Rangers shot at AL West title rests on Darvish return
(Reuters) – The Texas Rangers made a surprise run to the AL West Division title last season but their 2016 title hopes may rest on the ability of ace starter Yu Darvish to bounce back from elbow surgery.
Cinderellas dream of wearing World Series crown
(Reuters) – The Kansas City Royals won their first World Series in 30 years last season but that wait could seem fleeting if the Chicago Cubs write their Cinderella story in the 2016 Major League Baseball campaign.
Vandoorne debut puts added focus on Button
MANAMA (Reuters) – Jenson Button expects Stoffel Vandoorne to be a quick learner when the Belgian makes his Formula One race debut for McLaren in Bahrain this weekend after Fernando Alonso was ruled out on medical grounds.
DraftKings, FanDuel halt contests on college sports in all states: ESPN
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Top daily fantasy sports companies DraftKings and FanDuel, in a deal with the NCAA, have agreed to indefinitely suspend contests on college sports in all U.S. states, ESPN reported on Thursday.
Canada’s Rogers to offer sports channels as streaming services
TORONTO (Reuters) – Canada’s Rogers Communications Inc , the primary national broadcaster of National Hockey League games, said on Thursday it will begin selling its top sports channels online without a cable subscription.
Old-fashioned values keep Burnley on course for success
LONDON (Reuters) – Burnley bucked the modern trend when they reacted to relegation from the Premier League by keeping faith with their manager and holding on to the majority of their squad and that decision looks set to pay an immediate dividend.
Dnipro banned from European soccer for one season
ZURICH (Reuters) – Last season’s Europa League runners-up Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk were among three teams banned from European competition for one season by UEFA on Thursday for breaching financial regulations.
Soccer: Germans on 300,000 euro a man for winning Euro 2016
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s players will each receive a bonus of 300,000 euros if they win Euro 2016, national soccer association DFB said on Thursday, announcing the same scale of top-up payments on offer when the tournament was last played in 2012.
Motor racing: Broken ribs rule Alonso out of Bahrain Grand Prix
MANAMA (Reuters) – McLaren’s Fernando Alonso was ruled out of the Bahrain Grand Prix on Thursday after revealing he had broken ribs and suffered a lung injury in a crash in Formula One’s Australian season-opener on March 20.
Soccer: Barca seek ‘Clasico’ win as fitting tribute to Cruyff
BARCELONA (Reuters) – – Memories and images of Johan Cruyff will provide an emotional backdrop to Saturday’s Nou Camp ‘Clasico’ against Real Madrid when Barcelona pay tribute to the man who transformed the club from also-rans into one of the game’s superpowers. In their first match since their much-loved former player and coach Cruyff died from cancer last week, fans will hold up a mosaic reading ‘Gracies Johan’ (thanks Johan, in Catalan) and the home side’s players will bear the same message
