In February for Black History Month, USA TODAY Sports is publishing the series “28 Black Stories in 28 Days.” We examine the issues, challenges and opportunities Black athletes and sports officials continue to face after the nation’s reckoning on race following the murder of George Floyd in 2020. This is the third installment of the series.

Like many Black sports pioneers before him, Earl Lloyd, the first Black player to appear in an NBA game, encountered the ugly side of humanity. It didn’t stop him.

His parents were in the stands during one home game in Washington, D.C., and were exposed to numerous racist remarks. One fan, as Sports Illustrated noted, asked aloud whether ‘that (N-word)’ could play.

It didn’t stop Lloyd.

Nothing did.

Follow every game: Latest NBA Scores and Schedules

‘Tough towns’ didn’t stop Earl Lloyd

After one win, he was spat on. Didn’t stop him. A fan asked to see his tail. Didn’t stop him. Another fan in a different city told him to go back to Africa. That didn’t stop him, either.

‘Indianapolis, Baltimore, Fort Wayne (Indiana) … tough towns, man,’ Lloyd said in 1994, as reported in Sports Illustrated. ‘When you went to Fort Wayne to play, you had to do some emotional yoga to get ready because you knew what was coming.’

Lloyd is a pioneer whom many may not know, but everyone should. While not as historically recognizable as Jackie Robinson, the first Black man to play Major League Baseball, Lloyd was a contemporary barrier breaker. He made history when his team, the Washington Capitols, played the Rochester Royals on Oct. 31, 1950, three years after Robinson debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Basketball Hall of Fame called

Lloyd’s NBA career lasted nine years. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003 and died in 2015.

Two other Black players entered the NBA in 1950, the same year as Lloyd. One was Nat Clifton, formerly of the Harlem Globetrotters, who signed a contract with the New York Knicks. The other was Chuck Cooper of the Boston Celtics, who was the first Black player to be drafted by an NBA team. The Celtics took him in the second round out of Duquesne.

Although the 1950-51 NBA season proved historic for their debuts, they haven’t entered into legend like Robinson. Baseball was the national pastime and the NBA didn’t grow into a sporting superpower until decades after Lloyd retired.

‘In 1950, the NBA was like 4 years old,’ Lloyd told The New York Times in 2008. ‘We were like babes in the woods … it didn’t get the type of coverage that Major League Baseball got.’

By definition, an amateur bracketologist is anyone other than the members of the actual selection committee attempting to project the NCAA Tournament field. This applies to us as well, of course, but we can at least take comfort in the fact that we are applying the NCAA men’s basketball committee’s principles with some degree of accuracy.

The committee released its preliminary look at the current top 16 seeds Saturday weekend, and with a couple of small deviations of a seed line it matched up well with our most recent projections.

So here is our updated look at the field reflecting the committee’s sneak preview as well as the most recent results from the weekend. Again, none of this is final with three weeks left in the season, but we can say we’re fairly confident that most of these teams in the upper quarter of the bracket have a good chance to stay there.

The No. 1 seeds remain unchanged from our last update, with defending champion Kansas solidifying its spot with Saturday’s huge rally against likely No. 2 seed Baylor. Alabama hangs on to the overall highest seed, and Houston and Purdue head the other regionals.

Follow every game: Latest NCAA Men’s College Basketball Scores and Schedules

It was a bad weekend for the ACC as North Carolina slides out of the play-in round following a loss at North Carolina State and Clemson also tumbles from the field thanks to an even worse loss to Louisville. Southern California is back in for now, along with Wisconsin to give the Big Ten the lead with nine in the field.

Last four in

Southern California, Memphis, West Virginia, Wisconsin.

First four out

North Carolina, Utah State, Penn State, Texas Tech.

Next four out

New Mexico, Clemson, Arizona State, Oregon.

Conference breakdown

Multi-bid leagues: Big Ten (9), Big 12 (8), SEC (8), ACC (5), Big East (5), Mountain West (3), Pac-12 (3), American Athletic (2), West Coast (2).

Brittney Griner is officially back in the WNBA.

Griner, 32, re-signed with the Phoenix Mercury, the team announced Tuesday. The seven-time All-Star will be playing in her 10th season in the WNBA, all of which have been in Phoenix, after she missed last year because of a 10-month detainment in Russia.

‘It’s a great day for all of us to announce that Brittney Griner has officially signed to play for the Mercury in 2023,’ Mercury general manager Jim Pitman said Tuesday in a statement. ‘We missed BG every day that she was gone and, while basketball was not our primary concern, her presence on the floor, in our locker room, around our organization, and within our community was greatly missed. We will continue to use the resources of our organization to support her, on and off the floor, and we are thrilled for her that she gets to return to basketball, which she loves so dearly. This is a special signing and today is a special day for all of us.’

Griner will make her return to the court May 19 when the Mercury kick off their season against the Sparks in Los Angeles. Phoenix fans will get their first chance to see Griner in person at the home opener on May 21 vs. the Chicago Sky.

Here’s everything you need to know about Griner re-signing with the Mercury.

What has Brittney Griner said about her return to the court?

Griner, who has been selective in making public comments since she returned to the U.S. posted to her verified Instagram account Tuesday, confirming her return to Phoenix. ‘So Good to be back with the Family @phoenixmercury,’ Griner wrote in the post. Griner had previously posted to her account December 16, indicating that she would be returning to play for Phoenix. Griner had been a free agent.

Griner most recently played in 2021, when she helped lead the Mercury to an appearance in the WNBA Finals. Griner averaged 20.5 points per game in 2021, ranking second-best in the league, as well as leading the league with 1.9 blocks per game and setting a Phoenix franchise record with 9.5 rebounds per game.

What else did team executives say about Brittney Griner re-signing with the Phoenix Mercury?

‘I do not think any of us will forget where we were on Dec. 8 when we heard BG was coming home or on Dec. 15 when she announced she intended not only to play basketball in 2023 but that it would be for the Mercury,’ Mercury president of business operations Vince Kozar said Tuesday in a statement. ‘And I know none of us will ever forget what it will feel like to welcome her back onto her home floor on May 21. To know BG is to love and appreciate BG, and we can’t wait to show her that in person with thousands and thousands of her biggest supporters exactly three months from today at our Welcome Home Opener.’

What happened to Brittney Griner?

Griner was detained at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport on Feb. 17, 2022 after authorities found vape cartridges with hash oil in her luggage. Griner pleaded guilty in early July, saying she’d mistakenly packed the drugs and that “there was no intent” to break the law. In August, she was sentenced to nine years in a penal colony. In late October, she lost her appeal.

The eight-time WNBA All-Star was transferred in November 2022 from her pre-trial detention facility to the penal colony. Then, on Dec. 8, President Joe Biden confirmed that Griner was released from the penal colony and transferred to U.S. custody after a prisoner exchange for arms dealer Viktor Bout. The following day, she landed at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in Texas.

Who is Brittney Griner?

Born in Houston, Griner blossomed into a basketball star. The 6-foot-9 center began dominating at Minitz High School (McDonald’s All American, 2009) and played collegiately at Baylor from 2010-13. There, she was a member of the 2012 NCAA national championship team and was a two-time first-team All-American.

Representing the United States at the 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Griner won two gold medals with the women’s basketball team. Griner has been married twice. Her first marriage was to fellow WNBA player Glory Johnson, but that ended after one year in 2016. Two years later, Griner became engaged to her current wife, Cherelle Griner. The couple married in 2019. 

At the time of her arrest, Griner was a professional player for Russia’s UMMC Ekaterinburg.

Free agent quarterback Derek Carr won’t be making a quick decision on his next NFL team, according to his older brother David.

The veteran signal-caller, who was released Feb. 14 by the Las Vegas Raiders, has already made two visits but neither is expected to result in a snap decision.

‘It’s gonna be a long process,’ David Carr, a former NFL QB, told NFL Network in a Monday interview. ‘He wants to do his due diligence and see as many places as he can to get a feel for what the best place for him will be.’

Carr has visited the New Orleans Saints and New York Jets this offseason. Unlike other free agents, who aren’t eligible to sign until March 15, Carr is able to sign immediately because he was released from an existing contract.

Carr’s brother said the quarterback ‘had a great trip’ during his New York visit, where he visited with Jets head coach Robert Saleh, and that Derek ‘went there to get a feel for how they work from the top down.’

The ex-Raider also visited Saints coach Dennis Allen, who was the Raiders’ head coach when the organization drafted Carr in 2014. Carr had spent each of his nine NFL seasons with the franchise.

Still, there are quarterback-needy teams in addition to the Jets and Saints — and it appears Carr plans to fully assess the situation before choosing a destination.

The World Anti-Doping Agency announced Tuesday morning, as expected, that it will appeal the Russian Anti-Doping Agency’s “wrong’ decision on figure skater Kamila Valieva to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, seeking a four-year ban for Valieva and disqualification of all her results since late December 2021, including those from the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. 

U.S. Anti-Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart immediately applauded the decision, which could eventually affect the order of the medals from the Beijing Olympic team figure skating event. He also called for an expedited and public CAS hearing.

“It had to be done in order to restore some confidence in the global anti-doping system and we are very thankful,” Tygart wrote in a text message to USA TODAY Sports. “Now, let’s hope the hearing is expedited and open to the public so that the athletes, whose dreams are hanging in the balance, can believe in the final outcome, whatever it may be, and that some justice can be salvaged soon.”

WADA said in its announcement that it “will continue to push for this matter to proceed without further undue delay.”

In January, a RUSADA disciplinary tribunal found that while the then-15-year-old Valieva committed an anti-doping rule violation, she bore “no fault or negligence” for it. RUSADA imposed no sanction except for the disqualification of her results on the date the sample was collected, which was Dec. 25, 2021, at the Russian national championships. 

That decision hardly was a surprise and was completely consistent with the way RUSADA has handled the controversial and excruciatingly delayed case. RUSADA itself was suspended from 2015-18 for helping Russian athletes cheat. 

It has now been more than a year since Russia won the gold medal, the United States won the silver medal and Japan won the bronze in the team figure skating competition in Beijing. The following day, those results were thrown into disarray when Valieva, the star of the Russian team, was found to have tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine at the December Russian championships, forcing the unprecedented cancellation of the event’s medal ceremony.

There could be a re-ordering of the medals if Valieva were to be disqualified by CAS, with the United States moving up to take the gold, followed by Japan and Canada, the fourth-place finishers in the competition.

“The entire global system has failed all of the athletes including Valieva,” Tygart told USA TODAY Sports earlier this month. “Obviously, first and foremost the Russians are at fault for allowing this to happen but the whole system also is accountable for allowing this Russian fiasco to turn into a mockery of justice that has robbed athletes of their performances, hard work and sacrifice.”

In its announcement, WADA said the finding by the RUSADA disciplinary tribunal was “wrong under the terms of the World Anti-Doping Code in this case. … Within the appeal, WADA is seeking a four-year period of ineligibility and disqualification of all the athlete’s results from the date of the sample collection on 25 December 2021.”

If CAS rules in favor of Valieva, that would most likely be the end of the case and the medals would eventually be awarded in the current order: Russia, USA and Japan. There has been talk of awarding those medals at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, although Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and now-year-long war certainly would complicate any plans to highlight such a high-profile Russian gold medal. 

If CAS rules against Valieva, then the International Skating Union, the worldwide federation for figure skating, and the International Olympic Committee would begin their work.

As IOC spokesman Mark Adams told USA TODAY Sports earlier this month, “Only the finalization of the case will enable the International Skating Union to establish the definitive results of the figure skating team competition at these Games and the IOC to decide on the medal allocation.”

Another CAS panel that convened at the Beijing Olympics allowed Valieva to continue to compete in the women’s competition at the Games, citing the fact that Valieva was a “protected person” (a minor in this case) under WADA rules. That CAS ruling did not address the merits of the doping case and, in fact, allowed her to compete in part because of the possibility that she might not be banned at a later date.  

Skating under the weight of a full-blown Olympic scandal, Valieva, the gold-medal favorite, stumbled to a fourth-place finish.

Number of teams? Competitions? Length of playoffs? In Major League Soccer, the arrow must always go up.

Just four days before the 2023 season kicks off, the league announced details of a new, expanded postseason structure Tuesday. In a major departure from the single-game knockout set-up seen in recent seasons, MLS will allow nine teams from each conference into the playoffs — meaning that 62% of the league’s teams will get in, and over half will host at least one postseason match — and incorporating a best-of-three format for one round.

That last addition, a convoluted development first reported by The Athletic, is a throwback to the league’s early days. MLS had two different versions of a best-of-three format — one settling tied games with the old 35-yard shootout, and another allowing for ties in a ‘first to five points’ set-up — from 1996 to 2002.

‘Major League Soccer, in concert with the MLS Product Strategy Committee, undertook a review of the playoff format beginning in 2021 to deliver an enhanced playoff format that would provide fans with more games of consequence and better reward regular season results while maintaining the best elements from the single-elimination format,’ said the league in a statement announcing the new format. ‘Incorporating fan research and feedback, MLS engaged a third-party expert in the global sports industry to support the process with data and analysis.’

Per MLS, every playoff game will be available with MLS Season Pass, with commentary ‘in either English or Spanish,’ with matches featuring Canadian sides also having a French-language option.

How do the MLS playoffs work now?

The playoffs will begin shortly after Decision Day, which will see 28 of the league’s 29 teams square off on Oct. 21, the final day of the regular season. The playoffs will open with wild-card games on Oct. 25-26 between the eighth- and ninth-placed teams from each conference, with the higher seed hosting one-off matches. In a concession to the mid-week date and the sheer length of the new playoff format, wild-card games will not include extra time, instead proceeding straight to a penalty kick tiebreaker if the teams are level after 90 minutes.

The winners there will move on to Round 1, effectively a conference quarterfinal round featuring the aforementioned best-of-three format. Those matches, like the wild-card games, will proceed straight to penalties if tied after 90 minutes, and a win in the tiebreaker is just as good as a win in regulation. The first team to win two games advances, with the higher seed hosting games one and (if necessary) three. Round 1 will take place between Oct. 28 and Nov. 12.

With FIFA’s November window falling right in the thick of the playoffs, MLS will take a break from Nov. 13-21, before picking back up for conference semifinals and finals between Nov. 25 and Dec. 3. All playoff pairings past Round 1 will revert to a more conventional one-game format, with ties broken by a more familiar 30-minute extra time and penalties set-up.

The 2023 MLS Cup final will take place on Dec. 9 at the higher seed’s home stadium.

Expansion inevitably means dilution

However, the old format’s single-game format meant that every single game from the start of the playoffs to MLS Cup was must-win. It is true that there were, in gross terms, fewer games where a team’s season was on the line, but in terms of intensity, adding eight games to the playoffs that don’t send anyone home will possibly lower the intensity of the postseason.

There are some clear positives to the new format: 16 of the 18 playoff teams will host at least one playoff match, which means their teams get one more revenue-driving home game, and one that’s an easy sell when it comes to local news outlets that aren’t as focused on MLS coverage. Weird or not, the new format is a boost on that front.

However, that lower intensity from adding games of limited consequence is amplified by a larger playoff field. Teams finishing in eighth and ninth in their conference are by definition not actually having good seasons. In 2022, the ninth-placed team in the East finished 25 points behind the Philadelphia Union, while in the West the gap was 24. In both cases, we’re talking about teams that lost more often than they won, and that has a substantial negative goal difference. Outside of their home markets, any given ninth-place team in an MLS conference is not a team people are clamoring to see get one more game.

Additionally, the structure has gone from one that was as clear-cut as can be to one that is utterly convoluted. Last year, a newcomer could tune into any playoff game and know that the winner advances, and the loser goes home. The format that has turned college basketball’s March Madness into one of the country’s biggest sporting events works in soccer, too.

Now, a casual fan needs a guide. One round is a single-game knockout, but with no extra time. Another round is best-of-three, and can be won by success in a tiebreaker that is merely soccer-adjacent. Then, after that, the single-game knockout is back, but now games can go to extra time? Even for MLS’s oldest heads, it’s an exercise.

That said, MLS clearly made a choice in 1996 and has stuck with it for each of its 28 seasons: the playoff format will be very inclusive. There are more seasons in which 80% of the league got into the postseason than 50%, the lowest-ever percentage (which has only happened twice, in 2010 and 2022). The league has always been like this, and as it continues to grow — St. Louis City SC’s debut brings MLS up to an unwieldy 29 teams — all signs point to a playoff structure that grows with it.

MLS is a strange league, and winning in it has always required adaptation to weird rules and situations. Like it or not, the deeply unorthodox playoff format for 2023 is very much in character.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. –Taylor Rogers walked into the San Francisco Giants clubhouse Monday morning, couldn’t find his uniform pants, so he stepped to his right, reached into the locker next to him, and immediately stole a pair. 

He didn’t even bother seeing if they fit, or look at the size difference, before quickly sliding into them. 

Hey, when your twin brother, Tyler, just so happens to be your teammate, too, you’re granted certain privileges. 

The Rogers brothers, 32, just the fourth set of twins to play on the same major-league team, and the first since Jose and Ozzie Canseco in 1990, already are finding the advantages of being in spring training together. 

They not only can share the same food preferences, play the same music, watch the same comedy, have the same hairstyle, but also can scrutinize each other’s pitching mechanics the same. 

“We’re as identical,’’ Tyler says, “and it gets.’’ 

Now, playing together, it not only saves their parents airfare traveling from Littleton, Colorado, to see both sons at once, but the Rogers boys can save $139.99 apiece. 

Instead of watching one another’s games on TV, they’ll now be able to sit next to one another in the bullpen, with the best view in the house. 

“I know I’ll be spending a lot less time on the MLB app this year,’’ Taylor Rogers says, “not having to watch Tyler’s games. 

Tyler: “Wow, I don’t even need to get MLB-TV anymore.’’ 

Taylor: “Sorry Rob [Manfred, MLB commissioner], I’m cancelling my subscription.’’ 

Tyler: “We’ll show him!’’ 

The two then started laughing hysterically at one another’s humor. 

“It’s funny, it’s like that every single day,’’ Giants pitcher Anthony DeSclafani says. “They’ll both laugh so hard at their same jokes at the same time.’’ 

Says Giants ace Logan Webb: “They don’t leave each other’s hip. You’d think they’d have enough of each other.’’ 

Uh-uh. 

UNDERDOG DODGERS? LA in uncharted territory after quiet winter

It’s as if the Rogers brothers are deliberately sticking even closer together, whether dressing, eating, and playing catch, or having the same close-cut haircuts, just to confuse the daylights out of their teammates. 

“They’re together all of the time,’’ Giants pitcher Ross Stripling says. “They work out together. They’re catch partners. They’ve been together every minute since inception, so imagine how close they are. 

“I think I can tell them apart now because Tyler I think has a little bit of a longer neck, and somehow that’s what I can cue on. But if one’s in the weight room, and the other’s in the kitchen, I have no clue.’’ 

The only discernible difference is that Taylor is an All-Star left-handed closer and Tyler is a right-handed submarine setup reliever. 

Otherwise, good luck! 

“There are some identical twins that right off the bat, you can tell the difference,’’ Giants veteran starter Alex Wood says. “But these guys, they’re about as close as you can get, the way they look. And they do everything together.’’ 

Giants reliever Luke Jackson says he hopes he can figure it out one day, but now just calls them, “Lefty Rog and right Rog.’’ 

“I’m trying to get one of them to grow a mustache right now, so I can really tell them apart,’’ Jackson says. “What’s really more messed up is that they wear the same haircut, and the names are so close, Tyler, Taylor, come on. I still don’t know which one is Tyler and which one is Taylor, even though I know one is a lefty and one is a righty. 

“It’s just very hard.’’ 

“I think they’re doing it on purpose now,’’ Jackson says. “It’s like they’re onto us. I want to talk to their parents. That’s who I really need to talk to. Come on, virtually the same names, first off. And why did you always give them the short haircut? You should have let one of them have long hair just so you can tell them apart. 

“It’s not fair.’’ 

Their appearance makes it almost impossible to tell apart unless you spend time with them, and notice a difference in facial expression, although the Giants will tell you they talk alike, walk alike, laugh alike and think alike. 

It’s so confusing that new Giants outfielder Stephen Piscotty says he hasn’t even begun to try to figure out the difference between the two brothers yet, but is just pleased that he no longer has to face either one of them. 

“Those guys have just eaten my lunch,’’ Piscotty says. 

So, which one has given you the most trouble? 

“The righty, having that funky motion,’’ Piscotty says. “That’s a slot you don’t see too often.’’ 

Oops, upon further review, Piscotty has never faced the right-handed Tyler Rogers in a major-league game. But he is 0-for-5 with three strikeouts against left-hander Taylor Rogers. 

“Oh boy, now I have no confidence at all,’’ Piscotty says, “telling them apart.’’ 

Can you tell them apart when they’re not pitching, Giants manager Gabe Kapler was asked? 

“I think I can,’’ Kapler says, “but I’d love to test that. What would I do right now if they’re right next to each other? I’d glance at both of them and make sure I call both of them, “Rog.’’ 

When Kapler was told that Tyler claims he’s a half-inch taller than his brother, Kapler immediately disputed the veracity of the claim. 

“I think,’’ Kapler said, “they’re [screwing] with you.’’ 

Well, to find out the true answer, Giants’ training staff conducted an official tale of the tape during their physicals. 

The result: 

Taylor Rogers: 6-foot-3, 179 pounds. 

Tyler Rogers: 6-foot-4, 185 pounds. 

So, there you have it, ever so slightly, there actually is a difference. 

Good luck trying to see the disparity with the naked eye. 

If the Rogers boys have their way, their teammates will be more confused than ever by the time the spring ends. 

The original prank began when Tyler crashed Taylor’s introductory zoom call, posing as a reporter named, Brennan Huff, from Will Ferrell’s character in the movie “Step Brothers.’’ 

“Is it safe to say,’’ Huff, aka Tyler, “the Giants have the best-looking bullpen in the National League West?’ 

Well, if you thought that was comical, you ain’t seen nothing yet with the pranks they plan to unleash. 

Just like the time Taylor showed up for Tyler’s playoff game two years ago against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Taylor pretended to be a fan at Oracle Park, walked towards the bullpen, and heckled his brother: 

“Hey, Ty! There’s no Bud Light in this stadium!’’ 

Or the time when Taylor decided to dress up as his brother for Halloween, yes, wearing a Giants uniform. 

Or the time they swapped places for Tyler’s Spanish class. Who knew there would be a pop quiz that day? Taylor got an F. It was the last time they tried to fool their teachers. 

The truth is that the Rogers boys can wear name tags across their chest, with one shaving their head and the other growing a pony-tail to assure that everyone can tell them apart, and they’ll still have the time of their lives without a single prank. 

They would love to tell you this is a dream come true, but the reality is that this exceeds their wildest imagination. Taylor was an All-Star pitcher for Chatfield High in Littleton, Colorado, and played for the University of Kentucky. Tyler was on the JV team in high school, went to junior college before winding up at Austin Peay State University. 

Their ultimate dream was making the big leagues, with Taylor making his major-league debut four years earlier than Tyler, but believing they could one day play on the same team together? Never. 

“We talked about both being in the major leagues,’’ Tyler said, “but somehow, it never crossed our mind being on the same team.’’ 

Says Taylor: “I was just talking to my college roommate, Luke Maile with the Reds, and he was saying how cool it was playing for his hometown team. I’m telling him about this. And he says, ‘Dude, that has to be a dream.’ 

“I said, ‘This is anywhere near the realm of a dream. This is so far past it. I’m in shock every day.’’ 

It wasn’t until the Giants called Taylor in December, offering a three-year deal worth $33 million that it became even a possibility. Still, there was trepidation. 

Taylor, a 2021 All-Star with the Minnesota Twins, wanted to make sure it was OK with his brother. Tyler had been with the organization since being drafted in 2013, and Taylor didn’t want to come in acting as if he was now leader of the bullpen. 

Tyler immediately gave his blessing, but tried to hide his euphoria. Simply, he didn’t want to put any undue pressure on Taylor to sign with the Giants just so they could be together. 

“I stayed out of his whole free agency,’’ Tyler says. “When I heard the Giants were calling, I was excited, but I didn’t try to sway him one way or the other. Selfishly, I wanted him to come, but I didn’t want him to feel like he had to.’’ 

Says Taylor: “I didn’t know if I was going to interfere. This is his tenth year in the organization. He set up his own legacy here. I wanted to be careful not to infringe on that.’’ 

Taylor reached a contract agreement with the Giants in the wee hours of the night Dec. 22, just five days after their 32nd birthday. It may have been 1 in the morning when the deal was reached, but with his brother sleeping downstairs in his house, he immediately woke him up to share the news. 

“We kind of stood there in shock,’’ Taylor said, “like wow, this is really happening.’’ 

The only trouble was that he couldn’t tell anyone besides his parents for nearly a week. The agreement came just a day after Carlos Correa’s press conference was canceled when he failed the Giants’ physical. So, as much as Taylor wanted to wildly celebrate, he had to wait. 

And then along came the snowstorms in the Denver, driving twice to the airport only for his Southwest flights to be cancelled, until finally he was able to travel to San Francisco for his physical. The deal became official on Dec. 28. 

And, yes, there was a family celebration to behold. 

“Take a look at his introductory zoom,’’ Tyler says, laughing. “Look at his picture. He looked he got hit by a truck.’’ 

And, just like that, the two brothers started giggling again. 

They are together now, playing catch every day since they were in high school together, studying each other’s delivery, and eagerly looking forward to that first game when Tyler comes in to preserve the lead while Taylor gets the save. 

“Either that, or I’m looking forward to the double-barrel,’’ Tyler says, “when we’re both warming up at the same time. I think that will be a really cool moment.’’ 

Says Taylor: “Come on, I don’t want that. I don’t want to double-barrel with his submarine crossarm stuff. There’s no room to double-barrel.’’ 

Tyler: “Then get out of the way!’’ 

The two started cracking up again, vowing one day soon they will start again with their pranks, just when their teammates least expect it. 

“We have some plans,’’ Tyler says. “Once they can start telling us apart a little bit, then we can start playing a few jokes. There’s just way too much confusion now, so it wouldn’t even be funny.’’ 

Says Taylor: “Yep, you just wait.’’ 

And just like that, the Rogers boys started laughing again. 

Follow Nightengale on Twitter: @Bnightengale 

First base is traditionally a position where fantasy teams can find plenty of power. At the top of the scale, that’s certainly true with NL MVP Paul Goldschmidt, two-time Home Run Derby king Pete Alonso and Braves slugger Matt Olson — each of whom had at least 30 homers and 100 RBI last season. 

But if you miss out on the elite first basemen, there’s still enough depth at the position to get solid production in the middle-to-late rounds of your draft. 

In the American League, the Blue Jays’ Vladimir Guerrero Jr. stands alone in the top tier. Former AL MVP Jose Abreu signing as a free agent with the Astros opens up an everyday spot for up-and-coming youngster Andrew Vaughn on the White Sox.

In the National League, there’s a solid middle tier with C.J. Cron (29 HR, 103 RBI), Rhys Hoskins (30 HR, 79 RBI) and Christian Walker (36 HR, 94 RBI) as excellent targets.

FANTASY RANKINGS: Top 200 overall players for 2023

First base rankings

Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Blue Jays   AL1Freddie Freeman, Dodgers    NL1Pete Alonso, Mets    NL2Paul Goldschmidt, Cardinals    NL3Matt Olson, Braves    NL4        Jose Abreu, Astros    AL2Vinnie Pasquantino, Royals   AL3C.J. Cron, Rockies    NL5Rhys Hoskins, Phillies    NL6Nathaniel Lowe, Rangers    AL4Ryan Mountcastle, Orioles   AL5Ty France, Mariners    AL6Anthony Rizzo, Yankees    AL7Christian Walker, Diamondbacks   NL7Brandon Drury, Angels   AL8Luis Arraez, Marlins   NL8Andrew Vaughn, White Sox   AL9Jose Miranda, Twins   AL10Josh Bell, Guardians   AL11DJ LeMahieu, Yankees    AL12Wil Myers, Reds   NL9Jake Cronenworth, Padres    NL10Triston Casas, Red Sox   AL13Joey Meneses, Nationals    NL11Seth Brown, A’s   AL14Josh Naylor, Guardians    AL15Brandon Belt, Blue Jays   AL16Trey Mancini, Cubs   NL12Rowdy Tellez, Brewers   NL13Jared Walsh, Angels    AL17Spencer Torkelson, Tigers    AL18Wilmer Flores, Giants    NL14Miguel Vargas, Dodgers   NL15Garrett Cooper, Marlins   NL16Joey Votto, Reds    NL17Matt Mervis, Cubs   NL18Isaac Paredes, Rays    AL19Bobby Dalbec, Red Sox    AL20Carlos Santana, Pirates   NL19Harold Ramirez, Rays   AL21