SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
And now it's time for sports.
SIMON: Pennant race is close. But what do they matter anymore? U.S. Open, parity of power over in the women's draw, but clear front-runners on the men's side. Sportswriter Howard Bryant joins us. Howard, thanks so much for being with us.
HOWARD BRYANT: Good morning, Scott. How are you?
SIMON: I'm fine, thanks, my friend. And look, several close pennant races in the major leagues in the West, especially National League. Dodgers are tied in first place with the Padres. In the American, the Houston Astros are ahead of the Seattle Mariners, but just a couple of games. But does winning your division matter so much?
BRYANT: Well, it doesn't matter the way it used to. I mean, certainly, you've got - I think baseball has decided that they're really, really going all in on adding playoff teams. And so what that does statistically is that it really reduces the great teams' chances of winning once you...
SIMON: Yeah.
BRYANT: ...Get to the - once you get to October. And so what is the purpose of going? It really is my favorite time of the year, Scott. I love when we get to September 1 and you start seeing how many of these teams are really built for the long haul. You - the Milwaukee Brewers are the best team in baseball right now, and who had that on their bingo card? And Christian Yelich still doing his thing. And so you would like to see a team like Milwaukee feel like they have more than a 9% chance of getting to the World Series, which they haven't gotten to, by the way, since 1982, when they lost to the Cardinals. You've got the Detroit Tigers, a good team that was...
SIMON: Yeah.
BRYANT: ...A good team last year. And suddenly the Toronto Blue Jays are one of the best teams in baseball, even though the Red Sox and Yankees are both pretty good teams this year, and they're playing each other in New York this weekend. And so - and, of course, we've been giving the whole world to the Dodgers, to the gazillion-dollar Dodgers and the defending world champion Dodgers, and they're tied for first place with the Padres. So, obviously, having extra playoff teams is great in some ways because you're going to get to see some of these teams a little bit more if they don't quite win, you know, get to first place. But on the other hand, it really does undermine the entire idea. Why are we here? Why are we playing...
SIMON: Yeah.
BRYANT: ...162 games if everyone's going to make the playoffs?
SIMON: Yeah, good question.
BRYANT: Why are we here? It's my existential question for you, Scott. Why are we here?
SIMON: Oh, Howard, you answer that question - we'll get to that next time you're on. First round of the U.S. Open tomorrow. Not a clear favorite in the women's draw. It's interesting. Defending world champion and No. 1 world ranked player Aryna Sabalenka hasn't won a grand slam this year. Is this an era of parity in women's tennis?
BRYANT: Well, it has been. I think we all - for - the hard part about tennis, especially, is that we measure tennis more than any other sport. Maybe basketball is close, but we measure tennis in terms of dominance. Serena, Nadal, Djokovic, Federer. I mean, all of them. Chrissie, Martina. It's always the one name. Well, we don't really have a one-name this time in the post-Serena era, and that's perfectly OK. All the other sports really try to sell parity. Why not tennis?
And so, you do have Aryna Sabalenka, who's the world No. 1, but she's not super dominant. She's a great player. But Coco Gauff is a great matchup for her. And Coco Gauff has beaten her twice in grand slam finals. You know, I think that Iga Swiatek, who finally won Wimbledon, is probably the best player in the world right now. And so there are a lot of good players, and that's perfectly fine. And I think that this tournament is going to make or break Sabalenka's season, obviously, because when you're the world No. 1 and you don't win a title, that says a whole lot. But on the other hand, there are a lot of good players out there, and New York is the best place for it.
But on the men's side, there is absolutely...
SIMON: Yeah.
BRYANT: ...There are two.
SIMON: Two names, right.
BRYANT: There are two names. And we went from the big three - Nadal, Djokovic and Federer - to the new two, which is Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. But, however, there is one name when we get to New York that I think we should still remember.
SIMON: Yeah.
BRYANT: And that is 38-year-old Novak Djokovic. Djokovic is still...
SIMON: True. Yeah.
BRYANT: He's a seventh seed, I believe. But at the same time, the only guys to beat Djokovic in a full match without him retiring due to injury really have been Sinner and Alcaraz. Nobody else has really taken down Novak in a grand slam in a five-set match. So, to me, it's still - it's the three. I still think it's - Sinner is the best player in the world. Alcaraz is neck and neck with him. And until somebody knocks out Djokovic, I'll believe it when I see it.
SIMON: Yeah. Well said. All right, sportswriter Howard Bryant. Thanks so much for joining us. Talk to you in a couple of weeks, my friend. Take care.
BRYANT: My pleasure, Scott. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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