After Tuesday night’s game, the Montreal Canadiens announced that Owen Protz had been assigned to his OHL team, the Brantford Bulldogs. The 19-year-old blueliner was a fourth-round pick at the 2024 draft and had an excellent rookie camp. His play at the Prospect Showdown earned him an invite to the main camp, but he didn’t get to skate in a preseason game.
Clearly, the Canadiens felt he had done well enough to earn a spot in a professional training camp, but as soon as the training groups were rearranged, he was placed in Group C with the players destined for the Laval Rocket.
Protz never had a chance to make the team, but to get to take part in the pro camp and skate alongside professional players gave him just a little taste of what life in the NHL is like. While they weren’t real games, taking part in the scrimmages also showed him just how quick the game is when there are NHLers on the ice.
What impressed the coaches at rookie camp was the fact that the youngster knew who he was on the ice. He wasn’t trying to do too much; he was drafted because of his rugged style of play and his ability to do a good first pass in transition, and that’s what he put forward. He wasn’t trying to be something he’s not, which is excellent for a player of such a young age.
He returns to the OHL knowing what he needs to work on and having seen exactly what it takes to make the NHL, as well as how the pros conduct themselves. His timing was great to get an invite to the main camp too, since you can feel a real urgency around the team this season, there’s no easing in the players before the regular season starts, Martin St-Louis has told his men from the beginning that he wanted to see real repetitions right away and that’s precisely what he saw, making the experience even more worthy for Protz.
With five games remaining in the regular season, the Mets are looking to secure the third and final Wild Card spot in the National League.
The Reds hold the tiebreaker over the Mets due to winning the season series. The tiebreaker between the Mets and Diamondbacks will likely be based on intradivision record since the two clubs split the season series.
Here's everything you need to know ahead of play on Sept. 24...
Mets: 81-76, 1.0 game up on Reds and Diamondbacks for third Wild Card
Next up: @ Cubs, Wednesday at 8:05 p.m. (Jonah Tong vs. Matthew Boyd) Latest result: 9-7 win over Cubs on Tuesday Remaining schedule: 2 @ CHC, 3 @ MIA Odds to make playoffs: 66.8 percent
Reds: 80-77, 1.0 game back of Mets
Next up: vs. Pirates, Wednesday at 6:40 p.m. (Paul Skenes vs. Hunter Greene) Latest result: 4-2 loss to Pirates on Tuesday Remaining schedule: 2 vs. PIT, 3 @ MIL Odds to make playoffs: 21.3 percent
Diamondbacks: 80-77, 1.0 game back of Mets
Next up: vs. Dodgers, Wednesday at 9:40 p.m. (Ryne Nelson vs. Blake Snell) Latest result: 5-4 win over Dodgers on Tuesday Remaining schedule: 2 vs. LAD, 3 @ SD Odds to make playoffs: 11.7 percent
While his grittiness and forechecking are standouts, his shot is tremendously underrated.
Not only is it accurate, but it's also heavy, which means that even if the goaltender is able to get into the right position, the speed and strength of the shot have a strong chance of winning the battle or, at the very least, creating a juicy rebound.
Tuesday night at the Prudential Center was the first time we were able to see that shot in game action outside of his Montreal highlight clips.
On the power play, Heineman was stationed in the high slot -- the bumper -- and after getting an on-the-money, quick pass from Calum Ritchie, he let that puck go.
Jacob Markstrom is a premier goalie, and while he got over in time, the shot was so hard that the fellow Swede could not move his blocker-side arm fast enough to stop the puck from ultimately getting behind him:
With that heavy, accurate quick release and physicality, he may be as close to a Cal Clutterbuck replacement as you will see.
Last year, in 62 games with Montreal, Heineman recorded 18 points, including 10 goals and eight assists, while adding 173 hits to the ledger, averaging about 2.79 hits per game.
However, diving further into the stats, he scored 10 goals in 37 games, struggling to find the net after being hit by a car while the Canadiens were in Utah—an unfortunate event in what started as a very promising rookie campaign.
Ten goals in 37 games is a 22-goal pace, something the Islanders will gladly take from a player who is likely to start alongside Casey Cizikas and Maxim Tsyplakov on the fourth line.
But Heineman could very well be more than a fourth-line player, as it's clear he can play on the power play, and we already know he's someone who can also play on the penalty kill.
"I'm trying to be as useful as possible," Heineman told The Hockey News. "I would like to do as much as possible, and that includes both PK and PP."
Islanders forward Simon Holmstrom is excited about everything Heineman brings to the table.
"He plays with a lot of grit. He's heavy out there, and he plays with a lot of speed," Holmstrom told The Hockey News about Heineman, a player he went up against his entire life. "He's got an unbelievable shot as well."
If Heineman can get that shot off often, opposing goaltenders better watch out.
Stay updated with the most interesting Islanders stories, analysis, breaking news and more! Tap the star to add us to your favorites on Google News to never miss a story.
Miles Wood scored the only goal for Columbus on the power play in a 2-1 CBJ loss to the Sabres on Tuesday night.
Despite some really good play by both Jackets goalies, the offense just couldn't get going against Buffalo. In Columbus's defense, they only had three NHLers playing on offense, and one on defense, so this game could have been a lot worse.
The Buffalo Sabres had guys like Tage Thompson, Jason Zucker, Josh Norris, and Rasmus Dahlin in this game, so it could've been much, much worse. Thompson and Zucker both scored in this game, for what it's worth.
The Blue Jackets now have four games left in the preseason, and the next game will come today against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Nationwide Arena.
Final Stats
Player Stats
Miles Wood scored his first preseason goal. He also led the team with 5 shots.
Daemon Hunt tallied an assist. He led all skaters with 25:45 of ice time.
Hudson Fasching also had an assist.
Ivan Fedotov stopped 24 of 25 Sabres shots.
Zach Sawchenko stopped 8 of 9 shots.
Team Stats
The Jackets power play went 1/4 on the night.
The Columbus PK stopped all four Sabres man advantages.
Columbus won 32.7% of the faceoffs.
Up Next: The Jackets welcome the Pittsburgh Penguins into NWA for their fourth preseason game.
Let us know what you think below.
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MARYLAND
HEIGHTS, Mo. -- When
the initial floodgates to free agency opened on July 1 and NHL teams
had their checkbooks out, sometimes there would always be someone
that would fall through the cracks, perhaps not making a hasty
decision and wanting to take some time to contemplate one’s next
destination.
For
Pius Suter, it was obvious he was not returning to the Vancouver
Canucks, so that meant searching for the next fit despite putting
up a career-high in goals (25) and points (46) for the Canucks last
season.
Maybe
it wasn’t the term he would have preferred while shopping through
the market, but Suter knew the St. Louis Blues would be the perfect
fit after he and his agent Georges Mueller spoke to general manager
Doug Armstrong.
A
two-year, $8.25 million contract ($4.125 million average annual
value) was consummated rather quickly and the 29-year-old found
himself with a team in dire need of a center iceman who found a
scoring touch but is known for his reliability defensively, as a
penalty killer and just a fundamentally, sound player.
“I
did the homework,” Suter
said.
“When I talked to them, I had a great feeling what they seen of
me
as a player. It’s also a team that went to the playoffs last year
so it’s exciting and you want to help them take another step. …
In the end, you put in the work. You can only control so much. You
just make sure when you show up, you do your thing and you help the
team win.
“They’re
well-organized. They play hard, they’re structured. As you can see
in the playoffs, just a really good, overall team. They know what
they’re doing. I just felt like it was a good fit and hopefully I
can help them go another step.”
It’s
not a player that is going to woo and wow you, but it is someone that
will dedicate himself to a team concept and fit a piece that was
obviously missing.
“You
can just tell he’s reliable,” Blues
captain Brayden Schenn said of Suter.
“Practicing is always tough because everyone’s in the perfect
position at all times. On majority of days, everyone looks good.
Where guys obviously separate themselves is the game. Obviously
looking forward to playing with him and he’s obviously a huge piece
for us that’s just going to play 200 feet for us. The more of those
players we have, the better.”
Suter,
who began his career with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2020-21 as an
undrafted free agent but had 27 points (14 goals, 13 assists) 55
games before joining the Detroit Red Wings the following season, also
on a two-year contract, then signing with the Canucks – also for
two years.
“Everybody
looks at long term,” Suter said. “You see the market. You find a
new team, see how it fits. It’s just one of those business things,
right? In general, it seemed everyone was comfortable on the shorter
side.”
The
Zurich, Switzerland native has spent his entire NHL career proving
himself, and he will do so again with the Blues, a team he scored his second NHL hat trick against Jan. 24, 2024. He’s not someone
characterized with a tremendous amount of speed, but at the end of
the night, is someone that finds a way to get the job done.
“His
hockey sense. You can tell on the penalty kill, he’s going to make
our penalty kill better,” Blues
coach Jim Montgomery said.
“His stick is always in the right spot, he knows where he has to
be. Even though he’s never been called the fastest guy in the
world, he hits holes at the right time. We’ve seen that for years
with the Ryan O’Reillys and the Patrice Pergerons, people that
aren’t fast but they never get caught on breakaways because they
know where the pucks are going before anybody else.
“He’s
a player that I think makes those around him better whether he’s in
an offensive role or defensive role because he just plays to his
strengths. … I’ve been surprised how quickly he’s picked up all
of our … their D-zone was similar to our D-zone, so I expected
that, but I haven’t seen him make a mistake in the neutral zone or
on the forecheck or the stuff that we were working on today, our
tracking. It seems like because of his hockey brain, he just adapts.
I think if the system makes sense, he’s going to be able to play
quickly. Hopefully it’s a sign of that our systems that we’re
implementing make sense.”
Suter
made the adjustment to the NHL after spending five seasons with his
hometown ZSC Lions in Zurich. Being 5-foot-11, 172 pounds, Suter has
had to find his way and navigate the ups and downs of transitioning
to the NHL and realized by doing that, his numbers, ice time (career
high 17:21 last season) and opportunities would eventually increase
and improve.
“I
think around the boards, battles, 1-on-1s, those kind of things and
shooting, shooting well again,” Suter said. “I had some time to
really work on it. I felt like after that first year, I needed to get
that kick back a little bit again and it’s been there again. I
think it’s more on the confidence thing of where it’s going when
I shoot it. Overall you learn the league, you learn the players you
play against, what’s going on in the day-to-day, the travel. It’s
a huge difference from the way it usually happened. You kind of find
your way around. As anybody, you get older, you know your body well,
you know what you need this today or that. It just helps you every
year more.
“You’ve
just got to play to your strengths. Just play smart defensively and
be dangerous offensively and do all the little things right. Then
it’s just kind of play a team game and play to win. The rest will
kind of fall in place. One thing is you don’t want to overthink it.
You just got to play to your strength. You can’t play something
you’re not. That’s why they usually feel like on the team you can
help.”
Prior
to last season, Suter’s goal scoring seasons were 14, 15, 14 and
14; he had 138 shots, second-highest of his five seasons in the NHL
but his shooting percentage was a career-best 18.1 percent.
“It
helps pretty much to play all the games,” Suter,
who played in 81 games, said.
“I think I took advantage of the chances I had, especially in the
slot where I could get a couple extra ones in. That’s kind of what
happened, buried those, put them in instead of missing a little bit,
hit the post or something like that and I think that was the
difference in terms of goals. … Things fell into place and it felt
good at the start of the year and kept going. I had a great summer
and I had a feeling it was going to be great. The year before too,
just missed a couple games with an injury.”
Suter
doesn’t have the greatest face-off numbers (45.9 percent career)
but will work well with assistant coach Steve Ott in that department
but will be a solid piece of a puzzle trying to improve a penalty
kill. He was past of Vancouver’s third-ranked penalty kill last
season (82.6 percent); the Blues were tied for 27th
(74.2 percent).
“We’ll
see how it goes. You take pride in it,” Suter said. “It can
really help to give momentum. At least you’ll have the chance in
the game in those big moments. As a group, it’s four guys in a
role. You’ve just got to find a way. Guys are going to make plays.
You just don’t want to give the one right in the middle downtown.
You just take pride in it. It’s always a big part of the game.”
Whether
Suter plays second-line center – that’s where he was with Dylan
Holloway and Jordan Kyrou Tuesday at practice – or third-line
center will be up to the coaches. He doesn’t really care. All he
cares about is helping the Blues take that next step.
“You
see how good they were and that first round last year,” Suter said
of the Blues. “You just try and build on that. You get the feeling
it’s really good players, a lot of good players, a big roster. You
can tell mindset-wise, a tight-knit group. Everybody here knows it’s
about winning and nothing else really matters.”
"I'm not going to act like there's no pressure," Franklin said of Penn State's matchup with Oregon. "(But) this is why you choose Penn State. It's why I came here as the head coach, to have these types of opportunities and to play these type of games."
The Cleveland Guardians' Austin Hedges, left, and Steven Kwan celebrate after scoring in the seventh inning of their win over the Detroit Tigers. Photograph: Sue Ogrocki/AP
Gavin Williams posted a career-high-tying 12 strikeouts and Daniel Schneemann drove in two runs Tuesday as the host Cleveland Guardians rallied for a 5-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers to forge a tie atop the American League Central.
The AL Central race could be seen as an epic comeback by the Guardians or a huge meltdown from the Tigers, depending on your allegiances. The Tigers had led the division since 23 April and had a 10-game lead over Cleveland as recently as 6 September. But the Guardians have the best record in MLB this month (17-5) while the Tigers have lost seven straight games and 10 of their last 11.
Williams allowed two runs on four hits and walked only two to outduel Tigers ace Tarik Skubal, who gave up three runs (one earned) on four hits while fanning eight and walking three.
It was a shaky outing for Skubal, who has been excellent for most of the season. After he hit Cleveland’s David Fry in the face with a pitch, he looked shaken and threw a wild pitch to George Valera, who replaced Fry, allowing Cleveland to score. Skubal also had an error – he inexplicably tried to make a blind throw to first between his legs – and was also called for a balk in the sixth inning as the Guardians rallied for three runs to take a 3-2 lead without hitting a ball out of the infield.
“We did a lot of uncharacteristic things, and it’s hurting us,” Tigers manager AJ Hinch said after the game.
Fry was taken to a local hospital for observation after being hit by the 99 mph pitch and Skubal admitted the incident had affected him.
“Really tough,” said the left-hander. “I’ve already reached out to him. I’m sure his phone is blowing up. I just want to make sure he’s all right. Obviously, he seemed like he was OK coming off the field and hopefully it stays that way.”
With the victory, the Guardians now have a better head-to-head record against the Tigers this season and own the tiebreaker over Detroit should the teams finish joint-first in the division.
“I feel like we’ve been this way for a couple of series now,” Tigers catcher Dillon Dingler said. “It’s not quite pressing but we definitely feel some of the pressure and we’ve got to mitigate it. We’ve got to eliminate it. We’ve still got to find ways to stay loose, focus in and hone in on what we need to do and go out there and do it.”
The teams play each other again on Wednesday and Thursday before the Tigers complete their season with a series against the Red Sox and the Guardians face the Rangers.
Striker could yet replace Leoni in league phase squad
Italian relishing chance to thank fans for their support
Federico Chiesa has outlined his determination to play his way into Arne Slot’s Champions League plans and to repay Liverpool fans for their unwavering support during a difficult debut season at Anfield.
The Italy international impressed in his first start of the season on Tuesday with two assists in the 2-1 Carabao Cup third-round win against Southampton. Chiesa has also made an impact in four substitute appearances in the Premier League this season and says he feels “better physically and mentally” compared with his first campaign as a Liverpool player.
It is hard to believe a return to F1 is not on the cards for one of the most successful team principals, but where will he go?
When Christian Horner announced to the staff at Red Bull he had been dismissed by the company to whom he had dedicated 20 years of his life, he was, understandably, reduced to tears. On Monday that parting was formally sealed with a multimillion-pound settlement and Horner is free to move on. It is all but impossible to imagine he will not attempt to hurl himself back into Formula One, doubtless spurred-on by having a point to make to his former employer.
On Monday Horner and Red Bull’s parent company, Red Bull GmbH, announced they had reached an agreement worth £80m to end his career with the team, after he had been removed from his post as team principal shortly after the British GP in July.
The Philadelphia Flyers never quite looked ready to play against the Montreal Canadiens in Tuesday night's preseason game, and the 4-2 final score reflected that. However, the performance wasn't all bad.
The Canadiens jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on goals from Cole Caufield and Florian Xhekaj, and Xhekaj's goal was one goalie Sam Ersson will want back for sure.
The Canadiens prospect found an open zone with Nick Deslauriers and Ethan Samson pursuing Tyler Thorpe in the corner, received the puck, and fired a weak shot through Ersson's glove side.
Prior to that, Caufield converted on a partial 3-on-2 where defensemen Helge Grans and Nick Seeler were the only two players back. Captain Sean Couturier fumbled the puck under pressure on the wall in the offensive zone, allowing Nick Suzuki to break free in the neutral zone.
Seeler was too passive in his defense on the play, as Suzuki gained the Flyers' offensive zone with his only two pass options still outside the blueline. Grans covered Lane Hutson in the middle and possibly expected winger support on the weak side, but Caufield was all alone to get his one-timer off 53 seconds into the game for a 1-0 lead.
Overall, I liked Grans's game after this play, but I'll need to see more from him to say with conviction that he deserves an NHL roster spot. Fortunately, there is still a lot of preseason left to play.
As for other roster hopefuls, Dennis Gilbert surprisingly looked effective next to Travis Sanheim on the Flyers' top defense pairing. The 28-year-old journeyman helped get the Flyers on the board midway through the second period, springing Anthony Richard for a breakaway with a long-range breakout pass and getting Philadelphia within a goal at 2-1.
Aleksei Kolosov took over for Sam Ersson after one period, contrary to what Rick Tocchet said at morning skate earlier in the day, and made 12 saves on 13 shots (.923).
The one goal he did allow was the straw that ultimately broke the camel's back; Nick Suzuki's second-period goal stood as the game-winner.
Defensively, the Flyers were again a mess on this play.
Hunter McDonald didn't play Suzuki with enough urgency after Slafkovsky set up shop, and Oscar Eklind and Ethan Samson actually deflected Suzuki's shot over Kolosov's shoulder, with the Belarusian clearly expecting a low shot.
Owen Tippett mercifully delivered the Flyers a power play goal on the evening to make it 3-2, but the power play overall looked poor.
Winger Alex Bump hardly had a kick up until the third period, but finished the night as the Flyers' most dangerous offensive player.
Bump started on a line with Deslauriers and Jett Luchanko, but eventually swapped places with Richard and joined up with Couturier and Bobby Brink.
That line was too sloppy and ineffective for a preseason game, but once Bump came aboard, things started clicking more.
The 21-year-old probably should have scored on a breakaway opportunity, too, but after deking Kaapo Kahkonen out of his skates, the finishing touch just went off the side of the net. You can guarantee Bump won't mess up that finish again.
For me, Bump and Luchanko should be put in more opportunistic positions by head coach Rick Tocchet in the next exhibition game they feature in.
It's nothing against Deslauriers, but he was drafted as a defenseman and is a career fighter. He's just not capable of playing a game that suits Bump and Luchanko, and especially not at his age. It wasn't fair to him or the two youngsters.
At the same time, it's only preseason and there's no need to overreact. I just believe that the youngsters should be simulating real game settings as often as possible, but wasting two periods with that combination in a building like the Bell Centre after arriving in Montreal hours earlier isn't going to work.
Overall, it's hard to say any players played poorly, because most of the team did, and it's relative, especially given the circumstances.
Alex Bump was certainly the most impressive and flashy, closely followed by Sanheim, Gilbert, and Kolosov.
Nobody else did much of anything, so we'll need to see more preseason action before considering jumping to any conclusions.
SAN FRANCISCO — In the top of the second inning Tuesday night, Logan Webb threw a 2-2 slider to Victor Scott II that just missed the outer edge of the plate. As it hit Patrick Bailey’s glove, the Giants catcher subtly moved his hand a couple of inches. Scott bent down in disbelief and shook his head as home plate umpire Malachi Moore called him out.
Two innings later, Webb threw another slider up and away. This one found its spot, although not by much. According to the unofficial strike zone box on the broadcast, about half the ball was in the zone and half was out. Crooks briefly glanced back at Moore as he was called out.
A year from now, both of those pitches might lead to a brief stoppage of play.
The ABS (automatic balls and strikes) system was approved by Major League Baseball on Tuesday, and the man who framed both strikeouts early in Tuesday’s game might be the big leaguer who is most impacted. Bailey is the best pitch-framer in baseball and it’s not particularly close, but starting next opening day, opposing hitters will have a way to fight back.
Had Scott been able to challenge Tuesday, he would have gotten a 3-2 opportunity instead of a slow walk back to the dugout. Crooks would have been tempted, too, although he would have been proven wrong.
The ABS system will dramatically alter the game, and Bailey said Tuesday that he’s not quite sure what it will mean for his future. He is hitting .224 with six homers, but his defense is so elite that he has been worth 3.2 fWAR this season, which ranks third among Giants position players.
“I don’t think any of us know what this really looks like in a full year,” Bailey said Tuesday. “I’ll try to be the best I can be and just figure it out.”
It has been an open secret within the game that ABS would arrive in 2026, and on Tuesday, the Joint Competition Committee approved a challenge system similar to one that has been used at Triple-A since 2022 and was tried in 2025 spring training games. The final result is actually pretty simple.
Every stadium will have 12 Hawk-Eye cameras set up to track each pitch and if a pitcher, catcher or batter disagrees with a ball or strike, he can tap his hat or helmet. Teams get two challenges every game and will retain successful ones, with an extra challenge in every extra inning if a team is out by the 10th.
The rulings themself will resemble the system that has been used in tennis for years. After a challenge is announced by the home plate umpire, a graphic will be shown on the scoreboard displaying the exact location of the pitch compared to the batter’s measured strike zone and whether it is in fact a ball or strike. That part of the system figures are particularly popular.
Imagine it’s a Friday night at Oracle Park and 40,000 fans are on their feet in the eighth inning. Logan Webb throws a close pitch to Shohei Ohtani that is called a ball, but Bailey knows he saw it correctly and he taps his helmet. The anticipation at the ballpark will only be additive to the game experience. MLB estimates that challenges will take 15 seconds total, but in spring training it often was much quicker.
“Fans are going to love it,” predicted Bryce Eldridge, who experienced ABS in Triple-A this year.
Not every player will feel the same way. According to USA Today, seven teams opposed the ABS system in player voting, and it is sure to be embarrassing for some. Giants manager Bob Melvin has asked questions of Triple-A manager Dave Brundage and said he anticipates having to put in some rules at some point. There are bound to be some players who are challenge-happy and costing the team by being wrong too often.
“You’re going to find some guys that you’re going to tell them, ‘If you miss today, you’re not going to get (permission to challenge) tomorrow’ or something like that,” Melvin said. “And then you’re going to have other guys that are going to be really good at it. Next spring we’ll feel that out and see who is and who isn’t.”
What has been discovered in the minors is that pitchers are surprisingly bad at calling their own games. In spring training, they were correct just 41 percent of the time, per ESPN, while catchers sat at 56 percent and hitters were a 50-50 coin flip.
Bailey said it’s much easier for him to track while catching than hitting, and there’s nobody better at it. Per Baseball Savant, he has been worth 25 Catcher Framing Runs. The next closest catcher is Toronto’s Alejandro Kirk at 14 and the gap was just as wide last year, when Bailey led the Majors at 23 and Seattle’s Cal Raleigh ranked second at 13.
Bailey is so far ahead of the pack that he ranks second overall in Catcher Framing Runs since tracking began in 2018 — despite the fact that he didn’t debut until 2023.
“He’s the best, he’s as good as it gets, and he understands it, too,” Melvin said. “He knows all the numbers and what his pitchers can do and where he needs to go to get strikes. It makes a big impact.”
In theory, Bailey’s skills should still give the Giants a nightly edge. Melvin figures teams will save one challenge for the eighth or ninth inning, so they’ll have limited opportunities early in games to try and catch Bailey in a successful frame job. Bailey noted that there are plenty of times when he feels he caught a strike but the umpire disagrees, and he figures to be pretty good at challenging, given his feel for the strike zone.
There will also be some gamesmanship, although nobody is quite sure what that will fully look like yet. Bailey might find that there is a new edge to be found by goading hitters into challenging calls that were correct in the first place. Regardless, the Giants and Bailey will benefit from the fact that challenges are limited.
“I certainly don’t think a good framer goes away unless it’s wholesale (robot umps),” Melvin said. “I think, still, his value is going to be high.”
Bailey is hopeful that’s the case. He chose his words carefully Tuesday, but also left no doubt that he’s not thrilled that ABS has arrived. He has said in the past that it will be bad for catchers overall, and it certainly adds a bit more pressure to perform with the bat.
While some front offices have placed framing above all else in recent years, at least part of that advantage is going away. It will take some time to figure out just how much it impacts the Giants and their own catcher.
“I don’t think it’s going to take away the value of framing,” Bailey said. “You still have to be able to get calls and keep strikes (as) strikes. At the end of the day, I think it’s just going to be really valuable to know the zone.”
Fulton enjoyed game time for the Timberwolves in the NBA's Summer League [Getty Images]
CJ Fulton has officially signed with NBA franchise Minnesota Timberwolves.
The 23-year-old Belfast man has been in the United States for pre-season with the back-to-back Western Conference finalists in anticipation of a contract which is now confirmed.
In the coming days, Fulton is expected to be waived to Iowa Wolves in the G-League - the NBA's team-affiliated development league that begins in November - which will provide an opportunity to develop and work his way into the full Timberwolves squad.
"It's a way of keeping me around the franchise and working my way up," he explained to BBC Sport NI earlier in September.
Fulton missed out on selection at the NBA Draft in June, but debuted for the Timberwolves during the NBA Summer League.
He played four minutes in their 89-85 win against the Phoenix Suns in July, making him the third Irish-born player to take to the court at the highest level in the United States after Pat Burke and Susan Moran.
The former St Malachy's College pupil then played 17 minutes against the Houston Rockets, scoring two points with two assists and two steals.
He initially caught the attention of the Timberwolves with his displays in college basketball for Lafayette and the Charleston Cougars, averaging 7.8 points and 6.5 assists per game for the latter during his senior year.
The Minnesota club begin their six-game pre-season schedule on Sunday, 5 October against the Denver Nuggets in San Diego.
Bill Russell, who played nearly 2,200 games and managed for parts of three seasons with the Dodgers, works as an umpire observer for Major League Baseball. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
The fourth in an occasional seriesof profiles on Southern California athletes who have flourished in their post-playing careers.
An outstanding outfielder in his first three major league seasons, Russell moved to the infield full time in his fourth year. It was a disaster.
“It was something I lost a lot of sleep over,” said Russell, who led the majors with 34 errors that year. “After the season, I just collapsed for a few weeks.”
Then he picked himself up and went to work on getting better and in his second year as a shortstop he led the majors with 560 assists, led the National League in defensive WAR and made the first of three all-star teams.
He went on to play more games for the Dodgers than any player in Los Angeles history.
It was a remarkable career, one that hardly needed a second act. But even after he left the stage, Russell never left the theater. Six months after his last at-bat — he struck out as a pinch hitter in the final week of the 1986 season — Russell was back in uniform as the team’s bench coach.
He later managed in the Dodgers’ minor league system, replaced Tommy Lasorda in that job at the major league level and, for the past 13 years, has worked in the team’s community relations department, coaching youth camps and appearing at schools, fan fests and other events. Since 2002 he’s also served as an umpire observer, partly because the job gets him a good seat behind the plate at Dodger Stadium.
If the team were to a pick a Mr. L.A. Dodger, someone emblematic of the team’s history and values since moving to Southern California, the soft-spoken, humble Russell, a Dodger for nearly half a century, would have to be in that conversation.
But it was his dedication to mastering the switch from the outfield to shortstop — becoming the first prominent player since Honus Wagner to make the move — that literally changed the direction of the franchise. If he hadn’t made it work, the Dodgers may never have had the courage to turn a minor league outfielder named Davey Lopes into a second baseman, where he became Russell’s double-play partner.
If he hadn’t made it work, the Dodgers may never have tried pushing a scatter-armed third baseman named Steve Garvey across the diamond to first, opening up the position to Russell’s right for Ron Cey. The resulting infield of Garvey, Lopes, Russell and Cey played together for 8 ½ seasons, longer than any quartet in baseball history, winning four pennants and a World Series.
“Each one of us had different talents,” Russell said. “It was tough at first but all of a sudden we started having success. It’s four brothers.”
From left, Ron Cey, Bill Russell, Davey Lopes and Steve Garvey pose before an old-timers game at Dodger Stadium in 2013. The infield quartet won four pennants and a World Series together. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
Now Betts, a six-time Gold Glove-winning outfielder, has mastered the move too, helping the Dodgers to the cusp of their 12th division title in 13 seasons. However if Betts perfected the shift, Russell pioneered it.
“He was a great athlete,” said Steve Sax, Russell’s double-play partner his last five seasons. “He was maybe the fastest guy in the organization. The whole genesis of being able to move guys around was the thought they’re so athletic, why can’t they make the transition?
“And he proved that to be true.”
At 76, Russell is nearly four decades removed from his last of his 2,181 big-league games, all with the Dodgers. But he’s still fit, not far off his playing weight of 175 pounds. And while he was once among the fastest players in the majors, he now moves at a purposeful saunter rather than a sprint. Wire-rim glasses crease his once-boyish face and the mop of straw-blond hair he once tucked under his cap has gone white, leaving him looking more like a college English professor than a once-iconic athlete.
"I just enjoyed going to the park and being with the guys. They just make you feel young again," said Bill Russell, who turns 77 in October. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
What hasn’t changed is his love for a game that has been his life and for a team that has become his family.
“I just enjoyed going to the park and being with the guys. They just make you feel young again,” said Russell, who often wears a wry smile that suggests he’s in on a joke no one else knows about.
“Billy’s very special,” said Peter O’Malley, the Dodgers’ owner and president throughout much of Russell’s career.
“He was stable. Popular with the fans for sure. He deserves more credit that he’s received.”
Russell grew up a short drive from both the Missouri and Oklahoma state lines in the kind of nondescript Kansas town where everybody knew their neighbors and hard work wasn’t a virtue, it was an expectation.
The middle child in a family of five children, he attended a high school so small it didn’t have a baseball team. So he played basketball during the winter and baseball on sandlots and with American Legion teams during the summer. He was the kind of player scouts once described as “an athlete,” meaning he was smart enough and talented enough to excel at any position, though the Dodgers listed him as an outfielder when they selected him in the ninth round of the second amateur draft in 1966.
He gave most of his $14,000 signing bonus to his parents, minus the money he needed to buy a second-hand Chevy like the one his best friend drove.
Russell shot up the minor-league ladder, playing just 221 games before making the jump from Class A Bakersfield to the majors in 1969, doubling in his first big-league at-bat.
The adjustment from the minors to the majors was far easier than the change from the tiny mining town of Pittsburg, Kan., to the technicolor sprawl of Southern California.
“Coming to Los Angeles, you’ve got to be kidding me. A big city like this?” said Russell, who had rarely traveled more than 30 miles from Pittsburg before signing with the Dodgers. “My town was only 10,000 people so I had to grow up fast.
“I’m 20 years old, I’m in the major leagues and the minimum salary is $10,000. It wasn’t even $1,000 a month. But that was more money than I’d ever thought of. And I’m playing in Hollywood.”
After playing 18 seasons with the Dodgers, Bill Russell managed the ballclub from 1996-98. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Playing exclusively in the outfield, too, although Monty Basgall, a fellow Kansan and the former minor league infield instructor who scouted Russell as an athlete, was already plotting the move to shortstop, the most challenging defensive position after catcher.
“Shortstop is a difficult position,” said Derrel Thomas, a former teammate who played everywhere but pitcher during a 16-year big-league career. “A lot of people don’t give Monty Basgall any credit for what he did helping with the infielders.”
After some preparation in the instructional league and the minors, Russell made his major league debut at shortstop on the final day of the 1970 season, then played 47 games as a middle infielder a year later. But the move didn’t become permanent until Russell’s fourth season when he replaced an aging Maury Wills.
“I wasn’t in a position to say anything, really,” said Russell, who still speaks with a noticeable Midwestern accent.
“I had doubts about it, no question. But I figured my longevity in the big leagues, if I had [any], would come with moving to the infield.”
In fact, the move nearly ended his career. Russell made his first poor throw seven games into the season and by the all-star break he had as almost as many errors as extra-base hits. By then, he was also looking over his shoulder, expecting the Dodgers to put an end to the experiment.
“I’m surprised they didn’t,” he says now. “The fans got involved too. It wasn’t a standing ovation when I was coming back to the dugout after making some errors.
“At that time people brought transistor radios to the stadium. You could hear [Vin Scully] doing the game. I could hear him say something about me at shortstop. Talk radio was just coming on board and they were on me. It was a lot of negative stuff.”
“Maybe I was too dumb, I don’t know,” Russell said with a shrug. “I never thought about giving up or going back home. What am I going to do back home? I did say to myself, ‘I'm going to show these people I can play this position.’
“And I did. For 13 years.”
Through hard work and determination, Russell turned his fielding from a liability into an asset and the Dodgers began to win, reaching the World Series four times over the next nine seasons. And while Russell never won a Gold Glove — he twice led the majors in errors — he finished in the top five in fielding percentage by an NL shortstop three times, was in the top five for putouts four times and in the top three for assists six times.
He was understatedly brilliant, so much so that Cincinnati Reds’ shortstop Dave Concepcion once mocked Russell’s critics saying he didn’t know who the best fielder was “but I sure watch Bill Russell in the playoffs a lot.”
“He would never quit. Never,” O’Malley said. “Making that transition at the major league level, he deserves extraordinary credit for that.”
Almost lost in the focus on his defense was the fact Russell was a tough out, hitting better than .271 six times and excelling in clutch situations.
“That went all the way back to high school,” said Russell, who hit the shot that took his underdog team to the final of the Kansas state tournament. “It’s just a calmness. You can’t describe it. You can’t teach it. It is something that comes over you and you get a calm feeling that you’re going to succeed.”
As a high school infielder at Arroyo High in El Monte, James Baker was given his choice of uniform numbers. He didn’t have to think long before selecting one.
“I wore No. 18,” he said. “Because of Bill.”
It was the same number he had worn in Little League and American Legion ball.
“He was Mr. Clutch,” Baker, 61, said of Russell. “He was the dean of the infield.”
“The great thing about Bill Russell,” added Rick Zubiate, 57, Baker’s brother-in-law “is he wasn't flashy. He made all the plays he was supposed to. Not only that, he had a presence and he commanded everybody around him to be better and expect more of themselves.”
Russell may be little more than a face on an old baseball card to Generation Z. But for children of the ‘60s like Baker and Zubiate, he remains the archetypal Dodger, one with a Dodger Blue resume that is unassailable. Which is why Baker and Zubiate braved rush-hour traffic last week to drive to Ontario, where Russell was appearing at an event for the Dodgers’ newest minor league affiliate.
“I loved him,” Baker said after asking Russell for an autograph.
And what’s not to love? He played more games and has more World Series at-bats than any player in L.A. Dodger history. He trails only Willie Davis and Garvey in hits and only Clayton Kershaw has matched Russell’s 18 seasons at Dodger Stadium.
Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, right, hugs Bill Russell in the dressing room after the Dodgers beat the Phillies, 6-5, in Game 3 of the 1977 NLCS. (Associated Press)
But he also managed in the team’s minor league system, was the bench coach under Lasorda for seven years, then managed the big-league team for parts of three seasons, posting the fourth-best winning percentage by a manager since the franchise left Brooklyn. And he still pulls on his old uniform — with the bright red 18 over his Dodger blue heart — several times a year to join former teammates including Garvey, Sax and Steve Yeager in reminiscing with fans at fantasy camps and clinics.
“We have fun out there,” he said. “People come from all over the country. [It’s] like you’re still involved in the whole scene of being a major league player.”
If the speed and power of Willie Mays is synonymous with the San Francisco Giants and the style and grace of Ted Williams is emblematic of the Boston Red Sox, Russell’s blue-collar work ethic and country-boy humility is the embodiment of the Dodgers since they moved to Southern California.
“Quintessential Dodger?” O’Malley said. “Absolutely right. From start to end, he deserves the credit. He was respected and liked by everybody.”
Russell stood out, O’Malley said, partly because he blended in.
“He was quiet,” he said. “But keen sense of humor. If he wanted to make a point or be heard, he could nail it with a comment. It was pretty darn funny.”
Yet Russell’s silent excellence often went unappreciated. A .263 lifetime hitter who had fewer home runs in his career than Shohei Ohtani has this year alone, he received just three Hall of Fame votes the only time his name appeared on the ballot. For a time, even his loyalty to the Dodgers went unrequited; for years after his last game as manager Russell felt unwelcome at Dodger Stadium, the result of a toxic stew of bruised egos, Machiavellian maneuvering and corporate mismanagement.
It began midway through the 1996 season when Lasorda, the manager who had groomed Russell in the minors then won with him in the majors, had a heart attack. A month later Lasorda stepped down and Russell took over on an interim basis, guiding the Dodgers to a playoff berth.
That earned him the job full time but it didn’t earn him unquestioned support throughout the organization. The low-key Russell was a striking contrast to the colorful and bombastic Lasorda, more Mr. Rogers than Bobby Knight.
“He’s named the manager following Tommy. That’s not easy,” O’Malley said. “And he did it in his own way.
“But things didn’t work out. Following Tommy was not an easy task.”
Critics who had preferred hitting coach Reggie Smith, Mets manager Bobby Valentine or triple A manager Mike Scioscia — all former Lasorda pupils — over Russell quietly worked to undermine him and 74 games into his second full season as manager, Russell was fired by the team’s new overlords at Fox, who also sacked general manager Fred Claire, replacing him with Lasorda.
By then a major rift had developed between Russell and his former manager, who privately questioned Russell’s performance to management and publicly questioned his qualifications to manage. As a result many pointed fingers for the firings at Lasorda, who strongly denied being involved.
Bill Russell observed umpires on behalf of MLB during Sunday's Dodgers-Giants game at Dodger Stadium. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Either way, the relationship was irrevocably broken.
Russell left with a .537 winning percentage over parts of three seasons, a better mark — albeit over a far shorter span — than the one that took Lasorda to the Hall of Fame. After firing Russell, the Dodgers never made the playoffs under Fox, with the seven-season postseason drought matching the team’s longest since the late 1960s-early 1970s.
The hard feelings have softened some with the passing of both time and Lasorda, who died in 2021. (Russell, pointedly, was not invited to the funeral; Scioscia, Valentine, Garvey and Cey were.)
“I knew him better than anybody. I was like his son,” Russell said earlier this month, sitting at a patio table near the neat two-bedroom Valencia house where he’s lived for 20 years.
“I don’t want to bad mouth him but he wanted to keep managing. He just couldn’t accept not being there. That’s just the way it was.”
The slight wounded Russell, who took off his Dodger uniform for what he thought would be the final time. O’Malley, who was in the room when Bob Graziano, the former banker Fox put in charge of the team, fired the manager, invited Russell back to the stadium later that season. But the place where he had grown from a boy to man wasn’t the same.
So he went on to work as an advisor with a team in Taiwan, spent a season as bench coach in Tampa Bay and managed in the minors for both the Rays and Giants.
None of it felt comfortable.
“I was in the Dodger organization 30 years,” he said. “To go somewhere else, it wasn’t right.”
After managing the Shreveport Swamp Dragons to a last-place finish in the Texas League in 2001, he returned to Southern California — and Dodger Stadium — as an umpire observer for Major League Baseball, a job that lets him sit behind the plate and watch games.
As if he could imagine doing anything else.
“He’s brought a different perspective because he played at the highest level and he managed,” said Matt McKendry, MLB’s vice-president of umpire operations. “But, you know, Bill loves being at the ballpark and if he wasn’t doing what he’s doing for us, I think he’d be at Dodger Stadium almost every night anyway.”
Because for Russell it’s never been a stadium. It’s home.
It’s been a steep learning curve for Mets owner Steve Cohen, just as it is for most successful businessmen who buy professional sports franchises.
Since purchasing the team from Fred Wilpon in late 2020, Cohen has tried to buy his way to a World Series title, spending $1.57 billion on players, as accounted for by Major League Baseball’s luxury-tax system. That’s on top of the $2.4 billion he paid for the franchise.
What does he have to show for it? Mostly a bunch of early postseason exits, and a team this year spending the final days of the season trying to make the playoffs after frittering away a big lead to the Philadelphia Phillies.
Even after a furious comeback to win 9-7 in Chicago last night, they’re11 games behind the NL East-winning Phillies and only a game up on the Cincinnati Reds and Arizona Diamondbacks for the final NL Wild Card spot. Both the Reds and Diamondbacks own the head-to-head tie breakers over the Mets.
Last season, the Mets lost in six games to the eventual World Series-winning Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series. And they had to survive a three-way tiebreaker on the last day of the regular season to clinch an NL Wild Card spot to get that far.
That’s not a huge return on investment, particularly this season.
“This [year] has been a grind for this entire group,” David Stearns, the club’s president of baseball operations, said last week at a press conference in New York.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way, but the second half of this season has echoes of the Mets’ “worst team money could buy” squad of 1992. On June 12, the Mets had the best record in MLB at 45-24 with a 5.5 game lead over the Phillies. It has been all downhill ever since.
“When you’re sitting where we were in mid-June, we would not have expected to be in this spot, no question about it,” Stearns said, stating the obvious. “We’ll have time to evaluate and diagnose and do all of that stuff [after it’s all over].”
To be sure, the Mets could recapture come of last year’s magic and still make the playoffs. But that was the antithesis of this season when they went 19-9 from Aug. 28, 2024, on to barely clinch a Wild Card spot. This year, they are 7-12 in September, losing eight in a row at one point and haven’t shown much of a pulse.
Put it all in the pot.
Cohen’s record of sustaining his managers and baseball ops leaders is a lot like firing hedge fund personnel who do not perform. No matter what it costs him, he could bring in a whole new crew.
He’s had four heads of baseball ops and three on-field managers in the five seasons he’s owned the team, which may indicate trouble for Stearns and manager Carlos Mendoza. Billy Eppler lasted three seasons as general manager. The veteran Buck Showalter was fired after the Mets hosted and lost a three-game Wild Card Series to the San Diego Padres in 2022 and failed to make the playoffs in 2023.
Mendoza, who’s overseen a club playing 35-52 ball since its June apex, has to be on very thin ice. Stearns built a team that has hit the fifth-most homers in the league at 215 but has a 17th-ranked pitching staff with a 3.99 ERA. He, too, has to be accountable.
Milwaukee, which spent about $200 million less than the Mets second-ranked payroll of $340.6 million, has a pitching staff with the second-best ERA in baseball at 3.61. The Brewers have won 15 more games than the Mets and have the best record in MLB.
Cohen has certainly thrown money at it. Under his watch, the Mets’ payroll has ranked fourth, first, first, second and second. Last offseason he outbid the New York Yankees, signing Juan Soto to a 15-year, $765 million contract that will take him through 2040 when he’s 40 years old.
After a slow start adjusting to a new team, Soto has had another MVP-caliber season with 42 homers, 104 RBIs, a .931 OPS, a 163 OPS+ and a WAR of 6.3, the last number in the Shohei Ohtani range. He swiped his 36th bag on Tuesday night—an improbable feat for a not-so-fleet-footed player.
But when the Mets broke spring training at Port St. Lucie, Fla., this past March, their five projected starters—Clay Holmes, Tylor Megill, David Peterson, Griffin Canning and Kodai Senga—were earning a combined $38.7 million this season. That’s $12.3 million less than the $51 million paid to Soto alone.
That worked fine into June until pitchers started to go down, but now only Holmes and Peterson are still healthy. The Mets are using young starters Nolan McLean and Jonah Tong to carry them down the stretch.
The Mets didn’t retool their rotation in the offseason after losing Luis Severino and Jose Quintana from last year’s team. They added free agent Holmes, the Yankees closer, and converted him to a starter. Sean Manaea opened the season on the injured list because of a right oblique strain sustained in camp and didn’t return until July 13. He failed to replicate last year’s 12-win season and has won only two games.
Even with that predicament, the Mets didn’t add any starting pitching at the July 31 trade deadline. They did add to the bullpen, acquiring relievers Ryan Helsely, Taylor Rogers and Gregory Soto. But that hasn’t staunched a meltdown of late and 27 blown saves. Helsley, the former St. Louis Cardinals All-Star closer, has been awful with an 8.47 ERA in 20 appearances. Should Stearns have been even more proactive?
“If I knew how our season was going to play out? Absolutely,” Stearns said.
Those are the decisions Stearns is paid to make. As Cohen continues to navigate his own learning curve, you can bet the owner is evaluating.
We’ve spent most of our Ramp to Camp series trying to answer the big questions surrounding the Boston Celtics to open the 2025-26 season. Now, only a few days out from the first training camp practice of the year, we are really hitting the accelerator on this year’s squad.
For Day 17, and continuing our Predictions Week, we asked our panel to fast forward all the way to early February and give us one bold midseason headline about the Celtics that you might read on NBC Sports Boston before the All-Star break.
What will we be screaming about on Early Edition? What will occupy the conversations on Pregame Live?
Our headline: “How Payton Pritchard set the tone for overachieving Celtics.”
Good things happen when Pritchard is on the floor for the Boston Celtics. Two seasons ago, even before last season’s Sixth Man of the Year glow-up, Pritchard finished second in the NBA in net rating (+13.6, trailing only teammate Sam Hauser).
Pritchard’s playing time is going to spike, particularly if he slides into a starter role. Last season, he posted per-36 minute averages of 18.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, 4.4 assists, and 1.1 steals, all while displaying some of the best ball security in the NBA.
We’ll keep saying it: If Boston is better than the pundits expect out of the gate, then either Pritchard or Derrick White is going to claw their way to All-Star status.
After making a strong case in each of the past two seasons, it’s easy to see a pathway for White landing that elusive nod. But we can’t shake this feeling that Pritchard will thrust himself into that conversation, too.
Pritchard should serve as a bit of a role model to the younger players on Boston’s roster. He’s proven to be a professional, even when the depth chart conspired against him. He not-so-patiently waited for his opportunity and was ready when it arrived.
Now he has a chance to do the same thing yet again in the 2025-26 season. And the rest of the Celtics should follow his lead.
Heck, the NBA is tweaking its own rules based on Pritchard’s recent impact. He hit so many big heaves during Boston’s 2024 title run that the league is changing heave rule statistics to inspire more players to be like him.
The younger Celtics should want to be like Pritchard, too. If they operate with the same energy and desire as Pritchard, the 2025-26 Celtics will go a long way toward masking the talent that was lost in the overhaul brought upon by the second apron.
Let’s check out the headlines our panel came up with:
Darren Hartwell, Managing Editor
“Celtics still have playoffs in sight after Simons trade.”
I can absolutely see this group overachieving and being in the postseason mix as the Feb. 5 trade deadline nears. I can also see Brad Stevens finding a trade partner for Simons’ expiring contract as part of Boston’s goal to get out of the luxury tax.
This might be the one unpopular move Stevens makes — especially if Simons is playing well — and how Celtics players respond in this totally hypothetical scenario will be fascinating to watch.
Michael Hurley, Web Producer
“Amari Williams isn’t bad.”
Is that bold enough? I like the idea of a young 7-footer getting increased opportunities and playing well. I wouldn’t expect a rookie to have the know-how of Al Horford, but can he help replace Horford’s nightly production (9.0 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists) while blocking a shot or two per game?
Perhaps he’s not at all ready, but you asked me for a bold headline, Chris, so you freaking got one, buddy.
Sean McGuire, Web Producer
“Jaylen Brown is in the running to win the 2025 NBA MVP.”
What does in the running mean? Brown opened at 100-1 to win the award behind the heavily-favored Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and 12 other players including Cade Cunningham, Jalen Brunson, Joel Embiid and Kevin Durant.
When the trade deadline nears in early February, Brown will be in the top six.
Josh Canu, Media Editor
“Are the Celtics real contenders in the East?”
I think this team is capable of winning a lot of games, and odds are one of the projected top teams in the East will deal with injuries or underachieve, so I think the Celtics could be in the mix even without Tatum.
We know the East is thin, so I don’t think it is that crazy the Celtics could be perceived as real contenders.
Kevin Miller, VP, Content
“Minott Us?!”
Josh Minott becomes a fan favorite and finds a sustainable role on a good team.
Adam Hart, EP, Content Strategy
“Winning DNA has Celtics in the drivers’ seat.”
Regular-season basketball is different, and this team will remain competitive for the top spot in the East.
Kayla Burton, Celtics Pregame Live host
“A new home for Hauser: The Boston Celtics trade away Sam Hauser.”
I am not going to say where because I have no idea, and as sad as this headline makes me feel, I just think they make a bold, somewhat sad move around the trade deadline and acquire a big man.
