Bugaluu :: Sports

​https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/red-sox-hopes-better-infield-194635018.html 

As Manchester United’s players fell to the floor on the referee’s whistle, Chelsea’s coalesced into an exhausted, joyous huddle in their own penalty area. There was a roar of celebration from Sam Kerr, unbridled, bouncing joy as Alyssa Thompson and Lucy Bronze ran over from the dugout, and a palpable sense of relief.

Chelsea had knocked their fellow Women’s Super League heavyweights out of the Women’s FA Cup, but it was not easy. United kept Chelsea at bay until substitute Kerr scored in the 78th minute, only for United’s Simi Awujo to equalise three minutes later and force extra time. Naomi Girma prodded home after a scramble from a corner to send Chelsea through to the quarter-finals.

Anything else would have been a surprise. Chelsea have not exited this competition in the fifth round since 2013, and have won four of the last five editions, including a 3-0 victory over Manchester United at Wembley in May. But this was at risk of being a season Chelsea fans remembered for its unpleasant surprises: a first home defeat to Arsenal since 2018, their first consecutive Women’s Super League losses since 2015, the exit of head of women’s football Paul Green, and relinquishing their six-year stranglehold on the league title.

For those reasons, this result was a profound relief, keeping them in the running for silverware and reaffirming they are still one of the toughest tests any English side can face. It also provided a valuable reminder of how much they still have left to fight for, and how well-equipped they are for those tests.

In Chelsea’s defeats to Arsenal and Manchester City, their characteristic relentlessness was missing. They have built a dynasty on the ability to grind out wins even when they are wasting chances or are up against stubborn defences. In this cup tie, they rediscovered that identity.

The bugbears of this season — wasting promising chances (though Manchester United goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce deserves credit for many of those) and some vulnerability to counter-attacks — remained. Though Chelsea had dominated the ball and had better opportunities, they failed to score for 78 minutes, leaving the threat of a smash-and-grab win from an in-form United very real.

Instead, they returned to their classic, gritty selves. A poacher’s goal from Kerr, on the day she received a shirt commemorating her 150 appearances for the club, was the perfect way to lift the mood at Kingsmeadow. Girma’s 99th-minute winner, her first goal for Chelsea since joining for a then-world-record fee in January 2025, was no prettier than Kerr’s. None of Lauren James or Erin Cuthbert’s long-range efforts went in, but that did not matter.

There were caveats — Manchester United manager Marc Skinner felt his side should have had a penalty near the end for handball, and Chelsea were considerably fresher, having not contested the Champions League play-offs midweek — but, ultimately, it felt as though Chelsea had recovered their refusal to be beaten.

“I don’t think people understand sometimes the team dynamic, the cohesion, the confidence, how crucial it is to perform,” Chelsea head coach Sonia Bompastor said after the match. “I think we have been through tough moments with some decisions impacting the squad and the players.”

As The Athletic reported, the exit of long-time head of women’s football Paul Green on February 9 shocked and upset multiple players in the squad. Changes to the leadership structure on the women’s side, which Chelsea feel are necessary for future success, have been felt by the dressing room.

The beginning of 2026 has brought huge challenges to Chelsea’s identity. They are not used to losing, and therefore it was difficult to predict how they would respond.

Since the 5-1 defeat to Manchester City, Chelsea have beaten Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool 2-0 in the WSL, and now Manchester United.

“It’s really easy, I would say, when you are winning games to be happy, to keep going,” Bompastor said. “But when you are in tough moments, maybe not getting the performances you want or not the results you want, that’s where you see true people. I’ve learned a lot about myself, first of all, but also about my players and my staff.

“I know now we can be in a really good position because, having faced that moment, I know the quality we have in the squad. It will help because the season will still be long. We will have some tough games in the future. I know having faced this situation will help a lot in the future.”

After having their domestic dominance shaken by Arsenal and Manchester City, this win is hugely significant. Chelsea will face United again in the League Cup final on March 15, Arsenal over two legs for a place in the Champions League semi-finals on March 24 and April 1, and they are in a scrap to qualify for next year’s competition. Currently, Chelsea are third, one point behind United in second and four ahead of Arsenal in fourth, but their London rivals have two games in hand. With only three teams qualifying for Europe, Chelsea can ill afford to drop points. Reaffirming their ability to grind out wins against fellow WSL heavyweights is crucial.

“At Chelsea, we are so used to knowing that when the players will be back from the (March) international break, it will be the business end of the season, where everything matters because you are going to play games to win trophies,” Bompastor said. “I think that’s really important to go into that block with as much confidence as possible, and I think being able to win today is a great part of that.”

Chelsea have the chance to end this season on a high. They have several players out of contract this summer, including Kerr, captain Millie Bright, and Lucy Bronze. If those players do move on, they will feel they deserve to end their time at the club with a victory lap. More scenes like the celebrations at full time today — at Wembley, Ashton Gate, or most particularly Oslo — would be perfect. If they lean into the resilience they showed on Sunday, they have every chance of doing so.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

Chelsea, Women’s Soccer

2026 The Athletic Media Company

​https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/chelsea-dig-deep-beat-manchester-051605343.html 

For a while, Billy Sharp’s pinned post on X was his riposte to the opposition supporter who sent him an AI-generated image of the striker in his Doncaster Rovers kit, hobbling about the pitch on a walking frame.

His most recent post is a clip from the press conference that fell in the week of his latest birthday, at which his manager said, “Welcome to my club — the forties.”

😘 https://t.co/85KxjuKFXB

— billy sharp (@billysharp10) September 7, 2025

Such is life when you’re still playing professional football at the age of 40: still scoring, still training every day, still relishing the needle with rival fans, still living with so much energy that, Sharp tells The Athletic, he observed to his wife that “lately, I’ve been having the energy to go to play padel as a cool-down”.

In November last year, Sharp passed 700 appearances in the English Football League (EFL), the bulk of them coming in the Championship and League One, the second and third tiers of English football. Another measure of the length of Sharp’s career is that he features in the iconic Neil Warnock documentary, which charts the then-Sheffield United manager’s 2004-05 season and has recently found a new generation of viewers via TikTok. The fashion alone — baggy tracksuits, blond highlights — underscores the passage of more than two decades.

On Saturday, Brighton & Hove Albion’s James Milner, aged 40, surpassed Gareth Barry’s record for most Premier League appearances. This was two weeks after 41-year-old Lindsey Vonn, the American skier, crashed out of the Winter Olympics at which she was competing with a ruptured left anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee and after having replacement surgery on the other one, sparking widespread discussion about what it all means when someone with so little to prove — she had already retired from the sport once, in 2019 — insists on doing so anyway.

Vonn is an extreme example even by the standards of elite sportspeople. Her mental-health coach suggests her endeavour was in service of the extraordinary strength of the human spirit from a three-time Olympic champion athlete who does not experience pain the way most do. The most famous example, Cristiano Ronaldo, indicated in December that he would not retire until he scored his 1,000th career goal. He is contracted to Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia beyond his 42nd birthday but said in November that the 2026 World Cup will be his last international tournament.

Still, there are broader themes worth interrogating, beyond the perfect confluence of biological factors that no doubt underpin 20-year athletic careers. Where some are relieved to reach the end of their playing days, how do others find the energy to go back to the well, season after season?

“While my body feels good, my head’s always going to tell me I want to play football and my heart’s always going to tell me that I’ll never want to stop,” Sharp says.

He thinks of his former Sheffield United team-mate Chris Basham, who retired in August 2024 at age 36, having undergone five operations to repair the ankle he shattered in a Premier League game almost a full year earlier.

“It’s an injury affecting his lifestyle. He’s still not right,” Sharp says. “To be able to still play football on the weekend, that’s in the back of my mind. It’s a privilege to play football. I’ve had team-mates who have had the opportunity taken away from them. Sometimes, that’s the thing that says to me, ‘Don’t stop yet because you’re lucky to still play and you’re still capable of playing at a good level’.”

The perspectives of women footballers are often broader still, given the sport’s historic and current frailties. Fighting for the women’s game’s growth, though, brings additional emotional labour, and there is a psychological toll from always demanding more from indifferent stakeholders. “For people in my generation, who have seen so much growth and so much evolution, what is ingrained in us deeply is to make the game a better place,” says 39-year-old Jess Fishlock, Wales’ most-capped player with more than 165 appearances.

Fishlock was part of a cohort whose hopes of reaching the 2005 European Championship, to be held in England, were dashed when the Football Association of Wales declined to fund the female squad through its qualifiers, and can remember the days of combining a burgeoning playing career at Cardiff City with work for a telecoms company: “You basically knew that what you were doing was just for something so much bigger. That, mixed with how I love the game, is truly what ended up keeping you going. Now, it’s probably less about the evolution of the game because you’d like to think the younger generation understands that — we’re tired. But I still have the love of it to carry on, which is truly a gift.”

Fishlock, who retired from international football in November but is still playing for Seattle Reign of the NWSL, underlines the particular kind of resilience needed in women’s football to keep waging off-field battles for improved pay, treatment and conditions: “Facilities, medical, travel, things like that — it just took so long to get that stuff right that it felt like you were doing this all and people were expecting elite level while the working conditions were subpar. That was always like, ‘What’s the point of this?’.”

Over the past few years, Fishlock has been consciously trying to “pass that baton on” to a younger generation of players for both club and country, acting as “more of a mentor and helping people understand how to go into these meetings and how to have these conversations. Eventually, when the entirety of my generation goes, you have to be able to pass that skill set on”.

This was also a focus for the recently retired New Zealand and Angel City defender Ali Riley, 38, who found the final years of her career derailed by labral tears to the cartilage in both hip joints and nerve compression injuries caused in part by the injections she had taken to prolong her career.

With her on-field influence dwindling, Riley sought to “encourage players to understand their resources and the rights they have and who they can go to. Without dwelling on the past, it’s like the players who experienced what it was like before can still use our really tough times — not to tell this new generation how good they have it, but to make sure they understand how empowered they are”.

By the end of Riley’s career, some of her team-mates were 21 years younger than her. She was conscious of “creating an environment that can empower girls who are so different than you were at their age”.

More remarkable than Riley’s five World Cup campaigns is what she has lived through during her years playing in America with three different clubs: teams folding, the collapse of the Women’s Professional Soccer league that preceded the NWSL, and the NWSL abuse crisis. “The simple way to say it is, like, we’re crazy,” she says. “Elite athletes at this level, especially women, are so resilient. We’re unwilling to let these awful things stop us.

“There are people who understand that women’s sport is not a charity, that it is a good investment, that this is a smart thing to do and the right thing to do. We choose to see those people and those instances of light. Maybe the most protective and evolutionarily sound thing to do would be, like, ‘I should not keep going’. I think about all the sleepless nights and the stress and what I’ve done to my body — I’m still recovering from all of that, and it was so worth it to be part of this game and growing it.”

Riley pushed that body to its limits over her final few seasons. With the acceptance that she would never play again came the hope of being able to live without pain. She grieved her diminishing control over her body — “it is the death of the athlete you were, of the opportunities you had, of an entire identity” — and questioned her purpose — “you need a lot of people reminding you that you still have value, because you question it every day” — but ultimately the decision made itself.

“I talked to so many of my colleagues who have retired and many wish they stopped earlier because they are not able to have an active life without pain,” Riley says. “Whether I could play one season more, two seasons more — what life do I want to live in the next 30, hopefully 50 years? How can I do what I need to do to be able to jog, to bend down, to sleep at night?

“What I was going through to get out on the field every single day was not the life I wanted to live. I wasn’t able to really be my full self. I deserve to have a life where I can feel joy, and I can be a good wife and a good daughter and a good friend. All of my energy was being put into being able to warm up and to train with my team.”

Riley also found it hard to justify pushing through the pain barrier for limited returns while her desire to start a family was growing: she froze her eggs in 2020. “If I would want to try to push my body further, what am I then missing out on for continuing to do something that is hurting me every day?” she reflects.

Fishlock says she is still posting personal bests in fitness tests. In 2025, she became the oldest goalscorer in the history of the Women’s Euros finals. “For some reason, when you hit 30, everyone seems to think you can’t walk anymore,” Fishlock says. Other people’s reactions made her more conscious of her age than she ever was.

“If an older player has a bad game, it’s because they’re old and past it — it’s a myth, a naive way of thinking and perhaps a lazy way of thinking. I will be out here, y’know, dying on that hill and debunking that myth for the rest of my days.”

Sharp is not even the oldest player in the three divisions and 72 clubs of the EFL.

Goalkeeper Joe Murphy, 44, is into his third year as a coach-player at Tranmere Rovers, but an injury to their first-choice at his position has seen him play 21 times in League Two this season.

“I probably feel better than I did when I was a younger goalkeeper, physically and mentally,” Murphy says. “The more experienced you get… not the easier it is, but I could turn up and play a game at the drop of a hat. I can mentally get into that zone very easily. Then you’re more relaxed. My decision-making is better, which means maybe my reaction time is better. When you’re a young, inexperienced goalie, you probably need more preparation.”

Underpinning it all is self-confidence. “I just believe I can play at a high level,” Murphy explains. “I believe I can play for my country still (the most recent of his two appearances for the Republic of Ireland came in 2010). I believe I can play in the Premier League still (Murphy’s only two games at that level were for West Bromwich Albion in 2002). It’s not going to happen, but that’s the belief I have, and that’s the drive I have. If I felt I couldn’t contribute and my standards weren’t as high as the other players around me, I would gladly walk away.”

Sharp, for his part, still thinks he could play today for Sheffield United, where he made close to 300 appearances across English football’s top three divisions during a third spell at his boyhood club between 2015 and 2023.

It is another example of that belief, but Sharp’s story highlights how any long career involves overcoming anguish.

His plan had been to retire on his own terms at Sheffield United and, after leaving at the end of the 2022-23 season, he “had a think then about retiring because I didn’t think I could put another shirt on. The emotional side of things was the biggest thing. I was hurt badly.”

But life in MLS with LA Galaxy rekindled his passion and was “where the emotion side of things went away. I was watching the Premier League from afar, getting up at stupid o’clock to watch Sheffield United. It was a tough time, but it wasn’t in my face because I was in America playing. It’s probably the reason I’m still playing now.” He returned to England with Hull City in December 2023, and has been with Doncaster (it’s his third spell with them too) since the following summer.

Sharp is still a way off Peter Clarke’s haul of more than 1,000 career appearances — with game 1,000 notched up for Prescot Cables in the Northern Premier League Premier Division, the seventh tier of the English game, last October. Having played in the top four divisions from 1998 to 2023 for 11 different clubs after coming through the youth ranks at Everton, defender Clarke now works full-time but still trains two evenings a week.

The original plan had been for him to finish playing professionally at 41.

“My wife said to me, ‘Do you think it’s a good idea to go cold turkey?’. And left me with that thought. She was right,” Clarke says. “Football was my drug of choice. I’ll go as far as to say that when I was a kid, I was addicted. My greatest love is my family, my first love is football. That’s probably what keeps me going back.”

Clarke reckons that he could “probably remember something” about each of those 1,000 games if he had a list in front of him, broken down into seasons. It seems remarkable he hasn’t yet got bored and has been able to go to the well more than 1,000 times.

“Motivation comes and goes, but discipline outlasts motivation,” he says. “Even when you don’t want to do the running session or get yourself in the gym, through the course of a career, it becomes a mindset. The motivation might ebb and flow, but if you can recall the things that serve you well, the discipline and doing those things help keep you out on the pitch.”

Much of the conversation around retirement focuses on the difficulty footballers face filling the void the game leaves when it’s gone — the laughter of a packed dressing room swapped for lonely rounds of golf and trying to recapture football’s unique highs. Murphy, logistically ready for retirement thanks to his coaching business, has a more comforting perspective.

“I am at peace, because I know I’ve been very lucky,” he says. “I’ve probably had three careers, really. Some (players) start at 15 and end at 20, 21, 22.”

Clarke, meanwhile, kept his celebrations after that 1,000th game typically low-key.

“I worked during the day, came home, got changed and then out to the game. Back home, ice bath and off to bed.”

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

Los Angeles Galaxy, Sheffield United, Wales, Premier League, Championship, Women’s Soccer, Olympics, League One, League Two, National League

2026 The Athletic Media Company

​https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/playing-40-life-want-live-051605489.html 

Feb 11, 2026; Daytona Beach, Florida, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Bubba Wallace (23) during qualifying for the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway | Credits- Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

For the second time this year, Bubba Wallace fell a step short of reaching Victory Lane. The 23XI Racing driver displayed sheer dominance at the EchoPark Speedway in Atlanta on Sunday night to lead 46 laps. But a questionable move in overtime resulted in him losing spots to others and relegated him to an underwhelming eighth place.

Nevertheless, his performance was a showing of the dangerous driver he can be this year. Former driver Kyle Petty spoke about the same on NASCAR: Inside The Race and bet huge on Wallace. He said, “He controlled the race from the start. He lost control there on that one block. On that one block, he lost the plot of the race a little bit.”

“But if you look at it, it’s as good a race as Bubba has driven maybe since the Brickyard. The Brickyard was a phenomenal race for Bubba Wallace. But that’s the type of races that Bubba can put together, and I believe he will constantly and consistently put together as we go into this year. And we’re going to see him in victory lane multiple times this year.”

Last year, Wallacewon the Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to enter his name in the record books. Petty strongly believes that he can repeat such performances this year on a regular basis. Judging from the way he raced at Daytona the earlier weekend, and now at Atlanta, any betting man would stack up the same way Petty has.

Wallace’s reflections on his finish at Atlanta

Wallace was leading the race when the race went into overtime. He moved to the outside lane to try and block drivers who were coming up, but he left too much space on the inside when doing so. This allowed others who were behind him to shoot forward and gain spots on him. Ultimately, his teammate, Tyler Reddick, reached the checkered flag first.

He said, “I didn’t think I moved up that much to allow — to put myself up top. Unfortunate, but what a race car we had today.” While he regretted not being able to reach Victory Lane, he was still excited that a Toyota did so. He now sits second on the points table, with 85 points. He trails Reddick by 40 points.

The way 23XI Racing has started 2026 is a dream for every other team out there. Wallace and Reddick have ensured that their competitors are already playing catch-up.

The post Kyle Petty Makes Huge Prediction About Bubba Wallace’s NASCAR Season appeared first on The SportsRush.

​https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/kyle-petty-makes-huge-prediction-051552622.html 

Vikings urged to trade for $8 million quarterback to challenge J.J. McCarthy originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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The Minnesota Vikings are in a tough spot. 

The team has an elite defense that’s good enough to make the playoffs, but the quarterback play just hasn’t been good enough. However, because of said defense, the Vikings still won nine games last year and don’t have a high draft pick. 

Plus, the Vikings just drafted J.J. McCarthy in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft. McCarthy missed his entire rookie season with an injury and suffered multiple more injuries in the 2025 season. 

Even when McCarthy played in 2025, he didn’t deliver the most promising results. Could the Vikings feel desperate this offseason and make a big move? PFSN’s Ryan Guthrie recently identified the Vikings as a team that could trade for quarterback Mac Jones. 

Jones is under contract with the San Francisco 49ers for one more season, but Brock Purdy is clearly entrenched as the starter. However, Jones has impressed in his opportunities and as a result, could be an intriguing option for other teams. 

Regarding Jones and the Vikings, Guthrie offered the following: 

The Minnesota Vikings still view J.J. McCarthy as their starter, but the keyword in Minnesota this offseason should be competition. McCarthy battled inconsistency this past year and posted a PFSN NFL QB Impact Score of 64.5, No. 37 in the league, and well below average. Despite that, the team finished 9-8, largely thanks to a dominant defense.

Jones could push McCarthy to his limits in training camp while also serving as valuable insurance given McCarthy’s injury history. And if Jones were to win the job outright, he has the experience and efficiency to elevate the Vikings back into NFC contention quickly.

However, head coach Kyle Shanahan reportedly loves Jones, and with Purdy’s extensive injury history, they may prefer to keep the veteran around. 

The Vikings would likely have to blow the 49ers away with a trade offer for Jones. An early draft pick may seem like a steep price to pay for Jones, but the Vikings have had success with reclamation projects in the past. 

Sam Darnold was a passer who failed at multiple stops and then revived his career in Minnesota. Perhaps head coach Kevin O’Connell sees Jones in the same light as Darnold, and would be willing to take a risk. 

Jones may not transform his career like Darnold did, but he would be a great insurance policy at the very least. The Vikings had to rely on Carson Wentz and Max Brosmer in 2025, and Jones is clearly a better option than those two. 

More NFL news:

Bills urged to pull of big trade for star receiver Cardinals predicted to draft new QB for Mike LaFleurTyler Shough needs more weapons in 2026 Titans predicted to add solid defender for new defensive schemeCould Chiefs draft elite running back in 1st round?Mike McCarthy may not want Aaron Rodgers back 

​https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/vikings-urged-trade-8-million-044645966.html 

Kara Braxton, seen here in 2011 with the Phoenix Mercury, died on Sunday. She was 43. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

Longtime WNBA forward Kara Braxton, who won a pair of titles with the Detroit Shock, died on Sunday, the league and her former teams confirmed.

She was 43. Further specifics of her death are not yet known.

Braxton spent a decade in the NBA after a dominant run at Georgia, where she was the SEC’s Rookie of the Year as a freshman. The Shock selected her with the No. 7 overall pick in 2005, and she spent her first five full seasons in the league with the organization. She helped them win a pair of WNBA championships, too, first in 2006 and again in 2008.

Braxton earned her only All-Star nod during the 2007 campaign, too. She averaged 6.7 points and 5.4 rebounds during that season. The Shock reached the Finals that summer, too, but ended up falling to the Phoenix Mercury.

Braxton was dealt to Phoenix in 2010 after the Shock moved to Tulsa. She was moved a year later to the New York Liberty, too, where she spent her final four seasons before retiring after the 2014 season. In total, Braxton averaged 7.6 points and 4.7 rebounds in 297 games throughout her career.

This post will be updated with more information shortly.

​https://sports.yahoo.com/wnba/article/former-wnba-detroit-shock-f-kara-braxton-dies-at-43-033839096.html 

Blues get shocking Jordan Binnington trade update after Olympics originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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Jordan Binnington came up so close to Olympic gold medal glory with Team Canada.

But after a tough 2-1 defeat to Team USA, Binnington will head back to his NHL team, the St. Louis Blues.

If a new rumor is to be believed, Binnington may not be with St. Louis forever.

NHL insider David Pagnotta reported late in the Olympics that there are teams interested in trading for Binnington.

MORE: Jack Hughes, not a miracle, just magic

Pagnotta does add that unless there’s an injury elsewhere, teams may wait to trade for Binnington until the offseason.

The Blues are looking at being a seller at this trade deadline, but to wait and then trade Binnington in the offseason would also be fascinating.

The Blues have Binnington to thank for their 2019 Stanley Cup championship. He was so good in net that series.

MORE: Team USA honors Johnny Gaudreau in special way after gold medal

Since then, the Blues have never returned to those full heights, but Binnington is clearly a leader for both his NHL team and his international team.

Just because Canada came up short Sunday doesn’t mean Binnington is on a downswing in any way. If the Canadians had showed up offensively at all, Binnington would be the winner of the gold medal game instead of the loser.

Will the Blues trade a guy like that? Stay tuned. It might take a while.

More NHL news:

Auston Matthews, Maple Leafs now forced to face tough realityJack Hughes has forever changed his valueZach Werenski made ‘the play before The Play’Connor Hellebuyck has changed his story foreverAlex Ovechkin has shared an update on his retirement plansEvgeni Malkin gets big news on a possible future

​https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/blues-shocking-jordan-binnington-trade-033315418.html 

Feb 19, 2026; Goodyear, AZ, USA; Cleveland Guardians left fielder Kahlil Watson (71) during media day in Goodyear. Mandatory Credit: Arianna Grainey-Imagn Images | Arianna Grainey-Imagn Images

The Guardians shoutout the A’s yesterday and scored another right-handed hitter on their roster by adding Rhys Hoskins on a minor-league deal.

We covered the Hoskins’ signing here, and Zack Meisel also covered it well for the Athletic here. It’s nice to have some more left-handed hitting-ability and slugging in camp. So, let’s see how it goes from here.

In the Guardians’ 6-0 win over the Athletics yesterday, the Guardians had 9 of the top 11 exit velocities, with Ralphy Velazquez leading the Guardians with a 111.1 mph single. Stuart Fairchild had two 105 mph singles and has looked solid to begin camp, as has Kahlil Watson who had a 105.7 single. George Valera hit a 104.7 mph home run. Travis Bazzana and Angel Genao didn’t light up the scoreboard, with only Genao registering a single, but both put up good at-bats, in general.

All of Parker Messick’s pitches were up a little bit in average speed, which is good for the beginning of camp. Will Dion struck out three batters in two scoreless innings pitched.

Tim Stebbins had a nice piece on David Fry’s return to playing catcher in yesterday’s game, for MLB.com.

The Guardians play the Diamondbacks at 3:05PM ET today.

​https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/guardians-news-notes-adding-win-033055475.html