Dodgers’ Betts agrees to megadeal
Even before Mookie Betts played his first game in Dodger Blue, the superstar outfielder decided his future is in Los Angeles.
Betts and the Dodgers have struck baseball’s first big-money deal since the coronavirus pandemic decimated the sport’s economics, with Betts agreeing Wednesday to a $365 million, 12-year contract through 2032.
The massive deal removes the top offensive player from next offseason’s free-agent class and puts the longtime Red Sox slugger in the middle of LA’s lineup for what he thinks will be the rest of his career. The Dodgers only acquired Betts in a trade Feb. 10, but he eagerly bypassed the uncertainties of free agency for a secure future with an organization that already feels like home.
“I just love being here,” Betts said in a video conference call from Dodger Stadium, where he will make his Dodgers debut Thursday against the Giants. “I love everything about here. I’m here to win some rings and bring championships back to LA.”
Mike Trout has decided to play for the Angels in the shortened season, although his year will be interrupted in a few weeks by the birth of his first child . ... The state of Pennsylvania won’t allow the Blue Jays to play at PNC Park in Pittsburgh amid the coronavirus pandemic, health officials announced.Canada denied the Blue Jays’ request to play in Toronto because the regular-season schedule would require frequent travel back and forth from the United States, where COVID-19 cases are surging. Canada has flattened the epidemic curve.
Colleges: West Virginia parted ways with defensive coordinator Vic Koenning a month after a player alleged the assistant coach made a series of insensitive remarks, including against Hispanics. The school announced Koenning’s departure by mutual agreement, which athletic director Shane Lyons said in a statement was “in the best interest of our football program.”
NBA: Kevin Garnett said he is part of a group that is hoping to buy the franchise from Glen Taylor, who has owned it since 1994. Garnett spent parts of 14 seasons with the Timberwolves, where he was voted NBA MVP in 2004 when the Wolves reached the Western Conference finals . ... Rockets star G Russell Westbrook is set to practice with the team for the first time since revealing that he tested positive for the coronavirus.
NFL: All fans going to NFL stadiums will be required to wear a mask. The NFL is allowing fan attendance at games this season based on local limits. The Ravens recently announced plans to limit fans to fewer than 14,000, while the Packers could have no more than 12,000 fans at Lambeau Field . ... Carlton Haselrig, a Pro Bowl G for the Steelers in the early 1990s who is also the only wrestler in NCAA history to win six individual national championships, died. He was 54. Haselrig won heavyweight championships at both the NCAA Division II and Division I levels in the 1980s at Pittsburgh-Johnstown . ... Prosecutors dropped the drunken driving and illegal handgun charges against Bills DL Ed Oliver, who had been arrested in May during a traffic stop in Houston’s northern suburbs.
Soccer: Charlotte’s new MLS team is following the sport’s traditional European and South American style of having just the city name and no formal nickname. The team, scheduled to start play in 2022, will be known as Charlotte FC.