Wednesday’s Sports In Brief

SOCCER

Tim Ream, Haji Wright, Joe Scally and Sean Johnson made the United States’ World Cup roster, while Zack Steffen, Paul Arriola, Jordan Pefok and Ricardo Pepi were among those cut.

U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter made the long-awaited announcement Wednesday of the 26-man group that will gather in Qatar for training next week ahead of the opener against Wales on Nov. 21.

On what figures to be the youngest of the 32 teams by average age, 29-year-old right back DeAndre Yedlin is the only holdover from the 2014 World Cup. Yedlin, Christian Pulisic, Kellyn Acosta and Ream are remaining players from the infamous loss at Trinidad that prevented the Americans from reaching the 2018 tournament.

With central defenders Miles Robinson and Chris Richards sidelined by injuries, the 35-year-old Ream returns to the national team for the first time since the opening round of qualifying in September 2021. Ream captains Fulham in England’s Premier League and has gone a full 90 minutes in 14 of 15 matches this season. Berhalter had dropped him from the final four qualifying windows, preferring more mobile options.

Cameron Carter-Vickers, a son of former NBA player Howard Carter, was picked as a central defender. Carter-Vickers, Johnson, goalkeeper Ethan Horvath, Scally and Wright did not appear in any of the 14 qualifiers.

Jesús Ferreira, Josh Sargent and Wright are the three forwards, a position that provided just four of the Americans’ 21 goals in qualifying.

NBA

NEW YORK (AP) — The Brooklyn Nets made Jacque Vaughn their head coach Wednesday, promoting Steve Nash’s replacement instead of hiring suspended Boston coach Ime Udoka.

Vaughn has gone 2-2 as acting coach since the Nets and Nash parted ways on Nov. 1. His first game as the head coach will be Wednesday night at home against the New York Knicks.

After moving on from Nash, the Nets had been in discussions with Udoka, who along with Vaughn had been a Nets assistant before taking the Boston job. He led the Celtics to last season’s NBA Finals but was suspended for at least this season for violating team rules by having a relationship with a female staffer within the organization.

But the Nets decided not to go that route, perhaps unwilling to take on more negative attention while dealing with the fallout from Kyrie Irving’s decision to post a link to a film with antisemitic material on his Twitter page.

BASEBALL

NEW YORK (AP) — All-Star closer Edwin Díaz and the New York Mets finalized their $102 million, five-year contract Wednesday — the largest for a reliever in baseball history.

Díaz can opt out after three seasons, and the deal includes a team option for 2028.

The 28-year-old right-hander became a free agent Sunday following a sensational season with the Mets. Needing to rebuild most of their pitching staff, they started at the back end of the bullpen and quickly locked up Díaz with a record deal before other teams were permitted to negotiate with him.

Díaz went 3-1 with a 1.31 ERA and 32 saves in 61 appearances this season, making his second All-Star team. He had 118 strikeouts, whiffing more than 50% of the batters he faced as New York won 101 games — second-most in franchise history — and earned the top National League wild card for its first playoff berth in six years.

Along the way, Díaz became a fan favorite at Citi Field with his rousing entrance to the song “Narco” by Blasterjaxx and Timmy Trumpet.

NEW YORK (AP) — New AL home run king Aaron Judge and St. Louis slugger Paul Goldschmidt won Hank Aaron Awards on Wednesday that reward the most outstanding offensive performers in each league.

Judge and Goldschmidt are both finalists for the Most Valuable Player honors that will be presented next week by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

Now a free agent, Judge hit 62 home runs last season with the New York Yankees, topping the American League record of 61 set by Roger Maris in 1961.

Judge also led the majors in slugging percentage (.686), on-base percentage (.425), OPS (1.111) and runs (133), and his 131 RBIs tied Pete Alonso of the Mets for most in the big leagues. Judge batted .311, second in the AL, and was in contention for a Triple Crown until the final days of the season.

GOLF

Tiger Woods made it official Wednesday by announcing he would return to competition as part of the 20-man field at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas.

Woods is the tournament host of the unofficial event on Dec. 1-4 at Albany Golf Club, where the tournament has been played since 2015.

It will be the first time Woods has played the Hero World Challenge, which benefits his foundation, since 2019.

Woods, who announced his decision on Twitter, has not played competitively since he missed the cut in the British Open at St. Andrews in July.

That was only the third tournament he played in 2022, all of them majors. He made the cut at the Masters and PGA Championship, finishing 47th at Augusta National and withdrawing after three rounds at Southern Hills.

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