
Loma Alta Park officially re-opened over the weekend with the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation (LADF) unveiling a completed renovation project.
The park’s recovery saw the construction of Dodgers Dreamfields 66 and 67, which was a joint collaboration between the LADF and county of Los Angeles department of parks and recreation (LA County Parks). The ceremony included remarks from Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation CEO Nichol Whiteman and Evan Phillips, among others.
“We are really proud to be a part of today’s re-opening of Loma Alta Park here in the city of Altadena. When Altadena and the county department of parks and recreations approached us back in January, we said yes,” Whiteman said.
“We ultimately saw the devastation and tragedy that happened with the fires, and we wanted to be helpful. We not only did care camps and other distributions here in this area of Altadena, but we committed to building these two Dodgers Dreamfields.”
Dodgers players often accompany the LADF at various community initiatives, and getting to visit an area that unfortunately was devastated during the Southern California wildfires was of particular importance to Phillips.
“I’m so excited to be here and I know you guys are so excited to get out here and take advantage of the access to these fields. What this means to the community is so special. Thank you to the Dodgers Foundation for giving us the opportunity as players to come out and take part in events like this,” he said.
“I feel like it’s a responsibility as a player to come partake with you guys. I’ve seen the impact on this community specifically, and I just know these fields and park itself is going to do so much good for this community.
“Driving in, this is my first time in this community since the fires, and to witness the impact firsthand, I had chills the last couple miles. It made me really heavyhearted. But to drive up, park my car and see the joy and excitement on everybody’s face for the re-opening of this park, is truly phenomenal. I’m so excited for you guys.”
The Dodgers have remained focused on giving back to communities impacted by the wildfires since initially doing so with their annual community tour. Stops on the 2025 Dodgers Love L.A. Community Tour centered around helping those who were affected by the fires, and the team has also carried out initiatives during the season.
Loma Alta Park had remained closed since the Eaton Fire, but now is back open thanks to a $400,000 revitalization project.
With that brought about two refurbished fields for youth, ages 5-12, new playing surfaces and grass, enclosed fields, upgraded fencing, and an LED scoreboard resembling that at Dodger Stadium.
The Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation continues to make progress toward completing a goal of 75 Dodgers Dreamfields by 2033 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the team’s move from Brooklyn to Los Angeles in 1958.
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The offseason is about to begin in earnest, and that means the St. Louis Cardinals will have some major decisions to make. Sure, the Cardinals aren't expected to be in on any of the most expensive free agents of this winter's class. But they're trying to set up their roster for future success, and that starts with making shrewd decisions about who gets to stay on that roster. As they attempt to construct their ideal 40-man roster when factoring in the return of injured players and the potential additions of Rule 5-eligible prospects, the Cardinals could soon be parting ways with one of their hardest throwers. Cardinals' Jorge Alcala dubbed non-tender candidate On Thursday, MLB.com's John Denton named right-handed reliever Jorge Alcala as a top non-tender candidate this winter, as he's entering his final year of arbitration eligibility and struggled mightily in his appearances for three teams this season. "Lefty reliever John King, who welcomed the birth of his first child in September, could be a non-tender candidate.," wrote Denton. "The same goes for Jorge Alcala, who is eligible for the fourth time, after he struggled in 15 relief appearances with the Cards." Alcala was traded from the Minnesota Twins to the Boston Red Sox in June, and Boston gave up a solid minor-league outfielder, Andy Lugo, to get him. He had been brutal in Minnesota, and after a decent start in Boston, he pitched so poorly on several occasions that he was designated for assignment on Aug. 5. That allowed the Cardinals to nab him for the final two months as a bullpen piece. But he wasn't much better in St. Louis, posting a 5.02 ERA in 15 outings to bring his overall season ERA to 6.22. Entering his age-30 season, Alcala will be looking to prove he can stick in a major league bullpen for the long haul. It's not going to be an easy task, even though he's done it before in Minnesota. But how much do the Cardinals believe in his arm talent? That's the question that will ultimately decide whether he's granted one of those valuable 40 roster spots throughout the winter.
George Pickens is having an outstanding first season with the Dallas Cowboys, and the career-best pace has come at a time when he is preparing for potential free agency. Is it possible the star wide receiver could sign an extension before he gets to that point? Pickens says that is up to his boss. Pickens, who was drafted in the second round by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2022, is in the final season of his rookie contract. He was asked on Thursday if he would consider signing a new deal with the Cowboys before he becomes a free agent after the season. He had a noteworthy response. "That’s kinda up to what (Jerry Jones) wants to do. All I can do is perform at my best," Pickens said. George Pickens has earned No. 1 wideout money Pickens has 685 receiving yards through the first eight weeks of the season, which ranks third in the NFL. His six touchdown catches are already the most of his four-year career. CeeDee Lamb missed several games this season with an ankle injury, and Pickens showed during that time that he is more than capable of being the featured wideout in a quality offense. That should go a long way toward setting his market, whether he re-signs with the Cowboys or becomes a free agent. With Lamb making an average of $34M per year, the Cowboys probably cannot afford to keep Pickens. For now, the 24-year-old is at least giving off the impression that he is open to the possibility. He also suggested recently that money is not the most important thing to him with his next contract, which could keep Dallas in the running.
The Golden State Warriors traded away Ryan Rollins in 2023 after one season and 12 games with the team. Thursday night, Rollins showed the Warriors what they missed out on. With Giannis Antetokounmpo out with an injury, Rollins scored a career-high 32 points and dished out eight assists as the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Warriors, 120-110. Rollins went 5-for-7 from three-point range, tying his career best, and went 13-for-21 overall. In the last four minutes after the Warriors got within points, Rollins had eight points and an assists. Oh, and he outscored Stephen Curry, 32-27. Warriors gave up on Ryan Rollins after one season Golden State traded up to draft Rollins with the No. 44 pick in the 2022 draft, believing that the then-19-year-old guard from Toledo could help it reload their championship roster, which was getting up in age. But Rollins missed Summer League due to a foot injury, then suffered a season-ending Jones fracture. After the season, the Warriors sent Rollins and fellow 2022 draftee Patrick Baldwin, Jr. to the Washington Wizards along with Jordan Poole. In exchange, they got 38-year-old Chris Paul, a serious reversal in the team's earlier youth movement. Rollins was included in the deal to help the Warriors dump Poole's contract, which spanned four more seasons, and to ditch his own guaranteed deal. After a troubled partial season in Washington, the Wizards waived Rollins and he caught on with the Bucks in February 2024. Ryan Rollins' huge night showed the 23-year-old's improvement One game after Rollins had a career-high 25 points against the New York Knicks, he set another career high, this time without Antetokounmpo there to score 37 points and take up the defense's attention. Even with a great defensive player like Jimmy Butler on him, Rollins delivered in the clutch. Rollins has gone 9-for-11 from three-point range in his last two games, but it doesn't feel like a fluke. Last year he shot 40.8% on threes and hit 80% of his free throws, a strong indicator Rollins can truly shoot the ball. He also had 12 steals in his first four games, and while he didn't have a takeaway Thursday night, Rollins has more steals than turnovers (10) on the season and an excellent assist-to-turnover ratio of 5-to-2. Last season, Rollins was a solid reserve, averaging 6.2 points and 1.9 assists while starting 19 games. But with Damian Lillard suffering an Achilles tear and then being waived by the Bucks, Rollins got an opportunity, and got an even bigger one when Kevin Porter, Jr. sprained his ankle in the season opener. Rollins looks like he's going to have a serious future in the NBA. Unfortunately for the Warriors, that future won't be with them.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have had constant issues with the defense, but the single biggest one is the miscommunication. That has been an issue for at least two seasons now, and possibly more. That should most likely be priority number one for the team, as that could potentially solve some of the issues with the secondary and linebackers. Once that gets fixed, then it will be easier to see which players are at fault for their on-field performance, as there are currently no answers for what is going on each week. While making an appearance on 93.7 The Fan, insider Ray Fittipaldo explained where all the blame goes for the miscommunications in this scenario. "It's been going on for years," Fittipaldo said. "A lot of people said, 'Oh, Minkah [Fitzpatrick]'s the problem.' Minkah's not here; Minkah's not the problem. 'Oh, Cam Sutton's the problem last year.' Cam Sutton's not here. Every team has some problems relaying the signals, but it's an ongoing issue here. Mike Tomlin and Teryl Austin are the coaches. They're the ones that need to accept the full blame here, but I'm sure it's on the players too." Sure, the players are part of the question, but like Fittipaldo said, the ones that run this unit need to take some blame and they need to be the first ones to take action to finally stop this problem for good. Head Coach Mike Tomlin and Defensive Coordinator Teryl Austin combine to do most things for this unit, so they need to be more accountable in the eyes of many fans. Tomlin's defense is known to be one of the more difficult ones to learn in the NFL, especially for newcomers. When the Steelers overhauled their defense in 2025, they had to teach so many players his complicated schemes in a very short period of time, and it has not worked well. His unit needs more stability for this defense to have any chance of working. Meanwhile, Austin has not done particularly well with calling this complicated gameplan, and he knows it. The problem is that he's not calling his defense, so it's a bit harder for him to adjust on the fly when he has to stay within his head coach's scheme and guidelines. Even if it's difficult, he still has to do it. He needs to find some way to make life easier on his players and get them in the right spots. That's a coordinator's job. Unfortunately, the Steelers made their defense even older from a player age perspective, so the most likely scenario is that everything gets overhauled again in the near future. On top of that, Austin's contract expires at season's end. With how bad his unit has been, he may be let go. If all that truly does happen and the miscommunications remain, it becomes even more obvious that Tomlin is the main issue here. Austin has not been great either, but he is merely a symptom of the problem, not the primary cause. There is not a Minkah Fitzpatrick to trade away anymore. There's just a bunch of veterans that could get cut and/or retire at season's end. Steelers Fixed One Communication Issue, But It's Not Enough So far, it seems like linebacker Patrick Queen has been much better at barking out the signals to his teammates on the field. He struggled to pick up on the plays in his first season in Pittsburgh, and it ended in disaster. Obviously, there are more issues with miscommunications, but Queen is not part of it anymore. He has done his job well so far.
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