Sports
A'ja Wilson Deserves To Win WNBA MVP
There have been seasons in which the race for the WNBA’s MVP trophy has been close, competitive and compelling.
Last year marked one of them, when New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart beat Connecticut Sun forward Alyssa Thomas by just seven voting points—and Thomas had three more first-place votes. The 2005 season marked another narrow debate when Sheryl Swoopes received two more voting points than Lauren Jackson.
But this season is not one of those years. Frankly, there is only one logical choice for the league’s MVP award. It should be a runaway and unanimous decision. It should be the third time that Las Vegas Aces forward A’ja Wilson takes the trophy home. And it shouldn’t be close.
A year ago, Wilson finished third in that tightly contested MVP race, just 13 voting points behind the winner, Stewart. There has never been a smaller margin between the first- and third-place vote getters for MVP in the history of the WNBA.
If Wilson used that bronze medal finish as motivation, it worked. She dominated throughout the 2023 postseason and powered the Aces to a second-straight championship while taking home the Finals MVP award. If consolation prizes exist, those are pretty good ones.
And then Wilson proceeded to turn in one of the greatest seasons ever by a WNBA player.
The 28-year-old forward from Columbia, South Carolina, is averaging 26.9 points, 11.9 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.8 steals and 2.6 blocks per game while shooting 51.8 percent from the floor and 84.4 percent from the charity stripe. She leads all WNBA players in points, blocks, defensive rebounds, field goals made, and free throws made.
No player in the history of the WNBA, which played its first season in 1997, has averaged as many points, rebounds and blocks in a single season as Wilson this year. Simply put, she’s doing things no player has ever done before. The University of South Carolina product also recently became the first player ever to score at least 1,000 points in a single season, and she took hold of the league’s single-season rebounding record on Tuesday night with seven boards in a win over the Seattle Storm.
“Since I’ve been a part of this league, which is 1999, I don’t know if we’ve seen a season like she’s having now,” Aces coach Becky Hammon told ESPN. “She’s just a beautiful player to watch… And makes it look easy. It is not easy. It’s a special, generational talent.”
Oh, and Wilson excels in advanced statistics too. She’s second in the WNBA in points-per-play (1.12), and first in defensive rebounding rate (31.8), player efficiency rating (34.9) and win shares (10). She’s also posting a career-best defensive rating of 90.5.
“I can probably say she’s the best rebounder I’ve ever seen, hands down,” 2009 WNBA MVP Diana Taurasi said of Wilson. “When you can secure the ball for your team, you are always going to give your team a chance to win. She is just playing out of her mind, and she is going to continue to do it because she loves the game.”
It’s difficult to even make a case for who might be a runner-up to Wilson this season. Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark has captured tons of attention with her long-distance 3-pointers and neck-breaking assists—which she leads the league in—but she isn’t scoring and defending at the same rate and as efficiently as Wilson is. Stewart is having another All-WNBA-caliber season, but not one that rises to the level of an MVP. Napheesa Collier is arguably having her best campaign as a pro and is leading the Minnesota Lynx back to the postseason, but no one would reasonably argue that she’s having a better year than Wilson.
The Aces don’t seem quite as dominant as they did last season when they went 34-6 en route to a second championship. This year, they’ve endured a three-game losing streak and another stretch where they lost five of seven games. The play, durability, reliability and heroics of Wilson are a big reason why Las Vegas is heading back to the postseason with the hopes of three-peating still alive. She’s missed just one game this season and has played a career-high 34.4 minutes per game.
“It’s an honor to be able to play with her,” Aces guard Jackie Young told ESPN. “She comes in every day and kind of shows us what a professional is.”
As long as Wilson is playing this way, consider the Aces to be contenders for the title.
And go ahead and pencil her in to join the likes of Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie and Lauren Jackson as a three-time MVP.
Sports
Manchester City look to extend win streak, take on Everton
[Subscription Customers Only] Jun 30, 2025; Orlando, Florida, USA; Manchester City forward Erling Haaland (9) celebrates scoring their second goal with midfielder Rodri (16) during a round of 16 match of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup at Camping World Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Lee Smith-Reuters via Imagn Images Manchester City will try to keep pace with Premier League front-runner Arsenal on Monday night when they pay a visit to an Everton side still on the fringes of the European picture.
City (21-5-7, 70 points) will begin the day six points back of Arsenal with two matches in hand after the Gunners dispatched Fulham 3-0 on Saturday. The Cityzens won’t be even on games played until May 13, when they make up a postponed match against Crystal Palace that was delayed because of City’s triumphant League Cup run.
As a result, there continues to be the appearance of a chase, although the teams would finish level on points if they win out.
Manager Pep Guardiola insists it shouldn’t matter.
“It’s normal, so it’s the calendar,” Guardiola said on Friday. “Sometimes you play first. Sometimes behind. It is what it is. So, nothing changes in these stages, and you know exactly what you have to do.”
City have won six in a row in all competitions, the last three by a single goal: A 2-1 home league win over the Gunners on April 19, a 1-0 league victory at Burnley three days later, and a 2-1 FA Cup semifinal triumph over Southampton on April 25.
Erling Haaland scored once in both league fixtures to bring his EPL-leading total to 24. In the FA Cup semifinal, Jeremy Doku and Nico Gonzalez scored inside the final 10 minutes to complete a late rally.
Everton (13-13-8, 47 points) finished Saturday in 11th place, but only four points out of seventh, which currently would earn a berth in the UEFA Europa Conference League. Should City win the FA Cup, it could be the top eight English league finishers who earn a spot in Europe.
And if Everton could return to continental competition for the first time since 2017-18, it would conclude a much-improved first season at their new Hill Dickson Stadium, after bringing the curtain down on historic Goodison Park last May.
“We still believe there could be something out there for us. And we’ll keep pushing,” manager David Moyes said. “Building Everton back up is a process which I think is going to take quite a bit of time, but I think the first year or so here, we’ve certainly put decent foundations down. And hopefully we can continue to build on it.”
The Toffees are looking to avoid a third consecutive league defeat for the first time this season after a 2-1 home loss to derby rivals Liverpool on April 19 and a 2-1 away defeat at West Ham last weekend.
Beto, one of two Everton players with eight goals, departed the former contest late with a head injury and missed the latter fixture working through the league’s concussion protocol. He should be available Monday night, Moyes said.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Yankees tee off on Orioles to win third straight in 4-game series
May 3, 2026; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge (99) hits a two run home run in the third inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images Jasson Dominguez scored the tiebreaking run in the sixth inning before hitting a two-run homer and an RBI double during a seven-run eighth as the New York Yankees pulled away for an 11-3 victory over the visiting Baltimore Orioles on Sunday afternoon.
The Yankees won for the 13th time in 15 games and beat the Orioles for the 11th time in the past 12 meetings.
Aaron Judge hit a two-run homer off Baltimore rookie Trey Gibson. Ben Rice hit his 12th home run of the season in the first and doubled ahead of Judge’s 13th homer in the third.
Rice exited after the Yankees batted in the third because of a bruised left hand. The Yankees announced X-rays were negative and the first baseman is day-to-day. Rice appeared to get injured fielding a low pickoff throw from Max Fried and was replaced by Paul Goldschmidt.
Dominguez started the tiebreaking rally with a double to left field against Grant Wolfram (1-1) and advanced to third on a groundout by Austin Wells. Ryan McMahon, facing a drawn-in infield, followed with a single that first baseman Coby Mayo couldn’t handle after diving to stop it.
Dominguez started New York’s big inning with a two-run drive into the right field seats off Andrew Kittredge for a 6-3 lead. After an RBI sacrifice fly by Trent Grisham, Goldschmidt ripped a two-run single after the Yankees executed a double steal.
Following a sacrifice fly by Jazz Chisholm Jr., Dominguez added a double to left field for an 11-3 lead.
The Orioles tied it twice before losing their fourth straight and for the 12th time in 18 games.
Blaze Alexander had an RBI single in the third before getting thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a double. After Judge’s 413-foot drive bounced into Baltimore’s bullpen in left field, Leody Taveras hit an RBI infield single and Tyler O’Neill scored on a double play grounder by Jeremiah Jackson in the fourth.
Fried allowed three runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings. The left-hander struck out six and walked three.
Fernando Cruz (3-0) got the final two outs of the sixth and the first out of the seventh. Brent Headrick ended the eighth by getting a double play grounder against Mayo.
Gibson allowed three runs on four hits in 4 2/3 innings during his major league debut.
The four-game series concludes Monday.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Cam Smith drives in 2 in 10th, Astros edge Red Sox
May 3, 2026; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Houston Astros right fielder Cam Smith (11) hits a two run RBI against the Boston Red Sox during the tenth inning at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images Cam Smith had three hits, including a two-run single in the top of the 10th inning, to help the visiting Houston Astros earn a 3-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Sunday.
Smith’s two-out single came against Zack Kelly (0-2) and drove in Braden Shewmake and Jose Altuve.
Boston had the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the 10th, but Bryan Abreu got Ceddanne Rafaela to ground into a double play to end the game.
Jarren Duran hit a solo home run for the Red Sox, who stranded 13 runners and were 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Duran’s home run was his third of the season and his second of the series. He hit a three-run homer in Boston’s 3-1 victory Friday night.
Abreu (1-2) pitched two scoreless innings to get the win. He gave up one hit, walked one and struck out one.
Willson Contreras collected three of Boston’s nine hits in the loss.
Christian Walker and Christian Vazquez each had two-hit games for the Astros, who won two games in the three-game set.
Boston starting pitcher Ranger Suarez was pulled after four scoreless innings because of hamstring tightness. He gave up three hits, walked one and struck out three. Suarez threw 70 pitches.
Duran’s home run off Houston reliever AJ Blubaugh opened the scoring in the fifth. Houston tied the game in the sixth, when Walker reached on an infield single, took third on Altuve’s double and scored on a sacrifice fly by Brice Matthews.
The Red Sox had a chance to win the game in the bottom of the ninth. An error on Abreu allowed Contreras to reach second with two outs in the inning, but Roman Anthony grounded out to first to end the inning.
Houston had the bases loaded with no outs in the 10th, but Altuve grounded into a 6-2-5 double play. Following a walk to Matthews, Smith delivered his two-run single.
–Field Level Media
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