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| Presented By Vint |
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| Axios Sports |
| By Kendall Baker · Oct 26, 2022 |
| 👋 Happy Wednesday! Short and sweet edition for you this morning. Today's word count: 1,369 words (5 minutes). Let's sports... |
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| 1 big thing: 🏒 The NHL's new Iron Man |
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| Photo: Kavin Mistry/NHLI via Getty Images |
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| Golden Knights winger Phil Kessel, 35, played in his 990th consecutive game on Tuesday night — and scored his 400th career goal — surpassing Keith Yandle to become the NHL's new "Iron Man," Axios' Jeff Tracy writes. Top five: - Kessel: 990 games (2009–present)
- Yandle: 989 (2009–22)
- Doug Jarvis: 964 (1975–87)
- Garry Unger: 914 (1968–79)
- Patrick Marleau: 910 (2009–21)
The big picture: The way Kessel's career began in 2006 — with a testicular cancer diagnosis just 27 games into his rookie year with the Bruins — perhaps foretold such an accomplishment as he missed just one month after undergoing surgery. - Three years later, in his first of six seasons with the Maple Leafs, his historic streak began.
- It has spanned 14 seasons, four teams (Toronto, Pittsburgh, Arizona, Vegas), two Stanley Cups and 833 points, the 10th-most among players in that time.
What they're saying: Kessel has consistently stayed on the ice by, among other things, simply avoiding contact. "The funny stat I see every year is that he's the least-hit guy in the league," former Bruins teammate Marc Savard told The Score. Zoom out: Kessel is the only active player among the "Big Four" to hold his league's all-time Iron Man streak. (All records include regular-season games only.) - MLB: Cal Ripken Jr. played in 2,632 straight games 1982–98. (Active leader: Braves 1B Matt Olson, 296 games)
- NFL: Brett Favre started 297 straight games 1992–2010. (Active leader: Falcons OT Jake Matthews, 134 starts)
- NBA: A.C. Green played in 1,192 straight games 1986–2001. (Active leader: Suns F Mikal Bridges, 313 games)
Looking ahead: Hurricanes defenseman Brent Burns (685) is the only other NHL player with an active streak exceeding 500 games. Even if Kessel's streak ended tomorrow, Burns wouldn't catch him for nearly four seasons. Go deeper: The many legends of Phil Kessel (ESPN) |
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| 2. ⚾️ Phils winning in spite of defense |
 Data: FanGraphs; Table: Jared Whalen/Axios The Phillies offense is on fire, which is great news for the Fightins, because it's rare to see such a bad defensive team in the World Series, Jeff writes. By the numbers: Of the 40 teams to make the World Series since 2003 — when defensive runs saved (DRS)* was first established — just two have had a worse mark than Philly's -34. - That ineptitude isn't surprising: The Phillies ranked dead last in DRS last season and chose not to shore up their defense in the offseason.
- Instead, they spent $179 million on sluggers Nick Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber, two notoriously poor fielders.
Between the lines: As ugly as their advanced metrics look, the Phillies actually make most of the plays they're supposed to, committing the third-fewest errors and sporting the second-best fielding percentage in the league this season. - Yes, but: While those two realities — bad advanced stats but good traditional stats — may seem at odds, they're actually connected:
- Because of their fielders' poor range, the Phillies simply don't get to many of the balls they might otherwise make errors on.
The big picture: The 2022 Phillies were built in the image of the team one spot ahead of them in the chart above: the defensively-inept 2012 Tigers. - Dave Dombrowski built a perennial winner in Detroit, where he was president of baseball operations, through elite offense and starting pitching.
- Now in the same role with Philadelphia, it appears he has once again found success via sluggers and aces — and in spite of bad defense.
The bottom line: "Defense wins championships," goes the old adage. The Phillies didn't get the memo — but they're four wins from a title anyway. *Defensive runs saved: Indicates how many runs a player saved — or hurt — his team in the field compared to the average player at his position. |
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| 3. 🏈 NFL power rankings: Week 8 |
 Table: Axios Visuals Not much change at the top this week, but the three teams rounding out the top 10 represent how quickly fortunes can change, Jeff writes. - The Bengals, Jets and Titans started out a combined 1-6, and it would have been 0-7 if not for New York's stunning last-minute comeback over Cleveland.
- They're 12-1 since then, with the Titans sitting atop the AFC South and the Jets and Bengals both within a game of first.
Looking ahead: Just two teams are on bye this week (Chiefs, Chargers), while the Broncos and Jags meet Sunday in the season's third and final London game. |
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| 4. ⚡️ Lightning round |
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| Aliyah Boston is back. Photo: Andy Lyons/Getty Images |
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| 🏀 All-Americans: Aliyah Boston (South Carolina), Caitlin Clark (Iowa), Haley Jones (Stanford), Ashley Joens (Iowa State), Elizabeth Kitley (Virginia Tech) and Aneesah Morrow (DePaul) make up the preseason women's All-America team. ⚽️ NWSL Best XI: Golden Boot winner Alex Morgan (career-best 15 goals) headlines the NWSL Best XI first team, announced Tuesday. Fellow USWNT legend Megan Rapinoe headlines the second team. ⚾️ Skip, the skipper: The Marlins have hired Skip Schumaker as their new manager. The rookie skipper spent this past season as the Cardinals' bench coach. 🏈 Aggies turmoil: Mired in a three-game losing streak and fresh off losing three O-linemen to injury, Texas A&M has indefinitely suspended three freshmen for violating team rules. Brutal season in College Station. 🏀 Wild stat: Through his first three games with the Nets, Ben Simmons has 17 points — and 14 fouls. |
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| 5. 📉 The rapid decline of cable |
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| Illustration: Rebecca Zisser/Axios |
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| The U.S. pay-TV (cable and satellite) market is now shrinking by more than 6% per year, the worst level of decline ever, Axios' Sara Fischer writes. By the numbers: New research from Leichtman Research Group finds that just 66% of U.S. TV households have pay-TV subscriptions, down from 88% in 2012. |
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| 6. 💔 Touching tribute: Darius Lee |
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| Screenshot: @SouthlandSports (Twitter) |
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| The Southland Conference honored the late Houston Christian basketball player Darius Lee as Preseason Player of the Year on Tuesday — an honor the league does not typically award. The backdrop: Lee tragically died on June 20 after a shooting in his hometown of Harlem, New York. He was 21. - Lee led the Huskies in scoring and rebounding last season, while ranking seventh in the nation in steals per game.
- His 52 points against McNeese to close the regular season was the highest point total by any NCAA D-I player last season.
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| 7. 🌎 The world in photos |
| Photo: Sebastian Frej/MB Media via Getty Images PARIS — Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Neymar combined for five goals in PSG's 7-2 Champions League rout of Maccabi Haifa on Tuesday, as the French side clinched a spot in the round of 16. - By the numbers: Messi already has as many goals in 16 games this season (11) as he did all of last season.
Photo: Ian Maule/Getty Images OKLAHOMA CITY — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (33 pts, 5 reb, 8 ast, 3 stl, 3 blk) filled up the stat sheet in the Thunder's 108-94 win over the Clippers — their first of the season. - The big picture: Only three winless teams remain: The Magic, Kings and Lakers.
Photo: Gerardo Menoscal/Agencia Press South via Getty Images GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador — Police make preparations ahead of Saturday's final in the Copa Libertadores, South America's version of the Champions League. - By the numbers: 30,000 fans — and 2,000 police — are expected at the venue.
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| 8. 📺 Watchlist: The winless Lakers |
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| Photo: Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images |
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| The Lakers, off to an 0-3 start thanks to historically bad shooting, go for their first win tonight on the road against the Nuggets (10pm ET, ESPN). "I can't remember another star-laden squad in my 29 previous seasons of doing this job that inspires pundits and the public to collectively predict doom in advance and then, on cue, said team struggles precisely as predicted." — Marc Stein, via Substack More to watch: |
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| 9. ⚾️ MLB trivia |
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| Photo: Alex Trautwig/MLB via Getty Images |
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| The Astros are one of four franchises with exactly one World Series title. - Question: Who are the other three?
- Hint: They all won this century.
Answer at the bottom. |
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| 10. ⚽️ 1 big miss: Wide open net |
| Source: Giphy Shakhtar Donetsk's Danylo Sikan had one of the worst misses you'll ever see on Tuesday in a 1-1 Champions League draw with Celtic. |
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| A message from Vint |
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| Talk tomorrow, Kendall "RIP, Darius" Baker Trivia answer: Nationals (2019), Angels (2002), Diamondbacks (2001) 🙏 Have a great day! Follow us for more (@kendallbaker and @jeffreytracy). Friends can sign up here. Thanks to Bryan McBournie for copy edits. |
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