It’s the same old story for Rory McIlroy: he just can’t keep any momentum going this week. He follows that chip-in eagle on 9 with bogey at 11. Back to -1, and a second Claret Jug continues to hover out of reach. At least he’s got one. Jon Rahm has a strangely underwhelming record at the Open: a couple of high finishes in 2019 and 2023 without ever really looking likely to win. And it’s threatening to happen again. He carves his opening drive over the bushes to the right and out of bounds, and starts with a double-bogey six. His fume is internal, but it is real, registering eight-and-a-half out of ten on Bryson DeChambeau’s patented R&A-o-meter™.
Ryan Fox speaks to Sky. “The game plan was to be aggressive … I hit driver a lot … your strategy changes with the wind around here … I had a couple of interesting shots on the back nine and kinda got away with them … pretty happy with 62 in the end, that’s for sure … had a lot of fun with [Xander Schauffele] … he played really well too and we kind of fed off each other … was pretty happy to make par [on 18] from that fairway trap … I haven’t really put four rounds together [at the Open] … hopefully this is a sign … I’m in a pretty good place to give myself a chance so we’ll see what happens!”
It's semifinals time at the NBA Summer League, with the Memphis Grizzlies battling the Houston Rockets, while the Las Angeles Lakers take on the Golden State Warriors.
My predictions see the Grizzlies and Lakers going through to the finals, while I also like the Spurs to win a consolation matchup tonight.
Keep reading to see my NBASummer League picks for Saturday, July 18.
NBA Summer League predictions for July 18
Pick
Grizzlies moneyline
-186
Lakers moneyline
-117
Spurs moneyline
+100
💰 All three parlayed
+470
Today's Summer League picks
Grizzlies moneyline (-186 at Kalshi)
The Memphis Grizzlies are coming off a massive win over the previously undefeated Atlanta Hawks, winning by 32 points to fight their way into the Summer League semifinals.
Cameron Boozer lived up to his hype as the No. 3 overall pick with 24 points on 10-of-13 shooting on Thursday, while Cedric Coward poured in 23 points of his own.
Memphis has put up 96.8 ppg and is playing a more talented and more experienced group than the Houston Rockets. I'm backing the Grizzlies to move on to the final in Vegas.
Lakers moneyline (-117 at Kalshi)
The Los Angeles Lakers are the only undefeated team remaining in the Summer League, heading into the semifinals with a 4-0 record. They've outscored opponents by an average of 17.5 points, and lead all playoff teams in both points scored (97.8 ppg) and allowed (80.3 ppg).
Cameron Carr is putting up 18.3 ppg for the Lakers in Vegas, while Arthur Kaluma (20.3 ppg) is impressing as a three-and-D guy who's fighting for a roster spot after spending last year in the G-League.
This team is playing extremely well and should overwhelm Yaxel Lendeborg and the Golden State Warriors tonight.
Spurs moneyline (+100 at Kalshi)
Beyond the semifinals, there's some great action in store in the consolation games, including the matchup between the San Antonio Spurs and Phoenix Suns.
Spurs draft pick Ja'Kobi Gillsepie has starred in Summer League play, scoring 16 ppg and going for 25 points against the Utah Jazz on Wednesday. Guard RJ Davis has also been making his case for a roster spot, putting up 12.8 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.
The Suns have found success playing a consistent lineup in Vegas, but San Antonio's older talent should win out against a younger Phoenix squad led by 19-year-old Khaman Maluach.
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Saturday’s NBA Summer League parlay
Grizzlies moneyline
Lakers moneyline
Spurs moneyline
+470 at Kalshi
Odds are correct at the time of publishing and are subject to change. Not intended for use in MA. Affiliate Disclosure: Our team of experts has thoroughly researched and handpicked each product that appears on our website. We may receive compensation if you sign up through our links.
Throughout their 2026–27 season, Vancouver will take part in a variety of entertaining matchups, ranging from welcoming back former players to potentially seeing NHL legends for the final time in their careers. Here are five must-watch Canucks games taking place in the 2026–27 season.
September 29 @ Edmonton Oilers
While there will still be pre-season and training camp to take in prior to the season-opener, this game will serve as the first-look of a rebuild-committed Canucks team featuring new management staff (Ryan Johnson, Daniel and Henrik Sedin) as well as their new coaching staff (Manny Malhotra, Ryan Mougenel, Jordan Smith, and Jason Krog). This will also be many fans’ first-look at Brendan Gallagher, Jamie Oleksiak, and Paul Cotter in Canucks uniforms.
October 8 @ Carolina Hurricanes
The Canucks will face the defending Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes on October 8, making this the first time Vancouver will face them since they won back in June. The biggest change to Carolina’s roster since they won the Stanley Cup is the departure of goaltender Frederik Andersen, who signed a one-year deal in free-agency with the Oilers.
October 25 vs. Minnesota Wild
Quite possibly the biggest game for Canucks fans heading into the 2026–27 season is October 25, which is when former captain Quinn Hughes will return to Rogers Arena with the Minnesota Wild for the first time since being traded in December of 2025. Lots has changed surrounding fans’ perception of the defenceman since his departure, and while he’s undoubtedly still the best blueliner the Canucks have had, for the most part it appears the fanbase has soured on him. It will be interesting to see how the crowd reacts to Hughes’ return on October 25.
Dec 6, 2025; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Vancouver Canucks center Linus Karlsson (94) tips the puck in front of Minnesota Wild defenceman Jared Spurgeon (46) at Rogers Arena. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Morris-Imagn Images
December 7 vs. Washington Capitals
The status of legendary goal-scorer and Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin is undetermined past the 2026–27 season. While there were musings of the forward’s potential retirement at the end of the 2025–26 season, Ovechkin ended up signing a one-year deal with the Capitals to extend his career by one more season. As it stands, Ovechkin has not vocalized whether he plans to play past this year or not, making his next trip to Vancouver potentially his last.
March 6 @ Montréal Canadiens
One interesting Canucks road game to catch will be when Vancouver takes on the Montréal Canadiens at the Bell Centre on March 6. This will be the first time that new Canuck Gallagher will return to Montréal after being traded to Vancouver ahead of the 2026 free-agency period. Prior to joining Vancouver, the forward spent the entirety of his 14-season NHL career with the Canadiens, including taking part in eight playoff runs with the team. Gallagher is certain to get a positive reception from Canadiens fans when he returns to Montréal.
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It seemed like the perfect homecoming for the Detroit Red Wings in April 2019, when it was announced that beloved legendary captain Steve Yzerman was returning to the franchise he helped bring back from the dead in the early 1980s.
Considering what Yzerman was able to accomplish as general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning, which included uncovering several gems in the NHL Draft that turned into elite talents, the understandable thought was that it was only a matter of time before he did so in Detroit.
Upon his arrival back in Detroit, he undertook a massive rebuilding process after the prospect cupboards were left essentially barren by former GM Ken Holland, who also left behind several bloated contracts of underperforming players.
And while Yzerman did select a handful of top-tier talents in his first two Drafts as Red Wings GM in Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond, the club never fully put things together.
Yzerman officially stepped down from his role on Wednesday morning following what was the seventh straight year of missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the third straight that his club was in prime striking position in March, only to stumble and tumble out of the race.
The club is also in the midst of a standoff with captain Dylan Larkin, who requested to be traded not long after the season; his request was made public in early June.
Needless to say, this is not how even the most skeptical of fans and analysts would have guessed Yzerman’s tenure as GM would have ended.
There were several questionable decisions Yzerman made along the way, not the least of which was attaching a second round draft pick to Jake Walman and shipping him out of town for nothing in return.
While it’s true that the Red Wings suffered abysmal luck in the NHL Draft Lottery, Yzerman was also hesitant to pull the trigger on bold trades aside from Michigan native Alex DeBrincat, who only wanted to come to his hometown team.
Fans were also growing frustrated with the lack of any kind of timeline as to when they could expect a return to the postseason.
Little Caesars Arena, which opened in the fall of 2017, has yet to host a single postseason hockey game.
Yzerman and the Red Wings seemed perfect for one another. Unfortunately, his tenure as GM wasn’t anything like how events unfolded in Tampa Bay.
While the Red Wings are in a considerably better position now than when he took over, they’re still faced with several roster holes and questions about when they can realistically compete for the Stanley Cup again.
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TORONTO, ON - APRIL 29: NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, with Colorado Avalanche's Rick Pracey, Director of Amateur Scouting, with the "golden ticket" which gives the Avalanche the 1st overall pick in the NHL Draft, at the TSN studios in Scarborough. (Rick Madonik/Toronto Star via Getty Images) | Toronto Star via Getty Images
The past thirty years of Avalanche hockey have featured incredible highs, and some very, very dismal lows.
As an avid fan of The Simpsons, I’ve witnessed plenty of “best of times” moments, but also been subjected to a smattering of unpleasant “blursts” of times. In this latest edition of an ongoing off-season series, I take a look back through the past thirty years, highlighting one moment that stands among the best, and comparatively, the worst (or blurst, if you will) each season.
Here are the best and blurst moments from another five years of Colorado Avalanche history.
2015-2016
The Best: NHL Stadium Series Weekend (February 26-27, 2016)
Ever since the initial announcement was made over a year ago, both Avs and Red Wings fans were chomping at the bit for this weekend to finally arrive.
Since the inception of both the NHL Winter Classic and Stadium Series, the present-era Red Wings had participated twice in outdoor contests, having played the Chicago Blackhawks and the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2009 and 2014 Winter Classic, respectively.
The Avs, on the other hand, would be first-time hosts and first-time participants in an outdoor contest.
Although the real game would be played on February 27, the alumni game between both clubs the day before drew significant interest. Both franchises assembled a who’s who of Hall of Fame talent, eager to lace up the skates in one final curtain call for the greatest hockey rivalry in the modern era.
Although the animosity had considerably cooled down over the years, the competitive nature on both sides was still as strong as ever.
As he had done in the first-ever Avs game in 1995, Valeri Kamensky opened the scoring for the Avs in the first period. Both alumni captains would also score in the period, with Detroit’s Steve Yzerman tying the game, then Joe Sakic putting the Avs alumni ahead 2-1.
Milan Hejduk scored the only goal of the second period to increase the lead for the Avs alumni. Craig Billington relieved Patrick Roy in goal for the third period. Raymond Bourque scored to make it a 4-1 lead, which Billington preserved after stopping a penalty shot attempt for Detroit’s Tomas Holmström. Brendan Shanahan would score the second goal for the Detroit alumni, cutting the Avs’ alumni lead in half, but Stéphane Yelle would put the game out of reach, securing a 5-2 victory for the Avs greats of yesteryear.
Both teams would shake hands after the game, then pose together at center ice, a sight that was unfathomable nearly twenty years earlier.
The next night, the modern-era Avs weren’t so fortunate. Despite having a 2-1 lead in the first period off goals from Nathan MacKinnon and Tyson Barrie, Detroit scored two goals in the third period to take the lead. Alex Tanguay tied the game moments later, but Detroit would score another pair of goals (including one on an empty net) to defeat the Avs by a 5-3 score.
Both teams came together for another handshake line at the end of the contest. The Cold War between the Avs and the Red Wings was now over, but the ending lived up to all the hype.
The best moment of the season, and certainly a memorable one, no matter what side you were on.
The Blurst: Patrick Roy Rips Matt Duchene’s 30th Goal Celebration (April 03, 2016)
The Avs were chasing down the final wild card spot in the Western Conference as the calendar flipped to April. They trailed the Minnesota Wild by five points in the standings, and failed to gain ground with losses in four of their previous five games. Coming into a key matchup against division rival St. Louis (who defeated the Avs at Scottrade Center three nights earlier), they needed a strong start to turn their luck around.
That turn of luck didn’t pan out exactly as the Avs hoped.
Gabe Landeskog put the Avs on the penalty kill early in the first period, and David Backes made them pay for it. Goals by Magnus Pääjärvi and Colton Parayko followed later in the period, and the Avs trailed by a 3-0 margin after the first twenty minutes. Both teams made goalie switches in the second period: Calvin Pickard replaced Semyon Varlamov, and Anders Nilsson came into relieve an injured Jake Allen.
The switch in goal didn’t improve the Avs’ fortunes on offense, as Alex Pietrangelo scored the only goal in the second period, and the Avs failed to register any offense through forty minutes.
With under five minutes to play in the third period, Avs forward Mikhael Grigorenko passed the puck to Mikkel Bødker in the slot. He fired the puck towards Nilsson, and Matt Duchene got just enough of his blade to graze the puck before it eluded the Blues goaltender to give the Avs their first goal of the game.
The goal was Duchene’s 30th of the season, the first time he had hit the milestone. He pumped his arms excitedly in the air, and Bødker retrieved the puck amid the cheers from the Pepsi Center crowd.
Less than 90 seconds later, and with Pickard on the bench, St. Louis forward Troy Brouwer scored into an empty net. The Avs lost by a score of 5-1, their third loss in a row and second to St. Louis in their past three games.
Head coach Patrick Roy used his postgame comments to air his frustration, taking issue with Duchene’s celebration. “It’s a four-nothing goal. Big cheer. Are you kidding me? What is that? I mean, it’s not the reflect we want from our guys, not at all. We need to change the mindset; I think we have a losing mindset right now. I think we have to find ways to believe more in ourselves, and sometimes things aren’t going to go our way.”
Duchene offered his own perspective on the game, which focused more on the lost opportunity to inch towards a playoff berth instead of his own personal achievement. “Maybe it’s something [when] I look back at the season after, you know, enjoy it on a personal level, but, I mean, you play and you try to score goals, and make the playoffs, and if you’re not in the playoffs, you know, it doesn’t really mean as much as you want it to mean. No one remembers that, and no one cares.
“Everyone just cares who’s in the playoffs and that’s all we care about,” Duchene continued, “and that’s all I care about. Obviously, it’s a nice milestone, but I’m not thinking about it at all right now. I’m just very disappointed in this loss tonight.”
“We talked, we had a good chat yesterday,” Duchene said. “I totally understand where he’s coming from, what he’s trying to do. I’m on board with it; I think we all are. It was one of those things where right away, I certainly knew it wasn’t the right thing, the right reaction. I kind of buried my head after that, even going back to the bench. I understood it wasn’t the right thing. We had a good talk, and it’s all good.”
“I think Matt Duchene is a great person, ” said Roy, “and I think when you’re willing to learn, like I was when I was young, I think that goes a long way. That does not mean becoming a leader comes overnight. Experience makes you a better leader. I made many mistakes. I got slapped in the fingers by vets in my first years.”
The Avs lost their final three games of the regular season, missing the playoffs for the second year in a row.
Four months later, Roy would one-up his outburst (outblurst?) by giving the Avs the finger on his way out the door.
For all we know, it was one of the fingers that got slapped by the vets in his first years of playing.
2016-2017
The Best: Jared Bednar Hired as Head Coach (August 25, 2016)
Believe it or not, Avs fans, something good did happen this year!
When Patrick Roy tendered a very abrupt resignation on August 11, he threw the entire front office—not to mention Avs fans—for a loop.
“I have thought long and hard over the course of the summer about how I might improve this team to give it the depth it needs and bring it to a higher level,” Roy said in a release that day. “To achieve this, the vision of the coach and VP-hockey operations needs to be perfectly aligned with that of the organization. He must also have a say in the decisions that impact the team’s performance. These conditions are not currently met.”
With less than a month to go in the off-season, and training camp on the horizon, Avs general manager Joe Sakic had his work cut out for him. Many of the top coaching candidates were already off the market, but that didn’t faze Sakic. Two weeks later, he had his man: Lake Erie Monsters head coach Jared Bednar. Bednar, then a spry 44 years young, had already compiled a promising coaching resume in the minors.
Through parts of fourteen seasons, Bednar was a head coach for eight of those years, and spent six as an assistant. He amassed a 251-148-42 record, culminating in a sweep of the Hershey Bears (the AHL affiliate of the Avs until 2005) that June, securing the first Calder Cup trophy in Lake Erie’s history. He had also won the ECHL’s Kelly Cup with the South Carolina Stingrays in 2009, where he also spent several seasons as a player prior to beginning his coaching career.
“I was certainly happy to be considered and I’m ecstatic to have been named head coach and I’m looking forward to getting to work,” said Bednar. “When I started coaching, my ultimate goal was obviously to get to the NHL and to coach at the highest level and getting an opportunity to compete for a Stanley Cup. That was my goal going into it and I worked real hard trying to achieve those goals, and this is another step in that direction.”
Nearly ten years later, Bednar is the franchise leader in regular season games coached (700), wins (390), losses (246), points (864), playoff games coached (81), playoff wins (49-tied with Bob Hartley), and playoff losses (32). With the Avs’ 2-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on June 26, 2022, Bednar became the first (and only) coach to win a Stanley Cup, Calder Cup, and Kelly Cup championship.
It may have taken him six years, but he achieved his goal, and was truly the highlight of what was to come that season, because what lay before him and every Avs fans can be summarized in one word: pain.
The Blurst: EVERYTHING (October 15, 2016 – April 09, 2017)
Jared Bednar’s first step towards competing for the Stanley Cup, in hindsight, may as well have been off a cliff.
After winning a roller-coaster of a season opener against the Dallas Stars by a score of 6-5, which featured an ultra-rare hat trick from free agent signee Joe Colborne (remember him?), the Avs would assemble a 4-3 record in their first seven games.
It was the last time they would be above .500 during the season. They wouldn’t be above the .500 mark again until October 5, 2017, when the Avs would defeat the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
(For those of you keeping score, that’s a total of 356 consecutive days. which probably felt like 356 consecutive years.)
The Avs then proceeded to lose twenty-three of their next thirty-two games—including a season-worst 10-1 beatdown courtesy of the Montréal Canadiens at Centre Bell on December 10—to close out the calendar year.
Not counting the two COVID-shortened seasons (spoilers), the Avs lost fewer than twenty-three games twice in an entire season: 2021-2022 (19), and 2025-2026 (16). This cursed version did that in under three months.
Things went from worse to…even more worse. On January 27, the Avs announced that goaltender Semyon Varlamov would have hip surgery and miss the remainder of the regular season. Varlamov had been dealing with recurring groin issues since December, and with the season all but lost, having him undergo surgery and allowing as much recovery time to prepare for the following season was the sensible move.
Meanwhile, the Avs couldn’t stop the bleeding on the ice.
Prolonged losing streaks were frequent. This team had three five-game losing streaks, one six-game losing streak, one seven game losing streak, and one nine-game losing streak. They never won more than three games in a row at any point during the season.
And then, during a visit to Winnipeg on March 4…the free-falling Avs found out that rock bottom has a basement.
Already trailing 5-0 in the second period and with Winnipeg on the power play, Nathan MacKinnon poked the puck away from Jets defenseman Jacob Trouba. Blake Comeau pounced on the loose puck at center ice, skated in unimpeded on goaltender Connor Hellebuyck and…inexplicably slowed up, then turned to pass the puck back to MacKinnon, only to have Winnipeg’s Patrik Laine intercept his pass and turn the play back towards the Avs zone.
Here’s the sequence, in all its perplexing glory.
The season-long waking nightmare ended on April 9, with the Avs losing to the St. Louis Blues by a score of 3-2 at Scottrade Center. The Avs finished with a League-worst 22-56-4 record and 48 points in the standings. Incredibly, this is the third worst finish in franchise history as the Quebec Nordiques finished with a 12-61-7 record and 31 points during the 1989-1990 season, followed by a 16-50-14 record and 46 points the year after.
On April 29, as teams gathered for the NHL Draft Lottery, one final insult was delivered to the Avs. Despite having the League’s worst record, and therefore, the best possible odds to win the lottery, they wound up with the fourth overall pick, as the New Jersey Devils, Philadelphia Flyers, and Dallas Stars wound up finishing ahead of the Avs in that order.
A franchise-defining blurst that stretched throughout an entire season all but left the Avs for dead, but not for long.
2017-2018
The Best: Game 82 (April 07, 2018)
The expectations for the Avs were virtually nonexistent when the 2017-2018 season began, and for good reason, based on their disastrous regular season campaign a year earlier.
For them to find themselves at the doorstep of the postseason one year removed from their worst season since relocating to Denver was nothing short of miraculous.
They almost didn’t get to this point (spoilers), and when opportunity knocked on that Sunday afternoon at Pepsi Center, the entire roster answered.
Sam Girard got the Avs on the board with a rocket of a shot from the St. Louis blue line past goaltender Jake Allen in the first period. Tyson Barrie would double the lead in the second period with a blue line shot on the power play. St. Louis responded a few minutes later with a power play goal of their own to make things interesting, but Nathan MacKinnon restored the two goal lead late in the period.
Goaltender Jonathan Bernier and the Avs defense held strong in the third period, thwarting every opportunity from St. Louis. Blues head Coach Mike Yeo pulled Allen with over 4:30 left in regulation in the hopes that his team could pull even. Over a minute later, Gabe Landeskog collected a loose puck and launched it across the ice into the empty net to the roar of the entire crowd. His teammates mobbed him in excitement, knowing that they were minutes away from securing a playoff berth.
St. Louis scored a meaningless goal with under a minute to play, but the outcome was certain: the Avs would claim the final wild card spot in the Western Conference and face the Western Conference-leading Nashville Predators in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Avs finished the regular season with a 43-30-9 record and 95 points, nearly doubling their wins and point totals from the previous season (22 wins and 48 points, respectively).
Putting the exclamation point in such a high-stakes game was the defining moment of the season.
The Blurst: The Injury Bug Strikes Again (March 31, 2018)
As the end of the regular season neared, both the Avs and the St. Louis Blues were in a hotly contested battle for the final wild card spot in the playoffs. Both teams were in action on March 30: St. Louis was playing the upstart Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena, and the Avs hosted the Chicago Blackhawks at Pepsi Center.
Vegas defeated St. Louis in overtime, but for the Avs, victory was all but certain. With the Avs leading 5-0 late in the period, things took a turn when Chicago right winger Tomáš Jurčo lost his footing when carrying the puck towards goaltender Semyon Varlamov. He fell to the ice and crashed into Varlamov, resulting in an injury that would take him out for the remainder of the game. Jonathan Bernier held things down until the final buzzer.
The next day, the Avs announced that Varlamov would miss the remainder of the regular season with a lower body injury as a result of the play. In addition to Varlamov, defenseman Erik Johnson would out for six weeks due to a fractured non-displaced patella.
The news was certainly a tough pill to swallow at such a late stage of the season. St. Louis had one extra game to play as the season wound down, putting additional pressure on the Avs to perform at their best. They responded in lackluster fashion, losing their next three games to set up the win-and-get-in scenario on home ice against St. Louis.
For their part, St. Louis was equally inept, losing three straight games as well. They managed to eke out one final win against Chicago before flying to Denver for the Game 82 showdown.
Of course, the Avs managed to overcome a potential blurst-worthy collapse and squeaked into the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in four years. Despite bowing out in six games to Nashville, one can’t help but wonder how they would have fared against them with both a healthy Varlamov and Johnson in the mix.
2018-2019
The Best: Love at First Shot (April 15, 2019)
Out to build upon last season’s accomplishments, the Avs sought their second consecutive playoff berth, a feat that they hadn’t accomplished since 2006. Unlike last year, they didn’t wait for last-minute heroics to punch their ticket to the postseason; an overtime goal by Erik Johnson against the Winnipeg Jets on April 4 at Pepsi Center got the job done.
The Avs drew the Western Conference-leading Calgary Flames as their first round opponent. The Avs split the first two games at Scotiabank Saddledome, and returned home for Game Three with an opportunity to take the lead in the series.
Rumors had been swirling that prized defensive prospect and reigning Hobey Baker winner Cale Makar, whom the Avs drafted fourth overall in 2017, would sign with the Avs once UMass had been eliminated from the NCAA Frozen Four, which had been underway as the playoffs began. As the saying goes, where there’s smoke, there’s fire: Makar signed with the Avs the day after UMass had been eliminated, clearing the way for him to join the team in time for Game Three.
The buzz inside Pepsi Center was palpable as fans waited for their first glimpse of Makar in burgundy and blue. The entire crowd was on their feet as the Avs took pregame warm-ups, laser focused on Makar wearing his now-trademark number 8.
Head coach Jared Bednar didn’t throw Makar into the mix right away. Only after Nathan MacKinnon scored back to back goals to give the Avs a 2-0 lead did he decide to test the waters with Makar.
His patience was rewarded quickly: on his first shift, Makar trailed MacKinnon into the Calgary zone, and after getting the puck from MacKinnon, he flung it towards Calgary goaltender Mike Smith. The puck zipped between Smith’s pads, giving the Avs a 3-0 lead, and marking Makar’s first career goal in the NHL.
Makar was immediately mobbed by Gabe Landeskog, along with MacKinnon, Alex Kerfoot, and Tyson Barrie.
Being in the crowd for that game, I remember being in complete awe as Makar skated into the zone and fired that shot past Smith. The crowd erupted into a frenzy and my jaw fell open at what I just witnessed. After that play, I knew that Makar was really going to be something special.
The Avs would win Game Three by a score of 6-2. Makar’s goal wound up being the game-winner.
Two more victories followed, and for the first time since 2008, the Avs would advance to the second round.
Scoring your first goal with your first shot during your first shift in your first game and it’s the game-winner? Not a bad bit of business.
Indisputably, the best business of the season.
The Blurst: Shark Sandwich (May 08, 2019)
After extinguishing the Flames in the first round, the Avs would face the San Jose Sharks in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. This marked the fifth playoff series between both clubs, and the first time since 2010 that they would meet in the postseason.
Both teams traded victories throughout the series, and Gabe Landeskog’s overtime goal in Game Six would set up the winner-take-all Game Seven back at the Shark Tank.
San Jose would stake a two-goal lead in the first period, but Mikko Rantanen would get the Avs on the board just before intermission. Near the halfway point of regulation, Derrick Brassard knocked the puck away from Sharks forward Barclay Goodrow. Nathan MacKinnon swooped in to gather the the puck and raced down the near boards. His pass found a wide open Colin Wilson, who beat Martin Jones for the game-tying goal.
Or did he?
San Jose head coach Pete DeBoer challenged the call for offside. After the play was reviewed, the officials determined that Landeskog, who was in the San Jose zone prior to MacKinnon’s zone entry, was offside despite the fact that he was heading off the ice as part of a line change. The goal was overturned, and the Avs bench was livid.
Minutes later, San Jose defenseman Brent Burns fired the puck towards the far corner in the Avs zone, where teammate Joonas Donskoi collected it, skated around the back of the Avs goal uncontested, and fired the puck to the left of goaltender Phillipp Grubauer to restore the Sharks’ two goal lead.
In a matter of minutes, the Avs went from being on even footing with San Jose to trailing by a two goal margin.
The Avs fought valiantly, and despite a goal from Tyson Jost early in the third period giving them some hope, they couldn’t find the equalizer (again). They would fall in Game Seven by a 3-2 final score, their playoff dreams once again at an end.
If not for that sequence, and the resulting offside call, this series could have a different outcome for the Avs. Unfortunately, this blurst ensured that it didn’t.
2019-2020
The Best: Nazem Kadri’s Last-Second Heroics Seal the Deal Against St. Louis (August 02, 2020)
In March, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the NHL to suspend the season. Five months later, the NHL rolled out a carefully-controlled playoff format, where the Western Conference teams would play in a playoff “bubble” at Rogers Arena in Edmonton, while the Eastern Conference teams would do the same at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
A play-in round, followed by a short round-robin series of games, determined seeding. In their first round-robin qualifier, the Avs would face the St. Louis Blues in a rematch reminiscent of their regular season finale two years earlier.
David Perron opened the scoring on a first period power play goal for St. Louis. The Avs peppered goaltender Jordan Binnington through the first two periods, but they couldn’t break through.
Early in the third period, St. Louis defenseman Colton Parayko wound up for a shot on Avs goalie Philipp Grubauer, but his botched shot attempt was intercepted by Mikko Rantanen. He carried the puck into the St. Louis zone and passed it over to a wide open Ryan Graves. Graves fanned on his first shot attempt, but made his second one count as he sent the puck past Binnington to tie the game.
The Avs continued their siege of Binnington, but he turned aside everything that came his way. With Alex Steen in the box near the end of regulation, a shot from Gabe Landeskog bounced off the near post. A wide open Nazem Kadri swooped towards the puck and fired it into the net past Binnington as time expired.
As Kadri and the Avs celebrated the goal, the play was reviewed to determine if the puck entered the goal before time expired. Upon further review, the puck crossed the goal line at 0.1 seconds, securing a 2-1 victory for the Avs.
This game had all the drama and excitement of a Stanley Cup playoff game, even if it was a qualifying match. In the uncertain landscape created by COVID, being able to experience the joy of hockey felt almost…normal, if only for a few minutes.
The Blurst: Cale Cuts Down His Captain (September 02, 2020)
It still might be a little too soon for this one.
With the Avs trailing 3-2 in their second round series to the Dallas Stars, Game Six was nothing short of a must-win. As the second period wound down, Gabe Landeskog was preparing to chase down the puck in the Avs zone alongside Andrew Cogliano, who had been playing for Dallas at the time.
As both men skated away from the corner, Cale Makar, who was down on the ice, swung his left leg back as he attempted to regain his footing. His skate blade sliced through Landeskog’s kneepad, giving him a deep cut at the top of his knee. Landeskog stumbled to the ice momentarily, then recognized something was very wrong. He immediately skated to the Avs bench and hobbled his way down the dressing room.
The Avs went on to win Game Six by a 4-1 margin, but were unable to close out the series in Game Seven. In Game Seven, the Avs turned to goaltender Michael Hutchinson once more after backstopping the Avs to two consecutive wins. Landeskog was deemed unfit to play, and an overtime goal from Joel Kiviranta completed the hat trick for the fresh-faced rookie, ensuring yet another Game Seven victory for Dallas, this one by a score of 5-4.
Landeskog would return for the beginning of the 2020-2021 season, seemingly no worse for the wear.
As it would turn out, Landeskog’s injury was more than just a mere flesh wound.
Was there a best (or blurst) from these five years of Avalanche hockey that was overlooked? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
The Chicago Blackhawks made a huge trade before the draft, acquiring defenseman Bowen Byram from the Buffalo Sabres. In the deal, the Blackhawks sent picks 4 and 45 in the 2026 NHL Draft, along with defenseman Louis Crevier.
Forward Jordan Greenway was also part of the package, coming to Chicago alongside Byram. Greenway is not someone who will move the needle for the Blackhawks, but he can be a solid 4th-line player if he remains healthy for the bulk of the 2026-27 season.
Greenway only played in 40 games for Buffalo last year, and he has mostly dealt with injury trouble for his entire career. If the Blackhawks can get 50 games out of him, however, it would be a win as he could rotate in and out with other bottom-six forwards.
Other players like Cole Smith, Sacha Boisvert, Ryan Greene, and AJ Spellacy will all likely get playing time on the fourth line alongside Greenway, which is a nice mix of skilled skaters who can forecheck, move well, and just be overall hard to play against.
Greenway was the second-round pick (50th overall) by the Minnesota Wild in the 2015 NHL Draft before he was traded to Buffalo in March of 2023. Although injuries have plagued him, as mentioned before, he has shown the ability to create chaos in an NHL bottom six.
One of the knocks on the Blackhawks over the last few seasons has been that they are “soft” or “easy to play against”. Part of that has been their youth, but it has also been due to a lack of physical players on the roster.
Well, Jordan Greenway will help with that when he’s in the lineup. If he could find a way to play 80% of the games or more, he may even show some skill from time to time.
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The Canmore native has signed with the Calgary Wranglers for the 2026-27 American Hockey League season, ending his one-year stint in Sweden and bringing the veteran centre back into the Calgary Flames organization.
RMO's Shreejit Shelar was first to report.
The move marks a homecoming for Philp, who spent last season with Färjestad BK after signing with the Swedish club during his honeymoon in Italy. The opportunity gave the 30-year-old his first chance to experience European hockey after spending the bulk of his professional career in North America.
Now, after fulfilling a long-standing goal of playing overseas, Philp has elected to return closer to home as he and his wife, Jaycee, prepare for the next stage of their lives.
A return to Alberta also reunites Philp with an organization he knows well. He began his professional career in the Flames system when the club's AHL affiliate was based in Stockton, California, before later spending time with the Chicago Blackhawks and Washington Capitals organizations.
His familiarity with Calgary's management group and the opportunity to rejoin the organization made the Wranglers a natural landing spot once discussions about a return to North America began.
Philp's path back to the Wranglers has been anything but conventional.
Raised in Canmore, he developed through the local minor hockey system before continuing his progression in Cochrane, Airdrie and Drumheller. He later returned home to suit up for the Canmore Eagles before embarking on a four-year Western Hockey League career with the Kootenay Ice and Red Deer Rebels.
After three seasons at the University of Alberta, Philp turned professional and established himself as a dependable AHL forward. He also reached the NHL during the 2022-23 season, making his debut with the Chicago Blackhawks.
His lone season in Sweden offered a different style of hockey than he had grown accustomed to in North America. The larger international ice surface placed a greater emphasis on skating, puck possession and creating space, contrasting with the faster, more physical transition game typically played in the AHL and NHL.
Philp is expected to relocate to Calgary ahead of Wranglers training camp.
Russell will share second row with Ferrari’s Leclerc
Norris third fastest but has a 10-place grid penalty
Kimi Antonelli has suffered a run of no little bad luck of late, but the Italian teenager demonstrated it had left him entirely unfazed as he produced a dominant lap to secure pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix.
The 19-year-old’s composure and control at Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday was something to behold as he flew round the circuit in the Ardennes mountains with ease, comfortably beating the Red Bull of Max Verstappen into second place. Notable was the manner in which he did so given Verstappen had benefited from having a tow from his teammate, Isack Hadjar, who willingly sacrificed his laps given he had a 30-place grid penalty to come.
DENVER, COLORADO - JULY 17: Spencer Steer #7 of the Cincinnati Reds runs before scoring on an eighth inning inside-the-park home run against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field on July 17, 2026 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images) | Getty Images
After a handful of days off to rest and regroup, the Cincinnati Reds hit the ground running on Friday as the second half of their 2026 season began. It helped that they landed in Denver to face the woeful Colorado Rockies, but they wasted little time in establishing that they were still here on business, swatting four homers behind an excellent start from Brady Singer in what became a 7-2 victory.
Elly De La Cruz immediately got the party started in the Top of the 1st with his first hit of the night, and he scored a batter later when Sal Stewart smashed a double in to the left field gap. Elly poured in a 4 for 5 night that eventually featured a 9th inning homer to wrap the scoring, while Sal drove in his customary pair of runs on the night.
It was the Top of the 6th, though, where things got fun for the Cincinnati offense. Spencer Steer hit his first of two dingers – this one a laser over the wall in LF – only for Eugenio Suarez to flip a pitching wedge over the wall in LF right behind him for back to back shots.
Not to be outdone, Steer smashed a 421 missile off the wall in the deepest part of the Coors Field outfield in the Top of the 8th, and busted it out of the batter’s box the moment he hit it. That proved prescient, as the ball ricocheted off the wall towards LF and gave Steer enough time to motor all the way around the bags for an inside-the-park dinger, his second of the game.
Steer, whose intrigue on the trade market we documented earlier in the week, now sits at .250/.330/.441 with 16 homers and 40 runs batted in, work that’s good for a 109 OPS+ and 108 wRC+ as of this morning. First and foremost, I’m saying that the Cincinnati Reds need to go on a historic, miracle run to finish this season and win some playoff series. Beyond that, though, I’m saying that now may never be a more ‘right’ time to move Steer as he’s playing quite well amid a dearth of right-handed hitting outfield options, with five of the biggest teams in the sport needing just that this trade deadline.
Anyway, the Reds toppled the Rockies and moved to just 8 games under the .500 mark on Friday evening, with a matinee in the extreme heat in Denver set for 3:10 PM ET on Saturday.
Now that Kent Hughes has put pen to paper with Kirby Dach, the Montreal Canadiens only have two remaining RFAs to sign: Zachary Bolduc and Arber Xhekaj. In a recent article in La Presse, Guillaume Lefrançois reports that both a two-year bridge deal and a long-term (five years) contract have been discussed so far for the promising forward.
Speaking to La Presse, Bolduc indicated that he’s not worried about the negotiations and is confident the matter will be settled in the coming days or weeks. In the meantime, he keeps busy helping friends with their hockey schools or, like on Friday, attending FlexWork’s camp, making kids’ day as a guest. He recalls his own experiences as a kid, meeting NHLers like Philip Danault and Michael Bournival at his hockey camps and enjoying the experience.
It will be interesting to see whether Bolduc’s new deal will be a bridge or a long-term deal. Considering he’s only played two full NHL seasons and a single one with the Canadiens, he still has a lot to show, and it definitely feels like he hasn’t reached his ceiling. In his first full season with the St. Louis Blues, he scored 19 goals in 72 games, showing he has a scoring touch. However, he could only get 12 with the Habs last season.
Given his lack of top power-play unit opportunities and the need to adapt to a new team and system, that’s not surprising. In the playoffs, he also showed he could bring much-needed physicality to the lineup, but he ended up playing on the fourth line's wing.
Have the Canadiens seen enough to make a long-term commitment to the player at a cap hit that will feel appropriate to both parties? It remains to be seen. Bolduc is coming off a 12-goal, 18-assist season for a total of 30 points, which is the scoring pace Dach was on with 15 points in 37 games. He signed a $3.6M one-year contract with the team; chances are Bolduc’s contract will have a higher cap hit than that. If it’s a bridge deal, it could be somewhere around $4- $4.5 million; for a longer deal, he may be aiming for a deal similar to the one Mavrik Bourque signed with the Nashville Predators at $5.5 million for six years, even though the former Dallas Stars had a more productive season at 41 points in 82 games.
The Yankees of the mid-to-late 1990s are the standard. Every single team the Yankees have constructed since that era of stardom for the pinstripes has had the cloud of comparison hovering above it. Those teams dominated, and the Yankees faithful expect every aspect of the current teams to be similar to those squads who could suit up every game and come out of the clubhouse with the “we are going to win every game, and we’re going to win in every important moment” attitude.
Just as Yankees fans expect the players and management to have that attitude, they also expect the manager to instill confidence in the players and the fanbase. And the comparison for Aaron Boone (and every bench boss after him) is Joe Torre, a four-time World Series champion, six-time American League pennant winner, and one of the most decorated leaders in the history of the game of baseball.
Joseph Paul Torre Jr. Born: July 19, 1940 (Brooklyn, NY) Yankees Tenure: 1996-2007 (Manager)
Before Torre became a well-decorated manager, he spent his fair share of time gathering accolades in his own major-league career. He was native New Yorker who was steeped in just about as much baseball as one could imagine. Although he grew up on the sandlots of the Brooklyn, he was a Giants fan, but also was enough of a diehard that he was attendance as a fan at a Subway Series game that didn’t even feature his preferred team: Don Larsen’s perfecto in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series.
Torre had a tough background, as his father was the center of an abusive household for years until Joe’s older brother Frank confronted his dad and told him to leave for good. These experiences later motivated Joe to establish the Safe at Home Foundation to aid youth in abusive households. Thanks in part to his brother, Joe was in a better situation to thrive, and he did so at St. Francis Preparatory School in Queens. He was well-built for his age, garnering the attention of scouts from clubs including Frank’s Milwaukee Braves, with whom he would eventually sign his first pro contract.
Torre began his MLB journey at the age of 20 on September 25, 1960, against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He recorded a hit in his only at-bat as a pinch-hitter, and he appeared just one more time that season. The next year, though, he finally received a real shot at the highest level. As a younger kid, Frank told Joe that if he switched to catcher, then he would be recognized more. And that was the position he played for his first MLB season, over 100 games, and exclusively until 1963, when he played first base as well.
In 1961, Torre finished second to Cubs Hall of Famer Billy Williams in the NL Rookie of the Year. He went on to play four more years with the Braves before they moved to their present-day location of Atlanta, garnering his first three All-Star appearances and then a Gold Glove in ’65.
From their 1966 inception down south, Torre would play another three full seasons with Henry Aaron and company. He added two more All-Star appearances to his name before being traded in spring training the following season to the St. Louis Cardinals.
Torre began his time in St. Louis at age 28 and collected four more All-Star appearances to bump his career total up to nine. The zenith of his Redbirds career was an MVP win in 1971 after leading the major leagues in hits (230), RBI’s (137), and batting average (.363). His final OPS+ for the season was 171, the highest of his career. He beat two NL legends in the race that year: his former teammate Aaron and the Pirates’ Willie Stargell.
For the final time in his career in 1974, Torre was traded, this time to the New York Mets. He played three seasons with them before retiring as player/manager in 1977 with nine All-Star appearances, a Gold Glove, a batting title, an MVP, and a TSN Major League Player of the Year Award. However, playoff success—or even an appearance in the postseason at all as a player—eluded Torre. So, when he found his way back into baseball, he was looking to write and finish that chapter.
Long before Torre became the Yankees’ skipper, he returned to all three of his former teams as bench boss. First, he started with the Mets from 1977 to 1981, but in his five years as manager (including a strike-shortened 1981), he never finished with a winning record. He was fired and moved on to Atlanta, replacing Bobby Cox as manager for the ’82 campaign. Led by MVP Dale Murphy, the Braves won 13 consecutive games to open the year, and the team finished with an 89-73 record that was good enough for the NL West division title. But Atlanta didn’t win a single playoff game, as the eventual champion Cardinals swept them away in the NLCS. Still, Torre was voted the Associated Press Manager of the Year as a result of his work in his first season.
Torre finished his final two years in Atlanta with slightly worse records than his first season, with 1983 at 88-74 and ’84 at 80-82. He was fired and had to spend the next few years away from the dugout, broadcasting games for the California Angels. In 1990 though, his old Cardinals gave him another shot. Success remained difficult to come by, as his career managerial record with St. Louis was 351-354, sitting around the 85-win mark for most of his tenure there. His best season was 1993, when his club posted an 87-75 record, but the Cards went 53-61 in the strike-shortened ’94 and got off to a 20-27 start in ’95. For the third time in his career, Torre was fired, and he figured he was out of chances since all his old teams had tried him out and let him go.
Nonetheless, the chance of a lifetime fell in Torre’s lap. Despite breaking their 14-year playoff drought in 1995, disagreements with Yankees owner George Steinbrenner over his coaching staff motivated manager Buck Showalter to turn down his contract offer. So a talented team was looking for a new skipper, and it just so happened that one of Torre’s old friends from his Mets days, Arthur Richman, was working for Steinbrenner. He encouraged the Boss to give Torre an interview, and the rest is history.
Yankees fans were initially opposed to the idea, given his unsuccessful track record, but with the winning that followed his hire, opinions quickly turned. In 1996, the Yankees finished with a 92-70 record and their first division title since 1981. They dispatched Texas and Baltimore in the playoffs to win the pennant and finally get Torre to his first-ever World Series after over 4,000 games between his playing and managerial careers. It was an emotional scene at Camden Yards when rookie Derek Jeter threw to first base for the final out of the ALCS.
That made for a nice story, and many thought that it would end right there. After all, Torre’s Yanks were stacked up against the then-consensus Team of the ’90s, Torre’s old Braves. Cox had returned to Atlanta and helped build an outstanding club that was laden with future Cooperstown honorees. Entering the ’96 Fall Classic, they’d won four pennants already in the decade and captured their first championship in ’95, silencing an overpowering Cleveland offense in the process with their Greg Maddux/Tom Glavine/John Smoltz pitching staff.
Atlanta was red-hot coming into Game 1 of the World Series in the Bronx. They’d overcome a 3-1 NLCS deficit against St. Louis by outscoring the Cards 32-1 across the final three games, and at first, the Yankees didn’t have an answer. Cy Young contender Andy Pettitte was clobbered in the Fall Classic opener, 12-1, and Maddux led a 4-0 shutout in Game 2. The World Series shifted to Atlanta with the Yankees already in an 0-2 hole and season obituaries already written. Torre later recounted a story where he told a doubting Steinbrenner that they would win the next three games in a row in Atlanta, return to New York, and win it in Game 6. The skipper said the Boss “looked at him like he had three heads.”
But Torre proved prescient. His team had a stirring comeback, taking Game 3 before rallying from a 6-0 deficit to win Game 4 on the back of Jim Leyritz’s big homer in the eighth, and then ekeing out a 1-0 win in Game 5 with 8.1 brilliant innings from Pettitte. The Yankees beat Maddux in Game 6 back in the Bronx, and they were champions for the first time since 1978. The man who was dubbed “Clueless Joe” when joining the team on November 2, 1995 was named 1996 Co-AL Manager of the Year Award alongside the surprising Rangers’ Johnny Oates.
The Yankees actually improved in the 1997 regular season to a 96-66 record, but had to settle for a Wild Card spot behind Baltimore and then suffered a early elimination at Cleveland’s hands in the ALDS. The shocking loss—one that featured a Game 4 comeback against no less a force than Mariano Rivera—set the stage for one of the greatest dynasties in baseball history to be born.
The Yankees of 1998 would become the winningest team in baseball under Torre’s calm leadership, always a strong shield to his team’s owner’s barbs in the press. Of course, he had an incredible core of players to lean on and lead by example on the field and in the clubhouse, but 114 wins aren’t just stumbled upon. The club finished with just 48 losses in the regular season, then went on to dominate the postseason, dropping only two games throughout October. Torre won his second American League Manager of the Year Award in three years as a result.
While it was going to be almost impossible to replicate the success of the 1998 season, the goal remained the same for everyone involved: win the whole thing. Yes, the regular season record dropped back to Earth (although 98 wins and 64 losses is still a heck of a bargain), but it was still the same Yankees who had won two championships in their last three seasons, and it was the same manager who was voted best amongst his peers two of the last three seasons as well. It wasn’t an easy season for Torre personally, though, as he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in spring training, and when he came back after making a full recovery, he had to help some of his players who were going through their own struggles. But they still found a championship, sweeping the Braves in the process.
Despite an 87-win season in 2000 with his aging and somewhat-underperforming club, the Yankees took the division anyway and Torre still managed the Yankees through the water rushing against them. Everyone wanted to dethrone the kings, but Torre, along with his core group, would not let that happen. They came up against the crosstown rival Mets (the second of two former clubs Torre would face in a World Series), and bested them in five games for their third consecutive title. Torre is one of only three managers to achieve that feat, alongside Yankees legends Joe McCarthy and Casey Stengel.
The 2001 season was extremely difficult, particularly toward the end of the year. The Yankees had an easier road to the division title with 95 wins, but the attacks of September 11th left the entire city scarred and shaken. Under Torre, the Yankees helped lead the way to bringing light and soul back into the city. In the 2001 ALDS, Jeter made one of the most legendary plays of his career — the backhand flip to Jorge Posada against Oakland, giving hope to all fans that this team could do the impossible. And the Yankees followed that 0-2 series comeback by defeating the 116-win Mariners in the ALCS. However, the hope would run dry in the 2001 World Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, despite incrediblystirringwins in the Bronx. In Game 7, it was the person you would least expect—Rivera—who gave up the winning run in the most heartbreaking of ways. And although the Bombers were not going to remain kings of the hill forever, it was a brutal way to go in a season that meant so much to the city of New York.
Following all that postseason success from 1996-2001, the remainder of the 2000s decade was a challenge. In 2002, the 103-win Yankees were upset in a four-game ALDS loss to the Angels, and while they returned to the Fall Classic in 2003 in dramatic fashion, they were again dispatched by a surprising club. The Marlins won three in a row to shock the Yanks in a Game 6 shutout clincher, and the first of those three featured an infamous Torre decision to not use Rivera in extra innings on the road. Instead, it was Jeff Weaver who gave up a walk-off homer to Alex Gonzalez, sparking the Florida comeback.
2004 was the hardest loss of them all — blowing a 3-0 series lead to the rival Red Sox on their way to winning their first World Series since 1918, thus breaking the Curse of the Bambino. Then from 2005-07, the Yankees lost in the first round for three years in a row. Torre was facing more criticism than ever for his tactics, and the non-Rivera relief aces like Tom Gordon, Paul Quantrill, and Scott Proctor were getting gassed down the stretch. 2007 marked the end of Torre’s career with the Yankees, as he turned down what he believed to be an insulting contract offer from the club to return.
Torre went on to manage the Dodgers from 2008 to 2010 and winning two more division titles. The Phillies eliminated them in the NLCS both years, and he stepped down after 2010 with 2,326 career wins. Since 2011, he has worked in the commissioner’s office, handling all kinds of managerial work across MLB. Time heals all wounds, and Torre received a big ovation when his No. 6 was retired in 2014.
Torre served as the Yankees’ manager for a dozen seasons. He managed 1,942 regular-season games, with a win-loss record of 1,173–767. In all 12 of those seasons, the Yankees reached the playoffs; during that time, they won six American League pennants and four World Series. He is one of the most legendary managers in all of baseball history for the turnaround he helped guide the Yankees through, and his playing days weren’t short of impressive as well.
As one of the most influential people in Yankees history, it’s always exciting for fans to see him around the Yankees today whenever he’s able to help as well. Happy birthday, Joe!
See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.
HOUSTON, TEXAS - JUNE 29: Miguel Ullola #66 of the Houston Astros warms up before his MLB debut against the Minnesota Twins at Daikin Park on June 29, 2026 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Houston Astros/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Another day of minor league baseball is in the books. See the results below.
AAA: Sugar Land Space Cowboys (46-47) won 5-3 (BOX SCORE)
Sugar Land got on the board in the first inning on an error. They scored another run in the 2nd inning on a Biggio sac fly. Wesneski got the start and went 4 innings allowing 3 runs. The pen was solid keeping the game at a score of 3-2. In the 9th, Sugar Land took the lead when an error led to 3 runs. Ullola struck out 2 in the 9th as he closed out the 5-3 win.
Note: Ullola has a 1.56 ERA with 29 K over 17.1 innings in relief.
Christian Roa, RHP: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
Alimber Santa, RHP: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
Roddery Munoz, RHP: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K (WIN)
Miguel Ullola, RHP: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K (SAVE)
AA: Corpus Christi Hooks (40-48) lost 4-3 (BOX SCORE)
The Hooks got on the board in the second inning on a Sullivan RBI groundout. Mancini got the start and was solid allowing 2 runs over 4.2 innings while striking out 4 batters. The Hooks tied the game in the 7th when Call scored on a double steal. In the bottom of the 7th, the Missions scored 2 runs as they took the lead. The Hooks rallied in the 9th and got one run on a Whitaker RBI single but the comeback fell short as the Hooks lost 4-3.
Joey Mancini, RHP: 4.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K
Nic Swanson, RHP: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
Alex Santos, RHP: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Ramsey David, RHP: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
A+: Asheville Tourists (31-56) won 4-0 (BOX SCORE)
Taylor got the start for Asheville, his first outing in High-A since April 8th, and pitched really well tossing 4 perfect innings with 3 strikeouts on 42 pitches. Asheville got on the board in the 5th inning getting back to back home runs from Moss and Huezo. Rodriguez relieved Taylor and tossed 2 scoreless innings. Asheville got another run in the 7th when a run scored on a wild pitch and one more in the 8th on a Frey RBI single. Cruz tossed 2 scoreless innings and Frias closed it out with a scoreless 9th inning as Asheville won 4-0.
Note: Moss is hitting .381 in Asheville this season.
A: Fayetteville Woodpeckers (43-43) won 3-2 (BOX SCORE)
Potter started for the Woodpeckers and was great tossing 2 scoreless innings with 3 strikeouts. The offense got on the board in the first inning scoring 2 runs on a Luciano sac fly and Fielder hit by pitch. Fraide tossed a scoreless innings before being relieved by Beck who allowed 1 run over 2 innings. After the GreenJackets tied the game in the 7th, Flores responded with a go-ahead RBI single in the bottom of the inning to give the Woodpeckers a 3-2 lead.
WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 28: Sandro Mamukelashvili #54 of the Toronto Raptors handles the ball during the game against the Washington Wizards on February 28, 2026 at Capital One Arena in Washington, DC. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2026 NBAE (Photo by Stephen Gosling/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
Every player showers the team they joined with praise upon signing. However, with the Lakers, it’s typically a bit more authentic.
The Lakers are a big brand and garner attention and respect that few NBA teams can. Given their rich history and championships, players often enter the franchise with strong emotions about the Lakers.
“Just the name itself – all of the legends play for the Lakers,” Mamukelashvili told the Post of why he signed with the Lakers. “The organization is a very high-level organization. They’re starting a new page and it’s just unbelievable to be part of it.”
Mamukelashvili, who got a “Mamba Mentality” tattoo while he was in college at Seton Hall, grew up a fan of late Lakers icon Kobe Bryant.
“I could only imagine this really in 2K, that I would be playing for this team,” Mamukelashvili said. “I’m so excited, so happy. The coaching staff is amazing and I can’t wait to just put the jersey on, go out there and just play my heart out every night. You gotta have a chip on your shoulder when you play for the Lakers.”
It’s one thing for a player to compliment the Lakers and talk about their love for Kobe Bryant. It’s another for that player to have a Bryant tattoo on their body.
It certainly sounds like Mamu is aware of the special position he’s in and is ready to make the most of it.
Clearly, Mamu has a ton of love and respect for the Lakers. After all, he signed with them, so obviously it’s where he wants to be. Hopefully, that will translate into production this year. Last season, Mamu averaged a career-best 11.2 points along with 4.9 rebounds per game. He also shot 38.9% from 3-point range.
While playing for the Lakers is a high-pressure environment, and Mamu and other new players like Walker Kessler will certainly feel that, in the end, all fans want is for guys to give their all.
If Mamu is hustling hard and playing with that chip on his shoulder he talked about, he will become a fan favorite. All he has to do now is match his words off the court with his play on it.
9 mins. A few minutes are taken up with the setting of a Wales scrum that goes to ground once, then brings a penalty for the Boks against Dillon Lewis for losing his feet under pressure. The lineout for the home team is wasted as Moyo encroaches the lineout too early.
5 mins. The crowd springs to life for the first time as Fassi steps off his left foot, leaving Edwards standing, to run 15 metres into the Wales half. Two phases later, after a strong run from De Allende, Wiese crashes through some poor tackling in the 22 on a short angle to rumble over.
Jul 17, 2026; Seattle, Washington, USA; San Francisco shortstop Willy Adames (2) celebrates after hitting a grand slam home run during the seventh inning against the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images | Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images
Bucking the trend established in March, these 2026 Goofs started the second, and smaller, half of the season on the right foot with a 7-0 win over the Seattle Mariners.
A quality start and seven scoreless tossed by Landen Roupp, a grand-slam slammed by Willy Adames — is this the first step in the Giants’ journey back to respectability???
Haha!
These odd, mid-year, longer than a weekend, less than a week vacations like the All-Star break can be restful but not baptismal. Rebirth might be a lot to ask for from just a four-day holiday. Taken out of their rhythm and routine, it’s quite possible that this team forgot how to be bad together. Give it a couple of days. Or a day. Or until later this afternoon…
For many teams in the Giants situation, late-July is not the time for hope, but acceptance. Peace and freedom come with knowing exactly where you are and understanding there is little you can do to change that. This kind of perspective was on full display Friday night. The players didn’t get immediately pulled back into the rushing and crushing current of the season, but embraced the pace of a lazy river, showcasing a more laissez-faire approach. Sit back on the tube, no need to rush, let the game happen.
It was the right mindset when facing a guy like Seattle’s Bryce Miller, who works fast, throws a lot of strikes and gets a lot of strikeouts. He’s going to be effective and in control. Miller pitched as advertised with pinpoint accuracy and a fearlessness to live in the zone and trust the stuff of his rising four-seam and banana-peel splitter. He struck out four Giants in a row across the first couple frames. A one-out walk by Drew Cavanaugh and single by Luis Arraez in the 3rd set up runners at the corners for Bryce Eldridge. What felt like a huge opportunity to scratch across the game’s first run fell by the wayside when Eldridge weakly popped up to second, defusing the offense’s only scoring threat against Miller over the first four innings.
Eldridge was frustrated of course. He lunged at a 1-0 splitter and golfed it into the air off his front foot. But the plate appearance served as reconnaissance for the next one. The offense grew into the game, they trusted they had time to figure things out, and what Eldridge figured out about Miller in the 3rd helped him in the 5th. One, Miller will throw the split-finger in the zone — it’s not a chase pitch. Two, he’ll throw it when he’s behind in the count, or any count, because he trusts it over the plate, because he knows it’s nasty (opponents were hitting .119 against it). Three, it’s something he can hit. The pop-up contact didn’t look impressive, but I imagine feeling it leave his bat emboldened Eldridge. He wasn’t flabbergasted, he just missed. A better timed swing, and he could drive it.
Same sequence as the 3rd — slider, splitter — just a different count, and not located as well. The pitch stayed up and Eldridge stayed back, sending it just over the wall in center field for a tie-busting two-run homer.
The whole line-up continued to evolve against Miller. They fanned four times across the first two innings, then only struck out twice more over the next six frames. A walk, hit-batter, and some sloppy defense by the typically resolute Seattle middle-infielders would help add another run on Miller and chase him from the mound in the 6th. And in the 7th, Willy Adames busted the game open with a grand slam off reliever Nick Davila.
Fourth time was the charm for the shortstop. He had come up hitless in his previous three at-bats, all with a Jung Hoo Lee on base. In the 6th, with Lee in scoring position, Adames fouled off six pitches in a 9-pitch scruff against Miller before he went down chasing a splitter. Tellingly, Adames didn’t swear angrily after the strikeout. He didn’t kick dirt, slam his helmet, or disgustingly toss his bat. That’s never really his style, but Adames actually ended his gigantic whiff with a deferential gesture and nod back to the mound. He smiled at Miller as he turned back to the dugout. A good at-bat ended by a better pitch.
Perspective. There will always be more chances. For these Giants specifically: there is nothing left to lose. The luxury of late-summer, the spoils of the losers, is exactly this. An inning later with the bases loaded, Adames put the game out of reach with San Francisco’s eighth of the season, and his 16th homer.
The other obvious reason the offense could bide their time and hit with patience and such consequence is because Landen Roupp’s pitching kept them in the game.
Well-rested after ten days, still jazzed after his impressive 8-inning performance against the Blue Jays before the break, perhaps, egged on by Miller’s early dominance — whatever it was, Roupp stymied Seattle’s bats over seven innings. It wasn’t dominant by way of the swing-and-miss or strikeout: he walked more batters (3) than he K’ed (2), and Miller out-whiffed him 15 to 5. The performance was dominant by how he trusted his offerings to dictate contact.
Roupp has one of the lowest hard-hit rates of any starter in the Majors, and he’s at his best when hitters bat the ball in play on his terms. Pitching isn’t about withholding the baseball, but sharing it. Roupp owns a sinker, curve, change trail mix. The question before each hike out to the mound is will he let hitters pick-and-choose what they want from his bag, or is he going to make them close their eyes and submit to the unpredictability of the blind handful?
Friday night, Roupp kept Seattle guessing.The first time through the order Roupp leaned heavily on his sinker and change-up. Second and third time, he eased off the sinker, feathered in more of his cutter, kept the offspeed consistent, and increased his curve usage from 19% to 26% to 45%.
That game plan worked pretty well. The heavy dose of breaking stuff and off-speed led to most contact being driven into the ground. The Mariners managed just two singles off Roupp, their first coming with two-outs in the 4th, and a runner never reached second base. While Roupp walked three, he was discerning when he got stingy with the zone. Two of the three walks, and three of their five Seattle baserunners overall, reached with two outs already recorded.
Eldridge and Adames homered, Roupp framed the All-Star break with another great outing, but the player starring behind the scenes was the man behind the mask, Drew Cavanaugh.
Before the game, Daniel Susac was recalled from the IL and Eric Haase was designated for assignment, effectively thrusting back-up catcher Cavanaugh into a meatier role. He repaid the vote of confidence by reaching base four times with two walks and two singles while batting out of the 9-hole. He singled before Eldridge’s 5th inning pop. His walk (his second against Miller) loaded the bases, and his savvy base running screen on Arraez’s bounder probably forced second baseman Cole Young’s bobble. On top of all that, he threw out Victor Robles trying to steal second in the 5th.
A week and a half of rest for the starter, the whole team getting four days off — this team seemed to appreciate the break. How ’bout another one, please?
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