| | | | | Are you still interested in this newsletter? Since you haven't read in a while, we'll pause sending it to you. Let us know if you still would like to keep receiving it. | | | | | | | | Welcome to The Sports Moment, your guide to the buzziest stories in sports. I’m Dave Sheinin, a sports features writer at The Post, filling in for regular host Ava Wallace. This week, we identify the one number that can predict the World Series. But first, we catch you up on a gambling scandal involving the NBA. Did someone forward this to you? Click here to sign up. | | A sports gambling scandal | As colleague Rick Maese reported earlier Thursday, FBI agents arrested at least two high-profile NBA figures as part of investigations into sports betting and illegal poker — pushing the American sports industry closer to the nightmare scenario many have been predicting since the nationwide legalization of sports gambling in 2018 and the subsequent partnerships of leagues and wagering companies. A total of 31 people were charged across the two federal cases, including the head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, Chauncey Billups, a Hall of Famer who played 17 seasons in the league and allegedly participated in a mob-run rigged poker scheme; and Miami Heat player Terry Rozier, a former first-round draft pick who allegedly participated in a sports betting operation. | | Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups. (Jenny Kane/AP) | | Legal sports betting became widespread in the United States with the fall of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) in 2018, and professional sports leagues like the NBA have partnered with gambling operators and cashed in on the arrangement. But they’ve also been wary about pitfalls posed by rampant wagering, which manifested itself in 2024 when Jontay Porter, a former Toronto Raptors player, was given a lifetime ban from the NBA over accusations of giving confidential information to bettors and placing bets on NBA games. (Porter pleaded guilty to a federal charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.) Be sure to check back with The Post for continued coverage of the investigations. | | What's happening this week? | In nearly a quarter-century of covering baseball, I witnessed an 83-win team winning the World Series. I saw a bumbling contender lose 13 of their final 15 games, then win it all in October. Conversely, I’ve seen a 111-win juggernaut lose in the Division Series and a 116-win wrecking ball lose in the League Championship Series. All of which is to say: There is no possible outcome to the 2025 World Series, which begins Friday at Rogers Centre with the Toronto Blue Jays hosting the Los Angeles Dodgers, that would shock me. Long ago, Billy Beane, of “Moneyball” renown, labeled MLB’s postseason a “crapshoot,” and history has shown it to be mostly true. But over the past several years, as MLB has streamlined its playoff format, a new corollary to the Beane Theory has emerged: While the best-of-three Wild Card round and the best-of-five Division Series are seemingly still governed at least in part by caprice and randomness, when it comes to getting to — and especially winning — the World Series, there increasingly is a pattern, a method, a signal that cuts through the noise. These days, at the very pinnacle of baseball, money rules all. |  | | Shohei Ohtani’s Los Angeles Dodgers are very good. And very expensive. (Ashley Landis/AP) | | This season, the Dodgers ($346.9 million) and Blue Jays ($254 million) ranked first and fifth, respectively, among the highest payrolls in the game (figures taken from Baseball Prospectus). That is in line with recent MLB history: In the last four World Series, 2025 included, seven of the eight participants ranked among the top seven in total payroll for that season. The lone exception, the 2023 Arizona Diamondbacks, ranked just 23rd. They also lost that World Series in five games to the Texas Rangers and their fourth-ranked payroll. In 2025, the Dodgers’ financial might is visible everywhere, even beyond Shohei Ohtani’s $700 million contract: from the unprecedented seven players on their roster (including Ohtani) who are on nine-figure contracts (totaling more than $2 billion), to the glut of high-priced pitching that has seen the likes of Clayton Kershaw, Roki Sasaki and sometimes Tyler Glasnow relegated to their bullpen. It doesn’t necessarily mean the Dodgers will steamroll the Blue Jays over the next week or so. Toronto, with its elite defense, deep lineup and propensity for avoiding strikeouts and making quality contact, are uniquely built to withstand the Dodgers’ superior talent and depth. But it does mean the 2025 World Series, whichever team wins, will make it four straight years — after the 2022 Houston Astros, 2023 Rangers and 2024 Dodgers — with a top-five payroll standing atop the sport. And that doesn’t sound very much like a crapshoot. | | | |  | You've gotta see this | The upcoming World Series features one of sports history’s greatest unicorns in Shohei Ohtani. But another one just started his third year in the NBA. People who are 7-foot-3 simply should not be able to do what San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama does on a basketball court. Watching Wemby's singular skillset play out, following an offseason of intensive conditioning and training, might be the most intriguing storyline of the NBA this year. | | The 2025-26 NBA season is underway. | | Wemby checked in at No. 7 on our colleague Ben Golliver’s ranking of the top 100 players entering the NBA season. Check out the full list here. Analysis Ben Golliver, Álvaro Valiño and Artur Galocha | | | | | | This week, The Post’s sports trivia quiz is fully dedicated to the World Series. See how many of our eight questions about the Fall Classic that you can get right, including this one: Game 6 of the 1918 World Series saw the Red Sox defeat the visiting Chicago Cubs for Boston’s fifth championship and its final one before an 86-year drought. How were the inning-by-inning results relayed to a military base elsewhere in Massachusetts? a) Davidson-Cadillac armored car b) Horseback c) Telegraph d) Carrier pigeon Find the answer at the bottom of the newsletter! And play the full quiz here. | | What should I watch this week? | All times Eastern.
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