Sports category, Page 300
AL West Preview: The Astros will look different, and that could mean a new division champ this year
The Houston Astros will certainly look different when trying to continue their impressive run of AL West titles, after letting two of their best hitters go and with Jose Altuve likely moving to left field. This could be the season that another team finally overtakes the Astros as division champs....
AL East Preview: Yankees and Orioles are still talented, but the race at the top could be tighter
Juan Soto and Corbin Burnes are gone from the division, and although the Yankees and Orioles can certainly succeed without them, the AL East seems noticeably tougher to predict this year. In 2023, Baltimore and Tampa Bay won 101 and 99 games, with the rest of the division another 10...
AL Central Preview: Four solid teams, and then the White Sox
The American League Central was a surprisingly strong division last season, with four teams finishing above .500. Then there was the Chicago White Sox — who racked up 121 losses for the most defeats in modern Major League Baseball history. Expect more of the same in 2025. The defending champion...
Tim Benz: Pirates hopes of winning ‘in the margins’ is easier said than done
Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton laid out the key to his team’s 2025 improvement on a 76-86 record a year ago. “I think you win in the margins, very much so,” Shelton told reporters in Bradenton, Fla. “We have to win those margins.” Exactly how wide are these “margins” we...
MLB preview: Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers hope to become 1st repeat champs since ’98-’00 YankeesVideo
Shohei Ohtani was in the batter’s box for the season’s first pitch Tuesday, arriving at the Tokyo Dome coronated a World Series champion. Twenty-nine other teams will be trying to dethrone his Los Angeles Dodgers, who flexed their financial might again during the offseason hoping to become the first repeat...
Defying odds after knee injury, Hunter Stratton rewarded by Pirates with 40-man roster spot
Hunter Stratton had beaten the odds before, so the Pittsburgh Pirates reliever was convinced he could beat a timeline to return from injury. A 16th-round draft pick who spent seven seasons in the minor leagues, Stratton persevered to make his major-league debut in September 2023. After being nontendered that offseason,...
2025 Pirates 40-man roster breakdown
The Pittsburgh Pirates have 20 pitchers and 20 position players on their 40-man roster as the 2025 season approaches. Here’s a look at each player: Pirates’ 40-man roster No. Name, Ht., Wt., Pos. 67 Braxton Ashcraft, 6-5, 220, RHP: If top-10 prospect can stay healthy, his upper 90s fastball should...
‘I want to win’: Paul Skenes sets bar high, aims to raise ceiling for Pirates
Paul Skenes isn’t shy about saying he wants to win with the Pittsburgh Pirates, though he doesn’t directly discuss winning a World Series. Instead, the 22-year-old right-hander talks about raising the floor and the ceiling as if issuing a challenge not just to himself but the entire franchise. Skenes is...
Penn State, Carter Starocci celebrate titles, Gable Steveson upset at NCAA wrestling
PHILADELPHIA — Penn State’s Carter Starocci won an unprecedented fifth national title and Oklahoma State’s Wyatt Hendrickson stunned Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson in the heavyweight final Saturday night at the NCAA men’s wrestling championships with President Donald Trump in attendance. Hendrickson, a transfer from Air Force, trailed in the...
Riverhounds pick up 1st win of season in home opener
As the seconds ticked off the Highmark Stadium scoreboard Saturday along the banks of the Monongahela, Bob Lilley and his Pittsburgh Riverhounds found the much-needed first win and 3 points, putting together a 1-0 home-opener victory against Hartford Athletic. The game was played in brisk, windy conditions as 4,026 braved...
Minor league report: Avery Hayes gives Penguins overtime winVideo
A goal by forward Avery Hayes at 2:09 of overtime gave the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins a 3-2 win against the rival Hershey Bears at Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre on Saturday. Forward Atley Calvert scored both regulation goals for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (34-18-7-1) while goaltender Sergei Murashov made 24 saves on 26 shots...
Pirates option Henry Davis, select RHP Hunter Stratton, DFA Joshua Palacios in roster moves
The Pittsburgh Pirates took steps toward finalizing their Opening Day roster by making a handful of roster moves Saturday, including one that involves a former No. 1 overall pick. The Pirates selected right-handed reliever Hunter Stratton to their major league roster, designated outfielder Joshua Palacios for assignment and optioned catcher...
Kyle Larson trying to avoid another disappointing weekend at HomesteadVideo
HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Kyle Larson is tired of his weekends at Homestead-Miami Speedway ending in disappointment. The Hendrick Motorsports driver has won a NASCAR Cup Series race and Xfinity Series race in his career at the South Florida track, but he mostly just remembers the heartbreaks there. Last year it...
NCAA Tournament roundup: John Calipari, Arkansas beat Rick Pitino, St. John’sVideo
Moon native John Calipari is heading to the Sweet 16 for the 16th time, and this one could be the sweetest of all. Calipari’s Arkansas Razorbacks beat longtime nemesis Rick Pitino and No. 2 seed St. John’s, 75-66, on Saturday, sending their itinerant coach to the second weekend of the...
JJ Qunierly’s 27 points lifts West Virginia women to NCAA tourney win
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — JJ Quinerly scored 27 points, including the 2,000th of her career, Jordan Harrison matched a career-high with 23 and sixth-seeded West Virginia led wire-to-wire in a 78-59 victory over 11th-seeded Columbia on Saturday in the first round of the women’s NCAA Tournament. Quinerly also had seven...
Penguins’ remaining games still mean somethingVideo
It wasn’t an order. Or even a guarantee. More of a suggestion. “Enjoy the show!” That’s what forward Boko Imama said to a Pittsburgh Penguins broadcaster Friday after a morning skate in Cranberry. Approximately eight hours later, Imama dazzled just anyone watching his team’s 6-3 win against the Columbus Blue...
Paul Skenes sharp in final spring training outing, but Pirates no-hit by Baltimore
After his fifth and final spring training outing Saturday afternoon, only a few days stand between Pittsburgh Pirates phenom Paul Skenes and the regular-season opener, which he’s set to start Thursday at Miami. Skenes delivered 3 1/3 scoreless innings Saturday against the Baltimore Orioles, throwing 51 pitches (33 for strikes)...
Who’s No. 1, Andy Toole’s current Colonials or Matt Furjanic’s Robert Morris teams from the ’80s?
Andy Toole said he might get text messages from people challenging his claim that this season’s Robert Morris team is the best in school history. Matt Furjanic didn’t send a text, but he certainly could have an argument with Toole. Furjanic coached the first Robert Morris teams that went to...
5 positions that bear watching for Steelers as free agency winds down, draft talk intensifies
As NFL free agency nears the end of its second week, it’s a good time to analyze what the Pittsburgh Steelers did — and, more importantly, didn’t do — to improve the roster. That correlates with the draft, which is a month away, and where the organization might allocate its...
Penguins no strangers when it comes to playing overseas
On Tuesday, the NHL announced the Pittsburgh Penguins and Nashville Predators would be playing a pair of games in Sweden next season. The contests will take place Nov. 14 and 16 at the Avicii Arena in Stockholm. This will mark the second time the Penguins have played games in Sweden...
3 Periods: Clock is ticking for the Penguins to sign 2 prospects
March has been a busy month for the Pittsburgh Penguins when it’s come to signing prospects. Things kicked off March 3 when the Penguins signed 20-year-old defenseman Finn Harding, chosen by the club in the seventh round (No. 223 overall) of the 2024 NHL Draft, to a three-year entry-level contract...
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: Has Tristan Jarry saved his future in Pittsburgh?
When goalie Tristan Jarry cleared waivers and got sent to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League in mid-January, his Pittsburgh Penguins tenure seemed over. Perhaps his NHL career, too. But since being recalled to Pittsburgh three weeks ago, Jarry has rallied. Jarry has done so under very little pressure, true....
North Allegheny senior brings home synchronized skating gold
At the U.S. Figure Skating Eastern Championships in Hershey on Jan. 24, the Steel City Blades Open Juvenile (Blue) synchronized skating team was chosen to go first among the 23 competing teams. As nervous as the team felt just being in the championships, the thought of having to perform their...
Penguins assign defenseman Sebastian Aho to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton
The Pittsburgh Penguins assigned defenseman Sebastian Aho to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League (AHL) on Saturday. Recalled to the NHL club March 11 under emergency roster conditions, Aho (5-foot-10, 176 pounds) had been shuffled between the NHL and AHL rosters repeatedly in paper transactions before Saturday’s assignment. A healthy...
Pirates hearing Matt Hague crystal clear, as new hitting coach attempts to speak their language
Matt Hague had headphones on from the home dugout at LECOM Park and was talking with the SportsNet Pittsburgh broadcast crew when the Pittsburgh Pirates’ new hitting coach addressed the nature of his job. “We’re therapists sometimes, trying to be their hitting bilinguist sometimes,” said Hague, 40, who played professionally...
