OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Chet Holmgren attempted two shots in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals. He absorbed plenty of shots from critics afterward.
And the Oklahoma City Thunder spent Day 1 of the offseason making clear that they support him.
If the ballyhooed matchup in the West finals was Holmgren vs. San Antonio's Victor Wembanyama, then it was a one-sided one. Wembanyama had the superior numbers in the series and the Spurs wound up prevailing, while Holmgren was barely a factor offensively with the Thunder season on the line Saturday night.
"Every minute Chet Holmgren’s been on the team, we’ve been the 1 seed in the Western Conference," Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said Sunday, when the team gathered for end-of-season meetings. “And it wasn’t the case before Chet was healthy.”
Holmgren had likely his best season, with career-highs of 17.1 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. He made All-NBA for the first time, All-Defensive for the first time as well, got his first All-Star nod, plus was second in the Defensive Player of the Year balloting.
He finished second in that voting behind Wembanyama — just like he did for Rookie of the Year in 2024, and just like the Thunder did in these West finals.
“We need Chet. We need Chet Holmgren,” Thunder guard and back-to-back reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Before Chet was here, we weren’t who we are today. We didn’t have the success we had today. When he’s the best version of himself, we’re the best version of ourselves and it’s no secret.”
It's easy to envision the West finals matchup — Thunder vs. Spurs — becoming a rivalry for years to come. Both teams have young, obviously highly talented corps, and now they have the ingredient that all rivalries truly need, that being a playoff matchup, to help provide fuel.
“I definitely think that they’re different in terms of I don’t think there’s another team that has their play style, their personnel,” Holmgren said. “They're unique in that way. You can’t just kind of play like a base normal, ‘this is what we kind of do on an average Tuesday night’ type of thing.”
And while the outside world might have looked at Holmgren as one of the reasons why Game 7 didn't go Oklahoma City's way, the rest of the Thunder disagreed.
Gilgeous-Alexander, for example, pointed to himself — and that was after he had a brilliant 35-point effort in the deciding game against San Antonio. He even went as far as to describe a second straight MVP season as “a failure.”
“I failed at my goal,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I didn’t achieve what I wanted to achieve, but through my experiences, I learned the most about myself and I make the greatest amount of increases I have in my career when I fail at my goal and don’t get what I want. And I look at this no different. I didn’t get where I wanted to go this season. There’s a reason for that. Now I have to look at that reason and try to make sure it never happens again.”
CORAL GABLES, FL - APRIL 11: Wake Forest pitcher Troy Dressler (19) pitches in the sixth inning as the Miami Hurricanes faced the Wake Forest Demon Deacons on April 11, 2026, at Mark Light Field at Alex Rodriguez Park in Coral Gables, Florida. (Photo by Samuel Lewis/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The season has officially come to an end for the Deacs. Wake Forest was eliminated on Sunday afternoon after falling to the hosting West Virginia Mountaineers by a score of 10-5. They finish the season with a 39-21 record.
— Wake Forest Baseball (@WakeBaseball) May 31, 2026
This one was mostly just a combination of all the issues the Deacs had during the regular season: costly errors, wild pitches, and an inability to generate offense on anything other than home runs. Things started to go south in the 2nd inning, where a wild pitch from starting pitcher Troy Dressler brough in the first run of the game, and then an error from RF Luke Costello allowed 2 more runs in the inning to give the Mountaineers a 3-0 lead.
Wake tied things up a couple of innings later on a 2-run homer by Matt Conte.
— Wake Forest Baseball (@WakeBaseball) May 31, 2026
It was basically all WVU from there. The Mountaineers scored 7 unanswered run—6 in the 6th inning—to put this one out of reach. The Deacs got a couple of runs on an Andrew Costello home run in the 6th inning and a wild pitch that brough in Dalton Wentz in the 8th, but they ultimately just couldn’t generate enough offense to catch up. The Deacs finished the game with just 5 hits—3 outside of the 2 homeruns—to West Virginia’s 13. Wake also finished with 4 wild pitches, 4 walks, and allowed a run on a failed pick off attempt at 2nd base that sent the ball sailing into center field.
BROOKLYN, NY - OCTOBER 20: The Brooklyn Nets honor The National Anthem during a preseason game against the New York Knicks on October 20, 2016 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2016 NBAE (Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
How do title contending NBA teams build their rosters? This year’s NBA Finals is, as they say, a study in contrasts. The San Antonio Spurs are largely organic, with most of their key players selected in the NBA draft by the Spurs, or are the sort of players that any team can acquire to play for them at low cost. The New York Knicks are almost the complete opposite of that. The Spurs had a tough series against the Occupied North Texas Thunder, who might have fit into this picture, but fortunately for my tenuous sanity, I don’t have to talk about them, or how they were built.
Let’s look at Houston’s neighbor to the south, San Antonio, first. In the sort of odds defying miracle the NBA seems to specialize in recently (cf Dallas Mavericks), the most obvious likely generational player since LeBron James, Victor Wembanyama wanted to go to San Antonio, and in a made for the NBA miracle, lo, he did indeed go to the Spurs. Whatever we might think about it, the Spurs, after drifting along for years doing nothing much, have again drafted a generational center. (Provided his health holds up, he’s very young yet, and Yao Ming, for example, hardly missed a game early on.)
So there’s one part of a common formula, draft a superstar. The Rockets, by contrast, don’t seem to have drafted that era defining, or even plain vanilla, superstar. Maybe a younger Rocket is less precocious than Wemby? Certain Rockets players have an early career profile that fits within the trajectory of well known superstars, but also within the more common trajectories of Hall of Very Good players. Time will tell. The Spurs might have drafted another star in Dylan Harper, as the balls have been very kind to them in the right seasons.
What the Spurs had pre Wemby was a very good supporting cast tasked with doing too much as the primary players of those San Antionio teams. If Devin Vassell is your fourth best player, you have a very good fourth player indeed. If he’s your lead guard, it’s a problem. Keldon Johnson always seemed like a very limited player to me, with approximately two things he could do on offense, but as a sixth man, well, he’s Sixth Man of The Year. (But in a crucial game seven, Krash Johnson made a layup with his left hand, so anything is possible I suppose.)
The Spurs also have the much lauded Stephon Castle, in the Amen or Tari Eason role. He’s great in that role, and provides a kind of defensive forcefulness none of the others Spurs provide, including Wemby. Castle, as his stats without Wemby clearly show, is a player who, at this point in his career, would struggle greatly as a primary offensive hub, but he doesn’t have to do that.
The Spurs traded not that much to the Kings to bring Cypress Lakes own De’Aaron Fox to San Antionio, as the Spurs evidently realized this team was ready to compete immediately with Wembanyama taking center stage. He’s been injured a lot, and erratic, but despite being “too small” by the terms of certain NBA thought processes, does what smaller players typically do, which is move differently, and faster, and typically react more quickly and effectively than much larger ones. This doesn’t always make up for not being as tall, but teams that lack that sort of play have real weaknesses in certain respects (in my opinion, long rebounds is one of those weaknesses, as that sort of rebound strikes me as a reaction driven rebound). Fox provides solid distribution and attacks in the half court, something other Spurs struggle to do. He can also get his own shot, which on a team of mostly outside shooters, is crucial.
Finally there’s the MVP of Game 7 of the WC Finals, Julian Champagnie. Julian was undrafted in 2022, and was signed as a two-way player by the 76ers, who sent him to the GLeague. In February of 2023 he was waived by the 76ers, and was signed by the Spurs. He’s mostly been a bench shooter, with a somewhat erratic profile, 38% from three last season, 32% this season. He’s an active and good defender at 6’6”, and basically got the Spurs over the line into the Finals with a 6-10 shooting night from three point range. He’s a player any team could have signed off waivers in 2023, but San Antonio signed him.
As an amusing highlight of this Finals, the Spurs erstwhile player of the future, PG, and general annoyance, Jeremy Sochan is merely a deep bench player. For the Knicks. Not every picks works out, even on a team that’s had a goodly number of picks work out.
So there’s the Spurs, built largely through through glorious draft fortune, with a couple of canny acquisitions in the mix. They’re in the NBA Finals. That means that unless your team, the Rockets, say, has that sort of draft success, it’s doomed, right?
Meet the New York Knickerbockers.
Dallas Mavericks, Utah Jazz, Philadelphia 76ers, Toronto Raptors, Minnesota Timberwolves.
That’s who drafted the Knicks most likely starting lineup. Jalen Brunson came from Dallas, Josh Hart initially from Utah, Mikal Bridges was a 76er to start his career, OG Anunoby won a title with the Raptors, and Karl-Anthony Towns was of course, a Timberwolf. The Knicks either signed, or traded for, an entire NBA Finals starting lineup. The Knicks may be short on “assets”, obviously the key marker of success in the NBA, but somehow reaching the Finals might make their humiliatingly asset-light existence sting a bit less. Especially in New York, a great basketball town utterly starved of recent success.
Of players we’re likely to see much of on the court for the Knicks exactly one, one, was a Knick draft pick: Mitchell Robinson. Every other player we’re likely to see play for the Knicks entered the NBA with another franchise. I’m not sure we’ve ever seen a Finals team that featured zero starters (maybe Robinson will start some games, I don’t know) that were drafted by that team.
What does this mean for the Rockets? To me it signals that there’s more than one way to reach the promised land, and if one way isn’t working, change the approach. So while this piece isn’t directly Rockets related, I think it’s encouraging in some respects. At the start of this season many thought your could write the NBA title winner, the OKC Thunder (good riddance) in ink before a game was played. There is no “One True Way”, and who would have thought the Knicks, after living on the seafloor of the NBA like a flounder for decades, would be a powerhouse built entirely through trades and signings, something the Knick weren’t particularly known for being good at, to say the least.
Maybe San Antionio and their great good fortune, and shrewd pickups, are inevitable, but if this season shows us anything, it’s that inevitability is hardly inevitable.
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - MAY 30: Luke Kornet #7 of the San Antonio Spurs blocks the shot of Isaiah Hartenstein #55 of the Oklahoma City Thunder during the game during Game Seven of the NBA Western Conference Finals on May 30, 2026 at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2026 NBAE (Photo by Zach Beeker/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
This was a moment that nobody expected. At the start of the season, the San Antonio Spurs were seen as a borderline playoff team, possibly a play-in squad. Now, just seven months later, the Spurs are Western Conference champions. In the last game of a hard-fought series with the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder, the Spurs went into enemy territory and convincingly took Game Seven 111-103.
The WCF victory was an emotional experience for this young Spurs squad, led by the 22-year-old phenom, Victor Wembanyama, and early-20s stars like Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper. In a short period of time, this team has come so close to the pinnacle of the league. They’ll need four more wins to get there. San Antonio is a -200 favorite to win the NBA Finals on FanDuel.
The Spurs outdueled the Thunder with defense. Wembanyama kept them out of the paint with his paint defense. San Antonio’s perimeter defenders were able to keep OKC’s supporting players at bay, while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander went off for 35 points. On the other end, the Spurs knocked down big shot after big shot to fend off the Thunder on their way to victory.
Spoiler alert: every Spur got a good player grade in Game Seven! We’ll dive into why below. As a quick reminder, player grades are based on each player’s on-court performance, going beyond just the stat sheet. A “B” grade represents the average performance for an individual. If a player logs fewer than 5 minutes or plays only in garbage time, their grade will be incomplete.
It wasn’t Wembanyama’s most dominant performance of the series, but it was just enough to propel his team to victory. He led the Spurs in scoring once again, with some big shots from deep. Wembanyama hit spot-up jumpers and a huge step-back three late in the game to pad the Spurs’ lead.
The most impressive aspect of Wembanyama’s performance is what he didn’t do. With about 7 minutes left in the game, Wembanyama picked up his fifth foul. That’s a lot of time to play an aggressive team while being on the brink of fouling out. Wembanyama finished the game not only fending off the Thunder at the basket, but also played under control in the final minutes to make sure he remained in the game until the final buzzer. It showed a huge amount of maturity on Wembanyama’s part to finish out the game as he did.
Fox struggled with an ankle injury for most of the WCF. It affected his speed to the basket, the strength of his jumper, and his overall scoring prowess. He looked much healthier in Game Seven. Fox hit some big three-pointers off the dribble and got the mid-range game working on his way to 15 points. When the Thunder tried to switch him onto SGA, he held his own as well as San Antonio’s other defenders. It was a gutsy performance from the veteran guard. Now he will have three full days to rest and heal before facing the New York Knicks in the Finals.
Every time the Thunder would make a run, it felt like the Spurs had a response. Castle was behind a lot of them. He followed up the best defensive play of the game (more to come on that) with a mid-range jumper that gave the Spurs the cushion they needed to win. It wasn’t his best defensive game, and he once again struggled with turnovers, especially late in the game. However, Castle gave the Spurs a lot of the energy and force that they needed, especially when the score got close.
Whatever Champagnie asks for in extension talks this offseason, he deserves. The Spurs wing was fantastic in the WCF and played a huge role in them closing the series out in Game Seven. Any time the ball found an open Champagnie, it felt like it was going in. He was 6 of 10 from three, hitting big shot after big shot. He played a strong defensive game while making some big rebounds down the stretch. His shooting altered this series in a major way. San Antonio will need him to stay hot in the Finals.
Ironically, Vassell struggled a bit in Game Seven despite being one of the Spurs’ most consistent performers in the series. The moment most people will remember from him in this game was the dunk as the clock wound down, and the catharsis that came along with it. His jumper was off for the majority of the game after hitting a mid-range jumper and a three-pointer early in the game. The Spurs will need his jump shot and defensive effort against the Knicks.
Harper looks like he is completely back to full health. His late explosion for a missed dunk over the top of the Thunder late in the game was a sign that his youthful legs are feeling good, and was probably the only silly mistake he made in the game. His shot-making was fantastic in Game Seven. He hit a pair of three-pointers and some tough mid-range jumpers. Harper seems to be getting better as the playoffs go on. This has been a truly special run for a 20-year-old guard.
Johnson showed up when the Spurs needed him in the fourth quarter. He hit two big threes and had a clutch offensive rebound and put-back. It was the type of energetic performance the team needed from a role player late in the game to come away with the victory. It was a great moment for Johnson, after he had struggled to contribute for most of the playoffs.
Kornet made the biggest play of the game, and that’s why he gets a perfect grade. After Isaiah Hartenstein swiped the ball away from the Spurs, Kornet chased him down like LeBron James in the 2016 NBA Finals, met him at the rim, and blocked the dunk. I’m not kidding when I say it is probably the most impactful block in the NBA Playoffs since LeBron’s chasedown.
Grade: A+
Harrison Barnes
3 minutes, 0-for-1 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, -5
Mitch Johnson went with a shortened rotation in a must-win game. Barnes played just three minutes and failed to register a statistic.
Last weekend, the Mets were swept by the Marlins in Miami, scoring a grand total of two runs in three games.
One week later, against the same Miami team, the Mets swept the Marlins and scored 25 runs in three games, capped off by Sunday’s 10-1 win at Citi Field.
While the Mets’ bats have been inconsistent for much of the season, manager Carlos Mendoza believes what the Mets did in this series can be sustainable.
“I think if we keep controlling the strike zone and stay aggressive with pitches in the strike zone [it can be sustainable],” Mendoza said. “We had a tough series against the same team last weekend, when basically we didn’t do anything offensively. For us to make the adjustment quickly and put up that type of performance the whole weekend, it was just good to see our ability to make adjustments and respond.
“Good to see it. Finally, you started to see some of the guys in the lineup every day playing with some confidence.”
In Sunday’s win, the big blow came, as it so often does, from Juan Soto, who demolished a grand slam as part of a five-run sixth inning.
Soto’s third career grand slam was the Mets’ first of the season, and Soto said after the game that the entire lineup came into the series with a plan to attack.
“I feel like everybody knows what to do. We have a plan and we executed throughout the whole series,” said Soto. “I think the whole lineup came ready to attack with a plan. We all did the same thing and we attacked as a team.”
After dropping the first two games of this six-game homestand, the Mets have built some momentum by winning four straight. Now, they must keep that momentum as they head out west for six games against the Seattle Mariners and San Diego Padres.
"For us to get to where we want to get, we’ve got to play well here and play well on the road, especially in the position that we’re in," Mendoza said. "But the mentality is continue to take it one day at a time. Important road trip here, celebrate today. We got out of the gate on this past homestand 0-2, and for us, winning the last four was huge. But now we’ve got to go, and we’re playing two good teams, but we’re starting to see some signs of who we are as a team as well."
A pair of former Florida Panthers, defenseman Mike Reilly and goaltender Brandon Bussi, will have the opportunity to win the Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes.
Following the Hurricanes’ five-game series win over the Montreal Canadiens, they’ll move on to the Stanley Cup final against the Vegas Golden Knights. The Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup in 2005-06 and went to the finals in 2001-02. This will be the third time that they have made the final.
The Hurricanes have been dominant in the post-season, losing just one game en route to the finals.
Reilly and Bussi haven’t been the most prominent figures on the Hurricanes roster, but it takes an entire roster to get to the finals. Reilly has featured in just two games this post-season, but has notched two assists.
During the regular season, Reilly recorded one goal and nine points in 42 games.
As for Bussi, he hasn’t appeared in any playoff games, but he was vital to the Hurricanes’ success in the regular season. The Hurricanes dealt with several injuries to goaltenders during the regular season, and Bussi stepped up for the Canes.
He played 39 games during the regular season, winning 31 of those contests and posting an .895 save percentage. Although Frederik Andersen has held down the fort for the Hurricanes in the playoffs, Bussi has been ready as the backup goaltender.
Bussi and Reilly’s history with the Panthers wasn’t too extensive. Bussi was signed to a two-way deal in the off-season, but was claimed off waivers by the Hurricanes during pre-season.
Reilly played just two games with the Panthers in the 2023-24 season and was placed on waivers by the Panthers. He was then claimed by the New York Islanders, ending his tenure with the Panthers.
The 2025-26 NHL Stanley Cup finals begin on Tuesday with the Hurricanes hosting the Golden Knights.
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May 31, 2026; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets left fielder Juan Soto (22) reacts after hitting a grand slam home run against the Miami Marlins during the sixth inning at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: John Jones-Imagn Images | John Jones-Imagn Images
The Mets kept the good train rolling on Sunday afternoon, as they finished off the series sweep of the Miami Marlins by a score of 10-1. The Mets, now winners of four straight ball games, sit at 26-33, six games out of a Wild Card spot.
The Mets offense was the star of the show today, as they put ten runs on Miami, who had to pivot to a bullpen game due to expected starter Janson Junk’s surprise trip to the injured list this morning. They treated opener John King rudely, as Carson Benge greeted him with his first career lead off home run. The offense did a great job of keeping up the pressure, as they scored runs in four different innings. Marcus Semien hit a two run home run, as part of a game that saw the veteran reach base four times, to make it 3-0 in the second. They added two more in the fourth, when Luis Torrens hit a clean little opposite field single with the bases loaded, making it 5-1 at the time.
The big inning for the Mets came in the sixth inning, when they faced off against right hander Josh White, who was making his Major League debut and was treated very rudely. White looked good through the first two batters, striking out A.J. Ewing and getting Brett Baty to fly out. It fell apart for White from there, as he walked Semien, hit Torrens with a pitch, and walked Benge to load the bases for Bo Bichette. Bichette also worked a walk, pushing the lead to 6-1, and getting Juan Soto to the dish. Soto, who is on another planet right now, hit his ninth home run over his last 15 games, taking a cement mixer slider 109 ft. to the bullpen. The grand slam is the first for the Mets this season, and gave the Mets a 10-1 lead.
Nolan McLean got the ball to start and had a very strange game. He only surrendered two hits and one run, but he walked five and only struck out two (and he hit a batter!). He only had two 1-2-3 innings, as one would imagine with the five walks and a hit batsman, but he was able to consistently wriggle out of jams of his own creation. He also got some pretty timely defensive plays that helped prevent bigger innings on top of that, namely from Brett Baty and A.J. Ewing.
After the grand slam, the game was all but over. The Mets got two on with two out singles by Semien and Torrens in the seventh but did not cash them in, and went quietly in the eighth against utility man Javier Sanoja. David Peterson, who was recently swapped with Sean Manaea as the bulk reliever out of the pen, got his first save of the season. The lefty was excellent over the final four innings, surrendering just a hit and a walk, striking out three. The Mets, who need to just stack wins and see what happens, will look to do so on the West Coast (again), as they fly to Seattle for a three-game series starting tomorrow night.
Big Mets winner: Marcus Semien, +19% WPA Big Mets loser: Honestly? Nobody. The lowest was -2% WPA for A.J. Ewing. Mets pitchers: 17% WPA Mets hitters: 33% WPA Teh aw3s0mest play: Marcus Semien’s two run home run in the second inning, +10.4% WPA Teh sux0rest play: Jakob Marsee’s walk in the fourth inning, -6.2% WPA
The Detroit Red Wings celebrated their centennial season in 2025-26, which was commemorated by memories of glories past and multiple cameos from some of the most important players in team history.
It was on this day in 2002 that the Red Wings enjoyed one of the most meaningful victories in their history, defeating the Colorado Avalanche by a whopping 7-0 final score in Game 7 of the Western Conference Final.
The Red Wings, who had defeated the Vancouver Canucks and St. Louis Blues in the opening two rounds of the postseason, found themselves in a precarious position after five games against Colorado.
The Avalanche beat the Red Wings 2-1 in overtime in Game 5, taking a three-games-to-two series lead back to Denver. But it was a crucial error from Hall of Fame goaltender Patrick Roy that opened the door for Detroit late in the first period of Game 6.
Thanks to a standout shutout performance from Dominik Hasek, the Red Wings and Avalanche returnred to Detroit for one final showdown for a spot in the Stanley Cup Final.
Not only did the Red Wings strike early and often, but ultimately chased Roy from the net by the midway point of the second period in front of a rocking sellout crowd at Joe Louis Arena.
Moving on to face the Carolina Hurricanes, the Red Wings were surprised in Game 1 with a 3-2 overtime defeat before ultimately winning four straight games to claim the 10th Stanley Cup in team history.
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The Montreal Canadiens will be a team to keep an eye on during this off-season. After taking a major step in the right direction this season and making it to the Eastern Conference Final, they should be looking to boost their roster this summer.
One area that the Canadiens could look to improve is their blueline. Because of this, they are being urged to strike a deal for one of the NHL's top defenseman trade candidates.
In a recent article for Bleacher Report, Adam Gretz urged the Canadiens to trade for New Jersey Devils defenseman Dougie Hamilton this off-season.
"A second-line center upgrade should be high on the list. Another right-shot defenseman should be right there with it. For now, we will focus on the latter area and propose a trade involving New Jersey's Dougie Hamilton," Gretz wrote. "Adding him to a defense that already has Lane Hutson and Noah Dobson would give Montreal one of the best puck-moving, possession-driving blue lines."
The thought of the Canadiens bringing in Hamilton is an interesting one. If they acquired him, he would give them another proven top-four defenseman for their right side. He would also provide them with another clear option for their power play because of his ability to produce offense from the point.
In 77 games this season with the Devils, Hamilton had 12 goals, 27 assists, 39 points. However, he notably ended the campaign on a high note, posting 30 points in his final 38 games.
Yet, Hamilton has a $9 million cap hit until the end of the 2027-28 season. Even if the Devils retained some of his salary, there would still be a good amount of risk in the Canadiens bringing in Hamilton. Not only has he had injury trouble in recent seasons, but he is also turning 33 years old in June.
It will be interesting to see if the Canadiens end up making a push for Hamilton this off-season. He would undoubtedly have the potential to give the Canadiens more offense from the point, but his contract and age would him a risky addition for Montreal.
So it’s the New York Knicks vs. the San Antonio Spurs for all of Adam Silver’s marbles, rings and trophies. After record-breaking TV audiences justified by great games, the Spurs joined the Knicks Saturday in the NBA Finals will begin Wednesday night in San Antonio. Then after two games in Texas, the best-of-seven heads to New York a week from Monday.
Expect the Garden and the city to be wild, particularly if President Trump holds to his plan to attend. (If the Finals reach Game 6 on June 16, things will get really interesting. That afternoon, France, home of Victor Wembanyama, will play Senegal at MetLife Stadium. Will Wemby attend? He’ll have plenty of time to make it across the river. World Cup begins at 3:30 p.m.; the Finals at 8:30 p.m.)
If that makes you feel irrelevant in New York sports, you have a case. At this point in time, the Brooklyn Nets are the most irrelevant franchise among the nine New York area teams from the Islanders in the east to the Devils in the west, It can be argued that the Liberty currently is more relevant. In the NBA, they may not be the most irrelevant — Thank you, Vivek Ranadive — but not a lot of people are opening conversations this summer with the line, “how about them Nets?!?” Considering how well the Knicks are playing, don’t expect to hear it for a while either. As we’ve written, the Nets are spending millions of dollars on “generational fandom” — getting New York kids while they’re young — but having the Finals in New York is going to likely trump that (sorry.)
So, we wait: to see what the Brooklyn brass from Joe Tsai and Sean Marks down to the scouting staff are planning for the franchise’s next big milestone: what they will do in the NBA’s second straight consecutive generational draft: stay put, move up, move down, acquire a second first round pick, etc. Lottery luck is a sunk cost — very sunk — right now, but don’t expect them to dwell on it.
There’s been little intelligence on where they stand, but you can get a bit of a hint of how the process works if you got back to last year’s SCOUT docu-series, the fourth episode in particular. It opens with the May scouting meeting, Sean Marks presiding:
The episode focuses on the final month of the Draft process, from the Lottery to Draft Night. The May meeting, Marks tells his scouts, is “one of the last times you guys will be together here.” It features snippets of debates on what appears to be multiple prospects who unfortunately are not identified. The debates include comments on a player’s skillsets, willingness to touch the paint, etc. as well as their basketball intelligence and their general intelligence. There were — and are again no doubt — debates we don’t see on aspects of the process like prospects character, fit. etc. At one point, Marks divides the scouts up to see if they can get a consensus on a prospect. (About half the scouts in the video are still around.)
You also see snippets of the team’s interviews of the prospects they ultimately chose at Nos. 8, 19, 22, 26 and 27, surrounded by Marks, his assistant GMs, Jordi Fernandez and his assistant coaches. Then it’s flash forward to Draft Night itself where franchise officials are given the privilege of calling the picks into the league office and the celebrations that followed after each pick. Some in the media criticized those moments, but when you’ve had as few picks of your own — and no lottery picks — over the previous 15 years, seize the moment.
Draft Night 2026, or should we say Nights since the 60 selections are now broken into two nights, should be interesting since virtually every draftnik, a subset of pundits, have their own opinion on what the Nets will do, what’s a good offer, etc. Last year, the Nets tried to move up, didn’t like the price they would’ve had to pay and essentially chose quantity over quality. Since we don’t know what they considered pricey, we can’t even debate their wisdom.
Two years ago, Simone Casali, the Nets well respected chief international scout, spoke with a reporter for the Italian basketball federation about the pitfalls of a typical Draft Night riven by surprises.
“There, mistakes are the order of the day because there are things that you cannot predict, or that you predict from one perspective and not another,” said Casali who’s worked with the Nets since Marks has been GM.
The key he said is being prepared as best you can and not have improvise on the fly.
“In the NBA, a lot can change from one moment to the next, I cannot know when we will have a choice available and how high. It can happen, for example, that on the night of the Draft you suddenly find yourself with choices available as a result of a trade: you cannot afford to improvise.”
The surprises, he argued, don’t stop on Draft Night.
“We must not underestimate how history is full of players who struggled in their first team and then exploded in the second because there they found the right situation and the right context. You can make mistakes for no reason or get it right simply by luck,” he told Dario Ronzulli of FIP.it.
Word to the wise.
Now arriving at HSS Training Center?
We still don’t have a read on who among the top prospects have been in or who’s been scheduled. There were reports that A.J. Dybantsa might even be willing to work out. That decision ultimately will rest with him and more likely his agent. Agents don’t want their clients to waste time or risk injury by scheduling workouts with teams that are unlikely to be on the board when Adam Silver starts to read off names. So IF Dybantsa does show his wares at HSS Training Ceneter, that MIGHT mean his agent thinks anything is possible… or not.
In the meantime, what we have seen and are seeing, particularly this weekend, is a stream of tweets mostly from draftniks identifying lower ranked prospects taking the elevator at 168 39th Street to the eighth floor and that dramatic view.
Among those we’ve seen linked to the Nets as we noted last week is Keba Keita, the 6’9” BYU center who played with both Dybantsa and Egor Demin. He’s not not on anyone’s top 100 Big Board, let alone mock draft. There’s a lot.
Other unranked players who’ve been in or have been scheduled, according to reports, include local product Cruz Davis, Hofstra’s high scoring 6’3” lead guard; Malik Dia, a 6’9” 3-and-D type who played four years at three southern schools, Vanderbilt, Belmont, then his final two years at Ole Miss; and Grant Newell, a similar sized forward who played at California, North Texas and most recently Western Kentucky. None mocked nor Big Board ranked.
Jaden Henley, Grand Canyon’s 6’7” wing, is ranked in the top 100, just short of the second round at No. 67. According to our Connor Long, he too has been in. Then, there’s 3-point specialist Isaac McKeenly, Mikel Brown’s 6’4” backcourt running mate at Louisville. He’ll be in Monday, according to reports. He’s listed at No. 89 by ESPN’s Woo but others have him a late second rounder.
Why are the Nets, currently with picks at Nos. 6, 33 and 43, working out players who’ll likely be sitting at home on Draft Night rather than in the NBA Draft Green Room at Barclays? That need to be ready for any eventuality Simone Casali spoke about is one reason. The Nets also are looking for players to fill out the two Summer League rosters. the training camp invite list and the Long Island Nets roster.
For example, with back-to-back Summer Leagues in Sacramento and Las Vegas from July 4 through 19, expect rosters with less overlap than you might think. But the key reason for so many is simple: NBA teams like setting up scrimmages for the bigger prospects and so there’s a need to fill out those mini-rosters, sometimes on short notice.
Draft Sleeper of the Week: Karim Lopez
Karim Lopez is a 6’9.5” (in sneakers) Mexican hooper who’s played last two seasons with the New Zealand Breakers of the Australian National League. So he’s been around. He is the most likely international player to make the Lottery this season. He’s also among the youngest players in the Draft, having just turned 19 on April 12. Plus, his hands are the second biggest ever measured at the NBA Draft Combine, a fingernail short of Kawhi Leonard whose nickname is “The Claw.” Certain other elements of his game may very well appeal to the Nets, like his quick thinking with the ball, position-less resume’ and an ability to use those hands, a near 7-foot wingspan and near 9-foot standing reach to protect the rim.
Take a look at his highlights:
And no, there is no indication that the Nets are planning to take him at No. 6. Not that we know anyway. But in the darker regions of Nets Twitter, some fans rank that fear nearly as high as their concern last year that Sean Marks would move up only to choose Kon Knueppel. How’d that work out, sports fans?
Jeremy Woo reported this week the Nets are indeed interested in him, calling him a “development bet,” so short of a “sure thing” that depending on who you read or talk to descibes Darius Acuff, Mikel Brown, Kingston Flemings or Keaton Wagler (alphabetical order, we note. We’re not giving anything away.)
Lopez is drawing interest from a number of teams in the lottery, including the Clippers, Nets, Bucks and Warriors, with rival teams viewing him as more of a trade-back candidate later on in the case of the Clippers and Nets.
He was helped by his combine measurements, affirming his size to play both forward positions capably and massive hands. He continues to improve and has positioned himself as an intriguing development bet coming off a strong second season in the NBL.
“Trade back?” That suggests Woo may have some insight into the Nets plans. Currently, most mock drafts have Lopez in a narrow range, from as high at No. 10 to a low of 17. One team, the OKC Thunder, just happens to have two picks at Nos. 12 and 17 and multiple rationales to move out of one of those spots. The combined first year salaries of those picks is $10 million. Include them in the Thunder’s payroll calculations and OKC will be nearly $40 million over the second apron at $261 million, per Bobby Marks. They’re also thinking of salary dumps and who has $30 million in cap space?
Moreover, the Thunder have two 20-year-olds, Thomas Sorber and Nikola Topic, who sat out all (Sorber) or most (Topic) of last season due to injury and illness. Who knows, Nets and Thunder might have other things to talk about…
As one NBA decision-maker told ND re all those Nes draft assets and cap space the Nets have accumulated has one overarching advantage. They’re not going to use all of them.
“No, the only reason you bank firsts like that is be able to strike opportunistically,” he said and moving up, down or around qualifies.
One thing we also know is that Sean Marks personally scouted Lopez — twice, once when he was 17 in September 2024 at the NBL Blitz showcase on Australia’s Gold Coast, then again last January at the Blitz in Perth in Western Australia. Perth is 11,627 miles from Brooklyn. Although Marks says that, generally, basketball in Australia (and his homeland of New Zealand) is too good to be ignored, it’s a good bet that few if any NBA general managers have ever traveled that far to look at a prospect or prospects. (The other top Australian target he saw in January, Dash Daniels, Dyson’s brother dropped out recently.)
Some Nets fans claim Marks interest and his travel can be dismissed because, after all, he still has family and friends Down Under. They contend, without any evidence, that this could be no more a personal trip with scouting thrown in. Well, there is video evidence that scouting was a priority. Again, here’s SCOUT, episode 1 (about 11 minutes in), showing Marks and then scout Richard Midgley in Australia two years ago attending games and talking prospects.
Was Marks talking about Lopez when he told Midgley, “It’s important to get here early and see guys?” And indeed, Marks and Midgley’s trip came a month after Lopez signed with the Breakers. (Or maybe we’re just trolling… again.)
Do Nets have best trade assets going forward?
Jack Hughes of Bleacher Report this week ranked the teams with the five best trade assets in the NBA. The Thunder was No. 2, the Spurs No. 3, the Hornets No. 4, the Grizzlies at No. 5. At No. 1 in Hughes’ rankings … drum roll … are the Nets. While the teams just beneath them include teams with stars like Ja Morant or De’Aaron Fox who could get their clubs big returns, the Nets top ranking is dependent on their draft stash and particularly the picks acquired in the Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson trades.
Writes Hughes:
That 2027 Knicks selection may not land near the front of the first round, but each of the other three could be highly valuable lottery tickets. With the new lottery odds set to take effect and a pair of costly rosters in Denver and New York that may need to be torn down before the decade is out, Brooklyn is positioned to cash in.
He is not one to dismiss the remaining haul from the Bridges trade either, despite Bridges heroics for the Knicks.
The Mikal Bridges trade is the gift that keeps on giving, as the Nets have three totally unprotected future firsts coming from the New York Knicks. Those picks will convey in 2027, 2029 and 2031. After that, Brooklyn will collect the spoils of last offseason’s Michael Porter Jr. deal, which secured it the rights to the Denver Nuggets’ unprotected 2032 first-rounder.
He also looks at the Thunder situation and those two first round picks discussed above:
They’ll select 12th and 17th in the upcoming draft and could certainly look to move both of those picks for additional value. It’s easy to forget, but the Thunder’s last two first-rounders—Nikola Topić and Thomas Sorber—have played a combined 10 professional games due to injury. If OKC believes either of them is rotation-worthy going forward, it could easily flip its picks in the 2026 draft. Or, those two prospects could head out in a deal to make room for new rookies.
Of course, as we keep saying, the Nets certainly have all the tools to move forward and with some luck, quickly, but the question will remain execution, how they use those assets. We will start to get a good read on that question, starting in a little more than three weeks.
Mar 31, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Jack Dreyer (86) throws against the Cleveland Guardians during the eighth inning at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images | Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images
Jack Dreyer is back in the Dodgers bullpen for Sunday’s series finale against the Philadelphia Phillies, activated off the injured list on his first day eligible to return.
“I got to put eyes on Jack, I think he threw around 20-25 pitches. It came out good, he used his whole pitch mix, got a couple of grounders and a strikeout,” manager Dave Roberts said on Friday. “I do know that on the 16th day he’s hoping to be active, so we should be in a good spot.”
That came to fruition on the 16th day, and the Dodgers bullpen got one of its stalwarts back in Dreyer, who last season as a rookie was one of only two Dodgers pitchers to remain on the active roster for the entire regular season and postseason. At the time when Dreyer was placed on the injured list this year, he led all Dodgers relievers in appearances (20, tied with Tanner Scott) and innings pitched (21 2/3) with an effective 2.08 ERA, 2.74 xERA, and 24 strikeouts against only six walks.
To make room for Dreyer, right-hander Paul Gervase was optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City. Gervase was recalled on May 17 when Dreyer was placed on the injured list, and in his second stint in the majors this season, Gervase pitched once in his 12 games active, tossing two scoreless innings on May 22 against the Brewers in Milwaukee.
May 31, 2026; Houston, Texas, USA; Milwaukee Brewers left fielder Jake Bauers (9) is congratulated by first baseman Andrew Vaughn (28) after hitting a two-run home run to left field against the Houston Astros during the fourth inning at Daikin Park. Mandatory Credit: Erik Williams-Imagn Images | Erik Williams-Imagn Images
The Milwaukee Brewers completed another series win on Sunday afternoon, sneaking away with a 2-0 victory over the Astros behind a Jake Bauers homer and another strong showing from Jacob Misiorowski.
After the Brewers went down in order against Tatsuya Imai in the first, Misiorowski returned the favor with a pair of strikeouts in a 1-2-3 frame in the bottom of the inning.
The teams traded 1-2-3 innings in the second, and David Hamilton became the first baserunner of the afternoon in the third with a single to center. He proceeded to steal a pair of bases while Joey Ortiz walked to put runners at the corners with one out for Christian Yelich, though Yeli struck out and Garrett Mitchell grounded out to help Imai escape the jam.
Misiorowski got into a bit of trouble himself in the bottom of the third, allowing a pair of singles and hitting Yordan Alvarez with a pitch to load the bases with two outs, but he was able to get out of it with a groundout by Christian Walker.
The Brewers were first on the scoreboard, as Andrew Vaughn hit a single the other way with one out before Bauers — who fouled a pitch deep to right earlier in the at-bat — slugged one over the wall in left for a 2-0 lead on his ninth homer of the season.
Now staked to a lead, Misiorowski worked around a one-out double by Isaac Paredes in the fourth to maintain the lead.
Hamilton drew a walk to start the fifth for Milwaukee and stole another base before moving to third on a sac bunt by Ortiz — Ortiz was originally ruled safe on the play, but it was overturned upon review. In a repeat of the third inning, Yelich came up with a runner at third and less than two outs but failed to bring him home as he struck out. Mitchell followed with a flyout, and Imai was out of the inning.
Both teams then traded 1-2-3 innings until the ninth inning, when Vaughn slugged a one-out double to left-center. Vaughn was replaced on the basepaths by pinch-runner Blake Perkins, who proceeded to be caught by pitcher Nate Pearson in no man’s land.
Trevor Megill entered for the save in the ninth. He recorded Milwaukee’s fifth consecutive 1-2-3 inning, picking up a pair of strikeouts for a relatively low drama 2-0 victory and series win in Houston.
Bauers was the star on offense thanks to his two-run homer, while Vaughn was the only player with multiple hits (a double and a single), and Hamilton reached twice on a single and a walk, tying his career-high with three steals to give him 13 for the year.
On the pitching side, Misiorowski closed out a historic month of May with seven scoreless innings, striking out eight and allowing just three hits and no walks to lower his May WHIP (0.543 to 0.522) and ERA (0.29 to 0.23). He also finishes the month with 57 strikeouts over 38 1/3 innings. With Cristopher Sánchez (0.00 ERA, 0.718 WHIP, 45 K over 39 IP) also in contention, is Miz the NL’s Pitcher of the Month? We’ll have to wait until later this week to find out.
Abner Uribe and Megill took the final two innings to close things out, as Uribe picked up his sixth hold of the year and Megill collected his eighth save of the season.
Now at 35-21 on the season, the Brewers are set to return home for a four-game set with the Giants. First pitch on Monday night is at 6:40 p.m., with Shane Drohan slated to start for Milwaukee opposite Landen Roupp for San Francisco.
DENVER, COLORADO - DECEMBER 11: Claude Lemieux is honored at the the Colorado Avalanche's 30th Anniversary Celebration of the 1995-1996 season prior to the game against the Florida Panthers at Ball Arena on December 11, 2025 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Michael Martin/NHLI via Getty Images) | NHLI via Getty Images
The Colorado Avalanche, and the rest of the hockey world at large, are mourning the passing of one its most iconic names in the sport.
Claude Lemieux passed away this past Thursday in Palm Beach, Florida, on Thursday. He was 60 years old.
Lemieux’s reputation of being a hard-hitting, physical winger had been cemented long before Avalanche fans were Avalanche fans. A second round draft pick by the Montréal Canadiens in 1983, Lemieux scored ten goals and six assists during the playoffs, capturing his first Stanley Cup championship as a rookie in 1986. He spent five seasons with Montréal before being traded to the New Jersey Devils in September 1990.
Lemieux would spend the next five seasons in New Jersey building on his burgeoning playoff resume, which culminated in New Jersey’s first (and his second) Stanley Cup championship during the 1995 Stanley Cup Final, a sweep over the Detroit Red Wings. He scored thirteen goals and three assists during New Jersey’s playoff run, and was awarded the Conn Smythe trophy as playoff MVP.
Upon the arrival of the newly rechristened Quebec Nordiques as the Colorado Avalanche, general manager Pierre Lacroix set out to build a roster capable of winning the Stanley Cup. Lacroix’s first step in creating that championship caliber roster came on October 3, 1995, when he acquired Lemieux from New Jersey in a three-team trade involving the New York Islanders. Now a multiple Stanley Cup champion, Lemieux immediately brought to Colorado a proven playoff performer.
Lemieux earned his first point in an Avalanche sweater with an assist on Valeri Kamensky’s game-winning goal in the Avs first home game at McNichols Sports Arena in a 3-2 victory over—who else?—the visiting Detroit Red Wings.
Lemieux would forever intertwine Colorado and Detroit with his hit on a vulnerable Kris Draper during Game Six of the 1996 Western Conference Final, sparking what became one of the most bitter and competitive rivalries ever known in hockey. Games featuring the Avalanche and the Red Wings were the highlight of the hockey schedule, and their playoff series, bursting with equal parts talent and toughness, were legendary. Colorado would capture the Stanley Cup with Lemieux—the third of his career—in 1996 alongside goaltender Patrick Roy, who was teammates with Lemieux during Montréal’s Stanley Cup victory a decade earlier.
In just over four seasons with the Avs, Lemieux recorded 106 goals and 106 assists for 212 points in 297 regular season games. He played in 62 playoff games with Colorado, scoring 24 goals and 31 assists for 55 points. On November 3, 1999, Lemieux would be traded back to New Jersey, where he would capture his fourth and final Stanley Cup in 2000.
Lemieux signed as a free agent in December 2000 with the then-Phoenix Coyotes, where he played until he was acquired by the Dallas Stars in January 2003. Lemieux skated with Zug EV in the Swiss-A League during the 2003-2004 season, and the China Sharks in the Asia League Ice Hockey (AL) to begin the 2008-2009 season. He would make a return to North America after signing a contract with the Worcester Sharks in November 2008, and finished his NHL career as a member of the San Jose Sharks after being called up in January 2009.
Not long after his playing career ended, Lemieux served as team president of the ECHL’s Phoenix Roadrunners, a position he held for two years. He also participated in the Canadian reality television show Battle of the Blades. He was paired with Canadian figure skater Shae-Lynn Bourne, with the pair finishing in second place. His appearance on the show also provided Lemieux with the opportunity to showcase his vocal talents, which some may view as a stark contrast to his hard-hitting hockey persona.
Lemieux would become a certified player agent, joining 4sports Hockey, a firm representing several players across the NHL. According to The Athletic, Lemiuex’s client list spans many NHL markets, including Fredrik Andersen (Carolina) Rasmus Andersson (Vegas), Joel Eriksson Ek (Minnesota), Hampus Lindholm (Boston), and Timo Meier (New Jersey), among others.
Both Andersen and Andersson will face each other in the Stanley Cup Final beginning later this week.
Lemieux remained adored by Avs fans, who warmly welcomed him whenever he returned to Colorado. In 2011, he participated in a special opening night ceremony commemorating the Avs’s fifteenth anniversary of bringing Colorado its first ever major league sports championship. Five years later, he would skate with the alumni squad during the Avs’ inaugural Stadium Series event at Coors Field. Just as he did in the first-ever Avs game back in 1995, he recorded an assist on a Valeri Kamenski goal, which opened the scoring in the eventual 5-2 victory over Detroit’s alumni squad, which served as the final chapter of the storied rivalry shared between both clubs.
Last December, Lemieux would return to Colorado as part of the franchise’s thirtieth anniversary celebrations, participating in a special reunion with teammates of the 1996 Stanley Cup championship team featuring anecdotes and fond memories of their arrival in the Mile High City three decades ago.
Last season, prior to the Avalanche hosting the Florida Panthers—who faced them in the 1996 Stanley Cup Final—Lemieux and the 1996 Stanley Cup roster were honored at Ball Arena.
In what would be his final public appearance this past Monday, Lemieux carried the torch into Centre Bell this past Monday as part of a special pregame ceremony in Montréal, receiving a rousing ovation prior the start of Game Three against the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Final.
Upon learning of Lemiuex’s death, Colorado Avalanche president Joe Sakic issued the following statement:
On Saturday, in a statement released via his son Brendan’s Instagram account (more below), the Lemieux family announced that, “In the hope that Claude’s life can continue to help others, the family has chosen to donate his brain to the UNITE Brain Bank at the Boston University CTE Center for research into the long-term effects of repetitive head impacts and traumatic brain injury. The family has also given permission for the CTE Center to identify Claude by name in connection with his donation and any findings it may publicly share in accordance with its research protocols.”
In an interview conducted last year as part of the Crave miniseries Toujours Canadiens, Lemieux offered the following on what he hoped for his children when asked about life beyond hockey. “Happiness. Being happy is not about winning the Stanley Cup or money. Being happy is to be comfortable in your own skin, to have a good partner, to be there for your kids,” he said. “I’m a grandfather now, so that’s something I wish for them, too.”
In addition to Brendan, Lemieux is survived by his wife, Deborah, sons Michael and Christopher, daughter Claudia, and his grandchildren.
We at Mile High Hockey extend our condolences to Lemieux’s family, friends, and colleagues.
If you are struggling and need support, the following resources can connect you with someone.
May 31, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Keider Montero (54) delivers a pitch against the Chicago White Sox during the first inning at Rate Field. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images
Rinse and repeat. Keider Montero was brilliant on Sunday, but the Tigers’ offense did nothing after scoring a run in the first. An early hook and a brutal performance from Drew Anderson blew the game late, and the Tigers have now lost 21 of their last 25 games.
The kitties jumped out to a slim early lead in this one against right-hander Sean Burke. Colt Keith led off with a ground out, but Kevin McGonigle jumped on a Burke fastball and pulled a single through the right side of the infield and then scored when Spencer Torkelson doubled into the left field corner. Kerry Carpenter made his return to the Tigers’ lineup after two rehab games with the Toledo Mud Hens, but he struck out and Riley Greene flew out to center field. 1-0 Tigers but as usual, the big inning escaped them.
Still it was a lead, and Keider Montero took the mound locating his fastball really well. Sam Antonacci, Miguel Vargas, and Andrew Benintendi all quickly grounded out to end the first.
Burke struck out Matt Vierling to start the second. Wenceel Pérez grounded out and Zach McKinstry flew out to finish the frame. Montero continued to show off a particularly lively fourseam and sinker, popping up Colson Montgomery and then dusting Chase Meidroth with a perfect high sinker that he swung through awkwardly. Montero got ahead of Jacob Gonzalez as the rookie made his major league debut, and the rookie fought off a few breaking balls before lifting a drive out ball to Vierling in center.
Jake Rogers punched out to open the third. Keith grounded out to shortstop for the second out. McGonigle got a heavy dose of breaking balls and fought his way through another long at-bat and won with a walk. Burke shook his head twice in the at-bat as the Tigers rookie spat on or calmly fouled off his best stuff. McGonigle promptly stole his ninth base in nine attempts. Torkelson took a 97 mph heater right down the middle to squander the opportunity.
The fear for Montero in this one was his fly ball tendencies on a day, and in a park, where the ball tends to fly on warm summer days. He continued to defy these concerns in the bottom of the third. Triston Peters popped up a fastball and Drew Romo reached for a changeup and poopped up as well, both to Keith at third. Rikuu Nishida reached on an infield single, but Antonacci got jammed on a perfectly located heater and he popped out to Torkelson at first. Pretty good start from Montero despite the minimal whiffs.
Kerry Carpenter led off the fourth and he too got a little jammed by Burke, but flared a single into shallow right field. So the Tigers were set up with another opportunity, but Riley Greene chased a fastball away and struck out. That brought Vierling to the dish, and he popped out on a high fastball. This felt familiar, and Pérez quickly got behind 0-2, fought off a few pitches at the top of the zone, but ultimately took a fastball down and away on the corner for a called strike three as Dan Dickerson talked about Michael Brdar’s philosophy of moving baserunners and situational hitting. Implementation of said philosophy not included.
Montero carved up Vargas to start the fourth with a nasty slider down for a whiff. That bigger bending slider does draw some chase. A first pitch slider to Benintendi got a quick grounder to McKinstry at second, and Montero locked up the left-handed Montgomery with a perfect backdoor slider on the corner for strike three.
If this was all feeling familiar—the Tigers score an early run, do nothing while their starter pitches well, ultimately give up the lead, don’t get into the weak half of an opponent’s bullpen, and eventually lose—well we’re all thinking the same thing.
McKinstry and Rogers grounded out to open the fifth, and Colt Keith flicked a fly ball to Antonacci in left to send us to the bottom half.
Fortunately, Montero was conserving his energy, starting the inning at 44 pitches thrown. He quickly got Meidroth to ground out to McGonigle at shortstop. A 2-1 slider on the outer edge to Gonzalez was a strike but the umpire missed it and Rogers didn’t challenge. Montero came right back with a challnege pitch down the middle, and fortunately the rookie lifted a 3-1 fastball out to Pérez in right field for the second out. Montero fell behind against Peters, and he pulled a grounder past Torkelson for a double down the right field line. A changeup drew a chopper from Romo and Montero made a nice leaping play to snare it and fire to first to end the inning on his 56th pitch of the outing.
Burke himself was at 80 pitches to open the sixth against Kevin McGonigle. In a 3-2, Burke tried a front door sinker for a called strike three, but a smart challenge after a bit of a delay got the call corrected and McGonigle was on for the third time, here with a leadoff walk. Torkelson immediately got down 0-2, but McGonigle was dancing off first to distract Burke and while he didn’t run, Burke missed twice to even the count. It was good that he didn’t run, as Torkelson eventually lined out to Vargas at third.
The broadcast was discussing the Tigers penchant for taking an early lead and neither building on it nor holding it, noting that the Tigers are just 17-17 in games in which they have the lead. Leaguewide the win percentage is closer to 70 percent in those scenarios.
That was the end for Burke, and lefty Chris Murphy took over. That prompted Hinch to hit Jahmai Jones for Kerry Carpenter. Last year that meant the Tigers had the advantage. This year, managers can put in a lefty and get one of the Tigers bats out of the lineup in favor of Jones, who is doing nothing. This time, Jones avoided ruining the plan with a long at-bat that resulted in a walk. Instead it was Riley Greene who ripped a hot ground ball right to Meidroth to start an inning ending double play.
To the eye, Montero’s slider looked improved throughout this one, with more depth and less sweep. A check of the Statcast data showed no additional depth, but half as much horizontal sweep, and the adjustment, assuming it lasts, certainly looks like an improvement.
The Tigers’ right-hander came back out with his pitch count still in outstanding shape, and he didn’t nothing to change that. Nishida struck out on a knuckle curve to start the frame. Another slider popped up Antonacci, and Vargas grounded out sharply to Keith at third. The efficiency continued despite it being the third time through the White Sox’s order. Montero was still only at 65 pitches through six.
Murphy walked Vierling to open the seventh inning. Once again the leadoff man was on. Could the Tigers capitalize? Pérez did not, driving a fly ball to left while hitting right-handed. Murphy then picked off Vierling, who was looking to run. Spectacular. Ah well, it doesn’t matter unless someone hits outside of the top 3-4 hitters in the lineup.
McKinstry fought off a few pitches and drew a two-out walk, and Will Venable emerged from the shadows of the White Sox’s dugout to make a pitching change to another lefty, Brandon Eisert, as Jake Rogers stepped in. This move was made easy by the fact that Keith and McGonigle were due up after Rogers did whatever it is Rogers does at the plate. Dillon Dingler was getting a much needed full day off, and so the backup dug in, and eventually struck out.
Despite the minimal pitch count, Montero’s day was done as AJ Hinch went to Drew Anderson in the bottom of the seventh. Bad idea. Trying to get three scoreless innings from this bullpen when you don’t need them is madness. I wrote this, Benintendi grounded out, and then Colson Montgomery went yard to right field on a hanging changeup. 1-1 game. The third time through the order penalty is real, but so is the “Scott Harris couldn’t build a bullpen if his life depended on it,” penalty.
Chase Meidroth followed with a single to left, and Gonzalez got another floating changeup away and paddled through the left side of the infield for a single. Peters got down 0-2 and he flicked a curveball about three inches foul down the left field line. Eventually, another kick changeup that stayed up and away was paddled through the left side of the infield for an RBI single. 2-1 White Sox, and still only one out in the inning. The changeup just did not have its usual good depth and the White Sox were just serving it out there at will. Romo hit a deep drive to center field for the second out, but it was deep enough for Gonzalez to tag and take third.
That was it for Anderson, as Hinch brought in Tyler Holton to face Nishida. That got Venable to pinch hit Randal Grichuk, but he didn’t get to hit as Holton picked off Peters and McKinstry ran him down to end the inning.
Venable continued to dip into his pool of left-handers, pulling Eisert and going to lefty Bryan Hudson instead to start the eighth. Hinch then pinch-hit Hao-Yu Lee in for Colt Keith. He took a called strike three and McGonigle popped out. Torkelson grounded a single through the right side of the infield with two outs, but a drive from Jones was run down by Antonacci where the warning track and foul territory converge in the left field corner.
Brenan Hanifee took over in the bottom of the eighth, and quickly racked up three outs on contact.
Venable stuck with Hudson to face Riley Greene in the top of the ninth. He popped out on a nice play from Vargas running from third base into foul territory, tumbling over the tarp. His work done, Hudson was pulled for right-hander Tyler Davis to pick up the last two outs. He had no trouble doing so. Vierling lined out to left, and Pérez popped out.
Another fine outing from Keider Montero was wasted. 6.0 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 BB, 4 K. The early hook blew up Hinch’s face immediately, and once again the Tigers couldn’t add on runs and barely even threatened to do so.
The Tigers are 22-38, and officially the worst team in baseball. We’ll see if the Rockies can re-tie them for that dubious honor later on today.
The Mets completed a three-game sweep of the Miami Marlins with a 10-1 win at Citi Field on Sunday afternoon.
Here are the takeaways...
-- While he only allowed one earned run over 5.0 innings of work, it was a tough afternoon for Nolan McLean. Right from the jump, McLean dealt with traffic on the bases, walking and hitter a batter in the first. While he danced around traffic for most of the afternoon, his command was once again off, as he hit a batter and walked five. The only run he allowed came on an Owen Caissie double in the fourth that landed just inside the left field foul line, but it was clear that McLean was not at his best.
-- The Marlins were scheduled to start righty Janson Junk on the mound, but he was placed on the IL with shin inflammation before the game. Instead, lefty John King got things started in a bullpen game, and Carson Benge jumped on him for a leadoff home run to give the Mets a quick 1-0 lead. Benge has been terrific lately, as he's now hitting .293 over his last 30 games.
-- King pitched into the second inning as an opener, but the Marlins went to righty Anthony Bender with two outs and Marcus Semien coming to the plate. Semien greeted Bender by slamming a two-run home run on his very first pitch of the afternoon, putting the Mets up 3-0 with his fifth homer of the year.
-- With the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the fourth, Luis Torrens came up big in the clutch, lining a two-run single to right field to double the Mets lead from two to four runs. Torrens came into the game hitting over .400 with the bases loaded for his career, and he delivered again when it mattered.
-- Marlins reliever Josh White made his major league debut in the sixth, and it was rough going for the young right-hander. After walking Bo Bichette to force in a run, White allowed a Juan Soto grand slam, the first of the season for the Mets and the third of Soto's career.
White walked four, threw 43 pitches, and didn't make it out of his first major league inning.
-- David Peterson, back in the bullpen after a brief stint in the rotation, came on to pitch in the sixth inning. He ended up giving the Mets exactly what they need out of him, going 4.0 shutout innings to earn the unconventional save.
Game MVP
Soto, who clubbed a grand slam and had two hits on the afternoon.
