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Weekend winners
> The Knicks. Wow, a 2-0 start to its first Finals appearance this century — and both wins on the road — mean the upstart New York basketball bunch is on the cusp of landing its first title since the early 1970s. Tonight in Madison Square Garden is gonna be rockin’ for Game 3. And the crowd is gonna be well-strapped financially. According to Vivid Seats as of Monday morning, the cheapest ticket for tonight’s Game 3 was $6,145. The most expensive was $180,188 (or roughly what Auburn paid Cam Newton for the magical 2010 carpet ride — allegedly).
> Brewers starter Jacob Misiorowski. Look, Shohei has been historically great through his first 10 starts this season, but The Miz is doing your Nolan Ryan, young Kerry Wood, young Roger Clemens (combined) things right now. The Miz delivered a record-setting 103.7 mph fastball and went all classic rock FM radio — all the hits on MIZ 103.7 — on the Rockies. He threw 45 — yep, Spy, forty-flipping-five — pitches at 101 or faster.
> J.T. Poston. The PGA journeyman grabbed the biggest win of his career with a playoff victory at The Memorial. The tournament was good and the course was pretty tough.
> Georgia baseball. Sure there were will be eight teams advancing to Omaha, but man the mighty bats of these Bulldogs are something to see. And UGA catcher Daniel Jackson may be having the best single season in SEC baseball history, and that’s really, Really, REALLY saying something.
> Chas. Here’s hoping the 5-at-10 regular enjoys a slower pace this summer. But with Mark Pope getting a UK commitment from the No. 6 player in the high school class of 2027 and Donald Trump making the most basic of presidential gaffes, there are a lot of reasons to smile this morning. Trump walked off an interview with “Meet the Press,” and simply put, above all things — policies or political persuasion be danged — POTUS should always act presidential. And Trump’s antics during this interview were far more childish than anything else. And his sycophants will absolutely love it, of course.
Weekend losers
> The umps that botched this “out of the baseline” call that even rec ball umps would not have missed. Can we get the ABS for other calls too?
> Fans trying to get to tonight’s Finals Game 3. Look, it was always going to be a crazy scene because of the Knicks’ absence from contention and the first Finals game at MSG in 27 years. But dang, the news that President Trump is coming to Game 3 makes this feel like an unmitigated disaster. And yes, whether it’s R, D, I or any other letter, POTUS should have more to do than attend sporting events. And that’s not even referencing the money spent to protect the president or the absolute nightmare it presents for fans.
> Recruiting rankings. Whether it’s one of LSU’s top targets — who now is quite flirty with Nebraska — or the DGG saga, which landed in Knoxville this weekend, there simply is no stopping the college football recruiting carousel. Wanna sneaky needed change in the NIL era that would make some sense? Have a Father’s Day signing day before a player’s senior year to prevent the 11th-hour bidding wars. The benefit for the player clearly would be getting that NIL check much, much earlier.
> Man, the protests about the ups and downs of our history are everywhere. And almost all of them have merit, but shouldn’t they have a proper place too? And rallying to refuse to celebrate America’s 250th birthday next month because of slavery seems like the opposite of the proper place.
> Chicago Bears fans. Man, the Bears moving to Indiana for a new stadium feels wrong on every level, right?
Best in the game
There is a slew of great MLB players in the game right now.
But the best team in the game does not have many names among them.
Sure, Ronald Acuña Jr. is supremely talented. But he’s hitting all of .257 and has a WAR of 1.1. He’s been banged up some and mediocre most of the team’s league-best 45-21 start.
Yes, Spy, the Braves have a 9.5-game lead in the East on June 8 with Acuña being meh, Austin Riley being bad and Drake Baldwin — who had been arguably the team’s best player from the jump — out for the last couple of weeks.
My question coming off the heels of a sweep of the Pirates starts with: How?
Look, the season is long and you gotta trust it, so expect the slow-starting Braves to be better and revert to their medians.
But in that trust of the long season, there come certain incalculable character traits.
> This team wins when it does not play well. That’s a regular-season superpower. (Not as much in the playoffs per se, but during the six-month slog it is monstrous.)
Look at Sunday, when the team got all of three hits and Michael Harris’ pinch-hit, three-run double carried the Braves to a 3-2 W.
> This team trusts its leadership, within the dugout and atop the coaching staff, especially when it comes to a master class in bullpen management.
The immigration law firm of Lee, Suarez, Kinley and Iglesias has been tremendous with ERAs of 1.17, 0.63, 3.18 and 0.87.
Also, was letting Marcel Ozuna walk during the offseason proven to be a strong candidate for addition by subtraction?
> This team is deep and flexible.
We mentioned this earlier this season but man, Alex Anthopoulos did way more behind the scenes than I realized to construct a contender.
Mauricio Dubón has been great. Mike Yastrzemski has been solid. Dom Smith has been fantabulous. Jorge Mateo too.
No one thought any of those four dudes would be impactful. At times, each has been critical.
Collectively, it means the Braves have the second-best batting average (.256), the second-most homers (90) and the most RBIs despite sluggish starts from a couple of its best players.
The pitching staff is second in ERA (3.19), fourth in saves (21) and third in quality starts (29) despite being injury-riddled coming out of spring and wondering when Spencer Strider will be back to form.
Thoughts?
This and that
> Rules people. Here’s Paschall with more from the big UT recruiting weekend, which landed the Vols’ 11th commitment even if there was no new or hard news about prized Baylor School recruit David Gabriel Georges. Here’s a smidge more on DGG’s weekend in the 865.
> Rest easy Stacey King, the former Oklahoma All-American and NBA champ with MJ’s Bulls. King died over the weekend. He was 59.
> UT baseball has had a rocky few weeks. The program’s first 0-2 NCAA tournament showing. A mass defection to the portal. But good news came over the weekend for Josh Elander, who got arguably the portal’s top prize in Mercer two-way star Braydon Kersey.
> Baylor School alum Harris English finished T17 at The Memorial at 3 under. It was worth $319K.
> The Athletic has an early look at some of the new changes to EA College Football ’27. They had me at hello.
Today’s questions
Weekend winners and losers, go.
Multiple choice Monday — a lot like Otis Day and the Knights doing “Shama Lama Ding Dong” at the Dexter Lake Club — goes a little something like this, so hit it.
Which non-monetary modern sports occurrence would have been considered the biggest “Sasquatch-style” myth 50 years ago?
> A starting pitcher like The Miz hitting 103.7 (and throwing a 93-mph CHANGE-UP for Pete Rose’s sake);
> A 7-foot-5 point guard like Wemby;
> PGA players hitting 200-plus-yard 8-irons regularly;
> Other (and please specify).
As for today, June 8, let’s review.
On this day in 1789, James Madison introduced the Bill of Rights to the House of Representatives.
“Ghostbusters” was released on this day in 1984.
In 1955, pitcher Tommy LaSorda was optioned to the minors by the Brooklyn Dodgers to make room for some rookie left-hander. That rookie was named Sandy Koufax.
The first MLB draft was on this day in 1965 and the Royals took Rick Monday.
Does Monday make the Rushmore of sports folks whose last name is a proper noun in other ways?