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Watch: Absurd Caitlin Clark three gives Fever distance over Liberty in early showdown
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark was in a drought, and then it started to rain.
Clark snapped a 0-14 streak from three-point range with two massive makes late in the third quarter of Saturday's early season showdown with the defending WNBA champion New York Liberty to give the Fever a 76-68 lead.
Indiana outscored New York 30-13 in the third, which was punctuated by Clark's long-distance makes.
First, Clark gai ned separation at the top of the three-point line and drilled the 25-foot shot while being found by Liberty guard Rebekah Gardner.
Then, she beat the buzzer with a ridiculous 33-foot make as the Fever ended the quarter on a 9-0 run.
FOUR-POINT PLAY‼️
— Indiana Fever (@IndianaFever) May 24, 2025
Caitlin Clark shakes the defender, drills the three, and draws the foul pic.twitter.com/OdytHh4qIK
Caitlin Clark beats the Q3 buzzer with the triple from way downtown pic.twitter.com/lhJ1iu45UI
— Indiana Fever (@IndianaFever) May 24, 2025
Before her two third-quarter three-pointers, Clark hadn't connected from long distance since the fourth quarter of the Fever's 91-90 loss to the Atlanta Dream on Tuesday.
She missed her last two in that loss and all five in Indiana's rematch with the Dream on Thursday, an 81-76 win. Clark began Saturday 0-of-7 from beyond the arc.
More must-reads:
- Caitlin Clark creates unforgettable moment with fan after win vs. Dream
- Caitlin Clark refuses to back down, sends clear message during Fever win
- The 'WNBA champion head coaches' quiz
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Commanders flaw exposed in blowout preseason loss to Ravens
The Washington Commanders have a potentially significant problem on special teams. During Saturday's 30-3 preseason Week 3 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, kicker Matt Gay missed a 53-yard field goal wide left at the end of Washington's first offensive possession. Gay finished the preseason 3-of-5 on field goal attempts. He also missed a 49-yarder wide left in preseason Week 1 against the New England Patriots. Gay's struggles continue the chaotic journey for the Commanders at kicker. Last season's Week 1 starter, Cade York, went 0-of-2 in the opener and was promptly released. His replacement, Austin Seibert, was in the midst of a fantastic season through Week 9, going 25-of-27 on field goals and 22-of-22 on extra points before missing two weeks with a hip injury. He was later placed on injured reserve after missing three kicks in a loss to the Dallas Cowboys, including a would-be tying extra point following a wild 86-yard touchdown with under a minute remaining. Zane Gonzalez and Greg Joseph combined to go 7-of-10 on field goals the rest of the season, including each missing a 50-yard attempt. Overall, Commanders kickers struggled from long distance, with the four combining to go 2-of-8 on attempts of 50 yards or more. Only the Philadelphia Eagles had a worse percentage (14.3%) on attempts of at least 50 yards, per Pro Football Reference data. Washington signed Gay to a one-year, $4.25M fully guaranteed contract in late April following the 2025 NFL Draft. Per CBS Sports, it's the largest guaranteed contract for a kicker on a one-year deal in NFL history. Last season, while with the Indianapolis Colts, Gay was 3-of-9 on 50-yard field goals. The Commanders have the talent on offense to be one of the league's top scoring units, so they might not need to convert many tries from over 50 yards. Still, having a kicker who can reliably hit from that distance is an undeniable asset, particularly late in close games or on possessions that stall after crossing midfield. Washington largely has a roster capable of contending for a Super Bowl. But following its final tune-up before the regular season, kicking is a notable flaw.
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Phillies get terrible injury news on ace starting pitcher
The Philadelphia Phillies received the update they did not want to hear on Saturday. Starting pitcher Zack Wheeler is going to miss the remainder of the 2025 season due to thoracic outlet syndrome, the team announced. He will have surgery to correct the issue with a recovery time of six to eight months. There is no way to sugarcoat this for the Phillies — this is brutal news and a potentially crushing blow to their World Series chances in the National League. While they still have a strong rotation and two excellent front-line starters in Cristopher Sanchez and Ranger Suarez, Wheeler is their unquestioned ace and has been one of the best overall pitchers in the National League since he joined the Phillies prior to the 2020 season. The Phillies are still pretty much a playoff lock at this point and entered the weekend with a six-game lead over the New York Mets in the National League East standings. But taking a front-line starter away from them this late in the season is going to be impossible to replace. With Wheeler, Sanchez and Suarez, they would have had a fierce trio to throw at teams in a short series (or a best-of-seven series) that could have stacked up with anybody. Sanchez and Suarez are still going to give them a great chance, but it's definitely not what they wanted. Prior to Saturday's announcement, Wheeler had a 2.71 ERA and was leading the league in both strikeouts (195) and strikeouts per nine innings (11.7) pitched. He also has the lowest WHIP (walks/hits per innings pitched) in the league (.935).
Two-time Stanley Cup champion leaves NHL for Switzerland
Last season was a tough one for veteran defenseman Jan Rutta. He dealt with some lower-body injuries, and when he was in the lineup for San Jose, he was often on the third pairing. That has certainly contributed to his going unsigned through the first seven weeks of free agency, but that is coming to an end. Earlier this week, Blick’s Gregory Beaud (h/t The Hockey News) reported that the blueliner is signing with Geneve-Servette in Switzerland. Rutta played in 54 games for the Sharks last season, picking up just three goals and six assists in a little over 17 minutes a night. However, he took a regular turn on their penalty kill and played some tough defensive minutes. Speculatively, NHL teams could be eyeing him as a PTO candidate to fill a sixth or seventh role if things went well in training camp but clearly, a full contract offer has yet to materialize and at some point, a guaranteed deal overseas could be viewed as a better option than trying to earn a contract off a tryout. Rutta debuted fairly late in the NHL with his first season coming at the age of 27 with Chicago. Since then, he has suited up in 417 regular-season games between four different clubs, putting up 23 goals and 75 assists along with 479 blocked shots. He also has a pair of Stanley Cup rings from his time with Tampa Bay. Rutta will be the third veteran NHL player to join that team this offseason. Previously, it signed wingers Jesse Puljujarvi and Jimmy Vesey and has one import slot remaining that it appears they want to use to bring in a veteran defender.
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World Series-winning pitcher won't commit to playing beyond 2025
Jon Gray’s season was all but officially ended last week by a diagnosis of thoracic outlet syndrome and a subsequent placement on the Rangers’ 15-day injured list. TOS surgery would keep Gray sidelined for a big chunk of the 2026 season and perhaps the entirety of next year, and Gray would be 35 on Opening Day 2027. The idea of hanging up his glove entirely has apparently at least crossed Gray’s mind, as Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News writes that Gray “responded mostly with a shrug” when asked by reporters Friday if he was going to keep playing beyond this season. When asked about pitching again in 2025, Gray said “I don’t have any idea about the future. I guess there is always hope. But it’s hard to have hope with everything that’s happened. It’s just become a really frustrating pattern.” That said, Gray noted that he had some interest in looking to “go out with a good feeling” rather than be somewhat forced out of baseball due to injury. Given that a TOS surgery hasn’t even been officially planned yet, it is probably too soon to be reading too much into Gray’s immediate reaction, as his emotions are (understandably) raw about this latest major setback to his career. There is no rush for him to make any big decision about his playing career, and naturally Gray might want to take his time in considering whether or not to walk away from the game entirely. This major injury adds another layer, however, to what was already looking like a crossroads of an offseason for the right-hander. Gray is in the final season of his four-year, $56M contract, and he has pitched only 14 innings this season due to a broken wrist suffered during spring training, and then this most recent IL placement. The Rangers have used Gray out of the bullpen rather than as a starter, and he has struggled to a 7.71 ERA over his six appearances. The sample size is small enough that it’s hard to make any clear observations from Gray’s 2025 performance, and five homers allowed over his 14 innings obviously skewed his numbers to some extent. It still clearly wasn’t the type of platform year Gray was hoping for heading into free agency, and if healthy, he would’ve likely been looking at a one-year guarantee from a team hoping he could bounce back. The TOS surgery could make a two-year deal a possibility, with a minimal salary in the first year and a larger commitment for 2027 when Gray is presumably healthy, yet the overall size of that contract doesn’t figure to be too pricey considering the shaky track record of pitchers returning in good form after thoracic outlet syndrome. Injuries have been a frequent concern for Gray, as a variety of issues (foot problems, an MCL strain, an oblique strain, blisters, shoulder inflammation, a forearm strain, multiple groin strains in 2024 and his fractured wrist) have led to IL stints over the course of his 11 major league seasons. Despite these health woes and the fact that he spent his first seven seasons pitching in the thin air with the Rockies, Gray has a respectable 4.49 ERA, 23.4% strikeout rate and 7.8% walk rate over 1230 2/3 career innings. Chosen third overall by Colorado in the 2013 draft, Gray didn’t quite reach the star level associated with such lofty draft status, but he has been a solid rotation member over his career with some flashes of being a frontline starter. If this is indeed it for Gray, he can look back with pride on a long career that included a World Series ring with Texas in 2023. (Gray contributed to that title with a 1.59 ERA over 5 2/3 relief innings during the Rangers’ postseason run.) Grant suggested two other factors that might impact any of Gray’s retirement plans. Gray has over 10 years of MLB service time — officially crossing that threshold earlier this season — and therefore is already qualified for a full pension. There is also the widespread expectation that MLB will be facing a work stoppage when the collective bargaining agreement expires after the 2026 season, so if Gray does indeed miss next year while rehabbing, a return to the field could be even further delayed by a lockout.
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