📰🏟️ Draft Day
Plus: Best MLB start ever…
Good afternoon. The top-five sports stories of the day are at your fingertips.
But first, a play so improbable we had to share: last night, Mariners P Logan Gilbert caught a 107.8 MPH line drive in his shirt (well, kind of; the batter still earned a single).
—Kyle
1) NFL Draft kicks off tonight
The #1 overall pick is essentially guaranteed to be Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza to the Las Vegas Raiders, with -20,000 odds meaning bettors must risk $20K to win just $100.
But how the rest of the draft will play out is still a mystery, with odds moving dramatically in recent days.
- As of this morning, Texas Tech LB David Bailey is a slight favorite to go #2 overall, followed by Ohio St. LB Arvell Reese.
- Notre Dame RB Jeremiah Love and Ohio St. LB Sonny Styles are projected to round out the top-5 picks.
- The 1st-round kicks off at 7 pm CT tonight, with rounds 2-3 on Friday night and rounds 4-7 on Saturday afternoon.
What you need to know on draft night
2) Walks at a 75-yr high this MLB season
Nearly one full month into the MLB regular season, players have drawn a walk in 9.8% of their plate appearances, which would mark the highest rate since 1950.
- Analysts say that rate is likely to come down as the weather warms in northern cities, but it’s still a significant bump from this time last year.
- Some players say the MLB’s new Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) system is causing more walks, while other players/managers aren’t putting much stock in early numbers.
3) Pistons snap 18-year playoff losing streak
#1 Detroit beat the #8-seed Orlando Magic 98-83 to even the series at 1-1, marking the Pistons’ first home playoff win since 2008.
- Prior to last night, Detroit had lost an NBA-record 11 straight home playoff games, including an 0-9 record at Little Caesars Arena.
- Other NBA news: the Thunder took a 2-0 series lead over the Suns but lost star forward Jalen Williams to injury, while Phoenix star Devin Booker called out officiating and compared the NBA to WWE.
4) Kentucky Derby owner purchases Preakness
Churchill Downs Incorporated, which puts on the Kentucky Derby, agreed to buy the intellectual property of the Preakness Stakes and Black-Eyed Susan Stakes (a leading race for 3-y.o. fillies) for $85M.
- The deal brings the first 2 legs of horse racing’s famed Triple Crown under a single entity.
- It comes amid reports that the Preakness could shift from running 2 weeks after the Kentucky Derby—as it has for 75+ years—to 3 weeks, with the Belmont potentially moving back too.
Churchill Downs looks to get a leg up
5) Angels SP José Soriano off to best start ever
Soriano delivered yet another scoreless start yesterday (5IP, 4K, 0R), lowering his ERA on the season to a microscopic 0.24.
That’s the lowest ERA in a pitcher's first 6 starts (min: 30IP) since earned runs were officially introduced in 1913, per MLB.com’s Sarah Langs.
- Soriano, 27, is in his fourth MLB season and sported a 3.89 career ERA heading into this year.
- But he’s improved his underlying metrics so far this season—including strikeout rate and groundball rate—indicating the breakout start isn’t a fluke.
No way, José: An unbelievable start
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