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ANAHEIM, Calif.  — When White Sox special assistant David Keller made his annual scouting trip to Japan last August, Munetaka Murakami was among a list of top targets. But the odds of the White Sox actually signing the 25-year-old Nippon Professional Baseball superstar? “I thought it was like a 1% chance,” Keller, who runs Chicago’s international scouting department, told me this week during the team’s series against the Angels. “Realistically, just given who he is, the talent level, the system that I still felt was forming [with the White Sox]. All of those things, him desiring to come to the South Side of Chicago, those are things that are unknown.” Nine months later, Murakami is already one of Major League Baseball’s top home run hitters. The Japanese sensation has now mashed 14 homers through his first 37 games and became the first rookie since Trevor Story in 2016 to enter May with at least a share of MLB’s home run lead. To the surprise of almost everyone, Murakami’s impact is happening in a Chicago White Sox uniform. “I think it raises our profile in Japan,” Keller said, “in a way that’s probably immeasurable.” Getting a foothold in the country figured to be a long-term endeavor for Keller, who was a longtime Mets scout before joining the White Sox in September 2024. At the time of Keller’s hiring, the White Sox did not have a full-time scout in Japan and were in the midst of the worst season in modern baseball history. Keller and general manager Chris Getz knew that establishing a presence in the Pacific Rim would require patience, likely years, to make inroads. The process accelerated when they hired a full-time NPB scout, Satoshi Takahashi, last June. A few months later, Keller took his summer trip to Japan. By then, Murakami had already been on the MLB radar for years. At 22 years old in 2022, the superstar slugger set the single-season NPB record with 56 home runs while being named the Central League MVP for the second straight year. But he was a polarizing talent. While Murakami remained a powerful force in the ensuing years, he was unable to replicate his record-setting season. Last year, injuries limited him to 56 games. He still launched 22 home runs despite the missed time and clearly possessed the ceiling to develop into one of MLB’s top power threats, but a high strikeout rate and defensive limitations figured to limit the corner infielder’s suitors and lower his floor. His three-true-outcome profile — homers, walks, strikeouts — made him unlike other Japanese stars who made the MLB leap, which had been a dream of Murakami’s since he was a child, and therefore made him difficult to project. But when Keller traveled to Japan last season, as he had done annually in his role as a Mets scout, something caught his eye. “He had really dedicated himself to getting into better shape, to moving better on the baseball field and really making the most of his ability, which for years prior had stood out,” Keller said, “because the NPB game is slightly different than the major-league game.”While the top home-run hitters in MLB routinely eclipse 50 in a season, Murakami’s 56 homers in 2022 represented a significant outlier in Japan. That year, he was one of only three NPB players with at least 30 home runs. Since he set that single-season mark, no NPB player has hit more than 41 home runs in a season.”There aren’t players quite like him,” Keller said.Teams can’t speak directly to NPB players until their posting window opens, so they talk to people who know the players, watch them pregame, see how they interact in game with teammates and coaches and try to gather as much information as they can through different means.Even beyond the power, the White Sox liked what they saw. “When you see a guy who’s genuinely liked, who’s taking care of his body and has the makeup and character to navigate the ups and downs of the game combined with significant talent, you start to get pretty excited,” Keller told me. “I wanted to really study the at-bats and see what it looked like, and I felt comfortable telling Chris that we have a guy here who has big-time power, who’s going to have good at-bats, who’s going to walk. And, yes, that’s going to come with some strikeouts, but I think that the risk is a worthy endeavor.” An unlikely match When Chicago’s 60-win season ended last year, Murakami’s name came up again during White Sox leadership meetings in October. But the projected salary range for the top NPB talent was still well beyond where they would realistically go. Despite Murakami’s risky profile, most prognosticators thought he would land a long-term, nine-figure deal. His power potential seemed too high, the chance to secure a 26-year-old superstar too tantalizing, for some team not to take a chance. Over time, though, it became clear to the White Sox that Murakami’s projected market wasn’t materializing as expected. That opened a path for the White Sox to make a multipronged push. Chicago’s analytics department and director of hitting Ryan Fuller studied Murakami’s swing meticulously. They felt confident they could help him make the adjustment to big-league pitching. The White Sox’s front office stayed in touch with Murakami’s agency at Excel and effectively sold the plan to owner Jerry Reinsdorf. Still, the White Sox were coming off a second straight last-place finish and a fourth straight season missing the playoffs — and they were still operating with a bottom-five MLB payroll. They also had a geographical disadvantage, though they didn’t think playing on the coast mattered as much to Murakami as it did to other Japanese players. “Again, I think I’d be lying to you to tell you I thought we were going to be significant players,” Keller said. “I was really hopeful that in a couple of years we were going to be major players in the NPB market.” But the White Sox kept Murakami in their conversations as they explored the corner infield market, and they had factors working in their favor. Most importantly, there were only a handful of teams looking for a slugging first baseman. The Mariners answered their need when they re-signed Josh Naylor in the middle of November. Weeks later, the best power hitter on the market came off the board when Kyle Schwarber returned to Philadelphia. Days later, Pete Alonso went to the Orioles, and the Mets countered by signing Jorge Polanco. “Maybe at some point the music would stop, and there wouldn’t be enough chairs,” Keller said. “And maybe we would still have a chair open.” It didn’t hurt that Shingo Takatsu, who pitched for the White Sox in 2004 and 2005, was Murakami’s longtime manager in Tokyo and spoke glowingly of his experience to the young slugger. Ultimately, the deal that Murakami signed — two years for $34 million — came in well below projections and reflected teams’ hesitancy. His floor scared most teams away from pursuing the ceiling. Not the White Sox. They added the slugger on a low-risk, high-reward deal that accelerated their plans to establish a presence in Japan and added to their growing list of intriguing young talents. Already, Takahashi is frequently sending Keller photos from Japan of people walking the streets in White Sox hats, something that never would have been prevalent in previous years. When Murakami was introduced in his No. 5 White Sox uniform on Dec. 22, Getz still couldn’t believe it. He did not mince words when describing his expectations. “We believe that Mune is going to be a star in this game,” Getz said from the dais. Through the first month of the season, it is looking that way. Murakami has the highest whiff rate in MLB, but he also has the highest hard-hit rate and is launching home runs at such a prolific pace that his high strikeout numbers haven’t doomed him. He entered Friday trailing only Yankees superstar Aaron Judge for the MLB lead in home runs. And while nearly all of Murakami’s slug has come from homers — he didn’t hit his first double of the year until his 35th game — he rarely chases and has the ninth-highest walk rate in MLB, which has allowed him to log the highest on-base percentage among all qualified White Sox hitters. “I always thought it would play,” White Sox pitcher Anthony Kay, who pitched against Murakami in Japan, told me. “I feel like, as baseball players, we see when guys are talented, and I feel like everyone over there saw it and knew that it would transfer over to the big leagues. But for him to be able to do it at such a quick rate and not really have a transition period is special.” It’s only May, but Murakami is currently on a 61-homer pace. He is the only player in MLB history to post at least 10 homers and 20 walks through his first 25 games, and he’s attracting more and more believers with every blast. On Monday in Anaheim, a group of roughly 20 fans ran behind the visitor’s dugout to try to get Murakami’s attention, some carrying signs, one wearing a Team Japan jersey, another donning his Yakult Swallows NPB uniform. The blemishes in Murakami’s game did not bother the White Sox, and their recent lack of success did not deter Murakami from choosing them, a decision he felt even better about after Cubs players Seiya Suzuki and Shota Imanaga expressed to him how much they enjoy the city of Chicago. “My main priority was to find the best fit,” Murakami said through his translator at his introductory press conference. “Whether the contract was long or not wasn’t really a factor. I just really believe in the city and the organization, and I’m really, really happy to be here.” ‘I’m able to be fully who I am’ In the middle of April, sidelined by arm fatigue, fellow NPB product Tatsuya Imai acknowledged the difficulties he was experiencing both on and off the field trying to adapt to his first season stateside. Conversely, as the Houston Astros pitcher struggled to adjust to the change, Murakami appeared to be fitting in seamlessly in his new environment. “People experience the differences, cultural or environmental, but for me there’s nothing about that,” Murakami told me this week through his interpreter, Kenzo Yagi. Despite the language barrier, he has found it easy to be himself. “My teammates are really communicating to me a lot,” he continued. “They listen very well, they talk very slowly, they open up with so much communication that I’m really comfortable making mistakes in English. I’m really happy that they have my back and that I’m able to be fully who I am in the clubhouse, and that’s why I’m really comfortable.” There’s guesswork involved for every MLB team when it comes to projecting how a player might handle an international move. But when the White Sox got a chance to speak to Murakami via Zoom last winter, they felt more comfortable. Manager Will Venable told me that any worries about the transition were eliminated on day one of spring training when he saw the way Murakami “chopped it up” with his teammates. Murakami’s willingness to move from third to first base, and his response to coaching and feedback, further eased any potential concerns. “He’s just been great in every way imaginable,” Venable said. Murakami is constantly working on his English, which his teammates say has already gotten better. He leans on his interpreter during hitters’ meetings, but he’ll occasionally deliver one-liners. He is finding different ways to showcase his personality and engage with those around him, even as he learns the language. When he arrived at his locker at Camelback Ranch in the spring, Murakami laughed it off when his first name was mistakenly spelled “Munetaki,” posting the picture to his Instagram story with a tongue-out laughing emoji. The White Sox attempted to make the transition as comfortable — quite literally — as possible for Murakami, who extolled the benefits of the team adding a bidet to the clubhouse. “It’s good for the environment, too,” Murakami said with a grin. “Everybody uses too much toilet paper.” White Sox players continue to praise Murakami as a teammate. He tries to teach them Japanese every day, and they’re proactively going to him with different phrases. “I know a few words,” infielder Chase Meidroth told me. “We’ve had some sushi dates. We’ve gone out a few times.” How does Murakami know where to go? “I ask a lot of people that have been around the city,” Murakami told me with a grin. “But mostly I just search on websites.” On the White Sox’s latest road trip, Meidroth was among a group of players who joined Murakami for an authentic omakase sushi experience — where a chef creates a personalized, multi-course meal — on an off day in San Diego. Murakami was hoping to show them how to properly put soy sauce on the fish. “Aside from being a good baseball player, it’s really fun playing with him,” Meidroth said. “Obviously, at first it helps with Kenzo, but I think his English has gotten a lot better. He understands a lot of words, and I pick up on stuff that he says too. You just kind of get to that point where you’re with each other every day, you start to pick up on stuff.” That applies to other languages, too. Cuban infielder Miguel Vargas was surprised when he heard Murakami use Spanish phrases with him. “Right now, we don’t pick any language,” Vargas told me. “We mix all three. My Japanese is not that good, but his Spanish is good. He tries and has a great attitude.” Quickly, Vargas got a sense of how much Murakami cared — about winning, yes, but also about those around him. “He always comes and says, ‘Hey, good AB, how you feel? How do you look at this pitcher?’” Vargas said. “You got a tough day, he comes and says, ‘Hey, tomorrow, we got ‘em.’” ‘Freakish’ power Early in spring, White Sox shortstop Colson Montgomery described Murakami’s power as “freakish.” Murakami has spent the last month demonstrating why. There was the 451-foot home run in Arizona that gave him five straight games with a homer, the 425-foot left-on-left blast that fell into a tree in right field at Sutter Health Park and the 429-foot blast off Angels standout Jose Soriano on a 98.1 mph fastball up and out of the zone. But it was another deep drive that many of Murakami’s teammates and coaches have singled out as the most breathtaking. On April 17, Elvis Alvarado left a full-count 98.2 mph fastball over the heart of the plate that Murakami sent for a ride. A’s center fielder Denzel Clarke took a few courtesy steps toward the warning track, but he knew the result. He looked up and watched the baseball disappear over the batter’s eye. There were questions coming in about Murakami’s ability to handle MLB velocity, but he’s answering them. He’s slugging .643 on pitches 97 mph or above. “He has this opportunity to see, like, ‘OK, what am I in Major League Baseball?'” White Sox hitting coach Derek Shomon told me. “I think if you bucket it in a way that you’re just saying, ‘This is the player you have to be,’ it can be very limiting. We don’t know, right? There’s a good hitter in there that obviously can launch but also is drawing walks at a ridiculously high clip because he’s not expanding. So, who knows, man? What we do know is the best version of it is pretty damn good.” The changes in his swing Murakami has had to make as he adjusts to MLB pitching have only been “micro-adjustments,” according to Shomon, primarily regarding his setup and first move to get him in the best position to launch. That, clearly, has not been a problem. Ten of Murakami’s 14 homers have traveled more than 400 feet, a number matched only by Judge, and his power and keen eye have made him one of MLB’s 20 best hitters by most advanced metrics. The version of Murakami that Kay sees now differs a bit from the one he saw in NPB. “I’d say he matured a little bit in his approach,” Kay said. “He knows he’s not going to be pitched a lot in the zone, so his eye has definitely gotten better from what I saw in Japan.” He is patiently lifting a White Sox team that is less than a game out of a wild-card spot in the middling American League. Soon, decisions will have to be made. Murakami’s short-term pact with the White Sox helped alleviate the risk they assumed, but it also meant just two seasons with Murakami under contract. For now, they’ll keep enjoying a reality that never seemed possible. “Whether I’m on the road or flying, I’m trying to tune into every at-bat,” Keller said, “because he has a chance to do something pretty cool every time he’s in the box.” __ In “Touching Base,” we check on the top players and topics making headlines around baseball and what comes next.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

The NFL has always been a quarterback-driven league where any signal caller with a pulse and a few highlight plays can command a hefty payday on the open market. The league-wide desperation has forced team builders to overpay for QB1 prospects with unimpressive résumés, ranking them as the highest-paid players on their teams. With an unproven quarterback such as Malik Willis inking a three-year, $67.5 million deal with six career starts to his name, the consternation over C.J. Stroud’s impending contract extension with the Houston Texans is laughable. While the fourth-year pro is coming off a disappointing postseason, in which he became the first quarterback in NFL history to record five interceptions and five fumbles in a single playoff run, the 2023 Offensive Rookie of the Year has also been brilliant at times while amassing 10,876 passing yards, 62 touchdowns (with just 25 interceptions) and 28 wins over his 46 starts. Additionally, Stroud has won at least one playoff game in each of his three seasons, and he has the fourth-most pass yards (1,438) and eighth-most touchdowns (8) in the postseason since 2023. Though the Texans’ stellar defense has played a significant role in the club’s postseason success, Stroud’s contributions to the team’s revival make it hard to dismiss his contract wishes when sitting down at the negotiating table. If quarterbacks are judged by their ability to win, the Texans’ regular-season and postseason success with Stroud at the helm puts him in a position to command $40 million-plus annually. In fact, the recent contracts signed by Trevor Lawrence (five-year, $275 million), Jordan Love (four-year, $220 million) and Brock Purdy (five-year, $265 million) make it nearly impossible to keep Stroud out of the “$50 Million Club,” as a fellow promising quarterback who has shown elite flashes as the offensive leader of a perennial playoff contender. Help Stroud Help Himself Before the pearl-clutching begins in H-Town over the blockbuster contract their franchise quarterback will likely sign in a future offseason, skeptics must consider the circumstances impacting his play over the past two seasons. The former Pro Bowler is working with his second offensive coordinator, while playing with a leaky offensive line that has not matched the physicality and violence of the Texans’ dominant defense. The lack of a consistent running game powered by an elite RB1 has put an inordinate amount of pressure on Stroud to carry the Texans, utilizing a pass-heavy approach without the perimeter weaponry to support the game plan. While the 6-foot-4 Nico Collins has produced like a top-10 receiver when healthy, he’s missed 10 games over the past three seasons, including Houston’s 2026 playoff loss, often leaving Stroud without a serviceable go-to target. Despite general manager Nick Caserio’s previous efforts to add playmakers via free agency (Stefon Diggs), trade (Christian Kirk) and the draft (Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel), those complementary receivers have not provided a consistent spark to the passing game. Tank Dell exhibited electric playmaking ability through his first 25 games, but a gruesome knee injury has kept the diminutive pass-catcher off the field for a season-plus. Although those challenging circumstances have impacted Stroud’s play, the dramatic decline in his production and performance since his rookie season takes a top-of-the-market deal out of the equation. His passing yards, yards per attempt and passer rating are down from his record-breaking 2023 campaign, and his on-field hesitancy has shown up in pivotal moments. With his most recent playoff failures against the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New England Patriots fresh in mind, Stroud’s ability to deliver under pressure is a major concern, particularly when factoring in his “closing” skills (only seven game-winning drives and two fourth-quarter comebacks) on a defensive-led team. The best quarterbacks can seamlessly transition from caretaker to playmaker depending on the game situation or circumstance, but questions persist regarding Stroud’s game based on the Texans’ defensive dominance and his modest production since a historic run at the beginning of his career. Table Negotiations Till Next Year In 2023, he became just the fifth rookie to post a 4,000-yard season and the first to have at least 900 yards, four passing touchdowns and zero interceptions over his first three career starts. Stroud recorded six 300-yard passing games that season, but he’s had only three such games since. Although numbers do not fully tell a quarterback’s story, Stroud’s regression and the team’s success make it harder to find a deal that is a “win-win” for Houston and its franchise quarterback. From the Texans’ perspective, they have routinely rewarded their best players after they established themselves as elite players. Cornerback Derek Stingley (three-year, $90 million), defensive end Danielle Hunter (one-year, $40 million extension after recently signing a two-year $49 million deal in 2024) and linebackers Will Anderson Jr. (three-year, $150 million) and Azeez Al-Shaair (three-year, $54 million) recently inked blockbuster deals after earning All-Pro or Pro Bowl honors. The meritocracy that permeates the Texans’ locker room is rewarded by the front office with hefty contracts that align compensation with production. While the NFL’s tendency to reward the next starting-caliber quarterback who hits the market with a megadeal that exceeds their on-field production, the Texans should slow-play the Stroud negotiation by using this year and potentially the fifth-year option season to evaluate their franchise quarterback. Considering the option is currently valued at $25.9 million, the Texans are getting their QB1 at a team-friendly number that lets them monitor his progress without overpaying for his inconsistent production. Although the Texans are bypassing a chance to sign Stroud when his stock is at an all-time low, the decision to prioritize the team’s blue-collar culture by making the young quarterback prove his worth raises the standards and expectations within the locker room. Most importantly, it prevents the Texans from committing to an inconsistent quarterback on a hefty contract, which could lead to immediate buyer’s remorse and a brutal rebuild (see: Arizona Cardinals, Miami Dolphins). That said, the market will continue to rise while the Texans take a “wait-and-see” approach with Stroud. The fourth-year pro could see his contract balloon to astronomical levels if he regains his Pro Bowl form and leads the team on a deep playoff run. Considering how his cross-state rival, Dak Prescott, has parlayed “wait-and-see” negotiations into multiple blockbuster deals, the Texans’ reluctance to seriously engage in contract discussions could lead to a substantial raise that makes the delayed gratification worth the wait for the once-rising star.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

As spring practices wrap up and anticipation for the 2026 college football season continues to build, FOX has unveiled its Friday night slate of games for the upcoming year. The 2026 FOX College Football Friday slate features plenty of compelling matchups, and I identified some of those top storylines I’ll be watching ahead of what will most certainly be another raucous and exciting season with at least one or two twists that we won’t believe until they’re revealed. Below are the Friday night games airing on FOX this fall and a look at the biggest things I’ll be watching for. How to watch: 9 p.m. ET on FOX How good can USC quarterback Jayden Maiava be? Last season, he quietly put together an impressive campaign, throwing for 3,711 yards with 24 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. A strong performance against the Bulldogs could quickly push his name into the early Heisman Trophy conversation for 2026. How to watch: 8 p.m. ET on FOX Mizzou’s Ahmad Hardy is the best running back in the SEC and one of the top Heisman candidates in the country entering 2026. After a breakout freshman season at Louisiana-Monroe with more than 1,300 rushing yards, Hardy proved he could dominate at the highest level by exploding for 1,649 yards and 16 touchdowns in SEC play last season. How to watch: 8 p.m. ET on FOX Who will start at quarterback for Texas Tech? That’s one of the biggest questions facing the Red Raiders entering the 2026 season. With presumptive starter Brendan Sorsby currently in rehab for a gambling addiction and backup Will Hammond likely to miss the start of the regular season, head coach Joey McGuire might be forced to turn to his third-string quarterback in a pivotal Big 12 matchup. How to watch: 8 p.m. ET on FOX The defending national champions return 2025 Broyles Award-winning defensive coordinator Bryant Haines, who will once again match wits with Wildcats offensive coordinator Chip Kelly. Kelly won the first meeting between the two, leading Ohio State’s offense past the Hoosiers in 2024. How to watch: 8 p.m. ET on FOX We’ll know so much more about Penn State head coach Matt Campbell’s first year in Happy Valley, but winning against Northwestern in 2026 is mandatory after the Nittany Lions lost to Northwestern in 2025. How to watch: 9 p.m. ET on FOX or FS1 Washington quarterback Demond Williams Jr. has many of the same traits that made former Oklahoma star Kyler Murray so dangerous, and he’ll need all of them against Phil Parker’s Iowa defense. Last season, I called Williams one of the best-kept secrets in the sport. Now, entering 2026, the rest of the country is catching on, and he has the talent to shake up the Heisman race. How to watch: 8 p.m. ET on FOX Can Purdue climb out of the Big Ten cellar? The Boilermakers haven’t beaten a conference opponent since a 35-31 rivalry win over Indiana in November 2023. Head coach Barry Odom faces mounting pressure to show progress in the toughest conference in college football. How to watch: 8 p.m. ET on FOX Has Matt Rhule reached his ceiling at Nebraska? Despite back-to-back AP Top 25 finishes and at least seven wins in both 2024 and 2025, the Huskers have yet to break through against elite competition. Nebraska has lost 29 straight games against AP Top 25 opponents, and Illinois could very well be ranked when the two meet this season. How to watch: 9 p.m. ET on FOX Can UCLA head coach Bob Chesney replicate his James Madison success with the Bruins? Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti already showed it can be done, arriving from JMU and quickly turning a struggling Big Ten program into a College Football Playoff contender. Chesney, fresh off leading JMU to a CFP appearance, now faces a similar leap. This matchup could be the first step in determining whether UCLA can enter the 12-team playoff conversation in earnest. How to watch: 8 p.m. ET on FOX Are the Ducks finally good enough to win a national title? Though I do not expect Michigan State to provide a challenge or a résumé robust enough for me to answer that question, I do expect Dan Lanning’s Oregon team to take care of business against Pat Fitzgerald’s Spartans and continue building momentum toward a playoff run. How to watch: 8 p.m. ET on FOX By the end of this game, we’ll all have a better understanding of what life without Kyle Whittingham looks like for Utah. We’ll know if Utes coach Morgan Scalley is fit to keep the job, and we’ll know more about how deep the Big 12 is in 2026. How to watch: 9 p.m. ET on FOX Is North Dakota State going to play in it? Not at the moment. Current rules prohibit the Bison from participating in postseason competition as they transition from FCS to FBS. However, if the NCAA’s FBS Oversight Committee passes legislation changing that policy before the season begins, North Dakota State could immediately be in the mix for a title — and perhaps even a College Football Playoff appearance.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

Now that the NFL Draft is behind us, the bulk of the 2026 NFL offseason is in the books — and it was really one to remember. There were 10 new head coaches hired, the most since 2022. The Arizona Cardinals decided they no longer wanted Kyler Murray, but the Minnesota Vikings deemed him good enough to sign him and allow him to compete with J.J. McCarthy for the starting quarterback job. The Las Vegas Raiders, meanwhile, will seemingly start veteran Kirk Cousins after taking Fernando Mendoza with the first overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. The Los Angeles Rams might have had the biggest swings this offseason. They traded for All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie in a deal with the Kansas City Chiefs, giving up a first-round draft pick in that deal before using another first-round pick to surprisingly take quarterback Ty Simpson. But the biggest news this offseason surrounded a blockbuster trade that didn’t happen. The Baltimore Ravens landed star edge rusher Maxx Crosby for a few days before pulling out of the deal due to his medicals. As Crosby remains with the Raiders, the Ravens opted to sign star edge rusher Trey Hendrickson instead. So, now that the dust has largely settled this offseason, let’s take a look at the five teams that have improved the most this spring as we inch closer to the start of training camp in July. Notable additions: Robert Saleh (hired as head coach), Brian Daboll (hired as offensive coordinator), wide receiver Carnell Tate (selected with fourth overall pick in 2026 NFL Draft), edge rusher Keldric Faulk (31st overall pick), wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson (signed a four-year, $78 million contract), defensive lineman John Franklin-Myers (signed a three-year, $63 million deal) Let’s start with coaching changes. The Tennessee Titans hired a defensive-minded head coach with a strong, charismatic personality in Robert Saleh, who brought in an experienced staff led by former New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll as the team’s offensive coordinator and former Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Gus Bradley as the team’s defensive coordinator. Along with an experienced coaching staff, Saleh’s focus has been surrounding last year’s No. 1 overall draft pick Cam Ward with upgrades at receiver in first-round pick Carnell Tate and free agent signee Wan’Dale Robinson. However, the offensive line remains a question mark. The Titans took late-round flyers on two interior offensive linemen in Fernando Carmona and Pat Coogan. How Daboll changes things schematically, along with how offensive line coach Carmen Bricillo brings that group together, will go a long way to Ward’s improvement. Saleh will make the defense better, an experienced coaching staff will limit mistakes and help Tennessee double its win total from three games in 2025. Notable additions: Linebacker Sonny Styles (selected with the seventh overall pick in 2026 NFL Draft), edge rusher Odafe Oweh (signed a four-year, $100 million deal), linebacker Leo Chenal (signed a three-year, $24.75 million deal), edge rusher K’Lavon Chaisson (signed a one-year, $12 million deal), tight end Chig Okonkwo (signed a three-year, $30 million deal), running back Rachaad White (signed a one-year, $2 million deal) Head coach Dan Quinn isn’t using injuries as an excuse for last year’s disappointing 5-12 finish after reaching the NFC Championship Game two years ago. Instead, the Washington Commanders made wholesale changes on offense and defense, moving on from experienced offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury in favor of quarterbacks coach David Blough, who will put Jayden Daniels under center more in the upcoming season. The defensive-minded Quinn also moved on from defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr., replacing him with Minnesota Vikings defensive passing game coordinator Daronte Jones. Expect an emphasis on improved pass rush defensively, led by athletic first-round pick Sonny Styles. The team also made a splash in free agency, adding Odafe Oweh after he recorded 7.5 sacks in 12 games with the Los Angeles Chargers last season. And on offense, general manager Adam Peters hopes the additions of running back Rachaad White, running back Jerome Ford and wide receiver Dyami Brown in free agency will lead to more explosive plays. Peters also drafted enticing Clemson wide receiver Antonio Williams in the third round and Penn State running back Kaytron Allen in the sixth round to help achieve that goal. The Commanders should improve this upcoming season and be back in the race for the NFC East division title. Notable additions: Defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence (acquired in trade with New York Giants), edge rusher Boye Mafe (signed a three-year, $60 million deal), defensive tackle Jonathan Allen (signed a two-year, $$25 million deal), safety Bryan Cook (signed a three-year, $40.25 million deal), edge rusher Cashius Howell (selected with 41st overall pick in 2026 NFL Draft) If Joe Burrow can stay healthy, the Cincinnati Bengals have upgraded enough defensively to compete for the top spot in the AFC North. The big move was trading for dominant defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence in a deal with the New York Giants, sacrificing the 10th overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. But they also signed defensive tackle Jonathan Allen, edge rusher Boye Mafe and safety Bryan Cook in free agency, helping to fill the void left by edge rusher Trey Hendrickson, who signed with the Baltimore Ravens. The Bengals had one of the worst defenses in the league last season, but have an infusion of talent that includes the addition of defensive linemen Cashius Howell and Landon Robinson through the draft. The Bengals allowed 29 points per game last season. If they can drop that number to the low-20s, Cincinnati will win more games because of an explosive offense. And the Bengals still have insurance behind Burrow in an accomplished veteran quarterback in Joe Flacco. Notable additions: Running back Travis Etienne (signed a four-year, $52 million deal), wide receiver Jordyn Tyson (selected with eighth overall pick in 2026 NFL Draft), guard David Edwards (signed a four-year, $61 million deal), linebacker Kaden Elliss (signed a three-year, $33 million deal), tight end Noah Fant (signed a two-year, $8.75 million deal) The New Orleans Saints appeared to have gotten the quarterback right, with last year’s second-round pick Tyler Shough showing he can be the long-term answer with the way he played in the second half of 2025. New Orleans added an elite playmaker with receiver Jordyn Tyson in the first round. Now the Arizona State product must prove he can stay healthy, dealing with a hamstring injury this past college football season. Third-round pick Oscar Delp is an athletic mover who gives head coach Kellen Moore the ability to use more heavy formations with more tight ends. North Dakota State product Bryce Lance, the younger brother of quarterback Trey Lance, was considered by some scouts I spoke with as one of the most underrated prospects in this year’s draft, with New Orleans adding the wide receiver in the fourth round of the draft. The Saints also signed running back Travis Etienne, guard David Edwards and tight end Noah Fant in free agency. Defensively, Georgia defensive tackle Christian Miller and Ohio State safety Lorenzo Styles should help upgrade the defense. New Orleans also signed Atlanta Falcons free agent linebacker Kaden Elliss to replace departed veteran inside linebacker Demario Davis. Those moves could put the Saints in a position to compete in the winnable NFC South. Notable additions: Running back Kenneth Walker III (signed a three-year, $45 million deal), cornerback Mansoor Delane (selected with the sixth overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft), defensive tackle Peter Woods (selected with the 29th overall pick), safety Alohi Gilman (signed a three-year, $24.75 million deal), edge rusher R Mason Thomas (selected with the 40th overall pick) With the loss of cornerback Trent McDuffie in a trade and fellow corner Jaylen Watson to the Los Angeles Rams in free agency, the Kansas City Chiefs focused on replacing those playmakers by taking four defensive players with their first four picks in the draft, including cornerbacks Mansoor Delane and Jadon Canady, defensive tackle Peter Woods and edge rusher R Mason Thomas. The Chiefs also signed veteran safety Alohi Gilman and defensive tackle Khyiris Tonga in free agency, revamping their defensive unit from front to back. Offensively, the centerpiece of this offseason was securing Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III in free agency from the Seattle Seahawks. Walker’s arrival should take pressure off Patrick Mahomes to carry the offense, as he returns from season-ending ACL knee surgery. Mahomes is expected to be ready for Week 1, as general manager Brett Veach recently said his star quarterback is ahead of schedule. Add in the return of Travis Kelce, and the Chiefs should rebound from a 6-11 campaign in 2025.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

New York — Time after time, leadership gets passed down. That’s especially true for those that are sponges; not only willing to learn, but eager to lead. Pete Alonso grew up in the big leagues alongside some of the greatest players who have ever stepped on a baseball field. In 2019, even as he slugged his way to 53 home runs and won the National League Rookie of the Year award with the Mets, Alonso never presumed to know it all. He leaned on veterans to understand how to be a professional major-leaguer, and how to do things the right way. Seven years ago, he didn’t know where life would take him. Now, playing with the Orioles on a record-breaking contract, Alonso is bringing all that he’s learned to Baltimore, aiming to shape it into a championship-caliber organization. “I was really fortunate,” Alonso told me at Yankee Stadium this week. “I’ve had a lot of great teammates. Max Scherzer, [Jacob] deGrom, [Justin] Verlander. Future Hall of Famers. And for me, too, Noah [Syndergaard] was a huge influence. Robbie Cano, Todd Frazier. So those guys, they would take me out to dinner, bring me places, introduce me to things. They were like, ‘This is not only how you play, but this is how you behave.’ It was like, these are the standards of what you need to carry yourself as a professional, not just in the big leagues, but in New York. “And I feel like those professional life lessons, they kind of helped me through. It’s definitely made a big impact. They were showing me, this is what you do in the big leagues. This is how you operate. So, for me, I’m paying it forward. I was on the receiving end for a number of years, so now it’s like, it’s my turn.” Being a mentor to his Baltimore teammates has come naturally for the first baseman. It was Alonso’s idea to take the O’s to the Clemente Museum — which is dedicated to preserving the life and legacy of baseball player and humanitarian, Roberto Clemente — when they traveled to Pittsburgh to play the Pirates in the second week of the season. Over the years, Alonso has built a strong relationship with the museum’s owner, Duane Rieder, who the slugger said, “Makes some of the best wine and has incredible baseball memorabilia.” The Clemente Museum houses an urban winery in the cellar, which surprised some younger players. “It’s just really an unbelievable hangout spot,” Alonso said. “I think it’s the best one in Pittsburgh. So it’s an easy thing to do. I want to be able to do things like that because we did a lot of things that built camaraderie on some of the good teams that we had with the Mets. All good teams, they do stuff together.” The Orioles entered Thursday with a 17-20 record. Much like many contending teams around the league struggling to eclipse .500, it’s not the start Baltimore had hoped for. But Alonso is reminding his new club to stay the course. Those who are getting to know the way the “Polar Bear” works have appreciated that, even if Alonso goes 0-for-4 with four strikeouts at the plate, he’s still the same guy, keeping his head up, afterward. Orioles teammates describe Alonso as a vocal leader. He’s often the first to speak up on team bus rides. He’s tapping players on their backs after losses, saying, “We’ll get ‘em tomorrow.” He’s spending extra time in the batting cages with hitters — particularly after games, wins or losses — to help when someone isn’t having the most success at the plate, or if someone’s struggling with a certain pitch. Third baseman Coby Mayo, now in his third year in the big leagues, has struggled to hit offspeed pitches this season. He was starting to get down on himself when Alonso stepped in and offered a new approach: “How about just eliminating the pitch?” Alonso advised Mayo to stop swinging at curveballs and sliders, and then opposing pitchers might change their game plans against the 24-year-old. Mayo has since focused on working himself into better counts. He’s forcing pitchers to throw more competitive pitches in the strike zone. “Instead of worrying about not hitting this pitch well, mostly, it’s because you’re not swinging at the right ones, and you’re chasing them too much,” Mayo told me, explaining how Alonso has collaborated with him. “So, just little things that can help you see it in a different way. It’s cool that he takes the time to talk to guys about it.” Guiding younger Orioles hitters like Mayo, Jackson Holliday, Jordan Westburg, Colton Cowser and Jeremiah Jackson was one of the primary reasons owner David Rubenstein was comfortable signing Alonso to a five-year, $155 million contract in December. Alonso’s $31 million average annual value marks the largest commitment in Orioles franchise history. Baltimore’s roster carries several promising young talents, and there was a void in leadership that is now being filled in a way players hadn’t seen or experienced prior to Alonso’s addition. “We would do little things here and there, but I’d say this is the first year when I’ve felt that presence, that leadership presence,” Mayo said. “He’s been great. We haven’t had a guy come into that type of role, making the biggest contract in our history. So it’s definitely a higher level of respect for Pete.” Orioles manager Craig Albernaz considers Alonso his “thought partner.” Being new to the organization, accompanied by a new coaching staff, the first-year skipper has enjoyed bouncing ideas off the first baseman. Alonso is “echoing the right messaging, and he also wants to talk ball,” Albernaz told me. Alonso reached the postseason in 2022 and ‘24 with the Mets, so Albernaz is leaning on the slugger to help the Orioles get back on track. After back-to-back playoff appearances (2023-24), the 2025 Orioles season was a major disappointment. They finished 75-87, last place in the American League East, and were eliminated from postseason contention by mid-September. Following a poor start, manager Brandon Hyde was fired last May. The team failed to recover largely due to an absence of strong pitching and extreme underperformance from their emerging hitters. There was a missing piece in the clubhouse and, so far, Alonso has looked like the answer. After a slow start at the plate, the slugger is beginning to heat up. Alonso’s three-run blast off Marlins right-hander Eury Perez in the first inning Wednesday was the difference in Baltimore’s 7-4 win over Miami. He’s hitting .225/.331/.449 with seven home runs and a 119 OPS+ in 37 games. “Pete was brought in to be Pete Alonso,” Albernaz told me during Orioles batting practice in the Bronx this week. “And everything he brings on the field, it’s been an added bonus of him being him, and how he navigates the clubhouse. It really comes down to him being a great teammate. He really wants the best out of everyone around him. He wants to help. He’s there to help. He’s not overbearing. As I’m talking now, he’s dapping up kids and stuff. He has such a big heart. He cares so much. And he’s such a fierce competitor. He really wants to win every night. He’s about winning.” Community service is another area where Alonso has always been a leader, and he and his wife, Haley, haven’t wasted any time giving back to Baltimore. Last month, the Alonso’s donated $10,000 through the Alonso Foundation to the Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter, a local shelter not far from Camden Yards. They’ve rescued two dogs, and they love animals, so Alonso described the decision to donate as “a quick, easy thing.” And after becoming parents last September, welcoming their son, Teddy, into the world, the Alonso’s have shifted their efforts to helping families and mothers. Understanding all that it takes to raise a child, they’ve made a few donations to a local Baltimore diaper bank. “Diapers aren’t cheap,” Alonso said. “So we just wanted to kind of help out that way, too. We want to be able to do more, but we’ve just been so busy. As the season starts to kind of unfold, and we spend more time, we’ll have a better plan of how to help out more.” Paying it forward, indeed. “From The Dugout” is where we provide an insider’s view on the biggest and best storylines surrounding MLB’s top players and teams.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

Back in March, on the day Mauricio Pochettino named the United Sates’ penultimate roster before this summer’s FIFA World Cup, I asked the U.S. men’s national team coach how he’d weigh the more consequential decisions looming two months later: if making his 26-player World Cup squad would depend more on their form and fitness in late May, or how they’d performed for the Stars and Stripes since the former Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain manager arrived in 2024. “It’s an art, because every single player is different and can add different things to the team,” Pochettino said. “Different characters, different profiles, different quality, different talent. We cannot follow some rule, because I think it’s not fair to judge all [of them] in the same way.” We’ll soon see how the Argentine judges the 35 “or maybe a few more” players in contention for the once-in-a-lifetime chance to participate in a World Cup on home soil. (The U.S., which opens against Paraguay on June 12 in Los Angeles, is co-hosting the 48-team international soccer extravaganza with Canada and Mexico.) Surely, star forward Christian Pulisic remains a locked-in starter for Pochettino despite a goal drought that has now reached 17 games for AC Milan and 19 overall. The status of attacking midfielder Malik Tillman is less clear; Tillman has barely featured for German club Bayer Leverkusen over the last two months and might no longer be the World Cup roster shoo-in he seemed like at the end of the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup. Tillman’s untimely drop-off could help Gio Reyna, who has logged more playing time at Borussia Mönchengladbach lately, or open the door for another attacker – someone like Houston Dynamo midfielder Jack McGlynn, who U.S. assistant coach Jesús Pérez will watch play in person this Sunday. Two of the national team’s all-time greats — Landon Donovan and Tim Howard — recently predicted that Pochettino wouldn’t pick Johnny Cardoso, who last week became just the fourth American player ever to appear in a UEFA Champions League semifinal. (This was before Cardoso injured his ankle in training with Atlético Madrid on Thursday.) But a surprise or two is possible. Maybe even likely. Donovan was famously left home for the 2014 World Cup by then-coach Jürgen Klinsmann. In 2022, Shaq Moore made the roster and two substitute appearances in Qatar, something nobody predicted beforehand. Same in 2010, when strikers Edson Buddle and Herculez Gomez made the U.S. team on the strength of timely goal-scoring streaks alone. Will somebody come out of nowhere and play themselves onto the World Cup roster over the next few weeks? Here’s who’s trending up (and down) with Pochettino’s announcement now less than three weeks away. Stock Up The USA’s back line anchor will play for another trophy as Palace – last season’s FA Cup winner – finished off Shakhtar Donetsk on Thursday in London to advance to the UEFA Conference League final. The Eagles and Spanish club Rayo Vallecano face off on May 27 in Leipzig, Germany. The Americans’ pre-World Cup camp begins earlier the same day at the new Arthur M. Blank National Training Center outside of Atlanta. Possibly the most irreplaceable player that Pochettino has, Adams is nearing full fitness at exactly the right time. The veteran destroyer, 27, made his first Premier League start in two months in last weekend’s 3-0 win over Palace. (Richards, who started both legs against Shakhtar, entered in the second half.) Adams had been limited to a role as a substitute in his first three games for the Cherries after returning from the hamstring ailment that sidelined him for club and country in March. When he suffered his own hamstring strain in March, Dest insisted he’d return before season’s end. He kept that promise last weekend, entering off the bench for the final 30 minutes of the Dutch champions’ 2-2 tie with rivals Ajax. PSV has two league games remaining, beginning with Sunday’s trip to the gloriously named Go Ahead Eagles. The 22-year-old lefty, who has made 12 of his 13 career U.S. appearances under Pochettino, has been out of sight and mind since undergoing foot surgery last fall. Now he’s back on the field, having made his first start of 2026 in last week’s 1-0 win over Colorado. He’s back in the World Cup mix, too. A day after taking in RSL-FCD in Texas, Pérez will be in Southern California for McGlynn’s match at LAFC. One of the most consistent Americans employed overseas in 2025-26, Morris could benefit if Cardoso can’t go. Capping his club campaign in style could help. The Columbus Crew product will help ‘Boro compete for a Premier League spot over the next five days, with the opening match of its home-and-home, total-goals-wins series against Southampton on Saturday. The decisive second leg is on Tuesday. In his 37th appearance of the season, Trusty helped Celtic beat Hibernian and keep pace with Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts — setting up a potential title decider between the teams on May 16, the final day of the campaign. First, the experienced left-footed center back will look to extend his streak of starts to six straight games in Sunday’s Old Firm derby with chief nemesis Rangers. There’s a lot of hype around the 19-year-old, who notched his third goal (to go with four assists) of the MLS season last Saturday against Portland. Pérez, Poch’s top deputy, will be at RSL’s game in Dallas on May 9, too, ostensibly to see Diego Luna (who also scored vs. the Timbers). Considering his inexperience, the uncapped Gozo probably remains a long shot for this World Cup. But if he balls out with Pérez watching and someone else gets injured, who knows? Stock Down On Tuesday, Johnny and Atléti failed to beat Arsenal on Tuesday and advance to the UEFA Champions League final. On Thursday, Cardoso’s week got worse: The Spanish titans announced that the 24-year-old had suffered “a high grade ankle sprain” in training, the awful timing of which could seemingly dash his World Cup dreams. While no timetable was given, the USA’s first game is a mere 36 days away. Another week, another game without a goal for Pulisic, who has now also lost his starting spot for Milan boss Maxi Allegri. The 27-year-old was on the bench to start the Rossoneri’s eventual 2-0 loss to Sassuolo on May 3, and while he entered (as a striker) in the 59th minute he couldn’t get Milan any closer. Up next? A trip to Genoa on Sunday, with just one more Serie A game remaining, at home to Cagliari on May 24, after that. When the playmaker logged almost the final half-hour of Leverkusen’s 2-1 win over Cologne on April 25, it looked like Tillman was inching closer to winning back his starting job. Instead, he made just a five-minute cameo versus RB Leipzig last Saturday, well after the outcome was in doubt. He has a total of 42 minutes of action for the club since March 21. After suffering what Charlotte coach Dean Smith called “a setback” in his recovery from the groin injury he suffered on April 18, Ream missed his fourth consecutive MLS match last weekend. The Crown host FC Cincinnati on Saturday. Robinson also hasn’t played since April 18, having missed FCC’s last three league games with an undisclosed leg ailment. He could feature in Charlotte, though, having returned to full training earlier this week.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

In Driver’s Eye with James Hinchcliffe, the six-time INDYCAR winner will bring you inside the mind of a racer while breaking down the nuts and bolts of the sport for fans. This time of year, it’s easy to think about one thing and one thing only: the Indianapolis 500. But when you’re racing in INDYCAR, you do that at your own peril. And the reason for that is simple. There is still another race to run before the 500! Yes, I am talking about the Sonsio Grand Prix, colloquially known as the Indy Grand Prix. The hardest part about the Indy Grand Prix is that it runs just a few days before, and in the same venue, as The Greatest Spectacle in Racing — but on a different track. Casual or newer fans might not know that on the infield of the mammoth Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course that, along with INDYCAR, has hosted a ton of different series like NASCAR, Formula 1, IMSA, MotoGP and more. For INDYCAR drivers, it’s so easy to want to simply “get the Indy GP over with” so attention can switch to the 500. But you can’t sleep on the GP. Teams will load into the speedway and set up in the same garages they’ll use for the Indy 500. So it already feels like 500 time! You want to get out on the 2.5-mile oval and start dialing in your car and working on winning the big one. But you can’t, because this other race stands in the way. When you zoom out and think of the championship, the Indy GP pays just as many points as any other round on the calendar. For that reason, teams and drivers need to find a way to stay locked in on making the GP as successful a weekend as possible. Some drivers really struggle to keep their mind off the Indy 500, focus on the task at hand and perform at their best in the Indy GP. Others really click with the track and know that it’s a great opportunity for them to score a big result. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in particular is known as an Indy GP specialist team, with veteran driver Graham Rahal specifically always in the mix here. Keep an eye on Rahal in the No. 15 Honda: In 17 starts since 2014, he’s only finished outside the top 10 twice. Another important thing about the Indy GP is it can really set the tone for your Month of May. We talk a lot about how momentum is a real thing in racing, just like stick-and-ball sports. My best result in the GP, a third-place finish in 2016, led right into the start of my strongest Indy 500. We took the uplift from the podium finish into practice week and qualifying, ultimately winning the Indy 500 pole the next weekend. Other drivers have ridden the wave of winning the Indy GP into taking the big prize on Memorial Day Weekend. Alex Palou won both the GP and the 500 last year, following in the footsteps of Will Power, who won both in 2018, and Simon Pagenaud, who won both and added the Indy 500 pole to complete the hat-trick sweep of the Month of May in 2019. Performances like that — a strong May, from the Indy GP to the Indy 500 — can save careers and extend them for years. THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE FAST: IMS ROAD COURSE The 14-turn track itself isn’t the most complex layout, but it certainly has its challenges. It’s missing the rolling hills and blind corners you find at Barber Motorsports Park or Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. But technical corners — like the combined turning and braking, decreasing radius of Turn 4, and the “esses,” a series of switchbacks from Turn 7 to Turn 10 — can easily catch you out and kill your lap time. More often than not, the drivers that have the best splits through the esses find themselves on the front row after qualifying. And let’s not forget how cool and weird it feels going backward down the frontstraight into Turn 1 after one of the longest full-throttle stretches of the whole season! Well, not really backward, but it certainly feels like it sometimes. The Indy 500 is all left turns counterclockwise around the 2.5-mile oval. The Indy GP on the IMS road course runs clockwise, meaning drivers are speeding down the iconic frontstraight in the opposite direction as the 500. Road course qualifying can be extra tricky too. There isn’t much track between the exit of pit lane and hitting the alternate start-finish line, which is where the lap times begin and end during practice and qualifying. That means you don’t have much time to get temperature into the softer, alternate Firestone tires (the softs) before your first timed lap starts. And that matters because your first timed lap is usually the money lap at this track. Finding the right way to warm everything up — while still finding a good gap for a clean lap and also staying out of the way of everyone who is on a flier — can be a real challenge. If you do manage to get that temp and find that gap, the margins on the Indy road course are so tight that you still have to nail every single brake point, turn in and throttle application perfectly to come out on top. SOUND LIKE AN INDYCAR (HISTORY) EXPERT This May is a big one for the Rahal family. Not only is Graham Rahal looking to get back onto the top step of the podium — remember, the Indy GP is a happy hunting ground for him and maybe his best chance of the calendar — but it’s also been 40 years since his dad, racing legend Bobby Rahal, won the 1986 Indy 500. Bobby’s Indy 500 victory certainly goes down as both one of the greatest races at the 117-year-old Indianapolis Motor Speedway and one of the most gripping stories of a winner. In honor of the milestone year, FOX Sports, Big Machine Racing Productions and Chassy Media produced a documentary about Bobby’s career and 500 win. “Bobby Rahal: True American Racer” will premiere Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1 and will feature insights and reflections from prominent industry figures like Mario Andretti, Zak Brown, David Letterman, Bryan Herta… and even my good buddy Townsend Bell and I make an appearance! It was very cool to get to be asked to be in a film honoring a man that I have known personally for a very long time and admired as a driver and person ever longer. 1 FOR THE ROAD With that all said, the busiest month of the INDYCAR calendar starts now! Drivers will have busier schedules throughout the month than at any other point of the year. Not only are they on track most days for long hours, they will have endless sponsor commitments, media events, fan engagements and much more. It is what makes May so special but also so challenging. Balancing all the extracurricular stuff with staying focused on the job — winning the Indy GP and Indy 500 — can be incredibly tough. But hey, if it were easy… MORE DRIVER’S EYE:​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

The NCAA announced Thursday that it will expand its two March Madness tournaments by eight teams each next season, a move that will drop more early-round games into the first week of the highly popular and lucrative showcase without substantially changing its overall form. The new 76-team brackets will jam eight extra games — for a total of 12 games involving 24 teams — into the front half of the first week of the men’s and the women’s tournaments, turning what’s now known as the First Four into a bigger affair. It is the first expansion of the tournaments in 15 years, when they were bumped to 68 teams each. The 12 winners will move into the main 64-team bracket that will begin, as usual, on Thursday for the men and Friday for the women. Most of the eight new slots are expected to go to teams in the power conferences that were already commanding the lion’s share of entries in thebracket. Two years ago, the SEC placed a record 14 teams in the men’s bracket. Last season, the Big Ten had nine. The move is a product of the times, which include massive expansion — the ACC, for instance, has grown from nine to 17 teams since 1996 — and the reality that mid-major schools with top-notch players will often see those players plucked away by programs with bigger budgets and the ability to pay them through revenue sharing. Cinderella? There will still be room for those, though not a single mid-major advanced past the first weekend of either tournament the last two seasons. This hardly registers as a concern of the decision-makers anymore, who will point to the TV ratings that traditionally spell out fans’ preference for Duke and North Carolina over St. Peter’s and San Diego State, especially once the Sweet 16 starts. What matters more to the biggest schools is that their teams have a chance to compete in what remains the best postseason in college sports and that they aren’t iced out by lower conference champions who earn automatic bids. “You’ve got some really, really good teams who are going to end up in that 9, 10, 11 [seed] category that I think should be moved into the” 64-team bracket, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said last year in discussing how he favored expansion. There is also money at stake: Conferences earn “units” — which amounted to about $350,000 per unit for the men’s tournament last season — for placing teams in the bracket and then for every round those teams advance. The Big Ten made nearly $70 million from both tournaments, won by conference members Michigan (men) and UCLA (women). Leaders in the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC have all acknowledged that the smaller teams help make March Madness what it is, all the while steadily expanding their own power in NCAA decision-making. That brings with it the tacit threat of fracturing the single thing the NCAA does best — the basketball tournament. This move might forestall that. What it isn’t expected to do is generate much more revenue. The current deal for the men’s tournament is worth $8.8 billion and runs through 2032. Adding a few extra games between mid-level Power Four teams on Tuesday and Wednesday won’t change that much. One reason this took as long as it did was the NCAA negotiations with CBS and TNT, which themselves have been in negotiations over their own ownership. The more drastic option of expanding the tournament to 96 teams or beyond would involve adding an extra week to a tournament that has thrived in part because of the symmetry of a six-round bracket that gets whittled down over three weeks. That basic shell began in 1985, with only slight tweaks, the latest of which came in 2011 when it was upped to 68. Reporting by The Associated Press.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

There was a moment during the three-week window between winning the national title on April 6 and the official announcement of his new roster on April 28 when Michigan basketball coach Dusty May toyed with making wholesale changes to a strategy that had worked wonders. Towering positional size and NBA-caliber talent in the frontcourt propelled the Wolverines to the sport’s apex, securing just the second championship in program history. Michigan’s triumph marked the fourth time in as many years that college basketball’s eventual champion tore through the competition by deploying one of the tallest rosters in the country, overwhelming opponents at the rim and in the paint. Coaches everywhere had noticed and were adjusting their roster-building strategies accordingly. But an obvious chasm separating supply from demand for elite big men in this spring’s transfer portal meant replicating that construction was akin to joining a highly competitive auction. “Let’s just put it this way,” May told me last week, “this would be a great time to be the financial advisor of a quality post player, or the agent. There have been times this spring, before we were able to finish our class, where we thought that the market was so inflated. We considered kind of leaving and going a little bit smaller again. Maybe even try to sign a bunch of [wings] with a point guard and spread you out, just because we felt the bigs were so overvalued.” That was before the Wolverines knew they would land former LSU forward Jalen Reed (6-foot-10, 230 pounds) and former Cincinnati center Moustapha Thiam (7-foot-2, 250 pounds) on consecutive days in late April, building on a prior commitment from Tennessee forward J.P. Estrella (6-foot-11, 240 pounds). Just like that, any discussion about potentially abandoning the build that fueled arguably the greatest season Michigan has ever had was quickly scuttled. In its place was the chance to recreate what May believes is an exemplary formula, even if the individual talents might differ next season. “There’s certainly an element of that,” Michigan assistant coach Mike Boynton Jr. told me last week. “It’s never completely just swapping out guys and it will be the exact same. But there is a certain skill set that Dusty has a great appreciation for and [he has] a great way of unlocking the potential that’s in some guys.” So why wouldn’t May want that? By winning 64 games since joining the Wolverines ahead of the 2024-25 campaign, May is now tied with former Kentucky and current Arkansas coach John Calipari for the most victories in college basketball history through a coach’s first two seasons at a program. His two big men from that debut season — Danny Wolf (6-foot-11, 250 pounds) and Vladislav Goldin (7-feet, 255 pounds) — are both playing in the NBA. And now, as this year’s draft approaches, all three members of his indomitable frontcourt trio from the national championship-winning squad are projected first-round picks: Yaxel Lendeborg (6-foot-9, 240 pounds); Aday Mara (7-foot-3, 255 pounds); Morez Johnson Jr. (6-foot-9, 250 pounds). If that happens, Michigan will match its program record for most first rounders in a single draft. Former Wolverine greats Rumeal Robinson (No. 10), Loy Vaught (No. 13) and Terry Mills (No. 16) were all first-round selections in 1990, a year after they won the school’s only other national championship. “I think we’re going to have [signed] five bigs in two years out of the portal,” May told me, “and I anticipate all five will be playing in the NBA next year. That hit rate is pretty high, and I think agents and players are aware.” That reputational shift for May, whose stock has never been higher amid legitimate interest from NBA head coaching vacancies, began when he secured a commitment from Wolf via the transfer portal two years ago, elevating the former All-Ivy League performer at Yale into the No. 27 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. Though May enjoyed tremendous success as the head coach at Florida Atlantic from 2018-24, guiding the Owls to consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and a trip to the Final Four, none of his players were drafted during that span. This opened the door for agents, opposing coaches and handlers in the recruiting space to discourage certain high-end prospects from joining the Wolverines early in May’s tenure at Michigan, according to Boynton. May eventually began to address that perception through on-court innovation, most notably by deploying Wolf as a pseudo-point guard to unlock the ball skills and playmaking ability coveted by NBA front offices, all while pairing him with Goldin in oversized lineups that were initially questioned around the sport. That approach ultimately helped May fill one of the few perceived gaps on his résumé. The effects were noticeable almost immediately, with May telling me that “it felt like any and every big [man] in the portal, they were at least intrigued or interested,” as Michigan began assembling what proved to be a championship-level roster last spring. In Lendeborg, the Wolverines knew they were acquiring someone who was, by most accounts, already capable of playing in the NBA. He was the highest-rated player in the transfer portal following two standout campaigns at UAB and projected as a fringe first-round pick before enrolling at Michigan. Fast-forward to the present, and Lendeborg, who became a consensus first-team All-American and was named Big Ten Player of the Year this past season, is now “a lock lottery guy,” as Boynton described him. Still, it’s the growth May and his staff elicited from Lendeborg’s lesser-known teammates that continues to open more doors for the Wolverines in recruiting, according to Boynton and fellow assistant Drew Williamson. Transforming Mara from a bit-part player at UCLA, where he averaged 6.4 points and 4 rebounds per game during the 2024-25 campaign, into a double-figure scorer and arguably the most fearsome rim protector in the country represents masterful talent identification and coaching. As does the impressive expansion of Johnson’s repertoire to harness the athletic gifts that shimmered in a smaller role with Illinois but blossomed in full at Michigan, evidenced by 10 double-doubles and a spot on the Big Ten All-Defensive Team. “[They] probably weren’t expecting to be in the position that they’re in now,” Boynton told me when asked about Mara and Johnson, both of whom are navigating the pre-draft process. “And again, because of the work that they were willing to do and the commitment that Dusty had to them not only helping our team win, but to their own individual development, [that] gave us a chance to have sort of a blueprint to tell guys like Moustapha Thiam and Jalen Reed and J.P. Estrella that we may be able to do [it] with them.” Added Williamson: “I do believe we had a little proof of concept to where we were more appealing, maybe, than some other places.” While the Wolverines understand the role their own success has played in radicalizing the finances for post players — whom multiple college basketball staffers said were commanding the highest fees in this year’s transfer portal — they are far from the only team to “screw up the market,” as Boynton playfully described it to me. He pointed to the back-to-back championship teams at UConn in 2023 and 2024 as having tremendous positional size, headlined by eventual lottery pick Donovan Clingan (7-foot-2, 280 pounds). The same goes for last year’s winner, Florida, which utilized a frontcourt rotation that featured four players listed at 6-foot-9 or taller, with the Gators finishing sixth nationally in defensive efficiency. Seven teams that reached the Elite Eight this past March were ranked among the top 42 nationally in height, according to KenPom, including every school that advanced to the Final Four. Subsequent activity in the transfer portal, where 19 of the 41 highest-rated players are either power forwards or centers, reflected the sport’s burgeoning obsession with size — both in Ann Arbor and beyond. Those frontcourt players have spread their high-priced commitments to 15 different schools and counting, with two more still uncommitted as they weigh NBA decisions. The only two programs to land multiple players from that group are Indiana and Michigan, which signed Thiam (No. 13 overall, No. 3 C) and Estrella (No. 23 overall, No. 7 PF) to headline May’s portal haul and adhere to the championship-winning blueprint. For the Wolverines, there was no better proof of concept than cutting down the nets in Indianapolis last month. “It wasn’t [just] because we were big,” May told me. “It was that our bigs were really good and versatile. Just getting bigger is not the answer. It’s getting bigs who are as good as the last four national champions.”​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye called Mike Vrabel “a great human being,” and said he doesn’t think the head coach’s off-field issues will be a distraction for the defending AFC champions this upcoming season. “No, I don’t,” Maye said. “I mean, he’s our head coach. I think he’s done a great job of talking to us and talking us through it. I’m just looking forward to getting back to work and getting ready.” Maye spoke to The Associated Press on Wednesday following the Truist Championship Pro-Am in Charlotte in which he was paired with PGA Tour pro Gary Woodland on the back nine at Quail Hollow. Vrabel has found himself entangled in controversy after the New York Post posted pictures of him with longtime NFL reporter Dianna Russini at an Arizona resort. Vrabel said on April 24 that he was taking accountability for his actions without addressing specifics about the published photos. Vrabel missed the third day of the draft to attend counseling. Vrabel said he had to have hard conversations with the people that he cared about the most, including his family, his team and members of the Patriots organization. He added that, “My previous actions don’t meet the standard that I hold myself to. They don’t.” When asked if the issues are something the Patriots will need to put behind them before the season, Maye said, “I think that’ll take care of itself.” “I know he’s got the right mindset and I know he’s a great human being,” Maye added. “I think he’s … like I said, I love playing for him.” [More Patriots: Ranking the 10 Best NFL Offenses Entering Offseason Workouts] Maye, the third overall pick in 2024 who grew up in nearby Huntersville, North Carolina, led the Patriots to an appearance in Super Bowl 60 in just his second season. He was runner-up to Los Angeles Rams QB Matthew Stafford for the AP NFL MVP award in 2025. Maye also addressed former Patriots teammate Stefon Diggs’ acquittal on charges that he assaulted his live-in personal chef. The charges stemmed from a Dec. 2 incident at his Massachusetts home where Jamila Adams testified that Diggs slapped and choked her during an argument. Diggs had pled not guilty to a felony strangulation charge and a misdemeanor assault and battery charge. The jury deliberated for less than two hours before clearing Diggs of all charges. The acquittal in court clears a path for the four-time Pro Bowl wide receiver to return to the field, although he could still face discipline from the NFL. “Well, you know, he’s always been a great teammate to me and I know he’ll do great things,” Maye said. “I was fortunate enough to have a year with him, and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens to him. He’s a great player.” And as for the shoulder injury that hampered him down the stretch last season, Maye said he’s doing “great.” “Nothing, nothing, no problems at all,” said Maye, adding that he did not need surgery. The Patriots will host a three-day rookie minicamp beginning Friday in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Reporting by The Associated Press.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports