How MLB crackdown on sticky stuff may help Yankees
NY Post
PHILADELPHIA — For more than two months, the Yankees had been unable to string together more than two straight games with double-digit hits. And they hadn’t scored more than five runs in a game in four consecutive games since last September.
Both of those streaks came to an end this week. Over their past four games, the Yankees have put up at least five runs and 10 hits. Three of those games came against the Twins, a team the Yankees have feasted on most of this century. But there’s another, more intriguing, bit of timing that goes along with the Yankees’ recent offensive resurgence: The spotlight of Major League Baseball’s impending crackdown on pitcher’s using foreign substances has been turned up in the last week.It was only a three-second glimpse, but Matt Rempe, finally, showcased offensive strides. The ones he started talking about in the preseason — after a summer’s worth of work — and kept doubling down on, even when he fluctuated in and out of the Rangers lineup and shuttled back and forth to AHL Hartford.
In a different time, in a season to come, we may be inclined to wax poetic about the way this one played out. In a different time, in a season to come, the Nets will be seeking to stack wins and not losses, will be fighting for playoff seeding and not for a few extra ping-pong balls in the draft lottery this spring.
The NBA has an All-Star Game problem. Despite Adam Silver’s efforts to inject juice into the February showcase — including a format alteration to the 2025 game that is too confusing to attempt to understand before it’s inevitably changed again — there’s little interest in watching teams eschew defense for a series of layup line highlights. That also means the most entertaining part of the NBA All-Star Game is just like the Pro Bowl — debating over who should get a spot.