SI:AM | Kayla McBride Sets WNBA Record as Her Career Year Continues

The Lynx guard dropped 43 points, including a record 10 three-pointers, in a Minnesota victory.

Kayla McBride’s record-setting performance helped the Lynx become the first team to clinch a playoff spot. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. It’s my pleasure to inform you that the Dodgers have now lost eight of their last nine games. But I just wrote about them last week, so let’s look at two records that were set yesterday. 

In today’s SI:AM:
🔥 McBride sets WNBA record
⚾ New low for starting pitchers
🐴 Broncos offense looks better

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She was on fire

Kayla McBride’s dream season continues. 

The Lynx veteran assumed a bigger role during Napheesa Collier’s extended absence, and she’s still leading the way now that Collier has returned. 

McBride scored 43 points in Minnesota’s win over the Wings yesterday. She went 16-for-21 from the floor, including a WNBA single-game record 10 three-pointers. She’s just the 10th player in league history to score at least 43 points on 21 or fewer shots. 

The previous record for threes in a game was nine, a feat that had been accomplished eight times by six different players. There had been another 16 games in which a player made eight threes, including two by McBride. The double-digit mark had proved elusive for WNBA players, though. 

Breaking the record is just another high point in what has been a career year for McBride. She’s averaging 18.4 points per game, her most since she averaged 18.2 per game in 2018. But the difference is that her previous career high came while playing for a lousy Aces team. This year, she’s a critical part of the best team in the league. In fact, the Lynx have been so good that, with the win last night, they became the first team in the league to clinch a playoff spot. There’s still more than six weeks left in the regular season. 

Another record set

Jacob Wilson has made major strides on defense this season. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

While McBride set a single-game record, Athletics shortstop Jacob Wilson took more than a year to make some history of his own. 

Wilson cleanly fielded all six of his opportunities at short in his team’s 4–3 win over the Red Sox at Fenway on Sunday afternoon, stretching his streak of error-free games to 111. That’s the longest streak in MLB history of consecutive games at shortstop without an error, surpassing the mark previously set by Mike Bordick of the Orioles in 2002. Wilson’s last error came on July 6, 2025. 

“He definitely has the consistency side of things down pat,” A’s rookie infielder Tommy White said. “The stats don’t lie. … He really takes in the second half of the play. Everyone sees the glove, but it’s the accuracy of the arm.”

Errors aren’t a great way to measure a player’s defensive ability. For one thing, they rely on the judgement of the official scorer, which makes them notoriously prone to home cooking. They also don’t account for when a player fails to get to a ball that another fielder might have. If you’re too slow to reach a ball, you can’t be charged with an error. But a better fielder who reaches the same ball and fails to field it cleanly might have it scored as an error. 

Statisticians have long struggled with how to quantify a player’s defensive ability. Stats like Defensive Runs Saved, Outs Above Average and Ultimate Zone Rating all measure defense differently and can reach different conclusions about the same player. That’s the case with Wilson. DRS and Total Zone grade him as a below-average fielder. But OAA, which uses Statcast tracking data, measures him as one of the best fielders in the majors. He’s credited with eight outs above average, which ranks in the 96th percentile. 

Interestingly, Wilson was also a below-average fielder by OAA in each of his first two seasons, which makes it easier to believe that his stretch of error-free games this year is a result of defensive improvement, rather than an anomaly resulting from an outdated way of measuring defense. 

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Bo Nix and the Broncos offense have looked strong in training camp. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

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The top five…

… things I saw yesterday:
5. Tigers right fielder Zach McKinstry’s perfect throw to nail a runner at the plate. 
4. Everson Pereira’s diving catch for the final out of the Cardinals’ win over the Rockies.
3. An incredible long-range assist by Evelyn Shores and deft one-touch finish by Prisca Chilufya for Angel City’s equalizing goal against the Seattle Reign. 
2. Brewers rookie Luis Lara’s impressive catch at the wall. It looked like he totally lost track of the ball, but he recovered in time to make a leaping catch. 
1. A more straightforwardly remarkable catch by Lara to save a run in extra innings.