Shohei’s magic continues, plus the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft

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The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic’s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox.

Good morning! Don’t fall for a smokescreen today.

While You Were Sleeping: Inevitable, indeed

At some point, a championship team’s magic runs out. Maybe it’s after one perfect year, where everything went right. Maybe it lasts for an entire era, a la the peak Golden State Warriors. The Shohei Ohtani-led Dodgers, 2024 World Series champions, still have plenty of magic left. 

The defending champs were undefeated heading into last night’s game against the winless Braves. Atlanta, expected to be a contender this season, jumped out to a 5-0 lead, but saw it whither to a 5-5 tie by the ninth, when Ohtani came up. 

You know what happened next:

SHOHEI OHTANI SAYS GOODNIGHT 👋

He hits a walk-off home run as the Dodgers move to 8-0 on the season.

📽️ @MLBpic.twitter.com/705tV2XGcx

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) April 3, 2025

As Joe Davis said on the Dodgers’ broadcast, Ohtani was truly “inevitable.” All we really needed was Mike Breen next to him shouting “Bang!” 

For those keeping score at home: The Dodgers are now 8-0, five games shy of tying the 1982 Braves, 1987 Brewers and 2023 Rays for the best start in MLB history. Also, the Braves are now 0-7. 

Let’s keep going:

Certainties*: Things we agree on … for now

The NFL Draft is three weeks away, and now we enter the smokescreen zone. Pro days are mostly done. The combine is far behind us. Executives have most of the data they need to make a choice. 

Thus, before we start to get loony reports meant to mislead, I present two certainties — today, April 3, I should qualify — of opinions around the sport: 

1. Cam Ward will go No. 1
Miami’s Ward entered draft season in discussion for the QB1 role, and in the months since, has distanced himself from Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders. Bruce Feldman emphasized this even more in his latest mock draft yesterday, where coaches across college football testified to Ward’s greatness. Tennessee, which holds the top pick, has shown every sign of going after a quarterback. The only intrigue for now is whether someone ponies up a worthy trade package to nab Ward. 

2. Don’t expect Sanders to fall that far
There has been plenty of chatter, including on Athletic airwaves, about opinions on Sanders around the NFL. While Dane Brugler has him going late in the first to Pittsburgh in his March 4 mock, Bruce has him going No. 3 to New York, even with the Giants signing both Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston this offseason. ESPN’s Field Yates did the same. Quarterback is the most important position in the NFL, and if a team likes Sanders’ skill set enough — no one is saying he’s a bad prospect, either — the temptation will prove too great. 

We’ll be touching on the draft much more in the coming weeks. For now, check out our newly published NFL Draft hub.

News to Know

AP Photo / Brandon Dill

NBA investigating Morant
On multiple occasions during Tuesday’s game, Grizzlies guard Ja Morant celebrated with a gun-like gesture, with one pointed directly at the Warriors bench. The NBA has fined players for similar motions before, but with Morant it’s different — he’s been suspended twice for waving around actual firearms on social media. Not a great time in Memphis right now.

Marte, Merrill, Campbell get paid
I guess it’s extension season in baseball, which adds to some good early season vibes for those getting millions more dollars. Up first: Diamondbacks All-Star second baseman Ketel Marte, who agreed to a six-year, $116.5 million deal yesterday. Well-deserved, as Marte has been awesome in Arizona. Also making big bucks: Padres wunderkind Jackson Merrill, who will sign a team-friendly nine-year, $135 million extension that already feels too cheap. On the opposite end, the Red Sox finalized an eight-year, $60 million contract with 22-year-old Kristian Campbell, who debuted on Opening Day this year. Cheers to signing players early.

More news

• USC’s JuJu Watkins was named the Naismith Women’s College Player of the Year. Still bummed about her injury. 
• Alexander Ovechkin scored again. He’s three away from Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record.
• Bengals pass rusher Trey Hendrickson was not exactly pleased about comments from the team this week, as the sides try to hammer out an extension. Oof.
  
• The Maple Leafs clinched their ninth straight postseason berth, the longest active streak in the NHL. This year, they need a deep playoff run, though.
  
• Four Zambian NWSL players won’t travel to China for matches due to new U.S. travel measures. See our full report here.

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What to Watch

📺 NHL: Bruins at Canadiens
7 p.m. ET on ESPN+
Montreal is in a tight race for the last wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, tied in the standings with the Rangers — with Columbus and Detroit not far behind. Eight games left. 

📺 NBA: Warriors at Lakers
10 p.m. ET on TNT/Max
Steph vs. LeBron, two playoff teams jelling at the right time. What more do you need? 

Get tickets to games like these here.

Pulse Picks

What was it like to face Nikola Jokić on Tuesday, when he registered a 61-point triple-double? “Bruh, oh my god,” is the best answer I could hope for from the bewildered Timberwolves. I love game stories like this one. 

How did NFL teams — namely, the Bengals — do in free agency? Mike Sando got unfiltered opinions from executives around the league to find out.

Fun exclusive: Bears GM Ryan Poles talks about how he reeled in this offseason’s big coaching hire, and a whole lot more. Watch here.

Very important journalism: Ken Rosenthal asked Dodgers players to pick the better athlete between Mookie Betts and Shohei Ohtani. They had a hard time. 

Hey, there’s a new pitch in baseball. It’s called the “kick-change” and Eno Sarris has all the lore. 

I liked Ralph Russo’s perspective on this: Sure, we don’t have Cinderella teams this year in the men’s NCAA Tournament, but we do have Cinderella players. 

Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: Andrew Marchand’s column on the Pat McAfee/Ole Miss student situation, which he compared to the saga of Don Imus. Catch up here. 

Most-read on the website yesterday: Once again, Katie Strang’s story on the above situation, which is the start of this entire arc.

A final ask: Hello, Pulse friends. We’d like to hear from you. Fill out a quick survey about your Pulse experience here, and a few of you will win $100 worth of Amazon vouchers. Thank you in advance. I hope you win the voucher.

Ticketing links in this article are provided by partners of The Athletic. Restrictions may apply. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.

(Top photo: Gary A. Vasquez / Imagn Images)

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