UConn capped its season at No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 women's basketball poll on Monday, one day after winning its 12th national championship.

The Huskies received all 31 votes from a national media panel after Geno Auriemma's team beat South Carolina 82-59 for the title. The Gamecocks, who started the season at No. 1, were the unanimous second choice.

A record five teams held the No. 1 spot in the AP Top 25 this year. South Carolina, UCLA, Notre Dame and Texas also all were first at some point this season. No. 3 UCLA and No. 4 Texas both made the Final Four while USC finished fifth.

It was UConn's first time at No. 1 since the team finished the 2021 season that way. It's also the 17th time overall that the Huskies have ended in the top spot. This year ended the longest drought for the Huskies not to close the season at No. 1 since they went five years in a row from 2003 to 2008.

TCU, Duke, LSU, NC State Wolfpack and Notre Dame rounded out the top 10.

It's the second year that the AP released a final poll after the NCAA title game. In the past, the last Top 25 vote was released the day after the NCAA selection show.

Rising Terrapins

Maryland made one of the biggest jump in the poll after almost knocking off South Carolina in the Sweet 16. The Terrapins climbed to 12th from 18th.

On the way up

Ole Miss climbed eight places to 17th after reaching the Sweet 16, where the Rebels lost to UCLA. It's the first time that the team has been in the final poll since they were ranked 24th in 1996.

Conference breakdown

The Southeastern Conference ended the season with eight ranked teams. The ACC, Big Ten and Big 12 each have five while the Big East and Summit League each have one.

SAN ANTONIO -- It would be an oversimplification to say that Florida is college basketball's version of Moneyball while Houston runs the sport's version of the Oklahoma drill in practice. The Cougars also use analytics, and the Gators were rugged enough to wear down Auburn's Johni Broome.

But with the 69-year-old Kelvin Sampson slated to become the oldest coach to win a Division I men's basketball title if Houston wins, and the 39-year-old Todd Golden poised to become the youngest coach since Jim Valvano in 1983 to do it if Florida prevails, the men's NCAA championship matchup features a contrast of styles and philosophies from different eras.

"We're an elite offensive team, a top-10 defensive team," Golden said in San Antonio on Sunday. "[Houston is] a top-10 offensive team and elite defensive team. I think it's going to be a contrasting battle that way."

All of this is best captured through each team's defining players.

On one side is Florida's silky guard Walter Clayton Jr., who's an embodiment of the transfer portal era. He committed to the Gators after an Easter Sunday dinner in 2023 with Golden at Sergio's, an Italian restaurant in Westchester County known for its crab legs and vodka penne, that Clayton had unexpectedly invited St. John's assistant Steve Masiello to join. Masiello was also in the process of recruiting Clayton to follow Rick Pitino after playing his first two seasons for the legendary coach at Iona.

On the other is Houston's low-post force J'Wan Roberts, who is in his sixth year with the program after committing to the Cougars before the transfer portal even launched. He has played for Sampson long enough that he shared the court with Quentin Grimes, now in his fourth NBA season.

And both stars have thrived in their respective programs as a result of the fundamentals their head coaches emphasize.

The toughest part of stopping Florida starts with attempting to slow Clayton down. The 2022-23 MAAC Player of the Year has been the best overall player in this NCAA tournament. He scored 34 points against Auburn in Saturday's Final Four, including a flurry of hesitation drives to the basket that the Tigers staff admitted were guarded about as well as they could be -- Clayton simply executed high degree-of-difficult finishes.

His step-back 3 against Texas Tech in the Elite Eight looms as the most daring and important shot of Florida's run in this tournament, tying the game up in the final two minutes after the Gators erased a 10-point deficit.

Clayton has blossomed as Florida's full-time point guard after shifting over off-guard to start this season, earning the program's first-ever first-team All-America honors. On a team that Golden has built with quality depth, high-end shooting and a deep and rugged frontcourt, Clayton has emerged as a fearless maestro.

He looks back at that awkward dinner with Golden and Masiello, and laughs: "They thought they were going to have a recruiting battle in the middle of the restaurant."

Instead, he returned to his home state drama-free, leading the Gators to their first national title game since 2007. Florida pitched a Jalen Brunson-type presence for the program. Clayton likes the comp even though Brunson isn't his favorite player on NBA 2K because "they got him too small," making him susceptible to bigger defenses.

Clayton also said he has developed thanks to learning from Golden's analytics-forward approach.

"It just kind of gives like a different viewpoint of the game -- of what's a good shot, what's a bad shot, what percentage of the shots are we getting back," he said. "It kind of gave me a different viewpoint coming here."

Florida's roster is a blend of portal, high school and international recruiting. Houston's isn't much different -- the Cougars do have key portal additions in L.J. Cryer and Milos Uzan. But Sampson is defiant that the guts of the program remain old-school.

The growth of players like Roberts, from a skinny rebounder to hounding Cooper Flagg into missing the critical shot in the Final Four, remains Sampson's preferred method of team-building.

Roberts hit the two critical free throws that ultimately secured the comeback win over Duke on Saturday, willing home both ends of a one-and-one. With 19 seconds on the clock, Houston assistants watched with arms linked on the bench. After the first shot rattled home, Quannas White moved toward the court to make a coaching point, quickly pulled back to the arm lock as Roberts line-drove in the second free throw.

Roberts had shot 150 free throws a day since the summer to prepare for the moment. He summed up the prevailing vibe of what drives the Houston program this way: "I feel like you never want to let him down," he said of Sampson, adding the fear of what practice is like after a loss proves a significant motivator.

Sampson has certainly evolved to thrive in this era, but he hasn't changed aspects fundamental to building his program.

"Well, everybody sits around and ponders [which players are] coming back," he said. "We always know who is coming back. So we don't really relate to people that don't know. And so when we bring in new guys -- we have three really good freshmen coming in -- they're going to have to learn how to be Cougar basketball players.

"Our players aren't going to ask them their opinion on many things. This is the way we do it here."

The hirings of Sampson and Golden are reflective of their different paths to the cusp of the title, and the eras they come from.

Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin traveled to Indianapolis in March of 2022 to meet Golden, then the coach at San Francisco, before the Dons' first-round game against Murray State in that year's NCAA tournament. The sides met in person for the first time at the Le Meridien hotel in Indianapolis, directly next to St. Elmo's, in a meeting room named after counterculture actor Steve McQueen. It was a fitting setting, as Stricklin sought a different type of thinker for the sport's changing landscape.

In identifying Golden, who had yet to win an NCAA tournament game, Stricklin foresaw the end of the era of teams simply stockpiling talent. "Understanding how the pieces all fit together and having an analytical [view], I think that helps you in this day and age," Stricklin said.

What separated Golden was both understanding analytics and having a detailed plan on how to use them in the modern game. Stricklin wanted to be where the puck was headed. "So I thought at the time we hired Todd, this was where everything was going," he said. "So we tried to get there, and I had a lot of people questioning why we didn't go hire a quote 'established coach.'"

Back in 2014, then-Houston athletic director Mack Rhoades faced a much different set of hiring circumstances when he brought in Sampson. Fresh off a five-year show-cause penalty stemming from NCAA violations at Indiana, Sampson worked nearby as an assistant for the Houston Rockets.

Houston had just finished its first year in the American Athletic Conference, and hadn't been in the NCAA tournament all four seasons of James Dickey's tenure.

"We both needed each other," Rhoades said of Sampson by phone on Sunday. "We needed someone that could resurrect the program. And he needed a second chance."

Rhoades recalled Sampson's intentionality in the interview, a clear vision of non-negotiables. They'll play harder than the opponent. Players will go to class. They'll be coached hard. Family will be at the forefront. Rhoades chuckled when recalling that Sampson said parents could call about anything like academics or character, just not playing time.

Sampson wanted a chance to refurbish his reputation. Rhoades recalled Sampson telling him: "You know what comes up when you Google my name right now?"

Rhoades added: "He wanted to change that legacy for his family."

Upon being hired at Houston, Sampson's former athletic director at Oklahoma, Joe Castiglione, sent him an unconventional congratulatory gift: a ladder for his office. The ladder was an appreciation of prior championships and a symbol there were more to come.

The ladder has been used plenty, as Houston has reached two Final Fours under Sampson and has the country's longest active streak of Sweet 16 appearances with six straight.

On Monday, the program built on old-school grit will clash with a team built on designs of staying ahead in a new era. But the gritty team will still use analytics, and the analytics-driven team will still hang tough.

They will play to cut down the nets for either the oldest coach in the history of the sport to win the title, or for one of the youngest trying to establish himself as a face of the next generation.

Styles make fights, and Monday offers a compelling contrast.

And then there were two.

Florida and Houston were strong during the regular season. Both dominated their conference tournaments. Both are 1-seeds. And both defeated tough opponents to reach Monday's championship game in San Antonio.

Now, everything is on the line in the March Madness finale (8:50 p.m. ET on CBS).

The Gators are looking for their first national championship since their back-to-back titles in 2006 and 2007 with Billy Donovan, while the Cougars are seeking their first in program history.

For a final time this season, Myron Medcalf and Jeff Borzello break down each team and pick which will cut down the nets.

Jump to:
Florida | Houston | Predictions

Florida Gators

How Florida reached the Final Four:

• Round of 64: def. No. 16 Norfolk State 95-69

• Round of 32: def. No. 8 UConn 77-75

• Sweet 16: def. No. 4 Maryland 87-71

• Elite Eight: def. No. 3 Texas Tech 84-79

• Final Four: def. No. 1 Auburn 79-73

How can the Gators contend with Houston's physicality? This has been the primary question for every Houston opponent for the past 11 years. Kelvin Sampson's Houston teams have finished top-15 in adjusted defensive efficiency in seven of the past eight seasons, which means Florida's bigs will have to be relentless in rebounding, attacking the paint and playing exceptional interior defense. Houston outscored Duke 19-12 on second-chance points Saturday, and the Gators will have to close that gap to win.

But this game is also about endurance. The Blue Devils were exhausted by the end of Saturday night -- a byproduct of a grueling, 40-minute game against Houston. Florida needs its big men to avoid foul trouble, challenge the Cougars around the rim on offense and defense and have the stamina to play an intense pace for two halves. It's a daunting task that only one team has achieved since Nov. 30 against Houston.

Who must step up for Florida? Will Richard. The list of standout guards Houston has held to shaky offensive performances in March is long: Robert Wright III (Baylor), Julian Hammond III (Colorado), Egor Demin (BYU), Braden Smith (Purdue), Zakai Zeigler (Tennessee) and Tyrese Proctor (Duke). Walter Clayton Jr. could be added to that group Monday.

But the Gators are not a one-man show. Richard is the only member of Florida's starting backcourt who has had three single-digit efforts over the past five games. The 6-foot-4 senior made 38% of his shots from beyond the arc in league play but was 0-for-5 from the 3-point line in his previous two games. That all has to change Monday night. Duke and its three projected lottery picks and the national player of the year needed more help against Houston, even after it had a 14-point lead. Richard will have to contribute.

The Gators' potential fatal flaw: Giving opponents too many opportunities at the free throw line. Florida was a top-25 defensive team over the final month of the season. It's a key element of its comebacks throughout the NCAA tournament. But the Gators also have committed too many fouls recently. Nine of their past 11 opponents had at least 22 free throw attempts. Houston benefited Saturday night from a couple of costly fouls by Duke, making four crucial free throws in the final seconds. That could happen again Monday night if the Gators put the Cougars on the free throw line too often.

Florida will win if ... Walter Clayton Jr. scores 25 points or more. Because of the way Florida plays and how much it relies on Clayton as a ball handler, the Gators will only go as far as he takes them. When he is a potent scorer and playmaker, opponents are forced to double him, creating more opportunities for his teammates. The Gators will face the best defense in America and although they've overcome nearly impossible odds in the NCAA tournament, Houston's Saturday night comeback over Duke was almost unprecedented. If Clayton gets hot Monday night, it will likely mean the Gators -- ranked second in the nation in adjusted offensive efficiency -- are rolling and have found the holes in that vaunted Houston defense. If he struggles, it will complicate everything Florida wants to do against Houston, especially if the Gators have another second-half deficit standing between them and their title dreams. -- Myron Medcalf

Houston Cougars

How Houston reached the Final Four:

• Round of 64: def. No. 16 SIU Edwardsville 78-40

• Round of 32: def. No. 8 Gonzaga 81-76

• Sweet 16: def. No. 4 Purdue 62-60

• Elite Eight: def. No. 2 Tennessee 69-50

• Final Four: def. No. 1 Duke 70-67

How can the Cougars contain Walter Clayton Jr.? If anyone's going to slow down Walter Clayton Jr., it will be the best defense in college. Houston is incredibly physical, both on and off the ball, and doesn't make anything easy for opponents. The Cougars will likely look to deny Clayton easy catches in rhythm and make sure he doesn't get clean looks.

But Clayton didn't have a ton of clean looks against Texas Tech or Auburn and still put up historically good performances. One area to watch will be the 3-point line. Houston has a strong 3-point defense, but it allows 3-point shots. That's not a recipe for stopping Clayton.

Who must step up for Houston? This is another potentially massive game for J'Wan Roberts. He should enter with plenty of confidence after making the biggest plays in the final seconds against Duke: boxing out Cooper Flagg to draw the foul, making two free throws, and contesting Flagg's potential game-winning shot. He was inconsistent over the past month or so and also missed two games because of an ankle injury.

He'll have to be at his best against Florida and its elite frontcourt. That means being active and aggressive on the offensive glass and staying out of foul trouble at the other end of the floor. The Gators have size and depth to throw at Houston on Monday night, and Roberts has to stay on the floor.

The Cougars' potential flaw: Houston doesn't have many weaknesses. But two areas to watch will be the free throw line, and whether the Cougars can avoid the offensive droughts that nearly dug them too big a hole against Duke. Houston was 12th out of 16 Big 12 teams in defensive free throw rate and 14th in offensive free throw rate. The Cougars averaged fewer free throw attempts per game than their opponents.

Florida isn't good at getting to the free throw line -- and is even worse at making those shots -- but if the officials aren't letting Houston be physical and players such as Clayton and Will Richard and Thomas Haugh are getting to the line, that's bad news for the Cougars.

Meanwhile, L.J. Cryer single-handedly kept Houston within striking distance Saturday, hitting multiple 3s against the Blue Devils -- but didn't get much help from his teammates until late in the second half. It's hard to see that working again.

Houston will win if ... It wins the war on the backboards and limits Clayton. Fortunately for the Cougars, both are in the wheelhouse of a Kelvin Sampson-coached team. The Cougars are one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the country -- it's a big spot for Roberts and Joseph Tugler -- ranking 10th in offensive rebounding percentage and the top 20 in second-chance points per game. (Though Florida is huge and even better at offensive rebounding, statistically.)

At the other end, Houston's guards will have to stick to their principles against Clayton. Auburn had some early success blitzing him on ball screens and forcing the ball out of his hands, but as the game wore on, he consistently got to his left hand and into a rhythm. Houston will likely have the same ideas, going over ball screens, hard-hedging, blitzing to get the ball out of Clayton's hands and making sure he doesn't get a clean look. -- Jeff Borzello

Florida vs. Houston predictions

Jeff Borzello: Houston wins, 67-65
Myron Medcalf: Houston, 70-67

Portland Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin has agreed to a multiyear contract extension with the franchise, sources told ESPN on Monday.

The Blazers have 35 victories this season -- a 14-win improvement over last season, so far. They are 22-16 since Jan. 19 with a top-5 ranking in defensive efficiency during that span, according to ESPN Research.

The Blazers have been building around a mix of veterans such as Anfernee Simons, Deni Avdija, Jerami Grant and Deandre Ayton along with young talent in Shaedon Sharpe, Scoot Henderson, Toumani Camara and Donovan Clingan.

Portland nailed the trade for Avdija, who has averaged 24.9 points, 10.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists since the beginning of March.

Cronin was promoted to general manager in May 2022, getting a four-year deal at the time to replace Neil Olshey. Cronin, who was promoted to assistant GM in 2021, has spent more than 19 years with the Blazers organization, beginning as an intern and moving up through four leadership regimes.

MILWAUKEE -- Right-handed pitcher Quinn Priester is going from Boston to the Milwaukee Brewers in a trade that sends the Red Sox outfield prospect Yophery Rodriguez, a competitive balance selection in the upcoming draft and a player to be named.

The addition of Priester gives some immediate help to a Brewers pitching staff decimated by injuries. Left-hander Nestor Cortes went on the injured list Sunday with a flexor strain in his throwing elbow, leaving Freddy Peralta as the only healthy pitcher among those projected to be in Milwaukee's five-man rotation this season.

Boston adds a promising 19-year-old to its farm system and gets the 33rd overall pick in this year's amateur draft.

Priester, 24, went 3-6 with a 4.71 ERA while making seven starts in 11 combined appearances with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Red Sox last season. He had 33 strikeouts and 14 walks in 49 innings.

He also went 4-2 with a 4.38 ERA in 16 starts at the Triple-A level. He struck out six, walked nobody and allowed two runs and six hits over four innings in his lone start with Triple-A Worcester this season.

The Pirates selected Priester with the 18th overall pick in the 2019 amateur draft. They traded him to the Red Sox last July for infielder Nick Yorke.

Rodriguez signed with the Brewers out of the Dominican Republic in 2023. He batted .250 with a .343 on-base percentage, seven homers and 60 RBIs in 110 games with Single-A Carolina last season. In three games with Single-A Wisconsin this year, Rodriguez batted .417 with a .462 on-base percentage.

Priester will report directly to the Brewers rather than going to the minors. The Brewers' list of pitchers on the injured list includes Aaron Ashby, Aaron Civale, Robert Gasser, DL Hall, Nick Mears, Tobias Myers and Brandon Woodruff, as well as Cortes. Jose Quintana is working his way into pitching shape after signing a one-year, $4.25 million deal with the Brewers during spring training.

The Brewers made room for Priester on the 40-man roster by designating left-hander Grant Wolfram for assignment.

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump welcomed Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and the reigning champion Los Angeles Dodgers to the White House on Monday to congratulate them for winning the World Series last season.

Trump complimented "the very talented people" who beat the New York Yankees in five games, while also refusing to introduce some Democratic senators at the ceremony because "I just don't particularly like them, so I won't introduce [them]." The event came during a manic Monday for U.S. stocks after Trump doubled down on his tariffs.

Trump singled out several Dodgers for their achievements last season, praising Ohtani for becoming baseball's first 50 home run-50 stolen base player, Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto and NL Championship Series MVP Tommy Edman.

Trump praised Betts for his play -- and took a dig at the Boston Red Sox for trading him to the Dodgers -- and they shook hands at the ceremony.

Betts, the star outfielder at the time for the 2018 champion Boston Red Sox, did not make that team's trip to the White House the next year during Trump's first term. Betts was on the Dodgers when they won the World Series in 2020 and attended the celebration the following year under President Joe Biden.

The 32-year-old Betts is the lone Black player on the Dodgers who returned from last season's World Series team.

"Nobody else in this clubhouse has to go through a decision like this except me," Betts said over the weekend of his decision. "That's what makes it tough. But it is what it is. I'm not trying to make this political by any means at all. All it is is just me being with my team to celebrate something. It's a privilege to get an invitation like this. I just want to be there with them."

Manager Dave Roberts had called the invitation a huge honor that each World Series champion gets to experience. Roberts said deciding to go to the White House was not a formal conversation he and players had.

The trip came almost a month after a Department of Defense webpage describing Brooklyn Dodgers great and civil rights icon Jackie Robinson's military service was restored after it had come down.

That development came after pages honoring a Black Medal of Honor winner and Japanese American service members were taken down -- which the Pentagon said was a mistake -- amid the department's effort to remove content singling out the contributions by women and minority groups, which the Trump administration considers "DEI."

Neither Robinson nor any other previous Dodgers greats were mentioned at the ceremony.

Trump did talk briefly about former New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, whom the former New Yorker called a friend. Trump also poked fun at the late Yankees owner's notorious short-leash with his managers after he congratulated Roberts.

"I think he would have lasted even with George Steinbrenner," Trump said. "You lose two games and you're fired."

Los Angeles Dodgers co-owner Mark Walter and pitcher Clayton Kershaw gave brief remarks at the White House. Kershaw presented Trump with a Dodgers jersey and No. 47 on the back.

Trump may have tipped his hand that he expected the Dodgers -- who were 9-2 going into Monday night's game at Washington -- to repeat as World Series champs.

"After seeing how successful you've begun the season, I can tell you that you can plan on being back here, I hope you can be back here, next year," Trump said.

The NHL's reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers became the first team to visit Trump in his second term when they were honored during a ceremony in the East Room in early February.

The White House also said recently the NFL's Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles accepted their invitation for April 28.

A week has passed since torpedo bats burst onto the scene as the talk of the 2025 MLB season, and the hitting innovation is still buzzing through the industry.

We asked our MLB reporters to talk to players and coaches to see if they think the bowling pin-shaped bat trend is here to stay, how much it really helps hitters -- and if they believe it should be allowed in the majors.

Here's what those around baseball had to say about the trend taking the sport by storm.

When did you first hear about torpedo bats?

Andrew Benintendi, OF, Chicago White Sox: I had never heard of it. I've used the same bat for nine years so I think I'll stick with that. It's pretty interesting. It makes sense. If it works for a guy, good for him. If it doesn't, stick with what you got.

Robert Van Scoyoc, hitting coach, Los Angeles Dodgers: I've heard about bat fitting. We do bat fitting and all that. I just haven't heard about this specifically. When I first heard about [torpedo bats specifically] was when everyone else kind of knew about it.

Ryan O'Hearn, first baseman, Baltimore Orioles: (Orioles assistant GM and former NASA engineer) Sig Mejdal deserves credit. Sig has been on the torpedo bat for a long time. He's been trying to get guys to experiment with it, use it. He'll send them out, send us everybody. He sent some in the offseason. He sent me the traditional torpedo bat and then he sent me a special model that, based off of my batted ball data, would fit better. He's been all over it. I think I first heard about it in maybe the end of '23 from Sig. And then he made them available. I took BP with it. I was unsure because it does feel a little different. Not in a bad way, just different. I feel like I was hitting balls and kind of feeling the vibrations on the end, which I didn't really like.

Dansby Swanson, SS, Chicago Cubs: This offseason. It's just caught on. People have used it before. It's not that new.

Adam Ottavino, veteran reliever: I noticed last year that there were some guys with different shaped bats. I think [Francisco] Lindor had one. And, honestly, I didn't think too much of it because there's always been a lot of tinkering with bat models since I've been in the big leagues. There's so many bat models. Even like custom handles like big knobs. Some hockey puck knobs. And there's like those triangular knobs. So I didn't really think too much of it. I didn't maybe understand what they were going for.

Nolan Schanuel, 1B, Los Angeles Angels: I heard about it in spring training this year. Chuckie Robinson had a bat. We kind of weren't serious about it, you know? He pulled it out and we were like, "Uh, that's kind of strange." But the science behind it makes total sense. I didn't really think about that from that standpoint at all until the science came up for it and said why it would benefit certain people's swings.

[Robinson] never used it ... I don't know if he had it the year prior, but for some reason he had one. And we were just like, "That's a weird-looking bat." I didn't think anything of it until come Opening Day, you see all these guys swinging it in the regular season.

Martin Maldonado, C, San Diego Padres: I don't know anything about it other than what I read on Twitter.

Have you used a torpedo bat before and if not, are you planning to try it now? If so, how did it feel?

Max Muncy, 3B, Los Angeles Dodgers: It felt good. The swing felt good. But after the Dylan Lee at-bat (in which Muncy struck out in the sixth inning last Wednesday), I felt like the bat was causing me to be a little bit off-plane, a little bit in and out of the zone. My swings felt really, really good tonight but just a little bit off. So the last at-bat I decided just to go back to my regular bat.

Matt Shaw, 3B, Chicago Cubs: I've used it in batting practice. I wasn't a big fan. The weight felt a little heavier. The ball feedback wasn't as good. But we'll see.

Swanson: It's not the perfect product. There are so many nuances involved. I've committed to using it enough to get a good sample size. There is definitely validity in everything, but it just has its media craze right now.

Jed Hoyer, president of baseball operations, Chicago Cubs: I talked to [Swanson] a lot this winter about it. He was very open-minded. It's a process. That's why we wanted to have guys use them in spring training. The more the veteran guys do it, hopefully that has a carry-over effect.

Michael A. Taylor, OF, Chicago White Sox: I would love to try one. I'm sure everyone is trying to order one right now. It's interesting. I'm not too educated on the science behind it, but it seems pretty straightforward. I tried the axe bat then the puck bat so the torpedo bat is the latest thing. I want to try it.

Byron Buxton, OF, Minnesota Twins: I haven't tried it. Not going to try it either. I've been doing perfectly fine with my bats. No point in trying to switch it up now. People blowing up the Yankees about all the homers they hit. Same guys that hit homers are the same guys that hit homers last year. It's not that big of a deal.

O'Hearn: I've used a torpedo bat for one major league at-bat. I struck out. And then I threw it in the trash. Didn't even make contact. I'm weird, man. I just remember guys laughing at me, being like, you're done with it already?

Salvador Perez, catcher, Kansas City Royals: No, but it's interesting. I'm going to talk to Davy (Royals VP of major league team operations Jeff Davenport) about that. Are we going to put in some orders for that bat? I talked to Gary Sanchez yesterday. He used the bat yesterday. The first time that I saw that bat, I grabbed it. Big barrel. I think if it helps, why not? Why not just try it out and see what happens?"

Mark Canha, outfielder, Kansas City Royals: It wasn't anything I was aware of during spring until that half of the first week. I'm using kind of a modified one right now. It's torpedo-esque. It's not as drastic. I didn't even know what I was ordering. Pete Alonso told me to get that model. It's great. And usually he knows a lot. He's really likes stuff like that. So I kind of just trusted him, and it's been working. I like it. But I do like that there's more barrel, a little lower than I'm used to swinging. It feels a little different. It's not as ringy when I get it closer to the label, which I like.

Schanuel: I mostly miss [the ball] on the inner side of the barrel, so if I miss the barrel, I get jammed the most. If I were to get a torpedo bat ... I think it would help me out a lot, especially my bat path and seeing the ball deep. I'd be more than willing to try it yet.

Nicky Lopez, 2B, Los Angeles Angels: I gave it a little bit of a test run in spring training because that's what everyone was kind of doing. But it takes a little bit of getting used to.

Your whole career you've been using a bat that you know, and you know where the sweet spot is, and it's one kind of length. You have the specifications of it and you kind of feel where that barrel is, and now when you move that barrel down a little bit, you have to refine where that sweet spot is. It takes a little bit to get used to. I used it a little bit in BP and I'm going to continue to use it and just see where it's at.

Nico Hoerner, 2B, Chicago Cubs: I've used it since mid-spring training. Every AB I've taken this year has been with some version of the reverse taper barrel (which is what the Cubs call the torpedo bat). Still in the process of figuring that out, but I like it. It's not something I'm thinking of when I go to the plate. A misconception I've heard is guys are not changing what they do to fit the bat. It's kind of the opposite.

What do you make of the way the topic has blown up across the sport?

Ottavino: I mean, listen, first of all, it's the Yankees and they scored a million runs in the first few games and it's cool to hate the Yankees and it's cool to look for the boogeyman and that's what some people are going to do and can't really stop that. But there's also a lot of misinformation and noneducation on it too.

I was in Boston this spring and there were a bunch of guys using those types of bats over there too. So, they're all over the place. It's not unique to this organization. Maybe it originated in [the Yankees clubhouse], but I mean, there's no secrets in baseball. Everybody's going to be using what they think's going to give them the best result. So I don't really make too much of people complaining about it, honestly.

Schanuel: I think it'll help out, especially to boost offensive performances. I think it's good for MLB itself. Fans would like to see it. Everyone loves homers. Everyone loves when guys get on base. I think it'll help out a lot. I mean it's just exciting talking about it.

Mark Leiter, reliever, New York Yankees: I wouldn't say I'm surprised just because I think there's a level of it's something to talk about in a big market. I mean, just the fact that it's within the rules and stuff, I just think it's more surprising that it took this long for somebody to do this. Just because you know about customizing golf clubs and stuff like that. Like, it makes a lot of sense.

Buxton: Everyone is blowing up the Yankees about all the homers they hit. Same guys you see hit homers, are the same guys that hit homers last year. It's not that big of a deal. It's like when the sweeper came around. We were like, "What's a sweeper?" We had never heard of sweepers. And now we've never heard of torpedo bats and now they pop.

Shaw: The Yankees hitting a bunch of home runs made it blow up. Aaron Judge not using the torpedo bat is funny to me. It blew up with the Yankees, but he doesn't swing it. You can clearly see both sides. They might work, but the old bats work too. The difference might be very small.

Do you think it should be allowed in the sport to use torpedo bats?

Canha: Yes. I do feel like we need all the help we can get. These guys are throwing so hard now. But it's not a cheat code. We'll see how it plays out over a little bigger sample size.

Freddie Freeman, 1B, Los Angeles Dodgers: I do not look down on anybody. If it's legal, you can do whatever you want. I swung the same bat for 16 years. I will not be changing to a torpedo bat. I've swung the same length, ounces, everything. If it works for the guys, go for it. I know some of our guys are getting them, so, we'll see. I will not be swinging them.

Jake Cronenworth, 2B, San Diego Padres: [Torpedo bats] give everyone something to talk about. If any team hit 15 home runs, you'd be like, "What bats are they using? Are they legal?" And they are.

Are torpedo bats a trend based on this week's buzz or something that is here to stay?

Lopez: I think so, yeah. I really do. I think this can be a good thing for a lot of hitters.

Van Scoyoc: I'm sure some guys will try it out. Someone gets hot, then you'll probably see more guys going to it. I think it's good. In pitching they have Trackman. In hitting we do, too. But we don't capture the bat, which is essentially our same equipment. That's why I think hitting is behind -- because they just get more information that's useful a lot faster.

O'Hearn: It's kind of like the axe handle or puck knob. I think just because the Yankees went bananas for two games, it's going to blow up. And I honestly felt bad for Sig when it went crazy because I was like, I don't know if he was the first one on it, but I feel like he's sitting around somewhere, like, 'I wish the Orioles would've done this.'

Freeman: I promise you I have not read a thing about it. I only know there's a torpedo bat and it looks kind of like the barrel's shorter or lower down. That's all I've got. Nor will I read into it. That's just me. I'm not the right guy to ask those kind of questions. I swing the same bat every day.

Muncy: Baseball is not a one-size-fits-all sport, going from socks to batting gloves to shoes to pants. It's not a one size fits all for anyone in this game. So, everyone swings different. Everyone likes their bat different. There's some guys I think it could be a real benefit for, and there's some guys it might be a detriment. I still don't know where I'm at on that scale.

Hoerner: I think [it's a trend]. There was the axe handle. A lot of guys with the Red Sox had success with that. Then in 2021, there was the big puck knob trend. You still see some of those. This is a little different when you're changing where you impact the ball with. The jury is still out. I don't look at that Yankees series and think it would have been a totally different series without the bats. It's about marginal differences over the course of 600 ABs. That really matters.

Hoyer: This isn't the kind of thing, one team did it and everyone copied. There were a number of teams on this. There is a lot of attention because of the size of the market and [the Yankees] scored 20. Guys were hitting in the cage with them last year. Pete [Crow-Armstrong] used it in a game last year in September (he flew out). It's new, but it's not like it started game two last weekend and everyone copied it quickly.

Forwards

Zoe Aldcroft, Lark Atkin-Davies, Sarah Bern, Hannah Botterman, Georgia Brock, Abi Burton, May Campbell, Kelsey Clifford, Amy Cokayne, Maddie Feaunati, Rosie Galligan, Lilli Ives Campion, Sadia Kabeya, Alex Matthews, Maud Muir, Marlie Packer, Simi Pam, Morwenna Talling, Abbie Ward.

Backs

Holly Aitchison, Jess Breach, Abby Dow, Zoe Harrison, Tatyana Heard, Natasha Hunt, Megan Jones, Ellie Kildunne, Claudia MacDonald, Lucy Packer, Helena Rowland, Emily Scarratt, Jade Shekells, Emma Sing, Mia Venner, Ella Wyrwas.