Sports
Expansion franchise Fire host revamped Sky for first game
May 3, 2026; Portland, OR, USA; Portland Fire center Luisa Geiselsoder (15) talks to her teammates during a break in the action against the Los Angeles Sparks in the second half at Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Jaime Valdez-Imagn Images The Chicago Sky tied for the league low of 10 victories last season and have since revamped the roster as they prepare to open the 2026 season at the expansion Portland Fire on Saturday night.
The most important newcomer is seven-time All-Star Skylar Diggins, and one of the players shipped out was stellar rebounder Angel Reese.
Chicago added Rickea Jackson and Azura Stevens to the frontcourt, while it loaded up in the backcourt by bringing in Natasha Cloud, DiJonai Carrington and Jacy Sheldon and drafting Gabriela Jaquez out of UCLA in the first round in addition to Diggins.
Sky coach Tyler Marsh doesn’t mind having a guard-heavy squad.
“I don’t think you can go wrong with a lot of good guards, capable guards,” Marsh told reporters earlier this week. “It’s not like we’re just stock holding a bunch of players. It’s players that can contribute and we’re going to find ways to utilize them.”
Diggins, 35, averaged 15.5 points and 6.0 assists for the Seattle Storm last season. Her wealth of experience will patch a leadership void early in the season as star point guard Courtney Vandersloot continues to rehab her knee injury. The five-time All-Star tore her ACL last June.
Carrington (foot) and Stevens (knee) will also be sidelined as Chicago opens a four-game road trip. The Sky won’t play at home until May 20 against the Dallas Wings.
Portland is beginning its expansion season with four straight home games — including a two-game set against the New York Liberty and one versus the Connecticut Sun.
Fire coach Alex Sarama is focused on building a foundation around defense.
“I feel in a pretty good place with where our defense is at,” the 30-year-old Sarama told reporters earlier this week. “The offense is gonna take a little longer. Just a new system, players doing a good job getting used to it.”
Portland took forward Bridget Carleton (Minnesota) with the first pick of the expansion draft and also nabbed guards Carla Leite (Golden State) and Sarah Ashlee Barker (Los Angeles) and guard/forward Haley Jones (Dallas), among others.
Barker is fully bought in on being part of the Fire’s building project.
“I think every single day you can tell that, one, we come in and we work really hard no matter what,” Barker said earlier this week.
“When people make mistakes, we pick each other up. There’s a lot of effort and energy, and you can’t teach effort and energy. But you can teach the mistakes, you can teach the Xs and Os, you can teach the defense.”
This is the second rendition for Portland in the WNBA. The original Fire played from 2000-02 before folding.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Six A's hurlers combine for 4-hitter against Orioles
May 8, 2026; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Athletics pitcher Jacob Lopez (57) throws during the second inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images Nick Kurtz roped a tiebreaking two-run triple in the fifth inning and the Athletics held on to beat the host Baltimore Orioles 4-3 Friday night in the opener of a three-game series.
Six Athletics pitchers combined for a four-hitter while Jacob Wilson joined Kurtz with two hits. The Athletics have won two games in a row.
Athletics starter Jacob Lopez worked 5 1/3 innings, with two of the three hits allowed going for home runs. He walked two and struck out five, reaching the five-inning level in his fifth consecutive start.
Justin Sterner, Scott Barlow, Joel Kuhnel, Jack Perkins and Hogan Harris worked in relief. Perkins entered in the ninth and gave up a leadoff walk to Adley Rutschman and a run on Samuel Basallo’s two-out single before Harris, who put the potential winning run on base with a walk, notched the final out for his second save.
Pete Alonso and Rutschman homered for the Orioles, who lost for the seventh time in their last nine. Baltimore didn’t threaten often, stranding five runners on base.
Orioles starter Kyle Bradish (1-5) struck out 10 batters in seven innings, but took the loss as he gave up three runs on five hits with one walk.
Alonso’s eighth homer of the season — and fifth in 11 games — opened the scoring with one out in the fourth inning.
Zack Gelof’s run-scoring single started the scoring in the Athletics’ three-run fifth inning, with Kurtz ripping a two-run triple.
Aside from Alonso’s long ball, the only other Baltimore hit through five innings was Rutschman’s single in the first. When Rutschman smashed a solo homer with one out in the sixth, he ended Lopez’s outing.
Wilson’s two-out single in the eighth drove in a run to extend the Athletics’ lead to 4-2 off reliever Trey Gibson, who was appearing in the second game of his big-league career. That run resulted from three singles.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Angel Reese, Dream open against rookie Olivia Miles, Lynx
Apr 29, 2026; Chicago, IL, USA; Atlanta Dream forward Angel Reese (5) looks to pass the ball against the Chicago Sky during the first half of a WNBA preseason game at Wintrust Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images Angel Reese will make her official Atlanta debut when the Dream visit the Minnesota Lynx on Saturday night in Minneapolis.
The Chicago Sky traded Reese just more than a month ago and she played in two preseason games, but the two-time All-Star and rebounding specialist makes it official in Saturday’s season opener.
“How could you not be happy here?” Reese told ESPN about Atlanta. “It just feels great. I always wanted to come to Atlanta. When you think of championship culture, playing next to these players, the coach (Karl Smesko), it just made sense.”
Reese averaged 14.7 points and 12.6 rebounds per game in her second WNBA season, but things ended poorly in Chicago after the Sky suspended her a half-game for “statements detrimental to the team” for which she’d apologized. She held herself out the last few games of the season from there, citing back issues.
WNBA front offices thought highly of the move. In a preseason survey of the league’s 15 general managers, the Dream came out as the No. 3 favorite behind the Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty to win the championship, which would be the franchise’s first. The Dream already have All-Stars Allisha Gray and Rhyne Howard in the backcourt.
Their first opponent of the season has been a playoff contender the past two seasons, but the Lynx open 2026 without their centerpiece, Napheesa Collier. The team is hoping she’ll return in June following offseason ankle surgery.
No. 2 overall draft pick Olivia Miles will be in the spotlight until then. Her highly productive college career at Notre Dame and TCU saw her average 15.6 points, 6.5 assists, 6.3 rebounds and 1.7 steals across 139 games.
Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve said on draft night that Miles is “the first real point guard we’ve had since Lindsay Whalen,” the franchise icon who retired after the 2018 campaign.
That’s a lofty comparison. The good news for Miles? She can learn from Whalen herself, as she joined the coaching staff before the 2025 campaign.
“She played on the dynasty team with Maya Moore, Seimone (Augustus) and all those greats,” Miles told reporters. “I can’t wait to just be a sponge and just ask questions and be open-minded and be coachable.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Jacob Misiorowski fans 11 as Brewers shut out Yankees
Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski (32) throws during the first inning of their game against the New York Yankees Friday, May 8, 2026 at American Family Field in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Jacob Misiorowski struck out 11 over six scoreless innings, pacing the Milwaukee Brewers to a 6-0 victory over the visiting New York Yankees on Friday in the opener of a three-game series.
The hard-throwing Misiorowski (3-2) allowed just two singles and walked two in a dominant 95-pitch outing. Each of his 10 pitches in the first inning topped 102 mph. In his previous start, the 24-year-old right-hander pitched 5 1/3 hitless innings before exiting with a hamstring cramp.
Milwaukee rookie Shane Drohan allowed one hit over the final three scoreless innings for his first major league save.
Brandon Lockridge had two hits and two RBIs for the Brewers, who had lost two of the past three, before he was taken off the field on a cart in the fourth inning with an apparent leg injury. The left fielder was hurt sliding into the wall in foul territory. The team did not announce a status update before the end of the game.
Jose Caballero produced two of the three hits for the Yankees, who had won six of their previous seven games
The Brewers scored four runs in the second inning, when their first five hitters reached against Max Fried (4-2).
Gary Sanchez singled, and Andrew Vaughn and Luis Rengifo followed with back-to-back walks to load the bases. Lockridge lined an RBI single to right, and Sal Frelick blooped an RBI single into shallow center to make it 2-0.
Joey Ortiz drove in another run on a fielder’s choice, and Jackson Chourio delivered an RBI single up the middle to put the Brewers up 4-0. Fried recovered to strike out the final two hitters of the frame.
Milwaukee made it 5-0 in the third on a double by Vaughn and Lockridge’s two-out single.
The Brewers added a run in the seventh off Kervin Castro on a double by Joey Ortiz and RBI single by William Contreras.
The Yankees threatened in the fifth when Spencer Jones, making his major league debut, drew a one-out walk and Jose Caballero singled, but Misiorowski struck out Austin Wells and Ryan McMahon to end the inning.
Jones finished 0-for-2.
Fried battled through six innings, allowing five runs on six hits, striking out five and walking three.
–Field Level Media
