Today on Pinstripe Alley — 5/13/26

BALTIMORE, MD - JUNE 28: Storm clouds linger over the field before the Baltimore Orioles play the New York Yankees at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on June 28, 2013 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) | Getty Images

Hey folks, it was a quick turnaround last night on a weeknight and I was at the game, so we’re going to just do a classic “Today on Pinstripe Alley” post today rather than doing a full question exercise. Thanks for understanding! We’ll still have two rapid-fire questions for folks to talk about if they so desire, as we do on the weekends.

Today on the site, we have a shorter schedule, partially due to the changes in the timing of the Yankees’ series finale in Baltimore. (It was supposed to be a night game but it was bumped up to 1:05 p.m. because it’s supposed to pour tonight.) So Scott will Triple-A Scranton’s big week ahead in Syracuse, Madison will run through the Rivalry Roundup, and Jonathan will salute 2010s Yankees catcher and all-time quote producer John Ryan Murphy on his 35th birthday.

Today’s Matchup

New York Yankees at Baltimore Orioles

Time: 1:05 p.m. EST (moved up due to the weather)

Video: Amazon Prime Video, MASN

Venue: Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Baltimore, MD

Questions/Prompts:

1. Would you rather see Anthony Volpe or Max Schuemann at shortstop in José Caballero’s absence? (No, George Lombard Jr. is not an option here because he is at Triple-A.)

2. How much of the Stanley Cup playoffs do you typically watch?

2025-26 Season in Review: Rickard Rakell

PITTSBURGH, PA - APRIL 27: Rickard Rakell #67 of the Pittsburgh Penguins skates against the Philadelphia Flyers in Game Five of the First Round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs at PPG PAINTS Arena on April 27, 2026 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Joe Sargent/NHLI via Getty Images) | NHLI via Getty Images

Vitals

Player: Rickard Rakell
Born: May 5, 1993 (33 years old)
Height: 6-foot-1
Weight: 194 pounds
Hometown: Sundbyberg, Sweden
Shoots: Right
Draft: 2011 first round (30th overall) by the Anaheim Ducks
2025-26 Statistics: 60 games played, 24 goals, 24 assists, 48 points
Contract Status: Rakell has two seasons remaining on his contract with a $5 million AAV through 2027-28.
History2024-252023-242022-232021-22

Monthly Splits

via Yahoo!

Story of the Season

Rickard Rakell entered 2025-26 coming off the best season of his professional career, and the biggest question was whether he could sustain it. The answer ended up being mostly yes.

While he did not quite replicate the career highs he posted during the previous season, Rakell remained a major offensive piece for Pittsburgh and continued to thrive alongside Sidney Crosby. Even through stretches where the Penguins battled injuries and inconsistency, Rakell found ways to produce offense.

Early on, Rakell looked like a perfect fit on Sidney Crosby’s wing once again, registering eight points through nine October games and building on the chemistry previously established alongside Bryan Rust on the opposite wing.

By midseason, things became more complicated. A hand injury that required surgery cost Rakell several weeks and disrupted some of the momentum he had built.

Rakell and fellow Swede Erik Karlsson became two of the biggest drivers of play post-Olympic break, however. And it couldn’t have come at a better time.

His March surge became one of the biggest reasons Pittsburgh stayed competitive late in the year. Rakell piled up 19 points in 17 games, generating offense at five-on-five, and even filled in at center while Crosby was rehabbing an injury, despite being a natural winger.

Regular season 5v5 advanced stats

Data via Natural Stat Trick. Ranking is out of 18 forwards on the team who qualified by playing a minimum of 150 minutes.

Corsi For%: 49.91 (9th)
Goals For%: 55.00 (10th)
xGF%: 42.97 (6th)
Scoring Chance %: 49.32 (12th)
High Danger Scoring Chance%: 52.43 (7th)
5v5 on-ice shooting%: 11.43 (11th)
On-ice save%: 90.32 (7th)
Goals/60: 0.94
Assist/60: 0.94
Points/60: 1.87

Rakell’s underlying numbers continued to paint the picture of a strong offensive winger, even if his defensive impacts fluctuated. Then again, the 2025-26 Penguins weren’t exactly known for their defensive prowess.

Playing major minutes with Crosby naturally inflated some offensive opportunities, but his ability to finish and complement Crosby makes him difficult to replace.

Charts n’at

Via Advanced Hockey Stats and NHL Edge

Rakell followed up a career-best year in 2024-25 by having an almost identical season in 2025-26 via a lot of the WAR-driven outlooks. That’s very impressive for a 30+ year old player to string together quality, especially considering Rakell was asked to play a variety of roles between being on the Sidney Crosby line as a winger and at times having to center his own line- despite not playing that position in many years. Rakell handled anything asked of him in what looked like an effortless fashion and excelled.

Rakell’s microstats are those of an offensively gifted player. Once the puck gets into the offensive zone, he is going to create a lot via his in-zone shots, chances, and goals. At this point in his career, he is not going to add much in the neutral zone via exiting or entering zones. That’s what makes him more of a complementary support player, which is a valuable role that he can maximize with his offensive talent.

If a player is on a line with Sidney Crosby frequently, he’d better be comfortable and successful at getting to the net and getting shots away. Rakell did that in spades. Ninety shots from high danger spots on the ice (in just the 60 games) is a great stat to see, demonstrating effectiveness in that area. Rakell is going to work his way in close, and when that happens, the offense will follow from a player with good hands.

When Rakell needs to get on his horse, it’s still there as far as the burst goes. Part of the reason why he is aging well and able to put up some of the best seasons of his career this deep into it is due to his skating ability remaining strong. The two years remaining on his contract don’t look very daunting as far as how his legs are holding up to this point.

Highlights

Questions to ponder

Questions swirled last summer (as they might again in 2026) about whether Rakell, now 33, has a future in Pittsburgh as the team still aims to get younger.

The Penguins have to decide how aggressively they want to reshape the roster around younger talent over the next two years.

This season showed the Penguins are not yet in the same tier as the Hurricanes or the Avalanche; the rebuild is far from over. Those contenders will always value a productive top-six winger at $5 million, especially because the salary cap continues to rise.

After another strong season, moving him now would not be about freeing up cap space. Put the tinfoil hat on and throw Rakell into a hypothetical trade proposal for, say, Chicago’s fourth overall pick?

Kyle Dubas has no problem taking a few big swings to improve his team. Trading up in this draft to further accelerate the rebuild and also get younger might be too good of an opportunity to pass up if it presents itself.

But it would mean giving up one of the few reliable finishers on the roster.

Ideal 2026-27

Assuming Rakell remains a Penguin, he most likely continues to see time as a top-line winger. The Penguins don’t have any wingers in the system (in the short-term) that Rakell would be blocking with his presence.

You can pretty comfortably pencil 6-7 in for 20 goals and 50 points, assuming he’s healthy and deployed as he has been in the past.

Bottom line

Rakell followed up his breakout 2024-25 campaign with another highly productive season and further solidified himself as a valuable piece of Pittsburgh’s core.

After the uncertainty surrounding him in 2024, that represents a massive turnaround, a win for the player and team.

Final Grade: B

Equalling or surpassing the career marks he had in 2024-25 would have been the dream scenario, and even though he had 22 fewer points this go-around, Rakell remains a dependable top-six veteran.

What did you think of Rakell’s season? Share your thoughts below.

Islanders & Playoff News: Super Schaefer, tight series

Looking out for the kids. | NHLI via Getty Images

Colorado has a chance to clinch their spot in the conference final tonight, but the other two remaining series continue to provide good drama.

Islanders News

  • Mat Barzal has withdrawn from the Worlds due to precautionary pre-existing “minor” injury reasons, so Canada has to settle for some Sidney Crosby guy instead. [Isles | TSN] Andrew Gross says Barzal is expected to have a normal offseason and training camp.
  • Matthew Schaefer has a new partnership to help families dealing with cancer, a cause that’s obviously close to his heart. [Newsday | Isles]
  • Prospect Report: Luca Romano is winning the battle, but Kashawn Aitcheson has done his part in forcing OT in consecutive games. [Isles]

Elsewhere

  • Vegas pulled back ahead of the Ducks with an OT win in Game 5. [NHL]
  • The Sabres looked like they were screwed by a dubious goalie interference call, but they got an insanely fortunate Tage Thompson carom off the glass to tie it on their way to a win to even the series, 2-2. [NHL]
  • Vegas is also in the news because they apparently will not allow Edmonton — who still have a head coach they haven’t fired — to speak with fired coach Bruce Cassidy. [Sportsnet]
  • It’s not me, it’s you (Toronto): Apparently Mitch Marner is having his best playoff evah. [NHL]
  • Injuries continue to haunt the Wild as they try to stave off the inevitable. [NHL]
  • Making sense of the big decision facing the Stars and Jason Robertson this summer. [Stars]
  • The NHL took its sweet time to announce a six-game suspension for Charlie McAvoy after his wild slash on Zach Benson in the first round. [TSN]
  • Columbus signs Charlie Coyle to a six-year extension at age 34. [NHL]
  • And Son of Manson, Apple Not Far From Tree, was fined $5,000 for butt-ending, his latest dirty move. [TSN]
  • Matvei Michkov exit interview on his trying season and hopes for better next year. [Crossing Broad]
  • The Penguins “would love” to have Evgeni Malkin back, says Kyle Dubas. [TSN | NHL]

Pirates Prospect Update: Edward Florentino is on fire at the plate

CLEARWATER, MEXICO - MARCH 14: Edward Florentino #19 of the Pittsburgh Pirates bats during the game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Philadelphia Phillies at BayCare Ballpark on Friday, March 14, 2025 in Clearwater, Florida. (Photo by Mike Carlson/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images

The Pittsburgh Pirates third highest ranked prospect, Edward Florentino, is off to a hot start in 2026 and is looking like one of the best hitters in minor league baseball.

Florentino is currently with High-A Greensboro and since his debut with the Grasshoppers on May 1, he has been tearing the covers off of baseballs. In the club’s most recent series against Greenville Florentino made a huge impression in the final two games. The 19-year-old centerfielder had homers in back to back contests against the Drive, making it his third with the club sixth on the year.

Fast starts are nothing new for Florentino. The Pirates originally signed him as an international free-agent in 2024, and he was quickly turning heads for Pittsburgh. Florentino started his journey in professional baseball in the Dominican Summer League as a 17-year-old, but just a year later was already playing full-time minor league ball after hitting his way through the Florida Complex League and ended up playing in 54 contests with Low-A Bradenton.

Now in 2026, Florentino is off to yet another hot in 2026. The Dominican native was a non-roster invitee to the Pirates’ big league Spring Training in Bradenton and represented the club in the Spring Breakout. From there Florentino returned to Low-A Bradenton but only played in nine games with the Marauders. In those nine games, Florentino left with a slash line of .321/.500/.750 with a 1.250 OPS and three homers.

With Greensboro Florentino has continued his hot streak, adding the three more homers to bring his season total to six and has been just as efficient at the plate as well. With the Grasshoppers, he is slashing .290/.303/.581 and has 8 RBIs and two steals. Overall Florentino has a .305 batting average with 18 hits, 18 RBIs and a .411 on base percentage in 16 games.

At just 18-years-old the Pirates may have found another solid star in Florentino. As a power threat he has been able to capitalize on his discipline at the plate coupled with his raw strength and hitting IQ will benefit him as he continues to advance in his career. He’s continued to add muscle to his 6’4” frame since signing and many believe this could just be the beginning of his hitting prowess, given the raw power that he already possesses. He’s athletic in the outfield and is showing a further understanding of navigating centerfield and tracking fly balls.

Florentino has a Major League ETA of 2028.

As young stars reach the Bronx, Yankees prove money isn't everything

BALTIMORE – If they have a need and want to fill it, the New York Yankees can almost always scratch a check. That may never change.

Yet in this modern era where the Yankees are outflanked in the spending department by a handful of ballclubs and owner Hal Steinbrenner is both far less capricious and much more patient than his father, there’s an almost equal likelihood the Yankees will patch that hole internally: Through scouting and development and guiding to Yankee Stadium players who are ready to meet the moment.

Six of the Yankees’ current 14 regular position players and starting pitchers are products of the system, an output that places them tied for 11th among 30 Major League Baseball teams, according to USA TODAY Sports research.

More notably, three of them – franchise player Aaron Judge, young slugger Ben Rice and emerging ace Cam Schlittler – are well on track to rep the club at this summer’s All-Star Game in Philadelphia.

Cam Schlittler turned heads with his 2025 postseason performance.

They’re the product of organizational consistency, along with coherent messaging that ensures they’re ready as they can be for the Bronx.

Even if you’re a former seventh-round pick who was once too skinny and did not throw nearly hard enough to hear his name called the first day of the draft.

“The Yankees are really good at what they do. They’re a superstar organization, they develop players well and they’re a winning organization,” Schlittler, the American League’s leader with a 1.35 ERA, tells USA TODAY Sports. “They give you the pieces for your success. You gotta be able to do it on your own, as well: ‘Here’s what we can do for you. It’s up to you if you want to put in the work.’

“They’re not going to baby you. This is professional baseball. I took advantage of the resources I had, the coaches and teammates I had along the way and that’s why I’m in the position I’m in.”

Schlittler arrived from Northeastern University with several red flags: He had trouble putting on weight and adding velocity. His mechanics were a mess. And his pitch mix needed an entire makeover, all the way through the Yankees system.

Thanks to the infrastructure the Yankees had in place, there was an answer for it all.

Cohesion and consistency

In an industry as volatile as baseball, continuity is elusive. Less than one-fourth through this season, three managers have already been fired. Support staff like pitching and hitting coaches are viewed as fungible should a rough patch come up during the season.

And from October through January, the annual ritual of expunging and recycling scouts, coaches, and other non-executive personnel is the sport’s grimmest ritual.

Under George Steinbrenner, Yankee managerial instability was legend. In this era, though, the executives responsible for funneling players to the majors are as entrenched as the plaques in Monument Park.

Damon Oppenheimer, the club’s vice president of amateur scouting, has been with the club 34 years, and run their amateur draft since 2005. Kevin Reese, the VP of player development, is in his 19th season as a scout or front office member and ninth year heading up player development.

While the phalanx of scouts, coaches and quants beneath them may rotate, continuity at the top shows up when the next rookie is ready for pinstripes.

At 27-16, the Yankees are once again on track for more than 90 wins and a 10th playoff berth in 12 seasons.

“It’s been really good, especially lately,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone tells USA TODAY Sports. “We’ve done a really good job the last four and five years developmentally, getting better and better on the pitching and position player side of things.

“They’re very much cohesive. I think it’s huge. It’s very important. And I feel like they’ve just continued to build on that cohesion.”

And, as Boone points out, the Yankees are hardly drafting the pick of the litter. They haven’t had a losing season since 1992, have made the playoffs nine of the past 11 seasons and often lose their first-round pick as free agent compensation for the stars they do import.

So their first draft pick often comes after the first two or three dozen players have already been selected. No matter: Their top draft pick has made the majors ever year from 2015-2022, with 2023’s No. 1, shortstop George Lombard Jr., expected to become a big league regular.

And since 2019, the Yankees have drafted and developed 17 major leaguers who have produced 36.7 WAR. That’s nearly double the 19.5 WAR Los Angeles Dodgers draftees – like the Yankees, perennial winners drafting late – produced from their 17 big leaguers.

The most recent Yankee to bubble up, 6-foot-7 slugger and speed demon Spencer Jones, was picked 25th overall out of Vanderbilt in 2022. He blasted through the minors, with an .848 career OPS and a 35-homer season in 2025.

With his strikeout rate slowly falling into place, Jones got the call for his major league debut May 8, knowing the process will continue.

“Our player development group does such an incredible job of not only helping us in the minor leagues but also the guys in the major leagues, being open and communicating the things we need to get better at, what we need to work on,” says Jones. “And we’re all trying to help each other get better. There’s no interference or static.

Everybody’s pulling on the same rope as far as development and the belief it doesn’t stop when you get here.”

It doesn’t hurt to have a familiar face waiting when you’re ready to debut.

From Dartmouth to dominance

Like Schlittler, Rice was a lightly-regarded collegiate prospect from the Northeast, picked in the 12th round of the 2021 draft. A year later, Jones was drafted and the two made the minor league climb together, at least until Rice got the call to the Bronx in June 2024.

Since then, he’s evolved from intriguing lefty bat who can both catch and play first base to essential Yankee.

Rice leads the major leagues in slugging (.696) and OPS (1.113) and is tied for fifth with 13 home runs. These are not numbers expected from a Dartmouth draftee.

Yet regardless of pedigree, the simple message from player development resonated just as easily to Rice.

“They were very clear from day one how we were evaluated from an offensive standpoint and what would move you up from level to level: Control the strike zone. Hit the ball in the air. And that’s about it,” says Rice.

“For me, that communication was key. I knew what I needed to do to move up the system.”

It didn’t hurt that multiple coaches in the Yankees system climbed the ranks as Rice did and are now on the major league staff, such as assistant hitting coaches Jake Hirst and Casey Dykes.

The lessons do not stop once the pinstripes are donned. Even Judge has significantly benefited from the enhanced infrastructure of the past seven years, upping his game even as he approaches his mid-30s.

“They would, of course, love for you to be a finished product, but they don’t require that. They know there’s going to be adjustments at the big league level,” says Rice. “But their goal, what they’ve always told us, is they try to set you up for a transition that is a little smoother than most. Set you up for success.

“They’re not going to send you up to the next level if they don’t think you’re ready to handle the adjustments they think you’re going to need to make.”

Will Warren found that out this season. The second-year right-hander was an eighth-round draft pick in 2021, and enjoyed a decent rookie season a year ago.

Yet over the winter, the Yankees pitching staff discovered if he moved just a few inches on the pitching rubber, toward the third base side, his pitches would gain greater effectiveness, particularly his sweeper against right-handed batters.

“That move helped me tunnel stuff a little deeper,” says Warren after improving to 5-1 by hodling Baltimore to four hits over 5 2/3 innings May 12. “I can throw sinkers in and sweepers away and there might be 30 inches of difference, but the tunnel is the same to the hitter.

“Therefore, we get later swings. They have to guess a little more.”

Through eight starts, Warren has nearly doubled his strikeout-walk ratio, from 2.63 to 4.92, and his adjusted ERA has improved from a below-average 93 to 123.

All thanks to a few inches in his set-up.

“Your strengths aren’t really ever going to change,” says Warren. “It’s just honing in on the little things – we found something that was going to make a difference even if we were going to be throwing the exact same pitches.

“That’s what it takes to be at that next level here in the big leagues. Everyone’s the best. What’s going to separate me from whoever?”

The Yankees started making big moves on the pitching side in 2019, when they hired Sam Briend away from the Texas Rangers and Driveline Baseball, where he was director of pitching for the innovative Seattle-based lab.

Before leaving the Rangers, Briend took note of a Rangers pitcher retiring that year – and took Preston Claiborne with him to the Yankees.

Now, Claiborne is the Yankees’ assistant pitching coach. But in 2023, he had a different project: Turn a skinny, erratic, soft-throwing draftee into a major leaguer.

And Claiborne got to work on Cam Schlittler.

'He skyrocketed'

Schlittler barely cracked 88 mph at Northeastern. In his first full pro season at high-A Hudson Valley in 2023, he’d be fortunate to touch 90 mph.

Enter Claiborne, whose work relationship with Schlittler would prove mutually beneficial.

“He fixed my mechanics,” says a grateful Schlittler. “He’s really good.”

To hear Claiborne tell it, the credit goes to the pupil.

“He has a lot of underlying qualities we really liked,” says Claiborne. “As he’s going to physically mature, a lot of the strength aspects take care of themselves. That’s why I always say, credit to him for putting in the work in 2023.

“He showed up in 2024 spring training pumping 95, 97 mph and the rest is history – he skyrocketed.”

With Briend working to refine Schlittler’s pitch mix, the 6-6 right-hander posted a 2.96 ERA in 14 starts following his July 2025 debut.

By October he was starting the decisive Game 3 of the AL wild card series and beating the Boston Red Sox, hitting 99 or 100 mph on the radar gun 37 times.

And now, just might start the All-Star Game for the AL.

Schlittler views it as doing nothing more than expected of him from an organization that finds just enough gems to maintain their expected level of excellence.

And demand nothing less.

“The Yankees being the Yankees, some guys aren’t built for it,” says Schlittler. “You’ve seen guys come in here, leave and have a lot more success. That’s just part of the game.

“If you want to be a Yankee, you need to be able to handle that pressure playing in New York. And if you can’t, it will expose you. That’s what makes it exciting - relying on the fans, relying on the atmosphere. You’re in that stadium every other week. You’re making a playoff push. That’s the goal.

“There’s nowhere I’d rather be. If you’re gonna have pressure on you, and those are the situations I’m in, I’m going to take that over a team maybe looking for 75 wins and draft picks.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Yankees' dominance isn't just payroll as Schlittler and Rice shine

We’re all overreacting to Jaylen Brown’s streams

BURBANK, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 12, 2026: Boston Celtic Jaylen Brown appears on "The Jennifer Hudson Show" airing May 13, 2026 in Burbank, California. (Photo by Chris Haston/WBTV via Getty Images). Check your local listings for times. | Getty Images

With the offseason hitting Celtics fans much earlier than usual, there’s been a lot of discourse about the team outside of basketball. In particular, Jaylen Brown has been getting more attention than usual. His name has popped up in trade rumors, and fans and analysts alike have been holding a magnifying glass to every comment and action he’s taken since the season ended.

This year, JB was looked at as the definitive number one option for Boston given Jayson Tatum’s absence while recovering from his torn Achilles. At the same time, Jaylen made himself more available to the public than ever before, live-streaming on Twitch throughout the season so he had an extra way to connect with fans and express himself. It was a decision that was likely made with the intention of having a more liberating experience, allowing JB to speak directly to his fans about what was on his mind, but the NBA world has only used it to tear him down so far.

Just a day after being eliminated from the playoffs, Jaylen went on a stream and took a moment to reflect on the season: “Man, this group is a special group. I’m so proud of this group, and the way we played… I’m so proud, and it was the favorite year of my basketball career. One, streaming with you guys, chat, was awesome. Like being able to talk to y’all was like therapy… Just being able to get on here, give y’all the perspective – ‘cause you know these narratives be going left and right – just to hear it from the horse’s mouth. But then also, just being able to be a part of a group that through the uncertainty came to fight, and came to compete, and came and went to war. I’ll take a team like that any day.”

The clip started to spread later that night and into the next morning. If you’d believe it, nobody was happy with what Jaylen said. Now if you’re looking at that full quote and wondering what people were mad about, I was in the same boat.

The issue that people took from it was that he called it his favorite season.

In their eyes, Jaylen was taking a shot at his co-superstar, Jayson Tatum. JB’s very explicit words got twisted into a supposedly implicit insinuation that it was his favorite season since he didn’t have to share the floor with JT, and that he finally got to be a number one option. If reading that made you roll your eyes, same.

People were also mad that Jaylen seemed “too happy” after an early playoff exit. They said he hopped on the stream too soon after the loss, and was not nearly mad or sad enough about it.

These narratives were given even more life when they were amplified by the likes of Stephen A. Smith, Nick Wright, and even popular Celtics fan accounts on Twitter. To make matters worse, Tracy McGrady, one of Jaylen’s friends and mentors, said that he heard from Brown that JB wasn’t happy with Celtics ownership, a comment that McGrady didn’t walk back until days later.

Cue the annual trade rumors.

Just a day after T-Mac’s initial comments, Brad Stevens gave his exit interview for the team, and addressed the comments directly. He emphasized that he’s been in communication with Brown throughout the season, and that JB has never come to him with any grievances, both parties seeing eye-to-eye.

Later that day, Jaylen went back to Twitch for another livestream. He did so to take all of these stories head on. First, he apologized to Brad Stevens and the Celtics organization, saying that Brad never should have had to address McGrady’s comments in the first place. He re-iterated that he loves Boston, has no issues with how things have been handled, and would “spend the next 10 years in Boston” if it were up to him.

Jaylen also addressed his comments about it being his favorite season: “I got to see it from a day-in, day-out basis where the expectations for this team was to fail. The expectations for this team was to be nothing, and for us to give in and to quit, and this team did the exact opposite. We fought every single day. We fought for everything. I got to see Jayson Tatum come back from an injury – mentally overcome what that takes… this is a part of the reason why it was my favorite year. You got to see all of these guys – all of my teammates grow. I got to see them overcome adversity as a group.

The first statement should have been clear enough for those who took the time to listen to it. The second should have removed all doubt. “Should” doesn’t always end up being reality, though.

Narratives sell in the sports world. It seems like these days, some fans find more entertainment in the drama than they do in the actual games. Sports media tends to lean into that, and amplify it for the sake of clicks and ratings.

Unfortunately, I have to give Stephen A. Smith a little more of that attention he craves here. He made comments about JB’s streaming, and his doubling down on the “favorite season” comments, saying that “[Jaylen] needs to be quiet… unless you’re trying to get traded.”

Maybe I’m taking it too far, but to me, it reads the exact same as “shut up and dribble,” which is rich coming from someone whose only success in the sports world comes from commenting on the success, or lack thereof, of the people in a profession which he wasn’t cut out for. Smith makes his money doing the same thing that he’s telling JB not to do, and he lives to control the narratives, something which Jaylen is trying to do for himself.

I found it incredibly unnecessary, hypocritical, and tone deaf.

JB wasn’t a fan either, quote-tweeting the clip with a simple message: “I’ll ‘be quiet’/stop streaming if you ‘be quiet’ and retire let’s give the people what they want”.

Jaylen also shared a clip from Carmelo Anthony’s podcast where Melo was commenting on Brown’s streaming situation. In it, Anthony had this to say: “Why give a press conference to a company when I’m my own IP? I can go do my own press conference… Streaming is a new press conference. Right? Nobody wanna sit in a room no more and answer on five, six, seven reporters. They wanna get to the nitty-gritty of it and face it face-to-face with your followers and the people who’s actually watching. ‘Cause they’re the ones who’s really gonna ask the real questions. So, I get my message to you, then I get my message to everybody else.”

Melo hit the nail on the head. A lot of Jaylen’s message since he came into the league has been about embracing and achieving personal autonomy. He has always wanted to be in control of his own messaging, as well as his own destiny, which is part of why he created his own shoe brand instead of signing with one of the big dogs in the sneaker industry. Melo’s message was one of personal empowerment, which is likely why it resonated with JB.

Athletes have never had more power than they do in today’s day and age. There are a multitude of platforms that give them a voice they didn’t have in years past. Jaylen is far from the only one to take advantage of that.

Fans eat up looks into the players’ personal lives with documentaries like Netflix’s “Starting Five”, a show that followed the lives of five different NBA players in each of its two seasons. Tatum was part of the first season, while Brown was part of the second. Why are we okay with a Netflix director telling the players’ stories, but not the players themselves?

I would understand it more if the players were sharing disparaging comments, or otherwise sharing outwardly controversial or reckless statements when they were taking matters into their own hands, but why are we creating problems out of nothing? We shouldn’t be critical of players for using their voice to tell their own stories. They’re human too. We may just see them as basketball players, but they have lives well beyond the court. It’s not up to us to tell them what they should do with their free time, how they should react to a loss, how they should respond, when they can respond, or what they’re allowed to talk about.

Everyone will have their opinions. I think me telling fans not to comment on things like this would be incredibly hypocritical. All I ask is that if you plan on leaving those comments, try not to read too much into everything. Take a step back and look at these guys beyond the lens of them being athletes, and look at them as people, too.

N&N the morning after a Guards W

May 1, 2026; West Sacramento, California, USA; Cleveland Guardians pitcher Tim Herrin (29) throws to a Athletics batter during the fifth inning at Sutter Health Park. Mandatory Credit: Scott Marshall-Imagn Images | Scott Marshall-Imagn Images

The Guardians were victorious against Mike Trout last night. Some other Angels tried playing baseball, too.

Tim Herrin finally gave up a run. He now has an 0.68 ERA which (without any other details) is arguably more impressive than 0.00.

Around baseball

• MLB and MLBPA are currently holding CBA talks. My hot take for the past year is that few, if any, games will be missed in 2027.

• ATL placed Sean Murphy on the IL once again.

• The Dodgers traded a 17-year-old to Arizona for Alek Thomas. Notttt sure how I feel about the phrase “traded 17-year-old”—maybe there should be something limiting that?

• Bailey Ober pitched a CGSHO.

• The Tigers lost big to the …… Mets.

• Paul Skenes is good at the pitch.

• Yoshinobu Yamamoto is not as good at the pitch as Eric Haase is at the hit. Wait, what?

How will the liberal Masai Ujiri handle leading the ultraconservative Dallas Mavericks?

Masai Ujiri poses with Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont during his introductory press conference. <br>Photograph: LM Otero/AP

On its face, the fit between Masai Ujiri and the Dallas Mavericks is perfect. “It’s almost like a match made in heaven,” Ujiri said after being introduced as the franchise’s president of basketball operations and alternate governor last week. “Every single one of us in this world is chosen for something special, and we just have to find it,” he added. “And I found basketball.”

Since he became the first African to run a major sports franchise in the United States as the general manager of the Denver Nuggets in 2010, Ujiri has accomplished everything. After winning Executive of the Year with the Nuggets in 2013, he moved to Toronto and inherited a Raptors franchise unsure of itself. The Raptors were the only NBA team outside the US – one centered in a city that hadn’t won anything since 1993 – and Ujiri had to convince Raptors fans to believe in themselves. He built one of the deepest and most international teams in the NBA after hitting on numerous draft picks and finally swapping franchise cornerstone DeMar DeRozan for pending free agent Kawhi Leonard in 2018.

Less than a year later, the Raptors were champions for the first time in their history, and the culture of Canadian sports was changed. Mavericks fans are hoping Ujiri can perform a similar transformation in Dallas.

Fifteen months after trading cherished superstar Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers in one of the most unpopular deals in sports history, the Mavericks are ready to move on. The team lucked into the No 1 pick in the 2025 draft and selected this season’s Rookie of the Year winner, Cooper Flagg, but they still finished well short of the playoffs.

“There’s a healing process,” Ujiri said about Mavericks fans’ grief in the post-Dončić era. “Luka is a future Hall of Famer, and that’s the past. In Africa, we say when kings go, kings come. The king went, and we have a little prince here [in Flagg] that we’re going to turn into a king.”

Few talent evaluators are better equipped than Ujiri to surround Flagg with the pieces he needs to be successful. The Mavericks have the ninth, 30th and 48th pick in this year’s draft to try to hit on an OG Anunoby or Pascal Siakam, who both helped to win the Raptors their title after being drafted by Ujiri. Few team builders have a better track record of taking a hopeless organization from the bottom of the NBA to the top, building a championship contender capable of taking down juggernauts; and nobody is better suited than Ujiri to pull the Mavericks out of the deep financial and cultural hole they dug for themselves in the wake of the Dončić trade.

So, why does Ujiri in Dallas feel so wrong?

As much as Ujiri has helped change basketball over the last two decades, he has never allowed the sport to define him. In 2003, while working as an unpaid NBA team scout, Ujiri co-founded the non-profit Giants of Africa, which supplies thousands of young boys and girls throughout the continent with basketball camps and 100 community courts. “Sport doesn’t just unite people,” Ujiri has said. “It breaks down barriers, builds hope and transforms entire communities.”

Ujiri’s humanitarian efforts have been well recognized. He has charmed presidents and prime ministers while being named an Officer of the Order of Canada. Under Ujiri, the Raptors were at the forefront of many social issues, from female empowerment to anti-racism, famously branding the team bus with “Black Lives Matter” after police killed George Floyd in May 2020. In an opinion piece for the Globe and Mailthat same year, Ujiri wrote: “We all came into this world the same way – as humans. No one is born to be racist and none of us sees colour at first. I believe there are far more good people than bad people, but sometimes the good must do more than simply be good. They must overwhelm the bad.”

It’s safe to say the people signing Ujiri’s new cheques may not be as interested in social justice. In 2023, the Mavericks’ majority owner, Miriam Adelson, wrote an op-ed claiming that pro-Palestinian and Black Lives Matter activists are “not our critics. They are our enemies … And, as such, they should be dead to us.”

Adelson has been called the most dangerous owner in professional sports. The widow of casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, she has amassed her fortune primarily from owning the Las Vegas Sands casino and resort company. In late 2023, Miriam Adelson purchased majority ownership of the Dallas Mavericks from Mark Cuban for $3.5bn – a drop in the ocean for the fifth richest woman in America, whose wealth is estimated to be around $35bn.

Adelson is also a Donald Trump mega-donor, the most generous of any sports team owner by some margin. (No individuals donated more money to Trump’s campaign efforts in 2020. In 2024, Adelson gave more than $100m to Trump.) She is also involved in politics outside the US. Adelson helped Benjamin Netanyahu secure the most right-wing government in Israel’s history, although the relationship has since soured, before influencing Trump’s Middle East policy. She and Sheldon were influential in the United States moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in 2018, the same year Trump awarded her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Trump and Netanyahu have gone on to cause havoc across the Middle East: Israel’s military actions in Gaza have been widely described as genocide, while the US has started a war with Iran that has killed hundreds of people.

Ujiri has always been outspoken, albeit with completely different politics from Adelson. In 2018, after Trump referred to Haiti and some African nations as “shithole countries”, Ujiri criticized the US president. “We have to inspire people and give them a sense of hope,” he said. “We need to bring people along, not ridicule and tear them down. This cannot be the message that we accept from the leader of the free world.” He later added that if the Raptors won a championship, “I think we’ll be fine with [only visiting Canadian prime minister Justin] Trudeau.”

In Toronto, Ujiri was shielded by former Raptors governor Larry Tanenbaum, a staunch liberal. Plus, there was a border separating Canada and the United States, who still had a good relationship at the time. Now that he is in a state as red as Texas – in charge of a team as prominent as the Mavericks – there is little protection, even if the team’s fanbase skews Democrat. At the same time, there’s a huge platform for someone as ambitious and politically outspoken as Ujiri to discuss important issues. One has to wonder if he will decide to. After all, other members of the Mavericks have gone quiet after moving to Dallas.

Kyrie Irving was once a walking headline. While his views were often far more dismal than Ujiri’s – he promoted an antisemitic film and very publicly refused to take the Covid-19 vaccine – he was once adamant that speaking out on issues important to him was more pressing than his NBA career.

“Basketball is just not the most important thing to me right now … All my people are still in bondage all across the world, and there’s a lot of dehumanization going on … It’s not just in Palestine, not just in Israel. It’s all over the world, and I feel it,” he said in 2021. But ever since he was traded from Brooklyn to Dallas in 2023, Irving has gone largely quiet – although he has recently shown his support for Palestine – while he works for a woman who is a staunch supporter of Israel.

“Kyrie Irving, even as he focuses on basketball, has liked lots of tweets in support of ending genocide in Gaza. And Mark Cuban has also long been on the record as a huge anti-Trump critic,” Pablo Torre said in a podcast episode dedicated to Adelson. “But ever since Cuban sold Adelson the team … Everybody that I’ve mentioned has pretty much all shut up and dribbled, mainstreaming the image of Miriam Adelson and partying with her courtside, laundering her extremism to the world.”

That’s not to say Ujiri will do the same, and Irving’s actions are proof that Adelson has not outlawed subtle shows of support for causes she does not agree with. Ujiri has the opportunity to make the world a better place from inside the Mavericks, standing on his morals by using his new and improved platform to change the organization – and perhaps the US – for the better. History, of course, is against him. That never stopped Ujiri before.

Yankees news: Anthony Volpe back, but José Caballero expected to start upon return from IL

NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 27: Anthony Volpe #11 and José Caballero #72 of the New York Yankees celebrate after defeating the Baltimore Orioles at Yankee Stadium on Saturday, September 27, 2025 in New York, New York. (Photo by Michael Mooney/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images

CBS Sports | Mike Axisa: The Yankees recalled Anthony Volpe on Tuesday, giving their erstwhile starting shortstop another opportunity to carve out a role in the big leagues. After struggling on both sides of the ball last year, Volpe underwent shoulder surgery this offseason and began the year on the IL. Once his rehab stint ended, the Yankees chose to keep him down at Triple-A. It was a remarkable fall from grace for the three-year starter, who won a Gold Glove as a rookie and only turned 25 two weeks ago.

Volpe took the roster spot of José Caballero, who excelled in his absence to earn the starting job at short before recently fracturing his right middle finger. “Small fracture. Tendons and ligaments all good,” said manager Aaron Boone of the injury, noting the Yankees are hopeful Caballero will miss the minimum 10 days. Boone also noted he expects Caballero to reclaim his starting job once healthy. Max Schuemann started at the six last night, though that was partially because he was arriving in Baltimore around first-pitch time.

The Athletic | Chris Kirschner: ($) After an 0-for-4 day Monday dropped his OPS to .604, the normally loquacious Jazz Chisholm Jr. had but one word for beat writers who approached his locker in the postgame: “No.” In his stead, the questions fell to his manager. “You sense guys feeling it when you’re a month-plus in, and you’re not doing what the back of your baseball card is,” said Boone. “It’s part of it. He’s probably feeling that a little bit, probably pressing a little too much, trying to do a little too much.”

Chisholm did have this to say yesterday after sleeping on it: “Everybody gets frustrated with their performance when they’re not doing well. Right now, I’m not swinging well, so I’m just working my butt off every day to get back.”

Entering a contract year, Chisholm called his shot, predicting a 50/50 season. Instead, he’s hit well below the back of his baseball card, swinging underneath the ball far more often while taking fewer hard hacks. He’s particularly struggled against his fellow lefties, potentially opening the door to a soft platoon if his struggles continue. With southpaw Trevor Rogers on the bump Tuesday, Amed Rosario drew the start at the keystone while Chisholm sat; Rosario went 1-for-3 with an infield single and an error before Chisholm flew out as a pinch-hitter for him in the eighth.

USA Today | Gabe Lacques: Ryan Weathers took a tough no decision on Monday, taking a no-hitter into the seventh before watching Brent Headrick blow a late lead. It was a continuation of rough luck for the left-hander, who experienced an illness beginning on May 2nd that caused him to miss a start and lose nine pounds. “It’s definitely been a couple weeks, for sure,” said Weathers, who also welcomed a newborn son with his wife Thayer on April 22nd. “But that doesn’t stop me from doing my job.” Despite an exemplary start to the season, Weathers is at risk of losing his spot in a crowded Yankees rotation once Gerrit Cole returns from the IL, potentially by the end of May.

CBS News | Adam Thompson: Closing out with a bit of housekeeping, today’s game in Baltimore will now start at 1:05 PM instead of the previously scheduled 6:35 PM. The Orioles made the decision in consultation with MLB due to concerns about inclement weather in the forecast for the evening. Tickets will still be accepted at the new time, or may be exchanged here.

Buffalo, Montreal face off with series tied 2-2

Montreal Canadiens (48-24-10, in the Atlantic Division) vs. Buffalo Sabres (50-23-9, in the Atlantic Division)

Buffalo, New York; Thursday, 7 p.m. EDT

LINE: Sabres -120, Canadiens +100; over/under is 6

NHL PLAYOFFS SECOND ROUND: Series tied 2-2

BOTTOM LINE: The Montreal Canadiens visit the Buffalo Sabres for game five of the second round of the NHL Playoffs with the series tied 2-2. The teams meet Tuesday for the ninth time this season. The Sabres won 3-2 in the previous meeting.

Buffalo is 50-23-9 overall with a 22-9-5 record in Atlantic Division games. The Sabres have a 50-4-8 record in games they score at least three goals.

Montreal is 48-24-10 overall and 22-12-3 against the Atlantic Division. The Canadiens are 48-8-9 when scoring three or more goals.

TOP PERFORMERS: Tage Thompson has 40 goals and 41 assists for the Sabres. Alex Tuch has four goals and three assists over the past 10 games.

Cole Caufield has 51 goals and 37 assists for the Canadiens. Alexander Newhook has six goals and one assist over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Sabres: 6-3-1, averaging three goals, 4.8 assists, six penalties and 15.7 penalty minutes while giving up 2.5 goals per game.

Canadiens: 5-3-2, averaging 2.7 goals, 4.6 assists, 6.4 penalties and 15.7 penalty minutes while giving up 2.2 goals per game.

INJURIES: Sabres: Noah Ostlund: out (lower body), Jiri Kulich: out for season (ear), Justin Danforth: out for season (kneecap).

Canadiens: Patrik Laine: out (abdomen).

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly: 3 Takeaways from Golden Knights Game 5 Win

LAS VEGAS, May 13th, 2026– Nothing came easy for the Vegas Golden Knights in overtime during the regular season. They set a franchise record by going past regulation 26 times, and they lost 17 of those contests. 

Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.

Now, overtime is played at 5-on-5. After tonight’s 3-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks, the Golden Knights are a perfect 3-0 in overtime this postseason.

The Golden Knights hold a 3-2 edge as the series shifts back to Anaheim. Game 6 is scheduled for 6:52 p.m. PST at the Honda Center.

Three Takeaways of the Knight

1. Man Down!

Brayden McNabb, the Golden Knights’ best stay-at-home defenseman, was ejected from the game just nine minutes into the first period for a hit on Ryan Poehling. He played only 3:17; just like that, the Golden Knights were down to only five defensemen for 55 minutes.

Golden Knights head coach John Tortorella refused to comment on the call postgame.

“It’s just no sense talking about it… I just don’t get it,” said Tortorella following the 3-2 win. “High marks for the whole team tonight. I’m proud of the team tonight. Getting down, losing Nabber, one of our top D, losing him– I think he played three minutes– and still finding a way to get things done, to get a win, I’m really proud of the hockey club.

Poehling did not return to the contest.

2. Mr. Game 5

Can we start calling Pavel Dorofeyev ‘Mr. Game 5’ yet? His Game 5 hat trick in the First Round against the Utah Mammoth sent his team to overtime. Tonight, scored the Golden Knights’ first goal in addition to the overtime game-winner. 

But that’s not all. In the second period, Dorofeyev was hobbled after taking a heavy shot from Jackson LaCombe to the right knee. He was slow to get up, and after being attended to by the trainer, he headed down the tunnel. 

Needless to say, he returned.

“Just a blocked shot,” said Dorofeyev following the win. “It’s a s— part of my job, but it hurts more when I miss it. I just got myself together and got back on the ice.”

3. Holding Out for a Hero

By now, everyone’s heard the intimidating, yet oddly specific, statistic: the Golden Knights have never lost a series after winning Game 5 to go up 3-2. And now, they’ve won another Game 5 and can end this series in Anaheim on Thursday. But in all those Game 6s of old, there was one consistent factor: Mark Stone. 

Stone has missed the last two games with a lower-body injury, and there’s a very good chance that he doesn’t play in Thursday’s Game 6. And that means that the Golden Knights will close this series out without their Captain.

Teams that go up 3-2 in a series have historically won 79.8% of the time. Even without Stone, I like the Golden Knights’ chances against a young and relatively inexperienced Ducks team. But the Captain is watching from the sidelines, and someone else will have to step up and answer the call when the lights are brightest.

Eric Haase ruins Ice Cube Night in Giants’ 6-2 win over Dodgers

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - MAY 12: Matt Chapman #26, Eric Haase #18 and Caleb Kilian #45 of the San Francisco Giants celebrate after defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-2 in a game at Dodger Stadium on May 12, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) | Getty Images

Eric Haase is no kid, but he can definitely play.

In his sixth game with the San Francisco Giants, the veteran catcher hit two home runs off Yoshinobu Yamamato (3-3), the second happening one pitch after Harrison Bader took Yamamoto deep in the 5th inning. That put the Giants up 3-2 and they went on to defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers for the fourth time in five games.

The Giants ruined Ice Cube Bobblehead Night at Dodger Stadium thanks to a strong start from Adrian Hauser (1-4), who got his first win of the season. Hauser had to check himself during a difficult first inning where the Dodgers loaded the bases with one out, but avoided wrecking himself when he escaped with one run after a sacrifice fly.

His only hiccup after that came when Shohei Ohtani jacked him for beats a leadoff home run with Cube sitting in the broadcast booth.

For Hauser, struggling through a difficult start of the season, giving up three hits and two runs in 5.2 innings certainly qualifies as a good day, and we hope someone gets him a Fatburger.

Yamamoto was mowing down the Giants to start the game, retiring eight straight and striking out four of them, before leaving a cutter to Haase out over the plate. He was greeted by a resounding chorus of boos from the crowd, which had likely only just reached their seats in the top of the third.

Yamamoto continued to pitch effectively to Giants not named Haase, until Bader hit a two-strike bomb to left and Haase followed with a home run eerily similar to his first blast. It was the first time the Giants have hit back-t0-back dingers in 2026.

You could argue that Dave Roberts left Yamamoto in too long, though he’d thrown only 84 pitches through six innings, and Haase was five batters away in the 7th. But Heliot Ramos doubled to left, then Willy Adames drilled a single that was hit too hard to score Ramos from second. Yamamoto then got Bryce Eldridge to line out on a play where only a leaping Hyeseong Kim prevented an RBI single.

Eldridge’s swing is like a Judd Apatow comedy: It’s too long, but it also leads to hits. In theory; he’s still hitting .118.

Roberts brought in Blake Treinen with one out, and he did not Make The Seventh Inning Great Again for the Dodgers. Drew Gilbert delivered a beautiful pinch-bunt on a safety squeeze that handcuffed Freddie Freeman and brought home Ramos.

Haase nearly added his third home run with a drive that went to the center field wall, but had to settle for being the fourth Giants catcher in history and the first since Bob Melvin to have a two-homer game against the Dodgers. He now has twice as many home runs in 2026 as Patrick Bailey.

Jung Hoo Lee gave the Giants two key insurance runs with another two-strike hit, driven to the same area of right-center where Lee would make a nice running catch in the bottom of the inning.

Reliever Sam Hentges got a big challenge in his second appearance of the season, entering to face Ohtani with two out and a man on first after a possibly-mythical hit-by-pitch on Andy Pages. Hentges struck him out, then got in trouble in the 8th when he sandwiched walks to Freeman and Will Smith around a Kyle Tucker double.

But Tony Vitello left Hentges in to sink or swim with Max Muncy at the plate as the tying run. He struck out the Dodgers third baseman, who was 0-for-4 on the night.

Caleb Killian retired Pages to end the threat and worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his second save. And in a big departure from Monday’s thrust-fest, the Giants outfielders opted for a much classier victory celebration after Tuesday’s win.

There’s no word yet on whether Ice Cube heard Duane Kuiper’s pre-game challenge and a promise to “pour a Blanton’s” on top of an Ice Cube, but please prepare yourselves for what may be the weirdest diss track of all time.

Ohtnai may have broken out of his slump, which is bad news for the Giants the rest of the series. He hadn’t homered in two weeks and put up a slash line of .111/.220/.139, before going 2-for-4 with a walk and scoring both Dodgers runs Tuesday night. Even Ohtani’s game-ending groundout necessitated a diving stop by Luis Arraez to retire him.

Robbie Ray will have to deal with Ohtani in the batter’s box tomorrow night and the rest of the Giants will have to deal with him on the mound. After that, Thursday is Star Wars Night. We can’t wait to hear what Kuiper has to say about Chewbacca.

World’s No 1 disabled golfer Kipp Popert: ‘The best need to play for a living. The sport has stopped’

The DP World Tour putting its G4D disabled tour in cold storage does not fit the growing the game narrative, the Englishman argues

Kipp Popert is a man on a mission. The 27-year‑old Englishman, who tops the disabled world rankings, uses one word a lot: “opportunity”. Popert was “shocked” to hear from the DP World Tour that its G4D circuit, which staged a handful of tournaments per year for disabled players between 2022 and 2025, has been placed into cold storage.

The G4D Open, a tournament for 80 golfers with disabilities, will be staged at Celtic Manor from Thursday. It takes place thousands of miles from Pennsylvania and this week’s US PGA Championship, which last year bestowed $3.4m (£2.5m) on Scottie Scheffler. Even the main platform for players in this domain does not offer prize money. It is not Popert’s way to lambast anyone. He instead calmly articulates the impact of that move.

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‘No Moment Too Big’ for Golden Knights in Critical Game 5 Overtime Win

LAS VEGAS, May 12th, 2026– Rasmus Andersson said it best: there’s a feeling that no moment is too big for the Vegas Golden Knights. They conceded the tying goal late, rebounded quickly, and came out flying to start overtime. They scored the game-winner in the first five minutes of overtime and edged out the Anaheim Ducks by a score of 3-2.

“Big moments, right? It’s overtime– the easy answer is, the next goal wins,” said defenseman Rasmus Andersson following the 3-2 overtime win. “I think we’re a pretty comfortable group in [that situation]. There’s a lot of players in [the locker room] who’ve been through it and had a lot of success and won, and they usually lead the charge. 

“We’re an older team,” Andersson acknowledged. “And there’s a feeling that no moment is too big. We’re very confident when we go to overtime. I think we keep our composure and just try to simplify stuff, honestly. Usually, overtime goals aren’t the prettiest, and it’s the rebounds, or the tips, or the screened shots from the blue line. 

“But we just try to stay calm in there and work shift by shift,” Andersson finished.

In the first period, the teams played fast and loose. For every 2-on-1 the Ducks had, the Golden Knights went back the other way on a breakaway. Anaheim ended the period with six high-danger chances; the Golden Knights generated seven and controlled 57.19% of the expected goal share.

The Golden Knights lost Brayden McNabb just nine minutes into the first period. The defenseman threw a late hit on Ducks center Ryan Poehling, and after Poehling was slow to get up, the officials gave McNabb a five-minute major for interference and a game misconduct.

The Ducks broke the ice at 12:36 in the first on the ensuing five-minute power play. Carter Hart kicked out Cutter Gauthier’s wrister from the right circle, but he left the rebound in the blue paint. Hart lunged for the loose puck, but Beckett Sennecke got there first and banged it home.

The Golden Knights found the equalizer on a power play opportunity of their own at 16:13 in the first. Pavel Dorofeyev stripped the puck from Chris Kreider, danced into the slot, and ripped off a wrister that beat Lukáš Dostál top-shelf.

In the second period, the run-and-gun play from the first period was nowhere to be found. The teams combined for just 12 scoring chances, and for the first time this series, the Golden Knights and the Ducks entered the third period tied. 

It didn’t stay that way for long.

The Golden Knights took their first lead of the night at 4:48 in the third. Brandon Saad got a piece of Rasmus Andersson’s shot from the point, but Lukáš Dostál made the save. Tomáš Hertl got to the loose puck and backhanded it home for his first five-on-five goal since February 1st. 

“Every game, I tried not to think about a goal because, especially in the playoffs, winning games is all that matters,” said Hertl postgame. “I’ve tried so many different things over the last two months– it was almost impossible not to think about it. Hopefully this is behind me, and this stretch never happens again, because, honestly, it was way too long.”

After a period of sustained pressure, the Ducks finally broke through and found the equalizer at 16:55 in the third. Mason McTavish found Cutter Gauthier below the right circle, and Gauthier one-touched a cross-ice pass to Olen Zellweger at the left dot. Zellweger received the pass, picked his shot, and beat Carter Hart far-side. 

It was all Golden Knights in overtime. As Rasmus Andersson said, they simply rise to the occasion. They outshot the Ducks 5-0 and generated three scoring chances while not allowing Anaheim a single one.

The Golden Knights struck just 4:10 into overtime. Jack Eichel pick-pocketed Troy Terry, protected the puck from Leo Carlsson, and circled lower into the zone. He danced around Olen Zellweger and threaded a pass to Pavel Dorofeyev at the goal line; Dorofeyev knocked the puck down and batted it home.

“To be honest with you, I can’t even tell you what happened there,” laughed Dorofeyev after the 3-2 overtime win. “I just saw a puck, whipped my stick on it, and thankfully got it in.”

The series shifts back to Anaheim on Thursday, where the Golden Knights will have an opportunity to close it out. Game 6 is scheduled for 6:50 p.m. PST.

Read More: 3 Takeaways from Golden Knights Game 5 Win

Yankees’ Jazz Chisholm Jr. off to slow start in contract year: ‘not swinging well’

An image collage containing 1 images, Image 1 shows Jazz Chisholm Jr. reacts after striking out in the ninth inning of the Yankees' loss to the Orioles on May 11, 2026 in Baltimore

BALTIMORE — For most of the early going, Smooth Jazz has been on mute for the Yankees.

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But Jazz Chisholm Jr. said before Yankees’ 6-2 win over the Orioles Tuesday he is “working my butt off every day to get back” to the player he is capable of being, and the one the Yankees need him to be in order to be their best version.

“Everybody gets frustrated with their performance when they’re not doing well,” said Chisholm, who was out of the lineup Tuesday against Orioles lefty Trevor Rogers. “Right now, I’m not swinging well.”

After going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts Monday night — three of those at-bats coming with runners in scoring position — and 0-for-1 Tuesday night pinch hitting for Amed Rosario, Chisholm fell to batting just .200 with a .600 OPS this season.

He has looked like a shell of the hitter he was last season, when he hit 31 homers and stole 31 bases, leading him to proclaim a goal of 50-50 this season.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. reacts after striking out in the ninth inning of the Yankees’ loss to the Orioles on May 11, 2026 in Baltimore. AP

But in a crucial contract year, Chisholm has yet to live up to his own lofty expectations, though he insisted that his uncertain future is not getting in his head.

“No, not right now,” he said. “It’s still pretty early for that. But right now, all I want to do is help my team win. When you feel like you’re not doing that and you’re not helping, especially with the bat … it sucks.”

Aaron Boone suggested Monday that Chisholm might be pressing and trying to make things happen instead of letting the game come to him.

“There’s been stretches this year where it seems like he’s starting to get it going a little bit and then a little bit of a pullback,” Boone said. “He hasn’t fully broken out yet. And he will. It’s the hard part of this game as a hitter, even the good ones, you’re going to go through it in different stretches That’s where you got to be mentally tough and continue to stick to your process and make subtle adjustments and then walk out there with some swagger.”

Unlike some of the other struggling Yankees in the lineup — notably Trent Grisham, and to some extent Austin Wells — Chisholm does not have the underlying metrics to suggest he has been the victim of bad luck and should be better than his surface numbers indicate.

During his 30-30 season last year, Chisholm posted a 15 percent barrel rate, which ranked in the 91st percentile; this year, it is 6.0 percent, ranking in the 31st percentile.

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Last year, he had an expected wOBA (weighted on-base average) of .346, which ranked in the 78th percentile; this year, it is .262, which is in the fifth percentile.

And last year, his expected slugging percentage was .481, which ranked in the 83rd percentile; this year, it is .310, which ranks in the 11th percentile.

“Just focusing on trying to square the ball up to center field every time I get up there,” Chisholm said. “Swing at the right pitches, put it in play.”


Due to the threat of rain, Wednesday’s series finale has been moved up from 6:35 p.m. to 1:05 p.m.