Sports
Report: Bulls coach search includes BYU's Kevin Young
Mar 3, 2026; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; BYU Cougars head coach Kevin Young works the sideline against the Cincinnati Bearcats in the first half at Fifth Third Arena. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-Imagn Images The rebuilding Chicago Bulls reportedly have expressed interest in BYU head coach Kevin Young for their head coaching vacancy.
ESPN reported Friday that “early conversations” with Young are part of a wide net being cast to replace Billy Donovan, who stepped down on April 21 after six seasons.
Chicago also parted ways last month with executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley. The Bulls finished 31-51 this season and missed the playoffs for the eighth time in the past nine seasons.
Young, 44, has guided BYU to a combined 49-22 record with two NCAA Tournament appearances since being hired in April 2024 after Mark Pope left to coach Kentucky.
The Cougars reached the Sweet 16 and finished No. 13 in the final poll in Young’s first season in Provo. They were ranked as high as No. 7 last season.
Young was an assistant coach for the Phoenix Suns (2020-24) before taking over at BYU, including three seasons as the associate head coach. He was an assistant with the Philadelphia 76ers from 2016-20 and has been the head coach of multiple teams in the NBA G League.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Fever's Caitlin Clark aims to atone for shooting woes in visit to Fire
May 28, 2026; San Francisco, California, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) waits for play to resume against the Golden State Valkyries in the third quarter at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images The Indiana Fever and host Portland Fire will look to rebound after streak-breaking losses when they meet for the second time this season on Saturday.
The Fever (4-3) had a three-game winning streak halted in a 90-88 loss at Golden State on Thursday, when the Valkyries hounded Caitlin Clark into her least effective game of the season.
The Fire were blown out 86-66 by Atlanta on Friday to end their three-game win streak. Portland committed 28 turnovers and was outscored 27-13 in the fourth quarter.
“It’s impossible to win a game with 28 turnovers,” Fire coach Alex Sarama said. “It’s how we respond and learn from it. I actually felt like a lot of them were unforced errors. I think part of it is asking players to be in different roles coming to an expansion team.”
Sarah Ashlee Barker had 14 points off the bench when the Fire played without forward Bridget Carleton (back soreness).
The loss kept Portland (5-4) from posting the best start by an expansion team in league history. The Minnesota Lynx (1999), Orlando Miracle (1999) and Detroit Shock (1998) also opened with 5-4 records.
Clark missed the Fever’s 90-73 home victory over the Fire on May 20 with a back injury and she was listed as probable for Saturday’s game.
She is coming off a rough night. Clark scored a season-low 16 points against the Valkyries and was 3-for-12 from the field, a season low in makes. She had six assists, also her fewest in a game in 2026, but added a season-high three steals.
Clark hit a 3-pointer with just under four minutes remaining and Aliyah Boston made a jumper on the next possession for an 82-81 lead on Thursday. Clark had turnovers on consecutive possessions in the final 92 seconds and missed a 3-pointer with 40.9 seconds left that would have tied the game at 87-87.
“She gets guarded a certain way all the time — 94 feet, lots of physicality,” Fever coach Stephanie White said of Clark. “You’re not going to give her any easy looks. She had a lot of tough, contested shots. They are an excellent defensive team.”
Boston had 13 points, six rebounds and four assists, but she played only 22 minutes after picking up two early fouls. She did not score while playing only 5:53 in the first half.
“It’s super hard to try to figure out and understand how the refs are calling it,” Boston said. “It’s super hard to get charged fouls when I don’t think anyone is in (legal) guarding position. Shout out to the Valks. They did a great job selling it and the refs bought it.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
White Sox Surprise Season Powered by AL Central's Shortstop Renaissance
The Chicago White Sox stack up as Major League Baseball’s most unlikely surprise through the opening third of the 2026 season, what with all the homering and winning and firm grasp (for now) of the American League’s second wild-card spot.
The White Sox already own 29 wins going into Friday’s visit from the Detroit Tigers. In 2024, the Sox didn’t slay their 29th victim until Aug. 12.
Yet don’t be fooled into thinking the AL Central has made dramatic improvement just because the White Sox (29-27) and the Cleveland Guardians (33-25) boast two of the top four records in the league.
The AL Central remains the weakest division in baseball. Collectively, it continues to feature the sport’s tiniest payrolls, smallest home crowds and the worst percentage chance to win the World Series (just 6.1%, if you add the calculations found on Baseball-Reference.com).
But while we’re talking about the AL Central as a collective, it’s important to acknowledge this fact: The division suddenly boasts the finest collection of shortstops in the big leagues — and they could help make a divisional renaissance possible.
Of course, the AL Central has a head start on every other division because Bobby Witt Jr., the best position player in the sport, continues to wear Kansas City’s royal blue. Per Fangraphs, Witt and Shohei Ohtani share the MLB lead through Thursday’s games with 3.5 Wins Above Replacement.
But Witt isn’t the only shortstop in the division who’s playing at a level worthy of an All-Star Game nod. Detroit’s Kevin McGonigle, the 21-year-old rookie who made his debut this year, ranks among the sport’s top 15 players with his 2.4 WAR.
McGonigle, who has split his time between short and third for the Tigers, boasts a .291/.394/.422 slash line. Not only does he own a 10-year vet’s sense of the strike zone — he’s one of the eight regulars in MLB who has amassed more walks (33) than strikeouts (31) — Baseball Savant lists McGonigle as one of the sport’s top three value-add baserunners alongside Tampa Bay’s Chandler Simpson and Washington’s Nasim Nunez.
Meanwhile, the White Sox’s Colson Montgomery quickly has developed into the shortstop with the most pop. He and Baltimore’s Gunnar Henderson lead all MLB shortstops with 13 homers this season, though Montgomery has batted 24 fewer times.
While his streaky power stroke is impressive, Montgomery is deemed as twice as good of a fielder as a hitter. Of Montgomery’s 2.1 total WAR, Fangraphs gives him a 7.9 fielding rating (the best for any MLB shortstop not named Bobby Witt) versus a 3.9 hitting rating. The 6-foot-4 Montgomery doesn’t appear to own amazing range and he rarely, if ever, showcases his arm, but the 24-year-old makes every play.
In Fangraphs’ WAR ratings as of Thursday night, Witt (No. 1), McGonigle (No. 9) and Montgomery (No. 25) rank among the top 25 position players in the game. But Cleveland’s Brayan Rocchio isn’t far behind at No. 31.
The 25-year-old Rocchio was a darling of the prospect gurus for years, but he flopped in his 2023 cameo (.600 OPS in 23 games) and didn’t change many opinions as a regular in 2024 (.614 OPS) and 2025 (.630 OPS).
But this year, Rocchio has bumped up his OPS nearly 200 percentage points (his slash line is .298/.379/.421) by mastering the strike zone. He has chopped his strikeout rate in half while improving his walk rate from 5.7% to 9.3%. Throw in his nine stolen bases and Rocchio paces the Guardians in WAR — slightly ahead of future Hall of Famer Jose Ramirez.
If the Minnesota Twins ever decide to promote 23-year-old Kaelen Culpepper to the big leagues — the 2024 first-round pick owns 11 homers, 11 steals and an .811 OPS for Triple-A St. Paul — then the whole division could feature elite players.
Is that too much to ask? It’s certainly no harder than asking the White Sox to pull off their quixotic quest for a playoff berth.
Sports
Athletics searching for way to slow Yankees, Ben Rice
May 29, 2026; West Sacramento, California, USA; New York Yankees designated hitter Ben Rice (22) runs towards first after hitting a home run against the Athletics in the seventh inning at Sutter Health Park. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images Ben Rice’s batting average plummeted 67 points during an 18-game stretch in May in which hits were hard to come by.
Suddenly, getting Rice out is a major chore for opposing teams. The 27-year-old is fresh off his first four-hit outing of the season and third of his career as he leads the New York Yankees into Saturday night’s middle contest of a three-game series against the Athletics in West Sacramento, Calif.
The Yankees have won five straight games after sailing to an 8-2 victory on Friday. New York has outscored its opponents 36-6 during the stretch.
On Friday, Rice smacked his 17th homer of the season to go with two doubles and one single.
Rice went 10-for-66 (.152) during his recent funk as his average dropped from .343 to .276. But he’s 9-for-14 with a homer, six RBIs and six runs over the past three games to lift it back to .303.
“It’s a lot of fun. It’s super contagious,” Rice said after the team’s 12-hit outing. “We have a lot of guys who feed off of one another. It’s really fun to watch when the bats are going well.”
Paul Goldschmidt hit a three-run homer in the first inning and Ryan McMahon went deep later during Friday’s easy victory.
The blast was just the sixth of the season for the 38-year-old Goldschmidt, who has hit 30 or more seven times during his stellar career.
“I feel like he always goes up there and is a guaranteed quality at-bat,” Rice said of Goldschmidt. “He’s going to go up there with a plan and hit the ball hard and that was another example of that.”
Meanwhile, the Athletics have been outscored 30-6 while losing the first four contests of a six-game homestand.
A throwing error by first baseman Nick Kurtz opened the door for four runs in the first inning for New York.
That was a hole the A’s were unable to recover from.
“Getting down early is tough,” Athletics manager Mark Kotsay said. “We’ve been down obviously this homestand, we haven’t played with the lead. Those are challenging games.
“… When we had an opportunity to capitalize and get back into the game, we didn’t get the hit. That’s been the theme (on the homestand).”
Kurtz’s solo homer and Zack Gelof’s run-scoring single plated the team’s runs.
Right-hander J.T. Ginn (2-3, 3.19 ERA) will take the mound for the Athletics on Saturday night.
Ginn, 27, has lost back-to-back starts despite taking a no-hitter into the ninth of the first one and not allowing a hit in the second while throwing 73 pitches.
The first outing was a heartbreaking 2-1 loss to the Los Angeles Angels on May 18. Adam Frazier broke up the no-hitter to start the ninth and Zach Neto followed with the walk-off two-run homer.
Ginn’s follow-up outing five days later was filled with wildness. He walked six in 2 1/3 innings against the San Diego Padres and took the loss while allowing two runs.
Ginn received a no-decision against the Yankees in 2024 when he allowed one run and four hits over five innings.
Left-hander Ryan Weathers (2-2, 3.14) will take the mound for New York.
Weathers, 26, gave up just four hits over seven scoreless innings against the Tampa Bay Rays last Sunday but received a no-decision in the 2-0 victory. He struck out four and walked three.
Weathers lost to the A’s on April 9 despite pitching well in New York’s 1-0 setback. He gave up one run and seven hits over eight innings.
Weathers is 0-2 with a 2.57 ERA in two career starts against the Athletics. Brent Rooker (1-for-4) has homered against Weathers.
–Field Level Media
Fever's Caitlin Clark aims to atone for shooting woes in visit to Fire
White Sox Surprise Season Powered by AL Central's Shortstop Renaissance
