The MLB trade deadline is this Friday at 3 PM CT, and we have already seen a number of trades by teams looking to get better before the playoffs. There have been two blockbuster trades in the last two days alone. On Sunday, the Cincinnati Reds traded star-pitcher Johnny Cueto to the Kansas City Royals for young pitcher Brandon Finnegan and two other pitching prospects, and late Monday night the Colorado Rockies traded star-shortstop Troy Tulowitzki and pitcher LaTroy Hawkins to the Toronto Blue Jays for shortstop Jose Reyes and three prospects.

It’s extremely common to see teams in playoff contention trade away some roster players and prospects to teams out of playoff contention for their best players. These teams hope these players give them a better shot of a deep playoff run.

If a players contract ends at the conclusion of the season, he is seen as a “rental” player. Teams should be careful and think about if they want to trade some of their young players and prospects for a “rental” player. There is a risk that the rental won’t perform above expectations and at the end of the season, he will leave and go to another team in free agency. Then they basically traded young, promising players for nothing. A prime example of this happened last year when the Oakland Athletics traded pitcher Dan Straily and top prospects Addison Russell and Billy McKinney to the Chicago Cubs for pitchers Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel. They also traded away star-slugger Yoenis Cespedes to the Boston Red Sox for pitcher Jon Lester and outfielder Johnny Gomes. These moves were expected to help the Athletics compete for the World Series. However, the Athletics stumbled down the stretch and lost in the American League Wild Card Game, ending their season early. The Athletics subsequently lost Hammel, Lester and Gomes in free agency and ended up trading away Samardzija because they couldn’t afford to keep him. This left the Athletics roster depleted and they are currently struggling through a disappointing season.

Even though there are many instances of teams having buyers remorse, there are also instances of trade deadline moves paying off. Just before the 2013 trade deadline, the Boston Red Sox gave up some prospects to acquire pitcher Jake Peavy from the Chicago White Sox. The Red Sox went on to win the World Series later that year, with Peavy playing a role in the championship. The “buyers” at this trade deadline are hoping their gambles end with a similar result.

On Saturday, Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels threw a no-hitter against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. A pitcher throwing a no-hitter is one of the most impressive individual accomplishments in all of sports, but this particular one was different.

Before Saturday, the last time the Cubs didn’t record a single hit in a game was on September 9,1965. No that’s not a misprint. You read that correctly. The year was 1965 and legendary pitcher Sandy Koufax threw a perfect game against the Cubs on an early fall afternoon at Wrigley Field. After that day, the Cubs were able to get a hit in 7,920 consecutive games. To call it an impressive streak would be the ultimate understatement. Even though it is now over, it remains the longest hit streak by a team in MLB history and was one of the bright spots for a franchise whose championship history I’m not going to get into.

What made Hamels’ performance on Saturday even more noteworthy is that he did it against a pretty solid Cubs lineup, and by the end of this week, he might be a part of that lineup. This years Cubs team has been way better than the Cubs we’ve seen in previous years. The Cubs high-profiled prospects are now starting to get called up and future superstars like Kris Bryant, Addison Russell, and Kyle Schwarber are already making significant contributions. Before Saturdays game, the Cubs had a record of 51-44 and were fighting for a wild card spot in the National League. They had their ace Jake Arrieta on the mound on Saturday and were expected to easily take care of business against the Phillies, who have the worst record in the MLB. That was before Hamels put on a performance for the ages and accomplished something that hadn’t been done in almost half a century. Before Saturday, there were reports that Hamels will be one of the many pitchers on the move before the MLB trade deadline on Friday. He is now considered the best pitcher available on the market, and there are reports that the Cubs will make a serious run at him. If Hamels does get traded to the Cubs, not only did he end the team’s hit streak, he could also help them end their championship drought.

On Thursday morning, it was announced that Lou Lamoriello would become the General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs after spending the last 28 years of being the President of Hockey Operations and General Manager of the New Jersey Devils.

The news was shocking considering Lamoriello’s status. Lamoriello is considered to be one of the greatest front office executives in sports history. During his 28 years with the organization, the Devils made the playoffs 21 times, made the Stanley Cup Finals 5 times, and won the Stanley Cup 3 times. The Devils were a constant Cup contender during most of Lamoriello’s tenure with the team. He drafted future superstars Marty Brodeur and Brendan Shanahan and was instrumental in helping bring Soviet hockey players to play in the NHL when the Soviet Union started to fall in the 1980’s.

The hire was one of many in a long rebuild for the Maple Leafs. The club may be the most valuable in the NHL according to Forbes Magazine, but they currently have the longest Stanley Cup drought. They haven’t won the Stanley Cup since 1967 and for the last decade, the Maple Leafs have been one of the worst teams in the league, only making the playoffs once since 2004. In April 2014, the Maple Leafs hired NHL Hall-of-Famer Brendan Shanahan to be the President of Hockey Operations. In May 2015, after another bad season, the Maple Leafs hired Mike Babcock to be their new coach. Babcock is considered to be one of the best coaches in the NHL. He was the coach of the Detroit Red Wings for the past ten seasons. The Red Wings never missed the playoffs with Babcock as head coach, and won the Stanley Cup in 2008.

Thursday’s hiring could begin a serious upward trend for the Maple Leafs franchise. The Maple Leafs have been criticized for having a poor front office in recent seasons, but now that they have some of the best personnel in the league, it could lead to better decisions and better player development. Shanahan continues to say that the rebuild won’t happen overnight, but with the additions of Lamoriello (the guy who drafted him into the League back in 1987) and Babcock, the Maple Leafs could become serious Cup contenders sooner rather than later.

The MLB All Star Game was last week, and the two days after it are the only days of the year when there are no football, basketball, hockey, or baseball games taking place. The weeks between the MLB All Star Game and the MLB Trade Deadline is the worst time of the year for die-hard sports fans. Everyday is filled with nothing but baseball games, and if you are a Chicago White Sox fan, that’s not a good thing. Most of the day, the top sports news stories are previews about the upcoming college and NFL football season and the speculation of who is going to get traded at the MLB Trade Deadline on July 31st instead of the baseball games that are going on that day. Right now the only thing getting us through these horrible weeks is the fact that football training camp is right around the corner and we will soon get to see Jay Cutler throw touchdown passes to the other team again. But it’s not all bad. This is the time of year when die-hard sports fans can take a break and do other fun stuff like go outside and enjoy the summer weather, go to concerts, fairs, not think about Jay Cutler, find a hobby to do instead of spending the night on the couch watching the White Sox give up multiple runs in the first inning, etc. Life isn’t meant to be spent watching sports all the time.

After you read this, go and enjoy the weather outside. It’s finally starting to get nice out.

The MLB All-Star Game will take place tonight in Cincinnati, Ohio. The best of the best from the National League and the American League will compete against each other to decide which league will have home field advantage for the World Series.

I’m one of the few, but I like how the current format gives the players something to play for. When the players are actually trying, the entertainment value for the fans goes way up. The game is way more entertaining than other All Star Games, like in the NFL, NHL, and NBA, where defense doesn’t exist and I spend most of the game taking a nap. With the players actually trying, the viewing experience is enhanced exponentially.

The format changed after the 2002 All Star Game that ended in a tie, which pissed a lot of people off, including then MLB Commissioner Bud Selig. To make the game better, he instituted the new format: whichever league wins the game, the champion of that league in the postseason will have home field advantage during the World Series. Many people don’t like this format because they don’t like the possibility of a superior team not having home field advantage for the most important playoff series. However, having home field advantage doesn’t always mean you’re going to win the series, as the San Francisco Giants proved last year by winning Game 7 of the World Series on the road. I believe if a team is truly superior, they will win the series no matter what.

We watch all star games to watch the best of the best play with and against each other and be entertained. The MLB accomplishes this and then some.

The news broke late last Friday night. The Chicago Blackhawks traded veteran winger Patrick Sharp and rising defenseman Stephen Johns to the Dallas Stars for defenseman Trevor Daley and forward Ryan Garbutt.

Looking at the trade, it’s easy to see that the Blackhawks received the bad end of the deal. They gave up a veteran leader and a promising young prospect for an average defenseman and a forward whose rough and physical style of play the Hawks don’t really need given they have Andrew Desjardins and Andrew Shaw on the roster. Why did they make the trade, and to a division rival no less?

Because they had to. Even though Sharp is a proven goal scorer, the trade market for him was thin, with his big cap hit of $5.9 Million, his age, and his declining production discouraging potential trade partners away. The only trade partners the Hawks were able to find were the Stars, and to make the deal happen, they had to give up a high valued prospect like Johns. The Hawks were never in a position to ask for a bigger return package from the Stars given their salary cap issues and the small market for Sharp. Trading Sharp and Johns for Daley and Garbutt frees up $1.7 million in cap space for the Hawks. All the Hawks need to do now is trade away Bryan Bickell, whose $4 million cap hit is an absolute killer. However, many hockey reporters have called Bickell “untradeable”, meaning no one wants him. If the Blackhawks somehow are able to trade away Bickell, they will have enough cap room to re-sign center Marcus Kruger, which has been a big priority for them this offseason.

Even though almost everyone saw this trade coming, fans are starting to realize just how big of an impact Sharp had on the team. Sharp had been with the Hawks since 2005, when the Hawks were among the NHL’s worst teams. Sharp was a leader in the locker room and mentored young players like Kane, Toews, Keith, and Seabrook when they first joined the team. Those players are now franchise cornerstones and, along with Sharp, have led the Blackhawks to three Stanley Cup championships in the last six seasons. Sharp was also able to handle adversity well, and that trait seemed to spread to his Blackhawks teammates. He was instrumental in the success the Blackhawks have had the last half-decade.

Sharp was also one of seven Blackhawks players that have been on the team during all three of their recent Stanley Cup wins, and now that he’s gone, it’s starting to sink in just how different this team will be. With players like Sharp and Saad gone and players like Anisimov, Dano, Tropp, Tikhonov, Daley, and Garbutt arriving, Blackhawk fans are hoping that these new players will help the Blackhawks deliver the same results they have in recent years.

Two days after he was traded, Patrick Sharp took out a full page ad in the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper thanking the Blackhawks, their fans and the city of Chicago for their support. Thank you Sharp, and good luck in the future.

Last week when NBA free agency began, Los Angeles Clippers star guard DeAndre Jordan announced he would sign a new contract with the Dallas Mavericks. However, news broke today that Clippers representatives, including owner Steve Ballmer, head coach Doc Rivers, and players Blake Griffin and Chris Paul, are traveling to Jordan’s off season home in Houston to try and convince him to reconsider and sign back with the Clippers. In the NBA, free agents aren’t allowed to officially sign their new contracts until eight days after free agency begins. This period of time is known as the moratorium period, and its purpose is to allow the league to precisely calculate its new salary cap and luxury-tax figures for the upcoming season. Teams and players can come to verbal agreements at the beginning of the period on July 1st, but aren’t allowed to officially sign their new contracts until the period ends a week later.

If Jordan decides to resign with the Clippers, it could start a new trend in NBA free agency. We could start seeing more teams try a last ditch effort to sign one of their players leaving in free agency, and an increase in players verbally committing to join a team only to change their minds and sign somewhere else.

If this does start happening, the NBA should consider getting rid of the moratorium period. They should focus on figuring out the new numbers for the salary cap, but they should do it immediately after the previous season ends and before the free agency period so owners and general managers know how much money they can spend. If you are a player, what is the point of announcing you’re going to sign with one team if you’re just going to ultimately sign with a different team – unless you’re using it as a negotiation tactic? You’re just making yourself look bad, not staying true to your word, and will make a lot more enemies among your peers and the fans.

It will be interesting to see how this situation plays out and what it means for the rest of the league.

The 2015 MLB Home Run Derby will take place on Monday, July 13th, 2015 as part of the 2015 MLB All Star Weekend Festivities in Cincinnati, Ohio. But this year’s Derby will be different from those in years past.

Last month, the MLB announced that starting this year, the Derby will be a bracket competition in which each player will have 5 minutes to hit however many home runs they can. There will be eight participants, and each participant will be pitted against someone else and whoever hits more home runs during their five minutes advances to the next round. This process keeps repeating until a winner is crowned.

I’m excited to see how the new format plays out. I think it will definitely be more entertaining than the old format, where players keep trying to hit home runs until they make ten outs (or hit balls that aren’t home runs). Each year, the Home Run Derby seemed to get more and more boring. If a change like this wasn’t made, it might end up being like the NBA Skills Competition, a once great competition that’s dried up thanks to the same repetitive rituals done year after year. I think leagues like the NBA and the NHL should try what the MLB is doing and switch up some of the events in their All Star Skills Competitions. The NHL is rumored to be considering getting rid of its skills competition and making the whole All Star weekend a Stanley Cup Playoffs-like competition where eight teams compete against each other until a champion is crowned, just like the new Home Run Derby Format.

One player I would love to see in this year’s Derby is Cubs super-rookie Kris Bryant. He has been stellar all season, and it would represent the beginning of a new era of the Home Run Derby, where we start to see some of the newer, up and coming players compete. Another player I would love to see in the Derby is Tigers slugger Yoenis Cespedes, who won the last two Derby’s. Other players would be Bryce Harper, Mike Trout, Albert Pujols, Todd Frazier, J.D. Martinez, and Nelson Cruz.

Kudos to Major League Baseball and new commissioner Rob Manfred for trying something new. In a league which has a reputation of not welcoming change, it is refreshing to see them move in this direction.

I remember where I was. I was in my room about to take a nap. It was about 4:10 in the afternoon and I was exhausted because I had spent the whole day helping my Dad and Grandpa work on building an addition to our backyard deck. My Mom and Dad were about to leave to buy more parts when all of a sudden my Dad yelled my name. “MIKE, DID YOU HEAR THAT??” he yelled. I was confused. I thought something was happening outside and asked what was going on. He responded, “Saad got traded to Columbus!” Those words hit me like a ton of bricks. “WHAT??????” I loudly exclaimed. I immediately went on Twitter to discover the news was true, one of my favorite players on the Chicago Blackhawks, Brandon Saad, had just been traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets. I immediately went on a verbal rampage, cursing the Blackhawks General Manager Stan Bowman, like I’m sure a lot of Blackhawks fans did during that moment. How can he trade a future superstar who, at only 22 years old, has helped the Blackhawks win two Stanley Cup Championships?? Bowman himself said that one of the biggest priorities of the offseason was to resign Saad to a new contract. And now he’s gone. After a few more curse words, I decided to calm down and look at what the Hawks got in return. The Hawks received four players, Artem Anisimov, Marko Dano, Jeremy Morin, Corey Tropp, and a 2016 4th round draft pick from Columbus in exchange for Saad and two prospects, Michael Paliotta and Alex Broadhurst. This made me feel a little better. Anisimov is a fine center, and I have heard some really good things about Dano, who was one of Columbus’ top prospects, and Morin used to play for the Hawks. Still, I was upset that Saad was gone and thought that the trade itself was unnecessary. Then I heard the reason for the trade.

According to Bowman, Saad was asking for a new contract that lasted six years and paid him up to $6-6.5 million annually. Due the salary cap restrictions, there was no way the Hawks could give him that kind of a contract. When it became apparent that contract talks between Saad and the Hawks wouldn’t go any further and Saad would sign somewhere else the next day when NHL free agency began, the Hawks traded him. Since Saad was a restricted free agent, if he had signed somewhere else the Hawks would’ve received a first, second, and third round selection in next years NHL Draft from Columbus as compensation. Even though that sounds like a lot of picks, what the Hawks got in return by trading Saad instead is way better because they received multiple players who can immediately contribute when the season starts in October. They received an established NHL center in Anisimov, two intriguing prospects in Dano and Tropp, and a familiar face in Morin, to go along with a draft pick. That’s way better than three draft picks. A couple days later Saad signed a 6 year contract that will pay him $6 million annually, which confirmed what Bowman said was the truth. I took back everything bad I said about Bowman, and so should you.

The NHL, just like every other professional sports league, is a business. Due to the salary cap, which limits how much money a team can pay its players, teams like the Blackhawks have to trade players if they can’t afford them, even if they are fan favorites. Some fans are irrational and will condemn Bowman just because he traded Saad and they liked Saad. It doesn’t matter to them what the Hawks got in return. Hawks fans need to realize that Bowman makes these kinds of moves to help the franchise in the long run. Instead of criticizing Bowman, more Hawks fans should praise him for keeping the core of the team together and winning multiple championships in the tough salary cap era, which makes winning multiple championships in a small period of time nearly impossible. Hawks fans need to calm down.