People come to Los Angeles with big dreams. Some want to make it as Hollywood actors. Others dream of a record deal and music fame. And there’s those who aspire to drink green juice while wearing oversized sunglasses and attend the third-through-seventh inning of a Dodger game at Chavez Ravine while pitching a reality show.
The San Francisco Giants had more humble dreams: To get double-digit hits for the third time in four games and continue their 2026 dominance over the defending world champions. They did that and more Monday night, notching 12 hits and six walks in a 9-3 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
You know it’s a big hit when the NBCS account breaks out a reference to a 30-year-old Will Smith album! Willy Adames went 2-for-5 with three RBIs, one of five Men In Black and Orange with a multi-hit game Monday night. Rafael Devers got jiggy wit his fifth home run, scored three runs, and reached base four times. Every member of the starting lineup had either a hit or an RBI, truly the mark of an offense that keeps the roof blazin’.
All this on a night where the Giants had two runners thrown out at home, Jesus Rodriguez got his first career stolen base, and Shohei Ohtani went 0-for-5.
Matt Gage (3-1) picked up the win after relieving Trevor McDonald (5.1 IP, 9H, 3R, 2BB, 4K) in the 6th inning, after a Max Muncy home run and a Teoscar Hernandez single chased him from the game. Gage retired all five Dodgers he faced, mowing down the heart of the lineup. Maybe Ohtani and Kyle Tucker could settle for some deferred hits?
McDonald got hit hardest in the 4th inning, when the Dodgers led off the inning with four straight singles, all off of sinkers. The Giants escaped down only 2-1 thanks to an Adames-to-Arraez-to-Schmidt double play.
The Giants countered with three straight singles off lefty Alex Vesia (1-1) from Jung Hoo Lee, Luis Arraez, and Casey Schmidt, who reached base four times Monday. Devers drew a seven-pitch, bases-loaded walk to give the Giants a 4-3 lead before “Big Willy Style” drove in Arraez and Schmidt, just the two of them.
Devers started the scoring with a second-inning homer off starter Rory Sasaki, who had one of his better outings of the season by giving up three runs and six hits and striking out five. Like his walk, this came on a 3-2 pitch, the 8th pitch of the at-bat. Devers nearly fouled out on the previous pitch, but Hernandez got distracted by a Dodgers official holding a folding chair. One pitch later, he made Sasaki and the chair-wielding man pay.
Devers missed on a bases-loaded opportunity in the 3rd, where the Giants loaded the bases in unusual fashion. Rodriguez drew a walk and then stole second when Lee struck out, swinging and missing so badly he threw his bat down the first-base line. He went to third on an Arraez single but didn’t score after Sasaki beaned Schmidt and Sasaki retired Devers and Heliot Ramos.
In the 6th, the Giants showed off some excellent baserunning and some less excellent baserunning. Schmidt singled and took third on a Devers single, with Devers hustling to second when the throw went to third. Ramos followed with a two-run double down the line.
In a very Heliot Ramos sequence, he went to third on a deep fly ball, then got thrown out at home by roughly 20 feet on a Matt Chapman groundout.
Was that the only Giant thrown out at the plate? Heavens no. Harrison Bader doubled in the 8th and made it to third on a delayed start when Rodriguez grounded out to Muncy and Freddie Freeman’s throw back to third went high. One pitch later, Lee grounded to first and Bader was tagged out in a rundown.
The Giants got some insurance in the 8th inning when Schmidt walked and stole second (two steals in one game?!?). An intentional walk to Devers was followed by an unintentional walk to Ramos, an Adames single, and another walk, this time to Chapman.
The Giants rounded out the scoring with an RBI groundout from Rodriguez. Poor Lee was the second Giant hit in the game, but at least he only got nailed by a curveball. That made four walks and a hit batsmen in one inning from Wyatt Mills, who may not be long for the Dodgers roster.
The bullpen went 3.2 innings and only gave up a single, with Keaton Winn and JT Brubaker closing it out. The Dodgers have lost three straight, the Giants have won three out of four, and the Giants’ big hitters are mostly hitting again. That’s what we call a Hollywood Echo Park ending!
ESPN: Adding injury to the insult of getting swept in Milwaukee this weekend, José Caballero hurt his finger in the series finale. “There is definitely some concern,” opined Aaron Boone Monday when asked, and the shortstop was out of the starting lineup Monday, though he pinch-ran in the ninth and got caught stealing to seal a Yankee loss. Cabby will have tests done Tuesday as he will see a hand specialist in New York City and could undergo an MRI. Everyone’s fingers will be crossed for Caballero, who’s played a solid shortstop in the first quarter of the season, while providing a little bit of pop with the bat and terrorizing opponents on the basepaths with 13 stolen bases.
MLB | Casey Drottar: The Yanks’ weekend callup of Spencer Jones has enabled him to reconnect with a former minor league teammate. Jones and Ben Rice hadn’t seen each other since spring training and Jones made a point to meet up with Rice as soon as he could. It wasn’t all motivated by friendship, however. “I told Ben this morning I’m going to be attached to his hip today,” Jones remarked, knowing he was going to take advantage of the opportunity to pick his friend’s brain on adjusting to the big leagues.
MLB | Jon Schwartz: Austin Wells has struggled at the plate so far this season after a lackluster 2025 offensively, but that has not affected his defense. Schwartz examines Wells’ routine preparing the Yankees’ pitching staff for games, while highlighting the leaps Wells has made defensively, especially considering there were questions about whether Wells would ever be good enough behind the plate to stay at the position in the majors. Meanwhile, his stature as a leader continues to evolve. “He’s very involved,” [Cam] Schlittler says. “For someone who’s young, that can really make an impact.”
X | Bryan Hoch: Led with injury news, finish with injury news. Designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton has been out for a while with a strained right calf. Monday, he was due to undergo some testing to see how the healing process is going. Throughout, Stanton has been able to hit, but not run. Manager Aaron Boone remarked Monday there is optimism that Big G will be able to begin running this week.
Northampton and Bath were well beaten over the weekend: will Leicester or Exeter force themselves into the top two?
There are small but significant moments in every league campaign. Until the weekend it was widely assumed that Northampton and Bath, the two frontrunners in the English Prem, were all but nailed on for home semi-finals and, by extension, would almost certainly meet in the grand final at Allianz Stadium in Twickenham on 20 June.
That could still happen but, suddenly, others are entering the chat. Not only did Saints and Bath lose at the weekend but both were well beaten, 41-17 by Leicester and 35-12 by Exeter respectively. Bath, including their Champions Cup semi-final in Bordeaux, have lost three games on the trot. Northampton were not so much batted aside by the Tigers as unceremoniously flattened.
May 11, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers two-way player Shohei Ohtani (17) waves to fans as he runs through the dugout after taking live batting practice prior to the game against the San Francisco Giants at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani won’t hit in one of the final two games against the San Francisco Giants this week, but Dodgers manager Dave Roberts hasn’t yet decided if that will be on Wednesday when Ohtani pitches or on Thursday for what would amount to a mental reset day for the slumping superstar.
When to give Ohtani any sort of rest has been an interesting puzzle to solve as he’s back to being a full-time two-way player for the first time since 2023. He didn’t hit in three of his first six pitching starts, including his previous two times on the mound. But he has played in all 41 games in one way or another.
“One of those days he’s not going to hit, I haven’t decided,” Roberts said Monday night. “But on top of that, given what we’re asking of him on the pitching side, it’s a fair question.”
When Shohei Ohtani last homered, on April 26 against the Chicago Cubs, he snapped a string of 59 consecutive plate appearances without a long ball, his longest power drought since joining the Dodgers. Since then, Ohtani has gone 51 plate appearances and 13 full games since, his second-longest skid with the team.
He was hitless in five at-bats with a pair of strikeouts in Monday’s loss, and since that last home run has seven hits in 43 at-bats, hitting .163/.294/.209 with seven walks and 12 strikeouts. That dropped his season line to .233/.363/.404, which is a 114 wRC+, but with an isolated power (.171) 75 points lower than any of his previous five seasons.
“Even early on [in the season] when he wasn’t hitting, he was still taking walks and getting on base,” Roberts said. “Tonight was a classic example, I think he’s just trying to swing out of it, that’s just so apparent. A lot of hitters, when their scuffling, they want to swing out of it, and tonight was one of those nights.”
CLEVELAND (AP) — Donovan Mitchell tied an NBA playoff record with 39 points in the second half and the Cleveland Cavaliers evened their second-round series against the Detroit Pistons with a 112-103 victory Monday night.
Mitchell matched the mark of Eric “Sleepy” Floyd on a free throw with 27.6 seconds remaining. He had a chance to break the record, set in 1987 against the Los Angeles Lakers, but missed his second foul shot.
Mitchell finished with 43 points, including 15 during Cleveland’s 24-0 run that went from the last 12 seconds of the first half to the first six minutes of the third quarter. Cleveland trailed 56-52 at halftime before taking control.
The 24-0 run was the longest in an NBA playoff game since since Minnesota also scored 24 straight in Game 6 of its Western Conference semifinal series against Denver in 2024. It was also the longest spurt by Cleveland in a postseason game since play-by-play stats were kept in 1997-98. The previous high was 19 in an Eastern semifinal series contest against Boston.
James Harden had his 40th playoff double-double with 24 points and 11 assists. Evan Mobley had 17 points, five blocked shots and three steals as Cleveland remained unbeaten at home in six playoff games.
Caris LeVert had a season high 24 points for Detroit. Cade Cunningham scored 19, the first time he has been held under 20 in 11 playoff games this season, and Tobias Harris added 16.
Game 5 is Wednesday night in Detroit.
THUNDER 115, LAKERS 110
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 35 points, Chet Holmgren made a tiebreaking dunk with 32.8 seconds to play, and Oklahoma City swept Los Angeles out of the second round of the NBA playoffs with a victory in Game 4.
Ajay Mitchell scored 10 of his 28 points in the frantic final period as the Thunder overcame the Lakers’ tenacious effort and improved to 8-0 in the playoffs with their toughest victory of the postseason.
LeBron James had 24 points and 14 rebounds in the final game of the unprecedented 23rd season for the top scorer in NBA history, but he missed a driving bank shot with 20 seconds left that would have put the Lakers ahead.
The 41-year-old James has repeatedly said he hasn’t decided whether to play next season, so there was no ceremony or momentousness around this game. Instead, the Lakers desperately tried to extend their year, only to lose to Oklahoma City for the eighth time this season.
Austin Reaves scored 27 points before missing a tying 3-point attempt with eight seconds left for the Lakers, who advanced one round farther than almost anybody expected after losing NBA scoring champion Luka Doncic and Reaves to significant injuries a month ago.
If this is indeed it for LeBron James, give him credit for one thing: he was unprecedented, even until the very end.
The Oklahoma City Thunder unceremoniously swept James’ Los Angeles Lakers on Monday, May 11 in the conference semifinal round in what might be the final game of James’ storied 23-year career. James has not revealed his future plans, but will turn 42 in December and has been more vulnerable recently about how basketball is affecting his body.
James also has nothing more to prove.
What he did this year had never been seen before. Not only did he start all 60 games he played during the regular season (adding 10 more in the postseason), he rewrote the standard for what’s possible for players 40 and older.
In the 46 games he played after turning 41 on Dec. 30, he averaged 21.1 points, 7.3 assists and 6.4 rebounds per contest. Compare that scoring figure with the next closest player, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who averaged just 10.5 points per game after his 41st birthday.
Take this postseason: even though the Lakers fell well short of their objectives, they were missing All-Star Luka Dončić. And for much of L.A.’s first-round series against the Rockets, Austin Reaves was out, too.
That meant that the Lakers' hopes instantly fell squarely on James, who responded by averaging 23.2 points in the playoffs. Simply put: there has been no other player in history to be so consistently reliable this this stage of a career.
Even in Monday night’s Game 4 loss, James chiseled away to a steady 24 points on 8-of-18 shooting, adding 12 rebounds and 3 assists.
Frankly, that claim could be stretched to his entire career.
James has been available throughout his playing days at a near absurd level. Not only has he avoided major injury, his 61,030 regular season minutes are an all-time record and come out to 42.4 days.
He also entered Monday night with 12,405 playoff minutes, another all-time record.
Forget the discussions about where James ranks compared with Jordan or Kobe or Kareem or Wilt because those conversations tend to be reductive and difficult to quantify.
What’s undeniable is that James has been the premier player of this generation — a 22-time All-Star and four-time Most Valuable Player who won four championships with three different teams. If this was his last game, he was an ambassador of the sport and he elevated the play of his teammates. He outworked his competition and stayed in peak physical condition. He stayed out of controversy and enriched the communities in which he played.
James did have his detractors, as all great players do. But if this was in fact his last game, appreciate the production and longevity. Appreciate the commitment to the sport. Because like Jordan, like Kobe, like Kareem and like Wilt, there will never be another LeBron James.
In this week’s Injury Report, Tarik Skubal is aiming to return in four to six weeks. Carlos Correa undergoes season-ending ankle surgery. Ha-Seong Kim is set for his season debut on Tuesday. And Jeremy Peña is ready to embark on a rehab assignment. Let's break it all down as we run through the relevant injury news around baseball.
⚾️ Baseball is back! MLB returns to NBC and Peacock in 2026! In addition to becoming the exclusive home of Sunday Night Baseball, NBC Sports will broadcast MLB Sunday Leadoff, “Opening Day” and Labor Day primetime games, the first round of the MLB Draft, the entire Wild Card round of the postseason, and much more.
Tarik Skubal (elbow)
We got better news than expected following Skubal’s surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow last Wednesday. It turned out to be just one loose body. He’s aiming to return in just four to six weeks. The team keeping him on the 15-day injured list rather than the 60-day injured list seems to indicate their optimism that he can make that timeline.
The Rays own the best record in the American League.
D.J. Short
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Nathan Eovaldi (side)
Eovaldi was scratched from his scheduled start against the Diamonbacks on Monday with left side tightness. He’s scheduled to undergo imaging, and the results will determine the next steps. Manager Skip Schumaker called Eovaldi day-to-day with the side discomfort, but we’ll likely know more about when he might be ready to take the mound in the coming days.
Kerry Carpenter (shoulder)
Carpenter was removed from Saturday’s game against the Royals with shoulder soreness after running into a wall on Bobby Witt Jr.’s inside-the-park home run. The injury will cost him some time after the team placed him on the 10-day injured list with a left shoulder sprain. The 28-year-old slugger was hitting .216/.299/.451 with six homers and 17 RBI across 117 plate appearances. His absence could open more playing time for Gage Workman and Wenceel Pérez.
Jacob Wilson (shoulder)
Wilson suffered a sprained left shoulder on a diving play in the fifth inning against the Orioles on Sunday. He was removed from the game in obvious discomfort. He was scheduled to undergo imaging on Monday to determine the extent of the injury. If he requires time on the injured list, expect Darell Hernaiz to step in at shortstop for the A’s.
Addison Barger (elbow)
Barger was scratched from Sunday’s lineup after waking up with a limited range of motion in his right elbow. This came the day following an incredible 101-mph throw from right field to record an out at home plate on Saturday. The throw might’ve cost him. The team placed him on the 10-day injured list on Monday with right elbow inflammation. Barger had just been activated from the injured list after missing five weeks with an ankle sprain. Yohendrick Pinango was brought back up from Triple-A to take Barger’s place on the roster. He was 11-for-26 at the plate over ten games with Toronto before Barger returned from the ankle sprain.
Fairbanks is set to return after a minimum stay on the injured list with nerve irritation in his right thumb. Marlins manager Clayton McCullough stated he will travel with the team to Minnesota and likely be activated ahead of the series opener against the Twins on Tuesday. Fairbanks steps back in as the primary closer after Tyler Phillips, John King, and Calvin Faucher stepped in for saves in his absence.
Ha-Seong Kim (finger)
Kim will make his season debut on Tuesday after he was activated from the 10-day injured list. He missed the start of the season recovering from a torn tendon in his right middle finger. Kim suffered the injury while falling on ice in January. The 30-year-old infielder should slot in as the team’s everyday shortstop after signing a one-year, $20 million contract. Kim provides modest power with some stolen base upside in a solid lineup, great as a middle infield option in deeper roto leagues.
Jeremy Peña (hamstring)
Peña continues to make progress towards his return from a hamstring injury. He ran the bases over the weekend for the first time since landing on the injured list on April 12. It was the last hurdle he needed to clear before starting a minor league rehab assignment. He’ll likely need a week or so of at-bats before returning to the Astros lineup, hopefully by next weekend.
Carlos Correa (ankle)
Correa had helped fill the void at shortstop with Peña out until he suffered an ankle injury during batting practice last Tuesday. He underwent season-ending surgery on Monday after tearing a tendon in his left ankle. It’s a tough blow to Houston and the 31-year-old veteran infielder. He was hitting a solid .279/.369/.418 with three homers, 22 runs scored, and 16 RBI across 141 plate appearances. His absence clears the path for Isaac Paredes to entrench himself at third base for the rest of the season.
Logan Webb (knee)
Webb downplayed the knee discomfort he’s apparently been pitching through following his six-run outing against the Padres last Tuesday. He was expected to make his next start, but will instead take a two-week break as the team placed him on the 15-day injured list with right knee bursitis. It might do Webb well to take time off after posting a 5.06 ERA and 1.40 WHIP over 48 innings. Trevor McDonald was recalled to take his place in the rotation. It’s not expected to be a lengthy absence for Webb. He’s already scheduled to resume throwing on Wednesday.
Grayson Rodriguez (shoulder)
Rodriguez has been on the shelf since the late stages of spring training with right shoulder inflammation. He got up to 94 pitches in his latest rehab start with Single-A Cucamonga, giving up two runs with 11 strikeouts over 4 2/3 innings. It seems he’s built up enough to join the Angels rotation at any time, but the team may want him to get a start against better competition in the upper minors. Either way, he’s an upside stash candidate in deeper leagues.
Kyle Teel (hamstring)
Teel has been brought along slowly after suffering a strained right hamstring late in spring training during the World Baseball Classic. He ran the bases with no issue over the weekend and finally got clearance to begin a minor league rehab assignment. Given how much time he’s missed, he’ll figure to need at least a week of minor league games before he’s ready to join the White Sox lineup.
New South Wales bowler Ryan Hadley has produced an all-round masterclass in the County Championship, heroically steering Glamorgan towards a “miracle” victory over Somerset in Cardiff.
May 11, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers two-way player Shohei Ohtani (17) looks on from the dugout in the first inning against against the San Francisco Giants at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
As Roki Sasaki and Trevor McDonald took different paths to deliver extremely similar results—Sasaki navigating through far less traffic than McDonald—it was up to the bullpens to decide this game, and the Giants’ one proved superior on the evening, securing a 9-3 win to open up this four-game set at Dodger Stadium.
Hanging splitters and a lack of swing-and-miss action on the fastball proved costly for Sasaki. As disappointing as Sasaki might be with the loss, a second straight start allowing just three runs and pitching into the sixth at least shouldn’t be dismissed—it represents growth from where he was a couple of weeks ago. At the same time, a bitter taste is to be expected when you cough up the lead as you exit, seeing the Giants score two of their three runs against him in the sixth, an inning in which he failed to record an out.
The Giants scored a run against Sasaki in the second and sixth. In both times, Rafael Devers provided key hits, first by waiting on six straight fastballs to hit a hanging splitter over the right-field wall—later on, Devers went well outside of the zone to dump an 0-1 fastball into left field, advancing to second as the Dodgers tried to nab the baserunner at third. With two in scoring position, the subsequent single from Helliot Ramos handed the Giants a 3-2 lead. When Sasaki left the game, he was responsible for a runner at second with no outs, but Blake Treinen carried on the recent success of this somewhat depleted bullpen by keeping the score at 3-2.
It was a short-lived lead for the Giants as the Dodgers answered back in the bottom of the sixth with a home run from Max Muncy, his eleventh of the season, and one that puts him three behind Eric Karros in the all-time leaderboard for Dodger Stadium long balls at 127.
Much like Devers had been at the forefront of the damage against Sasaki, Muncy filled a similar role against McDonald. The first RBI from the Dodgers in this game came from a Muncy bases-loaded single in the fourth. Sadly, they only tacked one more in that frame, leaving the Giants ample room to take control of this game not long after.
That Muncy home run in the sixth came as he picked up on a clear trend from Trevor McDonald, who, for the most part, managed to smoke and mirrors his way through an effective outing, loading up on sinkers early on and gradually moving to more off-speed stuff in the second and third time through the orders. Keeping the Dodgers a disappointing 2 for 9 with runners in scoring position, McDonald managed to pitch five-plus frames, allowing just three runs, matching Sasaki’s numbers, and leaving the decision to the bullpen.
After each bullpen took care of their inherited runner from the starter, the Giants drew first blood. Alex Vesia’s fastball-heavy approach in the seventh didn’t work, walking in the go-ahead 4-3 run with a free pass to Devers (him again) on a 3-2 heater too high for even him to chase. Will Klein threatened to get out of it with just that run as he struck out the first hitter he faced, but Willy Adames dumped a hanging sweeper in the outfield for a two-run single, making this a 6-3 affair. And near the end, any hope that the Dodgers might’ve had of making this a close one was silenced as the Giants added three more in the ninth against Wyatt Mills.
It won’t get the same attention it otherwise would have had the result favored the Dodgers, but if you’re looking for silver linings, Teoscar Hernández’s performance on both sides of the ball provides one. Moving down in the order due to his hitting struggles, Hernández reached base thrice with a pair of hits and a walk and made two nice defensive plays.
On top of this great catch for the first out of this game, Hernández smothered a sinking liner from Casey Schmitt in the seventh that loaded the bases in front of Devers. Ultimately, all three base runners came around to score, but he gave Vesia and Klein a fighting chance in that frame. On the flip side, Shohei Ohtani’s struggles with the bat continue, finishing the game 0 for 5 with a pair of strikeouts. Mookie Betts recorded a hit in five at-bats in his first game back from the injured list.
Look around this week, and you will struggle to find such a lopsided pitching matchup as the one taking place at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday night. Yoshinobu Yamamoto will start opposite Adrian Houser, who enters the game with a 0-4 record and an ERA over 6.00. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. (PT).
Australian cricketer Tim David has been fined 30 per cent of the his match fee for making an “obscene” gesture during Sunday’s Indian Premier League match in Raipur.
Dillon Brooks, the Phoenix Suns wing, enforcer, villain and LeBron James pest, was spotted sitting courtside at Crypto.com Arena with a smile on his face as the Lakers entered halftime trailing 49-45. The 30-year-old, fresh off getting swept against the Thunder in the first round, apparently couldn't help but get out to LA to watch his nemesis possibly meet the same fate in the second round.
Brooks and James have a history dating back to the first round of the 2023 playoffs, when he openly taunted the NBA's all-time leading scorer as the two exchanged verbal jabs in the media and got into a confrontation during Game 3, with Brooks later taking jabs at James' age.
"I don't care. He's old. You know what I mean?" Brooks, then with the Memphis Grizzlies, told reporters at the time. "I was waiting for that. I was expecting him to do that [in] Game 4, Game 5. He wanted to say something when I got my fourth foul. He should have been saying that earlier on. But I poke bears. I don't respect no one until they come and give me 40."
After the Lakers took that series in six games, James took to Instagram.
"If you ever see me fighting in the forest with a Grizzly bear," James wrote in his caption. "HELP THE BEAR."
The two were at it again this past December, when Brooks told reporters that James "likes people that bow down. I don't bow down."
The Mets are desperate, obviously. They had to try something, anything to give angry fans a reason to cling to any sort of hope at Citi Field as a six-game homestand opens Tuesday night. Or, in truth, a reason not to boo from the jump.
So here come A.J. Ewing, and under ordinary circumstances David Stearns wouldn’t be calling up a 21-year old kid with all of 12 games at Triple-A under his belt. But under these circumstances it’s the right move to make, and not just because Stearns knows that fans want to run him out of town.
That is, it’s right because Ewing might just have the game to make it pay dividends.
At least that’s the opinion of scouts I’ve spoken to, before and after Monday night’s decision, via sources, to call up Ewing.
“If you’re looking for a spark, like they are, he’s got the game to bring energy,” one scout told me Monday night. “He’s got great speed. He’ll steal a base, he’ll make a diving play. He gets really good jumps in the outfield -- he’s a natural in center field.
“Whether he’ll hit major league pitching right away, that’s always the toughest thing to project. But he’s got the tools for it. His swing is short and quick to the ball, and he has a knack for fouling off pitches to keep at-bats alive until he gets a pitch he can handle. He adapted quickly to Triple-A pitching, so I wouldn’t bet against him.”
As the Mets’ fourth-round pick out of high school in Ohio in the 2023 MLB Draft, the left-handed-hitting Ewing has exceeded projections as he has excelled offensively and moved up quickly in the minors.
Last season Ewing moved up two levels as he put up numbers, finishing the season in Double A, where he hit .339 in 28 games. He began this year in Double A and was hitting .349 with a 1.051 OPS after 18 games, forcing his way to Triple-A as he began to show power in addition to his contact skills.
He was hitting everything his first week in Triple-A, and though he cooled recently, he was still hitting .326 with a .392 on-base percentage at the time of his call-up, with five stolen bases -- and never caught stealing.
In short, he profiles as an obvious leadoff hitter, and you’d have to think he’ll be in that spot on Tuesday against the Detroit Tigers, which would allow Carlos Mendoza to slide Juan Soto back to the No. 2 or 3 spot, especially considering Soto has been slumping since being moved to leadoff himself.
“He’s got leadoff skills,” a second scout said of Ewing. “He gets into deep counts because he fouls off tough pitches and doesn’t chase a lot, but he’ll see a different caliber of pitching now, and that’s always the X factor, especially for someone making the jump so quickly.
“He could use more at-bats in Triple-A, where you usually see more spin, better command than you do in Double-A. So it’s not ideal, rushing him to the big leagues, but I understand why they’re doing it. He’s got a good approach, and he’s short and quick to the ball, which gives him an advantage over a lot of guys as far as having immediate success.”
Indeed, Ewing has made an impression with his ability to adapt at every level of the minors and continue to improve his offensive game.
For example, he recently made a huge jump in Baseball America’s ranking of prospects throughout the minors. He moved from No. 83 to the No. 37 overall prospect, based on the way he was tearing it up early this season.
After what Ewing did last season, the Mets were convinced he was keeper. Still, they weren’t thinking he’d be at Citi Field this soon, considering they made the gamble to trade for injury-prone Luis Robert, who is currently on the IL -- surprise, surprise.
In any case, I got a sense of just how high the Mets were on Ewing during spring training. I happened to be talking with a Mets’ person in the seats behind home plate when Ewing came to bat late in the first game of the Grapefruit League season.
The bases were loaded with one out the time and Ewing worked a long at-bat, fouling off a few pitches before hitting a fly ball to center field, deep enough to score a run with a sacrifice fly.
“I love that at-bat,” the Mets’ person said. “He’s up there grinding, just trying to put the ball in play to get the run in, like he’s in a pennant race. He plays the game that way. He’s going to be our center fielder at some point.”
The person who was speaking certainly didn’t expect it to be just a few months later, in mid-May. Nobody did. Ewing is getting a chance only because Stearns couldn’t stand by and watch the season crumble without trying something.
And logic says it’s too soon. Yet Ewing’s fast rise through the minors, with success at every level, says maybe it’s not.
But before Ryan Weathers made a case for keeping his rotation spot once Cole returns, potentially by the end of this month, Aaron Boone watched his ace’s latest rehab start Monday morning and came away impressed.
Cole built up to 77 pitches across five innings with Double-A Somerset on Sunday night while striking out eight.
“Really good,” Boone said before a 3-2 loss to the Orioles at Camden Yards. “Ripped his last heater 99 [mph] for another punch. I thought [Sunday] — working on things every time prior, and not that he wasn’t [Sunday], but I think it was a little more of a competitive Gerrit trying to get outs. I thought he threw the ball really well. Stuff was really good. Another good step for him.”
Gerrit Cole is pictured after the Yankees’ May 2 game. Imagn Images
Across five rehab starts so far, Cole has shown strong command — which is often the last thing to come back for pitchers returning from Tommy John — walking only two batters while striking out 22.
“I think that’s in a pretty good place,” Boone said. “I think he probably stuff-wise ramped it up maybe even another notch [Sunday]. Hopefully now as he continues to build his pitch count, he can continue to do that through his next couple.”
Once Cole finishes off his comeback from Tommy John surgery, the Yankees could have a tough decision on their hands for how to open a rotation spot, with both Weathers and Will Warren pitching well.
Weathers took his latest shot Monday, carrying a no-hitter into the seventh inning before giving up two runs in 6 1/3 innings while lowering his ERA to 3.00.
“Just felt like I was competing in the strike zone really well, still had a few walks [three] which I wish I could take back,” Weathers said.
Two weeks after an MRI revealed his low-grade right calf strain, Giancarlo Stanton returned for imaging Monday to see how much healing has occurred and whether he might be cleared to start running.
The veteran DH has been limited to hitting since suffering the injury April 24 against the Astros, not able to do much in the way of jogging or running outside. But pending the results of Monday’s MRI, Stanton could begin taking the next steps in his road back to the active roster.
“Hopefully start ramping up running this week, based on that,” Boone said. “But we’ll see.”
In the meantime, Spencer Jones started a fourth straight game Monday — the second time at DH — since being called up to replace the injured Jasson Domínguez (AC joint sprain), who essentially replaced Stanton.
Jones went 0-for-2 with a strikeout before being pinch hit for by Paul Goldschmidt against a lefty reliever in the seventh inning.
Ben Rice had gone 0-for-13 over the weekend in Milwaukee, his first three games back from missing four games with a left hand contusion. But he snapped back into rhythm Monday, going 2-for-4, including his 13th home run of the year. … Nine of the Yankees’ 16 losses this season have been decided by one run.
One of the most inconvenient truths across all of sports is that the vast majority of franchises need to experience a period of darkness in order to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Rebuilding - for better or for worse - is part of the fabric of sports. High draft selections and clever asset management go a long way in determining which teams are going to be able to sustain long-term success and which teams will continue to fall short, stuck in a perpetual state of mediocrity until they are forced to start from scratch all over again.
Given the low-cap nature of the league in comparison to other major professional sports - at least, historically - this is especially true in the National Hockey League. Teams like the Colorado Avalanche, Carolina Hurricanes, and Edmonton Oilers have all found a certain degree of success with their full, longer-term teardowns, while teams like the Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks, and Buffalo Sabres (that is, until this season and after two decades of losing) have or had endured long, long stretches of losing with little to gain and a whole lot of lost talent over that time.
The truth is that rebuilding is a tricky, risky business no matter how you slice it, but more shots at the draft lottery invite more opportunities to find the young talent necessary to sustain winning.
But, occasionally - and, quite frankly, rarely - a franchise comes along that turns all of that on its head. And here enters Kyle Dubas's Pittsburgh Penguins.
When Dubas took over the Penguins as president of hockey operations in the summer of 2023 - and, later, as general manager - Pittsburgh had just missed the playoffs for the first time in 17 years. After 16 consecutive postseason berths, four Stanley Cup Final appearances, and three Stanley Cups, nobody in the NHL had known sustained success quite like the Penguins, and nobody was more unfamiliar with losing than the Penguins.
So, when Dubas initially came into the fold, the plan was to give Pittsburgh's "big three" of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang one last shot at the dance, especially since the Penguins believed they were still a contender. He made the largest-volume trade in franchise history to land three-time Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson from the San Jose Sharks. He made a savvy move to snag forward Reilly Smith from the Vegas Golden Knights, too.
Well, plans shifted a bit once the Penguins appeared to be fading even more despite the big offseason moves, and Dubas made the difficult decision that same season to send pending unrestricted free agent winger Jake Guentzel - Crosby's longtime partner in crime - to the Hurricanes for a package of prospects and picks. It was the first of many moves that set the inevitable, long-time-coming rebuild into motion, and the Penguins would go on to miss the playoffs for three consecutive seasons.
Nov 22, 2025; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas arrives at the arena before the Penguins host the Seattle Kraken at PPG Paints Arena. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
It all began when Dubas made the difficult decision to mutually part ways with longtime head coach Mike Sullivan - who was hired by the New York Rangers in pretty short order afterward - and move on to an almost entirely new coaching staff. The man for the job was Dan Muse, who had a very development-focused approach. After his hire, one of Muse's sticking points was that he would take that approach to every single player, whether a 15-year veteran, an organizational newcomer, or a rookie.
And, as it turns out, he and the rest of the staff ended up with a good mix of all those things.
In addition to already having talented, mostly reliable veterans in Crosby, Malkin, Letang, Karlsson, Bryan Rust, and Rickard Rakell on the roster, Dubas sought out a bit of everything last summer. In the draft, he made some savvy moves to end up with three first-round picks, the first of which was center Ben Kindel at 11th overall and followed by Bill Zonnon at 22 and Will Horcoff at 24. He also acquired defenseman Connor Clifton and a second-round pick on a draft day trade involving defenseman Conor Timmins.
In the trade market, he snagged Arturs Silovs from the Vancouver Canucks for a fourth-round pick and forward prospect Chase Stillman, and he also acquired defenseman Matt Dumba - a salary dump - and a second-round pick from the Dallas Stars in exchange for blueliner Vladislav Kolyachonok.
Then, there was free agency. Winger Anthony Mantha came in on a one-year, $2.5 million deal. Justin Brazeau signed for two years, $3 million. Defenseman Parker Wotherspoon - formerly a fringe bottom-pairing blueliner for the Boston Bruins - signed for two years, $2 million.
Dubas put together all of these pieces during the offseason, and on the surface, the moves appeared to set the stage for the Penguins to be able to flip some value at the 2026 trade deadline, just as they had in the previous two campaigns. He took fliers on guys who, perhaps, had more to give than the role they were playing with their team or who needed another chance - like Mantha, who was coming off ACL surgery.
But, whether it was intentional or not, nearly every one of those moves - Dumba aside - panned out.
Mantha scored more than 30 goals for the first time in his NHL career. Clifton became a reliable, physical defenseman in a bottom-pairing role. Silovs played well enough during some crucial stretches of the season to help the Penguins win hockey games. Brazeau had a blazing start that helped the Penguins go 8-2-2 in the month of October. Kindel made the team as an 18-year-old out of training camp, and he was so advanced that the team kept him around. Parker Wotherspoon emerged as a shutdown, top-pairing defenseman alongside Karlsson, giving the Penguins a more formidable defensive unit.
He later flipped Kulak for yet another second-round pick and younger defenseman Sam Girard from the Avalanche - who found his game down the stretch for the Penguins - and acquired forward Elmer Soderblom from the Red Wings at the trade deadline, who scored six goals with the Penguins in the final month-plus.
Somehow, some way, Dubas managed to make the Penguins a playoff contender in 2025-26 while getting younger, accruing even more assets, and spending a minimum in terms of both the cap and assets to land legitimate talent. Which, well, almost never happens.
And, yes, while the NHL, AHL, and ECHL teams within the organization are all competitive and have or had playoff runs - Pittsburgh was eliminated in the first round by the Phildelphia Flyers, while the other two are still going strong - the Penguins' farm system just keeps collecting more and more talent. And their prospect pool might not yet be the cream of the NHL's crop, but it's making pretty drastic improvements.
Where the Penguins are now... short- and long-term
Again, it would be one thing if Dubas was selling out on his assets and the farm system in order to make the NHL squad a formidable playoff team.
But that hasn't been the case at all.
In the aftermath of the Guentzel trade, the Penguins' best prospects in the system - at the time - were defenseman Owen Pickering, forward Ville Koivunen (acquired in the trade), forward Sam Poulin, and goaltender Joel Blomqvist. Forward Brayden Yager - drafted in the first round during Dubas's first summer - was also in the system at the time but was later dealt in the summer of 2024 to the Winnipeg Jets for 2022 14th overall pick Rutger McGroarty. And they drafted defenseman Harrison Brunicke with that second-round pick from the Guentzel trade.
In just two years time, there is - all of a sudden - a fair amount of promise in their system.
Instead of Koivunen and Poulin headlining the forward prospect pool, Kindel has already graduated to the NHL and played a full season as an 18-year-old, and they have the likes of Zonnon, Horcoff, Koivunen, McGroarty, Avery Hayes, Tanner Howe, and Mikhail Ilyin, most of whom will be primed to make the jump to the NHL sooner than later. There is also a deeper pool with upside names such as Ryan Miller, Kale Dach, Zam Plante, and Aidan McDonough, which gives them organizational depth.
As far as the goaltending, most of the netminders in their system were part of the organization before Dubas came to Pittsburgh. Sergei Murashov, 22, was a 2022 pick (118th overall) who has separated himself and emerged as the system's top goaltending prospect, posting a 1.99 goals-against average and .937 save percentage in this year's Calder Cup Playoffs. Blomqvist, 24, is still a solid piece, too, and tandemed with Murashov at the AHL level this season with a .9`13 save percentage in the regular season (to Murashov's .919).
Even deeper, the undrafted Taylor Gauthier is dominating the ECHL and has for three consecutive seasons, as the 25-year-old had a .929 save percentage during the regular season and had a whopping .963 save percentage with three shutouts in seven Kelly Cup Playoff games with the Wheeling Nailers heading into Monday's action. Then, there's Gabriel D'Aigle, drafted in the third round (84th overall) by Dubas in 2025, who still managed to put up a .908 save percentage for the lowly Victoriaville Tigres of the QMJHL despite getting peppered on a nightly basis and facing more shots than all but three netminders in the QMJHL last season - only one of whom had a better save percentage.
Taylor Gauthier of the @WheelingNailers opened the @ECHL playoffs with three shutouts in five games.
"Simplifying my mindset of having fun and working hard, it can get you a long way. I think I'm proof of that this year."
Defense is where the system needs the most work. Brunicke is, far and away, the best defensive prospect the Penguins have, and while the 20-year-old is promising, he has to prove his elite skating, puck skills, transition game, and defensive improvements can translate at the NHL level. Behind him is Owen Pickering (the most NHL-ready otherwise), Finn Harding, Peyton Kettles, and Quinn Beauchesne, all of whom need more seasoning.
But, at the end of the day, there is far more talent in the system than there was two years ago. Dubas has done an outstanding job as far as asset management and building out a pool of players who have plenty of upside as NHL regulars.
These are the types of peripheral players that teams need to sustain Stanley Cup contention. Depth wins championships, and it's not hard to envision around half of these players making some degree of impact.
However, the fact remains that the Penguins' current core is still 35-plus. At some point, that has to change in order to build a long-term future of success. But, contrary to some narratives out there, that may arrive sooner than you think.
But, if you've been paying attention, things have probably already started to play out.
For one, the Penguins have been rebuilding since the Guentzel trade in 2024. And, yes, rebuilding - not retooling. As mentioned earlier, it was pretty clear that the initial plan for this season was, likely, to flip rental/short-term overperforming players for more assets and use those assets - as well as an early draft selection in 2026 - to begin setting things into motion this summer.
Well, that part of the plan didn't exactly happen, but that doesn't mean it has set Dubas and the Penguins back from their short- or long-term goals. Yes, the Penguins still need that high-end core talent to add to what is already part of a potential future core in Kindel, Murashov, Brunicke, and possibly Chinakhov.
And, while they'll eventually need to draft high, they don't necessarily need to do that. At least, not yet.
Was looking at how every team in the second round acquired its players. Obviously still waiting to see if it is Tampa Bay or Montreal, but of the seven teams already through.
Recently, Adam Gretz of Pensburgh posted a spreadsheet detailing each second-round team in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and how they acquired their talent. For five of the teams, at least one top-five pick (of their own) was in the fold. Only two of those teams - Colorado and the Anaheim Ducks - had three players drafted in the top-five, with all of Colorado's being a core of players aged 27-plus in Cale Makar, Nathan MacKinnon (30), and Gabriel Landeskog (33). The other three teams in Montreal, Carolina, and Buffalo had two or less.
Beyond that? There were only 18 other homegrown first-round picks out of 175 players, for a grand total of 29 homegrown first-rounders. There were a nice handful of other picks, too, plenty of which Dubas and the Penguins have had.
But the vast majority of players on these teams were acquired via the trade market.
In fact, according to Gretz's numbers, 83 players were acquired via trade, which accounts for 47.4 percent of all players in the second round. In addition, 33 players were either signed in free agency, claimed on waivers, or signed undrafted, so that means outside sourcing accounted for 66.3 percent of players in the 2026 playoffs.
So, for the Penguins, Dubas can and absolutely will build from the draft. First-rounders in Kindel, Zonnon, and Horcoff are a good starting point, and he will need more of those. But teams like the Vegas Golden Knights (to an extent) and Minnesota Wild are proof that drafting top-five isn't entirely necessary for building a sustainable window of contention, as the Wild have only missed the playoffs twice since 2015 and Vegas has only missed once in their nine-year history.
But the lesson here is that teams cannot solely rely on the draft and do, in fact, have to leverage some of their higher-value assets to land the pieces that will help them sustainably contend. After all, many of these trades involve former first-rounders from other organizations, too.
And the more draft capital and prospect talent a team has to leverage, the better-positioned they are to be able to land that talent.
With 15 picks in the first three rounds of the next three drafts - including 10 in the first two rounds - Dubas and the Penguins are in a great spot. Acquiring gamebreaking talent will require leveraging at least a first-round pick, but because of the peripheral talent that the team has already built out - and their selection in the 20s in 2026 - they're in a position to do that.
On the surface, it may seem like the Penguins, lacking any true blue-chip prospects at this juncture (Kindel would have been one, and Zonnon/Horcoff could be), wouldn't have what's necessary to acquire players like Dallas Stars superstar forward Jason Robertson, Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews, or a true first-line center in St. Louis Blues forward Robert Thomas. A team like the Stars is win-now mode, and the other two teams are likely on a downward trajectory but still holding onto hopes of playoff contention with their respective cores.
Even good players either with star potential or in need of a change of scenery, such as Stars' defenseman Thomas Harley, Los Angeles Kings' defenseman Brandt Clarke, Seattle Kraken center Shane Wright, or Vancouver Canucks star Elias Pettersson, would cost a lot, especially with the rising cap and contract values.
However, that's where all those picks, all of that $42.7 million in cap space, and all that peripheral talent come into play. And Dubas is in an enviable position to be able to build out a package that could make teams bite.
Sure, a first-round pick plus a veteran like Rickard Rakell alone isn't going to land a star player. However, if Dubas would add on a few second- and third-round picks, a higher-end, near-NHL-ready prospect or two like McGroarty and Horcoff (depending on the coveted player), some salary retention, plus Rakell and that first? Well, then a player like Robertson, Harley, or Pettersson seems more attainable. And his draft capital and wide pool of prospects with upside allows him to keep adding on if necessary, as the Penguins have enough of both to be able to expend some of their valuable capital.
It's tricky business, but acquiring a sure star player who can be around for the short- and the long-term - and who will, overwhelmingly likely, be a better player than any singular player out of the capital they leverage, including that 22nd overall pick - is a key aspect of building for the future.
If they can acquire that game-changing player as early as this summer, they may just be able to contend sustainably - even if there might be two windows with a small gap in between.
Of course, Penguins' defensemen could certainly benefit from improving their gap control.
But the gap we're discussing here is a different kind.
Obviously, Dubas has kept his cards, generally, pretty close to the vest in terms of divulging the mechanics and timeline behind his short- and long-term plans. In fact, he has stressed on multiple occasions that he does not want to put a timeline on the Penguins' rebuild and instead wants to, simply, do what's best in order to get the team back to sustainable Stanley Cup contention as urgently as possible.
"The way that we're going will continue to be clear to everybody, which is: We're trying to return the team to being a contender as soon as possible. How are we going to do that? We have to add younger NHL players, we have to add prospects, and we have to add future capital and draft picks to the mix. "So, my view of it is that we should be able to accomplish that and still be able to maintain our spot in the playoff race and push for it. I know that isn't met with the most open understanding at times, and I understand why. People want it to be binary. They want it to be, 'Are you in contention now, or are you rebuilding now?' And the in-between is where it tends to get a little bit ambiguous. I think we kind of like it that way as well because it keeps our cards closer to our chest."
- - Kyle Dubas on the 'GM Show with Josh Getzoff' on Jan. 22, 2025
And the key? Minimizing the gap between as much as possible.
Yes, the Penguins will, likely, still have to draft in or near the lottery zone in order to contend sustainably in the future. But that doesn't necessarily need to happen until after Crosby decides to call it a career, especially with the earlier-than-anticipated emergence of Kindel as an option at top-six center as soon as next season.
And when you add in those other potential "core" pieces - Murashov and Brunicke should compete for a full-time roster spot next season, and Chinakhov, an RFA, will likely return - populating the NHL roster already, it stands to reason that, with a few key additions, the Penguins can be Stanley Cup contenders for a few years in the short-term.
"I just think there are a number of teams in the league that... you know, there are two paths to go down: You can go into the mass teardown rebuild and hope you get lucky with the lottery and hope that all this happens. But you can hope in one hand and s--- in the other and see which one fills up first."
- - Kyle Dubas in his 2024-25 season-ending press conference on Apr. 21, 2025
In addition, the Penguins can - and should - get younger while doing so. Going for some bigger names means phasing out some older veterans along the way, including players like Rakell and, possibly, Malkin and Karlsson, the former having yet to re-sign for next season and the latter entering the final year of his contract. But phasing out a few doesn't mean they need to phase out all, especially since their draft cupboard is already in a good place - and it doesn't mean they'd be committing to any kind of "tank" in the near-term, as the aim in dealing those players would likely be to receive younger talent in return.
But once Crosby retires? Yes, it's realistic to assume that the Penguins might struggle for a few years, especially if a player like Karlsson is out, too. But the purpose of building all of this peripheral talent - the Zonnons, the Horcoffs, the Howes, the Hayeses, the Ilyins, the Hardings, etc. - plus having part of a "core" in place with Kindel Murashov, Brunicke, and Chinakhov would be to help minimize the gap between windows, whether that's using that talent for the team or leveraging some of it in the trade market.
And if a player such as Chinakhov or Brunicke doesn't want to stick around for those few down years? They can, hopefully, flip them for valuable draft capital and assets, which would also help build toward that longer-term, post-Crosby window of contention.
It's worth emphasizng that none of this is a given, and there is inherent risk in every rebuild ever attempted. Long, tear-it-to-the-studs rebuilds risk fostering a culture of perpetual losing, while shortcut retools and rebuilds risk being unsustainable in the long-term.
It appears that Dubas and the Penguins find themselves in a sort of sweet spot in between. If executed correctly, Pittsburgh won't find themselves on the outside looking in for too long at all - and they will be primed to carry on their legacy as a franchise that accepts nothing less than a championship-oriented culture.
Not only that, they would also become the gold standard for a different yet scouting-focused, streamlined approach to rebuilding in the modern-day NHL.
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - MAY 5: Ryan Rolison #33 of the Chicago Cubs reacts in a game against the Cincinnati Reds at Wrigley Field on May 5, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Matt Dirksen/Chicago Cubs/Getty Images) | Getty Images
It’s another week here at BCB After Dark: the hippest hangout for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Come on in and sit with us for a while. We’re always open for a friendly face. There’s no cover charge. The dress code is casual. We still have a few tables available. There’s a two-drink minimum, but it’s bring your own beverage.
BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.
Last week I asked you if you would like the Cubs to trade for an injured Tarik Skubal on the hope that he would be healthy and his old dominant self by the playoffs. That idea seemed too risky for you, as 88 percent of you would rather the Cubs look elsewhere for starting pitching help. Presumably someone who was healthy at the time the deal was made.
Here’s the part where we listen to jazz and talk movies. You’re free to skip ahead if you want.
Tonight we’re featuring one of those fun Postmodern Jukebox videos. Postmodern Jukebox is the creation of pianist Scott Bradlee and here he’s joined by Gunhild Carling on vocals and trumpet and Aaron McLendon on drums.
This is ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” performed as a 1920s hot jazz number.
Dillinger was the surprise hit film of 1945 from Poverty Row studio Monogram Pictures. Directed by German exile Max Nosseck and starring a then-unknown Lawrence Tierney, Dillinger is a throwback to the gangster films of a decade earlier. The film received a Oscar-nomination for Best Screenplay for screenwriter Philip Yordan, but the script is nowhere near the best part of the film. Instead, Tierney’s cold and psychopathic portrayal of John Dillinger is what makes the film.
Monogram Pictures was one of the many, and arguably the most-successful, of the many small independent movie studios outside of the major or “Big Five” studios during the Golden Age of Hollywood. These studios specialized in churning out cheap films, often with lurid subject matter, that could turn a small profit even if they weren’t big hits. Dillinger broke out of that B-movie ghetto and became a huge hit in 1945, which led to more films from Monogram and producers the King Brothers that dealt with sensationalist themes. Its success also led to the Hays Code banning films made about real-life criminals for fear that they glamourized them.
The King Brothers never had any money to pay actors, but in this case, they wanted an unknown face, believing that the public wouldn’t accept a well-known actor as the infamous John Dillinger. They landed on Lawrence Tierney, who had only a few small credits to his name when he got the part. Tierney had spent more time in the Los Angeles County jail for fighting and being drunk and disorderly than he’d spent on-screen. But it was an inspired choice. I’m not sure what Tierney does on screen is acting so much as it is inhabiting the screen with a glowering presence. His Dillinger is a cold-blooded killer who shows no emotion when he decides to shoot one of his fellow outlaws or carve up a waiter who disrespected him years earlier with a broken beer mug. Ironically, it’s the lack of on-screen emotion that makes Tierney’s Dillinger so scary.
Tierney would go on to have a long career playing violent tough guys in crime pictures. Most of you probably remember him from his later work, which includes Reservoir Dogs (Quentin Tarantino was unsurprisingly a fan) and guest appearances on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine.
The plot of Dillinger very loosely follows the career of the title gangster. He does crimes, gets arrested, breaks out, does more crimes again. He has a girlfriend Helen Rogers (Anne Jeffreys) who will become the infamous “woman in red” who betrays him. There’s a gang, and Dillinger’s relationship with the older Specs (Edmund Lowe) is a major theme of the film. Specs goes from a cellmate to a mentor to someone whom Dillinger battles for control of the gang once they get out. The always great Elisha Cook Jr. also plays one of the members of Dillinger’s gang.
Because Dillinger is about crime and came out in the heart of the noir period, some people claim that the film qualifies as a noir. But while there are some noir elements, it’s really a throwback to the gangster films of the 1930s. A man goes down a wicked path of crime and ends up paying the ultimate price is the story of The Public Enemy, Scarface, and Little Caesar. It’s a stretch to call Jeffrey’s Helen a femme fatale, even if she ends up betraying him. He pulls her into a life of crime rather than the other way around, for example. Most of the noir elements are just the way the film was shot with some of the trademark shadows and Dutch angles, but those were popular in a lot of films of the forties.
Another way that Dillinger reflects the gangster film tradition is that, in a cost-cutting move, they just re-use action scenes earlier crime pictures of the era, in particular director Fritz Lang’s 1937 film You Only Live Once. So there’s literally a different gangster film inside of this one.
Dillinger is a great example of how a low-budget film can turn a lack of money into an asset. The 70-minute runtime means that the plot has to be simple, tight and fast-moving. (That also meant that theaters could get in more showings of the film every night, bringing in even more money.) The lack of money for a big-name actor made them turn to Tierney, who is biggest reason to watch the film. Even the crime scenes that were reused from Lang were undoubtedly better than anything Nosseck could have shot.
Dillinger isn’t a great film. It’s Oscar-nomination aside, the script is more good rather than great. (Although looking at the other nominees, it’s a surprise it didn’t win.) But it’s certainly worth 70 minutes of your time just to see Tierney’s terrifying performance as John Dillinger.
Here’s the trailer for Dillinger.
Dillinger is on HBO Max, Watch TCM and there are free copies floating all over the internet as well. I believe it’s in the public domain.
Welcome back to everyone who skips the music and movies.
Last year, the Cubs built a pretty good bullpen out of castoffs. Two big pieces were Brad Keller, whom the Cubs signed on a minor league deal, and Drew Pomeranz, whom the Cubs acquired from the Mariners after he opted out of his minor league deal with the Mariners.
Both of those players went and signed free agent contracts elsewhere. This year, the potential “scrap heap to scrap iron” reliever just might be southpaw Ryan Rolison. Rolison was a first-round pick of the Rockies out of Ole Miss in 2018, which has got to be a good news/bad news thing for a college pitcher. The good news is that you’re a first-round pick. The bad news is that they’re expecting you to pitch for the Rockies.
Rolison was a top-five prospect for Colorado, as you might expect from a first-round pick. Scouts weren’t enamored with his pure stuff which graded out as more average, but he got good grades for plus command and “pitchability,” or the ability to mix up his stuff to keep hitters off balance.
But Rolison battled injuries during his time with the Rockies, which included two shoulder surgeries and a broken finger. He finally made it to the majors last year, but by that time he’d been moved to the bullpen full-time. He also didn’t pitch well in Colorado, putting up a 7.02 ERA in 42.1 innings. Even for the Rockies, that’s bad.
This winter, Rolison got stuck in waiver wire purgatory. The Rockies designated him for assignment in November and they ended up trading him to the Braves for cash. The Braves tried to sneak him through waivers in December, but the White Sox claimed him. Then, just two days before Christmas, the White Sox designated him for assignment with the Cubs claiming him in early January.
Rolison made his Cubs debut on April 14 as the Cubs bullpen was decimated with injuries. But he only pitched one inning until April 24 when he pitched three scoreless innings in that dramatic comeback win over the Dodgers.
Since then, Rolison has gotten his name called more often from manager Craig Counsell. Not only did he get the win in that Dodgers game, he improved his record to 3-0 with wins in back-to-back games against the Reds. Rolison has an ERA of 4.00 even, most of which was earned in a game against the Diamondbacks where he gave up a three-run home run to Geraldo Perdomo. Not good, but he’s not the first one to mess up against Perdomo and he won’t be the last.
But can Rolison keep it up? This article by Matthew Trueblood argues that he (probably) can. For one, Rolison has added about 1.3 miles per hour on to his fastball this year and it features a bit more vertical rise. But the more interesting point that Trueblood makes is that Rolison is uniquely qualified to take advantage of the new strike zone this year. As others have noted, the strike zone as called by ABS is slightly smaller than what had been called in previous years. In particular, there is less room at the top of the zone. Trueblood argues Rolison’s command and movement allows him to work the top of the zone better than a lot of pitchers out there.
Now maybe that’s true and maybe it isn’t. You can read the article and make up your mind for yourself. But tonight I’m asking you if you think that Rolison is going to be a critical member of the Cubs bullpen this year. I’m essentially asking a “circle of trust” question and whether or not you think he will be in or close enough to the circle of trust to stay in the Cubs bullpen all year.
I’m giving you three options to pick from. The first is that you think Rolison will pitch well enough to stay in the majors all season—or at least only make one short trip back to Iowa. The second option is that he doesn’t earn a permanent spot in the ‘pen, but that he rides the “Des Moines shuttle” between the majors and Triple-A most of the year. Rolison has an option left, so as long as the Cubs leave him on the 40-man, he can go back and forth betwen the majors and the minors.
The final option is that you don’t think Rolison will continue to pitch well and that eventually he’ll be designated for assignment. I put “injured” in with this choice as well. I don’t know how you could possibly predict that Rolison will suffer an injury that will cost him much or all of the season, but I have to admit that’s a real possibility with every pitcher. So I put it in with the DFA option because I didn’t want to put any of you on the record thinking that a Cub is going to get hurt.
Thank you for stopping in tonight. It’s always good to see you. We hope you’ve enjoyed being here as much as we’ve enjoyed hosting you. Travel home safely. Don’t forget any personal items. Recycle any cans and bottles. Tip your waitstaff. And join us again tomorrow evening for more BCB After Dark.
D.J. Short
