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Vítor Pereira’s side may at best stand still but hopes are high some of their youthful talent could change the picture
Guardian writers’ predicted position: 16th (NB: this is not necessarily Ben Fisher’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)
Last season’s position: 16th
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Three years later, the quote still resonates.
When it comes to the Dodgers and the San Diego Padres, late Padres owner Peter Seidler framed the dynamic best.
“The Dodgers are the dragon up the freeway we’re trying to slay,” Seidler said back in August 2022, during an in-game interview with ESPN as the two teams played a Sunday Night Baseball game at Chavez Ravine.
“We have a lot of respect for them, obviously. But our goal, and San Diego knows this as well, is to win a championship.”
And from that pursuit, one of baseball’s most heated modern rivalries has sprouted.
Read more:Contentious Dodgers-Padres series ends with benches clearing and managers ejected
To the rest of the baseball world, the Padres have been a plucky feel-good story over the last half-decade. They’re a small-market team that has become an annual postseason contender. They have an aggressive front office, a roster full of big personalities, and an ever-pulsing current of emotion and intensity reverberating from the dugout through their frenzied home crowds.
In Los Angeles, however, the perspective couldn’t be more different. The Dodgers have long been the ruling power in the National League West, champions of the division 11 times in the last 12 years. The Padres, on the other hand, are the rebels who won’t surrender, the barbarians at the door trying to steal away their crown.
“I just think that it starts with them wanting to overtake us,” manager Dave Roberts said this week, ahead of the Padres' latest visit to Dodger Stadium on Friday. “I think that we've clearly dominated the division in the last decade … But I think that they're trying to overtake us. I think that with that, that certainly brings out emotion.”
While the Dodgers have quelled similar challenges during their decade-long reign in the division, the Padres have proved to be a different kind of foil — coupling a contrast in style and culture with enough staying power to fuel increasingly contentious bouts.
“It’s just two contrasting styles,” third baseman Max Muncy said, “that have just grown into this beast.”
There was the Dodgers’ sweep of the Padres in the 2020 NL Division Series, then the Padres’ payback in a postseason upset two years later. Last fall, a tight division race came down to the last week of the season. When their paths again crossed in October, yet another NLDS went all the way to a decisive fifth game.
This year, more tinder has been added to the fire, thanks to a flurry of hit batters and a benches-clearing melee during a series at Dodger Stadium in June.
And this week, ahead of a 10-day stretch in which the clubs will play their final two regular-season series, the Padres provided another plot twist, erasing what once felt like an insurmountable nine-game deficit in the standings to arrive in Los Angeles with a stunning NL West lead.
The dragon, of course, hasn’t been slayed yet. The Dodgers are still the defending World Series champions, even if their recent middling form has complicated their title defense.
Still, the conquest that Seidler — who died after the 2023 season at age 63 — long envisioned has never seemed so attainable.
The threat posed by the Padres has never felt so real.
“I feel like we’ve just been facing each other in [a lot of] big spots,” infielder Miguel Rojas said. “Ever since that [playoff] series in ‘22, this team took it a little bit personal over the next couple years. Obviously last year, going through them to go all the way to the World Series was a big part [of our run]. But it feels every time we face each other, even in the regular season, it’s a big spot.”
While the Dodgers and Padres have shared a division ever since the latter’s founding in 1969, much of their co-existence featured very little shared history.
For most of the Padres’ first half-century, the club was mired in perpetual mediocrity. Before 2020, they’d made the playoffs only five times. Where the Dodgers boast eight World Series titles, the Padres own the distinction of the league’s oldest team to have never won it once.
There was one close division race between the clubs in 1996, when the Padres swept the Dodgers in the final series of the season to claim the NL West by one game. In 2006, they tied atop the standings but both flamed out in the playoffs.
Read more:Dodgers Must Gwynn, Bear It : Former Dodger Chris Gwynn Leads Padres to Division Title
After that, the Dodgers ascended to annual contender status. The Padres, meanwhile, searched for an identity amid a 13-year playoff drought.
At the start of 2019, one finally arrived.
While Manny Machado was productive during his brief Dodgers tenure at the end of 2018, helping the club win a second straight NL pennant, his style of play was an awkward fit with the team. He wouldn’t always hustle, and wouldn’t always apologize for it. He burnished his reputation as an occasionally dirty player, and never seemed too interested in trying to change it.
The Dodgers never really planned to bring him back as a free agent. But they also didn’t expect him to wind up in San Diego, where he signed a $300-million deal with the Padres ahead of the 2019 season.
"It's about bringing a championship to San Diego," Padres general manager AJ Preller said the day Machado was introduced. "A lot of people over the last few years have been very patient as we've tried to build something that's going to stand up long term. Obviously, it's an exclamation point here today with the signing of Manny."
And in the six years since, the Padres have been crafted in his fiery image; built around similarly unabashed stars like Fernando Tatis Jr., Jackson Merrill, Jurickson Profar and Joe Musgrove.
That ascent began in 2020. The Padres embraced their "Slam Diego" moniker, adopting a noticeable, fiery edge. They weren't afraid to flip bats or talk smack or taunt fans. Their brand of baseball, at least in the eyes of that dragon up the freeway, was rooted in their persona as much as anything; a sharp juxtaposition to the Dodgers’ more subdued, even-keeled approach.
“When you look at what the Padres have become, it’s a team that plays with very high energy, very high emotion. And they’ve created an atmosphere down there that drives off that,” Muncy said. “We are almost the opposite. We play on very little emotion. And I just think those two styles contrast very differently. You started seeing that in the games.”
The Dodgers’ perpetual perch atop the standings stoked San Diego, too, making the Padres' performance in the long-dormant rivalry a manifestation of their championship ambitions.
“When I was there, we always wanted to beat the Dodgers,” said Blake Snell, who played for San Diego from 2021 to 2023 and will face them for the first time since joining the Dodgers on Saturday in Los Angeles. “Because that’s the team you gotta go through to get to the World Series.”
That dynamic was evident in the 2022 playoffs, when the underdog Padres conjured an intensity the Dodgers couldn’t match.
Read more:Shohei Ohtani focused 'on the field,’ not distraction of Hawaii real estate lawsuit
It was at the forefront of last year’s October rematch, too, when the Padres ran away with a Game 2 victory punctuated by Machado throwing a ball toward Roberts in the Dodgers’ dugout, and the Chavez Ravine crowd showering trash near Padres players on the field.
“What I got out of it was a bunch of dudes that showed up in front of a big, hostile crowd with stuff being thrown at them and said, ‘We're going to talk with our play; we're not going to back down,’” Padres manager Mike Shildt said that night.
“That is kind of part of their game,” Muncy countered ahead of Game 3. “Trying to get under your skin and trying to have the emotion come out and get you to do something that you're not normally doing.”
This time, the Dodgers responded, prevailing in a five-game series that Roberts compared to a “street fight.” On the verge of a potential slaying, his team instead breathed fire back.
"I just felt last year, where they were going, how they were kind of feeling, and our mindset and psyche, we needed to kind of match their intensity,” Roberts said.
The fight is no longer confined to press conference taunts. This year, the rivalry boiled over into physical clashes. And at the center were the two respective managers.
Over the years, there’s been plenty of pettiness imbued into Dodgers-Padres games, from a scoreboard graphic of a crying Clayton Kershaw at Petco Park, to Will Smith’s description of the since-departed Profar as “kind of irrelevant” last year.
But this June, the antagonism was ratcheted up, after the teams combined for 11 hit batters — and not-so-veiled accusations of intentionality — over seven games played in a 11-day stretch.
The Padres took exception to three different plunkings of Tatis. The Dodgers were dubious of two balls that pelted Shohei Ohtani. By the time Tatis was hit in the hand in the final game of the latter series, Shildt had seen enough, shouting in Roberts’ direction as he walked onto the field to check on his star player.
Roberts responded in kind, racing out to meet Shildt with a slight, but nonetheless surprising, shove. Suddenly, the benches had cleared. Roberts and Shildt continued jawing through it all.
“After a while, enough’s enough,” Shildt said afterward. “Intentional, unintentional, the fact of the matter is we took exception with it. I responded.”
“I felt that he was trying to make it personal with me,” Roberts countered in his postgame press conference. “Which then, I take it personal.”
Machado delivered the most memorable quote of the night, cautioning the Dodgers to “set a little candle up for Tati” and “pray” he hadn’t suffered a serious injury (X-rays on Tatis’ hand came back negative).
But in the aftermath, all the attention centered on Roberts and Shildt, who were each suspended by the league for one game.
“It’s ultimately about the defense of our team,” Shildt said the next day when asked about Roberts. “And anybody that is going to take the steps that I feel are inappropriate against our team, then I will take action. I’m not a personal guy. I’m not a grudge guy. But I am a foxhole guy.”
Roberts snapped back when asked about Shildt (whom he said he has spoken with since the incident) this week.
"It definitely added to the intensity of the series, when you've got two managers going at it,” Roberts said. “And I never want to make it about me, I really don't. I just took offense to his response towards me. I thought it was directed at me. But for me, I just want to go out and play good baseball. That's kind of where my head's at."
Given the Dodgers’ struggles of late, simply stacking wins has never been a bigger priority. Over the next week and a half, they could reclaim a division lead they have so clumsily squandered, or enter the final month of the season with substantial ground to make up.
“We can’t make it more than what it is,” Mookie Betts said. “It’s another series in August. Obviously, we all know it’s big and X, Y and Z, but we can’t make it that way. We have to just look at it as the same game as today and play our game and not try to get too high or too low.”
Still, the Dodgers won't feign passivity this time. Not as long as the Padres continue to lean into their trademark intensity.
"They told me right away, obviously, we don't like those guys a whole lot," newly-acquired Padres reliever Mason Miller said on Foul Territory last week, of the message he received from his new teammates upon being traded to San Diego at the deadline. “I haven't really [experienced] a rivalry to that extent.”
Roberts wasn’t surprised to hear it.
“We think about whoever we're playing,” he said. “I do think it's one of those things where, they're very hyper-focused on us. But I guess it's a compliment. Still, we've got to match their intensity. Because they want to beat us more than anything."
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Red Devils have only two senior players available
COO Claire Bradbury accused ownership of misogyny
The crisis at Salford Red Devils has deepened on and off the field in the past 24 hours. On Thursday, their chief operating officer claimed she had resigned after the club’s ownership suggested she “sleep with someone at the RFL” to alleviate their financial issues and on Friday the club’s Super League game against Wakefield on Sunday was cancelled.
The Red Devils have been embroiled in controversy for most of 2025, following a takeover by a consortium led by Dario Berta. Players and staff have repeatedly been paid late, most of their first-team squad have left and the club is in court next month over an unpaid tax bill of almost £700,000.
Continue reading...Five ways Giants can make most of current situation in season's final stretch originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO — At 11:15 a.m. on Wednesday, Giants manager Bob Melvin was asked if it might be time to start playing some younger guys over veterans who might not be part of the 2026 mix.
“Not yet,” Melvin said.
He admitted that every day that went by changed the math a little, but added that hopefully the final game against the San Diego Padres would be the one where the Giants would “break out of it.”
At 3:30 p.m., the messaging had changed a bit.
“We might be at the point here pretty soon where we give some guys some days off and look at some other guys,” he said after the blowout. “I still hate to admit that we’re at that point.”
In the hours between Melvin’s media sessions, his team lost 11-1 and played some of the ugliest baseball of the season. Losers of 13 of their last 14 home games, the Giants are three games under .500 and five out of the final NL playoff spot.
The New York Mets, who seemingly take a gut punch every night, are single-handedly keeping the Giants alive, although their postseason odds have dipped to 3.5 percent, per FanGraphs. Managers in this situation like to say that their team is one good week away from being back in it, and that’s fair, but right now it’s hard to see how the Giants might put that week together over the final quarter of the season.
They still have 41 games to play, though, and there are things they can accomplish other than trying to get back above .500. Here are five ways they can make the most of this finishing stretch, one that, as Melvin hinted, might include a lot of new faces:
The biggest question this August and September will be whether the Giants let top prospect Bryce Eldridge get used to life in the big leagues. There are key decision-makers in the front office who would prefer to see him continue to learn in Triple-A and sharpen his skills at first base, but there has been increased talk internally in recent weeks about the possibility of calling him up.
Eldridge still has some holes in his game — that’s the case with any 20-year-old — but even Giants people who believe he could benefit from finishing the Triple-A season rave about his makeup and work ethic. He has done nothing but impress, and even if the strikeouts might be high — he’s at 33 percent in Triple-A — there’s little doubt within the organization that the power would immediately translate.
A few Eldridge homers in September would go a long way in terms of energizing the fan base, and if the Giants believe Eldridge is going to be on the 2026 Opening Day roster regardless, they might benefit from getting any initial hoopla and jitters out of the way now.
Ultimately, this is up to president of baseball operations, Buster Posey, who has a unique perspective. He was a superstar prospect himself, and he didn’t feel he benefited much from his September cameo in 2009. He poured cold water on Eldridge rumors after the deadline, but that’s getting harder and harder to do.
The Giants discussed a Marco Luciano promotion when they needed a right-handed-hitting outfielder on Tuesday but instead went with Tyler Fitzgerald. Luciano’s defense in Triple-A has continued to be an issue, and it’s entirely possible the Giants have just decided that ship has sailed. Luciano, now an outfielder, hasn’t played a single game in the big leagues this season.
He is part of a group that debuted under Farhan Zaidi but never stuck, joining Luis Matos and Wade Meckler, in particular. They’re all running out of options and taking up 40-man spots, and the Giants need to make some final evaluations. This is a good time to do that.
Grant McCray is further behind in terms of minor league options, but he’s also part of that class that has plenty of experience at Triple-A at this point. With Casey Schmitt’s emergence, Fitzgerald’s future looks like it’ll come in a utility role, and if that’s the case, he should get more experience in the outfield.
Schmitt is the one member of that 2023-24 group of call-ups that looks locked in. He had four hits when he was moved up to the No. 2 spot against a lefty on Tuesday, and he has earned the right to continue hitting in front of some of the veterans in the lineup.
Blade Tidwell has 16 strikeouts through two Triple-A starts. The right-hander, acquired in the Tyler Rogers trade, should probably be the one to get the call the next time a rotation spot is needed.
The Giants already are taking a look at Drew Gilbert, who has started all but one game since being called up from Triple-A. Gilbert is 1-for-17 but looks comfortable in right field, and he can play center, too.
Jesus Rodriguez, acquired in the Camilo Doval trade, has been limited to DH duty because of shoulder soreness, but if he’s capable of catching later this season, he should join Patrick Bailey at the big league level. The 23-year-old is a .307 career hitter in the minors and, as a right-handed hitter, is an obvious partner for Bailey next spring.
It’s impossible to be positive right now, but the 2026 Giants actually will have a nice head start in their bid to get to the postseason.
Logan Webb is still in his prime and All-Star Robbie Ray is under team control for one more season. Landen Roupp was better than anyone on the staff in the weeks before he got hurt, and if he goes into next spring healthy, that’s a strong top three.
But there are reasons for the Giants to be careful with all three over the next six weeks.
Webb has earned the right to choose his own adventure, and he has made it clear he would like to reach 200 strikeouts — he’s 32 away — for the first time. If he wants to lead the league in innings for a third straight season, it shouldn’t be hard to win the race. There’s no reason, though, for the Giants to keep pushing him quite this hard. He has thrown 317 pitches over his last three starts.
Ray threw 113 pitches — his most since Tommy John surgery — on Tuesday but felt strong at the end. Afterward, Melvin admitted that the recent workloads have been in part because the Giants are desperate to win behind their aces and in part because their bullpen lost two key arms at the deadline.
But what’s done is done.
It’s time to save some of the co-aces’ bullets and also be careful with Roupp, who has doubled his 2024 big league workload. He will return to the rotation Friday and there are no longer concerns about where his innings total will end up since he missed a few starts and got a chance to rest, but the Giants need to make sure he’s in a good spot heading into 2026. The same is true for relievers Randy Rodriguez and Erik Miller, who should play huge roles next year.
The Giants have looked lifeless on this homestand, and that’s perhaps the most disappointing aspect. They drew 180,000 fans over the five-game losing streak and those who continue to fill the ballpark are absolutely desperate for reasons to stand and cheer. They gave Justin Verlander a nice ovation when he reached 3,500 strikeouts on Sunday and did the same for Gilbert’s first hit on Monday.
The offense has been horrible, but there are ways to at least try to manufacture some more excitement. For example, would it kill the Giants to at least attempt to run a little bit more?
They’re last in the National League in stolen bases, and when pushed about it, Melvin points out that they don’t get many baserunners most nights and don’t want to kill those rare potential rallies. But the numbers tell a different story.
They haven’t been caught trying to steal since June 25, but over the 41 games since, they have just nine attempts. Nine! And they’re nine-for-nine! Sure, they’re not reaching base at the desired clip, but they still have 216 singles and 122 walks over those 41 games. There have been plenty of opportunities to take off.
They should consider this another way to get a head start on 2026. At some point, a team that plays 81 games a year at Oracle Park needs to actually commit to playing a more athletic brand of baseball.
The 23-times gold medallist warns of drift and weak leadership. Governance failures, and a troubled safeguarding record, could cost the US more than podium places at LA 2028
In three years’ time, the swimming programme for the Los Angeles Olympics will unfold over nine days and nights on the grandest stage the sport has ever known. A purpose-built pool inside SoFi Stadium in Inglewood will be the centerpiece of a 38,000-capacity open-air natatorium, transforming the $5bn home of the NFL’s Rams and Chargers into the largest swimming venue in modern history. For the United States, a rare Summer Games on home soil should be a coronation, a chance to showcase the depth of its talent in the country’s most spectacular arena. Yet Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of them all, fears the US swimming program is in no shape to seize the moment.
Phelps has launched a withering attack on USA Swimming’s leadership, accusing it of “weak” stewardship, “poor operational controls” and presiding over years of organizational drift. The 23-times Olympic gold medalist said he would think twice about letting his own sons join the system in its current state. His concerns, he says, stretch back to his own competitive career, when athlete voices were too often brushed aside in the name of keeping the peace and presenting a united front. “This isn’t on the athletes,” he wrote in a lengthy Instagram statement. “This is on the leadership of USA Swimming.”
Continue reading...Why Warriors, NBA embracing old stars is correct move entering 2025-26 season originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Nostalgia never stops. Vintage is always in for a culture sprinting to be first in line to future endeavors.
Fashion for teenagers is a not-so-subtle reminder of the gray hairs I’ll find on the side of my head, TikTok has turned songs that are 25 years old back into hits and the top movies at the box office domestically this year have been about a computer game made in 2011, another Lilo & Stitch, a new Superman and the seventh movie from the Jurassic Park franchise.
The NBA this season is jumping into the pool of reboots with their return to NBC, queuing up John Tesh’s Roundball Rock to deliver memories of the 1990s. Look at how NBC advertised its opening slate of the Houston Rockets playing the Oklahoma City Thunder, and the Warriors facing the Los Angeles Lakers, going full NBA Jam with Tesh’s theme song playing in the background of old video game sounds.
The four players highlighted in order are Kevin Durant, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Steph Curry and LeBron James. The last that comes to mind among the four is the 27-year-old reigning NBA MVP whose team won the championship last season.
As the Warriors lean on three players in their mid-to-late 30s, the entire NBA will continue to go all-in on O.L.D. until the wheels fall off on three of the game’s greatest to ever play. Who can blame them, too?
When the Rockets, Thunder, Warriors and Lakers take the court for opening night, Oklahoma City’s ring celebration will be in the background of viewers. An afterthought to how Durant will fit on the new-look Rockets and his reaction to his former team hanging a championship banner 10 seasons after he left. Nearly completely forgotten about once all attention turns to Southern California with Steph and LeBron stealing the show once again.
All 30 seconds of NBC’s Warriors hype video on Instagram are highlights of Curry (37 years old), Jimmy Butler (36 years old on opening night) and Draymond Green (35 years old). Brandin Podziemski isn’t exactly those players, and it’s hard when the Warriors are comprised of only nine players at the moment.
From the Warriors’ standpoint, they better hope Curry continues to push the boundaries of age after playing at least 70 games for the second straight season and being named All-NBA for the 11th consecutive year he has played a full season. Green finished third in Defensive Player of the Year voting last season, but his body can only handle so much after more than a decade of slaying Goliaths. Butler proved to be a perfect fit almost immediately after joining the Warriors. He also hasn’t played 65 games or more since the 2018-19 season.
“You look at the league right now, I know there’s a lot of youth taking over,” Curry said three months ago after the 2024-25 NBA season. “But we were one of the last eight teams that realistically had a shot, and if you can run that back, make some tweaks that can help our overall roster – obviously you’ve got to get through an 82-game season, like I said – and you want to be in a position where you’re not chasing, but I feel like we had enough that we showed we could be that team. That’s all you really want.”
That’s also all the league really wants. Same goes with the Lakers and Rockets.
There are clear reasons all three teams are playing on opening night and on Christmas. The Warriors’ final NBA Cup game of Group Play will be their first time playing Durant and the Rockets, and the Lakers’ last NBA Cup game of Group Play is them hosting former teammate Anthony Davis and the Dallas Mavericks. Between cable and streaming services, the Warriors this season are playing in a franchise-record 34 nationally televised games.
Like everything else in the Warriors’ universe, it all starts with Steph being the ultimate showman.
This isn’t to discredit youth and the inevitable reality that a new batch of stars will soon dictate the state of basketball. Luka Dončić , 26, had the most-popular jersey by NBAStore.com sales last season. Curry finished second, and James was third. Dončić became the first player since the 2012-13 season to lead in jersey sales ahead of Curry or James.
The trio of Curry, Durant and James also bring back a time of American stardom in the NBA. The three went five straight seasons of winning the MVP from 2012 to 2016, followed by two more American-born players in Russell Westbrook and James Harden holding the hardware. Since then, the MVP has gone to a foreign-born player in seven straight seasons as basketball continues to expand globally in its parity era of a new champion the last seven years as well.
Already, the torch has touched the hands of Anthony Edwards for stretches. Let’s be real, stakeholders are begging for Cooper Flagg to run with it. Until the final flicker of light burns out on Steph, LeBron and KD, it’s still their league and the NBA still will operate knowing that to be the truth.
Just like they should, holding onto the last breath of greatness as long as possible.
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Continue reading...Amir Coffey deserves an NBA roster spot. He is coming off a career season with the Clippers, averaging 9.7 points a game, shooting 40.9% from 3, playing 24 minutes a night on a 50-win team.
However, that was not enough to get Coffey a standard NBA contract. He signed on Thursday with the Milwaukee Bucks, a story broken by Shams Charania of ESPN, but this is a training camp only contract for Coffey, reports Eric Nehm of The Athletic.
Milwaukee already has the maximum of 15 players under contract for next season (and the veteran Coffey does not qualify for a two-way contract). Technically, the contract of Andre Jackson Jr. is not fully guaranteed. If the Bucks were willing to eat the $800,000 buyout price, they could let Jackson Jr. go and keep Coffey. It was thought that Jackson and Thanasis Antetokounmpo might battle it out in camp for that final roster spot, now Coffey's name is in that mix.
This is a quality pickup for the Bucks — they need depth at the three and Coffey slots right in. It's a little surprising that reuniting with Doc Rivers — his first coach with the Clippers — was the best offer on the table for Coffey, but if the Bucks keep him around, he adds solid regular-season depth to a roster that could use it.
In case you haven't heard by now, Pittsburgh Penguins' top wingers Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust are two of the hottest topics of discussion in NHL trade rumors this summer.
And that's all because of the impressive campaigns they put together last season.
For both wingers - each on the wrong side of 30, with Rakell, 32, one year Rust's junior - the 2024-25 season marked a career-best one. Rakell finished the season second only to captain Sidney Crosby in team scoring with 35 goals and 70 points, while Rust was just a tick behind him with 31 goals and 65 points. Both players are capable of putting the puck in the net, and they have each shown immense chemistry with Crosby.
Regardless of the uniform each will be wearing once the puck drops on the season - and, given that training camp is one month out, it's becoming more and more likely that both might still be donning Penguins' sweaters - it's fair to wonder whether or not each player is capable of replicating last season's production. While each would clearly be an asset to the Penguins if they don't wish to tank this season, they could prove just as valuable - if not more valuable - to a contending team if they can sustain the level of play they put together in 2024-25.
So, how realistic is that for each player?
If one thing rings true about Rust - aside from, arguably, being one of the most underrated and least talked about players in hockey - he, like Crosby, has set a standard of consistency in Pittsburgh for a while.
Rust wasn't always a top-six winger. In fact, Rust began the first several seasons of his NHL career as a bottom-six player who killed penalties and did a lot of the "thankless jobs," as former Penguins' head coach Mike Sullivan would so often put it.
But he has sure blossomed into a top-of-the-lineup player. Even if Rust can be streaky at times in the midst of any given season, he has still managed to produce six consecutive seasons of 20 or more goals and at least 42 points. And those lower point totals have mostly coincided with injury-riddled seasons in which he missed chunks of time. Otherwise, he has sat right around or a tick below point-per-game.
Can The Penguins Still Rebuild With One Of Rakell Or Rust Around?It seems like Pittsburgh Penguins' forwards Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust are the subject of Pittsburgh hockey news just about every other day at this point.
But that's part of the catch: Rust's injury history is quite a bit concerning, as - aside from 2022-23, when he played in 8`1 games - he has not appeared in more than 72 games in a season. Some of those seasons were shortened due to the Covid-19 lockdown and fallout from 2020-22, but he still missed a few games in those seasons as well.
In addition, Rust is no longer a spring chicken. He's 33 years old, and the type of hardline, hybrid power forward game he likes to play hasn't exactly proven sustainable with age in the past. The reality is that Rust's production could fall off a cliff at any given moment, and he has three years left on his deal that pays him $5.1 million annually.
There are some factors like those to consider here - as well as whether or not Rust can sustain this level of play away from Crosby - but it's probably still a safer-than-not gamble to assume that he should be able to put together at least a few more solid campaigns, Crosby or not.
Here's something to consider about Rakell: Realistically, he should never be separated from Crosby while playing for the Penguins. He and the Penguins' legend are magical together, and Rakell potted 35 last year despite not even being deployed on Crosby's line in the latter part of the season.
In fact, that's how it's been for him since he arrived in Pittsburgh at the 2022 trade deadline. When he plays with Crosby, he can score goals. When he's away from Crosby, he can still score goals, but not quite with the frequency that 87's elite playmaking ability sets him up for.
But folks can go back even further than Rakell's Pittsburgh days to see that same pattern.
His best seasons with the Anaheim Ducks from 2016-18 were largely spent alongside another elite playmaking center in Ryan Getzlaf. And then - post-Getzlaf - his production dipped a bit for a few seasons, as some injury and nutrition issues weren't doing him any favors.
Do The Penguins Have A Legitimate Shot At McKenna In 2026?WIth the 2025-26 NHL season just around the corner, teams are looking ahead to their respective training camps beginning in mid-September.
But he was also void of a playmaking center who could set him up to finish, and he didn't really have that again until he was dealt to Pittsburgh. This isn't to suggest that Rakell isn't capable of creating on his own, as he definitely is. But he's capable of elite goal-scoring ability if he's paired with the right centerman.
Therefore, a repeat of last season - or even a near-repeat - largely depends on who Rakell is deployed with alongside with in the lineup. If it's another season alongside Crosby, there's no discernible evidence that Rakell will just forget how to score. And he would more than likely need to be flanking a playmaking center wherever he lands.
There may be a slight hint of co-dependence from Rakell, but he's still a very capable goal-scorer. Banking on his 2024-25 production again, though, might be a bit of a stretch.
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After their shocking loss on Wednesday, the Mets had Thursday's game all mapped out perfectly for them.
Starter Kodai Senga pitched into the sixth inning -- a rare feat of late -- and they had Tyler Rogers, Ryan Helsley and Edwin Diaz set up to close out the win. Well, as has often been the case this season, the plan didn't work and the Mets could not hold down another late lead.
Sure, Rogers allowed an inherited runner to score and tie the game in the sixth, but with another one-run lead in the eighth, Helsley allowed two runs in the Mets' eventual 4-3 loss to the Braves. The loss clinched a series win for Atlanta and the Mets' fifth consecutive series loss, tied for their longest such streak this season. They've also lost three straight home series and are 2-13 over their last 15 games dating back to July 28, their worst record in any 15-game span since May/June of 2018.
"Obviously, we’re not playing well but too much talent. We’re going through a really tough time now," manager Carlos Mendoza said of his team after Thursday's loss. "There’s a lot of good players there. We just have to get through this. We can’t look at the standings. We know where we’re at, not playing well, but right in the thick of things. We have to find a way."
"There are a lot of guys doing good things and then there are a couple of guys that are not. Sticking together is the most important thing," Francisco Lindor said after the game. "It’s tough. You have to be put in a situation where no matter what happens, we stick together, fight for each other, play for each other. It’s a test we’re going through. Big adversity. Everyone here has a sense of urgency to win and try to win."
Lindor had his best game in a while on Thursday, going 3-for-4 with a home run and being the catalyst for the Mets' offense. But, again, it wasn't enough.
They got the starting pitching they desperately needed, and just enough offense to hand the lead to their rebuilt bullpen. But the Mets couldn't put it all together.
"Today we got starting pitching, got timely hitting, just couldn’t close it out," Mendoza said. "When you go through stretches like this, overall, we haven’t been able to put it together."
"Obviously, if we lose it’s a little bit gloomier; if we win it’s a little more cheerful," Senga said of the mood surrounding the team via an interpreter. "I think the reason why we're not able to come out on top at the end is because we're all missing a little bit, that one little bit to put us on top. And I think that starts with the preparation. If we can all prepare as best we can and go into tomorrow and the next day, we have a better chance of winning."
That "little bit" could mean any number of things. In Thursday's loss, Cedric Mullins took an awkward route on a liner from Michael Harris II that tied the game. A better route could have kept Harris at first base and not in scoring position for Ozzie Albies' go-ahead double. Or Juan Soto throwing to second to try and get Albies on said double instead of hitting the cutoff man to try and catch Harris, who was running back to second to try and tag up, at home plate.
Or, as Senga pointed out, the fastball Albies smashed to tie the game at 1-1. A fastball thrown to a hitter looking for a fastball.
All of those little things are contributing to the worst stretch of the Mets' season. They have blown nine different leads over their last six games, and lost 13 of their last 15 games. New York's record now stands at 64-57, just seven games over. 500, their lowest watermark since April 19 when they were 14-7.
A recurring theme between Mendoza and the players during this stretch is that they are too talented not to play better and turn their season around. While that may be true, it's getting dicey with fewer than 40 games to go in the season. The loss has allowed the Reds to be just 0.5 games behind them for the final wild card spot, with the Mariners, who hold an AL wild card slot, coming to town for a weekend series.
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Before he turned three, Kevin Lidstrom had a good idea about how father Nicklas earns a living. Not that he’s terribly impressed, though.
“He knows that I play hockey,” the elder Lidstrom said. “He sees me on TV, but that’s no big deal. He knows that it’s Daddy and then he’ll go play with his stuff again. Like, whatever. Maybe in a few years, he’ll realize it more.”
In that regard, Kevin is no different than most of the NHL.
They watch Lidstrom log close to 30 minutes a night on defense, launch ferocious one-timers from the point, almost always win the 1-on-1 battles and they shrug. Whatever. Maybe it’s because he’s from Sweden, with the same blend-into–the-wallpaper personality seemingly indigenous to that Nordic country. Maybe it’s because he makes everything seem effortless on cue. Detroit Red Wings’ scout and former teammate Mark Howe opts for the former.
“It’s because of his personality,” Howe said. “He goes out and does a great job, but the media and everybody want to read about the players who are flashy and have the controversial quotes. He goes in, takes a shower, ices down and goes home.”
Lidstrom is the perfect poster boy for anonymous excellence. Red Wing teammate Darren McCarty was baffled by Lidstrom’s exclusion from a Norris Trophy finalist spot last season. “He’s always getting lost in the shuffle,” McCarty said.
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Well, almost. Coach Scotty Bowman, not one to gush about players, salutes Lidstrom. “He’s one of the more underrated defensemen in the league,” Bowman said. “He’s a much better defensive defenseman than people give him credit for. When you compare him to other defensemen in the league, he’s right there.”
That was the case this season. Although Lidstrom wasn’t a Norris Trophy finalist or first- or second-team all star, he might have been both if the voting had been done after the playoffs. Wings' captain Steve Yzerman listed Lidstrom and Conn Smythe winner Mike Vernon as the team’s post-season MVPs.
Wings’ associate coach Dave Lewis, himself an NHL defenseman for 18 seasons, points to the Red Wings’ near-constant use of Lidstrom. “He’s one of the top five or six defensemen in the NHL,” Lewis said. “He’s the first guy we think of to play in a situation. He plays the left side, the right side, he kills penalties. He’s on the ice at the end of the game and he’s on the power play. There’s no time when he doesn’t play.”
The Red Wings’ dependence on Lidstrom, already high, will certainly increase this season. The limousine accident and subsequent head injury to Vladimir Konstantinov has friends, fans and teammates focused on his recovery to a normal life with his family, not hockey. His return for this season, at the least, is highly unlikely.
Aggressiveness, which Konstantinov brought to the table every shift, is the one area critics fault in Lidstrom’s game. Teammates say the only time they’ve seen Lidstrom visibly angry is when he lost a game of Helicopter, a card game brought to the team by its Russian contingent. Even Lidstrom acknowledges his restraint can be mistaken for passivity.
“It’s a tough question,” Lidstrom said. “I think it gets back to the desire to win. Some guys really show it with their aggressiveness, fighting or big hitting. I’m not a big hitter. I don’t fight. I feel I have that inside. I can bear down in those situations and get it out. I think I would be a better hockey player if I could get it out more, be more aggressive and show it in different situations. It’s hard to explain how to get it out.”
Lidstrom finished last season third in scoring among defensemen with 15 goals and 57 points in 79 games. In the playoffs, despite needing 47 shots to record his first goal, he finished with two goals and eight points in 20 games. He and partner Larry Murphy saw the most even-strength shifts against Eric Lindros and the Legion of Doom in the Stanley Cup final. Lindros and power winger John LeClair were a combined minus-10 in the final.
“I try to think of teams in the league that wouldn’t want to have him,” Howe said, “and I can’t think of any. From all the games I saw, I thought Brian Leetch was very deserving of the Norris Trophy. But I thought Nick had a great season, especially in the playoffs when we needed him to play between 25 and 30 minutes and against all of the top lines.”
Growing up in Vasteras, south of Stockholm, Lidstrom played hockey in the winter and soccer in summer and studied to be an engineer. Like most Swedish players, he idolized Borje Salming, Sweden’s first quality contribution to the NHL. “He was my hero, my idol. He was the big guy back then,” Lidstrom said. “I had the opportunity to play with him in the (1991) Canada Cup. He was my partner. It was a big thrill with him being the legend he is, especially back in Sweden.”
Lidstrom was still available in the third round of the 1989 entry draft, part of the Red Wings’ heist of Europeans with later-round picks. Sergei Fedorov, Slava Kozlov and Konstantinov all were taken no earlier than the third round. Lidstrom came to Detroit in 1991, well versed in hockey and English, but still trying to learn North American culture. Countryman Johan Garpenlov, then a Red Wing, helped Lidstrom make the jump.
“There was a little bit of an adjustment, not as much as what our Russians went through,” Lidstrom said. “Sweden is getting more and more like America over here with fast food and everything. It’s real similar. Still, everybody has to make an adjustment. There’s the language. Even though I spoke English and understood everything, there are a lot of things there are different and words I don’t know. There are things maybe you guys take for granted that I had to learn over again.”
The hockey was second nature, despite adjusting to the smaller NHL rinks. He finished his rookie season of 1991-92 with 11 goals and 60 points and was runner-up to Pavel Bure of the Vancouver Canucks for the Calder Trophy. When Howe came to Detroit as a free agent, friend Brad McCrimmon had a scouting report. “He told me, ‘We’ve got a guy who's going to be one of the best defensemen in the league in a couple years,’” Howe recalled.
The second year was less successful for Lidstrom. He never got going and then had to adjust in mid-season to playing with Paul Coffey, acquired from the Los Angeles Kings in a trade. Partnered with Coffey, the highest-scoring and arguably the best-skating defenseman in NHL history, taught Lidstrom much and also forced him to be more disciplined. “Having Paul developed my game even more,” he said.
He bounced back with solid seasons and played in the All-Star Game in 1996 when he posted career highs in goals (17) and points (67). Along the way, he developed one of the best one-timers in the NHL.
“I think I started to work on it more and more after I came over here,” Lidstrom said. “1 don’t think I was shooting the puck as much when I played in Sweden. I was more setting other guys up for shots or down-low plays. Over here, my shots got better and better. We’ve been using it a little more, too. I’ve been kind of the guy, the puck gets to me and I shoot it. That developed after I got over here.
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The Mets lost their 13th game in their last 15 contests on Thursday night, falling 4-3 to the Atlanta Braves. New York scored early and took a 3-2 lead in the sixth inning, but, as they've experienced a lot recently, that lead was not safe.
Ryan Helsley, one of David Stearns' trade deadline acquisitions to bolster the bullpen, entered in the eighth inning and Atlanta took advantage. Helsley allowed a one-out walk to Marcell Ozuna and then left a slider over the middle for Michael Harris II to drive a double to center field and tie the game at 3-3. Two pitches later, the right-hander gave up a line drive double to Ozzie Albies as the Braves went up, 4-3.
It's the second straight save Helsley has blown. He previously allowed one run in the eighth inning to the Milwaukee Brewers on Aug. 10, in what ended up being a 7-6 loss. After the loss, manager Carlos Mendoza noted how Helsley is having issues with his slider and the team is trying to sort that out so he can be the piece in the bullpen they envisioned.
"The fastball's been getting hit, and it's a plus-plus fastball, right, but I think he's leaving that slider in the middle of the strike zone, Mendoza said. "That's kind of like the big difference for me. You see that pitch today to Harris, that slider. They're going to get ready for 100 (mph), and when that slider stays right there in the middle of the zone, good hitters are going to make him pay for it.
"We just got to get him to continue to finish those pitches, especially the breaking ball, the slider in this case. So that way the fastball when he throws it, he can use it effectively. This guy's elite, man, we just got to get him back on track."
Since coming over from St. Louis, Helsley is 0-2 with a 5.40 ERA, allowing seven runs (three earned) over 5.0 IP. The veteran acknowledged that he's been throwing lots of hittable pitches and is hoping to make adjustments to his slider so it can be better located.
"Leaving too good of pitches [over the plate]," Helsley said. "The pitch to Michael Harris, you know right down the middle, breaking ball, and he put a good swing on it. The pitch to Albies was actually a ball, a couple balls below the zone, and he put a weird swing on it but ended up a good result. Just got to keep working and try to figure it out."
"Just leaving it up," Helsley added about his slider. "Feels good, the shape's there. Just got to change the sights a little bit, I think, to get it in a better location."
Helsley was asked if it's been a bit of an adjustment for him in his new role with the Mets, and said he's still "trying to figure out" pitching in the eighth inning as the set-up man to Edwin Diaz, instead of his traditional closer role.
"Just trying to figure out that role and that routine to be ready when my name's called. I just haven't been good," Helsley said.
He added, "For everybody else to do their job and you not to do yours, it sucks. You never want to be that guy and be the reason the team loses. All of the guys did a great job tonight, offense did a good job, just wasn't able to pull through."
The Mets (64-57) have now lost each of their last seven one-run games and are 32-30 in one-run games this season. They'll hope to save their season before it's too late, but it'll be a tough task at hand with the hot Seattle Mariners (67-55) coming to town for a three-game series this weekend.
The Detroit Red Wings were among the more active teams in free agency during the offseason, bringing aboard multiple new players including James van Riemsdyk, Mason Appleton, Ian Mitchell, and Jacob Bernard-Docker.
However, the Red Wings weren't able to land any of the more notable names which included Mitch Marner, Aaron Ekblad, Sam Bennett, and Brad Marchand.
It was a tough reality that Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman acknowledged while addressing the early goings of their offseason on July 3.
"We didn’t even get a chance to talk to those guys (the top free agents)," he said. "They all signed with their clubs or were traded before free agency. Not much we can do about that."
Marner was traded to the Vegas Golden Knights by the Toronto Maple Leafs immediately after signing an eight-year, $96 million contract. Additionally, the Florida Panthers managed to re-sign Ekblad, Bennett, and Marchand to new multi-year contracts.
Continuing with the back-to-back Stanley Cup champions was a difficult offer for Ekblad to turn down, especially given that he has been with the franchise since being selected first overall in the 2014 NHL Draft.
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Ekblad had been linked to the Red Wings in the days and weeks leading up to free agency, and he could have earned even more in Detroit than the $6.1 million cap hit he ultimately re-signed for in Florida.
NHL Insider James Mirtle, a senior writer for The Athletic, disclosed that the Red Wings were “pushing” to land a big-name free agent and could have offered Ekblad a more lucrative contract.
"I know Detroit was pushing for some of the top potential UFAs this summer, but as mentioned above, a lot of them didn’t end up even getting to market," he wrote in a recent column. "Aaron Ekblad, in particular, could have signed for a much thicker average annual value in Michigan than the $6.1 million he took with Florida."
Ekblad clearly felt that the appeal of playing for a Stanley Cup contender, combined with the familiarity of the only team he has ever played for, were important factors in his decision.
The Red Wings had ample salary cap space entering free agency, which was aided by the trade of Vladimir Tarasenko and his entire $4.75 million cap hit to the Minnesota Wild.
Currently, they still have approximately $12 million with which to work.
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Winnipeg Jets forward Kyle Connor has been named to the NHL Network's annual Top-20 list.
Each offseason, amid the dog days of summer's slowest period through mid-August, the NHL Network slowly releases its list of the league's Top-20 players at each position.
Released systemically and over a lengthy period of time, NHL Network compiles 20 wingers, 20 centres, 20 defencemen and 20 goaltenders in advance of training camp, sparking debate amongst NHL fans throughout North America.
This time around, Winnipeg's top winger, Kyle Connor earned the honour of NHL Networks' No. 9 winger in the league.
Entering last season as NHL Network's No. 45 player in the league, Connor blew up for a career-high 97 points in 82 games, while also scoring 41 times. He was ranked seventh in the league in goals scored and led Winnipeg with 56 helpers on the year. 2024-25 marked Connor's fourth-straight season of 30-plus goals.
Connor, 28, has 284 goals, 582 points and 139 penalty minutes in 613 games for Winnipeg over his nine-year NHL career.
NHL Network's full Top-20 Wingers list:
The Mets and Braves played the final game of a three-game series on Thursday night at Citi Field.
- With the Mets leading, 3-2, in the eighth inning, Ryan Helsley coughed up the lead. After getting Drake Baldwin to fly out to lead off, Helsley walked Marcell Ozuna before serving up back-to-back run-scoring doubles -- the first to Michael Harris II, the second to Ozzie Albies -- as Atlanta went ahead, 4-3.
- The Mets didn't muster much after falling behind, with Lindor's one-out single in the eighth the only time they reached base the rest of the way.
- Francisco Lindorbroke a scoreless tie in the third, smoking a solo homer to center field off Braves starter Bryce Elder to give New York a 1-0 lead. It was Lindor's 22nd home run of the season.
- The inning after being staked to a lead, Kodai Senga gave up a game-tying homer to Albies with two outs in the fourth.
It was a very strong performance for Senga overall, though, as he allowed two runs on five hits while walking one and striking out seven in 5.2 innings. The second run scored after Senga exited with runners on first and third and two outs in the sixth.
Facing Albies, Tyler Rogers allowed a run-scoring single to left field before ending the inning by inducing a dribbler in front of the plate.
- New York responded immediately in the bottom of the frame, almost entirely on the legs of Lindor. With one out, Lindor roped a single to left-center. He promptly stole second base and advanced to third on a throwing error by catcher Drake Baldwin.Following a Juan Soto walk, Brandon Nimmo ripped a sacrifice fly to left field to drive in Lindor with the tying run.
Soto then stole second base and came around to score on a single by Pete Alonso to give the Mets a 3-2 lead. It was Alonso's 99th RBI on the season.
Meanwhile, the stolen base by Soto was the Mets' 36th straight attempt without getting caught, which set a new franchise record.
Lindor did all he could in defeat, going 3-for-4 with a home run, two singles, a stolen base, and two runs scored.
A 7-game hitting streak for Juan Soto pic.twitter.com/2822jmX886
— SNY (@SNYtv) August 14, 2025
Two strikeouts on forkballs for Kodai Senga in the 2nd pic.twitter.com/pyGcsgPS2b
— SNY (@SNYtv) August 14, 2025
Kodai Senga started off Jurickson Profar with a 66 mph curveball
— SNY (@SNYtv) August 14, 2025
He then dialed it up with a 97 mph fastball to strike him out pic.twitter.com/Y3ZITLSqoJ
Francisco Lindor drives his 22nd homer of the year to put the Mets on the board first! pic.twitter.com/8qvEAk2oSM
— SNY (@SNYtv) August 14, 2025
Francisco Lindor steals second and it's the Mets' 35th consecutive stolen base without being caught, tying a franchise record pic.twitter.com/kqc6uUBJTR
— SNY (@SNYtv) August 15, 2025
Juan Soto with his 19th stolen base of the season and it's the Mets' 36th consecutive stolen base without being caught, a new franchise record pic.twitter.com/V6wmMcyB57
— SNY (@SNYtv) August 15, 2025
Pete Alonso singles and gives the Mets the lead with his 99th RBI of the season! pic.twitter.com/dBzG1RhCmq
— SNY (@SNYtv) August 15, 2025
The Mets open a three-game series with the Mariners at Citi Field on Friday at 7:10 p.m. on SNY.
Sean Manaea gets the start for New York, opposed by Luis Castillo for Seattle.