NEW YORK — Atlanta Braves outfielder Jurickson Profar faces a 162-game suspension by Major League Baseball for a possible second failed test for a performance-enhancing drug, a person familiar with the issue told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the process, first reported by ESPN, was ongoing.
Profar intends to ask the players’ association to file a grievance to appeal any discipline to baseball’s independent arbitrator, Martin F, Scheinman, a second person familiar with the process said, also on condition of anonymity, because no announcement had been made.
Because this would be Profar’s second infraction, an appeal would take place after a suspension was announced.
An All-Star in 2024, Profar was suspended for 80 games last March 31 following a positive test for Chorionic Gonadotrophin (hCG), a hormone that helps production of testosterone. He issued a statement then saying: “I would never willingly take a banned substance, but I take full responsibility and accept MLB’s decision.”
His agent, Dan Lozano, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Profar homered in his return from suspension on July 2 and finished with a .245 average, 14 homers, 43 RBIs and a .787 OPS in 80 games. He batted .280 in 2024, when he set career highs with 24 homers, 85 RBIs and an .839 OPS.
Profar said at the start of spring training that he had sports hernia surgery in November, requiring a six-week recovery time. He has appeared in four spring training games this year, going 3 for 10 with three RBIs.
A native of Curaçao, Profar had been set to play for the Netherlands in the World Baseball Classic.
Under the suspension, he would be ineligible for the postseason.
Profar would lose his $15 million salary for this year as part of a $42 million, three-year contract through 2027. He lost half his $12 million salary in 2025 due to the initial suspension.
Four players have been suspended previously this year for positive tests, including former Phillies outfielder Max Kepler for 80 games under the major league program following a positive test for Epitrenbolone.
Following the offseason signing of left fielder Mike Yastrzemski to a $23 million, two-year deal, Profar had been targeted to be the Braves’ primary designated hitter.
When catcher Sean Murphy returns from a hip injury, perhaps in May, 2025 NL Rookie of the Year Drake Baldwin could fill in at DH when not behind the plate.
With Yastrzemski, Michael Harris and Ronald Acuña Jr. in the outfield, Eli White could be a DH option. The Braves also are without projected starting shortstop Ha-seong Kim due to a finger injury. Mauricio Dubon, expected to serve a utility role, is scheduled to open the season as the starting shortstop.
The loss of Profar could create an opportunity for Dominic Smith, who signed a minor league deal on Feb. 17.
The Villanova forward was having a solid first college basketball season after an NCAA ruling prevented him from playing last year as a freshman. The long wait was worth it. Hodge made his 29th start in Villanova’s 29th game of the season Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. He hit two three-pointers and was on his way to reach his season average of 9.2 points per game before he crumpled to the floor early in the second half after making a move in the post.
Hodge will undergo surgery to his right knee and miss the rest of the season.
“It just really stinks that the kid was going to be able to play in his first Big East tournament, his first NCAA Tournament, that’s really where [my head] is at,” Villanova coach Kevin Willard said Tuesday.
But this is March, crunch time in college basketball, and so while Willard was feeling bad for the player he recruited out of high school while still the coach at Maryland, Villanova has a game Wednesday night and another on Saturday before postseason play begins.
Hodge was averaging more than 28 minutes in the 28 games prior to Saturday, and the 6-foot-8 forward going down leaves Willard with a big hole to fill for a team with limited frontcourt depth.
Willard answered the obvious first question — who goes into the starting five? — by saying sophomore wing Malachi Palmer, who will likely get his first college start in his 52nd career game Wednesday night at DePaul. Palmer, a 6-6 sophomore wing, is the sort of obvious replacement. Save for 7-foot backup center Braden Pierce, Palmer is the biggest and most physical defender Villanova brings off the bench.
Villanova guard Malachi Palmer could make his first on Wednesday night.
Palmer had a relatively quiet first half of the season but has emerged in conference play as a willing defender and someone who can knock down three-point shots.
“Obviously not having Matty stinks, but Malachi has played really well,” Willard said. “It does hurt us, but it’s not catastrophic.”
While Palmer starting offers more of a traditional one-through-five lineup for Willard, there will be variations that have the Wildcats going smaller or bigger. The smaller unit would have Tyler Perkins — who at 6-4 is Villanova’s second-leading rebounder (5.5 per game) — guarding a forward in a lineup that also has three other guards — Acaden Lewis, Bryce Lindsay, and Devin Askew — on the floor.
The bigger unit would be one that hasn’t happened yet this season: Pierce being on the floor at the same time as 6-10 starting center Duke Brennan. Neither big man stretches the floor with outside shooting ability. So, how would that work?
Willard pointed to his two-big lineups last year at Maryland, where Derik Queen and Julian Reese played side-by-side and while Queen could shoot a little bit, he rarely attempted three-pointers. Lineups with Brennan and Pierce on the floor at the same time would feature more screening and more side-to-side action, Willard said. One big hides in the dunker’s spot, for example, while the other is rolling.
Villanova has practiced with both bigs on the floor, Willard said, in case it ever needed to match up against bigger lineups. It’s a lineup the Wildcats could have had to use in the postseason with or without Hodge’s injury, now it’s one they could deploy as soon as Wednesday night.
Temple transfer Zion Stanford, who has barely played in conference play, could factor into the rotation more significantly, too.
Kevin Willard believes Villanova forward Matt Hodge will have a large role when he returns from injury next season.
Those are the short-term implications, and Willard has two regularseason games to tinker with the rotation before the Big East tournament.
But it being March also means it’s time to start considering next season’s roster. Willard said Hodge’s injury “does and it doesn’t” have major implications for the 2026-27 Wildcats. That’s because Willard is planning for Hodge to return and take on a big role. Willard said he expects Hodge to need around eight months to return from his injury, and he could be practicing by October.
“We’re planning on Matt playing for us next year,” Willard said.
There will still need to be plans for the portal, though. That means making sure to stockpile the roster via the portal or otherwise in case Hodge isn’t ready to go right away or, worse, has a setback. Villanova’s priorities for the portal were going to be adding talent and athleticism in the frontcourt anyway with Brennan graduating.
From that standpoint, Hodge’s injury hasn’t changed a ton. But it will be on Willard’s mind as he and general manager Baker Dunleavy navigate the frenzy that is the transfer portal, which is only one month away.
TORONTO ― The Flyers’ motto this season is brick by brick, and although they were missing the mortar on Monday, with leading scorer Travis Konecny out due to an upper-body injury, they rallied for a 3-2 shootout win against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Here are four numbers to know:
5
Nick Seeler went into the corner to throw a hit on Nicolas Roy with just over four minutes in the middle frame, and, although it’s hard to gauge what happened exactly, he went down hard, left the ice six seconds later, and did not return. Seeler was seen after the game limping.
“Nothing yet. Hopefully nothing major,” coach Rick Tocchet said postgame when asked for an update.
Without Seeler on the third pair, and the game eventually heading to overtime, the Flyers’ top four defenseman played heavy minutes. Travis Sanheim led the way with 29:11, followed by Rasmus Ristolainen (27:14) — in what could be the highly-coveted right-shot blueliner’s last game with the Flyers as the trade deadline looms — Jamie Drysdale (24:30), and Cam York (23:01).
Emil Andrae played 12:12 and played just over a minute on a penalty kill that went 2-for-3, and Tocchet recently said it was important for the young defenseman to prove he can play down a man. He was not on the ice for William Nylander’s power-play goal that tied the game 2-2.
“They were huge. … When they’re playing like that, it’s fun to play in front of them,” said forward Noah Cates, who extended his point streak to four games with his 12th of the year.
Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar makes a save during the second period, when his team was outplayed but didn’t allow a goal.
3
Let’s go streaking!
The Flyers extended their winning streak to three games, the first time they’ve hit that mark since they beat the Florida Panthers, New York Islanders, and New Jersey Devils in succession around Thanksgiving. It is the third time they’ve hit the three-game mark, but the last time the team won four straight was in February 2024.
“Just, I think, the reset with the break,” Cates said about the difference in the team’s game now. “Obviously, physically, but then, we got to work that week where we were practicing.
“Really got into our systems and just doing some little things in our D-zone that are really helping. The wingers are just getting us out of the zone quicker, and then just some of our offensive zone possession, we’re just making those little plays and feeling confident with the puck. So I think we just needed the break personally and as a team.”
They had also entered the night having lost their last three shootouts, with the last win in the skills competition coming against that Islanders team on Nov. 28. Unlike in that game, Matvei Michkov found the back of the net on Monday after a nifty move to beat former Flyers goalie Anthony Stolarz, and Trevor Zegras once again scored.
“Just how slow he comes in,” Stolarz, a New Jersey native, told Toronto reporters on the challenge of facing the New Yorker. “He’s got quite the arsenal of tricks. Having played with him for three years in Anaheim, I’ve kind of seen it all. So, you never know what to expect with him.”
Zegras holds the top shooting percentage (62.1%) all-time in the NHL among skaters who have had at least 10 attempts.
The Flyers’ Emil Andrae (36) tries to move the puck between Toronto Maple Leafs Nicolas Roy (55) and teammate Dakota Joshua (81).
11-4
For the second straight game and third in the four games since returning from the Olympic break, the Flyers were outshot in the second period by a wide margin (11-4). But for the second straight game, they did not allow a goal.
“Yeah, definitely struggled and got away from it like we did in Washington,” said Cates, noting the Flyers’ loss Wednesday, where they were outshot 13-6 in the second period and allowed a goal. “Big for us not to give up a goal, but then to regroup in the third and come back and play our game. For whatever reason, we just can’t get away from it for 20 minutes; we’ve got to play a full 60 and eliminate kind of those moments.”
Middle periods have been an issue for this team at times, dating back to the John Tortorella era. This season, they’ve been outscored, 72-59, in the middle frame, with the 72 goals allowed the fifth-most in the NHL. But, like on Monday, they play well in the third and are actually outscoring the opposition, 63-52.
“I think, just forcing a little bit too many plays through the neutral zone,” forward Christian Dvorak said about the second period against Toronto. “They thrive on transitions. So that’s where we got ourselves in trouble, and we were hemmed in a bit. So we cleaned that up for the most part in the third period.”
According to York, the Flyers simplified things in the third period and cleaned up their play in the defensive zone. They were outshot by just a 9-5 margin, but both teams potted goals in the third period.
“Once we kind of just got into a groove in that third period, I think we had some good chances,” York said. “So, that’s kind of what it’s about this time of year, you know they’re going to push. It’s just about bending, not breaking.”
2/13
Across three games in late January, the Flyers scored a power-play goal in each contest (3-for-8), but then things went a little stagnant. Entering the game in Toronto, they had one goal in 10 chances across the past four games.
The Flyers got three opportunities in the first period when Ristolainen was tripped, Bobby Brink was interfered with, and Brandon Carlo was called for holding Zegras.
There was some good movement for the new units with Konecny out. One unit had Michkov, Zegras, Brink, Drysdale, and Owen Tippett. The other saw York, Sanheim, Dvorak, Cates, and Barkey line up together. The latter group scored on the 11th shot attempt when Dvorak scored on the eighth scoring chance.
“We had some opportunities,” Tocchet said. “Some guys, [we] had two or three in the slot, high-danger shots, and then you get that goal on a scramble, big one from Dvo. So, yeah, special teams were good for us tonight.”
The Flyers’ power play is now ranked 28th at 16.2%.
CLEARWATER, Fla. — Kyle Schwarber was scheduled to talk with a Japanese television crew after batting practice on Feb. 22, just as the men’s hockey gold medal game at the Olympics went into overtime.
How’s that for rotten timing?
So, Schwarber did the interview from the Phillies’ dugout, where he could keep one eye on the game on the new 3,200-square foot video board in right field at BayCare Ballpark. And when Jack Hughes scored the golden goal for the Americans, well, Schwarber stopped in mid-answer and reacted as you might expect.
Schwarber conceded that he doesn’t watch much hockey in the offseason at home in Ohio. But he was transfixed by the Olympics, which featured NHL players and elevated the profile of the sport among even casual fans.
Over the next two weeks, Schwarber will play in the closest thing baseball has to an Olympic competition. He will join Phillies teammates Bryce Harper and reliever Brad Keller at the World Baseball Classic on the most talented U.S. roster ever assembled.
Before he reported to Team USA, Schwarber made a return appearance on Phillies Extra, The Inquirer’s baseball podcast,to discuss the WBC, the Phillies’ upcoming season, and more.
Here are a few excerpts from the conversation. Watch the full interview below and subscribe to the Phillies Extra podcaston Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
Q: I’ll start by congratulating you on a new baby, a new contract, a run to the national championship for Indiana football — during which you were the honorary captain of the Peach Bowl. Did anyone have a better offseason than you?
A: It was a great offseason. … It all started with the contract and re-signing here in Philadelphia. And obviously that’s a stressful time, just with all the unknowns. But I’m happy that we were able to find the deal for everyone. And I’m happy that this is where we wanted to be. And we got that all said and done. Then [our] baby girl came in on the 14th [of December] … Then Peach Bowl, captain, [Indiana] gave me the call for that. And that was like, I’m just going to stand there and not do anything and don’t get in the way. And it was a great experience. And then, obviously, a national championship, too. It was amazing. And then getting to represent your country for Team USA, and again, in the World Baseball Classic. It’s just been such a great offseason, and just looking forward to what this year has in store for everyone.
Q: You’ve been fortunate to make the playoffs every year of your career, except for one. When you’re with a team that has that expectation, do you ever have to remind yourself, or maybe remind your teammates to enjoy the ride?
A: You’re talking my language. You’re hitting the sweet spot. The beautiful thing about our game is that nothing’s ever given. And I always say my worst fear is packing up on, say, Sept. 30. It’s after Game 162, and you’re packing things up to go home. I’ve done it once and it’s just not fun, and I don’t want to do that ever again. I want to still feel like I’m giving everything I can to winning. That’s why I came back here. There’s a lot of other different reasons, but there’s also the reason that this team and our ownership and everything like that, front office, coaching staff, we’re all pushing for that same goal. And that is obviously, one, making the postseason, and two, holding up that trophy at the end of the year. Those are goals, right?
But there are the steps along the way. There is that, like we say, the quote-unquote, the journey, right? The whole process to it. There’s goals to that. It’s winning the division. If you don’t win the division, we’re finding our way into the postseason trying to weather any kind of storm that could come in a year. Because that’s the thing, is that every year presents a new challenge, and it’s never the same circumstances. …
Kyle Schwarber’s spring training is on pause as he and other Phillies leave to play in the World Baseball Classic.
Q: One narrative in Philadelphia is that the Phillies are “running it back,” so to speak. You can agree or disagree with that. But I wonder, internally, how do you avoid the staleness that might set in from just being together as a core for so many years? And does the addition of some young guys like Justin Crawford, Andrew Painter, and eventually Aidan Miller help keep things fresh?
A: I don’t think it’s really ever going to be stale, just for the fact of … we have fun. We poke fun at each other all the time. It’s never like we’re walking in the clubhouse and we’re dreading walking in. That’s not the environment we have … If you go ask pretty much everyone in the clubhouse who’s been there for a while, I guarantee you that everyone’s looking forward to walking into the clubhouse doors and going, ‘What are we going to hear today? What are we going to talk about today? What’s the fun going to be poked at?’ … That’s kind of the environment that we have, and we enjoy that. … It was funny, we were talking about it the other day in the clubhouse, we just missed sitting down in the chairs and just talking B.S. to each other and laughing at each other. It is what it is. It’s never going to get stale. It’s not like we’re hypersensitive to that by any means.
And I think the youth stuff, you need that in teams. I think that’s very valuable to teams. … We were all the young guy somewhere else. [Aaron Nola] was the young guy here. We were all those young guys who came up and you’re trying to make your mark, and you need that on your team. Because there’s the whole [contractual] control part, but also just for these guys to be able to take their next steps and to keep submitting their name here in Philadelphia. That’s what we need. And we need them to not feel like they’re going to have to get very accustomed to the big league locker room. That’s why we’re trying to always be intermingling with everyone in our clubhouse in spring training.
You see it every year — injuries happen, and someone’s coming up, and you need them, whenever that person walks through the door, we need them to be them. They need to be the best versions of themselves. They’re getting called up for a reason, or they’re going to break [camp] with us for a reason. They’re good. They’re really good players. And I need them. Everyone needs them to be really good players.
… It’s fun getting to watch [Justin] Crawford take at-bats in camp. You get to see [Aidan] Miller here in the clubhouse, and you see [Andrew] Painter throwing his lives [bullpen sessions] and seeing how that’s been coming along. Excited to see how the two years after Tommy John [surgery] happens for him. He’s just got to go out there and get his feet wet again and compete. And now he’s making adjustments to get back to a couple different things, which I think is going to be exciting because he’s got the stuff. Crawford’s got the stuff. I’m excited to see what Miller is going to get to have. It’s fun to see these kids come up, and you want them to have instant success right away. And also realize, too, that we have still a lot of really good young players that are on our team still who have been playing here for a while.
Kyle Schwarber celebrates with third base coach Dino Ebel after hitting a three-run home run against Great Britain in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
Q: Why do you think the interest in participating in the WBC was so high this time? It’s been difficult for Team USA in the past, especially on the pitching side, to recruit the best players. Did you get a sense that guys who maybe said no in the past were more eager to do it this time?
A: It’s a great question, because I only know me personally that when I got that call back 2023 it was an instant yes. And I know that there’s been a lot of buzz around the pitchers that we have got committed to play for [Team] USA. I know that there’s probably way more details than just someone wanting to say, ‘Yes, I’m in.’ I think that’s been written about and talked about. But also, too, I’m sure there’s even more things. But I think it’s a great team. Another stacked lineup. The lineup that we had out there in 2023 was an amazing lineup full of studs, MVPs, All-Stars, everything. And this lineup that we’re going to have, obviously, MVPs, All-Stars, and I think the cool thing is that there’s kind of a little bit more youth on it, too. We’re starting to see some of these younger faces that could really have those chances to be the future MVPs, or future perennial All-Stars, are going to be on this team as well. So I’m just excited about it.
When you look at it, from top to bottom, it’s such a deep roster, and I don’t know how you’re going to construct the lineup and how you’re going to decide who’s coming out of the bullpen and things like that. Or who’s starting what game. But I just know that I’m excited to get out there, get with these guys, and I’m excited to watch, I’m excited to see how guys prepare, hear the conversations, talk different things and baseball stuff, and try to take in some knowledge. This is what this is about, too. It’s obviously a great opportunity for all of us to go out there and compete and compete for our country, but also a great opportunity to be around a lot of great players and hear their experiences and hear how they prepare and other things too. So it’s going to be a great time.
There will be a lot of change on TV for Major League Baseball this season, but Jimmy Rollins isn’t going anywhere.
The former Phillies star and 2007 National League MVP signed a deal to remain at TNT as part of the network’s studio show. Terms of his new contract weren’t announced, but it’s a “multi-year extension” that will keep him on TV the next few years, the network said.
It will be Rollins’ 11th season with TNT, though his broadcasting career began with Fox during the 2013 World Series, while he was still with the Phillies. He also tried his hand at calling a few games on NBC Sports Philadelphia alongside Tom McCarthy and John Kruk but has grown to love the back-and-forth of the studio.
Rounding out the cast is host Lauren Shehadi and three-time All-Star Curtis Granderson.
TNT also re-signed game analyst Jeff Francoeur, who spent most of his career with the Atlanta Braves but played for the Phillies in 2015.
During the regular season, TNT airs nonexclusive national games on Tuesday nights, which means when the Phillies are on the network, they’re also airing locally on NBC Sports Philadelphia. This season, TNT also will broadcast the American League divisional and championship series.
TBS will air two Phillies games during the first half of the season — April 14 against the Chicago Cubs, and June 2 against the San Diego Padres. Both will be blacked out in the Philly TV market.
NBC bringing Bob Costas back for MLB games, too
Bob Costas will return to NBC for its coverage of MLB this season.
Costas told The Inquirer the plan is for him to host about two-thirds of the pregame shows leading up to NBC’s coverage of Sunday Night Baseball, beginning March 26 when the Arizona Diamondbacks take on the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“NBC sees me as the bridge between the last time they had baseball. … To just kind of attach the old to the new,” Costas said, not counting the one season they streamed Sunday morning games on Peacock, which also is returning this season.
While Costas is known for opening monologues and a thoughtful analysis of sports that goes beyond the field, he won’t have much time most nights.
“The average Sunday night is going to be a tight pregame, only maybe 12 minutes of content,” Costas said. “But we wanted it to be worthwhile content.”
Costas last called an MLB game in 2024, when he did play-by-play for the American League Divisional Series between the New York Yankees and Kansas City Royals on TNT. After the series, he announced he was retiring as an announcer, ending a four-decade career calling MLB games.
During the series, Costas received a lot of criticism on social media, not unusual for baseball announcers during national broadcasts. Looking back, he called his performance “OK” but not “as good as the decades prior.”
“I was able to do baseball play-by-play pretty darn well for a very long time,” Costas said. “I just couldn’t consistently reach my own standard.”
“But I can do everything else as well,” Costas added. “The interviews, the essays, the commentaries, the hosting. I can do that as well as I ever did. I think.”
The Phillies’ first appearance on Sunday Night Baseball will be April 19, but that game will be a Peacock exclusive because NBC will be airing the NBA playoffs on Sunday nights through the end of May.
The Phillies’ first game on NBC (other than opening day locally on NBC10) will be June 21 against the New York Mets.
Netflix, ESPN round out MLB TV changes
While ESPN will no longer broadcast Sunday Night Baseball or the wild-card games (which also were nabbed by NBC), it still will air 30 MLB games during the regular season, mostly during the week.
ESPN’s schedule includes the second-half opener between the Phillies and Mets on June 16 and the MLB Little League Classic on Aug. 23 in Williamsport, Pa.
Netflix will stream MLB’s season opener between the Yankees and San Francisco Giants on March 25. It also will stream this year’s Home Run Derby on July 13 at Citizens Bank Park, and the annual Field of Dreams game between the Phillies and Minnesota Twins on Aug. 13 in Dyersville, Iowa.
NEW YORK — If someone starts making money somewhere, the Big Apple often isn’t far behind trying to claim a piece.
So when Philadelphia’s hosting of Unrivaled’s women’s basketball league banked $2 million in revenue, turning profits for the league and Comcast, it wasn’t surprising that this city wanted in.
Nor was it surprising that Unrivaled wanted it too. The three-on-three circuit and Brooklyn’s Barclays Center had already talked about next season, but a deal quickly came together to move this season’s playoff semifinals here. It was a natural fit for a venue renowned for drawing some of the WNBA’s biggest and loudest crowds to New York Liberty games.
“When this opportunity came up, they jumped right on it,” Paige Bueckers of Breeze BC and the Dallas Wings said. “I played here a couple times before, and the atmosphere in the arena is just electric. [Philadelphia] was everything that we could have dreamed that it would be, and so it’s obviously an opportunity that we want to take advantage of again.”
Paige Bueckers (right) working against Arike Ogunbowale in the Breeze vs. Mist semifinal.
How would this scene compare to Xfinity Mobile Arena’s record crowd of 21,490, as the city unleashed itself from a 28-year-wait to see professional women’s basketball in person?
Natasha Cloud played diplomat, being both a Broomall native and Liberty fan favorite.
“This is just a testament to the demand [for] women’s basketball right now,” the Phantom BC guard said. “This [night] is going to sell out tonight again, just like Philly did. And this is why we’re going to continue to stand on our worth and our value because when you give the product, the demand is there.”
One could guess that New York would deliver more cash. Fans here will pay up for a big show, and the Barclays Center recently added swaths of new luxury seating.
Before Monday’s games, Unrivaled CEO Alex Bazzell met with the media and said, “this is already a profitable trip,” including over $1 million in ticket revenue alone.
Natasha Cloud (left) defending Brittney Griner during the Phantom vs. Vinyl semifinal.
Philadelphia keeps a record
He also was unabashed in drawing a straight line from Unrivaled’s success in Philadelphia to going on the road again a few weeks later. This night came together in just three weeks, from landing the building to selling it out.
“To be honest with you, it was somewhat of an internal split room on, ‘Should we pull the trigger on this? Should we not?’” he said. “Coming off Philly and having that great success was one thing, but it was also we had time to strategize and plan [and] had a great partner like Xfinity come in behind it and help amplify it [as a sponsor].”
In the end, the executives trusted their gut and were rewarded.
“This was all organic,” Bazzell said. “We can look at all the data that you want, but, ultimately, the decision came down to: We didn’t play it safe to build this league, so we don’t start playing it safe now. That’s not in our DNA.”
On one count, Brooklyn always was going to land far short of Philadelphia. The Barclays Center is a much smaller venue than Xfinity Mobile Arena, and its full house Monday was 18,261.
So Philadelphia gets something to claim while it waits for its own WNBA team in 2030, and it’s a mark that could stand for a while. Just three pro basketball arenas nationwide have larger capacities: Detroit, Washington, and Chicago.
“Philly was amazing, from everything that I saw and from talking to everybody that came back,” Brittney Griner, a star of Vinyl BC and the Atlanta Dream, said after watching those games from afar. “It looked amazing on TV — they packed out that stadium. It shows how much women’s basketball is growing and there’s a love and there’s a need and people want to come and watch.”
Breanna Stewart, one of Unrivaled’s cofounders, said, “the conversation from the players was just a tremendous amount of appreciation” for the turnout.
“What I think is probably the coolest about Philly is we went to a non-WNBA city,” she said. “People came, and they cared, and whether they had to travel in [or] all those types of things, it showed how big of a deal it is.”
Looking at a return
Of course, the superstar of Mist BC and the New York Liberty admitted her bias toward Brooklyn, as one would expect. And since this was a playoff game, she had to earn the right to play in it.
“Ever since I knew that this was possible … for it to come to fruition and full circle that fast is something that I couldn’t wait to be a part of,” she said. “Like, my team needed to be here in the semis. I didn’t want to come as a spectator; I wanted to be playing.”
Stewart duly delivered, willing Mist to a 73-69 win with a fourth-quarter comeback that had the crowd roaring. She piled up 23 points, eight rebounds, and five assists, dishing the last to Arike Ogunbowale for a game-sealing three-pointer on the Wings star’s birthday.
Bazzell confirmed there are plans to keep touring next season, and there’s a lot of “inbound interest” from potential hosts. He didn’t name specific cities, but he did say preliminary talks with the Barclays Center had started with looking at next year instead of this one.
— Unrivaled Basketball (@Unrivaledwbb) March 3, 2026
He also said “going to cities that really don’t get to see these stars up close” matters. And he threw the door wide-open to a return to Philadelphia, though it might not happen next season
“We want to find our way back to Philly,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s next year, the following year, or the year after — we do want to hit new markets. … There’s obviously other NBA markets we still want to think about going to. So I would anticipate new venues, new cities next year when we do announce our [schedule].”
The last word goes to a player who was a star of both touring nights. Kelsey Plum led Phantom BC to a win in Philadelphia and another here, this time scoring 31 points in an 83-75 victory over Vinyl. A longtime villain in Brooklyn from past years with the Las Vegas Aces, this time she was roundly cheered.
“Basketball cities, right? And I think they just love the game,” she said. “I thought everyone put on a show, and that’s what you want for the fans.”
TORONTO ― It can be a good life if you don’t weaken, and right now the Flyers are staying strong.
Facing a Toronto Maple Leafs team in a tailspin, the Flyers bent but did not break and skated away with a 3-2 shootout victory. On this night in Toronto, the Flyers won their third straight game for the first time since the end of November, putting them four points back of the idle Boston Bruins for the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.
In the shootout, Matvei Michkov scored on a nifty deke, and Trevor Zegras sent the puck in glove-side. Flyers goalie Dan Vladař stopped Auston Matthews and Max Domi to seal the win. It was the Flyers’ first shootout victory since Nov. 28, amid that three-game winning streak.
Skating without top scorer Travis Konecny, who is day-to-day with an upper-body injury, the Flyers were looking for a place to happen, and it came off Noah Cates’ stick.
Defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen put a shot on goal that former Flyers goalie and New Jersey native Anthony Stolarz could not control. Michkov tried to send the loose puck in, but his shot went wide, and Bobby Brink tracked the puck down in the corner, protecting it from Toronto defenders. He fed Cates, who sent a wicked wrister into the twine and pointed right at Brink.
Cates’ 12th goal of the season, which extended his point streak to four games, briefly gave the Flyers a 2-1 lead in the third period. William Nylander scored a power-play goal less than three minutes later to tie the game after Denver Barkey was called for tripping. The Swede scored on a one-timer off a circle-to-circle pass from John Tavares to tie the game up.
In overtime, the Maple Leafs controlled play for the most part — although Jamie Drysdale had a nice scoring chance — but the Flyers’ defense stood tall. Notably, Cam York broke up a pass intended for an open Matthews, who would have had a Grade A chance.
Toronto’s Dakota Joshua put the Flyers in a 1-0 hole with 4 minutes, 38 seconds left in the first period.
The forward chipped a pass from Oliver Ekman-Larsson that went deep into the Flyers’ end. Defenseman Nick Seeler tracked it down in the left corner and tried to play it up the boards, but Leafs forward Matias Maccelli intercepted it and fed Joshua in the left circle.
Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar (left) stops a shot from Toronto Maple Leafs’ John Tavares (right) during first period of Monday’s game.
He shot it off the pass, sending it between the legs of Sean Couturier and over Vladař’s shoulder.
The Flyers tied it on a power-play goal with under two minutes to go in the first after two futile opportunities, with one cut short due to too many men on the ice.
With Konecny out, the units looked different. One had Michkov, Zegras, Brink, Drysdale, and Owen Tippett. The other saw York, Travis Sanheim, Christian Dvorak, Cates, and Barkey line up together. The latter group scored.
Cates got the puck in the bumper from Barkey — who hails from nearby Newmarket, Ontario, and had a large contingent in the crowd — and as he shot it, Maple Leafs forward Steven Lorentz went stick-on-stick, causing the puck to bounce to the net. The puck went off Dvorak, and he jammed it in as Stolarz was trying to squeeze the pads.
The goal was his 13th of the season and second on the power play. It was the Flyers’ second goal in the last 13 opportunities.
Like Saturday against the Boston Bruins, the second period saw the Flyers get outshot, with the Leafs getting 11 shots to the Flyers’ four. But like Saturday, when the Bruins put 16 on Vladař and the Flyers had three, the goalie stopped them all.
The Flyers got pinned a few times, but, according to Natural Stat Trick, allowed just one high-danger chance at five-on-five during the middle frame as the Maple Leafs had 68.57% of the shot attempts. In the third period, the Flyers had 61.11% of the attempts.
Flyers’ Christian Dvorak (center) celebrates his 13th goal of the season on Monday.
Breakaways
The Flyers lead the league with 16 wins when trailing 1-0 and have 16 comeback wins. … Seeler left the game late in the second period due to a lower-body injury. … The Flyers outshot the Maple Leafs 14-7 in the first period. … Forwards Nic Deslauriers and Brink each hit a milestone with Deslauriers skating in his 700th NHL game and Brink in his 200th. … The Buffalo Sabres had four scouts in attendance, including associate general manager Marc Bergevin, with rumors swirling that they are high on getting Ristolainen back in the fold.
Up next
The Flyers play their last game before Friday’s 3 p.m. trade deadline when the Utah Mammoth visit Xfinity Mobile Arena on Thursday (7 p.m., NBCSP).
The last time Doug Collins called the Sixers on NBC Philly, the team was playing in the NBA Finals and some guy named Allen Iverson was dominating the court.
Fast-forward 25 years and NBC is bringing NBA Hall of Famer Collins back to Philadelphia to call the network’s Coast 2 Coast Tuesday night game against Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs.
Collins will be joined on the call by Bob Costas and Mike Fratello — the “Czar of the Telestrator” — in yet another callback to the heyday of the NBA on NBC.
Jim Gray will return to report court side from the recently renamed Xfinity Mobile Arena. NBC’s studio coverage will be handled by Hannah Storm (on loan from ESPN), Isiah Thomas, and P.J. Carlesimo, who nearly joined the Sixers’ coaching staff a decade ago.
Doug Collin and Bob Costas called NBA games together during the late 1990s and early 2000s on NBC.
Costas stopped calling MLB games in 2024 because he felt he wasn’t as good as decades prior. He said he was comfortable returning to do play-by-play for Tuesday’s game because the tone of the broadcast will be more conversational, leaning heavy on NBC’s history broadcasting the league and the unending list of stories Fratello and Collins can tell.
“I know we can accomplish that,” Costas said. “How much of the nuts and bolts of the play-by-play I can nail? Well, we’ll see.”
Collins and Costas share more than their time together in the booth. During Collins’ days playing college ball at Illinois State, he remembers two young girls around who where big fans and would come to games dressed as cheerleaders.
One of those girls — Jill — happens to be Costas’ wife. And her brother, Doug, is named after Collins.
“How about that?” a laughing Collins said. “So I have a connection with Bob that goes far deeper with our friendship and all.”
It’s more than a broadcasting homecoming for Collins. The Sixers took him with the No. 1 pick in the 1973 NBA draft, though his career was shortened by a series of injuries beginning in 1979. The team later brought him back to coach from 2010 to 2013.
When Matt Guokas left Channel 17 to join Billy Cunningham’s staff in 1982, Collins jumped to TV and replaced him during the regular season alongside Andy Musser, and later called playoff games on CBS. From there he ping-ponged between coaching and calling games, first for NBC and later TNT and ESPN.
“I spent 13 years of my life with the 76ers,” Collins said. “I’m not sure there are a lot of people who have been a former player, broadcaster, then coached” for the same team.
Collins had a year remaining on his contract when he stepped down as head coach of the Sixers in 2013, knowing the team was headed for a rebuild. His tenure is best remembered for Andrew Bynum, who never played a game after the Sixers traded for him in 2012. It was that failed trade that set off “The Process” and years of endless losses, landing the Sixers Joel Embiid but not much else.
“Through the years, they’ve had number one picks and all, but they’ve never really had a sidekick for Joel,” Collins said. “Now they have Maxey, and I think people are going to sleep on the Sixers. They can light that scoreboard up if Joel isn’t playing.”
While Tuesday’s throwback game is a who’s who of famed NBC talent, there are some notable omissions. Not joining the broadcast will be legendary NBA voice Marv Albert, who was alongside Collins during the 2001 NBA Finals.
Initially, the plan was for NBC to carry the retro theme across a doubleheader, with Albert and Fratello calling Sixers-Spurs and Collins and Costas covering the Phoenix Suns vs. the Sacramento Kings. But Collins said Albert has a health situation with his voice, shifting plans to a three-man booth.
Peter Vecsey, who worked as a reporter and analyst on NBA games for NBC, also isn’t on the lengthy guest sheet for Tuesday night’s throwback game. Vecsey wrote on social media he wasn’t invited to participate, which he called “complete disrespect” from NBC.
The network plans to produce more comeback games in future seasons, executive producer Sam Flood said, though he stopped short of saying who would be offered a chance to participate.
“Not everyone was able to join us this year, but there will be invites to plenty of other former NBA stars as time goes forward,” Flood said during a conference call.
NBC is scheduled to air one more Sixers game this season — March 17 on the road against the Denver Nuggets. There’s also a Peacock exclusive on March 30 against the Miami Heat, though the game is also scheduled to air on the relaunched NBC Sports Network.
Sixers standings
Eastern Conference
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Lauren Barone has been in love with everything martial arts since she was a child, whether that meant practicing tae kwon do and studying old Royce Gracie matches, or just watching the Ninja Turtles. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the 40-year-old now is now a part of the Professional Grappling Federation, the world’s only team-based jiujitsu league.
She is also the first female owner in an otherwise all-male league.
“It’s really wonderful to be the first female owner,” said Barone, an Arkansas native. “I’m kind of paving my own path and figuring it out as I go. And I embrace that role because there are things that I want to do.”
Barone will oversee the latest pro sports franchise to represent the city, the Philadelphia Phenoms, who kick off their first PGF season on Wednesday. And when it was time to pick a new city for the league’s expansion, Barone knew Philly was the perfect place for a jiujitsu team.
“I have a great deal of respect for the wonderful city of Philadelphia and some of the most amazing sports fans come from the area,” Barone said. “It’s got a wonderful sports scene. I’ve been to events in Philly, like WrestleMania, and it’s quite a different sports scene. The fan energy was amazing and I was like, wow, these fans are unmatched. So, that’s something that really hit home for me.”
The PGF is entering its ninth season, and the Phenoms will open their inaugural campaign against the Las Vegas Kings this week. The entire regular season, which wraps up in April, will be held in Las Vegas, with matches streaming on the PGF YouTube channel each Wednesday.
The playoffs consist of the top eight individual scorers competing in a single-elimination bracket. To prepare for the competition, the Phenoms will practice out of Olivo’s Las Vegas gym, Potential Jiu Jitsu.
“When they step onto those mats, it’s going to be business,” Barone said. “They are going to be seeking wins. We are looking for a championship.”
Before deciding the take ownership of a team, Barone, who now resides in the Philadelphia area, was already fully involved in the sport. She and her husband, Joe, were fans of the PGF, streaming matches on YouTube every week. And, about three years ago, they began their own jiujitsu journey, training out of Finishers MMA in Reading.
“I wanted to do it for weight loss and self-defense, and we just haven’t looked back,” Barone said. “We train together very often. I probably competed 10 times last year, and had my share of wins and losses. But, it’s all growth at the end of the day, and it’s truly rewarding how something that started out as a hobby turned into a career for me.”
The Philadelphia Phenoms will make their season nine debut on March 4.
The Phenoms, who have an alien-themed logo with an “Area 215″ tagline, will compete against three other franchises this season: the Las Vegas Kings, Alabama Twisters, and Colorado Wolverines. Following its latest expansion, the league hopes to continue to grow to 16 teams.
“Once we opened the doors to team ownership, the floodgates opened — the [Las Vegas] Kings were first, then the Philadelphia Phenoms, followed by the Alabama Twisters, with more already in negotiations,” Zoltan Bathory, co-owner of the Professional Grappling Federation, said in a release. “At this pace, we anticipate expanding to 8-12 teams in the coming months, which puts us firmly on track toward the 16-team national league we originally envisioned.”
There are currently 28 athletes in the league across the four franchises. Ahead of the upcoming season, the Phenoms drafted seven fighters to their roster: Andrew Kochel, Derek Rayfield, Shawn Melanson, Kyle Chambers, Noah McCully, Armin Bruni, and Derrick Adkins.
They’ll compete in 75 matches across the five-week regular season in a submission-only, team-based format with six-minute matches. The winner of each match is based on a point system, with different point values for different moves and bonus points for getting your opponent to submit in under 60 seconds.
“I think these athletes are going to mesh really well together because we have leg-lock athletes, pressure passers, we have all different styles of jiujitsu coming together here,” Barone said. “That was something I really wanted, and I think we accomplished that.”
The team will be coached by PGF veteran Kris Olivo (15-5-8), who has been referred to as “the most interesting man in the PGF” for his charismatic energy and flashy wardrobe.
“Last season, when I purchased my franchise, I had sat in on a couple of the PGF matches and noticed Kris Olivo,” Barone said. “Just a really cool, unique personality. The leopard king. And I was like, wow … He exhibits a specific kind of charisma in person and he has a super high jiujitsu IQ. He’s a black belt, was killing it in PGF. I think he has what it takes to be our coach.”
The only person who takes more undeserved blame than manager Rob Thomson for the shortcomings of the Phillies quarter-billion-dollar lineup is Alec Bohm.
Entering his sixth season, Bohm, the third overall pick in the 2018 draft, is largely considered a semi-bust, especially in the frustrated Philadelphia region. Optically, it makes sense: He’s 6-foot-5, sculpted and wide, and was expected to be a basher coming out of Wichita State who eventually would migrate from third base to first. That hasn’t happened, but he’s nowhere near a bust.
With the exception of a sophomore slump in 2021, Bohm has been a competent major league third baseman. That’s something of a miracle in itself, since the Phillies rushed him to the majors for the COVID-shortened 2020 season with zero experience in triple A.
Has Bohm been the homegrown stud hitter Phillies fans have craved since the days of Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, and Ryan Howard? No. But he hasn’t been Domonic Brown or Maikel Franco, either.
He’s been a pretty good player on some very good teams surrounded by a bunch of star hitters who couldn’t get the job done. Bohm catches shrapnel for their shortcomings more so than his own, and some folks can’t wait to get rid of him. That was never more evident this winter.
Phillies fans relished rumors that projected Bo Bichette’s arrival as a free agent, not the least because it would mean a corresponding departure by Bohm. He no longer would have a starting spot at third base with the arrival of Bichette, who would have switched from shortstop to third.
Phillies fans thought signing Bo Bichette would force Alec Bohm out, but Bichette opted to sign with the Mets.
But the Bichette deal fell through at the 11th hour. That left the Phillies with Bohm and free-agent gamble Adolis García as first options to bat in the No. 4 hole behind presumptive third hitter Bryce Harper.
In Philly, all hope collapsed, because Bohm has proved himself unfit for that particular job … right?
Well, maybe.
But that’s not the point.
The point is, the Phillies spent more than $200 million so that Bohm wouldn’t have to do the job at all.
Wasted money
As The Inquirer reported last week, no everyday player with an OPS over .800 last season scored fewer runs than Harper’s 72. Harper’s OPS of .844 last season was his lowest in nine years, in part because he saw fewer strikes than any other everyday player. Harper was largely unprotected, and, when he reported to spring training, he let everyone know he wasn’t happy about any of it.
“I think it makes a huge impact,” he said. “I think whoever’s in that four spot is gonna have a big job to do, depending on who’s hitting three or who’s hitting two.”
That big job was never supposed to be Bohm’s job, so to paint the situation as a failure by Bohm is wildly unfair, considering what any realistic expectations might have been for a player surrounded by a constellation of supposed stars.
In 2022, in what would be Bohm’s second full season, the Phillies signed right-handed hitter Nick Castellanos, mainly to protect Harper. Castellanos utterly failed. His OPS from 2022-25 while batting fourth was .705, .853, .645, and .651. Castellanos didn’t hit behind Harper every time, but he hit behind him most of the time. He made $80 million.
J.T. Realmuto (right) has largely struggled protecting Bryce Harper in the lineup over the past four seasons.
When Castellanos didn’t hit fourth, Realmuto often did. He went .953 in 2022, had only 34 plate appearances in 2023 (.458)/, then went .635 in 2024 and .683 in 2025. He made $95.5 million in those four seasons.
In 2023, it occasionally fell to Bohm to hit fourth. He produced .711, .769, and .571 OPS results in the past three years. He made $12.4 million.
Despite Bohm’s poor numbers in 2025, Harper actually was his most productive when Bohm hit behind him, according to MLB.com.
When the Phillies signed Castellanos to a five-year, $100 million contract in 2022, he was projected to be the cleanup hitter not only through 2022 but also through 2026. But the Phillies released Castellanos last month. He’d been insubordinate last season, but that wasn’t the main reason, because no sport endures insubordination like baseball. Castellanos’ real sin was that, for the better part of four seasons, he stole money.
Casty’s Wins Above Replacement (WAR) since 2022 was 1.3. Bohm’s was 5.8.
Who was the real disappointment?
Nick Castellanos was supposed to be the right-handed bat in the cleanup spot to protect Bryce Harper. He was released last month by the Phillies.
Peer pressure
Not only does Bohm compare favorably to the $100 million man, he compares favorably with players of his approximate age.
Among first-round hitters from 2018 with at least 1,000 plate appearances, Bohm’s 5.3 WAR ranks fourth. His .743 OPS ranks second, by just one-thousandth of a point, to Royals infielder Jonathan India. Bohm’s 70 homers rank third. His 719 games played ranks first.
What about the 2017 draft? Among first-round hitters from both 2017 and 2018 combined, Bohm is sixth in WAR, fifth in OPS, sixth in homers, and still first in games played — and yes, we omitted Kyler Murray, drafted ninth overall by the A’s but opted to play in the NFL.
Bohm was picked high in the draft, so how does he compare to those guys? Well, among the first 10 hitters selected in both drafts combined, Murray again omitted, Bohm’s 5.3 WAR ranks second.
It’s true that 2017 is considered one of the worst drafts in recent memory, but Bohm can’t do anything about that. Simply, when compared with his peers, Bohm is outperforming almost all of them.
Alec Bohm has worked hard to transform himself from utterly disastrous defensively at third base to perfectly acceptable in his last three seasons.
Current crop
How does Bohm compare with the rest of baseball over his career?
Since Bohm debuted in 2020, his OPS of .743 ranks 150th among the 382 hitters with at least 1,000 plate appearances. He is far above average.
We can’t make the argument that Bohm is a far above-average player. He’s not. But he’s certainly average at least, and that’s saying something. He’ll be a 30-year-old free agent after this season, and he’ll probably last at least four or five more seasons.
Historically, fewer than 20% of first-rounders collect 1,000 hits. Bohm has 753. Similarly, fewer than 10% of all major league players play at least 10 seasons. Bohm is entering his sixth.
He has been, by any measure, a good first-round pick.
Is he everything folks thought he’d be when he was drafted — that is, a middle-of-the-lineup run-producer? Not really.
Is he adequate protection for a slugger like Harper? Probably not.
Is he the most emotionally stable player? No.
In 2022, on a night when he’d struggled defensively, Bohm made a routine play. Phillies fans cheered sarcastically. TV cameras caught Bohm saying, “I [bleeping] hate this place.”
Alec Bohm confirms postgame that he said "I fucking hate this place" when fans sarcastically cheered after he made a play pic.twitter.com/I0IdZ0lEn9
In 2024, mired in a 2-for-31 slump that bled from the end of the season into the playoffs, Bohm, in full pout mode, was benched for Game 2 of the NLDS. (His replacement, Edmundo Sosa, did not reach base in two plate appearances, Bohm pinch-hit for him and did the same, and the Phillies won.)
Bohm is not a fan favorite. Phillies fans despise a lack of mental toughness.
But Bohm did manage 97 RBIs in both 2023 and 2024. He did hit 20 home runs in 2023, and he was an All-Star in 2024. He worked hard enough at third base to progress from utterly disastrous in his first two seasons to perfectly acceptable in his last three seasons.
Will he hit well enough to protect Harper this year? Probably not. Will García? Probably not.
His overall .675 OPS the past two seasons is far below Bohm’s .762. García was at .712 in the cleanup spot in 2024, .662 in 2025. He’s on a one-year, $10 million deal.
Bohm is making $10.2 million. It’s the first time in his career that he’s outearning the guy who’s being paid to do a job Bohm never was meant to do … unless you count Realmuto, whom the Phillies just re-signed. He’ll make $15 million this season.
For that kind of money, maybe every once in a while J.T. could help out at the four-spot.
