With the World Cup exactly one year away, the USMNT is spiraling

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⚽️ The USMNT is spiraling

The USMNT has lost four straight games for the first time since 2007, and with the Gold Cup starting this weekend and the World Cup exactly 365 days away, the team is spiraling.

From Yahoo Sports' Henry Bushnell:

The 2026 World Cup has been billed as the opportunity of a lifetime, as a chance for the USMNT to "change soccer in America forever."

It will be a monthlong moment to captivate a country and lift an entire sport; a moment that everyone, for years, assumed a rising USMNT would seize with pride.

And yet, with the World Cup a year away, the USMNT is directionless. It clunked to a new low on Tuesday night in Nashville, falling 4-0 to Switzerland.

It failed to record a single shot on target, and it trailed by four goals inside 40 minutes at home for the first time ever.

It made head coach Mauricio Pochettino sigh, repeatedly, perhaps in disbelief, perhaps with alarm. And it made a half-empty stadium boo their brains out.

That, astonishingly, is the state of the USMNT with a year to go. Two years after former head coach Gregg Berhalter said "the sky's the limit" for what many believed was a "golden generation" of players, they are insipid and astray, uninspired and uninspiring.

Many of those prominent players were absent for Tuesday's loss to Switzerland and Saturday's to Türkiye, so there are caveats. But they and their dubious effort were responsible for the first two losses, in March to Panama and Canada.

Bottom line: Instead of rising to meet this unmissable moment, the USMNT plateaued in 2024; and now, it is regressing.

Read the full story.

⚾️ Paul Skenes and the case against pitcher wins

There have been 63 occurrences in MLB history where a pitcher had a sub-2.00 ERA and 90+ strikeouts through 14 starts. The only one without a winning record? Paul Skenes this season.

By the numbers: The NL Cy Young favorite ranks second in the league in ERA (1.88) and first in WHIP (0.84), but he's just 4-6 on the year due to a historic lack of run support.

• The last-place Pirates score the second-fewest runs in the majors (3.24 per game), and their bats always seem to be quietest when their ace is on the bump.

• Consider this: Skenes has allowed 0 or 1 earned run in nine of his 14 starts, yet he has fewer wins than 50 other MLB pitchers.

A useless statistic: Win-loss record is a common gauge of a pitcher's performance, but as Skenes proves, it's not a very meaningful one. To further highlight the point: Arizona's Brandon Pfaadt (8-4) has twice as many wins as Skenes despite an ERA three times worse (5.50), simply because his teammates score a lot of runs (MLB-best 5.09 per game).

Looking ahead: If Skenes keeps shoving — and the Pirates keep losing — the former No. 1 overall pick could become just the second-ever Cy Young winner to have a losing record.*

*Who was the first? Dodgers closer Eric Gagné won the 2003 NL Cy Young with a 2-3 record to go along with his 1.20 ERA, 55 saves (fourth-most ever) and perfect save percentage (55-for-55).

🌟 16-year-old phenoms make history

A couple of 16-year-old phenoms were in the news this past week for historic performances in the pool and on the track.

🏊 In the pool: Luka Mijatovic (Pleasanton, California) broke the American records for the 15-16 age group in the 200m (1:45.92) and 400m freestyle (3:45.89) at U.S. Nationals.

Here's the kicker: Both times also broke the records for the 17-18 age group, one of which had belonged to Michael Phelps. In other words: Mijatovic is faster at 16 than Phelps was at 18 (in the 200m freestyle, at least).

👟 On the track: Cooper Lutkenhaus (Forth Worth, Texas) set the national high school record in the 800 meters (1:46.26), eclipsing a mark that was set 12 years before he was born (1996). This comes four months after the sophomore sensation set the national high school indoor record (1:46.86).

By the numbers: Lutkhenhaus beat the field with a rare negative split, meaning his second lap (52.67) was faster than his first (53.59).

What's next: Mijatovic earned a spot at this summer's World Championships, where he'll be the youngest U.S. male to compete since Phelps in 2001. Lutkenhaus will be at the USATF U20 Outdoor Championships and Nike Outdoor Nationals this month before potentially lining up against senior competition at the USATF Outdoor Championships later this summer.

🏀 The Alex Caruso story

From Yahoo Sports' Yaron Weitzman:

The pinky finger on Alex Caruso's right hand doesn't look like a typical pinky. Around the middle knuckle, it bulges as if a small marble was implanted under the skin.

It will come as no surprise to anyone who's watched Caruso play basketball that this slight disfiguration is the result of him throwing his body around the court.

"Somebody stepped on it while I was on the ground during a game," Caruso said during a phone interview. What might be surprising, though, is how old he was when the injury occurred. "I think it was in, like, the first or second grade," he said.

So, yes, the player we've seen throughout the playoffs, and in his first season with the Thunder, and really over the past five seasons, is who Caruso has always been.

The running, the diving, the swiping, that blur of activity that looks like a tornado with arms — it all comes naturally to him. On the court, it's his version of breathing.

That capacity for wreaking havoc is what propelled Caruso, now 31, from an undrafted guard in 2016, one close to accepting a contract to play overseas, into the NBA.

But what's transformed him into into one of the great role players of this decade, someone who is three wins away from a second ring, has been his ability to both build on those skills and refine them.

These days, Caruso is more than just a basketball version of the Tasmanian Devil. In fact, ask him about his propensity for creating chaos, and he'll balk at that description.

"I think when you use the word 'chaos,' it's for the other team," he said. "Creating chaos for them and making them have to think and second-guess things.

"For us, I'm trying to be settling and create a rhythm and flow." More than that, he's trying to "have an understanding of what we're gonna do and then putting guys in positions where they can just play and don't have to think."

Keep reading.

📺 Watchlist: Wednesday, June 11

🏀 NBA Finals, Game 3 | 8:30pm ET, ABC

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 72 points across Games 1 and 2, the most ever through a player's first two career NBA Finals games. Can the Pacers put the clamps down on the league MVP as the series shifts to Indy?

⚾️ Yankees at Royals | 7:40pm, Prime

Lefty Kris Bubic toes the rubber for KC as he looks to continue his breakout campaign. He leads all AL pitchers in ERA (1.43) and WAR (3.5) in his first full season since undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2023.

👟 NCAA Track & Field Championships | 7pm, ESPN

The coed four-day event begins today at Oregon's iconic Hayward Field, where the Florida men seek their fourth straight title and the Arkansas women look to defend theirs.

Today's full slate →

🏒 NHL trivia

With Monday's Game 3 victory, Florida's Paul Maurice became just the third head coach in NHL history with 1,000 career wins.

Question: Who are the other two?

Hint: One is still active.

Answer at the bottom.

🏀 Finally!

Coach's challenges are coming to men's college basketball this fall, and the NCAA is also removing automatic out-of-bounds reviews in the last two minutes.

Net result: The end of games shouldn't take forever now, which is a win for everybody.

Trivia answer: Scotty Bowman (1,467 wins) and Joel Quenneville (1,090)

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