🏀 Y! Sports AM: 76 teams

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🚨 HEADLINES

⚾️ Fly the W: The Cubs just keep winning, completing a four-game sweep of the Reds for their ninth straight victory and 15th straight at home — their longest win streak at Wrigley since 1935. At 26-12, they're tied for the best record in MLB and have surged to the top of the baseball world.

🏈 Rodgers nears decision: Aaron Rodgers is expected to meet with the Steelers today, and the future Hall of Famer is reportedly likely to play for Pittsburgh again this fall for his 22nd NFL season. Still on the agenda, though, are some complicated contract negotiations.

🏒 Norris Trophy finalists: Cale Makar (Avalanche), Rasmus Dahlin (Sabres) and Zach Werenski (Blue Jackets) were named finalists for the Norris Trophy, awarded to the NHL's top defenseman. Makar, a two-time winner, joins Bobby Orr as the only players named a finalist in six of their first seven seasons.

⚾️ MLB viewership way up: Nationally-televised MLB broadcasts are averaging 2.28 million viewers this season, a 44% increase over last year and the best mark since 2017. Attendance is also up 3% over last year, trending towards the league's fourth straight annual increase.

⚽️ USMNT hopeful injured: Johnny Cardoso sprained his ankle during Thursday's training session with Atlético Madrid, significantly decreasing the midfielder's chances of making the World Cup roster. Mauricio Pochettino will announce his 26-man squad on May 26.

See what else is trending on Yahoo Sports.

🏀 MARCH MADNESS EXPANSION IS HERE. BUT WHY?

(Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

What has long been inevitable is now official: March Madness is expanding, with the men's and women's NCAA basketball tournaments both increasing from 68 to 76 teams. It is, to put it bluntly, a decision that almost no one — outside of those who made it — actually wants.

Details: The dual expansion, approved on Thursday via unanimous vote by both the men's and women's committees, will begin next season. The schedule of the tournament proper won't change; only the volume of games before the Round of 64 tips off.

• The "First Four," the eight-team play-in that began in 2011, will be replaced with a 24-team "Opening Round" played on Tuesday and Wednesday after Selection Sunday.

• Those 24 teams will comprise 12 at-large selections (11 and 12 seeds) and 12 automatic qualifiers (15 and 16 seeds), with the winners of those games advancing to the traditional 64-team bracket.

Between the lines: This expansion is highly unlikely to improve upon the universally-beloved March Madness, which will now feature a watered-down bubble and an unnecessarily cumbersome bracket — changes that represent just the latest example of college leaders abandoning the fans.

Dan Wolken, Yahoo Sports:

Every single person who signed off on the decision Thursday to expand the NCAA basketball tournament to 76 teams understands they are doing something fans didn't ask for and that nobody in a position of power can justify.

It is the Seinfeld of expansions — a decision about nothing, that gains nothing for college basketball, that exists mostly because the current leadership class led by SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti are bound and determined to wreck everything in college sports that used to make sense.

Faced with a choice between adding eight more teams to the tournament or starting a game of chicken between the velociraptors at the top of the food chain and the 200-plus schools that would be cut out completely if the Big Ten and SEC someday walk away, the NCAA has once again jumped into the cage and made itself the meal.

As we've come to expect in a college sports world led by Sankey and Petitti, there are endless solutions for problems that don't exist. The stuff that really matters always seems to be someone else's job.

Thank goodness college sports has such self-serving leadership. Without it, we'd be forced to endure another horror like 17-16 Auburn missing March Madness this year. We can all rest easy knowing that will never happen again.

Under the new format, 17-16 Auburn would have flown right into the NCAA tournament. (Matthew Maxey/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

In all seriousness, while the decision itself is a bad one because it will give us a watered-down bubble and lesser tournament than the one we previously enjoyed, my guess is that most casual fans — the ones who make the NCAA tournament one of America's most popular events — won't really notice. In the real world, it is already asking a lot of regular people with jobs to devote all day Thursday and Friday of the tournament's first week to watching basketball.

They're not going to do it on Tuesday and Wednesday to watch a bunch of power conference teams with sub. 500 conference records play each other. The previous First Four format, with two games on Tuesday and Wednesday night, was strictly a niche product. Making it an all-day affair seems unlikely to change that equation.

The bigger issue here is what it says about the decision-making process in college sports against the backdrop of significant, existential issues.

If you want to take something like the NCAA tournament that did not need an intervention and turn it into an unwieldy mess that mostly caters to their agenda, Sankey and Petitti seem to be highly effective. With an unmatched combination of leverage and shamelessness, they can snap their fingers and turn NCAA president Charlie Baker into their errand boy.

But when it comes to fixing a real problem — like the rise of $20 million college basketball rosters while only a handful of programs even bring in $20 million in revenue — they are suddenly helpless and out of answers, reduced to groveling at the feet of politicians to rescue their industry from its own lack of courage and discipline.

Keep reading.

📸 IN PHOTOS: PLAYOFFS ROUNDUP

(Joshua Gateley/Getty Images)

Oklahoma City — The Thunder pulled away from the Lakers late in what had actually been a close game for much of the night, winning 125-107 to take a 2-0 series lead as they head to Los Angeles.

Lopsided rivalry: The Thunder have beaten the Lakers by at least 15 points five times this season (including playoffs), which is the most such wins against L.A. in a single season since the 1976 merger. Credit OKC's smothering defense, led by 7-footers Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein.

(Brian Sevald/NBAE via Getty Images)

Detroit — Cade Cunningham (25 points, 10 assists) and the Pistons held off Donovan Mitchell (31 points) and the Cavaliers in a 107-97 victory to take a 2-0 lead as the series shifts to Cleveland.

Harden's struggles continue: James Harden finished with 10 points on 3-of-13 shooting with four turnovers, including one that essentially sealed the loss. In this series, he's shooting 32.1% from the field and 9.1% from deep with more turnovers (11) than either assists (10) or made field goals (nine), and he's committed 47 turnovers in nine games this postseason.

(Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Philadelphia — The Hurricanes are a freight train, beating the Flyers, 4-1, to take a 3-0 series lead and move within one victory of their second straight sweep to open these playoffs.

One win from history: Carolina is just the fifth team to start the postseason 7-0 since the current format began in 1987, and can become the first to go 8-0. And if the Avalanche win tomorrow, it will mark the first time two teams started 7-0 in the same year.

⚾️ MLB AWARDS WATCH

(Davis Long/Yahoo Sports)

We're almost one-quarter of the way through the MLB season, which feels like a good time to begin considering which players lead the way in the three major awards races.

MVP

American League: There's a clear trio of top contenders led by a pair of Bombers in the Bronx, according to Yahoo Sports' Jordan Shusterman.

• Aaron Judge (RF, Yankees): .270/.401/.642, 15 HR, 29 RBI, 34 R, 2.4 WAR

• Ben Rice (1B, Yankees): .343/.455/.759, 12 HR, 27 RBI, 30 R, 1.8 WAR

• Yordan Alvarez (DH/LF, Astros): .319/.423/.638, 12 HR, 27 RBI, 26 R, 1.6 WAR

In the hunt: Mike Trout (CF, Angels), Bobby Witt Jr. (SS, Royals), Shea Langeliers (C, Athletics), Yandy Díaz (DH, Rays), Junior Caminero (3B, Rays), Jonathan Aranda (1B, Rays), Kevin McGonigle (SS, Tigers), Munetaka Murakami (1B, White Sox)

National League: The top is a little more crowded in the senior circuit, headlined by a four-time winner and the hottest player on the league's best team.

• Shohei Ohtani (DH/SP, Dodgers): .831 OPS, 6 HR, 25 R; 2-2, 0.97 ERA; 2.4 WAR

• Matt Olson (1B, Braves): .301/.388/.671, 13 HR, 33 RBI, 35 R, 2.6 WAR

• Elly De La Cruz (SS, Reds): .265/.337/.510, 10 HR, 28 RBI, 27 R, 1.6 WAR

• Nico Hoerner (2B, Cubs): .289/.366/.443, 4 HR, 28 RBI, 20 R, 2.0 WAR

• Brice Turang (2B, Brewers): .305/.439/.517, 5 HR, 22 RBI, 29 R, 2.1 WAR

In the hunt: Corbin Carroll (RF, Diamondbacks), CJ Abrams (SS, Nationals), Jordan Walker (RF, Cardinals), Mickey Moniak (OF, Rockies)

(Taylor Wilhelm/Yahoo Sports)

Cy Young

American League: Just as he had for the AL MVP, Jordan's trio of AL Cy Young contenders is headlined by a pair of Yankees.

• Max Fried (SP, Yankees): 4-1, 2.39 ERA, 0.89 WHIP, 43:15 K:BB, 1.8 WAR

• Cam Schlittler (SP, Yankees): 5-1, 1.52 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, 53:9 K:BB, 1.9 WAR

• Dylan Cease (SP, Blue Jays): 2-1, 3.05 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 56:18 K:BB, 0.9 WAR

In the hunt: José Soriano (SP, Angels), Drew Rasmussen (SP, Rays), Davis Martin (SP, White Sox), Emerson Hancock (SP, Mariners)

National League: Here's yet another award where a pair of teammates are making a lot of noise early in the year.

• Ohtani (DH/SP, Dodgers): 2-2, 0.97 ERA, 0.81 WHIP, 42:9 K:BB, 2.4 WAR

• Yoshinobu Yamamoto (SP, Dodgers): 3-2, 3.09 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, 40:10 K:BB, 0.6 WAR

• Paul Skenes (SP, Pirates): 5-2, 2.36 ERA, 0.71 WHIP, 46:7 K:BB, 1.5 WAR

• Cristopher Sánchez (SP, Phillies): 3-2, 2.42 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 60:14 K:BB, 2.0 WAR

In the hunt: Jacob Misiorowski (SP, Brewers), Shota Imanaga (SP, Cubs), Nolan McLean (SP, Mets), Mason Miller (RP, Padres)

(Taylor Wilhelm/Yahoo Sports)

Rookie of the Year

American League: The junior circuit is loaded with youngsters who've come roaring out of the gates, but with all due respect to the duos in Cleveland and Toronto, there's a pair of infielders in Detroit and Chicago who are on another level right now.

• Kevin McGonigle (SS, Tigers): .299/.392/.453, 2 HR, 11 2B, 16 RBI, 25 R, 2.2 WAR

• Munetaka Murakami (1B, White Sox): .237/.369/.565, 14 HR, 28 RBI, 26 R, 1.2 WAR

In the hunt: Chase DeLauter (RF, Guardians), Parker Messick (SP, Guardians), Trey Yesavage (SP, Blue Jays), Kazuma Okamoto (3B, Blue Jays)

National League: A hurler in Queens is lapping the field in this particular race, but it's worth remembering that at this time last season, eventual ROYs Nick Kurtz and Drake Baldwin had barely scratched the surface of their prodigious production.

• Nolan McLean (SP, Mets): 1-2, 2.97 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 51:11 K:BB, 0.6 WAR

• JJ Wetherholt (2B, Cardinals): .236/.355/.421, 7 HR, 18 RBI, 28 R, 1.8 WAR

In the hunt: Moisés Ballesteros (DH, Cubs), Sal Stewart (1B, Reds), Konnor Griffin (SS, Pirates)

Dive in: MVP | Cy Young | ROY

📺 WEEKEND WATCHLIST

(Amy Monks/Yahoo Sports)

🏀 WNBA Tip-Off

The 30th WNBA season begins tonight, with all 15 teams taking the floor across this weekend's 11-game slate. The headliner is undoubtedly Saturday's matchup between the Wings and Fever in Indianapolis (1pm ET, ABC), which features the last four No. 1 overall picks in Indiana's Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston and Dallas' Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd.

The rest: The defending champion Aces play tomorrow at home against the Mercury (3:30pm, ABC) and Sunday on the road against the Sparks (6pm, USA). Plus, the expansion Toronto Tempo (vs. the Mystics tonight at 7:30pm on League Pass) and Portland Fire (vs. the Sky tomorrow at 9pm on NBA TV) play their inaugural games in front of their home crowds.

Season preview: 30 stats to celebrate 30 seasons (Nekias Duncan, Yahoo Sports)

🏀 NBA Playoffs

The second round continues this weekend in Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Cleveland and Los Angeles. The Knicks, hitting the road up 2-0, are the only team with a chance to advance to the Conference Finals by Sunday night.

• Friday: Knicks (up 2-0) at 76ers (7pm, Prime); Spurs (tied 1-1) at Timberwolves (9:30pm, Prime)

• Saturday: Pistons (up 2-0) at Cavaliers (3pm, NBC); Thunder (up 2-0) at Lakers (8:30pm, ABC)

• Sunday: Knicks at 76ers, Game 4 (3:30pm, ABC); Spurs at Timberwolves, Game 4 (7:30pm, NBC)

Good read: Everyone else from the 2003 NBA Draft grew old. LeBron James somehow hasn't (Jeff Eisenberg, Yahoo Sports)

🏒 NHL Playoffs

The second round continues in Buffalo, Anaheim, Philadelphia, St. Paul and Montreal. The Hurricanes, up 3-0 on the Flyers, are the only team with a chance to advance to the Conference Finals this weekend.

• Friday: Canadiens (down 1-0) at Sabres (7pm, TNT); Golden Knights (tied 1-1) at Ducks (9:30pm, TNT)

• Saturday: Hurricanes (up 3-0) at Flyers (6pm, TNT); Avalanche (up 2-0) at Wild (9pm, TNT)

• Sunday: Sabres at Canadiens, Game 3 (7pm, ESPN); Golden Knights at Ducks, Game 4 (9:30pm, ESPN)

Can Minnesota bounce back? The Avs' 14 goals against the Wild are the most in the first two games of a playoff series since 1988, when the Flames scored 15 against the Kings.

More to watch:

• ⚾️ MLB: Twins at Guardians (Fri. 7:15pm, Apple); Cardinals at Padres (Fri. 9:45pm, Apple); Astros at Reds (Sat. 4pm, FS1); Tigers at Royals (Sun. 7:20pm, Peacock)

• 🚴 Cycling: Giro d'Italia (Fri-Sun, HBO Max) … The year's first Grand Tour, the 109th edition of La Corsa Rosa, begins with its first three stages (of 21) in Bulgaria.

• 🥍 PLL: Week 1 (Fri-Sat, ESPN+/ESPN2) … The Premier Lacrosse League's eighth season kicks off with four games in Salt Lake City.

• ⚽️ MLS: San Jose vs. Vancouver (Sat. 10:30pm, Apple) … The top two teams in the West square off in San Jose.

• ⚽️ EPL: Manchester City vs. Brentford (Sat. 12:30pm, NBC); West Ham vs. Arsenal (Sun. 11:30am, USA) … City trail the Gunners by five points with a game in hand.

• ⚽️ LaLiga: Barcelona vs. Real Madrid (Sun. 3pm, ESPN) … Barcelona will clinch their second straight league title with a win or draw in the 264th El Clásico.

• ⛳️ Golf: Truist Championship (Fri-Sun, ESPN+/Golf/CBS); Mizuho Americas Open (Fri-Sun, Golf/Paramount+) … The action resumes in North Carolina and New Jersey.

• 🎾 Tennis: Italian Open (Fri-Sun, Tennis) … Men's and women's action in the Masters 1000 event continues in Rome.

• 🏁 Motorsports: IndyCar at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Sat. 4:30pm, Fox); NASCAR at Watkins Glen International (Sun. 3pm, FS1)

• 🏒 PWHL Playoffs: Boston (tied 1-1) at Ottawa (Fri. 7pm, YouTube); Montréal (up 2-1) at Minnesota (Fri. 8:30pm, Prime); Boston at Ottawa Game 4 (Sun. 3pm, YouTube) … Best-of-five semifinals.

• 👊 UFC 328: Khamzat Chimaev vs. Sean Strickland (Sat. 9pm, Paramount+) … The middleweight title bout headlines the card in Newark, NJ.

• 🏈 UFL: Week 7 (Fri-Sun, Fox/FS1/ESPN) … The first-place DC Defenders (5-1) host the Louisville Kings seeking a sixth straight win (Sat. 1:30pm, Fox)

• 🏈 IFL: Week 9 (Fri-Sun, Yahoo Sports Network) … The regular season is nearly halfway over.

Got plans this weekend? Gametime is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city. Get tickets now!

⚽️ SOCCER TRIVIA

Kane during Bayern Munich’s semifinal loss to PSG on Wednesday. (Ulrik Pedersen/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Harry Kane scored his 60th goal of the season for club and country this week, becoming just the fourth player in Europe's top five leagues ever to reach that milestone.

Question: Can you name the other three?

Hint: Argentina, Portugal, Uruguay.

Answer at the bottom.

🎬 "BACKYARD LEGENDS"

(Adidas)

Adidas released a brilliant new World Cup campaign on Thursday — a five-minute film titled "Backyard Legends" that stars Timothée Chalamet, Lionel Messi, Bad Bunny, Trinity Rodman and more.

The nostalgia is strong: The short film is a must-watch, particularly for anyone who fondly remembers those similar Nike spots from two-plus decades ago. I can't be the only one who watched the Scorpion cage tournament, Brazil at the airport and "au revoir" on repeat, right?

Trivia answer: Lionel Messi (three times), Cristiano Ronaldo (three times), Luis Suárez

We hope you enjoyed this edition of Yahoo Sports AM, our daily newsletter that keeps you up to date on all things sports. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.

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