Detroit Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal (29) rubs his arm during the seventh inning against the Atlanta Braves on Apr. 29 in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Skubal on

fast track

DETROIT (AP) — Tarik Skubal’s multi-million dollar pitching arm feels better than it has all season. The Detroit Tigers ace is already freely throwing bullpen sessions less than two weeks after having surgery to remove a loose body from his elbow.

Skubal says “I didn’t realize how much it was impacting me day-to-day until taking that thing out of there.” Skubal’s recovery has gone so well that he was called back from the team’s spring training facility in Lakeland, Florida, to continue his rehab program.

He threw his full array of pitches “like a normal pregame bullpen” on Monday, prior to Detroit’s home game against Cleveland.

NHL sets

the table

(AP) — Big boy hockey has arrived in the third round of the NHL playoffs with three of the top five favorites going in still playing in the conference finals. League-best Colorado faces its stiffest test so far against Vegas in the West, with the Avalanche nursing some injuries to important players like No. 1 defenseman Cale Makar.

Carolina is the beast of the East, and the Hurricanes are a perfect 8-0 through two rounds. They’ll next face the winner of Game 7 between Buffalo and Montreal.

Arsenal closes

in on title

LONDON (AP) — Arsenal has closed in on a first Premier League title in 22 years by beating Burnley 1-0 in its penultimate game of the campaign. Kai Havertz got the first-half goal. The win means second-placed Manchester City must end Bournemouth’s 16-game unbeaten run today to take the title fight into the final weekend.

Even so, Arsenal will be crowned champion if it beats Crystal Palace away on Sunday. The goal against already relegated Burnley came from a corner, the source of so many crucial Arsenal goals this season. Havertz rose highest to head in a delivery from Bukayo Saka in the 37th minute.

Knicks host

Cavs tonight

GREENBURGH, N.Y. (AP) — Donovan Mitchell and the Cleveland Cavaliers were sent to face Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks in a nationally televised season opener and to kick off Christmas, NBA schedule makers clearly viewing that as the Eastern Conference’s marquee matchup. Good guess, it turns out.

The Cavaliers and Knicks will be back tonight under the same bright lights of Madison Square Garden where they began the season, this time for Game 1 of the conference finals. The Knicks have been on a record-setting playoff rampage. The Cavaliers, bolstered by the acquisition of James Harden, surged late in the season and ousted Detroit in the second round.

Pelicans

hire Mosley

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The New Orleans Pelicans have hired Jamahl Mosley as their next coach, ending interim coach James Borrego’s candidacy to retain his job on a permanent basis. Mosley spent the past five seasons with Orlando, which fired him this month after the Magic’s seven-game, first-round playoff loss to the Detroit Pistons.

Mosley went 189-221 with Orlando. His teams qualified for the NBA playoffs in each of the past three seasons and won the Southeast Division twice, but were eliminated in the first round each time. Borrego went 24-46 as Pelicans interim coach.

Urban Meyer

loses case

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — A person familiar with the legal outcome says former Jacksonville Jaguars coach Urban Meyer lost his multimillion-dollar arbitration case against the NFL team that fired him with cause in 2021. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because both sides signed non-disclosure agreements preventing them from discussing the case publicly.

The person said the case was settled in 2025. On3 first reported it Monday. Jaguars owner Shad Khan fired Meyer with cause in December 2021, hours after former Jaguars player Josh Lambo said Meyer kicked him during practice months earlier.

It was the latest in a long list of embarrassments across Meyer’s 11 months in Jacksonville. Meyer challenged the firing, sending the dispute to arbitration.

Sinner’s goal

is Paris

ROME (AP) — By sweeping the first five Masters 1000 tournaments of the year top-ranked Jannik Sinner has dominated tennis like few other players have in the sport’s recent history. He has amassed a 29-match winning streak.

And yet now the stakes are rising for Sinner as he attempts to complete a career Grand Slam by winning the French Open. The clay-court Grand Slam starts on Sunday in Paris and it’s the only major that Sinner hasn’t won.

A couple of hours after becoming the first Italian man to win the Italian Open in 50 years Sinner’s focus was already pivoting toward Roland Garros. He says “my main goal is and remains Paris.”