PORTLAND, OREGON - FEBRUARY 03: Mark Williams #15 of the Phoenix Suns goes to the basket against Donovan Clingan #23 of the Portland Trail Blazers during the second half at Moda Center on February 03, 2026 in Portland, Oregon. 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 Soobum Im/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Phoenix Suns now await the Portland Trail Blazers tonight in Downtown Phoenix.
This is who most Suns fans wanted in this game, but as the old saying goes: “Be careful what you wish for.” Avoiding Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers is great, but as we all know, getting what you wish for isn’t always a blessing in the NBA. The Portland Trail Blazers are a sneaky, deep, and athletic team. I do not expect the Suns to take them lightly.
Phoenix finished the regular season 45-37, good for the 7th seed. Portland finished a few games behind them at 42-40, which locked them into the 8th seed thanks to a tiebreaker over the Clippers.
1) Recent History: Means Nothing
The Suns won 2 of 3 games against Portland this season, with their lone loss coming in a game where they didn’t have Devin Booker, Dillon Brooks, and Grayson Allen. They scored 77 points in that game. Phoenix blew them out by 17 in the opening meeting and won by five in the 2nd contest.
Last 10 Games
Suns — 5-5 (W1)
Blazers — 7-3 (W3)
We can throw all of that out the window now. None of it matters. As we saw in the 2024 series against Minnesota, the Suns swept them in the regular season only to get swept in the playoffs. These regular-season matchups don’t mean much. By the time the playoffs roll around, teams are typically much different versions of themselves.
2) Injury Report: Positive News
We’ve all seen it by now, and the injury report looked like a never-ending CVS receipt. It’s common this time of year for “injuries” to occur out of thin air as teams prepare for the playoffs, especially in the final days of the season.
The updated report shows some GREAT news! Grayson Allen is the only one who appears on the injury report for Phoenix. That does not mean they’re out of the woods by any means, as this is the time of year players will often play through nagging injuries. Here’s to hoping they are all as close to 100% as they can be.
Grayson Allen (left hamstring soreness) is listed as questionable for the Suns tomorrow against the Blazers.
One key matchup that will not draw as many headlines will be the big man matchup between Mark Williams and Donovan Clingan. Phoenix also has Oso Ighodaro and Khaman Maluach (unlikely the rook gets burn in a playoff setting) to throw at Portland’s big man if they need bodies or Williams finds himself in foul trouble.
Apr 7, 2026; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Phoenix Suns center Mark Williams (15) celebrates with Devin Booker (1) against the Houston Rockets in the first half at Mortgage Matchup Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
Portland is a bottom-4 defense against centers this season. This is where I would love to see a “Book-Mark” duo thrive in the P&R, forcing the Blazers to make tough decisions in their defensive rotations. Phoenix must take advantage of and hunt mismatches in the halfcourt.
Donovan Clingan and Robert Williams vs. Mark Williams and Oso Ighodaro. Let’s get it.
4) Playoff Play-In Book
We’ve seen the levels that Devin Booker is capable of reaching in important games. They’re going to need that version of him in a single-game elimination environment.
He’s entering the contest healthy and playing some of his best basketball of the season. Phoenix’s offense hums when he is in rhythm without forcing it, which means his teammates are going to need to knock down shots to keep Portland’s defense honest. Portland will do everything it can to throw that rhythm off and disrupt him.
Jrue Holiday has experience guarding Booker in big moments (too soon), and the Blazers have size and athleticism across the board to make it tough for him. As long as Book plays under control and within the flow of the offense, I expect a big game out of him.
Whether it’s by dropping 30+ points (efficiently) or through his playmaking chops and gravity for everyone else… we need a vintage Booker performance in this one.
5) Role Players at home
This is what swings games. Which role players will rise to the occasion? Historically speaking, role players always tend to play better at home come playoff time. Could it be a Royce O’Neale game that propels Phoenix? Will Jordan Goodwin’s chaotic energy lift them when they need it most? Or will it be a Collin Gillespie masterclass? Oh, and PLEASE DO NOT BE AFRAID TO PLAY RASHEER FLEMING IN THIS ONE. Sorry for the Jae Crowder all-caps moment, just had to emphasize it.
We shall see. Either way, Phoenix will need everyone to pitch in. Portland has a deep team as well, so the bench units, even if they aren’t tapped into as much as the regular season, will be vital in this one. If Phoenix’s role guys get outplayed by Portland on their own floor, the margin for error for Devin Booker, Dillon Brooks, and Jalen Green shrinks dramatically offensively.
So, who will it be tonight? Shoot your shot in the comments.
Davis Martin turned in the South Siders’ lone quality start of the week, tossing seven sharp innings with no walks and just two runs allowed against the Royals. | (Jay Biggerstaff/Getty Images)
The Chicago White Sox went 2–5 this week. In many ways, that alone could serve as the recap. But even in a rough stretch, there were a few bright spots worth noting, and a few areas that weren’t so encouraging. Those themes break down into two familiar buckets: hitting and pitching.
PITCHING
In the interest of your actually reading this article, let’s start with the bright spot that was pitching this week. In the last seven days, South Side pitching has a team ERA of 2.94. You might recall from last week that the hurlers weren’t good in the first three series. They came out of the gate with a team ERA of 6.00+. With this incredibly solid week of pitching, both from starters and the bullpen, it is now sitting at a more respectable 4.70. That is good enough to move from 29th in the league to 26th.
Big performances came specifically from the starting pitching.
Erik Fedde played in two games, started one, and gave up just three earned runs over 11 innings pitched. He also struck out eight batters and walked just two.
Davis Martin gave the White Sox their only quality start of the week in a loss to the Royals on Friday. In seven innings, he allowed two runs, walked no one, and struck out three.
Anthony Kay would have gotten a quality start if they had let him stay out for one more out. Instead, he pitched 5 2/3 innings of shutout baseball, striking out six and walking two along the way.
Sean Burke went five innings in a 5-3 loss to the Orioles on Wednesday. He only gave up two runs and was set to get the win until Sims came in and blew the lead.
Honorable mention goes to Shane Smith, who, manager Will Venable pulled in the fourth inning of Tuesday’s start after throwing 99 pitches in 3 2/3 innings. He struck out an astonishing eight batters, but also walked five in his short scoreless outing. It was not enough for him to avoid an option back to Triple-A. He now finds himself in Charlotte trying to get back on track after a rough start to the season.
While the starters stepped up in big ways, the bullpen has some work to do. The offense gave the bullpen a lead on both Tuesday and Wednesday, and they blew them both. Which, if they had won, would have given them a 4-3 record for the week rather than 2-5.
However, pitching cannot protect a lead if the offense doesn’t keep extending it. This brings us to the bummer part of the weekly recap. The one where I tell you the offense didn’t show up and cost the White Sox games they had in reach.
HITTING
Let’s play a game I like to call “How many games were in between the Pale Hose’s most recent home runs?” You get until the end of this sentence to guess. If you said seven, you would be correct. On Saturday, April 4, both Munetaka Murakami and Colson Montgomery homered in a 6-3 win against the Blue Jays. The next time the Good Guys hit a home run was on Sunday, April 12. Tanner Murray hit a two-run bomb to give the White Sox an early lead over the Royals. Props to the rookie for his first major league dinger.
Speaking of rookies, in the top of the seventh on Sunday, Dustin Harris entered the game for Derek Hill. The lefty took a 1-1 changeup nearly out of the ballpark. He would eventually come around to score the winning run on a wild pitch.
Harris also wanted to have himself a day and robbed a home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to keep the White Sox in front.
Exciting rookie accomplishments aside, the South Siders scored a total of 14 runs last week. That is an average of two runs a game. The Royals shut out the Sox on back-to-back nights in Kansas City; they averaged nine strikeouts a game, and only walked 24 times. To put it lightly, there is much work to be done.
I could throw more numbers at you about how low the White Sox rank in various categories or some decent plays on the defense, but truly, this is all you missed last week. The simple game of trying to get all three aspects of baseball (hitting, pitching, defense) clicking into gear at the same time is becoming a challenge for the Chicago club. A tale as old as time, but with many younger faces this time.
After an off-day on Monday, the club starts a three-game set with the Tampa Bay Rays at The Rate on Tuesday at 6:40 p.m. CST, and there are a few things worth highlighting.
Noah Schultz is getting the call! The wait is over, and the 22-year-old southpaw will make his major league debut on Tuesday. The Oswego East High School alum will face off against lefty veteran Shane McClanahan. It is the next step in the wave of bringing up players from this young farm system. The rookie is 3-0 in Charlotte and has struck out 19, walked two, and given up just two earned runs in 14 innings.
Also of note, Chicago traded Lenyn Sosa to the Blue Jays for minor league outfielder Jordan Rich and a player to be named later, or cash considerations. This appears to be a classic Reinsdorf trade. At this time, I have no opinion or clue on who Rich is, but I can only hope this pans out for Sosa in Toronto.
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 09: Troy Johnston #20 of the Colorado Rockies looks on during the seventh inning against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park on April 09, 2026 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Back on November 5, 2025, when the Colorado Rockies claimed INF/OF Troy Johnston off waivers, the move seemed fairly insignificant.
At the time, the Rockies rebuild was in its early stages with key front office positions remaining unfilled, so their thinking on claiming Johnston was unclear.
In spring training, however, Johnston’s potential became clear:
He’s a lefty batter in a lineup dominated by righties
He plays both first base and the outfield
He had a good showing early on that got him one of the last open spots on the Rockies roster as they left Scottsdale
It’s too early to have much meaningful data on the 2026 season, but Johnston’s initial numbers are promising. In 50 plate appearances, he’s slashed .283/.327/.478 with a 114 wRC+. His time between first and the outfield has been roughly equal.
For Johnston, it’s all in a day’s work. In a recent interview, he discussed joining the Rockies and adjusting to elevation, playing multiple positions, and that walk-up song everyone’s talking about.
Making adjustments
A native of Washington State, Johnston knows his way around the West Coast, but it’s been a minute given that the Marlins drafted him in 2019. Still, Johnston is finding his way around the Mountain West.
“Getting used to the weather, getting used to the travel, getting used to playing teams that I’ve never played before is all very new to me,” Johnston said.
But he’s not worried.
“It’s still baseball. You’ve still got to hit the ball, still got to have a good approach, still got to be athletic, still got to scout and do all this kind of stuff,” he said. “Every day is not the same. You have to prepare differently. You have to train differently for whatever you’re trying to accomplish that day. But I’m trying to adjust and have fun and be the best teammate that I can.”
Wherever he’s playing, Johnston has learned to relax.
“I’ve been playing baseball professionally a long time. I know it hasn’t been in the big leagues, but when you try to put the ball in play, and you just try to make things happen and don’t press too much, sometimes good things happen.”
Then there’s the matter of elevation, which Johnston said he first noticed in his sleep habits.
“I feel like I have not been sleeping very well,” he said, “because I’ve been up in Washington [where] I’m at sea level. I’m up in Seattle and over in Florida, you’re at sea level. I’ve got the humidity, all that kind of stuff. Here, the air is very thin, and it’s very cold, and so that’s very different than what I’m used to. So I’ve been trying to find different techniques, different things that can kind of cope with that.”
Then again, there may be more than elevation at work.
“But I also do have an 11-month-old who’s teething,” Johnston added with a smile. “So as much as I am trying to do my best, she’s also keeping me awake a bit. But we love her, and we’ll keep her around.”
He’s aware, too, of the on-field effects of playing at 5280, something he first noticed at the end of last season when the Marlins visited Coors Field. Although Johnston noted the change in pitch movement, he was especially struck by how the ball flew, setting up a situation that requires vigilance on the part of defenders.
“I do understand in the outfield, the ball will travel and it’ll kind of carry on you. As long as you’re thinking about that while you’re tracking the baseball, things happen a little bit better,” he said. “But if you’re not prepared for it, that’s where it’ll sneak up on you.”
Johnston added, “I feel like the pop-ups in the infield are fairly normal, but I think those, those deep, mid-level drives out to the outfield in the gaps down the lines, those are where you see the big difference.”
Being versatile
The Rockies’ new front office has emphasized the need for versatility. It’s another part of Johnston’s game that requires his attention, most notably in terms of preparation.
“A lot of it is just mental preparedness and making sure I get my reps, preparing for what I need to do that day, whether it’s playing in the infield, playing in the outfield,” Johnston said. “I feel like I’m comfortable at any position.”
He recognizes, though, that versatility is a key part of his game.
“That was the big thing of why the Rockies claimed me off waivers from Miami was that I can play multiple positions.”
Since he was drafted as an outfielder, first base has been a position added to his toolkit, but he doesn’t have a positional preference.
“There’s no actual theory behind this,” he said, “but for me, being an outfielder is just a glorified DH. That’s all it is. You’re just out there. You’re hanging out, kicking grass, doing whatever.”
But that changes in an instant.
“When the ball does come to you in the outfield, there’s a really, really high pressure. You need to catch the ball. You need to get it into the right guy,” Johnston said, adding, “When we’re in the infield, you’re locked in pretty much all nine innings. Maybe in the outfield, you can get away with taking one pitch off.”
He’s just ready to do what’s asked of him.
“I’ve told [manager Warren Schaeffer] this a lot. I will do anything he needs me to do. If he asked me to play shortstop in the ninth, if he asked me to play third base and bat first, it does not matter. I will do anything, whatever they need.”
“She picked it,” Johnston explained, “and she thought it was so funny.”
Here’s how it happened.
“We were going up in January,” he said, ‘and I was like, ‘You know, I need a walk up song. Spring training is coming around. I need something. What do you think?’ And she goes, ‘“Mambo No. 5.’ And I go, ‘That’s the worst walk-up song I’ve ever heard my entire life.’ And she goes, ‘I promise you: It’ll bring its good vibes. The fans will like it. They’ll get interactive.’ And she did this whole little dance routine with it. And I thought it was so funny. I didn’t really have a lot of other options in my mind. So I was like, ‘You know, I’ll try it, and see what works.’
As it turns out, it did.
“But it was funny,” he said, smiling. “There was somebody that tweeted something out and said, ‘Troy Johnston’s walk up song is just so fitting for him,’ and I hated it so much, because, of course, my wife is usually right.”
Appreciating what the Rockies are building
Johnston also draws contrasts between his current situation and where he was in Miami.
“A lot of people are talking about the Rockies and how things have been in the past, but this is a new team,” Johnston said.
“We’re hungry. We want to win. It’s kind of our motto.”
Plus, there’s a Rockies fandom eager for winning.
“Coming from the Miami Marlins, when I walked around Miami, I never saw a Miami Marlins jersey. I never saw a Marlins hat. I saw nothing,” Johnston said.
“When I’m walking around downtown Denver, they’re really excited about the Rockies. They want the Rockies to be good. This is a sports town. We are trying to put a good product on the field. Paul [DePodesta] has done a great job of that. I’ve never seen so many supporters of one team that I’ve actually been a part of and that I’ve been on. So this city and this team wants to win, we’re going to try to put the best product every night and do our best to win.”
Continuing our look at Troy Johnston on is Tuesday is Eli Whitney over at Blake Street Banter. Here he provides another perspective on the utility player.
Carlos Collazo has the Rockies selecting AJ Gracia, an outfielder from the University of Virginia. As Collazo writes, “How the Rockies and their new front office draft this year will be one of the most interesting storylines to watch. It sounds like they’ve spent a lot of time on college players this spring and, at least for some teams, Gracia is closer to Strosnider in the college outfield pecking order than the others. He has a patient and selective approach that leads to lots of walks. His career walk rate is right around 18-19%, and he has the bat-to-ball skills that limit his strikeouts.”
SARASOTA, FL - MARCH 20: Joseph Dzierwa #67 of the Baltimore Orioles pitches during the game between the Boston Red Sox and the Baltimore Orioles at Ed Smith Stadium on Friday, March 20, 2026 in Sarasota, Florida. (Photo by Vincent Mizzoni/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
Welcome to the second installment of Camden Chat’s minor league weekly recap. All four of the Orioles’ full-season affiliates are up and running with their usual six-game weeks, and there have been quite a few early standout performances. Let’s jump right into it.
Triple-A Norfolk Tides
Last week: 2-4 vs. Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (Marlins)
Coming week: at Durham Bulls (Rays)
Season record: 5-10, tied for last place (6.0 GB) in International League East
Tides hitters struggled to get, you know…hits. They had only 25 hits in 179 at-bats in this series, a wretched .140 batting average that was worst in the International League by far. They slugged just .218, also a distant last place in the IL this week. No Tides hitter had more than three hits the entire week. In Creed Willems’ case, at least, two of those were dingers, and he now has a .918 OPS in 12 games this year. Willems didn’t quite make the cut for Camden Chat’s composite top 20 prospect rankings, but he was an honorable mention. At 22 years old and in his first experience at Triple-A, Willems probably isn’t a candidate for a big-league call-up immediately, but he’ll put himself on the radar if he keeps hitting like this.
Enrique Bradfield Jr. (#7 prospect) returned from a six-day absence after he ran into a wall on April 2. He was hitless in two of his three starts this week but was great in the other, hitting a homer and driving in all four Tides runs in a comeback win on Friday.
I don’t mean to alarm anyone, but a rehabbing Jackson Holliday, after going 2-for-19 this week, is hitting .167 with a .453 OPS in 11 games. At what point does, “Ah, he’s just rusty,” turn into, “Wait, something is really wrong here”? Holliday’s maximum 20-day rehab stint is almost over, and you have to wonder if the O’s will consider just optioning him to the minors once he comes off the IL. He hasn’t shown he’s ready to hit Triple-A pitching, let alone big league pitching. Hamate injuries are complicated.
The starting rotation is where this Norfolk club is really intriguing, and the Big Three — prospects Trey Gibson (#5), Nestor German (#11), and Levi Wells (#16) — each pitched well this week. They combined for a 1.20 ERA, allowing only two earned runs in 15 innings. Wells was the most impressive of the bunch, racking up six strikeouts in 5.1 innings, and the two runs he gave up were both unearned. But the best starting performance for Norfolk came from Brandon Young, who followed up his five shutout innings with the Orioles last week by throwing six shutout, one-hit innings for the Tides on Sunday. I have a feeling he’ll be back in Baltimore sometime soon.
Coming week: at New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Blue Jays)
Season record: 6-3, third place (2.0 GB) in Eastern League Southwest
The first full week of Chesapeake’s season was a resounding success, as the club was a win shy of a six-game sweep. The Baysox have been led by their pitching staff, which has a lot of guys who strike out a lot of dudes. The 112 Ks by Chesapeake pitchers this season are tops in the Eastern League. This week, left-hander Sebastian Gongora, an 11th-round pick in 2024, had 13 of them — and no walks — in his two starts, giving up only two runs in 9.1 innings. Gongora, who last year struggled to a 5.53 ERA for two affiliates, is starting things off on a better note in 2026.
The most notable pitcher on this roster is lefty prospect Luis De León (#9). His second start of the year was a workmanlike five-inning, three-run performance. Lefty Micah Ashman and righty Tyson Neighbors, two relievers acquired at last year’s trade deadline who are dark-horse O’s bullpen candidates later this year, combined for six innings, no earned runs, and 12 strikeouts this week.
At the plate, 2024 second-round pick Ethan Anderson was the star this week with nine hits, four more than any of his teammates. Seven games into the season, Anderson is slashing .429/.600/.571 with more walks (eight) than strikeouts (five). He’s aiming to put a disappointing 2025 season behind him. Anderson was one of six Baysox batters to homer this week, along with infielder Aron Estrada (#13), among others. Shortstop Griff O’Ferrall homered but was otherwise 0-for-17 in the series.
Coming week: vs. Hudson Valley Renegades (Yankees)
Season record: 4-4, fourth place (2.5 GB) in South Atlantic League North
The Keys’ lineup is loaded with top prospects — Nate George (#3), Ike Irish (#4), and Wehiwa Aloy (#6) — but the hitter who stole the show this week was first baseman Victor Figueroa, acquired in last year’s six-player trade package for Ryan O’Hearn and Ramón Laureano. The 22-year-old bashed his second and third home runs of the season. Figueroa is probably not a real prospect, but dingers are dingers.
As for those big-name guys, Irish fared the best this week with a 5-for-16 showing, including a homer. Aloy was 5-for-21 with a roundtripper of his own, while George posted a 4-for-17 week. Irish, last year’s first round pick, has a .988 OPS through his first five games at the High-A level. The O’s drafted him as a catcher but he has yet to play behind the plate this season. He’s made three starts at first base and two in right field.
It’s not just hitters who are opening eyes at Frederick. The Keys’ staff is led by a dynamic 1-2 punch of Joseph Dzierwa (#14) and JT Quinn (#19). Dzierwa, a lefty with pinpoint control, has been garnering attention since his Spring Breakout performance and continues to shove for the Keys. He threw seven innings of two-run ball this week, following six shutout frames in his pro debut the previous week. The Orioles normally limit the innings of their prospects early in the season, but Dzierwa has been so efficient with his pitches — 80 or fewer each time — that they haven’t needed to cut him short.
Meanwhile, the righty Quinn — selected 11 picks after Dzierwa in last year’s draft, at #69 — blew away the Dash with 10 strikeouts in 4.2 scoreless frames this week. He too is off to a sensational start to his pro career, with a 1.00 ERA and 16 Ks in his first nine innings. Another pitching prospect, Juaron Watts-Brown (#15) is also at this level and made his season debut with 3.2 scoreless, hitless innings. That trio has upstaged the 6-foot-8 Boston Bateman (#10), the prize of the Padres trade last summer. Bateman bombed this week, coughing up seven runs in 5.2 innings over two outings.
After playing their first eight games of the season on the road, the Keys have their home opener tonight. It’s their first time playing in Frederick as an O’s affiliate since 2019. Shake those keys!
Season record: 3-6, tied for fourth place (4.0 GB) in Carolina League North
We’ll move from the Orioles’ most interesting affiliate, the Keys, to their least interesting one (sorry, Shorebirds). There’s just not a lot of big-name O’s prospect talent at the Low-A level. Only two players from the Camden Chat top 20 are currently with Delmarva, led by right-hander Esteban Mejia (#8). He suffered a terrible start this week, giving up three runs and four hits without getting out of the first inning.
If we’re looking for standout pitching performances, could I interest you in Braeden Sloan? The lefty reliever, a 17th-round pick last year, retired 10 of the 11 batters he faced, striking out eight of them. Low-A veteran Kiefer Lord also was K-happy this week, notching 10 of his 11 outs on strikeouts.
The lone ranked hitting prospect on this team is outfielder Jordan Sanchez (#17), who homered this week. This week’s best hitter was infielder Joshua Liranzo, who homered, drove in five, and drew a team-leading seven walks. Liranzo, a Dominican native, was part of the Orioles’ 2023 international signing class.
As Mark noted last week, changes to the SBNation publishing platform have left us unable to post polls, so we’ll no longer get to vote on a minor league player of the week. But you can always leave a comment below and tell us who your pick would be. Does Ethan Anderson’s nine-hit week or Creed Willems’ two dingers stand out to you? Do you prefer Joseph Dzierwa’s latest quality start? Or someone else entirely? Let us know.
Javier Assad took the ball to Citizens Bank Park and attempted to throw it past the Phillies. Cristopher Sánchez tried to continue his skein of really good pitching. Both teams stood at 7-8 at the outset, the onset, the preface as it were.
The Phillies look like they are holding a Jayson Werth lookalike contest.
Javier Assad has an ERA now. Kyle Schwarber did what he does, his fifth and sixth, driving in three runs. Cubs should have kept that guy. But you know that.
But the Phillies continued to pull away. The Cubs did hold a late rally, so there’s something silver in the cloud for today.
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Please be reminded that Cub Tracks and Bleed Cubbie Blue do not necessarily endorse the content of articles, podcasts, or videos that are linked to in this series. Thanks for reading. À bientôt. Good luck, Jeff!
Apr 12, 2026; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Royals pitcher Noah Cameron (65) pitches during the first inning against the Chicago White Sox at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images | Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images
Seems like a slow news day.
Vahe Gregorian writes about the Royals start to the season.
The Royals’ starting rotation entered the game with a 2.56 ERA — second in MLB only to the Yankees (2.50). Meanwhile, its offense with 54 runs through Sunday is tied for second-worst in baseball. So there is many a mixed message with not a lot of statistically significant data — at least in terms of sample size. You could just as easily say the Royals have frittered away a good deal of that great starting pitching as that they’ve been fortunate to cobble together three wins with three or fewer runs. Most of all, the point here is that absolutely nothing defining has happened yet. This season still is too much in the embryonic phase to draw any conclusions despite an uninspiring start.
Anne Rogers takes stock of where the Royals are after the series against the White Sox.
Rotation still in good shape Royals starters entered Sunday having recorded 15 consecutive scoreless innings over the last two games, but Noah Cameron had more difficulty, allowing five earned runs in 5 1/3 innings. He allowed two two-out, two-run home runs and issued the walk that would eventually come around to score the tying run in the sixth inning.
But all in all, the Royals’ rotation is still in good shape. Through 16 games, starters have allowed zero earned runs in five starts, one run or fewer in 10 starts and two or fewer in 11 starts. Starting pitching wins games, and the Royals feel like their rotation is going to keep them in games no matter what.
DENVER, COLORADO - APRIL 09: Nathan MacKinnon #29 of the Colorado Avalanche skates against the Calgary Flames in the second period at Ball Arena on April 9, 2026 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Michael Martin/NHLI via Getty Images) | NHLI via Getty Images
Sure, anyone can win the Stanley Cup so long as they make the playoffs — but is that really true? At this point we know there are contenders and pretenders in every postseason, and while it’s really cool to see Sidney Crosby in playoff hockey again, nobody is giving the Penguins a legitimate chance to raise the cup.
Today we look at the seven teams best poised to actually take it all home when the dust settles, from the clear favorites to the long shots.
No. 1: Colorado Avalanche
The Avs have been the best team in hockey this year, and it’s not particularly close. Anchored by Nathan McKinnon and Cale Makar, Colorado found a new gear in 2025-26 with the addition of Martin Necas. While Necas arrived last season as part of the Mikko Rantanen trade with Carolina, he really found his footing this season and meshed with the team.
Boasting a ludicrous +94 goal differential this season, nobody can match Colorado when it comes to the strength of their top two lines. The only risk for this team making a run to the cup is the severity of Cale Makar’s upper body injury. We know he’s going to miss some playoff time, and if that lingers it could have a huge effect on this team’s chances.
Key strength: Superstar strength out of their first two skating lines, as well as top line defense Key weakness: Cale Makar is carrying an injury into the playoffs, and that could lead to a slow start
No. 2: Carolina Hurricanes
The Carolina Hurricanes are more or less the same team that have been a playoff staple for the last eight years. Rod Brind’Amour’s brand of team-focused, no-superstar hockey does a phenomenal job of leading the Canes to amazing regular season results, but tends to falter in the playoffs where individual performance reigns supreme.
Carolina will hope that the free agent addition of Nikolaj Ehlers is the missing piece they needed, and after a slow start Ehlers became everything the team hoped for with 68 points this season. The 2025-26 iteration of the Hurricanes took another offensive step forward with Seth Jarvis taking the next step, and Jackson Blake emerging as a future star — but this team has the worst goaltending of anyone in the playoffs this year, which could be mammoth problem.
Key strength: Four line skating depth with little drop off between lines Key weakness: Both Freddie Anderson and Brandon Bussi are very shaky in net
No. 3: Dallas Stars
The Stars are a very, very good hockey team that too often masquerades as an elite one. That might seem unfair, but it’s tough to deny that the Stars failed to live up to expectations this season despite finishing with over 100 points on the year.
This was a team who were a preseason favorite to win the west, but Mikko Rantanen isn’t nearly as potent a scorer without McKinnon to set him up, and the Stars’ core weakness is a lack of playmaking centers. There’s an undeniable amount of firepower in Dallas, but running the game through the wings hasn’t traditionally been a recipe for success in the postseason.
Key strength: Streaky team who can dominate games when everything clicks Key weakness: Things don’t click often enough for this team to be consistent
No. 4: Montreal Canadiens
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, the NHL is a better place when the Montreal Canadiens are in the playoffs. This new generation of the Habs are brimming with young talent poised to take the next step forward. When you look at this roster you see a team that’s already over-performing expectations, and none of their key players have hit their prime yet.
Entering the playoffs Montreal has one of the strongest home ice advantages in the playoffs, with the Bell Centre being one of the most formidable places to play at the best of times. That edge isn’t likely to be quite enough to mitigate the defensive issues the Candiens are yet to resolve, or make it through with mid-tier goaltending.
Key strength: Goal-scoring potential of Cole Caulfield and Juraj Slafkovsky Key weakness: Too much youth without enough veteran leadership to make a deep run
No. 5: Minnesota Wild
The Minnesota Wild understood the assignment in 2025-26. After signing Kirill Kaprizov to a mammoth extension they had to pour more gas on the fire, and did just that by being the biggest in-season buyers by adding one of the NHL’s best defenseman in Quinn Hughes, then bolstering their depth with numerous smaller deals at the deadline.
Hughes has helped transform this team from a back-end playoff hopeful to a legitimate contender. The core issue is that when it comes to scoring Minnesota is wholly reliant on Kaprizov and Matt Boldy to find the net, with the rest of the team lagging far, far behind.
Key strength: Three brilliant playmakers in Kaprizov, Boldy, and Hughes Key weakness: They’re in the west, which is dominated by the Avs
No. 6: Tampa Bay Lightning
When you have Andrei Vasilevskiy in net there’s always going to be a chance to win games, and the Lightning showed that in 2025-26 by allowing just 222 goals on the year. The problem comes at the other end, where regression from both Brayden Point and Brandon Hagel has put even more pressure on Nikita Kucherov to carry the load for Tampa Bay.
This version of the Lightning is really good, but hasn’t changed dramatically enough to see where they succeed where they’ve failed in the past. Corey Perry is too old to be a difference maker at this point, and the team overpaid to get him at the deadline. As such it feels like the Lightning are headed back to hit the same brick wall. Still, there’s always a chance they can get hot and make a deep run as they have in the past.
Key strength: Nikita Kucherov and Jake Guentzel are two of the best scoring forwards in the playoffs Key weakness: This looks too much like the same Lightning team that lost in the first round of 2024-25
No. 7: Buffalo Sabres
I hate putting the best feel-good story in hockey so low on the list, but it’s a credit to Buffalo that they make the contenders list at all. The Sabres went from finishing 7th in the Atlantic Conference to 1st this season, as they went from a team who seemed poised pre-season to be sellers and rebuilders at the deadline, to now being a legitimate force.
This team has solid depth, but lacks the high-end talent to really compete just quite yet. The power play unit for Buffalo isn’s fully developed, and once you get past Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch the forwards fall off a cliff.
Key strength: Devil-may-care freedom belief they can beat anyone Key weakness: Not enough depth to compete just yet
DALLAS, TEXAS - APRIL 12: Leonard Miller #11 of the Chicago Bulls drives to the basket against Cooper Flagg #32 of the Dallas Mavericks during the first half at American Airlines Center on April 12, 2026 in Dallas, Texas. 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 GettyImages License Agreement. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images) | Getty Images
This video is an attempt to put Cooper Flagg’s rookie season in context, and it makes some interesting points, particularly statistically.
The narrator compliments Kon Knueppel, but argues that Flagg’s season has been on a completely different level. He compares his rookie season to what LeBron James did in his first year in the league, and argues that Flagg’s is more impressive.
Various people appear here, including Kevin Durant, Colin Cowherd, and Charles Barkley, who is enormously impressed. Check out these comments he made about Flagg:
“I’ve said this before. Kobe was great later. McGrady, Garnett—the only player I had ever seen who was ready for the NBA right out of high school has been LeBron James until now. LeBron came in day one… to see a teenager play this well, uh, is incredible, man. Plain and simple.”
“He, as a teenager, coming into the league to be that ready. To be that ready. And he is ready. But the funny thing is the thing that makes him ready is he went 20 for 29… He is a great [volume shooter] only when he’s shooting well and he doesn’t take bad shots. That’s what I [was] impressed about more. His defensive effort is probably elite as well, but his shot selection takes him to another level.”
Flagg’s season is over now, and we get to see where he goes from here. His coach, Jason Kidd, had very brief advice for him: rest. Let your body heal up.
Flagg did have a spectacular season, but he carried a huge burden for Dallas, and Kidd is right.
Knowing Flagg, though, he’ll take a few days and get back in the gym.
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - MARCH 25: Payton Pritchard #11 of the Boston Celtics looks on during the second quarter against the Oklahoma City Thunder at TD Garden on March 25, 2026 in Boston, Massachusetts. 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 Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) | Getty Images
On a sunny August afternoon, I sat down with Payton Pritchard to discuss the reality that the upcoming Celtics season was being widely deemed a Gap Year.
He laughed.
“There’s only one mindset, always,” he told me then. “I’ve never been on any team in my life where the mindset wasn’t to try to compete for the championship.”
It’s the right thing to say, of course.
What kind of competitor would relent to the notion that an entire NBA season was a wash?
But I could immediately tell that he wasn’t just saying it because that was the right thing to say. All summer, I had chatted with people around the NBA — media members, executives, scouts, coaches — and almost all of them warned me I was in for a long season of losing, a significant departure from my first two years on the Celtics beat.
A 10-minute conversation with Pritchard almost single-handedly convinced me otherwise — as ridiculous as that may sound. The then-27-year-old was back in Boston, where he had begun working out with the other Celtics youngsters after spending most of the summer on the Cape with his wife, Emma. He was already getting to know the new guys and reuniting with the same Celtics coaches who led the team to 61 wins the year prior.
On this particular day, Pritchard hosted a 1-on-1 basketball tournament at the Reggie Lewis Center in Roxbury. Afterwards, we caught up, and I began to broach the topic of the year ahead.
When I said the word “Gap Year,” Pritchard’s face quickly changed. He looked at me in the most matter-of-fact way he could, his eyes widening.
“It’s not a gap year,” he said firmly. “It’s a year to prove something, take a step, and show people that we are still that team.”
Still that team? They weren’t still that team.
In my first year covering the Celtics, they were historically dominant, winning 64 games en route to a championship. The following year, they won 61 games.
But after an unexpected elimination in the second round of the playoffs last Spring, the Celtics lost Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday in salary-shedding trades, and Luke Kornet and Al Horford to free agency. Franchise cornerstone Jayson Tatum was likely to miss the season with an Achilles rupture he suffered in May. However you wanted to slice it, the offseason served as a financial overhaul, and this wasn’t the same team coming back in the fall.
But Pritchard was a perennial winner, playing for an organization that’s won more titles than any other. He was a key part of the 2024 championship team, and now, he was just months removed from a Sixth Man of the Year, career-best season.
His pedigree of winning began much earlier than the pros. In college, he was the starting point guard for the Oregon Ducks for four straight years, during which time his team won 70% of its games (and the PAC-12). In high school, the Oregon native won four straight state championships.
Why would things change now?
“We’ll put the pieces together,” he told me. “And we will come out and compete, and try to win every game, and put together a great season – and go for a championship.”
I left that conversation convinced, in large part because Pritchard, much like Jaylen Brown (whom I spent time with in July), has a compelling, no-nonsense way of talking. The competitive character, as Joe Mazzulla often calls it, almost oozes out of him.
That spirit had been heralded by many. When I first started covering the Celtics, Pritchard’s college coach, Dana Altman, told me that few people in this world rival his competitive fire.
“I really admire him,” Altman said. “I’ve been able to do this for a long time, and he’s one of the most focused, hardest workers I’ve known. And he’s very competitive; he competes in practice, in games, and he hates to lose.”
Two months after Pritchard and I spoke on that hot summer afternoon, I penned a column: “The Celtics are going to be much better than you expect.” And, in 1500 words, I tried to justify why.
They’d play faster, I maintained. (That ended up being completely false — the Celtics have held the slowest pace in the entire NBA this season).
They’d lean on their three-point shooting efficiency, I wrote. That turned out somewhat true; the Celtics have hit 36.7% of their three-pointers this season, good for the 8th-best in the league. But Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser, and Derrick White have all had down years from beyond the arc, and efficient three-point shooting is not the main driver of the team’s success this season.
More veteran players like Xavier Tillman and Chris Boucher were due for career years. That turned out wrong: neither player even survived the trade deadline.
Looking at the roster, I couldn’t quite make the basketball case for it. But a single conversation with the Celtics’ spark plug told me that the outside perception of the franchise’s incoming season was way off.
Then, the Celtics started 0-3
Three consecutive losses felt like 15 in a city so used to winning. First, the Celtics dropped a nail-biter at home to the Philadelphia 76ers. Then, they got blown out on the road by the same New York Knicks team that ended their season months earlier. And, two days after that, they got pounded on the boards in Detroit.
On October 26th, after the 119-113 loss to the Pistons, the basketball world almost definitively concluded what many had already speculated: the Celtics were poised for a season of losing.
Still, Pritchard walked off the Little Caesars Arena court alongside Mazzulla, as confident as ever.
“We said to each other: ‘This is only gonna make us stronger,’” Pritchard said. “We were going in the right direction. A lot of people didn’t think that, losing our third game. But I remembered it was like, ‘Okay, we were going to start turning the corner. And then, little by little, every day, we’re getting better and better.’”
Joe Mazzulla and Payton Pritchard have embraced a competitive mindset since the preseason. | Getty Images
Addressing the media after that loss to the Pistons, Pritchard sang the same tune.
Everything was going to be just fine.
The Celtics had to clean up their rebounding, and they would.
His open shots were going to fall (Pritchard shot an abysmal 17.4% from three-point range in October).
They just needed some time.
“I knew there was gonna be some adjustment period,” Pritchard told me. “A lot of people in different roles, and people seeing different matchups and different positions, really. It was gonna be an adjustment at first.”
Baylor Scheierman said the team’s togetherness was what stood out during that time.
“There was no separation in the locker room, regardless of what went on, ” he said. “There’s no separation. We stayed together. And that’s kind of how it was, through the ups and downs of the whole year.”
After the 0-3 start, the Celtics went on to win 56 of their next 79 games. Only three teams in the league — the Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs, and Detroit Pistons — have been better in that span.
How ‘competitive character’ became the name of the game
In the Celtics locker room on Friday night, after the Celtics earned their 55th win, Pritchard turned to Jaylen Brown.
“Great season, man,” he said. “Just a great season.”
Brown nodded emphatically.
The Celtics had just secured the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference for the second straight year. Another postseason run faced them, their fifth as teammates.
“That’s a great season,” Brown said.
<p>From the beginning, Jaylen Brown and Payton Pritchard breathed life into a Celtics team most had counted out. </p> | Getty Images
Eight months have passed since Payton Pritchard assured me the Celtics would be great, after he rejected the notion of the Gap Year on that hot summer day in Roxbury.
The 2025-2026 Celtics were still that team, just as he said they would be, finishing with the fourth-best record in the league.
Last week, I sat down with Pritchard to reflect on that initial August conversation and his unwavering faith in a Celtics squad most had ruled out.
Was he psychic? Did he know something we didn’t? Was it a conversation he had with Joe Mazzulla? An off-season meeting?
It turns out it was never that complicated.
“The people that were returning,” Pritchard said, “had something to prove.”
For Pritchard, that’s always been the mindset: “I live in a state of trying to prove people wrong.”
And, he feels that the locker room is filled with those kinds of players.
Luka Garza and Neemias Queta were both 2021 second-round draft picks who got their careers started in the G-League. Both players were fourth-string centers last year, and both have worked tirelessly to become key rotation players, with Queta now establishing himself as one of the best young centers in the league.
Ron Harper Jr. went undrafted and bounced around the league on four two-way contracts before landing in Boston. Jaylen Brown carries a chip on his shoulder irrespective of circumstance. The list goes on and on.
“You’ve got to credit Joe for creating a culture of that, but also Brad [Stevens] picking players that have a chip on their shoulder, that love to play basketball,” Pritchard said. “A lot of us, besides JT and JB, were late round picks, and so you got to have a chip on your shoulder to make it.”
Asked Payton Pritchard if he feels this Celtics locker room has a disproportionate amount of guys that thrive on proving people wrong:
“I would say so. I think you got to credit Joe for creating a culture of that, but also Brad picking players that have a chip on their shoulder… pic.twitter.com/9ALpDVqgVM
Sam Hauser, who also went undrafted and began his career in the G League, similarly carries that edge.
“Going undrafted and feeling like you were better than some of the guys who got drafted ahead of you definitely puts a little bit of a chip on your shoulder, and you just want to go in and try to prove yourself and try to prove that you belong,” he said. “I feel like, naturally, when people write you off as a human being, or, I guess as a player, I should say, naturally, you’re just gonna have a little extra motivation.”
All year long, Joe Mazzulla has deflected praise and credited the team’s ‘competitive character.’
Earlier this month, I asked him to define what the oft-used phrase meant.
“It’s just having a group of guys that care about winning, care about the process of that. Every practice, film session, every shootaround, everything’s important,” Mazzulla said. “They just compete every single minute. That kind of defines every guy we have.”
“Guys in this locker room, every time they get a chance to play, they want to come out and prove that they’re worthy of being a rotational player, starter, or whatever it is,” Pritchard said.
When did Pritchard know it was all beginning to click?
He points to a December 1st win in Cleveland as a turning point in the season. They entered the game with a 10-9 record after dropping a close game in Minnesota. And, they were without Derrick White and Neemias Queta on the second night of a back-to-back.
Pritchard took it upon himself to lead the group to a win over one of the East’s premier teams, dropping a season-high 42 points. The Celtics, despite being shorthanded, pulled out the victory.
“That’s when I started noticing, like, ‘Okay, the pieces are coming together a little bit,’” Pritchard said.
Payton Pritchard decided to lead by example
Before the season, Pritchard and Mazzulla discussed how the team was going to approach the challenges that lay ahead.
“We talked about my mindset going into it, and how we were gonna lean on how I approach everything day-to-day, and being a leader for those young guys,” Pritchard said. “The mentality of showing up, game in, game out, and trying to prove yourself every night. That was the thing that we talked about the most – the culture of this team, how we wanted to be.”
Pritchard made a concerted effort to lead by example, handling his own fluctuating role with grace. He finished the year averaging a career-best 17 points and 5.2 assists, but his night-to-night production varied.
He started the first 49 games of the season, but was moved to the bench after the trade deadline. And, anytime he was asked, he downplayed the sacrifice that came with moving to the bench midyear: with Anfernee Simons gone, leading the second unit was simply what made sense.
A hallmark of the Celtics’ success this year has been that different players stepped up every night. Sam Hauser started 49 games. Jordan Walsh started 25. Baylor Scheierman started 20. And, for a stretch, Hugo Gonzalez looked like one of the most impactful rookies in the league.
Players cycled in and out of the rotation — but largely handled it with grace because they always knew they’d get another chance.
“It just helps everybody in the locker room to understand their moment could come,” Pritchard said. “To never get too far down and frustrated, because you might get called up in the next game.”
Pritchard, who has fallen out of the rotation plenty of times during his career — and racked up DNPs during Mazzulla’s first season at the helm — became a chief disseminator of that message.
“Keep working on your game, be a good teammate, and then, when it is your moment, everybody’s gonna be happy for you,“ he told his teammates. “And, if it’s not your moment? Be happy for the other person.”
Last year, Neemias Queta benefited from Pritchard’s guidance firsthand.
“He always preached the view of perspective – trying to see outside of the moment that you’re living in,” Queta told me. “It might not be right now, but [this time] is for you to get better and work on other stuff. You might not be getting repetition on the court, so you just want to attack your workouts with a different type of mindset, whether it’s working on your jump shot, working on defense, working on stuff that can help you right away, or eventually later on down the line. It was huge for me. Back in those days, I really took that to heart. He was able to do [those things] to get himself on the court. And I think when he told me that and [gave me] that type of assurance, it just made my life so much easier.”
On Friday night, Pritchard was awarded the Celtics’ Red Auerbach Award, an honor bestowed upon the Celtics player who best embodies the spirit of being a Celtic “through exceptional performance both on and off the court.”
Mazzulla said the 28-year-old had earned the selection through his five years with the organization: “It’s been an honor to coach him.”
“He’s been with us for some time,” Mazzulla said. “It’s just what he’s grown into and where he’s been over the course of his time. You just take a look at a guy that was constantly having to compete with other guards and not getting a ton of time — a 9th, 10th man to come in and come off the bench and spark us, and then [he entered] the starting lineup, and then back off the bench, and he’s just kind of playing.“
Brad Stevens and Rich Gotham presented Payton Pritchard with the Red Auerbach on Friday. | NBAE via Getty Images
Pritchard feels like he’s always been a natural leader. But, in his first few years in Boston, he was far from the loudest voice in the room.
“You’re maybe not gonna speak in the locker room and hear your voice, but you can still be a leader in the way you approach every day,” he said. “You can tell a leader from the first day he walks in.”
Others have taken notice.
“In the locker room, he’s one of the most vocal guys,” Queta said. “He’s pretty much been able to communicate with all types of personalities that we have — he’s just a great teammate.”
Last week, when Pritchard reflected on our August conversation, he emphasized how much of his unwavering confidence came from simply being a part of the Boston Celtics: “You stay in a championship mindset.”
“Boston lives in a state of — a championship is the only goal,” he said. “A championship organization is, top to bottom, [about] the work ethic everybody puts in. It’s the little things. It’s the custodian at the practice facility; he shows up on time. He puts in his work. The front office does the same thing – they’re there early. The training staff, the weight room. Everybody is held to a standard of work ethic. Obviously, the players work hard, and they’re held to that standard, but it’s everybody.”
Pritchard looks at the disappointment of last year as a building block, rather than a setback. And before the year began, he decided to use it as fuel.
“Maybe that helped us for this year. If you live in that mindset of always going for it,” he trailed off. “If it doesn’t happen this year, it could happen the year after, or the year after that. It’s all building for the future.”
The Celtics’ playoffs will begin on Sunday. What their future holds remains to be seen. But one thing was certain: regardless of available personnel, regardless of how the offseason went, he was right about one thing.
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - APRIL 13: Garrett Crochet #35 of the Boston Red Sox reacts after giving up a walk against the Minnesota Twins during the first inning at Target Field on April 13, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images) | Getty Images
With the Red Sox having some momentum after winning two straight and four of their last five games, they gave the ball to Garrett Crochet last night. He was facing a Minnesota Twins lineup that recently beat up on Tarik Skubal and Framber Valdez, and turned in the worst performance of his career: an 11-run, 1.2 IP stint. With his velocity and arm angle down slightly, are you concerned? Personally, I’m not. (I actually am slightly concerned, but choose to say I’m not because that’s much less scary).
We go again against the Twins tonight. Hopefully Sonny Gray puts forward a better performance against one of his former teams. Use this space to talk about what you want and, as always, be good to one another.
MEXICO CITY, MEXICO - MARCH 25: Luis Serna of New York Yankees pitches in the third inning during to Spring Training Game Two between Diablos Rojos and New York Yankees at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu on March 25, 2024 in Mexico City, Mexico. (Photo by Jaime Lopez/Jam Media/Getty Images) | Getty Images
It wasn’t the best week on the farm for the Yankees’ four affiliates, but it was the first full week of the season, during which all four affiliates got in six games. Nobody had a winning week, but all four levels had at least one player produce a standout performance, with several showing incredible progress and continued results in their season debuts.
Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders
Record: 9-6, 1.5 GB in the International League East after a 3-3 week against the Durham Bulls (Rays)
Run differential: +24
Coming up: Road @ Syracuse Mets (Mets)
The second full week of the season was a mixed bag for the RailRiders, who started out with another Tuesday postponement due to blistering cold in Northeastern Pennsylvania. They opened the week with a thrilling comeback victory on Wednesday, which saw them rally back from a 6-0 deficit in a bullpen game by taking advantage of bad Durham defense. They then walked off the Bulls on Thursday in a back-and-forth game, thanks to a walk-off blast from catcher Ali Sánchez.
A planned doubleheader on Friday saw only one game played, and it was tied through six innings at two before a blowup outing by Harrison Cohen resulted in an eight-run seventh and a loss. They finally got the doubleheader in on Saturday, which saw Carlos Lagrange take the loss in the matinee despite seven strikeouts in 3.1 fiery innings, while they rode the burly bat of Spencer Jones to take the nightcap, 9-5. The bats mostly fell silent in a 4-3 loss on Sunday.
Jasson Domínguez continues to impress on the hitting front, racking up six hits, seven walks, and four stolen bases in six games. What was especially intriguing was that he even started a pair of games in center field, his original position when he signed out of the Dominican Republic. There wasn’t anything too notable in either of those games, but he did commit an error when he misplayed a single into center field that allowed a run to score.
Spencer Jones is heating up after a horrific start to the season. Through nine games, the 6-foot-7 slugger had a strikeout rate over 50 percent, but he only struck out five times in six games this week. His standout performance came in the nightcap of Saturday’s doubleheader, when he went 3-for-4 with a home run and five RBIs.
As for the rest of the hitting core, the veterans are all over the place. Max Schuemann and Braden Shewmake haven’t gotten going (though my colleague Scott had a very nice article about Schuemann), while Seth Brown and Paul DeJong have been more than serviceable. The real standout is Sánchez, who could be in play for a midseason call-up behind the dish if the depth is tested. A former big leaguer with five different teams, he’s not known for his bat, but he blasted a pair of home runs this week.
Brendan Beck continued a strong start to the season on Wednesday, while there were mixed results for Elmer Rodríguez and Carlos Lagrange. For Rodriguez, his velo was down, and he labored through five innings, while Lagrange struggled with command while lighting up the radar gun, sitting nearly 101 on his fastball. In three starts, he now has 13 strikeouts to nine walks in 10.2 innings.
Bullpen-wise, the 40-man arms continue to deal. Yovanny Cruz and Angel Chivilli have still yet to give up an earned run, combining for 19 strikeouts in 14.2 innings. Yerry De los Santos and Kervin Castro have also continued to pitch well. Any of those players could be in play to come up to the Yankees today with the news of Jake Bird’s demotion.
Following tonight’s game, the Yankees optioned RHP Jake Bird to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Record: 3-5, 2 GB in the Eastern League Northeast after a 2-4 week against the Binghamton Rumble Ponies (Mets)
Run differential: +5
Coming up: Home vs. Reading Fightin’ Phils (Phillies)
This team has had the early identity of extreme inconsistency. For a TLDR, here’s what I mean:
Three wins: 37 runs, +28 run differential Five losses: 11 runs, -23 run differential
In three of their five losses, they’ve been held to one run or fewer. They scored four combined runs in a Wednesday doubleheader, losing the first game 11-3 before they failed to pick up Chase Chaney in a 2-1 loss. They rebounded to win by 10 runs on Thursday, powered by another strong game by George Lombard Jr., before losing an extremely odd Saturday game, which saw them need to use infielder Owen Cobb in the 10th inning. They took the finale, 7-5.
Speaking of Lombard, he continues to be on fire, going 7-for-19 with a home run and three doubles. There’s a lot to be encouraged by in his first seven games of the season. After struggling to generate much game power in 2025 (9 HR and .146 ISO in 132 combined games), he’s already hit two homers with seven extra-base hits in 32 plate appearances. His very mature plate discipline has remained on display, and he’s only struck out four times. The defensive IQ still looks very, very impressive as well.
We go from a 20-year-old top prospect to a 32-year-old journeyman, as the oldest player in Double-A is raking in his first taste of MLB-affiliated ball in seven years. Nick Torres is coming off a tremendous week, going 8-for-18 with a home run and a double in five games while splitting time at first base, left field, and designated hitter. He isn’t much of a prospect, but the Mexican League MVP is easy to root for.
Elsewhere on offense, guys like Coby Morales, Garrett Martin, and DJ Gladney continue to hit, while they’re still hoping for Jace Avina and the catching tandem of Miguel Palma and Manuel Palencia to get going, as the three have combined to start the year 4-for-55.
Ben Hess had a very challenging start on Saturday, when he lost all command in the third inning. There’s always a worry that some of these minor-league starters might not be able to throw enough strikes to start at the big-league level, and Hess is currently in that gray area. Through two starts, he has 14 strikeouts and 10 walks/HBP in just 7.2 innings. When his stuff is on, it’s on, but it won’t matter if he can’t throw enough strikes.
The results were mixed with the rest of the rotation. Kyle Carr had a better start on Sunday after walks hurt him in his first start of the season, while Trent Sellers and Xavier Rivas both struggled in their first starts. Cade Smith had a dazzling first four innings in his Double-A debut on Wednesday, but unraevled in the fifth and had to be saved by Eric Reyzelman in relief.
Speaking of Reyzelman, he’s among those off to a great start in the bullpen. The former fifth-round pick won’t be long for Somerset if he continues to show improved command, while both Will Brian and Chris Kean have impressed as well. Those three have 20 strikeouts combined in just over 10 shutout innings of relief and have been stabilizers to a bullpen with a few struggling arms.
As we look ahead, Anthony Volpe is starting a rehab assignment in Somerset on Tuesday as he inches closer to returning from labrum surgery.
Players of Note:
Ben Hess: 7.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 9 K Eric Reyzelman: 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K George Lombard Jr: 13-for-28, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 7 XBH, 2 SB DJ Gladney: 7-for-21, 3 RBI, 3 XBH, 2 BB Coby Morales: 8-for-27, 2 HR, 11 RBI, 4 XBH, 5 BB
High-A Hudson Valley Renegades
Record: 3-5, 3.5 GB in the South Atlantic League North after a 1-5 week against the Wilmington Blue Rocks (Nationals)
Run differential: -3
Coming up: Road @ Frederick Keys (Orioles)
Hudson Valley had a rough week on both sides of the ball. The Renegades scored first in the first five games of the week, but only won one of them. They dropped Tuesday’s game in extras, lost on a blowup fifth inning on Wednesday, won 2-0 on Thursday, lost a pitcher’s duel on Friday, had one bad inning doom them on Saturday, and just had a lousy loss on Sunday.
After a great start to the season, most of the 2025 draftees cooled off considerably this week, as Kaeden Kent, Core Jackson, and Kyle West struggled (Jackson did hit a home run on Saturday, at least). The standout hitters this week were 2025 undrafted free agent Eric Genther (9-for-21, RBI, 3 BB, 2 2B) and former top prospect Roderick Arias (5-for-23, 5 RBI, 3B, 4 SB), who noticeably looks more comfortable after leaving Tampa.
The pitching was a mixed bag. Franyer Herrera wasn’t great in his abbreviated season debut, Brandon Decker tossed 3.2 hitless innings but struggled with command, Rory Fox was dominant in his first three innings before completely unraveling, and Sean Paul Liñan flashed his potential with seven strikeouts in 3,1 choppy innings. Additionally, the team lost Pico Kohn to the 7-day injured list with an undisclosed injury.
But the two pitchers who really stood out were Luis Serna and Jack Cebert. We’ll get into Serna later on, but Cebert was impressive in his season debut. The 2025 15th-rounder debuted briefly last season as a reliever, but pitched into the eighth inning today in his first pro start. He bounced back after a tough third inning, and despite taking the loss, struck out eight in 7.1 innings with zero walks.
The bullpen has had an inconsistent start to the year. Chris Veach is the current gold standard with six strikeouts in 4.1 shutout innings, while both Ben Grable and Jack Sokol are racking up strikeouts in relatively small samples. It’s too early to say much with this unit.
Record: 3-6, 4 GB in the Florida State League West after a 3-3 week against the Clearwater Threshers (Phillies)
Run differential: -15
Coming up: Home vs. Bradenton Marauders (Pirates)
If you’ve followed the Tarpons for the last few years, you know that pitching has been an issue for the team for a good while. That does happen to be a trend in Single-A, but the early returns are incredibly encouraging for Tampa. In six games this week, they allowed 10 total runs.
Tampa lost the opener, 4-1, after a rough seventh inning. Strong starting pitching buoyed victories on Wednesday and Thursday, even with an underperforming offense. The offense came through with a 9-0 win on Friday, but the Tarpons dropped both weekend games by only scoring one total run.
Pretty much everyone is struggling to start the year, as even with Logan Maxwell’s multi-homer game and JoJo Jackson’s strong first weekend, the numbers aren’t good. Brando Mayea is struggling, as is Enmanuel Tejeda, who’s an ugly 1-for-27, albeit with 11 walks. There’s one player, though, who’s still hitting.
Jackson Lovich started the year on the injured list with a minor injury, but returned on Thursday to play the next four games. His six-game cameo last season saw some eye-popping numbers, but it could be a victim of a small sample size. Well, he’s continued it to start this season, starting 6-for-16 with five extra-base hits, four RBIs, and a stolen base. He has been striking out more, but his stats to start his career are ludicrous.
I’d like to keep pushing the Jackson Lovich propaganda alongside @ChrisCoop_. He’s absolutely punishing baseballs right now.
103.2 mph AvgEV (100th%) 113.6 mph MaxEV (98th%) 108 mph 50th% EV (100th%) 113.6 mph 90th% EV (100th%)
The pitching is the story. Blake Gillespie threw six shutout innings on Tuesday, Allen Facundo struck out eight in 5.2 innings in his season debut on Wednesday, Tyler Boudreau struck out nine in 4.1 innings on Thursday, Justin West tossed 5.1 shutout innings on Friday, and Danny Flatt spun six solid innings on Sunday. Henry Lalane had a solid outing on Saturday as well, but he’s going back on the injured list.
Players of Note:
Logan Maxwell: 6-for-22, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 2 SB JoJo Jackson: 7-for-27, 5 RBI, 2 2B, 5 BB, 3 SB Allen Facundo: 5.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 8 K Jose M. Rodriguez: 5.1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 5 BB, 11 K
Prospect of the Week:Luis Serna
Weekly Stats: 7 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 10 K
Progress isn’t always linear for prospects rising through a farm system. This is especially true for international prospects, who sign so young that they have an exceptionally longer leash to figure things out because of their age.
Serna was once a highly-touted prospect out of Mexico who dominated rookie ball in 2021 and 2022, combining to strike out 102 batters in 81 innings of 2 ERA ball at age 17 and 18. While he had a more challenging 2023, he figured to be entering his age-20 season with all the promise in the world. He even got to pitch in his home country when the Yankees played an exhibition in Monterrey in late March.
19-year-old Mexico native Luis Serna with a changeup for his first K of the night 🔥 pic.twitter.com/a4OQ7JyPuH
When Serna made his Single-A debut with Tampa, though, he just couldn’t figure things out. Injuries cost him part of 2024 and most of 2025 as he mightily struggled over the course of two years, pitching to a baffling 5.99 ERA in 76.2 innings. The shine had worn off, even if he wouldn’t turn 22 until this July. Still, the Yankees decided not to have him repeat Single-A until he figured it out, pushing him to High-A Hudson Valley. And while one game doesn’t dictate how your season will go, his High-A debut was as good as possible.
He allowed just two baserunners with 10 strikeouts and 22(!) whiffs in seven strong innings in Thursday’s win. His velocity was back to 93-94, his changeup was otherworldly, his slider and curveball worked as tertiary pitches. Everything was working for a guy who’s finally healthy.
Luis Serna today in his first High-A outing: 7.0 IP 1 H 0 ER 10 K – 1 BB
Unbelievable stuff from Serna today. That changeup is something SERIOUS…I am not kidding, I watch a lot of Yankee prospect baseball and this is easily one of the best pitches in the organization's farm… pic.twitter.com/61oNDwrG3W
For a team that has developed some great arms in recent years, if we see a resurgence from a guy like Serna getting back on a big league trajectory, that might be their biggest win yet.
The Boston Bruins are headed to the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs after failing to qualify last season.
But as they enter their regular season finale against the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night at TD Garden, both their playoff seed and first-round opponent remain TBD.
Let’s take a look at where the B’s stand in the wild card race and which teams they could face in Round 1.
Bruins’ most likely seed
The Bruins are unable to finish top-three in the Atlantic Division, so they will end up in the first or second wild card spot.
Boston enters Tuesday in the first wild card position with a one-point lead over the Ottawa Senators. That means the Bruins would clinch the No. 1 wild card berth with a win of any kind against the Devils in the regular season finale.
The B’s need to finish ahead of the Senators by at least one point to secure the top wild card spot because Ottawa owns the first tiebreaker with a 37-32 edge in regulation wins.
Both the Bruins and Senators have one more game remaining. Ottawa’s finale is against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night, so if the Bruins lose in any fashion to the Devils, they’ll need to wait 24 hours before their seed is finalized.
In summary: The Bruins finish as top wild card team with any kind of win vs. Devils. The B’s would be the second wild card team if the Senators finish tied or ahead of them in the standings. Ottawa is currently one point behind the Bruins.
For what it’s worth, MoneyPuck‘s and HockeyStats‘ analytics models both project the Bruins to finish as the first wild card team.
Bruins’ most likely first-round opponents
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There are two potential first-round opponents for the Bruins. If they finish as the first wild card team, they’ll play the Sabres. If they finish as the second wild card team, they’ll play the Hurricanes.
The easiest path to the Eastern Conference Final is probably through the Metropolitan Division. A path consisting of the Hurricanes in the first round and either the Penguins or Flyers in the second round is a little less treacherous than a path that includes the Sabres in the first round and the Lightning or Canadiens in the second round.
The Lightning represent the toughest matchup for the Bruins, so it would be ideal for them to avoid Tampa Bay as long as possible.
The Bruins have played both the Lightning and Hurricanes in the playoffs fairly recently. They haven’t played the Canadiens in the postseason since 2014, and the last Bruins-Sabres playoff series was in 2010. Seeing one or both of those rivalries get reignited would be fun.
The Charlotte Hornets have not seen the postseason in nine years. Technically, the NBA Play-In Tournament does not end the longest active postseason drought in the league, but Tuesday night’s game against the Miami Heat does indeed come after the regular season.
In a literal way, welcome to the postseason, Charlotte.
These Heat vs. Hornets props and NBA picks expect the best offense in 2026 to put on a show for the home crowd on Tuesday, April 14, with Kon Knueppel leading the charge.
Rookies are not supposed to find their groove this easily. Kon Kneuppel led the NBA in 3-pointers this season, outpacing Charlotte Hornets teammate LaMelo Ball by one and No. 3, Luka Doncic, by 19.
More impressively, Knueppel made 42.5% of his shots from beyond the arc, trailing only Jamal Murray’s 43.5% among players who took at least five 3-pointers per game and played a genuine season.
There is no reason to expect Knueppel to slow down now, and with this prop at plus-money, his success brings us value. Expect Knueppel to play more than his 30.4 minutes per game (averaged since Jan. 1) and take more than his 7.6 threes per game (also since Jan. 1).
Knueppel’s impressive and unexpected rookie season took the Hornets from a fun team to a dangerous one, and they should lean on that in their return to the postseason.
Prop #2: Coby White Over 12.5 points
-112 at bet365
Charlotte acquired Coby White in late February and then took some time building him into the rotation. As a backup point guard, he usually plays about 20 minutes, which makes it all the more impressive that he's averaged 16.2 points per game since March 1.
Taking 11.1 shots in 19.6 minutes per game is not light work, but it is the exact role White was asked to fill. His minutes obviously do not overlap much with Ball, so White is asked to keep the pedal pressed to the floor.
His game differs from Ball’s in a number of ways, the most obvious being Ball’s forte is dazzling passes while White looks for his own shot more. That is fine, for as long as the pace is still frenetic, Charlotte has an edge on its opponent.
White’s pace should be emphasized against the Miami Heat, a less athletic and chaotic roster.
Prop #3: Tyler Herro Over 2.5 3-pointers
-105 at bet365
Would the Heat be in this single-elimination moment if Tyler Herro had been available for more than 33 games this season? It is a fair wonder.
But in his limited action, Herro still shot 37.8% from deep this season. Remove the season finale in which he played just 22 minutes, and Herro hit 38.9% of his 3-pointers when starting while taking 6.9 per game.
He is still the same shooter he was that complemented Jimmy Butler, just a bit older and now complementing Bam Adebayo.
Miami’s best hope of keeping up with Charlotte’s offense is Herro firing away from deep. Do not be surprised if he takes eight or nine shots from beyond the arc.
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Devoted NBA fans recognize how appropriate this matchup is in the NBA Play-In Tournament. If two teams both delightfully surprised their fans and largely flew below the general radar all season, they were the Portland Trail Blazers and the Phoenix Suns. Shining a spotlight on the pair is appropriate.
This same-game parlay, one of many Trail Blazers vs. Suns predictions and NBA picks for the Play-In Tournament, respects Phoenix’s backcourt more than anything else Tuesday night.
Our best Trail Blazers vs Suns SGP for April 14
The Phoenix Suns have hardly gotten to enjoy all three of Devin Booker, Jalen Green, and Dillon Brooks at the same time. A hip contusion and a hamstring worry kept Green sidelined until the All-Star Break, at which point Brooks broke his hand, and then Booker suffered an ankle concern.
The good news: All three look available for the Play-In Tournament.
The bad news: Green appeared to injure his knee last week against the Mavericks just four minutes into the game, and he may actually be limited against the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday night.
This backcourt should bother nearly any opponent if it's ever in sync and fully healthy at the same time. If that happens to be this week, then how will Portland defend all three? Devote Jrue Holiday to Booker to the best results possible, sure, but then?
The Trail Blazers best approach would be to get the ball out of Green’s hands and risk whatever damage Brooks does or does not inflict. High usage from Brooks can giveth as much as it taketh, a risk the Suns will have to take regardless of Green’s status, but even more so if he is indeed limited at all.
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Feb 5, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker (7) celebrates with forward Jalen Johnson (1) and center Jock Landale (31) and guard Dyson Daniels (5) after a go-ahead basket against the Utah Jazz in the fourth quarter at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | Brett Davis-Imagn Images
The Hawks faced a crisis just five games into the season. The star point guard — one of the highest usage players in the league — went down with a knee injury that eventually saw him miss the better part of two months of action.
How would they find enough offense to compete down such a central player?
Well, they found a way.
They would never be able to replicate Trae Young’s mastery of the spread pick-and-roll attack. Instead, they innovated with who they had.
Now that the dust has settled, the Hawks finished 46-36 with the 14th best offensive rating (115.0) despite Young only playing 10 games for the team.
Certainly, it helps to have the rise of a first time All-Star, but in reality, many players have come together in a pass-heavy offense to pick up the slack. This year’s offense has been predicated on constant screening from everyone on the floor, quick decisions with the ball, and spreading the court to its dimensional limits.
As a result, the Hawks have finished with the ninth most assists in a season in NBA history (2,471) as well as the ninth highest assist to field goal ratio in NBA history (.691).
But how have they done managed these records? Let’s take a closer look at some of the defining actions that have powered this offense in a new era of Hawks basketball.
But he’s equally as good as a threat to score as he is in setting up his teammates for transition looks with his downhill pressure and passing.
After rebounds, he always keeps his eyes up, ready to hit streakers down the court for easy opportunities. Maybe the Atlanta Falcons should give him a call:
But really, when there’s a 6-foot-9 215-pound freight train coming at you, defenders think twice before trying to sacrifice their bodies towards slowing him down:
Johnson is the biggest reason behind the Hawks’ up and down attack. And on a team with multiple decentralized ball handlers, there’s no one player that needs to bring the ball up the court. Pretty much everyone but trailing bigs can grab and go off a make or miss.
It’s incredibly beneficial that Jalen Johnson is one of the league’s best defensive rebounders. He finished third in the league in total defensive rebounds behind just Karl-Anthony Towns and Nikola Jokic and eighth in the league among qualified players in defensive rebounding percentage (the number of defensive rebounds grabbed as a percentage of available defensive rebounds) at 27.8%.
This ability empowers him to grab and go, putting pressure on transition defenses trying to organize themselves. And with his elite passing ability for his position, he can always make the right play to find gaps in the defense.
I mean, just look how easily one pass beats all five Pistons defenders here:
Nickeil Alexander-Walker using pin downs and flare screens
Nickeil Alexander-Walker is likely to win Most Improved Player no matter which popular betting and odds-making sites you look at. His growth as a scorer (essentially doubling his output without sacrificing neither his efficiency nor his hustle on defense) is beyond remarkable.
With his season over, he averaged 20.8 points per game on a 46/40/90 triple slash (field goal percentage, three-point percentage, and free throw percentage respectively). Compare that to his previous season where he averaged 9.4 points per game on a true shooting percentage three points lower than this year (58% versus 61% in 2025-26).
Alexander-Walker hit a franchise record 251 threes, fourth most in the NBA this year, often by virtue of his tireless movement off the ball.
With a screen-the-screener action unfolding on the opposite side of the floor, ‘NAW’ floors it to use an Okongwu pin down screen. This is one of many movement triples to open the scoring in a recent game against the Magic:
And he’s probably most dangerous after he’s touched the ball. Defenders simply can’t nap for even a millisecond.
Here, he uses a Jonathan Kuminga screen and a give and screen from Dyson Daniels to put Keon Ellis in the ringer. This wasn’t a designed play, but it ended up being a flare off of a dribble-handoff, a byproduct of Daniels and Alexander-Walker’s chemistry from having played so many on-court minutes together.
Alexander-Walker doesn’t have the best passing vision in the world, but he can create easy reads from his activity and driving aggressiveness. He zooms around another pin down here and draws Jarrett Allen from his corner man Okongwu.
One extra pass springs Zaccharie Risacher for a triple:
But he’s also simply grown as a scorer off drives this year. He finished the year in the top 50 in sheer number of drives, and while he didn’t shoot an amazing percentage on these drives, they still put constant pressure on the defense.
The Hawks have simply needed both the rim pressure and the spacing out to all areas of the three-point line. And Alexander-Walker has been so central towards these aims all season long.
Dyson Daniels screening, dribble-handoffs and short rolls
Dyson Daniels is often maligned as a ‘negative’ offensive player, but that sentiment couldn’t be further from the truth.
Just disregard the three-point shooting percentage, Daniels is absolutely an essential cog in what makes this multi-faceted offense go. For one, per pbpstats, when Daniels is on the floor, the Hawks have a 119 offensive rating. When he’s off the floor, that figure drops to 112 — a swing of +7 points per 100 possessions.
For two, he fills in the gaps for a team that plays an unconventional offensive system. The Hawks’ main center rotation this season (Okongwu, Porzingis, Landale, but even Gueye and Newell at times) are all stretch bigs. That allows Daniels to cut into the paint or hang in the dunker spot as a functional center on offense without mucking up the spacing.
The key to this is his screening. While he’s grown into more of an on-ball player this season — handling the ball and distributing (a career-high 8.4 assists per 100 possessions) — it’s the effort he gives off the ball that unlocks everything.
We all know what a conventional pick-and-roll looks like, right? Guard uses the screen from a big and makes the right decision to shoot, drive, or hit the roller in the case of a defensive blitz.
Daniels and Johnson still linked up plenty this season that way:
But when your ‘big’ is a plus-ball handler for his position and your guard is wing-sized, you can ‘invert’ this action. Here, Johnson and Daniels flow into a pick-and-roll where Johnson hits the short rolling Daniels. They have to improvise from there, but it still results in a bucket:
Screening is often the duty of big men, but Daniels flips this on its head, especially when teams put their centers on him. With the prevalence of switching screen actions around the league, Daniels can often get slow-footed centers switched onto Alexander-Walker or Johnson to force a mismatch.
These are the benefits of having a 6-foot-7 athletic point guard who is unselfish enough to sacrifice his body.
Below, Daniels gives to Johnson then flip his screen. That forces Marvin Bagley III — the center in this lineup originally on Daniels — to switch onto Johnson. It’s free eats from there:
And they don’t even need to rely on the All-Star to take advantage of these opportunities. Daniels can even spring Gabe Vincent with a bruising screen on Payton Pritchard:
Yes, Daniels shot below 20% from three this season and he’s averaging fewer than 12 points per game despite playing over 33 minutes per game. But his utility on offense is absolutely indispensable.
For me, the three players listed above are the trio that the offense now centers upon. Yes, Onyeka Okongwu turning into one of the best stretch-5s in the league has opened up space underneath for everyone. Key in-season pickups like CJ McCollum and Jonathan Kuminga have given the Hawks extra punch.
But the Johnson-NAW-Daniels triumvirate are the biggest cogs in the engine. And with all three of them locked up contractually for multiple years, these will be the biggest building blocks of a new offense in Atlanta going into the future.
Kon Knueppel
Tyler Herro
