PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - OCTOBER 06: Nick Castellanos #8 of the Philadelphia Phillies celebrates after hitting a two-RBI double against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the ninth inning in game two of the National League Division Series at Citizens Bank Park on October 06, 2025 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Can you smell that? Yeah, that’s baseball approaching.
Phillies News:
Key Questions for the Phillies rolling into Spring Training
WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 02: Justyn-Henry Malloy #44 of the Detroit Tigers looks on against the Washington Nationals during the third inning of game two of a split doubleheader at Nationals Park on July 2, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images) | Getty Images
DRaysBay works best as a place for community and conversation. Accordingly, in the lead up to the new season, we are posting “Daily Questions” in the month of February. I look forward to seeing you in the comment section!
The Rays have penciled in many starters that aren’t going anywhere — Junior Caminero, Yandy Diaz, Jonathan Aranda, these are all locks.
Which role player or guy on the fringe of the 26-man roster could come out of nowhere and surprise us this year?
Feb 17, 2019; Sarasota, FL, USA; Baltimore Orioles players stretch on the field prior to workouts at Ed Smith Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images
Good morning, Camden Chatters.
As the Orioles make their way to Sarasota for spring training this week, they’ve got an exciting new addition waiting for them. (No, it’s not a pitcher. If only!)
Yesterday the O’s unveiled a new, $23 million player development complex at their spring home of Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota. The 47,700-square-foot facility, which team president Mike Elias described as “the best spring training setup in the state of Florida,” comes with plenty of amenities for both training and entertainment.
The complex includes a biomechanics pitching lab, equipped with 30 cameras to help provide feedback on pitch design and swing mechanics. There’s a new outdoor turf agility field that’s about twice as big as the old one. And there are now four indoor batting cages and eight indoor pitching mounds to help players get their work in on rainy days. I’m kind of surprised the Orioles didn’t have those before, but better late than never, I suppose. Plus, the facility includes classrooms for scouting and player education, along with a player lounge featuring ping-pong, foosball, and video games. It seems like an impressive setup, and it’s doubly impressive that the O’s built the facility in less than a year, having only started construction after spring training last season.
If the Orioles make full use of these new amenities, good things can happen. Maybe a struggling pitcher will be able to use the biomechanics lab to make some key adjustments to his repertoire. Perhaps the upgraded agility field will help players get into better physical shape as they ramp up for the season. And maybe a team-wide ping-pong tournament can help boost camaraderie as the O’s roster looks to gel. Couldn’t hurt!
It’s a reminder that there are smart ways to invest resources into a team other than just signing players. (But to be clear, signing players is still important.) The Orioles saw an opportunity to revamp and improve their training facilities and made it happen quickly. On its own, a new spring training facility might not make the difference between a winning 2026 season and a losing one. But every little bit helps. And it’s a good sign that the O’s are doing what it takes to boost the organization by any means necessary.
There’s going to be plenty of attention on Dustin Lind, who’s looking to succeed where the previous two seasons’ of O’s hitting coaches have failed. Unlike those other guys, Lind has Pete Alonso to work with, which is a good start.
Meoli is beating the drum for the O’s to sign their young players to extensions. I agree, but if it hasn’t happened yet (Samuel Basallo excluded), I have the feeling it’s not going to.
Keith Law ranks the Orioles’ best prospects, including some you might not be as familiar with. I must admit that Andrew Tess was a new name for me, but Law is on his bandwagon.
My initial thought was “no.” But after thinking about it some more, my answer is still “no.”
Orioles birthdays and history
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Five former Orioles were born on this day: right-hander Jorge López (33), shortstop César Izturis (46), catchers Alberto Castillo (56) and Lenny Webster (61), and the late lefty Billy O’Dell (b. 1933, d. 2018).
On this date in 2009, the Orioles signed free agent infielder Ty Wigginton. The man affectionately dubbed “Wiggy” was not a particularly good player for the Orioles, posting a 93 OPS+ and negligible defense in two seasons with the Birds, but somehow was selected to the 2010 AL All-Star team thanks to the “every team has to have a representative” rule. Good ol’ Wiggy.
Avery Hayes isn’t the only Penguins prospect who is coming out of a big week.
Kale Dach, Calgary Hitmen forward and seventh-round 2025 draft pick, was named the WHL’s Rookie of the Week after racking up six points (four goals, two assists) in four games.
What's up, Dach?
For the second time this season, Pittsburgh Penguins prospect and @WHLHitmen forward Kale Dach has been named the @SandmanHotels WHL Rookie of the Week 🥬
This is the second time Dach has won the weekly honor. He was also named the WHL’s December Rookie of the Month after scoring 14 points (eight goals, six assists) with three game-winning tallies in nine games.
Dach’s former teammate Ben Kindel was racking up his own WHL weekly rookie honors during his first season in the league in 2023-24.
Penguins VP of Player Personnel Wes Clark said last June that the original plan for Dach, who was selected with the Pens’ final pick of the 2025 draft, was to have him play alongside Kindel for a season with the Hitmen.
Kindel ended up making the jump to the NHL earlier than expected, but that hasn’t stopped Dach from finding success. He has 58 points (27 goals, 31 assists) in 45 games this WHL season.
Dach, who turned 18 in February, is heading to the NCAA next year after committing to join Penn State.
Up in the AHL, Hayes was named the AHL’s Player of Week five days after scoring two goals in his NHL debut.
Hollywood script-writers could never dream up a week like the one Avery Hayes just had. But the reality is, he's the Howie's Hockey Tape AHL Player of the Week.
The 23-year-old forward was one of the first players the Penguins signed after Kyle Dubas took over in June 2023. He has 26 points (16 goals, 10 assists) in 32 games with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins this season.
The NHL isn’t the only league currently on break. The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pens action is also paused until Feb. 14 for the AHL All-Star Game. Sergei Murashov and Tristan Broz are representing the Penguins at the event in Rockford, Illinois on Tuesday and Wednesday.
PHOENIX, ARIZONA - FEBRUARY 07: Amir Coffey #2 of the Phoenix Suns warms up before the game against the Philadelphia 76ers at Mortgage Matchup Center on February 07, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona. 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. (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NBA. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Suns fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.
The trade deadline has come and gone for the Phoenix Suns, and no splashes were made. And honestly, no splashes were needed.
Across the league, this deadline was shaped less by talent chasing and more by balance sheets. We are three years into the current CBA now, and teams are feeling it. Financial discipline won the week. Phoenix was no different. They moved out $7 million in salary by sending Nick Richards and Nigel Hayes-Davis elsewhere and took back $4.6 million in return. Mission accomplished. Under the luxury tax.
In a Western Conference that is unforgiving and packed with teams trying to separate, the deadline can be a chance to fortify. Add talent. Raise the ceiling. Push chips in for a postseason run. The Suns chose not to do that. Instead, they stayed the course they set back in October. Compete, develop continuity, protect flexibility. Keep the long view intact.
So what does that mean?
Did the Suns get better at the deadline? Did they stay the same? Or did they get worse by standing still while others shuffled pieces around?
That is the question now that the dust has settled and is the subject of this week’s Suns Reacts poll.
Cast your vote below. Then hit the comments and tell me why you landed where you did.
Last Wednesday, the Spurs hosted the Oklahoma City Thunder in their fifth and final regular season meeting. In a release just prior to the game, the Thunder released their injury list:
Shai-Gilgeous-Alexander (abdominal strain) Chet Holmgren (low back spasms) Alex Caruso (right adductor strain) Jalen Williams (right hamstring strain) Lugentz Dort (right patellofemoral joint, inflammation) Isaiah Hartenstein (right eye, corneal abrasion) Ajay Mitchell (abdominal strain) Nikola Topić (surgical recovery) Ousmane Dieng (not with team) Thomas Sorber (right ACL, surgical recovery)
Since 2023, NBA rules dictate that teams ensure star players are available for nationally televised and in-season tournament games that presumably attract more fan interest. The NBA defines a star player as any named to an All-Star or All-NBA team over the prior three seasons.
SGA is the reigning NBA MVP as well as All-NBA first team and an All-Star. Jalen Williams made All-NBA third team, as well as being named an All-Star.
According to Dan Woike of The Athletic, this triggered the investigation.
According to a league source, the NBA is investigating the Oklahoma City Thunder for player absences due to injury during their nationally televised game last week against the San Antonio Spurs.
If found guilty of “affecting the integrity of the game,” the Thunder could face possible fines from $100,000 fine for a first violation, $250,000 for the second violation and an increase of $1 million for any subsequent violation.
Upon hearing about the horde of injured Thunder players, I was taken back to November 2012 when Popovich was fined $250,000 for sending Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker, and Danny Green back to San Antonio while the rest of Spurs played a nationally televised game against the Heat in Miami.
Can help but think this situation would make the greatest to ever coach the game smile that crocked little smile and chuckle under his breath.
Check back for updates.
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It’s no longer a whisper; the NBA has a brazen and embarrassing tanking problem.
The Utah Jazz closed the third quarter Monday, Feb. 9 against the Miami Heat up by three. They had been dominating Miami in the paint on both ends. Their size was the big reason why.
Forward Jaren Jackson Jr., the prized acquisition Utah made just one week prior, was at 22 points through 25 minutes. Star forward Lauri Markkanen added 17 in 24:38. Veteran center Jusuf Nurkić was a problem all night to the tune of 10 points and 16 rebounds.
Yet, with a victory in sight, Jazz coach Will Hardy took self-sabotage and shameless tanking to a new level, sitting the trio for the entire fourth quarter.
In a twist of karmic justice, Miami was so poor down the stretch that the Jazz somehow overcame a late five-point deficit to win, 115-111.
This was the second consecutive game that Hardy had pulled the stunt. Even worse: it appears this will be Utah’s standard operating procedure moving forward.
After the game, a reporter asked Hardy how close he was to subbing Jackson or Markkanen back in.
This is an existential problem, one NBA commissioner Adam Silver and the Board of Governors must fix. Yes, the draft is expected to feature at least three elite-level players, but if the NBA doesn’t take prompt action, anti-competitive behavior will spread to other teams also looking to manipulate outcomes.
It’s out in the open now, and this will come to stain the last quarter of the season. The product will suffer. And fans, as they should, will flee. As such, the NBA is compromised.
And with the explosive growth of online sports gambling and prediction markets, these actions only invite further cracks in the integrity and competitive balance of the sport.
The NBA’s player participation policy is designed to foil tanks by mandating that teams play their stars with regularity. But the Jazz have found a workaround to the rule. Their impact players start games, they just don’t finish them. And thus, they make a mockery of the policy.
“We’ve got to find a way to win against teams that are, I guess you can say, trying to lose,” Heat center Bam Adebayo told reporters after the game.
Frankly, though Hardy will never admit this publicly, the directive to tank is almost certainly coming from his bosses.
Utah’s 2026 first-round pick is top-eight protected, which means that if the lottery places its selection anywhere from Nos. 1 through 8, the pick stays with the team. If it drops to No. 9 or below, that pick is conveyed to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
And while it makes total economic sense — the good fortune of drafting a franchise-altering player instantly pumps millions in value — the flagrant tanking debases the sport and insults the fan who invests time and capital.
Utah (17-37) isn’t alone. The Washington Wizards (14-38) traded for a pair of veterans, Anthony Davis and Trae Young, who have 14 combined All-Star appearances. They were curious win-now moves for a team that’s currently second-to-last in the East.
Davis and Young were both hurt when they were acquired, and it’s unclear when they’ll make their return — if they do at all.
Young has been dealing with a sprained knee. The timeline for both is nebulous, at best.
Wizards general manager Will Dawkins recently responded to the report and said Davis would return to Dallas to finish his rehab and that he would be reevaluated over the NBA All-Star break.
Davis’ original timeline for a return was four-to-six weeks; Dawkins, though, put it closer to 10.
The Wizards, similar to Utah, have also cycled through young lineups, particularly when facing some of the NBA’s weaker teams.
And also like Utah, Washington’s 2026 first-round pick is top-eight protected.
The Indiana Pacers (13-40) traded for Ivica Zubac, who was away from the Clippers, his former team, for the birth of his first child. Zubac had played in the previous nine games before the trade. Yet, Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said Zubac’s debut with Indiana would be delayed because of a sprained ankle that hadn’t been listed on prior injury reports.
Indiana’s 2026 first-round pick? If you guessed that it was protected, you would be correct, for Nos. 1-4 and 10-30.
The young Brooklyn Nets (15-37) waived Cam Thomas after they couldn’t find a trade partner. They, too, appear to be in tank mode.
The Milwaukee Bucks (21-30) might convince Giannis Antetokounmpo to take his time from his calf strain to preserve their draft positioning.
Same for the Dallas Mavericks (19-33) with Kyrie Irving and his torn anterior cruciate ligament.
The tanking feels like it will get worse. And while the temptation might be to say it’s harmless jockeying, the flip side is that it impacts seeding for the teams actually competing and vying for spots in the playoffs.
In some ways, the timing of the All-Star break is convenient; it provides a respite for Silver and league executives to brainstorm ways to eradicate this from the league.
If they don’t come out strong with precise and targeted measures, then why even play the games? And, if you’re a fan, why even watch?
Lloyd Merriman had as many baseball cards as a White Sox player as he did career at-bats: one. | (Photo by Transcendental Graphics/Getty Images)
1920 Major League Baseball outlawed the spitball but grandfathered in the 17 pitchers currently using the pitch. Among those allowed to continue throwing a “wet ball” was White Sox hurler Red Faber.
Faber was coming off of a poor, illness-riddled 1919 season, registering the only negative-WAR effort of his career. His fortunes turned with a career-best 5.7 WAR in 1920, then two straight (11.4 and 9.6) seasons where Faber led all of baseball in WAR and cemented his legend.
Faber in fact pitched until 1933, and was the very last pitcher (along with Jack Quinn) in the American League to legally throw a spitball.
1955 The White Sox purchased center fielder Lloyd Merriman from the Reds. Merriman had spent four seasons in Cincinnati, with subpar production.
Merriman had a pinch-hit fly out vs. Cleveland’s Bob Lemon on Opening Day — and that would be it for his White Sox career. Four days later, he was sold across town to the Cubs, in just the seventh transaction ever between the two Chicago clubs.
2002 The day after playing in a charity baseball game that benefited the Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood, Fla., former White Sox first baseman Jim Spencer died of a heart attack at age 51.
Spencer came to the White Sox in the deal that sent Bill Melton west to the California Angels before the 1976 season. His .682 OPS as a full-time regular in 1976 looks bad, but was nearly average, at 99 OPS+. However, he was intentionally walked 19 times that season, leading the majors. (Brian Downing, Jorge Orta, Bucky Dent and Kevin Bell most often batted behind Spencer — all pretty much the same hitter besides the much weaker Dent … so let’s presume, without going game-by-game through the misery of 1976, that most of these IBBs for Spencer occurred in front of Dent.)
In 1977, Spencer’s fortunes took a more distinctive turn. While he was just about as productive overall as 1976 (i.e, a replacement-player WAR, middling OPS), he won the second Gold Glove of his career, becoming the first-ever White Sox first baseman winner and first White Sox position player to win the fielding award in seven seasons.
And not once but twice in 1977, Spencer drove in a White Sox-record eight runs in a game.
That’s right, something that had only happened twice in the first 76 years of the franchise was equaled by Spencer in the span of six weeks!
2012 The White Sox signed former USC quarterback Mitch Mustain to a minor league contract. Mustain had gone undrafted by the NFL and failed to catch on in the Canadian Football League, leading him to pursue baseball — a sport he did not play in college and had been away from for eight years.
The righthander, said to throw as fast as 90 mph, pitched for the Bristol White Sox and Kannapolis Intimidators in 2012, relieving in 21 games with a 2-2 record and one save, 4.63 ERA, 12 strikeouts and 14 walks in 23 1⁄3 innings.
The White Sox released him after the season and Mustain then played for two seasons in the Arena Football League.
The Twins’ surprise pivot into an aggressive selloff was the headline of a surprisingly active 2025 trade deadline. They sent out a shocking 10 players, nine of whom were on the active roster at the time of their transactions. Some of those were expected (Chris Paddack, Willi Castro, Harrison Bader, Danny Coulombe), while others came seemingly out of nowhere (why the hell did the Blue Jays want Ty France?)
Let’s look at the actual potentially frustrating trades.
Carlos Correa salary dump: Correa was traded back to the Houston Astros for a Low A pitcher who is no longer in affiliated ball. The Twins are also paying $30M of Correa’s remaining salary over the next three years, split out at $10M on Jan 1 of each year. This was a pure salary dump, nothing more nothing less.
Jhoan Duran for Eduardo Tait and Mick Abel: Duran could have been the most decorated closer in Twins history if they held onto him. Instead, the electric reliever will get a chance to earn that same acclaim in Philadelphia. Abel has flaws but can be an effective starter if he can get his walks under control. If he can’t he should be a closing option himself, at minimum. Tait, meanwhile, is one of the top catching prospects in all of baseball. He has a top-end throwing arm and a ton of power, but at 18-years-old still has a long way to go before he’s ready to handle an MLB pitching staff.
Griffin Jax for Taj Bradley: A rare one-for-one swap, which is always a fun move. Bradley came with twice the amount of team control as Jax and is a starter which is inherently more valuable than a reliever. However, Bradley may find himself in the bullpen soon enough if he can’t develop a secondary pitch to get lefties out. He’s shown flashes, next comes the consistency.
Louie Varland (and France) for Alan Roden and Kendry Rojas: Here’s the thing. In a vacuum, this trade makes sense from the Twins’ side. They traded a reliever for starting outfielder with a high floor and a borderline Top 100 pitching prospect that they excel at developing. However, Varland came with five more years of team control and the Twins suddenly found their elite bullpen completely depleted after moving Jax, Duran, and Coulombe. Questionable, to say the least.
Like with the Varland trade, each of these moves in a vacuum is defensible. But in totality, they’re pretty underwhelming. Relievers are fickle and even the best can be inconsistent from year to year (see: Jax). But if they truly expected to contend in 2026, who can they conceivably hand the ball to after their vaunted starting staff leaves the game?
Additionally, the Twins’ weakness the past few years has been on the offensive side of the ball. They main MLB-ready players they got back were Roden and three pitchers! Maybe these moves were made with an eye toward additional trades this offseason, but they’ve largely sat on their hands while adding a few veteran hitters. Then Tom Pohlad (probably) forced out the man who was putting together the plan. It’s bad process likely preceding bad results.
That being said, the trade that irks me is still Correa. With Correa’s regression and chronic injury history, getting out of the majority of the $110M still owed to him absolutely makes sense. However, the Pohlads didn’t allow the front office to put the $20M/year saved back into the team. Instead, they have a contending core without the surrounding cast to back them up and their lowest adjusted payroll since Kirby Puckett was alive.
Which trade do you regret the most? Correa’s is the most obvious, but this roster sure could use one of Jax or Duran right about now…
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 08: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. #27 of the Toronto Blue Jays and Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees look on after an RBI single by Judge during the ninth inning of game four of the American League Division Series at Yankee Stadium on October 08, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Year after year, the Yankees contend with the AL East, the division that consistently outstrips its peers across the sport. This offseason was no different; while there were a number of teams across the league that put the “off” in offseason, none of them were in the AL East, as all five clubs have been active. The Red Sox swung a number of major trades, the Blue Jays flashed the cash in signing Dylan Cease, Kazuma Okamoto, and Cody Ponce, and even the Orioles spent some money, signing Pete Alonso while also trading for Taylor Ward and Shane Baz.
It all adds up to a division that appears to be the most competitive in baseball once again. The Yankees, for their part, look strong on paper, currently ranking third in MLB in total projected WAR per FanGraphs. But the Blue Jays slide in just ahead of them in second, while the Orioles and Red Sox are both not far behind, comfortably in the top ten of these projections.
So, leaving the Yankees themselves aside, which of their division rivals do you view as most dangerous? Toronto has a pretty straightforward case, with perhaps the most complete roster in the American League at this moment. They’re the reigning AL East champs, the reigning AL champs, and came within inches of winning the World Series. It’s not hard to envision
But can a case be made for one of the Yankees’ other direct foes? The Red Sox in particular feel as though they could be a sleeping giant. They already surprised last year, winning 89 games before bowing out in the playoffs against the Yankees. Boston has gone on to add Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras, Ranger Suarez, and now former Baby Bomber Caleb Durbin, all while holding what’s still considered a strong farm system. Though they probably trail the Yankees and Blue Jays in terms of pure talent right now, it wouldn’t be surprising to see some of their young talent coalesce, or for them to cash in some of their prospects to make another trade that puts them over the top.
What do you think? Are the Blue Jays still the Yankees’ most dangerous rival? Or will Boston, Baltimore, or even Tampa Bay rise up and pose the biggest threat in 2026?
Today on the site, Nolan will continue on with his State of the System series, this time with a look at the organizational depth at starting pitcher. Also, Nick remembers the signing of Andrew Miller, one of the great Yankee signings of the 2010’s, and Jeff moves our preview series along with a look at the newly acquired Angel Chivilli.
MILAN, ITALY - FEBRUARY 08: Sidney Crosby #87 of Team Canada takes part during training on day two of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic games at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena on February 08, 2026 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) | Getty Images
In roughly 24 hours, the Men’s Ice Hockey Tournament at the 2028 Winter Olympics will begin, and for the first time since 2014, NHL players are taking part. Participating nations have been practicing in earnest since arriving late last week, and after months of worry regarding the status of the hockey arena in Milan, the games are about to be begin.
There has been months, if not years of anticipation surrounding this tournament since it was announced NHL players were heading back to the Olympics, and the wait is almost over with the first puck drop scheduled for Wednesday morning between Slovakia and Finland.
Pens Points…
Four Penguins players are in Milan preparing for the men’s ice hockey tournament at the Winter Olympics with play beginning for all four later this week. Sidney Crosby will captain Canada, Erik Karlsson and Rickard Rakell will suit up for Sweden, and Arturs Silovs will backstop the Latvian side. [Pensburgh]
With four players in Milan, the Penguins will be well represented and give Penguins fans something to keep an eye on outside of cheering for their host nations. Crosby is the name who most will pay attention to for obvious reasons but Sweden and Latvia are attractions themselves. [The Hockey Writers]
Once the NHL resumes following the Olympic break must of the focus will be on the trade deadline which will be less than two weeks away. Right now, the Penguins are in position to buy as a playoff contender, but Kyle Dubas will be specific in what he’s looking for in any additions. [Pensburgh]
When he signed with the Penguins as a free agent over the summer, no one knew who Parker Wotherspoon was or what type of game he played. Now well into his first season with the team, Wotherspoon is well known among the Penguins faithful for his consistent play on the blue line. [Trib Live]
After his break out NHL debut against the Buffalo Sabres, Avery Hayes returned to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins for the Olympic break and continued right where he left off, scoring a hat trick, including the overtime winner, on Saturday against the Hershey Bears. [WBS Penguins]
One of the first players to embrace Sidney Crosby after he scored the Golden Goal to defeat the United States at the 2010 Olympics was defenseman Scott Niedermayer. Sixteen years on from that historic moment, Niedermayer still remembers the moment with great clarity from his view on the ice. [Penguins]
NHL News and Notes…
Group A at the Olympics is headlined by Canada who enter group play as clear favorites to come out on top, but opponents Czechia and Switzerland will be looking to play spoiler while France is hoping to make the most of its first Olympics appearance in over two decades. [NHL]
France may only have qualified for Milan because Russia and Belarus have been banned from participating, but the 2030 host nation is not apologizing. They will be lead by captain Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, who has announced that he will retire from hockey following The Games. [NHL]
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 07: James Harden #1 of the Cleveland Cavaliers celebrates with Donovan Mitchell #45 after making a three-point shot in the fourth quarter against the Sacramento Kings at Golden 1 Center on February 07, 2026 in Sacramento, California. 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. (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The gravity he provides is incredible. Every step he takes towards the basket with the ball causes each of the off-ball defenders to react. And when he sucks you into a spot to provide a good contest on the shot, the ball is whipped out to the open man.
Head coach Kenny Atkinson said after the win against the Sacramento Kings that he wasn’t going to try to force Harden into his system.
The Cavs are playing Harden’s system right now. They’ve gone from an attack that relies heavily on getting out in transition to one that picks teams apart in the half-court. And the results have been great.
One of the goals in attacking in transition is to take advantage of cross-matchups and to catch the defense off balance. You don’t need to play that chaotically when you have a walking mismatch creator in Harden.
It’s obvious how Harden’s presence would help Mitchell’s scoring.There’s more driving lanes for Mitchell to attack and get downhill. Maybe not as obviously, Harden opens up more room for Mitchell as a passer.
Mitchell, as a facilitator, has been a mixed bag. He has the veloicity and ball placement to make cross-court passes and great drive-and-kick dishes to the corner. However, he hasn’t always had the touch or vision to get bigs involved as much as you’d like.
This combination has made Mitchell an effective playmaker in a fully five-out offense, but has left you wanting more as a passer in most of the contexts the Cavs have put him in.
Harden’s gravity changes that, as seen in the three examples below.
This first play is the result of miscommunication. The Nuggets wanted to keep Nikola Jokic out of the action. Harden threw it to Mitchell, two stayed with Harden, which left Allen wide open.
Players who create as much attention as Harden can cause defenders to do stupid things.
Next, here’s an example of Mitchell finding the open man in a scrambling defense that led to a layup for Jaylon Tyson. The defense will be caught in more rotations if there’s a perimeter player as skilled as Harden that they’re worried about.
Generally speaking, the passing ability hasn’t been the issue for Mitchell. Recognizing the openings has. The increased attention Harden provides should make those reads much easier.
Harden gives you a different dynamic defensively as well. Even though he isn’t a good point-of-attack defender on guards, he can hold his own in the post. This is incredibly useful when you’re going against someone like Jokic.
The help defense Harden was able to provide on Jokic in the post saved the game. He has the size and strength to be bothersome there in a way that other Cavalier guards aren’t. This showed through most when his help defense forced a Jokic turnover on Denver’s third-to-last possession.
Plays like that are just as important as the off-balance three he hit a few seconds after. That shot doesn’t tie the game if it wasn’t for his defense moments earlier.
Allen continues to show how skilled he is offensively. He’s benefited greatly from Harden’s playmaking, but he was also playing well before the trade.
Overall, Allen is showing a level of aggression that makes someone with his skills incredibly difficult to guard. That led to 22 points on 10-16 shooting against Denver.
Allen is a tough matchup for Jokic.
Offensively, Allen’s screening tests Jokic. The Nuggets like to keep Jokic around the rim on screens. That means, if you’re a good screener like Allen, you’re going to create room for your dynamic guards to get uncontested looks.
Anything bought from the links helps support Fear the Sword. You can also shop all of Homage’s Cavs gear HERE. The link to the Donovan Mitchell NBA Jam shirt is HERE.
Defensively, Allen is one of the few centers who can make things relatively difficult for Jokic. Allen did a good job of keeping Jokic in front of him, which allowed the other four defenders to stay more with their assignments.
Allen wasn’t directly responsible for Jokic’s seven turnovers, but it isn’t a coincidence that he was forcing passes into windows that weren’t really there more than he typically does. It also speaks to Jokic’s greatness that the Cavs did a good job containing him on a night he picked up a triple-double.
The Mitchell and Harden pairing couldn’t have gotten off to a better start.
It’s been just two games and they haven’t had any practice time together, but the duo has already done a great job of working off each other’s strengths.
Mitchell plays with the pedal to the floor at all times. Every drive and cut to the basket is made with force. His athleticism and power allow him to get where he wants to on the court, and he has the touch and skill to be one of the best three-level scorers in the league.
If Mitchell is the offense’s fastball, Harden is their 12-6 curve.
Harden’s deliberate, methodical way of picking apart his opponent and creating openings for himself and teammates is the perfect change of pace to Mitchell’s speed.
When they’re working in unison — like they have in their first two fourth quarters together — the offense can be a thing of beauty.
The most tantalizing aspect is that you’d think this is the worst it’s going to look. Is there another gear they can get to? What does this look like with Evan Mobley in the mix?
We’ll have to wait for those answers. In the meantime, we can say that the floor for this pairing is incredibly high. Presumably, the ceiling is as well.
An exterior view of the Golden 1 Center after they lit the beam after the Sacramento Kings beat the Golden State Warriors in Game 2 of an NBA first-round playoff series in 2023. This series was the Kings' lone playoff appearance in the last 20 years. (Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
In less than 300 days, baseball’s collective bargaining agreement expires. As major league owners meet this week to plot strategy, the powers that be will consider the probable push for a salary cap. The argument in favor: If teams are limited in how much they can pay players — that is, if the Dodgers cannot spend whatever they want — fans in small markets can believe their team can win.
Tell that to the great fans of Sacramento.
The Kings have the worst record in the NBA. In a league with a salary cap, and in which the majority of teams make the playoffs, the Kings have made the playoffs once in 20 years.
I wanted to ask the Kings how much a salary cap really helps a small-market team, given their struggles. The Kings politely declined interviews on anything related to a salary cap, since they own the minor league ballpark in Sacramento that temporarily houses the Athletics. The Kings’ owner, Vivek Ranadivé, would like MLB to consider Sacramento for an expansion team.
So, before a game last week, I asked Kings fans about the juxtaposition: Why can’t the Kings win in a league with a salary cap intended to help them win?
“I don’t think it’s a salary cap issue,” Cheyenne Merced of Sacramento said. “I think it’s an owner issue.”
Said another fan, Devin Pasua of Sacramento: “The Kings don’t know how to spend.”
In Sacramento, the downtown arena and surrounding entertainment district are enjoyable and energetic without overwhelming fans with an assault of sound and light, and the purple beam that ascends skyward when the Kings win is a nice hometown touch.
Sacramento Kings majority owner Vivek Ranadivé before a 2024 game against the Philadelphia 76ers in Sacramento. (José Luis Villegas / Associated Press)
That beats the alternative: The Kings nearly left town, first for Anaheim and then for Seattle, before Ranadivé bought the team in 2013.
“I’m glad for what he’s done to keep the team in Sacramento,” Kings fan Colin Hutchison of Woodland said. “The arena is beautiful. I love going to games for the chance to see the beam. Great food options. It’s a fun time.
“I think sports fans just want a fun time and want to see competitive sports. The Kings do one thing right. They don’t do the other right.”
In the 20-year run with that one playoff appearance, the Kings have had 10 head coaches, plus three interim head coaches. None of those head coaches lasted more than three seasons.
Eric Musselman, the first Sacramento coach in that run, lasted one season. He is now the head coach at USC.
“In the NBA, there is a salary cap and, for the most part, the same teams are winning every year,” he said.
Does that mean Oklahoma City, the champion last season and the team with the best record this season, is the small-market team that validates the NBA salary cap?
“Oklahoma City is not winning because they have a salary cap,” Musselman said. “Salary cap or no salary cap, Oklahoma City is going to win as long as Sam Presti is there.”
Presti, the Oklahoma City general manager, is basically the Andrew Friedman of NBA executives. Dodgers owner Mark Walter lured Friedman to Los Angeles and, now that Walter owns the Lakers, might well pursue Presti to run them.
Oklahoma City is not the only small-market success story in the NBA. With Gregg Popovich as head coach and R.C. Buford in the front office, the San Antonio Spurs won five NBA championships and made 22 consecutive playoff appearances.
“It’s not the cap,” Musselman said. “It’s having Tim Duncan and David Robinson, and having an owner and a coach and a GM that are aligned.
“You’ve got to find the right coach and have consistency with the coach and roll with him.”
In 13 seasons under Ranadivé, the Kings have had six head coaches and five general managers.
“They have no one to blame but themselves for their futility,” said Grant Napear, the television voice of the Kings for 32 years and now a sports talk host in Sacramento.
Napear cited the same statistic the commissioner’s office now likes to cite: the last small-market team to win the World Series was the Kansas City Royals, 11 years ago. For baseball, he believes, a salary cap would be a good thing, given the gaping revenue disparities among teams.
“Can you really have a sport where two-thirds of your teams have no chance of winning?” he said. “Is that the model of a good professional sports league?”
So, in the NBA model, why do the Kings seemingly have no chance of winning?
“The salary cap gives a team such as Oklahoma City and Indiana the opportunity to do the same thing as a franchise like the Lakers and Knicks,” Napear said, “if you have smart management, if you draft well, and if you make good trades.
“The Kings are playing by the same rules, for all intents and purposes, as the big-market teams. They have been mismanaged. They have made many, many horrible draft picks and horrible trades. That’s the reason why they are where they are: constantly firing coaches, constantly replacing their general managers.
“They have an owner who has been here over a lengthy period of time who really doesn’t do anything right.”
As an owner, it isn’t hard to do the right thing: hire the best people you can, support them however they need, and then stay out of their way.
MLB owners can consider ways to narrow revenue disparities without a salary cap. However, if MLB gets a salary cap — and there is no indication the players’ union is interested in discussing one, let alone agreeing to one — then the commissioner’s office would say it had leveled the playing field.
No team would be guaranteed a winner, but no team could point its finger at the Dodgers. If the player payroll is just about the same for every team, then success would depend in large part on the smarts of ownership and management.
Yet such smarts are not evident among all the teams in the NBA, and certainly not among all the teams in MLB. Would Branch Rickey come back to life to run the Pittsburgh Pirates, with autonomy and resources from ownership?
If you are a fan of a small-market baseball team, and you hear your owner say your team would win if only MLB had a salary cap, our friends in Sacramento would offer you three letters in response: LOL.
As pressure builds before Calcutta Cup, Scotland’s coach may well have reached the point of diminishing returns
The witty Anglo-American author Ashleigh Brilliant passed away last September at the age of 91, but his best lines are timeless. Beleaguered sports coaches worldwide will all recognise one of his characteristically pithy observations: “I try to take one day at a time – but sometimes several days attack me at once.” To be responsible for an under-pressure national side must induce a similar feeling.
So what do you do when coaching life starts serving you lemons? After a while there are only two options: try to ride it out, or accept it might be wiser for someone else to have a go. It can be a delicate judgment, often shaped by non-sporting considerations. Unless it becomes apparent, as seemingly happened with the recently ousted All Blacks coach Scott Robertson, that your dressing room has already made the call for you.
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - AUGUST 25: The sun sets above Victor Robles #10 of the Seattle Mariners during the game against the San Diego Padres at T-Mobile Park on August 25, 2025 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Grief is frightening territory to navigate. There’s no set roadmap for it, and it affects every person differently. It is as if a chaotic roommate moves into your body and assumes the controls part of the time: you make choices you don’t recognize; say things and wonder whose mouth made those words; sleep entirely too much or entirely too little or a fun soft-serve swirl of both. The more you try to pack down the grief into a solvable snowball, something solid and sensible, the more it evaporates around your hands.
After my dad passed away in February of 2024, I thought I had a master plan mapped out for grieving him. I knew, because I had read about it, that grief is the tidal wave of loss that hits you first, and I braced for impact. I also knew, thanks to my studies, that after grief comes grieving: if grief is the big wave, grieving is the lap of waves on the shore in the world where you live now. He died; I fought the wave of grief crashing over me long enough to do all the insulting busywork that death requires. Two weeks later, I finally brought myself to enter his room and clean up the blood on the bathroom floor from where he’d fallen the last time, when we didn’t know yet about the cancer that was swiftly eating into his pancreas, so my mom wouldn’t have to. That felt significant: a tidy metaphor for moving on from grief to grieving. Two weeks after that I packed my stuff and left for spring training, and then the season started, and I fell back into the same comfortable patterns, the sharp edges of the pain worn away by the daily routine of baseball. I was proud of myself; like a player whose rehab is ahead of schedule, I was beating all the projected timelines. I knew about the ball-in-the-box grief analogy and thought with satisfaction about my ball of grief, steadily shrinking down from a beach ball to a baseball.
But grief came to collect the next off-season. It turned out I wasn’t paying out my grief on an installment plan like I’d thought; I was allowing the debt to collect, and the force of it knocked me over anew. I didn’t want to write about this team and their lousy, uninspiring off-season; I didn’t want to write, period, and had to be cajoled by the staff into doing the 40 in 40 series, almost letting it go too late. I didn’t want to read, especially not the collection of self-help books I had carefully amassed as a ladder to lead me out of the hole of grief and back into civilization.
All I wanted to do was sleep. And I did, losing wintery days like a character from a fairytale under a spell, waking in dark rooms from strange dreams. On the odd times I did leave the house, I swiped at people who got too close to my enclosure, mistaking their concern as threats. I think back on that time now and I don’t recognize that person who was wearing my clothes, my name.
What I did recognize: Victor Robles throwing his bat in frustration after getting hit by a pitch in a rehab game. While clips of the incident went viral on social media with people wondering what Robles could have possibly been thinking, I was instantly reminded of every dumb, reckless, cruel decision I made during the winter of my discontent, which is a cute name I’d given to what I now recognize as a depressive episode.
Grief activates the same neural pathways as physical pain. Therefore, “grief brain” can cause a host of processing issues, including difficulty focusing, memory loss, heightened anxiety, and impaired decision-making. It’s not an excuse, but it is an explanation. I watched that bat travel across the infield towards the pitcher and felt like I had thrown it myself.
Victor Robles joined the Mariners in June of 2024; by August, he was signing a two-year extension. The high-energy Robles put a charge in a club that was struggling to hang on to a lead they’d built in the AL West, lighting up whatever part of the field he touched. It was a perfect confluence: the Mariners needed Victor Robles, his spark and humor and electricity; and Robles, the former top prospect with a long and tortured history with the only other club he’d known, needed the Mariners. In interviews, he talked about how coming to Seattle allowed him to “leave that load behind me” – the baggage of unfulfilled expectations, left on the other side of the continent. In Seattle, Robles played fast and free, amassing the fourth-most WAR for a position player on the team in his few short months. However, even he couldn’t drag the team out of the offensive tailspin they entered down the stretch, blowing a ten-game lead and losing control of the AL West.
2025 was supposed to be Robles’s shot at a re-do, to show his new better self was here to stay. Instead, grief came calling in the third series of the season, when he dislocated his shoulder in early April trying to make a heroic catch in the netting in San Francisco. Grief, we should remember, isn’t just for mourning those we’ve lost; it’s also for mourning lost relationships, opportunities, versions of ourselves, those visions somehow always bigger and brighter than the one that’s currently in front of us.
But that wasn’t all this annus horribilis had in store for Robles. In June, the 28-year-old lost his mother, quietly announcing it on Instagram with a photo of a pink dawn taken from a plane window on his way back to the Dominican Republic. It was captioned with a simple message to his mother, telling her he missed and loved her.
There’s a saying that none of us are our worst days. But those worst days, the ugliest things we’ve said and done, are still part of us. If you type in “Victor Robles” and the letter “t” to Google it autocompletes with “throws bat.”
After missing most of the season, Robles was finally ready for a rehab assignment in Tacoma in August, playing against the Athletics affiliate in Las Vegas. In Robles’s first competitive game in months, he was hit by Athletics pitchers twice: first by Joey Estes in the third inning, requiring an injury delay, and later by reliever Gustavo Rodriguez in the eighth. The very next day, Robles was again hit by a pitch, this time in the first inning by Mitch Spence. Four games later, with Estes on the mound once more in the series finale, Estes again tried to pitch Robles inside and again, sent a fastball directly towards Robles’s chest (it was ruled Robles swung on the pitch, so not technically counted as a hit by pitch, but that swing was wholly defensive). For context, this minor-league meeting wasn’t the first time Estes and Robles had faced off; in a game in September in 2024, Estes opened the game by hitting Robles, who then stole second and scored on a Cal Raleigh home run. That home run would prove to be the difference-maker in a game the Mariners won, 6-4.
But there was no Cal Raleigh in Tacoma that day. Just anger, and frustration, and so much grief. The kind of grief that makes people make impulsive, reckless, thoughtless decisions. Robles picked up the tool he had closest at hand, and threw.
In his apology statement, Robles wrote about the physical and mental challenges of his lengthy rehab, along with the added context about dealing with the loss of his mother. “I’ve been doing my best to hold it together,” he wrote. This is the unseen work of grief, the days navigating a new normal that are a constant psychic load, like a background application draining a device’s battery. No one notices the days when you’re holding it together, only the days where it all falls apart.
But a caring community can notice, and is the best guide rope out of deep grief. A single text from a friend offering a coffee is worth a stack of self-help books. Having served his suspension, Robles was able to return to his community, his team, and be welcomed back just in time for a playoff run. Robles was there as the Mariners reversed course from 2024, this time seizing control of the AL West, ripping off a stretch of 10 consecutive wins in September. And he was there, crucially, during three thrilling nights in Houston: not just spiritually or mentally, but physically, literally right there when the team needed him:
This time, his instinct led him in the right direction, making a heads-up play to double off the runner at second, ending the game and securing the victory in a season-making moment.
I don’t know what 2026 has in store for Victor Robles. If his body will sustain another year of his fearless, full-out style of play. If he’ll carve out a regular place in a crowded right field. If the delicate alchemy that spurred his incandescent 2024 with the Mariners can be repeated. He remains, as always, a mercurial presence, a Puck-like character spiriting around the field, capable of creating both electricity and electroshock. I do know that I’ll always feel a connection to him for watching him walk through his grief journey and still maintain his buoyant presence in the clubhouse, his love for the sport and for his teammates; and for the gift of that catch, the way he flew in like an angel, like something that didn’t need saving.
