The championship drought for the local teams that play in MLB, the NFL, the NBA and the NHL — don’t @ me, NYCFC and Gotham FC supporters! — trudges on after the Rangers’ quest for their first title since 1994 ended Saturday night shortly after the sun set in Sunrise.
We already knew that the Giants defeating Brady and Belichick and the Patriots for the second time in the Super Bowl in Feb. 2012 was a long time ago, and no sports fan here needs to be reminded of their favorite teams’ various shortcomings
Still, sometimes you come across a round-number statistic that jumps out at you as a number of significance.
The Blueshirts’ elimination in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final by the Panthers makes it a combined 100 seasons played by the Rangers, Islanders, Yankees, Mets, Knicks, Nets, Jets and Giants since the latter hoisted the Lombardi Trophy a dozen years ago.
Additionally, If you total up the length of each team’s drought — I was told there’d be no math! — it’s 287 seasons, with the Jets at 55 years and counting, the Knicks at 51, the Nets at 47 (never in the NBA), the Isles at 41, the Mets at 37, the Rangers now at 30 (and once in 84!), the Yankees at 14 and the Giants at 12. (Note: I’d also count the Devils (2003) as a local team since all of their games are aired in our TV market, which would push that aggregated figure to 308 seasons).
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Anyway, for today’s exercise, let’s take a look at each team’s current title potential, listed in order of which local franchises are closest to halting the collective dry spell in these four sports.
Yankees: Pending free agent Juan Soto and scorching-hot Aaron Judge are rocking the M & M (Mantle and Maris) vibes in the Boogie Down, but the Yankees’ title hopes as early as this fall hinge on what surprisingly has been a stellar pitching staff that somehow has posted an MLB-best 2.78ERA, all without a single pitch thrown by reigning Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole. Can Rookie of the Year frontrunner Luis Gil (7-1, 1.99) hold up and avoid an innings shutdown through the second half?
Knicks: Tom Thibodeau and All-Star point guard Jalen Brunson have established a long-absent culture at the Garden, and team prez Leon Rose faces key decisions this summer on how to get from Point B to Point C in terms of title contention. Does he run it back with three-time All-Star Julius Randle following season-ending shoulder surgery, or attempt to trade him in a package with draft picks for an upgrade to the roster the Knicks went to war with in the playoffs?
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Rangers: Saturday’s loss is fresh in our minds, but the 2023-24 Presidents’ Trophy winners still have the splendid Igor Shesterkin in goal and a talented core. But another postseason fade by star winger Artemi Panarin, among others, makes you wonder if GM Chris Drury will look to shake up the top-of-the-roster mix for Peter Laviolette’s second year at MSG.
Jets: I was a year old when Joe Namath backed up his guarantee in Super Bowl III and just turned 56 a few weeks back. The Jets’ drought now exceeds the 54-year “now I can die in peace” skid the Rangers endured before finally winning it all behind Mark Messier’s guarantee in 1994. Complementing one of the NFL’s top defenses, does 40-year-old QB Aaron Rodgers have enough left following Achilles surgery to make a serious run?
Giants: The Giants fittingly land in the middle of this list, because that’s where they are in their team’s development, whether it’s middling quarterback Daniel Jones trying to play closer to the scrambler who led them to a playoff spot in 2022 than the one who ran for his life behind a patchwork offensive line before suffering a non-contact ACL injury last year. Saquon Barkley is gone, but first-round wide receiver Malik Nabers could provide a long-coveted playmaker for Jones.
Devils: New Jersey took a step back and missed the playoffs after upending the Rangers in the first round in 2023, but a young core fronted by Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt gives new coach Sheldon Keefe plenty of talent to build around in Newark.
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Islanders: Following a coaching change that brought Hall of Fame goalie Patrick Roy behind the bench, the Isles rallied to qualify for the postseason for the fifth time in six years. But a second straight first-round departure felt like the window for any title contention for Lou Lamoriello’s group is just about closed.
Mets: Steve Cohen’s club went all-in to win it all before the start of the 2023 season, but a glorious flameout resulted in the pawning-off of veteran studs Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander, among others. This year’s squad has been underwhelming for weeks with Pete Alonso headed for free agency and with Edwin Diaz unable to rediscover his 2022 magic following the WBC injury wreckage of last year.
Nets: Brooklyn’s all-in maneuvers to land Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden ended in disaster, and Year 1 of their post-Big 3 retooling wasn’t much better. A 32-50 record in 2023-24 now turns to a summer with zero draft picks for new coach Jordi Fernandez to integrate into his rotation next season.
Today’s back page
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Rangers didn’t flex their muscle
A viral video from Saturday night perfectly summed up the Rangers’ six-game elimination by the Panthers, who were the more physical team throughout the Eastern Conference Final.
A shirtless boy flexing behind the Rangers’ bench caught Peter Laviolette’s eye while he was doing an in-game interview with ABC’s Emily Kaplan near the end of the first period.
“Peter Laviolette having to deal with the Florida Panthers’ muscle on the ice and it was the muscle behind him in the stands,” ESPN play-by-play announcer Sean McDonough quipped.
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It was a funny line and sequence in a scoreless game at the time, but Laviolette and the Rangers had few answers for the Panthers’ size, speed, depth and relentlessness throughout much of the six games.
They were fortunate to have the acrobatic Shesterkin on their side to keep them within striking distance in most of the games, including their two overtime victories.
Add that to the slumps of high-end producers Mika Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin (until his last-minute desperation goal in Game 6), Adam Fox and others, and the Rangers will have a long summer to ponder what could have been and what needs to change to take the next step after posting a league-best regular season record.
Just keep it clean
I have no issue with other WNBA players testing Caitlin Clark, and in no way am I suggesting anyone take it easy on the transformative rookie as she adjusts to the pro game.
But Saturday’s knockdown by Chennedy Carter — and the apparent celebration of it by Angel Reese and her Sky teammates — crossed the line. At the very least, it merited Clark’s teammates on the Fever standing up for her in that moment.
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Carter wasn’t fined for the hit, but the league at least upgraded the away-from-the-ball foul in the third quarter to a Flagrant 1 after reviewing the play.
Everyone in the league is benefitting from the attention — and added dollars — the former Iowa star is bringing in her rookie campaign. Opponents don’t need to treat her with kid gloves because of it, but plays like Carter’s are dangerous and unnecessary.
What we’re reading 👀
⚾ If this season has been a job interview for Juan Soto to stay with the Yankees, Sunday’s two-homer performance to complete a sweep of the Giants should go a long way to getting him the new megadeal he wants.
⚾ It has been a rough few weeks for the Mets, and blowing another lead late on Sunday to the Diamondbacks didn’t ease the pain. Still, Joel Sherman writes, the NL is so blah that even the Mets still can squint and see a playoff run.
🏒 If you’ve admired the wizardry of Igor Shesterkin or Henril Lundqvist, then you’ve admired the coaching of Benoit Allaire, who has been helping shape the Rangers’ goaltending work for two decades. Soon, though, the Rangers will welcome a new goaltending coach as Allaire is scaling back his day-to-day workload.
🏀 If getting hip-checked to the floor Saturday wasn’t painful enough for Caitlin Clark, being held to 3 points in a blowout loss to the Liberty added to a rough weekend for the WNBA No. 1 pick.
🏒 Connor McDavid helped send the Oilers into the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2006, where they’ll meet that team from Florida no Rangers fan wants to celebrate.
