Author: hysport blog

Though the Braves offense finally woke up this weekend, there are still questions about whether this is a lineup capable of winning a World Series without Ronald Acuña Jr. Upgrades must be made, and most expect them to come in the form of trades. The Braves could use at least a couple more outfielders, but shortstop is also a place that could be bolstered. Finding a high quality shortstop at this year’s trade deadline may turn out to be an impossible task for Alex Anthopoulos, but there is a name on the farm worth keeping a close eye on, Nacho…

The Denver Nuggets have a deep need for another playable on-ball guard. With Jamal Murray’s injury history as well as Reggie Jackson’s age and potential departure either by declining his player option or in a trade, Denver has to find another guard who can handle the rock and both settle the bench as well as potentially play next to Jokic if necessary. It’s tough to find those things late in the first round, but Tyler Kolek is a potential option. Is he the short point guard with great passing skills the Nuggets have been trying to find in the past…

Jesse Chavez is almost like a running joke amongst Braves fans because his story doesn’t make any sense. The now 40-year-old is a career journeyman that’s never been much more than an average starter/reliever over his lengthy nearly 20-year career that began all the way back in 2008. However, something changed when he put a Braves jersey on for his second stint in Atlanta a few years back. The Braves were desperate for relief help, turning to the veteran Chavez, who wasn’t expected to do much other than eat some innings. Instead, he went on to be one of the team’s…

Major League Baseball is experiencing an upswing in attendance. According to MLB, the sport drew 1,688,731 fans to 45 games played during the June 14-16 weekend. That averages 37,527 fans per game, making both marks the highest of any weekend since Aug. 22-24, 2008. The weekend featured two historic rivalries as the St. Louis Cardinals played the Chicago Cubs and the New York Yankees met the Boston Red Sox. Saturday’s attendance total was the highest pre-July Saturday total since 2008 and the highest average overall since 2013. The weekend is not an anomaly. Baseball is back, and the numbers prove it. MLB…

Even thunder and lightning couldn’t stop the Ottawa Redblacks on Thursday night. In a game that was delayed an hour by a storm, the Redblacks fought off the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 23-19 in their season-opener. Following a couple of flashes of lightning — the game went on for 37 seconds after the first one — it was halted with 2:09 left, with the Redblacks leading 23-17. One of the possible scenarios: CFL protocol is if the storm delay is more than an hour and it’s at least midway through the third quarter, the game is ended and the…

If the MLB season is more akin to a marathon than a sprint, the same can be said for the MVP races in each league. Hot starts, or cold ones, offer no guarantees for how things will shake out for players when the winners are revealed. Just as there are ups and downs with teams in playoff races, there are likely to be ebbs and flows for MVP candidates, with one name leaping ahead of another as the various seasonal storylines unfold. That’s good to keep in mind with the results of our latest MVP poll, which features a new…

Things are starting to look a bit less bleak for the Atlanta Braves as they homered their way to a 9-2 rout of the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday afternoon. The bats came alive and starting pitching remained solid as they hope this trend continues throughout June. One factor was missing from all the excitement and that was Michael Harris II. Harris suffered an injury running the bases during Friday’s series opener with the Rays. It feels like a cruel joke at this point as Atlanta has dealt with frustrating injuries all season. The team announced after the game he felt discomfort…

The Atlanta Braves are set to face off against the Detroit Tigers after one of their more encouraging series in a long time. The Braves’ offense scored at least six runs in four straight games for the first time all season. Other that Hurston Waldrep and Raisel Iglesias struggling, the overall pitching was good too. On paper, this should be a good matchup for the Braves, not only in today’s game, but the entire series. The Tiger’s offense ranks twenty-third in MLB in wRC+, and since the start of June has been ranked twenty-fourth. As far as pitching goes, their rotation as…

The Braves offense provided some much-needed hope over the weekend, thanks in large part to the performances from the middle of the order in Marcell Ozuna, Austin Riley, and Matt Olson. Those three by themselves are enough to carry a team when they are hot, but things didn’t get any easier moving forward, as Michael Harris II became the latest player to hit the IL. It’s just a hamstring strain for Harris, so hopefully, he won’t be sidelined for more than a couple of weeks. However, hamstrings are one of the trickiest injuries to recover from, and the Braves won’t…

A team already decimated by injuries at key positions on both sides of the ball was dealt another big blow on Saturday after the Winnipeg Blue Bombers shifted defensive linemen Celestin Haba and Miles Fox to the six-game injured list. Haba went down clutching his knee, and Fox was also injured during the first half of Winnipeg’s weather-delayed 23-19 loss in Ottawa on Thursday, reducing the unit to just four players. This injury added to an infirmary on the D-line that was already nursing two others, including TyJuan Garbutt and Cam Lawson. Devin Adams stepped into a…