‘A decade of disaster’: As Ohtani’s free agency looms, Arte’s Angels at crossroads
-
Alden Gonzalez, ESPN Staff Writer
ANAHEIM, Calif. — It’s Aug. 7, the day of his 32nd birthday, and Mike Trout finds himself in a race against time.
He wears a backward cap and a red Los Angeles Angels tank top and sprints along the basepaths at 2 o’clock on a bright, sweltering Monday afternoon, doing his best to simulate game action on an otherwise empty field. Trout has spent the better part of a month doing everything possible to beat the six-to-eight-week timetable that has become a standard-bearer for hamate fractures, pushing the limits of his rehab in hopes of returning before an entire season — another one — slips away. Playing in pain is inevitable.
“I know I’m gonna be hurtin’,” he says after a quick break, beads of sweat dripping off his forehead. “But once it’s tolerable, I’m gonna go out there.”
There is a palpable sense of urgency that surrounds the Angels this year, perhaps unlike any other before it. As if time is running out. As if what’s next is too unnerving to confront. As if an ominous tipping point has been reached.
It’s hard not to consider Arte Moreno’s place in all of it. The latter half of his two-decade-plus reign as the Angels’ owner has been marked by impulsive decisions that, when coupled with bad drafts and poor acquisitions by his general managers, compromised sustainability and helped squander the prime years of two of baseball’s defining figures, according to more than a dozen people employed by him in various capacities during that stretch. His competitiveness has been admired, but many believe it has also hindered. And his actions over the past 12 months — a period in which he invested in the present more heavily than ever before, all while entertaining the sale of his franchise and the potential trade of its most valuable asset — have only raised the stakes.
In hopes of capitalizing on what could be their final season with Shohei Ohtani, and persuading him to stay in the process, Moreno’s Angels put everything they have into 2023. They vaulted their payroll to new heights, promoted their best prospects aggressively, shed what little they had from a thin farm system in order to augment an ailing roster — and then they watched it unravel too quickly.
The decision not to trade Ohtani before the Aug. 1 deadline has been followed by 13 losses in a stretch of 18 games, including a seven-game losing streak, dropping the Angels’ playoff odds below 1%. Barring a late-season resurgence that would go down as one of the greatest in at least half a century, the Angels — now 61-64 and nine games out of the final wild-card spot — are poised for their 13th playoff absence in 14 years, an unfathomable predicament considering the transcendent talents they’ve employed in that stretch.
In the words of one longtime staffer: “It’s been a decade of disaster.”
And the next phase is appreciably murky. The manager is on an expiring contract, the general manager’s status feels unsettled and nobody seems to know how long Moreno will remain in charge. The forthcoming free agency of a transcendent, unprecedented two-way star — one who provided no insight toward his leanings in multiple media availabilities before and after the trade deadline — hangs over all of it.
As another season nears its conclusion, Moreno and his Angels find themselves in what feels like an exceedingly vulnerable predicament — bring Ohtani back, or fade into irrelevance.
“There’s a lot of questions,” Trout said. “The whole Shohei situation — I don’t think anybody knows what he’s feeling or what he’s thinking. It’s ultimately gonna come down to what he thinks and what he feels, and he’s gonna do what’s right for him and what he feels is right. I see him on a daily basis, obviously. He’s coming in every day. He looks like he’s enjoying it and feels comfortable. But I don’t know. It’s gonna be a tough go this winter. You never know what’s gonna happen. There’s gonna be a lot of teams out there wanting him. Who wouldn’t?
“But you can’t predict what’s gonna happen in the future. You just gotta look at what’s in front of you.”
“NOW IS THE TIME,” read part of Moreno’s statement announcing that he was exploring a sale of the Angels on Aug. 23, 2022. As the process went along, a record price became a near-certainty. Potential buyers were told not to proceed if they weren’t prepared to pay at least $2.5 billion, slightly more than what Steve Cohen bought the New York Mets for in 2020. Five bidders were ready to pay at least that much, including investors from Japan, said sources with knowledge of the situation.
On the morning of Jan. 23, a little more than two weeks before bids were due, they were each told the team was off the market, a shocking twist in a five-month ordeal that saw some of the world’s wealthiest people navigate the daunting logistics of sports ownership.
Moreno, a devoted baseball fan who had presided over the franchise for 20 seasons up to that point, admitted during a spring training media availability that he “started to get cold feet.”
“It’s like the more he talked up the team and tried to sell others on it,” a source familiar with the process said, “the more he sold himself on his own product.”
The son of Mexican immigrants who returned from the Vietnam War to run a billboard company that turned him into a billionaire, Moreno completed his purchase of the Angels in 2003, following the team’s unlikely championship. He lowered beer prices, signed Bartolo Colon and Vladimir Guerrero Sr. and watched as the Angels won five division titles in a six-year stretch. He was celebrated throughout Orange County. In the 13 years that followed, the Angels failed to win a single playoff game, their only appearance resulting in a first-round sweep at the hands of the Kansas City Royals in 2014. Twenty-seven teams clinched at least two postseason berths from 2010 to 2022; the Angels were not one of them.
Moreno, who employed five different managers and five different general managers during that stretch, has seemingly shouldered most of that blame. His adoration for stars helped turn the Angels into a franchise that resonated on a more national level. But numerous players, coaches and executives previously employed by the team believe his heavy-handedness in baseball operations and aggressive cost-cutting in other areas helped create an exceedingly small margin of error on a yearly basis, making the Angels overly reliant on superstar performances from a handful of players in a sport that requires depth.
He has been criticized for targeting mega-contracts that quickly became problematic — particularly those of Vernon Wells, Albert Pujols, Josh Hamilton and Anthony Rendon, the latter three of which came with the loss of draft picks — and then declining to exceed the luxury tax threshold in an effort to make up for it. He has been criticized for not paying enough attention to the infrastructure that helps organizations develop talent through minor league systems, part of the reason the Angels’ farm system has ranked within the bottom eight in the industry by Baseball America seven out of the past 10 years. And he has been criticized for continually cutting costs in many of the behind-the-scenes aspects that would help maximize expensive rosters, from analytics to training resources to staffing hires — an approach one former pitcher described as “buying a McLaren and taking it to Jiffy Lube.”
Under Moreno’s stewardship, the Angels have often existed in what amounts to baseball purgatory: definitely not resetting, but probably not doing enough to truly contend.
“He’s very competitive to his detriment at times,” a former Angels executive said. “Has anyone ever been able to convince [him] of a direction to that goal?”
Moreno and the Angels didn’t respond to an initial interview request for this story, or to specific follow-up questions based on these comments and the uncertainty of his ownership plans.
Moreno’s GM hirings, all of them first-timers when they got the job, are also to blame. The Angels drafted 321 players under former GMs Jerry Dipoto and Billy Eppler from 2012 to 2020, and only one — David Fletcher, currently toiling in the minor leagues — has produced at least 10 Baseball-Reference wins above replacement in the major leagues. Their starting pitcher acquisitions, most of them through free agency, were at least as underwhelming; the Angels’ rotation had the lowest FanGraphs WAR in the majors from 2015 to 2020.
Those who defend Moreno will point out that he consistently spends more on players than two-thirds of Major League Baseball’s owners and that he has not stripped the roster bare in an effort to rebuild and cut costs. In recent years, Moreno has also agreed to invest more heavily in analytics. Ohtani, who didn’t emerge as a two-way force until 2021, and Trout, who has played in only 236 of his team’s 449 games since then, haven’t necessarily matched up their primes, either.
But the Angels’ streak of consecutive losing seasons extends to seven. And they’re on pace to set a franchise record with their eighth in a row in 2023, after which there are questions at the highest level.
“The big concern is with Arte and not knowing what they’re doing at the top,” a person close to the team said. “Is this a year-by-year thing? Is it five years? That’s the No. 1 concern right there.”
Moreno turned 77 on Aug. 14. His children are not believed to be interested in inheriting the franchise. There’s no consensus about what’s next. Some close to Moreno believe he might consider selling the team again if the season continues to spiral and Ohtani heads elsewhere this offseason. Others think that he might take on a minority owner whose stake in the franchise increases over time, a proposition a source said he dismissed earlier this year. Or that he’s waiting to finally strike a deal for the ballpark and its surrounding land, agreements the City of Anaheim walked away from twice in the span of a decade. Or that he’ll continue to own the Angels in perpetuity.
“He’s a very, very complicated guy,” a longtime business associate said. “My sense is he’s going to hold onto it for at least a couple more years, but I don’t know that anybody really knows.”
MORENO HAS BUILT a reputation among rival executives for being impulsive, the opportunities for major deals with the Angels at times fleeting because of it. And so as this year’s trade deadline approached, GMs throughout the sport were preparing as if they needed to act on any potential trade for Ohtani quickly — under the impression, two people in talks with the Angels said, that relatively small events could alter the dynamic in one direction or the other.
With a little more than two weeks remaining until the trade deadline, the Angels were reeling. They lost nine of 10 to fall below .500 heading into the All-Star break, a stretch that saw Trout and Rendon suffer serious injuries. Then they proceeded to lose two of three to the Houston Astros to begin the second half, at which point the trade rumors involving Ohtani had reached a fever pitch.
The popular sentiment throughout the industry had been that Moreno would not trade Ohtani, citing his reluctance to do so last summer, at a time the Angels would have received possibly the biggest return package in history. But after the All-Star break came and went, some of those familiar with the Angels’ thinking had begun to believe that Moreno — and, by extension, his latest GM, Perry Minasian — would be open to a trade if the losses continued to pile up and the right package presented itself.
Teams checked in to gauge interest and throw names around early in the second half and were told to wait.
Instead, Michael Stefanic, an undrafted player who originally signed for nothing, might have changed the course of baseball history.
When Stefanic was summoned as a pinch hitter in the 10th inning of a tied game on the night of July 17, with two outs and the winning run on second base, he was a 27-year-old who had accumulated just 80 plate appearances in the major leagues. He grew up in Boise, Idaho, as an avid fan of the Boston Red Sox, and his ensuing walk-off single against his hated New York Yankees marked a turning point.
On the heels of Stefanic’s heroics, the Angels swept the Yankees and won six times in a stretch of seven games leading up to July 26, putting them only four games back of a playoff spot (though their odds of getting there were just 16.7%).
Within the Angels, a source familiar with the process said, there had been talks of letting the final full week before the trade deadline play out, through stops in Detroit and Toronto, before reaching a decision. Doing so, at least, would have provided the front office with an opportunity to maximize its time and gauge how the Angels perform against a team they were chasing in the wild-card standings. But Moreno clearly didn’t need to see much else.
Ohtani was officially pulled off the trade market in the middle of that stretch. Some of those high up in the front office were not aware of the development until it circulated in the media, sources said, a sign of the lack of synergy that has come to define this franchise over the last decade-plus. The decision was widely believed to have been driven by Moreno, though ownership involvement is commonplace with players of that magnitude.
Pundits scolded the Angels for their shortsightedness, but the decision to keep Ohtani and add to the current roster — within hours, the Angels acquired two high-end pitchers, starter Lucas Giolito and reliever Reynaldo Lopez, from the Chicago White Sox — was widely celebrated within the clubhouse. Especially, it seems, by Ohtani. The next day, after twirling a shutout against the Detroit Tigers in Game 1 of a doubleheader and homering twice in Game 2, Ohtani noted through his interpreter that it was “the first time in my six years that we’ve been buyers” before the trade deadline.
But he remained coy about how that might impact his free agency.
“In season, I don’t really think about the long-term stuff,” Ohtani told reporters in Detroit. “Just focus on this season and every game that’s in front of me. Obviously, I’ve been with the Angels my whole career. I love the fans. I love the team. No complaints. I just want to finish the season strong for the fans and everyone that is cheering for me.”
“I feel like it was more peace of mind for Shohei,” Angels closer Carlos Estevez said in Spanish. “He didn’t know what was going to happen. Although he might seem like a robot, he’s a baseball player just like the rest of us.”
Three days later, during a flight from Toronto to Atlanta, the team’s charter was buzzing about another potential deal, later learned to be the acquisition of C.J. Cron and Randal Grichuk from the Colorado Rockies. Ohtani in particular seemed animated, according to one staffer on board.
To that person, it served as a rare glimmer of hope for the Angels’ future — a sign that maybe showing Ohtani they’ll do whatever it takes will go a long way toward swaying him to stay.
“He’s a competitor,” Angels starting pitcher Patrick Sandoval said. “He wants to win, just like everybody else in here. The fact that we’re buyers at the deadline and having the front office’s support — because they could’ve easily cashed it in and got us some prospects for the future. But the way that they did it, we’re f—ing pumped about it. Yeah, that goes a long way.”
THE REST OF THE INDUSTRY might scoff at them, but Moreno and the Angels appear to believe they have a legitimate chance at keeping Ohtani. They believe he’s comfortable in Orange County, that he recognizes the autonomy he has been granted and that he appreciates how Minasian fostered his two-way prowess by shedding prior restrictions and believing in his talent, even when injuries and struggles made others skeptical. At some point in the near future, Moreno is expected to offer Ohtani and his CAA agent, Nez Balelo, a massive contract extension in hopes that they will eschew lucrative offers from a variety of suitors this winter, including the crosstown-rival Los Angeles Dodgers.
Every team wants Ohtani.
The Angels, more so than anyone else, seemingly need him.
Their farm system is once again devoid of high-impact talent and their major league roster possesses some glaring pitfalls, most notably Rendon, who has played in less than 35% of the Angels’ games over the past three years and is owed $114 million over the next three years. Trout, recently plagued by calf, back and hand injuries, hasn’t played a full season since 2016 and is signed through 2030. There’s a thought that adding an Ohtani contract, expected to be worth at least $500 million, would only make it harder for the Angels to win moving forward.
But what, exactly, are they without him?
“I understand the sentiment of, ‘Sell everything, rebuild,’ all those types of things,” Minasian said. “I understand that. But when you have a special player, who I don’t know if we’ll ever see again, having a special season, when you have a team around him performing, keeping their head above water with a chance to win every night — I feel like the team deserved a chance to win. And I think there’s real value in that, especially for our younger players.”
The Angels increased their payroll to nearly $215 million on Opening Day, nearly a 15% increase from the previous franchise record. Zach Neto, their 2022 first-round pick, was called up as the everyday shortstop in April after just 44 minor league games. Nolan Schanuel, their 2023 first-round pick, was called up to fill in at first base in August after 21 minor league games. Ben Joyce and Sam Bachman, pitching prospects taken within the last two drafts, were brought up to help in the bullpen. When injuries began to take a toll on their infield in late June, Mike Moustakas and Eduardo Escobar were acquired via trade. In late July, Grichuk and Cron were brought in to replace Taylor Ward, who had been struck in the face by a fastball, and provide Ohtani with some much-needed protection in the lineup.
For those additions, the Angels shed seven prospects from a system that began the season ranked 26th in the majors by ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel, including their two best ones, Ky Bush and Edgar Quero. There’s good news and bad news to that: Scouts don’t believe the Angels gave up anybody who has much of a chance to become an impact player, but that’s because they don’t have those players in their system to begin with. Trading Ohtani could have infused the Angels with some much-needed young talent. Instead they face the possibility of getting only a compensatory draft pick for the most unique player in baseball history.
At some point, they — or, perhaps, just Moreno — realized it was even worse to never let it play out.
“Other stars have left, other teams have gotten draft picks — they don’t fold the franchise,” Minasian said. “You can recover from that. That being said, we wanted to give ourselves the best chance to have a successful season and play meaningful games in September and hopefully get to October.”
And so every loss feels like a gut punch, every win a temporary reprieve from despondency. It has been six years since the Angels were even relevant for the stretch run of a regular season, which is why simply keeping pace into September is so important. By that point, their schedule will soften, Trout will be back and the thought was that perhaps the Angels might have an outside shot.
But the odds feel continually more daunting. Over the last 50 years, only three teams — the 2011 St. Louis Cardinals, 2011 Tampa Bay Rays and the 1974 Baltimore Orioles — have overcome at least an eight-game deficit with no more than 37 games remaining to make the playoffs, according to research from the Elias Sports Bureau. The Angels would have to do so while jumping three teams.
The past nine months or so have seen Moreno reverse course on old habits that previously set the franchise back, specifically spreading his money out on quality depth pieces in free agency, rather than splurging on one star, and then agreeing to exceed the luxury tax threshold in order to make additions at midseason. In that time, a stable of young players have developed into formidable big leaguers, namely Neto, Logan O’Hoppe, Mickey Moniak and Reid Detmers, a circumstance Minasian points to as a reason to be optimistic about the future.
But Ohtani’s free agency beckons.
“I’m trying not to look ahead like that,” Trout said, “but it’s gonna become a reality, obviously, in the offseason when that last game is played and he becomes a free agent. I haven’t really thought about what it’s gonna be like without him because I hope he comes back.”
The second round of the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs has passed the midway point, with all but one series through Game 4.
What have been the biggest lessons learned through the first part of the second round? Which teams and players have surprised (in either a good or bad way)? How will all of it matter when it comes to the rest of the postseason?
ESPN reporters Ryan S. Clark, Kristen Shilton and Greg Wyshynski break it all down:
Could a recent playoff trend be a good omen for the Stars?
Of course, there’s still quite a bit that can change in the Winnipeg Jets–Dallas Stars series. But let’s just say that the Stars go on to win the series and advance to the Western Conference finals. It would be their third consecutive conference finals appearance, and their fourth visit since 2020. While they have yet to win the Stanley Cup during that window, does that level of consistency make them the preeminent team in the West?
There’s no shortage of challengers, with the Vegas Golden Knights winning the Cup in 2023, and the Edmonton Oilers coming within a game of doing so last season. If Dallas makes it to the next round, it will face one of those two.
But what makes the Stars’ situation one worth contextualizing is how it compares to other teams’ since the NHL moved to the Eastern/Western format in 1994. Beating the Jets and getting to a third straight conference finals would make the Stars just the fourth team under the current format to earn that distinction. The Detroit Red Wings did it first (from 1995 through 1998) and won two Stanley Cups. They did it again from 2007 through 2009, winning another title in 2008.
The most recent team was the Chicago Blackhawks, who did it from 2013 through 2015 and won two Cups. — Clark
Toronto needs a new tactic
The Maple Leafs looked like fish out of water in Game 4 against the Florida Panthers, a brutal 2-0 shutout loss in which the reigning Stanley Cup champions were in top form. Florida smothered Toronto with sustained offensive zone pressure, leading the Leafs to take multiple penalties and generally kill any ounce of momentum they tried to generate.
If it weren’t for a stellar (wasted) performance from goaltender Joseph Woll, the final score would have been a blowout, because Toronto had no answers for Florida’s heat.
0:52
Sam Bennett nets goal to double Panthers’ lead
Sam Bennett’s goal gives the Panthers a 2-0 lead halfway throughout the third period.
Unlike earlier in the series, when the Leafs were capitalizing on rush chances and literally spinning Sergei Bobrovsky in circles, the Panthers battened down the hatches to keep Toronto on the outside while boxing out better in front of Bobrovsky. If they can maintain that, and the Leafs can’t make adjustments, the Panthers are looking at a third straight Eastern Conference finals appearance.
Should Toronto want to make one of its own, it’s time to make some changes, and for its top skaters to step up. Mitch Marner doesn’t have a shot on goal since he scored the winner in Game 2. Auston Matthews doesn’t have a goal yet in the second round and hasn’t registered one against Florida in nine career postseason tilts.
Toronto coach Craig Berube said after Sunday’s loss that there are players the Leafs need more from — no names required. It’s clear. Both teams have owned home ice in the series so far. Toronto has that advantage still as this one becomes a best-of-three. The question is, what sort of counterpunch will the Leafs throw now that Florida’s claws are out and sharpened? — Shilton
Can Hellebuyck be trusted for the Olympics?
The first question Team USA’s brain trust will need to answer before the 2026 Winter Olympic men’s hockey tournament: Are the contests in Milan considered home games or road games? Because the answer could determine its starting goaltender.
At this point, Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck‘s struggles on the road in the Stanley Cup playoffs have reached the point of absurdity. He has won the Vezina Trophy twice in his career and will win it again this season. He’s a finalist for the Hart (MVP). There isn’t much debate, statistically or anecdotally, that he’s the best goaltender in the world … in the regular season.
In his past 20 playoff games, Hellebuyck is 7-13 with a .866 save percentage and a 3.90 goals-against average. The balance of those putrid numbers have come on the road, where Hellebuyck has lost eight of his past nine starts with an .835 SP and a 5.20 GAA.
After the first round of the playoffs against the St. Louis Blues, the bar for Hellebuyck was set at “can he get through a road game without being pulled?” The good news in Game 3 against Dallas is that he cleared that bar. The bad news is that he lost again and wasn’t very good, letting in a fluttering Roope Hintz shot for Dallas’ first goal, and then scoring what the NHL ruled was an own goal on Alex Petrovic‘s kicked puck in the third.
“He had to make some big stops. Him and [Dallas goalie Jake] Oettinger, they were going kind of toe to toe,” Jets coach Scott Arniel said after the game. “But we’re going to be judged — not just Connor — by what happens on the road. We’ve got to win.”
Oettinger, by contrast, is 12-11 with a .909 SP and a 2.63 GAA in his past 23 road playoff games. That’s not great, but it certainly isn’t getting pulled three times in the first round, either.
The U.S. has a deep goalie pool, but Oettinger is seemingly the next man up, having served as Hellebuyck’s backup at the 4 Nations Face-Off in February. His play in this series and in other clutch moments — like the Stars’ Game 7 win against Colorado in Round 1 — should spark a conversation about the American’s Olympic starter, given Hellebuyck’s struggles when the games matter most.
However, it should be noted that Hellebuyck was outstanding at 4 Nations, with a 1.59 GAA and .932 SA in three games. Which begs the question: Perhaps you can trust him more playing in back of an All-Star team rather than the Winnipeg Jets, no matter where the games are played? — Wyshynski
The depth that has given the Oilers life could be the death of the Golden Knights
Seeing Adam Henrique score the first two goals in Game 4 before Evander Kane scored another did more than stake the Oilers to a 3-0 victory that now has them a win away from a second consecutive Western Conference finals appearance. It once again reinforced how the Oilers can rely on a level of depth that, by comparison, is lacking for the Golden Knights.
The statistic that has made that most clear is how the Oilers’ generational duo of Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid have combined to score just three of their team’s 15 goals. Draisaitl scored in Game 1, but the rest of those contributions, including the game winner, came from elsewhere in the lineup. Draisaitl did score the game winner in Game 2, but the previous four goals were scored by his teammates. In Game 3, Corey Perry scored the first two goals.
Now compare that to the Golden Knights. The trio of Ivan Barbashev, Tomas Hertl and Brett Howden combined to score 78 regular-season goals. They have been goalless through the first four games of their series against the Oilers. Vegas’ six primary defensemen combined to score 35 regular-season goals, with 17 of them belonging to Noah Hanifin and Shea Theodore. The group has only one goal in the series.
It’s a lack of scoring depth that has been further compounded by the fact that Jack Eichel, who led the Golden Knights with 94 points in the regular season, hasn’t scored in the series. Meanwhile, leading goal scorer Pavel Dorofeyev, who missed the first two games with an injury, has also been blanked since his return. — Clark
Own goals for everyone?
Fans love seeing goals scored as much as players enjoy scoring them — except when it’s on their own net. And we’ve seen some doozies in that latter category this round.
There was the own goal in Game 3 between Dallas and Winnipeg on Sunday, when Petrovic’s go-ahead goal was found (after a lengthy official review) to have gone off Hellebuyck’s stick into the net. The night before, it was Draisaitl’s stick that put a puck past Stuart Skinner to give Vegas a buzzer-beating goal (with 0.4 seconds left on the clock) and its first win of the series.
1:07
Golden Knights stun Oilers with Reilly Smith’s buzzer-beating goal
Reilly Smith scores a miraculous goal for the Golden Knights with 0.4 remaining to give them the win.
Morgan Rielly‘s stick guided a puck in past Woll in Game 3 of Toronto’s series against Florida to cut into the Leafs’ 2-1 advantage. Toronto eventually lost 5-4 in overtime.
It’s not like there’s a good moment to score on your own net, but could the timing on any of them have been worse? If you’ve ever wondered why “just put pucks on net” is a time-honored hockey cliché, here’s your answer: Because anything can happen. — Shilton
Coaching in his 10th postseason, Dallas Stars coach Pete DeBoer has witnessed some startling individual playoff performances from his players. Like Ilya Kovalchuk‘s 19 points in 23 games for the Devils in 2012. Or Joe Pavelski‘s 14 goals in 24 games for the Sharks in 2016.
But nothing like the postseason that Rantanen is putting together for the Stars.
“It’s the best performance I’ve gotten to witness, standing where I’m standing,” DeBoer said after Dallas’ Game 3 win. “But for me, he’s just getting started. He’s just warming up here. I think he’s on a mission.”
Through 10 games, Rantanen leads the playoffs in goals (nine) and points (18). At one point, he had scored or assisted on 15 of 16 goals for the Stars, dating back to the first round. He’s the first player in Stanley Cup playoffs history with five three-point games through a team’s first 10 playoff games.
“Huge pickup at the deadline. He’s been awesome for us,” defenseman Alexander Petrovic said. “He’s a great guy in the room. He’s been on a tear.”
1:07
Steve Levy to McAfee: We should be talking more about Mikko Rantanen, Stars
Steve Levy joins Pat McAfee and breaks down Mikko Rantanen’s hot play in the postseason for the Stars.
He has done all of this after a turbulent season in which he was traded twice — from Colorado to Carolina and then to Dallas — before signing a blockbuster extension with the Stars. He has answered questions about his offensive prowess without having the benefit of Nathan MacKinnon on his team. He entered the playoffs as one of the NHL’s best postseason scorers of the past several seasons. He has blown away those expectations and is the current leader for the Conn Smythe Trophy (postseason MVP).
Yet though all of this torrid scoring recently, the Jets blanked him in their Game 2 shutout in Winnipeg.
“The biggest thing is time and space,” Arniel said. “I know that you hear that a lot in hockey, but at the end of the day, the more he holds onto it, the more he’s comfortable, the harder it is to deny what he’s trying to do next.”
But The Moose was back on the loose in the Stars’ Game 3 win, with a goal and two assists.
“I’m trying to stay in the moment. I’m happy to help the team and try to keep doing that as much as I can, both ends of the ice,” Rantanen said.
It’s certainly Mikko Rantanen’s moment. — Wyshynski
Ovechkin, Perry defying Father Time
Corey Perry will turn 40 on Friday, while Alex Ovechkin will hit that milestone in September. Perry and Ovechkin are part of a five-member group of players age 39 or older who have played more than one game this postseason. But to suggest Ovechkin and Perry are each having strong postseason campaigns for players their age only partially explains what they have done so far.
In fact, they’re having two of the best postseason campaigns for two players in their age-39 season in NHL history.
Perry, a Stanley Cup winner who ranks 38th in career playoff goals, has scored five times this postseason. Ovechkin, a fellow Stanley Cup winner who is tied with Mario Lemieux for 12th in playoff goals, has four. They’re both within striking distance of the most playoff goals in an age-39 season, per Quant Hockey. That mark is currently held by Jean Béliveau, with Le Gros Bill scoring six goals in 1971. — Clark
But have the Hurricanes solved Ovi?
Some might accuse Ovechkin’s game of being increasingly “one note.” But when played right, it’s a damn good note. And right now, the Washington Capitals are desperate for more of his contributions to their orchestra, at least at even strength.
Ovechkin’s line has been stifled by Carolina’s defense — namely Jaccob Slavin and Brent Burns — so far in the series, and they’ve had far fewer shot attempts and chances than the opposition at 5-on-5. Ovechkin and linemate Dylan Strome especially thrive on creating chances off zone entries, and the Hurricanes aren’t giving them much in that respect.
Ovechkin continues to fight for open ice and does lead the Capitals in even-strength shots, but that hasn’t materialized into anything on the scoresheet; Ovechkin’s only goal of the series has been on the power play in Game 4.
Considering the Caps were just whacked 4-0 in Game 3 and 5-2 in Game 4, they are searching for consistent offensive contributions to carry them through. This is when Ovechkin has to start spinning his proverbial straw into gold again at full strength.
Washington got lucky in Game 2 after it was outshot 33-14 by the Hurricanes but still managed to come away with a 3-1 victory. If Carolina is finding its offensive groove now and beginning to solve Logan Thompson, then Washington must find ways to generate more offensive opportunities. That’s easier said than done against the Hurricanes’ smothering collective defensive game. — Shilton
Carolina is no joke
If you’ve been following the second round, you’ve undoubtedly come across a joke or two (or 10) about the relative quality of the Carolina Hurricanes‘ series against the Washington Capitals compared to that of the other three playoff series. Perhaps you’ve made a few yourself.
Monday night’s Game 4 was the outlier in what has otherwise been a grinding, tight-checking series in which four or fewer total goals were scored in each of the first three games, including a 4-0 shutout by goalie Frederik Andersen in Game 3.
The Hurricanes are the Hurricanes. Coach Rod Brind’Amour couldn’t care less about the entertainment value of this series or any series. His team’s mission is to vampirically suck the life out of opponents with a combination of puck possession, defensive zone coverage, reliable goaltending and elite penalty killing. Through four games, it has been mission accomplished.
Brind’Amour was asked about fans and media from other markets boiling down the Hurricanes’ virtues to simply being a monotonous “shot volume” team.
“It’s lazy. It’s lazy. Because you’re not really watching the game then. You’re picking out part of it,” he said. “But there’s a method to all of it. It doesn’t irk me.”
When the Canes don’t have the puck, they’re preventing shots: Carolina is allowing an average of 24.6 shots per game this postseason, third best among active teams.
“There have been times through this series when I’ve thought in my head, ‘shoot the puck.’ But then we have to get that puck through,” Washington coach Spencer Carbery said.
Again, this is what the Hurricanes do. This is what the Hurricanes have done. And this is what they’ll continue to do in the Eastern Conference finals unless the Capitals have a rally in them. Which would be exciting. But the Hurricanes aren’t about that excitement.
“You don’t want to give them any life or give them any hope,” Canes winger Seth Jarvis said of Thursday’s Game 5 back in D.C. — Wyshynski
-
David Schoenfield
Apparently, even the Colorado Rockies have their limits.
On Sunday, the day after an embarrassing 21-0 loss to the San Diego Padres dropped the team’s record to 6-33, the Rockies finally fired longtime manager Bud Black — despite general manager Bill Schmidt giving Black a vote of confidence prior to Saturday’s game. Colorado is careening toward not just a seventh consecutive losing season, but a season that could be headed in the same direction as the Chicago White Sox in 2024: chasing the modern record for losses in a season.
Yep, here we go again.
Saturday’s loss capped a remarkable seven-game stretch in which the Rockies allowed six, nine, eight, 10, 11, 13 and 21 runs, respectively. They became the first team in MLB history to allow at least eight runs and then increase their runs allowed in each of their next four games. The 21-0 loss was the third-biggest shutout margin in the major leagues since 1901. The Rockies’ pitching line over that seven-game skid: 62 IP, 96 H, 25 BB, 49 SO, 11 HR, .353 batting average and 9.00 ERA.
And the ERA was 9.00 only because 16 of the 78 total runs they allowed were unearned.
That unearned runs total might suggest that the Rockies, contrary to owner Dick Monfort’s claim back in February, will not have one of the best infield defenses in “history.” Instead, the Rockies rank 28th in the majors in defensive runs saved across all positions — and last in runs allowed and second-to-last in runs scored.
Now, this isn’t all Black’s fault, of course. The Rockies have been headed in this direction for years, trying to build mostly from within as they rarely make trades or sign free agents (and when they did, it was for Kris Bryant, who has barely been on the field in four seasons with the team). The belief across the sport is the Rockies remain well behind other organizations in applying analytics and that they’ve made major mistakes, such as not getting enough in return for Nolan Arenado or letting Trevor Story head to free agency without trading him.
The Rockies did rally to win on Sunday in what would be Black’s final game after nine seasons to improve to 7-33, with third-base coach Warren Schaeffer taking over as interim manager for the rest of the season and former Rockies manager Clint Hurdle, recently named the team’s hitting coach, taking over as bench coach.
“While we all share responsibility in how this season has played out, these changes are necessary,” Monfort said in a statement. “We will use the remainder of 2025 to improve where we can on the field and to evaluate all areas of our operation so we can properly turn the page into the next chapter of Rockies Baseball.”
Comparisons to the White Sox are inevitable. The Rockies’ record through 40 games, prior to Monday’s loss to Texas, put them on a pace to finish 28-134 — which would be a remarkable 13 games worse than Chicago’s 41-121 record.
It’s not like the Rockies haven’t earned that win-loss record: They have been outscored by 128 runs, the second-worst run differential through 40 games since 1900, with only the 2023 Oakland Athletics worse at minus-144. Those A’s were 9-31 through 40 games and 12-50 through 62 games — a 31-win pace — but they at least managed to play a little better the rest of the way and finished 50-112.
So, maybe there’s hope for the Rockies.
Indeed, that’s what made the White Sox so amazing last year — it took a lot of consistently awful baseball to lose 121 games. They were 12-28 through 40 games and 14-30 through 44 games before the losing really kicked in:
-
May 17 to June 6: 1-18
-
July 10 to Aug. 5: 0-21
-
Aug. 17 to Sept.13: 3-22
To the White Sox’s credit, they did manage to win five of the final six games, so while they have the most losses since 1900, their .253 winning percentage is not the worst, with the 1916 A’s (.235), 1935 Braves (.248), 1962 Mets (.250) and 1904 Senators (.252) all worse.
But the Rockies are playing from ahead with such a historically bad start. They have a chance at setting a new single season loss record. And here are the three reasons they might catch the White Sox:
1. The starting pitching is terrible
The Rockies have a 7.09 ERA through 40 games, which is the worst by a National League team since … the 2004 Rockies had a 7.33 ERA. Only two other teams, the Baltimore Orioles and Miami Marlins, have a rotation ERA higher than 4.62 this season. On the other hand, the 2024 White Sox managed to rank 25th in the majors in rotation ERA. They had two excellent starters in Garrett Crochet (6-12, 3.58 ERA, 4.1 WAR) and Erick Fedde (7-4, 3.11 ERA, 4.6 WAR), at least until Fedde was dealt at the trade deadline.
The Rockies, meanwhile, are still relying on Kyle Freeland, German Marquez and Antonio Senzatela — the same trio featured in the rotation when the Rockies made the playoffs in 2017 and 2018. They were worth a combined 13.2 WAR in 2018, but that was seven years ago, and the Rockies’ loyalty in contract extensions to all three hasn’t paid off. Freeland signed a five-year, $64 million extension in 2022 but has a 5.01 ERA and just 3.4 WAR since then. Marquez signed a two-year, $20 million extension coming off Tommy John surgery in 2023, but he has an 8.27 ERA this season. Senzatela has won four games since signing a $50.5 million deal in 2022.
In 2025, they’re a combined 2-17 with a 6.79 ERA while allowing a .349 average. Chase Dollander was the team’s top prospect entering the season but has 6.88 ERA through seven career starts and poor Bradley Blalock was left in to allow 12 runs on Saturday. And it’s not just that they’re pitching at Coors Field, either. Certainly, injuries have played a role with Marquez and Senzatela, but Freeland has been mostly healthy … and has a 4.51 ERA on the road since 2022.
In other words, while the White Sox’s rotation at least kept them in games at times, the Rockies are often out of it before they can get to their bullpen.
2. The offense might be worse
The White Sox hit .221/.278/.340 while scoring just 507 runs in 2024 — a remarkable 97 fewer than the next lowest team. The Rockies are hitting .219/.286/.360 through their first 40 games and are on pace for 539 runs. They have marginally better raw stats, but that doesn’t factor in Coors Field. They’re hitting .189 in 20 road games.
The 2024 White Sox were a historically bad offense. The only player with regular playing time to finish with an above-average OPS+ was Tommy Pham, who posted a 103 OPS+ in 297 plate appearances. Their top three players in plate appearances were Andrew Vaughn (98 OPS+), Andrew Benintendi (94) and Gavin Sheets (89). The down-roster players were even worse than that with the likes of Miguel Vargas (.104 average in 135 at-bats), Martin Maldonado (.119 average in 135 at-bats) and Dominic Fletcher (.206 average, one home run in 223 at-bats).
The Rockies do have two players with an above-average OPS+ in catcher/DH Hunter Goodman (127) and outfielder Jordan Beck (131). While I’m skeptical whether either player can keep that going, they do have other hitters who might improve, including Ezequiel Tovar, Brenton Doyle and Michael Toglia, who each ran an OPS+ above 100 last season (although, just barely).
Chicago finished with a wRC+ (weighted runs created plus) of 75. That figure adjusts for home park and era, and it is tied for 13th worst since 1947 and ranks third worst since 2000. Meanwhile, Colorado currently has a wRC+ of 66. That would be the worst since 1947 — worse than the 1963 Mets, who hit .219/.285/.315 on their way to a wRC+ of 69.
Still, the Rockies had the second-worst wRC+ last season ahead of only the White Sox — and brought back almost entirely the same group of players. Like the White Sox, the Rockies also aren’t particularly young. The average age of Chicago in 2024, adjusted for playing time, was 27.8, right at the MLB average of 27.9; Colorado is at 28.0 years old, just a notch below the MLB average of 28.2.
Is there help on the way? Infield prospect Adael Amador is up in the majors now and hitting .173 through his first 20 games. Former first-round pick Zac Veen was up for a spell and hit .118 in 34 at-bats. Outfielder Yanquiel Fernandez is one of the team’s top prospects and is hitting .208 in Triple-A. And the rest of their hitting prospects are further away. They will get a boost when Tovar returns from the injured list, but any improvement is going to have come from players already on the roster.
3. They have a tougher schedule
While the AL Central saw three teams make the playoffs and four teams finish above .500 in 2024 — beating up on the White Sox helped in that regard — the 2025 NL West looks like a much tougher division. Some numbers:
-
In 2024, the four other AL Central teams were 226-213 outside the division (.522).
-
So far in 2025, the four other NL West teams are 80-58 outside the division (.579).
The catch here is the Rockies have played only 13 games so far within their division — and have gone 2-11. They still have 39 of their 52 division games left to play. It doesn’t help that with the Rockies playing their worst baseball right now, they’re in the midst of a difficult stretch: Their only series between now and June 12 against teams with losing records are the current series against Texas (the Rangers entered the series 20-21) and one against the Marlins June 2-4.
So, can the Rockies lose 122 games?
They weren’t forecasted to be this bad. In fact, FanGraphs projects them playing close to .400 ball the rest of the way and finishing 55-107.
The biggest difference between the 2025 Rockies and the 2024 White Sox is the bullpen. Chicago had a bad bullpen that went 15-49 with a 4.73 ERA and was particularly bad in close games, finishing with minus-11.22 win probability added, the worst total for any bullpen since 2000.
Colorado ranks 19th in bullpen ERA at 4.07, and its high-leverage relievers have been solid, with the Rockies also ranking 19th in the majors with a bullpen WPA of 0.57 — though they’re 0-3 in extra-inning games (the White Sox went 4-10 in extra-inning games). Jake Bird and Seth Halvorsen have been effective while Zach Agnos has a couple saves and only one earned run allowed in 10 ⅓ innings, although he has struck out only four batters. If the Rockies can hold the leads they do get, they should be able to avoid the fate of the White Sox.
They’ll have to get those leads to begin with, though. Eleven of the Rockies’ 34 losses are considered “blowout” losses — five or more runs. That’s around 32%. The 2024 White Sox had a 31% blowout loss rate. The 1962 Mets were also at 31%. That tells us that the Rockies have a chance to chase down last year’s historic White Sox club.
It’s an astonishingly bad start to a season. But here’s maybe the most astonishing number of all: The Rockies drew 38,423 fans for that 21-run loss on Saturday.
Give the Rockies’ marketing people a raise.
-
Andrea Adelson
AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. — Miami coach Mario Cristobal said Monday that quarterback Carson Beck has been cleared to participate in all team summer activities and is approaching 100 percent following elbow surgery last year.
Cristobal said Beck has been throwing for the past three weeks as part of his rehab regimen. Beck missed all of spring practice and has yet to throw to Miami’s receivers as part of organized team activities. But that is all about to change when Miami begins summer workouts next week.
“He’s good to go,” Cristobal told ESPN at the ACC spring meetings. “He’s exceeding every benchmark.”
Beck underwent surgery on his right elbow to repair his ulnar collateral ligament, which he injured on the final play of the first half in second-ranked Georgia‘s 22-19 overtime win against Texas in the SEC championship game Dec. 7.
Beck started at Georgia for two seasons, going 24-3, and ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. had him rated as the No. 5 quarterback for the 2025 draft. But given his injury and inconsistent performance in 2024, Beck entered the portal in January. He quickly opted for Miami, where he will replace No. 1 NFL draft pick Cam Ward.
Beck threw for 7,426 yards over his two seasons as Georgia’s starter, fifth most among all FBS passers since 2023, with 57 total touchdowns and 23 turnovers.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway