Saints head coach issues apology in club video message
Dragan Solak wants to ‘close the chapter and look ahead’
Tonda Eckert has apologised for orchestrating the Spygate scandal that culminated in Southampton being kicked out of the Championship playoff final. Southampton, who observed training sessions of three opponents last season, were denied the chance to win promotion after an independent disciplinary commission found the club “seriously violated” the integrity of the competition.
Eckert, publicly addressing the six charges made by the English Football League for the first time in a video message released by the club, said he accepted “full responsibility”, adding: “I apologise to all of the clubs that have been involved and mostly I apologise to our supporters.” In a similar address, the Southampton owner, Dragan Solak, said he wants the German head coach who is under investigation from the Football Association, to lead the club into the Premier League next season.
May 29, 2026; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Toronto Blue Jays second baseman Charles McAdoo (26) celebrates after hitting his first career hit/home run during the seventh inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images | Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images
In this column, I normally focus on guys who, you know, haven’t actually taken wing yet. But I missed Charles McAdoo after saying I’d feature him, and he really has had an interesting season, so I figured that in spite of 8 PA and a home run with the big club he’d still be an appropriate topic.
McAdoo was a 13th round pick by the Pirates out of San Jose State in 2023. He smashed the low minors and looked good in a brief AA stint before being traded to the Jays at the 2024 deadline in exchange for Isiah Kiner-Falefa. He scuffled down the stretch last year, and had an ugly first couple of months repeating the level in 2025 before finding his footing and slashing .274/.343/.475 over the final 80 games of the season.
This season, he was bumped up to AAA. Although his 112 wRC+ isn’t really an improvement over last season’s overall result, he’s getting there a different way. McAdoo has sliced way down on his swing and miss, making contact 80.7% of the time compared to 71% at a lower level last year. It’s the best rate of his pro career, and a sharp reversal from his previous trend of increasing whiffs as he climbed the ladder. He’s also become more selective, swinging 42% of the time as a Bison compared to almost 48% as a Fisher Cat. As a result, he’s gone from walking 9% of the time and striking out nearly 28% to walking 14% of the time and striking out just 20%. Both are his best marks since A ball by a significant margin. That’s come with a lower BABIP and a bit less power production than he manage before being traded or after June 1st last year.
It’s not obvious what’s allowed him to make that improvement. His swing looks about the same, starting with a closed stance in a low crouch with the bat flat behind his head and using a small toe tap to shift him into a more neutral position before he unloads. If anything’s changed, it looks like he’s somewhat quieted the bat waggle that in past years has sometimes looked like it lead him to start his swing from a different hand angle than he’d like. He may have also reduced his bat wrap a bit, very slightly shortening his swing. It’s a minor tweak if it’s anything.
The results look like they come from a different swing, though. He doesn’t seem to be hitting the ball as hard. His hard hit rate in Buffalo was 37% over a large enough sample to mean something. That’s a touch below average. We don’t have that info publicly available for AA, but scouting reports note that he was putting up plus exit velocities. He also hasn’t cracked 110mph on a ball in play yet this year, unusual for a guy universally agreed to possess plus raw power. In a tiny sample, his bat speed at the MLB level has been right on average. He’s also putting the ball on the ground more and pulling it less than he has in his career, especially since he reached AA.
Maybe the changes are subtle and I’m just not picking them up, because statistically he really looks like a guy who’s cut down and flattened his swing to make more contact. If that is what’s happened, it’s not a bad trade. He’s catching up to high fastballs (his home run was on 94 at the top of the zone), and while his power production has dipped he still has nine home runs across 215 PA. If he can post near league average strikeout and walk totals with 20+ home runs, he’ll have plenty of offensive juice to support a big league role.
He’ll have to hit, because he won’t get into games for his glove or his wheels. He’s played mostly third base in the minors, but while he’s got an athletic build he’s stiff and not very rangy there. He spent more than half his time in Buffalo at first or as the DH. In the long term, he looks like a corner utility guy who can give you passable work at third on occasion, but I don’t think he should be an every day option there. He’s a below average runner, although good instincts and aggression allowed him to steal 34 bases in 40 tries in 2025 and 21 in 25 the season before. It’s not that he brings no value outside the bat, but he’s a guy who does enough elsewhere to allow the bat to get into games rather than someone who can deliver value in multiple facets of the game.
It’ll be interesting to see what McAdoo is able to do with his opportunity in Toronto. With Lenyn Sosa ‘injured’ and unplayable when healthy and Davis Schneider appearing to need a significant reset in AAA, he should get at least a couple of weeks’ run with the big league club. If he does continue to make a decent amount of contact and flash his power, he could add a little jolt to the bottom of a lineup that’s sorely needed it.
Editor’s note: Sheng Peng is a regular contributor to NBC Sports California’s Sharks coverage. You can read more of his coverage on San Jose Hockey Now, listen to him on the San Jose Hockey Now Podcast, and follow him on Twitter at @Sheng_Peng.
What can the Sharks learn from the 2026 Stanley Cup finalists, the Vegas Golden Knights and Carolina Hurricanes?
This is an especially pressing question for San Jose to ponder on the eve of Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, as it just missed making the playoffs this year. The young Sharks look to snap their seven-season playoff drought next year.
Beyond that, general manager Mike Grier wants to build a consistent contender just like Vegas and Carolina. The Golden Knights won the 2023 Stanley Cup and have made at least the conference finals in four of their nine seasons of existence. The Hurricanes have made the Eastern Conference Finals in three of the last four years, finally breaking through to the championship round this season.
Here are five lessons of success that the Sharks can learn from the 2026 finalists. It’s worth noting that there is no single path to hoisting the Stanley Cup, so San Jose shouldn’t be looking to simply copy Vegas or Carolina.
Ruthless Decision-Making?
Hate it or love it, the Golden Knights are the epitome of putting winning above pretty much anything else in their decision-making.
For example, their “What have you done for me lately?” mentality with head coaches: Vegas has fired three head coaches, Gerard Gallant, Peter DeBoer and Bruce Cassidy, all within three seasons of at least a conference finals appearance.
John Tortorella, who took over for 2023 Stanley Cup winner Cassidy in March, finished the regular season 7-0-1, and has won 12 of 16 playoff games.
This ruthlessness also has extended to general manager Kelly McCrimmon’s roster decisions, like the acrimonious parting with fan favorite goalie Marc-Andre Fleury after his Vezina Trophy-winning season.
What does this mean for Grier?
There are, of course, some decisions that many Sharks fans will be glad that Grier doesn’t follow in McCrimmon’s steps, such as signing goalie Carter Hart after his sexual assault case acquittal or spending a first-round pick on Trevor Connolly and his checkered past.
But in the coming years, Grier will have to make some unpopular decisions to build a winner, and no one has done that with more success than the Golden Knights.
Size Isn’t Everything?
The Hurricanes appear to place less of an emphasis on size than the Golden Knights … and maybe Grier.
Carolina has five regular skaters listed under 6-foot-0, 5-foot-8 Logan Stankoven, 5-foot-10 Seth Jarvis, and 5-foot-11 Jackson Blake, Shayne Gostisbehere, and Sean Walker. In contrast, Vegas doesn’t have any skater listed under 6-foot-0.
It’s also worth noting that two of these smaller Canes, Gostisbehere and Walker, are defensemen, whereas 6-foot-1 Rasmus Andersson is the Knights’ smallest.
Since the beginning of his regime, Grier has stressed adding size throughout the organization.
Of course, size isn’t an either-or thing — Grier has drafted a handful of smaller prospects in the last four years, for example — but the Hurricanes are a reminder that not everybody in the NHL is thinking bigger.
Don’t Need a No. 1 Defenseman?
When it comes to the Sharks’ next step, most of the chatter is about improving their defense.
Carolina and Vegas are examples of teams winning without a Norris Trophy-caliber defenseman; case in point, their most decorated rearguards. Jaccob Slavin, the Canes’ go-to shutdown blueliner, finished fifth for the Norris in 2019, but more often than not, is outside the top 10. Shea Theodore, playing 1D minutes in the playoffs for the first time in his career, has two sixth-place Norris finishes on his resume, in 2020 and 2021, but otherwise hasn’t been in that conversation.
Both teams, however, are loaded up with excellent defensemen up and down their line-ups, especially Olympians Slavin, Theodore, Andersson, and Noah Hanifin.
Everyone, of course, wants a true-blue No. 1 a la Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes, but there are only a handful of defensemen like that in the league. As the Sharks navigate their return to prominence, Carolina, Vegas and two-time defending champion Florida Panthers are proof positive that you can win without a kingpin blueliner.
Price of Goaltending?
The Hurricanes, in particular, are winning without expensive goaltending.
Between Frederik Andersen and Brandon Bussi, Carolina is spending $4.25 million AAV, just 4.5 percent of the cap, which is at the lower end of the NHL. Between Hart and Adin Hill, Vegas is spending $8.25 million AAV, 8.6 percent of the cap, which is about average.
You don’t need a Norris Trophy winner to win a Stanley Cup — and you don’t need a pricey goalie either.
The Sharks are spending just $5 million AAV between Yaroslav Askarov and Alex Nedeljkovic right now, but it’s a reminder that when it comes time for Grier to pay the piper between the pipes … he might not have to?
“F–k Them Picks”
That’s a Los Angeles Rams meme from 2022, so widespread that general manager Les Snead wore a T-shirt with that slogan at his Super Bowl victory parade.
Snead is still living up to that slogan, with Monday’s earth-shattering trade for superstar defensive end Myles Garrett, sending 2024 first-rounder Jared Verse and three future picks, including a 2027 first-rounder, to the Cleveland Browns.
The Golden Knights are the NHL’s equivalent of the Rams: They’ve traded nine of their short-lived franchise’s 11 first-round picks, and their 2026 and 2027 firsts, for stars like Max Pacioretty, Mark Stone, Jack Eichel, Hanifin, Tomas Hertl and Andersson. Five of those six players are on this Vegas squad.
The rebuilding Sharks, as they should, have guarded their first-round picks like Fort Knox over the last half-decade, but hopefully for the franchise, that time is coming to an end soon. In the future, maybe the Sharks won’t trade firsts at the rate of the Golden Knights (or Rams), but it’ll be a sign that they’ve come out of the rebuild and are trying to win a Stanley Cup again.
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA - MAY 31: José Caballero #72 of the New York Yankees is congratulated by Max Schuemann #30 after Caballero scored against the Athletics in the top of the third inning at Sutter Health Park on May 31, 2026 in Sacramento, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) | Getty Images
MLB.com | Theo DeRosa: There are many ways to win a baseball game. Scoring 13 runs in an inning is certainly one of them; I’m surprised the Yankees don’t try it more often. Jokes aside, their 3rd-inning outburst against the A’s on Sunday was one for the ages, and I mean literally – the last time the Yankees scored more runs in an inning, according to this article, was on July 6, 1920 against the Washington Senators, when they hung a 14-spot in the 5th inning. It would be pretty cool if this year’s squad did that too.
MLB.com | Ed Eagle: Rejoice, everybody: Ben Rice has won his first ever Player of the Week award! I guess hitting .462 with seven extra-base hits and 11 RBI in 26 at bats will do that for you. To be honest, Rice has been so good this year that I’m surprised that this was his first time winning this award – I could’ve sworn he had some blazing weeks earlier in the year. Congratulations, Ben, and here’s hoping this is the first of many to come.
Sports Illustrated | Mark Rosenstein: The Yankees need bullpen help, and they could be getting some from an old friend. Tommy Kahnle has had two stints in the Bronx, the second one ending in 2024. This March, he signed a minor league contract with the Red Sox, and he’s been pitching for their AAA affiliate. There’s a quirk to his contract, as if he’s not on the major league roster by June 1 – that is, today – he can opt out, becoming a free agent. Might there be a reunion in the works? If Kahnle is willing to accept another minor league deal, fine, I guess, but color me skeptical about the chances of him actually helping the team. The Yankees need high-caliber options, and a guy who walked 31 batters in 63 innings last year is not my idea of one.
ESPN | Kiley McDaniel: Prospect analyst Kiley McDaniel has released updated top 10 rankings for each MLB team, and right-handed pitcher Sean Paul Liñan receives a shoutout as a “riser to watch”. Acquired from the Dodgers’ system in the Jorbit Vivas trade, Liñan has struck out 51 batters in just 35 innings for the High-A Hudson Valley Renegades this year. If he can continue to post these kinds of numbers going forward, expect Sean Paul to get busy moving up the ranks.
CLEVELAND, OH - MAY 25: Jalen Brunson #11 of the New York Knicks on the court during game against the Cleveland Cavaliers during Game Four of the 2026 Eastern Conference Finals on May 25, 2026 at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. 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 Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
Just one more sleep, and the lights will shine bright.
Just one more day for the Knicks to finally grace the NBA Finals stage once again.
We’ve been waiting for 27 years. We can make it there.
Mike Brown was asked what the Knicks can do to contain Victor Wembanyama defensively:
"You just hope a guy like that, you can find ways to make him work. You pray. I had some buddies that are monks, I can't go to them because he's got that part of the religion all wrapped up" 😂 pic.twitter.com/F8w58V2k1a
“You have to have some sort of fight in you. It doesn’t matter where you are. There’s pressure when you’re sitting in the seat. And it’s warranted because of what we get paid.”
On his prior Finals experience making it easier for him to navigate:
“Just the magnitude of it, being through it. This is my seventh time now being in the Finals. It won’t be overwhelming.”
On Mitchell Robinson’s status before Game 1:
“I’m just waiting on the medical staff. He just did individual work today. I’m waiting on the medical staff to let me know what the next step is.”
On getting ready for a hostile road environment in Game 1 at San Antonio:
“[We need to be] aware that we’re going into an environment where the opposing team is going to generate a lot of energy. Our crowd is one of the best, if not the best in the league, and the energy that we get from playing here at Madison Square Garden is unbelievable. There are probably other buildings where, in their players’ minds, they give them that same energy. So, knowing that it’s going to be hostile, we don’t have the energy of the crowd to help us get over the hump. So we have to come out, not coming out jumping on them, but we have to come out with a purpose, not just physically but mentally as well, so that we don’t fall behind big, because the crowd will really feed into that.”
On defending Wembanyama’s size and skill:
“You just hope [with] a guy like that, you can find ways to make him work. You pray. I have some buddies that are monks — I can’t go to them because he’s got that part of the religion all wrapped up.”
On keeping Wembanyama guessing offensively:
“At his size and his talent and his ability, you’ve got to hope he misses some, but you’ve got to keep mixing things up so you can keep him trying to guess. He’s got a great feel, so it’s going to be hard, but you keep him trying to guess and try to make him work.”
On not expecting Wemby to defend Karl-Anthony Towns in the Finals:
“I imagine Wemby won’t guard him as much. They put a small on KAT quite a bit. Either way, whether Wemby is on him or a small is on him, we always wanna try to move KAT around. Hopefully we’ll be able to do that against San Antonio.”
On Josh Hart’s subtle impact on everything:
“He does so many little things that if you’re not careful, you won’t appreciate them. I got to give him probably more leash than anybody else. I got to let him go be him and get out of his way.”
On finding stability through adversity:
“You find stuff that you can hold onto to help lift you up through some tough times. At the end of the day, yes, we get paid a lot of money and yes, this is a big business, and you respect everybody has to have an opinion, because we’re in the public eye, and you respect that there’s going to be change and you just embrace it.”
On Landry Shamet’s playoff surge:
“When you see a guy like him, getting here the hard way, all the work he’s put in, it makes you giddy inside.”
On lessons from the NBA Cup championship against the Spurs:
“There’s a lot. We’re the same but different team, and same with them. We played different guys during that Cup run. They played different guys during that Cup run. You can tell that they’ve matured as a group. You can tell we’ve matured as a group. So just going through that experience and having that type of pressure, where it’s the only game being played, was something that you can always kind of carry over to try to understand that, you know what, there’s a lot going on around you. We still have a job to do. We have to be very intentional with everything we do, because you’re going to be pulled at in a ton of different directions. But at the end of the day, it’s all about going out and playing that game and getting a win.”
On believing the Knicks were built for the NBA Finals:
“I truly felt that this team was an NBA Finals team. I thought we had a true opportunity. Because some jobs you take, you’re like, ‘OK, we can get better. We have a chance to make the playoffs right now.’ But this one, I felt we legitimately had a chance if we could help them figure it out, and the players could stay together during the process, especially when we hit adversity.”
On when he sensed the team peaking late in the regular season:
“Down the stretch of the regular season, like, with, I don’t know, six, seven games to go, after Landry got back, I think I started to see us play some good basketball and do some things, do more things that were selfless, or more sacrificing from the group. So, maybe then. Right where we need to be at the right time of the year.”
"The greatest currency you can earn in New York City is not money, but it's respect. To have the respect of the fans in the city, we are rich beyond belief here in the city."
“I feel like the word hope has been gone from the New York Knicks for a long time. And for me and OG to be part of this team that revives the word hope in the city, it’s something special. It’s something really, really special, and it’s an honor.”
On earning respect from Knicks fans:
“I can remember draft day a while ago. The Knicks were not good, and people didn’t seem to care as much about [them]. It’s been an honor to be part of this team, be part of this organization, like bring the word ‘hope’ back to the city. To have the Knicks be where we’re at right now and to be so respected in the city. I’ve always said the best currency you could earn in New York City is not money, it’s respect. And to have the respect of the fans in the city, we’re rich beyond belief here in the city.”
On maximizing this Finals opportunity:
“I don’t think anybody who’s made the finals would say they don’t feel like a winner. And I also think that when you get an opportunity like this, you have to maximize it. You never know if you get another chance, you never know what life has in store for all of us. And these opportunities are very far and few between, and you gotta make the most of them.”
On finding the 1999 Finals shirt right before his Knicks debut:
“I didn’t know that was gonna come back to be a photo that we all remember. I grew up a Knicks fan, and to be my first game as a Knick, officially, after a wild training camp that I didn’t get to have [because he had to wait a few days for the trade to become official], and really meeting my teammates for the first time at Charlotte for that preseason game… it was a special moment for me and my family. I remember my father was there, my wife was there, and it was one of those moments. I found that shirt in my first days of actually being on the team. I found it in Charleston (S.C.), funny enough. While they were practicing, I was out vintage shopping in the city and I found the shirt and funny enough, I wore that shirt for the first game and here we are. Looking back at that shirt as an omen.”
On not reading too much into previous Spurs matchups:
“The Finals are won by a team, and I think both of our teams are different than what you saw at the [NBA] Cup. Even though we were blessed to be able to win it, we’re not the same team that we were at the Cup, nor are they the same team that they were at the Cup.”
On the need for attacking Wembanyama as a team:
“It’s not even a personal thing for me. It’s about our team doing what we’ve been doing, which is play high-level defense, and utilizing those turnovers in the defense to get our offense going. So as long as our team plays with that kind of energy and discipline and game plan execution, we have a chance.”
On Josh Hart’s impact on winning:
“He just impacts the game. He impacts winning. The perfect example for any basketball player who wants to learn how to truly impact the winning of the team.”
“I think I started to learn to play the game and give myself more grace and not to try to be perfect and I’m happy with that.”
On whether the NBA Cup final offers lessons for the Finals:
“No, that was December. Obviously, there was good energy around that, but I don’t think that’s really going to be any equivalent to what the atmosphere or the energy is going to be like at their place, obviously at the Garden. Technically, that game didn’t happen, so I don’t think there’s anything we can learn from.”
On the team’s selfless identity during the playoff run:
“This team was a selfless group. At the end of the day we know we’re willing to sacrifice our own individual performance or stats or accolades for the betterment of the team. When you have not just one, two or three, but a whole team of those kinds of guys, that kind of character, it puts you in a position to be successful.”
On admitting overconfidence after going up 2-0 in the 2021 Finals:
“I remember going up 2-0 [and] I thought we was good. We ’bout to win the chip, especially in the West, especially then, the West all had tough teams. East, we were like, whatever … We go see Milwaukee, we’re over here like, ‘Pfft.’ I’m like, ‘It’s light. It’s the East. It’s Milwaukee. I know they got Giannis [Antetokounmpo] and obviously they got hoopers, but the West is tougher than the East.’ We’re like, ‘We good.’ Go up 2-0, we’re looking like, ‘Exactly. This is what we’ve been talking about. It’s the East, bruh. We’re about to win this.’ And then they went on to win four straight. I just couldn’t believe it.”
On learning from 2021 and staying focused during the current Finals run:
“[There are] a lot of questions, a lot of talk about how great we are, how great we’ve been. It doesn’t matter. We just got to worry about being ourselves and stay locked in. It’s great to get there, but that’s not our main goal.”
“Yeah, honestly, I think it was a great opportunity for us to play a high-stakes game. Obviously, I didn’t play, but I played in Cup games. So I feel like we treated it close to a playoff game. We haven’t been to the Finals. They haven’t been to the Finals. So it’s going to be totally different and a lot has happened since then, so just excited for this.”
On how to keep Victor Wembanyama out of the paint:
“Obviously, you have to figure out how to get him out of the paint, how to run him, those little things. I feel like OKC did a decent job of that. But he’s a special player. Honestly, what I think they do a great job … their guards put a lot of pressure on the ball handler, which is forcing him into Wemby. If you’re playing off the ball, not setting screens and allowing him to roam freely without being touched, it’s different if somebody is screening you and then you’re getting over things. So I feel like just being physical and bringing a presence to him and to their team.”
"Walking my dog, I'm getting stopped left and right. It's pretty cool."
Landry Shamet talks about his interactions with Knicks fans during their playoff run: pic.twitter.com/NzACjrevvE
On Karl-Anthony Towns’ shooting changing defensive plans from opponents:
“Every team is going to play the game, mess with matchups and whatnot. Obviously, Karl’s shooting is something that anybody has to honor, and that changes the game plan entirely. You have to prepare for that, [as well] the pick-and-roll with Jalen and KAT, with a versatile shooting big who can also roll and make plays in the pocket. As well as he’s been passing the ball and facilitating, I could go on and on about what KAT brings to us. … However they decide to match up with it, there’s going to be pros to that; there’s also going to be cons to that, and areas that we’re going to try to exploit.”
On not dwelling on past series momentum:
“All that [Cleveland] stuff’s behind us. And the reality is our job at hand right now is making sure our bodies are right; making sure our minds are right; making sure we’re paying attention to details. We’ve been incredibly sharp and locked-in, and taking care of [what we can] control was just really all you can do. And then when the ball is tipped up here in a couple of days, it’ll be right back into the swing of things of a series.”
On staying present during the playoff run:
“This has been a special run. I’m trying to not take any of it for granted or miss out on any of it. But the main thing is, stay focused on one minute at a time, one game at a time. I’ll give myself the time to reflect on all that when it’s all said and done. The love from New York has been undeniable and that’s one thing I’ll happily acknowledge and it’s right back to you guys. Now my focus is trying to go win Game 1.”
On Knicks fans waiting decades for a trip to the Finals:
“I can’t tell you how many fans over the past couple of weeks, when you see them on the street or anywhere, they say, ‘Oh, I’ve waited my whole life for this.’ Now, some of them might be 17 years old and haven’t been around for that long, but there are a lot of people, even my age, who don’t really remember the championship years. For them to experience this is special.”
On the Knicks’ resilience during the season:
“They had stretches of uneven play, stretches where you see they were still a work in progress. That, to me, is [what is] most impressive — even in the ups and downs, the ebb and flow of a regular season, they stuck together, they kept working, and it just all clicked in the playoffs to the point where this is one of the great playoff runs in NBA history.”
The '99 Knicks-Spurs parallels are wild, but Chris Childs tells me this era of NY basketball is built different.
From trading Oak to how Jalen Brunson needs to attack Wembanyama’s length—we broke down the blueprint to secure the parade.
— 👑 Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson (@ScoopB) May 31, 2026
Chris Childs
On similarities between the 1999 run and this Knicks team:
“Yeah, it’s really similar. The only difference is that we swept one series during our run and this current team swept two. It’s like déjà vu all over again. But honestly, I don’t think the results are going to be the same this time around. Being in this current atmosphere and stratosphere, it’s just their time. It’s been so long since New York has been here, and I think these guys have a real taste to get the job done—even though it’s going to be tough. Facing San Antonio is no joke. Whatever that dude is over there—Victor Wembanyama looks like Kevin Durant and Bill Russell had a baby. It’s going to be a battle, but I think our guys are ready.”
On his X-factor and Finals prediction:
“I think this series is going to go six games. As for the X-factor, this championship grind is going to come down to Miles ‘Deuce’ McBride shooting the ball well and giving us that crucial spark off the bench. We also need solid production out of Landry Shamet. If those guys can consistently step up and give the Knicks 10 points or more a game off the pine, the Knicks are beating the Spurs in six.”
— New York Post Sports (@nypostsports) June 2, 2026
Jamal Crawford
On the Knicks’ connection with their fanbase:
“This is crazy, I have not played here in almost 20 years at that point, and they still show that kind of love. Once A Knick, Always A Knick, and they truly make you feel that.”
On the Knicks’ belief during this run:
“They’re playing with a certain belief, like no matter the situation, no matter the outcome, they feel like they can win the game, like no matter how they start, if they get down during the course of a game, they play with a different belief. And the belief is like the strength in numbers. They’re believing that somebody will step up, somebody will provide a spark — obviously Jalen and KAT and OG and Mikal and Josh — but then you’ll have Deuce come in, Mitchell Robinson to come in and get some offensive rebounds. They have so many different weapons, and they’re all pulling in the same direction, they have a different type belief in each other. It’s really a championship-contending type belief.”
On whether size determines whether a player can become a champion after Becky Hammon’s take:
“No, I think anybody can be a champion. I think sometimes heart goes over height. I also think thinking quick on your toes and having supreme basketball IQ can negate even the biggest people.”
— New York Post Sports (@nypostsports) June 1, 2026
Marcus Camby
On his message to the Knicks entering the Finals:
“I would tell the Knicks right now to enjoy the moment, play for your brothers, and leave everything out there on the basketball court because it’s not promised that we will get to this position again.”
On why he believes the Knicks can win:
“I just think they’re playing their best basketball right now. They’ve been scoring at a high clip, shooting the ball at a high percentage, everything just seems to be clicking right now. … I think if guys can stay healthy during this Finals run, I think we’ll have a real good shot at bringing the title home to New York.”
NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani signed an executive order Monday morning repealing bedtime for the duration of the Knicks finals run so the city's children can stay up late and watch.
Watch the Knicks in the NBA Finals on ABC 7! Game 1 tips off on Wednesday, June 3, at 8:30 p.m. More:… pic.twitter.com/LgMnlQ3tsH
The Sydney Thunder have confirmed one of the most significant off-field acquisitions in Big Bash League history, announcing former England captain Andrew Flintoff as the club’s new head coach.
Precisely when it is apparent that Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and LeBron James are descending from their peaks, the basketball gods bless us with the most compelling NBA Finals since all three were featured in firefights between the Warriors and Cavaliers.
The NBA’s New York headquarters is alive with the clinking of champagne glasses and the ringing of slot-machine jackpots. Maybe singing. The celebration began Saturday night, and the league hopes it continues through June 19, when Game 7 is scheduled.
On one side, the hoop gods are giving us the veteran New York Knicks, with their devout and long-suffering fan base, standing behind an undersized star while representing America’s largest city. Many consider New York basketball heaven and Madison Square Garden the mecca.
On the other side, we’re getting the youthful San Antonio Spurs, more than a decade removed from metronomic excellence. Now, featuring Victor Wembanyama, the global game’s latest phenomenon, a 22-year-old wunderkind reaching to seize the royal torch from Steph, KD and LeBron.
Such disparate characterizations ought to make this battle immune to apathy. Both fan bases are rabid, but some of that energy already is spreading (mostly toward the Spurs). It’s tough for any fan to avoid interest, or at least a measure of curiosity.
Which is why Game 1 on Wednesday projects to be the first this century to attract more than 20 million viewers, blowing past the 2016 Finals opener – Curry and the Warriors vs. James and the Cavs – to become, if not surpass, the most-watched Finals Game 1 ever with Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls.
Game 1 might be the most consequential of these Finals.
If the Spurs prevail, it will sprinkle plenty of seasoning on their internal confidence. Moreover, they will have flattened the momentum the Knicks generated while winning 11 consecutive playoff games by a record-setting margin of 24.8 points. New York likely would recover, but the shield of invincibility that carried them into June will be shattered.
If the Knicks, after eight days without a game, stroll into Frost Bank Center and emerge victorious, it could put doubt in the minds of the Spurs. After methodically conquering Western Conference foes on increasingly larger stages, including defending champion Oklahoma City, are the much younger but wholly impetuous Spurs mature enough to stay solid on the ultimate stage?
Their coach, Mitch Johnson, thinks they are.
“With just how young and talented (we) are, to be able to be this resilient, especially against some teams that have been here,” Johnson told reporters over the weekend. “Playing Minnesota, they’ve been in the conference finals the last two years. OKC has been to the conference finals last two years, been the 1 seed the last three years and just won a championship.
“Being able to do it against those types of teams, I think prepares you for whatever you’re going to see at the end.”
The Knicks, however, bring a whole different level of experience, overall and in the postseason. Their rotation is laden with players between 28 and 31 years old, prime years. Aside from 25-year-old guard Miles McBride, New York’s top eight players have a combined 464 games of playoff experience.
New York is new to The Finals, its first since 1973, but this is a very familiar path.
This is Johnson’s first full season as head coach; he has coached 18 playoff games. He has done a tremendous job, but The Finals can raise the heat to an altogether different level. There is some uncertainty about whether the Spurs, with their talented but occasionally erratic youngsters, are ready for this.
The oddsmakers don’t think they are. One reason is the postseason experience not only of players but of coach Mike Brown. He has 100 playoff games as head coach, with four different franchises: the Cavaliers, Lakers, Kings and now the Knicks. That’s in addition to his 12-0 record as temporary head coach of the Warriors when Steve Kerr was sidelined for medical reasons.
Brown believes the Knicks, as their record indicates, are peaking.
“Our group is playing good basketball, and they’re doing it in different ways,” Brown told reporters last week. “They’re doing it differently depending on who our opponent is. And when you show that type of versatility on both ends of the floor, it just adds to your belief.”
“I’ve said it before, you use regular season to get ready for the postseason. And our guys did a hell of a job with that.”
New York will face a level of physicality not felt on its road through the Eastern Conference. But previous postseason setbacks have left the kind of wounds that result in scar tissue. These Spurs, by contrast, barely have been scratched.
This series, however, is about more than deciding a champion. It’s about one team exorcising decades of despair and the other introducing a monster capable of terrorizing the league for many years.
The marquee is appealing, the lights are bright and eyeballs will be plentiful. These Finals bring the kind of spectator nirvana not seen since 2016, when Curry and Warriors – after coming back to eliminate Durant and Thunder in the conference finals– took a 3-1 lead over James and the Cavs, only to fall in seven.
May we get seven games in these Finals. No doubt the NBA wants it. And why wouldn’t its fans?
At a time when so many Americans inject jingoism into their veins and claim global superiority, our national sports landscape is providing a compelling rebuttal. Nowhere is the evidence more potent than in the NBA, where the United States has been shut out for eight consecutive Most Valuable Player awards.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, a Canadian citizen who plays for Oklahoma City, last month won the award for the second straight year. Furthermore, no American finished among the top four in the voting. Detroit’s Cade Cunningham was fifth.
While there still is plenty of exceptional talent in the U.S., this should sound alarms.
Theories are plentiful, but much of the blame for the national slide is directed not at the NBA but at the development levels, where poor habits and other influences are pervasive. The general belief is that it is the first place in need of a reset.
Former Warriors center Zaza Pachulia, who won two championships with Golden State, has two sons, both of whom play prep basketball in the East Bay. Davit, 17, at De La Salle in Concord, and Saba, 16, at Las Lomas in neighboring Walnut Creek.
Pachulia, born and raised in Eastern Europe, is among the parents displeased with what he has seen not so much at high schools but within the amateur circuit. He shared his thoughts during a guest segment on the Dubs Talk podcast.
“This is all new for me,” Pachulia, whose family has settled in America, said on the latest episode of NBC Sports Bay Area’s “Dubs Talk” podcast. “I was born and raised in Georgia, and played in Turkey before I got drafted (in 2003). So, I’m coming from the European culture, right? So, this is new for me. And it’s mind-boggling, to be honest. It’s sad. I feel like I feel I genuinely feel bad with what I see on the grassroots in basketball.
“Hopefully, it’s going to change. I’m not going to get into a lot of details, because there’s so many things to talk about because it’s really broken in my opinion.”
Though Pachulia did not call out the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), it has been a target for at least the last two decades. Its influence – and the amount of money involved – has grown exponentially over the past 20 years. In some cases, the AAU circuit can be an introduction to college or the G League. In other cases, its emphasis on tournaments over structured practices can be detrimental to developing skills.
Meanwhile, the European model, with a shallower pool of elite athletes, focuses more on the essential elements of basketball. There tends to be more structure, with a consistent emphasis on fundamentals.
“Some 16-year-olds trained in Europe have more advanced skills than some 20-year-olds in America,” one NBA scout told NBC Sports Bay Area.
There was a time not so long ago when NBA franchises paid little attention to basketball beyond American shores. What began in the 1980s as a curiosity, with few foreign-born players making an impact – Vlade Divac, Sarunas Marciulionis, Dikembe Mutombo, Hakeem Olajuwon, Drazen Petrovic to name five – has become a movement.
All 30 NBA franchises now have multiple scouts flying all over the planet in search of talent. They usually get there after players with NBA potential have been discovered by agents who have associates or contacts planted on every broadly inhabited continent.
The NBA decades ago expressed a goal of becoming a global force, and it has succeeded.
“It’s great for the game, in my opinion, that you have players from different parts of the world that come in this amazing country and amazing league and being really, really good,” said Pachulia, whose 16-year NBA career ended in 2019. “It’s only going to raise the bar. And at the end of the day, it’s a competition, right?”
The U.S. has a clear advantage in the depth of elite NBA talent. But the league’s longtime standard bearers – Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and LeBron James – are aging out. The last of the three to finish among the top five in MVP voting is Curry (in 2021), who also is the last to win the award (2016).
Gilgeous-Alexander, 27, won the 2026 MVP award by a decisive margin. Finishing was Denver center Nikola Jokić, the 31-year-old 7-foot Serbian who won the award in 2021, 2022 and 2024. In fourth place was Lakers guard Luka Dončić, born in Slovenia. At 27, he would like to believe he will have many opportunities to hoist the award in the future.
Or maybe not. The third-place finisher was center Victor Wembanyama, born in France but the future of San Antonio. At age 22, his impact is potent enough to keep SGA from winning a third MVP award, Jokić from winning a fourth or Dončić from winning his first.
Wembanyama’s presence with the Spurs, who are built to contend for many years, also will make it difficult for young American stars such as Anthony Edwards, Paolo Banchero, Cooper Flagg or Cunningham to win the award.
The trend that began in 2019, Giannis Antetokounmpo, born and raised in Greece, won the first of his back-to-back MVP awards, is unprecedented in the NBA. And unlikely to fade anytime soon.
“Don’t be too dramatic (when implying) international players are dominating the league,” Pachulia said. “That’s beautiful. I’d say that’s embrace it. That’s celebrated.
“But at the same time, I would say, hopefully, grassroots in [the] U.S. will be better than what is now. It’s sad what I see. It’s disgusting. I’m disgusted with it, to be honest. It’s so much politics, so many wrong things. And this country is so powerful, man, and . . . I just expect and want to see grassroots to be better here.”
LOS ANGELES — Orel Hershiser remembers the tight games before he remembers the number.
Before the Cherry Hill native became tied forever to 59, there were smaller calculations. A leadoff double. A hitter he wanted to avoid. A one-run lead, or no lead at all, with a Dodgers lineup giving him little room.
That rings true to Cristopher Sánchez’s scoreless stretch.
The Phillies’ ace has gone 44 2/3 consecutive innings without allowing a run. Last Wednesday, he passed Grover Cleveland Alexander for the longest scoreless streak in franchise history. He sits 14 1/3 innings from Hershiser’s major-league record, set in 1988.
Hershiser was a 29-year-old right-hander then. He won the National League Cy Young Award, led the majors with 23 wins, led the NL with 15 complete games and then took home NLCS and World Series MVP honors.
Sánchez is a 29-year-old left-hander now. He finished second in the National League Cy Young Award race last season after going 13-5 with a 2.50 ERA across 32 starts. This year, he has pitched like the favorite, with a 6-2 record, a 1.47 ERA and nine quality starts in 12 outings.
They are the only two pitchers in baseball history to make five starts in a calendar month and not allow a run.
Even so, Hershiser sees more than the chase.
“I think people forget it’s a team,” Hershiser said. “It’s a team record.”
That answer frames Sánchez’s streak better than the number alone.
The Phillies enter Tuesday with one of baseball’s worst offenses, third-worst in OPS and second-worst in on-base percentage. Since Sánchez’s streak began, their pitching staff has ranked third in ERA, though.
They have needed every zero.
Hershiser pitched through a similar season in 1988. The Dodgers won the World Series with a .657 regular-season OPS, the second-lowest by any champion since the Dead Ball Era.
From July 1 through the end of the regular season, they had the worst OPS in baseball. Their pitching staff finished with the second-best ERA in the majors.
The Dodgers scored just 18 total runs in those seven Hershiser starts, a streak that ran from Aug. 30 to Sept. 28.
“One of the things that probably helped me during the streak was our team wasn’t scoring very much,” Hershiser said. “It wasn’t like I had any 6-0 games where I could trade outs for runs.”
A larger lead would have changed his approach. Hershiser would have chased quick outs. He would have treated the game differently.
“I wouldn’t have worried about the streak,” he said. “I would have just said, ‘I want to get this game over with. I want to save my pitch count. I want to pitch nine innings.’”
The Dodgers did not give him that choice.
“Because the games were so close,” Hershiser said, “I think it made it extra special to prevent the run.”
Sánchez has pitched through a similar stretch. His starts have become the surest day on the Phillies’ schedule.
“You can’t go 30 innings,” Hershiser said, “without having a good team.”
He was not talking only about run support.
He meant the catcher. The defense. The positioning. A scoreless streak leaves no margin for sloppiness.
“Somebody’s got to pick the baseball up and throw it to first and not throw it away,” Hershiser said.
He still remembers the plays behind his own streak.
John Shelby made spectacular catches in center. Steve Sax made plays at second. The Dodgers made diving stops. In San Francisco, with runners on first and third, Los Angeles failed to turn a double play. Then the Giants’ Brett Butler was ruled out of the baseline, giving the Dodgers the double play anyway.
Hershiser still recalls it as one of the breaks that kept the streak alive.
He saw similar moments in Sánchez’s last start against San Diego. Balls reached the warning track. Justin Crawford crashed into the wall in center field to save a run.
Sánchez created the streak. The Phillies have defended it.
When asked what holds a scoreless streak together, Hershiser started with the backstop.
“The relationship with your catcher,” he said. “The ability for the data guys now to put the fielders in the right place, too. In my day, I moved the fielders with my eyes and my body language.”
The sport has changed. The work has not.
Sánchez still has to execute.
Hershiser built his streak, and his career, on command, feel and contact. He did not chase strikeouts unless the game called for one.
“I didn’t play go out and dominate,” Hershiser said. “I played hit it early, hit it weakly, hit it at somebody.”
Sánchez works from a similar base, with more swing-and-miss.
His sinker runs. His changeup fades. His arm slot gives hitters a tough look. His delivery hides the ball long enough for the movement to play.
“Deception,” Hershiser said.
The longtime Dodger sees the connection. He also sees the separation.
“He’s a groundball machine, which I was,” Hershiser said. “But he’s a better strikeout pitcher than I was.”
That gives Sánchez another way out of trouble. Hershiser had to choose his strikeout spots. Sánchez creates more of them.
Still, Hershiser values movement over pure velocity.
“A big leaguer can time a bullet,” Hershiser said. “So I would rather you throw the ball 94 with late movement than 99 as straight as a string in the middle.”
Nothing Sánchez throws is flat. His sinker and changeup move late, and they look similar long enough to force early swing decisions.
The modern game adds another layer.
Hershiser finished his streak with 10 scoreless innings in extras against San Diego, an unheard of effort nowadays.
But he does not view the current game as easier. Starters throw fewer innings, but clubs demand more of them.
“They’re also asked to throw at a higher effort level,” Hershiser said. “Everything’s being measured.”
He does not dismiss the information, but he rejects the idea that it captures every decision from the mound.
“From 30,000 feet, [the analytics] might be right,” Hershiser said. “But from ground level, I’m not sure they’re right.”
Sánchez’s streak lives in that gap between what the data says and what a pitcher still has to feel from the mound.
Now he has to see the Padres again on Wednesday to continue the chase.
“It’s not a streak until you start entering into the hierarchy of streaks,” Hershiser said.
Once his name moved up the list, the questions followed. USA Today. The Associated Press. The Los Angeles Times.
Hershiser reduced the job to the next pitch.
“I can throw one more sinking fastball away,” he said. “I can bounce one more curveball when I get ahead.”
Sánchez now faces that same narrow task.
The next pitch.
Dodgers legend Don Drysdale, whose record Hershiser chased, worked around the team then as a broadcaster and mentor at the time. As Hershiser moved closer, Drysdale gave him space.
“He was very much a gentleman,” Hershiser said.
Hershiser now watches from the other side.
Fellow Dodgers Clayton Kershaw, who reached 41 scoreless innings in 2014, and Zack Greinke, who reached 45 2/3 innings in 2015, got close. Greinke stopped almost exactly where Sánchez sits now.
Hershiser said his family and friends root harder against challengers than he does. He does not guard the record like property.
So he watches Sánchez with respect, not fear.
He knows the stress.
“The record is a record,” Hershiser said. “It’s not going to make or break or change my life anymore. It already did.”
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Manny Malhotra was hired as coach of the Vancouver Canucks on Monday night.
The former Canucks forward takes over for Adam Foote, fired last month after Vancouver finished last in the NHL during his only season behind the bench.
Malhotra becomes the 23rd head coach in franchise history and the latest Canucks player to be promoted by the team as it begins its rebuild.
“Manny and I have been in the battle together before, so I know firsthand what a good teacher, leader, and quality person he is,” general manager Ryan Johnson said in a statement.
The pair previously worked together in the minors with the American Hockey League’s Abbotsford Canucks.
“Manny is a great coach who has the right skill set and mentality to help players develop and get better each day,” Johnson said. “We both believe that pressure is a privilege, and learning to become a good pro takes patience, dedication and a ‘be better than yesterday’ mindset.”
Foote was fired on May 19 after the Canucks went 25-49-8 last season. Malhotra immediately emerged as a prime candidate to replace him, with Johnson saying he would sit down with the 46-year-old former NHL player and “talk about the future.”
Malhotra previously served as a development coach and an assistant coach for the Canucks, then spent four seasons as an assistant with the Toronto Maple Leafs before becoming Abbotsford's head coach.
There, he guided the AHL team to a Calder Cup championship during the 2024-25 campaign. The club then missed the playoffs last season as several players dealt with long-term injuries.
It was the way Malhotra led Abbotsford through a challenging year that showed exactly the kind of coach and person he is, Johnson said.
“To see that when you can rely on the foundation of the consistent environment and the coaching through the worst of times and really continue to propel players forward, even though the wins and losses aren’t there, it tells you a lot about him,” he said.
“That entire staff showed that they’re champions based off of not the year before, but of what they did last year, and what people around them took out of a pretty tough season.”
The promotion reunites Malhotra with former teammates Daniel and Henrik Sedin, who were named Vancouver’s co-presidents of hockey operations on May 14.
Malhotra, from Ontario, spent 16 seasons playing in the NHL after getting drafted by the New York Rangers in 1998.
He had 116 goals and 295 points in 991 regular-season games with Vancouver, New York, the Dallas Stars, Columbus Blue Jackets, San Jose Sharks, Montreal Canadiens and Carolina Hurricanes.
Malhotra took a puck to the face while playing for the Canucks in March 2011, an injury that left him with limited vision in his left eye. He missed much of the team’s run to the Stanley Cup Final that year and was given a reduced role the following season.
“He loves the game and getting to know what makes his players tick, and I am very confident Manny will help us ice a competitive and hard-working team that our fans will be proud of moving forward,” Johnson said.
The new England coach, Brian McDermott, has a job on his hands. The man he replaced, Shaun Wane, must have watched the Challenge Cup final on Saturday from the padded seats at Wembley and thought he had dodged a bullet. The prospect of facing the NRL’s finest in the stifling heat of New South Wales at the World Cup later this year was a daunting thought even before we saw England players struggle at Wembley in 30-degree heat.
Just before the interval, Junior Nsemba must have set a stadium record for how long it takes to walk 20 yards and get back onside. He was clearly saving himself for an epic second-half performance. Clever lad. Nsemba was not so clever when he joined Sam Walters in dumping Bill Leyland on his head seconds before the hooter. He is fortunate to escape a ban given that Walters, who was shown red, has been handed a seven-match suspension.
New York Knicks (53-29, third in the Eastern Conference) vs. San Antonio Spurs (62-20, second in the Western Conference)
San Antonio; Wednesday, 8:30 p.m. EDT
LINE: Spurs -4.5; over/under is 218.5
NBA FINALS: Spurs host first series matchup
BOTTOM LINE: The San Antonio Spurs host the New York Knicks to open the NBA Finals. San Antonio and New York tied the regular season series 1-1. The Knicks won the last regular season meeting 114-89 on Sunday, March 1 led by 25 points from Mikal Bridges, while Victor Wembanyama scored 25 points for the Spurs.
The Spurs have gone 32-8 in home games. San Antonio is 8-5 in games decided by less than 4 points.
The Knicks are 23-19 on the road. New York is seventh in the league with 45.6 rebounds per game. Karl-Anthony Towns paces the Knicks with 11.9.
The Spurs make 48.3% of their shots from the field this season, which is 2.3 percentage points higher than the Knicks have allowed to their opponents (46.0%). The Knicks are shooting 47.8% from the field, 2.7% higher than the 45.1% the Spurs' opponents have shot this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Wembanyama is averaging 25 points, 11.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 3.1 blocks for the Spurs. Stephon Castle is averaging 19.5 points over the last 10 games.
Towns is averaging 20.1 points and 11.9 rebounds for the Knicks. Jalen Brunson is averaging 27.4 points and 2.9 rebounds while shooting 51.8% over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Spurs: 6-4, averaging 116.3 points, 47.9 rebounds, 25.0 assists, 8.9 steals and 6.5 blocks per game while shooting 46.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 108.3 points per game.
Knicks: 10-0, averaging 123.8 points, 45.0 rebounds, 28.8 assists, 9.5 steals and 4.1 blocks per game while shooting 53.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 99.2 points.
INJURIES: Spurs: David Jones Garcia: out for season (ankle).
Knicks: Mitchell Robinson: day to day (finger).
___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
Jun 1, 2026; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Mariners second baseman Cole Young (2) reacts after hitting a walk-off RBI-single against the New York Mets during the tenth inning at T-Mobile Park. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images | Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images
Tonight, the calendar freshly turned to June, those two players—along with rookie Colt Emerson (who had his own spring training storyline) and not-rookies Josh Naylor and Randy Arozarena—combined to deliver the Mariners their seventh straight win, continuing to buoy the team above the .500 mark they’ve so miserably been circling most of this season, as the Mariners defeated the Mets 3-2.
It didn’t necessarily seem that this would be the case. After the Oakland series, the Mariners had lulled some people (not me) into a false sense of security in their ability to perform against left-handed pitching, something that’s been a bête noire for the team all season given the lefty-heavy nature of the roster, the injuries/ineffectiveness of their right-handed options, and the overall stop-and-start nature of an offense that was designed to do damage from top to bottom. That wasn’t the case today as the Mariners hitters struggled against Sean Manaea, making boatloads of quick, weak-contact outs. The only damage against Manaea was a left-on-left home run in the third (technically Manaea’s second inning, as the Mets used an opener because it’s apparently 2016 in the Bronx) by Colt Emerson, his second big-league barrel:
But one solo home run over six innings will, generally, Not Cut It, even when the person on the mound is Emerson Hancock, spinning another gem. Hancock was very good today, but not perfect, and that not-perfect caught up with him on two solo homers, both in three-ball counts: one game-tying in the fifth and one go-ahead in the sixth (and to Marcus Semien! Just his second of the year!)
But this feels like damning with faint praise for Hancock, who again was very good, showing off yet another wrinkle in his pitch mix by digging deep in his arsenal to add in his rarely-thrown curveball (he threw six today, after having thrown only 16 all year), dialing up his cutter usage against a lefty-heavy Mets lineup. The north-south movement of the curveball provides a solid counterpoint to Hancock’s more east-west arsenal, such as his cutter, which he was able to spot on both sides of the plate tonight and throw at varying velocities in seemingly any count.
“I think [the cutter] gives you an option early,” said Hancock postgame. “It gives you an option behind in the count, or even late. And I think with that pitch, all my pitches, I’m just trying to be as creative as possible, be able to have as many options as I can.”
But it looked like Hancock was on his way to being a tough-luck loser despite pitching so well – six innings, seven strikeouts, no walks and just the two homers – until the seven inning when the Mets, who have been using Manaea as a swingman, replaced him with Brooks Raley, who loves giving up home runs to Mariners like Josh Naylor loves shoes. Naylor immediately made them pay for that decision, skying a game-tying home run to right field.
The Mariners couldn’t add on after that despite a Cole Young single, so Dan Wilson went to Matt Brash in the eighth. Brash hit the first batter he faced, MJ Melendez, but Cole Young was able to bail him out on a nicely turned double play and then Matt helped himself out with a truly vicious strikeout of Marcus Semien. The only bummer about that inning was that Josh Naylor disappeared, replaced by Patrick Wisdom at first base; Dan Wilson later confirmed Naylor was removed with back spasms, felt on the home run swing, and he is day-to-day.
But back to that double play for a second: this was an inflection point in the game, with the Mets threatening against Brash, who was shaky in his last outing. Young’s heads-up play (I strenuously object to the official MLB video title for this clip which is “Mariners turn interesting double play”), where he successfully fields the ball, tags the runner, fires to first cleanly, and makes sure he doesn’t obstruct the runner, all in a matter of moments, is the kind of reflexive, instinctual play Young used to make in the minors all the time but disappeared at the big-league level in his rookie season as he struggled to get his bearings at second base. Not that this is a doubt by now but the improvements from spring training did make the trip north.
“That was a really heads-up play,” said Wilson. “I gotta believe he took a page out of Naylor’s book from the other day, too, very similar kind of play…that’s what we’ve seen at second base all year from Cole…we talk about his slow heartbeat, and that was another moment where he just did what he had to to get the double play. Huge for us.”
Young himself deflected when asked if he was indeed taking a page out of Naylor’s book, saying he wasn’t exactly sure what the rule was but he “figured it out.” How did he figure it out?
“I asked the umpire,” he said. “I honestly didn’t know, but good to know, now.”
Andrés Muñoz pitched the ninth for the Mariners, facing Luis Torrens and the top of the lineup, and it was nice to see Muñoz put together a clean 1-2-3 inning. It was less nice to see Julio go down hacking against Devin Williams in the bottom of the inning, followed by Victor Robles grounding out and Randy Arozarena also striking out hacking, sending the game to extras for the second day in a row.
Gabe Speier took the tenth to face the lefties stacked in the middle of New York’s lineup. Speier opened the inning by striking out Juan Soto in a full count, prompting the Mets to put in pinch-hitter Mark Vientos for lefty Jared Young, owner of one of the Mets’ two home runs that night. Speier struck him out. When this series is over Mets and Mariners fans might have some similar bellyaching to do about platoons. Speier followed that up by getting rookie A.J. Ewing to pop out, keeping the Mets’ Manfred Man standing at second. It was maybe the sharpest we’ve seen Speier all year, and if the upshot of the piggyback is it allows vintage Gabe Speier to re-emerge, I might have to reconsider my reservations.
The Mets called upon yet another lefty, A.J. Minter, to deal with the Mariners in the bottom of the tenth, curious given that Patrick Wisdom was leading off instead of the injured Naylor – but again, Wisdom couldn’t make the most of the platoon advantage, striking out. However, Randy Arozarena was the runner at second, and having drawn a couple of throws and generally made a pest of himself, he took off for third as Wisdom struck out, putting the winning run on base with just one out and making Cole Young’s job a little easier.
I have been sitting on these numbers for a while because the sample size is so small but we’ve gotten enough to where Young finally has over 50 plate appearances in high-leverage situations. In those situations, his slashline is .273/.396/.500. Dan Wilson has praised Young’s “slow heartbeat” multiple times this season, but it’s different when you see it in action. Young took a cutter off the plate away, and Minter went back to the same spot; he reached out and flicked a little hit into left field for the game-winner, exactly one year and one day after his debut walk-off (this one traveled just a bit further).
If the Mariners are going to keep control of the AL West while their starting catcher and biggest off-season acquisition are shelved, it’s going to need to come from contributions from players like these: a rookie sensation Emerson, a resurgent Hancock, a sophomore no-slump Young. So far, all three are proving their spring awakenings are here to stay.
It’s been almost three weeks since the NBA Lottery, when the #2 pick was given to the Utah Jazz. My guess is that a lot of Jazz fans were preparing themselves for disappointment, as always. But instead, it was shock and elation at their pick jumping in the lottery for the first time.
Now, the anxiety of hoping the Jazz jump has turned into the anxiety of who the Jazz will pick. If we’re being honest, there are only two real options: AJ Dybantsa and Darryn Peterson.
Now, the issue for Utah is that that decision is likely being made for them, but let’s consider the Wizards make the analytical pick and take Cam Boozer, who is the upside pick and who is the best fit between Peterson and Dybantsa?
This could be argued in a myriad of ways, but when you look at the Jazz roster, the starting unit as it stands is likely Keyonte George, Ace Bailey, Lauri Markkanen, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Walker Kessler. That’s a huge lineup that will be really interesting next season. The issue? There’s not a lot of reliable ball-handling and playmaking with that roster. The other thing to consider is if Ace Bailey is ready to be an unquestioned starter. In my opinion, he’s not quite there yet, and come draft night, regardless of whether the Jazz draft Dybantsa or Peterson, Bailey is likely coming off the bench. So in that scenario of Bailey as your 6th man, Darryn Peterson is definitely the better fit. Both he and Dybantsa can handle the ball, but Peterson would slide into the 2-spot seamlessly. He can play off of Keyonte George and be an off-ball shooter, whereas Dybantsa, as of right now, is more effective with the ball in his hands. Considering how lethal Peterson is as a shooter, it immediately makes the Jazz offense a candidate for top-5, if not the best, if the best-case scenario happens.
But where Peterson is the best “fit,” Dybantsa is definitely the upside pick between the two. His size at 6’9”-6’10” with shoes combined with his length and an astounding 42” vertical at the combine makes his ceiling as high as they get. You can see Dybantsa becoming an absolute demon once he becomes a more consistent three-point shooter. He also has the best ability in the draft to penetrate the paint and get to the rim, thanks to his body control, strength, and crazy-long strides. As soon as you see Dybantsa with NBA spacing, you’re going to see a player that is going to control games for 15 years.
With all that said, the Jazz can’t go wrong with either pick. Both Dybantsa and Peterson are worthy of the #1 pick. Right now, FanDuel has the odds strongly in favor of AJ Dybantsa going #1. In the rare occasion that the Jazz can pick between Dybantsa or Peterson, and the choice was up to you, should they go with fit or upside?
