English
Español'Evolution, not revolution' required before 'season-defining' Chelsea game
Aston Villa have only won two of their past seven games. This is not the form of a team looking to secure Champions League football, nor one sitting third in the league for several months.
The team are looking sluggish, lacking in creativity and struggling to keep a clean sheet. Performances have been underwhelming, which has perhaps been more of a concern than the dwindling points tally.
The fixture against Chelsea at Villa Park on Wednesday is season-defining. A Champions League 'six-pointer' in which Villa could build a nine-point gap on the visitors, or the deficit between fourth and sixth could shrink to three points.
How can Unai Emery turn things around in a period of decline? It's time for something different - a fresh approach that will inject energy into a weary side creaking under the pressure.
The boss will never rip up his tactics sheet and start afresh, particularly in the final run-in of the season. But his team needs an evolution, not a revolution.
The easiest way for Villa to evolve is a change in starting personnel. Tammy Abraham has looked lively since his arrival, but has struggled to seize the shirt from Ollie Watkins. As Villa's record Premier League goalscorer struggles to net, the ex-Chelsea forward should be eyeing a start against his former club as an opportunity to stake his claim.
Meanwhile, youngster Alysson, who has had a stop-start beginning to his journey in claret and blue, has shown promise in his brief cameos so far. An energetic and physical attacker looking to impose himself on the Premier League feels exactly the type of player to fire Villa's frontline.
As the team look to spark the atmosphere at Villa Park, a refreshed performance will be the thing that really reignites belief and excitement among fans, who are longing to see the tide turn in a lengthy history of Villa falling at the final hurdle.
Find more from Hannah Gowen at UTV
Aces guard Chelsea Gray named 2026 Unrivaled MVP
During her 11-year WNBA career, Chelsea Gray has collected an impressive cabinet of championships and awards. She added yet another accomplishment to her collection Monday, as Gray was named the MVP of Unrivaled's 2026 season.
Gray, 33, turned in a fantastic season with Rose BC, averaging 24.2 points, 6.1 assists and 5.6 rebounds in 14 games played.
This story will be updated.
MLB News Updates, March 2: Andrew Painter makes 2026 debut, and more from spring training to note for fantasy baseball
Every week, we will update fantasy baseball managers with all the MLB news they may have missed as we make our way through spring training and get closer to Opening Day.
[Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Baseball league for the 2026 MLB season]
Andrew Painter has brief, quiet outing in 2026 spring training debut
It seems like forever that fantasy baseball managers have been waiting for Andrew Painter to make noise in the majors. After all, three years ago, the then-19-year-old made his spring training debut, only to find himself undergoing Tommy John surgery, ending any hopes of an expedited career in MLB.
But Painter, MLB’s 28th-ranked prospect and long considered one of the Phillies’ best prospects overall, is healthy now and ready to make his mark in Philadelphia’s rotation this season.
Painter made his 2026 spring training debut against the Yankees on March 1. He pitched two scoreless innings and collected one strikeout, to Jasson Domínguez (another former highly-touted prospect who’s already gotten a lot of MLB action).
Painter will likely be eased along, but it seems like a given that he’ll get a chance to stick in the Phillies’ rotation to start the season. He’s currently carrying a 205 ADP in Yahoo leagues; that won’t last.
Stanton makes startling injury claim
In what ended up being one of the more bizarre-sounding news stories of the past few days, Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton claimed that the pain in his elbows is so bad that he “can’t open bottles, can’t open a bag of chips.”
As someone who has opened a lot of bags of chips in his day, that is a wild statement. Injuries, of course, are no strangers to Stanton — the last time he played more than 140 games was in 2018.
Highlights of Stanton running have been making the rounds on social media; that’s a low bar. But nonetheless, Stanton has remained one of the most feared, powerful hitters in baseball, despite his litany of injury woes. Last season was even a resurgence for him, posting a .944 OPS in 77 games (after returning from, yes, an injury) while hitting 24 home runs. Stanton currently has an ADP of 193, but this elbow news will probably lower that even further. At that point in drafts, you could do worse than taking a chance on someone who has 40+ homer upside.
Baseball’s No. 1 prospect makes his presence felt
The Pittsburgh Pirates are not a good team, but that doesn’t mean they don’t offer reasons for excitement. Oneil Cruz is an exciting hitter with a yet-untapped ceiling, Paul Skenes is already one of the five best starting pitchers in baseball and Bubba Chandler could reach that position at some point.
And there’s a chance another one of Pittsburgh’s prospects could take the field in the majors this season — and he might be the best of the bunch.
Konnor Griffin — who will turn a mere 20 years old when the season reaches its one-month mark — has already made waves across social media with his first spring training homers:
No. 1 Prospect Konnor Griffin hits his first #SpringTraining home run! 💪 pic.twitter.com/YllOJIHZLw
— MLB (@MLB) February 24, 2026
Not only did he launch that blast against Boston’s prized free-agent pickup, Ranger Suárez, but Griffin would go on and hit a second home run later in the game. Then, he hit a third spring training homer on March 1. At 6-foot-4 and 222 pounds, Griffin is the Pirates’ top prospect — and the top prospect in baseball overall.
But again, Griffin is just 19 years old at the time of this writing. He’s only played in A-A+-AA (in which he made mincemeat of opposing pitching to the tune of a .333/.415/.527 slash line with a .941 OPS) in the minors. The chances of him making the big league roster before the summer — much less right out of spring training — are not high. And we know Pittsburgh isn’t exactly the place where prospects get rushed, no matter how good they are.
Griffin has a Yahoo ADP of 195.6 — apt for someone who is just a hopeful bench stash right now; Yahoo managers aren’t too hyped yet. But if he continues the highlight reel and fan pressure continues to build, the Pirates’ hand may be forced at some point in May or June. He’s a must-watch player during spring training.
Lindor on track for Opening Day; Carroll aiming for the same
Mets SS Francisco Lindor was one of a group of high-profile players who announced a need for surgery after injury to the hamate bone; for him, the surgery was performed on his left hand.
No one wants to hear about a star player needing surgery right before spring training, but thankfully, Lindor recently had his stitches removed and is reportedly still on track to start for the Mets on Opening Day.
Lindor is currently just on the cusp of being a second-round pick in Yahoo Fantasy leagues. If he falls to the third round, he’s a snap-selection, especially when you consider he’s gone nearly 30-30 (he stole 29 bases in 2024) for three straight seasons.
Diamondbacks OF Corbin Carroll (who currently holds a Yahoo ADP of 16.6) had surgery on Feb. 11 on his right hamate bone, and as he continues his rehab, he has stated that he’s “pushing” to be ready for Opening Day against the Dodgers on March 26.
At just 25 years old, we likely still haven’t seen Carroll’s best season; he has a .258/.341/.491 slash line with an .832 OPS in his career. His ADP could shoot up if his timeline does the same during spring training.
Hope for a resurgent Mike Trout season?
Once considered the clear best player in baseball, it’s been a rough couple of seasons for Mike Trout on the injury front. Trout last played more than 130 games in 2019 (134). He played just 29 and 82 games in 2024 and 2023, respectively. He did play 130 games in 2025, but the results were pretty subpar, by his standards: .232/.359/.439 with a .797 OPS, 26 home runs and just two stolen bases.
But maybe there’s a chance things turn around this season. On Saturday, Trout flew down the line in an attempt to beat out an infield single versus the D-backs. He was recorded as reaching a sprint speed of 29.9 feet per second — his highest sprint speed since a meniscus tear in 2024. Trout himself revealed that his goal for this season is 30 feet per second.
Now, this is not to say that Trout will suddenly return to his glory days of stealing 30+ bases, but a return to elite speed would certainly help in that regard. At the very least, a healthy Trout will undoubtedly steal more than the measly two bags he’s averaged the last six seasons.
For context, Trea Turner had the highest sprint speed in the league in 2025 at 30.3 feet per second, per Statcast. Trout was down at 223 with 27.9 feet per second.
Trout is coming off the board as OF58 in Yahoo leagues, a far cry from his previous elite years. Two years removed from his meniscus tear and with an eye on redemption, Trout could end up being a draft-day steal.
Yankee youth shining early in spring training
The Yankees aren’t exactly the Pirates in terms of exciting prospects, but they do have some young players who have been turning heads so far in exhibition play.
George Lombard Jr., baseball’s 32nd-ranked prospect, has been making defensive highlight after defensive highlight so far in spring training, and the Yankees expect his bat to catch up with his glove. Defense can get players onto the field sooner than later; Lombard’s ascension is one to watch.
Carlos Lagrange is another of New York’s top prospects, a potentially front-line starter with triple-digit stuff. His arm is already making waves on social media. In Double-A last season, Lagrange put together a 7-6 record with a 3.22 ERA and 104 strikeouts in 78.1 innings pitched. At 22 years old, Lagrange has the chance to not only begin the season in Triple-A, but could see himself in the big-league club sooner rather than later, whether as a starter or in the bullpen.
Finally, we have Ryan Weathers, the Yankees’ offseason trade acquisition from the Marlins. At just 26 years old, Weathers hasn’t even reached his prime yet; once upon a time, Weathers was a Padres first-round pick. He flamed out with San Diego, but delivered moments of promise with the Marlins. The Yankees traded for that promise, and it may have already shown itself in spring training:
Ryan Weathers with a 99.8 MPH strikeout. He has never thrown a pitch that fast in his MLB career pic.twitter.com/0gN2GGUdB5
— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) February 25, 2026
Weathers ended his exhibition outing with the following line: 3.2 IP, 1 H, 5 K, 0 BB. Not bad for a debut. He currently holds a Yahoo ADP of 207.6; expect that to rise in the coming weeks, barring injury or a blow-up outing, as Weathers is projected to be the Yankees’ third or fourth starter to open the season.
Spurs given suspended ticket ban over fans' Nazi salutes in Germany
Uefa fine Tottenham Hotspur and give them a suspended ban from selling away tickets after three supporters made Nazi salutes towards Eintracht Frankfurt fans.
Matt Patricia’s return is a continuity boost for Ohio State
It’s safe to say not everyone was sold on Ryan Day’s hire of Matt Patricia as defensive coordinator when Jim Knowles took the Penn State job. Our own site listed the uncertainty of the choice as one of the Buckeyes’ biggest concerns last summer.
While things hadn’t gone so well for Patricia as an NFL head coach in Detroit — lack of success by no means being uncommon for Lions coaches from a historical standpoint — or in some of his positions since, his NFL experience is something Day covets.
Patricia got the job, and the reaction from Ohio State writers and fans was mixed, at best.
Those concerns were quickly put to rest. Despite having to completely rebuild a defense that lost a ton of departing talent to the NFL after the 2024 national championship season, Patricia’s unit was not only Ohio State’s best in 2025, but it was the top defense in college football.
The Buckeyes finished first in scoring defense, allowing fewer than double-digit points per game (9.3), and led the nation in total defense, allowing just an average of 219 yards per game. With an entirely new defensive line, Ohio State held opponents to less than 90 yards rushing per game, finishing seventh nationally in run defense, while leading the country in pass defense, giving up a stingy 129.7 yards per game through the air.
There is no room for criticism for the numbers in the above paragraph. It’s ludicrous to expect that kind of performance, let alone any improvement on it.
Leading the country in three of the four major defensive categories makes the 2025 defense historically good (and it’s even better when you consider the Buckeyes led the country in red zone defense and were No. 10 nationally in third-down defense), and the architect of that defense putting to rest any doubts about his return can be seen as nothing but a positive for Ohio State football in 2026.
A side effect of being one of the top programs in the country is that other schools are always coming for your coaches. At Ohio State, it isn’t just college programs coming for them; the NFL also comes calling. With the ridiculous season Patricia’s defense just had, there were no doubt suitors for his services from both college and NFL teams.
Although Patricia’s initial deal was through 2027, there was never any guarantee of his return after turning the OSU defense into a buzzsaw that improved a national championship-caliber defense.
Now that Patricia has committed to being in Columbus for another year, he has the unenviable task of replacing several key parts of his own elite defense.
The good news is there is plenty of talent returning and several new arrivals via the transfer portal that will help. The bad news is that it is a big ask to replace Kayden McDonald’s explosive play on the defensive line and “unicorn” players like Caleb Downs and Arvell Reese, along with an elite linebacker talent in Sonny Styles and top cornerback Davison Igbinosun.
Despite the losses of Downs, Reese, and Styles in particular, the job of rebuilding the defense seems less daunting now than it did a year ago.
Ohio State’s returning starters and depth players have been in Patricia’s system for a year. They should be better pepared in their second year, even if some of them will become first-time starters. New arrivals will help mitigate some of the losses.
Again, it’s ludicrous to expect a repeat of what Patricia’s defense did in 2025 in the season ahead, especially with a tougher schedule to play, but Ohio State’s second-year defensive coordinator has done enough to at least silence last year’s critics and build trust that the Silver Bullets will be back in 2026.