Sports
The Dodgers Just Bought Another World Series Contender—And They're Not Apologizing
Complaints that the deep pockets of the Los Angeles Dodgers are ruining the competitive balance of baseball have been heard and considered by World Series champions.
They are not apologizing.
“Our ownership group has been incredibly supportive of continuing to put back into our fans, who have done nothing but support us and come out and see us,” general manager Brandon Gomes said at the team’s most recent press conference, this one to announce the signing of top reliever Tanner Scott.
“So we’re solely focused on ‘How do we make our team better?’ and give back to the fans who have nothing but come out to see us.”
The Dodgers’ goal of making a very good roster even better comes from the desire to consistently be able to finish off what they start.
Before 2024, the Dodgers had made 11 consecutive playoff appearances, with 10 National League West titles in that stretch.
And the only championship in that run came in a pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
Anybody with a disdain for the Dodgers, especially anybody in San Francisco, was quick to dismiss the achievement. Some Dodgers’ personnel even referenced that dismissive attitude during last Fall’s title run.
“I’m sure there’s no asterisk on this one,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after the current title was secured.
But the Dodgers aren’t spending again this winter out of spite. Key to their goal of adding as much talent as possible, even as payroll continues to increase, is that playing a 162-game season and then surviving the frenzied nature of the playoffs is daunting.
In previous playoff runs, Dodgers pitching seemed to be running on fumes, either from injury or the wear and tear of the regular season.
That issue even was present in the 2024 postseason, when the Dodgers had just three healthy starters, and one of them, Walker Buehler, was a question mark after a two-year layoff for a second Tommy John surgery.
The Dodgers cobbled together bullpen games in the playoffs to get the job done, and anybody who thought it was the team’s plan all along, or that it established some kind of legitimate strategy going forward, had not been paying attention to the team’s postseason plight over the past decade.
So the Dodgers added two of the biggest prizes in the offseason. Two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell came aboard on a five-year, $182 million deal, and Roki Sasaki was acquired on a $6.5 million signing bonus, with team-control salaries for his first three seasons.
There were other additions like Scott’s four-year, $72 million deal, shortstop Hyeseong Kim’s three-year, $12.5 million pact, right-hander Kirby Yates’ one-year, $13 million deal, and a one-year, $17 million contract for outfielder Michael Conforto. Outfielder Teoscar Hernandez re-signed for three years and $66 million.
Yet the most anticipated of all for 2025 will be Shohei Ohtani’s return to the mound.
With Tyler Glasnow’s return from an elbow strain, Tony Gonsolin’s comeback from Tommy John surgery, and Clayton Kershaw’s desire for at least one more summer in the L.A. sun, the starting staff is stacked. There are even expected contributions from Landon Knack, Dustin May and Justin Wrobleski.
The Dodgers know that a good thing can turn in an instant. Young starters like Gavin Stone, Emmit Sheehan and River Ryan all contributed last season, and all three will be out for 2025 with injuries. Buehler departed in free agency. Half-season rental Jack Flaherty is set to leave in free agency as well.
“… Right now we’re 3-to-1 against to win the World Series,” Dodgers team president Stan Kasten said last week. “That’s 70, 75 percent likely that someone else will win the World Series. So obviously (Dodgers spending) hasn’t damaged the game competitively.”
While that percentage is true, according to implied probability, the odds for a championship favorite don’t get much smaller than 3-to-1. It sets up the Dodgers as both a huge title favorite and a massive antagonist outside of L.A.
Nobody is expected to draw more fans in the upcoming season, either at home or on the road. It means competitive nature will be as big as ever in 2025.
Sports
No. 7 Florida drubs No. 20 Arkansas, wins SEC regular-season title
Florida forward Alex Condon (21) drives on Arkansas forward Trevon Brazile (7) during the first half of an NCAA basketball game at Steven C. O’Connell Center Exactek arena in Gainesville, FL on Saturday, February 28, 2026. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun] Thomas Haugh scored 22 points, Ruben Chinyelu had 12 points and 16 rebounds for his 17th double-double, and No. 7 Florida clinched the Southeastern Conference regular-season title with a 111-77 rout of No. 20 Arkansas in Gainesville, Fla., on Saturday.
Alex Condon scored 17 points, Urban Klavzar and Boogie Fland scored 14 apiece and Xaivian Lee added 13 as the Gators (23-6, 14-2 SEC) placed seven players in double figures in their highest scoring game of the season.
The defending champion Gators lead second-place No. 17 Alabama (22-7, 12-4) by two games with two games left, and they own the tiebreaker after a 100-79 victory in their lone regular-season meeting.
Florida has won a season-high nine in a row — eight by at least 13 points — and is a projected No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Billy Richmond scored 22 points and Darius Acuff Jr. added 17 for the Razorbacks (21-8, 11-5), who had won five of six. They are a projected No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Acuff, the SEC’s leading scorer at 22.2 points per game, had a streak of nine straight 20-point games broken. He was 6 of 19 from the field.
Florida led by at least 24 in the final 15 minutes and stretched its advantage to 37 on Condon’s layup in the final three minutes.
The Gators secured their first regular-season title since 2013-14, when they also won the SEC tournament.
Florida shot 56.5% from the field and had a 51-31 rebounding advantage. Condon had six rebounds and Haugh had five. The Gators led the nation with a plus-14.1 rebound margin.
The Razorbacks shot 40.0% from the field.
Florida coach Todd Golden and Arkansas coach John Calipari were hit with double technical fouls with 17:27 left with the Gators holding a 23-point lead.
Klavzar kickstarted the Gators with two 3-pointers and Condon added a dunk in a 12-0 run to give Florida a 23-16 lead nine minutes in.
Lee made three layups later in the first half and Isaiah Brown (11 points) hit two 3-pointers and a transition dunk to push the Gators’ lead to 51-27 with 2:33 left in the first half.
Florida led 53-34 at half, when it totaled 32 points in the paint.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Thomas Muller's first-half brace leads Vancouver to rout of Toronto
Feb 28, 2026; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Vancouver Whitecaps FC forward Thomas Muller (13) celebrates scoring on a corner kick from midfielder Sebastian Berhalter (16) (not pictured) against Toronto FC goalkeeper Luka Gavran (1) during the first half at BC Place. Mandatory Credit: Simon Fearn-Imagn Images Thomas Muller scored a first-half brace, leading the Whitecaps to a 3-0 victory over visiting Toronto FC on Saturday night in Vancouver.
Brian White also scored a first-half goal, while keeper Yohei Takaoka made three saves for his second consecutive clean sheet to open the MLS season.
With the victory, Vancouver (2-0-0, 6 points) improved to 4-0-1 in its last five regular-season matches against Toronto.
The Reds (0-2-0, 0 points) are now 6-9-4 in 19 MLS meetings against their Western Canadian rivals.
Trailing 3-0, Toronto had an excellent chance to cut into the lead early in the second half. Djordje Mihailovic thought he’d put Toronto on the board in the 55th minute, but the midfielder was caught offside.
Then in the 74th minute, Takaoka made a diving save off Toronto midfielder Jose Cifuentes – the Reds’ first shot on target of the match.
Vancouver controlled possession in the first half with five shots on target.
Aziel Jackson was awarded a penalty kick after being taken down in the area by Walker Zimmerman in the 24th minute. On the ensuing penalty kick, Muller opened the scoring, putting his right-footed strike in the bottom-left corner past Luka Gavran.
Muller added his second of the half 12 minutes later as Sebastian Berhalter’s corner was headed across to Muller by Mathias Laborda, and the German midfielder ripped his left-footed shot into an open goal.
In first-half stoppage time, off another Berhalter corner, Gavran was caught out of position, allowing White to score on a right-footed strike.
Up next, Vancouver travels to Portland for its first away match of the season next Saturday. Toronto visits Cincinnati next Sunday to wrap up a three-game road trip to open the season.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Pelicans close 1st half strong to beat Jazz for 4th straight win
Feb 28, 2026; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; New Orleans Pelicans forward Herbert Jones (2) dunks the ball during the second quarter against the Utah Jazz at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Chris Nicoll-Imagn Images Saddiq Bey scored 24 points and the visiting New Orleans Pelicans defeated the Utah Jazz for the second time in three nights on Saturday, 115-105.
Bey, who scored a season-high 42 points in the Pelicans’ 129-118 victory Thursday night, was joined in double figures by rookie Jeremiah Fears (18), who added a season-high 11 rebounds, Bryce McGowens (18), Herb Jones (17), and Jordan Poole (11) as New Orleans won its fourth consecutive game.
Leading scorer Trey Murphy III missed his fifth consecutive game because of a right shoulder contusion, and second-leading scorer Zion Williamson had just four points in 11 minutes before leaving the game with a right ankle injury.
New Orleans still had plenty of firepower, leading by as many as 27 points just as it did two nights earlier.
Isaiah Collier scored 21, Keyonte George (ankle) returned from a six-game absence to score 17, Elijah Harkless added 14, Ace Bailey had 13, Kyle Filipowski had 12 and Brice Sensabaugh 10 to lead the Jazz, who lost their fifth straight game.
The Pelicans pushed their 25-point halftime to 27 with 3:57 left in the third quarter, but the Jazz climbed within 89-73 at the end of the period. Utah got as close as seven points early in the fourth quarter, but New Orleans scored the next eight points and maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the way.
The Pelicans scored the first nine points of the game as the Jazz went nearly five minutes before making their first field goal. Utah pulled even at 17 and 19 before New Orleans held a 27-22 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Yves Missi, returning from a five-game absence due to a calf strain, made a dunk to start the second-quarter scoring and Poole followed with a 3-pointer to expand the lead to 10 points.
Jones made two 3-pointers and Bey had five points during a 15-0 run that completed a 20-2 surge, giving New Orleans a 65-40 halftime lead. The Jazz didn’t make a field goal in the final 4:55.
–Field Level Media
No. 7 Florida drubs No. 20 Arkansas, wins SEC regular-season title
Thomas Muller's first-half brace leads Vancouver to rout of Toronto
