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.
The State of the WNBA: The Good, Bad, and Ugly
The Good
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 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
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
The 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 he 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 to tie the game 6-6
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
The State of the WNBA and Cuzzi's Curse of the Minnesota Twins Continues