A month since we first ranked our playoff MVP candidates and two weeks since we last did, we are nearly through three rounds of a postseason filled with game-winners, comebacks and upsets — the good stuff.

Let us do it again, placing our Playoff MVPs in so perfect an order you could not possibly argue with it.

You could only hope to read it.

Enjoy this edition of Playoff MVPs as an appetizer for Saturday’s main course, as two of our top three candidates will wage battle when the Indiana Pacers host the New York Knicks in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals. The right to face our MVP leader, already in the NBA Finals clubhouse, is on the line. 

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1. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder

We talk a lot about how well players can get to the spots on the floor where they are most comfortable, and few players, if any, are as adept at getting to his spots as this year’s MVP. More than that, though, he gets his points. SGA has scored 25 or more points in 13 of his 16 playoff games (two of the games in which he did not were 40-point blowouts). He has scored 30 or more points in 11 of his 16 playoff games.

Twelve of those playoff games are wins, as Gilgeous-Alexander has led OKC to series wins over Ja Morant’s Memphis Grizzlies, Nikola Jokić’s Denver Nuggets and Anthony Edwards’ Minnesota Timberwolves. The Thunder need four more victories — against either the Indiana Pacers or New York Knicks — to win it all. As it is, they are outscoring opponents by a sizzling 11.2 points per 100 possessions in this postseason.

Consistent excellence at the league’s highest level is the stuff of legend. Gilgeous-Alexander is becoming one in real time. It is beginning to feel inevitable that he will become the first player since Stephen Curry to win the MVP award and a championship in the same season. And if his Thunder were to win the title, it would be hard to imagine anyone else capturing Finals MVP honors, which would make him the first player since LeBron James in 2013 to accomplish that feat. SGA is rubbing elbows with the game’s gods.

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2. Tyrese Haliburton, Indiana Pacers

Who could have seen this coming, other than Pacers fans? At the start of this postseason, Haliburton was pretty comfortably among the top 20 players in the NBA, a fringe All-NBA candidate who cracked the third team for a second consecutive season. He was nobody’s idea of a superstar who could carry a team into serious contention, not in an Eastern Conference that featured a pair of 60-win juggernauts.

Haliburton slayed one of those giants, the weary Cleveland Cavaliers, in five games. He is in the process of defeating the New York Knicks, who disposed of the hobbled Boston Celtics in six games. Leading comeback after comeback after comeback, making game-saving shot after game-saving shot, Haliburton has forced us to wonder: Where does he belong among the 10 best players in the league? That is a hell of a leap for a playoff run. But after watching him post a 32-12-15 triple-double with zero turnovers in Game 4 against the Knicks, who could call him anything but one of the two most impactful players of this postseason?

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3. Jalen Brunson, New York Knicks

Were the scores switched in their series, Brunson might hold that second spot over Haliburton, since he has been every bit as special. He, too, has led comebacks and sank game-winners. The NBA’s Clutch Player of the Year has played like it, scoring 144 fourth-quarter points in these playoffs — an average of nine per game and a total of 36 more than the NBA’s next-most productive player (Gilgeous-Alexander).

Like SGA, Brunson finds his way to wherever he wants, which is most often the 3-point line, the free-throw line or that floater that feels like a prayer but finds the bottom of the net more often than not. To have his offensive arsenal as a 6-foot-2 former second-round draft pick really is as impressive as it gets.

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4. Anthony Edwards, Minnesota Timberwolves

What else can we say, but Edwards ran into a buzzsaw in the Western Conference finals, losing in five games to Gilgeous-Alexander’s Thunder? It was a terrible matchup for him, as Oklahoma City had Lu Dort, Cason Wallace, Alex Caruso and a seemingly endless array of point-of-attack defenders to throw at him. They were everywhere, making him feel as though he were being double-teamed, even when he was not.

He was also getting double-teamed — a lot.

Still, Edwards averaged 25.3 points, 7.8 rebounds and 5.5 assists in the playoffs — at 23 years old. Here is the complete list of players to average a 25-8-6 at so young an age through three rounds in NBA history: LeBron James, Luka Dončić and now Edwards. That is it. Oh, and Edwards beat both James and Dončić in the opening round of these playoffs. He defeated Curry’s Golden State Warriors, too. He is a giant slayer.

We need to remember this: With back-to-back Western Conference finals appearances — in this Western Conference — Edwards is on pace to walk among the greats. No need to rush him. He has already made a leap, and he will take the next step soon enough, so long as the Timberwolves keep weapons around him.

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5. Nikola Jokić, Denver Nuggets

It feels weird to put someone who has not played for an entire round in this spot, but Jokić’s Nuggets pushed the Thunder further than anyone else, taking the title favorites to seven games in the Western Conference semifinals. He was absurd in that series, averaging a 28-14-6 and twice eclipsing 40 points.

Even now, with another round in the books, only Brunson, SGA and Edwards have score more points in these playoffs than Jokić; only Karl-Anthony Towns has grabbed more rebounds; and only Haliburton and Brunson have delivered more assists. Jokić is the best player in the world, and he performed his part. 

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6. Pascal Siakam, Indiana Pacers

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7. Jalen Williams, Oklahoma City Thunder

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8. Karl-Anthony Towns, New York Knicks

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9. Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland Cavaliers

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10. Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics

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Honorable mention: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks; Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors; Chet Holmgren, Oklahoma City Thunder; Julius Randle, Minnesota Timberwolves.

A month since we first ranked our playoff MVP candidates and two weeks since we last did, we are nearly through three rounds of a postseason filled with game-winners, comebacks and upsets — the good stuff.

Let us do it again, placing our Playoff MVPs in so perfect an order you could not possibly argue with it.

You could only hope to read it.

Enjoy this edition of Playoff MVPs as an appetizer for Saturday’s main course, as two of our top three candidates will wage battle when the Indiana Pacers host the New York Knicks in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals. The right to face our MVP leader, already in the NBA Finals clubhouse, is on the line. 

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1. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder

We talk a lot about how well players can get to the spots on the floor where they are most comfortable, and few players, if any, are as adept at getting to his spots as this year’s MVP. More than that, though, he gets his points. SGA has scored 25 or more points in 13 of his 16 playoff games (two of the games in which he did not were 40-point blowouts). He has scored 30 or more points in 11 of his 16 playoff games.

Twelve of those playoff games are wins, as Gilgeous-Alexander has led OKC to series wins over Ja Morant’s Memphis Grizzlies, Nikola Jokić’s Denver Nuggets and Anthony Edwards’ Minnesota Timberwolves. The Thunder need four more victories — against either the Indiana Pacers or New York Knicks — to win it all. As it is, they are outscoring opponents by a sizzling 11.2 points per 100 possessions in this postseason.

Consistent excellence at the league’s highest level is the stuff of legend. Gilgeous-Alexander is becoming one in real time. It is beginning to feel inevitable that he will become the first player since Stephen Curry to win the MVP award and a championship in the same season. And if his Thunder were to win the title, it would be hard to imagine anyone else capturing Finals MVP honors, which would make him the first player since LeBron James in 2013 to accomplish that feat. SGA is rubbing elbows with the game’s gods.

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2. Tyrese Haliburton, Indiana Pacers

Who could have seen this coming, other than Pacers fans? At the start of this postseason, Haliburton was pretty comfortably among the top 20 players in the NBA, a fringe All-NBA candidate who cracked the third team for a second consecutive season. He was nobody’s idea of a superstar who could carry a team into serious contention, not in an Eastern Conference that featured a pair of 60-win juggernauts.

Haliburton slayed one of those giants, the weary Cleveland Cavaliers, in five games. He is in the process of defeating the New York Knicks, who disposed of the hobbled Boston Celtics in six games. Leading comeback after comeback after comeback, making game-saving shot after game-saving shot, Haliburton has forced us to wonder: Where does he belong among the 10 best players in the league? That is a hell of a leap for a playoff run. But after watching him post a 32-12-15 triple-double with zero turnovers in Game 4 against the Knicks, who could call him anything but one of the two most impactful players of this postseason?

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3. Jalen Brunson, New York Knicks

Were the scores switched in their series, Brunson might hold that second spot over Haliburton, since he has been every bit as special. He, too, has led comebacks and sank game-winners. The NBA’s Clutch Player of the Year has played like it, scoring 144 fourth-quarter points in these playoffs — an average of nine per game and a total of 36 more than the NBA’s next-most productive player (Gilgeous-Alexander).

Like SGA, Brunson finds his way to wherever he wants, which is most often the 3-point line, the free-throw line or that floater that feels like a prayer but finds the bottom of the net more often than not. To have his offensive arsenal as a 6-foot-2 former second-round draft pick really is as impressive as it gets.

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4. Anthony Edwards, Minnesota Timberwolves

What else can we say, but Edwards ran into a buzzsaw in the Western Conference finals, losing in five games to Gilgeous-Alexander’s Thunder? It was a terrible matchup for him, as Oklahoma City had Lu Dort, Cason Wallace, Alex Caruso and a seemingly endless array of point-of-attack defenders to throw at him. They were everywhere, making him feel as though he were being double-teamed, even when he was not.

He was also getting double-teamed — a lot.

Still, Edwards averaged 25.3 points, 7.8 rebounds and 5.5 assists in the playoffs — at 23 years old. Here is the complete list of players to average a 25-8-6 at so young an age through three rounds in NBA history: LeBron James, Luka Dončić and now Edwards. That is it. Oh, and Edwards beat both James and Dončić in the opening round of these playoffs. He defeated Curry’s Golden State Warriors, too. He is a giant slayer.

We need to remember this: With back-to-back Western Conference finals appearances — in this Western Conference — Edwards is on pace to walk among the greats. No need to rush him. He has already made a leap, and he will take the next step soon enough, so long as the Timberwolves keep weapons around him.

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5. Nikola Jokić, Denver Nuggets

It feels weird to put someone who has not played for an entire round in this spot, but Jokić’s Nuggets pushed the Thunder further than anyone else, taking the title favorites to seven games in the Western Conference semifinals. He was absurd in that series, averaging a 28-14-6 and twice eclipsing 40 points.

Even now, with another round in the books, only Brunson, SGA and Edwards have score more points in these playoffs than Jokić; only Karl-Anthony Towns has grabbed more rebounds; and only Haliburton and Brunson have delivered more assists. Jokić is the best player in the world, and he performed his part. 

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6. Pascal Siakam, Indiana Pacers

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7. Jalen Williams, Oklahoma City Thunder

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8. Karl-Anthony Towns, New York Knicks

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9. Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland Cavaliers

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10. Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics

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Honorable mention: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks; Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors; Chet Holmgren, Oklahoma City Thunder; Julius Randle, Minnesota Timberwolves.

(This article was written with the assistance of Castmagic, an AI tool, and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy. Please reach out to us if you notice any mistakes.)

Based on the conversation between Yahoo Sports’ Jake Mintz and Jordan Shusterman in this episode of “Baseball Bar-B-Cast,” it’s clear that while things look bleak for the Red Sox, the season isn’t over — but there’s a lot of frustration and concern.

The Red Sox aren’t mathematically eliminated, and there are still scenarios where they turn things around, especially if prospects contribute and some injured players return and perform. But the path forward is “complicated” and hope is fading, reflected in Boston’s big drop in playoff odds. The team’s flaws are showing, and unless things change quickly, they’re at risk of falling out of the race for good.

Here are the key points Shusterman and Mintz discussed on the show:

Poor performance, bad breaks 

The Red Sox have struggled recently, particularly with a five-game losing streak entering Friday, lots of one-run losses (6-15 in one-run games), and multiple walk-off defeats. There have also been key injuries — especially to Alex Bregman and Tristan Casas — and some roster inflexibility.

Their playoff odds have plummeted from preseason hopes of 56% down to 18%, according to Fangraphs, as Shusterman mentions. This drop reflects their poor play and the surprising strength of other teams.

Why manager Alex Cora is safe this season

Mintz and Shusterman discussed some odd roster choices and poor communication, especially around locking Rafael Devers into the DH spot. However, neither Mintz nor Shusterman believe Cora is on the hot seat, and they think he’s handled the chaos relatively well.

“Alex Cora is going nowhere at least this season,” Mintz said. “If I had to rank baseball operations juice amongst MLB managers he would be toward the top of that list. Yeah, he just signed a new contract. The organization believes in him and frankly I think he has done a fair, good enough job keeping this thing from going completely off the rails because it is not his fault.”

Despite the mess, there’s still hope in the farm system, with top prospects like Roman Anthony pushing for a call-up (though the front office seems reluctant for a mix of service time and roster jam reasons).

The “Bar-B-Cast” wouldn’t pick Boston to win the division at this point. Shusterman still gives the Red Sox a chance to sneak into a playoff spot, though his confidence is shaken.

For more of the latest baseball news and debates, tune in to “Baseball-Bar-B-Cast” on Apple, Spotify or YouTube.

Following online death threats received by Houston Astros pitcher Lance McCullers and directed toward his two children, team owner Jim Crane hired 24-hour security for his family, the Associated Press reports.

McCullers received the threats after his May 10 start versus the Cincinnati Reds in which he allowed seven runs in 1/3 of an inning (facing eight batters). It was his second appearance since returning from flexor tendon surgery in June 2023.

After McCullers received the threats, he went to Astros management to ask what actions could be taken. In addition to Crane hiring protection, the team contacted MLB security and the Houston Police Department. Police told the Associated Press that an investigation into the threats is ongoing. McCullers subsequently deleted his account on X.

Roughly 10 days after McCullers received his threats, Boston Red Sox reliever Liam Hendriks revealed that he and his wife had been threatened on social media after he gave up three runs in 2/3 of an inning to the New York Mets on May 21. Hendriks returned this season after missing last season after Tommy John surgery and most of the 2023 campaign while undergoing treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

“Just as an FYI: Threats against my life and my wife’s life are horrible and cruel,” Hendriks wrote on Instagram. “You need help. Leaving comments to tell me to commit suicide and how you wish I died of cancer is disgusting and vile.”

The threats to McCullers and Hendriks are the latest examples of a disturbing trend in which MLB players say online abuse has increased and become heightened in recent years, occurring on a nightly basis. Many of them have deleted their social media accounts because of it. They attribute the rise to legalized sports betting with fans lashing out at players for losing on wagers. 

Hendriks publicly responded to the abuse in an Instagram story and said he did so because not enough is being done to address the situation.

“Everyone just like sucking up and dealing with it isn’t accomplishing anything,” he said to the AP. “And we pass along to security. We pass along to whoever we need to, but nothing ends up happening. And it happens again the next night. 

“At some point, someone has to make a stand,” he continued. “And it’s one of those things where the more eyes we get on it, the more voices we get talking about it.”

Teams have taken steps to identify those who make threats online, though finding them is admittedly difficult. In the meantime, the Astros and Red Sox have increased security and police presence in sections where players’ families are seated at home and road games, in addition to adding personnel in traveling parties.

“We want to succeed, but it shouldn’t come at a cost to our families, the kids in our life, having to feel like they’re not safe where they live or where they sit at games,” McCullers said.

The Astros’ right-hander had his best game of the season in his last start, striking out 12 batters in six innings versus the Athletics on May 28.