In today’s SportSense Entertainment Newsletter…

There were plenty of predictions to go around yesterday across the MLB, with our model focusing in on one of those predictions and making it a 3-star play. That prediction went 1-0 overall, and you can see how each of the models performed below.

Money Line Predictions: 8-2

Over/Under Predictions: 5-4-1

Run Line Predictions: 6-4

3-star Predictions: 1-0

🐝 Michael Jordan agrees to sell Charlotte Hornets. NBA legend and current Charlotte Hornets owner Michael Jordan has reportedly agreed to sell the team, per Adrian Wojnarowski. The sale is worth approximately $3 billion, with the purchasing group including Gabe Plotkin and J. Cole along with other local Charlotte investors. Although Jordan will still keep a minority stake in the team, the sale will mark the beginning of a transition away from a brutal run for Hornets basketball, which included winning just seven of the 66 games played in the 2011-12 season and failing to win a playoff series with Jordan at the helm.

📢 NBA announces Ja Morant’s suspension. Memphis Grizzlies point guard Ja Morant has been suspended 25 games without pay for what the NBA is calling “conduct detrimental to the league”. Morant was seen flashing a gun on social media back in May, the second time the Grizzlies star was caught wielding a firearm. Morant will not be allowed to participate in any team activities during his suspension, and will have to meet certain criteria in order to return. It appears that the two-time All-Star has accepted the consequences and is ready to become a better person, but the National Basketball Players Association has voiced their displeasure with the league’s decision, calling it “excessive and inappropriate”.

🌉 The Golden State Warriors find a new general manager. Long time Warriors president and general manager Bob Myers stepped down from his position a short time ago, leaving the position vacant for roughly one month. However, it was announced on Friday that former NBA player Mike Dunleavy Jr. will fill the vacancy, receiving a promotion after being Golden State’s vice president of basketball operations. Dunleavy was drafted third overall in the 2002 NBA Draft by the Golden State Warriors, and has quickly ascended the franchise’s corporate ladder following his playing career.

💰 Vancouver buys out Oliver Ekman-Larsson. The Vancouver Canucks have announced the buyout of defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson, making the 31-year-old free to join another team. General manager Patrik Alvin said the move was done to provide Vancouver with more financial flexibility in the short term, saving the Canucks $8 million next season. Ekman-Larsson had four years remaining on an eight-year contract that he signed with the Coyotes back in 2018, and will now be paid roughly $19 million over the next eight years from Vancouver.

🗓 Timo Meier working on long-term deal with Devils. New Jersey Devils right winger Timo Meir likely has a big payday coming his way. The Devils filed for arbitration with Meier on Thursday, but it is being reported that Meier and the Devils front office would like to come to terms on a long term deal before the arbitration hearing would take place. New Jersey acquired the 25-year-old in a trade with the San Jose Sharks a few days before last season’s trade deadline, scoring nine goals and tallying five assists in 21 regular season games with the Devils.

There are 15 MLB games scheduled to take place on this fine Saturday. However, due to gaps in the season data and lines being unavailable at the time the model was run, our model has predictions for 13 of today’s matchups.

Pittsburgh Pirates @ Milwaukee Brewers

Model Predicts- Pirates ML, Under 8.5, Brewers +1.5

The Pittsburgh Pirates and Milwaukee Brewers will face off in Game 2 of a three-game series on Saturday afternoon.

Milwaukee beat its NL Central rival by a score of 5-4 on Friday night, snapping a brutal six-game losing streak for the team. Meanwhile, last night’s loss was the fourth in a row for Pittsburgh.

Even with Milwaukee back in the win column, neither one of these teams is playing good baseball at this point in time. However, our model gives the Pirates the edge in today’s matchup and expects Pittsburgh to win. Will we see that prediction come to fruition, or will the Brewers build on their momentum from Friday night?

Pittsburgh Pirates

The Pittsburgh Pirates have had a rollercoaster of a season through 64 games. This team began the year winning 20 of their first 29 games, but have gone 14-25 overall since then in what has been a stunning collapse.

The lack of production at the plate can be blamed for the dramatic falloff. According to Fangraphs, Pittsburgh posted a 114 wRC+ in the first 29 games, the fourth highest in the MLB. However, Pittsburgh’s wRC+ has fallen to 87 since then, ranking the Pirates amongst the bottom six teams in the majors.

Another indication of the Pirates’ hitting struggles is Pittsburgh’s BABIP, or batting average on balls in play. The Pirates owned a .307 BABIP through 29 games, but that has since dropped to .291 across the last 39 games. The Pirates are also striking out far more often, with the team’s strikeout rate rising 2.8% in that same 39 game timeframe.

Luckily, the Pirates have improved on the mound this season, posting a 4.30 Team ERA in 2023 compared to 4.66 in 2022, per TeamRankings. That ERA has risen to 7.50 across the last three games, but Mitch Keller (8-2 record, 3.41 ERA) will get the start today for Pittsburgh and should bring that average down.

Keller has been one of the best pitchers in the MLB this season, posting a strikeout rate (28.2%) and walk rate (6.4%) that places him within the top 25% of the major leagues, per Baseball Savant. Keller can punch opposing hitters out at a high rate, and even if they make contact they struggle to do much damage, as seen by Keller’s 32.3% Hard Hit rate. He ranks in the top 13% of the league in that regard.

Milwaukee Brewers

The Milwaukee Brewers find themselves with a 0.5-game lead in the NL Central, but this team does not look like a squad that is capable of winning a division title.

Fangraphs has the Brewers ranked 26th in the MLB in wRC+ at 87, a sign of a struggling offensive attack. What is even more alarming is Milwaukee’s 25.6% strikeout rate and .284 BABIP, two more categories where the Brewers rank in the bottom seven.

Things have only gotten worse for Milwaukee across its last seven games, a stretch where the Brewers are just 1-6 overall. The team has seen its strikeout rate spike to 29.6% in that time, the highest in the MLB, and the Brewers’ wRC+ has dropped to 69, which also ranks last in the majors.

Milwaukee hasn’t gotten much help from whoever is on the mound either, as evidenced by its 5.08 Team ERA and 4.49 xFIP in the last seven games. The odds of that trend reversing course is in question today with Wade Miley (3-2 record, 3.67 ERA) set to start today’s game.

Miley’s 3.67 ERA is serviceable, but his 4.61 xERA is nearly a full run higher and shows he is quite vulnerable on the mound. That vulnerability results from Miley ranking in the bottom 6% of the majors in strikeout rate (14.0%) and bottom 2% in Whiff rate, per Baseball Savant. Opposing hitters aren’t often fooled by Miley, and although the contact that is made doesn’t cause much harm there is still reason to question how much gas the 36-year-old has left in the tank.

What’s the Play?

The pitching battle is always the biggest factor when figuring out who will win a baseball game, and today’s matchup on the mound tilts the scales in Pittsburgh’s favor. As a result, we agree with our model that the Pirates are in a position to win today’s matchup.

Keller hasn’t had his best stuff across his last four starts, posting a 5.96 ERA in that time. However, he is clearly the better pitcher today. According to Baseball Savant, Keller throws three main pitches, a 4-seam fastball, cutter, and sinker, all of which have an xBA (expected batting average) of .211 or lower. Opposing hitters are having a hard time reading Keller, and Milwaukee’s bottom-tier offense will likely struggle as well.

On the other hand, opposing hitters are consistently sizing up Miley, as seen by his 10.3% Barrel rate. Even though he will face a struggling Pirates offense, he could be in for a long day. Per ESPN, the Pirates hit lefties very well, batting .268 with a .766 OPS against southpaws in 2023.

Our model gives the Pirates a 56.61% chance to win today’s matchup, giving implied odds of -130. So, we’ll gladly back the Pirates on the money line with odds of -115.

3-star play: Pirates ML (-115)

Money Line Trends💰

• Pittsburgh Pirates- 34-34 overall this season, 10-8 against division opponents (Play NL Central rival Milwaukee today)

• Los Angeles Angels- 40-32 overall this season, have won 10 of the last 12 games

• Tampa Bay Rays- 51-22 overall this season, 20-15 as the away team

Over/Under Trends ⬆️⬇️

• Baltimore Orioles- Over is 34-31-4 this season, 20-12-2 as the away team

• New York Mets- Under is 37-31-1 this season, 19-11 as the home team

• Boston Red Sox- Over is 38-30-2 this season, 23-13-1 as the home team

Run Line Trends➕➖

• Baltimore Orioles- Run line is 42-27 overall this season, 17-5 as a road underdog

• Cincinnati Reds- Run line is 43-27 overall this season, 21-9 as a road underdog

• Los Angeles Dodgers- Run line is 38-32 overall this season, 3-1 when Bobby Miller is the starting pitcher

Various injuries around the league. See full injury report at MLB.com.

💪 Emmet Sheehan throws six no-hit innings in major league debut. Los Angeles Dodgers rookie Emmet Sheehan had quite the start to his career despite LA’s 7-5 loss to San Francisco last night. Sheehan was untouchable while on the mound, pitching 6.0 innings while surrendering no hits and only two walks. The Dodgers offense gave Sheehan a four run cushion as well, putting him in position for his first career win until the Dodgers bullpen crumbled in the late stages of the game. Regardless, it was still a wonderful performance by the 23-year-old, giving the Dodgers another promising young pitcher alongside rookie Bobby Miller.

📖 Andrew Abbott puts his name in the history books. Another rookie pitcher had a stellar night on the mound on Friday, but this time it was Cincinnati Reds southpaw Andrew Abbott. The left-hander allowed just four hits and zero runs across 6.0 innings in his third career start, making Abbott the first pitcher since 1893 to begin his career with three consecutive scoreless starts of at least five innings. To make things even better, the Reds won their sixth straight game because of Abbott’s performance, putting Cincinnati just 0.5 games back of first place in the NL Central.

💥 Luis Arraez has perfect night at the plate. Miami Marlins second baseman Luis Arraez snapped an 0-for-15 hitting slump last night with a 5-for-5 performance in Miami’s 6-5 victory over the Washington Nationals. Arraez couldn’t buy a hit for most of this week, but tallied two singles and one home run to propel the Marlins to their 39th win of the season. Arraez’s slump caused his batting average to dip below .400, but the 26-year-old is now batting .390 for the season and is still has a shot to become the first player since Ted Williams to bat over .400 in a season.

⛳️ Rickie Fowler still on top at the U.S. Open. Rickie Fowler began the U.S. Open shooting a round of 8-under par, a new tournament record. He would come back down to Earth on Friday with a round of 2-under, which included six bogeys and eight birdies, but Fowler still sits atop the leaderboard at -10 heading into the weekend. Every ounce of momentum from Thursday followed Fowler into Friday, sinking birdies on the the first three holes to push his score to -11. Several others player gained some ground on Fowler though, with Wyndham Clark and Rory McIlroy shooting a round of 67 to put them in second and third, respectively. Only 36 holes stand in between Fowler and a U.S. Open victory, which will be the first major title of his career if he can stay on top.

🚔 Jack Jones arrested at Boston airport. New England Patriots cornerback Jack Jones was arrested on Friday after airport security found two guns in his luggage. Jones was reportedly getting ready to fly to Arizona, where he is from, after the Patriots held their minicamp in Foxborough this week. The 25-year-old’s bail was set at $50,000 and he is scheduled to be arraigned next week.

😳 Bob Huggins arrested for DUI in Pittsburgh. It turns out that Friday night was a busy one for police and prominent figures in the sports world, with West Virginia Men’s Basketball coach Bob Huggins getting in on the action. Huggins was reportedly arrested in Pittsburgh after being pulled over for suspicion of drunken driving. The incident comes just one month after Huggins was suspended by West Virginia University for using an anti-gay slur during a radio interview, likely leading to more discipline for the long-time head coach.

Today’s trivia requires you to dig into multiple pockets of your brain, testing your knowledge of recent events as well as those that happened decades ago.

See how many of the below questions you can get correct. Answers are provided at the end of the newsletter.

Question #1- LeBron James was in the midst of a dominant run from 2009-2013, winning four MVPs in that five year span. The only year James didn’t win the MVP in that time was 2011, which was won by who?

Question #2- Only four NBA players have been drafted out of the Patriot League since 1999. Two of those players were drafted in 2013 out of Lehigh and Bucknell, both of whom still play in the NBA today. Who were those two players?

Question #3- Four NFL franchises have never made an appearance in the Super Bowl, with three of those teams being the Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, and Houston Texans. What team is the fourth?

Question #4- The NHL was founded in 1917, with four teams constantly playing one another. Two of those teams still exist to this day. Can you name those two teams?

Anyone know what has happened on June 17th throughout history? We didn’t have a clue either, but it appears that it has been a busy day.

On June 17th…

1960- Ted Williams hits his 500th career home run in a 3-1 victory over the Cleveland Indians. Williams is considered to be one of the best hitters to ever play the game, ending his career with a .344 batting average and incredible .482 on base percentage. He would hit 521 home runs in his career, although his prime was cut short due to serving in the military.

1992- The Philadelphia 76ers trade Charles Barkley to the Phoenix Suns. Phoenix sent Jeff Hornacek, Tim Perry, and Andrew Lang to the 76ers, a trade that surprisingly did not involve a single draft pick. Barkley would lead the Suns to what was at the time a franchise record 62 wins, while simultaneously winning the MVP. However, Phoenix would lose to the Chicago Bulls in the NBA Finals.

1994- Former NFL star O.J. Simpson gets into a police chase that is watched around the world. The chase occurred just two days after the murders of Simpson’s wife and her friend, a crime that many believed was committed by Simpson. O.J. was told by Los Angeles police to turn himself in, but after failing to do so the police showed up to Simpson’s home, which he then fled. He would lead police on a wild goose chase all over Southern California, an ordeal that 95 million tuned in to watch.

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1. Derrick Rose

2. C.J. McCollum and Mike Muscala

3. Jacksonville Jaguars

4. Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators