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Danny Jansen walks it off as Blue Jays sweep Braves

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TORONTO — For three hours, the Blue Jays and Braves held the door open for one another, begging their opponent to walk through it and win.

Danny Jansen, tired of standing outside in the cold, finally decided to barge in.

Toronto’s catcher was the walk-off hero on Sunday afternoon at Rogers Centre, scorching a two-run single through the left side of the infield in the bottom of the ninth to seal a 6-5 win and a series sweep over the Braves. At the end of a game so riddled with imperfections, it was remarkable to see Jansen drenched in water, waving up at a roaring crowd upon stealing the win.

“If you get an ice bath, that means something incredible happened,” Jansen said. “It’s a special day. Obviously, this was my wife’s first Mother’s Day and this was a great way to cap it off.”

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The air wasn’t just cold inside the ballpark. It was blowing, and it mattered.

Atlanta botched a handful of routine fly balls in the outfield, with two players often coming together at the last moment as they tried to track a knuckleball through the air. The Blue Jays made their share of mistakes, too, both defensively and on the bases. One was nearly fatal, though, to start the bottom of the ninth inning.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. led off the home half and launched a fly ball to the opposite field that he clearly thought was gone. Guerrero jogged out of the box and eased into his wide turn around first base, but then came a sound as loud as the crack of his bat. It was the thump of the ball hitting off the wall.

He was held to a single, and following the win, manager John Schneider wasted no time saying that his star slugger probably should have been on second base to open the inning. It all worked out in the end, but that play on its own was problematic.

“It’s nice when you win and it doesn’t come back to bite you,” Schneider said. “We all thought he got it, too, and a guy like him usually knows. There were obviously weird conditions with the wind and the roof open today. They had a couple [of weird plays]. I think we should have been a bit more aware of that and a bit more aware on the bases.”

These are the conversations that great teams — or at least teams capable of greatness — need to have. There are lessons even within wins, and Sunday’s were blatant.

It doesn’t lessen the importance of sweeping one of the best teams in the National League, but this wasn’t your usual post-game victory celebration.

“You always take a win,” Schneider said, “but you’ve got to reel guys in a little bit starting tomorrow. There’s things that we need to tighten up. I thought the last two days were good and today was a weird day. A lot of guys left on base, errors on both sides, us on the bases. You’ve got to tighten that up.”

The Blue Jays have been the comeback kids this season, pulling off 10 come-from-behind wins, and their bullpen can be thanked for that. Anthony Bass, Jay Jackson, Trevor Richards and Nate Pearson combined to give Toronto five innings of scoreless relief to keep the team in the game after a difficult outing from Yusei Kikuchi, who allowed three home runs and nine hits over just four-plus innings.

Home runs have been a problem for Kikuchi, with his 11 in the season tied for fourth in MLB. But that’s a difficult adjustment to make for some pitchers, because it’s important that Kikuchi doesn’t lose his aggression.

“I’ve continued to attack the zone, and sometimes when you attack the zone, you get hit,” Kikuchi said through a club interpreter. “We’ll go back and check the data and all of that, but I’ll continue to attack the zone moving forward.”

Like everything else that went wrong in Sunday’s game, though, the home runs will be forgotten when we look back on the final score a few days from now.

Consider this a lucky escape. The Blue Jays will take the win, but they know that more is needed with the Yankees and Orioles coming to town, then a date with the Rays waiting after. Tampa Bay, in particular, is far less forgiving when it comes to mistakes, and it won’t be as patient if Toronto hesitates at the door again.

 

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With matchup vs. Kings decided, Oilers should be confident facing familiar foe – Sportsnet.ca

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Sale Of Arizona Coyotes Formally Approved By Board Of Governors – prohockeyrumors.com

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The sale of the Arizona Coyotes to Utah has been formally approved by the NHL’s Board of Governors, per Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli (Twitter link). The vote received unanimous support from the board, shares The Athletic’s Chris Johnston (Twitter link). The NHL has promptly released their first statement on this transition (Web link).

This news brings a quiet end to the long-running saga surrounding the Coyotes search for a home in Arizona. The team has been pushing to build a new arena since their lease ended at Gila River Arena at the end of the 2021-22 season. They searched through many options, ultimately settling on building and sharing a small, 5,000-seat arena with Arizona State University’s hockey teams. The Coyotes played their first game at Mullett Arena in front of a sold-out crowd on October 28, 2022. They’ve since maxed out their attendance in nearly every game since, though the devotion from the fans wasn’t enough to will the team to a new rink. The ownership group, led by Alex Meruelo, ultimately couldn’t find a new parcel of land to build a full-size rink before their timer ran out. After a lot of back-and-forth between the Coyotes ownership and the NHL, it was ultimately decided that the Coyotes will relocate to Salt Lake City for the 2024-25 season.

The decision to relocate has come with a lot of contingencies for Meruelo and the Coyotes brand. Most notably, ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski shares that a return to Arizona wouldn’t require approval from the Board of Governors (Twitter link). Meruelo could instead get his team back quickly by building a full-size arena, with NHL Deputy Commissioner telling Wyshynski, “[Meruelo] has already been approved as an NHL owner.” The Coyotes will continue forward as an “inactive” franchise while Meruelo continues searching for a new home.

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The disbandment of the Coyotes has been devastating to fans that have supported the impossible – hockey in the desert – for the past 28 years. Arizona only once averaged below 12,000 attendees prior to their move to Mullett – and it wasn’t by much, averaging 11,989 attendees in the 2009-10 season. But they rebounded well, even averaging 14,606 fans throughout the 2019-20 season. The devotion of Coyotes fans was never once in doubt – a passion made clear by the community’s rallying to support the Coyotes’ last home game on Wednesday, April 17th. Watch parties across Arizona came together to witness one more Coyotes win – a 5-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers, the same score as their first game as a franchise. The emotions of the evening were captured beautifully by a five-minute sign-off from broadcaster Todd Walsh, who’s covered the team since their 1996 move (Twitter link).

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2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs 1st-round schedule – NHL.com

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New York Rangers (1M) vs. Washington Capitals (WC2)

Game 1: Capitals at Rangers — Sunday, 3 p.m. ET (ESPN, SN, TVAS, MSG, MNMT)
Game 2: Capitals at Rangers — April 23, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN, TVAS, SNE, SNO, SNW)
Game 3: Rangers at Capitals — April 26, 7 p.m. ET (TNT, truTV, MAX, SN360, TVAS)
Game 4: Rangers at Capitals — April 28, 8 p.m. ET (TBS, truTV, MAX, SN360, TVAS, SNE, SNO, SNP)
Game 5: Capitals at Rangers — May 1, TBD
Game 6: Rangers at Capitals — May 3, TBD
Game 7: Capitals at Rangers — May 5, TBD

Complete Rangers-Capitals series coverage

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