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At about 10 a.m. on Monday, the eve of Super Tuesday, the Supreme Court released its unanimous decision that former President Donald Trump was eligible to appear on the 2024 Colorado election ballot. Shortly after this news broke, Jena Griswold, Colorados secretary of state, posted on social media that she was disappointed in the Courts ruling, and that, in her view, the justices were stripping states of their authority to enforce the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution. Sitting in her downtown-Denver office yesterday afternoon, Griswold showed me some of the DMs shed received over the previous 24 hours. Well, one of the thingsyou probably dont want to print thisis Im being called a cunt every two minutes, she said.

Griswold read a selection of the messages out louda mixture of angst, anger, sadness, and resolve in her voice. Karma will be a bitch Build gas chambers We are on to you Reap what you sow Hope you choke and die Fuck you, ogre bitch Im coming Resign now before I get you Kill yourself in the name of democracy Set yourself on fire …

Her eyes wide and intense, she was the image of a person on high alert: Strangers had been able to get ahold of her personal cellphone number. Messages of this nature had been coming in for a while. In one saved voicemail from her office line that she played for me, a caller told Griswold that he hopes some fucking immigrant from fucking Iran cuts her kids heads off and somebody shoots her in the head. His monologue lasted more than a minute and a half and concluded with a warning: Ill be seeing you soon.

Griswold is in the last two years of her second and final term (her position is term-limited). Secretary of state is the first public office she ever sought, and she refused to say whether shed run for a different position in 2026. Griswold, who was a relatively unknown Democrat in a purple state, was elected when she was just 33. She has been outspoken in her belief that Trump is a danger to democracy, but her job, by design, has a certain neutrality to it. At least, it once did.

Although statewide elected officials have always faced harsh public criticism and intense scrutiny, the vile tenor of the Trump era has changed the reality of the role. Yesterday, Griswold said that the Supreme Court ruling, while technically the conclusion of the Trump Colorado-ballot affair, will likely not mark the end of the threats and harassment shes facing. If anything, the Courts decision bolstered the notion that Trump is above the law, and may have even emboldened his cultlike supporters to continue to act out. Last night, Trump vanquished his final Republican challenger, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, in all but one of the Super Tuesday states. Haley dropped out of the race this morning, clearing the path for Trump altogether.

David A. Graham: The Republican primary is over

Trumpism isnt going anywhere. And calling Trump a threat to democracy, or expressing her displeasure with the Supreme Court ruling, may well open Griswold up to more vitriol. Like other state-level bureaucrats, she has had to figure out in real time how to respond to the threat of Trump and his extremist followers.

Those who do not speak up when theyre in positions of power become complicit, she said. Those who do speak up do not automatically become partisan. And I think thats an argument from the far right: that speaking out for democracy is in some way partisan.

As Super Tuesday kicked off, Griswold met me at a ballot-processing center in Jefferson County, a blue suburban and rural area about half an hour west of Denver. Wearing an Apple Watch and blue blazer, she was trailed by aides and one security official as she walked through the front door. Her focus, at least in that moment, was to show me how safe and secure she believed Colorados elections had grown under her watcheven if she, herself, was now more at risk.

Griswold told me that a local news outlet, The Colorado Sun, had recently conducted a poll and that, in the category of trust, those who administer elections and count ballots in Colorado outperformed every other civic category. She also said that, as of the last processing, an overwhelming majority of voters, no matter their party, had used a mail-in or drop-box ballot. Nevertheless, a common MAGA-world talking point is that anything other than old-school, same-day, in-person voting is tantamount to voter fraud. In Jefferson County, between 95 and 98 percent of all voters, regardless of party affiliation, opt to use ballot drop boxes or to vote by mail in lieu of using traditional voting machines at polling stations.

I rode the elevator with Griswolds group and the Jefferson County clerk down to the basement of the facility for a look at the various ballot-processing procedures. We wandered long concrete hallways and toured several windowless rooms that required key-card entry: the ballot-casting room, the signature-verification room. In one area, ballots zipped through a massive machine that workers had nicknamed HAL. The basement was filled with election judges wearing colored lanyards denoting their political affiliation and mingling pleasantly with one another. Many of these short-term contractors are older, retired peopleGriswold shook their hands and thanked them. Wherever we went, individuals stopped to take notice of the roving entourage, though it was unclear how many recognized her.

In Colorado, as in other states, ballot-counting and all related procedures are carried out by a politically diverse pool of workers. But back in 2020, Griswold told me, certain conservative election judges in the state underwent alternative training by Republican-aligned groups for their roles and improperly rejected huge amounts of legitimate ballots. In another recent scandal, former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters was hit with 10 charges on allegations related to a voting-systems breach. Peters maintains that she was looking for evidence of voter fraud or manipulation in the machines, which were built by Dominion Voting Systems, the same company at the center of last years historic Fox News settlement. (Some of the threats Griswold receives invoke Peterss name as if she were a martyr.)

Early this morning, Griswolds spokesperson told me that yesterdays Super Tuesday primary went very smoothly and that no major problems were reported. What chaos might have happened had the Court ruled the other way? Would two sets of ballots have been floating around out there, like alternative Super Bowlvictory T-shirts for both teams? Griswold told me that, in the unlikely event that the Court deemed Trump ineligible, all the votes cast for him would have simply been rejected. She compared this outcome to that of other erstwhile Republican candidates, such as Vivek Ramaswamy, who is no longer in the race but whose name is still on the Colorado ballot because her office didnt receive his paperwork to formally remove it. Of course, had Trumps more than half-a-million Colorado primary votes been rejected, even by law, something akin to another January 6 might have taken place. Griswold acknowledged this.

Read: How Democrats could disqualify Trump if the Supreme Court doesnt

We unfortunately contingency-plan for a lot of things, she said, including, by the way, in 2020. Everything that Trump was threateningsending federal law enforcement to polling locations, pulling out the voting equipment, federalizing the National GuardI took every single thing he said very seriously.

Griswold grew up in tiny, unincorporated Drake, Colorado, not far from Rocky Mountain National Park. In what sounded a bit like a phrase shes often repeated, Griswold told me that she lived in a cabin, with an outhouse outside, on food stamps. She is the first member of her family to go to a four-year college. She eventually went on to law school at the University of Pennsylvania, and has more than $200,000 left in student debt. Still, as with everyting about her personal experience she shared, she was wary of being perceived as weak, or helpless, or unduly complaining.

I think the amount of threats and harassment coming in, if you were to internalize all of thatwould be very hard to do this job, she said. I dont want you to take away from this that Im super sad and everythings going bad. She told me that the harassment campaign had, in a way, been galvanizing. Its very motivating to try to stop those guys.

The threats began to trickle in after Trumps defeat in the 2020 election. But they accelerated last September, when Griswold found herself as a co-defendant in the lawsuit alleging that Trumps seditious actions in the final weeks of his presidency prevented him from holding office ever again.

In the months since then, Griswold has received thousands of gruesome messages and threatsshe showed me a white binder of documentation nearly two inches thick. She receives intermittent physical protection from the Colorado state patrol but, much to her consternation, does not have 24/7 government-funded security. (In lieu of a round-the-clock state-patrol detail, Griswold occasionally carries out her job with private security in tow, which she pays for out of her departments budget.) As with former Vice President Mike Pence, people at rallies have called for her hanging. A man in the Midwest called her office warning, In the name of Jesus Christ, the angel of death is coming to get you. They didnt know who he was; they just knew the phone he called from, she said. And then that phone started to move. The guy drove into Colorado. So, that was really unnerving.

George T. Conway III: The courts Colorado decision wasnt about the law

Griswold told me she believes that certain people, including Donald Trump and Colorado Representative Lauren Boebert, opened up these floodgates. But the problem is much more insidious, she said. Its every single Republican election-denier in Congress. Its every single moderate Republican who refuses to stand up to Donald Trump or to call out the conspiracies or political violence.

Late yesterday afternoon, back in her office, I asked Griswold if she had spoken about her situation with Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state who in 2020 drew Trumps wrath and likewise received threats.

Raffensperger, Griswold said, had indeed opened the door about his experiences in a private conversation with her that she wouldnt divulge on the record. Not many people live under a constant threat environment, including not many secretaries of state, she said. Its not all secretaries of state continually going through this. And so theres not a lot of people who can relate to what it is to live like this.

She told me that she believed the threats against her werent being taken seriously enough by certain government officials, perhaps because of her gender.

Im not telling you I dont get upset, she said. I dont think Im avoiding it. I think Im not allowing it to debilitate me, and thats a big difference.

Noah Bookbinder, the president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which represented the Colorado plaintiffs in the Fourteenth Amendment case, told me that, even in defeat, he believed that this suit had proved Trump engaged in insurrection. The six Coloradans at the center of the matter, Bookbinder added, were not extreme liberals or Washington people, and offered that they had risked a lot putting themselves forward in challenging Trump. These were people who were active in Republican communities and really had some resistance from people they know. And they put a lot on the line to do what they thought was the right thing for the country, he said. Heroes, in other words.

Griswolds place in this chapter of electoral history might be less clear. I asked her how she squares her anti-Trump posture with the need to remain neutral as an election official. I think that, No. 1, standing up for democracy is not partisan, she said. Nor, for that matter, is standing up against those who attack our democracy, she added, even if theyre a front-runner for the Republican Party, and even if theyre president of the United States.

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Buchnevich’s hat trick steers Blues to Game 3 win

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April 25, 2025

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Buchnevich's hat trick steers Blues to Game 3 win

  • Associated Press

Apr 25, 2025, 01:02 AM ET

ST. LOUIS — Pavel Buchnevich scored three goals for his first career playoff hat trick and added an assist as the St. Louis Blues beat the Winnipeg Jets 7-2 in Game 3 of their first-round series on Thursday night.

Cam Fowler had a goal and four assists, and Jordan Kyrou, Alexey Toropchenko and Colton Parayko also scored, and Robert Thomas had three assists to help the Blues cut the Jets’ series lead to 2-1. Jordan Binnington made 17 saves.

David Gustafsson and Neal Pionk scored for the Jets, who won the first two games in Winnipeg. Connor Hellebuyck gave up six goals on 25 shots before being pulled midway through the third period. Eric Comrie stopped two of the three shots he faced.

Game 4 is in St. Louis on Sunday, with Game 5 in Winnipeg on Wednesday.

Buchnevich, who had just one goal in 22 previous postseason games, gave the Blues an early lead with two goals in the game’s opening minutes. He got it going just 48 seconds in by kicking the puck off his stick and into the net, and then he tipped Thomas’ shot for a power-play goal at 3:11.

Fowler, who assisted on the first two goals, made it 3-0 with 4:09 left in the opening period.

Buchnevich and Fowler became the first Blues teammates with three points in a period of a playoff game since Al MacInnis and Chris Pronger in Game 3 of the 1998 West quarterfinals against the Kings.

Binnington robbed Cole Perfetti of a power-play goal midway through the second that would have gotten Winnipeg back in it. Perfetti and the Jets thought the puck crossed the goal line in Binnington’s glove, but after a lengthy league-initiated review, the save stood.

Buchnevich’s third goal, at 5:24 of the third period, came less than a minute after Gustafsson gave the Jets some momentum with his first of the playoffs.

Kyrou had a power-play goal at 7:56 and Toropchenko scored with 9:28 left to make it 6-1 and chase Hellebuyck.

Pionk had a power-play goal for the Jets 2 1/2 minutes later, but Parayko got the Blues’ third goal with the man-advantage with 3:43 remaining to close the scoring.

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MLB Power Rankings: Who’s No. 1 one month into the season?

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April 25, 2025

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MLB Power Rankings: Who's No. 1 one month into the season?

Apr 24, 2025, 07:00 AM ET

We’re just about at the one-month mark of the 2025 MLB season — meaning, yes, it’s still too early to give much credence to the standings, but there are quite a few surprises nonetheless.

Just 2.5 games separate four teams — three of which have winning percentages above .600 — in the NL West, as the National League is shaping up to be packed with many powerful playoff-contending squads. And in the NL East, the current basement dweller, in a division that includes the Marlins and Nationals … is still the Braves?!

Meanwhile, in the American League, while the Yankees are playing as well as projected, a number of teams are hovering around .500, the Orioles are scuffling and the Twins have the second-worst record in the league.

What will the month of May bring for these clubs? Will they be able to carry — or change — their momentum?

Our expert panel has combined to rank every team based on a combination of what we’ve seen so far and what we already knew going into the 162-game marathon that is a full baseball season. We also asked ESPN MLB experts Jorge Castillo, Alden Gonzalez and Bradford Doolittle to weigh in with an observation for all 30 teams.

Week 3 | Preseason rankings

Record: 16-9
Previous ranking: 2

The Dodgers spent the offseason loading up their roster in hopes that they would become almost immune to the attrition that plagues teams throughout the season. Their pitching depth has been compromised nonetheless. Tony Gonsolin (back), Blake Snell (shoulder), Blake Treinen (forearm) and Michael Kopech (forearm) were added to the injured list before the end of the season’s first full month. And though none of their aforementioned injuries are considered serious — for now, at least — they offer yet another reminder of how delicate pitching depth can be. The Dodgers, meanwhile, have won in spite of that. Not at the rate many expected them to, perhaps, but enough to keep them among the sport’s elite. — Gonzalez

Record: 17-8
Previous ranking: 1

Any thought that the Padres’ deflating NL Division Series loss and the underwhelming offseason that followed it would weaken their resolve in 2025 has been grossly misplaced. They’ve stormed out of the gate with the second-best record in baseball, winning each of their first seven games and claiming five of their first six series. Nick Pivetta has been a revelation. Fernando Tatis Jr. is displaying a newfound patience that has made him look like the best player in the sport. The bullpen has been dominant. But what has stood out most is the energy of the Padres’ home environment and how their players continue to feed off it. They are 12-1 at Petco Park this season, a place that has seen their pitching staff post a 1.30 ERA. — Gonzalez

Record: 18-7
Previous ranking: 3

Don’t look now but the Mets are on fire — and the fans at Citi Field are getting very excited. The raucous atmosphere at the ballpark during the Mets’ extra-inning game against the Phillies on Wednesday came through even on the broadcast. That’s not surprising for a team that entered the season with high expectations and, so far, has more than met them. A starting rotation that seemed to lack star power when the season began has been one of the best units in the majors. The rotation’s average game score (56) ranks just behind MLB-leading Texas and its ERA (a sparkling 2.29) is easily the best in the majors. — Doolittle

Record: 15-10
Previous ranking: 7

If it wasn’t obvious last year, Aaron Judge is still proving he’s the best hitter on the planet — and it’s not particularly close. The two-time AL MVP has been Bondsian (should it just be Judgian at this point?) again to start the season. He leads the majors in batting average (.415), OBP (.513), slugging (.734) and OPS (1.247), and is tied for second in RBIs (26), to name a few categories.

Remember: Last season, he slashed .322/.458/.701 with 58 home runs — and won MVP — after a middling start through the beginning of May. In 150 games since May 3 last year, he’s batting .367 with 59 home runs, 152 RBIs and a 1.273 OPS. It has been an unreal stretch — going back, really, to his 62-homer season in 2022 — that we haven’t seen since Barry Bonds was splashing balls into McCovey Cove. — Castillo

Record: 16-9
Previous ranking: 4

When franchise icon Buster Posey assumed the role of president of baseball operations, he set out to build the Giants into a team that would win on the strength of pitching and defense. That, Posey said he believed, was key to thriving at a place like Oracle Park, which traditionally saps offense. But while that develops, the Giants have enjoyed a much-needed spark of offense from Jung Hoo Lee, who’s slashing .333/.388/.581 with 10 doubles. Lee’s rookie season of 2024 was plagued by a torn labrum. The Giants couldn’t truly catch a glimpse for how his elite bat-to-ball skills would translate within Oracle Park’s spacious outfield. They have now. — Gonzalez

Record: 14-10
Previous ranking: 8

When it comes to Arizona’s lineup, Corbin Carroll is the spark plug, Josh Naylor was brought in to provide punch in the middle of it and Geraldo Perdomo is one of its most crucial — yet unheralded — contributors. Their production was to be expected. But Pavin Smith‘s has been a welcomed sight. The 29-year-old left-handed hitter put together a really solid 60-game sample last season and has taken that to a new level in the first month, batting almost .400 while boasting the second-highest slugging percentage among those with at least 70 plate appearances. The D-backs never really replaced Joc Pederson‘s production at designated hitter with any outside acquisitions. Smith has shown they didn’t need to. — Gonzalez

Record: 16-10
Previous ranking: 6

On two occasions in five days, both teams scored at least 10 runs in a game at Wrigley Field. On Friday, the Cubs beat the D-backs 13-11 by scoring five runs in the seventh inning and six runs in the eighth. On Tuesday, they trailed the Dodgers by three runs heading into the bottom of the eighth and wound up beating them 11-10 in the 10th. It spoke to the early identity of this Cubs team. With Justin Steele out for the season and their bullpen a mess, the Cubs might have to slug their way to the top of the NL Central. And with the likes of Kyle Tucker, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Seiya Suzuki, Michael Busch and Carson Kelly off to strong starts, they just might. — Gonzalez

Record: 13-12
Previous ranking: 5

President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski has been able to cobble together contention-worthy bullpens for the most part during his time with the Phillies, but his wizardry in that area has been tested early. The Phillies have gotten solid enough work from the trio of Jose Alvarado, Matt Strahm and Tanner Banks, but pretty much every other reliever has struggled. Of particular concern is veteran right-hander Jordan Romano, who inked a one-year, $8.5 million free agent deal with Philadelphia over the winter. Romano’s early-season ERA is an unsightly 13.50 and he has given up two or more runs in four of his 10 outings. — Doolittle

Record: 15-10
Previous ranking: 9

It took longer than projected, but right-hander Casey Mize and first baseman Spencer Torkelson are finally realizing their potential together as former No. 1 overall picks in consecutive years. The 28-year-old Mize, the top pick in 2017, has been the best starter in a rotation featuring Tarik Skubal with a 2.22 ERA and 0.95 WHIP in four starts despite just a 18.9% strikeout rate after posting a 4.49 ERA last season. Torkelson, meanwhile, is slashing .264/.373/.571 with seven home runs in 25 games. The 2018 No. 1 pick has already accumulated 1.1 fWAR (his career high is 1.5, which he set in 2023 when he slugged a career-high 31 homers). — Castillo

Record: 14-10
Previous ranking: 10

The Rangers’ solid early pitching has helped them establish an early lead in the AL West despite a negative run differential. They will be hard-pressed to remain on that perch if their aggressive offense doesn’t start producing when it’s not hitting home runs. Texas is in the bottom five of the majors in swinging at first pitches, walks and scoring runs, and only four teams have relied more on homers to score. The ambush approach has worked for their attack in the past, but so far this year, it has not. — Doolittle

Record: 14-12
Previous ranking: 9

The Rafael Devers predicament is no longer an issue. The third baseman-turned-DH reverted to his usual self since that historically dreadful start (0-for-19 with 15 strikeouts), batting .253 with 13 RBIs and seven doubles since April 2. And yet, strangely, the Red Sox have struggled to consistently produce high-scoring outputs. Boston has scored four or fewer runs in 13 of 21 games this month. It’s baffling for a lineup with that much firepower — especially considering four regulars have an OPS of at least .820. — Castillo

Record: 14-10
Previous ranking: 11

It’s shaping up to be another year of the so-called experts (Who, me?) overlooking the Guardians and another year of the Guardians stomping on low expectations. At least so far. They’re 14-10 despite a minus-five run differential and closer Emmanuel Clase‘s 7.84 ERA. Steven Kwan is batting .337. Kyle Manzardo has seven home runs. Jose Ramirez has an .824 OPS with five homers and four steals. Logan Allen has a 2.11 ERA through four starts. Clase’s struggles after a historically great season are alarming, but Hunter Gaddis (no runs over 9⅔ innings), Cade Smith (1.38 ERA), Jakob Junis (1.64 ERA), Joey Cantillo (1.35 ERA) and Tim Herrin (2.00 ERA) have sparkled out of the bullpen. The Guardians just keep humming along in a very winnable AL Central. — Castillo

Record: 13-12
Previous ranking: 19

Things looked quite bleak for the Brewers early. They lost their first four games, during which their staff gave up a combined 47 runs. It looked like the start of a long year in Milwaukee. Then the Brewers did what they’re best known for — win, regardless of who’s gone or who’s hurt. Since the first day of April, they have won 13 of 21 games to keep pace with the Cubs in the NL Central. During that stretch, their rotation has put together a 2.34 ERA, second only to the Mets for the major league lead — even though seven starting pitchers currently make up Milwaukee’s IL. — Gonzalez

Record: 13-11
Previous ranking: 21

The Astros appear to have a new ace in Hunter Brown, who has been one of baseball’s best pitchers during the opening month. Brown has strung together three straight scoreless outings, lowering his season ERA to 1.16. The early-season star of Brown’s arsenal has been a four-seamer that has picked up 1.3 mph in average velocity over last season, per Statcast. Opponents are 2-for-35 against Brown’s heater in 2025 and the assigned run value of the four-seamer (plus-7) puts it in a tie with the slider of Miami’s Max Meyer as the most valuable pitch in all of baseball so far. — Doolittle

Record: 10-14
Previous ranking: 18

The Braves have more or less bounced back from their winless season-opening trip, a skid that dropped them from ESPN’s preseason No. 2 team to the middle of the pack. Yet all is not well in Cobb County. Good news: Spencer Strider made a triumphant return to the majors last week. Bad news: He made a frustrating return to the IL not long after. Luckily, his hamstring strain was classified as Grade 1 and if all goes well, his IL stint won’t be a long one. Still, his one-start return is apropos for an elite team that has struggled to build momentum. — Doolittle

Record: 13-11
Previous ranking: 15

The disconnect between the home and road versions of Seattle’s offense is reaching absurd levels. At T-Mobile Park, the Mariners remain punchless, hitting .226 as a team while scoring at a rate (3.6 runs) better than only three other teams in their respective home venues. On the road, they are the punchers, hitting .267 with a top five road scoring average in baseball.

An avatar in that is third baseman Dylan Moore, fresh off winning AL Player of the Week honors, boosted by the fact that the M’s are on a road trip. For the season, Moore is hitting .200/.333/.350 in Seattle with one homer. On the road, he’s at .311/.340/.600 with four homers. Maybe the Mariners’ hitters could petition to play all their games on the road? — Doolittle

Record: 12-13
Previous ranking: 13

The Blue Jays have enjoyed a solid first month, which registers as a success after last year’s last-place debacle. But the first month of the season will be remembered for their decision to give Vladimir Guerrero Jr. a $500-million contract. Whether that investment pans out will make or break the franchise’s future. Stringing together a few solid months to remain within striking distance at the trade deadline would be a good start. — Castillo

Record: 12-13
Previous ranking: 17

The Reds’ offense has mostly underperformed — minus a 24-run onslaught against the Orioles on Easter Sunday — but their pitching has been mostly solid. And the most encouraging signs have come from their two young frontline starters, Hunter Greene and Nick Lodolo, who have clearly taken big steps forward. The two have combined for a 2.56 ERA through their first 10 starts. Greene, whose fastball is averaging 99 mph, has struck out 35 batters and issued only six walks in 30⅔ innings. Andrew Abbott, meanwhile, was activated off the IL around mid-April and has given up only two runs in 11 innings. — Gonzalez

Record: 10-14
Previous ranking: 12

For all the work done to make Steinbrenner Field feel like home, the fact is that the Rays are still without one. That was obvious over the weekend when the Yankees traveled to Tampa to take three of four games as the visiting team in their spring training ballpark. The Rays have played all but five games at their temporary residence, going 9-10 after having their schedule changed to frontload home games to avoid the summer heat and rain. They’ll need to be better than that to make noise in the AL East. — Castillo

Record: 9-14
Previous ranking: 20

The Orioles’ chief concern entering the season was their starting pitching, and it’s proved to be a very real problem — one without an obvious solution. They have the highest starters’ ERA in baseball by nearly a half-run. Charlie Morton, their $15 million free agent addition, has a league-worst 10.89 ERA in 20⅔ innings through five starts. Dean Kremer has a 6.84 ERA after yielding eight extra-base hits to the Nationals on Tuesday. Cade Povich has a 6.38 ERA. Zach Eflin, their Opening Day starter, was put on the IL because of a lat strain after three starts. Grayson Rodriguez and Albert Suarez began the season on the IL because of shoulder injuries and their returns aren’t imminent. This is a weakness that could bury Baltimore in the standings before long. — Castillo

Record: 10-14
Previous ranking: 16

Kansas City ranks last in baseball in runs scored per game, averaging fewer than three. Bobby Witt Jr. is raking again and Maikel Garcia has been a pleasant surprise, but other than that, it has been ugly. Vinnie Pasquantino has a .186/.260/.314 slash line. Salvador Perez also has struggled with a .185 batting average and .528 OPS. This has all amplified the fan base’s cries for the club to call up top prospect Jac Caglianone as soon as possible.

Caglianone was the team’s first-round pick at No. 6 last year. He possesses perhaps the best raw power across the minors, but the first baseman has played only 16 games above Double-A. As an elite two-way player in college, he could be capable of playing the outfield, but he has played only first base as a pro, so there isn’t an obvious positional fit. But his bat could force its way to Kansas City soon enough. — Castillo

Record: 10-15
Previous ranking: 23

The Cardinals turned some heads with a season-opening sweep of the Twins, but now they’re right about where we expected — five games below .500 in the wake of a brutal 1-6 trip and battling the typical inconsistency of a mediocre-to-bad team. Brendan Donovan has been red hot; the likes of Nolan Arenado, Lars Nootbaar and Victor Scott II have provided encouraging signs; and key members of their staff, most notably Sonny Gray and Steven Matz, have pitched well. But there has been at least as much bad to counteract the good.

Case in point: Miles Mikolas took the mound with a 7.64 ERA on Wednesday afternoon and proceeded to throw six scoreless innings against the Braves. The Cardinals lost anyway. They scored only once. — Gonzalez

Record: 11-12
Previous ranking: 22

After a hot — and surprising — start, the Angels have started to level off, dropping back to .500 with a run differential well below break even. The bullpen has been a problem area despite a near-perfect start to the season from veteran closer Kenley Jansen. One glimmer of hope from that group is 27-year-old right-hander Ryan Zeferjahn, who, despite logging only 6⅔ innings this season, ranks fourth on the Halos with 14 strikeouts. He’s whiffing batters at a rate of 18.9 per nine innings — or more than two per frame. He also has given up a couple of homers, but the raw talent certainly seems to be there for Zeferjahn to work a high-leverage role. — Doolittle

Record: 11-13
Previous ranking: 26

For all the early talk about Sutter Health Park being a new hitter’s paradise in MLB, the Athletics’ immediate problem is that their opponents have done a much better job of playing to its conditions. The A’s lost eight of their first 10 home games in Sacramento, and while the ugly home/road splits of the pitching staff might be expected, the much bigger surprise is that their hitters have also been better on the road. The difference has primarily been homers: 13 long balls in 11 games at home; 22 in 13 games on the road. — Doolittle

Record: 11-13
Previous ranking: 25

The Marlins have held their own in the win column over the first month, though they hold one of the NL’s worst run differentials. Still, as long as Miami is hovering around .500, it’s probably not fair to turn the focus to what so many see as the inevitability of a Sandy Alcantara trade. Nevertheless, whether you’re tracking Alcantara for trade value purposes or you’re holding out hope that the Marlins can be a surprise contender, the better he pitches, the better off you’ll be. Alas, Alcantara is not yet back to his pre-injury, Cy Young form. A quality start against Cincinnati on Wednesday lowered his ERA to 6.56 but his K/9 (6.56, matching the ERA) and BB/9 (4.63) are both well off his presurgery standard. — Doolittle

Record: 9-15
Previous ranking: 24

The Twins couldn’t overcome injuries in 2024, collapsing down the stretch to fall out of postseason contention, and it looks as if they won’t be able to overcome injuries in 2025 either. Royce Lewis, the talented but oft-injured infielder, sustained a hamstring injury during spring training and hasn’t played in a game yet. Right-hander Pablo Lopez, the club’s Opening Day starter, landed on the IL because of his own hamstring injury after three starts. An oblique strain has kept utilityman Willi Castro, an All-Star last season, off the field since April 16. The Twins, meanwhile, have sunk to fourth place in the competitive AL Central, ahead of only the White Sox. — Castillo

Record: 11-13
Previous ranking: 27

Is it too soon to be on record watch? Probably, but the Nationals have lots of reasons to be excited about MacKenzie Gore, who is on pace to make a run at 300 strikeouts this season. He already has produced a pair of 13-strikeout starts and was leading the NL in whiffs after his last start against Colorado. The Nationals’ single-season mark is 300 on the nose, established by Max Scherzer in 2018. The champ from the Expos portion of the franchise’s history is Pedro Martinez, who struck out 305 in 1997. It’s heady company for Gore, long touted as an elite prospect who is on the verge of establishing himself as an elite big league pitcher. — Doolittle

Record: 10-15
Previous ranking: 28

The Pirates’ first month has been marked by controversy. The opening homestand was tainted by the removal of Roberto Clemente signage in the right-field portion of PNC Park. Then there were the personalized fan bricks that were extracted from outside the ballpark without an initial explanation. Then came this past Saturday — a day when fans lined the Clemente Bridge to receive a Paul Skenes bobblehead, then crammed into the ballpark and filled the air with “sell the team” chants for Pirates’ frugal owner Bob Nutting. Skenes, who will start at Dodger Stadium on Friday, continues to look dominant, posting a 2.87 ERA through his first five starts. But everything around him continues to be a mess. — Gonzalez

Record: 5-19
Previous ranking: 29

The White Sox are losing far more than they’re winning. That’s expected and won’t alter their long-term plans. But Luis Robert Jr. not being good could have a significant impact. Ideally, the veteran center fielder would have dashed to a fast start and had contenders throwing trade offers with top-end prospects at the White Sox to sort through before the trade deadline. But Robert is slashing .145/.267/.250 with 27 strikeouts in 22 games. That won’t attract the kind of haul the White Sox seek as they continue their painfully thorough rebuild. — Castillo

Record: 4-18
Previous ranking: 30

It was a mere three weeks into the season when the Rockies determined that a drastic change was necessary. On the afternoon of April 17, they announced the firing of hitting coach Hensley Meulens and replaced him with longtime manager Clint Hurdle, who had taken on an advisory role with the organization. The Rockies were in the midst of a six-game losing streak then, during which they had accumulated only 12 runs — seven of which had come the night before. Things have not gotten much better since. Hurdle, of course, is no wizard. The Rockies hold the third-lowest OPS in the majors and its worst record, all while playing in the sport’s most difficult division. It will be another long season in Colorado. — Gonzalez

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Politics

‘Consensus has got to be rebuilt’: Harriet Harman reacts to gender ruling on Electoral Dysfunction podcast

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April 25, 2025

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'Consensus has got to be rebuilt': Harriet Harman reacts to gender ruling on Electoral Dysfunction podcast

The Supreme Court ruling on the definition of a woman has “clarified” the 2010 Equality Act, Harriet Harman has said – as she urged people to feel “confident they can use their common sense”.

The Labour peer and former minister put forward the Equality Bill, now the Equality Act 2010, which protects people from discrimination in the workplace and in wider society.

The legislation had become the centre of controversy in the debate about transgender rights as it was not clear whether the term “sex” referred to biological sex or “certificated” sex as legally defined by the 2004 Gender Recognition Act (GRA).

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Last week, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the definition of a “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 refers to “a biological woman and biological sex”.

It means that some single-sex service providers will be able to exclude trans women if they deem it proportionate and necessary.

But speaking to Beth Rigby on Sky News’ Electoral Dysfunction podcast, Baroness Harman said the providers of single-sex spaces were always able to do this under the Act.

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She said: “What we’ve got to do now, is with the Supreme Court having clarified what we said all along in the 2010 act, that consensus has got to be rebuilt.

“I strongly believe that most people don’t like to see trans people discriminated against and persecuted, and they want to just live and let live and let people get on and live the best lives they can.

“And most people understand that if you’re dealing with women who’ve been traumatised by male violence, it might be that actually a trans woman there prevents them feeling they can be comfortable in a refuge or in a counselling session.”

During the podcast, Baroness Harman, Beth Rigby and Baroness Davidson were played audio sent in from Ellie, a 25-year-old trans woman from Glasgow.

She said she was “devastated” by last week’s ruling.

“I’m scared and I am angry,” she said.

“I don’t think there’s clarity yet as to what this ruling actually means for my community in law.

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“The GRA has now been rendered practically meaningless, and the UK government could respond by saying ‘yep, fair enough, let’s get them updated so that we can make sure that trans people are respected and protected in society for who they are’, but instead, they’ve pounced on us – with government ministers even suggesting that trans women can’t use women’s spaces like toilets.

“I mean, where am I supposed to go?

“It’s clearly not safe for so many trans women like me to use the men’s toilets, not to mention completely dehumanising.

“It’s not appropriate for a male police officer to get to pat down my chest, and it’s also clearly completely unworkable.”

She added: “This whole thing is being done under the guise of making some women feel safer, while actually making so many of us, whether trans or not, materially less safe, and I don’t even think we’d be having this conversation if the media and some politicians hadn’t spent the past five years demonising us.

“It just feels so, so cowardly and cruel.”

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