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ATLANTA — It’s almost a cliché to say that a team which falls behind 3-1 in a best-of-seven playoff series has been pushed to the brink. If that’s the case, the Houston Astros went to the brink and a little beyond and survived to tell about it.

The Astros bounced back from a first-inning grand slam clubbed by Atlanta’s Adam Duvall, beating the Braves 9-5 on Sunday and sending the World Series back to Houston for Game 6 on Tuesday. Atlanta still maintains a 3-2 series lead.

To hear Houston manager Dusty Baker tell it, the Astros’ motivation was pretty simple.

“We didn’t want to end here with the celebration here,” Baker said.

Duvall’s slam put a charge into the standing-room-only throng at Truist Park, eager to see the Braves clinch their first title since 1995 and the first since the club moved into its five-year-old park in suburban Cobb County.

At that point, history was not on Houston’s side. The Braves became the first team to score four runs in a potential World Series clincher since the 1961 Yankees, who went on to cruise to a 13-5 win over the Reds to win the title 60 years ago.

On top of that, teams were 45-3 all time when holding a lead of four or more runs at any point of a potential clincher, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Make it 45-4. And Baker, whose 2002 Giants were the last team to blow a lead that big in a World Series clinching scenario, felt like if it had to happen and it’s good that it happened with plenty of game left.

“I always say, ‘if it’s going to happen, let it happen early,'” Baker said. “You don’t want it to happen in the middle of the game or toward the end of the game. The guys came through. That’s what counts.”

In a vacuum, if there is any team that should feel at ease in trying to overcome a four-run deficit with the end of the season staring them down, it’s the Astros. Besides Houston’s extensive postseason experience — five straight trips to the ALCS and three pennants in five seasons — this was baseball’s most prolific offense during the regular season and an attack that managed to become even more productive once the playoffs began.

That is until the World Series began and the Astros struggled to a .206 team batting average during the first four games against Atlanta. Houston was shut out on two hits during Friday’s Game 3 loss and managed just two runs in a 3-2 Game 4 loss on Saturday.

Add up the 3-1 series hole, the early 4-0 deficit in Game 5, the struggles of the offense and it made for a grim scenario to everyone, it seems, except the Astros.

“I say keep fighting,” Astros shortstop Carlos Correa said. “I’m a huge MMA fan, and I’ve seen lots of guys almost knocked out, and they battle back to win the fight.”

The Astros weren’t knocked out by their early deficit and the seeds for that turnaround might have been planted before the game. After two straight days of chill, drizzle and mist meant the infield at Truist Park remained under a tarp before the games, and wiped out batting practice, Sunday’s game was played in cool but dry conditions.

Thus both clubs were able to get on the field before the game and go through their normal pregame drills. This was a particular boon for the Astros, who struggled to acclimate to a park in which they had only played two games prior to this series and none since 2017.

“Today really felt like the World Series because they got to go on the field and see all the people and see all the media,” Baker said. “It felt like the World Series, where the other [games] felt like we were coming out of the dungeon and just going to play. So that was big, the fact that we got to get on the field.”

Whether or not that was the key, the Astros outscored the Braves 9-1 after their early hole, an outburst keyed by the bottom of the order.

Baker shuffled his lineup after the offense’s struggles during the first two games in Atlanta, dropping All-Star third baseman Alex Bregman to seventh in the batting order. Bregman was one of the beneficiaries of the dry conditions, which he took advantage of with extra work in the batting cage before the game.

After managing just one hit over the first four games of the Series, Bregman drove in Houston’s first run with a ringing double in the top of the second, minutes after Duvall’s grand slam.

“I think that was the key of us winning the game right there, bouncing back right away,” Correa said. “Those two runs, Bregman getting the huge double. Getting the confidence all the way up.”

Bregman’s double was just the tip of the iceberg for the bottom of the Houston lineup. Batting eighth, light-hitting catcher Martin Maldonado drove in three runs. And batting as a pinch-hitter in the nine-hole, Marwin Gonzalez stroked a key two-run single.

“Whatever way you bring a run, especially in the [playoffs], is huge,” Maldonado said. “You get good at-bats, whatever the situation dictates. You try to work through it.”

The Astros worked through their dance with the brink of elimination and suddenly are headed back to the heart of Texas, still down, but very much alive. The Braves could have been the first champion since the 2013 Red Sox to celebrate a title on their home field. Now, only the Astros can snap that drought.

“The pressure’s still on us because they’ve got the lead,” Baker said. “They’ve got to win one and we’ve got to win two. But the fact is we are going home.”

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Sources: Knights land Marner, give star 8 years

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Sources: Knights land Marner, give star 8 years

Mitch Marner was traded to the Vegas Golden Knights — with an eight-year extension in place, sources told ESPN on Monday. Forward Nicolas Roy will go to the Toronto Maple Leafs in return.

Marner’s new deal has a $12 million average annual value, according to sources. Marner, 28, was the biggest name entering Tuesday’s NHL free agency, and multiple teams were hoping to make pitches. Marner was the NHL’s fifth-leading scorer last season with 102 points — 36 more than the next-closest free agent. The winger was drafted by his hometown Maple Leafs with the No. 4 pick in 2015.

The Maple Leafs knew that Marner was looking to test free agency at the end of the season. Over the past few days, Toronto worked with Vegas, which was Marner’s preferred destination, on a trade. The Maple Leafs held Marner’s rights until just before midnight Tuesday.

Had Marner become an unrestricted free agent, he couldn’t have signed a deal for more than seven years.

Marner finished a six-year deal that paid him $10.9 million annually. Marner, who played for Team Canada at Four Nations and likely will make their Olympic team, has 221 goals and 741 points in nine NHL seasons.

Toronto general manager Brad Treliving has stayed busy this week, re-signing John Tavares and Matthew Knies while trading for Utah forward Matias Maccelli earlier Monday.

Roy, 28, is a center who is entering Year 4 of a five-year deal that pays him $3 million annually.

Ahead of the Marner trade, the Golden Knights created cap space by sending defenseman Nicolas Hague to the Nashville Predators on Monday.

The deal makes Marner the highest-paid player on Vegas, however, center Jack Eichel ($10 million AAV) is entering the final year of his contract and is eligible to sign an extension this summer. The Golden Knights might not be done this offseason. According to sources, defenseman Alex Pietrangelo is expected to go on long-term injured reserve, which could create more flexibility.

Sign-and-trades ahead of free agency are becoming a trend for NHL teams that know they will not sign their coveted player; last season, the Carolina Hurricanes dealt Jake Guentzel‘s rights to the Tampa Bay Lightning before he signed a seven-year deal.

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Sources: Panthers keeping Marchand, Ekblad

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Sources: Panthers keeping Marchand, Ekblad

Hours after re-signing Aaron Ekblad, the Florida Panthers kept another integral piece of their Stanley Cup team by re-signing Brad Marchand to a six-year contract extension, sources told ESPN’s Emily Kaplan.

Marchand’s deal has an average annual value of $5.25 million, sources told Kaplan.

Coming to terms with Ekblad on an eight-year extension worth $6.1 million annually left the Panthers with what PuckPedia projected to be $4.9 million in salary cap space.

There was the possibility that Marchand, 37, could have left the Panthers for a more lucrative offer elsewhere considering there were teams that had more than enough cap space to sign him.

Instead? Marchand, who arrived ahead of the NHL trade deadline from the Boston Bruins, appears as if he will remain in South Florida for the rest of his career.

Acquiring defenseman Seth Jones from the Chicago Blackhawks and then adding Marchand were two decisions made by Panthers general manager Bill Zito with the intent of seeing the Panthers win a second consecutive Stanley Cup as part of a run that now has included three straight Cup Final appearances.

Marchand, who was a pending UFA entering the final day before free agency begins Tuesday, used the 2025 postseason to further cement why the Panthers and other teams throughout the NHL would still seek his services. He scored 10 goals and finished with 20 points in 23 playoff games.

For all the contributions he made, his greatest came during the Cup Final series against the Edmonton Oilers.

Marchand, who previously won a Cup with the Bruins back in 2011, opened the series with a goal in the first three games. That includes the two goals he scored in the Panthers’ 5-4 double-overtime win to tie the series with his second being the game-winning salvo.

He scored two more goals in a 5-2 win in Game 5 that allowed the Panthers to take a 3-1 series lead before returning to Sunrise, Florida, where they closed out the series with an emphatic 5-1 win.

Capturing a consecutive title created questions about whether the Panthers can win a third in a row. But there was the understanding that it might be difficult given there was only so much salary cap space to re-sign Conn Smythe winner Sam Bennett, Ekblad and Marchand.

Knowing there was a chance they could lose one, or more, of them, Zito laid the foundation to retain the trio. He began by signing Bennett to an eight-year contract worth $8 million annually on June 27 before using Monday to sign Ekblad and Marchand.

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Sources: Provorov nets 7-year deal from Jackets

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Sources: Provorov nets 7-year deal from Jackets

Ivan Provorov decided to forgo free agency, with the veteran defenseman finalizing a seven-year extension Monday worth $8.5 million annually to remain with the Columbus Blue Jackets, sources told ESPN, confirming earlier reports.

With free agency slated to start Tuesday, the 28-year-old was one of the most notable defenseman who had a chance to hit the open market.

Provorov’s decision to stay with the Blue Jackets comes shortly after it was reported that Aaron Ekblad also avoided free agency by agreeing to an eight-year extension to remain with the Florida Panthers. That now leaves players such as Vladislav Gavrikov, Ryan Lindgren, and Dmitry Orlov among the more prominent pending UFAs who could be available should they fail to strike a deal with their current teams.

Retaining Provorov comes months after a season that witnessed the Blue Jackets shed the title of being a rebuilding franchise to one that could challenge for the playoffs in 2025-26.

Four consecutive seasons without the playoffs created the idea that the 2024-25 campaign could be another challenging one. But a six-game winning streak in January saw Columbus post a 22-17-6 record to create the belief that a turnaround could be in order.

The Jackets closed the season with another six-game winning streak but fell short of the final Eastern Conference wild-card playoff spot, which went to the Montreal Canadiens by two points.

Provorov would finish with seven goals and 33 points in 82 games while his 23 minutes, 21 seconds in average ice time was second behind Norris Trophy finalist Zach Werenski.

Re-signing Provorov comes in an offseason that saw the Blue Jackets also strengthen their bottom-six forward corps by adding Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood in a trade with the Colorado Avalanche.

PuckPedia projects that the Blue Jackets now have $20.957 million in cap space ahead of free agency.

TSN was first to report news of Provorov’s decision.

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