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SEE IT: Mets show off new purple sleeves with City Connect uniform

Saturday marked the first City Connect day for the Mets, and this season, they unveiled a new combination to go with their gray jerseys: purple sleeves.

Watching the Mets take on the Toronto Blue Jays on a chilly night at Citi Field, you'll notice the vibrant purple sleeves underneath the jersey and running up the arms of players.

The Mets debuted the City Connects on the field on April 27, 2024. That deep into spring, there weren't many days that the Mets needed to use undersleeves, and at that time, they were black/dark grey -- some players still wear these colors. So this is a nice change that accentuates their alternate jersey and hat. You can learn all about the design, here.

And check out the purple sleeves on the Mets City Connect uniform below.

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Knicks' Tom Thibodeau rebukes notion Jalen Brunson return will affect OG Anunoby's play

The Knicks have played admirably without Jalen Brunson since the All-Star point guard went down with a sprained ankle in early March.

After Saturday's dominant win over the Atlanta Hawks, the Knicks are 9-6 without their captain, and some players have elevated their play on the offensive end in their stead. This is especially true for OG Anunoby.

The 6-foot-7 wing is scoring at a torrid pace. Just over his last five games, Anunoby is averaging 26.6 points and entering Saturday with 5.2 free throws per game since Brunson's injury, showing how willing he is to drive to the hoop. But with Brunson expected to return Sunday against the Phoenix Suns, questions on how the offense will flow with their floor general back have popped up.

Following Saturday's win, Tom Thibodeau was asked if Anunoby's style will "have to change" once Brunson returns. The longtime Knicks coach pushed back.

"The notion of all that stuff, it's white noise," he said. "The game tells you what to do, you know? So, whose shot is it in transition? The open man, right? And if there's two on somebody, who shot is it, right? You have the responsibility as a primary scorer to make the right play. So, the notion that it has to be this way, that way, no. There has to be a willingness to sacrifice by everybody.

"The team has to come first. What's best for our team? What gives the team the best chance to win? And that's all everyone should be thinking about. They shouldn't be thinking about who's doing this, who's doing that. That's not the way this game works. If you care about winning, that stuff shouldn't matter."

A follow-up question to Thibodeau asked who "ends up getting the shot" with Brunson on the floor, and pointed to how during this stretch, Anunoby is "spending less time in the corners." Thibodeau pushed back even harder and broke down how he sees the responsibilities of everyone on the floor, whether Brunson is on the floor or not.

"No, [Anunoby] never spent exclusively… that notion's a bunch of garbage. I'll tell you another thing: I value the corners a lot more than most people because I know that's the most valuable spot on the floor," Thibodeau said. "He's all over the floor. That's the way he's scoring. That's the way everybody's scoring. So if you have a drive pass, pass who's supposed to be in the corner? It's drive and kick and if you're cutting and you're moving without the ball, which is what you're supposed to do, right?

"If you push the ball up, your first responsibility is to create pace. Your second responsibility is to create movement and everyone's supposed to read the man in front of them. So, if you're reading the man in front of you and he cuts, then you replace in front, right? That's the way this game works. So that's a bunch of excuse-making. And that's the way I see it." 

Fiery exchanges aside, there's no denying how well-oiled the Knicks' offense has looked in stretches, especially on Saturday. Against the Hawks, the Knicks scored a season-high 78 points in the first half and had 32 assists, the 27th time this season they've hit the 30-assist mark. They accomplished that feat just 10 times a season ago.

Those extra passes were a key in Saturday's win, and Thibodeau is pleased with how the offense is humming just as Brunson is returning.

"I think it's huge, and to succeed in this league, you have to do it together," Thibodeau said. "You can't win at the highest level in this league individually, you have to do it collectively. So everyone had to be willing to sacrifice. I think offense is about execution. Everyone has a job to do. You have to go out there and do your job and you have to help each other.

"Everyone works together and hits the open man, pass up a good shot to get a great shot, but that willingness to be unselfish and play for each other is huge."

The Knicks hope to continue their winning ways Sunday against the Suns with Brunson on the court. The guard will have five games before the end of the regular season -- and the start of the playoffs -- to get reacclimated and prove that the Knicks' offense can continue to run like he'd never left.

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Michkov has point streak snapped as Flyers lose to Hutson, Canadiens

Michkov has point streak snapped as Flyers lose to Hutson, Canadiens originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Interim head coach Brad Shaw was hoping the Flyers would play the role of spoiler Saturday night at a lively Bell Centre.

For two periods, it looked like they might. But the Flyers were unable to build on a 1-0 lead and fell to the Canadiens, 3-2.

Ryan Poehling scored his career-high 12th goal and eighth in the last 11 games with a first-period marker.

Montreal finally responded 1:24 minutes into the third period and then took the lead just 1:16 minutes later. It added a shorthanded goal a little over midway through the frame to pretty much put the Flyers away.

Tyson Foerster scored with 40 seconds left to make it interesting. The goal came with the Flyers’ net emptied for the two-man advantage on a power play.

The Flyers (31-37-9) saw a three-game winning streak come to an end, dropping to 3-1-0 under Shaw. They haven’t won more than three straight since Feb. 6-12 of last season, when they won four in a row.

Saturday night’s loss officially eliminated the Flyers from postseason contention. They’ve gone five straight seasons without a playoff berth, matching the franchise’s longest drought.

The Flyers went 1-2-0 against the Canadiens (37-30-9). The win came nine days ago, a 6-4 decision at the Wells Fargo Center after John Tortorella was fired in the morning.

Montreal holds the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot by four points.

“If we can go in and spoil somebody’s party, there are a few things in hockey that feel really good, that’s one of them,” Shaw said Friday after practice. “It’s fun to go in and be the spoiler. It’s fun to go in and take the life out of a building. That’s a hard thing to do this time of year.”

• In a showdown of Calder Trophy candidates, Lane Hutson scored the Canadiens’ go-ahead 2-1 goal with a ridiculous shot and Matvei Michkov had a six-game point streak halted. He put up four goals and seven assists over that run.

On Saturday night, Michkov had three shots and a minus-2 mark in 23:04 minutes.

Hutson, a 21-year-old defenseman, is the likely front-runner for the Calder Trophy. He leads all rookies with 63 points (six goals, 57 assists) and is playing big minutes for a team that could be headed to the postseason.

The 20-year-old Michkov leads all NHL rookies with 24 goals to go along with 58 points.

• Samuel Ersson was very good over the first two periods before allowing three goals in the final stanza.

The 25-year-old didn’t play the puck well on the sequence that led to Nick Suzuki’s shorthanded marker.

Ersson made 23 saves on 26 shots. In his last 12 appearances, Ersson has gone 3-6-2 and allowed 46 goals.

Montreal netminder Sam Montembeault stopped 21 of the Flyers’ 23 shots.

• The Flyers have five games left and could finish fourth to last in the NHL standings. But they’re also just three points back of the Ducks and Penguins, who are tied for the league’s eighth-fewest points.

So there’s still potential for a lot of movement when it comes to the 2025 NHL draft lottery odds.

• Karsen Dorwart, who the Flyers signed a week ago, made his NHL debut. The 22-year-old center played on the Flyers’ fourth line with Nicolas Deslauriers and Garnet Hathaway.

The Michigan State product had two shots and two hits in 10:32 minutes.

Dorwart’s parents Gregg and Janelle and sister Kalli were in attendance to see his debut. He became the ninth player from Oregon to ever make the NHL.

“I was blessed to have so many influential people that helped me during my time there and just growing up,” the Sherwood native said Wednesday. “They deserve all the credit in the world to help me get to the next point.”

• The Flyers are back in action Wednesday when they visit the Rangers at Madison Square Garden (7:30 p.m. ET/TNT).

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Trent Grisham smacks two homers in Yankees' 10-4 beatdown of Pirates

The Yankees' power came from an unlikely source on Saturday afternoon, as backup outfielder Trent Grisham delivered two home runs in a 10-4 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park.

Here are the takeaways...

-- Cody Bellinger was left out of the lineup for a second straight game due to back tightness, but the veteran outfielder took swings in the cage before Saturday's game and downplayed the issue overall. In his place, the Yankees once again turned to Grisham off the bench, and he made the most of his opportunity by delivering a solo homer over the right-field scoreboard in the third inning.

-- New York drew first blood in the second, however, when Austin Wells drove in Jazz Chisholm Jr. with a one-out single through the middle infield. The second-year catcher earned the base knock, too, as he fouled off four straight two-strike pitches from Pirates starter Bailey Falter before reaching base. Wells nearly punished Falter again in the fourth inning with a deep fly to left that landed just short of the wall. It would've been a homer in 16 other ballparks, per Baseball Savant.

-- In his second start of the season, Marcus Stroman struggled to clip the edges and watched his pitch count rise. While he allowed just one baserunner through three innings, mistakes mounted in the fourth when a pair of walks snowballed into a four-run Pirates rally. The veteran right-hander was replaced by Tim Hill in the fifth, after allowing three hits and three walks with three strikeouts (74 pitches).

-- Pittsburgh's time with the lead didn't long at all. A leadoff double from Jasson Dominguez and a single from Oswald Peraza was followed by another homer from Grisham, this time to left. The Yankees' outburst didn't end there, either. Anthony Volpe eventually joined in on the fun with a three-run double to deep center that bumped their lead to 8-4. The six-run fifth brought 10 batters to the plate and knocked Falter out midway through.

-- The Yankees' decision to pull Stroman after only four innings and rely on the bullpen for 15 outs certainly paid off. After a scoreless fifth from Hill, relievers Mark Leiter Jr., Fernando Cruz, and Ryan Yarbrough combined for five sharp shutout innings with seven strikeouts.

-- The top half of the Yankees' lineup didn't inflict much damage, but Paul Goldschmidt enjoyed a three-hit afternoon that included an RBI single in the eighth. Peraza also collected two hits in four at-bats, while Ben Rice went 1-for-5 in the two-spot as their designated hitter. The last player to join the hit party was ironically Aaron Judge (1-for-4, two runs), playing in his 1,001st career game.

Game MVP: Trent Grisham

Opportunity has knocked for the backup outfielder thus far, and he's lived up to the challenge. He's hitting a crisp .471 through 21 plate appearances, and Saturday marked the second multi-homer game of his career. He first achieved the feat in 2020, belting three with the San Diego Padres.

What's next

The Yankees (6-2) will look for their second sweep (weather permitting) over an NL Central team on Sunday afternoon, with first pitch in Pittsburgh scheduled for 1:35 p.m. Will Warren is slated to make his second start, opposite veteran lefty Andrew Heaney.

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Boston Celtics set new record for most 3-pointers made in a season

It was clear where this was headed on opening night, when the Boston Celtics hung a banner and then launched 61 3-pointers, making 29, on their way to routing the Knicks.

Friday night, Boston set the record for most 3-pointers made in a season — 1,364 — when Payton Pritchard knocked one down from beyond the arc early in the second quarter. By the end of the game, the Celtics had made 1,370 3-pointers, and they have five games remaining.

The previous record belonged to Stephen Curry and the 2022-23 Golden State Warriors.

The Celtics aren't done setting records from beyond the arc, even if everything isn't official yet. Utah holds the record for the most average 3-point shots made per game (16.7, during the 2020-21 season), but Boston will pass that at 17.9 per game. The most 3-pointers attempted by a team per game were the James Harden Rockets in 2018-19 at 45.4, but the Celtics are at 48.5 per game this season.

While the Celtics have shooting everywhere on the court — Jayson Tatum is taking 10 3-pointers a game but there is also Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, Jaylen Brown, Kristaps Porzingis, Jrue Holiday and on down the line — the real credit goes to Joe Mazzulla. The Celtics have led the league in 3-point attempts in each of Mazzulla's three seasons as the shot is central to his attack. It has worked, the Celtics have a ring and are the betting favorites to win another this year.

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Roki Sasaki shows glimpses of his future star potential in Dodgers' win

Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Roki Sasaki throws during the first inning of a baseball game.
Dodgers starting pitcher Roki Sasaki delivers in the first inning of a 3-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday. (Laurence Kesterson / Associated Press)

The Dodgers, as manager Dave Roberts had said repeatedly when asked about Roki Sasaki over the season’s first few weeks, knew what they signed up for.

When they signed the 23-year-old Japanese phenom this offseason, the Dodgers were mesmerized with Sasaki’s stuff; from his upper-90s mph fastball to a forkball-grip splitter that their evaluators (like much the rest of the baseball industry) graded as an elite-level pitch.

But they also knew that Sasaki was not a finished product; the kind of developing talent who, with lesser stuff, would almost certainly be in the minors polishing his craft.

Read more:Letters: Sports and politics collide with Dodgers' planned White House visit

As a result, the challenge for this season, at least, was how Sasaki could keep improving the finer details of his game while acclimating to an immediate transition from Japan to the big leagues.

And in what was easily the best of his three rookie-season starts so far on Saturday, Sasaki finally laid the foundation that could allow for future growth.

Unlike in his first two outings, when Sasaki wildly sprayed his fastball and worked from behind in what felt like every at-bat, the right-hander finally showed some consistent command in the Dodgers’ 3-1 win against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.

For the first time, his shotgun fastball actually hit the right locations.

For the first time, he got to go on the attack — as Roberts had hoped he would pregame — and use his wicked splitter as the putaway weapon it’s intended to be.

Over four-plus innings, Sasaki allowed just one run on three hits, all of them singles. After walking nine batters in his first two outings, which lasted a combined 4 ⅔ innings, he issued just two free passes Saturday.

Most of all, with the help of first-pitch strikes to 13 of his 17 batters, and balls on only 27 of his 68 total pitches, Sasaki worked a pitcher’s count to almost everyone he faced. And seemingly every time he got ahead, catcher Austin Barnes quickly dialed up a splitter, using his signature pitch for all four of his strikeouts in the game.

It was the kind of performance the Dodgers envisioned from Sasaki during his early transition to the majors. The kind of effective, if not flawless, execution that should quiet any questions about whether Sasaki needs time in the minors to improve — for now, at least.

Sasaki’s only real trouble came in the first inning, when the Phillies led the game off with back-to-back singles from Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner, leading to a quick run.

After that, Sasaki retired his next nine in a row, and 12 of 13 overall, before a borderline walk call and bloop single to right ended his day with no outs in the fifth — an intentionally early hook on a day the Dodgers had a rested bullpen.

Read more:Hernández: Roki Sasaki isn't an instant star. But the Dodgers don't need him to be one

With virtually non-existent command in his first two MLB starts, Sasaki was largely in survival mode then, doing all he could to simply get the ball over the plate on most of his throws.

Saturday was different. With his fastball, Sasaki hit the zone on 25 of 35 throws. And as a result, he threw just one of his 28 splitters from behind in the count — when hitters are more likely to take the late-breaking, knuckleball-esque offering for a ball.

The Phillies still spit on plenty of splitters, swinging at the pitch only 10 times. But when they did try to attack it, they could do nothing with it, whiffing on the pitch five times and recording outs on the only two that were put in play.

The Dodgers’ bats, meanwhile, provided Sasaki with just enough support. Kiké Hernández flipped the early one-run deficit in the second inning, hitting a two-run, go-ahead blast for his third home run of the year (which represent all three of his hits through the first 10 games). Michael Conforto added insurance in the sixth with a solo home run, continuing his strong start to his debut Dodgers season (.308 batting average, 1.111 OPS, five RBIs).

The Dodgers bullpen was also excellent once again, lowering their early-season ERA as a unit to 1.94 with five scoreless innings. The defense chipped in, too, with Teoscar Hernández saving a run on a potential sacrifice fly in the fifth by doubling off Bryson Stott at first base with a strong throw.

Nonetheless, Saturday was all about Sasaki’s improved performance — one that could serve as an auspicious blueprint for the rest of his rookie season.

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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Blues Top Prospect Jimmy Snuggerud Has Golden Opportunity

Jimmy Snuggerud (© Jeff Curry-Imagn Images)

St. Louis Blues top prospect Jimmy Snuggerud had a big moment in the club's April 3 contest against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The 6-foot-1 forward recorded his first NHL point by picking up the primary assist on Jake Neighbours' goal. 

Blues' Jimmy Snuggerud Is Already Impressing Big TimeBlues' Jimmy Snuggerud Is Already Impressing Big TimeOn March 28, the St. Louis Blues signed top prospect Jimmy Snuggerud to a three-year entry-level contract. This was after the 20-year-old forward posted 24 goals, 27 assists, and 51 points in 40 games this season with the University of Minnesota. 

Now, after his strong night against the Penguins, Snuggerud is being rewarded. At the club's morning skate, Snuggerud was moved up to the Blues' top line with Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich, with Dylan Holloway out due to injury. 

Assuming they stick to their morning skate lines for their April 5 contest against the Colorado Avalanche, Snuggerud will have a golden opportunity to show the Blues what he can do playing in a more prominent role. In addition, he now has the chance to play on a line with two of the Blues' top forwards.

Snuggerud showed at the collegiate level with the University of Minnesota that he is a highly skilled offensive player. In 40 games this season with the school, he dominated, posting 24 goals and 51 points. Over his entire three-year stint with the school, he had 66 goals, 69 assists, and 135 points in 119 contests. 

It will now be fascinating to see what Snuggerud can do playing on a line with two stars like Thomas and Buchnevich from here. 

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Alex Ovechkin and Wayne Gretzky are tied at 894 goals. Ovechkin can break the record Sunday

WASHINGTON — Alex Ovechkin cracked a Bud Light and casually took a sip as nearby fans chanted, “Ovi! Ovi!” He was soon joined by Wayne Gretzky to put the two greatest goal-scorers in NHL history side by side.

At this moment, they are tied at 894 goals apiece after Ovechkin scored twice Friday night to match Gretzky’s total that many thought no one would ever approach. When Ovechkin was asked his feeling about breaking the record, the “Great One” had a great retort.

“Well hold on a second — he hasn’t done it yet,” Gretzky said. “Can you give me 24 more hours?”

Gretzky gets at least that. Ovechkin’s next chance to pass Gretzky comes Sunday in a matinee at the New York Islanders.

All eyes will be on the 39-year-old Russian superstar, who soaked in the moment of celebrating No. 894 in front of Washington Capitals fans who have cheered him on for his two decades in the league and with Gretzky, his mother, wife and children in attendance. As reflective as Ovechkin was about getting there, he instantly went back to his standard answer when asked about when he might break the record.

“It’s game by game; it’s shift by shift,” Ovechkin said. “You never know what’s gonna happen. We just gonna to continue to enjoy it and continue to do our best because we still have six games left before playoffs and our mind right now is get ready for the playoffs and play the right way in the playoffs.”

The playoffs are six games away, but the Capitals first want to make sure Ovechkin gets the record all to himself.

“There’s a reason we try to get it to him: The guy’s got 41 goals,” said center Dylan Strome, who set up Ovechkin’s 893rd goal four minutes into the game against Chicago. “It’s incredible.”

If Ovechkin is unable to score Sunday at the Islanders, the Capitals next play back at home Thursday night against division-rival Carolina. But everyone around the team would like to get this over with as soon as possible, something Gretzky knows from his own pursuit of Gordie Howe’s then-record of 801 in the spring of 1994.

“People don’t realize this — because I went through what Alex is going through — it’s hard on your teammates, too,” Gretzky said. “It’s joyful and it’s exciting, but they feel the pressure and the stress and they have to answer all the questions, also.”

After Ovechkin tied Gretzky, they were more than happy to answer the questions. They could feel the anticipation building toward Ovechkin — the 2018 playoff MVP in leading the Capitals to their first Stanley Cup championship — doing something else special.

“I think the last few games you could sense it a little bit, but obviously on home ice within something extremely doable for the guy, it felt different the whole night,” said longtime teammate John Carlson, who passed the puck to Ovechkin for No. 894. “From warmups, from the drop of the puck, some guys are larger than life in that regard and it just seems like only a few people are capable of it. It seemed inevitable.”

Inevitable until he breaks it, as well. As Gretzky got up to leave the postgame festivities, he hugged Ovechkin and waved and said, “See you guys on Sunday.”

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Lee shows no hesitation while leading Giants to sixth straight win

Lee shows no hesitation while leading Giants to sixth straight win originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO — The ball hit the warning track and quickly bounced over the wall in center field, but Jung Hoo Lee didn’t see it, or he just didn’t care. He knows only one way to play the game, and when he hit a laser into the gap in the sixth inning of a one-run game Saturday, he put his head down and dug deep. 

Lee’s helmet flew off as he rounded first, and he made the turn at second and kept flying for third. As some Seattle Mariners fielders looked around in confusion, Lee for a moment looked like he might round all of the bases. Finally, he saw the stop sign from Matt Williams, indicating it was a ground rule double. 

Lee’s all-out style made him a popular player in South Korea, and a high-priority target for the Giants before last season. But just 37 games into his big league career, he crashed into the center field wall at Oracle Park, suffering the second major shoulder injury of his career. Many players might show some hesitation after that kind of injury, but this spring, Lee insisted he wouldn’t change the way he plays the game. Through two games back home, it’s clear he was telling the truth.

Lee had two doubles, a single, a stolen base and two runs in a 4-1 win over the Mariners, the sixth straight for the Giants. He also backed into the center field wall in the second inning, giving him three close encounters in his first 13 innings back at Oracle Park. 

All three times, Lee got a tremendous jump. All three times, he made the play at the track with no concern for what might happen if he hit the wall again.

“There’s no fear going back there,” he said through interpreter Justin Han. “The warning track is wide and we have padding. I’ll go [all-out] there at the moment.”

The Giants always figured that style would make Lee a fan favorite and a very productive outfielder, and this season that’s happening quickly. They created the Jung Hoo Crew in the outfield, a fan section devoted to their center fielder, but when he came to the plate Saturday, the entire stadium joined in with the rhythmic chanting of “Jung Hoo Lee.” It got louder with every base hit for a player who is batting .321 early on.

Both doubles were followed by Matt Chapman doubles, providing enough offense a day after the highest-scoring opener in Oracle Park history. When Bob Melvin moved Lee to the three-hole this spring, this is exactly what he envisioned. Chapman was among MLB leaders in doubles last year, and Lee, if he is on base, should score easily.

“It’s really fun hitting behind him,” Chapman said, smiling. “He gets on base a lot.”

Chapman added that what is most impressive is the fact that this is all still new to Lee. He was able to soak in a fair amount of knowledge by watching games after the injury last year, but he is still learning big league pitching. He was on the IL when the Giants played the Mariners last season. 

“It just goes to show how well he is able to prepare and how good of a player he is,” Chapman said. 

The Giants have always viewed Lee as a potential batting champion, and this year they’re eager to see the other tools. His stolen base was his third of the 2025 MLB season, surpassing last year’s total of two in five attempts. The Giants have stolen 11 as a team and been caught just once. 

“It seems like all of them have been really impactful,” Melvin said. “When we steal a base, we end up scoring a run.”

Melvin told Lee this spring that he should avoid diving, but the restraints came off when Opening Day arrived. Lee had a good trip, but he has taken it to another level at the start of this homestand. On Saturday, he made an impact at the plate, on the bases and in center field, doing exactly what the Giants envisioned when they gave him a long-term deal.

“It feels like he never missed a beat,” Melvin said. “Every game it seems like his timing is that much better. He’s pulling balls, hitting balls up the middle, hitting it to the left-center-field gap, he’s always balanced. There’s a reason we got him and a reason he’s hitting in the three-hole.”

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Historic stat shows Giants face tough fight in stacked NL West

Historic stat shows Giants face tough fight in stacked NL West originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

After the Giants’ 4-1 win over the Seattle Mariners on Saturday at Oracle Park, San Francisco is off to its best start since the 2003 MLB season at 7-1.

But, unfortunately for the Giants, the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres also are red-hot. All three NL West teams are so hot, in fact, their season-opening records are historic.

The Dodgers (9-1), Padres (7-2) and Giants are the first trio of teams since the start of the divisional era in 1969 to start 7-1 or better through eight games, per MLB’s Sarah Langs. Additionally, Langs noted, it’s just the second time in MLB history that three teams in the same league started 7-1 through eight games, joining the American League’s New York Yankees, Kansas City Royals and then-Oakland Athletics in 2003.

With the Dodgers’ lineup full of superstars and MLB’s No. 2 payroll ($321.3M), Los Angeles’ 9-1 record comes as no surprise. And the Padres, who cracked the league’s top-10 payrolls this season at $209M (No. 9) and made the MLB playoffs as a wild-card team last season with a 93-69 record, are impressing again early on.

But after a subpar 80-82 finish in 2024, new Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey brought a revived culture — and a couple of key free-agent additions — to San Francisco, and the early returns are promising. The Giants won their sixth consecutive game Saturday, instilling hope in fans eager for a return to the team’s past championship glory.

It’s clear a path to the postseason won’t be easy. But if the Giants can keep stacking wins across their 162-game campaign, there could be magic inside Oracle Park once again.

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