Sports
Aces have on-court problems to fix before they meet Sparks
May 9, 2026; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Las Vegas Aces center A’ja Wilson (22) blocks a shot from Phoenix Mercury guard Kahleah Copper (2) in the second quarter of their game at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Candice Ward-Imagn Images The Las Vegas Aces will try to shake off a deflating start to the 2026 season when they visit a Los Angeles Sparks team tipping off its campaign on Sunday.
Reigning WNBA champion Aces (0-1) gave up huge runs in the second and third quarters of their regular-season opener on Saturday against the Phoenix Mercury, resulting in a 99-66 blowout loss.
“I don’t think we’re in good enough shape to play at the level that we need to,” Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon said following the rout. “The defense, it looks like we haven’t worked on it. We’ve been doing it an hour-and-a-half every day in practice.
“The little details that we talk about that are separation factors, we’re not doing them,” she added. “And until we decide we want to do them, we’ll continue to get our butt kicked like this.”
The Aces’ defensive woes to begin the campaign included surrendering 11-of-24 3-point shooting. Las Vegas was among the WNBA’s best 3-point defenses in 2025, holding opponents to 31.6% on the year.
Along with the struggles on defense Saturday, Las Vegas lacked consistent offense around four-time league Most Valuable Player A’ja Wilson. Wilson finished with 19 points while Jackie Young went for 12
Las Vegas looks to bounce back against Los Angeles, which had the WNBA’s most porous defense a season ago. The Sparks allowed 88.2 points per game in 2025 and a league-most 10.1 3-pointers a contest.
The Los Angeles side welcoming the Aces for the Sunday matchup looks a bit different, however, having added veteran forward and 2016 MVP Nneka Ogwumike.
Kelsey Plum — a key contributor to Las Vegas championships in 2022 and 2023 before signing with the Sparks last year — said to the Los Angeles Times that Ogwumike’s presence is a game-changer for the squad.
“I don’t think that last year I realized how big of a decision I made,” Plum told the Times. “When Nneka signed this year, I was like, ‘OK, I’m not crazy. They’re seeing the vision I am seeing.'”
Ogwumike averaged 18.3 points and seven rebounds per game last season for the Seattle Storm. She joins a frontcourt with another former Aces player, Dearica Hamby, who averaged 18.4 points and 7.9 rebounds an outing in 2025.
The Los Angeles frontcourt also features Cameron Brink, the No. 2 overall draft pick in 2024 and a promising defensive presence whose floor time has been limited due to injuries. Brink has appeared in 34 games combined over her first two WNBA seasons, averaging 6.1 points and 4.8 rebounds.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Yankees Lead Weak American League Field Entering Summer
The American League has been trailing behind the National League for the last few years. Yes, the Toronto Blue Jays were a half-inch away from stealing the World Series, but as a whole, the NL has had significantly more depth, and the super villains that are the Los Angeles Dodgers.
However, before I continue bashing the American League, I will give credit to 1 ½ teams. The New York Yankees look like a serious title contender this year. Aaron Judge is still doing Aaron Judge-like things, but this year he’s got Ben Rice to help him out on offense.
The lineup still feels like it needs another bat, but they have the pitching to carry them in the postseason. Max Fried, Cam Schlittler, and Will Warren are already an elite front three, but a healthy Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón could take them up to an entirely new level.
Staying in the AL East, the Tampa Bay Rays have been the next best team in the AL, but I still need to see them perform like this for longer before I fully buy in. I don’t see a guy like Nick Martinez producing a 1.71 ERA all season long, but I do have solid faith in Drew Rasmussen and Shane McClanahan to continue to produce at All-Star levels.
The top two in the AL are clearly out East, but is there anyone else in the Central and West that can even contend with them? Cleveland Guardians and the Athletics are currently leading their divisions, but they’re both incredibly flawed.
Cleveland will continue to show average pitching and hitting, yet they will most likely still win the AL Central because they poured the right amount of rum into Jobu’s cup. They likely don’t have the guns to win in the postseason, and their recent addition of Patrick Bailey might improve the pitching staff, but they somehow made their catching situation even worse offensively.
Moving out West, the Athletics have been a great story to start the year, but I don’t think they’re seriously ready to win their division. They absolutely have the offense to win the West, but their starting rotation is still a massive work in progress. Aaron Civale currently has the lowest ERA in their rotation, but he’s a guy who I think could give up 10 runs in a postseason start. I’m not sure this team is ready to contend, but if they got aggressive at the deadline and added a front-line starter, the timeline could speed up quite quickly for the A’s
I think there are two other AL teams that haven’t looked like contenders, but still need to be discussed. The Detroit Tigers and Seattle Mariners were the favorites to come out of their respective divisions, but both have stumbled out of the gate.
Detroit has a million injuries going on with their pitching, the most significant being elbow surgery for Tarik Skubal. If they can weather this storm and stay within striking distance of Cleveland, they certainly could still make noise with their pitching come October.
Seattle, on the other hand, has been healthy, but has been dealing with some uncharacteristically rough pitching from their rotation. I’m far more confident that they’ll figure this out and still win the West. Prediction markets still have the Mariners around a 50% chance to win the West, and I’d still bet on them to figure it out.
It’s way too early to count anyone out in the American League; however, if things don’t change, it might be a two-horse race with teams in the AL East.
Sports
Ranking the Best Moms in the History of Professional Sports
Tennis legend Serena Williams, seen here waving to the crowd after losing the final match of her career to Ajla Tomljanovic 2022 U.S. Open tennis, has suffered two pulmonary embolisms — the first in 2011 and the second in 2017 after the birth of her first child. She was able to return to competition both times but has also said that she needs to be vigilant for the rest of her life when it comes to early detection of blood clots. Happy Mother’s Day to all of those great moms out there.
In the world of sports, the athletes that we’ve grown to love wouldn’t be the superstars that they are today without the women who raised them. At the same time, there have been some kickass women, who are also mothers and competitors in the world of sports.
Let’s take a look at the greatest sports mothers ever.
Serena Williams
Why not start this off with the GOAT? Williams famously won the 2017 Australian Open while eight to nine weeks pregnant with her daughter, Olympia. A fitting name for the daughter of an athlete who has four gold medals.
In the 2017 Aussie Open, Williams defeated her sister, Venus Williams, in the final and labeled this as her greatest career achievement. Williams didn’t drop a single set, making this one of the most dominant victories in her storied career.
Williams discovered she was pregnant with her first child days before the tournament. Even with that sort of pressure, she was able to dominate the competition.
American tennis might never have another phenom like Williams, so we should appreciate this story and her career whenever we get the chance.
Gloria James
Jan 13, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) wears a patch affixed to the upper right chest to celebrate his record-setting 23rd NBA season during the first half against the Atlanta Hawks at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images It’s wild that because of LeBron James’ greatness on the hardwood, we forget about his tremendously humble beginnings.
Gloria had LeBron at 16 as a single mother in Akron. The pair faced unstable housing and the pressure of raising a young child at such a young age. Gloria wasn’t focused on creating arguably the greatest basketball player of all-time, she was simply trying to survive with her new son.
During LeBron’s first stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Gloria was a fixture in the Cleveland market, appearing courtside at games and jawing at the other team. Now, she serves as the vice president of the LeBron James Family Foundation and is tremendously active in her son’s charitable works. She has a son still playing in the NBA, and a grandson playing with him. Pretty damn cool.
Wanda Durant
Oct 24, 2025; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant (7) reacts after a play during the third quarter against the Detroit Pistons at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images The real MVP, Kevin Durant’s mother was also a single mom that had to navigate raising a son that would eventually turn into one of the purest scorers of all-time.
Wanda rose to fame during KD’s acceptance speech for his 2014 NBA MVP award. He credited her with keeping them off the streets, providing food and clothing, and working to keep the family going.
“You went to sleep hungry,” Durant said. “You sacrificed for us.”
At the end of the day, what great mother wouldn’t?
Sports
With first career HR in books, Giants' Bryce Eldridge to go for another vs. Pirates
May 9, 2026; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants infielder Bryce Eldridge (8) celebrates with infielder Willy Adames (2) after hitting a one run home run against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the fifth inning at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Robert Edwards-Imagn Images San Francisco Giants fans undoubtedly will hope to see more of the same from top prospect Bryce Eldridge and less from their bullpen when the club closes out a three-game home series against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday afternoon.
Fifteen outs after starting pitcher Landen Roupp left a scoreless game with one man on base Saturday, the Giants’ bullpen served up 12 runs in a 13-3 defeat.
Four of San Francisco’s first five relievers allowed runs in a blowout that saw infielder Christian Koss record the final three outs. The Pirates tacked on their final three runs during his mop-up task.
The Giants have lost nine of 11, a stretch during which their bullpen collapsed late in recent road losses to the Philadelphia Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays.
The San Francisco bullpen has five blown saves in 12 opportunities this season.
With the Giants having traded Patrick Bailey to Cleveland earlier in the day, placing Logan Webb on the injured list and enduring the 10-run shellacking, the team was looking for something to celebrate after the game. That was Eldridge’s first career home run.
Called up from Triple-A Sacramento earlier this week, the top prospect had been 1-for-10 before his homer in the fifth inning.
“He’s always a bright spot as far as his attitude goes around the park,” Giants manager Tony Vitello told reporters after the loss. “It’s nice to get a positive feedback for his swings because he hit some balls hard right at guys, too.”
Eldridge will go after No. 2 in the series finale against Pirates right-hander Bubba Chandler (1-4, 4.76 ERA), who has not faced the Giants in his young career.
Chandler has an impressive outing to follow after Braxton Ashcraft allowed one run on six hits over seven innings. It was the seventh game this season in which Ashcraft has allowed two or fewer earned runs this season. In this case, the only home run he surrendered came on Eldridge’s first career homer.
“I take pride in the fact that I throw a lot of strikes,” Ashcraft said. “That’s a big thing, getting guys out of the box early, not letting an at-bat extend.
“I was in the bullpen last year and I know how taxing that can be. As a staff, entirely, we’ve done a really good job of doing our job. Starting pitching going deep in games, it takes a lot of weight off the bullpen.”
Chandler will try to keep the Giants and Eldridge at bay. The 23-year-old will be attempting to snap a personal three-game losing streak during which he’s gotten a total of five runs of support. He held the Arizona Diamondbacks to two runs in five innings Tuesday in Phoenix, a game the Pirates eventually lost 9-0.
Attempting to tame a Pirates team that has won six of eight will be Giants right-hander Tyler Mahle (1-4, 5.00), who was a victim of the San Francisco bullpen in his most recent start last Sunday at Tampa Bay. The veteran shut out the Rays over 5 1/3 innings, but watched the Giants suffer a 2-1, 10-inning defeat.
It was the third time in his past five starts that he didn’t allow a run, a stretch in which he has just one win.
The 31-year-old has gone 5-4 with a 3.84 ERA in 13 career starts against the Pirates, whose 20 hits Saturday didn’t include a homer.
– Field Level Media
Yankees Lead Weak American League Field Entering Summer
Ranking the Best Moms in the History of Professional Sports
