Sports

By RONALD BLUM AP Baseball Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball’s average salary rose 14.8% to a record $4.22 million last year after the end of the lockout, boosted by big deals for Max Scherzer, Francisco Lindor, Marcus Semien and Corey Seager. The rate of increase was the highest since a 17.7% increase

By STEPHEN WHYNO AP Sports Writer A person with knowledge of the move tells The Associated Press the Washington Commanders are releasing safety Bobby McCain. The transaction saves them more than $2 million in salary cap space. The emergence of young safety Darrick Forrest alongside Kam Curl made it easier for Washington to cut ties

By STEPHEN WHYNO AP Hockey Writer The Toronto Maple Leafs have acquired forward Sam Lafferty and defenseman Jake McCabe from the Chicago Blackhawks. Their latest big trade comes the day after division-rival Tampa Bay paid a hefty price to acquire forward Tanner Jeannot from Nashville. Talent continues to flow to Eastern Conference contenders ahead of

TORONTO (AP) — The Toronto Blue Jays have hired former Astros general manager James Click to be their new vice president of baseball strategy. Click helped build the Houston teams that went to three straight AL Championship Series and back-to-back World Series, winning it all last year. But he clashed with owner Jim Crane, and

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. (AP) — The Atlanta Falcons have announced a plethora of changes to head coach Arthur Smith’s staff in a further restructuring of his assistants after a fifth straight losing season. Most notably, Steve Jackson will take over as secondary coach, while David Huxtable has been hired as a senior defensive assistant after

NEW YORK (AP) — K’Andre Miller of the New York Rangers will have a hearing with the NHL’s department of player safety for spitting at L.A. Kings defenseman Drew Doughty. It was not immediately clear which day the hearing would take place. The Rangers do not play again until Wednesday at Philadelphia. Miller posted a

STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) — Freshman standout Keyonte George is out for seventh-ranked Baylor’s game at Oklahoma State because of a right ankle sprain. The school says George will be revaluated after Monday night’s game. The Bears finish the regular season at home Saturday against Iowa State. George rolled his ankle about midway through the first

By HOWARD FENDRICH AP Tennis Writer Novak Djokovic broke the record for the most time spent at No. 1 in the professional tennis rankings by a man or woman, beginning his 378th week in the ATP’s top spot on Monday to surpass Steffi Graf’s 377 leading the WTA. He already held the men’s mark, eclipsing

By RONALD BLUM AP Sports Writer NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. women’s coach Vlatko Andonovski earned 27% as much as American men’s coach Gregg Berhalter in the year ending last March 31, down slightly from 28% in the previous year. Andonovski earned $446,495, according to the U.S. Soccer Federation’s tax filing, including $50,000 in bonus

NEW YORK (AP) — K’Andre Miller of the New York Rangers says spitting at L.A. Kings defenseman Drew Doughty was completely accidental. Miller in a message posted on social media said he would never intend to spit at an opponent on purpose and that it goes against everything he is as a person. The 23-year-old

By PAT GRAHAM AP Sports Writer Longtime American downhiller Steven Nyman will wrap up his career this weekend in Aspen, Colorado. He won’t be racing to win, either, but merely to say goodbye. He plans on wearing jeans and taking his sweet time in his last World Cup downhill race. It’s been quite a career

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City’s Department of Transportation swung and missed with a road sign for the Jackie Robinson Parkway that misspelled the baseball Hall of Famer’s first name. The sign spotted Sunday in Queens featured a picture of Robinson over the words “Jakie Robinson Parkway.” Department of Transportation spokesperson Scott Gastel said

By JOHN MARSHALL AP Basketball Writer The top five spots in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll remained the same. The rest of the AP Top 25 was a big jumble. Houston was No. 1 for the second straight week in the poll released Monday, receiving 49 first-place votes from a 62-person media panel.

By HANK KURZ Jr. AP Sports Writer Terry Holland, who elevated Virginia basketball to national prominence during 16 seasons as coach, has died. He was 80. Holland’s death Sunday night was announced by the school Monday. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2019 and stopped taking his courtside seat at Virginia home games. In

By STEVE MEGARGEE AP Sports Writer MILWAUKEE (AP) — Two people with knowledge of the negotiations say Cleveland Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam have agreed to purchase Marc Lasry’s 25% stake of the Milwaukee Bucks in a deal that puts the value of the NBA franchise at $3.5 billion. The agreement has not been

By ANDREW DAMPF AP Sports Writer Ingemar Stenmark says all this fuss over Mikaela Shiffrin as she approached his record of 86 World Cup skiing victories was beside the point. Because the 66-year-old Swede believes the American is already on another level. Stenmark says in an interview with The Associated Press that “she’s much better