With the release of preseason US LBM Coaches Poll, these 10 college football teams have daunting slates with several ranked opponents on the schedule.
Hernández: Mookie Betts sounds depressed, but he isn't giving up on snapping his hitting slump
Mookie Betts offered a new perspective Tuesday afternoon on his season-long slump, which is that it wasn’t a season-long slump.
In his view, it actually extended back to last season.
“I really haven’t been right since I came back from my hand last year,” Betts said.
Betts fractured his left hand in mid-June last season when he was struck by a 98-mph fastball. He was sidelined for almost two months.
“Think about it,” Betts said. “Go and look at it. I haven’t been right since.”
Betts was a MVP candidate when he went down, hitting .304 at the time. He batted .263 after his return, including .185 over the final 17 games of the regular season.
The troubles from last year have carried into this year, in which he’s batting a career-worst .236.
Betts wanted to clarify the point he was trying to make.
Read more:Max Muncy is back with four RBIs in Dodgers' rout of Cardinals
“I wasn’t blaming it on my hand or anything,” he said. “I was just saying since coming back, I haven’t done anything. It’s not just this season.”
Betts even went out of his way to downplay the severity of the injury or how it has affected him since.
"It wasn’t like I obliterated my hand,” he said. “It was a fracture.”
Betts pointed to how his grip strength was measured in spring training. The readings showed his grip was stronger than he was the previous year.
“There’s no correlation to anything,” he said. “I wish I could blame it on something, but nah.”
My visit to Dodger Stadium on Tuesday was prompted by what Betts told reporters after a weekend series in Tampa. The remarks in question were made when Betts was hitless in his last four games; the streak extended to a career-high five after another hitless game on Monday against the St. Louis Cardinals.
“I’ve done everything I can possibly do,” Betts told reporters. “It’s up to God at this point.”
In print, at least, he sounded defeated. His quotes, I told him, were depressing.
“I don’t know if you’re watching what’s going on, but it is depressing,” Betts said with a smile.
So he still had a sense of humor.
Which isn’t to say he’s not baffled or frustrated by his lack of production.
Read more:From a day off to the leadoff spot, Dodgers try unraveling mystery of Mookie Betts' slump
“It’s unexplainable,” Betts said. “I don’t know. It sucks. You know how in Space Jam, they take your superpowers away? Kind of what it feels like. I’ve never been there, never done that, so to have that happen, I don’t know how to get out of it.”
Without any specific answers, he’s doubled down on the general philosophy that made him one of baseball’s greatest players.
He’s worked.
“That’s the only thing I can do,” he said. “The only thing I can control is my effort and my attitude.”
When Betts says he’s done everything he could do to recapture his old magic, what he’s really saying is that he’s doing everything he can.
“I hit for three or four hours a day,” he said. “At some point, your body breaks down, but I’d rather break down than not give the effort.”
Read more:'A major league shortstop, on a championship club.' Why Dodgers don't plan to move Mookie Betts
Betts showed up at Dodger Stadium before 1:30 p.m. on Monday for the series opener against the Cardinals, which started at 7:10. He hit in the batting cages, worked on his defense on the field, and participated in batting practice. He returned to the batting cages at around 4:30 and stayed there until 6:15.
“Just trying to relearn, going to the basics, relearning myself,” he said. “I had to go back and think about what I used to do in the minor leagues, [those] types of things.”
Betts might not have yet figured out the adjustments required from him to break out of his slump, but he’s also not out of ideas. He acknowledged he’s purposely sounded more clueless than he actually is in order to avoid discussing changes he’s trying to implement.
“There’s a bunch of stuff that I’m working on,” he said. “That’s stuff that, no offense to you guys, but you guys wouldn’t understand.”
The former right fielder didn’t think the workload at shortstop was the source of his problems, and he didn’t think his batspeed had declined in the last couple of years, as data from baseball’s tracking system had indicated.
“I haven’t hit the ball solid,” Betts said. “Naturally, you slow down because you try to hit the ball solid.”
Read more:Dave Roberts gives Mookie Betts a day off as season-long slump continues
While the experiment of deploying Betts as a leadoff hitter ended after only two weeks, manager Dave Roberts said he was committed to batting him near the top of the lineup.
“If that’s not confidence from a manager to a player,” Roberts said, “I don’t know what is.”
Betts rewarded Roberts’ faith on Tuesday in a 12-6 victory over the Cardinals on Tuesday, as he was three for four with a double, a walk and three runs. The three-hit game was his first in almost two months.
Betts refused to read too much into the performance.
“It’s good to get the results, but it’s one game,” he said. “Every time we talk about [a good game], I go 0 for 20 after. So we’ll see about tomorrow.”
He departed the stadium uncertain of what the results would be the next day, but he knew what the process would be. He would continue to work and continue to search for answers.
Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Clase Gambling Probe Shakes Athlete Income-Sharing Industry
Emmanuel Clase’s indefinite leave from Major League Baseball hurt more than just the Cleveland Guardians—it also is another blow to the nascent idea of athlete income-sharing.
The All-Star closer was placed on paid leave last month while the league investigates allegations of sports betting. Last year, Clase stuck a deal with Finlete to trade a sliver of his future baseball income in exchange for an upfront payment. Finlete raised the money for Clase by selling shares to investors—mostly fans who wanted a piece of the player’s upside and some extra perks, like a semi-annual Zoom call with Clase.
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Athlete income-sharing has been around in some form for many years, but is typically for young pros who still have to prove themselves. Nabbing Clase, who led the AL in saves in each of the last three seasons, was a coup for Finlete and the industry.
“How the hell did we land this deal? It’s incredible,” Finlete CEO Rob Connolly told Sportico last year.
The deal seemed to fulfil the promise that has drawn venture capital into the idea. Finlete, for instance, has investment from Comcast and VC legend Tim Draper. Now, Clase’s indefinite leave under gambling suspicions—which could result in a potential lifetime ban from MLB if found guilty—has become another hurdle for an idea that has few clear successes.
“We are aware of the MLB investigation involving Emmanuel Clase and, like everyone else, we’re following the league’s process closely,” Connolly said in an email. “While he’s on non-disciplinary paid leave, Clase continues to receive his MLB salary. As long as he is being paid at the Major League level, Finlete will continue to receive its entitled percentage, and dividends will be distributed to investors as scheduled.”
Later, he added: “Obviously, all investments, regardless of sector, contain risk.”
Finlete has done nothing wrong: The Clase offering is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the risks, including suspension and reputational risks from a player’s actions, were disclosed multiple times in the offering document. And it’s possible the pitcher returns to MLB and returns to form and signs a huge contract that rewards Finlete’s investors. But even if that’s the case, the sales pitch of participating in an athlete’s career—Connolly called it a “PG version of OnlyFans”—is less exciting when real world problems muck up the highest-profile opportunity. And it’s already been a tough sell to investors.
According to regulatory disclosures as of the end of 2024, Finlete raised $15,980 out of a goal of $3.6 million for the Clase offering. More recent figures haven’t been disclosed and Finlete’s website says the Clase offering is closed. But a low sales rate isn’t unusual: an earlier offering for Texas Rangers minor league shortstop Echedry Vargas was closed to new investors after raising $78,288 out of a $500,000 goal. It has five minor league baseball player offerings open currently, including one for top-100 prospect Jhostynxon “The Password” Garcia that has a more modest $102,000 goal.
“There are a lot of different—I wouldn’t even say difficulties—hurdles” in athlete income-sharing, said Parker Graham, the co-founder of Vestible, another income-sharing venture that raised $600,000 in a deal with NFL player Baron Browning last year. “It just takes a lot of legwork to get an athlete deal done and athletes just don’t have as great a pain point to create the business we wanted to create… Athletes already have money.”
Graham has shut down Vestible’s athlete income-sharing efforts and instead is deploying the idea to collegiate athletic departments, “helping them bridge the [funding] gap with their fans,” he said on a phone call. “You have to raise a certain amount of capital and the only options are donors, bank loans, private equity and bonds. We want to create this system where there’s a fifth option… the pain point [for colleges] is so much more apparent.”
Vestible anticipates announcing its first collegiate partners this autumn, with more in the pipeline, “Power Four to Group of Five and some FCS probably as well.”
Other athlete income-sharing ventures are seeing mixed results. Manse, a French company that launched a U.S. registered offering of $4 million worth of securities backed by a complex calculation of Nick Kyrgios’ social media trends, hasn’t made a post to its English language social media accounts in months, though its Kyrgios securities are still available for sale. Other ventures that pitched athlete deals last year have yet to offer new ones in 2025, and Big League Advantage, the business that suggested splitting income with pros could be a winning strategy, is being sued by its most famous partner, Fernando Tatis Jr., for alleged predatory business practices over the deal they struck when he was still a minor-leaguer.
Connolly, for one, remains bullish on the idea. “Interest in our platform is at an all-time high. We’ve signed 13 exceptional baseball players to-date, three of whom are currently ranked in MLB Pipeline’s Top 100. We’ve exceeded 500 investors and $500K raised on the platform,” he said in an email. “We also recently closed an oversubscribed $1M Angel Round of funding to help propel our growth.”
Still, at the moment, it seems the promise of athlete income-sharing isn’t working out for anyone—except the athletes. “If for some reason they don’t work out, they don’t have to pay this money back,” Connolly said in October. “It’s really a win-win for the athletes.”
It’s possibly the safest bet Clase ever made.
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Son Heung-min waves to roaring Los Angeles fans after agreeing deal with club
Forward watched LAFC’s home game against Tigres
Korean’s fee reported to be more than $20m
Son Heung-min has agreed to a contract with Los Angeles FC after a decade at Tottenham. The 33-year-old attended LAFC’s home Leagues Cup win against Tigres on Tuesday, watching from a luxury suite, and will be introduced on Wednesday.
The club showed the forward on the stadium video board late in the first half. LAFC, a wealthy club with significant success in their first eight seasons of existence, reportedly paid more than $20m (£15m).
Continue reading...Why Brandon Crawford was Casey Schmitt's favorite player growing up in SoCal
Why Brandon Crawford was Casey Schmitt's favorite player growing up in SoCal originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
His roots are in San Diego, but Casey Schmitt still took his baseball cues from a Bay Area legend.
The Giants’ second baseman revealed his longtime admiration for franchise icon Brandon Crawford in the latest edition of NBC Sports Bay Area’s “BP With Britt,” explaining how San Francisco’s all-time leader in games played at shortstop influenced a SoCal kid growing up in the shadow of Petco Park.
“I think just watching baseball and kind of just being a fan of the game was a big thing for me,” Schmitt recently told Laura Britt. “Just watching [Crawford] and being able to meet him, play alongside him … it was really cool and just developed [a] relationship with him as well.”
Schmitt and Crawford spent just one season as teammates in 2023, before Crawford left for the St. Louis Cardinals and retired a year later. But that one campaign was long enough for Crawford’s professionalism and playing style to rub off on Schmitt.
“Just the way he goes about his business every single day … the way he does everything, he’s an awesome person,” Schmitt said. “Just to be around and learn from him was really cool.”
There was plenty to learn. Crawford enjoyed an illustrious career with the Giants, earning three National League All-Star nods and winning four Gold Glove awards at shortstop, in addition to two World Series rings.
The 26-year-old Schmitt has settled in as a starter for the first time in 2025, with six home runs and 22 RBI in 54 games played.
Likely Jonathan Kuminga reunion with Warriors could create unwanted spectacle
Likely Jonathan Kuminga reunion with Warriors could create unwanted spectacle originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
There is time for the Warriors and Jonathan Kuminga to find an arrangement that satisfies both, but the clock on their mutual desires is fast approaching JK’s jersey number: 00.
Their arranged marriage, distinguished more by turbulence than compatibility, lurched past its fourth anniversary last week. The growing belief around the NBA is they will wobble into Year 5, which would be the uneasiest by far.
On one side, the Warriors will be trying to harmonize a squad capable of squeezing one more drop of glory from the Stephen Curry era, which lifted the franchise to global icon status.
On the other side, Kuminga wants to prove he is a star and, therefore, worthy of a star’s contract, and his disposition will be monitored more closely than his statistics and impact.
The two sides have spent four seasons trying to make something of mismatched methods. Kuminga is a terrific scoring soloist, capable of getting to his spots and attacking the rim like a young Kawhi Leonard, but Golden State’s offense is designed to operate as an ensemble, with Curry as the conductor. That won’t change. Nor should it, as Curry continues to play at All-Star level.
Though a sign-and-trade deal remains a remote possibility, all indications are Kuminga will have to postpone his dreams of a life-changing payday.
“There will be some teams with money next year,” one Western Conference executive tells NBC Sports Bay Area. “Kuminga might have to just have to ride this out one more year and see what happens. It might come to fruition. Maybe he becomes more like ‘the guy’ there. There are people who believe he should play more, that he should do this more or do that more.
“But you still got Steph there. You got Jimmy (Butler) there.”
A fifth year of Warriors-Kuminga matrimony would invite all manner of vulture curiosity, as both parties will be under the brightest, and sometimes harshest, of lights. The Warriors are willing to move on, and Kuminga is eager to do the same. Living emotionally separate under the same roof, sharing the same locker room is bound to present, um, challenges.
The skills of Golden State coach Steve Kerr and the team’s veteran leaders – Draymond Green, Butler and Curry – will be tested. Can they orchestrate successful alchemy? Can Kuminga suppress his personal desires for the sake of the team? Can the Kerr-Kuminga coexistence maintain a peaceful, productive coexistence?
Kuminga wants to be a starter. That role was available last season, when he started the first three games at small forward, with Green at power forward and Andrew Wiggins at shooting guard. Butler now is entrenched at small forward since the February trade that sent Wiggins to Miami. The Warriors gained a playmaker but lost spacing. Kerr won’t tolerate the clogged spacing that would come with a Green-Kuminga-Butler frontcourt, so that option is out.
“He’s a (scoring) monster at the four,” a former NBA player-turned-analyst, referring to Kuminga, tells NBC Sports Bay Area. “But that’s Draymond position. I hate Draymond’s game. Hate his game. But his IQ makes him a Hall of Famer. It’s through the roof. And that team needs it.”
Green’s defense and court savvy were as much a part of Golden State’s 2014-15 resurrection as the gravity generated by Curry’s presence. Andrew Bogut and Green made the same impact on defense that Klay Thompson and Curry did on offense. The result was the best team in the NBA.
“They had a top-five offense, and a top-five defense,” the executive recalls. “And they were smart. The smartest team in the league. Back then, they were just smarter than you. With Jonathan, I think they’re questioning that. And they have Jimmy, Steph and Draymond, probably three of the smartest guys out there.”
Kuminga’s poor 3-point shooting (30.5 percent) makes him a misfit as a three in the Warriors’ system, but his greatest sins in the book of Kerr are mental errors. Those liabilities sometimes offset his assets. It’s one of the quickest ways in the league to fracture trust among coaches and teammates.
Is there any doubt that one glaring mistake by Kuminga will intensify the scrutiny and raise the temperature of the marriage?
At no point during these four seasons has Kuminga risen to the level of “distraction” to the greater goals of the Warriors. Even when displeased with circumstances, JK generally puts his head down and comes to work – even when he’s out of the rotation. Team leaders do what they can to keep him engaged.
But if the marriage continues into a fifth season, after a summer of unmet hopes for both parties, tranquility for all parties will be hard to achieve. A divorce is not a matter of if, but when.
Top 20 Penguins' Prospects 2025: A 2025 Draft Pick Kicks Off The List At No. 20
Heading into the 2025-26 season, the Pittsburgh Penguins have shifted the focus to youth and development.
With more talent in the system than Pittsburgh has had in years - and 13 picks in the 2025 NHL Draft - top prospects lists are becoming more competitive and more difficult to discern. Since the prospect pool is deepening, The Hockey News - Pittsburgh Penguins takes a look at the top-20 prospects in the organization.
We kick off the list by highlighting our pick for no. 20, which happens to be 2025 draftee, Peyton Kettles.
#20: D Peyton Kettles
Kettles was selected in the second round (39th overall) by the Penguins in 2025. The 6-foot-5, 190-pound blueliner has spent the last three seasons with the Swift Current Broncos of the Western Hockey League (WHL), compiling seven goals and 17 points in 116 games.
But it's not really the offensive production that defines Kettles's game. With his large frame, long reach, and physicality, Kettles is primarily known for his shutdown ability.
When the Penguins selected Kettles in the second round - a pick that they traded for by sending RFA defenseman Conor Timmins to the Buffalo Sabres - that's exactly what they were reaching for. The young right-shot defenseman still has some room to fill out his frame, but he already has a knack for shutting down the opposition's very best opponents.
Get yourself a blueliner that can lay the boom AND tickle the twine.
— Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) June 12, 2025
A.K.A. Peyton Kettles.@SCBroncos | #NHLDraftpic.twitter.com/ElTngcwBj7
Scouts from Elite Prospects have pointed out his skill in killing odd-man rushes, his potent stick, his ability to take away the middle of the ice and drive opponents away from the net, his booming physicality, and his flashes of puck-moving ability that have the potential to become more consistent as he develops.
The Penguins possess a lot of depth at the defensive position, as guys like Harrison Brunicke, Owen Pickering, Emil Pieniniemi, and Finn Harding headline the upper part of the organizational depth chart. Two other blueliners in Charlie Trethewey (73rd overall) and Quinn Beauchesne (148th overall) - who were also drafted in 2025 - have higher ceilings than their draft positioning suggests.
At the end of the day, however, a true shutdown defenseman is something that the Penguins have lacked since the prime days of Brian Dumoulin, and it's something that they can definitely use in their prospect pool to complement some of their more offensive-minded defensemen. Kettles's skillset is unique within the organization, and he has a relatively high floor and a rangy ceiling.
For those reasons, he has earned a spot in our top-20 Penguins' prospects ranking.
Can Tristan Broz Surprise At Penguins Training Camp?Ville Koivunen, Rutger McGroarty, and Harrison Brunicke are the main young players that Pittsburgh Penguins fans are focused on going into training camp (and for good reason), but forward prospect Tristan Broz shouldn't be forgotten about.
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Feature image credit: Ed Fonger-Swift Current Broncos/WHL
Yankees' Aaron Boone talks decision to stick with struggling Devin Williams in loss to Rangers
Yankees fans may have been confused when they saw Devin Williams warming up to come in to pitch the eighth inning of a 0-0 game on Tuesday night.
It was less than 24 hours prior that manager Aaron Boone called on Williams to close out Monday's series opener against the Rangers. The closer allowed a game-tying homer to Joc Pederson in the Yankees' eventual loss in extra innings. So, in a high-leverage situation and riding a four-game losing streak, why did Boone call on Williams again?
"We got to piece it together there once Will [Warren] goes five, we’re set up there," Boone explained after the game. "Liked him in that middle with a handful of those righties. Obviously, just couldn’t finish it off."
Warren pitched in and out of trouble through five scoreless innings for the Yankees. Boone then used Camilo Doval and Luke Weaver to keep the Rangers off the board in the sixth and seventh innings. Unfortunately, Williams couldn't keep Texas off the board. After getting Marcus Semien to ground out to start the eighth, Adolis Garcia lined a double off the top of Jasson Dominguez's glove for a double. Williams then walked Pederson and Wyatt Langford to load the bases.
Boone had Mark Leiter Jr. -- activated Tuesday from the IL -- and David Bednar warming up, but the longtime skipper stuck with Williams. Unfortunately, Rowdy Tellez battled through a 10-pitch at-bat to line a two-run single, the difference in the game.
"I was going to maybe go with Bednar in a four-out situation," Boone said, giving his rationale for keeping Williams on the mound. "Just shorten the game a little bit. Not a lot left down there. Leiter being in a situation where he hasn’t pitched in a while. If I could get it to a four-out scenario, I was going to do it. Felt Devin could get some swing-and-miss there, but obviously didn’t."
"I don’t know what to say at this point," Williams said of his performance after the game. "Just continue to work, keep trying to execute and help the team any way I can."
Williams has now allowed 26 runs this season, which equals the runs allowed the three seasons prior combined.
It's been an up-and-down season for the first-year Yankee. Williams allowed 15 earned runs from March to May, losing the closer's role to Weaver. But once Weaver went down to injury, Williams regained his spot and to his credit, he excelled. In 10 appearances in June, Williams allowed just one run. He would stay solid until the end of July. Across his last four appearances, Williams has allowed six runs over 3.2 innings, blowing two saves in the process.
"Not sure [why Williams has struggled this year]. Obviously, in the middle here, he’s been really good," Boone said. "Lately, he’s had some struggles. We got to hopefully help him turn the corner and get part of a group that can still be very good down there.
"I don’t know stuff-wise is off. A little bit command, walks have hurt him here and there. Times when he gets behind in the count have hurt him a little bit. We have to get him turned around."
Tuesday's loss was more than just Williams allowing the go-ahead runs. The Yankees offense mustered just two hits against the Rangers and have now dropped five games in a row. What's worse, the Rangers have gained two games on New York in the Wild Card standings. After the loss, and the Mariners' victory, the Yankees fell to third in the Wild Card race and remain just 0.5 games ahead of the Rangers for that final spot.
A loss to the Rangers on Wednesday will see the Yankees out of the playoffs.
With that in mind, Boone was asked where he felt things are with his team.
"Not good," he said. "We got to put it on record. If we don’t win, it doesn’t matter. We play like this and don’t string wins together, it doesn’t matter. I remain confident in this group, but we continue to say that and we have to make it happen."
Max Muncy is back with four RBI's in Dodgers' rout of Cardinals
It might be a cliché this time of year, how injured players who return after the trade deadline can serve as de facto deadline acquisitions themselves.
But in the case of Max Muncy and the Dodgers, the team needed it to be true. Badly.
Immediately after Muncy went down with a knee injury in early July, the club’s lineup entered a deep midseason slump. Its actual deadline acquisitions, which included only one hitter in outfielder Alex Call, had underwhelmed the fan base.
Thus, when Muncy returned to action Monday night, the Dodgers were desperately hoping the veteran slugger could provide a spark.
Twenty-four hours later, he did it with two thunderous swings.
In the Dodgers’ 12-6 win over the St. Louis Cardinals, Muncy officially christened his comeback with a four-for-five, four-RBI performance that included a pair of no-doubt home runs off Miles Mikolas — picking up almost exactly where he left off before suffering a July 2 knee injury that he feared would end his season.
“As I was laying there on the ground that night, I thought for sure this is it,” Muncy recalled this week, after not only recovering from what proved to be just a bone bruise, but doing it two weeks faster than the initial six-week timeline the team had expected.
Read more:‘As lucky as we could be.’ Dodgers’ Max Muncy already recovering better than expected
“It’s hard to stay positive in a moment like that,” Muncy added, while reliving Michael A. Taylor’s slide into his left knee a month earlier. “But extremely thankful and blessed to be back on a baseball field this year.”
Muncy did have some rust to knock off, going hitless in three at-bats with a walk and strikeout in his first game back Monday night against crafty Cardinals right-hander Sonny Gray.
On Tuesday, however, Mikolas gave him the chance to do some long-awaited damage.
In the first inning, after Shohei Ohtani doubled and scored on a Freddie Freeman sacrifice fly, Muncy clobbered a center-cut, first-pitch sinker 416 feet into the right-field pavilion, giving the Dodgers a quick 2-0 lead.
In the third, after the Cardinals leveled the score on Nolan Gorman’s two-run homer off Emmet Sheehan an inning earlier, Muncy went deep again, whacking an elevated fastball 404 feet for a two-run blast.
The Dodgers (66-48) wouldn’t relinquish the lead again, going on to their first double-digit scoring effort since June 22 thanks to a five-run rally in the seventh, when Muncy also added an RBI single, and two more runs in the eighth, when Muncy tacked on his fourth hit.
Read more:Things are finally turning around for Dodgers' Roki Sasaki
There were other positive signs for the Dodgers’ recently scuffling lineup on Tuesday.
Mookie Betts, who was mired in a career-long five-game, 22 at-bat hitless streak, recorded three knocks: A double right before Muncy’s second homer in the third, a line-drive single in the fifth, and a seeing-eye grounder in the eighth.
Andy Pages, who was batting just .211 since the All-Star break, made hard contact on doubles in the sixth and the seventh.
And Teoscar Hernández, who was hitting just .213 since returning from a groin strain in May, came roaring to life with a two-homer game, going back-to-back with Muncy on a solo home run in the third before smashing a game-sealing three-run drive after Muncy's RBI single in the seventh.
Leading up to the deadline, manager Dave Roberts cited that subset of slumping hitters as potential quasi-deadline additions in their own right. Part of the reason for the team’s relative inaction at the deadline was its trust that the healthy, but scuffling, members of its lineup would get back on track down the stretch.
Still, Muncy’s eventual return had long been seen as the Dodgers’ biggest potential boon, especially after they went from leading the majors in scoring before he got hurt to ranking last in runs over the 25 games he missed.
“We’ve certainly missed him,” Roberts said ahead of Muncy’s return Monday. “The night he came off the field, you’re starting to think of it potentially being season-ending. So to get him back in a month, we’re all excited. He’s put in a lot of work to get back with this timeline. And yeah, we’ve needed him.”
Two games in, the importance of his return is already being felt.
Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
From the Pocket: nagging questions remain but Simon Goodwin’s gameplan ultimately marked his card
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At their very best, Simon Goodwin’s Demons would fight hand to hand, square metre by square metre. Their midfielders were like snorting bulls. Their ruckman was peerless. Their key defenders would patrol and gobble, deny and thwart. In just under an hour, it all came together in a flawless, torrential, still scarcely believable flood of goals.
At their very worst, Goodwin’s Demons were rigid, predictable, boring. They would blast and hope. They’d win the inside 50s and contested possession count and lose the match. While the rest of us stifled yawns, Goodwin would shrug his shoulders, shuffle his papers and talk about “learnings” and “contest and defence” and “honest conversations”. A week later, they’d be losing the same way and he’d be saying the same things.
Continue reading...Son Heung-min receives warm welcome in Los Angeles ahead of reported LAFC signing
The former Tottenham Hotspur star is reportedly joining LAFC on an MLS record $26.5 million transfer fee.
Knicks assistant coach target Mike Weinar staying with Pacers; Chris Jent remains candidate
With the Knicks finding their top defensive coach in Brendan O'Connor, the focus goes to the offense, but a potential name has dropped out of the running.
Sources tell SNY's Ian Begley that the Indiana Pacers' Mike Weinar has removed himself from consideration for a top Knicks assistant job running the offense. Weinar made his decision on Tuesday to remain with the Eastern Conference champion Pacers to coach alongside head coach Rick Carlisle.
The news was first reported by The New York Post's Stefan Bondy.
Weinar has been an assistant coach under Carlisle for seven seasons from 2018 to 2025 with the Dallas Mavericks and Pacers. The 41-year-old coach is under contract with the Pacers and would presumably be allowed to leave if for a promotion/raise.
A name that remains a candidate for the position is Chris Jent, who is currently under contract with the Charlotte Hornets. As Begley notes, Jent was on Brown's staff with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Jent was an assistant coach with the 76ers, Magic, Cavaliers, Kings, Hawks, Lakers and Hornets from 2003 to 2025. He was the interim coach for the Magic during the 2004-05 season, where he went 5-13.
SiriusXM's Frank Isola first reported Jent being a top candidate.
Brown will keep some coaches from Tom Thibodeau’s staff, including Darren Erman, Mark Bryant, Maurice Cheeks, Rick Brunson and Jordan Brink.
Which Penguins Could Get Extended Next Offseason?
The Pittsburgh Penguins are currently projected to have over $50 million of cap space going into the 2026-27 season. That number can and will change over the next calendar year, depending on the moves Penguins general manager and president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas decides to make.
Evgeni Malkin, Kevin Hayes, Anthony Mantha, Danton Heinen, Noel Acciari, Blake Lizotte, Connor Dewar, Matt Dumba, Connor Clifton, and Ryan Shea are all expected to be unrestricted free agents. Philip Tomasino, Arturs Silovs, and Alexander Alexeyev are slated to be restricted free agents.
Of the unrestricted free agents, Evgeni Malkin has the best chance to return next season, although speculation suggests he may retire. Malkin has not made any decision on his future and will likely take the Olympic break in February to think about it.
The Penguins are the only team he has ever played for, and he has gone on record numerous times saying he never wants to leave. He wants to retire as a Penguin and finish his career with Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang, his longtime teammates and best friends. If he decides he wants to keep playing, it won't be hard for the Penguins to hand him a one-year contract with a decent salary. He'll look to improve upon last season with better linemates this year.
When it comes to the other UFAs, Dubas will look to flip a good chunk of them at next season's deadline. Mantha has a good case to be this season's Anthony Beauvillier after the Penguins got a second-round pick for him during last season's trade deadline. Beauvillier compiled 13 goals and 20 points while playing in a top-nine role. Mantha is coming off a torn ACL but did score 23 goals during the 2023-24 season.
Hayes, Heinen, Acciari, Lizotte, and Dewar are all depth forwards that contenders could look at to bolster their lineups at the deadline. However, of those players, Dewar might have the best chance to stay, mainly if he builds upon his late-season success from last year. He was a forechecking menace down the stretch and compiled four goals and seven points in 17 games for the Penguins. Dewar is also still only 26, and the front office wants to keep getting younger, so that could work in his favor.
Dumba, Clifton, and Shea are depth defensemen, and general managers love trading for those types of players at the deadline. For Dumba and Clifton specifically, they will have to have bounce-back seasons since they weren't good last season. Clifton himself even said he wasn't happy with his game last season and felt like he "lost himself."
"I feel like I kind of lost myself. The change of scenery, I got that call that I'm going to be a Pittsburgh Penguin, and I was really excited for the change. I want to get back to my old self, and how I play, and the impact that I have on the game. It was a couple of mental battles… but, you just try to simplify and be who you are, I guess," Clifton told reporters during a media session in July.
Of the restricted free agents, Tomasino and Silovs have the best chance of being on the Penguins for the entire 2025-26 season. Tomasino can be a bit of a streaky scorer, but if he shows more consistency throughout the year, he will be in a prime position to sign an extension. He'll likely get plenty of top-nine and PP2 minutes during the year under the new coaching staff.
The Penguins traded for Silovs to improve their depth at the goaltending position, given his outstanding performance for the Abbotsford Canucks in the AHL Playoffs. He was the MVP of the Calder Cup Playoffs and helped the baby Canucks win the Calder Cup, finishing with a 16-7 record, a 2.01 goals-against average, and a .931 save percentage.
Former Penguins Forward Remains A Free AgentWith August here, we have seen most of this year's unrestricted free agents (UFAs) get signed. Although this is the case, there are still some veteran UFAs who rmeain unsigned, and one of them is former Pittsburgh Penguins forward Brock McGinn.
His NHL sample during the 2024-25 season wasn't strong, but he did everything in his power to help the Canucks try and advance over the Edmonton Oilers in the second round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs before they lost in seven games. There is a lot of potential here, and there's a good chance he will push Tristan Jarry for playing time during the season.
Alexeyev will be involved in a battle for a roster spot on the left side of the defense, but could be brought back as cheap depth if he shows enough at the AHL and NHL level. He signed a one-year $775,000 deal with the Penguins when free agency opened.
The Penguins made quite a few changes this offseason and could still make more, depending on whether they make a trade or two. Erik Karlsson, Rickard Rakell, and Bryan Rust are still with the Penguins as of now. However, there will likely be even more changes next season thanks to their free agency situation and where they are in their rebuild.
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Featured Image Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
Mets' Carlos Mendoza defends decision to pull Clay Holmes after five innings against Guardians
With Tuesday's 3-2 loss to the Guardians, the Mets have lost seven of their last eight games dating back to July 28. The team's starting pitchers, with the exception of David Peterson, have all failed to make it through the sixth inning during that stretch.
Overall, the last Mets pitcher not named Peterson to complete six innings was Clay Holmes on June 7.
That streak continued Tuesday as manager Carlos Mendoza pulled Holmes after just 75 pitches through five innings in a 2-2 game. Holmes retired the first nine Guardians he faced, but let up three hits and two runs in the fourth inning, before bouncing back for another 1-2-3 inning in the fifth. RHP Tyler Rogers eventually let up the go-ahead run in the seventh as New York would lose its third straight contest.
After the game, Mendoza defended the decision to go to the bullpen when he did.
"Yeah, I mean we're set up bullpen-wise there third time through," Mendoza said. "He was really good the first time through the lineup and then we saw the second time, that fourth inning, they gave him a hard time. I knew I was going to be aggressive there. The game's tied and we were set up with our bullpen guys, and we got the matchups we wanted. He did his part, he did his job."
When asked if he would have been able to pitch the sixth inning, as it appeared he had enough in the tank to do so, Holmes said he felt good but understood Mendoza's decision.
"Yeah, I mean I was feeling good, obviously it's not really my call," Holmes said. "All things considered, he felt like it was best to go to the pen there. Yeah, I was feeling good, felt like I was still able to throw the sinker down and getting outs with it.
"Just one of those things when you're in a pennant race and you have a bullpen like we do, and games are really close, there's going to be some of those decisions where everything's not really in your control. He made the decision what he thought was best, best for the team, best for the win. I said, 'Everything's not really in your control.' It's really what's best for the team there."
The right-hander said he didn't plead his case to go back out for the sixth inning, trusting the manager's move.
"No, I mean he seemed pretty confident in what he wanted to do. It was his decision," Holmes added.
Holmes is now up to a career-high 122.1 IP on the season, his first as a full-time starting pitcher. His previous career high for innings pitched came in 2021 when he threw 70.0 IP between the Pirates and Yankees. He's thrown 63.2, 63.0, and 63.0 innings in each of the past three seasons with the Yanks. The righty knows he's reaching a point where the team needs to be careful and think about the long-term implications.
"I'm feeling good," Holmes said. "Up to this point in the season, this amount of innings, I'm really kind of encouraged where I'm at. But at the same time, you can't totally be shortsighted and just totally go off how I may be feeling now. It's a really hard thing to do, just go out and triple your innings.
"Especially, like I said, we're in a pennant race and we plan to be playing in October. We all need to be our best down the stretch. Just to run full speed right now when we need to be our best down the stretch, there's more things to take into consideration. The reality of it is, yeah, my innings are getting up there. We just want to keep me feeling good. Right now, I feel like I'm in a good spot, bouncing back well. There's still more to take into account than right now."
Mendoza went with Gregory Soto first out of the bullpen, before turning to Rogers in the seventh. The trade deadline acquisition had been solid in his two previous outings with the team, but he gave up his first run as a Met and it proved to be the deciding factor.
"Yeah, I mean he's a ground ball guy and a couple of ground balls found holes," Mendoza said. "Gets two outs and then before you know it, ground ball gets through the other way, bloop single, and then the ball up the middle. That's exactly what Rogers is, gonna get ground balls from lefties and righties, and today they found holes."
New York will turn back to Peterson in the series finale against the Guardians on Wednesday, needing a strong outing from a starting pitcher and some help from the offense to end their slump.
Yankees' offense a no-show, Devin Williams allows go-ahead runs in 2-0 loss to Rangers
Even with a returning Aaron Judge, the Yankees' offense was dominated by Nathan Eovaldi and Devin Williams allowed the winning run as New York fell 2-0 to the Rangers on Tuesday night.
The Yankees mustered just two hits and did not have a walk as they have now lost five games in a row.
Here are the takeaways....
-Judge returned after spending 10 days on the IL with a forearm strain but he didn't look like himself at the plate, and that was in large part due to. Eovaldi got the slugger to strike out on four pitches with the splitter down in the zone, getting Judge swinging. Eovaldi got Judge swinging on a low splitter again in the fourth.
Judge's other at-bats include a groundout on a fastball running in on the hands and finished 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.
-Will Warren had to grind on Tuesday. He allowed a runner to get into scoring position in his first four innings with walks attributed to his inefficiency. He worked in and out of trouble, especially in the second when he walked the first two batters. He also escaped the third after he allowed a leadoff double. A Joc Pederson leadoff double in the fourth was also squandered by the Rangers as Texas was a futile 0-for-10 with RISP through four innings.
Warren would gut through five scoreless innings, tossing 98 pitches (52 strikes), allowing three hits, walking three batters and striking out five batters.
-The Yankees bullpen also kept the Rangers in check. Camilo Doval was first out of the pen and after allowing back-to-back singles to start the sixth, he worked out of trouble. Luke Weaver allowed a two-out double in the seventh but struck out Corey Seager to end the threat.
Devin Williams, less than 24 hours after giving up the game-tying homer, came out for the eighth. Adolis Garcia hit a one-out double off the top of Jasson Dominguez's glove to set the Rangers up. Pederson and Wyatt Langford walked to load the bases for Rowdy Tellez. The left-handed slugger dumped a two-run single into center field after a 10-pitch at-bat to give the Rangers a 2-0 lead. A returning Mark Leiter Jr. got the final out of the eighth.
The Tellez hit was the only one Texas had with RISP and they finished 1-for-16 with 10 left on base.
Williams has allowed 26 runs this season. He allowed just 26 runs from 2022-24.
-In the ninth, Ryan McMahon picked up the team's second hit -- the first Yankee hit since an Anthony Volpe double in the third inning. He was erased by a Giancarlo Stanton double-play. The slugger pinch-hit for Volpe before Trent Grisham struck out to end the game.
Game MVP: Nathan Eovaldi
Eovaldi continued his dominance of his former team, and gave his team a chance to win despite Texas' poor hitting.
What's next
The Yankees and Rangers complete their three-game series on Wednesday afternoon. First pitch is set for 2:35 p.m.
Carlos Rodon (11-7, 3.34 ERA) is on the mound with the Rangers sending Jack Leiter (7-6, 4.10 ERA) to the bump.