Mickey Togs

The Mets have ripped off 11 wins in 15 games after a trade deadline sell-off. They have won four of their last five series and have injected a bit of life into what had been a miserable season.

It will take an enormous run to even be in contention in mid-September. The Mets still trail the Padres by 10 games for the third and final NL wild-card spot, and six other teams are ahead of them. 

To reach 83 wins, the number of victories the final wild-card team secured a year ago, the Mets would need to go 25-9. That’s a .735 winning percentage, an extraordinarily tall order.

The Mets have the seventh-most difficult remaining strength of schedule, their opponents owning a combined .520 winning percentage. 

It includes 12 games against division leaders (White Sox and Rays on the road, Brewers and Astros at home).

Aaron Rodgers, who re-signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers this offseason and said that his 22nd NFL season will be his last, reiterated his desire to retire at training camp. “This it it,” he said. 

The thought of retirement has hovered around Rodgers for quite some time now, including this offseason, when the Steelers, and the rest of the NFL, for that matter, waited patiently to see if this was indeed the end of his career.

In his first season with the Steelers in 2025, Rodgers went 10-6, throwing for 3,322 yards with a 65.7% completion rate and 24 touchdowns with seven interceptions.

The Steelers have bolstered its offense this season, adding veteran wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. in a trade with the Indianapolis Colts. 

Four-time Super Bowl champion tight end Rob Gronkowski is among several notable names that will become eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame for the first time in 2027.

The first-ballot class for next year’s Hall of Fame will include Gronkowski, running back Adrian Peterson and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Outside linebacker Terrell Suggs, offensive tackle Willie Anderson and guard Marshal Yanda will automatically be included on the finalists ballot next year as they were already finalists for the 2026 class.

Gronkowski’s longtime former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and team owner Robert Kraft will also be in consideration for the Hall of Fame after being snubbed from the 2026 class. 

Peterson ranks fifth all-time in career rushing yards with 14,918, which included bouncing back from a torn ACL to break the 2,000-yard rushing plateau and win the Associated Press Most Valuable Player award in 2012. 

Roethlisberger, a two-time Super Bowl champion, spent his entire 18-year NFL career with the Pittsburgh Steelers, holding every franchise passing record as well as a 13-10 playoff record, one win shy of Pro Football Hall of Famer and four-time Super Bowl champion Terry Bradshaw‘s 14-5 postseason record.