Baseball fans have learned over the last few years that the players they cheer for take fantasy football extremely seriously and Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Chris Bassitt reminded them of that.
Bassitt’s punishment for going 4-10 during the 2024 season – becoming the team’s bat boy, according to Sportsnet. He served as it for the team’s spring training game on Saturday against the New York Yankees. He wore "4-10" on the back of his jersey.
Fantasy football was a hot topic of conversation between Joc Pederson and Tommy Pham in 2022. Pederson, then with the San Francisco Giants, and Pham, then with the Cincinnati Reds, got into an incident over fantasy football. It led to Pham slapping Pederson over the whole ordeal.
The one-time All-Star is entering his 11th season in the majors and third with Toronto. He had a 4.16 ERA in 31 starts for the team last season. He also had 168 strikeouts.
Bassitt finished 10th in American League Cy Young Award voting in 2023. He led the American League with 16 wins, 33 starts and 826 batters faced. He pitched in a career-high 200 innings.
This season, Fan Graphs projected Bassitt to be the No. 3 starter in the team’s rotation behind Kevin Gausman and Jose Berrios. The Blue Jays are also expected to have Max Scherzer and Bowden Francis as well.
Donovan Munger, a former college football defensive lineman who played for the 2014 Ohio State national championship team, has died, his mother announced on social media. He was 30.
"My heart will never beat the same. It is with my deepest sadness that I formally announce to the world the passing of my eldest child Donovan Munger. Pray for my family," his mother wrote in an Instagram post.
Munger was a standout high school football player and committed to Ohio State as a four-star recruit. He was diagnosed with a blood clot before the start of the 2013 season, which forced him to sit out a year, according to 247 Sports.
A transgender basketball player was absent from a girls’ playoff game in California on Saturday night after a week of national media attention and controversy.
The trans athlete had led San Francisco Waldorf’s girls’ basketball team to a 9-8 record and a playoff meeting against Cornerstone Christian School.
But in the trans athlete’s absence, San Francisco lost to Cornerstone 56-30.
No reason has been given for the athlete’s absence. San Francisco Waldorf has not responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Multiple protesters attended Saturday night’s game on the Cornerstone campus wielding signs with anti-trans messaging. But those signs were not flown in the gymnasium after protesters realized the trans athlete wasn’t there, sources told Fox News Digital.
The athlete played on Waldorf’s girls’ volleyball team in the fall, prompting a playoff forfeit by Stone Ridge Christian in November.
However, Cornerstone Christian vowed to compete in Saturday’s game against the trans player, which Fox News Digital was first to report on Tuesday.
News that Cornerstone would play ignited national media coverage, amid an ongoing conflict between the state of California and President Donald Trump’s administration over the issue of trans inclusion in girls’ sports.
Additionally, the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) is under investigation by Trump’s Department of Education (DOE) and Office of Civil Rights (OCR) as it continues to instruct schools to allow trans athletes to compete as women in defiance of the president's executive order.
The DOE’s deputy general counsel, Candice Jackson, previously told Fox News Digital that the department was monitoring the state’s girls’ basketball playoffs as it conducts its investigation.
"CIF sets the parameters under which schools compete in these playoffs, and they have responsibility as recipients of federal funds to comply with Title IX. OCR’s investigation into CIF is continuing as it appears that CIF’s disregard for Title IX is continuing," Jackson said.
Trump’s executive order would cut federal funding for any institution that enables trans athletes to compete against girls and women.
According to USA Facts, California public schools receive about $16.8 billion per year, which is 13.9% or one in every seven dollars of public school funding, which is well above the national average.
The CIF has not responded to a request for comment on the situation involving the upcoming playoff game.
The CIF previously told Fox News Digital that it will continue to follow state legislation, which has been in effect since 2014, on the issue of trans athletes.
"The CIF provides students with the opportunity to belong, connect, and compete in education-based experiences in compliance with California law [Education Code section 221.5. (f)] which permits students to participate in school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, consistent with the student’s gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the student’s records," the statement reads.
A law called AB 1266 has been in effect since 2014 and gives California students at scholastic and collegiate levels the right to "participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, and use facilities consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil’s records."
California state Assembly member Kate Sanchez announced one such bill on Jan. 7, then Assembly member Bill Essayli introduced a similar one on Feb. 14.
The players on Shakhtar Stalevi, a team of Ukrainian amputees formed in 2024, have been greatly impacted by the full-scale Russian invasion. But they've gained a purpose, and new life, through soccer.
Mikaela Shiffrin created more history in her storied ski career by winning a World Cup slalom on Sunday for her record-extending 100th World Cup race win.
The college football overtime rule stinks. It’s so confusing that casual football fans still are surprised to hear how it works four seasons after the latest modifications.
