CINCINNATI, OHIO - APRIL 30: Tyler Freeman #2 of the Colorado Rockies celebrates with Andy González #81 as he rounds the bases after hitting a two-run home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park on April 30, 2026 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Jeff Dean/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Missed opportunities at the plate once again spelled doom for the Colorado Rockies as they dropped the rubber match 6-4 to the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday. The Rockies end the road trip having gone 4-2 and end the month of April 13-14.
Striking First
The Rockies started the game on a high note against Andrew Abbott. Brenton Doyle managed to draw a one-out walk in the top of the first inning to give Colorado the first baserunner. After Hunter Goodman was called out on strikes, and Doyle swiped his seventh bag of the year, it fell to Tyler Freeman to bring him home. Notoriously good with runners in scoring position, Freeman again came up in the clutch to belt a two-run home run to right field and give the Rockies an early 2-0 lead. It was the first home run of the season for Freeman that traveled 357 feet to right field.
With an immediate lead in hand, Michael Lorenzen set out to work against the Reds’ lineup. Cincinnati got on the board in the bottom of the second inning thanks to the red-hot Nathaniel Lowe. The first-baseman blasted an 84.2 mph 0-1 changeup from Lorenzen 399 feet, his fifth home run of the season. Unfazed, Lorenzen continued to attack the zone, putting up zeroes over the next two innings.
The Reds struck again in the fifth after Spencer Steer drew a lead-off walk. After a strikeout of Will Benson, TJ Friedl stepped up to the plate and delivered a go-ahead home run to give the Reds a 3-2 lead. A fastball on the inside part of the plate was lofted out to right field and while it looked like Troy Johnston may have a chance at a play, the ball got out just far enough out of reach for Friedl’s second home run of the year.
Lorenzen was chased from the game after giving up a one-out double to Lowe in the bottom of the sixth, who would eventually score. His day ended after 5.1 innings of work, having allowed four runs on four hits with five strikeouts and two walks. While the box score may not reflect it, Lorenzen pitched fairly well in the game.
Once again, the Rockies found themselves in a familiar situation they were in on Tuesday offensively. Before the Friedl home run in the bottom half of the fifth inning, the Rockies had their best chance to score in the top half. Kyle Karros, Ezequiel Tovar, and Jordan Beck all managed to reach, loading the bases with one out. Leading 2-1 at the time, the Rockies needed to keep building and had Doyle coming up to the plate. Unfortunately, he poked a groundball to Elly De La Cruz, who promptly fired the ball home for the forceout. Goodman then followed with a strikeout to end the scoring threat.
Colorado didn’t manage to score again until the ninth inning after the Reds built up a 6-2 lead. Mickey Moniak delivered an RBI single, and Jake McCarthy drove in another on a sacrifice fly. Representing the tying run, Goodman flew out to center field to end the rally.
On the day the Rockies out-hit the Reds 9-7, while striking out nine times and drawing three walks.
Up Next
The Rockies head home to welcome the Atlanta Braves to Coors Field on Friday. Jose Quintana (1-2, 4.91 ERA) will take the mound and face off against Grant Holmes (2-1, 3.62 ERA).
The Minnesota Timberwolves can wrap up their first-round playoff series against the Denver Nuggets with a victory in Game 6. The Timberwolves led the series 3-1 before losing Game 5 125-113 on Monday in Denver. A win by Minnesota sends it to the second round to face the San Antonio Spurs. The Nuggets are favored by 5.5 points in Game 6.
How to watch Denver Nuggets vs. Minnesota Timberwolves
Former San Jose Sharks forward Klim Kostin will be sticking with CSKA Moscow for the foreseeable future.
On Wednesday, CSKA Moscow announced that Kostin had signed a contract extension that will keep him in the Russian capital through the 2028-29 season.
Kostin spent parts of two seasons with the Sharks, moving to the Bay Area in the middle of the 2023-24 season and staying through the 2024-25 season. He only suited up for the Sharks 54 times in that time span, scoring six goals and 17 points while picking up 42 penalty minutes and going -16.
After leaving the Sharks organization, and the NHL as a whole, following the 2024-25 season, Klim Kostin signed with Avangard Omsk in the Russian Kontinental Hockey League, returning to the team he played for during the 2020-21 season.
Kostin, who has never been a player known for his high point totals, didn't last long in Omsk though. He recorded two points in 21 games, while being a -7, before being traded to CSKA Moscow ahead of the KHL's trade deadline in January.
When he was traded to CSKA, Kostin joined a few former Sharks on the roster. Defenseman Nikita Okhotiuk and forward Nikolai Kovalenko are also currently playing for CSKA.
In Moscow, Kostin's productivity took a step up as he scored two goals and three points in 10 regular season games while being even on plus/minus. He failed to record a point in the playoffs though, and CSKA were eliminated from the Gagarin Cup Playoffs by his former team, Avangard Omsk.
Considering Kostin's contract will expire after he turns 30 years old, this contract extension likely means we're not going to see him back in the NHL, at least not any time soon.
Apr 30, 2026; Cumberland, Georgia, USA; Detroit Tigers pitcher Framber Valdez (59) pitches against the Atlanta Braves during the first inning at Truist Park. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images | Dale Zanine-Imagn Images
After losing two in a row against the Braves and dropping below the .500 mark for season wins, the Tigers were hoping to dodge a series sweep before heading back to Detroit. Despite a losing record, the Tigers only trailed the division-leading Guardians by half a game, because the AL Central is not having a great year so far. To get themselves back on track, Detroit had Framber Valdez on the mound, and the Braves would be depending on Bryce Elder, who is off to a really strong start this season, three wins coming into today’s game, a 1.93 ERA and 0.96 FIP. There’s a reason Atlanta has the best record in baseball right now, so the Tigers would have a fight on their hands to come away with the win.
The Tigers made a push to get baserunners on in the first. Colt Keith got a two-out single, and right on his heels, Riley Greene took a walk. However, a Spencer Torkelson flyout ended the inning, leaving both baserunners stranded. In the home half, Drake Baldwin got a one-out single. Valdez does typically pitch to contact, getting a lot of outs on the ground, but the Braves were going to take advantage of that where they could. Ozzie Albies then singled, putting two on. A Matt Olson groundout got the second out of the inning, but advanced both runners into scoring position. A strikeout did end the inning, thankfully, with no harm done, but a decidedly rough start to the game.
The second inning saw the Tigers go 1-2-3, with bonus thanks to a Braves ABS challenge that ended in the second out of the inning for Matt Vierling. Valdez really started to struggle in the home half, with a leadoff hit-by-pitch to Mauricio Dubon. Kyle Farmer then singled. With one out an Eli White single brought the first run of the game in for Atlanta. There was then some lengthy drama as Ronald Acuña Jr decided he was hit by a pitch and walked to first. The home plate ump belatedly disagreed, and there was a review requested. Some debate later, it was determined he wasn’t hit, and he came back to the plate to get struck out for the second out of the inning. Very peculiar. By some miracle the inning ended with only the one run scored.
Kevin McGonigle got a one-out walk in the top of the third. Right after him, Gleyber Torres singled. A Colt Keith groundout managed to advance both runners into scoring position. Two outs followed, though, leaving things scoreless for the Tigers. Ozzie Albies doubled to start the home half. With one out, Valdez threw a pitch so wild he might as well have been 50 Cent throwing the opening pitch of a game. Albies easily advanced to third. With two outs, Dubon singled, bringing Albies home. Kyle Farmer then hit into a force out to end the inning.
In the fourth, Spencer Torkelson got things going with a leadoff single. Too bad three outs followed that. Thankfully for the Tigers Valdez turned things around in the home half of the inning getting the Braves out in order for the first time in the game.
With two outs in the fifth, Torres singled, but he tried to leg it out into a double and got snagged at second, ending the inning. Valdez continued to look good in the bottom of the inning, going three-up, three-down.
In the top of the sixth, Riley Greene got a one-out walk. Spencer Torkelson followed that with a single. With two outs, Matt Vierling singled, bringing Greene home and putting the Tigers on the board for the first time in the game. They’d need to settle for the one run, but it put them within one run of tying things up.
The Braves once again went 1-2-3 in the home half. If Valdez had this kind of command against the Braves all game, things might be looking very different at the moment.
After six innings and one run, Elder’s day was done. He was replaced by Tyler Kinley. McGonigle had a foul tip hit him on the inside of the thigh and knee. It took a little bit for him to walk it off, but ouch. He worked a walk out of it, getting on base for the second time in the game (but not yet extending his impressive hitting streak). Torres won an ABS challenge by a sliver, then got a single. Colt Keith singled and suddenly the bases were loaded. A Torkelson lineout into left ended the inning, with three men left stranded and the Tigers still trailing. Not sure they’re going to see a better opportunity this game.
In the home half, Valdez was done as well, being replaced by Drew Anderson. Valdez’s final line for the game was 6.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 8 K on 99 pitches. It started rough, but he really hit his stride mid-game, impressive against these red-hot Braves. With two outs, Acuña doubled. Anderson then walked Drake Baldwin intentionally. The Tigers got through a nail-biting inning with no runs added to the score.
In an effort to prove me wrong, Detroit got the eighth started with vigor. Kerry Carpenter kicked things off with a triple to dead center against new pitcher Joel Payamps. Matt Vierling, RBI hero, came in and singled, tying the game up 2-2.
Hao-Yu Lee took a walk. AJ Hinch went to his bench, swapping out Jake Rogers for Dillon Dingler. After striking out Dingler on a full count, Payamps was done, making way for Aaron Bummer. McGonigle walked for the third time in the game. Torres hit a sac fly, deep enough into the outfield to score Vierling and bumping the Tigers into the lead.
A pinch-hitting Jahmai Jones came in and ended the inning with a strikeout. Anderson continued for the eighth, getting three outs in a row.
José Suarez was the new Atlanta reliever for the ninth. While the Tigers were fighting it out in Atlanta, we got some updates from the minors regarding our injured players.
Per the transactions log, both Zach McKinstry and Max Anderson will begin rehab assignments with Lakeland tonight. pic.twitter.com/kEublsg03Y
A pinch-hitting Wenceel Perez worked a great at-bat and worked a walk, something the Tigers were doing well in this game. Vierling then continued his dominance against the Braves with a groundball that took a weird little hop. Thanks to a fielding error by Mike Yastrzemski, who couldn’t catch the little bobbling hit, and Perez made an incredible run from first all the way home on the play.
Lee walked for the second time in the game. Dingler then doubled right into the left field corner, giving Vierling enough leeway to get home for another run. Lee tried to get another one across, but was tagged out at home to end the inning. The Tigers were up 5-2 heading into the bottom of the ninth.
Perhaps learning from last night’s walk-off nightmare, the Tigers turned things over to Kyle Finnegan for the ninth. Yastrzemski got a one-out single. With two outs, Yastrzemski advanced to second on defensive indifference. Finnegan worked out of the jam, getting the final out of the inning and the Tigers had a win to take them home and avoid the sweep.
CINCINNATI, OHIO - APRIL 30: Nathaniel Lowe #31 of the Cincinnati Reds celebrates as he rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run during the second inning of a baseball game against the Colorado Rockies at Great American Ball Park on April 30, 2026 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Jeff Dean/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Things got off to a saucy start for the Cincinnati Reds in Thursday’s series finale against the Colorado Rockies in Great American Ball Park. If you, like me, are still trying to figure out exactly what that means, let’s just say that Andrew Abbott began the game by serving up a meatball that Tyler Freeman turned into a 2-run homer, a product of Abbott having again issued an ugly walk to put a runner on-base early.
That sequence has been the theme of the early going for Abbott, who in 2025 seemed to find ways to both limit those scenarios and pitch out of them when they did arise. 2026, though, has been very much the opposite, and the groans from those watching probably were audible in Colorado itself after it repeated itself again.
The best possible thing happened from then on, however – Abbott actually settled in.
Cincinnati’s All-Star lefty ground his way through 6.0 IP in total and yielded no more runs on the day, scattering 5 hits and a pair of walks against 5 K to earn his first win of the season. That win came thanks to the bats of Nate Lowe and TJ Friedl, each of whom homered off former Red Michael Lorenzen as Cincinnati rallied back to win the game 6-4.
Things got saucier in the Top of the 9th when Reds closer Emilio Pagan came on in a non-save situation and immediately began operating the singles dispenser. Pagan had only pitched once since April 19th (on April 25th) and needed work, and he clearly had some rust on his right arm on the day, but the Reds made enough plays defensively to seal the win – and yet another series victory.
Other Notes
The Reds move to 20-11 on the season.
Lowe went 2 for 3 with a walk, double, and a pair of runs scored, and earns today’s Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game. There’s no way you keep him out of the lineup even when Eugenio Suarez returns.
Spencer Steer began the season looking awful, going 1 for his first 17 across four games played. Entering play today, though, he’d hit .260/.337/.519 across his most recent 23 games (86 PA), which is the kind of bat that can make this lineup shimmy. He went 2 for 3 with a walk and a huge 2-run double that provided the insurance runs Pagan ended up needing, and he’s making a wonderful case that he should be hitting in the top third of the order once again.
JJ Bleday walked twice before being replaced by Dane Myers late. It would be super cool if the good version of Bleday is what the Reds signed out of the bargain bin.
Cincinnati heads out next on a crucial road trip through the NL Central, first to Pittsburgh and then to the north side of Chicago to face the Cubs. They do so as the current 1st place club in the NL Central, and it’s a pleasure to be able to finally write these kinds of sentences.
ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 5: Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno in attendance for an opening day game between the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium of Anaheim on April 5, 2024 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Brandon Sloter/Getty Images) | Getty Images
In 2022, the “It’s Not My Money(ball)” series was created in response to the owners’ lockout, which disrupted that year’s Spring Training and arguably cost Clayton Kershaw a perfect game in Minneapolis (I had fun). As the season completes its first month, the World Baseball Classic now a memory, we must conclude the revival of this series as trouble looms in the distance, hanging in the air, exactly in the way a brick does not.
This trilogy in five parts (it’s yet another Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy joke) was initially conceived from a single essay that ballooned in size to the point where a split was necessary. As I worked on Pandora’s Boxand MLB’s Dirty Dozen, I realized there was a deeper story than skinflint owners and a perception problem that the Dodgers are more than happy to lean into. Before any new business, we take a well-deserved victory lap.
Called it!
Last time, in The Vulture of Private Equity, I called out the practices, in part, of both the San Francisco Giants and Boston Red Sox. The essay was published on April 23. On April 24, word broke that the Giants were selling a portion of the team to a private equity firm owned by Joshua Kusher.
Joshua Kushner, the brother of President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared, announced on [Twitter] on Friday that his firm Thrive Capital has agreed to acquire a stake in the San Francisco Giants. The news of Thrive’s purchase was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
“Our first partnership is expected to be with the San Francisco Giants – an institution built on more than a century of shared identity and community, and among the most iconic sports franchises in America,” Kushner wrote. “We have reached an agreement, subject to league approval, to acquire an ownership stake. We feel privileged by the opportunity to be long-term partners to the Giants.”
Sometimes, a demonstration of the point requires no further explanation, apart from wondering what other landmarks the Giants will purchase, rather than properly spending on their mediocre baseball team.
I suppose the baseball equivalent of “shut up and dribble” is “pipe down and shag some flies.” The firings will continue until morale improves, eh? Joon Lee wrote about the ills of private equity’s involvement in Boston, which can be read in parallel with the last feature in our series, from the perspective of a Red Sox fan. It’s not pretty.
Are the Sox better today than they were yesterday? Doubtful. Can they compete for a wild-card spot in a wide-open American League? Perhaps, if [interim manager Chad] Tracy somehow finds a way to get more out of the players than [former manager Alex] Cora did and the pitching starts to click.
Even with the offensive questions, Cora maintained the Sox would be competitive as long as their pitchers performed to expectations. They haven’t, at least to this point. It sure will be interesting Sunday to hear [Red Sox President Craig] Breslow explain why he left that part of the coaching staff largely untouched.
But enough about Breslow, who in the end is just another [owner John] Henry pawn, positioned to take the next fall. Under Henry, the Red Sox are incoherent, dysfunctional and forever poised to overreact. Yet, why should the owner operate any differently? The turnstiles at Fenway keep spinning. “Sweet Caroline” keeps playing.
Yo-played
For the record, the venerable, actual French yogurt company had nothing to do with this portion of this essay, but the pun was too delicious to pass up. Sam Blum of The Athleticwrote an investigative feature on a mostly fraudulent yogurt company, Cremily, which again has nothing to do with Yoplait, which needs to be read in full to be digested.
The story of Cremily features facts that would not be out of place in a screwball comedy that was an unholy mix of The Producers and Major League. In real life, though, the feature demonstrates a comical lapse in foresight, judgment, due diligence, and acumen one would expect of several major league franchises in dealing with a vendor who met the textbook definition of “overpromising and underdelivering.”
Cremily was a yogurt company that sold French frozen yogurt that was advertised as healthy, keto, and lactose-free, and claimed to donate 100 percent of its profits to “empower girls globally.” In retrospect, the company’s dubiousness probably should have been a little easier to spot.
Just in baseball alone, Cremily had partnerships with the Anaheim Angels, Boston Red Sox, New York Mets, and Arizona Diamondbacks. During the Diamondbacks’ sweep of the Dodgers in the 2023 National League Division Series, there are photographs of the Dbacks celebrating in their pool (…but when the Dodgers do it, it’s gauche apparently…) with the yogurt company’s materials in the background.
From Mr. Blum:
Multiple former employees said Cremily could not produce product to scale, leaving teams with “untenable delays” and subsequently providing the Angels and Diamondbacks with product that was not made by Cremily. The Angels argued in a court filing Cremily was “fraudulently passing (third-party) ice cream off as its own” and knew it didn’t have a viable ice cream formula. An ex-marketing employee even said he was asked to create Cremily labels for generic ice cream.
Ultimately, the Angels and the Diamondbacks separately sued Cremily for failing to pay the teams under their respective deals. Naturally, the organizations that worked with Cremily were taciturn about their dealings.
Who wants to admit to being bamboozled? For the regular person, it happens from time to time without shame whatsoever, because they do not have a legal team or anyone conducting due diligence. What were these teams’ excuses? Ultimately, with Cremily, we’re talking about contract sums that would be a rounding error on a baseball team’s ledger, but there are genuine real-world consequences for those caught in the middle.
Saying the quiet part out loud
There is only one Shohei Ohtani, one Mookie Betts, one Paul Skenes — singular talents that make baseball fans take notice. While Max Muncy and Will Smith are part of the Dodgers’ constellation of stars, their initial pedigree was anything but.
Accordingly, nothing is stopping teams from investing in their front offices, whether in scouts, analytics, or a combination of both, to develop their own players. Yes, we mocked the Milwaukee Brewers for their overreliance on this strategy, but it’s better than the firm masterly inactivity employed by other clubs.
“The number one thing fans want is affordability,” Moreno said. “They want affordability. They want safety, and they want a good experience when they come to the ballpark. Believe it or not, winning is not in their top five.”
Moreno said that information comes from surveys they’ve done.
“The moms want to be able to afford to bring the kids,” Moreno said. “Moms make about 80% of the decisions. They want to be able to bring their kids and be affordable and they want safety and they want to have a good experience, so they get all the entertainment stuff or whatever. The purists, you know, it’s just straight winning.”
When asked what his top priority is, Moreno said: “For me, I’ve always wanted to win. It’s just what’s the cost of winning right now?”
(emphasis added.)
Naturally, everyone gravitated toward an owner’s statement alleging that fans do not care about winning, which is utterly ridiculous. Can you imagine having Ohtani for multiple years and not making the postseason, much less being a winning team? One need not imagine, but only watch what passes for Angels baseball.
Originally, the backhanded remark towards the Anaheim Angels spoke for itself, but owner Arte Moreno actually said the quiet part out loud and admitted what most Angels fans have known in the pit of their souls for years: winning is not a priority in Anaheim.
It went about as well as expected, as Moreno said the quiet part out loud: some of the more self-austere owners eschew scouting and analytics spending, which would not break the bank and would improve their respective clubs.
The creeping death that is private equity in baseball is slow and methodical until it’s not. So if teams are cutting useful spending on things like due diligence and scouting, and spending all this time and effort acquiring commercial real estate, what is the league focusing its energy on?
Baseball forgets the lessons of the Black Sox Scandal
At a time when there is a literal epidemic of addiction to online sports betting, especially with young men, in the United States, baseball has been slowly wrapping its figurative mitts around gambling for years.
It’s a shocking development, because gambling interests nearly toppled the sport in 1919, leading to the creation of the Commissioner’s office in the aftermath of arguably the worst gambling scandal in sports history: the fixing of the 1919 World Series by the Chicago White Sox.
One would think that a fixed World Series would act as such a scar on the psyche of baseball that no one would dare touch gambling again. But 107 years later, what is old is new again. Now-dead and still-disgraced gambler Pete Rose has been reinstated for Hall of Fame eligibility (after presidential pressure, which really merits its own essay from a site that focuses on the Cincinnati Reds), so clearly, time is a flat circle.
The Clase Scenario Writ Large
Before dealing with the pervasiveness of actual gambling in baseball, with actual sportbooks being on stadium grounds, with advertising dollars from DraftKings and the like seemingly everywhere, it often feels like the horse is so far out of the barn at this point that it will die of old age before it returns.
Seeing betting odds on AppleTV telecasts, and in the margins of articles in both reputable publications and blogs, there is an entire industry trying to get you to spend money. One would be tempted to tune it out as background noise. But one cannot ignore this growing problem, not anymore, as recently covered in The Guardian:
Gambling addiction is spiraling “out of control” in the US, a leading campaigner for stricter guardrails has warned, as experts from around the world are set to gather in Boston to push for more regulation of the industry.
The rapid expansion of online gambling, prediction markets and sports betting platforms, “demands a public health response”, according to Harry Levant, director of gambling policy at the Public Health Advocacy Institute (PHAI), urging policymakers to intervene.
“You regulate the distribution, the speed, the type, the access to the product, because the product is what’s dangerous,” he said, calling for gambling to be treated like alcohol or tobacco. “The problem is the product, not the people,” said Levant. “We have a crisis here.”…
“We firmly believe gambling should be regulated like any other addictive product,” said Mark Gottlieb, executive director of PHAI.
Sports betting has been legalized in 39 states and Washington DC since the landmark 2018 supreme court ruling.
With such conditions, is it any wonder that players would eventually get drawn in? Most recently, Cleveland Guardians (and frequent hypothetical future Dodger) closer Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz were indicted for fraud, conspiracy, and bribery stemming from an alleged scheme to rig individual pitches, resulting in gamblers winning hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Christopher G. Raia, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office, announced the government’s allegations against the pair:
…The defendants agreed in advance with their co-conspirators on specific pitches that they would throw in MLB games. The co-conspirators then used that information to place hundreds of fraudulent bets on those pitches.
Beginning in or around May 2023, Clase, a relief pitcher for the Cleveland Guardians, agreed with corrupt sports bettors to rig proposition bets – or “prop” bets – on particular pitches he threw. The bettors wagered on the speed and type of Clase’s pitches, based on information they knew in advance by coordinating with Clase, sometimes even during MLB games. Clase often threw these rigged pitches on the first pitch of an at-bat. To ensure certain pitches were called as balls, Clase threw many of them in the dirt, well outside the strike zone. The bettors used the advanced, inside information that Clase provided about his future pitches to wager thousands of dollars at online sportsbooks.
Clase at times received bribes and kickbacks from the bettors in exchange for providing advanced, non-public information. He also sometimes provided money to the bettors in advance to fund the scheme. The indictment includes numerous examples of pitches that Clase rigged, including one in the Eastern District of New York in a game against the New York Mets. In total, by rigging pitches, Clase caused his co-conspirator bettors to win at least $400,000 in fraudulent wagers.
In or around June 2025, Ortiz, a starting pitcher for the Cleveland Guardians, joined the criminal scheme. Together with Clase, Ortiz agreed in advance to throw balls (instead of strikes) on pitches in two games in exchange for bribes and kickbacks. Before an MLB game on June 15, 2025, Ortiz agreed with his co-conspirators to throw a ball on a particular pitch in exchange for bribes. The bettors agreed to pay Ortiz a $5,000 bribe for throwing the rigged pitch and Clase a $5,000 bribe for arranging the rigged pitch.
Clase and Ortiz are innocent until proven guilty, and their trial is scheduled to start on May 4, 2026. One would think even this offramp of a story would be enough to get the league, or any league, to reconsider buddying up to gambling interests.
Remember how bad everyone felt after 2017, which was only compounded after it was revealed that the Houston Astros were blatantly cheating? It was like reliving the loss all over again, but worse.
Mark my words: the shoe that will eventually drop from this entirely foreseeable fiasco will make any scandal (including the Clase affair) look insignificant and quaint in comparison. It is knowingly setting up shop in Chornobyl after the nuclear accident, and acting surprised both that something bad happened and that the consequences were somehow unforeseen.
Either way, it’s a lesson that must apparently be relearned, but it’s not my money(ball)…
If the story ended there, I could sign off, but it gets even worse. Sites like FanDuel, Draft Kings, etc., are the devil you know and the devil you can avoid. But the league has embraced something far more nihilistic, which deserves your full attention: prediction markets.
LOS ANGELES, CA — The door has closed on the Los Angeles Kings. Anze Kopitar, the King of Kings, the man who surpassed Marcel Dionne in his final season to become the franchise's all-time points leader, played his last NHL game in a four-game sweep at the hands of the Colorado Avalanche. Whatever you want to call the last several years of Kings hockey, a retool, a transition, a slow-moving rebuild dressed up in playoff appearance clothing, it ended on the ice vs Colorado. There hasn't been a sexy transition to a new hockey model that has found success in LA.
This offseason does not just set the tone for next year. It draws the map for the next five years of Kings hockey, and the organization knows it, considering the tone of the exit interviews.
The contemporary history of the Kings in the wake of its championship era has not been kind. Rob Blake's era had its opportunities and squandered them. After two Stanley Cups, the Kings cycled through the end of the Dean Lombardi regime and into Blake's retool, only to produce a sweep at the hands of the Vegas Golden Knights and four straight first-round exits to the Edmonton Oilers. It was a core that ownership and management publicly refused to admit had aged past its window in a copycat pursuit of the Pittsburgh Penguins split core runs (09’, 16’, 17’).
The rhetoric in LA just never matched the results. Blake stepped down, Ken Holland came in, and the 2025-26 season was supposed to signal something new. It signaled that the problems were much structurally deeper than a change at the top could fix on its own.
Holland's first offseason was a mixed ledger at best. He signed Corey Perry, who was traded to Tampa Bay mid-season, quoted to the media as giving an opportunity to compete for another cup (the irony with Kopitar), recovering a pick in the process, which is the right call made necessary by the wrong call (Blake-esque). He signed Joel Armia, who finished the season as a quality depth forward and an excellent penalty killer, but was a healthy scratch for the penultimate game against Colorado, which is its own kind of verdict.
He added Cody Ceci and Brian Dumoulin to a blue line that historically doesn't generate much offense, a decision that will follow this front office the longest because those contracts do not move easily. On the other side, he brought in Scott Laughton, who was exactly what the roster needed at 3C, and Artemi Panarin. Though crediting Holland fully for that one requires ignoring that Panarin requested a trade out of New York and used his full no movement clause to identify LA as his destination. Holland facilitated it, but the asset chose them.
The result of all of it was a team that scraped into the playoffs on the back of a weak division and a soft back half of the schedule. They got swept by the league’s best and watched Kopitar skate off the ice for the last time. It actually might not get rosier than that. Holland now owns this roster. What he does this summer is his ‘second test’, and the first one did not inspire overwhelming confidence.
Byfield Is the Guy. Now Prove It.
The cleanest and most important thing to come out of this season is that Quinton Byfield is the center of this franchise going forward. DJ Smith sang high praises for the young center at the tail end of their four-game dusting at the hands of the Avs.
In what may be his last pregame avail, LAK interim HC DJ Smith heaped praise on Quinton Byfield. Claims 55 best player in series, drew comparisons to Stutzle, Matthews and Nylander(coached all 3). Believes his best season will be next, when "given the keys" to lead as 1C.
Anyone who watched the last ten to fifteen games of the regular season and the playoff series against Colorado saw it. Byfield carried this team into the postseason. After a quiet game one, he was one of their best players against the Avalanche despite their team being greatly outmatched in every single hockey category, producing only two five-on-five goals across four games. Two.
The criticism around Byfield's offensive output is fair in a vacuum. But it has never existed in a vacuum. This is a player who has spent the better part of his Kings career without a true top-six winger next to him at even strength. Outside the season and a half during which he was groomed alongside Kopitar and Adrian Kempe, Byfield has been handed Tanner Jeannot, Warren Foegele, and Alex Laferriere. Laferriere projects as a useful top-nine forward but not the kind of elite winger that unlocks what Byfield is capable of. He has gone through stretches of real dominance alongside Kevin Fiala, who is legitimately that player, but consistency in linemates and the overall quality have never been a luxury afforded to him.
Some perspective: he’s now had back-to-back seasons with full-time center duties, a career high in points in one and a career high in goals in the other, while managing back-to-back oblique injuries. The runway for next year is clear.
Top 20 defenseman in TOI against Byfield during two seasons of center duty-focused campaigns (Courtesy of NaturalStatTrick)Top 20 forwards in TOI against Byfield during two seasons of center duty-focused campaigns (Courtesy of NaturalStatTrick)
The landscape for Byfield changes next year, and it changes significantly. Panarin is there, even at 35, and Panarin at 35 is still a top ten winger in the NHL, even on the skeptical end of the argument. Kempe is right there amongst the better wingers in the league. Fiala will also be back from injury. Run the list, and you have Panarin, Kempe, Fiala, Laferriere, and Trevor Moore rounding out a top nine wing group that is, without exaggeration, as good as any in the league. That also assumes they let Andrei Kuzmenko walk, and judging purely off the exit interviews, it’s a possibility.
Kuzmenko was asked about his future and he lowered his eyes and said "we'll see." #gokingsgo
Byfield has never had that capacity next to him on the ings, and next year he will. He will assume the Kopitar mantle on the powerplay as well. He will also be 24, still ascending, and locked into 20-plus minutes a night as the unquestioned number one center on this roster. This is the season where the offensive question either gets answered or becomes a legitimate concern. Everything around him will finally be set up so he can answer it.
The only scenario that changes is if Holland makes the massive move discussed ad nauseam on social media, packaging Byfield and multiple first-round picks to acquire Auston Matthews from Toronto. That would be removing a Band-Aid to reveal the same wound underneath. You upgrade from Byfield to Matthews, which is a legitimate, real upgrade, and then you are left with Laferriere as your 2C, Scott Laughton, if re-signed as your 3C, a middle of the lineup that is somehow worse than the one you just had in 2025-26. I don't believe the franchise's goal is to marginally improve a team that barely scraped into the playoffs and just got swept.
That is not a trade worth making, and it is certainly not worth gutting the future over. For those already thinking this way, having a roster that houses both Byfield and Matthews remains, at best, a pipedream nested under the guise of running a franchise on a gaming system.
The Center Problem Beneath It All
Byfield is the 1C, whether he is fully ready or not. What is not settled is everything below him, and that is where this offseason gets complicated fast.
Laughton needs to be re-signed. That is not a discussion.
There are rumors that Laughton has expressed interest in returning to Toronto, where former teammates have made clear they want him back, and that is a legitimate threat. But losing Laughton does not just create a vacancy; it exposes how genuinely thin this organization is at center beyond Byfield. If he walks, you are looking at Laferriere as your 2C, a natural winger who has not shown the ability to handle top-line matchups or consistently drive play in that role, or Alex Turcotte, a player with a rich history of injury and playing time inconsistency that has made it impossible to count on him as a full-time option. Samuel Helenius exists in a depth role to terrorize on the forecheck.
That is your center group without Laughton. Even slightly overpaying to keep him is the obvious call this offseason.
Scott Laughton is extremely open to signing with the Kings -
"The interest level is high for me, for sure. The opportunity I was given here, the guys here, the staff, the way I was treated, my family came down and absolutely loved it......so yeah, the interest level is high."
Resign him, and he is your penciled-in 3C who plays that role as well as anyone at that level. He is not a 2C solution, as Danault played into during his early tenure in LA, but he is the floor that makes the rest of the lineup functional. Losing him removes the floor entirely and forces management to reassess the possibility of pivoting towards an actual teardown.
Which brings the real question into focus. This team needs a legitimate 2C, not Laferriere pressed into a role he was not built for, not a project. An actual second-line center who can handle matchups, drive play, and take real defensive zone starts. That acquisition, whether through trade or free agency, is quite possibly the most important move of the offseason. The 2026 first-round pick almost certainly has to be involved to make it happen.
What Holland decides to do with that pick will say more about the direction of this franchise than anything else he does this summer.
However..
The Blue Line Is the Real Problem
Here is the part that does not have a clean answer.
The Kings' defensive core is the structural anchor dragging this franchise, and Holland made it worse in his first offseason. Drew Doughty, Mikey Anderson, Cody Ceci, Joel Edmundson, and Brian Dumoulin make up the bulk of a blue line that struggles to transition the puck in the modern NHL. The anti-fleet-of-foot core is very much a ‘rim it, glass it out, regroup, and force the forwards to chip and chase’. They do not burn teams that overextend in the offensive/neutral zone because they are not built to do so. The Kings finished with a negative goal differential this season; they were not good at five-on-five (a lynchpin of this club), and that blueline was a massive part of that. They have suffocated opponents defensively for the better part of a half-decade, but the Holland era blueline translated into low-scoring losses where the forward group overexterts to support the defenseman, they cannot transition, and the other team eventually finds a way.
Kings' defense group was carried by Clarke, who did have high offensive zone start percentage. Courtesy of (NaturalStatTrick)
The contract situation makes it exceedingly worse. Doughty is owed eleven million dollars in the final year of his deal, a number that understandably had its arc, even if the back half has strained their financial capacity. Anderson, Edmundson, Ceci, and Dumoulin carry modified no movement clauses that give them significant leverage over where they can be moved, and the realistic answer to who is acquiring any of them at their current price tags is essentially no one. What team is lining up for expensive, rather immobile shutdown defensemen who cannot transition the puck in today's increasingly higher pace NHL? That question does not have a good answer, and it is a question Holland created for himself by adding Ceci and Dumoulin in his first offseason.
Brandt Clarke is the exception and the only real source of optimism on the blue line. Clarke is 22, with genuine puck-moving ability and something the blue line utterly lacks—lateral movement at the point —and he needs to be the number one defenseman on this team now. The problem is that he is still sharing that load with Doughty, who, by all accounts, should be transitioning into a complementary role rather than leading minutes. That correction needed to happen during this season, but it is now thrust upon as a necessity for next.
More importantly, if the organization can find a way to move even one of the anchored contracts and bring in a mobile defenseman who can actually push the puck, the entire blue line conversation shifts. If they cannot, the forward group upgrades will hit the same ceiling they hit this season while dragged down by the blueline.
The Goaltending Problem
Darcy Kuemper had a Vezina nominee season in 2024-25. It was exceptional, and it was also played behind a defensive core that still had Vladislav Gavrikov and Jordan Spence, which matters more than it gets credit for. This season, he suffered an injury in Dallas and was never the same, and the Kings turned to Anton Forsberg down the stretch and into the playoffs. Forsberg, by every metric, is a career backup, but he was exceptional when called upon and made a sweep look marginally better than it was, which is its own kind of commentary.
Forsberg will be 34 next season, and Kuemper will be 36. That is not a sustainable situation for the crease without a clear successor, particularly when the Kings actually have the prospect depth to address the crease's future better than almost any team in the league. Hampton Slukynsky and Carter George have legitimate number one upside. Erik Portillo exists in that pipeline as well, though health has been a recurring issue. The caveat, and it is an important one, is that goaltending prospects are voodoo. Jack Campbell was a first-round pick, 11th overall, in 2010 by Dallas. There are no guarantees. But one of these goalies needs to be in the conversation for the backup role next season at minimum, with a clear line toward taking over the starter role as Kuemper's window closes. The transition has to start somewhere, and the current tandem's age makes it non-negotiable.
The Offseason That Defines the Next Five Years
Put it all together, and here is what you have. A wing group that is genuinely elite and largely intact, that could and should be weaponized. A franchise center tag-test next season in Byfield, who is ascending and will finally have the weapons around him to show what he really is. A center position below him that is one Laughton departure away from being genuinely alarming. A blue line that is the worst transitioning unit in the NHL, locked into expensive contracts with limited mobility, and made worse by Holland's own additions in his first offseason. A goaltending situation aging out in real time, with prospects ready to step in if the organization trusts them. Under all the noise, a 2026 ‘teener’ first-round pick sitting in the middle of all of it as the decision Holland cannot avoid.
There is a window teetering between open and closed. Byfield and Clarke are young enough, the wing group is good enough, and the prospect pipeline, despite its viability and thinness, has enough to grease this organization's wheels forward. But the decisions made this offseason are not just about next year's standings. They are about whether the Kings enter this new era with a coherent plan, or whether they do what this front office has repeatedly done: paper over structural problems with surface-level additions and call it progress.
Resign Laughton and chase a center to play under Byfield. Hand Clarke the number-one role and stop pretending Doughty can carry it at $11 million a year. Move one of the immobile blueline contracts if you can find a taker and use that cap space on someone who can actually skate the puck out of the zone. If not, a buyout should be under consideration. Bring one of the goaltending prospects into the fold before the situation forces your hand. Use the first round as the focal point for implementing the plan.
The Kopitar era is over, and while the player isn't connected to this, the era of excuses should be, too. The pieces are there to pivot back into the conversation. The opportunity cost of getting this wrong is five more years of what you just watched.
If not, there is the easy way out—tear it all down. The hard part is building it back up again.
End of an era? Or just starting their middling ground under this ownership and management structure?
The Boston Celtics will try to close out the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 6 of their first-round playoff series. The 76ers already won one elimination game, beating the Celtics 113-97 in Game 5 to extend the series. If Boston wins, it will advance to the second round of the playoffs to face the winner of the Atlanta Hawks-New York Knicks series. The Celtics are favored by 5.5 points in Game 6.
How to watch Boston Celtics vs. Philadelphia 76ers
Date: Thursday, April 30
Time: 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT
Where: Xfinity Mobile Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Can LIV find new backers and what are the options for Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, Lee Westwood and others?
Confirmation that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund will cease funding the LIV Golf tour will have huge ramifications, for the future of the tour itself, the players and across golf’s traditional heartlands. Where does PIF’s withdrawal leave them all?
The Montreal Canadiens return to La Belle Province with a chance to eliminate the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday, May 1.
My Lightning vs. Canadiens predictions and NHL picks suggest we could be in for another nailbiter at the Bell Centre, with the Habs continuing to get timely contributions from captain Nick Suzuki.
Lightning vs Canadiens Game 6 prediction
Lightning vs Canadiens best bet: Nick Suzuki Over 0.5 assists (-160)
Since the beginning of the 2024-25 season, only four players have registered more assists than Montreal Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki. His 72 points in 82 regular-season games led the Habs and ranked sixth in the entire NHL.
Suzuki has picked up five apples in as many games this series and has nine in his last nine home contests. He’s as reliable as anyone to hit the scoresheet against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Zachary Bolduc is quietly riding a three-game point streak and leads the team at +6 in this series. He's found encouraging chemistry on the Habs' third line with Texier and Kirby Dach, and they've dominated at five-on-five since the line's formation after Game 2.
Alexandre Carrier's 15 blocked shots trail only teammate Mike Matheson during these playoffs, and he's hit the Over in three of his last four contests. Despite missing nine games during the regular season, Carrier ranked 12th in the NHL in blocked shots.
His 22:50 average ice time marks a significant jump from his 19:05 season average, and Carrier is at plus-odds to record three or more blocked shots in Game 6.
A 3-2 score has decided four consecutive games in this series, and all five have been one-goal games. Find more NHL betting trends for Lightning vs. Canadiens.
How to watch Lightning vs Canadiens Game 6
Location
Bell Centre, Montreal, QC
Date
Friday, May 1, 2026
Puck drop
7:00 p.m. ET
TV
Sportsnet, ESPN2
Lightning vs Canadiens latest injuries
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That's how The Maven views the first round of the playoffs so far.
Even when there's a sweep – a la Carolina vs Ottawa – the games have been close and vigorously played.
With the Rangers – and their fans – I began wondering how the good burghers of Rangerville feel about each playoff series. The following is my view with added thoughts of pals who take these playoffs seriously.
CANES OVER SENATORS: Ottawa's brilliant coach Travis Green could not survive a totally devastated defense against arguably the NHL's best team. Yet the Sens made Carolina work hard for the win.
PHILLY OVER PITT: Youth over the Sidney Crosby Old Timers was the difference. Also coach Dan Muse's decision to use Stuart Skinner was (as in Edmonton) dumb a la mode. Penguins needed a second Sid.
BRUINS-SABRES: Give the Beantowners credit for at least beating steamrolling Buffalo. Lindy Ruff's Buffs are hellbent to reach the Final Round and it says here that the Bruins won't stop them.
Apr 30, 2026; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Brandon Woodruff (53) walks off the mound with an injury in the second inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at American Family Field. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-Imagn Images | Benny Sieu-Imagn Images
The red flags popped up immediately. Brandon Woodruff’s first fastball of the game came across the plate at 84.2 mph. I initially thought the radar gun was mis-calibrated, or the system registered an off-speed pitch as a fastball. But then the next one came in at 85 mph, and instantly things looked bad.
Brandon Woodruff looked uncomfortable delivering the baseball. His smooth, repeatable, athletic delivery looked rigid, unathletic, and unusual. He walked Geraldo Perdomo with some really bad misses but somehow rallied to get a pair of strikeouts and a scoreless first inning.
Pat Murphy, the pitching coaches, and the athletic trainer all huddled trying to figure out what to do. Woodruff went back out for the second inning as the bullpen stirred, but no one began throwing. After allowing a single to Lourdes Gurriel Jr, the Brewers had seen enough. Murphy, Chris Hook, and athletic trainer Brad Epstein went out to the mound and quickly Woodruff was removed from the game.
His fastball averaged 85.4 mph and he didn’t register a pitch above 86 mph. Woodruff’s average fastball velocity this season is 92.5 mph, a drop of 7.1 mph.
Murphy on the Brewers TV broadcast said “He wasn’t himself. He felt like, felt kind of dead. He said he didn’t feel any pain, just nothing was coming out. We’ve seen a little bit of this, but never at this level where he can’t get the ball over 85 mph. He’s so important to us. We’re not going to risk anything maybe long term by having him try to step on it.”
Woodruff missed the entire 2023 postseason and 2024 regular season with a shoulder capsule injury that required surgery. He finally returned to the big league rotation in the middle of last season and found great success. That was until a lat injury prevented him from being able to pitch in the postseason again last year.
Woodruff came into this season focused on maintaining his health so he could be available all season long and into the playoffs. That’s why his ramp up in spring was slower and why he did not start on Opening Day. The Brewers have been as careful with him as they can be to keep him on the mound throughout the whole season.
This article will be updated as new information is provided from the Brewers on this concerning injury for one of the Crew’s best starters and longest-tenured player.
The New York Knicks will try to close out the Atlanta Hawks in Game 6 of their first-round playoff series. The Knicks have won the past two games to take a 3-2 lead in the series. If New York wins Game 6, it will advance to the second round and face the winner of the Philadelphia 76ers-Boston Celtics series. The Knicks are favored by 2.5 points in Game 6.
CLEVELAND, OH - APRIL 21: George Valera #7 of the Cleveland Guardians looks on during the game against the Houston Astros at Progressive Field on Tuesday, April 21, 2026 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Grace Hoppel/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
The team has announced that George Valera has been sent back to Columbus. What will they do to fill out their roster?
George Valera had a brief and inglorious time in Cleveland this April. In 38 plate appearances, he put up a 46 wRC+ and struck out in back-to-back games against the Rays in spots where the team desperately needed a hit or a walk. His 40% chase rate was the big issue in his return, as well as looking pretty bad in the field (-1 OAA in LF and -1 OAA in right field). I think it’s a wise move to let Valera settle down in Columbus. Honestly, they should probably revisit swapping Valera and Kyle Manzardo in a couple weeks and let Valera be a DH vs. RHP if Manzardo can’t find a way to right the ship. Valera is still hitting the ball hard, not whiffing an exceptional amount and making good in-zone contact. He just couldn’t find the barrel or stop chasing, both skills he HAS shown in the past and may be able to find again.
In Valera’s absence, the team could promote any one of four main options:
CJ Kayfus, LHH – After putting up an 83 wRC+ in Cleveland, Kayfus was demoted earlier this month and has put up a 115 wRC+ in Columbus. He has split half his time in the field there between first base and the two corner outfield positions. I don’t think Kayfus’s numbers would warrant a call-up, and I suspect that, due to Angel Martinez and Daniel Schneemann’s recent success, the team will be looking for a player who isn’t still developing (i.e. won’t have growth hampered by part-time reps).
Nolan Jones, RHH – Jones has a 140 wRC+ with a 26/14 K/BB% in Columbus and fits the bill of a veteran whose development is past the point of where part-time reps will hurt him. He’s still struggling with zone-contact (only at 79%), so, personally, I wouldn’t make him my first call. He would, however, replace the left-handed bat the team has removed in Valera and is capable of playing centerfield (though has spent most of his time in right field in Columbus). I think the team might prefer someone with the flexibility to play any outfield spot in this place on the roster.
Stuart Fairchild, RHH – Fairchild has a 161 wRC+ with an 18.8/13.5 K/BB in Columbus. He has split his time pretty evenly between all three outfield spots there and is 4 for 4 in stolen base attempts. He is whiffing more than I’d like (12.6%), but his zone contact rate is right at average (85%). Fairchild may have a clause in his contract where he will be released by 5/1 if he is not on a major league roster. This has been rumored, but not confirmed anywhere that I can find. The timing of the Valera move would seem to indicate that Fairchild is likely to get the call, and, again, he would be a veteran fit for a part-time role. Notably, either Jones or Fairchild would require a roster move, and I suspect it would be a Codi Heuer DFA.
Kahlil Watson, LHH – Watson has a 140 wRC+ with a 28/20 K/BB in Columbus, while playing excellent defense in centerfield. His average exit velocity is an eye-popping 93 mph and he has a hard-hit rate of 50%. I am still concerned about his 78% zone contact rate and a 12.6 whiff rate isn’t ideal, but he has dramatically cut his chase rate from 34% to 20%. If Watson continues this pace, he will eventually get a shot this season to play center in Cleveland, but I think we are likely to be a 4-6 weeks away from that point.
In conclusion, I think it’s likely that tomorrow’s roster move will be adding Stuart Fairchild to the active roster and the 40-man and DFA’ing Codi Heuer, bringing the 40-man to 20 pitchers and 20 hitters. The active roster becomes, then:
C – Bo, Hedges, Fry 1B – Manzardo, Hoskins 2B – Bazzana 3B – Jose SS – Rocchio LF – Martinez CF – Kwan RF – DeLauter Utility – Schneemann OF – Fairchild
That’s 6 lefties, 3 switch-hitters, and 4 right-handed hitters, which is a pretty solid mix of handedness. It also gives the Guardians some much needed speed off the bench, as Fairchild has 86th percentile sprint speed in comparison with Valera’s 25th percentile. Going from Brito to Bazzana and Valera to Fairchild drastically changes this team’s available speed… and likely dramatically improves them defensively. Time will tell how the hitting changes shape up, but I like the move for Valera’s development and for the current roster’s ability to succeed.
The Royals conclude their trip to Sacramento this afternoon in the rubber game of their series against the A’s. After taking the first game in extras on Tuesday, the Royals fell yesterday. Now, Noah Cameron takes the mound with a chance for Kansas City to take it’s second straight series.
Vinnie remains out of the lineup, which is righty-heavy with the lefty Jeffrey Springs on the mound for the A’s. Lane Thomas is batting third, there are three catchers in the lineup, and Cags is also on the bench. Cool cool cool.
Man, those jerseys are sick. These are, to me, the best uniforms in baseball. I wish I could root for the A’s. Unfortunately, they left Kansas City about 30 years before I arrived.
After today’s game, the Royals head to Seattle for three to conclude their road trip. It would be really nice to capture this one.
