- 6/16/2025
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00:00But let's begin with the shocking development yesterday that happened in Major League Baseball.
00:06A trade, arguably, of the franchise player of the Boston Red Sox in Raphael Devers.
00:12He goes to the San Francisco Giants in a very rare midseason trade.
00:18Devers is dealt for pitchers Jordan Hicks and Kyle Harrison.
00:23And also the top prospect on the Giants, James Tibbs.
00:28He goes over to Boston as well, and so does Jose Bello.
00:33So, indeed, Devers' time in Boston comes to an end amidst his struggles with wanting to play or not play the field.
00:43Definitely some discontent between him and the organization as to how his defense was handled at the beginning of the season.
00:50Don't worry about it anymore.
00:51He's now headed to San Francisco, where for the time being, it looks like he'll play third base
00:56because Matt Chapman is on the injured list, and who knows what after that.
01:00And this comes at a very bizarre time because Devers' final swing of the bat with the Red Sox ended up being a home run,
01:07and the Red Sox swept the Yankees in the three-game set at Fenway Park.
01:13How about that?
01:14The Yankees scored just four total runs in the series, and Boston put themselves back in the playoff hunt.
01:19But at least for the time being, it's being overshadowed by everything else going on with them.
01:24The New York Yankees are going to have to try and find a way to bounce back.
01:28Aaron Boone doesn't seem overly concerned.
01:31How concerning is it still, though, getting swept by this team here?
01:36Concerning?
01:37I mean, I wouldn't put it that way.
01:38I would just say, I mean, you always want to, especially when you're playing the Red Sox,
01:42you know, you always want to put your best foot forward.
01:44And, you know, they took us down this weekend, back-to-back weekend.
01:49So you hate that, but we have a really good club and, you know, just didn't play our best here this weekend.
01:56Obviously, you had a hard time, you know, putting runs on the board.
02:02You know, I thought, you know, overall, I thought we pitched pretty well and, you know,
02:07did enough run prevention-wise to keep them, you know, in check to hopefully win some games.
02:13But we just didn't get much going.
02:15Another big story broke last night in Los Angeles.
02:19Shohei Ohtani announced as tonight's starting pitcher for the Dodgers.
02:24He'll make his Major League debut, expected to throw a couple of innings,
02:28and then it probably will be all systems go the rest of the season for Ohtani.
02:31Meanwhile, the Dodgers did beat the Giants yesterday in a very bizarre scene.
02:35Starting pitcher Kyle Harrison obviously scratched because he got traded to the Red Sox.
02:39It was Andy Pajas who had the big shot at three-run homer.
02:42The Dodgers beat the Giants 5-4.
02:46All the talk, of course, was about, though, the trade that happened yesterday.
02:49Here's Dave Roberts, no stranger to the Red Sox, talking about the Devers deal to San Francisco.
02:55Yeah, it was a little kind of trying to scramble a little bit.
03:00Obviously, a huge trade for those two clubs and trying to figure out, you know,
03:06changing the line of what gives us the best chance to still kind of prepare for, you know,
03:12a bullpen game essentially.
03:14And it was good to see us find a way to win a ball game.
03:18And, you know, Dustin got in a little traffic there in the four.
03:21But, you know, as he finds a way, as he has shown, to still manage to get through six
03:27and to use the guys we wanted to and win a ball game.
03:31What's your thoughts on that trade?
03:33Because obviously they feel they're going to be in this thing for the duration.
03:37Yeah, I think that Buster, they're going for it.
03:39They put themselves in a position to, you know, make a run.
03:43And they got better.
03:44So, obviously, you know, the Red Sox had their reasons for acquiring, you know,
03:50Hicks in that first-round pick last year and Harrison, obviously.
03:54And so, yeah, so I don't know enough.
03:57But, obviously, you know, both teams, I'm sure, are pretty excited about it.
04:02Good answer from Dave Roberts.
04:03Not on his team at all.
04:05Eli De La Cruz is one of the highest players in baseball going right now.
04:08Three more runs driven in, scores three runs.
04:10He's been on fire.
04:12And the Reds beat the Tigers 8-4.
04:13The Reds, by the way, won two out of three in Detroit.
04:15So, they're looking up.
04:16Same thing with the Milwaukee Brewers.
04:18Christian Yelich, Trevor McGill end up helping out in a 3-2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.
04:23Cubs are now 12-6 in one-run games.
04:26They beat the Pirates 3-2.
04:28So, lots happening, as you can imagine, in Major League Baseball.
04:31In sports betting, one big story from this morning.
04:34It looks like there's a chance that FanDuel is exploring a deal with the company called Calci.
04:39This is the prediction market company to bring new betting efficiencies to the market.
04:43What does this mean?
04:44A partnership of some kind?
04:45I don't know.
04:45We'll see.
04:46Calci has expanded into the sports events contracts, including a partnership with Robinhood.
04:52Could this mean they're coming to more markets around the country?
04:54I guess we'll wait and see.
04:56I thought the U.S. Open would be our lead story today.
04:59And it turned out to be eight minutes into the show.
05:01But that's what you get with all the baseball stuff happening.
05:03But J.J. Spahn with a fantastic putt to capture the U.S. Open yesterday.
05:09Longest putt made by anybody this week.
05:1264 feet, 5 inches.
05:14And he's the only player at the U.S. Open to fire an under par score for the tournament.
05:19One under gives Spahn his first major title.
05:23Talked about winning it after the round.
05:26Champion of the 125th U.S. Open.
05:29JJ Spahn, JJ, just an unbelievable day.
05:32One you'll never forget.
05:34Where did the continued belief come from?
05:38It just felt like as bad as things were going, I just still try to just commit to every shot.
05:48I tried to just continue to dig deep.
05:52I mean, I've been doing it my whole life.
05:55And I think that's been the biggest difference this year is being able to do that.
06:00And fortunately, you know, I dug very deep on the back nine.
06:04And, you know, things went my way.
06:06And here we are with the trophy.
06:09Meanwhile, the NBA Finals begins back up tonight.
06:13That's good.
06:14Feels like it's been a while.
06:16Thunder take on the Pacers.
06:17They're nine and a half point favorites.
06:18The series is tied at two.
06:19They'll tip off tonight at 830 Eastern.
06:21So we have coverage for you on Pharrell before the game.
06:24And then in game live during the game.
06:26And of course, leading up to as well.
06:28Here's Rick Carlisle on the back and forth nature of this series, which is tied at two.
06:33There's momentum.
06:34I mean, it's hard to exactly gauge.
06:37I think maybe some of it fades with longer stretches between games.
06:42But, you know, between three and four was one day.
06:46I thought we had – I thought there was momentum there.
06:49I thought we played well for three quarters and then struggled in the fourth.
06:52And so it had a much better start in that game.
06:54So I don't know.
06:56It's not – you know, having given it a lot of thought, it's kind of, you know, for us and for the coaching staff and the players, it's –
07:06analyzing momentum is not really part and parcel to what's going on, like, right now.
07:12So, you know, and having to do a better job going and getting the ball off the boards and, you know, and avoiding fouls and things like that.
07:22So.
07:23Okay, so he's still heavily favored, by the way, to win the finals.
07:26Meanwhile, in the state of Missouri, the governor has approved a new financial package to help out the Chiefs and Royals.
07:33Both teams are looking for new stadiums.
07:35There's a possibility that they could end up getting them.
07:37We'll see what happens as things go forward and see what kind of financial aid they are given.
07:42Do the Bengals need some financial aid to sign their first-round pick?
07:46And also, Trey Hendrickson.
07:47Both of those guys are still unsigned.
07:49Hendrickson, by the way, good news.
07:50It seems like they're resuming talks on a contract extension to get him back into camp, which begins for them next month.
07:57And also, Camp Akers.
07:58Remember him?
08:00He's been around the NFL.
08:01Well, I think it's Vikings and Rams and probably somehow Houston as well.
08:06Now he signs with the Saints.
08:07He's got a one-year deal he tried out for minicamp.
08:09It was reported over the weekend as well.
08:11Welcome back to Newswire here on Sports Grid.
08:14Craigness joined by Pat Evans of Legal Sports Report here after the Father's Day weekend.
08:19Pat is back with us watching some golf, I'm sure, and everything else that was on TV this weekend.
08:24Great to have you back here, Pat.
08:25Let's get the ball rolling here a little bit.
08:27A couple of columns posted this weekend over at LegalSportsReport.com.
08:30You can read more about what we discuss over on their website.
08:33Let's start off with the sweepstakes saga that continues in Louisiana.
08:38Looks like, at least for the time being, there will be no sweepstakes casino betting going on there.
08:44Yeah, but this one's interesting because, I mean, to your point, we've seen a lot of, you know,
08:48the sweepstakes operators are kind of that second of three waves of things trying to kind of get into sports betting without technically being sports betting,
08:57the first being DFS 2.0, then sweepstakes, and now, of course, we have the prediction markets.
09:02But, you know, legislators act a little bit delayed, and now we're seeing plenty of lawmakers say,
09:08hold on, this is weird.
09:10We've got to figure this out.
09:11We've got to either tighten the regulations, define things, what have you.
09:15And we've seen a couple states ban them.
09:18You know, we've had Connecticut.
09:20Governor Ned Lamont just signed that bill.
09:22Up in Montana, they signed that bill.
09:25We've got New York moving forward.
09:27In fact, so much so that all a ton of the sweepstakes operators pulled out.
09:32But in Louisiana, you know, unanimously, a ban passed both the Senate and the House.
09:39Every lawmaker voted to say, yes, we want to ban these.
09:42Well, you go to the Governor Landry, and he went ahead and vetoed it.
09:46And he said, this isn't needed.
09:48We have strong regulations.
09:49We're, you know, watching everything as it is.
09:52This doesn't need to happen.
09:53So I'm vetoing this.
09:55I'm unsure of if a veto override is going to happen because, you know, as noted, it was
10:02unanimous to get through.
10:04But something like four bills have been vetoed in Louisiana since like 1972 or something like
10:10that.
10:10So it's not the precedent to do that in Louisiana is not there.
10:14So we'll see what happens.
10:16And but ultimately, it basically comes down to the governor saying, I don't think we need
10:20to do this because our gaming regulators are already really strong.
10:23And the laws already say that this isn't OK.
10:27No, it's definitely fascinating with this sweepstakes stories just going on and on during
10:32the spring and now in the summer.
10:33OK, so a new story here for our Monday viewers, especially for those of our viewers and listeners
10:40in Oklahoma.
10:41Sports betting is a possibility in 2025 has come and gone.
10:44What about the future, though, Pat?
10:46Does it seem like there's any momentum at all?
10:48This was an interesting story that was done by local media, and we just went ahead and
10:52kind of amplified the message.
10:55Governor Kevin Stitt came out and said, you know what, the tribes are waiting till I'm
10:58gone.
11:00And if you've been following Oklahoma sports betting, which, of course, I have and we've
11:03talked about on here, that is kind of not true.
11:06And we kind of have known that sports betting probably won't happen until Stitt is out of
11:10office.
11:10But he's been kind of the major roadblock, even though he's come out and said multiple
11:15times, you know, this is a proposal that I want and this is what we should do in Oklahoma,
11:19which is open up the online market to commercial operators.
11:24Pretty much everyone else in the state doesn't want to do that.
11:26The Oklahoma gaming tribes have contributed millions and millions of dollars to the state
11:32for gaming exclusivity.
11:33They have a very ripe gambling industry there that just doesn't include sports betting yet.
11:39And they've tried multiple times to kind of get to the table and have some sort of agreement.
11:45Back in 2020, Stitt amended two compacts with tribes to offer sports betting.
11:52The rest of the tribe said, whoa, whoa, no way.
11:55This isn't OK.
11:55The court system said, ruled with those tribes and said, no, this isn't OK.
12:01So since then, we've had lawmakers trying to get to the table with the tribes and kind
12:06of overrule what Stitt is trying to push.
12:09And this year, we had a very strong push by a House bill that made it the furthest the sports
12:15betting bill has, passing a Senate committee and just stalling out right before the session
12:21ended.
12:21And that would have could have created a framework, but Stitt vowed to veto it.
12:28But there was also a companion bill that if that passed would have gone to the electorate,
12:32which Oklahoma lawmakers did in 2003 to legalize the lottery, which, you know, lawmakers were
12:40kind of on the same fence of like, we don't want to be the ones to do this.
12:43We'll give it to the constituents.
12:44You guys go ahead and and say this is what we want and the like.
12:49So, again, this article is just Stitt coming out saying, you know, the tribe, this isn't
12:53going to get done, but I don't want to take blame for it not getting done.
12:56I'll say they want to wait till I'm gone, which is 2027.
12:59I mean, I guess there's a possibility something could happen next year, maybe similar to the
13:04election bill that was in the works this year, next year.
13:09But again, even if that went into the fall for the election, then it still wouldn't be
13:13legal till 2027.
13:14So I think we're still looking a couple of years out in Oklahoma, but I do think it is
13:18coming just of, you know, how it comes and when is still up in the air.
13:23Yeah.
13:23Yeah.
13:24And we know that the state of Missouri has sports betting coming.
13:27Usually, you know, we try to find these benchmarks.
13:30And unfortunately for Missouri, they decided December 1st is when they're going to launch
13:34it.
13:34But OK, almost at the end of the football season, I guess in time for something, they'll make
13:38it up.
13:39But we did get some news over the weekend as far as the licenses that are going to be
13:42given out in Missouri.
13:44And, you know, DraftKings is the big name that I see here.
13:47But another one that popped up here caught me by surprise a little bit.
13:51Yeah.
13:52So there is confirmation now that DraftKings and Underdog Fantasy or Underdog Sportsbook,
13:58as it will be, have both turned in applications.
14:01They're the first two operators to apply.
14:04We figured DraftKings would apply.
14:05Underdog let us let people know a couple months ago, I believe it was, that they would end
14:11up applying in Missouri.
14:13We've got a few other operators that we know who they're partnered with.
14:16Century Casino's partnered with BetMGM.
14:18We haven't confirmed an application with them yet.
14:22Bet365, of course, we've talked about on the show before, partnered with the St.
14:25Louis Cardinals.
14:27And so, yeah, it is a slow process.
14:29You know, I've been coming on this show for three years, I think, at this point.
14:33Wow, it's a long time.
14:35And I think pretty much every time I've been rotating through, we've talked about Missouri
14:40and getting off the ground.
14:42You know, I remember early on, we talked about the race between Kansas and Missouri.
14:46Well, Kansas has been live for, you know, three years now, practically.
14:49And Missouri's not even there.
14:51And, you know, that was part of the long legislative lead up, largely led by Denny Hoskins, who is
14:58now Secretary of State, and he was kind of leading the charge against legalizing it.
15:04And this, he also posed the hurdle that prevented the emergency rules, which would have maybe
15:10had it live by now in Missouri.
15:12And instead, the application process has taken a long time.
15:17You know, the rules will go into effect in September.
15:20I thought maybe based on some timelines we've seen in the past that they'd get up and live.
15:24But I think they're just going to go ahead and say, you know what, let's take our time,
15:27make sure we get everything right, ducks in a row, let's launch all at the same time in
15:31December.
15:32I'm sure that's what we'll see.
15:33And it is going to be, you know, Matt Waters has a great piece over on Legal Sports Report
15:38about kind of what the recent Illinois tax per bet tax could do for maybe DraftKings and
15:44maybe they really pour in more marketing into Missouri, and maybe even try to get people
15:49from Illinois to Missouri, which would be an interesting fact.
15:53But yeah, a great story by Matt over there.
15:56Yeah, Missouri, I think it's going to be a fun market to watch launch.
15:59It's just taking a long time to get live after, you know, three years of talking about it
16:04with you.
16:05Yeah, definitely so, Pat.
16:06And do you think, by the way, that Missouri will be the only big sports betting legalization
16:13story of the year?
16:15I mean, I hate to think that we're already in June, Pat, but I mean, we're really making
16:20no progress.
16:21I mean, it feels like we talked about Hawaii maybe legalizing a little bit, Rhode Island
16:24maybe going online a little bit.
16:26But for the most part, why do you think that they're so stagnant at this point?
16:30Is it just because so many markets were open already?
16:32Yeah, I mean, what happened was all the low-hanging fruit were gone, and even some of the mid-hanging
16:38fruit, and now we're going through all those states that need to do it, and they're long
16:41shots.
16:42And Missouri should have probably been one of the mid-hanging fruits that got done two,
16:46three years ago, but just ran into enough problems.
16:49Of note, of course, is Alberta up in Canada.
16:51They very well could get off the ground before 2026, but it might be early 2026.
16:56But they're rolling right along, so it'll be sometime in the near future that Alberta
17:02gets off the ground with commercial sports betting, not probably as quick as Missouri,
17:06which, again, isn't quick, but not necessarily the only market that launches this year.
17:13Understood.
17:13Pat, great to catch you here on our Monday edition of Newswire.
17:16I'm sure we'll see you later again in the week.
17:18Thanks for coming on.
17:19Yeah, I'll see you Wednesday, Craig.
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