It’s May 1st. May Day. A perfect time to take a peek at what’s going on in the sports world as we approach the midpoint of Spring.
Let’s go first to hockey. The NHL is in the beginning stages of the race to crown another winner of the Stanley Cup. Eight series in total, four per conference.
In the Eastern Conference, two series are over. One was a sweep with Carolina eliminating a game Ottawa club in four games. Then Philadelphia, a team nobody thought much of, took care of Pittsburgh and the legendary Sidney Crosby in six games. The deciding Game 6 went to overtime tied at 0-0 before the Flyers scored to end the game and series.
Still up in the air is what will happen with the remaining series. Buffalo, the team with the most points n the Eastern Conference during the regular season, drew a battle-tested Boston team which is very familiar with the Sabres. While Buffalo leads the series three games to two, the Bruins have looked like the better team for much of the time.
In Games 3 and 4, the Sabres played like a dominant team, holding the Bruins to one goal in each game while scoring 3 and 6 goals. In Game 1, Buffalo had to make a determined comeback to win, scoring three goals during the last eight minutes to secure the victory.
Otherwise, it has been all Boston. The Bruins return to TD Garden on May 1, hoping the knot the series once more. It would not be at all surprising if the two teams had to play a seventh game to determine a winner.
Montreal and Tampa Bay have been competing fiercely in the other series. Montreal is the youngest team in the playoffs. TBL has won the Cup in 2000 and 2001 (defeating Montreal 4-1 in the finals) and was in the final round in 2022.
Tampa’s Andrei Vasilevskiy is one of the premier goaltenders in the league—a shoo-in for the Hockey Hall of Fame. He has once again shown how elite he remains, repeatedly turning back Canadiens’ scoring chances. Jacob Dobes, the Montreal net minder, has been equally as brilliant.
I am sort of biased here. Having been in the Bell Centre in early April, I hear the passion of the crowd which so overwhelmed me when we saw the New Jersey Devils play. Plus I love the rapturous music from the highly-talented Montreal organist; she is beloved by the Canadians fans.
Game 6 is in Montreal. The Habs have a chance to close out the series at home. The place will be rocking—both inside and outside the Bell Centre. Tampa Bay will literally be seeing red with the rouge sweaters adorning the players and the Montreal fans.
There have been three overtime games thus far. The last four games ended in a 3-2 score, and all have been one-score victories. I can see this series ending in Canada as much as I can see it returning to Florida for a deciding Game 7.
Turning to the Western Conference, things have been a bit wilder. Only one series resulted in a sweep. Overall points leader Colorado took out the Los Angeles Kings. Even there, the first two contests were 2-1 scores before the Avalanche showed their superiority.
Everybody else will be playing a sixth game, and possibly a seventh game to see who advances to the next round. Anaheim and Minnesota both had the opportunity to end their particular series on home ice. Upstart Utah returns to Salt Lake City facing elimination at the hands of the Vegas Golden Knights.
The Golden Knights have been a different team since John Tortorella took over behind the bench. VGK went 7-0-1 in its final regular season games and has been very aggressive thus far in the playoffs.
VGK has won the last two matches in overtime by identical 5-4 scores, erasing a 2-1 Utah lead in the series with three straight wins. I would not at all be surprised if VGK ends this series on the road.
Anaheim and Minnesota winning their respective series would be considered mild upsets. Minnesota did their part, eliminating Dallas. They draw Colorado next. So did Anaheim, ousting Connor McDavid and his Edmonton mates. The Ducks await either VGK or Utah.
So we know that Carolina and Philadelphia will meet in the second round. Whichever teams emerge from the other side of the Eastern bracket will have their hands full.
Moving to the NBA Playoffs, two series in the Western Conference are over. The top two seeds, defending champion Oklahoma City swept Phoenix in four games, while second-seeded San Antonio took care of business, downing Portland in five games.
In the remaining undecided series, the Los Angeles Lakers, despite returning Austin Reaves to the lineup for his added scoring punch, couldn’t banish a Kevin Durant-less Houston Rockets team on Wednesday night. Up 3-0, the Lakers hold on the series felt tenuous at best, especially with Reaves and superstar Luka Doncic out and Houston going with the second-youngest starting five in NBA Playoffs history.
LeBron James is showing the wear on his 42 year old body and the supporting cast isn’t able to pick up the slack. It is no gimme that LAL wins at home on May 1st; if they don’t could Houston accomplish the unthinkable by winning a Game 7 down 3-0? It’s never been done in NBA history.
In a bruising, heated affair, Minnesota went into the last night of April with a 3-2 lead on the Denver Nuggets. While Denver’s Nikola Jokic led all scorers, the T-Wolves have a statistical edge despite losing key player Donte Di Vincenzo to an Achilles tendon tear and having star Anthony Edwards sidelined.
It didn’t matter. Minnesota put a solid effort together to eliminate Denver. Missing Aaron Gordon and Jamal Murray performing badly doomed the Nuggets. Which set off a unique celebration in the Twin Cities, as the Wild and T-Wolves advanced to the second round together on the same night, 10 miles apart, for the first time ever.
The Eastern Conference saw all four series with 3-2 leads entering Thursday night’s action. #4 seed Cleveland leads #5 seed Toronto. What is more surprising is that #8 seed Orlando, a team with enormous potential but which seemingly underperformed in the regular season, leads top-seeded Detroit. The Magic can close out their series with a home win.
When Boston hits its three point shots, the Celtics win. Shoot poorly from behind the arc and the C’s are doomed. With the return of Joel Embiid from injury, Philadelphia looked energized. Enough so that they have forced a Game 7 in Boston.
The New York Knicks have had their hands full with a scrappy Atlanta Hawks team which has shown very little fear. Jalen Johnson and C.J McCollum had played outstandingly for the Hawks. NYK star guard Jalen Brunson has had difficulty with the Atlanta pressure defense. Big man Karl-Anthony Towns and O.J Anunoby have been strong for NYK.
Remember this—both Atlanta wins were by one point. That’s how close the Knicks came to sweeping their rival. Which is why the first half outburst in Game 6—where NYK opened up an incredible 51 point lead showed how effective the Atlanta defense had been until now and how good NYK can play. Game, set and match convincingly to New York.
While James Harden has led the Cleveland offense in scoring, his defense and turnovers have plagued the Cavs. Scottie Barnes has shined for Toronto. I can easily see the Raptors winning at home. That means a Game 7. I pick Cleveland.
Detroit is the biggest enigma in the NBA Playoffs. While star Cade Cunningham has averaged 32.6 points per game, his teammates have struggled mightily. Conversely, Paolo Banchero and his mates have done nearly everything right to put the Pistons in the predicament that the top-seed faces. It will be ugly in Motown if the Pistons lose the series—especially with Orlando big man Franz Wagner out for Game 6.
Looking ahead, I still see OKC and San Antonio prevailing in the next round, thus giving NBA fans he series they want to see. It might be a little tougher in the next seres, whoever they draw.
In the East, a Knicks-Celtics series will always be a tough one. Knicks-Philly too. If it is Orlando and Toronto, that will be difficult to gauge who wins.
Baseball has hit the 30 game mark. It has been especially for two underperforming teams. The Boston Red Sox fired Alex Cora, who took the team to a World Series win, and Philadelphia jettisoned Rob Thompson, who was very successful there until the start of this season. Carlos Mendoza is definitely on the managerial hot seat as the high-payroll New York Mets continue to flounder with the worst record in baseball.
New York Yankees fans were apoplectic when, after opening the season 8-2, the team stumbled badly. Then lowly Kansas City came to the Bronx and the Yankees swept the Royals. A nine game road trip which began in Boston and continued in Houston and Texas produced a 7-2 mark. The team’s 20-11 record is tied for MLB’s second-best with Cincinnati and defending champion Los Angeles. The top team record-wise is Atlanta, which sports a 22-10 record.
Aaron Judge has started the season slowly and his batting average reflects it. Still, batting behind the remarkable slugging of Ben Rice, Judge has walloped 12 home runs and driven in 20 runners. Rice is batting .327 with 11 round trippers and 23 R.B.I. The remainder of the lineup needs to pick things up to take the pressure off of Judge and Rice.
What New York has is great starting pitching. The sensational Cam Schlittler has continued his success from when he was called up last season, posting a 1.51 E.R.A. with 49 strikeouts and only 6 walks issued. Stalwart Max Fried is right there with Schlittler with a 2.07 E.R.A. and an identical 4-1 record.
Will Warren and Ryan Weathers have also performed well in starting roles. Star pitchers Carlos Rodon and Gerrit Cole are on minor league rehab assignments and will join the team in May. If they perform adequately and the hitting continues, a somewhat leaky bullpen won’t be as much of a burden.
The Dodgers are in dogfight with San Diego in the NL West. This was expected. For a moment, the Padres owned first place over the Dodgers. Expect a close race throughout the season. Justin Wrobleski continues to shine for LAD, going 4-0 with a 1.50 E.R.A. Shohei Ohtani has a 2-1 record and an incredible 0.60 E.R.A. He is hitting .273 with 6 home runs and 13 R.B.I. Ex-Yankee Michael King and Randy Vasquez lead the Padres’ mound staff.
The vagabond Athletics lead the AL West, with surging Seattle on their tail. Cleveland and Detroit own 16-16 records for a tie in the lead in a mediocre AL Central. Munetaka Murakami has slugged 12 homers and driven in 23 runs for a 14-17 Chicago White Sox team. There may be something to root for on the South Side this season.
Each NL Central team sports a .500 or better record. The Pittsburgh Pirates’ expected spiral after opening the season with some nice wins has begun.
The NL East has some bad records behind Atlanta. Miami just took 2 of 3 from the Dodgers in LA, the final game a 2-1 win over Ohtani.
Arizona remains nicely positioned in the NL West at 16-13. Colorado, thanks to playing the woeful Mets, is at 14-18. San Francisco, under former University of Tennessee coach Tony Vitello , is floundering in last place.
Just a few more updates. Denison hasn’t lost a game since the second game of the season. That’s why the Big Red are 35-1 with a 34 game winning streak heading into the final weekend of the regular season and then to the NCAC playoffs.
In Centennial Conference action, Franklin and Marshall compiled a three game winning streak to end the regular season. The Diplomats needed two losses by Gettysburg, Swarthmore and Ursinus to make the playoffs. That didn’t happen and Swarthmore was eliminated via a tie-breaker. Ursinus made it to the main draw with a victory over G-burg.
Senior Matt Hollender from nearby Short Hills, New Jersey put up a monster season for F&M. He batted .453 in 37 games, amassing 62 hits, 26 for extra bases while driving in 54 baserunners. F&M led the CC with a cumulative .341 batting average and the most doubles with 95. Unfortunately, the pitching was sixth in the CC with a bloated 7.05 E.R.A. And the defense was seventh. That hurt.
Top of the heap UCLA seemed bored with Sacramento State this past weekend, coming from behind twice and then dropping the finale of the three game set. I guess the Bruins are human—they have lost 5 times.
A revenge game at UC Santa Barbara was on tap on Tuesday. UCSB had the best Division I E.R.A going into the game. UCLA took care of business, routing the Gauchos 15-3.
UCLA heads to chilly East Lansing to take on below .500 Michigan State. UCLA should keep its conference record unblemished.
Rutgers, after taking two of three from Ohio State in Piscataway (I saw OSU club the Scarlet Knights 9-0 on Friday), lost to a visiting UConn team on Tuesday. RU has to travel to Southern California to meet a very fine USC team, ranked #21.
And I did watch the thrilling last rotation of the NCAA Division I Women’s Gymnastics Championship. Gymnastics dynasty Oklahoma eked out a stunning win for their eight title. A high-scoring floor routine from Faith Torrez capped a comeback victory over LSU.
I won’t get into the specifics of the NFL Draft there than to say that the New York Giants and New York Jets both did well. Things could be looking up at Met Life Stadium in 2026.
Finally, the news that the NCAA is going to expand the Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments to 76 teams is ludicrous. It only benefits the Power 4 conferences. Where’s the equity? Where’s the drama? It’s more “show-me-the-money” in the long-term.
That’s it. The RetiredLawyerSportsOp Scoreboard through April 30, 2026.
