Russell Steinberg Articles - Page 5

New York Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello isn’t giving up on her team. Granted, even if she had, she’s smart enough not to say it publicly. But the two-time championship coach cited precedent on Friday for why she thinks her team can still make noise in the playoffs. She recalled her 2021 Phoenix Mercury team, […]

Say what you will about the 2025 New York Liberty — and there’s plenty to say. But no one will say they’ve had it easy. The 2024 WNBA champions started 9-0 but have battled inconsistency ever since, as injuries have plagued the roster. It has further exacerbated their spate of self-inflicted wounds, including puzzling turnovers, […]

The New York Liberty are headed to the WNBA Playoffs. If you’re a Liberty fan and you want that to be the extent of the discussion around the team right now, you could be forgiven. It was another bad one for New York on Tuesday in a season that has become defined by underwhelming performances. […]

The New York Liberty will once again be shorthanded on Tuesday night when they face the Golden State Valkyries in a crucial game for playoff positioning. Sabrina Ionescu will miss her third straight game with a left toe injury, head coach Sandy Brondello confirmed before the game. Brondello added that she is hopeful her guard […]

The phrase “that one got out of here in a hurry” was created for home runs like the one Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani swatted on Tuesday night. Ohtani hit his 46th long ball of the season — the 100th of his Dodgers career — in the third inning of LA’s game against the […]

The Kansas City Royals have three catchers on their active roster, including No. 2 prospect Carter Jensen, but Salvador Perez will still get the majority of the reps behind the plate. Royals manager Matt Quatraro revealed as much on Tuesday, according to MLB.com’s Anne Rogers. She added that Quatraro indicated Jensen will “pinch-hit, pinch-run, go […]

The Los Angeles Dodgers have activated Hyeseong Kim and Michael Kopech from the injured list ahead of their game Tuesday night against the Pittsburgh Pirates. For Kim, however, getting to Pittsburgh was a rough journey. As Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register tells it, a missed connection combined with flight delays caused Kim and […]

It’s been a tough year for Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman and outfielder Tommy Edman, but he is about to take a major step toward returning to the field for the season’s stretch run. Edman will begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Oklahoma City on Tuesday. The plan is for him to DH and bat […]

New York Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello likes to tell her team to “control the controllables.” Unfortunately for her, a lot of the misfortune that has befallen New York during its first-ever title defense has been decidedly uncontrollable. Injuries have ravaged the Liberty in a way no one could have reasonably anticipated. The Liberty have […]

The New York Yankees have clawed their way back into contention for the American League East title, but as they prepare for a crucial three-game series in Houston against the Astros, one former player has taken issue with the manager spending the off-day away from the team. Yankees skipper Aaron Boone was in Chapel Hill […]

The Indiana Fever have stumbled over the second half of the season as Caitlin Clark has sat out most of the way with a groin injury. But with playoff positioning at stake, Clark appears to have taken another step closer to a return. As the Fever get set to play the Phoenix Mercury on Tuesday, […]

The Dallas Wings were never going to be championship contenders this season and their recent spate of injuries have made it hard for the team to even take some momentum into the offseason. That task just got tougher, not just because of their 96-71 loss to the Minnesota Lynx on Monday, but also for even […]

The Duke Blue Devils are looking to make a return trip to the Final Four in 2025-26, and we now know how their journey will begin. The Blue Devils released their non-conference schedule on Tuesday, revealing the regular season opponents they will face before ACC play begins. But before that, Duke will play a pair […]

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark might be injured, but she still had a big week, unveiling her new Nike logo and announcing a signature product collection to come with it. Fever head coach Stephanie White spoke about what it’s like to be around Clark as her star continues to grow before Indiana took on the […]

Two days after the Seattle Mariners designated him for assignment, the Texas Rangers have signed utility player Dylan Moore to a minor league contract, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports. The move comes after second baseman Marcus Semien suffered a fracture and sprain in his left foot, likely ending his season. This will be Moore’s […]

The Cleveland Guardians have placed first baseman Carlos Santana on outright waivers, multiple sources told The Athletic on Tuesday. The move likely signals the end of the veteran infielder’s third stint with Cleveland, lasting less than a season over 116 games. He hit .225 in that time with 11 home runs and an 80 OPS+. […]

While Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark is still working her way back into game shape, her teammates are cheering on her off-court successes. That includes Sophie Cunningham, who shared a photo of a billboard outside of Gainbridge Fieldhouse that features Clark’s new logo. The second-year guard unveiled her signature logo, created with Nike, on Monday, […]

Major League Baseball announced its 2026 schedule on Tuesday, and with it comes some exciting news for Las Vegas baseball fans itching to see the Athletics come to town. The A’s will play six games in their future home of Las Vegas in 2026, visiting Las Vegas Ballpark, current home of the Las Vegas Aviators. […]

Candace Parker’s son is getting a WNBA history lesson. The Chicago Sky legend is making sure of it. Speaking to the media ahead of her jersey retirement for the Sky, she revealed that Airr was unaware that his mom played in the WNBA, even though the family watches the league all the time. "My son […]

By this point in the 2025 season, it’s safe to say no player in Seattle Mariners history has had a year quite like Cal Raleigh. And that includes the great Ken Griffey Jr. The day after Raleigh hit his 50th home run of the season, Griffey appeared alongside his dad, Ken Griffey Sr., on MLB […]

Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian knows that his starting quarterback, Arch Manning, is entering the season with unreal expectations. With the Manning name on his back, the name of the No. 1 team in the country on his front and seemingly the weight of the world on his shoulders, there’s just no way Manning can […]

Ryan O’Hearn ultimately went from the Baltimore Orioles to San Diego Padres at the 2025 MLB trade deadline, but he could have just as easily landed with the Milwaukee Brewers. As O’Hearn tells it, multiple Brewers players, including DL Hall, texted him in the lead-up to the deadline to say, “Hey, we put in a […]

If the New York Liberty suffer an unceremonious early exit from the playoffs, it won’t be because of their 78-62 loss to the Atlanta Dream on Saturday. Instead, they’ll have a trio of inexplicable losses to the three worst teams in the league, including a shocking home defeat to the Chicago Sky just two days […]

New York Liberty guard Natasha Cloud isn’t once to mince words, and she held nothing back after New York defeated the Minnesota Lynx, 85-75, Tuesday night at Barclays Center. It was the Liberty’s first win over the Lynx this season in four tries, and it came after Lynx players sounded off last week about their […]

For weeks, the New York Liberty have been insisting that, despite their injuries and some baffling losses, they have enough in their locker room to beat any team in the WNBA. At long last, they proved it on Tuesday night, leading the first-place Minnesota Lynx almost all the way and gutting out an 85-75 win. […]

Kansas men’s basketball coach Bill Self has hired veteran assistant Tony Bland to his staff, sources tell ESPN’s Pete Thamel. Bland, most recently an assistant at Washington, comes to the Kansas bench shortly after the Jayhawks lost another veteran assistant, Norm Roberts, who retired after last season. Self also lost assistant Chase Buford to the […]

After benches cleared between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Toronto Blue Jays on Monday, emotions still ran hot in the clubhouse after the game — a 5-2 Pittsburgh win. It all started when the Pirates’ Tommy Pham drew a walk in the seventh inning. After he flipped his bat and pumped his first, Blue Jays catcher […]

New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge hasn’t taken his spot in he field since coming off the injured list two weeks ago. Don’t expect that to change in the next couple days, either, as the Yankees visit the Tampa Bay Rays at their own spring training home of Steinbrenner Field. Yankees manager Aaron Boone […]

Arizona Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte defended himself to the media on Monday after an Arizona Republic report last week claimed “teammates and others in the organization have quietly grumbled about his propensity to ask for days off.” Adding fuel to the fire, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale wrote on Sunday that Arizona’s alleged plan to […]

Detroit Tigers outfielder Parker Meadows is working his way back from a right quad strain that he suffered at the end of July. The team hopes he can by back before the calendar flips to September, but manager AJ Hinch is trying to manage expectations. “I don’t know that he will necessarily go out on […]

At long last, Shane Bieber appears ready to make his Toronto Blue Jays debut. The former Cy Young winner will start Friday night for Toronto in Miami against the Marlins, The Athletic’s Mitch Bannon first reported. Bieber last pitched on April 2, 2024 for the Cleveland Guardians — his second start of that season. He […]

Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Cade Horton left his start against the Milwaukee Brewers early on Monday with an apparent injury. The Cubs have not released additional info as of this writing, but Bleacher Nation reports Horton is dealing with a blister. Regardless of the reason for his quick exit, it seems to be just about […]

As the Texas Longhorns football program enters the new season atop the AP Poll, its athletic director, Chris Del Conte, is about to get a major raise. Del Conte, who has been at the helm in Austin since 2017, is on the verge of signing an 11-year, $38.8 million contract with the university, according to […]

It’s been a strange year for the Cleveland Guardians. After going to the American League Championship Series last year, the Guardians stumbled through the first half of the season, approaching the trade deadline with a sub-.500 record. To make matters worse, two Cleveland pitchers have been placed on MLB’s restricted list amid gambling investigations. Through […]

Big Ten officials want to pitch an idea that would expand the College Football Playoff from its current 12 team format to potentially up to 28. The problem is that administrators around the college football landscape aren’t thrilled with the league’s execution. News of the Big Ten’s plan leaked before commissioner Tony Petitti was able […]

The New York Liberty have endured a comical stretch of injuries as they try to repeat as WNBA champions. As a result, they are 21-13, locked in a battle with the Atlanta Dream for the 2 seed despite having, on paper, the best roster in the league. Head coach Sandy Brondello knew 2025 would be […]

There was never a scenario where Emma Meesseman wouldn’t be a good fit with the New York Liberty. She’s too good and the Liberty have too much unselfish talent around her — even amid their recent spate of injuries. But few could have predicted the transition would be this fast and this seamless. Meesseman had […]

One day after he was carted off the field after crashing into the outfield wall, Los Angeles Angels outfielder Gustavo Campero is headed to the injured list. Angels PR revealed his injury to be a right ankle sprain. He is scheduled to undergo further testing on Tuesday, according to MLB.com. In 58 at bats, Campero […]

Connecticut Sun guard Marina Mabrey admits she overreacted when she shoved the Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark during an altercation between the two teams in June. “It wasn’t like ‘I hate her, here I go,’” she told Sportskeeda’s Mark Medina. The incident occurred after Jacy Sheldon, then playing for the Sun, inadvertently poked Clark in the […]