The WNBA enters its 27th season on the heels of its biggest game and its first punishment of a team for foul play. We also talk Lynx roster cuts and Phil Cuzzi costing the Twins, again.

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The State of the WNBA: The Good, Bad, and Ugly

The Good: WNBA Canada Game

• Minnesota Lynx and Chicago Sky sellout preseason game at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto
  • Sold all 19,800 seats in 18 minutes
  • Sold almost all merchandise available
  • Seems to have resulted in more partnerships with corporations, too
    • Players will have access to 1,300 airport lounges thanks to a partnership with Priority Pass
  • If the game was an audition for a Toronto expansion team, they knocked it out of the park
    • Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said Toronto’s on the list but isn’t in a hurry despite the last expansion taking place 15 years ago
      • Atlanta Dream in 2008
      • Two teams will likely be added by 2025, but sooner is better
    • Too many WNBA-worthy players are left off rosters due to a lack of roster spots
      • 12 teams, 12 players each, 144 total WNBA players
      • Brea Beal, the 24th overall pick in this year’s draft was waived by the Lynx, Tuesday
        • Beal was widely considered the best defender in the draft
        • The Lynx also waived Damiris Dantas, which Anthony predicted, and Taylor Soule, who Anthony thinks has impeccable defensive instincts
        • Coach Reeve called Tiffany Mitchell their best perimeter defender, which is worrisome given she has 0.7 defensive win shares for her career spanning seven seasons
          • Anthony figured she would be cut, but she played well in the preseason
          • She’s never contributed more than 0.9 win shares in a season
            • But both Moriah Jefferson last season (2.0 WS) and Crystal Dangerfield (1.9 WS) had their best seasons under Reeve

The Bad: Las Vegas Aces Punished

• Las Vegas Aces lost their 2025 first-round pick and coach Becky Hammon was suspended two games for violating “Respect in the Workplace” policies
  • They made promises to Dearica Hamby that weren’t kept in order to entice her to sign a contract extension and then accused Hamby of signing her contract extension while knowingly pregnant
    • Hamby made this all known after being traded to Los Angeles
  • The result: Aces are champions, won’t need the draft pick, and won’t miss Hammon in two games
    • The penalty does not show support for WNBA mothers-to-be and doesn’t deter bad behavior in the future…unless two more teams are added to the league, making even the last draft pick of the first round more valuable

The Ugly: Games Too Hard to Find?

• 62 percent of Gen Z fans would watch more women’s games if they were easier to find, according to The Gist
  • I would consume more of just about anything if it was dropped in my lap, but equity is seldom achieved, let alone achieved by asking billion-dollar businesses to change the way they do business at great expense
  • Nothing but peace should be hard to find for the tech savviest generation ever
    • Simple web search for <insert women’s sports league acronym here> followed by the word “schedule” will allow you to subscribe to schedules and setup notifications
    • WNBA, NWSL have apps with info on where and when to watch
      • Searching NWSL on the iOS App Store results in both the CBS Sports app, where you can watch all the games not on Paramount+
      • WNBA League Pass is $25 for all games except local blackouts
      • PHF plays on ESPN+
      • Women’s college games also mostly on ESPN+
  • Problem is that many of these people “would watch more” than the zero women’s games they watch now, which is exactly how much they care
    • The solution is simply caring enough about women and gender equity to do the tiniest bit of work to find a women’s game and watch it instead of expecting the billionaires running these media conglomerates failing to turn a profit to make viewers’ lives easier at considerable expense
      • Only one way that’s ever gone

Twins Robbed of One, Steal One, and Pagan One at Dodger Stadium

The Pagan

• After taking a 3-2 lead in the seventh, José de León had already struck out Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman before allowing a single to Will Smith
  • 22 of 28 pitches were strikes
•  Rocco Baldelli gave him the hook for Emilio Pagan…
  • He walked a guy, walked in the tying run, and gave up a grand slam
  • 6 of 14 pitches were strikes
    • Only one swinging strike; he missed one fucking bat
  • And this is the who we got for Brent Rooker…speaking of robbery

Phil Cuzzi’s Robbery

• Robbed of a win in game one of the series by umpire Phil Cuzzi, who robbed Joe Mauer of that leadoff double in Game 2 of the 2009 ALDS by calling it foul
  • Umpire scorecard indicates that 15 percent of the strikes Cuzzi called were balls
    • And it wasn’t consistent, as the Dodgers benefited at a rate of 1.39 runs per nine innings
      • Do you need to realize that as a pitcher and adjust? It’s hard enough to throw strikes, how hard is it to throw balls three inches off the plate?
    • First base umpire also called a foul ball fair that resulted in a run for the Dodgers, tying the game at 6
    • The Twins lost 9-8 in 12 innings
      • Should have won 8-7

The Steal

• With much of the bullpen unavailable after an extra-inning game, Bailey Ober pitched six brilliant innings, setting a career high with 102 pitches
  • Brock Steward, Jovani Moran, and Griffin Jax all threw a scoreless inning
  • Kyle Farmer went yard with two men on
  • Donovan Solano had a huge impact, going 2-for-3 with a run scored and great play at second base
  • Five Twins had two hits in the 5-1 win
• We should have won two of three, end up starting the West Coast trip 1-2
  • Still an indicator of the investment in depth working
  • And Royce Lewis is coming