Arizona baseball had won five of its last seven games, which included three road wins, entering Friday evening’s matchup with Kansas State.
Arizona
Rams regroup in Arizona to prepare for Monday's playoff game vs. Vikings
“There’s a feeling amongst the team — this if for LA,” Williams said. “This is for hope back at home that they can cling onto, that the Rams are going to be the people who can take them away from whatever they’re going through for a few hours on Monday.”
Los Angeles (10-7) will play the Vikings (14-3) at the Cardinals’ State Farm Stadium on Monday night. The league announced Thursday that the game would be moved because of the continued threat of wildfires and the potential strain on public services.
The Cardinals opened their training facility in Tempe for the Rams’ use, and there was a big banner that said “Welcome Los Angeles Rams” with the logo of both teams on the entrance gate. Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill sent two team planes to LA on Friday to help the team’s journey to Arizona. The Rams’ players were allowed to bring their families — and even some pets — along for the ride.
“It was cool to have that experience with my boys and with my wife,” Rams receiver Cooper Rush said. “Obviously, to be here, super thankful for the Rams with how they’ve been able to take care of the families in the organization.”
Los Angeles still hopes for a sizable homefield advantage for Monday’s game, even if it’s roughly 375 miles and a six-hour drive from SoFi Stadium. The team’s season ticket holders bought 25,000 tickets in the first hour of availability Friday and the team has arranged for at least 15 buses to drive fans from Inglewood for the game.
More travel aids are being contemplated.
In some ways, State Farm Stadium has been the Rams’ home away from home for a decade. Los Angeles won nine straight games in Arizona before the streak was snapped earlier this season. McVay said Los Angeles requested the vistors locker room on Monday — even though they’re still the home team — because of their familiarity with the space.
“For the most part, we’ve played pretty well in this stadium,” Kupp said. “It’s grass, too, which is a big bonus. I’ll take any chance we have to play on grass.”
Just a few Rams employees had been directly affected by the fires until Thursday afternoon, when the Kenneth Fire broke out a few miles from the team’s training complex in suburban Woodland Hills, sending smoke billowing into the sky with alarming speed.
Defensive lineman Kobie Turner said receiver Puka Nacua’s house was in an evacuation warning zone, so he came over and slept at his house one night. Turner said the tight-knit team has become even closer during the ordeal, looking out for one another.
The Rams have faced adversity on the field all season, recovering from a 1-4 start to win the NFC West. This is just another hurdle.
And considering what so many in L.A. are going through, they’re not going to complain.
“At the end of the day, it’s a playoff game,” Turner said. “You don’t get too many of these.”
Arizona
NFL mock draft: 4-round projections for Arizona Cardinals
In these four-round projections, the Arizona Cardinals don’t get a tackle until the fourth round.
We are just days away from the 2026 NFL draft, and that means some final mock drafts. What direction will the draft take the Arizona Cardinals?
Draft Wire’s Curt Popejoy put together a four-round mock draft for the Cardinals. They go defense early but rebuild the offense for 2026 and moving forward, including landing their potential franchise quarterback.
Cardinals 4-round mock draft
Here are the players in the first four rounds Popejoy projects for Arizona.
- Round 1: Ohio State EDGE/LB Arvell Reese
- Round 2: Alabama QB Ty Simpson
- Round 3: Clemson WR Antonio Williams
- Round 4: Florida OT Austin Barber
What we think of the picks
The Cardinals want to trade out of the third pick and draft a tackle, so not getting a tackle until Round 4 seems unlikely, although they did meet with Barber. They do have options at right tackle for 2026 already on the roster.
Reese would be a great pick if they don’t trade back, as they badly need pass-rushing help off the edge.
Drafting Simpson seems inevitable at this point, so it has to be in a mock draft, although the feeling is they will need to go up into Round 1 again to get him.
Williams has speed and is almost six feet tall, but he does have short arms.
Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.
Arizona
Detroit Lions NFL Draft Injury Report: Arizona State CB Keith Abney
Due to significant injuries to the CB position last year which includes a shoulder surgery for Terrion Arnold, the Lions CB position scored a 6/10 need on my Lions Defensive Draft Need Rankings. Thus, an early-round selection of a young, healthy prospect like Keith Abney would not come as a surprise. He enters the draft with very low medical concern level.
Here is the excerpt from my medical report on Keith Abney:
(Ages in parentheses are at start of 2026 season and are factored into the concern level. Injury info and ages based on available public information are unverified and subject to update. Games played data courtesy of sports-reference.com.)
Keith Abney, CB (21) – Arizona State
Projected round 2-3. #43 on Jeff Risdon board Feb 19.
Concern level 0/10
There is an isolated report of a hand injury but no corroborating information. Even if the hand injury is true, that’s of minimal to no long-term concern.
His availability in his final two seasons has been perfect. Overall, Abney appears to be medically clean and is at an excellent age.
He finished college with 6 INT and 21 PBU.
For more Lions coverage, follow us on X, @TheLionsWire, and give our Facebook page a like. Follow Jimmy on X, @JimmyLiaoMD
Arizona
Arizona baseball drops low-scoring series opener to Kansas State
In the first game of the series, Arizona (14-23, 5-11 Big 12) battled in a low-scoring affair but fell short in a 2-1 loss to Kansas State (24-12, 8-8 Big 12). The Wildcats from Tucson held the Wildcats from Manhattan at bay for a good majority of the night.
Given that Kansas State leads the Big 12 in conference play in batting, on-base percentage, and slugging, Arizona had a rather good performance, but it was not enough.
Owen Kramkowski pitched seven scoreless innings before allowing the first Kansas State run in the top of the eight. He finished with six strikeouts and kept the high octane Wildcats at bay.
“I thought the defense played well behind him too,” said head coach Chip Hale. “There’s a lot of ground balls, and we made plays where we were positioned in good places, and he was pitching in the eighth inning. That’s unbelievable.”
Garrett Hicks (3-1) came in to try and stop the bleeding for the Wildcats and did so by not allowing Kansas State to take the lead in the eighth. It was in the ninth when the lead was surrendered.
It took until the sixth inning but the first run was scored by Arizona. Andrew Cain singled to left field and after Maddox Mihalakis flew out, it was Beau Sylvester bringing Cain home with a triple through right center field.
Sylvester extended his hitting streak to eight games and it proved to be not enough to get Arizona to the finish line.
Kansas State tied the game at the top of the eight when back to back singles got runners on at first and third. Then a passed ball allowed the third base runner to come home.
Arizona had a chance to retake the lead in the bottom of the ninth after Cain singled to deep right field. With Sylvester back at the plate, it seemed like it was a perfect set up.
A wild pitch nearly got past Kansas State and Cain tried to take advantage of it and steal home. However, Kansas State was able to corral the pitch and get Cain out at home.
AJ Evasco started the ninth inning with a double for Kansas State and back to back fly outs eventually got him home to give Kansas State the lead and the win.
With eight players being left on base, Arizona will need to bring those runners in more often than not if they want to tie the series Saturday afternoon.
As a young team, the Wildcats have had to walk a very tight line between disappointment and dejection and will need to continue handling these losses with grace if it wants to turn a corner.
“It’s the way it goes, it’s baseball,” said Hale. “If we don’t handle it, we will come out tomorrow and won’t be ready to go, so hopefully they handle it.”
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