With MLB Opening Day only a week away and late-season pushes highlighting the NBA, a birth and an end juxtapose each other in this week’s edition of Sports of the Week.
MLB
Everyone say it with me: sign already. Sign already. Sign already. With the regular season rapidly approaching, it becomes belaboring to report every week that the NL Cy Young Winner is not with a team already, that a reigning World Series Champion starting pitcher is still just waiting around instead of trying to play baseball. It’s reasonable to think that the people that are best at baseball would be the ones who would want to get on the field as quick as possible, but this has been anything but the case.
Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery have interested teams. They can pick one and play tomorrow. However, as Scott Boras continues to be the monopolistic representative of top players throughout the league, teams have become more and more tired of adhering to his demands for clients and, as it seems, have completely stopped listening to him. As of now, the only team that has made a formal offer to Blake Snell has been the Yankees, whose number was drastically lower than the number Snell is aiming for. The Yankees are a big market, free-spending team—if they aren’t offering him whatever they want, it’s a very big sign that other teams won’t want to either.
While Snell’s motives are undisclosed, it’s clear he’s asking for more than he’s worth. If he wants to try his hand at the waiting game, it’s going to be at the expense of time that would be dedicated to his craft and his teammates. Of course, he isn’t the only one, and perhaps he deserves the money more than others, but there’s a mutual perturbation that fans have shared considering they’ve yet to have one of the most anticipated signings come to fruition. For fans, the narrative has gone past interesting and has arrived at a frustrating impasse.
Just as we’ve done the last few weeks, it’s only an unfulfilled hope that we see news of new signings by next week. Until then, James Wood and Zack Gelof will be glad to showcase their talent for a roster spot in the upcoming season; perhaps they’re worth $200 million as well. [Avery Rosas]
NBA
For week five, The power rankings for NBA teams overall led with the Denver Nuggets in first, the Boston Celtics in second, the Oklahoma City Thunder in third, the Milwaukee Bucks in fourth, and the Los Angeles Clippers in fifth. For the overall standings in the Eastern Conference, the Boston Celtics lead with their phenomenal record of 49-14, with the Bucks in a close second place, with their record of 42-23. For the Western Conference, the Oklahoma City Thunder lead in first place with their record of 45-19, with the Denver Nuggets in second with their record of 44-20.
As excitement builds up for the upcoming play-in games to battle for the seventh and eighth spot in the NBA 2023-2024 playoffs, the leading players in assists, points, steals, rebounds, and blocks are accounted for going into week 21. Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks continues to lead in the overall averaging points per game (34.7), while OKC star Shai-Gilgeous Alexander leads in total points (1960). Tyrese Hilburton of the Indiana Pacers also continues to lead in the assists per game (11.3) and total assists (588) through week 20. Again, Domantas Sabonis, the star center of the Sacramento Kings, leads in rebounds per game (13.5), and total rebounds (853), and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of OKC also leads in steals per game (2.1), and total steals (131) in the season overall. Finally, the fantasized French rookie, Victor Wembanyama, leads the NBA in blocks per game (3.4), and total blocks (193) through week 20 by a huge differential between him and second place Brook Lopez of the Milwaukee Bucks.
Kevin Durant, of the Phoenix Suns, moves up the all-time leaders of the regular season in three-pointers made, into the 16th spot and passing Jason Kidd, after scoring 1,989 three-pointers overall in his career. However, Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors remains in the number one spot of all-time three pointers made (3,680). [Ayushka Chethan]
