Sports
The Minnesota Twins Should've Traded Pablo Lopez Last Year
The Minnesota Twins have been among the unluckiest teams in baseball for most of the 21st century. More recently, they’ve assembled one of the better rosters in the American League, but it hasn’t led to much success in the postseason. They haven’t made it out of the ALDS since 2002, and with how their roster continued to fall apart at the worst times, they decided to close their window of contention at the trade deadline last season.
Minnesota blew up their roster, trading 10 players at the deadline, including Carlos Correa, Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, and many other important pieces. They got some decent pieces back in these trades, but they made many of these moves to shed salary.
The way they tore things down never made much sense. They gutted their roster but kept their three most valuable trade assets, which will never be valuable pieces on a contender in Minnesota.
Byron Buxton is coming off one of the healthiest years in his career, but at age 32, how much time does he have before his play begins to suffer after dealing with as many injuries as he has? Buxton is signed to a relatively team-friendly deal, but only through 2028. I don’t see Minnesota as a serious contender over the next three years, so holding on to him only keeps this team from truly bottoming out and landing a top draft pick.
The move that really never made sense for the Twins was holding on to Pablo Lopez. Of course, it’s easier for me to say this after seeing that he will miss all of 2026 with a torn UCL Ligament, but even at the time, it never made sense to hold on to him.
The Twins were looking to shed money at the deadline, and Lopez was making $21.5 million. Not only that, but the last deadline was a complete seller’s market for pitchers. Even with a questionable bill of health for Lopez, he could’ve gotten a massive return for Minnesota.
Again, hindsight is 20/20, and nobody expected him to miss this entire season, but not cashing in on him after you had already traded 10 other players is organizational malpractice. It’s not like the Twins were even close to a playoff spot. Things really got worse down the stretch, but they still lost 92 games last year; it was simply not a good baseball team.
It might be a long few years for Twins fans. Detroit has one of the best rotations in baseball and multiple top prospects on the way. Kansas City has Bobby Whitt Jr. and a young core looking to compete.
Then there’s always Cleveland who manages to break the Twins’ hearts year after year. Get ready for some rough times in the Twin Cities.
Sports
ATP roundup: Jakub Mensik shocks Jannik Sinner in Doha
Sep 21, 2025; San Francisco, CA, USA; Team Europe player Jakub Mensik returns a shot against Team World player Alex de Minaur during the Laver Cup at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images Czech rising star Jakub Mensik hit 11 aces and rode a dominant third set to a 7-6 (3), 2-6, 6-3 upset of No. 2 seed Jannik Sinner of Italy at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open quarterfinals on Thursday in Doha.
The sixth-seeded Mensik won 14 of his 16 first-service points in the third set and 49 of 60 overall (81.7%) while saving 5 of 7 break points in the match. Sinner, who fell in the semifinals of the Australian Open, missed the final in back-to-back starts for the first time since the summer of 2024.
No. 1 seed Carlos Alcaraz of Spain now has a clearer path to the title at the ATP 500 event, though he survived a scare of his own in the quarterfinals when he rallied past Russian seventh seed Karen Khachanov 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-3. Alcaraz had a 41-14 edge in winners to overcome his 34 unforced errors.
Alcaraz’s semifinal opponent will be No. 5 seed Andrey Rublev of Russia, a 6-3, 7-6 (2) winner over Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas. Mensik will battle Frenchman Arthur Fils, who upset Czech eighth seed Jiri Lehecka 6-3, 6-3.
Delray Beach Open
No. 4 seed Learner Tien hit 20 aces among his 51 winners to fight past Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic 6-4, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (5) in Delray Beach, Fla.
Kecmanovic saved four match points — one in the 12th game to force a tiebreaker, then three more after going down 6-2 — but he could not save a fifth. Tien’s quarterfinal opponent, No. 8 seed Frances Tiafoe, also needed three sets to turn back qualifier Zachary Svajda 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, saving 5 of 6 break points along the way.
The evening matches in Florida pit No. 5 seed Tommy Paul against Australian Adam Walton and No. 1 seed Taylor Fritz against Spain’s Rafael Jodar.
Rio Open
Portuguese lucky loser Jaime Faria kept his week going by beating Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Damir Dzumhur 7-6 (1), 6-4 to advance to the quarterfinals in Rio de Janeiro.
Faria, who hit 26 winners and had to get past 29 unforced errors, is joined in the next round by No. 8 seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina, who defeated Lithuanian qualifier Vilius Gaubas by an identical 7-6 (1), 6-4 scoreline.
The late matches in Rio see third-seeded Joao Fonseca of Brazil take on Peru’s Ignacio Buse and Italian Matteo Berrettini oppose Serbian lucky loser Dusan Lajovic.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Tyler Reddick's Daytona 500 win scores massive ratings for Fox
Michael Jordan at Tyler Reddick on Victory Lane. The 2026 Daytona 500 held Feb.15 at Daytona International Speedway. Tyler Reddick’s victory in the 2026 Daytona 500 scored massive ratings for Fox Sports, which saw an 11% increase over last year’s race.
The 7.489 million viewers for the race out-paced every non-prime Winter Olympics window on broadcast and cable and was the most-watched NASCAR race since the 2023 Daytona 500 (8.173 million). The peak viewership from 5:30-5:45 p.m. ET on Sunday drew 9.154 million viewers.
They tuned in to see Reddick score a victory for Michael Jordan’s 23XI Racing by passing leader Chase Elliott on the final turn.
The 30-year-old Corning, Calif., native went high and swooped low off Turn 4 to beat Ricky Stenhouse Jr. by 0.308 seconds as the lead group wrecked wildly before reaching the flagstand.
Joey Logano finished third, followed by Elliott and Brad Keselowski.
“Last year was really hard for us, hard for me,” said Reddick, who became the fourth Daytona 500 winner not to lead until the last lap. “When you’re a Cup driver and you get to this level and drive for Michael Jordan, you’re expected to win every single year.”
Elliott settled for his second Top 5 finish in 11 starts at Daytona.
“This really sucks to be that close,” Elliott said, “come off Turn 4 with the lead and not finish it off.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Women's Top 25 roundup: Texas A&M extends No. 21 Tennessee's slide
Tennessee guard Talaysia Cooper (55) guards Texas A&M guard Salese Blow (25) during a NCAA basketball game at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center in Knoxville, Tenn., on Feb. 19, 2026. Ny’Ceara Pryor and Fatmata Janneh had double-doubles and Texas A&M upset No. 21 Tennessee 82-74 on Thursday night in Knoxville, Tenn.
Pryor finished with 22 points and 10 assists, Janneh produced 17 points and 12 rebounds and Lemyah Hylton scored 12 for the Aggies (11-11, 4-9 SEC), who took command with a 16-2 spurt to start the third quarter that generated a 63-44 lead.
Texas A&M scored the first 10 points of the game, but held just a five-point halftime lead before the blitz that triggered a 22-9 scoring edge in the third quarter.
Senior forward Janiah Barker posted a career-high 29 points with 10 rebounds, Zee Spearman scored 14 and Talaysia Cooper had 11 to pace the Volunteers (16-9, 8-5), who never led while losing their third straight game.
No. 22 North Carolina 66, Virginia Tech 63 (OT)
Nyla Harris had 15 points and nine rebounds to lead the Tar Heels over the Hokies in Blacksburg, Va.
Harris made two free throws to give North Carolina (22-6, 11-4 ACC) the lead for good with 1:27 left in overtime as it bounced back from a 72-68 loss at Duke on Sunday that ended an eight-game winning streak. Elina Aarnisalo added 13 points, Lanie Grant scored 12 and Indya Nivar had 10.
Carys Baker had 15 points and eight rebounds, Samyha Suffren scored 15 and Carleigh Wenzel added 14 for Virginia Tech (20-8, 10-6), which had two game-tying 3-point attempts blocked in the waning seconds before missing a third at the buzzer.
No. 11 Oklahoma 71, No. 24 Georgia 67
Aaliyah Chavez scored 27 points and the Sooners never trailed in holding off the Bulldogs in Athens, Ga.
Sahara Williams added 11 points for Oklahoma (20-6, 8-5 SEC), which scored the first nine points of the game and built a 37-27 halftime lead.
Mia Woolfork had a career-high 29 points with nine rebounds for Georgia (20-7, 6-7), which shot just 2 of 15 from 3-point range. Dani Carnegie scored 14 points and Trinity Turner added 10.
–Field Level Media
ATP roundup: Jakub Mensik shocks Jannik Sinner in Doha
Tyler Reddick's Daytona 500 win scores massive ratings for Fox
