Sports
Mercury brace for heated battle vs. Valkyries
May 9, 2026; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Phoenix Mercury forward Natasha Mack (4) dribbles against Las Vegas Aces guard Jewell Loyd (24) in the third quarter of their game at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Candice Ward-Imagn Images The Phoenix Mercury will jump right from the microwave into the frying pan Sunday night when they complete a season-opening road back-to-back with a visit to the Golden State Valkyries in San Francisco.
One day after the Valkyries traveled north to secure a 91-80 win at Seattle on the WNBA’s Opening Night, the Mercury stunned the Las Vegas Aces 99-66 on the defending champion’s home court.
Golden State and Phoenix will return to the court on Sunday night.
The Valkyries, an expansion team that snuck into the playoffs last year, were in such disarray in the preseason that coach Natalie Nakase scheduled just one preseason game so that she’d have time to reintroduce her players to one another.
Still, the club opened without last year’s top pick, Juste Jocyte, who is completing an obligation to her Spanish League team, and one of last year’s top players, Iliana Rupert, who is pregnant. The Valkyries then lost starting guard Tiffany Hayes to a dislocated pinkie finger and key reserve Cecilia Zandalasini to a concussion.
All four have been ruled out of Sunday’s game, but Nakase, the WNBA’s Coach of the Year last season, expects a better performance than in Seattle.
“My expectations are high for us defensively,” Nakase said after the win, during which last year’s top defensive team statistically allowed 24- and 27-point quarters.
“We just have to be smarter. There’s a lot of corrections that we can make. They know it, too; they know that’s not our best defensive effort.
“But I also believe we’re not even there yet as a team, because some of the players have only come to three or four practices. So I told them, ‘I’m going to give you guys a space to evolve in the next couple of days.'”
Janelle Salaun had 20 points and Veronica Burton added 16 in the win.
While the Valkyries had familiarity in mind as they took the court, the Mercury was more dialed in on the opposition. After all, not only had they lost to the Aces in the 2025 WNBA Finals, but the team then had to endure Las Vegas’ ring ceremony before the nationally-televised affair.
Alyssa Thomas led the way with 20 points, but the Mercury had a secret weapon available for the rematch – Jovana Nogic. The Serbian forward who had been playing in Russia set the tone on the visitors’ ceremony-crashing effort with 19 points — all in the first half.
Phoenix coach Nate Tibbetts credited the league’s new higher-paying collective bargaining agreement for attracting a higher level of talent to the WNBA this season.
“This is a player that hasn’t come over, because maybe it wasn’t worth it, right? A lot of these European players,” Tibbetts noted to the media after the win. “(Nogic has) been someone that our front office has talked about the last couple of years. She had an awesome start; I’m really happy for her.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Cubs aim to launch new streak in series finale vs. Rangers
Apr 27, 2026; San Diego, California, USA; Chicago Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman (3) throws to first base but can’t get the out on San Diego Padres right fielder Ramon Laureano (5) during the fourth inning at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Denis Poroy-Imagn Images One day after having their 10-game winning streak snapped, the Chicago Cubs will look to begin a new streak when they face the Texas Rangers in the rubber match of a three-game series on Sunday in Arlington, Texas.
Chicago went 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position and stranded 11 runners in a 6-0 loss on Saturday. The Cubs had won 20 of their past 23 games before being shut out for the fourth time this season.
The lone bright spot for Chicago was left fielder Ian Happ, who extended his on-base streak to a career-high 30 games with a first-inning walk.
“Didn’t play well enough today and left a lot of guys on base,” Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman said. “But felt like we’re in a good spot, playing good baseball. Guys are preparing and executing the game plan.”
Josh Jung and Justin Foscue each hit solo homers for Texas, which snapped a two-game losing skid by outhitting the Cubs 9-4. Foscue’s blast was his first career homer in his 23rd major league game spread over three seasons.
“It was the best feeling in the world,” Foscue said. “There’s no other way to put it. I don’t think I felt my legs running around the bases. Pretty special moment. That was the best ball I’ve hit in the big leagues yet.”
Foscue started at first base in place of slumping Jake Burger, who was given a rest day by manager Skip Schumaker. Burger is hitting .130 over his last 18 games.
“I do think he’s getting closer,” Schumaker said. “He’s a hit or two away from getting extremely hot and carrying a team. Getting him going is going to be a big part of, you know, us getting back on track.”
Sunday’s pitching matchup features a pair of right-handers as Chicago’s Jameson Taillon (2-1, 4.24 ERA) faces the Rangers’ Jacob deGrom (2-2, 3.11).
Taillon, 34, allowed two runs on a pair of solo homers over 5 2/3 innings in a no-decision against the Cincinnati Reds last Tuesday.
Taillon has given up nine home runs over his last six starts covering 35 2/3 innings.
Corey Seager is 4-for-14 (.286) against Taillon, who is 1-1 with a 5.86 ERA in five career starts versus Texas.
The Rangers will counter with deGrom, who yielded a season-high six runs over 6 1/3 innings in a 7-4 road loss to the New York Yankees last Tuesday.
Dansby Swanson is 7-for-34 (.206) with two homers against the 37-year-old deGrom, who is 2-4 with a 3.26 ERA in 11 career starts against Chicago.
The Cubs’ offense has been red-hot this month despite receiving minimal production from Bregman, who is batting .233 with three homers and 13 RBIs. Chicago manager Craig Counsell said it’s only a matter of time before Bregman returns to form.
“In a lot of ways, with what we’ve done so far this season and Alex is probably off to a little bit of a slower start by his standards, it makes me happy in a weird way that we’ve got some good Alex Bregman coming here,” Counsell said.
-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?
Cubs aim to launch new streak in series finale vs. Rangers
Yankees Lead Weak American League Field Entering Summer
