Howdy, I'm your host, Houston Mitchell. Let's get right to the news.
From Jack Harris: When Dodgers players walked into the clubhouse on Thursday afternoon, hours before the start of a 2023 season shrouded in uncertainty for a franchise largely unaccustomed to it the last decade, they each found a bottle of wine waiting in their locker, an opening day gift from outfielder Jason Heyward.
The vintage was 2020, an aged Caymus Vineyards brand of cabernet sauvignon that even noted wine connoisseur Dave Roberts approved of.
"Suffice to say that, I got a different bottle than the other group," Roberts joked. "But for that in bulk, very good choice."
And for Heyward, the 13-year veteran entering his first season in the Dodgers outfield, the gift was more than a simple gesture of goodwill.
He was sending a subtle message to his new teammates, as well.
"The process of what it takes to make wine, you start off knowing it's gonna take time," he explained, drawing a parallel to this Dodgers season.
"This group, we understand it takes time to get where we want to go," he said. "There's a lot of grind in that process. But at the end of the day, there is positivity at the end of that process. It's something I wanted to give these guys to start, as we have a clean slate … For me, it just felt fitting."
Indeed, the Dodgers are embarking on a season that could be a practice in patience.
That's how their 8-2 opening night win against the Arizona Diamondbacks played out, with the Dodgers overcoming an early two-run hole to win their ninth season opener in the last 11 years.
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Plaschke: Newest Dodgers inspire and help set a tone for a season of intrigue
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ANGELS
From Sarah Valenzuela: Logan O' Hoppe finished batting practice, went over to greet his parents, then made his way past the hordes of reporters scattered in front of the dugout. Asked what the young catcher, making his first Opening Day appearance, expected his starting pitcher to do, O'Hoppe's eyes lit up and he grinned.
"Do Shohei Ohtani things."
Ohtani pitched three innings of no-hit baseball against the Athletics before he got tagged by back to back hits in the fourth inning. Needing two outs to get out of the jam, Ohtani struck out his next batter, Jesús Aguilar. Ohtani struck out his last batter of the inning, Ramon Laureano, on a 100.7-mile per hour fastball, and yelled as he walked back to the dugout.
Ohtani struck out 10 over six innings of work at Oakland Coliseum, giving up just the two hits and walking three batters. Not that it mattered in the end. Ohtani exited his start with the Angels' winning 1-0. In the eighth inning, the A's Tony Kemp hit an RBI double to tie the score. And the A's went on to win, 2-1.
Continue reading here
Hernández: Return of the MVP season? New rules might turn Shohei Ohtani into a .300 hitter
KINGS
From Helene Elliott: The last time a member of the Kings scored 40 goals in a season, Wayne Gretzky was wrapping up the last of his 10 NHL scoring titles, bandana-wearing Kelly Hrudey was regularly performing his acrobatics in goal, and home ice meant the Fabulous Forum.
The season was 1993-94, and Luc Robitaille scored 44 goals to lead the team for the fifth consecutive season. He flirted with 40 by scoring 39 in the 1998-99 season and the magical Ziggy Palffy had 38 goals in 2000-01 and 37 in 2002-03, but no Kings player has scored 40 since.
"That's crazy," said Robitaille, whose exploits made him a lock for the Hall of Fame. "It's about time someone does it."
Enter Swedish winger Adrian Kempe. With a career-best 36 goals and seven games remaining in the regular season, Kempe has a good shot at reaching the prestigious 40-goal level.
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Connor McDavid scored his NHL-leading 61st goal of the season and the Edmonton Oilers beat the Kings 2-0 Thursday night for their third straight victory.
McDavid became the first player in NHL history to have five 10-game point streaks in a season, breaking Wayne Gretzky's record of four in 1986-87. McDavid also became the fifth player in league history to reach 300 goals and 500 assists before playing 600 games, following Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Peter Statsny and Bryan Trottier.
Stuart Skinner made 43 saves for his first shutout of the season and second in the NHL, helping the Oilers move past the Kings into third place in the Western Conference. Edmonton is 12-2-1 in March.
DUCKS
Jaden Schwartz and Matty Beniers scored within three minutes of each other in the first period and the Seattle Kraken hung on to beat the Ducks 4-1 Thursday night.
Daniel Sprong added a power-play goal with 4:18 left in the game and Alex Wennberg sealed it with an empty-netter. Martin Jones made 18 saves to help the Kraken keep their grip on the top Western Conference wild card playoff spot.
Brock McGinn scored the lone goal for Anaheim. Lukas Dostal made 35 saves.
UCLA GYMNASTICS
From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: UCLA produced its best vault rotation since 2020 and moved one step closer to ending its nationals drought by winning its NCAA regional semifinal Thursday with a season-high-tying score of 198.275 at Pauley Pavilion.
With season highs on vault and beam, No. 4 UCLA advanced to Saturday's regional final at 5 p.m. against No. 5 Utah and Washington, which advanced from the first semifinal, and No. 14 Missouri, which finished second to the Bruins with a score of 197.4. The Utes won the first semifinal with a score of 198.125 while Washington upset No. 12 Auburn to take second with a 196.775. Auburn, without Olympic champion Suni Lee, finished last after counting two falls on bars.
Scores will reset for Saturday's final and the top two finishers will advance to the NCAA championships in Fort Worth, Texas, from April 13 to 15. It would be UCLA's first trip to nationals as a team since 2019.
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From Ben Bolch: Gary Beban is the only Heisman Trophy winner in UCLA history. Troy Aikman is the school's only quarterback to win three Super Bowls. Cade McNown is the only one to go 4-0 against USC.
Who was the greatest quarterback during his time as a Bruin? You just might get to ask them yourself.
The UCLA legends are among 22 of the school's quarterbacks scheduled to attend a charity fundraiser April 15 at the Luskin Center benefiting UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital.
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From Ryan Kartje: Earlier this week, before his outlook at the position would brighten considerably, Lincoln Riley was asked how he felt about USC's depth at the tight end. The coach's eyebrows raised.
"Right now? Today? Not good!" Riley said, with a laugh.
USC was down to just one other scholarship tight end in camp, and he'd just been converted from linebacker. Another tight end was injured. A fourth wouldn't come until fall. The depth chart was bleak. But Riley waved off any sense of concern.
"It's going to be good," he said, "it's just currently at this moment right now not very good."
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NCAA BASKETBALL
From Sam Farmer: Two years ago, when Jim Nantz decided this would be his last time calling the Final Four — a farewell in his hometown of Houston — he knew it would be an emotional experience.
But the legendary CBS play-by-play announcer could not have anticipated the flood of feelings that would accompany this goodbye. He expected the waves of nostalgia, but not the sadness of the last several months.
He lost his mother in October, followed in January by longtime friend Billy Packer, who flanked Nantz as a CBS basketball analyst for 18 years.
And then, three days before the start of the NCAA tournament, statistician Pat McGrath died unexpectedly in his San Francisco hotel room. He was in town to work an NBA game, just another routine stop in advance of joining Nantz for March Madness.
Men's tournament results, schedule
All times Pacific
Final Four
Saturday
No. 5 San Diego State vs. No. 9 Florida Atlantic, 3 p.m., CBS
No. 4 UConn vs. No. 5 Miami, 5:40 p.m., CBS
Championship
Monday, April 3
Final Four winners, 6:15 p.m., CBS
Women's tournament
All times Pacific
Final Four
Today
No. 1 Virginia Tech vs. No. 3 LSU, 4 p.m., ESPN, ESPNU, ESPN+
No. 1 South Carolina vs. No. 2 Iowa, 6 p.m., ESPN, ESPNU, ESPN+
Championship
Sunday
Final Four winners, 12:30 p.m., ABC, ESPN+
WHO WILL WIN?
We asked readers of this newsletter who will win the men's tournament, Florida Atlantic, Miami, San Diego State or UConn? The results, after 2,293 votes:
UConn, 55.3%
San Diego State, 34.2%
Miami, 6.6%
Florida Atlantic, 3.9%
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1923 — The Ottawa Senators of the NHL completes a two-game sweep of the WCHL's Edmonton Eskimos with a 1-0 victory to win the Stanley Cup for the third time in four years. Harry "Punch" Broadbent scores the goal.
1931 — Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne and seven others die in a plane crash in a wheat field near Bazaar, Kansas. During his 13 years at Notre Dame, the 43-year-old coach, led the "Fighting Irish" to 105 victories, 12 losses, five ties and three national championships.
1968 — The American League's new franchise in Seattle chooses Pilots as its nickname.
1973 — The Philadelphia Flyers tie an NHL record for most goals in one period, scoring eight goals in the second period of a 10-2 win over the New York Islanders.
1973 — Ken Norton scores a stunning upset by winning a 12-round split decision over Muhammad Ali to win the NABF heavyweight title. Norton, a 5-1 underdog, breaks Ali's jaw in the first round.
1975 — UCLA beats Kentucky 92-85 for its 10th NCAA basketball title under head coach John Wooden. Wooden finishes with a 620-147 career record after announcing his retirement two days earlier.
1976 — Cleveland Cavaliers beat Jazz to clinch club's first ever NBA playoff berth.
1980 — Larry Holmes scores a TKO in the eighth round over Leroy Jones to retain his WBC heavyweight title in Las Vegas.
1980 — Mike Weaver knocks out John Tate in the 15th round to win the WBA heavyweight title in Knoxville, Tenn.
1982 — NBA and NBAPA reach 4-year agreement on return for minimum & maximum payrolls, the first of its kind in team sports.
1984 — Mike Bossy becomes first player in NHL history to record 7 straight 50 goal seasons.
1985 — Old Dominion beats Georgia in the 4th NCAAW National Championship.
1986 — Freshman center Pervis Ellison hits two free throws with 27 seconds left to seal Louisville's 72-69 victory over Duke in the NCAA basketball championship.
1990 — 20-year old center Joe Sakic becomes the youngest player in NHL history to score 100 points in a season
1991 — Tennessee edges Virginia 70-67 in overtime for its third NCAA women's basketball title. It's the first overtime in the NCAA's 10-year history.
1991 — Amy Alcott wins the Dinah Shore golf tournament with a record eight-shot victory over Dottie Mochrie.
1994 — Chicago White Sox assigns former NBA superstar Michael Jordan to the Birmingham Barons of the double-A Southern League.
1995 — Major league baseball players end their strike.
1997 — Martina Hingis becomes the youngest No. 1 player in tennis history. The 16-year-old Swiss sensation, who claimed her fifth title of 1997 at the Lipton Championships on March 29, supplants Steffi Graf in the WTA Tour rankings.
1998 — Expansion clubs the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Arizona Diamondbacks both suffer losses in their MLB debuts.
2002 — UConn women's basketball team beat Oklahoma, 82-70; Huskies conclude perfect season (39-0).
2002 — Andre Agassi wins his 700th match and his second straight Key Biscayne Title.
2005 — Tarence Kinsey hits a 3-pointer with 1.3 seconds left to lift South Carolina to a 60-57 victory over Saint Joseph's for the NIT championship.
2012 — Ray Whitney passes 1,000 career points with a goal and assist in Phoenix's 4-0 victory over the Ducks.
2013 — In one of the biggest upsets in the history of the NCAA women's tournament, sixth-seeded Louisville stuns defending national champion Baylor in the regional semifinals, 82-81. It's the end of a remarkable college career for Baylor's Brittney Griner, a record-setting 6-foot-8 post player who ended up as the second-highest scoring player in NCAA history.
2013 — Pete Weber ties Earl Anthony by winning his 10th major Professional Bowlers Assn. title with a 224-179 win over Australian Jason Belmonte in the Tournament of Champions.
2017 — UConn's record 111-game winning streak comes to a startling end when Mississippi State pulls off perhaps the biggest upset in women's basketball history, shocking the Huskies 66-64 on Morgan William's overtime buzzer beater in the national semifinals.
2018 — Anthony Joshua beats Joseph Parker by unanimous decision to become a three-belt world heavyweight boxing champion. Joshua adds Parker's WBO belt to his WBA and IBF titles, and moves within one belt of becoming the first undisputed champion since Lennox Lewis in 2000.
—Compiled by the Associated Press
And finally...
UCLA defeats Kentucky to win the title in John Wooden's final game. Watch and listen here.
Until next time...
That concludes today's newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you'd like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com, and follow me on Twitter at @latimeshouston. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
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