With the Toronto Blue Jays winning the AL East title, New York (94-68) earned the top wild-card spot and will host the Boston Red Sox (89-73) in the AL Wild Card Series. All games will be played at Yankee Stadium.
Game 1 of the best-of-three set is Tuesday at 6:08 p.m. on ESPN.
Game 2 takes place Wednesday (6:08 p.m.) and, if needed, Game 3 goes Thursday.
New York and Boston are tied 12-12 in all-time postseason matchups, with the Red Sox winning the past three playoff series between the bitter rivals (2004 ALCS, 2018 ALDS, and 2021 Wild Card Game).
The Yankees’ last postseason series win over the Red Sox came in the 2003 ALCS.
“It’s hard to describe,” Mendoza said. “I just got done addressing the team and there’s no word to describe what we’re going through. It’s pain, it’s frustration — you name it. Came in with a lot of expectations and here we are, going home.
“Not only we fell short, we didn’t even get into October. And this is a team that is built not only to get to October but to play deep into October. And again — pissed, sad, frustrated, you name it.”
The Cincinnati Reds’ 4-2 loss Sunday at the Milwaukee Brewers meant that, with a win, the Mets (83-79) could have still found a way in. However, Mendoza’s team did not do itself any favors while getting blanked by Miami (79-83).
“That’s a question that we’re going to have to answer here because, the whole year, I kept saying, ‘We’ve got the talent, we’ve got the talent,’ and here we are — we’re going home,” Mendoza said of why the Mets’ talent could not get the results.
“I take responsibility. I’m the manager. It starts with me, and I’ve got to take a long look here — how I need to get better. That was a message to the whole team as well. This is unacceptable.”
Mendoza, 45, led the 2024 Mets to an 89-73 record as the third wild card and reached last year’s NLCS in his first year as New York’s manager. He was asked if he had “any concerns at all about” his “own future, potentially, in the organization.” SNY MLB Insider Andy Martino reported Sunday after the Mets’ loss that the team has “absolutely no plans” to fire him.
“Since Day 1, when you’re in this chair, you’re on the hot seat — as simple as that,” Mendoza said. “When you’re managing a team that has a lot of expectations and you go home, questions like this are going to come up and that’s part of it. That’s it. I’m responsible, and I have to be better — as simple as that.”
New York had the incentive of knowing the Cincinnati Reds were losing in Milwaukee, and then lost to the Brewers, meaning they could earn the third wild-card spot by winning their game.
Yet they went quietly, finishing the season as the only team in the majors that lost every game in which it was trailing after eight innings.
Here are the takeaways…
— The Marlins gave the Mets plenty of opportunities, allowing seven walks, in addition to five hits, but Carlos Mendoza’s team went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position, a fitting ending of sorts for a team that was so inconsistent offensively all season, especially in RISP situations.
Their last gasp came in the eighth inning when they put runners at first and second with two outs against reliever Calvin Faucher, as both Jeff McNeil and Francisco Alvarez struck out chasing pitches out of the strike zone.
In Alvarez’s case, on a 3-2 pitch he chased a slider outside that would have been ball four, loading the bases. He then snapped his bat in half over his knee in anger.
Marlins starter Edward Cabrera held the Mets to two hits over five innings, but also walked five hitters.
— The Mets’ pitching plan became clear early when Mendoza pulled Sean Manaea in the second inning, after two walks put runners on first and second with two outs. He brought in Huascar Brazoban, who got out of the inning, and from there he tried to piece nine innings together by his high-leverage relievers in the early innings.
Brazoban and Brooks Raley got the game through three innings with the game scoreless, but the plan — and the game — unraveled in the fourth inning.
The two primary culprits were Ryne Stanek and Tyler Rogers. With a runner on first, Stanek paid for hanging a couple of sliders that Eric Wagaman and Brian Navarreto hit to the wall in left-center for RBI doubles to give the Marlins a 2-0 lead.
Rogers then came in and gave up two hard-hit balls, a triple to left-center by No. 9 hitter Javier Sanoja and a line single to center by Xavier Edwards for a 4-0 lead.
— Doing anything to keep the game close, Mendoza went to Edwin Diaz in the fifth inning, and the Mets’ closer delivered two scoreless innings as the game stayed at 4-0.
Ryan Helsley and then Gregory Soto each pitched a scoreless inning.
— The Mets had their best chance in the fifth inning. Trailing 4-0, they loaded the bases against Cabrera on three walks, to Ronny Mauricio, Francisco Lindor, and Juan Soto.
With two outs, Pete Alonso hit a laser toward left-center at 115.9 mph off the bat. At that exit velocity, and launch angle, the expected batting average on such a ball was .780. Yet, the speedy left fielder Sanoja sprinted to his left and made the catch on the run, as Alonso stopped in the first base line and stared, seemingly in disbelief.
Two innings earlier, with the game still scoreless, the Mets had another opportunity when Tyrone Taylor reached on an infield single to deep short, and Lindor walked.
With one out, Soto hit a ground ball up the middle, and with shortstop Otto Lopez playing him that way, it turned into an easy 6-6-3 double play to end the inning.
Game MVP: Edward Cabrera
The Marlins’ right-hander shut down the Mets over the first five innings, giving his team time to build a 4-0 lead that held up.
Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw waves his cap as he leaves during the sixth inning against the Seattle Mariners on Sunday. (John Froschauer / Associated Press)
It was one last batter. One last strikeout. One last ovation for a future Hall of Famer.
And it ended, fittingly, on one last swing-and-miss.
In the top of the sixth inning on Sunday afternoon, in the final regular-season outing of his illustrious 18-year career, Clayton Kershaw snapped off a trademark slider that ducked below the zone. Eugenio Suárez helplessly waved at it like so many others before him.
With that, Kershaw had his seventh strikeout of the day and the 3,052nd of his career. He had completed 5 ⅓ scoreless innings en route to his 223rd career win, lowering his career ERA to 2.53 — the best among any starting pitcher with 1,000 career innings in the live ball era (since 1920).
In the dugout, manager Dave Roberts quickly motioned to veteran first baseman Freddie Freeman. As Kershaw’s last career start came to an end, Roberts wanted one of his fellow superstar teammates to be the one to remove him.
“To be able to take, in my opinion, the greatest pitcher of our generation out of his last regular-season start,” Freeman said, “I think that might be up there as one of my favorite baseball moments that I’ve had.”
When Freeman got to the mound, he exchanged an embrace with Kershaw, who also hugged the rest of his infield teammates. He jokingly asked for the ball, a request Kershaw declined as he kept it in his grasp.
Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw embraces his teammates as he gets lifted from Sunday’s game against the Seattle Mariners. (John Froschauer / Associated Press)
Then, the 37-year-old walked off the field for perhaps the final time; donning his cap to a cheering T-Mobile Park crowd, offering a grateful wave as he disappeared into the dugout, and taking a moment for himself on the bench at the end of his 445th MLB outing.
“I’m so grateful for it all,” Kershaw said of the receptions he has gotten since announcing his retirement two weeks ago. “Dodger Stadium last week was pretty amazing. To be able to walk off that mound to that ovation is something I’ll never forget. And today was really special, too. So I couldn’t ask for anything more. It’s been an amazing 10 days, two weeks.”
“Now,” he added, ahead of what will be his final postseason, “we can all turn our focus to beating the Reds.”
While the Dodgers completed their regular season with a 6-1 win against the Seattle Mariners — which included Shohei Ohtani setting a new personal-best and single-season club record with his 55th home run, breaking the high marks he set last year — the Cincinnati Reds snatched the National League’s final wild-card spot, setting a best-of-three wild card series at Dodger Stadium starting on Tuesday.
Kershaw will not be part of the team’s roster for that series, Roberts announced before the game.
Thus, the Dodgers (who finished the season 93-69) will have to win at least two more games for Kershaw to potentially pitch on a major league mound again.
“I still feel like I can get people out this next month if I need to,” Kershaw said, before cracking a grin: “And then, I don’t have to do that anymore.”
The decision to leave Kershaw off the wild card roster isn’t shocking.
He was not going to feature in the starting rotation for the series, with Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Ohtani lined up for the three games (Roberts said Snell is a “good bet” to pitch Game 1). And though Kershaw could have been an option in the bullpen, the Dodgers already have an abundance of left-handed relievers.
Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw and catcher Ben Rortvedt, center left, walk to the dugout after working the fifth inning against the Seattle Mariners. (John Froschauer / Associated Press)
If the Dodgers do advance, Roberts noted, Kershaw will remain in consideration for a roster spot in subsequent rounds and could help out in any capacity.
“I can see him starting a game. I can see him coming in for a short burst. I can see him in long relief,” Roberts said. “I don’t think anyone can predict how that’s gonna play out. We gotta get through the wild card series, and see who’s standing after that.”
If this is the end of the line for Kershaw, however, he is going out on his own terms.
After being limited by injuries for much of the past three seasons — including missing all of last year’s World Series run with toe and knee injuries that ultimately required offseason surgery — the three-time Cy Young Award winner decided to return to the Dodgers this season for one last crack at a championship chase.
Even in the twilight of his career, he wound up turning in one of his most impactful performances. Over 23 outings, he posted an 11-2 record, a 3.36 ERA, and provided a steady veteran presence that helped the Dodgers overcome early-season rotation injuries and survive a second-half slump that nearly cost them the division.
“Being healthy, making every start, that’s what I wanted to do,” Kershaw said. “I didn’t want it to be because of an injury that I stopped playing, or to be because I just couldn’t get anybody out anymore. This was perfect. It really was. It was the perfect way to do it.”
Reds outfielder Gavin Lux celebrates after hitting a double against the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium last month. (Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he would be scoreboard watching on Sunday afternoon.
But he insisted he didn’t care how things played out.
His team, of course, had already been locked in as the National League’s No. 3 seed, set to host a best-of-three wild card series at Dodger Stadium starting Tuesday.
What wasn’t clear until the end of play on Sunday, however, was whether the Dodgers would be facing the Cincinnati Reds or New York Mets to open the postseason.
“I honestly don’t really care, I really don’t,” Roberts said. “I think the way we’re playing right now, it doesn’t matter who we play.”
In a photo finish for the NL’s final wild-card berth, it was the Reds who earned the final ticket to the postseason, clinching in spite of their Sunday loss to the Milwaukee Brewers thanks to the Mets’ defeat in Miami at the hand of the Marlins.
Thus, it will be the Reds coming to Chavez Ravine this week, trying to halt the Dodgers’ defense of last year’s championship.
“It’s a gritty group. It’s a hungry group. It’s certainly a younger group,” Roberts said after the matchup was set. “These guys are going to be coming in to win a series. They’re feeling really good about themselves. So we’ve got to focus on ourselves and take it to them.”
Here are nine things to know about the Reds ahead of Game 1 at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday at 6:08 p.m. (ESPN):
Tito magic
On Sept. 5, the Reds appeared left for dead. They were a game under .500. They were trailing the Mets by six games for the final NL wild card spot. They had two other teams to catapult in the standings.
At that point, Fangraphs’ computer models gave them just a 1.3% chance of reaching the postseason.
But then, they reeled off 13 wins in their next 21 games, including an 8-3 run to end the year. And thanks to some help from the Mets over the final few weeks, they clinched a playoff spot in a full campaign for the first time since 2013.
The Reds reached October, first and foremost, by following the lead of their veteran manager.
At 66 years old, two-time World Series champion and three-time manager of the year Terry Francona came out of what appeared to be his managerial retirement to take another crack at contention with upstart Cincinnati.
His first season wasn’t easy, with a young pitching staff and a patchwork offense struggling to find consistency for much of the year. But now, Francona is back in the postseason for the 12th time in his 24-year career. His 44 career playoff wins are seventh-most all time, trailing only Roberts and Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy among active skippers.
Electric Elly
The Reds do not have an overpowering offense. They rank just 14th in scoring, 19th in batting average and 21st in home runs and slugging percentage. They have just two qualified batters with an above-league-average mark in OPS+.
One of them, however, is Elly De La Cruz.
And even at just 23 years old, he has become the biggest threat in their lineup.
In just his third MLB season, De La Cruz earned his second All-Star selection while batting .264 with 22 home runs, 86 RBIs, a .776 OPS, and 37 stolen bases. In each of the last four categories, he leads the team. He also played in all 162 games in the regular season.
A 6-foot-5, 200-pound switch-hitter who is more dangerous from the left side, De La Cruz is prone to strikeouts (he had 181 this season) and is not hitting the ball as hard as he did last year. But he is also one of the game’s most intriguing and exciting up-and-coming talents, and will now get his first crack on a postseason stage.
Now in his sixth MLB season, Lux has still not realized the top-prospect potential he came up with in Los Angeles a half-decade ago. While he hit a team-best .269 during his first season in Cincinnati, he had just five home runs, a .725 OPS, and a negative mark in wins-above-replacement according to Baseball Reference.
What Lux has provided to his new club, however, is some World Series-winning experience. He has gone from a young role player on the Dodgers, to something of a veteran leader with the Reds.
Lux, whom the Dodgers traded away after signing Hyeseong Kim in January, has served in a utility role this year, getting starts at second base, left field and as the designated hitter. He didn’t have a great postseason with the Dodgers last year, when he hit just .176 during the team’s title run. But now, he has a chance to help upset the team that dealt him coming into the season.
Hunter Greene homecoming
Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Hunter Greene works against the Dodgers last month at Dodger Stadium. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Associated Press)
When Dodgers slugger Freddie Freeman was asked Sunday about the challenges the Reds pose, he immediately cited their starting pitching — and young right-hander Hunter Greene specifically.
Eight years ago, the Reds drafted Greene second overall out of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame.
Now, after being a key part of their rebuild, the 25-year-old will get the chance to make his postseason debut close to home at Dodger Stadium.
In general, the Reds’ biggest strength is their rotation, which ranked ninth in the majors in ERA this season and fourth during their surge since Sept. 6. Greene has been a key piece of the puzzle, going 7-4 with a 2.76 ERA and 132 strikeouts in 19 starts despite missing more than two months in the middle of the year with a groin strain.
Greene is one of the hardest-throwing starters in the majors, with a fastball that averages 99.5 mph and a slider that clocks in at almost 90 mph. He’s one of the sport’s best at getting chase, whiff and strikeouts as well, ranking fifth among pitchers with 100 innings with a 31.4% strikeout-rate.
Greene will also be lined up for a Tuesday’s potential Game 1 start, having not pitched since last Wednesday. The start before that was perhaps the best of his career: A one-hit, nine-strikeout shutout of the Chicago Cubs on Sept. 18.
The rest of the rotation
Greene might be the most gifted Reds’ starter, but others in their rotation have been even more productive this season.
Andrew Abbott, a 26-year-old left-hander who excels at limiting hard contact, is 10-7 with a 2.87 ERA in 29 starts. Nick Lodolo, another left-hander with an excellent curveball/changeup combination, is 9-8 with a 3.33 ERA, also in 29 outings.
The team’s wins and strikeout leader is Brady Singer, a lengthy 6-5 right-hander who went 14-12 with a 4.03 ERA. Zack Littell is the other member of the Cincinnati rotation, though the trade deadline acquisition hasn’t been as good with the Reds (4.39 ERA) as he was with the Tampa Bay Rays earlier this season (3.58 ERA).
The real question for this week is which of those arms are available. Lodolo came out of the bullpen for an inning after Singer’s start on Sunday, but could still be an option for Game 2. Abbott last pitched Saturday, making him available for a potential Game 3.
Red(s)-hot closer
Emilio Pagán was no stranger to the ninth inning before this year, having recorded 33 saves in his first eight MLB campaigns.
But this season, the veteran righty has been among the most dependable closers in the majors, as one of just seven relievers with at least 30 saves (he had 32) and a sub-3.00 ERA (his was 2.88).
With his fastball/splitter/cutter mix, Pagán has been especially good down the stretch, having converted six consecutive save opportunities and thrown 10 consecutive scoreless innings since Sept. 8.
The Reds’ talent might pale in comparison to the Dodgers at most spots on the roster. But the reliability of their closer is one place where they have a clear edge.
Ohtani killers?
Cincinnati Reds pitcher Graham Ashcraft reacts after striking out Pittsburgh Pirates’ Joey Bart on Thursday. (Jeff Dean / Associated Press)
The Reds finished the season with just one left-handed pitcher, Brent Suter, in their bullpen.
But when it comes to matching up with Shohei Ohtani, they do have a couple righties with successful personal histories against him.
Set-up man Graham Ashcraft and multi-inning swingman Nick Martinez have both faced Ohtani 10 times in their careers. The soon-to-be four-time MVP is 0 for 9 in both matchups, having drawn only one walk against each.
For reference: There are only seven other pitchers against whom Ohtani is at least 0 for 9 in his career (one of them, coincidentally, is a current teammate: Clayton Kershaw).
A deep bullpen
The Reds have two other relievers to know — and they might be the best two on the team.
Right-hander Tony Santillan not only had the second-most appearances in the majors with 80 this season, but did so while posting a 2.44 ERA and opponents batting only .200 against him.
Another right-hander, 24-year-old Connor Phillips, has only been a full-time fixture on the Reds’ big-league roster since mid-August. But in that time, he has given up just four runs in 20 innings while striking out 28 batters and giving up six total hits.
Wild-card wackiness
The Reds will be the lower-seeded underdog in next week’s series. But recent history suggests that could work to their benefit.
In three postseasons since MLB expanded its playoff field in 2022, road teams have won in eight of the 12 best-of-three wild card series — a reminder that with such a small sample size, anything is possible in the crapshoot of October.
“You don’t play the game on paper, so we’ve got to have that edge we’ve talked about,” said Roberts, whose Dodgers team will be playing in the new wild-card round for the first time after failing to secure a bye as a top-two seed as they had the past three seasons.
“They can pitch and they’re athletic. They’ve got a great manager who’s won a couple championships. We’ve got to be ready.”
Alonso told reporters after the Mets’ loss that he intends to opt out of the remaining one year and $24 million on his contract to re-test free agency in the offseason.
Pete Alonso says he will opt out and become a free agent this offseason
On his future with the Mets: “Playing for this organization, this city – they’ve continued to believe in me. I love playing here. There’s some great guys in this clubhouse, some great people on the staff.… pic.twitter.com/Lpa32DEEno
The Mets were in first place and had the best record in baseball on June 12, at 45-24. From there, they lost seven straight and 10 of their next 11 games.
They went on to post seven- and eight-game losing streaks in the second half of the season and limped down the stretch, with a 38-55 finish, ceding control of the NL East to the Phillies and allowing the Reds to catch and ultimately overtake them for the final NL wild-card berth. The Cubs and Padres had long since passed the Mets to secure the other two NL wild-card spots before Sunday’s games.
As the No. 6 seed in the NL playoffs, the Reds will be on the road against the No. 3 seed Dodgers in Los Angeles in the wild-card round. The No. 4 seed Cubs will host the No. 5 Padres. The top-seeded Brewers and No. 2 seed Phillies have a bye into the divisional round.
The Los Angeles Dodgers’ regular-season finale featured Clayton Kershaw adding a potential final line to a Hall of Fame résumé while Shohei Ohtani kept adding to his own.
His final line: 5 1/3 innings, 4 hits, 1 walk and 7 strikeouts. He finished his performance with a strikeout of Eugenio Suárez and walked off the mound to a standing ovation from the T-Mobile Park crowd (which had a fair amount of Dodgers fans in attendance).
Clayton Kershaw strikes out Eugenio Suárez to close out the final regular-season start of his career!
Kershaw officially closed his career with a 2.53 ERA and 3,052 strikeouts in 451 starts and four relief appearances.
That might very well be it for his career. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters before the game that Kershaw will not be on the team’s roster for the wild-card series, with the Dodgers instead opting to have him throw a full start Sunday. Should the Dodgers lose the three-game series, Kershaw won’t appear again for the team.
If the Dodgers win, Kershaw likely still won’t be in the rotation for the NLDS, barring an injury or two. He could, however, come out of the bullpen, and the Dodgers made preparations there by having him make a relief appearance Wednesday.
There is a very real chance Clayton Kershaw just threw his final MLB pitch. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Meanwhile, there was the matter of another player already setting himself up to be an all-time Dodgers great.
Shohei Ohtani breaks own Dodgers HR record
In the seventh inning, Ohtani broke his own Dodgers record with his 55th homer of the year, a 412-foot knock to center field to extend the Dodgers’ lead.
This is Ohtani’s second season with the Dodgers, and he has broken the team’s single-season home run record and surpassed his career high both years. He hit 54 homers last year as part of his unprecedented 50-50 season.
Ohtani posted only 20 stolen bases this year as he shifted his two-way focus back to pitching, but even that level of power and speed is nearly unprecedented. He’s only the second player in MLB history to post 55 homers and 20 steals in a season, joining Ken Griffey Jr. (1998) in yet another exclusive club.
It came down to the wire, but the American League’s East and Central divisions have their victors. The Cleveland Guardians won the AL Central after a historic comeback, while the Toronto Blue Jays secured the AL East with a victory Sunday.
In the final game of the regular season, the Guardians pulled off a 9-8, extra-innings victory over the Texas Rangers in the 10th. Infielder Brayan Rocchio hit a three-run, walk-off homer, dinging off the foul pole to give Cleveland the division outright.
Even before that game ended, the Guardians had secured the division title over the Detroit Tigers, thanks to Detroit’s 4-3 loss to the Boston Red Sox.
Cleveland held the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Tigers heading into Sunday. But the walk-off win was the icing on the cake for the Guardians, who earn their second straight division title after a historic comeback season in which they were as many as 15.5 games back from the Tigers. Cleveland secured a playoff spot on Saturday with a walk-off hit-by-pitch, and Detroit secured its own berth the same day.
The Guardians’ victory Sunday completes a disastrous September collapse for the Tigers, who led the division by double digits well into August. Detroit ends the season with an 87-75 record and a wild-card spot, despite dominating the entire AL for most of the summer.
In the AL East, the Blue Jays edged the New York Yankees for the division crown behind a 13-4 win over the Tampa Bay Rays. Toronto became the first AL team to secure a postseason berth last week, but the Yankees hung on to tie the Blue Jays atop the division heading into the final day of MLB play.
With Toronto holding the head-to-head tiebreaker, the team needed only a win or a Yankees loss to take the division. After taking a 5-1 lead early — and then nearly losing all of it — the Blue Jays put their game away with a five-run seventh inning. Alejandro Kirk hit two home runs for Toronto.
The Yankees pulled off a 3-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles, with Ben Rice hitting a solo homer in the eighth inning. New York fell just short of the division crown, despite finishing with the same record as the Blue Jays, who won their first AL East title in a decade.
Both AL East contenders finished their regular seasons with series sweeps. The Blue Jays won four straight to conclude their slate, while the Yankees finished the season on an eight-game winning streak.
Toronto will take the top seed in the AL, followed by the Mariners at No. 2 with the other bye to the ALDS. The AL wild card will be a pair of rivalry games: The Guardians will be the No. 3 seed, facing off against the No. 6-seeded Tigers, while the No. 4 Yankees will face the No. 5 Red Sox.
This signing has been expected since early in the offseason, but was on hold for months pending the resolution of the Jonathan Kuminga restricted free agency situation. Now, with training camps a day away, the Warriors can wait no longer.
Golden State and Al Horford have verbally agreed to a multi-year contract, a story broken by Shams Charania of ESPN and confirmed by other sources. He leaves a Boston team where he helped mature their young core and was a key part of their 2024 championship run, and Horford essentially confirmed the deal with the Warriors by thanking Celtics fans.
Exactly what Horford’s new contract looks like still depends on how the Kuminga situation plays out (as Keith Smith of Spotrac explains). If Kuminga picks up the $8 million qualifying offer, Golden State can give Horford the full mid-level exception ($14.1 million this year, with raises after), hardcapping the Warriors at the first apron of the luxury tax. If the Warriors and Kuminga work out an extension before the Wednesday deadline (likely for north of $20 million a season), the Warriors can still offer the taxpayer mid-level exception ($5.7 million), and the team would be hard-capped at the second apron. Either way, the Warriors have to sign at least four more players with De’Anthony Melton, Gary Payton II, and Seth Curry expected to make up three of those (all for the minimum).
Horford, 39, is a natural fit at a floor-spacing center backing up (at times next to) Draymond Green in the Warriors’ offense, plus he remains a solid defender. That’s why the Warriors targeted him early in free agency. Horford wants to compete for something in the final couple of years of his career, and the Warriors — with Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler — provide him with that opportunity, if this older squad can stay healthy when the playoffs roll around.
