Minnesota
Minnesota Baseball: Gophers to Retire John Anderson’s #14

The Minnesota Golden Gophers baseball team announced on Wednesday that they will be retiring long time Minnesota manager John Anderson’s #14 in a ceremony prior to Saturday’s game. Anderson who announced in December that he would be retiring at the end of the season will manage his final three games at Siebert Field this weekend when the Gophers host Michigan State. This season is his 43rd leading the Gophers and his 49th overall at Minnesota including his time spent as a player, student assistant coach, graduate assistant and assistant coach.
Before the second game of the series between the Gophers and Spartans on Saturday a special ceremony will be held to honor Anderson. A mural of Anderson will be unveiled on the left field wall at Siebert Field. Anderson’s mural will be the seventh added to the wall in left field. He will join former Gophers Paul Giel (No. 34), Dick Siebert (No. 24), Dave Winfield (No. 31), Paul Molitor (No. 11), David Chelesnik (No. 26) and Herb “Ike” Isakson (No. 5) in having his number retired. Siebert Field will open at 12:30 p.m. and fans are encouraged to be in their seats by 1:15 p.m. The game against Michigan State is slated to start at 2 p.m. after the on-field ceremony.
Anderson has had a long and illustrious career as the manager of the Gophers. In 43 seasons he is the winningest baseball coach in the history of the Big Ten. During his tenure, the Gophers have won 11 Big Ten titles, 10 Big Ten Tournament championships and made 18 NCAA tournament appearances.
Anderson has been named the Big Ten Coach of the Year eight times, most recently in 2018 after leading Minnesota to a Big Ten Championship and the Super Regionals for the first time in program history.
Under his watch, 115 Gophers have been drafted to the MLB. With two selections in the 2023 draft, the Gophers extended their draft streak to 36 consecutive years. The streak is the longest in the Big Ten with Ohio State (12 years) and Michigan (10 years) as the next closest Big Ten teams. Anderson has coached 28 All-America selections, nine Big Ten Players of the Year, three Big Ten Pitchers of the Year and four Big Ten Freshman of the Year during his tenure. He’s had a winning record in 36 seasons.
It’s a crucial series for the Gophers who are fighting to get into the top 8 in the Big Ten standings to qualify for the Big Ten Tournament. Minnesota currently sits in a tie for 11th place at 7-11 in Big Ten play while Michigan State is in 7th place at 9-9. Minnesota closes out the regular season next weekend at last place Northwestern. The Gophers at minimum most likely need to take two of the from MSU this weekend.
Minnesota will have Anderson themed give-aways both Friday and Saturday. On Friday night the first 250 people will receive a free #14 jersey koozie, and on Saturday the first 500 people will receive a free John Anderson commerative pennant. Sunday will be all about the students as the Gophers honor Anderson’s final Senior Day.
Congrats to Coach Anderson and good luck to the Gophers!

Minnesota
NBA Western Conference Finals schedule unveiled

The Minnesota Timberwolves don’t know who they’re playing in the Western Conference Finals yet, but they do know when the games will be played. The Wolves will start the series on the road in Game 1 on Tuesday night.
The Timberwolves await the winner of the Oklahoma City-Denver series. That series is tied at 3-3 with Game 7 being played on Sunday at Oklahoma City.
On Thursday night, the NBA announced the following schedule for Western Conference Finals (Best-of-Seven):
- Game 1: Tue, 5/20 – Minnesota at OKC/DEN – 7:30PM
- Game 2: Thu, 5/22 – Minnesota at OKC/DEN – 7:30 PM
- Game 3: Sat, 5/24 – OKC/DEN at Minnesota – 7:30 PM (on 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS)
- Game 4: Mon, 5/26 – OKC/DEN at Minnesota – 7:30 PM
- Game 5*: Wed, 5/28 – Minnesota at OKC/DEN – 7:30 PM
- Game 6*: Fri, 5/30 – OKC/DEN at Minnesota – 7:30 PM
- Game 7*: Sun, 6/1 – Minnesota at OKC/DEN – 7:00 PM
(*if necessary)
Minnesota
Minnesota Twins Expected to Call Up Top Prospect RHP Zebby Matthews

Minnesota Twins prospect Webby Matthews is expected to get called up to the big leagues this weekend, The Minnesota Star Tribune’s Bob Nightengale reported Thursday.
With Simeon Woods Richardson getting optioned to Triple-A St. Paul, the Twins’ rotation is down to four arms. Joe Ryan and Pablo López are slated to start Friday and Saturday’s games against the Milwaukee Brewers, while Bailey Ober and Chris Paddack aren’t in line to start again until the Cleveland Guardians visit town next week.
That leaves Sunday vacant, so Matthews should be able to slide in and make his first MLB start of the year in the series finale at the Brewers.
Baseball America had Matthews ranked as the No. 73 overall prospect in baseball entering 2025. That made him the No. 1 pitcher and No. 4 overall prospect in the Twins’ farm system.
Matthews technically exhausted his rookie eligibility in 2024, having made nine starts between Aug. 13 and the end of the season. He went 1-4 with a 6.69 ERA, 1.646 WHIP and -0.6 WAR, though, all while Minnesota fell out of the playoff picture.
In 9.1 innings of work in spring training, Matthews gave up four hits, one walk and zero runs with 12 strikeouts, but he still got sent to Triple-A St. Paul to open the regular season. He has made seven starts with the Saints so far in 2025, going 2-1 with a 1.93 ERA, 1.194 WHIP and 10.5 strikeouts per nine innings.
Since getting drafted in the eighth round of the 2022 MLB Draft, Matthews has gone 15-7 with a 3.03 ERA, 0.987 WHIP and 10.2 strikeouts per nine innings in the minors.
Matthews, 24, will likely face off against Freddy Peralta on Sunday. Peralta, a 28-year-old All-Star, is 4-3 with a 2.66 ERA, 1.066 WHIP and 1.5 WAR so far in 2025.
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You can also follow Sam Connon on Twitter @SamConnon.
Minnesota
Five takeaways from Minnesota Vikings’ 2025 regular-season schedule

The Minnesota Vikings’ 2025 regular-season schedule has officially arrived. Let’s dive into five takeaways.
The Vikings have a whopping seven nationally-televised games this year. They’ll play twice on Sunday night, once on Monday night, twice on Thursdays (including a Christmas Day game against the Detroit Lions) and twice in international games. Those matchups will be broadcast on networks like ESPN, NBC, NFL Network, Prime Video and Netflix.
Seven national games might seem like a lot for a team with a preseason Vegas win total of just 8.5, but the Vikings have plenty of juicy storylines this year. Leading the way, of course, is former 10th overall pick and Michigan national champion J.J. McCarthy taking over for Sam Darnold as the starting quarterback of a team that won 14 games last year. The Vikings also have a superstar in Justin Jefferson, the reigning NFL Coach of the Year in Kevin O’Connell and an extremely talented roster on both sides of the ball. They’re a fascinating team heading into this season because if McCarthy is good, they could be a legitimate Super Bowl contender. He’s going to be tested in front of national audiences all year.
Of the Vikings’ seven national TV games, four are true “primetime” night games — and two of those happen in the first two weeks of the season. McCarthy’s first NFL start will come on Monday night at Soldier Field in Chicago, not far from his hometown of La Grange Park, Ill. That’ll be a fun way to wrap up Week 1 of the NFL season, considering it’ll also be Ben Johnson’s first game as Bears head coach. Then, on a slightly short week, the Vikings will welcome Michael Penix Jr. (and maybe Kirk Cousins?) and the Atlanta Falcons to U.S. Bank Stadium for Sunday Night Football. Back-to-back primetime games is quite the way to introduce McCarthy to the country.
The most notable and unusual part of the Vikings’ schedule is their two-week trip to Dublin and London, which is the first of its kind in NFL history. We’ve already covered that quite a bit since it was announced. It comes with real competitive advantages, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the players are going to like it. As anticipated, the Vikings will have a Week 6 bye after returning from what could be a trip of over 10 days. It’s the second year in a row their bye falls in Week 6 and follows a London game.
That means, once again, the Vikings will play games in 12 consecutive weeks to end the season. However, they’ll at least have a couple mini byes after Thursday games in Week 8 and Week 17. Staying healthy will obviously be crucial for the Vikings all year, but particularly in the second half.
The Vikings will hope to be at least 3-2 or 4-1 as they go into the bye week, because things get really difficult on the other side. On Oct. 19, they’ll host the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles at U.S. Bank Stadium. That’s followed by a trip west on a short week to play Jim Harbaugh’s Los Angeles Chargers in L.A. Then they go to Detroit to face the Lions (who have beaten them five times in a row) before coming home to face Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens. Those four teams went a combined 52-16 in the regular season last year. Even managing two wins in that stretch would be pretty impressive.
After some division games in mid-November and a stretch of four road games in five weeks stretching into mid-December, the Vikings’ schedule ends with a couple games that could have huge playoff implications. First, they’ll host the Lions on Christmas Day on a short week. Then, with some extra time to prepare, they’ll wrap up the regular season in Minneapolis against Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers on Jan. 4. If McCarthy plays well and the Vikings are a contender, there could be a ton on the line in those last two games against NFC North rivals.
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