Baker Mayfield is a pro quarterback now after being selected No. 1 overall in the 2018 NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns. But for anyone had any thoughts that being the top pick of the draft might soften some of Mayfield’s edges, it’s time to reexamine that theory.One of Mayfield’s peers this year, UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen, had to wait 10 picks to hear his name called in the draft, and he wasn’t happy about that. He made headlines with his fiery speech afterward when he said, “there were nine mistakes made ahead of me, and I’m going to make sure they all know it was a mistake.”Mayfield was asked about those comments this weekend as he attended the NFLPA’s Rookie Premiere in Los Angeles. His response is…well, just check it out.“To each their own,” he said in a video interview with ESPN. “The fact that he can say there’s nine mistakes ahead of him, how’s he going to compare himself to a running back and linemen and defensive players that were picked in front of him? There’s no comparison. I think everybody e

It looks like the Jose Bautista Experiment in Atlanta has drawn to a close, as the onetime formidable slugger could not get into any groove at the plate. The time clearly arrived for the Braves to make a move with the 37-year-old with the team in the mix for playoff contention. Bautista struggled to do much of anything at the plate in his short tenure with the Braves, hitting .143 with only two home runs and five RBI in a limited 35 total plate appearances. It is unclear where Bautista will go next, but it’s difficult to imagine he will be sought after if and when he clears waivers. Bautista is coming off his worst season with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2017. Bautista hit just .203 but still hit 23 home runs and notched 65RBI while playing 157 games on the season. If Bautista decides to hang the spikes up, he will end his career with 333 home runs and 932 RBI in 15 career seasons. As for the Braves, they currently boast a 27-17 record which is best in their division by a half-game over the Philadelphia Phillies

Luka Doncic isn’t sure he’ll come stateside to play in the NBA next season, as he tells ESPN’s Jonathan Givony. “I will tell about all at the right time. Right now I just want to celebrate with my team. Soon I will tell,” the prospect said following Real Madrid’s win in the Euroleague Championship.Doncic is in the conversation for the No. 1 pick, held by Phoenix, though he is not the favorite to go at that spot. The Kings and Hawks follow the Suns in the draft and Givony hears that both teams are likely to pass on the young wing. The scribe spent the weekend in Belgrade along with several NBA executives to watch Doncic in a game in which he scored just 15 points before fouling out late in the fourth quarter.Sacramento and Atlanta may each look to add a long-term piece in the frontcourt with their top pick. It was previously reported that the Kings aren’t overly-impressed with their current bigs.“They have a real hole there in the frontcourt. I don’t think that they’re in love with Willie Cauley-Stein by any m

Mike D’Antoni called out his team for playing “soft” during Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals against the Golden State Warriors on Sunday.D’Antoni’s Houston Rockets were destroyed 126-85 in the game. They were blown out in the second half, getting outscored by 10 in the third quarter and 20 in the fourth.“We played soft actually,” D’Antoni said after the game. “You can’t do that against these guys.” A big issue was James Harden on defense. Much like the way the Rockets targeted Steph Curry in Game 2, the Warriors went after Harden in Game 3. The Warriors were 8-of-14 against Harden, according to ESPN’s Chris Haynes, including this play where he got embarrassed by Shaun Livingston.Houston better come out ready to play in Game 4 otherwise this series will be over. Golden State leads 2-1.

The Vegas Golden Knights have been great for the city of Las Vegas, but they might not be so great for the local sportsbooks.Several fans got behind the Golden Knights early in the season, expressing confidence in them by placing bets on the team. Because the Golden Knights are an expansion team, they had extremely long odds to win the Stanley Cup.In fact, the Westgate LV SportsBook manager says they have 13 tickets for the Golden Knights to win it all at 500:1 odds. The LA Times wrote about the subject last month. In that article, Boyd Gaming said they had a few $30,000 tickets outstanding if the Golden Knights win it all. They also offered the Golden Knights at 150:1 odds because they figured they would be a popular bet among locals. As the Golden Knights began winning, sportsbooks made adjustments to their odds, but those who jumped on them early got them at fantastic odds. Those people can hedge if they want to ensure a payout.Overall, despite the amount of outstanding tickets on the Golden Knights, the p

In a season without precedent, the expansion Vegas Golden Knights became Western Conference champions on Sunday, advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals in their first season of existence with a 2-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets.The ease with which the Golden Knights ripped through the playoffs was truly remarkable. After winning the Pacific Division, they have promptly gone 12-3 in the playoffs, concluding with a five-game victory over a Jets team that had the second-most points in the entire league during the regular season.Naturally, Twitter was awash with reaction to the remarkable achievement. Vegas has been so good, fans of other teams have been jumping on the bandwagon. Expect that to continue as they embark on their first trip to the Finals.

On Saturday, the Tampa Bay Rays used relief pitcher Sergio Romo as their starter. As it turns out, this will not be a one-time thing. Romo will also get the ball on Sunday against the Los Angeles Angels, the first pitcher in six years to start on consecutive days for his team. Of course, Romo isn’t being used like a traditional starter. Statistically, the first inning is the hardest for pitchers. Given that the Angels lineup starts with three powerful right-handed bats (Zack Cozart, Mike Trout, and Justin Upton), Tampa thought it wise to use Romo — who normally works against righties later in the game — in the first inning, then go to the regular “starter” in the second.On Saturday, it worked like a charm, with Romo striking out Cozart, Trout, and Upton. Tampa seems at least committed to giving this strategy a fair chance. So, expect the Rays to do this more throughout the year. If it works, it will not be six years before we see this again.

The Giants used the No. 2 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft to select the best running back in the class — by far — but Saquon Barkley might be even more versatile than they realized.Barkley showed the world he has a pretty accurate arm, in addition to extremely muscular legs, at the NFLPA Rookie Premiere over the weekend.The Giants running back took the field in Los Angeles, and uncorked a flawless throw from 25 yards out that flew threw a tire — untouched. Check out the perfect spiral. Barkley truly can do it all.

We can safely say that Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield is a fan of the popular online game, Fortnite. The first overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft recently showed off his favorite celebration dances, and he nailed them. These moves could well come in handy for Mayfield during the season.For his sake, we’re going to hope that he gets to show them off in the end zone. But we could see his moves coming in handy at shaking off defenders, as well.

In today’s episode of the soap opera that is the Miami Marlins, one of the team’s most prominent former fans is aiding in a lawsuit against the team.Miami-Dade County is locked in a legal dispute with former Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria that centers around the accusation that Loria used underhanded methods to get out of a profit-sharing agreement with the city and county governments that came about as part of the construction of a new stadium. One sticking point is the allegation that the Marlins were attempting to claim foreign ownership, headquartered in the British Virgin Islands.Marlins Man, real name Laurence Leavy, took a trip there to discover how far-fetched this assertion was, and the governments are now using his deposition against the team.“Inside the Post Office, there were no Miami Marlins signs or logos anywhere, the employees in the Post Office were not wearing Miami Marlins clothes, and the employees stated they had no Miami Marlins forms or stationery,” Leavy stated in an affidavit, via Dougla

After one of the hottest starts to the season, New York Yankees shortstop has fallen into a deep slump that could see him dropped in the lineup.Yankees manager Aaron Boone gave Gregorius the day off Sunday against a left-handed pitcher, and hinted that the shortstop may not return to the three hole when he does return to the lineup. Gregorius has one hit in his last 42 at-bats after a scorching start to the year. The three hole seems to be a bit cursed for the Yankees this season, but it makes sense to go in a different direction at this point, at least temporarily.

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats have signed former Heisman Trophy winner and first-round NFL draft pick Johnny Manziel, but he’s not going into this new job with a starting job in hand.After Manziel signed with the Canadian Football League team, coach June Jones made it clear that Jeremiah Masoli is the team’s starter right now. Furthermore, he made it clear that, if Manziel were to take the job from Masoli, he’s got a lot of work in front of him to make it happen.“Let me tell you something right now, he’s got his work ahead of him to beat out Jeremiah,” Jones said of Manziel, per nationalpost.com. “He’s got a lot to catch up on, but he’ll spend the time to get that done. I know he will because he’s already learned that lesson.”The “lesson” Jones refers to here is that, during his tenure with the Cleveland Browns, Manziel admittedly didn’t put in the work teams expect from a professional quarterback.Since then, the young star has seemingly set his life in order. He has gotten clean and sober, got married and seems to

Cleveland Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer put his manager in a tough position with some of the unfounded accusations he made toward the Houston Astros earlier this month, and Terry Francona acknowledged that over the weekend.Bauer basically declared war on the Astros a few weeks back when he attributed their pitching staff’s success to doctoring the baseball. That forced Houston manager AJ Hinch to have to defend his team, and Francona says he apologized to his counterpart on Friday over the situation.“I don’t think that’s fair to him,” Francona said, per Alyson Footer of MLB.com. “I just told him that I appreciated the way he handled it, and we’ll try to move on.”Bauer’s allegations led to a back and forth with several Astros players. Houston third baseman Alex Bregman called Bauer “Tyler” on Twitter to get a rise out of him, and Bauer responded by adding the name Tyler to his jersey on Friday. Francona said that’s when he decided to reach out to Hinch via text message.“That’s not what you really want to do as

Saturday night, the Cleveland Cavaliers earned a desperately needed 116-86 Game 3 win against the Boston Celtics to make it a 2-1 series. In the first two games, Cleveland looked over-matched by the Celtics’ young talent while struggling to defend and make open shots.A major adjustment was needed to win Game 3, which was obviously critical for Cleveland. Cavaliers forward Kevin Love stated that Tristan Thompson’s ability to slow Al Horford was a major key for Game 3. “Tristan has always been great in stepping up and taking the challenge in any series,” Love said. “You’ve got to give a lot of credit to Tristan because Horford is really the one that makes them go. He can play a little bit of the point forward. He can do a lot of the intangibles that even for their team might not show up on the box score as well. But he did a great job on him tonight, and he’s done a great job on him the last two games.”Horford was limited to seven points, seven rebounds and four assists on 2-for-4 shooting in Game 3. As a resul

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Rich Hill is expected to miss at least a month due to ongoing blister problems.Dodgers manager Dave Roberts announced Sunday that Hill would head to the disabled list, and there is at least a four week timetable for his return. The Dodgers are focused on giving Hill time to fully heal, as he has long struggled with blisters. This one is particularly severe, and it ensured that he lasted just two pitches on Saturday in his start against the Washington Nationals.Hill has struggled to the tune of a 6.20 ERA so far this season, and it’s simply not clear if the team will be able to rely on him much going forward.

You could make the argument that “Star Wars” is the most successful film franchise in U.S. history, and anyone who doesn’t know a thing about it has probably been living under a rock. Apparently Kendrick Perkins thinks the undersides of rocks are quite comfortable.Following the Cavaliers’ blowout win in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Kevin Love asked Kendrick Perkins if he was going to hang out with the fan who was sitting courtside dressed as Chewbacca. Perkins literally had no idea what a Chewbacca was, and his rationale for not knowing is priceless. That “new stuff” Perkins is referring to actually debuted in 1977, though there have been new installments of the “Star Wars” series in recent years.For those who didn’t see the fan at Quicken Loans Arena, let’s just say he went all out. Perkins has yet to play for Cleveland during the playoffs, but he has had no problems making headlines while riding the bench. That’s what happens when you get into altercations with Drake and have no idea what “Star

To say that the Cleveland Cavaliers looked completely rejuvenated in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals would be an understatement, and JR Smith insists it is no coincidence that his team looked so sharp after several days off.Because of the way the schedule fell, the Cavs and Celtics had three full days off between Game 2 on Tuesday and Game 3 on Saturday. After losing both games in Boston, Cleveland cruised to a 116-86 win at Quicken Loans Arena. According to Smith, the lengthy layoff helped the “old guys” in his locker room. “It helped us a lot ’cause we old,” Smith told reporters with a straight face. “We got some old guys over here. They got one guy out there that was born in ’98 or ’99. Just to think about that is crazy. We needed (the rest). We definitely did.”Smith was probably referring to Celtics rookie Jayson Tatum, who has played incredibly well during the postseason despite being just 20 years old.If you ask Brad Stevens, Boston’s problem on Saturday may have been more of a reflection of a b

As we approach the quarter mark of the season, a chapter of MLB’s 2018 campaign comes to a close. Thus far, we’ve been fortunate to see historic milestones reached, multiple no-hitters and some fantastic starts to the season for dozens of players.At the quarter mark, it gives us the opportunity to look at what players have done thus far and assemble an All-Star lineup that reflects the outstanding production provided by numerous players this season.The construction of our American League and National League All-Star lineups focuses not just on a player’s reputation but even more so their overall production thus far. Some names might prove to be surprising and may not make the trip to Nationals Park when the actual event rolls around on July 17, but right now they are proving themselves worthy of the All-Star recognition.Let’s take a look at the N.L. and A.L. lineups.National LeagueC – Francisco Cervelli, Pittsburgh Pirates Perhaps you expected Buster Posey to be here, but the top catcher in baseball thus far

Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Rich Hill left Saturday’s game against the Washington Nationals after throwing just two pitches, and the injury that knocked him out could keep him on the shelf for an extended period of time.Hill has dealt with blisters for the past several seasons, and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the latest is particularly bad. It sounds like the 38-year-old is heading to the disabled list. Here’s a photo that shows how nasty the damage appears to be this time: Hill has struggled this season, posting a 6.20 ERA in six starts. His resurgence over the past couple of years has been one of the reasons the Dodgers have been so successful, but that has not continued in 2018. The left-hander has a sweeping curveball that is difficult for hitters to track, but it also puts pressure on his middle finger and has led to the recurring blister issue.Not much has gone right for the Dodgers this season, and the guarantee Roberts made after the team’s slow start is looking less likely by the day.

The Braves have released third baseman Jose Bautista, Mark Bowman of MLB.com tweets.The Bautista experiment was a short-lived one for Atlanta, which signed the former superstar to a minor league deal on April 18. The move reunited Bautista with Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos, who was the Blue Jays’ GM for some of the slugger’s highly successful tenure in Toronto. Bautista was primarily an outfielder during that period, but the Braves signed him to line up at third – a position he hadn’t played extensively since 2011.To the 37-year-old Bautista’s credit, he worked his way to the Braves rather quickly, as they selected his contract on May 4. However, the six-time All-Star was unproductive in his two-plus weeks with the first-place club, hitting .143/.250/.343 with a 30 percent strikeout rate over a small sample of 40 plate appearances. And unsurprisingly, he also drew negative marks (minus-2 Defensive Runs Saved, minus-0.3 Ultimate Zone Rating) in his return to the hot corner, albeit over just 61 innin