Sports
Behind Mark Vientos and Francisco Lindor, the Mets punch back to even the NLCS
LOS ANGELES — It happened in a literal blink, a quiver of Mark Vientos’ eyebrow under his sunglasses when he understood the Los Angeles Dodgers’ decision. They wanted nothing to do with Francisco Lindor, and they preferred Landon Knack face Vientos in a crucial spot.
“All right, you want me up?” Vientos summarized his own look. “I’m gonna show you.”
“There’s one thing that Mark doesn’t lack, and that’s confidence,” Lindor said chuckling. “That’s who he is. I’m glad he took it personal.”
It takes a certain kind of confidence to view that decision by Los Angeles, to bypass your team’s obvious MVP who’d already homered in the game to face you, as disrespectful. But you don’t step into the big leagues at 22 calling yourself “Swaggy V” without that precise level of hubris. And on Monday in Game 2 of the NLCS, Vientos justified that self-belief as he has all season long.
Vientos’ second-inning grand slam was the keynote of the Mets’ 7-3 win over the Dodgers on Monday in Chavez Ravine. A day after being flattened by Los Angeles, the Mets returned the favor to even the series. Game 3 is in Queens on Wednesday night.
SLAMMA-JAMMA@MarkVientos_5 | #LGM pic.twitter.com/UzsPArfiPP
— x – New York Mets (@Mets) October 14, 2024
At this point, it’s no surprise to see the Mets pick themselves off the mat as swiftly as they did Monday. Resilience is the animating impulse of this team, and its belief in its ability to rebound has only strengthened throughout the season.
But belief, like currency, requires something legitimate in reserve backing it up. And so often for the Mets this season, that belief has been fueled by the quality of their at-bats, by the finer points of pitch recognition, of controlling counts, of seizing upon a mistake in the moment.
That belief is built on at-bats like Monday’s biggest from Lindor and Vientos.
Vientos’ at-bat against Knack was a clear pivot point early in the game. The Mets had jumped ahead on Lindor’s leadoff homer, and they’d added one run already against Knack in the second. But Francisco Alvarez had popped up with two in scoring position, and the Dodgers were an out away from keeping the game tight.
Given his reaction to Lindor’s free pass, you might have expected Vientos to be especially aggressive against Knack. But his emerging sense of poise was obvious from the start, when he comfortably took Knack’s strike-to-ball slider to start the at-bat.
“He understands that he’s not bigger than the moment,” Lindor said of Vientos’ approach. “He’s just got to be part of the moment.”
Vientos fouled off a pair of sliders to make it 1-2, then fouled back a hard fastball above the strike zone. Vientos hunts the fastball: More than half his homers this year came on heaters, and he slugged .670 when he put in play four-seam fastballs like Knack’s.
Which is why, when ahead 1-2, Knack threw him four straight sliders — two in the dirt he laid off and two on the plate he fouled off. Eight pitches deep into the at-bat, Knack tried to get a fastball by him on the outside corner. It was right down the middle.
“I didn’t think he was going to give me a fastball,” Vientos said. “My approach was to see a heater up, but I wasn’t expecting heater. I thought I was going to get a slider and I was just going to poke it in the hole.”
And when he saw the fastball?
“Yeah, I wasn’t going to miss it.”
Vientos took it 391 feet the other way to make it 6-0.
“The deeper you get into the at-bat, you’ve got more information,” Lindor said.
“You only have so many tricks,” said reliever Ryne Stanek, explaining the pitcher’s perspective on those long at-bats. “It makes the at-bat substantially harder when you’ve exposed everything you’ve got.”
Vientos is backing up a breakout regular season with a bonkers postseason: Through nine games, he’s hitting .378 with three home runs and a 1.086 OPS. (10/86? That was a good month for the Mets.)
“He’s growing up,” said Lindor.
“He’s been doing special things this whole year,” starter Sean Manaea said. “He’s risen to every occasion.”
Lindor had provided a blueprint for that at-bat one inning earlier, leading off the game. Against Ryan Brasier, Lindor fouled off two fastballs and two sliders before, on the eighth pitch, Brasier resorted to his third-best pitch: a cutter he’d thrown just 12 percent of the time this season.
That, too, was center-cut. Lindor banged it into the Mets bullpen, halting Los Angeles’ 33-inning scoreless streak in the process.
“It just kickstarts everything,” Manaea said. “It’s a new day, it’s a new game. You can’t really start off any better way.”
“(It was big) not just because of the homer but the way he attacked him,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “He fouled off a couple of pitches, laid off a couple of breaking balls and got a pitch and drove it to set the tone.”
The Mets worked those long plate appearances all day. Jesse Winker had helped spark the rally in the second with a seven-pitch walk. Tyrone Taylor drove in a run despite being down in the count 0-2. Pete Alonso had a 10-pitch at-bat later, even if it ended in a strikeout.
The series now returns to Queens, shortened to a best-of-five with home-field advantage shifting to the Mets.
“We get punched in the face and we continue to find ways to get back up,” Mendoza said. “And it will continue to be that way.”
(Photo of Mark Vientos: Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)
Caitlin Clark hit in throat during WNBA loose-ball scramble, sparking backlash and game suspension
WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark was hit in the throat during a loose-ball scramble, sparking outrage and a one-game suspension for Alyssa Thomas. Fox News’ Garrett Tenney reports on the ‘absolutely unacceptable’ incident and the coach’s reaction. Political analyst Gianno Caldwell discusses Clark’s immense impact on WNBA viewership, including a $2.2 billion deal, and the role of gender and race in the controversy.
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Phoenix Mercury All-Star Alyssa Thomas is the latest villain to Caitlin Clark fans after punching Clark in the throat during a game on Wednesday night.
The referees missed the punch in real time, but fans and the league office did not.
A viral clip of the punch in slow motion spread across social media, pouring gasoline on the ongoing culture war surrounding Clark’s physical treatment by opposing players, which has been a controversial issue dating back to Clark’s rookie season in 2024.
And Less than 24 hours after the incident, the WNBA slapped Thomas with a one-game suspension for what was deemed a “reckless” and “non-basketball act.”
Who is the woman behind the punch?
If Thomas wasn’t in the WNBA, she says she would go pro in combat sports
In a 2019 interview with Nike PLAYlist, Thomas answered what sport she would have gone pro in if she didn’t go pro in basketball.
“Either boxing or MMA,” Thomas said.
If Thomas never went pro in any sport, she said she would have gotten into dentistry.
“Since I was a kid, I loved going to the dentist. I just was fascinated with teeth and still am. I’m passionate about that whole process of cleaning,” according to a profile on WNBA.com.
The first time Thomas stepped on a basketball court, she threw a ‘hissy fit’
Thomas was signed up to try basketball for the first time at the age of five by her mother, Tina, per the WNBA.
Thomas said she “Threw myself all down the stairs, down the hallway,” while her mom said “She just threw an absolute hissy fit.”
WNBA SUSPENDS ALYSSA THOMAS FOR ‘RECKLESSLY’ HITTING CAITLIN CLARK IN THROAT DURING SCRAMBLE
Her parents didn’t let her win a popular board game
Thomas’ parents never took it easy on her when they played “Candyland” as she was growing up.
“We weren’t the parents that were just going to let you win,” Tina said, per the WNBA.
“In life, you have to fight, and how are you going to fight if you don’t teach your kids to fight? So if she fell over, ‘get up, you’re alright,’ and if she didn’t get up, you knew something was wrong.”
It was a parenting tactic also used by the father of New York Yankees legend Derek Jeter, who famously never let Jeter win in board games or card games when he was growing up, to instill harsh competitiveness at an early age.
Thomas added that her mom was especially hard on her and helped develop her toughness.
“By no means was it easy, and it’s still not easy,” Thomas said.
Thomas plays more physically because shoulder issues hinder her shooting ability
Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas scrambles to get up over Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark during a game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on June 24, 2026. The Phoenix Mercury defeated the Indiana Fever 111-109. (USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)
Thomas currently plays basketball with torn labrums in both of her shoulders.
The injuries are so severe that she completely lacks the structural integrity to lift her arms and shoot a traditional, fluid jump shot. Instead, she is forced to use a rigid, one-handed pushing motion from her chest just to get the ball to the rim.
Because she cannot rely on outside shooting, Thomas adapted by leaning entirely into her physical frame. She drives directly into the teeth of opposing defenses, absorbing heavy contact in the paint to score closer to the basket.
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark shown after falling in the lane while Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas watches the ball at Gainbridge Fieldhouse Indianapolis, Indiana on June 24, 2026. (Grace Smith/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
That brutal, driving style requires her to initiate intense physical collisions on nearly every single possession.
Despite the mechanical limitations and constant pain, the tactical shift worked. She transformed herself into a six-time All-Star, three-time First-Team All-WNBA, an Olympic gold medalist and the undisputed triple-double queen of the WNBA.
Thomas has been the center of immense criticism this week
The throat punch on Clark ignited a fierce wave of backlash.
Indiana Fever Head Coach Stephanie White led the charge, completely unloading on Thomas and the league’s officials during her postgame press conference.
“We have a generational talent and a WNBA superstar who had two cheap shots right there that weren’t called,” White said, pointing directly at Thomas’s actions. “Absolutely unacceptable.”
White argued that Thomas regularly crosses the line from playing physical defense into inflicting dangerous, non-basketball contact.
“It’s absolutely egregious and utterly disrespectful,” White continued to fume to reporters. “The fist in the throat is crazy. It’s crazy. It’s dangerous.”
On Thursday, Fever President Kelly Krauskopf released a statement praising the decision to suspend Thomas.
“Player safety should be paramount in our league. We appreciate the WNBA’s review of last night’s incident and the action taken. Right now our focus is on Caitlin and our entire team as we prepare for Saturday,” Krauskopf wrote.
Former Minnesota Vikings captain and prominent conservative activist Jack Brewer said the punch would be considered a “hate crime” if the roles were reversed.
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“This would be considered a hate crime if it were the other way around,” Brewer told Fox News Digital.
Other critics have expressed their own outrage on social media.
Sports
Parents of ex-NFL player Doug Martin allege excessive force by Oakland police in wrongful death suit
The parents of Doug Martin filed a wrongful death lawsuit alleging that police officers used excessive force in trying to subdue the former NFL running back while he was “experiencing a mental health crisis” last October.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in the Northern District of California, also claims that paramedics contributed to Martin’s death by failing to “provide timely medical care.” The city of Oakland, several police officers and emergency medical service provider Falck USA/Northern California were named as defendants.
Martin died Oct. 18 in a hospital following his arrest by officers responding to reports of a break-in at a residence. He was 36. His death remains under investigation by Oakland police.
According to the Alameda County coroner’s office, Martin’s autopsy reports still are being finalized. Martin family attorney John Burris told the Athletic that an independent pathologist told the family that Martin potentially died from restraint asphyxia.
“Plaintiffs allege, on information and belief, that Decedent Martin died from restraint asphyxia caused by Oakland police officers and the FALCK NORCAL paramedics’ failure to provide timely medical care,” the lawsuit states.
The Oakland Police Department and Falck Norcal did not immediately respond to messages from The Times.
According to the complaint, Martin was “experiencing a mental health crisis” when his mother called for paramedics. He then fled and hid in a neighbor’s basement, where officers found him.
“After a brief struggle, defendant police officers physically restrained him,” the complaint states. “During the restraint, decedent Martin was placed face down while one or more officers pressed on his back. After a period of time, defendant Officers turned him onto his side.
“When they did so decedent Martin was unresponsive seemingly unconscious; However, the defendant officers initially believed he was sleeping or pretending to be sleep. When decedent Martin remained unresponsive, an officer requested medical assistance.
“Plaintiffs are informed and believe that decedent Martin did not receive immediate medical attention. Falck paramedics arrived over 15 minutes after the call for service and, and when they arrived, did not promptly provide medical care.”
A Stockton native, Martin was a first-round pick by Tampa Bay in the 2012 draft. He played six seasons for the Buccaneers, making the Pro Bowl in 2012 and 2015, before spending his final season with the Oakland Raiders in 2018. In his career, Martin rushed for 5,356 yards and 30 touchdowns.
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With 48 teams competing and a grueling path through the knockout stage, reaching the semifinals of the 2026 FIFA World Cup will be an accomplishment in itself.
Only four nations will survive the tournament’s first 100 matches and earn a spot in the final four, putting themselves within two victories of lifting the most coveted trophy in sports.
Let’s take a look at the latest odds to reach the semifinals at FanDuel Sportsbook as of June 26.
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To Reach Semifinals
Argentina: +100 (bet $10 to win $20 total)
France: +110 (bet $10 to win $21 total)
Spain: +120 (bet $10 to win $22 total)
England: +165 (bet $10 to win $26.50 total)
Portugal: +210 (bet $10 to win $31 total)
Brazil: +270 (bet $10 to win $37 total)
Netherlands: +300 (bet $10 to win $40 total)
Germany: +330 (bet $10 to win $43 total)
USA: +380 (bet $10 to win $48 total)
Norway: +550 (bet $10 to win $65 total)
Colombia: +600 (bet $10 to win $70 total)
Belgium: +700 (bet $10 to win $80 total)
Morocco: +750 (bet $10 to win $85 total)
Switzerland: +800 (bet $10 to win $90 total)
Mexico: +850 (bet $10 to win $95 total)
Japan: +1200 (bet $10 to win $130 total)
Croatia: +1300 (bet $10 to win $140 total)
Ecuador: +1600 (bet $10 to win $170 total)
Canada: +1700 (bet $10 to win $180 total)
Austria: +1900 (bet $10 to win $200 total)
Here’s what to know about this oddsboard:
The Top 10: Argentina, France, Spain, England, Portugal, Brazil, the Netherlands and Germany — all considered powerhouse countries — stand at the top of the board, with each nation listed at +330 or better to reach the semifinals. But right after that group? The USA and Norway. The Americans have never made it to the semifinals of the World Cup, and this is Norway’s first appearance in the tournament since 1998.
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