Lohensports

 This post is peak offseason content, so buckle up! I wanted to take a second to shout out my favorite free sports related game, BasketBallGM . They have real NBA rosters that you can load and they're decently accurate in terms of player ratings. To do this experiment I loaded the Raptors in 2025/2026 50 times in a row and then simulated the entire season. There were different player progressions in each one and the AI made its own moves. For the Raptors, I left them untouched other than signing Sandro Mamukelashvili to start each season. I let the seasons play out how they played out and there were some interesting, maybe discouraging results. The important thing here is to remember that this doesn't really matter at all. It's a simulation based on what the game thinks players will be like next year, so it certainly isn't perfect. Lets dive into the results! The Overall Data Average W/L record: 39/43 Most Wins: 51 Least Wins: 28 Times made playoffs: 27 Times won a roun...

 Today is just a big hodge podge of a post because I have a bunch of little ideas but no idea big enough for its own post. For the first time in a while I actually didn't even watch the home run derby last night, completely forgot that was going on. I guess without a Jay in the competition it's hard for me to get into it. Anyway, here's some things that I've been thinking about all combined into 1 post:  Steelers Trade for Jalen Ramsey I wanted to do a fully flushed out reaction to this, but then I realized I'm maybe not knowledgeable enough to break down cornerbacks and safeties the way I'd like. With that in mind, we're going to do a quick emotions driven reaction! It's now been a couple of weeks since the Steelers traded free safety Minkah Fitzpatrick for CB Jalen Ramsey and TE Jonnu Smith. Initially my reaction was sweet we got Ramsey! Jalen Ramsey at one point was the best cornerback in football and he had the personality to go with it. Say what you...

 Ah the all star break, I thought about taking one of those myself given there's nothing on in the world of sports right now other than summer league. The Raptors summer league team has kept me pretty entertained though, they have a ton of guards who try really hard on defense which is fun to watch against the lesser competition of summer league. I thought about recapping another summer league game, but there's guys who are better at that doing that right now. I suggest listening to the Hello and Welcome podcast they are my favorites. I thought it might be fun to go back to this article  from November 6. If you were an early reader of this blog, you know I was very excited about the stretch where Gradey Dick was essentially the Raptors number 1 option putting up huge numbers. I made 3 comparisons in that article that put Gradey's first 8 games up against 3 future hall of famer's entire second seasons, which is pretty hilarious looking back at it. Now that Gradey has a w...

 Ok, maybe I jynxed the Jays yesterday by talking too much about the win streak. I guess all good things come to an end! Lets pivot to summer league where the Raptors kick off in Vegas tomorrow night. The Raps team is actually pretty solid this year! Summer league doesn't really matter so I am not going to belabor this, I mostly wanted to go over some guys I'm excited to see on the court and some thoughts on what they can do.  Notable Raptors Summer League Players: Starting off lets just list the guys who have the best chance of being on the Raptors roster come October. Anything can happen, remember Jamison Battle was a random dude on the summer league team until he fought his way into a role on the team and now has a contract for this season. I am not going to be the guy who predicts the next Jamison Battle so lets list the obvious ones:  Guards: Jamal Shead Ja'Kobe Walter Alijah Martin Chucky Hepburn AJ Lawson Forwards:  Collin Murray-Boyles  Jamison Battle Jo...

 The first 10 game streak since 2015! Last night's game was a bit cheap given that it got rained out in the 6th inning, but they were up 6-1 against the White Sox at that point so I'll take the bullpen rest day. They've got a shot to tie the franchise record 11 game win streak today at 2pm, but before then I thought it'd be fun to name 10 Jays in honour of them winning 10 straight. Since there are 10 positions if you include the DH, why not go around the diamond and name my favorite Jay off the top of my head at each spot.  P - Marcus Stroman  I'm going to probably have such a heavy 2015 bias on this list because that's when I peaked as a Blue Jays fan. I really hope that this super fun season is doing for kids and teens what that team did for me! Stroman was a dawg in Toronto. I still remember at the start of 2015 Stroman tore his ACL in spring training, a devastating blow to the Jays already thin rotation. In September, he miraculously was ready to pitch again...

 Another quick one today! With Norman Powell being traded shortly after I posted yesterday I thought it'd be a perfect opportunity to break down the 3 team trade in my post today. Also a quick shout out to the Jays who just won their 9th straight, keep it rolling guys lets go!  The Trade Clippers Get: John Collins Jazz Get: Kevin Love, Kyle Anderson, 2027 Clippers Second Round Pick Heat Get: Norman Powell  LA Clippers  At face value, I'm not sure I totally understand why the Clippers would do this. Norman Powell was really good for them last year averaging 22ppg on 61.5% true shooting, he made himself into a legit scoring option and helped keep the offense afloat with Kawhi missing most of the season (as usual). They do have other options at guard bringing back James Harden, Khris Dunn, Bogdan Bogdanovic, but none of those guys are as dynamic scoring the basketball as Powell is at this stage of their careers. They do get a pretty good player back in Collins though. B...

 Short one today, but how could I not comment on the Toronto Blue Jays who are on an 8 game winning streak while playing some really exciting games. Usually to string together 8 wins you'll have a game or two where you win in dramatic fashion, but this streak has been nearly all dramatic victories which has been really fun to watch. The city is slowly starting to buzz again about the Jays as we see them now expand their lead in the AL East to 3 games and it's about time Lohensports buzzes about them too.  Yankees Series Ok I really dropped the ball talking about Myles Turner instead of the first time in franchise history that the Jays swept the Yankees in 4 games at home. Not much to say other than that was awesome. Starting with the Canada Day game where the Jays in their special red uniforms exploded for 12 runs against the Yankees including 2 HRs by George Springer, one of them being a grand slam, with 7 RBIs as well. Something about slapping the Yankees at home on Canada D...

 It completely slipped my mind that I didn't even mention the whole Damian Lillard / Myles Turner situation yesterday. Lots going on right now so these posts aren't exactly planned out. I even did a whole paragraph comparing Jakob Poeltl to Myles Turner because they got pretty much the exact same contract, lol my bad. We'll get to that in full today along with some other little tidbits from the NBA. I also need to direct my readers to the MLB standings where on July 3 you'll see the Toronto Blue Jays in first place in the AL East. What kind of sucks is the Yankees are still pretty good and somehow someway the Rays just keep coming. They're playing in a minor league stadium, nobody watches that team and yet they're still 0.5 games back in the division. Going to be a fun August and September! Anyway, back to ball:  Bucks Waive and Stretch Lillard, Sign Myles Turner This was the first page of every NBA site and first topic on every NBA podcast, but it's a day 2...

 I totally thought things would slow down for me after the finals ended and all that was on was baseball. I was wrong, free agency has been lots of fun to follow so far and my Steelers made a big move this past weekend as well! We'll get to the Steelers in more detail later, but initial thoughts are it's interesting. I don't know enough to judge a safety if I'm being honest, but Minkah Fitzpatrick was at one point one of the best safeties in the league. That being said, the Steelers got back Jalen Ramsey who's getting older but is really fun and Jonnu Smith who's a solid tight end. Steelers are all in on old guys I can't wait to see how it plays out. Anyway, today is a basketball post! I'll probably continue my thoughts tomorrow with some of the stuff I missed today.  Raptors Sign Sandro Mamukelashvili, Extend Poeltl Say that 10 times fast. Obviously the talk of the NBA was surrounding the Toronto Raptors adding a stretch big on day 2 of free agency, a m...