Philly’s Ironman Loses Streak

This past Saturday, April 2, Philadelphia Flyers defenseman, Keith Yandle lost his ironman streak.

After 989 games, the Flyers benched the 35-year-old vet despite it putting his record for the longest number of games played without a break in between at risk.

He had already broken the previous record on Jan. 25 by playing 965 consecutive games in his career. Yandle has played 82 games each year since 2009. This feat continued in his first year with the Flyers.

Philadelphia currently has a record of 21-36-11 and is in last place in the Metropolitan Division. This move to make Yandle a healthy scratch has confused hockey fans as he was only 11 games away from breaking 1,000 consecutive NHL games. The Flyers have already been eliminated from playoff contention, so it would’ve made sense to let him continue to play. 

The Flyers front office claimed that this move was to give younger players more time on the ice.

Yandle explained that in an interview on Saturday after the game.

“It’s tough to have a bad day in the NHL,” Yandle said. “Obviously, getting the news that you’re not playing is not what you want to hear. But that’s every single guy. Every guy wants to play, be on the ice going to battle with their teammates. Once you’re on the ice, you feel like a kid again. I’m just trying to stay positive.”

Yandle has one goal and 14 assists in 67 games this season and he hopes to play in the latter half of the 2022 regular season.

Motor City Calls Up California Native

The first-round pick from the 2020 MLB draft has just got the call up to the show.

Corner infielder Spencer Torkelson spent the 2021 season on three different Detroit Tigers-affiliated teams.

He started off with the High-A team, the West Michigan Whitecaps, and batted .312 in 31 games of work. Torkelson then moved up to the Double-A team, the Erie SeaWolves and hit 14 home runs and 36 runs batted in. He finished off 2021 with the Triple-A team, the Toledo Mud Hens, where he had a slugging percentage of .531 and had an on-base percentage of .350. 

Torkelson has been a hot-commodity hailing from Arizona State University, which has produced various MLB players such as Reggie Jackson, Barry Bonds, Dustin Pedroia, Ian Kinsler and Ike Davis.

While playing in Tempe, Arizona, the 22-year-old had a batting average of .337, had a slugging percentage of .729, reached 363 total bases, and hit 54 home runs in 129 games. 

He is currently the Tiger’s number one prospect and the number four prospect in all of baseball. General Manager and former Tiger’s catcher Alex Avila has recently commented on the young first base phenom in an interview down in Detroit’s Spring training

“Our intent is to have Torkelson on the team moving forward into the new season,” Avila said. “Barring anything happening between now and Opening Day.”

The 19-year first baseman, Miguel Cabrera, has verbally said that he will gladly move off first base to give Torkelson more playing time and have a chance to develop. Going into 2022, all eyes will be on Torkelson as he takes the reigns as the next franchise star for Detroit.

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