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TORONTO — The Maple Leafs made their hometown crowd proud during NHL All-Star weekend. And it was capped by an MVP performance from none other than Auston Matthews.

Indeed, the league’s leading goal scorer stole the show during Saturday’s NHL All-Star Game tournament. He closed a revamped weekend of festivities at the league’s annual showcase by winning the contest’s top honor in Team Matthews’ 7-4 victory over Team McDavid in the 3-on-3 finale.

Three of Matthews’ teammates with the Maple Leafs — Mitch Marner, Morgan Rielly and William Nylander — were all part of Team Matthews and contributed to the title on their home ice at Scotiabank Arena.

“The whole weekend in itself is special for all of us,” Matthews said. “Especially the host city and the hometown guys.”

And while Matthews owned the spotlight, it was Marner — a born-and-raised Torontonian — who found the entire experience particularly meaningful.

“[It was] amazing,” he said. “I’ve dreamt of being in All-Star games my whole life. I’ve watched All-Star games from my couch, [from] my carpet with my parents. Just watching [Sidney Crosby] and [Jason] Spezza, [Marian] Hossa, Owen Nolan, and the list goes on and on. You always dream of being a part of one. To have it in this city, it’s pretty remarkable and to be able to enjoy it with the ones that got me to where I am, it’s even better.”

Marner dented the scoresheet several times across his two games on Saturday, one of many to do so on a day that featured four All-Star rosters — determined by captain selections in Thursday night’s player draft — icing two preliminary games. The winners met in the final.

On Thursday, Matthews had help in the draft from co-captain Rielly and celebrity captain Justin Bieber. Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon was joined by co-captain and his teammate in Denver, Cale Makar, and celebrity captain Tate McRae, in selecting his squad. Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid was joined by co-captain and teammate Leon Draisaitl along with celebrity captain Will Arnett in compiling his club. And Vancouver defenseman Quinn Hughes, with co-captains Jack Hughes, his brother and star from the New Jersey Devils, and Elias Pettersson, also of the Canucks, plus celebrity captain Michael Buble, chose the other team.

Those lineups were put to the test on Saturday. Team McDavid defeated Team MacKinnon 4-3 in a Game 1 shootout to advance, later joined by Team Matthews, after it topped Team Hughes 6-5, also via shootout.

That set the stage for a final headliner by McDavid — the hometown skater and $1 million prize winner from Friday’s skills competition — and Matthews, who posted 40 goals for the Maple Leafs before the All-Star break.

And with that type of star power, even Rielly had to admit the stakes were high.

“The only thing that surprised me at all was nerves,” he said. “I didn’t expect to get nervous or anything like that before the game. And I think when you’re in that environment around all those elite players, I think I was a little nervous and I didn’t expect that myself.”

Matthews’ team got rolling early, when Arizona Coyotes forward Clayton Keller blasted a goal past Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. But that 1-0 lead evaporated when Columbus Blue Jackets star Boone Jenner came through for Team McDavid against New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin, making it 1-1.

A flurry of quick goals from there — by Matthews and Marner, countered by Boston Bruins star David Pastrnak and Draisaitl for Team McDavid — had the tilt knotted 3-3 after the first half.

Nashville Predators star Filip Forsberg struck fast in the second period, beating Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, giving Team Matthews a 4-3 lead. The captain added some insurance for his club off a blistering one-timer to make it 5-3 for Team Matthews with five minutes to go in regulation.

Detroit Red Wings forward Alex DeBrincat extended the Team Matthews lead before a response by San Jose Sharks star Tomas Hertl put Team McDavid within striking distance. It was New York Islanders forward Mathew Barzal‘s goal with just over a minute left that sealed Team Matthews’ win.

“It was nice to cap it off with a win, and everybody goes home happy,” Matthews said. “We wanted to win, for sure. Talking in the locker room, I don’t think there was much messing around. Everybody was on the same page to try to go out there and put in a pretty good effort and try to come out with a good result.”

And in doing so, the players displayed the parity — and excitement — the NHL hoped to recapture at its All-Star Game when bringing back the player draft, which last ran in 2015.

“In front of the hometown fans,” Marner said, “we wanted to give them a show.”

The NHL will resume its regular-season schedule on Tuesday.

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Sources: Red Sox deal Devers to Giants in stunner

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Sources: Red Sox deal Devers to Giants in stunner

The San Francisco Giants are acquiring All-Star slugger Rafael Devers from the Boston Red Sox, sources confirmed to ESPN’s Jeff Passan on Sunday evening.

The Giants are sending starter Jordan Hicks and 23-year-old lefty Kyle Harrison, among others, to Boston in exchange, sources said.

Devers, 28, is in just the second season of a 10-year, $313.5 million contract he signed to stay in Boston in January 2023, however his relationship with the team suffered a significant blow after the star third baseman was reportedly blindsided by a move to designated hitter in the spring.

Tensions flared again last month after Devers refused an offer from the team to move him to first base after starting first baseman Triston Casas was ruled out for the season with a knee injury.

It reached a point where Red Sox owner John Henry met with the disgruntled star, making a rare trip to meet the team on the road and smooth things over after Devers’ pointed comments about the request to switch positions again.

Hicks and Harrison give a pitching-starved Red Sox team more depth on their staff while Devers provides a huge boost to a middling Giants offense.

Devers has more than 200 career home runs to his name and has a .894 OPS for Boston this season.

The deal was first reported by Fansided.

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Ohtani’s pitching return might be coming soon

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Ohtani's pitching return might be coming soon

Shohei Ohtani‘s pitching debut for the Los Angeles Dodgers might be quickly approaching.

Manager Dave Roberts told reporters Sunday that Ohtani would throw another simulated game in the coming days that could “potentially” be his last one, and a source told ESPN’s Buster Olney that Ohtani should join the Dodgers’ rotation “sooner rather than later,” potentially within the week.

Ohtani took a big step forward during his most recent simulated game at Petco Park on Tuesday, throwing 44 pitches over the course of three innings against a couple of lower-level minor league players. Ohtani’s fastball reached the mid- to upper-90s, and he exhibited good command of his off-speed pitches in what amounted to his third time facing hitters. Afterward, Roberts said there was a “north of zero” chance Ohtani could join the rotation before the All-Star break.

Because of his two-way designation, the Dodgers can carry Ohtani as an extra pitcher, which means he can throw two to three innings and have someone pitch after him as a piggyback starter. At this point, it seems that is the Dodgers’ plan.

The Dodgers’ pitching staff has again been plagued by injury, with 14 pitchers on the injured list, including four starting pitchers the team was heavily counting on for 2025 — Blake Snell, Tony Gonsolin, Roki Sasaki and Tyler Glasnow.

If Ohtani returns in July — the likely outcome at this point — he will be 22 months removed from a second repair of his ulnar collateral ligament.

The update isn’t as optimistic for Sasaki. He paused his throwing program and is set for a lengthy layoff. Sasaki has not pitched in a game since May 9 and is not part of the team’s long-term pitching plans this season.

“I think that’s what the mindset should be,” Roberts said. “Being thrust into this environment certainly was a big undertaking for him, and now you layer in the health part and the fact he’s a starting pitcher, knowing what the build-up [required to return] entails … I think that’s the prudent way to go about it.”

Sasaki, 23, went 1-1 with a 4.72 ERA in eight starts after joining the Dodgers from the Pacific League’s Chuba Lotte Marines, averaging less than 4⅓ innings per start. He walked 22 and struck out 24 in 34⅓ innings, and his fastball averaged 95.7 mph, down 3-4 mph from his average in Japan.

Roberts said Sasaki was pain free when he resumed throwing in early June, but the pitcher was shut down after feeling discomfort this past week. Sasaki recently received a cortisone injection in the shoulder; Roberts said no further scans are planned.

“I don’t think it’s pain,” Roberts said. “I don’t know if it’s discomfort, if it’s tightness, if he’s just not feeling strong, whatever the adjective you want to use. That’s more of a question for Roki, as far as the sensation he’s feeling.

“He’s just not feeling like he can ramp it up, and we’re not going to push him to do something he doesn’t feel good about right now.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Judge 1-for-12 as NY swept: Got to swing at strikes

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Judge 1-for-12 as NY swept: Got to swing at strikes

BOSTON — Aaron Judge blamed himself for swinging at pitches outside the strike zone as the New York Yankees were swept in a three-game series against the Boston Red Sox.

“You got to swing at strikes,” Judge said after going 1-for-12 in the series, which Boston completed with a 2-0 victory on Sunday.

Judge struck out three or more times in three straight games for only the third time in his major league career.

“That usually helps any hitter when you swing at strikes,” Judge added. “Definitely some pitches off the edge or off the edge in, you know, taking some hacks just trying to make something happen.”

Judge had a tying solo homer in the opener Friday night but struck out nine times as the Yankees were swept in a series for the first time this season.

New York scored only four runs in the three games, matching its fewest in a three-game series at Fenway Park, on June 20-22, 1916 and on Sept. 28-30, 1922.

“It’s very hard,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said of facing Judge. “He’s so good at what he does. We used our fastballs in the right spots, we got some swing and misses.”

“Throughout the years we’ve been aggressive with him,” Cora added. “Sometimes he gets us, sometimes we do a good job with that. It’s always fun to compete against the best, and, to me, he’s the best in the business right now.”

Judge’s major league-leading average dipped to .378.

“I don’t think much of it,” teammate Ben Rice said. “If I could have that guy hitting every single at-bat even if he’s not at his best, I would do it. I’m sure he’ll bounce back. He’ll be all right.”

Judge faced Garrett Whitlock with two on in the eighth Sunday and bounced into an inning-ending double play.

“He’s one of the greatest hitters in the world,” Whitlock said. “It’s special to watch him play and everything. We tried to execute and had some execution this weekend.”

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