Sports

7:00 AM ET Earlier in the offseason, I ranked the top 100 MLB prospects and all 30 farm systems heading into the 2022 season. Now it’s time to go deeper with my team-by-team rankings, wrapping up with the American League after my National League team-by-team rankings came out Wednesday. A quick refresher on a key

2:43 PM ET Associated Press ARCADIA, Calif. — Bob Baffert has transferred four of his promising 3-year-old colts to other trainers, which will allow them to earn qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby while the Hall of Fame trainer appeals his 90-day suspension. Baffert on Thursday transferred Messier, Doppelganger and McLaren Vale to trainer Tim

5:46 PM ET Italy will miss out on the World Cup for the second successive tournament after the Euro 2020 winners were stunned by a stoppage-time winner from North Macedonia in Thursday’s playoff semifinal in Palermo. With Italy frustrated for 90 minutes by a heroic North Macedonia defensive performance, Aleksandar Trajkovski, a former Palermo player,

1:18 PM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com Ashleigh Barty had just won the 2019 French Open and was standing on the court waiting for her team to join her. It was her first major title, and the realization of every young tennis player’s dream. Her longtime coach Craig Tyzzer rushed to be by her side, preparing an

12:03 PM BST Bethan Clargo For the first two months of her new job, Lisa Neumann had a 200-mile commute. She didn’t mind the four-hour drive down the M6 from Manchester to the National Centre of Excellence in Cardiff. It was a journey she had made hundreds of times in the past few years to

12:00 PM ET Curtis Blaydes was riding high in the UFC’s heavyweight division a little over a year ago. He had won four fights in a row, and the only defeats of his career had come against the champion, Francis Ngannou. But then, in February 2021, Blaydes ran into a Derrick Lewis uppercut, and his

8:52 PM ET Associated Press HAMPTON, Ga. — William Byron had a freight train in his rearview mirror. A sitting duck, it seemed. Fortunately for him, all those challengers started jostling against each other rather than working together to take down the leader. While Byron cruised to the checkered flag for the third victory of

10:00 AM ET ESPN Betting Insiders The 2022 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play is the first World Golf Championships event of the season and the only match play tournament on the PGA Tour. The round-robin tourney with feature 64 golfers from Wednesday to Friday with the top 16 advancing to the knockout stage over the weekend.

6:53 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN George Kambosos won’t be fighting Vasiliy Lomachenko after all. Lomachenko had agreed to a deal last month for a fight with Kambosos on June 5 in Melbourne, Australia, but the two-time Olympic gold medalist has elected to remain in Ukraine with his family rather than leave the country for training

12:00 PM ET With a layup in the first half against the Washington Wizards on March 19, 2022, LeBron James moved past Karl Malone for second place on the NBA’s career regular-season points list. Now the Los Angeles Lakers star has his eyes set on another Lakers legend, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the NBA’s current all-time leading

7:00 AM ET It’s possible Oklahoma State was just “inches short” of the College Football Playoff last fall — but it’s also a rather grand assumption that had Dezmon Jackson managed to grow a few inches on a desperate fourth-down dive against Baylor in the Big 12 title game, the selection committee would have chosen

10:37 PM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com Rafael Nadal standing behind him and a captivated audience intently listening to his every word, Taylor Fritz finished his speech on the court at Indian Wells, his voice breaking as he looked toward his family and team in the stands. “Winning this tournament is one of those crazy childhood dreams

7:00 AM ET Now is when it gets good. With teams playing their third and fourth games of the tournament, depth and talent usually win out. We’re down to 16 teams (AKA the Sweet 16) in ESPN’s 2022 fictional NCAA football tournament. The early rounds have already provided some memorable moments, including game-winning field goals,

11:00 AM ET BEREA, Ohio — The Cleveland Browns were desperate to trade for Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson. So desperate, they were willing to give Watson more than any other team in contention for his services. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Friday the Browns are set to hand Watson a new five-year deal worth a

7:39 PM ET The Philadelphia Flyers traded Claude Giroux, a fifth-round pick in 2024, along with prospects Connor Bunnaman and German Rubtsov to the Florida Panthers on Saturday, in exchange for Owen Tippett, a first-round pick in 2024, and a third-round choice in 2023. The Flyers are also retaining 50% of Giroux’s $8.275 million cap

11:10 AM ET Talk about March madness. Front offices dream of executing the perfect offseason plan, but those aspirations rarely come to fruition because of the complexities of free agency and trades and the need to adjust on the fly. With the signing of shortstop Carlos Correa, this year’s top free agent, to a three-year,

2:59 AM ET NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Jesse Iwuji credits his Nigerian parents for his discipline and success, which has seen him play D1 college football, serve in the US Navy for seven years, and become co-owner of Jesse Iwuji Motorsports. Lieutenant Commander Iwuji, who will race in the Emmett Smith-co-owned number 34 Chevrolet at

3:54 PM ET The annual marathon that is the European soccer season will soon hit its home stretch. After this weekend comes one final international break, and then it’s time to decide some titles. While plenty of key races have been over for a while — it feels like Paris Saint-Germain all but clinched the

5:49 PM BST England coach Eddie Jones has brought in George Furbank to play fullback, switching Freddie Steward to the wing, in the team announced on Thursday for England’s final Six Nations game against France in Paris on Saturday. Steward has been impressive at fullback but Jones no doubt feels that by selecting him on

2:33 PM ET Associated Press FRANKFORT, Ky. — Attorneys for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert argued in a Kentucky court Thursday that a 90-day suspension imposed by the state’s racing commission would essentially end his career. Baffert is asking a judge to delay the suspension for a failed postrace drug test by Medina Spirit