ned Page 16 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

32 teams need to hear this: There is no pitching formula for the playoffs
Many years ago now, baseball pundits and fans tried to come up with a “secret sauce” for success in the playoffs. It can be pretty infuriating to simply accept that the sport’s biggest prize is handed out at the conclusion of a tournament that is essentially random. There had to be a reason these th...

Open Letter to Patriots Fans: Boo Benedict Brady
To: New England fans...

When will these teams finally win and finally lose?
After three weeks, nearly everyone in the NFL has a win, and nearly everyone has a loss. There are just five winless teams remaining, and five undefeated teams keeping the 1972 Dolphins from their annual champagne toast....

The last thing we need is a Maple Leafs docuseries
The whole behind-the-scenes docuseries has been a bit played out. Hard Knocks started it, and it came to hockey almost a decade ago with the 24/7 series that tracked the two teams in that given year’s Winter Classic for the month leading up to the New Year’s Day game. Some of it was compelling stuff...

Who is wearing the NFL's lowest numbers?
The NFL opened up the lower range of the number spectrum this year, allowing players all over the field to wear uniforms 1 through 19. So, how’s it going? It bothers Tom Brady a bit to see defensive players wearing single digits, we know that, but not too many even are. It’s still a fresh thing, and...

If the Ravens can’t handle Maxx Crosby, it’s gonna be a long season
Monday night’s tilt between the Ravens and Raiders brought about one of the wackiest endings to a game we’ve ever witnessed. There were last-minute field goals to send the game into overtime, some late-game heroics from receiver Bryan Edwards, a touchdown called back and placed at the 1-yard line, a...

Your 2021-2022 Champions League Guide
Despite the attempt to kill it from Europe’s leading clubs last spring (and UEFA’s eventual success in doing so in the coming years), the Champions League returns today in its usual form. While it has become the nexus point in all that’s wrong with soccer and has certainly widened the gap between th...

The future is bright… deep in the heart of Texas
For most MLB fanbases, this part of the season sucks. You think Kansas City Royals fans, Miami Marlins fans, and Pittsburgh Pirates fans are as excited to see these games as they were at the start of the season? The only thing those fan bases are looking forward to are the players in their farm syst...

The Mets are walking into schedule hell at the worst possible time
The National League East race is tighter than a triple-knotted shoelace. The Phillies, Braves, and Mets are all in contention, with the first two currently tied for the division lead. The Mets are just half a game back and with less than 50 games remaining on each team’s schedule, every game matters...

Let’s not give Bryce Harper the NL MVP just yet
At the All-Star break, the Philadelphia Phillies were a .500 team and weren’t being taken very seriously as threats to take the NL East crown from the Mets. Despite throwing everything and the kitchen sink at All-Stars Bryce Harper and J.T. Realmuto in 2019, the Phillies have not reached the playoff...

Mauricio Llovera makes baseball history for wrong reasons
The Phillies are now atop the National League East by a game and a half over the Mets, whom they’ll send back to New York as a second-place team after Sunday’s series finale. Philadelphia’s 5-3 win on Saturday ensured that, after the Mets had held the lead since May....

Deadspin carefully considers the complete overreactions coming from NFL training camps
NFL training camps have been underway for a few days now. But in just that small amount of time, numerous stories revolving around potential breakout players, big team brawls, and plexiglass, have emerged. While these stories may hold some merit down the line, it’s important to remember that we’re l...

The Miami Heat are going for it again, and whether or not you think it’ll work doesn’t matter
It’s the annual time of year where people get instantly overly fixated on whether or not things will work well before they even happen. For example, the day before NBA free agency began, reports surfaced about Kyle Lowry being signed and traded from the Toronto Raptors to the Miami Heat as soon as i...

Deadspin fixes NBA free agency, Part VI: The Sleepers
This isn’t a best of, and it can’t be; we don’t even know who will be available by the time this goes up. ...

You get a high-impact player! And YOU get a high-impact player!
Well, I’ve been having an aneurysm trying to keep up with all the trades happening in Major League Baseball today and late last night. We here at Deadspin have talked about a few of them already, but it seems like every half hour another impactful trade happens — so we’re rounding up all of the most...

The Twins did this to themselves
As the Twins pick through the wreckage of their season, it’ll be easy to figure out where it all went wrong. Counting on Byron Buxton to stay upright more than seven minutes, and a bullpen that is the new music video for Prodigy’s “Firestarter.” (I realize both Prodigy and music videos as a whole ar...

The flat cap has caused NHL GMs to get even dumber
While the lead story of the NHL’s weekend is — and should be — Montreal GM Marc Bergevin ignoring all decency, logic, and the player’s own wishes to draft alleged sex criminal Logan Mailloux, that doesn’t mean it was the only story. The NHL is in a strange place these days, with the salary cap stayi...
![Cops say 3 shot outside Nats Park in D.C. — fans told to stay inside till all-clear; game suspended [UPDATED]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/25c8e7c3beef3a2cbd1a2091604d7d9e.jpg)
Cops say 3 shot outside Nats Park in D.C. — fans told to stay inside till all-clear; game suspended [UPDATED]
A terrifying situation unfolded in Washington on Saturday night as gunshots were fired outside the ballpark during the sixth inning of the Nationals-Padres game....

Deadspin predicts: Teams that will improve, or regress, in the second half
The All-Star Game has come and gone. The American League continues to wreck the Senior Circuit year-in, year-out, and it’s abundantly clear that Vladdy Jr., Shohei Ohtani, and Liam Hendriks are the coolest dudes in the sport. Now, the attention turns to the second half of the season. Will the teams ...

N’Keal Harry has lost his mind
As politely as possible, what the hell is Patriots’ wide receiver N’Keal Harry doing?...