appearing on ESPN during the 2024-25 NBA playoffs and then signing on to join the network for “NBA Countdown” after he wasn’t hired by a team during the offseason.

At UNC, Malone will technically have a new, but also familiar, experience. Following his playing career at Loyola, Malone first was a high-school basketball assistant before eventually moving to the college level to work as an assistant at Oakland, Providence and Manhattan before finally moving to the NBA to be an assistant with the New York Knicks. UNC will be his first opportunity to be a head coach of a college program.

And expectations will be high. Following a promising first season from Davis, UNC has experienced disappointment and premature exits over the past four seasons. The most recent one, a first-round loss to No. 11 seed VCU, resulted in Davis’ firing.

By all accounts, UNC ran a comprehensive search to bring in a new coach to elevate the program back to its championship standards. Tommy Lloyd opted to remain at Arizona after receiving a lucrative offer from UNC, according to Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wolken. Coaches like Alabama’s Nate Oats and Florida’s Todd Golden were also linked to the job but ultimately remained in place.

The school also reportedly reached out to Iowa’s Ben McCollum, per CBSSports.com, but McCollum declined to interview for the position.

Bulls head coach Billy Donovan was also believed to be a target, but reportedly wasn’t going to entertain discussions about the job until the end of Chicago’s season on April 12.

UNC made the decision to hire Malone on Monday with the opening of college basketball’s transfer portal looming. The portal opens Tuesday, and not having a coach in place would have put North Carolina at a disadvantage in building next season’s roster.

Things reportedly moved quickly between UNC and Malone over the past 18 hours, leading to his surprising hire Monday.

While the speed may have been due to Malone’s eagerness to take on a new head-coaching role after sitting out this NBA season, it probably helped that his daughter currently plays for UNC’s volleyball team.

With UNC, Malone will be tasked with turning around a program that was previously a perennial contender to win a national championship. Under long-time coach Roy Williams, the program managed that goal three times during his 18-year run at UNC.

Following Williams’ retirement, Davis — a long-time assistant under Williams — was hired to take over for his mentor. After taking the team all the way to the NCAA tournament final in his first season, Davis looked like a strong choice. But repeated failures, particularly in the 2022-23 season when UNC opened the year ranked No. 1 in the country and then failed to make the field of 64, have resulted in lowered expectations and a lowered ceiling for UNC.

Given the program’s previous heights, UNC needed to bring in a coach capable of getting the team back to championship-contender status. Malone managed to do that in the NBA. Now, he’ll see if his style can carry over to the college game.