RJ Hamster
SI:AM | The WNBA’s Best Team Is About to…
DAN GARTLAND
Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. If you’re having a bad day at work, just know it’s going better than it is for whichever Heat employee inadvertently scheduled a “LeBron James Introductory Press Conference” live stream on YouTube.
In today’s SI:AM:
⚾ Why batting practice is dead
🏆 How the Ravens can win the Super Bowl
Big boost for the Lynx
Steven Bisig/Imagn Images
The rest of the WNBA should be quite scared of the Lynx.
Minnesota already has the best record in the league, and now its best player is set to take the floor for the first time all season.
Napheesa Collier is listed as probable for this afternoon’s game against the Storm in Seattle. Collier, who finished runner-up in the MVP race in each of the past two seasons, has yet to play this year after undergoing offseason surgery on both of her ankles. She was sidelined for three weeks last August with a right ankle injury, then hurt the left ankle in Game 3 of Minnesota’s semifinals series against the Mercury in late September. She had her right ankle operated on in January and the left in March.
The Lynx, who finished with the best record in the WNBA last season at 34–10, haven’t missed a beat without their star player. They’re 21–6 this season, two games ahead of the Aces and Valkyries for first place in the league. They’ve won 19 of their last 23 games after starting the season 2–2.
The biggest reason for their success has been the incredible play of rookie point guard Olivia Miles. Miles, the No. 2 pick in the draft, is the team’s leading scorer and ranks eighth in the league with 19.6 points per game. But she isn’t the only one who’s stepped up. Veterans Kayla McBride and Courtney Williams have seen their scoring averages go up, and free-agent addition Natasha Howard has filled an important role in the frontcourt without Collier.
Getting Collier back won’t magically make the Lynx an unstoppable guaranteed champion. Minnesota will have to adjust to playing differently than it has over the first 10 weeks of the season, and Collier will have to ease her way back. But come playoff time, there’s no doubt who the favorite will be.
Oh no, Phillies
Kyle Ross/Imagn Images
After getting off to a horrendous start and firing their manager, the Phillies can’t afford to throw away any games. But that’s just what they did last night.
The Phillies sent Rob Thomson packing after a 9–19 start to the season and have miraculously turned things around under his replacement, Don Mattingly. They’re 47–27 since he took over and now hold the second wild-card spot in the NL. They’re also just three games behind the Braves for the division lead.
But they could have been just two games back if not for a brutal baserunning blunder at the end of last night’s game.
Philadelphia had runners on second and third with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning, trailing the Dodgers 2–1. Brandon Marsh fisted a weak grounder to third and pinch runner Justin Crawford was stuck in a rundown between third and home. Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto, meanwhile, advanced to third. Just before Crawford was tagged out near third base, Realmuto tried to retreat to second. He, too, was tagged out, ending the game.
Realmuto told reporters later that it was “just a bad baserunning play, really” and called it “a lapse of judgment.”
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👀 The top five …
… baseball plays I saw last night:
5. Dodgers center fielder Andy Pages’s impressive catch on the run.
4. A smooth triple play by the Marlins.
3. Cardinals prospect Tai Peete’s nonchalant bat flip.
2. Eugenio Suárez’s strong throw across his body.
1. Fernando Tatis Jr.’s 474-foot home run, the longest in the majors this season. Braves catcher Drake Baldwin held the distinction before Tatis. He got to watch Tatis’s blast from behind the plate.
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