Sports
Plaschke: Everybody chill! Dodgers are still in control of their World Series destiny
Relax. Deep breaths. Relax.
The Dodgers still own this. The Dodgers are still in control. The Dodgers still have the New York Mets right where they want them.
Two games at Dodger Stadium. Win one and advance to the World Series. Shohei Ohtani hot. Mookie Betts hotter. Andy Pages burning out of nowhere. A rested and nearly unhittable bullpen for Game 6. Walker Buehler prepared to throw legendary fists in a Game 7, if necessary.
Done deal, still.
Yes, the Dodgers blew their first shot at the Fall Classic on Friday night in a 12-6 loss to the Mets in Game 5 of the NLCS Friday at Citi Field, shrinking their lead to 3-2.
And yes, at one point it was a tad unsettling for your faithful correspondent when a fan sitting outside the press box spotted me and held up his phone containing my story from the previous day in which I proclaimed this series was over. The fan and his buddy began screaming at me, to which I now offer this reply.
Sir, I am doubling down.
The Dodgers are still going to win this series. They are still going to the World Series. It’s just going to take a tad longer than expected.
Yes, this was disappointing. But no, this is not disillusioning.
After spending their pregame interview sessions talking about how it felt to be on the precipice of the World Series, the Dodgers quickly fell into a loud and strange abyss that was an outlier, not a trend.
The singing, bouncing fans here were already fired up when the Temptations sang the national anthem before following up with “My Girl” in honor of Francisco Lindor’s walk-up song. The fans became even more inspired when Ohtani was stranded on third base in the first inning after surprisingly not scoring on a grounder to shortstop Lindor.
“I think he just had a brain cramp and locked up there,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts of Ohtani during an in-game broadcast interview, a rare critique of Superman.
The Dodgers’ hopes went downhill from there, thanks to a sudden weariness in pitcher Jack Flaherty’s right arm. That was the strange part. Five days after shutting down the Mets on two hits in seven innings in winning this series opener, Flaherty had nothing Friday night, his fastball was two mph slower than his usual, and the Mets clobbered him.
The Burbank kid desperately wanted to pitch the Dodgers into baseball’s main stage next week and, instead, he pitched them back to Chavez Ravine this weekend, a sweet story temporarily ruined.
Shortly after Flaherty took the mound, he gave up three runs on a Pete Alonso homer, then was shelled for five runs in the third inning on a variety of walks and hits, eventually allowing eight runs in three innings, just awful.
“He wasn’t sharp, clearly, he’s been fighting something,” Roberts said. “He’s been under the weather a little bit. So I don’t know if that bled into the stuff, the velocity. I’m not sure.”
Whatever, Flaherty is done doing NLCS damage, he won’t pitch again in this series, and his bad numbers don’t change the basic historical math.
Of the 93 teams that have taken three-games-to-one lead in a baseball series, 79 have won that series, a striking 85%.
Even though the Dodgers themselves bucked those odds in 2020 against the Atlanta Braves in the NLCS, there will be no upsets here.
The biggest remaining advantage for the Dodgers can be found in the players who didn’t play Friday. Thanks to Flaherty remaining in the game and wearing his struggles, guys such as Daniel Hudson, Blake Treinen, Michael Kopech and Evan Phillips remained rested for Game 6 Sunday, when all will be used in a bullpen game against the Mets’ Sean Manaea.
This will work. This has worked. The Dodgers relievers threw a shutout against the Padres in their biggest win of the season, and they could have won Game 2 in the NLCS if the Dodgers didn’t decide to insert rookie starter Landon Knack into their midst.
There will certainly be criticism from some corners that the Dodgers punted on Friday’s game too early, that they could have pulled Flaherty after he walked two batters and allowed a two-run double to Starling Marte at the start of the third inning to put the Dodgers in a 5-1 deficit. But knowing they had two home games in their pocket, and knowing they’ll need their high-leverage relievers for potentially both of them, Roberts made the right call.
If you don’t agree with Roberts, wait and see the outcome of Sunday’s bullpen game before trashing him.
“And so for me at 5-1, I’m not going to deploy our leverage guys knowing there’s a cost on the back end and appreciating the fact that there’s still more baseball to play in the series,” Roberts said.
The Dodgers’ other advantage is having Buehler ready for a possible Game 7 Monday night. And he’ll be ready. He pitched four three-hit shutout innings against the Mets in Game 3 while showing much of his old fire. If the Dodgers would want one pitcher on the mound in a winner-take-all game at this stage, it would be Buehler.
Besides the pitching edge, the Dodgers’ hitters are raking, with two home runs from Andy Pages and another long ball from Mookie Betts, nine hits and a brief shortening of a 10-2 deficit.
“It was good to see our guys fight back,” Roberts said. “Certainly offensively we’re in a really good spot.”
In many ways, the Dodgers are still in a really good spot.
Indeed, a series that should be done is not done.
But soon it will be.
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Napoleon Solo took home the 2026 Preakness Stakes on Saturday, the 151st running of the race.
The favorite in Taj Mahal, the 1 horse, was in the lead from the start until the final turn until Napoleon Solo made his move on the outside and took the lead at the top of the stretch. As Taj Mahal fell off, Iron Honor, the 9 horse, snuck up, but the effort ultimately was not enough.
Napoleon Solo opened at 8-1 and closed at 7-1. Iron Honor, at 8-1, finished second, with Chip Honcho fishing third after closing at 11-1. Ocelli, one of just three horses to run both the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago and Saturday’s Preakness, finished fourth at 8-1.
A Preakness branded starting gate is seen on track prior to the 151st Preakness Stakes at Laurel Park on May 16, 2026 in Laurel, Maryland. For the first and only time, Laurel Park is hosting the Preakness Stakes which is the second race of the Triple Crown jewel due to the traditional home of the race of the Pimlico Race Course undergoing complete renovations. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
A $1 exacta paid out $53.60, while a $1 trifecta brought in $597.10. But someone out there is very lucky, as a $1 superhighfive – picking the top-five finishers in order – paid out $12,015.70.
Even moreso, a 20-cent Pick 6 – picking the winners of the six consecutive races, with the final being the Preakness, paid out $33,842.34.
The race was run without the Kentucky Derby winner for the second year in a row. After Sovereignty did not run the Preakness last year – and wound up winning the Belmont Stakes – the training team of Golden Tempo opted to skip the Maryland race.
From 1960 to 2018, only three Derby winners did not run in the Preakness. Three Derby winners have skipped the Preakness in the last five years, and for the sixth time in eight years, for various reasons, the Triple Crown had already been impossible to accomplish by the time the Preakness even rolled around.
“I understand that fans of the sport or fans of the Triple Crown are disappointed, but the horse is not a machine,” Golden Tempo’s trainer, Cherie DeVaux, told Fox News Digital earlier this week.
Paco Lopez, right, atop Napoleon Solo, edges out Iron Honor, ridden by Flavien Prat, to win the 151st running of the Preakness Stakes horse race, Friday, May 15, 2026, at Laurel Park in Laurel, Maryland. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
CHERIE DEVAUX REFLECTS ON MAKING KENTUCKY DERBY HISTORY AS FIRST FEMALE TRAINER TO WIN THE RACE
Only three horses from two weeks ago – Ocelli, Robusta, and Incredibolt, were back at the Preakness. Corona de Oro, the 11 horse on Saturday, was scratched well ahead of the Derby, and Great White, who reared up and fell on his back after becoming startled shortly before entering the Derby gate, took the 13 post on Saturday.
The Preakness went off roughly 24 hours after a horse died following the completion of his very first race.
Hit Zero, trained by Brittany Russell, came into the race as the favorite. However, he finished last in the race, which was won by another one of Russell’s horses, Bold Fact — and upon crossing the finish line, Hit Zero reportedly began coughing, dropped to his knees, then put his head down and died.
The Preakness took place at Laurel Park as Pimlico undergoes renovations. It was the first time ever that Pimlico did not host the race, moving roughly 20 miles south.
Paco Lopez, atop Napoleon Solo, wins the 151st running of the Preakness Stakes horse race, Friday, May 15, 2026, at Laurel Park in Laurel, Maryland. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
The Belmont Stakes, the final Triple Crown race, will take place on June 6. The race will return to Saratoga for a third year in a row as Belmont Park continues to be renovated.
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
HIGH SCHOOL BOYS VOLLEYBALL
CITY SECTION FINALS
FRIDAY
At Birmingham
DIVISION I
#1 Taft d. #3 Cleveland, 25-23, 25-14, 25-21
DIVISION IV
#7 Maywood CES d. #4 Math & Science College Prep, 25-17, 25-17, 25-23
At Venice
DIVISION II
#4 Marquez d. #6 Narbonne, 23-25, 25-19, 29-27, 25-16
DIVISION III
#13 Birmingham d. #2 Legacy, 25-20, 17-25, 31-33, 25-21, 15-10
SATURDAY
At Birmingham
OPEN DIVISION
#3 Chatsworth d. #1 Granada Hills, 24-26, 25-21, 25-14, 25-18
DIVISION V
314 Franklin d. #13 Rancho Dominguez, 25-18, 25-19, 25-16
SOUTHERN SECTION FINALS
THURSDAY
At Home Sites
DIVISION 9
Vasquez d. Tarbut V’ Torah, 25-19, 22-25, 25-21, 19-25, 15-10
FRIDAY
At Cerritos College
DIVISION 1
#1 Mira Costa d. #3 Loyola, 25-21, 25-22, 25-22
DIVISION 4
Sunny Hills d. Royal, 24-26, 25-22, 27-25, 25-23
At Home Sites
DIVISION 5
Bishop Diego d. St. Anthony, 25-19, 25-19, 23-25, 25-23
DIVISION 8
Temescal Canyon d. West Valley, 24-26, 25-16, 25-19, 25-23
SATURDAY
At Cerritos College
DIVISION 2
Orange Lutheran d. Edison, 3-1
DIVISION 3
Windward d. St, John Bosco, 24-26, 25–21, 25-22, 25-20
DIVISION 6
Culver City d. Garden Grove, 27-25, 25-20, 19-25, 21-25, 15-9
Sports
It’s Game 7, and we have a bet locked in as the Cavaliers and legacies are on the line against the Pistons
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The NBA takes a lot of flak for having meaningless games, and I can definitely understand it, watching on a random Wednesday in January. However, the playoffs have delivered over and over to viewers and rewarded us for putting up with garbage regular-season games.
This will be the fourth Game 7 of the playoffs. Three series have been sweeps, and the other three have been six games. That shows competitive hoops. Now, how do we bet this Game 7 in the Eastern Conference?
The Cleveland Cavaliers blew it. After not winning a road game all postseason, they took Game 5 in surprising fashion. It looked like they were going to win in six games. After all, they hadn’t lost a game at home in the postseason.
Instead, Detroit came out and blitzed the Cavs, never giving them a chance to get their footing. They lost in an ugly fashion and now have to figure out a way to win a game on the road.
Cleveland Cavaliers guard James Harden drives to the basket against the Detroit Pistons during the second half of Game 5 in the second-round NBA playoffs in Detroit on May 13, 2026. (Duane Burleson/AP)
It isn’t just the Cavs’ fate that rests in this game. It is also the legacy of James Harden and, to a lesser extent, Donovan Mitchell.
We know that Mitchell is a very good player, but he isn’t regarded as one of the best players ever. Harden is. Unfortunately, Harden has struggled in Game 7s. He’s averaged 19.1 points, 7.3 assists and 5.8 rebounds. That’s not terrible, but looking at his shooting percentages, he is at 35.3% and 22.2% in those games. He actually is 4-4 overall in the games, but in his past three, he has scored a combined 34 points over 113 minutes.
The Detroit Pistons seem to like playing with their backs against the wall. They are a gritty team, so I suppose it makes sense.
Detroit Pistons’ Jalen Duren reacts after allowing a pass to go out of bounds in the second half of Game 4 of the second-round NBA playoff series against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Cleveland on May 11, 2026. (Sue Ogrocki/AP)
Cade Cunningham continues to deliver for the team, and he finally got some help in Game 6 from Jalen Duren. This was never going to be an easy series for Duren, but it feels like he is taking more time to mature than others. He definitely improved this year, but the consistency they need from him just isn’t there yet.
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Now as the team goes home they will need Duren to be a beast on the glass. If he can keep the Pistons in the rebounding battle, they should win this game with ease. They won Game 6 by just three rebounds, but that takes away a big dimension of what Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley do for the Cavs. It isn’t everything, though, as the Pistons won the rebounding battle in both losses in Cleveland.
I don’t see this being a runaway game for the Pistons. Mitchell and Cunningham likely will cancel each other out with scoring. Harden needs to establish himself as the third-best player on the floor. I haven’t seen him do that in the postseason, yet.
Cleveland Cavaliers All-Stars Donovan Mitchell and James Harden talk during Game 2 in the first round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs vs. the Toronto Raptors at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Ohio. (David Dermer/Imagn Images)
This is the second Game 7 of the playoffs for both of the clubs, so it isn’t like either will be caught off guard about what this entails.
If I look at it objectively, I think the Cavs have the better players. However, the Pistons have looked significantly better this season, and definitely in the playoffs overall. Both are prone to issues and slipping. The Cavs shouldn’t be as they are a veteran team.
This game has to be won by Cleveland, though. There is too much riding on the franchise and legacies of guys for them to not prepare properly for it. Maybe that’s weak analysis, but I’m taking the Cavs with the points and I do think they win outright. I expect a monster game from Mitchell, and Harden should get 10+ assists.
Either way, whoever wins will lose to the New York Knicks.
For more sports betting information and plays, follow David on X/Twitter: @futureprez2024
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