Sports
Can James Paxton deliver again? The Dodgers are counting on it
His check-engine light was illuminated, and his gas gauge was nearing empty, but James Paxton had little choice but to ignore those warning signs as July turned to August last summer.
The Boston Red Sox were 56-50 and 2½ games out of an American League wild-card spot when they opted to keep Paxton beyond the Aug. 1 trade deadline, a decision that came crashing down on both the team and the 35-year-old left-hander over the next five weeks.
Paxton, in his first full season since undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2021, did not make it to the finish line.
After going 6-2 with a 3.34 ERA in his first 13 starts, including a dominant June in which he went 3-0 with a 1.74 ERA in five games to earn AL pitcher of the month honors, Paxton went 1-3 with a 7.62 ERA in six starts from Aug. 4 to Sept. 1 and sat out the final month of the season because of an inflamed right knee.
The Red Sox crumbled in similar fashion, going 22-34 over the final two months of the season to finish 78-84 and 11 games out of playoff contention.
“It had been like 2½ years since I pitched [meaningful] innings in the big leagues, and I felt like I kind of reached a point where my body was just a little burned out,” said Paxton, who signed a one-year, $7-million deal with the Dodgers in late January. “I didn’t have much left in the tank.”
The Dodgers think the 6-foot-4, 212-pound Paxton, a Vancouver-area native who is nicknamed “The Big Maple,” has enough left in the tank to provide stability and a veteran presence to the back of a rebuilt rotation that appears strong and deep enough to make a World Series run.
“The upside is massive,” assistant pitching coach Connor McGuiness said. “I think it’s no secret that he’s got a little bit of injury history … but when he’s out there and healthy and doing his thing, I mean, he’s got some of the best stuff in baseball, especially when he’s running his fastball up to 96-97 miles per hour.”
Paxton missed the first six weeks of 2023 because of a right hamstring strain and the final month because of his knee issue, injuries that prompted the Dodgers to reduce the guaranteed amount of his contract from an originally agreed upon $11 million to $7 million with $4 million in incentives if he makes 18 starts.
Yet for a bulk of the time between those injuries, Paxton appeared to regain the form and fastball that helped him go 15-6 with a 3.82 ERA in 29 starts for the New York Yankees in 2019, his last full injury-free season.
Leaning mostly on a four-seamer that averaged 95.2 mph, an 81-mph curve and an 86-mph cut fastball, Paxton went 5-1 with a 3.00 ERA over nine starts in June and July, striking out 53 and walking 13 in 51 innings and yielding a .203 average and a .589 on-base-plus-slugging percentage.
But over his next six starts, Paxton yielded a .336 average and 1.065 OPS, struck out only 21 and walked 13 in 26 innings. He was tagged for nine homers in that stretch after giving up nine homers in 70 innings of his first 13 starts.
Dodgers pitcher James Paxton throws during the first day of spring training on Feb. 9.
(Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press)
Paxton lost a little bit of steam on his fastball, which dipped to an average of 93.9 mph and 93.8 mph in two of his last six starts, and his breaking pitches lost some bite.
“The life on my stuff was not there,” Paxton said. “I could still throw hard, but I didn’t have any finish on anything. The ball was coming in kind of dead. And it doesn’t matter how hard you’re throwing, if it’s coming in dead, it’s sitting there on a tee for them. I felt kind of naked out there. I was grinding as hard as I could, and it just wasn’t coming.”
Another potential problem during his season-ending rough patch was that Paxton made his final three starts on regular four days’ rest. Paxton went 0-2 with a 9.39 ERA in four starts on four days’ rest last season and was 7-3 with a 3.57 ERA in 15 starts with five days’ or more of rest.
“Early in the season, I had a lot of extra rest, and then we went to a shorter leash,” Paxton said. “Coming off a surgery and that much time off, I wasn’t conditioned for that. If you start off going [every five days] your body gets accustomed to that, whereas if you go six all the time, that’s what your body gets accustomed to. We’re creatures of habit.”
The Dodgers won’t push Paxton like that. With the high-profile additions of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who is transitioning from a once-a-week schedule in Japan, and Tyler Glasnow, who had Tommy John surgery in 2021 and hasn’t thrown more than 120 innings in any of his eight seasons, they plan to build in extra rest for their starters.
“It seems like when he gets that extra day, it really helps him,” McGuiness said of Paxton. “[The Red Sox] had to run him out there. They were in a pennant race, and he’s the type of guy who wants to go and help the team, so he’s not going to say no.
“But we have the luxury, given some of the guys we’ve signed, to run somewhat of a six-man rotation. So to get a guy of this caliber who’s looking to pitch in a six-man [rotation], you couldn’t ask for a better fit.”
The Dodgers, after poring over video from Paxton’s 2019 season, also plan to tweak Paxton’s mix of pitches, replacing his cutter with a “bullet” slider, which is thrown harder than a sweeper and has roughly equal parts horizontal and vertical movement.
“It’s a nice pitch to have because it works incredibly well to both sides of the plate, and it’s a more neutral pitch than a sweeper,” McGuiness said. “It helps him keep the ball down and underneath the swing of a right-handed hitter and down and away from a left-handed hitter.”
Paxton made his exhibition debut against the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday night, giving up two hits and a run in the first inning and striking out the side — Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Mike Ford with fastballs, and Stuart Fairchild with an 83-mph curve — in the second.
“I felt like I was able to find my velocity with the fastball last year, and that was big for me, but I’m looking forward to using the breaking stuff more this year — I feel like I’m in a better spot with it,” Paxton said. “And I’ll be ready to throw more innings this year. The body feels really good, so I’m ready to go.”
Sports
ESPN’s Stephen A Smith hears boos from WrestleMania 42 crowd
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LAS VEGAS – Danhausen’s curse may be real after all – just ask Stephen A. Smith and the New York Mets.
While the latter dropped their 10th game in a row, Smith got his share of the curse on Saturday night during Night 1 of WrestleMania 42. Smith was in attendance for WWE’s premier event of the year and heard massive boos from the crowd.
Stephen A. Smith attends WrestleMania 42: Night 1 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 18, 2026. (Andrew Timms/WWE)
Smith was sitting ringside to watch the action. The ESPN star appeared on the videoboard above the ring at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. He appeared to embrace the reaction and smiled through it.
The boos came after Danhausen appeared on “First Take” on Friday – much to the chagrin of the sports pundit. Smith appeared perplexed by Danhausen’s appearance. Smith said he heard about Danhausen and called him a “bad luck charm.”
Danhausen said Smith had been “rude” to him and put the dreaded “curse” on the commentator.
WWE STAR DANHAUSEN SAYS METS ‘CURSE’ ISN’T EXACTLY LIFTED AS TEAM DROPS NINTH STRAIGHT GAME
Stephen A. Smith attends WrestleMania 42: Night 1 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 18, 2026. (Andrew Timms/WWE)
Smith is far from the only one dealing with the effects of the “curse.”
Danhausen agreed to “un-curse” the Mets during their losing streak. However, he told Fox News Digital earlier this week that there was a reason why the curse’s removal didn’t take full effect.
“I did un-curse the Mets. But it didn’t work because, I believe it was Brian Gewirtz who did not pay Danhausen. He did not send me my money so it did not take full effect,” Danhausen said. “Once I have the money, perhaps it will actually work because right now it’s probably about a half of an un-cursing. It’s like a layaway situation.”
Danhausen enters the arena before his match against Kit Wilson during SmackDown at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on April 10, 2026. (Eakin Howard/Getty Images)
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On “Friday Night SmackDown,” WWE stars like The Miz and Kit Wilson were also targets of Danhausen’s curse.
Sports
After 55 years as a broadcaster in L.A., Randy Rosenbloom is leaving town
It’s time to reveal memories, laughs and crazy times from Randy Rosenbloom’s 55 years as a TV/radio broadcaster in Los Angeles. He’s hopping in a car next Sunday with his wife, saying goodbye to a North Hollywood house that’s been in his family since 1952 and driving 3,300 miles to his new home in Greenville, S.C.
“When I walk out, I’ll probably break down,” he said.
He graduated from North Hollywood High in 1969. He got his first paid job in 1971 calling Hart basketball games for NBC Cable Newhall for $10 a game. It began an adventure of a lifetime.
“I never knew if I overachieved or underachieved. I just did what I loved,” he said.
Randy Rosenbloom (left) used to work with former UCLA coach John Wooden for TV games.
(Randy Rosenbloom)
John Wooden, Jerry Tarkanian and Jim Harrick were among his expert commentators when he did play by play for college basketball games. He called volleyball at the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games for NBC and rowing in 2004. He’s worked more than 100 championship high school events. He did play by play for the first and only Reebok Bowl at Angel Stadium in 1994 won by Bishop Amat over Sylmar, 35-14.
“There were about 5,000, 6,000 people there and I remember thinking nobody watched the game. We ended up with a 5.7 TV rating on Channel 13 in Los Angeles, which is higher than most Lakers games.”
He conducted interviews with NFL Hall of Famers Gale Sayers and Johnny Unitas and boxing greats Robert Duran, Thomas Hearn and Sugar Ray Leonard. He’s worked with baseball greats Steve Garvey and Doug DeCinces. He called games with former USC coach Rod Dedeaux. He was in the radio booth for Bret Saberhagen’s 1982 no-hitter in the City Section championship game at Dodger Stadium. He was a nightly sportscaster for KADY in Ventura.
Randy Rosenbloom, left, with his volleyball broadcast partners, Kirk Kilgour and Bill Walton.
(Randy Rosenbloom)
He was the voice of Fresno State football and basketball. He also did Nevada Las Vegas football and basketball games. He called bowl games and Little League games. He was a public address announcer for basketball at the 1984 Olympic Games with Michael Jordan the star and did the P.A. for Toluca Little League.
Nothing was too small or too big for him.
“I loved everything,” he said.
He called at least 10 East L.A. Classic football games between Garfield and Roosevelt. He was there when Narbonne and San Pedro tied 21-21 in the 2008 City championship game at the Coliseum on a San Pedro touchdown with one second left.
Probably his most notable tale came when he was doing radio play-by-play at a 1998 college bowl game in Montgomery, Ala.
“I look down and a giant tarantula is crawling up my pants,” he said. “My color man took all the press notes, wadded them up and hit the tarantula like swinging a bat.”
Did Rosenbloom tell the audience what was happening?
“I stayed calm,” he said.
Then there was the time he was in the press box at Sam Boyd Stadium and a bat flew in and attached itself to the wooden press box right next to him before flying away after he said, “UNLV wins.”
Recently, he’s been putting together high school TV packages for LA36 and calling travel ball basketball games. He’ll still keep doing a radio gambling show from his new home, but he’s cutting ties to Los Angeles to move closer to grandchildren.
“I’m retiring from Los Angeles. I’m leaving the market,” he said.
Hopefully he’ll continue via Zoom to do a weekly podcast with me for The Times.
He’s a true professional who’s versatility and work ethic made him a reliable hire from the age of 18 through his current age of 74.
He’s a member of the City Section Hall of Fame and the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. He once threw the shot put 51 feet, 7 1/2 inches, which is his claim to fame at North Hollywood High.
One time an ESPN graphic before a show spelled his name “Rosenbloom” then changed it to “Rosenblum” for postgame. It was worth a good laugh.
He always adjusts, improvises and ad-libs. He expects to enjoy his time in South Carolina, but he better watch out for tarantulas. They seem to like him.
Sports
Becky Lynch enters exclusive WWE club with Women’s Intercontinental Championship win at WrestleMania 42
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LAS VEGAS – Becky Lynch entered an atmosphere no other WWE women’s superstar has ever reached as she won the Women’s Intercontinental Championship over AJ Lee on Saturday night at WrestleMania 42.
Lynch became the first person to hold the Women’s Intercontinental Championship three times after she pinned Lee. She first won the title against Lyra Valkyria in June 2025 and then again against Maxxine Dupri in November.
Becky Lynch celebrates with the belt after defeating AJ Lee during their women’s Intercontinental Championship match at WrestleMania 42 in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 18, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
She dropped the belt to Lee at the Elimination Chamber, sparking a monthslong feud with her.
Lee gave Lynch the chance at the title in the weeks prior to WrestleMania 42. But it appeared Lee played right into Lynch’s plans. Despite arguing with referee Jessica Carr for most of the match, Lynch was able to tactfully tear down a rope buckle and use it to her advantage.
Lynch hit Lee with a Manhandle Slam and pinned her for the win.
WWE STARS REVEAL WHAT MAKES WRESTLEMANIA SO SPECIAL: ‘IT’S THE SUPER BOWL OF PRO WRESTLING’
AJ Lee reacts after losing to Becky Lynch in their Women’s Intercontinental Championship match at WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on April 18, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
It’s the second straight year Lynch will leave Las Vegas as champion. She returned to WWE at WrestleMania 41, teaming with Valkyria, to win the women’s tag titles. She will now leave Allegiant Stadium as the women’s intercontinental champion.
Lynch is now a seven-time women’s champion, three-time women’s intercontinental champion and two-time tag team champion.
Becky Lynch withstands AJ Lee during their Women’s Intercontinental Championship match on night one of WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 18, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
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Lee’s reign as champion ended really before it could really begin. WrestleMania 42 was her first appearance at the event in 11 years. It’s unclear where Lee will go from here.
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