👋 Good morning! It’s Friday! We made it! Everywhere you look, everything is totally fine and normal! I just love that feeling, don’t you?

Bobby Karalla here, filling in one more day for Joseph Hoyt, who’s still roughin’ it out somewhere in the wild. I’m looking forward to hearing about his experience. I haven’t been camping since the summer after my freshman year in college, when a night rainfall sent the weaker half of our party home. I’m so tough, though, that I bravely stuck it out and slept in the backseat of my buddy’s car. (It didn’t help matters that I forgot to bring a sleeping bag with me.) I’d love to go camping for real some time, though. If you know any special spots, shoot me an email.

The Rangers are likewise facing tough conditions, having lost five of their last seven games and falling to a season-worst five games under-.500. There’s still 99 games to turn it around, but sheesh, that 8-2 start is but a distant memory at this point. They need a little reset. Maybe a weekend out in the wild would do them some good, too! — Bobby Karalla

Kumar Rocker Sent To Triple-A

If you’re not excited about the Texas Rangers because of their record, well, you should be anyway. They probably have the best pitching staff in franchise history, and they still have so many young, up-and-coming arms on the way too. One of those belongs to Kumar Rocker, whom we were all fired up about last year but has struggled throughout 2025.

This all came to a head on Wednesday night against the Rays, when he made a “brain fart,” as our Jeff Wilson put it, that ended up costing the Rangers the game.

That made the score 5-0, so of course the final ended up 5-4 Rays. The Rangers demoted Rocker to Triple-A the next day. Writes Jeff:

The Rangers aren’t concerned about Rocker in the long term. He needs to work on his delivery and command, and he needs to do it in a lower-pressure environment. Pitching development varies from pitcher to pitcher, and Rocker is an inexperienced pitcher even though he has been on the national stage for a long time.

His former college teammate and current Rangers teammate, Jack Leiter, is a perfect example. He was so inconsistent in his first two seasons at Double A Frisco that the Rangers took him out of competition in 2023 to work on his craft.

He improved last season, making his MLB debut and being selected as the Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Year. He pitched well for the Rangers yet again Thursday night.

So, no one with the Rangers is giving up on Rocker, and fans shouldn’t be either. He needs to be at Triple A, where he’s sure to get plenty of pitchers’ fielding practice.

Watch: Rangers Surrender 3-1 Lead In 9th, Lose 4-3 To Rays

Go deeper: Kumar Rocker demotion not a punishment, but Texas Rangers rookie has some learning to do

Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle isn’t new to comeback wins, Finals wins, or comeback wins in the Finals. Each of the last two 15-point, fourth-quarter comebacks in NBA Finals history were pulled off by Carlisle’s teams. This year’s Pacers team became the second after Tyrese Haliburton did it again last night, this time breaking Oklahoma City’s hearts. The first? Well, we all remember that one.

But what’s Carlisle’s legacy through the eyes of our DLLS Mavs crew? We discussed that and more on yesterday’s show.

Yesterday, I shared Sam Nestler’s thoughts on the two differing paths forward for Jim Nill and the Dallas Stars as it relates to roster construction. But what about the man behind the bench? Sam writes here about cases for and against retaining head coach Pete DeBoer for another season.

Join us at 3 p.m. this afternoon for our DLLS Wings Podcast! We’ll talk about all things Wings on and the off the floor. The “off” part is particularly relevant right now, as just yesterday City Council approved the location of a proposed new practice facility just off I-30 at Cockrel Hill for the team beginning in 2026. As early as 2027, the Wings will play home games at Dallas Memorial Auditorium, no longer at UTA’s College Park Center. Our friends at WFAA have more coverage here.

You knew this was coming. Ahh, memories…

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Bobby Karalla
DLLS Head of Content and Resident Mavs Nostalgic
[email protected]​