Pirates win first MLB draft lottery
The Pittsburgh Pirates have won baseball's first draft lottery and will get the first pick of eligible amateur players in July.
The Washington Nationals will select second after finishing last season with the worst record in the majors at 55-107. The Detroit Tigers will choose third.
The Minnesota Twins also were big winners, moving up from 13th in the predraft order based on their 2022 record to fifth when the ping-pong balls were plucked at baseball's winter meetings.
Oakland was a significant loser, falling from the second-worst record to the No. 6 draft pick.
The Nationals, Athletics and Pirates entered the lottery with the best chance for the No. 1 pick at 16.5 per cent for each team.
It will be the sixth time the Pirates pick first and second in three years. They snagged Louisville catcher Henry Davis with the top choice in 2021.
LSU outfielder Dylan Crews, Tennessee righthander Chase Dollander and Mississippi shortstop Jacob Gonzalez are among the top prospects for the 2023 draft.
Cody Bellinger turned his early foray through free agency into a one-year, $17.5-million contract with the Chicago Cubs. Bellinger, the 2019 National League MVP, has been a shell of his former self in recent seasons. He was also NL rookie of the year in 2017.
The two-time all-star batted .210 with a .654 OPS last season, although those numbers were better than what he posted in 2021: .165 and .542. He had 19 home runs and 68 RBIS in 144 games last season after hitting 10 home runs with 36 RBIS in 2021.
Novak Djokovic will kick off his return to Australia at the Adelaide International in January, nearly a year after he was deported from the country over his lack of COVID-19 vaccination.
The world No. 5, whose visa ban was waived last month, was named in the Jan. 1-8 tournament's draw on Wednesday.
Djokovic is among four top-10 players warming up for the Australian Open at Adelaide's Memorial Drive Tennis Club. Playing also are Canada's Felix Auger-aliassime, who is world No. 6, No. 7 Daniil Medvedev and No. 8 Andrey Rublev.
Boxer-turned-lawyer Mills Lane, who refereed more than 100 world championship fights, has died in Nevada. He was 85.
Lane earned his law degree in 1970. A longtime prosecutor, he was elected district attorney of Washoe County in 1982, then served as judge in the county's Second Judicial District Court from 1990-98.
He officiated some of the biggest fights during 1970s through the 1990s, including bouts featuring Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Muhammad Ali, Riddick Bowe and Lennox Lewis.
Lane was in the ring on June 28, 1997 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas when he disqualified Tyson for biting the ears of Holyfield.