MLB’s most interesting team, plus searching for a tooth

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Good morning! Show out like Sonny Styles today. Inside: 

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Hurdles: In Toronto, hope — somehow — springs anew

I will endlessly be fascinated with everything involved in a title-series Game 7. One game to decide a months-long season. One game to cement a legacy. There is a fragility involved, both in the game itself and in the lasting effects of it. It is always easy to say the losing team will be back next year. Most of the time, though, it doesn’t happen. 

Thus, this year’s most interesting MLB team may be the Blue Jays. They’re talented on paper after retooling this offseason. But this is a unit that came inches away from winning Game 7, at home, in last year’s World Series. Instead, they gave way to baseball’s modern dynasty, becoming a brutal footnote in what was one of the best World Series in recent memory. 

Jayson Stark wrote a great story today from Blue Jays spring training, where some think the 2026 team could be better than last year’s group. History, however, is not kind. Two jarring stats from Jayson’s piece: 

• In the last 65 years, one team — the 2014-15 Royals — lost a World Series Game 7, then came back and won a ring the next season. Just one other team in the wild-card era, the 2017-18 Dodgers, even made it back to the World Series.
  
  
• And in this era, only one other team in the AL East, the 2001 Yankees, lost in a World Series Game 7, which came in that classic tilt against the Diamondbacks. But the 2002 Yanks lost in the ALDS the next year.

Moreover, the mental aspect intrigues me. Jayson got Blue Jays players and front-office members to really open up about the brain exercises you have to endure after losing a game like that and trying to somehow make it back. 

Read their stories here. It’s worth your time today.

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News to Know

Dolphins, Steelers bookend NFLPA survey
The results of the NFLPA’s annual team report cards can’t be publicly published this year, per a court order, but The Athletic obtained a copy of what the union sent to players yesterday. Its findings: Miami received the highest overall grade from players, while Pittsburgh ranked last. See the full dossier here. 

• Related: Pittsburgh’s former coach, Mike Tomlin, might be part of a wave of new faces on your TVs this fall, as NFL coverage could see major changes

Richardson requests trade
Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson has requested a trade, sources confirmed to The Athletic, likely ending what has been, at best, a mixed tenure for Richardson with the Colts. The organization picked Richardson at No. 4 in the 2023 NFL Draft, and he’s played in just 17 games since, due to both injury and inconsistent performance. Read more background here.

More news:

• Late-breaking last night: A fan took Lionel Messi to the turf during an Inter Miami friendly. Read our full report.
  
• President Trump will convene a panel on the future of college sports, sources told The Athletic.
  
• Italian golfer Andrea Pavan was seriously injured after falling down an elevator shaft just before the South Africa Open. Read more here.
  
• Former NBA player Chris Bosh said he woke up in a pool of his own blood after collapsing while getting ready to go out recently. See more details here.
  
• Eight members of Team Cuba’s traveling party were denied entry into the United States for the World Baseball Classic. Read the full report.
  
• Former NFL quarterback Drew Brees and Vuori CEO Joe Kudla are among the big names bidding on the Padres. Details inside.

📰 Find more news here 24/7.

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Follow-ups: Where are Jack Hughes’ teeth?

The above image is the one I will remember most from the U.S. men’s hockey team’s magical run to gold in Milan: Jack Hughes, national hero, smiling from ear to ear with teeth missing. Bloody and brilliant. 

It’s a nice story, and Mark Lazerus’ write-up of the toothy turnaround was a delight. Then, Pulse reader Sally G. wrote an email with an important question: What actually happened to Hughes’ broken teeth? 

I did not know, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it, so I went snooping. First, to Mark, who has covered the Blackhawks for the last 13 years and was in Italy covering the Games:

💬 I’m not sure what they did in Milan, but I’ve seen refs or linesmen or teammates pick them up with their fingers and bring them to a team doctor or athletic trainer on the bench. If there’s a lot of blood, they come by with the shovel crew and scrape it off the ice, so maybe they just scoop them up that way. Jack’s didn’t come out very clean, it was all shards and whatnot, so I doubt they needed/wanted to save them. Though, hell, they belong in the Hockey Hall of Fame now.

“Shards” made me shudder. After scouring interviews, I couldn’t find any more hard evidence, so I reached out to Devils PR to see if we could get an answer. 

The teeth, Devils comms boss Nicholas Blackman told me, are still in Milan, lost to icy, dental history. 

Thank you to Sally for the question, and if you have any other fun rabbit holes, don’t hesitate to email us at thepulse@theathletic.com. 

Meanwhile, Hughes reflected on the gold medal, and the ensuing political-joke saga, yesterday. His comments are worth a read. Almost done:

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Watch Guide

📺 NBA: Cavaliers at Pistons
7 p.m. ET on ESPN
We’re all in on East-leading Detroit this week, which picked up a nice win over the Thunder on Wednesday. Denver-Oklahoma City follows at 9:30 p.m. ET. 

📺 NCAAM: No. 3 Michigan at No. 10 Illinois
8 p.m. ET on Fox
Prepare for college hoops to take over our lives soon. This top-10 matchup tonight has big tournament seeding implications, too. Have a seat somewhere.

Get tickets to games like this here.

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Pulse Picks

The 2026 NWSL kits have officially dropped. We reviewed and ranked every one. 

Pro tennis at this point is broken — again. Matthew Futterman and Charlie Eccleshare tried to fix it. 

More from the NBA/hip-hop front: Tony Jones has a great read on how Damian Lillard and Shaquille O’Neal actually made it in the industry as NBA players. 

We talked yesterday about how good the 2026 NBA Draft class might be. Not looking so great in the light: the 2024 class, which is, as John Hollinger writes, at a crossroads. 

According to an old Phil Jackson rule, only three teams have a realistic shot to win the NBA title. The math is interesting. 

Someone spent $26,000 on a Josh Rosen trading card. We found out why. 

By the way, we’re very excited to welcome multiple big names from the late Washington Post sports section to our staff. See the full update here. 

Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: The U.S. women’s hockey team commenting on the political mess. Just read it here. 

Most-read on the website yesterday: The U.S. men’s hockey team saying it should’ve “reacted differently” during a call with President Trump. Read this group’s side here.

📫 That’s all for now! Say hello at thepulse@theathletic.com, and check out our other newsletters.