Stanzel’s Sports Takeout — BREAKING NEWS: 4.14.25

Apr 15

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There’s no roller coaster in sports (okay, outside Minnesota sports) like Rory McIlroy on a Sunday. Incredible drama, and happy he finally got it done.

Loons have a scoreless draw in Toronto and haven’t lost in regulation in seven games.

Wolves Avoid Play-In, but Draw Lakers in Conference Quarterfinals

The good news? The Wolves don’t need to win a play-in game to advance to the conference quarterfinals. The bad news? They draw LeBron, Luka and the resurgent and motivated Lakers in a best-of-seven series that will start in L.A. no sooner than Saturday.

The Wolves took care of business against the non playoff Nets and Jazz in a 48-hour stretch to get things done. It got interesting Friday in a blowout win in Brooklyn, when Anthony Edwards got a weak technical foul which, because of his history this season, caused an automatic suspension for the next game. It’s such a weird rule because hey he can finish that game, but miss the next? But the league reviews those, and basically told the referee to get thicker skin, and ANT played in Sunday’s sixth-seed clinching 116-105 win over Utah. That game was a little closer than it should have been, as the Jazz was playing for the No. 1 draft pick (they got it) and rested pretty much every player of consequence.

Be ready for lots of 9:30 p.m. playoff starts! The Wolves and Lakers split two regular season games but haven’t met since Dec. 13.

Wild Still Sitting on Playoff Doorstep

If the Wild wins its season and home finale Tuesday against Anaheim, it’s in the playoffs. If not…it may take until Thursday to find out if the Wild will qualify. That’s because the Flames play a makeup game Thursday in L.A. from this winter’s wildfires.

The Wild could have clinched things Friday in Calgary, but fell 4-2 in a terrible effort that wasn’t as close as the final score would indicate. They rebounded quickly for a 3-2 OT win in Vancouver on Saturday behind a goal from Mats Zuccarello.

Of course that’s all moot if the Wild can beat the Ducks tomorrow, or if the Flames don’t beat Vegas, or if the Blues can’t beat Utah.

The Flames won last night, so here’s where things sit heading into the final regular season game for the Wild, the Blues and Flames. Calgary has by far the hardest schedule.

Wild 95 points (vs. ANA Tue)

Blues 94 points (vs. UTA Tue)

Flames 92 points (vs. VKG Tue, at LAK Thursday)

You can expect to get Zeev Buium’s NHL debut on Tuesday, especially because Jake Middleton isn’t ready to play yet and Jared Spurgeon took a puck to the throat in a scary situation Friday and didn’t play Saturday.

The Wild does own tiebreakers against both the Blues and the Flames.

Twins Take Series Finale after Demoting Miranda Following Embrassing Blunder

I’m not sure I’d call a one-for-one minor league demotion and call-up a shakeup like some others, but maybe some other underachieving veterans will see Jose Miranda’s demotion to Saint Paul as a wakeup fall.

Miranda got caught big time - he was called safe at second but wasn’t paying attention, thought he was out and was tagged and called out moments later in a loss to the Tigers. The Twins sent him to Saint Paul hours later, bringing up Brooks Lee from an injury rehab. The Twins proceeded to beat Detroit 5-1 to salvage the series finale.

The Twins are just 5-11. Still a small sample size, but the season is 10 percent over heading into this week’s series against the Mets. Joe Ryan starts for the Twins tonight.

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