Giannis - it can’t end like this. The vultures are circling though. Winning one game in round 1 with relatively less hope for next year will get people talking trade. There are asset rich teams (HOU, OKC, BK?) that will be calling Milwaukee immediately.

Clippers - a small comeback falls short. Wave after wave after wave of threes takes down the Clips in game 5. Denver is not dissimilar to the Lakers (5 good players, no depth). The difference has been shooting and a matchup with the Clips who are relying on Batum, Bogdanovic, Kris Dunn, and Harden (11pts) for too much impact.

Yankees - back to back to back jacks to open the game against Kyle Gibson (his season debut). Yanks win 15-3. Cubs - powered by small sample size hero Carson Kelly (slugging .891) defeat the Pirates 9-0. Padres - beat the Giants 7-4 in a glamour series out West.

The youngest KMARK would wake up, grab cereal, and scour the transaction wire of the newspaper’s sports section. Not an origin story for a future GM (yet), but a true story nonetheless. Because of the DL, the minors, and the length of season, baseball’s section was always the most juicy. Habits change (not the cereal, Peanut Butter Panda Puffs), but baseball’s wire remains as hot as ever.

Yesterday’s heater: Braves Release Jake Marisnick

Missed that one, didn’t ya? The Braves shuffled their outfield: optioning Jared Kelenic and re-signing 2021 postseason hero Eddie Rosario. But we’re here to talk Marisnick, an outfielder who debuted during my college years and is a career .228 hitter. Marisnick is now 34 years old and hasn’t seen 200 at-bats since 2019. An ultimate journeyman, he’s seen big league action with 8 teams. Defense is his calling card. You don’t even want to see his Triple-A stats this year: .098/.178/.195. That’s sub-Tebow (remember his baseball career?). Why is Marisnick hanging on? Isn’t there a high school team to coach in a tax free golf haven?

Marisnick is stuck on 9 years and 52 days of MLB service time. He’s accrued 32 days since 2023. Let’s break this down:

MLB players earn service time for every day they’re on a 26 man roster (or on a major league injury list). Each MLB season contains 187 days, but spending 172 in the Bigs will get year one year’s with of service. We won’t talk service time manipulation that teams pull to grab an extra year before free agency. We’ll focus on the benefits players earn with 10 years of service. Only 10% of players to reach the majors will cross this threshold. With it, players earn a full pension. As it stands, that’s $275k a year starting at age 62. In his career, Marisnick has earned a little over $12m. I don’t have to describe taxes to you, but this is a man grinding for that pension. Respect. Since 2021, this man has lived through stops in: Iowa, Indianapolis, Gwinnett, Charlotte, OKC, and Salt Lake. A tour of American C cities (cold hard truth).

As of today, baseball’s season has 151 remaining service days. Marisnick needs to latch on with a team (Triple-A), hit (please hit bro), and get called up for 120 of those 151 days. That gets him to 10 years. He is so damn close, but he’s probably staring at another year of moving, working the phones, and hoping for a chance in 2026. Point is, never stop, never quit, and learn how to put the ball in play with two strikes.