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Michigan Mauls Arizona; Next is UConn

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INDIANAPOLIS — Michigan’s wait for a competitive NCAA Tournament game extends to the national championship game Monday after the Wolverines mauled Arizona, 90-73 on Saturday night.

Michigan was all gas, no brake in improving to 36-3 and earning a spot in the title game with a fifth consecutive blowout in the 2026 NCAA Tournament.

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Aday Mara scored 26 points, Trey McKenney had 16 and generations of Wolverines celebrated with Chris Webber, Jalen Rose and the Fab Five courtisde at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Michigan had 26 points off turnovers and made 12 of 27 3-pointers.

The barrage had Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd shaking his head long before Elliot Cadeau splashed his second 3 and gave the Wolverines a 27-point lead with 12:20 left in the game.

There was little life remaining in the Wildcats, who were atypically frustrated for most of their third loss of the season (36-3).

With Michigan All-American Yaxel Lendeborg in and out of the game — first due to foul trouble, later to have his rolled ankle checked and taped to return — the Wolverines flexed their title-worthy depth. Cadeau missed 12 of his 14 shot attempts in the first half, but McKenney could scarcely miss and Arizona had no way to slow down 7-foot-3 center Mara.

McKenney made three 3s in less then five minutes during a second-half sprint that helped Michigan kick its way to a 77-47 lead with 10:31 on the clock.

Mara was more of a constant.

He made 11 of 16 field goals, three of them emphatic and emotional dunks. On defense he slapped away shots, changed countless more and harassed Arizona freshman Koa Peat into a night to erase from his memory.

Peat took a team-high 18 shots (made six) and had only 11 points with 10 minutes left in the game. He eventually led Arizona with 16 points and 11 rebounds.

Arizona had a couple of roundhouse punches left as the deficit hovered around 30 points, but a true game never materialized.

Peat and Burries cashed 3s and Big 12 Player of the Year Jaden Bradley, limited to 25 minutes due to foul trouble, outsprinted the Wolverines for a layup that narrowed the gap to 81-60. The Wildcats forced a stop and then Cadeu’s fourth foul sent Bradley to the line for one-and-one. He came away with two and whittled the margin to 19.

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Burries was 2 of 10 from 3-point range. He finished with 13 points, as did Bradley.

It was still a 19-point game when Mara lowered his right shoulder and tugged Tobe Awaka with him for a five-footer on the baseline that gave him a career-high 25 points and added the free throw to balloon Michigan’s lead to 86-64 with 5:19 left.

Michigan improved to 8-1 in the Final Four and meets UConn (34-5) on Monday. The Huskies held off a late Illinois rally to improve to 13-1 all-time in the Final Four. Michigan is 1-6 and UConn is 6-0 all-time in the national title game.

–By Field Level Media

Chapman Blows the Close

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Ramon Laureano’s two-out RBI single in the top of the ninth inning propelled the visiting San Diego Padres to a 3-2 win over the Boston Red Sox in the second of a three-game series on Saturday.

The Padres found two-out magic against Boston closer Aroldis Chapman (0-1) to take the lead for good, as Fernando Tatis Jr. ripped a double over Ceddanne Rafaela’s head in center field to set the stage for Laureano’s heroic knock into left.

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Miguel Andujar also had a big day for San Diego, going 3-for-5 with a double and a run scored.

San Diego had recorded just two hits between the fourth and seventh innings, allowing the Boston offense to scratch a tying run. Adrian Morejon (1-0) earned the win despite blowing a potential save, which Mason Miller wound up earning after striking out the side in the ninth.

Rafaela and Roman Anthony each had two hits for the Red Sox; Anthony hit a triple in the fifth.

In the eighth, Rafaela and Anthony started the Red Sox with back-to-back singles before pinch hitter Andruw Monasterio put together a nine-pitch at-bat and earned an RBI fielder’s choice. The Padres looked to turn an inning-ending 1-4-3 double play, but Jake Cronenworth fumbled Morejon’s throw to second.

After Boston starter Connelly Early worked out of a two-on, two-out jam to start the game, San Diego took a 1-0 lead on Bryce Johnson’s RBI grounder in the second. Freddy Fermin scored after drawing a leadoff walk and moved first-to-third on Ty France’s wall-ball single.

The bottom of the inning saw the hosts respond with a game-tying run, as Willson Contreras knocked a leadoff single to left and scored on Marcelo Mayer’s sacrifice fly.

A pair of doubles in the third helped the Padres take a 2-1 lead. Andujar knocked one into the left-field corner with one out to spark the inning, and Manny Machado kept the line moving with a walk. Two batters later, Fermin flipped the score again with a two-out liner past the dive of Boston third baseman Caleb Durbin.

Both teams’ bats were quieted for several innings thereafter, though the Red Sox had opportunities to re-tie the game with four hits across the fourth and fifth.

San Diego starter Randy Vasquez worked around three singles in the first of those frames, striking out Mayer with two on to end the threat. An inning later, Anthony’s two-out triple to deep right went by the board.

Vasquez completed six innings of one-run ball with three strikeouts.

Early threw 88 pitches in just four innings, allowing two runs on three hits and four walks while fanning four.

–Field Level Media

NCAA SemiFinal: Illinois vs. UConn

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INDIANAPOLIS – (Staff and Wire Service Preview) – Forgive Brad Underwood if he takes an extra beat to appreciate the novelty of his weekend surroundings as Illinois returns to the Final Four for the first time since 2005.

Ready and waiting, perhaps unimpressed by the pomp and circumstance on the periphery of a third trip to the Final Four in four years, stand UConn and head coach Dan Hurley. And that’s the piece of the Fighting Illini itinerary in Indy that Underwood finds painfully familiar.

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UConn demolished Illinois 74-61 at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 28 and waylaid the Illini in the 2024 Elite Eight in Boston, a blowout by every measure that is memorable for the Huskies’ 30-0 run and 77-52 final score.

Only senior forward Alex Karaban remains from UConn’s previous tournament win over Illinois and the teams are changed in major ways since the November game. But in the days since Illinois defeated No. 9 seed Iowa to win the South, Underwood found a couple of common denominators comparing his losses to UConn’s 19-point comeback to defeat East No. 1 seed Duke on Sunday.

“I look at one guy — well, two. I look at Danny (Hurley) and then I look at Karaban,” he said. “Their culture is, I think this is their third Final Four. You understand why they’re here. It’s never — things have to go right in a 19-point comeback, and they did. But there was no quit. There was no lay-down. We’ve talked a lot about that.”

UConn (33-5) tournament breakout star Tarris Reed Jr. was coming off of an injury when the teams played earlier this season and All-American Keaton Wagler was a non-factor for Illinois (28-8), serving in a vastly different catch-and-shoot role as a spot-up sniper on the baseline. These days, the Big Ten Freshman of the Year handles the ball on every possession and gets the offense going as a point guard or point forward.

The Most Outstanding Player in the South Region, Wagler had 25 against the Hawkeyes and his best game of the year came in the state. He poured in 46 points on Jan. 24 at Purdue in a national coming-out party that featured 9-of-11 shooting from 3-point range. He led Illinois in scoring 19 times this season.

“It does give you a lot of confidence when they put that much trust in you,” Wagler said.

Wagler leads the Illini in scoring (17.9) and assists (4.3), ranks third in rebounding (5.0) and drew praise from UConn for not being a superstar in one sense that you “never see him take bad shots.” Wagler played only 14 minutes in the loss to UConn.

Hurley stressed to his newbies in the locker room, which happens to include Indiana kid and Elite Eight hero Braylon Mullins, that the Huskies aren’t here to hang a Final Four banner. The participants in the national semifinals receive watches in swag bags this week. Hurley couldn’t care less about the timepiece. The treasure Hurley wants the Huskies to focus on can’t be dug up until Monday night, and only after winning twice in the Final Four.

He said Friday he’s even willing to embrace the criticism received since he went eyebrow-to-eyebrow with referee Roger Ayers, risking a technical or ejection in the moments after Mullins had his “One Shining Moment” against Duke.

“I’m not a victim. I’ve done everything. I did what I did,” Hurley said. “We don’t allow victims in our program, and I’m not a 53-year-old man sitting up here like I’m some victim. I don’t want to waste a lot of time with it because it takes away from the team. But for me, the way I view what we’re going into in the game, when some people, again, view it as a game, just my family, how I was raised in the sport, where I’m from in Jersey, we look at it more like a battle.”

-Field Level Media

NCAA Final Four: Michigan vs. Arizona

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INDIANAPOLIS — On the weekend the Fab Five is reunited and Michigan celebrates the anniversary of its only men’s basketball national title in 1989, Dusty May can’t help but feel momentum moving the Wolverines closer to tipoff in the Final Four.

The former Indiana University manager for Bob Knight has Michigan (35-3) hitting a peak at the right time with only Arizona (36-2) between the Wolverines and their eighth national championship game appearance.

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“It’s really cool just to be back here in a full-circle moment,” May said Friday, roughly 36 hours before Michigan takes the court at Lucas Oil Stadium.

The Wolverines waltzed through the NCAA Tournament Midwest Region in Chicago, taking the regional final from Tennessee in a landslide, 95-62. Michigan’s trail of victims all allowed 90-plus points, 25-plus field goals, 19-plus assists and 10-plus 3-pointers with Big Ten Player of the Year Yaxel Lendeborg (21.0 points per game) leading six Wolverines averaging double figures during the NCAA Tournament.

“He’s obviously an elite talent,” Lloyd said of Lendeborg. “You put the skill with those physical tools, and looks like to me he’s got that alpha dog in him. Dusty has done an incredible job just putting him in positions to utilize all his skills. There’s probably not one way to guard him. … I’m sure that guy, that’s going to be a household name in basketball for a long time.”

Lloyd said Friday he plans to be a household name in Tucson for a long time. He signed a contract extension through 2031 in the wake of interest from another college basketball powerhouse — this time North Carolina, last year Villanova — with a coaching vacancy.

Arizona set a single-season program record with 36 wins. The Wildcats won the Big 12 and, like Big Ten regular-season champ Michigan, haven’t had to sweat much in the NCAA Tournament with an average margin of victory of 20.5. This is the first matchup since the NCAA Tournament became a 64-team field in 1985 in which Final Four opponents won four prior games by at least 10 points.

“I feel like we’ve been tested,” Arizona senior point guard Jaden Bradley said. “Big 12 play, Big 12 tournament. I think it’s going to go down to the wire. It’s definitely going to be a full 40 (minutes).”

Illinois, Arizona and Michigan have been in the top six in offensive efficiency rating all season.

The Wildcats are making their fifth Final Four appearance — their first since 2001 — and are back near the site of their 1997 national title celebration at the RCA Dome.

Freshman forward Koa Peat was named West Region Most Outstanding Player, averaging 20.5 points, 5.0 rebounds 2.5 assists in wins over Arkansas and Purdue last week. In a Final Four dominated by transfers and international talent searches, Peat is an anomaly Lloyd applauds.

“Koa is special,” Lloyd said. “And I know you guys hear it, but you got to hear it again. Four state championships at the same high school. Didn’t go to a prep school. Four gold medals with USA Basketball. No one in FIBA history has ever done that. And helped lead Arizona to a Final Four.”

Classmate Brayden Burries scored 23 points against Arkansas in the Sweet 16, the second-most points scored by an Arizona freshman in an NCAA Tournament game. The pair combined for 1,105 points this season.

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The player most responsible for carrying the Arizona flag on the roster is Bradley, who was named Big 12 Player of the Year. He was a third-team All-American and a semifinalist for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year award.

Bradley’s matchup with Michigan’s backcourt brings intrigue in a game where most of the Xs and Os are fixed on big men. He’ll likely get plenty of time against Michigan point guard Elliot Cadeau, who has three consecutive games with seven-plus assists and overcame an allergic reaction and late departure from Ann Arbor to practice Friday.

But Arizona takes pride in its team defense.

“I think their physicality stands out and the way that they play and they sustain physicality for 40 minutes,” Michigan freshman guard Trey McKenney said of Arizona.

The Wildcats are not the typical college offense, a point made by Michigan’s 7-foot-4 center Aday Mara this week.

They typically are aiming to shoot a higher volume of free throws, not 3-pointers. The Wildcats have attempted only 53 total 3-pointers in four NCAA Tournament games and shot 43.4%; Arizona made an average of 19.7 free throws per game this season. Michigan made 27 free throws in the Midwest Region final win.

Arizona’s defense gave Big 12 foes fits all season with 7-foot-2 Motiejus Krivas roaming between the blocks. But Lloyd views Lendeborg as a unicorn. Not because of just his scoring, but because of his unselfish play.

“It took him a while,” May said of Lendeborg reaching his current comfort zone. “And I think our guys have constantly reminded him. He’s so unselfish. He’s so — I don’t know how to say it. He wants to be one of the guys. They’ve encouraged him to be more aggressive, to shoot more, to hunt some more individual accolades all year, and he simply refused because he didn’t care about any of those things.

“It’s allowed us to have a real selfless group, and it’s improved our environment because he’s been so unselfish but he still has no idea how good he is.”

A grad student who had 150 career games under his belt before joining the Wolverines, Lendeborg spent two seasons at Arizona Western College and two at UAB. He’s also a unique talent because of range — 10 3-pointers in the past three games — and length (7-foot-4 wingspan).

If the Wildcats control the lane and force Michigan to launch from deep, they expect positive results. Opponents are shooting 27.9% from 3-point range against Arizona in the NCAA Tournament.

-Field Level Media

NCAA Tournament to Go to 76

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INDIANAPOLIS – (Wire Service Report) – NCAA’s leadership and basketball committees are expected to finalize expansion of the men’s and women’s NCAA Tournaments to 76 teams shortly after the conclusion of this year’s tournament, multiple media outlets reported on Friday.

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Per the report, the new format would see 52 teams earn berths directly into what is currently the first round of the NCAA Tournament, while the remaining 24 — 12 lower-seeded automatic qualifiers and the final 12 at-large teams — would play 12 opening-round games Tuesday and Wednesday. They would be held in the longtime First Four home of Dayton, Ohio, and at an additional site to determine which teams would advance to Thursday and Friday’s first round.

However, these details could also reportedly change as the NCAA continues to talk with its men’s tournament TV partners in Warner Bros. Discovery and CBS, which have broadcasting rights through the 2031 tournament.

The report didn’t indicate how quickly expansion could be added, but it could theoretically come as soon as the 2027 NCAA Tournaments. But expansion “will happen” barring something unforeseen in the next few days.

It would mark the first expansion of the tournament since the field moved from 65 to 68 teams with the addition of the First Four games in 2011. The field had been 64 or 65 teams since 1985.

The Big 12 and Atlantic Coast Conference were the leading voices behind tournament expansion, according to reports. However, it’s also something that NCAA president Charlie Baker has said he’s in favor of doing.

–Field Level Media

Celtics Looking for Big Start vs Raptors

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Preview) – Strong starts have propelled the Boston Celtics to victory in each of their last two games, and they will look to continue that trend against the visiting Toronto Raptors on Sunday afternoon.

The Celtics (52-25) made 11 shots from 3-point range and set a franchise record by scoring 53 points in the first quarter of their 147-129 win at Miami on Wednesday. The 53-point quarter is tied for the second-highest scoring first quarter in NBA regular-season history, trailing only Golden State’s 55-point quarter in 2023.

Boston followed that effort by scoring 43 points during the first 12 minutes of Friday’s 133-101 win at Milwaukee. The 96 combined points set an NBA record for points scored in consecutive opening quarters.

Center Neemias Queta set the tone for Boston on Friday by collecting 13 points, five rebounds and three blocked shots in the first quarter, when the Celtics built a 21-point lead. Queta finished the game with 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting and 10 rebounds with four blocks.

“It’s unbelievable,” the Celtics’ Jayson Tatum said when asked about Queta’s improved play this season. “I couldn’t be more proud and happier for Neemy. The way he’s seeing the game (and) the leap he’s made as a screener, as a passer.

“Somebody we can trust when we throw the ball in the seams, finishing, protecting the rim. He is an NBA starting big man, that’s who he is now, and he’s only gonna continue to get better.”

Boston had six players score in double figures against the Bucks, which was the team’s 10th victory by at least 25 points this season. Queta has scored in double digits in four of his last five games.

“Neemy did a great job in his screen reads, and then I thought our guys did a good job finding him, and then he finished or he kicked out for open shots,” Boston coach Joe Mazzulla said via NBC Sports Boston. “So, he started that, got Sam (Hauser) some open looks, Jayson and Jaylen (Brown) were distributing, and we got a lot of catch-and-shoot shots.”

Toronto rookie Collin Murray-Boyles has been contributing more at the offensive end of the court of late. Murray-Boyles is averaging 8.4 points per game this season, but scored 14 against the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday, a career-high 20 points against the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday and tossed in 19 points when the Raptors (43-34) ended a two-game losing streak by beating the Memphis Grizzlies 128-96 on Friday.

“Just working on my game,” Murray-Boyles said. “I feel like that’s what’s translating into me putting up numbers and stuff like that. Me being effective. … Obviously I like to be involved in the offense.”

Boston is second in the Eastern Conference standings and will enter Sunday’s game with a 2 1/2-game lead over the third-place New York Knicks. After Sunday, the Celtics and Knicks will each have four regular season games to play.

Friday’s victory over Memphis moved Toronto into a tie for sixth place with the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference but the Raptors were officially seventh via a tiebreaker. The top six teams will avoid the play-in tournament.

“We have somewhere we’re trying to get to,” Murray-Boyles said following Friday’s win. “Trying to get in the playoffs and make a good run, and this is the start of it.”

–Field Level Media

TL’s Sunday Notes | Opening Day

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By TERRY LYONS, Editor in Chief of Digital Sports Desk

BOSTON – What better way is there to chronicle the 2026 Opening Day at Fenway Park than with a patented TL timeline? It’s the San Diego Padres in town for a three-game set against the hometeam.

Here we go:

10:00am – By pure luck, your fave columnist departed his suburban Boston home at the exact same time our beloved neighbor (Tuckie’s Dad) was driving over to work and passing by the ballpark. Nice!

10:45am – Second in line for credential check-in (which is usually pretty long on Opening Day), and it took all of two minutes. The good news was that the Press Gate (D) opened at 8:45am.

10:47am – Shared an elevator ride for two with my favorite WBZ-TV sports reporter Dan Roche and we chatted “winter” for a while, and his take was the surprise that kept him working the New England Patriots’ beat until the Super Bowl in February, then right to Spring Training. … “Vrabel,” we both said in unison.

10:49am – The first person we saw, as we walked down the press box corridor was former NESN/Sox broadcaster Don Orsillo, who was let go by the locals but quickly hooked-up with the Padres back in 2016. The Melrose, Mass. native now lives in Coronado, California. That’s an upgrade.

11:00am – Settled into my usual press box seat but immediately thought of Red Sox Official Scorer Mike Shalin, my New York and St. John’s compadre who passed away at the age of 66 (back in December, 2020). Mike wrote for the NY Post, the Boston Herald and UPI/Sports Exchange wire services and thus contributed to Digital Sports Desk via the wire for many years. Known for his gregarious ways and encyclopedic knowledge of baseball and all sports NYC, Mike was diagnosed with brain cancer just months before his passing. He welcomed me to the Red Sox “Bresh Box” with open arms and we had a few laughs – many subtle jokes about New York, The Garden and every National Anthem singer. When I was first credentialed to cover the Sox, Mike introduced me to pretty much every person in the press box. Amazing guy, and I miss him greatly.

11:30am – The Red Sox organization treats the media to “free lunch” on Opening Day, a treat that saves us $12 from the normal fee (which is quite fair, considering the usual three course meals, complete with New England clam chowder, locally grown vegetables (on the Fenway Rooftops) in the summer. It’ll be a break “in the action” for 20-30 minutes while the Sox take batting practice.

Fenway Johnnies (2018-2026)

11:45am – Enjoyed lunch with Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy as we go back to when Dan started on the Celtics beat in the early ‘80s. We enjoyed catching up, talking friends and family. We also discussed the untimely closing of Fenway Johnnies, sister bar/restaurant to West End Johnnies – a block from TD Garden. Sadly, Fenway didn’t make it ‘til Opening Day after a long, slow winter.

12 Noon-1:45pm – Down time used to do some writing and catch-up on email, calls.

1:43pm – Texts from family that they’re in their seats and ready for the festivities (after a little lunch at Eastern Standard). ES has the best food around the ballpark.

2:00pm – Introductions of the two teams, with San Diego first, of course and a nice ovation for former Red Sox SS Xander Bogaerts. The home team was introduced to much applause, then a stirring rendition of the National Anthem by Nic Taylor.

At precisely 2:00pm, the sun came out, and the press box windows opened to provide light and sound. What a difference it makes. It’s also somewhat humid, and the heaters are on.

Opening Day at Fenway Park – 2026 (Photo by VJ Lyons)

At 2:01pm, I realized just how lucky we all are to be at Fenway Park to open the 2026 Baseball season here in Boston. I also wondered, “what will this summer bring?” And, “will we be here in October when the days are short and the temperature drop?”

2:10pm – The 1986 American League champion Red Sox are introduced (as a group) after they walked out from the Green Monster. Ceremonial first pitch and we’re ready to play ball. Nice job. The festivities are running late for the scheduled 2:10 first pitch.

2:21pm – First pitch of the season by Sonny Gray to Fernando Tatis, Jr. (foul ball). Then Tatis grounds out to Trevor Story at shortstop.

2:22pm – Speaking of shortstop, batting second, San Diego SS Xander Bogaerts is introduced to a rousing standing ovation that gained steam as it went along, almost forcing Bogaerts to step out of the batter’s box and tip his batting helmet.

2:25pm – Gray retired the Padres in order. we’ll pick this up when there’s something newsworthy to report/journal.

2:40pm – Boston 1B Willson Contreras gets the nod in the first ABS challenge in Fenway Park’s MLB history. Ball was a 1/4-inch outside and Contreras took first base only to be doubled up minutes later.

2:50pm – The Red Sox score their first run of the 2026 season when Ceddanne Rafaela singles-in Marcelo Mayer who had led off the inning with a double to left center field. (Red Sox 1-0, after 3 innings).

3:09pm – The shadows of October are here at Fenway in early April, too. Sunlight tossing shadow right across home plate to Sonny Gray’s benefit.

3:23pm – The Sox manufacture another run with a Jarren Duran leadoff double, and a Caleb Durbin base hit. Durbin was 0-19 going into today.

3:45pm – Former Red Sox reliever and Houston Astros legendary closer, Joe Sambito stopped by the press box to do a half-inning of TV and meet the press. He was great. Little known fact, Joe was a legend at Bethpage High School on Long Island and a member of “the family” via his younger brother Bobby, a lifelong friend of this column.

3:45pm – The San Diego Padres got to Sonny Gray for two runs in the visiting half of the 5th inning, 2-2.

3:50pm – Willson Contreras homers, 423-feet, to deep center field, 3-2, Sox at the end of six innings.

3:55pm – After a Wilyer Abreu single, second baseman Marcelo Mayer clocked a 385-foot drive into the Red Sox bullpen to give Boston a 5-2 lead. SD reliever Wandy Peralta might need some tips from Joe Sambito.

4:25pm – With the sun shadows reaching the pitcher’s mound, we get the very first “Sweet Caroline” of the ‘26 season, marking the middle of the 8th inning break.

A regular observation of the Fenway Park crowd? Not a single soul has left the building. Yes, a sell-out crowd of 36,233 is enjoying every last second of this ballgame.

4:31pm – Cue the light show, as Sox closer Aroldis Chapman enters the game to close-out the Padres as the visitors bat in the 9th inning. Again, NOT a SOUL has left Fenway Park. It’s amazing.

The obligatory “Yankees Suck” chants reverberate throughout the park.

Chapman has his “stuff” and blew one past Jackson Merrill at 97 mph. Two outs.

4:38pm – Chapman falls behind, 3-1, in the count, then gets it to full count, as the crowd erupts. He throws a ball to walk Manny Machado.

4:41pm – Ramon Laureano flies out to Roman Anthony in right field and the ball game is OV-AH. (5-2, Sox). Chapman gets his first save of 2026, Weissert and Slaten get the “holds” while starter Sonny Gray wins his first of the season.

Cue the Dropkicks, a tradition of playing “Tessie” by the Dropkick Murphys, followed by the old fave of “Jeremiah was a Bullfrog,” a.k.a. “Joy to the World” by Three Dog Night.

4:48pm – Kevin Foley, my brother of summer from the Red Sox media relations staff, closes the press box windows on a gorgeous afternoon to close out the Sox victory and this play-by-play of a great day at Fenway.

Not once do I take this ballpark, The Garden in New York, or Wrigley Field in Chicago for granted. All three are Heaven on Earth.

TL

HOME COOKIN’

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Boston’s Willson Contreras and Marcelo Mayer both homered in the sixth inning, propelling the Red Sox to a 5-2, home-opening win over the San Diego Padres at Fenway Park on Friday afternoon.

Mayer highlighted his 2-for-2 day with a two-out, two-run homer to cap Boston’s three-run frame. He also hit a leadoff double and scored the opening run in the third.

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Boston banged out nine hits and received a solid six-inning start from Sonny Gray (1-0) en route to breaking a five-game losing skid.

Gray allowed just two runs on four hits while striking out three in his first home start at Fenway Park. Greg Weissert, Justin Slaten and Aroldis Chapman each pitched scoreless innings in relief, with the latter passing Jonathan Papelbon for 11th on MLB’s all-time saves list (369).

Gavin Sheets went 2-for-3 with an RBI and run scored for San Diego.

Boston College grad Michael King (0-1) allowed four runs in a 5 2/3-inning start.

The Red Sox scored in back-to-back innings to break the game’s scoreless deadlock, taking the initial lead when Ceddanne Rafaela lined a one-out single into center in the third. Mayer set the table with a wall-ball double to start the inning.

Two-out offense in Boston’s fourth made it a 2-0 game. After Jarren Duran shot a leadoff double past a diving first baseman Sheets, back-to-back strikeouts had King on the verge of ending the inning, but Caleb Durbin broke his 0-for-19 start with an RBI single up the middle.

Gray allowed just a single baserunner through his first 4 1/3 innings, but the visitors quickly tied the game on three hits in the fifth.

Miguel Andujar cranked a leadoff triple over Rafaela in deep center to begin the fifth, and Sheets halved the San Diego deficit thanks to his RBI knock to right. Two batters later, Luis Campusano hit a game-tying RBI single off the Green Monster.

After Gray completed his sixth and final inning, Boston jumped back in front, ended King’s day and greeted the bullpen rudely in a three-run bottom of the frame. Contreras cleared the center field wall for his first solo shot as a Red Sox, flipping the score at 3-2.

Wilyer Abreu followed with a base hit, and after King followed with his fifth strikeout to end his start, Wandy Peralta served up a two-run homer to Mayer that landed in the right-center field bullpen — but not without a leaping effort from right fielder Fernando Tatis at the wall.

–Field Level Media

It’s Opening Day at Fenway Park

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BOSTON – Wouldn’t it be nice if Opening Day were somewhat close to Opening Day? Wouldn’t it be better if the Boston Red Sox were performing in front of their fans and some bunting with a 0-0 record, instead of 1-5? Wouldn’t it be nice to have that feeling of a new year, a new season and the hope that goes along with it every spring? It’s a great feeling inside, especially at such a wonderful ballpark as Fenway.

Opening Day usually brings with it knowledge that Spring is in the air. It’s been such a long, cold, nasty winter in New England. Baseball fans deserve a 60-degree day with some sunshine. That’s what we’ll have, dodging a 37-degree bitter cold, raw Thursday when it felt like it was 29 degrees.

We want baseball gloves, not real gloves.

We want to hear the crack of the bat, and not be cooped-up huddling behind the bleachers, warming our hands and standing in line for hot chocolate.

“Give me a Sam Adams or give me death,” said a member of the Henry family who was not Patrick.

In a fade-to-black flashback to the “real” Opening Day which came one day after the “really, real” Opening Night on Prime, the Red Sox and Garrett Crochet dealt the hometown Cincinnati Reds a 3-0 shutout, sending the parade groggy Reds fans home with an 0-1 mark. Two days later, the records were even at 1-1 when the Reds defeated the Sox, 6-5, in 11 innings. On March 29, the skid was real as the Red Sox dropped the rubber game of the set to Cincinnati, 3-2, when Eugenio Suarez reminded young Connelly Early of the cruelties of Major League Baseball when the Sox’ left-hander departed the game with a 2-0 lead only to have reliever Greg Weissert blow the game by serving up a 93 mph four seam fastball across the middle. Suarez knew best.

The slide went south from there, to Houston, Texas, where the Red Sox were swept in a three-game series by the Astros.

Spare you there details?

Okay, but suffice to know a homer-hittin’ bat-flippin’ Carlos Correa took Crochet downtown for the pivotal game win.

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That brings us to Opening Day at Fenway.

The Red Sox organization is honoring the ’86 American League champion Sox, but let’s hope Boston doesn’t get 86’d by the visiting San Diego Padres, a club who went 2-4 on their season opening home stand (vs. the Detroit Tigers and San Francisco Giants).

Nearly 25 team members of that ’86 team are set to return for the anniversary celebration, including, Tony Armas, Marty Barrett, Wade Boggs, Oil Can Boyd, Mike Brown, Steve Crawford, Pat Dodson, Dwight Evans, Rich Gedman, Bruce Hurst, Rene Lachemann, Tim Lollar, Spike Owen, Jim Rice, Ed Romero, Joe Sambito, Dave Sax, Calvin Schiraldi, Jeff Sellers, Bob Stanley, Mike Stenhouse, Marc Sullivan, Mike Trujillo, and Rob Woodward.

It’ll also be welcome “home” Xander Bogaerts, too, although it seems as though the 10-year Red Sox shortstop played in ’86 rather than 2013-2022.

It’ll be Michael King on the mound for San Diego, facing Boston’s newly acquired Sonny Gray.

Gray went four innings and let up four runs (three earned) while walking one batter and striking out five.

The Fenway Faithful will say “No King” to King, who went five innings, striking out six against Detroit, but did not figure in his club’s 5-2 loss.

Besides the normal Opening Day jitters, Boston will be under the pressure of a sold-out crowd expecting much more than a 1-5 team. Rightfully so, as Spring Training and its early indicators made the Northerners think AL East title, rather than being four games behind divisional leader, New York.

When you put it all together, Friday will mark the 126th home season, the 115th at Fenway Park for the Red Sox.

First pitch at 2:10pm, but the fans will be in their seats by 1:30pm for the festivities.

Panthers, Bobrovsky Set Bruins Back

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SUNRISE – (Wire Service Report) – Florida goalkeeper Sergei Bobrovsky made 28 saves to lead the host Panthers to a 2-1 win over the Bruins on Thursday night in South Florida. Mackie Samoskevich and Sam Bennett scored for Florida (37-35-3, 77 points). Samoskevich has a career-high three-game goal streak.

The Panthers, the two-time reigning Stanley Cup champions, started the day next-to-last in the Eastern Conference, although they have not yet been officially eliminated from playoff contention.

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Boston (43-25-8, 94 points) is the top wild-card team in the East. The Bruins had a four-game win streak snapped and fell to 15-15-7 on the road.

Fraser Minten scored for Boston, while Jeremy Swayman made 22 saves.

The Panthers are missing 11 injured players. That includes defensemen Aaron Ekblad and Dmitry Kulikov, who went down this week.

Of the six defensemen used by Florida, only two — Seth Jones and Gustav Forsling — started the season with the Panthers. The other four are all 24 and relatively inexperienced: Michael Benning, Donovan Sebrango, Tobias Bjornfot and Mikulas Hovorka.

For the second straight game, Florida got off to a fast start, leading 2-1 after the first period.

The Panthers opened the scoring with 4:20 gone. A.J. Greer, who entered the game with a team-high 183 hits, got in on the forecheck, forcing a turnover. Samoskevich intercepted the bad pass by Henri Jokiharju. To make matters worse for Boston, Jokiharju inadvertently screened Swayman, and Samoskevich’s shot from the left circle bounced in off the left post.

Bennett’s goal with 7:39 elapsed in the first gave Florida a 2-0 lead. Greer was involved again, getting a primary assist due to his shot from the point. Bennett scored on a rebound from the slot, lifting the puck over Swayman’s blocker.

Boston got on the board with just 27 seconds left in the first. On the play, two Panthers – Sebrango and Matthew Tkachuk — lost their stick in puck battles. Minten took advantage, picking up a loose puck and lifting it over Bobrovsky’s left pad from point-blank range.

With 3:21 left in the third, Greer was penalized for tripping, but Florida killed that penalty. Boston pulled Swayman for an extra attacker, and the Panthers also withstood that for the win.

–Field Level Media