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Chicago Cubs news — PCA, Happ, Rizzo

Today’s Reflections

I could post more PCA stories (and I probably did too many), but after I went through and posted the supportive and the mixed stories about his play, I came across a couple of closed-minded, well, fellows, who were looking for a new target for the shooting range. One guy’s title was “The rollercoaster Pete Crow-Armstrong experience is becoming far too much for Cubs.” He was below the “mixed” line, but only because his title was harsher than what he wrote. I do think that he either didn’t absorb what was happening or totally missed it with this short paragraph: “Even with the heroics on Thursday, PCA needs to reminded that he can’t give up on the play the way that he did once he realized the fly ball landed behind him. There’s no excuse, that was a bad look for Crow-Armstrong. Not the first he has had this season.”

Yes, PCA stood there in one spot, but he didn’t give up on the play. Running the video back few times, Happ and Suzuki were even with PCA at full speed, and as fast as he is, I don’t think he could have run them down in the next 60-70 feet. Plus, you don’t want three hands reaching for the ball. So, I think this author was “reaching’” in an attempt to match his tough-guy title.

However, there’s no walking-the-line on this article, “How Do Cubs Fans Still Defend This Bum” – MLB Fans Are Laughing At Pete Crow-Armstrong’s Worst Play Ever”. Ever? Wowwww. I think with 950 career chances in his MLB career (up to Friday’s game), he can be allowed to lose a ball at dusk once. And, yes, it probably is his worst play ever. By a lot. Because he’s PCA.

“Athletics slugger Shea Langeliers hit one deep to center, and PCA could track the ball. Instead, he stood with open arms in the field trying to locate it. To make things worse, the ball landed way behind him.“ 1) Hopefully the first phrase was a typo because he couldn’t track the ball, or he would have made the catch. 2) I’m not an authority or a coach, but I was under the impression the main thing to do (other than scream ”I lost it!!!“ in front of 40,000 fans) is to hold your arms out in a non-waving position to signal to the other outfielders that he’s in trouble — that’s how Happ and Suzuki got the jump on getting to the ball. I mean, he could have dropped to the ground in a fetal position and waited out the play.

Here’s more: “MLB fans never hesitated to troll the slugger for his mistake.”

“How do Cubs fans still defend this bum?” one fan asked.

“Bro completely lost the ball in the lights and just stood there like it was someone else’s problem. Brutal,” wrote another fan.

“Then he just stares at it like a kid in t-ball,” another fan commented.

That’s only part of the comments IN the story. It doesn’t seem professional to use several comments by trolls to support your weak story. So it is a rather empty article without clear or original thought.

I’m sorry — I don’t think I’m here to critique other writers’ stories in detail, but I couldn’t let these two go as regular links below.

In much better news, I went to the Dodgers-Diamondbacks game Thursday night. Folks, you know how bad Dansby Swanson has looked at the plate? That is nothing compared to what I saw from Kyle Tucker — off-balance swings, weak contact on bad pitches, taking strikes. Beyond clueless. Dave Roberts seems to be one the nicest guys in baseball, but for him to say this about Tucker, “I think that it speaks to his toughness and fight to still try to perform,” Roberts said. “But it still wasn’t right, as far as not even close to being locked in.” That was almost a public flogging compared to his usual upbeat comments. TUCKER. LOOKS. BAD. That simple.

And I got a walk-off, too — Ketel Marte HR inside the foul pole. And that collision between little Vargas and the brick wall of Muncy? THAT was brutal. And no, I’m not becoming a D-Backs fan — I’m just passing the time until the Cubs come to town.

*means autoplay on, (directions to remove for Firefox and Chrome). {$} means paywall. {$} means limited views. Italics are often used on this page as sarcasm font. The powers that be have enabled real sarcasm font in the comments.

Analysis of PCA’s night (and a bit about Swanson):

Let’s continue to talk trades:

Hitting and Pitching thoughts:

Food For Thought:

Samuel McClain (April 15, 1943 – June 15, 2015), better known as Mighty Sam early in his career, and later billed as Mighty Sam McClain, was an American soul blues singer and songwriter. He was born in Monroe, Louisiana.[2] As a five-year-old, he began singing in his mother’s Gospel Church. McClain left home when he was thirteen and followed local R&B guitarist, Little Melvin Underwood through the Chitlin’ Circuit, first as his valet and then as lead vocalist himself at 15.

While singing at the 506 Club in Pensacola, Florida, he was introduced to the record producer and DJ, Papa Don Schroeder and in 1966, McClain recorded a cover version of Patsy Cline’s “Sweet Dreams”. Several recording sessions at Muscle Shoals produced the further singles. For 15 years, first in Nashville, Tennessee, then in New Orleans, McClain worked at menial jobs. McClain toured and recorded in Japan in 1989.

That’s at least three hours south of me. A friend saw one two hours to the northeast. Maybe they are closing in!

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.

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Saturday Rockpile: Zac Veen, the Rockies, and what happens when hope and timeline diverge

SCOTTSDALE, AZ - FEBRUARY 20: Colorado Rockies outfielder, Zac Veen walks back to the dugout after striking out during the first 2026 spring training game at Salt River Field at Talking Stick in Scottsdale, Arizona on February 20, 2026. The Arizona Diamondbacks went onto beat the Colorado Rockies 3-2. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images) | Denver Post via Getty Images

Zac Veen (No. 9 PuRP) was the player I hoped would be my favorite Rockie by now.

Hope can be an unfair thing to put on a prospect. Prospects are projections, not guarantees. Their timelines are rarely clean, and prospects should not become stand-ins for what we wish our baseball team was.

But fans do this anyway.

I did it with Veen.

And it was easy. The Rockies drafted him ninth overall in the 2020 MLB Draft as a first-round talent out of high school, and the tools flashed enough during his early minor-league days to make the hype feel reasonable.

There were warning signs, too: High-velocity fastballs, chase, and injuries all complicated the path. But for a franchise desperate for anything resembling a future, Veen became an easy place to put that hope.

Spring training 2025 put the hype on full display, bat flips and all. The disappointment when Veen did not break camp with the Rockies was real, but he went to Triple-A, kept hitting, and quickly got the call.

Veen hit .118/.189/.235 with a .424 OPS and a 37.8% strikeout rate across 37 plate appearances, and the pitch-level shape was not much kinder. Fastballs beat him, breaking stuff neutralized him, and pitchers had a clear path through the zone. Veen was soon optioned back, and while he finished the year with a measured rebound in Albuquerque, the timeline had split from the dream.

By the end of 2025, Veen was no longer the same prospect.

Spring 2026 showed he was not the same person either. 

Physically, Veen looked almost unrecognizable. This was not the same wiry kid. He showed up built out. The energy was still there, but the body was different: thicker, stronger, and more physically mature.

If spring 2025 was about hype, spring 2026 was about transformation. And the unseen transformation mattered more.

“Definitely one of the bigger, main things was sobering up,” said Veen. “I had a pretty big substance abuse problem for a few years. But I’m completely clean and sober. 

“There were times last year where it was out of hand. Coming home in the offseason, I had to look in the mirror and make some adjustments. And I definitely got closer to God, and it made me want to be the best version of myself in every aspect.” 

Scouting reports describe the machine. Stats show the output. But they cannot show what it means to look in the mirror and decide something has to change. 

For a little while, the baseball gave that change some joy.

Then the momentum was stopped by another injury. Veen landed on the 10-day IL on March 25 with a right knee contusion, went on a rehab assignment on March 31, and was activated and optioned to Triple-A on April 4.

The Rockies have not handed him anything. The new body, the honesty, the spring moment — all of it has to become baseball evidence.

And now, Veen is giving us reason to pay attention to the baseball again.

The present-tense case 

Across 192 at-bats in Triple-A this year, Veen is hitting .318/.416/.489 with an .927 OPS, seven home runs, and 37 RBI. If the season ended today, his .505 slugging percentage would be his highest since 2021 with Fresno. Veen also has 13 stolen bases, second on the team.

The PCL and Albuquerque always demand some skepticism, but his overall line still grades out at a 122 wRC+, and he is hitting .360/.452/.562 with a 1.014 OPS away from Isotopes Park.

Against lefties, Veen is hitting .318/.396/.529 with a .925 OPS. Against righties, the slugging is lighter, but the on-base skill is carrying the profile at .318/.440/.486 with a .926 OPS.

For a left-handed corner outfielder, handling lefties creates a cleaner path to starts instead of protected usage.

But the surface line is not the most interesting part.

The real case is in the underlying shape: improved approach, more walks, and evidence that the fastball question is becoming less glaring.

Profile repair, not power breakout 

Veen is not simply bigger now and therefore hitting the ball harder. His average exit velocity is roughly the same, and his 2025 Triple-A contact quality was stronger in several places: a .393 xSLG last year compared to .368 this year, and a 47.9% hard-hit rate compared to 43.4%.

The difference is the offensive shape. The walk rate has nearly doubled from 8.4% to 15.5%, the OBP has jumped from .359 to .422, and the strikeout and whiff rates have stayed in the same range. He is getting to a better line without needing every improvement to come from raw contact quality. 

May showed the adjustment 

May was the eye-opener outside the strike zone. 

Veen saw more pitches outside the zone in May than he did in April and swung at far fewer of them. That was the adjustment: stop helping pitchers, force more pitches into the zone, and let the strength and athleticism play from better counts.

The results moved with it. As the strikeout rate dropped and the walk rate climbed, the production followed: Veen went from a .353 OBP and .393 slugging percentage in April to a .495 OBP and .617 slugging percentage in May.

Over the past two weeks, Veen has swung at 55% of the pitches he has seen, and there has been regression in the approach. He is still producing, hitting .444 with a .714 slugging percentage to start June, but a hot streak is not the same thing as development fully holding.

The approach gains need to show up more consistently because big-league pitchers already know how to beat him — even if there is progress there, too.

The fastball question 

Veen’s first major-league look gave pitchers a clear plan, which makes the Triple-A fastball data meaningful. 

The fastball data is encouraging because the worst version of the problem has started to recede. In 2024, Veen was underwater against four-seamers across the board, with a .274 xwOBA, .158 xBA, and 25.5% whiff rate. The contact quality started to recover in 2025, but the approach remained aggressive: he swung at four-seamers 51.2% of the time.

This year looks more like a hitter choosing better fastballs to attack. That swing rate has dropped to 43.9%, while the .354 xwOBA and .279 xBA are both his best marks of the three-year sample. The whiff rate has also fallen to 19.7%. The .371 xSLG is not as loud as last year’s .437, so seeing that slugging return toward 2025 levels would be a logical next step if the improved discipline holds.

If the fastball progress is the green light, the slider remains the warning label. Veen is still swinging at sliders 60.6% of the time, with a .200 xBA and 36.0% whiff rate against the pitch in 2026. That gives big-league pitchers a clear place to test him.

Veen’s 21.8% Triple-A strikeout rate is playable, but Triple-A strikeout rates usually climb in the majors. Based on the typical FanGraphs translation, his rough major-league expectation is closer to 26–27%.

Still workable, but the margin gets thinner. The walks have to come with it, the power has to show up, and the chase cannot balloon.

That is the line between progress and arrival.

The development is showing up in the right places: better decisions, better fastball results, more walks, and usable production. Veen is doing enough damage to start making another major-league look feel realistic.

The old version did not arrive on schedule. This one might.

Different timeline, different hope 

The baseball case is stronger than it has been in a while, but this is where I keep coming back to Veen’s words.

He talked about looking in the mirror, making adjustments, getting closer to God, and wanting to become the best version of himself. None of that fixes chase rate. None of it guarantees another big-league role.

But the person matters.

Getting sober is hard. Not being sober is harder.

I know.

And maybe that is why the hope feels different now. The old hope was mine. It was about the player I wanted Veen to become for the Rockies.

Now the hope feels different. It is less something I am putting on him and more something I want for him.

I want Veen to feel hopeful about himself — not just about another call-up or a role with the Rockies, but about the life he is building.

The baseball still matters, and it is interesting again. But maybe the best part is that baseball no longer has to carry the whole story.

Different timeline. Different hope.

On the farm

Triple-A: Salt Lake Bees 1, Albuquerque Isotopes 0

The Albuquerque Isotopes (33-28) got strong pitching performances but lost 1-0 to the Salt Lake Bees (31-29).

Blake Adams was excellent despite taking the loss. The right-hander allowed one run on three hits over five innings, walking one and striking out nine on 86 pitches. His only walk came in the first inning, and that runner scored on Josh Lowe’s RBI double for the game’s only run. Mason Green followed with 2 1/3 scoreless innings and three strikeouts, keeping Albuquerque within one.

Zac Veen (No. 9 PuRP) was the standout on offense, going 3-for-4 with two singles and his second triple of the season. The triple came off a 95.6 mph fastball and left the bat at 109.8 mph. Drew Avans added two singles and Vimael Machín had the other hit, but the Isotopes could not turn the traffic into runs, going 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position and leaving nine on base.

Albuquerque had more hits, more stolen bases, fewer errors, and one fewer strikeout than Salt Lake, but the one run was enough. Isotopes pitchers also walked four batters, one more than the Bees, and the first of those walks came around to score.

Double-A: Hartford Yard Goats 8, Portland Sea Dogs 7

The Hartford Yard Goats (29-24) scored six runs in the ninth inning to beat the Portland Sea Dogs (28-26), 8-7.

GJ Hill carried the offense. He went 2-for-4 with two home runs, four RBI, and two runs scored. His solo shot in the second gave Hartford a 2-0 lead, and his three-run homer in the ninth cut Portland’s lead to 7-5. Hill is now hitting .220 with a .738 OPS, seven home runs, and 24 RBI.

Bryant Betancourt finished the comeback with a two-out, bases-clearing double in the ninth to put Hartford in front. It was his 12th double of the season, and he is now hitting .257 with an .810 OPS and 33 RBI. The Yard Goats had only five hits but drew 11 walks and turned their biggest chance into the deciding inning.

The game nearly got away from Hartford in the sixth, when Griffin Herring (No. 10 PuRP) allowed all seven Portland runs while recording just two outs. His ERA jumped to 14.85 after the outing. The bullpen recovered from there, with Cade Denton throwing 2 1/3 scoreless innings with three strikeouts and Andrew Baker striking out the side in the ninth for his fourth save. Baker now owns a 2.57 ERA.

High-A: Spokane Indians 12, Hillsboro Hops 5

The Spokane Indians (23-32) piled up 13 hits and went 6-for-14 with runners in scoring position in a 12-5 win over the Hillsboro Hops (24-31).

Robert Calaz (No. 6 PuRP) led the offense, going 3-for-4 with a double, three RBI, two runs, a walk, and his eighth stolen base of the season. He is now hitting .262 with a .729 OPS. Jack O’Dowd also had a big night, going 2-for-5 with his fourth home run, two RBI, and two runs scored. O’Dowd is hitting .412 with a 1.245 OPS.

Max Belyeu (No. 15 PuRP) added the biggest swing of the sixth inning with a two-run homer, his fifth of the season, and finished with three RBI. Roynier Hernandez went 2-for-5 with his fourth homer and is now hitting .306 with a .827 OPS. Alan Espinal also reached four times, going 2-for-2 with two walks, two RBI, and a stolen base.

Jackson Cox (No. 16 PuRP) got the win after striking out 11 over five innings. He allowed four runs, three earned, on seven hits, did not walk a batter, and has a 4.23 ERA on the season. Austin Emener handled the final four innings for his first save, allowing one run with two strikeouts. Spokane pitchers struck out 13 and did not issue a walk.

Single-A: Lake Elsinore Storm 9, Fresno Grizzlies 4

The Fresno Grizzlies (29-26) gave up seven runs in the fifth inning and lost 9-4 to the Lake Elsinore Storm (32-23).

Marcos Herrera took the loss after allowing nine runs on 11 hits over 4.2 innings. He walked four, struck out four, gave up two home runs, and his ERA rose to 9.28. Bryson Van Sickle kept the game from getting further out of hand, throwing 4.1 scoreless innings with one walk and one strikeout. He lowered his ERA to 2.84.

Carlos Renzullo had the biggest swing for Fresno, going 2-for-3 with his fourth double of the season and three RBI. He is now hitting .280 with a .725 OPS. Roldy Brito (No. 11 PuRP) went 2-for-4 with his 15th double and two runs scored, pushing his average to .332 with an .883 OPS. Tanner Thach added a hit and is hitting .357 with a 1.008 OPS.

Fresno had eight hits and went 2-for-5 with runners in scoring position, but Lake Elsinore had 14 hits, two homers, and 26 total bases. The fifth inning decided it.

Scoring on ball that bounced off Adell’s head changed from HR to four-base error | MLB.com

On MLB.com, Thomas Harding explains the scoring change that took a home run away from Rockies rookie TJ Rumfield and turned it into a four-base error on Jo Adell. It is a tough break for Rumfield, who now has seven homers instead of eight, but the play gives him a pretty strange story about the homer he had for three days before MLB took it off the board.

Rockies Pitching Staff Showing Signs of Life, Feltner Returns and Reinforcements Near | SI.com

In a Rockies On SI piece, Laura Lambert looks at the state of Colorado’s pitching staff as Ryan Feltner returns from the IL and Jimmy Herget and Victor Vodnik move closer to rehab outings. The article does not frame the Rockies as suddenly fixed, but it does point to a little more stability with Feltner returning to a decimated rotation and bullpen reinforcements on the way.

Breaking Down the Diamondbacks’ 5 Potential Trade Options | SI.com

On Arizona Diamondbacks On SI, Alex D’Agostino looks at five possible left-handed bats Arizona could consider if it buys at the deadline, including Rockies first basemen TJ Rumfield and Troy Johnston. The piece notes both would fit the Diamondbacks’ need for a first base/DH bat, while also acknowledging the complication of trying to make an intra-division trade with Colorado.

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Who do Giants fans think was the Player of the Week?

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN - JUNE 04: Jung Hoo Lee #51 of the San Francisco Giants up to bat against the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field on June 04, 2026 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images) | Getty Images

Good morning, baseball fans!

Another week of San Francisco Giants baseball comes to a close this weekend, which means it’s time to make our picks for Player of the Week!

It should come as absolutely no surprise that my pick for this week is Jung Hoo Lee! As of the time I am writing this, Lee has a 12-game hit streak going, and he’s racked up 20 in the last seven games alone. I’m always a huge fan of Lee, but this last couple of weeks have made me even more of one. I’m still kicking myself for not buying his jersey while I was at the park this year.

Who is your pick for Player of the Week?

What time do the Giants play today?

The Giants continue their series against the Chicago Cubs this morning at 11:20 a.m. PT.

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The Cardinals’ Pitching Pipeline Is Trending in the Right Direction

JUPITER, FLORIDA - MARCH 19, 2026: Tanner Franklin #43 of the St. Louis Cardinals throws a pitch during the fourth inning of a spring training Spring Breakout game against the Washington Nationals at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium on March 19, 2026 in Jupiter, Florida. (Photo by Nick Cammett/Diamond Images via Getty Images) | Diamond Images/Getty Images

Chaim Bloom and the Cardinals front office have spent the last year feverishly adding as much pitching talent to the farm system as possible. As ORSTLcardsfan noted in his article yesterday, this has been a “re-stock the pitching pipeline” year. 

I think most of us were happy with the pitchers and types of pitchers brought into the organization, but have the results followed the supposed increase in talented arms?

There are a couple of ways I want to do this. First, by looking at the team level statistics for each of the full-season clubs and how they are trending year over year relative to their respective leagues. The second is by looking at which individual prospects have taken major steps forward or back this season. I will keep the individual pitcher updates to a minimum since Gabe has covered that recently here for the upper minors and here for the lower minors.

Put simply: is the pitching pipeline actually getting better?

Team Statistics Overview

For the team level statistics, I am focusing on age, K%, BB%, and HR%. The average age is weighted by the number of plate appearances against. Yhoiker Fajardo’s 183 batters faced in High-A as a 19-year-old have a greater impact on the team’s average age than former teammate Aaron Holiday’s 56 batters faced as a 26-year-old. 

There has been an explosion of home runs at the three lowest levels of the minor leagues, so I also looked at leaguewide statistics. I think this is helpful because it gives some context on the performances of the Cardinals pitchers (and hitters, for that matter), but also gives us a more consistent baseline to evaluate against.

Changes in Prospect Grades

I am highlighting players that, in my opinion, have significantly changed their prospect grade based on their performance this year. My intent was to be very conservative  about moving players since we are still relatively early on in the year. For example, Leonel Sequera has a 9.07 ERA and has given up 12 home runs through his first 43.2 innings pitched. Obviously this is a horrible stat line, but he also showed improved velocity in spring training, moved up a level, and is running a 16.4% K-BB% as a 20-year-old in High-A. I consider him to be holding steady with his preseason expectations/grade. 

For injured players, I am delineating between players who were injured entering the year and those who have had injuries since the start of spring training. So, Cooper Hjerpe’s prospect grade has not changed since the start of the year, but Ixan Henderson and Frank Elissalt are trending down.

I am not saying this is the right or only methodology, but I am trying to measure progress relative to our offseason expectations and that is the best I could come up with.

Finally, I am including the FanGraphs preseason ranking for each prospect for reference. I don’t agree with their list completely, but it is a solid reference point. Now, on to Memphis!  

Memphis Redbirds

The first section in the table shows the year-over-year changes to the age, K%, BB%, and HR% for the International League as a whole. The second section of the table shows the Cardinals-specific performance in 2025 and 2026. Finally, the Cardinals vs. League section shows the Cardinals staff performance relative to the league year-over-year. The scores are scaled so that 100 is average and higher is better.  So, the Cardinals Age score of 104 indicates that their average pitcher is 4% younger than the International League as a whole. 

Overall, the Redbirds have improved in every metric. The average age of the pitching staff has decreased from 27 to 26.3, which is fourth youngest in the 20-team league. Strikeouts, walks, and home runs have all gone from just below league average to above. 

Prospects holding steady

Quinn Matthews (10), Brycen Mautz (17), Hancel Rincon (18), Pete Hansen (19), Luis Gastelum (31), Skylar Hales (38)

Prospect injured list 

Tekoah Roby (12), Sem Robberse (22)

Prospects trending up

Max Rajcic (NR) has transitioned from starting to relieving quite nicely. As a relief-only arm, he is probably not a top-30 prospect in their system, but he now looks like an actual major leaguer. Cade Winquest (NR) counts as trending up simply by virtue of being returned from the Yankees after being made their first Rule 5 selection since 2011. Winquest was ranked as the Yankees 12th-best prospect by FanGraphs, and based on his 40 FV grade, would have ranked between 23-33 on the Cardinals offseason list. Anyway, getting an arm like Winquest back in the system was a great break. He is pitching in relief now, but still throwing five or six pitches, so if everything breaks right, he could follow the Kyle Leahy path to the rotation. 

Prospects trending down

Tink Hence (11) has moved to a relief role and suffered a big drop in velocity and results out of the Memphis bullpen. After a stint on the development list, Hence at least showed better stuff in his return to Memphis.

Still, Hence may fall out of updated top-30 Cardinals lists and is still taking up a spot on the 40-man roster. Never count a pitcher with Hence’s talent out, but he is running out of time. 

Ixan Henderson (16) is still working his way back from an arm injury that surfaced in spring training. He is apparently still on track to pitch in July or August, but the injury timing was quite unfortunate following his breakout 2025. 
The Matt Pushard (43) era ended after seven magical innings in St. Louis. The Rule 5 draftee was returned to Miami.

Springfield Cardinals

Home runs in the Texas League are up almost 40%! This is encouraging context for a star-studded rotation. The Springfield staff as a whole is not quite matching up to the historically effective 2025 team, but it is still above average and is significantly younger.

Prospects holding steady

Liam Doyle (2), Jurrangelo Cijntje (5), Chen-Wei Lin (15), Austin Love (32), Braden Davis (36)

Prospect injured list 

Brandon Clarke (6), Cooper Hjerpe (21)

Prospects trending up

Mason Molina (41) was the least heralded member of the Springfield rotation to start the year, but has been the best starter in terms of ERA and FIP. He came into the year as a lottery ticket (acquired in the Phil Maton trade) that likely profiled as a bullpen arm. Molina showed off a devastating fastball in spring training and now looks like he might profile as a backend starter. He is easily a top-30 prospect in the organization for me. 

Prospects trending Down

FanGraphs always includes relief pitchers with great arms like Randel Clemente (45) on their prospect lists. Clemente was not a real prospect coming into the season, in my opinion. He is still walking almost a batter per inning. He is striking out 40% of hitters, so he will probably keep getting chances, but the control is just not clicking. 

Peoria Chiefs

To one-up the Texas League, Midwest League home runs are up more than 50% with around a 2% increase in both K% and BB%. Peoria’s staff has the highest home run per batter faced in the league, but has improved strikeout and walk rates. It will be worth following to see if the bloated home run totals are still partially a small sample-size issue, or if the trend continues. 

Prospects holding steady

Leonel Sequera (28), Blake Aita (35)

Prospects trending up

Tanner Franklin (24) is probably the biggest up arrow guy in the Cardinals system. Keith Law ranked him as the 25th-best prospect in baseball at the Athletic. While this feels a little aggressive, he is poised to start joining other top 100 lists if he keeps up his current pace a bit longer.  Yhoiker Fajardo (33) is one of six 19-year-olds to pitch in High-A this year.He has the 11th-best K-BB% (minimum 40 IP) of any pitcher in the minor leagues at 25%. Fajardo has struggled with the home run ball, like everyone in Peoria, but he could be making a run at top 100 prospect lists by year’s end as well. Jacob Odle (NR) is the biggest arrow up pitching prospect in the system that was unranked entering the season. He has just one High-A start but terrorized the Florida State League with a wicked fastball averaging 97.1 MPH and 17.5 inches of induced vertical break (IVB). For reference, Chase Burns is the only qualified starting pitcher in MLB to throw harder (98 MPH) with more IVB (18.7). Odle has less than 100 professional innings pitched and is already 22, but he is officially on the prospect watchlist. 

Prospects trending down

Nate Dohm (34) was acquired in the Ryan Helsley trade and was one of the more popular picks to break out this year. As a former reliever with great stuff, he was in a similar category as Tanner Franklin entering the year. Unfortunately, he has battled command and only been able to get through 24 innings in nine appearances. I am not ready to write him off, but he is trending in the wrong direction. Jose Davila (37) has barely pitched this year and Frank Elissalt (42) has not appeared at all. Despite the low ranking, Elissalt has a lot of fans in the prospect-watching community thanks to a nasty fastball, but he is still working his way back from a hip injury suffered in spring training. 

Palm Beach Cardinals

Florida State League home runs are up 37%, right in line with the Palm Beach team’s year-over-year increase. Strikeout rates in the league have jumped almost 3%, which makes the Cardinals increase look a bit less impressive. The Palm Beach roster is light on prospects relative to the other teams in the system, but Brian Holiday is a non-ranked name to watch that has just joined the club after returning from his Tommy John rehab. 

Prospects holding steady 

Cade Crossland (23), Jack Martinez (39), Ethan Young (40)

Prospects trending down 

Yordy Herrera (44) is in the same category for me as Clemente, but I am including him for completeness of the FanGraphs list. He is still in Low-A and not getting results. 

Conclusion

So, where does that leave us? At the team level, every level except Palm Beach has gotten younger. All four teams are striking out between 3%-11% more than the league average. Three of the four teams have improved their walk rate relative to the league, with Springfield being the exception. Peoria’s staff has been a weird outlier on the home run front, but the other staffs are above average in that department as well. To me, the younger staffs and improved strikeout rates are encouraging signs that the talent level within the system is rising.

When looking at individual players trending up vs. trending down, I think the signs are encouraging as well. Franklin and Fajardo are both taking major steps forward.  Odle is one of the most exciting out-of-nowhere arms I can remember in quite some time. Mason Molina could be a back-end starter and getting Cade Winquest back in the system was a nice bonus. These developments more than offset the continued struggles of Hence, the injuries to Ixan Henderson and Frank Elissalt, and the poor start by Nate Dohm. 

Cooper Hjerpe made his first rehab appearance on Friday night in the complex league. How Hjerpe, Henderson, and Clarke pitch in the second half will have a huge impact on the pitching picture going into 2027, but based on what we’ve seen so far, Bloom’s plan is trending in the right direction. 

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Orioles news: O’s within half game of wild card spot

TORONTO, CANADA - JUNE 5: Adley Rutschman #35 of the Baltimore Orioles celebrates his two-RBI double against the Toronto Blue Jays during the ninth inning of an MLB game at the Rogers Centre on June 5, 2026 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Mark Blinch/Getty Images) | Getty Images

Good morning Birdland,

There was a whole lot of goodness in the Orioles 13-3 beatdown of the Blue Jays on Friday night, and perhaps just one small (for now) thing to worry about.

First, the good news. The Orioles looked amazing, even if it took a little while for the offense to get it going.

Adley Rutschman’s solo homer in the first inning is all they could muster against Blue Jays starter Trey Yesavage through the game’s first five innings. But they caught fire in the sixth, plating five runs and putting the game out of reach for a Blue Jays lineup that got shut down in the second half of the evening.

Rutschman was the star, going a perfect 4-for-4 with the homer, two doubles, and five runs driven in. His season totals are looking mighty fine after that performance. But he didn’t do it all alone. Coby Mayo hit a two-run dong. Jeremiah Jackson entered as a pinch hitter and had two hits and two RBI. Colton Cowser had two more hits and made a nice throw from right field. Gunnar Henderson reached base twice, scored two runs, and put pressure on the defense with his speed. It was just a really impressive group effort up and down the lineup.

The pitching was also good! Brandon Young got the win, tossing 6.1 innings and allowing three runs on seven hits, no walks, and four strikeouts. Then, the trio of Grant Wolfram, Yennier Cano, and Anthony Nunez combined for 2.2 shutout innings to close out the win.

The only thing we really need to be worried about is Samuel Basallo. He was the DH in this one, but exited early due to “right abdominal discomfort.” O’s manager Craig Albernaz described the decision to remove Basallo as “precautionary,” and that they will know more on Saturday. Sam Huff is already with the team as a member of the taxi squad, though he would need to be added to the 40-man roster if he is needed.

Losing Basallo for any amount of time would hurt. The rookie has been such an impactful part of their offense. He has also allowed Rutschman to get out from behind the plate more frequently, either as the DH or on the bench. Upending that balance could have some negative downstream effects. Fingers crossed this ends up being a day-to-day thing.

Links

Orioles injury updates and some mailbag questions | Roch Kubatko
We got some positive injury updates this week. Chris Bassitt should be OK to make his next start. Ryan Helsley is set for a rehab stint next week. Dylan Beavers is hitting in the cage. And Dean Kremer is running and throwing live batting practice. Getting the team healthier would be a big boost!

Arms on the Farm: Breaking down fast-moving Orioles pitching prospect Joseph Dzierwa | The Baltimore Banner
The Orioles have fairly recently turned their developmental attention away from hitters ever so slightly, and brought pitchers into the fold more. The result has been some better pitching prospects down on the farm. Dzierwa might be the best of the few that Mike Elias has deemed worthy of a draft pick.

The Draft is just over 5 weeks away! Here’s the latest mock | MLB.com
The Orioles have the seventh overall pick in this year’s draft, which makes things a bit more interesting. Clearly, you can get good players deeper than that. Look no further than Henderson. But the draft is most exciting in the top half of the first round. Here are a bunch of names to get familiar with.

Orioles birthdays

Is it your birthday? Happy birthday!

  • The late Merv Rettenmund (b. 1943, d., 2024) was born on this day. The outfielder spent six seasons in Baltimore during the club’s Golden Age from 1968-73. He put together three different seasons with bWARs of 4.2 or better, with his standout campaign coming in 1971. That got him some down ballot MVP votes, finishing in 19th place for the award.

This day in O’s history

1993 – Cal Ripken Jr’s consecutive games played streak nearly comes to an end when his spikes get stuck in the grass and twist his knee. Although his knee will be badly swollen the next day, he plays anyway.

2010 – The Orioles beat the Red Sox 4-3 in 11 innings, ending a ten-game losing stream and giving interim manager Juan Samuel his first victory at the helm.

2012 – The Orioles beat the Red Sox 2-1 to retake sole possession of first place in the AL East.

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What We Learned from dying a thousand deaths at the hands of the Knicks in Game 2

SAN ANTONIO, TX - JUNE 5: Karl-Anthony Towns #32 of the New York Knicks, Victor Wembanyama #1 of the San Antonio Spurs and Jalen Brunson #11 of the New York Knicks look on during Game Two of the 2026 NBA Finals on June 5, 2026 at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, 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 Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2026 NBAE(Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images

For a while now, I thought I was watching a very specific kind of story. An underdog with tenacity. A chosen one on the rise. An ascension. A coming-of-age. A fairy tale, maybe. The details were always a little hazy, but the protagonist was never in question. It was the Spurs. It just felt right. Every moment had meaning. Every setback only served the cause. The signs were everywhere if you knew how to read them. Our time had come. Our story was happening in real time, right in front of our eyes.

Somewhere in the third quarter, down fourteen, I started to wonder if I’d maybe wandered into the wrong theater.

I felt like I was drowning. Every Spurs possession was happening at warp speed. Shots went up quick and bounced out. Layups lipped out. Drives sputtered. The ball found its way into Knick hands before I could even process what was happening, and then suddenly everything was headed the other way.

These Knicks possessions, though. Those were like getting punched in slow motion. Just haymaker after haymaker and, sure, you could see every one coming but your arms were moving through molasses. There’s nothing to be done except to just sit there and take it. Then everything speeds up again and you’re dizzy from that last punch but, oops, another three just rattled out and the Knicks are headed back up the court again.

I was exhausted. I was dizzy. And I was starting to get the distinct impression that, in whatever version of this story I thought I was watching, this is not how it was supposed to go.

Much to my chagrin, I could not stop focusing on the Knicks fans in the crowd. They were making me insane. Not, like, a little annoyed. Insane. Seriously, every time a bunch of blue and orange hands went up after another bucket, it was like a galactic five-year-old found a bruise on my arm and just kept poking it. I felt like I was in my living room trying to grieve the demise of an old friend and a bunch of drunk guys were screaming BING BONG KNICKS IN FOUR BABY directly into my ear canal.

Get out of our house, you absolute ghouls.

I know. I know. It wasn’t really about them. Whatever. It’s just that it felt unfair in the specific way that life feels really unfair sometimes, when something wrong is happening right in front of you and there’s no one to appeal to and no rule being broken and it’s just happening. Why? Because.

But here’s the thing. I was so busy being mad at them for acting like they belonged there that I didn’t stop to consider why they were so sure they did.

Maybe they knew something I didn’t.

I turned the sound off with around 11 minutes left in the game. A tried and true tactic I’ve used for as long as I can remember when Sports has gotten a little too real for my taste. Something about the silence makes it seem more palatable. Like I can finally breathe and think for a second. Sometimes it’s just nice not to have to listen to Richard Jefferson anymore.

Wembanyama hit a three. That wasn’t going to fool me though. No sir. This whole game had been defined by the Spurs getting purchase on a cliff face before immediately tumbling back down a few feet and starting over. Castle got in for a pretty good dunk. Wemby blocked Hart. Their shots weren’t really falling anymore, but this wasn’t real. This was just the death rattle.

Harper with a bucket.

I’m telling you, watching this play out in silence was surreal. I obviously wasn’t going to turn the sound back on and mess with whatever favor I’d earned with the gods to inspire the run. Still, it was as if I was standing on the other side of the glass watching all of this happen to someone else. I wanted to scream or shout or bang on the window, but all I could do was stare. Mouth agape. Silently trying to will something into existence just by wanting it enough.

Our crowd was going nuts. The Knicks fans were, finally, mercifully, joining me in a silent vigil.

The score was tied. Three minutes left. Were they actually going to do this? They’d spent all night searching for answers and had they now, against all odds, finally found some? Victor took two steps, covered about a hundred feet of ground, and laid it in. The Spurs were winning. They were winning this game. Winning this series. Potentially never going to lose again.

Maybe this was our story after all. It’s wins all the way down, baby!

Wembanyama grabbing that board off the Brunson miss with 12 seconds left was the first time I actually let myself believe they were going to pull this off. The two best players on the court had just stared each other down, one on one, and Vic had prevailed. We were going to go back up, score, and dance off into the night. The story had been written. Our fate had been sealed. The stars were aligned.

Fate, it turns out, has a pretty funny sense of humor.

Before the game, Wembanyama was asked in French about this team’s habit of finding solutions only after running into problems. As usual, the frankness of his assessment kind of caught me off guard.

“We’re kind of like spoiled kids,” he said. “For some of us, it’s our first season and we’re already in the Finals. We don’t fully realize it yet. And to me, the team that appreciates the position we’re in the most will be the one that wins.”

Two games in, the Knicks look like they know exactly where they are.

How could they not? This is a franchise that has spent the better part of three decades being a punchline. Draft picks that didn’t pan out. Superstars that chose somewhere else. Stars that arrived and immediately got hurt. An owner who, at times, seemed to be actively working against his own team.

Last year, this group got within two wins of this exact moment and then Tyrese Haliburton and the Pacers ripped their hearts out.

Twenty-seven years of almost and now here they are, back in San Antonio. In the Finals. In our building. Their fans look deliriously happy and their players look like they’re on a mission from God. They all look like they’ve been waiting their whole lives for this moment.

Maybe this is the story we’ve really been watching all along.

It could be as simple as that.

Takeaways
  • I’m willing to live in a world where I’m being too cynical about all this. The Spurs found something in that fourth quarter that looked real, and crazier things have happened. That said, down 0-2 heading to a Garden that is going to be absolutely feral is a lot. It’s not impossible. It’s just a lot. It’s….yeah, a lot.
  • Victor looked absolutely gassed all game. Right up until he didn’t! Still, I feel like I’ve seen him miss a ton of shots he normally makes in this series and it’s for sure a little disconcerting. The biggest thing the fourth quarter showed is that this Spurs team is invincible when Wemby is looking invincible. When he’s not, well, they get pretty vincible all of a sudden. This is something that somehow continues to seem profound even though we’ve been learning it over and over again for about three years now.
  • The Luke Kornet rebound off the missed Brunson free throw is an all-time moment that is going to be lost to history and I am furious about it. They put him in to do exactly one thing and he did it. He reached into a tangle of legs and limbs and came out with the basketball, somehow without stepping out of bounds. It was as stunning a play as his chase-down block in the OKC series. It deserved a better ending. Alas.
  • Part of me thinks Fox should have taken that last shot. I can’t fully explain it. It just felt like that was going to be his moment. That’s why we brought him here. Everyone in the building knew Wemby was getting the ball, so why not shock the world? He had the shot, didn’t he? I’ll never know because I refuse to watch that sequence again, but in my heart I think he had it.
  • Feels bad, y’all. Feels real bad right now.
  • Spurs in 7.
WWL Post Game Press Conference

Have you ever actually walked into the wrong theater for a movie?

No, that seems borderline impossible. I did used to like, double dip at the theater all the time back in the day when there was nothing else really going on. It felt like once you’d given your ticket to the guy up front you really could just hang out back there in the bowels of a Regal Cinemas for days on end.

So you’d just watch multiple movies?

Sure, or just like, a double feature or something.

What was your best double feature?

My favorite one, for sure, was a combination of Mission Impossible 2 followed by Shanghai Noon. Cinema! I was a man of culture. I’ve never felt more artistically fulfilled.

You really don’t want to keep talking about that Spurs game do you?

I really don’t.

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Six Degrees of Cedric Ceballos, Part II

ORLANDO, FL - FEBRUARY 8: Cedric Ceballos #23 of the Phoenix Suns in interviewed after winning the 1992 NBA All-Star Slam Dunk Contest at Orlando Arena on February 8, 1992 in Orlando, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 1992 NBAE (Photo by Jon Soohoo/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images

Once upon a time, we were desperate for story ideas. The COVID-19 pandemic had taken hold, there were no sports to watch, and everyone was trying to figure out how to fill the void. It was in the middle of that landscape that I began writing for Bright Side of the Sun. My first article was published only days before the entire NBA shut down.

As we navigated those strange times, I came up with an idea for an article. What if I took the game of Six Degrees of Separation with Kevin Bacon and applied it to an NBA player? Naturally, I chose Cedric Ceballos. Why? Because he exists in the middle of NBA history, which unlocks doors to the past and doors to the present. I also was a big Ceballos fan when he was a Sun, so why not?

Now, I fully understand that Cedric isn’t the true NBA equivalent. Somebody like Vince Carter or Jeff Green would probably be a better choice given the number of teams they played for and the sheer volume of teammates they accumulated throughout their careers. But this was a Suns site. I thought it would be fun. And fun it was.

Now here we are, six seasons later, and that article still sticks with me. Partly because it was fun. Partly because it was funny. Mostly because I enjoy the research. Clearly, I’m a nerd. I enjoy wandering down the endless tunnels that Basketball Reference provides, clicking from player to player and finding connections that I never knew existed.

So once again, we’re going to give this a shot. Six Degrees of Separation with Cedric Ceballos. As a reminder of the rules I established more than half a decade ago, here’s how this works. I will note that I removed some rules. It’s down to whether or not they played together or were traded for each other. Being coached by a similar person no longer counts:

Rule 1: Teammates

You can only count players who played together. Example: Yuta Tubuse played in 4 career NBA games, all for the Suns. I can use any Suns player he played with in those games, but I cannot use any of his opponents.

Rule 2: Transactions

Any player can be linked to another player via a transaction they shared. Example: Gani Lawal, who appeared in just 2 NBA minutes, was a future 2010 draft pick who was part of the Jared Dudley and Jason Richardson for Raja Bell, Boris Diaw, and Sean Singletary trade. Therefore, he is linked to those players.

Rule 3: You have 6 moves

That’s the name of the game. Six moves or fewer is a win. Do it in seven and don’t talk to me.

And of course, it wouldn’t be any fun if I were the one choosing which players to connect to Cedric Ceballos. That would be too easy. So I put out a call to arms, asking the Twitter community to provide me with some random dudes from NBA history.

It was a rocky start. I guess when you’re plugged into Suns’ Twitter, I should expect that everyone is going to try to find an obscure Suns player. Shannon Brown? Too easy. Negele Knight? Obscure, sure, but a teammate of Ceballos in Phoenix. They played 140 games with each other!

Some of the names were familiar. Some of them sent me down rabbit holes I never expected to travel. A few had me staring at Basketball Reference pages, wondering how on earth I was going to connect the dots. Which is exactly the point. Half the fun of this exercise is seeing where the journey takes you. The destination matters, sure. But the path to get there is where things get interesting.

So with a fresh list of random NBA names in hand, it’s time to see how many degrees of separation stand between them and Cedric Ceballos.

Marcus Banks to Cedric Ceballos

All right, let’s start easy. After all, it’s two members of the Phoenix Suns, right?

The easiest way to attack this is to look at the roster from Marcus Banks’s rookie season and Cedric Ceballos’s final season. The two never overlapped in the NBA, so that felt like the logical starting point.

Banks entered the league after being selected 13th overall in the 2003 NBA Draft out of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. His rights, along with those of Kendrick Perkins, were traded to the Boston Celtics in exchange for Troy Bell and Dahntay Jones. As a result, Banks spent his rookie season in Boston, appearing in 81 games off the bench for a Celtics team that finished 36-46.

As for Ceballos, his final season came in 2000-01 with the Miami Heat. It’s always fun to go back and look at some of the names on those old rosters. Bruce Bowen was in his fourth NBA season. A.C. Green was there. So were Eddie House, Eddie Jones, Anthony Mason, and, of course, Dan Majerle.

But none of those names is the key. The connector is Ricky Davis.

MIAMI – NOVEMBER 1: Ricky Davis #31 of the Miami Heat celebrates after hitting a three-pointer against the Detroit Pistons at American Airlines Arena November 1, 2007 in Miami, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2007 NBAE (Photo by Doug Benc/Getty Images) | Getty Images

Davis was in his second NBA season during that final year of Ceballos’s career. Originally selected 21st overall by the Charlotte Hornets in 1998, he landed in Miami two years later and shared the court with Ceballos during that final campaign. The following season, Davis was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, where he spent two seasons before being dealt to the Celtics in December of 2003.

And there it is.

Step 1: Marcus Banks to Ricky Davis

Both Marcus Banks and Ricky Davis spent 2.5 seasons together with the Boston Celtics. Interestingly enough, both were traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves in January of 2006.

For Davis, Banks was a significant teammate. The two appeared in 213 games together, which ranks as the second-most games Ricky Davis played alongside any teammate during his NBA career. The same is true in reverse. Of all the players Banks shared the court with throughout his career, Davis ranks second in total games played together.

Step 2: Ricky Davis to Cedric Ceballos

As noted above, Davis spent part of the 2000-01 season with the Miami Heat, which was the final NBA season for Cedric Ceballos. The overlap was brief. Very brief. Davis and Ceballos appeared in only four games together. Fortunately, four games are still four games, and according to the highly scientific rules established for this exercise more than half a decade ago, that absolutely counts.

Which means we’ve successfully connected Marcus Banks to Cedric Ceballos in just two degrees of separation.

Luigi Datome to Cedric Ceballos

All right, here’s one that’s a little more difficult. Because I had absolutely no idea who Luigi Datome was. So well played, Bruce. Well played.

What I learned is that Datome was a 6’8” small forward who didn’t play his first NBA game until 2013, joining the Detroit Pistons at age 26. Over his two-year NBA career, he appeared in a grand total of 55 games, 37 with Detroit.

Then came the trade. When the Isaiah Thomas deal sent Thomas from the Phoenix Suns to the Boston Celtics, Datome was included as part of the package heading to Boston in a three-team deal. Ah, that’s why Bruce picked him. Because Bruce is a Boston guy.

BOSTON, MA – MARCH 1: Luigi Datome #70 of the Boston Celtics poses for a portrait before the game against the Golden state Warriors on March 1, 2015 at the TD Garden 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. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2015 NBAE (Photo by Steve Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images

So naturally, the next step is diving into that 2014-15 Celtics roster to see if we can find a path. And right away, one name jumps off the page. Gerald Wallace. Wallace was in his 13th NBA season at the time, and the moment I saw his name, I knew I had my starting point.

Now the question becomes where that path leads next.

Step 1: Luigi Datome to Gerald Wallace

I could have gone in a few different directions here.

There were other names on that roster. Other players who bounced around the league and would have made for an easy connection. Jeff Green was on that Celtics team, and Jeff Green is basically the holy grail for this exercise. The man has played 18 seasons for 11 different franchises. But where’s the fun in that?

Instead, I went with Gerald Wallace. Wallace entered the league in 2001 after being selected 25th overall by the Sacramento Kings. His stint in Sacramento isn’t what interests me, however. It’s the one that began in 2004-05 with the Charlotte Bobcats.

Step 2: Gerald Wallace to Eddie House

Ah, the Bobcats. Remember that team? Remember that logo? Those uniforms? It’s been more than 20 years since the Bobcats existed, and thank goodness for that. If you weren’t around back then, you missed some truly questionable fashion choices and some equally questionable basketball.

But who else was on that 2004-05 Charlotte roster? Our old friend Eddie House. Most Suns fans remember House for his electric 2005-06 season in Phoenix, when he finished 13th in Sixth Man of the Year voting and routinely came off the bench throwing gasoline on the fire. When Eddie got hot, the entire arena knew it.

As I mentioned earlier in this article, however, Eddie House and Cedric Ceballos already have a connection.

Step 3: Eddie House to Cedric Ceballos

That’s right. We return once again to Cedric’s final season in the NBA. The 2000-01 season happened to be the rookie campaign for Eddie House. After being selected 37th overall out of Arizona State University in the 2000 NBA Draft by the Miami Heat, House landed on the same roster that featured Cedric Ceballos during the final stop of Ced’s NBA career.

And just like that, we’ve connected Gigi Datome to Cedric Ceballos in three degrees of separation. Not bad for a guy I had never heard of 20 minutes ago.

Neal Walk to Cedric Ceballos

Okay, I like this one. It still lives in the Suns’ universe, but we’re going way back. All the way back to a player the Phoenix Suns selected in the 1969 NBA Draft. Neal Walk.

Walk, a center out of the University of Florida, was essentially the consolation prize. He’s the player Phoenix ended up with after calling heads in the coin flip that ultimately gave the Milwaukee Bucks the right to draft Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who at the time was still known as Lew Alcindor. But hey, he had a magnificent beard.

MILWAUKEE, WI – MARCH 11: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar #33 of the Milwaukee Bucks handles the ball against Neal Walk #41 of the Phoenix Suns on March 11, 1974 at the MECCA Arena in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 1974 NBAE (Photo by Vernon Biever/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images

Walk spent 4.5 seasons with the Suns, averaging 14.7 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. He was a solid player. A productive player. It’s also safe to say Phoenix lost that coin flip. After all, Lew Alcindor became Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and there’s a strong argument that he’s the third greatest player in NBA history.

Walk remained with the Suns until 1974, when he was traded, along with a second-round pick, to the New Orleans Jazz for three players and a first-round pick. That pick eventually changed hands and was used by the Buffalo Braves to select Adrian Dantley out of the University of Notre Dame. Another Hall of Famer. Because apparently this story wasn’t finished torturing Suns fans.

But there’s my starting point. Walk spent only one season with the Jazz, appearing in 34 games. And during that lone season, he shared the court with E. C. Coleman. That’s where the trail begins.

Step 1: Neal Walk to E.C. Coleman

E.C. Coleman was a power forward out of Houston Baptist University who was selected in the third round of the 1973 NBA Draft by the Houston Rockets. Yes, there used to be more than two rounds, even though the league was smaller. He was a Rocket for a couple of years, but when the New Orleans Jazz entered the NBA in 1974, they selected Coleman in the expansion draft.

LANDOVER, MD – CIRCA 1976: E.C. Coleman #12 of the New Orleans Jazz looks on against the Washington Bullets during an NBA basketball game circa 1976 at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland. Coleman played for the Jazz from 1974-77. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images) | Getty Images

It turned out to be a solid pick. Coleman spent three seasons with the Jazz and eventually earned All-Defensive First Team honors in 1976-77. The season that interests us, however, is 1974-75. That Jazz team was rough. They opened the year with an 11-game losing streak and started the season 3-34 before finally putting together a two-game winning streak. They ultimately finished 23-59, but it was during that season that Coleman and Neal Walk shared the court.

Coleman eventually entered free agency and signed with the Golden State Warriors in 1977. After being waived in 1978, he returned to Houston and played 6 games for the Rockets. Six games that, for most people, wouldn’t matter. For this exercise, those six games are everything.

Step 2: E.C. Coleman to Moses Malone

During those six games in Houston, Coleman played alongside Moses Malone. Not a bad teammate to stumble across.

It was Malone’s third NBA season after beginning his professional career in the ABA, and 1978-79 became a landmark year for him. He appeared in all 82 games, averaging 24.8 points and 17.6 rebounds per contest. The accolades piled up. All Star. All NBA First Team. All Defensive Second Team. And most importantly, MVP.

Malone remained with Houston for three more seasons, winning another MVP award in 1982 before being traded to the Philadelphia 76ers for Caldwell Jones and a 1983 first-round pick. And once he arrived in Philadelphia, the next connection practically made itself.

Step 3: Moses Malone to Julius Erving

The 1982-83 season brought together Moses Malone and Julius Erving, better known as Dr. J. Talk about a duo. Malone won MVP that season. Dr. J finished fifth in MVP voting. Both earned All-NBA First Team honors as the 76ers rolled through the league.

Basketball: NBA Finals: (L-R) NBA commissioner Larry O'Brien, Philadelphia 76ers Moses Malone (2), coach Billy Cunningham, Julius Erving (6) and owner Harold Katz in locker room after winning game and series vs Los Angeles Lakers at The Forum. Game 4. Inglewood, CA 5/31/1983 CREDIT Peter Read Miller (Photo by Peter Read Miller /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images) (Set Number: X28564 TK1 R7 F1 )

Erving had begun his professional career in the ABA and entered the NBA in 1976 at age 26. He would spend 11 seasons in the NBA and eventually become one of the most influential and celebrated players in basketball history.

At this point, the next connection feels almost inevitable. We’re talking about the Philadelphia 76ers in the mid 1980s. That means we’re talking about Sir Charles.

Step 4: Julius Erving to Charles Barkley

Charles Barkley, drafted 5th overall in the 1985 Draft, and Julius Erving appeared in 226 games together. The pair went 130-66 during the regular season, although postseason success proved harder to find. They went 16-14 in the playoffs during their shared time in Philadelphia.

Of course, the Eastern Conference wasn’t exactly welcoming. This was the era of Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics.The era of Isiah Thomas and the Detroit Pistons. The beginning of the era of Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. There were heavyweights everywhere.

Philadelphia captured its championship in 1983 before Barkley arrived, and despite all of Charles’s greatness, he never got another crack at a title with the 76ers. That opportunity would come later when he moved out west to the Valley of the Sun.

Step 5: Charles Barkley to Cedric Ceballos

And now we’ve arrived at the destination. A journey spanning decades, from Neal Walk’s era in the early late 60s to 1992, when Charles Barkley arrived in Phoenix, and Cedric Ceballos was entering his third NBA season out of California State University, Fullerton.

Ced was a star on the rise. Honestly, I’ll go to my grave believing that if he had been healthy during that NBA Finals run, Barkley might have a championship ring and Suns fans might feel a little differently about the franchise’s history. Instead, we’re left wondering what could have been.

What we do know is that Barkley and Ceballos appeared in 131 games together. And with that, Neal Walk is connected to Cedric Ceballos in five degrees of separation.

That’s enough for this session, isn’t it? We got a little history lesson. We exercised parts of our basketball brains that probably haven’t been used in quite some time. And along the way, we managed to connect a handful of seemingly random players to Cedric Ceballos.

That’s the beauty of this exercise. It sends you wandering through decades of NBA history, stumbling across forgotten franchises, forgotten players, strange trades, and connections that you never would have considered otherwise. And honestly, I enjoy every minute of it.

So who knows? Maybe I’ll continue accepting the challenges thrown my way and keep this experiment going as the summer rolls on. There are certainly enough random names out there to keep me occupied. For now, though, I think these three examples prove the point. No matter how obscure the player, no matter how far back in NBA history you go, no matter how impossible the challenge initially appears. You can connect just about anyone who has ever played in the NBA to Cedric Ceballos.

And if you can’t?

Well, then I probably haven’t spent enough time on Basketball Reference yet.

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Long Island Knicks fan goes viral for predicting Knicks’ NBA final run years before it happened

He’s a Knicks-tradamus.

A Long Islander went viral this week for predicting the Knicks’ NBA Finals run in his 2020 high school yearbook.

Evan Pfeufer of Kings Park shared a photo Thursday of his quote in Smithtown High School West’s yearbook, “Knicks in 6. 2026 NBA Finals” — and it racked up more than 5 million views in one day.

Evan Pfeufer predicted the Knicks’ 2026 NBA Finals run in his 2020 high school yearbook. Courtesy of Evan Pfeufer

The now-23-year-old told The Post how he decided on the very specific prediction.

“It’s so simple. Knicks in six 2026 rhymes so incredibly well,” he said.

The Knicks superfan recalled his parents’ disappointment when he showed them the book six years ago.

“It was so funny, my parents were like, ‘Evan, why?’ Why would you do this?'” he said.

Now, they are reconsidering, and likening their son to a modern-day Nostradamus.

“My dad is questioning if I’m a human or not,” he said.

“It’s so simple. Knicks in six 2026 rhymes so incredibly well,” Pfeufer told The Post. Courtesy of Evan Pfeufer

Pfeufer, whose impressive high school resume included serving as an officer in the Business Honor Society, purposely chose not to include any of his accomplishments on his yearbook page in order for his Knicks quote to stand out.

“They gave us an option, and I said, ‘No, I just want this,'” he recalled.

“Hand over Bible, I purposely didn’t put my honor societies and all the stuff I got because I was like, ‘What if this actually happens? Everybody else has this long a– quote with all their achievements, and me, I would get it right.'”

As it started looking like his 2020 prediction could actually come to fruition, he texted his childhood friend a photo of the yearbook page

“And I was like, ‘Imagine if this happens,'” he said.

Pfeufer’s classmates urged him to share a photo of his yearbook prediction on a larger social media platform. Courtesy of Evan Pfeufer

He then posted it on his private Snapchat page and his friends encouraged him to share it on a larger platform, so he submitted it to the sports Instagram account Overtime, which boasts 10.4 million followers, and it “instantly” went viral.

Pfeufer, who graduated from Adelphi University and now works as a sales rep, is hoping the post grabs the attention of the Knicks.

“My friend said, ‘If the Knicks don’t get you to one of the games or something, I would be livid,'” he said.

“I don’t expect anything, I’m just a guy with a prediction, but it would be pretty cool.”

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NYC man inks entire back with Mount Rushmore of Knicks greats — shocking even Jalen Brunson

Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart react to Matt McAllister's giant Knicks back tattoo, Matt McAllister's Mount Rushmore back tattoo of Knicks greats Jalen Brunson, John Starks, Walt Frazier, Patrick Ewing and Carmelo Anthony

The Knicks have his back.

Staten Islander Matt McAllister has a Mount Rushmore of Knicks greats inked across his back — including current MVP Jalen Brunson.

And when McAllister took his shirt off to reveal the jaw-dropping tattoo to Brunson himself, the captain was stunned.

Matt McAllister’s Mount Rushmore of Knicks legends was drawn by artist Tom Sanford and inked by Sonja Elise at Bullseye Tattoos on Staten Island. Courtesy of  Matt McAllister

“He seems like he’s a guy of very little words . . . but he was like, ‘Oh, that’s hard,'” McAllister, 34, told The Post.

“Then he said, ‘But Rushmore’s only got four.’

“So I told him I had to add an extra just for him.”

Then shocked star guard Josh Hart “pulled out his phone. He’s like, ‘I gotta take a photo of this. Holy s–t!'”

McAllister presented the over-the-top tat — also featuring legends John Starks, Walt Frazier, Patrick Ewing and Carmelo Anthony — to Brunson and Hart in September at a meet-and-greet for the duo’s Roommates Block Party.

McAllister said the idea for the All-Star artwork came last season when the Knicks finished 51-31, but lost to the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals — a round short of the NBA Finals. 

Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart were stunned to see the jaw-dropping ink. Courtesy of  Matt McAllister

“After that run we had last year, I was like, ‘Wow, this is really monumental. Let me think of a monument that I can honor everybody with.'”

The tat cost $9,000 and took 36 hours over six sessions to make. MSG was there to capture it for a commercial.

“I might only see this once in my lifetime again. I have no regrets,” he said.

Knicks superfans Nolan Parr, Ray Rosado and Mirko Falzone all opted for giant leg tattoos of the team’s captain. Nolan Parr, Ray Rosado, Mirko Falzone

Other Knicks superfans have opted for leg tattoos of the “King of New York.”

Ray Rosado, a native of Yonkers, got a $1,350 leg tattoo of Brunson two days after the Knicks lost the 2025 Eastern Conference Finals, “because I had a feeling they would go to the finals this year,” he said.

His tattoo artist warned him against the very permanent decision.

“He said, ‘You know, if you get it and they don’t go to the finals, it’s going to still be on your body,'” Rosado recalled.

Rosado chose the image of Brunson praying during Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals last year, which he got inked by his tattoo artist, Chico. Courtesy of Ray Rosado

Rosado, 33, a teacher at New Rochelle High School — whose students alerted him when his tattoo went viral — explained why he chose the photo of Captain Clutch praying during Game 1 of last year’s conference finals.

“I’m not really religious myself, but I felt that was the moment to symbolize that great things are coming your way. You just have to wait for that moment. And that’s all that Brunson has been talking about this year, that the job’s not finished yet,” he said.

Parr got Brunson’s signature move inked by tattoo artist Josh Glasser last month. Courtesy of Nolan Parr

Nolan Parr of Queens got inked on May 23, two days before the Knicks swept the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals to make it to the final round.

The native of Red Hook in Dutchess County, NY — who went with a $800 tattoo of the three-time NBA All-Star doing his signature thumb-and-index finger move — has been a fan since he’s “been in diapers.”

“Because my father was a diehard Knicks fan from back in the day. So it’s always the classic, ‘Who’s better Clyde or Jalen,’ between me and him,” Parr, 32, said.

Falzone’s leg tattoo took artist Mirko Ponti 20 hours more than two days to complete. Courtesy of Mirko Falzone

Mirko Falzone of Bergamo, Italy, has never even been to a Knicks game, but in October, decided to get a huge tattoo of Brunson’s face on his leg, along with a smaller full-body image of the MVP on the court in his No. 11 jersey.

Falzone, 32, was always a fan of the NBA, but wasn’t watching regularly until Brunson joined the roster in 2022, and since Italy is ahead of New York by six hours, he’s been waking up at 2 a.m. to catch him playing.

“When Jalen Brunson arrived to New York, my passion came back,” he said. “And the desire to stay awake during the night here in Italy to watch the games.”

But in Italy, most have no clue who’s on his leg.

“Everyone here only knows LeBron James, Wembanyama,” he said, laughing. “Someone asked if it was Travis Scott.”

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Who is the right-handed bat the Red Sox believe they can acquire in a trade?

PHOENIX, ARIZONA - JUNE 01: Nolan Arenado #28 of the Arizona Diamondbacks rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the seventh inning at Chase Field on June 01, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images) | Getty Images

The Red Sox probably shouldn’t be buying with this roster, but if they choose to, there’s a mystery for us to pick apart. 

ESPN’s Buster Olney reported on the “Just Baseball” podcast that the Red Sox were actively seeking a right-handed bat to upgrade the offense, even at the expense of taking on a bad contract to do so. 

Should that really be the case when Boston probably has a few bad contracts to offload on its own end (i.e. Masataka Yoshida, etc.)? No, especially since this team still wouldn’t have enough to magically craft a postseason path. 

Nonetheless, for whatever motives the front office has, should the group pursue a bat that fits that description, here are five names to consider.

NOLAN ARENADO – Diamondbacks

Arizona just acquired Arenado in the offseason, but never say never to another transaction months later.

The Red Sox were constantly linked to the third baseman two offseasons ago before they signed Alex Bregman early in spring training. The 35-year-old is under contract through the end of the 2027 season and he’s been fairly serviceable with an OPS just under .800 with his new team. 

MATT CHAPMAN – Giants


The Red Sox traded a hefty contract to San Francisco with Rafael Devers last summer. Will the Giants celebrate the anniversary by returning the favor? 

Chapman makes $25 million annually through the 2030 season, giving Boston a new staple at third base if the team moves on from the concept of Caleb Durbin filling that stop. Unlike Arenado, Chapman has been brutal this season with a .652 in his age-33 season with regression over the last two years in San Francisco. 

MIKE TROUT – Angels

MLB: JUL 22 Angels at Braves


Rumors from 98.5 The Sports Hub went crazy about this last month. It WILL NOT happen, but we’ll throw it in here to be fun. 


ISAAC PAREDES – Astros


Paredes swirled through the rumor mill in connection to Boston all offseason before the Durbin trade that sent Kyle Harrison to the Milwaukee Brewers. The Astros are terrible and could revisit the idea. 

KETEL MARTE – Diamondbacks

Easily the most dynamic bat discussed in the Red Sox realm last winter, he’s a switch-hitter that instantly elevates the unit. This move would clearly be for beyond 2026 and require young pitching going back to Arizona. 

Worth it now to start building a functioning offense for 2027? 

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Top 2025 NHL Draft Prospect Caleb Malhotra Praises New Islanders AHL Coach Jay McKee

BUFFALO, NY -- On May 29, the New York Islanders announced that they had hired Jay McKee to be the first-ever head coach of the Hamilton Hammers, the club's newest AHL affiliate. 

Islanders Name Jay McKee Head Caoch Of Hamilton HammersIslanders Name Jay McKee Head Caoch Of Hamilton HammersNHL veteran Jay McKee takes the reins for the franchise’s inaugural AHL season, bringing 802 games of experience to lead the Hammers following a successful tenure in Hamilton.

McKee, who played 802 NHL games, has spent the last three seasons coaching the OHL's Brantford Bulldogs.

Top draft prospect Caleb Malhotra, the son of former NHLer and recently named Vancouver Canucks head coach Manny Malhotra, played this past season for McKee and had glowing things to say about the newest member of the Islanders organization.

"I learned a lot," Malhotra said at the 2026 NHL Combine. "He's extremely composed as a coach, very intelligent, and very detail-oriented. So, I mean, he expected so much from us. We had a very good team there, and we had to prove it night in and night out that we were detail-oriented. So, learning from him on how to approach the game and what to take out of video work  and how to apply it to your game...that was a big thing this year."

The Bridgeport Islanders, under the tutelage of Rocky Thompson, took massive strides after years of seeing prospects take steps back. 

Thompson was a player's coach through and through but knew what he had to do to get players to play to the best of their abilities at a consistent rate and also keep themselves level-headed through adversity. 

Because of his great work, Rocky was elevated to Pete DeBoer's NHL coaching staff. 

When the Islanders were looking for Rocky's replacement, they needed to bring in someone who could build on the groundwork Rocky had just laid. 

From all accounts, it sounds like McKee, who was a finalist for the Bellville Senators head coaching gig, is a slam-dunk hire at a critical time for the Islanders' growing prospect pool. 

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Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani close to perfect, but he needs to do more for NL Cy Young Award

When Shohei Ohtani pitches, the chances are that his opponents won’t score.

Ohtani hasn’t allowed a run in five of his 10 starts this season. In another, he limited the damage to a solitary unearned run.

Only one run has been charged to him in the 25 innings he’s pitched over his last four starts.

Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani has been close to perfect this season, and he will need to continue to be if he hopes to stay in the NL Cy Young Award conversation. Getty Images

Ohtani has been close to perfect.

He will have to remain that way until the end of the season if he is to have any chance to win the National League’s Cy Young Award.

As spectacular as Ohtani has been, this isn’t enough.

Not enough starts.

Not enough innings.

With the Dodgers using a six-man rotation to better manage their starters’ regular-season workloads, Ohtani has pitched only 61 innings this season.

The season isn’t even 40% complete and Ohtani is already 25 ⅓ innings behind the Phillies’ Cristopher Sanchez, who has started three more games than he has.

In starts and innings, Ohtani is also behind other Cy Young Award contenders such as Jacob Misiorowski (12 starts, 71 innings), Chris Sale (12 starts, 72 ⅔ innings) and Paul Skenes (13 starts, 70 innings).

The Phillies’ Cristopher Sanchez already has pitched 25 innings more than Shohei Ohtani this season. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Overcoming such a deficit in quantity will require Ohtani to maintain a sizable advantage in quality.

Even the greatest pitchers are due for an occasional stinker, but Ohtani can’t afford to have one.

Sanchez was pounded by the Cubs for six runs in 5 ⅓ innings on April 23.

Misiorowski’s ERA in April was 3.58.

A game like Sanchez’s or a stretch like Misiorowski’s will likely end Ohtani’s Cy Young Award candidacy.

Ohtani is pitching as if he knows that’s the case.

“I think a lot of starting pitchers, you feel your way into the game, give up a couple (of runs) early and you bear down,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “But I’ve noticed with Shohei, every run is a premium. He’s literally trying to throw a shutout every time out there where I don’t know that every starter has that mindset.”

In Roberts’ view, Ohtani doesn’t just bear down with runners on base. 

“He’s not trying to sit back and let the stress be created,” Roberts said. “He’s doing a good job of minimizing it from the onset.”

To Roberts’ point: Ohtani allows an average of 0.79 walks plus hits per inning pitched.

Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski is among the front-runners for the NL Cy Young Award. AP Photo/Eric Christian Smith

Now, it should be pointed out here that in the one year in which Ohtani was a qualified pitcher, in 2022, he pitched better and better as the season progressed.

He made a career-high 28 starts that season, pitching 166 innings for the Angels to finish fourth in AL Cy Young Award voting.

By season’s end, he was arguably the best pitcher in baseball. In his last 12 starts of the year, Ohtani’s ERA was 1.73. In his last seven, it was 1.00.

Ohtani thinks he’s trending upward, saying he felt better in his win over the Diamondbacks on Wednesday than he did in his previous start when he pitched six no-hit innings against the Rockies.

“Well, I think it was better than last time,” Ohtani said in Japanese. “I don’t know if it was really good, but I think it was definitely better than last time.”

Ohtani has completed seven innings in two of his starts this season, but performances like that should become increasingly common for him. He should be a qualified pitcher. 

Even then, Sanchez will have him beat in innings pitched by a substantial margin. Ohtani’s challenge is to make his ERA look equally small by comparison.

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Phillies news: Adolis Garcia, Cristopher Sanchez, Max Muncy

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - JUNE 4: Adolis García #53 of the Philadelphia Phillies smiles after the game against the San Diego Padres at Citizens Bank Park on June 4, 2026 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Phillies defeated the Padres 6-4. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) | Getty Images

What is the bare minimum you are expecting from Adolis Garcia the rest of this season? My hopes of his breaking out at any point have effectively been dashed by his poor play on the field, but I still reserve hope that he can at least be a threat in the box at any given time.

Maybe that’s the actual floor to what to expect.

On to the links.

Phillies news:

MLB news:

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Open Thread: The value of an NBA Finals Game 3 ticket has skyrocketed

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 22: (L-R) Celebrities Chris Rock, Ben Stiller, Gary Vaynerchuk, and Spike Lee react toward Donte DiVincenzo #0 of the New York Knicks during the second half against the Philadelphia 76ers in Game Two of the Eastern Conference First Round Playoffs at Madison Square Garden on April 22, 2024 in New York City. The Knicks won 104-101. 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 Sarah Stier/Getty Images) | Getty Images

I used to live in New York, Brooklyn to be exact. I remember how expensive it was compared to San Antonio, where I grew up and currently live. Over a decade ago, I paid rent on an 800 square foot apartment that to this day is more expensive than the mortgage on my house.

New York is a hub of culture — concerts, theater, symphonies, operas — but it will cost you.

Right now, there is no hotter ticket available than the NBA Finals. At last search, ticket prices continue to rise.

Game 3’s “get in” price is $8,200 for a nosebleed seat. That’s a $700 rise since Thursday alone. Game 4 starts at $8,500 and entry to a possible Game 6 will run you $9,000. That’s more than a Super Bowl ticket or even a seat at the upcoming FIFA World Cup.

On Thursday, the NBA held media day for both the Spurs and Knicks. Jalen Brunson got this question:

“I know you’re focused on tomorrow, but you know New York is going crazy for everything that you guys do. Ticket prices have been ridiculous. Last night after you guys won, they went crazy higher. There was a report that in the last row of the Garden, there are seats on sale for $7,500. What show would you pay that amount of money to go see?”

Brunson took a minute. His beathe was audible as he considered the premise.

“That’s a good question. A live Michael Jackson performance. That’s a good one. That’s a good one.”

Brunson smirked as he responded, revealing he was really taken aback by the question. His answer also reveals he some respectable old school tastes. Michael Jackson was one one of the greatest and most popular music artists, he was an amazing performer. To this day, Thriller remains the best selling album of all time.

For perspective, a ticket to see Michael Jackson in 1984 cost roughly $30, considered high at the time. In 1988, a ticket to see his Bad world tour at London’s Wembley Stadium was £17.50, or roughly $65 in American dollars today. $7,500 in the 80s should have yielded the concert, backstage passes, catered meal, limo to and from, private jet to the city of your choice, and singing Paul McCartney part on “The Girl Is Mine.”

As the series heads to The Big Apple, contemplate the question for yourself- is there a ticket worth $7,500 of your hard earned money?

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Knicks keep winning — games and fans. Now, New York City is about to get wild

I live in Harlem, and there’s a middle-aged man named Michael who grew up in Queens and holds court on a bench along the fringes of Morningside Park, where he chats with neighbors who stroll by.

These days we talk mostly about the New York Knicks.

I met Michael the same way I met Jonah, who’s turning 30 and grew up upstate, near Woodstock — through our dogs.

Jonah is a die-hard Knicks fan who endured Frank Ntilikina and Noah Vonleh starting lineups in the late 2010s. When I cover playoff games at Madison Square Garden, I make sure to stash the rally towels and T-shirts staffers leave draped over each seat because I give them to Jonah. His texts, these days, are downright giddy.

These New York Knicks hold this ineffable quality of linking friends and strangers, of galvanizing people from disparate religions, races, economic classes and from all over the political spectrum. There are few things these days that can do that.

And as the team has seized a commanding 2-0 lead over the San Antonio Spurs, winning both games on the road, the Knicks are not only poised to end a 53-year title drought, they can do it in a sweep, at home in the mecca of basketball.

The energy here feels feral. You cannot walk more than a few blocks without seeing royal blue and orange somewhere on someone’s body. The other day, again walking my dog, I was listening to music (I’ve been big on “A Love Supreme” these days) but overheard the unmistakable word “Anunoby” from the mouth of a passerby, who was chatting with someone else.

Flags hang outside the windows of fifth-floor walkups. Local bars are running specials. You walk outside and hear Knicks in four.

“It has been an honor to be part of this team, be part of this organization that’s bringing the word, ‘hope’ back to the city,” Karl-Anthony Towns said Monday, June 1. “To have the Knicks be where we’re at right now and be so respected in the city — I’ve talked about it on the Jadakiss and Fat Joe podcast — the greatest currency you could earn in New York City is not money, but it’s respect. And to have the respect of the fans and the city, we’re rich beyond belief.”

The MTA, or Metropolitan Transportation Authority, is getting in on it.

The MTA, actually, is another thing that unites New Yorkers. It can be late, unreliable and dirty, though it does shuttle us everywhere.

Anyway, the MTA painted the Penn Station subway stop entrance at 34th and 8th — which is normally forest green — royal blue and orange. Madison Square Garden, for those not familiar, is located directly above the train station. Indelible Knicks superfan Fat Joe, who has been at literally every game I’ve covered, was the first-ever special guest conductor recently on the 1 train.

The watch parties outside Madison Square Garden spill out onto 7th Ave., where Knicks fans roar into the night. Mayor Zohran Mamdani, another long-suffering fan, recently spoke about what would happen if the Knicks actually did it.

“It’s like, you’re torn as a New Yorker and as the mayor,” he said recently on Sidetalk. “As a New Yorker, you’re like ‘I cannot wait for this.’ As the mayor, absolute chaos.”

The Knicks are also on an absolute heater. They’ve won 13 consecutive playoff games, second-most in NBA history. Should New York close it out in four and complete the sweep, the Knicks will tie the 2016-17 Golden State Warriors for the longest winning streak (15) in a single postseason.

They’re dominating and winning in different ways. They have made the planet’s most uniquely gifted basketball player, Victor Wembanyama, so flustered that he has been left searching for answers. These Knicks are a fun watch.

As an NBA reporter, I’m thrilled to head into Madison Square Garden Monday, June 8 for Game 3. From the celebrities, to the organ, to friendly ushers with thick accents, there is no place better to take in a high-stakes game.

Yet, somehow, once this is all done, I’m just as hyped to grab beers with my friends Michael, Jonah and Kevin (Suns fan; also met through our dogs) to relive it all once more.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Knicks bring New York fans together as wins pile up in NBA playoffs