This Week on the Blog

The Yanks are wrapping things up, the Giants won a game, the Rangers moved closer to regular season action, and the Knicks either did or didn't open camp.Things are looking ups bit. Let's take a look.

Yankees: the Yanks dodged a bullet last night, when James Paxton was lifted early for a "glute."  They said it's not serious and he could have continued. Phew. In other Yankee news, Stanton is catching fire and he could make a huge difference in the post season. Everything else is pretty calm.  Voit's still not hitting, but that could turn around in an instant.  It's unclear if Encarnacion will be ready for the first series - which has a huge chance of being against the Twins. I guess we'll see.

Giants: The Giants need to keep it rolling against Washington tomorrow.  Last week, we got a better look at the Shurmur offense when Jones became the QB. They've lost Sasquon Barkley for a few weeks, but they should still be able to put together a winning game plan tomorrow.  The skins have 28th against the run, so maybe Gallman can be effective, and let's hope they aren't tempted to run Jones into the ground. They did promote Jon Hilliman from the P-Squad, so he could also get some carries. Wouldn't be surprised if we see Darius Slayton's first TD.  It would also be nice to see what he can do if he catches one in stride.  Let's hope Engram keeps braking out.

Rangers: The Rangers will wrap up their preseason tonight against the Islanders. Then, they will start their regular season on Thursday. They've cleaned up the D a bit over the past couple of games, and they do look like a better team when Panarin can go.  He's scored in both of the games in which he has appeared. The final cuts will be interesting, as some pundits think Kravstov is going down. That would be insane. Beyond, the stars like Panarin, Zibby, Buch and Kreider, they have a bunch of replacement level guys and the kids. The kids should always play ahead of the replacement level guys. Speaking of kids, Lias Andersson has looked like a whole new guy in the early going and really resembles peak Stepan - but faster, all of a sudden. Good stuff.  We'll see what happens with the roster.

Knicks: Looks like the Knicks might open camp on Monday. That doesn't mean they haven't already been practicing.  They don't have any transformative arrivals, like the Rangers did, but between the draft and their Plan B free agents, they've gotten a lot deeper, and a sensible rotation and game plan could get them 30 or more wins. We still don't know what kind of coach David Fizdale is, because they started the Tank the minute he walked in.  But if he is a competent coach, they should be a lot more competitive this year.  We'll see.

So there it is, all 4 teams are about to be in league action.  Fun times.  If the Giants can win tomorrow, they might actually have a season.  Have a great week, everyone.