{"id":267688,"date":"2026-06-15T19:24:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T19:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/267688\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T19:24:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T19:24:10","slug":"everything-you-missed-in-nyc-sports-while-focusing-on-the-knicks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/267688\/","title":{"rendered":"Everything you missed in NYC sports while focusing on the Knicks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Time didn\u2019t stop during the Knicks<\/a>\u2019 championship run, even if it may have felt like it.<\/p>\n

Over the past two months, the Yankees, Mets, Giants and the rest of New York\u2019s teams still played games and\/or made headlines while local fans focused on the Knicks closing in on their first NBA title since 1973<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Luckily, the Daily News has you covered.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what you may have missed \u2014 and what you need to know \u2014 now that the Knicks\u2019 five-game NBA Finals victory over the San Antonio Spurs is complete.<\/p>\n

YANKEES<\/p>\n

The Yankees have the best chance of bringing the next championship to the city.<\/p>\n

At 43-27, the Yankees have the best record in the American League. Entering Monday, they held a one-game lead over the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East. Their run differential of +107 was overwhelmingly the best in the AL, where nobody else was better than +20.<\/p>\n

Gerrit Cole returned last month after Tommy John surgery<\/a>, and most importantly, he\u2019s been sharp, going 1-1 with a 2.45 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 22 innings through four starts.<\/p>\n

So what could stand in the Yankees\u2019 way? Injuries \u2014 and they have a lot of them.<\/p>\n

Aaron Judge is out for at least a month with a stress fracture in his rib, but the Yankees expect the back-to-back AL MVP to return this season.<\/p>\n

Giancarlo Stanton suffered a setback in his rehab for the calf strain that\u2019s kept him out since late April, and he was due for more testing Monday.<\/p>\n

Trent Grisham (calf) and Austin Wells (headaches) are also currently sidelined, while Max Fried (left elbow bone bruise) was cleared last week to resume throwing from the mound.<\/p>\n

If the Yankees can stay afloat and get healthy before the playoffs, they will be the team to beat in the AL.<\/p>\n

\"NEWGerrit Cole has made four starts for the Yankees so far in his return from Tommy John surgery. (Photo by Ishika Samant\/Getty Images)
\nMETS<\/p>\n

The situation isn\u2019t quite as messy for the Mets as it was in April, when they lost 12 games in a row, or even late May, when they matched a season-worst mark by falling 11 games below .500.<\/p>\n

But a season-flipping winning streak has still eluded the Mets, who entered Monday with a 32-39 record and were 5.5 games out of the third and final National League wild card spot.<\/p>\n

The positives are that Juan Soto (15 home runs, .948 OPS)\u00a0 is delivering a big season, Bo Bichette (.958 OPS in June) is finally hitting, and Francisco Lindor (calf) is expected to return this month.<\/p>\n

The biggest negative is that the Mets\u2019 starting pitching remains a huge question mark, with Clay Holmes (fractured fibula) out indefinitely, David Peterson relegated to a relief role, and even Nolan McLean and Freddy Peralta delivering uneven seasons.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s still enough talent on this $380 million roster to believe the Mets can make a run, but at some point, they will actually need to do it.<\/p>\n

GIANTS<\/p>\n

Odell Beckham Jr. is back!<\/p>\n

The 33-year-old wide receiver re-signed with the Giants<\/a> this month, hoping to add one final chapter to an electric but oft-injured career that started with the franchise.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no guarantee Beckham, who signed a veteran-minimum contract, will make the final roster, but there\u2019s also no harm in seeing what the three-time Pro Bowler has left.<\/p>\n

Beckham \u2014 a 2014 first-round pick who exceeded 1,000 yards in four of his five Giants seasons \u2014 is likely fighting Juju Smith-Schuster, Braxton Berrios, Isaiah Hodgins and Jalin Hyatt for the final spot or two in the receiver room.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Beckham provides depth and veteran experience to a position group in which top wideout Malik Nabers is recovering from last September\u2019s multi-ligament knee injury.<\/p>\n

Nabers recently underwent a second \u201cclean-up\u201d procedure on his right knee, but the Giants are still hopeful he\u2019ll be ready for Week 1. He was healthy enough to participate in Brian Burns\u2019 charity softball game late last month, though he was still moving gingerly as he ran to first base.<\/p>\n

\"NewOdell Beckham Jr., pictured on June 9, is back with the Giants.
\nJETS<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a quieter few weeks for the Jets, who began the offseason with a bang by re-acquiring quarterback Geno Smith and using three first-round picks on pass rusher David Bailey, tight end Kenyon Sadiq and wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr., though Sadiq underwent a hernia procedure that will keep him out for the remainder of OTAs.<\/p>\n

The biggest recent news came Monday, when they reached a four-year, $62 million extension with sturdy interior lineman Joe Tippman.<\/p>\n

WORLD CUP<\/p>\n

Amid the Knicks\u2019 Finals frenzy, it was easy to miss that the World Cup is officially underway.<\/p>\n

The first game at MetLife Stadium \u2014 or New York New Jersey Stadium, as it\u2019s being called during the international soccer tournament \u2014 happened on Saturday, with Brazil and Morocco tying, 1-1<\/a>.<\/p>\n

France is set to face Senegal in the Meadowlands on Tuesday night, with more games to follow there in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

The World Cup final is scheduled to take place in East Rutherford on July 19.<\/p>\n

NETS<\/p>\n

The past few weeks have not been as kind to New York\u2019s other NBA team, as the Nets endured bad luck in the draft lottery for the second year in a row.<\/p>\n

They are set to pick No. 6 in next week\u2019s draft at Barclays Center, when top talents such as BYU\u2019s AJ Dybantsa, Kansas\u2019 Darryn Peterson and Duke\u2019s Cameron Boozer are expected to be off the board.<\/p>\n

The Nets should still end up with another building block, with Arkansas\u2019 Darius Acuff Jr. and Illinois\u2019 Keaton Wagler among the names most often linked to them in that range.<\/p>\n

LIBERTY<\/p>\n

The Liberty have shaken off a slow start under new head coach Chris DeMarco by winning seven games in a row, including a victory Sunday that clinched them a spot in the Commissioner\u2019s Cup finals.<\/p>\n

Notably, they survived the three-week absence of star guard Sabrina Ionescu, who returned from back soreness for Sunday\u2019s win over Washington.<\/p>\n

The Liberty are still waiting to find out who they will face in the last game of the Commissioner\u2019s Cup, an in-season tournament the WNBA introduced in 2021. The final is set for June 30.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Time didn\u2019t stop during the Knicks\u2019 championship run, even if it may have felt like it. Over the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":267689,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[10094,4084,4777,12160,10663,14282,2032,20,21,9,22,56,63,65,64,34030,16301],"class_list":["post-267688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-aaron-judge","tag-giants","tag-jalen-brunson","tag-jets","tag-knicks","tag-liberty","tag-mets","tag-mlb","tag-nba","tag-new-york","tag-nfl","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-odell-beckham-jr","tag-yankees"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267688\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}