DO SOMETHING

By Mike Rifkin

If you want to go on a diet, I’d suggest don’t watch the New York Mets. They’ll cause you to stress eat. As each game is played I feel like Randy Quaid in Major League 2, there’s just not an enough positives and way too many negatives. And if you’re a struggling starting pitcher, you’d volunteer to face this Mets lineup because they’re so inept.

The Memorial day lineup was an insult to the fans intelligence, to bat Marcus Semien cleanup  is insane. I understand there are injuries but Semien was 3-20 on the last road trip and has done squat offensively (except with RISP). Speaking of the Memorial Day lineup, do you know who has the highest average in the lineup, outside of AJ Ewing, who just came up? If you answered Carson Benge, you’d be right. Two rookies had the highest average for the Mets in their Memorial Day lineup, if you want to be glass half full guy (like me usually) you’d say that’s good for the future. In reality it shows how bad this offense is and has been and yes Juan Soto missed the game due to illness, probably from having to carry the offense. 

As  I mentioned above there are injuries, but with no timetable of those guys returning, it’s on what the Mets have now to try and turn this around, will they? This team has shown little fight to make us believe that they will, this kind of reminds me of 2023, after getting punched in the face by the Padres and the Mets never truly recovered. I’m not looking to call for Stearns or Mendoza to be fired based on the team’s play, but show some emotion instead of the same robotic answers. But the biggest indictment on this team is that if they keep playing this way Citi Field will be empty this summer, with one big omission and that’s when the Mets celebrate their 1986 World Series team.

TEMPTING OFFERS

BY MIKE RIFKIN

We’re down to the final four in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, which means July 1st is right around the corner. One team that should be active during July first is the New York Rangers. The Rangers, who missed the playoffs for the second consecutive season, were one of the biggest disappointments in the league. The Rangers will have almost 27 million dollars in cap space and have 11 picks in the 2026 draft (2 in the first, four in the third and two in the sixth) they also have trade chips in Center Vincent Trocheck and Defenseman Braden Schneider. In his “letter” to the fans Chris Drury talked about a “retool” and fans witnessed some of that during the final six weeks of the season with some young players getting an opportunity. Young forwards like Gabe Perrault (12 g 27 pts in 49 gp), Noah Laba (9g, 24 pts in 74 gp), Jaroslav Chemlar ( 4g 6 pts in 28 gp), Adam Sykora (3g 4pts in 11 gp) got an opportunity to show what they’re capable of. 

The usual way the Rangers would handle a situation like this would be to throw a ton of money at big time free agents, well the unrestricted free agent market is not as deep as usual. And throwing a bunch of money at Alex Tuch doesn’t solve much in my opinion. 

One area the Rangers could take advantage is Restricted free agents, and they could utilize some of the draft capital they have at the draft to make a trade work. A big key when being aggressive towards RFA’s is to look at team’s cap situations. There are three teams for the Rangers to look at when assessing certain RFAS.

The first team the Rangers should look at are the Dallas Stars. The Stars lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Minnesota Wild. The Stars will have 10.9 million dollars in space, and have two intriguing RFAS Jason Robertson and Mavrik Bourque. Robertson posted 45 goals and 96 points in 82 games. Robertson has been very consistent the past few seasons, becoming one of the best goal scorers in the league. Robertson has also been a big player in the playoffs with 23 goals and 52 points in 63 games played. Robertson, reportedly is looking for a similar number to teammate Mikko Rantanen got which is 12 million dollars per year, if the Stars don’t want to pay Robertson that Chris Drury should jump on the phone. If the Stars do pay Robertson, Mavrik Bourque could be in play. Bourque had 20 goals and 41 points in 82 games this season, and for the Rangers maybe he could be their future top line Center, still only 24 years of age. 

Another Western Conference heavyweight to watch are the Vegas Golden Knights, in particular Pavel Dorofeyev, who currently leads the Stanley Cup Playoffs with 10 goals. Dorofeyev had 37 goals in the regular season, after scoring 35 in 2024-25. Vegas will have 4.6 million dollars in cap space (could be more if Alex Pietrangelo retires), and you’d think a chunk of that would go to Carter Hart after the postseason he’s had. Vegas also has four picks total in the draft, and none in the first two rounds. 

The other team the Rangers should monitoring this summer is a team they’ve done a lot of business the past few years and that’s the Anaheim Ducks. The first target is not an RFA, it’s Mason McTavish, who saw his production drop this season, his contract dispute could’ve had something to do with that. Anaheim has to re-sign forwards Cutter Gauthier and Leo Carlsson. They also have to figure out the blue line with Jacob Trouba, Radko Gudas and John Carlson all expected to be free agents. The other Duck to look into will be an RFA and that’s Pavel Mintyukov. The 22 year old has previously requested a trade from Anaheim and depending on their free agent status might give him what he’s asked for. Anaheim will have the cap space to do whatever they want, but Drury should be eyeing them. 

Then there are the cases of Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid. If either one wants out of their current situation and wants to play at MSG, the Rangers should obviously try to acquire them. But that can’t be the basis for the Summer.’

 With the Knicks doing what they’re doing, you remember the vibes of playoff hockey. While James Dolan might not want to put the pressure on Drury, the fans are because the play of this team over the last two seasons has been inexcusable. If one person needs this “retool” to be a success it’s Drury, because if it’s not he will get the boot.

MLB THE SHOW A TRUE LOOK INTO

FANTASY BASEBALL

BY MARK HALPERN

Baseball has always been and will be America’s pastime. However, out of every 100,000 hopeful players a year, they all have less than a 1% chance at making “The Show.” For the super hard-core guys who fall up short and for kids say 8 and up (yet my six-year-old has hit some homeruns) there is another more realistic way they can live out their dreams and that’s through the video game MLB The Show. The game gives you control of literally everything to make the game as realistic as if you were stepping on the field yourself. For others you can set the difficulty to whatever if you’re not up for the huge challenge to just enjoy and play as your Heroes of today.

      MLB the Show gives fans so man different opportunities to play in so many scenarios from playing as your team in a Franchise Season, Diamond Dynasty (create a team of your own players you want), Road to the Show (gives you a chance to work from high school to being drafted to becoming a legend) and the new more popular “Storylines” mode in which you can play as certain Negro League Stars and play as them in the journey through the Negro Leagues. This is great cause it really gives a Highlighted and in depth look into certain players who have never really had a chance to own that spotlight. It also helps fans learn the history of the Negro leagues, something that MLB should lean more into.

    MLB the Show has become the premier Baseball game that can be crossed played on numerous platforms such as Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch. There are several of other Baseball games out their but none of them can come close to the most realistic Baseball game available.

     The Dynasty mode is the most popular because it brings together not only the fun of having a possible line up of the best players in the game but makes you start with basic players and as you go through games, different practice modes and some in season challenges you can earn packs which can contain players of old and new. Packs is a way to connect the fun experience of opening a pack of player cards and not spending $100 to do it.  You are the manager and it is your job of putting the best team on the field to beat your upcoming opponent. Now anyone can try to put the most unbeatable team on the field. The way you do this this is by winning games against the computer or take your chances against a random player from around the world (as MLB the Show is played almost on every game platform.) It is not always about the skills of your player but, the skills of the player controlling the game. Everything from the game is lifelike from the movement of the pitches across the plate to where watch batted ball goes if your lucky enough to connect. The fun part is that it is kind of like LEGOS in the way that you can build any team (or thing in Legos) you want to build it to your own liking. You get to play in over 100 realistic stadiums from old to brand new and even the minor leagues. You can create your team’s name, colors and even design their jersey or pick from hundreds from MLB (old and New) and MILB (AAA and AA teams.)

       There are many sport games out there that people prefer as their favorite sports game. When it comes to baseball, I would find it hard to find a gamer who plays baseball that doesn’t use this game as their go to. And even as a whole MLB the Show might be the best franchised sports video game.

SAME OLD SAME

BY MIKE RIFKIN

The Pittsburgh Steelers are an organization built on pride and class. For as great as the Steelers were, they’re reluctance over the years of letting go of the past has bitten them on the rear end. Hey, it’s cool to make the playoffs, but to not have a single playoff win in a decade is bad. On Saturday it was announced that the Steelers and Aaron Rodgers have agreed to a deal for Rodgers to return to the Steel city. 

Rodgers will also be reunited with Mike McCarthy, his old coach in Green Bay. Yes, the two won a Super Bowl, ironically enough against the Steelers, but does this put the Steelers at the top of the AFC? Now, the Steelers schedule did them no favors in weeks 1-9 (Bye) the Steelers will play one team that made the playoffs last season (Patriots), but in weeks 10-18 they’ll play five including the Broncos, who were the number one seed in the AFC last season and cross state rival Eagles. 

Let’s be honest one of the reasons the Steelers won the AFC North last season was because both Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow got hurt and missed significant time. But the Steelers still allowed the Ravens to come back into the division race, and with a Tyler Loop Field  Goal or the defense gets a stop, the Ravens win.

The Steelers don’t like change, they had three coaches in 40 years. But even with bringing back Rodgers that doesn’t put the Steelers in the same class as the top of the AFC, yeah they’ll win games but they’re not going to win the Super Bowl. It took them forever to let Tomlin go and now keeping around 42 year old Aaron Rodgers, the Steelers are still living in the past.  Maybe Rodgers can be a teacher to Drew Allar and Will Howard, but go and celebrate Pittsburgh because you got your man.

NEW ERA BEGINS

BY MIKE RIFKIN

The Dolphins will be ushering in a new era of Dolphins football in 2026. The Dolphins raided Green Bay this offseason to find their new GM (John -Eric Sullivan), Coach (Jeff Hafley) and Quarterback (Malik Willis). And with the schedule released we can give a fair assessment on where I think the team is entering the season. 

The Dolphins schedule is not easy and they are one of five teams without a primetime game, which shows what the NFL thinks of them. The Dolphins will play three of their first four games on the road, against the Raiders, 49ers and Vikings. They’ll open up their home schedule by welcoming the Kansas City Chiefs and possibly Patrick Mahomes. From week 13-18 the Dolphins will play teams that made the playoffs last season, including the Bills and Patriots in divisional play, and a trip to Lambeau Field and a matchup with the Packers. In week 16 the Dolphins will welcome a familiar face back to Miami, as they’ll play former coach Mike McDaniel, who is now the Offensive coordinator of the LA Chargers. 

So, what would constitute a successful season for the new regime in Miami? Malik Willis, who will only be 27 when the season starts has to prove that he is the guy. The 2027 draft will be filled with big time Quarterback prospects, and if Willis struggles in his first season of a three year deal, fans will call for the team to draft a new Quarterback. And the Dolphins are still searching for a franchise Quarterback, that they haven’t had since Dan Marino. In December and January the Dolphins will play in Denver, Green Bay and New England all cold weather places. If the new regime wants to change a narrative, this is one, because this team just hasn’t played well in the cold in the past and it has bitten them. 

Official Prediction : The league gave them no favors with the schedule and they’ll have to play some of the best teams in the league, along with some of the best Quarterbacks in the league. I don’t think they’re a playoff team, but hopefully they can be competitive. But I don’t see this team gaining more than six wins at best in 2026, which could be a good start for the new regime.

BACKFIRING

BY MIKE RIFKIN

If I told you on May 11th that the worst record in baseball would belong to the New York Mets, would you believe me? If, you answered yes, then good for you, but if you said no, you’re response would be what has gone wrong in Queens. The answer to that is simple the offense, it is simply offensive to watch and Steve Cohen should be paying the fans to watch this. 

But, Sunday was a big straw for me, playing in a rubber game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, on a road trip where a win gives you a 6-3 road trip vs 5-4 and the lineup that was put out was inexcusable. Austin Slater and Andy Ibanez, two guys just CLAIMED OFF WAIVERS were hitting third and sixth, I repeat Austin Slater and Andy Ibanez hit third and sixth. The Mets offense had a run on four hits, they also made three errors. They almost had as many errors as hits, and at 15-25 where is rock bottom? 

The Mets offense has a slash line of .224/.288/.345, the only team they have a better average than is the Cincinnati Reds. I know there’s a lot of fans who have gotten on Mendoza, myself included, but the guy who should be front and center on this is David Stearns. He wanted a more contact oriented lineup, well guess what, the results aren’t there. Yes, there are injuries, Francisco Lindor and Luis Robert are currently out of the lineup, but we don’t have a clue when they’re coming back. And yes Juan Soto missed some time earlier in the season, but what the Mets are putting out there, with their payroll is disgusting. The scored five runs in the three games against the D-Backs, two of them scored in the tenth inning Friday night (one was the ghost runner). And how many times have we heard the other team’s pitching has retired 7 plus Mets in a row? Too often, and this is on Stearns.

Now, I am not here to say fire Stearns, mainly because I am unsure who you replace him with. But I was with him on a lot of the moves last offseason, except letting Pete Alonso walk. You can say a lot of things about Alonso, but the Mets miss his presence in the lineup, especially Juan Soto. Jon Heyman had the report of tension between Alonso and Stearns during the first Alonso negotiations and one would wonder if that had an impact on the second one. 

Yes, there’s a lot of baseball to be played, but with not having an idea of when reinforcements are coming and the way it looks, I might get some at-bats at Citi Field this summer. A lot of what Stearns has done has blown up in his face, and Cohen shouldn’t fire him, let him try to erase the wrongs with some rights. But as a fanbase, to see Austin Slater hit third in a rubber game in May is just disrespectful. David Stearns needs to check his ego, because let’s be honest since the trade deadline everything has gone wrong.

WHY?

BY MIKE RIFKIN

According to reports Aaron Rodgers is visiting the Steelers this weekend and by all accounts his intention is to play the 2026 season in Pittsburgh. Last season Rodgers played in 16 games for Pittsburgh and had a 65.7 completion percentage, 3,322 yards, 24 touchdowns and seven interceptions on the way to another AFC North title for the Steelers. 

But, was Rodgers play really the reason the Steelers won the AFC North? No, it was because the Ravens had an inability to finish games and lost Lamar Jackson for some time, and the Bengals lost Joe Burrow for most of the season. But still in an offseason that has been solid for the Steelers, it still feels like they’re running it back. 

Mike Tomlin is no longer roaming the sidelines, and has been replaced by Mike McCarthy, who Rodgers won a Super Bowl with in Green Bay (ironically enough against the Steelers). The Steelers in the last two years have drafted Will Howard out of Ohio ST, and Drew Allar out of Penn ST. and also have Mason Rudolph under contract. I don’t care about how much the Steelers win in the regular season, Rodgers is not the long term answer at Quarterback. The Steelers have used bandaid after bandaid on the position since Big Ben retired. Why not see what one of these young kids have? Or if you knew Rodgers was coming back, why draft another Quarterback, sure they could trade one if there’s an injury to another team, but Howard and Allar have no value.

When you sign Rodgers it means you’re going all in again, which they did anyway on the McCarthy hire. But when you take a look across the AFC, Rodgers doesn’t put the Steelers over the top, heck we don’t even know if they’ll repeat as division champs. I’d rather learn about one of the young quarterbacks, but the longer the Steelers want to kick this can down the road, the further behind they’ll get and this core is not getting any younger.

CALEB TOUCHES DOWN SAFELY

By Mark Halpern

       At the beginning of this draft the only name I wanted for the Cowboys was Ohio St. safety Caleb Downs. In recent years the Cowboy defense has struggled, while the offense did it’s thing. The Dallas secondary was so bad last year that it literally cost Dallas the season. The offense would have to outscore the mistakes made by the defense and that was too much to overcome. However, with the departure of Micah Parsons the Cowboys had pick #12 from the Packers and there was only one target.

   Who was the Cowboys’ target you may ask? Well if you read my article weeks ago there was no secret that Downs was the target the real question became how could they possibly pull it off. The Cowboys knew they had a real uphill battle for this to happen. From what we know now is the Cowboys did try trading up to the #6 spot with Cleveland offering a mixture of picks to no avail but Cleveland ended up trading with the Chiefs to #6 dropping the Browns to #9. Well as you know the Browns didn’t select Downs and when the Giants were back on the board at #10 all I could feel was the kick in the balls that Downs was gonna be a Giant. I was making my peace of it then the Giants went Offensive Line (mind you a massive help to NYG OL) my mind scrambling figuring out who had #11 and it was Miami. Again, Downs was dropping and dropping and by mere seconds things changed.

    The Cowboys were one pick away from getting the one player this club wanted. The Dolphins stood in the way and there was no guarantee the Dolphins wouldn’t take him so Dallas did what it does best is create a Draft Day Trade. Dallas flipped pick #12 and two 5th round picks to move up one spot to get who they wanted and Miami made the deal but, little did we all know that it was a mere few seconds before the picks would have been blown. With 3 seconds left on the clock the Cowboys got the pick in and Caleb splashed down safely just like Armstrong and Aldrin. 

     Reports of an injury is a big reason why Downs fell in the draft. Downs had a degenerative ACL ligament. Why does the NFL cringe when you hear ACL, MCL or PCL is that has to do with the knees and for football your knees play a very important part. Downs had been downplaying the news all through out the week. Is there genuine concern of course but, that is what the combine is for. It’s to see potential draftees at there upmost best. Downs impressed across the board but, the injury bug word got the best of the first 10 picks. Dallas got who they wanted and went along to have one of their better drafts in recent years. 

    Joining the Cowboys along with Downs is DE Malachi Lawrence, OLB Jaishwan Barham, OT Drew Shelton, CB Devin Moore (One of the Steals of the Draft), DE LT Overton and WR Anthony Smith. If Lawrence or Barham can excel early it should boost a defense that had a lot of problems last season.

WHAT COMES NEXT : TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING

BY Mike Rifkin

The Tampa Bay Lightning were the toast of the NHL when they made three straight Stanley Cup Final (won in 2019-20, 2020-21) and lost in 2022. Since then the Lightning have lost in the first round, including this year losing to the Montreal Canadiens in seven games. So now it’s time for the old question : What comes next?

Let’s start with superstar Nikita Kucherov. Kucherov, had another MVP esque season with 44 goals and 130 points. In the seven game series against the Habs, Kucherov had six points, but just one goal. In fact Kucherov has just three goals in his last 25 playoff games. Kucherov is signed through 2028 at 9.5 million dollars. I don’t think the Lightning will move one of the game’s best players, but Kucherov only has a ten team no trade clause. Then there’s Victor Hedman, who didn’t play in the series due to what was revealed to be a mental health issues ( wishing the best for Victor) . Hedman is still one of the best d-men in the NHL and posted one goal and 17 points in 33 games this season. Hedman, 35 is signed through 2030 at eight million dollars. Brayden Point (9.5), Jake Guentzel (9), Brandon Hagel (6.5), and Anthony Cirelli (6.25) are all forwards who have a full no trade clause, meaning they’d have to sign off on any deal. Although of the four, Cirelli would be the one to explore in my opinion. Andrei Vasilevskiy returned to form this season and was healthy. Vasilevskiy went 39-15-4 with a 2.31 GAA and a .912 save percentage and two shutouts. In the series against the Habs he had a 2.18 GAA and .897 save percentage.

When guys are in and out of the lineup it means others have to step up, and Tampa got a lot of guys to step up.  Two guys who had awesome seasons on the Blue line were Darren Raddysh and JJ Moser. The two combined for 29 goals (22 Raddysh 7 Moser) and 99 points. Moser, acquired in the Mikhail Sergachev trade signed a new contract that kicks in next season. Raddysh, had his breakout season at 30 and will be a UFA. Personally I would let Raddysh test the market, the Lightning will have 13.5 million dollars in cap space, signing another 30 plus old defenseman might not be the best use of resources. 

One bad thing for the Lightning is that they don’t have a first round pick in each of the next two drafts. But with the free agency market looking thin, maybe the Lightning find a few trades to help themselves, one player I think they should target is Seattle’s Shane Wright. Acquiring Wright could slide Cirelli to the number three Center and Yanni Gourde to the fourth line. But as long as Jon Cooper is in charge the Lightning have a chance.

WHAT COMES NEXT : EDMONTON OILERS

BY MIKE RIFKIN

For the first time in four years the Edmonton Oilers did not win a playoff series, as they were dispatched by the Anaheim Ducks in six games. The Oilers had been to the Stanley Cup Final each of the last two seasons. “ We were an average team all year. When you’re an average team with high expectations, you’re going to be disappointed.” Those words were spoken by Connor McDavid, who prior to the season signed a two year extension to give the team ability to make moves. Now, with the clock ticking on McDavid’s future in Edmonton the question is what comes next?

The first question is who is going to eat the blame for not just losing in the first round, but the Oilers’ overall play this season? I know Bruce Cassidy is on the market, but I don’t know how you fire Kris Knoblauch after going to the Cup Final the prior two seasons? Now the person I would put some blame on is Stan Bowman. He clearly lost the Stuart Skinner for Tristan Jarry trade. Jarry only played in one playoff game, and in the regular season he played in 19 games (16 starts) and was 9-6-2 with a 3.86 GAA and a .858 save percentage. While Skinner went 12-9-5 in 27 games with the Penguins and had a 2.99 GAA and .885 save percentage. The other guy I felt the Oilers missed in the playoffs was Evander Kane, who was traded to the Canucks. Kane, in 68 playoff games with Edmonton  Kane had 26 goals and 42 points. 

The Oilers’ roster is filled with no movement clauses and they’ll have around 16 million in cap space. Could they find someone to take on Zach Hyman’s 5.5 million dollars through 2028-29, as he goes from a full no movement to a ten team no move? What will they do with Tristan Jarry, who is signed through 2029 at 5.375 million dollars? Can they finally find a way to move off the awful Darnell Nurse contract (9.25 through 2030)? 

But every decision the Oilers make, they have to think about two things : First does this bring me closer to a Stanley Cup and the other : Will this make Connor McDavid happy? Because if the Oilers don’t win next season, and McDavid enters the final year of his contract, you run the risk of losing him for nothing. When you think of generational players, losing them for nothing is not an option. The Oilers will have a busy summer with a lot of decisions, but all eyes will be looking ahead to next summer, which could be the summer of McDavid.