Episode 22 - Dense Week: Transfers, Transparency, and the Fever's Cracks

Transcript is computer generated and may contain errors.

Cold open and episode intro

Caitlin: And then yeah, national team is back. That’s my all-time favorite team, y’all. I’m so excited. They’re going to Brazil. This is a big primer for the World Cup next year down there in Brazil. Hi, I’m Caitlin.

Alex: Hi, I’m Alex.

Caitlin: And this is Raising the Game, a women’s sports podcast covering the prime time performers, the business behind the athletes and the leagues, and what the growth of women’s sports means for the next generation of women’s athletes.

Alex: We’re back, episode 22. We’re going to hit a lot of the same things we’ve been hitting the past few weeks, but it is very dense this week.

Caitlin: Dense. There’s a lot of shifts and shuffles going on. A lot of point-in-time, need-to-know information if you’re tracking any of the three major leagues. You’ve got Commissioner’s Cup starting with WNBA. You’ve got the June break for the NWSL. You’ve got the offseason craziness of the PWHL that’s already started today.

Alex: Hockey’s not over yet.

Caitlin: So we have a lot to come. National team is back.

Alex: It’s back.

Caitlin: Soccer, to be clear. I always feel like I have to clarify now. This is

Alex: a women’s sports podcast,

Caitlin: the women’s team. We do know the men’s team has a game in a couple of weeks, but we are not talking about that here. At least not yet. All right, before we get into headlines, do you want to do a favorite thing?

Alex: Yeah. I’m going to show my bias here. The Lynx are number one in the league as of before we recorded this. Always good to see. Also, Commissioner’s Cup — games every day basically for the first two weeks of June.

Caitlin: We’ll describe what that is a little bit later. I feel like mine would also be the Lynx. They’ve had some really solid performances lately. I am still really impressed by the Utah Royals. Still unbeaten in 10 games. They drew Portland Thorns over the weekend. And then yeah, national team is back. It’s my all-time favorite team. I’m so excited.

Alex: Should we hit these headlines?

Caitlin: Let’s get into it.

European soccer: Alexia Putellas, Khadija Shaw, and Lindsay Horan

Alex: Spanish footballer superstar Alexia Putellas announces her departure from Barcelona after 14 years and 508 appearances, as the all-time top goal scorer with 232 goals.

Caitlin: This was sort of anticipated as they wrapped up their season, but it doesn’t make it any easier when you’ve spent so much time there. We’ve talked on the pod about how the market is open in the NWSL for some of these European players to come over. As of recording, Putellas has not yet declared where she is planning to go next. There are rumors she’s had talks with a number of WSL teams, and I did read there were reportedly some meetings with some NWSL teams as well.

Also of note: Jamaican international superstar Khadija “Bunny” Shaw. Her contract with Man City was up, and there was rumor swirling about whether she would leave. She chose to stay. She became the highest-paid women’s footballer by staying. She signed a four-year contract worth about $2.3 million US per year. She just won the WSL championship with Man City. She has scored 118 goals in 137 appearances. It’s awesome to see rising tides lifting boats. We said this many episodes ago when we were talking about Trinity Rodman’s contract — now it starts to set that bar higher and higher and higher.

Alex: Lindsay Horan closes her European league chapter with Lyon.

Caitlin: She scored 27 goals in 47 appearances with Lyon over four seasons. This was not Horan’s first time in France. She started in the WPS, the precursor of the NWSL, went and played at Paris Saint-Germain for a while, came back and played with the Portland Thorns, then went over to Lyon on loan from the Thorns and ended up signing a full-time contract. She’s one of the big new gets after this June window for the Denver Summit.

Alex: Maybe more to come here.

Caitlin: That’s the hope.

Tennis: Roland Garros night session, Sabalenka vs. Osaka, and Serena’s return

Alex: Aryna Sabalenka and Naomi Osaka clashed in the fourth round of the French Open in a prime-time night slot, the first women’s match to be in the night schedule since 2023.

Caitlin: This broke a 32-game streak of only men’s matches being played at night at the French Open. Sabalenka beat Osaka in straight sets, and I was reading some reporting that some fans felt like they didn’t get their money’s worth.

Alex: Because it didn’t go back and forth.

Caitlin: Exactly. Women play three sets, men play five. So if I bought tickets to one of these slots not necessarily knowing who’s playing, I went from a match that’s probably two and a half to three hours long to an hour and a half. I can understand that. It brings up the debate of whether they should be shifting women’s tennis to five sets. I don’t know enough to say declaratively I have an opinion, but it is encouraging to see. The women went out and put on a show. They recognized the spotlight. Osaka took Sabalenka close in the first set, and then Sabalenka closed it out. Sabalenka is the world number one. Would a match between Sabalenka and Swiatek, or a Rybakina, take up more time? They need to explore that.

Alex: Serena Williams is back.

Caitlin: This started to trickle out and you’re like, wait, what? She is planning to be a wild-card entry to play doubles at the HSBC Championship at Queen’s Club in London. It’s rumored she will be paired with world number nine Victoria Mboko, the Canadian international who’s been surging lately. That has not been confirmed. She hasn’t competed since 2022. She has 23 Grand Slam titles, third most by any tennis player, man or woman. 367 match wins, the most all-time among women. And she won four consecutive Grand Slam titles twice, in 2002-03 and in 2014-15. Only Steffi Graf has ever done it twice, and Serena did it within basically 10 years.

Alex: That’s wild.

Caitlin: She is the GOAT and I am very interested to see her play. We’re also seeing this theme of semi-retired or women who kind of pause their careers. Allyson Felix comes to mind. We talked about Megan Agosta coming back because the PWHL is having an opportunity for her. I love to see it.

Alex: I think she could be 80 years old and trickle out that she might be coming back, and people would be like, absolutely, a hundred percent.

Caitlin: You want to talk about absolute dominance in a sport. It’s Serena Williams.

Chicago Stars fire GM, flag football goes NCAA, Man City training facility

Alex: Chicago Stars fire GM Richard Fuas after a 3-0-9 start to the NWSL season.

Caitlin: They have a minus-19 goal differential. They have scored five goals in 12 games. The Stars’ president said: “What we hope for in a league like this is to be competitive, but at the very least you need to have a compelling product on the pitch.”

Alex: Yeah.

Caitlin: I don’t think we have either this year. If you watch the Stars play, you have no idea what their identity is. You don’t know what their scheme is. They’re basically a guaranteed win on the schedule and they cannot score. Maybe this will help.

Alex: Delta teams up with Flavor Flav for She Weekend in Vegas in mid-July.

Caitlin: They’ve gotten some really cool sponsorship partners. Delta is going to help with getting all the athletes there.

Alex: Flag football, fastest-growing sport, and it will have an NCAA championship in 2027.

Caitlin: There was some stipulation with the 2028 Olympics in LA that there had to be some level of competitive landscape in order to field a team. The NCAA is now going to have a championship. Next year there are already 100-plus colleges that offer this as a sport. Almost 70,000 high school-aged girls played the sport, up 60% year over year last school year. The NFL just approved $32 million to launch a pro men’s and women’s flag football league. We’re going to see this grow. There’s money being thrown at it because of the Olympic spotlight here and football being the main sport in the States.

Alex: Man City opens a 10-million-pound women’s-first training facility.

Caitlin: Our WSL champions. A women-first training facility, designed for women, 17,000 square feet, featuring a world-class gym, rehabilitation spaces, all of it. We’re continuing to see this investment in creating spaces for the professionalization of these female athletes, which is so deserved and so necessary.

Alex: They can bring up issues.

Caitlin: Exactly — they’re going to be supported appropriately.

College Softball World Series and ESPN’s broadcast fumble

Alex: College Softball World Series heats up. Number-one Texas took down Tennessee today to advance, and Alabama and Texas Tech are squaring off tonight.

Caitlin: There have been quite a few dramatic storylines coming out of the College Softball World Series. Inter-team rivalries, players who have transferred between schools, bad blood. It’s pretty fascinating. The championship series starts Wednesday.

One thing I want to call out: during the Alabama game, the feed cut out on ESPN. You are at a world-class facility that broadcasts nationally here regularly. Why is your feed cutting out? And then they switched to some other random men’s sports programming. That’s not how you handle a rain delay in baseball. You go to the analysts. The message they sent to viewers is that they have something else going on, and it’s a bummer.

The other thing I have to call out is the superior professionalism of sideline reporter Holly Rowe, who started live-streaming the game and doing color and analysis for people who couldn’t see it on TV. You want to talk about somebody passionate about making sure women’s sports get their due — it’s Holly.

PWHL: historic salary transparency

Alex: Let’s move into PWHL. We have some interesting news about pay.

Caitlin: The Players Association voted for salary transparency. This is historic. It’s never happened in the PWHL. It’s a three-year-old league. But I find the timing very interesting, because you are about to send most of your players to go negotiate contracts.

Alex: And now all the agents know exactly

Caitlin: what they need to ask for. Exactly. Emily Clark of the Ottawa Charge is the highest paid at $127,000. We have 194 players in the PWHL. Ten of 194 earn over $100,000. The average salary is $57,000.

Alex: Meaning you go lower than that.

Caitlin: Yes. The minimum salary is $37,000, earned by 16 players in the league. The most fascinating stat to me was that 34% of players earned $60,000 or more.

Alex: Yep.

Caitlin: That means 66% of players earn less than $60,000. Over two-thirds of the league. I’m not arguing they need to be bumped up to millions of dollars, but what I think is really important as these negotiations start is you have two-thirds of the league saying I’m in the bottom two-thirds from a pay perspective. And now there are four other teams they can go join. I’m really curious how the league is thinking about that.

Alex: I think there are going to be some expanded games with more teams. How does that play into the revenue? Does that bump up all those minimum numbers?

Caitlin: Right. And you’ve got that US broadcast deal we keep talking about. That’s a huge influx of cash into the league.

Alex: The PWHL might know something and they’re sitting on it.

Caitlin: But you’re still constrained by the CBA. I think the timing of this vote was very intentional. Something to watch as we go through the next couple of weeks.

PWHL: Billie Jean King MVP and Rookie of the Year nominees

Alex: The Billie Jean King MVP award nominees. From my research, this is the first year a goalie has made it into the nominees.

Caitlin: I noticed that.

Alex: And we have two goalies. Ann-Renée Desbiens, Montreal Victoire. And Aerin Frankel, Boston Fleet. Then we have Kelly Pannek of the Minnesota Frost, 33 points in 30 games, league-leading 16 goals, set a record.

Caitlin: The wall of Montreal. Do you really need us to say more about her?

Alex: 25 games played, seven shutouts, 19 wins. Aerin Frankel, Boston Fleet, 19 wins, eight shutouts. Is it fair to Kelly when you have two goalies? It feels like this might default to goalie MVP this year.

Caitlin: Keep in mind these are regular season awards, so playoff performance doesn’t factor in. What I find really interesting is all three have been nominated for other awards too. Kelly was also nominated as Forward of the Year, and the two goalies were nominated for Goaltender of the Year. Regardless of who wins, somebody could get two.

Alex: If it’s down to the two goalies, I think it’s ARD.

Caitlin: Yeah, I think so too.

Alex: If it’s down to ARD versus Kelly Pannek, I don’t know where this is going.

Caitlin: Kelly had an exceptional year, and the argument for MVP is very much there for all three.

Alex: Rookie of the Year nominees: Nicole Gosling of Montreal, Casey O’Brien of New York, and Hailey Nguyen of Boston.

Gosling led all PWHL blue liners with a plus-16 rating. Casey O’Brien led all rookies with 22 points in 28 games played and set a PWHL rookie record with 266 face-off wins. Hailey Nguyen led all PWHL skaters in total ice time with 802 minutes.

Caitlin: Solid resumes with very different kinds of contributions. Gosling and Nguyen are both defenders. O’Brien is a forward. I have a hard time not looking at what a team accomplished when thinking about these awards. All deserving based on different elements of their game.

All award winners get announced on June 17, which is also draft day, two days before the free agency window opens.

PWHL coaching updates and the gender gap

Caitlin: Expansion teams have coaches in place for three of four spots. Troy Ryan is going to San Jose, wearing that dual hat of head coach and general manager, first to ever do it in the PWHL. He also stepped down from the Canadian national women’s ice hockey team, which I wonder was planned because he knew about the San Jose opportunity.

Kris Sparre, potential coach of the year for the Boston Fleet, is moving to Hamilton. He was Boston’s head coach this season. He’s from near Hamilton and Toronto, so it makes sense geographically. Josh Sciba, Michigan native, is going to coach in Detroit. He was an assistant coach for the New York Sirens last season and was on the US gold medal-winning team staff.

Alex: A local get for Detroit.

Caitlin: A Michigander. Did you know that coaches of Olympic teams do not get medals?

Alex: Really?

Caitlin: Isn’t that sad? They don’t get them.

Alex: That’s a bummer.

Caitlin: And then for Vegas, not yet officially confirmed, but Kim Weiss, currently assistant coaching the AHL’s Colorado Eagles.

Three men, possibly four, coaching expansion teams in a women’s league. We had four new teams and we couldn’t bring in at least two female coaches. Looking at existing teams: Minnesota has Ken Klee. Vancouver, Brian Adalski. New York, Greg Fargo. Montreal, Corey Chevrier. Ottawa, Carla MacLeod. Seattle, open. Boston, open. Toronto, open.

So 12 teams, three female head coaches. I am all for making sure you have the most qualified people in the chair. I struggle to believe there are not more than three qualified women to coach professional women’s hockey.

Alex: Let’s do better.

Caitlin: Let’s do better.

PWHL expansion: phases one and two explained

Alex: Expansion process. Starting today, actually.

Caitlin: As of noon Eastern time today, negotiations could begin with players you want to protect.

Phase 1, two-day negotiation window starting today: existing teams may sign players on expiring contracts, protect three players under contract, and they can only lose one player. So it’s not like teams get gutted all at once.

Then Phase 2, June 5 through 8: expansion teams activate. They submit their exclusive negotiation target list. Each existing team designates 20 players for those higher-contract-value talks, including the Exclusive First Offer (binding, over $100,000) and Foundational Player Offers. By the end of this period, expansion teams must have added five players to their roster. Existing teams can only lose three players under contract in this phase.

Alex: So we could see up to 20 players moving around.

Caitlin: Yes — you have to sign five players to four expansion teams. And then maybe more if people decide to move on the protected players. Some teams could look completely different.

Alex: I’m just going to post to our story every time a player moves.

Caitlin: Keep an eye on our socials. PWHL.report is pretty good for tracking this too.

WNBA: the Minnesota Lynx are rolling

Alex: Let’s bring it into WNBA. The Minnesota Lynx are at the top of the leaderboard.

Caitlin: I have to be honest, I didn’t think we’d be here at this point. Last season I said this repeatedly: no one can beat them when they play their game. They are so sound on both sides of the basketball. Their chemistry is great. They have arguably one of the best coaches to ever coach the game.

Alex: And Phee is not back yet.

Caitlin: And Phee is not back yet. Natasha Howard. She looks so good, so light. 17 points per game, 66% from the floor, eight rebounds, four assists. That’s a great line.

Alex: Outside of Olivia Miles from the draft, best off-season acquisition probably by far.

Caitlin: Yes. Cheryl is looking like a genius. Olivia Miles is already a rookie of the year contender.

Alex: She has just been phenomenal from the start.

Caitlin: I love watching her relationship with Cheryl grow. They really lean into one another. You can literally see Liv learning every single game, and she’s able to execute while she’s absorbing. That’s hard.

Courtney Williams wins best teammate award in my book every day and twice on Sunday. She does whatever the team needs. She has a great attitude, she works her tail off. She’s averaging 16 points per game, 48% from the floor, 40% from three. She’s looser and lighter in her natural position at the two. The bonus is that because Cheryl had to develop her into a point guard last season, you now have an excellent backup point guard. And they’re doing all of this without Phee.

Just to remind our listeners what you get when Napheesa Collier is healthy: from 2023 to 2025, she averaged 22 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 assists per game. Last season she was part of the 50-40-90 club. She has been practicing and is expected to get minutes soon. When she comes back to starting form, she pushes one of the five out of the starting lineup — the obvious one is Nia Coffey. But then you have an excellent player coming off the bench.

Alex: Does the on-court playing chemistry change a little as she comes back? How many games does that take to figure out?

Caitlin: That’s a really fair question. When things are going well and you have that rhythm, adding even a great player back in can disrupt it for a time.

Alex: And you don’t not start a 50-40-90 player.

Caitlin: Yeah. They also signed Tiara McCown, 6’7 center with good experience. If she can get her feet under her and get into the Reeve system, this could be dangerous.

WNBA: Dallas Wings shock the champions

Caitlin: The Dallas Wings took down the 2024 WNBA champion and the 2025 WNBA champion in the same week.

Alex: Some gritty games.

Caitlin: They played both at their home venues. Jose Fernandez had been playing it both ways on Azzi Fudd starting, then Aziaha James started, and they won.

Alex: Yeah.

Caitlin: She put up 20-plus points in both games. Maybe that’s the answer. I forgot how pure of a shooter she is. Jessica Shepard had a big triple double — two triple doubles already this season. The one last week was the elusive 20-20-10. Only Alyssa Thomas is the only other player in WNBA history to record a 20-20-10.

Alex: Everyone was like, what did we pay her? And it’s like, yeah.

Caitlin: We knew. Paige Bueckers is facilitating, doing her thing. They started the season with everyone saying they had too many guards. They’re finding their groove. Alanna Smith sat out a couple of games and Maddie Segrist started in her place, and that worked really well.

Becky Hammon’s post-game press conference after the loss to the Wings was awesome. She basically said, give me the fine, I’m going to talk about the refs.

Alex: Reffing hasn’t been consistent this year with the new emphasis.

Caitlin: Her beef was the imbalance between the two teams. When A’ja Wilson, Jackie Young, and Chelsea Gray shoot fewer combined free throws than one Dallas Wings player, that’s a problem.

WNBA: Commissioner’s Cup, CBA, and veteran recognition

Alex: Commissioner’s Cup. First game tonight, June 1st. Games basically every night for the foreseeable future.

Caitlin: Teams within the conference play one game against each other. The Lynx play every team in the Western Conference once over the next two to three weeks. Whoever has the best record plays in the Commissioner’s Cup at the end of June. Last year it was the Lynx versus the Fever. We went to that game. The Fever won.

Alex: We could not buy a bucket.

Caitlin: A cool wrinkle this year for the 30th anniversary: every game both teams are playing for points that will fund donations to a local charity.

Alex: That’s great.

Caitlin: The new CBA also came with veterans recognition. Retired players with five or more years of experience will receive payouts. Five to seven years in the league: $30,000. Eight to eleven years: $50,000. Twelve-plus years: $100,000.

Alex: It just shows that the current players were thinking about the ones who came before them. So cool to see.

WNBA: Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark under the microscope

Caitlin: Moving to the downs. The Indiana Fever have back-to-back losses for the first time this season. They’ve lost to the Dallas Wings on opening day, the Mystics in overtime, the Valkyries, and then the Portland Fire. Until the Fire loss, those losses were by an average of two points.

Alex: Close games.

Caitlin: Close games. But then they got blown out by the Fire by 16 or 17, and the Fire were leading by 26 at certain points.

Alex: And that was the game where Portland had played the night before.

Caitlin: Portland had played the night before. The Golden State game caught a lot of attention because of some body language situations with Caitlin Clark. She then did not go to the post-game press conference. She was clearly upset by how they played. Not excusing it. You’ve got to do your job.

The basketball picture: they are the highest-scoring team in the WNBA right now. But if you look at field goal percentage, rebounding, steals, blocks, they’re right in the eighth through tenth spot in the league. Their overall field goal percentage is bolstered by three-point shooting. Their two-point field goal percentage is twelfth in the league at 60%, compared to a league-high 71% for the Aces. They’re struggling to hit interior shots.

Defensively, teams have found a plan: ISO whoever Caitlin Clark is guarding and attack her.

Alex: Which is weird because she didn’t really have that reputation in her career, but she looked slow and off in that game.

Caitlin: I think there’s an element of the refereeing adjustment. Players are trying to figure out what they can play with defensively when they don’t want to pick up fouls.

Alex: That’s what we saw in that huddle — her asking, what do I do?

Caitlin: Right, what am I supposed to do. But overall, their defense hasn’t looked great. And what we saw from the Valkyries and the Fire is they’ve realized: ISO whoever Caitlin is guarding and attack her. She either gets in foul trouble, which disrupts the rhythm, or she gets beaten because she doesn’t have the foot speed other point guards have in this league.

Alex: It feels a lot like the effort thing. It sometimes seems like once this gets back, we’ll go back on offense and I’ll do my thing.

Caitlin: I imagine that someone with her offensive skill set has spent a lot of time growing that skill set and maybe less on the other side, and has been in positions where defense hasn’t been demanded of her.

There’s also a resurfaced Geno Auriemma interview in which he assessed her defensive limitations and mentioned her tendency to trash-talk and that opponents were going to give it right back.

Alex: To be clear, he gave a glowing review offensively, but said she does not have what it takes in the WNBA defensively.

Caitlin: And he pointed out her attitude. You have to know how to handle that and not let it affect your game. When it starts affecting your game, it starts affecting the people around you. I said a couple weeks ago I would struggle to be her teammate. We’re starting to see evidence of it.

Alex: They will all say it’s not affecting them. That’s what you’re coached to say. But it absolutely is.

Caitlin: You could see it clearly in the Portland game and the Golden State game. Now, her on-court demeanor in the Portland Fire game was vastly different from the Golden State game. She looked like she got a talking to, or somebody played the clips back. She’s the head of the snake. She’s going to get a ton of scrutiny. She’s going to be the plan of attack for every team that plays her. But I hope we continue to see growth.

Alex: If you’re a team coming up against them, you’re going to look at that Portland game and say, what did they do here? We’re going to replicate that.

Caitlin: And Portland’s game plan was suffocating on defense, not just against her. It seemed like every time we watched, they were ripping the ball out of the Fever’s hands. The Fever got knocked back on their heels and never recovered.

Kelsey Plum has not played since her recent injury. She is still leading the league in scoring at 26 points per game, shooting 59% from the floor, 49% from three. Sixth in the league with six assists per game. Second in fantasy points behind A’ja Wilson. Not playing right now. KP, we wish you well.

NWSL: standings and the June break

Alex: Let’s give the NWSL a whirl.

Caitlin: San Diego Wave on top at 25 points, three wins, one loss, and one draw in their last five. To me they’re probably the most complete team on the pitch right now. Utah and Portland are tied at 24 points. Utah is unbeaten in 10 games — their last loss was March 22nd, to the Wave. Portland is tied with them but not playing great in their last five. The Spirit, Gotham FC, and Kansas City Current are clustered at 21 points. The Courage at 18. The Pride at 17. The Summit at 15. And then at the bottom, Seattle, Houston, Angel City, Bay, Boston, and Chicago. Racing Louisville has seven points out of 11 games played. They’ve actually scored 15 goals. They’re just losing.

Alex: Can’t win.

Caitlin: They need to work on their defense.

Who does the break help? Denver has a real sweet deal on the other side. They get Lindsay Horan back, plus they finally play the majority of their second half at home. Gotham benefits from having a Commissioner’s Cup game at the end of the window, keeping them sharp. I think this might hurt Utah. They’ve had so much momentum, and disrupting that consistent rhythm is a real risk.

I also think this could hurt Houston and North Carolina. Houston started strongly, had a lull, has been ticking back up. That’s a young team. You just worry about losing that momentum.

Alex: Could we see some coaches lose their jobs in this window?

Caitlin: Seattle, Bay — I feel like we could see some news. You have space and time that you don’t normally get during a regular season.

USWNT: roster notes and Brazil games

Alex: Let’s talk about your favorite team. US Women’s National Team going to Brazil.

Caitlin: Naomi Girma is out, still managing that calf injury. That brings Tara McKeown back in to anchor the back line. Kennedy Wesley from the San Diego Wave has been playing really well, so I could see her having a starting spot back there alongside Emily Sonnett. No Emily Sams on this roster. Mallory Swanson is back in the mix. So we have our triple espresso brewed and ready to go.

With Sam Coffey out, they brought Riley Jackson in. She plays for the North Carolina Courage, a younger player, debuted for the senior team in January. She won’t see a lot of time. Jane Campbell of the Houston Dash was brought in because Fallon Tullis-Joyce has an injury. Jane Campbell is as tough as they come and one of the best shot-stoppers in the game. Catarina Macario [NAME CHECK] is still nursing a heel injury. I need to read up more on the timeline.

What we’re watching for: Mallory Swanson, three matches back — what kind of minutes and impact does she get? And discipline against Brazil, who are known for similar tactics to other South American teams: physical, in your face, emotionally charged. They play very differently from Japan. This is a real test of whether the team can stay composed when that pressure comes.

Alex: With two games, will Emma test that discipline in game one without calling it out, and then address it if they have trouble?

Caitlin: Emma said recently when asked why she brought Swanson in this quickly: “We don’t have a minute to lose.” I don’t think she’s experimenting anymore. I think she’s literally figuring out how to lock this down.

The rest of the year: October 5-12 window, two matches. Then November 24 through December 4, the CONCACAF tournament. The US would likely play two matches. Win that and they qualify for the Women’s World Cup. They’ve already automatically qualified for the 2028 LA Olympics as a host nation. Then three more windows in 2027 ahead of the Women’s World Cup, which starts in June and July next year. This June camp is window one of six.

Alex: Let’s wrap it up. Let’s get in there.

Caitlin: We will do a recap next week. We’ll still have a game to go.

What to watch this week

Alex: WNBA Commissioner’s Cup action. Thursday, Golden State Valkyries versus the Minnesota Lynx, 8 p.m. on Prime. Dallas Wings versus Los Angeles Sparks on Friday at 9 p.m. on ION. Golden State Valkyries versus Las Vegas Aces on Saturday at 2 p.m. on ABC. And Indiana Fever versus Washington Mystics Sunday at 6 p.m. on Peacock. There are so many games on every day right now.

Caitlin: Anywhere. Prime, ION, ABC, Peacock, there was a game on USA tonight.

Alex: US Women’s National Team versus Brazil on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. Central on TBS, Peacock, and Max. French Open semi-finals start Thursday. Finals on Saturday. Women’s Elite Rugby, all games on Women’s Sports Network Sunday: TC Gemini versus New York Exiles at 3 p.m., Boston Banshees versus Bay Breakers at 7 p.m., and Denver Onyx versus Chicago Tempest at 8 p.m. College softball: Texas is in. Championship starts Wednesday, best of three.

Momentum and setbacks

Alex: Momentum, setbacks?

Caitlin: I’m curious how that win for the Portland Fire over the Fever will galvanize them going forward. They looked like a team. If they could put that together every night, they should be winning most of their games.

Alex: Mine was the triple espresso being back. Very, very good for the women’s national team.

Caitlin: Getting to train together for the first time since 2024. That’s a good call-out.

Alex: My setback is Haley Van Lith. She went to Chicago, got waived, got picked up by Connecticut, got waived, made it through waivers, got picked back up by Connecticut. Hopefully she’s found somewhere in Connecticut for good now.

Caitlin: Hope she can stick there. My setback is some of what we saw from the Fever and in particular Caitlin Clark this last week. I have said this every single time we talk about her: I want her and whatever team she’s on to be successful because it is good for the WNBA. But I think what we saw this last week is not good for the WNBA. People don’t want to watch that. Or if they’re tuning in, they’re tuning in for the sideshow, and that is not what this is. I hope we’re starting to see some corrections and that we can start to move past this and play basketball. Seeing some of that breakdown, seeing other players’ reactions or non-reactions — you can almost tell they’re just like, that doesn’t look like fun.

Alex: No, no it doesn’t.

Caitlin: When we came into this season, I talked about how important this season was for the WNBA. The face of the league, however that happened, needs to be successful. It becomes unserious when you’re behaving the way we’ve seen so far this season.

Alex: RTG underscore pod on Instagram, Threads, YouTube. Raising the Game Podcast on Substack. raisingthegamepodcast.gmail.com. rtgpod.com. Check us out.

Caitlin: Till next week, y’all. Thanks for being here.

Alex: Bye.