Copyright Los Angeles Times
From Jack Harris: Almost everyone in baseball, it seems, is waiting to see how aggressive the Dodgers will be this offseason. For now, that appears to include the two-time defending champions themselves. As the club’s front office arrived at The Cosmopolitan Hotel for MLB’s annual general managers’ meetings this week, the team’s plans for this winter remained in a formative stage. The Dodgers should have plenty of financial flexibility to play with in the coming months, with more than $60 million in salary from last season set to come off the books (resulting from Clayton Kershaw’s retirement, the expiration of contracts for Michael Conforto, Kirby Yates, Michael Kopech and others, and the team’s decision to designate Tony Gonsolin for assignment last week). They could also use upgrades at some of the deepest positions in this year’s free agent class, namely a corner outfielder (where Kyle Tucker beckons as the biggest name available) and another top relief arm at the back end of the bullpen (where Edwin Díaz, Devin Williams, Robert Suarez and Pete Fairbanks will all be on the open market). Continue reading here Shaikin: Torii Hunter sees Angels turning into ‘a force to be reckoned with’ soon From Ryan Kartje: Lincoln Riley isn’t backing down from his belief that the fake punt ploy USC pulled last Friday in its win over Northwestern was perfectly within NCAA rules. “The fake punt was entirely legal,” Riley said on Tuesday. “Our guys did a fantastic job of executing it. And there’s not really a whole lot else to say.” The play in question from Friday’s game appeared to be a normal fake punt, with USC and Northwestern locked at 7 apiece, early in the second quarter. But unbeknownst to Northwestern, USC third-string quarterback Sam Huard lined up as the punter, wearing the same uniform number as Sam Johnson, the Trojans’ usual starting punter. Huard, who quietly changed to No. 80 weeks earlier, hit freshman receiver Tanook Hines for a first down, and USC went on to score. “It was just a well thought out thing by several of our staff members who were involved in it,” Riley said after the game. Continue reading here KINGS Joel Edmundson and Quinton Byfield each had a goal and an assist as the Kings scored three quick goals in the second period to beat the Montreal Canadiens 5-1 on Tuesday night. Joel Armia and Kevin Fiala also scored for the Kings (8-5-4), who won their second consecutive game on the road and improved to 7-1-2 away from home this season. Warren Foegele added an empty-net goal and Darcy Kuemper stopped 21 shots. The Kings won their ninth straight game against Montreal dating to the 2021-22 season. It’s their longest active run against one opponent. Continue reading here Kings summary NHL standings DUCKS Gabriel Landeskog scored his first goal of the season, Nathan MacKinnon had three assists and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Ducks 4-1 on Tuesday night in a matchup of the Western Conference’s points leaders. Landeskog’s second-period goal, which gave Colorado a 2-1 lead, was his first in the regular season since March 5, 2022. The 32-year-old left wing had missed the entire 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons, as well as the 2024-25 regular season, after undergoing a series of knee surgeries. After the goal, the home crowd serenaded him with chants of “Landy.” The loss snapped the Ducks’ seven-game win streak. With the win, the Avalanche are 6-0-1 in their last seven games and improved to 16-1-2 in their last 19 meetings against the Ducks. Leo Carlsson scored his sixth goal in the last four games for Anaheim and recorded his 100th career point, making the 20-year-old the youngest player in Ducks history to reach that milestone. Troy Terry got his team-leading 15th assist of the season on Carlsson’s goal. Continue reading here Ducks summary NHL standings GALAXY From Kevin Baxter: Coach Greg Vanney is fond of reminding people that the Galaxy‘s 2025 season wasn’t just a long, dismal fall into a historically deep abyss. It was actually two seasons with wildly different results. In the first, the Galaxy were winless in their first 16 MLS games, the poorest start ever for a reigning MLS champion. That was the “fall into the abyss” part. But in the second, the team lost just eight of 25 games in all competition, going 7-6-5 in league play. Add the two records together and the Galaxy finished 7-18-9 in MLS, the worst season in franchise history. Yet it also played well enough in August’s Leagues Cup to qualify for next year’s CONCACAF Champions Cup, a significant achievement. So it’s no surprise Vanney wants to talk about the way things ended rather than how they started. “By the end of the year we were beating MLS playoff teams and we beat the top teams in Mexico,” he said. “We became a team that found our way.” Continue reading here THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY 1892 — William “Pudge” Heffelfinger becomes the first pro football player by getting $500 to play for the Allegheny Athletic Association against the Pittsburgh Athletic Club. Heffelfinger doesn’t disappoint his bosses, returning a fumble for a touchdown to give Allegheny a 4-0 victory. 1920 — Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis is hired as baseball’s first commissioner. 1931 — Maple Leaf Gardens opens in Toronto, with the Chicago Blackhawks winning 2-1 before 13,233 fans. 1967 — Travis Williams of Green Bay returns two kickoffs for touchdowns against Cleveland, and the Packers beat the Browns 55-7. The Packers score 45 points in the first half, 35 in the opening quarter. 1972 — Richard Petty wins a record fourth NASCAR Winston Cup Grand National championship after finishing third in the Texas 500. 1972 — Don Shula becomes the first NFL coach to win 100 regular-season games in 10 seasons when the Miami Dolphins beat the New England Patriots 52-0. 1994 — Prairie View loses 52-7 to Jackson State, breaking an NCAA Division I-AA record with 45 straight losses. Columbia lost 44 straight from 1983-88. 1995 — Miami’s Dan Marino breaks Fran Tarkenton’s NFL career record of 47,003 yards passing with a 9-yard pass to Irving Fryar during the Dolphins’ 34-17 loss to the New England Patriots. 2006 — Indianapolis edges Buffalo 17-16 to become the first team to have consecutive 9-0 records. 2007 — Top-ranked Roger Federer loses consecutive matches for the first time in 4 1/2 years, falling to No. 7 Fernando Gonzalez of Chile 4-6, 7-6 (1), 7-5 at the Masters Cup. 2010 — Minnesota’s Kevin Love grabs a franchise-record 31 rebounds and scores 31 points, the NBA’s first 30-30 game in 28 years. Love grabs 15 rebounds in the third quarter alone, and the Timberwolves rally from a 21-point, third-quarter deficit to stun the New York Knicks 112-103. Moses Malone was the last player to have a 30-30 game — 32 points, 38 rebounds for Houston against Seattle in 1982. 2013 — Keith Dawson tips in a miss with less than six seconds left to give No. 2 Michigan State a 78-74 victory over top-ranked Kentucky. It’s the earliest meeting of 1 vs. 2 in AP poll history and the first since 2008. 2016 — Anthony Moeglin throws a 24-yard touchdown pass to William Woods with 39 seconds left to lift John Carroll to a 31-28 win over Mount Union. The loss ends the Purple Raiders’ NCAA-record 112-game regular-season winning streak. The Division III powerhouse hadn’t lost since Oct. 22, 2005. 2017 — Brittany Force becomes the NHRA’s first female Top Fuel season champion since Shirley Muldowney in 1982 in the season-ending Auto Club NHRA Finals. Force is the daughter of 16-time Funny Car champion John Force. 2019 — Former Houston Astros MLB pitcher Mike Fiers reveals the team secretly “stole signs” from visiting teams via camera. Compiled by the Associated Press Until next time...
