The Houston Astros are going to be without shortstop Carlos Correa for the foreseeable future. 

Correa was a late scratch from the team’s 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night after he went down with an ankle injury during pregame warmups. Correa, according to MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart, injured his ankle while taking swings in a batting cage. 

Correa is set to meet with a foot specialist on Wednesday morning. While specifics of his injury are not yet known, the expectation is that he will be out indefinitely and could miss “weeks or maybe even months.” 

“Carlos is a cornerstone in this clubhouse,” Astros first baseman Christian Walker said, via MLB.com. “The guys lean on him. We look to him for leadership. I know that his presence will continue to be felt, but we’re just going to continue to pray for him and stay positive.”

Correa holds a .279 batting average this season with three home runs and 16 RBI. He went 0-for-4 in Monday’s 8-3 win over the Dodgers. 

Correa will be just the latest Astros player to land on the IL. Shortstop Jeremy Pena is still recovering from a fractured finger and hamstring strain, and opening day starters Yanier Diaz, Joey Loperfido and Jake Meyers have all gone down with various injuries. 

The Astros, after early home runs from Walker and Braden Shewmake, held on late to beat the Dodgers by a run on Tuesday night at Daikin Park. Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani spent seven innings on the mound and had eight strikeouts. 

The win pushed the Astros to 15-22 on the season. They’ve won four of their last six. The two sides will wrap up their three-game series Wednesday afternoon.

The Los Angeles Lakers lost forward Jarred Vanderbilt early to a gruesome finger injury on Tuesday night.

Vanderbilt went up to try to block Oklahoma City Thunder star Chet Holmgren at the rim in the Lakers’ Game 1 loss, but he missed and ended up smacking his right hand hard against the backboard at the Paycom Center. As Holmgren went to celebrate the other way, Vanderbilt doubled over and screamed out in clear pain while holding his right hand.

Vanderbilt was quickly helped up and off the court. The Thunder bench’s reaction to his finger said it all.

Vanderbilt sustained a full dislocation of his right pinky finger, Lakers head coach JJ Redick said. He finished with two points and a rebound in six minutes. He’s averaged 4.4 points and 4.5 rebounds per game this season.

It’s unclear how long Vanderbilt will be sidelined due to the finger injury, but it’s not a good sign for the Lakers as they get deeper in their Western Conference semifinals series. The Thunder surged ahead in the second half on Tuesday night to secure the 108-90 win. That gave them their sixth straight playoff win dating back to their NBA Finals victory last season, which matched a franchise record. 

Vanderbilt is just the latest injury the Lakers are dealing with this postseason. While they just got Austin Reaves back from an oblique injury, star Luka Dončić is still out with a hamstring injury.

Game 2 of the series is set for Thursday night.

It took a second, but the Oklahoma City Thunder rolled to a very convincing win on Tuesday night.

The Thunder, after a full week off, cruised to a blowout 108-90 win over LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night. That gave them the early 1-0 lead in their Western Conference semifinals series. 

They’ve now won six straight postseason games dating back to their NBA Finals win last season, after their opening-round sweep of the Phoenix Suns, which matches a franchise record.

Thunder pull away in the second half

While the Lakers got off to a quick start, and James had 12 points in the first quarter, the Thunder ended the period on a 9-2 burst to snag a five-point lead and full control of the contest. 

James kept the Lakers in it by halftime. He shot 7-of-11 from the field and had 16 points in the first 24 minutes to keep the game within single digits. The Lakers lost Jarred Vanderbilt due to a finger injury in the first half, too, after he smacked the backboard hard trying to block Chet Holmgren. Vanderbilt doubled over in pain instantly, and the Thunder bench grimaced significantly after getting a look at his hand. According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, Vanderbilt sustained a full dislocation of his right pinky finger.

The Lakers briefly got the game to just four points early in the third, but that was as close as they got. The Thunder rattled off seven straight points, capped by a huge Lu Dort 3-pointer and a quick Cason Wallace steal and layup, to take the game right back. Ajay Mitchell then hit a corner 3-pointer of his own, and drew a foul on the way down, to convert a four-point play near the end of the period to give the Thunder a 12-point advantage entering the fourth.

Oklahoma City kept pushing, too, and forced two quick turnovers not even 90 seconds into the final period. The latter was converted into an easy dunk from Alex Caruso, who slammed the ball against his forehead in celebration as the Lakers called a timeout.

That spark was more than enough to power the Thunder the rest of the way to the 18-point win. The momentum that the Lakers had out of the gate simply never returned.

James finished with 27 points and six assists for the Lakers. Rui Hachimura added 18 points, and Deandre Ayton finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds. The Lakers committed 17 turnovers in the loss.

Austin Reaves had a rough offensive night, too, which didn’t make things any easier for Los Angeles. He had just eight points and went 3-of-16 from the field while missing all five shots he took from behind the arc.

Holmgren led the way for Oklahoma City with 24 points and 12 rebounds. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 18 points after he went 8-of-15 from the field, though he had seven of the team’s 14 turnovers. Mitchell had 18 points, too, and Jarred McCain added 12 off the bench all from the 3-point line.

It’s only Game 1, but the Thunder appear to be very capable of handling Los Angeles in this series and making a run to defend their title. If Vanderbilt is out for an extended period of time, and Luka Dončić isn’t able to return this series after his long hamstring injury, the Lakers may be in trouble.

Bryson DeChambeau has a plan if LIV Golf doesn’t survive after the 2026 season, and it doesn’t include rushing back to the PGA Tour.

DeChambeau, speaking ahead of the LIV Golf event in Virginia on Tuesday, said he’s prepared to focus more on expanding his social media presence and playing where he’s welcome if he splits with the Saudi Arabian-backed league at the end of the 2026 campaign.

“I’d love to grow my YouTube channel three times, maybe even more,” DeChambeau said, via ESPN. “I would love to. I’d love to do a bunch of dubbing in different languages, giving the world more reason to watch YouTube. 

“And then I’d love to play in tournaments that want me.”

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has opted to pull its funding for LIV Golf after the 2026 campaign. While the league isn’t giving up — LIV Golf is working to find new long-term financial partners for the next stage of the tour, and is calling this period a “strategic transition” — there are undoubtedly major questions about the future of the startup venture.

“I was completely shocked,” DeChambeau said about the PIF’s decision to pull funding. “I didn’t expect it to happen. A couple of months before that, it’s like, ‘We’re here until 2032. We’ve got financing until 2032,’ and so I told everybody, and that’s what I was told. 

“And then you know, I haven’t had any communication. And unfortunately, things are moving on in a different direction.”

DeChambeau was one of the biggest names to jump from the PGA Tour over to LIV Golf when it got started in 2022, and he was one of 11 golfers who filed a lawsuit against the Tour. That lawsuit, which DeChambeau withdrew from the following year, claimed the Tour unfairly suspended DeChambeau and others who joined LIV Golf. 

It’s unclear how the Tour would welcome back golfers like DeChambeau should they choose to return. Patrick Reed is planning to rejoin the league this fall after one full year away from LIV Golf. DeChambeau didn’t get into specifics about any PGA Tour penalties he may face, but said it would be “quite unfortunate in my opinion, considering what I could do for them.”

Could DeChambeau survive with YouTube golf?

Realistically, yes … at least for the time being.

If DeChambeau doesn’t reconcile with the PGA Tour after a potential split with LIV Golf, he would still be eligible to compete in the four major championships in the immediate future. The two-time U.S. Open winner last claimed that major in 2024, so he’s locked in at the event through 2034. He’s finished inside the top 10 in six of his last nine major starts, too, which extends his automatic bids at the Masters, the PGA Championship and the British Open to varying degrees.

From there, he could conceivably just work to grow his YouTube channel even more between majors. As of Tuesday night, he had just shy of 2.7 million subscribers there. It’s not like he wouldn’t be practicing and playing golf while doing that, it just wouldn’t be as competitive for him as it is now. 

While that’s an option, DeChambeau isn’t giving up hopes on a future for LIV Golf, whatever that looks like.

"There's a few different models," DeChambeau said. "Look, the [PGA Tour] isn't doing great either. Let's be honest about the situation. They've got the media. They've got everybody on the side that helps pump it up. But they're reducing field sizes, cutting employees, and restructuring their business too."

The Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao rematch won’t be held as initially scheduled this fall after all. 

Mayweather and Pacquiao were initially scheduled for their rematch at the Sphere in Las Vegas on Sept. 19, and the fight was going to be broadcast by Netflix. But after several issues have come up, the Sphere has now been booked for another event.

The venue has now booked a pair of “Eagles” concerts that weekend, part of the band’s residence at the Sphere. Neither sides, nor Netflix, commented to ESPN about the status of the fight after the band’s concerts were booked. 

It’s unclear if the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight will still be held on Sept. 19, just at a different venue, or still at the Sphere on a different date. But at least for now, Sept. 19 at the Sphere is officially off the table. 

There have been several roadblocks that have come up since Netflix first announced this fight in February, which the streaming giant called a “one-in-a-generation event” that Mayweather was “officially coming out of retirement” for. But in March, Mayweather said that both the fight wasn’t locked in at the Sphere and that it wasn’t going to be a professional fight. He insisted instead that it would be an exhibition, which wouldn’t threaten his undefeated 50-0 record. 

Pacquiao’s camp has responded and indicated that they would hold Mayweather to the “binding agreement” that was signed. Pacquiao has since set up a base of operations at an old “Mayweather Boxing + Fitness” gym in Los Angeles, too, and rebranded it as his own.

Mayweather has apparently been dealing with financial issues in his post-fight career, and is reportedly even facing a lien from the IRS over unpaid taxes in 2018 and 2023. He does have two exhibition fights announced. One with Greek kickboxer Mike Zambidis is on the books in Athens, Greece in June. Another with Mike Tyson was announced, too, but that also does not have a date or a venue set.

While neither side nor Netflix has commented yet on the Eagles show issue, the status of the Mayweather-Pacquiao rematch is very much up in the air. The fact that the fight no longer has a home, and it may potentially be dropped to exhibition status, are not good omens for the once hyped rematch between the two iconic fighters. 

Victor Wembanyama made a historic defensive stand on Monday night to kick off the Western Conference semifinals.

Wembanyama set the NBA’s single-game postseason blocks record on Monday night in the Spurs’ Game 1 matchup with the Minnesota Timberwolves. He had 10 blocks through three quarters at the Frost Bank Center, which is something that only three others had done in league history.

He then came up with an 11th block to break the record minutes into the fourth quarter, stuffing Anthony Edwards at the rim.

Andrew Bynum, with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2012, was the last player to record double-digit blocks in a playoff game. Hakeem Alajuwon and Mark Eaton are the other two.

Though now, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year stands alone atop that list. And it was only the sixth playoff game of his career.

Victor Wembanyama matches blocks record through 3 quarters

Edwards returned on Monday night after missing nine days due to a bone bruise in his left knee, which he first went down with during Game 4 of the Timberwolves’ series with the Denver Nuggets. Edwards played on a minutes restriction and came off the bench, but looked like his old self. 

After a quick foul right away, he immediately made an impact. Edwards helped spark a big 12-2 burst to keep the Timberwolves out in front just barely in the opening quarter, which included burying a huge 3-pointer and then immediately letting the Spurs bench know about it. 

But the Spurs never went away, and the two teams went into halftime tied up looking very level. Wembanyama had seven blocks at the break, too. Two of those came on the Timberwolves’ first two offensive possessions of the game, and two more came when he blocked Julius Randle consecutively down low to force a shot clock violation midway through the second quarter.

Though Wembanyama shined defensively, he had just six points and went 0-of-5 from the 3-point line in the first 24 minutes.

Wembanyama opened the second half with a quick left-handed dunk right through Rudy Gobert, but both teams kept going back and forth the entire third quarter. The Spurs only took a three-point lead into the final period after a wild buzzer-beater floater from KeldonJohnson. 

At that point, Wembanyama had matched the league’s single-game playoff block record. That was also the most in Spurs’ franchise history.

Then just minutes into the fourth quarter, Wembanyama blocked Edwards at the rim for his 11th block to set the record. That set up a layup from De’Aaron Fox on the other end, too, which put the Spurs up by three at the time.

This post will be updated with more information shortly.

Daniel Shirey via Getty Images

A man was stabbed to death early on Monday at Busch Stadium in St. Louis after an alleged dispute between members of a cleaning crew at the Cardinals’ stadium.

Police were called to a block outside of the stadium just before 3 a.m. on Monday and found the victim, a 27-year-old man, according to KSDK in St. Louis. Specifics of the incident are not yet known, but police took a 65-year-old man into custody. An investigation is ongoing.

Both police and the team said that the two people involved were third-party contractors.

“We are aware of an isolated altercation that occurred between two on-site contracted individuals during the overnight hours on Monday morning,” the Cardinals said in a statement. “St. Louis metropolitan police were dispatched to investigate and our security team is cooperating with the department in its investigation. 

“The safety and security of our fans, guests and employees remains our highest priority and we are confident our stadium security measures were in no way compromised last night.”

The incident took place hours after the Cardinals fell to the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-1 at Busch Stadium. That wrapped up a three-game series with the Dodgers. The Cardinals’ game against the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday night at Busch Stadium started as scheduled, too. 

"Let me be very clear, this could have happened anywhere," police spokesperson Mitch McCoy said on Monday, via KSDK. "This could have happened anywhere, but what happened tonight was a dispute between two people. Unfortunately, it happened at a treasured St. Louis staple."

Geno Auriemma was very harsh on himself as he walked into the locker room after their Final Four loss to South Carolina. 

It wasn’t the loss that was dominating the moment, though. Instead, it was his interaction and blowup with South Carolina coach Dawn Staley.

“When I walked in the locker room afterward, the coaches were shaking their heads, ‘You couldn’t hold it in for five more second?’” Auriemma said on Monday, via the Hartford Courant. 

“And you feel like a dumbass for the way it played out. We’re all human and we all do dumb [stuff].”

Auriemma had to be physically pulled away from Staley in the final seconds of the Huskies’ 62-48 loss to the Gamecocks in the Final Four. The two got into it, and Auriemma ended up walking off the court on his own without shaking the Gamecocks’ hands.

The incident apparently stemmed from Staley not shaking Auriemma’s hand and meeting him before the contest, though ESPN showed footage in the moment of the two doing just that.

Auriemma stood by his behavior in the moment, saying that he “just told the truth.” He eventually issued a statement, but did not name Staley, and then addressed it again days later. He said the two had spoken about the incident, he apologized to her, and agreed to move on. 

“I’ve lost more games in the Final Four than any coach in history. But Friday I lost something more important,” he wrote, in part. “I lost myself.”

Auriemma not worried about his legacy

Auriemma is undoubtedly one of the best and most accomplished coaches in basketball history. 

He’s been at UConn since 1985, and turned the program into the dominant powerhouse in the sport. The Huskies have won 12 national titles under his watch and reached the Final Four 25 times. He’s also the winningest coach in college basketball history, men’s or women’s, with 1,288 wins to his name. 

While his incident with Staley certainly dominated the conversation around the Final Four this spring, Auriemma isn’t worried about any long term impacts it may have about him. It wasn’t the first incident he’s been apart of, and, even though he’s now 72 and undoubtedly nearing the end of his career, it may not be the last.

“These things that happen, you take them all with a grain of salt and understand them,” Auriemma said. “For me, I’m at an age now, not to say you couldn’t care less what people think about you, because we’re all human beings and we all have feelings about what we did or what we should have done, what people think of you. I think that never goes away.

“But in terms of how I’m going to be viewed? I don’t give two s**ts about that. I did what I did, I apologized for it and moved on.”

Caitlin Clark’s leg sleeve is, apparently, nothing to worry about. 

The Indiana Fever star was spotted rocking a leg sleeve at practice on Monday, just days after she left a preseason game early due to an awkward fall. 

But the leg sleeve, head coach Stephanie White confirmed, isn’t anything to look into. It’s “a style thing.” 

“It looks good on her, doesn’t it?” White said about the sleeve, via the Indianapolis Star’s Chloe Peterson. 

Clark went down awkwardly and drilled her left knee cap in the team’s preseason loss to the Dallas Wings last week. She drew a flagrant foul in the moment and remained in the game to shoot her free throws, but left soon after. She didn’t return, and then sat out of the second half of their preseason finale on Saturday. The Fever rolled to a 105-57 win over the Nigerian national team in that contest, however, so Clark’s presence wasn’t needed.

Clark averaged 16.5 points, 8.8 assists and 5 rebounds per game last season. The former Iowa star only appeared in 13 games due to a groin strain and ankle injury. Despite limited action from the former Rookie of the Year, the Fever still won the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup and reached the semifinals in the playoffs.

As of now, it doesn’t seem like Clark’s latest injury scare is of great concern to the Fever. They have an entire week off before their season opener against the Wings on Saturday afternoon, too, so she has plenty of time to recover if needed. 

While the timing of the leg sleeve is sure to raise some questions, Clark should be good to go for the start of her third season in the league this weekend.