MLB
NEW YORK (AP) - Francisco Lindor and the New York Mets have agreed to a $341 million, 10-year deal, keeping the All-Star shortstop in Queens for the long haul after acquiring him from Cleveland in the offseason, according to a person familiar with the agreement.
The person spoke to The Associated Press on Wednesday night on condition of anonymity because the deal hadn’t been announced.
Lindor was eligible for free agency after this season and said this spring he wouldn’t negotiate with the Mets on a long-term deal after opening day. Less than 24 hours before New York starts its season Thursday night in Washington, an agreement was reached.
- By Baseball Writer Jake Seiner.
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Joe Biden told ESPN on Wednesday it was a mistake for the Texas Rangers to allow full capacity at their ballpark for their first game.
Speaking on the eve of opening day, Biden also said he supports discussions between Major League Baseball and the players’ union on moving the All-Star Game from Atlanta over concern about legislation adopted in Georgia restricting voting rights.
Fans are set to return to major league stadiums on Thursday after they were kept out during the regular season last year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
NHL
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - Linus Ullmark stopped 31 shots and the Buffalo Sabres snapped an 18-game skid - the NHL’s longest in 17 years - with a 6-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday night.
It was the first win for Buffalo since a 4-1 victory at New Jersey on Feb. 23, and ended an 0-15-3 streak. The slump was tied for the league’s 14th longest, and worst since the Pittsburgh Penguins had a 0-17-1 stretch during the 2003-04 season.
WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
SAN ANTONIO (AP) - UConn star Paige Bueckers is the first freshman ever to win The Associated Press women’s basketball player of the year.
Bueckers was informed she won the award by coach Geno Auriemma during a team video session and broke down as she accepted it in front of her teammates.
Bueckers received 21 votes from the 30-member national media panel that chooses the weekly AP Top 25. Dana Evans of Louisville was second with four votes.
The AP started the award in 1995. Bueckers is the 12th UConn player to win it.
Maryland’s Brenda Frese was named The Associated Press women’s basketball coach of the year for second time in her career.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) - NCAA President Mark Emmert promised the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association he will work with coaches to fix the “stark difference” between the Division I men’s and women’s tournaments.
While Emmert noted that a major hurdle was trying to hold both basketball tournaments in a kind of identical format required by the coronavirus pandemic, he added nobody liked the results and nobody wants to see similar issues crop up in other sports in coming months.
GOLF
LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Los Angeles County sheriff says detectives have determined what caused Tiger Woods to crash his SUV last month in Southern California but would not release details Wednesday, citing unspecified privacy concerns for the golf star.
Woods suffered serious injuries in the Feb. 23 crash when he struck a raised median around 7 a.m. in Rolling Hills Estates, just outside Los Angeles
Sheriff Alex Villanueva has been criticized for his comments about the crash, calling it “purely an accident” and saying there was no evidence of impairment. Woods told deputies he did not know how the crash occurred and didn’t remember driving. He was unconscious when a witness first approached the mangled SUV. But a sheriff’s deputy said the athlete later appeared to be in shock but was conscious and able to answer basic questions.
SOCCER
SYDNEY (AP) - The 2023 Women’s World Cup will be spread across nine cities in Australia and New Zealand.
The opening match will take place at Eden Park in Auckland, with Sydney’s Stadium Australia hosting the final. The two semifinal matches will be split between Australia and New Zealand.
That format is similar to other World Cup tournaments in other sports, including most recently in 2015 when Australia and New Zealand shared hosting of the cricket World Cup.
OLYMPICS
Chicago Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman has been selected to oversee building the U.S. men’s national hockey team for the 2022 Beijing Games.
Bowman will serve as general manager and be assisted by Minnesota Wild GM and three-time U.S. Olympian Bill Guerin.
USA Hockey’s announcement comes with the NHL anticipating its players’ return to the Olympics, pending negotiations with the International Olympic Committee scheduled for this summer.
COURTS
NEW YORK (AP) - Umpire Ángel Hernández lost his lawsuit against Major League Baseball alleging racial discrimination.
The Cuba-born Hernández sued in 2017 in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati, a case later moved to New York. Hired as a big league umpire in 1993, he alleged he was discriminated against because he had not been assigned to the World Series since 2005 and had been passed over for crew chief. Hernández was made an interim crew chief last July at the start of the pandemic-delayed shortened season after a dozen umps decided to sit out.
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