After spending the first five seasons of his career with the New York Rangers, K’Andre Miller is beginning the next chapter of his career with the Carolina Hurricanes.
The Rangers and the Hurricanes agreed to a sign-and-trade deal that sent Miller to Carolina. Miller ultimately signed an eight-year, $60 million contract with the Hurricanes.
During his introductory press conference with the Hurricanes, the 25-year-old defenseman expressed his excitement to join the Hurricanes, while also making sure to acknowledge his gratitude toward the Rangers organization.
A couple of weeks after his departure, Miller took the time to send out a formal farewell to the Rangers and their fans on his Instagram.
“To the Rangers fans — I’ll miss the roar of the crowd and the ‘Let’s Go Rangers’ chants that will forever echo in my mind. Your fandom is second to none,” Miller wrote via Instagram.
“To my teammates — Thank you for your support and lessons along the way. You made me a better player and person. Grateful.”
“To the Rangers coaches, trainers and support staff — thank you for teaching me, caring for me, and helping me. Most appreciated.”
“Thank you for giving me my start and allowing me to live out my dream in the greatest arena in the world. Thank you.”
The Rangers selected Miller in the first round of the 2018 NHL Draft. He quickly blossomed into one of the team’s most promising defensemen with expectations he could be a legitimate top-four blueliner.
However, over the past two seasons, Miller has shown signs of regression, and the Rangers were unwilling to offer him a long-term contract extension due to his inconsistent play.
This move certainly leaves a bitter taste in the mouths of Rangers fans that once believed in Miller’s potential, but that potential is still there, and it could very well be unleashed in Carolina.
Ofahengaue scores two tries as Leigh close on top two
Leigh Leopards further underlined their position as bona fide Super League title contenders with another statement victory, this time winning at fourth-placed St Helens to close the gap further on the competition’s top two.
A month ago, Leigh conceded 50 points at Leeds and with fixtures against the league leaders Hull KR, second-placed Wigan and the Saints on the horizon, it was not inconceivable to consider whether the Leopards could find themselves in a scramble just to make the play-offs in the final two months of the season.
The NHL’s off-season free-agent and trade frenzy has now died down, which means it’s time to evaluate how each squad has done so far.
We’re kicking off The Hockey News’ NHL summer splash rankings. Day by day, we’re ranking which teams did the most to improve, based on acquisitions, departures, hirings and firings.
The general criteria is examining which teams improved, stayed the same or got worse. There are exceptions for teams that kept star players off the market by re-signing them and clubs that didn’t necessarily get much worse but did significantly less than what was expected.
The last-place squad in this series fits into one of those exceptions – you can guess which one.
The NHL summer splash rankings begin with Team No. 32 – the Buffalo Sabres.
Additions
Josh Doan (RW), Justin Danforth (RW), Michael Kesselring (D), Conor Timmins (D), Alex Lyon (G)
The Breakdown: The Sabres made their defense corps deeper by adding Kesselring (via the JJ Peterka trade) and Timmins (via the Connor Clifton trade). Kesselring has potential as a top-four defenseman, but neither D-man can be considered a massive difference-maker.
Similarly, young winger Doan has shown promise in his game, scoring seven goals and 19 points in 51 games while splitting this past season between the NHL and AHL. But he’s a depth player, as is 32-year-old former Columbus Blue Jackets winger Danforth, who gives experience to Buffalo’s bottom six forwards.
Lyon signed as a free agent to compete with youngster Devon Levi for the supporting role behind starting goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
Departures
JJ Peterka (RW), Sam Lafferty (C), Connor Clifton (D), Jacob Bernard-Docker (D), James Reimer (G)
The Breakdown: Peterka was traded to the Utah Mammoth, where he quickly signed a five-year deal with an average annual value of $7.7 million. Clearly, either Buffalo wasn’t willing to offer that contract, Peterka wasn’t willing to sign the same deal with the Sabres or both.
Meanwhile, depth center Lafferty was dealt to Chicago, Clifton was shipped off to Pittsburgh, Bernard-Docker signed a free-agent deal with Detroit, and Reimer, 37, remains unsigned.
The Bottom Line
The Sabres’ off-season moves are extremely underwhelming. They lost a dynamic point-producer in Peterka and ostensibly used his cap space to re-sign young defenseman Bowen Byram.
But while Buffalo’s defense corps now has solid depth, its overall offense has taken a hit, and that’s not good news in the highly competitive Atlantic Division. They scored the 10th-most goals-for this past season, and Peterka was their second-top scorer, with 68 points.
The Sabres have about $7.39 million in cap space, but a chunk of that will have to go to RFA goalie Levi and RFA blueliner Timmins. All in all, Buffalo hasn’t improved, and they’ve gotten worse in the grand scheme of things.
Sabres fans don’t need to be reminded, but their team hasn’t made the playoffs in 14 years. They were one win away from making the playoffs in 2022-23, with 91 points, and subsequently finished with 84 and 79 points in the following two seasons. How patient can a fan be?
If the Sabres extend their playoff drought to 15 years by missing out on the post-season in 2025-26, the Sabres should be radically remaking their front office and starting over to at long last come up with a team that can compete with the best organizations in the NHL.
They haven’t done nearly enough to go toe-to-toe with top Atlantic teams like Florida, Toronto and Tampa Bay, and Buffalo’s lack of improvement this summer is probably dooming them to another letdown season. That's why they're last in the NHL summer splash rankings.
He started that game as an unknown, even to himself. He departed a hero. By the end of the month, he was a World Series champion.
The momentum he gained in the playoffs carried into this season, which explains why the 26-year-old right-hander was at the All-Star Game in Atlanta earlier this week reliving what might have been the most consequential start of his career.
The Dodgers will return from the All-Star break on Friday with Yamamoto as the only dependable arm in their billion-dollar rotation, and his newfound status as one of the best pitchers in baseball makes him their likely Game 1 starter when they open the postseason.
“He’s just to the point where he knows he’s a really good pitcher, he’s an All-Star and he has high expectations for himself,” manager Dave Roberts said.
The sense of stability that Yamamoto provides was something the Dodgers couldn’t have dreamed of in his up-and-down rookie season last year. Yamamoto encountered difficulties that were unknown to him as a three-time Pacific League most valuable player with Japan’s Orix Buffaloes, missing three months with shoulder problems. Even when he pitched, he performed inconsistently, and in Game 1 of the NLDS against the Padres, he gave up five runs in only three innings.
“The more I failed, the more it felt like things were piling up,” Yamamoto said.
With a two-games-to-one deficit in the series, the Dodgers managed to win Game 4 in San Diego to set up a winner-take-all Game 5 in Los Angeles. Yamamoto was assigned to start the deciding game.
Yamamoto had difficulty sleeping the night before his start. When he tried to think of anything other than the game, he couldn’t.
Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivers against the Chicago White Sox on July 1. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
He felt the weight of his 10-year, $325-million contract, which was the most lucrative deal signed by any pitcher from any country. He was also pitching opposite Yu Darvish, making this the first postseason game featuring two Japanese starting pitchers.
His worst fears were never realized. He pitched five scoreless innings in a 2-0 victory, delivering a performance that changed how everyone viewed him — the fans, the team, even himself.
“Being able to contain them there,” Yamamoto said, “became a source of confidence.”
Yamamoto downplayed his psychological fortitude that was required to regroup in the wake of his Game 1 calamity, describing his turnaround as a function of his ability to identify problems and remedy them.
“I’m by no means strong mentally,” he said. “When I get hit, there are times I get really down. But as time passes, things clear up. What I have to do becomes clear.”
Between the two NLDS starts, for example, Yamamoto adjusted the positioning of his glove, which the Dodgers believed revealed in Game 1 which pitches he was about to throw.
His celebration, however, was short-lived.
“I felt like I cleared a mountain,” Yamamoto said. “But there was no time to relax before the next game started.”
Yamamoto started twice more in the playoffs, in Game 4 of the NL Championship Series against the New York Mets and Game 2 of the World Series against the New York Yankees. He gave up a combined three runs in a combined 10 ⅔ innings over the two games, both of which the Dodgers won.
“I think it was a really valuable experience,” he said. “Because of what I experienced, along with the advances I made from a technical standpoint, I think I was able to grow.”
He also drew from the unpleasant times, particularly the three months he was sidelined with a strained rotator cuff.
“I spent the time determined to grow from that,” he said. “I don’t want to forget how frustrated I was.”
The experiences gave him a baseline of knowledge he could take into his second season. As a rookie, he had reported to camp without any expectations.
“I didn’t know what my ability was relative to everyone else’s,” he said. “I lacked a basic understanding of, ‘If I do this, it will work, or if I do that, it won’t.’ So I wasn’t thinking I’d be successful and I wasn’t thinking I wouldn’t be either. I really didn’t know.”
This spring training, he knew. He knew he could succeed.
He also knew what he was up against. Standing a modest 5-foot-10, Yamamoto was struck as a rookie by the imposing physical frames of the other players.
“More than that, when you get to the ballpark, for example, Mookie [Betts] will be finishing up hitting drenched in sweat ,” he said. “ I was surprised by the amount of training, that players weren’t just relying on their talent. It was a little shocking.”
Recognizing that he lost weight over the course of last season, Yamamoto was determined to report to spring training this year with a stronger body. He also benefited from increased comfort with low-quality American baseballs and the pitch clock. He purchased a home, the off-field stability permitting him to focus more on his work.
Pitching once a week as he did in Japan, Yamamoto was 4-2 with a 0.90 earned-run average in his first seven starts of this season. He started pitching on five-days’ rest after that, and he wasn’t nearly as dominant. He initially struggled pitching on a shorter cycle, but he said the causes of that were disruptions to his between-starts routine rather than anything fatigue-related.
Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivers against the San Francisco Giants on June 13. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
“I think there is absolutely no problem with that,” he said. “You pitch on six days’ rest in Japan, but you throw 120, 130 pitches in seven or eight innings. That was tough. You have one less day to recover here, but you’re also throwing fewer pitches, so you don’t feel the fatigue that much.
“There are things that come up in between starts. For example, there could be two flights or you could arrive in a city in the middle of the night and have to pitch the next day. You won’t be able to spend every five-day period the same way.”
Yamamoto said he learned to better maximize his time between starts, which he pointed to as the reason he was able to regain his form leading up to the All-Star break. In his penultimate appearance before the intermission, he didn’t make it out of the first inning and was charged with five runs, three of them earned. But in two of his last four starts, he didn’t give up any runs. In another, he yielded just one.
In fact, Yamamoto said that if the team asks, he thinks he could pitch on four days’ rest.
“This year, my body has recovered really well,” he said. “I often check with the trainers after the game, and we talk about how if it’s like this, I could throw in four days, or how if I feel like that, I might be a little later. We go through different scenarios like that every week. I still haven’t started on four days’ rest, but I think my preparation to do that has gone well.”
Yamamoto enters the final 2 ½ months of the regular season not only as the Dodgers’ leader in wins (eight) but also games started (19) and innings pitched (104 ⅓).
His increased comfort has extended into the clubhouse. He forged a somewhat unlikely friendship with South Korean Hyeseong Kim, the two of them often conversing on the bench during games.
“We speak to each other in broken English,” Yamamoto said with a chuckle. “I really like Korean food, so he teaches me about that. There are differences between Korean and Japanese baseball, and the major leagues are a little different too, so stuff like that. They aren’t deep conversations, but I think it’s important to communicate, so we talk a lot.”
Yamamoto has also developed a particularly strong admiration of Clayton Kershaw.
“In him, you have a player on the team whom you can model yourself after,” Yamamoto said. “I also learn a lot watching him pitch. He’s someone you can admire in every aspect. All of my teammates think of him like that too. That’s the kind of player I would like to be.”
The kind of player who could be counted on to take his turn in the rotation. The kind of player who can deliver for his team in big moments.
Coming off a strong rookie season, Warriors big man Quinten Post figured to be the perfect candidate to utilize the NBA Summer League as a means of improving his game entering Year 2.
Quinten Post is not on the Warriors’ summer league roster. He will not be playing summer league for the Warriors anymore I’m told, but likely will be around the team working out @NBCSWarriors
An ankle injury flaring up before the California Classic is the culprit behind Post’s summer league absence, the SF Standard’s Danny Emmerman reported Tuesday. It was an injury that Post dealt with throughout the second half of the 2024-25 NBA season, and it appears Golden State wasn’t keen on taking any risks with the sharpshooting big man.
Emmerman’s report also notes that Post spent time working out in Golden State’s facility, while taking in the games themselves from a courtside seat in Las Vegas.
Post averaged 8.1 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game in 42 appearances during his rookie season, becoming a key cog in the Warriors’ rotation down the stretch of Golden State’s playoff run.
Renown for his shooting ability, Post was able to provide the Warriors with invaluable floor spacing, knocking down 40.8 percent of his 3-point attempts, offering instant impact despite working through the growing pains that NBA rookies typically face.
Golden State appears to have struck gold after selecting Post with the No. 52 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, with the Warriors hoping their luck of second-round hits continues this season after taking Alex Toohey and Will Richard last month.
Coming off a strong rookie season, Warriors big man Quinten Post figured to be the perfect candidate to utilize the NBA Summer League as a means of improving his game entering Year 2.
Quinten Post is not on the Warriors’ summer league roster. He will not be playing summer league for the Warriors anymore I’m told, but likely will be around the team working out @NBCSWarriors
An ankle injury flaring up before the California Classic is the culprit behind Post’s summer league absence, the SF Standard’s Danny Emmerman reported Tuesday. It was an inujury that Post dealt with throughout the second half of the 2024-25 NBA season, and it appears Golden State wasn’t keen on taking any risks with the sharpshooting big man.
Emmerman’s report also notes that Post spent time working out in Golden State’s facility while taking in the games themselves from a courtside seat in Las Vegas.
Post averaged 8.1 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game in 42 appearances during his rookie season, becoming a key cog in the Warriors’ rotation down the stretch of Golden State’s playoff run.
Renown for his shooting ability, Post was able to provide the Warriors with invaluable floor spacing, knocking down 40.8 percent of his 3-point attempts, offering instant impact despite working through the growing pains that NBA rookies typically face.
Golden State appears to have struck gold after selecting Post with the No. 52 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, with the Warriors hoping their luck of second-round hits continues this season after taking Alex Toohey and Will Richard last month.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have acquired another forward.
The Maple Leafs have added Dakota Joshua from the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for a 2028 fourth-round pick. The 29-year-old played 57 games with the Canucks last season, scoring 14 points (seven goals and seven assists).
The Maple Leafs selected Joshua in the fifth round (128th overall) in the 2014 NHL Draft. Toronto then traded him to the St. Louis Blues for future considerations in July 2019, after four years at Ohio State University.
Since then, the Dearborn, Michigan forward has appeared in a total of 241 NHL games, split between the Blues and Canucks. Joshua has played most of his games in the NHL with Vancouver, where he has dressed in 199 games, scoring 69 points (36 goals and 33 assists) in that span.
Joshua is entering the second season of a four-year, $13 million contract he signed with the Canucks in June 2024. The annual average value of the contract is $3.25 million. After this trade, the Maple Leafs have just over $2 million in cap space, according to PuckPedia.com.
The forward's most productive year in the NHL came during the 2023-24 season. Joshua had 32 points in 63 games before coming up huge in the playoffs for Vancouver, scoring four goals and four assists in 13 games.
He'll join a Maple Leafs team which is full of depth. The left-shot forward lined up on the left wing with Vancouver for most of last season.
Last summer, Joshua was diagnosed with testicular cancer and underwent surgery in September, forcing him to miss the first few months of the regular season. He made his season debut against the New York Islanders on November 14.
"Dakota went through a lot last season before the year even started and we were very impressed in how he handled such a difficult off-ice situation," said Canucks GM Patrik Allvin in a statement. "Once healthy, he tried hard to help the team in many ways, and we want to wish him the best moving forward in Toronto."
With the starting rotation back at full strength and All-Star festivities now complete, the Mets announced on Thursday that they'll open the second half of their season with Sean Manaea, Clay Holmes, and David Peterson taking the mound at home against the Reds this weekend.
The first left-hander on the bump will be Manaea, who made his long-awaited 2025 debut last Sunday in a road loss to the Royals. He entered as a bulk reliever for Holmes in the sixth inning, and completed 3.1 frames before allowing the game-winning run in the ninth. Overall, Manaea gave up five hits and struck out seven across 65 pitches.
Holmes will be tasked with Saturday's middle game, and the Mets are hoping that the reliever-turned-starter can regain some sharpness. While his workload has been closely monitored of late, the veteran right-hander has logged a 5.28 ERA through three July outings. By design, he also hasn't completed six innings of work since June 7.
The series finale on Sunday will belong to Peterson, who entered the All-Star break on a positive note. The veteran southpaw registered seven innings of one-run ball with seven strikeouts in the Mets' road win over the Orioles on July 10, and produced 6.2 one-run frames one week prior at home against the Brewers.
The Mets (55-42), who trail the rival Phillies by a half-game for first place in the NL East, are scheduled to host the Angels for a three-game set (July 21-23) after the Reds leave town.
The Toronto Maple Leafs improved their forward depth by trading for left winger Dakota Joshua from the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday.
In return, the Canucks got a fourth-round pick in the 2028 NHL draft.
In 57 games this past season, Joshua recorded seven goals and seven assists for 14 points, along with 193 hits. He missed the beginning of the season recovering from a procedure that removed a tumor that was diagnosed as testicular cancer.
In 2023-24, Joshua scored 18 goals, 14 assists and 32 points, all career highs. His 244 hits that season led the team and were the ninth-most in the NHL.
The 29-year-old center carries a $3.25 million cap hit and is under contract for the next three seasons. Toronto now has $2.083 million in salary cap space, according to PuckPedia.
This is a reunion for Joshua and the Maple Leafs. He was originally selected 128th overall by the organization in the 2014 NHL draft. Toronto traded him to the St. Louis Blues for future considerations in 2019 before Joshua played his first NHL game.
Joshua has played parts of five NHL seasons, including two with the Blues and three with the Canucks. In 241 career games, he's scored 40 goals and 78 points.
He also has some solid playoff numbers, including four goals and four helpers in 13 contests in 2023-24. He was tied for third on the Canucks in goals while averaging 15:49 of ice time in those playoffs, when they lost in Game 7 of the second round to the Edmonton Oilers.
This marks the third top-nine forward Treliving has acquired in this off-season. The others include Matias Maccelli, who was acquired for a 2027 conditional third-round pick from the Utah Mammoth, and Nicolas Roy, who was the return from the Vegas Golden Knights for the signing rights of Mitch Marner.
Joshua, Roy and Maccelli earn between $3 million and $3.5 million against the cap and spread out Toronto's forward depth following Marner's departure.
The Vancouver Canucks have traded forward Dakota Joshua to the Toronto Maple Leafs for a fourth-round pick in the 2028 NHL Draft. Joshua had just completed the first year of his new four-year contract, which carries an AAV of $3.25 million. With the addition of a fourth-round pick, Vancouver now has eight selections in both the 2027 and 2028 drafts.
In a press release, GM Patrik Allvin wrote, "Dakota went through a lot last season before the year even started and we were very impressed in how he handled such a difficult off-ice situation. Once healthy, he tried hard to help the team in many ways, and we want to wish him the best moving forward in Toronto."
Joshua has spent the last three seasons with the Canucks. In 199 regular-season games with Vancouver, the 29-year-old recorded 69 points and 660 hits. Joshua was also a key member of the Canucks 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs roster, as he scored four goals and recorded eight points in 13 games.
The 2024-25 season did not go the way Joshua or the organization had hoped for. He missed training camp and the beginning of the season as he was recovering from off-season surgery to remove a cancerous tumour, while also missing some time in January with a lower-body injury. By the end of the campaign, Joshua had played 57 games, recording 14 points while throwing 193 hits.
While Vancouver did receive a draft pick, the main asset the Canucks acquired by trading Joshua to the Maple Leafs is cap flexibility. Vancouver now has around $4 million in cap space that they can use to strengthen their center depth. As for Joshua, he now returns to Toronto, which was the organization that drafted him 128th overall in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft.
Make sure you bookmark THN's Vancouver Canucks site and add us to your favourites on Google News for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and so much more from The Hockey News. Also, don't forget to leave a comment at the bottom of the page and engage with other passionate fans through our forum.
Over the last 12 months, the San Jose Sharks’ goaltending has undergone wholesale changes. MacKenzie Blackwood is now a member of the Colorado Avalanche, and Vitek Vanecek won the Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers before finding his way to the Utah Mammoth this summer. Meanwhile, Alexandar Georgiev and Georgi Romanov are currently unrestricted free agents. All four of those netminders suited up for the Sharks during the 2024-25 season, and now they’ve moved on.
The only remaining Sharks goaltender from last season is Yaroslav Askarov, a highly-touted 23-year-old who they acquired from the Nashville Predators less than a full calendar year ago. Askarov’s potential seems sky-high; however, as history has shown, potential is far from a guarantee in the NHL.
He’s been a consistent high-end performer at the AHL level, whether that was with the Milwaukee Admirals or the San Jose Barracuda, but he’s been unable to sustain that high level of play at the top level of hockey.
With that being said, the Omsk, Russia native has had flashes of brilliance, but there have been moments where he’s struggled mightily, such as January 23 against his former team when he gave up six goals on 38 shots.
When free agency opened on July 1, Mike Grier made a trade to acquire his apparent battery-mate, Alex Nedeljkovic, from the Pittsburgh Penguins. While Nedeljkovic has had some success at the NHL level, his play has deteriorated since his rookie season with the Carolina Hurricanes when he was named a finalist for the Calder Trophy during the 2020-21 season.
Nedeljkovic brings a competitive spirit to the Sharks, famously sparking the Penguins after being pulled against the Flyers last season, with an outburst that then head coach Mike Sullivan credited as a turning point in the game.
According to Michelle Crechiolo of NHL.com, after that game, Sullivan told the media, “For me, that's just an indication of how invested he is. He cares. He's competitive. He wants to win. That's raw emotion, and I have no problem with that. Quite honestly, I thought he inspired the group to want to compete for him. I thought our team responded. I thought Ned was a big part of it.”
One thing to keep in mind regarding Askarov was the state of the defensive corps in front of him. The Sharks' defense struggled mightily regardless of who was between the pipes. Grier set out to resolve that problem this summer, adding the likes of Dmitry Orlov, Nick Leddy, and John Klingberg into the organization.
While this has led to a glut of NHL-caliber defensemen, it will create competition in training camp, which should push every single player to work their hardest, as it seems very few spots will be guaranteed. The Sharks have already moved Henry Thrun in order to attempt to clear the logjam, but more moves may be necessary after training camp gets underway.
The Sharks added another top goaltending prospect into their ranks, drafting Joshua Ravensbergen late in the first round of the 2025 NHL Draft. Although he’s not expected to battle for an NHL role for at least a few years, the move put Askarov on a timeline to prove he can be a top goaltender in the NHL. With just Nedeljkovic to beat, he has the opportunity to earn the starting job this fall with minimal resistance compared to last season.
Nedeljkovic told local media that he was surprised about the trade to San Jose, but he was also looking forward to a new opportunity. “Definitely very excited,” Nedeljkovic said. “It’s going to be a great opportunity to play some games and work with some new guys, get to know some new guys, and hopefully make some good friends.”
The Sharks took a similar approach, bringing in Georgiev last season, and although that didn’t work as intended, there’s always a chance that Nedeljkovic thrives in San Jose. With just a single season remaining on his contract, if he’s able to play at a high level for the first half of the 2025-26 season, Grier may be able to flip him for assets similar to Blackwood closer to the trade deadline. Otherwise, the Sharks only gave up a third-round pick for a player to fill a role this coming season, which isn’t a bad piece of business either way.
Last season, Nedeljkovic was the highest-performing goaltender of the Penguins’ trio. He split time with Tristan Jarry and Joel Blomqvist, but the Parma, Ohio native started the most games with 38. His save percentage, .894, and goals against average, 3.12, left quite a bit to be desired but the fact that he outperformed the organization’s other goaltenders appears to be a positive sign.
A tandem consisting of a young, high profile prospect and a veteran looking to show he can get back to a high level of play has the potential to be a major strong point for the Sharks this season. At the same time, though, it could also be a weakness. As a result, goaltending will certainly be a boom-or-bust factor for the team in teal as they look to start moving up in the standings.
The leaders in the National League East, the Phillies (55-41) welcome the surprising Angels (47-49) to Citizens Bank Park in the City of Brotherly Love for a three-game series beginning Friday night.
Jose Soriano is slated to take the mound for Los Angeles against Jesús Luzardo for Philadelphia.
The Phillies lead the Mets by 0.5 games despite not having their leader, Bryce Harper, in their lineup for the bulk of June. Trea Turner has 112 hits in 94 games and the MVP of the All-Star Game, Kyle Schwarber, has 30 home runs to lead Philadelphia.
Only three teams have more wins on the road in the American League than the Angels. As a result, the Halos are within two games of .500 and within four of a wildcard berth. Taylor Ward is tied for eleventh in baseball with 65 RBIs to lead the Angels.
Lets dive into the matchup and find a sweat or two.
We’ve got all the info and analysis you need to know ahead of the game, including the latest info on the how to catch tipoff, odds, recent team performance, player stats, and of course, our predictions, picks & best bets for the game from our modeling tools and staff of experts.
Follow Rotoworld Player News for the latest fantasy and betting player news and analysis all season long.
Game details & how to watch Angels at Phillies
Date: Friday, July 18, 2025
Time: 6:45PM EST
Site: Citizens Bank Park
City: Philadelphia, PA
Network/Streaming: FDSNW, NBCSP
Never miss a second of the action and stay up-to-date with all the latest team stats and player news. Check out our day-by-day MLB schedule page, along with detailed matchup pages that update live in-game with every out.
Odds for the Angels at the Phillies
The latest odds as of Thursday:
Moneyline: Angels (+179), Phillies (-219)
Spread: Phillies -1.5
Total: 8.0 runs
Probable starting pitchers for Angels at Phillies
Pitching matchup for July 18, 2025: Jose Soriano vs. Jesús Luzardo
Angels: Jose Soriano (6-7, 3.90 ERA) Last outing: July 13 vs. Arizona - 5IP, 1ER, 5H, 3BB, 3Ks
Phillies: Jesús Luzardo (8-5, 4.14 ERA) Last outing: July 9 at San Francisco - 7IP, 0ER, 3H, 1BB, 7Ks
Rotoworld still has you covered with all the latest MLB player news for all 30 teams. Check out the feed page right here on NBC Sports for headlines, injuries and transactions where you can filter by league, team, positions and news type!
Top betting trends & insights to know ahead of Angels at Phillies
The Phillies have a winning record (9-6) in games against the American League this season
The Angels' last 4 road games have stayed under the Total
The Angels have covered the Run Line in 4 straight road games
Jose Soriano has struck out 14 batters in 16IP in July.
Jesus Luzardo has struck out 7 batters in 3 of his last 4 starts
Bryce Harper is riding a modest 4-game hitting streak (7-16)
If you’re looking for more key trends and stats around the spread, moneyline and total for every single game on the schedule today, check out our MLB Top Trends tool on NBC Sports!
Expert picks & predictions for Friday’s game between the Angels and the Phillies
Rotoworld Best Bet
Please bet responsibly. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, call the National Gambling Helpline at 1-800-522-4700.
Our model calculates projections around each moneyline, spread and over/under bet for every game on the MLB calendar based on data points like past performance, player matchups, ballpark information and weather forecasts.
Once the model is finished running, we put its projection next to the latest betting lines for the game to arrive at a relative confidence level for each wager.
Here are the best bets our model is projecting for Friday's game between the Angels and the Phillies:
Moneyline: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the Philadelphia Phillies on the Moneyline.
Spread: NBC Sports Bet is leaning towards a play ATS on the Los Angeles Angels at +1.5.
Total: NBC Sports Bet is staying away from a play on the Game Total of 8.0.
Want even more MLB best bets and predictions from our expert staff & tools? Check out the Expert MLB Predictions page from NBC
Follow our experts on socials to keep up with all the latest content from the staff:
The second half of the MLB season starts up on Friday, and before first pitch, I have two teams in the make-or-miss playoff market worth betting on -- the San Diego Padres and Boston Red Sox, plus a win total on the Cleveland Guardians.
Follow Rotoworld Player News for the latest fantasy and betting player news and analysis all season long.
Boston Red Sox: (-140) to make the playoffs | (+115) to miss the playoffs
The hottest team in all of baseball is the Boston Red Sox, who have won 10 straight games heading into the All-Star break!
That makes this the perfect time to break down their miss or make the playoffs market because this is the best point to sell-high on Boston if you are a non-believer or it could be one of the final times to get a decent price on the Red Sox if you like where this team is headed toward the end of July.
Where do I stand? I am fader. That's right. I enjoy watching and betting on Sox baseball. I think this team is competitive, but still a few hitters and another youthful pitcher or two away from being serious contenders.
To continue to play devil's advocate, it's the schedule in a crowded AL East that does it for me. With records based on the first half of the season, per Tankathon, Boston has the third-toughest remaining strength of schedule (.516 winning %).
Let's look at the first 15 games of the second half for Boston:
3 road games at the Cubs 3 road games at the Phillies 3 home games vs the Dodgers 3 road games at the Twins 3 home games vs the Astros
I mean, 5-7 wins sounds about right for me out of 15 games, respectively, of course. When you consider the Rays, Yankees, and Blue Jays all have similar strength of schedules (10th, 15th, 18th) that are easier than the Red Sox's.
I am going to take the plus-money here for 2 units and say Boston misses the playoffs. In a week or two, this could very well be -150 to -200 pending how the Cubs, Phillies, and Dodgers series go. I won't waste time and neither should you. Get some -105, +114 and +115 in my pocket across the three books I play.
Pick: Boston Red Sox to miss the playoffs (2 units)
If you’re looking for more key trends and stats around the spread, moneyline and total for every single game on the schedule today, check out our MLB Top Trends tool on NBC Sports!
San Diego Padres: (-115) to make the playoffs | (+105) to miss the playoffs
San Diego is currently a slight favorite to YES -- that they will make the playoffs market. The Padres are 0.5 game ahead of the Giants for the final wild card spot and within 4.0 games of the Mets and Brewers, who are in the other two spots.
Looking at the second half of the year per Tankathon, San Diego has the 4th-easiest strength of schedule remaining
The Padres open the second-half with three games at the Nationals, three more at the Marlins, then to St. Louis for three more road games as part of a nine-game East Coast road trip. However, we have to admit, those are decent matchups to have a winning record across for a 9-game road trip — in other words, it could be much worse.
After that nine-game road trip, the next 27 games will be on the West Coast for San Diego, whether they are in California, Arizona or Washington (the state). San Diego will be in a prime position to make a run at the playoffs, but I still haven't gotten to the best part.
The final month of the season is a great opportunity for the Padres to gain ground too -- in the final 28 games -- 13 of those are against the Orioles, White Sox, and Rockies!
Baltimore could be tanking and we know how atrocious Chicago and Colorado have been the past season and a half. It doesn't get better than that.
Lay 2 units on the Padres to make the playoffs at -115 or -118 odds — out to -140. I think they nab one of those three Wild Card spots.
Pick: Padres to make the playoffs (2 units)
If you’re looking for more key trends and stats around the spread, moneyline and total for every single game on the schedule today, check out our MLB Top Trends tool on NBC Sports!
Cleveland Guardians: O/U 79.5 Wins
The Cleveland Guardians are 46-49 with 67 games remaining, and of those 67 games, they have the easiest strength of schedule in all of baseball with an opponent winning percentage below 48%.
If you look at the Guardians' schedule, you'll wish it were your favorite team's schedule.
To start the second half of the year, Cleveland hosts the Athletics and Orioles (4-game series) for seven total games, then to Kansas City for a three-game set to return and host the Rockies and Twins for six more home games.
After that, a quick three games in New York with the Mets before facing the White Sox in Chicago for three, and back to hosting the Marlins for a three-game set.
I just gave you the first 24 games of the 67 and the teams were the Athletics, Orioles, Royals, Rockies, Twins, Mets, White Sox, and Marlins -- beautiful!
It could be a sweaty finish, though, I must admit. The Guardians will host the Royals and White Sox for seven games in mid-September, then a rough patch. Cleveland will play three road games in Detroit, four more in Minnesota, then back at home for six games total hosting Detroit and Texas, so four potential playoff teams over 12 games to finish the season. That's not nearly as appealing, but doable if they run through the cupcake schedule in July and August.
To reach 80 wins, Cleveland will have to finish the second half with a 34-33 record or better. If the Guardians win three of the first four series out of the break for an 8-5 record or better -- we should be feeling good about this play.
Cleveland is also working Shane Bieber back into the mix after having Tommy John surgery in 2024. He makes a rehab start this week, while hitters Lane Thomas and Gabriel Arias are expected back shortly, plus relievers Paul Sewald and Trevor Stephan from the IL -- All good news for Cleveland. I like the Guardians to go over 79.5 wins at -110 odds.
Pick: Cleveland Guardians Over 79.5 Wins (2 units)
Vaughn Dalzell’s MLB Futures Card
2 units: Boston Red Sox to miss the playoffs (+115) 2 units: San Diego Padres to make the playoffs (-115) 2 units: Cleveland Guardians Over 79.5 Wins (-110) 2 units: Aaron Judge to lead MLB in home runs (+130) 2 units: Cam Smith to win AL Rookie of the Year (+150) 2 units: Jacob Misiorowski to win NL Rookie of the Year (-110)
1 unit: Shohei Ohtani to win NL MVP (-110) 1 unit: Bobby Witt to win AL MVP (+450) 1 unit: Elly De La Cruz to win NL MVP (+2000) 1 unit: Garrett Crochet to win AL CY Young (+450) 1 unit: Paul Skenes to win NL CY Young (+115) 1 unit: Paul Skenes to win NL CY Young (+300) 1 unit: Jacob Misiorowski to win NL Rookie of the Year (+100) 1 unit: Byron Buxton to win AL Comeback Player of the Year (+430) 1 unit: New York Yankees to win AL East (-115)
0.5 unit: Dodgers to win 117-plus games (+650) 0.5 unit: Paul Skenes to lead MLB in wins (+1400) 0.5 unit: Garrett Crochet to lead MLB in wins (+2200) 0.5 unit: Juan Soto to lead the MLB in homers (+2800) 0.5 unit: Yordan Alvarez to lead the MLB in homers (+2000) 0.5 unit: Roman Anthony to win AL Rookie of the Year (+1200) 0.5 unit: Jacob Misiorowski to win NL Rookie of the Year (+1100)
0.25 unit: Aaron Judge to bat .400 by the All-Star break (+800) 0.25 unit: Aaron Judge to bat .400 for the season (+5500) 0.25 unit: Oneil Cruz to lead MLB in stolen bases (+15000)
Follow our experts on socials to keep up with all the latest content from the staff:
The deal means Dostal and the Ducks avoided arbitration in August.
"Lukas has proven he is a No. 1 goaltender, and we are so
pleased to get this deal done," Ducks GM Pat Verbeek said in a news
release.
In the last
two seasons, Dostal earned an increasingly larger share of the starts. He even
played in 54 games in 2024-25 while Gibson played 29. Gibson had an appendectomy that caused him to miss the first month of the season, and he was in and out of the lineup with injuries throughout the campaign.
Dostal had a 23-23-7 record, with a .903 save percentage and a 3.10 goals-against average. Of goaltenders aged 24 or under, only he and the Calgary Flames' Dustin Wolf won 20 or more games. And in 2023-24, when he played 44 games, Dostal had a 14-23-3 record with a .902 SP and 3.33 GAA.
What stands out is Dostal's 14.3 goals saved above expected, the 17th most among all NHL goalies this past season, according to moneypuck.com. That stat takes into account the quality of shots Dostal faced on a Ducks squad that conceded the most high-danger chances in the NHL this past season, according to naturalstattrick.com.
"He is just entering the prime of his career with his best hockey ahead of him," Verbeek said.
The Ducks aim to have their best hockey since 2018 ahead of them as well. After a first-round exit in 2017-18, the Ducks missed the playoffs in the past seven years. They've been busy this off-season to take a step up.
"We are the team on the rise, and can't wait to see you soon in the Honda Center," Dostal said
in a video posted to social media.
Anaheim replaced coach Greg Cronin with three-time Stanley Cup champion Joel Quenneville. This is his first NHL coaching job since resigning from the Florida Panthers in 2021 in the wake of an investigation determining he and other members of the 2010 Chicago Blackhawks had an inadequate response to sexual assault allegations. The NHL cleared him to work again last summer, and Verbeek said they did a comprehensive review before hiring Quenneville.
The Ducks also acquired Chris Kreider and signed Mikael Granlund while trading Gibson to the Red Wings and Trevor Zegras to the Philadelphia Flyers.
After all that, Anaheim still has nearly $22.5 million in cap space. They still have three unsigned RFAs: Mason McTavish, Drew Helleson and Sam Colangelo.
K'Andre Miller's Agent Reveals What Went Down Behind The Scenes Of Breakup With Rangers What went down behind the scenes of K’Andre Miller’s breakup with the New York Rangers and arrival to the Carolina Hurricanes?
