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The National League blew a 6-0 lead in the final three innings of Tuesday night’s MLB All-Star Game from Atlanta, but it hung on to win thanks to a perfect performance by Kyle Schwarber in the exciting new tiebreaker. I don’t remember when MLB announced that an All-Star Game tied after nine innings would be decided by a three-on-three Home Run Derby, but it was fun to finally watch one, even if it came after a Senior Circuit meltdown.
The NL led from the start thanks to three straight hits off of AL starter Tarik Skubal by Shohei Ohtani, Ronald Acuna Jr., and Ketel Marte. Marte drove in the first two batters with his double, and the NL added to its lead in the sixth when Pete Alonso hit a three-run oppo taco off of Kris Bubic and Corbin Carroll followed with a solo shot off of Casey Mize three batters later.
Pete Alonso delivers a 3-run home run! #AllStarGame pic.twitter.com/aNawz1goYp
— MLB (@MLB) July 16, 2025
The AL bounced right back off the mat, though. Brent Rooker hit a three-run bomb off of Randy Rodriguez to cut the lead in half before Maikel Garcia walked, stole second base, and scored on a ground ball from Royals teammate Bobby Witt Jr. The NL held their 6-4 advantage until the ninth, when Robert Suarez allowed back-to-back doubles by Byron Buxton and Witt to put the tying run in scoring position. Dave Roberts went to Diaz for the save, but Steven Kwan got Witt home with a two-out infield single.
Next up was the thrilling tiebreaker, but it could have been even more thrilling if some of the All-Star starters were available. Unfortunately, many had already showered, which led to Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge not taking part, among others. Roberts appeared to have the edge on Aaron Boone with a three-man lineup anchored by Kyle Schwarber and Pete Alonso, and that turned out to be the case. With the NL trailing three dingers to one, Schwarber came up and left the yard on all three of his swings to put his team in front. Jonathan Aranda needed just one home run to put the pressure on Pete Alonso, but he went 0-for-3 to give the NL the win.
Kyle Schwarber: legend #AllStarGame pic.twitter.com/jkXyasugNX
— MLB (@MLB) July 16, 2025
The only downside of the evening was Schwarber winning MVP honors over Pete Alonso even though he went 0-for-2 during the baseball portion of the game. I don’t think three batting practice home runs are more valuable a three-run home run off of a pitcher who is trying to get you out, but I guess I’m old fashioned. If Suarez and Diaz closed the door like they were supposed to, Alonso would be MVP. We’ll have to settle for Polar Bear hitting the first Mets All-Star home run since David Wright in 2006. And of course, the National League win is great to see as well!
It’s Cal Raleigh’s world and we’re all just living in it. Not only did he become the first catcher to win the Home Run Derby on Monday night, but he also became the first switch hitter to win the dinger tournament, and he did so while actually switch hitting. In the first round, he slugged 10 home runs as a lefty and seven as a righty to barely edge out Brent Rooker, who also hit 17 home runs but lost the longest home run tie breaker by a fraction of a foot.
Big Dumper makes a big splash 💥 pic.twitter.com/NPerDLBqju
— MLB (@MLB) July 15, 2025
Raleigh didn’t need a tiebreaker to get by Oneil Cruz in the semifinals or Junior Caminero in the finals. Hopefully his long ball binge in the Home Run Derby won’t get in the way of him chasing home run history when the regular season continues. Raleigh has 38 home runs, which is just one short of the 39 that Barry Bonds had at the All-Star break during the 2001 season when he set the all-time record with 73 home runs for the season.
Of course, may fans have put an asterisk next to that record because of Bonds’ involvement with performance-enhancing drugs, and that should make Raleigh’s pursuit of the record even more exciting. Can the Big Dumper purify the record books by matching Bonds using nothing but natural muscle and determination? I’d say the odds are against him, but Raleigh is already having a storybook season, so let’s see where the chapters take us.
I didn’t get a chance to comment on the Wimbledon men’s final yet, but that was some performance by Jannik Sinner. He lost the first set to Carlos Alcaraz 6-4, but then won the next three by the same margin. The match wasn’t nearly as thrilling as the final at Roland-Garros that Alcaraz won despite dropping the first two sets, but I think Sinner liked it that way. He broke Alcaraz’s serve when he needed to and made sure that none of the sets went to tiebreak.
It will be interesting to see what happens at the U.S. Open because Sinner would have a chance at the grand slam if not for Alcaraz’s comeback in Paris. Instead, it will be Alcaraz trying to win a second major this year to match Sinner’s victories at the Australian Open and Wimbledon. I wonder if I’ll root for them to meet in the final or if I’ll cheer on an American instead. Taylor Fritz is getting very close to making me believe that an American man can win the big one.
Before I head out, here are two more highlights from the Home Run Derby. First, Oneil Cruz’s absurd 500-foot blast.
ONEIL CRUZ HIT ONE OUT OF THE STADIUM 🤯 pic.twitter.com/Q3sS8qMVyp
— MLB (@MLB) July 15, 2025
Second, some kid tried to rob a home run from Caminero during the final round. It was ruled a home run, but should it have been? This kid could have been public enemy number one for all seven Rays fans!
Bro did NOT want Junior Caminero to win the Derby 😭 pic.twitter.com/JmBXNLaeLK
— MLB (@MLB) July 15, 2025
I think the ball should have to leave the yard to be a home run in the Home Run Derby. If you don’t want the robberies, don’t let the kids shag balls!
I just knew the Mets wouldn’t be able to handle the pressure of needing to win one more game in Kansas City on Sunday to stay in first place of the National League East at the All-Star break. Sure enough, even though Clay Homes and a returning-from-injury Sean Manaea combined to pitch a solid game, the Mets lost 3-2 to the Royals and fell into second place with the Phillies winning their series finale in San Diego.
Royals starter Noah Cameron did a great job getting the Mets to hit balls on the ground. The Mets got seven hits off of him in six and two thirds innings, but the only one that went for extra bases was a triple by Mark Vientos in the first inning. This game might have ended up differently if the Mets had drive Vientos in, but he was stranded at third thanks to Juan Soto’s ground ball to shortstop and Brandon Nimmo’s foul pop-up.
Nick Loftin delivers his second #walkoff of the @Royals homestand! pic.twitter.com/5JIzPbqhTu
— MLB (@MLB) July 13, 2025
Kansas City scored a pair of runs on John Rave’s two-run double off of Holmes in the second inning, but the Mets didn’t break through until the ninth with Carlos Estevez on the mound. The Mets pounding Estevez is starting to become a theme after Vientos hit his bases-clearing double against him on Friday night and Francisco Lindor took him deep for a grand slam in Game 4 of last year’s NLDS. This time around, Ronny Mauricio led off with a double and Jeff McNeil smoked a triple off the right-center field wall to bring the tying run within 90 feet of the plate. Two batters later, Jared Young did something useful for once and hit a game-tying sac fly to center field.
The late rally was all just a tease, though. In the bottom of the inning, Tyler Tolbert singled off of Manaea with one out and stole second base before being driven in by Nick Loftin’s walk-off hit. At least the Mets didn’t get shut out.
It felt like the Mets were getting shut out during tonight’s MLB Draft because New York didn’t get to choose a player until the 38th pick. That guy ended up being Mitch Voit from Michigan, who is better known as the guy who tried to smoke the third base line like it was cocaine last season.
The Mets just drafted the dude from Michigan who snorted the 3rd base line 😂😂😂 Call him up immediately! pic.twitter.com/oToll7A3W9
— KFC (@KFCBarstool) July 14, 2025
It has never felt more like 1986.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcYWPRnXYDo
On today’s “Doge Day of Summer” CDST Show….\
- Pole vaults to another title, and Breakfast at Wimby involves a real live double bagel
- Ce-dong hits another ding dong, and “that is the sound of 8 straight at Fenway”… the sights and sounds of today’s big shooooo
- A very large step was just taken in Frank’s 20,000 step plan to turn the scales on their ever loving heads…
- At around min 40, see a major short-tempered eruption by Johnny Mac in his Johnny Stockton short shorts, who could not curb his lack of enthusiam for the chair qualifications of the Larry David lookalike ump.
There was reason to believe on Saturday morning that Amanda Anisimova was going to upset Iga Swiatek in the ladies final at Wimbledon to become champion. Anisimova had just upset the top player in the world, Aryna Sabalenka, and she was playing as well as anyone. Plus, Swiatek wasn’t known as a strong grass player and didn’t have a Wimbledon title to her name. Although Swiatek was strongest on clay, she had just been defeated by Sabalenka at Roland-Garros less than two months ago.
When the tennis started, however, it couldn’t be more clear who the superior player was. Swiatek immediately broke Anisimova’s serve and kept on smashing the ball precisely with her backhand while Anisimova couldn’t keep anything in play. She was either hitting it long or wide or into the net even when she had a chance to deliver an easy winner.
A new Wimbledon champion is crowned 🇵🇱
Iga Swiatek defeats Amanda Anisimova 6-0, 6-0 to win the 2025 Ladies' Singles Trophy 🏆#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/ZnznTxwO5A
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 12, 2025
Swiatek had all but wrapped up the first set when she broke Anisimova’s serve a second time to go up 3-0, but it was still surprising when the punishment continued into the second set. It was a little sad to watch Anisimova grow more frustrated as she seemingly forgot how to play the brilliant tennis that got her to this point. Fortunately, Swiatek finished the match pretty quickly, but no one wants to lose 6-0, 6-0 in a grand slam final.
Hopefully Anisimova will hold onto the good memories from Wimbledon and flush that crushing defeat to Swiaek. She’s had a tumultuous career, but she showed how much potential she has in these past two weeks, so I’m looking forward to see how she bounces back.
As for Swiatek, she’s now won a grand slam on all three surfaces and is just an Australian Open title short of the career grand slam. I know a lot of fans are wondering if she could have gotten by Sabalenka had Anisimova not gotten her out of the way. Maybe we’ll find out at the US Open in September.
I went into Thursday’s Mets vs. Orioles doubleheader feeling optimistic that the Mets could sweep both games and keep pace with the Phillies in the National League East. Unfortunately, the offense was very disappointing against Baltimore starters Charlie Morton and Tomoyuki Sogano and completely useless against the Orioles bullpen. The Mets had a chance to score early on Morton in the first game when a passed ball by Jacob Stallings in the first inning allowed Brandon Nimmo and Francisco Lindor to reach second and third base with no outs. However, Morton struck out both Juan Soto and Pete Alonso before Jesse Winker popped up to strand both runners.
The Mets scored in the fifth when Brett Baty walked and stole second base before being driven in by a rare Tyrone Taylor double, but New York still found a way to disappoint by making three outs without scoring Taylor. One more time in the sixth, the Mets had a runner on second with nobody out and couldn’t bring him around. So that was four runners in scoring position with no outs that the Mets left stranded. It almost didn’t matter because of how good David Peterson was in this game, but Ryne Stanek relieved him in the eighth and gave up a script-flipping, two-run bomb to Gunnar Henderson. As if that wasn’t enough, Stanek then walked the bases loaded and let Baltimore add a run on a sac fly to make the score 3-1. If only the Mets had scored some of those available runs from before, they might have held on to win.
Gunnar gives us the lead!! pic.twitter.com/ZnnsLvxxmP
— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) July 10, 2025
The story was a little different in the second game, since this time both Nimmo and Lindor scored in the first inning after getting on base. Unfortunately, there was no Peterson to pitch a gem in this one. Brandon Waddell started the game and let three runs in during the second inning thanks to a double by Alex Jackson and a home run from Jordan Westburg. the Mets caught up in the fourth with a clutch RBI single by Brett Baty, but Justin Hagenman could not keep Baltimore off the board in the fifth. Colton Cowser hit an RBI single with two outs and Ramon Urias drove in another thanks to an error by Baty. The Orioles added two more runs in the sixth and ran away with a 7-3 win with the Mets offense doing very little after the fourth inning.
One of the only bright spots of the second game was Rico Garcia shutting down the Orioles for their final two and two thirds innings at the plate. In typical Mets fashion, Garcia was designated for assignment today to make room for Kodai Senga’s return to the rotation. Obviously, someone had to be bounced to make room for Senga, but there are guys like Alex Carrillo and Waddell who have options left in the back of the bullpen. Why send away Garcia when he has been effective so far?
Anyway, the Mets are in Kansas City starting tonight for the final three games before the All-Star break. Hopefully it won’t be a total disaster with Senga, Frankie Montas, and a mystery starter (should be Clay Holmes but Mindless Mendoza is probably babying him).
The Yankees still haven’t lost since the Mets let them off the hook on Sunday. This time, they beat the Mariners 6-5 despite going without a hit for the first seven innings of the game. They finally broke through against Bryan Woo with a pair of singles by Jazz Chisholm and Ben Rice to lead off the eighth. Austin Wells hit a sac fly to get the Bombers on the board and Giancarlo Stanton homered off of Matt Brash to make the score 5-3.
Wells in the clutch 🔥 pic.twitter.com/nMo3AIO58N
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 11, 2025
In the ninth, the Yankees rallied against Seattle closer Andres Munoz, who was apparently tipping his pitches. Wells came up big with a two-run single and then Aaron Judge hit a walk-off sac fly in the 10th following a great job by Devin Williams to strand the ghost runner. It is a little painful watching the Yankees come to life knowing that the Mets could have killed their season a few days ago.
Over in London, Taylor Fritz blew a chance to force a fifth set with Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic was swept by Jannik Sinner. The announcers were treating the aging Djokovic like a dog that needs to be put down, but he was looking pretty good in this tournament before facing the top player in the world. He can still play for a while longer if he’s okay not winning grand slam events, but not might not be the case.
Ugh. The Mets were rained out on Wednesday night, so they’ll have to play twice against Baltimore today before jumping on a plane to Kansas City, where they’ll play on Friday night roughly 24 hours after the doubleheader ends. David Peterson is pitching for the Mets in the first game against Charlie Morton, who got off to a miserable start this season but has been better lately with just six runs allowed over his last four outings. The second game, which is scheduled for 5:05 PM, will allow the Mets to tee off on Tomoyuki Sugano with a mystery starter on the bump for New York. It will probably be some combination of Justin Hagenman and Austin Warren, who was just called up to be the extra man for the doubleheader.
Luisangel Acuña is back. The Mets recalled him from Triple-A today and designated Travis Jankowski for assignment.
Reliever Austin Warren is also up as the Mets' 27th man for their doubleheader.
— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) July 10, 2025
I don’t know why Acuna is back in the majors so quickly. The infield is already crowded with Brett Baty, Mark Vientos, and Ronnie Mauricio in the mix and Acuna needs to play every day. Travis Jankowski hadn’t been getting much playing time as the utility guy. Anyway, let’s check out what else happened in sports on Wednesday.
The Yankees designated DJ LeMahieu for assignment. He was extremely productive for the Bombers when they signed him as a free agent in 2019 and then he hit .364 and won the batting title in the short pandemic season. However, his play has fallen off a cliff since then and he was almost impossibly bad in 2024, hitting .204/.269/.259 in 228 plate appearances. He hasn’t been nearly that awful this season, but the Yankees felt it was time to say goodbye with Jazz Chisholm playing well at second base and infield prospect Jorbit Vivas showing posting a .409 on-base percentage at Triple-A.
There was happier news for the Yankees on the field, as they beat Seattle 9-6 for their third straight win. That’s right, it was the Mets who got the Yankees going on Sunday by letting them off the hook with sloppy play. Now it appears that the Bombers have righted their ship with Cam Schlittler striking out seven in his big league debut and picking up the win thanks to Chisholm’s two home runs.
Absolutely destroyed. pic.twitter.com/EevePIph4a
— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) July 10, 2025
In Kansas City, Jack Caglianone hit a total monster bomb that measured 466 feet to center field. Salvador Perez also homered twice, including a solo shot that gave his team the lead in the eighth inning, and the Royals beat Pittsburgh 4-3 to finish off a series sweep.
Jesus Luzardo was splendid for the Phillies. He pitched seven shutout innings while the bats unloaded for seven runs in the eighth inning to give Philly a 13-0 victory in San Francisco.
In tennis, Ben Shelton was taken down by top seed Jannik Sinner in straight sets during their Wimbledon quarterfinal. It was a promising tournament for Shelton, but we’ll have to settle for Taylor Fritz being the only American man in the semifinals. For Sinner, it was a return to his dominant self after he was bailed out of an upset scare in the round of 16 by an injury to Grigor Dimitrov.
Meeting Sinner in the semifinals will be the arguable GOAT, Novak Djokovic. He dropped the first set to Flavio Cobolli but then one three straight to prove that he’s still got it. It seems that Djokovic has already passed the torch of greatness to Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, but now he has a chance to yank it back for one more run at a grand slam title.
On the women’s side, Belinda Bencic upset the Russian prodigy Mirra Andreeva in just two sets, although both went to a tiebreaker. It’s matches like those that make you wonder what would happen if the women had to win three sets in a match like the men. Would Bencic beat Andreeva in a third set with such thin margins? We’ll never know. Meanwhile, Iga Swiatek beat Liudmila Samsonova 6-2, 7-5 and will face Bencic later today.
"The moment of this young woman's life" 👏
Amanda Anisimova completes an extraordinary semi-final to defeat No.1 seed Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 and book her spot in her first ever #Wimbledon final 💥
Take. A. Bow. ♥️ pic.twitter.com/WexH4VL2k2
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 10, 2025
Right before publishing time, the women’s semifinals began and Amanda Anisimova has upset the number one Aryna Sabalenka! She has looked vulnerable at Wimbledon and finally dropped a set in the quarterfinals to Laura Siegmund before bouncing back for the win. Sabalenka lost the first set and won the second again vs. Anisimova, but the American showed great resilience in the third set. Even after blowing a match point with the serve and allowing Sabalenka back on even footing, Anisimova rebounded right away and won the match with a break point. The United States has now put a woman in the final of the last four grand slam tournaments. The last two, Coco Gauff and Madison Keys, both won the title.
Something amazing happened last night. The Mets fell behind by four runs in the seventh inning, and instead of withering like a tulip the moment autumn arrives, they battled back and won the game! Jackson Holliday appeared to put the game away with his solo shot off of the newest Mets scrap-heap pickup Alejandro Carrillo, but Baltimore’s 6-2 lead would only last a few minutes. Brandon Nimmo opened the eighth inning with a single and was driven in by Francisco Lindor’s two-run bomb to center field. That worked so well that Juan Soto and Pete Alonso decided to replicate the sequence, and all of a sudden we were tied 6-6 with just two innings to play. Shout out to Bryan Baker. He has been a solid reliever for the Orioles this season, but he looked like he was throwing batting practice on Tuesday night.
THIS GAME IS TIED! 🐻❄️ pic.twitter.com/ICkSyuZf0j
— New York Mets (@Mets) July 9, 2025
The game ended up going into extra innings, and Soto quickly gave New York the lead with a leadoff base hit to get the ghost runner Lindor home from second. Alonso followed with a single of his own, and the Mets had a great chance to add a second run, but Luis Torrens struck out looking with the bases loaded after a Travis Jankowski bunt and an intentional walk to Jeff McNeil. At one point during the Torrens at-bat, it looked like the Mets would score on a passed ball by backup catcher Alex Jackson, but the ball bounced off the umpire and stayed within Jackson’s reach.
Fortunately, that break for Baltimore would not end up ruining the Mets’ evening, and neither would Carlos Mendoza’s questionable managing of the bullpen. Although a well-rested Edwin Diaz only threw 10 pitches in the ninth inning, Mendoza declined to bring him out for the 10th, even though Jordan Westburg, Gunnar Henderson, and Ryan O’Hearn were due up. Instead, it was up to Huascar Brazoban to pitch to the trio that gave Baltimore the lead in the sixth inning with consecutive base hits following Clay Holmes hitting Holliday on the foot with an 0-2 pitch. Brazoban has not been consistent lately, but he was at his best when it counted in this one and set down the Orioles in order to end the game.
The top four batters in the Mets’ order did almost all of the damage in this one, but we saw encouraging signs at the bottom when Ronnie Mauricio homered in the sixth to get New York on the board and help put an end to what was becoming a dominant outing for Brandon Young. Brett Baty followed with a double and would score to give the Mets the lead on Nimmo’s double.
The Mets are back at it tonight in Baltimore with David Peterson on the mound against Tomoyuki Sugano. Sugano has been getting shelled lately with five home runs and 13 runs allowed in his last two starts. Peterson was having a rough time at the end of June, but he appeared to right the ship with just one earned run allowed in six and two thirds innings vs. Milwaukee last week.
That great Mets comeback capped off an awesome day in sports for me. After weeks of rumors, Penn State officially secured the commitment of the top NHL Draft prospect for 2026, Gavin McKenna.
The kind of player who doesn't follow history, he makes it.#WeAre #HockeyValley pic.twitter.com/99AhzScRNr
— Penn State Men’s Hockey (@PennStateMHKY) July 9, 2025
You usually don’t see elite Canadian prospects play college hockey before heading to the NHL, but the NIL money is changing all that. Penn State’s rabid fan base, financial backing, and great hockey facilities combined to convince McKenna to become a Nittany Lion for a year. Expectations for this program were already high since it was coming off of its first Frozen Four appearance, but with McKenna on board, the bar has been raised. I will be disappointed if Penn State doesn’t win the national championship.
The Mets pulled off a fourth straight win on Saturday afternoon, defeating the Yankees 12-6 to move 14 games over .500 and remain a half game back from Philadelphia in the National League East. The Mets jumped all over Carlos Rodon in the first inning with Starling Marte leading off with a double and Brandon Nimmo hitting his second grand slam of the week following walks by Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso.
Frankie Montas helped the Mets maintain their advantage through the first five innings by pounding the strike zone and allowing a solo home run to Jazz Chisholm and another to Austin Wells. I’m fine with allowing solo shots when your offense spots you a four-run lead, and Montas made sure to make the Yankees earn their runs with zero walks on the day. The Yankees broke through with a crooked number in the sixth on Cody Bellinger’s two-run double, but by then the Mets had expanded their total to seven runs on Pete Alonso’s first home run of the day, an opposite-field smash that scored Francisco Lindor.
That ball was CRUSHED 😤 pic.twitter.com/XdBhMZnGRE
— New York Mets (@Mets) July 5, 2025
Alonso hit a three-run bomb in the seventh to put the game out of reach, but that didn’t stop Carlos Mendoz from using both Ryne Stanek and Edwin Diaz in a six-run game. For both relievers, it was their third appearance in four games, which made them unavailable for Sunday’s series finale. That’s a pretty big issue to begin with, but it’s even a bigger deal when your rotation has been decimated by injuries and you’re counting on guys like Chris Devenski, Zach Pop, and Brandon Waddell to keep the Yankees off the scoreboard.
Devenski pitched surprisingly well to open the game on Sunday, but Pop and Waddell combined to give up five runs, with the last two coming on a two-run blast by Aaron Judge in the fifth inning. The Mets battled back with four straight singles in the bottom of the frame that yielded two runs, but they could have scored more if Starling Marte’s drive to deep center field had resulted in a double. Jeff McNeil was trying to tag up from second base on the play, so he only advanced to third even though the ball got all the way to the wall. That meant that Hayden Senger had to stop at second from first and Marte had to stop at first. When Lindor came up next with a single up the middle, it scored McNeil and Senger when it should have scored Senger and Marte.
The Mets rallied again in the sixth with three straight singles following Brandon Nimmo getting hit by a pitch, but their output was limited by Senger hitting into a double play with the bases loaded and nobody out. You have to wonder what Carlos Mendoza was thinking in that spot letting Luis Torrens stay on the bench. Senger had just singled the inning before, but Torrens is the more reliable bat, and he ended up pinch-hitting in the ninth inning anyway.
Un-Belli-evable.
Cody with a huge catch and dart to first 🔥 pic.twitter.com/QFI85jvJjM
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 6, 2025
After the Yankees added a run in the seventh on a Judge sac fly, the Mets looked to threaten again when Lindor led off with a hit-by-pitch. Juan Soto followed with a line drive to left field that appeared to be a base hit, but Cody Bellinger made an incredible shoestring catch and threw to first to double off Lindor. If only the All-Star shortstop had slid into first, the Mets might have been able to continue the inning after Alonso’s walk and Nimmo’s ground out.
Even though the Mets had a bullpen game on Sunday against the Yankees’ ace Max Fried, it will felt like the Mets let the game get way because of all those missed opportunities between the fifth and seventh inning. The “you can’t win them all crowd” is just happy that the Mets won two of three while the Yankees fans were saved from total humiliation. I don’t think most Mets fans realize how close we were to crippling morale in the Bronx.
Now that the Subway Series is through, it’s time to focus on the National League East. The Mets are just one game back of Philadelphia and finish the first half of the season with a road trip to last-place Baltimore and middling Kansas City. Meanwhile, the Phillies have a tough west coast swing in San Francisco (where they lost on Monday) and San Diego. Time to take back first place!
Happy 4th of July! Today is the day that we celebrate our independence in the United States of America with hot dogs, fireworks, and baseball. The baseball part went especially well with my Mets defeating the Yankees in a home run slugfest. 10 of the game’s 11 runs were scored on dingers, and the game’s deciding blast came off the bat of Jeff McNeil in the bottom of the seventh. He drove in two runs with one big swing to turn the Mets’ 5-4 deficit into a 6-5 lead.
SECOND DECK.@JeffMcNeil805 for the lead! pic.twitter.com/QE0rFuSOkw
— New York Mets (@Mets) July 4, 2025
McNeil also helped the Mets preserve the lead with his awesome defensive play in the top of the ninth that turned DJ LeMahieu’s infield blooper into a big out and prevented Aaron Judge from getting another at-bat. Judge had already homered in the first inning, and the Yankees would end up with three long balls off of Mets starter Justin Hagenman, but Huascar Brazoban and Reed Garrett got some redemption by keeping the Bombers off the scoreboard for the final three innings.
The Mets needed Brazoban and Garrett badly today since Edwin Diaz and Ryne Stanek had both pitched in consecutive games, making them ineligible for the July 4 contest due to the Mets’ baby rules that turn Carlos Mendoza into a Little League manager. Fortunately, the boys came through even though they have been pitching pretty poorly lately.
It’s also time to put some respect on Jeff McNeil’s name for what he is doing this season. He’s looked more like his vintage self and he’s making great plays in center field as well as at second base. McNeil’s batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage are all higher than Francisco Lindor’s in 2025.
OH, JEFF! pic.twitter.com/sbVDTrkdM3
— New York Mets (@Mets) July 4, 2025
With the Mets handling baseball and fireworks, it was up to Joey Chestnut to take care of 4th of July hot dogs, and he delivered with 70 and a half hot dogs and buns to reclaim his Mustard Belt. It was great to see Chestnut return to Coney Island for the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest after skipping the event last year due to a sponsorship dispute.
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Law Offices of Brandon S. Chabner
Brandon’s Posts
ChabDog’s Turkey Day Potpourri —
– For the first course — it’s Bear-meat jerky … really leaves a bad taste in your mouth when served Chicago style
I guess if you’re the Bears, TIME REALLY FLIES WHEN YOU’RE NOT HAVING FUN. Melodrama’s so much fun, in black and white for everyone to see. Coach E’s time management flaws make Coach Tomlin look like a flippin genius. Nero may have watched Rome burn, but at least he didn’t watch a timeout burn a hole in his pocket, like this.
— For dinner — a delicious Dallas Turducken
Jr. jockstrap G-men leave Big D once again quite embarrassed, as Overshown shows them up by PICing the Locke.
— For dessert — It’s Tua Creampuffs sandwiched around the sheen of sherbert colored Aqua Marine.
Same old story … it gets a little uncomfy and the Miami pound machine goes into auto-snooze mode… here with a juicy second down at the environs of the Green Bay 1 … McDaniels chooses to go cute, rather than trying to Ram it home on the ground, and disaster ensues. This team just isn’t tough enough to win against the foot-brawlers like the powers of the NFC Norris, among others.
On Thanksgiving Week MNF, the Ravens were vultures, not turkeys….
Ravens wear down the Chargers with a second half push, including some impressive fourth down fist pumping; going for it from inside his own 20 was one of the best decisions big brother ever made, and little bro should definitely go to school on that… once he has the running backs to make it happen. If the Ravens play mistake free football, with a minimum of penalties and zero turnovers, they can beat the vast number of teams in this league, anytime and anywhere.
Well Read’s Posts
NFL Week Two Pick Results
It was a massacre of the favorites! 11 dogs came home. How the heck did the Raiders do that? Why do the Cowboys suck again? How on earth did the Vikings beat the 49ers? The Rams? WTF! Fitting that the Falcons upset Phiily last night.
Leading the group Abe and Aaron are tied at 8-7-1. In second with 6 wins was Chabdog and Well Read, and poor Dorothy D had 4.
Yuk
Well Read Week 2 Picks
Abe’s Posts
NASCAR Preview: South Point 400
Hello, Chabdog racing fans, and welcome to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway and the first race of the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs!
Source: Las Vegas Motor Speedway Track Map – Bing images
Qualifying is done for today’s race, and I’ve posted the Top 10 drivers as shown below:
Source: Las Vegas Motor Speedway Race Results, Lineup | Official Site Of NASCAR
Below are our current playoff standings (Round of 8). Please note that the Round of 8 is made up of 3 races: Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Homestead-Miami Speedway, and Martinsville Speedway. Today, we expect all the playoff drivers to push hard to either win this race or gain as many points as possible by staying at the very front of the pack. Finally, a win at any of these 3 races automatically clinches that driver for the Championship 4 race at the Phoenix Raceway.
Source: 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs | Official Site Of NASCAR
Every week the Chabdog Sports Team makes on-air picks on the show for the upcoming NASCAR race and earns points based on the following criteria:
: Anyone who picks the winning driver gets 3 points.
: Anyone who picks the 2nd place driver gets 2 points.
: Anyone who picks the 3rd place driver gets 1 point.
Lastly, if no one picks a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place driver then 1 point is awarded to the picked driver that is closest to the podium. Therefore, in our fantasy game, someone from the team always walks away with a point.
For those who are unavailable to make a pick, or do not make a pick prior to the start of the race, then that person is given the “chalk pick”. The “chalk pick” is the poll position driver for that week’s race. This week’s “chalk pick” is Christopher Bell.
Last week’s race results:
Source: Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course Race Results, Lineup | Official Site Of NASCAR
My pick: William Byron
Lastly, sound off who you think our podium winner is for today’s race in the comments below!
With that, let’s get ready to NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASCAR!
| | @darthvaber99
Week 6: Abe’s Shitty NFL Picks (AST)
Hey everyone and welcome to another episode of me making shitty picks based on flawed science, numbies based solely on Taylor Swift’s game attendance, and drunken logic since my current record is:
Week 1: 6 Week 2: 8 Week 3: 6 Week 4: 8 Week 5: 6
Also, need to honorably mention that fading me statistically gives you a way better chance of making any money from my NFL picks, hence, Abe’s Shitty NFL Picks. So let’s try this again with the goal of trying to pick more right games than wrong ones in Week 6!
KC SWIFTS (CHIEFS) -10.5: Made my Thursday Night Football Pick via X.com before the game. See the reply in the tweet below:
https://t.co/OCBzsaq9vi@chabdogsports
— Well Read Producer ChabDog.com (@NewportBest_) October 12, 2023
es here
RAVENS -4: Again we find ourselves in London, England for another great match on the pitch. I need you to know that I am 1-1 in predicting London games with last week’s Jags win over the Bills sucking for a lot of folks mate. However, this week the Jags are no longer in town as we see team Ravens-claw and the Titans-puffs go at it in a good old-fashioned quidditch match instead. Two teams that are kicked in the nutz by jet lag and partying at the pubs all night. Offensively and defensively the Ravewns have the higher ground and why they are favored in this game. However, I am concerned about their loss to the Steelers last week and am willing to call it a fluke considering they easily penetrated through the Browns’ defense the week prior. The Titans, are not the Browns, so I am expecting the Ravens to bounce back and kill the Titans by more than 4 points.
COMMIES (COMMANDERS) +2.5: Going with the underdog Commanders in this game simply because they have a better offense and have played against much better teams than the Falcons. Sure, they lost to the Eagles and the Bills, but keep in mind they sent that more recent Eagles game into OT 34-31. However, they’ve also lost to the Bears (a garbage team) and the Bills by 20 or more points. However, the Falcons are getting their Wins by beating Houston, Greenbay, and the Panthers. Three teams that are not that amazing. So taking all things into consideration, offense, defense, and past games, I expect this game to be close or flat-out beat the Falcons at home.
VIKINGS -2.5: Yes, we all know the Bears actually did something good and beat the Commanders by 20 points. Yes, we also know the Bears are garrrrrrrrrrbaggggggge and have been a complete catastrophe before that. I can also say that the Vikings have not been amazing this year, but do come into this game with better offense and defense. Therefore, I find myself in a similar situation as I did with the Panthers in Week 4 where I also picked the Vikings and won using the exact same philosophy. Why change something that works, I’m all in with the Vikings.
BENGALS -2.5: The Seahawks are coming off a bye-week and are probably feeling pretty energized after winning their last three games. However, Joe Burrow is feeling much better from his injured calf and showed a little dominance against the Cardinals. Offensively, the Bengals have all the right stuff to beat out the Seahawks at home with a mobile Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase connecting being major factors in making this pick.
49ERS -7: The Browns have really been hit-and-miss this season, and are coming off a bye-week. However, let us keep in mind that Deshaun Watson (QB) will not be playing in this game, and this simply sounds like a recipe for disaster for Cleveland. The 49ERS are RED HOT, and this game is simply SCREAMING 49ERS.
TEXANS +1.5: Derek Carr killed the Patriots last week so it may look easy to go with him this week as well. However, we all need to accept here that the Houston Texans are not the Patriots, they’re much better than them. HAHAHAHA…gawd has that team fallen into the abysmial pit since Tom Brady left. So need to factor that Houston is at home and has greater offensive numbies than the Saints. Maybe why this game’s spread is so small and validates my logic here.
JAGUARS -4: The Colts once again find themselves with Gardner Minshew who is seeking revenge on his former team. However, he’s coming up against a team that just beat the Buffalo Bills and who also has better offensive and defensive numbies than the Colts. Uphill battle for the Colts going into this one in Jacksonville.
DOLPHINS -13.5: Incredible to see such a huge spread, but then again it’s the Miami Dolphins against the absolute worst team in the league and in Miami chico. Been a while since Miami could command such a spread. The only thing I hate about this game is that RB De’von Achane is out on the IR till about Week 11. Now, had this been another team, I might have really considered a hard pass on this 13.5-point spread, but c’mon it’s Carolina. A Miami field day with this team is still in the realm of possibilities with the ability for the Panthers to lose by more than 20 points still on the table.
LIONS -3: The 4-1 Detroit Lions have done well this season and come into this Tampa game with WR Mike Evans with a high probability of not playing or being limited in this one for the Bucs. A huge factor to consider in this game. Sorry but the BUC stops here….LIONS.
RAIDERS -3: Wow, do the Patriots suck. Wow, do the Raiders suck. Raiders hopefully get Devante Adams (WR) in this one considering he’s still questionable. Not much to boast here aside from the Raiders being at home, and the Raiders finally seeing a W in Week 5, unlike the Patriots who haven’t seen one since September 24 against a Zach Wilson New York Jets team. Again, not much going on here except for two really bad teams playing near a Tacos El Gordo (the best part of this whole matchup).
RAMS -7: The Cardinals have lost their last two games by 14 or more points as their defense continues to crumble. The Rams on the other hand have the clear offensive advantage in this game at home, and should be able to penetrate the Cardinals’ defense by more than 7 points with Stafford (QB), Williams (RB) and Nacua (WR).
EAGLES -7: The undefeated Eagles take on the 2-3 New York Jets with no advantage here aside from being at home among many Eagles fans. However, the Jets have done well to keep it close against KC and beat the Buffalo Bills. However, the Birds were able to beat the Rams last week in LA by 9 points so 7 doesn’t seem impossible in New Jersey. Especially since Zach Wilson already has 5 interceptions this season and it would only take one more to get an easy extra 7 points on the board.
BILLS -14: The Giants have been a flaming dumpster fire all season and the Bills have been killing every team so far except for the Jags last week. Are the Bills coming here to feel good, try to crush this team, and show dominance once again??? I think so after that devastating loss against the Jags. Again, let’s not forget the Bills crushed the Dolphins by 28 points the week before and we all know the Giants are not the Miami Dolphins.
Chargers +2.5: The Chargers are coming off a bye-week in LA to play a Cowboys team that may be missing their RB Tony Pollard. No bueno for the Cowboys as that may impact their offense if he’s limited or not playing. The great news here, is that the Chargers are underdogs so anything close or a W is a cash out for us. Again, it’s a bye-week, they are at home, and Dallas may be out an RB making this an easy underdog pick.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Every week I seem to find a theme with my picks. Some weeks I lay heavily into the favorites. This week it seems I took all the big spreads and told Vegas to cash me out on every single one of them. To be clear, I don’t tell myself I am going to pick them all, but as I look at every game under the shitty microscope I tend to find enough fault in the other teams to justify taking the bigger point spreads. Lastly, check out my picks in greater detail on the show, along with our other co-host for an hour of fun before kickoff every Sunday this season. Let me know in the comments what you think about Week 6 here, or on whatever social media platform this is posted @
| | @darthvaber99
Dorothy’s Posts
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Aaron’s Posts
Iowa and Maryland make pushes to get on the NCAA Tournament bubble
The Big Ten never rests. Just when you think you can write a team like Maryland off because it can’t put the ball in the hoop, the Terps go on the road and beat Illinois for their first quality win of the season. That might be the best road win that any Big Ten team gets this season based on how Purdue and Wisconsin are playing at home. Maryland has had to rely on its defense because of how putrid its offense has been, but on Sunday in Champaign, Jahmir Young and Julian Reese played in tandem and looked like a dynamic duo as they set up each other for good looks at the hoop. Young missed all four of his three-point shots, but he finished 11-for-24 with 28 points and eight assists because of how great he was a driving to the bucket and using his teammates as screens. When the game came down to the wire, Reese bullied the Illini in the paint and picked up enough points to hold off Marcus Domask and company while forcing Coleman Hawkins to foul out. Maryland has a long way to go because of how bare its resume is, but now Kevin Willard’s team has a signature win and a formula to build around. Young and Reese scoring in the paint plus hounding defense that leads to transition points.
Geronimo!! Seals the win for the Terps!! 🙌 @TerrapinHoops pic.twitter.com/iyiuuDOFYg
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) January 14, 2024
By the way, Domask was a dawg in this one with some tough shots down the stretch to keep Illinois in the game while the rest of his team was shooting 12-for-45 (26 percent). Justin Harmon has been a key player for Illinois with Terrence Shannon Jr. suspended, but he was a big let down in this one, going 0-for-7 from the field. It will be interesting to see if the Terps can keep the good times rolling at Northwestern on Wednesday while Illinois looks to rebound on Thursday at Michigan, where the Wolverines finally broke their losing streak.
Wisconsin is the only undefeated basketball team in the Big Ten
The other day I wondered if Wisconsin could build on its two impressive home wins that it opened the January portion of Big Ten play with. If the Badgers could beat Ohio State on the road, it would prove they have what it takes to compete for the Big Ten title. Well, what do you know? Greg Gard’s team came through for me and made me look like I know ball. I would later find out on Thursday night that I don’t really know ball, but I’ll take my wins where I can get them. Wisconsin and Ohio State went back and forth throughout the evening, but the Badgers pulled ahead at the end thanks to the unlikely heroics of Max Klesmit! He erupted for 18 points, all in the second half, and he helped Wisconsin close the game on a 19-4 run.
Wisconsin had gone seven minutes without a FG… all of a sudden Max Klesmit goes three, driving layup, three to put @BadgerMBB up six! pic.twitter.com/zcUdLfjrUf
— Aaron Yorke (@AaronPYorke) January 11, 2024
This is what happens when you have a team as deep and talented as Wisconsin’s. Your top players don’t need to be at their best all the time if you’re going to win. Just look at Maryland. If Jahmir Young doesn’t score 30 points every night, the Terps are going to lose (unless Donta Scott goes nuts like he did to kill my Michigan spread bet). With the Badgers, they don’t need Chucky Hepburn or Tyler Wahl to carry the load all the time. It’s okay that Steven Crowl is banged up with a knee contusion. Someone like Klesmit or Connor Essegian can take over for a while and lift the team to victory. By the way, shout out to Jamison Battle of Ohio State, who continues to be the hottest shooter in the conference. He went 4-for-5 from deep for 18 points in a losing effort.
Penn State is back to frustrating me
If Penn State is not overcoming double-digit second half deficits in the Big Ten, it is giving up double-digit second half leads. That is what it seems like these days. Both of our conference wins featured big comebacks, while the Maryland loss was painful because of how many chances Penn State had to put the Terps away. Now we get to the Northwestern loss. It was a game that Penn State needed to have if I was going to entertain the notion of a winning conference campaign. With Purdue coming up, the Lions are likely to be below .500 the rest of the way because they blew a 10-point lead in the second half. The Wildcats went on a 19-2 run that was mostly due to two themes.
Here comes @NUMensBball. 😤 pic.twitter.com/cx0PbSGc6i
— Big Ten Men's Basketball (@B1GMBBall) January 11, 2024
First, Penn State could not hit a three-point shot all night. The team shot 3-for-17 from beyond the arc with two of the makes coming from D’Marco Dunn, who still does not play enough. He played 23 minutes, while Zach Hicks went 0-for-6 from deep in his 25 minutes. Those guys don’t play the same position, but Penn State should just go small since its defense stinks anyway. That brings us to the second reason for Northwestern’s run. Penn State cannot get a stop without a turnover. The Lions did a good job forcing 18 of them in this game, but they couldn’t stop the Wildcats from hitting 61 percent of their field goals. Boo Buie got wherever he wanted on the court, and when he was cut off, he found Ty Berry for a three-point shot or Brooks Barnhizer for a layup. The one good thing Penn State did was rebound the ball with 21 on defense compared to just two on offense for Northwestern. But it didn’t matter much when so many Northwestern shots were going in the bucket.
Purdue’s top competition and the Big Ten’s most electric player
The Big Ten is a grind and almost every team will have its ups and downs. Just look and what happened in the Big Ten over the weekend. Purdue got a big win over Illinois, one of its top competitors for the conference title. Based on how the Boilers responded to that loss at Northwestern in January, I thought it was fair to wonder if Matt Painter’s team would lose another game this season. That was stupid. Purdue got hammered by Nebraska on Tuesday, and just a couple of days earlier, the Huskers were humbled by Wisconsin. I should really start to take into account that even the best teams are vulnerable on the road and even the worst teams (not Nebraska, who is looking like an NCAA Tournament team; I’m talking about someone else…) can topple giants at home. The same was apparent in the other Tuesday game with Indiana fresh off a big win over Ohio State in Bloomington and Rutgers reeling from getting crushed by Iowa. So what happened? With the game in Piscataway, Rutgers easily handled Indiana. Here is what else we learned about the Big Ten since last Friday, besides the fact that home court is important.
Austin Williams will be an important factor for Rutgers going forward
Offense is a major issue for Rutgers. Steve Pikiell has relied on stifling defense to win games since arriving in New Jersey seven years ago, but this season getting stops is especially important because the Scarlet Knights are one of the worst shooting teams in the country. Even in the win over Indiana on Tuesday night, Rutgers only shot 32 percent from the field and 23 percent from three-point range. You can play elite defense and still lose by a dozen if you shoot the ball like that. It turned out that the Hoosiers were even more incompetent with 18 turnovers and an unbelievable performance from the free throw line that saw them go 4-for-15. That is so bad that a random fan from the stands could have easily done better.
Anyway, Williams is an experienced guard who played two seasons at Marist and two at Hartford before this year. He has played sparingly for Rutgers, but over the last two games, he has been featured more and has given the team a lift by shooting 11-for-17 with 24 points. He’s not a superstar by any means, but someone needs to score consistently for the Knights, and fans have to be sick of seeing Noah Fernandes disappear in every other game while Derek Simpson chucks up shots that go “clank.”
Wisconsin looks like Purdue’s top competitor with Connor Essegian back in the fold
I might as well talk about Wisconsin now since I just talked about how the Big Ten makes teams look so different depending on whether they are playing at home and on the road. Well, the Badgers have won four straight with all those coming in the Kohl Center. Plus, the last time they played on the road, they were spanked by Arizona 98-73 on December 9. Wisconsin also was crushed at Providence back in November. However, Wisconsin did win its one Big Ten road game at Michigan State, so maybe there is hope that this team can give Purdue a run for its money. It helps that the Badgers are 3-0 in the league after stomping Nebraska over the weekend.
A confident and healthy Connor Essegian is a dangerous man
pic.twitter.com/wAmLyHIJhF— Mark Titus Show (@MarkTitusShow) January 6, 2024
Another boost that Wisconsin gets is Connor Essegian, who was a big weapon last season when he scored 11.7 points per game as a freshman. This season, Essegian has barely played because of a back injury, but during the win over Nebraska, he finally looked like his old self with 12 points off the bench in just 12 minutes. The Badgers were doing fine with Essegian thanks to their usual efficient offense and stingy defense that doesn’t give away offensive rebounds. Plus, head coach Greg Gard brought back a ton of talent from a team that just missed the NCAA Tournament in 2023. With Essegian healthy again, Wisconsin can compete for the Big Ten Championship. Now please don’t lose to Ohio State tonight and make me look like an idiot.
Minnesota might be for real and Penn State definitely stinks
I really thought that Michigan would take advantage of its three-game stretch against Minnesota, Penn State, and Maryland. It had a chance to start 2024 with three straight wins and build some momentum after a disappointing non-conference slate that saw it lose to Long Beach State and McNeese State, as well as four major conference teams. Instead, the Wolverines fell at home to a Minnesota team that has zero quality wins outside of Big Ten play. However, the Gophers clearly have talent and the win in Ann Arbor makes them a dark horse NCAA Tournament contender.
Minnesota 73, Minnesota 71
I hadn’t seen much of Minnesota before Thursday night because of their very low-profile schedule, and because of that schedule, it has a lot of work to do in Big Ten play to get the NCAA Tournament selection committee’s attention. Still, this win over Michigan wasn’t a fluke, and it was impressive how the Gophers limited Dug McDaniel and got balanced scoring to make up for superstar forward Dawson Garcia shooting 5-for-17 from the field. Mike Mitchell Jr. and Elijah Hawkins combined to shoot 8-for-14 from beyond the arc, and the defense was boosted by Pharrel Payne coming off the bench and protecting the rim with four blocked shots.
Michigan was SO CLOSE to tying the game, but the Gophers escape with a win in Ann Arbor. pic.twitter.com/2WGUaS04vL
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) January 5, 2024
Defense hasn’t been a strong point for the Gophers this season, but in Ann Arbor they held McDaniel to nine points on 3-for-11 shooting. McDaniel missed a runner at the buzzer that could have sent the game into overtime, and Michigan probably would have pulled the game out if he had his typical game. Instead, I was impressed with Minnesota’s point guard. Hawkins transferred from Howard, but he looks like he has played in the Big Ten for years. He knows when to pass and when to call his own number, and that’s why he’s averaging an incredible 7.7 assists per game. Hawkins is a diamond in the rough and I give Gophers head coach Ben Johnson a lot of credit for discovering him.
Big Ten hoops are back and Illinois does not miss Terrence Shannon Jr. yet
I have loved following Big Ten Basketball ever since I was a freshman at Penn State and I realized that while my Nittany Lions were incompetent, there were some other fun teams in the conference. In later years, Penn State would be one of those fun teams, and that was very cool for a bit. In 2024, it looks like that will not be the case, but there is still plenty of excitement in the Big Ten. I guess I’ll try to turn it into content.
There have been five games played since conference play started back up on January 2. Here’s what happened.
Purdue 67, Maryland 53
The Terps tried to fool us with a five-game winning streak in December which included an overtime victory over my Nittany Lions that we practically gave away with our pathetic lack of rebounding as well as an actual quality road win over UCLA. However, it turns out that the Terps still can’t shoot and they still stink. Maybe that is a little harsh since Maryland was playing the best team in the country, but I expected a little more fight from Kevin Willard’s team. Instead, Purdue jumped out to a 16-4 lead and stayed on top throughout the game, while Maryland got very little from anyone not named Jahmir Young. The super senior scored a ridiculous 26 of Maryland’s 53 points, and he shot 12-for-23 while the rest of the team was just 9-for-40. No wonder Young had zero assists on the night. He had almost no help, including a goose egg from Julian Reese, who averages 13.3 points per game! And Purdue is a team you need help against.
Ball movement on 💯. All night. pic.twitter.com/tobVaECayL
— Purdue Men's Basketball (@BoilerBall) January 3, 2024
The Boilers were not even that good on offense, although they did shoot 9-for-20 from beyond the arc. Zach Edey had his typical game with 23 points and 12 rebounds on 8-for-13 shooting, while Braden Smith pitched in with 14 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists. It was an easy win for Purdue, who can now focus on the Friday night showdown with Illinois coming up.
Wisconsin 83, Iowa 72
We should have known that Wisconsin would cover the five-point spread when the team held a moment of silence for Herb Kohl before the game. He was the owner of the Milwaukee Bucks and a U.S. senator, but more importantly in this case, he was the man who the Kohl Center was named after. It was only fitting that Wisconsin’s home-court advantage would be on full display the week after Kohl passed away. The game was tied 32-32 at halftime, but the Badgers pulled away in the final 20 minutes thanks to the 26 free throws they attempted in the second half. Iowa got called for a ton of fouls, and that resulted in its best player Ben Krikke being limited to 20 minutes while Wisconsin’s Tyler Wahl scored 11 of his team-high 19 points from the charity stripe.
WHAT A SEQUENCE❗@BadgerMBB just turned defense into highlight baskets on back-to-back possessions. 👀
📺: Big Ten Network pic.twitter.com/HE8MmkGXR7
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) January 3, 2024
Tony Perkins (25 points) and freshman sensation Owen Freeman (14 points, 13 rebounds, 3 blocks) stood out for Iowa, but it was not enough to keep up with Wisconsin’s second half surge. The Badgers are now 2-0 in Big Ten play, while the Hawkeyes fell to 0-3 and they are in desperate need of a win at home against Rutgers on Saturday.