Let's begin with Blake Snell. He's a good place to start when talking about the most exciting organization in the majors for 2019, given that he's the reigning American League Cy Young winner and owner of a Millennium Falcon fastball and wipeout curveball. Maybe you don't know much about Snell other than the impressive stat line: 21-5, 1.89 ERA, 221 strikeouts, just the fourth American League starter to post a sub-2.00 ERA since the designated hitter was instituted in 1973. The other three were guys named Guidry, Clemens and Pedro.

Maybe all you need know to about the ace of the Tampa Bay Rays is this: He didn't even keep his Cy Young trophy. "I have big goals for myself, so I know I can't get caught up in one award," he said back in spring training. He gave the trophy to his father, Dave, a former minor league pitcher. "For me, the individual accolade is cool, but I think it's more meaningful to my dad than it is to me right now," Snell said. "I'm in the moment, and I have a lot of stuff I want to chase and get to. As cool as that award is and as happy as I was when it happened, maybe a couple days after I was ready to focus on this year."

It's logical to assume some regression from a 1.89 ERA. Snell could pitch exactly as well as he did last season and give up more runs, simply if a few more bloopers and bleeders fall in. I asked Chaim Bloom, the Rays' senior vice president of baseball operations, how to project Snell's performance moving forward, especially knowing he allowed a .088 average with runners in scoring position. Bloom smiled. "I'm sure Blake will you tell he can do a 1.89 ERA again," he said.

"I think I can do better," Snell said. "It's what you tell yourself. I think the mental aspect of the game is huge. I don't take it to where each game is the most serious moment of my life, but it's very personal to me. I'm doing everything I can to where that day my body is 100 percent ready to go and I can do anything I want. I think one thing that screwed me over a lot is that I listened to the outside noise and they'd tell me what I did need to do and I'd buy into it. That's not who I am. Who I am is I don't care what anyone says."

This is just one reason to get excited about what the Rays might do this season: The guy with the 1.89 ERA is telling us that, yes, it's possible to do it again.

Snell's breakout was a tribute to the Rays' development system -- and that curveball that finished his transformation from a pitcher with potential to a Cy Young winner. While Snell was growing up in Shoreline, just north of Seattle, his dad focused on teaching him proper mechanics and balance. The two didn't worry much about pitch grips.

"There's not a pitch I came in with after getting drafted," Snell said. "Even my four-seam fastball wasn't a four-seam fastball." He learned his fastball grip from Kyle Snyder, now the major league pitching coach. Minor league instructors Dewey Robinson and Marty DeMerritt taught him his slider and changeup.

Snell tells the story of how he learned his curveball.

"I'm in low-A, and I'm struggling, I only have a fastball/changeup/slider. I just told my pitching coach, 'I'm going to throw a curveball. I'm throwing it. I don't care.' I showed him my grip, and the pitching coach was Kyle Snyder. We're going back and forth, and I said, 'I'm throwing it. I don't care. I'm throwing the curveball.' I showed him my grip and he was like, 'Huh. Why are you throwing it that way?' He said, 'No, we're going to throw it this way.'"

Dick Bosman, then a minor league coordinator, helped Snell refine the pitch. He spent an entire instructional league season working on his curveball. Still, he didn't use it much, even as he reached the majors. "I'd throw it here and there and it was always good, but I love my fastball," Snell said. Last season, he finally realized that nobody could hit the curve. "It was like, start throwing it a lot more."

He did. Now he had four lethal pitches. He doubled his usage of the curve from 2017, and batters hit .122 against it with only one home run. That was a shot by Jose Ramirez in September. Snell had taken a no-hitter into the seventh inning. He remembers the pitch, on a 3-2 count, flat like a changeup. (I checked the video: Snell's details were spot-on.) "I was carving that whole lineup," he recalled. "He battled me the first two at-bats and I got him. And the third one he got me. I don't mind. He's a good dude. I like him."

After serving up three home runs to the Astros on Opening Day -- including one on a curveball -- Snell entered Tuesday's start ready to deal. The Rockies couldn't touch him. In Snell's language, he carved them up, matching a career high with 13 strikeouts over seven scoreless innings and inducing 25 swing-and-misses, more than he had in any game in 2018.

As Snell told me with a sort of quiet bravado, "If I'm attacking with all four, yeah, good luck."

Good luck facing this entire Rays pitching staff. Although Snell is the headliner, the depth here is ridiculous. When Tommy Pham came over from the Cardinals in a trade on July 31, he immediately was impressed. "All these guys throwing 95-plus. Everybody on my team was throwing hard and had a secondary pitch," Pham said.

The staff has keyed the team's 5-2 start by giving up only 11 runs in seven games. Tyler Glasnow, who came over from the Pirates in the Chris Archer trade, gave up one run his first start and hit 100 mph. Charlie Morton -- at two years and $30 million the most expensive free agent in franchise history -- has started the season with two strong outings. Yonny Chirinos gave up one run in seven innings in his start. Ryne Stanek is the hard-throwing reliever who will often serve as the team's opener. Ryan Yarbrough usually follows him as the "bulk" guy -- he's the crafty lefty, the one guy on the staff who doesn't throw 95. The secret weapons are flame-throwing relievers Jose Alvarado and Diego Castillo, a deadly left-right tandem who both hit triple digits on the radar gun and have looked unhittable so far:

José Alvarado's other 2 Ks were just as filthy. pic.twitter.com/ryMceGxB9f

— MLB (@MLB) April 3, 2019

Yeah, good luck.

Mitch Lukevics is one of those baseball people with whom you want to sit down, have a cold one or two, and listen to the stories. He's gregarious and personable and in his 45th season in professional baseball, starting in 1975 when the White Sox drafted him out of Penn State. He spent six seasons pitching in the minors, reaching Triple-A, and later became director of minor league operations for the Yankees from 1989 to 1995 -- when the farm system churned out Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Bernie Williams, Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada.

He lost his job anyway. "Of course, when you work for Mr. Steinbrenner," he said, referring to George, "you know the next day is going to come, and that day did come and I landed here."

The Rays hired Lukevics as one of their first employees in 1995, two seasons before they would play their first major league game. He has been the director of minor league operations since 2006 and is a walking encyclopedia of Rays history.

He took me into a big, empty room at the club's spring training complex in Port Charlotte, Florida, that used to be the visiting team's clubhouse when the Rangers played there. Framed photos of players who graduated from the farm to the majors adorn the walls -- a wall of honor -- and feature not just stars, but Toby Hall and Steve Cox and Victor Zambrano and everyone else. "Every one of these players on this board, I know," Lukevics said. "They all came through here."

So you know he's not exaggerating when he raves about the current farm system. "It's a subjective comparison, but we're by far stronger from top to bottom with the depth in the farm system than we ever have been," he said. ESPN's Keith Law rated it the second-best system in the majors behind San Diego's. It starts with Wander Franco, Law's No. 3 overall prospect who hit .351/.418/.587 as a 17-year-old in the Appalachian League with more walks than strikeouts.

"Arguably the best prospect in the history of the Rays," Lukevics said, knowing full well the organization has produced David Price and Evan Longoria. "He has that rare ability to put a bat on the ball and impact the baseball. What he's doing at his age is something special." Like any experienced baseball person, Lukevics exercises caution with his enthusiasm. "Here's not there yet by any stretch of the imagination," he said of Franco. "A wise man once told me: Let's see how a player handles failure."

Franco will start the season at Class A Bowling Green. With Fernando Tatis Jr. already in the majors and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. likely to join him soon, Franco will be the must-watch minor leaguer of 2019. Two-way player Brendan McKay, the fourth overall pick in 2017 out of Louisville who will start the year at Double-A Montgomery, is another player high on anybody's watch list.

"Everybody would say the bat is behind the pitching, and it is," Lukevics said of McKay. "Not everybody can do this, and he has the mental wherewithal and the physical wherewithal to take this on. This year, we're taking away first base, and we're learning as an organization how to handle him. He's instrumental in the process. He's a bright young guy. He knows his body better than we do. Let's see how it goes. There's great hope that he can do it."

Franco was a big international signing out of the Dominican Republic, McKay a high draft pick. Vidal Brujan was given $15,000 to sign out of the Dominican in 2014. He broke out last year, hitting .320 with 55 steals in Class A, becoming one of the most exciting prospects in the sport.

"I give a lot of credit to [international scouting director] Carlos [Rodriguez] and our people," Lukevics said. "When we signed him, he was really little, really skinny. He has physically matured, and with language training and everything else, he has probably grown more than any player we have here. It's a wonderful story. When you say 'Vidal Brujan,' I have a big smile on my face because I know where he started."

Those are only three of the guys to watch on the farm. The system is loaded with high-end talent, from pitchers Brent Honeywell and Matthew Liberatore to catcher Ronaldo Hernandez to outfielder Jesus Sanchez, slugger Nate Lowe and middle infielders growing on trees.

This wasn't the case just a few years ago. In 2011, the Rays were sitting in a nice place. They would finish 91-71 that season and earn the wild card. They also had 12 of the first 89 picks in the draft, a golden opportunity to stockpile the farm system with premium talent. They selected Snell with the seventh of those picks, but the rest of the draft was a disaster. Eight of the picks never reached the majors. After the Rays reached the playoffs in 2013, four straight losing seasons followed. The farm system is the lifeblood of any organization, especially a small-market team like the Rays, and the talent had dried up. In 2016, the team finished 68-94.

"We weren't trying to lose that year," Bloom said.

That's an important distinction. Unlike other franchises, the Rays never sank into a complete teardown and rebuild. In two of those losing seasons they went 80-82, hardly the record of a tanking team. It's something to respect. Of course, with their financial limitations, the Rays were always in the constant shuffle of players and talent.

Bloom said there wasn't one significant change in the scouting and development areas that turned things around. He said the goal is always for the members of the front office to keep pushing one another to look under the hood and try to remain ahead of other teams in how the sport continues to evolve. That kind of thinking -- with the acceptance of manager Kevin Cash and the major league coaching staff -- led to the opener strategy that worked so well last season and will be used again in 2019.

Now the 40-man roster is loaded with talent. Snell might be the only big star, but any of the 40 players can contribute if needed.

"It's always been an emphasis here," Bloom said. "It has to be a huge part of how we win. It just takes so much depth to get through a season. That's our goal with the 40-man roster, that every spot has someone who can help us. Maybe that comes from guys who are less heralded but can help you win that extra game or two that puts you over the top -- especially in the division we play in, the margins are razor thin. There is no margin for error, no forgiveness in the American League East."

Cash is the man who gets to figure out how to use all these guys.

"Our depth trickles all the way into low-A," Cash said. "I know those guys aren't going to impact the big league club, but we certainly feel that maybe in the past when we've had key injuries, maybe it was tough to overcome some of those tough patches. More than anything though, it's the versatility we have throughout the organization."

The day I was in camp, rookie second baseman Brandon Lowe had tried on a first baseman's glove for the first time. ("Don't expect a Gold Glove," he joked.) Lowe also played outfield last year, Joey Wendle played second base and outfield, Daniel Robertson can play all over the infield and Yandy Diaz already has started games at third base and first base. If Kevin Kiermaier gets injured -- the way he has the past three seasons -- they have multiple options to back him up in center field. Indeed, the starting outfield of Pham, Kiermaier and Austin Meadows includes three players who can play center.

The big question, though: Can the Rays catch the Red Sox and Yankees? Tampa Bay won 90 games last year but finished 18 games behind Boston.

"I think it speaks volumes how good the Red Sox and Yankees were last year," Cash said. "They were powerhouses. Eighteen games is a lot of games to make up. I hope they don't win 108 games again."

Yarbrough pointed out that "we played toe-to-toe with the Red Sox and the Yankees in the second half. That gave us a ton of confidence heading into this season." Pham also mentioned how well the Rays played down the stretch against playoff teams.

He's right. The Rays went 36-19 the final two months, better than the Red Sox (33-20) and Yankees (32-25). In that stretch they went 13-9 against the Red Sox, Yankees, Indians and A's. Since Aug. 1 of last season, they have a run differential of plus-83 compared to plus-43 for the Yankees and plus-35 for the Red Sox (not counting the postseason).

"It's a tough division," Pham said. "I thought the NL Central was the best division until I got to the AL East and saw firsthand how tough it is to try knock these two teams off."

It won't be easy. With the Red Sox and Yankees struggling out of the gate and the Rays off to a good start, however, the Rays' odds of winning the division already have increased from 2.5 percent on Opening Day to almost 9 percent. They will use the opener and move players around and throw some serious heat on the mound and hope to scrape across enough runs. They will be exciting, interesting and innovative.

"At the end of the day," Bloom said, "this is entertainment, and we want to be exciting for our fans and for everyone who follows us and watches us. But for us, as a baseball operations department, it's about winning. Whatever we do, whether it's in the minor leagues or on the scouting front or in the majors, it's with that goal in mind. If we can win in an exciting way, so much the better. But we'd rather win, period."

Don't be surprised if the Rays do just that and shock the baseball world with a division title.

Northamptonshire 310 for 6 (Wakely 76, Rossington 67 Murtagh 4-43) v Middlesex

The opening day of the new season was the type of day that has eluded Northamptonshire for many years as they steadily built a score in testing conditions against a good attack. Having been sent in, the host made 310 for 6, led by fifties from Alex Wakely and Adam Rossington.

Many times did a high-class seam attack of Tim Murtagh, who took the first four wickets to fall, James Harris and England internationals Steven Finn and Toby Roland-Jones beat the bat, but Northants bided their time on a fairly slow wicket and grew several useful partnerships.

The most profitable was the 99 added by Wakely and Rob Keogh that occupied 28.2 overs of the afternoon and set up Northants' day. Wakely, Northants leading runscorer in 2018, struck seven fours in going past 50 in 102 balls en route to 76 and Keogh compiled a smart 46. The pair fell either side of tea, Wakely slashing Murtagh to first slip and Keogh driving Finn to second, loose strokes both but old habits - that had been well resisted throughout the day - die hard.

From a solid 182 for 4, Rossington - after two failures against Durham MCCU last week - made a bright 67, including pulling Roland-Jones over midwicket for six and flicking the same bowler to Max Holden on the fence, only for the fielder to stumble over the boundary.

Most of Rossington's runs came after tea - a time when Northants repeatedly folded last season. But here, a sixth-wicket stand of 67, ended when Rossington was bowled by a relieved Roland-Jones, ensured the initiative would not be surrendered.

Jason Holder was the other half of the stand. The West Indies captain walked out to cheers and a wonderful sense of excitement that a genuine star of the world game was gracing Wantage Road. Crunching his second ball through point for four only raised the level of anticipation. He took his new county to the close unbeaten on 36.

Middlesex know enough about the competitiveness of Division Two after their struggle last season and were given an immediate reminder that promotion will be hard-earned. They could consider themselves a little unlucky with the amount of times they beat the bat but Finn proved expensive, going at over four runs an over, and seven no-balls were delivered, while they also missed one golden chance when Stevie Eskinazi dropped Wakely on 41.

As has been the case for many years, Middlesex were led by Murtagh. Now in his 20th season of first-class cricket, he trapped Rob Newton lbw, had Ricardo Vasconcelos caught behind just before lunch, Josh Cobb caught at mid-on after the interval before breaking the biggest partnership of the day with Wakely's wicket. But his wait for a 31st career five-wicket haul will have to wait at least one more day.

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Dwyane Wade, down to what could be the final four games of his career as the Miami Heat's playoff status remains in flux, says he will seek professional help to deal with life after basketball.

In an interview with ESPN's Rachel Nichols that aired Friday on The Jump, Wade said he has overcome a skeptical attitude and embraced the idea of talking to a clinician.

"I'll be in therapy. Seriously," Wade said. "I meant it, it is going to be a big change. I told my wife, I said, 'I need to do therapy, and we need to do a little bit.'

"I was always against someone that don't know me telling me how to live my life or giving me instructions. But I need someone to talk to about it. Because it is a big change. Even though I got a long life to live, other great things I can accomplish and do, it's not this. So it's going to be different."

Of late, Wade has been motivated by a retirement tour that has seen him be the toast of the town in Boston and New York.

"It's been surreal," Wade said. "It's like you -- you have this vision of, you know, how you want things to go, right, with everything in life. And when something, you know, surpasses that vision, it's kinda like it's an out-of-body experience.

"I couldn't have written this book any better. This is a bestseller. And I couldn't have written it, about my life."

With the Heat battling four teams for the last three playoff spots in the Eastern Conference, Wade has averaged 17 points for the past five games and continues to play almost 30 minutes a game. Wade said he hasn't envisioned putting up an even bigger number in his final game -- such as Kobe Bryant's 60 -- but didn't rule it out if it's what the Heat needed.

"I'm gonna go out the way D-Wade's supposed to go out. You know what I mean?" Wade said. "And like, I think it helps, too, that we are in this playoff battle. Cause I'm just trying to win."

Wade said he doesn't want the season to end but knows, as good things often do, "it has to."

"I'm in a real good space," Wade told ESPN's The Jump. "And I haven't been in that space in a long time. I'm happy with how my body feels. I'm happy with the extra additions to my life. I'm excited about the unknown. How we going to get it done, you know? So I'm excited about it."

Beyond looking forward to a general happiness in life, Wade said he doesn't hold specific retirement goals.

"I have no idea what it is I want to do yet," Wade said. "But I definitely know I want to do a little bit of everything. Especially in the beginning, I want to see what I can be great at. I'm so used to being great at something or trying to strive to be great at something. That's what I want to be at whatever else I choose to do. We'll see."

He was nearly certain that in the final moments of his NBA career he won't let his emotions get the best of him.

"I don't think I'm gonna cry," Wade said. "I only cry in intimate settings."

The Warriors franchise has won four NBA titles since moving to the Bay Area, but only three -- 2015, 2017 and 2018 -- have been played inside the walls of Oracle Arena. And for that, we can thank Big Bird.

Back in 1975, the booking of the Ice Follies, a skating show starring Sesame Street characters, forced the championship series between Golden State and the Washington Bullets to shift Games 2 and 3 to the Cow Palace in nearby Daly City. It didn't stop Finals MVP and Hall of Famer Rick Barry from sweeping for the title.

But during its 47-year run as home of the Golden State Warriors, Oracle has still played host to more than its fair share of history.

As the current-day Warriors get ready to embark on their final postseason quest before moving across the bay to San Francisco's Chase Center, we're paying tribute to the oldest -- and arguably the loudest -- arena in the league. From NBA Finals battles to historic upsets and the crowning of a dunk icon, Oracle has been the site of some of the league's most unforgettable moments.

The upset -- and the chair -- heard 'round the world

Dirk Nowitzki thinks he did the damage with a chair, but maybe it was a trash can. It's understandable that the details are hazy, considering it happened during a fit of rage at perhaps the lowest point of his career, ranking right down there with the Dallas Mavericks' NBA Finals collapse the previous season.

Whatever he threw, it was a heck of a heave in the wake of the "We Believe" Warriors eliminating the 67-win Mavs in Game 6 of the first-round Western Conference playoff series in 2007. But it probably didn't hit the intended target, considering how bad Nowitzki's aim was that night, when he went 2-of-13 from the floor to wrap up the worst playoff series of his career. It was the first 8-over-1, best-of-seven upset in NBA history.

The memory is immortalized, for now, high on the wall across from the Oracle Arena visitors' locker room. The Warriors plan to cut out that section of the wall and showcase it in Chase Center.

Dirk's final walk past his famous hole in the Oracle wall: pic.twitter.com/m16NQz1eDI

— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) March 24, 2019

That hole, in part due to the big German's good nature, has become part of the Oracle legacy. Years later, Nowitzki signed a piece of plexiglass that covers the hole, and the Warriors tacked a bright yellow "WE BELIEVE" T-shirt above it.

"There's nothing I can do about it now but embrace it," said Nowitzki, who was named the NBA's MVP days after that series ended. "It was part of my career, part of my history. I always say without these [playoff] losses in '06 and '07 back-to-back, I wouldn't have been the player I was in '11 to close the whole deal.

"This is part of my journey. It was brutal and tough to go through, but I grew from it a lot."

The Warriors wisely waited until Nowitzki had earned a championship ring before asking for his autograph.

The Mavs' title run ensured that the misery of the Mavs' abbreviated 2007 postseason was a footnote in Nowitzki's career, not the defining moment.

"That's why I signed it with a smile in my face," Nowitzki said. "If I hadn't won [a title], I probably would have said, 'Get the hell outta here with that.'"

-- Tim MacMahon

Steph Curry from deep ... in the tunnel

Stephen Curry's tunnel shots have become a unique part of the Oracle experience through the Warriors' journey to three titles in four years. So much so that when Warriors coach Steve Kerr gives tickets to his friends, many of them have a similar question.

"I have friends who -- I get them tickets to the game -- they go, 'What time can I get in and what time does Steph do his shooting drills?' I've never heard of that before. Nobody's ever asked me, 'What time is somebody warming up?' But people now, my guests, my visitors, are coming an hour early to see Steph warm up."

Curry's pregame shooting prowess has become one of the game's highlights in any arena he performs in, but it's the tunnel shots, on his way back to the Warriors' locker room, that fans seem to take particular joy in. The shot, which Curry shoots from the tunnel that takes Warriors players from the locker room to the floor, is set up by a pass from longtime Oracle security guard Curtis Jones. Curry isn't sure exactly when the tradition started, but he takes pride in the way it has grown.

"I think it was around 2013-14," Curry said recently, while adding that it was actually a former teammate, Monta Ellis, who came up with the original idea.

"Monta started it," Curry said. "We used to have shootarounds there and he'd do it before he left shootaround. After that, we didn't have shootarounds anymore at Oracle, so we went there for games. I think I had a bet with a front-office guy, just messing around one day and it kind of became an every game thing and then it evolved to Curtis being involved. The rest is history."

Kerr can think of only one comparison for what Curry has perfected in the art of the tunnel shot.

"Kevin Love, when he was at UCLA, used to make shots from right here," Kerr said, pointing to the far corner of the court. "From the corner of one side of the court, all the way -- 94 feet. He would do it every game, before every NCAA game or practice. And he'd usually make one. What he did back then, I've never seen anybody do it. How strong do you have to be?"

Sadly, the days of the tunnel shot appear to be numbered. With a different setup in Chase Center, Curry knows the shot will likely fade away with the Oracle building itself -- but he is confident he will come up with something new for fans in his new basketball home.

"I think geometrically speaking it's not likely," Curry said of continuing the tunnel shots at Chase Center. "Because of where the entrance to the new arena is, but I'll probably get creative with something."

-- Nick Friedell

When Vinsanity saved the dunk contest

Vince Carter has enjoyed a wealth of accolades during his 20-year NBA career: eight All-Star appearances, more than 1,400 games played and more than 25,000 points scored -- and don't forget that he began his career as 1998-99 Rookie of the Year.

But when the 42-year-old finally unlaces his sneakers, he might reflect most fondly on arguably the greatest dunk contest performance in NBA history at Oracle Arena in 2000.

"I didn't know I would become a star player that night," Carter told ESPN's The Undefeated. "Prior to it, I wasn't a star player. I was [a high] pick. But after that night, my life changed."

Carter wasn't the only notable dunker in the final event of NBA All-Star Saturday, either. Raptors swingman and Carter's cousin, Tracy McGrady, Houston Rockets guard Steve Francis and Philadelphia 76ers guard Larry Hughes were also among the contestants.

After years of lackluster events, the sold-out crowd was hoping for a night that would make Dr. J, MJ and The Human Highlight Film proud. Well, they ended up getting that from a budding star who would later earn two nicknames of his own: "Vinsanity" and "Half-Man, Half-Amazing."

Carter first drew the roar of the crowd and a camcorder-holding Shaquille O'Neal with a 360 dunk. On his third dunk, Carter caught an alley-oop, put the ball through his legs, dunked and then pointed at the sky after landing on the hardwood. With contest judge Isiah Thomas standing up with his arms to the sky in amazement, Carter looked into a television camera and said those now-iconic words:

"It's over."

It was over as Carter also wowed the crowd with a dunk in which he flushed his forearm into the rim. The crowd was confused until they saw the memorable slam on the Jumbotron replay. Carter went on to beat Francis easily in the finals in perhaps the greatest slam dunk performance ever.

No, Carter didn't play for the Warriors and nothing that night counted toward the standings. But when it comes to greatest basketball moments in Oracle Arena history, Vinsanity in this vintage venue has to be viewed as one of the greatest.

-- Marc J. Spears

LeBron James, the visitor

The plastic tarp covering the floor had pools of liquid making it slippery, and it almost caused the guard who ambled across it to wipe out. He was yelling a command, but there was no way it was going to be obeyed even if it could've been heard above the din.

"Please put out the cigars, there's no smoking allowed in the building," he pleaded.

It was no use. A handful of Cleveland Cavaliers players had lit up, and smoke was wafting as champagne sprayed in all directions in the visitors' locker room at Oracle Arena.

Along the back wall, the door to the coach's office was open and blocked with bodies. Then-Cavs coach Tyronn Lue towered above them, standing on the desk and reaching up into the ceiling where he'd hidden an envelope with more than $5,000 six days earlier. It was a motivational move after the team had won Game 5. Everyone in the traveling party had put up $100 to be reclaimed when they came back for Game 7.

LeBron James stood in front of his locker, the last one on the corner, and hugged teammate after teammate. That room -- just inside the north loading dock to the left -- has been one of the most transformational places in James' long career.

It's one of the most spacious visitor locker rooms in the league. A wide space with a high ceiling, plenty of room to spread out and celebrate as the Cavs did when they won the 2016 title.

Yet no place to hide when emotions are raw.

What a spread of emotions James had in this place. There was the night he celebrated in 2009 when he nailed a shot at the buzzer to beat the home team by one. Five years later he did it again, and sat in front of his locker and compared the two shots, move by move.

There was the silence in the space after Game 1 of the 2015 Finals when Kyrie Irving limped out of the trainer's room and told James his knee felt different than it ever had after he'd hurt it in overtime.

The same night he'd smoke and drink Moet in the locker room, James cursed at his coach and stormed out of the locker room after Lue had challenged him at halftime.

On a June night in 2017, James walked into the locker room arm-in-arm with Irving. Confetti was falling behind them, the Warriors celebrating a championship in front of their fans. A totally drained James put his hand on Irving's back and swore they'd both be back. They would not. Irving demanded a trade just a few weeks later.

Then there was last season. James entered the room as mad as he's ever been. He was incensed that a call had been reversed -- from him taking a charge to a blocking foul -- on a crucial possession. Then teammate JR Smith, with a chance to win the game, lost track of the score and dribbled out the clock. James was so angry he punched a dry-erase board, cracking a bone in his hand. The smell of the cigars was long gone.

The best of times, the worst of times. The tale of that room for James.

-- Brian Windhorst

LOS ANGELES -- What if Andrew Friedman retired now, at 42? What if his organization was somehow left unattended, which meant no draft picks, no trades and no free-agent signings? How much longer would the Los Angeles Dodgers continue winning 90-plus games, a mark they reached every year from 2013 to 2018?

Friedman, in his fifth season as the team's president of baseball operations, was intrigued by the thought.

"I'd have to think about that," he said, leaning against a railing on the third-base side of Dodger Stadium's upper deck. "It's an interesting question; I just don't think about it that way."

The answer, according to the projection model used by ESPN's Bradford Doolittle, is three more years, through 2021. It means the Dodgers, as they sit, have a strong chance of capturing three more National League West titles in succession, an uncommon level of sustainability that has extended itself through Friedman's prudence -- a prudence that is often met with disdain in a star-driven city like L.A.

"I get it," Friedman said. "Fans will be like, 'We'll think about 2022 when we get to 2022.' I understand that. I've been a fan; I'm a fan of teams in other sports. I get the focus being on the right now. And it's probably the most challenging aspect of what we have to do, which is to balance the now with the future, and finding that right equilibrium between them."

The 2018 World Series unraveled because of a decision -- the latest in a countless string of them amid a season that lasted 179 games -- to remove Rich Hill in the seventh inning of Game 4. The 2017 World Series was decided during an exhilarating, bizarre Game 5 that saw Clayton Kershaw blow a four-run lead, dropping the Dodgers' record to 49-2 under such circumstances.

Perhaps the most redeemable quality of baseball's prolonged regular season is that it tells no lies; the sample size is large enough to reveal the true identity of each organization. After 162 games, there can be no argument. The maddening part about the playoffs is that they often reward the hottest teams and sometimes even the luckiest ones; the sample size is small enough for unforeseen events to outweigh talent disparities.

Friedman is perpetually conscious of this reality, a sentiment that sits at the core of his roster-building philosophy. His main objective is to continually build 90-win seasons in order to maximize his team's chances of capitalizing on the randomness that dominates October. Going all in on one season, by chasing the costliest free agents and trading the brightest prospects, is, in his mind, a risk without enough upside. The postseason is too much of a crapshoot.

"At the end of a season, the best team in baseball wins roughly 60 percent of their games and the worst team in baseball wins roughly 40 percent of their games, so you're talking about a 20 percent spread," Friedman said. "And then when you get into the playoffs, and you have teams that are much closer than that, there are a lot of things that can play out in a five- or seven-game series that swing the chances of winning that series in a very dramatic way, that are more random than skill. Over the course of 162 games, those things tend to even out more. And in a five- or seven-game series, they can easily make the difference."

Friedman will forcefully push back on the narrative that his Dodgers have not done enough to win each season, pointing to the long list of prospects who have been traded since his hiring. Eight of those young players were used to acquire Yu Darvish and Manny Machado in consecutive Julys for playoff runs that fell a combined four wins shy of delivering back-to-back championships.

In the wake of that, the Dodgers didn't re-sign Machado and didn't aggressively pursue Bryce Harper. Instead, they made subtle moves -- signing A.J. Pollock, trading for Russell Martin, adding Joe Kelly -- to augment a roster that is once again projected to win 90-plus games in 2019.

Before opening day, PECOTA, the projection system developed by Baseball Prospectus, had the Dodgers winning 94 games this season, 15 more than any other team in their division. If that holds true, the Dodgers would capture their seventh consecutive 90-win season, a streak reached only three other times throughout history. Over the past three years, only the Chicago Cubs have won more regular-season games.

Just as impressive, if not more so, is what lies ahead.

Doolittle's projections, based on estimated 25-man rosters, have the Dodgers winning 94 games in 2020 and 95 games in 2021 if nothing is done (it drops to 85 and 88 wins, respectively, in 2022 and 2023). The talent pool remains that deep, the core players still that young.

Corey Seager, Cody Bellinger and Walker Buehler will each be under club control for at least three more seasons. Will Smith and Keibert Ruiz, on the cusp of the major leagues, are two of the most promising catching prospects in the industry. Julio Urias, Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May should help solidify the rotation for years to come. And corner outfielder Alex Verdugo and middle infielder Gavin Lux project, at minimum, as solid contributors.

"We feel really good about the core of talent we have at the major league level, and then the runway of talent behind it," said Friedman, who watched the Dodgers finish their first homestand with a division-leading 5-2 record and a major league-leading .945 OPS. "When you couple that with the financial flexibility that we have going forward, we think it's a really good combination."

It should be noted that Friedman is doing a lot of his winning with players he inherited from former general manager Ned Colletti, a list that includes Seager, Bellinger, Verdugo, Urias, Kershaw, Justin Turner, Joc Pederson, Hyun-Jin Ryu and Ross Stripling.

Friedman replaced Colletti in the fall of 2014, taking over a roster that failed to advance past the Division Series despite spending at least $30 million more than any other team. Since then, the Dodgers have made their mark mostly with shrewd value additions (Chris Taylor, Max Muncy, Enrique Hernandez) and encouraging draft picks (Buehler, Gonsolin, May, Smith, Ruiz).

In his prior job, Friedman made decisions for a Tampa Bay Rays organization that lacked the financial might to sustain mistakes.

He recalled his mindset back then, and how it still applies.

"There were a lot of instances where I was rooting for the Yankees and Red Sox to sign a player to a long-term contract for a lot of money and tying up their flexibility and putting themselves in a position where they could fall off a cliff and have to rebuild some," Friedman said. "And we've seen it with large-revenue teams over the last five, seven, 10 years that have had a good run of success, and then have kind of fallen off the cliff and had to rebuild.

"We're trying to thread the needle of being as strong as we can be in 2019 while not turning a blind eye to future years. Which, as much as our fans want to win now, and so do we, when we get to the year 2022, our fans will be happier with the decisions that we've made."

Nottinghamshire 324 for 5 (Clarke 109*, Slater 76) v Yorkshire

Joe Clarke has wasted no time in suggesting that his move to Nottinghamshire could quicken his move to cricketing adulthood. There will have been few classier Championship debuts for the county than this, Yorkshire decidely put in their place as Clarke made an unbeaten 109 with barely a hair out of place. England are not short of No. 4s, in fact there are times when the entire team seems to be full of them, but they will be keeping a watchful eye.

Clarke joined Nottinghamshire on a four-year deal in September only a week after sharing in Worcestershire's first Twenty20 trophy win at Edgbaston. It is just the winter that was less palatable.

His polish was all the more remarkable considering that more off-field publicity lies in wait. The retrial of his former Worcestershire team-mate Alex Hepburn on two charges of rape begins at Worcester Crown Court on Monday - the final day of this match - after a jury deliberated for nine hours in January without reaching a verdict.

Clarke, who was not on trial, was in the room at the time, and was accepted to have had consensual sex with the woman involved. But the fallout led to his omission from an England Lions tour (along with Tom Kohler-Cadmore, who is also playing in this game) as the ECB sought to guard the game's standing. The PCA has devised workshops for county professionals to deal with the whole issue of sexual consent.

He will be desperate to move the attention back to cricket and innings like this will ensure that one day he will - and eventually to cricket at the highest level, because he batted with great poise against a Yorkshire attack that had taken first use of a slow, well-behaved surface in the hope of a much better day.

England's batting issues might surround the top order but do not entirely dismiss the chance of him being an Ashes bolter.

"To do score a hundred on the first day, first game of the season, it has been an amazing start," he said. "Everyone knows for me personally it's been a tough second half of the winter. It's made me grow as a person. I've learned a lot about myself. Hopefully it's made me a better character. I'm more determined than ever to let my cricket do the taking."

At 22, a fresh start gives him the opportunity to display a new maturity. Many have made the move to Nottinghamshire from a smaller county and, among the regular procession of batsmen who have made the journey, not all have adjusted to one of the most demanding examinations in the country. It is a bigger world: an international stadium, the presence of more international stars, the professionalism of everything around him. It is unlikely to overawe Clarke; he has too much talent for that.

James Taylor, the England selector, who was on hand to watch Clarke on the opening day, was one who did make the transition, from Leicestershire. Taylor's own career was ended in the cruellest fashion. Clarke, with so much before him, now needs to play like he means it. His strokeplay has brought purrs of admiration from the outset. This was one of the days when everything came together in a grown-up innings.

At such a crucial time in his career, the everyday presence of Peter Moores, Nottinghamshire's former England coach, will be a boon. Moores can help kick on the career not just of Clarke, but also of Ben Duckett, two years older, who has already had a taste of England life but who must restate his potential.

Duckett, who warmed up for the season with 216 against Cambridge MCCU, also began in promising fashion here, reaching 43 before he mistimed a languid pull at Steve Patterson. There were solid runs, too, for Ben Slater, another recent signing for Notts, who are never short of buying ambitions: the sort of county who would take a basket into Tesco and have to abandon it halfway round the store and shift to a barrow instead.

It was a tough day for Yorkshire. Duanne Olivier took two wickets on his Championship debut - Slater caught at the wicket, hooking, for 76 and Steven Mullaney, who edged a back-foot force to second slip.

Clarke raised his 50 with a perfectly-balanced cover drive off Olivier before late in the day securing his hundred by clipping Matthew Waite through the leg side. For Yorkshire, it was a humdrum start to the season, one in which England's Test captain, Joe Root, delivered a mix of offspin and legspin in his 12 overs. For Clarke it was a day to lift his head and look at the horizon again.

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Somerset v Kent - No play on Friday

"Do you want a detailed analysis of the day's play?" Matt Renshaw may have spent little of his adult life in England but he has a pleasing line in dry humour, and such an approach is well suited to the life of a county cricketer in an English spring. Hoping for the best but relying on nowt remains a sensible way of dealing with a climate that offers 69F temperatures in February and snow in early April.

But it is when umpires inspect conditions during a heavy shower that one knows the day's end is near. No amount of optimism can prevail against the rain that fell on Taunton during Friday morning. The wicket and square were fully covered by the scheduled start of play and the decision of umpires Rob Bailey and Richard Illingworth to abandon play in the early afternoon was, in its way, merciful.

Thus Renshaw's first day as a Kent cricketer ended with him doing little more than eating lunch. It was the gentlest of starts to a season that may yet end with him playing in the Ashes. And it was also in particular contrast to his experience a year ago when he decorated the first few hours of Somerset's competitive season with a century against Worcestershire. That was the first of three hundreds Renshaw was to make in six Championship matches but now he is back sporting Kent's colours and keen as ever to face all that English pitches and Division One seamers can throw at him.

"I've never played against a side I've previously played for and it's a bit weird coming back here, to a small town where I know so many people," he said. "But I thought it would be really good to have a couple of months over here in April and May when it's really testing for us batters. English county cricket is great. It's a different challenge to what we have in Australia and it's excellent to understand the differences between county and Sheffield Shield cricket."

The speed at which Renshaw understood such matters a year ago put him in the fast stream among current overseas cricketers. His 513 runs at an average of 51.3, plus his wholehearted commitment to his county's fortunes, made him an attractive proposition for Kent's officials when they were casting around for a batsman who could plug the holes created by the absence of both Joe Denly and Sam Billings.

"I just tried to keep it really simple last year," he said. "It was seaming about but I really enjoyed it and I think that's why I scored some runs. I played against Kent in the Royal London Cup but I gave my new team a few tips about the younger Somerset batsmen at the analysis meeting this week."

But for all that the Ashes are nearly a third of the year away Renshaw has to field questions about the series which begins at Edgbaston on August 1. It is over a year since he last played a Test match but he knows runs this spring will strengthen the argument he should be recalled.

"The Ashes is big but it's still probably four months away," he said. "I couldn't tell you exactly how long but it feels like ages. I've got a few mates who have already booked tickets but I'm trying not to think about it too much. Obviously there is that carrot dangling in the distance but I know that I bat well when I'm relaxed and not worrying about the next ball. If I try too hard then I probably won't be on that plane.

"It'll come up quick and if I'm there, I'm there. If I'm not, I may try and get back to Kent depending on what they want. I'm really looking forward to playing for the county for a couple of months because Canterbury is a really nice place to play your cricket."

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North Carolina's Hall of Fame women's basketball coach Sylvia Hatchell is under investigation over allegations that she made racially offensive remarks -- including telling her players they would get "hanged from trees with nooses" if they didn't improve -- and tried to force players to compete through serious injuries, according to a report on Thursday in The Washington Post.

The report cites interviews with seven people with knowledge of the investigation, including six parents of current players.

North Carolina has placed Hatchell and her three assistants on paid administrative leave and is reviewing the program, saying in a statement on Monday that the review is "due to issues raised by student-athletes and others."

In a phone interview with The Post on Thursday, Hatchell's attorney, Wade Smith, said the racially offensive remarks attributed to Hatchell by parents are incorrect and misconstrued.

"She said, 'They're going to take a rope and string us up, and hang us out to dry,'" Smith said.

"There is not a racist bone in her body. ... A very high percentage of the people who have played for her and who love her are African-American women. She is a terrific coach and a truly world-class human being."

Hatchell released a statement on Monday saying she will cooperate fully with the review.

"I've had the privilege of coaching more than 200 young women during my 44 years in basketball," Hatchell said. "My goal has always been to help them become the very best people they can be, on the basketball court and in life.

"I love each and every one of the players I've coached and would do anything to encourage and support them. They are like family to me. I love them all."

North Carolina said in a statement on Thursday it would have no further comment until the review is completed.

Hatchell, a 2013 Hall of Fame inductee, is the winningest women's basketball coach in Atlantic Coast Conference history. She has a career record of 1,023-405 and is 751-325 in 33 years at UNC with a national title in 1994.

She was diagnosed with leukemia in 2013, underwent chemotherapy through March 2014 and returned the following season to lead the Tar Heels to a 26-9 finish. The program also spent several seasons under the shadow of the school's multiyear NCAA academic case dealing with irregular courses featuring significant athlete enrollments across numerous sports, a case that reached a no-penalty conclusion in October 2017.

Hatchell received a contract extension in September 2016 that runs through the end of next season.

North Carolina went 18-15 this season with upsets of top-10 teams NC State and Notre Dame. The Tar Heels lost to Cal in the first round of the NCAA tournament, their first trip there since 2015.

Andrew Calder, the program's associate head coach who was in charge while Hatchell fought leukemia, has been at the school for 33 years. Her other assistants are Sylvia Crawley, a former Tar Heels player and former head coach at Boston College; and recruiting coordinator Bett Shelby.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The Cleveland Browns have agreed to terms with veteran safety Morgan Burnett, the team announced Friday.

A source told ESPN's Josina Anderson that the deal is expected to be for two years.

Burnett will compete with recently acquired Eric Murray to fill a need at safety following the trade of Jabrill Peppers in the Odell Beckham Jr. deal.

The Browns also went to the Alliance of American Football for quarterback depth, agreeing with Garrett Gilbert, the team said. The AAF, a developmental league, suspended all operations Tuesday.

Gilbert is an interesting signing given the quirky nature of the AAF. At a minimum he provides a needed third arm in OTAs and minicamp, and at best he might compete with Drew Stanton to be the backup to Baker Mayfield. Gilbert and Mayfield both attended Lake Travis High School in Austin, Texas.

The Browns had taken the position that Stanton would be a capable backup; Gilbert provides an option, if he works out. In eight games for Steve Spurrier's pass-happy offense in the AAF, Gilbert threw for 1,842 yards with 11 touchdowns. Orlando went 7-1 in his starts.

Gilbert's NFL career was not as successful. He was a 2014 sixth-round pick of the then-St. Louis Rams and spent time with New England, Detroit, Oakland and Carolina, where he played in one game before being released.

Burnett became a free agent when the Pittsburgh Steelers released him Monday, at his agent's request.

Last year the Steelers signed Burnett, who turned 30 in January, to a three-year, $14.25 million contract that included a $4.25 million signing bonus. Burnett played eight seasons for the Green Bay Packers before hitting free agency.

He missed four of the first six games of the 2018 season due to injury, and the Steelers started rookie Terrell Edmunds in his absence.

Burnett recorded 30 tackles and six pass deflections in a sub-package role over 11 games. Edmunds and third-year player Sean Davis occupied both starting safety spots for the season.

Burnett told NFL Network in the offseason that he wanted to be released because he wants to play safety instead of dime linebacker. The Steelers signed free agent Mark Barron as a starting linebacker who can also play Burnett's role in the dime package.

Burnett started all 102 games he played in for the Packers and had 9 interceptions, 44 passes defensed, 7.5 sacks and 717 tackles during his time in Green Bay.

ESPN's Jeremy Fowler contributed to this report.

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Cardinals quarterback Josh Rosen is expected to report for the start of the team's offseason program Monday despite rampant trade speculation, sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter on Friday.

With less than three weeks until the NFL draft, the Cardinals have yet to engage in trade talks involving the 2018 first-round pick, sources told Schefter.

There's widespread belief the Cardinals will draft Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray with the first overall pick on April 25.

There was precedent had Rosen decided not to report. Defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah didn't report Monday for the start of the Cleveland Browns' offseason program amid reports he was about to get traded; Ogbah was indeed traded to the Kansas City Chiefs later in the day.

However, despite reported interest from a number of teams, the Cardinals have yet to make Rosen available via trade.

Rosen was drafted 10th overall last year and was inserted in the starting lineup by Week 4. The Cardinals finished 3-13 after a turbulent season that saw two offensive coordinators. Head coach Steve Wilks was fired after the season and replaced by former Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury.

Kingsbury recruited Murray to Texas A&M when he was the Aggies' offensive coordinator, fueling speculation Arizona will choose the Heisman Trophy winner with the top pick later this month.