Top News:
Christine Brennan / USA Today:
IOC member says that 2020 Tokyo Olympics will be postponed due to coronavirus pandemic — Veteran International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound told USA TODAY Sports Monday afternoon that the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games are going to be postponed, likely to 2021, with the details to be worked out in the next four weeks.
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Bill Plaschke / Los Angeles Times:
Pull up a chair and listen to Vin Scully give a message of hope and optimism — We are surrounded by a cacophony of chaos, our lives filled with words of warning and dread and doom. — I need a sound of spring. This being the formerly opening week of the postponed baseball season …
Anthony Rieber / Newsday:
Marcus Stroman pitching in to help New Yorkers during coronavirus crisis — Newsday is opening this story to all readers as we provide Long Islanders with news and information you can use during the coronavirus outbreak. All readers can learn the latest news at newsday.com/LiveUpdates
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Sports Illustrated
Steve Adams / MLB Trade Rumors:
Red Sox Acquire Jhonny Pereda From Cubs To Complete Travis Lakins Trade — The Red Sox announced Monday that they've acquired minor league catcher Jhonny Pereda from the Cubs as the player to be named later in the January trade that sent righty Travis Lakins from Boston to Chicago.
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Over the Monster and Bleed Cubbie Blue
Justin Toscano / NorthJersey.com:
'It's a pandemic, man': How three NY Mets minor leaguers are handling baseball's delay — On March 14, a Saturday, Mets leaders met with the organization's 100-plus minor leaguers. The message, according to those present, was to stick around Port St. Lucie — unless a trip home was necessary …
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Metsmerized Online
Associated Press:
Blue Jays president says 4 weeks of spring training needed before season — TORONTO — With no sign of when training camps can resume, Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro says he thinks Major League Baseball would need at least a month of workouts and exhibition games before regular-season play can begin.
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FanGraphs Baseball, MLB Baseball News …, Bless You Boys and Talking Chop
Sam Farmer / Los Angeles Times:
NFL plans to stage its draft next month in a studio setting rather than Las Vegas — Las Vegas is off for next month's NFL draft. No celebrations along the Strip. No boats navigating players across the Bellagio Hotel fountain to the stage. All that was scuttled in reaction to the coronavirus outbreak.
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Pro Football Rumors, New York Post, ProFootballTalk and Las Vegas Review-Journal
Rick Stroud / Tampa Bay Times:
How the Bucs got Tom Brady to leave the New England Patriots for Tampa Bay — The behind-the-scenes story of the Buccaneers landing the greatest NFL free agent of all time. — Updated Yesterday — TAMPA — It was last Wednesday evening, the first day of the new league year, when the Bucs called Tom Brady.
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ProFootballTalk, New York Post and Sports Illustrated
Gabriel Burns / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Leo Mazzone recalls readying Braves pitchers for shortened 1995 season — Major League Baseball's opening day would've been five days from Saturday. Instead, baseball - like the rest of the world - sits stuck in a waiting pattern due to the coronavirus outbreak. — Eventually, baseball does hope to begin a truncated season.
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Talking Chop