(MUMENBBPORT)—Chiefs Practice; The portal popped wide open for incoming Mizzou basketball players during the last week.

(KC Chiefs)—The Kansas City Chiefs have started their offseason training program—and, yes, HE is there.

Patrick Mahomes “can go to meetings. He can lift, do all that,” said Coach Andy Reid.. That’s the phase he’s in right now,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “We’ll just see. Kind of play it by ear. See where he’s at. He’s doing great, but we’ve just got to be smart with this thing.”

Mahomes is still talking about being ready for game one with no restrictions.”

All the Chiefs are doing is strength and condition programs, rehab work, and team meetings. The sessions go for a couple of weeks.  Mahomes is expected to take part in some of the second phase—three weeks of on-field walk-throughs (no contact).

After that are six workouts the week after the Memorial Day weekend and then June 1-3. Still no live contact although the offense will square off against the defense. A minicamp is scheduled for June-11.

The Chiefs had had to alter their workout schedules a little this year because World Cup soccer games will be held at Arrowhead Stadium.

The NFL hasn’t announced its schedule yet but the first games won’t be until the second week of September. It will have been about nine months since Mahomes wet out with his knee injury.

As long as we’re talking football—

(BATTLEHAWKS)—Former Mizzou placekicker Tucker McCann gave the St. Louis Battlehawks an early lead against the Washington Defenders but the ‘Hawks couldn’t get key stops throughout the game and dropped to 2-2 for the year, losing 28-22 when Washington intercepted a possible game-winning catch on their own three yard line.

McCann his field goals of 51 and 26 yards and added a third one to keep St. Louis close but the Battlehawks couldn’t complete the last-minute comeback.

(MUMENPORT)—The pieces are starting to fall into place for Dennis Gates’ 2026-2027 squad.

The Tigers have picked up three big additions in the last week.

Small forward/wingman Jemier Jones, who will be a sophomore. He’s 6-6, 218 and coming in from Providence. He averaged about 12 points a game for Providence last year, shot 57% from the field and 39% from three-point land and made almost two thirds of his free throws. . He’s considered a four-star transfer who finally is going to Missouri—which had made him an offer coming out of high school.  There’s another link to Missouri: his coach at providence was former Missouri favorite Kim English.  English, was fired at Providence, has joined the coaching staff at the University of North Carolina.

Also coming in is Tennessee’s Jaylen Carey, a beefy (6-8, 267 pounds) forward/center,  a basketball gypsy who already has played at James Madison, Vanderbilt, and Tennessee. He’s expected to complement center Trent Burns, the 7-5 junior whose development produced a lot of backup minutes in the recent season.  Carey started eight of the 37 games he played for the Volunteers last year when he logged about half of the minutes per game. He averaged almost eight points and six rebounds a game.

The most delicious acquisition was Bryson Tiller. who abandoned Bill Self and the great KU field house to play in Columbia next year—and maybe for two years after that (but don’t count on it in these NIL days.

He’s a 6-11 and 240 pounds with a wingspan of 7-feett-3-inches.  He averaged about eight points a game in 35 games as a freshman last season. He scored 13 points, had five blocks and five rebounds when KU belted the Tigers in Kansas City in December.   He’s another guy Coach Gates didn’t get at the start but didn’t give up on.

Tiller calls Gates “a standup guy,” and he told The Kansas City Star, “I trust in him as a person first and foremost, and I trust in the plan that he has. He wants to use me in all assets and all facets of the court — on the wings, on the perimeter, inside, outside. So I just feel like I have a lot of trust in that plan, and it’ll be great.” He appears to be a candidate to be Mark Mitchell’s replacement.

Trent Pierce and Trent Burns have agreed to stay with the Tigers.

As of last night, only Anthony Robinson of the departing Tigers had found a new team. He signed with Florida State.

(MIZZWMNPORT)—The Lady Tigers have lost five players to the portal: Ma’Riya Vincnt, Shannon Dowell, Hannah Linthacum, Chloe Sotell and Lisa Thompson.

The first replacement is Michigan shooting guard McKenzie Mathurin, 5-10, a former McDonald’s All-American who played about nine minutes a game for Michigan in her first year of college. Former Lady Tiger coach Robin Pingeton had made her an offer in 2024 but she took Michigan instead.

She was in 25 games for the Michigan team that made the Sweet 16, averaged 3.5 ppg including 15 against Penn State. She hit about 39% of her three point shots.

Joining her in the early moves to Springfield is Missouri’s Hannah Lithacum, who sat out last year with injuries.

(MOSTATEWMNBBPORT)—Seven Lady Bears from 2025-26 have rambled on. But their replacements already are in the den. Hanna Linthacum is leaving Missouri after playing 62 games and moving to the Missouri Bears, one of several new players who will take the court next fall in Springfield. She’ll be joined by Zoe Canfield, coming over from Kansas.  After three years at Arkansas-Little Rock, Faith Lee is moving to Springfield. She averaged more than 12 points a game last year on 39% shooting.  She scored 20 against the Lady Bears last December, almost half of her team’s points.

Victoria Dixon spent her junior year at Houston Christian where she started three of her 27 games. A pickup from Pittsburg State is Maycee James who spent two years at the community college level before one injury-shortened year at Pitt State.

(BILLIKENSMENPORT)—The St. Louis Billikens have a number of roster slots to fill because of graduations—and the exit of forwards Brady Dunlap and Kalu Anya. But three guys who made all-conference teams are to provide a solid foundation: Amari McCottry, Trey Green, and Kellen Thames. And six others also are staying. The retention rate for a mid-major school such as SLU is considered to be pretty special. The top five non-seniors will be back with a team that set a school record for wins this year—29—and won the A10 regular season championship.

(BILLIKENSWMNPORT)—The first two signees for Billiken’s women’s coach are Peyton Olufson and Evelyn Shane.

Olufson , a 5-8 point guard, will join Saint Louis from Incarnate Word Academy, which holds the nation’s longest high school girls basketball winning streak at 141 games. She is a three-time state champion, a 2024-25 first-team All-Conference selection, and a 2025 All-District honoree. Last season, she averaged 7.1 points, 1.3 rebounds, and 2.97 assists for the Red Knights.

Shane is a six-footer from Ursuline Academy where her teams set a new school wins record and two district championships. She has topped 1,000 points and is the school’s leading scorer.

BASEBALL:

(CARDINALS)—So far, the team that Chaim built appears to be golden.  Sports Illustrated has noted that their sweep of Houston during the weekend has given them their best start IN EIGHT YEARS. They finished the week with a five-game winning streak that put them at 13-8, a record not seen since 2018. Unlike forgettable recent years, they have yet to fall below .500.

The streak ended last night against the Marlins, 5-3.

The strong start is being led by young players, some of whom—Jordan Walker in particular—have started to bloom.

But playoffs are not to be seriously considered this early. In fact, every team in their division is above break even, as of Sunday night.

(ROYALS)—The Royals, on the other hand, are the worst team in the American League. The Yankees swept them last weekend.

Manager Matt Quatraro: “Everybody’s frustrated.  Nobody wants to have a start like this. But it is early, mid-April, and we play better baseball, that’s what’s in our control. If we’re able to do that, we’ll dig ourselves out. There’s way too much talent in there. There’s way too many high-character guys in there.”

Kansas City hoped Cole Ragans could end the losing streak at six Sunday, but he lasted only 4.1 innings, gave only four hits but eight walks, a career high.  The Royals started the week as losers of ten of their last dozen games, the last seven in a row. They have now lost eleven straight games to the Yankees going back to the 2024 playoffs.

Last night, the Royals wasted an outstanding performance by Seth Lugo, who held the Orioles to one hit and, thanks to Jac Caglianone’s homer, who left with a 1-0 lead.  But things fell apart quickly after that. The Royals lost the game in the 12^th inning  7-5 to run their losing streak to eight, the longest since 2023. They had 14 hits and had the bases loaded in three innings but cold not score in any of those innings.  Reliever Alex Lange gave up the grand slam homer in the 12^th that gave the Orioles the win.

Speedworld

(NASCAR)—Tyler Reddick now has a handful of wins and a historic start to the year. His fifth win in the first nine races equals Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s record set in 1987.

The result was a major disappointment to Denny Hamlin who came out of the (presumably) last round of pitstops with a four-second lead. Reddick ran him down before brushing the wall and giving the lead back to Hamlin. But a spin on the white flag lap by Cody Ware led to a restart. Kyle Larson got the jump and led a lap before Reddick got past him for the lead on the last lap and  got to the flag a tenth of a second ahead of Larson. Hamlin finished fourth giving up another position to Chase Briscoe.

Reddick started from the pole for the fifth time this year and has won every race from that position except the season-opening Daytona 500.

(INDYCAR)—Alex Palou has checked off one of the other big races on the IndyCar schedule, the Long Beach Grand Prix.

Felix Rosenqvist led all the way until the last round of pit stops when Palou’s Ganassi team was three-quarters of a second faster than Palou’s guys, and put their driver out front for the final laps. Palou now has won three of the five races this year, 11 of the last 22, and heads to Indianapolis where he is the defending 500 champion.

Palou has moved to a 17 point lead as he looks for his fifth IndyCar championship.

(500)—The field for the Indianapolis 500 has been guaranteed its 32^nd car.

Jacob Abel, from Louisville, Kentucky, failed to make the field last year. His family-owned team has put together a sponsorship deal and has an engine supplier. Abel Motorsport last made the 500 field with R.C. Enerson in 2023.

Efforts are underway to put together another team-engine-driver-sponsor combination to enter a 33^rd car, which would guarantee a full starting field.

Practice for the 500 begins on May 12 with the race, as usual, on Memorial Day weekend.

Photo credits: Tiller—Instagram; Jones and Kerry—X, Mathurin—U of Michigan; Earnhardt and Reddick—NASCAR; Palou leads—NTT IndyCar Series screenshot; Abel—Abel Motorsports)

(BBPORTALS)—Add the name of Jacob Crews to the list of bolting Missouri Tiger basketball players.

Crewse to play another year of college ball, but he’ll need an NCAA hardship waiver to get it. He’s the fourth Tiger to jump ship. So far, nobody has transferred TO Missouri but it’s still early in the shopping season to have anything in the cart although Coach Dennis Gates is looking at a lot of merchandise, particularly on the guard shelf.

The story is the same in Springfield and in Billiken-Land.

(ROYALSHOME)—Kansas City’s Council is considering whether the city should pay about one-third of the cost of a new stadium for the Royals. The ordinance putting up $600,000 of the $1.9-billion needed authorizes the city manager to negotiate a 30-year deals with the team to play in an area known as Washington Square Park.

The proposal also would prohibit the Royals from thinking about moving to another state, county, or city and it would call for the stadium being ready for the start of the 2030 season. Owner John Sherman has indicated the team wants to play “in the heart of the city,” although he has not reacted to the proposed ordinance.

(CHIEFSHOME)—Kansas Governor Laura Kely has signed a bill creating the Kansas Sports Facilities Authority, the latest step in her state’s effort to get the Chiefs to move to Wyandotte County Kansas with a training facility in Olathe.

Kelly’s statement says, “The Kansas City Chiefs’ historic agreement with the State of Kansas is monumental for our economy, creating thousands of new jobs, attracting tourists from around the world, and elevating Kansas as an elite place to put down roots…This bill provides the necessary governance structure and guardrails to manage and oversee the team’s facilities, ensuring Kansans for generations to come will continue to cheer on our beloved team at home. We’re turning Kansas into a premier destination for sports and entertainment without raising state taxes or taking funding away from essential services.”

(BATTLEHAWKS)—The St. Louis Battlehawks scored 21 points in the last quarter to top the Birmingham Stallions 34=30.  Backup quarterback Harrison Frost took over the quarterbacking duties at halftime.

The Battlehawks squandered a 10-0 first quarter lead, part of which was a 54-yard field goal by former University of Missouri place kicker Tucker McCann to fall behind 16-13.  It was 30-20 with 11:45 left before “Hawks and Frost took control of the game. They took the lead with 1:42 left.

The Battlehawks will play the DC Defenders next Saturday, the first of three straight road games. They opened the season with a win against the Defenders.

(MCCANN)—Tucker McCann has been out of football for five years but has continued to work out and made the Battlehawks roster in mid-January and immediately made his presence felt with a 58-yard field goal in the season opener, his first field goal in a competitive game since August 12, 2021.

He was an undrafted free agent in the 2020 draft coming out of Mizzou. He signed with the Tennessee Titans but injured an ankle in a preseason game and was sent to the practice squad. He was cut in October of 2021.

(THEBASEBALL)—Both of our baseball teams have shown they’re not much more han mediocre in the first couple of weeks of the season.

(ROYALS) —-The Royals finished the week at 7-9 only a game out of first place in the AL Central division. For the most part the team seems to have left it hits-bats in Florida. Salvador Perez and Vinnie :Pasquantino are hitting .264. Jonahan India is hitting .184. The star of the team, Bobby Witt Jr., is hitting only 260. The bright spot is Mikael Garcia who is at .324 after the first 15 games.

Starting pitching is pretty sold. Michael Wacha turned in a masters’ performance Saturday against the White Sox on Saturday. His first 17 pitches were strikes. He went into the eighth inning having thrown only 80 pitches. The Royals won the game 2-0 and Wacha lowered his ERA to 0.43.

(CARDINALS)—The Cardinals are above break even thanks to outstanding starting pitching in the early going. Michael McGreevy is giving up only 2.64 earned runs a game. Andre Pallante has an ERA of 1.80 and Matthew Liberatore is respectable at 3.38.

Jordan Walker has been a surprise in the first two weeks, hitting .314.  But the whole team’s average is only ,224.

(SOPHIE)—Sophie Cunningham has signed on for another season with the Indianapolis Fever of the women’s NBA.  The signing keeps the popular “Trois Leches” (Spanish for “Three Milks” that combine for a popular dessert) of Cunningham, Caitlin Clark, and Lexie Hull. The three are the core of the Fever, a team that won the Commissioner’s Cup in 2025 although Cunningham and Clark both missed playing time

Terms of the contract haven’t been revealed but the new collective bargaining agreement specifies that someone who’s been in he league as long as she has will be paid at least $292,500, a sizeable increase from the salaries in the last CBA.  This will be her eighth season. She’s 29, played thirty games for the Fever last year before a torn MCL put her on the sidelines. She had career best shooting percentages last year—43.2% from the three-point line and 46.9 overall.

Cunningham is setting up her second career as a media personality and podcaster. She’s going to be part of the USA Network’s studio coverage of the WNBA when she’s not on the court. She’ll also contribute to the network’s digital and social platforms.

AND she will be a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model this year.

The league starts its season on May 8. The Fever will play its first game the next day.

For the speedy set—

(INDYCAR)—Not all of the attention next weekend will be focused on the racing on the streets of Long Beach, California.

A new movie will attract a lot of attention—a documentary about driver Robert Wickens, whose seeming meteoric career was ended by a crash that left him partially paralyzed.  It’s going to be the story of a driver who was determined to drive racing cars again—and has been.

An earlier documentary tracked his life from wheelchair to racing car:

Bing Videos

Wickens was IndyCar’s rookie of the year in 2018, having run so well in the first part of the season to accumulate enough points to win the award although a crash at Pocono left him a paraplegic.

Four years later he was back in a race car—an IMSA TCR series entry with hand controls that he and his co-driver took to two wins and a championship.

The movie is called, “The Weight of Speed.”

The Long Beach race is the last one before the teams move to Indianapolis for a race on the IMS road course and the 110^th Indianapolis 500.

(NASCAR)—Ty Gibbs made Grandpa’s day on Sunday with his win at Bristol, his first in 131 cup starts for Joe Gibbs racing.

Ty Gibbs made the critical decision that gave him the win when the caution flag waved for a Chase Elliott spin.  Gibbs refused to pit when many other leaders did.

His gain in track position paid off when he restarted with the lead and fourteen laps to go in regulation distance.  But a later caution flag meant the race would go into overtime.  He withstood the challenge of Ryan Blaney and beat him to the line by .05 second, the closest finish at Bristol since Missouri’s Rusty Wallace beat Ernie Irvan by one foot in 1991.  It’s also the first race win for a car number 54 in almost 47 years—when Lennie Pond won his only Cup race, at Talladega, in 1979.

Blaney and Kyle Larson had dominated the race until those cautions. Larson finished behind Blaney, in third.

Missouri NASCAR fans get a chance for their first close race of the year—at the Kansas Speedway, not far from the apparent future home of the Kansas City Chiefs.

(Photo credits: Stadium—Kansas City Royals; Sophie—Irishstar.com; Gibbs—Bob Priddy)

By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(MIZZPORT)—The college basketball transfer portal opens today and the Missouri Tiger guards are bolting. Late last night, word came that T. O. Barrett, whose insertion as a started added intensity to the defense and toughness to the inside game, was bolting. We already knew the ptjer two top guards were moving on. Anthony Robinson II, who lost his starting guard position in mid-season to Barrett, and reserve guard Sebastian Mack, who never rose above a backup role after transferring in from UCLA, are leaving.  Both are seniors. Barrett has a couple of years of eligibility left.

He was exciting in his sophomore breakout season, but had a problem with turnovers, scored a career high 28 points against Tennessee but also had games where he had no offensive impact.

Mizzou has a five star guard, Jason Crowe Jr., coming in, joining the only guard left on the roster—redshirt Aaron Rowe of Columbia.  Crowe is considered a top ten national prospect.

Mizzou has one of the best recruiting classes in the nation for the 26-27 seasons as it looks to improve on this year’s fadeout with four straight losses, including first round games in the SEC tournament and in the NCAA.

(BILLSPORT)—Two players from the St. Louis University Billikens are going into the portal but reports indicate other players with eligibility remaining will stick around. Department are forwards Brady Dunlap and Kalu Anya. Dunlap had the best three-point parentage for the team this year—45 percent. But in terms of minutes played he was seventh in the nine-man rotation and his playing time was reduced in the last ten games.

Anya was crowded out of the rotation this year and took a redshirt so he’ll have one year of eligibility left. He’s a 6-8 forward who started all 34 games for the Bills in the 2024-25 season when he led the team in rebounds, shot a respectable percentage from the field but hit less than one-third of his free throws.

(BEARSPORT)—Missouri State’s only portal entry so far is Amar Kuljuhovic, a 6-8 power forward. He transferred to Springfield after two years at North Dakota State but played in only two games this year.

(BASEBALL)—Both of our major league teams have finished the first full week of the season with so-so records. The Cardinals winning five of their first nine and the Royals losing five of their first nine.

(ROYALS)—The Royals opened a series against the Cleveland Guardians last night, looking to get back to .500 after the first ten games of the year. Before the game, the team activated infielder Michael Massey from the ten-day injured list and sent utility man Nick Loftin to Omaha.

Massey had been recovering from a calf strain. He hit .244 last year. He’s mostly a second-baseman but has played third and left field, too.

The first of three games against the Guardians was moved from last night to the afternoon because temperatures were expected to drop for a game under the lights. Kansas City evened is record at 5-5 with a 4-2 win. Jonathan India’s two-run homer in the eighth gave the Royals a needed cushion in the win. He also drove in Kansas City’ s first run. Catcher Carter Jensen also homered.

(CARDINALS)—The last piece of the Sonny Gray trade to the Red Sox has fallen into place with the Cardinals getting Class-A pitcher Patrick Galle as the player to be named later. Galle was a 17^th round pick last year projected to be a reliever.  He’s the third player to move to the Cardinals in the trade.  Galle is 22 with a triple digit fastball that produced a 1.04 ERA in eight appearances with the Wareham Gatemen of the Cape Cod League, a collegiate wood bat summer league.

Last night, the Cardinals dropped back to .500 (5-5) with a 9-6 loss to the Washington Nationals. One nice development in the opening games of the season is Jordan Walker, who was 2 for 5 last night an is hitting .314 in the early going after a lot of work on his swing while in Florida. Rookie J.J. Wetherholt was one for three and is hitting .278 so far in his first pass through major league pitching.

(TIGERFB)—The Mizzou football class of 2927 is starting to assemble; the question will be how many will stick with their verbal commitments. Coach Drinkwitz wants 18-22 recruits in the last. Six already have committed

The top name on the tentative list is Tight End Jack Brown Francis Howell Central, considered the top talent in Missouri, a 6-5, 215 pounder who catches footballs. Jack Brown is a four-star recruit.  More than thirty schools will try to get him to change his mind.

(CHIEFS)—Coach Andy Reid isn’t forecasting whether Patrick Mahomes will be ready to go for game one of the NFL season but there is a video that shows him dropping back and throwing a pass in the Chiefs training facility. His left let is wrapped from ankle to thigh but he appears to be moving normally.

(BATTLEHAWKS)—The Battlehawks play tonight, a rarity in UFL scheduling. They will take their 1-0 record against the Dallas Renegades, who also have won their first game this year. The ‘Hawks will have to find a way to stop Dallas quarterback Austin Reed, who set a league record with 376 passing yards in a 36-16 win against Houston.

On the track—

(INDYCAR)—IndyCar heads to the streets of  Long Beach on the 19^th for its last race before everyone heads to Indianapolis for a road course race and the buildup to it’s greatest race on Memorial Day weekend.

The car count for the 110^th running of the Indianapolis 500 stands at 31, two short of the traditional staring field of 33. RACER magazine’s Marshall Pruett reports Abel Motorsports is working getting a car ready for Jacob Abel, son of the team owner, who was bumped from las year’s starting field by a faster driver in qualifications. Andretti Global appeared ready with a car for Colton Herta, who is running Formula 2 in Europe this year. But his availability has come into question. PREMA Motorsports, which has not been able to field a car for the starting grids of any of four races so far this year but could put one on the track if a driver with adequate sponsorship appears on the scene.

Alex Palou won last year’s 500 and has won two of the four races this year with Kyle Kirkwood and Joef Newgarden winning the other two. Kirkwood’s consistent runs in the first four races has put him in the points lead.

(NASCAR)—NASCAR returns after the Easter break to run at Bristol. It’s the eight race of the season. The standings are starting to look familiar as drivers race to be in the top 16 in points for a ten race runoff that will crown a champion who accumulates the most points during those ten races.

NASCAR has abandoned its street race in downtown Chicago to return to the Chicagoland Speedway. It’ called ChicagoLAND because the track is in Joliet. Because no Cup races have been run there since 2019, Goodyear plans tire tests on the 21^st.  The race is July 5.

(MIZZGONE)—We saw this kind of Missouri Tigers a lot in the last part of the season, especially in the last four games—all losses.  Inconsistent offense, turnovers, comebacks, brief leads but couldn’t get the dagger basket or keep the other team from hitting it. They had Miami down by a handful late and lost by fourteen.

Missouri lost six of its last nine games to finish 20-13.

It took a 9-0 run at the end of a struggling first half to draw the Tigers to a mere 27-26 deficit at halftime. But all-to-familiar scoring droughts in the second half doomed the Tigers. In one stretch they missed ten straight shots. While Missouri was going without a basket for more than two minutes near the end, Miami ran off 12 straight points.

Miami kept Mark Mitchell bottled up in the first half and held him to only four points while dominating the offensive boards throughout the game.  Mitchell finished with 19 points. Trent Pierce and T. O. Barrett, who were the third and fourth top scorers for the team this year, were two for 15 shooting, and combined for only seven points.

“We just couldn’t keep those guys off the boards,” Coach Dennis Gates said afterward (Miami outrebounded the Tigers 42-29).

Four or five guys suited up for the last time Saturday night:  Mark Mitchell, who became the first since Albert White in the 1998-99 season to lead the team in scoring, rebounds, and assists; Shawn Philips, who came from Arizona for his last season of college ball in Missouri; Jayden Stone, who had 21 points in the Miami game,  sixth year senior and who played the second-most minutes this year; and  Jacob Crews, a transfer from UT-Martin.

The fifth player might or might not be Javon Porter, who joins the family tradition of physical brittleness at Mizzou.  He is on the bubble for a medical redshirt.   His last game was December 14 and he’s been on the bench with a “lower leg injury.” To get the redshirt, a player must be hurt before the halfway point of the season which he was. But the rule also says the player must appear in less than 30 percent of the team’s total games.  He was in 12 of 33, which work out to 36%, two games beyond the limit.

(LADY TIGERS)—The Missouri women’s team topped Seton Hall 67-57 in the first round of the National Women’s Invitational Basketball Tournament. They ran into the top-seeded Brigham Young aggregation late last night and never led on the way to a season-ending 93-75 loss to finish 17-17. BYU advances at 24-11

(BILLIKENS)—The St. Louis University Billikens left Georgia coach Mike White stunned in their first-round game, demolishing the Bulldogs 102-77, leading by as much as forty points at one time. Georgia was an 8 seed; St. Louis a 9. “We weren’t very prepared to compete at the level that I thought we would. Did not see this coming…Didn’t give St. Louis much of a game.”

Georgia, from the mighty SEC, never led in the game, was outscored by an astounding 66-28 in the paint and out-rebounded 47-36. SLU also had 27 assists, three times more than Georgia.

The win was the first in the NCAA tournament for St. Louis since 2014, and a record-setting 29 for the year. But the win just set the Bills up for a game against Michigan, which pulled away from St. Louis Saturday to a 90-75 win.

(MOSTATEWMN)—The Missouri State Lady Bears played their way into the NCAA tournament with an 85-75 win over Stephen F. Austin to get a 16^th seed and an immediate game against top-seeded Texas that did not turn out well.  Texas steamrollered Missouri State 87-45.

(COLCOL)—We need to recognize Columbia College in, well, Columbia.  The Lions, 15^th in the country, finished 29-4, including a game against Central Christian Bible in which they scored 134 points, second most in school history. They were 13-1 in the American Midwest Conference and winning the conference championship for the sixteenth time. They won the conference tournament for the thirteenth time. They won their first round game in the NAIA Tournament against McPherson College of Kansas in overtime 74-72 before losing to Faulkner University in the second round.

(BASEBALL)—Next week well be reporting on the first weekend of games that aren’t in Arizona or Florida.

(CARDINALS)—One of the biggest questions of Cardinals spring training was whether J. J. Wetherholt would come north for opening day.

The announcement game in a video yesterday morning:

https://x.com/Cardinals/status/2036179257123119350?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2036179257123119350%7Ctwgr%5E9c078eb1c1ccb3cc6e7d1f4222d7fa024e45dcaa%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.si.com%2Fmlb%2Fcardinals%2Fonsi%2Fst-louis-cardinals-news%2Fjj-wetherholt-era-begins-as-cardinals-make-right-call-pat3

Okay, we’ll save you the trouble—the video shows the Cardinals making Wetherholt’s jersey, swapping his spring training number 77 for his preferred 26. He is considered the number five prospect in all of baseball. He was the seventh pick in the first round of the 2024 draft and had a solid spring—fifteen games, nine walks, two homers and seven RBIs, OBP of .780.  He jumps to the bigs after only 138 games in the minors in which he hit a combined .304 with 19 home runs, 79 runs batted in and 100 runs scored, 25 stolen bases, 33 doubles and a couple of triples.

The Cardinals will give the ball to Matthew Liberatore for opening day against the Tampa Bay Rays, the team that drafted him in 2018. He came to St. Louis in the 2020 Randy Arozarena trade.  Liberatore is considered the ace of the rotation with the departure of Sonny Gray and Miles Mikolas.  He was named the starter after giving up only one walk in 13.1 innings in Florida.

(ROYALS)—The opening day starter for the Royals was Cole Ragans for the third year in a row.

Ragans missed much of last year (only 13 starts) but hopes he returns to his 2024 form this year. Two years ago, he led all American League pitchers with 10.77 strikeouts per nine innings, was second in total Ks with 223.  “I’m more motivated than ever,” he said after being named the starter for game one. He leads a seemingly sold starting pitching corps for the Royals with Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha, Krus Bubic and Noah Cameron coming back from sold 2025 seasons.

(KCWBC)—The Baseball Hall of Fame is getting a lot of gear from Kansas City Royals players who had major roles in the World Baseball Congress tournament—the winning team’s captain and the tournament’s MVP particularly. But the Hall also is getting a bat from a Royals hitter.

The USA team drew some boos at the start of the last game of tournament from a Miami crowd that had a lot of Venezuelans in it—who are not fond of President Trump’s actions in their home country.  The Venezuelan team won the tournament with a 3-2 win over Team USA.

After the game, team captain and catcher Salvador Perez told reporters,  “I’m gonna be honest with you guys, and there’s nothing that I can hide, you know?  All you guys see, what happened, all that … and … I know people are super happy right now in my country …“Where I come from, all my family, it’s hard to get to see me play in the big league. I got some family that never had that opportunity. So now they’ve seen me play. I know they’re super happy and me as well, for my family and for other people from Venezuela.”

Royals third baseman Mikel Garcia was the tournament Most Valuable Player.  “I’m proud to be part of this group, and I’m proud to be representing 30 million Venezuelans back in my country,” he told interviewers.

 The USA team had tied the game before Garcia got the game-winning RBI in the top of the ninth. In that final half inning?

“I only was thinking what was going to happen after we win the game. I had full confidence in our closer and I knew that we were going to win this game,” Garcia said.

Garcia He hit .385 for the tournament with seven runs batted in and a home run. He’s sending his helmet to Cooperstown.  Perez is sending his Venezuelan colors catching gear

Among other items from the series going to the Hall of Fame is the bat that Royals first basement, Vinnie Pasquantino, used to become the first player in WBC history to hit three home runs in a game. Pasquantino played for Italy.

(CHIEFS)—Travis Kelce is not only coming back for the 2026-27 season—–he could be coming back for two more years after that.  Word came out yesterday that his new contract is not for one, but for three years and $54 million dollars and maybe more.

The deal is set up for him to still walk away after this coming season in which he’ll be paid $12 million with another three million dollars in bonuses.

The  restructuring of the otherwise continues with the exit of Hollywood Brown after two seasons. Brown was signed as a fast big-play threat who could replace the departed Tyreek Hill. But he missed almost all of 2024 with an injury and his numbers in 2025 were not game-breaking impressive (49 catches, 587 yards and five touchdowns. He’s gone now, to the Eagles, reflecting, “In this league, the margin for error is so small,” Brown said on “Speakeasy.” “I feel like the group of guys and the staff we had with coach Reid, I wouldn’t be able to handle that adversity anywhere else … It wasn’t the season we wanted to have, but it was a season that we all learned from.”

The Chiefs hope James Worthy and Rashee Rice can return to their previous forms and the retention of Tyquann Thornton provides some depth.

Plus, there’s the draft…….

On the other side of the ball, the Chiefs have re-signed popular special teams leader Jack Cochrane, who’s been with the team since signing as an undrafted free agent in ’22.  He’s missed only four of 68 games in his career.

UFL)—The St. Louis Battlehawks start the new UFL season next Saturday against the Washington Defenders in the dome.

Now: V8 is not just a drink

(NASCAR)—Tyler Reddick says he’s in an “incredible” position after picking up his fourth win in six races this year, this time at Darlington despite early electrical problems that buried him deep in the field. He rallied back to pass Brad Keslowski with 27 laps left.

It’s Keselowski’s best finish of the year, even as he continues to recover from a leg broke in an off-season incident.

Reddick started from the pole despite brushing the wall during qualifications.

(INDYCAR)—-Two races left before The Month.

IndyCar is back on track next weekend with the Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park with the GP of Long Beach on April 19.

The Month of kicks off on the 9^th with a run on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

After that, it’s all about Memorial Day weekend and the 110^th Indianapolis 500, when 33 cars line up and less than three hours later one driver will achieve an adjective that will stay with him the rest of his life: Indianapolis 500 winner.

Several drivers will make their only run in IndyCar this year.  Helio Castroneves continues his quest to be the first five-time winner. Two-time winner Takuma Sato also is lined up to run. Others signed for just this race are Conor Daley, Jack Harvey, former winner Ryan Hunter-Reay and Ed Carpenter, who owns the car he’ll drive.

It’s expected Andretti Global will provide a car for Colton Herta who has dropped off the IndyCar circuit to seek his fortune in Europe, hoping to pick up a Formula 1 ride next year. He’s a reserve driver for the Cadillac team that’s making its first season in F1.

Notably absent so far is Prema Racing, the team that put rookie Robert Schwartzman on the pole last year.  The team has some internal ownership problems that have kept it from fielding a car in the early seasons races.

It has been 79 years since the race started with fewer than 33 cars.

Practice for the 500 starts on May 12, a Tuesday, with qualifying the next weekend and the race on Sunday, May 4.

(Photo credits: Kelce—Kansas City Chiefs; Ragans—Royals; WBC—Getty Images—Cochrane; Indy Car driver banners, Indianapolis—Bob Priddy)

(NCAA)—It is possible.

But it is not likely.

The Missouri Tigers and the St. Louis University Billikens could meet in the NCAA Tournament.

The winner would play for the national championship.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

The Billikens are a nine seed in the west regional and will play 8^th seed Georgia in the first round.  Missouri, a ten seed in the Midwest regional will play number 7 Miami. The second round will be much tougher.  St. Louis likely would go against number one Michigan and Missouri’s likely opponent would be second seeded Purdue.

(MIZZOUBB)—-The question for Missouri is the same question we’ve had all year. Which Tigers will show up?   

Three straight losses, two in the regular season and one-and-gone game in the SEC tournament—three games they might have won on one of those proverbial “any game” situations.

Good enough to beat teams in the last ten of the top 25 most of the time but far from being called “elite.”  Except for Mark Mitchell, who paid a price for being with a mid-pack team by being only a second-team all SEC choice.

To start the NCAA Tournament, Missouri will face a Hurricanes team that was 25-8 under new coach Jai Lucas after finishing 7-24 a year earlier and going to an interim coach at mid-season. They lost in the semifinal round of the ACC Tournament.

Tipoff of the game, which will be in St. Louis, is scheduled for 9:10 p.m. Friday.

Coach Dennis Gates: What to know about the Miami Hurricanes ahead of Mizzou’s NCAA Tournament matchup

(BILLIKENS)—-The St. Louis University Billikens finished the regular season 28-5 after losing to Dayton in the ACC tournament semifinals.  Coach Josh Schertz, in his second season, is taking the school into its first NCAA tournament since the 2018-2019 season.

They’re a nine seed and they’ll play Georgia, seeded 8^th. Georgia was 22-10

Their game will be Saturday afternoon in Indianapolis.

(MOSTATE)—The Missouri State men’s tean is done for the year but the women are headed to the tournament after winning the Conference-USA tournament title, beating Louisiana Tech 43-38.  The Lady Bears had gone into the conference tournament as the sixth seed. They’re 22-12. Techn finished 26-6. They’re into the NCAA tournament for the 18^th time.

It’s a play-in game against the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks. If the Lady Bears win, they’ll go into the tournament as a 16 seed against top-ranked Texas.

The Missouri State Men’s team finished 9-23 under former Missouri Coach Cuonzo Martin, who coached previously in Springfield 2008=2011 and was Dennis Gates’ predecessor (2017-2022) at Missouri. It might have been a losing record but it was an improvement over the previous year’s 9-23.

(PORTER)—Former Missouri basketball player Jontay Porter, banned for life from the NBA, appears to have found new life with the independent United States Basketball League.

Porter’s His first few games have been sad reminders of what might have been.

In his debut with the Seattle Superhawks, he racked up 21 points, 14 rebounds and an equal number of assists plus a couple of steals and three blocked shots.

Later, against the Salem Capitols, he broke the USBL rebounding record with 32, breaking the record of 28 jointly held by former NBA players Manute Bol and Anthony Man. He finished the game with 29 points, seven assists, four steals and five blocks.

Porter, whose Missouri career was shortened by a knee injury, was with the Toronto Raptors when he got involved with sports gamblers.

(CARDINALS)—A key figure in one of the big offseason trades for the Cardinals won’t be ready for opening day. Pitcher Hunter Dobbin had ACL surgery last July is still rehabbing the knee. He’s been throwing on the back fields but the Cardinals don’t want him to rush his recovery. He had been the 13^th best prospect in the Red Sox’s organization when he was hurt. He came to the Cardinals in the Wilson Contreras trade.

He did pitch in thirteen games for the Red Sox last year before he was hurt. He struck out 45 and walked only 17 in 62 innings while hanging up a 4.43 ERA.

Seven more players were cut on Sunday as the roster-whittling goes into the final days before opening day in less than two weeks.

Ten Cardinals are at the World baseball Classic representing eight countries. None are on the United States team.

(ROYALS)—The Royals started the weeks with 21 pitchers, 2 catchers,  eight infielders, two catchers, and nine outfielders on the roster, as of yesterday morning.  Second baseman Jonathan India is sidelined with a groin strain that he felt this weekend.

They’re hoping this will be the breakout year for Joe Caglionone, who struggled against big time pitching last year.  He’s on Team Italy in the World Baseball Classic and has heled the team get to the semifinals while hitting .364 in four games.

He’s joined on the team by first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino who became the first WBC player to hit three home runs in one game. Before leaving the Royals camp, he was ripping the ball—three balls at more than 115 mph including one home run that was measured at 120.2 coming off his bat.

The Royals have seventeen players at the classic. Only three, pitchers Michal Wacha and Matt Strahm and shortstop Bobby Witt are playing for the USA team. The others are playing for teams from nine other countries.

(GOATS)—For those who need a football fix in the gap months between the UFL season and the resumption of NFL play can catch the St. Joseph Goats, who start their Arena Football League play on May 29 against the Arkansas Diamonds in Hot Springs.

The Goats are moving from Kansas Cit mto St. Jo his year.Their home opener is a week later, June 6 against the Ozark Lunkers at St. Joseph’s Civic Arena.

They’ll also have games against the Iowa Woo (Waterloo), the Eau Claire (Wisconsin) Axemen,

Memphis (Tennessee) Hound Dogs,  Grand Island (Nebraska) Siege,  and the Monroe (Louisiana) Greenheads.

(CHIEFS)—The Chiefs have upgraded their backfield with the signing of Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III away from the Seattle Seahawks. They’re investing $45 million in him hoping he’ll have three years that are at least as solid as his 2025 that saw him rush for more than a thousand yards including 65 carries for 313 yards and four touchdowns for the Super Bowl and two other playoff games.

Walker hit the market after the Seahawks refused to name him a franchise player, which would have given him about $14 million next year.  The NFL Network says his contract with Kansas City makes him the highest paid running back in NFL history.

In his four-year career in Seatle, he’s averaged better than four yards per carry (821/3555). He’s also caught 131 asses for another 1005 yards. Walker is 25, five feet-9 and 211 pounds. He played college ball at Wake Forest and at Michigan State.

They’ve also grabbed former Chargers safety Alohi Gilman for three years and $24.75 million. He’ll replace Bryan Cook, who found Cincinnati’s three-year deal for $40.25 million irresistible. Gilman is two years older than Cook but the Chiefs are familiar with him because he has spent most of his career with the Chargers before going to the Ravens last year.

The Chiefs have gained about $2.5 million in cap space by renegotiating the contract of linebacker Drue Tranquill, who drops from $6 million to $3.5 for the coming season. Three million dollars of that is guaranteed.

IF YOU ARE CURIOUS ABOUT HOW RESTRUCTURING FREES UP CAP SPACE, TAKE A LOOK AT :

NFL Compensation: Contract Restructure Mechanics

Travis Kelce decided not to go the free agent route to his fourteenth season. He has signed a one-year deal for $12 million. He said on the Pa McAfee Show, “I’m still in love with this game. I still love going to work, putting on the pads, grinding it out and just playing the game.”

The Washington Commanders have signed DE Charles Omenihu for one year and as much as seven million dollars.

Penalty-prone right tackle Jawaan Taylor was released after a Chiefs career marked by false stars and illegal formation penalties. He has joined teammate Trent McDuffie with the Rams.

As we were going to press, ESPN’s Adam Schefter was reporting Kansas City is giving the New York Jets a 2027 sixth-round draft pick to get Justin Fields to be Parick Mahomes backup. The Jets were ready to let Justin Fields to go after an undistinguished career with them and after trading for Geno Smith with the Raiders.  The Chiefs are paying only $3 million of his ten million dollar salary.

The Chiefs have been looking for a replacement for Gardner Minshew, who left for the Cardinals. They still have their backup to the backup and the backup to the backup to the backup quarterbacks, Chris Oladokun and Jake Haener, who combined to start three games.

Fields was drafter by the Bears in 2021. With the Jets last year he was 2-7 as a starter had a QB rating of 37.3, which was 31^st out of 36 passers. He is 16-37 in his career starts.

The Jets still have former Missouri quarterback Brady Cook and Bailey Zappe on their roster as backups to Smith.

(MAHOMES)—Coach Andy Reid says Patrick Mahomes is doing serious work rehabbing his knee.  Reid told reporters recently, “He spends a ton of time here, seven hours a day. He’s in there cranking away and making progress every day. It’s great to see. Julie grinds on him and makes sure he stays on task and challenges him. He keeps showing up. That’s about half the battle on these things when you have these injuries. It’s not going to be a pleasant thing. Every day, you’ve got to fight through it, and you’ve got to attack the challenge of the workout and rehab. He’s doing a great job with that.”

(“Julie” is trainer Julie Frymyer.  She helped him deal with his ankle injury in 2022.)

Enough of the stick and ball stuff.

(INDYCAR)—Kyle Kirkwood ran down Alex Palou from more than two seconds back and made an aggressive pass with fifteen laps to go and won the first Grand Prix of Arlington—a race on a special track laid out around the Texas Rangers and the Dallas Cowboys stadiums in Arlington Texas.

Kirkwood and Palou made their last pit stops with 21 laps left and Palou’s team got him out almost two seconds faster than Kirkwood’s crew finished its work.  He caught and passed Palou on lap 55 and seven laps later turned the fastest leader lap of the race in building a five-second lead.  The lead was closed, however, by Christian Rasmussen’s crash on the last lap led to a one-lap shootout.

Kirkwood  and teammates Will Power and Marcus Erricsson took three of the top four positions in the race. Palou’s second kept the race from being a podium sweep for Andretti Global. Will Power’s third-place finish is his first top ten for his new team.

The win boosts Kirkwood into the IndyCar points lead over Palou. But it’s only the third race of a schedule that runs into September. The series is taking next weekend off before a race at the Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama on the 29^th.

(NASCAR)—Denny Hamlin has become  the tenth biggest winner in NASCAR history, driving through the field to win his first race of the year, at Las Vegas. He tied Kevin Harvick for tenth last year. Hamlin was 31^st after a pit speeding penalty but came back to lead 134 laps and finish a half-second ahead of Hendrick teammates Chase Elliott and William Byron.

Hamlin said after the race that he’s “fortunate” to be on the list with legends of the sports, men who “were far more talented than I have ever thought about being.”

His sixtieth career victory last year was a personal goal that he wanted to reach while his father was still alive. His father, in failing health, died a few weeks later in a fire that destroyed his parents’ house.  His loss in last year’s championship race and the loss of his father left him questioning whether he wanted to get back in a race car.  “I knew it took a few eeks to feel like driving,” he said. Over the last couple weeks, I definitely regained my love of it, got refocused. These are great opportunities for us.”

(FORMULA1)—President Trump’s War in the Middle East has forced Formula 1 to cancel two of its scheduled races—Saudi Arabia on April 12 and Bahrain a week later.

Kimi Antonelli became the second-youngest driver to win a Formula 1 Grand Prix at Shanghai during the weekend.  He finished ahead of his veteran Mercedes teammate, George Russell. Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton took his first podium finish since joining Ferrar two years ago.

Antonelli was 19 years, six months, and 18 days old. Max Verstappen, was 18 years, seven months and 15 days old when he won the Grand Prix of Spain ten years ago.

(Photo Credits: Missouri-Miami—MU; Porter—Anthony Hopkins, Goats Shirt—St. Jo Goats; Kirkwood—Rick Gevers; Hamlin—Bob Priddy)

(MIZBB)—The Missouri Tigers limp into the SEC tournament, salvaging a bye for the first round and likely to face a bottom-half opponent in the second round. But with this team, there is no guarantee that Missouri will be playing in the third round.

But then again, there’s no guarantee with this bunch that they won’t.

The Tigers’ last two regular season game, both considered winnable, became losses. They took a two-game winning streak, including a win over then 22^nd ranked Tennessee, into their game in Norman and let the Sooners run up an 80-64 win.  In their last game at home, against an Arkansas team that had beaten them in Fayetteville by eight points, Missouri again made crucial mistakes at crucial times and lost in overtime.

Mark Mitchell set a new game high for himself with 32 points and along the way became the eighth Tiger to top 1,000 points in two years. He scored 700 more in his first two years at Duke. He has at least two more games to add to his 1713 total collegiate sports.

He joined two of last year’s players, Caleb Grill and Tamar Bates on the list of two-year thousand point players.

Arkansas Coach John Calipari also reached a milestone—his 900^th win.

Missouri got a first-round bye and will play Thursday morning in the second round against the winner of Wednesday’s first round game between Kentucky, the 9 seed, and LSU, the 16^th seed.  Kentucky matched Missouri’s 10-8 conference record and went 19-12 in the regular season. LSU finished last in the conference at 3-15.

Kentucky, the expected Thursday opponent, closed out the season the same way Missouri did—with two straight losses. Missouri beat Kentucky 73-68 in Lexington earlier this year.

If Missouri gets past Kentucky it runs into Florida, the top seed.  Kentucky went 25-6 in the season and was 16-2 in the conference with one of those losses to Missouri, in Lexington—the only time the two teams played this season.

(OUT)—Former Missouri Tiger star Kim English will not be back to coach the Providence Friars next year.  He’s been at Providence for three years. With a team he inherited from coach Ed Cooley, English took the Friars to a 21-14 record and an NIT appearance. But his teams went 12-20 and then 14-16.  They were 7-12 in the Big East this year. Before going to Providence, English led George Mason to a 20-13 record in his only season there. English played all four years of his college ball at MU, winning the MVP award in the Big 12 Tournament in his last year, 2012. He scored 1570 points in his Tiger career.

He played a few games for the Detroit Pistons in a short NBA career.

(BILLIKENS)—The St. Louis University Billikens took a bad tumble in their last game of the regular season, falling to George Mason 86-57. St. Louis finishes 27-4 but still have the number one seed in the Atlantic Ten conference.

Team leader, center Robbie Avila got into immediate foul trouble in the first half and was benched five minutes in, scoreless. He finished with two points and one rebound in the two minutes he was in the game in the second half.

St. Louis U gets a bye in the A-10 tournament and will play the winner of a game between Fordham and George Washington on Friday.

(CHIEFS)—-The Kansas City Chiefs are looking to the 2026 NFL draft as a way to shake off “Super Bowl Fatigue,” a condition in which a championship team has been saddled with generally low draft choices year after year.

The Chiefs continued their dealings in the last week with a major trade sending cornerback Trent McDuffie to the Rams for a flock of draft picks—in the first, fifth, and sixth rounds this year and a third-round pick next year.

Some speculation has Kansas City and Tennessee doing some swapping that could bring Notre Dame running back Jeremiya Love or edge rusher Rueben Bain from the Miami Hurricanes.

Chiefs GM Brett Veach told reporters at the Combine a few days ago, “Every year when we were picking 31 and 32, I’d always say, ‘Man, if we were just at (pick) 24 or 25, we’d be exactly where we want to be.’ Now, we’re at nine and I’m like, ‘Man, if we were just at four, five, we’d be exactly where we want to be.”

—Meaning that he’s probably not done.

As for the recently-traded cornerback Trent McDuffie, whose trade to the Rams brought the Chiefs those draft picks: The Rams have made him the highest paid cornerback in NFL history with a four-year, $124 million dollar contract, $100 million of it guaranteed.

McDuffie had been in line for $13.6 million if he had stayed with the Chiefs this year.

The deal is especially sweet for McDuffie, who played his high school ball in California with two guys who are Rams this year. Last August, at a charity event, he was asked if there was another team he would like to play for. “That’ll probably be the LA Rams, so that my family can come see every single game,” he replied.

(BATTLEHAWKS, ETC)—Spring football, the UFL, starts in a couple of weeks. Several players from Missouri schools are on the rosters for seven of the eight teams in the league.

The St. Louis Battlehawks open the season with two Missourians on their roster. Former Tiger kicker Tyler McCann, who hopes to follow          of the LA Rams into the NFL, and Kevon Latulas from Missouri State.

The Birmingham Barons have Missouri running back Nate Noel.

The Columbus Aviators have  former Tigers WR Keke Chisum, a wide receiver, and DT Walter Palmore.

Three Missourians are on the roster for the DC Defenders—former Tiger center Michael Maieti, Missouri State WR Tyrone Scott, and Missouri Southern OT Lacolby Tucker from Missouri Southern.

The Louisville Kings have OL Keith Russell from Missouri Western.

Moving along to a spring sports with a round ball—

(CARDINALS)—Word from Jupiter is that outfielder Jordan Walker has been doing a lot of work on the back fields on his hitting, looking for better swing rhythm. Results of that part of his training aren’t impressive. He’s 4 for 19 (.211) after hitting .215 last year.  and his fielding. Manager Oliver Marmol says his outfield work is better than last year. Former Cardinals and Royals outfielder Jon Jay is getting credit for that.

Lars Nootbar’s heels still not being counted on for opening day. The Cardinals have used thirteen left fielders in spring training so far.  One possible prospect is Joshua Baez, who is hitting .333 in 18 at-bats.

Pitcher Andre Pallante is impressing the coaches in Florida after an awful second half last year.  He went four innings and struck out two Sunday in a 2-2 tie with the Marlins. Marmol said afterwards he looked to be throwing his five pitches “in midseason form.”  Marmol says his attitude is better, that he’s more relaxed than when he was going 1-10 after last year’s All-Star break with a 6.64 ERA.

Several players and coaches in the Cardinals system, including some on the major league roster, are involved in the World Baseball Classic that goes for another week.  Some are pitching for other nations’ teams.  A player musts be a citizen of the country they represent or have been born in that country or have permanent residency or have at least one parent who was born of a citizen of the nation.

Leonardo Bernal, a strong catcher prospect in the system, is playing for Panama. Mexico has one of the team’s most recent international signings, Luis Gastelum. Gordon Graceffo, who was and down from the minors last year and is considered a likely bullpen member this year, is playing for Italy, as is Thomas Saggese, a “super-utility man in the making,” according to the Cardinals..

Great Britain has outfielder Matt Koperniak. Some think he might come up to the bigs later in the year.  A member of the Israel team is Zach Levenson, an outfielder and Noah Mendlinger, a third basemen.

Outfielder Brian Torres, who has hit .328 in his last two minor league seasons, is an outfielder for Puerto Rico.

Four Cardinal coaches are involved in the tournament: Yadier Molina is managing Puerto Rico’s team for the second tournament. His team reached the quarterfinals in the last tournament, in 2023. Coach Stubby Clapp is the third base coach for Canada; Julio Rangel is with the Panamanian team; Chris Conroy is  Puerto Rico assistant trainer.

(ROYALS)—Some of the big name major leaguers and some littler names from the Royals system are in the World Baseball Classic:  Bobby Witt Jr. and Michael Wacha represent the United States: Salvador Perez, Maikel Garcia, and Luinder Avila are with the Venezuelan team. Vinnie Pasquantino  and Jac Caglianone are with Italy; Seth Lugo is pitching for Puerto Rico; Carlos Estevez is with the Dominican Republic. Israel has Eli Morgan; Nicaragua has Oscar Rayo; and Jorge Alfaro is with Colombia.

Back in Kansas City, the Royals have welcomed Eric Hosmer home.

He’ll join the Royals TV broadcast crew as a part-time analyst, one-third of a rotation that includes Jeremy Guthrie and Rex Hudler. Regular play-by-play guys Ryan Lefebvre and Jake Eisenberg will be in their usual slots. Jeff Goldberg and Jeff Montgomery will be the pregame and postgame hosts. New to the broadcasts will be host and sideline reporter Bridget Howard.

Hosmer’s first show will be March 13 when the Royals play the Diamondbacks.

Hosmer retired after the 2023 season after 13 years in the big leagues, half of those years with the Royals. He was a member of the 2025 World Series championship club before signing a big deal with the San Diego Padres. He was there for five years before wrapping up things with the Red Sox and the Cubs. He was a lifetime .276 hitter

Motoring on—-

(INDYCAR)—-Phoenix became a great place during the weekend to celebrate Roger Penske’s sixtieth year in auto racing.  His drivers won both of the major races, the IndyCar race on Saturday and the NASCAR race Sunday.

Penske’s first race as a team owner was the 1966 Daytona 24 Hour endurance race. His cars have raced in several major racing series—with his first IndyCar entry in 1968 and his first NASCAR entry in 1972.

Penske driver Josef Newgarden tracked down race leader Kyle Kirkwood and got past him in the closing laps to go on Saturday for his 32^nd career win. Newgarden admitted he was surprised to win, given his mediocre performance in the middle of the race.  But adjustments by his pit crew gave him “a rocket ship” after his last stop that let him get past pole-sitter and teammate David Malukis and then Kirkwood.

It’s the second win in a row for Newgarden and Penske on the one-mile oval at Phoenix—-although it took eight years go to it. IndyCar had not raced there since 2918.

It was a highly-competitive race with a record 565 on-track passes but none was as important as Newgarden’s power move past Kirkwood. Newgarden had pitted for new tires under the last yellow of the race, caused when former teammate Will Power cut a tire in close racing with another car. Kirkwood was among the drivers who gambled they could go the rest of the way with what they had.

Kirkwood took the lead on lap 242 of the 250 laps but his tires gave up and he faded to 11^th while Newgarden started eating into Kirkwood’s six-tenths of a second lead and flew past him with six laps left.

The win puts Newgarden on top of the point standings, ending a long string of races at the top for defending series champion Alex Palou, who had not been out of first place since June 2024. Palou was the victim of an early crash and finished 24^th.

IndyCar moves on to a new venue next weekend in Arlington, Texas on a course that winds its way around the baseball and football stadiums of the Texas Rangers and the Dallas Cowboys.

(NASCAR)—Ryan Blaney finished the Penske-first weekend on Sunday. He clawed his way back from 24^th after a poor pit stop and took the lead in a fiercely contested race with ten laps left and then held off Christopher Bell the rest of the way.  The race featured 23 lead changes and a record dozen cautions.  Bell had dominated the latter part of the race until the last restart gave Blaney the break he needed to pull in front.

Blaney twice had problems with loose wheels that forced him to drive from the back to the front. Bell’s car was the 49^th car he passed during the race, a record.

Penske driver Joey Logano started from the pole but was eliminated in a crash early.

Tyler Reddick, who had won the first three races of the year, a NASCAR record, finished eighth.

NASCAR heads to Las Vegas for next week’s race.

(Photo Credits: McDuffie–YouTube; Pallante—STL Cardinals;  Hosmer—MLB; Newgarden –Rick Gevers, in Phoenix; Blaney—Sean Gardner, Getty Images)

(MIZBB)—Missouri still has gotten no votes in either of the major basketball polls and has this week to win some friends. SI.com has Missouri as a 9^th seed in the NCAA tournament, however, facing off against 8^th seeded North Carolina State in the first round of the Midwest tournament.

All of this might be interesting but it’s worthless speculation as the Tigers face the last two games of the regular season with an opportunity for a first-round bye in the SEC tournament, and maybe a double bye.

Missouri, 20-9, plays Oklahoma, 15-14 in Norman tonight and wraps up the season at home against Arkansas, ranked 17^th and 20^th.   The Tigers squeaked past Oklahoma 88-87 in Columbia earlier and lost 94-86 at Arkansas earlier.

(MIZFB)—-Spring football practice is underway at the University of Missouri. Workouts started last Friday and Saturday and resumed today.

Yep, already. Coach Drinkwitz is getting his first look at how his recruits and transfers might fit together for the fall season.  Missouri lost 26 players to the transfer portal but they brought in 27 transfers and signed more than a dozen incoming freshmen in the 25^th-ranked 2026 class according to 247 Sports.

Stadium renovations will prohibit a spring scrimmage for the second year in a row.

(BILLSBB)—The St. Louis Billikens dropped five spots in the rankings last week but remain in the top 25.

The Billikens’ 6-10 center Robbie Avila scored all of the teams’ points in a 15-2 run that closed out the 91-76 victory over Duquesne Saturday.  Avila finished with 23 points, all but two in the second half. The Bills are 26-3 overall, 14-2 in the Atlantic 10, and have won 21 straight at home.

The closing run was the second big scoring spree of the second half. St. Louis was down 41-39 at the break but outscored Duquesne 31-6 in the two runs. The Billikens host Loyola of Chicago tomorrow night.

(BATTLEHAWKS—This is the second week of the St. Louis Battlehawks spring football camp.  The UFL is training at the league headquarters in Arlington, Texas. Head Coach Ricky Proehl, a St. Louis Rams Super Bowl winner,  will have an eight-man coaching staff.

His defensive coordinator, Corey Chamblin, was a championship head coach with the Toronto Argonauts and the Saskatchewan Roughriders  in the Canadian Football League. He coached Gray Cup champions in 2008, 2013, and 2017. He also won the NFL Europe championship with the Frankfurt Galaxy in 2006.

Another coach is Frank Gansz Jr., whose father coached the Chiefs for a couple of unsuccessful years that were part of his 40-year coaching career. Frank Junior has coached the college level as well with the old USFL, the CFL, several universities, and in the NFL.

The coach’s son, Austin, will work with wide receivers. He had a short NFL career with the Bills, Rams and Chargers.

Two-time Super Bowl winner Todd Washington will handle the offensive line and tight ends. He was with the Buccaneers as a player when they won Super Bowl 37 and was an assistant offensive line coach for the Ravens in Super Bowl 47. He’s one of 13 people to win Super Bowl rings as a player and as a coach.

Defensive line coach Jeff Zgonina was a defensive lineman with Super Bowl-winning Rams. He had a 17 year playing career with eight teams.

Only one player from a Missouri school is on the pre-season roster—Missouri State running back Kevon Latulas  from Missouri State.

The first game is on the 28^th, against the DC Defenders at the Dome. The regular season ends on May 29^th.

On the Diamond—

(ROYALS)—Pitcher Kris Bubic had a promising start in his first time back on the mound since last summer when he developed a rotator cuff strain last summer. He didn’t need surgery, though.

He went two innings, 31 pitches, against Milwaukee Sunday, gave up four hits and a run but struck out three. His fastball averaged 91.9. He also threw his slider, sinker, sweeper and his changeup. Bubic said he felt no pain. This is his final contract year and could become a free agent at the end of the season.

The Royals have bolstered their outfield/DH lineup and, they hope, their offense with the signing of free agent Starling Marte, who was crowded out of the Mets organization by the arrival of several new guys including former Royals J. J. Melendez.

Marte found himself in a part-time role in his last contract season with the Mets last year. Health problems have curtailed his production in the last three seasons. He hit .270 with nine homers and 34 RBI in 85 games with New York last year. He’s 37

(CARDINALS)—Ollie Marmol will be the Cardinals manager for the near future.  His contract has been extended to 2028 with a club option for 2029.

It’s a big vote of confidence from Cardinals president Chaim Bloom, who says Marmol realizes the Cardinals have to “compete relentlessly to set new standards in everything that we do…He is invested in the progress of our young core and is unafraid to challenge himself and to help those around him grow.”

The Cardinals have made their first cuts of the spring training, sending 11 players out. One of them is switch-pitcher Jurrangelo Cijntje, one of eight players assigned to minor league camp.

Cijntje was one of the players picked up in the Brendan Donovan trade with Seattle. He has made one appearance this spring, throwing from the right side, went two scoreless innings, gave up a hit and got two strikeouts.  He has thrown from the right side in the big league camp but still plays catch throwing with both arms. Pitching Director Matt Pierpont and assistant GM Rob Cerfolio will be meeting with him soon to discuss his future development.

On the track:

(NASCAR)—Tyler Reddick is the only person in NASCAR history who has a chance to win the first four races of the year.  He notched number three on a hot afternoon at the Circuit of the Americas with road-racing ace Shane Van Gisberghen waiting for him to make a mistake.  But Reddick never did

He became the first driver in NASCAR history win the first three races of the year, pulling away from Van Gisbergen with about ten laps to go.  VanGisbergen was trying to tie Jeff Gordon’s record of six-straight road course wins.

Several drivers struggled with the heat during the race. A. J. Almendinger was one of he several drivers who reported their cool shirts, which circulate cool water about the driver, had quit working. A. J. Allmendinger crawled out of his car and laid down on the pit lane. He was taken to the infield care center on a stretcher but later released.

Alex Bowman became ill during the race and pulled into the garage area with 10 laps to go.  The team drafted Myatt Snider, a driver from a lower-tier NASCAR series and put him in the car. He finished 36^th out of 37 competitors six laps down—most of those laps happening during the change of drivers in the garage area.

No driver has won four NASCAR Cup races in a row since Harry Gant did it in 1991 at Darlington, Richmond, and Dover.  Gant was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame last year.

Reddick will take his shot at Phoenix next weekend.

(INDYCAR)—Alex Palou won the season opening IndyCar race by more than 12 seconds Sunday, a huge margin of victory in the series. Palou has won the last three IndyCar titles and four of the last five.

The day was a disappointment for some drivers making their first series race or driving for a new team.  Former Formula One driver Mick Schumacher was caught in someone else’s crash on the first lap. Six-time series champion Scott Dixon’s day ended early when he lost a wheel. Will Power, making his first start for a new team after a career with Penske, finished the race but was twenty laps down because of a crash early that sent his car to the garage for suspension repairs. He went back onto the track to salvage as many points as he could before retiring for good.

IndyCar and NASCAR have a joint weekend at Phoenix next weekend. IndyCar will race on Saturday and the NASCAR Cup race will be Sunday afternoon.

Photo credits:  Avila—St. Louis University; Bucic—Kings of Kauffman; Marmol—Redbird Rants; Battlehawks—Dilip Vishwanat/UFL/Getty Images; Palou—David Jensen, Lumen via Getty Images; Reddick—NASCAR)