Year In Sports - A Review of Some of The Biggest Moments in 2025

Basketball

A Shocking Trade:

On the night of February 1, 2025, a trade shocked the entire NBA landscape. Luka Doncic, a potential MVP candidate, the future of the Dallas Mavericks organization, and arguably the biggest international superstar in the NBA, was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers for power forward Anthony Davis, who won a championship with the Lakers in 2020. Other players that were traded along with Doncic included Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris, with the Mavericks also receiving a great young talent in Max Christie, along with a 2029 first- round pick. A smaller part of the deal was with the Utah Jazz, making it a three-team trade. They received Jalen Hood-Schifino from the Lakers, along with second-round picks in 2025 from the Mavericks and Lakers, respectively. Many experts viewed this trade as a straight-up robbery for the Lakers because they received a dominant yet injury-prone Anthony Davis for a potential MVP candidate. Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison was slandered for this trade. However, as things were looking gloomy for the Mavericks organization, they received the first overall pick in the 2025 draft via the lottery, and took the future of their franchise, Cooper Flagg, a once-in-a-lifetime talent. 

Football

The Potential End of a Dynasty:

Fresh off their third straight Super Bowl appearance and fifth in the last six years, the Chiefs were humming and looking like potential favorites to win the Super Bowl this year. Even though they suffered a gruesome 40-22 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, many still had high hopes that their superstars, Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Chris Jones, and Drue Tranquill, could come through with another Super Bowl. Their season started with two straight losses to the Los Angeles Chargers and the Philadelphia Eagles. This was the beginning of a shocking downfall. After these two losses, they never picked up speed again and lost five games in a row towards the end of the regular season. In their 2024 season, they went 11-0 in one-score games in the regular season. However, this season they are 1-8 in one-score games, and their dominance in the clutch fizzled out. They were eliminated from playoff contention in a Week 15 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. During this game, Patrick Mahomes, their superstar quarterback and the face of American football, tore his ACL, ending his season and potentially missing time next year. Also, backup quarterback Gardner Minshew fractured a part of his knee, leading to Chris Oladokun taking over the starting role, a rookie seventh-round pick. 

Baseball

A World Series To Remember:

Many people have a harsh opinion of watching baseball and the MLB because of how slow the games are and how infrequently the action occurs. However, this World Series brought a myriad of incredible stories, which will be remembered by many for years to come. Coming into the year, the Los Angeles Dodgers were far and away viewed as the best team with lots of star power on the roster, including Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, and arguably the greatest baseball player of all time, Shohei Ohtani. The Los Angeles Dodgers cruised through the regular season, despite battling some injury situations throughout the year, earning the three seed in the NL. Their dominance continued in the playoffs, defeating the Reds, Phillies, and Brewers to reach the World Series. On the flip side, the Toronto Blue Jays are one of the smaller franchises in MLB, and while people knew they had a talented roster with guys like Vladimir Guerrero Jr and George Springer, their absolute domination of the American League came as a huge surprise. Their road to the World Series was not easy, as they had to face many difficult teams like the New York Yankees with AL MVP Aaron Judge, but they still managed to persevere and win the AL and earn a trip to the World Series. The series began with a dominant Blue Jays win, and was back and forth from there, eventually reaching game seven. In Game 3, it was so close that a whopping nine extra innings were played, tying for the longest ever World Series game with the 2018 World Series. In Game 7, Dodgers Outifeler Andy Pages saved the game in the ninth inning with a jaw-dropping catch over teammate Kike Hernandez to send the game into extras, where Catcher Will Smith hit a solo home run in the top of the eleventh, winning the Dodgers the game.