We’re back hoops fans with another Yahoo Fantasy x Arena Club drop for Week 17. Yahoo Fantasy Basketball Slab Packs are a brand-new weekly drop featuring real, graded trading cards of the hottest fantasy performers in the NBA.
If you’re new to Arena Club, here’s the lowdown. Arena Club is the premier online marketplace for sports cards, giving collectors a way to rip packs virtually, buy and sell graded cards and track their entire collection — all in one place. Whether you’re in it for the hobby, the thrill or the chase, Arena Club brings the excitement directly to your screen.
Each week, Arena Club curates real, graded NBA cards and builds two types of Yahoo Fantasy Slab Packs:
Every pack contains a graded card of an active NBA player — but the real treasure is the weekly Chase Cards, featuring some of the top fantasy basketball performers from the past week. These limited-edition hits can reach values up to 20x the cost of the pack.
Weekly NBA Slab Packs go live every Wednesday at 1 p.m. ET and remain available through Friday at 1 p.m. ET (or until they’re gone). It’s the ultimate mid-week boost for fantasy hoopers and collectors alike.
Advertisement
To top it off, use promo code YAHOO at checkout for 20% off your first slab pack or card purchase on ArenaClub.com or the Arena Club app.
This Week’s Featured Players
Rip a slab pack today for a chance to pull one of the week’s biggest fantasy basketball stars:
Victor Wembanyama, Spurs
Wemby put on a show for Team World at the 2026 NBA All-Star Game, dropping 33 points collectively across two games (both losses) in just 20 minutes.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bucks
Giannis remains sidelined as we come out of the All-Star break with action on Thursday, and it’s unclear if he’ll be back for Milwaukee this season.
Advertisement
Kawhi Leonard, Clippers
Kawhi competed with the old heads on Team Stripes during All-Star Weekend and went atomic in the round robin vs. Team World, scoring 31 of 48 points in just 12 minutes. You could argue it might be one of the best ASG performances of all-time.
Anthony Edwards, Timberwolves
Ant Man hit a couple of big shots for Team Stars at All-Star Weekend, scoring 13 points in nine minutes against Team World in the round robin. He would add another 8 in the championship to help Team Stars take it all home.
LeBron James, Lakers
Was this perhaps LeBron’s last All-Star Game? If it was, he didn’t go home a winner, scoring 5 points in a blowout loss to the Stars in the final.
Weekly Drops. Real Cards. Real Value. Real Thrill.
With new cards releasing every week based on real fantasy performance, the Yahoo Fantasy x Arena Club partnership delivers a constantly refreshing lineup of NBA stars — and the chase cards you’ll be talking about all season.
Don’t miss this week’s release.
Rip your slab pack, hit a chase card, and upgrade your collection today!
Orlando Magic forward Franz Wagner will be sidelined indefinitely due to needing more time to rehabilitate his high left ankle sprain, reports ESPN’s Shams Charania.
Wagner has been dealing with the injury since Dec. 7, which has caused him to miss all but four of the Magic’s games since it occurred. He sat out the rest of December and played just two games in January. He returned earlier this month just before the All-Star break, and appeared in two games.
Advertisement
In his fifth year, Wagner has become one of the Magic’s young stars. Wagner had a breakout year last season, averaging career highs of 24.2 points and 4.7 assists per game. Orlando made the playoffs last season for the second consecutive year, although it was eliminated in the first round.
The Magic ended the season 41-41 and had to go through the play-in tournament to make the playoffs. Through 53 games this season, the Magic are 28-25 and currently in seventh place in the East. They’re sitting 1.5 games behind the Philadelphia 76ers, who are 30-24.
While Wagner has been hampered by this ankle injury and his numbers have dipped, he’s still tied for the team lead in points per game with Paolo Banchero at 21.3. Wagner is also shooting a career-high 36.5% from 3-point range this season.
Advertisement
The timelines on high ankle sprains can vary depending on the severity. Wagner returned too early from the injury and will need to stay off the ankle for a while. However, missing Wagner in the lineup will hurt and could determine how much of a playoff push the Magic can make down the stretch. With 29 games remaining in the regular season, Orlando is just 3.5 games ahead of the 10th-place Atlanta Hawks in the East.
The San Francisco 49ers had injury issues that were out of their control this past season. They overcame those challenges to make the playoffs, but missing several key players undoubtedly capped their potential to make a deeper run.
The NFL’s league year doesn’t even start until March, but we already know the 49ers have another massive roadblock awaiting them.
Advertisement
The 49ers announced they will play in Mexico City during the 2026 NFL regular season. That’s not too unusual, but it is unprecedented that they’ll play two international games next season in different continents. Add on the 49ers’ announced game in Australia against the Los Angeles Rams, and suddenly travel becomes a big issue.
The 49ers will travel more miles than anyone in the NFL next season and more than any team ever has. That’s a hefty challenge no other team is going to be dealing with next season.
49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan and his team found out they’ll have a second international game this upcoming season. (Photo by Michael Zagaris/San Francisco 49ers/Getty Images)
(Michael Zagaris via Getty Images)
A new record for the 49ers
The 49ers will travel more than 38,000 miles. There’s the trip to Melbourne, Australia, the one to Mexico City, and also trips to face the Giants and Falcons in the Eastern time zone.
Advertisement
If that sounds like a lot of travel for one season, it is. That mileage will break an NFL record, set by the Chargers when they traveled more than 37,000 miles last season, according to Bill Speros of Bookies.com. That’s despite having only eight road games in the 17-game schedule (that Mexico City game is a designated 49ers home game).
International travel can be tough on teams, and it can take a few weeks to feel back to normal. That’s why most teams take a bye week after playing an international game. And the 49ers will get two international games. They will be the first team to play two international games in non-consecutive weeks. The Jaguars have played two games in London before. Last season the Vikings played two international games in a row, but both of those were in Europe with one in England and the other in Ireland. What the 49ers are being asked to do hasn’t been done before.
The good news for the 49ers is there is a long break between the two international trips. John Ourand of Puck reported the game against the Rams in Australia will be in Week 1, with a specific day to be determined. The Mexico City game, with an opponent that will be determined later, will be in December.
But, that also means the 49ers have two international trips practically bookending their season.
Advertisement
49ers have a big challenge
The 49ers’ leadership is happy to be making that second international trip.
“We are thrilled to return to Mexico and to play in front of one of the most passionate fan bases in the league,” 49ers CEO Al Guido said in a statement. “After two unforgettable experiences in 2005 and 2022 we are excited to reunite with the Mexico faithful.”
The players might not be so excited to have 38,000 miles to fly during the season.
This will happen more often with the NFL’s stated desire to get to 16 international games. There will be nine during the 2026 season. All that travel will make it tougher on the players, who already have a hard time getting through the expanded 17-game season healthy.
Advertisement
The 49ers know all about that. They had numerous star players miss games last season, though coach Kyle Shanahan did a marvelous job to get them to a 12-5 record. They go right from that strife to having to deal with the toughest travel schedule the NFL has ever seen, at least in terms of flight miles. They have to do that while trying to navigate one of the NFL’s toughest divisions, with the Super Bowl champion Seahawks and NFC runner-up Rams.
The 49ers will get to see the world during the upcoming season. There will be a hidden cost attached.
Less than a month after winning Super Bowl 60, the Seattle Seahawks are going up for sale. The franchise announced it had begun a “formal sale process” Wednesday in the hopes of selling the franchise in the coming months.
The team announced the move on social media, saying it was “consistent with [former owner Paul] Allen’s directive” after his death.
Allen’s foray into sports ownership began in 1988, when he purchased the Portland Trail Blazers. He entered the NFL world in 1997, buying the Seahawks.
Advertisement
In 2009, Allen was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He died in 2018 due to complications from the cancer. Since Allen’s death, the Seahawks have been owned by his estate, which is headed by his sister, Jody Allen.
As part of Allen’s will, he dictated that his sports holdings should be sold following his death, with the proceeds going toward philanthropic efforts. In addition to that, the NFL does not allow a trust to serve as a team owner. NFL teams must be owned by individuals.
Because of that, it was only a matter of time before the Seahawks also went up for sale. But not before a little infighting between the franchise and the NFL. In January, reports emerged suggesting the Seahawks would be put up for sale after the Super Bowl. Allen’s estate refuted those reports, saying the team was not for sale.
Advertisement
The NFL took issue with that, reportedly fining the team $5 million for refusing to adhere to league rules.
A sale could come together relatively soon. The Seahawks hired Allen & Company, an investment bank, to help lead the sale process. Allen & Company was also hired by Allen’s estate when it was looking to sell the Trail Blazers, and that deal came together after just a few months.
The Seahawks stand to be sold for a higher price than the Trail Blazers. In August, Sportico estimated Seahawks’ value at $6.59 billion. It’s unclear how much the team’s price has risen following its impressive run to a Super Bowl title this season.
The quarterfinals of the men’s ice hockey competition at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics are today, with four matches on the schedule. Games include Slovakia vs. Germany, Canada vs. Czechia, Finland vs. Switzerland, and the U.S. vs. Sweden. Every game will be available to stream on Peacock, and if you want to catch the Team USA game on TV, it will also be broadcast live on NBC at 3:10 p.m. ET.
Read on for a complete schedule of every U.S. men’s and women’s hockey game at this year’s games, a rundown of who is playing for Team USA, and how to watch all the action. And if you want to learn even more about every event at this year’s Winter Games, here’s a guide to everything you need to know about the Milan Cortina Games.
Advertisement
How to watch the Team USA vs. Sweden ice hockey quarterfinal at the 2026 Winter Olympics
For $17/month, you can upgrade to an ad-free Premium Plus subscription, which includes live access to your local NBC affiliate (not just during designated sports and events) and the ability to download select titles to watch offline.
Where to watch the Team USA vs. Sweden men’s ice hockey game on TV:
The Team USA men’s ice hockey quarterfinal against Sweden will air live on NBC on Wednesday, Feb. 18 at 3:10 p.m.
How to watch Olympic ice hockey free without cable:
Who is on the Team USA men’s hockey team?
These are the athletes on Team USA’s men’s team, including their hometowns and professional teams:
Advertisement
Jake Sanderson (Whitefish, Mont./Ottawa Senators)
Brock Faber (Maple Grove, Minn./Minnesota Wild)
Matt Boldy (Millis, Mass./Minnesota Wild)
Kyle Connor (Shelby Township, Mich./Winnipeg Jets)
Jack Eichel (North Chelmsford, Mass./Vegas Golden Knights)
Jake Guentzel (Woodbury, Minn./Tampa Bay Lightning)
Noah Hanifin (Northwood, Mass./Vegas Golden Knights)
Connor Hellebuyck (Commerce, Mich./Winnipeg Jets)
Jack Hughes (Canton, Mich./New Jersey Devils)
Quinn Hughes (Canton, Mich./Minnesota Wild)
Clayton Keller (St. Louis/Utah Mammoth)
Jackson LaCombe (Eden Prairie, Minn./Anaheim Ducks)
Dylan Larkin (Waterford, Mich./Detroit Red Wings)
Auston Matthews (Scottsdale, Ariz./Toronto Maple Leafs)
Charlie McAvoy (Long Beach, N.Y./Boston Bruins)
J.T. Miller (East Palestine, Ohio/New York Rangers)
Brock Nelson (Warroad, Minn./Colorado Avalanche)
Jake Oettinger (Lakeville, Minn./Dallas Stars)
Jaccob Slavin (Erie, Colo./Carolina Hurricanes)
Jeremy Swayman (Anchorage, Alaska/Boston Bruins)
Tage Thompson (Orange, Conn./Buffalo Sabres)
Brady Tkachuk (St. Louis, Mo./Ottawa Senators)
Matthew Tkachuk (St. Louis, Mo./Florida Panthers)
Vincent Trocheck (Pittsburgh, Pa./New York Rangers)
Zach Werenski (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich./Columbus Blue Jackets).
2026 Team USA Olympic men’s ice hockey schedule:
Wednesday, February 18
Men’s Quarterfinal 1: Slovakia vs. Germany, 6:10 a.m. (Peacock)
Men’s Quarterfinal 2: Canada vs. Czechia, 10:40 a.m. (Peacock, USA)
Men’s Quarterfinal 3: Finland vs. Switzerland, 12:10 p.m. (Peacock)
Men’s Quarterfinal 4: USA vs. Sweden, 3:10 p.m. (Peacock, NBC)
Friday, February 20
Men’s Semifinal 1: Teams TBD, 10:40 a.m. (Peacock, re-air at 11:50 a.m. and 6 p.m. on USA)
Men’s Semifinal 2: Teams TBD, 3:10 p.m. (Peacock, NBC, re-air at 11 p.m. on USA)
Saturday, February 21
Men’s Bronze Medal Final: Teams TBD: 2:40 p.m. (Peacock, USA, re-air at 7 p.m. on CNBC, re-air at 11 p.m. on USA)
Sunday, February 22
Hockey Preview, 7:45 a.m. (NBC)
Gold Medal Final: Teams TBD, 8:10 a.m. (Peacock, NBC, re-air at 4:30 p.m. on USA)
Who is on the Team USA women’s hockey team?
The athletes on Team USA’s women’s team are:
Hilary Knight (Sun Valley, Idaho/Seattle Torrent)
Kendall Coyne Schofield (Palos Heights, Ill./Minnesota Frost)
Lee Stecklein (Roseville, Minn./Minnesota Frost)
Cayla Barnes (Eastvale, Calif./Seattle Torrent)
Alex Carpenter (North Reading, Mass./Seattle Torrent)
Megan Keller (Farmington Hills, Mich./Boston Fleet)
Kelly Pannek (Plymouth, Minn./Minnesota Frost)
Caroline Harvey (Salem, N.H./University of Wisconsin)
Abbey Murphy (Evergreen Park, Ill./University of Minnesota)
The match was delayed for 10 minutes in the second half following Viní Jr.’s goal after referee François Letexier initiated UEFA’s anti-racism protocol. After the Real Madrid star celebrated taking the lead, Benfica players were seen getting upset with him.
Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni speaks toward Real Madrid’s Vinícius Júnior during Tuesday’s Champions League match at Estadio do SL Benfica. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)
(Angel Martinez via Getty Images)
During the skirmish, Viní Jr. was seen walking past Prestianni before immediately approaching Letexier with the allegation.
“Racists are, above all, cowards. They need to cover their mouths with a shirt to show how weak they are,” Vinícius Júnior said in a statement on social media. “But they have, on their side, the protection of others who, theoretically, have the obligation to punish. Nothing that happened today is new in my life or in my family’s life. I received a yellow card for celebrating a goal. I still don’t understand why.
“On the other side, there was only a poorly executed protocol that served no purpose. I don’t like to appear in situations like this, especially after a great victory when the headlines should be about Real Madrid, but it is necessary.”
Kylian Mbappé said he heard Prestianni call Viní Jr. a “monkey” five times.
The 20-year-old Prestianni has denied the allegations.
“I want to clarify that at no time did I direct racist insults to Vini Jr, who regrettably misunderstood what he thought he heard,” Prestianni said in a statement. “I was never racist with anyone and I regret the threats I received from Real Madrid players.”
FIFA president Gianni Infantino released a statement saying that he was “shocked and saddened to see the incident of alleged racism” and praised the referee for activating the anti-racism protocol. There is absolutely no room for racism in our sport and in society,” Infantino said on social media. “We need all the relevant stakeholders to take action and hold those responsible to account.”
Advertisement
If Prestianni is found guilty of racial abuse, he faces a potential 10-match ban per UEFA’s guidelines.
Benfica and Real Madrid will meet again next Wednesday in the second leg of their Champions League knockout phase playoff at Estadio Bernabéu in Madrid.
With the fresh fantasy baseball season approaching, it’s time to get you some tiered rankings from my Shuffle Up series. Use these for salary cap drafts, straight drafts, keeper decisions or merely a view of how the position ebbs and flows. We’ve already handled all the hitters; now, we move to the mound.
Starting pitchers in fantasy baseball are similar to running backs in fantasy football. The position will generally be riddled with injuries. We’ll want to have several speculation plays on our bench, guys who just need one thing to click. And getting this position right — or running lucky at this position — is probably the most important part of your fantasy season.
In past years, I would often be the last manager to address starting pitching, blanching at the uncertainty. Occasionally, I had success with this concept (one year I won the Yahoo Friends & Family League despite not drafting a starter; I did build a staff later) but I’ve since discarded the idea as a -EV strategy.
I want to proactively build my staff, like most of my competitors, at the draft. And I’ll have to live with the variance like anyone else.
The numbers are unscientific in nature and meant to reflect where talent clusters and drops off. Assume a 5×5 scoring system, as usual, and away we go.
More Tiered Rankings
The Big Tickets
Advertisement
If you’re open to a high-priced ace but would prefer to start with a hitter, pray that Crochet slips to the second part of your draft. He’s in the prime of his career, tied to a team expected to contend for the playoffs and not reliant on a max-velocity fastball. Crochet will also be helped by his defense — the infield might be in flux, but the outfielders are all excellent, and the catching is also above average. Crochet was a little homer-prone at Fenway but still dominant there, and no one touched him on the road (2.25/1.00). The Red Sox were right to go all-in on Chris Sale once upon a time, and history repeated itself when it cleared out the prospect chest for Crochet last year.
Because the Dodgers already have nine toes in the playoffs, I’m going to be careful with workload projections for everyone on staff. Los Angeles will basically run a six-man rotation all year, and anytime a pitcher has the slightest hiccup with their arms and elbows, a rest is to be expected. Yamamoto is the only L.A. pitcher who’s qualified for the ERA title over the last three years (162 innings), and he’s also the only returning Dodger starter who logged more than 91 innings last year.
Webb is 60 innings ahead of the field over the past three years and working in San Francisco mitigates some of his mistakes. With a good-but-not-elite strikeout clip and a ground-ball bias, we have to accept that in some starts, Webb will get crushed by BABIP misfortune. And you have to be okay with his fastball checking in at an ordinary 92.6 mph. But Webb looks like a perfect fourth-round target to me.
Advertisement
DeGrom’s inning count has turned into an unsolvable SAT question. Starting in 2021 and cutting off the partials, this is what we’re looking at: 92, 64, 30, 10, 172. He’s moving into his age-38 season. Maybe it’s a fool’s errand to suppose any pitcher has a legitimate floor, but I know deGrom at this stage doesn’t have one. My heart will always be invested in deGrom, so I’ll avoid doubling down with fantasy investment. You have to decide for yourself.
Legitimate Building Blocks
Rotator cuff problems cost Ragans more than half of his season, but the rest of his results were a cause of bad luck — every reasonable ERA estimator says he should have been in the mid-2s, not the 4.67 number on the back of his card. Ragans gave us a reminder of his upside with 13 return innings in September, striking out 22. There’s no reason why he can’t return to his 2024 level of production (3.14/1.14, fourth in Cy Young voting).
Advertisement
Cease was a frustrating case last year, as he piled up 215 strikeouts but gave us hurtful ratios (4.55/1.33). Toronto’s defense should help him turn more batted events into outs. Maybe he’s not going to challenge for the Cy Young again, but normalized sequencing should give him a mid-3s ERA, and he’s proven to be durable. Don’t let his standard stats scare you off.
Talk Them Up, Talk Them Down
The Brewers have become the new Rays, the low-market team that makes better decisions than just about everyone else and winds up in the tournament every fall. Thus, I want to be proactive with their high-upside arms like Misiorowski and Henderson, while fully understanding that the team will be careful with workloads and pitch counts. If Misiorowski even gets to 24 starts, he probably returns his spring draft cost.
Advertisement
The early market is not bullish on Abbott, which means he can actually be worse than last year and still return a profit. Regress-and-win players are my jam. The strikeouts will play, and fly-ball pitchers are misunderstood — at least they’re showing control of their outcomes.
The Marlins are ready to take the training wheels off with Pérez, and it’s hard to unsee that tidy 0.96 WHIP he had over his final 16 starts. With the Tommy John surgery firmly in the background, Pérez is poised for a possible breakout. Hopefully, he doesn’t feel like he needs to strike out the world — the Marlins have a problematic defense.
Advertisement
Some Plausible Upside
Peruse the Boyd splits and you might abandon the case — 12 of his wins were at home but he was a mess on the road, and his breakout stopped in the second half (4.63/1.19). And last season was his first full year starting out of six. But the Cubs have a top-five defense and a top-five lineup to support Boyd, and Yahoo rooms are giving you a reasonable 197.6 ticket. I can sign off.
Ober has always been a curious case, a 6-foot-9 righty with below-average velocity. A hip problem was probably responsible for his messy 2025; his three years prior gave us a 3.66 ERA and 1.03 WHIP. He’s well priced for profit, even if the Minnesota defense is no longer an asset.
Advertisement
Nola routinely comes up short of his expected stats to the point that you have to accept it as part of his profile. And even if that horrible 6.01 ERA was reduced to his 4.58 FIP, it’s not like either stat helps you. His fastball has lost velocity for four straight seasons and homers, always a problem, hit a new low last season. Nola might seem like a tantalizing name pick at a reduced ADP, but I’m not chasing him on the back-9 of a slowly-fading career.
Bargain Bin
$1 *Spencer Schwellenbach
Senga has a wide range of outcomes — you could imagine him being in a playoff rotation come October, but he’s also not guaranteed to make the Mets out of training camp. Maybe Senga’s second-half collapse was mostly about hamstring problems, but keep in mind he’s 33 and we’re three years removed from his last full season.
Advertisement
With someone like Matthews, we follow the strikeout rate and the prospect pedigree and hope he can improve the control. His ultimate success will come down to finding a solution against lefties, who slashed .316/.372/.572 against him last year.
Doug Gottlieb’s postgame rant on Saturday night has cost him.
The Horizon League suspended Gottlieb for one game on Wednesday for comments he made after Green Bay’s 75-72 loss to Milwaukee on Sunday. The former Fox Sports radio host will now miss Friday’s contest against Oakland as a result.
Gottlieb erupted while meeting with reporters Sunday, slamming the table with both hands and demanding answers from both the officials and the Horizon League commissioner herself. Gottlieb was hit with a technical foul for arguing with an official with about seven minutes left in the contest, and he thought guard Preston Ruedinger should have been granted a foul after Milwaukee’s Stevie Elam ripped the ball out of his hands while driving to the basket in the final seconds. Elam was fouled just moments later, and hit both of his free throws to seal the three-point win.
“The last play of the game, just to get the ball, they’re grabbing us and holding us. Again, I understand if you’re not calling that — that’s fine,” Gottlieb said, via ESPN. “You had the exact same play on both ends in the last play of the game. The exact same f***ing play! The exact same play.”
Gottlieb then called out new Horizon League commissioner Jill Bodensteiner directly. Bodensteiner, the former Saint Joseph’s athletic director, was appointed commissioner of the league last week.
“I need the new commissioner of the Horizon League to explain to me what a technical foul is when I don’t leave the box, I don’t curse, I’m not demonstrative,” he said. “There was nothing, nothing that should have been called a technical foul. I know when I earn one. I did not earn one.”
Gottlieb issued an apology Wednesday.
“I’d like to apologize to the Horizon League and the officials for my disparaging comments following Sunday’s game,” he said. “I understand and appreciate how difficult their job is, and respect what they do for the sport of basketball. I will be better moving forward.”
Advertisement
Gottlieb is in his second season leading Green Bay. Gottlieb continued to host his daily Fox Sports Radio show last season, but he opted to step away from his role there in December. Gottlieb had previously been modifying the team’s schedule and even recording shows from his campus office at times to balance both jobs simultaneously.
This is the second incident Gottlieb has had on the sidelines this season. He launched a chair in the team’s tunnel after they fell to Robert Morris in December.
The Phoenix, who went just 4-28 last season, hold a 15-13 record entering Friday’s game with Oakland. They are currently third in the Horizon League standings with three games left in the regular season.
MILAN — Only minutes away from going from clear favorites to win Olympic gold to crashing out before the medal round, the Canadian men’s hockey team desperately tried to steady its churning nerves
Outwardly, Canadian players tried to project an attitude of confidence and optimism on the bench after Czechia’s Ondrej Palat scored to put the Canadians down a goal with less than eight minutes left in Wednesday’s quarterfinal. And yet even one of the most star-laden collections of hockey players ever assembled is still susceptible to doubt creeping in.
Advertisement
“You can’t entirely avoid it,” Canada defenseman Drew Doughty said. “You look down the bench, you see the players we have on our team and you know no one’s going to quit and we have a great chance of coming back. But as the clock keeps ticking, you’re also like, ‘Holy f***. This is not ideal.’”
The mood on the Canadian bench went from despair to delirium with 3:27 left in regulation when Nick Suzuki saved his team with a deflected goal. With Canada pressing for the tying goal, Suzuki got a stick on a Devon Toews wrist shot from the point and redirected it through the legs of Czech goaltender Lukáš Dostál.
The sight of the puck hitting the back of the net produced a roar from the pro-Canadian crowd that could be heard outside Santagiulia Arena. Arms shot into the air. Flags waved. Grown men danced at their seats and exchanged hugs.
“It was a great job by Devin putting it on my forehand side and letting me bring it back toward the net,” Suzuki said. “I wanted to do something to help the team, so it was obviously a big goal to tie it up and send it to overtime.”
While Suzuki is one of the elite two-way centers in the NHL, the Montreal Canadiens playmaker hasn’t been able to showcase his array of skills so far during these Olympics. He has been forced to play on the wing as a result of Canada’s mind-blowing collection of talent at the center position.
With Brad Marchand set to rejoin the Canada lineup for Wednesday’s quarterfinals, there was even pregame talk of Suzuki being a potential healthy scratch. Hours later, all of Canada should be rejoicing that Cooper didn’t subscribe to that theory and kept his team captain on the ice.
Advertisement
The heroics from Suzuki actually started even before he found some space in front of Dostál’s net. He dumped the puck into the attacking zone and then chose to chase it in the corner while the rest of his linemates headed to the bench for a line change.
Asked why he also didn’t go to the bench, Suzuki explained that he was just hoping to “give some time for fresh guys to come out there.” Suzuki did far more than that, outbattling Czechia’s Filip Hronek for the loose puck and keeping possession alive.
“That was an elite play winning that puck,” Marchand said. “It’s not just the tip. It’s the entire play.”
Advertisement
What happened next will be replayed forever, especially if Canada manages to go on to win Olympic gold. Suzuki fed Seth Jarvis in the corner. Jarvis set up a wide open Toews just inside the blue line. And Toews wristed his shot in Suzuki’s direction just as the 26-year-old had moved into space in front of the net.
“I never stopped believing,” Doughty insisted.
Added Marchand, “I’ve seen him do that against my teams plenty of times. It’s great when he’s on your side.”
Yahoo Sports’ 26-and-under power rankings are a remix on the traditional farm system rankings that assess the strength of MLB organizations’ talent base among rookie-eligible and MiLB players. By evaluating all players in an organization entering their age-26 seasons or younger, this project aims to paint a more complete picture of each team’s young core. Our rankings value productive young major leaguers more heavily than prospects who have yet to prove it at the highest level, and most prospects included in teams’ evaluations have already reached the upper levels of the minors.
To compile these rankings, each MLB organization was given a score in four categories:
Advertisement
Young MLB hitters: scored 0-10; 26-and-under position players and rookie-eligible hitters projected to be on Opening Day rosters
Young MLB pitchers: scored 0-10; 26-and-under pitchers and rookie-eligible pitchers projected to be on Opening Day rosters
Prospect hitters: scored 0-5; prospect-eligible position players projected to reach MLB in the next 1-2 years
Prospect pitchers: scored 0-5; prospect-eligible pitchers projected to reach MLB in the next 1-2 years
We’re counting down all 30 organizations’ 26-and-under talent bases from weakest to strongest, diving into five teams at a time. In addition to the scores for each team in each category, we’ll highlight the key players who fall into each bucket and contributed most to their organization’s place in the rankings. Below, we dig into Nos. 25-21.
25. Los Angeles Angels (total score: 12/30) | 2025 rank: 23
Young MLB hitters (5/10): SS Zach Neto, 1B Nolan Schanuel, C Logan O’Hoppe, INF Vaughn Grissom, OF Wade Meckler, INF Christian Moore, INF Oswald Peraza, INF Matthew Lugo, INF/OF Kyren Paris Young MLB pitchers (3/10): LHP Reid Detmers, RHP Grayson Rodriguez, RHP José Fermin, RHP Chase Silseth, RHP Ben Joyce, RHP Jack Kochanowicz, RHP Caden Dana Prospect hitters (1/5): OF Nelson Rada, SS Denzer Guzman, INF David Mershon Prospect pitchers (3/5): RHP Tyler Bremner, LHP Sam Aldegheri, RHP George Klassen, RHP Ryan Johnson, RHP Chris Cortez, RHP Chase Shores, RHP Walbert Urena
Advertisement
With the Colorado Rockies clearing house over the winter, Anaheim is now squarely the most outdated and archaic organization in the sport. This undesirable status falls on the shoulders of owner Arte Moreno, whose complete misunderstanding of modern baseball has led to the decaying of his franchise from the inside out. Dramatic underfunding in research and development, scouting and player development have left the Angels relatively devoid of talent and with the bleakest future in MLB.
None of that, however, is Zach Neto’s fault. Like many Angels prospects, the 25-year-old shortstop raced to the bigs less than a year after being drafted. And though Neto struggled in his 2023 debut season, he has been downright fabulous the past two years. His 10.2 bWAR since Opening Day 2024 is 17th in baseball over that span and sixth among players eligible for these rankings (after Bobby Witt Jr., Gunnar Henderson, Julio Rodriguez, Geraldo Perdomo and Brice Turang). There’s still ample room for improvement — Neto’s defense is lackluster, his strikeout rate is too high, his walk rate is too low — but this is a real cornerstone talent and one the Angels, given their track record, will surely fail to build around.
While Anaheim actually has a large group of young hitters, few of them project as impact types. Nolan Schanuel is a solid big leaguer but probably won’t develop enough power to become an All-Star. Logan O’Hoppe is coming off a brutally disappointing 2025 that saw declines in both his offensive and defensive outputs. If he can rebound to be a decent second-division starter, that would be a win. And while we loved ChristianMoore’s physicality coming out of the draft, his swing has real issues that might preclude him from hitting for average in the bigs.
Advertisement
Things aren’t much rosier on the pitching front. Grayson Rodriguez, whom Anaheim acquired straight-up for Taylor Ward, was a savvy addition this past winter. The former top prospect struggled through injuries in Baltimore and never got settled as a big-league starter. Can a clear runway with the Angels get him purring again? We’ll see. ReidDetmers has had quite a tumultuous tenure in Anaheim, but the lefty found some stability last season once relegated to the bullpen full-time. Can he continue that success as the Angels push him back into the rotation? We’ll see. The rest of these names look like either back-end depth pieces or relief options.
Thankfully, both TylerBremner and George Klassen appear primed to contribute in the near future. Bremner, the second pick in last year’s draft, boasts a plus-plus changeup that should allow him to move through the minors quickly. He’s a consensus top-100 prospect. Klassen is closer to the show (he finished 2024 in Triple-A) and has massive stuff (high-90s heat), but questions remain about his command and pitchability. At worst, he’ll be an impact reliever.
Offensively, the Angels don’t have much to write home about in the upper minors. Nelson Rada can really, really play center field, but he has the power of a geographically isolated Amish community. Shortstop Denzer Guzman can also pick it but hasn’t ever hit for impact. And because the Angels rush their top position-player picks to the majors so quickly (Neto, Schanuel, Moore), this system is devoid of the high-end talent you’d see in most.
As harsh as it sounds, it’s incredibly difficult to envision a path to contention for the Angels in the relatively near future. These are dire straits. — J.M.
24. Toronto Blue Jays (total score: 12/30) | 2025 rank: 25
Young MLB hitters (3/10): 3B/OF Addison Barger, OF Jonatan Clase Young MLB pitchers (5/10): RHP Trey Yesavage, RHP Braydon Fisher, LHP Mason Fluharty, RHP Spencer Miles Prospect hitters (2/5): OF Yohendrick Pinango, OF RJ Schreck, SS Josh Kasevich, OF Victor Arias, INF Charles McAdoo, 3B Sean Keys Prospect pitchers (2/5): LHP Ricky Tiedemann, RHP Jake Bloss, RHP Gage Stanifer, LHP Johnny King, RHP Angel Bastardo
Advertisement
Toronto’s place in our rankings barely changed since last year, but what an eventful year it was. Consider two of the main characters involved in Toronto’s remarkable run to an AL pennant and nearly a championship: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Trey Yesavage. Guerrero was one of several key position players, including Alejandro Kirk, Andres Gimenez and Davis Schneider, who played their age-26 seasons in 2025, which gave Toronto a strong young MLB hitting grade a year ago. On the mound, however, there were zero 26-and-under pitchers on the major-league roster to open last season, earning Toronto a nil in that category, which severely hampered its overall spot in the rankings.
Entering 2026, Toronto’s young hitting grade has dropped considerably with the graduations of Guerrero, Kirk, Gimenez and Schneider. But the unfathomable fast track traveled by Yesavage, plus the arrivals of reliable relievers Braydon Fisher and Mason Fisher, has transformed Toronto’s outlook on the mound. On a staff loaded with older veterans, the importance of a younger wave of pitchers headlined by Yesavage cannot be overstated. There’s more promising arm talent looming in the minors, though it’s concerning how many of them have dealt with major injuries recently (Jake Bloss, Ricky Tiedemann, Brandon Barriera). Gage Stanifer is the 2025 breakout arm to keep an eye on this summer, though he might not throw enough strikes to be a starter.
Addison Barger’s big step forward last season helps make up for the hitters who aged out of his category. His physical tools are stupendous and enable jaw-dropping highlights on both sides of the ball; if he can refine his game further, he could play his way into an even more significant role than we’re currently giving him credit for. There’s also considerable pressure on Barger to do so, as the next wave of position players at the upper levels of the minors almost all project as role players rather than stars. That limited collective ceiling on the farm and the lack of depth in the majors keep Toronto in the bottom-third of our rankings. — J.S.
Young MLB hitters (3/10): 2B Luke Keaschall, SS Brooks Lee, OF Alan Roden Young MLB pitchers (3/10): RHP Taj Bradley, RHP Mick Abel, RHP David Festa, RHP Zebby Matthews, RHP Simeon Woods-Richardson, RHP Travis Adams Prospect hitters (4/5): OF Walker Jenkins, OF Emmanuel Rodriguez, SS Kaelen Culpepper, OF Gabriel Gonzalez, OF Hendry Mendez, C Eduardo Tait Prospect pitchers (3/5): LHP Connor Prielipp, LHP Kendry Rojas, RHP CJ Culpepper, RHP Marco Raya, RHP Andrew Morris, RHP John Klein, LHP Dasan Hill, RHP Charlee Soto
Advertisement
Injuries limited him to 49 games as a rookie, but Luke Keaschall’s introduction to the majors was impressive: His .382 OBP ranked 11th among big-league bats with at least 200 plate appearances in 2025. If he can stay healthy, Minnesota should have its top-of-the-lineup tablesetter for the foreseeable future, though Keaschall’s ultimate ceiling will be determined by how much power he can access in games and how much he can improve as a defender. Conversely, Brooks Lee — the eighth pick in 2022 — has a lot to prove entering his third big-league season. The shocking trade of Carlos Correa last summer cleared the way for him to take over as the starting shortstop, but the 25-year-old switch-hitter is coming off a poor season with both the bat and the glove, which has left his outlook as a no-doubt lineup fixture in doubt.
Speaking of trades, last year’s epic deadline sell-off netted Minnesota several relevant players in these rankings, particularly on the mound. Taj Bradley (acquired from Tampa Bay for Griffin Jax) has already logged 346 more major-league innings than Mick Abel (acquired from Philadelphia for Jhoan Duran), but both right-handers turn 25 this year, and their ability to translate their premium stuff into reliable results will be paramount to Minnesota as it looks ahead to life without Joe Ryan, Pablo Lopez and Bailey Ober in the rotation. There’s also substantial starting pitching depth beyond those two additions, giving the Twins a deep pool of candidates who could emerge as rotation candidates; the draft has yielded Minnesota several interesting arms who could break out further in 2026.
Unfortunately, a franchise familiar with navigating repeated injuries to its best players has encountered similar issues with Keaschall, Walker Jenkins and Emmanuel Rodriguez. But when these guys have been on the field, evaluators have raved about their potential impact, with Jenkins lauded as one of the most advanced hitters in the minors and Rodriguez flashing a potent power-and-patience combination that could fit in center field. Kaelen Culpepper is an athletic shortstop with electrifying bat speed who has hit his way to the upper minors and could factor in on the left side of the infield if Lee and Royce Lewis fail to entrench themselves over the next 18 months. Add the other half of the Duran return in catcher Eduardo Tait, who should play in Double-A this season at age 19, and Minnesota boasts one of the stronger crops of prospect bats league-wide. — J.S.
Can Junior Caminero and Wyatt Langford help their teams get back in the postseason picture in 2026?
Young MLB hitters (6/10): OF Wyatt Langford, OF Evan Carter, OF Alejandro Osuna, 2B/OF Cody Freeman Young MLB pitchers (3/10): RHP Jack Leiter, RHP Kumar Rocker, RHP Cole Winn, RHP Carter Baumler Prospect hitters (2/5): SS Sebastian Walcott, SS Cameron Cauley, C Malcolm Moore Prospect pitchers (3/5): RHP Jose Corniell, RHP Caden Scarborough, RHP David Davalillo, RHP Emiliano Teodo, RHP Winston Santos
Advertisement
Evan Carter seized the spotlight first with his performance during Texas’ run to the 2023 World Series, but it has become clear since then that Wyatt Langford is the outfielder who will define this next era of Rangers baseball. The hulking slugger took another step forward as a sophomore, consistently crushing the ball with his powerful, right-handed swing while rating shockingly well as a defender in the outfield. He’s the total package and continues to trend toward stardom, though the Rangers might need to get back in the postseason for Langford to garner the proper amount of recognition. Carter, meanwhile, is still only 23 years old and looks like a capable center fielder who can hit right-handed pitching, but his durability issues and struggles against southpaws might restrict him from rediscovering the star power he initially wielded.
Texas’ score was impacted late in the process by the disappointing news that Sebastian Walcott needs elbow surgery, which could jeopardize the entirety of his 2026 season. Because Walcott is considered such an impactful talent — and because there’s limited depth of near-ready minor-league bats behind him in Texas’ system — this setback was enough to dock the Rangers from 3 to 2 in the prospect hitting category. While Walcott is still worth getting excited about long-term, the possibility of him arriving in 2026 is now drastically reduced, if not entirely eliminated. That lessens the value of his proximity to the majors and adds an element of uncertainty to his developmental timeline.
There is notably more depth in the minors on the mound. Caden Scarborough was one of the biggest breakout arms in 2025, pitching his way into a crowded group of right-handers who could see major-league time in 2026. How much Texas will rely on that depth will depend on the ever-fascinating duo of Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker, the long-linked teammates who delivered disparate rookie seasons in 2025. Leiter trended favorably, amassing a considerable workload and improving as the season went on; he’s a rotation lock at this stage. Rocker is still in the process of figuring things out, and it would not be surprising if his terrific slider ultimately plays best in a relief role, particularly if Texas gets impatient with his slow progress as a starter. — J.S.
Advertisement
21. Tampa Bay Rays (total score: 14/30) | 2025 rank: 11
Young MLB hitters (6/10): 3B Junior Caminero, OF Chandler Simpson, INF Ben Williamson, OF Justyn-Henry Malloy Young MLB pitchers (1/10): RHP Mason Englert, RHP Yoendrys Gomez, RHP Joe Boyle Prospect hitters (3/5): SS Carson Williams, OF Jacob Melton, 1B Xavier Isaac, 1B Tre Morgan, C Dominic Keegan, 2B Jadher Areinamo Prospect pitchers (4/5): RHP Brody Hopkins, RHP TJ Nichols, RHP Anderson Brito, RHP Santiago Suarez, RHP Ty Johnson, RHP Michael Forret
Few teams tumbled further in this year’s rankings than the Rays, despite Junior Caminero’s breakout 2025. Let’s start there because Caminero’s ascension from hyped prospect to franchise cornerstone is a big deal. Even though the 21-year-old benefited from playing at George Steinbrenner Park, his 45-homer campaign was far from a fluke. He boasts 100th-percentile bat speed and 92nd-percentile average exit velocity; few players on Earth have this type of offensive ceiling. If Caminero can improve at the hot corner and start producing more optimal launch angles, he’s a future MVP candidate whenever Aaron Judge’s reign comes to an end.
Advertisement
Tampa’s total dearth of young impact MLB arms was one of the most startling realizations during this ranking process. For an organization with such a fabulous pitching development track record, the Rays haven’t matriculated a game-changing starter to the bigs in a while. BrodyHopkins, despite some reliever risk, projects as the next best candidate to fill that void. He’s a freak athlete with a devastating cutter who is still learning how to pitch; he was a primary outfielder until his draft season in 2023. MichaelForret, acquired as part of the Shane Baz haul, lacks elite raw stuff but has fantastic command. A velo jump from Forret would solidify him as a future mid-rotation piece.
The stagnation from a number of Tampa Bay’s hitting prospects was another reason for the team’s slide down our rankings. CarsonWilliams reached the big leagues but didn’t quell the massive swing-and-miss concerns that continue to dog his profile. He’s a potential Gold Glover at shortstop and has legit juice, but the 41.5% strikeout rate he ran over five weeks in the show is no aberration.
XavierIsaac is a big first-base bopper type who snuck into the back of a few top-100 lists last year, but he had a subpar and injury-marred 2025. As with any bat-first corner type, the offensive bar is high for him. DominicKeegan had a similarly truncated season, but his ability to catch, even at a below-average level, should carry him to a big-league role of some sort. JacobMelton, acquired from Houston in the three-way deal that sent Brandon Lowe to Pittsburgh, is also looking for a bounce-back after a difficult debut stretch in the bigs with the Astros. — J.M.
