It looks like the Yankees are on the verge of getting Giancarlo Stanton back.
After announcing the possibility that Stanton could return to the team for Sunday's series finale in Boston against the Red Sox, it appears the slugger will instead join the team back in The Bronx when New York hosts the Los Angeles Angels for a four-game series starting on Monday, per manager Aaron Boone.
"Giancarlo Stanton is expected to return during the Angels series," Boone said. "Could be Monday or Tuesday."
After sitting out on Friday night for Double-A Somerset, the designated hitter was expected to play in his fourth rehab game on Saturday, but with wet and rainy conditions in the area, Stanton is not in the lineup.
With that, it likely means the 35-year-old will be recalled on Tuesday as the Yanks want him to play at least one more game in the minors. Of course, some of that depends on whether Stanton can play on Sunday, which has inclement weather in the forecast, as well.
Boone also provided updates on some injured pitchers, saying Jake Cousins, who began the season on the 60-day IL with a forearm/pectoral injury but has since paused his rehab while dealing with an elbow injury. Boone said Cousins is still waiting on opinions after undergoing an MRI. However, the skipper said it is trending towards Tommy John surgery.
In 2024, Cousins appeared in 37 games and posted a 2.37 ERA (1.05 WHIP).
Meanwhile, Luis Gil (right lat strain) is still 10-14 days away from throwing a live bullpen, per Boone.
A night after moving into a share of the division lead, the Giants watched the vaunted Los Angeles Dodgers lineup put on a show and had their usual at-bats against a future Hall-of-Famer who is on his last legs, but still always finds a way in rivalry games.
Clayton Kershaw threw seven shutout innings, cruising after the Dodgers put six runs on Landen Roupp in the first two, and the Dodgers won 11-5 on the second night of this series in Los Angeles. The outing was Kershaw’s best in two years, but fit right in with the rest of his career against the Giants.
Kershaw will one day join Justin Verlander in Cooperstown, but it wasn’t a stretch to say the Giants held the edge coming into the game. Kershaw entered with a 4.35 ERA in five starts and Roupp found his stride in recent weeks, but this one was a laugher from the start.
Roupp was knocked out in the second and the rest of the night became about preserving the bullpen. By the bottom of the eighth, backup catcher Logan Porter was on the mound for the Giants.
Still That Dude (Against the Giants)
Kershaw had not thrown more than five innings since coming off the IL and had completed six just once over the past two years, but he needed just 70 pitches to record the first 18 outs on Saturday. The legendary curveball is still there, although now the fastball sits at 88 mph.
Even with diminished stuff, Kershaw is still a lefty, and the Giants have struggled against them all year. He also is an all-time Giant Killer.
The start was his 59th against the Giants, and he entered with a 2.04 ERA in 397 1/3 innings against the orange and black. He now has 27 career wins against the Giants and has thrown at least seven innings against them an astounding 37 times. This was his 10th time throwing at least seven shutout innings against the Giants.
A Short Walk
With Verlander due back next week, the Giants will have to pull one of their young starters from the rotation. Roupp had the strongest hold on a spot heading into this series, but he had a brutal night at Dodger Stadium.
The young right-hander had an equal number of walks (five) and outs recorded, and he was charged with six earned. It could have been worse, but Spencer Bivens entered and stranded a pair. Roupp’s ERA jumped from 3.29 to 3.99 after the shortest start of his career.
Roupp was so good in May that the Giants won’t stress too much about one short start, especially one that came against this Dodgers lineup. But there is a conversation to be had at some point in July about his innings total. He threw 76 2/3 total innings across three levels last year but reached 70 on Saturday night.
The Sho
Logan Webb held Shohei Ohtani in check on Friday night. On Saturday, Ohtani opened the game with a leadoff homer, his 24th of the year. He later lunged across the plate and somehow yanked a Tristan Beck curveball over the wall in right to get to 25.
With less than two weeks before the 2025 NHL Decentralized Draft in Los Angeles, there are differing opinions of who the Buffalo Sabres will select ninth overall if they do not trade the pick. A mock draft from the Athletic earlier this month and Mike Morreale from NHL.com projected the Sabres to select OHL defenseman Kashawn Aitcheson with their pick, but the Athletic’s updated mock draft and NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman have Buffalo adding a forward prospect.
Aitcheson had a breakout offensive year with the Barrie Colts, jumping from eight goals last season to 26 goals, finishing behind only 2024 first rounders Zayne Parekh and Sam Dickinson among OHL defenseman. Aitcheson led the Colts with 59 points and scored 12 points in the OHL playoffs.
In their updated mock, the Athletic has the Sabres selecting Soo Greyhounds center Brady Martin at #9. The 6’0”, 178 lb. Martin nearly tripled his point output in his second OHL season with the Greyhounds (33 goals, 39 assists), and his stock has been rising after an excellent showing for Canada at the Under-18s with 11 points in seven games.
Kimelman projects Brampton Steelheads winger Porter Martone to be selected by the Sabres. The 6’3”, 208 lb. winger had 98 points (37 goals, 61 assists) in 57 OHL games last season, and is considered the best winger in the draft class, but there has been speculation that the 18-year-old power forward could go as high as third overall to the Chicago Blackhawks, so the chances of Martone slipping to the Sabres six picks later seem unlikely.
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Mercedes’s George Russell shares front row with Red Bull rival
‘It is really pissing me off,’ Verstappen says of media scrutiny
A furious Max Verstappen lashed out at criticism of his driving, saying it was “childish, annoying and pissing me off” after his nemesis George Russell beat him to pole position for Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix.
Russell snatched top spot with a brilliant final lap at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve to leave Verstappen trailing by 0.160sec, with the McLaren pair Oscar Piastri third and Lando Norris a disappointing seventh. It means Mercedes’s Russell and defending champion Verstappen will line up on the front row together, a fortnight after their collision in Spain.
The goal was Marchand’s fifth of the series. As a result, he has now scored five or more goals in two different Stanley Cup Final series (he also scored five with the Boston Bruins in 2011).
The only other player since 1967-68 to score five-plus goals in multiple Cup Final series is Mario Lemieux, who achieved the feat with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1991 and 1992.
Here's a stat: Marchand has a series-leading five goals, the second time he has scored five goals in the Cup Final (2011). The only other player in the expansion era (since 1967-68) with five-plus goals in a Final more than once is Mario Lemieux (5 G in 1991 and 1992 w/ PIT).
UPDATE (Saturday, June 14 at 10:45 p.m. ET): Marchand scored another fantastic goal in the third period, giving him six goals for the series. He’s the first player to score six or more goals in a Cup Final since Esa Tikkanen scored six for the Oilers in 1988.
The Panthers won 5-2 to take a 3-2 series lead. Game 6 is Tuesday in Florida.
Marchand’s 13 career goals in the Stanley Cup Final are the most of any active player.
Marchand has tallied 20 points (10 goals, 10 assists) in 22 games during the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs. His career high for points in one postseason is 23 (2019 w/Bruins).
The Panthers acquired Marchand from the Bruins right before the trade deadline on March 7. If the Panthers win this series and secure back-to-back championships, that trade will go down as one of the best mid-season upgrades in league history.
There has been one surprising name that has been the subject of trade rumors for the New York Rangers and that is none other than Alexis Lafrenière.
During the 2023-24 campaign, Lafrenière had a career year, recording 28 goals, 29 assists, and 57 points in 82 games.
This breakout season resulted in the Rangers giving Lafrenière a 7-year, $52.15 million contract extension.
All seemed right for Lafrenière as signs pointed toward him finally becoming the star player that he was expected to be when he was drafted with the first overall pick in 2020.
However, the 23-year-old’s play regressed during the 2024-25 season, and now everything appears to be on the table regarding Lafrenière’s future in New York.
According to Larry Brooks of The New York Post, Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury has discussed Lafrenière in trade talks with multiple teams at the NHL Draft Combine in Buffalo.
A conflicting report came out from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman indicating how desirable Lafrenière’s contract is and that’s not exactly clear if he’s on the trade market as of right now.
“That contract, if he even comes close to the level where he’s capable of performing at, that’s going to be a really good contract…”If Lafreniere is available it’s not widely known... “Lafreniere, I’ll tell you, I get pushback on it,” Friedman said.
The Rangers have already traded Chris Kreider while other players including K’Andre Miller and even Mika Zibanejad to a certain extent have been mentioned in trade rumors.
San Jose Sharks fans haven't had much to cheer about over the last little while, but one positive note recently is that one of their top prospects, Sam Dickinson, won defenceman of the year in the Canadian Hockey League (CHL).
Dickinson, who is 19 years old, was drafted 11th overall by the Sharks in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft. With the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) this past season, he scored 29 goals and added 62 assists for 91 points through 55 games, which comes out to an impressive 1.65 points-per-game average.
While Dickinson may not make the Sharks next season, he is showing his potential as a future star when he gets his shot. Sharks fans should be excited for what Dickinson can, and will, eventually bring to their blue line.
Oilers and Panthers head for must-win Game 5 Saturday with McDavid due for a big game
The 2025 Stanley Cup Final shifts back to Edmonton with the series tied 2-2 after the Oilers evened things up in Florida. What once looked like a commanding Panthers lead has now turned into a best-of-three showdown, with the Oilers regaining momentum on home ice at Rogers Place heading into a pivotal Game 5.
Game 5 of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final arrives with the series tied 2-2, and history tells us just how crucial this night could be. The Edmonton Oilers return home to Rogers Place after splitting two games in Florida, reclaiming momentum and setting the stage for what could be the most defining game of the series.
Both teams now stand just two wins away from a championship, but based on decades of Stanley Cup history, Game 5 tends to separate contenders from champions.
Since the NHL moved to the best-of-seven format in 1939, the team that wins Game 5 of a tied Final has gone on to win the Stanley Cup over 70% of the time, according to NHL Stats and ESPN research.
According to Hockey Reference, in the modern salary cap era (2006 to present), teams winning Game 5 of a tied Final on home ice have gone 6-1 in those series. That stat leans heavily in Edmonton’s favor as they prepare for Tuesday night’s clash in front of what will be another electric crowd at Rogers Place.
All betting lines are from FanDuel Sportsbook and are subject to change. Hockey is a difficult sport to predict so please gamble responsibly.
Edmonton Oilers vs Florida Panthers Game 5 Best Bets:
Oilers Moneyline (-110)
Over 6.5 Total Goals (-112)
Connor McDavid to Record 2+ Points (-128)
After scoring just one goal through the first two games, Edmonton’s offense has exploded for eight goals over Games 3 and 4, finding rhythm against a Florida defense that suddenly looks overwhelmed.
Connor McDavid leads the postseason in scoring and seems to have fully taken over the series, generating chances nearly every shift and elevating the entire top six.
Back at Rogers Place—where the Oilers are 7-3 this postseason and average over four goals per game—Edmonton holds a decisive edge. Florida goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky has shown cracks, posting an .857 save percentage in Game 4 and looking less sharp under increased pressure. That opens the door for another high-scoring night.
The total is set at 6.5 goals (-112), a number that’s already hit in back-to-back games. With both teams’ star power now fully engaged, special teams factoring in, and defensive fatigue showing, the conditions are perfect for the Over to cash again.
McDavid, meanwhile, has recorded six points in his last two games and has 10 multi-point outings this postseason. With the series tied and stakes at their peak, backing him to register 2+ points is one of the strongest player props on the board.
Expect a fast-paced Game 5 dominated by Edmonton’s top-end talent, fueled by a raucous home crowd and a wide-open style that favors the Over.
Luke Littler and Luke Humphries were left reeling as England’s hopes of retaining the World Cup of Darts were torn apart by Germany. The world’s top two players slipped to an 8-4 second round defeat at the Eissporthalle in Frankfurt, where Martin Schindler and Ricardo Pietreczko made the most of the backing of a partisan home crowd to seal a comprehensive victory.
Littler and Humphries, who both received MBEs in King Charles’s birthday honours, were made to pay for missed doubles, with the 18-year-old in particular turning in an off-colour display in a country where he has endured previous disappointments.
HOUSTON — The Houston Astros placed rookie outfielder Jacob Melton on the 10-day injured list Saturday with a sprained right ankle.
Melton was injured playing defense in Friday night’s win over Minnesota. The 24-year-old Melton hit .241 with a triple and six RBIs in 11 games this season.
The Astros also optioned utility player Shay Whitcomb to Triple-A Sugar Land on Saturday.
Houston selected the contracts of outfielder Cooper Hummel and infielder Luis Guillorme from Sugar Land to take their spots on the roster.
To make room on the 40-man roster, the Astros transferred right-hander Spencer Arrighetti to the 60-day injured list. Arrighetti is recovering from fracturing his right thumb in a batting practice mishap on April 7.
Back-to-back birdies for Sam Stevens. The 28-year-old from Wichita picks up shots at 3 and 4 to move to +1 overall. All together now: ♫♪ I know I need a small vacation, but it don’t look like rain ♪♫ … except … “Those clouds are not looking friendly,” notes Rich Beem on Sky, snapping us out of our Campbell-Webb reverie. Indeed they do look dark and menacing in the middle distance. A fair chance we could have an enforced weather break sooner rather than later. Fingers crossed it doesn’t happen, but it doesn’t look promising.
This is Matt Wallace’s first appearance at a US Open for four years. The 35-year-old Londoner is grabbing the opportunity with both hands: decent opening rounds of 72 and 74, and he’s on the move today, with birdies at 4, 11 and now 13, the latter the reward for a glorious tee shot sent over the flag to six feet. He’s +3 overall.
Brad Marchand scored twice, Sam Bennett had his NHL playoff-leading 15th goal and the Florida Panthers moved to the verge of a second consecutive Stanley Cup title by beating the Edmonton Oilers 5-2 in Game 5 on Saturday night.
The Panthers improved to 10-3 on the road this playoffs. They can hoist the Cup again as soon as Tuesday night if they win Game 6 on home ice in Sunrise.
Florida this time built a multigoal lead and built on it, unlike a couple of previous games in the final. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 19 of the 21 shots he faced, making some important saves when needed, and was aided by lockdown defense that took ice away from the Oilers.
Marchand, Bennett and Sam Reinhart provided the offense. Marchand joined Mario Lemieux as the only players in the past half-century to score five-plus goals in a final multiple times, and his 13 career goals in the final are the most among active players.
Connor McDavid scored his first goal of the series after the Oilers fell behind 3-0. Reinhart’s came 46 seconds later to restore the Panthers’ three-goal lead, and by the time Corey Perry scored with 3:13 left, it was too late.
Eetu Luostarinen sealed it with an empty-netter with 1:19 left, silencing the once fired-up crowd for a final time.
Edmonton’s power play went 0 for 3, a product of the Panthers’ aggressive penalty kill knocking McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and the rest of the top unit out of their usual rhythm.
Calvin Pickard lost for the first time in eight starts this spring, allowing four goals on 18 shots. He got the nod over Stuart Skinner after entering in relief and winning Game 4 to improve to 7-0, a record that is now 7-1.
Skinner could be back in for Game 6, with the Panthers aiming to close things out following another cross-continental trip back to the other corner of North America. They are in this spot after bouncing back from blowing a three-goal lead and falling in overtime in Game 4, taking advantage of their depth to send the Oilers to the brink again.
WASHINGTON — The dog days of summer arrived Saturday at Nationals Park.
Bruce, a 21-month-old Golden Retriever, fetched a bat during a ceremony before the Washington Nationals’ game against the Miami Marlins as part of a Pups in the Park promotion. He retrieved bats the last two seasons with the Rochester Red Wings, Washington’s Triple-A affiliate.
Bruce, wearing a bandana with an “MLB debut” patch he received when he arrived at the stadium, was presented a commemorative bat. He then took a circuitous route from the dugout toward first base after Nationals reliever Zach Brzykcy dropped the bat in foul territory before the bat dog collected his quarry to the delight of a crowd wowed by his work and enthusiasm.
“Look at this dog and try not to smile,” said Josh Snyder, Bruce’s owner. “He’s great. He’s goofy. I think he’s the perfect candidate for Rochester, the Red Wings and now the Nationals.”
Snyder, who wore a No. 25 Nationals jersey with “Bruce” on the nameplate, said he drove through the night with Bruce and arrived in Washington around 3 a.m. Saturday. But it was anything but a rough morning and early afternoon for Bruce, who casually lapped up attention as he walked through the tunnel in the stadium.
Bruce spent about 50 minutes on the field before the ceremony, where he was hounded by well-wishers. He also did a couple practice bat retrievals with Snyder’s assistance before Nationals catcher Riley Adams stopped to pet him on his way out for pregame work.
He won’t work during the actual game, however, and will return to Triple-A duties afterward.
Bruce is Snyder’s second dog work to with the Red Wings, following the late Milo, and both participated in campaigns to raise money for Rochester’s Veterans Outreach Center and Honor Flight of Rochester.
This week — which included an announcement from the Nationals on Tuesday that Bruce had worked his tail off to earn a promotion — generated plenty of buzz even before Saturday’s debut.
“Social media, everything like that seems like it’s seriously blown up, and we love it,” Snyder said. “Really good publicity with our goal and our mission of bringing people together. It shows it’s just doing that.”
The NHL is a traditional business, and change is rare. It takes a long time to be implemented. Still, following the release of the voting for the various trophies by Professional Hockey Writers Association members, I believe it has become glaringly evident that the NHL needs to add a new trophy, that of the best defensive defenseman.
Every season, when the James Norris Trophy is awarded to the NHL’s top defenseman, it becomes more and more evident that it is granted not necessarily to the best defenseman as a whole, but to the best offensive defenseman. Don’t get me wrong, Cale Makar is a fantastic defenseman, but when you think about the Colorado Avalanche’s blueliner, blocked shots and defensive coverage are not what comes to mind. What comes to mind is his number of points and how well he quarterbacks the Avs’ power play.
And the same goes for his fellow Norris finalists. Makar finished the regular season with 92 points, Colombus Blue Jackets’ defenseman Zach Werenski was second with 82 points and Vancouver Canucks’ blueliner Quinn Hughes was third with 76 points. That’s precisely the order in which they finished for the Norris. Makar received 1861 voting points, Werenski received 1266, and Hughes received 918.
The top-10 in voting was completed by: Josh Morrissey (eight in regular season scoring amongst defensemen), Victor Hedman (seventh in scoring), Rasmus Dahlin (fourth in scoring), Thomas Harley (15th in scoring), Jacob Slavin (the exception to the rule, 70th in scoring), Lane Hutson (sixth in scoring) and Jake Sanderson (11th in scoring).
The only purely defensive defenseman of the lot is Slavin, who received only 60 voting points. The Carolina Hurricanes’ top-pairing defenseman doesn’t play on the man-advantage; he’s the Canes’ penalty kill anchor, leading them in blocked shots with 136 (38 more than second-place Brent Burns) and in average time on ice with 21:34.
The Hurricanes were 10th in the league in goals against and ninth in goals for. The defensive side of their game is just as important as the offensive side, and Slavin is the most significant cog in their defense. Without him, their result in their zone would be nowhere near as good.
If there’s a trophy for the best defensive forward (the Frank J. Selke), why shouldn’t there be a trophy for the best defensive defenseman? It makes sense, especially since people put more focus on the offensive side of the game nowadays. Fans and pundits all want to see goals, which is why the offensive juggernauts' defensemen gather as many votes for the Norris Trophy. No matter how many goals you score, though, you’re not going to win if there’s no one to ensure that your opponent scores less than you do.
After the 1998-99 season, the NHL introduced the Maurice “Rocket” Richard trophy, which is awarded annually to the league’s best sniper. It was named to honour the Montreal Canadiens’ legend, who was the first player ever to score 50 goals in a season and 50 goals in the first 50 games of his team (a feat only achieved by four other players since then: Wayne Gretzky, Mike Bossy, Mario Lemieux, and Brett Hull). It should be noted that other players scored 50 goals in their first 50 games or fewer, but not in their team’s first 50 games (Jari Kurri, Alexander Mogilny, Lemieux, Cam Neely, and, more recently, Auston Matthews).
Maurice "The Rocket" Richard of the Montreal Canadiens scoring his 500th goal in 1957. pic.twitter.com/C8Y291pV98
Richard led the league in goals five times throughout his 18-season career and was the first player to reach the 500-goal mark. To this day, 48 players have achieved the feat. When the Rocket hung up his skates in 1960, he was the top goal scorer in league history with 544 goals. Today, his 544 goals are the 33rd highest total in league history. Alexander Ovechkin became the top goal scorer this season, overtaking Wayne Gretzky, who finished his career with 894. The Russian sniper now has 897 and will play for at least one more season.
Given how vital a good defensive defenseman can be to his team, it’s high time the league introduced a new trophy to honour the best of the best in that field. If the league needs inspiration to name it, the rich Canadiens’ history could once again be dug into. Montreal has had its fair share of defensive masterminds at the blueline, and Doug Harvey’s name comes to mind.
Harvey spent the first 14 seasons of his career with the Canadiens, winning six Stanley Cups. In 1113 games, he gathered 540 points and 1216 penalty minutes, winning seven Norris Trophies. He possessed a keen hockey mind, and when he was acquired by the New York Rangers, he became the last player-coach in league history, leading them to their first postseason appearance in four years. The defenseman liked being one of the guys, and when he resigned as coach, he said, “As the coach, I couldn’t go out for beers with the boys”. Harvey was also offensively gifted and was one of the first defenseman to carry the puck as much as he wanted and slow down the pace of the play, he was the complete package.
Should the league want to take a more modern approach, both Boston Bruins’ Raymond Bourque and Detroit Red Wings’ Nicklas Lidstrom would be excellent choices. Bourque was incredibly sound defensively, and every NHL fan rooted for him to win a Stanley Cup before retiring when he was traded to the Avalanche. As for Lidstrom, he was very gifted at shutting down opponents and marked the league’s history when he became the first European-born and trained player to raise the Stanley Cup and win the Conn Smythe trophy as the playoff MVP.
Photo Credit: Marc DesRosiers-Imagn Images
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Saturday's game between the Mets and the Tampa Bay Rays is in a rain delay and will not start on time.
The team announced a 5 p.m. start time nearly 45 minutes after the initial announcement. First pitch was originally scheduled for 4:10 p.m.
The Mets are looking to bounce back after the Rays used a six-run inning to defeat New York, 7-5, in Friday's series opener. The loss snapped the Mets' six-game winning streak and dropped their home record to 27-8.
Tylor Megill (5-4, 3.76 ERA) is the scheduled starter for the Mets, while the Rays will send out RHP Drew Rasmussen (5-4, 2.22 ERA).
Megill allowed two runs on three hits over five innings last time out on June 8 against the Rockies, lowering his ERA to 3.76 on the season.
