The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic’s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox.
[Good morning! Spring is about to spring. Coming up:
Baseball is Back: Five fun storylines to follow in spring training
MLB games are happening this very week. Fake ones, sure, but ballgames all the same, as all 30 teams start their Grapefruit or Cactus League schedule by Saturday.
Now is a lovely time to read Jayson Stark’s big pre-spring training survey of the league. Jayson has dozens of industry folks weighing in on where the dust will settle now that the offseason roster churn is (just about) finished, and Florida and Arizona are chock-full of ballplayers actually playing ball. Here’s a short Pulse guide to spring stories:
How will the overhauled Mets fit together? Steve Cohen’s big investment flopped late last season and blew a postseason spot. Gone: Pete Alonso, Edwin Díaz, Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil, among others. In: Bo Bichette, Luis Robert Jr., Marcus Semien and Jorge Polanco in the lineup, plus Freddy Peralta in the rotation and Devin Williams at the back end of the bullpen.
- These could all be good players, but several of them carry questions about age (Semien), durability (Robert), defense (Bichette) or a bit of all the above. Plus, Francisco Lindor’s near-term status is unclear after hand surgery. Two serious prospects, starter Nolan McLean and soon enough outfielder Carson Benge, will be involved here. Another moving part: Juan Soto, not much of a defender in right field, is moving to left.
Are the Mariners the best team in the AL? Their 87-win projection at FanGraphs is tied for tops in the Junior Circuit with the Yankees. Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodríguez are an ideal lineup nucleus, and a trade for the versatile Brendan Donovan from the Cardinals got all kinds of rave reviews in Stark’s survey. I’ll be curious how the Mariners deploy Donovan this spring, as he can play all over the diamond.
How will three veteran Japanese FAs adjust to MLB? Starter Tatsuya Imai (The Athletic’s No. 10 free agent, signed by the Astros), first baseman Munetaka Murakami (No. 17, White Sox) and corner infielder Kazuma Okamoto (No. 26, Blue Jays) will all debut as rookies between the ages of 26 and 30. The two who aren’t on the White Sox are filling holes for teams that hope to be in a pennant race this summer.
Is that optimism in … Pittsburgh? Indeed, though I still feel weird about it as a fan of the team. The Pirates should have an excellent pitching staff, led by NL Cy Young winner Paul Skenes. They added a few competent bats, and MLB’s No. 1 prospect, shortstop Konnor Griffin, could make the team out of camp. You can at least see the vision.
Will several top prospects make Opening Day rosters? A handful have a good shot this year, in addition to Griffin: Kevin McGonigle could win the shortstop job in Detroit, and JJ Wetherholt looks very likely to play second base for the Cardinals. Then there’s the outfielder Benge, who has a lane to start for the Mets. All of these guys figure prominently in Keith Law’s ranking of the game’s 100 prospects.
We’ll move on now. But if you want a tremendous (and free) baseball newsletter to show up in your inbox on weekdays this season, check out The Windup.
News to Know
Reddick wins a wild Daytona 500
Tyler Reddick rang in the NASCAR Cup Series season with a last-lap comeback to win the Daytona 500. It was his ninth career win and first in the 500, a year after placing second. Chase Elliott led most of the final lap, but Reddick passed him on the closing stretch, and Elliott was taken out in a multicar pileup just after Reddick nudged ahead. (Elliott then had the honor of finishing fourth while going backward.) Reddick, a 30-year-old Californian, races for Michael Jordan’s 23XI Racing, which just won a major settlement from NASCAR in the offseason. A nice few months for MJ. Much more here.
Time running short for Shiffrin
Italy’s Federica Brignone won the giant slalom gold medal in her home country yesterday. The 35-year-old is a great story — a reigning world champion who’d won three medals across previous Olympics but, until recently, was uncertain to even race at Milan Cortina because of a fractured left leg and torn ACL. On the flip side, times are hard for American Mikaela Shiffrin, who finished 11th in the event Brignone won. Shiffrin has one shot left to medal in Italy, and it will come in the regular slalom — an event she has recently dominated — on Wednesday. Full Day 9 recap here.
More news
- The NBA All-Star Game debuted a round-robin construction between two American teams and a “World” squad yesterday. The format was nice, and Anthony Edwards won MVP.
- Collin Morikawa’s one-shot triumph at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am marked his first win on the PGA Tour since October 2023. The 29-year-old also announced in his postround interview that his wife, Katherine, is pregnant with their first child.
- Canada and the United States men’s hockey both finished Olympic group play with a 3-0 record, but thanks to goal differential, Team USA got stuck with a likely quarterfinal draw against Sweden. A tough break via the bracket format.
- Sacramento State football is joining the MAC in time for the 2026 season. The Hornets are now in the same conference as UMass, as the gods always intended. It’s a $23 million (and counting) move that I think makes little sense, but let’s see how it goes.
- Kansas State fired men’s basketball coach Jerome Tang for cause (angling to save millions in buyout funds) after he harshly criticized his players. The Wildcats are 1-11 in the Big 12.
- Bryce Harper said it was “wild” that Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski told reporters Harper didn’t have an “elite” 2025. Hmm.
Watch Guide
📺 Olympics: Alpine skiing, men’s slalom
7:30 a.m. ET on USA
This is the second and final run of the medal event, for those of you up early and looking for a great Olympic watch. The first run was a few hours ago, but it’s not too late.
📺 Olympics: U.S. vs. Sweden women’s hockey
10:40 a.m. ET on NBC
One of two semifinals today. The other pits Canada against Switzerland at 3:10 p.m. ET. Barring a massive surprise, the U.S. and Canada will have a rematch for the gold Thursday. (Marie-Philip Poulin, Canada’s and the planet’s best player, is back from injury.)
📺 Olympics: Bobsled, women’s singles final
3 p.m. ET on NBC
The fourth and final heat of the medal event gets the network broadcast treatment. (The first two heats were yesterday, and we’ll have a better sense of where things stand after the third heat at 4 a.m. ET.) Medals are awarded after the afternoon runs.
Get tickets to games like this here.
Pulse Picks
The Athletic staffers had a rigorous debate over which coaching job is the hardest in all of sports. I say it’s the New York Jets, thanks to poor ownership.
Canada’s first gold medal of these Olympics came yesterday in dual moguls, a new event. It might be a perfect Olympic contest.
Should Canada run out one of the best lines in hockey history for the rest of the Olympic men’s hockey tournament? Read Pierre LeBrun on the prospect.
Our college football staff put together a helpful breakdown of the eligibility fights roiling the SEC’s quarterback rooms.
Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: American speedskater Jordan Stolz winning his second gold.
Most-read on the website yesterday: Olympics Day 9 live blog.
📫 That’s all for now! Say hello at thepulse@theathletic.com, and check out our other newsletters.