Culture
As the Dodgers enter their Shohei Ohtani Era, failure is not an option
PHOENIX — Flags only fly forever if you raise them.
At Dodgertown, the ancestral home of the Los Angeles Dodgers in Vero Beach, Fla., a mural celebrating six World Series winners greeted visitors. No such signage exists at Camelback Ranch. The team has won the National League West 11 times since shifting its spring training base to Arizona in 2009, but the franchise does not memorialize mere postseason berths. The Dodgers intended to build a monument to the 2020 World Series championship team but pandemic-related construction delays sidelined the project, and the organization moved on. There are no murals and no banners, no portraits of protocol-following perseverance. If you rely upon commemorative decorations as your guide, the triumph in a 60-game season may as well not exist.
When Mark Walter, the owner of the Dodgers and the chief executive officer of Guggenheim Partners, met with two-way star Shohei Ohtani this past winter, he attempted to sell a vision based on these conflicting truths, the immense pride and deep frustration within his franchise. The Dodgers had become a colossus since Walter’s group took over in 2012 — a perennial contender, playing before crowds that lead the sport in attendance, driving a money machine now valued at nearly $5 billion. Yet the success could not offset the sting of October defeats. A series of early postseason exits since 2020 had disappointed Walter and those within his baseball operations department. As he outlined the dichotomy, Walter wanted to stress something to Ohtani: The owner considered his tenure running the Dodgers to be an on-field failure.
“We’ve only done it once,” said team president Stan Kasten, who was present when Walter spoke to Ohtani. “And we need to do it more often than that.”
In Ohtani — who will debut as a Dodger this week during a two-game series in Seoul, South Korea — Walter and the rest of the organization found a $700 million symbol of a new era. His arrival has vaulted the club into a new financial stratosphere, with a deferral-laden contract serving as the backbone for a $1.2 billion offseason bonanza. His presence has heightened expectations for a team that has not missed the postseason since Barack Obama’s first term in office. Ohtani chose the Dodgers because the franchise offered a pathway to October that had been foreclosed to him during six seasons with the Los Angeles Angels. The Dodgers pursued Ohtani because they had grown tired of watching other franchises conduct parades in November.
And because a union between the two parties made far too much business sense to pass up.
When Kasten first heard about how Ohtani wanted to structure his contract, he assumed he was missing something. Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman called Kasten after a discussion with Ohtani’s agent, Nez Balelo. “Can you repeat that?” Kasten said. Over the course of a 10-year pact, Ohtani intended to receive only $20 million, with $680 million deferred through 2043 so he would not handcuff his new team.
-
Mark Walter and Stan Kasten introduce their new $700 million man at Dodger Stadium in December. (Frederic J. Brown / AFP via Getty Images)
In recent years, the Dodgers have made deferrals a habit. The contracts for both perennial MVP candidates Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman feature deferred millions. When the team offered $300 million to Gerrit Cole after the 2019 season, the bid included deferrals. Yet the contract Ohtani sought provided so much financial flexibility to the team that Friedman later admitted he would not have had the courage to suggest it himself. Kasten described Walter as “very supportive” of the contract structure. “I would tell you to ask Mark about it,” Kasten said. “But we know that’s not going to happen.” (Through a different team official, Walter, who rarely addresses the public, declined an interview request.)
With Ohtani’s contract functioning effectively as a credit card, Friedman rebuilt the starting rotation and bolstered the offense of a team that won 100 games in 2023 despite myriad shortcomings. The Dodgers bested the sport’s other financial behemoths to land Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto with a 12-year, $325 million deal. After acquiring Tampa Bay Rays starter Tyler Glasnow, the team hammered out a $110 million extension. The signing of former All-Star outfielder Teoscar Hernández for $23.5 million felt like an afterthought. Ohtani, of course, was the biggest prize. He will not pitch this season as he recovers from Tommy John surgery. But he can still inspire hyperbole. Freeman suggested that when his career was over he would tell his grandchildren about playing with Ohtani, “just like we talk about Babe Ruth.”
The first step on the road to the purported promised land took place at Camelback Ranch three days after the Super Bowl. Crowds lined both sides of a path connecting the Dodgers clubhouse to a practice field for the team’s first workout. The speaker system blared a playlist that sounded as if it had not been updated since 2016. Reporters stood atop step-ladders. Fans lofted selfie sticks. A man hoisted a child onto his shoulders. The throngs pressed against the chain-link fence, desperate for a glimpse of Los Angeles’ newest lodestar. When Ohtani jogged to the field, the roar was loud enough to drown out the bridge of “I Knew You Were Trouble.” The soundtrack was fitting, at least to the team’s president.
“I don’t want to compare it to Taylor Swift, but I think it’s our equivalent, in terms of conversation,” Kasten said. “It’s just everywhere you look, people are talking about him.” Kasten framed the alliance as mutually beneficial. “He had been this outsized talent for the last six years. But I think pairing him with the size of the Dodger brand makes his impact and his visibility even larger than it has been, until now.”
Dave Roberts rounded a corner and spotted a mass of media in the shade of the grapefruit trees planted outside Camelback Ranch. There was the usual group of American and Japanese reporters. But the media relations staff had installed a riser so seven different camera crews could film the manager’s daily briefing without turning the crowd into a rugby scrum. Roberts has chosen to greet the amplified attention this year with the amplification of his own enthusiasm.
“Oh, wow!” Roberts said. “Look at this setup, huh?”
When Ohtani was introduced at Dodger Stadium on Dec. 15, he expressed confusion to Dodgers broadcaster Joe Davis as he gazed out at rows and rows of attendees. Ohtani had been told only media would be there. Davis had to break it to Ohtani that the massive crowd was, in fact, just the media. A similar crush will greet Ohtani during the season, especially at these games in Seoul. The Dodgers are already covered by one of the larger domestic press contingents. The group now includes around a dozen Japanese reporters, tracking Ohtani’s exploits in granular detail, from the number of home runs he hits in batting practice to the larger meaning of a fist bump with Hernández. When Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register asked Ohtani in passing about his dog, Dekopin, Plunkett’s picture was plastered across Japanese newspapers.
-
Shohei Ohtani attracted massive attention at his first Dodgers spring training. (Kyodo via Associated Press)
Ohtani conducts group interviews once or twice a week. He rarely reveals much about himself. He values his privacy. Reporters have been discouraged from approaching Ohtani or Yamamoto for one-on-one conversations. The team preferred to hold the group sessions in front of a backdrop featuring advertising for Guggenheim. (The team’s uniforms also now include a Guggenheim patch.) For the players, the parade of reporters has wrought some genial irritation. The clubhouse is often barren when reporters are permitted inside.
“It’s just a lot of people,” pitcher Walker Buehler said. “They’ll ask you two questions about you, and then six about Ohtani. And you’ll be like, ‘You just baited me! You baited me into this. You guys got me.’”
The primary person who will deal with the scrutiny is Roberts. The courtship of Ohtani created unease for him. When Roberts decided at the Winter Meetings to reveal a Dodger Stadium sit-down with Ohtani — which no other official from any team involved in the sweepstakes had done previously — Friedman and general manager Brandon Gomes declined to offer him much cover. The group patched things up later that week, but when the Dodgers introduced Ohtani, Roberts was not on the stage.
As Roberts spoke to the group beside the grapefruit trees, an intrepid eighth cameraman scaled a staircase leading toward the complex’s executive offices.
“Excuse me,” a security guard told the cameraman, “you have to come down from there.”
The cameraman pointed to a Dodgers official.
“Excuse me,” the guard repeated.
The cameraman pointed again. A team official walked over. “He’s with us,” the staffer explained. SportsNet LA, the team’s television network, has produced 10 seasons of “Backstage: Dodgers,” which offers lighthearted looks at the inner workings of the franchise. The guard was adamant. Regulations trumped content; eventually the cameraman left his perch and rejoined the scrum. Soon after, Friedman and members of his baseball operations department, clad in three-quarter-zip pullovers, descended the steps.
To some, Roberts occupies the hottest seat in the sport. Friedman has impregnable job security. The Ohtani deal features a provision called a “key man” clause. He can opt out of his contract if Friedman or Walter leaves the organization. The same protection does not apply to Roberts, whose contract runs through 2025. “If the highest preseason expectations in club history crash,” esteemed Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke wrote recently, “the Dodgers will need an easy target to take the blame, and that will be him.”
-
Few have as much riding on Shohei Ohtani’s success as manager Dave Roberts. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea / USA Today)
In eight seasons at the helm, Roberts has never won fewer than 91 games — except for the shortened 2020 season, when the club played at a 116-win pace. His .618 winning percentage is the best in Major League Baseball history. He would likely find a bevy of suitors for his services, especially in the wake of new Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell’s market-setting five-year, $40 million contract. Unlike Counsell, Roberts has actually won a World Series — even if his postseason resume contains its share of strategic misfires.
Roberts has described anything short of a championship in 2024 as a bust. Of course, he has spoken with that confidence before. He guaranteed the Dodgers would win the 2022 World Series. That team set a franchise record with 111 victories, but crashed out of the postseason in four games. The disappointment increased the motivation to add Ohtani. Before the season, Roberts suggested his players should worry less about external noise and concentrate on individual progress. Ignoring the noise, he acknowledged, will be tougher than ever.
“This year feels different because you’ve got, essentially, the best player on the planet,” Roberts said. He added, “People love beating the Yankees. And people love beating the Dodgers. When you put on this uniform, that’s what you sign up for. But this year, it’s a little bit more extreme.”
The most expensive pitcher in the history of Major League Baseball has never thrown a pitch in Major League Baseball. Whenever Yoshinobu Yamamoto took the mound this spring, the occasion merited monitoring. As he unveiled his arsenal in a bullpen session during the team’s first workout, a gaggle of reporters watched from a distance. Roberts, Friedman and various members of the coaching staff and front office stood behind the row of mounds. Standing behind the catcher, peering through a mesh-covered fence were Buehler, reliever Daniel Hudson and starter James Paxton. Each took a peek as Yamamoto spun curveballs and splitters along with his 95-mph fastball. “Everything just explodes out of his hand,” Paxton said a day later.
Yamamoto has been an object of fascination among big-league teams for years. The list of executives who traveled to Japan to watch him in 2023 included Friedman, New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman and San Francisco Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi. After the season, New York Mets owner Steve Cohen and president of baseball operations David Stearns made similar jaunts to court Yamamoto. The Yankees presented Yamamoto with his own No. 18 jersey in pinstripes.
His free agency sparked even greater zeal than expected. When the offseason began, some executives pegged Yamamoto in line for a contract worth about $200 million. As the price escalated, the Giants bowed out. The Yankees offered $300 million. So did the Philadelphia Phillies. The Dodgers won the bidding by matching Cohen’s offer after Yamamoto met with Betts, Freeman and, of course, Ohtani.
Yamamoto represents the promise and the peril inherent in the Dodgers pitching staff. His stature is unremarkable; he stands 5-foot-10 and weighs about 175 pounds. He became elite through a focus on flexibility and unconventional activities like chucking a javelin. The transition from Japan to the major leagues can be challenging. During the winter, Yamamoto familiarized himself with the baseball used in the major leagues, which is smaller and slicker than its equivalent in Japan. During his spring debut, a center-field camera for SportsNet LA could capture the different grips of Yamamoto’s pitches.
The tipping discussion that followed did not prompt alterations to Yamamoto’s delivery. The organization expects him to lead its rotation, which will likely function as something resembling a six-man unit to provide breaks for the starters. The regulars may need the rest. Yamamoto has never pitched on the big-league schedule. Glasnow logged a career-high 120 innings last season. Paxton has thrown 117 2/3 innings since 2019. Buehler will not begin the season with the club as he attempts to return from his second Tommy John surgery. Clayton Kershaw hopes to rejoin the team by July or August as he recovers from the first surgery of his career, a corrective procedure on his left shoulder. The list of rehabbing pitchers at Camelback Ranch will include Dustin May, Emmet Sheehan and Tony Gonsolin.
Despite the uncertainty, the team expects its pitching to be excellent. The same cannot be said for its infield defense. A series of wayward throws by infielder Gavin Lux, who is returning from knee surgery, convinced the organization to play Betts at shortstop, a position Betts had handled in only 14 games in the first 10 years of his big-league career. Lux did not look much better after swapping places with Betts to play second base.
The overwhelming strength of the Dodgers, the propulsive force expected to vault the club past 100 victories yet again, will be the first three hitters in the lineup. Betts posted a .987 OPS last season with 39 homers and 40 doubles. Freeman put forth his usual output, with a .976 OPS, 29 homers and 59 doubles. Ohtani surpassed them both while pulling double duty as a pitcher: 44 home runs and a 1.066 OPS in an offense that provided scant protection. When executives around the sport grumble about the Dodgers, they are grumbling about the prospect of trying to shut down this trio, during a season in which Ohtani can concentrate on his hitting.
At one point this spring, Roberts compared Ohtani to the most talented teammate he had ever had. Near the end of his playing career, Roberts shared a clubhouse with Barry Bonds, the sport’s all-time home run leader, a slugger tarnished by his involvement with performance-enhancing drugs but revered by his peers for his talent. Ohtani, Roberts thought, might one day surpass Bonds — in ability, if not homers.
“Shohei,” Roberts said, “has a chance to be the best player ever.”
The people ringed the practice field, clicking cameras and lifting selfie sticks once more, as Ohtani settled into the batter’s box to face live pitching for the first time since his elbow surgery. One fan clutched a painted portrait of the world’s most famous designated hitter. This was several days after the first workout. The attention on Ohtani and the Dodgers had not slackened. If anything, it had intensified, and would only continue to do so.
For a decade, Kershaw acted as the gravitational force within the Dodgers clubhouse. The duo of Betts and Freeman supplied that presence in recent years. Given the magnitude of Ohtani’s fame, the ramifications of his contract and the extent of his ability, Ohtani must serve that role now. He has bonded with Hernández, a former American League West rival. Freeman pronounced himself amazed that Ohtani remembered the name of Freeman’s son, Charlie, after meeting the boy at last year’s All-Star Game.
“He seems to be holding onto his balance, to the extent he can,” Kasten said. “But it’s almost like, in America, he can escape. Because in Japan, he can’t. I’ve been there recently. He’s everywhere.”
-
Shohei Ohtani’s arrival in Korea with wife Mamiko Tanaka became a news event. (Stringer / Getty Images)
When Ohtani announced his marriage, Japanese television stations interrupted their programming. The Dodgers intend to capitalize on that devotion. “One of our goals is to have baseball fans in Japan convert to Dodger blue,” Friedman said at Ohtani’s introductory press conference. That effort is unlikely to end with Ohtani and Yamamoto. The team is expected to make a full-pocketed pursuit of Rōki Sasaki, the 22-year-old right-handed phenom, whenever the Chiba Lotte Marines make him available. Visitors to Dodger Stadium can expect a bevy of new sponsorships decorating the ballpark. The prices of tickets to enter the ballpark are rising on the secondary market.
As Ohtani prepared to face his new teammates in batting practice, fans and reporters catalogued his movements. When he connected with a fastball from pitcher J.P. Feyereisen, the sound reverberated across the facility. The crowd gasped as the ball took flight. Ohtani watched it clear the center-field fence as he left the batter’s box. He peeled a pad off his surgically-repaired right arm, which remained sheathed in a compression sleeve. He jogged back toward the clubhouse, past the crowd screaming his name, one step closer to Opening Day.
The judgment on this first season of the 10-year union will not come until October. Ohtani has never experienced the MLB playoffs. The Dodgers never miss an invitation. The franchise embarked on this era hoping to accumulate flags to raise and banners to proclaim championships.
Anything less would be a failure.
(Top illustration by Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; Photos by George Rose / Getty Images; Gene Wang / Getty Images; David Durochik/Diamond Images)
Culture
NFL Week 12 roundtable: Giants’ QB plan post-Jones, NFC West race, is Bo Nix legit OROY contender?
You can officially count the New York Giants among the teams whose offseason will be built around finding its next franchise quarterback.
Daniel Jones’ being benched and then released is just one development highlighting league happenings leading up to Sunday’s Week 12 action. The Giants host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with fan favorite Tommy DeVito in line to start.
Elsewhere in this week’s roundtable, our NFL writers Mike Sando, Zak Keefer and Jeff Howe discuss the NFC West. Could it be the league’s most fascinating division title race?
What about the Offensive Rookie of the Year race? Is the Denver Broncos’ Bo Nix (or another rookie quarterback) closing in on the Washington Commanders’ Jayden Daniels? Though Anthony Richardson has redeemed himself in Indianapolis, how will he and the Colts fare against the buzz saw that is the Detroit Lions? The 11-point favorite Kansas City Chiefs — sans Taylor Swift — visit Charlotte and the Carolina Panthers for the first time in eight years. The Harbaugh Bowl caps off Week 12 on Monday night, too.
Read more on what’s catching our writers’ attention this week.
The Daniel Jones era is over as the Giants host the Bucs. What’s next for Jones? What does the Giants’ plan at quarterback look like this offseason?
Howe: They tried to move up for a top QB in April, and I’d expect a similar effort — if not a more concerted one — this spring. The Giants are still in contention for the No. 1 pick, so they might get their choice of QBs, but the race has primarily been focusing on Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders. There isn’t a marquee prospect in this class, though, and there are personnel executives who have already said they wouldn’t rank any of the 2025 QBs ahead of the six first-rounders from April. The Giants, like every QB-desperate team, should be aggressive, but they can’t force it. As for Jones, he’ll enter the camp competition vortex for teams that aren’t able to find a starting-caliber QB in the draft. It’s recently worked for the likes of Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold and Russell Wilson, so I’d highly recommend a friendly offensive system.
GO DEEPER
2025 NFL Draft order projections: Cowboys, Bears tumbling toward top-10 picks
Sando: Jones projects as a backup somewhere, possibly with a team that has playoff aspirations and could stand to upgrade behind its starter. The Miami Dolphins are only 4-6, but they could use an upgrade behind Tua Tagovailoa. The Arizona Cardinals have Clayton Tune. Tampa Bay has Kyle Trask. The Minnesota Vikings have Nick Mullens. Maybe those teams love their backups, but I could see teams in their situations considering Jones.
As for the Giants, who will be making the decisions there? How high will their draft choice be? Which veterans might be available? It’s just way too early to know what the Giants are going to do, based on all the important unknown variables. They need to find a veteran able to start and possibly develop so they aren’t too dependent on their next drafted QB — especially in 2025, which doesn’t look like the best year for drafting at the position.
Keefer: Jones is going to make a lot of money in this league as a capable backup somewhere, removed from the expectations that come with being a franchise guy. I can’t see a team — barring an unforeseen injury — rolling with him as the starter in Week 1 next season. Not after what he’s put on tape the last two seasons. And the Giants will find themselves this spring backed into one of the worst corners in football: needing a quarterback in a draft that doesn’t feature a lot of quarterback talent. That’s caused teams to reach in the past, and it’s burned them for decades. New York would be wise to go the veteran route before the draft just to be safe. I wonder whether the prospect of Justin Fields taking over would get Giants fans excited.
Daniel Jones was benched Monday after the New York Giants’ 2-8 start to the season, during which he completed 63.3 percent of his passes for 2,070 yards, eight touchdowns and seven interceptions through 10 games. (Mario Hommes / DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
The Broncos, on the road against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday, are in the thick of the AFC playoff hunt. Is Bo Nix (or another rookie QB) a legitimate Offensive Rookie of the Year contender or is it still Jayden Daniels’ award to lose?
Howe: It’s Daniels’ award to lose, and Drake Maye is playing better than Nix. If Daniels and the Commanders tumble while the Broncos snag a playoff spot, there’s absolutely an avenue for Nix to claim the award, but I would still take Daniels over the field.
Sando: It’s Daniels’ award to lose, but there is some uncertainty about how strongly he and that offense will finish. Nix is definitely gaining on him from a production standpoint. We can see that in the table below, which shows production for Daniels, Nix and Maye over their past six games. That’s a big change from early in the season.
Rookie QB comp: Last six games
| QB | Daniels | Nix | Maye |
|---|---|---|---|
|
W-L |
3-3 |
3-3 |
2-4 |
|
Cmp-Att |
101-163 |
132-192 |
122-181 |
|
Cmp% |
62.0% |
68.8% |
67.4% |
|
Yards |
1,203 |
1,409 |
1,214 |
|
Yds/Att |
7.4 |
7.3 |
6.7 |
|
TD-INT |
6-1 |
11-2 |
9-6 |
|
Rating |
94.2 |
104.7 |
89.0 |
|
Sacked |
11 |
11 |
15 |
|
QB EPA |
13.0 |
31.2 |
10.4 |
|
EPA/Pass Play |
+0.11 |
+0.13 |
+0.05 |
Keefer: Mike is right — it’s not only Bo Nix entering the conversation but Drake Maye as well, although he won’t be able to boast the relative team success Daniels is enjoying in Washington and Nix is enjoying in Denver. Voters for these types of awards often lean on turnaround stories, and for a while this season, Daniels was scripting the best one in football. He’s still in front, but how he responds to consecutive losses might very well end up deciding this award.
The Chiefs are 11-point favorites on the road against the Panthers and, presumably, they’ll bounce back Sunday. Does the loss in Buffalo combined with the Lions’ continued rise change how you feel about Kansas City?
Howe: A bit, yes. If the Chiefs managed to beat the Buffalo Bills with a subpar performance, that might have been a wrap, but the Lions and Bills are decisively better right now. And though everyone is waiting for the Chiefs to get significantly better as Patrick Mahomes gains experience with his skill players, we shouldn’t overlook the fact Josh Allen and the Bills will do the same. No one who has watched the playoffs for the past half-decade is ever going to write off the Chiefs, but they’re objectively behind Detroit and Buffalo entering the most pivotal stretch of the season.
Sando: The way the Bills offense handled the Chiefs defense should be concerning for Kansas City. Kansas City can improve as the season progresses because it is well coached and it will be developing key players as Isaiah Pacheco returns, Xavier Worthy gains experience, etc. But it feels like a good year to be Detroit or Buffalo, all things considered. The Chiefs are very good but less dominant than their record indicates.
Keefer: I learned my lesson last year. The regular season simply does not matter for the Chiefs. They’ve come to transcend football norms during their dynastic run. It doesn’t matter that plenty of their wins this season have been unconvincing. Doesn’t matter that Travis Kelce has taken a step back. Doesn’t matter that Patrick Mahomes has looked mediocre — or worse — for stretches. Doesn’t matter that they couldn’t close out the Bills last week. They absolutely remain a legitimate Super Bowl contender and can beat anyone in the playoffs. Remember, as Kansas City proved last year, it’s not the team that looks the best in November and December, it’s the one that gets hot in January. More than any team out there, it knows how to do that.
The Harbaugh Bowl takes place Monday night. The Baltimore Ravens trail in the AFC North title race. The 7-3 Los Angeles Chargers escaped the Cincinnati Bengals last week. There are plenty of storylines in this one. Which one intrigues you the most?
Howe: Before the season, coaches and executives around the league predicted Justin Herbert would make a jump with Jim Harbaugh, who would prioritize the ground game and a high-level defense to complement his quarterback. Harbaugh proceeded to run a conservative offense, but he’s given Herbert more of a chance to let it rip as of late. If Herbert topples the Ravens, he’s going to earn serious MVP consideration.
Sando: I’m interested in seeing whether the Chargers’ much-improved defense can slow Lamar Jackson with the benefit of whatever inside info they have from coordinators Jesse Minter and Greg Roman, who spent significant time on the Ravens’ staff. Is this a game the Chargers can play on their terms? What happens if this game picks up where Chargers-Bengals left off? Will Justin Herbert keep pace with Jackson in that case?
Free, daily NFL updates direct to your inbox.
Free, daily NFL updates direct to your inbox.
Sign Up
Keefer: The Chargers-Bengals game was one of the best of the season — Herbert went wild in the first half, then Joe Burrow put together some of the best football I’ve ever seen him play in the second. The intriguing layer of the Harbaugh matchup Monday night is how Lamar Jackson bounces back from last week’s loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers (his -0.21 EPA per dropback and 66.1 passer rating were season lows). Jackson typically torches teams outside the AFC North, and a statement win Monday against an elite defense — the Chargers lead the league in scoring defense at 14.2 allowed per game — would push him right back in front of the MVP race.
It’s time for the biweekly NFC West temperature check. The Los Angeles Rams (5-5) host a hot Philadelphia Eagles team Sunday night. The San Francisco 49ers (5-5) are on the road against the Green Bay Packers. The Cardinals (6-4) and Seattle Seahawks (5-5) meet. Which team is in the best position to win the division?
Howe: I liked the Cardinals as a fun surprise team this season, but I didn’t anticipate they’d be a serious division threat, even if injuries among their opponents are a big reason. I’ll stick with the Cardinals because they’re playing the best and continue to get better. I do like the Seahawks and think they’re neck and neck with Arizona, so their two meetings in the next three weeks could very well tell the story in this division race. Seattle needs to focus more on the run game, though, and the O-line injuries have been problematic. The Niners still have the highest ceiling in the division, but they’ve been giving away too many games and I’m not ready to assume that pattern is about to magically break. The Rams have been too inconsistent, although I can’t rule out Matthew Stafford’s flipping a switch and keeping them in the mix.
Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals could be one of the league’s surprise teams at 6-4 and atop the NFC West. (Stacy Revere / Getty Images)
Sando: The Athletic’s model gives the Cardinals a 58 percent chance of winning the division, followed by the Rams (23 percent), the 49ers (12 percent) and the Seahawks (8 percent). Is it really that lopsided? I see this division coming down to the final week, when San Francisco visits Arizona and the Rams visit Seattle. All four teams could have a shot at 9-8. Any team getting to 10-7 probably will win the division. I don’t see any team with a big advantage, but I question whether the 49ers can stay healthy enough to prevail.
Keefer: The Cardinals are playing the best of any team in the division, and as Jeff noted, these two meetings with the Seahawks could end up deciding the NFC West title. (San Francisco and L.A. have been too inconsistent.) But critical this time of year are the teams that are showing tangible signs of improvement, and the Cardinals fit the bill: Arizona has won four straight, including its last two by a combined 45 points. In three of those wins the defense allowed less than 16 points. On offense, Kyler Murray has been lighting it up. By mid-January, I like the Cardinals to win their first division title since 2015.
(Top photo of Bo Nix: Dustin Bradford / Getty Images)
Culture
NWSL infrastructure is the ‘hardest problem to solve’. Here’s how things stand around the league
All eyes will be on Kansas City, Missouri this weekend when the Orlando Pride and the Washington Spirit face off in the NWSL championship on Sunday. In a way, it will bring the season full circle with CPKC Stadium hosting an action-packed finale.
The stadium’s opening in March marked a historic moment for the NWSL, raising the standard for a club’s stadium experience. With its 11,500-seat capacity, the Current became the first NWSL club to sell out every home game in the regular season.
Although privately financing a stadium might be an unrealistic goal for some clubs, or even an unnecessary one, what the Current has accomplished with CPKC Stadium makes room for a larger conversation about infrastructure in the NWSL. Last year, league commissioner Jessica Berman described that as “probably the hardest problem to solve long-term, and one of the most important problems for us to solve as soon as possible”.
That being the case, The Athletic has taken stock of some of the biggest infrastructure-related wins and losses of the 2024 season.
Most teams are using shared facilities
Nine NWSL clubs in the 2024 season shared a venue with an MLS club. That will increase to 10 teams next year as a new MLS team comes to San Diego. Four teams share training facilities, too. Some teams also share space with a lower-division men’s team, from MLS Next Pro or USL for example.
The only team not to share its venue was the Kansas City Current, which largely used private financing to build its own stadium and training facilities.
GO DEEPER
KC Current’s stadium opener was an historic leveling-up
While sharing resources has its upsides, there can also be friction between teams. Take the disagreement between DC United and the Spirit over their long-term deal in 2021, forcing the Spirit to train at a local high school while the matter was resolved.
Three years later, the Spirit is now in a very different place, heading to another NWSL championship after winning its first title in 2021. It now has American businesswoman Michele Kang as majority owner, and Audi Field is its full-time home venue after splitting time between multiple stadiums in previous seasons. This year the Spirit sold out three matches, with its semi-final win against NJ/NY Gotham drawing 19,365 fans.
Rodman celebrates during the 2024 NWSL Playoffs semi-final match at a sold-out Audi Field (Amber Searls / Imagn Images)
Kang has not been shy about expressing her goal of Spirit one day having its own facility. This seems especially pressing now, given that USL Super League’s DC Power, partly owned by DC United, also calls Audi Field home.
In other instances, as for Racing Louisville and USL club Louisville City, having a shared facility means also sharing ownership, which makes it easier to make last-minute decisions, like when deciding to offer your venue as an alternate with only a few days’ notice.
Issues of being a tenant, and not an owner
Earlier this month, San Diego Wave FC was forced to move its final home match of the regular season across the U.S. to the aforementioned Louisville at Lynn Family Stadium because of poor playing conditions at its home, Snapdragon Stadium.
“The safety and wellbeing of all players is our top priority, and the current field conditions at Snapdragon Stadium, which are the responsibility of a third party, have not met the standards required for a safe playing environment,” the club said in a statement.
The Wave had a series of planned celebrations, including a fan appreciation night, a ceremony for Emily Van Egmond’s 100th NWSL appearance and a ceremony for Alex Morgan’s retirement. All of which had to be moved following the venue switch. Morgan’s celebration will happen next year. The venue also will host two games in the SheBelieves Cup in February.
Megan Rapinoe sustained an ACL injury during the first half of the 2023 NWSL Championship match at Snapdragon Stadium (Orlando Ramirez / Imagn Images)
Field issues in San Diego are not new, with multiple season-ending injuries for NWSL players happening at Snapdragon last year, including Megan Rapinoe’s injury in the early moments of the 2023 NWSL championship. These issues extended into the 2024 season, with former interim coach Landon Donovan saying that “outside of replacing the whole field” there was little to be done to remedy the issue.
Because the Wave is only a tenant, it has limited say over what San Diego State University does and soon cedes next priority to MLS expansion team San Diego FC.
The MLS team will have priority in scheduling, despite the Wave having a loyal fanbase and averaging 19,575 fans per game. Only one other women’s team in the world averages higher attendance, according to the club: Arsenal Women in the Women’s Super League. The university’s contract with the MLS club, though, specifies there will be an annual meeting at the start of each contract year to discuss topics such as “stadium maintenance and capital improvement plans” and “field of play quality”.
The crowding at Snapdragon has led at least one team, the professional rugby team San Diego Legion, to relocate in the new year. The team announced Tuesday it would move to the 6,000-seat Torero Stadium to make way for more weekend home matches.
Public land and public funds – or private financing?
A similar availability snafu happened in Chicago, when the punk rock festival Riot Fest announced it would be held at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, Illinois, on the same day as a home game for the Chicago Red Stars. The stadium is publicly owned by the Village of Bridgeview, and the hope was that both events would happen concurrently.
“It is unfair and unfortunate to have our club put in this situation, shining a light on the vast discrepancies in the treatment of women’s professional sports versus men’s professional sports,” Red Stars president Karen Leetzow said at the time.
The problem resolved when Riot Fest announced the festival would be relocating to Chicago proper, bringing an anticlimactic end to the months-long drama. The timing of this dilemma unraveled just after the Red Stars had packed Wrigley Field in a historic game against Bay FC on June 8.
Chicago hosted Bay FC at Wrigley Field in front of a record-breaking crowd. (Daniel Bartel / Imagn Images)
While the Red Stars have been tenants of SeatGeek Stadium since 2016, and are contracted through the 2025 season, club leadership has been outspoken about wanting to find a home closer to Chicago.
“Every week, we’re meeting with influential people here in the city who can help us get this done,” Leetzow said in August. “I have a whole series of talking points I’ve been refining and honing throughout the summer and into the fall as the (state) legislators go back into session.”
The hope is for city officials to commit public funding to a women’s soccer stadium like they did to renovate Soldier Field, where MLS side Chicago Fire FC currently competes. That might be a tall ask, though, as the Chicago Bears and White Sox are also bidding for public funding for stadium projects.
The Chicago Fire said last month they are considering building a privately financed, soccer-specific stadium in the city, and had already toured three sites for the project. The MLS team left SeatGeek Stadium, which is 30 minutes outside the city, by paying $60.5 million to get the Fire out of its lease with the venue early in 2019 after Joe Mansueto acquired a controlling stake in the team.
What about training facilities?
Investing in better infrastructure also means investing in training facilities that will help develop and prepare players.
Last year, the Utah Royals unveiled multi-million-dollar expansion and remodelling plans for an NWSL-specific training site at their Zions Bank Real Academy, a 42-acre campus with several grass and indoor fields that houses the franchise’s clubs, including Real Salt Lake in MLS. The Pride and Houston Dash have similar, dedicated spaces with their MLS counterparts.
NWSL expansion club Bay FC announced in September plans to build a training facility in San Francisco’s Treasure Island neighborhood, slated to open in 2027.
“Having a permanent dedicated space that is built specifically for our players and football operations staff will allow us to continue to attract the best national and international talent and continue our Club’s mission of being a catalyst for innovation and change for our athletes and the community,” Bay FC chief executive Brady Stewart said at the time.
The news drew criticism, though, for the decision to develop an area with a history of hazardous waste.
GO DEEPER
After hazardous waste history, Bay FC’s new training site is ‘available for re-use by the public’
More recently, Angel City Football Club unveiled plans to relocate to a nine-acre site on the campus of California Lutheran University, where they plan to upgrade and remodel a 50,000-square-foot training center. The center was previously home of the Los Angeles Rams and will undergo a multimillion-dollar remodel entirely financed by the club, serving as the team’s home for up to four years.
“The size of this performance center is incredibly important, because not only can we provide the resources and staffing and tools that they need today, but we have enough room to grow and evolve,” Julie Uhrman, president and co-founder of Angel City told The Athletic. “So, if we extend beyond from a first team to a second team to Academy, we have the ability to grow.”
The new facility will be exclusively for Angel City and feature custom lockers for players, coaches and staff. Other custom features include a dedicated locker room for players under 18, a children’s playroom to support players and staff, an onsite studio for content creation, a custom boot wall and a private outdoor relaxation lounge.
“Our commitment is that we are going to build a permanent Performance Center for our players, and we’ve actively been working on that since 2020,” Uhrman said. “Wanting something that’s 10-plus acres is challenging and takes time, and while we’re doing that, we wanted to build the best temporary training facility that we could.”
That search for a permanent home remains a “work in progress”, she added. So far, the club has “identified a couple of locations that we’re really excited about.”
Where do things stand for expansion clubs?
The NWSL is growing, with plans to announce a 16th team before the end of the year. The latest expansion club is expected to begin playing in 2026 alongside Boston. While the league isn’t hinting at which direction it will go, it’s safe to assume that having a concrete plan for a team’s facilities and infrastructure could be a deciding factor.
The ownership group in Boston proposed renovating George R. White Stadium in Franklin Park for the team’s home venue, where BOS Nation FC will play. This would be secured through equity and involve a public-private partnership with Boston Public Schools, which would retain ownership of the stadium for its own use.
As for a potential 16th expansion team, one ownership group in Cleveland recently announced the joint purchase of 13.6 acres of state land to build a $150 million, 12,500-seat stadium on what is currently undeveloped land in the city’s downtown. Cleveland Soccer Group (CSG) plans to pursue a public-private partnership, similar to Boston’s thinking.
GO DEEPER
NWSL expansion: Where things stand as the league looks to add a 16th team
“I think it’s really important because most stadiums in this country have had some public financing element to them,” Murphy said. “If you look back in the state of Ohio even, maybe over the past 30 years, there’s been about $2 billion spent in this state across Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton, Toledo, (and) other cities on men’s professional (sports), and over the same periods it’s been $0 for women.”
Big step forward for soccer in The Land! ⚽️
The Cleveland Metroparks just approved a 13.6-acre land deal for a proposed stadium, part of Cleveland Soccer Group’s efforts to secure an NWSL expansion team.
Team bid results expected later this year! pic.twitter.com/h5ukBVHtQI
— I’m From Cleveland (@ImFromCle) September 19, 2024
Cleveland Metroparks purchased the roughly $4.2 million state-owned property, where the stadium will sit, from the Ohio Department of Transportation. CSG will fund the purchase, with the stadium remaining publicly owned. The purchase of this property, though, is contingent on CSG being awarded the NWSL expansion bid.
Some other potential expansion groups, such as a campaign that launched in Nashville last month, have not shared specific details on their own facilities plans. The local MLS club, Nashville SC, has however expressed interest in potentially sharing their stadium, Geodis Park.
(Top photo: Jamie Squire / Getty Images)
CLEVELAND — As the flakes tumbled from the night sky, turning Huntington Bank Field into a snow globe, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson dropped back and let it fly.
The pass, thrown with anticipation, found receiver Calvin Austin III on time and on target in the end zone for the go-ahead, 23-yard touchdown. After failing to score a touchdown for more than seven consecutive quarters dating to Week 10 against the Washington Commanders, Pittsburgh had scored two in less than two minutes to take a one-point lead over the Cleveland Browns with 6:15 remaining.
.@DangeRussWilson ➡️ @CalvinAustinIII for six!!!!
📲 Stream on NFL+: https://t.co/COxKRnr6Mc pic.twitter.com/ucLP4kE2cM
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) November 22, 2024
It was a miraculous comeback. Until it wasn’t.
“The game is never won until you get on the bus,” Austin said after the game. “So it was definitely an emotional moment (after the touchdown). We were all hype and stuff. But we knew we had an inspired team that was about to get the ball back.”
As it turned out, the Browns got the ball back not once, but twice.
The Steelers’ defense did its job the first time, forcing backup quarterback Jameis Winston into an errant pass that cornerback Donte Jackson intercepted with 4:22 to go. But after Pittsburgh went three-and-out — with Justin Fields in for Wilson at quarterback on second and third down — and Corliss Waitman shanked a punt for the first time as a Steeler, the defense couldn’t get off the field again.
Cleveland got the ball back with 3:22 remaining and drove 45 yards in nine plays. The Browns capped the sequence with a 2-yard Nick Chubb touchdown with 57 seconds remaining, then batted down Wilson’s Hail Mary as time expired to stun the Steelers, 24-19.
GO DEEPER
Browns stun Steelers 24-19 in snow as Chubb scores late TD: Takeaways
A team that made a statement by beating the Baltimore Ravens just four days earlier dropped to 8-3, leaving the door open in the competitive AFC North.
“Missed opportunities,” defensive co-captain Cameron Hayward said. “We have to eat it. They made more plays at the end. Some of that stuff we can have some head-scratching about what was on display. Just take it, move on. I know everybody is pretty pissed off about the loss.”
The weighty moments at the end of the game loom large: coach Mike Tomlin’s decision to accept an illegal touching penalty that gave the Browns a second crack at third down on the final drive, then spending a timeout that would be needed later; the coverage on the ensuing third-and-6 conversion; the decision to tackle Chubb on the 2-yard line with more than 90 seconds remaining instead of letting him score to preserve time and get the ball back.
But the reality is this game was lost much earlier, on the other side of the ball.
“We beat ourselves with a lot of mistakes,” Austin said. “That takes all 11 looking in the mirror and just continuing to push details. They’re a good team. Got to give them credit. But at the end of the day, we just got to perform better.”
Two weeks ago, when Wilson erased a 10-point, second-half deficit against the Commanders, it appeared the offense had finally figured it out after years of instability and inconsistency. At the time, the veteran signal caller had led the Steelers to 31.7 points and 382 total yards per game through three starts. If the offense continued along the same trajectory, it was reasonable to consider the Steelers legitimate Super Bowl contenders that could stand toe-to-toe with Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen.
But it hasn’t continued.
If those first three games showed the explosive upside of Wilson’s moonball, his veteran presence and his ability to make checks at the line of scrimmage, the past two have revealed many of the Steelers’ offensive warts.
It’s certainly not all on Wilson. However, sacks are becoming problematic, putting the offense behind the chains. This was an obvious area of concern the minute the Steelers signed Wilson, considering he led the NFL in sacks taken in two of the previous five seasons. Initially, when he took over for Fields in Week 7, the Steelers did well enough to protect Wilson that it wasn’t a major red flag.
However, in the first half alone on Thursday, Wilson was sacked four times, as the Browns kept the Steelers’ offensive line off balance with stunts and games up front. Three of those sacks came from Myles Garrett, including a strip-sack that set the Browns up on a short field.
Myles strips the ball and we recover it 🙌😤 #PITvsCLE | @NFLonPrime pic.twitter.com/36WalR8R8h
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) November 22, 2024
Even beyond the negative plays, Pittsburgh’s offense has become too boom or bust. Yes, once again, Wilson’s deep shot was a catalyst. He connected with Austin on a 46-yard bomb up the seam, hit Van Jefferson on a 35-yard gain and found George Pickens for 31 yards. Those big plays helped bolster what was a solid stat line from Wilson, as he completed 21 of 28 passes for 270 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions for a 116.7 passer rating.
The problem is, when the Steelers aren’t producing touchdowns on these deep shots, they’re having a hard time finishing drives. The issues emerged on the opening drive. On third down, Wilson took an 8-yard sack on third-and-2, turning a potential 50-yard field goal attempt into a 58-yarder that the reliable Chris Boswell missed.
The Steelers, who rank 26th in success rate (37.2 percent, per TruMedia) since Wilson took over, tried to use every resource available to keep the offense going. However, another first-half drive was halted on the 40-yard line. This time, they deployed Fields on a fourth-and-2 QB keeper, failing and turning the ball over on downs. The offense also fizzled at the 30 (made field goal), its own 46 (failed fourth-and-1 run by Jaylen Warren) and the Cleveland 9-yard line (made field goal).
“We had some really good, explosive plays down the field, throwing the ball with Van (Jefferson) — he made some great catches — and Calvin (Austin),” Wilson said. “And then we got stalled for whatever reasons. We’ve got to watch the film and see what that was. … We needed one or two more plays.”
Complicating matters is the unique quarterback dynamic. After utilizing the Fields package for three plays on Sunday against the Ravens, the Steelers featured their mobile QB on seven snaps (plus an eighth that didn’t happen because of a false start) on Thursday.
The results were mixed. After coming up short on fourth down early in the game, Fields provided a second-half spark when he kept the ball on a zone read and raced 30 yards along the right sideline. That played helped jump-start the offense, and later in the same drive, the threat of Fields keeping the ball on the zone read helped Warren burst into the end zone to snap the Steelers’ touchdown-less skid and kindle the rally.
Jaylen Warren in for the TD! The @Steelers answer right back.#PITvsCLE on Prime Video
Also streaming on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/aDPce0i8CM— NFL (@NFL) November 22, 2024
The Steelers also put the ball in Fields’ hands in a four-minute situation with the lead. It was a reasonable time to play the running quarterback, with the Steelers trying to burn the clock. However, on third-and-4, his deep shot for Pickens sailed incomplete, stopping the clock and giving the Browns plenty of time to score the go-ahead touchdown.
Asked if he would have liked to be in the game in that critical moment, Wilson was somewhat transparent.
“Listen, I always want to be in there,” he said. “That’s just the competitor in me. But at the same time, we have great trust in Justin, our team, our coaches and everything we’re doing.”
It’s also not the easiest challenge for Fields. He said after the game that he felt “kind of stiff” on his 30-yard run after standing on the sideline for the entirety of the second and third quarters, adding he felt he could have scored on the play. Asked if it’s difficult to enter the game mid-stream and virtually without warning, Fields admitted it is.
“But at the end of the day, that’s what my job is,” he said. “So you can’t complain. Anytime I get a chance and an opportunity to go on the field and help my team, I’m happy to do it.”
Sitting behind a keyboard and watching the game from the press box, it’s honestly hard to say what the right balance should be. Fields has often been the Steelers’ best offensive weapon, and his mobility might be able to help them rectify their red zone woes. Using both quarterbacks allows the Steelers to adjust on the fly if the offense needs a jolt or if the opposing pass rush is becoming too big of a factor. On the other hand, it does seem that, at times, rotating quarterbacks can disrupt the passers’ rhythm and timing.
Still, it’s important to remember that the Steelers got to 8-2 thanks to the contributions of both players. If they’re going to prove that this two-game stretch of offensive woes was a blip on the radar, and that this offense can in fact provide an edge in the postseason, they’re probably going to need to continue to use both.
Finding that right balance and rediscovering a way to finish drives will help determine how far this offense — and the team as a whole — goes.
“We’ve got a lot of football left,” Wilson said. “We’ve got a lot of opportunities to respond in the highest way, highest level. I think that everything that we want is still in front of us.”
(Photo of Russell Wilson: Kevin Sabitus / Getty Images)
Free, daily NFL updates direct to your inbox.
Free, daily NFL updates direct to your inbox.
Sign Up
Marta already has an illustrious legacy, but this year with the Pride was one of her best ever
NFL Week 12 roundtable: Giants’ QB plan post-Jones, NFC West race, is Bo Nix legit OROY contender?
Trump taps Brooke Rollins of America First Policy Institute for agriculture secretary
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24007866/acastro_STK109_microsoft_02.jpg "Microsoft pauses Windows 11 updates for PCs with some Ubisoft games installed")
Microsoft pauses Windows 11 updates for PCs with some Ubisoft games installed
Man in India regains consciousness before his cremation on funeral pyre: reports
Colorado Rockies game no. 116 thread: Zac Gallen vs José Ureña
See it: Tesla crashes into Columbus convention center at 70 mph
Fox News Politics: Georgia the whole day through
Why Marjorie Taylor Greene was ‘kicked out’ of the Freedom Caucus according to Rep. Buck
Death of missing Oregon girl found in stream ruled homicide
Trump administration takes shape: President-elect completes top 15 Cabinet picks
Thousands march across Europe protesting violence against women
Fred Harris, former Democratic U.S. senator and presidential candidate, dies at 94
Ric Grenell under consideration to be Trump's point man on Ukraine: report
More than 100 Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza in 48 hours
-
Business7 days agoColumn: Molly White's message for journalists going freelance — be ready for the pitfalls
-
Science4 days agoTrump nominates Dr. Oz to head Medicare and Medicaid and help take on 'illness industrial complex'
-
Politics6 days agoTrump taps FCC member Brendan Carr to lead agency: 'Warrior for Free Speech'
-
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25739950/247386_Elon_Musk_Open_AI_CVirginia.jpg "Inside Elon Musk’s messy breakup with OpenAI")
Technology5 days agoInside Elon Musk’s messy breakup with OpenAI
-
Lifestyle6 days agoSome in the U.S. farm industry are alarmed by Trump's embrace of RFK Jr. and tariffs
-
World6 days agoProtesters in Slovakia rally against Robert Fico’s populist government
-
News6 days agoThey disagree about a lot, but these singers figure out how to stay in harmony
-
News6 days agoGaetz-gate: Navigating the President-elect's most baffling Cabinet pick