In Saturday night’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks, Montreal Canadiens winger Zack Bolduc scored another goal, giving him three goals in as many games since he started playing for the Tricolore. He won’t keep up that torrid pace all season long, but he nonetheless became just the 6th player to score in his first three games with the Habs in the NHL. Who were the other five? Joe Malone (1917), Leo Gravel (1946), Brian Bellows (1992), Pierre Turgeon (1995), and Yannic Perreault (2001) (TSN’s Statscenter).
If we go back to the last season, he scored 16 goals in 29 games. Projected over the course of 82 games, that’s a 45-goal-per-season pace. That’s hardly likely to remain the case, but it nevertheless shows great scoring instinct. What’s even better is the fact that he scored his goal from the front of the net in a spot where players usually are covered closely. The 22-year-old has a knack for getting his stick free.
According to the NHL Stats account on X, Bolduc is also climbing up the longest goal road streak to start a season with the Canadiens. Since 1967-68, the longest such streak belongs to Cole Caufield and Steve Shutt, who both had four, with his third on Saturday. Bolduc joined Tomas Plekanec (who had done it twice), Lucien Deblois, Guy Lafleur (who had done it three times), and Yvan Cournoyer. Will he join Caufield and Shutt? We’ll know when the Canadiens get back on the road with a game against the Calgary Flames on October 22.
Saturday night’s game was Bolduc’s 100th in the NHL, and he now has 27 goals and 22 assists for a total of 49 points. The Quebecer was picked 17th overall at the 2021 draft, and it’s starting to be rather obvious why. In his first season with the Rimouski Oceanic in the QMJHL, he scored 29 points in just 27 games. Then, in his second season with the Quebec Remparts, he recorded 99 points in 65 games, followed by 110 points in 61 games.
That kind of productivity doesn’t always translate to the NHL, but so far, so good for the youngster whom the team named player of the game Saturday night. Giving him the “player of the game sunglasses,” veteran defenseman Mike Matheson called him “the pride of Quebec,” and judging by the activity on social media, that’s quite accurate.
Oct 11, 2025; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Nashville Predators left wing Filip Forsberg (9) celebrates goal with center Brady Martin (44) against the Utah Mammoth during the first period at Bridgestone Arena. Steve Roberts-Imagn Images
There’s something to be said for chemistry when it comes to putting a successful line on the ice. It’s an intangible that isn’t automatic and often takes a bit of tinkering with various combinations of players before results are achieved.
Although the Nashville Predators came away disappointed after falling 3-2 to the Utah Mammoth in overtime Saturday night at Bridgestone Arena, the top line has stood out in the first two games of the young regular season.
Throughout training camp, the pre-season and the first two games of the regular season, the Predators’ top line of Filip Forsberg, Brady Martin and Ryan O’Reilly have developed both chemistry and results.
A small sample size, to be sure, but the top line has factored in both of the Predators’ regular-season games.
In Saturday night’s overtime loss, Forsberg scored the goal that tied the game 1-1 after Logan Cooley got Utah on the board first with a shot from the left side at 2:21 of the first period.
At the 12:37 mark of the first period, Forsberg took advantage of a turnover from the offensive blueline, used Mammoth defenseman John Marino as a screen along the left boards and fired in a wrister past goalie Karel Vejmelka to tie the game.
On the play, Martin poke-checked the puck off Marino’s stick, allowing Forsberg to retrieve it and work his magic.
"Yeah, I've definitely been looking for (that first point)," Martin said after the loss. "To finally get it is great, it feels amazing. Wish we'd gotten the win tonight, but it is what it is."
At 18 years and 209 days, Martin became the second-youngest player in Predators history at the time of his first career NHL point behind Scott Hartnell on Oct. 24, 2000 (18 years, 189 days).
With his goal, Forsberg is just one shy of becoming the first player in Preds history to record 50 multi-point games during his career.
In Nashville’s 2-1 season-opening victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets, Forsberg assisted on O’Reilly’s game-winning goal. With that helper, Forsberg became only the fifth player in NHL history to register a point in 10 or more consecutive opening games.
Having an uber-talented young player like Martin flanked by two veterans the caliber of Forsberg and O’Reilly has paid major dividends for the Predators’ top line in the first two games. The three have worked together almost since the beginning of camp, and Martin has especially benefited from the combination.
Martin logged 12:44 of ice time against Columbus Thursday in his NHL debut. Most of that time was spent getting comfortable playing at a faster pace than what he experienced in the pre-season.
“It was pretty electric in the building (Thursday night),” Martin said following his debut. “So, to get the first one under my belt, and hopefully many more to come, is a lot of fun.”
Martin had 10:40 of TOI on Saturday. The Predators have seven more games to decide whether to keep him on the roster or send him back to juniors after nine games. The points will come, but it’s his instincts and getting to pucks like the play on Saturday that will make it difficult for the Preds’ brass to take him off the roster.
As for Forsberg and O’Reilly, they have a combined three points between them in the first two games. Martin's presence seems to have injected his linemates with some much-needed energy.
Forsberg led the Preds in scoring with 76 points last season, a 20-point margin over the team's second-leading scorer, Jonathan Marchessault.
O'Reilly had 53 points in 2024-25. Martin may not be an elite center yet, but is showing signs of developing into one. Whether he stays the rest of the season will certainly have a bearing on how the line as a whole will continue to come together.
The Predators (1-0-1) embark on a four-game road trip through Canada that kicks off with a Monday afternoon game in Ottawa against the Senators.
Red Raiders fans have an unofficial tradition of throwing tortillas on kickoffs. Saturday night, they got flagged twice for throwing objects onto the field.
The annual hand-wringing around whether New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone should be fired is already under way, but that won’t be decided for weeks as the club’s management takes a breath and grieves the club’s latest playoff exit.
Boone, who is under contract through the 2027 season, said after the Yanks dropped their American League Division Series to the Toronto Blue Jays that he feels his job is safe.
“I’m under contract. I don’t expect anything [to change],” Boone said at the end of his season-closing media conference after the Yanks lost 5-2 in Game 4 Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium.
Boone’s fate will be part of the organization’s autopsy. And even though there are some who think he should not be brought back after eight seasons of failing to win a World Series, he continues to have the strong backing of principal owner Hal Steinbrenner and general manager Brian Cashman. Boone has a .584 regular-season winning percentage to his name.
The Yankees have other major problems aside from Boone’s managing. Primarily, they don’t have a good enough support system behind MVP candidate Aaron Judge, who, unlike great Yankees players of other eras, has not been able to put the team on his shoulders and carry it to the championship on his own.
Unlike Reggie Jackson in 1977, Derek Jeter in 2000 and Alex Rodriguez in 2009, who all contributed monster performances when the Yanks won, Judge doesn’t have a great cast of players around him. It’s no coincidence that in 2024, the only time in Judge’s career he’s been to the World Series, he was paired up with Juan Soto; the Yanks lost in five games to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“This is a team game,” Judge said in the din of Wednesday’s loss. “We didn’t win as a team. You win as a team, you lose as a team. There’s definitely more I can do. I’m going to figure it out and get back to work.”
The Yankees lost a bidding war with the New Yorke Mets in the offseason for Soto and his departure proved to be detrimental to both parties. Soto, who put up his usual stellar offensive numbers, is not a leader as he proved during his brief stay in San Diego and echoed by the Mets’ failure to make the playoffs this season.
With the Yankees, Judge is the uncontested captain and leader, and all Soto had to do was take a backseat and play well—which he did.
When Soto left, Cashman spent part of the $750 million they offered him to sign Max Fried and Paul Goldschmidt, plus trade for Cody Bellinger and Devin Williams. The latter three are all free agents and are not expected back in 2026.
At the trade deadline, Cashman plugged big holes at third base, the bench and in the bullpen by obtaining Ryan McMahon, Jose Caballero, Amed Rosario, David Bednar and Camilo Doval.
Cashman had a very good season, but it fooled some people into thinking the team was better than it was.
“We have a lot of winning players in here. A lot of guys who play the game the right way and help make this team what it is,” Judge said. “I thought we had a complete team up and down the lineup.”
But peel it back, and this is what they really had in the playoffs: a catcher who hit .227, a platoon at first base, a second baseman who committed major fielding misplays in the deciding games of the last two postseasons, a shortstop who hit .192 with 16 strikeouts, a third baseman who had one homer and an RBI, a centerfielder who hit .138 with no homers and no RBIs, a DH who hit .192 with no homers and four RBIs, plus Bellinger and Judge in the outfield corners.
Despite Judge hitting .500 with a 1.273 OPS, it wasn’t nearly enough. Considering the Yankees went 5-11 against the Blue Jays this season, it’s a wonder anyone expected them to win.
“We didn’t do our job. If you give teams extra outs they’re going to capitalize on it,” Judge said. “For us, we’ve got to clean a couple of things up and we’ll be back.”
So where do the Yankees go from here? They have an all or nothing offensive approach—third in Major League Baseball with 1,463 strikeouts and a league-leading 274 home runs during the regular season. They should take a clue from the Jays, who have a bevy of contact hitters that put the ball in play and struck out 364 fewer times. They led the league with a .265 batting average, 20 points higher than the 30 MLB teams combined.
Whether Boone returns or not, there needs to be a complete revamping of offensive approach from the coaching staff on up to the analytics department. They must learn a lesson from the fact that the Jays are still playing in the AL Championship Series, and the Yankees are home again sans the title, like every year since 2009.
“The ending’s the worst,” said Boone, who didn’t win a title in his 17 seasons as a player either. “Especially when you have a really good group. I’m confident, though, we will break through, and I am every year. But it’s hard to win the World Series. I’ve been chasing it my whole life.”
Becomes lowest-ranked player to win a Masters 1000
Valentin Vacherot closed out one of the most shocking big tournament runs in the history of professional tennis by becoming the lowest-ranked player to win a Masters 1000 title as he roared back from a set down to defeat his cousin, Arthur Rinderknech, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 and triumph at the Shanghai Masters.
There is little precedent for so many of Vacherot’s achievements over the past two weeks. At No 204, the 26-year-old had only narrowly entered the qualifying draw, where he was the second-lowest ranked direct entrant, due to a number of late injury withdrawals. He is also the third qualifier to win a Masters 1000 title in the 35-year history of the format and the first Monégasque player in history to win any ATP title.
Billy Dodds on BBC Sportsound: Gerrard was probably the frontrunner. Most of the fans wanted Steven Gerrard but that's gone now. Danny Rohl, if you go down that route again, I'm not saying he's not a good manager but it's kind of rinse and repeat. I don't think the Rangers fans want that. I think it's huge that the hierarchy at Rangers take the fans into account for this one. You don't select your manager through fans but I think they have to take the fans' view into account.
Tom English on BBC Sportsound: This is the third time he's custard pied Rangers if you include 2021 when he left for Aston Villa. I don't believe this has got anything to do with timing. When you look at what Gerrard had before at Rangers, he had a very supportive chairman in Dave King, a very supportive managing director in Stewart Robertson, Michael Beale as his trusted coach and Ross Wilson as his trusted head of recruitment. He had the run of the club, he was the man at the club. All of those things are no longer there.
What he has now is a new chairman, new vice chairman, new head of recruitment, new sporting director. They've spent fortunes on the team so how big a budget is he going to get? Rangers' operating losses multiplied on Steven Gerrard's watch, I don't think these things would have been open to him this time. It's way, way more complicated than just the timing.
Michael Stewart on BBC Sportsound: Can anyone tell me anything positive that's happened at Rangers since the new owners came in? Russell Martin's appointment was questionable, Kevin Thelwell's appointment was questionable, player recruitment was questionable, the hanging on to Russell Martin for longer than anybody expected was also questionable. Now, that Steven Gerrard debacle was also questionable. They are under serious pressure to make sure this appointment is on point.
Rangers are in a bit of a hole as to where they're going to turn now. Danny Rohl can be as good a coach as you want but is he going to have the experience of handling all the fires that are needing put out at Rangers? I would suggest not. They need a manager who is a genuine leader. They need a figurehead and I'm not sure Danny Rohl, if he was to get the job, would have the experience and wherewithal to handle the mess Rangers are in at the moment.
Controversial penalty call or no controversial penalty call, the Philadelphia Flyers need to take care of themselves and their own issues, which plagued them for a second game in a row.
For starters, the Flyers were heavily out-chanced once again, and while they are playing against superior opponents in Carolina and Florida, that's setting the bar pretty low for a team aspiring to get to that level soon.
They did, however, almost come away with a win against the Hurricanes on Saturday night in a tough building, but Travis Sanheim, who scored the game-tying goal, was flagged for goalie interference on Bobby Brink's overtime winner, wiping away a 4-3 win.
Instead, Seth Jarvis went down and stole a 4-3 win for the Hurricanes.
The problem is that the Flyers probably should have won before that, having held 1-0 and 2-1 leads thanks to the efforts of Brink and Owen Tippett.
Brink's second period goal was also aided by Nikita Grebenkin, who earned his first NHL point on the play.
Through two games, Matvei Michkov just doesn't look like the same player who threatened to win the Calder Trophy as the NHL's best rookie a season ago, and that's with two different line combinations.
Michkov, 20, played just 13:27 against the Hurricanes on Saturday night, didn't play in the 3-on-3 overtime period, and took a roughing penalty whilst standing up for Travis Konecny after the latter absorbed a massive hit from William Carrier.
Simply put, Michkov is the franchise player. He needs to get going (and probably will at some point), but the Flyers have little chance of winning consistently until he does.
To that point, the defensive depth continues to be a major pain point, as Adam Ginning, Egor Zamula, and Noah Juulsen have been borderline unplayable early on in Rick Tocchet's tenure as head coach.
Yes, Cam York is banged up, and yes, Rasmus Ristolainen won't be back for at least a few more weeks, but the Flyers ought to be weighing up some trades to but the issue to bed for good.
I'd be shocked if Oliver Bonk, Emil Andrae, and/or Helge Grans don't see NHL games this season. At some point, it gets to a point, and the Flyers would be doing a disservice to themselves if the issue is extrapolated beyond October.
On a more positive note, Grebenkin and Jett Luchanko looked alright in their season debuts. While it's not quite enough, giving those two eight minutes a night is more productive and beneficial than giving it to Rodrigo Abols and Nick Deslauriers.
Grebenkin, Luchanko, and Garnet Hathaway each had positive Corsi and scoring chance shares, but were unfortunate to be out-scored 1-0 at 5-on-5. It's something to build on, and it should give Tocchet something to think about going forward, especially given the nature of their test against Carolina.
But, again, until the Flyers can get some forward lines going, they aren't going to go very far at all. Travis Konecny has just two shots on goal in two games and is averaging just 16 minutes a night, while Michkov is down at 14.
Trevor Zegras earned his first Flyers point against the Hurricanes on Saturday night, and a reunion with Michkov could do the trick - defense be damned. For what it's worth, for much of training camp and the preseason, the defense wasn't all that good anyway. What difference does it make?
Tocchet and Co. will have some decisions to make ahead of the Flyers' home opener against the Panthers on Monday night, starting with the line combinations. The good news, however, is that they were closer on Saturday than they were on Thursday night.
It was a good opening week of the season for the Florida Panthers.
After picking up a pair of one-goal victories over the Chicago Blackhawks and Philadelphia Flyers to kick off their 2025-26 campaign, Florida welcomed the Ottawa Senators to Sunrise on Saturday and earned a resounding 6-2 victory over their divisional rivals.
Despite going into the season without several key players due to injury, the defending back-to-back Stanley Cup Champions have continued humming along, playing their physically challenging brand of hockey while receiving contributions from up and down the lineup.
Florida has also gotten off to an excellent start on special teams. We’ll see if all this success can continue once they hit the road next week.
For now, let’s get to the takeaways from Florida capping off a perfect 3-0-0 homestand:
POWER PLAY SUCCESS
The Panthers have scored power play goals in all three of their games so far this season.
Overall, they’ve cashed in five times out of 12 opportunities, good for a 41.7% success rate that will be incredibly difficult to sustain over the course of an entire season.
All kidding aside, there are several reasons why Florida’s power play has been so formidable, as they can throw two very unique units at you that each feature some potent offensive players.
They're also keeping things relatively simple and leaning on the foundational pieces they began installing early in training camp.
“We’re not overcomplicating it,” said Panthers defenseman Seth Jones. “Obviously we have new units this year, so we did a lot of work in the preseason to try to get everyone in the right spots and everyone understand what the plays are, and just being direct. It really ties into our five-on-five game, there's nothing crazy about it.”
STEADY ON PK
Just as Florida’s power play has been a major source of strength, their penalty kill has been equally reliable.
Through three games, the Panthers’ PK has killed off each of the seven power plays its been called upon to extinguish, allowing only seven total shots against while down a man.
As Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice pointed out, this year’s killers have done well to replicate the success they found last season and, similarly to what Jones said about the power play, are doing so by keeping things simple.
“I don't think that they've changed much,” Maurice said. “We look a little different on it because of the personnel that's out, but the structure of it (looks the same). Those defensemen have done a really fine job of being able to play off of different forwards, and we've run a lot of different combinations. The D have done a nice job in that structure.”
CONTRIBUTIONS FROM ALL OVER
Florida has scored 11 goals over their three wins, with nine different players lighting the lamp.
The overall points have been spread evenly throughout the lineup as well.
Four of Florida’s defenseman have multiple points (Seth Jones, Jeff Petry and Gus Forsling each have two assists), and representatives from all four of the Panthers forward lines have scored goals.
“It's going to be the critical piece,” Maurice said of the team’s depth scoring. “We going to have more nights of two and three (goals), like the first two games, than we will like tonight, so you need to have as many people as you can coming to the rink believing they can get score, that they have that positive feel. I think each line has generated enough that they're feeling positive about their game, so they don't really need to change it.”
Photo caption: Oct 11, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers right wing Mackie Samoskevich (11) scores a goal past Ottawa Senators goaltender Linus Ullmark (35) during the third period at Amerant Bank Arena. (Jim Rassol-Imagn Images)
Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki reacts after striking out a batter in the ninth inning of Game 4 of the NLDS at Dodger Stadium. Sasaki has thrown 5 ⅓ scoreless innings in four appearances this postseason. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Thirty-one days ago, Roki Sasaki arrived at Dodger Stadium, met with president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Brandon Gomes, and was presented a plan that required faith and trust.
It had been eight months since Sasaki signed with the Dodgers amid massive expectations, coming over from Japan as a 23-year-old phenom billed as possessing some of the best raw arm talent in the world.
It had been four months since his debut season took a dismal turn, landing on the injured list with a shoulder impingement following an opening month marred by poor performance and diminished stuff.
Less than two weeks earlier, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had all but written Sasaki off as a potential factor in the team’s postseason plans, after the pitcher had continued to struggle in a minor-league rehab stint.
But then, two days before his meeting with club brass, Sasaki had finally shown some signs of life, striking out eight batters during an auspicious start with triple-A Oklahoma City in which his fastball once again touched 100 mph and his trademark splitter was almost unhittable.
So, as the team began looking ahead to October, Friedman and Gomes sat Sasaki down alongside his interpreter, and presented what has proven to be a season-altering idea — for him, and his new team.
The Dodgers knew Sasaki was unlikely to feature as a starting pitcher in October, given their healthy and dominant rotation. But they saw an opportunity to use him as a reliever in the playoffs.
Only, however, if he were also open to it.
“We were just honest with him, that as things stood, the only real pathway — short of multiple injuries — was in the bullpen,” Friedman said. “But we wanted his full buy-in.”
Long-term, they promised him, he would still be a starter. In their view, he was assured, the team still saw him as a potential future ace.
But for now, they asked if he’d be open to making a temporary move to the bullpen; to taking on a relief role that they knew to him was completely foreign.
“We don’t want an answer right now,” Friedman told Sasaki. “We want you to take time and think through it.”
“We would not want to push this,” he added, “unless you’re totally on board.”
All year, the Dodgers had tried to build trust with their newest Japanese star. Now, they waited for an answer, as Sasaki went home and mulled things over alongside his agent.
As he later told the Japanese magazine Shukan Bunshun, he was initially “very hesitant” to such a switch. There was a time in middle school he’d been a closer, but during his ascent from high school to the pros, starting was all he’d ever known.
Several things, however, tipped the scales in his mind. He craved a chance to pitch in a postseason environment. He sensed an opportunity to boost a team in desperate need of relief depth. And, having finally found a comfort level with his club after a trying rookie season, he’d regained the confidence he was missing at the start of the campaign.
Thus, before the end of that day on Sept. 11, Sasaki gave the Dodgers his answer. He was in.
“Because they will let me try to start again next season,” he said, “it was a relatively easy decision to make.”
Thirty-one days — and 5 ⅓ scoreless, invaluable innings of postseason relief work from Sasaki — later, it was a moment that might have helped save the Dodgers season, and launch the rest of his MLB career.
From the day Sasaki signed with the Dodgers in January, his agent, Joel Wolfe of Wasserman Media Group, was quick to remind reporters that his young client was “not a finished product by any stretch.”
Turned out, he didn’t come to the majors completely healthy either.
During his final couple seasons in Japan, Sasaki’s fastball velocity had dipped while battling shoulder and oblique injuries. He couldn’t explode down the mound with his high leg kick the way he once did. He wasn’t consistently hitting 100 mph on the radar gun or dotting the strike zone with his typically pristine command.
His delivery, evaluators noticed, had begun to suffer. A throw built on generating torque from his legs to his hips and on through his shoulder and lengthy right arm, instead started to look inefficient and uncomfortable.
“I think a lot of it just came from his body changing the way he was throwing,” said Dodgers director of pitching Rob Hill, who had closely admired Sasaki during his Japanese career. “Due to kind of throwing hurt for probably a couple years.”
Once he joined the Dodgers this year, Sasaki hit rock bottom. His oblique no longer bothered him. But his shoulder remained sore and stiff. His fastball eclipsed triple-digits a couple times in his adrenaline-fueled MLB debut in Tokyo in March, but quickly plummeted upon returning stateside, averaging just 95.7 mph (and dipping all the way to 93 mph and below) over his seven subsequent starts.
When coupled with erratic control (he walked 22 batters in 34 ⅓ innings), and a flat pitch shape that made his four-seamer relatively easy to hit (lacking the vertical “ride” required to fool MLB batters long accustomed to combating big velo), opponents began teeing off. By the time Sasaki finally went on the injured list with a shoulder impingement in early May, he had a 4.72 ERA and some of the worst underlying metrics in the majors.
“We go back to the drawing board every week with him,” pitching coach Mark Prior said at the time. “We’re just trying to support him with everything we can.”
Roki Sasaki, above pitching during Game 1 of the NLDS in Philadelphia, is the first pitcher in MLB history to have his first two career saves come in the playoffs. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
At first, Sasaki seemed slow to embrace it. Not only was there a language barrier between him and his new club, but the rookie also built walls around his personality. Quiet by nature and “very particular” in temperament, as Wolfe described him this winter, Sasaki tried to keep a steadfast routine. He didn’t want to alter his pitch mix. He searched for his own ways to iron out his mechanics.
But all he found instead was frustration, leaving him looking lost in his new surroundings — and sinking even lower when lingering shoulder pain in early June further delayed his recovery timeline and required a cortisone injection.
"I think like any new player that you acquire, it takes a little while to build up trust,” Friedman said. “We knew that he was a guy that was accustomed to doing things a certain way, and we were going to embrace that, [while] at the same time forging a relationship and building trust and getting to a place where we could partner together.”
It would take time for the two sides to get there.
As Sasaki tells it, the turning point in his season happened three days before that meeting with Friedman and Gomes; on the eve of the rehab start that triggered their suggestion to move to the bullpen.
Sitting in his Oklahoma City hotel room that night, Sasaki pulled up old video of his high school days and studied a delivery that, even then, enthralled evaluators around the sport.
He was looking to the past to find answers in the present.
“I felt,” he later recounted to Shukan Bunshun, “like I was about to notice something.”
So, he kept watching.
In the three months before then, Sasaki and the Dodgers had finally started making progress.
After his initial injury setback, he formed a connection with head team physician Dr. Neal ElAttrache — the renowned orthopedic surgeon who not only laid out a plan for Sasaki’s recovery, but more important allayed fears of continued problems through what Sasaki described as a “very educational” process.
As Sasaki’s shoulder calmed down, he took strides in the weight room as well, working with Dodgers strength coach Travis Smith to add explosiveness and strength (especially in his lower body) to his once-scrawny 6-foot-2 frame.
“I feel better about being able to throw harder,” Sasaki said in August, as he headed out on a long-awaited rehab assignment, “especially because I'm completely pain free.”
Sasaki’s first four starts in triple-A were still a mixed bag. His velocity gradually improved, but remained mostly struck in the mid-90s. He tinkered with new pitches, including a cutter and sinker, but still couldn’t execute his trademark splitter the way he wanted.
By early September, it was enough for Roberts to cast doubt on Sasaki’s return, saying bluntly that “the performance, the stuff hasn’t been there.”
“Roki has gone through a lot this year, and he still has a ton of talent,” Roberts added. “We just want to see more.”
One week later, they finally would.
During a trip to the team’s Arizona training complex in the following days, Sasaki met with Hill and his pitching development staff, spending several hours reviewing video of his throw.
As Hill described it last month, they weren’t so much “solving this master plan” with Sasaki as they were “helping him actualize the things” he was trying to do in his delivery. They suggested tweaks to Sasaki's lower-half mechanics. They emphasized the way he fired his hips as he launched down the mound.
Sasaki listened, and agreed on what they identified as the root causes of his struggles. One day that week, he even tested some of the changes in what was one of his hardest bullpen sessions all year.
"The day of that bullpen, it was like, 'Holy s—,'" Friedman recalled thinking. “Things are in a really good spot.”
Sasaki, however, hadn’t convinced himself of that yet. While Hill’s evaluation “matched up with what I thought wasn’t going well,” he said in Japanese last week, “the approach [to fixing it] was a different story.”
That’s why, when Sasaki returned to Oklahoma for his next start days later, he went back over more video, and waited for a revelation.
It was then, he said, “I noticed something about the use of my lower body.”
Like a high jumper with a disjointed sequence while lifting off the ground, Sasaki felt he was still losing too much power between his leg kick and release — drawing a contrast to what he saw in his old high school motion.
Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman gives the ball to pitcher Roki Sasaki after he closed out the ninth inning to preserve the win against the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 2 of the NLDS. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
So, for the rest of that night, he did dry throws in his room in search of a specific feel. All those months of work with the Dodgers' medical team, training staff and pitching coaches suddenly tied together. For the first time all year, he felt like his old self again.
The next evening, he took the mound and hit 100 mph six times. He coupled it with extra life and movement on his knuckle-balling splitter. And he showed enough for Dodgers brass to call him back to Dodger Stadium and inquire about the bullpen.
“We think you can be really good in this role,” Friedman told him. "This is the potential pathway to help us in October."
Of course, no one saw the level of dominance that was on the horizon. After completing his minor-league stint with two scoreless relief appearances, Sasaki rejoined the Dodgers for the final week of the regular season, showcased his improved stuff with two more scoreless innings of relief, then made a rapid ascent to de facto postseason closer — producing zero after zero when other relievers faltered around him.
He recorded the final outs of the team’s wild-card round sweep of the Cincinnati Reds. He picked up back-to-back saves in Games 1 and 2 of the National League Division Series against the Philadelphia Phillies, becoming the first pitcher to record his first two career saves in the playoffs. He spun three perfect innings in the club’s Game 4 clincher on Thursday.
“One of the great all-time appearances out of the ‘pen that I can remember,” Roberts called it.
“Since coming back, coming in from the bullpen,” added teammate Tyler Glasnow, “he’s honestly one of the best pitchers I’ve ever seen.”
It has all come with a renewed level of confidence too. After that Game 4 masterclass (in which he was so locked in he didn’t even remove his glove in the dugout between innings), Sasaki said he has felt no nerves in the playoffs, nor any hesitancy about attacking the strike zone.
All those frustrations from early in the season have evaporated. His process of building trust within the organization while rediscovering the best version of himself on the mound has come suddenly, electrifyingly complete.
“The stuff being there lines up with what our expectations were,” Friedman said. “But the poise and composure, you don’t know until someone’s out there. And I would say he has more than answered the bell.”
USC's signature win over Michigan shows there is a very realistic path for Lincoln Riley and the Trojans to make the College Football Playoff this season.
Former Sheffield Wednesday manager Danny Rohl is the new favourite to be Rangers head coach after impressing senior figures at Ibrox in preliminary discussions, while former Wolverhampton Wanderers boss Gary O'Neil and ex-Chelsea and West Ham United manager Graham Potter have also been sounded out. (Sunday Mail)
Rangers had been speaking to other candidates throughout the week before former manager Steven Gerrard decided against an Ibrox return and have been impressed by former Sheffield Wednesday boss Danny Rohl. (Scotland On Sunday)
Former Sheffield Wednesday manager Danny Rohl has held talks with Rangers and is now appearing to be a leading contender. (TalkSport)
Danny Rohl, who recently left Sheffield Wednesday, is one of a number of other candidates who have held what are said to have been positive talks with Rangers in recent days. (Rangers Review)
Former Sheffield Wednesday boss Danny Rohl will look to bring a former Rangers player with him to help him as part of his backroom team win over the fans should he be named head coach. (Scottish Sun On Sunday)
Sean Dyche, who had been linked with the Rangers job, is now the front runner to replace Ange Postecoglu should the former Celtic manager be sacked by Nottingham Forest. (Telegraph)
Former Rangers and Scotland midfielder Charlie Adam is in the frame to be the new Blackpool team boss having played for the League One club. (Alan Nixon on Patreon)
Current Blackpool caretaker Stephen Dobbie is in the frame for the job permanently along with fellow Scotsman Charlie Adam. (Scottish Sun On Sunday)
Rangers right-back Max Aarons will never let his dream of playing for England go - and his desire for Three Lions honours was a big factor in joining Rangers. (FourFourTwo)
