In the time Pollard has played abroad he has helped South Africa win two World Cups.

He was with Montpellier when the Springboks won the title in 2019 by beating England in the final, then was called up during the 2023 tournament - after first proving his fitness with Tigers - to help them retain their crown.

Pollard kicked his nation to victory in the decider against New Zealand, scoring every point in their 12-11 win.

But despite his success at international level, he has gone without a trophy with Tigers so far.

He moved to Leicester after their Premiership title success of 2022, and after reaching the Premiership semi-finals in his first season in the East Midlands they finished eighth last term.

But with two months of the season and his Tigers career left, Leicester are well placed to challenge for league and European silverware.

On Saturday they face Glasgow Warriors in the last 16 of the European Champions Cup.

"I've had the most amazing time abroad. I fell in love with Leicester and it's been an unbelievable experience and I'll miss it one day, for sure," Pollard added, when asked about how he might look back at his time with Tigers.

"But there's still quite a lot to do, isn't there? There's a few big games to play."

Northampton: Ramm; Freeman, Odendaal, Dingwall (capt), Hendy; Smith, Mitchell; Iyogun, Langdon, Davison, Mayanavanua, Coles, Kemeny, Pollock, Augustus.

Replacements: Walker, West, Green, Lockett, Scott-Young, Pearson, James, Hutchinson.

Clermont Auvergne: Newsome; Delguy, Simone, Moala, Raka; Belleau, Bezy; Akhaladze, Massa, Ojovan, Simmons, Ceyte, Sowakula, Tixeront, Lee (capt).

Replacements: Fainga'a, Falgoux, Ala'alatoa, Hemery, Fischer, Bousquet, Urdapilleta, Fouyssac.

Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)

Last year the RFU's Tier 2 Board ran an open tender process to the whole game for any club, college or university to join the Championship - the level below the Premiership - for the 2025-26 season if they could meet the league's minimum operating standards and growth strategy.

Worcester were admitted on a majority decision, but the Tier 2 Board said Wasps and London Irish were not in a position at the end of last year to meet the minimum criteria.

Approval means Worcester will be admitted alongside the winners of the National League 1 division, currently being led by Richmond.

Richmond were the first professional club in England after the game went open in 1995 but when they went bust in 1999, they were relegated to the bottom of the league pyramid and have worked their way up since.

Warriors owner Holland said: "Had we opted to restart at the bottom of the rugby pyramid, as others have before us, the obligation to settle rugby creditors would have been removed.

"After careful consideration we chose to make the application to the new league under the name Worcester Warriors, a club founded in 1871, to preserve its history and legacy.

"As a result, even though we applied as a new non-league entrant, we are required to settle rugby creditors as defined by the RFU Regulation 5. We acknowledge and fully own this process and the responsibility that comes with it.

"We have taken full responsibility for addressing these inherited obligations."

Businessman Holland also owns the intellectual property for Wasps where he was a non-executive director. Should they return to the league structure he would have to relinquish ownership of one club.

It is understood the Warriors, who plan to have a new logo and resurfaced artificial pitch, have been putting people and processes in place in order to be ready for the start of next season in the Championship.

Thursday's announcement comes one week after RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney survived a vote of no confidence at a special general meeting.

The meeting was called in part by vociferous Championship clubs who have been unhappy at funding cuts from the game's organising body in England.

In a statement, Simon Gillham, Tier 2 Board chairman, said there was "still a great deal still to achieve".

He added: "The vision for this league is really ambitious and so much work and collaboration has taken place over nearly two years to establish a path towards a vibrant and self-sustaining competition.

"Today marks a significant step forward with Worcester Warriors returning to professional rugby under new ownership in a heartland for our sport, with the club's new owners having provided a financial security guarantee, held by the RFU, as well as committing to paying off debts left by the previous owners to rugby creditors."

Plans for the Championship's full competition structure are still to be announced.

With no relegation from the Championship into National League 1 this season, it means only two teams, instead of the usual three, will be relegated from National 1.

Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhães will requires surgery on his hamstring injury and will miss the rest of the season as a result, the Premier League club confirmed on Thursday.

Gabriel, 27, was replaced by Jakub Kiwior in the 16th minute of Arsenal's 2-1 win over Fulham on Tuesday with head coach Mikel Arteta admitting he was "worried" about the Brazil international.

"Gabi will undergo a surgical repair procedure to his hamstring in the coming days, and immediately begin his recovery and rehabilitation programme, with the aim to be ready for the start of next season," Arsenal said in a statement.

"Everyone at the club will be fully focused on supporting Gabi to ensure he is back to full fitness as soon as possible."

The centre-back's injury is the latest in a long list of issues suffered by some of Arsenal's key players. Their absences have played a part in scuppering the north London club's hopes of challenging Liverpool for the Premier League title.

Forwards Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus are also missing for the rest of a campaign -- which has also seen Saka, Martin Ødegaard, Ben White and Gabriel Martinelli absent for long periods through injury.

Arsenal face Everton at Goodison Park on Saturday before hosting Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal on April 8.

Spain's sports ministry (CSD) have ruled that Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor can continue to play for Barcelona until the end of the season.

The CSD handed Olmo and Víctor temporary registrations in January while they assessed Barça's appeal against LaLiga and the Spanish Football Federation's (RFEF) decision to revoke the duo's registrations.

LaLiga said not only did Barça miss a Dec. 31 deadline to prove they were compliant with financial regulations, but that they have "never had" the capacity to register Olmo and Víctor within their league-imposed spending limit.

The CSD, however, consider that the players have a "right to work" and have therefore adjudicated that Barça can continue to field them until the end of the campaign.

PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Monday at the NFL's annual league meeting began with the season review session, open to every club and league staffer in attendance, along with their guests. Commissioner Roger Goodell sat in the front row of a ballroom at Palm Beach's opulent Breakers hotel while NFL Network's Steve Wyche interviewed a panel of four Florida grade-schoolers, whose teacher was being honored after going viral for using NFL-inspired lessons in her curriculum.

Wyche asked the kids: What would you suggest to the NFL to make football more fun?

Eleven-year-old Chase, wearing a Ja'Marr Chase jersey to honor the Bengals star receiver and his own name, yelled into the microphone: "More tush pushes!"

The crowd erupted in laughter and cheers, and the Eagles contingent waved to the group. This push sneak-loving fifth grader was not a Philadelphia plant, but he made a strong point in dispelling any notion that this play isn't an entertaining television product.

Despite appearing in just 0.28% of total plays last season, the tush push took up more time in conversation in Tuesday's voting session than the rules proposal that altered the kickoff, a rules change that will affect 28 times more plays than push sneaks. The will they or won't they? surrounding the potential tush push prohibition was the biggest news of the annual league meeting. And it was so pressing that the proposal was the subject of the first question faced by Goodell at his meeting-ending news conference.

The conversation around Green Bay's proposal to institute a 10-yard penalty for immediately pushing the player who takes the snap was so back-and-forth that the proposal ultimately didn't make it to a formal vote and was tabled. Even the word "immediately" within the phrase "immediately at the snap" was a subject of debate.

"It's a layered conversation," said one NFL team source, whose club voted for Green Bay's proposal but also acknowledged that it didn't like that the rule had competitive implications that attacked one team's success -- Philadelphia's.

"If it's a competitive conversation, the Eagles just coach it better than the rest of us," Panthers head coach Dave Canales said. "So I don't want to take away a competitive advantage from the team that figured out how to have the quarterback sneak [be] so effective."

Two sources in Tuesday's voting session said clubs were split, with exactly 16 in favor of Green Bay's proposal, and that the Packers will rewrite the proposal to be broader and prohibit all pushing of the runner ahead of the next league meeting on May 20-21 in Minneapolis, in an effort to entice eight more clubs to vote for it to pass. The May proposal will likely look much different than the original, and it won't be as targeted to Philadelphia and Buffalo -- the only two teams that ran a push sneak more than five times last season.

"We spent so much time on this single play," said a source who was in the room for the sessions. "How many times did the pushing even make a difference last year? Once or twice, and the teams were less successful than they were on traditional sneaks. It was less about competitive edge than it was about health stuff. Why was this specific thing the most interesting?"

The battle over the tush push proposal underscored the importance of the way a rule is presented to earn a three-quarters NFL majority -- and what can happen when the motives behind a proposal are viewed with suspicion.

Player safety became what several sources called the prevailing argument for banning the play, and three sources with three different clubs told ESPN ahead of the vote the lack of injury data became the reason they didn't plan to support the proposal.

One general manager told ESPN Monday that the proposal "feels like sour grapes" because the Packers lost twice to the Eagles in 2024 and the Eagles had become so successful at the play. "They're hiding behind player safety," he said.

And so the debate, and the work, continues.

"Usually, when there's proposals written up, you have people who don't like how they're written," Bills head coach and competition committee member Sean McDermott said. "Every last proposal I've been around. So the hard thing is, hey, why don't you just sit down and write the proposals if you have a better idea? So let's be solution-oriented. "

ESPN PREVIOUSLY REPORTED that during the football operations session with head coaches and general managers, Eagles general manager Howie Roseman, assistant general manager Jon Ferrari and two coaches on the competition committee, McDermott and the Rams' Sean McVay -- both in favor of getting rid of the push sneak -- were seen having a passionate conversation in a side hallway outside of the session.

"Sean [McDermott] and I have talked about this a little bit, just on the competition committee," McVay said. "Some of the pushback is about health and safety risks, and Howie made a great point about the fact that, hey, there's other plays, well, why is that any different than normal sneak, some of the short yardage and goal-line situations? I said, it's a very valid point, and then I did acknowledge the fact that I didn't like the optics [of the play], even though I know I sound like a hater, wanting it out, because you guys [the Eagles] do it better than anybody else. And they were telling me that I was a hater for that."

"You've got two or three passionate guys, coaches that, and in this case, Howie the GM, that are sharing their thoughts," McDermott said. "All three of us are about doing what's best for the game."

Meanwhile, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni was working in concert with Roseman and Ferrari, saying he had been having conversations with "a couple people."

One of those people, Sirianni's former defensive coordinator and current Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon, said, "Nick knows where I stand." Former Eagles offensive coordinator and Saints head coach Kellen Moore, whose push sneak call in Super Bowl LIX might make him the last coach to call the play, said, "I got Nick['s back]. ... Other teams have tried it and haven't had as much success. Jalen [Hurts], the offensive line of Philly, they've been committed to it. And so it's an investment thing."

Colts head coach Shane Steichen, another former Sirianni coordinator, made his loyalty clear: "I'm not in favor of taking it out," he said. "It's been around for a long time, to be completely honest. Because when you're on the half-yard line, backed up and you got to run a QB sneak, people are usually back there pushing. [The Eagles] just brought it to the field of play a couple years ago."

Despite Philadelphia's advocacy in Palm Beach, half of the league was in favor of eliminating the play from the game.

Outgoing Packers president Mark Murphy presented the proposal Tuesday morning, and he told reporters afterward his No. 1 reason was player safety.

The league's chief medical officer, Dr. Allen Sills, made presentations to league staff, the competition committee and coaches and owners on the injury risk of the play at the scouting combine and the league meeting.

"It's all about health and safety," one NFL owner told ESPN. "[Dr. Sills said], 'It's not if but when a catastrophic injury occurs.'"

"If that's the argument, the whole sport is a matter of 'if not when,'" one source in the sessions said. "That rubbed some people the right way, and some people the wrong way. When [Sills] said it at the combine meetings, I don't think it was intended to serve as the water carrier for Green Bay's proposal."

"Sills can speak for himself, but the angle of it and the nature and the makeup of the play really does lend itself [to injury]," Murphy told reporters. "The centers and the people right in the middle of it, you've got that much force on both sides. It is just a question; I think he is right."

Multiple sources told ESPN that Sills presented hypothetical injury data to clubs during sessions this week, based on projected modeling. The NFL declined to comment on Sills' presentation through a league spokesperson.

"Most of [the injury data] is subjective," said Moore, who called the play 39 times last season in Philadelphia. "I feel very comfortable with the league keeping it."

One club executive said he didn't like the play and doesn't think it should be in the game because it's not a football play, but he also didn't agree with the injury risk as the reason to ban it. He argued all pushing of ball carriers in the game should be banned, as it was in a previous iteration of the rulebook.

A source with direct knowledge of the competition committee's thinking said before the voting session Tuesday that clubs had to take the injury conversation seriously. "You can't disregard it," the source said.

"Nobody wants to vote no on it, and then God forbid, something happens."

IN ORDER TO make it to the league meeting agenda, the NFL competition committee discussed the tush push proposal and held an informal vote at its meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, after the combine. Three sources familiar with the competition committee's proceedings said there was support for the proposal within the committee, though not unanimous. (Unanimous competition committee approval isn't required to advance club proposals, but the competition committee will advise clubs not to go forward with proposals that it believes have no legs.) Of the tush push proposal, Murphy confirmed the committee "was pretty strongly in favor of it."

When asked about the proposal ahead of Tuesday's vote, Packers coach Matt LaFleur said he wasn't involved in writing it and cited the reason for the proposal as aesthetics first, and then player safety.

"I don't think it's a great football play," he said. "It's more of a rugby play. And then some of the injury concerns we just want to get out in front of that and be a little bit more proactive than reactive."

In a Q&A for the Packers website published in February, Murphy did not mention injury risk as a reason to eliminate the tush push. Like LaFleur, the former NFL defensive back cited aesthetics.

"There is no skill involved and it is almost an automatic first down on plays of a yard or less," Murphy wrote. He advocated for reverting to the previous version of the rule that prohibited aiding the runner. That rule changed to allow pushing ball carriers in 2005, with then-NFL vice president of officiating Mike Pereira citing difficulty in officiating it as a reason for the switch.

"This would bring back the traditional QB sneak," Murphy wrote. "That worked pretty well for Bart Starr and the Packers in the Ice Bowl."

Another source with direct knowledge of the competition committee's thinking said, ahead of the vote, the proposal as it was written was too specific to a single scenario and team, and it should expand to include any pushing, comparing it to how pushing has not been allowed on field goal blocks since 2013. "A push is a push," the source said. "If it's illegal somewhere, it'll be illegal everywhere."

On Monday, Cowboys executive vice president and competition committee member Stephen Jones also spoke about a motivation to align the rulebook and make all wording about pushing consistent.

That sentiment is why competition committee chairman Rich McKay said the Packers offered to adapt their proposal to be similar to the rulebook language from before the league changed the rule to allow pushing. "Green Bay asked, 'Could we go back and talk about reintroducing the 2004 language, study it, understand it and talk about it again when we get to May?'"

As it happens, the Packers used a version of the push sneak in 2024, utilizing 6-foot-5, 259-pound tight end Tucker Kraft as the ball carrier instead of a quarterback. The play had a 100% conversion rate.

"We changed it with Tucker running it, but we were 5-for-5, so it's not really about one team being successful," Murphy said Tuesday.

LaFleur told reporters Tuesday morning he hadn't been lobbying for support for the proposal, and "whatever happens, happens."

Sirianni spoke about the lack of injury data with the push sneak ahead of the voting session Tuesday morning and made what appeared to be a reference to Murphy's criticism of the play from the Packers' website.

"I know what the data says," Sirianni said ahead of the vote Tuesday. "I know how we coach it. We don't coach a push play any different than we coach a quarterback sneak play. The injury data says what it says and we coach it the exact same whether it's somebody pushing or it's somebody not pushing. I think somebody said something about Bart Starr running the play a long time ago. So that play has been in for a very long time, there's probably enough data on that play to get information."

In Tuesday's session, six sources in the room told ESPN that Bears chairman George McCaskey stood up in favor of the proposal and spoke about the risk, saying that a serious injury was going to happen, and when it did, they would all look back on this vote and remember it.

McCaskey took the floor before Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, who waited his turn to speak. The sources in the room said Lurie defended the play, arguing that it is uncommon, offensive trends come and go, there's no injury data and it's not fair to penalize one team. Then Bills owner Terry Pegula stood up to support the proposal and responded to Lurie's points with a line that some of the sources in the room interpreted as a joke, that Lurie's future Hall of Famer center Jason Kelce retired because of wear and tear from the tush push.

"I believe Jason Kelce has made public comments about, he's glad he's not involved in the play anymore because he felt it was pretty dangerous," Murphy told reporters after the voting session, apparently referencing an interview on the "Steam Room" podcast where Kelce said the play "sucks for a center" and is "grueling."

A source in the voting session said Goodell didn't share his opinion with clubs during the 30- to 40-minute conversation about the tush push proposal. But Murphy said the league was aware of the proposal's details.

"We [including Packers GM Brian Gutekunst and LaFleur] were all involved," Murphy said. "And Matt had to present it to the coaches, but we also worked with the league office."

When asked directly if the league office requested that Green Bay draft the proposal, Murphy said: "I mean, we're always in touch with the league."

In Goodell's April 1 news conference, he said he supports the Packers' plan to broaden the proposal and remove pushing and pulling from the game.

"That makes a lot of sense in many ways because that expands it beyond that single play," Goodell said. "There are a lot of plays where you see people pushing or pulling somebody that are not in the tush push formation that I think do have an increased risk of injury. So I think the committee will look at that and come back in May with some proposals."

ESPN NFL reporters Seth Wickersham, Rob Demovsky and Kevin Seifert contributed to this story

BACK IN 2017, coming off a frustrating season in which his young Minnesota Timberwolves set a modern NBA record by blowing 22 double-digit leads, then-Wolves coach and team president Tom Thibodeau was crystal clear in diagnosing the issue.

"I went through [film of] those games, and it kept coming back to toughness," Thibodeau said during that year's media day. "A lot of what we were doing wasn't tough enough. And this summer we wanted to change that."

One of the quickest ways to increase the team's toughness, Thibodeau suggested, was to infuse more of it into the roster. So despite a slew of teams leaning into the league's load-management strategy to help keep their stars fresh for the postseason, the Wolves did the opposite. They cornered the market on a particular type of player.

"Last year, we had three of the 17 guys in the league who played in all 82 games. And we just added two more, Jamal [Crawford] and Jeff Teague, who played in all 82. So now we have five of the 17," Thibodeau said, clearly proud of what the signings represented. "That's important."

Those pickups didn't even include the additions of Jimmy Butler and Taj Gibson, rugged players who had appeared in all 82 games under Thibodeau once previously during their time with the Chicago Bulls.

Eight years later, with the Knicks, Thibodeau's strategy remains. So has the debate that has followed the 67-year-old throughout his career.

Looking at this season, no team has played its bench less frequently or gotten less scoring production from its bench than the Knicks. And it's been almost 40 years, dating back to the 1986-87 Boston Celtics, since a team that led the NBA in starters' minutes reached the NBA Finals, according to ESPN Research.

The two-time Coach of the Year's worldview concerning how heavily he relies on his best players is a polarizing subject for Knicks fans, even as Thibodeau, who on Tuesday tied Hall of Fame coach Pat Riley for fourth on the team's all-time wins list, has helped shepherd the franchise's most sustained run of success in a quarter century.

Thibodeau, whose 58% win percentage is the highest in NBA history among coaches to never reach the Finals, said he believes championship-caliber clubs need to establish a resolve and "mental discipline" throughout the season. But his demanding, win-at-all-costs mentality raises a key question that could determine his team's ceiling and his future with the organization:

Will the heavy-minutes mindset burn out the Knicks for when they need an extra gear the most?

"I think everybody," Thibodeau said last week, "has to run their own race."

ANY OTHER TEAM, and the comments wouldn't have prompted a second thought.

But in New York -- where, for years, the starters have played far more minutes than any other teams, and where the club's best players have been dinged up come playoff time -- the reflections from Mikal Bridges, who leads the NBA in minutes and hasn't missed a game in his seven-year career, were bound to cause a firestorm.

"Sometimes [it's] not fun on the body," Bridges told reporters in Portland last month. "We've got a good enough team where our bench guys can come in and we don't need to play 48, 47 [minutes]. We've got a lot of good guys on this team that can take away the minutes, which helps the defense, helps the offense, helps tired bodies being out there."

Ironically enough, the storyline simmered down by the end of that night when Bridges -- in his 41st minute -- hit a dramatic, buzzer-beating triple to knock off the Blazers in overtime. Still, it was noteworthy that a Knicks newcomer like Bridges would publicly voice the notion of potential overuse.

Even if other Knicks have avoided being as vocal as Bridges, there's plenty to illustrate the team is an outlier when it comes to how much time its top players spend on the court each game.

When Jalen Brunson badly sprained his ankle in overtime against the Lakers nearly a month ago, the Knicks rostered three of the four highest minute-getters in the NBA: Bridges at No. 1, Josh Hart at No. 2 and Brunson at No. 4. Even after Brunson's extended absence, the team's starting five have logged 885 minutes together, 255 more than the next closest team.

Should Bridges and Hart finish first and second in the league in total minutes played, it would be the third time in Thibodeau's coaching career -- 2016-17 and 2020-21 being the others -- that two of his players led the NBA in minutes. There have been just two other seasons in the league's 79-year history where one team had two players leading the NBA in minutes.

For his part, Thibodeau explained that he views it as necessary to play his wing players for longer minutes because many of the league's best players -- the Celtics' All-Star duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown is a potential second-round matchup -- handle the ball so often, and consistently pose the biggest scoring threat.

"We try to keep them matched up. If you look at the league, all those guys are playing 36, 37 minutes," he said. "[Bridges and Hart] are primary wing defenders. That's the way it works."

Some might point to the fact that the Knicks play at one of the NBA's slowest paces as evidence that the workload isn't as strenuous as the minute totals might suggest. But New York's starters might be exerting themselves much more than it appears.

Brunson, the team's floor general, has possessed the ball a league-high 8.7 minutes per game this season, and leads the NBA in clutch baskets with 47. Hart, New York's most physical player, dives on the floor constantly, and has recovered an NBA-high 80 loose balls this season.

In sliding over to defend ballhandlers, Bridges has been forced to run through 25 screens per game -- a Herculean task, and more than any player in the league's 12-year-old tracking era. Looking at the teams the Knicks could face in the first round of the playoffs, Bridges this season has run 37 miles more than Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton, 41 miles more than Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham and 66 miles more than Milwaukee Bucks guard Damian Lillard, according to NBA tracking data.

That's why games like December's 24-point victory against the Charlotte Hornets stand out.

The Knicks were dominating Charlotte, which was without 25-point-per-game guard LaMelo Ball and 20-point-per-game forward Miles Bridges. Capitalizing on those absences, New York jumped out to a big advantage and never led by fewer than 20 points over the final 25 minutes.

We're just one week into the 2025 MLB season -- and what a ride it has been already.

Torpedo bats are taking baseball by storm. Both the Dodgers and Padres are undefeated, while another National League team with lofty expectations in the Braves are winless to start the season.

We've also seen both great individual performances -- Aaron Judge's three-homer game over the weekend; Mookie Betts' walk-off three-run blast; MacKenzie Gore's 13-strikeout Opening Day performance -- and not so great ones -- Rafael Devers' historic strikeout streak -- across the league.

Is your favorite team off to a dominant start -- and more importantly, will it last? Or are you hoping the first week's returns aren't a glimpse of the future?

Our expert panel has combined to rank every team based on a combination of what we've seen so far and what we already knew going into the 162-game marathon that is a full baseball season. We also asked ESPN MLB experts David Schoenfield, Alden Gonzalez and Buster Olney to weigh in with an observation for all 30 teams.

Preseason rankings

1. Los Angeles Dodgers

Record: 8-0
Previous ranking: 1

The Dodgers have played eight games this season. Either Freddie Freeman or Mookie Betts -- or, in two instances, both -- have been absent for six of them. And yet it hasn't really mattered. The Dodgers' offense has hummed right along.

Betts has found some surprising home run power since sitting out the Japan series because of a debilitating illness that prompted him to shed nearly 20 pounds; Tommy Edman has continued to be a crucial part of the lineup, no matter where he hits; and the likes of Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez, Will Smith and Michael Conforto have shown just how deep this offense can be, even when it is without one or two of its three best players. -- Gonzalez

2. Philadelphia Phillies

Record: 4-1
Previous ranking: 3

Cristopher Sanchez was one of the most talked about pitchers of spring training, as he added even more velocity to a sinker that already had more velocity in 2024 than in 2023. His first start backed up what everyone saw in the Grapefruit League as he gave up one run in 5 innings with seven strikeouts in a no-decision against the Rockies. His sinker averaged 96.5 mph -- up from 94.5 mph in 2024. The sinker isn't going to induce a lot of whiffs, but if Sanchez can improve the batting average against it (.345 last season), he could have a big season in store. -- Schoenfield

3. San Diego Padres

Record: 7-0
Previous ranking: 10

Jackson Merrill, the Padres' 21-year-old budding superstar, signed a nine-year extension Wednesday morning that guarantees him at least $135 million. Later in the day, he crushed his second home run in a 5-2 win over the Guardians, pushing the Padres to a 7-0 start -- the longest season-opening winning streak in franchise history. A continuation of this early surge will hinge largely on their superstars, a list that includes Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr., Xander Bogaerts, Luis Arraez, Dylan Cease and Yu Darvish. But Merrill is squarely in that group, too. -- Gonzalez

4. New York Yankees

Record: 3-2
Previous ranking: 7

To put Judge's start into perspective: At the outset of 2024 -- what turned out to be one of the greatest seasons ever for a right-handed hitter -- it took Judge 19 games to reach 11 RBIs. This season, it took him three games, in what was the best start to any season in his career. Judge began 4-for-6 with three homers against left-handers, and with runners on base, he started 5-for-9 with a walk. A big question coming into this season was how much Judge would be affected by the departure of Juan Soto from the No. 2 spot, and in a very small sample, the initial answer is: not at all. -- Olney

5. Arizona Diamondbacks

Record: 4-2
Previous ranking: 5

Last year, Eugenio Suarez slashed just .196/.279/.312 through the first three months. It wasn't until July that he really got going. His slump coincided with that of Corbin Carroll. The D-backs' offense languished until the pair got going. So if there's one major sign of encouragement that can be gleaned from this first week, it's that Suarez clearly isn't waiting around this year. The D-backs' third baseman has already homered five times and driven in 11 runs while putting up a 1.312 OPS through his first six games. And given the hot starts of the Dodgers, Padres and Giants in the NL West, Suarez's hot start has been crucial. -- Gonzalez

6. Texas Rangers

Record: 5-2
Previous ranking: 8

Jacob deGrom pitched only 10 innings against major league competition in spring training and gave up five runs and two home runs, so nobody knew quite what to expect in his 2025 debut, but he delivered five scoreless innings against the Red Sox, giving up two hits with five strikeouts. Though it wasn't quite vintage deGrom, he averaged 96.7 mph with his four-seamer while relying more on his slider and changeup than he traditionally has (he threw 29 sliders and 11 changeups out of 73 pitches), but it worked. The Red Sox went 1-for-11 with six strikeouts against those two pitches. -- Schoenfield

7. Baltimore Orioles

Record: 3-3
Previous ranking: 6

Baltimore is going to hit, especially once Gunnar Henderson returns to the lineup and joins a rejuvenated Adley Rutschman and the powerful Tyler O'Neill. The barometer all season for the Orioles could be the performance of their starting pitchers, and whether they can limit opponents and also assume enough innings to take pressure off what could be a good bullpen. In the first pass through the rotation this season, Baltimore's starters combined for a 6.26 ERA, which ranks 28th in the majors. Zach Eflin had a good first outing though, giving up two runs over six innings. -- Olney

8 . New York Mets

Record: 3-3
Previous ranking: 4

It has been a rough start for the Mets' offense, which scored only 17 runs in the first five games -- 10 of those coming in one game against the Marlins. Juan Soto's start has been fine, homering in a 3-1 victory over the Astros in the second game of the season. He's also taking his walks, no surprise there. He did strike out to end the season opener, representing the go-ahead run with two runners on base in a 3-1 loss, whiffing on a nasty 3-2 slider from Josh Hader. Mets fans will be ready to give him a loud ovation for the home opener Friday. -- Schoenfield

9. Tampa Bay Rays

Record: 4-2
Previous ranking: 16

Rival managers in the AL East talked up the Rays in spring training, but as always with Tampa Bay, the team operates with a small margin for error, and this is why Shane Baz's first start of the season was such a big deal. At a time when the Rays are without Shane McClanahan because of a triceps injury, Baz -- a former first-round pick -- threw six scoreless innings against the Pirates, striking out 10 without issuing a walk. The first time through Tampa Bay's rotation, every Rays starter threw at least five innings, with the starters giving up only four earned runs in 29 innings. -- Olney

10. Houston Astros

Record: 2-4
Previous ranking: 11

Spencer Arrighetti's first start might be a sign of great things to come. He gave up only one hit and one run in six innings in a win over the Mets. As a rookie last season, Arrighetti struggled in the first half (5.63 ERA, 1.60 WHIP), but the Astros stuck with him, and he came on strong with a 3.18 ERA and 1.17 WHIP over his final 11 starts. His sweeper and curveball were big weapons as a rookie, so the key will be fastball command -- and he had it against the Mets, who went 0-for-10 with three K's against his four-seamer. -- Schoenfield

11. Atlanta Braves

Record: 0-7
Previous ranking: 2

Everyone knew a season-opening road trip to San Diego and Los Angeles was going to be a tough one, especially with no Spencer Strider and no Ronald Acuña Jr., but the Braves stumbled their way to seven losses in a row to begin the season. Their nine runs in the first six games is tied for the fourth-fewest runs scored through a team's first six games in the wild-card era (since 1995). The .137 average was also fourth lowest in that span. Oh, and along the way, Jurickson Profar was suspended for 80 games for a PED violation. -- Schoenfield

12. San Francisco Giants

Record: 5-1
Previous ranking: 22

The Giants, under new direction with Buster Posey, blitzed through spring training with a 21-6 record and drew praise from scouts who noted how sharp they looked. That has carried over into games that matter. Coming off a sweep in Houston, the Giants are 5-1, somehow keeping pace with the Dodgers and Padres in the NL West. A few of their key guys haven't fully clicked yet -- though Heliot Ramos surely has -- but collectively they have an OPS of .941 with runners in scoring position. And their relievers have combined for a 1.74 ERA. -- Gonzalez

13. Boston Red Sox

Record: 2-4
Previous ranking: 9

Devers' struggles in his first full week as a designated hitter are front and center for the Red Sox, which is understandable, given Boston's investment in a star who thought he was the franchise's third baseman. But Devers' play has overshadowed the slow starts of others on the team, including Alex Bregman, who didn't score or drive in a run in his first five games with the Red Sox; Walker Buehler, who gave up four runs and seven hits over 4 innings in his first start; and first baseman Triston Casas, who had one hit (and no extra-base hits) in the first week of the season. -- Olney

14. Chicago Cubs

Record: 5-4
Previous ranking: 16

Justin Steele has acted as a steadying presence in the Cubs' rotation over the past three years, winning 25 games, posting a 3.10 ERA and accumulating 427 innings. But the early part of this season has been a struggle. Through three starts, Steele leads the majors in hits (18), earned runs (12) and homers allowed (five). But that's not entirely fair. He began his season before almost everyone else, on March 18 in Japan. None of his three starts -- against the Dodgers, D-backs and A's -- have been terrible. It's just that none of them have been all that good, either. -- Gonzalez

15. Kansas City Royals

Record: 2-4
Previous ranking: 11

With the team inhabiting a league that has strong lineups like that of the Yankees, Rangers and Orioles, Kansas City's front office worked in the offseason to improve its offense. The Royals added Jonathan India to be their leadoff hitter, and just before the start of the season, traded for right-handed-hitting Mark Canha to help balance what appeared to be a left-handed heavy lineup.

In the first week of the season, the results are mixed: India is getting on base, but Hunter Renfroe, MJ Melendez and others manning the outfield have started slowly. So far, the Royals' outfielders have a wRC+ that ranks in the bottom half of the majors. In a related note: Jac Caglianone, who showed big power in spring training, is starting this season at Double-A. -- Olney

16. Seattle Mariners

Record: 3-4
Previous ranking: 12

The Mariners scored only 15 runs in starting the season 2-4 while hitting .166 and getting five or fewer hits in five of the games. Here's how bad things have been: Of those 15 runs, only two came on a non-home run RBI hit. They had two sacrifice flies, an RBI groundout, a run on an error and nine runs via the home run. The Mariners play 13 of their first 16 games at home, so they better figure it out, but it already looks like 2024, when they just hit .214/.307/.358 at home (only the White Sox had a lower OPS at home). -- Schoenfield

17. Detroit Tigers

Record: 2-4
Previous ranking: 18

With Parker Meadows out indefinitely because of a nerve issue, Matt Vierling on the injured list because of a rotator cuff injury and Gleyber Torres out because of an oblique problem, scoring runs will be a challenge on many days for the Tigers. The emergence of Spencer Torkelson has been a big help early, after Torkelson worked extensively in the offseason on his hitting mechanics. Torkelson had seven hits, including a home run, in his first 18 at-bats, plus five walks. This is a team with an opportunity for standouts to emerge in the everyday lineup, from Manuel Margot to Zach McKinstry. -- Olney

18. Cincinnati Reds

Record: 2-4
Previous ranking: 20

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Elly De La Cruz was a popular MVP pick at the start of the season, and it's already clear why. Through his first six games, we've seen him turn in an impressive sliding catch in foul territory, produce 11 batted balls hit harder than 95 mph, steal two bases and launch four homers -- including two Monday night, while debuting his torpedo bat.

"Elly is really good at baseball," new Reds starting pitcher Brady Singer said afterward. He sure is. And he's just starting to show it. -- Gonzalez

19. St. Louis Cardinals

Record: 4-2
Previous ranking: 25

Nolan Arenado spent all offseason thinking he was probably going to be traded. Then he wasn't. Then he showed up to Busch Stadium on Opening Day wearing a Cardinals uniform, homered in the eighth inning and came out to a curtain call. Since then, Arenado has looked a lot like the guy who generated MVP votes in 2022, not the one who struggled in the two seasons thereafter, slashing .391/.500/.609 while turning in some solid defensive plays. At some point, he'll be elsewhere -- unless the Cardinals surprise us all and keep on winning. -- Gonzalez

20. Toronto Blue Jays

Record: 5-2
Previous ranking: 20

The question of whether the Blue Jays and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. will agree to a long-term deal has dominated Toronto's spring, but shortstop Bo Bichette is in a similar situation as Guerrero: Bichette is eligible for free agency at season's end, and has a ton riding on his 2025 production. So far, so good. Bichette came out of the gate with a league-high nine hits. If Bichette plays well in the first half of the season, he'll have value for the Jays no matter the direction of the team -- if Toronto decides to make trades in July and reload for the future, there would be a market for Bichette (hello, Atlanta?), and if it wants to retain homegrown anchors, it could take a run to sign him to a long-term deal. -- Olney

21. Cleveland Guardians

Record: 2-4
Previous ranking: 19

Cleveland did this offseason what it has had to do so often -- proactively manage its payroll. This is part of the reason why the Guardians shed Andres Gimenez and Myles Straw in separate deals with the Blue Jays, and why they moved Josh Naylor to the Diamondbacks. The trade of Naylor left rival evaluators wondering who, if anyone, would be able to make up for the loss of the first baseman's production. Early on, DH Kyle Manzardo -- acquired from Tampa Bay two seasons ago -- is getting a chance to be that guy. He has done some damage, with four extra-base hits, three walks and three strikeouts to start the season. -- Olney

22. Los Angeles Angels

Record: 4-2
Previous ranking: 27

One of the more interesting Opening Day roster decisions for any team was the Angels promoting reliever Ryan Johnson even though he never pitched in the minor leagues after getting drafted in the second round last year out of Dallas Baptist. Johnson's debut was a disaster, as he gave up five runs and two home runs in the season opener, but in his next two outings he was pressed into service in extra innings and picked up a save and a win. Johnson is a 6-foot-6 right-hander with a funky delivery who dominated as a starter at Dallas Baptist (2.21 ERA, 151 K's in 106 innings). He touched 100 mph in college but has averaged 94.2 mph on his sinker with the Angels, using a cutter that he has thrown 55% of the time as his primary pitch. -- Schoenfield

23. Athletics

Record: 2-5
Previous ranking: 23

The initial returns are Sutter Health Park might be a big test for A's pitchers. After holding the Mariners to eight runs in splitting a four-game series in Seattle, the A's gave up 25 runs in their first two games in their new home park. To be fair, the wind was blowing out in both of the games. But the game-time temperatures were also just 52 and 55 degrees -- much cooler than it will be during the summer.

"I think it's still too early to tell," Brent Rooker said. "There have been guys who have hit some balls good, and it's been windy. We're going to need several more games before we can really tell how it's playing. There's been a lot of offense. Where that credit lies, I'm not really sure." -- Schoenfield

24. Milwaukee Brewers

Record: 2-4
Previous ranking: 15

On Tuesday night, Chad Patrick, Jared Koenig, Abner Uribe, Joel Payamps and Trevor Megill took the mound at American Family Field in Milwaukee and combined to shut out the Royals. It was a welcomed sight. For the previous four games, a Brewers pitching staff that had been severely compromised by injury, with three starting pitchers added to the injured list last month alone, was suffering from a case of whiplash. The pitchers gave up a whopping 45 runs in 33 innings, including 20 in one game against the torpedo-bat-swinging Yankees. Opposing batters compiled 17 home runs against the Brewers. -- Gonzalez

25. Minnesota Twins

Record: 2-4
Previous ranking: 17

The constant refrain around the Twins in recent years has been that the team has potential if it can consistently field Carlos Correa, Byron Buxton and Royce Lewis, a trio of players who've had difficulty staying healthy. Lewis again got hurt late in spring training, pulling a hamstring, and while Correa and Buxton have been on the field, both had a rough first week. The pair combined to go 6-for-42 with three extra-base hits, three RBIs and nine strikeouts -- though went 4-for-8 with a home run and a double in Wednesday's win. Not surprisingly, the Twins are slow out of the starting gate, with two wins in their first six games. -- Olney

26. Miami Marlins

Record: 4-3
Previous ranking: 29

The cardiac Marlins are back. Remember 2023, when they went 33-14 in one-run games, 7-3 in extra-inning games and had nine walk-off wins on their way to a surprising wild-card berth? Well, the Marlins had three walk-off wins in their opening series against Pittsburgh, rallying from a 4-2 deficit in the opener, winning 5-4 in 12 innings and then 3-2. Some shoddy Pirates defense certainly helped, but Kyle Stowers and Dane Myers delivered the walk-off hits with the other winning run coming on a wild pitch. For a team many predicted to lose 100 games, it at least has been a fun start. -- Schoenfield

27. Washington Nationals

Record: 1-5
Previous ranking: 26

The Nationals received two strong performances on their first trip through the rotation. Gore fanned 13 Phillies in a brilliant Opening Day start, giving up only one hit and no runs in six innings. He became just the ninth pitcher with at least 13 strikeouts in a team's first game (Randy Johnson did it twice, both times with 14). But it was not an Opening Day record for a Washington pitcher: Camilo Pascual of the Senators fanned a record 15 in 1960. Mitchell Parker then tossed 6 scoreless innings to beat the Phillies. He's coming off a rookie season in which he went 7-10 with a 4.29 ERA. -- Schoenfield

28. Pittsburgh Pirates

Record: 2-5
Previous ranking: 24

Paul Skenes was profiled alongside his famous girlfriend, Livvy Dunne, in GQ on Wednesday morning, then he went about dominating the Rays, allowing three baserunners and an unearned run in seven innings to bring his ERA to 1.46. The Pirates absorbed the unfortunate news last month that fellow budding ace Jared Jones is nursing a UCL sprain, and though at this point it doesn't seem as if surgery will be required, Jones will be reassessed Friday. Eventually, Skenes, Jones and Bubba Chandler will form a devastating rotation trio. For now, though, the Pirates will settle for employing the "it" pitcher in baseball. -- Gonzalez

29. Chicago White Sox

Record: 2-4
Previous ranking: 30

On the way to making ignominious history, the 2024 White Sox didn't pick up their second win until the 11th game of the season. This year, they split their first four games, an early sign the White Sox are bound to be better. Andrew Benintendi, starting his 10th season on the roster, is among the most experienced White Sox players, and he's off to a good start, with a couple of homers and six hits (.353 average) in his first five games. You'd assume that if anyone called the White Sox looking for outfield help, Chicago would be open to moving Benintendi. But he's owed about $50 million over this season and the two that follow. -- Olney

30. Colorado Rockies

Record: 1-4
Previous ranking: 28

The Rockies' propensity for strange is already showing itself. Case in point: Their starting pitchers have combined for a 1.61 ERA through their first five games, and yet they've won only once. So while German Marquez, Antonio Senzatela, Kyle Freeland and Ryan Feltner have combined to given up only five runs in 28 innings, Colorado's bullpen has fashioned an ERA over 10.00. And its offense has combined for only a .184 batting average. -- Gonzalez