Wyshynski: How to improve the officiating in the Stanley Cup playoffs
Complaining about Stanley Cup playoff officiating is a rite of the season, like watch parties and rally towels.
The coaches complain about officiating. Like Carolina Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour admitting that “I’m a little pissed, to be honest with you” when an unpenalized slash from New York Islanders forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau broke the hand of Carolina winger Teuvo Teravainen. Or Toronto Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe accusing Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper of “manipulating the officials” when Steven Stamkos fought Auston Matthews in Game 3.
The players complain about the officiating, none louder than Marcus Foligno of the Minnesota Wild. He was whistled for two specious penalties against the Dallas Stars in the Wild’s Game 4 loss, resulting in two Tyler Seguin power-play goals.
“It’s bulls—,” Foligno said. “This is playoff hockey. You go and hit a guy and it’s not illegal. It’s clean and you’re getting called to the penalty box.”
The fans? They complain the loudest about the officiating. Every online fan base has theories about the referees having it in for their team. Every arena has its own derogatory chant to express discontent with the officiating.
But is there really a problem? And what can be done to fix it?
JOSHUA SMITH RUNS the hockey officiating website Scouting The Refs. He thinks criticism of playoff officiating has been more emphatic this postseason than ever before.
“It’s hard not to notice it,” he said. “Fans say the officiating is horrible. I feel like every year it gets louder and it’s even louder this year.”
When asked by ESPN, the NHL declined to comment on the quality of its officiating in the 2023 playoffs.
For context, the minor penalties per team through 35 postseason games is down significantly from last year. According to ESPN Stats & Information, there have been 300 minors called, including double-minors, for 8.57 penalties per game in the 2023 playoffs. In 2022, there were 349 penalties called, or 9.97 per game. This season’s totals are up over 2021 (8.26) and down from 2020 (8.91), which was the pandemic bubble postseason.
Yet the fans and media are protesting louder than ever about the officiating in the playoffs. Technology has amplified these critiques, from the instantaneous delivery of video highlights to the existence of online echo chambers, where any gripe about referee bias gets high levels of engagement.
“I think we’re in a space where people are looking for arguments or looking to criticize,” Smith said. “So if you want an easy target, it’s finding fault in the officiating on a nightly basis.”
Of course, it doesn’t help that the referees have opened themselves up to so much criticism in the 2023 playoffs thanks to a series of questionable, some downright bizarre, calls.
Those blown penalties on Foligno. A strange embellishment penalty on Mathew Barzal after getting cross-checked in the back by Brent Burns. This Kevin Fiala … whatever it was against the Oilers:
It just wasn’t the Marcus Foligno penalty calls yesterday that were awful, the Kevin Fiala penalty call last night was so bad, I’ve never seen NHL officiating this bad ever in the playoffs pic.twitter.com/DTAo3EjRQy
— Alex Micheletti (@AlexMicheletti) April 24, 2023
Phantom penalties. Missed calls. The usual “game management” in close contests, where suddenly only the most egregious penalties get called after players are nickel-and-dimed during regulation. There’s series management, too. NHL analyst Cam Charron has tracked dwindling power-play opportunities as series have gone on.
Is it just simply harder to officiate in the playoffs than the regular season?
“People have no idea how fast the game is and how hard it is to fight for sight lines out there on the ice,” said Dave Jackson, who was an NHL referee for three decades and is now the rules analyst for ESPN.
“It’s easy to watch a replay and say ‘that shouldn’t be a penalty,’ but in real time, so many things look like penalties or don’t look like penalties, and the referee’s job is to get it right and not guess. So that’s why you end up sometimes seeing calls missed or the wrong call being made.”
Well, sometimes they guess, and that’s OK, because the NHL put in a safety net for them.
STARTING IN 2019, the NHL allowed referees to review their calls on major penalties, match penalties and double-minor penalties for high-sticking, giving them the chance to reduce those calls to minor penalties. This season, the NHL tweaked the rule to allow referees to rescind the major penalty call altogether.
Even the most passionate critics of officiating can admit the refs have used this new tool well in the 2023 playoffs. Only once did it feel like they botched it: Colorado Avalanche star Cale Makar‘s boarding penalty against Jared McCann of the Seattle Kraken, which was reduced from a major to a minor but earned him a one-game suspension.
But we hear a lot more about them getting it wrong than getting it right. And we also hear a lot of theories about why playoff officiating has been allegedly substandard.
Here are several of them:
Theory 1: The refs are too inexperienced
When did we stop knowing the names of all the referees? Over the past 15 years, some memorable ones have retired — Jackson, Bill McCreary, Don Van Massenhoven, Dan O’Halloran. Outside of Wes McCauley’s showmanship and Tim Peel’s infamy, how many referees have we known by name in the past few seasons?
“There’s been a lot of veteran experience that has left the ice,” Smith said, “even though they’re now upstairs in the buildings as supervisors.”
Jackson likens NHL officiating to, of all things, “Saturday Night Live.” Cast members leave, new cast members join the show and everybody complains about how it’s not funny anymore.
“I think sometimes Wes McCauley will make a call and the identical call could be made by a rookie,” Jackson said. “And because of the lack of acceptance and familiarity with that [younger] official, it gets more pushback than a veteran official’s does.”
Theory 2: The refs are bad
Is it possible the NHL just herded the wrong zebras?
Here’s how the NHL selects its postseason officials. Stephen Walkom, NHL executive vice president of officiating, and his team start building the playoff roster about a month out. But the evaluation process for referees and linesmen occurs throughout the season.
According to the NHL, around 40% of regular-season games are attended by Walkom or a member of his officiating management team. Just like Hockey Operations and Player Safety, the officiating group monitors and logs every game to ensure it is being officiated by the NHL standards. Feedback comes immediately to on-ice officials in the form of locker room debriefing sessions, as well as video sent back and forth and phone follow-ups.
Midway through the season, Walkom and his cabinet meet to internally rate the league’s officials. They do the same with two weeks before the end of the season, but that midseason score is what really puts officials in line for the postseason. When it comes to selecting postseason officials, the buck stops with Walkom. He makes the call.
There are 35 refs and 35 linesmen in the NHL. Twenty of each work in the first round. By the second round, only one third of the league’s officials are still working, then it drops again as the playoffs continue. Every series has a “series manager” on site, who is either a senior member of the Hockey Ops staff or a former referee.
“You could work the Stanley Cup Final one year and be gone in the first round the next year,” Jackson said. “They talk about a lack of accountability, and there is accountability. You’re starting your summer vacation early if you don’t perform.”
Theory 3: Power plays make bad calls feel worse
Why do bad calls in the 2023 postseason feel so much more consequential than in previous playoffs? Frankly, because they are, thanks to high rate of power-play efficiency.
The NHL saw power plays score goals 21.31% of the time this season, which is the highest rate since 1985-86 (22.10%). When you’re hitting offensive numbers last seen since the 1980s, you know it’s a goal bonanza.
Through 31 games in the 2023 playoffs, we’re down in power-play opportunities (230) compared to last season (259) in that same span. But we’re up five more power-play goals. One goal makes all the difference in a playoff game. These calls, or missed calls, have an even greater impact thanks to these high-octane power plays.
Theory 4: The game is too fast
Jackson remembers his first playoff assignment. It was 1999 between the Boston Bruins and Hurricanes, seven years after he officiated his first NHL game. He figured he was ready, but he wasn’t fully prepared for the “hair on fire” pace of the postseason, where every check is finished and there’s no time or space.
Keeping up with the action is difficult, even for the viewer. The league, as a whole, has never been faster. This was the highest scoring season per team per game since 1993-94. Teams are built for offense. Everyone must skate, and thus so must the officials.
Smith said the league hires new officials based on knowledge of the rules and physical ability, usually having played at a high level in order to keep up with the NHL talent.
Yet even with two referees on the ice, the pace sometimes feels too overwhelming.
Theory 5: The playoffs are just different
“They say that referees change how they referee in the playoffs. I’d say that players change how they play in the playoffs,” Jackson said.
In particular, the number of retaliatory penalties drop dramatically from the regular season to the postseason. Coaches emphasize that players can’t be goaded into calls by the actions of their opponents, to the point of benching repeat offenders. So if there are fewer calls in the playoffs, it might be because there are fewer calls to make.
“The penalties you see occurring are usually accidental penalties, trying too hard and tripping a guy or something, or desperation penalties, to where they’re beat on a play,” he said. “The types of penalties are 180 degrees for the most part than what you find in regular-season games.”
Theory 6: Nothing gets called in overtime
Jackson remembers back in 2005 when Walkom helped establish a new standard for officiating that extended to playoff overtimes, telling the referees that if they see something that crosses the standard for enforcement, blow the whistle. He said Walkom and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman stress that to the officials before every postseason.
But playoff overtimes are called sudden death for a reason: Postseason life can be extinguished with a power-play goal. Jackson said it’s not that the officials are putting their whistles away in extra time, but they’re just really careful about using them.
“Just take that extra second. Don’t guess. Make sure it really is a penalty. And if it is, you need to call it,” he said.
According to Smith, this is where that inexperience might creep in. A younger official might have some hesitancy to make a critical call.
“The players are committing the infraction and you need to have confidence in your call, but human nature is that it’s when everything’s on the line, there’s a lot of pressure on that call,” Smith said. “And certainly as a veteran you can deal with it, but when it’s your first playoff series, it’s probably something you’re not used to.”
When an obvious penalty isn’t called in overtime? Jackson says the referee is just as upset as you are.
“You’re not going to intentionally miss an obvious penalty in overtime. It is so easy to call a penalty that should be called and know you’ll be supported by the league for making the call,” he said. “Those calls are not ignored. They are missed. And no one feels any worse than the referee who misses them.”
SO HOW CAN the NHL make playoff officiating more accurate and efficient?
Smith believes the obvious first improvement comes from the NHL EDGE puck and player tracking technology.
The current technology allows the NHL to track the speed and location of players and the puck, collecting other data along the way. Up next is an optical tracking solution that would add a significant amount of new data about body and stick positioning. That optical tracking system could show up next season, according to Dave Lehanski, NHL executive vice president of business development and innovation.
When that optical component is added, referees could use the real-time data to definitively tell when an opponent or the puck is hit with a high stick. Which would have really come in handy during that Edmonton Oilers vs. Los Angeles Kings overtime situation, when it appeared the Kings’ Gabriel Vilardi hit the puck with a very high stick before the Kings’ game-winning goal:
Let us know what you think…
Was this a high stick? ? pic.twitter.com/URekeAkNHh
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) April 22, 2023
This quickly became the “is the dress blue and black or gold and white?” hockey debate for the ages. It could have ended, definitively, through the use of tracking tech.
“Was it deflected by a high stick? If so, we should have the coordinates to know exactly the height of the deflection,” Smith said. “So we don’t have to review the high stick, we don’t have to review puck over glass because we’ll know if it hit anything on the way out of the rink and we’ll have an exact moment when the puck crossed the blue line for that offside. I would love to see what we can do with puck tracking before we start putting in additional reviews.”
There have also been calls for additional reviews. Rod Brind’Amour told the “32 Thoughts” podcast that he wants two officials taken off the ice so they can sit in a box and immediately review every penalty through replay.
“The one that’s not a penalty that causes a goal? That’s the one I get frustrated at,” he said. “And all they need to do is get a second look at it.”
Jackson didn’t like that idea.
“OK, so what about if it’s a hook? Is the guy in the box’s opinion any better than the guy on the ice?” he said. “Most penalties are not black and white. They’re not ‘safe’ or ‘out.’ There’s a gray area. There are judgment calls that can’t be fixed by video review.”
“Review everything” is great in theory … but would be horrible in practice.
There are entire generations of viewers with reduced attention spans, whether it’s for movies with elephantine running times and regular-season sporting events that take three hours. Major League Baseball just passed a collection of rules to make its games shorter. Why would hockey, which prides itself on kinetic excitement, ever want to slow its pace down like that?
But there is part of the Stanley Cup playoff game where time has no meaning: overtime.
Every penalty in a game shouldn’t be reviewed. But what if every penalty in playoff overtime was reviewed?
Think of the benefits:
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They get the calls as correct as possible, knowing that an overtime power play can be “game over.” Heck, it happened twice on Monday, with the Leafs and Kraken both winning on OT power-play goals.
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That hesitancy not to “guess” on critical calls gets alleviated. We’ve seen how the ability to review major penalties has encouraged officials to make the call and then figure out if it’s correct. The same could happen with minor penalties in overtime.
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From a TV perspective, potential ad breaks in overtime during reviews!
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Playoff overtime is playoff overtime. We’re strapped in for the ride. It doesn’t matter how many turns and drops they want to add to the track. We’re watching until the ride is over.
JACKSON DOESN’T MIND when people who haven’t played the game, or passionately follow hockey, criticize the officiating.
“I don’t need to be a chef to know when food tastes bad,” he said.
What bothers him are the conspiratorial takes. “What I have issue with is people opining on what goes on behind the scenes, saying that the refs are trying to manage the game or trying to affect the outcome of the game, which couldn’t be further from the truth,” he said.
The theories about the league somehow wanting certain teams to succeed doesn’t hold any water, particularly after Edmonton won the Connor McDavid lottery; if the NHL could ever fix the outcome of something, it would have been that.
The media plays a major part in driving this mindset, according to Smith.
“Bashing the officials is your cheap pop in wrestling. It’s a standup comedian saying, ‘Hello, Cleveland!'” Smith said. “Everybody’s on your side. I mean, nobody’s out there going, ‘Yeah, I think the officials did really well’ on a broadcast.”
Jackson believes it’s local media that really indoctrinates fans to criticize referees.
“What happens is any home team’s fan base who watch games on a regular basis takes what’s said by their broadcasters as the gospel. When you hear about conspiracy theories, it’s just patently untrue many times,” he said. “But that’s the narrative they put forward. That whole team’s fan base starts to believe it. And that’s an injustice. It creates a crisis when there really isn’t a crisis.”
But, complaining about Stanley Cup playoff officiating is a rite of the season. A rite is defined as a “social custom or practice,” i.e. something that we create.
The dirty secret about “terrible” playoff officiating is that it’s part of hockey fandom. The boos, the chants, the running to social media to proclaim the puck definitely hit the stick and the NHL is definitely trying to keep certain teams from advancing … it’s all part of the Stanley Cup playoff tradition at this point.
After all, a little human error goes a long way in connecting fans emotionally with the game. It’s the perfect imperfection of professional sports.
“We’re in this weird space,” Smith said. “How much do we need to get the call right and how much can we live with?”
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David Schoenfield
There’s plenty of history in the rivalry between the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies. It’s about 116 miles from Citi Field to Citizens Bank Park. The two teams been competing for the NL East since 1969. Star players from Tug McGraw to Jerry Koosman to Lenny Dykstra to Pedro Martinez to Zack Wheeler have played for both franchises. Mets fans loathe the Phanatic, and Phillies fans laugh derisively at Mr. Met.
Despite this longevity, the two teams have rarely battled for a division title in the same season. The only years they finished No. 1 and 2 or were battling for a division lead late in the season:
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1986: Mets finished 21.5 games ahead
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2001: Both finished within six games of the Braves
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2006: Mets finished 12 games ahead
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2007: Phillies finished one game ahead
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2008: Phillies finished three games ahead
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2024: Phillies finished six games ahead of Mets and Braves
So it’s a rare treat to see the Mets and Phillies battling for the NL East lead in as New York faces the San Francisco Giants on “Sunday Night Baseball” this week. This season has also been a bit of bumpy ride for both teams, so there is pressure on both front offices to make trade deadline additions in hopes of winning the World Series that has eluded both franchises in recent years despite high payrolls and star-laden rosters. Let’s dig into what both teams need to do before Thursday.
The perfect trade deadline for the Mets
1. Bullpen help
The Mets already acquired hard-throwing lefty Gregory Soto from the Orioles, but David Stearns will likely look for another reliever, given that the Mets’ bullpen has struggled since the beginning of June with a 5.02 ERA. In my grade of the trade, I pointed out the importance for the Mets to add left-handed relief. Think of potential playoff opponents and all the key left-handed batters: Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper on the Phillies; Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Max Muncy on the Dodgers; Kyle Tucker, Michael Busch and Pete Crow-Armstrong on the Cubs.
Soto has held lefties to a .138 average this season, and it does help that the Mets have two lefty starters in David Peterson and Sean Manaea. They also just activated Brooks Raley after he had been out since early 2024. If he is back to his 2022-23 form, when he had a 2.74 ERA and held lefties to a .209 average, maybe the Mets will feel good enough about their southpaw relief.
They could still use another dependable righty reliever. Mets starters were hot early on, but they weren’t going deep into games, and outside of Peterson, the lack of longer outings is a big reason the bullpen ERA has skyrocketed. Carlos Mendoza has overworked his setup guys, including Huascar Brazoban and Reed Garrett. Brazoban has never been much of a strike thrower anyway, and Garrett similarly faded in the second half last season. Adding a high-leverage righty to set up Edwin Diaz makes sense. Candidates there include David Bednar of the Pirates, Ryan Helsley of the Cardinals, Griffin Jax or Jhoan Duran of the Twins, or maybe a longer shot such as Emmanuel Clase or Cade Smith of the Guardians.
2. Think big, as in Eugenio Suarez
Mark Vientos was a huge key to last season’s playoff appearance and trip to the NLCS, hitting .266/.322/.516 with 27 home runs after beginning the season in Triple-A. He hasn’t been able to replicate that performance, though, hitting .224/.279/.354. That has led to a revolving door at third base, with Vientos, Brett Baty and Ronny Mauricio starting games there in July. Overall, Mets third basemen ranked 24th in the majors in OPS entering Friday.
Lack of production at third is one reason the Mets’ offense has been mediocre rather than very good — they’re averaging 4.38 runs per game, just below the NL average of 4.43. They could use another premium bat, given the lack of production they’ve received from center field and catcher (not to mention Francisco Lindor‘s slump since the middle of June). Maybe Francisco Alvarez‘s short stint back in Triple-A will get his bat going now that he’s back in the majors, but going after Suarez to hit behind Juan Soto and Pete Alonso would lengthen the lineup.
3. Reacquire Harrison Bader to play CF
Tyrone Taylor is a plus defender in center and has made several incredible catches, but he’s hitting .209/.264/.306 for a lowly OPS+ of 65. Old friend Bader is having a nice season with the Twins, hitting .251/.330/.435. Maybe that’s a little over his head, given that he had a .657 OPS with the Mets last season, but he would still be an offensive upgrade over Taylor without losing anything on defense — and he wouldn’t cost a top-tier prospect. The Mets could still mix in Jeff McNeil against the really tough righties, but adding Suarez and Bader would give this lineup more of a championship feel.
The perfect deadline for the Phillies
1. Acquire Jhoan Duran
Like the Mets, the Phillies already made a move here, signing free agent David Robertson, who had a 3.00 ERA and 99 strikeouts in 72 innings last season with the Rangers. On paper, he should help, but he’s also 40 and will need a few games in the minors to get ready. Even with Robertson, the Phillies could use some more help here. They’ll eventually get Jose Alvarado back from his 60-game PED suspension, but Alvarado is ineligible for the postseason. At least the Mets have an elite closer in Edwin Diaz. Jordan Romano leads the Phillies with eight saves and has a 6.69 ERA. Matt Strahm is solid, but more useful as a lefty setup guy than a closer (think of all those left-handed batters we listed for the Mets, then sub out Juan Soto and Brandon Nimmo for Harper and Schwarber).
And the Phillies’ bullpen has consistently come up short in big games. Think back to last year’s NLDS, when Jeff Hoffman lost twice to the Mets. Or 2023, when Craig Kimbrel lost two games in the NLCS against the Diamondbacks. Or the 2022 World Series, when Yordan Alvarez hit the huge home run off Alvarado in the clinching Game 6.
So, yes, a shutdown closer is a must. Maybe that’s Bednar, maybe Clase if he’s available (although he struggled in last year’s postseason), maybe Helsley. But the guy Dave Dombrowski should go all-in to get: Duran. The window for the Phillies is slowly closing as the core players get older. Duran is under control through 2027, so he’s a fit for now and the immediate future. The trade cost might be painful, but with his 100 mph fastball and splitter, he has the elite stuff you need in October.
2. Add Ryan O’Hearn
The Phillies have received below-average production from both left field (mostly Max Kepler) and center field (Brandon Marsh/Johan Rojas platoon). The center-field market is pretty thin except for Bader or maybe a gamble on Luis Robert Jr. I’d pass on Robert, stick with the Marsh/Rojas platoon and upgrade left field with O’Hearn, who is hitting .281/.375/.452 for the Orioles. He isn’t the perfect fit since, like Kepler, he hits left-handed and struggles against lefties, but he’s a patient hitter with a much better OBP, and he’s passable in the outfield.
3. Acquire Willi Castro
Here’s the bottom line: The Phillies have to admit that some of their long-term position players aren’t getting the job done — such as second baseman Bryson Stott, who has a 77 OPS+. Third baseman Alec Bohm has been better but also has a below-average OPS.
That makes Castro a nice fit. He’s not a star, but he’s an above-average hitter, a switch-hitter who plays all over the field for the Twins, having started games at five different positions. He could play second or third or start in left field against a lefty. Philadelphia could even start him in center instead of Rojas, although that would be a defensive hit. Bottom line: Castro would give the Phillies a lot more versatility — or a significant offensive upgrade over Stott if they start him every day at second.
Note as well: Stott has hit .188 in 33 career postseason games. Bohm has hit .214 with two home runs in 34 postseason games. The Phillies need a different offensive look for October.
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Buster Olney
It would be ideal if every MLB team were so desperate to win that they would do whatever it takes. But in an industry with so many variables from team to team — roster composition, payroll commitment, market size, owner ambition, fan rabidity and history — some organizations are willing to go further and do more than others.
The New York Mets paid more in luxury taxes last season ($97 million) than the Pittsburgh Pirates have dedicated to payroll this season, and Pittsburgh could attempt to reduce salary commitments even further at this year’s trade deadline.
Some teams are more desperate than others. As we near the July 31 deadline, we present the teams most desperate to make a deal.
New York played in the World Series last year, and in a lot of markets, that might be enough to satisfy a fan base. But not with the Yankees, whose most faithful fans judge them under the George Steinbrenner Doctrine: If you don’t win the World Series, you’ve had a bad year. This is a constant.
The Yankees could return to where they were last October. The 33-year-old Aaron Judge, one of the most dynamic hitters ever, is having another historic season. New York wants to take advantage of that — particularly because the American League is wide open with as many as seven or eight AL teams having reasonable paths to the World Series.
But the Yankees still have distinct holes. They badly need an upgrade at third base, which someone like Eugenio Suarez could fill. Gerrit Cole and Clarke Schmidt suffered season-ending elbow injuries, leaving a need for another experienced starting pitcher. Their bullpen also needs help in the sixth and seventh innings.
After the departure of Juan Soto, Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner and general manager Brian Cashman are probably under more pressure to do something this season than any of their peers. What else is new?
It’s remarkable how similar this version of the Phillies is to the teams that president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski constructed in Detroit, with Philadelphia’s strong starting pitching (Zack Wheeler and Cristopher Sanchez playing the roles of Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer) and a lineup of sluggers (Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper as Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder).
The major question that hangs over this Philadelphia team, as was the case with those Tigers teams, is about the bullpen: Is there enough depth and power? For the Phillies, that is complicated by the situation with lefty Jose Alvarado, who will return in August from his 80-game suspension under the PED policy but not be eligible for the postseason.
The Phillies paid heavily for free agent reliever David Robertson, giving him the equivalent of a $16 million salary for the rest of the regular season, but they could use another reliever who is adept at shutting down high-end right-handed hitters in the postseason.
On the days Tarik Skubal pitches, the Tigers could be the best team in baseball; it’s possible that in the postseason, he could be his generation’s version of Orel Hershiser or Madison Bumgarner, propelling his team through round after round of playoffs to the World Series.
But the Tigers might have Skubal for only the rest of this year and next season, before he, advised by his agent Scott Boras, heads into free agency and becomes maybe the first $400 million pitcher in history.
Now is the time for Detroit to make a push for its first championship in more than four decades. And for Scott Harris, the team’s president of baseball operations, that means adding a couple of high-impact relievers capable of generating a lot of swing-and-misses.
The Mariners showed they are serious about making moves before this deadline with Thursday’s trade for first baseman Josh Naylor.
The last time the Mariners reached the league championship series, Ichiro Suzuki — who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame this weekend — was a rookie. Edgar Martinez was a 38-year-old designated hitter, and Jamie Moyer and Freddy Garcia were the staff aces. You get the point: It has been a really long time since the Mariners have had postseason success, and the team has never reached the World Series.
An opportunity seems to be developing for Seattle. The talented rotation, hammered by injuries in the first months of this season, could be whole for the stretch run. Cal Raleigh is having the greatest season by a catcher, contending with Judge for the AL MVP Award. Julio Rodriguez has generally been a strong second-half player.
Even ownership seems inspired: After a winter in which the Mariners spent almost nothing to upgrade the roster, other teams report that Seattle could absorb money in trades before the deadline.
5. New York Mets
Owner Steve Cohen doesn’t sport the highest payroll this year — the Dodgers’ Mark Walter is wearing that distinction — but the Mets are well over the luxury tax threshold again, in the first season after signing Juan Soto. Cohen has made it clear that generally, he will do what it takes to land the club’s first championship trophy since 1986.
But that does not include preventing David Stearns, the Mets’ respected president of baseball operations, from doing what he does best — making subtle and effective deals at the trade deadline. Rival execs expect that Stearns will work along the same lines he did last year — finding trades that improve the team’s depth without pillaging its growing farm system. That could mean adding a starting pitcher capable of starting Game 1, 2 or 3 of a postseason series, as well as bullpen depth.
Cohen is experiencing the impact of overseeing a front office that made an impetuous win-now trade at the 2021 deadline, when the Mets swapped a minor leaguer named Pete Crow-Armstrong for two months of Javier Baez. That clearly didn’t pan out for them. Cohen is desperate to win, but within the prescribed guardrails.
Last winter, the Padres had to live with the knowledge that they were probably the best team other than the Dodgers and that they came within a win of knocking out L.A. There is a lot about San Diego’s 2025 roster to like: Manny Machado clearly responds to a big stage, and the bullpen could be the most dominant at a time of year when relief corps often decide championships.
However, as Padres general manager A.J. Preller navigates this trade deadline in the hopes of living out late owner Peter Seidler’s dream of winning San Diego’s first World Series title, he has a relatively thin, aging, top-heavy roster with a lot of significant payroll obligations. This is why the Padres are considering trading Dylan Cease, who is potentially the highest-impact starter available on the market. Preller could move Cease to fill other roster needs, current and future ones, and then deal for a cheaper veteran starter to replace him.
“He’ll have to rob Peter to pay Paul,” one of Preller’s peers said.
Hope has emerged after the team’s all-in, $500 million signing of Vladimir Guerrero Jr., with the Blue Jays taking the lead in the AL East.
Toronto’s rotation is comprised of an older group — 34-year-old Kevin Gausman, 36-year-old Chris Bassitt, 40-year-old Max Scherzer and 31-year-old Jose Berrios. Without a clear favorite in the AL, Toronto could break through for its first title since the Jays went back-to-back in 1992-93 — and in just the second season since the club’s expensive renovations of Rogers Centre were completed. When Alex Anthopoulos led the front office a decade ago, he made an all-in push to get the Jays back into the playoffs, adding players like David Price because he believed this was the right time for them to take their shot — and they came very close to getting back to the World Series.
Reportedly, Mark Shapiro — the team’s incoming president at the time — did not approve of Anthopoulos’ strategy. Now, Shapiro’s Blue Jays are in a similar situation in 2025 to where they were under Anthopoulos: Will they wheel and deal aggressively before the deadline, or will they be conservative?
The Dodgers won the World Series in 2024, after taking the title in the shortened season of 2020. So, if they don’t win a championship this year, it’s not as if a bunch of people are getting fired and the roster will be jettisoned. But winning can be intoxicating, especially when the lineup and rotation are loaded with stars: The Dodgers can envision a postseason in which a starting staff of Shohei Ohtani, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto could propel the team to a second consecutive title.
But the Dodgers’ bullpen — heavily worked in the first months of this season because of injuries to the rotation — is in tatters due to injuries. Will the Dodgers’ push to become the first team to repeat as champions since the 1998-2000 Yankees drive them to swap valuable prospects for needed bullpen help before the deadline? We’re about to find out.
This is a team very well-suited for the postseason: The Cubs are a strong defensive team; they have a deep lineup around Kyle Tucker, in what might be Tucker’s only season in Chicago; and they put the ball in play.
They’ve got a good farm system, as well as an experienced president of baseball operations in Jed Hoyer. He was part of championships in Boston in 2004 and 2007 and was the Cubs’ general manager for their 2016 title. He and Theo Epstein made the Nomar Garciaparra deal at the trade deadline in 2004, in advance of Boston’s breakthrough title in 2004, and the all-in trade for Aroldis Chapman on the way to the Cubs’ first World Series win in 108 years in 2016.
But the X factor for Chicago in recent years is whether ownership operates with the same desperation — in the way that Astros owner Jim Crane did when he pushed through a Justin Verlander trade for Houston in August 2017.
This seems to be a good time for the Cubs to be desperate, to do anything to win another championship. Will a title be a priority for owner Tom Ricketts?
NEW YORK — Philadelphia Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber topped Mark McGwire for most home runs among a player’s first 1,000 hits, hitting long ball No. 319 during Friday night’s 12-5 victory over the New York Yankees.
“I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not,” Schwarber said.
Ten days after lifting the National League to victory in the first All-Star Game swing-off, Schwarber keeps going deep. He hit a pair of two-run homers Friday night, with the first drive, his milestone hit, starting the comeback from a 2-0 deficit. He got the ball back after it was grabbed by a Phillies fan attending with his friends in Yankee Stadium’s right-center-field seats.
“I saw it on the video and then I see the dude tugging,” Schwarber said. “I’m like: ‘Oh, they all got Philly stuff on.’ That was cool.”
He met the trio after the game, gave an autographed ball to each and exchanged hugs. When he went to get a third ball to autograph, one of the three said he just wanted the potential free agent to re-sign with the Phillies.
“You show up to the field every single day trying to get a win at the end of the day, and I think our fans kind of latch on to that, right?” Schwarber said. “It’s been fantastic these last 3½ years, four years now. The support that we get from our fans and it means a lot to me that, you know, that they attach themselves to our team.”
Schwarber tied it at 2-2 in the fifth against Will Warren when he hit a 413-foot drive on a first-pitch fastball.
After J.T. Realmuto‘s three-run homer off Luke Weaver built a 6-3 lead in a four-run seventh and the Yankees closed within a run in the bottom half, Schwarber sent an Ian Hamilton fastball 380 feet into the right-field seats.
Schwarber reached 1,000 hits with eight more homers than McGwire. Schwarber has 36 homers this year, three shy of major league leader Cal Raleigh, and six homers in seven games since he was voted All-Star MVP. He has 33 multihomer games.
“I don’t know where we’d be without him,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “Comes up with big hit after big hit after big hit. It’s just — it’s amazing.”
Schwarber, 32, is eligible for free agency this fall after completing a four-year, $79 million contract. He homered on all three of his swings in the All-Star Game tiebreaker, and when the second half began, Phillies managing partner John Middleton proclaimed: “We love him. We want to keep him.”
“He’s been an incredible force all season long,” Realmuto said. “What he’s meant to his team, his offense, it’s hard to put in words.”
A World Series champion for the 2016 Chicago Cubs, Schwarber has reached 35 homers in all four seasons with the Phillies. He’s batting .255 with 82 RBIs and a .960 OPS.
He also has almost as many home runs as singles (46).
Schwarber had not been aware he topped McGwire for most homers among 1,000 hits.
“I had no clue. I didn’t even know it was my 1,000th, to be honest with you,” he said.
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