HOUSTON, TEXAS - MARCH 08: BJ Murray #7 of the Great Britain in action during the 2026 World Baseball Classic Pool B game between Great Britain and Italy at Daikin Park on March 08, 2026 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Kenneth Richmond/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Right-hander Tyler Beede went from Triple-A Iowa to the Development List.
South Bend right-hander Nate Williams also went to the Development List.
Knoxville first baseman Edgar Alvarez was placed on the Restricted List. No, I don’t know why.
Four Iowa pitcher combined to allowed just three hits. Starter Paul Campbell went four innings and gave up no runs on just one hit. Campbell struck out four and walked no one.
Luke Little pitched the fifth inning, retired the side in order and got teh win because Campbell didn’t go five innings. Little did not strike anyone out.
Shortstop Owen Miller was a perfect 4 for 4 with a triple and a walk. Miller scored two runs and drove home one.
Third baseman BJ Murray went 3 for 5 with a double and a triple. Murray scored three runs and had one RBI.
DH Christian Bethancourt was 2 for 5 with a two-run double in the fifth.
Left fielder Chas McCormick went 2 for 5 with two RBI, one on a first inning single and one on a single in the sixth. McCormick scored once.
Starter Jostin Florentino gave up a solo home run in the second inning and no other runs. Florentino’s final line was one run on two hits over three innings. Florentino did walk five batters while striking out two.
South Bend had an 8-5 lead going into the top of the ninth when Grayson Moore was summoned from the bullpen for the save. Unfortunately, Moore was only able to retire one batter while the other five batters he faced combined for a solo home run, a single and three doubles. Moore got the loss after allowing four runs on five hits over just one-third of an inning. Moore struck out one.
It looked like South Bend was going to cruise to an easy win when they scored seven runs in the first inning, six of them coming off the Padres’ number-two prospect (per Baseball America) Kash Mayfield.
First, center fielder Josiah Hartshorn hit a two-run bomb, his second South Bend home run and seventh overall. Hartshorn was 1 for 5 tonight.
Later on in the first, first baseman Drew Bowser hit a grand slam, his second home run of the year. Bowser was 1 for 3 with a walk.
Left fielder Miguel Useche went 3 for 4 with a walk. He drove in one run and scored on the grand slam.
Starter David Bracho pitched the first 3.2 innings and gave up four runs on four hits. He walked two and struck out two.
Hayden Frank allowed two runs in the seventh inning and was allowed to start the ninth inning with a four-run lead. However, he loaded the bases with only one out and was pulled for Aiden Moffett. Moffett then walked four of the next five batters to drive in all three inherited runners and one of his own. But then he got a strikeout to end the game and collect a very ugly save.
The final line on Frank, who was the winning pitcher, was five runs on five hits over 3.1 innings. Frank walked five and struck out three.
Moffett’s final line was one run on no hits and four walks. He struck out two in two-thirds of an inning.
Right fielder Eli Lovich hit a three-run home run in the sixth inning, his seventh of the year. Lovich went 3 for 4 with a double, the home run and four total RBI.
First baseman Edward Vargas was 3 for 5. He scored twice and had one RBI.
Catcher Jairo Díaz was 2 for 4 with a walk and a double. He scored one time.
Left fielder Darlyn De Leon went 2 for 4 with a walk. He scored two runs and drove home one.
Everyone in the Pelicans lineup had at least one hit.
A great catch in center field by Alexey Lumpuy, who was 1 for 5 with an RBI double and one run scored.
All these years later, one lesson from Jay Wright has stayed with Jalen Brunson.
“One thing he always said, it’s plastered on every wall, every shirt, the inside of our jerseys — everything — was attitude,” the Knicks’ superstar guard recalled, referring to the former Villanova coach. “Controlling your attitude. I don’t really say that as much as I used to, but I think my kind of twist on it is being able to control what you can control.”
It’s been a big part of his success. Despite winning two national championships at Villanova and being the consensus National Player of the Year in 2017-18, Brunson was a second-round pick. It wasn’t until his fourth season in the NBA that he began to establish himself as a starter. When Brunson joined the Knicks, there was plenty of criticism that he was overpaid.
Tuning out the noise — whether it is positive or negative — has been instrumental to his ascension.
Knicks guard Jalen Brunson speaking to the media after practice at the Knicks’ practice facility in Tarrytown, New York. Charles Wenzelberg / New York PostJay Wright, former Head Coach of Villanova Mens Basketball and Jalen Brunson during his jersey retirement on February 8, 2023. NBAE via Getty Images
“Controlling your attitude, controlling your effort, those are the things you can control and that’s something he said every day,” Brunson said of Wright. “That’s how we ended huddles, that’s how we started games, practices. It’s kind of what his motto was and once we believed in it, everything became easier.”
Brunson, of course, isn’t the only former Villanova star on the Knicks. Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges were teammates with the Wildcats, too.
They are looking to become the fifth group of teammates to win an NBA and NCAA championship together.
The previous ones are Derek Anderson and Antoine Walker (Kentucky, Heat), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Lucius Allen (UCLA, Bucks), John Havlicek and Larry Siegfried (Ohio State, Celtics) and Bill Russell and K.C. Jones (San Francisco, Celtics).
“Man, you can tell Coach Wright has instilled a lot of great qualities in all of these guys,” Mike Brown said. “They’re selfless. They all have a competitive spirit. They’re all about the right stuff, and they’re great human beings to be around.
“So I’m sure it wasn’t just Coach Wright who helped raise them, but to be able to play for him and have that continue at the highest level while competing for championships in college definitely made my job easier. When you have guys like that and those guys are the leaders of your team, we were talking about all of them, and then it rubs off on everybody else, and it just makes for a fantastic environment to be a part of.”
One of the best stories of the 2026 baseball season will likely be put on pause.
White Sox slugger Munetaka Murakami exited Friday’s 4-3 win over the Tigers early with a hamstring issue that the team later said was a strain. Manager Will Venable told reporters that the slugger is likely heading to the injured list.
The White Sox, in a corresponding move, are going to call up Jacob Gonzalez from Triple-A, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported, saying Murakami is likely to miss a few weeks of action.
Munetaka Murakami #5 of the Chicago White Sox grabs his leg after running to first base in the third inning of a game against the Detroit Tigers at Rate Field on May 29, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois. Getty Images
Gonzalez, the No. 15 overall pick in the 2023 draft, is the team’s No. 23 prospect on MLB Pipeline.
“Nothing official. Got to continue the evaluation, but it might be a couple weeks,” Venable told reporters, according to ESPN.
Murakami appeared to injure himself in the bottom of the third inning on Friday when he beat out a throw to first base to avoid a double play. He grabbed at his right hamstring as he walked back to the bag and was seen wincing in pain.
Munetaka Murakami of the Chicago White Sox is removed from the game in the third inning of a game against the Detroit Tigers with an apparent injury at Rate Field on May 29, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois. Getty Images
But if there were any concerns about how his game would play stateside, he has assuaged any of those fears by flashing the power he was well-known for in Nippon Professional Baseball.
His 20 home runs through 57 games are tied with the Astros’ Yordan Alvarez for most in the American League. He has a .240/.378/.560 slash line with 44 walks and 80 strikeouts across 200 at-bats.
If it is indeed Gonzalez coming up, the White Sox are getting a red-hot bat from the International League. Gonzalez has belted 19 homers with a .317 and 1.087 OPS this year, his fourth year in the minor leagues.
With two outs in the fifth and the tying run at second base, A.J. Minter entered for Freddy Peralta in just his second appearance for New York since he returned from the injured list. Minter looked in mint form, striking out two over his inning of work to give him four strikeouts in two innings this season.
And although the Mets’ bullpen has been one of their saving graces this year, having Minter back in the fold after more than a year away from the team has already been a game-changer.
“Huge, especially when you’re facing a lineup like the Marlins where there’s a lot of left-handed hitters on a night where you’re probably trying to stay away from your other lefty, which is [Brooks] Raley,” manager Carlos Mendoza said about Minter’s role. “For me, to be able to continue to play the matchups in those middle innings without having to worry about what’s gonna happen when the next at-bat comes in.
“Those guys, they’re in a good place and for us to have those guys every time they’re available, we’re gonna be pretty good back there.”
Minter was originally signed two offseasons ago to be New York’s left-handed setup man in front of Edwin Diaz. And while the lefty will certainly get some late-inning work at some point this season to help bridge the gap to closer Devin Williams, Mendoza is fine with getting Minter’s feet wet a little before throwing him into the deep end.
Plus, on a night where the Mets were trying not to use Raley, the perfect situation for Minter arose.
Speaking of Raley, the veteran left-hander also checked into the game, striking out the final batter of the seventh inning for his only out of the night – exactly how Mendoza planned it.
“Today was a day like if he was in the game it was gonna be for a batter or two,” the skipper said. “I was trying to avoid that situation, but the game called for [it]. With two outs, tying run on second base, there was a lefty coming up and that was it right there.”
But perhaps the most important outing of them all was from Austin Warren who kept the game tied in the 10th inning with a 1-2-3 inning, including a strikeout. Warren’s appearance allowed New York to win it in the bottom half on MJ Melendez’s two-run homer.
In his second season with the Mets after a cup of coffee with the big league team in 2025, Warren has been dynamite. In fact, in 56 career appearances, the reliever has a 2.48 ERA and has been a godsend for New York after not cracking the Opening Day roster.
“Huge, and today [was] another example there,” Mendoza said about the job Warren has done. “Extra innings, runner at second base and the situation is not too big for him and he goes out there and just makes pitches and slows the game down, doesn’t try to do too much, sticks to what makes him who he is.
“[He’s] not afraid to spin the baseball and then uses the fastball effectively when he needs to and he got a huge three outs for us.”
On the other side, Tobias Myers had a rough eighth inning after allowing a game-tying two-run homer to Owen Caissie. In a bit of a surprise move, Myers will reportedly be optioned to the minors after the game as the Mets need a fresh arm for Saturday’s game after using seven pitchers on Friday.
A corresponding move has yet to be made.
“At this level, whatever it takes day in and day out,” Mendoza said. “We’ll worry about tomorrow, tomorrow and I’m glad that the boys came through today.”
It's been covered many times over at this point that Kyle Dubas and the Pittsburgh Penguins seem prepared to mobilize in the trade market this summer.
Between comments about finding more players akin to Egor Chinakhov, saying he wants the Penguins to "take a big step" toward sustainable contention next season, and his sales-like pitch to prospective 20-something difference-makers, it's clear that they're prepared to pull the trigger on some bigger moves. And, yes, much is made about the Penguins' large cupboard of draft capital, their plethora of cap space, and wide pool of near-NHL-ready prospects all around the same age and projected to be, at least, NHL regulars.
However, the fact of the matter is that in order for the Penguins to acquire a game-changer in the trade market this summer t will require them surrendering a lot — including, likely, their 2026 first-round pick.
Even if the Penguins have a lot of capital for the next three drafts - including 15 picks in the first three rounds - they still only have three total first-round picks. And for a team that hopes to simultaneously build for the long-term and take big steps toward legitimate contention next season, there is a fine line to walk in terms of acquisition cost.
At the end of the day, better picks equal better players, and vice versa. And with a lot of talent, potentially, on the trade and the offer sheet market this summer, it may very well be the time for Dubas and the Penguins to consider going bigger in the trade market for a game-breaker.
But that probably also means the Penguins will be forced to give up at least one of their veterans, and, potentially, more than that in the process.
The Penguins' 2025-26 season was impressive across the board and defied expectations, as they made the playoffs for the first time since 2022. Despite losing in the first round to the Philadelphia Flyers, they made tangible progress in comparison to last season, but Dubas knows they still have a long way to go before reaching the contention level of a team like the Carolina Hurricanes, who just made the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2006.
And a large part of that process, at some point, has to involve the Penguins' best talent skewing younger. The reality about last season's magical run to the playoffs was that their best players were still the likes of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Erik Karlsson, Rickard Rakell, Bryan Rust, and Anthony Mantha. The common denominator is that they're all above the age of 30. Again, the Penguins need those 20-something impact players who are going to make a difference in the short- and long-term.
Offloading someone like Rakell or Rust should net the Penguins some pretty handsome compensation. If the trade deadline was any indicator of what returns might look like, they should return a first-round pick, which would give the Penguins flexbility to leverage one of their firsts and use the other one to draft. And this aligns with the short game and the long game for Kyle Dubas.
It's particularly beneficial to try and execute a deal before the draft, too, because having two first-round picks in any of the three upcoming drafts will both give them leverage they can use currently and give them more flexiblity in terms of moving significant draft capital. Should an impact name become available this summer, Dubas would surely be a lot more comfortable surrendering a first-plus if he already knows he has more picks to offset the loss of drafting a potential future impact piece.
Simply put, offloading a veteran ahead of the draft will give them more margin for error and more flexibility that they wouldn't have otherwise. And that's no small deal when trying to build out a contender through both the trade and free agent market and the draft.
Of course - depending on the situation - it's very much possible that reliable top-six wingers Rakell or Rust get dealt as part of one of those bigger packages, involving that first-round pick. But the same applies to that line of thinking, too, as the Penguins would be subtracting in order to add sustainable talent to their roster.
So, if the opportunity is there to dangle guys like Rakell or Rust prior to the NHL Draft at the end of June in order to provide a youthful boost to the short- and long-term of this franchise, Dubas should absolutely be all over it.
"Special," manager Carlos Mendoza said of the moment. "Especially what he’s been going through the past couple of weeks, two, three weeks. Where he gets called up, he puts together some really good at-bats and he kind of gets going out of the gate, but then it’s been hard for him. But for him today, in that situation against a right-handed pitcher, to get to that fastball like that. Special."
"You got to give him credit, this guy continues to work. He was one of the ones today hitting early out there. And that’s what makes this group who they are, they’re not going to give up. They’re going to keep going and they’re gonna continue to find ways to get the job done. Which was nice to see MJ today coming through for us."
It will certainly be a moment Melendez will always remember, especially since it was his first career walk-off over his five seasons in the majors (470 career games played).
"Honestly, pretty speechless, kind of a surreal feeling," Melendez said. "It’s something that I’d never done before at the major league level. Definitely not a walk-off home run, so it was a really crazy feeling."
Melendez added that he had been pulling the ball foul a lot recently, but was confident that he got enough on the fastball from Pete Fairbanks. The homer ended up having an exit velocity of 105 mph and traveled 373 feet into the second deck in right field.
"I knew I got it, I just didn’t know if it was going to stay fair. That was the question," Melendez said. "I had been hooking a lot of balls foul like the last few weeks, so that was always kind of in the back of my mind."
The home run also came on an 0-2 pitch, as Melendez said he was simply just trying to put the ball in play with a runner on second base.
“Honestly, when I got in the box, I knew I had to put the ball in play,” Melendez said. “Obviously, give yourself a chance. Any hit right there for the most part can possibly score him. So just try to shorten up in that situation and not try to do too much.”
Melendez was asked if not starting the game helped motivate him in the moment, saying that's part of the "ups and downs" of baseball, and credited his mindset to the message his father sent him prior to the game.
"Yeah, you know I feel like in baseball you’re gonna kind of go through those ups and downs, and the last few weeks have been kind of rough," Melendez said. "I just haven’t gotten the results I’ve wanted.
"Talking to my dad today, he’s coached me my whole life, some of the best advice he gives me is just staying in my faith. And for me, him sending me message today of a Bible verse, Galatians 6:9… And that was just something that really stuck to me today, especially, just not giving up and keep doing things the right way. Staying steadfast in my faith and knowing things will work out."
Melendez and the Mets will now look to stay afloat and extend their winning streak to three games on Saturday against the Marlins.
In need of a fresh arm, the Mets are making a move prior to Saturday's game against the Marlins.
New York has officially optioned RHP Tobias Myers down to Triple-A, as first reported by Will Sammon of the Athletic following Friday's walk-off win.
Myers struggled again pitching late in the victory, allowing the game-tying two-run homer to deep right after being called upon to protect a lead in the eighth inning.
The righty has now allowed runs in five of his last seven appearances, raising his ERA to 4.05 for the season.
In a corresponding move, veteran left-hander Cionel Pérez has been recalled from Syracuse and Anderson Severino has been DFA'd to make room on the 40-man roster.
Pérez has thrown well since joining the organization on a minor league pact earlier this season, giving up just two runs while striking out 10 across six Triple-A appearances.
Severino has looked strong too, recording five saves and a 1.31 ERA over 18 outings.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 29: MJ Melendez #1 of the New York Mets follows through on his tenth inning game winning two run home run against the Miami Marlins at Citi Field on May 29, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Baseball is a roller coaster. Seasons are roller coasters, where even the best teams have losing streaks, even the best hitters slump, and vice versa. This game was exactly that, with the Mets slowly bleeding away an early lead, only for MJ Melendez to hit a towering home run in the 10th inning to walk off the Marlins. It is a game that will hopefully be featured on 2026 Mets Classics in a “this is one of the wins that helped get the Mets back into the playoffs” type of way, and not in a “2018 José Bautista hits a walk off grand slam for the 77-85 Mets” type of way.
The Mets started off hot behind Freddy Peralta, getting to Max Meyer early. A.J. Ewing snuck a ground ball past a draw in infield with the bases loaded and one away in the first inning, plating two. After Ewing stole second, Brett Baty added a single of his own to make it 4-0.
The Marlins started their comeback in the third, when Xavier Edwards hit an RBI triple over the head of Ewing in center field. Mark Vientos got the run back in the bottom of the frame, absolutely walloping a slider 445 ft., making it 5-1. The two teams traded runs again in the fourth, with Jakob Marksee dunking a Peralta changeup into left field, and hustling an RBI double out of it. The Mets scored their run in the frame with a throwing error by Joe Mack on a Luis Torrens sacrifice bunt, as the catcher was trying to move Marcus Semien over after a leadoff double.
The middle of the game was (mostly) all Marlins. Peralta, who was not helped out by his defense, was chased in the fifth inning after Otto Lopez drove in a run due to an ugly Vientos error at first base, and Kyle Stowers drove him home with a double down the right field line. A.J. Minter came in to clean up the inning and did just that, and got two outs in the sixth inning on top of it. Huascar Brazoban came in to relieve Minter and did well until the seventh, when a walk, a Liam Hick ground ball double that beat the shift down the third base line, and a sacrifice fly turned it into a 6-5 game. Brooks Raley got a king sized out after the sacrifice fly to end the threat with the lead intact.
The bottom of the seventh was retroactively incredibly important; in all honestly, they lose this game without it, and this recap is much more morose than matter-of-factly. Bo Bichette walked with one out. Juan Soto singled to make it first and third, and a pinch hitting M.J. Melendez sacrifice flew Bichette home to make it 7-5. The importance of that insurance run showed up immediately, as Tobias Myers served up a two run home run in the eighth to tie it at seven.
The bottom of the eighth and the entirety of the ninth went by scoreless, as we were sent to extras with a score of 7-7 (hence, the importance of that sacrifice fly). Austin Warren came in for Luke Weaver, who pitched well in the ninth, for the tenth and was great, getting out of the Rob Manfred-enforced jam to keep the score tied going into the bottom of the tenth.
Juan Soto, leading off the tenth, popped out on the first pitch, but M.J. Melendez hit a towering home run to push the Mets record to 24-33 on the season.
Big Mets winner: M.J. Melendez, +34% WPA Big Mets loser: Tobias Myers, -27% WPA Mets pitchers: -3% WPA Mets hitters: +53% WPA Teh aw3s0mest play: M.J. Melendez’s walk off home run, +30.7% WPA Teh sux0rest play: Owen Cassie’s two run home in in the eighth, -32% WPA
May 29, 2026; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Hurricanes left wing Taylor Hall (71) reacts after scoring an even strength goal against the Montreal Canadiens in game five of the Eastern Conference Final of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs during the first period at Lenovo Center. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-Imagn Images
James Guillory-Imagn Images
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The Carolina Hurricanes have finally broken through their Eastern Conference Final roadblock. Now comes the chance to play for the Stanley Cup for the first time in two decades.
Taylor Hall, Logan Stankoven and Eric Robinson scored in a dominating first period that helped push the Hurricanes past the Montreal Canadiens 6-1 on Friday night, closing a five-game series that sent the Eastern Conference’s top seed on to face Vegas for the Cup.
Jackson Blake and Shayne Gostisbehere added second-period goals that pushed the Hurricanes to a 5-0 lead entering the final period, while Seth Jarvis scoring into an empty net with 3:41 left. Frederik Andersen carried a shutout until midway through the third in net.
Carolina swept through the first two rounds of the playoffs, then regrouped from a Game 1 loss to the Canadiens after an extended between-rounds break to win four straight. That included a run of 10 straight goals going back to Andrei Svechnikov’s overtime winner in Game 3 before Montreal finally got on the board with Cole Caufield’s power-play score at 10:50 of the third.
That made the Hurricanes the first team to reach the Stanley Cup Final with only one loss since 1983, according to SportRadar, and the only team to do so since the league went to best-of-seven series in all four postseason rounds in 1987.
It was a long-awaited moment for the franchise, which is on an eight-year run of postseason appearances under Rod Brind’Amour. The Hurricanes have been a perennial contender in the East, yet they entered this series having gone 1-12 in the Eastern Conference Final under Brind’Amour — falling in sweeps to Boston in 2019 and Florida in 2023 before losing in five games to the Panthers in last year’s rematch.
But they were tested, and wounded, from those past postseason failures. Throw in their depth and talent, and the Hurricanes were finally ready to punch through for their third shot at the Cup since the former Hartford Whalers relocated to North Carolina before the 1997-98 season.
The last time the Hurricanes reached this point? Brind’Amour was the captain on a team that hoisted the Cup in a seven-game series against Edmonton in 2006.
After regrouping from a 6-2 loss in Game 1, the Hurricanes took control of the series from the young and skilled Canadiens — who had arrived at this round ahead of schedule after Game 7 road wins against Tampa Bay and Buffalo through the first two rounds. They won consecutive 3-2 overtime wins, then took Game 4 in a 4-0 road romp Wednesday.
Beyond the score, Carolina was getting to its smothering game in pressuring the Canadiens in their own end or shutting off most high-danger chances they could muster going the other way.
By midway through the second period, festive and rowdy Hurricanes fans were offering mocking “Olé! Olé! Olé! Olé!” chants with Carolina up 4-0. By the final two minutes, they were chanting “We want the Cup! We want the Cup!” as the Hurricanes closed this one out.
The Hurricanes and Canadiens took a moment to pay respects to the late Claude Lemieux ahead of Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final.
Shortly before the Hurricanes clinched a spot in the Stanley Cup Final with a 6-1 win over Montreal on Friday, the big screen at the Lenovo Center displayed a picture of Lemieux as players from both teams stood at center ice. Lemieux spent the first seven seasons of his career with the Canadiens.
“The hockey world lost a great champion yesterday with the passing of Claude Lemieux,” Hurricanes public address announcer Wade Minter told the crowd. “Known across the League as a fierce competitor, the winner of four Stanley Cups and known to our organization as a father and advisor.
A tribute to Claude Lemieux is displayed on the scoreboard prior to Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Montréal Canadiens at Lenovo Center on May 29, 2026 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Getty Images
“Claude left a lasting legacy on our great game. Our thoughts are with his family, friends and every player his life impacted.”
The fans in the stands then applauded as the screen panned to an image of Lemieux at a Canadiens’ playoff game just days before he tragically died at 60 years old by suicide at his family business in Florida on Thursday.
Authorities previously told The Post on Friday that Lemieux hanged himself in the back of the warehouse of the home-design business in Lake Park, Fla.
Lemieux, a Quebec native, was drafted by Montreal in 1983 and won his first cup with the team in 1986.
Claude Lemieux carries the torch in the opening ceremony of Game Three of the Eastern Conference Final of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs between the Montreal Canadiens and the Carolina Hurricanes at the Bell Centre. NHLI via Getty Images
“Today is a dark day for the Canadiens family and the entire hockey community. I wish to express my most sincere and deepest condolences to Claude’s family and loved ones,” Canadiens owner Geoff Molson said in a statement. “A fierce competitor who rose to the occasion in big moments, Claude was a relentless, courageous, and tenacious player who led the team to the highest honors.
“He embodied the very essence of being a Montreal Canadiens player. Today we mourn the untimely passing of one of our champions. Our thoughts are with his family on this difficult day.”
If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts or are experiencing a mental health crisis, you can call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org for free and confidential crisis counseling.
Canada's run ended one round earlier this year as Montreal bowed out in the conference finals following back-to-back losses in the Stanley Cup Final by the Edmonton Oilers.
Montreal pulled off Game 7 wins against the Tampa Bay Lightning and Buffalo Sabres and routed a rusty Hurricanes team 6-2 in Game 1.
But Carolina restored its aggressive forechecking in Game 2 and beyond, reeling off four consecutive wins and limiting the Canadiens to 43 shots over the first three wins.
Canadian teams already had a bad start to the postseason with the Toronto Maple Leafs' and Winnipeg Jets' playoff streaks ending. The Ottawa Senators and Edmonton Oilers made it, but they were knocked out in the first round.
The Canadiens are out now after a promising start.
The Canada drought happened after teams north of the border won from 1984-90, including two all-Canada finals. After Montreal won in 1993, the Vancouver Canucks lost in Game 7 of the 1994 final.
Here's a look at Canada's drought:
What led to Canada's Stanley Cup drought?
The poor value of the Canadian dollar, compared with the U.S. dollar, hurt teams north of the border because their revenue was in Canadian dollars but they paid players in U.S. dollars. It made it harder for Canadian teams to hang on to their stars until a salary cap (instituted in 2005) and revenue sharing helped the smaller markets.
At the same time, there was a migration south of the border. Arena issues led the Quebec Nordiques to move to Denver in 1995. The Colorado Avalanche won in their first season there after trading for Patrick Roy. The Winnipeg Jets moved to Arizona in 1996 and became the Coyotes (now Utah Mammoth). Canada got a team back in 2011 when the Atlanta Thrashers moved to Winnipeg and became the current Jets.
Only one team can win the Stanley Cup and the United States has 25 teams to Canada's seven.
Which team could end the drought?
The Canadiens seems like a good candidate, even with their fade in the conference finals.
They're young, but they'll grow together, and Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki, Juraj Slafkovsky and Lane Hutson are already playing great. Ivan Demidov shows promise and goalie Jakub Dobes showed he carry the team.
The Edmonton Oilers always have a chance with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on the team. They took a step back this year, leading to the firing of coach Kris Knoblauch. They'll have to find another solution to their goaltender and get a bump from the new coach. McDavid has two years left on his deal.
May 29, 2026; Houston, Texas, USA; Milwaukee Brewers left fielder Jackson Chourio (11) rounds the bases after hitting a home run during the fifth inning against the Houston Astros at Daikin Park. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images | Troy Taormina-Imagn Images
The Brewers didn’t look great tonight. They only got four hits. They had a couple of tough errors, one of which led directly to runs. They trailed for most of the game. But these Brewers don’t lie down. They managed to squeeze a couple of late runs across by a combination of grit and good baserunning, and the bullpen kept the Astros down for six innings. Trevor Megill did the rest, and the Brewers had their third extra-innings win of the season.
Christian Yelich got the Brewers off to an inauspicious start when he struck out on three pitches, the second and third of which he swung out despite being way out of the zone. After Jackson Chourio flew out on a fly ball, Turang struck out looking (also on three pitches), and Astros starter Kai-Wei Teng had a quick and easy first inning. Taylor Trammell started things for the Astros with an infield single, but an Isaac Paredes double play erased him. Yordan Alvarez put a scare into Milwaukee starter Coleman Crow when he scorched a ball to the warning track in center, but he hit it to the wrong spot—despite a 113 mph exit velocity on a 409-foot drive, Garrett Mitchell ran it down for the third out.
The Brewers did get a couple of runners on in the second inning. Jake Bauers drew a one-out walk, and advanced to third when Mitchell followed that with a base hit up the middle. But Bauers was a sitting duck at home when he broke on a Rengifo ground ball to third, and Sal Frelick was unable to come through with a two-out knock when he flew out to center.
David Hamilton made a nice play on a hard grounder from Christian Walker to start the bottom of the second, but the Astros got on the board with one out when Cam Smith hit is sixth homer of the season out to left. (It wasn’t a cheapie, either.) Pop outs by Braden Shewmake and Jake Meyers ended the inning, but Houston had an early 1-0 lead.
The Brewers had an immediate response through an unlikely source: David Hamilton. He led off the top of the third with a backhand slapshot to the Crawford Boxes in left field, an opposite-field shot for his first homer of the year (despite just 94 mph exit velocity and a measured 343 feet!). Teng recovered to get the top of the Brewer order all in a row, but Milwaukee had tied it up.
After Nick Allen popped out to start the bottom of the inning, Crow walked the nine-hole hitter, César Salazar. But Trammell became Crow’s first strikeout victim, and Paredes grounded to Hamilton who flipped to Turang for the third out. Garrett Mitchell drew a two-out walk in the top of the fourth, but Milwaukee got nothing else.
A Rengifo throwing error put the Brewers in hot water in the bottom of the fourth. After Alvarez walked to start the inning, Walker hit a ground ball to third. It probably wasn’t hit hard enough to turn two, but Rengifo rushed the throw and threw it into right field. On the very next pitch, Smith hit one to the gap in right center; Alvarez scored, and runners were on second and third with still no outs.
Milwaukee benefitted from bad Houston baserunning for the first out. Shewmake hit a grounder to a drawn-in Turang at second, and after he looked Walker back to third, he threw to second, where Smith was too far off the bag and was caught for the first out. Crow had a path out of the inning with runners on the corners and one out, but Meyers spoiled that when he hit a one-hopper off the wall in left for an RBI double. There were still runners on second and third with one out for Allen, who hit a fly ball to center that was plenty deep to score Shewmake from third. Salazar flew out to end the inning, but Houston scored three (two of them unearned) and led 4-1.
Once again, the Brewers had an answer right away. With two outs in the top of the fifth, Yelich drew a two-out walk, and Chourio finally got a sweeper that was over the plate, and he didn’t miss it. He crushed it, 431 feet, to left-center for his second homer of the season. After a walk for Turang, too, Contreras grounded out to end the inning, but Milwaukee had closed the gap to 4-3.
Crow was done after four—Rengifo’s error certainly didn’t help what was a somewhat disappointing day. DL Hall replaced him in the bottom of the fifth and started with strikeouts of Trammell and Paredes. He got Alvarez, too, on a silly little play; Alvarez hit one pretty much straight down and assumed it was a foul ball, but it trickled into fair territory and Contreras picked it up and tagged him out as he stood outside of the batter’s box.
Steven Okert, a lefty, replaced Teng in the sixth. Bauers tried to poke one at the Crawford Boxes to lead off the sixth, but it didn’t quite get there, and he became the first out of the inning. A slider got away from Okert with Mitchell at the plate and went right at his head; luckily Mitchell mostly got out of the way, and instead of getting hit on the helmet, it was a glancing blow to his upper back that didn’t even really seem to hurt. Mitchell tried to steal a couple of times on pitches that Rengifo fouled off, but Mitchell was a little too aggressive; Okert threw over and had Mitchell picked off, though he almost made it into second on the throw from Walker. In any case, Rengifo struck out and the inning ended.
With one out in the bottom of the sixth, Hall ran into a bit of trouble when he walked Smith and Shewmake in back-to-back plate appearances. But he got out of it quickly when Meyers followed with a second-pitch 4-6-3 double play. Okert had no trouble at all with Frelick, Hamilton, and Yelich in the top of the seventh, mowing down the three lefties in a row.
Grant Anderson replaced Hall for the bottom of the seventh, and he got through it with a pop out and two fly outs. Bryan Abreu came in for Okert in the eighth and started by throwing eight straight balls, walking Chourio and Turang. After a ninth straight ball to Contreras, he finally got one in the zone. A couple pitches later, Contreras hit a fly ball to center field for the first out, but Chourio tagged and made it to third.
That set up Jake Bauers with a good situation, but the Astros had had enough of one Bryan and switched to another, Bryan King. He also struggled to find the strike zone, and on a 3-1 pitch, Bauers hit a slow ground ball to second where the only play was to first base. Chourio scored to tie it, and Turang moved to second. Pat Murphy took an opportunity to use a weapon off the bench, but Andrew Vaughn, pinch-hitting for Mitchell, flew out to foul territory in right on the first pitch and the inning ended.
Now in a tie game, the Brewers went to the Vulture, Aaron Ashby. He struck out Paredes and Alvarez, and though Walker picked up a two-out single, Ashby needed just one more pitch to get Smith to ground out to short.
Could the Brewers get him a 10th win? With King still pitching, Rengifo lined out to right on the first pitch he saw. Frelick lined a solid single up the middle on a 3-2 pitch and put the go-ahead run on first with one out. The Brewers at this point decided to go with another pinch-hitter, Gary Sánchez, who hit for Hamilton. Sánchez popped up to shallow right—the second baseman, Allen, let the ball hit the grass so that he could throw Frelick, the faster runner, out at second, though that didn’t matter much anyway because Joey Ortiz was going to come in for Sánchez whether that was on the bases or in the bottom of the inning. So Ortiz was on first with two outs for Yelich, but he grounded out to end the inning. No win tonight for Ashby.
Abner Uribe was the Brewer pitcher, making his first appearance since “crotch-chop gate” against the Cardinals on Tuesday. The leadoff hitter in the bottom of the ninth was pinch-hitter Jeremy Peña, who was one of the better players in the league last season but has struggled while dealing with injuries in 2026. Peña should’ve grounded out, but Ortiz, who’d just entered the game, didn’t make a perfect throw and it got by Bauers (who honestly probably should’ve caught it). Ortiz was charged with an error; Meyers tried to bunt on the first pitch but swung away at the second; Rengifo, playing in to cover the potential bunt, didn’t have a play on a ground ball that probably would’ve been a double play with a regularly positioned defense. Tough luck, but the Astros had runners on first and second and nobody out.
Allen was definitely in to bunt, and he laid down a good one; it required a good (and kind of scary) play by Uribe to get him at first base, but the winning run was at third with one out. Christian Vázquez came in to pinch-hit for Salazar, facing a fully drawn-in infield. After a first-pitch ball, the Brewers chose to intentionally walk him to load the bases. The batter was not Trammell, but Brice Matthews, who’d entered as a defensive substitute an inning earlier. Uribe needed just three pitches to strike out Matthews looking, and the Brewers were one out away from a Houdini act. The batter was Paredes. A beneficial call in an 0-1 count made it 0-2, and there was nothing Paredes could do about it, as the Astros had burned both challenges early in the game. After a couple more pitches, Paredes popped out to Turang in shallow right, and the Brewers were out of it.
The new Houston pitcher in the tenth was Alimber Santa, who made his major-league debut on Monday when he pitched the last two innings of the Astros’ combined no-hitter. He started Chourio with three straight balls but worked the count back full before Chourio flew out to center. It wasn’t hit very deep, but Yelich challenged Meyers’ arm in center, and made it to third with one out. Turang jumped on the first pitch and hit a line drive to right—it was caught, but Yelich, who’d just moved to third with good baserunning, tagged and scored. Santa struck out Contreras to end the inning, but the Brewers had a 5-4 lead.
Megill replaced Uribe with pinch-runner Zach Dezenzo on second as the ghost runner and Alvarez at the plate. Walking Alvarez seemed like the obvious decision, but Megill had different ideas. The first pitch was a fastball on the upper inside corner for a called strike, a perfect pitch. The second one, he got away with: a fastball in the lower half that got a bit too much of the plate, but Alvarez mercifully missed it. The next pitch, a fastball on the outer half, surprised Alvarez, and he struck out looking. It was quite an at-bat.
Walker, the next batter, hit a fly ball to fairly deep right, which Frelick caught right on the edge of the warning track. Dezenzo tagged and moved to third, but Houston was down to their last out—in the form of Cam Smith, who’d already homered and doubled in this one. The Brewers got another fortunate call in Smith’s at-bat when he appeared to check his swing on a 2-1 pitch, but the first-base umpire disagreed; Smith was only able to get a tiny piece of the next pitch, a fastball in the upper part of the zone, and he was out on a foul tip. Milwaukee won, 5-4.
This felt like an unlikely win. The offense was lifeless for most of the game, and the Brewers had a couple of uncharacteristic defensive miscues that nearly cost them the game. But this is a team that doesn’t quit, and some timely manufactured offense along with six shutout innings from the bullpen gave them a win.
Crow wasn’t as bad as his line—four innings, four hits, two walks, one strikeout, four runs, two of which were earned—but he’ll hope for better days in the future. Hall looked great in his first inning and got through the second despite a couple of walks. Anderson and Ashby threw solid scoreless innings. Uribe worked around the throwing error that nearly handed Houston the game. And Megill was extremely impressive in the 10th.
Offensively, Milwaukee managed only four hits, but they did what they needed to do. Two of those hits were homers, Hamilton’s first and Chourio’s second. Yelich’s baserunning in the 10th didn’t show up in the box score, but the run he scored did. Bauers and Turang both went hitless but both knocked in runs (and each drew a walk).
Milwaukee now has two chances to win the series. The first of those comes tomorrow afternoon at 3:10 p.m., when Brandon Sproat takes on Peter Lambert.
Rangers batters saw a lot of the back of Stephen Kolek’s jersey tonight | Getty Images
It has been said that when Stephen Kolek is getting ground outs in the first inning, you can tell it’s going to be a good night. Unfortunately, Kolek didn’t get a groundball until the seventh batter he faced in the first inning, and Nick Loftin turned that into an error. But let’s back up a bit.
In the top of the first, Mackenzie Gore was not fooling anyone. Lane Thomas struck out swinging on a well-located fastball, but Bobby Witt Jr. barrelled a line drive to center at 107.4 for the second out. Maikel Garcia then lined a single to center at 103.8 MPH, Salvador Perez smoked a double down the line at 105.7 MPH. Starling Marte, with runners at second and third but two outs, smoked a ground ball up the middle at 102.1 MPH that old friend Nicky Lopez turned into an inning-ending groundout despite its expected batting average (xBA) of .590.
The bottom of the inning had the Rangers also put a runner at second and third with two outs. Backup infielder Ezequiel Duran hit a line drive to center with a .990 xBA to score them both. Two errors later, two more runs had scored. If that first inning isn’t exemplary of the Royals’ 2026 – failing to drive in runners despite a moderately good effort, followed by giving up runs in the exact same situation, and then crumpling – I don’t know what is.
What makes it the most frustrating is that, during the good stretch the Royals had for a couple of weeks, they were playing some of the most resilient baseball I’ve ever seen in my entire life. But the rest of the time, they have the resiliency of wet single-ply.
Anyway, I don’t think we need to recap in detail every single moment of this game. One particularly frustrating moment was when Steven Cruz, pitching the sixth inning, allowed a two-run home run to Nicky Lopez. That was Lopez’s eighth career MLB home run in his eighth MLB season. He hadn’t hit one since 2024 until tonight. The Royals scored their lone run in the ninth inning when Rangers reliever Gavin Colyer, the first right-hander the Royals saw all night, walked Maikel Garcia and Salvador Perez to lead off the inning before giving up a nice single to Vinnie Pasquantino. He still got two strikeouts and a pop-up to end the game.
One of the most consistent complaints about the Royals this year by fans – including yours truly – is that the Royals aren’t just bad, they’re also not really doing anything about it. Vinnie and Salvy not only still bat 3-4 most nights, but they’ve literally had three days off between them. Jac Caglianone and Carter Jensen still get benched for every lefty despite doing slightly better against them than Vinnie.
The Royals have also had multiple opportunities to shake things up with off-days following disastrous series that they’ve completely ignored. I sat down with the FanGraphs transaction tracker and determined that the Royals have the fourth-fewest transactions in MLB since the season started, ahead of only the Padres, Cardinals, and Rangers. That includes promotions, demotions, signings, releases, and IL movement. They’ve also still got the entire coaching staff they started the year with.
They are not behaving remotely like a team that feels any urgency about their predicament. One of the reasons they were able to bounce back last season to finish 82-80 was that they acted with urgency during the season, even if they could have used some more in the previous offseason. We haven’t seen any urgency in either the most recent offseason or this season, and it’s gotten pretty old.
Anyway, the Royals will try again tomorrow afternoon. Seth Lugo (3.74 ERA) will face off against Kumar Rocker (3.96 ERA). The game will start at 3:05 PM CDT. I no longer expect anything to change or anything interesting to happen.
Miguel Vargas provided most of the offense for the White Sox on Friday.
The margins for error in baseball are incredibly slim. So far this season, the White Sox have taken advantage of opportunities afforded to them, which is why they’re seeing success early in the season. Coming into tonight’s game, they knew they’d have to take advantage of their chances with budding Detroit ace Troy Melton on the mound.
The Tigers have been awful so far this season, and much of their struggles are due to their lack of offense. They came into the game ranked 24th in runs scored, and the White Sox knew they wouldn’t need to put much on the board to get a win. Unfortunately, the South Siders looked like they were playing with Wiffle ball bats for the first eight innings, as they went 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position and were held to one run.
And that’s not even mentioning the ugly takeaway from this game, in spite of the win: In the bottom of the third, star slugger Munetaka Murakami left the game with hamstring tightness running out a ground ball (postgame, the White Sox indicated an IL stint and a couple of weeks out for Mune).
Hits weren’t much of an issue for the White Sox overall — it was the timing of those hits that was. Chicago outhit the Tigers, 10-4, but it was Detroit that had the upper hand for most of the game. While the Tigers also struggled hitting with runners on, going just 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position, their struggles were offset by a second-inning Dillon Dingler dinger on an Erick Fedde changeup that quite simply had no right to be hit out of the park.
It was an odd change for a White Sox team that was so successful hitting with runners in scoring position against the Minnesota Twins in their last series. The bats will always go cold from time to time, but this game was a stark contrast to the team that hit .311 with RISP over their last four games.
To their credit, the White Sox faithful did everything they could to rally their team. The tarps came off in the stands in the top of the ninth and much like in St. Louis earlier this month, it resulted in a successful rally as the White Sox were able to tie the game on a Rikuu Nishida sacrifice bunt in the bottom of the ninth:
In a long baseball season, these nights are bound to happen to even the best of teams. The difference between the average teams and the good ones is that the good teams find a way to win. The Tigers plated a run in the top of the 10th, and were one out from stealing this win back and possibly turning around their season.
However, the White Sox and Miguel Vargas had other plans. Vargas connected on a juicy changeup from Bengals veteran Drew Anderson and delivered a game-winning bomb that may have been picked up on the radar over at O’Hare. The 30,019 fans went ballistic, and the South Side is surely starting to believe there is magic in the air:
Not many people would’ve expected this result after watching the game, but that’s been Chicago’s M.O. It wasn’t pretty, but the boys scratched and clawed their way and clearly never gave up hope. Only the players and manager truly know exactly what has changed this year in the locker room, but it is clear that their belief in themselves has taken this team to an entirely different level.
For a team that looked like a dead man walking for the majority of the night, they shocked back to life at the perfect time. With the win, the White Sox now have two more cracks at the Tigers to take the series before hitting the road for a six-game stretch.
As almost every game in Charlotte has been for him in 2026, Jacob Gonzalez had another big performance for the Knights on Friday before leaving for Chicago. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
Charlotte Knights 12, Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp 4 Although Charlotte unleashed another storm of runs onto poor Jacksonville, the biggest headline is Jacob Gonzalez’s departure. He collected three hits, including his 19th bomb, and a stolen base before Jason Matthews replaced him in the sixth.
Why, you may ask?
Jacob Gonzalez called out on an inside slider. He has now been pulled from the game.
Gonzalez’s removal lines up with Munetaka Murakami being pulled from the parent club’s game after reporting hamstring tightness. Austin Hays, still on a rehab assignment from the big club, was also removed early, with no signs of injury or fatigue. Not long after the end of the White Sox game came confirmation that Murakami will be hitting the IL, and that Gonzalez indeed will be his replacement on the White Sox roster. Perhaps Hays will ride Gonzalez’s coattails to Chicago and reclaim his roster spot.
The good news appears to be that even sans Gonzalez, the Knights lineup will fare just fine. Mario Camilletti and Braden Montgomery, who can hold down the fort as the dynamic duo at the top of the order, tonight combined for five runs and two RBIs with five walks. And though Garrett Schoenle uncharacteristically gave up a pair of runs in the seventh, his 1.98 ERA in 10 games has helped stabilize Charlotte’s bullpen.
Charlotte will definitely be in better shape without Gonzalez than Chicago without Murakami, so let’s hope Jacob can bring his Knights firepower to the South Side.
Pensacola Blue Wahoos 3, Birmingham Barons 2 Bham dropped the ball on what should’ve been its 19th win. The Barons clung to Alec Makarewicz’s sac fly in the first and Jeral Perez’s bases-juiced walk to stay in the game while the bullpen did the legwork. The relief crew did a stellar job recovering from Jake Palisch’s fifth-inning stumble, where he gave up a two-run double that knotted the contest at two each. Jacob Heatherly gave up the only relief run, while Jackson Kelley and Jarold Rosado kept the Blue Wahoos off the board even while faced with a sacks-packed, two-out situation in the eighth.
A walk-off win seemed in sight. Wilfred Veras drew a leadoff walk and Drake Logan singled to quickly get two on with none out. Samuel Zavala grounded into a double play, pushing Veras to third but cutting Bham’s chances significantly. Colby Shelton was hit by a pitch, but the rally ended abruptly on Makarewicz’s fly out. With 10 left on base and going 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position, a walk-off win would’ve been Bham’s saving grace. But this loss, sadly, was deserved.
Rome Emperors 3, Winston-Salem Dash 2 Rome evened the series with Winston-Salem at two apiece after the Dash lineup failed to translate runners in scoring position into runs. Despite knocking one more hit than the Emperors, going 0-for-11 with runners on second and third and stranding eight on base stifled the Dash. Liam Paddack rung up eight through four scoreless innings to start the game, but they were wasted as the lineup did little until the eighth, when Rome’s Elison Joseph handed two runs to the Dash with a wild pitch and a balk. Outside of Joseph’s mistakes, the Dash would have been shut out. This loss was on the lineup.
Augusta GreenJackets 8, Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 1 Adrian Gil played hero on both sides of the ball in Kanny’s struggle to stay in the game. He put the Ballers’ only run on the board with a solo shot to left field with two outs in the ninth inning, and that came AFTER he supplied two scoreless innings on the bump in this 8-1 blowout. Talk about carrying the team.
Outside of Gil’s efforts and Landen Payne’s 2 1/3 shutout frames, the CBs were nowhere to be found. The lineup strung together six hits and the game got out of hand in the second when starter Caedmon Parker a gave up a three-run jack. Thing devolved quickly as the GreenJackets put up eight mostly unanswered runs off small ball. It definitely wasn’t a memorable game. Oh well, onto the next one.
ACL White Sox 6, ACL Dodgers 3 (7 innings) The ACL Sox got an early jump on the ACL Dodgers, and turned that into an easy victory. Jose Mendoza put the Complexers on the board in the first with his RBI single, and Yordani Soto added three with a homer over the right field wall. In the second, Jurdrick Profar tacked on two more insurance runs with another moonshot, and Marcelo Alcala supplied a sixth insurance run. These runs provided plenty of padding for Fidel Montero, who swiftly saw his lead halved in the third when he gave up a three-run shot to Aidan West. Fortunately, Montero’s slip was the only blunder on the Sox side, as Jeremy Gonzalez and Jesus Mendez closed the final four outs and struck out five.
