Every week I’ll be posting cool moments from the past week, covering a range of leagues and sports. The list will appear both here and on as part of my larger newsletter, found at joeburns.substack.com.
- Fernando Tatís Jr. scored on a sac-fly to complete the San Diego Padres’ second-half rally, erasing a 6-run deficit to defeat the league-leading Dodgers 8-7 in the 11th inning. Manny Machado hit the game-tying RBI in the top of the ninth, pushing the game to extra innings and giving the Padres the opportunity they needed to take the series and win four-of-seven against the Dodgers this season. They took that opportunity, and look like one of the biggest (or only) threats to the returning champions moving forward.
- Rafael Nadal defeats Stefanos Tsitsipas in three sets (6-4, 7-6, 7-5) to win the Barcelona Open tennis final. Nadal earned his 12th career Barcelona Open victory, furthering his lead for most singles’ titles in his native Spain’s second most important tennis competition (following the Madrid Open which begins April 30).
- The New York Knicks win their ninth consecutive game, defeating the Toronto Raptors 120-103 at home on Saturday. The franchise, which has been largely disappointing in recent years, sits fourth (34-27) in the Eastern Conference and looks to make a strong push ahead of the NBA playoffs. The team has 11 games remaining in the regular season before they get a chance to earn their second postseason series victory since 2000 (the only since then being a 4-2 first-round win over the Celtics in 2012-13).
- All six Premier League teams have withdrawn from the European Super League, effectively putting a final knife in the back of the widely-criticized competition.