The Chargers’ familiar choke, plus a ferocious MLB retirement speech

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Good morning! Maybe pitch around Nick Castellanos today.

While You Were Sleeping: An early NFL hot seat conversation

To be a Chargers fan in this modern era is to know pain. So many things about this team make sense. The superstar quarterback, the smart defensive head coach, and a talented roster. And yet, it just keeps falling apart. At least not yet, and we’re well past the “Let’s give them time” phase of this operation.

The entire Brandon Staley-era Chargers script was on display last night: Some incredible throws from Justin Herbert (and huge misses), some nice stops on defense … and two crumbles in high-leverage situations. Pain is falling to 2-3 after a 20-17 loss to the Cowboys last night in Los Angeles. All three of the Chargers’ losses have come by three or fewer points, including one in overtime. There is a very plausible timeline in which this crew is 5-1 or 6-0 and we’re talking about them as the NFL’s best team.

Pain is also looking at the schedule and realizing they get the Chiefs and Lions in two of the next four weeks. Can they win those games? Absolutely. Will they? History says absolutely not. In 2021, Staley’s Chargers started 4-1 but missed the postseason. Last year, they wasted a 27-0 lead in the playoffs. If the trend continues, expect Staley — who’s 21-18 in three years as Chargers head coach — to be working elsewhere next year.

Meanwhile, the Cowboys avoid the narrative completely. They’re 4-2 with highly winnable games over the next month, including a massive tilt against the 5-1 Eagles three weekends from now. Winner takes all the NFC East juice.

Taters: The Phillies will hit home runs forever

Zac Gallen entered last night’s NLCS Game 1 with a nice story. The Diamondbacks’ ace has Philly roots and never expected to be starting a big playoff game against his hometown team. It was a lovely notion until he threw his first pitch: a 92-mph fastball that Kyle Schwarber thwacked into the seats.

The Phillies mashed their way to a 1-0 series lead with a 5-3 win over the Diamondbacks, previously undefeated in these playoffs. Philadelphia has become a dinger machine muscled by a raucous home crowd and starting pitchers hot at the right time. Two notes:

In the first two innings, the Phils hit three homers off Gallen, the others by the mega-hot Bryce Harper and Nick Castellanos. Those two have hit eight home runs in the team’s last three games. Hard to beat. They’re three wins away from a second straight World Series trip, and the Rangers’ 5-4 win in Houston yesterday means the Phillies could avoid seeing the Astros this time. (Are the Rangers a better option? Maybe not. They have big team-of-destiny energy.)

Arizona and Philadelphia play Game 2 tonight at 8 p.m. ET on FS1.

News to Know

Ng’s shocking departure

Marlins general manager Kim Ng will not return for the 2024 season, the sides announced yesterday. It’s a surprise, considering the Marlins’ upward trajectory with Ng — the first female GM in MLB history — at the helm, punctuated by the team’s first playoff appearance in a full-season year since 2003. Sources told The Athletic’s Brittany Ghiroli that Ng resigned after “numerous instances” in which Ng felt like Marlins owner Bruce Sherman was stripping away her power. Read the full backstory here.

Richardson likely done

Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson will probably miss the rest of the regular season, owner Jim Irsay told The Athletic yesterday, ending what’d been a promising rookie year. Richardson, the No. 4 overall pick in this year’s draft, hasn’t played since injuring his right shoulder in Week 5. See Irsay’s comments — and a deeper prognosis — here.

More news

Rams cornerback Derion Kendrick was arrested early Monday on a felony charge, according to jail records. Details are still emerging.
The Raptors and Knicks are still squabbling over the lawsuit filed by the Knicks in August. Toronto called the suit “baseless” yesterday.
Kansas, ranked No. 1 in the preseason AP college basketball poll, hopes to avoid the North Carolina arc from last year. See the full rankings here.

Quote of the Week: ‘Take mommy and daddy’s money somewhere else, dork’

Trevor May was a decidedly above average starting pitcher during his nine years of MLB service. Yesterday, May officially retired and, free from the shackles of future employment stakes, uncorked a 101-mph rant aimed directly at Oakland A’s owner John Fisher.

The full quote deserves space here, because it was spectacular:

“Sell the team, dude. Sell it, man. Let someone who actually takes pride in the things they own, own something … Take mommy and daddy’s money somewhere else, dork. And also, if you’re going to be a greedy f—, own it. There’s nothing weaker than being afraid of cameras. That’s one thing I really struggled with this year, not just eviscerating that guy. Do what you’re going to do, bro. You’re whatever.”

Emphasis mine on the bold there. And May pitched this season — his final one — for Fisher’s A’s, I should add.

May’s profane farewell adds to the groundswell of Fisher detractors imploring the owner to sell the team before the franchise’s expected move to Las Vegas after the 2024 season.

Pulse Picks

The best kind of story: The NHL is telling its coaches to “shut the (bleep) up” and quit cursing at referees. Click for the headline, stay for the grown men getting scolded like they’re in middle school detention.
The NHL salary cap, meanwhile, is actively squeezing players out of jobs. Daniel Nugent-Bowman looks at roster numbers across the league and comes away with some surprising — and depressing — insights.
The NFL trade deadline steadily creeps closer. Mike Jones and Jeff Howe propose six trades, including multiple starting QB moves to consider.
Mike Sando’s Pick Six covers important ground: unanswered questions for NFL contenders. It was just one week, but the Eagles and 49ers losing feels like it changed the competitive landscape, right?
Lionel Messi and Inter Miami might be missing from the MLS playoffs, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of salivating storylines to latch onto. Elias Burke has a fan’s guide to an underrated postseason.
Keith Law details the best prospects he saw in the Arizona Fall League. Always a must-read.
Chris Vannini returns with his weekly ranking of all 133 FBS teams. A new no. 1: Washington.
NCAA president Charlie Baker visited for an op-ed, which asks for sweeping changes in NIL law. Interesting.

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(Photo: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

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