Mickey Togs

Aaron Judge just keeps hitting home runs.

He homered on Wednesday night in Toronto, giving him 37 for the season and 352 for his career.

After being the fastest player in MLB history to reach 350 home runs, Judge keeps climbing the all-time leaderboard.

He has now officially broken into the top-100 in MLB history. He’s tied for 99th with the 352 HRs, a total also reached by Ryan Braun and Ellis Burks.

Judge is closing in on a couple of Yankees very soon, too.

Yogi Berra hit 358 career homers. Joe DiMaggio had 361.

Judge broke into the majors late, so although his at bat pace has him faster than anyone in MLB history, it’s unlikely he can climb to the very top of the all-time leaderboard. Or is it? 

Four New York Mets currently in the minor leagues are on the Baseball Hot List of Top 50 Prospects

INF/OF Jett Williams: No. 17

RHP Jonah Tong: No. 29

OF Carson Benge: No.32

RHP Nolan McLean: No. 34

Williams, 21, is having a terrific season for Double-A Binghamton, where he’s slashing .288/.396/.495 with eight homers, 24 doubles, five triples, 26 stolen bases, 52 runs scored, and 31 RBI in 334 plate appearances over 78 games. He will very likely get promoted to Triple-A Syracuse before the season is over.

Tong, 22, continues to lay waste to hitters in Double-A. He has a 1.83 ERA and 0.92 WHIP with 125 strikeouts in 78.2 innings over 15 starts. It’s fair to believe that Tong will be promoted to Syracuse relatively soon.

Benge, the Mets’ first-round pick (19th overall) in the 2024 MLB Draft, is excelling for Binghamton after spending the first 60 games of the season with the High-A Brooklyn Cyclones. Overall this season, the 22-year-old is slashing .302/.422/.485 with six homers, 21 doubles, five triples, 57 runs scored, 44 RBI, and 17 stolen bases.

McLean, who turns 24 on July 24, has been dominating for Syracuse and could be on the doorstep of his big league debut. Overall this season, McLean has a 2.17 ERA and 1.17 WHIP with 95 strikeouts in 87.0 innings for Binghamton and Syracuse.

Aaron Glenn’s first preseason as head coach of the New York Jets will kick off this summer on the road and then wrap up with traditional warm-weather games against the Jets’ NFC East foes and neighbors.

Jets at Green Bay Packers, Lambeau Field, Saturday, Aug. 9 (8 p.m. ET kickoff), TBA
The Jets’ summer schedule opens on a Saturday afternoon in Cheesehead Country. This will be their 10th preseason game against the Packers. The Green & White are 3-6 in their first nine summer meetings with the Pack, but they’ve won two of the last four,

Jets at New York Giants, MetLife Stadium, Saturday, Aug. 16 (7 p.m. kickoff), WCBS
The Jets will be the road team against the Giants at MetLife Stadium the following Saturday night, and there remains at least a theoretical possibility that the Jets’ Justin Fields and the Giants’ Russell Wilson, both of whom were QBs with the Steelers last season, could get a few snaps against the other’s defense in this one.

The Jets have won the last four games in their summer series with Big Blue and are 29-25-1 all-time. 

Jets vs. Philadelphia Eagles, MetLife Stadium, Friday, Aug. 22 (7:30 p.m. kickoff), WCBS
The August wrapup will pit the Jets and Eagles at MetLife on Friday night, Aug. 22, for the familiar foes’ first meeting in the past three summers. From 1985-2022, the teams that wear the different shades of green met each year except 2000 and the aforementioned summer of ’20. The Jets lead the preseason series 26-16-1.

The teams’ most recent meeting was a 24-21 Jets victory to open the ’22 preseason schedule.

Not much has come easily for the Yankees over the last three-plus weeks, and that remained the case in Sunday afternoon’s Subway Series finale.

But clutch heroics by Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger helped the Yankees survive the Mets’ furious comeback bid, snap a six-game losing streak and prevent a sweep at Citi Field.

Judge homered, drove in three runs and made a lead-preserving diving catch in the sixth inning of the Yankees’ 6-4 win.

Bellinger’s sensational shoestring catch on a Juan Soto line drive, meanwhile, turned into a rally-killing double play in the seventh.

The win was the Yankees’ seventh in their last 23 games, a stretch that included two separate six-game losing skids.

Overall, the Yankees and Mets split their six head-to-head games this season, with the Yankees taking two of three during their series in the Bronx in May.

The Buss family has agreed to sell the majority ownership of the Los Angeles Lakers to TWG Global CEO and chairman and Los Angeles Dodgers majority owner Mark Walter for a franchise valuation of approximately $10 billion, which would be the largest sale of a professional sports franchise in the world.

The price beats the previous records set during the $6.1 billion sale of the Boston Celtics in 2025 and the $6.05 billion sale of the NFL’s Washington Commanders in 2023. Walter’s purchase of the Dodgers in 2012 as part of the Guggenheim contingency ranks 12th all-time.

Walter has served as a minority stakeholder in the Lakers since 2021 and also has interests in the Los Angeles Sparks, the Billie Jean Cup, Cadillac Formula One team and the Professional Women’s Hockey League. 

Lakers controlling owner Jeanie Buss, the daughter of late former owner Dr. Jerry Buss, will reportedly continue to serve her role as the team’s governor after the completion of the sale.

Dr. Jerry Buss purchased the Lakers from the late Jack Kent Cooke for $67.5 million in 1979, a deal that also included the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings and the Los Angeles Forum, the team’s home arena until 1999. Dr. Buss died in 2013, with his daughter taking over as the team’s governor ever since.

The New York Mets broke a streak and made some history against the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday.

Facing a streak of seven straight losses, the Mets offense posted seven homers, all solo, in an 11-4 win to move back into a tie with Philadelphia at the top of the NL East. Their record is 46-31.

Those seven solo homers tied the Mets with six other teams for the most in a game in MLB history. Only three of those teams hit only solo homers, like the Mets, who got long balls from Juan Soto twice, Brandon Nimmo twice, Francisco Lindor, Jared Young and Francisco Alvarez.

Three of those came in consecutive fashion in the third inning.

It was a big game for Soto in particular, going 4 for 5 with two homers and four RBI. It was his eighth career game with double-digit total bases, putting him in some elite company given his age.

Marcus Stroman allowed one run and three hits in his return to the New York Yankees’ starting rotation, pitching five innings in a 12-5 win over the Athletics on Sunday.

Stroman threw 74 pitches, 42 for strikes, and walked two batters. 

Though he didn’t need the help, Stroman received plenty of run support from his lineup, scoring six runs versus Athletics starter Luis Severino.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. provided the early offense with a second-inning home run and two-run triple in the third. Aaron Judge added two more runs in the fourth with his 29th homer of the season. And Cody Bellinger hit a three-run shot to give the Yankees a 10-1 lead when Stroman was finished.

Judge added his 30th homer in the eighth inning, going 2-for-4 with four RBI. 

Popeyes looks to make your day a little sweeter with the introduction of new Strawberry Biscuits.

The new Strawberry Biscuits feature the buttery, flaky dough of the brand’s signature biscuits filled with fruity strawberry bits and topped with creamy icing.

Strawberry Biscuits can be enjoyed on their own for a suggested price of $2.79 each.

You can find Strawberry Biscuits at participating locations nationwide.

The Oklahoma City Thunder are NBA champions.

Oklahoma City capped a thrilling NBA Finals Sunday night with a dominant second half in Game 7 to secure a 103-91 win over the Indiana Pacers and the franchise’s first NBA title since it moved from Seattle to Oklahoma City in 2008.

A Pacers team that rallied for multiple unlikely wins throughout the playoffs kept pressure on in the fourth quarter after digging a 22-point hole. But without injured star Tyrese Haliburton, they couldn’t complete the comeback.

The win caps a brilliant season in which the Thunder posted a league-best 68 wins and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was named league MVP for the first time. Gilgeous-Alexander powered the Thunder effort Sunday night to put away a Pacers team that pushed them to the brink.

The swarming defense that has become Oklahoma City’s trademark took over after halftime as the Thunder repeatedly turned Pacers turnovers into transition points.

For the game, Oklahoma City won the turnover battle 21-7 while securing 14 steals. The result was a 32-10 advantage in points off turnovers for the Thunder.

The game was marred by a significant injury to Haliburton in the first quarter. Haliburton had hit three quick 3s and appeared on pace for a big game with a team-high nine points early on. But Haliburton fell to the floor injuring his leg and could not return. 

The Florida Panthers are once again Stanley Cup champions.

Thanks to a historic four-goal night from Sam Reinhart, the Panthers rolled over the Edmonton Oilers and grabbed a dominant 5-1 win in Game 6 on Tuesday night at Amerant Bank Arena in South Florida. That officially closed out the series 4-2 and gave the Panthers back-to-back titles and their second championship in franchise history.

The Panthers also beat the Oilers in the Stanley Cup Final last season in seven games. They are now the first team to win back-to-back titles since the Tampa Bay Lightning did so in 2020 and 2021. The Oilers’ loss also ensured that Canada’s 32-year dry spell — the country hasn’t had a team win a Stanley Cup since 1993 — continues.

Though he didn’t score on Tuesday night, Sam Bennett won the Conn Smythe trophy. He had 15 goals throughout the postseason, including five in the Stanley Cup Final.

The Oilers haven’t won a title since the 1989-90 campaign, which marked their fifth championship in seven seasons. This was their third Stanley Cup Final appearance in the past two decades.