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11 months agoon
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Brooke Pryor, ESPN Staff WriterApr 27, 2024, 07:15 PM ET
Close- Previously covered the Kansas City Chiefs for the Kansas City Star and Oklahoma University for the Oklahoman.
The 2024 NFL draft had everything: a historic run on offensive players, an even more historic run on quarterbacks, moms blocking their sons’ girlfriends from getting in on the draft night celebration, head-scratching picks and a whole slew of trades.
The good news after a record-setting weekend in Detroit: Your team is going 20-0 and winning the Lombardi Trophy.
The bad news: Your team missed out on your favorite X factor prospect, and the future is bleak.
The real news: 257 players had their dreams come true throughout the weekend when they were selected to join an NFL team and help their new organization compete for a Super Bowl.
No pressure.
Here’s a look at some of the major trends of the 2024 NFL draft.
The quarterback quandary
It’s good to be a quarterback. Or at least it’s good to be a first-round quarterback. In a league where quarterback play — especially from young, affordable talent — is becoming increasingly more valuable, the 2024 draft saw six quarterbacks go in the first 12 picks, marking only the second time that six QBs were picked in the first round since 1983. It also represented the fewest selections in which six signal-callers have been drafted.
The first three off the board weren’t much of a surprise: Caleb Williams (Bears), Jayden Daniels (Commanders) and Drake Maye (Patriots). Then things went sideways when the Falcons stunningly drafted Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. at No. 8, despite signing quarterback Kirk Cousins to a lucrative free agent deal less than two months ago. Two picks later, the Minnesota Vikings made their much-anticipated trade up to select Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy, and the Broncos rounded out the group with Oregon’s Bo Nix at No. 12.
But after the boom of quarterbacks in the top 12 picks, not a single QB went until 150th overall when the New Orleans Saints selected South Carolina’s Spencer Rattler in the fifth round, setting another record of 137 straight picks without a quarterback being drafted. It also marked the third time in the common draft era that a QB wasn’t selected in the second or third round. It was 21 picks later before the second Day 3 quarterback came off the board when the New York Jets drafted Florida State’s Jordan Travis as a potential heir to Aaron Rodgers. Tennessee quarterback Joe Milton III was eventually picked by the Patriots at 193 in the sixth round.
The gap in quarterbacks could signal one of two things: The league’s talent evaluators believed there was a massive drop-off between the top six quarterbacks and the rest of the class or teams are devaluing development prospects. Both make some sense. In a league that has become increasingly impatient with young quarterbacks, there’s more pressure to see an immediate positive impact from its drafted QBs. The faster a quarterback proves himself, the more time the team has to build around him with expensive weapons while its quarterback’s inexpensive rookie contract is still on the books.
Lives of luxury?
No, this category isn’t about the Los Angeles Rams draft house. Although, those are pretty sweet digs, and the Rams actually had to do some work from there in the first round this year for the first time since 2016.
Instead, let’s take a look at the teams that used high draft picks to address positions that were already pretty well stocked.
The Atlanta Falcons started that trend early by drafting quarterback Michael Penix Jr. at No. 8 overall, despite recently signing Kirk Cousins to a four-year deal with $100 million guaranteed. The Falcons, though, stocked up on more pressing positions of need with their subsequent picks, taking four straight front-seven defenders.
Just after the Penix pick, the Chicago Bears opted to give Caleb Williams more help at wide receiver, drafting Rome Odunze despite having Keenan Allen and DJ Moore.
A couple of picks later, with the top-tier quarterbacks off the board, new Raiders general manager Tom Telesco selected Georgia tight end Brock Bowers at No. 13, despite the team drafting TE Michael Mayer at No. 35 overall a year ago. Bowers, though, is a more versatile pass-catcher than Mayer and could work out of the slot or as an outside receiver.
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“He was really pretty [much] a consensus guy,” Telesco said of the team’s opinion of Bowers on Thursday. “Makes it a little bit easier, fully knowing that we have Michael Mayer, who is an excellent tight end, but there’s no rule in the NFL that you can only play one. We can play two tight ends; we can move people around.”
The 49ers closed Round 1 by drafting Florida wide receiver Ricky Pearsall despite having a stockpile of pass-catchers in WRs Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel, TE George Kittle, RB Christian McCaffrey and FB Kyle Juszczyk. Some thought the San Francisco pick could signal an impending trade of Aiyuk or Samuel, but when the draft closed, both were still 49ers. And GM John Lynch shot down the trade rumors in his Friday night news conference.
“We didn’t entertain any of that today,” Lynch said. “We’re happy with our wide receiver group. Actually, more than happy. We’re really thrilled with it. And thrilled to have added Ricky to that group and even make it stronger.”
Rich get richer?
The Kansas City Chiefs keep winning. The back-to-back Super Bowl champions not only landed value picks, but they grabbed two of them in trades with teams they beat in the 2023 playoffs. First, general manager Brett Veach traded up in the first round, using Buffalo’s No. 28 pick to snag speedy wide receiver Xavier Worthy, pairing him with another blazing wideout in free agency addition Marquise “Hollywood” Brown.
“Anytime you can add speed and add a guy with that type of versatility, I think you’re going to be interested,” Veach said Thursday night. “Just our ability to play vertical and have speed on the field at all times and having Xavier and Hollywood.
“As the season goes on here, I think we’ll have just an offense that can attack in multiple different ways and always keep defenses guessing.”
Bad news, NFL: Patrick Mahomes already won a Super Bowl without an elite receiving corps. Now, he has a track team on the outside and a physical pass-catcher with great finesse in Travis Kelce on the inside.
The move was particularly head-scratching because the Bills had a clear need at wideout after trading away No. 1 receiver Stefon Diggs. But GM Brandon Beane explained his team traded out of the first round — later trading the Panthers the No. 32 pick for their No. 33 as a part of package — because they wanted to recoup a third-round pick and believed there were quality players available at the top of the second. (Indeed, the Bills selected wideout Keon Coleman at No. 33.)
In the second round, the Chiefs then worked out a deal with the 49ers, whom they beat in overtime in the Super Bowl, to get pick No. 63 and draft 6-foot-5, 325-pound BYU offensive tackle Kingsley Suamataia.
“I love Veach man!” Mahomes tweeted after the Suamataia pick.
Defense delayed
Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be defensive players — at least not if you’re hoping for them to be selected in the top 10 picks of the NFL draft. The first defensive player — UCLA edge rusher Laiatu Latu — didn’t come off the board until the 15th pick. And while the Latu selection didn’t exactly open the floodgates right away, eight of the final 18 first-round picks were defensive players.
After a record-setting 23 offensive players went off the board in the first round, 20 defensive players were drafted in Round 2, tied for the fourth most in second round and the most there since 22 went in 2016.
Among the defensive positions most devalued was linebacker. The first one didn’t come off the board until the Packers traded up for Edgerrin Cooper with the 45th overall pick. The next linebacker, Michigan’s Junior Colson, wasn’t drafted until the third round, which proved to be one sweet spot for the position. Five linebackers were selected in the third round. Then six more went in the fifth.
The only defensive position group that had to wait longer to get its first pick was safety. Minnesota’s Tyler Nubin went two picks after Cooper to the New York Giants, followed by two more from the position in that round.
While the majority of teams stocked up on offensive players, two prioritized defense through the first three rounds. Neither the Eagles nor the Lions took an offensive player in the first three rounds.
The offense still finished ahead of the defense by the end of Day 2, with 54 offensive players selected to 46 defensive players.
Trade Eagles, trade
Philadelphia Eagles general manager Howie Roseman outdid himself. Notorious for wheeling and dealing, Roseman orchestrated nine trades in the draft, the most by any team since 1990. The next closest were the 2018 Patriots and the 2023 Texans, with eight trades each.
Not only did Roseman trade up with the Washington Commanders to land cornerback Cooper DeJean in the second round, but on Day 3, the Eagles traded the No. 164 overall pick and a sixth-rounder to the Indianapolis Colts to select legacy linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr. with the No. 155 pick overall. Trotter’s dad was selected by the same organization in the third round of the 1998 draft and became a four-time Pro Bowler over a 12-year career. Prior to the trade that landed Trotter, Roseman went wild in the fourth round with three trades. (Jets GM Joe Douglas also got in on the action and made three trades of his own in that round.)
In the first round, though, Roseman didn’t need to pull off any deals to land a star player. Because of the run on offensive players, the board set up perfectly for the Eagles to select Toledo cornerback Quinyon Mitchell at No. 22. Mitchell, widely considered the best cornerback in the class, models his game after veteran Eagles cornerback Darius Slay, giving the team a ready-made heir apparent for the CB1 job whenever Slay, entering his 12th season, moves on.
“Obviously, he’s got a lot to prove as a small-school player,” Roseman told Philadelphia media. “The MAC is not the National Football League. We understand that. We’ve had tremendous success with big schools. To take a player like this from the MAC, he has to be special.”
The Eagles’ first round, uncharacteristic because Roseman stuck with the original pick and chose a player from a small school, caused instant anguish for Cowboys defensive end Micah Parsons, who was watching the draft on a livestream.
“I’m honestly utterly disgusted on how lucky the Eagles are,” Parsons said of the Mitchell pick on a Bleacher Report livestream. “I do not know how he fell that far; with the run of offensive tackles and quarterbacks, that’s the only thing that makes sense. I thought he was a top-15, top-12 talent, and he just fell right into their laps.”
Deep and wide (receiver class)
All the pre-draft buzz of deep wide receiver and offensive line classes was reflected throughout the weekend. There were a combined 50 wideout and O-lineman selections through the first four rounds, setting a common draft era record.
Twenty-five offensive linemen went in the first three rounds, and of those, 17 were listed at offensive tackle — both records for the most drafted in the first three rounds in the common draft era.
The Steelers were among the teams who made the most of the deep offensive line class, drafting three linemen with their first five picks, marking the first time the Steelers have selected three O-linemen within their first five picks in the common draft era.
In that same three-round span, 16 receivers were selected, one shy of tying the record. In fact, the first non-quarterback selected Thursday night was Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr., who went to the Arizona Cardinals. Fittingly, the next player drafted was offensive tackle Joe Alt followed by LSU wide receiver Malik Nabers to the New York Giants.
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Tannenbaum: Giants made a big mistake passing on J.J. McCarthy
Mike Tannenbaum was confused by the Giants drafting WR Malik Nabers over QB J.J. McCarthy considering Daniel Jones’ injury history.
“I do think it’s a deep receiver draft,” Giants general manager Joe Schoen said prior to the draft. “They come in different shapes and sizes and speeds, but I do think it’s a deep wide receiver draft from top to bottom, depending on what you’re looking for.
“[There is] some added value with guys, the new kickoff rules, the guys that can also do returns. I think there’s an added element there too, and there’s some receivers that can wear multiple hats, not just as a receiver but also as a returner. Yeah, I do think it’s a good draft. … However people have them ranked, I think it is a good draft from the receiver position.”
WR Ja’Lynn Polk, picked at No. 37 overall by the New England Patriots was the 10th wide receiver selected, making the 2024 draft the fastest that 10 wideouts came off the board in the common draft era. Prior to this year, the fastest that 10 wide receivers had been drafted was by pick No. 45 in 1994.
Draft of runs
Not only did the draft start with a run on quarterbacks, but that streaky nature continued all weekend. Four wide receivers went off the board consecutively between the final two picks of the first round and the first two of the second. Soon after, four cornerbacks flew off the board in a row, from No. 40 to No. 43. By the end of the round, 10 defensive backs came off the board as compared to just three in the first round.
In the fourth round, running backs started to fly off the board, including three in a row, to the Eagles, Bills and 49ers. By the time the fourth wrapped up, six running backs were selected, the most in a single round since seven went in the sixth round of the 2019 draft. Prior to the fourth round, only four running backs had been selected.
And in the span of 11 picks in the sixth round, three kickers came off the board: Alabama’s Will Reichard (Vikings), Stanford’s Joshua Karty (Rams) and Arkansas’ Cam Little (Jaguars).
Ducks fly together …
… and they get drafted together. Oregon players were a popular pick this year, and when running back Bucky Irving became the seventh Duck off the board by early on Day 3, it set a school record for the most selections in the common draft era.
Three Oregon picks flew off the board in the middle of the fourth round when CB Khyree Jackson went No. 108 overall to the Minnesota Vikings, followed by DL Brandon Dorlus to the Falcons with the next pick and, two selections later, safety Evan Williams to the Green Bay Packers after they made a trade with the Jets.
The Broncos landed two Ducks, trading up 19 spots to open Day 3 to snag wide receiver Troy Franklin, reuniting him with teammate Bo Nix, who was the Broncos’ first-round pick. The Broncos brass was plenty familiar with Franklin, who participated in a private workout with Nix for the Broncos in March. And Franklin thrived with Nix throwing him the ball, setting Oregon single-season records last season in receiving yards (1,383), receiving touchdowns (14) and 100-yard receiving games (eight).
“He makes the receiver’s job easier,” Franklin said of Nix. “That’s my guy right there.”
Ducks center Jackson Powers-Johnson also was drafted, going to the Las Vegas Raiders at No. 44 overall.
Oregon, though, wasn’t the most represented program in this year’s draft, eclipsed by College Football Playoff national champion Michigan (13), runner-up Washington (10) and semifinalists Texas (11) and Alabama (10). The Wolverines’ 13 draft picks also set a program record for most selected in a single draft.
The Big D
No, not Dallas. Detroit put on a show hosting the 2024 NFL draft, breaking the all-time attendance record with 700,000 fans over the three-day event, shattering the previous mark of 600,000 set by fans in Nashville at the 2019 draft. Detroit also broke attendance records on Day 1 and Day 2.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer made the announcement to the fans early on Day 3 of the draft.
“We have shown the world what the Motor City is about,” Whitmer told the crowd.
While the fans had fun flooding Detroit’s downtown for the draft, back at the Lions’ facility, the team’s staffers also were having fun by wearing black No. 89 Dan Campbell jerseys on the final day of the NFL draft — a celebratory move after Campbell won a bet to bring back the black jerseys by winning the NFC North in 2023.
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Sports
MLB’s villains or its gold standard? How the Los Angeles Dodgers got here
Published
22 hours agoon
March 17, 2025By
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Alden GonzalezMar 17, 2025, 07:00 AM ET
Close- ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the L.A. Rams for ESPN from 2016 to 2018 and the L.A. Angels for MLB.com from 2012 to 2016.
The Los Angeles Dodgers aren’t just a baseball team these days. They are a symbol. For fans of the other 29 major league clubs, they are a source of either indignation or longing. For rival owners — and the commissioner who answers to them — they exemplify a widening payroll disparity that must be addressed. For players, and the union that represents them, they are a beacon, embodying all the traits of successful organizations: astute at player development, invested in behind-the-scenes components that make a difference and, most prominently, eager to pump their outsized revenues back into the roster.
The Dodgers employ seven players on nine-figure contracts, with five of those deals reached over the past 15 months. They also have the strongest farm system in the sport, according to ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel. Their lineup is loaded and their rotation is decorated, but also their future looks bright and their resources seem limitless. And yet their chief architect, Andrew Friedman, isn’t ready for a victory lap.
“It just doesn’t really land with me in that way,” Friedman, entering his 11th year as the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations, said in a recent phone conversation. “I think once I get fired, once there’s like real distance between being mired in the day-to-day and when I’m not, I will be able to look back at those things. But for us right now, it all feels very precarious.
“We’ve seen a lot of really successful organizations that fall off a cliff and take a while to build back. We don’t take any of it for granted.”
Nothing lasts forever. Every empire has fallen, every dynasty has faded. But what the Dodgers have built feels uniquely sustainable. A glaring reminder came last month, when Major League Baseball’s commissioner, Rob Manfred, was asked whether outrage over the Dodgers’ spending reminded him of how fans felt about the star-laden New York Yankees teams of the early 2000s, commonly referred to as “The Evil Empire.”
The current Dodgers, Manfred said, “are probably more profitable on a percentage basis than the old Yankees were, meaning it could be more sustainable, so it is more of a problem.”
The word “problem” depends on one’s perspective. Dodgers fans certainly wouldn’t describe it as such. As the team prepares to begin its season on Tuesday against the Chicago Cubs in Japan — a country in which they are revered, in a series sponsored by their ownership group — it’s worth understanding how the Dodgers got here.
It was the result of their process, but it also required several monumental steps over the past dozen years.
Below is a look at their biggest leaps.
Jan. 28, 2013: They signed a media megadeal
At the start of 2013, the Dodgers, less than a year into Guggenheim’s ownership, landed a massive local-media deal spanning 25 years and valued at $8.35 billion, or $334 million annually on average. But for the rest of that decade, it qualified as a massive headache. A stalemate between AT&T and Charter Communications meant more than half the Southern California market was unable to access the team’s channel, SportsNet LA, from 2014 to 2020.
As the impasse continued and tensions escalated, the Dodgers’ media deal came to symbolize a growing clash between sports channels that demand higher fees and content distributors wary of making customers pay for content they do not consume. Now — five years after the two sides finally struck a deal, airing Dodgers games on AT&T video platforms and nearly doubling the number of households to more than 3 million — it exemplifies a growing disparity that is rattling the industry.
The Dodgers’ local-media deal runs longer than most and is more expensive than any other, but here’s the kicker, according to a source familiar with the deal: While most regional sports networks are set up as subsidiaries underneath a corporate entity, leaving them in the lurch when they fall into hard times — like Diamond Sports Group, a former Sinclair subsidiary that was forced into bankruptcy when debt mounted and subscribers fell off — the Dodgers have complete corporate backing from Charter, a massive media conglomerate.
So not only do the Dodgers generate far more in local media than any of their competitors, but at a time when the linear-cable model is drying up and teams face increasing uncertainty with RSN contracts that represent about 20% of revenues, their deal is relatively iron-clad. That is especially valuable considering they’re in a division where three teams — the San Diego Padres, Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies — have lost their local media deals.
Dec. 21, 2018: They swung a trade that streamlined their payroll
Four days before Christmas in 2018, the Dodgers executed a rare salary dump. Matt Kemp, Yasiel Puig, Alex Wood, Kyle Farmer and cash were sent to the Cincinnati Reds for Homer Bailey, who was promptly released, and two young players who would later help trigger blockbuster acquisitions, Jeter Downs and Josiah Gray. The prospect component was secondary; the real benefit was the money saved, which gave the Dodgers additional wiggle room under the luxury-tax threshold and helped them remain debt-service compliant the following year.
In a bigger sense, it was the culmination of a multi-year effort by the front office to rid the Dodgers of bloated contracts and streamline a payroll that ultimately became burdened by massive deals for players like Kemp, Andre Ethier, Carl Crawford and Adrián González. The Dodgers’ luxury-tax payroll dropped by about $50 million from 2017 to 2019, by which point only two players — A.J. Pollock and Kenta Maeda — were signed beyond the next two years. In Friedman’s mind, the Dodgers were now free to be aggressive.
“For our first four to five years, it was as much about trying to be as competitive as we could be while getting our future payroll outlook in a better spot,” he said. “At the end of the 2019 season was the first time we had reached that point and were in position to be more aggressive at the top of the free-agent class.”
Gerrit Cole and Anthony Rendon headlined that offseason’s free-agent class. The Dodgers didn’t come away with either of them.
They would soon make up for it.
Feb. 10, 2020: Mookie Betts became available — and they pounced
The Dodgers engaged in initial trade conversations around Betts leading up to the trade deadline in 2019, but then the Boston Red Sox won five of seven against the Tampa Bay Rays and the New York Yankees near the end of July, and suddenly Betts was unavailable. A tone was set nonetheless.
“We knew, with him going into his last year of control, that there was a chance they would look to trade him going into that offseason,” Friedman recalled. “There was a switch in their baseball-operations department, and Chaim Bloom was hired, who I have a good relationship with. I spent a lot of time talking to him in the beginning. For him, it was about getting his feet on the ground and understanding the organizational direction of what they were doing. And it wasn’t until January where he opened the door to engage.”
Friedman, who gave Bloom his first front-office job in Tampa, ultimately landed Betts and David Price for Alex Verdugo, Downs and another position-player prospect in Connor Wong on Feb. 10, 2020. Friedman had long coveted Betts not just for his supreme talent, but for his work ethic and competitive edge and how those qualities seemed to elevate those around him. Within five months, Betts agreed to a 12-year, $365 million extension, eschewing free agency.
March 17, 2022: Freddie Freeman became a surprise free agent addition
When Freeman hit free agency after winning the 2021 World Series with the Braves, Friedman assumed he would simply return to Atlanta. So did everyone else — Freeman included. He was a homegrown star poised to someday get his number retired and have a statue outside Truist Park. But initial conversations barely progressed, and the Dodgers saw an opening.
On the afternoon of Dec. 1, moments before the sport would shut down in the midst of a bitter labor fight, Dodgers players, coaches and executives gathered for Betts’ wedding in L.A. Friedman, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and then-third baseman Justin Turner briefly stepped away to call Freeman. They wanted to leave a lasting impression before an owner-imposed lockout would prohibit communication between teams and players. They wanted to be the last club he heard from.
The message, essentially: Don’t forget about us.
Friedman said he “got off the call feeling like it was incredibly unlikely” that the Dodgers would land Freeman. But when the lockout ended on March 10, the Braves and Freeman’s then-agent, Casey Close, still couldn’t bridge the gap, either on length or value. Four days later, the Braves traded for another star first baseman in Matt Olson, leaving Freeman stunned. Three days after that, he pivoted to the Dodgers, coming to terms on a six-year, $162 million contract.
2022-23 offseason: They sat out the shortstop market
When Corey Seager became a free agent at the end of the 2021 season, the Dodgers had a ready-made replacement in Trea Turner, who had been acquired with Max Scherzer the previous summer in a deal that sent Gray and three other minor leaguers to the Washington Nationals. But when Turner himself became a free agent a year later, the Dodgers did nothing to shore up one of the sport’s most important positions.
Turner became part of a historic class of free-agent shortstops, along with Carlos Correa, Xander Bogaerts and Dansby Swanson. The Dodgers didn’t pursue any of them, even though they didn’t have a clear replacement. The Dodgers could have avoided years of uncertainty at this position by locking in a proven star, but doing so was hardly entertained.
The reason is now obvious.
“With where we were commitment-wise,” Friedman said, “and with Shohei [Ohtani] coming up the next offseason, it was just a higher bar to clear for us to do something that would have any negative ability for us to pursue Shohei.”
Dec. 11, 2023: Ohtani chose them
By the time Ohtani became a free agent in November of 2023, the Dodgers’ roster was loaded but their payroll was manageable, with only Betts and Freeman guaranteed beyond the next two seasons. The Dodgers could boast a contending team — with two franchise pillars and a wealth of young talent — but also pitch Ohtani on the promise of adding other impact players around him, regardless of his monstrous contract. It worked.
Now, Dec. 11, 2023, stands as one of the most monumental dates in Dodgers history. Ohtani not only joined the Dodgers that day, but he agreed to defer more than 97% of his 10-year, $700 million contract. The Dodgers have become infamous for their propensity to defer money, a mechanism to provide players with a higher guarantee but, given the ability to invest deferred commitments, is mostly beneficial to the Dodgers (though perhaps not as much as one might think).
Ohtani’s deal was followed by the addition of two frontline starters — Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who landed a contract worth $325 million, and Tyler Glasnow, who was acquired via trade and subsequently signed a five-year extension worth close to $140 million. Ohtani didn’t pitch in 2024, but he put together one of the greatest offensive seasons in baseball history, starting the 50/50 club and becoming the first full-time designated hitter to win an MVP.
Just as important, from the Dodgers’ perspective: He generated massive amounts of revenue.
Ohtani had MLB’s top-selling jersey by a wide margin. With him on the roster, the Dodgers struck sponsorship agreements with 11 different Japanese companies during the 2024 season. Two Ohtani bobblehead giveaways prompted fans to line up outside Dodger Stadium up to 10 hours before the first pitch. Japanese guided tours through the ballpark — a twice-a-day, four-day-a-week addition — never relented. The gift shops frequently had lines out the door.
The Dodgers won’t disclose how much additional revenue they generated from Ohtani last year, but team president Stan Kasten has repeatedly said it blew away even their most optimistic projections.
Oct. 9, 2024: They survived Game 4 of the NLDS
It’s amazing, given the space the Dodgers currently occupy, that five months ago they carried a reputation as, well, chokers. Their championship at the end of the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season had been thoroughly dismissed for its unconventionality. More prevalent in the general public’s mind was 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023, seasons that ended with talented teams getting eliminated early by inferior opponents.
The 2024 season was quickly headed in that direction. On Oct. 9, the Dodgers trailed a Padres club that was widely considered more well-rounded two-games-to-one in the best-of-five National League Division Series. Their depleted rotation had run out of starters. They would stage a bullpen game with their season on the line. And they would survive. The Dodgers shut out the Padres in Game 4, shut them out again in Game 5, then cruised past the New York Mets and Yankees to capture their first full-season championship since 1988.
What followed was a second straight offseason in which the Dodgers added practically every player they wanted. That included a frontline starter (Blake Snell), two corner outfielders (Teoscar Hernandez and Michael Conforto), three premium bullpen pieces (Tanner Scott, Kirby Yates and Blake Treinen), two fan favorites (Clayton Kershaw and Kiké Hernández) and one of the most alluring pitching prospects in a generation (Roki Sasaki). A key utility player (Tommy Edman) was also extended. The cost: another $466.5 million in guaranteed money, immediately after an offseason in which they guaranteed close to $1.4 billion in signings and extensions.
Roberts, fresh off a record-setting extension, has talked about how he might have been fired had he not navigated his Dodgers past the Padres last fall. Friedman acknowledged that the Dodgers probably don’t spend as much if they don’t win the World Series and generate the extra revenue that comes from it, though he called that “a lazy guess.”
Still, when asked how often he has thought about how life would be different if the Dodgers hadn’t won Game 4 of the 2024 NLDS, Friedman said: “Zero minutes.”
“We have been on the good side of those games and on the bad side of those games,” he added, “and I’ve spent zero minutes thinking about what the world would look like if the outcome had been different.”
All that matters now is a reality that exhilarates their fans and infuriates everyone else: The Dodgers look about as insurmountable as a franchise can be in this sport.
Sports
NHL playoff watch: The Bruins’ path to the postseason
Published
22 hours agoon
March 17, 2025By
admin
The Boston Bruins‘ approach to the trade deadline indicated that perhaps management thought this wasn’t their year, and they would add some future assets for a quick reload this offseason.
But as the chips fall on Monday, the Bruins still have a chance to make the playoffs.
That all begins with a game against the lottery-bound Buffalo Sabres Monday night (7 p.m., ESPN+). A win in that one closes the gap between Boston and the current first wild card, the New York Rangers. The Rangers have 72 points and 30 regulation wins through 68 games, while Boston is at 68 and 23 through 68.
After Buffalo, it’s a road trip through Nevada and California (Golden Knights on Thursday, Sharks on Saturday, Kings on Sunday and Ducks on Wednesday, March 26). All told, the Bruins will play teams currently in playoff position in six of the final 13 games after the matchup with the Sabres; the final five, in particular, could be a spot to make up ground, with two against the injury-struck Devils along with single games against the Sabres, Blackhawks and Penguins.
To be clear, this would be a long shot; in addition to going on a hot streak, the Bruins will need to jump ahead of four teams (which would all need to get cold, in this hypothetical). Stathletes isn’t so sure all of that will fall into place, giving the Bruins a 2.4% chance of making the postseason. But stranger things have happened in recent seasons!
There is a lot of runway left until April 17, the final day of the regular season, and we’ll help you track it all with the NHL playoff watch. As we traverse the final stretch, we’ll provide details on all the playoff races, along with the teams jockeying for position in the 2025 NHL draft lottery.
Note: Playoff chances are via Stathletes.
Jump ahead:
Current playoff matchups
Today’s schedule
Yesterday’s scores
Expanded standings
Race for No. 1 pick
Current playoff matchups
Eastern Conference
A1 Florida Panthers vs. WC1 Ottawa Senators
A2 Tampa Bay Lightning vs. A3 Toronto Maple Leafs
M1 Washington Capitals vs. WC2 New York Rangers
M2 Carolina Hurricanes vs. M3 New Jersey Devils
Western Conference
C1 Winnipeg Jets vs. WC2 Vancouver Canucks
C2 Dallas Stars vs. C3 Colorado Avalanche
P1 Vegas Golden Knights vs. WC1 Minnesota Wild
P2 Edmonton Oilers vs. P3 Los Angeles Kings
Monday’s games
Note: All times ET. All games not on TNT or NHL Network are available to stream on ESPN+ (local blackout restrictions apply).
Buffalo Sabres at Boston Bruins, 7 p.m.
Philadelphia Flyers at Tampa Bay Lightning, 7 p.m.
New Jersey Devils at Columbus Blue Jackets, 7 p.m.
Calgary Flames at Toronto Maple Leafs, 7:30 p.m.
Los Angeles Kings at Minnesota Wild, 8 p.m.
Sunday’s scoreboard
Detroit Red Wings 3, Vegas Golden Knights 0
Colorado Avalanche 4, Dallas Stars 3 (OT)
Edmonton Oilers 3, New York Rangers 1
New York Islanders 4, Florida Panthers 2
St. Louis Blues 7, Anaheim Ducks 2
Utah Hockey Club 3, Vancouver Canucks 1
Winnipeg Jets 3, Seattle Kraken 2 (OT)
Expanded standings
Atlantic Division
Points: 85
Regulation wins: 35
Playoff position: A1
Games left: 14
Points pace: 102.5
Next game: @ CBJ (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 81
Regulation wins: 33
Playoff position: A2
Games left: 16
Points pace: 100.6
Next game: vs. PHI (Monday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 81
Regulation wins: 31
Playoff position: A3
Games left: 16
Points pace: 100.6
Next game: vs. CGY (Monday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 77
Regulation wins: 27
Playoff position: WC1
Games left: 16
Points pace: 95.7
Next game: @ MTL (Tuesday)
Playoff chances: 98.8%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 71
Regulation wins: 23
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 16
Points pace: 88.2
Next game: vs. OTT (Tuesday)
Playoff chances: 20.2%
Tragic number: 32
Points: 70
Regulation wins: 24
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 15
Points pace: 85.7
Next game: @ WSH (Tuesday)
Playoff chances: 5.3%
Tragic number: 29
Points: 68
Regulation wins: 23
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 14
Points pace: 82.0
Next game: vs. BUF (Monday)
Playoff chances: 2.4%
Tragic number: 25
Points: 58
Regulation wins: 21
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 17
Points pace: 73.2
Next game: @ BOS (Monday)
Playoff chances: ~0%
Tragic number: 21
Metro Division
Points: 96
Regulation wins: 37
Playoff position: M1
Games left: 15
Points pace: 117.5
Next game: vs. DET (Tuesday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 86
Regulation wins: 36
Playoff position: M2
Games left: 15
Points pace: 105.3
Next game: @ SJ (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 78
Regulation wins: 32
Playoff position: M3
Games left: 14
Points pace: 94.1
Next game: @ CBJ (Monday)
Playoff chances: 95.7%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 72
Regulation wins: 30
Playoff position: WC2
Games left: 14
Points pace: 86.8
Next game: vs. CGY (Tuesday)
Playoff chances: 53.2%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 70
Regulation wins: 23
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 16
Points pace: 87.0
Next game: vs. NJ (Monday)
Playoff chances: 16.7%
Tragic number: 31
Points: 68
Regulation wins: 24
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 16
Points pace: 84.5
Next game: @ PIT (Tuesday)
Playoff chances: 6.4%
Tragic number: 29
Points: 66
Regulation wins: 19
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 13
Points pace: 78.4
Next game: vs. NYI (Tuesday)
Playoff chances: 0.8%
Tragic number: 21
Points: 64
Regulation wins: 17
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 14
Points pace: 77.2
Next game: @ TB (Monday)
Playoff chances: 0.5%
Tragic number: 21
Central Division
Points: 98
Regulation wins: 38
Playoff position: C1
Games left: 14
Points pace: 118.2
Next game: @ VAN (Tuesday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 87
Regulation wins: 35
Playoff position: C2
Games left: 16
Points pace: 108.1
Next game: vs. ANA (Tuesday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 85
Regulation wins: 35
Playoff position: C3
Games left: 14
Points pace: 102.5
Next game: @ TOR (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 79
Regulation wins: 29
Playoff position: WC1
Games left: 15
Points pace: 96.7
Next game: vs. LA (Monday)
Playoff chances: 91%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 73
Regulation wins: 24
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 14
Points pace: 88.0
Next game: @ NSH (Tuesday)
Playoff chances: 32.5%
Tragic number: 29
Points: 71
Regulation wins: 22
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 15
Points pace: 86.9
Next game: @ EDM (Tuesday)
Playoff chances: 17%
Tragic number: 29
Points: 58
Regulation wins: 21
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 16
Points pace: 72.1
Next game: vs. STL (Tuesday)
Playoff chances: ~0%
Tragic number: 18
Points: 49
Regulation wins: 17
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 15
Points pace: 60.0
Next game: vs. SEA (Tuesday)
Playoff chances: ~0%
Tragic number: 7
Pacific Division
Points: 86
Regulation wins: 36
Playoff position: P1
Games left: 15
Points pace: 105.3
Next game: vs. BOS (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 82
Regulation wins: 28
Playoff position: P2
Games left: 15
Points pace: 100.4
Next game: vs. UTA (Tuesday)
Playoff chances: 99.8%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 81
Regulation wins: 31
Playoff position: P3
Games left: 17
Points pace: 102.2
Next game: @ MIN (Monday)
Playoff chances: 99.8%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 73
Regulation wins: 24
Playoff position: WC2
Games left: 15
Points pace: 89.3
Next game: vs. WPG (Tuesday)
Playoff chances: 41.1%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 71
Regulation wins: 24
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 17
Points pace: 89.6
Next game: @ TOR (Monday)
Playoff chances: 18.7%
Tragic number: 33
Points: 65
Regulation wins: 21
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 15
Points pace: 79.6
Next game: @ DAL (Tuesday)
Playoff chances: 0.1%
Tragic number: 23
Points: 63
Regulation wins: 23
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 14
Points pace: 76.0
Next game: @ CHI (Tuesday)
Playoff chances: ~0%
Tragic number: 19
Points: 45
Regulation wins: 13
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 14
Points pace: 54.3
Next game: vs. CAR (Thursday)
Playoff chances: ~0%
Tragic number: 1
Race for the No. 1 pick
The NHL uses a draft lottery to determine the order of the first round, so the team that finishes in last place is not guaranteed the No. 1 selection. As of 2021, a team can move up a maximum of 10 spots if it wins the lottery, so only 11 teams are eligible for the No. 1 pick. Full details on the process are here. Matthew Schaefer, a defenseman for the OHL’s Erie Otters, is No. 1 on the draft board.
Points: 45
Regulation wins: 13
Points: 49
Regulation wins: 17
Points: 58
Regulation wins: 21
Points: 58
Regulation wins: 21
Points: 63
Regulation wins: 23
Points: 64
Regulation wins: 17
Points: 65
Regulation wins: 21
Points: 66
Regulation wins: 19
Points: 68
Regulation wins: 23
Points: 68
Regulation wins: 24
Points: 70
Regulation wins: 23
Points: 70
Regulation wins: 24
Points: 71
Regulation wins: 22
Points: 71
Regulation wins: 23
Points: 71
Regulation wins: 24
Points: 73
Regulation wins: 24
Sports
Betts (illness) out for Tokyo Series; lost 15 pounds
Published
1 day agoon
March 17, 2025By
admin
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Associated Press
Mar 16, 2025, 11:04 PM ET
TOKYO — Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts will not play in the two-game Tokyo Series against the Chicago Cubs because of an illness that has lingered for the past week.
Manager Dave Roberts said Monday that Betts is starting to feel better but has lost nearly 15 pounds and is still trying to get rehydrated and gain strength. Roberts added that the eight-time All-Star might fly back to the United States before the team in an effort to rest and prepare for the domestic opener on March 27.
The Cubs and Dodgers open the Major League Baseball season on Tuesday at the Tokyo Dome. A second game is on Wednesday.
“He’s not going to play in these two games,” Roberts said. “When you’re dehydrated, that’s what opens a person up to soft tissue injuries. We’re very mindful of that.”
Roberts said Miguel Rojas will start at shortstop in Betts’ place for the two games at the Tokyo Dome.
Betts started suffering from flu-like symptoms at the team’s spring training home in Arizona the day before the team left for Japan. He still made the long plane trip but hasn’t recovered as quickly as hoped.
Roberts said if the team had known the illness would linger this long, Betts wouldn’t have traveled. Betts tried to go through a workout on Sunday but became tired quickly.
Betts is making the full-time transition to shortstop this season after playing most of his career in right field and second base. The 2018 AL MVP hit .289 with 19 homers and 75 RBIs last season, helping the Dodgers win the World Series.
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