Volume 26:20

NHL Playoffs

The NHL Playoffs are underway. Some teams already have chokeholds on their series. Other series are fixing to go down to the wire. The Presidents Trophy winning Colorado Avalanche lead the Los Angeles Kings 3-0 in their series. The top team in the East, the Carolina Hurricanes, have a 3-0 lead over the Ottawa Senators. The Philadelphia Flyers shockingly lead the higher-seeded Pittsburgh Penguins 3-0. The Canes and Flyers can both punch their tickets to a match against one another tonight with wins. Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the Eastern Conference bracket, it’s the Buffalo Sabres and Montreal Canadiens with 2-1 leads over the Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning. Out west, the Utah Mammoth and Anaheim Ducks both shockingly have 2-1 leads over the higher-seeded Vegas Golden Knights and Edmonton Oilers. Many said Minnesota Wild versus Dallas Stars would be one of the best series this postseason, and it has not disappointed. The Wild crushed the Stars 6-1 in Game One of the series. Dallas responded, evening the series with 4-2 win in Game Two. Then Game 3 went to double overtime, where Wyatt Johnston won it for Dallas. The Stars have a 2-1 lead over Minnesota.

NBA Playoffs

The NBA Playoffs have also begun. Out west, the Los Angeles Lakers hold a 3-0 series lead over the Houston Rockets, thanks to some late Game Three magic. Speaking of magic, the Orlando Magic are tied with the top-seeded Detroit Pistons 1-1 in the East. The West #1 seed, the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder, lead the Phoenix Suns 2-0. Also in the west, the Denver Nuggets and San Antonio Spurs hold 2-1 advantages over the Minnesota Timberwolves and Portland Trail Blazers. In Game Two of their series, San Antonio’s star player Victor Wembanyama suffered a concussion. He is likely out for Game Four. Back in the east, the higher-seeded Boston Celtics, New York Knicks, and Cleveland Cavaliers all have 2-1 leads over the Philadelphia 76ers, Atlanta Hawks, and Toronto Raptors.

Mets, Cubs, and Phillies Streaks

The New York Mets recently had a 12-game losing streak. After a win to open a series against the Arizona Diamondbacks on April 7th, the Mets lost the last two games of the series to lose it. They then went on to get swept by the Athletics, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Chicago Cubs to fall to 11 straight losses. They then lost the first matchup of their series against the Minnesota Twins to reach 12 straight losses. They finally won again on April 22nd— 15 days since their previous victory. The Mets started their streak at 6-4 and ended it at 6-16.

The Cubs, however, have a better streak going. They have won ten in a row. Chicago’s la lst loss was on April 15th versus the Philadelphia Phillies. They then won their next two versus Philadelphia and proceeded to sweep the Mets in a three-game series and the Phillies in a four game series. The Cubs then went on to beat the Dodgers 6-4 to extend their win streak to ten games. Chicago started the streak at 7-9, fifth in the NL Central and is now 17-9 and tied for first in the NL Central.

There has been a lot of talk about the Phillies, who are on a losing streak of their own. Philadelphia has lost ten straight games. The Phillies moved to 8-8 when they beat the Cubs. Since then, they have lost six games to the Cubs and four to the Atlanta Braves, falling to 8-18. These streaks are crazy.