Sports

8:55 AM ET The last few weeks of the 2021-22 NHL season have had all the drama of a foregone conclusion. The Eastern Conference playoff field has been set since, oh I don’t know, Halloween 2021. The eight playoff teams aren’t jockeying for position as much as they’re letting the chips fall where they may

9:42 AM ET Associated Press The Kentucky Derby television broadcast will be produced by a woman for the first time in the 148-year history of the race. Lindsay Schanzer is the new senior producer for NBC Sports’ Derby coverage, overseeing the network’s horse racing production. It’s her 10th Derby but her first running the show

7:29 PM ET ESPN News Services WASHINGTON — The U.S. Capitol was briefly evacuated Wednesday evening after police identified an aircraft that they said posed “a probable threat” — but the plane was actually carrying members of the U.S. Army Golden Knights, who then parachuted into the Washington Nationals‘ baseball stadium for a pregame demonstration.

3:05 PM ET Players from Russia and Belarus will not be allowed to compete at Wimbledon this year. The decision was announced Wednesday. The third Slam of the year became the first to ban players from those countries, in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Belarus’ close allyship to Russian president Vladimir Putin. The

12:57 PM ET Lionel Messi will miss Paris Saint-Germain‘s trip to Angers on Wednesday due to injury, a match which could see PSG wrap up the Ligue 1 title. Messi has inflammation in his left Achilles, according to PSG. The 34-year-old, who signed for the French side from Barcelona in the offseason, has already missed

9:44 AM BST Ed Sheeran has punted Munster from their Thomond Park Stadium for next month’s Champions Cup quarterfinal tie against Toulouse with the venue set to host the British singer’s concerts. The quarterfinals are scheduled for May 6-8 but with Sheeran set to play Limerick’s Thomond Park on May 5 and May 6 there

12:43 AM ET UFC welterweight Belal Muhammad improved his winning streak to seven on Saturday, as he out-pointed Vicente Luque via unanimous division at UFC Fight Night at Apex facility in Las Vegas. Judges awarded Muhammad (21-3) the win in the 170-pound bout via scores of 49-46, 49-46 and 49-47. Luque (21-8-1) entered the contest

11:44 PM ET Associated Press BRISTOL, Tenn. — Kyle Busch slipped past the spinning cars of Tyler Reddick and Chase Briscoe to steal his first Cup win of the season Sunday night on slick, wet, dirt-covered Bristol Motor Speedway. Reddick was chasing the first Cup win of his career, led 99 of the 250 laps

1:42 AM ET ARLINGTON, Texas — Errol Spence Jr. looked impressive in a 10th-round TKO victory over Yordenis Ugas to unify three of the four major welterweight world titles at AT&T Stadium on Saturday. Terence Crawford has the other and a fight between Spence and Crawford has been marinating for too long. Spence said after

1:47 AM ET Associated Press EWA BEACH, Hawaii — Hyo Joo Kim staved off a late charge from Hinako Shibuno to win the LPGA Tour’s LOTTE Championship on Saturday. Kim closed with a 1-under 71 — following a bogey on the par-4 17th with a tap-in birdie on the par-5 18th — to finish at

4:50 PM ET Associated Press Zippy Chippy, horse racing’s lovable loser for never winning in 100 races, has died at the age of 31. The bay gelding was living at the Bobby Frankel Division of Old Friends at Cabin Creek thoroughbred retirement farm near Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York since 2010. The farm

3:00 PM ET Associated Press MONACO — Defending champion Stefanos Tsitsipas breezed into the Monte Carlo Masters final after dispatching second-seeded Alexander Zverev 6-4, 6-2 on Saturday. Tsitsipas lined up the first big final of the clay-court season against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, the Spaniard who knocked out Novak Djokovic in the second round. Davidovich Fokina

11:35 AM ET After running and shooting without back pain for over a week, Brooklyn Nets star Ben Simmons is expected to take the next step on the floor in the coming week and begin practicing against teammates on the court, sources told ESPN on Saturday. His continued progress is fostering hope that Simmons could

3:00 PM ET Multiple Contributors Four NFL draft analysts, 10 rounds, 40 total picks: Mel Kiper Jr., Todd McShay, Jordan Reid and Matt Miller went head-to-head-to-head-to-head to draft their own superteams of the best 2022 prospects. For the full draft — and the accompanying debates — as it happened, check out the newest edition of

7:00 AM ET ESPN staff Another April weekend ahead means another week of college football spring games on Saturday. This week’s slate includes both teams from last season’s national championship game — Georgia and Alabama — as well as several high-profile games from Ohio State to Miami and beyond. We’ll once again find out which

7:00 AM ET How much can change in one week of an MLB season? Exactly one week since the excitement of Opening Day, our first regular-season rankings of the season offer a reality check for some and reason for hope that this could be the year for others. Is your favorite team off to a

9:00 AM ET Calling an NHL player “underrated” has always been a bit ridiculous. The moment a player is called “underrated” is the moment when his value is acknowledged for not having been acknowledged. Players like Loui Eriksson and Nicklas Backstrom were called “the most underrated player in hockey” for several seasons. How many years

7:45 PM ET MADRID — There is no preferred way to surrender your Champions League crown, but nothing could come much closer than this. Asked on the eve of Tuesday’s game how champions bow out of a competition if it has to be their time, Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel replied: “By not accepting it

10:37 PM ET Alexander Volkanovski has welcomed Henry Cejudo’s return to the USADA testing pool, but the Australian says he is instead focused on a shift to lightweight and an immediate crack at becoming a two-division UFC champion. Fresh off his domination of Chan Sung Jung at UFC 273, Volkanovski is already mapping out his

8:44 PM BST England continued their winning run in this year’s Six Nations with a 58-5 victory over Wales in front of a record crowd at Kingsholm. Lark Davies and Jess Breach both scored two tries each while Sarah Bern, Alex Matthews, Shaunagh Brown, Emily Scarratt and Sarah Hunter also crossed the line. – Clargo: