What we learned from win over the Jazz

The San Antonio Spurs salvaged the rest of their brief road trip with a close call in Utah against the young Jazz. It was one of those rare occasions in which records could be misleading because the Jazz (15-30) have more talent than their record indicates, put up a fight at home and have made lots of internal growth since October. It almost felt like watching a grandmaster at the chessboard sweat it out against a younger prospect who will be a bigger factor in the next few years.   

Keyonte George, who should probably be the Most Improved player, and Ace Bailey are the real deal and have lots to do with that. These games will continue to be special, too, since Bailey and Dylan Harper are former teammates at Rutgers who will bring the intensity against each other. Team CEO Danny Ainge should stop holding Lauri Markkanen hostage and trade him for youngsters and assets to bolster the Jazz, since he is a gateway player.

There was good reason to be impressed by the Spurs’ 3-point shooting as well. It was only the 10th time in their regular-season history that three Spurs made at least four in the same game, with De’Aaron Fox, Julian Champagnie and Victor Wembanyama combining to hit 15-25. 

This is also a good time to point out that Luke Kornet is as good as a backup big man gets, and the team is vulnerable in his absences when Wembanyama sits. He takes up a lot of space, which helps disrupt shot attempts and grab rebounds. On these nights, Wembanyama has had to be close to perfect, and in this case, he was.

Takeaways

  • It’s incredible how the Jazz and many other teams lose track of Champagnie, especially when he’s wearing the loudest sneakers in the building. Keep in mind that only four players had made more 3-pointers in January heading into the matchup. Nonetheless, it was his seventh time this year making at least five treys in a game. This type of long-range production makes him the perfect “in case of emergency, break glass” type of player. He moves well without the ball and roams the area opposing defenses help off too easily. Consider how 76.5 percent of his 3-point attempts are open to wide-open, per the NBA’s tracking data.
  • Carter Bryant has sky-high potential as one of the top defenders in the NBA.  He’s got a rare combination of hustle and athleticism that will help him guard up. Additionally, it doesn’t matter that he’s only averaging 2.5 points on 8.2 minutes per game. He’s only age 20, and I’m always glued to my seat when he checks in. Rookies, even late lottery picks, deserve a grace period while they figure out offense. He’s starting to look more comfortable on that end, taking what the offense gives him instead of seeking out highlight-real dunks (that don’t always go down).
  • Considering the team’s recent late-game struggles, closing out the Jazz in the fourth quarter with fireworks from and Wembanyama was big time. It was a 180° turn from the fourth quarter they blew in Houston on Tuesday, in which they combined for 18 percent shooting. It’s been a slight speed bump, but it’s important that the team can look to the stars for direction. When they do things like this, it gives them extra credibility in the locker room when they need to call everyone to attention.
  • If we are talking about the spirit of the Sixth Man of the Year award, Keldon Johnson should be the leading man. It’s starting to feel like a surprise when he misses because he’s averaging a 62. 4 effective field goal percentage.  He led the bench in this one with 21 points, 5 assists, a steal and a block.
  • Undoubtedly, one of the hardest things for a team to do is run like greyhounds while maintaining a top-shelf defense. The Spurs guarded well and set a new season high of 32 fastbreak points on Thursday. They are a middle-of-the-pack team in pace (100.67) yet effective when flooring it, partly because of Wembanyama‘s rebounding and outlet passing. 
  • Props to Kevin Love, who moves like an old buffalo in his advanced age but maintains a high level of vigor. It’s always great to have pedigree like that in a locker room, which reminds one of how Chris Paul was a good veteran who had a positive effect on the Spurs last year.

Zach Eflin is eager to prove himself again. What might that look like?

When it comes to the starting rotation, the Orioles’ 40-man roster currently includes these names: Kyle Bradish, Shane Baz, Brandon Young, Tyler Wells, Trevor Rogers, Cade Povich, Dean Kremer, and Zach Eflin.

True to GM Mike Elias’s promises, the Orioles have been beefing up the offense with some new bats, notably the Polar Bear, Pete Alonso himself. They even added a new starter in Baz, acquired from Tampa for a hefty passel of prospects. But if 2026 is to go well, the Orioles need to complement their rebooted offense with a return-to-form from one or more of Povich, Kremer, and Young, plus a successful return-from-injury from Baz, Bradish, Wells, and certainly, Zach Eflin.

You may recall that the Orioles acquired Eflin from the Rays in July 2024. He joined a rotation helmed by Corbin Burnes, but suffering from the loss, due to injury, of Kyle Bradish, John Means and Grayson Rodriguez. Eflin was really good down the stretch, exceeding expectations with a 5-2 record, 2.60 ERA, and 149 ERA+ over nine starts. The Orioles fell flat in the playoffs, but it was hardly his fault.

Eflin’s dominance, paired with the loss of free agent Burnes, made him the clear choice to be Baltimore’s Opening Day starter in 2025. He make that start, but then things quickly went sideways.

Eflin struggled to stay healthy last year (he wasn’t the only one). After just three starts, the righty went down with a right lat strain on April 9. He returned a month later but couldn’t find a groove. By mid-May, this team was in freefall, and a healthy Eflin could have provided a stabilizing presence for the roster. Instead, he hit the IL again on June 30 with lower back discomfort. It’d prove his last start of 2025, as he eventually underwent a lumbar microdiscectomy in August.

All in all, Eflin would do four stints on the IL while pitching to a 5.93 ERA in just fourteen starts.

As a pending free agent, Eflin could have been a trade chip in a season going nowhere. Instead, injuries prevented the Birds from flipping the starter for any value, and he elected free agency at season’s end. Though it wasn’t clear whether a reunion was in the cards, on December 29, the Orioles announced they were bringing him back on a one-year, $10 million deal, with a mutual option for 2027.

In a December Zoom call with the media, Eflin spoke candidly about his back issues. The injury, he explained, dated back roughly a decade, but last year it had progressively worsened, and it was the first time he couldn’t manage it at all. Surgeons discovered a bone spur pressing into a nerve—which explained the shooting pains Eflin had been dealing with. And unlike a Tommy John recovery, which can take fourteen-to-eighteen months, Eflin said he felt immediate relief after the operation, and now says he’s now in the best physical condition of his life. His first bullpen was scheduled for January 6 and his goal is to be ready for Opening Day.

So what to expect from this new-and-improved Zach Eflin?

The pessimist’s version: A guy who’s started more than 25 games only three of ten seasons in his career and who just posted a 5.93 ERA in an injury-shortened season.

The optimist’s version: The guy we saw in 2023 with Tampa Bay, when he went 16-8 with a 3.50 ERA, led the American League in wins, and finished sixth in Cy Young voting. That season, his first in Tampa, Eflin set career highs in starts (31), innings (177.2), and strikeouts (186), while posting career-best marks in ERA and WHIP (1.02). Then he outdid himself the next year!

I think the bet here is reasonable, although a one-year deal certainly suggests caution by the front office. If the back pain really was a substantial part of why Eflin had an ERA near 6 for the 2025 season—his time missed strongly suggests it was—and it was corrected by a reasonably simple surgery, then there’s a plausible story where 2026 looks for him a lot more like 2023.

Plus the Orioles don’t need Eflin to be their ace this time around. Bradish, Rogers, and Baz should occupy the top spots. Guys like Eflin, Wells, and Kremer can fill out the rotation. In that role, the pressure is lower. A healthy Eflin as your No. 4 starter? Teams would kill for that.

This doesn’t mean the Orioles should stop looking for pitching. They shouldn’t. Free agents like Framber Valdez would obviously upgrade the rotation. But a healthy and effective Eflin represents a scenario where the Orioles might not need to make a splashy signing to have a good rotation. If he bounces back, if Bradish returns well from Tommy John, if Baz fulfills his potential—that’s a rotation that can compete in October. The margin for error is thin, but it exists.

Eflin himself seems to understand the stakes. “[I didn’t want] to be the guy they traded for and get hurt and not be the guy that they wanted,” he said. “That really weighed on me.” He wants to prove something. He’s motivated. And for the first time in years, he’s pain-free.

Championship windows don’t stay open indefinitely. “We want to win the World Series,” says Eflin. The Orioles know this; it’s why they signed Alonso, traded for Ward and Baz, brought in Ryan Helsley, and resigned their No. 4 starter. A bounce-back Zach Eflin might be one of the quieter pieces of this puzzle, but he could end up being one of the most important.

MLB News: Hall of Fame, Carlos Beltran, Matt Vierling, Luis Robert Jr, MacKenzie Gore, salary cap

Happy Friday everyone! We’re light on Tigers news, but there are still some big baseball stories to check in on. The Hall of Fame inductees were announced this week, and Carlos Beltran and Andruw Jones will be heading to Cooperstown. We also check in on Matt Vierling, plus a big move for the White Sox, and some major trades involving starting pitchers (but thankfully none of them named Tarik Skubal).

Let’s just get right into today’s news bites.

Detroit Tigers News

AL Central News

MLB News

  • A look at the potential first-timers who could be on next year’s Hall of Fame ballot.
  • This is an interesting fact!

In The Lab: Astros Bullpen Projections

Last time, we took a look at starting pitcher projections for ERA. We will do the same here for relief pitchers. Obviously, there is a ton to get into here and before we dive in we need to talk about some issues that come up with all pitchers. Certainly, hitting and pitching is partially reliant on luck. Over the last decade, there have been exciting advancements in data primarily from a company called Statcast. They essentially can pinpoint exit velocities on batted balls and therefore can better predict trends in performance.

Chuck Palahniuk (the author of “Fight Club”) wrote one of my favorite lines in literature: “on a long enough timeline, the survival rate drops to zero.” Generally speaking the more data we receive the more reliable that data is going to be. We can predict outcomes and the underlying data (like Statcast) will match the manifesting data. In other words, pitchers that miss bats and induce weak contact will perform better than pitchers that don’t.

However, when you condense a 200 inning season into a 50 inning season, there are fewer opportunities for the data to normalize itself. This is why we often see wide variations from one season to the next for relief pitchers. They themselves are likely not radically different. They are getting different results because when sample sizes are smaller, there is more variance with luck.

This has two immediate implications for us today. First, the idea of giving a relief pitcher a multiyear contract is a risky proposition because of this variance. That’s why we don’t see them very often and it is much rarer for teams to get consistent bang for their buck. Secondly, the ERA predictions will seem higher for some players than what is likely to happen. When we go with batted ball statistics we tend to see a narrowing in projections across different pitchers because we cannot predict good or bad luck. For starting pitchers, that usually is not as big an issue. For relievers we will see wider variation in these numbers when the season ends.

The Numbers

SteamerATCThe BatOOPSYB-RefAggregate
Josh Hader3.293.253.393.003.413.27
Bryan Abreu3.243.203.653.073.183.27
Bryan King3.723.633.653.703.483.64
Bennett Sousa3.603.663.963.433.783.69
Steven Okert3.994.014.073.614.023.94
AJ Blubaugh4.354.294.024.363.354.07
Miguel Ullola4.184.153.724.45——-4.13
Jayden Murray4.614.394.224.223.864.26
Enyel de Los Santos4.274.424.824.264.364.43
J.P. France4.384.454.824.914.344.58
Roddery Munoz4.484.764.944.395.124.74

Just like with the starters, we have more relievers than spots. MLB rules dictate that you can only have 13 pitchers on your ML roster. If the Astros go with a six man rotation then that means only spots for seven relievers. Naturally, at least one of those starters would probably double as a long reliever. However, there are eleven names here and all of them have unique situations as it pertains to options and status. For instance, Munoz looks like the worst candidate, but he was a Rule V draft choice, so he would need to remain on the roster or be sent back.

You will also notice that four of the top five relievers are lefties (in bold and italics). That creates some interesting roster construction issues as the Astros will need to prioritize right handed middle relief if they are to make any changes to the staff. Most organizations have only two lefties in their pen, so the Astros appear to be dealing from a position of strength. It is certainly possible for one or more of them to be dealt in a theoretical deal to add to other parts of the roster.

Roster Flexibility

As we noted in the last piece, Nate Pearson was projected as a reliever, but the Astros have labeled him as a candidate for the rotation. Similarly, Miguel Ullola and AJ Blubaugh were starters in the minors, so they could easily serve in that capacity. We also should note that JP France was a prominent start on the 2023 club before arm injuries limited him. He could also return to the rotation in Sugar Land to provide more depth in case of injuries.

As much as we would like to see the very best 26 guys on the final roster, teams often have to make difficult decisions at the end of the rotation and bullpen. As previously mentioned, Munoz has to make the final roster or be sent back. If they feel he is reasonably close in quality to a player with options then those players with options will likely be optioned back to Sugar Land. Teams use err on the side of keeping as many of their guys as they possibly can.

Fans and analysts also often forget the fourth dimension: time. Just because someone starts in AAA doesn’t mean they will end up there. Sometimes players need a little seasoning before coming up or they need to wait for a logjam to clear itself. We saw that with the rotation last season as there were even a couple of rotation arms I left off of the final list. Odds are pretty good that every name above will see some time at the big league level.

Future Considerations

I mentioned the reluctance to sign players to multi-year contracts. That will be put to the test following the season when Bryan Abreu becomes a free agent. Abreu is the only relief pitcher in baseball with 100 or more strikeouts in each of the last three seasons. He has averaged nearly 100 a season for the last four years. Add in a fifth season this year and there will be a ton of pressure to sign him to a Rafael Montero like deal.

However, we should note what happened with Montero. Obviously, Abreu has a longer track record of success than Montero did, but the question remains. How long will he be able to hold up this level of performance? Some team will likely offer him closer money and it is hard to imagine paying two players closer money. So, a large part of the season will be trying to find that guy that can eventually become the 8th inning guy when Abreu walks in free agency.

I hesitate to suggest it because the names above are generally unproven, but the Astros might consider moving him before the deadline. If they do not foresee re-signing him then it makes sense to consider getting something long-term to help your team. However, leaving your team without an effective 8th inning reliever is not conducive to contending, so the Astros will need to either be out of the race or have someone that can immediately take his place.

NBA 2025-26 midseason Coach of the Year: Joe Mazzulla, Boston Celtics

We've reached the midpoint of an NBA season that has been filled with surprises — Detroit and Boston lead the East, San Antonio is second in the West — and also far too many injuries to stars. It's also given us jaw-dropping moments, and not just the ones Victor Wembanyama seems to deliver us on a nightly basis.

The midpoint also means it's time to take stock of the NBA postseason awards. All week long, I will make my picks for some of the NBA's top awards at this point in the season, plus get betting angles from NBC Sports experts. Today: Coach of the Year.

NBA Coach of the Year: Joe Mazzulla (Celtics)

2. J.B. Bickerstaff (Pistons)
3. Jordan Ott (Suns)

Analysis of Coach of the Year race

This is always one of the hardest decisions of the year, in part because there are so many good coaches in the NBA. At different points in the past month, I had each of those top three as the winner. Right now, I am leaning toward Mazzulla.

It was difficult before the season started to find a mention of the Boston Celtics without the words "gap year" attached — Joe Mazzulla was having none of that. He has shown he can do more with less, putting role players in position to thrive and keeping the defense respectable despite not having a great rim protector on the roster. Mazzulla has a ring, but this is his best coaching job.

Detroit's J.B. Bickerstaff is almost in a coin flip with Mazzulla for me, although it's two years of work — don't forget that two years ago this was a historically bad 14-win season. It's more than Cade Cunningham, Bickerstaff has helped Jalen Duren develop and put him in positions to succeed. He has coached the Pistons to the second-best defense in the league by understanding the talent he has and working to maximize it. Jordan Ott didn't just help change the culture in Phoenix, he has changed the defensive scheme to fit this roster and thrive, and he completely changed the shot diet for the Suns. Ott has been brilliant.

Mitch Johnson from the Spurs deserves consideration, as he has the Spurs far ahead of schedule. Do not forget about Mark Daigneault and his ability to keep the Thunder focused when most teams coast. David Adelman in Denver has to be mentioned in this conversation, the Nuggets have been hit hard with injuries and just keeps winning. Erik Spoelstra deserves a lot of credit for what has gone right in Miami this season.

Betting Coach of the Year Race

We reached out to the NBC Sports betting experts for their thoughts on the Rookie of the Year race and how they might bet it.

Jay Croucher, NBC Sports Lead Betting Analyst

A very strong field this year, but JB Bickerstaff deserves favoritism and should win the award if the Pistons hang onto the #1 seed. A team built in his image, Bickerstaff has taken a 14-68 team to a probable 1-seed in just two years.

NHL Trade Rumors: Sabres & Flames D-Man Could Be Good Fit

The Buffalo Sabres will undoubtedly be a team to keep an eye on leading up to the 2026 NHL trade deadline. With the Sabres being one of several teams in the Eastern Conference playoff race and having a real chance of snapping their 14-year playoff drought, there is certainly a chance that they will look to add to their roster ahead of the deadline. 

When looking at the Sabres' current group, one trade need they could look to address is the right side of their defense. Bringing in a steady right-shot defenseman who can move up and down the lineup would be beneficial for the Sabres, and they have an interesting target to consider in Calgary Flames defenseman Zach Whitecloud. 

Whitecloud was recently acquired by the Flames as part of the deal that sent star defenseman Rasmus Andersson to the Vegas Golden Knights. While Whitecloud's time in Calgary is just getting started, he is already being discussed as one of their trade candidates. 

If the Sabres brought in Whitecloud, he would give the right side of their blueline a nice boost. He could slot nicely on their bottom pairing and would also give them another possible option for their penalty kill to consider.

Whitecloud would also be more than a rental for the Sabres if acquired, as he has an affordable $2.75 million cap hit until the completion of the 2027-28 season. With this, he would have the potential to help the Sabres for more than just this season, which adds to his appeal. 

In 49 games this season split between the Golden Knights and Flames, Whitecloud has posted two goals, eight points, 66 blocks, and 70 hits.

Luke Williams returns on MiLB deal

The Atlanta Braves snuck this through the transaction wire earlier this week, but the team has brought back utility player/pitcher Luke Williams on a minor league deal. The moved happened the same day the team announced that Ha-Seong Kim will be lost for most of the first half of the regular seasons. The move to bring back Williams – who the Braves listed as a shortstop on their transaction – was speculated in the linked article.

While the Braves signed Jorge Mateo mid-week as a back-up shortstop option behind now presumed starter Mauricio Dubon, that doesn’t mean that Williams doesn’t have a path to a big-league roster spot at some point during the season.

As it stands now, the Braves do have one open position player spot on the 26-man roster. The addition of right-handed power-hitting reserve of some kind – Justin Turner, Gary Sanchez, maybe even Marcell Ozuna – seems like a more valuable addition to the roster than Williams.

Williams is not a good hitter. Full stop. He had a 0 (zero) wRC+ last year and for his career has a 63 wRC+. But, he is a good and versatile defender who can play in the middle infield and outfield. He is also a good base runner, making him an often-used pinch-runner option during his 221 games with Atlanta going back to 2023.

Here’s the punch-line to the joke that isn’t really a joke. Williams is also a useful pitcher. As a position player, he has pitched in 10 career games – including nine over the past two seasons with Atlanta.

In 2025, he made six appearances, tossing six innings and striking out four while allowing only two earned runs. His career WHIP is 1.18 with an xERA of 4.25 against an actual ERA of 3.27. His FIP and xFIP aren’t as good but this is a position player, not an actual full-time pitcher. Last year, if not for his own injury, he likely would have pitched in at least two more games.

Williams is-what-he-is. A player who can be useful as the 26th an on a roster where his positive attributes can be utilized if the other position players are going to see the majority of the playing time during the season. This has been something he has been able to do the last couple of season with Atlanta.

Is there a chance he is nothing more but break-in-case-of-emergency depth at Triple-A this season? Absolutely, and hopefully so. But don’t be surprised if Williams doesn’t appear with Atlanta at some point this season.

How Rangers revival is 'like our own journey' – Dundee boss Pressley

Dundee head coach Steven Pressley believes there are similarities between the progress Rangers have made under Danny Rohl and that of his own side over the past few months.

The teams meet at Ibrox in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday aiming to continue strong form.

Rohl, having replaced Russell Martin in October, has Rangers on a seven-game winning run while Dundee have four victories in their past five fixtures.

"Rangers' situation on a greater scale is similar to our own," said Pressley.

"Danny went in there, they became a little bit more pragmatic, they addressed some of the outstanding issues like their vulnerability from set-plays and now that is a real strength.

"I think once you start taking small steps and seeing the results from that, a confidence grows within the team and just organically things improve. I think Rangers, it is a bit like our own journey.

"So very similar but a really good Rangers team just now."

Dundee drew 1-1 at Ibrox last August during Martin's calamitous Rangers tenure.

"Any time you go to Ibrox it is a really big challenge for ourselves," added Pressley.

"But to face a Rangers team that are on the back of six [now seven] straight wins, five of those in the league, that are growing in confidence, have a lot of momentum and have just recruited a number of very talented players makes the job in hand very difficult.

"But equally we go there with a little bit of form ourselves so it is a game we are excited about. Like we did the last time we went there, we need everything to go right and if that happens you never know."

While Dundee are deservedly getting plenty of plaudits, Pressley is keeping his feet on the ground.

"There are so many other aspects that we still need to improve around the club and in our own performance," he said.

"That is what excites me, we are making progress but a lot more to come."

The Yankees sign Cody Bellinger, the Mets trade for Freddy Peralta, and the Red Sox are still searching for a trade partner

Wednesday was quite a baseball day in New York. The Yankees signed Cody Bellinger back to their squad for $162 million, and the Mets acquired Freddy Peralta from the Brewers in exchange for prospects Jett Williams and Brandon Sproat.

This has ramifications for the Red Sox on a few fronts: First, the deal for Bellinger again verifies the price for free agent outfielders remains astronomically high. Second, the Yankees retained another piece of their 2025 outfield that hit a combined 112 home runs (it’s a good thing the Sox have a bunch of high ceiling lefty pitchers if they need to go in there next fall). And lastly, the Mets are becoming a less ideal trade candidate as they continue to clear out interesting young players and also traded for Luis Robert earlier in the week.

So where do the Red Sox go from here?

Couple the Bellinger money with the $240 million Kyle Tucker got from the Dodgers last week, and in theory, the Red Sox should be sitting pretty with their surplus of outfielders. But my guess is, and this is purely a guess, Craig Breslow and the front office are not finding a certain left handed starting major league outfielder valued as high on the trade market as he probably would be if he was a free agent. Thus, the hold up.

If this is the case, it puts them in a difficult spot. They can either trade for 80 cents on the dollar and get a badly needed infield piece that works for this roster right now, or they can hold out until their demands are met. Unfortunately, the problem with holding out is you might be left without a dancing partner, and looking at the landscape after this Mets’ deals this week, the herd is thinning.

We’re much closer to the start of spring training than we are to the end of the 2025 season, and the enormous log jam across the outfield and DH positions still hasn’t been addressed. The Red Sox roster remains stacked with Roman Anthony, Wilyer Abreu, Ceddanne Rafaela and Jarren Duran as headliners in the outfield. Then there’s Kristian Campbell, who may need to ultimately end up out there. And the club still hasn’t sorted out how Masataka Yoshida and Triston Casas, who seem destined to battle for their share of DH at bats, fit into the equation.

Conventional wisdom says a trade partner must be found soon to clear out this mess and address the infield hole, but conventional wisdom has been screaming into the void on this topic for months without a response. Making matters murkier is the unfortunate darkness surrounding any details when it comes trade rumors in modern MLB. We typically have no clue how these things progress until Jeff Passan drops a tweet with the final product. As a result, we don’t know the structure of any proposed deals, making it hard to evaluate whether Craig Breslow and company are valuing players too high, or if the rest of the league is refusing to play ball at a fair price.

For now, we remain stuck waiting in winter’s cold darkness.

Celtics vs. Nets Film Preview

You got a date Friday night? It’s okay if you don’t. The Boston Celtics have a date with the Brooklyn Nets, and you can watch. I’m here to prepare you for this game with a handful of plays, matchups, and tactics that could decide the winner. Let’s get into it.

Over the Hedge

Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez loves to play on the front foot. Despite the youth of his roster and the transient nature of many of the role players, he’s going to get aggressive in order to pressure his opponents. That involves a lot of hedging in pick-and-rolls when his team is facing pull-up shooters.

That’s a tactic in which the roll man defender rises above the screen to disrupt the ballhandler’s momentum, then retreats to cover his own man. Typically, this involves someone stunting the roller or providing early help if a pass comes over the top. It takes away easy pull-up threes (something the Celtics thrive on), but it exposes them to easier roll reads. Here’s the gamble Fernandez took in their last game: the Nets will live with whatever happens on the roll instead of letting the trigger-happy Celtics guards get easy three-point looks. Neemias Queta took that strategy and put it in the dirt.

In very typical Fernandez fashion, this scheme ratchets up the pressure on both teams. Queta has to roll into the right spot and receive a good pass from his guard. The Nets have to rotate properly to stop the roll, then cover the immediate passing options. Queta has to decide where to pass, and his teammates need to cut/relocate into space to help with his read. It’s a fragile chain of events for both sides and whoever executes on that chain of events will be at a big advantage.

Pressure Flare

Flare screens are a pet action for the Celtics. When you have a plethora of shooters and good screeners, it’s an easy way to generate threes and drives. Facing a Nets team that plays four rookies in the rotation, even your simplest actions can cause communication problems. Flare-based actions created all kinds of problems for Brooklyn in the last matchup.

Brooklyn is 29th in defensive rim attempt frequency and 21st in defensive rim FG% according to Cleaning the Glass. It doesn’t take much to break the paint against this team; Joe Mazzulla can lean on easy actions to drum up drives. Look for plenty of flare screens on Friday night.

Lockdown Neem

The Nets have a problem with rim pressure on defense, but not as much on offense. Seven of their rotation players have rim rates at 50% or better this season. Perimeter prevention is important, but some of these Nets are going to get to the rim sooner than later. This is another pressure point for Neemias Queta, who needs to be his best rim-protecting self on Friday. Luckily for the Celtics, he was that guy in their November matchups.

Timely rotations and big blocks can hamstring a Nets offense that has been on life support recently. If Neem gets active early and deters them from venturing into his paint, that’ll go a long way towards the win.

I hope you feel a bit more prepared for this game. Now kick back and bask in some Celtics excellence.

Shohei Ohtani named MLB’s best player entering 2026

For the second consecutive year and for the fourth time since 2022, Shohei Ohtani was named as the best player in baseball by MLB Network entering the 2026 season. Ohtani beat out Aaron Judge for a second consecutive year, with Bobby Witt Jr. once again placing third behind the pair of two-time reigning MVPs.

Ohtani has had arguably the best start to his Dodgers tenure over his first two seasons, as he won the NL MVP in both 2024 and 2025 while helping the Dodgers become the first repeat champions in 25 years. He became the first Dodger to hit 50 home runs in a season in 2024 (finishing with 54) and outdid himself this past season with a new franchise single-season home run record of 55. Not to mention the fact that he became the founding member of the 50-50 club, a feat that no other player has come close to achieving thus far.

Ohtani was named the best player in baseball following the 2021 and 2022 season, but finished as runner-up to Ronald Acuña Jr. following the 2023 season after the latter posted the first 40-70 season in baseball history. Three other Dodgers finished in the top-20 of MLB Network’s list, with Will Smith ranked at no. 20, Mookie Betts at no. 18 and Yoshinobu Yamamoto at no. 13. Both Freddie Freeman and Kyle Tucker placed just outside the top-20, coming in at no. 22 and 21 respectively.

Links

Dylan Hernandez and Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times (soon to be with the California Post) appeared on The Show with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman to discuss the Dodgers offseason. During the episode, the four discussed the enigmatic Ohtani and how it’s been a challenge to understand what he is like as a person and off the field.

Per Hernandez: “In all this time that I’ve known [Ohtani], I’ve never had a human-to-human conversation with him— it’s always been athlete-to-reporter. That’s very rare… He’s a complete mystery. I’ve never seen anybody quite like this.”

Jayson Stark of The Athletic provides a sneak peak into the 2027 Hall of Fame class, with notable names such as Buster Posey and Jon Lester entering their first year of eligibility. Chase Utley, who finished with 59.1 percent of votes on the 2026 ballot, still has a long ways to go, but Stark argues that Utley’s career hit total could give him a compelling case considering Posey, a three-time champion and the 2012 NL MVP, retired with 1500 hits to his name.

It’s a big leap from 59.1 percent to 75 percent, so 2027 might be a longshot for election. But if Posey is about to get elected with only 1,500 hits, Utley’s 1,855 won’t feel like much of an obstacle anymore.

Maple Leafs Fall Further From Playoff Spot After Bruins And Sabres Score Victories

While the Toronto Maple Leafs will be looking to exact revenge on Mitch Marner and the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday, Toronto got no favors from their incoming opponents, who fell to the Boston Bruins 4-3 on Thursday.

The Bruins picked up two points in the standings to increase their lead on the Leafs for the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference by three. It should be noted that the Leafs (57 points in 50 games) have a game in hand on the Bruins (60 points in 51 games).

Eastern Conference Wild Card standings per NHL.com
Eastern Conference Wild Card standings per NHL.com

Meanwhile, the Buffalo Sabres, who hold the first wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, picked up a 4-2 win on the road against the Montreal Canadiens. The Sabres have 61 points in 50 games. The only thing that could have been worse for Toronto is if the game had gone to overtime and the Canadiens squeaked out a point. However, that was not the case here.

The defending Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers picked up a 2-1 shootout victory over the Winnipeg Jets. They moved to just two points back of the Leafs in the Eastern Conference standings with 55 points in 49 games while also having a game in hand on Toronto. As far as tiebreakers go, if Florida gets level with Toronto, the Panthers have five more regulation wins in Toronto and that serves as the first tiebreaker.

The good news for Toronto is that the Ottawa Senators fell 5-3 to the Nashville Predators. Ottawa remains four points back of the Leafs.

Friday Rockpile: How do the 2026 Rockies fare against the 2016 Rockies?

In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a trend making its way around social media where folks are posting pictures of themselves from 2016 to compare where they are in 2026. I’m not usually one to hop onto trends, but considering the state of the Colorado Rockies and how much has happened in 10 years (both to the Rockies and in the world), I thought it might be worth revisiting.

2016

In 2016, the Rockies finished 75-87, solidly third in the NL West ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres. It also marked a seven-game improvement from 2015, where they finished 68-94 and fourth in the NL West.

Walt Weiss was entering his fourth year as manager. Jeff Bridich was entering his second year as general manager. Zach Wilson served as the farm director, and Bill Schmidt as the scouting director.

Ahead of the season, they made a number of moves that proved important later down the line. Here are some of the highlights:

  • Tommy Kahnle was traded to the Chicago White Sox for Yency Almonte
  • Mark Reynolds and Gerardo Parra signed as free agents
  • Corey Dickerson was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays for Jake McGee and Germán Márquez
  • Tony Wolters was selected off waivers from the Cleveland Indians

Trevor Story was named the Abby Greer Award winner after batting .378 with 17 runs, four doubles, one triple, six home runs and 13 RBI in 17 spring training games. He had his official coming out party on Opening Day against the Arizona Diamondbacks, when he famously hit two home runs in back-to-back at-bats against the recently-signed Zack Greinke. (I was at that game — my first-ever Opening Day — and the Dbacks fans got real quiet after the third inning.)

Story would go on to hit home runs in each of his first four MLB games, setting an MLB rookie record. He also tied the MLB rookie record for home runs in the month of April (10) and was named the National League’s Rookie of the Month for April that year. He nearly made the All-Star Game, but unfortunately suffered a season-ending thumb injury in August. Story finished fourth in Rookie of the Year voting. Nolan Arenado and Carlos González ended up representing the Rockies in the Midsummer Classic.

Story wasn’t the only Rockie to make his MLB debut in 2016, but was one of 12:

  • Tony Wolters (April 5)
  • Carlos Estévez (April 23)
  • Tyler Andeson (June 12)
  • David Dahl (July 25)
  • Matt Carasiti (Aug. 12)
  • Jeff Hoffman (Aug. 20)
  • Stephen Cardullo (Aug. 26)
  • Raimel Tapia (Sept. 2)
  • Pat Valaika (Sept. 6)
  • Jordan Patterson (Sept. 8)
  • Germán Márquez (Sept. 8)

Of those, only Carlos Estévez and Jeff Hoffman are currently on MLB rosters. Wolters, Dahl, Carasiti, Cardullo, Valaika and Patterson have all retired; Anderson and Márquez are free agents; and Tapia plays in the Mexican League.

Another highlight of the 2016 season was the emergence of Jon Gray. Gray made his debut in August 2015, but tossed arguably one of the best performances by a Rockies pitcher at Coors Field on September 17 when he tossed a complete-game, 16-strike performance against the Padres. He finished as a finalist for MLB’s Best Performance Award, but ultimately lost to Max Scherzer’s 20-strikeout performance.

Overall, the Rockies had a very middling 2016 season.

They finished around .500 in nearly every month of the season, but collapsed in August and September. They went 23-34 in the final 2+ months, and were 40-48 in the first half. Their best record came in July when they went 15-12, but their highest-scoring month came in August when they scored 173 runs.

At the end of the season, the Rockies parted ways with Walt Weiss and hired Bud Black in November.

2026

Entering 2026, the Rockies have a lot of work to do.

They are coming off a 43-119 season that set a lot of really bad records across Major League Baseball. In the middle of it, they fired Bud Black and named Warren Schaeffer as interim manager (and he has since been named permanent successor). Bill Schmidt also resigned, and many front office executives have departed. Paul DePodesta was named President of Baseball Operations, and Josh Byrnes was named general manager. They have hired an entirely new coaching staff, and only five faces remain from 2025: Schaeffer, Ron Gideon (in a new role as assistant bench coach), Jordan Pacheco, Andy González and Kyle Cunningham.

As far as transactions go, the Rockies have made a flurry of roster moves since DePodesta et al have come aboard. I wrote about most of them on December 8, but they have made more since then. Notably, they claimed Keegan Thompson off waivers from the Cincinnati Reds, traded for Jake McCarthy, signed free agent Michael Lorenzen, DFA’d and traded Bradley Blalock, and signed free agent Willi Castro.

Closing Thoughts

A lot has happened since 2016. Of the current roster, there are zero players who were on the active roster in 2016. Kyle Freeland and Antonio Senzatela are the longest-tenured Rockies, and they both debuted in 2017.

Since 2016, Rockies fans have been treated to highlights like the back-to-back playoff appearances and lowlights like three-straight 100-plus loss seasons. The All-Star Game also came to Colorado in 2021 after the 2020 season was drastically reduced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There was also a brief lockout from December 1, 2021 until March 10, 2022 which caused a shortened spring training and a postponed Opening Day.

Entering 2026, the Rockies will not be competitive and will likely lose 100+ games for the fourth-straight year.

However, they appear to have a direction for the first time in a long time.


Rockies’ Ownership Acknowledge Past Mistakes in Building New Front Office | Sports Illustrated

The Rockies have always been notoriously insular, but finally changed course this offseason in the wake of an embarrassing 2025 campaign. Dick and Walker Monfort recently spoke with Sports Business Journal about their new charge, and Ben Fisher breaks down what they said.

Rockies Reliever Antonio Senzatela to Pitch for Team Venezuela in WBC | Sports Illustrated

The World Baseball Classic is coming around in 2026, and players are starting to declare their intents to play. Antonio Senzatela has committed to Team Venezuela, as has Germán Márquez. In 2023, the Rockies had five players participate: Justin Lawrence (Panama), Daniel Bard (USA), Kyle Freeland (USA), Alan Trejo (Mexico), Elias Díaz (Colombia), and Michael Petersen (Great Britain).


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