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'Baby Lukaku'. That is the nickname, coined by Romelu Lukaku's former team-mate Kevin Mirallas, that Belgian journalists love to use when they write about Promise David. It's easy to see why, too, with the Union Saint-Gilloise striker one of European football's most unsung talents, a true Hidden Gem.

The striker is physically and mentally strong and is very fast. Weapons with which he can force something in every game. With his profile, it is not surprising that Premier League clubs such as West Ham United are closely following him. And yet David does not dispel all doubts.

David appears clumsy, wild, certainly no clinical finisher, and his lack of concentration is apparent. David is an enigma to scouts. He can't tread water, but he can swim easily from A to B. The black Michael Phelps, he calls himself in Similarly, David can play a terrible game, yet still manage to get his name on the score sheet. That may actually be his greatest quality. It drives his coach, David Hubert, crazy. But Hubert can't ignore him, because his striker can score anytime, anywhere. And his five-year plan? He's ticked that off in a year and a half. Promise David has found his way.

• Lukaku-esque

  If there is one goal that perfectly illustrates just why Mirallas, who now works as USG's attacking coach, compares David to Lukaku, it was his striker against Royal Antwerp in March 2025. In the opening game of the Jupiler League championship play-offs, David was played in behind the Antwerp defence as Rosen Bozhinov pulled out all the stops to fend the striker off.

  "As I ran, I felt a claw at my neck," the striker told podcast about a goal that quickly went viral on the internet. "When I took a shower later, it hurt badly because he had literally torn the skin off my neck. I bled throughout the entire match and didn't even realise it."

  "I headed straight for the goal, seeing nothing but green," David continued. "I didn't want to dive or fall. Then he grabbed me again. I thought, 'You f*cking dick!' I swung my arms back and my shirt ripped. I was happy about that, because every time he pulled on that shirt, it felt like I was choking."

  With only half a shirt left, David finally broke free from Bozhinov, though the defender had slowed him down just enough for a team-mate to catch up. David, though, produced a simple body feint to leave the second defender in the dust before sliding the ball into the net, slapping his chest powerfully and screaming mightily in celebration.

  "I was subbed and then took a look at my phone," he said. "The goal had already been posted on social media and it looked horrible. It was just assault!

  "Our sporting director has that shirt hanging in our new training facility, alongside all kinds of other historic kits from Union's history. He said, 'This shirt symbolises Union: it's about resilience, strength and not giving up." It is precisely those three things that symbolise David's unusual career path, too.

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• Where it all began

  As a child, David always was an energetic boy – "My teachers thought I was a good kid, but also that I was a distraction to others," he recalls – as he grew up in Brampton, Ontario, a city that also has links to his fellow Canada internationals Cyle Larin, Atiba Hutchinson and Tajon Buchanan.

  However, it was not in Canada, but rather in Lagos, Nigeria, where David discovered his love for football. As a toddler, he lived there with his grandparents, while his uncle was a huge Chelsea supporter.

  "I'll never forget him picking me up at my grandmother's house," David told . "I sat on the back of his motorbike and we rode to the bar together to watch the matches."

  Upon moving back to Canada, David looked for a hobby to pour his energy into. At first, it was the piano, but when it broke – "That really p*ssed me off!" – David went looking for something else, and soon found his new love: football.

• 'F*ck you moment'

  David initially joined Toronto FC's academy, but at the age of 15 he was let go. He then spent three years with semi-professional outfit Vaughan Azzurri before, having turned 18 in 2019, he was offered a move to Europe to join Croatian third-division side NK Trnje. It proved, however, to be a painful moment in his young life.

  "Things happened in Croatia that I didn't even dare tell my parents about," David recalls, before revealing the racist abuse he suffered from his coach in Zagreb. "He didn't want black people, Africans, on his team. He said bizarre things to me.On one occasion, my team-mates didn't translate what he had shouted during a training session until a month later because they found it too awful. Everyone froze the moment he said it. It was something like,God forbid I ever put a black player in my team.'"

  David was sent back to the youth team, where he was able to rediscover his love of the game under a different coach, Rajko Vidovic. When Vidovic became the coach of the first team shortly afterwards, he provided the prolific striker an opportunity, one which David took immediately.

  "It was the biggest f*ck you momentof my life," David says of the goal he scored moment after coming off the bench for his debut. "It felt like revenge on that one man."

  David soon left Zagreb, however, and moved to the United States and USL outfit FC Tulsa. The switch did not prove to be a success, and he soon headed back to Europe, joining Maltese side Valletta.

  "I lost a cup final there," David remembered. "That broke me. I've cried three times in my life when it came to football, that match was one of them. My niece Liz was in the stadium at the time and she took a photo of me on the big screen just as I was crying. Man, I'm ugly when I cry."

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• The big break

  By the time a spell with a different Maltese club, Sirens FC, had also ended in disappointment, David was 21 and his dream of a career as a professional footballer seemed very far away.

  "My parents wanted me to come home," he said. "Until then, they had always supported me. But they had lost hope. I asked them for one more opportunity." That opportunity soon arose in Estonia with Kalju FC. At that point, David drew up an ambitious five-year plan that would end with him playing and scoring at a World Cup.

  "The idea was to either play football really well, or be a loser," said David when summing up his thoughts at the time to podcast. "I really didn't want to go to school."

  Things didn't start well for him in his new home, however. David was regarded as a 'project' and was initially integrated into Kalju's youth team. There, however, he scored a lot of goals and was eventually promoted to the first team. But any suggestion that David was finally on the right track were soon put to bed.

  "I remember playing a match," he recalled. "We were 2-1 up at half-time and I was playing pretty well. They lured us in and then played long balls, so as an attacker I didn't put any pressure on them when we were leading. I walked into the changing room and the president grabbed me by the neck and dragged me out before saying, Is this how you want to play? Don't you know what your father does to keep you here? I'm 60 and I move more than you do!'

  "In the second half, I scored again and we won 4-3. All my team-mates were celebrating in the dressing room but I was in the shower crying because the president had just called my father and agent and said it was a big mistake to bring me to the club.

  "I didn't have an apartment, but was staying in a hostel. At the same time, all my friends from home were graduating. I had my father's credit card with me because I wasn't earning any money from football. That's when I really thought, 'What am I doing with my life?'"

  Those emotions eventually subsided and David worked hard to secure a regular role in the first team. In the 2024 season, he scored 14 goals in 16 games, but despite interest in his services from leagues higher up the food chain, Kalju initially refused to let David leave under any circumstances: "It was insane. I begged them, 'Please release me'. Those times made me understand how people feel when they have to work a 9-to-5 job they hate."

  David's plea worked and Kalju reached an agreement with USG in the summer of 2024 for David to move to Belgium.

The Colorado Rockies fired manager Bud Black shortly after the team beat the San Diego Padres 9–3 on Sunday. The Rockies players found out the news right after the game, and some players were emotional about the move.

Black had been manager of the Rockies since 2017, so he'd made strong bonds with the team's long-tenured players, including starting pitcher German Marquez who's been with the Rockies since his career began in '16.

Marquez was holding back tears in the locker room when talking about Black's firing. It's clear that the pitcher really valued his time with Black.

"It's kind of sad, I've been with Buddy since '17," Marquez said, via 's Patrick Saunders. "It's kind of hard, man. It's been a long time, a lot of years with that guy. A lot of byes, ups and downs. It is what it is, baseball's like this. And we have to keep moving forward."

Marquez picked up the win during Black's final game as the Rockies manager on Sunday. Marquez pitched seven innings tallying two strikeouts, three hits and one run to improve his season ERA to 8.27.

Liverpool are in uncharted waters, with these deep fathoms threatening not only the future of Arne Slot, who won the Premier League a matter of months ago, but that of Mohamed Salah, one of the greatest players in the club’s history, too.

Where is the respite? At the moment, Liverpool can’t catch a break, fumbling a two-goal lead to draw 3-3 at Leeds United on Saturday after previously drawing against well-worth-their-money Sunderland at Anfield. All told, the Reds have won only two of their past ten league fixtures, losing six.

But Liverpool have sculpted this disaster themselves. They have patented a startling ability to wreak havoc on their own progress, with tactical imbalances sparking crises of confidence, sparking mutiny.

Salah’s flaming interview at Elland Road will go down in the history books, and though FSG have since underlined their faith in Slot’s stewardship, the severity of this crossroads cannot be understated.

The latest on Slot's Liverpool future

Slot is in an unenviable position, with Salah’s outburst proving the latest and most damaging in a long line of mishaps since the summer.

While FSG retain the faith in the 47-year-old, who led Liverpool to the Premier League title last year after Jurgen Klopp stepped down, there’s an acceptance that results are needed quickly if something is to be salvaged from this campaign.

The fact of the matter is that Slot’s Liverpool started wobbling well before the end of the 2024/25 campaign, and he now needs to show that he can sort out the defence and restore balance to the team. He needs to show that quickly.

Liverpool are in big bother, and though FSG have been steadfast in their backing of the Dutchman, their leniency will only stretch so far, especially when there is such an exciting successor for Michael Edwards and Richard Hughes to consider.

Liverpool could hire Slot upgrade

Last week, it was reported that FSG have been considering Julian Nagelsmann as a candidate to replace Slot, should the Reds coach be sacked, though they will face a tough task in wrestling him away from the German national team, especially with the 2026 World Cup looming large.

Nagelsmann, 38, is among the world’s finest young coaches, having managed Hoffenheim, RB Leipzig and Bayern Munich in his homeland.

Would he be willing to park his international ambitions? Probably not. That’s why it’s anticipated he could be lined up ahead of the start of next season, meaning Liverpool would need to find an interim boss if Slot is dismissed before the end of the term.

What Nagelsmann would offer Liverpool

Nagelsmann has been described as the “best young coach in Europe” by journalist Josh Bunting, and though he’s the junior of practically all of the game’s standout managers, he’s hardly inexperienced, with a keen tactical mind that could be the remedy to a Liverpool team who have fallen by the wayside.

This is a fluid and interchangeable tactician. Nagelsmann employed a counter-pressing system at Leipzig before changing to a more dominant playing style at the Allianz Arena. He recognises the quirks and whims of the players at his disposal, and he crafts a system that caters to his troops.

Journalist Kai Iliev has even named him a “world-class manager” for his ability to fix a range of flaws within Germany’s national set-up. Now they are contenders. Now they believe again.

Liverpool could do with a bit of that, right? The appointment of Nagelsmann might even play into keeping Salah at the club; with the Egyptian King’s relationship under Slot having broken down, something has to give.

Liverpool, of course, will now back Salah over Slot. To do the contrary would result in anarchy. But this latest splinter in an outfit splitting wide open is not the root cause. Slot’s system is in a tailspin, and if he cannot establish form and fluency quickly, he will find that he has exhausted all the credit in the bank, and Edwards and Hughes will be forced into making a tough call.

The German coach’s principal 4-2-3-1 set-up would accommodate new signing Florian Wirtz and allow Salah to arc inwards once more and find passages into the danger area. This season, the 33-year-old has only posted five goals and three assists across all competitions.

Who could have expected this when Liverpool lifted the Premier League title? Salah was not the main man but the author of his long-term outfit’s illustrious success.

It’s not controversial to suggest that many, many Liverpool supporters would be dejected if Salah were to leave this winter, and it would be sure to put more than just a dampener on Slot’s reign at the Anfield helm.

If results do not continue over the coming weeks – with Salah off to AFCON after Liverpool host Brighton & Hove Albion in the Premier League this weekend – FSG will have to face the reality of theirt spiraling situation and make a change.

Could that prompt Salah to stay? Working under Nagelsmann on Merseyside, it just might, though whether the Reds are able to keep the African legend appeased and reach a decision that would see him remain at the club he has served so well over the past nine years remains to be seen.

In any case, this is a staggering, stomach-sinking situation, one that nobody could have foreseen, and Liverpool’s powers that be need to make sure an upswing is found – quickly.

Sell him before Salah & Konate: FSG must bin Liverpool's "major issue"

Liverpool have collapsed this season, and some tough decisions need to be made.

1

By
Angus Sinclair

6 days ago

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has explained why Jurrien Timber and Riccardo Calafiori were left out of his starting XI to face Club Brugge in the Champions League on Wednesday night. The Gunners were already without key defenders Gabriel and William Saliba due to injury, meaning midfielder Christian Norgaard was handed a surprise start in central defence in Belgium.

• Injuries piling up for Arsenal

  Arsenal have had a very strong start to the season but have seen key players pick up injuries in recent weeks, particularly in defence. Gabriel, William Saliba and Cristhian Mosquera  have all been sidelined, while Leandro Trossard and Declan Rice were also ruled out of the trip to Belgium for Arsenal's latest Champions League match. The situation means that Arteta raised a few eyebrows with his team selection against Club Brugge as the north Londoners aim to maintain their 100% record in the competition so far this season.

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  Arteta explains absence of duo

  The Arsenal boss told ahead of kick-off: "They both had issues from the weekend, both really bad kicks. For Jurrien it was too early and for Ricci [Calafiori] we have to manage to see if he can do some minutes [tonight]."

  The absence of the duo meant that Arteta lined his team up with Norgaard partnering Piero Hincapie in central defence, with Ben White and Myles Lewis-Skelly as the full-backs. The outing is Norgaard's first as a centre-back since featuring in the role for Brentford in the Championship back in 2020.

• Arteta defends training methods

  Arsenal have now suffered 28 injuries already this season, but Arteta has defended his training methods and insists they are not to blame.

  He told reporters: "Not training, no, because we don't have time to train. So, training is not there. But obviously, the fact that you are missing players, you are loading other players more. That's a consequence of that and it's a really dangerous. The fact that we have some others who have long-term contracts that haven't been with us since the beginning of the season. But, yeah, it's a test for the team, and so far, we have reacted very, very well to that."

  "I think you have to separate the kinds of injuries that they have. Some of them have been long-term and acute injuries, especially with some of the key players who give you a lot of days out. It's something that we are constantly looking at. As I said, we have played a lot of games with a lot of players missing. That gives a lot of stress and then more injuries. We are on it and I'm really happy with what we are doing in terms of the medical stuff and everything that we are trying to do together. Sometimes, as well, we need some people to go in our time.

  "It's not only one season. It's about some of the players that they have played. It starts to get overloaded and you start to ask them again and again to play. Others, because, as well, the moment that you have an injury, you are more likely to have another injury. That's been a consequence of some of the states as well. We're on it."

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• Praise for Norgaard

  Arteta also took time out to praise Norgaard pre-match. The summer signing has only made two appearances as a substitute in the Premier League so far this season and just one start in the Champions League. Yet Arteta is happy with how he's settled in following his transfer from Brentford. He told reporters: "I'm really happy with how he’s come to the club, especially with him and everything that we need to do in many areas. Not only in the pitch, but what he has to do, he excels in the manner that we expect him. I think it's similar to Ben White or Myles [Lewis-Skelly]. They haven't played as much as expected, but they're very positive."

Adolis Garcia is a bad man.

His Texas Rangers were on the verge of an extra-innings defeat Monday night after a go-ahead home run from Baltimore Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson in the top of the 10th to help power a three-run frame.

Garcia walked up to the plate with two on in the bottom half with an opportunity to restore the tie. And he did just that, hitting an absolute no-doubter to left on a full count. The ball quickly flew off his bat and over the left-field wall at Globe Life Field, leaving no question that he just evened the score once again.

The clutch homer wasn't the story, though—it was Garcia's epic celebration after he made contact.

From the broadcast angle, you can see Garcia immediately turned his head after making contact to let out a ton of emotion. But the close-up shot is even better:

He faced the Orioles dugout as he fired himself and the crowd up. And the best part is, he didn't start his trot around the bases until the ball long left the park.

Unfortunately for Garcia and the Rangers, they couldn't score after the one-out blast, which sent the game to the 11th inning where the O's put up four runs and held on for a 10–6 win.

Garcia's celebration will live on though, even if it just became a fun meme instead of a Rangers win.

Shohei Ohtani is on a heater. The Los Angeles Dodgers superstar homered in his fourth consecutive game on Tuesday night, blasting an opposite-field job in the ninth inning that proved purely cosmetic as the home team fell to the Minnesota Twins, 10-7.

It was Ohtani's 36th homer of the season and tied him with Eugenio Suarez for the National League lead. And it was one of the more impressive as he simply reached out and poked a 100-mph Jhoan Duran fastball the other way with remarkable ease.

This is the first time in his already-storied career that Ohtani has homered in four straight games, which puts him halfway to tying the Major League Baseball record of eight—a mark shared by three players.

Because baseball happens and Ohtani is immensely popular, his dinger was secured expertly in the air by a Dodgers fan wearing a No. 17 jersey. And that fan was extremely fired up. Perhaps a bit shocked too.

That's awesome. One minute you're sitting there coming to grips with your beloved Dodgers dropping another game due to shaky bullpen work, thinking about the traffic there will be to navigate after the game and the next you're in a highlight with one of your favorite players.

People will tell you not to bring your baseball glove to a game once you get to a certain age but this is a perfect example of the upside of such a decision. No way that Ohtani homer was being caught with just bare hands.

Newcastle United’s 2-0 Premier League win over Nottingham Forest just before the international break isn’t the only cause for optimism at St James’ Park currently.

Indeed, in a development that happened across the break, Eddie Howe’s side has now appointed a new sporting director in Ross Wilson, with the Scotsman leaving the recently defeated Tricky Trees behind to take up this post, having also previously been in the position at Rangers.

Seen as a notable part of the City Ground jigsaw that clinched European football last season, Wilson will be aiming to emulate that success on Tyneside.

He will have a big role to play in how Newcastle assert their dominance in transfer windows moving forward as well, having previously been the man to bring Anthony Elanga – who is now donning Magpies black and white – to Forest for just £15m.

One of his first notable bits of business at the Toon could see him try to poach a Premier League striker.

Newcastle considering move for new striker

Over the summer, the striker market dominated the transfer window with Alexander Isak’s late move to Liverpool having an almighty domino effect.

That saw Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa head to St James’ Park, but with the latter still yet to take to the field owing to an injury, another striker could be sought in the January window.

Indeed, according to Chronicle Live journalist Lee Ryder, Howe could be handed some funds this winter if he needs it, with Brentford attacker Igor Thiago reportedly catching the eye as Wilson attempts to lay down a marker.

Said to be catching the eye of scouts already this season, after a nightmare debut campaign in England, it is stated that Thiago remains on the Newcastle radar, even with Woltemade and Wissa through the door.

Thiago might well fancy his chances of rivalling Woltemade from the get-go if he were to up and leave the Bees for a new adventure on Tyneside, with the Brazilian displaying a similarly clinical edge to that of the 6-foot-6 powerhouse.

How Thiago could rival Woltemade at Newcastle

Woltemade’s signature being confirmed this summer would have instantly excited those of a Toon persuasion, as the big bucks had been splashed out on an attacker who had been entrusted to fill Isak’s sizeable void.

The Bremen-born striker would cost an eye-watering £69m to pick up, with the German moving to St James’ Park just fresh off a blistering 13-goal season in the Bundesliga for ex-employers Stuttgart.

He hasn’t disappointed since relocating to English shores, either, with pundit Danny Murphy going as far as to say he makes “all the right decisions” under pressure.

Despite amassing just 11.5 accurate passes per Premier League match to date, the gigantic German is already demonstrating that the Midas touch he discovered at Stuttgart in front of goal has followed him to the Toon, with three top-flight goals tallied up from just four outings in the unforgiving league.

Further bagging a goal in the Champions League, it’s safe to say it has been a dream start to life in black and white for the 23-year-old, who has had to lead the line as Newcastle’s main marksman with Wissa sidelined through injury.

However, despite all his glowing praise, he may feel intimidated by Thiago potentially rocking up to Tyneside, based on the ex-Club Brugge attacker’s own red-hot form for Keith Andrews’ side.

Even before looking at their side-by-side numbers, the South American – despite coming in at 6-foot-2 next to his huge counterpart – has staggeringly won more duels on average this season, with 5.3 per clash, next to Woltemade’s four.

The table above only reinforces the notion that Thiago would be able to rival Woltemade for a starting spot if he were to join in a blockbuster January switch, with the 24-year-old managing to bag one more Premier League goal so far this season than his ex-Stuttgart rival, albeit from three more contests.

Thiago would also be unafraid to ruffle feathers and snatch the German’s starting spot from him, having had to take on the pressurised position of being Brentford’s standout attacker this summer, in the wake of Bryan Mbeumo and Wissa both departing the Bees.

It does feel somewhat unrealistic that Newcastle would go all in for Thiago, having already spent significant cash on the likes of Woltemade.

But, clinching a deal for the Brazilian as Wilson’s first signing would certainly start his sporting director tenure off on a spectacular note.

Howe favourite could be given the boot after Wilson's arrival at Newcastle

Newcastle are expected to shift their transfer strategy after appointing a new sporting director.

By
Angus Sinclair

Oct 12, 2025

In Game 7 of the 2025 World Series, Dodgers second baseman Miguel Rojas joined baseball’s history books. Now, it appears he will take a victory lap in 2026.

Rojas is signing a one-year contract worth $5.5 million to play his final season with Los Angeles, according to Wednesday afternoon reports from Daniel Álvarez-Montes of and Alden González of ESPN. Per Álvarez-Montes and González, Rojas will move into the Dodgers’ front office after the season.

The Los Teques, Venezuela native has played 12 Major League Baseball seasons—eight with the Marlins and four with Los Angeles. He has a .260/.314/.362 lifetime slashline with 57 home runs and 363 RBIs.

None of his home runs were bigger than the one he hit on Nov. 1 of this year—with one out in the top of the ninth of Game 7 of the World Series and the Dodgers trailing the Blue Jays 4–3, Rojas launched a solo shot to left field to tie the game. Los Angeles went on to win the game in 11 innings.

The Dodgers are scheduled to raise their banner on March 26 against the Diamondbacks.

Last season, one of the longest postseason droughts in MLB finally came to an end after the Tigers reached the playoffs for the first time since 2014. Now, the Angels stand alone as the owners of the longest active playoff drought.

It's not looking likely that the Halos will be playing into October this season, either, so their league-leading streak of 10 straight seasons without a postseason berth could increase to 11. We'll take a look at some of the longest playoff droughts in the league history.

Longest Postseason Droughts in MLB History

Throughout MLB history, there have been some extremely long postseason droughts, though none of the recent stretches have been longer than that of the Montreal Expos, who's playoff drought eventually transferred to the Washington Nationals when the franchise relocated. From 1982 to 2011, the Expos/Nationals were held out of the postseason, a streak that lasted 29 years. Prior to 1969, the teams with the best record in American League and National League met in the World Series, without any expanded postseason play.

That drought remains the longest ever in MLB's divisional era, and we'll compare how it stacks up against some of the other lengthy droughts throughout league history, as well as since the introduction of the divisional era in 1969.

Longest Playoff Droughts in MLB History (All Time)

Longest Playoff Droughts in MLB's Divisional Era (Since 1969)

Longest Active Playoff Droughts in MLB

Of the teams with the longest active droughts, only the Cubs are currently on pace to reach the postseason. The Reds are still in the hunt for a wild card spot, but would need a tremendous month of September to snap their four-year long drought.

Pirates general manager Ben Cherington stated this week that the team is not trading ace Paul Skenes this offseason, but a report emerged Wednesday with a teammate claiming Skenes has said he wants to play for the Yankees.

According to a report from NJ Advance Media, the teammate stated that Skenes said he has “no confidence the Pirates ever are going to win” while he’s in Pittsburgh. “Trust me, he wants to play for the Yankees,” the Skenes teammate said. “I’ve heard him say it multiple times.”

The report also came hours before Skenes won the Cy Young award for the first time—doing so unanimously. Skenes ended up addressing the claims after winning the prestigious pitching award.

“I got shown the Tweet and really didn’t think anything of it,” Skenes said Wednesday on a Zoom, via 93.7 The Fan. “I got some texts about it. I’m on the Pirates, my goal is to win with the Pirates. I love the city of Pittsburgh.”

Skenes also said of the report, “I don’t know where that came from, the goal is to win. I don’t know the reporter that reported it. I don’t know the player who supposedly said that, but the goal is to win and the goal is to win in Pittsburgh.”

Skenes is not just focused on the Pirates, but leading the team to winning. While Skenes got to celebrate his Cy Young win, he remained focused on his goal to help the Pirates win going forward as he spoke to the media.

“Pittsburgh, the way that fans see us outside of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh is not supposed to win,” Skenes said. “There are 29 fan bases that expect us to lose. I want to be a part of the group, a part of the 26 guys that change that.”

“The fans are hungry to have a winner in Pittsburgh and I want to be a part of the group that did that. I think about it the same way as when I was at the Air Force Academy,” he said. “We had never been to a conference championship and my sophomore year we ended up winning the conference. We had never finished in the top four in the conference before that.”

The Pirates have not made the playoffs in a decade and have gone just 147-177 over Skenes' two seasons in Pittsburgh. Overall, they’ve advanced to the postseason just three times in the last 33 years and have not made or won the World Series since 1979, well before Skenes was even born. He's determined to change that.

"Forty-six years since we won a World Series championship,” Skenes said. “This is why I’m going to show up to the ballpark and I’m going to work to get everybody pushing in the same direction and I know there are other guys that are going to do the same. That’s all the truth.”