WALK-OFF

     BY MARK HALPERN

        The Home Run Derby is the thing most fans look forward to, when Baseball hits the All-Star Break. It’s something everyone loves watching, just like the Dunk contest. I  wish Baseball would be like the NBA and have multiple events such as fielding, bunting, throwing accuracy etc.… 

   The Home Run derby has changed rules three times during my time of watching. First, it was 10 outs if a ball didn’t go out it was an out.  Then it was changed to a three minute time limit in the first round and then more rounds of timed limits. I hated this because it caused more of a rush and put the players in a chance for a greater risk of tiring themselves out in the heat. Now, this year they brought back the swings but doubled it to 20 then each round got less. The crop of players for this years derby was one of the more anticipated ones because the field of players was of such high caliber with such players as Bryce Harper, Kyle Swarber, Jordan Walker, Junior Caminero and others.  

    One thing about the Derby, whether you’re a young player or a Veteran everyone wants to participate in the Derby. We have seen veterans win, but we’ve also seen young players such as Julio Rodriguez and Pete Alonso win. This year we witnessed another young player win. Jordan Walker was a top prospect for the Cardinals and it had been a struggle. This year has been a pure breakout year for him as he has been a reason why the Cardinals are shocking the world. Walker in the last round launched and I mean launched 11 home runs, including six consecutive with one out to play with to win the title.

    After the win the internet had some fun showing that Walker winning one million dollars is more than what he currently makes. For the Cardinals sake hopefully 2026 Jordan Walker is what they see for a long time, because if so Monday night a star was born.

THE DISRESPECT

BY MIKE RIFKIN

In 2024 Lamar Jackson was in a heated MVP debate with Josh Allen. Last season Jackson hurt his Hamstring and missed some time, yet the Ravens still had a chance to win the AFC North, and you really can’t blame him as to why they lost that game to the Steelers. Lamar Jackson is a two time MVP and a three time first team All-Pro, yet he still gets disrespected. 

On the NFL’S top 100 players list Jackson came in at 69, 67 spots lower than he was. There are not 68 better football players than Lamar Jackson. People are always moving the goalposts when it comes to Jackson. They’ve gone from he’s not a NFL QB, to he can’t be a great pocket passer and when he’s succeeded at that it’s moved to he can’t win the big game. Has Lamar played his best in the postseason? No, but we can have the same conversation when it comes to other Quarterbacks. The Raven defense is what let them down last season. The Ravens gave up 354.5 yards per game, 30 sacks, and had a -3 turnover differential. The Raven defense was near the bottom in all three categories, how is that Lamar’s fault?

ESPN also came out with a top ten Quarterback list and Jackson ranks fifth behind Allen, Mahomes, Matt Stafford, and Joe Burrow. I love Patrick Mahomes but he’s coming off a torn ACL and I love Joe Burrow but he was hurt last year too. Now Mahomes’ body of work speaks for itself, but Joe Burrow hasn’t won a thing yet in this league to put him over Lamar is a little ridiculous.

Look here’s the thing Lamar is as under as much pressure as anyone in the league (that’s a different blog) but how does he drop 67 spots? It can’t be the injury or performance based, so what is it? Either way I think this puts a chip on Lamar’s shoulder and the Ravens will be playing football in January.

DISGRACEFUL

BY MARK HALPERN

    Officiating, sometimes they’re right, sometimes they’re wrong but more often than not they’re the center of attention. The World Cup has been no different. We have seen incidents with multiple players who think they’re being targeted more for calls based on their  (as we saw with the Red Card for Team U.S.A that was later rescinded) Grouping. 

    I wanted to wait to see as much information about this topic had been released before writing. During the Egypt vs Argentina match last week Egypt jumped out to a 2-0 lead. Argentina looked flat but, the “TOM BRADY PROTECTION” was not yet in use. If you do not know Lionel Messi is retiring after this season and a loss here would end his final run. Well in the second half there were multiple calls against Egypt but, there were blatant and I mean blatant calls that gave Messi and Argentina time to tie it. Mohammad Saleh had broken free and he would have scored and with barley any time left it would have sealed the deal. But, wait the whistle blew and called a penalty far away from the play. Instead of it sealing the deal for Egypt, that whistle created a comeback for Argentina. Argentina scored three goals in the span of about 13 minutes, including the game winner in stoppage time, to make the comeback. If Argentina can defeat England on Wednesday and go to the Final and potentially win, as great of a story that would be for Messi, there’d still be some controversy. What happens if the officials don’t call the foul on Egypt? That’s something we’ll never know.

FOR THE FANS

BY MIKE RIFKIN

All-Star Games are a fun exhibition to watch the league’s best go at it for nine innings to prove who is superior. They used to mean something to the players, but they always have meant something to the fans. But over the course of time the game itself has been overshadowed in every sport. In Basketball everyone looked forward to the dunk contest and the three point contest, in Hockey people loved the skills competition and in Baseball everyone loves the Home Run Derby. The Derby unlike the dunk contest would give you the best of the best, and who didn’t love hearing Chris Berman saying “Back, Back, Back gone”. 

They’ve gone back and forth on changing the rules to the derby, when it was fine. But something has changed this year for the All-Star week, and at a time where Baseball can ill afford to shoot itself in the foot they have. This year’s Home Run Derby is going to be on Netflix, so if you don’t have Netflix you can’t watch. At least when it was on ESPN and people couldn’t watch, they could go to a bar or something and watch. 

I’m not even just mad at the suits of the game, I’m angry at players too. If you know me you know my stance on fan voting, I think it’s stupid and people only vote for their favorite team’s players. But, I will get off my soapbox for that right now, I am mad at players for skipping the game itself. Over the weekend the Dodgers announced Shohei Ohtani was scratched from his scheduled start and would miss the game due to Knee irritation, and he would skip the All – Star Game. So Ohtani’s knee’s bothering him and he can’t pitch or play in the ASG, but he can still DH for the Dodgers the past three days and hit a couple of homers. Now, this is not me taking a shot at Ohtani, I get it the Dodgers are looking to threepeat, something that hasn’t been done since the Yankees of the 90’s. But I feel bad for the fans who have spent the money to go see the All-Star game because this could be their only chance to see Ohtani in person, because we know when the Dodgers come to town, those ticket prices are outrageous. Ohtani isn’t the only one, how about Vladimir Guerrero Jr., he’s not playing due to back issues, but he was in the Blue Jay lineup on Sunday. Now, I get it he’s not having the best offensive season, but the fans voted these guys in. How about Pitchers : Jacob Misiorowski, who was scratched from his start Sunday isn’t going due to arm fatigue, now if he did pitch Sunday he would be unable to pitch in the game. Cam Schlittler of the Yankees, who is having a breakout season just isn’t going to focus on the second half. Like I said I get it, for these guys they all want to win a Championship, and not care about the exhibition. 

As a fan we want to see the best, that’s why we vote for the ASG  and players have every right to turn it down. But with a lockout looming and we don’t know if there’s going to be Baseball in 2027, this is a bad look for players and owners. Because whether it’s the derby being on Netflix, players opting out of the ASG, or a lockout the people who lose aren’t the owners or the players, it’s the fans. The Fans who fill these Owners’ stadiums and pay the players’ salaries, and by the way it’s gotten really expensive to go to these games, the fans are the ones who lose in all of these scenarios. So to the fans, when you watch the game Tuesday Night just remember that during the CBA negotiations both sides will be playing victim, when the real victims are the fans.

BELGIUM DESTROYS USA HOPES

BY MARK HALPERN

        Well, the World Cup will go on but, without team USA as they were beaten by Belgium 4-1. In their final group match  U.S.A star Folarin Balogun was given a RED CARD, which was a controversial call. To be fairly honest it looked nothing intentional and their feet got entangled but, the Official who gave him the penalty did review and stood by his call. Receiving such a penalty would have had him suspended and would have made him ineligible to play in the game against Belgium. Well President Donald Trump called  FIFA and asked them to review the play. FIFA did and rescinded the card giving Balogun the opportunity to play.    I had made a special appearance on the S.I.P. broadcast with Dan Ryans and we spoke about this briefly and the consensus was team USA looked flat. Belgium got on the board in the first 9 minutes of the game. The U.S.A fought back and got the game even at 31 minutes to just see it go away a minute later and eventually losing 4-1. Even with Balogun the team looked unprepared and Belgium took advantage of it. Their passing was crisper and whatever the game plan was it fully worked as the USA really couldn’t put up another goal or even put up a fight. 

    Their were glimpses of hope with this team USA. US Men’s soccer has never won the World Cup. The Men’s national team is not on par with what the Women’s national team has done, maybe in 2030 that changes with some legends of the game leaving.

NOW, HERES AN IDEA

BY : MIKE RIFKIN

Two of the biggest disappointments in Baseball are the New York Mets and the San Diego Padres. Both teams currently sit outside of the playoffs (SD :4.5, NYM 12) and both are in the top 10 in payroll for the season. 

Steve Cohen appeared on “THE SHOW” Podcast with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman last week, and said that Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto are “getting along much better.” Meaning their relationship last season wasn’t as good as people want to perceive. Now, I will take Cohen at his word about them getting along, but this got me thinking, Soto is younger and signed long term and is in his prime. Lindor, will be 33 in November and is signed through 2031. Lindor is still an elite player at shortstop, but because of injury hasn’t had the best season. 

I like to consider myself an optimist and I want to believe the Mets will turn the season around, but I am more likely to win the lottery. I blame David Stearns for a lot of the Mets issues, and according to Cohen he’s not going anywhere.  Stearns has already gutted the roster and fired the manager, why not go all the way David and trade Lindor too?

Now this is New York David, so either you go big or you go home. And when I say big, it means big. Now both the Mets and Padres are in win now mode, despite the fact the Mets can’t even win when they score 12 runs. So, here’s the blockbuster idea (keep in mind I am not a salary guru) the Mets receive Fernando Tatis Jr. and Mason Miller from the Padres in exchange for Lindor, Freddy Peralta, Luke Weaver, Mark Vientos and Ronny Mauricio. If the Mets have to take on another contract like Jake Cronenworth, or Xander Bogaerts to make it happen so be it. 

The Padres could kick Xander Bogaerts over to second with Lindor in the picture, Weaver, who has been fantastic for the Mets could slot into the Padres bullpen, which has a plethora of big arms coming out of it, Vientos and Mauricio are both young and change of scenery guys but are limited on where they can play, and Peralta, who will be a free agent after the season gives the Padres a top of the rotation arm, despite what’s he shown with the Mets. 

The Mets would be getting younger with Tatis, who is 27 and signed through 2035. Remember Tatis came up as a shortstop, so maybe they kick him over and do the Mets consider making Juan Soto the DH?Miller is still arbitration eligible, but with how dominant he has been Stearns should sign him, and having Miller and Devin Williams at the backend of the bullpen would be a nice fit for the Mets. Now this move could be considered in the winter as well, but we don’t know how long the CBA talks are going to take. But if the Mets pulled this trigger at the deadline what it could do is make a very passionate and hungry fanbase happy about the future. In the short term this is basically a punt, but long term this could be an exciting deal for the Mets. It would also be the biggest blockbuster since Blockbuster went out of business. Now I want to make this clear I AM NOT IN FAVOR OF MOVING LINDOR, but if something like this proposal comes along the Mets have to listen.

HAVE A FEEL

BY MIKE RIFKIN

Sunday in Sacramento fans had history ripped away from them. Marlins Pitcher Eury Perez pitched seven perfect innings against the Athletics. He was pulled at 92 pitches, so he didn’t even hit the 100 pitch threshold teams love to use. Lake Bachar came in and gave up five runs, without recording an out, the Marlins did hold onto win 9-8. But taking out a starter with an 8-0 lead and a chance for a perfect game feels wrong to me.

We are a week away from the All-Star Game, they could’ve found a way to potentially push his next start back. Guys like Nolan Ryan, Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson they don’t give the ball up, they try to finish the game. Now maybe it’s the era we’re in now but too often pitchers are being taken out of games with a no hitter or perfect game intact. Yes, I understand the arm injuries that can occur, but this is a chance at history. There is the possibility of long term issues look at Johan Santana with the Mets after his no hitter, but at least Terry Collins had the guts to leave his guy in to finish the job.

We all know where this comes from, it comes from front offices and whether it’s analytics or something else the fact that people don’t appreciate potential history is beyond parody. Have a feel for the game or for the moment. The Marlins are one of the biggest surprises in baseball, you give them this moment and it will always be special. That was taken from the fans on Sunday and unfortunately it’s happening too often across the sport we love. 

AND HERE WE GO

BY MIKE RIFKIN

Yes, NHL Free Agency starts on July first, but prior to Wednesday’s flurry we’ve seen a bunch of movement through trades. There have been some teams I absolutely love what they’re doing and others that have some questions as we get deeper into the summer.

TEAMS I LOVE 

  1. NASHVILLE PREDATORS – Yeah, we said the same thing a few summers ago when they added Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, and Brady Skjei. But I like the approach new GM Chris MacFarland has gone with. Nashville was busy on Wednesday after poaching Alex Kerfoot from MacFarland’s former team the Colorado Avalanche. Kerfoot became the third Avs regular to join the Preds this summer joining Jack Drury and Ross Colton. The Preds also plucked from another division rival, this time the Dallas Stars, where they acquired the rights to restricted free agent Mavirik Bourque and defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin. So, the Preds have impacted their future with Bourque, once he’s signed. Kerfoot, Drury, and Colton will help the bottom six and the penalty kill for Nashville.
  1. SAN JOSE SHARKS – The Sharks are the future and the apple of everyone’s eye with what they showed last season. Macklin Celebrini is a star, Will Smith is more than the Fresh Prince Of Bel Air, and there’s so much more. But the one thing the Sharks lacked was some beef on the Blue line, and boy they added to it, they added Jacob Trouba and Darnell Nurse to lead this group of young players. They also added Mason Marchment on a big contract, so the Sharks not only have skill, but now they added some physicality to their game. And everyone can thank Connor McDavid who called the Pacific a “pillow fight” last season. 
  1. WASHINGTON CAPITALS – When you try and prove to one of the greatest of all time that you can win now, you have to do it. Chris Patrick is doing exactly that, the Caps have added Jordan Kyrou, Alex Tuch and Boone Jenner to their forward group. Now, I’m not going to say the Caps have closed the gap on the Hurricanes, but with what the Metro could look like right now the Caps are a top three team. 

TEAMS I LIKE

  1. TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS – Let me be honest it’s not about Sergei Bobrovsky or Darren Raddysh, it’s the minor pieces the Leafs added that put them here. Colton Sissons is a Swiss Army knife, he can play on any line, help the PK and maybe even some second power play time. Jack Roslovic is a major x factor, personally I would play him with William Nylander, to see if they can unlock the player. But the thing I like the most about what Toronto has done is most of these moves are short term, so if they don’t work, they can make changes quickly. 
  2. VANCOUVER CANUCKS – The Canucks are trying to rebrand themselves after a tumultuous last couple of seasons. We’ll see if they move Brock Boeser or Elias Pettersson, but they’re trying to stabilize and set a culture with the acquisitions of Brendan Gallagher, Jamie Oleksiak and Luke Schenn. 
  1. NEW YORK RANGERS – Hand up, I didn’t think Chris Drury had this in him. But so far the offseason on Broadway has been solid, added some much needed scoring punch with Pavel Dorofeyev and Oliver Bjorkstrand. But most importantly reshaping his Blue line, the additions of Sean Durzi and Marcus Pettersson help solidify that. Now they have a hole in the middle with Vincent Trocheck gone, but maybe they expect a young player to fill the void or does Drury have something else up his sleeve. 

I DON’T GET IT

  1. CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS – I’ll be honest the Blackhawks could bring back Patrick Kane tomorrow and they’d still be here. The Blackhawks traded the fourth overall pick in the draft Friday night for Bowen Byram and then gave him six years with an AAV of 12.5 million dollars. Byram was good in Buffalo last year, but man they needed someone to play with Bedard (who still needs a deal). They also added Cole Smith and Ian Cole, so they might be tougher to play against, but that Byram contract is something. 
  1. EDMONTON OILERS – If you have one year to impress the best player in the world and your answer would be to sign Freddie Andersen, you have to do it right? As good as Andersen was in the Hurricanes run to the Stanley Cup, let’s not forget the Canes have a great Defense core, something the Oilers really don’t. Also with his injury history along with Tristan Jarry’s I can’t say I love this from the Oilers, although I like the Devon Levi add. 
  1. LA KINGS – Erik Haula (35), Scott Laughton (32), Mats Zuccarello (38), and Corey Perry (41) these are the players that Ken Holland brought in to help the Kings. The LA Kings are an older hockey team, they could’ve changed their identity after Anze Kopitar retired, but they’re still trying to go for it. The problem is I don’t think this helps them in either the short or long term. This is just bad business.

OH CAPTAIN MY CAPTAIN

BY MARK HALPERN

     What is a captain? A captain is defined as a person who commands, leads or is the head of a group. There are many types of captains. A ship has a captain, there are captains of industry, of course captains in the military. There is no secret that Fransico Lindor is admired by his teammates (even Soto, although the media doesn’t want to tell you that) and the team feeds off his energy. So, then why hasn’t Lindor been given the title yet?

    When Steve Choen was asked this same question, he dodged it a little but, in the end, Cohen said “No one will be named Captain.” The question of why will fill anyone’s mind but, it also has to be looked at in another way, In the history of the Mets they have only named four Captains.  Gary Carter, Keith Hernandez, John Franco and David Wright are the only players to ever been given this prestigious title. Lindor was the first major acquisition in the Steve Cohen era. Since coming over Lindor has embraced New York and vice versa. Lindor besides being an incredible ball player, is a loving caring Husband and Father of three. His walk-up music is “My Girl” by the Temptations a tribute to his wife, Lindor has multiple charity and humanitarian organizations that spreads all over his home country of Puerto Rico. Lindor is admired by all of his teammates, which in today’s world of sports is difficult. When Lindor talks to the team they listen, Lindor is one who is first to greet a player coming in for a run or making a great play in the field. To have an entire team show that in front of the heads of the organization kind of makes you scratch your head a bit.

     The last Met to dawn the title was David Wright and he did all the right things and Lindor has mirrored him on and off the field. If you look back at the Mets run to the NLCS in 2024, Lindor was a big piece of the puzzle and he even got some MVP votes. But, with where the Mets are currently, I can understand the hesitation of naming a captain, maybe next spring training (if there’s baseball) we could see something. 

   In my humble opinion you have to kind of look past that because when a true named leader on the field who the team already looks up to then this is an easy decision in my eyes.

MISSING THE MARK

By MIKE RIFKIN

One of the things fans loved about the 2024 Mets was the fact that young players were key contributors to the lineup. The “Baby Mets” as they were called, Brett Baty, Francisco Alvarez, Mark Vientos and Ronny Mauricio. Fast forward a year and a half later and the latest edition of the “Baby Mets” are AJ Ewing and Carson Benge and boy are they fun to watch. 

One of the reasons I think the Mets let Pete Alonso walk (which was a mistake either way), was to get consistent at bats for Mark Vientos. But over the last year and a half I’m starting to wonder if 2024 was just the year for Vientos. Vientos hit 27 homers and drove in 71 runs with a slash line of .266/.322/.516. Last season Vientos hit 17 homers and drove in 61 with a slash line of .233/.289/.413, and so far this season Vientos has a slash line of .209/.249/.378 with 10 homers and 33 RBI’S. Vientos’ defense isn’t helping either, when he has played first base he has six errors in 58 games. 

So Vientos is struggling defensively, when David Stearns talked about run prevention, he’s struggling to drive in runs, so what do you do with Vientos? You don’t want him rotting on the bench and what would sending him to Triple A do for his confidence? Vientos might be a perfect change of scenery candidate. He’s going to be 27 in December, but let’s be honest what’s his position with the 2027 Mets, because the 2026 Mets are fried (I just can’t see a turnaround). ‘

Do I love the idea of getting rid of a former second round pick, who will be 27 in December? Not really, but Vientos hasn’t looked like his 2024 version of himself offensively and if that’s an outlier, so be it. And let’s be honest he’s a man without a position, eventually the Mets will give Ryan Clifford some run at first base, Brett Baty, say what you will about his offense, but he’s a much better defender (especially when playing his natural position.) and way more versatile than Vientos. And Vientos’s numbers don’t even warrant him being a DH, so maybe around the deadline use Vientos in a package for futures to help the 27 Mets, because right now I have a hard time envisioning Vientos being on the roster.