It’s never fashionable to be optimistic about sports in Philadelphia, but at this moment, convention be damned.
It’s been maybe 16 years since all four Philadelphia teams provided as much near-future hope as they provided in a 24-hour period between Wednesday night and Thursday night.
The Sixers won, then the Eagles got great news, then the Phillies won, then the Flyers won. Hurrah.
I understand the reluctance to embrace this wellspring of positivity, and I realize that everything could go south with the next twinge in Joel Embiid‘s knee. But hope springs eternal, and it’s only been a week since spring has sprung, so enjoy the warmth of the weather and the moment.
Nothing happened Friday, so Philly entered the weekend on an unaccustomed high.
On Wednesday, the Sixers beat the Bulls by 20. They scored 157 points, their most in 56 years. They did it without their best player, Tyrese Maxey.
The Flyers beat the Blackhawks and did it without their best, or at least their most important player, Dan Vladař.
Sixers
The Sixers went first, and best. Granted, the Bulls are 14 games under .500, but Paul George, in his return from a 25-game suspension for violating the NBA’s antidrug policy, looked like he’s 25, not 35, for one game at least. Embiid seemed to realize his limitations, in that he didn’t play like a freshman trying to make varsity.
More than anything, though, rookie VJ Edgecombe, the franchise’s most exciting true rookie since Allen Iverson, took his latest step forward. In his last four games — all without Maxey and the first three without Embiid and George — Edgecombe averaged 29.3 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 6.3 assists. He shot 54.8% from the floor and hit 48.4% of his three-pointers.
Considering the abysmal state of the Eastern Conference — Detroit’s Cade Cunningham is injured, the Celtics are flawed, the Knicks are a mirage, and the Cavaliers have James Harden — a fully fortified Sixers lineup can beat almost anyone.
Joel Embiid returned from a 13-game absence in the Sixers’ 20-point win on Wednesday.
Maxey and Kelly Oubre Jr. also returned Saturday.
Sixers coach Nick Nurse was so happy about the previous and imminent returns that he actually smiled after Friday’s practice.
“I’m certainly more optimistic now,” said Nurse, who considers the recent dependency on reserves as building depth that otherwise would not exist. “If you add all those things up — other guys getting valuable growth, and these guys coming back — the sum of all of that together could be pretty good.”
Edgecombe might wear down, but the other four starters should be fresh.
“Definitely got some good rest,” said Maxey, who leads the league at 38.3 minutes per game.
Again, with this assemblage of vanity and fragility, anything can happen. The Sixers are scheduled to visit the surging Hornets on Saturday and the dangerous Heat on Monday, which will provide a better sense of where this team is right now.
Birds
The Eagles struggled last season mainly because of injuries along their offensive line, the best unit during their 13-year run of relevance. Early Friday afternoon, news broke that Pro Bowl center Cam Jurgens was saying the stem cell treatments on his back were already working.
Wheeler, who had a rib removed to address thoracic outlet syndrome, was scheduled to begin a 30-day rehab stint on Saturday — 60 days early.
Last year’s cleanup hitter, Alec Bohm, batting cleanup on opening day, hit a three-run homer, a few weeks after Bryce Harper opened spring training by ripping last year’s cleanup hitters. Bohm did this on the day news broke that he’s suing his own parents for ripping him off.
Andrew Painter, who lost two seasons to elbow surgery then stunk in triple A in 2025, gave up just three runs in four starts in spring training. He’s scheduled to pitch Tuesday against the visiting Nationals.
Flyers
The Flyers are 10-3-1 in their last 14 games. With 82 points they’re unlikely to make the playoffs — they trail the last wild-card spot by five points and have to get past three teams — but they’re playing very good hockey, and with 11 games to play, they could reach the 90-point mark for the first time since 2018. Second-year talent Matvei Michkov has matured. Vladař and veteran defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen are under contract through next season.
And it might be next season before the Flyers really matter.
However, for the rest of the teams, the time is now.
Three days before Temple’s women’s lacrosse season opener, Bonnie Rosen had an unexpected visitor join the longtime coach and her team at practice.
Two trumpeter swans, a protected bird species not native to Philadelphia, flew onto Howarth Field, giving Rosen another new experience in her coaching journey. One flew off, but the other hung around.
Rosen and the team spent the day working with a biology professor from Temple and a volunteer animal rescuer to capture and properly release the swan. It was something Rosen never thought she would be doing.
“It’s never a dull moment and there’s always something new,” said Rosen, who has been at the helm for 20 years at Temple.
It was just the latest memory in a career full of success for Rosen. Her achievements stack up against some of the best to ever coach women’s lacrosse. She has more than 230 career wins, has been to 12 conference tournaments, two NCAA Tournaments and is a member of both the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame and Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame.
Through the years, Rosen has adapted to the changes in the sport. After a down 2025 season, she led the Owls to eight straight wins to open 2026, their best start since 1988, when they went undefeated and won the national championship. Temple is 8-4.
“I’m just super grateful to be doing something that I love and didn’t know when I was growing up that this is what I was going to do,” Rosen said. “But it’s been a great journey and I hope I have many, many, many more years to coach.”
Unlocking a passion
Rosen, a Bala Cynwyd native, was a standout lacrosse and field hockey player at Harriton High School. She played both sports at the University of Virginia, winning a lacrosse national championship in 1991 and being named MVP in both sports as a senior.
She played 13 years on the U.S. women’s national lacrosse team, where she won gold medals in 1997 and 2001 in the World Cup championships.
Coaching never really crossed her mind, as she had other career interests.
“The people I met are what kind of drove me into coaching,” Rosen said. “I was on track and was really interested in being a physical therapist. I really enjoy the medicine side of things. I really enjoy working with people and that was kind of my plan.”
Before Temple, Bonnie Rosen got her start as an assistant coach at Yale under Amanda O’Leary.
When Rosen crossed paths with former Temple standout Amanda O’Leary, now in her 16th season at the University of Florida, it was 1994 and O’Leary had recently completed her first season at Yale. She was looking for a new assistant coach and convinced Rosen to take the job.
Within three months, Rosen knew she had found her purpose.
“Having watched her play — she is somebody who just played with so much lacrosse IQ. It was off the charts,” said O’Leary, one of the winningest head coaches in women’s college lacrosse. “She knew the game, she was a constant competitor. When I made the phone call, I really wanted her to join me. She was somebody who I had been watching and I knew she would be an amazing addition to my staff. It was everything that I could ask for.”
At Yale, Rosen was on staff for a team that won the Eastern College Athletic Conference Division I championship in 1995 and finished second in the Ivy League in 1996.
In 1997, she decided to take the next step in her coaching career.
UConn was starting its women’s lacrosse program and reached out to Rosen with an offer to become the head coach. She knew it was an opportunity she could not pass up.
“I was like, ‘Well, it’s down the road. I don’t need to be a head coach, but I think I could be a really good head coach, I should throw my hat in the ring,’” Rosen said. “[O’Leary] was super supportive of me and looking back, it was so gracious of her because I ended up leaving midyear.”
Building a legacy at Temple
Rosen never imagined leaving the program she helped launch. However, after a decade with the Huskies, she needed to be closer to her family to take care of her father.
She was hired at Temple before the 2007 season. Departing from the program she helped start was difficult, but Rosen knew it was for the better.
“One of the first big emotional decisions in my life was when I knew the job opened up, that I had to go after it,” Rosen said. “Because I had been thinking, ‘Am I going to be forced at some point to decide to move back home and have to leave a profession — because family meant the world to me?’ So when the job opened up, it was like, I’ve got to go.
“Fortunately, Temple felt the same way about me.”
Temple coach Bonnie Rosen, a Bala Cynwyd native who graduated from Harriton High School, joined the Owls in 2007.
Rosen guided the Owls to the NCAA Tournament in her second season at the helm, which marked the program’s first appearance in four years. Temple has since been a regular contender in its conferences, which have included the Atlantic 10, Big East, and now the American.
She had arguably her most successful season in 2021, as she guided Temple to a 7-3 record in the American and an NCAA Tournament victory, its first since 1998.
“Quite honestly, there was nobody that I could even imagine taking over that program that I knew would do a better job than her,” O’Leary said. “She is just so committed not only to the successes of her players on the field, but more importantly, to their successes off the field.”
More than a coach
California coach Jennifer Wong, who played for Rosen at UConn and spent 14 years across two stints on her staff at Temple, cherishes the relationship she built with Rosen and her ability to connect with players and coaches on a human level.
“She really just cares about everyone as human beings,” Wong said. “Like, yes, we are in it to win lacrosse games, and she goes for it. It’s not like she holds back. But whenever any player or any staff member needs anything, Bonnie pauses and she’s there for them as a human.”
Her style of coaching has led to several graduates continuing to show support for the program as alumni.
Bonnie Rosen says coaching is about “trying to understand growing and not just focusing on success.”
“She has the ability to recruit such an amazing group of girls,” senior midfielder Sabrina Martin said. “Our team gets along so well, and I don’t think I would change that for anything. It goes back to the player connection piece. … We all just get along so well. All truly best friends.”
Over 30 years, Rosen has impacted countless players and coaches as a head coach, and she does not plan on stopping soon.
“It’s why I stay coaching because I think all the lessons from coaching are the same things I apply to life,” Rosen said. “Coach people, don’t just coach the game. It is always about trying to understand growing and not just focusing on success.”
So, you say you want to get to know Andrew Painter better?
Ask him about pickleball.
No, wait, not just about the paddle game, which the Phillies‘ best pitching prospect in 20 years enjoys playing after offseason workouts in South Florida. Get him to explain his “signature move,” Spencer Stockton teases, and well, how do you not take that bait?
“I had the ‘skyball,’” Painter says.
The skyball?
“I just hit it up real high,” Painter continues, leaving out the part about yelling “Skyball” at the top of his lungs. “You can ask [Jesús] Luzardo about it. He never returned it. It wasn’t always in. No one ever figured out how to hit it. It was out of bounds most of the time.”
A trick serve that borders on the absurd and has little chance of actually landing inside the lines? It’s goofy. And quintessentially Painter, scheduled to make the most highly anticipated major-league debut by a Phillies pitcher since Cole Hamels on Tuesday night at home against the Nationals.
He goes by Andrew on the mound but Andy around friends and peers, most of whom describe him with a common adjective: “happy-go-lucky.” That characterization applied even last October, according to Stockton, who didn’t know what to expect when Painter walked back into Cressey Sports Performance in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., where many major-league pitchers train in the offseason.
Phillies fans have heard about Painter for years, since he dominated three levels of the minor leagues in 2022. In 2023, at age 19, he was competing in spring training for a rotation spot — and probably would’ve made the team — when he tore a ligament in his elbow. Rest and rehab didn’t work. He had surgery four months later.
It was 15 months before Painter would pitch in a game. And after he overpowered hitters for six weeks in 2024 in the Arizona Fall League, Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, who likened Painter before surgery to Justin Verlander, infamously said the 6-foot-7 righty might be ready for the majors by last “July-ish.”
Phillies pitcher Andrew Painter had a 2.31 ERA in four spring starts.
But Painter struggled in his first exposure to triple A. Like most pitchers who are returning from Tommy John surgery, his fastball command came and went. His arm angle dipped. He made 22 triple-A starts, not missing any, but posted a 5.40 ERA.
“July-ish” turned into, well, nothing. Painter made his final triple-A start on Sept. 17 and went home once the season ended.
Stockton, a former minor-league pitcher with the Reds and now a coach at Cressey, didn’t know what frame of mind his former pickleball partner would be in when he got there.
“I expected him to be maybe a little morose about what had happened,” Stockton said by phone. “I assumed he was probably going to be a little disappointed. But it was kind of the opposite. He was very driven and very realistic about what happened.”
And now, at last, Painter is ready for his close-up.
When he finally takes the mound in Citizens Bank Park, it will be 1,126 days since Painter’s ill-fated spring-training start in 2023 and 980 since his surgery — and 10 days shy of his 23rd birthday. Painter will still be the youngest pitcher to start a game for the Phillies since Ranger Suárez on Aug. 16, 2018.
Maybe some of the prospect shine has dulled since Baseball America named Painter as the best pitcher in the minors in 2022. But the expectations are every bit as grand as ever.
“I’ve always followed him because he’s a friend of the family,” said former Phillies manager Joe Girardi, whose son, Dante, played with Painter in high school. “Andrew went through somewhat of a traumatic experience, where he had to rehab his elbow and deal with a lot. It’s great to see him back. We’re pulling for him.”
Andrew Painter, who pitched in the Under Armour All-America Game in 2019 at Wrigley Field, was a high school star in Florida.
The rise
Painter pitched in high school at Calvary Christian Academy, a powerhouse program in Fort Lauderdale. As a freshman, he was the No. 4 starter in a rotation that included future Mets right-hander Christian Scott.
It wasn’t long before Painter moved up the ranks.
The talent was overwhelming. Girardi recalled attending a tournament at USA Baseball’s headquarters in Cary, N.C., in 2018. Painter faced a team from Mississippi and took a perfect game into the sixth inning.
“I looked at [his wife] Kim, and I said, ‘There’s a first-round pick in waiting,’” Girardi said by phone. “It was 90 mph; four pitches. He could command them all. He was thin. He hadn’t filled out yet. But there was just so much potential there. You could just see that he was going to be special.”
Yet Painter seemed unfazed by it all. He took baseball seriously, especially while he was on the mound. But around friends and teammates, he didn’t take himself seriously.
To wit: Painter, who towered over most teammates, walked into the high-profile National High School Invitational in North Carolina with a Kermit the Frog backpack slung over his shoulders, former Calvary Christian coach Alan Kunkel recalled.
Girardi remembered Painter begging the coaches to let him hit in batting practice. He shagged fly balls in the outfield with such zeal that Girardi would utter, “Please don’t get hurt.”
“You saw Andy’s comedic side early,” Kunkel said by phone. “Andy’s always been pretty low-key and shy and just kind of quirky and very funny, very witty. But he’s never wanted to be the guy that’s drawing all the attention.”
Indeed, Painter will talk forever about college football (he’s a Florida Gators fan) or video games, or his adventures in posting up Max Scherzer in a pickup basketball game after workouts at Cressey. He just isn’t about to post his pitching clips on Instagram.
Never mind that he was well-known in the South Florida high school baseball world. Luzardo, a prospect in the Nationals’ farm system at the time, heard of Painter and recalls watching him in high school. People would inevitably notice him — “It’s not like you can miss him, man, at 6-6, 6-7,” Kunkel said — but not because he drew attention to himself.
“We live in a very vain time where, man, it’s hard to find supercompetitive kids that are willing to just grind and put in the time and not care who gets credit for it,” Kunkel said. “Andy is one of those kids. Andy has never cared about the vanity of the sport, or cared about being posterized or put on social media. He’s just wanted to be a big leaguer and just continue to compete.”
Andrew Painter can appear laid back, but he’s “no more, no less of a competitor than the most competitive kid that I’ve ever coached,” said Alan Kunkel, his former high school coach.
At times, Kunkel said Painter’s laid-back demeanor would create the wrong impression. Pro scouts often asked about his competitiveness. Kunkel was there to offer reassurance.
“He’s no more, no less of a competitor than the most competitive kid that I’ve ever coached,” Kunkel said. “I always said he’s got the heart rate to be a surgeon or to be a big league pitcher. Ninth inning, World Series moment, I don’t know that that would bother him any more than having to perform heart surgery on somebody for people who have the talent and drive to do that.”
The Phillies got several up-close looks at Painter in high school. In addition to area scout Victor Gomez, who attended almost all of Painter’s starts in a 12-month span leading up to the draft, amateur scouting director Brian Barber saw him pitch five times in the summer of 2020 and twice in the spring of ‘21.
Oh, and they had plenty of inside information on Painter. Girardi was managing the Phillies in 2021. Brian Kaplan, whom the Phillies hired after the 2021 season as director of pitching development, coached Painter at Cressey Sports.
The only question, it seemed, was whether Painter would still be on the board when the Phillies made the 13th overall pick.
“I do remember going into that morning [of the draft] thinking, if you had me guess on who we were going to take, it was going to be Andy Painter,” Barber said. “I thought he had a chance to get there, and I knew if he was going to get there, we were going to take him.”
It was the second consecutive year that the Phillies drafted a high school pitcher in the first round. On Aug. 6, 2022, Mick Abel and Painter started back-to-back in an A-ball doubleheader in Lakewood, N.J. Abel allowed three hits and three walks and struck out eight in six scoreless innings. Painter one-upped him across the board: two hits, one walk, 11 strikeouts in seven scoreless innings.
“The guy is just an alien,” Abel said a few days later. “He’s awesome.”
Andrew Painter’s parents and new fiancée will be at Citizens Bank Park on Tuesday for his major league debut against the Nationals.
The return
Imagine being 19 years old and “on a rocket ship to what looked like superstardom,” as Barber put it. Now imagine having it taken away.
How would you cope?
Painter became a grillmaster.
“He kind of ventured off and learned how to cook and enjoyed testing out new types of meats and things of that nature,” Kunkel said. “My man was researching seasonings; he was researching meat types. He’s very proud of his cooking arsenal right now.”
Last season left a sour taste in Painter’s mouth. He got through it healthy, which was the most important part. And there were restrictions. For example, he wasn’t allowed to long-toss from beyond 120 feet.
But upon returning to South Florida, Painter was energized by the idea of a normal offseason. He got together with Stockton and Phillies assistant pitching coach Mark Lowy, who previously worked at Cressey Sports, to dig in on why triple-A hitters slugged .585 against his fastball last season.
Among their discoveries: Painter’s arm slot dipped from its presurgery position, which impacted the shape of his heater. The Phillies identified the issue during the season but were cautious among making changes in a competitive environment.
“He got into some subpar throwing positions, but he was athletic enough to still throw 100,” Stockton said. “When things go wrong and you’ve never struggled, you start to throw things at the wall that maybe aren’t necessarily the best things for you. I think that’s kind of what he ran into last year, and it was like, ‘Well, how do I fix it?’”
Start by long-tossing from greater distances. There were other drills, too. Stockton gave Painter a red, 6-pound ball and had him throw it as hard as he could from the mound, then do the same with a regular ball. As the shape of his fastball returned, the usual movement came back, too.
Painter and Luzardo worked out together six days a week with Stockton beginning in November. Painter worked on his changeup, which he threw a lot, especially to righties, in spring training. He worked on separating his sweeper from his traditional slider. He also lost about 15 pounds to get back to 225.
But Stockton noticed something else about Painter.
“He was just very motivated to get going from Day 1,” he said. “It’s a testament to how far he’s come. When he was 18-19, even when he was in high school and we were all training together, as you would expect from a kid that throws 100 in high school, he was a little immature. But that was only four years ago, and he’s leaps and bounds ahead of that.
“It helps him for the future. Is he going to be a Cy Young [winner] this year, or even Rookie of the Year? Chances are, he probably won’t. But when you can get some of these things out of the way at 22-23, those shortcomings that you have early on when you’re supposed to be the guy, it helps the career arc a little bit.”
Surely, they squeezed in some time for pickleball, too. The “skyball” doesn’t get better without practice.
But everything will come into focus Tuesday night. Painter’s parents and new fiancée (he got engaged last month) will be there. Kunkel, who now coaches at a high school in Orlando, is even skipping a game — “The first game I’ve ever missed as a high school coach, man,” he said — to be there with his wife and daughters.
Maybe even Hamels, who works for the Phillies, will be in attendance.
“Sometimes with young pitchers, you worry about them trying to do too much, and it can manifest itself with a lack of control or getting hurt,” Girardi said. “I think he learned from that experience, and I think he’s going be better for it, and I think he’s prepared for what’s coming up.”
Soccer fans looking to buy tickets for this summer’s FIFA World Cup at face value will have a final opportunity on April 1.
In what FIFA is calling its Last-Minute Sales Phase, soccer’s governing body will sell remaining tickets via FIFA.com/tickets on a first-come, first-served basis, starting at 11 a.m. Philadelphia time. This will mark the final round of a four-part sales phase that began last September.
Tickets will be subject to availability, but according to FIFA, once prospective buyers bypass the queue, they will be able to see the remaining matches still up for grabs. There are two ways to secure tickets: either by viewing the seat map to see the remaining options or by selecting the “Book the best seat” option in the selected venue.
Brazil’s Vinicius Junior will be one of the main draws for fans at this summer’s World Cup group stage matches in Philadelphia when it takes on Haiti on June 19.
FIFA also announced that on April 1, fans who secured seats in earlier phases will be able to see where their purchased seats were allocated within their category. In earlier sale phases, fans were only able to purchase tickets across the Category 1 (lower level, prime seating), Category 2 (mid-upper level), and Category 3 (upper level) options.
After April 1, any remaining tickets will go onto secondary reseller markets, of which FIFA will manage its own via FIFA.com/tickets. It’s the first time the organization has opted to introduce its own secondary market, saying that purchasing on its secondary site is “the official and preferred source for FIFA World Cup 2026 tickets.”
FIFA continues to face pushback from people who believe the organization is running a monopoly when it comes to its own tournament, one that comes at the expense of fans, considering this is the first time the organization has elected to adopt a dynamic pricing system.
“This is what happens when one entity controls both supply and distribution,” said Ahmed Nimale, a former executive at Live Nation who now oversees a New York-based ticketing provider called KYD Labs. “Without competition, there is nothing to keep pricing or fees in check, and fans are left with no real alternatives. FIFA directly owns, controls and manages all ticketing for the World Cup, one of the most-watched sporting events on the planet, expected to draw as many as 5.5 million fans.“
FIFA president Gianni Infantino claims that a large part of the revenue it generates goes back into supporting 211 member associations from around the world.
On Wednesday, a release from FIFA reaffirmed its claim that over 500 million ticket requests have been submitted since the initial draw phase, with over 1 million tickets being sold since Feb. 27. The organization also held a secret phase for fans who it felt missed out on the opportunity for earlier phases.
However, FIFA president Gianni Infantino has said previously that much of its revenue goes back into “growing the game,” adding Wednesday that the money it generates “fuels the growth of men’s, women’s and youth football throughout its 211 member associations.”
CLEARWATER, Fla. — Felix Reyes always tries to maintain a positive outlook.
The 24-year-old Phillies prospect’s Instagram handle is the_positive26. It was partially inspired by a character in one of his favorite shows, the Colombian crime drama Surviving Escobar: Alias JJ, who would always say “el positivo.”
Reyes decided to adopt it as a mantra.
“I embraced it,” the Dominican said through a team interpreter. “So I just remain optimistic from that point onward. Watching that, I just tried to change my attitude, and I’ve just embraced that. And from that moment, always, everything I do, everywhere I go and everything I work in, I just go with that optimistic mindset. Just say that it will be done, and I will be ready for it, and we’ll get the results.”
Over the last year, Reyes has seen plenty of results, and he believes his mindset is a main reason. After posting a .243 batting average and .656 OPS at high-A Jersey Shore in 2024, he had a breakout minor league season in 2025. He won the Eastern League batting title at double-A Reading with a .335 average, and was also first in OPS (.937).
Reyes had a six-game taste of triple A at the end of the season following a late promotion. In 101 games combined in 2025, he hit 16 homers.
Phillies prospect Felix Reyes (left) celebrates his three-run homer on Monday with Garrett Stubbs.
“I worked really hard over the offseason to get ready for last year,” Reyes said. “So I was just ready to go, and I was ready for whatever they needed from me. … But last year is in the past already. This is a new year. This is a new season. So I’m just focused on this year, and we’re just focusing on getting the same results. Trying to enjoy the experience.”
Reyes, at 6-foot-3, has a ton of raw power. He was extended a nonroster invite to major league spring training, and has continued to mash. He has hit .333 with three homers in 17 games. He was reassigned to minor league camp on Wednesday.
“He can crush the ball,” said Bryan De La Cruz, who was Reyes’ teammate in the Dominican Winter League on the Toros del Este.
Said manager Rob Thomson: “Every time he swings the bat, it’s on the barrel.”
In his first big league camp, Reyes is taking the opportunity to learn as much as he can from the major leaguers around him.
“Every moment that I’ve been in this camp is around big leaguers, and that’s where I want to be,” Reyes said. “That’s where you want to be as a player. So I just think it’s trying to share time with them, spend time with them, learn about them, learn about the experience that they bring. Embrace the good advice that they give us.”
There remains a question mark about Reyes’ defense. Last season, he split his time between first base, third base, and corner outfield positions for Reading and Lehigh Valley. He has primarily played first base during spring training, but he also made two appearances in left.
Thomson believes his defense is improving.
“He’s a lot more athletic and he’s faster than people give him credit for, and he handles himself very well in left field,” Thomson said. “His first base play has improved greatly. He’s really under control, and he never gets sped up, it seems to me. So he’s a pretty impressive kid.”
But Reyes’ right-handed power is ultimately his most valuable asset for the Phillies.
During Monday’s game against Detroit, Reyes went 3-for-4, including a three-run home run off Tigers starter Jack Flaherty that was 107.1 mph off the bat. He later crushed a single off Flaherty even harder, clocking a 110.7 mph exit velocity.
Seeing results off an established major league pitcher like Flaherty have helped build Reyes’ confidence, he said. That was something he had discussed with De La Cruz at the game.
“We were talking about confidence, and what can come from being confident in yourself when you’re out there playing,” De La Cruz said. “And how good that can be.”
With the NFL draft about a month away, the Eagles will escalate the process of scouting prospects either at pro days or by bringing them to visit their Philadelphia facilities in the lead-up to the April 23-25 event.
The Birds, along with the other 31 teams in the NFL, are allotted 30 private meetings with draft prospects, but players who are local to the NFL teams don’t count toward those meetings.
Free agent acquisition Arnold Ebiketie, who started his collegiate career at Temple before transferring to Penn State, visited the Eagles during the 2022 draft process before getting selected by the Atlanta Falcons in the second round.
Here’s a look at the first of the reported top-30 visits for the Eagles.
Omar Cooper Jr., WR, Indiana
Top Indiana wideout Omar Cooper Jr. is visiting the Eagles facilities on Wednesday, according to Houston TV station KPRC 2. Cooper was the top wideout for the national champion Hoosiers, connecting with Heisman winner and likely No. 1 draft pick Fernando Mendoza. Cooper finished the season with 69 catches for 937 yards and 13 touchdowns.
The Eagles seem to be doing their homework on the wide receiver class. Star wideout A.J. Brown’s status has been one of the biggest questions of the NFL offseason. Cooper’s visit comes just a day after the team added slot receiver Marquise “Hollywood” Brown on a one-year deal.
Indiana WR Omar Cooper Jr. is a guy I'm likely going to be higher on than most. Hard to find too many holes in his game. Speed, suddenness, hands, toughness, and RAC. Total package.
Cooper, who has the speed to run by a secondary and is hard to bring down in the open field, primarily operated as a slot receiver in Indiana’s offense. The receiver also has strong hands at the catch point, terrific body control in contested catch situations, and can create after the catch — according to Pro Football Focus, he forced 27 missed tackles last season.
He didn’t have a diverse route tree in college and doesn’t command many, if any outside receiver targets, but he’s a receiver that will thrive on vertical throws and winning one-on-one matchups in the slot against nickels and safeties.
DENVER — As the 76ers prepared for Tuesday’s shootaround at Ball Arena, Joel Embiid slipped on a jersey.
The same yellow scout-team “pinnie” that the player-development coaches wear during those sessions, that is.
Embiid had already been ruled out for that night’s game against the Nuggets with an oblique strain that has sidelined the big man for all of March. And hours later, when Embiid emerged from the tunnel wearing a gray “The Process” sweatsuit early in the second half, the home fans instantly (and predictably) booed.
Embiid raised his arm, encouraging them to continue, then mostly watched stoically from the bench as the Nuggets finished off a 124-96 demolition of a Sixers team missing four starters.
The narrative that Embiid deliberately “ducks” games in Denver — aka matchups against three-time MVP Nikola Jokic on his home floor — is ludicrous. But the reality is that Embiid has not played in that building since 2019, making the Mile High City a surprising epicenter of his injury-plagued career while also robbing basketball lovers of several individual showdowns between two generational big men.
The latest health news surrounding Embiid, however, appears to be trending upward. Sixers coach Nick Nurse said before Tuesday’s game that Embiid was “active” during part of that morning’s shootaround. He also went through an individual workout — which included scrimmaging — after the team session. The Sixers (37-32), who enter Wednesday in ninth place in the Eastern Conference, next play at the Sacramento Kings on Thursday and Utah Jazz on Saturday.
“Everything so far has been pretty positive,” said Nurse, adding Embiid also had an individual workout on Monday.
Sixers center Joel Embiid goes to sit on the bench as Nuggets fans boo him in the second half of a loss on Tuesday in Denver.
Still, Embiid had not recovered enough to renew his on-court competition against Jokic.
They once battled for MVP awards while redefining what is possible for centers, by combining their imposing 7-foot frames with slick skills and versatility to generate eye-popping stat lines. Jokic racked up triple-doubles and became the best passing big man of all time. Embiid created mid-post scoring opportunities off the dribble and protected the rim as a defensive anchor.
Jokic, though, has been an available workhorse throughout the vast majority of his career. That was a factor in him beating out a second-place Embiid for the MVP award in 2021 and 2022. Embiid won the award for the first time in 2023, before Jokic’s Nuggets won the NBA championship. Jokic reclaimed it again in 2024.
That the Sixers only make one visit to Denver per season only magnifies each Embiid no-show. But those have occurred while Embiid was already in the middle of a multigame absence due to injury (or, in 2021, COVID-19 health and safety protocols).
The ire directed at Embiid was at its most vicious in January of 2024.
Embiid, then the reigning MVP, was basking in the afterglow of his 70-point game against the San Antonio Spurs and averaging more points than minutes played. He also had totaled 41 points and 10 assists in a victory over the Nuggets in Philly earlier that month. That all set up a massive, nationally televised rematch in Denver.
Sixers guard VJ Edgecombe scored nine points on 3-of-12 shooting in a loss to the Nuggets on Tuesday in Denver.
Embiid tweaked his left knee during the Sixers’ game at the Indiana Pacers just before traveling to Denver, yet was not listed on the injury report entering that marquee matchup. But after the medical staff did not like how Embiid was moving during his pregame warmup, he was ruled out minutes before tipoff.
The home crowd chanted “Where’s Embiid at?” early in the game. A Denver-based reporter asked Nurse if missing a string of matchups in Denver was a “reflection, at all, on his character,” which the coach dismissed. The Sixers were fined $75,000 for violating the NBA’s injury reporting rules.
After the backlash, Embiid missed one more game at the Portland Trail Blazers before returning against the Golden State Warriors. He visibly labored through that outing, before the Warriors’ Jonathan Kuminga inadvertently fell on Embiid’s knee.
That moment altered Embiid’s career. The injury required surgery, sidelining him for more than two months before returning in time for the Sixers’ first-round playoff exit. Then, Embiid only played in 19 games in 2024-25, eventually needing another surgery.
Earlier this season, it looked as if Embiid had regained his dominance. For a 20-game stretch from late December until early February, he averaged 30 points on 52.7% shooting, eight rebounds, and 4.5 assists. Yet issues in his right knee required management. Then came a stress reaction in his right shin. And this oblique strain, sustained during a Feb. 26 win against the Miami Heat, has kept him out for the past 10 games.
Jokic, meanwhile, was off to another MVP-caliber start this season before sustaining his own knee injury that sidelined him for the Sixers-Nuggets matchup in Philly in January. Tuesday night, his brilliant playmaking was on full display by totaling 14 assists (eight in the first quarter) along with eight points and seven rebounds in 25 minutes before sitting out the final period.
Joel Embiid was on the bench again Tuesday in his only visit of the season to Denver.
After the final buzzer, Embiid walked across the court to greet Jokic during his postgame television interview. He signed jerseys for Sixers fans sitting behind his team’s bench. He lingered inside the visitors’ locker room, watching soccer on a laptop computer.
It was a quiet end to a day that began with Embiid in a scout-team jersey on the Ball Arena court, before the latest round of boos from the home crowd.
That’s life for Embiid in Denver, a place that now symbolizes his injury-plagued career.
In the midst of a four-game losing streak, the Union have several problems to address. Bradley Carnell does not count Mexico City’s altitude among them.
The Union arrived to Mexico City late Monday night for the second leg of their Concacaf Champions Cup round of 16 series with Liga MX’s Club América. The Union trail by a goal in the series’ aggregate score line after dropping the opening leg, 1-0, at Subaru Park last week.
The Union will have a chance to upset América when the teams take the field at Estadio Ciudad de los Deportes on Wednesday (9 p.m., FS1).
An América win or draw would send Mexico’s largest club into the Cup’s quarterfinal round, but a 1-0 Union win would take the series to extra time. Any result where the Union score more than one goal and win would send them to the quarterfinals.
Wednesday’s game will not be hosted in América’s usual stadium. Estadio Azteca is closed for renovations before it hosts Mexico City’s FIFA World Cup games this summer. Estadio Ciudad de los Deportes is roughly 50,000 seats smaller than the 87,523-seat Azteca, which should dull América’s typical home-field advantage.
Mexico City has an elevation of 7,349 feet, a vast difference from the Union’s home on the Delaware River banks. But Carnell is familiar with how elevation impacts an athlete’s body after competing in his native Johannesburg, South Africa, which is 5,751 feet above sea level. He said in a Tuesday night news conference that he doesn’t “make much of the altitude.”
The Union’s Frankie Westfield (center) reacts after a missed scoring opportunity in the second half of the Concacaf Champions Cup round of 16 match against Club América last week.
“I grew up in altitude,” Carnell said. “I think in terms of the science, the later you get in, the less time your body has to adapt, which is a good thing. If you want to really adapt, you have to be here for many, many days.”
Fitness could be an important factor for the Union on Wednesday, as the team plays its fourth game in 12 days. The Union are coming off a 3-1 loss at the Atlanta United on Saturday.
“We just [got] in here [Monday] night,” Carnell said. “We arrived just before midnight, got the guys a good night of rest and then were able to just relax this morning and go through the treatment and everything. We’re still just recovering from the match in Atlanta. Every hour is vital.”
Chasing América
After their loss to América last Wednesday, Carnell repeated in his postgame news conference that the Union were close. At that point, the Union had played three straight games without scoring a goal from open play.
Agustín Anello broke that spell after finding the back of the net in the 87th minute of the team’s loss to Atlanta. The goal didn’t alter the result, but the team hopes the late goal is a sign that more are coming.
The Union took more shots and out-possessed América in their first matchup, but did not score.
“I thought [in] the game that we played last week, the boys did an excellent job,” Carnell said. “We kept the score line very narrow, and I thought we had the better of the second half. We created lots of chances. This gives us hope and positivity to go up against a really big, big talented squad. We’re going to be brave, and we’re going to be committed to what we do.”
The Union’s shaky start justifies their place as the underdog Wednesday night, but América has not looked the part of an invincible favorite. América is 3-3-0 in its last six Liga MX matches and 3-3-0 at home in league play since January, a fact Carnell pointed out.
“We always try and punch above our weight,” Carnell said. “We’re a club that stands for development. We stand for commitment to what we do in the game model and the philosophy, and we’ve really enjoyed this role. But there’s by no means to say that the giant can also fall sometimes and stumble.”
The Union’s Geiner Martínez (left) puts a shot on goal during last Wednesday’s match against Club América.
América will also be without it’s top goalkeeper, Luis Malagón, on Wednesday. Malagón, who was Mexico’s starting keeper for the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup and a likely inclusion in El Tri‘s World Cup squad, ruptured his Achilles tendon in América’s trip to Subaru Park.
The winner of the series between the Union and América will face the winner of Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami and Nashville SC.
“We have to have a positive mindset,” Carnell said. “We kept the [first] game really tight, and I think we have a very possible chance here … It’s a game where we can be excited. This is the game, for us, where we have nothing to lose and everything to gain.”
Looking at the three games on this road trip, Denver was easily the most challenging with the players the Sixers had missing. With games against the tanking Sacramento Kings and Utah Jazz coming up on Thursday and Saturday, respectively, the Sixers can still go a respectable 2-1 on the trip and tread water in the playoff race.
Stealing a win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday, a borderline playoff team, might have given the Sixers a bit of hope that they could stay semi-competitive during this stretch. But on Tuesday, Denver dominated from wire-to-wire, just like the Pistons did when the Sixers made the trip to Detroit last week.
Joel Embiid has not played for the Sixers since Feb. 26.
It’s possible that Joel Embiid could play on the road trip, coach Nick Nurse said prior to Saturday’s game against the Brooklyn Nets. He said Tuesday that Embiid was “active” during part of shootaround and went through an individual workout. Kelly Oubre Jr. will be re-evaluated at the end of the week and Tyrese Maxey a week after that. Paul George will be full-go immediately after his suspension ends next week.
Heading into Tuesday’s game, the Sixers were still just one game back of the No. 6 seed, which would allow them to bypass the play-in rounds. But the zombie Sixers still have one more tough game before George’s return: Monday’s home showdown with the Oklahoma City Thunder, which makes the next two games of the road-trip near must-wins.
Increased three-point attempts
The Sixers took 25 threes in each game of their back-to-back on Saturday and Sunday. On Tuesday, they attempted 24 threes in the first half alone. But the Sixers shot just 9-for-41 overall from beyond the arc.
In a league dominated by three-point shooting, the Sixers have struggled to replace Maxey’s three-point production, often relying on the mid-range game to score. The Nuggets, though, made 16-for-33 from three.
Down four starters, the Sixers haven’t defended well enough to stop their tougher matchups from making threes and haven’t scored enough to keep up with them. George’s 38.2% three-point percentage is the second-highest on the Sixers behind Maxey, so his expected return to the lineup against the Chicago Bulls on March 25 will help.
Sixers forward Justin Edwards (right) scored 11 points against Denver and is making a strong case to be a regular rotation player.
Who’s going to be in the healthy rotation?
The idea of the Sixers actually having a healthy rotation might seem far-fetched. There’s always something, but this stretch has given players on the Sixers’ bench an opportunity to show off their skills and make a case to regularly contribute.
There might not be a player who’s made a better case for himself over the last week than Justin Edwards, who scored 11 points in 25 minutes against Denver.
MarJon Beauchamp, still on a two-way deal, was the best Sixer on the floor Tuesday, scoring a team-high 16 points on 54.5% shooting, including four three-pointers.
MIAMI — The record will reflect that Venezuela, a baseball-rich country with a loaded lineup and passionate fans who ring your ears with songs and chants, won the sixth edition of the World Baseball Classic, 3-2, here Tuesday night.
Just not before the Showman showed up.
With the most talented U.S. team ever assembled in danger of getting shut out, and with the pro-Venezuela sellout crowd raring to party, Bryce Harper bashed a game-tying two-run homer to straightaway center field in the eighth inning, javelin-tossed his bat, pointed to the flag on his sleeve and flexed for a camera after rounding third base, and provided irrefutable evidence that Americans do, in fact, have fun playing the game.
“I was telling people, I go, ‘This isn’t going to shock you guys if it happens,’” said Kyle Schwarber, a witness in the Phillies’ dugout to Bedlam at the Bank and so many other vintage Harper moments. “And then, bam!”
Said U.S. manager Mark DeRosa: “I knew he was going to have a moment. That’s who he is, right? He has the ability to have big moments in big spots. He wants it. He wants to be up there in that spot.”
It just wasn’t enough to beat Venezuela. Not after Eugenio Suárez’s double to center field drove in the go-ahead run off reliever Garrett Whitlock in the ninth inning, nearly blowing the retractable roof off Venezuelan.
Bryce Harper throws his bat after delivering a game-tying two-run homer in the eighth inning of the World Baseball Classic final Tuesday night in Miami.
But Harper’s seismic shot was the highlight of the two-week tournament for Team USA, which overcame a loss to upstart Italy in pool play and criticism of its manager for being overconfident at best, clueless at worst.
Leave it to Harper to deliver — and not only with a dramatic homer. He tried to rally Team USA with a pregame speech, too.
“I think the just biggest thing [Harper said] was just being us, representing us, playing for us,” Schwarber said. “He had a great message. It was from the heart, right? I know getting in front of a group of people isn’t easy sometimes. There was a lot of respect for that.
Harper waited 17 years for this. He hadn’t played for the country since 2009, when he was 16. He raised his hand for the last WBC in 2023 but withdrew after having elbow surgery. He desperately wants MLB to allow players to compete when baseball returns to the Olympics in 2028.
But Harper was 3-for-20 with seven strikeouts in five games through the quarterfinals. Layer that on top of the Phillies’ divisional-round knockouts in the last two postseasons, and it had been a while — maybe all the way back to the Orlando Arcia game in the 2023 playoffs — since he had “The Moment.”
Where did this one rank in his 15-year career?
Bryce Harper hits a 432-foot home run to center field during the eighth inning to tie the game at 2.
“Probably No. 2,” he said. “Probably right behind the San Diego homer, in Game 5 [to clinch the pennant in 2022]. I’ll probably put this right behind it.”
The Americans had only three hits against six Venezuelan pitchers. Two belonged to Harper. He lasered a 95 mph sinker to right field for a single in the sixth inning. In the eighth, he got a center-cut pitch from Andrés Machado. Statcast labeled it a changeup, although at 93 mph, it had the characteristics of a heater.
Either way, Harper unloaded — 109.4 mph off the bat, 432 feet to dead center.
“Yeah, what a moment,” Harper said. “I love the opportunity. I love the chance. I’m grateful for it. I thought when we tied it up right there that we had a good chance to win the game.”
And so, the emotion spilled out of him, as Team USA spilled from the dugout and met him at home plate.
“Just enjoy the moment,” he said.
The game was played against an unavoidable political backdrop two months after U.S. military forces captured Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro. But Venezuelan manager Omar López and the native players on the roster repeatedly steered clear of the topic.
“We’re here to [play] baseball,” Ronald Acuña Jr. said earlier in the week.
The last few days also sparked a debate about whether Dominican and Venezuelan players, who exude emotion on the field, have more fun than the more staid Americans. Harper, rarely afraid to play with flair, offered himself as proof that they don’t.
“Every country has their way they play, right?” Harper said a few days ago. “Latin American countries, a lot of energy. And I love watching it because that’s how I played when I was younger. I got in trouble for it, right? I came up, I used gray bats. I used different cleats, got my cleats cut. MLB told me I couldn’t use gray bats, couldn’t use my eye black, all that kind of stuff, right? I kind of got pounded for it.
“So, there’s an American way of basically what everybody talks about. But I think that’s so far from the truth.”
Bryce Harper celebrates his home run with Aaron Judge.
And upon hitting a moonshot in the late innings of a winner-take-all game in international competition, well, Harper didn’t hold anything back.
When it was over, many of the American players and staff watched from the third-base dugout as a mass of blue, yellow, and red jerseys celebrated around closer Daniel Palencia.
They arrived dressed in game-worn USA hockey jerseys, a gift from the gold medalists. But they left with silver medals that they took off their necks almost as soon as they were presented to them.
Harper made a point of shaking hands with many of the Venezuelan players.
“Venezuela’s a very proud place for their baseball,” he said. “I’m really happy for them. Obviously I want to win no matter what. That’s what I play for, to win championships and gold medals. But in that moment, it’s not about me. It’s about us and our game.
“They had a great tournament. I just wanted to let them know and say congratulations. They’re the best team in the world.”
DeRosa said he shared a “special moment” with Harper in his office. They were teammates with the Nationals in 2012, when Harper was a 19-year-old rookie. He couldn’t have imagined the WBC without him.
“I knew what his career was going to be like, with the multiple MVPs and how he’s competed,” DeRosa said. “I was just proud he was a part of the team, share a clubhouse with him again.”
Maybe Harper will do it again at the Olympics in two years.
