Sports
NL Central capsules: Can Brewers claim 4th straight division title?
Feb 27, 2026; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Jackson Chourio against the Chicago White Sox during a spring training game at American Family Fields of Phoenix. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images Milwaukee Brewers
2025 record: 97-65 (1st in NL Central)
He gone: RHP Freddy Peralta, 3B Caleb Durbin, OF Isaac Collins, LHP Jose Quintana, RHP Nick Mears
New faces: C Gary Sanchez, RHP Brandon Sproat, SS/OF Jett Williams, INF David Hamilton
Biggest question entering Opening Day: Is their unwillingness to keep Peralta because of his pending free agency going to cost them a playoff spot and/or a chance at winning a World Series? They had an expected W/L of 99-63 in 2025, but are projected by a consensus to finish close to .500 this season. It seems harsh, but the Brewers are counting on a return to form by right-hander Brandon Woodruff (at 33), and high-percentile development by fireballer Jacob Misiorowski to anchor the rotation. Christian Yelich, at 34, would have to play a full season again — which he’s managed in three of the past four years. Jackson Chourio was nearly a four-WAR player at age 20 in 2024. He could take a big step forward offensively this season. So could William Contreras, a two-time Silver Slugger winner whose power regressed a bit in ‘25. Having Andrew Vaughn around for 150 games could mean a lot, as long as his hitting performance in ‘25 wasn’t too fluky. He’s not projected to leave spring training with the big-league team, but infielder Andrew Fischer is a good bet to be helpful as a rookie soon.
2026 outlook: The W-L record is likely to regress, and the Cubs probably will overtake them in the division, but the projections for 81-82 wins also seem way too low. Too many things would have to go wrong. Still, they’re not moving closer to winning the franchise’s first World Series.
Chicago Cubs
2025 record: 92-70 (2nd place, NL Central)
He gone: OF Kyle Tucker, RHP Brad Keller, RHP Michael Soroka, 1B Justin Turner, LHP Drew Pomeranz
New faces: 3B Alex Bregman, RHP Edward Cabrera, RHP Phil Maton, RHP Hunter Harvey, LHP Hoby Milner
Biggest question entering Opening Day: Will the starting rotation stay healthy enough, and will the arms miss enough bats come playoff time, for the Cubs to make a run at the World Series? The addition of Cabrera via offseason trade will be key here, as will the possible return of left-hander Justin Steele at some point. Both have had trouble historically staying healthy. The Cubs had good but unspectacular starting pitching a season ago, finishing in the middle of the pack in Fangraphs WAR. Lefty Matthew Boyd led the team in starts (31) and innings pitched (179 2/3) in 2025, making the All-Star team and performing wonderfully overall. He’s also 35 years old with an extensive injury history. The other projected starters, including right-hander Cade Horton, lefty Shota Imanaga, and righties Jameson Taillon and Cabrera, also have their own question marks. For one reason or another, the Cubs are crossing their fingers for all of them.
2026 outlook: The offense should be among the top 10 (or better) but how Pete Crow-Armstrong adjusts after a weak final two months of ’25 will be key. The back of the bullpen is strong with Daniel Palencia, and they added four new middle relievers in the offseason. The Cubs look good, if not great, and could compete for the World Series if they get some breaks.
Cincinnati Reds
2025 record: 83-79 (3rd place, NL Central)
He gone: RHP Nick Martinez, 2B/OF Gavin Lux, OF Austin Hays, RHP Scott Barlow, LHP Brent Suter
New faces: DH/3B Eugenio Suarez, 1B Nathaniel Lowe, OF Dane Myers, RHP Pierce Johnson, LHP Caleb Ferguson
Biggest question entering Opening Day: Do the Reds have the best starting pitching in the league? The answer likely depends on how fast rookies Chase Burns and Rhett Lowder develop. But even if they’re not immediate All-Stars, the Reds’ starting corps finished second in Fangraphs WAR in 2025. Left-handers Andrew Abbott and Nick Lodolo, along with Hunter Greene, Brady Singer and the rookies aren’t all household names, but they’re a formidable bunch — and they’re all under 30 years old. Cincy’s competition for best rotation includes the Phillies and Dodgers. How Greene comes through surgery to remove bone chips in his elbow will matter a lot.
2026 outlook: The Reds’ bullpen is closer to middle-of-the-road and likely will limit them come October. The offense needs to get better, but the lineup figures to improve if Sal Stewart becomes a middle-of-the-order force, if Matt McLain rebounds and if Elly De La Cruz takes a step forward at age 24. None of those are unreasonable asks.
St. Louis Cardinals
2025 record: 78-84 (4th place, NL Central)
He gone: 3B Nolan Arenado, 1B Willson Contreras, 2B Brendan Donovan, RHP Sonny Gray, RHP Miles Mikolas
New faces: 2B JJ Wetherholt, RHP Dustin May, RHP Hunter Dobbins, RHP Ryne Stanek, LHP Brandon Clarke
Biggest question entering Opening Day: How long is it going to take team president Chaim Bloom to turn this thing around? By some accounts, the Cardinals’ farm system ranks just outside of the top 10, but it’s going to take more than a few prospects to bring back the glory days. Oli Marmol is in place as the skipper, and Bloom’s people have been running the minors and development. Wetherholt has a chance to win NL Rookie of the Year, and Masyn Winn, Lars Nootbaar, Alec Burleson and Ivan Herrera make up a portion of a potential winning core of position players. Matthew Liberatore and Michael McGreevy can be major league starters, though their upside might have limits. Aside from them, expect a lot of turnover in the next several years.
2026 outlook: The Cards won 78 games this past season and probably will be lucky to win more than 68 this time. And it might be worse. A Cardinals team hasn’t lost 100 games or more since 1908, but this one is going to come uncomfortably close — and that’s if things go well, relatively speaking.
Pittsburgh Pirates
2025 record: 71-91 (5th place, NL Central)
He gone: OF/DH Andrew McCutchen, OF Tommy Pham, RHP Johan Oviedo, RHP Mike Burrows
New faces: OF/1B Ryan O’Hearn, DH Marcell Ozuna, 2B Brandon Lowe, OF Jake Mangum, RHP Jose Urquidy
Biggest question entering Opening Day: Is Paul Skenes still going to be on the roster the next time the Pirates win a playoff game? At one point in time, into the second decade of the 2000s, it seemed like the Pirates would never have a winning season again. But the Gerrit Cole/Andrew McCutchen teams yielded three straight second-place finishes and postseason berths. It IS possible to win in the PNC Park era. But it’s been 11 years now. Pirates owner Bob Nutting finally spent some revenue-sharing dough this offseason, and their lineup is not bad, potentially, thanks in part to the additions of O’Hearn, Ozuna and Lowe. If slugger Bryan Reynolds can bounce back, and if Spencer Horwitz can clear the effects of his hamate bone injury, they’ll score a decent amount of runs.
2026 outlook: The Bucs risk wasting most of Skenes’ prime if they don’t start competing soon. Is there any chance they can make the postseason this year? PECOTA and Fangraphs projections say they could finish above .500, so yes. If star pupil Konnor Griffin gets promoted and runs away with NL Rookie of the Year, if Bubba Chandler gets strong results over a full season, and if Oneil Cruz snaps out of his funk, they could reach the mid- or upper-80s in victories.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Lynx sign C Teaira McCowan, add depth to frontcourt
Jul 25, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; Dallas Wings center Teaira McCowan (15) warms up before a game against the Golden State Valkyries at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: John Hefti-Imagn Images The Minnesota Lynx signed center Teaira McCowan to a contract on Thursday.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed by the Lynx.
McCowan, 29, came off the bench in 17 games last season with the Dallas Wings, averaging 5.6 points and 4.6 rebounds. She was waived by Dallas last August shortly after the Lynx acquired DiJonai Carrington from the Wings.
Listed at 6-foot-7, McCowan has averaged 10.7 points and 8.1 boards in 207 career games (131 starts) with the Indiana Fever (2019-21) and Wings. She was selected by the Fever with the third overall pick of the 2019 WNBA Draft.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Reports: Giants QB Jaxson Dart, teammates clear air over rally in closed-door meeting
Eat Rutherford, NJ — May 9, 2025 — Jaxson Dart with Abdul Carter after Carter spoke to the media following practice at Giants Rookie Minicamp. Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart addressed teammates to clear the air over his appearance at a Republican-backed event in New York that featured President Donald Trump, according to multiple reports.
Dart introduced Trump last week at festivities supporting the campaign of Rep. Mike Lawler, who represents New York’s Hudson Valley in Congress and is running for a third term.
Dart’s presence and on-the-mic role at the rally sparked a reaction from Giants pass rusher Abdul Carter, the third overall draft pick in 2025 — the same year in which the Giants selected Dart with the 25th pick.
“Thought this (s—) was AI,” Carter wrote in a since-deleted post on X that showed the video featuring Dart’s introduction of the president. “What we doing, man?”
ESPN reported veteran quarterback Jameis Winston and edge rusher Brian Burns addressed the team in the same meeting with a goal of shifting the focus to keeping concerns and differences of opinion in house.
Earlier this week, Carter attempted to downplay perception the draft-class peers were at odds over a political divide with another post to social media.
“Me & JD6 are good!” he wrote on X about Dart but since deleted the post. “We spoke earlier as Men. Yall can keep yall narratives.”
The Giants were 4-13 in the first season with Dart and Carter. They hired a new head coach — John Harbaugh — and he was put in an awkward position during the draft.
Harbaugh was called to defend the selections of linebacker Arvell Reese (No. 5 pick) and offensive lineman Francis Mauigoa (No. 10) instead of Ohio State safety Caleb Downs, the player wide receiver Malik Nabers openly lobbied for. Downs wound up being selected by the rival Dallas Cowboys in the No. 11 slot.
Nabers backtracked on the criticism after he said Harbaugh explained how the Giants’ defense would unleash Reese in a creative, matchup-based role.
Harbaugh and his younger brother, Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh, were Trump’s guests at the White House in 2025. At the time, John Harbaugh coached the Baltimore Ravens.
John Harbaugh panned media members in Baltimore pressing about his decision to visit the White House at the time, and Harbaugh flipped the question, asking why the query didn’t focus on “a chance to go visit the president.”
“It was amazing. It was awesome. And I promise you I root for our president,” Harbaugh said in July 2025. “I want our president to be successful just like I want my quarterback to be successful and I want my team to be successful, and it was an amazing experience.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Kyle Busch battled illness for 'weeks' according to death certificate
May 23, 2026; Concord, North Carolina, USA; Charlotte Motor Speedways’ main video board pay homage to deceased driver Kyle Busch before qualifying at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images NASCAR star Kyle Busch was potentially ill for “weeks” leading up to his untimely passing, his death certificate revealed Thursday.
The cause of death was confirmed to be triggered by sepsis, which developed from a bout of bacterial pneumonia, as family revealed following Busch’s death on May 21. Sepsis triggered clotting within blood vessels that cut off flow to vital organs.
Busch, a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion who is considered one of the best drivers of all time, was 41.
Busch experienced shortness of breath and was coughing up blood the day before his death, according to a 911 call obtained by USA Today.
He is survived by his wife Samantha, 11-year-old son Brexton and 4-year-old daughter Lennix. He was the younger brother of NASCAR Hall of Fame member Kurt Busch, 47.
The Busch family was on hand for Saturday’s Cup Series race at Charlotte, N.C., as NASCAR conducted a weekend of tributes to the late champion.
Those tributes will be ongoing, with rival driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. revealing he will compete in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Nashville this weekend with the same NOS Energy Drink paint scheme Busch used until 2017. Busch delivered 22 of his record 102 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series victories with the paint scheme.
Busch accrued a record 234 wins across NASCAR’s top three series: 63 in the Cup Series, 102 in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and 69 in the Craftsman Truck Series. He won a trucks race at Dover, Del., just six days before his death.
The Las Vegas native was the NASCAR Cup Series champion in 2015 and 2019. He never won the Daytona 500 but claimed the pole for the first time this year before finishing 15th. His biggest wins included the 2008 Southern 500, the 2015 and 2016 Brickyard 400 and 2019 Coca-Cola 600.
–Field Level Media
Lynx sign C Teaira McCowan, add depth to frontcourt
Reports: Giants QB Jaxson Dart, teammates clear air over rally in closed-door meeting
