This past weekend we saw a little bit of everything. The Knicks swept their way into the conference championship for the first time in twenty five years. The Lakers all but received a death sentence going down three games to none. The Cavaliers avoid the same fate as the Lakers winning game three. Wemby lost his temper and didn't get to play much of game four. Let's talk about it all!
The Pistons played a complete four quarters to take a 2-0 series lead over the Cavaliers. The Thunder defeated the Reaves lead Lakers to stay perfect in the 2026 NBA Playoffs. The 76ers look to snag game three to avoid essentially being eliminated after just three games. The Timberwolves and Spurs go to battle for the series advantage tonight. Let's talk about all of it!
The Spurs could do nothing wrong last night. The Knicks earned everything that they got. The second set of game twos tip off tonight in Detroit followed by a late tip in Oklahoma City. Let's talk about it all!
The final two semifinal series in the NBA Playoffs tipped off last night. Cleveland traveled to Detroit to square off with the top seed Pistons, the Lakers flew to Oklahoma City to take on the West's one seed Thunder. Potential stars out tonight for game two in the other two semifinals. Let's talk about it!
After an initial report came out that Anthony Edwards would be returning for game three, he shocked everyone and played in game one. The Knicks came out on fire and that flame was never extinguished. The final two semi-final matchups start tonight. Let's talk about it!
The Pistons took down the Magic in a game that was never really that close. The Cavaliers did much of the same to eliminate the Raptors. Both teams will take the day off today to recover before beginning their series against each other. The 76ers travel to take on the Knicks after eliminating the East's betting favorite Celtics. The Wolves head to San Antonio to tangle with Wemby and the Spurs. Plenty to talk about, let's get into it!
The last two nights of playoff basketball are exactly what makes the playoffs so exciting. We saw a huge comeback, one of the coldest shooting halves in playoff history, an overtime winning three, and the betting favorite in the East getting eliminated. Let's talk about it!
The NBA playoffs are in full swing. There are series that went exactly how most experts saw them going. There are series going the complete opposite way most people thought. There are many storylines to look at half way through the first round. Let's talk about them!
Reds fans are waking up on Wednesday April 29th and the Reds currently sit in fourth place in the entire MLB. They are in first place in the NL Central with a 1.5 game lead over the Cubs. The NL Central, so far, is the best division in baseball. All five teams are at least two games above .500. If that continues throughout the season the Central could see three teams in the playoffs. Playing in the best division in baseball you need to have a great offense and a better defense. The Reds recently have fit that criteria. Let's talk about it!
The 2026 draft is now behind us. The Bengals ended up making seven selections in rounds two through seven. They spent their first round pick on the trade to acquire Dexter Lawrence. Let's take a look at the first four picks the Bengals made this past weekend and their potential to help the team this season or in seasons to come!
The first round of the NFL Draft last night saw many trades, players fall, players get taken by two teams, just about everything you could want to happen in the first round happened. There were some clear winners of the draft and some losers of the draft. Let's talk about it!
I have never done a full 32 mock draft, typically I just mock the Bengals 7 round draft. But with the Bengals not having a 1st round pick I figured I should mock draft for everyone else and see how well I do. With the first pick in the 2026 NFL draft, the Las Vegas Raiders select.....
Maxx Crosby was the topic of many offseason trade talks. The biggest story being the trade, and then cancelled trade, with the Baltimore Ravens. That deal sent Crosby to Baltimore in exchange for two first round picks. Whether the Ravens actually saw something in the physical they did not like to fail him, or they got cold feet like many believe, the trade was cancelled. Crosby was back on the trade block for any team to offer up their best package in exchange for the dominant edge rusher. Were the Bengals one of those teams to make an offer? Let's talk about it.
The Reds left Minnesota after sweeping the Twins, stealing the last two games. In game two they scored a run in each of the last three innings to come back and win 5-4. On Sunday they scored three in the 9th to send it to extras where they scored three in the top of the 10th to sweep the Twins. The Reds flew down to Tampa and picked up right where they left off. They won game one of three 6-1.
Is this real life? Did the Bengals actually trade their first top 10 pick in 5 seasons less than a week before the draft? Did the Bengals already extend the player they traded for to a contract that keeps him in Cincinnati for the next 3 seasons? Yes. Yes to all of the questions! What an exciting time to be a Bengals fan. Let's talk about it!
The NBA playoffs start in a few hours. The Cleveland Cavs take on the Toronto Raptors to open the playoffs. I have predicted every series, let's take a look!
That was just about the worst offensive performance you could put on outside of getting No-Hit. The Reds tallied only 1 hit in a 3-0 loss to the Giants. One of the biggest liabilities when hitting is Ke'Bryan Hayes. The next biggest liability in my eyes is TJ Friedl. I think the Reds have the answer for that issue playing in Louisville.
Sal Stewart has been nothing short of unbelievable in the first 18 games of the season. He is currently the team leader in batting average, home runs, RBI, on base percentage, slugging, hits, doubles, total bases, and carrying a 1.2 WAR. There have been some impressive starts to a rookie year in MLB history, and I would be hard pressed to believe this isn't up there for one of the best.
This is the first move that needed to be made. There are potentially a few others, but let's start here. Marte has started the year off very slow, quite the opposite from Hinds. Let's talk about it!
I'm going to try something new with my content today. I'm am going to talk about every inning as they happen live. Give my thoughts on how the inning went, things I might have seen, or things of that nature. I will be live updating the post every innings or maybe half inning. Let's enjoy some Reds baseball!
The Reds offense sputtered out over the last 2 games against Miami. The offense continues to prove itself as the biggest issue with the team's make up. They sent four hitters up to the plate with an average below the Mendoza line on Thursday, and five hitters falling into the same stat category on Wednesday. That is unacceptable to me. You can not operate as an organization with close to, if not give over, 50% of your hitters are hitting .200 or even worse. This is the point where I hope to see some changes made. The Reds play 6 games in 7 days, all at home. If there are no moved made today to elevate an outfield AAA bat I will be disappointed. I do not realistically see the Reds doing that today, but if they offense stinks tonight I would like to believe we see some transactions before Saturday's game. This series the Reds sent out Burns, Williamson, and Abbott. Let's talk about it!
The Reds are 7-3 after winning their third straight game scoring only 2 runs. They beat the Rangers 2-0 and 2-1 to complete the sweep, then beat the Marlins last night 2-0 to start the 4 game series off right. The pitching staff is giving up an average of 3 runs a game. The offense is only scoring 2.8 runs a game. I am not sure if I should be more excited about the dominant pitching staff or worried about the lack luster hitting by a majority of the roster. Let's talk about it!I was a catcher and then a pitcher for the majority of the time I played baseball and then I was a pitching coach in the years after I stopped playing. That said I have been thrilled to see the dominance of the starters and the bullpen guys. The starters are going deep into games being efficient, limiting the walks and hits, and most importantly keeping runs off the board. The issue the Reds might run into is having too many pitchers that are worthy of being the number 1 guy. I think it is widely known that Greene is, or at least was before the start of this season, the Reds ace. In my opinion that is now up for a debate between not only one other guy but two other guys. Those guys being Rhett Lowder and Chase Burns.
Over the last few seasons I have fallen in love with Dan Hurley and his ability to get the most out of his players year in and year out. He is beyond crazy about turning his men into champions, some might even call him psychotic. But that's what makes him great now and why he will continue to be great for many years to come. People say if you want to achieve levels of success that other people dream of you have to be delusional. In early 2020 if you told anyone that UConn would win back to back titles in '23 & '24 and would be playing for another in '26 you might have been called delusional. Hurley knew what he was capable of and that his desire to be great would rub off on his players. He has a famous quote after a loss to Villanova. He said "You better get us now because it.. it's coming." Boy was he right. I am not sure how many people in the sports world took Hurley serious when he said that, I'm sure some even laughed and doubted him. What I have seen from UConn the last 4 season has been nothing short of remarkable. Every single game is coached, played, and treated like it is the last game these guys will ever play. That determination and drive to be great and succeed is something a lot of people can learn from. If you want it, go get it. And if you want something bad enough there is nothing that can stop you from achieving that goal.
The Reds pitching staff continues to be dominant. Rhett Lowder went 6 scoreless followed by Ashcraft, Santillan, and Pagan following his lead. The Rangers tallied 3 hits yesterday, all charged to Lowder. Ashcraft and Santillan faced 3 batters and retired them in order. Pagan's inning was not as smooth but any inning you allow 0 runs I will happily take. Pagan walked the first batter. The next better grounded into a double play. Followed by a walk, infield single, and then Pagan struck out Carter to earn the save.
The Reds played a well rounded games on offense and defense to spoil the home opener for the Rangers. Gore showed why he is one of the best pitchers in the game striking out 9 Reds batters. In fact Matt McLain was the only Reds hitter to avoid striking out against Gore. The Reds hit 3 home runs in a 5-3 victory. Let's talk about it!
The Cincinnati Reds are off to a .500 start through 6 games. They won the series against Boston before losing the series to Pittsburgh. The Reds are off today to travel to Texas to take on the 4-2 Rangers. Singer, Lowder & Burns will get the starts in that order starting tomorrow afternoon. Let's take a look at the good, the bad, and the ugly to start the season.
Last night during the broadcast John Sadak posed the question , what would the 2025 Reds have looked like if they had Suarez in the line up? To be more specific he explained that Suarez hit 49 home runs in 2025, roughly one per series. That peaked my interest. So I went back and looked at all the Reds losses and found the games where a late boost would have given the Reds the edge. If there was a game early in the series where a home run would win them the game then the rest of the series would be ignored as I limited it to one HR added per series.
Reds win by 3-2. They win their first series of the year before welcoming in Paul Skenes and the Pirates. Don't get me started on Thursday's match up when Abbott toes the rubber against Skenes. I'm sure we will dive into that on Wednesday.
A completely different team from what we all watched on Thursday. The Reds tallied ten hits scoring six runs. The mvp of the game is my eyes was Sal Stewart. He went two for four, hit a bomb in the third inning, and lead the team in RBI's with two. Another guy who had a great day at the plate was Matt McLain. He picked up where he left off in the spring going three for four with an RBI and a run scored. He got on base five of six plate appearances. Early hot prediction, both McLain and Stewart receive end of year awards. Defense Player of the Game was Connor Phillips. After giving up two on Thursday, he was lights out today. He went two scoreless and hitless innings with three strike outs. Tony Santillan had a great day in relief. He struck out three of the five he faced walking the other two. Pagan made a mistake in the ninth and it sent the game to extras. He gave up a game tying home run to Wilyer Abreu. First game rep since the playoffs, nothing to worry about since the home run was the only hit surrendered in one and a third innings.
Is this 2026 or did we go back to 2025. Great start by Abbott, the bullpen keeping them in the game, and the offense sends eleven different hitters up to the plate with only two of them getting a hit. Elly with a single, Sal with a great start to his rookie campaign mashing two doubles and a single. Averaging an exit velo of 94.1 mph with his first double being 109 mph off the bat. That's just about the only positive you can take away from the offensive side of the ball yesterday.
Spring training stats need to be taken with a grain of salt, even so, the Reds put on a show this spring. One of the biggest disappointments of 2025 was Matt McLain. He struck out 1.14 times per game. Batted .220 with an OBP of .300. Not great if you ask me. Thankfully for Reds fans he lead all qualifying hitters (min. 50 AB, 15 IP) this spring in AVG, OBP, and OPS. He was tied with 2 others with 7 home runs for the spring lead. Let's hope that he stays this hot to open the season. With a pitching staff that is already down 2 of the best arms before the season even begins, the offense will have to carry this team early on. What a scary thought after watching last season.
I will be the first to tell you that the Bengals have not done enough so far this offseason. There are still some holes in the defense that can be addressed before the draft. The best free agents at the positions of need are all signed, but there are still players who add value available. I believe the Bengals need to add another Edge, a Cornerback, and another Defensive Tackle.
My name is Luke Townsend.
I have loved sports for as long as I can remember. I have always enjoyed talking with others about sports. So I figured, what the heck. Welcome to "Stockings and Stripes". The page where I'll mainly write about the Reds or the Bengals, but once comfortable I will cover many other teams and events. I will also have a comment section under my posts so please feel free to engage! I will happily accept constructive criticism but also would love to share opinions so fire away!
Thanks for stopping by!
