NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle No. 573 arrived on Sunday, April 19, 2026, with four categories that pushed from baseball nicknames to Premier League managers and football position clues. The day’s completed answers were Blue Jays, Orioles, Rays and Yankees; defensive, running, tight and wide; Emery, Guardiola, Moyes and Slot; and Bridegrooms, Dodgers, Robins and Superbas.
The puzzle is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times, and it can be played for free online, though it does not appear in the NYT Games app. For readers searching for a connections hint today, the blue and purple categories were the wildest of the set, especially the one built around the Dodgers franchise’s older nicknames and the one built around managers from the Premier League.
That mix is what made Sunday’s board feel less like a simple sports quiz and more like a small tour through sports history. The AL East group was the cleanest of the four, but the other answers depended on seeing the hidden pattern behind first words in football positions and knowing that Emery, Guardiola, Moyes and Slot all fit together as Premier League managers.
What mattered most today was not just solving the board, but recognizing how the puzzle spans sports eras and leagues without warning. No. 573 rewarded anyone who could move from modern baseball standings to old franchise names in a single pass, and that is exactly why the Sports Edition keeps its audience coming back.
