Napheesa Collier is kicking in the door for the Minnesota Lynx

This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.

Good morning, Winners! Happy Wednesday! I hope you’re having a great week so far.

Napheesa Collier and the Minnesota Lynx certainly are. They’ve officially reached the pinnacle of the sport. Minnesota has officially punched a ticket back to the WNBA Finals with a dominant win over the Connecticut Sun on Tuesday.

This team looked a lot different the last time around in 2017. Maya Moore’s Lynx played Candace Parker’s LA Sparks, and Sylvia Fowles dominated both ends of the floor to win Finals MVP in the series.

None of those names are around anymore. The torch has officially been passed down in Minnesota and Napheesa Collier is its new bearer.

Collier, the WNBA’s defensive player of the year, has always been a name that frequently comes up in the WNBA discourse when talking about the league’s best players. She’s always been the player who gets mentioned last in those conversations about the league’s elite. You know how it goes: “Don’t forget about Napheesa Collier” or something along those lines, right?

She’s always been a very good player. A great player, even. It’s just that, when discussing the greatest, it always felt like her name was on the outside looking in.

For so long, the conversation about the best player in the league has centered around two names: A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart. Appropriately so, I’d say. Those two have been, far and away, the standouts in this league of excellence. Even this season, Wilson was just a cut above everyone else. That’s why she was the unanimous MVP.

But as far as who might be heading up that next tier? Well, that’s up for debate now.

Stewart’s name is the one that usually comes up, and she’s still a great player. She was arguably the best player in Game 5 against Wilson’s Aces when the Liberty sent Vegas packing.

But Collier’s run of dominance and the Lynx’s push to the finals put her squarely in the middle of those conversations that were once reserved just for two. Napheesa has been the best player in these playoffs and there’s no doubt about it.

She’s averaged 27.1 points per game while shooting nearly 55 percent from the floor and 45 percent from deep, according to Basketball Reference. The Lynx have been -14.2 points per 100 possessions worse when Collier sits the bench, according to the WNBA’s stats database. That’s an exceedingly small sample because she’s only been able to sit for 18 minutes in these playoffs and things have been that bad when she does.

A run to the Finals has solidified Collier’s position in the WNBA’s upper echelon. Now, she’s just a few wins away from climbing to the top of it. Winning a championship over Stewart and the Liberty would mean so much.

Our Meg Hall spoke to Collier after last season. She opened up about finding new purpose with motherhood and being a parent athlete. In that conversation, she also spoke about her goals and what she still has left to accomplish on the court.

“There are a lot of things I still want to accomplish in my career — winning a championship is one of them,” she said back then. “I also want to be MVP.”

She didn’t win MVP this season, but that championship is in sight, folks.

The Danger Zone

There’s no such thing as a guarantee in Major League Baseball. The sport has so much randomness — anything can happen at any time.

But if you’d asked anyone at the top of the season to pick two teams that were the closest thing to a guarantee to make it to the World Series representing the National League, most people would probably have said the Dodgers and the Phillies.

Now, after losing their respective Game 3 on the road, both teams are on the brink of elimination.

The Mets destroyed the Phillies in a 7-2 game that was never close. New York wasn’t sweating at all. Jesse Winker was confident enough to sit in the batter’s box and admire his moon shot.

That might be a better way to go out than the Dodgers, who fell behind early but managed to bring it close before losing by a single run. The Padres jumped out ahead and outlasted LA.

Here’s a wild stat: Both series could end on Wednesday. If they do, this would be the fourth consecutive year that the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds in the National League are eliminated before the League Championship Series.

A bunch of firsts for the Utah Hockey Club

Well, that’s a pretty great start, huh? The Utah Hockey Club opened its inaugural season with a dominant 5-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks.

Here’s the first goal from the team’s first win. And here’s a look at the completely sold-out arena.

I don’t know how the rest of the season will go in Utah. Surely, the highs won’t be this high all the time. But the vibe around this team is extremely fun. That means a lot for a franchise just cutting its teeth.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about the Utah Hockey Club

Quick hits: Drake Maye deserves better … Week 6 QB Rankings … and more

— Here’s Robert Zeglinski on the Patriots setting Drake Maye up for failure against the NFL’s best defenses.

— Christian D’Andrea put together his weekly QB rankings for Week 6. Joe Flacco is back, folks!

— Here’s Robert with his NFL MVP ladder. A familiar face is at the top.

— The Kraken honored Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau with 13 seconds of silence. Mary Clarke has more.

— Here’s Prince Grimes on a new study voicing support in the NCAA getting support in protecting players from sports betting.

— Steve Cohen is … an actually good owner? If there is such a thing. Bryan Kalbrosky has more.

That’s a wrap, folks. Thanks so much. Have a fantastic Wednesday. Peace.

-Sykes