Good morning, all and happy first day of spring, which arrives in the northern hemisphere at 10:46 AM ET.

The World Baseball Classic turned out to be a grand slam this year and now there is talk of moving the WBC to the summer. Is this a good idea? I break it down in the video and podcast.

Here are some other thoughts as we wander through March:

* March Madness is in full swing, as VCU stunned North Carolina in a first round game last night, winning 82-78 in OT. The win was especially delicious for coach Phil Martelli Jr. (son of the legendary coach Phil Martelli), who is in his first season as the coach of the Rams. I can assure you, they were dancing in the streets of Richmond, after this one. Meanwhile, many brackets have been busted, following the dramatic comeback victory, mine included.

* Number One seed Duke was not going to lose to Siena, though the Blue Devils trailed by double digits at the half and rallied for a 71-65 win. But, although Siena deserves credit for giving Duke a run for its money, it does give me pause for concern, as I have Duke as one of my Final Four teams. We shall see.

* I’m liking these coaches wearing ties and jackets in this tournament, although the two coaches I saw donned in such attire were witnesses to their teams’ losses. I’m guessing this won’t start a trend.

* That smile you see emanating from Park Ave. in NYC is that of MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred. The TV numbers for the WBC championship game Tuesday night between eventual winner Venezuela and the U.S. went through the roof. An audience of 10.23M watched on Fox and Fox Deportes. Not only was that a record for the WBC, but outside of the World Series, it is likely no MLB postseason game will attract those numbers this fall.

* That is going to be quite a crowded quarterback room for the Minnesota Vikings now that Carson Wentz has returned to the team. He will be joining Kyler Murray and J.J. McCarthy.

* Longtime Mets radio voice Howie Rose announced his retirement, effective at the end of this season. Rose, 72, grew up a Mets fan in Queens. He started out calling Mets games on television in 1987 and has been the club’s lead radio voice since the early 2000s. In a video released on social media, Rose said the perfect ending to his career would be a ride down the Canyon of Heroes, followed by being the MC for the Mets World Championship celebration in front of city hall.

That is going to do it for today’s newsletter. Thank you for being a subscriber and have a fantastic Friday!

DAN

Good morning, all and Happy March Madness Thursday!

If you are a college basketball fan, it does not get any better than this. Now that the preliminaries (First Four) are out of the way, the NCAA men’s college basketball tournament swings into full gear today. I break it all down in the video and podcast.

Here are some other thoughts on this Thursday after St. Patrick’s Day:

* Now that labor peace seems to be at hand for the WNBA, how soon before the stories crop up about this being the last season for the Connecticut Sun in the Nutmeg State? I’ll bet before the weekend is out, one of the local media outlets will be reporting on this story.

* By the way, here is the statement released by the WNBPA about the deal reached with the owners:

* The winner of the previous year’s Masters gets to pick the menu for the champions’ dinner, held at Augusta, during Masters week. Here is Rory McIlroy’s choice:

* Justin Ishbia, who will take over majority ownership of the Chicago White Sox in the early 2030s, is on the verge of buying a 47-acre rail yard from Amtrak, near the southwest corner of the Loop, according to reports. Word is that will be the location of a new stadium for the White Sox, who are determined to once again prove there is more than one MLB team in the Windy City.

* Sportico has come out with the latest valuation of MLB franchises and the Yankees are still the most valuable club at $9.4B. The two-time defending champion Dodgers come in second at $9.04B. The least valued big league club is the Miami Marlins at $1.45B.

* Speaking of the Dodgers, they have released the Opening Day menu at Dodgers Stadium and it includes bone marrow tacos. I don’t think so.

Enjoy your March Madness Thursday and thank you for reading the newsletter. It means a lot.

DAN

Good morning, all! It’s hump day!

Venezuela has won its first WBC title in its first appearance in the finals, with a thrilling 3-2 win over the U.S. in Miami. In a game dominated by pitching, the U.S. trailed 2-0 in the last of the eighth, before Bryce Harper slugged a dramatic two-run homer. Venezuela came right back in the ninth, as Eugenio Suárez broke the deadlock with an RBI-double.

Major League Baseball is considering more rules changes to improve pace-of-play, and once again the minor leagues are serving as the testing ground for the proposals. I break it down in the video and podcast.

Here are some other thoughts one week before the opening of the MLB season:

* I had a Division I men’s college basketball coach tell me, if his team was on the bubble, he would much rather be in the NCAA Tournament’s First Four rather than a number 15 seed, because it gave his program more exposure. It is tough to disagree with that. Think about it. You have eight teams vying to play in the first round on Thursday or Friday as the lowest seed, yet on Tuesday and Wednesday nights (Each night has two games), your school is showcased as the only game in town on national TV. On Thursday or Friday your team is lost in the mix. If your goal, as a coach, is to gain your program notoriety, taking that first step on the Tuesday or Wednesday before the first round of the tournament, is not the worst scenario.

* Sportico is reporting Shohei Ohtani is getting $125M this season just from sponsors. What a world.

* UConn women’s basketball is a huge revenue generator, according to the Sports Business Journal. SBJ reported the 2025 program produced $8.5M of total revenue, a 7% increase from 2024 and almost double from 2023. Cha-ching!

* The WBC semifinal between the U.S. and Dominican Republic may have been opposite the Academy Awards and on second tier cable TV channels (FS1 and Fox Deportes), but the game shattered WBC ratings nonetheless. The numbers show the average audience for the game on Sunday night was 7.37M. That figure marks one of the ten largest baseball audiences of the last year, including MLB’s 2025 post season. It will be interesting to see what last night’s numbers for the WBC finale between the U.S. and Venezuela produced.

That is going to do it for today’s newsletter. Thank you so much for being a subscriber and have a wonderful Wednesday!

DAN