Tom Haberstroh welcomes Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Amin Elhassan to break down the NBA’s ongoing investigation into Steve Ballmer and the Los Angeles Clippers. From the $28 million no-show endorsement deal with Aspiration and the latest trade hold between the Clippers and Raptors, Tom and Amin lay out what’s real and what’s myth in one of the league’s most consequential off-court stories.
(1:17) The Big Number: days since the investigation began
(22:25) Are Amin & Pablo out to get Kawhi?
(28:51) Is LeBron’s $300 million loan circumventing the cap?
(41:22) Are the Raptors hoping LA gets a slap on the wrist?
LOS ANGELES, CA – JULY 24: Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, steps up to the podium at a press conference at the Green Meadows Recreation Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday, July 24, 2019. George and Leonard were introduced to the media and fans as the newest members of the Clippers. (Photo by Scott Varley/MediaNews Group/Daily Breeze via Getty Images)
Joey, Jesse Buss join new Padres ownership group, reportedly strike deal to acquire approximately 5% of club
Joey and Jesse Buss, the youngest sons of former Los Angeles Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss, announced Wednesday that through the investment group they founded, Buss Sports Capital, they have joined the new San Diego Padres ownership group fronted by the husband-wife tandem of José E. Feliciano and Kwanza Jones.
Joey and Jesse Buss announced, per ESPN’s report, that they will serve on the Padres ownership group’s advisory board.
While with the Lakers, Joey Buss served as the franchise’s alternate governor and vice president of research and development. Jesse Buss, meanwhile, occupied the roles of assistant general manager and director of scouting.
“We are honored to join Kwanza and José and have the opportunity to contribute to the future of a team that Jesse and I have loved since we were kids growing up in San Diego,” Joey Buss said in a statement, via ESPN. “Sports have always been a part of our family’s story, and great organizations have a unique ability to bring people together and create a lasting sense of community. Padres fans have built one of the most passionate and loyal communities in all of sports, and we believe there is a tremendous opportunity to deepen that connection in San Diego and around the world.
“The Padres are on the cusp of something special, and through Buss Sports Capital, we look forward to bringing our experience and perspective to the ownership group and doing our part to build on the strong foundation already in place.”
Jesse Buss added in a statement, per ESPN: “Joey and I had the privilege of learning from our father and then spending nearly two decades building our own careers in professional basketball operations. We saw firsthand what it takes to build a championship organization, and throughout our careers have applied those lessons across talent evaluation, roster construction, player development and long-term organizational planning. While every sport is different, we believe the principles behind building sustained success are universal.”
Woman accusing Byron Scott of sexual assault settles with school as trial looms
The woman accusing former Los Angeles Lakers star Byron Scott of sexually assaulting her when she was 15 has settled her claims against Campbell Hall, the prestigious Southern California private school where the alleged incident occurred nearly 40 years ago.
Terms of the settlement are under seal until the completion of the civil lawsuit against Scott, according to a ruling issued in the case last week approving the agreement and obtained by USA TODAY Sports on Wednesday, August 26. The trial is set to begin on Sept. 8 in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
According to court documents previously obtained by USA TODAY Sports, the woman accuses the now 65-year-old Scott of sexual battery and false imprisonment. The original lawsuit was filed in 2022 under the California Child Victim’s Act, which extended the statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse survivors to file civil claims. Scott sought to keep his name out of the documents and requested to use “John Doe.”
The lawsuit says in 1987 the Lakers were visiting the accuser’s high school, Campbell Hall in the Studio City neighborhood of Los Angeles, where the accuser was taking summer classes, after which she “was sexually assaulted by Byron Scott in a locked janitor’s closet in the high school gymnasium.” The team was at the school filming instructional basketball videos in the gym and met with the parents, students and teachers.
Campbell Hall was also named as a defendant, and the lawsuit accused the institution of negligence for not protecting the accuser. The school previously attempted to remove itself from the litigation, but a judge ruled against its motion in January. The lawsuit demanded a jury trial and $25,000 for damages, payment of attorney fees, and loss of wages to be paid by Scott and the high school.
Notable Campbell Hall alumni include director Paul Thomas Anderson, actresses Dakota and Elle Fanning and NBA players Jrue, Justin and Aaron Holiday.
Scott was 26 years old and married to his first wife, Anita, at the time of the alleged sexual assault. He has since divorced and remarried. Scott played for the Lakers from 1983 to 1993, winning three NBA championships during the “Showtime” era, and finished his career with the team in 1996-97. Scott also spent 15 seasons as an NBA head coach, most recently with the Lakers in 2015-16.
“Our client is devastated by this complaint,” Scott’s attorney Linda Bauermeister said in a statement in May 2025 after the lawsuit was initially filed. “Our client believed the plaintiff to be over 18 and had no idea she would claim otherwise until 35 years later. He respects girls and women, and the claims have blindsided him and his family.”
NFL Rivalry jerseys ranked for every new team from worst to best
The NFL has fully adopted the NBA model of having special uniforms for rivalry matchups, with the AFC South and NFC North being added to the list. Some of these really hit the mark and feel iconic, while others … exist.
Nothing is truly ugly this year, but some of the uniforms are meant to evoke their cities yet end up feeling like hollow knockoffs of other teams. Let’s dive in and rank the eight new uniforms from worst to best, as well as note when they’ll be wearing them.
No. 8: Chicago Bears
Will be worn Week 16 vs. Packers
Maybe there’s an outside chance this looks better on a human, but I really doubt it. The piping is supposed to evoke the original Bears uniforms, which isn’t lost on me — but it’s too subtle. The numbering is bad, and the whole uniform looks like a much worse version of their normal uniform. It’s the worst of this year’s slate, which is a shame for a team that should be exciting in 2026.
No. 7: Detroit Lions
Will be worn Week 8 vs. Vikings
There’s nothing wrong with the jersey, except for the fact it looks like the Lions just stole the Carolina Panthers’ homework. Other than the shade of blue, this is a dead ringer for the Panthers’ white unis. The carbon fiber number is a little too on the nose, and it would have been much better and felt more like the team if they went for a grey variant.
No. 6: Indianapolis Colts
Will be worn Week 3 vs. Texans
The glossy black is too much, and makes the jersey look like it was designed at a mall pop-up that does iron-on transfers. The shoulder design is very abrupt, and feels less like something that evokes the Colts and Indianapolis, and more like something you’d put on a Steelers rivalry jersey with rivets. Not really sure the connection, and the dark look just doesn’t evoke the Colts at all.
No. 5: Minnesota Vikings
Will be worn Week 15 vs. Lions
The arm bands really carry this design, because they have to. I like the Norse knot and the gold a lot — but the rest of the uniform looks far too much like a Baltimore Ravens alternate. It’s a rare case where the uniform is too subtle for its own good, which holds this back from really feeling special.
No. 4: Houston Texans
Will be worn Week 11 vs. Colts
This is so close, but botched at the final stage. It’s clear the Texans are evoking the past of the Houston Oilers, which I’m absolutely for and believe the franchise should really have claim to the history — but too many details make this look like a bootleg being sold out of someone’s trunk. The numbering is off, the arm bands are a mess, and I strongly dislike white being the predominant color in the alternate Texans logo.
No. 3: Tennessee Titans
Will be worn Week 10 vs. Jaguars
I’ll give this one a lot of props for simply not trying to rip off the history of the Houston Oilers, as the Titans so often do. I think this should be the future direction of the franchise as a whole, leaning into a variety of blue tones to do something nobody else in the NFL is doing. I dig the “Music City” branding, I like the numbering which evokes a neon bar sign. This is a very solid uniform from top to bottom.
No. 2: Jacksonville Jaguars
Will be worn Week 8 vs. Colts
I really, really love these. If the Jaguars were a part of last year’s release they would probably have the top look, but are slightly edged out in 2026 by one uniform. The way this rivalry release evokes the history of the Jaguars’ franchise is perfect, and it really gives the 1995 vibes they were looking for. It’s clean, understated, and honestly might be better than their normal unis.
No. 1: Green Bay Packers
Will be worn Week 5 vs. Bears
I think this is one of the best alternate NFL uniforms ever created. It’s a 10/10, no-notes situation. The colorway, the larger number, the font, the armbands — everything comes together to evoke both the history of the Packers, and modernizing the jersey to feel fresh. I honestly cannot wait to see these on game day, because they just look fantastic.
LeBron James Borrowed Nearly $300M From Insurers Tied To Guggenheim In 2018
An LLC controlled by LeBron James borrowed nearly $300 million from two Midwestern life insurers advised by an arm of Guggenheim Partners months before he signed with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2018, according to insurance industry records reviewed by Bloomberg. The previously unreported bonds are structured against future revenue from James’ endorsement deals, including a lifetime Nike sponsorship, and are not due until 2049.
The lending arrangement began while James was still with the Cleveland Cavaliers, ahead of his 2018 free agency decision to join the Lakers. North American Company for Life and Health Insurance and Midland National Life Insurance Co., both owned by Sammons Financial Group, purchased the initial bonds issued by James’ LLC, King James Funding, carrying a 4.8 percent interest rate.
The two insurers held approximately $245 million in bonds tied to James’ LLC by the end of last year, after some debt was paid down and additional bonds were issued. A separate transaction in 2022 saw the same insurers provide roughly $60 million in additional financing around the time James signed a $97 million contract extension with the Lakers.
A spokesperson for James described the arrangement as a standard financial structure for high-earning individuals.
“Transactions were a securitization done by Mr. James with his personal, non-NBA salary, assets and income which is a very common financial structure for an individual with this level of earnings and assets,” the spokesperson said, adding that the 2022 transaction received third-party credit rating and full NBA approval.
Guggenheim, led by Mark Walter, also appeared as an investor in James’ media venture SpringHill Co. alongside business partner Maverick Carter in 2020.
The financing arrangement adds context to Walter’s broader use of insurance company assets to fund sports and private investments. Walter’s insurers face ongoing scrutiny from the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission over more than $20 billion in loans tied to affiliated businesses that were reportedly not properly disclosed. Sammons Financial Group indicated during a recent investor call that it has been reducing its financial ties to Guggenheim.
Walter’s sale of the Lakers comes as he continues restructuring his business empire amid the federal investigation.
James left the Lakers to sign with the Philadelphia 76ers this offseason.
Warriors Remain Interested In Signing Georges Niang
The Golden State Warriors remain interested in signing Georges Niang with their open roster spot.
Jiang appeared in 79 games last season with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Atlanta Hawks, averaging 9.9 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 21.5 minutes. Jiang shot 40.6 percent on three-pointers.
Niang will be playing in his age-33 season and briefly played for the Santa Cruz Warriors early in his career.
The Warriors also signed Brandon Williams to a contract this week as they round out their roster.
The Chicago Sky are a disaster of their own making
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – AUGUST 21: Courtney Vandersloot #22 and head coach Tyler Marsh of the Chicago Sky react against the Golden State Valkyries during the second half at Wintrust Arena on August 21, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) | Getty Images
CHICAGO — Another Chicago Sky season was lowered into the grave on a Sunday night at Wintrust Arena. The official cause of death was a flurry of third quarter three-pointers by Indiana Fever stars Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell that turned a close game into a blowout and ripped the slim playoff hopes out of Chicago’s hands. In reality, the Sky’s mathematical elimination was a long time coming, with the feel of a slow-motion train wreck that anyone could have spotted but no one could have prevented. It was the type of inevitable disaster that has defined this franchise ever since its magical 2021 championship run, and at this point, it’s starting to feel like there’s no way out.
This is the third straight season the Sky have missed the playoffs. Injuries will be a convenient excuse, and there’s some truth to it. Chicago started the year 3-1 before star forward Rickea Jackson tore her ACL. That injury began a run of 11 losses in 12 games that effectively ended the Sky’s season on contact. It’s easy to fantasize about how this season might have turned out differently had Jackson stayed healthy, but there were always going to be too many leaks in this proverbial boat for smooth sailing. Under general manager Jeff Pagliocca, fantasy is the only thing Sky fans have to latch onto.
“I’m not settling for the same s— we did this year,” Reese told the Tribune at the end of last season. Her comments feel clairvoyant with a year of hindsight, especially when she put an even finer point on it by calling for an upgrade at lead guard.
“We can’t rely on Courtney to come back at the age that she’s at,” Reese said.
Reese may as well have booked her ticket out of town when she uttered Courtney Vandersloot’s name, even if she was obviously right. Vandersloot isn’t just a Sky legend, she’s also closely aligned with Pagliocca, the lead executive who got his start as her personal trainer. Reese was suspended a game for her comments, and in that moment Chicago seemingly had a power struggle on its hands between a 24-year-old rising star and a 37-year-old coming off a torn ACL.
Any sensible franchise would have aligned with Reese, but nothing the Sky do is sensible. In many ways, it feels like Chicago has been catering to Vandersloot since it brought her back following a short stint with the New York Liberty that ended with the loss in the 2023 WNBA Finals. Pagliocca has consistently traded away future draft picks to try to build a “competitive” team around Vandersloot in her golden years, but all he’s ended up doing was mortgaging the team’s future for disappointing seasons that never had any real chance to pay off in worthwhile fashion.
A few years from now, you might be able to build an All-WNBA team with the draft picks Pagliocca has traded away in an attempt to please his old client Vandersloot. The results are already horrifying, and there’s surely more pain coming.
Back in 2024, Pagliocca traded up one spot from No. 8 to No. 7 to draft Reese. The move cost him a 2026 first-round pick swap to Minnesota when it’s likely the Lynx wouldn’t have drafted Reese in the first place. The Sky missed the playoffs in both years that Angel was on the team, and that draft pick ended up being No. 2 overall. Minnesota drafted Olivia Miles, who might be the best rookie point guard professional basketball has seen since Magic Johnson.
Miles will probably finish second in MVP voting this year. It feels like she’s already a better player than Caitlin Clark, and she should have been the face for the Sky for the next decade. The trade up for Reese was reckless at the time, and will now go down as an all-time WNBA blunder.
That’s just the start of it. Go back a year earlier, and Pagliocca traded the No. 3 pick in the 2025 draft for veteran Ariel Atkins. This was a senseless trade at the time, because the Sky needed to be stockpiling young talent to build for the future, not searching for a shortcut to a low-end playoff spot. The Washington Mystics jumped at the trade, selected Notre Dame wing Sonia Citron, and watched her turn into a WNBA All-Star in her first two seasons.
A backcourt with Miles and Citron would have been box office, and complemented each other perfectly. The Sky gave that away to go 38-84 over the last three seasons.
Pagliocca simply has to be fired when this season is over. If he retains his job, it’s more proof that the Sky are not a serious franchise. Unfortunately for Chicago, a new lead executive will be handcuffed from the moment they accept the job, because Pagliocca has already traded away the team’s future 2027 and 2028 draft picks, too.
The 2027 first-round pick was sent to Washington as part of the Atkins trade. Right now, that pick would have the third-best chance to win the lottery, with USC superstar JuJu Watkins as the likely top pick. The 2028 first-round pick was traded for Jacy Sheldon before the start of this season. That deal has a chance to be the most painful of all with generational UConn big Sarah Strong set to headline the class.
Trading an unprotected first rounder in Strong’s draft class for a player of Sheldon’s caliber shows just how far Pagliocca is in over his head. It’s not that Sheldon is terrible — she’s a solid 3-and-D guard — but she’s exactly the type of low-upside swing that no franchise should be selling out its future for. Sheldon is averaging 6.4 points per game this season. She is an agonizingly low-usage guard who has never had a usage rate greater than 14.1% in the WNBA.
The Sky need a star. A player with a 14% usage rate has zero chance of ever becoming a star. It’s a premium example of the Sky going all-out to chase middling success that they couldn’t even accomplish.
There are more blunders from there. Hailey Van Lith was always a poor use of a first round pick, and she only lasted one season before the team released her. The team’s other 2025 first-round pick Ajša Sivka still hasn’t come to the WNBA, and seemingly regressed last year overseas. Now she’s slated to play college ball this season at Kentucky.
How will history remember Pagliocca’s selection of Gabriela Jaquez at No. 5 overall this year? Jaquez felt like a reach at the time, especially when her UCLA teammate Kiki Rice was sitting there for the taking. Jaquez has had her moments, but she’s another low-usage connective wing who is unlikely to turn into a star. As the Fever ended the Sky’s playoff chances on Sunday night, Jaquez was a healthy scratch. I asked Sky head coach Tyler Marsh why Jaquez wasn’t part of his 10-person rotation, and if the team would start to prioritize development more now that they’re eliminated from playoff contention. He mostly stumbled his way through a non-answer.
I asked Tyler Marsh about why Jaquez wasn’t in the Sky rotation last night, and followed by asking if they would prioritize development more now that they’re eliminated from the playoffs (but didn’t have a mic for the follow up). Meanwhile Kiki Rice is crushing lately for Toronto https://t.co/mCBXQCXDF3pic.twitter.com/acqiO5js4K
Rice has been killing it lately in Toronto after getting healthy from an early season injury. She looks like she could be the engine of a team one day. If they drafted Rice, the Sky could have locked down their point guard of the future. Maybe Pagliocca still thinks that’s Vandersloot’s role.
Regardless of how you project Jaquez, she should have been given a longer leash this year to develop. The Sky sat her to give heavy minutes to the likes of Natasha Cloud and Rachel Banham, who are in their mid-30s. This team was never going to be good once Jackson got hurt, and that should have shifted their priorities to developing younger players on the roster. Maybe Jaquez has more upside than her rookie numbers show, but she never really got a chance to play through her mistakes this year, which is another ultimate failure in a lost season.
The Sky aren’t just a bad franchise because they’ve empowered a hopeless GM who was always unqualified for the job. All the issues start with ownership, and it’s the biggest reason the Sky are a laughingstock within WNBA circles.
The Sky lost a superstar in part because they didn’t have their own training facility back in 2014 when Sylvia Fowles pushed her way to Minnesota. Chicago still doesn’t have its own training facility after its new Bedford Park complex — located nearly 14 miles away from its home gym at Wintrust Arena — was delayed again this year.
The training facility fiasco has been a black eye in every way. This past offseason, Bec Allen, who spent one season with the Sky last year, went on a podcast and spoke about Chicago using a rec center for practices.
“I had a random lady getting changed next to me,” Allen said. “Hey, Wendy!” When asked to describe her experience in Chicago in one word, Allen said “Miserable.”
A training facility isn’t the only thing the Sky are lacking. The organization doesn’t have a dedicated analytics team in the front office, and Pagliocca has stated the team has no plans to hire one.
The one thing the Sky have done right this year is identify Sydney Taylor as an undrafted free agent. Taylor has been spectacular, giving Chicago a mix of pull-up shooting and rim pressure that only the league’s best scorers possess. She feels like this year’s second-best rookie behind Miles, and she should be the team’s long-term shooting guard. The Sky also found a solid two-way contributor with Aicha Coulibaly, who Pagliocca selected in the second round of 2025 and signed to a developmental deal this season. Coulibaly is a versatile defensive forward with some scoring juice. Taylor is a walking bucket. Add in Jaquez, and there’s a little hope for the future.
It’s telling that Kamilla Cardoso hasn’t been mentioned until this point. Pagliocca took her with the No. 3 overall pick in 2024, and it’s still hard to tell if she can be the franchise’s long-term starting center. Cardoso’s motor runs hot and cold, she lacks mobility and a jump shot, and she’s always in foul trouble. The Sky will have a big decision on her as she enters the final year of her rookie deal next season.
Even the optimist’s case for the Sky isn’t very convincing, mostly because this franchise has been mismanaged at every opportunity since former head coach/GM James Wade left for the Toronto Raptors. The way forward is firing Pagliocca and letting Vandersloot gracefully retire or leave as a free agent in the offseason, but it’s going to be nearly impossible to build back up in the short term without control of their next two first-round picks.
Chicago is too good of a basketball town for the Sky to be so mismanaged. The city has multiple bars dedicated to women’s sports, and it threw a fantastic All-Star Weekend this year that brought 20K fans to the United Center this July. Of course, the Sky didn’t have a single player at the All-Star Game while Reese was there representing the Dream as she enjoys the best year of her career. Those two first-round picks the Sky got back for Reese are going to be very late ones.
The WNBA is zooming into the future, but the Sky are getting left behind. It’s a catastrophe solely of their own making. At this point, the hole is so deep that it’s going to continue to engulf them for years to come.
Wyndham Clark adds to stellar 2026 with BMW Championship win
ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI – AUGUST 23: Wyndham Clark of the United States poses with the trophy on the 18th green after winning the BMW Championship at Bellerive Country Club on August 23, 2026 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by James Gilbert/PGA TOUR via Getty Images)
The FedExCup Playoffs sure are showcasing who can really win a golf tournament.
Wyndham Clark took home the BMW Championship on Sunday out in Missouri, and things were really more of a formality than anything else across the final round.
The win marks Clark’s third of the season following his victories at the Byron Nelson and more notably the U.S. Open. He has a serious argument for player of the year across the PGA Tour at large.
What’s more is that these three wins mark half of Wyndham’s total from his entire career. It goes without saying that this is the best year he has ever had on Tour. It is, obviously was already, the only one in which he has carded multiple wins.
Part of what was particularly impressive was how Wyndham started and ended the overall tournament. He had birdies on the final three holes on both Monday and Friday. He held at least a share of the lead following every round, and most notably held a 5-stroke lead following Saturday specifically.
Here are the top 6 automatic berths for the U.S. President’s Cup team
MONTREAL, QUEBEC – SEPTEMBER 28: Scottie Scheffler of the U.S. Team celebrates on the 17th green during Saturday Morning Four-Ball on day three of the 2024 Presidents Cup at The Royal Montreal Golf Club on September 28, 2024 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The United States President’s Cup team officially has six players who have clinched automatic berths.
Players who have automatically made the team were revealed as the BMW Championship, which Wyndham Clark won, came to a close on Sunday:
Scottie Scheffler
Cameron Young
Wyndham Clark
Sam Burns
Russell Henley
Collin Morikawa
Each player on this list has had an incredible run across 2026, obviously in different sort of senses. Cameron Young started things off by winning the Players Championship, and Wyndham Clark took home the U.S. Open.
Scottie Scheffler on the other hand, besides being the top-ranked player in the world, won last year’s PGA Championship and Open Championship before having a year that was a bit down for those lofty standard, but Scottie did notch two wins to date at the American Express and most recently the FedEx St. Jude.
All six players have played on President’s Cup teams before so they are no strangers to the world. Time will tell who ultimately rounds out the squad for the United States, but they are certainly off to a good start.
HOUSTON, TEXAS – AUGUST 02: Elias Diaz #35 of the Texas Rangers throws to third base in the third inning against the Houston Astros at Daikin Park on August 02, 2026 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Ahead of the 2022 season MLB expanded the playoffs to include an additional Wild Card slot, now including three Wild Card teams in both leagues. The move came a decade after MLB introduced the Wild Card Game, pitting two Wild Card teams against each other in a one-game event with the winner moving on to the LDS.
The thought process behind the third bid, at least the one presented to the public, was simple enough. Having another team completing to make the playoffs would make the final stretch of the regular season more exciting and inclusive to a deeper group of teams. It would also allow another team the chance at a World Series run.
To be fair, the expanded playoff has delivered on those two promises. Every year since the decision has seen tight races in the final days before the end of the season, often with the spot not locked in until the last day or two. Additionally, a third Wild Card team has twice reached the World Series, both in 2022 with the Phillies and 2023 with the Diamondbacks. In both those cases, the team held onto the final playoff bid by only one game in the final standings. It’s hard to say that it had been anything other than a success.
But this season is showing the other side of the coin. For the most part, the National League has had a typical year with good but seemingly not great teams fighting down the stretch. The Cubs currently hold the top Wild Card spot and have had it for most of the year. The Phillies are red hot and right on their heels in the second Wild Card slot. The Padres have used a strong second-half of the season to climb into the third seed, with the Diamondbacks, Marlins, and Cardinals still in contention. In theory those teams are all good enough to make a run. But the top teams in the N.L. have sat almost head-and-shoulders above the rest of the league with both the Brewers and Dodgers expected to win around 100 games. The season has felt like a race for next best.
Who will be the third N.L. Wild Card team?
The American League is a much bigger mess. A lot of that is due to relative mediocrity at the top, resulting in what could be a sub-.500 team making the postseason. The three best team sin the A.L. all come from the East, the White Sox lead the central and would normally be considered the weakest of division winners. But the West really screws everything up. The Astros and Rangers are tied for first place despite being a game under .500, resulting in the final Wild Card spot being held by a team that has lost more games than its won. The Guardians have the same record, tied for the final playoff spot, with the Blue Jays, Twins, and last place Orioles still within a couple of games. Even the Detroit Tigers, who tried desperately to sell at the deadline, are one hot week away from being in the playoffs.
Who will be the third A.L. Wild Card team?
With the general feeling of “meh” at best competing for the final spot in both leagues, it’s easy to feel down on the expansion. Add to that the growing feeling that teams are trying to be just good enough to be in contention down the stretch and keep fans interested without having to do the expensive work of building a real winner.
The tradeoff is basically more high-intensity baseball in September vs. a better quality of team in the playoffs.
Maybe this is a one-off blip, or maybe it’s a sign of things to come. So did baseball do the right thing with playoff expansion, or is this watered-down version of the playoffs not worth it in the end?
Has MLB playoff expansion been good for the game?
Be on the lookout later this week for results to these questions and the rest of SB Nation’s Reacts surveys.
