The reigning World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers' pitching rotation is set to get a big lift. On Friday, coveted Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki announced he will play for the Dodgers.
The 23-year-old took to Instagram to reveal that he is inking a minor-league contract with the organization. Saski's Japanese team, the Chiba Lotte Marines, will receive compensation from the MLB franchise.
Saski is the latest Japanese-born superstar to land in Los Angeles in the past year. Last winter, superstars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto joined the team. Ohtani was exclusively a designated hitter in 2024, but won his third career MVP trophy. He plans to return to the pitching mound in 2025.
Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman previously said that signing Sasaki was considered a "major priority."
The combination of youth and elite level talent made Saski a highly-sought after prospect. However, the Dodgers were long considered the favorites in the race to land the pitcher whose fastball routinely reaches 100-mph. He can also throw an impressive splitter, which bolsters his potential to be an ace in a pitching rotation.
A long list of MLB clubs submitted information about their respective organizations to Saski and Wasserman, his representing agency, in December during winter meetings. While several of those teams were granted in-person meetings, only three organizations made the short list. By January, the Toronto Blue Jays, San Diego Padres, and Dodgers were the final teams under consideration.
The Dodgers' projected pitching rotation already featured Tyler Glasnow, Yamamoto, Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw. Blake Snell, a two-time Cy Young Award winner, also signed with L.A. earlier this offseason.
University of Wyoming women's volleyball player Macey Boggs testified at a state senate hearing about her team forfeiting two matches to San Jose State in 2024 during a controversy involving transgender player Blaire Fleming.
Boggs, one of 11 former or current Mountain West volleyball players engaged in a lawsuit against SJSU and the conference, spoke in support of a bill that would require participation in athletic competition be limited to an athlete’s biological sex at birth in the state.
But for Boggs, no amount of legislation will give her another opportunity to compete in the volleyball postseason. Wyoming's two forfeits to SJSU Oct. 5 and Nov. 14 cost the team a chance to make the Mountain West Tournament, and her career is now over.
"My team was punished with two losses for refusing to play against a male athlete on an opposing team, an injustice that ultimately kept us from competing in the Mountain West Tournament." Boggs said. "I was stripped of a chance to play my final collegiate matches because we faced a situation no woman should ever have to face, either compete against a team rostering a male athlete on a woman's scholarship or forfeit the rest of our season. No woman should have to face such a decision.
"We deserve to compete against athletes whose biology matches our own, not against a male standard."
Sacrificing a chance to compete for a championship to ensure the safety of her and her teammates left a lasting impression on Boggs she won't soon forget.
"My team was told we didn't deserve safety on the court, that we weren't important enough for fair competition and that women should remain silent for the benefit of men," she said. "This issue is about more than just wins and losses. It's about whether we respect women and girls."
Wyoming Republican state Sen. Wendy Schuler, a former college athlete, is the sponsor of the bill and chair of the Senate Education Committee. Boggs urged the state legislators to pass the bill to protect future women's athletes from similar situations. The bill passed in a 4-1 vote.
There are already 25 states with laws in place to prevent transgender athletes from competing in women's and girls sports. A bill to prevent it on the national level has already passed in the House of Representatives.
Boggs hopes her experience can bring lawmakers to ensure it doesn't happen anywhere else.
"While it may be too late for me to finish my career on the terms that my team earned, it's not too late for the young girls coming up behind us," she said. "It is fundamentally unfair, unsafe and a violation of women's rights to force women to compete with or against biological males."
Boggs expressed her belief that sex is determined by birth and "not by feelings."
The other plaintiffs in the lawsuit are SJSU co-captain Brooke Slusser, Alyssa Sugai, Elle Patterson, Nicanora Clarke, Kaylie Ray, Sia Li'ili'i, Sierra Grizzle, Jordan Sandy, Katelyn Van Kirk and Kiersten Van Kirk. Former SJSU assistant volleyball coach Melissa Batie-Smoose, who was suspended by San Jose State after filing a Title IX complaint alleging the university gave favorable treatment to the trans player, is also a plaintiff.
Former NCAA swimmer and prominent conservative influencer Riley Gaines, who regularly organizes with other women's athletes affected by transgender inclusion and who is leading a lawsuit against the NCAA over the issue, revealed her account of what the players went through, based on discussions with them, during a hearing in Idaho Jan. 9.
"They were emotionally blackmailed into believing they were the problem," Gaines said of the players, adding Boise State was the only university that showed administrative support to players who wished to forfeit.
"The overwhelming majority of them did not want this brought upon them. No one asked for this. This is not a situation they wanted to be in," Gaines added. "These girls were terrified. They were terrified to stand tall. They were terrified to stand up for themselves. They were terrified of the things that would potentially come if they merely said ‘men and women are different.’"
Marshi Smith, the co-founder of a legal advocacy group, the Independent Council on Women's Sports, testified that the female athletes who joined the lawsuit felt threatened by retaliation from their university if they spoke out against transgender inclusion.
"What will they do to us for speaking up?" the players often asked, according to Smith.
Smith elaborated on these players' questions in a follow-up statement to Fox News Digital.
"They’re often terrified of losing scholarships or being kicked off their teams. At San Jose State, administrators exploited these fears by telling them to stay quiet because it’s Blaire Fleming’s story to tell, not their own," Smith said.
Louisiana Tech head volleyball coach Amber McCray confirmed to Fox News Digital that her team did not know about the situation involving Fleming's natural birth sex, and it did not find out until the day after the match via rumors from parents.
LA Tech athletic director Ryan Ivey suggested in emails obtained by Fox News Digital that if officials had known Fleming's natural birth sex, the team "would have sought "a different outcome."
Slusser, who alleges she had to share bedrooms and changing spaces with Fleming in the lawsuit, has told Fox News Digital the experience has been "traumatic."
"This season has been so traumatizing that I don't even have a proudest moment," Slusser said.
SJSU has also acknowledged a recent exodus of volleyball players who entered the transfer portal. Nearly every remaining player who is still eligible is looking to leave the program.
"Student-athletes have the ability to make decisions about their college athletic careers, and we have the utmost respect for that," a statement said.
With his seven-game suspension over, Jimmy Butler returned to the Heat's starting lineup Friday night against the Nuggets and addressed his future plans with a short statement: "I'm back."
Roki Sasaki, the prized Japanese pitching prospect who has had scouts drooling over his potential since high school, has chosen the Los Angeles Dodgers as his major league team, he announced on Instagram on Friday.
The women's basketball community has been rocked by the public revelation of Caitlin Clark's stalker. Other players in the sport are now speaking up about their own fears and experiences with security and privacy breaches. News of Clark's stalker came out just one month after a man pleaded guilty to stalking UConn women's basketball star Paige Bueckers.
Ahead of the opening week of the upstart 3-on-3 league, Unrivaled, many of the WNBA players participating spoke about the issue.
Connecticut Sun player DiJonai Carrington, who gave Clark a black eye in their playoff series in September, told The Associated Press she has received cyberthreats and needs to be on the lookout for other threats when she goes out in public.
"It’s super unfortunate that it’s going on, but I think as the game grows, it’s going to continue to happen because some people are just crazy and aren’t in their right mind and need to be held accountable for those things," Carrington said. "But I don’t think it’s going to stop, honestly. We have to do stuff and go above and beyond and try to protect ourselves."
New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart says she and other players have had to be conscious of how they use social media to make sure they aren't giving away their whereabouts in real time.
"We have a ton of security here, and you see them everywhere," Stewart said. "Making sure that whether we post pictures or social media, nothing is real time because that’s when it’s like they’re really able to figure out where you are."
Breanna Stewart and her wife, Marta Xargay, were victims during the WNBA Finals in October, receiving threatening anonymous emails after Game 1.
Clark's fever teammate, Aliyah Boston, called the conditions she and other players face "super scary."
"It’s super scary, and I feel bad for Paige, Caitlin, (Breanna) and everyone’s family because that’s not something that you ever want to experience," she said. "But I think everyone around us do a great job of trying to make sure we feel safe and making sure that they’re responding to everything. If we’re unsure of anything, they are on it. They know exactly what to do."
Unrivaled co-founder Napheesa Collier said the league has had meetings with players recently.
"I think it’s scary. Just naturally, with us being more available to people, things like that happen," Collier said. "We did have a safety meeting the other day."
The Texas man identified as Clark's alleged stalker, Michael Lewis, entered Marion County Superior Court, leaned back in his chair and told Judge Angela Davis he was "guilty as charged," earlier this week.
Davis suggested to Lewis he exercise his right to remain silent and entered a not guilty plea on his behalf because she wasn’t going to accept anything else in an initial hearing.
Lewis was ordered held on $50,000 bail and to stay away from the Gainbridge Fieldhouse and the Hinkle Fieldhouse, where the Fever and the Butler Bulldogs play, respectively. Clark’s boyfriend, Connor McCaffery, is an assistant with Butler’s men’s basketball team.
Lewis, 55, was charged with stalking and threatening sexual battery or death, FOX 59 reported, citing court documents. The charge is a felony, and he could face up to six years in prison if convicted.
Lewis allegedly sent Clark sexually explicit messages through his X account. One message said he had been driving around her house multiple times and encouraged her "not to call the law just yet." He also allegedly spoke of going to a Fever game and sitting behind the bench.
Authorities said they talked to Lewis about the messages Jan. 8, according to the news station. He reportedly told authorities he was going to Indianapolis for a vacation and downplayed the number of messages he sent to the WNBA sharpshooter.
"It takes a lot of courage for women to come forward in these cases, which is why many don’t," Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears said, via FOX 59. "In doing so, the victim is setting an example for all women who deserve to live and work in Indy without the threat of sexual violence."
United States men's national team head coach Mauricio Pochettino insists American players can compete with the likes of Spain and Argentina in terms of talent.
