The player they select with that pick could very well be a difference maker for the franchise, especially considering Matthew Knies was picked 57th overall in 2021.
The prospect and drafting experts have different opinions, but one player who can potentially be aligned with Toronto's 60th overall pick is left-shot center Thomas Vandenberg, projected by former scout, Sportsnet's Jason Bukula.
Vandenberg is listed higher on several other mock draft rankings, but for Bukula, he is slotted in at No. 59, around the time for the Maple Leafs to make their second pick of the 2026 draft.
Vandenberg is coming off his first OHL season, playing 59 games for the Ottawa 67s. The Nepean, Ont., native recorded 25 goals and 25 assists for 50 points, finishing fifth on the team in points, and tied for third in goals.
In the OHL post-season, Vandenberg scored four goals and seven points in nine games, tying for second on the team in playoff tallies. The 67s swept the Kingston Frontenacs in the first round, but were eliminated in five games by the Barrie Colts in the following round.
After a solid rookie campaign in the Ontario League, Vandenberg is set to take his talents south of the border and into the NCAA after committing to Providence College for the 2026-27 season.
"Vandenberg is an equal parts shooter and playmaker," Bukula wrote, with Vandenberg's point totals from last season evidence of that. "He can be deployed up and down the lineup in a variety of roles. He’s one of the youngest prospects in the draft class." The 17-year-old was born on Sept. 8, 2008.
Before his time in the OHL, Vandenberg played for the USHL's Cedar Rapids RoughRiders. In that 2024-25 campaign, he scored nine goals and nine assists for 18 points in 55 appearances. That provides further proof that he's equally productive as a scorer and playmaker, as Bukula suggested.
NHL Central Scouting has Vandenberg ranked as the 35th-best North American skater in the 2026 draft class. They also have him listed at 6-foot.
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Across the city, televisions or projectors have been propped up on porches allowing passersby to watch from the sidewalk. Fans have also huddled around bars and restaurants, peeking at screens indoors.
Earlier in the week, the city streamed Game 4 on dozens of LinkNYC screens, marking the first time live sports were broadcast on kiosks, Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s office said. More than 2,000 kiosks act as modernized phone booths, providing free WiFi and phone calls across the city.
“This weekend, we’re running it back,” Mamdani said. “More than a hundred kiosks will turn our sidewalks into watch parties and our streets into celebrations. Knicks in Five.”
“The Knicks belong to all New Yorkers, whether you’re watching from the Garden or not,” Mamdani said in a statement.
LinkNYC, launched in 2016, replaced the city’s old pay phones. At the time, former Mayor Bill de Blasio sought to convert the old, ubiquitous phone system into a modernized technology in the era of smart phones and internet. What came was free WiFi, tablets to access city maps, USB charging and free domestic calling.
Touted as the world’s fastest free public WiFi, the kiosks have now served over 21 million residents and visitors, according to LinkNYC, which is operated by CityBridge, a joint venture from Intersection Media and Boldyn Networks.
The kiosks have two 55-inch displays on either side, which provide real-time updates or advertising. (The screens, however, don’t have speakers.)
When recent temperatures soared to feeling nearly 100 degrees with humidity, for example, LinkNYC kiosks displayed directions to nearby public cooling centers. Temperatures have cooled somewhat, but kiosks will show the Knicks on Saturday evening.
“LinkNYC was built to connect New Yorkers to what matters most,” Nick Colvin, CEO of LinkNYC said in a statement, “and few things have united this city quite like this historic Knicks run.”
Game 5 starts at 8:30 p.m. local time in New York.
Eduardo Cuevas is based in New York City. Reach him by email at emcuevas1@usatoday.com or on Signal at emcuevas.01.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JUNE 10: OG Anunoby #8 of the New York Knicks celebrates after scoring the go-ahead basket against the San Antonio Spurs in the final seconds with Karl-Anthony Towns #32 and Jordan Clarkson #00 during the fourth quarter in Game Four of the 2026 NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden on June 10, 2026 in New York City. 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. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) | Getty Images
At first, you don’t see him. Like the rest of the 19,812 people in the Garden, or the 23.2 million viewers watching elsewhere, you’re following the ball. Jalen Brunson takes one jabbing step forward before Victor Wembanyama and De’Aaron Fox rush to converge on him, and then he uses the momentum from springing back to jump and lightly launch the ball on a rainbow arc toward the basket. There are a few milliseconds where nobody on the floor appears to move or react and then, as they reflexively all fall in toward the basket, OG Anunoby is there.
It’s hard to track even in replay because Anunoby is moving so fast there isn’t a point you can pause the tape and his body won’t be blurred. All the regular metaphors don’t work. He’s not an arrow, nor a missile (easy, warmonger), maybe the closest is a diving bird of prey, but then we can’t know for sure if a raptor factors in faith with its instincts.
In about five strides, starting from the end of the scorer’s table where he inbounded to Brunson, Anunoby catches up with the ball. By then Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper are also jumping after him, so that three long arms are tangling toward pebbled orange leather. Anunoby is not first because he’s fast, or because he didn’t hesitate to start his thundering run toward the rim, or because he’s stronger or more athletic. They’re all factors, but the main reason is that each component — the long stride, knowing when to lift from the floor, the ability to soften touch just enough to tip a ball rather than swat it with momentum’s full force — is reflexive. Practiced alone or in sequence hundreds of times. In games, in actual practice, in his head, stakes varying but stakes not really a factor. He did it all not knowing whether Castle or Harper would throw him off course with their bodies, or whether the ball might bounce wide. He did it because Anunoby’s career arc that led to, well, that arc, has been one of effort, willingness and the ability to take himself out of any given moment as its main actor, even if he is. Benevolence, you could say (Karl-Anthony Towns did: “The right hand of god, can’t spell god without OG”), but mostly, very mortal work.
OG Anunoby didn’t officially play in the AAU tournament where he was discovered and recruited by Indiana University. He was on the floor grabbing steals, sprinting up and down the court, dunking, hitting threes, and of course, tipping the ball, but his name wasn’t listed in any of the Atlanta tournament’s programs. Tom Crean, Indiana’s then-coach, was posted at the baseline with his assistants to watch a couple other highly touted prospects and found themselves instead captivated by Anunoby. They flipped through the tournament’s compiled player guides and found no record of him.
Anunoby had initially been scratched because of a broken wrist that ended his junior year at Jefferson City early, so his name wasn’t in any of the tournament material. Crean tracked him down through the tournament’s director and invited Anunoby to campus, then recruited him.
There is the sense with much of the NBA draft and scouting pipeline that beyond the more highly touted names, you have to go searching. Not only for talent, but for fit, style, skill, all weighed against a young athlete’s health and longevity, prospects must be “future-proofed.” Even the very best at this kind of scouting get it wrong, and the very best also acknowledge how much luck and timing play a part. When you really start to consider the conditions necessary for a person to get drafted, and then land on a team that will have a complementary development program or a plan for that person at all, it becomes even more of a wonder who makes it and who sticks around in the league.
Anunoby wound up being drafted by the Toronto Raptors because he was coming off a devastating ACL injury that ended his sophomore year at Indiana after 16 games. Masai Ujiri, then the Raptors President, admitted it, saying on draft night that “If he doesn’t have that injury, I don’t think we have a shot.” Anunoby had slipped to 23rd.
Even if the Raptors weren’t expecting Anunoby, they were ready for him. A group that had doggedly lost in only the most wrenching ways for seasons, even before the three sequential postseason defeats that coined the term “LeBronto”, the locker room Anunoby joined had a particularly honed hard-nosed ethos with the bone-deep understanding of what it means to chip away. The Raptors were pests. For an athlete who used to call his high school coaches relentlessly to let him into the gym, and then call the middle school coaches when the high school coaches stopped answering, the fit felt like home.
The Raptors’ style was all ugly intangibles, cumulative play that pushed high-touch, share-the-ball offense that while not blistering, was as relentless as the defense that sparked it. All of it backed by high-IQ decision-making, driven by floor savant Kyle Lowry.
There is perhaps more elegance in the way the 2025-2026 NBA Finals Knicks are playing — have evolved throughout the postseason to play — but there is also a familiar DNA coursing through the team. Jalen Brunson is the engine and the ballast, Karl-Anthony Towns the wily big able to shift opponents around him at whim; Mikal Bridges the ace shooter, and Josh Hart the Swiss Army knife skillset deploying what’s needed beyond the boxscore. If trying to mirror this Knicks team with that Raptors group, then Anunoby is the player he was comp’d to in his own draft’s scouting: Kawhi Leonard. And yet, he’s more.
In his rookie season, Anunoby started his first NBA game on November 14th because Norman Powell suffered a hip injury that had him out for four games. A month later, Anunoby led all starter rookies in offensive and defensive rating, had the best turnover-to-assist ratio for a non-guard position, and held the third highest true shooting percentage.
“Sometimes, as a young player, you think too much and you try to get everything right. But when he comes in, he just plays,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said at the time. “That young man is doing a good job.”
Anunoby cut his professional teeth on basketball that required repetition, work for the sake of the work. Those Raptors also had the kind of self-awareness that only comes after suffering big losses together, the sort of knocks that force the ego out of you. The team had plenty on the court, then lost DeMar DeRozan, and just before his second season began in Toronto, Anunoby’s father, his namesake, died. Anunoby was away from the team twice that fall, for a memorial for his father in Jefferson City and then for his burial in Nigeria.
As in life, lows — and loss — can bring clarity. There was a deep level of care and regard for each other within that Raptors group. It only crystallized as the season continued. The saying “play for each other” is leaned on a lot in basketball, but with how changeable NBA rosters are teams don’t consistently do it; unlikelier still that when watching, you can actually see it happening. Anunoby also missed Toronto’s championship run with what felt like the flukiest appendicitis timing on earth; there’s a sensation watching him win for, play for his Knicks teammates now that it’s that past version of Anunoby merging with the present one, finally unleashing the moves and motivation he had to put on ice in 2019.
Of course, that’s oversimplifying it. As The Athletic’s senior Raptors writer Eric Koreen laid out, Anunoby has come this far, improved to this point, because he works steadily on what needs improvement until he fixes it. It sounds simple, but it’s a rare and mercurial trait. It’s common for a player to add one skill to their utility belt at a time – a passable three-point shot, or getting better playing through contact – and be finished for a while. Anunoby has worked with the same quiet persistence on his entire toolkit, and has flashed one or more of those sharpened and polished improvements in each game of this series.
Going all the way back to his ghostly appearance in that AAU game, where he was a presence without a name, Anunoby has always been good at unsettling his defensive mark. He’ll hang out in the corner, lulling opponents to think the defense is set, only to pop in and deflect the ball, or suddenly be behind them, a brick wall of a screen they turn right into. He’s been menacing Stephon Castle, De’Aaron Fox, even Victor Wembanyama the same way. But Anunoby’s also guarded every NBA superstar with the cool unflappability on display now.
It’s been beautiful to see so many more people get acquainted with Anunoby’s nonplussed demeanour, a trait that’s either a long-running bit or goes back to Anunoby Sr., who told his children to choose their words precisely and that “if you have to talk, you should say something that doesn’t take away from the conversation, but enriches it.”
There’s so little space given to one of the most common emotional phenomena felt as a fan, which is when a favorite leaves you. Whether the departure is drawn out or abrupt, amicable or acrimonious, the only constant is the recognition that it’s all part of the NBA’s larger machine. A churning system. A system that, in its speed and mechanisation, enforces the idea that you are not supposed to care so much about what happens to a person whose footwork you memorised like steps to a dance.
Perhaps that’s the silver lining in losing a favorite player to a trade, that when they go on to bigger things, on much larger stages, you see flashes that take you back in your own fandom. Still, it’s disingenuous to Anunoby to suggest that what he’s showing in this series is somehow out of nowhere, or wholly unexpected. It’s just as false to point to the draft, or development, as ways to get the same result in a new form.
NBA arcs aren’t replicable, as much as GMs and scouts pine for that to be true. There are beautiful, fleeting moments where an athlete’s past lines up with the present to flash a clear view back to potential as it unfolded, but that clarity is all in retrospect.
The chain of events that led Anunoby to what could be his second title and first played-in Finals run are so individually keyed to his development: the physical setbacks, the group he grew with in Toronto, patience he had playing behind Pascal Siakam, then Kawhi Leonard; arriving in New York and to some degree starting again — then again with Mike Brown. His competitive profile is just as tied to his lived experience, his family and upbringing, the dual confidence and necessity to be of service to others instilled in him by his father and mom, a Nigerian national track athlete, who he lost at just a year old.
It’s the singularity that makes him — any athlete’s arc that traces these unique-as-fingerprint highs — so special, that makes watching it happen all the more astonishing. It’s only going to happen once.
NBA superstar James Harden was arrested in Houston on Saturday morning.
The 36-year-old was taken into custody by the Houston Police Department at 3:41 a.m., according to court records obtained by The California Post, and booked on one misdemeanor charge of unlawful carrying weapons.
James Harden #1 of the Cleveland Cavaliers handles the ball during the game against the New York Knicks during Game Four of the 2026 NBA Eastern Conference Finals on May 25, 2026 at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. NBAE via Getty ImagesLA Clippers guard James Harden (1) looks on in the first half against the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center, Friday, March 28, 2025, in Brooklyn, NY. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST
Harden, a former Los Angeles Clippers guard who now plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers, was accused of “unlawfully, intentionally and knowingly” having a handgun in his vehicle, according to a copy of the complaint.
Authorities alleged in the document that “the handgun was in plain view” and “was not carried in a holster.”
Further details surrounding the allegations against Harden were not made immediately available, though sources told The Post that the basketball player was out a Houston hookah lounge before the arrest with a large group of friends.
Harden was released on bond later Saturday morning, according to records. He’s due back in court on June 22 for arraignment.
James Harden is seen on June 27, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. GC ImagesJames Harden #1 of the Cleveland Cavaliers shoots a free throw during the game against the Detroit Pistons during Round Two Game Four of the 2026 NBA Playoffs on May 11, 2026 at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. NBAE via Getty Images
Following a trade to the Rockets from the Thunder in 2012, Harden played nine of his NBA seasons in the Texas city. He was an All-Star selection in each of his Rockets years, and in 2017-18, he won the league’s MVP honors in a Houston uniform.
Since his time with the Rockets, Harden’s also played for the Nets, 76ers, Clippers and Cavaliers.
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - JUNE 12: Griffin Canning #17 of the San Diego Padres pitches in the first inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on June 12, 2026 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Despite getting out to an early lead in the first inning, the San Diego Padres couldn’t dig themselves out of the hole that starter Griffin Canning put them in. Canning was tagged for seven runs on six hits and five walks, greatly struggling to command his pitches.
The offense managed to put up three runs (which might have been enough under typical circumstances), but the Friars dropped the series opener. They’ll have to battle back in Game 2 against the Baltimore Orioles this afternoon.
Taking the mound
Trey Gibson (BAL) v. Randy Vásquez (SD)
The rookie Gibson has only started three games this year for the O’s, authoring a 4.24 ERA and 1.53 WHIP in that time. That’s mostly due to his most recent start where Gibson surrendered three runs in 4 2/3 innings against the Seattle Mariners.
Prior to that, he had looked solid. Gibson gave up five runs across 12 1/3 innings. The right-hander has struggled to command his pitches, walking eight batters through four games. San Diego will need to have discipline at the plate in order to get runners aboard.
Vásquez has struggled lately after his otherworldly start to the season. He’s been saddled with a 4.29 ERA across his last seven starts, and the righty surrendered 10 runs in his last 14 2/3 innings.
That said, the stuff that made him so electric in the first two months of the year is still there. Vásquez’s biggest problem has been missing bats. He’s not generating whiffs at the same level he was before. If he can start to rediscover that against the Orioles, it will help San Diego immensely.
Batter up!
Despite only scratching three runs across, the lineup hit surprisingly well — they just left too many runners on the bases. Manny Machado had two doubles. Gavin Sheets went 2-for-4 with two RBI. Xander Bogaerts went 1-for-3 with a walk in his return from the paternity list. But the club went a lousy 4-for-14 with RISP, failing to capitalize in big moments.
Fernando Tatis Jr., 2B
Jackson Merrill, CF
Manny Machado, 3B
Xander Bogaerts, SS
Gavin Sheets, RF
Samad Taylor, LF
Ty France, 1B
Miguel Andujar, DH
Freddy Fermin, C
Since Gibson is a rookie, none of the Padres have faced him. The lineup will have to figure the righty out fast if they want to force the rubber match against Baltimore on Sunday.
Relief corps
Thankfully, in spite of his lousy outing, Canning was at least able to get through five innings of work. That meant that only Wandy Peralta and David Morgan would be used to cover the final three innings of the game. They each pitched well, giving up one hit each and no runs.
That leaves the beleaguered bullpen fresh for this afternoon’s game. Manager Craig Stammen will have plenty of arms to turn to. Jason Adam, Ron Marinaccio, Yuki Matsui, Mason Miller, Adrian Morejon and Bradgley Rodriguez will all be readily available to come into the game once Vásquez exits.
Okuliar spent the 2025-26 season with the SHL's Skellefteå AIK. He appeared in 46 games, finishing with 15 goals and 29 points.
He also represented his home country of Slovakia in the 2026 Winter Olympics, compiling one goal and two points in six games. He then played for Slovakia in the 2026 World Championships, finishing with two goals and five points in seven games.
Pieniniemi's 2025-26 season got off to a rocky start when he refused to report to the Wheeling Nailers after training camp. He flew back to Finland instead and was suspended by the Penguins until he eventually reported to the Nailers.
He appeared in 26 games with the Nailers, finishing with six goals and 11 points. He also appeared in 11 games with the AHL's Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, racking up one goal and three points in nine games.
PORTLAND, ME - AUGUST 12: Miguel Bleis #2 of the Portland Sea Dogs heads to the dugout between innings during the game between the Somerset Patriots and the Portland Sea Dogs at Hadlock Field on Tuesday, August 12, 2025 in Portland, Maine. (Photo by Tyler Rodriguez/Minor League Baseball via Getty Images)
Twin Red Wings (Nationals AAA) home runs late in the game made the WooSox the only loser in the organization on Friday, and it’s also a shame that the first of those home runs was a direct response to a long ball Jason Delay hit in the top of the frame to pull the WooSox within one. The bottom of the WooSox lineup each reached base twice and Vinny Capra went 3-for-5, but earlier in the game, Raymond Burgos, who’s turned into a multi-inning work horse, kind of wore a tough start and was pulled in the fourth inning. Overall, the WooSox were peppered when they really couldn’t have afforded to be and it cost them.
The Sea Dogs almost had it locked up in Lehigh Valley (Phillies AA) especially after adding an insurance run to go up 12-9 heading into the bottom of the ninth, but the Phils locked it back up at 12 when Cooper Adams let a home run up. From the jump, both teams had the pitching figured out: Hayden Mullins and Cade Feeney combined for nine runs allowed and three home runs, and the game had thirty-one total hits. The good news: Portland didn’t have to wait long to stave the Phils off after blowing that save, and they had eighteen of those thirty one hits. Johanfran Garcia continues raking with another home run and Miguel Bleis reintroduced himself, if only for a night, with two doubles and a home run. That home run was thought to be the first turning point in the game, moving Portland’s expected winning percentage from just over 35 percent to 85 percent. Of course, the result had to wait, but Portland won nonetheless, thanks in large part to a prospect who simply hasn’t had the year many expected him to in 2026. I’m not about to say one night of nine total bases will turn the whole season around for the 22-year-old outfielder, who’s still batting just north of .200 with a 29% strikeout rate, but here’s hoping it’s the beginning of a second wind of sorts.
Greenville also didn’t pull any punches at the plate, as through two innings, they already had taken Winston-Salem (White Sox High-A) for a six-run ride. This didn’t keep Kyson Witherspoon from letting the Dash partially back into it, but he kept his own for the remainder of five satisfactory innings. Enddy Azocar is quietly (or not so quietly) proving that he is a bat to watch in the next couple of years: with a 3-for-4 night including a double Friday, he is now slashing .365/.411/.635 in 12 games since being called up from Salem. Azocar is quickly building onto his resume, spending the last year or so adding a bunch of muscle and adding onto that power tool. He’s still quick and has a nice arm, too. Azocar is just 19 still, so I’d expect him to stay in Greenville the rest of the season or enjoy a short call-up to Portland near the end before starting 2027 there, but right now, the sky is the limit if developed right.
Salem: Cancelled
Never to be made up, ending the Minor Lines abruptly just like the week seemingly did. Have a great Saturday!
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 21: Camilo Doval #75 and Aaron Boone #17 of the New York Yankees talk during the seventh inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium on May 21, 2026 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Ishika Samant/Getty Images) | Getty Images
This mostly has nothing to do with the subject of this article, but humor me for a few seconds.
You’re not a real sports fan unless there’s this one player that you irrationally believe can be something special. It can be in any sport, but it’s usually someone who just never gets to that certain level. For me, as a young Knicks fan who couldn’t have fathomed a world where they’re on the verge of greatness tonight, that was Willy Hernangomez. He never did much in the league, but his impressive rookie year as a beacon of light on a terrible team gave me hope.
It doesn’t have to be like that, though. My Yankees version of this is Albert Abreu. I saw that high-90s velocity and solid slider and changeup and thought this was the new Jonathan Loáisiga. Of course, that wasn’t too a high a bar due to ol’ Johnny Lasagna’s inconsistency, but I thought he had the stuff to be something special. As is the case with a lot of pitchers though, he never put it together and fizzled out. That’s not at risk to happening to Camilo Doval, who’s much more accomplished than any of the three players I’ve talked about so far, but there is some level of connection that he has.
Picture a reliever who can throw triple digits effortlessly with his cutter and sinker. He has an elite walk rate, almost never giving up a free pass. He gives up very few barrels. Most of the balls in play against him are pounded into the infield dirt. You’d imagine this reliever would be a tremendous high-leverage option, one that you would trust to hold a lead by not handing out free baserunners and frequently rolling double play balls when in trouble. While relievers are noticeably volatile and prone to small-sample variance (ahem Jeff Hoffman), more often than not, this is a winning archetype.
And then you look at Doval’s stats. In 29 appearances and 24.2 innings, his ERA is 5.47. He opened the season as the team’s primary set-up man, but has repeatedly been yo-yo’d into lower leverage, medium leverage, and back into big situations. He’s frequently on a short leash from Aaron Boone, something that’s problematic in a shallow bullpen.
So how is this possible? Well, it’s based on a few things.
Some of it is luck. While he doesn’t run an exceptionally high BABIP, he’s still allowing opponents to hit .260 off him, the highest rate of his career. Batters are hitting .261 on ground balls against him compared to the .246 league average, but all of this is within the regular realm of possibility.
The real culprit, in terms of luck, is his ridiculously high HR/FB%. A whopping 20 percent of his fly balls allowed have gone over the fence, a rate far above the major league average of 11.2 percent. Now, it’s not quite the highest in baseball, but he has by far the highest ground ball rate of any pitcher in the top 30 (min. 20 innings pitched). Well, except for his teammate, Tim Hill.
That’s not all bad luck, as sometimes you just get absolutely tagged, so let’s look at the four home runs he’s allowed this season.
A 3-2 slider at the knees that’s obliterated by a future Hall of Famer. This wasn’t a cheapie, this was a legend of the game getting exactly what pitch he wanted.
It was pretty chilly in the Bronx in mid-April, so Doval’s sinker was down a few ticks here. Vinnie Pasquantino grooves a ball in a similar spot, but it barely sneaks out over the short porch. This is something that, with better luck, is only a double. Instead, it’s a blown save.
Yet another slider that ends right down Broadway to a perennial Yankee killer.
Only one of these pitches I’d describe as truly terrible, but only one of these would also be classified as a wall-scraper. The clear trend here is just how flat and hittable his slider has been, which has been, by far, the worst pitch in his arsenal this season. Batters are 9-for-25 with three home runs and five extra-base hits against the pitch. He’s surrendering an average exit velocity of 92.6 mph and a .493 wOBA, but interestingly enough, the xwOBA is just .322. As a whole, Doval’s differential of 40 points between his xwOBA and wOBA makes him the second-unluckiest pitcher on the roster behind David Bednar (42 points).
Reliever sample sizes are so small that this stuff might never even out. 2024 Clay Holmes and 2025 Mark Leiter Jr. similarly suffered from bad luck, but theirs were more concentrated in grueling misfortune on ground balls and soft contact, while also suffering from bad defense. Defenders do have a -3 Fielding Run Value behind Doval this season, the worst on the team, but it isn’t Leiter-esque… yet.
While sometimes it just feels like a reliever’s struggles are something that feels unnecessarily cruel from the baseball gods, Doval can absolutely improve some things. For one, here’s a heat map of his pitches:
He’s been throwing his slider less and less lately after how much it got pounded in April, but his struggles have remained because of both location and his inability to change speeds. Some pitchers can make throwing almost exclusively fastballs work (hello Cam Schlittler), but when a hitter can equally time up an entire arsenal because of how close they are in velocity and spin, location becomes paramount.
And as you can see, you can probably gear up for 100 at the bottom of the zone when facing Doval. When it’s not at the bottom of the zone, his sinker creeps too much towards the belt, while his cutter spins towards the top. Being too predictable is the vice of every major league pitcher, and Doval isn’t exempt. His inability to properly locate or sequence has plummeted his strikeout rate, putting him at the whim of the defense behind him and Lady Luck herself.
I’m confident he’ll eventually stabilize as one of the better relievers in this bullpen, but the results aren’t there right now. I don’t really see a world where he gets to where he needs to be without that slider becoming a real weapon again, so until that happens, it’ll continue to be a maddening work in progress.
Win or lose, when the NBA Finals are over, Victor Wembanyama is going to need a nap on his comically large bed.
The San Antonio Spurs’ superstar center has carried his team throughout the playoffs, but despite his “alien” persona, Wemby is very much human.
He looked it in the second half of Game 4, when San Antonio blew a 29-point lead to the New York Knicks with a fatigued Wembanyama slogging through 23 of 24 minutes.
With the finals swinging back to San Antonio, an extra day off between games allows the 7-footer to recharge his batteries before tonight's do-or-die Game 5 showdown.
My NBA picks are taking Wemby to best his scoring prop on Saturday, June 13.
Victor Wembanyama prop pick for Game 5
Victor Wembanyama best bet: Over 28.5 points (-105 at bet365)
Victor Wembanyama scored 16 of his 24 total points in the opening half of Game 4, shooting 54.5% from the floor while collecting all three of his free-throw chances.
A glance at his shot chart in that opening 24 minutes shows a very efficient and analytics-friendly fire rate. He either attacked at the rim or let it fly from beyond the arc, shooting just 1-for-5 from deep in the first half.
Once the Wu-Tang Clan had finished igniting the Big Apple crowd during the halftime break, fatigue seemed to settle in for Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs. On top of more careless turnovers, the team’s shot selection was passive and leaned on long 3-pointers rather than the aggressive action that built the big lead.
Wembanyama’s energy got lower with every miss, and he seemed bothered by stiff defense from the New York Knicks. That pushed him further out on possessions. The second half shot chart shows Wemby drifting for mid-range jumpers, finishing just 3-for-14 in the closing two frames for eight points.
We’ve seen this from a gassed Wembanyama in these last two rounds, but we’ve also seen him return with well-rested vengeance.
He scored 26 points in Game 1 of the NBA Finals after a three-day break and dropped 32 points after a two-day gap ahead of Game 3. Wembanyama also poured in 41 points (27 in regulation) in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals following a three-day buffer between series.
The most telling part of those efforts was Wembanyama’s numbers after halftime, scoring a collective 61 points on 16-for-35 shooting while getting to the foul line for 24-for-26 success from the stripe.
When aggressive, there’s very little the Knicks have done to bottle up San Antonio’s star center. And in the wake of his off nights, head coach Mitch Johnson has made a focused effort to get Wembanyama going early on.
With the Spurs’ season on the line in Game 5, expect Wembanyama to leave it all on the floor. I see him landing on the high side of his shot attempts, with fresher legs helping him finish those looks and carry that production deep into the second half.
Victor Wembanyama same-game parlay
I might be one of the rare ones who likes San Antonio to survive Game 5. The two-day break gives Wemby rest and also allows the young Spurs to put the Game 4 collapse behind them.
New York’s comeback benefited from some lucky bounces, friendly rims, and self-inflicted wounds from San Antonio. Wembanyama will get aggressive from the opening tip, both attacking the rim and cleaning the glass.
Models call for 29+ points and as many as 15+ boards tonight.
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The tension built steadily over a two and a half day window. That’s how long we had to wait to see the Cincinnati Reds blow a game on Friday night in a way so uniquely their own after the last time they blew a game in a way so uniquely their own.
There’s blowing a late 2-run lead only to then serve up a walk-off homer to a guy who forgot to hit homers all year. There’s doing that with a newly-promoted starting pitcher on in a relief role in the Bottom of the 9th inning, doing so in the most packed-house road stadium he’ll ever see.
Then, there’s simply dropping the ball. That’s what happened on Friday night in Great American Ball Park, and it happened to the guy who’s perhaps the best defender the Reds have on the field most nights.
Blake Dunn’s 9th inning foible got most all of the headlines from last night’s 5-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks, because that’s the easy way to do it. It was the oh no play in a big spot, and that’s when the 2-2 score on the scoreboard changed.
But the way the Cincinnati Reds lost on Friday night cannot at all be simply defined by that drop.
They walked 9 times on the night and scored just twice. Nine times.
They forced the opposing starter to throw 40 pitches in a single inning…and still managed to not score a single run that inning. Meanwhile, the guy on their roster who’d faced that starter more than anyone else (and was 5 for 10 with a walk and a double against him) didn’t even get put in the starting lineup to face him.
As a team, they own the 12th most PA on the season with runners in scoring position. Their collective 81 wRC+ in those situations is the worst among all MLB clubs. Their .295 wOBA in those positions is the worst among the 30 teams, too.
Today, they’re going to willingly roll out a starting pitcher whose last three outings have seen him throw just 7.1 IP combined. In that time he has walked 13 batters and allowed 11 earned runs.
The bullpen blew the game in San Diego when Fernando Tatis, Jr.’s bat woke up. Lack of any sort of timely hitting and a horror show bit of defense at the worst of times last them last night’s game. So often with this bruised and broken starting rotation, it’s been the starting pitching that’s put this team in a hole from the very beginning of games.
That’s just about every facet of the game right there. Add in keeping Nate Lowe on the bench last night despite his history against Eduardo Rodriguez, and you get to add managing to the list, too.
The Cincinnati Reds are simply running out of ways they can lose games this year. That they’re in last place again cannot come as any surprise.
TORONTO, CANADA - JUNE 12: Trent Grisham #12 of the New York Yankees leaves the game with manager Aaron Boone #17 (L) after injuring himself on a play at second base in the sixth inning of an MLB game against the Toronto Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre on June 12, 2026 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Tara Walton/Getty Images) | Getty Images
When Jasson Domínguez and Giancarlo Stanton began to take major steps towards their return to the starting lineup this week, people began to wonder how the Yankees were going to solve the roster crunch. Would the struggling Anthony Volpe be returned to Triple-A, handing the shortstop position back in its totality to José Caballero? Would Spencer Jones, who only made his debut because of an injury to Domínguez and returned because of an injury to Aaron Judge, make the trek back to Scranton? Maybe it would be Max Schuemann, the utilityman who has hit well in a very small sample size this season? Perhaps the Martian himself would remain in the minors, getting everyday reps in right field, in order that Cody Bellinger could stay in left?
As Joe Torre always said, the baseball gods have a way of making these decisions for us, and in the end, the answer would be, “None of the above.”
During last night’s loss to the Toronto Blue Jays, Trent Grisham pulled up limping on the basepaths and had to be removed from the game. Now, he’s headed to the injured list with a right hamstring strain, swapping places with Domínguez, who is returning from the shelf.
Prior to today’s game, the Yankees made the following roster moves: • Placed OF Trent Grisham on the 10-day injured list with a right hamstring strain. • Returned OF Jasson Domínguez (#24) from his rehab assignment and reinstated him from the 10-day injured list.
The injury comes at a particularly inopportune time, as Grisham has really been heating up over the last couple weeks, and the team has needed his bat in the lineup with Judge on the shelf with a stress fracture. Hopefully, Domínguez recaptures his hot start to the season and is able to make up at least some of that difference; for what it’s worth, he was 5-for-18 with two homers and two stolen bases during his five-day rehab assignment. (Oh, and that earlier aside about Stanton? He suffered a setback. So.)
At the moment, it remains to be seen how the Yankees will line up their outfield in the near future. Last night, the team opted to shift Jones from right to center, rather than move Cody Bellinger, who has arguably been the best defensive left fielder in baseball this season. It’s clear to me that they want to keep Bellinger there if at all possible, as evidenced by the fact that Domínguez spent the last three days in Scranton playing right field, a position he had exactly one game of professional experience at prior to this week. Will the Yankees decide to let him learn the position on the fly, or will they put him back in left field? Only time will tell.
Update
The Yankees will indeed put Domínguez in right today, with Bellinger in left and Jones in center. Here goes nothing!
If the Montreal Canadiens are looking to address their big organizational need, they’ll need to be willing to part with enticing young assets, and one of their prospects really fits that bill. 20-year-old right-shot defenseman Bryce Pickford just had a season for the ages in the WHL.
In 55 games with the Medicine Hat Tigers, the blueliner put up 83 points, including 45 goals. His numbers were so impressive that he has been nominated for both CHL defenseman of the year and player of the year. That’s not at all surprising given the fact that he won both awards in the WHL, but it still shows how exceptional a season he’s had. A third-round pick by the Canadiens at the latest draft, Pickford had impressed them so much by Christmas that they already signed him to an ELC.
Of course, success in the WHL doesn’t always translate to success in the NHL, but his stock is still quite high right now, and a rebuilding team that lacks a pure offensive defenseman may well be interested in his profile. The Canadiens themselves need a right-shot defenseman, but in an ideal world, they’d need one who’d be able to step in the NHL right now, and that’s not Pickford.
Dominating in the OHL, against younger players is one thing, but making the jump to the pro level is quite another. Generally speaking, defensemen need more time than forwards to reach their full potential, and as we’ve seen in these playoffs, the Canadiens’ window of contention has already started opening.
However, Kent Hughes has always been clear that he wants to build a perennial contender, not just a team that will have a great shot at winning the Cup once and then be taken apart. The contracts he’s been able to sign his players to reflect that reality. Hughes is not just about the now; he’s about the long-term as well. There’s a balance he’ll have to strike between getting the pieces that will move the needle in the right direction for his team now and planning for the future as well. He won’t make trades that will leave his prospect cupboard bare, but he won’t overly stockpile either.
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 10: James Wood #29 of the Washington Nationals is showered by sunflower seeds thrown by teammates after he hit a two-run home run against the San Francisco Giants in the top of the third inning at Oracle Park on June 10, 2026 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Despite the loss last night, Nationals fans still got to see the James Wood show up close and personal. The Nats 23 year old slugger hit one of his majestic shots off of Bryce Miller. Unlike most of his home runs, this ball was pulled and got out of Nationals Park in a hurry.
James Wood with a LASER for his 19th home run of the season!
As you can see, James Wood has been one of the best players in all of baseball this year. It is only June 13th, and Wood has already matched his WAR total from last season. Despite Wood’s insane power and freakish size, it still does not feel like he gets talked about enough around the league.
Once the Nats climb up the standings over the next few years, I am sure that will change. When Wood is at his best, he is a truly breathtaking player. That elite version of Wood is exactly what we have gotten for most of this season. He looked all out of sorts the first week and a half of the season, but since then he has been consistently dominant.
In his last 30 games, Wood is hitting .316 with a .996 OPS. We all know that the 6’6 slugger has crazy power, but he has been a truly elite all around hitter lately. There will always be strikeouts in his game, but similarly to Aaron Judge, the quality of contact is so good that he can also hit for average.
Aaron Judge is not a name to throw around lightly, but I think Wood is the closest thing we have seen to Judge. As we know, Judge has been the most dominant hitter of the 2020’s, with an OPS over 1.100 from 2022 to 2025. Reaching those heights could be a tough ask, but I think Wood can be a guy who posts OPS marks over 1.000 in his prime.
A big reason for that is how often he barrels up baseballs. Right now, Wood has a barrel rate of 25.3%. That is comfortably the best mark in the league, with Judge being the closest with a 21.7% barrel rate. In the statcast era, Wood currently has the 4th highest barrel rate of all time, only trailing 3 Judge seasons.
James Wood currently has the 4th highest barrel rate in the statcast era only trailing 3 historic Aaron Judge seasons pic.twitter.com/Gms6WyxM5e
For context, a barrel is a ball hit at least 98 MPH at a certain launch angle threshold. The harder the ball is hit, the wider the threshold is. Here is a link to MLB’s definition of a barrel. It is a somewhat weird definition, but the point is that barrels are the best contact a hitter can make. The batting average on a barrel tends to be in the .700 range and those hits tend to go for extra bases as well.
In an era where power is as important as ever, being the best at finding barrels is incredibly valuable. James Wood finds the most barrels in all of baseball. Among players 25 or younger, the barrel gap is enormous. Wood has 42 and the next closest players have 28. This just shows you why Wood has the highest offensive ceiling of any young player in the game.
3 players under 25 years old have over 25 barrels this season:
James Wood – 42
Sal Stewart – 28 Nick Kurtz – 28
James Wood is going to be one of the top hitters in baseball for a long time. pic.twitter.com/To2xAxU5q5
There were times last season and to start this year where I was tough on Wood. The strikeouts were worrying, and he did not look like the same guy we saw in the first half of last year. However, as I probably need to remind myself more, patience is required for these young players. This version of Wood is the best we have seen yet. I think he is at a higher level than he was in the first half of last year.
A big reason for that is his batted ball profile. Even when Wood was rolling last season, he was hitting a lot of ground balls. In the first half of 2025, Wood’s ground ball rate was 50.2%. This year that number has been cut to 38.5%, which is a massive cut. Fewer ground balls means more barrels and more damage.
The fact Wood is hitting more balls in the air makes me less concerned about him having a power drop off in the second half again. Even if he goes through some stretches where the strikeouts pile up, he will have more chances to go deep when he does hit the ball.
Watching Wood hit all these line drives and flyballs is a glorious thing. He has the best opposite field power I have ever seen in a player. Over half of his home runs go to left center, with many of them being in near identical locations. Here is a video of all his home runs, at least through May 26th, and I loved watching it.
— Baseball Performances (@MLBPerformances) May 27, 2026
From Bryce Harper to Juan Soto to James Wood, Nationals fans have been blessed to have some of the best left handed bats of the 21st century on their team. While Wood still has work to do to get into that category, he certainly has the ability to do it. At just 23 years old, Wood has a .953 OPS and is underperforming his xwOBA by 25 points.
The last thing Wood has to do before he can truly be anointed as one of the game’s best is to keep this up for a full season. Last year he hit a wall, but I think Wood will have learned from that. There is only one way to find out for sure though. For now, let’s just sit back, relax and watch the big man hit.
After exiting Friday's game against the Toronto Blue Jays early, the Yankees have placed OF Trent Grisham on the 10-day injured list with a right hamstring strain, the team announced Saturday.
In a corresponding move, the team returned Jasson Dominguez (AC joint sprain) from his rehab assignment and reinstated him from the 10-day injured list.
Grisham left the game with hamstring tightness in the sixth inning, appearing to injure himself while rounding first base and making an awkward slide into second on a throw home after hitting a two-run single.
New York replaced Grisham on defense with Max Schuemann, who moved to right field with Spencer Jones shifting to center field.
Dominguez, who has been out since May 7, was scheduled to play in another rehab game in Triple-A on Saturday before Grisham's injury forced the team to bring him back sooner than planned. He will start in right field for the first time on Saturday, joining Jones and Cody Bellinger in the outfield.
Over 66 games this season, Grisham is hitting .232 with eight home runs and 35 RBI while manning CF on a daily basis. On the other hand, Dominguez has played in just nine big league games this year (30 at-bats) and owns a .200 batting average with one home run and four RBI.
Stanton suffers minor setback
Aaron Boone told reporters Saturday ahead of their game against the Blue Jays that DH Giancarlo Stanton felt a tweak in his calf while running bases this week and may get more imaging.
Stanton was expected to return to the team during their upcoming homestand, but that is now up in the air.
The veteran slugger has been sidelined since April 24 with a right calf strain.
Artemi Panarin already knows what Peter Laviolette wants — and now the Los Angeles Kings are betting that familiarity can help fix an offense that’s been stuck in neutral for years.
The Kings officially introduced Laviolette as the 32nd head coach in franchise history on Wednesday, handing the 61-year-old the job of reshaping a team that has not won a playoff series since its 2014 Stanley Cup run and was most recently swept by the Colorado Avalanche in a blunt reminder of how far it has fallen behind the NHL’s fastest contenders.
That series told the story in simple terms: five goals total, very little sustained pressure, and long stretches where Los Angeles simply couldn’t generate anything off the rush or in transition.
Known for early offensive spikes and aggressive, pace-driven systems, Laviolette has built a coaching career on unlocking scoring quickly — whether in Carolina, Philadelphia, Nashville, Washington, or most recently with the Rangers.
Across those stops, the results have followed a familiar rhythm: immediate jump in offense, playoff appearances, and at times deep runs, including a Stanley Cup with Carolina in 2006 and additional trips to the Final in 2010 and 2017.
But the most relevant connection in Los Angeles might not be system-based — it’s personal.
Artemi Panarin already knows the ceiling Laviolette can unlock.
In New York, Panarin produced one of the best seasons of his career under Laviolette in 2023-24, finishing with 49 goals and 120 points — a top-five Hart Trophy finish and one of the most productive offensive years in Rangers history. He followed that with another strong season before eventually being traded to the Kings earlier this year.
Now, the two are reunited.
“He can change a game on any given night,” Laviolette said of Panarin. “I’m really excited to work with him again.”
Panarin’s arrival in Los Angeles has already shown early signs of impact. He finished the regular season with 27 points in 26 games after the trade and accounted for two of the Kings’ five goals in the playoff sweep against Colorado — one of the few players who consistently found space in an otherwise compressed series.
That production stands in sharp contrast to the broader offensive profile of the roster. The Kings finished 29th in the NHL with 225 goals and were outscored by 22 on the season, finishing 20th overall with 90 points — the lowest-ranked playoff qualifier in the field.
Laviolette made it clear this week that philosophical labels won’t dictate usage or responsibility.
“There’s not going to be two sets of plans for those that we consider offensive and those that we consider great defensive defensemen,” he said. “There will be one set of rules, one set of plans.”
The challenge, however, is structural. Unlike his time in New York, Laviolette won’t have an elite play-driving defenseman like Adam Fox to stabilize breakouts and ignite transition play. That places more pressure on a blue line that combined for just 23 goals and 110 assists in the regular season, then managed only a single point of offense in the postseason.
It also forces a broader identity shift — one the Kings have resisted for years.
Still, there is optimism inside the organization that Laviolette’s track record translates. He has guided teams to the playoffs in 11 of the past 14 seasons he finished behind an NHL bench and ranks seventh all-time in coaching wins with 846.
General manager Ken Holland pointed to that consistency when explaining the hire.
“You look at his resume, all the teams he’s been with, the impact he’s had in the first couple of years,” Holland said. “It’s a hard league to win in.”
For Los Angeles, the calculation is simple but risky: the structure has taken them as far as it can. Now they’re betting pace, aggression, and a system built to unleash scorers will take them further.
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