Good Morning,
It’s a packed Thursday edition with no space to waste. We’re teeing off from Brookline after an OT thriller in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals and another no-hitter broken by a 9th-inning swing. The Warriors can close out the NBA Finals tonight in Boston (9:00 pm ET). Plus, The Underdog is back to celebrate a 39-year-old’s comeback season (bottom of today’s edition). Letter Rip! |
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Photo: Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images |
Golf’s Toughest Major Returns Despite LIV Theater (By Marissa Kasch)
The stage is set for the U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline. Can Jon Rahm defend his title? Will Justin Thomas go back-to-back? Will Scottie Scheffler show us why he’s the number 1 ranked men’s golfer? Only one thing is for sure; the toughest major is back, and you won’t want to miss it.
The U.S. Open Primer
This weekend will be a testament to the tradition of golf if it is able to withstand LIV background noise. The focus will be on the here-and-now at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, but the LIV Tour conversations will be lurking in the background through interviews and event coverage. Rory McIlroy, a favorite to win this weekend, has already voiced his opinions on the LIV Tour (though I’d classify them as criticisms instead). He expressed his disappointment in players defecting to the LIV Tour in a recent press conference, where he said they are “taking the easy way out”. Brooks Koepka has also spoken up with clear frustration, saying that the LIV chatter is putting a dark cloud over the U.S. Open. In contrast to McIlroy and Koepka, Phil Mickelson has joined the LIV Tour with full-support after bashing the PGA for their “obnoxious greed”. Mickelson is set to play this weekend and is one of the big-name PGA players to defect to the LIV Tour. So, it goes without saying that his interviews will be focused more on this decision than it will be his performance this weekend. However, Lefty isn’t expected to light the world on fire at the U.S. Open, so the LIV chatter may be his only appeal for interviewers.
Weather, Predictions, Tee Times & Payouts
Expert predictions have rolled in based on research, statistics, and playing styles. However, these predictions might be blown away, quite literally, by the 15-20 mph winds expected to arrive on Thursday. According to the weather forecast in Brookline, this wind will start on Thursday and hold steady at around 15 mph through Sunday. Will this be a PGA repeat? That’s up to Mother Nature. And with the LIV Tour’s eye-popping payouts, the USGA has bumped up the U.S. Open purse to a record-setting $17.5 million — $3.5 million to the winner.
Tee Times (Featured Groups) 7:18 AM: C. Morikawa, J. Piot, J. Rahm
7:29 AM: J. Spieth, A. Scott, M. Homa
7:40 AM: R. McIlroy, H. Matsuyama, X. Schauffele
1:14 PM: J. Thomas, V. Hovland, T. Finau
1:25 PM: B. Koepka, C. Smith, S. Scheffler
1:36 PM: M. Fitzpatrick, W. Simpson, D. Johnson
1:47 PM: P. Mickelson, S. Lowry, L. Oosthuizen
All Round 1 Tee Times *All Times ET
Betting Odds: R. McIlroy (+1100), J. Thomas (+1200), J. Rahm (+1300), S. Scheffler (+1300), C. Smith (+2000), J. Spieth (+2200), X. Schauffele (+2200), P. Cantlay (+2500) | Full Betting Odds
The 1913 U.S. Open Nod
You’ll also hear the 1913 U.S. Open referenced about a thousand times this week, and for good reason. An amateur golfer walked across the street to Brookline and did the unthinkable, altering golf history and showing that in golf, anything is possible. If you want to learn more about what will surely be a huge topic this weekend, you can read about it here. Additional Storylines SI: USGA Says It Could Shut Out LIV Golf Players in Future Events Golf Digest: USGA Sets U.S. Open Purse at Record High for Men’s Majors
CBS Sports: Swirling Winds May Create Difficult, Uneven Conditions at U.S. Open
Golf.com: What NBC Will — And Won’t — Cover in Phil Mickelson’s U.S. Open Return |
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Photo: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images |
Avalanche Blow 2-Goal Lead But Win Game 1 (4-3, OT) on Burakovsky’s OT Winner
Game 1 belongs to Colorado! The Avalanche took an early 3-1 advantage of the first period of the Stanley Cup Finals opener, but the Lightning clawed back with two goals in the third to force overtime. Enter Andre Burakovsky with a one-timer just 1:23 into the extra frame. Colorado outshot Tampa Bay 38-23, which might be a necessary recipe to defeat Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy in the series. The win marked the Avs’ sixth straight postseason victory (13-2 overall), and it kickstarts a Finals series with gritty performance.
Watch: Avs Take Game 1 on Burakovsky’s One-Timer (4-3, OT)
Stanley Cup Finals Schedule Gm 2: Lightning at Avalanche (Sat. 8:00 pm ET) Additional Storylines
NHL: Burakovsky Plays Hero for Avalanche in Game 1 of Stanley Cup Final ESPN: The 9 Critical Decisions That Made the Avalanche a Juggernaut
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Photo: Michael Owens / Getty Images |
Dodgers Pitcher Tyler Anderson Tosses 8.1 No-Hit Innings Before Shohei Ohtani Triple
One night after Miles Mikolas lost a no-hitter with two outs in the 9th inning for the Cardinals, another 9th-inning blunder occurred in the battle for Los Angeles. The Dodgers rode the arm of Tyler Anderson through 25 outs (8.1 innings) before Shohei Ohtani smacked a triple to the right-field wall. That’s back-to-back nights on no-hitter watch before a heartbreaking finish. The Dodgers went on to beat the Angels (4-1). Anderson still remains unbeaten in eight starts this season (8-0), but the next no-no of 2022 will have to wait for another day.
Watch: Tyler Anderson Tosses No-Hitter Through 8.1 Innings
MLB Quick-Hitters 1 Game, 2 Immaculate Innings
The Astros duo of Luis Garcia (2nd) and Martin Maldonado (7th) combined to throw two immaculate innings — striking out the side in nine straight pitches — in the same game for the first time in MLB history. The Astros beat the Rangers (9-2).
Braves Extend Streak to 14 Make it 14 straight wins for Atlanta with an 8-2 beatdown against the Nationals on Wednesday night to complete the sweep. The Braves got 11 Ks from pitcher Spencer Strider and two home runs from Austin Riley. Vlad Jr. Walks It Off
Have a night, Vlad Guerrero Jr.! The Blue Jays superstar packaged a four-hit night that included a home run and a walk-off single to plate Bo Bichette for the win over the Orioles (7-6, 10 innings). |
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⚾️ Shohei Ohtani’s Future With the Angels
Even after the Los Angeles Angels wasted nearly a decade's worth of Mike Trout's prime, he wasn't any less willing to sign a mega-extension. Will Shohei Ohtani extend the same courtesy before the end of his club control in 2023? (Bleacher Report)
🏈 Commanders Under Fire
Nothing has gone well for the Commanders this month. Team owner Daniel Snyder declined to testify in court over allegations of toxic work environment and sexual harassment after assistant Jack Del Rio’s controversial tweet about the Jan. 6 insurrection. (Yahoo! Sports)
🏀 Celtics Missed Their Best Shot
Boston can still be NBA champions after squandering Games 4 and 5, but it’s going to have to show us something. The Celtics are reeling as it appears the moment may be too much, and the Warriors have the control. (CBS Sports) |
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Photo: Stephen Maturen / Getty Images |
How Justin Verlander Showed Tommy-John Surgery Who's Boss (By Marissa Kasch)
As the 2020 season came to a close, Justin Verlander prepared for Tommy-John surgery and wondered if he’d ever pitch again. His stellar career featured plenty to be proud of. He won the AL Rookie of the Year award in 2006 with the Tigers, going 17-9 with a 3.63 ERA. In 2011, he won the AL Cy Young Award and the AL MVP with 24 wins, a 2.40 ERA, and 250 strikeouts over 251 innings. He won the Cy Young Award again in 2019 with a 21-6 record, a 2.58 ERA, 300 strikeouts, and a 0.80 WHIP which was the second lowest in the last 100 years.
As if these honors weren’t enough, he won a World Series with the Astros in 2017 and was named an All-Star eight times. He threw no-hitters in 2007, 2011, and 2019. He boasted 3,013 career strikeouts and the most rWAR of any pitcher this century. Like I said, plenty to be proud of. A Hall of Fame resume if there ever was one. But Verlander wasn’t going to stop there. He wanted more.
Fast-forward to today and we see Verlander cementing his Hall of Fame spot despite the odds not being in his favor. When you look at a 39-year-old pitcher coming back from Tommy-John surgery, you don’t expect one of the best pitchers in the league. But if you say the name Justin Verlander after that description, it makes perfect sense. A 39-year-old doesn’t traditionally lead the American League in innings pitched (78.2 to be exact), but Justin Verlander doesn’t do things traditionally.
Baseball fans become frantic when they hear their team’s star picture is getting Tommy-John surgery due to the mixed results and unpredictable outcomes of their pitching as a result. Many pitchers have a difficult road to recovery, and their game is irreparably damaged. Of course, this is not the case for every player. It is extremely rare, but some pitchers return seemingly without missing a beat, sustaining only minor changes to their game.
Verlander is one of these cases. His fastball still averages the same as when he won the Cy Young award in 2019 before his surgery: 94.7 mph. This same fastball is also currently holding opposing players to a 0.146 batting average, the lowest in the league for this statistic.
Clearly, Verlander knows that this is a strength he has retained, as he has become more aggressive with his fastball by throwing it higher. He’s averaging 3.01 feet off the ground, the highest in his career. This aggressive pitch is high-risk, high-reward, but Verlander is certainly reaping the rewards, forcing batters to go 3-for-32 when he throws it. Despite his new-and-improved fastball, Verlander’s slider and curveball have lost 0.6 mph and 1.3 mph of velocity, respectively. However, this slight dip in speed doesn’t appear to have caught up to him yet.
In his comeback season, Verlander is 8-2 with a 1.94 ERA and a 0.814 WHIP. These numbers are vastly different from what anyone expected of him. Following his surgery (and his 39th birthday), expectations were modest. Now, he has the 6th lowest ERA in the league and the lowest WHIP. Upon his return, it was clear that he felt he still had something to prove. To whom? I don’t know. Maybe himself. Maybe it was every baseball fan who set low expectations for him. We may never know, but we do know he’s shattering every expectation set forth.
All that is left to evaluate is how long he can keep this up. For a pitcher who will be 40 next year, skepticism is high, but Verlander seems to thrive off of doubt. Just last year, he wondered if he’d ever pitch again. Now, he’s crafting his own comeback story, on his own terms. |
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