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World Baseball Classic Rob Tringali / WBCI / MLB Photos via Getty Images The Pulse Newsletter ? | This is The Athletic’s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox. Good morning! Strike out someone great today. Coming up:   Do you feel an Olympic hole in your heart? Miss the spectacle of athletes competing for national pride on a global stage, and June’s World Cup is just too far away? You, and by extension all of us, are in luck. The World Baseball Classic starts tonight.   Advertisement If you’re unfamiliar, the WBC is a frankly beautiful event that happens every four(ish) years in which players compete in a World Cup-style tournament across the globe. Last time, in 2023, we saw Shohei Ohtani face then-teammate Mike Trout in the bottom of the ninth inning in the championship game, title on the line. For a month usually dominated by practice baseball, the last WBC was pure adrenaline and featured the “perfect” ending.   Which is why I’m so pumped for this one. Ohtani is back for the defending-champion Japanese team, the American roster is stacked, Juan Soto is already hitting dingers for the Dominican Republic, etc. What a delight. I wanted to talk with someone about the general enthusiasm around this entire event, so I went to Levi Weaver, author of The Windup, for placation, and he just let it fly:   I think the WBC rips. Can you agree with me but say smarter things about why it rips?   ? There are a lot of reasons to love it, but here’s why eeeyyyye love it, summed up in one video of Ondřej Satoria striking out Shohei Ohtani. Satoria is an electrician from Czechia. When I spoke to manager Pavel Chadim at the Winter Meetings in December, he told me that Satoria instantly became a local celebrity because of that strikeout. And why wouldn’t he? This is a guy whose professional team back home started as a softball team. Satoria also took the loss in that game against Japan. Nobody remembers that part. So yes, the better teams usually win. But baseball — even a seven-game playoff series — can be such a crapshoot. So a tournament like this is always good for at least a couple of upsets. Remember 2009, when the Netherlands (with Kenley Jansen as its catcher? !) beat the Dominican Republic … TWICE? ! It’s a showcase of the world’s best talent, and it’s an environment primed for at least one or two good upsets per tournament. I won’t attempt to predict when that will happen, just that it will, at some point. Advertisement I’m ready to watch now. We have a full WBC predictions file from our staff, and Levi is back five days a week writing The Windup, which is a harbinger that baseball season is really here. Subscribe here if you haven’t already.   Let’s keep pushing: Tatum’s looming return

We have no official timetable for Jayson Tatum to suit back up for the Celtics, but as Jay King reported this morning in a helpful explainer, signs have emerged that Tatum could return soon. It’s an interesting thought experiment, mostly because Boston has been so good in his absence, sitting second in the East at 41-20. Will he take up playing time for younger players thriving? Yes. Will his return make the Celtics favorites to make the finals? Also yes. Read Jay’s full report here. More news: ?  Find more news here 24/7. The Kyler Murray era is officially over in Arizona, one of those moves that we all expected, yet feels heavy when it arrives. The Cardinals took Murray with the No. 1 pick in the 2019 draft and later rewarded him with a five-year, $230 million contract.   His tenure ends with one playoff appearance, a loss in the wild-card round. He finds himself at a crossroads many talented quarterbacks have reached ahead of him: out of a job with plenty of time (and talent) to recoup his image elsewhere. See: Darnold, Sam.   I once again wanted some outside corroboration, so I went to “The Athletic Football Show’s” David Helman, mostly because I was listening to him and Robert Mays talk about Murray while I read the breaking news yesterday:   The general vibe on Kyler seems pretty down. Is that fair?   ? It’s fair up to a point. Kyler has fallen well short of his draft slot and his massive extension, and it’s been some time since he’s looked like a franchise guy. But in this era of castoff quarterback redemption arcs, I still think it’s premature to close the book on him entirely. Advertisement You are a contending GM, and I’m making you choose right now in free agency: Malik Willis (No. 9 on our top 150 free agents) or Murray? ? I’m a big fan of what Willis has done in Green Bay, but he’s started just six NFL games. If it’s true that he might fetch as much as $30 million per year from his next team, I’d rather get Kyler at a discount and try to make him the next Top 5 QB reclamation project. Go listen to David and Robert’s full conversation here. A few other free-agency notes before we move on:

Almost finished: ? NBA: Thunder at Knicks

7 p. m. ET on ESPN

If you want an early evening sports watch, this is your bet. Oklahoma City is back to No. 1 in our latest Power Rankings and New York has maintained as an elite Eastern Conference team. Great game.   ? Unrivaled: Mist vs. Phantom

9: 30 p. m. ET on TNT

Here’s the Unrivaled championship after a fun playoff run for the second-year women’s hoops league. Superstars like Breanna Stewart, Kelsey Plum and Arike Ogunbowale are in this one. ? WBC: Chinese Taipei vs. Australia

10 p. m. ET on FS1

This is the first official game of the World Baseball Classic, with two more tomorrow and a whopping eight games Friday. What a delight. Meaningful March baseball is a win for everybody.   Get tickets to games like this here. Have you or a loved one been affected by a local youth screaming “SIX SEVEN! ” at you? Imagine what it’s like for MLB players wearing No. 67. I loved this story.   A gossip file for you: College football coaches dishing on the transfer portal silly season.   Remember we talked about the incredibly deep men’s college hoops freshman class? Well, the larger 2026 NBA Draft class is also remarkable. See Sam Vecenie’s latest mock here.   Is this what brainwashing looks like? Or are we just smarter fans now? Josh Robbins has an interesting story today about the NBA fans who are embracing tanking. I’m not sure how I feel about this.   Our NHL writers made one bold prediction for each team ahead of Friday’s trade deadline.   Advertisement A couple of days late but still relevant: In New York, the “Baby” Red Bulls — featuring players aged 16 and 17 — are the story of the early MLS season.   Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: On the possible travel disruptions for the NCAA Tournament.   Most-read on the website yesterday: Our story on West Ham’s Adama Traore, who’s been banned from the weight room … for being too ripped. ? That’s all for now! Say hello at thepulse@theathletic. com, and check out our other newsletters. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle Chris Branch is a senior writer for The Athletic's daily newsletter. Before joining The Athletic, he covered the Phillies for The News-Journal and worked as a content strategist for various industries. He graduated from LSU, where he worked for The Daily Reveille. Follow Chris on Twitter @cbranch89