Sports
The Dodgers Just Bought Another World Series Contender—And They're Not Apologizing
Complaints that the deep pockets of the Los Angeles Dodgers are ruining the competitive balance of baseball have been heard and considered by World Series champions.
They are not apologizing.
“Our ownership group has been incredibly supportive of continuing to put back into our fans, who have done nothing but support us and come out and see us,” general manager Brandon Gomes said at the team’s most recent press conference, this one to announce the signing of top reliever Tanner Scott.
“So we’re solely focused on ‘How do we make our team better?’ and give back to the fans who have nothing but come out to see us.”
The Dodgers’ goal of making a very good roster even better comes from the desire to consistently be able to finish off what they start.
Before 2024, the Dodgers had made 11 consecutive playoff appearances, with 10 National League West titles in that stretch.
And the only championship in that run came in a pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
Anybody with a disdain for the Dodgers, especially anybody in San Francisco, was quick to dismiss the achievement. Some Dodgers’ personnel even referenced that dismissive attitude during last Fall’s title run.
“I’m sure there’s no asterisk on this one,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after the current title was secured.
But the Dodgers aren’t spending again this winter out of spite. Key to their goal of adding as much talent as possible, even as payroll continues to increase, is that playing a 162-game season and then surviving the frenzied nature of the playoffs is daunting.
In previous playoff runs, Dodgers pitching seemed to be running on fumes, either from injury or the wear and tear of the regular season.
That issue even was present in the 2024 postseason, when the Dodgers had just three healthy starters, and one of them, Walker Buehler, was a question mark after a two-year layoff for a second Tommy John surgery.
The Dodgers cobbled together bullpen games in the playoffs to get the job done, and anybody who thought it was the team’s plan all along, or that it established some kind of legitimate strategy going forward, had not been paying attention to the team’s postseason plight over the past decade.
So the Dodgers added two of the biggest prizes in the offseason. Two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell came aboard on a five-year, $182 million deal, and Roki Sasaki was acquired on a $6.5 million signing bonus, with team-control salaries for his first three seasons.
There were other additions like Scott’s four-year, $72 million deal, shortstop Hyeseong Kim’s three-year, $12.5 million pact, right-hander Kirby Yates’ one-year, $13 million deal, and a one-year, $17 million contract for outfielder Michael Conforto. Outfielder Teoscar Hernandez re-signed for three years and $66 million.
Yet the most anticipated of all for 2025 will be Shohei Ohtani’s return to the mound.
With Tyler Glasnow’s return from an elbow strain, Tony Gonsolin’s comeback from Tommy John surgery, and Clayton Kershaw’s desire for at least one more summer in the L.A. sun, the starting staff is stacked. There are even expected contributions from Landon Knack, Dustin May and Justin Wrobleski.
The Dodgers know that a good thing can turn in an instant. Young starters like Gavin Stone, Emmit Sheehan and River Ryan all contributed last season, and all three will be out for 2025 with injuries. Buehler departed in free agency. Half-season rental Jack Flaherty is set to leave in free agency as well.
“… Right now we’re 3-to-1 against to win the World Series,” Dodgers team president Stan Kasten said last week. “That’s 70, 75 percent likely that someone else will win the World Series. So obviously (Dodgers spending) hasn’t damaged the game competitively.”
While that percentage is true, according to implied probability, the odds for a championship favorite don’t get much smaller than 3-to-1. It sets up the Dodgers as both a huge title favorite and a massive antagonist outside of L.A.
Nobody is expected to draw more fans in the upcoming season, either at home or on the road. It means competitive nature will be as big as ever in 2025.
Sports
No. 5 Tar Heels top No. 16 W. Virginia, move on at MCWS
Jun 12, 2026; Omaha, NE, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels pitcher Caden Glauber (27) pitches against the Mississippi Rebels during the ninth inning at Charles Schwab Field. Mandatory Credit: Dylan Widger-Imagn Images Gavin Gallaher hit a tiebreaking two-run triple during a three-run seventh inning to help No. 5 North Carolina produce a 5-2 victory over No. 16 West Virginia on Sunday night in Men’s College World Series play at Omaha, Neb.
Owen Hull had two hits and one RBI and Carter French also had two hits for the Tar Heels (52-12-1), who will continue on in winner’s bracket play on Wednesday.
Right-hander Walker McDuffie (9-3) pitched 3 2/3 scoreless innings of relief for North Carolina before running into trouble in the ninth. Right-hander Caden Glauber struck out both batters he faced for his fifth save.
Armani Guzman had two hits and one RBI and Brodie Kresser had two hits for West Virginia (46-16), which committed two errors during North Carolina’s three-run seventh-inning uprising. The Mountaineers will oppose Troy on Tuesday in an elimination contest.
At the outset of the seventh, Mountaineers third baseman Tyrus Hall and second baseman Kresser booted routine grounders in a span of three batters to set up the Tar Heels.
Gallaher then made West Virginia pay with a shot into the gap in right-center off Maxx Yehl (9-3) to score French and Jake Schaffner and give North Carolina a 4-2 lead. Hull followed with a grounded single up the middle for another run.
The left-handed Yehl allowed five runs (two earned) and eight hits over seven-plus innings. He had seven strikeouts and walked one.
North Carolina right-hander Ryan Lynch gave up two runs and five hits over 4 2/3 innings. He struck out two and walked two. McDuffie struck out four and gave up three hits and two walks.
Matt Ineich drew a one-out walk off McDuffie in the ninth and Kresser followed with a single to right-center. Glauber entered and struck out Ben Lumsden and fanned Hall looking to end it.
The Tar Heels scored twice in the first inning after loading the bases with one out. The first crossed when Erik Paulsen walked and the second came in on Cooper Nicholson’s infield out.
West Virginia got a run back in the third on Guzman’s RBI single. One inning later, a double-play grounder plated the tying run.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Yan Diomande breakout star in Ivory Coast's opening win over Ecuador
June 14, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.; Ivory Coast’s Yan Diomande and Elye Wahi in action. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images PHILADELPHIA — In his first World Cup match, 19-year-old Yan Diomande announced himself to the world, and so did his youthful Ivory Coast side in a 1-0 victory over Ecuador to open their World Cup campaign on Sunday.
The RB Leipzig wide man and reigning Bundesliga Rookie of the Season was Man of the Match in the Group E encounter, no small feat against an opponent that entered with 19 matches unbeaten, including 11 in the gauntlet of CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying.
“We know all about Yan Diomande,” said his manager Emerse Fae. “He’s an impactful player. He’s hard to play for opponents. He delivered an excellent match.”
While Diomande’s brilliant service in the first half and dribbling in the second didn’t lead to the decisive goal — even after Amad Diallo’s historic 90th-minute winner — it was hard not to think about what could be ahead for a player valued at about $105 million, according to the website Transfermarkt.
“He’s a great striker and his added value is very clear,” said fellow Ivorian forward Elye Wahi. “We’re very happy for the (award) he notched up.”
Despite appearing only twice in World Cup qualifying for “Les Elephants,” Fae entrusted Diomande with a start on the right flank in the Ivory Coast’s first World Cup match since 2014 and first World Cup victory against South American opposition.
It quickly became clear why, as he terrorized Ecuador’s back line and Arsenal fullback Piero Hincapie in particular over the opening 45 minutes.
Diomande’s best sequence in that role came on 35 minutes, when he picked up a ball at midfield, quickly rounded Hincapie and sent in a cross that Nicolas Pepe couldn’t finish after attempting a second touch to get the ball on his favored left boot.
After switching to the left following Diallo’s 56th-minute insertion, he tried to solve Ecuador’s stubborn rear guard himself.
In the 58th minute, he somehow split John Yeboah, Alan Franco and Moises Caicedo to enter the left side of the penalty area before firing high.
He nearly achieved the feat again in the late stages, before the Ivorians finally took advantage of the attention he commanded, with Wilfried Singo surging up the opposite flank to send in a low cross and Diallo dispatching a clinical finish.
–Ian Nicholas Quillen, Field Level Media
Sports
Rangers get off to hot start, hold off Red Sox
Jun 14, 2026; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Texas Rangers right fielder Brandon Nimmo (24) hits an RBI double during the fourth inning against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images Wyatt Langford and Kyle Higashioka homered in back-to-back innings to start the game, and the visiting Texas Rangers avoided a three-game series sweep at the hands of the Boston Red Sox with a 6-4 win on Sunday night.
The Rangers tagged Boston starter Connelly Early (5-5) for six runs and 11 hits through the first 4 2/3 innings and totaled 13 knocks in the game.
Beyond the long balls, Brandon Nimmo (2-for-5) hit a clutch two-RBI double in the fourth inning, while Justin Foscue went 3-for-3 with a run scored. Higashioka and Cody Freeman also had multiple hits.
The early offense stood tall as Rangers starter Nathan Eovaldi (6-7) pitched seven innings, striking out six while working around three runs and six hits.
Willson Contreras homered twice on his 3-for-4 night and Masataka Yoshida went 2-for-4 with a double and run scored to lead the Red Sox, who have lost five of their last seven games.
With the Tartan Army filling the Fenway Park stands after Scotland’s World Cup win in Foxborough, Mass., on Saturday, Early was tagged for a first-pitch leadoff home run for a second consecutive start. Langford crushed a solo shot completely over the Green Monster and out of the ballpark to lift Texas to an immediate 1-0 lead in the first inning.
The Rangers busted open the score with three straight hits to start the second. After Foscue and Cody Freeman stung back-to-back singles to center, Higashioka drove them both home with a three-run shot that just cleared the left-field wall.
After Eovaldi set down his former team 1-2-3 to start the game, Contreras went deep to left to get Boston on the scoreboard at 4-1. The inning continued with Caleb Durbin drawing a one-out walk and Isiah Kiner-Falefa knocking an infield single over second base. After a wild pitch moved both into scoring position, Marcelo Mayer’s RBI grounder made it a two-run game.
Early escaped a two-on jam without any damage in the third, but Texas extended its lead in the following frame. Alejandro Osuna started the rally with a one-out single, then back-to-back walks preceded Nimmo’s key double high off the Monster.
While Greg Weissert (1 1/3 innings), Ryan Watson (two innings) and Tommy Kahnle (one inning) teamed up for scoreless relief, Boston inched closer when Contreras knocked another solo shot out to deep left with two outs in the sixth, making it a 6-3 game.
In the eighth, Yoshida’s one-out knock got the Sox started, and he scored on Abreu’s liner to right two batters later.
Contreras followed with his third hit, but Jacob Latz entered to induce an inning-ending grounder from Jarren Duran before dealing a scoreless ninth to finalize his 11th save.
–Field Level Media
No. 5 Tar Heels top No. 16 W. Virginia, move on at MCWS
Yan Diomande breakout star in Ivory Coast's opening win over Ecuador
