Albert Pujols to manage Dominican Republic in 2026 World Baseball Classic: Report
The Dominican Republic has a new manager for the 2026 World Baseball Classic, and it stands to be a popular hire.
Albert Pujols has been chosen to take over the D.R.'s dugout as it attempts to win its second WBC title, according to ESPN. Nelson Cruz, the team's general manager reportedly plans to make an official announcement by the end of March.
Pujols just finished up his first stint as a manager, leading the Leones del Escogido to their first title in more than a decade in the D.R.'s LIDOM this winter.
On the national team, Pujols will take over for Rodney Linares, currently the Tampa Bay Rays' bench coach. The team is coming off a disappointing 2023 WBC in which it shockingly failed to make it out of group play due to losses to Venezuela and Puerto Rico.
In the five holdings of the WBC since 2006, the international baseball powerhouse has won only once, its undefeated run in 2013. That was also the last time it even reached the semifinals, which it has only done so twice.
The 2026 team has plenty of potential players who could try to break that slump. The 2023 team featured Juan Soto, Julio Rodríguez, Willy Adames, Rafael Devers, Manny Machado, Sandy Alcantara and Cristian Javier, and there are other Dominican players out there such as Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Fernando Tatis Jr., José Ramírez and Elly De La Cruz, Luis Castillo, Framber Valdez and Emmanuel Clase.
Some of those players play the same position, but part of Pujols' job will be to get as many of them on the field as possible for the WBC.
Pujols was a member of the D.R.'s first WBC team in 2006, but didn't play in another one for the rest of his career.

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Fox News
18 minutes ago
- Fox News
ESPN star says trans women have 'unfair advantage' in sports amid Simone Biles-Riley Gaines feud
ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith largely agreed with Riley Gaines amid the former NCAA All-American swimmer's feud with Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles. Smith's remarks on Monday came a few days after Biles launched into a personal attack on Gaines after the former Kentucky Wildcats star criticized a Minnesota softball league for turning off comments on a photo showing a state championship team that had a transgender player on its roster. Gaines used Larry Nassar, the disgraced former doctor who sexually assaulted several Olympic gymnasts, to further her point about men being in women's spaces. While Smith did not agree with Gaines using Nassar, he did agree with the original premise. "With that being said, the points you made to Simone Biles outside of the Larry Nassar comment, that should give us all cause for pause," he said on "The Stephen A. Smith Show." "The reality is that it is a disservice to women in a lot of people's eyes, that men transitioning to women get to compete in women's sports. Lia Thomas was a perfect example. Her highest ranking at the time … highest ranking as a male participant was like 554th in the world. He transitioned into being a woman and was top 10. That speaks for itself. "And the reality is there's an abundance of women out there who have a right to feel the way Riley Gaines feels, Simone Biles. Now whether it's right for me or someone else to say it is a different argument. But in the age that we're living in with Title IX in existence, with us being protective of fairness and equal rights and equal opportunity to women to then piggyback off of that and following up on that years later to allow transgender athletes transitioning from male to female to compete against women doesn't appear to be fair." Smith dismissed any notion that the debate over transgender athletes in girls' and women's sports was more than just on-field competition. "When we lean on this argument about fear, fear – wait a minute. Somebody's not talking about your civil liberties, somebody's not talking about equality, somebody's not talking about those things allowing you to live and let live," he said. "They're talking about competition in sports. And if you allow somebody to compete in swimming it's not gonna stop you from competing in boxing. It's not gonna allow you to stop you from competing in other sports." Smith brought up the talk around Ronda Rousey taking on Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a fight when both athletes were the talk of the sports world. He said that while sports fans know now what would happen in the fight after Rousey lost to Amanda Nunes, it should not have been in the minds of any fan in the first place. "We know that in most instances, even though there are women that could beat some men out there, by and large the elite women don't deserve to be competing against the elite men," he said. "By deserve … I'm talking about based on their gender. You shouldn't be competing against men. I don't want to see a Clarissa Shields in a boxing ring against Terence Crawford. "So when we're talking about it from that premise – it's one thing for ladies look at someone like me and say, 'Who are you?' It's another thing entirely for ladies to be looking at ladies, acting like ladies don't have the right to feel like there's a disadvantage for them if they're going up against a male transitioning to female." Smith went on to say he hoped that more men transitioned to women in order for sports leagues to have a transgender category to make it fair. However, World Aquatics tried to have an open category in 2022 and received no interest in the competition. "If you ask me my preference? I hope a whole bunch of men transitioning to women come out of the woodwork. So we can have men going up against men, women going up against women and transgenders going up against transgenders. That's fair," he said. "But what Riley Gaines is talking about does seem a bit unfair, she has a right to express those thoughts without Simone Biles coming at her that way. Just because she lost? She's talking about an unfair advantage. "And there's no one that could really dispute – if you are a male transitioning to female that there's an unfair advantage. I don't see women transitioning to men trying to compete in men's sports. If it's happened, and I missed it, I apologize. But I missed it, I haven't seen that." Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.


Forbes
28 minutes ago
- Forbes
Why The 2025 NBA Offseason Might Be Loaded With Blockbuster Trades
With the 2025 NBA Finals underway, 28 teams have already turned their full attention to the offseason. Free agency is largely shaping up to be a dud, as the Brooklyn Nets are the only team projected to have considerable cap space, but the league could still have its fair share of fireworks in the coming weeks. "It's gonna be a crazy summer," one Western Conference executive told longtime NBA insider Jake Fischer. "There's going to be a lot of movement." According to multiple reports, it's basically a foregone conclusion that the Phoenix Suns plan to trade Kevin Durant. ESPN's Brian Windhorst recently said they'd likely do so between now and the 2025 NBA draft. Durant might not be the only star on the move this summer, though. Between an unpredictable Finals matchup, a pair of shocking jumps in the draft lottery and NBA teams' ongoing battle with the new collective bargaining agreement, the stage is set for explosive player movement across the league. The Suns' intention to trade Durant might be the NBA's worst-kept secret. According to ESPN's Shams Charania, he's expected to have "a robust market of approximately four to six seriously interested teams this offseason." However, another domino might need to fall first before Durant conversations take off. In mid-May, Charania reported that "for the first time in his career," Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo "is open-minded about exploring whether his best long-term fit is remaining in Milwaukee or playing elsewhere." Damian Lillard's Achilles injury and the Bucks' third straight first-round playoff loss raised questions about their ability to build a championship contender around him moving forward, although Fischer recently said executives are increasingly skeptical that he'll actually ask out. Antetokounmpo could be the domino that triggers a deluge of offseason activity either way. 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They're now figuring out how best to build around him, although the No. 2 overall pick may complicate that to some extent. Rutgers point guard Dylan Harper is the clear consensus second-best prospect in this year's draft behind Flagg. However, the Spurs already spent the No. 4 overall pick last year on fellow guard Stephon Castle, who proceeded to win Rookie of the Year this past season. And at this year's trade deadline, they acquired former All-Star point guard De'Aaron Fox in a trade with the Kings. Long-range shooting is not a strength for any of Fox, Castle or Harper at the moment. NBA teams can never have enough high-level playmakers these days, so the Spurs might just take the best-player-available approach, select Harper and worry about his fit alongside Fox and Castle later. But if they're unsure about how that trio might mesh, they could always look to shop the pick as well. The Philadelphia 76ers, who own the No. 3 overall pick, may likewise be considering trading it. Team president Daryl Morey has repeatedly declared that he plans to make the Sixers younger and "more dynamic" this offseason, so the Sixers likely won't trade out of the draft entirely, according to Fischer. However, they "are expected to at least listen to trade-down opportunities," he added. Meanwhile, a handful of other teams have multiple first-round picks that they could seek to package to move up in the order. Would the Sixers take the Nos. 5 and 21 picks from the Jazz in exchange for No. 3? What about Nos. 6 and 18 from Washington? The Brooklyn Nets have four first-round picks (No. 8, No. 19, No. 26 and No. 27) that they could dangle. And the Thunder, who are three wins away from this year's championship, have two more first-round picks (Nos. 15 and 24) than they do open roster spots for next season. Combined with the number of star players who could be on the move, the unique draft order could lend itself to some major fireworks on June 25. 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Fox's agent, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports, eventually told the Kings "that it would be wise to move him sooner rather than later" with that in mind, according to Sam Amick of The Athletic. The Dallas Mavericks also cited that as justification for their controversial decision to trade Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers. "We really feel like we got ahead of what was going to be a tumultuous summer, him being eligible for the supermax and also a year away from him being able to opt out of any contract," Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison told Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News. "And so we really felt like we got out in front of that." Christian Clark, Mike Vorkunov and Fred Katz of The Athletic later reported that the Mavericks never planned to offer Dončić the five-year, $345 million supermax extension that he would have been eligible for this offseason, but that's beside the point. Other teams may decide to follow in the footsteps of Dallas and Sacramento this offseason if they're unsure of their ability to retain their own stars beyond 2025-26. All of those ingredients combined set the stage for what projects to be an explosive offseason. Unless otherwise noted, all stats via PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM. All odds via FanDuel Sportsbook. Follow Bryan on Bluesky.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Is Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant falling in NBA's point guard hierarchy? Here's a look
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