The spring playoffs have just about reached the final rounds, with plenty of attractive storylines still in play.
The Rangers have a chance to capture their first Stanley Cup in 30 years.
The Celtics, off a conference final sweep, can nudge past the Lakers for the most titles in NBA history.
And Dallas still has a shot at becoming the first city ever to pull off the NBA-NHL double of championships in the same year.
But the passing of Memorial Day historically turns the summer focus to MLB, and there have been some interesting trends and newsworthy events that figure to shape the rest of the 2024 season, both nationally and locally.
Here are five to watch in the coming weeks and months:
Bats all, folks?
Through Sunday, the 30 major league teams were hitting a combined .240, which would represent the lowest collective batting average since the league hit a paltry .237 in 1968, otherwise known as the Year of the Pitcher. As someone born that year, and having finally succumbed to needing glasses for the first time in my 56 years, take my word that it was a long time ago.
And that’s with famous aces such as Gerrit Cole, Clayton Kershaw, Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer not throwing a single pitch between them this season.
But take solace in this, Mets fans: Their .236 team batting average heading into Tuesday’s doubleheader against the Dodgers somehow was better than that of a dozen other teams, including the MLB-worst White Sox at .215 and the NL-worst Reds at .217.
Not again, Ronald
Braves superstar Ronald Acuña Jr. enjoyed a landmark MVP season in 2023, becoming the only player in MLB history to post at least 40 homers and 70 stolen bases in the same year.
Devastating to see the All-Star outfielder suffer a second torn ACL in three years after also undergoing a season-ending surgery in 2021.
You have to think his injury severely diminishes the Braves’ chance of catching and/or surpassing the loaded Phillies in the NL East, but remember Acuña watched from the dugout while a retooled Atlanta squad won the World Series three years ago.
Central casting
The season has more than four months to play out, of course it does. But three teams from the supposedly weak AL Central would make the playoffs if it ended today: the Guardians, who emerged from the holiday just a half-game behind the Yankees for the best record in the American League at 36-18, as well as the surprising Royals and Twins. The resurgent Tigers are also in the wild-card mix.
The AL West is a different story with only the division-leading Mariners (barely) above .500, though the slow-starting but battle-tested Rangers and Astros are within striking distance with about two-thirds of the 162-game slate remaining.
But do they like M&M’s?
Not even I am old enough to have watched the vaunted pinstriped combo of Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle more than six decades ago, but following the wondrous Juan Soto-Aaron Judge lineup duo every day feels like the closest to it during my baseball fandom.
Both sluggers rank in the top six in MLB in OPS, slugging percentage, on-base percentage and home runs, and they are a sight to behold when both are mashing baseballs all over and out of various ballparks.
I’m certainly not the first to make this point, but there is simply no way Hal Steinbrenner can let Soto walk out the door as a free agent in the offseason.
On the other hand…
Not even the most jaded Mets fan — and that’s saying something — could have predicted the team washing out of two consecutive seasons like this when Steve Cohen took over as owner in 2020.
What a disaster, especially lately with Edwin Diaz and the bullpen.
And the flip side to Soto with the Yankees: It is becoming more difficult to envision a scenario in which Cohen ponies up the money to retain Pete Alonso, which will become an unshakable daily storyline around this sinking team if the losses continue to pile up before the trade deadline.
Fight the power
The Rangers’ power play was among their biggest strengths in the regular season, ranking third in the NHL at 26.4 percent efficiency.
But that high-powered unit has gone scoreless in eight opportunities with the man-advantage as the Blueshirts have taken a 2-1 series lead over the Panthers going into Game 4 in Sunrise, Fla., on Tuesday night (8 p.m. ET, ESPN).
It is part of the reason why first-line center Mika Zibanejad, linemate Chris Kreider, leading scorer Artemi Panarin and former Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Adam Fox have yet to score in the series.
In fact, Barclay Goodrow’s shorthanded goal in Game 3 gives Peter Laviolette’s squad more goals scored on the penalty kill than on the power play.
Unexpected offensive contributions from the likes of Goodrow and Alex Wennberg always represent an uplifting storyline of any successful NHL team at this time of year.
With a plugged-in power play, however, the Rangers really could be in business.
Bill Walton (1952-2024)
Bill Walton, the Hall of Fame center who had perhaps the most successful college basketball career in history at UCLA, went on to win to an NBA MVP award and titles with the fabled 1977 Trail Blazers and 1986 Celtics, and became known to later generations as an eccentric Grateful Dead-loving broadcasting voice, died Monday after a long battle with cancer.
He was 71.
The Post’s Mike Vaccaro writes:
“If there was one word to describe Bill Walton … it would be ‘authentic.’ He was who he was and he did what he did and he believed what he believed, and depending on your view of the world, you could find that delightful or dyspeptic. He didn’t care.
“…Walton, in truth, may have been the most selfless superstar ever, and played on teams that embody the most basic and pure spirit of the game. At UCLA, under Wooden, the Bruins won the first 73 games Walton ever played, the last of the 88-game winning streak that still stands as a record. Walton was the centerpiece of those teams that won two national championships but he wasn’t the only piece — he played alongside 10 other players who would play in the NBA.”
Today’s back page
Au revoir, Rafa?
It’s not often that you see a highly ranked tennis player step away from a post-match interview following a straight-sets victory to turn over the microphone and the crowd’s attention to an opponent ranked No. 275 in the world.
Of course, it’s also not often that the opponent in that situation is Rafael Nadal.
The 14-time French Open champion lost in the first round Monday at Roland Garros to No. 4 seed Alexander Zverev.
The 37-year-old Nadal wouldn’t say afterward whether he expects this to be his final appearance at the tournament he’s dominated for nearly two decades with an astonishing career record of 112-4 in Paris.
“For me, it’s difficult to say what’s going on in the future. It’s a big percentage that I will not be back playing here in Roland Garros, but I can’t say 100 percent,” Nadal said after the match.
“The body’s feeling a little bit better now than two months ago. Maybe in two months, I say, ‘It’s enough. I can’t give anything else.’ But it’s something that I don’t feel yet.”
What we’re reading 👀
🏒 Rangers captain Jacob Trouba’s $5,000 fine for a Game 3 elbow didn’t impress Panthers head coach Paul Maurice. “Poor lad. Poor Jake. He won’t be able to eat,” Maurice said. Yeah, the temperature of this series keeps going up.
⚾ The Post’s Joel Sherman goes deep on the Yankees’ renaissance being led by a Gerrit Cole-less rotation, which is putting up some astonishing numbers and faces questions about its ultimate makeup.
⚾ As if Kodai Senga’s absence couldn’t get worse, the Mets ace dropped hints about not being aligned with the team about the course of his rehab.
🥊 Mike Tyson’s Netflix megafight with Jake Paul still appears to be on as Tyson recovers from a medical scare he had during a flight this weekend.
⚾ Infamous MLB umpire Angel Hernandez has been successfully encouraged to retire.
⚾ St. John’s is headed back to the NCAA baseball tournament.
⛳ What do we really know about world No. 1 Nelly Korda?