Update on the latest sports
APMLB-SCHEDULE
Weather postpones 3 games
UNDATED (AP) — Friday night’s game between the Colorado Rockies and New York Mets has been postponed because of a spring snowstorm that blanketed the Denver area overnight. The game will be made up as part of a doubleheader on Saturday.
The Mets are old hands at postponements. Their finale of the four-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies was rained out Thursday, the team’s third washout in five days. Adding the season-opening three-game series at Washington that was put off because of a coronavirus outbreak among the Nationals, the Mets have played a major league-low eight games.
Weather in Boston has also forced the postponement of Friday night’s game between the Red Sox and the Chicago White Sox. The series opener will be rescheduled as part of a day-night doubleheader on Sunday. Bostonians woke up Friday morning to a heavy snow that dropped an inch or two on the city. Snow and rain are expected through the night.
The Blue Jays and Royals have called off Friday night’s game in Kansas City because of rain and will make it up Saturday as part of a day-night doubleheader before concluding their four-game series Sunday. The Royals won the series-opener 7-5 on Thursday night. This is the Blue Jays’ only trip to Kansas City this season.
MLB-NEWS
Braves scratch add Smyly to 10-day IL with forearm pain
UNDATED (AP) — The Atlanta Braves scratched starter Drew Smyly and placed him on the 10-day injured list before Friday’s series opener against the Chicago Cubs due to pain in his throwing arm. The left-hander was added to the IL retroactive to April 13 with what the club called left forearm inflammation.
Manager Brian Snitker said he hopes Smyly will only miss one start. The Braves recalled Kyle Wright from their alternate site in Gwinnett, Georgia, to start in Smyly’s place.
In other MLB news:
— In the latest COVID report from Major League Baseball, three players and three staff members were positive during the past week. There were close to 12,000 tests for a 0.05% positive rate. There have been 31 positive tests — 20 for players, 11 for staff. That comes from more than 111,000 monitoring tests, a rate of 0.03%. There have been three COVID-related postponements, all a season- opening series between Washington and the New York Mets. There were 45 regular-season games postponed for virus-related reasons last year.
NHL-NEWS
More games postponed due to COVID-19 protocols
UNDATED (AP) — Three Colorado Avalanche games have been postponed after a third player entered the NHL’s COVID-19 protocols. Pending test results, the team could return to practice as early as Wednesday and resume play Thursday at St. Louis. The Avalanche were scheduled to host the Los Angeles Kings Friday night and Sunday and play at St. Louis on Tuesday.
The NHL also rescheduled a pair of games between the Vancouver and the Toronto Maple Leafs as the Canucks come back from a COVID-19 outbreak. The Leafs were set to play in Vancouver Saturday and Monday, but those games have been rescheduled for Sunday and Tuesday.
In other NHL news:
— The Buffalo Sabres will be leaning on their fourth, fifth and even sixth-string goalies for potentially the remainder of the season with Linus Ullmark listed week to week with a lower-body injury. Interim coach Don Granato says the timetable for Ullmark’s return is “touchy” because the Sabres only have three weeks left in their season. Buffalo sits last in the NHL standings and all but mathematically out of contention. Backup goalie Carter Hutton has resumed skating individually, but there is no timetable on his return. He’s missed 13 games with a lower-body injury.
NFL-NEWS
Browns release veteran DT Richardson in salary-cap move
UNDATED (AP) — The Cleveland Browns have released veteran defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson.
He spent two seasons with the team after signing a three-year, $37 million free agent deal with Cleveland in 2019. His release opens an additional $12 million in salary-cap space for the Browns.
The 6-foot-3, 294-pounder started all 16 games last season, finishing with 64 tackles and 4 1/2 sacks. His departure comes two days after the Browns signed defensive end Jadeveon Clowney to a one-year, incentive-laden contract.
In other NFL news:
— The Pittsburgh Steelers have become the 10th group of NFL players to say they won’t be attending in-person voluntary offseason workouts. With a post through the NFL Players Association, the Steelers joined the Super Bowl champion Buccaneers, Broncos, Seahawks, Giants, Bears, Raiders, Lions, Browns, and Patriots in declaring their intent to skip the sessions that can begin on Monday.
NBA-JAZZ OWNERSHIP-WADE
Dwyane Wade joins Utah Jazz ownership group
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Dwyane Wade is an NBA owner. The Utah Jazz announced Friday that the 13-time NBA All-Star will join the youngest ownership group in the league.
The group is headed by technology entrepreneur Ryan Smith, who along with his wife, Ashley, acquired majority interest in the Jazz in late 2020. Wade and Smith have known each other for several years and had discussed working with each other in various capacities.
Wade played 16 NBA seasons with Miami, Chicago and Cleveland before retiring after the 2018-19 season. He won three NBA titles and had his No. 3 jersey retired by the Heat last month.
DOPING-COLEMAN BAN
Christian Coleman to miss Olympics despite reduced ban
GENEVA (AP) — The American sprinter who had been expected to succeed Usain Bolt as Olympic champion will miss the Tokyo Games after failing Friday in an appeal to overturn his ban for missed doping tests.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport cut current 100-meter world champion Christian Coleman’s ban from two years to 18 months, but it won’t expire until November, three months after the Olympics. The panel of three judges said 18 months “was the appropriate sanction in the circumstances” because Coleman was not entirely at fault for one of the missed tests.
Coleman’s 9.76-second run to win the 2019 world title was the fastest in the world in the past five years, and 0.05 quicker than Bolt when he won a third straight Olympic gold in 2016. Bolt, however, still holds the world record in the event, running 9.58 at the 2009 worlds in Berlin.
Coleman has never tested positive but he broke anti-doping rules by missing three no-notice attempts to take samples from him in a one-year period.
