Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on Wednesday said it was a "big relief" that he and the Toronto Blue Jays were finally able to finalize a long-term deal.

"If I tell you that it's not a big relief, I'd be lying to you," Guerrero said Wednesday. "It's always been my goal to be here. And I feel like I accomplished that, and I'm very, very happy to stay here and to be a Blue Jay."

The 14-year, $500 million contract, which starts in 2026, includes a record $325 million signing bonus that protects the money from a possible work stoppage in 2027.

The deal was officially announced Wednesday, and a news conference is scheduled for Monday at the Rogers Centre.

Guerrero agreed in January to a $28.5 million, one-year contract that avoided arbitration, and the four-time All-Star first baseman had said he wouldn't negotiate after he reported to spring training in mid-February. Still, talks with his agent continued well into the regular season.

"It wasn't that hard," Guerrero said of the time that it took to get the deal done. "Like, I would say maybe, I was just trusting the process, every step with my family, my agents, my close ones. I mean, have faith, everything, the outcome was going to be good. So, I mean, trust, I was trusting everything. But thank God, it went well."

He got the third-largest contract in total dollars behind outfielder Juan Soto's $765 million, 15-year contract with the New York Mets that started this season and two-way star Shohei Ohtani's $700 million, 10-year agreement with the Los Angeles Dodgers that began last year and is heavily deferred.

Guerrero's $35.71 million average annual value under the new deal ranks eighth among current contracts.

"I've never seen an organization that's a class organization as a family," Guerrero said. "It's been 10, 11 years that we've been here. I mean, like I say, this is family for me -- the team, the city, the fans, it's family. To tell you the truth, I wasn't really feeling to go elsewhere and meet new people."

He said his own family played a role in his decision.

"That's one of the hardest ones right there -- when your daughter comes to you and asks you 'Daddy, are we going to stay in Toronto?'" Guerrero said. "Knowing that your family really wants to stay in Toronto, that was [the main one]. But all along they really wanted to stay in Toronto and thank God it happened."

A son of Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero, the Blue Jays star would have been a free agent this fall at a relatively young age. The elder Guerrero shared some advice with his son: "To trust God. My dad told me to trust God and to try to get the last penny that I could from the organization."

The younger Guerrero is a .287 career hitter with 160 homers and 511 RBIs. He is batting .255 with no homers and four RBIs in the first 12 games this season.

"Just so powerful for the organization," Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins said. "I think it's monumental for Toronto and the game. A historic deal for what will be a historic player. I think he's just getting started. He's already done tremendous things thus far as an individual, and with this team. He's going to continue to do those things."

Seeking its first World Series title since winning championships in 1992 and 1993, Toronto notably failed to land Ohtani, Soto and Roki Sasaki. The Blue Jays agreed to a $92.5 million, five-year contract with outfielder Anthony Santander; a $15.5 million, one-year contract with right-hander Max Scherzer; and a $33 million, three-year contract with reliever Jeff Hoffman.

"This is a monumental moment in franchise history," Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro said in a statement. "Vlad has been part of our Blue Jays family since he was 16 years old and has captured the heart of our city and country.

"There are very few in the game today that can say they have played for more than two decades with the same team, and we are immensely grateful Blue Jays fans will get to see Vlad finish his career where it all began. The name Vladimir Guerrero Jr. will forever be synonymous with the Toronto Blue Jays."

Toronto shortstop Bo Bichette, a two-time All-Star, remains eligible for free agency after this year's World Series.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

ARLINGTON, Va. -- Alex Ovechkin finished practice by replicating his belly-flop celebration from scoring the record-breaking 895th goal of his NHL career, delighting the 895 schoolchildren and other Washington Capitals fans in attendance.

The previous 45 minutes -- and the next several days -- are about getting back to work.

Ovechkin and the Capitals got back on the ice Wednesday, 72 hours after he broke Wayne Gretzky's record to end the "GR8 Chase" and set in motion several nights of celebrations. They had such a comfortable lead atop their division and the Eastern Conference that the past month has been all about getting Ovechkin the record, but that coincided with a dip in play that can't continue with the playoffs fast approaching.

"Guys, whether they want to admit it or not, and whether I want to admit it and acknowledge it or not, as much as I want to block it out, as much as I want to say, 'No, we're strictly focused on the Winnipeg Jets, the Minnesota Wild,' whatever the opponent was -- it's impossible to block the record and what was going on inside of the games out," coach Spencer Carbery said.

"That's going to be our biggest challenge coming off of such a unique, thrilling experience celebrating that achievement and now having to completely reset mentally and focus on the task at hand of playing well as a team and making sure that we're putting ourselves in the best position possible to play well in the playoffs."

Washington was the league's first team to clinch a playoff berth this season, wrapped up first in the Metropolitan Division with Carolina's loss Tuesday night and is close to shoring up home-ice advantage until at least the Stanley Cup Final.

The Capitals ranked second in the NHL in goals allowed through 64 games, giving up an average of 2.54. Over the past 13, they're 24th at 3.38 a game.

"We just need to be really sharp in our details," defenseman Martin Fehervary said. "I think that's a key: Don't give up too many chances. We obviously can score the goals, but we need to be sharper in our D-zone."

Goaltender Charlie Lindgren, who is shouldering the starting load with Logan Thompson injured, criticized himself for allowing so many goals. But so many of them came because of chaos in front of him, opposing odd-man rushes and a series of other mistakes by the skaters in front of him.

It's not a coincidence they've lost five of their past seven games.

"Our team game slid a little bit," veteran defenseman John Carlson said. "It's a good point of the year where we can refocus ourselves and what we know it's going to take. And whatever you want to say, I'm not blaming it on what we've been through and what we're striving for, too, but I think everybody in here is smart enough to know that we've got to play a better brand of hockey."

Washington has not won a playoff series since hoisting the Cup in 2018, and making a long run this spring is the next goal after 895.

"'O' even said it right after he scored that goal that the big games are still to come this year, and we've got a special group and you don't want to waste years like this when things are going well," defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk said.

"It happened at a perfect time to a perfect guy, and now we have time to kind of refocus. I think our last few games definitely haven't been our best, so it's a nice time to kind of reset, focus and get dialed in before playoffs are here."

After being in the spotlight for an individual achievement, Ovechkin is ready to get back to being team-first and winning.

"All that's happened during the year is one thing, but in the playoffs it's a total different season," Ovechkin said. "It's a total different energy level, pace. So, yeah, I think right now we have five games left and we just have to prepare for that time of year and we have to understand how we have to play."

Having clinched a playoff berth for the first time since 2017 on Tuesday, the Ottawa Senators are considering holding out injured captain Brady Tkachuk for the final four regular-season games.

Tkachuk, 25, has missed the past five games with an upper-body injury suffered on a hit from Pittsburgh defenseman Ryan Graves in the host Penguins' 1-0 overtime victory on March 30.

Senators general manager Steve Staios said Wednesday that Tkachuk might play if the playoffs started Thursday, but he couldn't give a definitive answer.

"[Tkachuk] continues to progress," said Staios, also the team's president of hockey operations. "Now that we've clinched a playoff spot, I think every team goes through these discussions. Like, what is the best situation? Do you rest players? How do you manage that? We haven't figured that part out yet, but to me, you always want to keep the team moving along and competing at a high level to roll into the playoffs at the right time. But certainly, those will be discussions that we'll have, as far as lineup for the last four games."

Tkachuk has a team highs with 29 goals and 123 penalty minutes, as well as 26 assists, a plus-2 rating, 33 blocks and 227 hits in 71 games.

The Senators (42-30-6, 90 points) have the first wild-card berth in the Eastern Conference. Their regular-season schedule continues Friday with a visit from the Montreal Canadiens, followed by home games against Philadelphia on Sunday, Chicago on Tuesday and Carolina on April 17.

Ottawa selected Tkachuk with the fourth overall pick of the 2018 NHL Draft, a year after the Senators lost to the Penguins in the conference finals. He made his NHL debut in 2018 and has 191 goals, 404 points, 750 penalty minutes, 193 blocks and 1,758 hits in 511 regular-season games.

The Minnesota Wild on Wednesday activated forwards Joel Eriksson Ek and Kirill Kaprizov from injured reserve and long-term IR, respectively.

Kaprizov has been out since Jan. 26 with a lower-body injury. Eriksson Ek last played Feb. 22 after suffering a lower-body injury.

Kaprizov, 27, underwent surgery after the injury and resumed skating in late March. He was leading the Wild with 52 points (23 goals, 29 assists) through 37 games prior to the surgery. He also missed 12 games due to injury in late December and January.

Eriksson Ek, 28, was injured during practice in late February, the latest setback to the Swede. Eriksson Ek has been limited to 42 games this season. He has 24 points (nine goals, 15 assists).

Despite the absences, the Wild hold the second wild card in the Western Conference with four games remaining, including Wednesday night's contest against visiting San Jose. The Wild enter Wednesday's action four points ahead of Calgary for the second wild card spot.

In corresponding moves, the Wild reassigned forwards Brendan Gaunce and Devin Shore to their AHL affiliate in Iowa.

Borussia Dortmund captain Emre Can launched an angry tirade against his teammates after his side were thrashed 4-0 by Barcelona in their Champions League quarterfinal first leg on Wednesday.

Can was visibly frustrated after the match and told DAZN that it was a matter of attitude, rather than tactics or coaching decisions, that led to the defeat.

"It's not a question of system but rather of whether everyone is willing to give 100% and make the sacrifices required in games like this," Can said.

"Too many things went wrong in the game, we didn't play well today. We were soft. We weren't cohesive enough. And on top of that, we made simple mistakes.

"At this level, those types of mistakes are punished harshly. That's why we went down here today.

"We were playing against a great Barcelona team, they obviously have several good players, definitely, so the only way you can beat them is if you go out there as a team, something we didn't do," Can said.

"I think we could have done much better, even though they're so good, I know that. You have to go for it and we didn't, to be honest.

"Now we need to put in a good performance [in the second leg] and try to win the game. We owe it to our fans and we need to give it everything we've got."

Dortmund manager Niko Kovac was similarly critical of his side's performance.

"Deserved losers today," he told a news conference. "At this level we made too many errors which Barça took advantage of with their quality. Had problems in first 20 minutes, then we conceded a goal after a foul we should not have given away.

"What annoys me is we invited them to counterattack by losing the ball. It's going to be really difficult in the second leg, as you know.

"I said in the meeting with the team: If you let Barça play, with the players they have, without resistance ... you have problems. We know they have great quality. We didn't do what we needed to do."

Treble-chasing Barça will be full of confidence for Tuesday's return leg in Germany against struggling Dortmund who are eighth in the Bundesliga standings on 41 points, five from the qualification spots for next season's Champions League.

Information from Reuters and ESPN's Sam Marsden contributed to this report.

Paris Saint-Germain were made to sweat to secure a 3-1 win over Aston Villa in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal, coming from behind after a shock opener from the visitors on Wednesday.

Morgan Rogers stunned the home crowd by putting Unai Emery's side ahead in the first half but PSG swiftly turned the tide as teenager Désiré Doué, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Nuno Mendes struck to give the newly crowned Ligue 1 champions a well-deserved victory.

PSG's dominance on the ball was evident as they dictated the tempo with a blend of composed possession, technical precision and their trademark high pressing.

Villa, whose seven-game winning streak in all competitions came to an end, will need to show more in the return leg next Tuesday.

"By order of the Paris SG fans," a banner draped over the Auteuil Kop read -- a cheeky nod to the Peaky Blinders television series, which takes place in Birmingham.

Emiliano Martínez, ever the villain in France who was greeted by a barrage of boos, whistles and expletives, made his presence felt, blocking Vitinha's low shot and denying Ousmane Dembélé, whose venomous half-volley seemed destined to rattle the net.

Two saves in quick succession, and the Villa keeper was proving his worth early on.

High up the pitch, PSG were suffocating Villa, swarming with intent. It was Villa, however, who converted first on their first clear chance.

A mistake from Mendes in midfield allowed John McGinn to pounce, nicking the ball and slipping it to Youri Tielemans. The Belgian looked up, saw the gap, and whipped a cross into the path of Rogers, who finished it off with an ice-cool tap-in.

Four minutes later, PSG levelled when Doué curled one in from the edge of the box, sending the ball sailing over the grounded Martinez and under the bar.

It was yet another superb display by the 19-year-old Doué, who scored the winning penalty in the shootout against Liverpool in the last 16.

The hosts continued to press following the break and after a superb combination in the midfield, Kvaratskhelia fired a shot that went in off the inside of the near post to make it 2-1.

Achraf Hakimi came close to adding another goal at the end of a sharp counter-attack, only for Martinez to fully stretch to tip away the ball.

PSG were denied a penalty claim and Hakimi had a goal disallowed for offside but Mendes netted two minutes into added time when he cut inside Ezri Konsa and slotted past Martínez, who left the pitch with his head down.

Barcelona thumped visitors Borussia Dortmund 4-0 in their Champions League quarterfinal first leg Wednesday after Robert Lewandowski scored two goals against his old club to earn the Catalans a sizable advantage.

Undefeated since late December, the treble-chasing Barça predictably dominated the opening stages and grabbed the lead following Raphinha's strike in the 25th minute. A string of saves from Dortmund keeper Gregor Kobel frustrated Barça for the rest of the first half.

Barcelona emerged more determined after the break and it took only three minutes for them to score their second with Raphinha assisting Lewandowski, who nodded home from close range.

"I think we played very well, but we are not thinking about the semifinals yet, we must keep the same focus and mentality that have brought us here so far," Lewandowski told Movistar Plus. "It doesn't matter where we play and what game it is, we always want to play our football with the same commitment.

"Our mindset is always going for the win and that is how we will play at Dortmund. We have to go there and play as well as we did today or even better."

Barcelona have enjoyed an incredible 23-game unbeaten run across all competitions and are the only team in Europe's top five leagues yet to lose in 2025, while still in the running to win three titles.

On Wednesday, Dortmund keeper Kobel denied Lewandowski and Lamine Yamal from close range, but there was little he could do when Raphinha fired over the goal line in the 26th minute.

After the break, Yamal made an impressive run from the right wing before lifting a cross toward the back post for Raphinha to head back across goal, leaving an unmarked Lewandowski to nod over the line from inches out.

After that Dortmund succumbed to Barca's power and, following Fermín López stroke off the post, Lewandowski extended their lead with a bullet strike and Yamal rounded off the rout with a tidy finish from a quick counter.

Wednesday marks the second day of the quarterfinal first legs for the 2024-25 UEFA Champions League season. Europe's premier club competition has whittled down to eight teams as the semifinals await the winners.

Enjoy the play-by-play from Wednesday's games: Barcelona against Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain against Aston Villa.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence will be limited in the spring as he continues to recover from surgery to repair the AC joint in his left shoulder and is on schedule to be fully cleared by the time training camp begins.

Jaguars coach Liam Coen said that there isn't yet a set plan for how much throwing Lawrence will do but that Lawrence is being monitored by vice president of player health and performance Jeff Ferguson and Will Wynkoop, his personal strength coach, as the offseason program progresses.

"As we lead in, we're optimistic that we'll get there in terms of where we need to go," Coen said Wednesday. "He'll be on a pitch count for those things. In terms of the where he has to get to, because he has little touch points he needs to reach before he can obviously get out onto the grass and do it full speed, everything's moving forward. He feels really good right now, so excited about that."

Lawrence had surgery Dec. 17 and was in a sling until late January. He said Wednesday that he has no deadline in mind for when he wants to be completely cleared.

"We don't play a game until this fall, so obviously I'm going to be ready sooner than that, so I'm very optimistic I'll be perfectly good for the season," he said. "... I'm throwing, and obviously I'm kind of progressing and working my way up further distance, more throws, just trying to be smart and not just jump off into the deep end right away. Just trying to work up to it."

Lawrence injured his shoulder against Philadelphia on Nov. 3, sat out the next two games, and returned to start the Dec. 1 game against Houston. He suffered a concussion in that game and didn't play again in 2024. He had to clear concussion protocol, which he did Dec. 15, before he was able to have surgery.

Lawrence had surgery on the same shoulder in February 2021 to repair a labrum injury and was limited in his participation at the Jaguars' rookie minicamp and OTAs.

The lighter throwing load will allow Lawrence to work on his footwork, which is something Coen said needed to improve in an interview with SiriusXM NFL Radio during the NFL league meeting.

On Wednesday, the second day of the team's offseason workout program, Coen said he wouldn't describe Lawrence's footwork as needing significant changes, just more of a tweaking.

"If you can have core fundamentals and footwork that you believe in and that you trust in those times of crisis, you have something to actually fall back on and play with a quieted mind," Coen said. "And so this is a great opportunity now that he is a little limited from a throwing standpoint that we can dive into the footwork, he can dive into it on his own time and really work at this thing. So he's committed to it. It's something that we feel strongly about that can help him continue to get better. And ultimately on Sundays, we hope that shows up.

"... He's extremely talented, and he's made some unbelievable plays at critical moments and led some huge comebacks. He's played hurt. He's done so many good things. Now it's just about, OK, how do we fine-tune it and just tighten it up a little bit to get him in a place where he is comfortable to cut the ball loose on time and in rhythm regardless of the circumstances."

Lawrence admitted that he has had some issues with his footwork and is glad to be addressing it this offseason, and it's something he can do on his own at home in addition to what he does at the facility.

"I think they've done a really good job of this [offensive] system of really thinking through how does it tie into a quarterback's feet," Lawrence said. "And that's what we've been talking about, and it takes some work and flipping my stance, just some little things like that that are small that many people wouldn't notice, but it is. I have so many banked reps of the other way, I've got to just get all these on my own and work so once camp comes around, I'm ready to go."