The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic’s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox.
Good morning! Buy a $16,000 espresso machine today. Inside:
Tonight: Hello, baseball
Jim McIsaac / Getty Images
Happy Opening Day! Well, sort of.
As with any professional sports league fueled by the concept of growth, MLB’s classic Opening Day has been fragmented a bit this year. The usual spread of all-day baseball? Happening tomorrow. Tonight, we get just one game, designed for prime time.
Some quick notes:
The Yankees and Giants have the TV — or wherever you prefer, uh, Netflix! — all to themselves this evening, and both arrive at interesting junctures. New York is simply running it back with a team that lost in the ALDS last season and the World Series before that. Pressure is already boiling in the Bronx before a pitch has been thrown.
San Francisco, meanwhile, arrives here with intense scrutiny but no real expectations, for now. Team president Buster Posey went out this offseason and made one of the most intriguing manager hires in recent memory with Tennessee’s Tony Vitello, who has never coached at this level. Vitello has a long runway, but it’ll be fascinating to see what his team even looks like tonight.
And let’s not forget that Aaron Judge, a native of Northern California, grew up rooting for the Giants and nearly signed with the team in free agency three winters ago. Brendan Kuty wrote a really fun story yesterday on former Giant Rich Aurilia, Judge’s favorite player growing up.
Also, one of the strangest streaks in baseball will be snapped tonight: Heliot Ramos will start in left field, ending San Francisco’s run of 19 straight Opening Day games with 19 different left fielders. The last player to start two in a row in left? Barry Bonds.
We’ll have a full MLB preview tomorrow. Let’s get some ice:
Aura: Welcome to hockey’s new reality
It started with Trevor Zegras, in Dan Robson’s estimation. A seemingly nonchalant rookie in 2021, Zegras played with skill and aplomb that impressed any learned hockey watcher. But it was his style that struck a chord in the center of hockey’s nervous system. Here was something new.
There’s no better example than his literal alley-oop:
The play is both extremely cool and norm-bending for hockey, a sport that once prided itself on being anti-flashy. But, as Dan’s story so eloquently illuminates today, the cultural shift that’s already occurred is impossible to ignore.
Two quick points:
There is a group of Gen Z superstars in the NHL responsible for this. Zegras (25) started it, but think of Macklin Celebrini (19), Connor Bedard (20), Matthew Schaefer (18). They are fun. They don’t buckle to the rules of hockey’s past century. They open up the game to a younger audience, too.
And for whatever hemming and hawing the oldheads do — and there’s plenty of it in the story — no one can deny how unbelievably skilled these new stars are. One veteran in the story talks about watching a game from 10 years ago and realizing how slow the sport was.
You can also partially thank TikTok for this leap. Make time for Dan’s story today.
News to Know
Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images
UNC officially fires Davis
Men’s basketball coach Hubert Davis is out at North Carolina, the school announced last night, ending a week of speculation after the Tar Heels lost horrifically in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Davis’ five-year tenure was one of whiplash, which saw a national title game appearance in his first season turn into multiple collapses in the seasons afterward, including missing the tournament altogether in 2022-23 after starting the season No. 1. North Carolina is expected to go outside the Tar Heel family for its next coach. We have a list of possible replacements.
Salah to leave Liverpool
Mohamed Salah’s nine-year tenure at Liverpool will end after the 2025-26 season, the club confirmed yesterday. It is wholly expected after a turbulent year between player and team, yet moving considering how beautiful his time was at Anfield. Salah, 33, leaves with eight trophies (thus far), including two Premier League titles and a Champions League crown. Simon Hughes said it feels right for both sides.
More news:
Ducks captain Radko Gudas said he feels “terrible” for causing the season-ending injury to Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews. His full comments are worth a read.
The college football schedule could move up one week as early as 2027, sources told The Athletic. Extremely in favor.
Joe Flacco is returning to the Bengals. I hope he never retires.
Conversely, Buccaneers linebacker and franchise icon Lavonte David announced his retirement after 14 seasons yesterday.
The Athletic obtained the term sheet with details of the new WNBA collective bargaining agreement. See the full breakdown.
Frank Thomas filed a lawsuit against the White Sox, Nike and Fanatics over the use of his name for an admittedly fantastic City Connect jersey. Read more here.
Italy’s espresso maker from the World Baseball Classic sold for more than $16,000 yesterday. The actual machine costs $140-$200 retail. I love this.
I’m Sorry? Whoops, wrong knee
Paul Ellis / AFP via Getty Images
A knee injury has harried Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe for much of the season. As sources revealed to The Athletic, some of the pain could’ve been avoidable if not for the cringiest of mistakes.
Imagine this happening to your favorite player:
In early December, Mbappe was feeling pain in his left knee after Madrid’s 2-0 loss at home to Celta Vigo. The team conducted an MRI, which revealed no issues. He played a full 90 minutes in three more matches the rest of the month.
When he returned from Christmas break, he chatted with medical staff about his lingering left knee injury. It was then the team realized its error: The initial MRI scan was performed on his right knee.
Pretty unreal, particularly for one of the world’s highest-paid and most-visible athletes. Mbappe is still ailing despite playing plenty in January. It’s a problem. See the fallout here.
Watch Guide
📺 NBA: Hawks at Pistons
7 p.m. ET on ESPN
It’s always useful to check in on the Eastern Conference leaders, who are without their best player right now. Detroit is five games up on the Celtics with 11 games to play for the No. 1 seed.
📺 NHL: Bruins at Sabres
7:30 p.m. on TNT and HBO Max
There may be no better story in the NHL right now than Buffalo, which has risen from mediocrity to Cup contention in a season. Catch a glimpse if you haven’t yet.
📺 MLB: Yankees at Giants
8:05 p.m. ET on Netflix
It’s going to feel weird watching this sport in the same place I go for “KPop Demon Hunters,” but here it is, all by its lonesome, before the blitz of tomorrow. Just watch.
Get tickets to games like these here.
Pulse Picks
To come full circle on tonight’s MLB opener: Andrew Marchand wrote a really great analysis of the complicated sports TV landscape right now. The Yankees are a perfect example of it, too.
What the fork? Brendan Marks has a great story about the men’s college basketball coaches who fill up every practice with curse words — hello, Dan Hurley — while others keep it totally clean via substitute words. This will make you chuckle today.
Necessary reading: A breakdown of every women’s NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 matchup. Games start Friday.
Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield is due a contract extension soon. The deal could redefine the QB market.
Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: Our story on the quadruple amputee professional cornhole player arrested for murder.
Most-read on the website yesterday: ☝️
📫 That’s all for now! Say hello at thepulse@theathletic.com, and check out our other newsletters.