MINNEAPOLIS, MN - DECEMBER 23: Karl-Anthony Towns #32 of the New York Knicks & Anthony Edwards #5 of the Minnesota Timberwolves talk after the game on December 23, 2025 at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2025 NBAE (Photo by David Sherman/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
In Game 1 of the NBA Finals tonight, Karl-Anthony Towns will anchor the center position for the New York Knicks against the San Antonio Spurs. It’s been a long and bumpy road for the former number one overall pick, but Towns has finally reached the summit of the NBA Playoffs.
KAT is playing the best basketball of his career. In these playoffs, he is averaging 16.9 points per game on incredible 57/49/89 shooting splits while putting up 10.6 rebounds, 5.9 assists, 1.4 blocks, and 1.2 steals per game as the Knicks have won 11 straight games en route to their first Finals appearance since 1999.
It wasn’t that long ago, though, that many would have thought all of that would be impossible for Towns, a fact Minnesota Timberwolves fans know all too well. In his first eight NBA seasons, Towns and the Wolves made the playoffs just three times as KAT drew criticism after each series.
In his first two playoff games in 2018, Towns scored a total of just 13 points as James Harden, Chris Paul, and the Houston Rockets took a 2-0 series lead. In the series-defining Game 3 of the 2022 series against the Memphis Grizzlies, Towns took just four shots as Memphis came back from 20 points down (nearly twice) to take control of the series.
Towns played better in the 2023 loss to the eventual champion Denver Nuggets, but ultimately, the Wolves were 0-3 in the playoff series with huge questions looming about Towns’s ability to be an effective player in the Playoffs.
All of that changed for KAT in the 2024 Playoffs.
During the 2023-24 regular season, the Wolves won 56 games, earned the three-seed after sitting on top of the Western Conference for much of the season, and, despite being underdogs, swept Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, and the Phoenix Suns for the franchise’s first playoff series win in 20 years.
Towns guarded Durant the entire series and held his own against a matchup that, on the surface, seemed primed to play KAT off the court. In the series-ending Game 4, KAT put up 28 points on 11-17 shooting from the field and 4-6 from beyond the arc.
It was the first data point that proved a team with Towns as one of its top players could win big games in the Playoffs. With Anthony Edwards ascending and Rudy Gobert sharing the frontcourt, Towns ceded the spotlight, accepted his smaller role, and flourished as the team’s secondary scorer.
It was also a gigantic moment for the Timberwolves franchise, which had only won two previous playoff series in its history. While the previous two decades had seen little success, that series victory in Phoenix signaled a new era of Timberwolves basketball.
The Timberwolves kept it rolling in the next series against the defending champion Nuggets, eliminating them in seven games to reach the Western Conference Finals.
Towns, with the help of Gobert, guarded reigning-MVP Nikola Jokić and, similar to Durant in the previous round, kept his matchup in check as much as anyone can against one of the greatest players in the history of basketball.
That entire series culminated with Game 7 in Denver when the Wolves came back from down 20 points in the second half. Towns was the Wolves’ leading scorer that night and kept the game from spiraling out of control in the first half when no one else on the Wolves could score.
KAT punctuated the win with the putback dunk with less than a minute left and the final defensive rebound as the clock hit zero. If the victory over the Suns wasn’t validation, this one against the Nuggets certainly was, as the game and series stand as possibly the best moment in the history of the Timberwolves franchise.
Following the game, Towns gave one of the best postgame quotes in the history of the Timberwolves. In classic KAT fashion, he responded, “How much more we gotta lose?” to a question about the team needing to lose before they win in the NBA Playoffs.
“How much more do you want us to lose, we’ve been losing for 20 years!” – Karl-Anthony Towns pic.twitter.com/eCGjys4ayf
KAT had done plenty of losing, but that time is over now.
The winning in 2024 has continued for KAT since he was traded to New York. Last season, Towns eliminated the reigning champion for the second straight season, taking down the Boston Celtics as the Knicks made the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in 25 years.
Now, they are in the NBA Finals and sit just four wins away from NBA immortality.
In two short years, the narrative of Towns’s career has completely flipped from an overpaid liability to a fundamental piece of three straight conference finalists and a potential NBA champion. Now, starting Wednesday night in San Antonio, Towns has a chance to put an exclamation point on everything and become a New York City legend.
Some Timberwolves fans in Minnesota will be jealous of the Knicks’ success, try to re-litigate the trade that sent Towns to New York, or wallow in what they see as a validation of their Minnesota sports doomerism.
Many more will be cheering for KAT and the Knicks and will celebrate their success if they actually win the championship.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 08: Jalen Brunson #11 of the New York Knicks celebrates his three point basket against Victor Wembanyama #1 of the San Antonio Spurs during the fourth quarter in the game at Madison Square Garden on November 08, 2023 in New York City. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The New York Knicks are back in the NBA Finals for the first time in 27 years. As it turns out, of all possible opponents, the San Antonio Spurs will be waiting on the other end in a rematch of the 1999 Finals.
San Antonio will have a slight edge over New York, holding home-court advantage thanks to its better regular-season record. The Knicks, however, enter the Finals having won both the regular-season series against the Spurs and the NBA Cup final.
Truth be told, this matchup will certainly not lack sublime basketball or star power. From bona fide MVP candidates Jalen Brunson and Victor Wembanyama to legitimate All-Stars Karl-Anthony Towns and De’Aaron Fox, the series is loaded with talent. Add in a host of established and rising stars such as OG Anunoby, Dylan Harper, Mikal Bridges, and Stephon Castle, and the stage is set for a compelling showdown.
As usual, the Posting & Toasting crew has gathered once again around the round(ball) table to cut through the noise and tackle the pressing questions surrounding New York’s Finals matchup with the San Antonio Spurs. Our panel of basketball geniuses took on the juiciest topics:
How many games will the Knicks-Spurs NBA Finals last, and who wins the title?
Antonio: Six. It’s all been about the West Coast this, the Spurs/Thunder that, and everybody seems to have 1) skipped the Knicks’ scorching run through the Eastern Conference bracket or 2) just decided it’s better to simply just forget about it. In any case, all those are wrong, and New York is playing the best basketball these days, whether they like it or not. The Spurs are damn weird—because of Wemby and their neophyte squad—that I refuse to believe they won’t put up a fight. It’s still NYK bringing it back home at the end of the day and in front of the Knicks faithful.
Miranda: I dunno. Every other round I had a sense, usually pretty short. I don’t expect either team will be swept, be it literally or gentleman-arily, so that only leaves choosing six or seven games, which you already know is the likeliest outcome. So I’ll say Knicks in eight.
Zeno: Oh baby. I can’t believe we’re here. It won’t truly set in until I turn on ABC on Wednesday night, but I can feel the butterflies already. Contrary to the way the Knicks have played for the last month-plus and the general feeling among NBA fans that the West is so ridiculously better than the East, this series will go at least six games. If the Knicks win, it’s going six. If the Spurs win, it’s going seven. We’re Knicks fans, and dammit, I believe. Knicks in six.
Kento: The traumatized fans in me has been at odds with the more optimistic side of that has seen this team run through the Eastern Conference in historic fashion. The Spurs will be the toughest team the Knicks have faced, and it’s more likely that it goes seven games than it is for the Knicks to sweep like they did the last two series. But I just think the Knicks are deeper, more talented, and more experienced team, matchup better than any of the Spurs’ past opponents, and it feels like that special something is in the air with this team. I’ve taken the Knicks in five or six in each of the last three series, and I won’t stop here. The Knicks capitalize on the big opportunity, and win it in six.
Polaniecki: I’m going the full seven. This one is going to be a barn burner. There’s an old saying: “A playoff series doesn’t really start until the road team wins a game.” I could see this series heading back to San Antonio for Game 7 with neither team stealing one on the road. Of course, if the Knicks win Game 7 in San Antonio, that theory would kind of contradict itself. In that case, the series would start and end at the exact same time.
Beyond Jalen Brunson, who is the most important Knick in the NBA Finals?
Antonio: Must be Towns this round, both offensively and defensively. Even if the Spurs place Wemby on Hart, it’ll be key to have Towns moving around and playing QB to have San Antonio’s heads spinning and to mess with their assignments and coverages. Not to mention Towns taking advantage of his bulkier frame to deal with Wemby inside and punish him physically as much as possible. The Alien has the height, but the cat must flex his muscles.
Miranda: Mikal Bridges. Pretty simple. If he scores 18 a game on 80/60/100 splits like he has the past month, while remaining demonically disruptive on D, then the Knick wings have a great chance to outplay the Spurs’, and thus a better chance to win the series. If Bridges morphs back into milquetoast Dr. Jekyll, there won’t be anywhere in NYC for him to Hyde.
Zeno: OG Anunoby. While I do think that Mitch’s broken pinky could be a massive factor, he wouldn’t play enough either way for him to usurp the man who has been statistically the best Wemby stopper in the league. His hamstring has gotten plenty of time to heal, having only played four games in four weeks, and he looked like he got his burst back at the end against Cleveland. If things go right, Anunoby could be a dark horse to win Finals MVP, ala Andre Iguodala.
Kento: Hart will be important too as his shooting could help nullify the Spurs’ ghost coverage, but we’ve seen that Brown has learned to keep that leash short, and lean on Shamet, and McBride when needed. But Towns’ ability to continue being an offensive hub, stretch the floor, punish cross matchups, while being a much improved defender could be the main difference. If Towns can be the third best player in the series, and do so by a wide margin, New York should have two of the three best, and most impactful players in the Finals. And given the depth they have outside of Brunson and him, they should like their chances should Towns accomplish that.
Polaniecki: Without a doubt, it’s Karl-Anthony Towns. I might even go as far as saying he’s more important to the Knicks winning this series than Jalen Brunson.
That’s not to take anything away from Stephon Castle or Dylan Harper. Both are capable of having huge moments and swinging games in San Antonio’s favor. But when you look at the Spurs, everything still revolves around Victor Wembanyama.
How Towns matches up with Wemby on both ends of the floor remains to be seen. If Towns can pull him away from the basket offensively while also holding his own defensively, it could completely change the complexion of the series.
The Spurs will go as far as Wembanyama takes them. His leadership and performance will be the driving force behind everything they do, which makes the Towns-Wembanyama matchup one of the biggest storylines of the Finals.
What must New York do to win the Finals and avenge the loss to San Antonio from 1999?
Antonio: Halt the Spurs’ pace and don’t let them click from three-point range. Keeping the defense at the level it’s been for the first three rounds of the playoffs would be optimal, but it’s obviously asking a ton to demand the team to keep putting on shows like the last 11 times we’ve watched them play. The Spurs have dethroned the reigning champs and are hellacious in both D&O while playing quick ball. The Knicks have a strong 3P% compared to the Spurs’ percentage, and if they can keep it that way and KAT does his thing all around the court, that’d be massive.
Miranda: Second question first: let 1999 go. Even if the Spurs did kill the Knicks then, think of it as a mercy killing. Those Knicks won their championship getting to the Finals, period. Ain’t no vengeance to be had. To win this time? Well, in ‘99 the Knicks nearly had the series going back to San Antonio for Game 6, before a jitterbug-quick southpaw point guard hit the critical, corner baseline jumpers that lifted the Spurs to the title. So I guess whatever the Knicks do, if it’s late and close don’t ignore De’Aaron Fox in the corner.
Zeno: Defend the perimeter. Wemby is going to get his, but the Spurs can be deadly offensively outside of him, specifically by using his gravity to their advantage. We all remember what Julian Champagnie did on New Year’s Eve, and we saw how guys like Keldon Johnson, Devin Vassell, and Dylan Harper knocked down clutch shots in Game 7. A disciplined defense is the key to a parade down the Canyon of Heroes.
Kento: Win the possession battle. If the Knicks can limit turnovers against a younger more athletic team, while forcing their inexperienced backcourt to cough up turnovers, the game could easily swing. The same can be said for the rebounding battle. The Spurs struggled to keep the Thunder off the offensive glass in game seven of the Western Conference Finals, and had troubles with the Knicks’ offensive rebounding during the regular season as well. If the Knicks can win those battles, the Spurs, and especially Wembanyama, may eventually tire out, and their elite defense may falter.
Polaniecki: Game 1 could very well decide this series, and stealing it on the road won’t be easy, especially if it comes down to the final minutes. Those kinds of losses can be deflating.
The Knicks are going to have to shake off the rust quickly. Remember how slowly they came out in Game 1 against Cleveland? They can’t afford a start like that this time around. San Antonio is too good to spot an early lead, particularly on its home floor.
What concerns you most about the Knicks entering the Finals?
Antonio: Others here have experience with past Knicks trips to the Finals. I have not. I have no damn clue how these dudes might or might not react to operating under the brighter lights. I have never followed any sort of run like this closely, far from it. It’s been 11 consecutive wins, and I live in constant fear that it just cannot realistically be happening and will end abruptly and catastrophically. Will all of the good be karma’d by an awful Finals? Will Mitchell Robinson’s pristine bill of health come down crashing at the worst possible time? Will Josh Hart forget how to shoot a rock? Will Mikal Bridges return to his Bench Mikal version? Will Shamet, Clarkson, and Deuce turn into bland bench players? Everything points toward a huge NO, at least not to all the questions above, but I won’t believe it till I see it.
Miranda: That Donald Trump will use his tanking Q rating and the buzz around the Knicks to come to MSG with the series on a knife’s edge, fake an assassination attempt and use that to attack Zohran Mamdani’s leadership and New York’s autonomy. And that his friend James Dolan will use his illegal-if-not-unethical facial recognition tech to finger the wrong people for it.
Zeno: The unknown. This is uncharted territory for an entire generation of fans, including myself. You’re always waiting for the other shoe to drop. In a basketball sense, I wonder how this team will handle two things: not having home court advantage for the first time and the expected adversity. They haven’t experienced defeat in 40 days. When it inevitably happens, how quickly can they flush it? Can they avoid going down 0-2 heading home to the Garden? There’s a multitude of things to think about.
Kento: Mitchell Robinson’s health. One of the major reasons Knicks fans preferred to face off against the Spurs, and not the Thunder, was because of the Knicks’ unique ability to make things more difficult for Wembanyma than almost any other team. Robinson was a big part of that. Towns, given the defense has played, and Anunoby will still provide some resistance, and their strength could wear the young big man down over the course of what could be a long, and physical series. But the Knicks’ chances of winning it all increase greatly if Robinson is effective.
Polaniecki: Adding another disappointment to the Knicks decades long book of disappointments.
Heading into the Finals, what gives you the most confidence about New York amid its postseason run?
Antonio: The fact that they have put together such a great postseason run for a long, sustained period of time and against three different teams, that they come into the Finals uber-rested for the second consecutive series, and that, for all the Nova Knicks jokes out there, it actually feels like the group is so close and the chemistry so pure that this team is simply going to fight through whatever they face and still come out on top. Due’s due.
Miranda: This is the best Knicks team I’ve ever seen, playing the best basketball I’ve ever seen. The most balanced, with meaningful depth and the right mix of experience and not-old-yet. Their offensive (Brunson) and defensive linchpins (OG) are as good as any in the game today. Missing out on the Thunder was a break, iff only to the extent that the Spurs aren’t quite as large and accomplished as OKC. Also, it’s been 27 seasons since the Knicks last lost in the playoffs to a Western team. I bet they can keep that streak going.
Zeno: As I said, they haven’t lost in 40 days. It’s very rare that a team has this dominant a playoff run and loses. This team is an absolute juggernaut right now and is playing with a level of swagger that we haven’t seen before, but they’ve also remained levelheaded and locked in on the ultimate prize. No matter what happens next, they’re etched into history for what they’ve done to this point, and there’s no reason to doubt them at this point. They will fight their asses off for this city.
Kento: Everything we’ve seen in the last two series. During their historic run, the Knicks have answered so many questions that we had about them entering the postseason. Brunson has flourished playing off the ball more. Towns has been playing the best two-way ball of his life. Anunoby has seemingly reached new heights on offense. Bridges has regained his confidence on offense, and is playing more physically defensively at the point-of-attack. Hart has shown more willingness to continue shooting the ball against ghost coverage, knocking down five threes in game two of the Cavaliers series. And Brown has proven that while he may be a bit slow to react accordingly, he almost always finds the right solutions. If the Knicks continue just doing what they’ve been doing, it might not matter what the Spurs do, or how they play, even if they are the best team the Knicks have played thus far.
Polaniecki: I do believe this is the best Knicks team since 1994, and maybe even since 1973. I’m not saying that just because they’ve reached the Finals either.
When you compare the level of consistency, the way they’ve sustained success, and the current run they’re on, I don’t even think the 1999 team clears them. That group was memorable, but this version feels more complete and more capable on both ends of the floor over a longer stretch. What they’ve done over this stretch feels different, not just in terms of results, but in how convincingly they’ve controlled games at times against high-level competition.
Mark your calendars 📅
The official schedule of the NBA Finals between the Knicks and Spurs!
The NBA Finals will begin tonight with a matchup 27 years in the making amid a new generation of superstars.
Behind point guard Jalen Brunson, the New York Knicks swept the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals and have been idle since May 25.
The San Antonio Spurs and Defensive Player of the Year Victor Wembanyama arrive on the opposite end of the spectrum, having won the Western Conference Finals over the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder in a bruising seven-game series that ended May 30.
Please see below for more on Game 1 of the NBA Finals:
How to watch Knicks vs. Spurs in 2026 NBA Finals, Game 1
When: Wednesday, June 3
Where: Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas
Time: 8:30 p.m. ET
TV: ABC
Announcing team: Mike Breen (play by play), Richard Jefferson (analyst), Tim Legler (analyst), Lisa Salters (courtside reporter)
Series: 0-0
Knicks-Spurs preview
The Knicks enter the Finals having won a record 11 consecutive games, which includes sweeps of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Philadelphia 76ers.
Brunson is the team's unquestioned leader, and Karl-Anthony Towns is another star who can provide an inside-outside presence. OG Anunoby (48.3% on 3-pointers in the playoffs) and Mikal Bridges are also solid contributors.
The durability of reserve center Mitchell Robinson, who recently underwent surgery on a fractured little finger on his right hand, will be a major factor. Robinson is hoping to play in Game 1 and will be needed to contain Wembanyama as well as deliver offensive rebounding.
In his NBA playoffs debut, Wembanyama has been predictably outstanding for the Spurs, who are seeking their first title since 2014.
He will be the key to a stifling defense that just frustrated Oklahoma City (especially neutralizing Chet Holmgren) with San Antonio relying on Stephon Castle,De’Aaron Fox, Julian Champagnie, Dylan Harper, Devin Vassell and Keldon Johnson.
San Antonio's offense might be a bigger question against a tough Knicks defense, which held the Spurs to 19 points in a fourth-quarter comeback to win the NBA Cup.
CHICAGO, IL - MAY 12: Isaiah Evans shoots the ball during the 2026 NBA Draft Combine on May 12, 2026 at Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2026 NBAE (Photo by Jeff Haynes/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
Cameron Boozer’s NBA track is pretty set: unless something very strange happens, he’ll go between the #1 and the #4 picks, and lately, a lot of people have suggested that maybe he’ll be the first pick.
Time will tell, obviously.
For his Duke teammate, Isaiah Evans, his path is less certain. He didn’t test that well athletically at the combine, and that is a negative.
PHILADELPHIA, PA - NOVEMBER 25: Goga Bitadze #35 of the Orlando Magic dribbles the ball as Johni Broome #22 of the Philadelphia 76ers plays defense during the 2025-26 NBA Emirates Cup on November 25, 2025 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2025 NBAE (Photo by David Dow/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
The Sixers were at the forefront of the sensation that was the 2025 rookie class. They immediately slotted No. 3 overall pick VJ Edgecombe into the starting lineup on opening night and played him 35 minutes a night. Edgecombe’s production correlated with team success all season as Philadelphia made it back to the playoffs and won a round.
They certainly did not get as much instant success from their second-round pick. At No. 35 overall, the Sixers selected Johni Broome out of Auburn. The 6-foot-8 forward was an interesting prospect to say the least. He had just carried his Tigers to the National Championship, but was set to turn 23 years old just weeks after being drafted and had some really troubling measurables coming out of the combine.
It wasn’t a shock that Broome spent more of his rookie season with the Delaware Blue Coats than the main club. He played in 18 games with the Coats compared 11 for the Sixers. In only one of those 11 games did Broome see minutes in non-garbage time.
Even in blowouts with the benches emptied, Broome looked concerningly a step behind the competition on the floor. This was most notable in the game he got the most extended run, a game in which he played 17 minutes in a 41-point loss to the Orlando Magic.
His 2-of-9 performance that night is a big reason he ended his rookie season shooting 16% from the field. Despite hardly ever seeing an NBA floor the rest of the season, Broome was able to go through the proper rite of passage for a Sixers rookie. He tore his meniscus in late February, sinking chances he had at getting reps in Delaware down the stretch of the season as well.
Broome did get cleared to return for the end of the season, but only appeared again in a couple fourth quarters in the second round of the playoffs in which the New York Knicks had thoroughly smashed the Sixers. Broome’s rookie season ended with him averaging 0.9 points, 1.5 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game.
The playing time and production are so minute it’s impossible to really evaluate, and yet at the same time it still feels bad enough to be concerning. He simultaneously didn’t get much of a chance at the NBA level yet did enough to make his detractors already write him off.
There’s already a debate over how bad of a miss it was drafting Broome at 35. On one hand, it’s only a second-round pick, but a pick as high as 35 is often viewed a little more highly.
There was only one player to go after Broome in the second round who was an obvious, that being Maxime Raynaud of the Sacramento Kings. As a center, Raynaud was an easy draft miss Broome skeptics pointed to given the uncertainty that is Joel Embiid’s health status. It didn’t help that Raynaud made Second Team All-Rookie.
No NBA career should be judged by the first 11 games alone. Broome did at least have some success in Delaware. Over eight games he averaged more than 19 points a game, including a 50-burger in February just weeks before he injured his knee. Removing his G-League production though, Broome has yet to show any real flash at the professional level.
A Montreal Canadiens legend is among the candidates for the Toronto Maple Leafs' head coaching job.
According to TSN's Darren Dreger, former Canadiens star Patrick Roy is among the names interviewing for the Maple Leafs' bench boss gig this week. Dreger also shared that Peter Laviolette will be interviewing for Toronto's job as well.
With Roy being a Canadiens legend, it would certainly be strange to see him end up being the Maple Leafs' head coach. However, with Roy being one of the top head coaches without a job right now, it makes sense that he is speaking with the Maple Leafs.
Roy was let go by the New York Islanders with just four games left in the 2025-26 season. This is after he led the Islanders to a 42-31-5 record and 89 points. Roy was replaced by Peter DeBoer.
Roy has a 130-92-24 record as an NHL head coach. He also won the Jack Adams Award for the 2013-14 season, where he led the Colorado Avalanche to a 52-22-8 record and 112 points.
In 551 games with the Canadiens, Roy had a 289-175-66 record, a .904 save percentage, a 2.78 goals-against average, and 29 shutouts. He also won two of his four Stanley Cup championships with the Canadiens.
The Mets were soundly defeated by the Mariners 8-3. All three Mets runs were driven in by Carson Benge, who had the first multi-home run game of his career.
The Syracuse Mets broadcast booth has become a launching pad for broadcasters looking to break through.
A.J. Ewing may seem like the prototypical leadoff hitter, but Carlos Mendoza is reluctant to move him there with the success Carson Benge has had in the leadoff spot.
Keith Hernandez joined Jeff Passan on his podcast to discuss playing baseball and the life he’s led after retiring from the game, especially in his second life as Mets broadcaster.
Francisco Alvarez began his rehab assignment in Syracuse with a bang, and his quick recovery is attributed (by him) to his mindset.
With all the issues the Mets have faced with their pitching, Sean Manaea is making a case for his re-insertion into the starting rotation.
Around the National League East
Dominic Smith has come back better than ever with the Braves, and he’s providing more than just statistical value for Atlanta.
The Braves held on to beat the Blue Jays 4-3. Bryce Elder got the win pitching 6.2 innings and giving up 3 runs, allowing six hits and one walk while striking out six.
The Phillies narrowly beat the Padres 3-2. Aaron Nola pitched five innings and allowed two runs on four hits while striking out eight.
The Marlins easily won 7-3 against the Nationals. Heriberto Hernández drove in three runs on two home runs, with Joe Mack also driving in three runs.
Around Major League Baseball
ESPN put out their baseball winners and losers for the month of May, and what to keep an eye on as the 2026 season inches closer to it’s halfway mark.
Aaron Judge has been dealing with nagging shoulder soreness which has been revealed to be a bone bruise, prompting a meeting with doctors last night.
Corbin Carroll is crushing lefties, and it’s not an accident—it’s by design.
Steve Sypa reached the ten week mark for the Mets Minor League Players of the Week.
With the Knicks reaching the NBA Finals and a period of franchise prosperity, Michael Drago wondered how long it will take for the Mets to do the same.
This Date in Mets History
46 years ago today, the Mets selected 1986 World Series Champion and future Mets Hall of Famer Darryl Strawberry first overall in the draft.
We’re going to start this piece with a general disclaimer: Aaron Judge is still an excellent MLB hitter. He is also 261 plate appearances into his worst season since 2021, a “mere” five-and-a-half win campaign that saw him finish fourth for AL MVP. We can also all be honest that that is a significant drop from Best Right-Handed Hitter’s Peak In Baseball History, and from a team construction standpoint, that means other guys in the lineup need to pick up those runs that a 200 wRC+ bat would have produced.
So what gives? We know there’s been some pain for the last month or so, as Judge is currently day-to-day with a bone bruise. We’re a third of the way through the season. How much of this regression is based on the fact that he’s 34 now, how much is because of some problems in approach, how much is just more or less bad luck, and how much is the injury affecting him?
The good news is some of this could clear up on its own. One of the things that’s powered Judge in his post-COVID peak has been that he’s hit to his expected levels — he’s never had a 2025 Ben Rice type of year where he should be hitting better than he is, until now. It’s pretty routine stuff by now for an analyst to say “OK, his xBA, xSLG, and xwOBA are all higher than his actual numbers, we should expect an improvement, something back to that 170-175 wRC+ that FanGraphs’ Depth Charts projects for the rest of his season. Good news!”
There’s still a difference between 170, which gets you MVP votes, and 200, which makes it a no-contest. Solving that delta is now our quest, and I worry how much of it comes from the fact that 34 doesn’t play the way it used to. As Judge has set or approached career high after career high over the past five years, the name he keeps bumping up against is Barry Bonds, and while I do think Bonds is one of the three or so most talented hitters to ever play the game, he had a certain degree of pharmaceutical help. I don’t think steroids are some kind of super soldier serum, but the core benefit of helping your body rebuild muscle faster helps extend careers — Bonds’ best seasons were his age 36-39, and I just don’t think that’s in the cards for Judge.
We see this reflected in bat speed, one of those things that does decline as you age. Judge’s swing speed is down a full mile per hour, and the resulting second- and third-order effects are there. One mile isn’t a huge decline, but it leads to a waterfall of decline elsewhere — barrel rate, hard-hit rate, and average exit velocity are all down ticks. Bat speed is also primarily generated by the lower half. If you watch Judge’s swing, so much of his power comes from a pretty flawless weight transfer against baseball’s stiffest front side. This is why I don’t necessarily think the bat speed is going to come back after Judge recovers from this bone bruise.
Here’s where this becomes a problem; Aaron Judge is no longer the best fastball hitter you’ve ever seen. Last year he was +25 in run value against heaters, 2024 +33, and 2022 +32. This is a roughly cumulative stat, but in a third of a season he’s at +3 in 2026. In a world of Cam Schlittlers and Jacob Misiorowskis, hitters have to bring their own velo against ever-climbing fastball speeds. The slower your bat speed, the less damage you can do against higher velocity.
A first glance at that decline in production and particularly the way Judge’s pull rates have increased might make you think he’s cheating on fastballs, starting the hitting chain earlier. I actually don’t think that’s the case here; his pull rate is back over 40 percent, which is seven points higher than last year, but pretty in line with his other two MVP campaigns. The pull rate isn’t the problem; the problem is what the pull rate represents.
This is where I ask, dear reader, to come with me beyond the spreadsheets into something a little murkier. Michael Kay has talked over and over this season how proud Judge is of his 2025 batting title, that he wants to see himself as a complete hitter, not just a slugger. Part of this is Kay needing to be a play-by-play announcer and needing to guide us all through the various, complicated stories that emerge in 162 games; that’s his job. As we journey into the mystical world of psychology though, you have to wonder how much Aaron Judge is trying to decide what kind of hitter he wants to be.
Last year Judge really fell in love with the opposite field. He’s always had plenty of power to center and right, but all those singles and doubles to the other side were what gave him the batting title. Contrast that with 2024, when his pull rates were more in line with what’s happening this year.
It’s worth noting that clutter of singles in the infield hole last year, which was probably a good share of luck in getting that batting title. The main point is how many more hits were to the opposite field, even though Judge was a more productive overall hitter two seasons past. I think this is the first concerning bit of his approach in 2026 — it must be extremely tempting to still be the .331 hitter even as some of the effectiveness against fastballs begins to fade.
The second concerning piece, and I would argue more important one, is this strange passivity he has. He’s taking pitches in the zone at the highest rate since his 2016 disaster debut, taking first pitches at a lower rate than last year, and most concerning to me, taking meatballs at the highest rate again since 2016. Aaron Judge should never be taking a meatball. If you throw a pitch in the heart of the zone against Aaron Judge, you should be forced onto to the IL with a neck strain from how quickly you whip your head around to watch it leave the ballpark. Yet Judge has seen 42 percent of his 2025 pitch total, and has been one-fourth as effective against pitches in the heart of the zone.
In spite of Judge’s strikeout rate climbing over the past few years, he’s whiffing less, when he swings he’s making more contact. He is just not swinging enough, content to give pitchers a 0-1 head start, or allow a 1-1 offering to become a 1-2 hole.
Compare what he was swinging at last year. He wasn’t chopping away at pitches he couldn’t drive — everything is still in the zone. Indeed, the great advantage of being Aaron Judge is if it’s in the zone, you can probably put a charge into it. I don’t want him to become a slapdick slasher but there’s no reason, when you have arguably the most pure power in the integration era, that you should close off so much of the zone. Hell, maybe Judge’s most impactful home run came on a swing way inside:
You’re Aaron Judge, you have power no matter where the ball is. Stop taking the cutter at the thigh mid-in, you can probably get the barrel around on it. Actually not probably, we have almost a decade of evidence that you can turn that into a mistake pitch.
Here’s where we need to separate approach from the injury, and here’s where I think the fact Judge has seemingly played in pain for the last month factors in. Let’s look at that heatmap of 2026 again:
Aaron Judge is hunting for one specific pitch in one specific location, and willing to take on everything else. To me it seems logical that if baseball activities are causing you near-constant discomfort, you’re really going to focus on getting the A-Swing off on The Pitch you want, as opposed to previous seasons where any pitch above the belt could get the A-Swing. This would be the thing I’d be most confident in Judge changing should he be able to return to full health.
So we’re 1,200 words in. What exactly do we have in Aaron Judge?
He’s better than he’s playing now, and that’s without changing anything in his worrisome two-prong approach. I fully expect that if he’s just doing the exact same thing he’s doing, a month from now he’ll be boasting a better overall batting line. A certain amount of this is priced in already; all else equal he should be more productive than he has been.
I think there’s some age-related regression going on, and that in and of itself isn’t really a bad thing. The fun part about regressing from a 10-win, 200 wRC+ player is there’s so much room to catch a root as you slide down. I think we can be more than reasonable and say that even with the tick back in bat speed, Aaron Judge can be what he was in his rookie year — in my opinion the deserved AL MVP, but if nothing else finishing on the podium.
And then there’s this twin killing, the two things that I think are a bit of an anchor around the Captain’s neck, or at least, his swing. He needs to decide on the pull factor, especially if fastballs are getting just a tick too fast. Should that be the case he either needs to focus on getting around sooner, or take advantage of that natural, godlike power and wait on fastballs, to take them the other way with authority. Given that he is seeing fewer fastballs overall this season, I would tend toward the latter strategy; waiting on the heaters and driving them to right will also have you cocked and locked for offspeed or breaking pitches in the zone.
Health will answer the question around his passivity, though. The Yankees preach discipline and controlling the zone and being savages in the box, and Michael Kay will talk a lot about how often Judge is in 3-2 counts, but a 3-2 count in and of itself isn’t a good thing if you’ve let hittable pitches go to get there. An increased aggressiveness is the key to turning Aaron Judge from a damn fine hitter back to the best we’ve ever seen, but we’ll need to wait and see if that’s a philosophy change, or a constraint imposed because of injury.
LAS VEGAS, NV - DECEMBER 16: Victor Wembanyama #1 of the San Antonio Spurs and Karl-Anthony Towns #32 of the New York Knicks looks on during the game during the 2025 NBA Emirates Cup Final on December 16, 2025 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2025 NBAE (Photo by Juan Ocampo/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
The Spurs struggled against the Knicks in the regular season. Should New York be considered the favorite because of those matchups?
Marilyn Dubinski: While the Spurs’ loss in New York was their lone blemish of February, if we’ve learned anything in these playoffs, it’s to disregard the regular season. The Cup Final came with Wemby still coming off the bench (and admittedly not focused since he had lost his grandmother), and the Spurs won their home game (albeit behind a franchise record 11 threes from Julian Champagnie). All those games were outliers in their own ways, and both teams have come a long way since then. It’s also hard to know what exactly to think of the Knicks right now because of how quickly they went from disappointing to close the regular season to flying through an easy first three rounds in part due to upsets on the other side of the East bracket. I think it will be a very tight match-up, but homecourt advantage will be the difference for the Spurs.
Mark Barrington: No, because both teams have gotten a lot better since then. It’s hard to know how good the Knicks are right now, since they’ve been lapping the field in the kiddie pool that is the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Can Landry Shamet continue to look like a bigger, stronger Steph Curry? [I think his shooting returns to Earth in this series, although he will continue to be a key player for them.]
Is Jalen Brunson going to be able to create enough space with his compact structure and elite body control? [I think that Victor’s length will bother him in the paint.]
Will KAT avoid taking 4 or 5 dumb fouls per game? [As if. KAT gotta KAT.]
Is Josh Hart the ultimate glue guy? [Yes.]
Will Mitch Robinson even play, and if he does, can he hit a free throw? [Jeremy Sochan is teaching him the one-handed free-throw technique as we speak.]
The deal is that the Knicks aren’t a known quantity at this point. They’ve had an incredible run so far, but they’ve hardly been tested. They’ve beaten the teams in front of them, and handily. I feel like it’s a pretty even matchup at this point.
Devon Birdsong: The favorite? No, I don’t really think so. Cleveland may have been the team least suited to giving them trouble in the East, and the East is still pretty visibly the weaker conference to begin with. I’m honestly not sure the Knicks would even be here if the Sixers hadn’t summoned the inexplicable magic that put them over the Celtics. I see these teams as being remarkably even, and with a cleaner bill of health than previous matchups, I think you have to take this whole series as a start from scratch. Unlike the Thunder, the Knicks did get at least one real challenge in their opening series against the Hawks, but I still think the Spurs are going to benefit from having had to overcome so much in practically every series. If I were looking at this from an outside perspective, I’d be inclined to agree with Vegas, and slightly favor the Spurs, actually.
Jeje Gomez: Regular season wins and losses don’t matter as much to me when it comes to the playoffs as how the matchup actually went. And considering that, I don’t think the Knicks should be the favorites, but they shouldn’t be underrated either. They do present significant matchup issues for Wembanyama and they have a bunch of wings who can potentially limit San Antonio’s driving game and punish overhelp with their shooting. It’s borderline impossible after the Western Conference Finals to think that there’s a better NBA team than the Spurs, but in terms of matchups, the Knicks are definitely dangerous.
What aspect of the game will determine who gets the ring?
Dubinski: I think it will be a combination of three-point shooting and how it’s defended. The biggest key for the Spurs will be to not leave shooters open to play help defense on Brunson. It worked fine against Minnesota because they were lacking in shooters and Ant wasn’t always looking to pass, but it almost burned them against OKC because Caruso and McCain got hot in stretches, hence why they adjusted back to “Stop everyone else and make SGA beat us”. The Knicks have SEVEN main rotation players who shot over 36% from three on three or more attempts during the regular season, so the Spurs can’t cede that shot. Trust Castle (or whoever is on Brunson), stay at home, and play man-to-man defense. Make them beat you one-on-one.
Barrington: The Knicks are a team that shoots a lot of three-point shots, and in the playoffs, they’ve been going down at a high rate. The Spurs’ defense relies on letting Wembanyama roam to erase the other team’s interior and mid-range shots, which sometimes means they allow opponents to get looks from range. This was effective against the Thunder because they didn’t have a lot of elite shooters. Everyone on the Knicks can shoot three pointers, except Mitchell Robinson, who might not even play. So the Spurs are going to have to keep defenders on the shooters against New York, and that could open driving lanes for Brunson. If the Knicks solve the Spurs’ defense, they will win the series, because the Spurs can’t win a shooting contest against these guys. Well, maybe Julian Champagnie can.
Birdsong: Shooting feels like the easy answer, since the Knicks lead the playoff field in 3pt%, FG%, EFG%, and TS%, but I think it might really come down to two specific match-ups, and one wild card: Anunoby defending Wemby, Castle defending Brunson, and the Karl Anthony Towns factor.
As was pointed out a few weeks ago on Twitter/X, among players who have guarded the Spurs star in at least 100 half-court matchups, Anunoby allows the fewest points per matchup. He has tremendous length and strength in spite of the height disadvantage, and Mike Brown and his staff had plenty of time to see how successful the Thunder were in denying Wemby position. Thankfully, Stephon Castle has had his share of success in giving Jalen Brunson fits when defending him (in 38 possessions where Castle was the primary defender, Brunson scored just 5 points while being held to 28.7% from the field), but there’s an added wrinkle to defending Brunson now that KAT has effectively taken on some serious distribution responsibilities in the postseason. You can’t just focus on Brunson to shut down New York’s ball movement. And this is why Towns is the wild-card of the series. Because of his passing chops (6 assists per game) and his long-distance shooting, he allows the Knicks to run two legitimate big men, and that shooting (almost 50% from three in the postseason) pulls Wemby away from the hoop as the only player with the height to contest it, which leaves the interior up for grabs, and Towns has the ability to hit the open man. I think a lot of this series will hinge on how/if the Spurs are able to defend that with other players. I wonder if we’re going to end up seeing a lot of French Vanilla.
Gomez: Since the shooting has already been mentioned, I’ll go with turnovers and pace. The Knicks play slow and don’t cough the ball up. They have Brunson, who can normally get a good shot whenever he wants in the half-court and a solid, switchy defense. If they dictate how the game is played, the Spurs could be in trouble. If San Antonio can create some turnovers and push the pace, they’ll be in great shape.
Prediction time: Who will win the championship, and how do you think the series will go?
Dubinski: Spurs in 7. I think this will be just as difficult as the last round, perhaps slightly more so based on the match-up. There will be times when one team is hot and the other isn’t, but I believe in the Spurs’ grit, determination, willpower, and ability to make adjustments. (Also, I want them to win at home but don’t think it will be in Game 5. Also, also, I have submitted to the power of the Corgi, so I must trust him.)
Barrington: Spurs in 6. Both teams hold home court until Game 6, when the Spurs take the title in MSG, breaking the hearts of the home fans. June 16, mark your calendars!
Victor Wembanyama is Finals MVP, to no one’s surprise. It’s going to be a stressful couple of weeks, folks.
Birdsong: For me, I see the Knicks as presenting all of the issues the Spurs had with the Timberwolves, but with less glaring weakness. They have the length, size, and toughness, but they also have a plethora of three-point shooters. They have a healthy lead guard who is top-notch at both scoring and distributing. And they have a power forward who can stretch the floor and make the pass in reality, as opposed to in theory.The Minnesota series went six games. Barring major injury, I can’t see this not going the full seven. And in that scenario, I think home-court advantage might be the deciding factor. Spurs in 7.
Gomez: I went with Spurs in six. The Knicks are a horrible matchup, but we’ve seen the Silver and Black find another gear during the playoffs. I expect a close series, even if three-point variance turns a game or two into a blowout either way, but I can see San Antonio showing the killer instinct they displayed against the Thunder if they get a chance to end it on the road.
Aug 13, 2025; New York City, New York, USA; Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco (59) pitches in the first inning against the against the New York Mets at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images | Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images
Likely to no one’s surprise, the Atlanta Braves have made another roster move involving right-hander Carlos Carrasco. After being designated for assignment for the third time this season, Atlanta selected him to the major league roster ahead of Tuesday’s game.
The #Braves today selected RHP Carlos Carrasco to the major league roster.
Bryce Elder and the bullpen were huge during Tuesday night’s 4-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.
MLB News:
Minnesota Twins right-hander Bailey Ober has been diagnosed with a mild flexor strain. He was placed on the IL earlier this week.
Jon Heasley’s outright has been rescinded and he has instead been placed on the 15-day injured list with a stress reaction in his elbow. The move is retroactive to May 29.
From the Feed:
Cast your vote for Braves Player of the Game here.
MLB Pipeline recently discussed Braves outfield prospect Eric Hartman.
PHOENIX, ARIZONA - JUNE 02: Shohei Ohtani #17 of the Los Angeles Dodgers reacts after defeating the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-5 following the MLB game at Chase Field on June 02, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The last baseball player to win an MVP award for three consecutive seasons in the same league was Barry Bonds when he won four from 2001-04. With the way that Shohei Ohtani has been playing over the first two months of the season, his chances of winning a third consecutive NL MVP are very much alive.
But what about the NL Cy Young award?
So far, among all pitchers with at least 55 innings this season, Ohtani continues to possess the best ERA at 0.82, giving him a ridiculous 493 ERA+. Ohtani hasn’t given up more than two runs in a start this year, while tossing a quality start in all but one of his outings.
What does Ohtani have to achieve for him to earn the Cy Young award? There is already heavy competition that features Cristopher Sánchez, Jacob Misiorowski and the reigning NL Cy Young award winner Paul Skenes. Manny Randhawa of MLB.com suggests that Ohtani will have to post an ERA under 2.00, average 10 strikeouts per nine innings and tally at least 170 innings on the season.
Well, he might need some help from the hitters facing Sánchez, Misiorowski and Skenes. But if there’s one thing we know about Ohtani, it’s to never doubt him. He’s too good, and he’s proven time and again that when we think we’ve seen him do it all, we’re wrong.
Ohtani will try to keep up his elite pace on the mound on Wednesday against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Both Bobby Miller and Gavin Stone were among some of the Dodgers working their way back from injury joining the team in Phoenix on Tuesday.
Since his first start of the 2024 season, it has been a nightmare for Miller. Once heralded as a can’t miss prospect in the Dodgers system, Miller only made two appearances last year and has yet to touch the field this season. Miller has struggled with shoulder and back issues since spring training, but the 27-year-old is expected to begin throwing off a mound soon, per Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register.
“It was shoulder at first. I had some injections right before spring training,” Miller said. “It was pretty good. Then I had a setback with a back injury. But it’s all great right now. I haven’t had any setbacks since that. I’ve been getting stronger and stronger.”
As for Stone, he made just one start in spring training before he was placed back on the injured list. Jack Harris of the California Post notes that there is not timetable for Stone’s return.
“He’s one that I’m really bummed out about,” Roberts said. “I think his makeup is off the charts, good, compete. Right now, his body’s just letting him down a little bit. There’s nothing else he can do. When he … ramps it up, it sort of shows itself again. So right now, I’m not sure exactly where he’s at in this progression. But I’m looking forward to seeing him, though.”
The 1998-99 season was a year of change in the NBA.
Michael Jordan had retired for a second time, and the league's owners, fed up with the league's financial structure and players' rising salaries, locked the players out after failing to reach a new collective bargaining agreement.
Once a deal was reached, the season began on Feb. 5, and the schedule was reduced to 50 games. The San Antonio Spurs tied for the league's best record and beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, Los Angeles Lakers, and Portland Trail Blazers on the way to the Finals.
The New York Knicks, as the No. 8 seed, upset the Miami Heat in the first round, becoming the second No. 8 seed to beat a top seed. After sweeping the Atlanta Hawks, they beat the Indiana Pacers in six games to advance to the championship round.
Here are some takeaways from the last Knicks-Spurs NBA Finals matchup:
If fans were coming into this series looking for aesthetically pleasing basketball, they came to the wrong place. Only one time did a team score 90 or more points, and New York failed to even crack 80 points in three separate games. New York shot 39% in the series, including 20% from 3-point land.
Tim Duncan, at 22 years old, was named Finals MVP after averaging 27.4 points and 14 rebounds in the series, which the Spurs won four games to one.
Beginning of a dynasty
San Antonio continued its winning ways for much of the next two decades, winning titles in 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2014.
Duncan was the catalyst for those winning teams and, in later years, was joined by Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, and Kawhi Leonard. Duncan was a three-time Finals MVP during the dynasty, and head coach Gregg Popovich retired in 2025 with 1,390 victories, adding 284 more postseason triumphs.
Jalen Brunson, the three-time NBA All-Star for the Knicks, will attempt to help bring home the team's first title since 1973. Brunson's father, Rick, was a second-year guard on the 1999 Knicks roster. Rick Brunson played only 10 seconds in that series, though, getting in the game in the latter stages of the second quarter of Game 3, an 89-81 New York victory at Madison Square Garden without an injured Patrick Ewing.
Rock bottom for the Knicks
After reaching the Eastern Conference finals in the 1999-2000 season and losing to the Indiana Pacers, the Knicks' playoff success — or success in general — became few and far between. New York had nine straight losing seasons, starting in 2001.
The Knicks did not make a conference finals appearance this century until last season, when they suffered another disappointing loss to the Pacers.
Sporting “Fight Like A Girl” T-shirts, players, coaches and staff surrounded Sarah Nauser and her supportive husband, Lonnie, in her customized wheelchair, designed to take her wherever her beloved Royals are playing. Tuesday night, on Lou Gehrig Day across MLB, that place was Great American Ball Park.
“Especially the way things have gone for us these last couple weeks, and to get texts from Sarah or Lonnie after a game, like, ‘Hang in there, it’ll turn’ and ‘Stay positive,’” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said, “and then you think for a second, coming from her and the horrible disease that she’s battling, and the way she supports us, it has to feel more important to us because of her and what she means to us, the city, the team and the organization. If you don’t feel that way, I think there might be something missing in your heart.”
The Royals greet superfan Sarah Nauser ahead of their game against the Reds. (photo via Mike Petraglia)
Nauser is a lifelong, passionate fan of the Royals whose moving battle with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) has deeply intertwined her life with the Major League Baseball franchise.
Raised in Blue Springs, Mo., Nauser grew up playing softball and spending her nights cheering at Kauffman Stadium, which she fondly calls her “happy place.” Nauser pursued a career in law enforcement and served as an officer for the Kansas City (Mo.) Police Department (KCPD).
Royals starter Noah Cameron racked up eight punchouts in his seven innings of work against the Cincinnati Reds Tuesday night.
Pasquantino was coming off a coffee-fueled spring during Team Italy’s run at the World Baseball Classic, right in the center of it as the captain. Then the crash hit. Pasquantino posted a .467 OPS in April and is slashing .213/.303/.342 now in 55 games this season. His strikeout rate has ticked up to 18.4% from 15.7% last year. Pasquantino showed the type of hitter he can be last year with 32 homers and 113 RBIs, and the Royals’ offense doesn’t work if Pasquantino isn’t mashing in the middle of it. They haven’t given up on him yet, nor will they. But a hot June from Pasquantino could be just what he and the Royals need to get out of their current funk. — Anne Rogers
Will this finally be the year for Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. to capture the AL MVP? The Athletic thinks so, despite the Royals ranking 29th in their latest power rankings.
Top awards candidate: Bobby Witt Jr., AL MVP
Royals fans, I think this is the year.
The league-leader in fWAR is putting up another five-tool season. He should, at the very least, have another 20-20 season, potentially 20-40. No one has more Outs Above Average than Witt’s 15, or has generated as much defensive value as he has.
With Aaron Judge looking mortal — and by mortal, I mean not putting up a wRC+ that mirrors the speed of F1 cars or an OPS that looks like the seating capacity of a small theater — attention can turn to Witt.
It’s been 46 years since the Royals have had an AL MVP. If he keeps it up, that won’t be the only accolade he’ll have for his age-26 season. 2026 All-Star, Silver Slugger, Gold Glove, Platinum Glove and AL MVP winner Bobby Witt Jr. has a really nice ring to it.
As mentioned already, they have a system that features a wealth of Top 100 talent, which could provide the Royals lower-ranked farm system with some much needed reinforcements. While they may not have the available trade capital to warrant one of those Top 100 names – not the top end ones at least, perhaps they could target lower names on their organizational Top 30 list. After all, how will they promote any of them if they keep buying every marquee free agent?
As has become custom in L.A., the Dodgers have multiple high profile starting pitching names on the IL at the moment. Perhaps Royals starters like Kris Bubic (when healthy) or veterans Michael Wacha and Seth Lugo are options if to bolster their staff. The same goes for relievers, as the injury bug has bitten them there too. Daniel Lynch IV and Matt Strahm are potentially a pair of high-leverage arms that the Dodgers could very well covet.
In six outings and 28.1 IP, Lamkin absolutely dominated Midwest League pitching. He posted a 1.27 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, a 34.9% K%, and 24.8% K-BB% with the River Bandits. In May, with the Quad Cities, he allowed two runs on six hits with no walks while striking out 14 in 10.2 IP. That strong start in May led to his promotion to Double-A Northwest Arkansas.
Lamkin had a rough Double-A debut on June 14th, allowing four runs on seven hits and three walks while striking out seven in 5.2 IP. However, he had a much stronger second start on May 20th. He went 6 IP, allowed one hit, one run, no walks, and struck out eight. Overall, the percentiles have been good for Lamkin in his two starts in Double-A, as he is generating a 34.9% K% (92nd percentile), a 35.1% whiff rate (82nd percentile), and a 37.4% CSW% (98th percentile).
Would you believe this is the first game the Royals have won that wasn’t on a weekend since May 5 against Cleveland? As I sat down to write this, I thought it felt different to write about a win in an individual game, knowing the Royals are out of it. The focus is just different when writing about a team with no real playoff hope. We haven’t dealt with that for the last two seasons. And then I realized that I haven’t written about an individual game that was a win for almost a month. Since I don’t really write on weekends and just capture the weekend as a whole on Mondays, the only wins we’ve seen for a while have been written about in the Weekend in Review. Boy, it’s been a bad stretch.
But if you’re looking to the future or at least signs of life for the future, this win was a good one. I’d put it up there with the blowout of the Angels from late April or maybe the first win of the Cleveland series as one of the most complete games they’ve played. It had a starting pitcher who hadn’t ever really done well in that role, putting together a good game. One of the young bats had a nice day. Another bat who could be important had a good day. And it felt like the team got all their frustration out on one swing in the first and looked like it exhaled for the first time in weeks. Let’s start with the young pitcher.
PHILADELPHIA, PA - MAY 05: A general view of the MLB 2026 All Star Game Logo during the game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Athletics on May 5, 2026 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Good morning, baseball fans!
It’s that time of year again. Phase 1 of voting for the 2026 All Star Game begins today!
Last year, I had the idea to coordinate a group effort with the community to try to get specific San Francisco Giants players into the game. It did not work. And I didn’t really expect it to. But that doesn’t mean we can’t try again this year!
As a reminder, fans can only vote for position players. I think concentrating on just a couple of players is the best strategy. So right now, the players we are going to push for are:
Luis Arraez – 2B
Casey Schmitt – DH
For Phase 1, you can submit up to five ballots per day. The website for voting is not live yet, voting begins at 9:00 a.m. PT. But you should be able to find it on MLB’s All Star page once it’s up.
What time do the Giants play today?
The Giants continue this four-game road series against the Milwaukee Brewers this afternoon at 4:40 p.m. PT.
DENVER, COLORADO - MAY 31: Hunter Goodman #15 of the Colorado Rockies bats in the first inning against the San Francisco Giants at Coors Field on May 31, 2026 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The world of advanced metrics continues to grow in the quest to analyze and understand the smallest idiosyncrasies that make baseball players who they are.
Recently, MLB released new swing path and attack angle data for 2026 that may help give us an idea of where the Colorado Rockies are at and if there is an area for improvement.
What are swing path and attack angle metrics?
For those unfamiliar, the four metrics that make up this category of Statcast metrics are as follows:
swing path (tilt)
attack angle
ideal attack angle
attack direction
Swing path tells the shape of the swing on the way toward contact, with the tilt being defined as the angle of the bat path over the last 40 milliseconds prior to contact. This metric is used to determine how steep or flat a swing is; in layman’s terms, the higher the number, the steeper the swing.
Attack angle describes what is happening with the bat at the point of contact. It defines what vertical angle the bat is moving at as it impacts the ball (or comes closest to doing so, on misses). Positive numbers indicate a bat that is moving upwards, while negative numbers indicate a bat moving downwards at the point of contact. The ideal attack angle is defined as “the percentage of swings with an attack angle between5° and 20° at the point of contact.” Hitting the ball with an upward-moving bat creates a higher exit velocity and optimal launch angle, which are necessary to hit doubles, triples, and home runs.
Attack direction, then, helps indicate the horizontal angle the bat is traveling as it makes contact. This is mostly used to determine whether a batter is a “pull” or “oppo” hitter.
For our purposes, we will be focusing on attack angle since swing path is more of a stylistic choice. (It’s not as simple as “more is good” or “less is bad” in that department.) Attack angle, however, tells a bit more about the Rockies’ offense and what’s going on.
The Rockies as a team
Entering June, the Rockies sport a team attack angle of 10°, which lands even with the league average alongside 13 other teams.
However, the Rockies have an ideal attack angle of 49.1%, which ranks 26th in baseball, just ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays (49%), Los Angeles Angels (48%), Athletics (47.8%), and Pittsburgh Pirates (46.6%). The league average for ideal attack angle is 51.2%.
This means that while the Rockies have an attack angle that falls in line with the majority of MLB on swings, they have managed to make contact with that ideal attack angle less than half the time. Evidence is shown in their 26% whiff rate that comes from a league-leading 51.8% swing rate.
Like other stats in baseball, however, there are nuances to attack angle because it depends on pitch location and pitch type as well. Attack angles will be higher on low pitches and lower on higher pitches. The Rockies have a 13° to 16° angle range on lower pitches and about a 9° angle on higher pitches. A higher angel will lead to more flyballs, while a lower angel will lead to more line drives. Negative angles end up with more groundballs.
The Rockies have a league-leading 21.2% line-drive rate, suggesting a flatter swing at the point of contact, despite a team swing path of 34°, which ranks as the fifth-steepest in baseball. A flatter swing isn’t inherently bad, as line drives are a quality result of making contact, but it does point to the lack of power the team has in the home run department. They rank 22nd in flyball rate at 37.9% and 20th in homerun-to-flyball rate at 9.6%.
The difference in the Rockies’ offense is also reflected over the last two months. In April, the Rockies had an ideal attack angle of 50.8%, while May dropped down to 47.2% and saw the club hitting more ground balls and fewer flyballs.
An important element to understanding attack angle is that it is a timing metric.
During a swing, there are numerous attack angles, and the one that matters is the point at which contact occurs. Pitches are thrown from a downward angle (usually around 6° to 10°). An upward (positive) attack angle allows your bat to travel along the same plane as the ball, giving a wider margin for error to make solid contact. Having an undesirable attack angle might be about being early or late, as well as the way the hitter is moving the bat. It’s not a case of “more is better” because too much or too little can be a problem, hence the ideal range.
Individual Rockies
Attack angle gives us a better understanding of a hitter’s profile, and so, let’s take a look at a couple of the Rockies to illustrate the make-up of the team.
Hunter Goodman
Hunter Goodman falls in line with many of the power hitters across the league. Averaging an attack angle of 15°, Goodman often catches the ball with an upward trajectory, which translates to a team-leading 14 home runs. Keep an eye on the red arrow in the video below (starting at four seconds) that showcases his attack angle through his swing to the point of contact.
What’s interesting is that Goodman’s 24° swing path is the “flattest” on the team, while the attack angle is the highest among the qualified hitters. The video shows that while Goodman has a more direct swing path to the ball, he manages to create lift by angling his bat in those final four milliseconds to lift the ball. He currently has a career-high 27.5% line drive rate and is matching his career-high 33.6% fly ball rate. Add in his incredible bat speed, and you get a hitter who can pound the ball at the expense of more strikeouts.
Most importantly, Goodman has an ideal attack angle 65.3% of the time, which ties him for fourth-highest in baseball among qualified hitters. That means that for roughly every six or seven swings out of 10, he is getting the most offensive value potential, which is what you want out of your power bat.
Kyle Karros
On the other side of the spectrum is Kyle Karros. Featuring a 33.3% line drive rate, Karros has generally been more of a contact-first bat with not a lot of oomph. A lower-than-league-average bat speed and an attack angle of 7° have led to more line drives and ground balls in his young big league career.
What makes Karros’ swing interesting is that he has one of the steepest swing paths on the team at 37°, and yet meets the ball on a more even plane at the point of contact. It messes with a preconceived notion that a player with a steeper swing would naturally hit the ball with a higher attack angle, just as a player with a flatter swing would have a lower attack angle.
However, the attack angle is a good measure of swing adjustments for a player, and Karros has demonstrated that over the last week. Starting on May 25, Karros has averaged an attack angle of 12° with 48.8% ideal attack angle rate. The swing path hasn’t changed, but Karros managed to elevate the ball more, which has resulted in two home runs (even if one was against a position player) and a ball in the air 33% of the time. Ideally, Karros raising his average attack angle even just a few degrees upward to the 10° mark could help him find that power a bit more consistently and cut down on the grounders.
More to be learned
There is so much more that can be learned from exploring the intricacies of these metrics that can’t be covered in this article. You can gain a lot just from a glimpse at the basic metrics, and I encourage you to explore these metrics and visuals on Baseball Savant.
For instance, look at the entire 2026 Rockies offense in this image. Some interesting things are going on here.
In general, the Rockies are a team that focuses on line drives and could benefit from more players finding an optimal swing more often than not. These metrics are all about maximizing offensive value, something the Rockies aren’t quite doing across the board at times.
One size does not fit all when it comes to swinging the bat. Each batter is unique with different stances and mechanics, and these metrics tell just a small part of the story and help paint the picture of an offensive profile.
The Albuquerque Isotopes put together a rough game at the plate as they managed just four runs in the middle innings, but struck out 13 times against one walk. Andrew Knizner had a home run as part of a two-hit night but that was about all that highlighted the offense. Still, they could have done just enough to win, but Isotopes starter Valente Bellozo saw his solid start fall apart in the fifth inning. Scoreless through four, Bellozo coughed up six runs and recorded just one out. The bullpen combo of Mason Green and Ryan Miller limited Salt Lake to just one run the rest of the way, but the offense couldn’t make up the lost ground.
Despite collecting six hits, the Hartford Yard Goats were shut out as they struggled to get runners in scoring position and went 0-for-3 when they did. GJ Hill led the way with two hits, but eight strikeouts and three double-plays killed any momentum for the Yard Goats. Jake Brooks started on the mound and delivered six solid innings, allowing four runs on four hits with four strikeouts and two walks. Cade Denton was roughed up in relief, unfortunately, as he allowed five runs on six hits in two innings of work.
Spokane lost a close one as a two-run seventh by Hillsboro made up the difference. The Indians controlled the first half of the game 5-0 through four innings before Hillsboro got after starter Everett Catlett for four runs in the fifth. Tyler Hampu took the loss after allowing three runs on two hits in his 1.2 innings of work. Offensively, Spokane had 11 hits with Robert Calaz going 3-for-4 with a home run. The team struck out six times with two walks and went 2-for-6 with runners in scoring position.
A close-knit game saw the Fresno Grizzlies come out on top thanks to a two-run ninth inning rally to walk off the Lake Elsinore Storm. Trailing 5-4 in the ninth, Cameron Nelson laced a one-out double to score the equalizer run before coming in to score the winning run on a Roldy Brito single. Fresno had 10 hits with Nelson collecting a triple as well, while Tanner Thach and Clayton Gray each had a home run. Angel Jimenez started for the Grizzlies and went five innings, allowing just two runs on two hits with three walks and six strikeouts. Jhon Medina and Dylan Crooks followed in relief and struggled with command, issuing six free passes and allowing three runs in 2.2 combined innings of work. Seth Clausen took the win with his 1.1 scoreless innings of work.
The trade deadline is just two months away so it’s time to start considering some questions. Mark Feinsand mentions the Rockies as a likely seller, though they may not have many assets. He points to Antonio Senzatela, Tomoyuki Sugano, and Brennan Bernardino as likely candidates with the most value.
Charlie Condon (No. 1 PuRP) has been on a tear for Albuquerque the last two weeks. Geoff Grammer considers the possibility of Condon getting back on track for a 2026 MLB debut.
This week, Evan Lang and I talk about Ezequiel Tovar heating up at the plate, the need for reinforcements in the pitching department, and reflect on May with our players of the month.
Kurt Helin
Raphielle Johnson
