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Mets in free fall after losing 10th straight game

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Mets in free fall after losing 10th straight game


CHICAGO — The New York Mets will have to defy the odds if they plan on making the postseason this year after dropping their 10th consecutive game on Saturday, a 4-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs.

Only three teams in the divisional era (since 1969) have made the postseason after a double-digit losing streak — including last year’s Cleveland Guardians.

“No one is going to feel sorry for us,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said after the latest defeat. “We have to keep going. We haven’t been playing good baseball. We have 5½ months ahead. We have the opportunity to write our own story.”

The Mets say they can’t point to any single thing which has led them to their longest April losing streak in franchise history. They certainly aren’t hitting enough, scoring just 18 runs during the streak, the fewest for them over 10 games since June 3-5, 2018.

They’re also making bad pitches, like the one reliever Brooks Raley made to pinch hitter Carson Kelly in the sixth inning Saturday. Kelly deposited Raley’s first pitch cutter into the left-field bleachers for a three-run home run, breaking a 1-1 tie. The Cubs cruised to victory from there.

“We haven’t been able to put together a complete game,” Mendoza said. “It’s either the offense or starting pitching, like not making [that] pitch, not making a play, not getting a big hit. Just having a hard time playing a complete game right now.”

Mendoza’s job is seemingly safe after president of baseball operations David Stearns said Friday he thought his third-year manager was doing a good job and is putting players in a position to succeed. Of course, things can change if the losses continue to pile up for the Mets, who missed the postseason last year after a disastrous second half.

The team is trying not to focus on the negative this early in the season.

“It’s a big boy league,” infielder Marcus Semien said. “There is no time to dwell on tonight. Tomorrow is a new day … It’s as simple as showing up tomorrow with a good attitude. Hopefully other guys see a smile on my face when I show up.”

Semien and Mendoza offered up few solutions to the team’s plight, though getting All-Star Juan Soto back from a calf injury should help. But that won’t happen for a few more days. With DH Jorge Polanco (wrist) on the shelf as well, the Mets will need others to step up.

A late winter overhaul by Stearns led to a positive feeling about the team entering this season. But those additions, like Saturday’s starter Freddy Peralta, haven’t produced enough. Third baseman Mark Vientos did hit a long home run in the loss but New York’s offense was mostly quiet the rest of the day.

Mendoza was asked how he thought Mets fans were feeling right now.

“They have the right to be pissed and frustrated,” he said. “They care. Just like we do. … I understand how they’re feeling. I’d be pissed too, if I was a fan. I’m pissed. They’re pissed.”

The 10-game losing streak is the longest in April since the 2023 White Sox. The loss has the Mets 6½ games behind the Atlanta Braves in the NL East, an unusually large deficit for this time of year.

“It’s frustrating to lose baseball games and when you lose this many in a row, it compounds,” Semien said. “The game does not own you any wins. You have to go out and get it.”

The Mets rank in the bottom half of the league in most offensive and pitching categories, including home runs. They’ve hit just 15 this season, only ahead of the San Francisco Giants for fewest in the National League. Their starting pitching isn’t much better, ranking 21st in ERA.

The team is hoping Sunday will bring them different results.

“We have to do something to get in the W column,” Semien said. “No one is showing up thinking about how it’s going to happen again. We’re thinking about how we’re going to win.”

Mendoza added: “Were putting ourselves in a hole right now. There is only one way to [get out of] it. Come back tomorrow, ready to go.”

ESPN Research contributed to this report.



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Michigan’s Richard repeats as NCAA men’s all-around champion

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Michigan’s Richard repeats as NCAA men’s all-around champion


CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Michigan’s Fred Richard won his second straight all-around individual crown Saturday night, and Cooper Kim and Jun Iwai each won individual titles to lead Stanford to its sixth NCAA men’s gymnastics championship since 2019.

Richard took home silver in the floor and parallel bars as he ran away with his third all-around individual national championship with a score of 83.598. Nebraska’s Max Odden (78.698) was second, 0.432 ahead of third-place Kristian Grahovski of Ohio State.

Stanford had 329.825 points, second-place Oklahoma finished with 328.495 and Michigan — the defending national champion — was third with 324.857. Asher Hong (14.300) took silver and Nick Kuebler (14.166) bronze on the rings in the final rotation to seal it for the Cardinal. Asher Cohen finished with a 14.500 to become the first Nebraska gymnast to win the rings since Jim Hartung in 1982.

Stanford claimed the program’s 11th national gymnastics championship; the Cardinal have won at least one NCAA team title for 50 straight seasons, since the men’s water polo team beat UCLA 13-12 for the national championship on Nov. 28, 1976. The next longest active streak is North Carolina’s seven straight years with at least one team title.

Iwai had a 14.433 on the vault, tied with Nebraska’s Tyler Flores for first. Landen Blixt of Michigan was third (14.366).

Flores, Nathan Roman (14.800 on the parallel bars) and Kelton Christiansen (14.400, high bar) each won individual titles for the second-place Sooners.

Kim scored a 14.466 to win gold on the floor to beat Richard (14.400). Kuebler and Tate Costa of Illinois finished third with 14.166.

Brandon Dang (Illinois) won the pommel horse with a score of 14.700, Michigan’s Aaronson Mansberger was second (14.566) and Colby Aranda of Oklahoma finished third with 14.133 points.



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Bron Breakker crushes Seth Rollins with two spears in epic return at WrestleMania 42

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Bron Breakker crushes Seth Rollins with two spears in epic return at WrestleMania 42


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Seth Rollins was supposed to be going up against Gunther at WrestleMania 42 on Saturday night but he wasn’t expecting a freight train to run through him.

Rollins appeared to be in the driver’s seat toward the end of the match. He hit Gunther with a pedigree on the announce table and followed up with a storm. All he had to do was get Gunther back in the ring and finish the job. As the referee tended to Gunther, a wild Bron Breakker appeared.

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Bron Breakker performs during WrestleMania 42 Night 1 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 18, 2026. (WWE)

Breakker ran down the side of the entrance ramp at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas at full speed and tore through Rollins with a gnarly spear. He rolled Rollins back in the ring, spat on him and waited for Gunther to finish the job.

Gunther put Rollins in a sleeper hold, forcing “The Revolutionary” to tap out.

WWE STARS REVEAL WHAT MAKES WRESTLEMANIA SO SPECIAL: ‘IT’S THE SUPER BOWL OF PRO WRESTLING’

Wrestler Gunther with arm raised by referee at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas

Gunther has his arm raised by the referee after defeating Seth Rollins during their match on night one of WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 18, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Gunther walked to the back as the winner. Breakker was hung around to pick apart the scraps.

Breakker sprinted back down the ramp and hit Rollins with another crushing spear, stunning the crowd.

Breakker has been out of action for a few weeks with an injury, likely costing him a match of some kind at WrestleMania 42. Nevertheless, he still had bad blood with Rollins as their rivalry turned up a notch.

Seth Rollins entering arena at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas

Seth Rollins enters the arena before his match against Gunther on night one of WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 18, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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This will not be the last of Breakker and Rollins. On the flip side, Paul Heyman will now owe Gunther a favor. It’ll will be interesting to see how the favor gets cashed in.



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Oklahoma wins 4th NCAA women’s gymnastics title in 5 years

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Oklahoma wins 4th NCAA women’s gymnastics title in 5 years


FORT WORTH, Texas — The Oklahoma Sooners gymnastics team stood huddled in a circle, staring only at one another, as the crowd at Dickies Arena was transfixed on the balance beam.

The Sooners’ day was over, capped off by yet another high-scoring floor routine by senior Faith Torrez, and it all came down to LSU sophomore Kailin Chio on balance beam.

While the rest of the arena cheered and gasped, no one from the Oklahoma huddle seemed to even steal a glance. The Sooners remained with their arms around one another for the next several moments. Head coach K.J. Kindler later said she told her gymnasts how proud she was of them but admitted she didn’t know what would happen next.

“Boy, as we were meeting after our last floor routine, I did not know,” Kindler said. “We did not know what position we would end up in, but what I told them was, ‘You did everything you could.'”

That everything was enough.

And when Chio’s beam score — a 9.90 — flashed on the screen, their fate was sealed and the reality seemed to sink in.

Oklahoma had won its eighth national title — all since 2014 and under the helm of Kindler — with a 198.1625 total score. It was .0875 of a point better than LSU, and nearly a half point better than third-place Florida.

Minnesota, making its championship meet debut after playing spoiler against Utah in the regional finals and UCLA in the semifinals, finished in fourth. Soon after the final scores had been announced, there were “Boomer Sooner” chants with the crowd, long hugs and tears of joy, confetti tosses as “We Are the Champions” played over the loudspeaker and balloons featuring the No. 8 in the stands and on the floor.

Winning national titles has become synonymous with the Oklahoma program in the last decade, but Saturday’s title was hardly guaranteed. The Sooners were narrowly edged out for the SEC championship title last month by Florida and had to reconfigure their lineup this week after sophomore Addison Fatta, an all-around staple for the team all season, injured her hand and was restricted to only beam. And on Saturday, the Sooners had a challenging beam rotation — which saw a fall from Keira Wells and had to count a 9.735 from Fatta — and trailed LSU entering the day’s final rotation after having held the lead for the rest of the meet.

But after beam, which ended with strong showings from freshman Ella Murphy, who Kindler later said called it “the most nervous” experience of her life, Lily Pederson and Torrez, the Sooners came together and regrouped.

“We just reminded ourselves to go for it, leave it all on the floor,” Torrez said. “As K.J. said, ‘Leave it all on the floor for floor. Just be aggressive, don’t play it safe and you know what we have to do.’ But we did a good job at staying in our bubble, so we were really laser focused on us.”

Pederson added she was able to relax, despite the pressure, because she knew it was somewhat out of their hands.

“None of us were really paying attention to the score because at the end of the day, if we do our best gymnastics, that’s all we can ask for,” Pederson said. “We can’t control the score. And I think that’s what we all did.”

On floor, an event Kindler and her staff chose to end on, the Sooners dominated. Anchored by Torrez’s 9.95, and not needing to count a score under 9.90, Oklahoma left little to chance.

Meanwhile, the Tigers, the 2024 champions, had a fall of their own from Lexi Zeiss on beam and simply couldn’t make up the difference with their rest of their lineup.

Kindler credited LSU for “making it extra, extra difficult” and “pushing us to our limit.”

For Torrez, who had been limited throughout the season with injury, the weekend was a fairy-tale ending for a storied collegiate career. After not being able to compete in the all-around during the season, Torrez was able to do all four events for the first time in Thursday’s semifinal. Despite her lack of experience this year, she won the individual national title, stunning Chio and a slew of other talented gymnasts, and helped give the Sooners the highest score entering the championship.

“It’s a dream come true,” Torrez said about her final two meets as a college gymnast.

With Saturday’s victory, the Sooners passed UCLA in the all-time standings for sole possession of third place. Georgia still owns the record with 10 national titles, and Utah has nine. The mark also ties the team with Oklahoma’s legendary softball team for the most championships among women’s programs at the school.

Kindler told reporters she would have never believed it if someone had told her when she took the job in 2006 how successful she would be — but insisted she did not take the feeling of winning a national championship for granted.

“I mean, I was in disbelief today,” Kindler said. “We were just on the edge of our seats. I honestly could not believe it. So, they’re all different. They’re all unique, and they’re all incredibly special. You don’t get immune to the feeling of having an accomplishment like this.

“And all the credit goes to the athletes. The things that we have been through this year … all those [championship] teams are special in very different ways. You have different memories based on who’s part of that [specific] personnel, but that euphoric feeling never goes away.”



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