What were the 10 biggest storylines in sports in January?

The new year is already in full swing, with the month of January having come to a close. 

It’s been an eventful month to say the least, with a few teams winning championships in some sports and others making playoff runs elsewhere. But what were the absolute biggest storylines in sports over the past month?

We dove into what’s transpired in college football, the NFL, college basketball, the NBA, MLB, and soccer in January and gave you the biggest headlines to follow.

Let’s take a look:

10 biggest storylines in sports in January 

10. Ichiro Suzuki and C.C. Sabathia headline baseball Hall of Fame class

Ichiro Suzuki became the first player from Japan to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame as part of the 2025 class, and was just one vote shy of being a unanimous selection. Suzuki came to Major League Baseball from Japan as a 27-year-old in 2001 and joined Fred Lynn in 1975 as the only players to win AL Rookie of the Year and AL MVP in the same season. Falling just short of the unanimous vote, Mariano Rivera remains the only player to be unanimously selected for induction in Cooperstown.

C.C. Sabathia received 86.6% of the vote in his first year on the ballot. He was a six-time All-Star, won the 2007 AL Cy Young Award and a World Series title in 2009. He went 251-161 with a 3.74 ERA and 3,093 strikeouts, third among left-handers behind Randy Johnson and Steve Carlton, during 19 seasons with Cleveland (2001-08), the Milwaukee Brewers (2008) and New York Yankees (2009-19).

9. Manchester City and PSG avoid elimination in new Champions League format

There were several questions about how the new UEFA Champions League format would pan out, with 36 teams battling to make the knockout stages. Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain struggled in the league phase, recording eight points and 10 points respectively and tinkering on the brink of elimination. But on the final matchday, both teams pulled out convincing victories to remain in the competition.

Pep Guardiola led City to a 3-1 victory over Club Brugge, despite going down 1-0 early in the match. The four-time defending English Premier League champions went on to score three unanswered goals. As for the French powerhouse, Ousmane Dembélé netted a hat trick in an easy 4-1 win over Stuttgart to secure them a spot in the knockout phase. Manager Luis Enrique engineered quite a turnaround over the last few months, leading them to three victories with 11 goals scored in that span. So, while some of the biggest clubs in the world were in danger of missing the cut in the new format, the final field still resulted in very familiar faces.  

8. Cooper Flagg, Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey continue to dominate

There was a lot of hype surrounding these three freshman heading into the college basketball season, and so far they’ve absolutely lived up to it.

Cooper Flagg, Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey have each all but guaranteed themselves a top five draft spot in the 2025 NBA Draft. January has been especially kind to Flagg and Bailey, who rank third and sixth in the country respectively in scoring for the month — with the Duke product putting up 25.4 points per game and the Rutgers big man putting up 24.3. While Bailey’s January hasn’t been quite as prolific, he’s still averaging 18.6 points per game with 4.8 rebounds and 4.1 assists per outing.

Below are some nuggets that highlight just how incredible the true freshman have been this year:

• Flagg averaged 25.4 points per game on 57.9% shooting in January; the only other Division-I freshman in the last 15 years to average 25 points on that high of a shooting percentage in any month with five-plus games is Zion Williamson, who did it in January and March 2019.
• Flagg came a single assist shy of averaging 25-5-5 in January; he would have had the highest field goal percentage by any Division-I player averaging 25-5-5 in any month over that same span.
• Flagg had 42 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds against Notre Dame on 11-of-14 shooting (78.6%) and 16-of-17 from the free throw line (94.1%) on Jan. 11; his shooting percentage in this game was the highest of any Division-I player with at least 40 points, 6 assists, and 6 rebounds in a game this century.
• Harper joined De’Aaron Fox as the only Division-I freshmen over the last 15 years with a 35-point game and a triple-double in the same season.
• Harper is the first Division-I freshman to score 35+ points in consecutive games over the last 15 seasons.
• Harper had 37 points against No. 9 Alabama, the most by a freshman vs an AP Top-10 opponent since Cade Cunningham had 40 at Oklahoma in February 2021.
• Bailey had 37 points against Northwestern on Jan. 29, two points shy of tying the Rutgers single-game freshman record.
• Bailey and Harper are the second pair of freshman teammates over the last 15 years to each post 35-point games in the same season; they joined Kentucky’s De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk, who did it in 2016-17.

7. Miami lands Carson Beck for $4M in transfer portal

Former Georgia quarterback Carson Beck announced that he’d be returning to school for a sixth season, after committing to play for Miami (Fla.) in 2025 despite recently declaring for the NFL Draft. Beck is reportedly set to receive a little over $4 million to transfer, roughly double the $1.6 million Heisman Trophy finalist Cam Ward earned through Miami’s collective, according to FOX Sports’ Bruce Feldman. The senior signal-caller spent five seasons at Georgia, serving as a backup to Stetson Bennett on the school’s 2021 and 2022 title teams before spending the past two as the Bulldogs’ starter.

Beck completed 68% of his passes for 7,912 yards, 58 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in his college career. He appeared in 39 games for Georgia, 27 of them in the past two seasons, leading them to a combined 24-3 record. The Hurricanes will look to replicate the success they had with Ward under Beck’s command, coming off a 10-3 record. 

6. Jimmy Butler wants out in Miami

The saga of Jimmy Butler wanting to leave the Miami Heat seems never-ending, as signs of disagreement first came to light when the two parties failed to reach an extension in June of 2024 ahead of the season. On January 2nd of this year, Butler stated, “I want to see me getting my joy back playing basketball. Wherever that may be, we’ll find out here pretty soon.”

Over the next three weeks, Butler reiterated his desire to be traded multiple times to the front office, and has been suspended by the Heat on several different occasions in that span due to a “disregard of team rules.” He is currently suspended indefinitely, and Miami is still searching for the right trade partner to unload the six-time All-Star.

5. Saquon Barkley’s remarkable season lands Philly back in Super Bowl

It’s not often that a player gets to make the Super Bowl in their first season with a new team, but Saquon Barkley did just that in his first campaign with Philly. Highlighted by leading the league with 2,005 regular-season rushing yards, Barkley has been the driving force of a Philadelphia running game that ranked second in the league (179.3 rushing yards per game) and was strong enough to catapult the Eagles to Super Bowl LIX. His postseason run has been absolutely electric, with 442 rushing yards— the second-most by a player in a single playoff run before reaching the Super Bowl.

Barkley also became the sixth player in NFL history to have 120 scrimmage yards and three rushing scores in a conference championship game, joining Adrian Peterson, Emmitt Smith, LeGarrette Blount, Raheem Mostert, and Thurman Thomas. And to cap it off, Barkley has been the most dangerous big play threat in the postseason— recording three rushing touchdowns of 60+ yards in the 2024-25 playoffs. He is the first player in NFL history with three rushing scores of 60+ yards in a playoff career, let alone a single postseason! Entering the Super Bowl, he is just 30 rush yards shy of breaking the single-season record held by Terrell Davis (including the playoffs), and three scrimmage yards shy of breaking that record as well (also held by Davis). 

4. Roki Sasaki signs with Dodgers

Roki Sasaki, a 23-year-old right-hander whose fastball tops 100 mph, announced that would join fellow Japanese stars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto in a move many baseball executives had long expected. The San Diego Padres and Toronto Blue Jays were said to be the other finalists still in pursuit of Sasaki. The Dodgers are planning to use a six-man rotation, which could ease his transition to Major League Baseball, as Los Angeles attempts to become the first repeat champion since the New York Yankees from 1998 to 2000. Sasaki was 10-5 with a 2.35 ERA in 18 games last year, striking out 129 hitters in 111 innings during a season limited by shoulder inflammation. He went 7-4 with a 1.78 ERA in 15 starts in 2023, when he had an oblique injury. He has a 29-15 career record with a 2.10 ERA over four seasons with the Marines and pitched a perfect game against Orix in April 2022.

3. Ohio State wins first 12-team CFP

Ohio State and Notre Dame made history even before kickoff of the 2025 College Football Playoff National Championship. The Buckeyes and Fighting Irish were the first two teams to reach the inaugural 12-team playoff title game. Ohio State built a 31-7 lead in the third quarter before Notre Dame came charging back. The Buckeyes held on for the 34-23 win, thanks in part to a 56-yard completion from quarterback Will Howard to freshman sensation Jeremiah Smith late in the fourth quarter. The win gave Ohio State head coach Ryan Day his first national title in his second appearance in a championship game. It’s also the first national championship for the Buckeyes since the 2014 season.

Smith broke the Big Ten single-season record for receiving yards by a freshman with 1,315, passing Purdue’s Rondale Moore (1,258 in 2018), while Quinshon Judkins is the sixth player in the CFP era to have three scrimmage touchdowns in the national championship, joining Ezekiel Elliott, Travis Etienne Jr., Najee Harris, Derrick Henry and DeVonta Smith. The Buckeyes roster was truly a special one, boasting four 1,000-yard performers— the first time that’s happened in a single season in Buckeye history (Jeremiah Smith, Emeka Egbuka, TreVeyon Henderson, Quinshon Judkins).

Ohio State finished the year with five wins vs. AP top-five opponents this season, not only the most since the FBS/FCS split in 1978, but also the most in the AP poll era (since 1936)— with four of its five wins came in the CFP.

2. Jayden Daniels’ historic playoff run

Jayden Daniels was absolutely stellar in the month of January, leading the Commanders to the NFC Championship before ultimately falling to the Eagles. It was Washington’s first NFC title game appearance since the 1991 season, the same year in which they won the Super Bowl.

In three playoff games, the former Heisman winner recorded 822 pass yards, five pass touchdowns, 135 rush yards, and a rushing touchdown— all the highest marks by a rookie quarterback in a playoff run ever. While his January was something to remember, below we’ve listed out all the records he broke throughout the season just to emphasize how unprecedented his season was:

Jayden Daniels Rookie QB Records Broken 2024 Season, Including Playoffs

• 1st to lead team in rush yards in regular season and make playoffs
• 1st to throw 2+ pass TD in road playoff win (Tampa Bay)
• 1st to lead team in pass and rush yds in playoff win (Tampa Bay)
• 1st to defeat No. 1 scoring offense in playoffs (Detroit)
• 1st to defeat multiple top five scoring offenses in playoffs (Tampa and Detroit)
• 1st to defeat multiple No. 1 overall drafted QBs in playoffs (Baker Mayfield and Jared Goff)
• 1st to have 300+ offensive yards in multiple playoffs games
• 1st to have 100+ passer rating in multiple playoff games
• 1st to win multiple playoff games without a top three scoring
• Most offensive yards in rookie season
• Most offensive touchdowns in rookie season
• Most pass yards in a rookie postseason
• Most pass touchdowns in a rookie postseason

1. Chiefs meet Eagles in Super Bowl rematch; K.C. looking to record first three-peat

Could we have asked for a better Super Bowl? A rematch of a game that ended 38-35 just a few years ago, with Patrick Mahomes & Co. looking to make history— going up against arguably the most talented team in the league in the Eagles.

No team has ever won three Super Bowls in a row, with the Packers having come the closest— winning the 1965 NFL Championship before winning Super Bowls I and II. The Chiefs are the first team ever to make five Super Bowls in a six-year span, and also the fourth team in league history to reach three consecutive Super Bowls.

The AFC title game was a thriller, with Kansas City coming out on top 32-19. It was their 17th straight win in a one-possession game, the longest such winning streak in NFL history when including the playoffs. Mahomes joins Tom Brady (10) and John Elway (five) as the only starting quarterbacks in NFL history to reach the Super Bowl five times, and he’ll be the only one to start five Super Bowls before age 30.

As for Philly, they’re looking for their first title since the 2017 season— having taken down Brady’s Patriots in a 41-33 barn-burner. Their NFC title game performance was beyond dominant, scoring 55 points and rushing for seven touchdowns— both NFL conference championship records. The two teams have a combined 10 All-Pro selections, which should make this an incredible game.

One fact we’ll leave you with: Andy Reid vs Nick Sirianni will be the fifth head coach rematch in a Super Bowl all-time. The head coach that won the first meeting also won the second meeting in all of the previous four instances. Can the Birds break the curse? 

Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily.