After a crushing victory on Friday night, the Braves now have two chances to open the “second half” with a series win against the respectable Rangers.
Facing the Rangers’ lefty, MacKenzie Gore, Eli White gets the start in right field, batting sixth and just ahead of Austin Riley. Joey Bart gets the start at catcher, as Drake Baldwin and his reverse splits bats leadoff, DHing. Jim Jarvis continues to start at shortstop, even against a lefty starter, and bats ninth.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The start of Saturday’s game between the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets has been pushed up one hour to 3:05 p.m. because of rain in the forecast.
Mets left-hander Sean Manaea (2-4, 4.56 ERA) is scheduled to face Philadelphia All-Star lefty Jesús Luzardo (8-4, 3.51) in the second game of the three-game series. The Mets took the opener 4-1 on Thursday.
TORONTO, CANADA - SEPTEMBER 10: Brendon Little #54 of the Toronto Blue Jays delivers a pitch in the seventh inning during a game against the New York Mets at Rogers Centre on September 10, 2024 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Brandon Sloter/Image Of Sport/Getty Images) | Getty Images
We made it to another weekend. There are only ten of these weekends left this season
Yesterday’s game was the latest in a series of terrible games this year. I’m wondering if they can continue to go with Spencer Miles one of five starts. But then, I don’t know who the next choice is.
And it doesn’t look like we are going to get any help coming off the IL.
Anthony Santander isn’t going to back anytime soon, he’s just had a cortisone shot because he ‘felt something’ in his shoulder and is shut down for 7 days. I’d bet he won’t be playing this year.
Addison Barger still has elbow inflammation, he won’t be back until August at very best.
Max Scherzer is back at the ‘playing catch’ phase.
Yimi Garcia and Jesus Sanchez are closer to returning.
And Jake Bloss is injured, with a shoulder injury. They don’t know how bad it is yet, but he won’t be pitching for a while.
The team is making changes to the back end of the bullpen again:
Adam Macko and CJ Van Eyk have been send down to Buffalo. Lázaro Estrada and Brendon Little are back. We haven’t seen Little in a while. He is still walking too many. In July he’s pitched 4.2 innings with 4 walks (one intentional) and 6 in 5.2 innings in June.
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI - JULY 17: Michael King of the San Diego Padres after giving up a walk against the Kansas City Royals during the third inning at Kauffman Stadium on July 17, 2026 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Reed Hoffmann/Getty Images) | Getty Images
It was the San Diego Padres’ game to lose. The Friars took the lead in extra innings before Kyle Hart gave up fours runs (three earned) to the Kansas City Royals in the bottom of the 10th. It’s just the second time this season that the Padres have been walked off.
In reality, it never should have gone that far. Several pitching decisions by manager Craig Stammen fell short of success, actively losing the game for San Diego. With Adrian Morejon ahead of Salvador Perez in the eighth, Stammen issued an intentional walk that turned into the go-ahead run. That was erased by a Ty France homer in the ninth, but that should have been the go-ahead run for the Friars, not a game-tying one.
After Mason Miller pitched a thrilling ninth inning, it was surprising to not see him in the 10th. Sure, he’d worked to get out of the previous frame, but he was at just 16 pitches. It was even more surprising that Hart wasn’t taken out with the game-winning run aboard. Instead, Stammen’s poor decision-making ended in heartbreak for San Diego. Now, they’ll need to win tonight to force the rubber match.
Taking the mound
Randy Dobnak (KC) v. Griffin Canning (SD)
Former Padre Stephen Kolek will be missing his scheduled start after returning from the family medical leave list just before the All-Star break. Kolek showed signs of rust and the Royals sent him to Triple-A to make a minor league rehab start.
In his place, Dobnak will pitch his third game for Kansas City since being traded from the Seattle Mariners a month ago. He’s been used primarily as a bulk reliever and has been successful (1.86 ERA, 9.2 IP). Whether or not that success can continue when the sample size increases remains to be seen.
Canning has bounced back considerably in his last few starts. Despite a ballooned 6.47 ERA this season, the right hander has given up two runs or less in each of his last three starts. That’s good for a 3.46 ERA across Canning’s last 13 innings pitched. It’s a small sample size, but it has been inspiring.
The San Diego right-hander doesn’t have much experience against the Kansas City lineup. Salvador Perez has the most at-bats (11) with a career .273 batting average and .878 OPS. If Canning can make it through five quality innings, it’ll be the first time he’s done so since June 12.
Batter up!
The lineup looked pretty healthy Friday night. The offense put up six runs on eight hits including three from Fernando Tatis Jr. and a Ty France homer. Miguel Andujar had his second game in as many weeks where he slugged three doubles. It was a solid outing for the Friars, one that they’ll need to continue if they hope to contend.
Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
Jackson Merrill, CF
Xander Bogaerts, SS
Manny Machado, 3B
Gavin Sheets, LF
Ty France, 1B
Miguel Andujar, DH
Jake Cronenworth, 2B
Freddy Fermin, C
Luis Campusano winced after swinging at a pitch last night. Fermin will likely take his place to give Campusano a rest day. The series opening loss was more due to some costly defensive errors from the San Diego infield. Those miscues halted the Friars’ momentum, leading to the unfortunate events of the 1oth inning. They’ll need to be better.
Relief corps
For the most part, the relievers nailed it down. Bradgley Rodriguez and Morejon each gave up a run over three innings after Michael King went just five innings. It’s impossible to overstate just how incredible Miller’s performance was. After loading the bases with no outs, Miller struck out the next three Royals batters to push the Padres into extra innings.
Hart imploded from there, but that shouldn’t take away from Miller’s incredible appearance. It was an unfortunate ending to an otherwise stellar performance for the Friars. If they can rebound with a win tonight, it will make all the difference for San Diego. The club will have Jhony Brito, Ron Marinaccio, Yuki Matsui, Miller and Matt Waldron available in today’s contest.
SITE NOTE: Today is the annual postgame bleacher BBQ, thus today’s recap will be delayed an hour or so past the usual time.
Saturday notes…
SATURDAY IN THE PARK: The Cubs are 8-7 on Saturday this season. They finished 20-7 a year ago, including 9-5 at home, where they are 4-4 this year. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
LET THERE BE DAYLIGHT: The Cubs are 21-10 in day games so far, significantly better than their 43-32 final showing last season. They are 15-10 in sunshine at home this year. They wound up 29-20 a year ago. They also are enjoying more success in day games after night games (12-8 to 19-19 last season) and in day games at home after night games (7-3 to 7-8). (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
LACK OF LONG BALLS: The Cubs did not hit a home run last night and served up a decisive three-run blast. They are 14-25 when they have surrendered more homers than they have hit, 20-12 when they have hit the same number and 20-6 when they have hit more than they have allowed. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
TODAY IN CUBS HISTORY: After a rain delay of two hours and 30 minutes, Javier Báez and Willson Contreras homered in a four-run Cubs third inning. That led the Cubs to a 5-1 win over the Braves in Atlanta. It happened nine years ago today, Tuesday, July 18, 2017.
Matthew Boyd, four starts since returning from the knee injury: 2.86 ERA, 1.273 WHIP in 22 innings. Looks like he’s back on track to me.
Boyd did not face the Twins last year and so only four of the current Twins have ever seen him, only one for more than a handful of at-bats: Josh Bell, 4-for-14, three walks.
Taj Bradley came to the Twins in a deadline deal last year that sent Griffin Jax to the Rays.
Bradley’s had a pretty good year in Minnesota in 2026. Over his last five starts: 2.32 ERA, 0.935 WHIP, 38 strikeouts in 31 innings.
He has two career starts vs. the Cubs and in those two games combined for 12.2 innings in which he allowed three unearned runs (0.00 ERA) and struck out 19. Alex Bregman, though, is 2-for-6 against him, both the hits home runs. So maybe Bregman can stay hot against him.
Please visit our SB Nation Twins site Twinkie Town. If you do go there to interact with Twins fans, please be respectful, abide by their individual site rules and serve as a good representation of Cub fans in general and BCB in particular.
The 2026 game discussion procedure has been changed, so please take note.
You’ll find the game preview, like this one, posted separately on the front page two hours before game time (90 minutes for some early day games following night games).
At the same time, a StoryStream containing the preview will also post on the front page, titled “Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of week/date) game threads.” It will contain every post related to that particular game.
The Live! (formerly “First Pitch”) thread will still post at five minutes to game time. It will also post to the front page. That will be the only live game discussion thread. After the game, the recap and Heroes and Goats will also live on the front page as separate posts.
You will also be able to find the preview, Live! thread, recap and Heroes and Goats in this section link. The StoryStream for each game can also be found in that section.
SALT LAKE CITY, UT - MARCH 21: Quentin Grimes #5 of the Philadelphia 76ers dribbles the ball during the game against the Utah Jazz on March 21, 2026 at Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2026 NBAE (Photo by Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
The NBA is a community. Even when players are on different teams, the degree of separation between them and other organizations is small.
Quentin Grimes is a perfect example. On the surface, he is the newest Laker and a five-year player who has spent most of his time in New York and Philadelphia.
However, for a brief moment, he was a teammate of Luka Dončić on the Mavericks. And when you factor that he’s worked out multiple times with Lakers head coach JJ Redick, even staying at his guest house during one of those sessions, it’s obvious he is entering into this new situation with some familiarity.
“I think everybody wants to be wanted as a player and I feel like there was a lot of mutual interest between me and the Lakers for a while now. “Nobody expected Luka [Dončić] to be with the Lakers and we had a good little run with Dallas. I knew JJ [Redick], I knew Jarred Vanderbilt, I knew Kurt Rambis and Greg St. Jean and everybody so it was kind of like a no-brainer and a great fit honestly.”
Grimes has the respect from his new team, which should make chemistry a breeze. Redick wouldn’t have worked with Grimes before if he didn’t like his game and work ethic.
Still, it’s almost a certainty that other teams had interest in Grimes as well. So it’s going to take more than that for a player to join a franchise. Besides his four-year, $60 million deal, Grimes selected the Lakers because the role he was pitched enticed him.
He elaborated on this during the next portion of his interview.
“That was really one of the bigger selling points. Talking with JJ and then having them be able to pitch me what my role [will] look like, having a pretty big offensive role within the team. But also having a big leadership role on defense as well as taking on that challenge every night of guarding the best players and wanting that responsibility. I want to have that challenge every night. So, that was really the two main things when I was choosing [a team] in free agency.”
Grimes averaged 13.4 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game last season. With six of LA’s top 10 scorers from last year gone, there is a need for additional scoring and Grimes could be the answer.
What’s also interesting from this quote is Grimes viewing himself as a defensive leader. He’s assuming that he’ll defend some of the best players on most teams. Grimes being a top two-way player for the Lakers is a big ask, but he’s looking forward to answering the call.
Knowing Grimes has a connection with LA’s superstar, their head coach, other players on the team and the front office people, he knows what he’s getting into.
Grimes understands the pressure and is up for the challenge. The interest has been mutual and this fall we’ll hopefully see why both sides wanted this partnership to happen.
It seemed like the perfect homecoming for the Detroit Red Wings in April 2019, when it was announced that beloved legendary captain Steve Yzerman was returning to the franchise he helped bring back from the dead in the early 1980s.
Considering what Yzerman was able to accomplish as general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning, which included uncovering several gems in the NHL Draft that turned into elite talents, the understandable thought was that it was only a matter of time before he did so in Detroit.
Upon his arrival back in Detroit, he undertook a massive rebuilding process after the prospect cupboards were left essentially barren by former GM Ken Holland, who also left behind several bloated contracts of underperforming players.
And while Yzerman did select a handful of top-tier talents in his first two Drafts as Red Wings GM in Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond, the club never fully put things together.
Yzerman officially stepped down from his role on Wednesday morning following what was the seventh straight year of missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the third straight that his club was in prime striking position in March, only to stumble and tumble out of the race.
The club is also in the midst of a standoff with captain Dylan Larkin, who requested to be traded not long after the season; his request was made public in early June.
Needless to say, this is not how even the most skeptical of fans and analysts would have guessed Yzerman’s tenure as GM would have ended.
There were several questionable decisions Yzerman made along the way, not the least of which was attaching a second round draft pick to Jake Walman and shipping him out of town for nothing in return.
While it’s true that the Red Wings suffered abysmal luck in the NHL Draft Lottery, Yzerman was also hesitant to pull the trigger on bold trades aside from Michigan native Alex DeBrincat, who only wanted to come to his hometown team.
Fans were also growing frustrated with the lack of any kind of timeline as to when they could expect a return to the postseason.
Little Caesars Arena, which opened in the fall of 2017, has yet to host a single postseason hockey game.
Yzerman and the Red Wings seemed perfect for one another. Unfortunately, his tenure as GM wasn’t anything like how events unfolded in Tampa Bay.
While the Red Wings are in a considerably better position now than when he took over, they’re still faced with several roster holes and questions about when they can realistically compete for the Stanley Cup again.
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TORONTO, ON - APRIL 29: NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, with Colorado Avalanche's Rick Pracey, Director of Amateur Scouting, with the "golden ticket" which gives the Avalanche the 1st overall pick in the NHL Draft, at the TSN studios in Scarborough. (Rick Madonik/Toronto Star via Getty Images) | Toronto Star via Getty Images
The past thirty years of Avalanche hockey have featured incredible highs, and some very, very dismal lows.
As an avid fan of The Simpsons, I’ve witnessed plenty of “best of times” moments, but also been subjected to a smattering of unpleasant “blursts” of times. In this latest edition of an ongoing off-season series, I take a look back through the past thirty years, highlighting one moment that stands among the best, and comparatively, the worst (or blurst, if you will) each season.
Here are the best and blurst moments from another five years of Colorado Avalanche history.
2015-2016
The Best: NHL Stadium Series Weekend (February 26-27, 2016)
Ever since the initial announcement was made over a year ago, both Avs and Red Wings fans were chomping at the bit for this weekend to finally arrive.
Since the inception of both the NHL Winter Classic and Stadium Series, the present-era Red Wings had participated twice in outdoor contests, having played the Chicago Blackhawks and the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2009 and 2014 Winter Classic, respectively.
The Avs, on the other hand, would be first-time hosts and first-time participants in an outdoor contest.
Although the real game would be played on February 27, the alumni game between both clubs the day before drew significant interest. Both franchises assembled a who’s who of Hall of Fame talent, eager to lace up the skates in one final curtain call for the greatest hockey rivalry in the modern era.
Although the animosity had considerably cooled down over the years, the competitive nature on both sides was still as strong as ever.
As he had done in the first-ever Avs game in 1995, Valeri Kamensky opened the scoring for the Avs in the first period. Both alumni captains would also score in the period, with Detroit’s Steve Yzerman tying the game, then Joe Sakic putting the Avs alumni ahead 2-1.
Milan Hejduk scored the only goal of the second period to increase the lead for the Avs alumni. Craig Billington relieved Patrick Roy in goal for the third period. Raymond Bourque scored to make it a 4-1 lead, which Billington preserved after stopping a penalty shot attempt for Detroit’s Tomas Holmström. Brendan Shanahan would score the second goal for the Detroit alumni, cutting the Avs’ alumni lead in half, but Stéphane Yelle would put the game out of reach, securing a 5-2 victory for the Avs greats of yesteryear.
Both teams would shake hands after the game, then pose together at center ice, a sight that was unfathomable nearly twenty years earlier.
The next night, the modern-era Avs weren’t so fortunate. Despite having a 2-1 lead in the first period off goals from Nathan MacKinnon and Tyson Barrie, Detroit scored two goals in the third period to take the lead. Alex Tanguay tied the game moments later, but Detroit would score another pair of goals (including one on an empty net) to defeat the Avs by a 5-3 score.
Both teams came together for another handshake line at the end of the contest. The Cold War between the Avs and the Red Wings was now over, but the ending lived up to all the hype.
The best moment of the season, and certainly a memorable one, no matter what side you were on.
The Blurst: Patrick Roy Rips Matt Duchene’s 30th Goal Celebration (April 03, 2016)
The Avs were chasing down the final wild card spot in the Western Conference as the calendar flipped to April. They trailed the Minnesota Wild by five points in the standings, and failed to gain ground with losses in four of their previous five games. Coming into a key matchup against division rival St. Louis (who defeated the Avs at Scottrade Center three nights earlier), they needed a strong start to turn their luck around.
That turn of luck didn’t pan out exactly as the Avs hoped.
Gabe Landeskog put the Avs on the penalty kill early in the first period, and David Backes made them pay for it. Goals by Magnus Pääjärvi and Colton Parayko followed later in the period, and the Avs trailed by a 3-0 margin after the first twenty minutes. Both teams made goalie switches in the second period: Calvin Pickard replaced Semyon Varlamov, and Anders Nilsson came into relieve an injured Jake Allen.
The switch in goal didn’t improve the Avs’ fortunes on offense, as Alex Pietrangelo scored the only goal in the second period, and the Avs failed to register any offense through forty minutes.
With under five minutes to play in the third period, Avs forward Mikhael Grigorenko passed the puck to Mikkel Bødker in the slot. He fired the puck towards Nilsson, and Matt Duchene got just enough of his blade to graze the puck before it eluded the Blues goaltender to give the Avs their first goal of the game.
The goal was Duchene’s 30th of the season, the first time he had hit the milestone. He pumped his arms excitedly in the air, and Bødker retrieved the puck amid the cheers from the Pepsi Center crowd.
Less than 90 seconds later, and with Pickard on the bench, St. Louis forward Troy Brouwer scored into an empty net. The Avs lost by a score of 5-1, their third loss in a row and second to St. Louis in their past three games.
Head coach Patrick Roy used his postgame comments to air his frustration, taking issue with Duchene’s celebration. “It’s a four-nothing goal. Big cheer. Are you kidding me? What is that? I mean, it’s not the reflect we want from our guys, not at all. We need to change the mindset; I think we have a losing mindset right now. I think we have to find ways to believe more in ourselves, and sometimes things aren’t going to go our way.”
Duchene offered his own perspective on the game, which focused more on the lost opportunity to inch towards a playoff berth instead of his own personal achievement. “Maybe it’s something [when] I look back at the season after, you know, enjoy it on a personal level, but, I mean, you play and you try to score goals, and make the playoffs, and if you’re not in the playoffs, you know, it doesn’t really mean as much as you want it to mean. No one remembers that, and no one cares.
“Everyone just cares who’s in the playoffs and that’s all we care about,” Duchene continued, “and that’s all I care about. Obviously, it’s a nice milestone, but I’m not thinking about it at all right now. I’m just very disappointed in this loss tonight.”
“We talked, we had a good chat yesterday,” Duchene said. “I totally understand where he’s coming from, what he’s trying to do. I’m on board with it; I think we all are. It was one of those things where right away, I certainly knew it wasn’t the right thing, the right reaction. I kind of buried my head after that, even going back to the bench. I understood it wasn’t the right thing. We had a good talk, and it’s all good.”
“I think Matt Duchene is a great person, ” said Roy, “and I think when you’re willing to learn, like I was when I was young, I think that goes a long way. That does not mean becoming a leader comes overnight. Experience makes you a better leader. I made many mistakes. I got slapped in the fingers by vets in my first years.”
The Avs lost their final three games of the regular season, missing the playoffs for the second year in a row.
Four months later, Roy would one-up his outburst (outblurst?) by giving the Avs the finger on his way out the door.
For all we know, it was one of the fingers that got slapped by the vets in his first years of playing.
2016-2017
The Best: Jared Bednar Hired as Head Coach (August 25, 2016)
Believe it or not, Avs fans, something good did happen this year!
When Patrick Roy tendered a very abrupt resignation on August 11, he threw the entire front office—not to mention Avs fans—for a loop.
“I have thought long and hard over the course of the summer about how I might improve this team to give it the depth it needs and bring it to a higher level,” Roy said in a release that day. “To achieve this, the vision of the coach and VP-hockey operations needs to be perfectly aligned with that of the organization. He must also have a say in the decisions that impact the team’s performance. These conditions are not currently met.”
With less than a month to go in the off-season, and training camp on the horizon, Avs general manager Joe Sakic had his work cut out for him. Many of the top coaching candidates were already off the market, but that didn’t faze Sakic. Two weeks later, he had his man: Lake Erie Monsters head coach Jared Bednar. Bednar, then a spry 44 years young, had already compiled a promising coaching resume in the minors.
Through parts of fourteen seasons, Bednar was a head coach for eight of those years, and spent six as an assistant. He amassed a 251-148-42 record, culminating in a sweep of the Hershey Bears (the AHL affiliate of the Avs until 2005) that June, securing the first Calder Cup trophy in Lake Erie’s history. He had also won the ECHL’s Kelly Cup with the South Carolina Stingrays in 2009, where he also spent several seasons as a player prior to beginning his coaching career.
“I was certainly happy to be considered and I’m ecstatic to have been named head coach and I’m looking forward to getting to work,” said Bednar. “When I started coaching, my ultimate goal was obviously to get to the NHL and to coach at the highest level and getting an opportunity to compete for a Stanley Cup. That was my goal going into it and I worked real hard trying to achieve those goals, and this is another step in that direction.”
Nearly ten years later, Bednar is the franchise leader in regular season games coached (700), wins (390), losses (246), points (864), playoff games coached (81), playoff wins (49-tied with Bob Hartley), and playoff losses (32). With the Avs’ 2-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on June 26, 2022, Bednar became the first (and only) coach to win a Stanley Cup, Calder Cup, and Kelly Cup championship.
It may have taken him six years, but he achieved his goal, and was truly the highlight of what was to come that season, because what lay before him and every Avs fans can be summarized in one word: pain.
The Blurst: EVERYTHING (October 15, 2016 – April 09, 2017)
Jared Bednar’s first step towards competing for the Stanley Cup, in hindsight, may as well have been off a cliff.
After winning a roller-coaster of a season opener against the Dallas Stars by a score of 6-5, which featured an ultra-rare hat trick from free agent signee Joe Colborne (remember him?), the Avs would assemble a 4-3 record in their first seven games.
It was the last time they would be above .500 during the season. They wouldn’t be above the .500 mark again until October 5, 2017, when the Avs would defeat the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
(For those of you keeping score, that’s a total of 356 consecutive days. which probably felt like 356 consecutive years.)
The Avs then proceeded to lose twenty-three of their next thirty-two games—including a season-worst 10-1 beatdown courtesy of the Montréal Canadiens at Centre Bell on December 10—to close out the calendar year.
Not counting the two COVID-shortened seasons (spoilers), the Avs lost fewer than twenty-three games twice in an entire season: 2021-2022 (19), and 2025-2026 (16). This cursed version did that in under three months.
Things went from worse to…even more worse. On January 27, the Avs announced that goaltender Semyon Varlamov would have hip surgery and miss the remainder of the regular season. Varlamov had been dealing with recurring groin issues since December, and with the season all but lost, having him undergo surgery and allowing as much recovery time to prepare for the following season was the sensible move.
Meanwhile, the Avs couldn’t stop the bleeding on the ice.
Prolonged losing streaks were frequent. This team had three five-game losing streaks, one six-game losing streak, one seven game losing streak, and one nine-game losing streak. They never won more than three games in a row at any point during the season.
And then, during a visit to Winnipeg on March 4…the free-falling Avs found out that rock bottom has a basement.
Already trailing 5-0 in the second period and with Winnipeg on the power play, Nathan MacKinnon poked the puck away from Jets defenseman Jacob Trouba. Blake Comeau pounced on the loose puck at center ice, skated in unimpeded on goaltender Connor Hellebuyck and…inexplicably slowed up, then turned to pass the puck back to MacKinnon, only to have Winnipeg’s Patrik Laine intercept his pass and turn the play back towards the Avs zone.
Here’s the sequence, in all its perplexing glory.
The season-long waking nightmare ended on April 9, with the Avs losing to the St. Louis Blues by a score of 3-2 at Scottrade Center. The Avs finished with a League-worst 22-56-4 record and 48 points in the standings. Incredibly, this is the third worst finish in franchise history as the Quebec Nordiques finished with a 12-61-7 record and 31 points during the 1989-1990 season, followed by a 16-50-14 record and 46 points the year after.
On April 29, as teams gathered for the NHL Draft Lottery, one final insult was delivered to the Avs. Despite having the League’s worst record, and therefore, the best possible odds to win the lottery, they wound up with the fourth overall pick, as the New Jersey Devils, Philadelphia Flyers, and Dallas Stars wound up finishing ahead of the Avs in that order.
A franchise-defining blurst that stretched throughout an entire season all but left the Avs for dead, but not for long.
2017-2018
The Best: Game 82 (April 07, 2018)
The expectations for the Avs were virtually nonexistent when the 2017-2018 season began, and for good reason, based on their disastrous regular season campaign a year earlier.
For them to find themselves at the doorstep of the postseason one year removed from their worst season since relocating to Denver was nothing short of miraculous.
They almost didn’t get to this point (spoilers), and when opportunity knocked on that Sunday afternoon at Pepsi Center, the entire roster answered.
Sam Girard got the Avs on the board with a rocket of a shot from the St. Louis blue line past goaltender Jake Allen in the first period. Tyson Barrie would double the lead in the second period with a blue line shot on the power play. St. Louis responded a few minutes later with a power play goal of their own to make things interesting, but Nathan MacKinnon restored the two goal lead late in the period.
Goaltender Jonathan Bernier and the Avs defense held strong in the third period, thwarting every opportunity from St. Louis. Blues head Coach Mike Yeo pulled Allen with over 4:30 left in regulation in the hopes that his team could pull even. Over a minute later, Gabe Landeskog collected a loose puck and launched it across the ice into the empty net to the roar of the entire crowd. His teammates mobbed him in excitement, knowing that they were minutes away from securing a playoff berth.
St. Louis scored a meaningless goal with under a minute to play, but the outcome was certain: the Avs would claim the final wild card spot in the Western Conference and face the Western Conference-leading Nashville Predators in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Avs finished the regular season with a 43-30-9 record and 95 points, nearly doubling their wins and point totals from the previous season (22 wins and 48 points, respectively).
Putting the exclamation point in such a high-stakes game was the defining moment of the season.
The Blurst: The Injury Bug Strikes Again (March 31, 2018)
As the end of the regular season neared, both the Avs and the St. Louis Blues were in a hotly contested battle for the final wild card spot in the playoffs. Both teams were in action on March 30: St. Louis was playing the upstart Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena, and the Avs hosted the Chicago Blackhawks at Pepsi Center.
Vegas defeated St. Louis in overtime, but for the Avs, victory was all but certain. With the Avs leading 5-0 late in the period, things took a turn when Chicago right winger Tomáš Jurčo lost his footing when carrying the puck towards goaltender Semyon Varlamov. He fell to the ice and crashed into Varlamov, resulting in an injury that would take him out for the remainder of the game. Jonathan Bernier held things down until the final buzzer.
The next day, the Avs announced that Varlamov would miss the remainder of the regular season with a lower body injury as a result of the play. In addition to Varlamov, defenseman Erik Johnson would out for six weeks due to a fractured non-displaced patella.
The news was certainly a tough pill to swallow at such a late stage of the season. St. Louis had one extra game to play as the season wound down, putting additional pressure on the Avs to perform at their best. They responded in lackluster fashion, losing their next three games to set up the win-and-get-in scenario on home ice against St. Louis.
For their part, St. Louis was equally inept, losing three straight games as well. They managed to eke out one final win against Chicago before flying to Denver for the Game 82 showdown.
Of course, the Avs managed to overcome a potential blurst-worthy collapse and squeaked into the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in four years. Despite bowing out in six games to Nashville, one can’t help but wonder how they would have fared against them with both a healthy Varlamov and Johnson in the mix.
2018-2019
The Best: Love at First Shot (April 15, 2019)
Out to build upon last season’s accomplishments, the Avs sought their second consecutive playoff berth, a feat that they hadn’t accomplished since 2006. Unlike last year, they didn’t wait for last-minute heroics to punch their ticket to the postseason; an overtime goal by Erik Johnson against the Winnipeg Jets on April 4 at Pepsi Center got the job done.
The Avs drew the Western Conference-leading Calgary Flames as their first round opponent. The Avs split the first two games at Scotiabank Saddledome, and returned home for Game Three with an opportunity to take the lead in the series.
Rumors had been swirling that prized defensive prospect and reigning Hobey Baker winner Cale Makar, whom the Avs drafted fourth overall in 2017, would sign with the Avs once UMass had been eliminated from the NCAA Frozen Four, which had been underway as the playoffs began. As the saying goes, where there’s smoke, there’s fire: Makar signed with the Avs the day after UMass had been eliminated, clearing the way for him to join the team in time for Game Three.
The buzz inside Pepsi Center was palpable as fans waited for their first glimpse of Makar in burgundy and blue. The entire crowd was on their feet as the Avs took pregame warm-ups, laser focused on Makar wearing his now-trademark number 8.
Head coach Jared Bednar didn’t throw Makar into the mix right away. Only after Nathan MacKinnon scored back to back goals to give the Avs a 2-0 lead did he decide to test the waters with Makar.
His patience was rewarded quickly: on his first shift, Makar trailed MacKinnon into the Calgary zone, and after getting the puck from MacKinnon, he flung it towards Calgary goaltender Mike Smith. The puck zipped between Smith’s pads, giving the Avs a 3-0 lead, and marking Makar’s first career goal in the NHL.
Makar was immediately mobbed by Gabe Landeskog, along with MacKinnon, Alex Kerfoot, and Tyson Barrie.
Being in the crowd for that game, I remember being in complete awe as Makar skated into the zone and fired that shot past Smith. The crowd erupted into a frenzy and my jaw fell open at what I just witnessed. After that play, I knew that Makar was really going to be something special.
The Avs would win Game Three by a score of 6-2. Makar’s goal wound up being the game-winner.
Two more victories followed, and for the first time since 2008, the Avs would advance to the second round.
Scoring your first goal with your first shot during your first shift in your first game and it’s the game-winner? Not a bad bit of business.
Indisputably, the best business of the season.
The Blurst: Shark Sandwich (May 08, 2019)
After extinguishing the Flames in the first round, the Avs would face the San Jose Sharks in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. This marked the fifth playoff series between both clubs, and the first time since 2010 that they would meet in the postseason.
Both teams traded victories throughout the series, and Gabe Landeskog’s overtime goal in Game Six would set up the winner-take-all Game Seven back at the Shark Tank.
San Jose would stake a two-goal lead in the first period, but Mikko Rantanen would get the Avs on the board just before intermission. Near the halfway point of regulation, Derrick Brassard knocked the puck away from Sharks forward Barclay Goodrow. Nathan MacKinnon swooped in to gather the the puck and raced down the near boards. His pass found a wide open Colin Wilson, who beat Martin Jones for the game-tying goal.
Or did he?
San Jose head coach Pete DeBoer challenged the call for offside. After the play was reviewed, the officials determined that Landeskog, who was in the San Jose zone prior to MacKinnon’s zone entry, was offside despite the fact that he was heading off the ice as part of a line change. The goal was overturned, and the Avs bench was livid.
Minutes later, San Jose defenseman Brent Burns fired the puck towards the far corner in the Avs zone, where teammate Joonas Donskoi collected it, skated around the back of the Avs goal uncontested, and fired the puck to the left of goaltender Phillipp Grubauer to restore the Sharks’ two goal lead.
In a matter of minutes, the Avs went from being on even footing with San Jose to trailing by a two goal margin.
The Avs fought valiantly, and despite a goal from Tyson Jost early in the third period giving them some hope, they couldn’t find the equalizer (again). They would fall in Game Seven by a 3-2 final score, their playoff dreams once again at an end.
If not for that sequence, and the resulting offside call, this series could have a different outcome for the Avs. Unfortunately, this blurst ensured that it didn’t.
2019-2020
The Best: Nazem Kadri’s Last-Second Heroics Seal the Deal Against St. Louis (August 02, 2020)
In March, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the NHL to suspend the season. Five months later, the NHL rolled out a carefully-controlled playoff format, where the Western Conference teams would play in a playoff “bubble” at Rogers Arena in Edmonton, while the Eastern Conference teams would do the same at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
A play-in round, followed by a short round-robin series of games, determined seeding. In their first round-robin qualifier, the Avs would face the St. Louis Blues in a rematch reminiscent of their regular season finale two years earlier.
David Perron opened the scoring on a first period power play goal for St. Louis. The Avs peppered goaltender Jordan Binnington through the first two periods, but they couldn’t break through.
Early in the third period, St. Louis defenseman Colton Parayko wound up for a shot on Avs goalie Philipp Grubauer, but his botched shot attempt was intercepted by Mikko Rantanen. He carried the puck into the St. Louis zone and passed it over to a wide open Ryan Graves. Graves fanned on his first shot attempt, but made his second one count as he sent the puck past Binnington to tie the game.
The Avs continued their siege of Binnington, but he turned aside everything that came his way. With Alex Steen in the box near the end of regulation, a shot from Gabe Landeskog bounced off the near post. A wide open Nazem Kadri swooped towards the puck and fired it into the net past Binnington as time expired.
As Kadri and the Avs celebrated the goal, the play was reviewed to determine if the puck entered the goal before time expired. Upon further review, the puck crossed the goal line at 0.1 seconds, securing a 2-1 victory for the Avs.
This game had all the drama and excitement of a Stanley Cup playoff game, even if it was a qualifying match. In the uncertain landscape created by COVID, being able to experience the joy of hockey felt almost…normal, if only for a few minutes.
The Blurst: Cale Cuts Down His Captain (September 02, 2020)
It still might be a little too soon for this one.
With the Avs trailing 3-2 in their second round series to the Dallas Stars, Game Six was nothing short of a must-win. As the second period wound down, Gabe Landeskog was preparing to chase down the puck in the Avs zone alongside Andrew Cogliano, who had been playing for Dallas at the time.
As both men skated away from the corner, Cale Makar, who was down on the ice, swung his left leg back as he attempted to regain his footing. His skate blade sliced through Landeskog’s kneepad, giving him a deep cut at the top of his knee. Landeskog stumbled to the ice momentarily, then recognized something was very wrong. He immediately skated to the Avs bench and hobbled his way down the dressing room.
The Avs went on to win Game Six by a 4-1 margin, but were unable to close out the series in Game Seven. In Game Seven, the Avs turned to goaltender Michael Hutchinson once more after backstopping the Avs to two consecutive wins. Landeskog was deemed unfit to play, and an overtime goal from Joel Kiviranta completed the hat trick for the fresh-faced rookie, ensuring yet another Game Seven victory for Dallas, this one by a score of 5-4.
Landeskog would return for the beginning of the 2020-2021 season, seemingly no worse for the wear.
As it would turn out, Landeskog’s injury was more than just a mere flesh wound.
Was there a best (or blurst) from these five years of Avalanche hockey that was overlooked? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
PRODUCTION - 08 July 2026, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Stralsund: A crowned crane is standing in a meadow at the zoo. This year, State Zoo Day will take place on July 10, 2026. Photo: Stefan Sauer/dpa (Photo by Stefan Sauer/picture alliance via Getty Images)
You would believe there was a regular-season game played on Friday, as the SummerKnicks and the SummerMavs combined for a dumb 198 points in both team’s Summer League Consolation game.
New York used 15 players, and Pacome Dadiet had himself a day to preserve his value entering next season while big man Liam Robbins put up a solid outing to remain alive in the race for a spot as a backup center. Here’s today’s links and notes.
No recap nor Scenes, so here’s a bunch of notes from Sin City’s finale.
Dadiet dumped 19 points in 23 minutes on a 7-of-15 shooting performance (still 1-of-5 from three) and added five boards, a dime, and a steal to that. He committed two turnovers and finished with a minus-12, but you can’t win all fronts.
Robbins put up 14 points, went perfect on two attempts from the charity stripe, and pulled down four rebounds while swatting a shot from the SummerMavs in 20 minuts of playing time.
Tyler Nickel got his cardio up with a 30-minute run in which he hoisted a monster 11 treys but hit just three of them. Still, nine points for the neophyte to go with two rebounds, three dimes, three steals, and just one turnover.
The rest of your mob — starters and benchmen included — didn’t feature anyone playing above mediocrity levels. Dillon Jones went 6-5-2, Jack Kayil put up a goose egg with zero points on just two shots (10 minutes) but three assists and a rebound, and Jaden Akins the only other double-digit scorer with a solid 11-2-3-2 stat line.
Not that we didn’t already know, but the Summer League is over and the Knicks’ frontcourt problem is still the one roster issue pending fixing. The Daily News’ Kris Winfield argued that New York has enough spacing and could live without giving Tyler Nickel the last standard contract, especially with Landry Shamet already around, prioritizing adding a center between now and tip-off time next October.
Kris also touched on Deuce McBride’s long-term future, which might be connected to the upcoming financial squeeze the Knicks will need to navigate with Karl-Anthony Towns extension-eligible and Jalen Brunson due for another deal soon enough. Deuce is likely to ask for a sizable salary (a la Mitch), so unless somebody/everybody takes less or the cap sheet changes, odds are he departs before or on July 1, 2027.
Related to everything discussed above, Daily Knicks’ Jack Simone expanded on how Nickel could represent exactly the kind of player contenders like the Knicks need under the current CBA if they want to stay on Tier S.
Jack Kayil’s situation is perhaps more frustrating, and our own John Grove couldn’t have written about it any better. A two-way contract is the obvious out-of-context path and would allow the Knicks to keep Kayil in Westchester, but that would prohibit New York from paying his ALBA Berlin buyout, and he would have to cover it himself, which is not exactly a reasonable request for a 20-year-old starting his career. Read the story for a much better understanding!
“If the Knicks choose to offer Kayil a two-way contract, NBA regulations prohibit them from paying his overseas buyout. According to the rules, the buyout would have to be executed strictly between the player and ALBA Berlin. Yes, Kayil would have to independently pay for his buyout in order to accept a two-salary. Truthfully, this financial decision is unlikely.
“While a two-roster spot may be available, the Knicks likely lack the cap space to offer their 20-year-old guard a standard NBA contract. That contract is the only legal way New York can cover his international buyout. Of course, this dampens things a little bit.”
Brunson refused to sign a Giants helmet at Fanatics Fest, and instead ended up scribbling “Go Birds” on it.
In his talk with The Wall Street Journal, Brunson revisited his discount deal ($113 million left on the table!), his preference for financial security, and touched on his lifestyle, big-money purchaes, and a bunch of other staff.
Pat Benson of Kicks on SI must have had a blast of a time speaking to Jose Alvarado on his partnership with AND1. The match is perfect and I can’t love it anymore. Here’s one (can you guess the question?), but go read all of his quotes!
“Fat Joe, J.Lo— and Wemby!“
Anthony Edwards was at the Fanatics Fest and talked about Jalen Brunson — not Victor Wembanyama — as well as about KAT and the “cheat code” advice he gave him heading into the NBA Finals.
John Calipari spoke extensively with the New York Post and shared a lot of stuff about his former pupil Towns. Spoiler: don’t flop. Full quotes: in today’s Bulletin.
Charles Barkley brought his Michael Jordan feud to the table, which lasted 15 years but has seemingly, finally, ended!?
LeBron James said his daughter Zhuri is the deciding factor in his upcoming free-agency decision. Zhuri did not answer James’ question about where to go next immediately after he told him about his departure from Los Angeles, and would tell him later, or simply even write her feelings down at some point. Imagine Zhuri choosing Memphis.
The Chicago Blackhawks made a huge trade before the draft, acquiring defenseman Bowen Byram from the Buffalo Sabres. In the deal, the Blackhawks sent picks 4 and 45 in the 2026 NHL Draft, along with defenseman Louis Crevier.
Forward Jordan Greenway was also part of the package, coming to Chicago alongside Byram. Greenway is not someone who will move the needle for the Blackhawks, but he can be a solid 4th-line player if he remains healthy for the bulk of the 2026-27 season.
Greenway only played in 40 games for Buffalo last year, and he has mostly dealt with injury trouble for his entire career. If the Blackhawks can get 50 games out of him, however, it would be a win as he could rotate in and out with other bottom-six forwards.
Other players like Cole Smith, Sacha Boisvert, Ryan Greene, and AJ Spellacy will all likely get playing time on the fourth line alongside Greenway, which is a nice mix of skilled skaters who can forecheck, move well, and just be overall hard to play against.
Greenway was the second-round pick (50th overall) by the Minnesota Wild in the 2015 NHL Draft before he was traded to Buffalo in March of 2023. Although injuries have plagued him, as mentioned before, he has shown the ability to create chaos in an NHL bottom six.
One of the knocks on the Blackhawks over the last few seasons has been that they are “soft” or “easy to play against”. Part of that has been their youth, but it has also been due to a lack of physical players on the roster.
Well, Jordan Greenway will help with that when he’s in the lineup. If he could find a way to play 80% of the games or more, he may even show some skill from time to time.
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June 10, 2026 â 2026 NBA Finals – Game 4: New York Knicks vs. San Antonio Spurs at Madison Square Garden – New York Knicks guard Jose Alvarado #5, with...
He puts the New York in the Knicks.
Knicks guard Jose Alvarado is still riding high off New York’s championship win — and hoping to inspire local youth with his story.
The Brooklyn native, who grew up in the Roberto Clemente projects in Williamsburg, said the positive to being the only native New Yorker on the team is he can show city kids “that there is hope.”
When asked what it’s like to be the sole player from NYC, Alvarado, 28, said “it’s the best.”
Knicks guard Jose Alvarado, who grew up in the projects, hopes his success story inspires city kids. Getty Images
“Especially when you win a championship,” he told The Post from the ESPYs red carpet at the Josie Robertson Plaza at Lincoln Center on Wednesday.
“It’s cool being home and being a kid from here and just to experience all this.”
Surprisingly, his teammates don’t ask him for tips on the best food spots in the area, Alvarado said.
“I mean sometimes, but you know, they already know where to go to get good food … But I just go to my own spots where I’m from.”
The Post spoke to Alvarado on the red carpet for the ESPYs, where the Knicks took home the award for Best Team. Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for W+P
His father, Jose Sr., a union electrician with Local 3, moved the family to Flushing to give his then 8-year-old son more opportunities in sports.
“My dad is a hard-working man, so he got me in the right situation with my mom, and so it was just perfect,” he said.
After the Knicks won the NBA title, Alvarado gave his uniform to his father, Jose Sr. Courtesy of Jose Alvarado, Sr.
After the Knicks won Game 5 in San Antonio, Alvarado changed out of his series-clinching uniform in the locker room — and gave his jersey, shorts, sneakers, headband and even NBA champions t-shirt to his father.
“He thrives on every accomplishment I had in my life, he takes it and basically hangs it like a trophy … uniforms, trophies, everything.”
The Seattle Mariners hope to break out of a funk as they host the San Francisco Giants on Saturday night at T-Mobile Park.
The market expects Seattle (-133) to do just that with Bryan Woo on the bump, but his recent form has been shaky.
See where I'm finding value with my Giants vs. Mariners predictions & MLB picks for Saturday, June 18.
Who will win Giants vs Mariners today: Giants moneyline (+124)
The San Francisco Giants have been the higher-performing ball club lately, which isn't accurately accounted for in the pricing of this game.
They're in fine form at the plate, with a 112 wRC+ against right-handed pitching in July, whereas the Seattle Mariners are riding the struggle bus (67 wRC).
There's also a major discrepancy in the bullpen, where Seattle's grotesque 4.60 SIERA this month pales in comparison to San Francisco's (3.10).
Bryan Woo has a 5.88 ERA since the start of June, so he's hardly an advantage over ace Logan Webb. Play the underdog to +110.
COVERS INTEL: Logan Webb's sinker is his lead offering (31.3%), and he should utilize it to great effect against a Seattle lineup that struggles against sinkers (-22.8 runs above average, 27th in the MLB).
Giants vs Mariners Over/Under pick: Over 7.5 (+119)
Don't automatically expect a very low-scoring game just because both starting pitchers have notable names.
Woo has been an overvalued asset in betting markets while he's been struggling this summer. The Mariners have played to the Over in five of his six outings since the start of June, and now there's plus money available for them to do so again with a low total of 7.5.
Webb also hasn't been at the peak of his powers in his last two starts, surrendering 12 earned runs on 16 hits with just four strikeouts.
Seattle's bullpen has fallen apart lately, and San Francisco's has been poor overall (4.45 ERA) despite stronger underlying numbers lately.
J.D. Yonke's 2026 Transparency Record
ML/RL bets: 26-28, -6.2 units
Over/Under bets: 35-20, +13.6 units
Giants vs Mariners weather
Giants vs Mariners odds
Moneyline: San Francisco +127 | Seattle -133
Run line: San Francisco +1.5 (-178) | Seattle -1.5 (+170)
Over/Under: Over 7.5 (+122) | Under 7.5 (-127)
Giants vs Mariners trend
The Mariners are 1-6 in their last seven games. Find more MLB betting trends for Giants vs. Mariners.
How to watch Giants vs Mariners and game info
Location
T-Mobile Park, Seattle, WA
Date
Saturday, July 18, 2026
First pitch
8:08 p.m. ET
TV
FOX
Giants starting pitcher
Logan Webb (5-7, 3.86 ERA)
Mariners starting pitcher
Bryan Woo (7-6, 4.23 ERA)
Giants vs Mariners latest injuries
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 Canmore native has signed with the Calgary Wranglers for the 2026-27 American Hockey League season, ending his one-year stint in Sweden and bringing the veteran centre back into the Calgary Flames organization.
RMO's Shreejit Shelar was first to report.
The move marks a homecoming for Philp, who spent last season with Färjestad BK after signing with the Swedish club during his honeymoon in Italy. The opportunity gave the 30-year-old his first chance to experience European hockey after spending the bulk of his professional career in North America.
Now, after fulfilling a long-standing goal of playing overseas, Philp has elected to return closer to home as he and his wife, Jaycee, prepare for the next stage of their lives.
A return to Alberta also reunites Philp with an organization he knows well. He began his professional career in the Flames system when the club's AHL affiliate was based in Stockton, California, before later spending time with the Chicago Blackhawks and Washington Capitals organizations.
His familiarity with Calgary's management group and the opportunity to rejoin the organization made the Wranglers a natural landing spot once discussions about a return to North America began.
Philp's path back to the Wranglers has been anything but conventional.
Raised in Canmore, he developed through the local minor hockey system before continuing his progression in Cochrane, Airdrie and Drumheller. He later returned home to suit up for the Canmore Eagles before embarking on a four-year Western Hockey League career with the Kootenay Ice and Red Deer Rebels.
After three seasons at the University of Alberta, Philp turned professional and established himself as a dependable AHL forward. He also reached the NHL during the 2022-23 season, making his debut with the Chicago Blackhawks.
His lone season in Sweden offered a different style of hockey than he had grown accustomed to in North America. The larger international ice surface placed a greater emphasis on skating, puck possession and creating space, contrasting with the faster, more physical transition game typically played in the AHL and NHL.
Philp is expected to relocate to Calgary ahead of Wranglers training camp.
Russell will share second row with Ferrari’s Leclerc
Norris third fastest but has a 10-place grid penalty
Kimi Antonelli has suffered a run of no little bad luck of late, but the Italian teenager demonstrated it had left him entirely unfazed as he produced a dominant lap to secure pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix.
The 19-year-old’s composure and control at Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday was something to behold as he flew round the circuit in the Ardennes mountains with ease, comfortably beating the Red Bull of Max Verstappen into second place. Notable was the manner in which he did so given Verstappen had benefited from having a tow from his teammate, Isack Hadjar, who willingly sacrificed his laps given he had a 30-place grid penalty to come.
On Friday, Dodgers' outfield prospect Mike Sirota saw his quest for the Minor League Baseball record for consecutive games on base end at 72 games. That put him two shy of the record, set by infielder Andrew Velazquez back in 2014 when he was in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization, playing at Single-A South Bend. The major league record is 84 games, set by Red Sox’s outfielder and Hall of Famer, Ted Williams, back in 1949
Fittingly for a prospect who has flown up prospect rankings like Sirota has, he put together a productive outing on Friday, despite not getting on base. The outfielder went 0-for-4, but drove in one run on a fielder’s choice and another run on a sacrifice fly. On the season, Sirota is hitting .314/.468/.554 with 14 home runs, 73 runs scored, 50 RBI, and 11 steals in 78 games split between High-A and Double-A.
Like Sirota, Velazquez was just in his second full professional season at the time he set the record. However, unlike Velazquez, Sirota was a high draft pick and is one of the top prospects in baseball. The Dodgers' outfield was the 87th overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft and is currently ranked as the 11th-best prospect in baseball, according to MLB Pipeline, which earned him an invite to this year's Futures Game in Philadelphia during the All-Star break.
"It's an honor," said Sirota about being part of the game, in which he went 0-for-1 in just one at-bat. "I'm just extremely excited, trying to take it all in. You know, meeting a bunch of new guys, talking baseball with a bunch of new guys."
Sirota also went into that game sitting on a 72-game on-base streak. He had to wait five days before he had a chance to see if he could wind up alone atop the leaderboard, but his first game back from the break saw the streak snapped. Even during the streak, it was an experience he was dealing with mostly on his own: "I don't think people want to talk about it much," he responded when asked if anybody from within the organization had reached out about tying the record.
Sirota himself barely knew there was anything to talk about until recently.
"I wasn't even aware of it until about 40 or 50 games in," he admitted. "When I first heard about it, I kind of just brushed it off. I was just trying to play my game, but obviously, more recently, I've been thinking about it a little more."
Not that the added attention from the record did anything to impact his play on the field. In June, Sirota hit .310/.477/.524 with four home runs, 14 RBI, 17 runs scored, and a 25/25 K/BB ratio. In eight games in July before the break, he went 9-for-31 (.290) with two home runs, 10 runs scored, and a 6/5 K/BB ratio. If anything, the 23-year-old thinks that closing in on the record actually helped his performance.
"I'm learning about myself from it," he said before the Futures Game. "How to deal with this kind of stuff mentally. I've never had to deal with something like this before...Each at bat means a little more, I guess you could say. But meaning a little more could be a good thing. Obviously, with the extra added pressure to it, the extra adrenaline, I think it makes me better every time I go out there...Using it to take a little bit more adrenaline in each at bat, learning how to harness that, and use it to my advantage. It's been great."
This kind of success is certainly something the Dodgers envisioned when they aggressively pursued Sirota throughout his young career. Back in 2021, the Dodgers drafted Sirota in the 16th round of the MLB Draft. At the time, Sirota was a shortstop who decided to honor his commitment and attend Northeastern University. In 2024, he was drafted in the third round by the Reds, becoming the highest Northeastern draft pick ever.
Yet, before Sirota could even make his pro debut, he was drafted. The Dodgers sought him out again and sent Gavin Lux to the Reds in exchange for Sirota and a Competitive Balance Round A Pick.
"Obviously, being wanted by an organization like the Dodgers just feels amazing," smiled Sirota. "When I got there, they had a blueprint of what they wanted me to do. It was kind of just very personalized, with my swing and things like that, just a blueprint for me to look at and learn from. I just learned a lot from it... It's just been great all around."
Sirota immediately hit the ground running, batting .333/.452/.616 in 59 games between Single-A and High-A with 13 home runs and five steals. This season, Sirota seems to be going the other way less often and spraying line drives up the middle and to the pull side. He's continued to be selective at the plate, swinging just 37% of the time, but making lots of contact and posting a walk rate (20.7%) that almost equals his strikeout rate (22.1%). While much of that success can be attributed to Sirota as a player, he also credits the lineup around him.
"I just have great hitters hitting behind me and in front of me in the lineups that we have at these affiliates," he said, "so I was getting pitched to a little bit more selectively. I think it's made me better, but a little bit more recently, I'm getting attacked a little more, so it's unique, but it's great."
The Dodgers' lineup at Double-A Tulsa includes fellow top prospect outfielders Josue De Paula (4th overall, according to MLB Pipeline) and Zyhir Hope (19th overall prospect), as well as Kendall George, who is a top 15 prospect in the Dodgers' organization.
That talent around him might also be why, at 23 years old, Sirota remains at Double-A, instead of at Triple-A or sniffing an MLB call-up.
The Dodgers' Triple-A outfield features James Tibbs III, the 13th pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, who is hitting .289/.406/.553 with 21 home runs and 71 RBI in 87 games. It also has Ryan Ward, who has hit at least 34 home runs in each of the last two minor league seasons, and former MLB regulars Alek Thomas and Jack Suwinski. That makes it hard to see how Sirota can parlay this on-base streak into a quicker path to the big leagues. Not that that enters his mind at all.
"I don't focus on [potential promotion]. I just try to go out there and do my best every day."
So far, that approach has made him better at getting on base than almost anybody in minor league baseball history. Even with the increased scrutiny and pressure to keep the streak going, Sirota wasn't ready to put the streak in the rearview mirror. When asked if he thought there would be some weight off his shoulders when/if the streak ends, he said, "I'm gonna try and just keep going with it, honestly."
Sadly, that quest ended on Friday. Yet, even without a record connected to his name, this 72-game journey may still be a stretch that propels Sirota's career to the heights the Dodgers dreamed about when they tried to acquire him twice.
COVERS INTEL: Logan Webb's sinker is his lead offering (31.3%), and he should utilize it to great effect against a Seattle lineup that struggles against sinkers (