7:41 AM ET After seven years with the New York Yankees, free agent right-hander Masahiro Tanaka announced Thursday he will return to Japan to pitch for the Rakuten Golden Eagles in the Nippon Professional Baseball League. “I have decided to return to Japan and play for the Rakuten Eagles for the 2021 season,” Tanaka wrote
7:49 AM ET A pretty good indication that a UFC fighter is hot is when Conor McGregor is calling him out, rather than the other way around. And when Nate Diaz, who rarely calls out anyone, joins the chorus, the heat is undeniable. That’s the position Dustin Poirier finds himself in after his second-round TKO
11:23 PM ET HOUSTON — Before all of the trade talk, reports about his future and the hiring of coach David Culley, Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson was asked what he was looking for in his next head coach. “I mean, we just need a whole culture shift,” Watson said earlier in the month. “We
7:01 AM ET BALTIMORE — Jan. 28, 2001 will forever represent coronation day for the Baltimore Ravens‘ defense. In the minds of Ravens players, their 34-7 triumph over the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXXV crowned the 2000 squad as the greatest single-season defense in NFL history. On this 20-year anniversary, this Baltimore defense
7:00 AM ET THE CLEVELAND BROWNS were in the middle of their best season in decades, and Malcolm Pridgeon was sitting alone in his Dodge Durango outside the Berkshire Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in West Babylon, New York, thinking about better times. When there was no pandemic, and the doors to the nursing home were
5:00 AM ET As with most aspects of daily life, the timing of everything in this season impacted by the pandemic is just a little bit off. Traditionally we hit the Bundesliga winter break right before Christmas, allowing us to reflect and take stock at the halfway stage, but in 2020-21, there are no such
6:19 AM ET There’s no more ubiquitous measure of “good” in college sports than the top-25 college football poll, and yet, it’s entirely arbitrary. Entering the College Football Playoff, Ohio State was ranked one spot ahead of Notre Dame, which was one spot ahead of Texas A&M. But the margin between the Buckeyes and the
News The Australian was part of the ICC Elite Panel since 2012 Bruce Oxenford, 60, has decided to retire from all formats of the game, thereby bringing an end to a 15-year international umpiring career. The last of his 62 Tests was the recently-concluded Australia vs India match in Brisbane. He will, however, continue to
3:30 AM ET Tor-Kristian Karlsen Barcelona are in the midst of a crisis. With reports of €1.2 billion debt (€730m owed short-term); no president, sporting director or even a board to take decisions; star player Lionel Messi‘s future still unresolved despite his contract running out in the summer; and sitting 10 points behind La Liga
10:51 PM ET ESPN News Services CHARLOTTE, N.C. — When his MRI came back negative after taking a shot to his left knee earlier this week, Domantas Sabonis told Pacers coach Nate Bjorkgren there was no way he was going to rest and let his teammates down. “I don’t like sitting out,” Sabonis said. “I