Sports
Shohei Ohtani and Miguel Rojas help fill in for injured Mookie Betts in Dodgers' win
No Mookie, no problem.
For one night at least.
In the Dodgers’ first game without star shortstop Mookie Betts, who is expected to sit out roughly six to eight weeks because of a fractured hand he sustained Sunday, the team cruised to a 9-5 win over the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field.
And, in a reminder of the talent on the Dodgers’ roster, they received some of their biggest contributions from the two players taking over Betts’ primary responsibilities.
Without Betts at the top of the lineup, designated hitter Shohei Ohtani was bumped up to the leadoff spot and went three for four with an RBI and a walk.
Without Betts at shortstop, Miguel Rojas slid back over to his natural position and christened the return with a three-hit, two-run, one-RBI outburst, continuing an impressively productive start to the season the Dodgers will need to last for the foreseeable future.
The Dodgers received plenty of help from others Monday, including a seven-inning, one-run, two-hit start by James Paxton (one of the pitchers who will have to step up in the absence of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who also suffered a significant, but non-season-ending injury this weekend), three hits from Jason Heyward and a career-high five walks from Freddie Freeman.
But, in the big picture, it was the play of Ohtani (who was batting leadoff for only the second time this season) and Rojas (starting at shortstop for only the fourth time in the last month and a half) that was most encouraging to a club still reeling from Betts’ injury.
“You just don’t know how things are gonna go after you lose Mookie,” Freeman said. “So we kind of responded today. The game we played today, that was huge for us. So we’ll just hold it down until Mookie can get better.”
Ohtani’s performance served as an encore to Sunday, when he emerged from an 11-for-51 slump with two home runs. The star slugger didn’t leave the yard again Monday, but he did single home a run in the second, before hitting back-to-back doubles in the fourth and sixth innings — the latter on an opposite-field bullet down the left-field line.
“We haven’t seen him drive a ball to left field like he did for that double in quite some time,” manager Dave Roberts said. “So that’s a good sign.”
Ohtani now has a .314 batting average and .989 OPS, ranking fourth and second in the National League, respectively.
For the time being, Ohtani will also serve as the Dodgers’ leadoff hitter, moving up from a No. 2 spot that on Monday belonged to catcher Will Smith, the former cleanup hitter. Freddie Freeman remained in the No. 3 spot, and Teoscar Hernández batted fourth.
Is this the new look Roberts will use at the top of the lineup?
“I think versus the right-hander, I like this,” Roberts said, not entirely tipping his hand. “Against left, I will probably think through it. But this feels right, versus both right now.”
Dodgers shortstop Miguel Rojas singles during the third inning against the Colorado Rockies on Monday.
(David Zalubowski / Associated Press)
Roberts made the Dodgers’ shortstop plans much more clear, stating that, in Betts’ absence, Rojas will start the majority of the games at the position, with Kiké Hernández backing him up in addition to his other roles at third base and the outfield.
Rojas has the glove to be a starting shortstop, the role he served for the Dodgers for most of last year and the Miami Marlins the six seasons before that. He has been a pleasant surprise at the plate, raising his batting average to .292 and OPS to .799 with two singles and an RBI double in the seventh inning Monday.
In games Rojas has recorded at least one hit this season, the Dodgers are 20-0.
The big question with Rojas, 35, has been durability.
Last year, when he unexpectedly started 109 games after Gavin Lux’s spring training knee injury, Rojas was bothered by nagging cramps in his hip. Earlier this month, Roberts said some lingering leg soreness was affecting Rojas, as well, contributing to the reason why, before Monday, Rojas had started only 30 of 73 games this season.
Freddie Freeman rounds third base to score on a double hit by Teoscar Hernández in the first inning. Freeman was walked five times in the game.
(David Zalubowski / Associated Press)
“I’m not 30 years old anymore,” Rojas said. “It takes special preparation, doing rehab, doing postgame work, so that’s what I’m doing.”
On Monday, both Rojas and Roberts expressed confidence in the 11-year veteran handling an increased workload. This week, Rojas will start in three of the four games at Coors Field.
“He would argue he could play every day,” Roberts said. “But my job is to manage it, so I think that’s a good rhythm for him. He’s in a good rhythm right now.”
Rojas’ shortstop defense has also remained sharp, thanks largely to his extensive routine of pregame infield drills alongside Betts this season, in which Rojas has served as a sounding board during Betts’ transition to the position.
Because of all the time they’ve spent together this season, Rojas said he was sad and angry when he saw Betts writhing on the ground in pain Sunday, after being plunked by a 98-mph fastball.
“It affected me a lot,” he said. “I don’t ever want to see Mookie go down like that, because I know his desire and drive to be great.”
In his first chance to step up in Betts’ place, though, Rojas and the rest of the Dodgers’ lineup delivered, helping ensure the Dodgers’ first game without their former MVP winner wasn’t one in which his presence was dearly missed.
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Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo made NBA history on Tuesday night.
Adebayo scored 83 points, all while setting league marks for free throws made and attempted in a game for the Miami Heat in a 150-129 win over the Washington Wizards. It is the second-highest scoring game for a player ever, only to Wilt Chamberlain’s famed 100-point game.
“An absolutely surreal night,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters after the game.
Adebayo started with a 31-point first quarter. He was up to 43 at halftime, 62 by the end of the third quarter. And then came the fourth, when the milestones kept falling despite facing double-, triple- and what once appeared to be a quadruple-team from a Wizards defense that kept sending him to the foul line.
He finished 20 of 43 from the field, 36 of 43 from the foul line, 7 for 22 from 3-point range.
After the game, he was seen in tears while he hugged his mother, Marilyn Blount, before leaving the floor after the game.
“Welp won’t have the highest career high in the house anymore,” Adebayo’s girlfriend, four-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson, wrote on social media, “but at least it gives me something to go after.”
MAGIC’S ANTHONY BLACK MAKES INCREDIBLE DUNK OVER FOUR DEFENDERS IN HISTORIC NBA GAME
Bam Adebayo #13 of the Miami Heat celebrates during the fourth quarter of the game against the Washington Wizards at Kaseya Center on March 10, 2026, in Miami, Florida. (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
The NBA’s previous best this season was 56, by Nikola Jokic for Denver against Minnesota on Christmas night. The last player to have 62 points through three quarters: one of Adebayo’s basketball heroes, Kobe Bryant, who had exactly that many through three quarters for the Los Angeles Lakers against Dallas on Dec. 20, 2005.
He wound up passing Bryant for single-game scoring as well. Bryant’s career-best was 81 — a game that was the second-best on the NBA scoring list for two decades.
Adebayo scored 31 points in the opening quarter against the Wizards, breaking the Heat record for points in any quarter — and tying the team record for points in a first half before the second quarter even started.
He finished the first half with 43 points, a team record for any half and two points better than his previous career high — for a full game, that is — of 41, set Jan. 23, 2021, against Brooklyn.
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Adebayo’s season high entering Tuesday was 32. He matched that with a free throw with 5:53 left in the second quarter, breaking the Heat first-half scoring record.
Adebayo’s 43-point first half was the NBA’s second-best in at least the last 30 seasons — going back to the start of the digital play-by-play era that began in the 1996-97 season.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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BOSTON — Charlie McAvoy scored 39 seconds into overtime and Jeremy Swayman stopped 14 shots on Tuesday night to earn the Boston Bruins their 13th straight victory at home, 2-1 over the Kings.
Mason Lohrei scored midway through the third period to break a scoreless tie. But the Kings tied it five minutes later when Drew Doughty’s shot from the blue line deflected off the heel of Bruins forward Elias Lindholm and into the net.
It was the seventh straight time the teams had gone to overtime in Boston.
In the overtime, Mark Kastelic blocked a shot in the defensive zone and made a long pass to David Pastrnak, who waited for McAvoy to come into the zone. The Bruins’ defenseman and U.S. Olympian, who went to the locker room at the end of the second period after taking a puck off his mouth, skated in on Darcy Kuemper and went to his backhand for the winner.
Kuemper stopped 21 shots for the Kings, who entered the night one point out of the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. The victory kept Boston in possession of the East’s second wild-card spot.
Swayman tied his career high with his 25th win of the season. The Bruins haven’t lost at the TD Garden since before Christmas.
After the game, Kings forward and future Hall of Famer Anze Kopitar stayed on the ice to shake hands with the Bruins after what is expected to be his last game in Boston.
Sports
Jon Jones requests UFC release after Dana White says legend was ‘never’ considered him for White House card
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Mixed martial arts legend Jon Jones ended his retirement from UFC simply because he wanted a spot on the “Freedom 250” fight card at the White House in June.
But, when UFC CEO Dana White announced the card during UFC 326 this past weekend, Jones wasn’t among the fighters. As a result, he has requested a release from his UFC contract.
White was candid when asked about Jones following the UFC 326 card.
Jon Jones of the United States of America reacts after his TKO victory against Stipe Miocic of the United States of America in the UFC heavyweight championship fight during the UFC 309 event at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 16, 2024 in New York City. ((Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images))
“Never, ever, ever, which I told you guys a hundred thousands times, was Jon Jones ever even remotely in my mind to fight at the White House,” White explained, per CBS Sports. “Some guy with Meta Glasses filmed him talking about his hips – that his hips are so bad. And I don’t know if you guys saw that flag football game where he can barely run. Jon Jones retired because of his hips. He’s got arthritis in his hips. Apparently, doctors say he should have a hip replacement.”
White added that “the Jon Jones thing is bulls—,” saying that he texted the fighter’s lawyer saying he would never be on the White House card despite Jones saying he was in negotiations for it.
UFC ANNOUNCES CARD FOR WHITE HOUSE EVENT
The Meta Glasses incident White is referring to came from a viral video, where Jones, unaware he was being filmed, discussed issues with his hips to a fan.
On Monday, Jones composed a thorough response to White’s comments about him and the White House Card. He previously posted and deleted social media explanations, but Monday’s appeared to be his final statement on the matter.
UFC President Dana White speaks after UFC Fight Night at Toyota Center on Feb. 21, 2026. (Troy Taormina/Imagn Images)
“Yes, I have arthritis in my hip and it’s painful, but that doesn’t mean I can’t fight,” Jones, who retired a heavyweight champion in 2025, said. “So let me get this straight, if I had accepted the lowball offer, suddenly my hip would be fine and I’d be on the White House card? That doesn’t make sense. I even received stem cell treatment last week to get ready for the White House card, and training camp was scheduled to start today. I was preparing to be ready.
“I understand business deals fall through sometimes, but going out publicly and saying things that aren’t true isn’t right. After everything I’ve given to the UFC, the years, the title defenses, the fights, hearing that I’m ‘done’ is disappointing. Especially when as recently as Friday UFC was calling me trying to get me on that White House card for a much lower number.”
Jones finished his statement by saying he “respectfully” asks to be released from his UFC contract.
Jon Jones enters the ring before facing Stipe Miocic in the UFC heavyweight championship fight during the UFC 309 event at Madison Square Garden on November 16, 2024 in New York City, New York. (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)
“No more spins, no more games. Thank you to the real fans who know what’s up,” he wrote.
The UFC did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Fox News Digital.
Jones is considered one of the best UFC fighters of all time, owning a 28-1-1 record, which includes his last bout with Stipe Miocic, knocking him out to take the heavyweight title belt. He is also a two-time light heavyweight champion.
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