See things others don’t!

The Mets constantly getting on my nerves has distracted me from the Knicks and Rangers making some big moves recently. The Knicks have a chance to reach the NBA Finals in 2026 with two of their key rivals having star players suffer serious Achilles injuries during the 2025 Playoffs. The Pacers will probably be without Tyrese Haliburton for the entire season and the same goes for the Celtics and Jayson Tatum. That left the Knicks with the second best odds to win the East, but they were also missing an important piece since Tom Thibodeau was surprising fired following the disappointing loss in the Eastern Conference Finals.

BREAKING: The New York Knicks are expected to land on two-time NBA Coach of the Year Mike Brown as the franchise's next head coach, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/LOXb74LFe4

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 2, 2025

The Knicks are a little more whole now that they’ve found a veteran head coach to lead the team in the new season. That man is Mike Brown, and while he may not have an NBA title as a head coach like my preferred candidate Mike Malone, he does have plenty of experience and a history of success. Brown burst onto the scene as a head coach in 2005, and he led LeBron James and the Cavaliers to 50 wins in his debut season. Cleveland reached the NBA Finals in Brown’s second year at the helm, but the next three years featured disappointing playoff exits against the eventual conference champs.

Brown left Cleveland when James did and joined the Lakers a year later after Phil Jackson retired. The Lakers were eliminated in the second round of the Playoffs in 2012 and Brown was fired just five games into the next season. Brown sat out for a couple seasons before joining the Warriors as an assistant under Steve Kerr for six years. He reemerged as a head coach in 2022 and led the Kings to two playoff appearances in two seasons before shockingly being let go after a slow start this past winter.

In a nutshell, the Knicks hired another coach who knows how to win a lot of regular season games and has a history of disappointing exists from the Playoffs. What is even the point?

Thank you, Key.

Best of luck in Carolina! pic.twitter.com/83gYbn1zCN

— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) July 1, 2025

At least with the Rangers we have some idea of the purpose of their actions. They are trying to rebuild without bottoming out, which is an admirable strategy even if it might not technically be the smartest thing. Tanking isn’t fun, and it shouldn’t be a thing in a league that properly rewards winning and punishes losing, but it can be more effective in the long term than trying to win every year.

Hopefully not tanking works out well for the Rangers. They already traded away one key member of their 2024 Presidents Trophy team in Chris Kreider, and now K’Andre Miller is out the door as well. It would be cool if general manager Chris Drury didn’t send Miller to division rival Carolina, but it was cool to get back a 2026 first round draft pick, a 2026 second round pick, and young defenseman Scott Morrow. I’m a hocky casual, but that seems like a decent return for a guy who has seen his points decline for the past two campaigns, even if Miller is still only 25 years old.

What I’m still trying to figure out is why the Rangers dealt away Miller’s eight-year, $60 million and then immediately signed veteran Russian defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov to a seven-year, $49 million deal. That is only a difference of half a million dollars on a per-year basis, and Gavrikov is four years older than Miller. Gavrikov is not a more productive offensive player, so I’m going to convince myself that he’ll improve the Rangers’ defense to help me sleep at night.

I thought that the Mets had a much better chance to win Game 1 of Wednesday’s doubleheader than Game 2, so of course they ended up dropping the early game 7-2 before pulling off a surprising 7-3 win in the nightcap. New York might have even swept the pair of games from the Brewers if not for a Reed Garrett meltdown that allowed Milwaukee to come from behind in Game 1. The Mets were in control of that one after five innings with Clay Holmes having settled down after allowing a leadoff home run to Sal Frelick back in the first. There was even some competent offense on display by the home team with Luis Torrens executing a beautiful hit-and-run that put Jeff McNeil in position to score on a Brett Baty sac fly in the third. An inning later, Juan Soto stole second base following a leadoff walk and scored on Pete Alonso’s single up the middle.

JOEY ORTIZ GRAND SLAM pic.twitter.com/cZRQMvTVm3

— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) July 2, 2025

All that proved to not be enough, though, since Reed Garrett allowed the first four batters he faced in the sixth inning to reach base. The streak culminated with Joey Ortiz and his sub-.600 OPS hitting a grand slam to instantly turn the game into a Brewers rout. Garrett had a great first two months of the season, but he has been unreliable lately.

Huascar Brazoban is another reliever who Mets fans have lost faith in lately, but he did a good job opening the second game of the doubleheader and pitching a scoreless inning to set the stage for Blade Tidwell. The strategy allowed Tidwell to last longer than four innings for the first time in the majors, but that seemed to be too much for him as Christian Yelich and Jackson Chourio began the sixth inning with back-to-back home runs. Fortunately, the Mets had already built a nice cushion thanks to their two-out rally off of Jacob Misiorowski in the second.

First pitch grand slam for @You_Found_Nimmo! 💣 pic.twitter.com/u6z7Adt7TH

— New York Mets (@Mets) July 2, 2025

It had to be one of the most unlikely rallies of the season with Brett Baty and Ronnie Mauricio both walking before Hayden Senger reached on an infield single. Brandon Nimmo took advantage with a grand slam and Francisco Lindor pulled out of his slump with a solo shot to give the Mets a five-run frame. Lindor added two more RBI with a single in the sixth and a double in the eighth while Richard Lovelady, Ryne Stanek, and Edwin Diaz shut down Milwaukee for the final three innings.

If the Mets can defeat the Brewers again on Thursday night, they’ll win a series for the first time since their sweep of Washington in mid-June. Speaking of sweeps, the Yankees are in danger of being swept out of first place by the Blue Jays. Toronto has won three straight over their rivals to pull into a tie atop the American League East, and they play one more on Thursday night. Wednesday was nearly a triumphant victory for the Bombers, as they fell behind 8-0 in the first three innings before coming back to tie the game 9-9 in the eighth on a dramatic home run by Aaron Judge. However, the Jays regained the lead in the bottom half on a two-out wild pitch by Devin Williams and held on for the win.

The United States Men’s National Team also went ahead early and held on for a big win. Diego Luna scored twice in the first 15 minutes to give the US the edge in its Gold Cup semifinal match against Guatemala. The underdogs got on the board in the 80th minute, but it wasn’t enough to stop the US from coming away with a 2-1 win. We’ll probably play Mexico in the final unless El Tri chokes against Honduras.

Welp. The Mets were supposed to be back to playing baseball tonight after one day off. Instead, they are rained out and will play a split doubleheader on Wednesday. They’ll try to pull out of their tailspin that appeared to be over when they beat the Braves in two straight games last week. The Pittsburgh Pirates were supposed to be a soft landing spot, but instead the Mets played their worst ball of the year and were outscored 30-4 while being swept in the three-game set.

Up next are the Milwaukee Brewers who have quickly become a Wild Card rival of the Mets. Despite losing 13 of their last 16 games, the Mets are still on top of the National League Wild Card race, but they are only a half game in front of Milwaukee. If the Mets don’t start winning consistently soon, they could fall out of the Wild Card race altogether with teams like San Diego and San Francisco nipping on the heels of the current three Wild Card holders.

New York will send Clay Holmes to the bump in one of the games on Wednesday. He faced Atlanta in his two most recent starts and combined to allow four runs in nine and two thirds innings, but he needed 200 pitches to complete those innings thanks to a very poor ratio of seven strikeouts to 10 walks. With Mets starters struggling to get deep into games lately, the key for Holmes will be to throw strikes and generate ground balls to greatly increase his pitch efficiency.

By the way, with Holmes pushed to Wednesday, the Mets don’t have a pitcher for the series finale vs. the Yankees on Sunday. They should have at least made an effort to play on Tuesday.

The Brewers will have their ace Freddy Peralta on the mound. He has won his last three decisions, but in each of the last two he only pitched five innings while allowing three earned runs. Those two games featured three of the 12 home runs that Peralta has given up all season, so maybe the Mets can pop a few over the wall and get the offense going.

Here’s what the lineup was supposed to look like on Tuesday night.

Back home. #LGM pic.twitter.com/8WeT60Dd8M

— New York Mets (@Mets) July 1, 2025

Brett Baty has been a bit of a bright spot for the Mets’ struggling offense. He has nine hits in his last seven games, while Mark Vientos has struggled since coming off the injured list with just one hit in 13 at-bats and five strikeouts with no walks. There’s room for both guys in the lineup with Jeff McNeil playing center field, but that leaves Ronnie Mauricio on the bench, and he’s a developing player who should be in the lineup every day, no matter if that is in the majors or at Triple-A.

No player took the league by storm in June like @Jmisiorowski9 #ThisIsMyCrew x @MLBPS_US pic.twitter.com/EkzVGauxnF

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) July 1, 2025

The Mets better win the Holmes vs. Peralta matchup, because the other game on Wednesday will feature Jacob Misiorowski for Milwaukee and Blade Tidwell for New York. Misiorowski is one of the most exciting young pitchers in baseball, and he’s lived up to the hype so far with just two runs allowed in his first three MLB starts, spanning 16 innings. While all three of Misiorowski’s outings have gone at least five frames, Tidwell has yet to complete a fourth inning in his two starts and one relief appearance for the Mets. Tidwell has looked overmatched when he faces a lineup for the second time, and he’s allowed 12 runs in 10.2 innings this season. On a day when the bullpen will already be stretched due to the doubleheader, Tidwell will likely be asked to go deeper into a major league game than he’s ever gone before. Hopefully he’ll be up for the challenge.

NBA free agency is in full swing and the moves have been coming fast with all 30 teams trying to bring themselves a little closer to where the Oklahoma City Thunder are at the top of the mountain. One of the biggest transactions of the summer came when LeBron James opted into his $52.6 million player option with the Lakers. It wasn’t a surprise that James would want to return to Los Angeles and pursue a championship alongside Luka Doncic, but then James’ agent Rich Paul made some comments that made me think maybe we should have been surprised that he opted in.

Rich Paul: “He knows the Lakers are building for the future. He understands that, but he values a realistic chance of winning it all. We are very appreciative of the partnership that we’ve had for eight years with Jeanie [Buss] and Rob [Pelinka] and consider the Lakers as a… https://t.co/tgyeCxRQZm

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) June 29, 2025

That sounds like a guy who wants to be traded from a rebuilding team to a contending team. Why not opt out then? Probably because James and Paul think that they can have their cake and eat it too. James might not get $50 million if he chose free agency, but he thinks that if he can engineer a trade from the Lakers, he can choose a new team while keeping his mega salary. He’s LeBron James, so he’ll probably get what he wants, but it’s stuff like this that makes James less likable than the guy he’s constantly compared to, Michael Jordan.

I think James is the best to ever play basketball. He may only have four championships, but his victory with Cleveland over Golden State in 2016 is an accomplishment that Jordan never had the chance to match because he didn’t go against a team that was close to as good as those Warriors. James is also going to compile more stats than Jordan and James was robbed of Finals MVP in 2015 because nobody had the stones to give it to a player on the losing team. The GOAT debate in basketball can go on forever, but one thing is for certain: Jordan is a lot cooler than James will ever be.

Jordan was almost universally admired, didn’t fire off dumb political takes, and didn’t change teams during hiss prime. James might be the better player, but Jordan wins the aura argument every time. I think that aura gap would only increase if social media was prominent in the 1990s like it is today.

Maybe I’ll change my tune on James if he helps the Knicks win a title before he retires, but that doesn’t seem likely. Someone who is helping the Knicks is Jordan Clarkson, as he’s expected to join the team on a veteran’s minimum contract after negotiating a buyout from Utah. Clarkson should give the Knicks some much-needed depth and scoring off the bench.

Over in Brooklyn, the Nets made a big move by acquiring Michael Porter Jr. from Denver in exchange for Cameron Johnson. The Nets also get an unprotected first-round draft pick from Denver in 2032. Good job by Brooklyn going seven years into the future with that request because it’s hard to imagine the Nuggets being in the lottery anytime soon. On the other hand, everyone on both teams could be fired by then, so what is even the point?

It’s hard to imagine the Mets’ season getting to a lower point, but then again they are still 48-37 and just two losses behind Philadelphia in the National League East. It’s possible this gets a lot worse before it gets better, but it’s also possible that the Mets make a couple of trades to help the pitching staff and get the offense ramped up again before any hope of the Postseason melts away in the summer sun. Which fate will the Mets become? We don’t know, and that’s why we watch.

This weekend was a Frank the Tank rage tweet come to life with the Mets deciding that it wasn’t enough to lose 9-1 to the last-place Pirates on Friday night or to lose again 9-2 on Saturday. Carlos Mendoza’s squad had to let go of the rope and fall 12-1 on Sunday afternoon to maximize despair. The 30-4 aggregate score was the worst run differential that the Mets have ever suffered in a three-game series, and it happened to a “good” Mets team against the second-division Pirates. That’s baseball, Suzyn.

Frankie Montas appeared to be on his way out of the first inning when Brett Baty made a great snag on a Spencer Horwitz line drive to keep two runs off the board, but Montas let those runs in anyway when Ke’Bryan Hayes hit a two-out, two-RBI single. Based on Hayes’ overall stats and his stats against the Mets, I’m starting to think that he doesn’t have a hit against any other team this season. Anyway, Oneil Cruz and Tommy Pham followed Hayes’ knock with back-to-back home runs to make the score 5-0 Pittsburgh after one.

ONEIL CRUZ 💥 pic.twitter.com/diyiG6jOcD

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) June 29, 2025

As has been the case recently for the Mets, they couldn’t do much on offense against the opposing starting pitcher. Mike Burrows and his 4.15 ERA limited New York to just one run on a Luis Torrens solo shot in four and a third innings. Former Met Genesis Cabrera followed up with a scoreless frame and Carmen Mlodzinski kept the Mets off the scoreboard for the final three and two thirds innings.

Montas would last four innings and give up just one additional run, but more than enough damage had already been done. Richard Lovelady, who just rejoined the Mets today after the team designated him for assignment a few days ago, gave up a pair of runs in the fifth. Dedniel Nunez also let in two runs on Cruz’s second home run of the day, which led to Travis Jankowski pitching in the eighth. Gotta save the bullpen before an off day!

I’m sad that Lovelady failed to redeem himself after allowing two runs against the Braves on Tuesday as “Dicky” Lovelady, his name during his first brief stint with the Mets. Maybe the team will stick with Lovelady for longer than a day this time around instead of giving him the shaft.

Madness in Minneapolis. pic.twitter.com/QXc3Z3AzFH

— U.S. Soccer Men's National Team (@USMNT) June 30, 2025

There was some good sports news on Sunday as the United States Men’s National Team defeated Costa Rica to advance to the Concacaf Gold Cup semifinals. USA appeared to be in control of the game when Diego Luna and Max Arfsten scored goals on either side of halftime to give their team a 2-1 lead. However, Costa Rica drew level on Alonso Martinez’s goal in the 71st minute after the US missed multiple opportunities to take a two-goal lead. The game went to penalty kicks after 90 minutes before the Gold Cup is a Mickey Mouse tournament, but at least it was exciting. US keeper Matthew Freese was incredible and stopped three of Costa Rica’s six kicks. That allowed the US to triumph on Damion Downs’ match-sealing strike despite missing two of our first five kicks.

The Mets followed up their 9-1 loss in Pittsburgh on Friday night with a 9-2 loss on Saturday evening. This one got off to a decent start with Francisco Lindor hitting a leadoff double and scoring on a seeing-eye single by Juan Soto. However, after the game was delayed by 90 minutes due to rain in the top of the second, Carlos Mendoza made the decision to keep Paul Blackburn on the mound in order to save the bullpen. That turned out to be disastrous as Blackburn allowed five straight singles without recording an out. Jose Butto came in to put out the fire, but Adam Frazier hit a sac fly off of him to charge a third earned run to Blackburn and give the Pirates the run they needed to win the game.

Butto, Brandon Waddell, and Reed Garrett all did a good job keeping the Mets in the game, but they only scored once more when Pete Alonso doubled with one out in the fifth and was driven in on a Brandon Nimmo single. The Mets blew a golden opportunity an inning earlier when Brett Baty led off with a double, but he was tagged out on a bizarre play when Luis Torrens hit a chopper to third that was misplayed by Ke’Bryan Hayes on the infield grass. Baty would have advanced to third easily if Hayes had fielded the ball cleanly, but instead Isiah Kiner-Falefa picked up the ball behind Hayes and tagged Baty out while he was sliding into third. Even the least superstitious person on Earth can look at that play and say, “Wow, these Mets are cursed.”

"Oh, what bad luck for the Mets" pic.twitter.com/AfSEK19Qns

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 28, 2025

Carlos Mendoza was ejected for arguing balls and strikes with home plate umpire Roberto Ortiz in the fourth inning, but New York only mustered one hit the rest of the way following Nimmo’s RBI single in the fifth. Pittsburgh, on the other hand, would get a lot more hits because Huascar Brazoban has devolved into the worst pitcher on the planet. He walked Joey Bart and Spencer Horwitz in the bottom of the eighth to set up Ke’Bryan Hayes’ RBI single that added a key insurance run for the Pirates.

Colin Poche then came in to make his Mets debut and allowed the rally to continue for five more Pittsburgh runs. Now there was an extra embarrassing score to go with another depressing result, and it appears that the Mets players have had enough.

After their 12th loss in 15 games, Mets players are meeting right now.

— Steve Gelbs (@SteveGelbs) June 29, 2025

Oh boy. Nothing like a players-only meeting to fire up the boys and end the losing streak. According to Pete Alonso, the meeting was productive.

Pete Alonso feels that the Mets' players meeting was a "productive gathering" pic.twitter.com/brrwJFMzzS

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 29, 2025

He definitely just swore a lot and yelled “LFG!” Maybe that will be enough with Frankie Montas back on the hill Sunday afternoon. He pitched five scoreless innings in his Mets debut, and the team needs more starts like that with Paul Blackburn and a mystery starter taking up a pair of rotation spots these days. Either that, or the Mets need to pay a touching tribute to Dave Parker, who passed away on Saturday, and start mashing some dingers.

The Mets were supposed to come to Pittsburgh to grow their winning streak that began with two big wins over the Atlanta Braves at Citi Field, but instead the Pirates handed New York a 9-1 loss that is the most pathetic of the season. David Peterson has been so great for the Mets this year. He’s been a de facto ace of the no-name starting rotation that has been the strength of the team. He should have at least flirted with a complete game against Pittsburgh’s feeble lineup, but instead he allowed a four-run rally in the second inning that the Mets did not recover from. You just can’t allow guys like Ke’Bryan Hayes, Jared Triolo, and Alexander Canario to rack up consecutive base hits when the first two are below .300 in both on-base percentage and slugging while Canario was let go by the Mets in spring training.

We scored some runs 🤝 pic.twitter.com/F1VDdWvpbJ

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) June 28, 2025

New York’s offense wasn’t much better as Mitch Keller allowed just one run on a Juan Soto solo shot. Part of the reason why Soto hits so many home runs with the bases empty is because opposing pitchers fear him and don’t give him much to hit when there are ducks on the pond, but it’s also ridiculous how unproductive he is with runners on base. The Mets were gonna need a crooked number to catch up in this one, and Soto’s bomb did not provide it.

Blade Tidwell was also disappointing in this game and he allowed Pittsburgh to get very comfortable on Bryan Reynolds’ three-run home run in the sixth inning. Tidwell keeps proving that he doesn’t belong in the big league rotation or the bullpen, so hopefully someone else is tabbed to fill Griffin Canning’s role when his spot comes up. I am thinking that Justin Hagenman will get the first crack at the job, but you can’t rule out a bullpen game.

While I’m typing this, the Phillies are up 11-0 on Atlanta, so it looks like the Mets will be in second place in the morning. Over in the Bronx, the Yankees only got four hits, but they beat the Athletics 3-0 thanks to Jazz Chisholm’s solo shot and a shutout thrown by Will Warren combined with four relievers.

At least Penn State has shown up for me lately with Yanic Konan Niederhauser being surprisingly chosen by the Los Angeles Clippers at the end of the NBA Draft’s first round. Two nights later, the Columbus Blue Jackets chose Jackson Smith in the first round of the NHL Draft, and that meant that Penn State had a player selected in the first round of the NBA, NHL, and NFL Drafts. That is awesome for someone like me who is a PSU alum and loves watching a variety of sports. It still sucks that Konan left us after showing so much promise, but that’s just what happens when you cheer for a basketball school.

The selection of Smith led to more hype that next year’s projected top NHL pick Gavin McKenna is headed to Penn State.

The moment it was leaked that Gavin McKenna is more than likely coming to Penn State during the NHL Draft Broadcast

INSANE

Penn State is rising to the top of the college hockey world 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/Nkp9NZkYm9

— Barstool Penn State (@PSUBarstool) June 28, 2025

McKenna had already been linked to Penn State, but Emily Kaplan saying that she believed the move was happening added to the hysteria. I’ll still wait to believe it until I see it. The idea of an elite hockey prospect choosing to play at PSU is exciting not just because of the growth of the program, but because it will probably lead to more games getting on television.

The Mets shutout the Braves 4-0 on Thursday night and vaulted back into first place thanks to the pathetic Phillies only scoring one run during their entire three-game series in Houston. Staying in first place, however, will once again prove to be a stiff test since Griffin Canning went down with an Achilles injury in the third inning. I usually try not to speculate on injuries, but in this case I don’t think we need to wait for the Twitter doctors or the regular doctors to confirm that Canning is out for the rest of the season. The Mets already have Kodai Senga and Tylor Megill on the injured list, while Sean Manaea recently suffered a setback to his recovery from a strained oblique he suffered at the start of spring training. Thank goodness for Frankie Montas, right? But even with Montas in the rotation, the Mets need someone to step up and fill Canning’s role.

Carlos Mendoza provides an update on Griffin Canning:

"We think it's an Achilles. He's getting an MRI, we're waiting for the results, but it looks like it's an Achilles injury." pic.twitter.com/Wr1vxoxQrN

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 27, 2025

That will probably come down to Blade Tidwell or Justin Hagenman since both guys have helped out the Mets with spot starts this season. I am thinking that Hagenman is the guy since he was solid in two big league appearances this season while Tidwell failed to finish the fourth inning in both of his starts. The Mets have an off day on Monday, so they can probably drag their decision out until the Yankees come to Queens on Independence Day Weekend.

Starting rotation depth could be an issue for the Mets in the long term, but at least they thrived in the short term. A lot of credit goes to Austin Warren, who completed the third inning for Canning and then pitched two more scoreless innings after just being called up today. Dedniel Nunez looked like the guy who took New York’s bullpen by storm last year. He pitched two scoreless frames of his own and struck out the side in the seventh inning. No matter who the fifth starter ends up being, that guy will probably need a lot of bullpen help, so having Warren and Nunez step up is a big deal.

The Mets’ offense on Thursday started out very frustrating when Francisco Lindor wasted a couple of singles by Brett Baty and Ronnie Mauricio in the third inning. He struck out and failed to drive in the runner from third with less than two outs, but New York got some redemption in the fourth when Tyrone Taylor hit a sac fly to score Juan Soto. Speaking of Soto, he and Pete Alonso did a great job setting the table in the fourth as well as the seventh, when they both reached on two-out hits before Jeff McNeil plated them with a two-run single. Alonso also had a clutch RBI hit in the fifth after Soto popped up in a big RBI spot. As raging hot as Soto is, his inability to hit with runners in scoring position this season remains baffling.

The Yankees didn’t play today, but they scored a huge win by announcing a George Constanza bobblehead promotion. The Bombers host the Athletics this weekend while the Mets travel to Pittsburgh, where they will not face Paul Skenes since he just pitched on Wednesday. The Mets have done a good job getting fat on second-division teams this season, and this is another opportunity.

The Boston Celtics were supposed to start a dynasty when they defeated the Dallas Mavericks to win the 2024 NBA Finals. Boston had a pair of young stars in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown to build around and all of their great role players were under contract for the near future. A lot has changed in the year since then with the Celtics blowing two big leads at home to my New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. That led to Boston’s early exit from the Playoffs, but perhaps more troubling for the future of the franchise was the torn Achilles tendon suffered by Tatum in Game 4.

The injury puts a serious dent in Boston’s chances to compete for the Eastern Conference title in 2026, but instead of sitting on a team that is still talented enough to make some noise in the Playoffs, president of basketball operations Brad Stevens is pivoting and raising Boston’s ceiling for a future where Tatum is at full strength.

On Monday, Stevens sent Jrue Holiday and the three years remaining on his contract packing and got back an exciting playmaker in Anfernee Simons as well as two second-round draft picks. Holiday has disappointed during his two years in Boston and still has over $100 million left on his contract. Maybe he would have stepped up his game with Tatum out of the lineup, but I think the cap space that the Celtics get from sending him to Portland more than makes up for it in the long term. Boston also gets Simons from the Trail Blazers, and while he’s not the most efficient scorer, he is on an expiring deal and should help replace Tatum’s production in the upcoming campaign.

The next day, Boston sent Kristaps Porzingis to Atlanta and got back Georges Niang. Niang won’t be as productive a scorer as Porzingis, but he can shoot 40 percent from three-point range and saves the Celtics more than $20 million in salary this year. Both Porzingis and Niang are on expiring deals, so this move doesn’t save Boston money beyond 2026. However, it’s another example of Stevens make his team more flexible while also getting an asset that can help the team compete in the upcoming season. With the Pacers and Bucks also reeling from Achilles injuries to key players, it’s smart of Stevens to not punt on 2026 even if he is taking a step back in order to bolster Boston’s future upside.

The Celtics shifting most of their focus to the future just makes it more important that the Knicks find the right coach and win the East in 2026. New York is +290 to reach the NBA Finals, but you’d think that would be a little higher if it had just held onto the coach that led them to relevancy.

I was all set to blame the latest Mets loss on Paul Blackburn. He got off to a slow start on Monday night against the Braves with three runs allowed in three innings, and it could have been a lot more. Jeff McNeil saved one run for Blackburn when he threw behind Ronald Acuna Jr. for a tag out at third base after the Atlanta superstar froze on Marcell Ozuna’s hard-hit ground ball. Acuna made up for the mistake by launching a home run to begin the third inning and celebrating all the way around the bases. That made the Braves’ lead 2-0 since the inning before Ozzie Albies was hit by a pitch, stole second base, and was driven in on a sac fly by Michael Harris II.

The real trouble for Blackburn started when he walked Ozuna and Austin Riley following the Acuna bomb. That loaded the bases with nobody out and it looked like Atlanta could put the game out of reach, but Blackburn got Albies to pop up and Sean Murphy had to settle for a sac fly when his line drive to left field was caught by Brandon Nimmo. Harris also hit the ball very hard, but his was snagged by Pete Alonso on the infield to end the threat with the Braves leading 3-0.

Good morning. Vote Ronald!@Delta | https://t.co/tF2BPq04Q9 pic.twitter.com/HrksjzSgto

— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) June 24, 2025

Blackburn would settle down in the fourth and I thought he had a shot at the quality start, but Carlos Mendoza took him out in the fifth and let Jose Butto finish the frame before retiring the side in order in the sixth. The Braves wouldn’t score the rest of the way, which made the real villain of this game the Mets’ offense. It’s been putrid lately with the exception of that 11-run outburst on Saturday night in Philadelphia, but it appeared to be on the upswing when Juan Soto followed a walk by Nimmo in the sixth with a two-run blast to left-center field. If only Francisco Lindor hadn’t taken himself and Brett Baty out of the equation with a double-play ground out, the home run might have given the Mets an extra run or two.

It still felt like the Mets had the momentum they needed to get the comeback win, and the pitching certainly did its part. Unfortunately, the Mets’ feeble bottom of the order went down one-two-three in the seventh and recorded the first two outs of the eighth. With the lineup turned over, Lindor and Nimmo knocked base hits into right field to set the stage for Soto to drive in another clutch run, but after getting ahead in the count 3-1, he was struck out by Braves southpaw Dylan Lee. So anticlimactic. Lee dominated the Mets in the ninth to bring the game to a sad end.

.@DRLee45 appreciation post 👏👏👏#LocalFordDealer | #BravesCountry pic.twitter.com/3k1ltbiTzE

— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) June 24, 2025

The Mets shouldn’t have to wait until the trade deadline to make improvements to the lineup. Sending down Luisangel Acuna and Francisco Alvarez was a nice start, but what about designated hitter? I’m sure there are several teams that have guys wasting away in Triple-A who can give the Mets more at that spot than they’re getting from Jared Young and Starling Marte. Maybe Mark Vientos can play DH when he comes off the injured list, but for that move to be effective, Brett Baty has to start hitting consistently at third base. Despite a surge last month that had many fans to declare that he had finally arrived as a productive big league player, Baty is hitting .216/.266/.404 for the season. That’s really bad, but it’s still better than what Tyrone Taylor and Luis Torrens are doing, and both of those guys are lineup regulars for the time being.

Catcher and center field could be targets for trade acquisitions, but it would also help the Mets if Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil hit like they’re capable of doing. McNeil has been very productive this year with his OPS rising above .900 less than two weeks ago, but he’s got one hit in his last 16 at-bats. We know how important Alonso has been to the Mets, but he went 0-for-8 with four strikeouts in the last two games while the team scored just three combined runs. With the top of the order performing consistently, the Mets’ offense can take off if they can just get down to one or two guys who have no chance to get a base hit instead of four or five.

Around the majors

In Cincinnati, the Yankees had to call up former Braves right-hander Allan Winans to make a spot start after Ryan Yarbrough landed on the injured list. He held up for the first three innings, but then Elly De La Cruz’s RBI triple sparked a three-run Reds rally and they went on to win 6-1. Nick Lodolo needed 94 pitches to get through four and a third innings against the Yankees, but the Cincinnati bullpen allowed just two hits and a walk the rest of the way.

The Orioles shut out the Rangers 6-0 thanks to a career-high eight strong inning from former Miami lefty Trevor Rogers. Jackson Holliday powered the Baltimore offense with three hits, including a home run, and four RBI.

The White Sox also scored zero runs on Monday night in an apparent effort to make the Mets feel better. Arizona blew up Shane Smith for five runs in the first two innings on its way to a 10-0 whomping. “That’s So” Pavin Smith hit a pair of bombs while driving in four runs and Eduardo Rodriguez struck out 10 Chicago batters in six innings.

The Pirates won an exciting back-and-forth affair in Milwaukee with Isiah Kiner-Falefa driving in the winning run with a triple in the top of the sixth. Pittsburgh second baseman Nick Gonzales went off for five hits in the 5-4 win. That’s a pretty big accomplishment considering the rest of his team struck out 16 times. What a BABIP game!

In other National League Central action, the Cardinals pounded Ben Brown and the Cubs 8-2 with Lars Nootbaar, Brendan Donovan, Alec Burleson, and Nolan Gorman all going yard between the fourth and sixth innings. This is a big series for the division with St. Louis now four games behind Chicago in the loss column. It’s also big in the Wild Card hunt with the Cardinals creeping up on the Mets.

Cal Raleigh hit his 32nd home run of the season to cap the scoring in Seattle’s 11-2 win at Minnesota. Julio Rodriguez, Luke Raley, and Dominic Canzone also went deep for the Mariners. Big Dumper now has five home runs in his last four games and with 77 games in the books, he’s on pace to challenge the single-season home run kings in September.

The Angels scored four runs in the eighth off of Boston’s Garrett Whitlock to break a 5-5 tie and win 9-5. Before the late rally, all of the Angels’ runs came in the first with Walker Buehler forcing three of them in with a pair of walks and a hit by pitch. The Red Sox would walk 11 batters as a team in the ugly defeat.

In the other west coast game, the Nationals pounded San Diego with 15 hits in a 10-6 win that featured home runs from James Wood and Josh Bell. The top six hitters in Washington’s lineup all had multiple hits in this one.