PostScript Sports

The after thoughts on the world of sports.

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  • NFL Preview: The Four Horseman QB Question

    With NBA offseason slowing down and the MLB season midway through its long regular season it feels about the time to start thinking about the upcoming NFL season. With less than 2 months left and training camp right around the corner, the biggest theme of this season I keep coming back to is the Four Horseman group of elite quarterbacks in the NFL.

    Since the retirement of Tom Brady, it feels like we’ve had very clear top-4 quarterbacks in the NFL. Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow. All showcasing different skill sets, different accomplishments and post season success. Going into this season, even after a 15-2 season and another Super Bowl appearance, it feels as though the clear number one spot Mahomes had for himself has dwindled. 

    It’s impossible to argue Mahomes hasn’t accomplished the most and has had the best career of the four. But, after putting up back-to-back seasons of lower counting stats and winning games by the slimmest of margins (often because of the defense, special teams or a little help from the men in black and white), the narrative of Mahomes being the best quarterback in the league has become up for debate.

    Going into 2025, the thing I want to see is what the Kansas City offense looks like with a healthy receiving core. Rashee Rice looked like a top-10 Receiver in football before he went down with a knee injury for the season. Though it’s likely he will serve a suspension to start the season, a healthy Rice clearly changes what this offense has available to them. Along with a healthy Rice is a healthy Marquise Brown. Brown was able to return towards the end of last season. His impact this season with a full training camp would help make him look a little more like the Brown we saw in years past and a great second, third or maybe even fourth receiving option for the Chiefs.

    The reason Brown could be a fourth option is because of the big play capability and the steady improvement for second year receiver Xavier Worthy. His speed is undeniable, even in his rookie campaign there were flashes and moments where you can see the potential and big play capability. With a full season under his belt and another off season to work him into the offense, Worthy has the potential to have a huge second year.

    Lastly, what do the Chiefs get from Travis Kelce in 2025? Last season was clearly a down year for Kelce. Now the questions are: Is that the start of the end for Kelce as a top-tight end in the league? Does a stronger receiving core and more down field threats open things up for him underneath?

    In any of these situations, Mahomes has still been the one to lead his team to victory over his AFC compadres in the playoffs. For Mahomes and any of these four, they’d all rather have diminished numbers if it meant they were the ones playing in February. For Mahomes to clearly hold that number one spot it may take some big numbers and a more explosive offense.

    Coming off of his first MVP season, Josh Allen and the Bills look poised to win another AFC East title and make a deep playoff run. Allen, maybe the most talented player of the four. His arm is second to none in this league. Though his speed and elusiveness don’t match that of Lamar, his brute force and size make him a special threat on the run. He has all the tools, what he’s missing now is a win over Mahomes in the post season.

    Going into 2025 not much else will matter for Allen. There is a clear elephant in the room and that elephant is Kansas City. Devastating playoff loss after devastating playoff loss loom over the Bills and Allen’s legacy currently.

    We see this in sports so often. The getting over the hump. We’ve seen the successes: LeBron winning his first ring after 7 years, John Elway winning at the end of his career, Rory winning the Master’s. But we’ve also seen the failures: Charles Barkley never getting a ring, Mike Trout never winning a playoff series, Dan Marino never getting back to the Super Bowl after his second year. The list goes on and on for many great athletes in all sports. 

    The thoughts of Allen and Mahomes brings me back to when I first fell in love with watching the NFL, watching Brady and Manning. Brady, with the early team success, an all-time great coach and defense and this ability at the end of games to just get a win no matter how ugly it would look. Manning, the uber talented leader with a high powered offense, that just couldn’t get past his adversary.

    For Manning, his time eventually came in 2006 and after the defeat of Brady and the Patriots he was able to hoist the Lombardi on a very rainy night in Miami over the Bears. Allen, like these other three, has a long time left to play in this league. Time will only tell if we end up looking at his career like we do with Manning’s or Marino’s.

    As I compare Josh Allen to Dan Marino and Peyton Manning, I keep coming back to the comparison and question for Lamar Jackson: Is he going to be Nikola Jokic or Joel Embiid?

    After losing to Allen for the league MVP in a year where by the numbers Lamar had a great case for MVP, I keep thinking about the past few seasons in the NBA with the Jokic vs. Embiid debate. 

    Like Jokic in a lot of ways, when I see Lamar on the field, it feels like he’s figured the game out and that the game just moves slower for him. Unlike Jokic, the field is actually slower for Jackson. He is clearly the most elusive runner we have in the game and his end to end speed is unlike any other quarterback we’ve seen. But like Jokic, it feels like he is just always making the right read. Instead of a pick and roll, or a back door lob in basketball, it’s reading the defensive end on an option or getting to his second and third reads quickly.

    The parallels to Embiid are the ridiculous regular seasons and the undeniable havoc he puts on defenses, but the lack of post season success. Like Josh Allen, Lamar hasn’t been able to defeat Mahomes and the Chiefs in the post season. But unlike Allen, a lot of the losses come from the play of Lamar and not defensive failures or strings of bad luck.

    The big question and what I think most NFL followers want to see for Lamar and the Ravens is: When and if the team gets down in a game can they play from behind? The Raven’s have the luxury of not only the running ability of Lamar but also the future Hall-of-Famer Derrick Henry in the backfield. With a lead, it’s hard to stop this Ravens team and offense, when behind and when the team has to primarily go through the air, the Ravens and Lamar seem to have difficulties.

    Much like Allen, the regular season means little to the legacy of Lamar. He has the MVP’s, he has the rushing records, the counting stats and the regular season wins. It comes down to can he push his team over the top and make a Super Bowl run. Does he get over the hump like Nikola Jokic and win a ring or does his legacy seem to fall short like we see with Joel Embiid currently?

    I have Burrow last because of the four he feels like he’s in fourth right now. But is that all on Burrow? Burrow has the luxury of having two dynamic receivers: Jamar Chase and Tee Higgins. But outside of that, Burrow always feels like he’s in an uphill battle.

    Burrow has played essentially his entire career with either a below average offensive line or like last year, one of the worst offensive lines in football. To pair with a bad offensive line is a defense that has had its fair share of struggles after the Bengals Super Bowl run a few years ago.

    Burrow has also had his battle with injuries, hard to not obtain when you’re running for your life and playing in a division where you line up against Myles Garrett and TJ Watt four times a year. For 2025, the numbers and health matter for Burrow, but the expectations of the Bengals are lower than his three other counter parts.

    Burrow is the only other QB in the AFC outside of Tom Brady to beat the Chiefs in the playoffs. He’s clearly in the class of these guys but to jump up from that fourth spot he has the most to overcome. In an article full of comparisons I keep seeing the career of Brees with Burrow. Early injuries, super accurate, so talented but in a situation where if not for him, the organization is going to be selecting very high in the draft. The other three seem like they will never wear another uniform. The mismanagement and poor ownership of the Bengals does make me wonder, does Burrow ever leave for greener pastures? It won’t happen this year, but how long does he put up with organizational failure?

    These four have gracefully taken the reigns from the quarterback generation before of Brady, Manning, Rodgers, Brees and more. The ability to argue and think about these four in this context is what makes the sport fun. Can guys like Jayden Daniels, CJ Stroud, Justin Herbert break into the elite company of these guys? Like the guys before them, are these the guys who will dominate the narrative of the league for another decade? When it’s all said and done, where do we land?

  • Cal Raleigh’s First Half and More

    Best First Half Catcher Season Ever?

    Coming off a season where Cal Raleigh won the Gold Glove and Platinum Glove at the catcher position while also tallying 34 homers and 100 RBI’s and a 4.7 WAR. There were hopes and talks about: Is Cal Raleigh the best catcher in baseball? Would 2025 be the year could be considered the best or amongst the best by with William Contreras and Will Smith? 

    As we approach the All-Star break the question seems to have gone from is Cal Raleigh the best catcher in baseball or is he the AL MVP? As of the morning of July 3rd, Raleigh just captured a starting spot on the AL All-Star team, has 33 homers to lead baseball and essentially has the same WAR already that he did all of last year in an already successful campaign. 

    The question of course is: can he or anyone for that matter sustain that power (from both sides of the plate) while being an almost everyday catcher? He’s well on pace to break Salvador Perez’s record of 48 home runs, but what if a catcher hits 60? Injuries, slumps and bad luck all apart of the game but sometimes it’s okay to just enjoy an impressive run, especially from a somewhat unexpected source. 

    Cal and The M’s

    All while Cal Raleigh mashes the ball, game after game, while being one of the best game callers behind the plate. The Mariners feel record wise right where they were to be expected to be. But are getting there in maybe a less expected way. Without Raleigh’s bat this team most likely is amongst the many in the AL slightly below .500. Instead they sit at 45-40 and currently hold the final Wild Card spot in the AL.

    After two straight ultra stellar seasons from the M’s starting pitchers the questions many had are: Can the pitching stay that good and healthy and can the bats just be average? The answer to the first question has been no. Though Bryan Woo has been stellar, Luis Castillo has been consistently good the rest of the rotation has been hurt, under performed or both. The Mariners have stayed alive from really only 3 or 4 consistent bats from Raleigh, JP Crawford + steady but slightly disappointing contributions from Julio Rodriguez and Randy Arozarena. A hot start from Jorge Polanco has been extinguished from consistent battles with his surgically repaired knee. Young players have been called or recalled and have started to contribute but it feels like for the Mariners to be anything more than a middling team scratching at a wild card a move will have to be made.

    In a world not too long ago, it seemed that Julio Rodriguez would be the clear face of the Mariners franchise. Cal Raleigh has taken over the city and become arguably the most liked Mariner since Felix Hernandez. The team wins and goes with Cal, he is their floor and the engine that keeps the ball club moving. Julio, still loved by the fans of Seattle, is the ceiling. He is not solely responsible and the team needs to add to make a real run but a hot Julio turns this team into a real threat in the AL.

    They are Inevitable, They are the Dodgers.

    The Dodgers will Dodger even when they aren’t fully clicking. In another season where their starting pitching has been consistently on the IL the team sits a top the NL West by already a sizable margin. With Ohtani ramping up into throwing more innings and they get some of their starters back this team looks poised to make a World Series run. 

    Many fans seem disgruntled or upset that the Dodgers consistently spend large amounts, defer contracts and make ambitious trades. I personally have always just been envious. Envious of an ownership group, that yes has a ton of money, but is willing to spend the money and invest in the team and winning. The Dodgers have spent the money and targeted Japanese stars and you can tell it’s paid dividends. Not only was the World Series worth the contracts given to Ohtani and Yamamoto but the revenue these guys bring in might be a lucrative investment.

    This Dodger teams looks poised to peak at the right time. One thing to note though is the play and more so the bat of Mookie Betts. Mookie, one of the best players of the last decade and a future Hall of Famer, has pedestrian numbers at the plate. Is this a bad start, is it too much for him to play somewhat out of position in the infield and produce at the plate? Even with a league average-ish bat from Betts this team is winning games. If he can turn it around, Ohtani can start getting deep into games in his starts and the rotation gets healthy towards the end of the year this team will be an extremely tough out and a very heavy favorite to go back-to-back.

    Would the Pirates Really Trade Skenes?

    As the trade deadline approaches constant chatter of the Pirates and their future with Paul Skenes has already begun. Skenes through essentially a full season of work now between this and his call up mid-last season has been, if not the best pitcher in baseball one of the three best pitchers in baseball. The obvious problem is: being on a Pirates team that is still needing many pieces to compete plus the value of being under club control for essentially 4.5 more years.

    The trade would be unprecedented. Trading a controllable arm that good that early. But what could the treasure chest back be? There is many times a bad team holds onto a single player asset for too long and doesn’t get fair value back. But trading that asset this early I can’t really recall seeing. 

    The Pirates are years and pieces away from making any real run. With ownership the far opposite of the Dodgers ownership they aren’t going to bring in the pieces necessary to compete with an ace like Skenes. 

    American League Lefty Mania

    Are the 3 best pitchers in the AL all lefty? At least 3 of the best 4 pitchers are and it just seems like one of those weird quirks baseball provides us every now and then. Tarik Skubal, Max Fried and Garret Crochet have all been lights out for their respected teams this season and if the award was today would likely finish as 3 of the top 4 candidates in the Cy Young right now.

    The only wrinkle to this hefty lefty award room would be the welcome back party of Jacon deGrom has put on for a middling Rangers team. Though pitching with a little less velocity deGrom has been masterful on the mound and has reminded us of how talented he can be after posting three of the most dominant pitching we’ve seen in past seasons.

    NL East Minus the Marlins

    Every team in the NL East right now besides the Marlins interests me at the moment.

    You have a Mets team that seems to love getting hot and then going cold and repeating that over and over again. The addition of Juan Soto has been an interesting first 3 months or so. We will see if the $50,000,000 a year man can at least partially live up to a contract that no one besides Ohtani is probably worth in today’s dollars.

    The Phillies, are who we thought they were! They are solid, a line up and pitching staff full of vets that’s going to win more games than they’ll lose and in reality only care about what they do in October. Does this aging team have another run in them, are they the only team outside of California that could care less about the Dodgers and thinks they’re every bit as good?

    What do you do if you’re the Braves? A team that at the beginning of the last two seasons had tons of hope. But that hope is dwindling down. Harris, Albies, Riley, Murphy and more are just not producing the way they did a few seasons ago. Your division and frankly league are spending and getting better. 3 seasons ago I think that their roster configuration was the most desirable in the league. Now I’m sitting here wondering, are they trade reigning Cy Young winner Chris Sale or Ronald Acina at the deadline?

    I think it’s safe to say the Nationals not only won the Juan Soto trade but obliterated the Juan Soto trade. It’s rare all the prospects in a trade like that pan out but the Nationals seem to have struck gold on their trio of CJ Abrams, MacKenzie Gore and James Wood. Wood in his first full season might already be a top-10 outfielder in baseball. Abrams looks like a cornerstone shortstop to come for the next decade and Gore is a strikeout machine on the mound. After quickly trading a 2019 World Series team away, hope felt loss in the nation’s capital, but these 3 really seem to be getting this ship turned in the right direction.

  • NBA Finals Recap Plus Off-Season Frenzy

    Game 7 Thoughts

    As the season concluded with an unsatisfactory Game 7 injury to Haliburton, the rightful team won. The Thunder from pre-season to hoisting the Larry O’Brien looked like and played like the best team in the league. A young team led by the league’s MVP, was challenged mightily in the playoffs but fought and scrapped through to lead the Thunder to their first title (Seattle keeps it’s history in my books but I may be more than a little biased).

    I lead with the Thunder’s victory and not with the Pacers loss and playoff run, but this is one of those teams that we will not forget, even though they didn’t win the Larry O’Brien. This is not the 2000’s Pacers that gets lost behind the Lakers three-peat. This team started off insanely slow after a surprising Eastern Conference Finals run last year and then almost at an instance in March turned into one of the league’s best. They came from behind and won games no team had any business winning and pushed a Thunder team to the brink. The Game 4 loss felt like the end of this run and it proved to be true. With the injury to Haliburton and now departure of Myles Turner it’s likely the Pacers are more of a team trying to get into the play-in at best and it might be a team that may even tank for the opportunity to select high in a draft with a few very talented prospects.

    As The Finals has concluded and the always busy NBA off season has kicked off we’ll talk about the real league changing moves, talk winners and losers and try to make sense of what has been a whacky few weeks.

    Kevin Durant to The Rockets

    The second large move of the NBA off-season after the Desmond Bane trade was the move of Kevin Durant that seemed almost guaranteed since about mid-April when it was clear the Suns were not a competitive team.

    The question was more of where Kevin Durant would land and how much would the cost be? The Suns gave up a treasure chest of picks along with Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson to acquire the future Hall of Famer. But now a few seasons have passed, Kevin Durant is a member of the 2007 draft class and the Suns had failed to do anything of meaning these previous two seasons.

    The Rockets felt like one of three teams that had a chance and made any sense for Durant. The other two being the Spurs and Timberwolves. For a moment it seemed he was San Antonio bound but the Rockets were able to acquire Durant for what in my opinion is a great deal. The Rockets get Durant for Jalen Green, Dillion Brooks, the #10 pick (used on Duke center Khaman Maluach) along with 5 second round picks.

    Jalen Green coming off a dismal postseason seems to be at a crossroads. There have been flashes of scoring prowess and athleticism that rivals just about anyone in the league but he seems to consistently fall flat and there are real questions if he is anything more than a spark plug scorer or an eventual “good stats bad team” kind of player. Brooks is a fine role player and I do like the potential Phoenix gets with drafting Kaman but the Rockets have a roster that could rival any teams next year and have the depth along the wing to keep the aging Durant healthy for a possible deep playoff run.

    This seems like a huge win for the Rockets and a real: where does Phoenix even go from here moment in time?

    The Bucks Did What?

    In what feels like a surprise to everyone including the player(s) involved, the Bucks have waived Damian Lillard and are stretching his contract out over multiple years to free new cap space and sign Myles Turner.

    Lillard, going into his age 35 season, was owed $112,000,000 over the next two seasons, one of which he would not be able to play in after sustaining a torn achilles in the playoffs. The Bucks decided it was time to move on and from reports to the frustration of star Giannis Antetokounmpo.

    I know good teammates will always have the support of their teammates and as much of a surprise of this move is. I don’t hate it for Milwaukee and with that move being the catalyst to obtain Myles Turner it seems like the right play. The Bucks sit in an Eastern Conference with no clear front runner. Much like the Magic’s decision to bring in Desmond Bane, Milwaukee has to be sitting in these meeting rooms looking around the East saying we have the best player in the conference and we only get him for so long. If there was a time to make a short term play the season to do it is this upcoming season.

    For Lillard he now has the ability to sign with a competitive team and when healthy hopefully get one last run to win a championship. What he’ll look like at 36 off an achilles tear will have to be seen.

    The Draft!

    After #1 and #2 went as expected, the draft provided a few surprises and a few interesting story lines for next season to keep an eye on.

    I felt like the most notable thing of this draft was move from New Orleans to trade up and in doing so gave up their first round pick for next season with no protection. They ended up acquiring Derik Queen out of Maryland who coming out of high school was one of the top-prospects and had a relatively strong freshman season but with obvious questions about his game that brought him down to the back end of the lottery.

    The reason this move stands out is the Pelicans not protecting the first round pick for next season. This is not a team in the East that has a realtively high floor, this is a team that again has to deal with the Western Conference and finished with the fourth worst record in the league last year. It’s no secret when Zion Williamson is healthy the Pelicans are a competitive team but it’s also no secret he’s played over 65 games only 1 time in his career and has missed a full season of action. This move just has so much risk for a player in Queen that is likely never to be an All-NBA caliber guy.

    A few extra quick hitters and questions from the draft would also include:

    Can someone get Ace Bailey a real agent? Bailey falls to the Jazz at 5 (where he clearly did not want to go) after refusing to work out for team and maybe arrogantly pushing teams away created a stigma around himself. Bailey has as high of an upside as anyone in the draft but his first appearance in the league does have to make you think.

    Flagg to the Mavericks still feels so wrong. The Mavericks even with the absence of Kyrie might be able to scrap and be a viable team in the West. With Anthony Davis now accompanied by the ultra-competitive Flagg. The Luka trade still looms over this team and front office, it still feels fishy but for Maverick fans who lost their star I’m at least happy they were given some hope.

    Harper and Edgecombe go #2 and #3. Both of these guys seem like they’re going to turn into great players. The NBA family ties of Harper and the drive and want you can tell Edgecombe has makes me feel these guys will both make the most of their clearly high potential. The questions with these guys is fit and I’m excited and curious to see how Harper can play alongside Fox and where Edgecombe fits in besides Maxey and McCain in Philly.

    The offseason of the NBA almost seems like their largest news cycle and it sure seems like there a few more very large moves coming the leagues way.

  • NBA Finals Game 6 Recap: Indiana Stays Alive!

    Backs against the wall, Haliburton’s calf compromised and momentum swung away Indiana had a Game 6 at home to keep their season alive. To the surprise of me and many they took Game 6 comfortably as they stifled the Thunder and SGA holding them to just 91 points in 108-91 victory.

    With the news of Haliburton’s calf and a dismal performance where Jalen Williams and SGA looked to have found a new level and took control of the series in Game 5. Hope seemed to be dwindling on this Pacers team.

    After a competitive first quarter the game looked similar to Game 4 as both teams traded blows and lead to a 28-25 Pacer lead. The Pacers then proceeded to just smother OKC for the next 24 minutes of basketball holding the Thunder to under 20 points in both the second and third quarter periods. Leading to a 90-60 lead going into the fourth quarter.

    Offensively OKC struggled. The three pointer hasn’t been falling for them most of the playoffs and that again showed up as they shot 26.7% from behind the arc on 30 attempts. No player seemed to get it going and the hole they were in was just insurmountable to early to make a real comeback in the fourth.

    The Pacers scored in waves and got help from everyone including 20 points off the bench from Obi Toppin and 12 from Bennedict Mathurin. This Pacers team did all Rick Carlisle and fans could hope for and that was force a Game 7.

    Not a lot about this Pacers team has made sense this season. Starting the season off horribly and then becoming one of the hottest teams in the league from March on. This team has refused to layover in any game or any deficit. The crazy end of game comebacks have been the mark of this team and maybe they have one more in them for Sunday night.

    In Game 7 of the Finals there isn’t much to say about what will be different or some new look that will get thrown out. It comes down to what OKC team is showing up? Though this team has shown to be the best team in the league all year it’s going to come down to a final 48 minutes. The questions now are: Can Shai take over the game and score and initiate enough offense on his own? Can the Thunder get a game where they get hot from three? Can an injured Haliburton spark this Pacers offense to keep up on the road? We’ll just have to see on Sunday.

  • Series Over?: NBA Finals Game 5 Recap and Thoughts

    The outcome of Game 5 looked like a score that most anticipated the majority of this series would look. With the series set at 3-2 in favor of the Thunder, the series and season feel like we will be reaching a conclusion of SGA and the Thunder hoisting the Larry O’Brien trophy.

    The biggest story line coming out of Game 5 was the apparent calf strain and injury to the engine of this Pacers offense and team, Tyrese Haliburton. Haliburton failed to make one field goal and was held to 4 points all coming by way of the free throw line in 34 labored minutes.

    With the uncertainty of his availability in Game 6 it’s hard to see a path for this Indiana fever dream of a run to continue. The Thunder seemed to have found their rhythm the last 5 quarters and the activity their wings and guards have output on the defensive end has been impressive.

    The Thunder winning this series and the championship in general is to no one’s surprise. After a disappointing playoff exit last year to the hands of a Dallas team that got red hot, this team looked poised at the start of the season to make a longer playoff run and possibly win it all. It’s not breaking news that this team is young, loaded with draft capital and if they can win one more game this season feel very 2015 Warrior’s-esque. A extremely young team with a core of guys at the same age.

    Moving into Game 6 the Pacers have their work cut out for them. SGA and Jalen Williams are finding their stride, Haliburton is out or at least compromised health wise and their is blood in the water. Indiana once again looking like a deep roster that is running into superstar(s) hungry for their first title again. 95′ and 00′ feel all too familiar again.

  • Introduction: On The Mind 1

    Welcome to PostScript Sports. A page dedicated to the Big 3 American sports, occasional Seattle homerism but mostly honest thoughts and takes on the sports world. On the mind will be our weekly recurring blog on any in the moment topic in sports spanning from the NBA Finals, MLB trades and NFL OTA’s or whatever feel at the forefront of the sports landscape.

    NBA Finals

    While writing this it is currently Game 5 of the NBA Finals. The Thunder holding an 8 point lead mid-way through the 2nd quarter. Will likely have a follow up to Game 5 post this week so won’t go into much detail about the game so far but wanted to speak on the series itself and where the NBA is at as a whole.

    After 4 games and even with the series tied at 2-2 it sure feels like this series is going to the OKC. The Pacers have fought and clawed but the loss in Game 4 and relinquishing home court in a rock fight of a game feels like the series was lost. The series has felt very similar to the Denver series where the Thunder felt like they just overmatched their counterpart but couldn’t just put them away. Overmatching them in athleticism, waves of guard and wing defenders, length at the rim and the relentlessness that is the inevitability of SGA getting to his spots and creating offense.

    Haliburton and crew much like Jokic and the Nuggets both showed an ability early in the series and in close games to play at their pace and style. Which through 3 games and 3 quarters of this Final series seemed like it might have been enough to eek out a series victory over the team that had all season looked like the best team in the league by a wide margin.

    The young Thunder were able to wipe away a 7-point deficit in Indiana and even the series at 2 a piece but really felt like they had swung the momentum of the series. Though the Thunder dropped Game 1 of the Finals at home they have been just about lights out at home all playoffs (their only other home loss coming by way of OT and Aaron Gordon magic). The Pacers led for .3 seconds of the game and it was enough, it was a common theme for this Pacers playoff run. But after blowing Game 4 at home, a 7-point lead and home court advantage did the clock strike midnight on these 4-seeded Pacers? Only the next 3 games will tell.

    NBA News

    Usually the Finals are a vacuum to the rest of NBA news but we had an unexpected and somewhat of a head scratching trade. The Magic and Grizzlies agree to swap Desmond Bane for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Cole Anthony and 4 unprotected first round picks (25′, 28′, 30′ and 26′ with swapping rights with Phoenix or Washington) + a swap in 29′.

    As a headline I think the common reaction was: How much for Desmond Bane? A fair reaction after the Luka trade from this February which still makes that even more of an anomaly. But as the dust settled and you see the picks the Magic are giving up it’s a bet from Orlando that they are going to be a top-4 seed in the East for the next 5 years, that these picks are going to be out of the lottery. Which is basically a bet saying our core of Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner with the addition of a guard of Bane’s stature in the league makes us a 48+ win team annually. When framed like that I have a hard time thinking they won’t be right or at the very least consistently a top-6 seed in the east.

    The East itself this year has shown how fickle it is and with the injury to Jayson Tatum and the looming garage sale that the Celtics appear to be headed towards, a 4-seeded Pacers team making the Finals, a New York Knicks team that just fired their coach and Cleveland team that lost in 5 in the second round of the playoffs why would they not feel they are a scoring guard away from being right there?

    Bane is by no means a super star. He is a fringe All-Star that does score the ball efficiently and can create, show cased by his high 3pt percentage (especially on the catch and shoot) and his assist numbers, which are very high while playing alongside another guard like Ja Morant.

    This trade just makes next years East a little more interesting as there is clearly a lot of change and turnover to occur in a conference that has not seen a team make the finals in back-to-back seasons since Lebron headed to LA.

    MLB

    The MLB season is ramping up as we approach the all-star break and trade deadline. Two major stories coming up this week as the league sits back in the news behind the Stanley Cup Finals, NBA Finals and US Open. The first being the trade of Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants and the announcement of Shohei Ohtani getting back on the mound against division rival San Diego.

    To a lesser shock than Luka to the Lakers (man that trade is so bad it gets compared to even crappy MLB trades) but to much surprise. The Red Sox are trading Devers across leagues to the Giants. The questions after being: Why? and Who?

    The Giants are sending essentially a back end starter, a likely middle-reliever and an okay first base prospect over for one of the consistently best bats in baseball. Yet again the Red Sox selling a face of the franchise for a trade package that leaves fans wondering what ownerships goals are. Though not as heart wrenching as the Mookie Betts trade Red Sox fans have to be frustrated.

    Devers has had his troubles this year after the signing of Bregman he’s clearly shown frustration with the team about no longer being the team’s third baseman and an unwillingness to move to first after the Triston Casas injury. While that is both true and frustrating the bat has been there and likely will continue to be there.

    The Giants are clearly showing they want to be competitive right now and are willing to carry the payroll it will take. In a division with the Padres and Dodgers, moves like this amongst teams in the NL West and all of the NL are likely going to show to be a necessity.

    Speaking of the Giants cross-state rivals, the Dodgers have announced Shohei will return to the mound. Other than exciting this is a huge move for the Dodgers and the league. Whether you hate the Dodgers or not, Ohtani pitching and hitting is a true sports marvel. The questions now will be: How will he pitch? Can he stay healthy? Does regular pitching slow down the bat? He showed in 2022 the power while also finishing 4th in AL Cy Young voting but since moving to a full time DH his OPS jumped from a very respectful .965 and .875 to a league leading 1.066, 1.036 in 23′ and 24′ and 1.034 so far this season.

    Time will tell what Shohei can do as a two-way player and as a non-Dodger fan I am excited to see what I would still consider as the most impressive athlete since Bo Jackson.

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