EastEnders aired a much awaited ‘reunion’ between Max and Stacey in tonight’s episode – and although it wasn’t face to face, it doesn’t look like we’ll be waiting very long…
Max was left stunned when he heard Stacey’s voice on a phone call in tonight’s episode(Image: BBC)
The drama continued in tonight’s EastEnders, after last night’s cliff hanger saw Max Branning (Jake Wood) make his return to the show four years after his exit. It was revealed he was calling Zoe, with fans left wondering why. In tonight’s episode there connection was revealed, with a ‘reunion’ between Max and Stacey.
As Zoe lay fighting for her life in hospital, Stacey was the one in charge of her phone, and decided to give the “mystery man” a call, with no clue it was her former flame Max Branning.
Max Branning made a shock return to the soap last night (Image: CREDIT LINE:BBC/Jack Barns/Kieron McCarron)
Max then leant her £5,000 to assist her in tracking down her son, as a private investigator found out had been fostered.
She then went to visit the foster parents neighbour in a bid to get information, but as he attempted to sexually assault her, resulting in Zoe striking him with a lamp. He was rendered unconscious, with Zoe believing she had murdered him.
Max refused to become involved and a furious Zoe stormed out his car as she proceeded to ring Stacey Slater, although we have no idea what was said.
Cut back to the present day, and as Stacey held Zoe’s phone in the waiting room, she saw a number of messages from Max, telling Zoe he still had the necklace he bought her, and can also get money to her. Of course, Stacey had no idea who was on the other end, as she attempted to phone him.
Max and Stacey’s affair reveal in 2007 will go down as on of EastEnders’ most memorable moments
Obviously thinking it was Zoe on the other line, Max answered by saying: “Did you miss me? Is everything okay?”
With the bad signal, Stacey didn’t recognise Max’s voice, although he clearly recognised hers and she asked who he was and what he wanted.
Max stopped speaking as he was left in shock, and although he hasn’t reunited with Stacey face to face yet, it may not be long until they do as he ‘threatened’ to return to Walford in a later conversation with Zoe.
As Zoe rang Max at the end of the episode, he guessed she was in Walford, after hearing Stacey’s voice.
Zoe warned him to stay away, saying she would “end him” if he came anywhere near, but Max wasn’t having any of it, as he told Zoe he hates being told what to do.
We know Max is making a permanent return to the Square, and although Stacey is set to be leaving soon, we’re sure the soap won’t miss a chance to have them face to face once again.
They hooked up once again ten years later on Christmas Eve. They planned to run away together, but things took a tragic turn when Tanya turned up and Abi and Lauren fell off the roof of the Vic.
With their digital reunion today – how will Stacey react when she finds out who really was behind the phone?
EastEnders airs Mondays to Thursdays at 7:30pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
The challenge for Dowman is to remain grounded as his profile grows and the excitement over his potential builds.
“For Max and his family and friends, I’m sure they’re all living in a dream and a fairy tale and it probably hasn’t hit home yet,” Rooney said. “But you can see his future is so bright, he is going to have a massive future.
“Everyone you speak to in football, the same name keeps coming back: Max Dowman.
“It’s difficult for anyone. I think the first thing you’ve got to do is just stay around your family and close friends.
“Listen to them because there are going to be people out there who are trying to be your friend or trying to get in touch with you – some for good reasons, some for not so good reasons.
“You just have to make sure the people who are closer to you, you stay around them and listen to their advice rather than outsiders.”
As well as stepping up on the pitch, Rooney says there are also adjustments off it for a young player breaking into the first team.
“It’s surreal. It’s so strange that one minute you’re in the youth team and the next you’re in the first-team dressing room with some of your heroes,” Rooney said.
“For me, it was some of my heroes growing up, then we’re training, we’re playing, we’re becoming friends.
“I was around at Duncan Ferguson’s house. He lived on the same road as me, and I’m just chilling with him and Alan Stubbs. And you’re like, ‘what is going on here?’.
“It’s something you really need to get used to quickly because it can be overwhelming.
“Max Dowman looks like a very level-headed lad from everything I’ve seen and you hope he manages to deal with it and understands what’s coming his way very soon.”
Rooney’s main words of advice for Dowman come from the heart.
“Enjoy it. I’m sure we’re going to see so much of him, so much of his talent and goals and assists, whatever,” he said.
“Alan Stubbs always said to me years ago, ‘make sure you enjoy it because it goes very quickly’.
“When you’re young, you don’t think that or you sometimes forget that, but enjoy it and make the most of it.”
Sabalenka is aiming to become the first woman since Serena Williams in 2014 to successfully defend the singles title in New York.
She has reached at least the last four in each of the three Grand Slams so far this season, losing the finals of both the French and Australian Open.
But the three-time Grand Slam singles champion arrived at Flushing Meadows on the back of an unconvincing Cincinnati Open display, where she scraped past Emma Raducanu before losing to Elena Rybakina.
In an uneasy start, Sabalenka was broken in the fifth game of the first set by Masarova, before responding immediately to level at 3-3.
It remained on serve until Sabalenka earned a set point at 6-5 up – one which Masarova thought she had saved, only for the top seed to produce a stunning defensive return to the Swiss’s overhead smash.
It forced Masarova into a lobbed return, which Sabalenka sent crashing down the line with a roar to take the first set.
Masarova, the world number 108, was deflated from there on and held serve just once in the second set as Sabalenka raced to victory.
“I feel like I didn’t start my best in the first games, but then I found my rhythm,” Sabalenka said.
The Belarusian will face Polina Kudermetova next, the Russian advancing after opponent Nuria Parrizas-Diaz of Spain retired with injury.
Everyone can use an editor, and Shakespeare is no exception. Fortunately, he married one.
Tired of being cooped up with the kids in Stratford-upon-Avon, Anne (Teal Wicks), wife of the great playwright, pops down to London to see the first performance of “Romeo and Juliet.” The new tragic ending that Shakespeare (Corey Mach) proudly previews to the company strikes her as completely wrongheaded.
“What if … Juliet doesn’t kill herself?” she proposes. As strong-willed as her husband, she doesn’t wish to argue the point. She merely wants to put her idea to the test.
Behold the premise of “& Juliet,” the euphoric dance party of a musical that updates Shakespeare with a dose of 21st century female empowerment. The production, which opened Friday at the Ahmanson Theatre under the fizzy direction of Luke Sheppard, reimagines a new post-Romeo life for Juliet while riding a magic carpet of chart-toppers from juggernaut Swedish producer Max Martin, who has spun gold with Katy Perry, Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys, among other pop titans.
Teal Wicks, left, and Rachel Webb in the North American Tour of “& Juliet.”
(Matthew Murphy)
This good-time jukebox musical relies as much on its wit as on its catalog of pop hits. The show’s music and lyrics are credited to Max Martin and friends — which sounds like a low-key cool table at the Grammy Awards. The clever book by Emmy winner David West Read (“Schitt’s Creek”) creates a world that can contain the show’s musical riches without having to shoehorn in songs in the shameless fashion of “Mamma Mia!”
Take, for instance, one of the early numbers, “I Want It That Way,” a pop ballad made famous by the Backstreet Boys. Anne starts singing the song when Shakespeare initially resists her idea of giving Juliet back her life. She wants him to go along with her suggested changes not because she’s sure she’s right but because she wants him to trust her as an equal partner. The song is redeployed in a way that has little bearing on the lyrics but somehow feels coherent with the original emotion.
Obviously, this is a commercial musical and not a literary masterpiece on par with Shakespeare’s tragedy of ill-starred lovers. “& Juliet” would have trouble withstanding detailed scrutiny of its plot or probing interrogation of Juliet’s character arc. But Read smartly establishes just the right party atmosphere.
Juliet (a vibrant Rachel Webb), having survived the tragedy once scripted for her, travels from Verona to Paris with an entourage to escape her parents, who want to send her to a nunnery for having married Romeo behind their backs. Her clique includes Angélique (Kathryn Allison), her nurse and confidant; May (Nick Drake), her nonbinary bestie; and April, her newbie sidekick out for fun who Anne plays in disguise. Shakespeare casts himself as the carriage driver, allowing him to tag along and keep tabs on the cockeyed direction his play is going.
In Paris, the crew heads directly to the Renaissance Ball, which has the look and feel of a modern-day mega-club. Entry is barred to Juliet, but not because she’s ridiculously underage. Her name isn’t on the exclusive guest list. So through the back door, Juliet and her traveling companions sashay as the production erupts in “Blow,” the Kesha song that encourages everyone to get their drink on and let loose.
Rachel Webb and the North American Tour Company of “& Juliet.”
(Matthew Murphy)
The dance setting — kinetically envisioned by scenic designer Soutra Gilmour, lighting designer Howard Hudson, sound designer Gareth Owen and video and projection designer Andrzej Goulding into a Dionysian video paradise — provides the all-purpose license for Martin’s music. It’s the atmosphere and the energy that matter most. Paloma Young’s extravagant costumes raise the level of decadent hedonism.
In this welcoming new context — imagine “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” suffused with girl power — there’s never anything odd about the characters grinding and wailing like karaoke superstars. The ecstatic motion of Jennifer Weber’s choreography renders dramatic logic irrelevant.
But love is the name of the game, and both Juliet and May fall for François (Mateus Leite Cardoso), a young musician with a geeky sense of humor who’s still figuring out his identity. May doesn’t expect romance to be part of their fate. In the Spears song “I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman,” they give powerful expression to an inner confusion this musical romance is determined to sort out with an appropriate partner.
Unlike for the original characters, a happy ending is no longer off-limits. Shakespeare and Anne wrestle to get the upper hand of a plot that seems to have a mind of its own. Shakespeare pulls a coup at the end of the first act that I won’t spoil except to say that what’s good for the goose proves dramaturgically viable for the gander.
Teal Wicks, left, Rachel Webb, Nick Drake and Kathryn Allison in the North American Tour of “& Juliet.”
(Matthew Murphy)
This spirited competition stays in the background, but their marital happiness matters to us. Mach’s Shakespeare has the cocky strut of a rapper-producer with a long list of colossal hits. Wicks gives Anne the heartfelt complexity of one of her husband’s bright comic heroines. There’s a quality of intelligent feeling redolent of Rosalind in “As You Like It” in Wicks’ affecting characterization and luscious singing.
But the musical belongs to Juliet, and Webb has the vocal prowess to hijack the stage whenever she’s soaring in song. If Juliet’s character is still a work in progress, Webb endows her with a maturity beyond her years. She makes us grateful that the Capulet daughter is getting another crack at life. When the big musical guns are brought out late in the second act (“Stronger,” “Roar”), she delivers them as emancipatory anthems, fueled by hard-won epiphanies.
Allison’s Angélique is just as much a standout, renewing the bawdy earthiness of Shakespeare’s nurse with contemporary sass and rousing singing. If the supporting cast of men doesn’t make as deep an impression, the festive comic universe is nonetheless boldly brought to life.
“& Juliet” bestows the alternative ending everyone wishes they could script for themselves — a second chance to get it right. This feel-good musical is just what the doctor ordered in these far less carefree times.
‘& Juliet’
Where: Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., L.A.
When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 1 and 7 p.m. Sundays. Ends Sept. 7
NOTHING screams luxury like a top-notch yacht, so it’s no wonder Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has been hosting Max Verstappen on his boat in a bid to woo the popular driver away from Red Bull.
The Formula One World Champion, 27, has been spotted sunning himself topless on the vessel just off the coast of Sardinia.
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Toto and his wife Susie regularly use the yachtCredit: Instagram
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Max owns his own yacht that could rival Toto’sCredit: Getty
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Toto’s yacht is 50 meters in length and has a Jacuzzi on the forward deckCredit: Mangusta yachts
In photos that emerged last week, he was seen enjoying the heat as he laughed with Toto, 53, who was dressed all in white.
The luxurious yacht, named Mangusta 165, is believed to have cost the racing boss £20million and spends most of the time moored in Monaco when not in use.
F1 is currently on its summer break, with the next race not until August 31 in Zandvoort.
Max’s break with the Mercedes boss has refuelled rumours that he might move to the team when his contract with Red Bull is up.
The four-time world champion told RacingNews365: “I’m in the middle. Maybe it’ll be good, maybe it’ll be bad – we’ll see.
“I’m very open-minded, honestly. I don’t even think about it too much – I’m just enjoying the moment.
“When I sit in the car next year, we’ll figure it out. I’m not making the rules anyway.”
Toto has owned his yacht, which is 50m in length and has a top speed of 25 knots, since 2023.
It boasts five bedrooms and can host 12 guests, who can also enjoy use of the jet skis and a hot tub.
The Mercedes boss isn’t the only F1 star to own a fancy yacht. Here we look at battle of the boats.
Lando Norris kisses girlfriend Margarida Corceiro after winning
Max Verstappen
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Max is reported to have bought a 33m yacht that he’s named Unleash the LionCredit: https://www.youtube.com/@MangustaYachts
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It boasts a huge living dining area inside the shipCredit: https://www.youtube.com/@MangustaYachts
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And the large master bedroom boasts a king-sized bedCredit: https://www.youtube.com/@MangustaYachts
He might have spent the beginning of his summer break on Toto’s yacht, but the F1 driver has his own boat – which has been described as a ‘Bond villain’s weekend getaway’.
It can hold up to 12 guests alongside five crew, meaning Max and partner Kelly Piquet have ample space for entertaining as well as room for their daughter, Lily, born in May.
It has an open deck to the rear which is fitted with white couches and is thought to have an area to store a speed boat.
He also has a large stateroom inside, but little else is known about the pricey vessel’s interior.
Max moored the yacht in Monaco this year when he was competing in the principality’s Grand Prix but he hasn’t posted photos since its purchase earlier this year.
George Russell
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George and girlfriend Carmen Mundt spend a lot of time on his yachtCredit: instagram/carmenmmundt
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The yacht boasts a lounging deck for sunbathing and enjoying the wavesCredit: pershing yacht
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It has four cabins that can accommodate up to eight guestsCredit: pershing yacht
British F1 ace George, 27, is the latest driver to join the yacht owner’s club with his Pershing 6X.
He splashed out £2.2million on the luxurious vessel following his success on the track.
The boat might be smaller than grid rival Max’s, but it’s not tiny either.
It has four bedrooms, four bathrooms, a kitchen and a spacious upper deck living area.
And he’s been showing the yacht off on his social media with girlfriend Carmen Mundt, 26, and a host of friends on board.
They also have a stash of pricey water toys and the racer has posted videos of him and others on a hydrofoil skimming across the sea.
Like rival Max, George is also spending his summer break from the circuit on the boat off the coast of Sardinia.
Fernando Alonso
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Fernando has made sure his yacht is as eco-friendly as possibleCredit: Sunreef Yachts
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The catamaran features 68.6 square metres of solar panelsCredit: Sunreef Yachts
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He claims he loves the peace he gets from being on the oceanCredit: Sunreef Yachts
Spanish driver Fernando, 44, has owned a Sunreef Power Eco 60 since 2023 after signing an order for it back in 2021.
Each yacht from the brand is a bespoke creation for the buyer.
The 18.3m long vessel is solar-powered, giving the boat eco-friendly credentials that most yachts don’t have.
“I think [Sunreef] is the only company that takes sustainability to a very serious level,” said Alonso during an interview with BOAT International.
“To have a fully electric catamaran powered by solar panels made perfect sense to me.”
The solar panels cover 68.6m squared across the yacht, including the roof and hull sides.
It’s equipped with two 360kw electric motors and a set of 990kwh batteries which are solar powered – making the yacht essentially silent when moving.
One of the smaller yachts owned by an F1 star, it can accommodate up to six guests and four crew.
But, for Fernando, size doesn’t matter.
Alonso said: “On board, all that matters is peace of mind, fresh air, and good company. Yachting should not be about ego.
“For me, it’s about sharing good moments and being respectful towards the environment.”
Lawrence Stroll
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The Aston Martin F1 boss has traded his huge yacht for a slightly smaller oneCredit: Getty
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Faith isn’t a small vessel at 262ft long and repotedly has a swimming pool on boardCredit: Feadship
Billionaire Lawrence, 65, has splashed some of his enormous fortune on a 262-foot long floating mansion for a cool £184.5million.
The Aston Martin F1 team owner downsized from his original yacht, Faith, to Project 714 in March – and has now also renamed it Faith.
The upper decks, enclosed in glass, contain a swimming pool, a games deck and a helicopter landing pad with a hangar below, according to Luxury Launches.
Inside, there are seven guest cabins which can hold up to 14 people as well as space for 20 crew members.
It’s thought the large vessel, which has a top speed of 17knots, has annual running costs of up to £20million.
Lawrence’s previous boat could host up to 18 people across nine cabins and had a crew of 34.
It also boasted a private cinema, nine-meter swimming pool plus a spa and plunge pool.
He sold it to business tycoon Michael Latifi when he decided to downsize to a slightly smaller vessel.
Lewis Hamilton
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Back in 2017 Lewis entertained model Bella Hadid on a yachtCredit: BackGrid
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Lewis has his own gigantic yacht which featured in a music videoCredit: Instagram @lewishamilton
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He also charters yachts when entertaining family and friends on the waterCredit: Splash
British driver Lewis, 40, is also a member of the F1 yacht club with Sunseeker 90, which he is thought to have bought in 2009 for around £2.9million.
And when he’s not feeling like being on his own boat, he charters other vessels that boast a bigger range of rooms and activities.
Sunseeker 90 is 91.9feet and can sleep up to eight guests. It boasts a top speed of 30 knots meaning it’s a speedy boat.
The yacht is normally moored in Monaco, where Lewis resides during the off season.
It features American walnut carpentry, air-conditioning, a huge kitchen and an entertainment area with a shower where guests can rinse off after a dip in the sea.
He was seen entertaining model Bella Hadid, 28, on a yacht back in 2017, but it’s not clear if he used his own boat or rented one for entertaining.
Lewis has also been spotted entertaining pals over the years, including former teammate Nico Rosberg and his own family.
Charles Leclerc
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Charles owns not one, but two yachts so he can do different things with eachCredit: https://www.instagram.com/charlottesiine/
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His Riva yacht, named Sedici, can reach speeds of up to 37 knotsCredit: Instagram
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His second yacht, named Monza, is named after the circuit where he placed 1st in 2019Credit: Instagram @charles_leclerc
Ferrari driver Charles, 27, appears to be a big fan of spending time on both his yachts – because who would have one when you could have two?
He owns a Riva 66 Ribelle named Sedici, which is Italian for sixteen – his race number – and a Riva Dolceriva open cruiser.
Sedici is a 20m sports yacht that can reach speeds of up to 37 knots and has three cabins inside.
He brought it to the Monaco Grand Prix this year, like many of his fellow drivers.
It seems to be his favourite of the two boats, as he often shares snaps from holidays on it, many with it in the background while he swims.
His second vessel is named Monza after the world-famous racing circuit – and is a speedy boat.
Charles paid approximately £1.5million for it back in 2020 and reportedly bought it to commemorate winning the Grand Prix at Monza the year before.
It’s 48ft long and can accommodate up to four guests across two cabins.
The lower deck has an L-shaped sofa with a coffee table in the centre. The master cabin has a huge king-sized bed as well as an ensuite.
In the box score, all was not well. As you already have guessed, the bullpen: Five relievers were needed to cover the final three innings, in which the San Diego Padres put potential tying and/or go-ahead runs on base in each of those innings.
And, on Day 1 of Life Without Muncy 2.0, the Dodgers managed four hits.
With 40 games to play, the Dodgers and Padres are tied atop the National League West. If Max Muncy can play in even a handful of those games, the Dodgers will be grateful.
The Dodgers put their third baseman on the injured list Friday afternoon because of a strained oblique muscle. When Muncy went on the injured list last month because of a knee injury, the Dodgers led the majors in runs. He missed 25 games, in which the Dodgers ranked last in runs.
“Max just has that balance in the lineup, as far as another left-handed (hitter),” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, “but also handles left-handed pitching and has the ability to get on base.
“He’s a threat. Now, without him, other guys have got to step up.”
The Dodgers’ left-handed bats, as of Friday: Ohtani, Freeman, outfielder Michael Conforto (.189) and backup catcher Dalton Rushing (.202).
It should go without saying that Ohtani and Freeman remain imposing. It should also go without saying that opponents might well line up right-handers against the Dodgers, including the Padres throwing Dylan Cease against them Saturday and Yu Darvish on Sunday.
Teoscar Hernández hits a solo home run in the seventh inning during the Dodgers’ 3-2 win over the San Diego Padres on Friday night at Dodger Stadium.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
“We’re going to see a slew of right-handed pitching,” Roberts said. “There are going to be right-handers coming out of the pen.
“Our right-handers have got to be better.”
On that score, the most encouraging development for the Dodgers on Friday was Hernández hitting what turned out to be the decisive home run.
“Teo came to life with a big homer,” Roberts said.
Hernández hit 33 home runs last season, when his OPS was at least .762 in each month of the season. His OPS has been below .762 in each month this season except the first one.
In the Dodgers’ first 29 games, he hit nine home runs. In the 93 games since then, he has hit 10.
“Some days, it’s good. Some days, it’s bad,” Hernández said. “Some days, it’s in between. Hitting is not easy. But I’m going to continue to keep working and try to be consistent for the month and a half, and hopefully in the playoffs.”
The pennant stretch comes first, and Roberts has faith in Hernández.
Said Roberts: “It’s an easy bet that, when the stakes get higher, Teo is going to really show up for us.”
Muncy does that, in getting on base and in circling the bases. In October, when the pitching can rise to the occasion, so can Muncy.
His OPS is higher in the playoffs than in the regular season. He walks way more often. He can elevate the Dodgers’ lineup in October, if the rest of the lineup can step up and help get him there.
From Jack Harris: It might be a cliché this time of year, how injured players who return after the trade deadline can serve as de facto deadline acquisitions themselves.
Immediately after Muncy went down with a knee injury in early July, the club’s lineup entered a deep midseason slump. Its actual deadline acquisitions, which included only one hitter in outfielder Alex Call, had underwhelmed the fan base.
Thus, when Muncy returned to action Monday night, the Dodgers were desperately hoping the veteran slugger could provide a spark.
Twenty-four hours later, he did it with two thunderous swings.
In the Dodgers’ 12-6 win over the St. Louis Cardinals, Muncy officially christened his comeback with a four-for-five, four-RBI performance that included a pair of no-doubt home runs off Miles Mikolas — picking up almost exactly where he left off before suffering a July 2 knee injury that he feared would end his season.
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ANGELS
Brandon Lowe hit a two-run homer and Jake Mangum had a two-run single during the Tampa Bay Rays’ seven-run fourth inning in a 7-3 victory over the Angels on Tuesday night.
Yandy Díaz scored a run and drove in another during the decisive inning in Tampa Bay’s third win in 13 games.
Ryan Pepiot (7-9) yielded five hits and two earned runs while pitching into the sixth inning for Tampa Bay, breaking his five-start winless streak.
From Ira Gorawara: The Indiana Fever arrived in Los Angeles draped in momentum: Five straight wins, a knack for winning without Caitlin Clark and betting lines tilting their way. Their tear was proof they could keep pace even with their franchise centerpiece in street clothes.
But another storyline might’ve been tucked beneath Indiana’s.
The Sparks had ripped off six wins in their previous seven outings, probably fueled by the rare luxury of having every piece of their roster back for the first time in more than a year. And by night’s end at Crypto.com Arena, they had won seven of eight, the Sparks grinding out a 100-91 victory.
“Tonight was a great step in the right direction,” guard Kelsey Plum said. “That’s an incredible team, and they’re as hot as anyone. … They got everything it takes to make a run for a championship. So for us to come out and have that level of intensity, I was really proud.”
Keenan Allen, who racked up more than 10,000 receiving yards during an 11-season stint with the Chargers before being traded away in a salary-cap move, agreed to a deal with the team Tuesday.
“Obviously, we know how good he’s been throughout his career,” Chargers general manager Joe Hortiz said, “and he’s out there on the market still, and [it was the] chance to bring someone of his caliber back we know can help us win games.”
From Gary Klein: Kyren Williams spent Tuesday morning meeting with his agent and the Rams to work out the final details of a contract extension.
The Rams running back finished the day dashing, darting and diving on the field during a joint practice with the Dallas Cowboys.
“Life is good,” Williams said after the workout. “Life is good.”
It’s certainly richer.
Williams, a fourth-year pro, received a three-year extension. Terms of the deal were not announced but Williams is guaranteed about $23 million, a person with knowledge of the situation said. The person requested anonymity because the contract has not been processed.
From Kevin Baxter: LAFC’s signing of South Korean national team captain Son Heung-min appears to be one of those rare acquisitions that checks every box and helps everybody. Not only is it one of the most significant signings in MLS history, but it instantly makes LAFC better while boosting the World Cup hopes of the Korean national team and the profile of Korean soccer in the U.S.
But in few places will the influence of the signing, which is expected to be completed Tuesday, be felt more directly than in Southern California’s Korean community, the largest in the U.S.
“The Korean community has been buzzing ever since rumors of Son Heung-min’s potential move to LAFC began to spread,” said Kyeongjun Kim, a writer with the Korean Daily, the largest Korean-language media outlet in the U.S. “The fact that a player of his caliber is coming to L.A. is monumental event.
From Jad El Reda: Don’t call him a traveler. Chad Baker-Mazara said that his journey through four universities allowed him to land in the place he had been looking for since the beginning of his college basketball adventure.
Baker-Mazara, 25, arrived at USC in May. The veteran is hoping to help lead young players in the locker room and on the court after joining his fifth team since 2020.
He began his journey with at Duquesne in 2020-21, then moved on to San Diego State for the 2021-22 season in search of a better fit on the roster. He fell behind academically in San Diego and was dismissed from the team when he couldn’t catch up on classwork. Baker-Mazara then traveled to the East Coast to play for Northwest Florida State College during the 2022-23 season while getting back on track academically before landing a spot on the Auburn roster during the 2023-25 seasons.
It has been a unique journey, but he is confident that he will write the most important chapter of his basketball career with the Trojans during the upcoming season.
1958 — Glen Davis of Columbus, Ohio, sets a world record in the 400 hurdles with a time of 49.2 in Budapest, Hungary.
1966 — Muhammad Ali knocks out Brian London in the third round to retain his world heavyweight title.
1972 — South African Gary Player wins his second PGA golf championship with a two-stroke victory over Jim Jamieson and Tommy Aaron.
1978 — John Mahaffey beats Tom Watson and Jerry Pate on the second playoff hole to win the PGA Championship.
1984 — American athlete Carl Lewis wins long jump (8.54m), his second of 4 gold medals at Los Angeles Olympics.
1991 — Debbie Doom of the U.S. pitches her second consecutive perfect game in women’s softball at the Pan American Games. Doom threw a perfect game at the Netherlands Antilles in the opener and matches that performance against Nicaragua, winning 8-0.
1992 — Carl Lewis leads a U.S. sweep in the long jump in the Olympics with a mark of 28 feet, 5 1-2 inches on his first attempt. Mike Powell takes the silver and Joe Greene the bronze. Kevin Young demolishes one of track’s oldest records with a time of 46.78 seconds in the 400 hurdles. Bruce Baumgartner becomes the first American wrestler to win medals in three straight Olympics, taking the gold in the 286-pound freestyle division.
1994 — Jeff Gordon wins the Brickyard 400, the first stock car race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
1995 — Canada’s Donovan Bailey wins the 100 meters at World Track and Field Championships in Goteborg, Sweden, marking the first time since 1976 an American fails to win a medal in the event at a major meet.
2001 — Two-time champion Marion Jones is disqualified and has her string of 42 consecutive 100m final victories snapped by Zhanna Pintusevich-Block of Ukraine at the World Athletics Championships in Edmonton, Canada.
2006 — Tiger Woods (30) becomes the youngest player with 50 PGA Tour wins after a 3 stroke victory over Jim Furyk in the Buick Open.
2006 — Floyd Landis is fired by his team and the Tour de France no longer considers him its champion after his second doping sample tested positive for higher-than-allowable levels of testosterone.
2006 — Sherri Steinhauer wins the Women’s British Open for the third time, and the first since it became a major.
2008 — Sammy Villegas, a former University of Toledo basketball player, is charged with point shaving. Villegas is accused of shaving points during the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons.
2008 — Kim Terrell-Kearney wins the first pro championship match featuring two Black bowlers, beating Trisha Reid 216-189 in the U.S. Bowling Congress’ U.S. Women’s Open. Terrell-Kearney collects her second U.S. Women’s Open title and third career major title.
2010 — Tyson Gay upsets the defending world and Olympic champion Usain Bolt in a race between the two fastest runners in history. Gay beats the Jamaican at the DN Galan meet in 9.84 seconds at the same stadium where Bolt last lost a race two years ago. Bolt finishes second in 9.97.
2015 — Ryan Lochte becomes the first man to win the 200-meter individual medley four consecutive times at the world swimming championships. Lochte comes home strong on the freestyle lap and touches first in 1:55.81 in Kazan, Russia.
2017 — I.K. Kim won the Women’s British Open, hanging on with a 1-under 71 for a two-shot victory over Jodi Ewart Shadoff and her first major championship.
THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY
1908 — John Lush threw a six-inning, rain-shortened no-hitter for the St. Louis Cardinals, who beat the Brooklyn Dodgers 2-0. It was Lush’s second no-hitter against the Dodgers.
1933 — Pinky Higgins of the Philadelphia Athletics hit for the cycle and drove in five runs in a 12-8 win over the Washington Senators.
1952 — Satchel Paige, 46, became the oldest pitcher in major league history to pitch a complete game or a shutout when he beat Virgil Trucks and the Detroit Tigers 1-0 in 12 innings.
1972 — Hank Aaron hit his 660th and 661st career home runs to break Babe Ruth’s record for most home runs with one club. The 661st came in the 10th inning to give the Atlanta Braves a 4-3 triumph over the Cincinnati Reds.
1981 — As a result of a seven-week strike, major league baseball players approved a split-season format. The New York Yankees, Oakland A’s, Philadelphia Phillies and Dodgers were declared the first-half champions and automatically qualified for the divisional series.
1985 — The Major League Baseball Players’ Association went on strike.
1986 — The Texas Rangers beat the Baltimore Orioles 13-11 in a record-setting battle of grand slams. Texas’ Toby Harrah hit a grand slam in the second inning before Larry Sheets and Jim Dwyer connected for grand slams in Baltimore’s nine-run fourth.
1988 — Rich Gossage registered his 300th career save, and the Chicago Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies 7-4.
1999 — Tony Gwynn went 4-for-5, singling in his first at-bat to become the 22nd major leaguer to reach 3,000 hits, as the San Diego Padres beat the Montreal Expos 12-10.
2001 — Boston’s Scott Hatteberg performed the ultimate baseball opposite. Hatteberg hit a grand slam one at-bat after lining into a triple play as the Red Sox defeated the Texas Rangers 10-7. Hatteberg lined into a triple play in the fourth inning and in the sixth he hit his second career grand slam to move Boston ahead for good.
2002 — At 32, Robb Nen became the youngest player to record 300 saves, as San Francisco beat the Chicago Cubs 11-10. Nen became the 16th member of the 300-save club.
2007 — St. Louis tied a major league record with 10 straight hits in a 10-run fifth inning, with pitcher Braden Looper and Aaron Miles getting two apiece in a 10-5 victory over San Diego.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at [email protected]. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
It might be a cliché this time of year, how injured players who return after the trade deadline can serve as de facto deadline acquisitions themselves.
Immediately after Muncy went down with a knee injury in early July, the club’s lineup entered a deep midseason slump. Its actual deadline acquisitions, which included only one hitter in outfielder Alex Call, had underwhelmed the fan base.
Thus, when Muncy returned to action Monday night, the Dodgers were desperately hoping the veteran slugger could provide a spark.
Twenty-four hours later, he did it with two thunderous swings.
In the Dodgers’ 12-6 win over the St. Louis Cardinals, Muncy officially christened his comeback with a four-for-five, four-RBI performance that included a pair of no-doubt home runs off Miles Mikolas — picking up almost exactly where he left off before suffering a July 2 knee injury that he feared would end his season.
“As I was laying there on the ground that night, I thought for sure this is it,” Muncy recalled this week, after not only recovering from what proved to be just a bone bruise, but doing it two weeks faster than the initial six-week timeline the team had expected.
“It’s hard to stay positive in a moment like that,” Muncy added, while reliving Michael A. Taylor’s slide into his left knee a month earlier. “But extremely thankful and blessed to be back on a baseball field this year.”
Muncy did have some rust to knock off, going hitless in three at-bats with a walk and strikeout in his first game back Monday night against crafty Cardinals right-hander Sonny Gray.
On Tuesday, however, Mikolas gave him the chance to do some long-awaited damage.
In the first inning, after Shohei Ohtani doubled and scored on a Freddie Freeman sacrifice fly, Muncy clobbered a center-cut, first-pitch sinker 416 feet into the right-field pavilion, giving the Dodgers a quick 2-0 lead.
In the third, after the Cardinals leveled the score on Nolan Gorman’s two-run homer off Emmet Sheehan an inning earlier, Muncy went deep again, whacking an elevated fastball 404 feet for a two-run blast.
The Dodgers (66-48) wouldn’t relinquish the lead again, going on to their first double-digit scoring effort since June 22 thanks to a five-run rally in the seventh, when Muncy also added an RBI single, and two more runs in the eighth, when Muncy tacked on his fourth hit.
There were other positive signs for the Dodgers’ recently scuffling lineup on Tuesday.
Mookie Betts, who was mired in a career-long five-game, 22 at-bat hitless streak, recorded three knocks: A double right before Muncy’s second homer in the third, a line-drive single in the fifth, and a seeing-eye grounder in the eighth.
Andy Pages, who was batting just .211 since the All-Star break, made hard contact on doubles in the sixth and the seventh.
And Teoscar Hernández, who was hitting just .213 since returning from a groin strain in May, came roaring to life with a two-homer game, going back-to-back with Muncy on a solo home run in the third before smashing a game-sealing three-run drive after Muncy’s RBI single in the seventh.
Leading up to the deadline, manager Dave Roberts cited that subset of slumping hitters as potential quasi-deadline additions in their own right. Part of the reason for the team’s relative inaction at the deadline was its trust that the healthy, but scuffling, members of its lineup would get back on track down the stretch.
Still, Muncy’s eventual return had long been seen as the Dodgers’ biggest potential boon, especially after they went from leading the majors in scoring before he got hurt to ranking last in runs over the 25 games he missed.
“We’ve certainly missed him,” Roberts said ahead of Muncy’s return Monday. “The night he came off the field, you’re starting to think of it potentially being season-ending. So to get him back in a month, we’re all excited. He’s put in a lot of work to get back with this timeline. And yeah, we’ve needed him.”
Two games in, the importance of his return is already being felt.
But, when doctors explained how close he came to suffering something so much worse, from when Michael A. Taylor slid into his leg at third base on July 2, even Muncy was amazed by the infinitesimal margins.
“If the timing was just a millisecond different either way,” he was told, “you’re probably looking at surgery, and done for a long time.”
Instead, barely two weeks removed from having the outside of his knee bent inward on that play, Muncy was out doing early work at Dodger Stadium on Friday afternoon; running in the outfield, playing catch with coaches and performing agility drills in front of trainers without any obvious signs of pain or discomfort.
“We’re pleasantly, not surprised, but happy with the spot that I’m in right now,” Muncy said afterward, having also taken swings for the first time since his injury earlier on Friday afternoon. “It feels great. I’m moving well. Progressing quickly. We’re trying to be smart about it, and understand where we’re at, and what it’s gonna take to get back on the field. But we’re in a really good spot … We’re kind of right where we think we should be at.”
If not, it seems, already a few steps ahead.
While Muncy was initially expected to miss roughly six weeks with his left knee bone bruise, manager Dave Roberts struck a more optimistic tone as the Dodgers opened the second half of their season.
“He’s in great shape right now,” Roberts said Friday. “I don’t really know a timeline. But I do know … it’s going to be a lot sooner than anticipated, which is good for all of us.”
Since Muncy — who was one of the hottest hitters in baseball in May and June — got hurt, the Dodgers have not looked like the same offense. In their last 11 games entering Saturday, the club was 3-8, averaging less than three runs per game, and struggling to fill the gaping hole their slugging third baseman has left in the middle of the lineup.
Since the start of July, only the penny-pinching Pittsburgh Pirates have been worse than the Dodgers in batting average (.205) and OPS (.594).
“We’ve still got a lot of good players,” Roberts said. “But yeah, there’s a certain line of demarcation when Max is not in the lineup, what happens to our offense.”
The Dodgers’ problems, of course, go beyond Muncy’s absence. Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman have all been slumping of late (or, in Betts’ case, for much of the season). Teoscar Hernández and Tommy Edman have been nowhere near their typical standard since returning from injuries in May. And the depth options the Dodgers have called upon have provided few sparks of life.
Still, Muncy figures to be a linchpin in the Dodgers’ long-term potential at the plate — with his recovery growing ever-steadily in importance as the rest of the lineup flounders in his wake.
“We got to figure out how to get something going,” said outfielder Michael Conforto, chief among the Dodgers’ underachievers this season. “Every time we go out there, we expect to score, and that’s what we’ve been doing all year. It’s just one of those stretches [where it’s] a little bit tougher to get runs in. But, you know, obviously, we have faith in our guys, and some big names in here that made their careers on scoring runs and driving guys in. I think we’ll be OK.”
Muncy, of course, is one of those proven names.
And in another fortunate stroke with his recovery, he remains confident his injury won’t significantly impact his swing once he does come back.
“If [the injury] was on the inside of the knee, it’d probably be a different story,” Muncy said. “But just being on the outside, I think it’s a good spot, knowing that I don’t feel it at all when I’m pushing off on the backside.”
Muncy tested that theory for the first time Friday, taking some light swings in the cage that he said “felt fine.”
“It’s a lot of work, more work than actually playing in the game, which always sucks,” Muncy said of his rehab process. “But it’s that way for a reason … You don’t want to have any other injuries that are a side effect from it.”
So far, even that latter concern has been quelled, with Muncy noting that “there’s no lingering side effects with it.”
“All in all,” he reiterated, “we’re about as lucky as we could be.”
One of the most anticipated fights of the year takes place on Saturday as Max Holloway takes on Dustin Poirier at UFC 318 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Hawaii’s Holloway defends his symbolic BMF title in the headlining bout at the Smoothie King Center, while home favourite Poirier will bring the curtain down on his magnificent career.
Former interim lightweight champion Poirier, 36, has won 21 of his 31 UFC bouts and is regarded by many as the best fighter to never win an undisputed title.
His fight with Holloway marks the third time the pair have met, with Poirier winning the previous two encounters.
“It feels surreal but it’s the right time. I don’t want the sport to chew me up, I want to walk away, I don’t want it to retire me,” said Poirier.
“We’ve fought at different times as different men and each fight has been so different. It’s exciting. Max is a legend, [a] hall of famer, and a good person so fighting him for the last one seems poetic.”
Holloway is starting the next chapter of his distinguished career by moving up to lightweight permanently after defeat by Ilia Topuria for the featherweight title in October.
“It sucks it has to be Dustin but this is his last dance and I’m here to play spoiler,” said Holloway.
Oklahoma City Thunder and centre Chet Holmgren agree to contract extension worth up to a quarter of a billion dollars.
Chet Holmgren and the NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder agreed to a five-year rookie-maximum contract extension worth up to $250m, ESPN reported on Wednesday.
The contract is fully guaranteed and comes on the heels of Oklahoma City’s landmark contract with NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who agreed to a four-year, $285.4m super maximum contract extension through 2031 to become the league’s highest-paid player at more than $71m per season.
The 7-foot-1-inch (2.16m) Holmgren, 23, has been impactful when he’s on the court. Injuries limited him to 32 regular-season games after a hip injury last season. He also missed his rookie season with a foot injury.
With career averages of 16.1 points and 7.9 rebounds per game, Holmgren proved to be a critical piece for the team’s run to a title in 2025. He had eight double-double performances in 23 postseason games in 2025.
The second overall selection in the 2022 draft, Holmgren entered the NBA alongside Jalen Williams, the number 12 pick that year. Williams is also eligible for the rookie supermax extension. He’s entering the final season of a four-year rookie deal with a $6.6m base salary in 2025-26.
He’s also just the third player in history to make 150 three-pointers and 250 blocks through the first two NBA seasons.
Chet Holmgren (#7 ) was fourth in blocks in the NBA 2024-25 season with 1.9 per game [File: Joshua Gateley/Getty Images]
When Harvard-Westlake grads Max Fried of the New York Yankees and Pete Crow-Armstrong of the Chicago Cubs are introduced on July 15 at the MLB All-Star Game in Atlanta, their former high school coaches, Matt LaCour and Jared Halpert, will be in the stands celebrating the historic moment.
“We’re all proud on campus,” said LaCour, now the school’s athletic director and former coach of Fried.
“It’s kind of everyone wins if Max faces Pete,” Halpert said.
Harvard-Westlake has received attention for its success sending pitchers to the majors with Fried, Lucas Giolito and Jack Flaherty, all of whom were members of the 2012 team and first-round draft picks.
Chicago Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong.
(Nam Y. Huh / Associated Press)
Crow-Armstrong, a first-round draft pick in 2020 who was selected by the fans to start in center field, is a breakthrough hitter for the Cubs.
“We’ve got a couple hitters coming through, so maybe we’ll change the pitching narrative,” LaCour said.
But who will the coaches root for if Fried is on the mound and Crow-Armstrong is at the plate?
“That definitely would be cool,” LaCour said. “I’ll root for Max and Jared will root for Pete.”
LaCour is in Atlanta this week coaching a youth team and will stay an extra two days to watch the All-Star Game. Halpert is flying out next Tuesday morning, then taking a rideshare to the ballpark.
They shouldn’t have any trouble getting tickets because they know an all-star.
Warner Bros. Discovery renamed its streaming service HBO Max on Wednesday, formally reversing its decision from two years ago to dump the prestigious HBO brand in a bid to make the service more appealing to a mainstream, meat-and-potatoes crowd.
The gambit to chase Netflix with a service called Max didn’t work. Warner Bros. Discovery’s leaders eventually recognized the tremendous value in the HBO name, and sheepishly brought it back for an encore.
“The good news is I have a drawer full of stationary from the last time around,” HBO Chairman Casey Bloys said in May, making light of Warner Bros. Discovery’s about-face during the company’s annual programming upfront presentation to advertisers at Madison Square Garden in New York.
The move marks the fifth name for the service in 15 years.
HBO’s first digital offering, introduced in 2010, was called HBO Go. Eventually the company added an HBO Now app. Then, in 2020, when the company launched its comprehensive streaming service with Warner Bros. movies and television shows, executives decided the HBO Max name would play to the company’s strengths while beckoning customers with a souped-up product and moniker to match.
That lasted until Chief Executive David Zaslav stepped in. The company truncated the name to Max because Zaslav and other executives felt the need to create some distance from HBO’s signature shows to make room for the nonscripted fare of Discovery’s channels, including HGTV and Food Network.
Now it’s back to HBO Max.
The company has said the shift was a response to audiences’ desire for quality over quantity.
“No consumer today is saying they want more content, but most consumers are saying they want better content,” the company said in May.
The change also represents a recognition that Warner Bros. Discovery, a medium-sized media company with a huge debt burden, couldn’t compete with Netflix, which tries to offer something for everyone.
And while some of the Max-branded shows, including “The Pitt,” are critically acclaimed, it was the HBO fare, including “The White Lotus,” that has been the most consistent draw for subscribers.
HBO built its legacy as a premium cable channel that required an additional fee on the monthly cable bill. Such groundbreaking series as “The Sopranos,” “Game of Thrones” and “Sex and the City” put the channel at the vanguard of prestige programming.
Most subscribers who currently have Max won’t need to download a new app, company insiders said.
An app update will eventually change the blue Max logo to a black HBO Max one.
Staff writer Stephen Battaglio contributed to this report.
“Reservoir Dogs” and “Kill Bill” star Michael Madsen and his family are “incredibly overwhelmed with grief and sadness” over the death of his son Hudson Madsen, who was also filmmaker Quentin Tarantino’s godson.
The 26-year-old Oahu resident died of a gunshot wound, according to the City and County of Honolulu Dept. of the Medical Examiner. Supervising investigator Charlotte Carter said Tuesday that Madsen’s manner of death was listed as a suicide, citing his death certificate.
The department does not release death dates, Carter said, but noted that a full autopsy report would be available to the public in about four months.
An attorney for Madsen said Wednesday that the actor is doing well and is surrounded by his children while his wife is in Hawaii making arrangements.
Michael Madsen, left, and son Hudson Madsen in Las Vegas in 2011.
(David Becker / WireImage)
“I am in shock as my son, whom I just spoke with a few days ago, said he was happy – my last text from him was ‘I love you dad,’” Madsen said in a statement to The Times.
“I didn’t see any signs of depression. It’s so tragic and sad. I’m just trying to make sense of everything and understand what happened,” he continued.
He said Hudson had just completed his first tour in the U.S. Army, where he was a sergeant stationed in Hawaii, and that his marriage “was going strong.” According to social media posts from Hudson and his wife, Carlie, he spent time in Afghanistan.
“He had typical life challenges that people have with finances, but he wanted a family,” Madsen said. “He was looking towards his future, so its [sic] mind blowing. I just can’t grasp what happened.”
The actor, 64, said that he has asked for a full investigation by the military. He believes “that officers and rank and file were shaming” his son for needing therapy and that made him stop getting help for mental health issues that he had been keeping private.
“We are heartbroken and overwhelmed with grief and pain at the loss of Hudson,” the Madsen family said Tuesday in a statement to Metro. “His memory and light will be remembered by all who knew and loved him. We ask for privacy and respect during this difficult time. Thank you.”
Hudson Madsen is survived by his wife, his father, mother DeAnna and siblings Christian, Calvin, Max and Luke.
Verstappen said he “had to commit a lot” in the high-speed corners because of the low-downforce set-up the team had chosen, which made the car on edge in the demanding corners.
The low wing levels come with pros and cons – it gives faster speed on the straight but makes the car more difficult through the corners and potentially increases tyre wear.
Verstappen said: “We looked a bit slow on the other wing plus it was understeering to the moon, and I needed to get rid of that understeer. It was light on downforce but it seemed to work.”
Piastri was quickest after the first laps of qualifying but he failed to improve on his second lap, at least partly because of a couple of slides of the rear out of the final corner, Club.
The championship leader said: “I was happy with the first lap. It was mega, to be honest. I was trying to think of how I would go faster and I didn’t.
“The second lap was a bit messy but it has been tight all weekend; a little on the table, but we’ll never know if it’s enough.”
Piastri said he was “not that surprised Max is quick here”, it’s quite similar speed and conditions to Suzuka,” where Verstappen won from pole.
Norris, who trails Piastri by 15 points going into the race, which marks the halfway point of the season, said: “Good qualifying. I am not going to be unhappy with third, would love to be pole but Max did a good job, a fun qualifying today. Not the top but still a good day.
“It’s going to be fun tomorrow, a good fight, with the three of us, and probably with Lewis and Charles and George as well.”
When Max Muncy first went down on Wednesday night, clutching his left knee and writhing in pain after a collision with Chicago White Sox baserunner Michael A. Taylor on a steal attempt at third base, Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes couldn’t help but let his mind go to a dark place.
“Obviously, [there were] a lot of emotions,” Gomes said. “From a coping mechanism in my head, it was like, ‘OK, he’s done for the year. We’re gonna have to figure out what the next path is. We have to be prepared for whatever is coming.’”
What came the next day, however, was unexpectedly good news.
Despite having his knee bent awkwardly, gruesomely inward, Muncy escaped with only a bone bruise. There were no ligament tears. No structural damage. No season-ending catastrophe.
Dodger Max Muncy grimaces as he holds his left knee after colliding with White Sox outfielder Michael A. Taylor on Wednesday at Dodger Stadium.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
“We’ve had a lot more [injury situations] where we’ve gone in optimistic and then come out the other side not as optimistic,” Gomes said. “So it was nice to have that turned on its head and know that, ‘Hey, he’s gonna be out there.’”
On Thursday, Muncy said he is expected to miss roughly six weeks. But even that timeline would give him a month-plus before the playoffs to try and rediscover the swing that made him one of the hottest hitters in baseball the past two months.
And because Muncy’s injury was to the lower half of his body, manager Dave Roberts noted, the hope is that “it’s not something that should affect the swing” when he does return.
“With the time we have, there’s nothing pressing as far as needing to rush him back,” Roberts said. “I think we’re in a good spot.”
That’s why, as of Friday, Gomes had shelved those contingency plans that were running through his mind 48 hours earlier. His front office wasn’t urgently scouring the trade market looking for an instant replacement.
Instead, Gomes and Roberts insisted the Dodgers’ trade deadline plans are unlikely to be altered in the wake of Muncy’s injury — with the team content to rely on internal options now, while awaiting Muncy’s return later this year.
“Knowing the certainty of Max coming back at some point,” Roberts said, “I don’t think that will really impact our thinking going into the deadline.”
“Even if [his recovery] is way slow,” Gomes added, “you have a full month of baseball before we hit the playoffs. So we’re giving him that time to get back into a good place and try to set a good foundation, like we try to do with all of our guys, to be prepared for that stretch run.”
Fans cheer after Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy hit a three-run homer against the Washington Nationals at Dodger Stadium on June 22.
(Luke Johnson/Los Angeles Times)
Trade speculation surrounding the Dodgers’ third base position is nothing new.
Lately, however, Muncy had quieted such noise with one of the best stretches of his career. Before getting hurt, he was batting .308 over his past 46 games with 12 home runs, 48 RBIs and more walks (32) than strikeouts (26).
“When he’s not in the lineup,” Roberts said, “our offense tapers off.”
Whether Muncy can return to such levels of production, of course, won’t become clear until well after the deadline passes. But finding impact bats on this year’s trade market might not be an easy task, especially at third base.
Nolan Arenado has long been linked to the Dodgers in trade rumors. But he has career-lows in batting average (.247) and OPS (.701) this year, and is still due some $40 million over the next two-and-a-half seasons on his contract.
The Cardinals’ Nolan Arenado watches his double in the sixth inning of a game against the Cleveland Guardians in Cleveland on June 27.
(Sue Ogrocki / Associated Press)
Lower-profile names such as Eugenio Suárez, Ryan McMahon and Ramón Urías (who could be a better roster fit for the Dodgers as a utility weapon) could also be moved. But the Dodgers won’t be desperate to overpay for an impact bat knowing Muncy should be back well before the start of the playoffs.
“Obviously, he’s been so dialed in, one of the best hitters in the game over the last six weeks, so there’s always some [question of], ‘How are we going to get back to that spot?’” Gomes acknowledged of Muncy.
“But I don’t think that is something that Max has never done before,” he added, referencing Muncy’s ability to contribute to last year’s World Series run despite missing three months in the regular season with an oblique injury. “So there’s a comfort level. We have some time. We’ll make sure that he’s eased back in. We have enough technology that he can take at-bats and see pitches before he ever has to go out on rehab and is back in a major-league game. We should be getting some approximation of what his swing was, and then use that time to get into a rhythm.”
In the meantime, the Dodgers plan to incorporate Tommy Edman at third base, where he has 94 career big-league appearances (mostly in 2019 and 2020 with the St. Louis Cardinals, before Arenado’s arrival there).
“It’s a position I’m comfortable with,” Edman said Friday, after taking grounders at third at the start of his pregame work. “The hops [there] are weird, so you gotta play a little bit more one-handed … But it’s still the infield. You still gotta work on the footwork, just like you would at second and short. Catching the ball, getting behind your throws. It’s a lot of the same concepts.”
Kiké Hernández and Miguel Rojas will also see time at third, typically against left-handed pitching, while triple-A prospect Alex Freeland could offer depth from the minors if needed.
Hyeseong Kim, meanwhile, should also get a bump in playing time at second base on days Edman is at third.
“It’s gonna be a good opportunity for him,” Roberts said of Kim. “It’ll be good to know more and get him some more experience.”
When the deadline rolls around at the end of the month, the Dodgers will have more information to work with — not only on the state of Muncy’s rehab, but also about how their lineup fares without him.
With a top-five farm system in the sport, according to MLB Pipeline and Baseball America, they will have the ammunition to make a splash if needed.
But for now, their expectation is that Muncy’s injury won’t force them into a drastic midseason roster makeover. They are hopeful that what initially appeared to be a season-altering moment will be nothing more than a temporary speed bump in their pursuit of a second consecutive title.
“We’re playing good baseball as a team. We’re in a good position division-wise right now,” Gomes said. “So if we keep doing that, we can weather [Muncy’s absence].”
From Kevin Baxter: The Dodgers will be without Max Muncy for approximately six weeks after the third baseman was placed on the injured list Thursday with what the team is calling a bone bruise in his left knee. Muncy was injured in the sixth inning of Wednesday’s walk-off win over the Chicago White Sox when Chicago’s Michael Taylor slid headfirst into third on an unsuccessful attempt to steal third base.
Taylor’s helmet hit Muncy’s knee, bending it sideways and flipping the infielder to the ground. The collision was so gruesome, SportsNet LA, which was broadcasting the game, did not show replays. Muncy writhed on the ground in obvious pain before being helped to the clubhouse.
Muncy, who entered the Dodger clubhouse Thursday afternoon wearing a blue elastic support bandage on his left leg, said he originally feared the worst, but an MRI found no structural damage.
“It was tough news, but it was also great news,” he said. “I still get to play baseball this year instead of coming back next year around April. So it was kind of best-case scenario.”
Muncy, who said his knee felt stiff but not painful, was scheduled to meet the Dodger doctors later Thursday but said he intended to embark on an aggressive rehabilitation process.
“Everybody’s body is different,” he said. “You know, some guys heal extremely fast, some guys heal extremely slow. Traditionally, I’ve always healed fairly fast.”
Dave Roberts had some goals in mind for starting pitcher Dustin May on Thursday. And they had little to do with the final result.
“The first thing is his ability to go deeper in games,” the Dodger manager said. “The sweeper has got to be a more effective pitch. His sinker has got to be more effective.
“I know he’s working through some delivery things with the pitching coaches. I’m kind waiting to see what to expect tonight.”
May would give Roberts far more than he asked for, setting down the first 16 batters in order and pitching into the eighth inning for the first time in his career in a 6-2 win over the Chicago White Sox.
The win was the Dodgers’ fourth in a row and ninth in their last 10 games.
The start was May’s 16th of the season and the seven innings he threw gave him 89.2 for the year, both career highs. Consistency, however, has been an issue. He won just once in June, when his 5.67 ERA was highest among Dodger starters.
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ANGELS
Zach Neto had three hits, including a homer, Nolan Schanuel added a two-run blast and José Soriano gave up only three hits in seven scoreless innings to lead the Angels to a 5-1 victory over the weak-hitting Atlanta Braves on Thursday night.
The Braves avoided a shutout on Jurickson Profar’s ninth-inning homer off left-hander Brock Burke. It was Profar’s second homer in two games since returning from an 80-game PED suspension.
Soriano (6-5) had seven strikeouts and did not allow a base runner to reach second base. Neto scored three runs.
As athletic and skilled as Deandre Ayton is for a 7-footer, he’s better known at this stage of his career for his shortcomings.
His maddening inconsistency. His uninspired defense. His lack of motivation. His inability to stay healthy.
Portland Trail Blazers center Deandre Ayton shoots under pressure from Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic on Feb. 10 in Denver. (David Zalubowski / Associated Press) If you didn’t like Anthony Davis, you’re going to hate Ayton. Davis was always accountable or at very least not tone deaf, which Ayton apparently is.
Little wonder the Portland Trail Blazers officially gave up on Ayton during the weekend by buying out his contract, opening the door for the Lakers to pick him up at a bargain price.
The Lakers are wagering they can do what the Trail Blazers, and the Phoenix Suns before them, couldn’
Natasha Cloud scored 11 of her 23 points in the third quarter and sparked a huge run to lead the New York Liberty to an 89-79 victory over the Sparks on Thursday night.
Breanna Stewart added 17 points and 14 rebounds and Sabrina Ionescu had 20 points for New York (12-5).
The defending champion Liberty trailed 53-42 midway through the third before Cloud and Ionescu got going. Cloud’s three-point play sparked a 13-0 run and then Ionescu scored 10 straight points for New York to give the Liberty a 63-59 advantage.
Dearica Hamby scored 25 points to lead the Sparks, who got a boost with the return of Rae Burrell. She saw her first action since injuring her knee in the opener. She checked in late in the first quarter and played 12 minutes, finishing with five points.
1907 — Canadian world heavyweight boxing champion Tommy Burns KOs Bill Squires of Australia in round 1 in Colma, Calif., his 6th title defense.
1910 — Jack Johnson knocks out Jim Jeffries in the 15th round at Reno, Nev., to retain the world heavyweight title and spoil Jeffries’ comeback.
1914 — The Harvard eight wins the Grand Challenge Cup to become the first American crew to capture the top event at the Henley Royal Regatta.
1919 — Jack Dempsey wins the world heavyweight title at Toledo, Ohio, when Jess Willard fails to answer the bell for the fourth round.
1923 — Jack Dempsey beats Tommy Gibbon in 15 for the heavyweight title. The fight almost bankrupts the town of Shelby, Montana, which borrowed heavily to stage it.
1930 — Helen Wills Moody wins her fourth straight singles title at Wimbledon with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Elizabeth Ryan. Moody would go on to win four more Wimbledon singles titles.
1954 — FIFA World Cup Final, Wankdorf Stadium, Bern, Switzerland: Helmut Rahn scores twice as West Germany beats Hungary, 3-2.
1964 — Maria Bueno of Brazil upsets Margaret Smith of Australia 6-4, 7-9, 6-3 for the women’s title at Wimbledon.
1975 — Billie Jean King beats Evonne Goolagong, 6-0, 6-1 for her sixth and final singles title at Wimbledon.
1982 — Jimmy Connors beats John McEnroe 3-6, 6-3, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4 for the men’s singles championship at Wimbledon. The match lasts 4 hours, 16 minutes.
1987 — Martina Navratilova wins her eighth Wimbledon singles title and sixth straight, beating Steffi Graf 7-5, 6-3.
1994 — FIFA World Cup: A Bebeto strike saves Brazil from embarrassment, beat USA 1-0 at Stanford.
1999 — Pete Sampras overwhelms Andre Agassi in three sets to capture his sixth Wimbledon title and tie Roy Emerson’s record with his 12th Grand Slam championship. Sampras is the first man in the Open era with six Wimbledon titles.
2002 — Venus and Serena Williams win in straight sets to set up their third title match at a major in 10 months — and the first all-sister Wimbledon final since 1884. Top-seeded Venus, the two-time defending champion, overpowers Justine Henin 6-3, 6-2. Second-seeded Serena routs Amelie Mauresmo 6-2, 6-1 in 55 minutes.
2003 — Lakers star Kobe Bryant is arrested in Eagle, Colo., for sexual assault, charges eventually dismissed.
2004 — UEFA European Championship Final, Estádio da Luz, Lisbon, Portugal: In a huge upset Greece beats host nation Portugal, 1-0.
2004 — Meg Mallon wins the Women’s U.S. Open with a 6-under 65, the lowest final round by a champion in the 59-year history of the tournament. Mallon finishes at 10-under 274 for a two-shot victory over Annika Sorenstam.
2008 — Dara Torres completes her improbable Olympic comeback, making the U.S. team for the fifth time by winning the 100 freestyle at the U.S. Olympic trials in Omaha, Neb. The 41-year-old wins in 54.78. A nine-time medalist, she already was the first U.S. swimmer to make four Olympic teams.
2009 — Serena Williams beats her big sister Venus 7-6 (3), 6-2 for her third Wimbledon title and 11th Grand Slam championship. In the fourth all-Williams final at Wimbledon, Serena comes out on top for the third time. Later, Venus and Serena win their fourth women’s doubles title at Wimbledon and ninth Grand Slam doubles title as a pair.
2010 — Rafael Nadal beats Tomas Berdych in straight sets, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4, to win his second Wimbledon title and eighth Grand Slam championship.
2011 — Tyler Farrar becomes the first American to win a July 4 Tour de France stage, dominating a sprint finish in the third leg as teammate Thor Hushovd of Norway kept the yellow jersey.
2014 — Germany becomes the first country to reach the semifinals for a fourth straight World Cup by beating France 1-0 in a quarterfinal match settled by a first-half header from Mats Hummels.
2015 — Copa América Final, Estadio Nacional Julio Martínez Prádanos, Santiago: Chile defeats Argentina, 4-1 penalties to win their first title; 0-0 after extra time.
2015 — Super Rugby Final, Westpac Stadium, Wellington: Otago Highlanders beat Wellington Hurricanes 21-14 for their first title.
THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY
1905 — The Philadelphia Athletics scored two runs in the 20th inning, giving Rube Waddell a 4-2 victory over Cy Young of the Boston Red Sox. Both pitchers went the distance.
1908 — George Wiltse of the New York Giants pitched a 10-inning, 1-0 no-hitter against the Philadelphia Phillies.
1912 — George Mullin of the Detroit Tigers celebrated his 32nd birthday by pitching a no-hitter over the St. Louis Browns.
1925 — Two of the great left-handers of their time, Herb Pennock of the Yankees and Lefty Grove of the Athletics, hooked up in a pitcher’s duel that New York won 1-0 in 15 innings. Pennock gave up four hits and walked none.
1939 — Jim Tabor of the Boston Red Sox hit three home runs, including two grand slams, in an 18-12 triumph over the Philadelphia Athletics in the second game of a doubleheader.
1945 — Augie Bergamo drove in eight runs to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to 19-2 rout of the New York Giants in the second game of a doubleheader. Bergamo, batting leadoff, went 5 for 6 with two home runs and four runs scored.
1976 — The Phillies’ Tim McCarver lost a grand slam when he passed Garry Maddox on the base paths. The Phillies still beat the Pirates 10-5 at Pittsburgh.
1983 — Dave Righetti of the New York Yankees pitched a 4-0 no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium.
1984 — Phil Niekro of the New York Yankees struck out five Texas Rangers to become the ninth pitcher with 3,000 strikeouts. No. 3,000 was Larry Parrish.
1985 — The New York Mets beat the Braves 16-13 in 19 innings at Atlanta. The game went until just before 4 a.m. on July 5, and was followed by a fireworks display for the 10,000 still left in the stands. Keith Hernandez of the Mets hit for the cycle in 10 at-bats. The score was tied 8-8 after innings. Both teams scored two runs apiece in the 13th. The Mets scored a run in the 18th to take an 11-10 lead, but Braves pitcher Rick Camp tied the score with a homer. Camp then gave up five runs in the top the 19th. Ron Darling, the seventh Mets pitcher, closed the game giving up two runs.
2006 — Victor Martinez went 5-for-6 and Jhonny Peralta and Travis Hafner each hit two of Cleveland’s six home runs, powering the Indians to a 19-1 rout of New York. The win was Cleveland’s largest at home in more than 56 years, since a 21-2 victory over the Philadelphia Athletics on June 18, 1950.
2006 — Jose Contreras tossed 6 2-3 scoreless innings to win his 17th straight decision and lead the White Sox to a 13-0 victory over Baltimore.
2008 — The Cardinals drop a 2-1 decision to the Cubs but Albert Pujols socks his 300th career home run. At 28 years, 170 days old, he becomes the fifth youngest player to hit 300, one day ahead of Mel Ott. The younger players were Alex Rodriguez, Jimmie Foxx, Ken Griffey Jr. and Andruw Jones.
2008 — Colorado homered six times to rally from a nine-run deficit for the biggest comeback in franchise history and an 18-17 victory over Florida. Chris Iannetta singled home the winning run off Kevin Gregg in the ninth inning. The Rockies and Marlins combined for 35 runs and 43 hits, 21 of them for extra bases with eight home runs.
2010 — The rosters for the 2010 All-Star Game, to be played at Angel Stadium, are announced today. The top vote getters are Joe Mauer in the American League and Albert Pujols in the National League. Among the first-time All-Stars is 40-year-old reliever Arthur Rhodes of the Reds; he sports a sparkling 1.09 ERA in his 19th big league season.
2012 — Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz hit his 400th career home run, a leadoff drive to right in the fourth inning against Oakland’s A.J. Griffin.
2014 — Brian Roberts hit three doubles and a triple, leading the New York Yankees to a 6-5 win over Minnesota.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
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The Dodgers will be without Max Muncy for approximately six weeks after the third baseman was placed on the injured list Thursday with what the team is calling a bone bruise in his left knee. Muncy was injured in the sixth inning of Wednesday’s walk-off win over the Chicago White Sox when Chicago’s Michael Taylor slid headfirst into third on an unsuccessful attempt to steal third base.
The Dodgers now have 13 players on the injured list.
Taylor’s helmet hit Muncy’s knee, bending it sideways and flipping the infielder to the ground. The collision was so gruesome, SportsNet LA, which was broadcasting the game, did not show replays. Muncy writhed on the ground in obvious pain before being helped to the clubhouse.
Muncy, who entered the Dodger clubhouse Thursday afternoon wearing a blue elastic support bandage on his left leg, said he originally feared the worst, but an MRI found no structural damage.
“It was tough news, but it was also great news,” he said. “I still get to play baseball this year instead of coming back next year around April. So it was kind of best-case scenario.”
Muncy, who said his knee felt stiff but not painful, was scheduled to meet the Dodger doctors later Thursday but said he intended to embark on an aggressive rehabilitation process.
“Everybody’s body is different,” he said. “You know, some guys heal extremely fast, some guys heal extremely slow. Traditionally, I’ve always healed fairly fast.”
Taylor also left the game with a shoulder contusion. The White Sox have listed his status as day to day.
Muncy’s place on the roster was taken by outfielder Esteury Ruiz, who was acquired on April 2 from the Athletics in exchange for minor league right-handed pitcher Carlos Duran. Ruiz appeared in 66 games for triple-A Oklahoma City, batting .292 with eight homers, 37 RBIs and 38 stolen bases.
Muncy’s absence will leave a big hole in the Dodgers’ lineup. He led the team with a .333 average and 24 RBIs in June, when he matched Shohei Ohtani for the lead in home runs with seven. He is hitting .250/.375/.457 for the season and is third on the team with 55 RBIs.
“He’s huge,” pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who was on the mound when the injury happened, said of Muncy. “I don’t really know why he stole there. It just seemed unnecessary. We’re all holding our breath that Munc is going to be OK.
“He’s obviously a huge part of our team, especially the last two months.”
Michael Taylor’s helmet collided with Max Muncy’s left knee on his unsuccessful attempt to steal third base, injuring Muncy in the process.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Miguel Rojas, who hasn’t played since injuring his left hand on an attempted steal Sunday, started at third base Thursday. Kiké Hernández, who took Muncy’s place Wednesday, is also likely to see some time at third in Muncy’s absence.
Hernández is hitting .204/2.70/.383 while Rojas, primarily a second baseman, is batting .250/.289/.380.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The glasses might’ve come first. But it was a light bulb moment with the swing that made the most profound change.
Just over a month into the season this year, veteran Dodgers slugger Max Muncy was in a desperate search for answers.
Through the team’s first 30 games, his batting average started with a one and his home run total was stuck on zero. His role as the team’s starting third baseman was being called into question, fueling early-season speculation that the team would need to replace him before the trade deadline. He was absorbing daily criticism from fans, while trying not to succumb to internal self-flagellation.
The 10-year veteran had gone through cold starts before. But nothing quite so frustrating as this.
“It’s a privilege to play under this pressure, and it’s something I’ve always thrived on, but it doesn’t mean it’s been easy,” Muncy said on the last day of April. “It’s been a rough month.”
Starting that afternoon, however, Muncy made one big change. Upon learning he had astigmatism in his right eye, he began wearing glasses at the plate to balance out his vision. In his first game using them, he hit his first home run of the year.
Then, nine days later, came the real breakthrough.
After spending the entirety of the winter tinkering with his swing, and most of the opening month trying to calibrate his mechanics, everything suddenly synced up during a May 9 at-bat in Arizona.
Muncy took a quick hack at a high fastball from Diamondbacks reliever Kevin Ginkel. He lined a ninth-inning, game-tying single through the right side of the infield in the Dodgers’ eventual win at Chase Field. And he realized that, finally, he’d found a feeling in the batter’s box he’d been chasing the last several years.
A demarcation point had just been established.
And Muncy’s season has been transformed ever since.
“The funny thing about baseball is, sometimes, it just takes one swing, one play, one pitch to lock someone in,” he said. “And ever since that day, I’ve had that feeling in the back of my head. Like, ‘That’s what it’s supposed to feel like.’”
In 36 games before then, Muncy was hitting .188 with only one home run, eight RBIs and 43 strikeouts; his early days with the glasses not even leading to an immediate turnaround.
But since May 9, he has been one of the best hitters in baseball, and on one of the most prolific stretches of his entire career. Over his last 43 games, Muncy’s batting average is .313, a personal best over any span that long in the majors. He has 12 home runs and a whopping 47 RBIs, a major-league-leading total in that stretch. According to Fangraphs’ all-encompassing wRC+ statistic, only Ronald Acuña Jr., Cal Raleigh, Aaron Judge and Ketel Marte have been more productive at the plate.
And, most important, he has re-established himself as a central cog in the Dodgers’ lineup.
“He’s one of our most trusted hitters,” manager Dave Roberts said this past weekend. “I haven’t always been able to say that.”
Being a better, more trusted hitter has been a work in progress for Muncy ever since the devastating elbow injury he suffered at the end of 2021.
In Muncy’s prime years with the Dodgers from 2018-2021, he not only blossomed as one of the best sluggers in baseball by belting 118 home runs over a four-year stretch, but did so while posting a .246 batting average and .371 on-base-percentage; solid marks for a power threat occupying a key role in the middle of the Dodgers’ order.
At the core of that all-around approach was an ability to handle pitches to all parts of the plate — none more important than elevated fastballs at the top of the strike zone.
Dodgers first baseman Max Muncy writhes in pain after colliding with the Milwaukee Brewers’ Jace Peterson during the final regular-season game in 2021.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
“When I’m going well, I’m a really good high-fastball hitter,” Muncy said earlier this year.
“When Max is covering that pitch,” added hitting coach Aaron Bates, “it allows him to do so many other things as a hitter.”
Coming off his elbow injury, however, getting to high heat became a weakness in Muncy’s game. For much of the next two years, when he still hit for power but batted only a combined .204, he felt “it was really hard to replicate” his old swing. Last year, he made some incremental progress — when he batted .232 — but was stalled by an oblique strain that cost him the middle three months of the season.
Thus, this winter, Muncy set his mind to rediscovering his old mechanics.
“It really wasn’t that big of a change,” he said. “It was just going back to what I did when I first got here from 2018 to 2021. The same philosophy I had all those years.”
The work started in January, when Bates and fellow Dodgers hitting coach Robert Van Scoyoc visited Muncy at his home in Texas and crafted a simple focus for the 34-year-old’s offseason work: Purposely practice hitting grounders and line drives on a lower trajectory, in hopes it would train his swing to stay on top of the ball even on pitches up in the zone.
“You know he’s naturally going to have loft in his swing to elevate the baseball easily,” Bates said. “So that was a focus point for him, making sure he can hit a hard line drive on a pitch up in the zone, not necessarily trying to elevate it more than he needs to.”
A sound theory, with some disastrous early results.
At the start of the year, Muncy’s new swing thought bred other unexpected bad habits. In his effort to stay on top of the ball, he was opening up his backside and letting his front shoulder drift too far forward at the start of his move. As a result, Muncy had trouble squaring the ball and keeping his bat level through the strike zone. It led to not only a lack of power, but a diminished ability to distinguish the kind of pitches being thrown — evidenced by a nearly 32% strikeout rate in April that was seventh-highest among MLB hitters.
“That’s where it’s tough playing the sport,” Muncy said. “Because you can’t chase results immediately, even though you kind of have to. You have to chase the process in the long run.”
And even as external pressure over his dwindling production mounted, Muncy said the club’s coaches and front office assured him he’d have time to keep working through it.
“It’s easier to stick with something long-term when that’s the case,” Muncy said. “And for me, that’s been my entire career. Trust the process, not the result.”
During late April, Muncy’s process included a visit to the same eye doctor who had diagnosed Kiké Hernández with eye astigmatism last year; a discovery that prompted Hernández to start wearing glasses, and keyed a sudden offensive turnaround in the second half of the season.
Turned out, Muncy had a similar problem. Though his vision was 20/12, astigmatism in his right eye had made him left-eye dominant, a subtle but limiting dynamic for a left-handed hitter.
Thus, on the last day of the month, Muncy also started wearing prescription-lensed glasses, and christened the new eyewear with a home run in his first game using them.
“It’s not necessarily something that I need,” Muncy said. “But just any chance at all it evens out both eyes for me, I’ve been taking it.”
Yet, in his first week using them, he still went just six-for-28 with nine strikeouts and only five walks. He was still grinding through his adjustments to his mechanics. He was still waiting for one swing where everything would feel synced up.
When Muncy came to the plate in that May 9 game against the Diamondbacks to face Ginkel, he surveyed the situation, put his swing mechanics out of his head, and tried to focus on only one objective.
“It was guy on second, no outs,” Muncy recalled, “so I was trying to give up the at-bat, get the ball on the ground to the right side of second base, and move the runner from second to third.”
Throughout his career, this is when Muncy is at his best. When his mind isn’t clouded by the pressure to produce, or the particulars of his swing. When he’s “going out there and just trying to play the situation,” he explained. “Like, ‘What is my at-bat calling for in this moment?’”
And on that day in Arizona, with the Dodgers trailing by one run in the ninth, that simplified mindset gave Muncy his moment of long-awaited clarity.
Ginkel threw a 95 mph fastball up near Muncy’s chest. The slugger hit it with the kind of quick, level swing he’d spent all winter attempting to craft.
As the ball rocketed through the right side of the infield for a game-tying single, Muncy felt a lightbulb go off as he pulled into first base.
Fans cheer as the Dodgers’ Max Muncy rounds the bases after hitting a grand slam on June 22 against the Washington Nationals.
(Luke Johnson/Los Angeles Times)
“I was so short and direct to it, it just triggered something in my head,” Muncy said. “It kind of took all the stuff I’d been working on, even going back to the winter, and was like, ‘OK, this is how I’m trying to get it to feel.’”
Muncy hasn’t looked back ever since.
By being able to cover the top of the strike zone, he hasn’t had to cheat on fastballs or hunt on tougher pitches to hit around his knees. When coupled with the glasses that have helped him better differentiate velocity from spin, he’s been able to be selective and wait out mistakes.
“There’s been spells in his career where it was the three [true] outcomes and that was it,” Roberts said, long a believer in Muncy’s ability to be a more potent hit collector, rather than just a high-powered, high-strikeout slugging presence. “Now, I think he’s a complete hitter. So you see the runs batted in, the homers, the quality of at-bats all tick up.”
During this torrid two-month stretch, highlights have come in bunches for Muncy. He’s had two seven-RBI games and another with six. He hit a game-tying home run in the ninth inning against the New York Mets on June 3. He had two grand slams in the span of three games last week.
He has gone from the subject of trade deadline rumors to a fan-voting finalist to make the All-Star Game.
He knows it’s still only been two months; that, in a sport as fickle as baseball, the feeling he has discovered at the plate can just as quickly disappear again.
But for the first time in years, he’s healthy, in sync and possessing total clarity — in both vision and mind — every time he steps to the dish.
“This is definitely more of what I was envisioning,” Muncy said this weekend, reflecting back on the early-season struggles and laborious swing work over the winter that preceded his two-month tear.
“Now, I have the confidence to know I can accomplish pretty much anything I want to do for that situation. Whereas, before, you don’t always have that.”
Russell added to BBC Sport: “Toto has made it clear to me that how I’m performing is as good as anybody.
“There is only one driver that you can debate in terms of performance. These are his words and not my words, and that is why I have no concern about my future.
“But there are two seats to every team and I guess he needs to think who are those two drivers.”
Russell’s comments imply that his own contract talks with team principal Toto Wolff are being delayed by Mercedes’ conversations with the four-time champion.
Wolff said at the Austrian Grand Prix on Friday: “George has always performed to the expectations we set. We haven’t given him a car to win the world championship in the last three years and that’s on us.
“The times the car is good, he has been winning races. You know he is going to extract what’s in the car.
“In a normal business the contract discussions are not being held as town halls, everything is normal, everything is going to plan.”
In direct response to Russell’s comments on Verstappen, Wolff said: “You are going into territory I don’t want to discuss out there. People discuss and explore, and in our organisation people are transparent. But it doesn’t change a millimetre of my opinion of George.”
Verstappen refused to directly comment when he was asked on Thursday whether he would be staying with Red Bull next year.
“I don’t think we need to talk about that,” he said. “It’s not really on my mind. Just driving well, trying to push the performance, and then we focus on next year.”
