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🏀 Five things to know Thursday

1. Who are this year's NBA Draft withdrawal deadline winners and losers? With an 11:59 p.m. ET withdrawal deadline for this year's NBA Draft, we can now say which collegiate stars are locked in on testing the market at the next level, which allows us to also declare who are the winners and losers among players and programs.
2. Cristopher Sánchez broke a 115-year-old franchise record. On Wednesday, Sánchez ran his run of innings pitched without giving up a run to 44 ⅔. That mark is the best in Phillies history, breaking the record of Hall of Famer Grover Cleveland Alexander, who went 41 innings without allowing a run in 1911.
3. Getting ready for the NCAA baseball tournament. Did you know that just one No. 1 seed has won the NCAA baseball tournament since 1999? Despite the tournament's historic unpredictability, the CBS Sports staff took a stab at making picks and predictions for the Regionals, which begin this weekend.
4. With the "Protect College Sports" bill finally in hand, SEC leaders are discussing contingencies. The bill, which comes on the back of the withdrawn SCORE Act, would create a limited antitrust exemption regarding player eligibility and transfer rules, would let the industry write its own rules and enforce them without being challenged in the court system by players seeking additional years on the playing fields and courts. The SEC, for its part, is already plotting its own next steps, writes our Brandon Marcello.
5. MLBPA makes first move to avoid a lockout. Among the most consequential proposals in the MLBPA's first proposal to MLB are a "competitive integrity tax" and an increase in the league's minimum salary.

⚾ Do not miss this: What is going on with the American League?

The National League being the better of MLB's two leagues is not a particularly big surprise. The surprise through a third of the season is just how wide the gulf between the American and National Leagues seems to be. The Rays, Yankees and Guardians are all comfortably above .500, and then there's everyone else in the AL, either hovering around .500 or falling way behind even an "average" record.

The CBS Sports MLB team sat down to grade every AL team on how things have gone through the first two months of the season, and unsurprisingly, there were more teams receiving an F than those who received an A. Showcasing the surprises in the AL is as simple as Matt Snyder looking at two teams from the AL Central.

The surprising White Sox landed an A:

• Snyder: "The White Sox were 41-121 two years ago. Last year, they went 60-102. When they started this year 6-13, it looked like maybe they would be one of baseball's worst teams again. Since then, though, they've been pretty formidable. They recently had a stretch in which they won seven of eight and were multiple games above .500 for the first time in years. The two-year, $34 million signing of Munetaka Murakami has been amazing and with Colson Montgomery and Miguel Vargas, the White Sox now have one of the most powerful trios in baseball. On the mound, Davis Martin has also been excellent."

While the Tigers received an F:

• Snyder: "Remember last July when the Tigers had the best record in baseball and seemingly brought half their team to the All-Star Game? Yeah, that feels like ages ago when watching this team now. I have no doubt Mets fans think their team should be the pick, but the Tigers are my pick for the single most disappointing team in baseball. Tarik Skubal is hurt and rehabbing, but by the time he comes back, will he simply be trade bait? That's how things are trending. By OPS, only a handful of teams are worse on offense than the Tigers. Framber Valdez has not taken over the mantle of ace with Skubal down, either."

🏈 Ranking the top 25 Power Four football coaches

CBS Sports' annual ranking of football coaches from the Power Four conferences had its most turbulent this ever. That's not entirely surprising after a 2026 season that saw the full weight of the transfer portal and NIL deals kick in, leading to Indiana becoming a national champion.

Top 10 coaches from last year, such as James Franklin and Dabo Swinney, now sit in the teens, but it's this year's No. 1 who is the big story. Indiana's Curt Cignetti jumped all the way from No. 21 last year to the top spot in this year's rankings, as explained by Tom Fornelli.

• Fornelli: "Google him, and you'll now see 'CBSSports.com's No. 1 coach' come up in the results. Well, assuming Google still even shows search results anymore. Curt Cignetti has taken college football by storm. He's done the seemingly impossible by turning Indiana into a national champion in only two seasons. It's not simply that he did it, either, but how he did it. He went on the road and beat Oregon during the regular season. He beat No. 1 Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship. He crushed Alabama by 35 in the Rose Bowl and followed it up with a 34-point win over Oregon in the Peach Bowl. Then he took down a Miami team that was peaking at the right time in the postseason. Cignetti and the Hoosiers overcame every obstacle in their path, often obliterating it beyond recognition and did something nobody could've dreamed of only three seasons ago. If he can do that, how can any of us be surprised to see him No. 1 here too?"

Also read: CBS Sports coach rankings: Ballot data reveals conference biases and our 2026 Hater of the Year

🏒 Avalanche collapse: Presidents' Trophy curse or just reality of modern NHL?

After going wire-to-wire in the NHL season with the league's best record, the Avalanche were swept by the Golden Knights in the Western Conference Final. All of a sudden, 55 regular-season wins and a plus-99 goal differential didn't matter as the Avalanche were sent home to watch the Stanley Cup Final like the rest of us.

Since the 2004-05 lockout, just two teams have won the Presidents' Trophy and Stanley Cup in the same season. Despite seemingly more proof of a "Presidents' Trophy curse," Austin Nivison says that the result -- as with all similar results over the past two decades -- is the simple reality of the NHL's moves to establish league parity, along with some poorly timed injuries to Colorado's best players.

Then again, poorly timed injuries sure reek of something that comes with a curse.

👍👎 The best (and not-so-best) of the rest

📺 What we're watching Thursday

⛳ Charles Schwab Challenge, first round, 8 a.m. on ESPN+🎾 French Open, second round, all day on HBO Max⚾ Twins at White Sox, 2:10 p.m. on MLB.tv⛳ Charles Schwab Challenge, first round, 4 p.m. on Golf Channel⚾ Blue Jays at Orioles, 6:35 p.m. on MLB.tv🏀 Aces at Wings, 8 p.m. on Prime Video⚾ Astros at Rangers, 8:05 p.m. on MLB.tv🏀 Thunder at Spurs, Game 6, 8:30 p.m. on NBC🏀 Fever at Valkyries, 10 p.m. on Prime Video

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