Sport Thoughts

It is MLB trade deadline season and the 49-54 New York Mets are officially sellers. They traded their closer David Robertson and now they have traded their ace starting pitcher Max Scherzer. Scherzer was the Mets big free agent signing in December 2021. He completely changed the vibe and culture of the New York Mets entering the 2022 season. He pitched at an All Star level and contributed to the Mets 101 win season. As great as Scherzer was, he suffered flaws closing out his season. He struggled to pitch in his final regular season start against the Atlanta Braves. This bad start would lead to the Mets losing the NL East. The Atlanta Braves would win the NL by 1 game. Max Scherzer would get shelled in his Mets playoff debut against the San Diego Padres. He gave up 7 Earned runs and was booed off the pitchers mound by the fans. His 2023 season would not start positively. He would have inconsistent pitching outings, allow several home runs and face a 10 game foreign substance suspension....

The MLB standings are looking very interesting right now. 20 out of the 30 MLB teams have winning percentage of .500 or better. The American League has 11 winning teams. The National League has 8 winning teams and one .500 team . Unlike previous seasons, every MLB team plays each other. The schedule for each team is very well balanced schedule. Teams are playing teams from their divison less often compared to the previous season. Sub .500 teams like the New York Mets, St Louis Cardinals, San Diego Padres and Chiacago White Sox have not benefited by playing less games against their division rivals. This well balanced schedule has forced MLB teams to change the way they build their rosters.  A 26-man roster must be built well enough to play every team in the league. The days of building a roster focused on divisional play is over. It is unusual for this many teams to be over .500 but this could be a sign of the future. The new schedule has created the most parody in the MLB standings...

The Miami Marlins have played a total of 10 games since the MLB All Star break concluded. The Marlins went into the All Star break with a impressive 53-39 record. The record was their best first half record in franchise history. It truly looked like the Marlins had put themselves in the elite contender conversation along with teams like the Atlanta Braves and LA Dodgers. That thought is now far from the truth. The Miami Marlins lost 8 straight games to begin their post All Star break. They were swept by the Baltimore Orioles, St Louis Cardinals and lost two of three to the Colorado Rockies. They currently have a mediocre 54-48 record are without a playoff spot. Their All Star Jazz Chisholm is injured and the team’s remaining schedule does not get any easier. The Marlins offense has been putrid and the bullpen has been taxed. All Star Luis Arraez can not carry the offense on his own. Cy Young Sandy Alcantara has yet to get back into ace form. The August 1st trade deadline is less than a...

It is nearly two weeks since the MLB season resumed after the All Star Break. The Subway Series is approaching for the second time this season between the New York Mets and New York Yankees. This year’s Subway Series feels very different from previous years. Both teams have struggled and do not currently have playoff spots. The Yankees are tied for last place in the American League East, with a 53-47 record. The Mets are in Fourth place in the National League East, with a 46-53 record. Both teams are determining their options between buying and selling at the August 1st trade deadline. Injuries to Aaron Judge and poor all around offense have crippled the Yankees season. Inconsistent offense and disappointing starting pitching have derailed the Mets season. This Subway Series could determine the next steps for both New York teams. Neither team has shown signs of any momentum or consistency during the last two months. The Mets have a much difficult remaining schedule going forward in com...

The Boston Celtics had an interesting but questionable NBA offseason. They were one win away from becoming the first team in NBA  history to win a playoff series while overcoming a 3-0 series deficit. The Celtics  were instead defeated by the 8 seed Miami Heat in a do or die game 7 on their home floor. This elimination would lead to the Boston Celtics taking part in a three team trade. The Celtics would acquire former All Star Kristaps Porzingis from the Washington Wizards. The Celtics would lose former defensive player of the year, Marcus Smart. In order to complete the three team deal, Marcus Smart was traded to the Memphis Grizzles and Tyus Jones would land in Washington. Smart was one of the longest tenured Celtics. He was a leader in the locker room and was considered the heart & soul of the Boston Celtics. He provided great versitility on defense and had improved his game on offense. Porzingis is coming off of one of the best seasons of his career. Pairing Porzingis ...

The Philadelphia 76ers are in the midst of a very complicated NBA offseason. They entered the offseason coming off a blown 3-2 second round exit to the Boston Celtics. They had all optimism in advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals. Things have taken a strong turn for the worst since their elimination. All Star James Harden has requested a trade and MVP Joell Embiid has hinted at leaving the Sixers in the future. As a result, the Sixers have some very tough decisions to make. Harden has not rescinded his trade request and he is rumored to avoid NBA training camp. The Sixers do not plan to give  Harden away and hope to recieve good value for his expiring contract. They have been rumored to be in the mix of the Damian Lillard trade market. It is believed that guard Tyrese Maxey could become the 76er’s second star if James Harden is traded for quality role players. Maxey is also considered a trade chip if the 76ers front office wants to pair Joell Embiid with Damian Lillard. The S...

It is one week shy of a month since NBA Free Agency began. More than half of the top free agents are signed. There are still unsigned role players, who can help impact contending or rebuilding teams. These remaining free agents include Christian Wood, Kelly Oubre, Jaylen Nowell and PJ Washington. Oubre and Washington averaged 20 and 15 points per game on the bad 27-55 Charlottte Hornets. Wood average 16 points per game the underachieving 38-44 Dallas Mavericks. Nowell averaged 10 points per game on the 42-40 mediocre Minnesota Timberwolves. Several NBA teams need role players who can provide offense off the bench. All four of these players fit that caliber. Health and injuries have always been a concern for these players. It is rumored that NBA teams are only willing to offer one year contracts to these injury prone players. What will these unsigned NBA players do? Will any of them sign with contenders? Will they sit out of the season without a contract? Will they play basketball overs...

The MLB trade deadline is getting closer. Teams are having tough decisions about buying and selling players. Some teams are expected to sell, while other teams remain undecided. Losing teams like the Oakaland A’s, Kansas City Royals, Washington Nationals, Pitsburg Pirates and Colorado Rockies are expected to be  sellers. These last place teams are far from contending in their respective divisions. They are also out of the mix from the final wild card spot. Middle of the pack teams like the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Seattle Mariners and LA Angels are on the fence about buying. It is uncertain what losing teams such as the Cleveland Guardians, Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Sox,  New York Mets, Chicago Cubs, St Louis Cardinals and San Diego Padres plan to do. These seven sub 500, teams will have two weeks to determine their season’s fate. It is very possible that at least half of those teams are buyers due to being in subpar divisions. Fans of thse teams must ask which wi...

It is over two weeks since NBA free agency began. The Toronto Raptors are in the crossroads of deciding to contender or rebuild. The Raptors were rumored to be heading towards a rebuild during last season’s trade deadline. They would do the opposite of rebuilding, at the time. They would trade for big man Jakob Poeltl. To begin this years offseaon, the Toronto Raptors would lose All Star Fred Van Vleet to the Houston Rockets. They would replace Fred Van Vleet with Dennis Schroder. The Schroder signing would be considered as a step back from contending. They would also extend Jakob Poeltl with a multi year deal . All of this to say, the Raptors still want to compete. All Star Pascal Siakam is in the final year of his contract. Trade rumors are on going about Siakam’s future as a Raptor. He has yet to be extended and would be considered a trade rental. Siakam can help improve and re-establish any playoff contender. Will the Toronto Raptors listen to the Siakam trade offers? Will Siakam e...

The MLB trade deadline is less than 3 weeks away. Baseball teams often contemplate buying or selling at the deadline. They think of the pros of gaining assets or the pros of starting from scratch. A firesale is often the first step of a rebuilding process. In recent years MLB teams like the Chicago Cubs and the Cincinnati Reds rebuilt and retooled their rosters. In the business of baseball, there is no salary cap. Teams can spend big money on big name players without fearing available cap space. As a result, rebuilds don’t last too long for baseball teams. However, thats not be always the case when analyzing the Washington Nationals. The Nationals were one of the best MLB teams of the 2010’s. They concluded that era by winning their first world series championship. They began the 2020’s era with a shortened 60 game losing season. That season was followed by a mid summer fire sale. Since the day of the sale, the Washington Nationals have been in a rebuilding mode. They show no signs of ...

The second half of the MLB season begins tomorrow. The post All Star break is always crunch time for contending baseball teams. Each game has alot of meaning to the teams in the playoff hunt. This season will mark the second year that 12 total teams make the MLB Playoffs. 2020 was the first year of the expanded playoff format. Since 2020 the number of playoff teams have gone from 14 to 10 to 12 teams. Several MLB teams are in the midst of playoff droughts. These long droughts date back to the late 2010s or earlier. The Miami Marlins and Cincinnati Reds made the playoffs in the shortened 2020 season but have not reached the playoffs in a full season since 2003 and 2013. The Texas Rangers and Balitimore Orioles have not reached the playoffs since the 2016 season. The Arizona Diamondback’s playoff drought dates back to the 2017 season. Long story short, these contending MLB treams have playoff droughts at stake. Every year there are teams such as the Houston Astros, New York Yankees, Atla...

The second half of the MLB season will begin this Friday. Several teams will be fighting for playoff contention. The conclusion of July will determine the fate of several MLB teams. These teams will be position to buy or sell at the Trade Deadline. Tankathon.com  ranks the remaining schedules of all 30 MLB teams. The Minnesota Twins, Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers, Seattle Mariners and Houston Astros have the easiest remaining schedules. These easy schedules could create help havoc in the American League Central and West divisions. The top 5 teams with the hardest schedules remaining include the Colorado Rockies, Washington Nationals, New York Mets, Miami Marlins and LA Angles. Can easy schedules increase the competition in the different division? Can the difficult schedules hurt these playoff hopeful teams?  The second half of the MLB could be very interesting.

It is the halfway point of the MLB season. The Mid Summer Classic took place on Tuesday night. The MLB All Star Game has changed in style and approach over the years. Begining in 2017, winning the MLB All Star Game no longer guarantees  home field advantage in the World Series. The game is treated more and more like an basic exhibition game. Interviews from mic’d up players were the theme through out Tuesdays All Star Game. All Star Pitchers and hitters would discuss their season while pitching and taking at bats in the batters box. The interviews would take away the excitement of a previous intense All Star format. To make matters worse, All Star players no longer wear their team’s jerseys when participating. The generic All Star uniforms takes away the player’s individualty. It is difficult to recognize players when everyone is wearing the same uniform. These factors have made the All Star Game less enjoyable compared to previous years. It is fair to ask if the mic’d up interview...

The NBA 2023-2024 Season will begin  this October. The offseason is currently in full effect for all 30 teams. Every team has a x-factor. The Brooklyn Nets will enter the new season as a rebuilding team. They no longer feature a Super Star duo of Kevin Durrant and Kyrie Irving. However, they have a former All Star in Ben Simmons. Simmons is coming off of injury plagued season. He is a former number one pick, multi All Star and all deffensive player. He only played in 42 games out of the 82 regular season and missed the playoffs. He played like a shell of himself in the 42 games, averaging fewer than 8 points per game. Prior to his season ending injury, the Nets began the second half of the season with a new starting five of Nic Claxton, Mikal Bridges, Dorian Finey Smith, Spencer Dinwiddie and Cam Johnson. Simmons played only 4 games with Spencer Dinwidie and Dorian Finey Smith following the Kyrie irving trade. Simmons also only played 3 games with Mikal Bridges and Cameron Johnson ...

A full week has gone by since All Star Damian Lillard requested a trade from the Portland Trail Blazers. Lillard has made it clear to the media that he is only interested in a trade to the Miami Heat. It is well known that the Portland Trail Blazers are not interested in the Miami Heat’s trade package. It is believed that a third and fourth team would be needed for a Lillard to Miami trade. Prior to the trade request, the Miami Heat lost several key players in free agency. Gabe Vincent, Max Strus and Cody Zeller are no longer members of the Miami Heat. The Heat also moved Victor Oladipo in a trade to the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Heat would respond by resigning Kevin Love & Orlando Robinson. They followed those moves by adding free agents Josh Richardson and Thomas Bryant. Tyler Herro is very aware of seeing his name float in Lillard trade rumors. He recently removed the Miami Heat from his Twitter bio, preparing for the next chapter of his nba career. While the Heat are still fav...

The New York Yankees are currently in the middle of a 3 game losing streak. They have a record of 48-41. They recently slid to 4th place in the American League East. The offense has been cold and continues to tumble without the reigning MVP Aaron Judge. Several Yankee hitters are in  awful slumps including: Giancarlo Stanton, Josh Donaldson, DJ Lemahieu and Anthony Rizzo. Starting pitching and the bullpen are the Yankees largest strength. The pitchers need the hitters to step up in a big way. Their recent losing streak has taken the New York Yankees out of a playoff spot for the first time in two months. They are now a game behind the Toronto Blue Jays in the wild card race. The Boston Red Sox are only two games behind the New York Yankees in the standings. If the Yankees continue to fall, they will find themselves as a last place team in the American League East. Can the Yankee hitters regain their offensive stride? Will Aaron Judge return after the All Star Break? All of this to ...

NBA free agency began nearly one week ago. Many of the big name free agents are offically off the boards. Several NBA teams spent millions of dollars. Some organizations spending far more than others. The Houston Rockets were a team who exceeded their spendings in comparison to previous seasons. The Rockets are one of the worst and youngest NBA teams dating back to 2021. They were expected to take the next step in their rebuilding process. It was believed that the Rockets would persue and bring back former franchise star James Harden. Harden would instead opt into his final year of his 76ers contract and request a trade to another team. With James Harden off the board, the Houston Rockets would pivot to other nba players. The Rockets would sign guards Fred VanVleet and Dillon Brooks. VanVleet would sign a 3 year contract worth 130 million dollars and Brooks would sign a 4 year contract worth 80 million dollars. Both players were coming off of down seasons. The Rockets players age range...

NBA free agency began on June 30th. Several big name free agents have been signed. Philladelphia 76er’s star James Harden requested a trade request a day prior to free agency night. Trail Blazer’s star Damian Lillard requested a trade the day after free agency begun. There has been little to no news in the NBA since the trade requests. Free agents Christian Wood, Ayo Dosunmo, Kelly Oubre, TJ Warren, PJ Washington, Mo Bamba and Grant Williams remain unsigned. Several NBA teams are examining what a trade package could look like to acquire James Harden or Damian Lillard. It is believed that a 3 or 4 team trade may be possible for both players to find new teams. Until both trades are made, an NBA fan must question if these players are putting the NBA offseason on hold. NBA fans and insiders will have to wait until the next domino will fall.

The MLB All Star pitchers and reserves were recently announced. There were plennty of surprises during the All Star player unveiling. Perhaps the biggest surprise was the total number of Atlanta Braves All Stars. The Atlanta Braves had 8 All Stars selected to the Mid Summer Classic. Those All Stars includ Ronald Acuna, Matt Olson, Ozzie Albies, Orlando Arcia, Austin Riley, Sean Murphy, Bryce Elder and Spencer Strider. It is not very often when more than half of a team’s lineup makes the All Star team. The Braves are a very good team and currently have the best record in the entire MLB. While each MLB team must have at least one All Star selected, someone might question if a team having 8 selected All Stars is unfair. Talent can only speak for itself. MLB teams should have more than one All Star in attendance. Only 30 active MLB players make each All Star team. The voting process can be uneasy and players are often snubbed. The MLB has so much talent in this current era. Fans can only h...

Free Agency in the NBA began on June 30th. Several NBA teams have resigned several key players to their organizations. The sports term “run it back” is often used when a team brings back several players from the previous season. A “run it back” season is usually a follow up season with the same cast of players. The LA Lakers have taken that term to heart. To begin their offseason, the Lakers resigned players Rui Hachimura, Austin Reeves and D’Angelo Russell. In addition to retaining key players, the Lakers added Taurean Prince, Gabe Vincent, Cam Reddish and Jaxson Hayes as new faces to the club. The depth chart on the LA Lakers has improved and one can only ask if they have any other additional moves coming. What does Lebron James think of his teams offseason? Will he be ready for training camp or contemplate retirement? Each day comes with a new update about each team’s offseason plans.

The MLB 2023 season is nearing the Allstar break. There are several MLB teams in unfamiliar territory. There are teams like The Tampa Bay Rays and the Atlanta Braves, who have lived up to expectations. The current MLB standings are somewhat shocking. Teams like the Baltimore Orioles, Texas Rangers, Miami Marlins, Cincinnati Reds and Arizona Diamondbacks are the biggest surprise teams. They were all not projected to be contenders. Teams like the New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays, Houston Astros, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies and LA Dodgers were not predicted to struggle. The more games played, the bigger the sample size for each MLB team. The questions that remain is if the disappointing teams can get hot and if the surprise teams can carry their momentum. Numbers don’t lie and neither does the standing. Will these unexpected contenders make moves at the trade deadline? Only time will tell as the Allstar break approaches. The league will have a better idea and understanding onc...

Damian Lillard has requested a trade from the Portland Trail Blazers. The Blazers will enter a rebuild centered around young players Scoot Henderson, Anfernee Simmons and Shaedon Sharpe. Lillard has played his entire 11 year NBA career with the Portland Trail Blazers. The Miami Heat, Brooklyn Nets, Philadelphia 76ers and LA Clippers have shown interest in a Dame Lillard trade. The Miami Heat is the peferred trade destination for Damian Lillard. The question is what type of trade package can the Miami Heat provide. Players Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson and Kyle Lowry have been heavily rumored. The Brooklyn Nets are also rumored to be Dame Lillard’s secondary choice. The Nets have plennty of draft assets but lack experienced young players. Could a three team trade be possible as the 76ers search for a James Harden trade package? The NBA offseason is in the very early stages and the hot stove has only gotten hotter.