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NL Central Preview: Cards seek repeat without Pujols, Molina

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:41 GMT

Two familiar faces from St. Louis’ run to the NL Central title last season aren’t around anymore as the Cardinals attempt to become the division’s first repeat champion in six years.The retirements of Yadier Molina and Albert Pujols leave the Cardinals having to replace two likely Hall of Famers. Second-year manager Oliver Marmol says Molina and Pujols did much to assure the club’s winning culture would endure even after their departures.“Albert and Yadi would talk about that often, like, ‘What’s this look like when we’re no longer here? We want to make sure we’re passing along what we know in the same way it was passed along to us,'” Marmol said. “They did that really well.”The Cardinals still have plenty of star power, returning NL MVP Paul Goldschmidt at first base and third baseman Nolan Arenado, who finished third in the voting. That makes St. Louis the favorite in a division that hasn’t had a team finish first in back-to-back seasons since the Chicago C...

NL East Preview: Braves, Phillies, Mets to duke it out again

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:41 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — The National League East made a strong argument as the majors’ toughest division in 2022 and lines up as perhaps even better this season.The NL East boasted two 101-win teams — the Atlanta Braves, who won their fifth consecutive division title, and the New York Mets. A third playoff team from the division, the Philadelphia Phillies, advanced to the World Series.The NL East is poised for another strong run. FanDuel Sportsbook lists the Braves, Mets and Phillies among its top eight picks to win the World Series. The AL East, which also sent three teams to the playoffs last season, has three of the betting site’s top nine World Series picks as the next strongest division.“Now there’s three big-headed monsters in this division and it’ll be a battle to the end like it always is,” said Braves catcher Travis d’Arnaud.The stiff competition in the division fueled an offseason of big spending. The Mets expect to carry a record payroll of $370 million after adding AL...

AL West Preview: Can Ohtani, Angels unseat the Astros?

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:41 GMT

Once Shohei Ohtani struck out Mike Trout for an epic finish to the World Baseball Classic, the former AL MVPs quickly returned to being teammates again for what could be their last chance together to lead the Los Angeles Angels to the playoffs. For the Athletics, this might be their last season in Oakland. A long postseason drought is over for the Seattle Mariners after their first playoff appearance since 2001 — and they feel like they can do it again. Three-time World Series champion manager Bruce Bochy and two-time NL Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom have joined the Texas Rangers, who have had six losing seasons in a row. In the AL West, they all still have to try to get by Dusty Baker and his reigning World Series champion Houston Astros. Even with Jose Altuve injured and three-time Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander gone in free agency, Houston is a solid favorite to win another division title, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. Its leadoff-hitting second baseman is out unt...

AL Central Preview: Guards try defending lackluster division

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:41 GMT

Guardians ace Shane Bieber was musing about Cleveland manager Terry Francona’s importance to the club earlier this spring when he made a somewhat surprising acknowledgement of what baseball’s youngest team had done a year ago.“We kind of maximized our input,” Bieber said, “and our output.”Indeed, that young bunch of Guardians rolled to the AL Central title by a whopping 11 games last season. They did it by relying on one of the best bullpens in baseball, crafty hitting and speed on the basepaths, and some wisdom from their 63-year-old manager, who heads into a new year feeling good after a series of serious health concerns.“Just him being in the clubhouse, it breeds confidence,” Guardians outfielder Steven Kwan said.The Guardians return largely intact, poised to defend their title in an otherwise down division, though with some extra pop in the lineup with the arrival of switch-hitter Josh Bell and catcher Mike Zunino. Bieber again tops the rotation, while Jo...

NWSL’s Carson Pickett embraces being a role model

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:41 GMT

There was a time earlier in her soccer career when Carson Pickett didn’t want to draw attention to her left arm or even talk about it. She just wanted to be like all the other players.Pickett has since become more comfortable with what makes her both unique and a role model for others like her. The 29-year-old defender, who plays professionally for Racing Louisville in the National Women’s Soccer League, was born without a left hand and forearm.“As I’ve gotten older and more mature, I’ve realized that there is a platform that I have that other people don’t have. And I think for far too long I allowed myself just to kind of only focus on soccer, only focus on fans who want to talk about soccer and, you know, doing interviews that only discuss soccer and not my arm. And I think that that was something that I had to learn,” she said.Of course, there’s much more to Pickett than her limb difference. She’s a skilled defender who has earned call-ups to the U.S...

Congresistas visitan a acusados de participar del ataque al Capitolio en cárcel de DC

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:41 GMT

Varios miembros del Congreso tienen previsto visitar la cárcel de DC el viernes, donde se encuentran recluidos 30 acusados de participar en la insurrección del 6 de enero en el Capitolio.Esta es la segunda gira de la representante republicana Marjorie Taylor Greene, quien ha criticado cómo la cárcel trató a los acusados el 6 de enero y las condiciones en la cárcel.En 2021, la instalación envejecida fue el foco de una inspección por parte de los alguaciles estadounidenses. La inspección encontró que parte de la institución penitenciaria no cumplía con los estándares federales y cientos de reclusos fueron retirados.La visita del viernes incluirá republicanos y al menos un demócrata.Las solicitudes de la prensa para poder participar fueron denegadas.Esta historia tiene elementos que podrían no funcionar en nuestra aplicación. Pulsa aquí para abrir la historia en el navegador de internet. Source

Bayern dumps coach Nagelsmann and hires Tuchel

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:41 GMT

MUNICH (AP) — Bayern Munich hired Thomas Tuchel as coach on Friday to replace Julian Nagelsmann after losing the lead of the Bundesliga and ahead of a potentially title-deciding game.Bayern chief executive Oliver Kahn blamed “big fluctuations in performance” and said the squad wasn’t showing its true potential under Nagelsmann.Tuchel will take over training from Monday with a contract until the end of the 2024-25 season. His first game in charge will be a “Klassiker” against Borussia Dortmund on April 1 that could play a key role in the title race.The decision to remove Nagelsmann came after the team lost at Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 in the Bundesliga on Sunday, dropping to second place, a point behind Dortmund. “Julian shares our aspiration to play successful and attractive football. But now we have come to the conclusion that the quality in our squad — despite the Bundesliga title last year — has come to the fore less and less often,” Kahn said.“After the World Cup we...

Residence Dons at Queen’s vote in favour of unionizing

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:41 GMT

Residence Dons at Queen’s University have voted in favour of unionizing, the United Steel Workers have confirmed to YGK News.The vote, which took place March 22nd to March 23rd, saw Residence Dons vote 73% in favour of unionizing. The vote took place online via the Ontario Labour Board portal. There was a voter turnout of 80%.“We are proud of the solidarity that the Dons showed during this campaign. One of the main reasons they wanted to form their union is to have a voice and a say in their contract,” USW organizer Amanda Zakhour said. “They recognized the need to have a meaningful say in their conditions of work, as their current roles and compensation are currently not defined in a legally binding contract. With their own Steelworker local union, they will have an advocate, a voice in their workplace and a legally bargained contract that protects them.”Over the course of the campaign, Kelly Orster, President of the United Steelworkers Local 2010 & 2010-01, which represen...

Bezos’ rocket company pins crash on overheated engine nozzle

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:41 GMT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — An overheated rocket engine nozzle caused last year’s Blue Origin launch failure that has grounded flights for six months, the company said Friday.Jeff Bezos’ rocket company Blue Origin said it expects to resume its quick trips to space from West Texas sometime later this year.The New Shepard rocket was carrying experiments but no passengers when its engine nozzle broke apart due to excessive temperatures last September.As the rocket started veering off course a minute into flight, the escape system kicked in and the capsule catapulted off and parachuted to safety.But the rocket came crashing down, with the wreckage confined to the designated keep-out zone.No one was hurt and no property on the ground was damaged. All of the critical flight hardware was recovered within days.The investigation found that a design change led to the problem, which is being fixed, according to Blue Origin. The next flight will carry the experiments that were on the fail...

Banking stocks slide into bullish EU summit

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:41 GMT

Crisis descended on an EU leaders’ summit in Brussels on Friday, as stockmarket jitters and banking sector turmoil undercut confident guarantees that all was well.Bullish early-morning reassurances were overshadowed within hours by a financial sector turning bearish, with Deutsche Bank leading a European bank stock nose-dive.The split-screen moment was eerily reminiscent of the eurozone crisis a decade ago, when EU summits were regularly hijacked by the travails of the sovereign debt crisis.Though officials were keen to stress that the current situation was not comparable to the last crisis, which ultimately forced European countries to seek international bailouts, the financial picture was bleak on Friday — and one of the biggest signs yet that the U.S.-born banking failures were seeping into the EU.Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, a former banker, told POLITICO in an interview that he was “concerned about some financial institutions in Europe,” pointing in particular...