CAPTAIN CLUTCH

Marie-Philip Poulin strikes in triple overtime for @PWHL_Montreal, tying the series 1-1! pic.twitter.com/cNTwbnhdwS

— PWHL (@thepwhlofficial) May 6, 2026

Now, for more pressing matters on the diamond:

Check-Ins: Let’s catch up

We are a little over 20 percent done with MLB’s regular season. Small sample sizes are regulating to a norm. Teams are already firing people. It’s high time for a check-in on the state of things. 

We should start with the standings, which are something I look at every day. What’s this team’s record in its last 10 games? Is there a startling home-away split for a certain team? 

A quick snapshot:

Two notes before we get to deeper analysis: 

• The Yankees, Braves and Cubs are our most impressive teams, as you can see by record alone. New York has just crushed people consistently. Atlanta has been excellent both home and away. Chicago has fully rebounded from an early dip and is really, really fun. The Dodgers are who we thought they were, so we can just table them for later in the year.
  
  
• It’s still early, but the year almost feels over for the Astros, Mets and Giants. Houston doesn’t make a lot of sense on many levels. The other New York team is an expensive disaster. San Francisco is … a work in progress under new manager Tony Vitello. His entire existence there still seems shaky. 

But that’s top-line stuff. I asked Levi Weaver, author of the must-read Windup newsletter, for his two biggest surprises of the year — one he thinks will stick and one that could end up being a fad. Here’s the sticky one: 

💬 Chris Sale has won a Cy Young Award (2024) and finished in the top 10 on seven other occasions. His 2.14 ERA was, going into last night’s games, the eighth-best ERA among qualified pitchers. Would you like to guess how many combined Cy Young votes — votes, not awards — the other nine in the top 10 have? Hint: It’s the same number of home runs you or I have hit in the big leagues, Chris. The reason I think this crop of relative unknowns will last? There are a lot of ace-type starters on the injured list right now.

To his point, here’s the rest of that list: Justin Wrobleski, Cam Schlittler, Davis Martin, Clay Holmes, Nick Martinez, Jose Soriano, Bryce Elder, Chase Burns and Foster Griffin. I think the only name in there we’ve mentioned is Schlittler, the Boston kid crushing for the Yankees right now. That doesn’t mean these guys aren’t good.

Hector Vivas / Getty Images

About that fad: 

💬 Ildemaro Vargas has been such a great story this year, just satellite-orbiting back and forth to and from Arizona since his 2017 debut. He went: Diamondbacks -> Twins -> Cubs -> Pirates -> Diamondbacks -> Cubs -> Nationals -> Diamondbacks -> (released by the Diamondbacks) -> signed with the Diamondbacks AGAIN. And now the 34-year-old is hitting .374, which is 31 points better than anyone else in the league. I don’t think it will last, but it’s been a lot of fun.

Consider me a Vargas fan now, just to prove Levi delightfully wrong. I’ll leave you with two final tidbits before we take a news break: 

• Shohei Ohtani might play for a back-to-back World Series champ now, but that doesn’t mean he escapes the “Tungsten Arm” O’Doyle references. Over six starts this year, Ohtani has a 0.97 ERA … and the Dodgers are 2-4 in those games.
  
  
• We must note the early performance of Munetaka Murakami, the White Sox newcomer who is putting up an elite bangers-only stat line: .244 average with 14 home runs, the latter of which ties him for first in the majors. He’s been good. 

On to the news:

News to Know

Jared Silber / NHLI via Getty Images

Leafs luck into No. 1
The Maple Leafs, after a week’s worth of derision over their new front-office hires, found love in the NHL Draft Lottery last night, landing the 2026 No. 1 pick despite having just an 8.5 percent chance to do so. It’s an incredible coup for an organization that needed it. And with the first pick, our fresh mock draft selects Gavin McKenna to play Toronto savior.

More news:

• WNBA legend Tina Charles announced her retirement after 14 seasons. She deserves much applause.
  
• Tennis’ biggest names could boycott Grand Slams amid a prize money dispute. More here.
  
• College football coaches supported a plan to maximize the number of Playoff spots while eliminating conference title games. Radical.
  
• Boise State is replacing its iconic blue football turf this summer. The old turf sold for $25,000 yesterday.
  
• UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma sounded regretful yesterday when addressing his Final Four confrontation with South Carolina coach Dawn Staley. Read his full comments.
  
• Jon Rahm, still under contract with LIV, reached a deal to play DP World Tour events going forward. Meanwhile, LIV’s CEO continues to double down on its future.
  
• A jury found former Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs not guilty of assault, battery and strangulation of a female private chef. Read our full story.
  
• Tensions are rising at Real Madrid, as we reported yesterday that Kylian Mbappe was part of a training-ground dust-up with a coach.