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BALTIMORE — Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan drew the No. 5 post position in the Preakness on Monday looking to sweep the first two legs of horse racing’s Triple Crown, though he’s not favored to do so.

Bob Baffert-trained Muth, just inside Mystik Dan in the No. 4 post, opened as the 8-5 morning line favorite Monday. Baffert, who was barred from the Derby because of Churchill Downs’ ban on him that was extended, is also saddling No. 9 Imagination (6-1) as he goes for a record-extending ninth Preakness victory and second in a row after National Treasure won for him last year.

Mystik Dan is the 5-2 second choice in the nine-horse field for the 149th rendition of the 1 3/16-mile, $2 million second jewel of the Triple Crown on Saturday. Muth beat Mystik Dan the last time they raced against each other: March 30 in the Arkansas Derby.

“With all the success Bob Baffert has had in the Preakness and the name recognition he brings, as well, it all adds up to Muth being a pretty solid favorite,” Maryland Jockey Club linemaker Brian Nadeau said. “Mystik Dan was 18-1 in the Derby, and when a long shot wins, sometimes the betting public is a bit slow to come around or believe.”

Mystik Dan is one of three heading to Pimlico Race Course after running in the Derby, joined by Brad Cox’s Catching Freedom (No. 3, 6-1), who finished fourth, and D. Wayne Lukas’ Just Steel, who faded to 17th, and opened at 15-1 leaving from the No. 7 post.

Two-time Preakness-winning jockey Robby Albarado, who has been riding Mystik Dan in the mornings for trainer Kenny McPeek, was hoping for No. 4 because his victories in the race were from that post. The most recent of which came for McPeek with Swiss Skydiver in 2020, when he and the filly beat Baffert-trained Authentic.

But, all in all, Mystik Dan’s camp was happy with how the draw went down.

“Perfect — couldn’t have asked for a better one,” assistant trainer Ray Bryner said. “He’s right in the middle of nine horses. We have the favorite inside us. Muth better look out.”

It’s the first time since 2012 that the Derby winner did not open as the Preakness favorite.

“It takes the pressure off,” Albarado said. “No pressure not being the favorite.”

McPeek is hoping Mystik Dan can be the first horse since Baffert’s Justify in 2018 to win the Derby and Preakness.

“There is hope,” post-position draw emcee Britney Eurton said. “There is hope of a Triple Crown.”

McPeek had not committed to bringing him back on a two-week turnaround until Saturday, when he was satisfied the colt bounced back well from his run to win by a nose over Sierra Leone and Forever Young in the closest Derby finish in half a century.

“He came back from the Derby just fine,” Bryner said. “The first day, a little tired, just a little quiet, but that’s normal. … You go out and go run a marathon tomorrow and see how you feel the next day. You’re going to need a day or two to rest up. He’s done everything. He’s checked every box.”

Jockey Brian Hernandez Jr., whose elite ride got the job done May 4 in the Derby, will again be aboard Mystik Dan. Also running in the Preakness are Lukas’ Seize the Grey (No. 6, 15-1), No. 2 Uncle Heavy (20-1), No. 8 Tuscan Gold (8-1) and No. 5 Mugatu (20-1).

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Giants sell 10% stake to private equity firm

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Giants sell 10% stake to private equity firm

The San Francisco Giants have sold a reported 10% stake in the team to private equity firm Sixth Street.

The team confirmed the deal Tuesday but not the amount of the investment, which was first reported Monday by the New York Times.

Sportico places the value of the franchise and its team-related holdings at $4.2 billion.

Sixth Street’s investment, reportedly approved by Major League Baseball on Monday, will go toward upgrades to Oracle Park and the Giants’ training facilities in Scottsdale, Arizona, as well as Mission Rock, the team’s real estate development project located across McCovey Cove from the ballpark.

Giants president and CEO Larry Baer called it the “first significant investment in three decades” and said the money would not be spent on players.

“This is not about a stockpile for the next Aaron Judge,” Baer told the New York Times. “This is about improvements to the ballpark, making big bets on San Francisco and the community around us, and having the firepower to take us into the next generation.”

Sixth Street is the primary owner of National Women’s Soccer League franchise Bay FC. It also has investments in the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs and Spanish soccer powers Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.

“We believe in the future of San Francisco, and our sports franchises like the Giants are critical ambassadors for our city of innovation, showcasing to the world what’s only made possible here,” Sixth Street co-founder and CEO Alan Waxman said in the news release. “We believe in Larry and the leadership team’s vision for this exciting new era, and we’re proud to be partnering with them as they execute the next chapter of San Francisco Giants success.”

Founded in 2009 and based in San Francisco, Sixth Street has assets totaling $75 billion, according to Front Office Sports.

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Ohtani ‘nervous’ in Tokyo but gets 2 hits, runs

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Ohtani 'nervous' in Tokyo but gets 2 hits, runs

TOKYO — Shohei Ohtani seems impervious to a variety of conditions that afflict most humans — nerves, anxiety, distraction — but it took playing a regular-season big-league game in his home country to change all of that.

After the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ Opening Day 4-1 win over the Chicago Cubs in the Tokyo Dome, Ohtani made a surprising admission. “It’s been a while since I felt this nervous playing a game,” he said. “It took me four or five innings.”

Ohtani had two hits and scored twice, and one of his outs was a hard liner that left his bat at more than 96 mph, so the nerves weren’t obvious from the outside. But clearly the moment, and its weeklong buildup, altered his usually stoic demeanor.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Shohei nervous,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “But one thing I did notice was how emotional he got during the Japanese national anthem. I thought that was telling.”

As the Dodgers began the defense of last year’s World Series win, it became a night to showcase the five Japanese players on the two teams. For the first time in league history, two Japanese pitchers — the Dodgers’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto and the Cubs’ Shota Imanaga — faced each other on Opening Day. Both pitched well, with Imanaga throwing four hitless innings before being removed after 69 pitches.

“Seventy was kind of the number we had for Shota,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “It was the right time to take him out.”

The Dodgers agreed, scoring three in the fifth inning off reliever Ben Brown. Imanaga kept the Dodgers off balance, but his career-high four walks created two stressful innings that ran up his pitch count.

Yamamoto rode the adrenaline of pitching in his home country, routinely hitting 98 with his fastball and vexing the Cubs with a diving splitter over the course of five three-hit innings. He threw with a kind of abandon, finding a freedom that often eluded him last year in his first year in America.

“I think last year to this year, the confidence and conviction he has throwing the fastball in the strike zone is night and day,” Roberts said. “If he can continue to do that, I see no reason he won’t be in the Cy Young conversation this season.”

Cubs right fielder Seiya Suzuki went hitless in four at bats — the Cubs had only three hits, none in the final four innings against four relievers out of the Dodgers’ loaded bullpen — and rookie Roki Sasaki will make his first start of his Dodger career in the second and final game of the series Wednesday.

“I don’t think there was a Japanese baseball player in this country who wasn’t watching tonight,” Roberts said.

The Dodgers were without Mookie Betts, who left Japan on Monday after it was decided his illness would not allow him to play in this series. And less than an hour before game time, first baseman Freddie Freeman was scratched with what the team termed “left rib discomfort,” a recurrence of an injury he first sustained during last year’s playoffs.

The night started with a pregame celebration that felt like an Olympic opening ceremony in a lesser key. There were Pikachus on the field and a vaguely threatening video depicting the Dodgers and Cubs as Monster vs. Monster. World home-run king Saduharu Oh was on the field before the game, and Roberts called meeting Oh “a dream come true.”

For the most part, the crowd was subdued, as if it couldn’t decide who or what to root for, other than Ohtani. It was admittedly confounding: throughout the first five innings, if fans rooted for the Dodgers they were rooting against Imanaga, but rooting for the Cubs meant rooting against Yamamoto. Ohtani, whose every movement is treated with a rare sense of wonder, presented no such conflict.

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Cardinals shortstop Winn out with wrist soreness

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Cardinals shortstop Winn out with wrist soreness

JUPITER, Fla. — St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Masyn Winn was scratched from the lineup for their exhibition game on Tuesday because of soreness in his right wrist.

Winn was replaced by Jose Barrero in the Grapefruit League matchup with the Miami Marlins, with the regular-season opener nine days away. Winn, who was a 2020 second-round draft pick by the Cardinals, emerged as a productive everyday player during his rookie year in 2024. He batted .267 with 15 home runs, 11 stolen bases and 57 RBIs in 150 games and was named as one of three finalists for the National League Gold Glove Award that went to Ezequiel Tovar of the Colorado Rockies.

Winn had minor surgery after the season to remove a cyst from his hand. In 14 spring training games, he’s batting .098 (4 for 41) with 12 strikeouts.

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