Sports

7:00 AM ET A Google search for “Houston Astros” and “evil empire” generates over 1 million results, with headlines such as: “Are the Houston Astros the new evil empire of baseball?” and “Jose Abreu signing helps Astros approach evil empire status” and “The new evil empire: Houston Astros look to erase stain of cheating scandal.”

6:14 PM ET Los Angeles Angels third baseman Anthony Rendon has been given a five-game suspension for a public altercation with a fan in Oakland last week, videos of which circulated through social media. The decision was announced by Major League Baseball, specifically senior vice president of on-field operations Michael Hill, on Monday. If Rendon

7:59 PM ET Associated Press Kyle Larson spent the week watching videos of his 10-win, 2021 championship season, he said, “to remind myself that I used to be good.” He still is. Larson pulled away on a restart with 14 laps to go and easily won the NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway on

Mar 28, 2023 LONDON — Arsenal restored their eight-point lead at the top of the Premier League after a comfortable 4-1 win over Leeds United at Emirates Stadium. Gabriel Jesus‘ 35th-minute penalty put the home side in front after the Brazil forward was caught in the box by Luke Ayling. – Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga,

4:56 PM ET Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. — Chandler Smith outran John Hunter Nemechek out of a restart with six laps to go Saturday at Richmond Raceway to win his first NASCAR Xfinity Series race. Nemechek chose the inside lane on a restart with 12 laps left, relegating Smith to the outside. When another caution

3:54 PM ET The implementation of the first nationwide anti-doping program for racehorses in the U.S. has been delayed by at least one month as it awaits approval by the federal agency that oversees it, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) said. The new rules, which had been scheduled to take effect late last

7:48 AM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Anthony Joshua’s likeness was plastered on the exterior walls of New York’s Madison Square Garden in larger-than-life form ahead of his hotly anticipated U.S. debut in June 2019. Joshua, of Watford, England, then one of the sport’s top-two global stars alongside Canelo Alvarez, already had conquered Europe and now was

9:17 AM ET Jeff WagenheimESPN If you’ve ever watched an evening of PFL fights, you know the company runs its show differently from other mixed martial arts promotions. In a sport fueled by star power and talking a good game, the PFL’s season format shifts the focus to the nitty-gritty of fight results. Viral tweets

12:13 AM ET Marc J. Spears After a 16-year hiatus, it was only right that the Sacramento Kings punched their own ticket back into the NBA playoffs. The Kings had been eligible to qualify for the playoffs since Saturday but came shy of getting the needed wins from themselves and other teams entering Wednesday. However,

6:30 AM ET Mike TannenbaumESPN In a few weeks, all 32 franchises will be adding new playmakers in the 2023 NFL draft, though just 27 of them are set to pick in the first round. It’s no easy process, and I know firsthand. It wasn’t that long ago that I was making draft selections as

7:05 AM ET ESPN staff With about three weeks left of the 2022-23 NHL regular season, there are three teams that have clinched a playoff spot and four that have been mathematically eliminated. Those numbers will both increase in the days ahead, as it’s another jam-packed week on the schedule. But which games will have

10:48 AM ET Paolo UggettiESPN This week, for the fourth time in five years, the best amateur women’s players in the world will descend upon Augusta, Georgia, ahead of the fourth installment of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. Editor’s Picks In just a short period of time, the ANWA has become a premier showcase of

7:00 AM ET Last fall, Tennessee beat No. 3 Alabama, earned the No. 1 ranking for a fleeting moment, lost a close game to eventual national champion Georgia and came within a whisper of making the College Football Playoff for the first time. Had it not been for the Nov. 19 loss at unranked South

7:00 AM ET The opening week of the 2023 MLB season is just four days away following a baseball offseason that was, in a word, chaotic. Not long after the Houston Astros were done celebrating their 2022 World Series title, the hot stove season heated up and provided a little bit of everything — from

2:46 AM ET Former Formula One world champion Jenson Button said that he suffered heat exhaustion and nearly retired from the race before finishing 18th at his NASCAR debut in Texas on Sunday. The 43-year-old Briton, who won the F1 world championship in 2009, said he feared fainting while driving his Ford Mustang during the

5:31 PM ET Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte is leaving the club by mutual consent following a postmatch rant on March 18 in which he criticised the club’s players, owner and winning mentality. In their statement, Tottenham said that Cristian Stellini would oversee the team in an interim role for the remainder of the season.

10:38 AM ET The UFC is finalizing a lightweight bout between Arman Tsarukyan and Renato Moicano as its headliner for a UFC Fight Night on April 29, sources confirmed to ESPN on Friday.. Moicano posted the news to his social media on Thursday, and sources told ESPN Tsarukyan has also agreed to the 155-pound bout.

3:01 PM ET Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Ushba Tesoro, ridden by jockey Yuga Kawada, produced a remarkable run from the back of the field to win the $12 million Dubai World Cup for Japan on Saturday. “I’m very proud of my horse and myself for winning the greatest race in the world,”

7:15 PM ET Associated Press MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Carlos Alcaraz picked up a straight-set win at the Miami Open on Friday to keep his world No. 1 ranking over idle Novak Djokovic. Djokovic is not participating in the Miami Open because he still can’t travel to the United States as a foreign citizen who

6:51 AM ET LOS ANGELES — They couldn’t have understood in the moment what one declaration from an 8-year-old child could mean for both the father and the daughter. How one decision, essentially out of the blue, could be the fulcrum of change for both of them. One night, while they were watching fights on