April 13, 2026
The NBA regular season is in the books, and now it’s playoff time! What a bizarre situation the Lakers found themselves in yesterday, with an opportunity to get back to the #3 seed and play Minnesota rather than Houston, depending on what Denver did. In the end it didn’t matter because the Spurs decided to tank their game against the Nuggets. Think of it this way, the Lakers probably got the best possible 1st round matchup they can get, given that they are a walking infirmary. Do I think the Lakers can really beat the Rockets in a 7-game series without Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves? No. Do I like the Lakers odds better against Houston than Denver or Minnesota? Absolutely. I’d rather buy a scratchers ticket knowing my odds are better than the Power Ball. That doesn’t mean my odds of winning either are all that great! You shouldn’t be concerning yourself with facing OKC in the second round. If the Lakers were to get there given how things are, it would be a minor miracle. Even though Lebron is 102 years old, I hope he can put his superman cape on and somehow lead this team to a series win against the Rockets.
As for the Clippers, they defeated the Warriors in their season finale, but they will still be relegated to the 9th seed and the play-in tournament. They will face the Warriors once again on Wednesday night. You never know with Kawhi, but assuming he is healthy, he can make any matchup interesting. Plus you know he’s going to be motivated to earn another max contract if his contract gets voided this summer, or when it’s up after next season. My expectation is they will beat the Warriors on Wednesday, and somehow get the 8th seed. However, for a team that began the season 6-21 and was also blindsided by James Harden’s contract demands, yet finished above .500, that’s impressive.
To baseball, where the Dodgers have jumped out to the best record in the big leagues in the early going at 11-4. It’s easy to talk about all the great things about this team. But since Dodger fans are hoping for a 3-peat, let’s focus on the areas of concern. I’m sure most fan bases would consider these critiques ridiculous first world problems, but the Dodgers still do have some. Roki Sasaki is incredibly talented, but he doesn’t have the command of his pitches. The question is how long they allow him to start and work through it, as opposed to letting him work things out in the minor leagues in Oklahoma City. For the time being, I think they can afford to start him in the Big Leagues without hurting themselves in the standings. Sasaki’s pitches these days are often as wild as Kyle Tucker’s swings, who is hitting just .246 on the season, and has really yet to get it going. For a guy that is making $60 million this year, I would hope he could do better than that, but at least he’s not Michael Conforto. I’m also a bit concerned about the velocity of some of the pitchers we’ve seen so far. Alex Vesia, Emmet Sheehan in later innings, and Edwin Diaz are all throwing at noticeably lower speeds. Whether that is due to too much usage last year or needing to build up arm strength remains to be seen. Nevertheless, this Dodger team is going to be fun to watch this summer, so for the time being, enjoy the ride!
Meanwhile, the Angels are 8-8 after taking 2 of 3 from the Reds. How seriously should we take this team? So far not too serious. There are only 5 teams in the league that have a worse team batting average than the Halos. Their pitching is right in the middle of the pack in terms of ERA, and they do hit a lot of home runs. However, if you struggle to put the ball in play, that’s going to catch up with you. I also question their overall depth. With that being said, not only the AL West, but the entire American League has been rather unimpressive so far, with everyone hovering around .500. If they haven’t fallen off a cliff 6 weeks from now, I’ll be a little more optimistic about this team’s chances.
Let’s go to the ice, where somehow, the Kings still have a chance to make the playoffs. Heck, it’s even crazier than that. As I type this, the Kings have a chance to win the division. They haven’t done that since 1991. I’m far more optimistic that the Kings will make the playoffs, despite the fact they are incredibly flawed, especially on defense. What’s even more bizarre is in the last month, we’ve seen this team go from a defensive identity, to an offensive identity, that can no longer defend. That doesn’t sound like a great recipe for long-term success. The division is weak as hell right now, so that’s giving them every opportunity to stay in the race. Their schedule is super weak, but that actually makes me nervous they could have a let down. I still wouldn’t trust this team with a cup of coffee. It would also be annoying as hell if they get to the playoffs just to face the Oilers again. I will say this though. If somehow the Kings can get Andrei Kuzmenko and Kevin Fiala back in the lineup, their top 6 forwards become much better than they have been in a long time. Hopefully the Kings can at least make the playoffs so Anze Kopitar can make the postseason in his final season.
Finally, congratulations to Rory McIlroy on winning his 2nd straight Masters! He is the first to go back-to-back since Tiger Woods, but the reality of it is, he isn’t Tiger Woods. In fact, for the longest time when he burst onto the PGA Tour, everyone thought he might be the next Tiger. No disrespect to everything he’s accomplished, including 6 major titles, he does not command the audience that Tiger does. Frankly every one of these major tournaments I find myself asking if and when we might be able to see Tiger again, and if he can capture the magic for just a weekend that made us watch golf when we didn’t before. That seems so far away at this point.
