In the hours after the Columbus Blue Jackets announced that star forward Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew had been killed, team president and general manager Don Waddell said he received 500 or so text messages.

One hit him even harder than the rest. It was from Graham and LuAnn Snyder.

On Sept. 29, 2003, the Snyders’ son, Dan, was critically injured when a car driven by Atlanta Thrashers teammate Dany Heatley was involved in a single-vehicle crash. Snyder died six days later.

More than 20 years later, the family is still in touch with Waddell, who was the Thrashers’ GM at the time. The message they sent on Aug. 30, the morning after a car struck and killed the Gaudreau brothers, wished the organization strength and had a simple message to Waddell: that there was no doubt he could lead the organization through this tragedy, just as he did the Thrashers.

“I think it’s important in those moments that you feel some support or love from somewhere,” Graham Snyder told The Athletic. “Because the emotions are just so high.

“When I woke up and first heard the news and saw the headline and started reading … it took me about a minute and I said, ‘Oh, my God. It’s Don again.’ I knew he had moved to Columbus.

“I thought, ‘Oh jeez, Don, how are you going to get through this?’”

Once again, he must lead a grieving organization through so much pain. And yet also, at a time when hockey does not feel remotely important, he must somehow, someway, try to get it ready to play hockey again, too.

“Nobody wants that job, but he certainly helped us, and the organization did,” Graham Snyder said. “I just felt we had to reach out to him. Because who can think about going through that twice in your life?”

The message hit home.

“When Graham and LuAnn reached out to me that Friday, it meant the world to me,” Waddell told The Athletic. “Because the family went through it, losing one of their two sons, that’s never easy for anybody. How they dealt with it and how we’ve stayed in touch over the years, it just meant the world to me to hear from them knowing that as parents who went through it, (they) felt we handled it as well as we could of and supported them.

“They’re good people.”

Graham Snyder has vivid memories of speaking to Thrashers players after his son’s death in 2003 and wishing them the strength to carry on.

“I remember going into the Thrashers dressing room in Atlanta, and I don’t know, there was some strength that came from somewhere,” Snyder said. “Just a calm that came over me and I started talking to the team about what needed to happen and that we were there for them.”

As Snyder remembers it, the support from people around the sport was so important.

“One of the things that kind of got us through it, and it’s what is happening right now in Columbus and around the hockey world, people are really, really coming together,” Snyder said. “I think it’s like no other sport. The hockey world is so connected and so tight.

“That’s how they’ll get through it now, with the support from others in the hockey world.”

The Jackets have felt that.

“Yes, 100 percent,” Waddell said. “It’s pretty evident by all the players that came out to the funeral — a lot of players that played with him but also a lot of players that didn’t play with him. This has had an impact not just on the Blue Jackets but the whole National Hockey League. And for that matter, the whole country. I’ve heard from so many people that didn’t know the Gaudreau family but saw all the stories and just wanted to be supportive and ask what they could do to help out. It was touching.”

The idea now is to honor Johnny Gaudreau’s memory by playing for him.

“If it’s anything like it was in Atlanta, the emotions will carry them through for a while,” Snyder said.

Right now, the Jackets are surely still in a fog of pain and shock. But they need to find the strength to move on.

“We’re all devastated for the Gaudreau families,” Waddell said. “You don’t ever think that parents should be burying their kids. There isn’t a moment that goes by that you’re not thinking about the families.

“From a team standpoint, we know it’s going to be hard. But we also listened to (Johnny’s wife) Meredith when she talked at the church. She knows that Johnny wants the best for us. I know guys have talked about it, that he would want us to go out and do what we’re capable of doing and try to win as many hockey games as we can.”

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Getting the players as much help as they need is paramount.

“Everybody grieves and mourns differently,” Waddell said. “You don’t expect that people can get through this by themselves. The union (NHLPA) has been great. They’ve offered up multiple grief counselors.”

Waddell added that starting this week through Ohio Health, the Jackets also have people on-site who can speak with players.

It will be a difficult process in the days ahead.

“We have to try and figure out how to get through the healing process and continue to move forward,” Waddell said.

And as Waddell noted, the Blue Jackets just three years ago lost young goalie Matiss Kivlenieks to a tragic death as well, an event that still scars many in the organization.

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It’s no easy path here. But just the hope that somehow everyone will find the strength.

“This was a senseless and cruel way for people to lose their life,” Waddell said.

It is a tragedy that will forever be with so many affected. But somehow, through that, the Jackets will honor the spirit of a player beloved by teammates. And within that, they will want to continue to help a grieving Gaudreau family in any way possible.

The Snyders felt that from the Thrashers 21 years ago.

“They were so much behind us and supportive,” Snyder said. “It was truly amazing and truly touching.”

(Photo: Kirk Irwin / Getty Images)

Editor’s note: This is a Weird and Wild short. To read this week’s full Weird and Wild column, go here.

For weeks now, months to be honest, we’ve been spending way too much valuable time making all-important comparisons between the 2024 White Sox and Casey Stengel’s legendarily hapless 1962 Mets. But now we know: That was actually the wrong comp.

These White Sox (current record: 33-114) would need a miracle to out-win those ’62 Mets (40-120). So it’s time to do something I never thought would happen: It’s time to turn our attention to those even more legendary 1899 Cleveland Spiders (attractive final record: 20-134).

I came to that mind-blowing realization Thursday morning, when the reality of this nutty little number hit home:

81 Games under .500!!! 

As a longtime chronicler of everything Weird and Wild, I’ve seen a lot of stuff. But I thought to myself as I stared at the standings: Have I ever seen THAT? Have I ever seen any team that fell 81 freaking games under .500?

Here’s the truth: Nope. I. Have. Not. And neither have you, unless you’re a spritely 108 years old. And even if you are indeed 108 years old, your memory of previous 81-under-.500 history might be a little hazy. So allow me to fill you in.

The ’62 Mets? Sorry. Never got to 81 under.

The 2003 Tigers? Sorry. They never made it either.

Both of those teams got to 80 under. But it takes a truly special group to sink below 80 games under the sea. So let’s salute these White Sox because they’re one of those extraordinary teams that took a wrong turn and just kept going.

And who are those extraordinary teams? Here they come — the only teams in American League/National League/19th-century American Association history that ever got to 81 under or worse (in chronological order):

Whitey Witt’s 1916 A’s — Fell to 81 under at 33-114, just like these White Sox, except it wasn’t until Sept. 27 and they had only six games left in the season … but they somehow won three of them! (Final record: 36-117.)

Harry Colliflower’s 1899 Spiders — There’s a reason the Spiders are the poster boys for single-season futility, you know. They plummeted to 81 under on Aug. 31 (at 19-100). They still had 35 games to play … and they lost 34 of them! (Final record: 20-134.)

Kirtley Baker’s 1890 Alleghenys — Once upon a time, before the Spiders, these guys were the standard for 19th-century ineptitude. They descended to 81 under on Sept. 16 (at 21-102). They had 14 games remaining … and won two! (Final record: 23-113, plus two ties.)

Toad Ramsey’s 1889 Colonels — The worst team in the American Association’s glorious history, the Colonels tumbled to 81 under at 26-107. Fortunately, it was Oct. 8, so they had only five games left … and won one! (Final record: 27-111.)

And that’s the whole 81-Under Club. But if you were paying attention (in case we spring an end-of-season 2024 White Sox quiz on you), you might have noticed something. Only once, in nearly a century and a half of major-league history, had any team awakened this early in September and found itself 81 games under .500 or worse. And it was … those 1899 Spiders, because of course it was!

Yet now the Spiders have company, in these 2024 White Sox? What a time to be alive.

Wednesday’s loss to the Guardians dropped the White Sox to 1-27 in their past 28 games at home. (Kamil Krzaczynski / Imagn Images)

But meanwhile, in other important White Sox news …

They can’t go home again! Since the second game of their July 10 doubleheader with Minnesota, the White Sox are 1-27 when they play baseball in their home park. One and 27! According to Baseball Reference, only one other team in the modern era has ever had a 1-27 stretch at home (or worse). And it was those 1916 A’s (also 1-27, in a messy 28-game span in July and August).

So that means, just since that game against the Twins on July 10, nine teams have more wins at Guaranteed Rate Field than the team that plays half its season on that field. There would be more teams, of course, but only nine have been allowed to play there by the schedule-makers of America.

Second to none! This seems impossible, but the White Sox are now 6-43 in the second half. Six and 43! Does this seem bad? How about historically bad. Since the invention of All-Star breaks, the fewest games any team has won in the second half of a non-strike season is 15, by Orie Arntzen’s 1943 A’s (15-61). I’m starting to think the White Sox aren’t going to catch them.

Late starters! In a related development, White Sox starters are now 2-30 in the second half. Two and 30! The record for the worst second-half winning percentage by any rotation is .167 (7-35), by Paolo Espino’s 2022 Nationals. I’m starting to think the White Sox might not catch that group, either.

No one will save you! On those sporadic occasions when the White Sox take a lead, they’ve been known to call on their bullpen to protect it. Here’s how that’s gone:

When they bring in their relievers in save situations, their bullpen’s record is now 3-17. Three and 17! Plus a 7.79 ERA, 31 blown saves and (somehow) more home runs allowed (26) than saves converted (18).

I rumbled through the Baseball Reference files for way too long. How many other teams could I find, since the dawn of the modern save rule in 1969, with more gopherballs than saves in those situations? That would be none!

I could keep going here for hours. But did you know …

• This White Sox team hasn’t started a pitcher with a winning record in over a month? Not even some opener who was 1-0. It’s 36 games in a row now, the fourth-longest streak in franchise history.

• The White Sox have now lost their first game of every month – April, May, June, July, August and September? Can’t beat that kind of consistency.

• It’s Sept. 13 … and the White Sox have won 33 games! You know when the Guardians won their 33rd game? How about May 22! That’s three and a half freaking months (and 111 days) ago!

• And finally, is it too late to wish a happy 105th birthday to Loyola of Chicago icon Sister Jean? As a friend of mine reminded me on Sister Jean’s birthday last month, she’s been gracing our planet for more than a century now. And she has seen the White Sox win a postseason series in exactly one of those 105 years (2005, obviously). I’m starting to think the chances of her seeing another series win this October aren’t good.

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(Top photo of Luis Robert Jr.: Matt Krohn / Associated Press)

TORONTO — Luis Severino has just finished his pregame work on a sunny Wednesday in Toronto. This was a simple day, catch, as the right-hander prepares for the 29th and most important start of his season, Saturday in Philadelphia.

Severino’s emergence as a reliable option in the Mets’ rotation is one of the main reasons New York’s starting staff has been a strength. The rotation ERA sits, like the Mets themselves, sixth in the National League with 16 games to go.

Severino is slated to start four of those remaining 16 games: twice against the first-place Phillies, once against rival Atlanta and, if needed, in the season finale against first-place Milwaukee. Few Mets loom as critical down the stretch as the rebound candidate who has been everything they could have wanted.

And to this point, this season has been everything Severino could have wanted.

“I haven’t done it in so long,” Severino says, smiling. “It feels really good. It feels really good to compete at this level and be healthy for so long this year.”

To get a better understanding of how Severino works — before a start and within a start — The Athletic sat down with him, scorecard in hand, to go inning by inning, batter by batter through his last start against the Cincinnati Reds. In Sunday’s 3-1 loss, Severino pitched 6 2/3 innings and allowed one run — the 12th quality start of his season.

It’s a window into the veteran’s mind at the most important juncture of the season.

Pregame

Severino previously faced the Reds in his second start of the season, on April 6. In that game, he went five innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on three hits. His main takeaway from that game was the two walks he issued — he remembered it being a higher number — and how he couldn’t issue the same kind of free passes to Cincinnati this time around.

Severino’s prep work for a start involves a lot of video study — “what they do good, what they do bad, the last 10 at-bats against a righty with my similar arm angle,” he said. “I look at the pitch sequences: What are they looking for behind in the count?”

Who are those pitchers with a similar arm angle?

“I’ve got the Phillies next. (Miami’s Edward) Cabrera threw a good game against Philadelphia — seven scoreless innings. So I’ll go to that,” Severino said. “He’s similar to me. He throws hard, his changeup is like a sinker, he’s got a good slider. I’ll go to that guy and see what he did good and why he was successful.”

Severino then blends his scouting report with one from his catcher — it’s Luis Torrens in this start — to create a game plan. Cincinnati presents one specific challenge.

“They have runners,” Severino said. “Almost everybody runs there, so understanding I have to be quick to the plate. Any hit or any double, they’re going to try to score. I have to keep that in mind. I’d rather them hit the ball hard than walk somebody.”

First inning

Jonathan India is the Reds’ leadoff batter. Severino starts him with a fastball, sweeper and sinker in that order. He likes to establish that sinker and sweeper, in particular, right away.

“It’s like a little message to the hitters: Don’t get comfortable at the plate,” he said. “I’ve got a sinker in and also a sweeper away. If I do that from the beginning, then they have a different idea of how to approach me in the second at-bat.”

He catches India looking on a full-count sinker. Next up is Elly De La Cruz, the Reds’ shortstop sure to get down-ballot MVP votes in his first full season in the majors.

“He’s the main guy there,” Severino said. “He’s the guy who’s got power, he can run. We either make good pitches to this guy or even 3-2, we’re not giving up. We’re going to throw a nasty pitch and he either swings or goes to first base. That’s the guy I don’t want to let beat me.”

He doesn’t in the first inning, as Severino retires the side in order.

Second inning

To start the second inning, Severino retires Ty France and Jake Fraley on one pitch each. Does that change how he attacks Santiago Espinal with two outs?

“I’m going after the third hitter right away,” he said. “It’s going to be a strike. The game has changed a lot, but for me, if the first two pitches are two outs, you have to take at least two strikes. That’s an advantage for me because I’m going to go after you.”

Espinal takes a first-pitch fastball strike, fouls off the next pitch and eventually strikes out on a sweeper. Six up, six down on just 20 pitches for Severino.

Third inning

Noelvi Marte leads off the third. He and France are the two Reds in the lineup Severino has never faced before.

“France and Marte have almost the same approach. I would throw them inside and the report was they were not as good against off-speed,” Severino said. “It was just trying to get ahead in the count and finish it with a breaking ball.”

Severino got ahead of Marte 0-2 with sinkers, then threw six consecutive sweepers. The last of them caught the infielder looking.

Next up is Will Benson, whom Severino had beaten consistently with fastballs last matchup until Benson tripled off him in his third at-bat. Against a hitter like Benson, Severino thinks less about the velocity of his fastball than where he locates it.

“The only spot he can hit the ball is down and in, where he has a lot of power,” he said. “If I hit my spot, if I go up and away, that’s a tough place to hit that ball. It’s not about how hard I can throw; it’s about where I can put that ball.”

Benson works a walk and moves to second on a Luke Maile groundout. In Cincinnati’s first at-bat with a runner in scoring position, Severino reaches back for something extra against India. His 1-2 sinker is clocked at 99.5 mph — the hardest pitch he’s thrown all season. India fouls that pitch off then flies out on a 98 mph sinker.

“If I get men on second or third, I don’t know how it comes to me, but I’m able to reach back and throw a little bit harder in those spots,” Severino said.

Indeed, Severino averages nearly a mile per hour more on his fastball when runners are in scoring position this season.

Fourth inning

Severino is now working through the Reds order for a second time. He threw his first slider last inning to India, and in this inning, he introduces both his changeup and his cutter.

“It’s just looking for a pitch they haven’t seen before, more against the lefties,” he said. “I want to show them not to get comfortable at the plate. Our mindset was cutter in and then changeup down and away. If you can get to those two pitches, you’re a really good hitter.”

True to what he said earlier, Severino doesn’t give in on a full-count offering to De La Cruz, walking him with a sweeper. De La Cruz leads the majors in stolen bases, and Severino throws over to first base right away.

“I’m usually really fast to home plate, so just in that situation, I have to be even quicker,” he said. “I know Torrens has a good arm, so I have to give him a chance to throw that runner out.”

De La Cruz runs on a first-pitch cutter, and Torrens nails him at second. The catcher has caught an incredible 13 of 20 runners this season.

“He was in the minor leagues for two months. I don’t know how you can have someone like that in the minor leagues,” Severino said of Torrens. “He’s so valuable for us right now. I don’t have to worry much about who’s running. It’s about making my pitch and trying to be quick and not trying to do something I’m not used to.”

Spencer Steer pops up to Torrens, and Severino gets a comebacker from France. After France made a first-pitch out on a sinker last time, Severino started him off with a sweeper for a strike.

“If you make a first-pitch out, you don’t give me much to do,” he said. “After that, we had everything in our pocket to get him out.”

Fifth inning

Severino runs into his first real jam of the day in the fifth through little fault of his own. Fraley leads off with a duck-snort double that doesn’t even reach the outfield grass on the fly. Espinal follows with a bloop single to right. Two balls hit under 65 mph, and yet it’s first and third with no outs in a scoreless game.

“It’s tough,” Severino said. “For me, it’s like, ‘OK, this happens. I have to go out there and compete. If I get out of this inning with one run, that’s good.’”

With the count 2-2 on Marte, the Mets call for a pickoff throw to first, which Severino executes in the blink of an eye. With the help of video review, they nab Espinal for a huge first out. At that point, Severino gets greedy.

“After that, let’s go for the strikeout now and try to get out of the inning with no runs,” he said.

He does just that, beating Marte again with a two-strike sweeper, though this time swinging. While Severino’s strikeout rate for the season is a pedestrian 20.7 percent (below the league average for a starting pitcher), that number balloons to 26.7 percent with a runner on third and fewer than two outs — when a strikeout is especially important. (Hitters strike out less often in that spot than they do overall.)

Against Benson, he gets whiffs on both a 1-1 sinker and a 1-2 four-seam fastball to end the threat.

That sinker is essentially a new pitch for Severino this year. How does he like to play it off his traditional four-seam fastball?

“Hitters get used to speed really quick. In this game, everybody throws hard,” he said. “So I like to play with the movement.”

Here’s an example: If Severino throws a four-seamer up and the hitter fouls it off, his expectation is that the hitter will adjust his swing to get on top of the high heater — leaving him susceptible to the sinker.

“That’s played well for me this year,” he said.

The sinker also allows him to work inside to righties more consistently.

“It was just a four-seam I was throwing middle-away, middle-away,” he said of his arsenal in the past. “After working with that sinker, I just do the same thing. I throw it middle and it’s going to go in.

“For me, everything now is about location. I don’t have to do much. I don’t have to aim my pitch. Just throw it in the middle and the pitch will do its job.”

Sixth inning

Severino is about to start his third tour of the Reds order in the sixth inning. As with most starters, that’s when Severino has been hit the hardest (.834 OPS against).

The inning starts with Maile, the ninth hitter.

“The main thing is just trying to get the first guy out,” Severino said. “You’ve got to get that guy out because after that, the best three hitters are coming. Get the first guy out, don’t let him get on base for the good part of the lineup.”

After striking out Maile on a sweeper, he surprises India with a 1-2 changeup for the swinging strikeout. This was Severino’s sixth encounter with India this season, and by the time he’d reached 1-2, he’d thrown him 36 pitches in 2024. The 37th was the first changeup. India almost smirks at the mound after swinging through the pitch.

“Torrens called that pitch there; I thought that was an amazing idea,” Severino said. “Nobody was waiting for that pitch there.”

Severino credited both Torrens and Francisco Alvarez for being active participants throughout the game, even when they’re not playing that day. He’s always seeking input from the two of them.

“The communication is the main thing for a pitcher and catcher, and they communicate really well with everybody,” he said. “Those guys do a good job.”

De La Cruz singles and moves to second when another quick pickoff attempt from Severino sails past Pete Alonso at first base. Severino shrugs it off to face Steer.

“He can steal third base, but I knew there’s two outs,” he said. “I just needed to worry about getting this guy out. We threw a changeup to get a fly ball to left field to get out of that inning.”

Seventh inning

The Mets finally break the seal on a two-out RBI single from Starling Marte in the bottom of the sixth. Now with a lead, Severino is facing the middle of the Cincinnati order having thrown 83 pitches.

France leads off with yet another soft hit, an excuse-me bloop to no man’s land between Alonso, Severino and second baseman José Iglesias. The Mets then just miss turning two on Fraley’s first-pitch grounder to first. Fraley moves to second on a wild pitch, but Severino wins a seven-pitch battle with Espinal with a fastball for a swinging strikeout.

Severino just has to get through Noelvi Marte, whom he’s struck out twice, to record seven shutout innings.

Instead, Marte loops a first-pitch sinker down the right-field line to score Fraley.

“That inning there, I would say I was not lucky enough,” Severino said. “I threw a lot of good pitches, I competed there. I know there’s a lot of things I can’t control, but the stuff I can control I try to do a good job with those.”

Manager Carlos Mendoza took the ball from Severino after 97 pitches.

What’s the right-hander thinking as he walks back to the dugout in a 1-1 game?

“About throwing another pitch (to Marte),” he said. “I could have gone with slider or changeup or fastball up and in. Something else. But at the end you can’t do anything about that.”

Postgame

The Reds rallied for two more runs in the ninth inning against Phil Maton to salvage the finale of the three-game series and snap the Mets’ nine-game winning streak. Severino’s final line included 6 2/3 innings, one run on five hits — only one of which was hit even 80 mph — with eight strikeouts and two walks.

“Just give my team a chance to win,” Severino said. “That’s the main thing for a pitcher. If you go out there and compete and give your team a chance to win, that’s really good.”

He’s done that consistently throughout the season, allowing no more than two runs in 16 of his 28 starts. The Mets will continue to lean on him down the stretch.

“Hopefully I can continue that and keep working hard and keep improving,” Severino said. “Hopefully we make the playoffs this year and I can keep showing everybody what kind of pitcher I am.”

(Photo of Luis Severino: Noah K. Murray / Associated Press)