Sports
Playoff-bound Wild, Lightning out to improve positioning
Mar 22, 2026; Calgary, Alberta, CAN; Tampa Bay Lightning right wing Nikita Kucherov (86) during the face off against the Calgary Flames during the first period at Scotiabank Saddledome. Mandatory Credit: Sergei Belski-Imagn Images The Minnesota Wild and Tampa Bay Lightning, two powerhouses preparing for the playoffs in their respective conferences, will complete their two-game season series in Tuesday night’s matchup in the Sunshine State.
Minnesota (40-19-12, 92 points) won the first meeting with a 5-1 home thumping of the Lightning (43-21-5, 91 points) on March 3.
Wild star winger Kirill Kaprizov set the franchise record with the final tally, an empty-netter, for his 220th marker to surpass Marian Gaborik for the all-time lead in goals.
Since that victory, the Central Division’s third-place club has posted a 4-3-2 record, not enough to catch the Dallas Stars but leaving a 12-point advantage over the Utah Mammoth, who hold the Western Conference’s top wild-card spot.
Kaprizov is tied for the team lead in goals with 38, matched by Matt Boldy. The electrifying Russian scorer paces the squad with 80 points.
Third in goals scored, winger Vladimir Tarasenko made his 20th count in Saturday’s 2-1 overtime winner against Dallas. The victory closed out a seven-game stretch with a 3-3-1 mark, with all but one of the games on home ice.
Tarasenko recorded his 324th career goal and 54th game-winner, hitting the net from the slot after taking a swift cross-ice pass from Bobby Brink, who put up the game-tying tally in the second period.
Wild coach John Hynes said Brink brings a scrappiness to the team, which opens a three-game road swing that visits Tampa, Florida and Boston.
“He’s a tenacious competitor, we knew that coming in,” Hynes said. “That’s what you love about him. He’s fast and quick. … Because of his speed and hockey sense — that combination of his competitiveness makes him an effective guy for us.”
Tampa Bay was on the brink of sweeping its four-game road trip Sunday after rallying from a two-goal deficit, getting goals from Darren Raddysh and Pontus Holmberg, and forcing overtime against the Calgary Flames.
However, Ryan Strome netted the game-winner just 26 seconds into three-on-three to prevent the visitors from winning the finale on a swing that took them to Seattle, Vancouver and Edmonton.
Coach Jon Cooper said leaving Alberta with three points in two nights after topping the Edmonton Oilers 5-2 on Saturday night was needed.
“The final leg after playing back-to-back in 22 hours and we’re down 3-1 halfway through the game and we get a point out of it, so there’s a lot of good to take out of this especially with the way the Eastern Conference is going,” said Cooper.
The result was a noticeable shift for Ryan McDonagh, who scored the first goal.
“Coming out of the Olympic break here, we’ve been down in games and haven’t been able to crawl back and get points out of it,” said the defenseman, who has six markers. “It stinks to lose, but we showed signs of sticking with our structure, being patient, not going rogue and being rewarded with a goal late to give ourselves a chance in overtime.”
With the primary assist on Raddysh’s goal, Nikita Kucherov moved his point streak to four games (six goals, seven assists) and leads the NHL with 119 points, three ahead of the Oilers’ Connor McDavid.
The Lightning, who did not commit a penalty in a match for the first time this season, are 20-12-0 on home ice.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Tigers place closer Kenley Jansen on 15-day IL
Detroit Tigers pitcher Kenley Jansen (74) talks to manager A.J. Hinch (14), left, and assistant athletic trainer Chris McDonald during the ninth inning against Los Angeles Angels at Comerica Park in Detroit on Wednesday, May 27, 2026. The Detroit Tigers placed four-time All-Star closer Kenley Jansen on the 15-day injured list Thursday with pelvic inflammation.
Jansen, who worked through a right groin issue earlier in the season, exited Detroit’s 4-0 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday after nine pitches in the ninth inning. The right-hander called for the trainers after walking Mike Trout on four pitches.
Jansen, 38, is 1-3 with seven saves and a 4.80 ERA in 18 relief appearances since signing a one-year, $11 million contract with the Tigers in December.
He ranks third in major league history with 483 career saves.
Jansen spent his first 12 seasons (2010-21) with the Los Angeles Dodgers and is 55-43 with a 2.61 ERA in 951 relief appearances. He also pitched for the Atlanta Braves (2022), Boston Red Sox (2023-24) and Angels (2025).
Left-hander Drew Sommers was recalled from Triple-A Toledo in a corresponding move.
“In the short-term, a bullpen move is the most obvious because of the availability of the ‘pen,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “We’re trying to have as full a team as we can.”
Sommers, 25, is 1-0 with one save and a 3.00 ERA in 17 relief appearances this season with the Mud Hens.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Reports: Dodgers to put Teoscar Hernandez on IL, recall Ryan Ward
May 23, 2026; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers left fielder Teoscar Hernandez (37) during the game against the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images The Los Angeles Dodgers will place outfielder Teoscar Hernandez on the injured list with a left hamstring strain and recall infielder/outfielder Ryan Ward from Triple-A Oklahoma City, multiple outlets reported Thursday.
Hernandez was injured Wednesday while running out a ground ball in the second inning against the Colorado Rockies.
The Dodgers are expected to use a platoon in left field moving forward between the left-handed hitting Ward and the right-handed Alex Call. Utility man Hyeseong Kim replaced Hernandez in left field Wednesday.
Hernandez, 33, is batting .276 with seven home runs and 31 RBIs in 51 games this season and was particularly hot of late, batting .375 with three home runs over his past 14 games.
The two-time All-Star is a career .261 hitter with 224 home runs and 692 RBIs in 1,150 career games over 11 seasons with the Houston Astros (2016-17), Toronto Blue Jays (2017-22), Seattle Mariners (2023) and Dodgers.
Ward, 28, made his major league debut in April and went 2-for-6 over two games while Freddie Freeman was on the paternity list.
The former eighth-round draft pick is batting .254 with six home runs and 31 RBIs in 47 games at Triple-A, after hitting 36 home runs with 122 RBIs with Oklahoma City last season. Ward has 156 home runs over seven minor league seasons.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Top MLB Picks for Thursday: May 28 Baseball Betting Predictions and Props
May 27, 2026; Arlington, Texas, USA; Houston Astros first baseman Christian Walker (8) and designated hitter Yordan Alvarez (44) celebrate after Alvarez hits a home run against the Texas Rangers during the eighth inning at Globe Life Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images Chris Sale would like nothing better than to post a standout performance in Fenway Park when the Atlanta Braves face the Boston Red Sox on Thursday afternoon. Sale seemed on a downhill slide when he sustained a major arm injury and later struggled with Boston in 2023 before the trade to the Braves revived his career.
While Sale seems on his way to his third straight All-Star appearance with the Braves – and 10th overall – he’s not the only top-flight pitcher getting the ball Thursday. Paul Skenes will look to bounce back from consecutive shaky starts when he pitches against the struggling Chicago Cubs.
It wasn’t that long ago that the Houston Astros were the dominant team in the American League West. The Texas Rangers placed their bid when they won the 2023 World Series. But both teams are subpar so far this season as they enter the series finale.
ATLANTA BRAVES AT BOSTON RED SOX
Sale is 7-3 and his 1.89 ERA ranks sixth in the majors and he has allowed just 40 hits over 62 innings. The 37-year-old Sale has allowed one or fewer runs in nine of his 11 starts.
Sale is 4-1 with a 1.89 ERA in 12 appearances (seven starts) against the Red Sox with most of those outings coming for the Chicago White Sox. The Braves are a stellar 20-9 on the road this season after splitting the first two games of the season.
The Red Sox are just 9-18 at Fenway Park but had a lot of fun Wednesday while rolling to an 8-0 victory over the Braves to end a four-game overall slide and a five-game home skid. Leadoff hitter Jarren Duran had four hits and homered for the second straight game and No. 2 hitter Ceddanne Rafaela added three hits and the pair will aim to support lefty Payton Tolle (2-2, 2.45) in the finale.
Total runs to be under 7, +103 (DraftKings)
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CHICAGO CUBS AT PITTSBURGH PIRATES
Skenes (6-4, 3.00) allowed two hits over eight shutout innings in each of his first two starts this month before suddenly becoming easy to hit and allowing nine runs and 15 hits over 10 innings in losses to the Philadelphia Phillies and Toronto Blue Jays. Skenes is 2-2 with a 2.94 ERA in seven career starts against Chicago.
The Cubs will come to the ballpark in a good mood for the first time since the middle of the month after breaking their 10-game skid with a 10-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday. The Cubs gave up eight or more runs five times during their winless stretch, including Tuesday’s 12-1 loss to the Pirates.
Ian Happ smacked a three-run blast and drove in five runs on Wednesday after being 2-for-31 over his previous eight games. Veteran right-hander Colin Rea (4-3, 4.83) will match up against Skenes and attempt to give Chicago a split of the four-game set.
Pirates to win -1.5 runs, +130 (DraftKings)
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HOUSTON ASTROS AT TEXAS RANGERS
The Astros are showing life with five wins in six games – including two of three in this series – but are still seven games below .500. Houston qualified for the playoffs eight straight seasons, topping 100 wins in four of them, before missing the postseason last season
Slugger Yordan Alvarez loves to feast on Texas pitching and he hit two homers in Wednesday’s 4-3 victory and he has five in the first three games of the series. Alvarez has gone deep 25 times in 72 regular-season games against Texas and also had a two-homer game in the 2023 American League Championship Series, won by the Rangers en route to winning their lone World Series crown.
Texas missed the playoffs the past two seasons and have lost five of six games and were victims to a Houston combined no-hitter on Monday. Nathan Eovaldi (5-5, 3.65) knows his biggest task is keeping Alvarez in the yard but good luck as Alvarez is 12-for-23 with two homers and three doubles against the veteran righty.
Yordan Alvarez to hit one-plus homers, +311 (DraftKings)
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Tigers place closer Kenley Jansen on 15-day IL
Reports: Dodgers to put Teoscar Hernandez on IL, recall Ryan Ward
