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Every NFL team will go to an 18-game regular-season schedule.

And every team, every year, will play an international game.

That’s the league’s looming future mandate for NFL players and their union, relayed in unambiguous terms by New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft during a Tuesday appearance with the team’s flagship radio network, 98.5 The Sports Hub.

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Speaking in the most assertive tone we’ve heard to date from a league power broker, Kraft married the expected push for an 18th game to the NFL’s quest to expand revenue through international growth. Everyone plays an 18th game — and that game is used to put every NFL franchise into an international game every season. Kraft’s belief is that the two-pronged push — expansion of the regular season and international slate — will draw more global interest in the league, resulting in more money for everyone.

Kraft even delivered an implied threat behind it: “So long as we can keep growing revenue, we can keep long-term labor peace.”

“We’re gonna push like the dickens now, to make international [exposure] more important with us,” Kraft said in the interview. “Every team will go to 18 [games] and two [exhibition games] and eliminate one of the preseason games. Every team every year will play one game overseas. Part of the reason is so we can continue to grow the cap and keep our labor happy. Because we’re sort of getting near the top here, you know, with the [domestic] coverage.”

“Ninety-three of the top 100 programs on television are NFL games,” Kraft continued. “Think about that. It’s really amazing. … You know, we had that Amazon game on Thursday a couple weeks ago — 31 million people streamed in. So as long as we can keep growing revenue, we can keep long-term labor peace.”

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Folks, that’s a lot of messaging packed in a fairly brief statement. And it adds some sharpened clarity to a future negotiation that has been spoken about in largely broad, uncertain terms. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has mused to the media about the addition of an 18th game as a logical next step for the league’s future and international play. And Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has spoken publicly about being supportive of putting an 18th game on the negotiating table down the line. Neither has effectively said, “This is what is going to happen and this is how it ties together … and the money we get from it will keep labor peace.”

That’s the important prism to focus through now: Labor peace. To keep it, NFL franchise owners are going to want that 18-game season. And if they can’t get it, there will be a rising likelihood of a lockout when the current collective bargaining agreement with the NFL Players Association expires in early 2031. If NFL quarterbacks are going to be paid $70, $80, $90 million a season in the coming decades — and other cornerstone positions won’t be be far behind — the league is going to have to find a lot of money in the future to make that happen. And Tuesday was Kraft effectively saying “we have to expand elsewhere to find more new money, and the players have to come to that conclusion with us.”

To date, the NFLPA has pushed back on adding another game, citing health and safety concerns. As recently as September, the interim executive director for the union, David White, said of an 18th game: “We haven’t talked about it yet, and it certainly is not inevitable and should not be presented as such.”

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Yet, Kraft sounded certain in his confidence that it’s going to happen — especially for a team owner who has been through multiple collective bargaining negotiations and the longest player lockout in NFL history. He isn’t just any club owner. Not only is he more measured than Jones when he makes public statements, he has also played key roles in the NFL’s compensation committee, which ultimately sets Goodell’s extremely high salary. Among the league’s powerful, he’s one of the senior partners. All of which is to say his words carry weight with everyone.

From a revenue standpoint, Kraft’s tying together of the international slate and the 18th game make sense. Even with the most popular sports product in the United States, there is only so much money that can be squeezed out of the domestic entertainment landscape. To date, the NFL has been very good at getting to that ceiling, from embracing every possible delivery platform for its games, to an about-face on gambling that opened new frontiers in revenue, to molding a year-round content circus that has churned out a multitude of tentpoles: the annual scouting combine, free agency, a traveling on-site draft, the schedule release, minicamps and molecular levels of coverage in training camp.

Through it all, for decades, has been the undercurrent of global expansion. From the introduction of the NFL International Series in 2007, team owners like Kraft and Jones have been in alignment with each other and Goodell on the reach for global popularization. They’ve seen what it has done for the NBA’s coffers, and long admired the worldwide popularity (and television contracts) of the English Premier League. Not to mention the EPL’s audiences, which is approaching nearly 2 billion viewers on a weekly basis.

Those are the numbers the league’s elites are chasing — even if it takes decades. To get there would mean explosive revenue growth. That’s why deepening the NFL’s foothold is so vital when it comes to the international horizon. It’s not enough to just have a handful of games played by a handful of teams. Owners like Jones and Kraft believe you have to build an international NFL team in the aggregate, which you effectively do if you play 16 international games a season that bundle up every single one of the 32 franchises. And the NFL isn’t that far off, already having played seven international games during the 2025 season.

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This is the league’s international answer to an NFL Blue Chip Fund: one-game slices of all 32 teams, packaged together and sold to the international market every single season. It’s a vehicle that can open the possibility for new television contracts, new media rights deals, new licensing and merchandising possibilities, new sponsorships — and maybe someday, a new frontier of international NFL teams that call countries outside of the United States their home.

As Goodell told “Good Morning Football” in September of 2024: “We feel like this game is destined to be global. We expect to be in Asia soon. We expect to be in Australia soon. We’re going to make sure that our game is available around the globe. And I think the ownership has been great on that. They’ve passed a resolution where every team is obligated to play [internationally]. We’re going to have eight games [outside of the U.S.] a year, minimum. And if we do get to an 18 [game regular season] and two game [preseason], we likely will see even more international games. And I hope someday we’ll be playing 16.”

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Kraft went one step further Tuesday, definitively tying the two together. Now comes the ticking clock and what looks likely to be a very difficult negotiation — all until the team owners decide it won’t be a negotiation at all.

Jimmy Butler’s ACL tear is a devastating blow for the veteran All-Star and cause for a reckoning in Golden State over its plans to compete in the back-end of Stephen Curry’s prime.

General manager Mike Dunleavy was on hand Tuesday night to address the Warriors’ short- and long-term plans ahead of Golden State’s home game against the Toronto Raptors.

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He was asked about Butler’s future with the franchise as well as that of disgruntled forward Jonathan Kuminga, who’s been languishing on the bench amid poor play and a trade demand. And … let’s just say that he has divergent thoughts on Butler’s and Kuminga’s value on the basketball court.

Dunleavy not ready to tear things down

With Butler’s injury prompting chatter of a full teardown and the end of the era of competitive basketball with Curry, Dunleavy was asked about the prospect of trading away Butler’s contract, which has one year and $56.8 million remaining beyond this season.

Dunleavy said that he’s not entertaining the idea.

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“I don’t envision that,” Dunleavy said. “But now that you’ve brought it up, I guess I’d say what I envision for him is kind of giving us a boost next year the same way he did last year when he arrived.

“And so, at some point during the season, him returning and being the player he’s been.”

That sounds like a man not ready to wave the white flag on the Curry era. It also sounds like the words of an optimist. Butler will be 37 next season and coming off one of the most serious injuries in sports.

Can Butler return to high-level basketball after ACL tear?

Butler’s been a boon for the Warriors and helped spark a run to the second round of the playoffs last season after arriving via a midseason trade. The Warriors made the playoffs as the No. 7 seed out of the play-in, then upset the No. 2 seed Rockets in the first round before falling to the Timberwolves in the second.

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Butler’s arrival was a big reason for that success, and he was playing at an All-Star level this season (20 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 4.9 apg, 1.4 spg) before tearing his right ACL Monday night. If anyone’s capable of returning from an ACL tear to play at a high level at 37 years old, Butler’s the type of player to do it. And for now, at least, Dunleavy appears to be holding out hope that that’s how things play out.

The alternative is not an appealing option and one that could mean dealing Curry while he still has trade value. They are not ready for that in Golden State.

What about Kuminga?

As for the short-term, Butler’s minutes just opened up, and they need to be filled. That could mean the end of Kuminga’s relegation to the bench. Head coach Steve Kerr opened the door to that possibility, telling reporters that Kuminga “could be” part of the rotation in Butler’s absence.

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That would require a willingness on both sides to thaw an icy relationship. Dunleavy doesn’t sound eager to extend an olive branch. When asked about Kuminga’s trade demand, Dunleavy suggested that Kuminga might not drum up much demand for his services.

“I think as far as the demand — I’m aware of that,” Dunleavy said. “I think in terms of demands, when you make a demand, there needs to be demand on the market. So, we’ll see where that unfolds.

The NBA trade deadline is Feb. 5. The Warriors have a lot to figure out before then.

Luis Robert Jr. is headed to New York.

The Mets struck a deal to acquire the center fielder on Tuesday, the team announced, finally pulling off a move they were reportedly interested in making at the trade deadline months ago. In exchange, the Chicago White Sox will receive infielder Luisangel Acuña and right-handed pitching prospect Truman Pauley.

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Robert just finished his sixth season with the White Sox. He recorded a .223 batting average with 14 home runs and 53 RBI in 2025, though he missed time late in the season due to a hamstring injury. Robert was an All-Star and a Silver Slugger during the 2023 campaign.

While he has struggled to stay healthy throughout his career, Robert has shown star ability as a hitter and fielder at his peak. He’s also coming off a season in which he put up a career-high 33 stolen bases. The White Sox picked up Robert’s $20 million option for the 2026 season, and he has another $20 million option with a $2 million buyout for the 2027 season.

Acuña held a .234 batting average with eight RBIs in 95 games last season as a rookie. Pauley spent time with the Mets’ minor-league teams last year after the team drafted him in the 12th round out of Harvard. The 22-year-old has yet to make his big-league debut.

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The White Sox went 60-102 last season, which marked their third straight year losing at least 100 games. They had the worst record in modern MLB history during the 2024 campaign, going 41-121.

The move to bring in Robert is one of several the Mets have made in recent days. Most notably, they reached a three-year, $126 million deal with former Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette. The team went 83-79 last season and missed the playoffs for the second time in three seasons despite some aggressive acquisition of talent in recent years.

Robert represents the latest addition for a Mets franchise that hasn’t shied away from spending big under owner Steven Cohen.

Adding Jimmy Butler fundamentally changed who the Warriors were last season — the way they played, the heights they could aspire to, their chances of playing meaningful basketball deep into springtime once again. Losing Butler on Monday to a torn right ACL — a devastating blow that sapped every ounce of sweetness out of Golden State’s fourth consecutive double-digit win — fundamentally changes who the Warriors are this season, and threatens a devastating alteration to who they could conceivably still be in the “fading dynasty” stage of the Stephen Curry/Draymond Green/Steve Kerr era.

Let’s start with the obvious: It is extremely, extremely damaging to lose a player as good as Butler, whose teams have either outright won or been demonstrably better in his minutes in every season save the one where he was trying to force his way out of Minnesota.

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Even at age 36, a crisp 15 years and nearly 35,000 NBA minutes into his career, Butler remains one of the league’s best all-around players — a high-efficiency, low-mistake offensive connector; a versatile and disruptive defender; a high-IQ adaptor able to fit neatly into the flow when playing alongside Curry and scale up into a larger, more central role when Steph’s off the floor; a consistently high-floor contributor with few peers at his position.

Butler is second on the Warriors in scoring, third in assists and rebounds, and leads them in steals and total minutes played. There are four players in the NBA this season averaging at least 20 points, five rebounds, four assists and a steal per game while making at least half of their shots: Butler, perennial MVP favorite Nikola Jokić, and ascendant All-Star-caliber bigs Alperen Şengün and Jalen Johnson.

The advanced stats, as ever, love him: He’s been a top-15-to-20 player this season in the eyes of estimated plus-minus, LEBRON, DARKO, value over replacement player, player efficiency rating, win shares per 48 minutes, box plus-minus and regularized adjusted plus-minus, among other metrics. The Warriors have been 9.6 points per 100 possessions better with Butler on the court than off it this season, according to Cleaning the Glass; among players who’ve logged 1,000 minutes, that’s the 10th-largest on/off swing in the NBA.

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Butler had averaged just under 22-5-5 on pristine .649 true shooting over the past month prior to exiting early against Miami. He was playing some of the best ball of his career, and with it, the Warriors had started to stabilize: Golden State has won four straight and 12 of its last 16, with the NBA’s second-best record and fifth-best net rating in that span.

During that period, the Warriors have outscored opponents by 8.4 points per 100 possessions with Butler on the floor, compared to a plus-4.4 net rating without him. That includes a mammoth plus-12.9 net rating in the 183 minutes that Butler played without Curry, continuing the trend that began last season of Golden State finally being able to not only survive non-Steph minutes, but sometimes actually build a lead while he rested. (Imagine that.)

Only one Warriors five-man lineup without Butler in it has played more than 20 minutes together this season; the quintet of Curry, Green, Gary Payton II, Brandin Podziemski and Moses Moody has been outscored by 13 points. That, um, will need to change — as will the general tenor of the non-Steph minutes, which, with Butler lost for the season, threaten to return to disaster time. The Warriors have been outscored by 3.9 points-per-100 this season with neither Curry nor Butler on the floor, posting a dismal non-garbage-time offensive rating of just 105.2 — several sub-basements below what the league-worst attack of the Tyrese Haliburton-less 10-34 Pacers has mustered over the course of this season.

Combine that with the degree to which Golden State had struggled to tread water in non-Jimmy minutes even with Steph on the floor — just plus-1.1 points-per-100 over nearly 500 minutes this season — and the Warriors have a pretty gnarly puzzle to solve over the second half of the season if they hope to have any chance of remaining in postseason position.

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After Tuesday’s loss to the Toronto Raptors, Golden State sits at 25-20, in eighth place in the Western Conference — in line for their third straight trip to the play-in tournament. With Butler in the fold and playing at an All-Star level, Kerr, general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. and Co. could reasonably harbor hopes of erasing the two-game gap between them and the fifth-place Houston Rockets, putting themselves in position to not only avoid the play-in but potentially challenge for home-court advantage in the opening round of the playoffs. Now, though, the Warriors braintrust has to consider whether it’s likelier that they rise or fall — they’re three games ahead of ninth-place Portland, five games up on the 10th-place Clippers, and 5.5 clear of 11th-place Memphis — and how their internal projections will inform their decision-making ahead of the Feb. 5 trade deadline.

Five days past the NBA’s most closely watched trade eligibility date, Jonathan Kuminga remains a member of the Warriors. Twenty-four hours ago, it seemed likely that Dunleavy would keep beating the bushes in search of a deal that could turn the out-of-favor 23-year-old into something, anything, that could improve the Warriors’ chances of making a deep playoff run. But with Golden State now in desperate need of a wing-sized person capable of putting the ball in the basket, even if it’s not in precisely the way Kerr prefers, and with the most frequently stated reason for shelving Kuminga — effectively, we can’t play three not-really-shooters who need the ball in their hands, and Jimmy and Draymond are better than Kuminga is — now a moot point, does that calculus change?

If and when Kerr turns back to Kuminga — which he did at least on Tuesday — how might the fifth-year forward respond? It seems like an awful lot, asking someone who has essentially been out of the rotation for two months to suddenly start replicating the production of a top-20 player — especially considering lineups where he’s had to carry the offensive workload without Steph or Jimmy have gotten drilled over the past two seasons. If a reintroduced Kuminga struggles under these adverse conditions, does it become even more difficult to move him for a return of noteworthy value? And if he doesn’t — if he looks great — well, then what do you do with a guy you’ve signaled in every way possible that you’re ready to drive to the airport at the earliest opportunity, but who’s suddenly become a load-bearing column in your current build?

The $11 billion question hanging over all of this, in the hours after Butler’s grim diagnosis: Just what is that “current build,” now?

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The premise behind the Butler trade and subsequent extension was clean, clear and evident to all who observed it. Golden State had lined up the contracts of Curry, Butler and Green to take aim at a title run in 2024-25 and 2025-26, with a possible third in 2026-27, when Green holds a $27.7 million player option. It was an unmistakable declaration of intent: As long as we have Steph playing LIKE THIS, we’re going to go for it.

And it worked, and it looked great … until it didn’t. The first run ended in the second round, after Steph hurt his hamstring against the Timberwolves; with Butler’s season now over, the second one appears to have ended before it could even get started. And now, the Warriors find themselves back where they were this time last year: with Curry still playing like this, but without a supporting cast commensurate with the frankly unbelievable level at which he continues to produce.

Maybe that gives the rest of Golden State’s roster short shrift. De’Anthony Melton is finally healthy again and playing great. Al Horford’s starting to show signs of coming around. Podziemski’s in the midst of his best run of play of the season. Moody and Buddy Hield are shooting better than 40% from 3-point land over the last month. Maybe they keep rolling, and Kerr’s able to find enough contributions from elsewhere — from rookie Will Richard, from Quinten Post, from Trayce Jackson-Davis, and on, and on — to keep the Warriors in the fight, where they’re forever one Curry flurry from delivering a knockout blow.

And maybe the injury doesn’t necessarily preclude one last big comeback run. The average return-to-play following an ACL tear is about 11 months, according to Jeff Stotts of In Street Clothes; that would put Butler’s return somewhere around Christmas, meaning he’d miss roughly the first quarter of the 2026-27 season, giving Golden State a lot of runway to get up to full strength before mid-April. Maybe there are still two real bites at the apple here.

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Maybe, though, Butler’s injury shakes the Warriors’ faith in the viability of that timeline — in the likelihood that, 14 months from now, a core of a 39-year-old Curry, a 37-year-old Green and a 37-year-old, post-ACL-reconstruction Butler will be good enough to win in the playoffs. If Dunleavy and Co. arrive at that conclusion, they’ll have to decide whether they’re comfortable continuing to ride what they’ve got into the sunset — appreciating that time comes for us all, that best-laid plans sometimes go awry, and that it’s worth allowing the Steph-Draymond-Jimmy core to run its course — or if it’s time to make even more drastic changes to the roster, in service of seeding the ground for the next era of Warriors basketball, whenever that might start.

The former path would be perfectly respectable, if not downright honorable. In a world that’s seen the Warriors try to pull off the two timelines plan and let Klay Thompson walk, though, the latter can’t be ruled out. I don’t think that means they’re going to trade Steph in the middle of the night. (Although, y’know: Luka.) I do think, though, it means that just about anything else could be on the table, one fundamental change begetting another.

It was a productive morning for the Americans at the Australian Open on Wednesday. Two of the more prominent American men took the court hoping to push themselves into the third round.

Both were successful, as Frances Tiafoe and Learner Tien dispatched their opponents in four sets.

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Tiafoe got out to a strong start, taking the first two sets 6-4 and 6-3 over Francisco Comesana. Tiafoe faltered a bit in the third set, losing 6-4, but was able to rally to take the final set 6-2.

Tiafoe won the contest despite trailing in aces. He picked up seven in the win. Comesana notched 15 aces, but also five double faults, which came back to haunt him.

With the win, Tiafoe advanced to the third round at the Australian Open for the first time since 2023. He’s advanced past that round only one time in his career.

Tien also needed four sets (6-2, 5-7, 6-1, 6-0) to take down his opponent, Alexander Shevchenko. Other than the second set, which went to a tiebreak, Tien was mostly in control throughout the entire match. He seemed to get stronger as it went on, allowing Shevchenko to take just one game over the final two sets.

For Tien, it marks the second straight year he’s pushed into the third round at the Australian Open. He performed well during his first appearance at the event last year, reaching the fourth round.

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Tiafoe and Tien will play their third-round matches Friday. Tiafoe will have a tough task ahead, as he takes on No. 6 Alex de Minaur. Tien will square off against Nuno Borges.

There were no major upsets on the men’s side Wednesday, with Alexander Zverev, de Minaur and Alexander Bublik all winning.

Mirra Andreeva dominates on women’s side

On a morning dominated by the favorites, no one was more impressive than Mirra Andreeva. The Russian made quick work of Maria Sakkari, winning 6-0, 6-4.

The 18-year-old Andreeva doesn’t have a ton of experience at the Australian Open, but has reached the fourth round both times she’s taken part in the tournament. She’ll look to extend that streak when she takes on Elena-Gabriela Ruse on Friday.

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The favorites also came out on top in the other matches on the women’s side. Women’s No. 7 Jasmine Paolini and No. 19 Karolína Muchová also won their matches. American Iva Jović dispatched Priscilla Hon in straight sets.

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🚨 Headlines

🏈 Duke sues its own QB: Duke has filed a lawsuit against QB Darian Mensah in an attempt to prevent him from transferring to a different school, arguing that such a move would violate the terms of his NIL deal. Mensah announced Friday that he’d be entering the portal amid heavily rumored interest from Miami.

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🏀 Knicks in crisis: Jalen Brunson called a players-only meeting this week in the midst of a recent slump that has seen the Knicks (25-18) lose nine of their last 11 games, leading to frustration in the locker room and among a vocal New York fan base.

🏈 Buckeyes open as favorites: Ohio State has opened as the favorite to win the 2026-27 CFP National Championship (+600 at BetMGM), followed by Notre Dame (+700), Oregon (+700), Texas (+700) and newly-crowned champion Indiana (+800).

⛳️ LIV lands NCAA champ: Reigning NCAA champion Michael La Sasso of Ole Miss is forfeiting the rest of his college eligibility (plus his Masters invite) to join Phil Mickelson’s HyFlyers GC team with LIV Golf.

⚽️ City stunned again: Three days after losing to rival Manchester United, Manchester City suffered another shock defeat, this time in the Champions League to Norwegian side Bodø/Glimt, which had entered the match winless in their first six league phase games.

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🏈 Buffalo’s dynasty that never was

As Buffalo licks its wounds following yet another heartbreaking postseason loss, it’s worth exploring whether the early 2020s Bills — an era that officially ended with Sean McDermott’s recent firing — are the best team in NFL history to never win a Super Bowl.

Consider this: The Bills are one of just four NFL teams to win a playoff game in six consecutive seasons. But while the Cowboys (1991-96), Patriots (2011-18) and Chiefs (2018-24) each won three Super Bowls during their streaks, Buffalo didn’t even appear in one during theirs (2020-25).

• They’ve also turned losing postseason games into an art form, becoming the first team in NFL history to lose by three or fewer points in the playoffs in back-to-back-to-back seasons.

• And it’s not like the Bills have just snuck into the playoffs, either. They’ve won five of the last six AFC East titles and, statistically, they’ve been the NFL’s best regular-season team of the first half of the decade.

By the numbers: It took a couple years for the Bills to jell under McDermott (hired in 2017) and Josh Allen (drafted in 2018), but since 2020 they lead the NFL in all four major regular-season stats, boasting the most wins of any team while having the best scoring offense and defense.

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• Wins: 73 (Chiefs are second with 72)

• Points for: 2,896 (Cowboys: 2,722)

• Points against: 1,994 (Chiefs: 2,043)

• Differential: +902* (Ravens: +581)

*First place by a mile: The gap between the Bills and second-place Ravens is larger than the gap between the Ravens and ninth-place Rams (+267).

The dynasty that never was: Unfortunately for Buffalo, greatness is measured in rings, and the Bills are one of just four teams in the history of the “Big Four” leagues to have a .600+ win percentage in at least seven straight seasons without ever advancing to a championship, joining the 1968-75 Oakland Raiders, 1981-87 Milwaukee Bucks and 2004-11 San Jose Sharks.

A different kind of sadness: This half-decade of near-dominance calls to mind the infamous “Four Falls of Buffalo,” when Jim Kelly’s Bills advanced to four straight Super Bowls from 1990-93… and lost all four of them. It begs the question: Is the current iteration of the team even more disappointing? It just might be.

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• While losing four straight Super Bowls is devastating — particularly in retrospect, given Buffalo has still never won a championship — at least they made it to the grandest stage in American sports and gave themselves multiple chances.

• This decade’s team, on the other hand, has yet to reach “The Big Game” and they’ve made only two AFC title games despite all their regular-season success. This year was especially crushing, as they failed to capitalize when their kryptonite in Kansas City finally faltered.

Looking ahead: Keep your heads up, Bills Mafia. Josh Allen is only 29, and it takes only one glorious championship to forget all the past heartbreak. But you’d better get it done soon, because that kid in New England looks poised to turn your division into a gauntlet for the foreseeable future.

⚾️ Beltrán, Jones elected to Hall of Fame

Cooperstown welcomed two new members on Tuesday, as Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones were voted into the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

Class of 2026: Beltrán (84.2% of the vote) and Jones (78.4%) — alongside Jeff Kent, voted in by the Contemporary Era Committee last month — will be inducted this summer in upstate New York.

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• Beltrán (4th ballot): Few combined power and speed like Beltrán, who is one of five players in MLB history with 500 doubles, 400 homers and 300 steals. He was also as clutch as they come, with his 1.021 OPS in the postseason ranking eighth all-time (min. 100 PA).

• Jones (9th): He’s on the shortlist of the best two-way players ever, joining Willie Mays, Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Schmidt as the only guys with at least 10 Gold Gloves and 400 home runs. And his 24.4 defensive WAR ranks first all-time among outfielders, lending credence to former teammate Chipper Jones calling him the single best outfielder ever.

Not quite there: Chase Utley (59.1%) made a big jump after receiving just 39.8% of the vote last year, and with seven years left on the ballot he’s a near lock to make it eventually. Andy Pettitte (48.5% in his eighth year) and Félix Hernández (46.1% in his second year) were the only other players to earn more than 40% of the vote.

Manny and Alex: As expected, Manny Ramirez (38.8%) didn’t earn enough votes in his final year on the ballot, while Alex Rodriguez (40% in his fifth year) gained modest ground after last year’s high-water mark of 37.1%. Can he earn another 35% of the vote over the next half-decade?

The rest: Nine others earned enough of the vote to remain on the ballot another year, while 11 fell short of the 5% threshold.‌

• Still on the ballot: Bobby Abreu (30.8%), Jimmy Rollins (25.4%), Cole Hamels (23.8%), Dustin Pedroia (20.7%), Mark Buehrle (20%), Omar Vizquel (18.4%), David Wright (14.8%), Francisco Rodríguez (11.8%), Torii Hunter (8.7%)

• Fell off: Ryan Braun (3.5%), Edwin Encarnación (1.4%), Shin-Soo Choo (0.7%), Matt Kemp (0.5%), Hunter Pence (0.5%), Rick Porcello (0.5%), Nick Markakis (0.2%), Alex Gordon (0.2%), Howie Kendrick (0%), Daniel Murphy (0%), Gio González (0%)

Looking ahead: After no newcomers were elected this time around — and just one, Hamels, even earned enough votes to stay on the ballot — next year’s class includes at least one likely first-ballot Hall of Famer in Buster Posey.

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Further reading:

😄 Coach Cig is finally happy

Curt Cignetti, who rarely smiles on the sidelines, is finally happy — and his daughter has the text receipts to prove it.

From Yahoo Sports’ Andy Backstrom:

“Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Curt said in response to Natalie asking her dad if he’s happy in the wake of the Hoosiers winning the national championship. The answer might sound obvious, but the question felt necessary, especially for Natalie, who asked the same one six years ago.

At the time, Curt was in his first season as James Madison’s head coach. The Dukes were still an FCS program, and a mighty good one at that. They were coming off a 66-21 win over Monmouth, Curt’s first Division I playoff victory. JMU was 12-1. Natalie texted Curt, “are you happy!!!” His response: “No.”

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Six years later: Cignetti is happy, 14 exclamation points and all. He also enjoyed a beer after Monday night’s historic victory, which he called the best he’s ever had.

🏀 Good reads: NBA edition

Midseason Awards: MVP, ROY, Sixth Man of the Year and other awards at the halfway mark

Who has been the MVP of the league at the season’s halfway point? Who’s winning the Rookie of the Year race? With every team hitting the 41-game mark, let’s hand out midseason awards.

Injury Report: What does losing Jimmy Butler mean for the Warriors as we know them?

Losing Jimmy Butler to a torn right ACL fundamentally changes who the Warriors are this season, and threatens a devastating alteration to who they could conceivably still be in the “fading” dynasty stage of the Stephen Curry/Draymond Green/Steve Kerr era.

Trade Deadline: Ranking the 25 ‘available’ trade candidates, from worst to first

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With the NBA trade deadline two weeks away, let’s rank the players who have reportedly been in trade talks. Can any of them meaningfully change a team’s championship chances? Here we try to sort them in order, mostly, based on how much each could alter this year’s title picture.

📺 Watchlist: Wednesday, Jan. 21

🏒 NHL on TNT

The Maple Leafs host the Red Wings in the first leg of tonight’s doubleheader (7pm ET), followed by the Islanders at the Kraken in the second (9:30pm).

Milestone watch: Detroit winger Patrick Kane (1,372) is three points away from passing Stars legend Mike Modano (1,374) for the most by an American-born player in NHL history.

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🏀 NBA on ESPN

The Hornets host the Cavaliers in the first game (7pm), while the Bucks host the Thunder in the star-studded nightcap (9:30pm).

Leading scorers: Three of the NBA’s top eight scorers are playing tonight, with OKC’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (31.8 ppg) ranking second, Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell (29.0) ranking seventh and Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo (28.5) ranking eighth.

More to watch:

• 🏀 NCAAM: Cincinnati at No. 1 Arizona (9pm, FS1); Washington at No. 7 Nebraska (9pm, BTN) … The Wildcats and Cornhuskers look to keep their perfect seasons alive.

• 🎾 Australian Open: Round 2 (7pm, ESPN+; 9pm, ESPN2) … Ben Shelton, Novak Djokovic, Madison Keys and Amanda Anisimova headline today’s action in Melbourne.

• ⚽️ Champions League:Juventus vs. Benfica(3pm, Paramount+); Marseille vs. Liverpool(3pm, Paramount+)… Two of nine games to wrap up the penultimate matchday.

Today’s full slate.

🏆 Championship trivia

Indiana is one of three schools to win both an FBS national championship and an NCAA men’s basketball tournament in the past 50 years (1976-present).

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Question: Can you name the other two?

Answer at the bottom.

📸 Photo finish

Two-time Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka made quite the entrance in Melbourne, stealing the show with her jellyfish-inspired outfit. She won her match to advance to the second round.

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Trivia answer: Michigan and Florida

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After the 2025 fantasy football season, we’ll all likely have to adjust how we approach drafting quarterbacks. The Bills’ Josh Allen was the first QB off the board in most drafts and came through with a QB1 finish. The Broncos’ Bo Nix also landed about where we had him before the season began, as the QB7 in fantasy scoring. But with plenty of late-round QBs outperforming their ADP, how do we approach drafting the position and some of its elite players in 2026?

Matt Harmon and Scott Pianowski discussed where Allen and Nix should be drafted in fantasy in 2026 on the latest episode of the Yahoo Fantasy Forecast.

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Harmon thinks that while a “vanity” QB like Allen is appealing, it may be time to zag back to waiting at the position with so much talent there. Harmon also believes other positions will impact how we approach QB. He points out the emphasis on hitting on your WR1 at the top of your draft. Running back has also come back as more of a dominant force in fantasy. So waiting at QB and taking a few shots on players down the board stands out as we think ahead to 2026.

With Allen specifically, a lot of it will come down to what the Bills do during a pivotal offseason. Head coach Sean McDermott was fired after the team’s loss to Denver in the divisional round last weekend. A whole new coaching staff will need to be hired prior to an important 2026 NFL Draft and free agency period, where Buffalo will need to find Allen some help on offense.

Allen, 29, finished the season with 3,668 passing yards, 25 TDs and 10 interceptions while also rushing for 579 yards and 14 TDs. It was his third straight season with double-digit rushing touchdowns.

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Nix, who broke his ankle in the win over the Bills and is out for the remainder of the postseason, had 3,931 passing yards with 25 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, also providing extra value on the ground with 356 yards and five scores.

Yahoo analyst Justin Boone has Allen as the QB1 overall in both his early 2026 fantasy football rankings, dynasty rankings and trade value charts. Nix comes in as the QB15 for 2026 and QB13 for dynasty formats.

Los Angeles Lakers big man Deandre Ayton is temporarily adopting a new look. After leaving Tuesday’s contest due to an eye poke, Ayton posted a photo on Instagram in which he’s wearing a patch over his eye.

On the photo, Ayton added a pirate emoji, poking fun at his appearance.

He was far from the only member of the Lakers to make that comparison. After the contest, Lakers head coach JJ Redick said Ayton looked “like a pirate” after leaving the contest just before halftime.

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Ayton did not play the entire third quarter due to the injury. Before the fourth quarter was over, the Lakers announced he would miss the rest of the contest. He finished with four points and eight rebounds in roughly 15 minutes during the Lakers’ 115-107 win over the Denver Nuggets.

While Redick said Ayton’s eye was “not in good shape” after the game, the team doesn’t expect Ayton to miss time. Redick added that the center “will be fine” ahead of Thursday’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers. Even if Ayton needs to miss that game, it doesn’t sound like the eye injury will keep him sidelined for long.

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After spending the last two seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers, Ayton joined the Lakers on a two-year deal in the offseason. He’s put up his usual numbers through 37 games with the team, averaging 13.9 points and 8.8 rebounds.

Michele Tafoya, the former longtime NFL sideline reporter, began her campaign for U.S. Senate on Wednesday with an eye on winning the Republican nomination for the seat in Minnesota being vacated by retiring Democratic Sen. Tina Smith.

“For years, I covered the biggest football games in America,” Tafoya said in a social media video. “I walked the sidelines when the pressure was mounting and the stakes were the highest. That job taught me about more than football. It taught me about how leadership really works. When leaders are prepared and accountable, teams succeed. When they aren’t, people pay the price.”

The 61-year-old Tafoya had worked for CBS, ABC, ESPN and NBC beginning in 1994 until she announced she was leaving her sideline role following the 2021 NFL season after over a decade working on “Sunday Night Football.”

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Following her exit from NBC, Tafoya announced she would be serving as co-chair of Republican Minnesota gubernatorial candidate Kendal Qualls’ campaign. Qualls ended up withdrawing from the race.

Tafoya explained to media reporter Richard Deitsch in 2022 that she wanted to explore other things that “are really important to me” as to why she was leaving reporting.

“This is not to say that sports isn’t an important field, that my job isn’t an important job,” Tafoya said. “But in my position, I was not as free to be as vocal about world events that I’m concerned about. It’s not because I was told to shut up. I want to be very clear about that. But look, if you’re on a show like Sunday Night Football, which is the No. 1 show in prime time for 11 straight years, unprecedented, the last thing they want to do is invite controversy.”

The race for Smith’s seat will see U.S. Rep. Angie Craig and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan on the Democratic side, while former NBA player Royce White is among the candidates on the Republican side.

The Minnesota primary election will be held on Aug. 11. The state has not had a Republican senator since 2002.

The Big 12 title game is moving to Friday night.

The conference announced Wednesday that it would play its league title game on Friday, Dec. 4. The Big 12 championship game has been played at noon ET Saturday in recent years. It will continue to be held at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

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The shift to Friday fills a power conference void on Friday nights. The Pac-12 had been playing its title game on the Friday night of conference championship weekend before everyone outside of Oregon State and Washington State left for other conferences. And it could potentially result in a viewership boost. Just under 9 million people watched Texas Tech’s win over BYU in December and the conference said it was launching a “new Friday-Saturday rotation that enhances national exposure.”

In addition to announcing the conference title game was moving up a day, the Big 12 also released its 2026 schedule. Thanks to the schedule rotations in the conference, Texas Tech does not play either BYU or Utah in 2026. The Red Raiders will host Arizona State on Oct. 17. ASU was the only team to beat Texas Tech before the Red Raiders lost to Oregon in the Orange Bowl.

That same day, BYU will host Notre Dame. Week 7 is already turning into a marquee weekend for college football next season. Alabama plays Tennessee that day and defending national champion Indiana hosts Ohio State in a rematch of the Big 12 title game.

The full schedule is below. The conference plays two games in Europe in 2026 as North Carolina plays TCU in Dublin and Arizona State plays Kansas in London.

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Week 0

• TCU vs. North Carolina (Dublin)

Week 1

• Northern Arizona at Arizona

• Morgan State at Arizona State

• Baylor vs. Auburn (Atlanta)

• Boston College at Cincinnati

• Southeast Missouri State at Iowa State

• Nicholls State at Kansas State

• Abilene Christian at Texas Tech

• Coastal Carolina at West Virginia

Week 2

• Arizona State at Texas A&M

• Prairie View A&M at Baylor

• Western Carolina at Cincinnati

• Washington State at Kansas State

• Texas Tech at Oregon State

• Tennessee-Martin at West Virginia

Week 3

• Northern Illinois at Arizona

• Kansas vs. Arizona State (London)

• Miami (Ohio) at Cincinnati

• Bowling Green at Iowa State

• Murray State at Oklahoma State

• Virginia vs. West Virginia (Charlotte)

Week 4

• Arizona at Washington State

• Kansas State at Cincinnati

• Houston at Georgia Southern

• Oklahoma State at West Virginia

• Sam Houston State at Texas Tech

Week 5

• West Virginia at Iowa State

• Middle Tennessee State at Kansas

Week 6

Week 7

• Arizona State at Texas Tech

• Cincinnati at West Virginia

• Oklahoma State at Houston

Week 8

• Kansas State at Arizona State

• Colorado at Oklahoma State

Week 9

• Oklahoma State at Iowa State

Week 10

• Colorado at Arizona State

• Oklahoma State at Kansas State

• West Virginia at Texas Tech

Week 11

• Texas Tech at Oklahoma State

Week 12

• Oklahoma State at Arizona State

Week 13

• Kansas State at Iowa State