Latest news with #Rates&Barrels
New York Times
20-04-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
MLB's surprising top team so far, plus the NBA playoffs begin
The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic's daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox. Good morning! Have some candy today. A month ago, the Padres figured to be a fringe playoff contender that could get hot and challenge an elite team or two in October — like they did last year, when they took the eventual champion Dodgers to a decisive fifth game in the NLDS. On Opening Day, FanGraphs gave San Diego about a one-in-three shot at making a third postseason in four years. Not a bad forecast, but the Padres didn't exactly feel like an organization on the rise. A lot of things weighed down on any optimism: No matter. A little over 10 percent of the way into the season, the Padres are 15-6, the best record in baseball. The team's offensive core (Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado and Merrill when healthy) is raking. Michael King, part of the return from the Yankees for Soto before last season, has pitched lights-out, as has new arrival Pivetta. Robert Suarez has been a dominant closer. Everything is clicking. Advertisement The club is packing Petco Park to the tune of more than 40,000 fans per game. Merrill just signed a nine-year extension to solidify himself as a true franchise cornerstone. The vibes could hardly be better, no matter what is going on with the dollars and cents. Elsewhere, April ball is full of surprises. The Braves started 0-7 and have had a slow dig out of that hole. The Twins have been a disaster and ceded AL Central favorite status to the Tigers. The big league home run leader is … Athletics first baseman Tyler Soderstrom? Indeed, with nine homers. We asked The Athletic's Eno Sarris and Derek VanRiper, hosts of 'Rates & Barrels,' which April developments are primed to regress to their respective means. Sarris has the Giants offense going 📉: 💬 Who did you think would have a good offense to start the year? The Cubs? Yep, they led MLB in runs per game entering play on Saturday. The Diamondbacks and Yankees? Yep, second and third. But also right there are the Giants, in fourth somehow scoring more than five runs a game. They might be OK, but that seems out of whack. Meanwhile, VanRiper has the Braves offense, sixth from the bottom in runs per game, going 📈: 💬 Ronald Acuña Jr. is in the late stages of rehab from his second ACL tear, and better health outcomes for Austin Riley, Michael Harris and Ozzie Albies should be pushing this offense back toward its 2023 form. It's a matter of time before they are a feared lineup again. The baseball season is young. Time to check news. NBA playoffs bring drama, dominance Yesterday's quadruple header of Game 1s delivered a good old-fashioned beatdown, plenty of late-game dramatics and a team that couldn't miss. A quick recap: Quite the start. Get caught up with our NBA staff's full takeaways from every game. More playoffs: Stanley Cup favorites win Game 1s The Jets needed a Kyle Connor game-winning goal with 1:36 left in the third period to escape with a win over the Blues. Our NHL staff has more takeaways from a back-and-forth Game 1 in Winnipeg. In the late game, the current title favorite Avalanche (+600, per BetMGM) handed the Stars their eighth straight (!) Game 1 loss. Their opening goal? Whatever this wizardry is: Artturi Lehkonen just FLUNG the puck off his skate and into the net without kicking it 🤯 — B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) April 20, 2025 More news: The New York Rangers fired coach Peter Laviolette just one year after they won the Presidents' Trophy. GM Chris Drury spoke with the media shortly after. Elsewhere, the Anaheim Ducks dismissed coach Greg Cronin after two seasons behind the bench. A surprise to some. Oklahoma women's gymnastics won its seventh NCAA title in the last 11 years. Dynasty. 📺 Formula 1: Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 1 p.m. ET on ESPN2 The season is shaping up like a McLaren runaway, with the biggest drama being which driver in the orange car, Lando Norris or Oscar Piastri, wins the drivers' championship. The midfield has subplots, though, like Williams rising despite new signee and ex-Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz struggling. 📺 NBA: Magic at Celtics, Game 1 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC The defending champs are second, behind the Thunder, in The Athletic's pre-playoff power ranking. Boston is the East's No. 2 seed, and Orlando the No. 7? Any shot at the 41-41 Magic pulling a series upset? Not really. We don't lie to you in The Pulse. But Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner are fun to watch and good for 50 points per game between them. Advertisement 📺 NHL: Senators at Maple Leafs, Game 1 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2 The Battle of Ontario hits the playoffs, just like in the pre-2005 lockout days. The Leafs look to avoid an early-round exit for the ninth year in a row. The Sens are an intriguing wild-card team, playing in the playoffs for the first time since 2017. Hostilities will flair. Scott Dochterman's helpful explainer on how UCLA could afford transfer quarter Nico Iamaleava, who asked Tennessee for as much as $4 million before splitting with the Vols. 'Becoming Led Zeppelin' is really good, even for hardened Zep nerds. To get the origin story from all four members, including the late John Bonham, is a treat. See the trailer. — Chris Sprow Following the end of the Mavericks' season Friday, Christian Clark wrote this strong reminder of how the team was supposedly only 'a Klay Thompson away' from a championship as recently as last summer. The Nike Vaporfly carbon-plated racing shoe. Like running on little trampolines. — Alex Kirshner Jason Stark's Weird & Wild column is always a delight, and this week's was no different. This NHL affordability index. Interesting. Lower-division soccer games. Relatively affordable fun for the whole family. — Torrey Hart Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: Our story on Gregg Popovich's recovery from a medical emergency at a restaurant. Most-read on the website yesterday: Once again, Zack Rosenblatt's latest Aaron Rodgers column. Ticketing links in this article are provided by partners of The Athletic. Restrictions may apply. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.
New York Times
04-03-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Top 300 hitters for fantasy baseball 2025: Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Bobby Witt Jr. top the order
The schedule is filling up with drafts, and thanks to another overseas start to the MLB season — Dodgers-Cubs for a two-game series in Japan — we'll have baseball games that count in just two weeks (March 18-19). This time of year, the softest part of the hitter rankings list for 2025 is the bottom 100, where your team's late-round needs will guide your preferences and decisions more effectively than rigidly adhering to the order in which I've listed these players. Advertisement Balancing low-ceiling everyday players (like Geraldo Perdomo) against platoon bats and players currently competing for their roster spot (Agustín Ramírez) is a challenging, albeit fun, exercise. The usual caveats apply here: These hitter rankings are based on a 15-team, 5×5 mixed-league format, with a 14-hitter (two catchers) roster requirement and twice-weekly lineup changes. As always, I'm happy to answer questions below or on any Rates & Barrels podcast in the days and weeks ahead. (Top photo of Aaron Judge: Bob Kupbens / Imagn Images)
New York Times
07-02-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Which prospects could make the biggest leaps forward in 2025?
Spring training is right around the corner which means the MLB season is fast approaching and, as is tradition, The Athletic has posted its annual top 100 prospects who could make an impact in the majors in 2025. Roman Anthony and Sebastian Walcott take positions one and two, but on the latest Rates & Barrels episode, Derek Van Riper and Eno Sarris were joined by Keith Law to discuss some of the lesser-known prospects with the biggest upside. A partial transcript has been edited for clarity and length. The full episode is available on YouTube below or in the 'Rates & Barrels' feed on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Eno: We didn't prepare you for this one. But I know that this is something you hear on the radio or in chats or whatever. … Who is somebody in the back end of the top 50 that has a big up arrow on it? Somebody, I don't know, like Zyhir Hope, maybe? Keith: Well definitely him. Eno: (Josue) Briceño? Derek: Anywhere in the top 100 I think. Who could be the next Sebastian Walcott, someone that could be at or near the top of the list a year from now? Advertisement Eno: (Lazaro) Montes, the other Cheerio … Derek: The other Cheerio? (laughs) Keith: The other Cheerio. Yes. (laughs) Eno: Made, is that right? Jesus Made? Keith: Oh definitely him, he was so good in the DSL (Dominican Summer League) and impressed people. I don't put DSL guys on the list almost ever, but people were like, 'I don't know, that's a superstar.' I think he's actually in the top 50, but also Franklin Arias with the Red Sox, shortstop, 19, destroyed the GCL (Gulf Coast League). I think he was actually in the GCL or whatever, the Florida man league down there. I think he was the MVP of that. I saw him in Low A, the ball really comes off his bat well and he can play shortstop. So just a guy who, if you told me he was going to be in the top 10 a year from now, I definitely could see that. I am just scrolling through. Made — I think that's how he says it — he would definitely be one. Eno: (Zyhir) Hope gets a lot of love too. Keith: He is. First of all, he's a crazy athlete. A crazy, crazy athlete. The word on him out of high school, he was from a tiny town in Virginia. He couldn't hit — especially if it wasn't straight — he couldn't hit it. Give that kid all the credit in the world, and the Dodgers too, by the way, for sticking with him and seeing him a little bit after the draft and saying, 'We want this guy.' But he worked and the pitch recognitions and swing decisions aren't great, but they are so much better than they were. Eno: His walk and strikeout rates are pretty good too. Keith: They are pretty good. And it's real power and he runs pretty well. He would definitely be one. I mean God, if Noble Meyer throws strikes but you know that's like … Derek: (laughs) Keith: I had one more and I scrolled, kept scrolling, kept scrolling and I went right past it. Oh, a little bit of an older guy, but Seaver King. Just for folks who don't know; the 10th overall pick last year. Washington takes him out of Wake Forest, where he was primarily a center fielder. Played some short, and played some third. But he was a natural shortstop, is a natural shortstop. And The Nats said, 'We're putting him out at short.' He goes out to Low A, Fredericksburg, plays short and pro scouts who saw him were like, 'What do you mean he's not a shortstop?' Advertisement There's just no doubt. He's the rare guy where post-draft there's like, 'Move him up, we have new information now.' He looked really good at shortstop. He's a great athlete. He's interesting, he's a little bit of a bad-ball hitter, so I think his chase rate is always going to be a little high, but he hits them. And some may be like, 'Well, we'll let that go for now (but) you might have to change that.' But I mean actually, the hardest hit ball I ever saw from him was several inches above the strike zone and he just tomahawked it out to left field at about 108 or so. I'm like, 'That's pretty impressive you could do that on a pitch that wasn't a strike.' He's athletic. He's got a good idea of the strike zone, at least in terms of what to swing at. And he can really play short. He could move up pretty quickly and If I'm right about the shortstop, if everyone's right about the shortstop, he might not be in the majors … You can listen to full episodes of Rates & Barrels for free on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or watch on YouTube. (Photo of Zyhir Hope: Chris Bernacchi / Diamond Images via Getty Images)
