Sports

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Ja Morant was rolling, making acrobatic drives to the basket.

Hitters across Major League Baseball can take heart: They were, in fact, getting robbed of hits and extra bases all throughout April. The anecdotal factors at hand – a deadened baseball, the use of humidors in every major league stadium, expanded pitching staffs to mitigate a 99-day lockout – conspired to send batting average to its lowest level (.233) in history and runs scored to its second-lowest total (4.08 per team game) in 41 years.

The Kentucky Derby leads off the first Triple Crown season in decades without the chance of Bob Baffert officially winning one or more of the three races. Baffert’s absence while suspended shadows over the race, particularly because two horses he trained for a significant period of time are among the top contenders.