Happy Wednesday, everyone! I hope you’re all having a wonderful week and enjoying the waning weeks of summer. Are we in the “dog days”? Or is that September? What does that even mean, really? Anyway, in baseball news, we’ve got lots of little tidbits for you for a midweek news catch-up, and finally not all of them are about the Trade Deadline. Some of them are, I mean, there’s no escaping that completely, but we’ve got lots of other little goodies for you, too.
We look at Paul Skenes and what he might need to fix in order to get back on track; there were a bunch of new pitching milestones reached this week; we assess which returning players might make the biggest difference for their clubs down the stretch; and we check in on Yordan Alvarez’s climb to claim the Triple Crown.
The Los Angeles Angels fired pitched coach Mike Maddux, assistant pitching coach Darryl Scott and bullpen coach Dom Chiti, sources tell ESPN. Maddux joined them in the offseason and was working on a one-year contract. Angels pitchers have a 4.53 ERA and the most walks in MLB.
DENVER, CO - AUGUST 02: Jake McCarthy #31 of the Colorado Rockies bats during the game between the Kansas City Royals and the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field on Sunday, August 2, 2026 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Casey Paul/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
He may not have a bushy beard, the untamed mullet, and “Your Love” playing before every at-bat, but Jake McCarthy has invoked the spirit of Charlie Blackmon while batting leadoff for the Colorado Rockies.
Just don’t tell him that.
“I got to meet him. I played against him, obviously, over the last few years in Arizona here,” McCarthy said. “I mean, obviously a great player. I understand. He batted leadoff for these guys for a long time. He also hit lefty, and he had the long hair, too. But I’m a little hesitant to accept any comparison to that guy. You know there’ll be a statue of him in Denver one day. So as humbling as that comparison is, I’m gonna deflect.”
Since Blackmon’s retirement after the 2024 season, the Rockies have battled instability in the leadoff spot, starting 13 different players at the top of the lineup between 2025 and 2026. To put that in perspective, from 2014 to 2024, the Rockies started 26 individual players not named Charlie Blackmon in the leadoff spot.
Blackmon’s prowess as an elite hitter with a sharp eye at the plate to go along with devastating power at the top of the order is enough to make anyone shudder at the thought of being compared to him. Blackmon was, after all, perhaps one of the greatest leadoff hitters in the history of the game.
It’s been a revolving door of different attempts to install a leadoff hitter since his retirement, but McCarthy appears to be the answer the Rockies have been looking for, even if it’s not a one-to-one comparison.
Over that 26-game stretch, McCarthy has batted .315/.342/.523 with four home runs and 16 RBI. He has 35 total hits, including nine doubles and a triple, and has struck out 16 times with four walks in 117 plate appearances. The hot streak has boosted McCarthy’s numbers as he is now batting .306/.343/.516 with a career-high 13 home runs on the season. Out of the leadoff spot alone, he is batting .307/.338/.543 in 59 games.
He’s also been making an immediate impact in games this season. He is the first Rockie with multiple first-pitch leadoff home runs in a single season and the first Rockie with at least four leadoff shots in his first season with the club. While his numbers as the first hitter of the game aren’t as good as one would hope, the fact that he is still able to set the table and have an impact the rest of the game speaks volumes to his effectiveness.
Over the last week, McCarthy dominated against the Tampa Bay Rays and St. Louis Cardinals, earning National League Player of the Week honors. He led the NL in batting average (.519), OPS (1.352), hits (14), and total bases (23), while his eight runs scored tied for second. He even had a game against the Cardinals where he became just the second player since 1920 to have four hits, two homers, three RBI, and two stolen bases in a game, joining Shohei Ohtani.
For McCarthy, the mental approach for leading off involves several ingredients, but at the root of it all is one simple goal: get on base.
“It’s still something that I’m working on,” McCarthy said, “[being] someone who just gives a really ‘grinder’ at bat at the top. But I also want to slug. When I get on base, I want to steal bases. So I just think it’s a number of things, just trying to be dynamic. But again, I think the number one thing is if I’m standing on first for the guy batting second, I think that’s a win. So I just want to do that as much as possible.”
Thanks to his dynamic efforts batting first, the Rockies leadoff hitters lead all of baseball in batting average (.294), rank 10th in on-base percentage (.343), seventh in slugging (.462), sixth in RBI (69), 12th in runs scored (79), fourth in stolen bases (21), and 13th in wRC+ (107).
“I think we have a lot of depth in our lineup, and if I’m slugging, that’s great,” McCarthy continued. “But I just think if I get on first base and maybe take an extra 90 [feet] stealing a base, I just know the guys behind me are going to have good at-bats. So I think we all complement each other pretty well. It’s been a really fun offense to be a part of.”
Manager Warren Schaeffer also recognizes what a valuable tool a quality leadoff hitter like McCarthy can be for a ballclub.
“Jake has been so huge for our team. First and foremost, he sets the tone every day for us on both sides of the ball and base running,” said Schaeffer. “Having him in the leadoff spot has been huge for us — just a jolt every game. You know what you’re going to get. It’s a unique skill set. Not a lot of people in the league have what he has, and we’re so happy to have him. I’m just so happy for him that he’s having success and that he’s getting recognized.”
A scenery change for the better
When the Rockies acquired McCarthy from the Arizona Diamondbacks, there was no way of telling how he was going to respond in Colorado. In 2025, he saw a career-low as he slashed just .204/.247/.345 in 64 games with the Diamondbacks. He played much better with Triple-A Reno, but the big league performance and roster crunch made him expendable in the eyes of the front office.
Whether the change of scenery was all he needed or the Rockies coaching staff reinvigorated him, McCarthy took the struggles in stride from the previous season.
“Last year was pretty rough,” McCarthy said, “but I think when you don’t play well, you learn, and it’s an opportunity to sort of step back and say, ‘Here’s what went well, here’s what I do well’, and just reflecting on it,” he said. “And I think I’ve done a good job.”
“It’s just getting back to what makes me good. I think last year I just got away from doing what I do well, being competitive on a daily basis,” he continued. “A lot of at-bats ended in a pop-out, or early, weak contact. Now I’m just trying to hit as many line drives around the field as possible”
McCarthy has certainly achieved that goal as he carries a career-high 27.3% line drive rate this season, 10 points higher than in 2025. As a result, he has also dropped his 49.4% ground ball rate from last season to 38.6% this season, another career-best. While he acknowledges that the big outfield of Coors Field has likely helped, it has mainly been for stretching an apparent base hit into a double. In fact, he is batting .318/.345/.559 with eight home runs and 15 doubles at Coors Field while slashing .294/.342/.469 with five home runs and 10 doubles on the road.
What’s been a massive improvement has been the consistency of McCarthy’s platoon splits. Back in 2024, the best season of his career before 2026, McCarthy batted .284/.340/.358 against left-handed pitching. This season, he is hitting lefties with a .333/.366/.573 slash over 107 plate appearances. He’s doing that while also having a career year against right-handed pitching with a .297/.336/.496 slash line.
A stairway to heaven
In his first season with Colorado, McCarthy is putting up numbers that are reminiscent of Blackmon out of the leadoff spot. Since at least 2010, McCarthy’s 2026 has him placed in the top 10 in most offensive categories for leadoff hitters with at least 100 plate appearances in a season. He is surrounded primarily by Blackmon, which goes to show that the opportunities aren’t being wasted on him.
He may not have Blackmon’s mountain man appearance or his power bat, but McCarthy brings his own flair that makes you do a double-take to make sure it isn’t Chuck Nazty in the box. Between his dances after a double, pristine, flowing hair, “Stairway to Heaven” walk-up song, and a love of wearing the Rockies purple home run coat, McCarthy brings his own energy that the Rockies have sorely needed.
They never needed a Blackmon-clone; they just needed a player to step up and embrace the challenge. McCarthy has done just that with his new club.
“I’m very grateful for the opportunity [the Rockies] have given me here to sort of go out and play every single day,” he said. “I just want to make them look good and continue to play hard. We want to win more games. That’s the most important, and I think we have almost two months left here to do that. So I’m looking forward to it.”
After scoring just one run through the first four innings, the Albuquerque Isotopes scored 12 runs in the final five innings to take the opening game of the series in Oklahoma. Conner Capel had three hits, coming a single shy of the cycle, as he drove in a pair of runs. Adael Amador also had three hits while Nick Kent and Drew Avans each had two hits and drove in a combined five runs. Jack Mahoney started on the mound and went four innings, allowing four runs on eight hits. He then gave way to a parade of relievers who allowed just three runs on six hits the rest of the way.
Holding a 2-0 lead through the first four innings, Hartford’s offense went quiet as Erie rallied for five runs in the late innings to take the victory. Dyan Jorge and Braylen Wimmer led the team offensively, collecting two hits apiece to make up half of the team’s hit total. Zach Kokoska had a sacrifice fly in the second inning to drive in the first run, and Mike Antico had an RBI single in the fourth to account for the Yard Goats’ runs. Sam Weatherly started the game and went two scoreless innings. Cade Denton then took a bulk of 3.2 innings, allowing two runs on two hits with five strikeouts. Victor Juarez took the loss after allowing three runs, one earned, on three hits over his two innings of work.
It was a forgettable night for the Spokane Indians as it seemed pitching couldn’t buy an out and the offense couldn’t buy an out. The Indians had three hits, with Tanner Thach and Cameron Nelson each hitting a solo home run to account for their runs. Spokane used six pitchers on the night, with only Tyler Hampu being the lone pitcher to not give up a run, recording a single out in the eighth inning. The other five pitchers gave up at least two runs, with Ismael Luciano getting the brunt of the damage, giving up six runs in the sixth inning.
It was a great night for pitching for the Fresno Grizzlies, but may have been overshadowed by a solid offensive evening. Brady Parker started on the mound and fired six no-hit innings, striking out six while walking four, departing the game after 90 pitches. Wilmis Paulino took over in the seventh and couldn’t keep the no-hit bid going as he gave up a solo home run, but he ended up locking down a three-inning save by allowing just two runs on four hits. Offensively, Fresno had an influx of 2026 draftees join the team. Daniel Jackson had two hits, including a home run. Ryan Niedzwiedz had two walks and Cort MacDonald had two hits, including a triple. Christian Arguelles continues to hit well, as he had two hits, including a double.
This week, Evan Lang and I discuss the significance of trying to avoid 100 losses, what to do about Zac Veen, and touch on the struggles of Ezequiel Tovar.
The trade deadline may be in the rearview mirror, but that isn’t going to stop the trade speculation. Hunter Goodman’s name is still going to be a popular ask during the offseason, especially for the New York Yankees who had interest and are still unhappy with the catching situation in New York.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - AUGUST 08: Brandon Belt, Brandon Crawford, Joe Panik, Buster Posey, and Pablo Sandoval pose for a photo during their Wall of Fame induction ceremony prior to the game between the Detroit Tigers and the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park on Saturday, August 8, 2026 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Kavin Mistry/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
Good morning, baseball fans!
Over the weekend, the San Francisco Giants celebrated five influential players from their 2010s World Series Championship runs with a Wall of Fame Ceremony. The team has not yet released the full video of the event, but our friends over at NBC Sports Bay Area interviewed the inductees: Brandon Belt, Brandon Crawford, Joe Panik, Buster Posey and Pablo Sandoval. So I thought that we could take a look at that today and have some fond memories of folks we don’t see too often anymore (or in Posey’s case, remember that we did, in fact, used to love the guy when he was a player and not running the entire organization).
The video is roughly 15 minutes, so grab your coffee, settle in, and enjoy!
What time do the Giants play today?
The Giants conclude this three-game series against the Houston Astros this afternoon at 12:45 p.m. PT.
BOSTON, MA - AUGUST 9: Erik Miller #67 of the Boston Red Sox pitches against the Athletics during the first inning at Fenway Park on August 9, 2026 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo By Winslow Townson/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Erik Miller was acquired in exchange for Marcelo Mayer to bolster the Red Sox bullpen. He’s exactly Craig Breslow’s type: 6’5” and left-handed. He has above-average extension at almost seven feet. He even has the same defect as many Red Sox reliever acquisitions: he struggles to find the zone at times. Against right-handed hitters in particular, he came to the Red Sox with a walk rate over 20%. Aroldis Chapman and Tyron Guerrero each joined the Red Sox with a tendency to lose the zone, and have since reined it in. Miller, through his first three appearances (15 batters faced), has walked one batter and hit another. While that’s a small sample, a few changes have already begun to appear in his repertoire.
First things first, against lefties, he needs no tweaking. He’s dominant. He uses two pitches, a sinker and a slider, and they get the job done. The sinker averages 97 mph and 17 inches of horizontal break. Of lefties with at least 100 sinkers thrown, that’s the seventh-highest average velocity and 18th-most horizontal break in baseball. Of lefties who average at least 16 inches of arm-side movement on their sinker, Miller’s arm angle trails only Martin Perez, who has much less velocity. The combination of high velocity, arm-side run, and a high arm angle creates an uncomfortable look for left-handed hitters, as evidenced by his 68% groundball rate and 13.8% ideal contact rate. Lefties have just one barrel on 28 balls in play, a single by James Wood on a 2-0 sinker down the middle. He’s up on the mound throwing 97-mph bowling balls, and unfortunately for lefties, their bats are made of wood, not whatever bowling alley bumpers are made of.
His other offering to lefties is a mid-to-high 80s slider. The shape varies, with some showing more lift and sweep while others are tighter with more depth. It’s not a huge outlier of a shape like the sinker, but it’s still incredibly effective. He rarely ever uses the pitch in the strike zone (32% zone rate), but hitters can’t resist (37.2% chase rate). Those chases convert to whiffs, leading to his massive 24.4% swinging strike rate against the slider, a 34% strikeout rate against lefties, and swings like this:
That’s all he needs against lefties. Against righties, however, is where the trouble comes in. Right-handed hitters are hitting just .197 against Miller, but the 20.2% walk rate leads to traffic on the bases. He’s only been with the Red Sox for about a week, but his approach already looks a little bit different. With San Francisco, he used a four-seam fastball against righties about 11% of the time. It was horribly ineffective, posting a 10% zone rate, just four chases, and two whiffs. He didn’t allow a hit with the pitch because most of the pitches were in locations where they couldn’t be hit.
Aside from the velocity and extension, there isn’t much to like about the pitch. Couple that with the fact that he doesn’t know where it’s going, and it’s been a complete waste. Since joining the Red Sox, he’s thrown the pitch just one time. It broke White Sox catcher Joey Bart’s hand. He has not thrown it since.
He also has a changeup that he used about nine percent of the time against righties with the Giants. Like the fastball, it was ineffective. It returned just six chases and three whiffs, along with a 24% zone rate. When he throws his changeup, his arm angle is about 12 degrees lower than his other three pitches, which might be helping hitters identify the pitch out of his hand. Those factors combined for a 40% strike rate, which contributed to that massive walk rate I mentioned. He’s only thrown 30 pitches to righties since joining the Red Sox, but none of them have been changeups.
This sample is miniscule, and I might be proven wrong the next time Miller comes out to pitch, but it does seem like the Red Sox nixed his two ineffective pitches. The lefty does call his own games, however, and it may just be a result of the particular matchups. Either way, the only run Miller has allowed since joining the Red Sox is unearned, thanks to a throw off the runner on a bunt play. If the changes stick, and Miller can cut his walk rate in half, he’ll be a major weapon for the Red Sox out of the bullpen down the stretch.
I’m not expert on much of anything, but here I am trying to optimize an MLB lineup, even though I don’t know how much the lineup order really matters, and I have little idea of what I am doing, but I’m going to try to get this offense going.
Optimizing Lineup by Best wRC+ Hitter at that Spot In The Lineup
So just for fun, let’s construct a lineup using the player with the best stats in each position of the lineup, as a starting point. If you set fangraphs splits at each lineup position 1-9, it will tell you who has had the best hitting at each spot in the lineup so far in 2026. I am going to do that now, starting with the best leadoff hitter! Marmol has been experimenting with lineup order lately, so let’s take a look. This is a bat first lineup that still retains Masyn Winn defense.
JJ Wetherholt – really no competition here, Lars was ok at leadoff for a couple games but wasn’t as good. The only other option, Winn, is a terrible leadoff hitter and always has been worse at leadoff than at other spots in the lineup. So obviously, Wetherholt is our best leadoff hitter, for now at least. I can’t imagine anyone else taking it over, although I suppose that could change.
Ivan Herrera, or maybe Burleson? – Ivan has mostly batted second, and when Walker has batted second, it hasn’t worked out too well. That’s about it, the first two lineup spots are obvious. I have a feeling Burleson would be well placed batting second, but for whatever reason Marmol hasn’t given it a go.
Alec Burleson, Jordan Walker, or Ivan Herrera – while Herrera has monster numbers batting third in a few games batting third, you have to bat him second while Walker bats third, right? Because Jordan has had a 154 wRC+ batting third this season, so why not give it a try? I have a good reason why… Burleson’s best spot is batting third, his stats are much better there than batting cleanup. I’d love to see them try Walker batting 3rd, or batting Burly second sometime, but they just haven’t been doing that. So Burleson batting third it is: a 141 wRC+ works for me!
Jordan Walker, or maybe Ivan Herrera – Jordan takes one for the team and bats cleanup, having the best power numbers in general, faring very well 4th with a 131 wRC+ in the cleanup spot, better than anyone on the team. He may end up being more of an all-around hitter than a pure power hitter, but his power potential is second to none. He certainly fits as a cleanup guy with our roster. Got to bat him 3rd or 4th, I say. My alternate is batting Herrera cleanup, while Burleson takes over Ivan’s spot and Walker moves up to bat 3rd, as a possibility.
Jose Fermin… or Blaze Jordan? – the Ferminator has posted an incredible statistic of 167 wRC+ over 9 games batting fifth, at least at the time of this writing. That experiment of Marmol’s has gone well! Much better than Walker batting 2nd. Fermin’s second-best performance is batting 9th, so you can move him to the bottom of the order if needed. Should he be playing every day? Probably not. But if you had to, no one outhits Jose batting 5th. If Blaze is in the lineup, give him a shot batting 5th, he’s been good there too! The one time he was batting fifth, he did well, anyway.
Masyn Winn, Blaze Jordan, etc – while it may not be a bad idea to move Winn down in the order some, he’s historically done ok batting 6th, and it’s a much, much better option than him leading off. This is a defense-first player who is not a total liability with the bat, so maybe batting 7th might be better? Hard to say. That said, Blaze Jordan has done really well batting 6th, Fermin has done well, and it seems to be Torres favorite spot, fwiw.
Ramon Urias, or Bryan Torres – our hitters have not done well as a squad batting 7th, and I feel that we notice this in the majority of games. Torres has been closest to league average with a 95 wRC+ when in the lineup here. Perhaps this would be a good spot for Urias if he returns to third base full-time-ish, as he has fared very well batting 7th, albeit in only 16 PA.
Pedro Pages or Ramon Urias – the Cardinals hitters batting 8th in the lineup have flat-out stunk. Pages is the best of the crew with a 78 wRC+, except for Urias at 94. Might as well bring Pedro back, I guess!
Nathan Church, Fermin, or maybe Crooks? – besides Fermin, Church has been the best bottom-of-the-lineup hitter for the Cardinals with a 119 wRC+ there, second leadoff! We have 77 PA of Church batting 9th, maybe that’s a good spot for him with that stat. Crooks has decent numbers batting 9th, as well. But Church would be your ideal 9th hitter.
Of course the lineup is further complicated by the addition of Pereira, who I might bat 9th instead of Church, I guess? The possibilities seem endless after the home run though. This excercise is, of course, predicated on some playing time before this writing, but after tonight Pereira is playing himself into the conversation. We will just have to see where we go from here.
1. Wetherholt (L)
2. Herrera (R) or Burly (L)
3. Burleson (L) Walker (R) Herrera (R)
4. Walker (R) Herrera (R)
5. Fermin (R) Jordan (R)
6. Winn (R) Torres (L) Jordan (R)
7. Urias (R) Torres (L) Winn (R)
8. Pages (R) Urias (R)
9. Church (L) Fermin (R) Crooks (L)
Urias who will someday be back on the team, has a 131 wRC+ batting 7th. Blaze Jordan has a 161 wRC+ batting 9th. The possibilities are endless. Crooks could bat 8th instead of Pages, he likes it there, I just think Pedro might be a little more valuable on defense and in pitch calling.
It is of course probably better to just obey L/R splits, but sometimes players fare better at certain spots in the lineup and this exercise is all about gaining another angle on lineup construction. Pereira is a right handed hitter, in case you were wondering.
It is my opinion that I would like to see Marmol stray away from the adherence to a certain L/R cadence, so I don’t mind him experimenting with the lineup order, but maybe there is some balance between stats?
Preferred Lineup vs RHP
1. Wetherholt (2B) L
2. Burleson (1B) L
3. Herrera (DH) R
4. Walker, Jordan (RF) R
5. Jordan, Blaze (3B) R
6. Torres (LF) L
7. Winn (SS) R
8. Pages (C) R
9. Church (CF) L
Preferred Lineup vs LHP
Wetherholt (2B) (hits RHP better but not too bad vs LHP)
Herrera (DH)
Walker (RF)
Burleson (1B) (better than batting him higher, imo)
Fermin (LF)
Winn (SS)
Urias (3B)
Crooks (C)
Pereira (CF)
And that, folks, is just what I would do, usually. There are a multitude of distractions and other factors we don’t really know about, matchups to be had, shakeups, but hey, it’s a fun exercise. I suppose we should keep in mind which players truly struggle with lefty/righty splits:
Fermin 63 wRC+ vs RHP
Burleson 40 wRC+ vs LHP
Pereira 120 wRC+ vs LHP
Urias demolishes LHP but has a 13 wRC+ vs RHP
Winn above league average vs LHP and below vs RHP
Pages can’t hit lefties
Wetherholt, Herrera, Walker, Crooks have no major splits on RHP vs LHP
Even more music from 1994!
I have discovered more albums that I forgot or just didn’t know to list last week in my 1994 music playlist! Which is now in standard youtube playlist form here. Have a listen! Lots of good stuff. And don’t worry, metalheads, the 1994 Heavy Metal playlist is here, too!
Beck – ‘Stereopathetic Soulmanure’ I will start with an album I had tabbed up on my phone to include, but since I wrote the article on a computer, forgot to include! This is Beck’s weirdo country folk avant garde mishmash album just before he broke big with ‘Mellowgold’, which is also really good… I’ve just grown attached to his other album from 1994 a little more, this album has been with me just as long! Both real good. “Satan Gave Me A Taco” is the song that sold me on this one at first. If you end up still liking Mellowgold more, I can’t blame you. Both are fantastic.
Failure – ‘Magnified’ and somehow I missed one of my all-time favorite rock albums, which so happened to be from 1994! Most are familiar with ‘Fantastic Planet’ if they know Failure, but I heard this one first and still like it even more! Fucking fantastic! The way the guitar and bass sound on this is just absolutely mindblowing and the drumming takes it all to otherwordly heights that I cannot even explain. Total love for this album.
Swing Out Sister – ‘The Living Return’ I am no expert on pop or even jazz really (who is??), but this is a nice blend of the two, mixed with 90s advancements in sound and style. Perfect album start to finish, absolutely stacked and SOS at their best! They came a long way from one hit wonder in the late 80s to reach this peak! Can’t miss if you appreciate alt-rock, jazz fusion, 90s sophistipop, soul/rnb, or just amazing catchy music in general.
Sausage – ‘Riddles Are Abound Tonight’ another big album that I loved when it came out in 1994 that I forgot to include! Had this one on tape, despite me usually buying CDs in 1994. It’s like PRIMUS but with an alternate dimension lineup. I’m not sure if this is closer to Les Claypool’s initial vision, or what, but he did a couple spinoff bands from Primus. This ended up being better than anything Primus released after, but not quite on the level of Frizzle Fry/Seas of Cheese/Pork Soda. IMO!
Move D Namlook – ‘Exploring the Psychedelic Landscape’ this album does as good a job as any exploring the creative side of rave/techno music of the times, taking it to tasty new levels. I actually just uncovered this awesome album, and look forward to being able to say more about it, but there’s something special to it, even though I’m more familiar with acts like Orbital, The Orb, and similar releases of the early electronic music movements.
Moonshake – ‘The Sound Your Eyes Can Follow’ this is another new find that I cannot say much about other than I’m surprised I never heard it before, and how good it is, how eclectic, etc. Much love.
1994 Heavy Metal
Acid Bath – ‘When The Kite String Pops’ it is sort of tough putting this album as the best Metal album of 1994, because it is super eclectic and diverse in genre and style, but in the end, this sure sounds like a heavy metal album. Sure, there are elements of hardcore punk, death metal, thrash, alt rock, southern, and other genres, making it seem like Acid Bath is sort of like the Faith No More/Mr Bungle of New Orleans, but… if you’re a metalhead and cannot bang your head to this album, there is something wrong! And why yes, that’s John Wayne Gacy cover art. They were in the back of the old mail order magazines with the album cover, I believe organized by their record label for maximum effect. Their second album cover was by Jack Kevorkian. The 90s were all about some shock value, sometimes. My friend lived above a guy that had a Gacy painting in Chicago, I wondered how this frail but energetic Irish woman from Ohio ended up there. (New Orleans)
Brutal Truth – ‘Need To Control’ Brutal Truth address all kinds of issues, mental, physical, and spiritual, on this magnificent release, which balances artfulness with intensity, creativity with timely delivery, and a hyper-focused, concise message. A standout among a stacked catalog to those in the know. And maybe the most clearly produced BT album of all. Death metal, industrial metal, or grindcore as advertised, what is it? It’s Brutal Truth at their best, going off the map a bit. And it’s fucking awesome. Although, to be fair, each of their albums exists within its own universe. (NYC)
Godflesh – ‘Selfless’ the definitive industrial metal album, imo, and my favorite Godflesh album. 10 mile wide, high density riffs forever, with the heaviest drum machines you could find in the 1990s. This album had Justin K. Broadrick, G.C. Greene, and crew, perfecting the formula leading up to this fine and perfect release. Total gamechanger for me, along with Ministry of course. Heavy slabs of guitars, monitored by a cybernetic organism, with its creator observing, singing, and decrying it, all while being at the center of it all. (UK)
Brutality – ‘When The Sky Turns Black’ is my hidden gem pick for this week. With each song, this album kept getting better and better, and throwing in an old-school Black Sabbath cover did not hurt one bit. Most albums I hear for the first time at age 50 make me want to hear something else, but this one was quite the opposite: it made me feel younger, hearing a new style for the first time. And for that, I cannot repay… I have discovered a historic band this year. They haven’t really (re)invented the wheel here, they just do the style so much justice and are completely BRUTAL at it. The production also suits the sound. (Tampa Bay)
Corrosion of Conformity – ‘Deliverance’ COC morphed from crustpunk to hardcore to thrash to southern metal real quick it felt like, but by the time Deliverance was released Carolina’s Corrosion of Conformity had been around a while. This ended up being probably their biggest album, with the hit single “Albatross”. This is COC exploring a bunch of different styles for the first time, and doing better than any other time in their career, so if you want to explore this band, this is a good starting point. Superb musicians with Pepper Keenan in several big name bands. Highly recommended if you want a heavy metal album that borders on alt rock with swagger. (North Carolina)
Sadistik Exekution – ‘We Are Death…’ one of the fastest bands of all time, sounds like chaos to some but I hear an underlying order similar to a few other death metal bands, blurring the lines between traditional death metal, black metal, and total chaos. Stupid fun brought to you by a dangerous band. (Australia)
Infester – ‘To The Depths In Degradation’ mysterious teenage one and done extreme death metal album by a band from the Pacific Northwest during the grunge era. For being an unknown band this sounds pretty freakin’ amazing, fantastic youtube find from just before I wrote 1994’s review! (Seattle)
Oppressor – ‘Solstice of Oppression’ it’s tough to rank as impressive of a find as this in the middle of the pack, because i have a feeling this will be a grower and the production could be slightly better… but it already sounds like a classic, to be perfectly honest. Super creative next level heavy metal for its time, and our time, too!
Emperor – ‘In The Nightside Eclipse’ just probably the best black metal album of all time created by teenagers… if you want more goth, keyboards, and the supernatural in your metal, this is for you. I bought the remaster on vinyl, it’s so good. While this is certainly somewhat cheesy sounding, it also sounds completely genuine. (Norway)
Cryptopsy – ‘Blasphemy Made Flesh’ what drew me to this album was the crazy bass playing and tone. The guitars and drums are super technical and delivered with precision, as is the bass, but it makes this album stand out from the pack, along with the weirdass vocals. Guitar solos are pretty unique and the whole thing feels more on the progressive end of death metal without sounding it. This is not easy to pin down. (Canada)
Enslaved – ‘Frost’ probably what I would call the most tasteful and well done of black metal bands. They have forged their own path, too. 1994 saw Enslaved release their debut album, as well as this followup which I have enjoyed more because of its wider scope and more precise production and sound. Both are good, but if I had to suggest just one… (Norway)
Samael – ‘Ceremony of Opposites’ if you want black metal that borders on the industrial music scene, Samael is your best bet. This album just comes off as a classic upon first listen, a classic of the genre. 1994 was really where black metal started to take off and branch out into many directions, while also being at its beginnings still. Just as crucial as Emperor and Enslaved in 1994! But maybe the most catchy of the three. Mayhem also released a pretty good one that year. (Switzerland)
Nailbomb – ‘Point Blank’ a straight up industrial metal release from Max Cavalera of Sepultura and producer Alex Newport (also of Fudge Tunnel). Perhaps the heaviest straight up industrial metal release of all, even including Ministry. Just an all time classic, with some hardcore punk edge too. (Brazil/UK)
The Chasm – ‘Procreation of the Inner Temple’ I have been blasting this album for years now so I can vouch for its staying power. I tend to prefer their albums after this one, but it’s a rather solid debut! Also sounds like no other… if you love blackened thrash/death metal, you have to check out their discography. (Mexico)
Cianide – ‘A Descent Into Hell’ total caveman sludged out midtempo old school death metal, one of the best of the midwest. Check out their whole discography! For real. (Chicago)
Back to baseball…
I’m perplexed… fangraphs has a stat called Clutch that rates the Cardinals offense as one of the best in MLB. But, they’re not doing very well in high leverage situations. They also don’t produce much in low leverage situations. They do excel in medium leverage situations, however! So I guess they’re clutch, outside of the biggest moments, and when the game is off the line?
Zack Wheeler faces Kyle Leahy on his home turf. Wheeler is dealing this season so we will be lucky to take the series. But, Leahy has been no disappointment; maybe we will get lucky and score some runs and watch the wheels fall off for Wheeler!
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - APRIL 24: Manager Alex Cora of the Boston Red Sox looks on from the dugout against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on April 24, 2026 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) | Getty Images
1876 – Chicago’s versatile Cal McVey has the unusual distinction of both pitching and catching in a 5-0 win over Cincinnati. The win goes to starter Al Spalding‚ his 10th straight win over the Reds
1930 – With 40‚000 fans on hand at Wrigley Field‚ Dazzy Vance gives up 14 hits and walks four but strands 16 Cubs runners. With the game tied 2-2 in the 11th, Riggs Stephenson bounces a single to drive in the winning run.
1934 – In St. Louis, the Cubs sweep the Deans‚ winning 7-2 against Paul‚ and 6-4 over Dizzy. Big Jim Weaver wins the opener and Pat Malone is the victor against Diz.
1951 – Roy Campanella breaks up a pitching duel between Don Newcombe and Boston’sJohnny Sain with a three-run homer‚ his second of the game‚ and the third time in nine games he’s collected a pair of homers. Campy’s five ribbies give the Dodgers a 7-2 win.
1953 – Brooklyn slugger Duke Snider hits his second grand slam in three days‚ accounting for all the runs in the Dodgers’ 4-0 win over the Giants. Carl Erskine allows New York just two hits.
1964 – Mickey Mantle sets a major league record when hits a home run from both sides of the plate for the tenth time in his career. Mantle hits a left-handed homer off Ray Herbert over the 461-foot marker in centerfield that lands 15 rows into the bleachers, 502 feet from the plate.
1492 – Christopher Columbus arrives in the Canary Islands on his first voyage to the New World,
1851 – American inventor Isaac Singer patents his famous sewing machine.
1877 – To his amazement, Thomas Edison records himself reciting “Mary Had a Little Lamb” on his newly completed cylinder phonograph, a device that records sound onto tinfoil cylinders.
1908 – Ford Motor Company builds its first Model T car, which Henry Ford himself tests on a hunting trip to Wisconsin and northern Michigan.
1958 – Art Kane photographs a group portrait of 57 leading jazz musicians assembled in front of a brownstone on 126th Street in NYC for Esquire magazine; originally titled “Harlem, 1958,” it appears as the centerfold of Esquire’s January 1959 issue celebrating the “Golden Age of Jazz”.
1966 – The Beatles hold a press conference at the Astor Tower Hotel, in Chicago, Illinois; John Lennon apologizes for his “more popular than Jesus” remark.
1966 – The last Beatles concert tour of North America begins with two shows at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois.
1978 – NFL New England Patriots wide receiver Darryl Stingley suffers a spinal cord injury, leaving him with incomplete quadriplegia after a hit by Oakland Raiders’ Jack Tatum in a preseason exhibition game.
1991 – Heavy metal band Metallica releases its fifth album, “Metallica,” which debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart.
2016 – American star swimmer Katie Ledecky sets a world record of 8:04.79 to dominate the women’s 800 m field at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics; a medal tally of four golds and onx silver makes her the most decorated US female athlete at one Olympics.
The Detroit Tigers took the first game of a critical home series against the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday night with a narrow 6-4 victory. The good guys got their first win against Tanner Bibee since July 2024 thanks to some well-timed offense, and somehow, Kenley Jansen did not blow the save despite feeding the batters meatballs in the ninth.
Taking the mound for the Motor City Kitties in Game 2 is left-hander Framber Valdez, who is coming off two straight seven-inning quality starts. Across those 14 frames of work, the 32-year-old veteran posted a 1.29 ERA and 2.38 FIP on 14 hits and four walks — good for a 1.29 WHIP — while striking out 11 en route to a pair of wins.
Valdez faced Cleveland once before this season on May 18 in Detroit, and it was not pretty, serving up four runs on five hits and four walks while striking out three over five innings of work to take the L in an 8-2 loss. However, that was during the heinous month of May, so it might not be wise to extrapolate much from those results.
For the visitors, fellow southpaw Foster Griffin will toe the rubber for the second time in a Guardians uniform after being traded from the Washington Nationals, who received four players for the 2026 All-Star. The 31-year-old was shellacked in his first start for Cleveland against the New York Mets, coughing up five runs on seven hits (two home runs) and two walks while striking out six over four frames to earn his fourth loss of the season in a 12-4 final.
Take a peek at how the two match up stats-wise with our data below.
Detroit Tigers (59-60) vs. Cleveland Guardians (58-62)
Time (ET): 6:40 p.m. Place: Comerica Park, Detroit, Michigan SB Nation Site:Covering the Corner Media: Detroit SportsNet, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network
Game 120: LHP Framber Valdez (7-7, 4.17 ERA) vs. LHP Foster Griffin (12-4, 3.31 ERA)
NEWARK, NJ - APRIL 04: Jake Allen #34 of the New Jersey Devils defend his net during the second period of the game against the Montréal Canadiens on April 4, 2026 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Rich Graessle/NHLI via Getty Images) | NHLI via Getty Images
Here are your links for today:
Devils Links
“The New Jersey Devils should have plenty of competition in camp as is, but it never hurts to have more. Let’s look at six players that make sense as PTO options.” [Devils on the Rush]
“The Devils have been one of the most-improved teams this off-season, but one area still needs vast improvement: defensive puck-movement.” [Devils’ Advocates]
“Goaltending is an extremely volatile position. Mehta & Co. are betting that volatility works in their favor. That might sound like a risky way to approach one of the most important positions on a hockey team. But I think it’s actually one of the more calculated decisions Mehta has made.” [New Jersey Hockey Now]
Hockey Links
“For the third consecutive year, The Athletic is looking at the top tier of NHL players, examining which of them could someday be enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. It’s a fun, illuminating project — one that provides both material for debate and, we hope, information on what it takes for players to get in.” [The Athletic ($)]
“We are one month from the beginning of NHL training camp, and 18 restricted free agents still remain on the market.” [Daily Faceoff]
“For some teams, the honour will go to an up-and-coming superstar ready to become the face of the franchise. For others, it will go to a veteran who will provide stability and share his experience with younger teammates. Before teams return from summer break, let’s pick a new captain for the 10 without one.” [Sportsnet]
A look at three NHL goalies who have the potential to have breakout years: [The Hockey News]
Feel free to discuss these and any other hockey-related stories in the comments below.
MINNEAPOLIS, MN. - MAY 2026: Minnesota Timberwolves guard Ayo Dosunmu (13) warms up before playing the San Antonio Spurs in Game 6 of the NBA Western Conference semifinals at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn. on Friday, May 15, 2026. (Photo by Alex Kormann/The Minnesota Star Tribune via Getty Images) | Star Tribune via Getty Images
The NBA released its opening-week and Christmas Day schedules on Tuesday and will announce the full schedule on Thursday. The season will officially begin on Tuesday, October. 22, with three high-level games.
Brad Underwood has helped increase the presence of Illini in the NBA, with Illinois producing a first-round pick every year since 2024. Ayo Dosunmu, Terrence Shannon Jr., Kasparus Jakucionis, Will Riley and Keaton Wagler should all see minutes at the NBA level next season.
No Illinois alumni will be playing on opening night, but Dosunmu and Shannon Jr. will take the court for the Timberwolves on the second night of the season. Minnesota will begin its season on Oct. 21 against the Miami Heat. The game will be the first of the night on ESPN, followed by Warriors vs. Lakers.
That will be it for the former Illinois basketball players during the opening week of the season that has already been announced by the NBA. However, the Timberwolves will also play on Christmas Day against the 2025 NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder. The Thunder should once again be one of the best teams in the league, but the Timberwolves should also be in the mix to compete in the Western Conference.
The NBA’s Christmas Day schedule has been somewhat overshadowed by the NFL in recent years, but five matchups will run throughout the day, with the Timberwolves tipping off against the Thunder on ABC/ESPN at 7 p.m. It will be another great opportunity to watch Dosunmu with his new team and hopefully see Shannon Jr. receive an increased role.
Dosunmu was traded to the Timberwolves in February and excelled during his first 10 postseason games. He stepped into a bigger role during the Nuggets series due to injuries to Anthony Edwards and Donte DiVincenzo. Dosunmu scored 25 points in Game 3 and 43 points in Game 4, helping establish himself as an important piece of Minnesota’s rotation.
Dosunmu signed a five-year, $112 million extension with the Timberwolves this offseason. It was difficult to see him leave Chicago, but it will be great to see him competing for championships for years to come. Dosunmu will enter his sixth NBA season and his first full season with the Timberwolves.
Shannon Jr. will enter his third year in the NBA and with the Timberwolves. He played just 12.5 minutes per game last season but should receive an increased role after his impressive playoff performances. Shannon scored 21 points on 53.3% shooting in the Timberwolves’ final game of the season.
Jakucionis, Riley and Wagler were not included in the opening-week or Christmas Day schedules released by the NBA on Tuesday, but it will be fun to see where these young players land on the schedule early in the season. The full NBA schedule will be released on Thursday.
MILWAUKEE, WI - 1971: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar #33 of the Milwaukee Bucks and Wilt Chamberlain #13 of the Los Angeles Lakers look on during the game circa,1971 at the Milwaukee Arena in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 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 1971 NBAE (Photo by Vernon Biever/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain had a legendary rivalry in the late 1950s and through the 1960s.
But Russell retired in 1969, and you’d think Chamberlain would have reigned unchallenged as the league’s top big man.
That didn’t happen.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, then still known as Lew Alcindor, entered the league after winning three straight NCAA championships, and was an immediate sensation.
When he joined the NBA for the 1969-70 season, Jabbar finished second in the league in scoring with 28.8 ppg, and third in rebounding, with 14.5 per game. Naturally, he was Rookie of the Year, and won his first championship in his second season.
When he entered the league, Chamberlain was 33, and his career was starting to wind down. He had had a knee injury in 1969 that was still an issue, and the coltish Jabbar was just getting started.
Nonetheless, Chamberlain had immense pride, and while he acknowledged that Jabbar was his greatest challenge ever as an NBA center, he always had something extra for him when they met.
As you’ll see in this video, these guys didn’t like each other when they played, but they had immense mutual respect.
It was a relatively brief rivalry, but in some ways more intense than the Chamberlain-Russell epic.
Send in your questions now for this week’s episode of The Pindown: A Detroit Pistons Podcast to discuss everything Pistons. Submit your question in the comments section here or on Twitter to @TheRealWesD3 and/or @RobbieBettelon. If you’re on BlueSky, you can also send to @RobbieBettelon.bksy.social.
Join us live on Friday with guests Harry Moroz and Mickey Jacobs from Order of the Blazing Horse. What questions do you have for the show?
Plus, The Pindown has a phone line where you can leave a message and hear your voice on the show. Call (313) 355-2717 and leave us a voicemail with your question. Please try to keep the message around 45 seconds or less so we can fit everyone into the show.
The podcast will be uploaded to all audio platforms the following morning.
NBA history spans 80 seasons, and as CelticsBlog readers well know, the Boston Celtics have won a league-high 18 championships. This month, we are recapping each of those title years.
<p>Celtics’ owner Walter Brown helps Bill Russell with his new team jacket, after the center signed his rookie contract in 1956. Brown, who founded the franchise, passed away September 7, 1964. (Photo by UPI/Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)</p> | Getty Images
The 1964-65 season began on a somber note: Walter Brown, the team’s legendary founder and owner, suffered a heart attack and died a few weeks before opening night. Brown was just 59 years old.
Brown helped found the Basketball Association of America, which merged with the National Basketball League to form the NBA. He was also instrumental in founding the Ice Capades; managed the Boston Garden; owned the Boston Bruins; was president of the International Ice Hockey Federation; and president of the Boston Athletic Association, which operates the Boston Marathon. Brown also won championships as a hockey coach.
The Boston Celtics showed no signs of slowing down as they began pursuit of their seventh straight banner. They posted a 62-18 record, the best in league history, while no other team reached 50 wins. Boston won the first 11 games on the schedule, then added win streaks of seven and 16 games.
Russell won the Most Valuable Player award for the fifth time. He averaged 14.1 points per game and led the NBA in rebounding average at 24.1. Unfortunately, Russell played before blocked shots were tracked as an official statistic and also before the introduction of the Defensive Player of the Year award. His overall status as arguably the greatest player in NBA history is shortchanged as a result.
Sam Jones (see below for more about him), Tommy Heinsohn and Russell all played in the All-Star game. This would be Heinsohn’s last hurrah, retiring after nine seasons.
Among those new to the team were draft picks Mel Counts, taken in the first round with overall pick no. 9, and in the third round with pick 27, John Thompson. Counts would play 12 seasons in the NBA, win two rings with the Celtics, then be traded in a significant deal (stay tuned for more), and cross paths again with Boston in the 1969 Finals. Thompson played just two seasons as a backup big, but also won two rings. He made the Hall of Fame too, in the role he’s most known for, coach of the Georgetown Hoyas.
The first all-black starting five
The Celtics also made on-court history once again in the realm of civil rights.
In the 1964 installment of this series, we reviewed how coach Red Auerbach and the Celtics ignored the unwritten “quota rule” and put five black players on the court at the same time. On December 27, 1964, they took it to the next step. Tommy Heinsohn was injured and Willie Naulls replaced him in the starting lineup, along with regulars Bill Russell, Satch Sanders, Sam Jones and K.C. Jones. The first all-black starting five.
It was a major breakthrough in professional sports at a contentious time and bleak period in American history. And there was more to come from the Celtics on that front because, as Auerbach always stated, he simply wanted to win. And he knew what he was talking about. Together, that lineup won 12 games in a row – 10 of them on the road.
Sam Jones, the forgotten superstar
<p>Sam Jones dribbles the ball upcourt against the Philadelphia 76ers circa 1965. In the background is Wilt Chamberlain, whom Jones was known to trash talk after Chamberlain failed to block his shot. “Too late,” Jones would say. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)</p> | Getty Images
Did you know that Sam Jones – no. 24 on the retired numbers banner – won 10 NBA championships, the second most behind Bill Russell? If not, then you probably are also unaware of his five All-Star game selections, three times voted to All-NBA, and induction into the Hall of Fame (inexplicably, he had to wait 15 years for the call).
Jones was, in today’s parlance, a bucket. His signature move was an outside bank shot off the dribble. His career high was 51 points for both regular season and postseason (at Madison Square Garden, winning a closeout game versus the Knicks). Most importantly, Jones was best known for being clutch. We’ve seen it already in this Banner Year series when he scored a series winner in 1962 and 47 points in a Game 7 in 1963.
Jones’ best season was this one, 1964-65, when he played all 80 games; averaged a career-high 25.9 points per game; scored 2,070 points, which at that time was a team record; earned All-NBA second team; and was fourth in MVP voting behind Russell, Oscar Robertson and Jerry West.
It’s safe to say that most of today’s NBA fans know of those three megastars, even if they never saw them play. But no one talks about Sam Jones, the forgotten superstar.
Russell called Jones the most skilled teammate he’d ever had. He added that Jones was called upon to take a do-or-die shot in the playoffs six times, and made all six. That’s a real Mr. Clutch.
Fun fact about Sam Jones’ draft position: Jones was eligible for the 1956 Draft and was selected in the eighth round as the 59th overall pick by the Minneapolis Lakers. However, Jones chose to return to North Carolina Central College to complete his degree following military service. By rule at that time, returning to school voided the Lakers’ exclusive claim to his player rights, leaving him available for a future draft. The next year, 1957, the Boston Celtics selected him in the first round with the eighth pick overall. If Jones had not returned to college, the Celtics would not have 18 banners, and you wouldn’t be reading this series right now.
Eastern playoffs
After their customary bye, the Celtics once again faced the dangerous Wilt Chamberlain, who’d gone west with the Warriors’ relocation to San Francisco, but was traded back to his hometown and the Philadelphia 76ers. The Sixers were born when the Syracuse Nationals relocated, to fill the void in Philly after the Warriors departed.
As seemed to be their habit, the first six games were won by the home team, neither being able to separate from the other. Only Game 3 was particularly close, and Philly needed it to avoid a 3-1 deficit. The Sixers dominated the first and third quarters, while the Celtics took the second and fourth. Boston was ahead by two with one second remaining. Sixers guard Hal Greer took the inbounds pass and hit a 35-footer as the buzzer sounded (for two points as the three-point shot wasn’t in use yet). The Celtics protested that the shot was too late, but lacking replay there was nothing left but to play overtime. Philly escaped, 134-131.
Of course, everything came down to the final five seconds of Game 7. It had been a back-and-forth battle for the first 47 minutes, but the Celtics led 110-103, thanks to Sam Jones’ 37 points and 26 from Havlicek. Trying not to foul, Boston backed off on defense, unwisely allowing six quick points by Chamberlain. Then Russell made the worst mistake of his career, losing the ball with five seconds left and a one-point lead feeling extremely vulnerable. But Russell was bailed out by the most memorable play in Celtics history.
The Sixers gave Hondo the opening by not running any sort of action. Watch again: Everyone stood around, no one cutting or setting screens. The heady Havlicek took his position and only had to wait for the ball to come. It was a hallmark of the dynasty, the Celtics executing on the most crucial play to secure the win. Bonus: Johnny Most’s call of the play became legendary and made him famous.
NBA Finals
Survive and move forward, that’s the playoffs in a nutshell, and the Celtics did that. The Finals versus Los Angeles had lost some luster because Elgin Baylor was out after tearing knee ligaments. Boston was an overwhelming favorite and they won without any anxiety.
The matchup
Game 1 was a blowout, Boston leading by 20 after three quarters and finishing 142-110. The Lakers were never in it. Game 2 on the parquet was more typical playoff basketball, hard-fought and close. Jerry West poured in 45 and Dick Barnett added 26, but the Celtics had five men with 20 or more points, winning 129-123.
In LA, Sam Jones dropped 35 in Game 3, but West remained on fire with 43 points in a 21-point Lakers victory to stay alive. However, Game 4 was a different story.
Turning point
Boston trailed by six at halftime of Game 4, but the defense clamped down, enabling the visitors to dominate the second half, 57-38. West was held to 6 of 27 shooting and only 22 points. Final, 112-99, the Celtics taking a 3-1 lead.
The hero we needed
The entire Celtics squad was heroic in Game 5. They were already ahead by 16 when they began the fourth quarter with a barrage of 20 consecutive points. Again and again, the Celtics would get a defensive stop, throw an outlet pass and race the other way for an easy bucket. The Garden crowd was ecstatic. Radio announcer Johnny Most was so delirious he’s lucky he didn’t fall out of his perch in the balcony.
The final score was 129-96, a 33-point destruction. We wouldn’t see something like that again until 2008.
It wasn’t over until…
The series was practically over before it began. Without Baylor, LA was helpless.
Notable facts and stats
Seven Celtics scored between 10 and 22 points in Game 4.
Sam Jones led the team in scoring for the series with 27.8 points per game.
Russell pulled down 25 rebounds per game in the Finals.
Jerry West topped the Lakers by averaging 33.8 points, but he came up empty in the Finals for the third time versus Boston.
Tommy Heinsohn retired after this series, scoring 6 points with 8 rebounds in his final game. He won eight championships, was four times All-NBA and a six-time All-Star, as well as Rookie of the Year. We would hear from him again.
Banner Years continues tomorrow with a review of the 1965-66 season and the road to winning Banner #9.
PensBurgh’s 2026 edition of the Top 25 Under 25 countdown rolls on with Avery Hayes, a young forward who emerged as a legitimate bottom-six option after making his NHL debut last season.
2025 Ranking:No. 18 Age: 23 (Oct. 10, 2002) Acquired Via: Signed with WB/S Penguins as undrafted free agent before 2023-24 season Height/Weight: 5-foot-10, 174 pounds
Working his way up from an undrafted forward in the American Hockey League, Hayes was called up for his NHL debut in February 2026, scoring two goals in his debut game against the Buffalo Sabres on Feb. 5.
Hayes’ two-goal first period put him in rare company, making him just the seventh player in NHL history to accomplish the feat in his debut.
“I can’t really put it into words,” said the 23-year-old forward after his debut. “I’m just excited to see my family after they were able to make the trip. So, I have no words right now, but it was a ton of fun.”
Hayes would then be re-assigned to the AHL during the Olympic break, where he notched a hat trick in his next AHL game back before recording another three-goal game 11 days later.
Hayes went from scoring twice in his NHL debut to struggling to consistently produce at the NHL level when games resumed after the Olympics, illustrating the challenge of making the jump to the world’s best league.
After that two-goal debut, Hayes went pointless between Feb. 26 and March 14. He would score his third career goal in an 8-3 win over the New York Islanders on March 30 before notching two more goals in the team’s regular-season finale, a 7-5 loss to the St. Louis Blues on April 14.
Hayes played 16 games with the Pittsburgh Penguins last season, deployed primarily as an “energy guy” in a bottom-six role, scoring five goals while averaging 11:10 of ice time per game.
Five goals in 16 NHL games isn’t a huge sample, but it does suggest Hayes has some finishing ability that could make him more than a purely energy-line player if he can maintain it over a larger sample.
Hayes finished the 2025-26 AHL season at a nearly point-per-game clip, registering 39 points over 42 games. He also recorded 48 regular-season penalty minutes. In the Calder Cup playoffs, Hayes added another three goals and 40 penalty minutes in 15 games as the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins reached the Eastern Conference Finals.
The AHL production is what makes Hayes particularly intriguing. His 24 goals ranked first among Wilkes-Barre/Scranton forwards, despite Hayes missing time while in the NHL. His 39 points in 42 games also made him one of the team’s most productive offensive players.
Over 131 regular-season AHL games, Hayes has provided plenty of spark for the Baby Penguins, recording 53 goals and 90 points along with 112 penalty minutes.
There are higher-ceiling players elsewhere in the Penguins’ prospect pool, but few can match Hayes’ combination of NHL experience, AHL production and proximity to a regular NHL job.
He could be deployed in a bottom-six role given his speed, tenacity and finishing ability. Still, the challenge now is determining whether that offensive production can consistently translate to the NHL.
Hayes has the makings of a pest-like forward, able to get under an opponent’s skin while creating offense through his forechecking. He offers the coaching staff an always-valued “energizer” as a complementary piece.
His biggest obstacle may ultimately be opportunity. The Penguins’ forward depth chart is currently bursting at the seams, leaving Hayes with little margin for error as he tries to secure a regular NHL job.
At this juncture, Hayes looks less like a guaranteed NHL player and more like one of the Penguins’ most intriguing call-up options when injury or ineffective play from other forwards strikes.
After going undrafted and working his way to the NHL, though, that’s a pretty good place to be at 23 years old.
PORTLAND, ME - SEPTEMBER 06: Josue Briceño #43 celebrates as he rounds the bases after hitting a home run during the game between the Erie SeaWolves and the Portland Sea Dogs at Hadlock Field on Saturday, September 6, 2025 in Portland, Maine. (Photo by Ella Hannaford/Minor League Baseball via Getty Images)
With the MLB trade deadline behind us and a lot of players on the move around the league, Baseball America did a full re-rank of their top 100 prospects list last week, placing just three Detroit Tigers prospects on the list. With Kevin McGonigle long graduated, and Max Clark on his way to graduating from prospect status by season’s end, the system is bolstered with good depth after the deadline deals, but for the moment is a bit lacking in high end impact prospects. That’s not a problem to be worried about right now, because the Tigers already have one of the better young core position player groups in the game, while Jackson Jobe’s return to join Troy Melton and Keider Montero gives them a center piece group to build their rotation around for years to come. It just means that there may be fewer impact position players coming along in the next couple of years.
While FanGraphs still has 27-year-old right-hander River Ryan on their Board as a prospect, Baseball America regards him as graduated due to his age and service time, even if much of that time as a big leaguer has been spent recovering from 2024 Tommy John surgery. That categorization certainly makes the Tigers system weaker on Baseball America’s list, but remember that it’s overall organizational talent that matters in the end, not who has the best players still regarded strictly as prospects. In terms of high end, 25 and under talent in the organization, few teams can compete with the Tigers right now. Still, the Tigers will certainly need to see some of their players just outside of “top 100 status” to continue developing into prospects with higher levels of certainty to continue to flow talent into the major leagues in the years ahead.
The one huge whiff on Baseball America’s new top 100 list in regards to the Tigers is the exclusion of catcher/first baseman Josue Briceño. We can at least give them a point for consistency, as they didn’t rank Briceño in their 2025 post-draft top 100 rankings in August of 2025 either, but doubling down on a mistake does one no credit. At that point, fellow catcher-first baseman Thayron Liranzo was their 69th ranked prospect, but he’s now off the list entirely. Max Clark was ranked 22nd and Kevin McGonigle was 23rd. Obviously that doesn’t look too good in retrospect either, but at least they were both fairly highly ranked. SS Bryce Rainer was ranked 60th and is now their 73rd ranked prospect.
A wrist injury suffered in spring training back in March required surgery, and sidelined Briceño until July. The left-handed hitter hasn’t taken long to get back into form, and his combination of a plus hit tool and plus power locked in quickly to conquer the Double-A level. He has eight homers in just 17 games for the Erie SeaWolves, and after striking out a bit more than usual in his first series, he looks right back on track in that regard. As a result, the Tigers will promote Briceño to Triple-A Toledo starting on Tuesday.
There are ongoing concerns about Briceño’s ability to stick behind the plate, of course. Those concerns are largely mitigated by Dillon Dingler’s rise as one of the elite players in the game, but between Eduardo Valencia and . Briceño the Tigers have two decidedly bat first catchers that don’t really jibe with A.J. Hinch and his staffs’ philosophy of demanding excellence behind the plate from their catchers. Thayron Liranzo has a lot more questions about his bat, but has really separated himself as the most likely future backup catcher for Dingler.
Still, even as a first baseman, Briceño is comfortably a 50 FV prospect and should be on any top 100 list. There aren’t 10 better hitting prospects in baseball at the moment. The 21-year-old reached Double-A in early July of 2025 at age 20. He played 45 games there last year and hit five home runs, while his strikeout rate spiked from 16.4 percent at High-A to 23.7 percent at Double-A. Still, he barely had time to do much more than settle in at the level by season’s end, and he was 3-4 years younger than most players in the Eastern League at that point.
To miss the first half of the season with a wrist injury and then level up and conquer Double-A conclusively in a couple of weeks is extremely impressive. He’s trimmed his chase rate to well above average levels, and is running a swinging strike rate just under 11 percent combined at the level overall. He makes a lot of contact, and much of it is very hard contact. He’ll also take his walks. Briceño combines one of the better combinations of plate discipline, pure contact ability, and big time juice in all the minor leagues. He may just not provide all that much value defensively as a first baseman and designated hitter.
FanGraphs and MLB Pipeline are on the right side here, as both continue to put 50 FV grades on him, while acknowledging that he’s a bat first prospect that may not provide much value defensively. Ultimately, top 100 status at this site or that site doesn’t have any relevance to how a player’s career works out, but people often use top 100 players to judge farm systems. They’ll be missing part of the picture in Briceño’s case.
#17 CF Max Clark
Young Mr. Clark has made a very successful start to his big league career over the past week, and will be graduated off top 100 lists this offseason unless something goes very awry.
Clark entered the season needing to do a few things to get himself to the major leagues. The main thing was tackling a more advanced class of pitcher and getting acclimated to the more advanced and complicated sequencing he’s seeing in the major leagues. Next was to clean up his defensive game and base running a little further. Clark’s reads and route running improved quite a bit in 2025, and he was no longer relying on speed and closing ability to play a good center field. However, there were still finer points in his first step, reads, and body control as he pursued balls in the gaps and over his head that needed work this season, and his time with the Mud Hens was all about refining the details of playing the position, while improving his ability to get jumps on more experienced pitchers and steal bases.
All signs are positive. Clark combines a gritty, old school approach and a distaste for strikeouts with the ability to go the opposite way, draw his walks, bunt for hits, or turn and crush home runs. His first step has improved quite a bit, but his routes can still be a bit circuitous. His speed and closing ability has always made up for some of those deficiencies, and this season he made nice strides improving the finer points of his game and no longer relying so much on pure speed alone. There are still improvements to come, and at 21 years of age, a high likelihood that Clark will continue to develop into one of the better defensive center fielders in the game.
#39 OF Zyhir Hope
The Tigers next top prospect is their newest. The left-handed hitting outfielder is an athletic specimen with huge juice in his bat and good speed and defensive ability to boot. He moves up significantly in BA’s rankings after trimming his 2025 High-A strikeout rate down a little bit at the Double-A level, while handling high velocity much better and doing a ton of damage at the plate. Hope has 23 homers and 18 steals in 94 games for Double-A Tulsa this season.
His profile has always come with some swing and miss concerns, but Hope has proven both driven and coachable and his progress this season lends a lot more confidence that the swing and miss isn’t going to hold him back too much. He made some adjustments to his stance and bat path that alleviated some of the strikeout concerns and helped him cover more of the zone effectively against all pitch types. Hope might turn out to be a relatively low average slugger who mainly feasts on right-handed pitching at the major league level, but he’s handled left-handed pitching reasonably well this year, giving more confidence that he’ll break through as a full-time right-fielder who can play center on a part-time basis while contributing in all phases of the game with All-Star caliber upside if everything comes together.
#73 SS Bryce Rainer
The recently turned 21-year-old Rainer’s stock has slipped this season due to the high strikeout rates he’s posting at the High-A level. His double plus power and arm strength have returned intact after season ending shoulder surgery in early June of 2025, and his plate discipline remains excellent. However, Rainer only had 35 games of pro ball out of high school coming into this season and the Tigers moved him aggressively up to High-A West Michigan this spring after a brief stint at Low-A Lakeland to get his feet back under him.
Rainer’s development as a shortstop continues to go well, and he looks like a future above average defender whose outstanding arm strength enables him to throw out runners from deep in the hole and get plenty of gas even on off balance throws on choppers and slow rollers, or from awkward angles going up the middle.
The issue is still the strikeouts. As argued repeatedly, Rainer’s numbers early on this year were pretty irrelevant. He needed time and reps just to get back into the swing of things after 8 months without swinging a bat in game situations. And as expected, those extreme strikeout rates he ran in April and early May cooled down significantly as he settled in. Rainer then tore the Midwest League up in June, with a high percentage of his balls leaving the bat at 108 up to 114 mph. He posted a 1.140 OPS for the month with six home runs, most of them tape measure shots, but continued to strike out around 30 percent of the time. Those strikeout numbers got worse in July, and he stopped hitting the ball in the air as much as pitchers started trying to jam him and in general pitch around him a little more.
What’s really noticeable, however, is that the high strikeout rates come more from patience verging on passivity than from swing and miss. It bodes much better for his long-term potential that he’s just taking a lot of strike calls than if he were swinging and missing to extreme degrees. The former can be alleviated by alterations in his approach and simply building up reps, whereas bat to ball skill is more innate and hard to develop. Rainer’s long levers and stiff-legged swing remain highly effective at balls in the middle of the plate or away, and he takes the ball to left field with eye-popping authority. But those same traits sometimes get in the way of him pulling balls he should crush on the inner third, and rolling them over on the ground instead. His approach has generally been to avoid swinging even at strikes unless he can extend on them. His 12.7 swinging strike rate is a little on the high side, but for a very inexperienced hitter at the High-A level they’re very reasonable. His 20 percent called strike rate tells the tale, as he’s often rung up on edge pitches he just doesn’t think he can do much with anyway. The solution probably involves improving his lower half strength and flexibility, improving his platform to help him adjust to balls in flight more effectively.
Rainer deserves a lot of leash before people’s opinions about his future start to calcify. Right now, he looks like a future low average hitter who will walk a fair amount and hit for good power while playing average and likely above average shortstop. That easily makes him a viable top 100 candidate, but the kicker here is that the upside is enormous, because when he can extend his arms, he consistently drives balls harder than all but a few other prospects in baseball, all while rarely chasing pitches out of the zone. I think we can dispense with hopes of future Corey Seager comps, because Rainer just doesn’t have the adjustability in his swing to foul off a lot of tough edge pitches or serve them for softer hits. The risk/reward levels here are high, but the power, eye for the zone, defensive tools, along with some basestealing ability and overall speed, all give him a more stable floor than most hitters of this type.
Even now, Rainer only has 119 games out of high school and he’s hitting in the heart of a High-A batting order. Don’t expect him to run through Double-A in 2027. The development path is still going to be a few years, and it won’t be a surprise if adapting to the Eastern League will take a full season or more. How long it takes him to adapt and thrive at that level will tell us a lot more about his future outcomes than this season’s work, as he’s only really gotten back up to speed after the injury over the last two months. He’ll be 23 in July of 2029, and that’s probably when to expect him to be ready for a major league debut.
Best of the rest
Right now, the Detroit Tigers’ farm system is still top ten in baseball, but Clark’s graduation will send them back closer to the bottom third of teams. On the other hand, besides the Briceño oversight, the Tigers have added and developed several players to the tiers just below a 50 FV grade, and some, like 2026 first rounder RHP Cameron Flukey, RHP Kelvis Salcedo, LHP Ben Jacobs, and LHP Kash Mayfield, aren’t far from top 100 consideration. We need to see a bit more but RHP Lucas Elissalt is close to that tier of pitchers as well.
Flukey in particular will get top 100 consideration this offseason if he throws some innings at Lakeland as expected this year. Early reports on his bullpens and the development of a kick change have been glowing. Salcedo has arguably the best stuff in the system but threw 68.2 innings last year as a 19-year-old, and may not top that this season after missing some time with minor injuries this year. If he can prove his durability in 2027 and reach 100 innings in his age 21 season while maintaining the velocity and stuff he already displays, he too is going to get 50 FV grades and top 100 status next season.
Shortstop Jordan Yost has shown off pure hitting ability that should land him plus grades, and his high end defensive ability for his age and experience says he’s going to develop into a pretty good major league shortstop on his current trajectory. The question with Yost is how much power he’ll develop as he gets into his 20’s, but he’s already made strides in terms of batspeed and max exit velocities, and has a fairly projectible frame that should eventually get him to average raw power.
Beyond them the Tigers have a deep group of position players, including some young international standouts like Angel De Los Santos and Jesus Pinto in Lakeland. Brett Callahan and John Peck at the Triple-A level exemplify the Tigers philosophy of taking athletic players who can hit, even if their raw power and hitting pedigrees weren’t notable on draft day. They now have a wealth of talented but still flawed players, any of whom could potentially break out and become useful major league players in time.
The issue in the system has been on the pitching side the past few years, but the Skubal and Mize trades, along with more emphasis on pitching in the draft and the development of guys like Jacobs, Salcedo, and Elissalt, now have them in a much better place. This should be a relatively strong and well balanced player pipeline for years to come. Most likely, we’ll just have to wait quite a long while for a duo like McGonigle and Clark to come along again.
