Passan: How Jordan Montgomery finally solved Yordan Alvarez
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Jeff Passan, ESPN
HOUSTON — Over the winter, Jordan Montgomery spent his days at Tread Athletics, a performance lab about 10 miles outside of Charlotte, fine-tuning his pitching craft. While the coaches at Tread appreciated almost everything about Montgomery, from his size to his competitiveness to his willingness to learn, what they loved most of all was his curveball. They loved it so much that it earned a nickname:
The Death Ball.
To the naked eye, it looks like a perfectly OK curveball, and based on spin rate and break alone, it’s nothing special. And it confounds hitters anyway.
Yordan Álvarez learned its power first-hand Sunday night in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series. The Houston Astros slugger, one of the best hitters in the world, coming off a division series in which he hit four home runs in four games, faced Montgomery three times. All three ended with Álvarez swinging through the Death Ball. Never had one pitcher struck out Álvarez three times in a single game.
Montgomery isn’t just any pitcher. Acquired by the Texas Rangers at the trade deadline for exactly a night like tonight, the 30-year-old authored one of the best — and certainly the most important — starts of his career in Game 1. He threw 6⅓ scoreless innings and neutralized Álvarez in the Rangers’ 2-0 victory that pilfered home-field advantage from Houston and silenced the once-raucous crowd of 42,872 at Minute Maid Park.
In the three at-bats Montgomery squared off with Álvarez, he threw 17 pitches — eight sinkers, six Death Balls, two four-seam fastballs and even a changeup, a rarity for a left-handed pitcher against a left-handed hitter. He worked inside and outside, up and down, completely avoiding the middle of the strike zone. If a pitcher is going to beat Álvarez, he needs to empty his bag of tricks.
It’s a good thing Montgomery’s curveball is magic.
“When it comes out of his hand, it looks like a fastball,” Álvarez said. “That makes it a little more difficult. The way he releases the ball, the angle he releases it, makes it a little bit more difficult to pick it up and makes it look like a fastball.”
This is why, even with the analytics that inform so much of baseball today, context matters. At Tread, Montgomery worked not only on the shape of his pitches but how his delivery presents them. Álvarez suggesting Montgomery’s curveball looks like a fastball might sound outlandish — the average velo on Montgomery’s fastball Sunday night was 93.3 mph; on the curveball, 79.8 — but he’s not wrong. It’s how Montgomery and his coaches designed it.
They recognized that Montgomery had two things working in his favor on the pitch: his height and his release point. It didn’t spin particularly hard, and it didn’t have the looping action a more aesthetically pleasing curve might. It came out flat and broke late — and when paired with this sinker and four-seam fastball, it turned into the reaper.
Montgomery’s release point on the Death Ball is 80.2 inches from the ground, the second-highest vertical release on a curve in baseball (behind his opponent in Game 1, Justin Verlander). Montgomery releases his four-seamer 80.4 inches vertically and his sinker 80.9 inches — and the horizontal release point on all three are within a half-inch of one another. The tunneling effect charms hitters into believing they’re seeing one thing when it’s something else, and it’s what left Álvarez flailing, with five whiffs among the 17 pitches he saw.
When he was around 12 and growing up in South Carolina, Montgomery learned to throw a curve when his father, Jim, helped him wrap duct tape around Coke cans to give them extra weight. Montgomery would try to spin them into a nearby garbage can. Eventually he got the feel for the pitch, rode it to the University of South Carolina and used it to get to the major leagues with the New York Yankees. They traded him to the St. Louis Cardinals last season, and the Cardinals received a bounty from the Rangers in the late-July deal that landed him in Texas.
Upon his arrival, Montgomery didn’t think he’d be the team’s postseason ace, not with the subsequent acquisition of Max Scherzer, plus Nathan Eovaldi pitching like a frontline starter. But Eovaldi got hurt. And Scherzer did, too. And Montgomery found himself not only starting Game 1 of Texas’ wild-card series against Tampa Bay but doing the same against the Astros, whose seventh consecutive ALCS appearance extended the league record.
Álvarez helped carry the Astros here. The 26-year-old is a dream hitter: powerful but precise. He destroys right-handed pitchers — and crushes lefties, too. His holes are more pin pricks than swiss cheese. Carving him up takes the exactitude of a surgeon.
Dr. Montgomery started in the first with a clear plan: Work Álvarez inside. He started with a low-and-inside sinker that Álvarez fouled off, moved up and in with a sinker Álvarez took for a ball and then pounded three more pitches inside: a curveball Álvarez took for a strike, a sinker he fouled off and a curveball he swung through.
“We know he likes to get extended, and we were going to make him beat us inside, make him a little uncomfortable,” said Rangers catcher Jonah Heim, an All-Star who is widely lauded for his game-calling and framing abilities. “And when he’s kind of squirmy, we try to get him, and the curveball plays. [Montgomery] did an amazing job of execution.”
The second at-bat might’ve been even more impressive. In all the years Montgomery spent in the AL East, he learned that the best hitters, like Rafael Devers, will eventually sell out on an inside pitch if you keep pounding there. So after missing low and in with a sinker, Montgomery feathered a middle-away four-seamer through which Álvarez swung. He came back high and in with a sinker Álvarez fouled off, tried to change his eye level with an even higher four-seamer and went inside again twice — a changeup for a ball, a sinker fouled — before another Death Ball.
“I wanted to make him swing,” Montgomery said. “I was going to make him beat me with my best pitch there. And usually when you don’t miss middle, it’s a good day.”
That’s the thing about Montgomery. He’s not a nibbler. He’s not someone who picks at the corners. He goes right at hitters. And he isn’t afraid to go deep into his repertoire. Earlier this week, Rangers outfielder Robbie Grossman was telling Montgomery that he needed to use a slide step to the plate rather than his full delivery when nobody was on base. Well, in his third at-bat against Álvarez, down in the count 2-0, Montgomery conjured one more trick and froze Álvarez on perhaps the most hittable pitch he’d see all day, a sinker low and across the middle of the plate.
“It’s not only the curveball,” Astros third baseman Alex Bregman said. “He’s got a bunch of other weapons as well, and he executes really well. So I think it’s just execution really. It’s a good pitch.”
Montgomery knows that, and so after getting that first strike against Álvarez, he wasn’t throwing anything else. On 2-1, Montgomery threw a curve toward the bottom of the strike zone; Álvarez swung over it. The next pitch was a bouncer, nowhere close to the plate, and it left Álvarez flailing, looking less like one of the best hitters in the world than a guy who was utterly perplexed by what he was seeing.
Three at-bats. Three strikeouts swinging to end the inning. And one gift of a performance, to both the Rangers and his family.
On Saturday, Montgomery’s wife, McKenzie, celebrated her birthday. And on Sunday, it was his father’s, and Jim had been asking for a playoff win as the perfect present. An ALCS win against a future Hall of Famer sufficed.
Montgomery isn’t done. He’ll likely start another game this series, when he’ll line up against Verlander again. He’ll go through the meticulous pregame routine of plyoball drills that his coach, Tyler Zombro, taught him at Tread — the ones that help him find consistency in his delivery and conviction in his movement. He’ll get together with Heim and his pitching coach, Mike Maddux, with whom he vibed almost immediately after arriving, and he’ll game plan.
And then he’ll try to keep doing exactly what he has done all postseason and what he hopes to do all the way through the World Series: spin ’em to death.
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Greg Wyshynski
When Florida Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk raised the Stanley Cup over his head for the second straight season, the on-ice celebration included two of the most important people in his life: Father Keith Tkachuk, who played 18 seasons in the NHL; and brother Brady Tkachuk, captain of the Ottawa Senators.
Keith was smoking cigars and hoisting the Cup with Matthew around the arena. Brady was holding a beer and diligently avoiding contact with the Cup, as superstition dictates that an NHL player should never touch it if they’ve never won it before.
The celebration was another memorable moment for the Tkachuk boys and their father. This month, another one arrived: The trio graces the cover of EA Sports’ NHL 26 Deluxe Edition.
“Growing up, Matthew and I dreamed of playing just like our dad,” Brady Tkachuk said. “Even now, his influence on how we play and prepare remains huge. It’s an honor to be featured on the cover. Having him standing alongside us makes the whole thing even better.”
We spoke with Matthew and Brady Tkachuk recently about their video game history, the Panthers’ wild offseason, Brady’s future in Ottawa, Matthew’s health heading into next season and their thoughts on the new NHL collective bargaining agreement.
But first, we asked two of the first players named to the 2026 U.S. men’s Olympic ice hockey team about chasing gold. Responses were edited for length and clarity.
You guys became USA Hockey legends after the 4 Nations Face-Off, if you weren’t already. Obviously, the tournament did not end the way Americans wanted. Is winning Olympic gold in the 2026 Winter Games in Italy the ultimate revenge on our friends in Canada?
MATTHEW TKACHUK: I don’t even know if you look at it as revenge, but it’s been a long time coming since USA Hockey’s been at the top of the mountain. Canada’s owned the Olympics or World Cups or even the world championships, although we got that back a little bit this year. They’ve been the leader in all of that and the team that we’ve all been trying to knock off.
I don’t think it’d be as much as revenge than showing how far along USA Hockey has come. We’ve had some incredible players and national teams that we’ve looked up to our whole lives but that haven’t gotten the job done. So, not only would winning [gold] accomplish dreams for us, but hopefully it would bring a lot of satisfaction for those guys that paved the way for us.
Brady, you play in a Canadian city while trying to win Olympic gold for the Americans. What’s that dynamic like?
BRADY TKACHUK: Learning from experience, it’s a little bit of a different position to be in. All the people that support you on a day-to-day basis, now they don’t want you to win.
Your dream as kids is winning the Stanley Cup and winning a gold medal for your country. I know that’s always been our two main goals. But we got into hockey, and a lot of people got into hockey, from the 1980 Miracle on Ice. And now, we have an opportunity to pave the way for the next generation of kids in the U.S. that maybe wouldn’t be playing hockey if they didn’t get to experience USA Hockey in the Winter Olympics and potential gold medals.
There’s not just playing for ourselves in that locker room with that group, but you’re really playing for your country and you’re playing for the next generation of kids. And like Matthew said, you’re playing for the guys that have paved the way, that are to be so supportive and fired up to be watching.
You guys are NHL 26 cover athletes, along with your dad. We spoke to Keith recently, who reminisced about seeing the glow of a video game screen under the doors of your bedrooms, whether it was when you were younger or in Matt’s case, when he was playing in Calgary. What’s your brief history of playing video games together?
MATTHEW TKACHUK: Yeah, we would play. I think during COVID was probably the last time I religiously played, and that was when we were all under one roof before I had my house in St. Louis. Brady and I played a lot. NHL is definitely one of them. I think Brady has played more throughout his life than I have, and that was one of the things that he was much better at than I am. So, I didn’t really play too much against him.
We played the game like how you’d probably expect us to play: Turn off all the penalties, make all the guys really big and fast. It was like prison rules NHL. So, it was a lot of fun.
BRADY TKACHUK: I honestly feel like we had a pretty religious routine. Right after school, if it was a nice day, out for roller hockey then dinner and then we were playing NHL. We try to sneak in a best-of-seven if it was early enough, but it was a lot of fun. Either we played together or most of the time, we’re playing together against each other and it was a ton of fun.
Now that you’re in the NHL, what is the level of interest or concern among the boys when it comes to their EA Sports ratings? Do they still care?
MATTHEW TKACHUK: We don’t talk about it too much. I know that there’s one day, maybe it might be at the beginning of the year, which I guess is coming up here soon, where you go over your rating or you guess another player’s rating. I think where they get pissed off is when you guess their rating and it’s way lower than their actual rating is.
You’ve got to be careful with who the sensitive guys are on the team because you don’t want that to actually affect them — and you never know if it might. Hockey players are proud athletes. You want to have a decent rating.
BRADY TKACHUK: I’m probably one of the guys that will just play a game as the Sens to see where my rating is at, to see how good my guy is. This version is exciting because it’s more individual-based. You can see within the game how I am in real life, and that’s really cool and unique.
These ratings are always fun. And to be honest with you, I don’t know what the rating is going into this year’s game. I know they give a midyear bump and that’s the goal: That hopefully I get a midyear bump because that means I’m playing well.
Matthew, your name was recently listed by the White House as being part of the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition, joining names like Wayne Gretzky and Mariano Rivera. How did you get involved in that?
MATTHEW TKACHUK: I’m not actually allowed to comment on that until it’s official yet. So, I have to wait on that a little bit. But I promise in a few weeks, if that comes true, I’ll answer that for you.
Let’s talk about something that did come true: The Florida Panthers somehow hanging on to Sam Bennett, Aaron Ekblad and Brad Marchand as free agents. How shocked were you that GM Bill Zito was able to pull that off?
MATTHEW TKACHUK: I don’t know if I was shocked. I think at the time, as a player and more importantly as a friend, you’re more worried that one of your buddies is going to go elsewhere. At the end of the day, you want your teammates and your best buddies to be happy with whatever decision they make. So, if that’s chasing a ton of money or if that’s going to where they want to play, you just got to be happy for them.
The best part about those three is they all believe in what we’re doing in Florida. They want to live in Florida, they want to play on a good team, and they want to have a great group of players surrounding them.
Out of all of them, I was most confident in [Ekblad] staying the most. Just because he’s been a lifelong Florida Panther. I just think it was going to be impossible for him to leave. And then the other guys … I mean, this was a chance for them to cash in. You just didn’t know if it was going to be with us or not.
I was surprised, though, that they were all able to stay. I thought that with the way the money was tied up, you didn’t know if it was going to be possible — and somehow it was. Everybody was taken care of so well.
Bill did a great job of making sure it could happen. You want your best buddies to be rewarded with how great they played and how great they’ve been up to this point. I think they all got rewarded very well, and I’m just so excited to have a chance to hopefully run it back with them this year.
When did you know about Marchand? Was it when he was smoking cigars on the back of a golf cart outside of the Elbo Room? At some point, were you just convinced the guy liked it down there vs. leaving as a free agent?
MATTHEW TKACHUK: Marchand, when he first got traded, I would’ve thought there was never a chance that we’re going to be able to keep everybody. As time goes on and you have success and you get to know guys and you get to know what their wants and desires are with the rest of their career — or where they want to live — you can start connecting the dots. People just don’t want to leave Florida when they come. I think that that is the case with them and everybody that’s been there.
The only time you’re going to see guys leave is if it’s such a crazy difference with money. Some of these guys that we’ve had the last few years have really cashed in with other teams, which we’re so happy to see. I think that’s really the only way you’re going to see guys go elsewhere.
We have too good of a thing going right now, and everybody wants to be a part of it.
Brady, your dad threw cold water on all the speculation about you leaving Ottawa when we spoke recently. How much did making the playoffs, showing the progress of the Senators, give you a sense of relief that maybe some of that speculation might go by the wayside now?
BRADY TKACHUK: Yeah, I think we really needed to make the playoffs to show everybody that we’re a team that’s capable of that, but also capable of doing more than just making the playoffs.
The last couple of years, it was kind of stagnant. We had high expectations and we didn’t quite accomplish what we needed to. And with that came doubt. But I think it showed with the steps that we took last year that we have a great hockey team. I think that we’re kind of just getting started with what we want to accomplish. Playoffs are great to get to, but that’s not our end goal. The sky’s the limit for our group.
I think [that success] helped with all the speculation. When things aren’t going well, people are always assuming or trying to think in my shoes. But I was kind of never really in that thought process. It was all about sticking it out. It’s been a long time coming, for not just our team but the city, to get into the playoffs. And I think it was really important to me to end that drought.
Through all that adversity that we faced with being the bottom five teams to finally get to the playoffs was an amazing feeling. But now that we got there, I think everybody wants a little bit more and wants to accomplish all of our childhood dreams.
Obviously, the season is getting closer. Brady, we saw you were training with Trevor Zegras this summer. What are your thoughts about him getting a fresh start in Philadelphia with the Flyers?
BRADY TKACHUK: Yeah, I drove up to Connecticut and skated with him. I’ve known ‘Z’ throughout the years but got to know him pretty well when we played world championships together. He’s a great guy, and I think it’s going to be great for him to get a fresh start in Philly and under Rick Tocchet. They have a great culture there, and I think he’s just going to do a good job of fitting in.
I’ve always thought playing against Philly that they play super hard, but they have a lot of great players with skill. So, I think that is going to be the best thing for him. I’m excited to see his progression this year and see how the change affects him. I bet that’s going to be for the good.
Matthew, you were dealing with some significant injuries by the end of last season and said it was “50/50” regarding offseason surgery. What’s your path for the next few months? Are you still hoping to maybe hit the ice in October?
MATTHEW TKACHUK: I’m still hoping to hit the ice as soon as possible. If I do get the surgery, it definitely will be the first two, maybe three months [of the season] if that’s the case. But it’s still undecided at this point.
Finally, the NHL and NHLPA have signed off on a new collective bargaining agreement. We haven’t heard from many players about this deal. What did you like? What did you wish was in it that didn’t make the cut?
BRADY TKACHUK: I think Marty [Walsh], Ron Hainsey and the NHLPA did a really good job. A lot of it came behind the scenes with the NHL. They kept it discreet.
I think it’s important that we did a four-year deal and to navigate where our league is in four years’ time. Obviously, there’s things that will probably trend and want maybe more of in four years’ time. But I think the changes that they made are exciting. The 84-game schedule [means] more hockey for people to come and watch. I think it’s going to be good.
Less preseason crap, too.
MATTHEW TKACHUK: Took the words right out of my mouth.
That’s the one main thing I like. I’ve never liked the preseason setup. I mean, guys do a great job of coming into [camp] in shape. There are the captain’s skates before the preseason because everyone wants to get back and see the boys. So, I think preseason has been overrated. It’s way too long, and the games are way too much. However they were able to shorten that, I was on board with that for sure.
Just get into the season. Just get on with it.
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Greg Wyshynski
Florida Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk said he remains undecided about getting surgery before the 2025-26 season but acknowledged he could miss significant time should he require it.
Tkachuk, 27, revealed after the season that he sustained a torn adductor muscle and a sports hernia injury while playing for Team USA in the 4 Nations Face-Off in February. He missed the final 25 games of the NHL regular season but returned for Game 1 of the Panthers’ first-round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Tkachuk had 23 points (8 goals, 15 assists) in 23 games during the playoffs, including seven points in the final against Edmonton, to lead the Panthers to their second straight Stanley Cup championship.
Coach Paul Maurice said his star forward was “a mess” healthwise heading into the postseason.
“We weren’t hopeful at the start that he would survive the first round,” he said.
Tkachuk said after the season that it was “50/50” whether he’d have surgery, adding that the offseason provided ample time to make that call. Tkachuk told ESPN on Friday that “I’m still hoping to hit the ice as soon as possible.” Should he decide to go under the knife, Tkachuk said, it’s likely he’ll miss multiple months of action.
“If I do get the surgery, it’ll definitely be the first two or maybe three months if that’s the case. But it’s still undecided at this point,” said the Panthers star, whose contract and cap hit could be placed on long-term injured reserve during his recovery.
It’s been a notable offseason for Tkachuk. He appears on the cover of EA Sports’ NHL 26 and is featured with brother Brady and father Keith on the cover of the game’s deluxe edition.
Matthew and Brady Tkachuk were among the first six players named to the 2026 U.S. men’s Olympic hockey roster for the Winter Games in Italy next year. Matthew Tkachuk also married fiancée Ellie Connell in July.
All of that was after another epic, multiday Stanley Cup celebration by the Panthers in Fort Lauderdale and Miami that featured spontaneous appearances at bars, clubs and beaches as well as a championship parade.
The Panthers’ chances for a third straight Stanley Cup received a boost this summer when GM Bill Zito was able to re-sign a trio of star veteran free agents: center Sam Bennett (8 years, $64 million), defenseman Aaron Ekblad (8 years, $48 million), and winger Brad Marchand (6 years, $31.5 million).
Tkachuk said that he wasn’t surprised that all three players wanted to remain with the Panthers but that he was amazed that Zito found a way to make the money work under the salary cap.
“I thought that the way the money was tied up, you didn’t know it was going to be possible, and somehow it was,” he said. “Everybody was taken care of so well, and Bill did a great job of making sure it could happen. I think they all got rewarded very well, and I’m just so excited to have a chance to hopefully run it back with them this year.”
Tkachuk said he was confident that Ekblad would return, having been a Panther since he was drafted by Florida first overall in 2014. He was a little less certain about Bennett and especially Marchand, who both had a chance to break the bank in free agency.
“When Marchand first got traded [at the deadline this spring], I would’ve thought there was never a chance that we were going to be able to keep everybody. But as time goes on and you have success and you get to know guys’ wants and desires for the rest of their career, you can start connecting the dots,” Tkachuk said. “People just don’t want to leave Florida when they come [here]. We have too good of a thing going right now, and everybody wants to be a part of it.”
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