From his time in Negro Leagues as a teenager to his epic run of success with the Giants, Willie Mays was always student and ambassador of America’s Pasttime Mays’ performance on the field has him in the conversation as one of the best players ever. 24 All Star Games, 12 Gold Gloves, two MVP awards, and 660 homers leave him in the most rare of air. …

With all of the air in the WNBA room being sucked up by loud takes on Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and what their rivalry means to America, it’s easy to forget that we’re about a month and a half into the season. So today ESPN women’s basketball writer Michael Voepel takes us around the league to fill us in on what we’ve been missing. Tonight’s Comm…

By the end of tonight, the world will know if the Edmonton Oilers will be the first Canadian team to hoist the Stanley Cup in more than three decades. Despite an initial 3-0 lead by the Florida Panthers, the Oilers have pushed forward and forced a Game 7. Our own Emily Kaplan is here to tell us how both these teams got to the finals, why key player…

The 2024 Olympics are almost upon us. Trials are taking place around the world to determine who will represent their countries in Paris. And next week, all eyes will be on USA gymnastics trials in Minneapolis – as 16 women compete for one of five coveted spots on Team USA. Olympic superstar gymnast Simone Biles is looking to make it to her 3rd Olym…

The Copa América is South America’s fiercely competitive international soccer tournament, historically dominated by Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. But this summer, the games are happening in the United States, and the Americans have been invited to compete along with other North and Central American teams. So, as this unprecedented tournament gets…

The St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants will meet in a special ballgame at Birmingham, Alabama’s historic Rickwood Field tomorrow. That ballpark is 114 years old, the oldest professional field in America, and was the home to two teams named The Barons: one black and one white. And what happened on that field: a community gathering to cheer…

The Indianapolis 500 is a sacred tradition in the racing community. But so is the Coca Cola 600, NASCAR’s longest race. And both of these events just happen to fall on the same day. So when a brave driver decides to tackle all 1100 of these miles — a challenge affectionately known as the Memorial Day Double – the eyes of the race world fall on them…

It’s difficult to identify a true contemporary to Jerry West. He’s the man who spent 14 consecutive years as an All Star for the Los Angeles Lakers. The guy who helped engineer and sustain not one, but two dynasties with the team. A figure whose silhouette literally loomed above the league as the NBA’s logo. So when the news broke last week of his …

Yankees vs. Red Sox. It’s one of the fiercest rivalries in all of sports and includes names like: Derek Jeter, Pedro Martinez, David Ortiz, Bucky Dent, and of course Babe Ruth. But these days Major League Baseball has become so obsessed with data, that it feels like the human element can fall by the wayside. So, ahead of their three game weekend se…

The first month of the WNBA season has been full of compelling on-court storylines. The Connecticut Sun look ready to contend for a title. The defending champion Las Vegas Aces have struggled to find their footing with veteran Chelsea Gray injured. But all of that is getting crowded out by one big distraction –– a debate over whether or not the lea…

Two games into the NBA Finals, and it looks like nothing can keep the Boston Celtics away from lifting an 18th championship banner to the rafters. They’ve been able to limit the Dallas attack to just Luka Doncic, and everything seems to be going their way. ESPN NBA reporter Tim Bontemps has been at both games of the series, and he joins the show to…

For Americans who’ve never watched a cricket match before, now may be the best time to start. Because for the first time ever, Team USA has drawn global attention, after shocking the world in an upset over Pakistan last Thursday. And that feat looks all the more improbable when you learn who exactly is on this roster. So today, ESPN’s own Aishwarya…

With all of the energy surrounding women’s basketball these days, it can be easy to lose sight of the fact that the interest in women’s sports is growing beyond just the hardwood. We’ve seen a professional women’s hockey league return to the ice this season, stars continue to shine on the tennis courts and the track. And interest in the Women’s Col…

The teams meeting in the Stanley Cup Final this season, the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers, are both trying to get over the hump. For the Panthers, this is year three in their recent turnaround. Having the best record in the NHL two seasons ago didn’t get it done, and last year they fell a step short of lifting Lord Stanley’s trophy into the …

Unless you’ve been living under a rock the WNBA continues to be a hot topic, showing fans and the world that excitement around women's basketball is expanding beyond a “moment.” With all the chatter about aggression towards rookies, vet players, crazy record stats, and even team mascots dominating the floor, there is one thing that has been looming…

This year’s NBA finals feature one team everyone saw coming and, according to Brian Windhorst, another we probably should have seen coming. The Boston Celtics have been on a hot streak all season long –– easily claiming the league’s best record –– while the Dallas Mavericks have been pushing their way towards the mountaintop week by week. Game 1 of…

For years, names like Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell, and Satchel Paige were well known as legends in the Negro Leagues, but unrecognized in the record books alongside their white contemporaries. Last week that changed, as a nearly quarter-century long endeavor to collect and verify decades of statistics was unveiled for the first time. The news seems…