Sports
Shohei Ohtani's three-run blast caps memorable All-Star week for Dodgers
Shohei Ohtani wasn’t able to participate in this week’s Home Run Derby. But the Dodgers slugger didn’t leave All-Star week in Texas without a memorable big fly.
In the third inning of Major League Baseball’s 94th All-Star Game on Tuesday night at Globe Life Field, Ohtani wowed the 39,343-person crowd the best way he knows how: smoking a no-doubt, 400-foot home run halfway up the right-field stands in the American League’s eventual 5-3 win over the National League.
“At this point, it’s normal for him,” teammate Teoscar Hernández said. “It’s Shohei being Shohei.”
The blast was Ohtani’s first home run in the Midsummer Classic, where he is now two for six with three walks in four appearances (he also has a win as a pitcher, making him the only player in MLB history with both a home run and win in the event).
It was the first All-Star Game homer by a Dodgers player since Mike Piazza in 1996, and only the second by a Japanese-born player after Ichiro Suzuki’s inside-the-park home run in the 2007 game.
However, it was also the only scoring for the NL on Tuesday, denying Ohtani potential most valuable player honors that instead went to the Boston Red Sox’s Jarren Durran, a former Long Beach State and Cypress High standout, who broke a 3-3 tie in the fifth inning with a two-run homer.
“In general, I haven’t really hit well during the All-Star Game, so I’m just relieved that I put a good ball in play,” Ohtani, who also had a first-inning walk, said through interpreter Will Ireton. “I was really just focused on having a regular at-bat, as if I was in the regular season.”
Ohtani’s blast opened the scoring Tuesday night, coming on a 2-and-0 splitter from Boston Red Sox right-hander Tanner Houck. Like everyone else in the ballpark, Ohtani began to admire the drive as soon as he hit it, leaning back in the batter’s box with a long gaze before flipping his bat and rounding the bases.
From the dugout, Dodgers teammate Freddie Freeman flung his arms in celebration, while Dodgers pitcher Tyler Glasnow’s jaw dropped.
As Ohtani came around third, he also put his arms in the air — doing the same hip-shaking, Dragon Ball Z-inspired long ball celebration that accompanied the NL-leading 29 homers he hit for the Dodgers during the first half of the season.
“It felt inevitable he was going to do it,” Freeman said. “He steps in the box, and you kind of figure he would come through. Pretty awesome.”
The Dodgers had three other players in Tuesday’s All-Star Game. A night after winning the Home Run Derby, Hernández started in center field but went 0 for 2. Catcher Will Smith entered the game in the sixth inning and recorded a single. But, in the next at-bat, Freeman came off the bench and grounded into a double play, stepping on the foot of Cleveland Guardians first baseman Josh Naylor for an awkward out that required a video review.
Glasnow, a first-time All-Star, watched the game from the dugout, unable to take the mound because of a back injury that landed him on the injured list. Glasnow has been throwing this week, and expects to return from the IL when eligible next week.
But as usual, no one topped Ohtani’s exploits Tuesday night.
Houck said he was trying to throw a low splitter to Ohtani, but left too much of it over the heart of the plate.
“Just a good swing,” he said. “The boys were going out there swinging today.”
Oakland Athletics closer Mason Miller, a flame-throwing 25-year-old rookie right-hander, had better luck against Ohtani in his last at-bat in the fifth inning, striking him out with a couple of 100-mph fastballs and a swing-and-miss slider below the zone.
“I wasn’t giving him one up,” Miller told the Fox broadcast. “That’s for sure.”
When Ohtani met with reporters during the eighth inning, he was asked if he was rooting particularly hard for an NL comeback given his MVP candidacy (a player from the losing team hasn’t won All-Star Game MVP since Carl Yastrzemski in 1970).
“In an ideal world, yes,” he said with a chuckle.
Still, “it’s an honor just being here,” he added.
Indeed, even without any award-winning hardware, Ohtani managed to once again be a main attraction on baseball’s biggest night of stars.
Missing glove
As Freeman dug through his locker in the NL’s visiting clubhouse a few hours before the game, he realized something was missing.
“Where’s my glove?” he asked out loud, with a laugh. “I seriously don’t have a glove.”
Turns out, as he was packing up his stuff at the end of the Dodgers’ series in Detroit on Sunday, Freeman’s first baseman’s glove was accidentally packed in the bag he sent back to Los Angeles.
A Little League-esque sequence ensued.
First, Freeman sought out NL starting first baseman Bryce Harper, knowing he and the Philadelphia Phillies star share Rawlings as an equipment sponsor.
Before first pitch, however, Freeman learned that New York Mets slugger Pete Alonso had an extra mitt with him in Texas.
“He was like, ‘Hey, I don’t a have a glove,’” Alonso chuckled. “I was like, ‘Well, that’s a problem. I have an extra one. Would you like to use one of mine?’”
Old friends from their days playing against each other in the NL East when Freeman played for Atlanta, Alonso joked he didn’t charge Freeman anything for the rental, either.
“Nah,” he said. “Just friendship dues. That’s it.”
Dad duty
When Hernández became the first Dodgers player to win the Home Run Derby on Monday night, there were a few current Dodgers who were missing from the celebration.
While Glasnow stuck around to the end of Hernández’s dramatic win, the club’s three other All-Star hitters were all gone by the end of the three-hour slugfest.
The reason, for Smith and Freeman at least?
They were on Dad duty, having brought their young children with them to Texas this week.
“I had to leave early,” joked Smith, whose daughter Charlotte is almost 2. “My daughter was not having it.”
The same went for Freeman, who was in town with his three sons, Charlie, Maximus, and Brandon.
Hernández said he didn’t give his lineup-mates a hard time, joking he hardly even noticed until seeing social media users wondering about their absences Tuesday.
“At the end of the day, it was a good day,” he said. “I won. So that’s all that matters.”
During batting practice before Monday’s Derby, Freeman’s oldest son, 7-year-old Charlie, received big ovations from the crowd as he raced after fly balls.
In the visiting clubhouse after Tuesday’s All-Star Game, all three boys were climbing over their eight-time All-Star of a dad.
“This is what makes it fun for me now,” Freeman said. “Obviously it’s still fun to play in All-Star Games. But when you have the joy of him coming and shagging balls and stuff like that. To see their faces, that’s what makes it fun.”
Sports
ESPN’s Jay Williams faces awkward ribbing from colleagues during NBA Draft
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The 2026 NBA Draft finally saw the top college prospects get chosen along with some friendly fire among ESPN and basketball analysts on Tuesday night.
Jay Williams, Richard Jefferson and Kenny Smith were among those covering the draft and offering their analysis during the event. One exchange among the three former NBA players went awry and led to an awkward moment.
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Jay Williams of the Chicago Bulls and Tony Parker of the San Antonio Spurs share a laugh during the 2003 got milk? Rookie Challenge Game at Phillips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, on Feb. 8, 2003. (Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE)
ESPN recalled the moments each former player was drafted. Smith went No. 6 overall in 1987 to the Sacramento Kings, Richard Jefferson was selected at No. 13 by the Houston Rockets before being traded to the New Jersey Nets in 2001 and Williams was chosen No. 2 overall by the Chicago Bulls in 2001. Williams’ career was cut short due to a motorcycle crash.
ESPN’s Kevin Negandhi asked why Williams received a big ovation. Williams explained that most people who had gone to Duke were from the New York or New Jersey area.
“They also didn’t see the future coming, so they were cheering,” Jefferson said.
Williams responded, “Wow.”
TNT basketball analyst Kenny Smith appears on air before the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Final Four semifinal game between the Purdue Boilermakers and the North Carolina State Wolfpack at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., on April 6, 2024. (Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
Smith admitted that Williams was an “unbelievable talent” but “his career trajectory would’ve been a lot different if he didn’t like motorcycles.”
Williams tried to brush it off, saying all of what Smith was saying was “on record” and that he “wrote a book about it.”
“I guess everybody that goes to Duke isn’t that smart,” Jefferson quipped. “What? He wrote a book about it. I’m agreeing with him.”
The awkwardness filled the air after that as the Toronto Raptors were getting ready to make a selection.
Williams’ incident occurred in June 2003. He suffered a fractured pelvis, three torn ligaments in his knee and he severed a nerve in his leg. Williams violated the terms of his contract by riding the motorcycle in the first place.
Referee Richard Jefferson watches the game between the New York Knicks and Portland Trail Blazers during the 2022 Las Vegas Summer League at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nev., on July 11, 2022. (Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images)
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He tried to make his way back into the NBA through the G League but never got there. He played 75 games for the Bulls in his rookie season and averaged 9.5 points per game.
Sports
MLB clears Dodgers’ Dr. Neal ElAttrache after link to Conor McGregor steroids report
Major League Baseball says it has no concerns about Dodgers and Rams head team physician Dr. Neal ElAttrache working with players.
ElAttrache was questioned by MLB on June 12 following a detailed report by the New York Times that the renowned surgeon and sports medicine expert supported the therapeutic use of performance-enhancing drugs by UFC star Conor McGregor.
“MLB took our responsibility to conduct due diligence in this matter seriously. We interviewed Dr. Neal ElAttrache last week, covering multiple topics, and he answered our questions thoroughly,” MLB said in a statement obtained by The Times Tuesday night.
“Based on our interview, the review of relevant records, Dr. ElAttrache’s long history of support for and cooperation with the Joint Drug Program and the fact that no Therapeutic Use Exemption requests of this nature have been submitted by Dr. ElAttrache or anyone else, we do not have any concerns regarding Dr. ElAttrache’s treatment of MLB players, or his adherence to the Joint Drug Programs and related rules.
“We consider this matter closed.”
ElAttrache performed surgery on McGregor in July 2021, inserting a rod, plates and screws into his left leg after the fighter broke his tibia and fibula during a mixed martial arts bout against Dustin Poirier in Las Vegas.
McGregor’s recovery was lengthy and arduous. ElAttrache told the New York Times that while he did not prescribe steroids for McGregor, he referred him to a specialist who did. Furthermore, ElAttrache wrote a letter supporting McGregor’s request for a therapeutic use exemption from UFC drug policies.
“I felt it would be appropriate to consult other physicians with expertise in bone healing/bone metabolism,” ElAttrache told the New York Times via text. “I recommended the consultations but not the course of treatment.”
ElAttrache said he told McGregor to check with UFC drug testers about prescriptions the consultant gave him. “I purposely wasn’t involved with his evaluation by the consultant nor with prescribing medication,” ElAttrache said.
The exemption request was denied by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, the drug testing organization the UFC used at the time, triggering a split between the two organizations. McGregor withdrew from the UFC anti-doping program shortly thereafter and no longer was required to undergo testing for banned substances.
The report prompted MLB to talk with ElAttrache about his approach to treating players.
ElAttrache, operating primarily out of the Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic in Los Angeles, has performed elbow or shoulder surgeries on prominent Dodgers past and present, including Shohei Ohtani, Clayton Kershaw, Tony Gonsolin and Walker Buehler as well as former Rams stars Cooper Kupp and Cam Akers.
Among the hundreds of surgeries performed over three decades by ElAttrache, his patients include the four 2024 MLB most valuable player and Cy Young Award winners — Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Chris Sale and Tarik Skubal. ElAttrache’s patients include 18 of 29 players who won the MVP or Cy Young awards over the past 10 years.
“I have spoken with MLB and I am very comfortable with the process that the league and I will complete to assure the public that I have followed every rule and regulation in my medical treatment of athletes without exception,” ElAttrache said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times earlier this month. “My record is completely clean, including in this case.”
Times staff writers Steve Henson, Bill Shaikin, Sam Farmer and Gary Klein contributed to this report.
Sports
Wizards select AJ Dybantsa first overall in 2026 NBA Draft
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As expected, the Washington Wizards have begun the 2026 NBA Draft by selecting BYU’s AJ Dybantsa with the first overall pick.
In a draft class loaded with “cant-miss prospects,” Dybantsa stood out above the rest, as the 6-foot-9, 217-pound forward put on a show with the Cougars in his one and only collegiate season.
Dybantsa averaged 25.6 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.1 steals per game, while shooting 51% from the field for BYU. He became the fifth Division-1 player in the last 40 seasons to average at least 25 points while shooting 50% from the field in a single season.
This is a breaking news story. More to come…
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