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It’s Been 22 Years Since The Canadiens Made A Series Of Big Mistakes In One Draft

In 2003, the NHL had perhaps one of the best drafts in history. The first-round class was just amazing. It was headlined by Marc-Andre Fleury, Eric Staal, and Nathan Horton as the top three, but it also included names like Ryan Suter, Jeff Carter, Dustin Brown, Zach Parise, Ryan Getzlaf, Brent Burns, Mike Richards, and Corey Perry, to name a few.

Picking at 10th overall, the Montreal Canadiens elected to pick Andrei Kostitsyn, while Carter, Brown, Parise, Getzlaf, Burns, Richards, and Perry were still on the board. Of course, hindsight is always 20/20, but just leaving one of those names up there to pick the Belarus native would have been a big mistake.

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The elder of the Kostitsyn brothers went on to play for the Habs for seven seasons before being sent to the Nashville Predators in a trade that netted the Canadiens a conditional 2013 fifth-round pick and a 2013 second-round pick. In total, he played 398 NHL games, accumulating 222 points (210 with the Tricolore), and he left for the KHL at the end of the season, during which he was traded.

In comparison, Burns is still playing and going strong at the ripe old age of 40, having played in 1497 NHL contests with three different teams, racking up 910 points. The same goes for Perry, who’s just appeared in a fifth Stanley Cup Final in six years and who has skated in 1392 NHL games, picking up 935 points along the way and a Cup win with the Anaheim Ducks in the second year of his career. Carter and Richard went on to win the Cup twice with the Kings, along with Brown, while Getzlaf also raised one in Anaheim as Perry’s partner in crime.

And the mistakes didn’t stop in the first round either. In the second round, the Tricolore picked Cory Urquhart, who had never played a single NHL game. The Canadiens grabbed him at 40th overall, five picks before the Boston Bruins selected Patrice Bergeron and nine picks before the Predators added Shea Weber. Later in the round, Montreal selected Maxime Lapierre, who went on to play 614 NHL games.

In the third round, the Canadiens added Ryan O’Byrne (308 NHL games), in the fourth, they picked Corey Locke (nine NHL games) and Danny Stewart (no NHL games). In the sixth round, they added Christopher Heino-Lindberg (no NHL games) and Mark Flood (39 NHL games). In the seventh round, they went for Oskari Korpikari (no NHL games). They selected Jimmy Bonneau in the eighth round (no NHL games) while future stud defenseman Dustin Byfuglien (869 NHL games) was still on the board, and made their best selection in the ninth round when they added Jaroslav Halak (556 NHL games).

Given all the talent left on the board, this is perhaps the worst draft in the Canadiens’ history, but it just goes to show how hard scouting is. A player has reached a certain level by that point, but what his ceiling will be is and remains a projection, and no player is ever the same either. It takes guts and a lot of confidence to become a scout; these individuals have one of the most challenging jobs in hockey, in my opinion.

Photo credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images

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NHL Free Agency: Flyers, Goalie Jake Allen Not Good Fits for Each Other

The Flyers need to pursue goalie options younger than Jake Allen. (Photo: Eric Hartline, Imagn Images)

The Philadelphia Flyers need to establish a plan in net this summer, but going after New Jersey Devils goalie Jake Allen just doesn't make sense for either side.

Allen, 34, is widely considered to be the best goalie option on the market this summer and, despite his advanced age, can still fill in nicely as a pseudo-starter for a contender in need.

But the Flyers aren't one of those contenders.

On a more talented Devils team that was decimated by injuries this season, Allen was still only 13-16-1 despite his 2.66 GAA, .908 save percentage, and four shutouts. Basically, Allen posted a shutout in a third of his wins.

What will Allen's performance look like behind a Flyers team that experienced several regressions and injuries this past season, and a forward group that still struggles to score even after the addition of star rookie Matvei Michkov?

Some have floated the former Stanley Cup champion goalie as a potential "cheap" option for the Flyers, but if Allen is going to be cheap, why not stay with the Devils? Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers would love a cheap goalie themselves.

The Flyers, so long as they continue to fail to make any meaningful additions to their roster via trade or free agency, are not fooling anyone into thinking they are ready to contend, let alone make the playoffs.

Flyers Mock Draft: Expert Predicts Controversial ScenarioFlyers Mock Draft: Expert Predicts Controversial ScenarioThe 2025 NHL Draft is officially just one week away, and with that comes the final renditions of experts' Philadelphia Flyers mock drafts, complete with some educated guesses and inside scoops.

And, let's be perfectly clear: Allen has one season with a save percentage greater than .908 since 2016-17. It would be deeply unfair to him to make him the savior of a Flyers team that has shuttled goalies in and out of Philadelphia constantly since the departure of Sergei Bobrovsky, and even before then.

The most the Flyers can offer Allen at this stage, at least what many other teams cannot, is a significant amount of money.

But Allen cannot play forever, so signing him to a contract is just a means to spin wheels in hockey purgatory and avoid sliding down the pole for a top draft pick for what would the third year in a row and potentially four.

If the Flyers want to go the route of free agency for goaltending, they would be better suited considering options like Michael DiPietro, an AHL star in need of a chance at the NHL who just turned 26 two weeks ago, or Alex Lyon, a former Flyers goalie and proven backup whose trade value could be rehabbed with a successful stint.

Indeed, the Flyers cannot afford to have as shocking of a performance in goal as they did last year, which is why Ivan Fedotov has apparently been pegged to start the 2025-26 season in the AHL.

At the same time, there's little value to throwing veteran stopgaps in ahead of younger players, like Aleksei Kolosov and, eventually, Carson Bjarnason, when there is no hope of winning the Stanley Cup and little hope of making the playoffs.

With the $18 million in cap space they have, the Flyers should be thinking bigger than a free agent, such as a potential offer sheet for a player like Lukas Dostal. Anaheim matches any offer sheet for the 25-year-old Dostal nine times out of 10, but the Flyers need to think permanent solution, not temporary.

Something will have to give, either now or a few years down the road.

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No Matter the Outcome, Game 7 Is a Victory for Disney and the NBA

For the first time in nearly a decade, the NBA Finals will go the distance, as the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder get set to square off Sunday night in Game 7 of a series that has defied all expectations. 

“One game. This is what it’s all about,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle told reporters Thursday night after his team trounced OKC 108-91 to extend the NBA season by one last night. “This is what you dream about growing up, this kind of opportunity.”

If the Pacers are psyched to have forced a seventh game, the bonus ABC broadcast is also a dream come true for Rita Ferro. Thanks to Indiana’s refusal to back down in the face of a 3-2 deficit, the president of Disney’s advertising sales unit will max out the company’s ROI, as overall in-game revenue for the Finals should approach the $300 million mark.

As old-school sales execs are wont to say, if Game 6 is when you start to make a profit, Game 7 is all gravy. And while ABC’s windfall may be somewhat reduced by the necessity of doling out the inevitable make-goods that are a function of a battle between two small-market teams, Ferro’s team has ample cause for celebration.

Through the fifth game of the Pacers-Thunder epic, ABC averaged 9.16 million viewers per night, and while the TV turnout has dwarfed everything else on the spring schedule, the deliveries are among the lowest in the modern Nielsen era. Game 5 managed a series-high 9.54 million viewers, but that marked a 22% decline versus last season’s analogous Mavericks-Celtics capper, which scared up 12.2 million viewers.

While ABC has been hampered by the small–town matchup—the Indianapolis and OKC markets are home to a combined 1.99 million TV households, accounting for just 1.6% of the national base—the necessity of a seventh game will go a long way toward moving the ratings needle. Per Nielsen, the spike in deliveries between Game 6 and Game 7 is vertiginous, with an average boost of 43.7%, or from 18.2 million to 26.1 million.

Those figures were derived from the four NBA Finals that have gone the distance since the 21st century got underway; on a percentile basis, the greatest lift was recorded during the 2010 Celtics-Lakers series (+57%). In terms of the absolute number of viewers that were added between a sixth and seventh broadcast, the 2016 Cavaliers-Warriors classic beat all comers with a net gain of 10.3 million viewers.

Since ABC is working from a much smaller base this year—Game 6 of that spellbinding Cleveland-Golden State series drew 20.7 million viewers, while the audience for the deciding game leapt all the way to 31 million—barring a blowout, the network can still expect to serve up around 15.5 million viewers with tonight’s broadcast. While that’s a far cry from the usual crowd that settles in for a Game 7, the NBA is almost certain to post its strongest in-game delivery since 2019.

However the TV numbers shake out, the NBA is guaranteed to crown its seventh new champion in as many years, a streak that serves as a testament to the state of parity under commissioner Adam Silver. A Pacers win would mark the franchise’s very first NBA title since it joined the league in 1976—Indiana earned ABA championships in 1970, 1972 and 1973—while Thunder precursors the Seattle SuperSonics hoisted the hardware in 1979.

Game 7 tips off at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. OKC opened as 8.5-point homecourt favorites.

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Houston Rockets acquire Kevin Durant from Phoenix Suns, reports say

Houston Rockets acquire Kevin Durant from Phoenix Suns, reports say originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

One of the NBA’s most accomplished scorers is on the move yet again.

The Phoenix Suns are trading forward Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets, according to multiple reports. The Suns will receive Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, the 10th pick in Wednesday’s draft as well as a slew of future picks in exchange for Durant, according to ESPN and The Athletic. 

The trade was first reported by ESPN. 

A 15-time All-Star, Durant averaged 26.6 points. 6.0 rebounds and 4.2 assists a game for Phoenix last season. In his 18-year career, Durant has averaged 27.2 points per game, sixth-best in NBA history.

The Rockets finished 52-30 and earned the second-seed in the Western Conference before getting ousted by the Warriors in the first round of the playoffs.

The Rockets will be the fifth franchise Durant has played for.

After one year in college at Texas, Durant was selected second overall in the 2007 NBA Draft by the then-Seattle SuperSonics. In 2012, after the team had moved to Oklahoma City four years earlier, he led the Thunder to an NBA Finals appearance.

In 2016, Durant signed with the Golden State Warriors in free agency. He teamed up with Stephen Curry and won back-to-back championships in 2017 and 2018, both of which earned Durant Finals MVP honors.

In the summer of 2019, after tearing his Achilles during the Finals, Durant once again entered free agency and chose to play for the Brooklyn Nets. Durant missed the entire 2019-20 season, but then led the Nets to two straight playoff appearances in 2021 (a second-round loss) and 2022 (a first-round sweep). 

In February 2023, after a tumultuous tenure in Brooklyn, Durant requested a trade and was dealt to the Suns. Though his individual numbers remained steady, Durant’s Phoenix’s teams also failed to live up to expectations. The Suns lost in the second round of the postseason in ’23, were swept in the first round in 2024, and missed the playoffs altogether this year.

In his three seasons in Phoenix, Durant played for three different head coaches. 

Durant will be 37 in September. He will be in the final year of a contract that will pay him $54.7 million next season.

On July 6, Durant will be eligible to sign a contract extension for two years worth up to $122 million. 

This article originally appeared on NBCNews.com. Read more from NBC News:

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Contributor: Baseball is mostly mistakes. How else can we learn grace?

Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw celebrates his no-hitter against the Colorado Rockies after a baseball game in Los Angeles, Wednesday, June 18, 2014. Kershaw struck out a career-high 15 batters. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw celebrates his no-hitter against the Colorado Rockies on June 18, 2014. (Chris Carlson / Associated Press)

If only! On June 18, 2014, the airwaves and the internet lit up in collective awe at one of the greatest athletic feats in modern history. Clayton Kershaw recorded 15 strikeouts in a 107-pitch no-hitter that many consider the best single-game pitching performance of all time. The asterisk of this epic Dodgers game was the one error in the seventh inning that prevented its official recognition as a “perfect game”: When the Rockies’ Corey Dickerson tapped the ball toward the mound, Dodgers shortstop Hanley Ramirez botched a throw to first base, and Dickerson made it to second.

If only Ramirez had made the play at first! If only coach Don Mattingly hadn’t substituted the ailing Ramirez one inning prior! Los Angeles was one bruised right finger away from celebrating perfection.

Baseball has a celebrated history of quantifying value. No professional sport embraces numbers and statistics in the way baseball does. Statisticians are as much a part of the game as the dirt, chalk and grass. Although baseball has been collecting data since the late 1800s, the empiric statistical analysis that is part of our game today dates back to 1977 with the introduction of sabermetrics.

It’s critical to the game: How else are we to determine success when the majority of what we see is failure? The best hitters in baseball are those who only fail less than 70% of the time; in other words, have a batting average over .300. These perennial all-stars will experience the dissatisfaction and humility of an out in 7 out of every 10 plate appearances. In what other profession can you fail 70% of the time and be considered one of the greats? Consider the mental strength required to accept failure as part of the game and the focus to view each at-bat as an opportunity to fail a little bit less.

We need a similar kind of thinking in life to quantify value in our failure rates.

A “perfect game” is defined by Major League Baseball as a game in which a team pitches a victory that lasts a minimum of nine innings and in which no opposing player reaches base. It’s so rare because failure — by pitchers as well as batters — is expected as a matter of course. Francis Thomas Vincent Jr., the eighth commissioner of MLB, is quoted as saying: “Baseball teaches us, or has taught most of us, how to deal with failure. We learn at a very young age that failure is the norm in baseball and, precisely because we have failed, we hold in high regard those who fail less often — those who hit safely in one out of three chances and become star players. I also find it fascinating that baseball, alone in sport, considers errors to be part of the game, part of its rigorous truth.”

On June 19, 2014, the fans and commentators of baseball praised in dramatic fashion Kershaw’s dominant no-hitter, but with a subtle tone of confusion and denial of the ugly blemish recorded across the team’s box score: 0-0-1. Zero runs. Zero hits. One error. One base runner. An imperfect game. If only!

The collective hope for perfection is understandable. Most people are afraid to fail.

Parades aren’t held for the runner-up. Grades aren’t given just for trying. Job promotions aren’t offered for making mistakes. Placing perfection on a pedestal relieves the collective anxiety — but prohibits the opportunity — of accepting failure as an integral part of life. For an individual, failure is an opportunity to grow and become a better person. For a business, failure is an opportunity to pivot and redefine success. The opposite of perfection is not failure. It is accepting the opportunity to learn from transgressions. Winston Churchill once quipped, “The maxim, ‘Nothing prevails but perfection,’ may be spelled P-A-R-A-L-Y-S-I-S.”

Almost to the day, 75 years before Kershaw’s no-hitter, the world of sports witnessed the catastrophic reality of paralysis. In June 1939, after a week of extensive testing at the Mayo Clinic, Lou Gehrig announced to the world that he had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. This announcement happened to fall on his 36th birthday. This represented the end of Gehrig’s illustrious baseball career. But 75 years later, what is remembered about this man is not his career batting average of .340, seven-time All-Star appearances, six-time World Series championships, winning of the Triple Crown or two-time league MVP. Sabermetrics could not possibly explain Gehrig’s value to the sport. What endures is what no statistic can capture: his grace. His humility. His courage in the face of loss. What is remembered and honored is his response to the ultimate “failure”: a failure of upper and lower motor neurons to make necessary connections that ultimately leads to rapidly progressive muscle weakness and atrophy. In defiance to an illness that is uniformly fatal, Gehrig paid homage to his teammates, professional members of the MLB and its fans by proclaiming himself “the luckiest man on the face of the Earth.”

Similarly, sabermetrics misses the true greatness of Kershaw’s no-hitter. What could never be displayed in statistics or numbers was Kershaw’s response to the error. After Ramirez’s throwing error, his hat lay at the base of Kershaw’s pitching mound. As I watched from the stands, I could not hear what Kershaw said to Ramirez as he picked it up, dusted off and handed the hat back to his humiliated teammate. But his body language appeared unbelievably humble, accepting and supportive, as if to recognize the lesson of baseball, which is that errors are a celebrated part of the game. To dwell on errors and think “if only” leads to disappointment and blame, but to accept and embrace imperfections with a positive and optimistic attitude defines the ultimate success.

If only we could all be that perfect.

Josh Diamond is a physician in private practice in Los Angeles and a lifelong Dodgers fan. Some of his earliest memories are of attending games with his father; he now shares his love of the Dodgers with his son.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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Report: Suns to trade Kevin Durant to Rockets for Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, picks

Report: Suns to trade Kevin Durant to Rockets for Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, picks originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Kevin Durant is on the move. Again.

The Phoenix Suns are trading the superstar forward to the Rockets in a blockbuster deal that sends Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, the No. 10 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft and five second-round picks to Houston, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Sunday, citing sources.

ESPN’s Bobby Marks pointed out on X, that because of the NBA’s “poison pill provision,” the trade cannot be made official until July 6 after the Rockets signed Green to a three-year, $106 million rookie extension in October.

Durant, who was in attendance at Fanatics Fest on Sunday, reacted to the trade live on stage.

The Rockets will be Durant’s sixth NBA team, and the 36-year-old will join a Houston core built around Amen Thompson, Alperen Şengün, Fred VanVleet, Tari Eason, Jabari Smith Jr. and Steven Adams, who finished the 2024-25 NBA season as the Western Conference’s No. 2 seed before losing to the Warriors in the first round of the playoffs.

Durant won two championships with the Warriors in 2017 and 2018 before leaving Golden State to join the Brooklyn Nets in June 2019, where he missed the entire 2019-20 NBA season after suffering a ruptured right Achilles in the 2019 NBA Finals with the Warriors.

The former NBA MVP then was traded from Brooklyn to Phoenix in Feb. 2023, and in two-plus seasons with the Suns, did not advance past the Western Conference semifinal round in 2023 and 2024 respectively before missing the playoffs altogether in 2025.

In 62 games with Phoenix last season, Durant averaged 26.6 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game on 52.7-percent shooting from the field and 43 percent from 3-point range.

Durant will remain in the Western Conference, where he will continue competing with both the Warriors and Kings for playoff positioning during the 2025-26 season.

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David ‘Syd’ Lawrence, former England cricketer, dies aged 61

  • Lawrence took 18 wickets in five Tests for England

  • He had been diagnosed with motor neurone disease

The former England bowler David “Syd” Lawrence has died aged 61, a year after he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease and only a week after he was awarded an MBE in the king’s birthday honours for his services to cricket.

Lawrence played five Tests between 1988 and 1992, taking 18 wickets and becoming the first British-born black player to be picked for England. His career in effect ended in February 1992 when, in an apparently innocuous incident while playing for England against New Zealand, he fractured his left kneecap. He managed only four more first-class matches before being forced into retirement, with his last appearance coming in 1997.

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One year away from being a 37-year-old free agent, Sergei Bobrovsky playing best hockey of his career

The word dynasty is starting to be thrown around when discussing the Florida Panthers.

That’s what will happen when you reach three straight Stanley Cup Finals and win the most recent two.

While there are several key reasons you can point to when discussing how and why the Panthers have become the juggernaut they currently are, a very big reason that would be toward the tippy-top of that list would be goaltending.

No matter what kind of style your hockey team plays, good goaltending is going to be required to achieve any kind of greatness.

It’s just science.

Speaking of science, there is also the fact that professional hockey players generally see their skills peak around age 30, with gradual diminishment of said skills as they inch closer to 40.

Those numbers are usually exacerbated when it comes to goalies.

There is, however, the occasional anomaly. The guy who shows up and defies all logic, pushing back against the general way of things.

That man is Sergei Bobrovsky.

Over the past three seasons, while entering what should be the twilight of a very strong career, Bobrovsky has seen his game, and his legacy, reach previously unmatched heights.

The 36-year-old has enjoyed three of his most successful and consistent seasons over the past three years, taking his game to another level during the playoffs and leading the Panthers to three straight Stanley Cup Final appearances.

His play during Florida’s two Stanley Cup-winning campaigns had Bobrovsky among those receiving votes for the Conn Smythe Trophy.

It’s truly remarkable what Bobrovsky has been able to accomplish, seemingly getting strong with each passing year.

“It's not me, it's God,” Bobrovsky said Saturday. “That age category, it's not many people who can play at that level. It's just been a journey for me. I feel like I’m playing my best hockey right now, the last three years or so, and I feel good.”

Over those three years, the Panthers have done we’ll to limit Bobrovsky’s ice time during the regular season.

He’s played in 50, 58 and 54 games in each of the past three seasons, respectively, before acting as Florida’s primary netminder during their Stanley Cup Final runs.

Combined with his legendary work ethic, the efforts to keep Bobrovsky fresh have paid off quite well for Bob and the Panthers.

It’s also given all parties concerned reason to feel confident that the veteran goaltender can maintain his elite level of play for the foreseeable future.

“I'm excited about next season,” Bobrovsky said. “I feel great physically. I feel great mentally. We have a great, great group of guys, and as I said, I'm excited for what's coming next. I'm excited for new challenges. I'm excited to go through them with my teammates, and again, I'm excited to be with the guys again.”

Looking ahead, Bobrovsky has one year remaining on the seven-year, $70 million deal he signed with Florida back in the summer of 2019.

Considering the advanced state of his career combined with Bob’s ability to defy logic and age like a fine wine, it will be interesting to see how he and the Panthers approach his contract situation.

Like many of his teammates, Bobrovsky has seen his life change in many ways after relocating to South Florida.

In addition to becoming a two-time Stanley Cup Champion, Bobrovsky has also become a two-time father over the past several years.

He and his family have established roots, another element that will likely come into consideration at this time next year.

For now, Bobrovsky is trying to stay in the present.

“It's tough to predict for five years right now, and I don't want that,” he said. “I feel like, when you think too much ahead of yourself, you lose the focus on that moment, and I don't want to lose that. I’ve got so many great things right now, and I value them so much. I live in Florida, in an unbelievable city, unbelievable environment. I have my great family (at home), my second great family is here (at the rink). Everything is great here, and I want to take full advantage of this moment and value that moment.”

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Photo caption: Jun 17, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (72) hoists the Stanley Cup after winning game six of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers at Amerant Bank Arena. (Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)

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Dodgers can't keep pace with Nationals after giving up five home runs in loss

LOS ANGELES, CA - JUNE 21, 2025: Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Dustin May.
Washington's James Woods runs the bases after hitting a solo home run off Dodgers pitcher Dustin May in the fourth inning of the Dodgers' 7-3 loss Saturday at Dodger Stadium. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Dodger Stadium is the proud owner of the most home runs in baseball this season. The long-ball trend might not be an anomaly.

On Saturday night, the Dodgers and Washington Nationals combined for eight home runs, the most in a Dodgers game this season, but only three came off L.A. bats.

Dodgers right-hander Dustin May gave up three of those home runs, all solo shots, in a 7-3 loss to the Nationals. Andy Pages, Will Smith and Teoscar Hernández hit home runs in the fifth, sixth and ninth innings, respectively.

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In the fourth inning, Nationals slugger James Wood used all of his 6-foot-7, 234-pound frame to launch a sinker from May to break a scoreless game. Pages only took one step from his position in center field as he tracked the ball off Wood's bat — he knew where it was headed.

The 451-foot solo blast gave the Nationals (32-45) a lead they wouldn't relinquish. Three-hole hitter Luis Garcia Jr. followed Wood with a home run.

“The solo homers, they suck, but they’re solo homers,” May said. “Going back-to-back — that’s not what you want to see.”

For being a middle of the pack offense — ranked 18th overall in runs scored — the Nationals flexed their muscle with their young stars. CJ Abrams socked a two-run home run in the seventh off Dodgers reliever Jack Dreyer, his second in as many games.

Washington's Nathaniel Lowe celebrates in the dugout after hitting his second home run of the game.
Washington's Nathaniel Lowe celebrates in the dugout after hitting his second home run of the game in the eighth inning Saturday. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Wood and Abrams were acquired by the Nationals in the Juan Soto trade with San Diego in 2022. The former prospects now represent the heart of the Nationals lineup.

May gave up a home run in the sixth to Nathaniel Lowe — who also hit a homer in the eighth inning for his first multi-home run game. May gave up five hits, struck out five and walked two, tossing six innings for the third time in his last five starts.

Outside of Pages, Smith and Hernández's home runs, the Dodgers (47-31) threatened to score when Mookie Betts and Tommy Edman reached via singles in the fifth. Nationals starting pitcher Jake Irvin, however, struck out Freddie Freeman to end the threat. Irvin struck out seven and walked none in 5 ⅓ innings.

“I haven't been very good for a while,” said Freeman, who is batting .182 over his last 15 games. “Just trying to figure it out, did the net drill many, many times [the] last few days, but still not clicking.”

Read more:Shaikin: Why is Dodger Stadium SO LOUD?

He continued: “The swing’s still in Arizona, I think.”

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts didn't disagree with his star first baseman’s assessment. He said through conversations with Freeman, it’s clear that he’s still trying to find a fix.

Freeman is still batting .322 on the season — good for seventh-best in Major League Baseball.

“He's certainly his toughest critic, but I've talked to him numerous times, and he just hasn't found something that clicks, where he feels like himself, since spring training, which certainly is a long time,” Roberts said. “But Freddie's going to be as honest as can be, and it's not going to stop him from working."

Eight home runs at Dodger Stadium is unusual, but low humidity in L.A. could be a factor in helping hard hits soar. Climate change researchers have even pondered the effect that warmer climates could have on home runs, with a 2023 study in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society stating that more than 500 home runs since 2010 could be credited to global warming.

“I just thought those were really good, well-executed pitches,” Roberts said of the Wood and Garcia home runs. “But the air, as it starts to get a little bit warmer, the ball does fly here."

Across the last six seasons, Chavez Ravine has ranked top five in home runs on five occasions. In the 43 games the Dodgers have played at home in 2025, there have been an average of 3.39 home runs per game (146 home runs overall and 23 more than second-place George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Fla.).

Shohei Ohtani, who will make his second pitching start of the season Sunday afternoon, went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts. Roberts said he would "leave it open-ended" for how long Ohtani would pitch.

Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani strikes out during the third inning Saturday.
Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani strikes out during the third inning Saturday. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Glasnow update

Tyler Glasnow (right shoulder) is scheduled to pitch two innings for triple-A Oklahoma City on Sunday. Relief pitcher Luis Garcia (right adductor) is set to appear for single-A Rancho Cucamonga on Sunday as well.

Both rehabilitation outings are their first since joining the injured list.

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

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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Bulldogs forward Jamarra Ugle-Hagan opens up on mental health struggles and hitting ‘rock bottom’

  • AFL star speaks about struggles for the first time since taking a leave of absence

  • He says there were times he ‘didn’t want to leave the house’ but he wants to play football again


The Western Bulldogs forward Jamarra Ugle-Hagan has opened up about his mental health struggles for the first time since taking a leave of absence, saying there were times he “didn’t want to leave the house”.

The former No 1 draft pick is hoping to make his AFL comeback after recently visiting a health retreat in northern New South Wales.

In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. Other international suicide helplines can be found at befrienders.org

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Mets' top pitching prospects Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong deliver big performances

It was another great day for Mets pitching prospects Nolan McLean and Jonah Tong as both were on the mound for their respective clubs on Saturday night.

In Triple-A, McLean pitched five innings and allowed two earned runs on three hits (two home runs) and two walks while striking out six. He threw 90 pitches (55 strikes) and saw his ERA for Syracuse rise slightly to 2.68.

Over McLean's last six outings, the right-hander has allowed two earned runs or fewer each time and continues to impress since his promotion from Double-A earlier this season.

Speaking of Double-A, another young right-hander had himself another stellar showing as Tong struck out 11 and allowed just two hits over 7.2 scoreless innings for Binghamton.

The 22-year-old is up to 107 strikeouts this season in just 67 innings as Saturday was the fourth time Tong has reached double-digit strikeouts for the Rumble Ponies. Tong also lowered his ERA to 1.75 and is 3-0 with a 0.78 ERA across four starts this month.

After giving up three earned runs in his first two starts this year, Tong hasn't allowed more than two earned runs in his last 11 starts as his ascension up the Mets' prospect list continues.

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After snapping skid, Mets 'gotta come back tomorrow' to get season 'back on track'

After losing seven straight games and looking bad in the process, the Mets needed a game like Saturday night against the Philadelphia Phillies -- one that they won, 11-4, on the strength of their lineup which blasted seven homers and totaled 15 hits.

At the center of the convincing win were Brandon Nimmo and Juan Soto who each hit two home runs and went a combined 6-for-9. In fact, the top four hitters in New York's lineup all had multi-hit games, totaling 10 hits and driving in nine runs.

"You know that at some point those guys are gonna come through and today we saw it, especially from the top of our lineup," manager Carlos Mendoza said after the game. "It was a pretty impressive showing there from a lot of our guys. Hit some bombs. Quality at-bats, especially early on with two strikes. Those guys kept battling and finally got a pitch and were able to drive the ball out of the ballpark. So, overall, a good game for us offensively."

All told, the Mets' seven home runs (all solo shots) tied a MLB-record for the most solo homers hit in a single game.

The offensive onslaught also came on the heels of New York struggling mightily at the plate, scoring just 16 runs during its seven-game slide. And although it was a great night for the Mets, the goal is to keep it going starting on Sunday night as they look to win the series against the Phillies.

"We haven’t finished anything so we gotta get back on track tomorrow, try to do the same thing and move forward," Soto said. "Whatever happens in the past is in the past... We’re gonna face a really good team tomorrow and we just gotta come back tomorrow and try to beat them again."

For his part, even when the Mets were losing, Soto has begun to come around offensively after a rough first two months to begin his tenure in Queens. In June, the right fielder has slashed .338/.500/.708 with seven home runs and 14 RBI.

It was only a matter of time for the All-Star to pick it up, especially considering his hard-hit rate and other underlying numbers. Now, the Mets are seeing the fruits of his labor come to fruition.

"I’ve been feeling good since Day 1, things just haven’t been going my way but finally I’m getting some luck and we’re just going from there," Soto said.

As for the team as whole, it's easy to forget but before losing seven in a row New York was playing like one of the best teams in baseball and is once again tied for first place in the division.

"It happens man. You’re gonna go through it, but we know we’re good," Mendoza said. "We know we got good players and it’s part of the grind of 162 and we’ve been in situations like this before. I think every team has. You just have to be consistent. Me as the manager, as the leader, keep coaching these guys, keep pushing them… It was good to get that one and we got a long way to go."

Nimmo echoed his skipper's thoughts.

"You can’t let what was going on for seven games derail what you were doing for two and a half months," he said. "There are definitely things to work on during that time to be better at, but that’s even the case when you’re winning – you can find little things to be better at."

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Reds’ Elly De La Cruz, Mariners reliever Trent Thornton fall ill while playing in extreme heat

Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz and Seattle Mariners reliever Trent Thornton got sick Saturday while playing in the extreme heat that covered much of the United States.

De La Cruz vomited on the field with two outs in the fourth inning of Cincinnati’s extra-inning loss at the St. Louis Cardinals. He was checked on by a trainer, and two workers from the grounds crew cleaned up the area.

“I actually watched him. He drank a bunch of water. I mean a bunch,” Reds manager Terry Francona said, “and then he went right out and got rid of it.”

The 23-year-old De La Cruz, who is from the Dominican Republic, stayed in the game and hit a two-run homer in the seventh.

Thornton pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings for Seattle before departing in the eighth in a 10-7 loss at the Chicago Cubs. The 31-year-old right-hander had to be helped from the field.

Mariners manager Dan Wilson said Thornton had “a little bit of a heat-related illness.”

“It was a scary moment, for sure,” Wilson said. “He battled hard. But just really glad that he’s feeling a little bit better now and should be OK.”

The temperature for Reds at Cardinals was 92 degrees, and it was 94 for the first pitch of the Mariners’ loss to the Cubs. Milwaukee’s game at Minnesota was played under an excessive heat warning.

Seattle and Chicago finished their game with three umpires after Chad Whitson got sick. Dexter Kelley moved from second base to home plate.

Whitson was treated in the Mariners’ dugout.

“He came in, same kind of thing. Just was not feeling well,” Wilson said. “Threw up a few times in the dugout and then they came and took care of him from there. The heat was a real thing today, for sure.”

Whitson was dealing with some dehydration, but a Major League Baseball spokesman said he was doing better Saturday night and had been cleared to work third base for the series finale.

A Wrigley Field staffer had a heat-related medical issue right after Saturday’s game, according to a spokesman for the Cubs. He was tended to by medical personnel and walked off the field on his own.

The Cubs set up cooling and misting stations throughout Wrigley to help fans with the heat on Saturday, along with additional emergency personnel. The team had similar plans in place for Sunday, along with bringing in a city bus to use as a cooling station on the street.

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Mets tee off against Phillies with home run barrage to snap seven-game losing streak

The Mets took out some recent frustration at the plate on Saturday night, pummeling the Philadelphia Phillies by a score of 11-4.

Here are the takeaways...

-Mired in a team-wide slump during its seven-game losing streak, New York's offense busted out in a huge way on Saturday by drilling seven home runs, including three straight by Francisco Lindor, Brandon Nimmo and Juan Soto in the third inning. It was the first time the Mets hit back-to-back-to-back home runs since Oct. 4, 2022 against the Washington Nationals.

-Nimmo and Soto each had two homers with Nimmo's first coming in the first inning that gave New York a 1-0 lead. Soto's second blast of the night happened in the fifth which extended the Mets' advantage to 5-3.

-Including Pete Alonso, New York's top four in the lineup combined to go 10-for-18 with every hitter finishing with a multi-hit game. Soto had the biggest night of all with a 4-for-5 performance with four RBI and two runs scored.

-With his home run to lead off the third and start the three-peat, Lindor snapped an 0-for-19 skid. It was also the shortstop's first long ball in 16 games which spanned 64 at-bats. The Mets have now won the last 28 games in which Lindor has hit a home run. He also added a two-run double high off the right-field wall in the sixth inning to give him three RBI on the night.

-Jared Young smacked a solo shot of his own in the eighth for his only hit and Francisco Alvarez added another bomb in the ninth as part of a 2-for-5 game.

-On the mound for New York was Griffin Canning who stumbled out of the gates, allowing the Phillies to score two runs in the first inning after the Mets gave him a quick lead. The right-hander gave up another run in the second to put his team down 3-1 and it appeared as if New York was in for another disappointing game.

However, Canning steadied the ship after the Mets' offense bailed him out and ended up going 5.0+ innings. In total, he gave up four runs (three earned) on six hits and two walks while striking out four and doing enough to earn his seventh win of the season.

-Huascar Brazoban (2 IP), Ryne Stanek (1 IP) and Chris Devenski (1 IP) pitched in relief of Canning and finished out the game without allowing a run. The same can not be said about Philadelphia's bullpen who needed five guys to come in after starter Mick Abel left before the start of the fourth inning. This sets New York up well for Sunday's rubber game.

Game MVP: Mets offense

For the first time in a while, the Mets had a laugher and totaled 11 runs on 15 hits, including seven home runs.

Highlights

What's next

The Mets cap off their six-game road trip with a Sunday night tilt against the Phillies. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m.

LHP David Peterson (5-2, 2.60 ERA) will face off against LHP Jesus Luzardo (6-3, 4.41 ERA).