WATCH: Bills' Josh Allen watches MVP messages from Children's Hospital
The Bills and western New York watched their quarterback, Josh Allen, lift the 2024 NFL MVP Award.
Specifically, some kids from Oishei Children's Hospital were tuning in because of the well wishes they sent Allen after he won the award.
The video was touching for Allen as he displayed his emotionals.
Check it out below:
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Forbes
an hour ago
- Forbes
Aaron Judge Is Having A Historic Season, But He's Not Babe Ruth, 1920
New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge reacts after he struck out swinging in the third inning of a ... More baseball game against the Boston Red Sox, Saturday, June 14, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) Aaron Judge is off to an absolutely brilliant start this season, batting .384-.479-.767 with a 240 wRC+ through Saturday's games. It has led many onlookers to say that he is having the best season a hitter has ever had - better than Barry Bonds, Ted Williams, even Babe Ruth. Judge has hit for immense power before - he's topped 50 homers three times, hitting 52 in his 2017 Rookie of the Year season, and 62 and 58 in 2022 and 2024, his two MVP campaigns. The big difference this time around? He's hitting for extreme average as well - though he has topped .300 twice in the past, his peak of .322 is nowhere near what he's doing thus far in 2025. So there are questions here - how real is Judge's outburst this season, is he actually forging a new career peak, and how does it compare to the game's inner-circle all-time greats? Before we go any farther, let's introduce a new stat, and make a judgment call or two with regard to methodology and priorities with regard to measurement of offensive greatness. The first judgment call is that we're going to largely weed out plate discipline/walks out of this discussion. Yes, they are very important, and central to offensive production. But we're talking all-time most dominant HITTERS here. This is where the concept of Unadjusted Contact Score comes in. It basically measures actual production relative to the league, with 100 representing league average, the higher the number the better. I have gone back to 1901 and calculated Unadjusted Contact Scores for every regular in both leagues, and calculated career Unadjusted Contact Scores for every player with five or more seasons as a regular. The #98-101 players (Ronald Acuna Jr., Carlos Delgado, Tony Conigliaro and Mark Reynolds) all had career Unadjusted Contact Scores of 157.4. What's Reynolds doing here? Well, he struck out a ton, but when he did hit it, watch out. We're essentially measuring the most authoritative hitters of all time. Only 10 hitters have posted a career Unadjusted Contact Score of 200 or higher - nine Hall of Famers, and Aaron Judge. And the Yankee Crusher is way up at #2 on the list, with a 229.9 career mark entering this season. Now, in this day and age, we can do better than Unadjusted Contact Score. We have complete batted ball data, featuring exit speeds and launch angles. We can figure out what Judge 'should be' producing - his Adjusted Contact Score. And guess what? Judge who plays his home games in Yankee Stadium, which allows more than its share of homers but suppresses runs in general, has actually posted a much higher Adjusted Contact Score, at 255.6. Even before this incredible first half, Judge had established himself as one of the premier ball-strikers of all time. Now, let's take a closer look at his present offensive exploits to see if they're supported by the batted ball data, and how it measures up to his past seasons. Judge's offensive greatness is primarily due to his ability to hit the ball very, very hard. His 2025 overall average exit speed of 95.4 mph, fly ball average exit speed of 96.3 mph and line drive average exit speed of 99.3 mph are all over two full standard deviations higher than league average. Elite level stuff. His 91.6 mph average ground ball exit speed is almost two full standard deviations above average. Thing is, none of these are career highs, or even that close to it. His overall and line drive average exit speeds are his lowest since 2018, his fly ball average exit speed his lowest since 2021. In addition to smashing the baseball, Judge is a fairly refined hitter, with a solid batted ball frequency profile. He's combining a fly ball rate of over a full standard deviation higher than average (41.3%) with a pop up rate of over a full standard deviation lower than average (2.2%) - not easy to do. Thing is, his current fly ball rate represents his lowest since 2021. His K rate is quite good for an extreme power hitter, in the league average range at 24.4%. While his 14.7% BB rate, over two standard deviations higher than league average, is an asset, it's way down from 18.9% last season, and is his lowest since 2021. So we've identified an awful lot of areas in which Judge, while still quite good, is down fairly sharply off of career bests. How on earth is he putting up career best raw numbers? Well, Judge has had significantly good fortune on all batted ball types thus far in 2025. His 356 Unadjusted Fly Ball Contact Score towers over his 256 unadjusted mark. Ditto his 208 to 125 and 355 to 137 advantages on line drives and grounders. Judge is batting a ridiculous .905 AVG-1.238 SLG on liners; the league is hitting .650 AVG-.819 SLG, he 'should be' batting .697 AVG-.968 SLG based on his batted ball profile. Despite an extreme grounder-pulling tendency (he's hit exactly two grounders the other way all season), he's batting .364 AVG-.400 SLG on the ground. The league is hitting .213 AVG-.232 SLG, he 'should be' batting .250 AVG-.271 SLG. All in all, Judge has an obscene 355 Unadjusted Contact Score, but adjusted for context, it drops sharply to 229. Add back the Ks and BBs, and he should be hitting .299-.403-.626 for 203 'Tru' Production+, well below his current 240 wRC+. Let's go back to that 355 Unadjusted Contact Score. If the season ended today, that would be the third highest single season mark of all time, behind Babe Ruth 1920 (381) and Babe Ruth 1923 (360). Ruth's career mark is 270.1, far above even Judge's elevated adjusted level. The batted ball data suggests that Aaron Judge isn't having his best season, let alone one of the best seasons anyone has ever had. But for a moment, let's assume his raw numbers represent the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. And he still doesn't quite measure up to peak Ruth. 1920 wasn't Babe Ruth's most prolific home run season. Or his second most. He hit 60 in 1927, 59 in 1923, and 'only' 54 in 1920 and 1928. But let's take a step back and look at the game of baseball in 1920. The game was still emerging from the dead ball era, and Ruth was just coming of age as a position player for the Yankees, after experiencing sustained excellence as a pitcher for the Red Sox. 1920 was actually Ruth's third straight season as the AL's home run leader - he hit 11 in 1918 and 29 in 1919 in Boston. Then he became a Yankee and went ballistic as a full-time hitter for the very first time. The American League hit 369 home runs in 1920. Ruth hit 14.6% of them. He hit more than any other TEAM in the AL. Process that for a moment. 11 AL hitters reached double figures in homers in 1920, and only Ruth had more than 19. What Aaron Judge is doing this year is dominant, for sure, but it's not even on the same plane as peak Babe Ruth. So while we are watching one of the game's elite ball-strikers of all time do some of his best work, take a moment to appreciate the almost inexplicable brilliance of the man almost singlehandedly responsible for the power-driven game we are watching today. (NOTE: The rest of the all-time Top 10 Career Unadjusted Contact Scores: #3 - Jimmie Foxx - 220.1 #4 - Dick Allen - 219.4 #5 - Ted Williams - 213.7 #6 - Mickey Mantle - 210.6 #7 - Hank Greenberg - 206.0 #8 - Willie Stargell - 205.0 #9 - Rogers Hornsby - 201.1 #10 - Lou Gehrig - 197.7)
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Knicks-Grizzlies Trade Report Surfaces After Desmond Bane Move
Knicks-Grizzlies Trade Report Surfaces After Desmond Bane Move originally appeared on Athlon Sports. The NBA offseason hasn't started, but that didn't stop the Memphis Grizzlies from making the summer's first blockbuster trade on Sunday. They sent guard Desmond Bane to the Orlando Magic for four first-round picks, a first-round pick swap, guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and guard Cole Anthony. Advertisement This continues a transitional time for the Grizzlies, as they named Tuomas Iisalo their new head coach in May after he was the interim coach following Taylor Jenkins' firing. Now they'll be without their third-leading scorer from this season, as Bane averaged 19.2 points on 48.4 percent shooting (39.2 percent 3 PT) over 69 games. However, Memphis may not stop there, as the New York Knicks have an eye on one of its stars, via ClutchPoints' Kris Pursiainen. Memphis Grizzlies forward Jaren Jackson Jr. drives past Utah Jazz forward Kyle Filipowski at FedExForum on Jan. 25, Thomas-Imagn Images "But sources familiar with the situation tell ClutchPoints that at least one key member of the Knicks' front office has long been interested in [forward Jaren] Jackson Jr. as a trade target," he reported on Monday morning. Advertisement "The Knicks' acquisition of Karl-Anthony Towns last offseason didn't nullify this interest, either," he continued. "League sources say that a Jackson Jr. and Karl-Anthony Towns frontcourt would be a 'dream' pairing for New York in their starting lineup." Jackson's father, Jaren Jackson Sr., was an assistant coach for New York's G-League affiliate from 2021-23. Knicks president Leon Rose was also the younger Jackson's agent when he worked for Creative Artists Agency (CAA), alongside fellow agent Austin Brown. The two-time All-Star is still represented by Brown. Jackson signed with Rose and Brown for representation before getting drafted in 2018. Rose then took the New York job in March 2020. Advertisement Jackson will make $23.4 million next season, the last on his rookie extension. Related: Scotty Pippen Jr. Facing Backlash for Ja Morant Message After Grizzlies' Loss Related: UConn's Dan Hurley is Trending After Major Knicks Coaching News This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 16, 2025, where it first appeared.
New York Times
2 hours ago
- New York Times
This Week in Mets: The pitching staff hits a speed bump
'The weight of this sad time we must obey; Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.' 'King Lear,' William Shakespeare The New York Mets' worst weekend of the season pivoted in Friday's sixth inning. New York had just extended its lead over the Tampa Bay Rays to 5-1 and appeared poised for its seventh consecutive victory. With Clay Holmes working on a tight pitch count, the Mets turned to Paul Blackburn out of the bullpen. It was the perfect script for the club, which wanted Blackburn to pitch multiple innings to stay fresh for his start this week in Atlanta. Advertisement Blackburn's outing lasted five batters, with four of them scoring. By the end of the inning, Tampa Bay had the lead, and the Mets have held it for all of about 10 minutes since. The decision to go with Blackburn in that spot highlighted the delicate balance the Mets are attempting to walk with their pitching staff. Specifically, they're trying to keep an eye on long-term health while still piling up wins in the here and now. Beyond anything else, the Mets' pitching staff has been the prime mover of their success this season. The starting rotation has been outstanding all year, the last two days notwithstanding, and the bullpen has received important contributions from a wide range of arms. The best chance of preserving that staff-wide success is not leaning too heavily on anyone. So it's pulling Holmes after just 79 pitches because he felt elevated soreness after pitching at the Colorado Rockies. It's trying to stay away from the most important relievers when the game permits it. It's occasionally thinking less about today than down the line — always a difficult tightrope to walk in New York. To that end, the club has internally discussed regularly piggybacking starters in the second half of the season. It would capitalize on the enviable starting depth the Mets have compiled while also keeping their core relievers fresher through the rest of the season. The upside is what happened in the series finale in Colorado last week, when Blackburn took the ball from Tylor Megill and carried it through the finish line in a blowout win. Without a game Monday, New York's relievers received two straight days off. (It's perhaps not coincidental that the unit delivered 4 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing a single hit, in Tuesday's extra-innings win over the Washington Nationals.) The downside is what you saw Friday. If a starter doesn't have it in the unusual role of relief, it can get ugly fast. And you end up needing to use other relievers anyway. Advertisement The last four days on the whole were a quick comedown for the staff after David Peterson's brilliant shutout Wednesday. Kodai Senga hit the injured list, his replacement was lit up as a longman, and Megill and Griffin Canning combined to allow 12 runs in eight innings Saturday and Sunday. It's the first real adversity to hit the staff since the spring injuries to Frankie Montas and Sean Manaea, and it rebounded then better than the Mets could imagine. How does the staff handle adversity now? The Mets were swept for the first time this season, losing all three to the Rays at Citi Field. New York is still in first in the National League East at 45-27. The Atlanta Braves have won consecutive series since dropping six in a row, though losing Sunday's series finale to the Rockies despite Grant Holmes' 15 strikeouts stung. At 31-39, they're 13 behind New York in the East. The Philadelphia Phillies picked up three games in three days by sweeping the previously hot Toronto Blue Jays, moving within 2 1/2 games of the Mets in the East. The Phillies play four at the Miami Marlins before rendezvousing with the Mets on Friday. at Atlanta LHP David Peterson (5-2, 2.49 ERA) vs. RHP Spencer Schwellenbach (5-4, 3.11 ERA) RHP Paul Blackburn (0-0, 6.75) vs. LHP Chris Sale (4-4, 2.79) RHP Clay Holmes (7-3, 2.87) vs. RHP Spencer Strider (1-5, 4.35) at Philadelphia RHP Tylor Megill (5-5, 3.95) vs. RHP Zack Wheeler (7-2, 2.76) RHP Griffin Canning (6-3, 3.80) vs. RHP Mick Abel (1-0, 2.35) LHP David Peterson vs. LHP Jesús Luzardo (6-2, 4.23) Red = 60-day IL Orange = 15-day IL Blue = 10-day IL • Senga will be shut down through this week and into next week before being re-evaluated. The general rule is that a pitcher needs as much time to build back up as he was shut down, so if Senga is down two weeks total before throwing again, it would take about another two weeks for him to return. A timeline of just after the All-Star break is probably as good as the Mets can hope for. Advertisement • Mark Vientos will start a rehab assignment Tuesday with Syracuse. • Montas had his worst rehab start yet Friday. There's only time for one more minor-league start before his 30-day rehab clock expires June 22. Montas says he's healthy and progressing toward where he wants to be; if the Mets deem he hasn't made enough progress, his return could be in the bullpen. • Jose Siri had a setback, with reimaging of his fractured tibia revealing it had not healed as much as the Mets had hoped. Siri is backing off running and baseball activities for about two weeks and will be re-evaluated. President of baseball operations David Stearns said Siri is still 'a ways away.' • Jesse Winker is still 'multiple weeks away' from a rehab assignment, Stearns said. Triple A: Syracuse vs. Jacksonville (Miami) Double A: Binghamton at Harrisburg (Washington) High A: Brooklyn at Aberdeen (Baltimore) Low A: St. Lucie vs. Palm Beach (St. Louis) • The Mets will approach Senga's rehab differently this time • Jeff McNeil changed his mentality, and then he changed his mechanics to show his value • Storylines to watch in advance of the trade deadline • Why the Mets are likely to add to the bullpen in July • David Peterson delivered the best start of the season • TWIM: Which Mets deserve to be All-Stars? I found 'King Lear' a little too much. I prefer the Lancastrian Tetralogy, myself. This Week in Mets will be taking a brief hiatus over the next two weeks so that I can enjoy a vacation. Whom did Francisco Lindor hit his winning home run off last year in Game 161 in Atlanta? (I'll reply to the correct answer in the comments.) (Photo of Clay Holmes: Dustin Satloff / Getty Images)
