Sports

If you’re looking for a football team that almost certainly will be improved over last season, Bellflower High fits the profile. The Buccaneers went 0-10. Amir Neal was a starter and never quit. His mom kept telling him, “It’s going to get better, it’s going to get better.” And it has with the hiring of…

TAMPA, Fla. — Blake Snell nearly had a flawless return from the injured list on Saturday afternoon. If only the Tampa Bay Rays didn’t have slugger Yandy Díaz, or a quirky short right-field wall at their temporary home at Steinbrenner Field. Making his first start since the second week of the season, when he went down with…

When he first offered to man the grill, Tobias Raymond had no intention of holding onto the role. He was not, by any stretch, a connoisseur of grilled meats. Nor was he experienced cooking over an open flame. Yet this was the offensive line’s first summer barbecue, and somebody on USC’s offensive line needed to…

Luka Doncic has provided the Lakers and their fans with good news for the future by signing a contract extension with the team on Saturday. Doncic signed a three-year, $165-million deal with a player option in 2028 on Saturday morning, his agent, Bill Duffy, confirmed to The Times. Signing that contract allows Doncic to eventually…

Chargers linebacker Denzel Perryman was arrested Friday night on suspicion of a felony weapons charge, according to L.A. County Sheriff Dept. records. Perryman was arrested by deputies from the South Los Angeles Sheriff’s Station at 9:41 p.m. and booked at shortly after 10 p.m., according to department records. A court hearing in Inglewood has been…

p]:text-cms-story-body-color-text clearfix”> The self-confident, stay-as-they-are Dodgers did right by not panicking at the trade deadline and keeping the roster pretty much intact. This is still the same group of guys picked by most baseball experts to win a second straight championship. The slumps will pass. The injuries will go away. Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Shohei…

Los Angeles city leaders are at a critical juncture ahead of the 2028 Summer Olympics, with potentially hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars at stake. They are in negotiations with LA28, the private committee overseeing the Games, for the use of the city’s police, traffic officers and other employees during the Olympics and Paralympics. Millions…

TAMPA, Fla. — First, the meme made Freddie Freeman laugh. Then, in a serendipitous twist, it gave him a lightning-bulb epiphany about his recently ailing swing. At the end of a long day during last week’s homestand — when Freeman was hit by a pitch on July 20, immediately removed from the game to get an X-ray,…

Let’s offer a preseason top-10 rankings in high school football for the City Section: 1. BIRMINGHAM: The Patriots have weaknesses (lack of a passing game), but a big offensive line, two transfer running backs and a big-play weapon in receiver Paul Turner make them the team to beat. They have a 49-game winning streak against…

TAMPA, Fla. — The Dodgers didn’t go shopping at the top of the market ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline. But what they came away with — right-handed relievers Brock Stewart and Paul Gervase to bolster the bullpen, and versatile outfielder Alex Call to round out the lineup — are the kind of moves that “just raises the…