After Liberty win WNBA title, Yankees lose World Series, will Rangers be next New York champion?

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The New York Liberty are still basking in the afterglow of their first WNBA championship. Meanwhile, the New York Yankees are trying to figure out exactly what happened after they lost an excruciating Game 5 of the World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers, ending their season Wednesday night.

The Mets? They’re still licking their wounds after the Dodgers knocked them out in six games in the National League Championship Series following an epic, improbable postseason run. The Jets and Giants? Don’t ask.

So where does that leave the state of New York sports? And which team might follow the Liberty to be the next champion from this city?

More specifically, will the New York Rangers be that team?

Listen, it’s well within reason to believe the Rangers could win the Stanley Cup this season. There’s no clear-cut favorite in the NHL. There’s a group of elite teams, of which the Rangers are one, and a whole host of teams stuck in the middle. Then there are a few non-contenders.

Their recent ugly 5-3 loss to the Washington Capitals aside, this Rangers team has the makings of a champion. New York has the goalie in Igor Shesterkin. It has dynamic offensive firepower, led by Artemi Panarin. Then there’s a deep lineup, fortified by the terrific start to the season by the line of Filip Chytil between Kaapo Kakko and Will Cuylle. They have excellent special teams and a veteran coach who’s won it all before. The Rangers are also battle-tested, reaching the Eastern Conference Final in two of the past three seasons.

No doubt, they have shortcomings. But there’s no perfect team in the NHL, not even the defending champion Florida Panthers — though the Rangers really do need to figure it out against them head-to-head. And you can bet that, if able, GM Chris Drury will load up at the trade deadline to make a serious run at ending the 31-year championship drought, especially with this likely being the final whack at it for some of their core players like Jacob Trouba, Ryan Lindgren and possibly Kakko.

Outside of a Liberty repeat, it says here the Rangers have the best chance to be New York’s next champion.

But let’s further examine the local competition.

Related: New York Rangers: What to watch for in November

Ranking Rangers competition to be New York’s next professional sports franchise to win championship

WNBA: Finals-Minnesota Lynx at New York Liberty
Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

Since the Liberty just won the WNBA championship, we will not include them in this exercise.

New York Knicks

They sure didn’t look championship-ready when they lost to the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics on opening night, but the Rangers’ co-tenants at Madison Square Garden provide the Blueshirts their stiffest competition to be New York’s next champion. In a star-driven league, the Knicks now have two with Karl-Anthony Towns joining Jalen Brunson, and that’s more than something to consider.

Like the Rangers, the Knicks seem to be building toward a run to the NBA Finals, but keep stumbling before getting there. The Knicks appeared ready to take that big step last postseason until they broke down — literally and figuratively — in the second round, their great dreams ruined among a plethora of key injuries. The knock on Tom Thibodeau-coached teams is that they play so hard throughout the regular season that there’s not enough left in the tank come playoff time. That, and perhaps messing with that great Knicks chemistry from a year ago, are barriers for the Knicks to work through if they’re going to win their first NBA championship since 1973.

New York Yankees

The Dodgers most definitely exposed a slew of flaws in the Yankees during this World Series. The lineup’s not deep enough; they make stupid sloppy careless plays that cost them in big moments; some of their star players came up small in the biggest of moments. But all that said, the Yankees were still in the World Series and could easily return in 2025. The American League doesn’t have a juggernaut team, and if it’s wide-open, the Yankees will be right there again.

It’s too early to predict what the roster will look like, but if Juan Soto returns, that automatically makes the Yankess a serious contender. He and Aaron Judge locking down the lineup is a massive advantage over most teams. Plus, you’ve got to figure general manager Brian Cashman will fill in some of the other holes in that lineup to make the Bombers even more of a threat.

New York Mets

MLB: NLDS-Philadelphia Phillies at New York Mets
Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

This is another one that’s a bit early to predict because the MLB offseason literally is just beginning. The Mets had an incredible run in the second half of the season and against many odds, were two wins away from facing the Yankees in the World Series.

But they have 12 free agents on the major league roster, including slugger Pete Alonso and three-fifths of the starting rotation, so the Mets could look drastically different in 2025. And different isn’t always better. But you can count on owner Steve Cohen to open his checkbook, and David Stearns has earned the right to be trusted to make smart baseball decisions. So, the Mets should be in the mix once again next season.

New York Sirens

New York finished last in 2024, the inaugural PWHL season, but there’s plenty of hope that things will be much better in Year 2. It starts with a younger, more talented roster that features No. 1 overall draft pick Sarah Fillier. Adding her and other skilled youngsters to a lineup that includes Alex Carpenter, one of the top forwards in the PWHL, is reason to be optimistic.

Plus, this is six-team league, meaning there’s a better chance percentage-wise to make the playoffs and possibly win the Walter Cup.

New York Islanders

NHL: Detroit Red Wings at New York Islanders
Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Unless they figure out how to score goals, the Islanders will plummet further down this list. The Islanders are off to a 3-5-2 start largely because they’ve scored 22 goals, after being shut out by the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday.

The Islanders are a middle-of-the-pack team, but their one hope at making a run is to win a lot of 2-1 type games. That means goalie Ilya Sorokin must play to Vezina Trophy form, something he is capable of.

Brooklyn Nets

Nets fans are ecstatic that their team is 2-3 to begin the NBA season. It’s better than 0-5, so that’s saying something. Remember we said the NBA is a star-driven league? Well, Brooklyn’s Cam Thomas is a real nice player, but the Nets traded their “star” in the offseason, sending Mikael Bridges to the Knicks. Where he’s an important role player. You get what we’re saying. It’d be a shock if the Nets make the playoffs, much less win a title any time soon.

New York Giants

At 2-6, expect no miracles any time soon from the Giants. They’re headed to another rebuild next season with a new quarterback, possibly a new coach and maybe even a new GM. It could take a while for them to get back on their feet.

But the one thing the Giants have going for them is that they’re not the last team on this list. That would be the …

New York Jets

The Jets are also 2-6 , though their record feels about 1,000 times worse than the Giants at 2-6. Aaron Rodgers. Davante Adams. Hassan Reddick. Tyrone Smith. None of the mercenaries have panned out. More alarming is how much younger cornerstone players like Sauce Gardner and Breece Hall have regressed.

You keep expecting them to somehow turn their season around, but even if they do, the Jets are not winning the Super Bowl this season or anytime soon. It’s always one step forward, five steps back with this team, which hasn’t won it all since January 1969.

Jim Cerny is Executive Editor at Forever Blueshirts and Managing Editor at Sportsnaut, with more than 30 years of... More about Jim Cerny

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