July 7, 2025

Don’t lose your mind over the Dodgers folks. The Boys in Blue were due to lose a series, it just stinks that it happened against a bunch of cheating scumbags like the Astros. They still have the best record in the NL, and lead the NL West by 7.5 games following Sunday’s loss to Houston. It wasn’t like the Dodgers threw anywhere near the best pitchers in this series, and Saturday’s loss can be attributed to stupid mental mistakes. You can’t manage every series like game 7 of the World Series, especially for those of you thinking Shohei Ohtani should have pitched 6 innings on Saturday. The lineup did not hit, and is still unfortunately very dependent on the 3-run homer. I’m not discouraged by the loss to the Astros, but I am slightly disappointed by the fact they have a record only 1 game over .500 against teams with a winning record. Still, you can’t be that upset when the Dodgers have essentially the same record as they did this time last year. They have also been ravaged by injuries to their pitching, and now the lineup with Max Muncy, who they are very lucky to be getting back in 6-weeks from now. With all these things considered, maybe we shouldn’t be so upset their record isn’t that amazing against the elite teams.

I had the privilege of seeing Clayton Kershaw earn his 3,000th strikeout last Wednesday against the White Sox. It was an amazing moment for both Kershaw, the Dodgers, and their fans. Every time this man takes the mound, everyone wants to see him succeed because he’s a great guy, and a great Dodgers who has given it his all. Frankly, I don’t think he gets enough credit for still being an effective pitcher and trying to re-invent himself by changing speeds the way he does every time he gets the ball. Easily the best pitcher of his generation, a First Ballot Hall of Famer, a top 10 pitcher of all-time, an arguably the greatest Dodger of all-time. I still probably wouldn’t love the idea of him starting a playoff game in a perfect world at this stage of his career, but do I think he can be an innings eater in the playoffs who could be effective out of the bullpen? Definitely. It’s also really great to see Clayton selected as an all-star as the Commissioner’s Pick. Also deserving and selected were Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Freddie Freeman, Shohei Ohtani, and Will Smith. Yes it would have been fun to see Mookie make the team, but let’s be honest, he probably didn’t deserve it with his down year. Andy Pages was a complete snub however, and while we’re being honest, he should have made it over that front running San Diego Padre fool, Fernando Tatis.

As for the Angels, they got swept by the Blue Jays over the weekend, and now are 4.5 games out the Wild Card Spot. Going into last week it was looking really good and like they were in serious contention, however, now they reverted back to the mediocrity we expected from them. The Halos are also wasting some pretty damn good performances from Reid Detmers and Kenley Jansen on a regular basis. Ironically though, neither one of those guys ended up being All Stars for the AL. Instead, it ended up being Yusei Kikuchi, which was definitely not the guy I would have thought made the cut. Mike Trout also needs to get it together. When your slugging percentage begins to lower near your on-base percentage, that’s probably not a good thing. If the Halos are going to stay in contention, they need Trout to at least resemble a productive player.

To the NBA, where the Lakers finally found a starting center! They signed DeAndre Ayton to a 2-year contract last week, after he basically fell out of the sky with a buyout from the Blazers. I don’t care what the pundits tell you either, the signing of Jake Laravia was a steal. This kid is 9 years younger than DFS, he’s $40 million cheaper, and he’s almost identical statically. In fact, at the moment he’s a better 3-point shooter, and may even be a slightly better and more physical defender than DFS. Although I would have loved Al Horford as a backup, Jaxton Hayes as a backup is a quality move too. Ultimately though, the Lakers still have needs. They need a defensive wing, a scorer off the bench, and an upgrade at backup point guard would be nice too. Don’t count out Rob Pelinka from getting this done. I know you haters want him gone, but its’s a bottom line business, and so far he’s improved the Lakers from where they were last year. Sure Houston and Denver are much improved, but the gap between all these teams isn’t that big as we learned last year. Remember the Lakers were the #3 seed in the West, and they did have injuries in that 1st round, as well as no depth. As for other rumors, If some how the Lakers could get Bradley Beal and Marcus Smart through the buyout market, they would really be in business. While I personally like Chris Paul and Damian Lillard, I don’t think either is a good fit for this roster right now, especially when it means having multiple players over 35 on your team.

As for the Clippers, they made a big move this morning, trading Norman Powell to Miami in a 3-team deal that brought them back John Collins. They also brought back James Harden, and signed Brooke Lopez as a backup big man. Lopez is a bit long in the tooth, but he could be ok in limited minutes. Chris Paul seems to be dying to come back to SoCal with the Lakers or Clippers, but they don’t seem to have much of an interest in him so far. That could change now that Norman Powell has been traded. I may be in the minority here, but Norman Powell was having a career year last year, and I like him a lot better than Collins. I understand the positional fit with Collins though. The Clips still have a solid team in a competitive West, but they have to look at rolling the dice with this squad until Kawhi comes off the books in 2027, and everything still depends on his health. Even if they are aging a bit with Kawhi, Harden, and Lopez between now and 2027 they’ll just have to play the game where they hope Kawhi can hold up for 82 games plus the postseason.

To the NHL, where the LA Kings are just a complete embarrassment to their fans. I owe Rob Blake an apology. I never really imagined that there could actually be someone worse at their job than him. I was wrong. Ken Holland is a disaster! First he trades Jordan Spence for a used bag of pucks, and clearly had no understanding of his trade value because he barely got anything for him after 5 years of development and becoming a top 4 defenseman. Then he lost his very best defender in Vladislav Gavrikov, who clearly did not want to be with the Kings. This is what happens when you hire a GM and keep a coach in place who everybody knows should be managing a Walmart in Quebec, rather than coaching an NHL Franchise. But there’s more! Then in order to replace all that talent he lost, he goes and blows $20 million on an aging Brian Dumoulin, a crappy Cody Ceci, then signs Corey Perry and Joel Armia, in hopes that his moron coach will play his 4th line. Listen Philip Anchutz, your franchise is really a complete dumpster fire, and we’re all going to be there when you discover next summer that none of these top free agents are going to take all that money you have under the cap. The Kings are back to where they were before they won any cups, and before they were even ready to compete for them in 2007. This is not a free agent destination. It’s not viewed as a winner anymore, a hockey market, and their coach has a poor reputation. That’s a recipe for an organization that doesn’t know what it’s doing. It’s a very sad reality that many are in complete denial about.