Good morning. Zach Cavanagh’s Ducks story this morning is a must-read, and the reason is that he explains why it happened Tuesday. Elsewhere: Yamamoto gave up one hit and the Dodgers’ magic number in the West is down to two. The Angels have won two in a row and Zach Neto got nominated for something that matters. And the Padres’ eight-game streak ended in Denver, where streaks go to die. Let’s get into it.
🚨 HEADLINES
🏒 Signed, sealed. Gauthier gets six years at $13.5 million per — Zach Cavanagh at Honda Center.
⚾ One hit. Yamamoto shut out the Reds over eight; the magic number is two — Fredo Cervantes at Great American Ball Park.
⚾ Two strikes, two runs. Lowe’s homer and Johnson’s start beat Seattle 2-1 — Jack Janes at Angel Stadium.
⚾ Streak over. Colorado evened the series and ended San Diego’s run at eight — Armando Dueñas at Coors Field.
🏅 Clemente nominee. Neto is the Angels’ nominee for the award, and Joyce is working through it — Jack Janes at Angel Stadium.
🥊 Back in San Diego. Pitbull Cruz defends his interim title Saturday at Pechanga Arena — Michael Huezo at Pechanga Arena.
See what else is trending at The Sporting Tribune.
📋 SCOREBOARD — TUESDAY
⚾ MLB: Dodgers 4, Reds 0 · Angels 2, Mariners 1 · Rockies 9, Padres 3
🏒 WHY IT HAD TO BE TUESDAY
Zach Cavanagh’s story does the thing that separates a beat writer from a wire feed. Anyone can report that Anaheim signed its leading goal-scorer. He explains the clock.
Tuesday was the last day of the old CBA. Under the new rules that took effect Wednesday, signing bonuses are capped at 60 percent of a contract’s total value. Under the old ones, there was no such limit — and the Ducks used every inch of it.
Gauthier’s deal is six years and $81 million. About $69.5 million of it, roughly 86 percent, comes as signing bonuses, per PuckPedia, including an $18.65 million bonus in year one and a 10-team no-trade clause in the sixth year. Anaheim gets its value in the term and the cap hit. Gauthier gets his in the structure.
For scale: Leo Carlsson’s five-year deal, the one Anaheim matched after Philadelphia’s offer sheet in July, is about 95 percent signing bonus — $85.3 million of $90 million. Neither contract could be written that way today.
What Anaheim is paying for. Gauthier is 22 and scored a team-high 41 goals and 69 points last season, with four goals and 12 points in 12 playoff games. He’s signed through 2031-32. Pat Verbeek called him “a pure goal-scoring talent that will continue progressing into an elite NHL player.”
The summer it took to get here. Anaheim traded Mason McTavish and Olen Zellweger, then faced five restricted free agent negotiations. Philadelphia tendered Carlsson an offer sheet on July 3 that briefly made him the NHL’s highest-paid player at $18 million a year. Pavel Mintyukov signed July 5 under the reported threat of another one. The Ducks matched Carlsson on July 9. Then it was Gauthier — who, lacking service time, couldn’t be offer-sheeted, which gave Anaheim leverage and gave everyone else a reason to expect a holdout, as with McTavish, Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale before him.
What unlocked it was last week’s mutual termination of Chris Kreider’s contract via waivers, which freed $6.5 million. The Ducks now sit with $3.17 million in cap space and roughly $4 million more coming when Troy Terry goes on injured reserve.
“This is a very exciting day for my family and I,” Gauthier said.
Camp opens Thursday.
GO DEEPER
› Zach Cavanagh: Ducks sign Cutter Gauthier to 6-year deal, avoid training camp drama (The Sporting Tribune)
⚾ ONE HIT, AND THE NUMBER IS TWO
Two nights after Tarik Skubal threw seven scoreless, Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw eight and allowed one hit.
It was a third-inning double to Elly De La Cruz — who has now collected a home run off Skubal, a home run off Yamamoto, a home run off Evan Phillips and the only hit in this game, all inside a week. He is a one-man argument for why the Dodgers should not relax.
Yamamoto opened with back-to-back walks and then retired 21 of the last 22 he faced. He is 14-8 with a 2.51 ERA, sixth in baseball.
The 4-0 win was the Dodgers’ third straight and moved them to 92-59. The magic number to clinch the NL West is two.
Hunter Feduccia drove in the first run in the second. Kyle Tucker drew a two-out walk in the third for the second consecutive game, and Teoscar Hernández hit a two-run homer behind him — his third in seven games and his second off Cincinnati in as many nights. Alex Freeland added his fourth of the year in the seventh.
Two quieter things worth noting. Freddie Freeman went 3-for-5 with three singles, his first three-hit game in nearly a month after entering at 3-for-30 while managing a right knee injury; Tuesday was only his third game in a week. And Josue De Paula made his first career start as a major-league leadoff hitter, going 0-for-4 with the first strikeout of his five-game career — a 21-year-old who skipped Triple-A entirely, batting first for a team that has already clinched.
GO DEEPER
› Fredo Cervantes: Yamamoto leads the way with dominant outing against Reds (The Sporting Tribune)
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🍔 THE DEALS BOARD
Active today across Southern California — brought to you by Ike’s Sandwiches, home of the world famous Arash Markazi sandwich, which has fried chicken, purple slaw, wasabi mayo, honey mustard, and cheddar on a Dutch Crunch roll. Just ask for the 500 at any Ike’s location. Six live, and both baseball teams won again.
🍔 Jack in the Box — free Jumbo Jack with a large drink. Eleven strikeouts in Cincinnati for the second night running. Code GODODGERS26, through midnight.
🍟 McDonald’s (Angels) — free medium fries with a $2 purchase. The 2-1 win over Seattle. Rewards & Deals in the app.
🌮 El Portal, Pasadena — $12 combination plates and $7 house margaritas. Dodgers win, home or away. Order online for pickup.
☕ Con Azúcar Café, Sylmar — free size upgrade and Dodgers latte art. Say “Dodgers win!” at the register.
🥤 Mountain Dew — free 20-oz Baja Blast. Seven balls cleared 420 feet Tuesday. Bryce Eldridge’s went 461; Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a 455-footer in the first at Coors. Wallet pass at OTC Network stores.
🚒 Firehouse Subs — buy one medium sub, get one free. Code EXTRA, digital orders, Firehouse Rewards account. Today is the last day — the window closes tonight and does not reopen until next week’s extra-inning games.
Dark today: Panda Express, the Habit Burger Double Char, ampm and Sunright all need a Dodgers home game, and the club is in Cincinnati through this afternoon. The McDonald’s Dodgers nuggets deal needed six runs and they got four. The Dodgers are back at Dodger Stadium on Friday against the Giants, which restarts all of it.
📌 AROUND THE MARKETS
A 2-1 game in Anaheim. Jack Janes was at Angel Stadium as a two-strike home run from Lowe backed a strong start from Johnson, and the Angels made it two in a row over Seattle after dropping three straight in Washington.
And a nomination. Janes also reports that Zach Neto is the Angels’ nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award, which recognizes community work as much as anything that happens between the lines. It is the best individual honor in the sport and worth more than a line in a notebook.
Eight, and then not nine. Armando Dueñas was at Coors Field as Cole Carrigg and the Rockies evened the series and ended the Padres’ eight-game winning streak. San Diego had been the hottest team in any of our markets.
Saturday in San Diego. Michael Huezo previews Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz defending his interim title against a taller, harder-hitting Néstor Bravo at Pechanga Arena — a week after Huezo filed from ringside in Las Vegas for Garcia-Benn.
GO DEEPER
› Jack Janes: Lowe’s two-strike homer capitalizes Johnson’s strong outing in win over Mariners (The Sporting Tribune)
› Jack Janes: Angels notebook — Joyce working through ups and downs and Neto nominated for Clemente Award (The Sporting Tribune)
› Armando Dueñas: Padres’ win streak snapped as Carrigg and Rox even series (The Sporting Tribune)
› Michael Huezo: Pitbull Cruz defends his interim title against a taller, harder-hitting Bravo (The Sporting Tribune)
📺 WATCHLIST — WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16
⚾ MLB: Dodgers at Reds — Great American Ball Park — 3:40 p.m. — SNLA
⚾ MLB: Padres at Rockies — Coors Field — 5:40 p.m. — Padres TV
⚾ MLB: Mariners at Angels — Angel Stadium — 6:38 p.m. — ABTV
⚽ Soccer: Tijuana at San Diego FC — Snapdragon Stadium — 7:00 p.m. — Apple TV
⚽ NWSL: Reign FC at Angel City FC — BMO Stadium — 7:00 p.m. — NWSL+
Coming up: Ducks training camp opens Thursday. The Dodgers come home Friday to face the Giants and can clinch the West this week. The Rams host the Giants on Monday night. Cruz-Bravo is Saturday at Pechanga Arena. UNLV and Hawai’i return from bye on Sept. 26, and Ohtani is eligible off the IL on Sept. 23.
🎟️ GOING TO A GAME?
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⚾ Mariners at Angels — Angel Stadium — $4
⚾ Giants at Dodgers — Dodger Stadium (Friday) — $64
🏈 Giants at Rams — SoFi Stadium (Monday) — $100
🌴 TST TRIVIA
The Ducks signed Cutter Gauthier on Tuesday night rather than Wednesday morning, and the timing was not an accident. What changed at the stroke of Wednesday that made Tuesday the deadline?
Answer at the bottom.
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Today’s episode: An inside look at the Clippers offseason, the Ducks beating a CBA deadline by hours to lock up their best goal-scorer, a Dodgers rotation that is rounding into something frightening, and a Clemente Award nomination in Anaheim.
› Listen to the latest episode
Trivia answer: The new collective bargaining agreement took effect, capping signing bonuses at 60 percent of a contract’s total value. Gauthier’s deal is roughly 86 percent signing bonus and could not have been written a day later.
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