Sports
Behind Kershaw, L.A. rights ship vs. rival Padres
LOS ANGELES — His teammates were reeling, their bitter rivals were surging, the division was slipping, and under those circumstances, Clayton Kershaw — clearly diminished but still every bit as determined — came through.
With the Los Angeles Dodgers riding a four-game losing streak, and hosting a San Diego Padres team that had won five straight to make up 10 games in a span of six weeks, Kershaw fired six innings of one-run ball Friday night, cutting through the tension of a keyed-up series to set the tone in a 3-2 victory at Dodger Stadium.
The National League West, a division the Dodgers led by nine games just six weeks earlier, is tied once more. The Padres and Dodgers will play five more games against one another over the next nine days.
“We had the right guy on the mound tonight,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I think we all know that.”
Kershaw made his debut with the Dodgers’ 2025 rotation around the middle of May, after fully recovering from offseason knee and foot surgeries, and helped stabilize a group that once again found itself beset by injuries. His initial results were merely decent — a 3.62 ERA in 12 starts, with 39 strikeouts and 18 walks in 59⅔ innings — but his availability was vital.
Over the past few weeks, as the Dodgers’ rotation has stabilized, Kershaw has tapped into another level.
All three of his starts this month have seen him go six innings while combining to allow just two runs. On Friday night, the only damage against him was a Ramon Laureano solo homer that clanged off the left-field foul pole. Kershaw featured a sharper-than-usual slider and allowed just two other baserunners while requiring only 76 pitches to complete 18 outs. Fifteen starts into his age-37 season, he’s 7-2 with a 3.01 ERA.
“It’s just what you’re supposed to do,” Kershaw said of being at his best lately. “As a starter, you’re supposed to pitch well. And when it’s your turn, step up. And our rotation is getting healthier. We got a lot of guys that can throw the ball really well, so I just want to do my part.”
Friday began with the news that Max Muncy, the Dodgers’ everyday third baseman and a critical middle-of-the-order bat, was nursing an oblique strain that would keep him out for the next several weeks. Muncy joined Tommy Edman, Enrique Hernandez and Hyeseong Kim on the injured list, prompting a rookie (Alex Freeland) and a journeyman (Buddy Kennedy) to fill in. The bullpen, meanwhile, was already down as many as six high-leverage relievers, severely limiting Roberts’ options to hold leads late.
The Dodgers desperately needed Kershaw’s six innings. But they also needed the contributions from Teoscar Hernandez, who was carrying an 0.673 OPS since the start of July but provided a critical insurance run with a seventh-inning homer. And they badly needed the production from their bullpen, where five relievers combined to allow just one run over the last three innings.
With Roberts unwilling to bring Kershaw back out for another inning, Ben Casparius successfully tackled the middle of the Padres’ lineup in the top of the seventh. The Padres then threatened in the eighth against Alex Vesia, loading the bases on a couple of hit by pitches and a walk, then cutting their deficit to one on Luis Arraez‘s sac fly. With two on, two outs and Manny Machado due up, Roberts turned to his best weapon, Blake Treinen, and watched him induce an inning-ending popout on one pitch.
Alexis Diaz, the former All-Star closer discarded by the Cincinnati Reds, and Jack Dreyer, the rookie left-hander who has been a godsend this season, closed it out in the ninth.
“It was a high-intensity game,” Roberts said. “It was certainly kind of tempered as far as internally, but I think that I could see it as far as on the field. I could feel it. Our focus was keen. They pitched really well. I thought we pitched really well. It was just a well-played ballgame.”
The last time the Dodgers and Padres faced off, it was the middle of June, amid a stretch in which they played seven games in 11 days against one another — on the heels of a tense NL Division Series the previous October. The Dodgers won five of those games, including three of four at Dodger Stadium. The four-game set in L.A. featured eight hit by pitches, half of which were dispersed to Fernando Tatis Jr. and Shohei Ohtani. The finale saw Roberts shove Padres manager Mike Shildt while both dugouts and bullpens emptied.
At that point, the Dodgers were five games better than the Padres and seemed poised to cruise to a 12th division title in 13 years. The next two weeks only fortified that belief. Then the Dodgers navigated through one of their driest spells in years, losing 22 of 31 games after July 3 — including all three from Angel Stadium earlier this week. The bullpen was a mess, the offense was inconsistent, and the Padres, buoyed by a string of trade-deadline acquisitions from their aggressive general manager, were riding a high.
For one night, at least, Kershaw and his teammates put a stop to that.
“It just takes one to get going,” Kershaw said. “Hopefully this was it tonight for us.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday Washington had no objections to Iranian players participating in the 2026 Fifa World Cup but he added the players will not be allowed to bring with them people with ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
“Nothing from the US has told them they can’t come,” Rubio told reporters.
President Donald Trump also said his administration “would not want to affect the athletes” in comments he made at the White House.
The 2026 soccer World Cup is set to begin on June 11 across the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Paolo Zampolli, a Trump envoy who has no official connection with the World Cup, had earlier suggested that Italy should replace Iran at the tournament.
“The problem with Iran would be not their athletes. It would be some of the other people they would want to bring with them, some of whom have ties to the IRGC. We may not be able to let them in but not the athletes themselves,” Rubio said.
“They can’t bring a bunch of IRGC terrorists into our country and pretend that they are journalists and athletic trainers,” Rubio added. Washington has designated the IRGC as a “foreign terrorist organisation.”
Currently there is no suggestion Iran will withdraw or be banned from the tournament that Italy missed out on.
After the start of the Iran war, Iran requested that Fifa move the team’s three group matches from the US to Mexico, which was rejected.
The US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28. Iran responded with its own strikes on Israel and Gulf states with US bases. US-Israeli strikes on Iran and Israeli attacks in Lebanon have killed thousands and displaced millions. A fragile ceasefire in the Iran war began over two weeks ago.
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Cameras showed former New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch in the team’s draft room Thursday night during the first round.
At one point, Tisch was seen standing near Giants head coach John Harbaugh. Despite no longer holding a majority stake in the NFL franchise, Tisch remains the Giants’ chairman of the board.
ESPN obtained an NFL memo last month detailing plans by Steve Tisch and his siblings to transfer their stake in the Giants to trusts for their children.
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New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch warms up before the NFL game between the Washington Redskins and New York Giants at Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., on Oct. 28, 2018. (Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire)
“Prior transfers to these Trusts were completed pursuant to 2023 and 2024 Finance Committee approvals,” the memo stated. “The Sellers now propose to transfer their entire remaining interests, totaling 23.1% of the Club, to the Trusts. … Following the transactions, the Sellers will no longer own any interest in the Club.”
It was not clear if the transfer requests were in any way related to Tisch’s name appearing in the Epstein files released by the U.S. Justice Department in January. Tisch’s name came up more than 400 times in the files. Tisch at the time said he knew Epstein but denied visiting Epstein’s island.
As for draft night, the Giants made what some viewed as an unconventional pick at No. 10, selecting offensive lineman Francis Mauigoa.
Francis Mauigoa of Miami celebrates after being selected as the tenth overall pick by the New York Giants during the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pa., on April 23, 2026. (Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)
Before that, the Giants added another piece to their pass rush, selecting hybrid edge/off-ball linebacker Arvell Reese at No. 5.
Reese earned All-American honors at Ohio State and finished his first season as a full-time starter with 6.5 sacks.
Arvell Reese of Ohio State celebrates after being selected as the fifth overall pick by the New York Giants during the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pa., on April 23, 2026. (Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)
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Reese is set to join a pass rush that includes Brian Burns, Abdul Carter and, likely, Kayvon Thibodeaux.
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One of the most intriguing stories entering the first round of the NFL Draft was where Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson might land. Well, fans got their answer sooner than they expected.
The Los Angeles Rams surprisingly selected Simpson with the No. 13 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.
The selection isn’t completely out of left field and is arguably the best-case scenario for Simpson. The Rams have Matthew Stafford as their starter for 2026, but Stafford has flirted with the idea of retirement each of the past two offseasons. It’s clear the clock is ticking on his NFL career.
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The Los Angeles Rams pulled a stunner and drafted Alababam QB Ty Simpson with the No. 13 pick in the NFL Draft. (CFP/Getty Images)
Now, Simpson gets to sit behind one of the NFL’s best veteran quarterbacks, learn the position while adapting to life in the NFL, and not face immediate pressure to succeed. Additionally, the Rams are one of the most well-run franchises in the league right now. Sean McVay is an elite head coach who led the team to a Super Bowl victory to cap the 2021 season and just had the team within one win of another Super Bowl berth before falling to the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Championship.
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The most surprising aspect is the Rams looking toward the future, quite frankly. This is a team that has had no problem trading away first-round picks to make its team the best it can be each season. It seemed most likely the team would use the No. 13 pick to improve its team for next season, which could be Stafford’s last. Instead, the team decided to put itself in position for Stafford’s retirement without skipping a beat.
Los Angeles Rams QB Matthew Stafford, now 38-years-old, has flirted with retirement after each of the past two seasons. (Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images)
There were several surprises in the first 13 picks of the 2026 NFL Draft: the Cardinals taking Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love at No. 3, the Titans selecting Ohio State wide receiver Carnell Tate at No. 4, the Kansas City Chiefs trading up to take LSU cornerback Mansoor Delane at No. 6 and even the Cowboys trading up one spot to make sure they drafted Ohio State safety Caleb Downs at No. 11.
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But the Rams completely abandoning their recent strategy (usually trading away first-round picks and loading up for now) to select Stafford’s heir apparent is easily the biggest early shock of the 2026 NFL Draft.
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