MLB Playoff Preview

The MLB playoffs get underway tonight with the AL Wild Card game between the Orioles and Blue Jays, both of these teams have suspect pitching and good offenses.  With this game being in Toronto I'll go with the home team to advance on and play the Rangers.  The NL Wild Card game is tomorrow and is a great pitching matchup between Madison Bumgardner of the Giants and Noah Synderguard of the Mets, sorry about this one Mets fans MadBum is to nasty in the playoffs I don't care about matchup's or offenses, Giants move on.  NLDS San Fransisco Giants vs. Chicago Cubs, I'll pick Cubs.  Washington Nationals vs. Los Angles Dodgers, Dodgers.  ALCS Texas Rangers vs. Toronto Blue Jays, I haven't seen a lot of Texas recently but they have a lot of pieces so give me the Rangers.  Boston Red Sox vs. Cleveland Indians, the Indians have been bitten by injuries lately so I'll take the Red Sox.  NLCS Cubs vs. Dodgers, at this point the Dodger magic runs out and the Cubs with Joe Maddon are special I'll take the Cubs.  ALCS Red Sox vs Rangers, in what should be a very exciting series the Red Sox seem like their on a run so i'll go Red Sox here.  World Series Cubs vs. Red Sox a lot of history in this one,  the Cubs end the misery behind Cy Young candidates, Aroldis Chapman, Chris Bryant and company.  Sorry Red Sox fans and David Ortiz not this year, I've liked the Cubs all year and I still do.              

Yankee elimination (postmortem)

The New York Yankees had an up and down season, with many highs and lows.  After a terrible month of April in which they got to eight games under .500 they rebounded nicely to come into todays last game of the season at 84-77 and on the outside looking into the playoff picture.  Its hard to rebound from a month where you almost go 10 games under and they almost did, if they had gone 6-5 instead of 3-8 on their recent road trip they would be in the mix.  Management felt this team was out of it in late July and traded away three key cogs in Beltran, Miller and Chapman and then A-rod was released and the kids came up like Judge, Sanchez and Austin.  The youth movement signaled a rebirth of sorts as the team started winning and went 13-9 in August and got as high as 12 over .500. However 12 was the high water mark for this team as they could never get over the hump.  You can't win a championship in April but you can loose it.  After today Teixeira will retire and the organization will know more about some of these kids heading into spring training.        

State of the NFL

The 2016 NFL season kicked off 3 weeks ago and its as exciting as ever.  We've had a bunch of good games so far.  We have football in LA and rookie quarterbacks, two starting in the NFC east Carson Wentz with the Eagles and Dak Prescott with the Cowboys.  As for the Giants and new coach Ben McAdoo they have spent a lot of money to improve. Victor Cruz is back after not playing in two years, and had a big catch in week 1.  Jason Pierre-Paul has also had more surgery and is 100% back from his fireworks accident.  The Secondary has been improved, I like to defense and Eli has some nice weapons to throw to from Cruze to Beckham to Shepard (rookie) to Vereen and the rest.  With two teams in the NFC East playing rookie QB's and the Redskins still playing cousins if the Giants can stay healthy I think their the class of the division.  The Cowboys always seem to choke but are good on paper, the Eagles will go as far as their rookie QB takes them and the Redskins are the Redskins to they have that big time QB.  Eli has to stay healthy and remarkably he has he has not missed a game in years.  New York Giants- 9-7, New York Jets 8-8        

State of Boxing

Boxing is a niche sport and I guess it always has.  From Fraiser to Ali to Mayweather, Alaverez and GGG, boxing is great when the right matchup gets put together.  Unfortunatunaly individual states and promoters run the industry.  While there is a World Boxing Organization individual states still have to grant fighters there boxing license's.  Due to the fact that there's not one over reaching boxing authority, it's up to individual promoters to get fights made.  Since the promoters who work for the fighters are making the fights, their not always going to make the best matchup's.  Fighters often take easy fights for the money, I'll give you the fact that sometimes it's hard to draw up the contract with the other guys so they may take an easier fight in the interim, for example Mayweather v Pacquaio. Alaverez is supposed to fight triple G in what should be a epic bout but either their afraid of each other or can't work out the contract details.  Their is not one dominant fighter like Ali but their are a bunch of maybe less famous guys and we need them to fight each other.  Without the best fighters fighting each other boxing is going to die, oh and they have to be healthy as well.  The Sport of boxing has lost some fans to the MMA but we want to get them back with some good fights.              

Expanded MLB Roster (40 man rosters)

Even year in the month of September, baseball active rosters can expand from the normal 25 men to 40.  In theory this is a good idea but not in the final month of the season.  Right in time for most teams most important games, teams are brining up kids, they have ten bullpen pitchers and specialists off the bench, not to mention the games take longer to play.  Many people me included don't think you should be able to play all 40 men on a given night, have sort of a taxi squad where the manager would have to designate 25 of the 40 players who are going to be eligible that night.  Teams need more help in April, the first month of the season than September the last month where teams are making playoff runs.      

Baby Bombers

The Yankees sold some major league talent at the deadline for the first time in a long time.  They were kind of hovering around the .500 mark before and still are but now they're exciting.  The playoffs are still in all likelihood a pipe dream, at 4 games out but this team is building on the fly for next year and after.  Aaron Judge and Tyler Austin went for back to back homers in their first big league at bats last Saturday, and Gary Sanchez already has six home runs.  These are exciting times in Yankee land and with September call ups around the corner there are more prospects coming with the likes of Clint Frazier, Justus Sheffield and Jorge Mateo amongst others. These guys are still giving us fans a reason to watch this season, we want too know what the kids are gonna do.
Hal Steinbrenner decided to pull the trigger on selling at the deadline and we are now seeing the feature Yankees.  George Steinbrenner would probably not have been as fast to pull the trigger because they were only five games out of the playoffs when they decided to sell.  With George Hals father they would always wait till the last minute for a trade believing they were still it.  George was all about winning and so is Hal but he is a bit more reasonable.  One could argue that George never rebuilt he was suspended for 15 months before the team won in '77 and '78 for pleading guilty to making illegal contributions to nixon's re-election campaign and he was also suspended on a lesser scale for two years in '90 for paying a gambler to dig up dirt on (his new high priced player) Dave Winfield, before their championship wins in '96, '98-'00.  Bob Watson and Gene "stick" Michael built most of that team in the 90's, they could have won in '94 when they had the best record at the strike and they lost to Seattle in '95.     

End of A-Rod

The often talked about, Alex Rodriguez will play his las game in pinstripes tonight.  From Seattle to Texas to New York Alex has come a long way.  He took Steroids, lied about it then interfered with a steroid investigation (could have taken them again) and was suspended 162 games.  Through all of his bad decisions off the field he was a three time MVP with two gold gloves and the Yankees do not win that '09 World Series without him.  After tonights game in the Bronx the Yankees will release Alex who is hitting just .199 with 9 home runs and 30 RBI's in 64 games this (before tonight) season.  Alex will finish his career 4 home runs from 700, if someone wants to sign him they can he is free after tonight.  The Yankees will still pay Alex the 27 million he owed through next year, any team that picks him up would only have to pay him the MLB minimum. Alex is a great baseball mind and will help evaluate the next crop of Yankees.  It seems as though there are two sides to releasing him the Yankees who are not playing him to give to new kids a chance to play who know its time to move on and the fans who want to see him.  I guess that why they announced they would release him last Sunday after tonights game, a little weird I though that when you release a player it was immediate but A-Rod got another four games.  Alex was a great player in his prime who has broken down through the use of performance enhancers and other bad decisions.  I was a A-Rod fan when he came over from Texas but I've gotten tired of him over the years with all the PED talk.  You are free to think what you want about the guy but he did help develop some good ball payers, he watches a lot of baseball and studies the game and the Yankees do not win their 27th Championship without him.            

Sellers

The New York Yankees were sellers at the trade deadline for the first time in almost 30 years.  Some guys didn't live up to the back of their baseball cards, so things had to happen because in all likelihood this team was not going to make a postseason run.  Over the weekend the Yankees traded away the likes of Aroldis Chapman followed by Andrew Miller and continued yesterday with Carlos Beltran and Ivan Nova.  Trading their best offensive player in Beltran might be an indication that the braintrust of this team, has all but lost hope of a major run this season.  This team had stared to play better since the all star break but that all came crashing down after the weekend series sweep at Tampa Bay.  Now that Major League caliber players are being shipped out for youngsters, it's the start of a rebuild.  The Steinbrenner sons are showing that they are not like their father.  With Judge, Sanchez, Mateo, Torres, Sheffield and Frazier amongst many more prospects now in the Yankee system they're setting themselves up for feature runs.  Now a couple sentences on Alex Rodriguez who is now a part time DH and taking up a roster spot that could be used for one of the kids.  A-Rod is down in every offensive category this year and is dragging this team down with him.  He used to be the type of player who could put the team on his back and carry them for a couple months but no more.  The Yankees should just cut their losses and sooner rather then later, I think do it after the game tonight and grant him his release.          

MLB trade deadline

Yesterdays non-wavier MLB trade deadline came and went with 18 trades being made between major league baseball clubs.  Some teams got stronger to try and go win a championship while others sold-out for next year.  The Chicago Cubs got some more pieces for the bullpen in Aroldis Chapman, Joe Smith and Mike Montgomery this might be the Cubs year.  They're good and Joe Madden is having fun tinkering over on the North side. The Texas Rangers got some more bats and now have a nasty lineup with the additions of Lucroy and Beltran, but I still don't know if Texas has the pitching and as we all know pitching wins championships.  The Cleveland Indians made a couple of moves to solidify themselves but on an off night I would worry about Cleveland.  We all know the San Francisco Giants like winning in even numbered years and they solidified things with the acquisition of Matt More from the Tampa Bay Rays.  A couple of other teams made some moves like the New York Mets acquiring Jay Bruce with will help their offense, I still don't know if they're a playoff team.  For the First time in almost 30 years the New York Yankees were sellers at the deadline, turning about four major league players into about nine prospects.

MLB Power Rankings:
1.  Chicago Cubs
2. Texas Rangers
3. San Fransisco Giants
4. Cleveland Indians
5. St. Louis Cardinals            

Tiger or Phil

Would you rather have the career of Phil Mickelson, the nice guy with the heartbreak at the majors or Tiger Woods, with the major championships and the martial problems.  Phil has five major championships, (3 Masters, 1 PGA and 1 Open) he probably should have won another PGA Championship and at last one if not two U.S Opens.  Yes, Phil has melted down when it counted it a bunch of tournaments but he's a very humble guy.  Phil is often the best looser ever but he gives you the interview you want, he'll own up to his mistakes and at the end be a great man and a great family man.  Tiger Woods on the other hand has 14 Major Championships (four away from Jack Nickalus record) and is a 10 time leading money winner on the tour.  Tiger has had trouble being consistent ever since his father died and has since gotten into car accidents, divorced his wife and has endured three back surgeries.  Tiger who hasn't won a major since the U.S Open in 2008 may not catch Jack now.  Tiger will not be your best friend, he will not spend lots of time with fans and doesn't grant many interviews but he can live in luxury.  Phil is the opposite he doesn't have the money or the wins but is a much more personable guy.              

Is Rio Safe?

The summer olympics come to Rio in just two short weeks and we don't know if their safe.  Their have been reports recently of bodies, in some state of decay I imagine washing up on shore of some of the beaches so I guess they'll play Beach Volleyball and any other sand sports on a beach that may or may not be full of dead bodies.  Just today the police in Rio arrested some people who may or may not have been terrorists. The water is polluted, you might be able to filter it to drink it but the lakes and rivers for the boating events is probably going to be brown,  the athletes who would normally be wearing water clothes are now wearing three layers to stay safe from the water.  Zika is a big problem, it's a disease from a mosquito that apparently causes birth defects.  Some of the Venues might not be safe, if they're even finished building them.  These are just some of the reasons, top athletes are pulling out of the olympics.  Mainly because of Zika golf (top 3) and tennis players among other sports have said they won't go. The olympic village it self will be one of the safest places in the country during the games, but the olympic village is only a made up part of Rio.  If you're going to go and risk your life, you might have to think twice.            

Baseballs second half

With the second half of the baseball season about to get under way tonight, its time for teams to determine if their in it or not.  With the second Wild Card teams like the Yankees who are .500 and  71/2 back in the division still have a chance.  This next month is when teams are going to decide if their buyers or sellers at the August 31st, trade deadline.  A lot of teams are right on the cusp and the next couple weeks will be telling as to wether they buy or sell, for example we'll know a lot about what the Yankees are capable of in the next ten games with 3 against Boston, 4 against Baltimore and 3 against San Fransisco.  For example if the Yankees faultier in their next ten, teams will lining up to acquire Chapman, Miller, Beltran and McCann.  Some teams that would be lining up to make a trade would be the Chicago Cubs who stated out strong and have faltered a bit, they could use bullpen help, the San Fransisco Giants like winning in even years, the Houston Astros are coming on and could use a bat and the Washington Nationals are right there and could use some bullpen pieces not to mention the Cleveland Indians.

MLB Power rankings:
1. San Fransisco Giants (they finished the first half strong and the Cubs didn't)
2. Chicago Cubs
3. Cleveland Indians (loaded for another potential Cleveland championship)
4. Washington Nationals
5. Detroit Tigers      

Midsummer classic

Every year at the approximately the half way point of the baseball season the games best players gather for an All-Star Game.  The MLB All-Star game has been around since at least the 1920's making it the oldest and in mine and many other people's opinion the best of the four major sports.  Baseballs All-Star game while being an exhibition is generational, you can go back and look at when your grandparents saw Mickey Mantle play.  The Home Run Derby that goes with the game has gotten life pumped back into it with the timing of the rounds.  The  MLB got it right with there two days of fun.  This game should not count thought, giving the winner home field advantage in the World Series should not happen.  For the last thirteen years the managers of this game have been torn between trying to win and getting their league home field in the World Series or playing everybody.  The problem is they can't think of a better way to award home field, it used to alternate years.  This should be an exhibition where everyone on thee roster gets to play, a celebration of the first half of the season.            

Yankee Struggles

We had high hopes for the New York Yankees coming into this season.  At least I did, I thought they could surprise and well they still can but the seasons half over, and in yogi's words it's gotten late early.  The Yankees go into tonights game at 40-42 (2 under .500) 7 games behind Baltimore in the AL East and 4.5 back of Houston for the second Wild Card.  A good run and the Yankees would be right back in it, even though they are under .500 they still in both races with a lot of divisional play left in the second half.  The Yankee problems have been a struggling offense and inconstant pitching.  Nathan Evoldi was recently demoted to the bullpen, okay we'll see what happens there.  The glaring the problem is the struggling offense, it seems as though most nights the offense struggles to score more than two and five is an outburst.  Carlos Beltran has been the best offensive performer but your relying on a forty year old.  A-Rod who is clearly breaking down has trouble catching up with a fastball and has trouble getting his bat around on anything that moves, don't get me wrong he'll still run into one every now and then but the days of him carry the team are over.  I like Refsnyder a lot but he's still kind of raw but he'll be a good one.  As we come up on the trade deadline are they buyers or sellers, I say you buy don't do anything drastic to mortgage your feature, but trade maybe one of the big three in the bullpen and maybe a Beltran or a McCann if anyone wants them.  I believe the rotation will be okay, the middle relief needs some help you have to be able to trust them with a close game, it also looks like this team needs another bat weather thats through a trade or just bring up an Aaron Judge.  Despite struggles this team is not far out. a couple runs and there right back in it, need to run off a couple 8 of 10 streaks.                          

Super Bowl 50

The matchup for Super Bowl 50 is set.  In a back and fourth slowdown between Brady and Manning the Denver defense outlasted Brady for the AFC Championship.  In the other championship the Arizona Cardinals could never get going and were beaten by the Carolina Panthers in a blowout.
On Sunday in Santa Clara the Denver Broncos will meet the Carolina Panthers.  At first this seemed like a bad matchup but as I did more research, I thought this is going to be fun.  The Denver Broncos come in with an old and slightly injured Payton Manning.  Payton is not the strong armed flame thrower who can heave it down the field, he now make the simple throws and manages the game.  Wade Phillips is back in this game as a defensive coordinator and thats a good D that stopped Brady and the Patriots in the last game.  Wade Phillips will develop a good game plan for a dynamic Panther team, they have to contain Cam Newton and protect down field where the Panthers are vulnerable.  The Broncos will have to not blitz much to account for the run, they will also need to play a bunch of zone to accommodate for Newton and other broken routs.  Carolina have some unheralded stars who might have big games like Jared Allen and luke Kuchley. In this game where Carolinas running game is going to their biggest threat whether it be Cam or a running back, it will be their running game vs. the Denver D.  Will wade Phillips dial up the right game plan to help Payton win another Super Bowl and possibly ride off into the sunset or will Cam Newton get his first.  I am looking forward to this game.  I am going to pick the Denver Broncos in this one over the Carolina Panthers, It won't be like two years ago.  Denver Broncos 20 - Carolina Panthers 16                

NFL Conference Championships

Last week we had some good football games, from some amazing throws by Aaron Rodgers to the Chiefs bad clock management and a close but not quite second half comeback by the Seahawks.  Our conference championship match ups are now set, in the AFC we have the seventh meeting between Manning and Brady and over in the NFC we have a very interesting Carolina and Arizona matchup.
First up we have Brady, Belichick and the New England Patriots in the mile high city against Payton Manning and the Denver Broncos.  This maybe the last time we see the matchup as Payton is on his way out, so relish this chess match.  Payton did not look great last week especially throwing the ball down the field and if Pittsburgh was healthy I don't think they would be here, that New England defense is for real and Brady has plenty of weapons at his disposal.  I don't think this game will be that close, Vegas is giving New England three pints, I think they more than cover.  I'll Pick the New England Patriots for the win and go the Super Bowl 50.  New England Patriots 31- Denver Broncos 20
Tomorrow night in what should be a very interesting match up we have the Arizona Cardinals down in Carolina to face the Panthers.  The Panthers have been putting up strong first half's and then letting teams back into the game in the second all season.  Cam Newton is a little immature in my eyes with running around the field like superman and last week going into the stands to crumple up a Seahawks 12th Man flag.  Carson Palmer is a good quaterback and if he uses all of his weapons like last weeks MVP Larry Fitzgerald, the Cardinals should win.  I'll take the Arizona Cardinals to beat the Carolina Panthers and move onto Super Bowl 50.  Arizona Cardinals 27 - Carolina Panthers 21             

NFL Divisional Weekend

Last weekend all four road teams won their games, that may not be the case this weekend.

On Saturday the Kansas City Chiefs travel to Foxboro to face off against the New England Patriots.  Rob Gronkowski the Patriots dynamic tight end is battling all types of injuries, from back to knee.  The Kansas City Chiefs are deep and have a good defense.  Although it wouldn't surprise me if Tom Brady, Bill Belichick find a way to win, I am going to  pick the Kansas City Chiefs.  Chiefs 21 -   Patriots 17          
Tonight the Green Bay Packers are in Arizona to face the Cardinals.  This is the same pace the Packers travel to and lost by double digits earlier in the season, the Packers are a different playoff team but I think the Cardinals are complete.  I am going to pick the Arizona Cardinals in this one.  Arizona Cardinals 20 - Green Bay Packers 10      
Tomorrow afternoon the Seattle Seahawks will travel to Carolina to face the Panthers. The Panthers were nearly undefeated in the regular season but they did show that they can be beaten, The Seahawks have shown to be a great playoff team.  Seahawks 27 - Panthers 24   
The Pittsburgh Steelers will travel to Denver to play the Broncos.  Payton Manning is starting for the first time in a couple weeks but the Steelers are all banged up, missing two key guys and have a quarterback playing through a separated shoulder.  I'll pick the Denver Broncos in this one.  Broncos 14 - Steelers 10 

NFL Wild Card Weekend

I've been a little lazy lately but I want to start blogging again, I am trying.  Tomorrow is the start of the NFL Playoffs. So after you go out and buy your Powerball ticket in the afternoon(almost $800 million), you can sit down and watch some NFL football.    

First up at 4:30 we have the Kansas City Chiefs (-3) in Houston to play the Texans.  Kansas City has been a hot team of late after not getting of to a good start.  Although Houston is home I'll take to Chiefs (-3) on the road. KC 30-21
Tomorrow night we have a good one when the Pittsburgh Steelers (-3)travel to Cincinnati for a match up with the Bengals.  The Steelers are hot and the Cincinnati Bengals haven't won a playoff game in 20+ years.  That being said I smell an upset here, I think AJ McCaron is going to show us something in this one with Andy Dalton out.  I am going to take the Cincinnati Bengals (+3) at home.  Bengals 21-17       
On to Sunday's games, first up we have the Seattle Seahawks (-5) in Minnesota to play the Vikings where it going to be about zero degrees. Seattle is hot and although Minnesota is how I don't see it.  I'll take Seattle (-5).  Seattle Seahawks 30-17 
In a game where the line keeps moving the Washington Redskins are only favored by one (-1) at home against the Green Bay Packers. Washington has won 6 of 8 but its playoff time.  I'll go with the Packers (+1) on the road.  Green Bay Packers 23-20     

Tom Coughlin

Tom Coughlin resigned and head football coach of the New York football Giants today.  During Tom's Giant tenure it was a lot of Super Bowl or bust seasons, there deep playoff runs all ended with Super Bowl Championships.  Tom won two Super Bowls while in New York.  Tom and the Giants did not make the playoffs the last four years. You do get a bit of a pass for winning the Super Bowl, but that grace period does not last for ever.  I was like alright this isn't all Toms fault unit this year, and it still isn't.  This year it seemed Tom was starting to loose the team, but the loosing wasn't all his fault, their wasn't a lot of talent on the team.
This being said it was time for a change and Steve Tisch and John Marra did the right thing by not firing him immediately.  Tom was able to save face and resign on his own terms.