Who in MLB is must-see right now? Introducing the season’s most watchable teams and players
We’re a little under two weeks into the MLB season, and there have already been quite a few surprises, from a still-undefeated team to a powerhouse struggling to get going. What has grabbed our attention enough to become must-see TV? Even if you’ve already settled into your routine with your go-to teams and players, get ready to expand your horizons.
We asked MLB experts Bradford Doolittle, Alden Gonzalez, Kiley McDaniel, Jeff Passan, Jesse Rogers and David Schoenfield to give us the rundown on who has our full attention whenever they take the field and what makes them worth your time.
The teams we can’t get enough of right now
Passan: Yes, the Rays’ 9-0 start came against the dregs of MLB in Detroit, Washington and Oakland — teams Tampa Bay should beat. And yet it’s impossible to ignore just how thoroughly the Rays thumped them. They are the first team since 1884 with a run differential of more than 50 over their first nine games of the season. They’ve scored the most runs (75) in baseball and allowed the fewest (18). Their 21 home runs lead the big leagues, and they have the fewest strikeouts with 51. They have generated more ground balls and walked fewer hitters than any team in the American League.
The Rays play an eminently enjoyable brand of baseball. They are simultaneously clean and powerful, exciting and efficient. They are loaded with ballplayers’ ballplayers. And with Shane McClanahan, Jeffrey Springs, Drew Rasmussen, Zach Eflin and, soon enough, Tyler Glasnow, they will be just fine pitching their way through a schedule that goes full nightmare — Yankees, Orioles, Yankees, Mets, Brewers, Blue Jays, Dodgers — starting May 5.
Doolittle: There’s something special brewing in Milwaukee, and I’ll leave it up to you to decide whether the pun was intended. The Brewers are underappreciated for their consistent winning in recent years, even if they missed the postseason last season. This year’s team is fun. You have great resurgence stories (Brian Anderson, Jesse Winker) and a trio of rookies in Garrett Mitchell, Joey Wiemer and Brice Turang, all friends who have infused the team with energy, ability, enthusiasm and cheesehead-related celebration. And they are just the vanguard, because wait until Sal Frelick and Jackson Chourio join the party. This is a really good team that has a chance to be the best yet in the Brewers’ run of winning. And the emergent personality of this revitalized roster is one of pure joy.
Schoenfield: Baseball fans like offense, and the Braves are my bet to lead the majors in runs scored — and they’ll do it with a dynamic core of young and in-their-prime players. Ronald Acuna Jr. and Michael Harris II have a reasonable shot of becoming just the third pair of 30-30 teammates in MLB history (joining Howard Johnson and Darryl Strawberry of the 1987 Mets and Dante Bichette and Ellis Burks of the 1996 Rockies). Austin Riley is coming off back-to-back top-10 MVP finishes. Matt Olson is up there like he’s ready to stop chopping wood, with his hands high and outstretched from his body, daring pitchers to go inside on him. Ozzie Albies is a slugger in a No. 9 hitter’s body. Travis d’Arnaud and Sean Murphy add depth.
That’s just the lineup. Every fifth game you get one of the most electric starters in the game in Spencer Strider, coming off a rookie season in which he averaged an absurd 13.8 strikeouts per nine innings and finished second in the National League Rookie of the Year voting — behind his teammate Harris. The Braves might have another pop-up ROY candidate in lefty Dylan Dodd, who pounds the strike zone. And when he returns soon from the injured list, they have a Cy Young contender in the coolly efficient Max Fried. The Braves are good — and nothing is more fun than winning.
Gonzalez: It remains to be seen whether these Padres will have the depth and the precision to live up to lofty expectations and bring San Diego its first major professional championship — but there’s no doubt they’re going to be exciting. Beginning April 20, we’ll get to see Fernando Tatis Jr., Juan Soto, Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts hitting back-to-back-to-back-to-back on a semi-regular basis, and that alone might be enough to make them baseball’s most exciting team. We’re talking, respectively, about arguably the most electrifying player in the sport, followed by arguably the best pure hitter in the sport, followed by a potential Hall of Fame third baseman in his prime, followed by a potential Hall of Fame shortstop in his prime. The drama surrounding Tatis’ return from a PED suspension, while being among many Padres players learning a semi-new position, only adds to the intrigue.
McDaniel: The O’s are leading the majors in stolen bases after finishing middle of the pack last season, which speaks to their speed and ability to make adjustments, both things that tend to come with youth. If that wasn’t enough, they’re also in the top five in the AL in slugging percentage after finishing in the middle of the pack last year in that stat as well. Power and speed and youth are all fun, but there are swing-and-miss waiver claim types who can technically do that.
These O’s have the best farm system in baseball, and half of those best young prospects are on this team right now. Baltimore has one of the best systems at developing position players, and we might be seeing that happen at the big league level, too. The pitching is behind at the moment, but that just means there’s more scoring, upping the fun factor (if you aren’t a die-hard fan).
Rogers: The Diamondbacks are hitting just .253 as a team — not exactly exciting stuff — but that only makes their National League-leading 12 stolen bases that much more interesting. Just imagine if/when they start to roll at the plate. They can turn any game into a track meet with their speed and will likely win a lot of contests using that skill. And heading into the season, the Diamondbacks organization had the second, fourth and eighth overall prospects among Kiley McDaniel’s top 100. By definition, that makes for an exciting franchise.
The hitters whose at-bats you can’t miss
Doolittle: Franco has been the next big thing in hitting since the day he was tagged with an 80-grade hit tool as a prospect. This season, he looks like a super-talented young player who might be embodying his superstar potential. He’s getting pitches to hit, hitting the ones he swings at and mashing the ball when he makes contact, which is almost always. Franco isn’t the only reason the Rays have looked almost unbeatable over the season’s opening days, but he has been the avatar for that dominance. If you love hitting, you won’t find a hitter doing anything more special than Franco is right now.
Schoenfield: Let’s not overthink this. Don’t get too cute. It’s Rodriguez, the 22-year-old superstar with the smile that lights up the Space Needle. He missed a year of development time in 2020. He skipped past Triple-A last season with only 46 games above High-A. No problem. He was one of the best players in the league in 2022, finishing seventh in the MVP voting as he became just the third rookie with at least 25 home runs and 25 steals. Yeah, some guy named Mike Trout was the last one to do it. Rodriguez hit 27 home runs over his final 99 games, a 40-homer pace over a full season. The Seattle Mariners also plan to let him run again, making a 40/30 or even 40/40 season a possibility.
Oh, and last season he ranked in the 98th percentile in speed, 95th in outs above average on defense and 96th in arm strength. Beyond all that: J-Rod has the “it” factor that only a few players possess, an attribute that makes his watchability soar even beyond whatever numbers he puts up.
Passan: If the threshold of this exercise is to hunt fun, there is no better example than someone capable of finishing the top half of an inning on the mound and hitting the ball harder than all but a handful of players in the bottom half. Ohtani’s exploits by now are so clear that we almost take them for granted. Do yourself a favor and don’t be that person. Savor Ohtani’s at-bats as they warrant. He is big and powerful and laced with muscles that fire off exit velocities bested only by Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Put those four in a footrace and Ohtani will dust the field, with his off-the-charts physical ability playing outside the batter’s box, too. Saying Ohtani is exciting is like saying water is wet. Some truths are immutable.
Ronald Acuna Jr.
Rogers: How many players have the potential to lead the league in triples, stolen bases and even potentially home runs? It can’t be many but count Acuna in that group, as he possesses the speed and slug to be at the top of the leaderboards. In fact, his sprint speed ranks eighth in baseball this season — and that stat alone makes him an exciting player. Add his 40-home run strength and Acuna is near the top of the list of must-watch players.
Gonzalez: Carroll packs so much action into a 5-foot-10, 165-pound frame, and we’ve gotten only a glimpse of it. We’ve already seen all five of his tools materialize at the major league level, and he’s just a 22-year-old who has played in fewer than 50 career games. In other words, he’s going to keep getting better. MLB’s efforts to bring more action into the sport are in many ways epitomized by Carroll, who covers a ton of ground in the outfield, runs the bases with havoc, slugs like hitters twice his size and doesn’t seem to have many holes in his swing. He also plays with an infectious energy that draws you in. If you haven’t seen him play yet, do yourself the favor.
Aaron Judge
McDaniel: There’s something special about the trance that falls over a stadium when there’s a tense moment and one of the best hitters in the game comes to bat. You can argue East Coast bias or that the new Yankee Stadium isn’t the same as the old place, but Judge was the deserved 2022 American League MVP, the New York Yankees are essentially always in playoff contention and Judge has the most raw power on the planet. The silence before the ball is delivered is dripping with anticipation, as he gets ever closer to making a ball literally explode on contact.
The pitchers we drop everything to see on the mound
Doolittle: He’s mesmerizing. He attacks, attacks, attacks, with filthy stuff and pinpoint location — always challenging hitters, but with precision and intelligence. This is an elite pitcher who remains on top of his game. His ability to zip into the late innings with a low pitch count is so organic that you wonder why all pitchers don’t do what he does. But if you saw Alcantara whitewash the Minnesota Twins in less than two hours (1 hour and 57 minutes, to be exact) last week, you would be reminded why they can’t. There is only one Sandy Alcantara, and if you aren’t tuning in to watch when he’s on the mound, that is a day you have wasted.
Schoenfield: Maybe I am overthinking this one. Manoah is built like a 500-year-old oak tree, so you would expect him to throw triple-digit blazing fastballs, but he instead works off a rather pedestrian fastball with league-average velocity. So maybe he’s a little less awe-inspiring than some other starters, but I love his old-school approach of trying to outthink batters rather than just overpower them.
What makes Manoah extra entertaining, however, are two things that rub opponents the wrong way: (1) He throws inside — a lot and sometimes with a little purpose, leading the AL in hit batters in both 2021 and 2022; (2) He’s, shall we say, a little demonstrative on the mound and talkative off it, which has led to a few chirping incidents with teams — most notably with the Boston Red Sox last season and when he referred to Gerrit Cole as “the worst cheater in baseball.”
Boston outfielder Alex Verdugo ripped Manoah’s antics last week on a local podcast when he said, “Like I’ll say it right now, I think Alek Manoah goes about it the wrong way, 100 percent I think he does. … So it’s like, s— like that just pisses me off. It’s not the way it should be played.” Manoah’s response: “Coming from him? I don’t give a s—.” So, umm, yeah, Manoah’s starts are worth watching — especially against the Red Sox and Yankees.
Passan: For the second consecutive year, Duran is my choice, and I’m perfectly comfortable with that because we’re seeing a new version of him. The stuff is still the same. He throws the hardest right-handed fastball in the big leagues, sitting at 101.5 mph. His splinker, a hybrid sinker-splitter, is a one-of-a-kind pitch. But Duran’s curveball might be the best of the lot, an 88 mph knee-buckler he’s now throwing nearly 50% of the time, up from 31% last year. This is as close as we’ve been to a fully formed version of Duran, and he has established himself as much more than a radar goof. He’s right there, alongside Emmanuel Clase and Andres Muñoz, as perhaps the premier raw-stuff guy in the big leagues. Even though Duran goes just one inning at a time, that inning is bound to be a show.
Shohei Ohtani
Gonzalez: Lately, I’ve been most intrigued by watching the way Ohtani navigates starts when he doesn’t have his A-plus command. It happened in his most recent outing, on a frigid Wednesday afternoon in Seattle. Ohtani had a hard time landing his breaking balls and used up 68 of his pitches to record the game’s first nine outs. Somehow, though, he completed six innings, gave up only one run and got the win. As the outing prolonged, his stuff got better, more precise.
The fastball-splitter combination used to be Ohtani’s bread and butter, but the slider — often called a sweeper — has developed into arguably his best pitch, top among the six or so he throws. Keep in mind that when Ohtani was finally able to take on a two-way role full time in 2021, he had compiled less than 80 innings over the previous four years. He’s still developing as a pitcher. And it’s so much fun to watch his growth in action.
McDaniel: Maybe your nightmares have Michael Myers or the Predator in them. Mine, however, is that I wake up and I’m in the box facing a wild-eyed Scherzer late in the game and I can’t tell if it’s time for a dastardly slider that I can’t lay off or a brushback heater that will make my life flash before my eyes. Naturally, it’s fun for me to be eating snacks on my couch while I watch a well-paid professional be forced to live my nightmare, often with the same result in the box score as if I were hitting.
Rogers: If strikeouts are your thing, then Cease is your guy. His slider is as sick as they come, leaving hitters shaking their heads as they march back to the dugout after another K. He’s at the top of the leaderboard again this season after finishing second in the AL in strikeouts last year. And he made some history in his 2023 debut when he became just the fourth AL pitcher to ever strikeout at least 10 without issuing a walk on Opening Day. Even when ill — as he was in start No. 2 this season — he was a must-watch, navigating around five walks over five innings. He gave up just a run, and of course, struck out eight. He’s the real deal on the mound.
Who will be the best running backs in college football in 2025?
We asked our college football reporters to vote for their top 10, distributing points based on their selections (10 points for a first-place vote, 9 points for second place and so on).
The results at the top include some familiar faces who made a mark in the College Football Playoff last season, but further down the list are some key transfers in new places and two freshmen who burst on to the scene, among others.
Here’s a look at our picks for the top 10 running backs in college football:
Points: 96 (8 of 10 first-place votes)
2024 stats: 163 carries, 1,125 yards, 17 TDs; 28 receptions, 237 yards, 2 TDs
Love emerged as Notre Dame’s top offensive playmaker during his sophomore season with 1,125 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns. He averaged 6.9 yards per carry. The only two FBS running backs with 150-plus attempts to average more yards per carry last season were Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty and Louisville’s Isaac Brown.
Love, at 6 feet and 212 pounds, is as effective earning the tough yards, as evidenced by his tackle-breaking touchdown against Penn State in the College Football Playoff, as he is breaking big plays. He had eight touchdowns of 30 yards or longer last season. The Irish want to get him the ball even more in 2025, as Love has lined up some as a wide receiver during spring practice. He caught 28 passes for 237 yards and two touchdowns in 2024. — Chris Low
Points: 82 (2 of 10 first-place votes)
2024 stats: 172 carries, 1,099 yards, 12 TDs; 41 receptions, 375 yards, 5 TDs
Singleton faced five-star expectations when he enrolled at Penn State in 2022 and has lived up to them throughout his time in State College. Now he’s coming back for his senior season to chase a national championship after helping the Nittany Lions break through to the CFP semifinals last season.
Singleton has put up a combined 4,673 all-purpose yards over the past three seasons, second most among all FBS backs behind Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty, and 41 career touchdowns. He has shared carries every season, averaging just 12.2 rushes per game over his career, but has consistently been highly productive and a true home run threat as a rusher, receiver and kick returner. — Max Olson
Points: 68
2024 stats: 220 carries, 1,108 yards, 8 TDs; 18 receptions, 153 yards, 2 TDs
ESPN’s Mel Kiper had Allen ranked as the No. 6 draft-eligible running back in the 2025 NFL draft class earlier this year. But rather than jumping to the pros, Allen will resume his position at Penn State as part of one of the nation’s most talented backfields alongside fourth-year quarterback Drew Allar and rushing partner Nicholas Singleton.
The Nittany Lions’ physical complement to Singleton and his elusive rushing style, Allen carried 220 times — fourth most among Big Ten running backs — and finished with 1,108 rushing yards and eight touchdowns as a junior in 2024. The 5-foot-11, 229-pound rusher averaged 6.7 yards per attempt across four postseason games, and ball security stands among his most valuable traits — Allen has lost one fumble across 559 career carries. — Eli Lederman
Points: 51
2024 stats (with Tulane): 265 carries, 1,401 yards, 15 TDs; 19 receptions, 176 yards, 2 TDs
The Tulane transfer ran for 1,401 yards last fall, ninth most nationally and more than any other returning running back. Hughes established himself as an exceptionally productive talent in two seasons with the Green Wave, and he lands at Oregon with two years of eligibility as an ideal replacement for 1,267-yard rusher Jordan James.
Hughes broke out for 1,378 yards on 258 carries as a freshman in 2023 before effectively replicating that rushing season. A key uptick in 2024: Hughes’ rushing touchdown count climbed from seven to 15. His 949 yards after first contact in 2024, per TruMedia, also leads all returning rushers in 2025. As the Ducks break in new quarterback Dante Moore, Hughes’ production and dependability could be especially important. — Lederman
Points: 45
2024 stats: 165 carries, 1,173 yards, 11 TDs; 30 receptions, 152 yards, 1 TD
There’s a good argument that last season, as a true freshman, Brown was the most explosive back in the country. Brown led all power-conference backs in yards per rush (7.11), had the fifth-most explosive runs (12 yards or more) with 33 and forced 41 missed tackles. His 8.2 yards-per-carry average between the tackles was a full yard better than any other power-conference running back. Brown also was a threat out of the backfield and in the return game. He eclipsed 99 yards of all-purpose yardage in eight of his past 10 games. — David Hale
Points: 38
2024 stats (with Louisiana-Monroe): 237 carries, 1,351 yards, 13 TDs; 8 receptions, 72 yards, 0 TDs
Hardy established himself as one of the top true freshmen in college football last season at Louisiana-Monroe. He rushed for 1,351 yards, including eight 100-yard games, and scored 13 touchdowns. He was overlooked by recruiters coming out of high school but was one of the top running back targets in the transfer portal and landed at Missouri.
Hardy, 5-foot-10 and 205 pounds, is at his best making defenders miss and churning out yards after contact. He was one of seven players nationally to have 1,000 yards or more after contact (1,012) last season. Hardy forced 91 missed tackles — only Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty and Arizona State’s Cam Skattebo had more. With Kewan Lacy leaving for Ole Miss, Hardy will get all the carries he can handle in 2025. — Low
Points: 31
2024 stats: 184 carries, 966 yards, 5 TDs; 52 receptions, 579 yards, 4 TDs
Reid made the move up from FCS Western Carolina to follow his offensive coordinator, Kade Bell, to Pitt last year and quickly proved he’s one of the most dynamic offensive playmakers in college football. The 5-8, 175-pound playmaker put up 1,704 all-purpose yards — 966 rushing, 579 receiving and 159 on punt returns — and scored 10 total touchdowns in an All-America debut season.
Reid achieved all that despite missing two games because of injury, and he finished fifth among all FBS players in all-purpose yards per game (154.9). The do-it-all back had three 200-yard performances over his first four games with the Panthers and will return for his senior season to produce plenty more in 2025. — Olson
Points: 19
2024 stats: 226 carries, 1,064 yards, 5 TDs; 44 receptions, 311 yards, 1 TD
Wisner stepped up in a big way for the Longhorns in 2024. Despite a depleted running back room and injuries to the offensive line across different portions of the season, Wisner had 1,064 yards and five touchdowns on the ground, adding 311 yards and another touchdown through the air. CJ Baxter should be back for the Longhorns after missing 2024 with a knee injury, but given what we saw from Wisner, he should still be well in the mix in the Texas backfield. — Harry Lyles Jr.
Points: 17
2024 stats: 169 carries, 944 yards, 9 TDs; 28 receptions, 166 yards, 3 TDs
Haynes, a wide receiver turned running back, has been one of the most consistent players in Georgia Tech’s offense over the past two seasons. Since 2023, Haynes has 2,003 yards on the ground and 16 touchdowns.
His versatility is something every team looks for in a back — he’s good at getting yards before defenders can get a hand on him (856 rushing yards before contact over the past two seasons, the most of any power-conference back in that span, per Pro Football Focus) and he’s good after they get a hand on him (his 1,145 yards after contact rank fourth, per PFF). In Haynes’ third year, the Yellow Jackets will be expecting much of the same. — Lyles
Points: 16
2024 stats: 175 carries, 1,028 yards, 12 TDs; 22 receptions, 217 yards, 1 TD
By mid October 2024, Washington had just 186 rushing yards and a touchdown to his credit (nearly all of which came against Air Force) and Baylor was a miserable 2-4 on the season. Then coach Dave Aranda tabbed Washington to serve as the Bears’ lead back, and everything changed.
Over the next six games, Washington racked up 127 carries for 818 yards and 11 touchdowns as Baylor won six straight. Washington was banged up early in Baylor’s bowl game against LSU and got just five carries — it’s no coincidence the Bears lost — but his growth throughout 2024 paired with that of quarterback Sawyer Robertson has Baylor thinking playoff in 2025. — Hale
Also receiving votes: Jonah Coleman, Washington, 15 points; Jaydn Ott, California, 14; Jahiem White, West Virginia, 14; Darius Taylor, Minnesota, 13; Caden Durham, LSU, 11; Jadan Baugh, Florida, 8; Nate Frazier, Georgia, 6; Jadarian Price, Notre Dame, 2; Le’Veon Moss, Texas A&M, 2; CJ Baxter, Texas, 1; Roman Hemby, Indiana 1
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Josh Weinfuss
AHMED HASSANEIN‘S JOURNEY to the doorstep of the NFL began on a balcony seven years ago in Cairo around a hookah.
With the roar of Cairo International Airport in the distance, Hassanein joined his two sisters, brother and nephew trading puffs in the sixth-floor penthouse they grew up in overlooking the Heliopolis suburb.
As they passed the hookah, Hassanein’s sisters, Gigi and Aziza Ibrahim, told Hassanein’s older brother, Cory Besch, about Hassanein’s life over the past decade after moving from California at age 6. Hassanein had forgotten how to speak English, had behavioral issues that caused him to be expelled from school, and was being raised by his mother, who he said had a substance abuse disorder.
“She was a very, very abusive person,” Hassanein told ESPN. “Like starting with addiction, with drugs and all that stuff, and she was really verbally abusive and physically abusive.”
Through it all, Hassanein took solace in sports including breakdancing, soccer, swimming, basketball, boxing, jujitsu, pingpong and CrossFit. He became the top-ranked CrossFit athlete in Egypt and one of the best in Africa. It also helped him cultivate a strong work ethic.
Besch, who was 30 at the time and making his first trip to Egypt in 20 years, hadn’t seen Hassanein in a decade. After hearing from his siblings that night — June 26, 2018 — Besch started formulating a plan to get Hassanein, then 15, back to the United States.
“I was like, ‘Well, what if he came and lived with me and played football for me?'” said Besch, who coached at Loara High School in Anaheim, California.
It was a major pivot for Hassanein, who was set to attend Riverside Preparatory, a military school in Gainesville, Georgia.
“I remember Aziza telling me, ‘It’s going to be really hard, and it’s going to be one of the most difficult things you’ve ever done because the culture shock is going to be there, you’re going to lose all your friends, you can’t speak English very well,'” Hassanein said.
“And I was like, ‘I can do it.'”
During a family vacation at a resort on the Red Sea later that week, Besch helped convince their father to let him move away 7,500 miles. A month later, Hassanein was on a plane to Los Angeles.
Fast-forward to today and — despite initial language barriers, lack of football knowledge and playing the sport for the first time as a sophomore in high school — Hassanein is on the verge of becoming the first Egyptian to be drafted into the NFL. ESPN draft analyst Matt Miller has the former Boise State defensive end, who is 6-foot-2, 267 pounds, going in the sixth round at pick No. 216 in his latest mock draft.
“It was surreal to think that we just dreamed this to save Ahmed and get him to the U.S., like ‘Project Mission: Get Ahmed to the U.S.,’ and then it was ‘Mission: Get Ahmed into College,’ and now it’s ‘Mission: Get Ahmed into the NFL,'” Gigi said from her apartment in Cairo.
“But it’s all surreal because who would’ve thought that Ahmed would be great at being a defensive lineman in American football when literally seven years ago, he was just sitting on the balcony praying that someone would … get him out of this misery.”
THE CULTURE SHOCK was real for Hassanein when he moved in with Besch in August 2018.
Everything from the food to the language to school was different. And then there was football.
All Hassanein knew about the sport was what Besch had posted on social media, most recently playing in a second-tier Austrian league from March to June 2018, just before he visited Egypt.
“People run and hit each other,” Hassanein recalled. “That’s all I know.”
When Hassanein arrived in California, Besch gave him a crash course, explaining everything from how to put on his pads, helmet and mouth guard to the sport’s rules.
“Everything from line of scrimmage to downs to your role and responsibility on the defense,” Besch said. “And I don’t think everything was explained explicitly because you don’t ever go back and explain the X’s and O’s in high school, right?”
Hassanein didn’t know how to get in a stance or how to catch a ball, said Mitch Olson, Hassanein’s head coach at Loara. His school’s football program was in one of the lower levels in California and didn’t have the resources other schools around them had. Each coach was in charge of multiple positions, and most of the kids didn’t play football before ninth grade because there wasn’t a youth program in the district.
“It’s like the kid got pulled off of Mars and started playing football,” Olson said.
Still, Olson saw the potential in the 16-year-old sophomore. He lined up Hassanein, then 6-foot-1 and 210 pounds, at defensive tackle on the junior varsity team for the first game of the season before moving him up to varsity. It was, by all accounts, an experiment.
Hassanein had at least one penalty every game because of his unfamiliarity with the rules. There was a game in which he grabbed a quarterback’s face mask to bring him down and another in which he tripped the quarterback, who was about to scramble by him. He remembered throwing players, kicking people and flipping them like in jiujitsu.
“I was out there just doing whatever,” Hassanein said. “I was just out there being physical. See ball, get ball.”
In fall 2018, Hassanein was watching highlights of former Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald.
“What high school does he go to?” Hassanein asked his brother.
“And he was like, ‘Bro, that’s the NFL, that’s the National Football League.’ I was like, ‘OK, I want to go there.’ And he was like, ‘Bro, you know you don’t have a D-line coach at your high school and you don’t have a sled?'”
It didn’t matter to Hassanein. After talking to his brother and Olson, and watching videos, he devised a plan: Hassanein began waking up at 5 a.m. every day to work out before school. After school, he’d go to practice — either football or basketball, depending on the season — and then go back to the gym for three to four hours a night.
Everything started to click for Hassanein midway through his sophomore season.
The key, Besch, Olson and defensive coordinator Jonathan Rangel decided, was to let Hassanein’s natural strength make up for whatever technique he lacked. It worked.
Eventually, Besch started taking Hassanein to camps, where he was facing — and outplaying — prospects from top high school programs around Southern California such as St. John Bosco and Mater Dei. The night before one camp, Hassanein studied pass-rush moves on YouTube and implemented them the next day.
Colleges noticed the three-star pass rusher. On Aug. 27, 2020, as his senior season was postponed until the spring because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hassanein received a direct message from Spencer Danielson, now Boise State’s head coach, who was then coaching the defensive line. He loved Hassanein’s film.
Hassanein told his brother, who couldn’t believe it. Besch played football with Danielson at Azusa Pacific University. Hassanein relayed that information to Danielson, and they hopped on a Zoom call to explain the situation.
Hassanein had scholarship offers from Fresno State, Duke, Kansas and Colorado before eventually choosing Boise State.
Had Hassanein’s life followed his initial plan of going to military school, looking back, he thought he’d return to Egypt after four years. Instead, he was living out a dream he never knew he had.
“It meant the world to me that somebody believed, and my brother always believed in me, but it gave me confirmation that I can do this,” Hassanein said. “I took it as a challenge because I had a lot of family members say, ‘You’re going to come back in two weeks. You’re never going to succeed. You can’t even speak English. How the hell are you going to play football?’
“And I really made it. I took it as, ‘OK, watch this.'”
DANIELSON STOOD OUTSIDE Boise State’s football facility on a June morning in 2021 with a hope and a prayer.
Because of COVID-19 restrictions, neither Danielson nor any of his coaches were able to recruit Hassanein in person, so the first time they met him was when he stepped out of the car that day. Sitting in the back of Danielson’s mind was the fact that Besch was 5-foot-8, 150 pounds in college.
“I’m waiting for him at the front of the facility like, ‘Please be 6-3. Please be 6-3,'” Danielson recalled to ESPN. “If he pops out and he’s 5-9 and Cory got me, I’m going to be really hot.
“And he pops out and he just looks like a Greek god. I’m like, ‘Yes.'”
His first year on campus, Hassanein looked like some of the Broncos’ juniors and was lifting more weight than a number of the upperclassmen, Boise State edge coach Jabril Frazier said.
From a football standpoint, Hassanein was very much a freshman.
“He didn’t know what was going on,” Frazier said. “But he played at a high level.”
Danielson’s way of rectifying that was with his “Football School,” a weeklong program leading into fall camp for all of Boise State’s incoming freshmen. It covered everything from the width of the field — 53.3 yards — to the verbiage Boise State’s coaches prefer to the fundamentals of tackling to A, B and C gaps.
For Hassanein, college football was an entirely new game. In high school, he relied on his natural ability to dominate. Not so much in college. He had to account for how the offensive lineman across from him lined up and blocked in every possible scenario and what kind of offense he was facing on a weekly basis.
It was essentially Football 101 for Hassanein.
“It was really eye-opening,” he said.
In 20 games over his first two seasons, he had two sacks. Then, going into his junior year in 2023, it all clicked. Hassanein finished with 12.5 sacks and was mentioned among the nation’s best pass rushers.
Heading into his senior season, he was coming off labrum surgery and spent the spring watching his own film and breaking down his games while he rehabbed. Hassanein had 9.5 sacks in 2024, giving him 24 for his career, the fourth most in school history.
“I currently have him projected as a late fifth- to early sixth-round pick as teams are always looking for pass-rush help,” ESPN draft analyst Jordan Reid said. “Hassanein will likely be a part of special teams early on during his career while he searches to earn a role as a contributor on defense.”
Hassanein is on the verge of making international history. When he does, it will be an emotional moment for those who helped him on the journey.
“The journey that dude made and the guts that he had to do, the things that he did to get to where he is, it is storybook, man,” Olson said. “It really is. It’s a frigging movie.”
He knows he’s not the biggest or quickest, but he says he thinks his strength will help him become a disruptive pass rusher at the next level.
Danielson described Hassanein as “one of the most violent run defenders we’ve ever had here,” pointing to the Broncos’ first defensive play of the Fiesta Bowl against Penn State.
It was first-and-10 from the Nittany Lions’ 28-yard line when Penn State tight end Tyler Warren went in motion from left to right, overloading the side closest to Hassanein. It was a run and, with a running start, Hassanein bulldozed Warren back four yards, throwing him to the ground in the process.
To Danielson, that play is everything teams need to know about Hassanein.
“Once he gets there, he’s going to be all over the coaches about being better, getting better, getting help,” Frazier said. “Give him a year to two years in the NFL and you’ll be hearing his name a lot.”
As the defending Presidents’ Trophy winners, the New York Rangers were envisioned as a playoff team again in 2024-25. As the team on top of the league standings in early December, similar words could be written about the Minnesota Wild.
And yet, heading into Wednesday night’s matchup between the clubs (7 p.m. ET, ESPN+), nothing is certain about either team’s playoff chances after the pair has gone 8-9-3 in the past 10 games apiece.
The Wild enter the game in a playoff position, and have a 91.0% chance to make the playoffs per Stathletes. A key part of that is the team’s remaining strength of schedule; their remaining opponents have a 46.0% winning percentage, which is the second-easiest path. (Only the New Jersey Devils face a weaker slate in the final stretch.)
Compare that to the Rangers, who have a 27.3% chance, and will begin this game on the outside looking in. New York’s remaining slate is considerably more difficult; a 54.1% opponents’ winning percentage ranks as the second toughest, behind only the Detroit Red Wings.
If the Wild qualify as the first wild card, their likely first-round opponent is the Vegas Golden Knights; if they land in the second wild-card position, their likely opponent is the Winnipeg Jets. Unfortunately, Minnesota went 0-3 against both teams this season.
The Rangers’ more likely outcome as a playoff entrant is as the second wild card, which earns them a matchup against the Washington Capitals; the Caps have won all three games against New York this season. The Rangers could wind up as the first wild card, earning a matchup against the Atlantic Division champ. They went 1-2 against the Toronto Maple Leafs, 0-2 against the Florida Panthers (with one more game coming up on April 14), and 0-1 against the Tampa Bay Lightning (with games coming up on April 7 and April 17).
So, the future isn’t blindingly bright in the playoffs for these teams. But all you need is a ticket in, and unexpected things can happen!
There are just over two weeks left until the season’s end on April 17, 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 Toronto Maple Leafs vs. WC1 Ottawa Senators
A2 Tampa Bay Lightning vs. A3 Florida Panthers
M1 Washington Capitals vs. WC2 Montreal Canadiens
M2 Carolina Hurricanes vs. M3 New Jersey Devils
Western Conference
C1 Winnipeg Jets vs. WC2 Minnesota Wild
C2 Dallas Stars vs. C3 Colorado Avalanche
P1 Vegas Golden Knights vs. WC1 St. Louis Blues
P2 Los Angeles Kings vs. P3 Edmonton Oilers
Wednesday’s games
Note: All times ET. All games not on TNT or NHL Network are available to stream on ESPN+ (local blackout restrictions apply).
Minnesota Wild at New York Rangers, 7 p.m.
Washington Capitals at Carolina Hurricanes, 7 p.m. (TNT)
Florida Panthers at Toronto Maple Leafs, 7:30 p.m.
Colorado Avalanche at Chicago Blackhawks, 9:30 p.m. (TNT)
Seattle Kraken at Vancouver Canucks, 10:30 p.m.
Tuesday’s scoreboard
Washington Capitals 4, Boston Bruins 3
Montreal Canadiens 3, Florida Panthers 2 (OT)
Buffalo Sabres 5, Ottawa Senators 2
Columbus Blue Jackets 8, Nashville Predators 4
Tampa Bay Lightning 4, New York Islanders 1
St. Louis Blues 2, Detroit Red Wings 1 (OT)
Utah Hockey Club 3, Calgary Flames 1
Edmonton Oilers 3, Vegas Golden Knights 2
Anaheim Ducks 4, San Jose Sharks 3 (SO)
Los Angeles Kings 4, Winnipeg Jets 1
Expanded standings
Atlantic Division
Points: 94
Regulation wins: 37
Playoff position: A1
Games left: 8
Points pace: 104.1
Next game: vs. FLA (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 93
Regulation wins: 38
Playoff position: A2
Games left: 8
Points pace: 103.1
Next game: @ OTT (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 92
Regulation wins: 35
Playoff position: A3
Games left: 8
Points pace: 102.0
Next game: @ TOR (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 84
Regulation wins: 30
Playoff position: WC1
Games left: 8
Points pace: 93.1
Next game: vs. TB (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 99.8%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 79
Regulation wins: 25
Playoff position: WC2
Games left: 8
Points pace: 87.5
Next game: vs. BOS (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 44.7%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 75
Regulation wins: 26
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 83.1
Next game: vs. CAR (Friday)
Playoff chances: 2.9%
Tragic number: 13
Points: 70
Regulation wins: 26
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 77.6
Next game: vs. TB (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 0.1%
Tragic number: 8
Points: 69
Regulation wins: 23
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 7
Points pace: 75.4
Next game: @ MTL (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0.1%
Tragic number: 5
Metro Division
Points: 105
Regulation wins: 41
Playoff position: M1
Games left: 8
Points pace: 116.4
Next game: @ CAR (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 94
Regulation wins: 40
Playoff position: M2
Games left: 9
Points pace: 105.6
Next game: vs. WSH (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 87
Regulation wins: 35
Playoff position: M3
Games left: 6
Points pace: 93.9
Next game: vs. NYR (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 77
Regulation wins: 24
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 9
Points pace: 86.5
Next game: vs. COL (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 16.7%
Tragic number: 17
Points: 77
Regulation wins: 32
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 85.3
Next game: vs. MIN (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 27.3%
Tragic number: 15
Points: 74
Regulation wins: 25
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 82
Next game: vs. MIN (Friday)
Playoff chances: 8.7%
Tragic number: 12
Points: 71
Regulation wins: 20
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 7
Points pace: 77.6
Next game: @ STL (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0.1%
Tragic number: 7
Points: 71
Regulation wins: 20
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 6
Points pace: 76.6
Next game: @ MTL (Saturday)
Playoff chances: ~0%
Tragic number: 5
Central Division
Points: 106
Regulation wins: 40
Playoff position: C1
Games left: 7
Points pace: 115.9
Next game: @ VGK (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 102
Regulation wins: 40
Playoff position: C2
Games left: 8
Points pace: 113.0
Next game: vs. NSH (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 94
Regulation wins: 38
Playoff position: C3
Games left: 7
Points pace: 102.8
Next game: @ CHI (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 89
Regulation wins: 30
Playoff position: WC1
Games left: 6
Points pace: 96.0
Next game: vs. PIT (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 92.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 88
Regulation wins: 33
Playoff position: WC2
Games left: 7
Points pace: 96.2
Next game: @ NYR (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 91%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 80
Regulation wins: 26
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 7
Points pace: 87.5
Next game: vs. LA (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0.4%
Tragic number: 7
Points: 62
Regulation wins: 23
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 7
Points pace: 67.8
Next game: @ DAL (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E
Points: 51
Regulation wins: 18
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 56.5
Next game: vs. COL (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E
Pacific Division
Points: 98
Regulation wins: 42
Playoff position: P1
Games left: 8
Points pace: 108.6
Next game: vs. WPG (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 93
Regulation wins: 37
Playoff position: P3
Games left: 8
Points pace: 103.1
Next game: @ UTA (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 91
Regulation wins: 31
Playoff position: P2
Games left: 8
Points pace: 100.8
Next game: @ SJ (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 99.1%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 82
Regulation wins: 26
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 90.9
Next game: vs. ANA (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 13.9%
Tragic number: 11
Points: 81
Regulation wins: 26
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 89.8
Next game: vs. SEA (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 2.7%
Tragic number: 10
Points: 74
Regulation wins: 23
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 82.0
Next game: @ CGY (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: 3
Points: 68
Regulation wins: 25
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 7
Points pace: 74.3
Next game: @ VAN (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E
Points: 50
Regulation wins: 14
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 55.4
Next game: vs. EDM (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E
Note: An “x” means that the team has clinched a playoff berth. An “e” means that the team has been eliminated from playoff contention.
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: 50
Regulation wins: 14
Points: 51
Regulation wins: 18
Points: 62
Regulation wins: 23
Points: 68
Regulation wins: 25
Points: 70
Regulation wins: 26
Points: 69
Regulation wins: 23
Points: 71
Regulation wins: 20
Points: 71
Regulation wins: 20
Points: 74
Regulation wins: 23
Points: 74
Regulation wins: 25
Points: 75
Regulation wins: 26
Points: 77
Regulation wins: 32
Points: 77
Regulation wins: 24
Points: 80
Regulation wins: 26
Points: 81
Regulation wins: 26
Points: 82
Regulation wins: 26
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