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BUFFALO, N.Y. — The young, retooled Buffalo Sabres can rely on Kyle Okposo‘s veteran presence for at least one more season after the team captain signed a one-year, $2.5 million contract on Wednesday.

The 35-year-old’s re-signing was anticipated after both the player and team expressed mutual interest in his return once Buffalo’s season ended last month.

Okposo was eligible to become an unrestricted free agent after completing a seven-year, $42 million contract, and gets an opportunity to continue leading a team finally showing signs of being competitive.

Despite extending an NHL-worst playoff drought to a 12th season, the Sabres fell two points short of making the playoffs and finished with 42 wins and 91 points — their most since last making the playoffs in 2011.

“I’m extremely proud to be a part of this group and to see how far we’ve come. We’ve become a team,” Okposo said after Buffalo was eliminated with two games left. “And that’s the first time in a long time that I think we can say that about our squad here.

“It was extremely gratifying in a way, but at the same time extremely disappointing with how it ended.”

Okposo was credited for providing guidance and serving as the voice of a team that began the season with the NHL’s youngest roster. He was appointed captain to start this season after serving as an alternate in 2021-22 when Buffalo stripped Jack Eichel of the captaincy before finally trading him to Vegas.

Where other players wanted out of Buffalo because of the Sabres’ losing track record, Okposo expressed a desire to stay because of the promise he saw in a team that features young and up-and-coming stars such as Tage Thompson, Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power.

Okposo had 11 goals and 28 points in 75 games while playing more of a checking line roll. His best season in Buffalo came two years ago, when he had 21 goals — his fourth 20-goal season — and 45 points.

From Minnesota, Okposo spent his first nine seasons with the New York Islanders before signing with Buffalo in free agency in July 2016. At the time, Okposo viewed the Eichel-led Sabres as becoming contenders.

Though the team never played to its potential, Okposo eventually adopted Buffalo as a permanent home.

He’s continued playing despite having his career nearly sidetracked by several injury scares.

Okposo endured a rash of concussions, experiencing four over a three-year stretch from 2017-19. It’s a span that included such severe concussion-related symptoms that he spent nearly a week in Buffalo General Hospital’s Neuro Surgical ICU after he began losing weight and experienced difficulty sleeping following a routine hit in practice.

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Heroic debut: Soto’s throw saves Yankees in 9th

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Heroic debut: Soto's throw saves Yankees in 9th

HOUSTON — That Juan Soto‘s first signature Yankee moment happened in his debut on Opening Day wasn’t far-fetched for a superstar with an uncanny ability to show out in the biggest moments.

But for that moment to happen on a game-saving defensive play? That wasn’t a part of the script anyone, at least on the outside, envisioned for Soto, whose defense has been a knock on him, especially over the past two seasons.

That’s what happened Thursday afternoon against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park. With one out and two runners on in the ninth inning and the Yankees nursing a one-run lead, Kyle Tucker smashed a single to Soto in right field. Soto’s route to the ball was clean, he gathered it smoothly and let it rip — a one-hop missile to home plate that catcher Jose Trevino caught before spinning around to apply a difficult tag on Mauricio Dubon.

Soto pounded his chest and released a few screams. The play, confirmed after a lengthy review, prevented the Astros from tying the score and potentially snowballing the momentum to win it. Moments later, Clay Holmes closed the door, securing the Yankees’ 5-4 comeback victory.

Moments before the play, according to center fielder Aaron Judge, the Yankees’ outfielders had talked about the situation and how they had to come up throwing to save the game.

“That was a Yankee classic right there,” Judge said. “Juan’s debut, that was pretty special out of him.”

That debut also included typical Soto things. An eight-pitch walk in his first Yankees plate appearance. An RBI single in a tough lefty-on-lefty matchup against Framber Valdez. Another walk.

But the throw home was the difference.

“His process and work ethic and care factor about not just hitting, he takes a lot of pride in his defense,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “He wants to be great on defense. He wants to be really good on the bases. And he made a big-time winning play today on defense.”

Defense has been the only blemish on Soto’s résumé. The data says he has been below average or worse in recent years, and the eyes confirmed it.

He knew improving was necessary to maximize not only his worth to the Yankees but in free agency next winter. So he made defense a priority in spring training.

The first step was acclimating himself to right field again after playing all 154 games last season in left field for the San Diego Padres — the routes, the throwing angles. Yankees third-base coach Luis Rojas was a resource.

That work paid off in the ninth inning Thursday.

“It’s just a great feeling,” Soto said. “It tells you I’m going the right way, what I’ve been doing, and I’m more excited to keep going.”

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Ohtani welcomed, helps Betts, Freeman drive win

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Ohtani welcomed, helps Betts, Freeman drive win

LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani was pleased with the quality of his at-bats and “grateful” for the warm reception he received from the sold-out Dodger Stadium crowd on Opening Day — but he came away from it all with one regret.

“I was the only guy who couldn’t hit a homer,” Ohtani, speaking through an interpreter, said with a slight chuckle after the Los Angeles Dodgers breezed to a 7-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday afternoon.

Ohtani was referring to the superstar trio atop the Dodgers’ lineup, of which he is at the center. Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, the two hitters who flank Ohtani, each homered off Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas in the third inning. But all three of them placed their imprint on the Dodgers’ home debut, combining for 5 hits, 4 walks and 4 RBIs while scoring each of the Dodgers’ first six runs.

Through the season’s first three games — the team opened with a two-game series against the San Diego Padres in South Korea last week — Betts, Ohtani and Freeman are slashing .455/.578/.788 while driving in 13 of the Dodgers’ 23 runs.

“There’s been a lot of expectations on the outside,” Betts said, “but internally nobody expects anything more than what Freddie, Mookie, Shohei and everybody down the lineup can do. We’re just going to do what we can.”

Betts, Ohtani and Freeman mark the fifth time in major league history that three players who finished within the top three in voting for the previous year’s MVP have begun the ensuing season on the same team, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Ohtani was the unanimous choice in the American League for the second time in three years in 2023; Betts and Freeman finished second and third, respectively, in National League voting.

Betts began the game with a walk, then moved to third on a double by Ohtani — who thought Betts would attempt to score but instead got caught between second and third base — and scored on Freeman’s single. Two innings later, Betts smacked a homer to left, Ohtani drew a walk and Freeman homered to right-center field, giving the Dodgers five runs before recording their seventh out.

“I think in any discussion you can argue that they’re the best hitter in baseball,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Betts, Ohtani and Freeman. “When you talk about those three guys, and you lump another handful or 10 players, they’re in that conversation. We’re fortunate to have three at the top of the order. The first word that comes to mind is ‘daunting.'”

“Daunting” can also be used to describe the events of the past week for Ohtani, amid a betting scandal centered on at least $4.5 million in wire transfers from his bank account to a bookmaking operation that is under federal investigation. Ohtani’s longtime interpreter and good friend, Ippei Mizuhara, was fired by the Dodgers after Ohtani’s camp alleged that he transferred the money without Ohtani’s knowledge, which Ohtani repeated while addressing the matter Monday. Three days later, Ohtani emerged from the center-field fence and strolled down a long blue carpet to punctuate opening ceremonies. He was cheered more loudly than any of his teammates. A similar reception awaited him as he prepared to take his first at-bat.

“Obviously I’ve been here before as an [opposing] player, so it was a little intimidating,” Ohtani said through his new interpreter, Dodgers manager of performance operations Will Ireton. “But I’m very grateful for the fans. And there were a lot of them.”

Dodger Stadium was stuffed with 52,667 fans for one of the most anticipated home openers in recent memory, a reaction to an offseason spending spree that totaled more than $1.2 billion. The focus was on Ohtani and his place within what has been casually referred to as the Big Three. But Tyler Glasnow, another major addition this winter, pitched six innings of one-run ball. And other hitters — specifically Will Smith, Max Muncy, Teoscar Hernandez and James Outman, making up the 4 to 7 spots — also made contributions.

Freeman, speaking from a home clubhouse overflowing with media largely because of Ohtani, wanted to make that clear.

“It’s not just the top of the order,” Freeman said. “There’s nine guys in this lineup. I will deflect that for every single question from here on out. It is nine guys in this lineup. We did a good job today.”

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Nats’ Strasburg, in retirement impasse, put on IL

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Nats' Strasburg, in retirement impasse, put on IL

CINCINNATI — Pitcher Stephen Strasburg was put on the 60-day injured list by the Washington Nationals ahead of Thursday’s opener at Cincinnati.

The 2019 World Series MVP has not pitched since June 2022 because of injuries that have derailed his career. He still has three seasons left on a seven-year, $245 million contract.

Strasburg, 35, decided in late August to retire, but the Nationals announced in September that there would be no retirement news conference. Owner Mark Lerner said in a statement at the time that the team looked forward to seeing Strasburg at spring training.

The right-hander did not report to the Nationals’ facility in West Palm Beach, Florida. The only practical impact of him being on the roster is it takes up a protected spot for the Rule 5 draft in December.

Strasburg gets $35 million annually, with $11,428,571 per year deferred at 1% interest. The deferred money is payable in equal installments of $26,666,667 on July 1 in 2027, 2028 and 2029, with an interest payment of $3,999,974 on Dec. 31, 2029.

Restructuring the money Strasburg is owed could be part of a retirement agreement.

Washington also selected the contracts of right-handers Matt Barnes and Derek Law along with outfielders Eddie Rosario and Jesse Winker from Triple-A Rochester. Barnes, Rosario and Winker get $2 million salaries while in the major leagues, and Law gets $1.5 million.

The Nationals also placed right-handers Cade Cavalli and Mason Thompson (Tommy John surgery) and left-hander Jose Ferrer (left lat strain) on the 60-day injured list and outfielder Stone Garrett (recovery from left ankle reconstruction surgery) on the 10-day injured list, a move retroactive to Monday.

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