67 days to the World Cup: James Rodríguez and the World Cup's only Puskás Award winner

The countdown to the2026 World Cupis on! Each day ahead of the tournament's return to North America, Yahoo Sports will highlight an insight or moment that showcases just how grand the world's biggest sporting spectacle has become — even beyond the expanded field of this year's global event.

TheFIFA Puskás Awardis handed out each year to the player who scores the best goal in all levels of soccer.

Named in honor of Hungary and Real Madrid great Ferenc Puskás, FIFA created the award in 2009. In 2024, the FIFA Marta Award began to honor the best goal scored by a woman.

Draft your Yahoo Fantasy Baseball team for the 2026 MLB Season

There are four key points that make up the criteria for the Puskás Award:

"An aesthetically beautiful goal, awarded without distinction of championship, gender or nationality, scored without the result of luck or a mistake and in support of Fair Play."

There are a number of household names that make up the 15 Puskás winners such as Zlatan Ibrahimović, Son Heung-min, Neymar, Mohamed Salah, and Cristiano Ronaldo. Lionel Messi has been nominated seven times, but has yet to win.

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Only four goals from the men's World Cup have finished among the top-three and only one from the quadrennial tournament has ever won the award.

James Rodríguez had a World Cup to remember in 2014 as he helped Colombia reach the Round of 16. The No. 10 forLos Cafeteroswon the tournament's Golden Boot award with six goals, scoring in all five games.

One of those six goals came during a 2-0 win over Uruguay in the Round of 16. Rodríguez bagged a brace in the victory and also earned that's year's Puskás Award with a gorgeous volley.

Two weeks before Rodríguez's wonderstrike, Robin van Persie looked to have put himself in the lead for the award. Hisdiving header against Spainduring the group stage was one of his four World Cup goals that summer.

Alas, it was not to be for the Dutch legend. Rodríguez earned 42% of the vote, while van Persie received just 11%.

Richarlison'sbicycle kick for Brazil against Serbiain 2022 is the only World Cup goal since to have been voted a Puskás Award finalist.

byCosmopolite

in

April 05, 2026

67 days to the World Cup: James Rodríguez and the World Cup's only Puskás Award winner

The countdown to the2026 World Cupis on! Each day ahead of the tournament's return to North America, Yahoo Sports wil...

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LA Dodgers are MLB's melting pot, with complex history to show

LOS ANGELES – It wasOpening Day at Dodger Stadiumon March 26, and a pregame ceremony paused as fans waited for the arrival of the two World Series trophies theLos Angeles Dodgershad won the past two seasons.

Finally, ablue Cadillac lowrider driven by actor Will Ferrellparted the center-field gate and pulled onto the warning track. Two of the car's occupants were the World Series trophies, and up went cheers, especially from thousands of Latinos in the Pavilion section beyond the outfield walls.

"That's how you got to do it in L.A.," declared Matthew Oviedo, 32, who grew up in East Los Angeles, one of the prominently Latino communities where lowriders were popularized.

Latinos make up about 40% of the Dodgers fanbase. But like the team, the city in which they play and America at large, Dodger fans are an ethnic melting pot – White, Asian, Black and Latino. Heritage Nights have become popular for MLB teams celebrating different cultures, and this season the Dodgers have scheduled seven – one night each for Japanese, Mexican, Filipino, Black, Guatemalan, Salvadoran and Korean cultures.

As America's 250th anniversary approaches, the Dodgers provide a powerful lens through which to view the country's history − specifically, issues of social migration, civil rights and immigration.

In the past 10 months, Dodger Stadium has been used for celebrations and protests. Celebrations of the team's success as the Dodgers seek a third straight World Series title. And protestscalling for the team to reject the Trump administration's immigration policydisproportionately impacting Latinos.

The stadium also happens to be built on land where families, mostly Mexican-American, wereuprooted from their homesin the name of progress. The estimated number of families who lived on the land range from300 to more than 1,800in the years before Dodger Stadium was built.

"We're standing in somebody's backyard," Richard Moreno, 46, a self-described superfan also known as"Mariachi Loco,"told USA TODAY inside the stadium on Opening Day. "It hurts, but what can you do?''

A star is born running from oppression

Steam billowed into the sky as trains chugged across America.The Great Migrationwas underway.

Between 1910 and 1970, an estimated 6 million Black residents left the South for other parts of the country, according to theU.S. Census Bureau. They were running from racial violence, segregation and economic oppression.

"They found the courage within themselves to break free," author Isabel Wilkerson wrote for the Smithsonian magazine.

In late spring of 1920, a Black woman boarded a train in Cairo, Georgia, and embarked on a trip of more than 2,200 miles to Pasadena, California. Her husband had left the family and she was traveling with their five children, the youngest a boy about 16 months old.

His name wasJack Roosevelt Robinson. But America would know him as Jackie Robinson, the baseball player who broke the Major League color line in 1947 as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers.

In 1919, the year Jackie Robinson was born in Georgia, theNAACPpublished a booklet entitled "Thirty Years of Lynching in the United States: 1889-1918." The organization reported there had been 386 lynchings in Georgia, second most only to Mississippi among U.S. states during that 30-year period.

Robinson's parents, Mallie and Jerry, were sharecroppers who lived in shack-like conditions on the Sasser plantation in southeastern Georgia. After Jerry Robinson left the family, Mallie Robinson took them to Pasadena, then an affluent city 20 miles from Los Angeles where some of her relatives lived.

"It was a fairly decent-looking community," said Okeyo Jumal, 82, a Black historian from Pasadena. "And we knew that because people who came out later on (from the South) would say, 'This is a Black community? This is a nice-looking community to be a Black community.'"

But the municipal pool in Pasadena was open to non-Whites only one day a week. Black residents watched movies from segregated balconies. Their economic opportunities were limited.

Mallie Robinson worked as a maid, saved her modest wages and bought a four-bedroom clapboard house at121 Pepper St. Jackie Robinson had a group of interracial friends called "The Pepper Street Gang'' and between 1938 and 1941 he was a four-sport star atPasadena Junior Collegeand then atUCLA.

"Even with his prodigious athletic talent, his opportunities would've been circumscribed in the South by racism," said William Deverell, a University of Southern California (USC) professor and historian who lives in Pasadena. "So coming here and going to Pasadena City College and going to UCLA, it's not perfect by any means, but it's a lot better (than Georgia). I think that opened the doors for his rise to athletic fame."

In short, the Great Migration may have carved a path for the most significant player in baseball history.

Bigger than baseball: Jackie Robinson, White allies and fan integration

Black soldiers returned home from World War II in 1945 angry about having fought oppression abroad only to encounter it again at home. They demanded equal rights.

But U.S. armed forces and public schools remained segregated. Major League Baseball clung to an unwritten rule banning Black players. Under that backdrop, Robinson broke baseball's color line on April 15, 1947, as part of an unlikely partnership.

Branch Rickey, then the Dodgers' president and general manager, was largely responsible for signing Robinson. He wore bow ties, smoked cigars and was determined to win. He was 65.

Robinson impressed reporters with his intelligence and remained calm in the face of racist taunts and threats. He was 28.

"Those two men took it to another level," Della Britton, president and CEO of theJackie Robinson Foundation, told USA TODAY Sports. "It worked because Branch Rickey had the gumption to do it and it worked because Jackie followed up."

Of Rickey, Britton added, "It took White allies to create progress and to agitate and move the country forward."

The Dodgers, at risk of alienating their fans and fellow teams, gave Robinson a chance. He turned it into something bigger.

Yes, he won the inaugural Rookie of the Year award in 1947, was named National League MVP in 1949 and in 1955 helped lead the Dodgers to their first World Series title. By then, however, he also had emerged as a national figure speaking out about equal rights.

"Robinson is not just a symbol of integration in America," Johnny Smith, a professor and sports historian at Georgia Tech University, told USA TODAY. "He is a crucial actor, an agent of change, a crucial voice."

Pete Hamill, the late journalist who grew up in Brooklyn, said the Dodgers integrated not only their team but also their fans.

"You could be an Irishman, an Italian, and a Jew, and you could all be in Ebbets Field, sitting together, rooting for the Dodgers." Hamill told Brian Purnell, author of "Fighting Jim Crow in the County of Kings."

"…we became the most American place in the country," Hamill told Time magazine.

During Robinson's rookie year, the Dodgers drew 1.8 million, their highest season attendance at that point.

'The boom is thrilling': Dodgers look to baseball's western frontier

As if fueled by another gold rush, California's population grew by almost 50% between 1950 and 1960.

"We're in the Cold War and the federal government begins to start to pour money into defense and aeronautics and aerospace, and Southern California is the chief site of that," said Deverell, the USC professor. "Even with the trepidations of the Cold War, the economic boom and the technological boom is thrilling."

Amid those dynamics, Los Angeles officials courted a potential resident: Walter O'Malley, then owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers.

O'Malley rebuffed the initial overtures. But his efforts to find a site in New York on which to build a newer and bigger stadium than Ebbets Field in Brooklyn failed. And his interest in Los Angeles and a roughly 300-acre site for a new stadium climbed.

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Because there were no major league teams in California, O'Malley's son and former Dodgers owner Peter O'Malley said he researched attendance figures of minor-league teams in the L.A.-area and was concerned.

"I remember saying, 'Dad, I've looked at these Coast League attendance figures for the Hollywood Stars and the L.A. Angels,'" Peter O'Malley told USA TODAY. "'Are you sure MLB is going to be embraced?'"

From Trolleys to Tinseltown: Follow the Dodgers' baseball run through the ages

On April 18, 1958, the Dodgers made their home debut in Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the team's temporary home. They drew a crowd of 78,672, then a record for a regular-season game, and beat the San Francisco Giants 6-5.

The Giants had also relocated from New York between the 1957 and 1958 seasons.

In Brooklyn, the Dodgers never drew more than 1.8 million fans in a season. In Los Angeles, they drew more than 2 million fans seven times in their first nine seasons. The Dodgers seemed to be riding one wave while creating one of their own.

By 1969, California had five MLB teams – the Giants, Oakland A's, California Angels, San Diego Padres and the Dodgers, who have remained among the MLB leaders in attendance.

'They'll be mad forever': Chavez Ravine's displaced communities

Based on the U.S. Census, the number of Mexican immigrants in the U.S. tripled between 1910 to 1930 to 600,000. For these families, finding affordable housing in Los Angeles involved resourcefulness.

About five decades before the Dodgers relocated to Los Angeles, impoverished Mexican families began moving onto land with modest homes and dirt roads. The property became known as Chavez Ravine, and the population grew to at least hundreds of families.

There was a grocery store, churches and an elementary school. But with the promise of federal funds to build public housing, the city of Los Angeles used eminent domain to force out residents. The city of Los Angeles paid each family approximately $6,500 to $10,500 for their properties, with the fairness of the compensation left in dispute.

Frank Wilkinson, a key figure in the project, said he promised residents they would have the first right to return when new high-rise buildings were completed. But politicians who branded the project socialistic killed the deal, and Los Angeles later used the land to help lure the Dodgers.

While most of the residents accepted compensation for their homes and left, a few families refused to go.

On May 8, 1959, a local TV crew captured footage of Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies forcibly removing people from their homes as groundbreaking for Dodger Stadium approached.

"The old lady throwing the rocks at the officers is my great-grandmother, Abrana Arechiga," said Melissa Arechiga, president and founder ofBuried Under the Blue, a nonprofit seeking reparations for the displaced communities of Palo Verde, La Loma and Bishop.

Dodger Stadium, with a seating capacity of 56,000, opened in time for the 1962 season.

Reflecting on the controversy, Peter O'Malley, 88, said it was "a tough time."

"The grandchildren of some of those people are still mad, they'll be mad forever," he said. "Some of the grandchildren of those few families have learned the history and they're fine with it. They get it and they've moved on."

The Mexican Sandy Koufax: Fernando Valenzuela 'a gift from the heavens'

The Dodgers became the first MLB team to have a Spanish-language radio broadcast in 1958.Jaime Jarrin, who joined the broadcast crew the following year, said Walter O'Malley used to say the Dodgers needed to find a Mexican Sandy Koufax.

O'Malley understood demographics.

In 1960, Hispanics represented 6.4% of the Los Angeles population. The figure quadrupled by 1980, with 816,000 Hispanics in the city.

"You have the rise of the Latino consumer market in the 1980s," saidJose Alamillo, professor and chairperson of the Chicano/a Studies Department at California State University Channel Islands. "I think that becomes really important because now there's a kind of a recognition by a lot of companies that this is a market that hasn't been fully tapped.

"You have Anheuser Busch, you have Pizza Hut, you have all kinds of McDonald's going after the Hispanic market in the early 1980s. So that's what's happening as well, is this recognition of a young Latino consumer market that has yet to be tapped into."

In 1979, the Dodgers discovered their Mexican Sandy Koufax. Two years later, he electrified the baseball world.

His name wasFernando Valenzuela.

The portly 20-year-old pitcher from Etchohuaquila, a small village in Mexico, started the 1981 season 8-0. Latinos flocked to Dodger Stadium and"Fernandomania"was born.

Valenzuela finished the season as the National League Rookie of the Year and the NL Cy Young Award winner. He also helped repair the schism between the Dodgers and Latinos resentful about the families forcibly removed from Chavez Ravine.

"Fernando was a gift from the heavens," Jarrin said.

The Latino fan base swelled.

'A history of being the first,' a present in first place

In 1987, the Dodgers became the first team to establish a year-round baseball academy in the Dominican Republic and later signedAdrian Beltre, a third baseman and future Hall of Famer;Pedro Martinez, a pitcher and future Hall of Famer; andRaul Mondesi, an outfielder who was the NL Rookie of the Year in 1994.

In 1994, the team signed pitcherChan Ho Park, the first Korean major leaguer. Then pitcherHideo Nomoin 1995, Nomo becoming the first Japanese major leaguer in 30 years.

"The Dodgers long have had a history of being the first," said Marissa Kiss, the assistant director of George Mason University's Institute for Immigration Research who has examined immigrant MLB players and immigration policy. "(The) Jackie Robinson signing, being accepting of non-White players and Latino players. But at the same time, what was really the motive of it, too? They were looking for players to fill their rosters, cheap source labor."

The current Dodgers roster includes a half-dozen Latino players and, from lowrider cars to mariachi music, the Dodgers cater to their Latino fans. They have only one Black player,Mookie Betts, two fewer than in 1948.

But they also have haveDave Roberts, one of only two Black managers in baseball.

With the Dodgers, Roberts, the son of a Black father and Japanese mother, has become the second Black manager and the first of Asian descent to win a World Series, most recently doing so with the ascendant play of two Japanese superstars, pitcher/designated hitterShohei Ohtaniand pitcherYoshinobu Yamamoto.

Latinos – or Hispanics, as designated in census figures – now represent almost 50% of the 3.9 million people who live in Los Angeles and almost 50%, of the 10 million people who live in Los Angeles County, according to the U.S. Census Bureau – and roughly 40% of the Dodgers fan base. Understanding that, Yamamoto, who was voted 2025 World Series MVP, delivered once more during the ensuing World Series celebration at Dodger Stadium.

"Buenas tardes," he said, opening his speech with "good afternoon" in Spanish.

The crowd cheered with gusto.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Dodgers history tells American story of race, immigration, capitalism

byCosmopolite

in

April 05, 2026

LA Dodgers are MLB's melting pot, with complex history to show

LOS ANGELES – It wasOpening Day at Dodger Stadiumon March 26, and a pregame ceremony paused as fans waited for the arriva...

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Kevin McGonigle can't find Tigers' parking lot – but phenom has Detroit dreaming title

PHOENIX — He still has trouble believing he's here, but then again,Detroit TigersrookieKevin McGoniglealways knew this is where he belonged.

He was born and bred a baseball rat, convinced that one day he'd be a major league ballplayer.

And now that he's arrived as theyoungest Tiger to make his debutsince George Burns in 1914, it already feels as if he's been around for 20 years.

The dude may be 21, but he's going on 41 in maturity.

"I think he's a lot more polished and more mature as a ballplayer than when I came up," said Tigers infielder Colt Keith, who made his major-league debut at 22. "I mean, he's handling it really well. I don't see any panic in his eyes. I mean, he's out there just playing loose, having fun, just trying to help us win.

"It's really awesome to see. He's going to be a great player for us."

McGonigle, who never played above Class AA Erie, has spent one week in the major leagues and already is establishing himself as one of the finest young players in the game and certainly a future face of the Tigers. The Tigers would love to keep him around as long as possible and have engaged in talks with him and his agent about a long-term deal of at least eight years.

"We don't need him to be the savior," Scott Harris, Tigers president of baseball operations, said after announcing McGonigle's promotion, with McGonigle producing an .888 OPS with two homers and six RBIs, drawing as many walks as hits this spring. "We don't need him to carry us. We just need him to help us.

"This roster is pretty darn good with or without Kevin. We just think it's better with him on it. That's why he's here."

McGonigle, the second-ranked prospect entering the year, has been nothing short of dazzling in his first week in The Show. He produced four hits in his major-league debut – the sixth to achieve the feat on opening day since 1900 – and was rewarded with the lineup card along with baseballs from his debut.

He spent the first seven games hitting .346 with a .952 OPS, and perhaps even more surprisingly, playing dazzling defense at third base. He's a natural shortstop, and his best defensive position may be second base, but he's been smooth at third, making the throws that need to be made while showing strong range.

"He never quits on the play, which is a great characteristic to have," Tigers manager A.J. Hinch says. "He can get on the ground. He comes up and throws accurate. When the speed of the game is speeding up, he stays with the same rhythm and cadence to complete the play."

Cleveland Guardians players warm up as the launch of NASA's Artemis II is shown on the center-field video board at Dodger Stadium on April 1, 2026.

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Ballpark vibes and wild celebrations a during 2026 MLB season

Cleveland Guardians players warm up asthe launch of NASA's Artemis IIis shown on the center-field video board at Dodger Stadium on April 1, 2026.

He's the reason why the Tigers didn't bother pursuing free-agent third baseman Alex Bregman this winter.

He received a thunderous ovation from the sellout crowd at Comerica Park at the Tigers' home opener Friday, which included about 15 members of his family.

"Are you surprised?" Hinch said after the game. "This city is going to fall in love with this kid because of how he plays and how he represents himself. We just got to let him play, got to let him learn, and we got to let him fail a little bit."

It still seems all surreal for the kid from Aldan, Pennsylvania, just outside Philadelphia, who started swinging a bat with his dad at the age of 2, grew up a huge Chase Utley fan, and studied hitting tapes from eight-time batting champion Tony Gwynn.

"I just love the way [Utley] played," McGonigle, the 5-foot-10 left-handed hitter, tells USA TODAY Sports. "He played the game hard. And I feel like he played it the right way, as well. That's the way I want to play."

And, yes, he would love to hit like Gwynn, the 15-time All-Star who not only had a career .338 batting average, but who never struck out more than 40 times in a single season, and never more than 30 times in his last 13 seasons. He was thrilled just to meet and speak to Gwynn's son in San Diego, Tony Gwynn Jr., the Padres' radio analyst.

"Growing up, my dad would show me film on him and Chase Utley," McGonigle says. "They're two guys that he would show their swings and says to kind of try to copy the way they swung, especially Tony, it's unbelievable how few times he struck out."

These days, at least in the infancy of his career, McGonigle reminds Hinch and starters Justin Verlander and Tarik Skubal of Bregman, now with the Chicago Cubs, who eats, sleeps and dreams baseball.

"That's an ultimate compliment," McGonigle says. "I'm a big fan of Bregman as well. He plays the game really, really hard. And obviously, he's super, super good."

Then again, as Skubal, the Tigers' two-time Cy Young winner says, there will come a time when McGonigle is the one everyone wants to be compared to.

"They're both obsessed with the game of baseball," says Skubal, who got to know Bregman during the winter working out in Phoenix and were teammates in the WBC. "I don't really like comparing though. I want Kevin to be Kevin. In five or six years, they should be comparing someone else to Kevin. That's kind of how I want it to be.

"But they're both obsessed about the game, and they both grind in the box. They both grind in the weight room, the training room, everything. And they take this game pretty seriously and want to win really badly.

"Those are all really positive things, but as Kev gets more comfortable here, and just more time on his side, he's going to blossom into an even better baseball player. That's what I'm excited about. He's doing to experience all of the growing pains this year, success, failure, all of that stuff, but he's going to be a really good baseball player."

Really, McGonigle's toughest task in his first week was simply finding the players' parking lot at Comerica Park, circling the stadium several times before finding it.

"I did laps around the park because I didn't know where to go," McGonigle told reporters Friday morning. "But I ended up finding the parking lot. This place is unreal."

If he has the career everyone in the Tigers' organization anticipates, he'll have a nameplate reserved for the closest spot near the ballpark entrance of his choice.

"There's just something different about him," Tigers outfielder Riley Greene says. "The best way to describe him is that he's a ball of fire. He's finding barrels all of the time. He's making plays. His energy is up. He's doing stuff like guys with five or six years in the big leagues.

"It's pretty impressive to watch."

And once McGonigle learned he made the team, well, that fiery emotion became even more intense.

"I feel like he was even more motivated," Greene says. "He was like, 'We're here to work. We got a long year. Let's win some baseball games. Let's go.'"

That's McGonigle. He doesn't care where he plays in the field. Where he hits in the lineup. Just give him a uniform, and even without playing a day at Triple-A, he wants to do everything possible to lead the Tigers to where they haven't gone since 1984: A World Series championship.

"We're trying to win the World Series," Hinch says, "and Kevin McGonigle helps us get there."

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Says McGonigle: "I'm just taking it all in, trying to get prepared, and doing everything possible to help this team win. I've always been good telling myself it's the same game, no matter what level I'm at.

"I feel like I've handled that well so far, and I'm looking forward to keep doing it."

Welcome to the big leagues, kid.

Now find the parking lot.

Around the basepaths

– MLB and the players union have yet to engage in preliminary negotiations on the next collective bargaining agreement, but their first meeting is expected to be in the next few weeks.

The owners have a $2 billion war chest while the players union has about $520 million stashed away in case of a lockout after Dec. 1.

– The Miami Marlins, off to a surprising 5-2 start, could have one of the most difficult dilemmas at the trade deadline if they are still hanging around.

They must decide whether to trade ace Sandy Alcantara, who is showing signs of his 2022 Cy Young form by starting the season with a 2-0 record and 0.00 ERA, striking out 16 in 12 ⅔ innings, including a three-hit, complete-game shutout in his last start against the Marlins.

Alcantara's five-year, $56 million contract expires after this season, but he has a $21 million club option or a $2 million buyout in 2027. Rival executives still fully expect the Marlins to trade Alcantara, knowing they should have perhaps baseball's most lucrative trade chip at the July 31 deadline.

(Salaries in present-day value calculated by MLB Labor Relations Department, impacted by deferrals and signing bonuses)

1. Juan Soto, Mets - $61,875,000

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 2. Cody Bellinger, Yankees - $42,500,000

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 3. Bo Bichette, Mets - $42 million

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 3. Zack Wheeler, Phillies – $42 million

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 5. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Blue Jays - $40,214,286

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 6. Aaron Judge, Yankees – $40 million

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 7. Anthony Rendon, Angels - $38,571,429

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 8. Jacob deGrom, Rangers - $38 million

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 9. Mike Trout, Angels – $37,116,667

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 10. Gerrit Cole, Yankees – $36,000,000

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 11. Jose Altuve, Astros – $33 million

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 11. Kyle Tucker, Dodgers - $33 million

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 13. Tyler Glasnow, Dodgers - $32,500,000

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 14. Francisco Lindor, Mets - $32,477,277

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 15. Tarik Skubal, Tigers – $32 million

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 16. Carlos Correa, Astros – $31,500,000

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 16. Corey Seager, Rangers - $31,500,000

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 18. Sonny Gray, Red Sox – $31 million

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 19. Corbin Burnes, Diamondbacks – $30,790,069

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 20. Giancarlo Stanton, Yankees - $29 million

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 21. Nathan Eovaldi, Rangers – $28,536,643

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 22. Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers – $28,206,684

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 23. Dansby Swanson, Cubs – $28 million

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 24. Carlos Rodon, Yankees – $27,833,333

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 25. Stephen Strasburg, Nationals (*retired) – $27,814,045

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 26. Bryce Harper, Phillies - $27,538,462

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 27. Trea Turner, Phillies – $27,272,727

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 28. Blake Snell, Dodgers - $27,152,056

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 29. Kris Bryant, Rockies - $27 million

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 30. Yordan Alvarez, Astros - $26,833,333

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />

See the top 30 highest paid players in MLB baseball

(Salaries in present-day value calculated by MLB Labor Relations Department, impacted by deferrals and signing bonuses)1. Juan Soto, Mets- $61,875,000

– Arizona Diamondbacks All-Star second baseman Ketel Marte became a 10-and-5 player on Friday, meaning that even if the Diamondbacks change their mind and want to trade him, it's too late. Marte can't be traded without his permission.

– The Dodgers certainly have a competitive advantage with their massive revenue streams, the latest a five-year, $125 million deal with Uniqlo, with Dodgers president Stan Kasten saying: "I recognize that we have advantages that other teams don't get to benefit from. I acknowledge that. I'm not going to apologize for capitalizing.''

Yet, Kasten cautions, they don't have a monetary advantage ineverything.Taxes for California residents can be a deterrent for free agents. There's also one revenue stream their competitors enjoy that simply doesn't exist for the Dodgers.

"I do have a business disadvantage," Kasten said, trying to keep a straight face. "In Washington, I got decent money for selling an ad on the tarp. Morton Salt .I can't get a [expletive] penny for a tarp ad here, because we never roll it out all year. So no one talks about that."

Kasten, knowing there has been only one rainout at Dodger Stadium since 2000, couldn't help but laugh when it began raining Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium, forcing the tarp to come out.

Alas, there was no advertisement on the tarp.

– While there have been a run of teams locking up their young players with no big-league experience to long-term contracts, from Seattle's Colt Emerson (eight-year, $95 million) to Milwaukee's Cooper Pratt (eight-year, $50.75 million) and soon Pittsburgh's Konnor Griffin (nine years, $140 million), Detroit Tigers infielder Colt Keith can only sit back and smile.

Keith signed a six-year, $28.64 million contract in January 2024, becoming the first Tigers player to receive a long-term deal before his first major-league game.

"It's really cool to see guys get their money early and locking down long-term," Keith tells USA TODAY Sports. "We'll see what the effect is on other other end."

Will it relax them?

"I think it depends on the personality," he said. "For some guys, the long-term commitment knowing they're going to be in the big leagues and having that money helps them relax. I think I was more on the other side of that, where the money wasn't as big a factor. I just wanted to be in the big leagues and perform well.

"I had only spent two months in Triple-A, and I guess I would have been optioned out of camp if I didn't sign it. A lot of times signing that money commitment with the team guarantees you a spot on the roster, whether you're struggling or not, which is good for the player.

"That's the biggest factor I did it, getting on that [26-man] roster and getting more of a leash than other players. It's definitely an advantage, a positive for a lot of guys."

Here are some of the more interesting foods and beverages available this season at major-league stadiums: The "Take Me Out to the Ballgame Milkshake" at Diamondbacks home games is a salted caramel shake with whipped cream, peanut butter sandwich cookies, Kit Kat bars and Cracker Jack.

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See new food bites at the ballpark this season

Here are some of the more interesting foods and beverages available this season atmajor-leaguestadiums: The "Take Me Out to the Ballgame Milkshake" at Diamondbacks home games is a salted caramel shake with whipped cream, peanut butter sandwich cookies, Kit Kat bars and Cracker Jack.

– The ABS challenge system has been in effect for only a week, with players, managers and umpires all weighing in.

There's not a consensus opinion on whether it's good or bad for the game, but there's a sense that within five years, there will be a fully automated system in which the strikezone is completely governed by "robo umpires."

Tigers manager A.J. Hinch's quick takeaways?

"The benches are a lot quieter during the game,'' Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. "You don't hear the razzing with players and umpires.''

Hinch on whether the game will eventually go to a full ABS system: "I hope not. I think the human element is super important. I don't want to lose the catcher catching a close pitch and being frustrated, but not willing to challenge. That element of the game I think is important.''

– How is it possible that Atlanta opens the season playing 13 consecutive games without a day off and the Yankees have four days off before playing their 10thgame on Tuesday?

– The Yankees don't need days off the way they're pitching. They yielded just eight runs in their first seven games, tying an MLB record, while their starting pitching has given up just four runs, also tying an MLB record.

– So, just how much did Venezuela's WBC championship mean for Arizona Diamondbacks starter Eduardo Rodriguez, who started that game: "It was the greatest moment of my career. No matter what I do the rest of my career, nothing will ever top that.''

– Who is that one surprise team scouts are raving about this year?

The Texas Rangers.

"It wouldn't surprise me one bit to see those guys in the World Series, especially with that pitching,'' one veteran scout said. "They are that good."

Follow Nightengale on X:@Bnightengale

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Tigers' Kevin McGonigle stats have Detroit dreaming World Series

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