The late-season move by the Vegas Golden Knights to fire coach Bruce Cassidy and bring in John Tortorella might have seemed to be out of desperation on the surface. It comes with a history of some success.
Tortorella has guided the Golden Knights to the Stanley Cup Final after completing a sweep against Presidents’ Trophy winning Colorado. He now has a chance to become the eighth coach to win the Cup after taking over in the middle of a season.
Five of those previous times have come since 2000 with Larry Robinson’s run with New Jersey Devils that year the most similar to Tortorella’s as he also took over with just eight games remaining in the 1999-00 season. The others all had much more time to put their imprints on the team.
Tortorella took over after the Golden Knights lost six of seven games in March. Vegas went 7-0-1 down the stretch and has rolled through the Western Conference playoffs with a 12-4 record.
The last team to win it all after firing its coach during the season was St. Louis in 2018-19 when Craig Berube took over from Mike Yeo early in the season. Kris Knoblauch came one win short of doing it in 2023-24 with Edmonton, losing Game 7 of the Final to Florida that season.
A rare accomplishment
If Tortorella can finish the job and lead the Golden Knights to their second title, the six times that has happened in the NHL since 2000 would equal the total times that has happened in the NFL (0), NBA (4) and Major League Baseball (2) combined in their long histories.
It happened just twice in the NHL in the 20th century with Toronto’s Dick Irwin (1932) and Montreal’s Al MacNeil (1971) doing it before becoming more frequent of late.
The NBA coaches to win a title after taking over during the season are Paul Westhead in 1980 for the Lakers, Pat Riley two years later for Los Angeles and again in 2006 with Miami, and Tyronn Lue in 2016 with Cleveland. The two managers to win a World Series after being hired during the season are Jack McKeon with the Florida Marlins in 2003 and Bob Lemon with the Yankees in 1978.
Here’s a closer look at the five most recent coaches who have led their teams to Stanley Cup titles after taking over during a season:
Craig Berube, 2019 St. Louis Blues
Yeo was fired 19 games into the 2018-19 season and replaced by Berube. St. Louis dropped to last in the standings in early January before putting together an impressive run.
The Blues finished second in the Central Division and rallied from a 3-2 series deficit in the second round to beat Dallas in double overtime in Game 7. They then overcame a 2-1 series deficit in the conference final to beat San Jose in six games to make their first Stanley Cup Final since 1970.
There, Berube led St. Louis to a seven-game series win over Boston for the franchise’s first championship.
Mike Sullivan, 2016 Pittsburgh Penguins
The Penguins were sputtering early in the 2015-16 season and looked poised to waste another year of Sidney Crosby’s prime when they fired Mike Johnston and promoted Sullivan from the AHL.
Fueled by some key midseason additions and brilliant play from Crosby, Pittsburgh surged into the playoffs and didn’t slow down from there. The Penguins lost three games combined in the first two rounds and then rallied from 3-2 down in the conference final to beat Tampa Bay.
They overwhelmed San Jose in a six-game series and hoisted the Stanley Cup for the second time in Crosby’s career.
Darryl Sutter, 2012 Los Angeles Kings
The Kings were mired in 11th place in the West in December and struggling to score when they fired Terry Murray and eventually brought Sutter off his farm in Alberta for his first coaching job in more than five years.
Sutter’s blunt style and attention to detail proved to be just what the Kings needed and helped them reach the playoffs as the eighth seed. They raced through the playoffs, upsetting top-seeded Vancouver in five games in the first round and winning 15 of their first 17 playoff contests.
Los Angeles eventually finished off New Jersey in six games for its first championship and the Kings’ four losses were tied for the second fewest in a Cup-winning run since the first round went to best-of-seven in 1987.
Dan Bylsma, 2009 Pittsburgh Penguins
After making it to the final in 2008, the Penguins barely were over .500 in February the next season, leading GM Ray Shero to fire Michel Therrien and promote Bylsma from the AHL.
Pittsburgh went 18-3-4 down the stretch to earn the fourth seed in the East. From there, the Penguins survived tough series against Philadelphia and Washington before sweeping Carolina in the conference final.
That set the stage for a rematch against Detroit and Pittsburgh came out on top this time, winning Game 7 on the road for the franchise’s first title since 1992.
Larry Robinson, 2000 New Jersey Devils
The Devils were in first place in the East and had the third-best record in the NHL with eight games left in the regular season when GM Lou Lamoriello made the shocking decision to fire Robbie Ftorek and promote Robinson from his role as an assistant.
New Jersey had won only one playoff series the previous four seasons and were stumbling late in 2000 when Lamoriello decided a change was needed.
Boy, was he right.
Robinson increased practice time and stressed a commitment to defense that paid off in a playoff run that featured a comeback from 3-1 down in the conference final against Philadelphia and a 2-1 double-overtime clincher on the road in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final against defending champion Dallas.
Mar 7, 2026; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Brooklyn Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez looks on in the first half against the Detroit Pistons at Little Caesars Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images | Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images
This Spring, we went from hearing from Jordi Fernández nearly every day, to not hearing from him at all. The coach hasn’t been “ghosting” us. There wasn’t break-up between he and the Nets. In fact, they seem to be more committed to each other than ever. The season just ended, and so did our chance to chat with him for a bit pre and postgame.
This week, however, Fernández reemerged alongside a familiar face from The YES Network, appearing as a guest on Nets Pod with Sarah Kustok. Basketball and Branzino were both discussed in great detail…
Kustok opened the conversation asking Fernández what stood out to him the most from his sophomore season in Brooklyn. His response mirrored the one he gave during his exit interview roughly a month and a half ago — blending honesty with positivity.
“It’s been growth, and I’ve had to learn how to be in this position,” Fernández said. “Obviously, when you get the job, you always believe that you’re ready for it, and even though you’ve coached, and you’ve been a head coach before, probably, basketball is the easiest part of it. But then you have the head coaching duties, and what it means — the amount of people that you’re responsible for, the amount of people that you have to touch every day. I think that’s been a great journey so far. I’ve learned, I’ve grown, and the best thing is being around good people, and this organization is built, and is still building the right thing for the right things, and we believe that we’ll keep taking those positive steps.”
Fernández later called controlling his emotions over results his biggest point of growth last year. He explained how he’s learned to see wins in on-court advancements, specifically with his younger players, rather than merely concentrating on what the scoreboard tells him.
“Egor [Dëmin]’s shooting, Nolan [Traoré]‘s play making, Ben [Saraf]’s touching the paint, Danny [Wolf]‘s versatility, and Drake [Powell]‘s ability to guard the ball — all those things that we have the results and the numbers, those are wins. And it’s not just the rookies, everybody else. Nic [Claxton’s playmaking, and then Mike [Porter Jr.], his usage, and Ziarie Williams’s 3-point percentage is improved a little bit. Those are wins.”
The 42-year-old also slipped in a fun fact. The Nets, noted, had played the rookies 6,400 minutes this season, “which is, I think, the most rookies have ever played.” Add that the fact that the Nets roster this season was the league’s youngest in 20 years and you get a better sense of his challenge.
Fernández also went on to shout out the coaches he’s previously worked under, including Mike Brown, Michael Malone, and Sergio Scariolo, explaining how their “investments” in him empowered him to do well. Positivity remained a theme for the entire discussion as well. When asked about how he and the team kept their heads up even during the prior season’s difficult stretches, he called doing so a non-negotiable whilst continuing to pay homage to his mentors.
“One of my mentors, a retired high school coach, he always said one thing that you can always control is your attitude,” Fernández said. “Positive energy is contagious, and so is negative energy, so you can wake up every day you’re alive, and believe that it’s going to be a good day, and tell yourself that today’s going to be a good day. I’d rather do it this way than the other way.”
Foodie Nets fans might disagree, as much of the podcast’s latter half concentrated on Fernández favorite dishes to cook and restaurants to visit, but in my opinion, the episode reached its high point about a third of the way through. Since his coaching tenure began, Fernández has often talked about how he and Brooklyn’s front office have detailed developmental plans for each player on their team. Here, he finally shared some details on how those are put together.
“It’s very collaborative here, from the front office, to medical performance, obviously nutrition, player development on the court,” Fernández said. “Everybody brings in what the plan should look like, and then the players have to understand. This process works through the year. In season, we do it in different ways, and we can show how their development impacts what they do on the court.”
On the topic of development, Fernández also shared that from what he’s seen, many of Brooklyn’s younger players are progressing down their tracks well already this offseason.
“They already look older, they look bigger, they look like they’ve been working, their bodies look really good, and it’s exciting,“ he said.
The coach also touched on the players Brooklyn could add to the team soon, wisely not giving an inch when it came to revealing the team’s plans for its three picks in June.
“We may get younger, because we’re going to select, most likely, from one to three new players,” he said. “But also at the same time, the ones we’ve had, they’re a year older, so it’s very exciting because you acquire talent, and you develop talent, and there’s the unknowns of the beauty of the NBA. It’s free agency, all that stuff, and which obviously Sean and his group do a great job with, and there’s always the communication day to day on how we want to take the next step.”
The conversation then took a more personal route. Fernández priased the From Badalona to Brooklyn documentary the team put together for him, took us through his upbringings in the kitchen, expressed how Brooklyn’s embraced he and his family, and some of his favorite bands, two of which are based in the area.
The full episode is available to watch on Youtube above. It’s also streamable on Spotify and Apple Music.
For the first time this postseason, Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs are facing elimination tonight when they take the court at Frost Bank Center against Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder.
SGA and the Thunder enter Game 6 with a 3–2 series lead following a 127–114 victory in Game 5. It was a game in which they trailed early but were in control for the majority of despite missing two primary contributors, Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell. Jared McCain was inserted into the starting lineup, and he delivered, scoring 20 points. Alex Caruso was 4-8 from deep and scored 22 off the bench as his outstanding postseason play continued. The Swiss Army Knife for the Thunder, Caruso has seen his scoring jump to 17 points per game on 58.1% from three.
As much as Game 5 was about the Thunder’s ability to overcome the absence of two of their stars, it was also about how they defended, limiting Wembanyama to 20 points on 4-of-15 shooting and forcing the Spurs into 29 missed threes.
Game 6 will be about how the Spurs handle being on the brink of annihilation. Ultimately, they need to shoot the ball better. With De’Aaron Fox limited due to the high ankle sprain, the offense desperately needs to run through Wembanyama. He must establish himself in the paint. When he has done that in this series, the Spurs have thrived as he has not only gotten quality looks himself but also found wide open shooters on the perimeter and cutters to the basket. If the Spurs can knock down those shots, a Game 7 is a realistic possibility.
But the Thunder have been down this road and handled this kind of pressure. Getting a few extra days to recover before a date with the Knicks has to be appetizing for OKC.
Lets take a closer look at tonight’s matchup and take into consideration lineups, injuries, and other factors affecting the line and total.
We’ve got all the info and analysis you need to know ahead of the game, including the latest info on how to catch tipoff, odds courtesy of DraftKings recent team performance, player stats, and of course, our predictions, picks best bets for the game from our modeling tools and staff of experts.
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Game Details and How to Watch Game 6 Live: Thunder vs. Spurs
Date: Thursday, May 28, 2026
Time: 8:30PM EST
Site: Frost Bank Center
City: Oklahoma City, OK
Network/Streaming: NBC/Peacock
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Game 6 Odds: Thunder vs. Spurs
The latest odds as of Thursday courtesy of DraftKings:
Moneyline: Oklahoma City Thunder (+130), San Antonio Spurs (-155)
Spread: Spurs -3.5
Total: 219.5 points
This game opened Spurs -2.5 with the Game Total set at 218.5.
Be sure to check out DraftKings for all the latest game odds & player props for every matchup this week on the NBA schedule!
Expected Starting Lineups for Game 6: Thunder vs. Spurs
Oklahoma City Thunder
PG Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
SG Jared McCain
C Isaiah Hartenstein
SF Luguentz Dort
PF Chet Holmgren
San Antonio Spurs
PG De’Aaron Fox
SG Devin Vassell
SG Stephon Castle
PF Julian Champagnie
C Victor Wembanyama
Injury Report: Thunder vs. Spurs
Oklahoma City Thunder
Thomas Sorber (knee) has been declared OUT of tonight’s game
Ajay Mitchel (calf) has been declared OUT of tonight’s game
Jalen Williams (hamstring) is listed as questionable for tonight’s game
San Antonio Spurs
David Jones Garcia (ankle) has been declared OUT for tonight’s game
Important stats, trends and insights: Thunder vs. Spurs
The Thunder are 35-11 on the road this season
The Spurs are 37-11 at home this season
The Spurs are 55-42-2 ATS this season
OKC is 47-47-1 ATS this season
The OVER has cashed in 54 of the Thunder’s 95 games this season (54-41)
The OVER has cashed in 46 of the Spurs’ 99 games this season (46-53)
Alex Caruso is 18-31 (58.1%) from beyond the arc in this series
Jared McCain has scored at least 12 points in 3 of the 5 games of this series
Isaiah Hartenstein had 15 rebounds, 12 points, and 4 assists in Game 5
He may have had turnover issues at points throughout this series, but Stephon Castle is averaging 18.6 points per game while shooting 45.9% from the field
De’Aaron Fox had 8 assists in Game 5 while turning the ball over 1 time
Rotoworld Best Bet
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Our model calculates projections around each moneyline, spread and over/under bet for every game on the NBA calendar based on data points like recent performance, head-to-head player matchups, trends information and projected game totals.
Once the model is finished running, we put its projections next to the latest betting lines for the game to arrive at a relative confidence level for each wager.
Here are the best bets our model is projecting for tonight’s Thunder and Spurs’ game:
Moneyline: Rotoworld Bet is leaning towards a play on the Thunder on the Moneyline
Spread: Rotoworld Bet is leaning towards a play on the Thunder +3.5
Total: Rotoworld Bet is leaning towards a play on the Game Total OVER 219.5
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One could say that the Toronto Maple Leafs have a surplus of goaltenders. With the NHL tandem of Joseph Woll and Anthony Stolarz for the past two years, and an AHL tandem of Dennis Hildeby and Artur Akhtyamov, GM John Chayka may consider moving off one of them.
Hildeby and Akhtyamov, who have been great in the American League with the Toronto Marlies, and Hildeby was exceptional for the Maple Leafs in his 20 appearances last season, could very well draw interest in the trade market this summer.
But in terms of the NHL netminders, what are the pros and cons of trading either Woll or Stolarz?
The Pros
There are a couple of pros that come with the idea of trading away one of Woll and Stolarz.
What can't be ignored across the NHL is the desire for good goaltending, and when healthy, Woll and Stolarz can typically provide that. Meaning, they both have value on the trade market, especially for teams that have struggled in the goaltending department for some time.
This season wasn't so pretty for any member of the Maple Leafs, but Toronto's goalies showed out in the campaign before that.
In 2024-25, Woll put up a .909 save percentage and a 2.73 goals-against average in 42 games, while Stolarz posted a .926 SP and a 2.14 GAA.
Neither Woll nor Stolarz reached a .900 SP this past year, but there's a little more to the equation with the team's defense collapsing and an overall underperformance from the whole roster.
The point is, they've proven to be solid netminders that can put up big performances with an adequate team in front of them.
Another pro for the Maple Leafs if they trade one of Woll or Stolarz is that a hypothetical move will make room for either Hildeby or Akhtyamov. Both those young goaltenders deserve a regular chance in the NHL to this point.
For example, if Hildeby hadn't been given the opportunity he had with the Maple Leafs last season, filling in for the absent Woll and Stolarz, it would be challenging to label what he could be in the NHL. But with 20 appearances last year as a rookie, he put up an impressive .914 SP, a 2.80 GAA and his first career shutout, showing the league and his team just how good he can be between the pipes.
Akhtyamov hasn't had the same opportunity that Hildeby had last year. Still, with how he's performed in the minors in the regular season and stepped up his game for the Calder Cup playoffs, the 24-year-old probably deserves some more NHL action in the near future.
So as long as Woll and Stolarz both remain with the Leafs, there's no true path for Hildeby or Akhtyamov to the NHL, and that could handicap the ability to unlock their full potential. And they are two goaltenders who may have a higher ceiling than the current Maple Leafs' tandem.
While Woll and Stolarz are a respectable tandem, moving off one of them could hurt Toronto's goaltending.
Never in either of their NHL careers have they been true No. 1 netminders, and with their health issues and injury history, who knows if they'll ever reach that status.
Therefore, there would be a great risk in moving off Woll or Stolarz if that means the responsibility on one of them would grow significantly.
Woll's career-high of games played in an NHL season was set in 2024-25 when he featured in 42 contests. That number dropped to 39 this past campaign. Stolarz's personal best is even lower at 34 games, also in 2024-25. Missing multiple stretches of the season last year, his total of appearances decreased as well, finishing the year with just 26 games played.
It's true that if Woll or Stolarz gets dealt before next season, there will still be another goaltender to support them at the NHL level. But that upcoming puckstopper, whether it's Hildeby or Akhtyamov, would be unseasoned.
Ultimately, there is likely a market for Woll and Stolarz, and probably a suitable trade return for one of them. But it will be a massive risk for Chayka to go through with that, especially if the Leafs are looking to be competitive next season.
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Yankees ace Gerrit Cole showed no signs of it as he made his second start back Wednesday night following a 569-day recovery from Tommy John surgery.
The dominant right-hander was in complete control all night, mowing his way through the Royals’ lineup to help New York lock up its fourth consecutive win.
“If the first start was the appetizer, this was the main course,” Aaron Boone said. “He had everything going.”
Cole certainly did, as he struck out five of the first seven Kansas City hitters he faced before allowing his first base runner of the night on a one out double in the bottom of the third.
He then received some help from his defense, as Aaron Judge unleashed a perfect throw on a liner to shallow right, gunning down Michael Massey trying to score the opening run of the game.
“All I was thinking was I don’t want this run to score,” Judge said. “Especially with Gerrit in his second game, it was a tight game at the time -- I knew if I was able to stop them there, they probably aren’t scoring the rest of the game.”
And that's exactly how things played out, as Cole threw things in cruise control the rest of the way, completing six-plus scoreless innings of work.
He allowed just four hits, didn't issue a walk, and struck out 10 batters for a franchise-best 28th time as a Yankee.
"We are watching excellence," Boone said. "I don't want to understate or overstate it, it was just an excellent, efficient, surgical outing where he had everything going."
"It's a good night when everything comes together like that," Cole added.
The Yankees' ace has now put together 12.2 scoreless frames over his first two outings back atop the rotation.
Cole himself isn't satisfied yet.
"It's coming along, there's still some stuff to work on," he said. "We moved the ball well around the zone, sometimes maybe didn't quite get through the fastballs as well as we could've, so there's absolutely still stuff to work on."
Cole is lined up to take the ball back home against the Guardians next week.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton has begun running outside after imaging on his ailing right calf left the club feeling good about his recovery, but manager Aaron Boone said it still was unclear when he would be back in the lineup.
Stanton has been sidelined since April 24, after he experienced some stiffness while running the bases in a game against Houston.
“I think he wants it fully clear, and I think we got enough news today that allows us to take that step to hopefully the running goes in line with how he’s feeling, and we can start to ramp up,” Boone said before the Yankees’ series finale against the Royals.
Stanton was off to a good start through the first 24 games of the season, hitting .256 with three homers and 14 RBIs. The availability of the five-time All-Star’s right-handed bat in the middle of the lineup especially is valuable on nights in which Boone has a lineup that is loaded with left-handers, such as Ben Rice, Trent Grisham, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Cody Bellinger and Austin Wells.
“Having him in the middle, his presence is massive,” Boone said. “So you know, hopefully not too much longer.”
Jasson Dominguez was recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre when Stanton got hurt, only for the young outfielder to join him on the injured list when he strained the AC joint in his left shoulder May 7 while colliding with the outfield wall at Yankee Stadium.
He received an injection in his shoulder on May 11 and has been hitting off a tee for about a week.
The plan for Dominquez is to begin ramping up baseball activities, while the Yankees are completing their series in Kansas City and heading to Sacramento for three games against the Athletics to conclude their six-game, seven-day road trip.
“Hopefully when we get back next week,” Boone said, “there may be some live (batting practice) situations for him.”
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - MAY 27: Willy Adames #2 of the San Francisco Giants is tagged out by Aramis Garcia #35 of the Arizona Diamondbacks in the eighth inning at Oracle Park on May 27, 2026 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Team News
Sewald notches 100th save after injuries nearly derailed his career “I wasn’t even healthy enough to throw [much] last year, so a lot of that was just, am I going to get to play again? Because I’m getting older, and I wasn’t healthy,” the 36-year-old said. “So definitely more doubt just that I was going to get to play, let alone kind of be at my peak. I’m just fortunate to be out there pitching, really, is what it comes down to. I’m just excited that I’m healthy enough to go out there.” https://www.mlb.com/dbacks/news/diamondbacks-stay-hot-complete-sweep-of-giants
Diamondbacks sweep Giants for 2nd time in past 10 games
“Crazy inning,” Ginkel said. “It’s a play we’ve worked on in spring training. Now with the PitchCom and stuff, you’re trying to navigate signs and more like, how can we be more opportunistic with our pickoffs? I think with that inning going the way it did, and you didn’t know which way the ball was gonna go, I think that was a great time for it.”
MLBPA makes 1st proposal in collective bargaining negotiations
“The MLBPA’s proposal would reduce the amount transferred to lower-revenue Clubs, weaken the Competitive Balance Tax, and lead to even more payroll disparity than exists today. For example, under the Union’s proposal, the Los Angeles Dodgers would pay less in luxury tax payments, giving them an additional $70 million to spend on payroll.”
MLBPA makes its first CBA proposal, highlights increased minimum salary and new ‘integrity tax’ Here are some of the highlights of the MLBPA’s proposal:
Draft picks and other benefits for low-revenue clubs active in free agency and other signings
Significant increases to 40-man minimums, including a major-league minimum salary of $1.5 million beginning in 2027
A new “Competitive Integrity Tax” applying to clubs that fail to meet minimum payroll benchmarks
Expansion of salary arbitration eligibility
Enhanced compensation and contract guarantees for players in salary arbitration
Increased benefits for lower-revenue clubs who lose players to free agency
Qualified free agency for players with five or more years of service who have reached age 30
“Luxury Tax” threshold increases and removal of non-monetary policies
Expanded draft lottery to further deincentivize tanking
Increased revenue sharing that initially guarantees every small-market club a minimum of $240 million in revenue every season
Five years later, looking at each team’s best 2021 Draft pick D-backs: Chad Patrick, RHP (fourth round) There still might come the day when Jordan Lawlar fulfills the promise he showed as the sixth overall pick and a former Top 100 prospect, but he hasn’t found established big-league success in part due to injuries (the latest being a broken right wrist). We turn instead to Patrick, who signed for $350,000 out of Purdue, was traded twice in 2023 and has found a place on the Brewers pitching staff — first as a starter last year and as more of a swingman in ‘26. Patrick enters Wednesday with a 2.63 ERA this season, 20th-best among 130 Major Leaguers with at least 40 frames.
The most commonly used letter in the English alphabets is E.
The second most common letters are T, A, I, N, and O. The least used letter in the English alphabets is the letter Q.
The majority of plant life is located in the ocean.
There are around a total of 228, 450 known species in the ocean and around 2 million more species are left undiscovered. Most of the plants found in the ocean are kelp, seaweed, seagrass, and algae. Marine plants are divided into 3 categories, euphotic/sunli, dispothic/twilight, and aphotic/midnight.
There are 336 dimples on a regulation golf ball.
The little indents on golf balls aren’t just there to help you differentiate it from other sports balls. The dimples on a golf ball’s surface create a thin turbulent boundary layer of air that clings to the ball’s surface, which affects the overall trajectory of the ball.
When Wigan Warriors selected two players to represent them at a Wembley photoshoot before the Challenge Cup finals on Saturday, they could not have chosen more different characters.
Liam Farrell, the men’s captain, is a veteran who has played for Wigan in five Challenge Cup finals, winning four. Leading his team out at Wembley to face treble winners Hull KR will be a big deal but he has been there before. Representing the women before their final against St Helens was a student who works part-time in the coach’s cafe. By the time Jenna Foubister had started primary school, Farrell had played 100 senior games.
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Josh Inglis' expert pick: Angels/Tigers Under 8.5
Price: 48¢ (+108) at Polymarket
Let’s stay on the getaway angle today, with the Los Angeles Angels going down to Tampa after today’s game, while the Detroit Tigers are also hitting the road for the weekend.
This total feels inflated at first glance, because of the pitching matchup, but Jack Flaherty has at least started to rein in his wild walk rate, and both his BABIP and LOB% help explain why the expected metrics are pointing toward better results ahead.
Grayson Rodriguez is still working his way back after missing all of last season and now draws a Tigers offense that ranks dead last in the American League in OPS over the last 30 days. These are also the No. 28 and No. 29 offenses in wOBA over that same stretch.
On paper, the matchup appears favorable for Chicago’s left-handed bats, but Bradley’s arsenal tells a different story. His high-velocity riding four-seam fastball paired with a well-tunneled splitter consistently forces left-handed hitters out in front, especially when they’re trying to lift the ball for power.
The results back it up: Bradley has held left-handed hitters to a .187 batting average and a .599 OPS this season. Because of that pitching advantage, I think the Minnesota Twins should be priced closer to 49-cent (+104) underdogs in this spot.
Time: 2:10 p.m. ET
How to watch: CHSN, MNNT
Joe Osborne's expert pick: Astros moneyline
Price: 44¢ (+127) at Polymarket
These teams are trending in opposite directions, so I’m backing the underdog with the hotter lineup and starting pitcher. Spencer Arrighetti is having a breakout season, allowing two earned runs or fewer in all seven starts (in which Houston has won six).
That includes a dominant outing against Texas two weeks ago, when he gave up just one hit over 7 1/3 scoreless innings. Nathan Eovaldi has been steady, but he’s now facing a red-hot Houston Astros lineup that ranks third in OPS, with an MLB-best 14 home runs over the past week.
Time: 8:05 p.m. ET
How to watch: RSN/SCHN
Odds are correct at the time of publishing and are subject to change. Not intended for use in MA. Affiliate Disclosure: Our team of experts has thoroughly researched and handpicked each product that appears on our website. We may receive compensation if you sign up through our links.
The Montreal Canadiens had an opportunity to tie the Eastern Conference Final when they hosted the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday night at the Bell Center, but only one player played like he believed that was a possibility: Jakub Dobes.
From start to finish, the netminder was the Habs’ best player, and he never stopped trying even though the team in front of him looked like it was just going through the motions. On his 25th birthday, the masked man faced another 42 shots and made 39 saves for a .929 save percentage.
Throughout the game, he was the only one who gave the fans in the stands any reason to cheer. Speaking to the media after the game, Lane Hutson said it best when he summarized the game:
The only one that turned up was Dobby […] It was a shitty, shit game.
- Lane Hutson after the 4-0 defeat.
It’s not the first time the Czech netminder is the Canadiens’ best player in a game; it’s been the case in most of the Canadiens’ wins and even in their losses in these playoffs. When the goaltender was asked to comment on the game, he explained:
Yeah, it sucks right now, but tomorrow is a new day. We’re an amazing group full of exciting people. We’ll have a great time on the plane, we’ll go to dinner, we’ll joke around and bring our best hockey for Game 5, we promise. We’ll try our best to bring it home for Game 6.
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Dobes had every reason to be annoyed about the game and the result. He could have been critical of his team, but he wasn’t. Not once on the ice did his body language show that he was blaming a teammate for a goal. The 25-year-old led by example on the ice, and he also acted like a leader once the game was over. In 18 games in these playoffs, he has a 2.53 goal-against-average and a .912 save percentage.
After Game 7 of the second-round series, when he was asked if he was getting a bit tired, Dobes said he wasn’t and could play another 40 games. Watching him play, it looks like he wasn't kidding. But the same cannot be said for the rest of the team, who simply appear to be running on an empty tank. The Canadiens just don’t have the energy needed to fend off the relentless forecheck of the Hurricanes, who are proving without a shadow of a doubt that they are the best team on the ice in this series.
It’s a shame because Dobes deserved better, and the Canadiens had set up a storybook moment by having Jaroslav Halak be the torchbearer. The Slovak netminder appeared on camera not only bearing the torch but also holding a stop sign with Dobes’ name. It was a wonderful wink to the fact that the goaltender is doing exactly what Halak did in 2010 and is being cherished by the fans just like he was. Unfortunately for the team, it seems history will repeat itself, and the Canadiens will bow out of the Eastern Conference Final in five games, just like they did back then.
NEW YORK — Cincinnati Reds starter Rhett Lowder threw 45 pitches to hitters at Citi Field, the next step in his recovery from a right shoulder injury.
“Feels good,” he said. “I think we got a good grasp on it early.”
Lowder simulated three innings of work against a handful of Reds teammates, including outfielder Will Benson. Provided he comes out of the session feeling healthy over the next few days, Lowder likely would be scheduled to throw about 70 pitches for Triple-A Louisville at Memphis, a St. Louis Cardinals affiliate.
Cincinnati manager Terry Francona didn’t rule out the possibility Lowder could return to the Reds’ rotation after that one minor league rehabilitation start.
“I think there’s a lot of possibilities. Don’t know that we need to put the cart ahead of the horse. Getting him healthy is what’s really important,” Francona said before his team’s series finale against the New York Mets.
“The fact that he almost could keep throwing — I think he was out for only two or three days. That was all it was. So, he’s not building back up. They just really have been stressing and working on like, range of motion, activating the right muscles and trying to re-train that shoulder. Probably the best way I could say it. And he’s done a really good job.”
Lowder exited his May 7 outing against the Chicago Cubs in the fourth inning and was placed on the 15-day injured list May 13, retroactive to May 10, with right shoulder pain.
The 24-year-old rookie is 3-3 with a 5.40 ERA in eight starts this season and 5-5 with a 3.52 ERA in 14 career outings. He was selected seventh overall by Cincinnati in the 2023 amateur draft from Wake Forest.
Lowder made his major league debut in August 2024 and compiled a 1.17 ERA in six starts spanning 30 2/3 innings that year. But he didn’t pitch in the majors last season, missing time because of a right forearm strain and making only five minor league appearances.
Franklin Arias of the Portland Sea Dogs is present during a Minor League Baseball game at TD Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater, United States, on May 1, 2026. (Photo by Dan Squicciarini/NurPhoto via Getty Images) | NurPhoto via Getty Images
Jake Bennett’s five-inning start proved yet again that he could be a good spot starter, if for no other reason than to gauge future value as this team may find itself firmly in selling territory as 2026 grows older. Wednesday morning’s start against the Rail Riders (Yankees AAA) was another in a long line of reputable outings, as he struck out seven and recovered extremely well after allowing a first inning home run to George Lombard Jr. And yes, that is the son of the George Lombard, the former Red Sox minor league bench coach and former Braves teammate of Andruw Jones, Greg Maddux and the like. Anywho, after Bennett’s five innings, the bullpen was sharp, not allowing a hit the duration of the game. Meanwhile, the top of Worcester’s lineup shone; Braiden Ward, Nate Eaton and Anthony Seigler, in the one-through-three holes, had seven hits between them and the 7-1 lead they had after four was key in allowing Bennett and his associates to coast the rest of the way.
Blake Wehunt had maybe his best outing of the season. The 6’7” righty out of Georgia (that’s not the Bulldogs but instead the Owls of Kennesaw State) had eight strikeouts, allowing just two hits and a walk in six innings of work. Franklin Arias belted his 12th home run of 2026 and Johanfran Garcia got his seventh homer in the fifth. Add in three runs in the sixth and Portland also coasted to an early afternoon W, their eighth win in nine games. A big factor in that has been Arias, who has 25 total bases in the last five games.
And another coast! Despite some really spotty pitching by Marcus Phillips against Asheville (Astros High-A). Enddy Azocar’s new teammates surely like him, as he had his first home run since being promoted to High-A, and it was a grand slam to answer a run to get Greenville to within neccessity of a save situation. The score was 11-5, and there it’d stay. Ronny Hernandez also contributed three hits, coming within a triple of hitting for the cycle.
The lone loser in the organization, the RidgeYaks fell to Hickory (Rangers A). This shouldn’t have even came down to two Hickory runs in the late going, but it did, but this was overall not a well-played game by Salem outside of a good shutout four relief innings from Luis Cohen. They had two defensive errors and just three hits, two from Kleyvar Salazar and one from Skylar King.
Apr 30, 2021; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; The benches clear after Philadelphia Phillies relief pitcher Jos Alvarado (46) struck out New York Mets left fielder Dominic Smith (2) during the eighth inning at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Kam Nedd-Imagn Images
Earlier this month, MLB held its second annual “Rivalry Weekend,” primarily pairing teams with inter-league geographic rivals. The Mets played the Yankees, the Dodgers played the Angels, the Cubs played the White Sox, the Orioles played the Nationals, and so on and so forth. The Mets will likely face the Yankees during every Rivalry Weekend until the end of time, yet one might begin to wonder…are the Yankees actually the Mets’ biggest rivals?
It’s in the spirit of this question that I’ve attempted to rank all 29 other major league clubs according to the intensity of their rivalry with the Mets, beginning with the most friendly relationships and ending with the most heated. The following countdown is entirely subjective and by no means an exact science, with factors like geographic proximity, postseason history, and regular season competition all playing some role.
Without further ado, here is the list…
TIER 1: Rivalry? We might as well be friends!
29. Mariners The Mariners are like the New York Mets of baseball, as A-Rod might say.
28. Angels The historically less successful, lower-payroll, mishap-prone team in a two-franchise city, with some of the best players in recent memory but not much to show for it? The Angels and the Mets are basically cousins from across the country.
TIER 2: A gentleman’s rivalry for a gentleman’s game
27. White Sox Similar situation to that of the Angels, except comparisons between the Mets and White Sox feel more oriented towards geographic circumstance than team identity.
26. Twins The Twins took a jab at the Mets after beating them at Citi Field in April. That’s about as heated as this match-up has gotten over the years.
25. Guardians Did the Francisco Lindor trade start any sort of rivalry? Not really.
24. Tigers The Mets almost played the Tigers in the 2006 World Series…see entry No. 5 for more.
23. Rays There’s no hint of a rivalry here, but the Rays have to be above the rest of the relatively neutral AL Central because at least one person in the Citi Field stands can reliably be overheard complaining about Tampa Bay and their “analytics” during a given game.
TIER 3: I guess there’s something there
22. Blue Jays The Mets and Blue Jays swapped enough players in the 2010s that their match-ups were certainly intriguing (though not necessarily heated) since someone seemed to always be facing their former team, whether José Reyes or Noah Syndergaard or R.A. Dickey or Marcus Stroman.
21. Rockies One of two out-of-divsion National League teams the Mets have never faced in a postseason series. The Rockies lost both their first game and their first home game to the Mets within the span of one week in 1993, but got their revenge by winning the first game at Coors Field in walk-off fashion against the Amazins’ in 1995.
20. Pirates The Pirates are the other out-of-divsion National League team the Mets have never faced in a postseason series, though the two teams did compete for division titles in the old NL East back in 1973 and 1990.
19. Diamondbacks The Mets eliminated the Diamondbacks in their first-ever postseason series in 1999, but Arizona quickly got over that defeat with a World Series title two years later.
18. Padres A rivalry that briefly sizzled when Buck Showalter approached a shiny-eared Joe Musgrove. If the Mets and Padres were to meet in another postseason series sometime soon, especially with Juan Soto facing his ex-teammates, this one could move up the list.
17. Rangers Between Brandon Nimmo and Jacob deGrom (and Kumar Rocker?), the Rangers have a healthy collection of former Mets. That’s sure to make things somewhat intriguing for at least the next several years.
TIER 4: Memories of a Fall Classic
16. Royals Even as they were ripping apart the Mets’ championship hopes with speed, defense, and an unhittable bullpen, it was difficult to root too hard against the scrappy 2015 Royals.
15. Athletics The A’s ended the 82-win 1973 Mets’ incredible run to the World Series, though the Amazins’ put up a valiant seven-game fight.
14. Orioles “They can take our Polar Bear, but they still can’t hit Jerry Koosman” – some nostalgic Mets fan, moments before their mind dissolves into a psychedelic dream-state with indiscernible technicolor images flashing by. Ron Swoboda parallel to the ground in mid-air. Don Buford running out of room at the fence. Gil Hodges holding a shoe-polished baseball in front of the home plate umpire. Cleon Jones kneeling in the outfield. “Those were the days” – that Mets fan, probably.
TIER 5: Things can get tense
13. Astros It seems like these days every team’s fanbase fashions themselves something of a rival to the Astros, but this ranking is more a result of the tense 1986 NLCS, which concluded with two marathon extra-inning games. Speaking of 1986…
12. Red Sox The enemy of my enemy is my 13th-biggest rival — at least according to this placement, anyway. The Fenway Faithful might not be so kind-hearted after the 1986 World Series, but I still believe Mets fans primarily feel a strange kinship with the staunchest anti-Yankee fanbase. Though they’re still a team from Boston, this is about as friendly as a New York-Boston relationship can get.
11. Brewers Until 2024, the Brewers would have been ranked back in Tier 3 with the Rockies, Pirates, D-backs, and Padres. Things began to change when David Stearns made the switch from Milwaukee to New York. On Opening Day 2024 — the first game of Stearns’ tenure — the Brewers were promptly involved in a benches-clearing incident at Citi Field, and on the Crew’s last day of the 2024 season, Pete Alonso hit a backbreaking home run to eliminate them from postseason contention with two outs left to go before sealing the Wild Card Series.
10. Giants The orange in the Mets’ color scheme and the inspiration behind their “NY” cap logo, the Giants are barely hated in their old home of New York. Sure, the Mets eliminated them in 2000 and got eliminated by them in 2016, but there’s been no prolonged period of drama. Still, the New York history makes these franchises natural competitors for the same reason it makes them natural allies.
TIER 6: Bad Blood
9. Reds If a franchise’s all-time WAR leader punches Bud Harrelson, they can’t be listed any lower than this. Punching Bud Harrelson is an automatic trip to Tier 6.
8. Cubs Between the wild Black Cat division chase in 1969 and the NLCS sweep in 2015, the Mets have upended the Cubs in some pretty pivotal moments over the years.
7. Nationals Ah, the 2010s. A decade when the Mets seemed to get their lunch money stolen by the Nationals every year…except for 2015, when they pulled off memorable win after memorable win against Washington to win the NL East. Even in 2019, a year when neither team won the division, each managed to pull off an absurd comeback against the other down the stretch. Whether it was Yoenis Céspedes and Lucas Duda mashing in 2015 or Daniel Murphy and Bryce Harper treating Citi Field like Coors Field in the following years, the Nats and Mets certainly know how to make fools of one another.
6. Marlins Roses are red, violets are blue, the Marlins will win in Game 162. Three legendary Mets collapses — 2007, 2008, and 2025 — each made complete with a devastating loss to the Fish on the final day of the regular season. The Mets may have bigger rivals, but no one has been a bigger crimp in their plans.
5. Cardinals This pair of superteams battled in the NL East during the mid-1980s, with the Cardinals outpacing the Mets by three games in both 1985 and 1987. But the ultimate dagger came two decades later, when the young duo of Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright combined to shock Shea Stadium in Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS. Even 20 years later, I’m not sure Mets fans have come to terms with that night’s events.
TIER 7: All-Out Rivals
4. Dodgers In some ways, the Mets are more of a brother to the Dodgers than the Yankees. So many elements of their identity trace back to the Brooklyn Dodgers, from Citi Field’s Ebbets-esque design to the Mets’ Dodger-blue primary color to the core tenet that fans will stand proud even while enduring disappointment after disappointment. The Flushing Faithful were born from the Flatbush Faithful. But that brotherly cross-country relationship has grown increasingly fraught over the years as the Mets and Dodgers have faced each other in a number of high-octane postseason series, with L.A. keeping a pair of beloved Mets teams away from the World Series in 1988 and 2024 and the Mets eliminating the Dodgers in the 2006 and 2015 NLDS (the latter intensified by Chase Utley’s hard slide into Ruben Tejada). Throw in the newly-cited mantra of becoming the “East Coast Dodgers,” and the big-budget Mets have practically declared open war on the franchise that once called New York City home.
3. Braves It takes a special type of rivalry for an opposing team’s star player to name their kid after your team’s stadium. The Mets and Braves have had a contentious relationship since being re-aligned into the same division in 1995, with the Braves winning the first 11 titles in the new NL East as the Mets fought and failed (at least until 2006) to overcome Atlanta’s dynasty. The ferocity of the rivalry was renewed in 2022, when the Braves broke the Mets’ hearts with a late September sweep, eventually matching New York’s 101-win record and earning the tiebreaker to advance to the Division Series. It’s also been well documented that the Braves’ ballparks, whether the old Turner Field or the new Truist Park, have tended to be a house of horrors in both climate and outcome for the Mets.
2. Yankees There’s just something about New York baseball. Whether it was the Dodgers and Giants battling for pennants or both National League squads attempting to knock off the mighty Yankees in the World Series, the baseball world revolved around New York for the first half of the 20th century (especially in the decade of Willie, Mickey, and the Duke). The Mets and Yankees rivalry is all that remains from that rich history of intra-city competition. It undeniably peaked in 2000 with the first all-New York World Series since 1956, but it proves itself alive and well with every season’s Subway Series games, which manage to produce a playoff atmosphere no matter each team’s respective record. Sure, it’s a one-sided hatred, with more fire and fury coming from the Mets’ side. Sure, it’s interleague play, and most of the games are early-season contests with little larger consequence. Sure, up until the Juan Soto signing the Mets never had a particularly resounding victory over the Bronx Bombers (and even that one played out in a bidding war rather than on the field). But still…there’s just something about New York baseball.
1. Phillies The only rivalry that seems to regularly produce legitimate loathing between players and fans alike. Tension had been bubbling up for decades, with the Phillies barraging the Mets throughout the late 1970s and the Mets handling the Phillies throughout the 1980s. Then, in the mid-2000s, both teams weren’t just competitive at the same time — they were simultaneously elite. Jimmy Rollins called the Phillies the team to beat in the wake of the Mets’ 2006 division title (kicking off a chain reaction of trash talk) and Philadelphia lived up to the title, stunning the Mets after a late-season collapse in 2007 and edging them out in the NL East en route to a World Series championship in 2008. Plus, from Dwight Gooden to Hansel Robles (twice) to Rhys Hoskins to José Alvarado, this match-up has seen its fair share of bad blood over the years. In the words of David Wright: “I love the rivalry. I don’t necessarily love the city or the people. Or the players.”
May 19, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jesús Luzardo (44) throws a pitch during the first inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images | Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
Quick: name the most valuable Phillies pitcher by Wins Above Replacement.
Well, that wasn’t very difficult, was it? You said Cristopher Sánchez so quick I barely had time to take a sip of my tea. That’s okay. The first question is the warm-up. Now name the second-most valuable.
Did you say Jesús Luzardo? Good/bad news: you’re right/wrong. He’s the second-most/fourth-most valuable pitcher on the Phillies by WAR. Actually, he’s the second-most/only the seventh-most valuable Phillie overall by WAR. Zack Wheeler has been on fire since he returned, but Luzardo still has produced more value/less than half as much value than him.
Don’t adjust your monitor: nothing is wrong with the above paragraph. All of those statements are true, simultaneously. And this isn’t some sort of Schrödinger’s Phillie, where Luzardo is both extremely valuable and somewhat less so until you open the box.
See, there’s two main types of WAR: FanGraphs WAR, or fWAR, and Baseball Reference WAR, or bWAR (sometimes rWAR). And they disagree on Luzardo. The fine folks at FanGraphs have Luzardo at 1.7 fWAR, trailing only Sánchez’s 2.8, and a bit ahead of Wheeler’s 1.4. Meanwhile, the renowned recorders at Baseball Reference have Luzardo at 1.0 bWAR, far behind Sánchez’s 3.7 and Wheeler’s 2.1. A difference of 0.7 WAR in the evaluation of Luzardo may not sound like a lot, but fWAR has him as more valuable than Wheeler so far, and bWAR has him as just about half as valuable. That’s a pretty sizable difference. So what’s going on here?
First, to level-set: this is not a case where either formulation of WAR is wrong. fWAR and bWAR, as we’ll get into shortly, are both setting out to measure the same thing— how valuable a given player is—, but through decidedly different approaches. Neither one is incorrect on Luzardo; they’re just defining value differently. Despite the title of this piece (lamentably straightforward, I was fresh out of puns), we’re not really going to be determining how valuable Luzardo is here. Rather, by taking a look at how the two main forms of WAR ended up disagreeing on Luzardo’s value, we’re going to get a more holistic sense of how he’s performed so far.
So, why do fWAR and bWAR diverge when it comes to Luzardo? It comes down to what inputs they use for assessing pitchers. fWAR for pitchers is based on Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP). FIP tries to eliminate the impact of defense by taking only the plays that are determined solely by the actions of the pitcher and the batter into account: strikeouts, walks, home runs, and hit by pitches (to be technical, FanGraphs treats infield flies as strikeouts when calculating FIP for fWAR purposes, whereas standard FIP doesn’t). bWAR, on the other hand, is based on runs allowed, and innings pitched. There’s more to the calculations than just that, of course. But that information is all we need to explain the variance on Luzardo.
Luzardo has been good to great at most of the things that go into FIP. His 27.7 K% is in the 84th percentile. His walk rate of 6.5% is in the 81st. His 0.73 HR/9 is tied for 21st among qualified pitchers, and the total number of gopher balls he’s allowed (5) doesn’t pop any eyes. He’s hit four batters so far, which is more than most pitchers, but that doesn’t seem to be dragging his FIP down (or up, rather) much. His FIP of 2.82 is ninth-best in baseball, and so it’s no surprise that he’s doing well in the FIP-based fWAR.
But you can see the caveat coming: FIP, and thus fWAR, doesn’t take into account batted balls other than homers. And you can’t tell the story of Luzardo’s season without discussing those. Luzardo has been solid at avoiding homers, but he’s too often been sent into spirals by balls in play. Of all the pitchers in baseball who’ve pitched enough to be deemed qualified for the leaderboards, only one has suffered a worse BABIP than Luzardo: pity the suffering (and wonderfully alliterative) Cade Cavalli. That alone can’t explain Luzardo’s performance so far; Sánchez has the fifth-highest BABIP against in baseball, and he’s doing things that are giving us cause to bring up Grover Cleveland Alexander and Carl Hubbell (not that it’s ever a bad time to discuss the old greats). But hits aren’t the statistic that goes into bWAR. Runs allowed are. Luzardo has stranded 67.1% of the baserunners who reached against him. That puts him at 66 of 76 qualified pitchers; no Phillies pitcher allows a greater proportion of his baserunners to score.
On the whole, Luzardo has allowed 32 runs across 61.2 innings pitched. Hence the relatively unenthusiastic rating of Luzardo by bWAR. Wheeler’s allowed 7 runs in 37.2 innings pitched, and that’s how he surpasses Luzardo in bWAR, even as he posts a lower K% and an only slightly lower BB%.
So, which WAR variant represents the real Luzardo? They both do. Luzardo is a pitcher who strikes out tons of batters and hands out walks like a dentist hands out Halloween candy. He’s also, at least in this campaign, a pitcher who’s prone to allowing runs, who lets a large proportion of his base runners pass Go, collecting their $200 along the way. That run-proneness may not last—his xERA of 3.15 is far lower than his actual ERA of 4.38, suggesting some bad luck—, but if we’re evaluating how he’s done so far, we have to take what actually happened into account.
To focus only on the runs allowed would be to ignore the excellent peripherals that showcase Luzardo’s obvious talent. To ignore them would be to ignore something that is quite obviously rather important to his job performance. “I’ve looked at life from both sides now”, sang Joni Mitchell. She certainly wasn’t referring to bWAR and fWAR. But you ought to follow her example when evaluating Luzardo.
Just like that, the waking nightmare that has been consuming the Cubs comes to an end. I don’t know about you, but I have no surprise whatsoever that the streak went away with a thump and not a whimper. The Cubs put 10 runs on the board while running up 14 hits and drawing seven walks. Two batters were hit by pitches and so the Cubs managed to have 23 baserunners. They managed a team hitting line of .341/.460/.561. For one day, the offense played at the level of an MVP candidate.
I said this just a day or two ago. I understand why Ian Happ would get a day off or two given his struggles. Also, any resurgence of this team is almost certainly going to involve Ian so I don’t have a lot of joy seeing him out of the lineup. With his five-RBI outburst that included a homer, Ian continues to lead the Cubs in OPS among qualified hitters. He does so by leading them in slugging percentage and being second in on-base percentage. Until some of his teammates can sustain their production, it is a justifiable choice for Ian to bat in the middle of the lineup where he is typically found. Importantly, he has generally been the Cub who has performed best against right handed pitching through almost his entire Cub career.
The offense was the big story of the night, but there was a subplot. Jameson Taillon in his return to face the team that drafted him had another rough outing. The Cubs are surely approaching a difficult decision with Jameson. I’m not sure that his stuff would play significantly better out of the bullpen, but he doesn’t appear to have the ability to consistently get major league hitters out well enough to justify his spot in the starting the rotation once a few more pitchers get healthy. You hate to see it, but at some point, unless there is something ailing him that can be fixed physically, he may be nearing the end.
The Cub bullpen came through to keep this one on ice. They threw four scoreless innings, striking out five. Jacob Webb led the way with a perfect inning and three strikeouts. Webb appears to have emerged as the Cubs best reliever. Ethan Roberts appears to be a lot of smoke and mirrors, but he did throw another scoreless inning and has an 0.68 ERA that comes almost entirely in low leverage situations. You almost have to consider him for some higher leverage spots.
Speaking of leverage, am I the only one who has noticed how little leverage the Cub bullpen has encountered year to date? I’ve mentioned this in passing a couple of times. But this is the first time I’ve done a deep dive into it. Prior to Wednesday’s games, the Cubs had played 55 games to the Brewers’ 52. So raw stats can be awkward. But check this out. High leverage opponent plate appearances: Cubs 333 and Brewers 353. So 5 or 6 innings difference despite three less games. The Brewers have been really good, so not super wacky I guess. Medium leverage: Cubs 689, Brewers 732. Now you’re at maybe 10 innings difference despite three less games. The Cubs have faced almost 200 more plate appearances in low leverage situations than the Brewers. So it’s not my imagination.
Last thought. Those three games aren’t nothing either. This first half has been a gauntlet. As someone who blogs about every game, the cadence of the games is always front and center. This has felt like an unending line of games. That was a brutal combo with all of the pitching injuries and has surely exacerbated the Cub problems and them running out of gas. The 10-game losing streak is absolutely disconcerting, but I’m not ready to say that the ship has sailed on this Cub team yet.
Nothing like a win to walk me and surely a whole bunch of others back from the ledge a little.
Three Positives:
Michael Conforto came off of the bench and hit a two-run, pinch-hit homer to help put this one on ice. He got to hang around and have a second plate appearance and drew a walk. You have to love a day that measures out to an 838 wRC+.
This was Ian Happ’s night. A two-run single in the first and a three-run homer late to break a tie. He drives in five of the 10 runs on the night.
Six Cubs in all had a night that registered as over 200 wRC+, including Kevin Alcántara, who walked in his only plate appearance. But this spot goes to Dansby Swanson, another beleaguered Cub vet. He had a single, double, walk, stolen base and two runs scored.
Game 56, May 27: Cubs 10, Pirates 4 (30-26)
Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.
THREE HEROES:
Superhero: Ian Happ (.256). 2-6, HR, 5 RBI, R
Hero: Alex Bregman (.119). 2-6, 2B, R
Sidekick: Michael Busch (.085). 1-3, 2 BB, HBP, RBI, R
THREE GOATS:
Billy Goat: Jameson Taillon (-.169). 5 IP, 21 BF, 5 H, 2 BB, 4 ER, 4 K
Goat: Seiya Suzuki (-.113). 1-5, R, DP
Kid: Moisés Ballesteros (-.045). 0-2, K
WPA Play of the Game: Brandon Lowe’s one-out, three-run, game-tying homer in the third inning. (.250)
Cubs Play of the Game: Alex Bregman doubled with a runner on first and no outs in the seventh inning, setting up Ian Happ’s heroics. (.167)
Cubs Player of the Game:
Game 55 Winner: Alex Bregman received 52 of 84 votes.
Rizzo Award Standings: (Top 5/Bottom 5)
The award is named for Anthony Rizzo, who finished first in this category three of the first four years it was in existence and four times overall. He also recorded the highest season total ever at +65.5. The point scale is three points for a Superhero down to negative three points for a Billy Goat.
Michael Busch +21
Nico Hoerner +12
Alex Bregman +9.5
Michael Conforto +9
Shōta Imanaga +7
Jameson Taillon/Phil Maton -9
Matt Shaw -10
Dansby Swanson -13
Seiya Suzuki -27.5
Current Win Pace: 86.79 wins
Up Next: The fourth and final game of the series between these two teams. If you haven’t heard, it’s been a few years since the Pirates actually won a home series versus the Cubs. I’m reminded of a game last May 1. Colin Rea faced Paul Skenes in an afternoon game in Pittsburgh. The Pirates staked Skenes to two early runs. But Dansby Swanson, Kyle Tucker and Seiya Suzuki all took Skenes deep and Skenes ended up a loser as the Cubs won 8-3.
Rea comes in with a 4-3 mark and a 4.83 ERA in 54 innings. This will be his ninth start of the season. He hasn’t won since May 1. In four starts since then, he’s allowed 14 runs (13 earned) in 21.1 innings. Last time he started rough but ended up throwing seven innings and allowing just three runs. That was his second quality start (though he technically also had a quality relief behind an opener). Skenes is 6-4 with a 3.00 ERA in 60 innings. This is his 12th start of the year. He’s lost two straight, allowing nine earned runs in 10 innings against the Blue Jays and Phillies.
It’s a tough matchup, but you never know. Maybe the bats are sufficiently awakened to steal one against Skenes and the Pirates.
