STAMFORD, CT – Hey, yo. The weather is beautiful and I’ll be walking around with my shirt off from this point forward. What’s going on around town? The Rockies are terrible, the Knicks are in cap trouble, and the NHL Finals start tomorrow. Let’s get to it.
Rockies Bottom
The sweep of the Rockies vaulted the Mets back into first place. It also gave us a chance to notice how historically bad the Rockies have been. They were able to knock off the Marlins last night, to improve their record to 10-50. That’s an impressive run.
If you lose 10 of 12, that’s a pretty bad streak. Well, the Rockies have been playing at that clip all season. Though Short Matt would have killed for that pick-up success rate at Happy Hour in the early ’90s, it’s bad for a baseball winning percentage. It’s a .167 winning percentage, which would destroy the all-time worst winning percentage for a 162-game season. That was accomplished last year by the Chicago White Sox. The ’24 Sox rallied to win 41 games, which is a .243 winning percentage. This just in: the Rockies are bad.
The Rockies have scored the fewest runs with 190 and have given up the most, tied with Oakland, at 373. Hold on while I check my notes. Yeah, that’s not good. The catcher Hunter Goodman has been the team’s biggest star by a mile, with a .273 BA, 9 homers, and 31 RBI. Only one other player is hitting .250. U.G.L.Y.
Shout out to the Cleveland Spiders, who went 20 and 134 in 1899, for a .130 winning percentage. Heads up Spiders, the Rockies have you in their sites.
Second Apron Blues
Looking ahead in the aftermath of the Knicks’ season, they don’t seem to be in great position. They have four very good defensive players and then their best two offensive players, who are defensive liabilities. Those six players eat up almost all of their cap, so they have limited flexibility to add to a mediocre bench and will likely need to shop in the clearance section.
You can’t blame them for going all in. But now Mikal Bridges is extension eligible. And if they extend him, maybe their bumping up against the second apron. No one really knows what that means, but it’s bad.
The whole situation feels a little bit like what happened with the Rangers. The rebuild was going along nicely, but they got impatient and went for the glory. They didn’t quite get there and put themselves in a tough spot.
NHL Finals
The NHL Finals start tomorrow, with the Panthers traveling to Edmonton to take on the Oilers. It’s the same match-up as last year, with Connor McDavid and company looking for a different result.
I’d like to see him hoist the Cup, but I think the Panthers will get it done again. This a team that is built for the playoffs. The have shut down D-man in Forsling, one of the best two-way forwards in Barkov, and a roster full of skilled forwards with grit, like Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, and Brad Marchant. This is a team that doesn’t give their opponents time and space in their own zone. They force turnovers and dish out punishment. They coasted through the regular season, but they are built for this time of year.
You can never count out a team with McDavid and Draisaitl, but the Oilers goaltending has been a roller coaster in the post-season. The Panthers have a big advantage in goal, and I think they’ll get it done in seven. But I’ll be pulling for McDavid, an athlete who jumps off the screen like no other player in sports.
That’s it for me. Come back tomorrow for Angry Ward, who thinks the Cleveland Guardians should be the Cleveland Spiders.
