Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. Leave it to Shohei Ohtani to rescue the Angels.
In today’s SI:AM:
😇 A heroic performance by the reigning MVP
⛹️♂️ The latest on Stephen Curry’s injuryIf you're reading this on SI.com, you can sign up to get this free newsletter in your inbox each weekday at SI.com/newsletters.
Angels snap streak
The Angels can thank one man for preventing their losing streak from reaching 15 games: Shohei Ohtani.
Entering last night, the Angels hadn’t won a game since May 24. Their once-promising season was in total disarray, falling from first place in the division to 9½ games behind the Astros. Luckily, it was Ohtani’s turn to take the mound.
Ohtani allowed one run on four hits over seven innings and struck out six while also going 2-for-4 with a home run at the plate as the Angels beat the Red Sox 5–2.
Ohtani had struggled during the losing streak allowing five runs over six innings in his start on May 26 and four runs in just three innings in his start on June 2. He also batted just .192 with two home runs and three doubles in 57 plate appearances during that time. But he looked more like the MVP version of Ohtani in last night’s game.
The Angels aren’t out of the woods yet, though. Their current record is 28–31, 2½ games behind the Red Sox for the final spot in the expanded playoffs. And while they snapped the streak last night, Mike Trout missed his second straight game with groin tightness. The Angels say they’re not worried about Trout’s injury, but an injury to the team’s best player—one who missed the last four and half months of the 2021 season with a lower body injury—has to be a little concerning.
What to watch for at UFC 275
UFC is heading to Singapore this weekend for the fifth time (its first since October 2019) and its first pay-per-view card in the country.
UFC 275 is headlined by a pair of very different title fights, with Glover Teixeira defending his light heavyweight title against Jiří Procházka, in what will be the biggest fight of the 29-year-old’s career. Valentina Shevchenko will be defending her women’s flyweight title against Talia Santos.
Teixeira, 42, became the oldest first-time champion in UFC history when he defeated Jan Błachowicz at UFC 267 in Abu Dhabi in October and will be defending his title for the first time.
“Most of the fighters retire after they get to 40, or they don’t even get to 40,” Teixeira told SI’s Justin Barrasso. “I know this is not something normal. But this is my passion, and I want it to keep going.”
While the story of Teixeira’s UFC career is one of perseverance, Shevchenko’s career has been defined by her dominance. She has held the flyweight title since December 2018 and has successfully defended it six times. As Barrasso writes, a win against Santos would leave her without any rivals in the division:
“Shevchenko (22–3) is the overwhelming favorite as she seeks her ninth straight victory, and it is impossible not to look ahead. A victory Saturday would further clear out the contenders at flyweight. Santos is currently ranked fourth in the division, and Shevchenko has already defeated everyone else in the top five.”
With a win tomorrow, Shevchenko could move up from flyweight (116–125 pounds) to bantamweight (126–135 pounds), likely for a match against the winner of next month’s bantamweight title match between Julianna Peña and Amanda Nunes. Shevchenko has lost twice to Nunes (in 2016 and ’17) and beat Peña in ’17.
“I’m open to a return to bantamweight against Amanda or Julianna,” Shevchenko told Barrasso. “A trilogy with Amanda would be amazing, or a rematch against Julianna would be very interesting. I’m definitely open to either of those opportunities.”
UFC 275 begins with the early prelims on UFC Fight Pass at 6:30 p.m. ET tomorrow. The prelims start at 8 p.m. on ESPN+, and the main card begins at 10 p.m. (available for purchase through ESPN+).
The best of Sports Illustrated
With the Pro Bowl’s future in doubt, Alex Prewitt spoke with former NFL punter Brian Moorman about the famous hit Sean Taylor laid on him. … Michael Pina wrote that Game 3 was “a quintessential performance” from Marcus Smart. Can he repeat it tonight in Game 4? … Rohan Nadkarni catalogued the differences between the NBA’s regular season and playoffs, with insight from Steve Kerr and others. … The Aces top Ben Pickman’s latest WNBA power rankings. … Dan Falkenheim spoke with the guy behind the endlessly entertaining Twitter account “Art But Make It Sports.”
Around the sports world
Stephen Curry says he will play in Game 4 tonight. … The PGA Tour, as expected, has suspended the players who jumped to LIV Golf. … Writer Alan Shipnuck, who wrote the book in which Phil Mickelson now infamously referred to the Saudis as “scary motherf-----s,” was ejected from a LIV Golf press conference. … LeBron James says he wants to own an NBA team in Las Vegas. … Jason Garrett is reportedly replacing Drew Brees at NBC Sports. … Top quarterback recruit C.J. Carr, grandson of former Michigan coach Lloyd Carr, has committed to Notre Dame. … The president of the NAACP called for Jack Del Rio to resign or be fired.
The top five...
… must-see moments from yesterday in sports:
5. Tony La Russa intentionally walking Trea Turner with a 1–2 count, and the audible reaction of a fan in the stands. (The next batter, Max Muncy, hit a three-run homer.)
4. Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s hustle to score from first.
3. Andrei Vasilevskiy’s save to deny Ryan Lindgren and keep the game tied. (The Lightning went on to win on this goal by Mikhail Sergachev.)
2. The Twins hitting three home runs in a row off Gerrit Cole.
1. Jayda Coleman’s home run robbery for Oklahoma against Texas in the Women’s College World Series. (The Sooners won their sixth championship and second in a row.)
SIQ
Who became the youngest player in major league history on this day in 1944, at the age of 15 years, 316 days?
Yesterday’s SIQ: Who was the first major leaguer to total 3,000 hits?
Answer: Cap Anson, although the exact number of hits he recorded is up for debate. As John Thorn, Major League Baseball’s official historian, wrote in 1999, Anson’s hit total is far from black and white.
For starters, Anson played the first five years of his pro career in the National Association, and in 1968 MLB’s Special Records Commission ruled it to be a minor league. Then there’s the issue of incomplete and/or outright fraudulent recordkeeping. Thorn quotes from a ’61 book by Lee Allen in which Allen wrote that the National League’s secretary/official statistician “liked to add a few hits to the totals made by his favorites.” There is also the oddity of how walks were counted in the 19th century. In 1876, the National League’s first year, walks were counted as outs, but in ’87 they were counted as hits.
All of which is to say, Anson had 3,000-ish hits in his career. The Hall of Fame puts his total at 3,435 (including his stats from the NA). MLB lists him with 3,011, counting only his 22 years in the NL. The Elias Sports Bureau has 3,081. Thorn’s 1999 research put the number at 2,996. But, in a “modern-day addendum,” Thorn seems to have settled on a new number that reflects Baseball Reference and data from Pete Palmer that puts Anson at 3,012 hits. Personally I don’t think there’s any interest in kicking a guy who’s been dead for 100 years out of the 3,000-hit club, so, for now, Anson stays a member of the elite.
From the Vault: June 9, 1975
Neal Barr, Larry Burrows/Sports Illustrated
For my money, SI’s most compelling cover subject over the years has been Muhammad Ali. This one, on the eve of his fight at London’s Wembley Stadium against Henry Cooper, was his first.
At the time, Ali was just an outspoken up-and-comer, calling himself “the uncrowned world champion,” and in the build to his fight against Cooper was not shy about calling the Englishman a mere stepping stone to a title fight against Sonny Liston.
There aren’t very many words about Ali in the magazine (about 1,100, including photo captions), but the photo spread gives you as good an idea of what Ali was like as a 3,000-word profile would. There’s a picture of him in a suit and bowler hat walking down a street in London with a cane. In another, he sits on a stoop in Louisville joking around with some children. One shows him goofing off next to a London policeman. My favorite might be the one where he’s sitting in the backseat of his car intently watching As the World Turns on the tiny TV set he had installed between the driver’s and passenger’s seats. Even in buying a television he couldn’t resist taking a shot at a rival. The TV was a Sony, a reminder, he said, of the matchup he sought against Liston.
Check out more of SI’s archives and historic images at vault.si.com.
