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🚨 Headlines

⚽️ Japan 2, USWNT 1: Japan beat the USA, 2-1, in Wednesday’s de facto SheBelieves Cup final, snapping the Americans’ five-year streak of winning the tournament and handing them their first loss under head coach Emma Hayes.

🏈 NFL sidelines the chain gang: The NFL plans to implement an electronic system (Hawk-Eye technology) to measure first downs next season, with the chain gang remaining on the sideline only as a backup. Officials will still manually spot the football between plays, though.

🏀 Half-court buzzer-beater! March is still a couple days away, but No. 8 Michigan State got the madness started early with a game-winning buzzer-beater from well beyond half court, beating No. 16 Maryland on the road, 58-55.

🏀 Detroit is so back: The Pistons blew out the Celtics, 117-97, for their eighth straight victory — their longest winning streak in 17 years. Detroit (33-26) has already won two more games this season than the last two combined.

🏒 Winnipeg wins again: The NHL-leading Jets won their franchise-record extending 11th straight game, the longest winning streak in the league this season.

⚾️ Life on the waiver wire

Roansy Contreras is among the hundreds of spring training invitees hoping to break camp with his big league club, which would make for a well-deserved end to a whirlwind offseason spent almost entirely on waivers.

Life on the waiver wire: The 25-year-old Dominican pitcher has been claimed off waivers five times this offseason — including twice by the Orioles, his current team — and has been part of six organizations in the last nine months alone.

• May 11, 2024: DFA’d (designated for assignment) by the Pirates.

• May 16, 2024: Traded to the Angels.

• Oct. 2024: Released by the Angels. (Either DFA’d or waived; transaction logs don’t say.)

• Oct. 31, 2024: Claimed by the Rangers.

• Dec. 13, 2024: DFA’d by the Rangers.

• Dec. 19, 2024: Claimed by the Reds.

• Jan. 6, 2025: DFA’d by the Reds.

• Jan. 10, 2025: Claimed by the Orioles.

• Jan. 16, 2025: DFA’d by the Orioles.

• Jan. 23, 2025: Claimed by the Yankees.

• Feb. 2025: Released by the Yankees. (Either DFA’d or waived; transaction logs don’t say.)

• Feb. 7, 2025: Claimed by the Orioles.

• Feb. 23, 2025: Pitched one scoreless inning in his spring debut for the Orioles.

How does this actually work? Terms like DFA and waivers are a regular part of baseball fans’ lexicon, but the process behind them is fairly complex and can be hard to follow.

• When a player is designated for assignment, he’s immediately removed from the team’s 40-man roster so an incoming player can take his place. Within seven days of being DFA’d, players can be traded or placed on waivers.

• When a player is placed on waivers — which can be done without first DFA’ing them — the other 29 teams have three days to claim him, with priority based on reverse winning percentage. If unclaimed, the player remains with his original team and can be assigned to the minors, though if he has more than five years of service time he can reject that assignment.

Why Contreras is a classic waiver wire candidate: The young righty was stuck in limbo so long because while his potential is intriguing enough to tempt teams into claiming him (3.79 ERA in 2022), his inconsistent performance has made him expendable (5.47 ERA since 2022).

There’s also the matter of minor league options: Contreras was “out of options” when his recent waiver-wire flurry began, otherwise he would have been eligible to be optioned to the minors while remaining on the 40-man roster. Players have just three option years, which Contreras exhausted a couple years back.

A tough place to be: MLB is a transaction-heavy league, and being DFA’d is just part of the business. But being treated more like an entry in an Excel spreadsheet than a professional athlete is a difficult existence, to say the least.

“You don’t exist when you’re in DFA limbo. It’s lonely and you start going down rabbit holes of what-ifs, start thinking the whole world is looking at you and in reality, no one’s looking at you. It’s a really tough place to be.”

— Guardians manager Stephen Vogt, who was DFA’d three times during his 10-year playing career (via The Athletic)

Looking ahead: Excessive DFA’s are perhaps the most unfortunate byproduct of a league that’s transactional in nature, but maybe it doesn’t have to be this way. The 2022 CBA implemented a cap on how many times players could be optioned to the minors during the season; maybe the next negotiations could tackle a similar limit on being DFA’d.

🏈 NFL combine: 10 storylines to watch

The on-field portion of the NFL scouting combine begins today, and Yahoo Sports’ Frank Schwab has the top 10 storylines to watch in Indianapolis.

1. Who’s going No. 1? Miami QB Cam Ward is the betting favorite to go No. 1 in April’s draft, but the Titans might not be able to pass up potentially generational talents like Colorado WR/CB Travis Hunter or Penn State EDGE Abdul Carter.*

2. Cam or Shedeur? With a strong week in Indy, could Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders vault past Ward as the first signal-caller taken?

3. Will the QBs throw? Sanders already announced he’ll throw at his school’s pro day instead of the combine, just as last year’s top three QBs did. But Ward may break that trend, and the next tier of QBs could improve their stock if they throw well on Saturday.

4. Can Tetairoa McMillan lock up WR1? The Arizona wideout is this year’s presumptive top WR, but his speed remains a question mark. If he fails to break 4.5-seconds in the 40-yard dash, others like Mizzou’s Luther Burden III or Ohio State’s Emeka Egbuka could pass him.

5. Travis Hunter: CB or WR? The reigning Heisman Trophy winner is listed as a cornerback this week, for which experts project a higher NFL ceiling. But the two-way star could try to pull an Ohtani and play WR at the next level, too.

6. Who will emerge as RB2? Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty is RB1 by a mile, but there are a handful of others — including UNC’s Omarion Hampton, Iowa’s Kaleb Johnson and Ohio State’s duo of Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson — who could emerge as RB2.

7. Can Cam Skattebo improve his stock? Speaking of RBs, let’s not forget about Arizona State’s Skattebo, whose unrelenting running style won fans over during the CFP. It won’t take much for teams to fall in love with the hard-working, hyper-competitive Sun Devil.

8. Is there another Xavier Worthy this year? The former Texas wideout broke the combine’s 40-yard dash record last year (4.21 seconds) en route to becoming the Chiefs’ first-round pick. How many athletic freaks are lurking in Indy this year?

9. Can Josh Simmons show he’s healthy? The Buckeyes’ tackle could be the first offensive lineman off the board if his medical checks indicate he’ll be ready for training camp after suffering a season-ending knee injury in October.

10. How deep is this defensive class? Last year, for the first time ever, no defensive players were drafted in the top 10; this year could see upwards of five, alongside plenty of others who can show off their physical attributes during today and tomorrow’s workouts.

More combine: Live updates from Indy

*Injury report: Carter’s draft stock became more complicated when it was reported on Wednesday that he has a stress reaction in his foot that may require surgery.

🏁 In photos: F1 testing

Formula 1 testing got underway on Wednesday in Bahrain, where all 20 drivers were on hand at the Sakhir circuit to begin the three-day, preseason event.

A power outage at the track caused a one-hour delay, during which teams tinkered with their cars by flashlight, as Ferrari is doing in the photo above.

Speaking of Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton reflected on the “incredible feeling” of his first test in the Scuderia colors. The seven-time champ is preparing for his first season on a new team after 12 years with Mercedes.

Lando Norris, who led McLaren to their first Constructors’ Championship since 1998 last season, ended day one with the fastest time — a trend he’ll look to continue this season after finishing second to four-time defending champion Max Verstappen (Red Bull) for last year’s title.

🏈 NFLPA report cards

The Dolphins and Vikings were named the NFL’s two best workplaces for the second straight year according to the NFLPA’s third annual team report cards, which were released on Wednesday.

Methodology: 1,695 players responded to the survey last fall, evaluating their teams across 11 categories: ownership, head coach, team travel, locker room, weight room, training room, training staff, strength coaches, treatment of families, food/dining area and nutritionist/dietician.

Notes:

• Best of the best: The Dolphins got an A+ in eight categories this year and an A in the other three. The Vikings got at least an A- in all but one category, which was still a B+.

• Room for improvement: The Cardinals finished dead last, receiving a D+ or worse in six categories and an A in just one: head coach. (Bravo, Jonathan Gannon!)

• Risers and fallers: The Chargers (30th to 5th), Falcons (25th to 3rd) and Commanders (32nd to 11th) made the biggest year-over-year jumps while the Eagles (4th to 22nd), Jaguars (5th to 18th), Giants (8th to 20th) and Bills (11th to 23rd) took the biggest tumbles.

• Best and worst coaches: Six coaches received an A+ (Washington’s Dan Quinn, Atlanta’s Raheem Morris, Minnesota’s Kevin O’Connell, Kansas City’s Andy Reid, Miami’s Mike McDaniel and Detroit’s Dan Campbell), while three received a C (Cleveland’s Kevin Stefanski, Jacksonville’s Doug Pederson, who was fired, and Chicago’s Matt Eberflus, also fired.)

• Best and worst owners: Three owners received an A+ (Miami’s Stephen Ross, Atlanta’s Arthur Blank and Minnesota’s Zygi Wilf), while just one — Jets owner Woody Johnson — received an F.

• The dreaded F-minus: There were just four F-minuses handed out across the entire league: to the Browns and Cardinals for their locker rooms, the Bills for team travel and the Bengals for treatment of families. It’s “almost disrespectful,” said one Cincinnati player.

Dive deeper: The most surprising reveals | Rankings for all 32 teams

📺 Watchlist: Star-studded doubleheader

Tonight’s star-studded NBA doubleheader begins with Nuggets at Bucks (8pm ET, TNT), followed by Timberwolves at Lakers (10:30pm, TNT).

Who to watch: Six of the league’s top 16 scorers (Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokić, Anthony Edwards, Luka Dončić, Damian Lillard, LeBron James) and the winners of nine of the last 16 MVP awards (LeBron 4x, Jokić 3x, Giannis 2x) will be taking the floor in Milwaukee and Los Angeles.

More to watch:

• 🏀 NCAAM: Rutgers at No. 15 Michigan (9pm, Peacock) … The Wolverines are just a half-game behind Michigan State for first place in the Big Ten with four games left.

• 🏀 NCAAW: No. 22 Creighton at No. 5 UConn (7pm, CBSSN); No. 8 UNC at No. 16 Duke (7pm, ESPN); No. 11 Tennessee at No. 15 Kentucky (7pm, SEC); No. 24 FSU at No. 3 Notre Dame (8pm, ACC); No. 7 LSU at No. 20 Alabama (9pm, SEC)

• ⛳️ PGA: Cognizant Classic (6:45am, ESPN+; 2pm, Golf) … The Florida Swing* begins at PGA National in Palm Beach.

*The Florida Swing: Each year, the PGA Tour spends four straight weeks in Florida for a run of tournaments that include two of the season’s best non-majors: Cognizant Classic (PGA National in Palm Beach); Arnold Palmer Invitational (Bay Hill in Orlando); The Players Championship (TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach); Valspar Championship (Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor).

🏀 College hoops trivia

St. John’s clinched at least a share of the Big East on Wednesday, making Rick Pitino the first head coach in Division I history to win a regular-season conference title with five different programs.

Question: Which four other programs has Pitino won with?

Hint: Their current conferences are the Patriot League, SEC, ACC and MAAC.

Answer at the bottom.

⚾️ The White Sox are at it again

Spring training games obviously don’t mean anything, but five months after setting the record for the most losses in a single season, the White Sox are the only team that has yet to win a game this spring. Not what you want to see!

Trivia answer: Boston University, Kentucky, Louisville and Iona

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