How the Raptors were able to manufacture major home win vs. Pistons

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AP source: Jets agree to trade quarterback Justin Fields to Chiefs

NEW YORK — The New York Jets have agreed to a trade that will send quarterback Justin Fields to the Kansas City Chiefs, a person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press on Monday.

The Jets will receive a sixth-round draft pick in 2027 for Fields and pick up $7 million of his guaranteed $10 million salary for this upcoming season, the person told the AP on condition of anonymity because the teams didn’t announce the trade.

The deal, first reported by ESPN, is pending a physical.

The 27-year-old Fields signed a two-year, $40 million deal — with $30 million guaranteed — with New York last March and was the starter for most of the season until he was benched in favour of Tyrod Taylor in Week 12 in November. He didn’t play another game for the Jets, ending the season by being placed on injured reserve in late December with a knee injury.

Fields went 2-7 as the Jets’ starter with seven touchdowns and only one interception for 1,259 yards. He threw for fewer than 55 yards in four games, including a season-low 27 in a loss to Buffalo in Week 2.

The Chiefs were searching for a veteran backup quarterback capable of filling in if two-time MVP Patrick Mahomes, who is rehabbing after tearing knee ligaments late in the season, is not ready for the start of the season.

With the Jets’ trade for Geno Smith last week, it appeared Fields’ days with the team were numbered, whether by being released or traded. New York held onto Fields through the start of free agency and general manager Darren Mougey found a taker in Kansas City.

Fields was the No. 11 overall pick by Chicago in the 2021 draft and the Bears moved on after three seasons and traded him to Pittsburgh in 2024. With Russell Wilson dealing with a calf injury, Fields opened the season as the Steelers’ starter and had five touchdown passes and five TD runs with just one interception while leading the Steelers to a 4-2 start.

But with Wilson healthy again, Pittsburgh turned back to the veteran and Fields was sent to the bench.

After he was signed by the Jets last offseason to replace the released Aaron Rodgers, Fields insisted he was confident he could be a productive NFL starter. But it didn’t happen in New York.

After the Jets started 0-7 during what would be a 3-14 first season under Aaron Glenn, owner Woody Johnson blamed poor quarterback play by Fields as a primary reason for the team’s struggles.

“The defence is pretty good. If we can just complete a pass, it would look good,” Johnson said at the NFL’s fall owners meetings last October. “We’ve got to complete some passes. You’ve got to convince them that you can do something. Otherwise it’s hard to have a game that you can win.”

For his career, Fields is 16-37 as a starter and has thrown for 9,039 yards and 52 touchdowns with 32 interceptions. He has also run for 2,892 yards and 23 scores.

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MLB test of robot umpires for checked swing calls moving up to triple-A

MIAMI — Major League Baseball’s experiment of a robot umpire technology system allowing challenges to checked swing calls is moving up from Class A to triple-A.

MLB will also test moving second base slightly to position it entirely within the infield, which would reduce by nine inches the distance between first and second, and between second and third, according to a memorandum sent to teams last week.

It will try out reducing permissible disengagements by pitchers from two to one per plate appearance and stricter limits on batter timeouts and resetting the pitch clock for issues with PitchCom, the electronic signalling device that has been used since 2023.

There will also be a test allowing starting pitchers to re-enter games in the lowest level of the minor leagues. It’s not expected this test will lead to MLB implementation, but it’s being considered for the minors to improve development and player health by allowing more flexible workload management.

MLB’s Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System, the so-called robot umpire, launches when the season starts March 25 following tests that started in the minors in 2019. A batter, catcher or pitcher can appeal a ball/strike call by the human umpire under a system in which each team has two challenges and keeps its challenge if successful. Additional challenges become available to teams in extra innings.

An experiment began last May 20 in the Class A Florida State League allowing challenges to checked swing calls, and the test was extended to the Arizona Fall League.

Starting on May 5, the checked swing test will take expand to the Triple-A Pacific Coast League in additional to the FSL.

“The batter, pitcher or catcher may also appeal the umpire’s decision regarding whether the batter swung at a pitch,” according to the memo from MLB vice president of on-field strategy Joe Martinez to general managers and other club executives. “A swing will be considered to have occurred if the maximum angle between the bat head and the bat handle exceeds 45 degrees.”

Martinez said the strikeout rate was cut by 3 per cent during last year’s testing.

In addition, umpires at games in the triple-A International League will be instructed to apply the 45-degree threshold for determining swings. The Official Baseball Rules do not specify a standard for checked swings, stating only: “A strike is a legal pitch when so called by the umpire, which is struck at by the batter and is missed.”

Since the 1970s, catchers have been allowed to ask the plate umpire to appeal non-strike calls on checked swings to the first- and third-base umpires, but no appeals have been permitted when a strike has been called on a checked swing.

Starting pitchers will be allowed to re-enter a game after being removed at the Arizona Complex League, Florida Complex League and Dominican Summer League. A removed starting pitcher is eligible to return if he threw at least 25 pitches during the inning he was removed, can return only at the start of an inning and may re-enter only once.

MLB enlarged bases 18-inch squares from 15 in 2023, a change the led to more stolen bases because of a decreased distance of 4 1/2 inches between first and second, and second and third.

Second base has been centred on the exact spot of second, but the experiment in the International League will place it “entirely within the perimeter of the infield diamond during the second half” of the season.

Citing an increase in the average time of a nine-inning game from two hours, 36 minutes in 2024 to 2:38 last year and a decrease in stolen-base attempt success rate from 80.2 per cent in 2023 to 77.8 per cent last year, MLB will experiment with changes to pitch clock rules.

Teams at Triple-A will be assessed a mound visit if play is stopped for a PitchCom problem, and if a team is out of visits an automatic ball will be charged.

At all levels, the clock will not stop when a catcher leaves the catcher’s box to give defensive signals, and players other than the pitcher and coaches must leave the mound before the clock on mound visits runs out. A violation would result in an automatic ball.

At High A, batters will not be allowed to request time if the bases are empty and in Class A no timeouts will be allowed. Exceptions will be allowed for brush backs, possible injuries or equipment problems.

Allowed disengagements by pitchers from the rubber will be lowered from two to one at Double-A.

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Blackhawks sign first-rounder Sacha Boisvert to entry-level contract

A first-round pick is headed to Chicago.

The Blackhawks signed forward Sacha Boisvert to a three-year entry-level contract worth $2.92 million, the team announced on Monday.

Boisvert was selected by Chicago 18th overall in the 2024 NHL Draft.

The 19-year-old from Trois-Rivieres, Que., competed with Boston University this season, recording three goals and 14 assists over 26 games.

For his entire college career, also including time with the University of North Dakota, Boisvert has 21 goals and 28 assists.

The six-foot-three, 185-pound forward spent time in the USHL prior, where he posted 113 points (53 goals, 60 assists) in 118 regular-season games.

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Dowman makes history as Premier League’s youngest scorer ever

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Bracket preview: Will one-loss Miami (Ohio) make March Madness?

All the metrics, analytics and number crunching in the world cannot erase the most important statistic attached to the team that has captured college basketball’s imagination and its curiousity leading into March Madness.

Miami of Ohio’s record is 31-1. The Redhawks were the first college basketball team in five years to enter their conference tournament with an undefeated record.

Virtually everything else about the regular-season champions of the Mid-American Conference — their 339th-ranked schedule, their zero top-calibre (Quad 1) matchups, their ugly (and only) loss to a not-very-good UMass team — screams NIT or maybe no post-season bid at all.

And yet, leaving this mid-major darling out of March Madness when the brackets are revealed Sunday night would feel, to many, like a crime.

The fact that a team that started the season 31-0 isn’t sure whether it will make the tournament and stands to be this season’s version of a lovable underdog if it does speaks volumes about exactly why March Madness is unlike any other event in sports.

Unveiling the 68-team bracket is step one on the road to the Final Four, set for April 4-6 in Indianapolis. There will be four First Four games played Tuesday and Wednesday before action gets underway in earnest with first-round games Thursday and Friday.

A few nuggets to look for when the brackets come out:

Top seeding seems like an easy call

Houston and UConn had chances to make this interesting, but they lost their conference title games and are pegged as No. 2 seeds in virtually every mock bracket out there.

That leaves Duke, which won its 24th ACC title on Saturday, as the likely overall No. 1 seed. Michigan, Arizona and defending champion Florida are expected to join the Blue Devils as No. 1s. The Gators lost to Vanderbilt in the SEC semifinals, but nobody made a compelling case to replace them there.

SEC comes into Sunday with four teams on the bubble

Last season, the SEC set a record by placing 14 of its 16 teams in the tournament.

That number won’t be as high this season, but the league does have four teams on a rapidly shrinking bubble: Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma and Auburn.

Auburn’s case might be both the most interesting and clear cut. Though the Tigers have some of the best metrics in the nation — starting with a third-ranked strength of schedule — their record is 17-16 and they have lost nine of their last 12.

Given Miami (Ohio)’s status, the committee could be choosing between a team with one loss and another with 16.

Others vying for what looks like four bubble spots: SMU, San Diego State, Stanford, Indiana. A Dayton win over VCU in Sunday’s Atlantic 10 title game would presumably shrink the bubble by one spot.

What to do with St. John’s?

Rick Pitino brought a beer to the post-game news conference. Yes, it’s time to celebrate at St. John’s.

Though the Johnnies edged UConn for the Big East regular-season title, then beat the Huskies again in the conference title game, very few have viewed Pitino’s team as better than Dan Hurley’s this year.

The consensus is that UConn will be a 2 seed and St. John’s will be a 5. Granted, the Big East is the worst of the power leagues this year and will probably only place three teams in the bracket (Villanova, yes; Seton Hall, almost surely not).

Then again, St. John’s only has one fewer win than the Huskies and beat them in two of three meetings this season.

“Three straight nights we didn’t relent at all,” Pitino said. “And that’s great going into the tournament.”

More from Sportsnet

St. John’s routs UConn for second straight Big East tourney title

No. 1 Duke beats No. 10 Virginia for second straight ACC title

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McLaren launches investigation after drivers unable to start Chinese Grand Prix

McLaren has launched an investigation with engine supplier Mercedes to investigate why both of its cars suffered terminal electrical faults that ruled them out of the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday, as Formula 1 champion Lando Norris said the team must rule out a repeat.

Norris was stuck waiting in his car in McLaren’s garage before time ran out for him to join the grid, and teammate Oscar Piastri had to be withdrawn from the grid minutes before the start with what McLaren termed separate electrical problems with its Mercedes-supplied power unit. Piastri was due to start fifth and Norris sixth.

It was the first time in Norris’ eight-season F1 career that he has missed a race and Piastri’s second missed race in a row after crashing on his way to the grid at his home race in Australia.

“We just have to take it on the chin, learn what the problem was, and make sure it never happens again,” Norris said. “Everyone in the team is frustrated, our engineers, mechanics and HPP (Mercedes High Performance Powertrains) teammates. All of us want to go racing and score points.”

McLaren said a “joint investigation” with Mercedes’ HPP engine operation would be launched.

McLaren has so far failed to match the pace of the works Mercedes team, whose drivers have won both Grand Prix races and the sole sprint race under the new 2026 regulations, which put more emphasis on electrical power. McLaren has previously said it’s concerned with what it considers a lack of information on how to get the best out of the Mercedes systems.

Four cars in total failed to start Sunday, including Gabriel Bortoleto’s Audi and the Mercedes-powered Williams of Alex Albon, which had a hydraulic-system failure.

There are also concerns at Aston Martin after a double retirement for the reliability-plagued team. Lance Stroll’s race ended early with a battery failure, a repeat issue with its Honda power unit. Aston Martin said “discomfort from vibrations” forced Fernando Alonso to stop.

Aston Martin team principal Adrian Newey this month said his car was shaking so much it risked “permanent nerve damage” in its drivers’ hands without major improvements.

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