Axios Sports

April 17, 2023
👋 Good morning! Boston is the center of the sports universe today with the Boston Marathon, Red Sox Patriots' Day Game and Bruins' playoff opener.
Todays' word count: 1,524 words (6 minutes)
Let's sports...
1 big thing: 🏒 The quest for the Cup


The Bruins just completed the best regular season in NHL history. Now comes the most grueling postseason in sports.
By the numbers: Boston has a 37% chance of winning this year's Stanley Cup, per FiveThirtyEight's projections. Or a 63% chance of not winning.
- The Presidents' Trophy has been given out 36 times to the team with the best regular season record, and only eight of them went on to win the title.
- Of the past nine Presidents' Trophy winners, only one has advanced past the second round (the 2015 Rangers, who lost in the conference final).
Matchups:
- East: Bruins vs. Panthers; Maple Leafs vs. Lightning; Hurricanes vs. Islanders; Devils vs. Rangers
- West: Golden Knights vs. Jets; Oilers vs. Kings; Stars vs. Wild; Avalanche vs. Kraken
What to watch:
- Repeat bid: The Avalanche are vying to become just the fourth repeat champion in the past 30 years, joining the Red Wings (1997-98), Penguins (2016-17) and Lightning (2020-21).
- Scoring boom: There were 6.4 goals per game this season, the highest since 1993-94 (6.48). Will the surge in scoring carry over into the playoffs?
- The curse: Can Toronto finally get past the first round? To win their first playoff series since 2004, the Maple Leafs will have to get past the Lightning, who eliminated them last year.
- New York/New Jersey: For the first time since 1994, all five of the greater New York City area NHL and NBA teams (Rangers, Islanders, Devils, Knicks, Nets) made the playoffs. At least two (Rangers-Devils) will go head-to-head.
🎰 Play: Bracket challenge (NHL)
2. 🏀 Kings win after 17-year wait
De'Aaron Fox dunks on Klay Thompson. Photo: Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images
The Kings played in their first playoff game in nearly 17 years on Saturday, ending the longest postseason drought in NBA history and the longest active drought in the Big Four leagues.
ICYMI: The No. 3 seed Kings beat the No. 6 seed Warriors, 126-123, in the first postseason meeting between the Northern California neighbors.
- Wild stat: In the time between Sacramento's last two postseason victories (2006-2023), Golden State has 106 playoff wins.
- What they're saying: "Our fans were off the charts," said Kings coach Mike Brown. "It was deafening in there."
Dynamic duo: De'Aaron Fox (38 points) and Malik Monk (32) became the first college teammates (Kentucky) to each score 30 points for the same team in a playoff game since Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon (Houston) for the Rockets in 1995.
Flashback: A lot has changed since the Kings' last playoff win on April 30, 2006. To give a sense of just how long ago that was…
- George W. Bush was in the White House.
- The iPhone didn't exist.
- Pluto was still considered a planet.
- The No. 1 song was "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter.
- In the NBA, Chris Paul was Rookie of the Year, Kobe Bryant scored 81 points in a game and the Heat won their first championship.
Elsewhere ... The other seven series tipped off, with Game 1 wins for the 76ers (over Nets), Celtics (over Hawks), Knicks (over Cavs), Lakers (over Grizzlies), Heat (over Bucks), Clippers (over Suns) and Nuggets (over T-Wolves).
3. 👟 The marathon king takes on Boston
Kipchoge after breaking his own world record at the Berlin Marathon. Photo: Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images
Eliud Kipchoge, the greatest marathon runner of all time, will face perhaps the toughest challenge of his career today when he runs his first Boston Marathon.
State of play: Kipchoge, 38, is trying to become the first runner to win all six annual World Marathon Majors. He's already won four (Berlin, Chicago, London, Tokyo). Only Boston and New York City remain.
- The Kenyan has run four of the six fastest marathons in history and broke his own world record at last year's Berlin Marathon (2:01:09).
- He's won 15 of 17 races during his 11-year marathon career, while also winning two Olympic gold medals.
The intrigue: Boston will be the first marathon of Kipchoge's career to feature significant hills.
- From Heartbreak Hill (uphill) to Cemetery Mile (downhill), the iconic course is famous for shredding runners' legs.
- While most elite runners prepare for Boston with hill-specific workouts, Kipchoge says he didn't alter his training.
The backdrop: This year's race comes 10 years after a bombing attack near the finish line claimed three lives and injured more than 260 people.
❤️ Worth a watch ... Eight-year-old Martin Richard was among the three killed in the bombing. Today, his friends will honor his memory by running the race together. Watch the story.
4. ⚡️ Lightning round
Illustration: Lazaro Gamio/Axios
⚾️🏈 Two sports, one night: John Rhys Plumlee had a busier Friday night than you. After starting in center for UCF's baseball team, he went directly to the spring football game to perform his duties as UCF's starting QB.
⚽️ Goal-scoring machine: Erling Haaland scored his 32nd Premier League goal to tie Mo Salah's record for most in a 38-game season — and Haaland still has eight games left.
🏆 Dynasties continue: Oklahoma won its second straight NCAA women's gymnastics championship on Saturday, the program's sixth title since 2014. On the men's side, Stanford won its fourth consecutive championship.
🐎 Horse racing protest: 118 animal rights activists were arrested on Saturday after scaling the fence and delaying the start of the Grand National, Britain's most popular horse race. Three horses died during this year's three-day festival.
5. 🏈 Spring football: Two leagues at once
Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
The USFL kicked off this weekend and the XFL championship is on May 13, meaning two spring football leagues will go head-to-head for the next month, Axios' Jeff Tracy writes.
State of play: Both leagues feature eight teams playing 10-week schedules, but while XFL teams host games at city-specific stadiums, the USFL is based out of four hub cities.
- USFL: Birmingham Stallions, Houston Gamblers, Memphis Showboats, Michigan Panthers, New Jersey Generals, New Orleans Breakers, Pittsburgh Maulers, Philadelphia Stars
- XFL: Arlington Renegades, D.C. Defenders, Houston Roughnecks, Orlando Guardians, San Antonio Brahmas, Seattle Sea Dragons, St. Louis BattleHawks, Vegas Vipers
How they compare: The XFL lasted one season in 2001 and half a season in 2020 before this year's relaunch. The USFL lasted three seasons from 1983-85, and this is year two of the rebooted edition.
- Players: Both feature players you'd recognize from college or the NFL, including QB A.J. McCarron and WR Martavis Bryant in the XFL and RB Bo Scarbrough and LB Reuben Foster in the USFL.
- Salaries: The max salary for most players is roughly the same (XFL: $72,000; USFL: $74,000), but some XFL QBs are making significantly higher base salaries, led by former NFL QB Brett Hundley ($200,000).
- Rules: Both leagues have three-point conversions, onside-kick alternatives, a running clock after incompletions, the ability to throw two forward passes in one play and kickoff rules designed to increase returns.
- TV coverage: XFL games are on Disney networks (ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, FX), while USFL games are split between Fox Sports (Fox, FS1) and NBC Sports (NBC, USA Network).
What to watch: The leagues went head-to-head this weekend, but the USFL was on broadcast and the XFL was on cable. To create a more apples-to-apples competition, the XFL has moved the final game of its regular season up two hours so that both leagues are on cable at 7pm ET on Sunday.
6. 🇺🇸 Photos across America

FORT WORTH, Texas — In the final vault of her collegiate career, Florida's Trinity Thomas earned her 28th perfect 10, tying the all-time NCAA record. Quite the feat, even amid perfect score inflation.

LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers celebrated Jackie Robinson Day in style on Saturday, beating the Cubs, 2-1, on David Peralta's walk-off, two-run single.

HILTON HEAD, S.C. — Matt Fitzpatrick beat defending champ Jordan Spieth in a playoff to win the RBC Heritage, earning more money ($3.6M) than Jon Rahm did for winning the Masters ($3.24M).
7. 🌍 Photos around the world

BRAMPTON, Ontario — Team USA beat Canada, 6-3, on Sunday to win its 10th Women's World Hockey Championship, and first since 2019. Only Canada (12 titles) has won more, with the nations combining to win all 22 gold medals at the event.

MONTE CARLO, Monaco — Andrey Rublev won his first Masters title on Sunday, rallying from one set down — and a 4-1 deficit in the third set — to beat Holger Rune, 5-7, 6-2, 7-5.

VALKENBURG, Netherlands — Dutch cyclist Demi Vollering kisses her boyfriend after winning the Amstel Gold Race, her third victory of the season.
8. 📺 Watchlist: NBA, NHL playoffs
David Pastrnak and James Harden. Photos: Brian Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images; Mitchell Leff/Getty Images
For the first of many nights over the next two months, the NBA and NHL playoffs will be played simultaneously. Buckle up.
- 🏀 NBA: Nets (down 1-0) at 76ers (7:30pm ET, TNT); Warriors (down 1-0) at Kings (10pm, TNT)
- 🏒 NHL: Islanders at Hurricanes (7pm, ESPN2); Panthers at Bruins (7:30pm, ESPN); Wild at Stars (9:30pm, ESPN2); Kings at Oilers (10pm, ESPN)
More to watch:
- 👟 Boston Marathon: The 127th edition (8:30am, ESPN)
- ⚾️ MLB: Angels at Red Sox (11:10am, MLB) … Shohei Ohtani takes the mound in the annual Patriots' Day game.
- ⚽️ EPL: Leeds vs. Liverpool (3pm, USA)
9. 🏀 NBA trivia
Photo: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
The top five seeds in the West (Nuggets, Grizzlies, Kings, Suns, Clippers) have combined for just one NBA championship.
- Question: Which franchise won that lone title?
- Hint: They played in a different city at the time.
Answer at the bottom.
10. 🍿 Top plays: Weekend edition

Talk tomorrow,
Kendall "Inject playoff hockey into my veins" Baker
Trivia answer: Sacramento Kings (then the Rochester Royals) in 1951
🙏 Thanks for reading! Follow us for more (@kendallbaker and @jeffreytracy). Friends can sign up here. Thanks to Matt Piper for copy edits.
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