NA Professional Sports
NFL, NBA, WNBA, NHL, MLB, MLS
"When Central Florida linebacker Shaquem Griffin came to the scouting combine, he knew he'd face skepticism from NFL teams. After all, Griffin's combine invite had come late...despite an outstanding Senior Bowl week, his status as the 2016 American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year and an eye-opening 12-tackle, 1.5-sack game against Auburn in the Peach Bowl....Griffin knew he'd have doubters for one reason: He did everything he did in college without a left hand...Griffin wasted no time [dispelling the doubts], amazing everybody—including his fellow linebackers—Saturday by completing 20 reps in the 225-pound bench press with a prosthetic device clamped to the weight bar. If that wasn't enough, Griffin ran a 4.38-second 40-yard dash Sunday...
"But the truth of Shaquem Griffin is this: You can throw away the feel-good story, just as you can junk the narrative that he's somehow less of a player than others at his position because he has one hand. The real story is of a remarkable young man who has transcended what could be a massive limitation for others and shown he's every bit the equal of anyone in his draft class." - Photo Credit: Doug Farrar, Bleacher Report
NFL Draft
POSTED 5/1/2018
The Cleveland Browns made Oklahoma QB Baker Mayfield the #1 pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, and the New York Giants used the 2nd pick to get running back Saquon Barkley - considered by many to be the best player in the draft. In what was the "feel good" story of the draft, Shaquem Griffin, the one-handed linebacker from Central Florida who dominated the combine, was selected in the 5th round by the Seattle Seahawks, where he will join his twin brother, Shaquile, to play for Pete Carroll. What a great story! CBS has a great short video on how he is inspiring young athletes with disabilities.
Las Vegas Golden Knights
Though they eventually lost in the Stanley Cup Finals to the Washington Capitals, the Vegas team was the most successful expansion team in North American sports history.
Golden Standard : "How the Vegas Golden Knight bet on themselves to become the most successful expansion team in North American sports history" (Sporting News)
Only five other teams (four NHL, one NBA) qualified for the playoffs during their inaugural seasons. None finished the regular season above .500, let alone even sniffed a championship. And the four NHL teams to accomplish the feat joined the league together in 1967, when it doubled from the “Original Six” to 12 and placed all six expansion franchises into the same division....
But now, other professional leagues have a possible new gold standard. The Golden Knights took advantage of a favorable player selection formula and unique motivations and built a bonafide championship contender from scratch, fully recalibrating expectations for crafting future expansion franchises.
This is the story of how they did it.
LeBron to Trump: Neither Cavs nor Warriors will visit White House
POSTED 6/5/2018
"Donald Trump made the unprecedented decision to cancel the Philadelphia Eagles’ scheduled visit to the White House this week, and LeBron James says fans should not expect the winner of the NBA Finals to make the trip to the nation’s capital, either. When asked on Tuesday about the Eagles’ trip being cancelled, LeBron felt comfortable making some pretty powerful remarks on behalf of both his Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors..."
"The brightest dreams of the Bay Area and the darkest nightmares of everywhere else – especially here – have come to fruition. The Warriors, already great then supercharged by Kevin Durant, blazed through the field to win their second straight championship and third in four years. The 2018 title came with a sweep of the Cavaliers, capped by a 108-85 win in Game 4 Friday. It was the first sweep in the NBA Finals since 2007." (NBC Sports)
The run to the playoffs
SEPTEMBER 22, 2018
Heading into the final stretch, the National League race is tightening with the Dodgers, Cardinals, and Rockies battling in the West for the final playoff spots. In the American League, the Yankees and the A's are going down to the wire for the first wildcard spot - which brings with it home field advantage for the one-game playoff to determine who gets to face the Red Sox.
Sports Illustrated (left) looks at other stories as baseball enters the final week of the regular season.
NL Divisional Races "Completely Unhinged"
POSTED SEPTEMBER 26, 2015
"We only know one NL team that’s going to be in the playoffs – the NL East champion Braves, who clinched their division crown on Saturday.
"That comes in stark contrast to the American League, where we know all five playoff teams, and who will be playing who in the ALDS – all we don’t know is where the Wild Card game will be played, in either Oakland or The Bronx...
"There are five NL teams fighting for four spots. But each of those five teams could miss the playoffs or clinch the best record in the National League with just four or five games left (depending on the team) in the season."
The Comeback breaks it down for us [link left].
It's still not over
POSTED SEP 30, 2018
It came down to the last day of the season in the National League and the playoff seedings there are still not decided. The Dodgers and Rockies finished with identical 91-71 records in the West and will play Monday in a tie-breaker to decide who will be the division champion. In the Central, the Cubs and Brewers finished with identical 95-67 records and they too will play a tiebreaker Monday.
In the American League, things were settled last week. Boston took the East and had the best record in the American League. Astros took the West and Cleveland took the Central. Oakland visits New York Wednesday for the AL wildcard game. The complete playoff schedule is here.
MLB Post-Season: Rockies and Yankees secure wild card victories
POSTED OCT 4, 2018
The Colorado Rockies flew to their third city in three days and defeated the Chicago Cubs 2-1 in a 13 inning thriller.
Less than 96 hours after having the best record in the National League, the Chicago Cubs have been eliminated from the postseason. Tuesday night the Colorado Rockies beat the Cubs in 13 innings in the winner-take-all NL Wild Card Game at Wrigley Field (COL 2, CHC 1). Both clubs lost a Game 163 tiebreaker Monday to end up in the Wild Card Game. This was only the third Wild Card Game to go to extra innings and the longest postseason game in Wrigley Field history. (CBS, Oct 3)
Yankees defeat A's 7-2 on Judge, Stanton homers, Voit two-run triple, Severino shutout pitching
Rookie manager Aaron Boone and the Yankees got past arguably the most dangerous hurdle of the postseason, the one-and-done wild-card game, Wednesday night at Yankee stadium, beating the Oakland Athletics 7-2 and propelling themselves into a best-of-five showdown against the Boston Red Sox in the ALDS beginning Friday night at Fenway Park. “That wild card game is no joke,’’ said Aaron Judge. “It takes years off you.’’ (NY Daily News, Oct 4)
MLB Postseason - Oct 29
Red Sox win World Series over Dodgers, 4 games to 1
Above: Link to ESPN Coverage of the postseason
"A baseball disappearing into the shadows. Mays turning and running how many feet? A hundred? Two hundred? The center-field fence, 461 feet from home plate, getting closer and closer. Mays' cap spinning off his head. And then ...
The Catch.
The Pirouette.
The Throw..."
SI 2018 Sportsperson of the Year
POSTED DEC 10, 2018
Sports Illustrated announced its 2018 Sportsperson of the Year [link right]. For the fourth time in the award's 65 year history it went to a team - the Golden State Warriors.
"There have been superteams that have forced us to reimagine how the game is played, but none perhaps in a generation, maybe two, are so beautifully choreographed as the Warriors. At the Dubs’ most golden, their movements and pieces seamlessly blur into each other to the point where it impossible to distinguish the magic of one player from another, even magic so singular as that of Curry or KD."
NFL Conference championships this Sunday
POSTED JANUARY 17, 2019
The #1 and #2 seeds meet in the NFL conference championships Sunday, having dispatched their playoff opponents over the past two weeks. I can't remember when this last happened but it's been awhile.
NFL.com has highlights of the divisional round games: Chiefs vs. Colts; Patriots vs. Chargers; Rams vs. Cowboys; and Saints vs. Eagles. The Saints-Eagles game was a classic - Nick Foles, almost did it again. With the Saints leading 20-14, "St. Nick" was driving to the end zone with 2 minutes left. But his 2nd and 10 pass went right through the hands of his receiver near the New Orleans 20 and was intercepted by the Saints.
This weekend's games feature the top four scoring offenses in the NFL and a matchup of young vs. old quarterbacks - Mahomes vs. Brady and Goff vs. Brees.
CBS Sports [link left] points out that young QB's (Mahomes is 23 and Goff is 24) have not typically fared well in Superbowl matchups. But they add: "None of this is necessarily indicative of what will happen this weekend, but it is worth noting that this group of players almost universally struggled in championship games...And of course, not a one of those guys had a regular season like Mahomes. Most of them didn't even have regular seasons like Goff. And they didn't have Andy Reid and Sean McVay calling their plays during one of the best offensive environments in NFLhistory. How these guys will fare this weekend is just as much up to their coaches and teammates as it is up to them.
NFL Conference Championships
POSTED JANUARY 20, 2019
For the first time in NFL playoff history, both conference championships went to overtime. The Rams will meet the Patriots in the Superbowl on Sunday February 3.
NFC: Blown call costs Saints a trip to the Superbowl
An exciting game between two excellent teams ended with the wrong team going to the Superbowl. An incredibly awful "no call" on an obvious pass interference with less than 2 minutes left in the game cost the New Orleans Saints a trip to the Superbowl. The Los Angeles Rams were the beneficiaries of the blown call, winning in overtime 26-23.
AFC: Pats going to their 11th Superbowl
The fourth quarter had 4 lead changes and ended with the score tied at 31. The Pats won the overtime coin toss and Tom Brady drove them 75 yards to victory.
The incredible fourth quarter starts at ~ 4 minute mark.
Mariano Rivera becomes first player elected unanimously to Hall of Fame
POSTED JANUARY 22, 2019
New York Yankees' closer Mariano Rivera became the first player ever elected unanimously to Major League Baseball's Hall of Fame. The class of 2019 also included "two-time Cy Young Award winner Roy Halladay, the late ace of the Toronto Blue Jays and Philadelphia Phillies; longtime Seattle Mariners designated hitter Edgar Martinez, one of the most feared hitters of the 1990s; and former Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees ace Mike Mussina." (Washington Post, Jan 22)
The New York Daily News celebrated with five articles on the best relief pitcher ever to play the game. (links below left)
"Rivera’s signature pitch was that deceptive cutter he could place anywhere in the zone with laser-like precision... He stopped batters from making hard contact by almost never leaving a pitch over the center of the plate where a hitter could do damage, instead attacking the sides and corners of the strike zone. As a result, on the rare occasions when a hitter did manage to put a Rivera pitch in play, they could expect to get a hit only about 26 percent of the time.
All of the command in the world means nothing to a closer if he performs inconsistently, and Rivera didn’t disappoint there either. His On Base Plus Slugging (OPS) allowed was steady no matter the situation. Whether at home or on the road (.562 vs. .547), in May or July (.550 vs. .549), coming in after pitching the night before or getting a couple days rest (.547 vs. .537), Rivera performed. Even in situations that make many a reliever crumble, like working with men on base, Rivera kept his cool (.561).
The only time Rivera deviated from his normal performance was in the playoffs, where the level of competition and degree of difficulty ratchet up. He got even better." - Rob Arthur
"In his own words, Rivera 'wasn’t even a pitcher' when he first grabbed the Yankees’ attention in 1990.
"As lore has it, all it took was nine pitches for the late Yankees scout Herb Raybourn to sign Rivera, formerly a shortstop, to a $2,000 contract nearly 30 years ago
"Rivera, 49, went from starter to reliever and eventually closer following the 1996 season and finished his masterful 18-year stint in the majors with five rings, a World Series MVP (‘99) and 652 saves, an MLB record likely never to be sniffed.
“Mariano was a fierce competitor and a humble champion, which has made him such a beloved baseball legend,” Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner in a statement. “Success and stardom never changed Mariano, and his respect for the game, the Pinstripes and for his teammates and opponents alike makes this day such a celebration of his legacy.” - Daily New Sports Staff
"...That would be the night he took the baseball needing just three outs to lock down a 2-1 Yankees victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks, and with it, the 2001 World Series. Six batters, 14 pitches, a throwing error, a hit batter and two runs later, the inning had become a nightmare...I finished up the column I was working on – which had changed radically in the virtual blink of an eye – and hurried down to the loser’s clubhouse, hoping someone would still be around.
"Of course, someone was. Mariano Rivera, having already answered every question patiently, honestly, and without bitterness or rancor, was getting dressed and preparing to walk out into the night. But not before he stopped and answered every last one of my questions, which undoubtedly were no different than the dozens he had already been asked.
"I can’t remember a single thing he said to me that night but I never forgot the grace and dignity with which he handled what was surely a devastating defeat for him.
"And in the ensuing 18 years, having stood before the lockers of many closers who have blown saves in much less important games, that moment stands out even more.
"If ever a moment embodied the definition of Hall of Famer, that would be the one for me." - Wallace Matthews
"To fully appreciate the phenomenon that was Mariano Rivera, you must first come to terms with one central, unbelievable fact: All of the records he accumulated in becoming the first relief pitcher elected on the first ballot to the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers Association – 652 career saves, 0.759 WHIP, 952 games finished, 0.70 postseason ERA, 11 World Series saves – were largely accomplished with just one pitch...
"Of course, it would be disingenuous to suggest there was nothing more to Rivera than just one pitch. Above all, there was his ice cool demeanor, an obliviousness to pressure, an uncommon humility and his spiritual devotion. He knew how good he was, but it was never about him. It was always about team and the glory of God...
"In talking about his dirt-poor childhood in Panama, where he learned to play baseball with a glove made of cardboard, he elaborated: “Let me tell you where it comes from. It comes from the Lord. I know where I came from. I know what I have and what I didn’t have. It was because God allowed it to happen. Because He blessed me. Simple as that.” - Bill Madden
"Five weeks after the newest Yankee Hall of Famer recorded the final out of his storied career – a popout to second by Tampa Bay shortstop Yunel Escobar – I rang the doorbell of his home in Westchester County. A man with 652 lifetime saves welcomed me. He was wearing a Yankee t-shirt, lounge pants and slippers. Mariano Rivera is one of those people who could look regal if he were wearing a Hefty bag. We shook hands and talked for a bit about the emotional whirlwind he’d been through, from the moment that, in a stroke of dramatic genius, Andy Pettitte and Derek Jeter came out to the mound to make a pitching change, and tell him that his night, and his career, were complete.
"Mariano Rivera smiled as he recalled that night, and talked about how he wasn’t sure if his tears would ever stop as he hugged his dear friends and teammates, long and hard, and the Stadium crowd stood and bathed him in adulation. And then Mariano Rivera and I got to work on his autobiography..." -Wayne Coffey (collaborated with Mariano Rivera on his bestselling memoir, The Closer)
MLB "Opening Day" is March 28
POSTED MARCH 26, 2019
It's the earliest "Traditional Opening Day"* ever - 30 teams take the field March 28.
ESPN's experts pick the Astros to take the American League and the Dodgers to take the National League. See their complete list of divisional and World Series winners here.
Two of the 2019 changes affect the pace of play: inning breaks will be reduced from 2:05 to 2:00 in local games and from 2:25 to 2:00 in national games, and mound visits will be reduced from six to five visits per game.
There will now be just one deadline for teams to make trades during the season- the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline will be the only deadline with no trades allowed after that date.
Three of the changes are All-Star Game related: fan voting, a $1M prize for winning the home run derby, and a tenth inning that will start with a runner on second base.
There will be further changes implemented in 2020, such as a three-batter minimum for pitchers, roster size expansion and changes to the minimum days spent on the injured list.
*The season's actual first games were in Japan with the Seattle Mariners facing the Oakland Athletics on March 20-21.
2018
Below is the complete list of last season's award winners.
NBA Playoffs: is Kawhi Leonard the best player in the NBA?
POSTED MAY 24, 2019
As the Golden State Warriors await the winners of the Bucks-Raptors series (Raptors up 3 games to 2), amid the drama of whether the injured Kevin Durant will play in another game as a Warrior, USA Today sports writer Jeff Zillgitt makes the case for Kawhi Leonard as the best player in the NBA. Leonard scored a game-high 35 points, contributed a career-high nine assists (all led to three-pointers) and had seven rebounds and two steals in Toronto’s 105-99 victory over Milwaukee in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals.
Is he the best player in the game today? Not best player in the playoffs. He’s definitely that. Is he the best player? Better than Kevin Durant? Better than LeBron James? Better than James Harden?
Better than Giannis Antetokounmpo? Better than Steph Curry? If the Raptors make it to the finals, we may have a chance to find out.
Golden State down 2 games to 1 and Kevin Durant will not be back until Game 5 (at least)
POSTED JUNE 6, 2019
Toronto defeated a depleted Golden State 123-109 to take a 2-1 lead in the NBA Finals. The injured Kevin Durant will not be back for Game 4 on Friday.
Stanley Cup goes to 7th Game
POSTED JUN 10, 2019
The Boston Bruins took the NHL finals to a seventh game with a dominating 5-1 win over the St. Louis Blues. The Bruins broke it open in the 3rd period scoring 4 goals. "In the biggest game of the season, with the Boston Bruins in danger of losing the Stanley Cup Final, [goalie Tuuka] Rask made 28 saves and turned in one of the best games of his NHL career. The Bruins go home as favorites to take Game 7 Wednesday night.
St. Louis Blues win their first Stanley Cup
POSTED JUN 13, 2019
It's been 52 years since the first NHL expansion from the so-called "Original Six" franchises The St. Louis Blues (whose name is derived from musician W.C. Handy’s classic composition “St. Louis Blues”) joined the NHL during the 1967–68 season as one of the six teams added to the league. Behind some excellent goal-tending by Jordan Binnington, the Blues finally overcame their championship drought with a 4-1 road victory over the Boston Bruins, one of the "Original Six".* It was a history-making worst-to-first championship. St. Louis started its climb out of the NHL basement in January and reeled off 11-straight wins after the all-star break — a period that coincided with the team’s rookie party in Miami.
*Besides the Bruins, the other members of the Original Six are the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Chicago Black Hawks, Detroit Red Wings and New York Rangers.
RELATED: After Blues’ triumph, Raptors could become latest team with title breakthrough this decade
Raptors take home their first NBA title with 114-110 win over Warriors
POSTED JUNE 15, 2019
The Toronto Raptors went on the road to Oakland and brought home their first NBA title, defeating the Golden State Warriors 114-110 in Game 6 of the NBA Finals. Kevin Lowry, who finished with 26 points and 10 assists, got the Raptors off to an 11-2 start, but the Warriors quickly closed the gap and were leading 88-86 going into the fourth period. A back-and-forth 4th period saw the Kevin-Durant-less Warriors down by 1 with the ball with 9 seconds left in the game.
Kawhi Leonard led all NBA players in minutes, points, rebounds, steals, free throws and field goals in the postseason. He’s now responsible for denying three-peats to LeBron’s Heat (his Spurs beat Miami in the 2014 Finals) and Steph’s Warriors. He was named Finals MVP each time.
ABOVE: Game 6 Highlights
Related: Rebuild the Warriors? Golden State Faces Tricky Calculus This Summer - "There was certainly no shame in Golden State losing in the manner it did to the Raptors. The problem is the Finals have left the Warriors broken, and their future is more complicated than ever before." (SI)
So, what's happened to baseball?
POSTED JULY 25, 2019
Baseball was my first love. As a six-year old, I'd memorize batting averages, won-lost records, and other stats gleaned from baseball cards. I was an ardent New York Giants fan and idolized Willie Mays. Watching "The Catch" on TV and seeing the Giants go on to win the 1954 World Series made me a Giants fan forever. (Well at least until they broke my heart by moving to San Francisco.) Summer days from morning to dusk were spent playing ball in the street or in a nearby lot. When our second grade teacher asked the class what we all wanted to be, I said without hesitation, "A baseball player."
Today, I am more nonchalant about the national pastime - getting interested as the playoffs approach, especially if a New York team is still in the running. As I'm writing this, the Yankees have a 10 game lead in the American League East and the Los Angeles (formerly Brooklyn!) Dodgers lead the National League West by 14.5 games.
The game has changed much in the intervening years. Oh, the rules are mostly the same, but the number of teams has almost doubled and MLB has spread from the Northeast and Midwest to Canada, the West Coast and the South. Free agency (a good thing!) has made it difficult for a fan to keep track of his or her team from year to year.
Baseball is played differently today.
Since 2002 when the sabermetric*-applying Oakland A's won 20 games in a row, general managers, managers and coaches have been making strategic and tactical decisions using these analytical tools. Among the more popular is Wins Above Replacement or WAR which was developed to sum up "a player's total contributions to his team". A player's WAR value is claimed to be the number of additional wins his team has achieved above the number of expected team wins if that player were substituted with a replacement-level player: a player who may be added to the team for minimal cost and effort. There are many, many more - including Adjusted ERA+, Base runs, Batting average on balls in play, Batting park factor. Catcher's ERA, Defensive Runs Saved, Extrapolated Runs, Game score, Isolated Power, Power–speed number, Range factor, Runs created, Runs produced, Secondary average, Speed Score, NERD, Out of zone plays made, Ultimate zone rating, Value over replacement player (similar to WAR), Weighted on-base average, Win probability added, Win Shares.
And the march of technology and analytics into baseball will alter the game further still. A Sports Illustrated article [link below right] gives an example:
"In the bullpen of a back field, pitching prospects Dustin May, 21, and Tony Gonsolin, 24, threw with a tripod-mounted high-speed camera behind them and a wedge-shaped radar tracking device on the ground in front of them. The Dodgers maintained four such technology-equipped mounds in this bullpen alone, and more at the minor league fields. Behind the mounds stood 13 operators, analysts and coaches. Four analysts held tablets to immediately show pitchers the velocity, vertical break, horizontal break, spin rate, spin axis and path of any pitch—on-the-spot sequencing of a pitch genome."
Probably the biggest change in baseball is at the pitcher's mound. With an AVERAGE fast ball speed that seems to have peaked at 93.2 mph (roughly 10 mph higher than the average mid 20th century fast ball!) for the last three seasons, pitchers are moving to more breaking pitches to gain an edge. "The breaking pitch boom is driven by the slider. From 2015 to '18 its usage rose by 47% At the same time, velocity on the [slider] has gone down...Pitchers are chasing spin rates more than pure velocity - and its working.**" (Sports Illustrated, March 25)
When was the last time you witnessed a complete game? In 1954, Robin Roberts of the Phillies pitched 29 complete games and two American League pitchers (Bob Lemon of the AL Champion Indians and Bob Porterfield of the 6th (of 8) place Washington Senators) each tossed 21. The 2018 American and National League leaders had 2. Starting pitchers are lucky to make it past the sixth inning with middle relievers and closers coming in to mop up.
Sports Illustrated enumerated a slew of record-setting trends in an article published in mid-May [link below left]. Among them:
Strikeouts, up for a 14th consecutive season, are at another all-time high.
Walks have reached their highest rate in 19 seasons.
Home runs are at a record level (2.6 per game). Four of the five seasons with the greatest rate of home runs have occurred in the past four years.
Those so-called Three True Outcomes (strikeouts, walks and homers) account for 36 percent of all plate appearances, up from 31 percent in 2015.
The rate at which hitters swing and miss is up for a seventh straight year, each year a record high.
But perhaps the one stat in the SI list that sums it up best is this: "Pitching is so good that the average game has more foul balls than balls actually put in play."
*Sabermetrics is the analysis of baseball statistics, primarily measurements of in-game activity. The term was coined by Bill James, who is one of its pioneers and its most prominent advocate
**A 14% increase in spin rate of the slider from 2015 to 2018 has managed to drop the batting average against the slider from .216 to .209.
The 2019 race for the baseball triple crown
POSTED AUGUST 8, 2019
In the last 50 years, baseball has had just one batting triple crown winner - the American or National League leader in home runs, runs batted in, and batting average. Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers accomplished that in 2012 with 44 HR, 139 RBI, and .330 BA. Before Cabrera, the last player to have a triple crown season was Carl Yastrzemski in 1967. It is a difficult feat - and 11 of the 13 eligible players who accomplished it are in MLB's Hall of Fame.
Rogers Hornsby and Ted Williams are the only MLB batters to have won the Triple Crown twice. Hornsby achieved this in 1922 and 1925, while Williams accomplished this in 1942 and 1947.
This year three players are in the running for a Triple Crown - two in the National League (Christian Yelich and Cody Bellinger) and one in the American League (Mike Trout). The regular season is about 2/3 complete with 50 or so games to go. Here is where the players stand as of tonight.
Christian Yelich
39 Home runs - #1 in National League
84 RBI's - #6 in National League... 9 behind leader
.336 BA - #2 in National League... .003 behind leader
Cody Bellinger
37 Home Runs - #2 in National League...2 behind leader
88 RBI's - #4 in National League... 5 behind leader
.321 BA #6 in National League .... .018 behind leader
Mike Trout
38 Home Runs - #1 in American League
89 RBI's - #1 in American League
.299 BA #10 in American League.... .036 behind leader
SI's "100 Figures Who Shaped the NFL’s First Century "
POSTED AUGUST 29, 2019
The first game of what would become the National Football League, a matchup between the Dayton Triangles and the Columbus Panhandles, kicked off at Dayton’s Triangle Park Oct. 3, 1920.
SI has done it again - this time with a list of the 100 most influential players, coaches, announcers, owners, and others who shaped the game in its first century. The journey will take you through the history of the NFL from Jim Thorpe ("baseball and football star and Olympic decathlon champ who played for six NFL teams") and Sammy Baugh ("biggest star of the ’30s and ’40s") to Odell Beckham, Jr. ("quintessential player of the social media age") and Colin Kaepernick ("whose protests of racial injustice shook the NFL and generated volatile national debate").
Stating that the list is a "mosaic" and "not definitive", SI introduces the article thus: "You could easily fill out a list of 100 influential people in football’s history just with great players, coaches, owners and commissioners. But the NFL’s story ranges beyond the field and the front office, and pro football has been shaped not just by the stars who rule the record book, the X’s and O’s experts who cooked up its strategies, or the power brokers who turned it into the most dominant sport in America. There are also unorthodox, sometimes unfamiliar personalities who injected color into the game, rogues who worked outside the rules and brought disrepute, and figures from related fields—media, medicine, money—who profoundly transformed pro football, and our experience of it."
Baseball's Pennant Stretch
POSTED SEP 4, 2019
With 25 games to play, the American and National League divisional races are moving into the home stretch. Three of the six division leaders have leads of 9 games or more. Only the National League Central appears to have the possibility of an exciting finish - with the Cubs, Brewers, and Cardinals vying for first place and a wild card berth. Sports Illustrated tells us of 5 story lines to follow as the regular season moves into its final month [link below left]. Links to team standings and individual batting and pitching leaders are below right. At this stage, contrary to my earlier hopes, it appears that MLB will not see a Triple Crown winner in either league.
Home runs, youthful stars, veteran banner seasons
POSTED SEP 25, 2019
As the MLB regular season winds down, Yardbarker presents this year's biggest stories. Among them:
"The 'juiced ball' has impacted the game in recent seasons but not close to what we saw in 2019... More than half of MLB teams could set their own franchise records this season, and the Twins became the first team in history with five 30 home run hitters."
"The game continues to change shape with more defensive shifts, bullpen moves and quick hooks for starting pitchers. More teams than ever are also employing "openers" and bullpen starts."
Great seasons for veterans Mike Trout, Christian Yelich, and Justin Verlander
"Young players continue to drive the game, and 2019 saw another terrific rookie class. Among the stars to emerge were Pete Alonso, Fernando Tatis Jr., Yordan Alvarez, Bo Bichette, Bryan Reynolds and Chris Paddack."
2019 MLB Post Season
Major League Baseball World Series
10/31/19 - The Washington Nationals won their first World Series, defeating the favored Astros 6-2 in Houston. It was a great win for a veteran Nationals team and closed out a unique World Series in which the visiting team won all the games at their opponent,s park. Nationals' pitcher Stephen Strasbourg took home the 2019 Willie Mays Award for World Series MVP.
Gridiron Relics
POSTED NOV 19, 2019
The National Football League is celebrating its 100th season. Sports Illustrated - with a nod to the British Museum and the Smithsonian—expanded and updated their NFL 95 project: "Why is the NFL’s game ball called 'The Duke'? Who devised the slingshot goalpost? Whatever happened to that Ford Bronco? From the Hupmobile to Shad Khan’s yacht, Tom Dempsey’s boot to Deion’s bandana, Don Hutson’s cape to Tom Brady’s draft card to the notorious corset that introduced the phrase 'wardrobe malfunction' into the American lexicon, here’s a century of the NFL as told through things." [link right]
SI's October 7 print edition presented an abbreviated list that gave one per decade [below]. See if you can identify each decade's relic. [click on picture for link to the answer and its story.]
1920's
1970's
1930's
1980's
1940's
1990's
1950's
2000's
1960's
2010's
The Kobe Bryant Tribute
POSTED FEBRUARY 25, 2020
There are times when the world of sports transcends itself. Yesterday was one of those times. The Kobe Bryant tribute at LA's Staples Center was the culmination of a month of tribute and outpouring of love following the tragic death of the former NBA star, his 13-year old daughter Gianna, and seven others in a helicopter crash on January 26.
Emotional tributes by Kobe's wife Vanessa and by former teammate Shaquille O'Neal among others highlighted the event. Vanessa remembered Kobe as a loving father and husband and remembered her "baby girl" Gianna as an "amazingly sweet and gentle soul" who was on the path to a great career in the WNBA. Shaq's tribute touched on their playing days together on the "three-peat" Lakers and said that Kobe's "legacy will be more than just being one of the greatest basketball players of all time....What filled Kobe’s heart with the most pride was his role as a loving husband to Vanessa, daddy to Gigi, Natalia, Bianka and baby Capri, and a loving son and brother. Kobe was a loyal friend and a true renaissance man."
Links below are to the LA Times coverage (left) and ESPN coverage (right).
First ever remote NFL draft
POSTED APRIL 27, 2020
The coronavirus forced the NFL to hold its first ever remote draft last week and it went well. As ESPN (link below right) put it: "The 2020 virtual NFL draft revealed a level of humanity, intimacy and spartan aesthetics that was not only pitch-perfect amid a national quarantine, but also suggestive of a new way of drafting." NFL.com has the complete results for the seven rounds.
The SEC led by LSU and Alabama dominated the first four rounds - where most of the players who end up starting in the NFL are picked - and the league raised more than $100 million to fight the virus.
Late in Saturday's final round, the league said it had gone over $100 million in total funds raised in all its efforts to battle the coronavirus. The telethon accompanying the draft raised more than $6.6 million for six organizations involved in coronavirus relief. NFL general managers also put together donations, initiated by the Eagles’ Howie Roseman, with each giving at least $8,000 for every selection in this draft. (Houston Chronicle - link below left)
Sportswriters registered their opinions on which NFL teams did the best and worst in the 2020 draft. Here are a few of them - links will lead you to the complete analyses.
Sporting News gave the Vikings, Ravens, Cowboys, and Bengals A+ ratings. At the other end of their ratings were the Packers (D), Raiders (C-), and Eagles (C).
Sports Illustrated's pick for "best 2020 draft" was the Cowboys (A+); "worst 2020 draft" went to the Saints (C-).
Pro Football Focus (PFF) gave an A+ rating to the Cowboys, Cardinals, Broncos, and Browns. At the bottom of PFF's list were the Packers (D), Chargers (C-) and Seahawks (C-)
Season Openers and Re-openers
POSTED MAY 28, 2020
As the US prepares to re-open in the coming weeks and months, team sporting events will again be scheduled and games will be played. Here is an update on the status of some North American professional sports leagues.
Major League Baseball
MLB didn't even get started before the virus hit. The boys of spring have been sidelined for two months. On May 26, the owners presented their economic plan for re-opening to the players. Top paid players would lose as much as 80% of their salaries; the least highly paid, 30%. The owners say the offer represents the economic realities of the season. The plan also calls for games to be played in home stadiums with no fans or partially filled parks that follow social distancing guidelines. Other parts of the MLB’s proposal would change team schedules to eliminate long-distance travel. The revenue-sharing plan is already receiving push back by the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA). Outlook is that the season will begin July 1, assuming the players and owners can agree.
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer has developed a plan to restart their season with a 26-team playoff and sent it to each club. The league would move all 26 teams to Orlando for a World Cup-style, round-robin tournament. The document details an extensive role for Covid-19 testing as well as social distancing guidelines at the central hotel. . The league is targeting July 3rd as the start date for the matches.
National Basketball Association
NBA commissioner Adam Silver and the Board of Governors are set to meet on Friday, May 29. While many believe an announcement on the plan for a return to basketball is coming, it is not expected to come on Friday. The league is looking at whether to play some regular season games before the playoffs. For the playoffs, it is considering a world cup style playoff format for the first round.
National Football League
Throughout the offseason, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has expressed optimism that the 2020 season might go ahead as scheduled. NFLPA executive director DreMaurice Smith is not as optimistic. During an interview with HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, Smith pointed out that the NFL will be closely monitoring how things play out for both MLB and the NBA. If baseball and basketball go off without a hitch this summer, then Smith will likely feel a lot better about the possibility of the NFL season happening.
National Hockey League
The NHL has declared its regular season over. The return to play plan announced May 26 will feature 24 teams returning to action in a modified playoff format, with no training camps to start before July 1. Two cities would be designated as central hubs for the postseason.
Playing in an empty stadium
POSTED JULY 2, 2020
North American professional teams are coming back to the field. Health and safety protocols are in place, and training sessions have started.
MLB players and owners finally agreed to a 60 game season to start on July 23 or 24.
The top 22 teams in the NBA complete a shortened regular season beginning July 30 then move to the playoffs, which will have a modified format.
The NHL is awaiting the player vote on the return-to-play proposal, expected Friday or Saturday. Edmonton and Toronto are tentatively set to become the NHL's two hub cities to host games when the league resumes its 2019-20 season.
Major League Soccer play resumes on July 8 with the Group Stage of the MLS Is Back Tournament. All teams will compete in a World Cup format tournament.
The NFL is still optimistic about playing a complete season, and training camps will open in mid to late July. The recent surge in coronavirus across the country, including some NFL players, has increased the possibility that, as with other sports, there will be no fans in the stadium. Dr. Anthony Fauci suggested an NBA-type "bubble" for this high contact sport.
What will team sports be like when played before empty stadiums? Obviously, there will be no such thing as the traditional home field advantage. The only benefit may be for players playing in their home towns and not having to travel to a different time zone. What else? The New York Times examined the German Bundesliga soccer games played without an audience (link below left). Among it's conclusions: while the overall quality of the game remained the same, "the absence of fans — the cavernous stadiums, the oppressive silence, the sense of unreality — changed, somehow, the way the players expressed that talent, the way they approached the game. It created a more cautious, more mechanical approach, focused on the end result more than the process."
Soccer, in many respects, is unique. Play is less scripted than in other sports, and rules enforcement is more subject to interpretation by the referee.
Still, the players feed off crowd excitement in any sport and this will affect the games. Viewers too will notice a change. Without fan noise, game broadcasts of all sports will certainly be different for TV viewers. Hall of Fame announcer John Madden has some thoughts about it. (link below right)
Will MLB finish its 60 game season?
POSTED AUGUST 5, 2020
Major League Baseball's 2020 season may be in trouble.
CBS Sports: The season is not yet two weeks old, but the schedule has been changed multiple times due to COVID-19 cases across the league. As many as 20 members of the Miami Marlins, including 18 players, have tested positive for the coronavirus since Opening Day. The Cardinals are the second team dealing with an outbreak, as 13 members of St. Louis' traveling party, including seven players, tested positive for the coronavirus in recent days. The latest round of Cardinals test results forced MLB to cancel the team's second consecutive series.
As of Monday, 21 different MLB games impacting a total of nine teams had been postponed due to COVID-19 cases. Three of the league's 15 games (20 percent) originally on the slate for Friday, Saturday and Sunday were not played as scheduled. Sunday's doubleheader between the Brewers and Cardinals was postponed, meaning one of the games in their originally scheduled three-game set was called off twice. (CBS Sports) The number of positive tests in the St. Louis Cardinals' COVID-19 outbreak grew to 13 on Monday, Major League Baseball announced. Seven positive tests were from players and six were from staff members. The league postponed St. Louis' four-game series against the Tigers that was scheduled to run Tuesday-Thursday after the latest round of testing. (CBS Sports)
Marlins chief executive officer Derek Jeter spoke publicly on Monday for the first time since the team had its season put on hold on July 26 due to the coronavirus spreading throughout the club. And while an internal review conducted by the Marlins revealed the club’s traveling party made missteps. (MLB website)
There are a number of baseball storylines to feel good about (link right) - including a healthy Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge in the Yankee lineup and Clayton Kershaw's dominant performance against the Diamondbacks. Good luck, MLB, we've missed you!
NBA FINALS
GAME 1 Wednesday September 30 - Los Angeles Lakers 116 - Miami Heat 98 (FULL GAME HIGHLIGHTS)
GAME 2 Friday October 2 - Los Angeles Lakers 124 - Miami Heat 114 (FULL GAME HIGHLIGHTS)
GAME 3 Sunday October 4 - Miami Heat 115 - Los Angeles Lakers 104 (FULL GAME HIGHLIGHTS)
GAME 4 Tuesday October 6 - Los Angeles Lakers 102 - Miami Heat 96 (FULL GAME HIGHLIGHTS)
GAME 5 Friday October 9 - Miami Heat 111 - Los Angeles Lakers 108 (FULL GAME HIGHLIGHTS)
GAME 6 Sunday October 11 - Los Angeles Lakers 106 - Miami Heat 93 (FULL GAME HIGHLIGHTS)
Lakers power past Heat for Game 2 victory
POSTED OCTOBER 3, 2020
The Lakers took a two games to zero lead in the NBA Championship Series with Anthiny Davis and LeBron James each having standout games.
Sporting News: "Through two games of the 2020 NBA Finals, the biggest source of drama has been determining which Lakers star is the top candidate for Finals MVP. Anthony Davis (32 points, 14 rebounds) and LeBron James (33 points, nine assists, nine rebounds) dominated an injury-plagued Heat team in Game 2, guiding the Lakers to a 124-114 win and a 2-0 series lead. Los Angeles picked apart Miami's defense Friday night, shooting over 50 percent from the field and scoring 56 points in the paint (44 from Davis and James)."
Los Angeles Times (Link right - also contains complete game highlights): "Once again, they did not relax against an overmatched opponent, holding off the gritty Heat 124-114...Once again, for the fourth time in four games, they won in their black Mamba uniforms, this time channeling the memory of designer Kobe Bryant by sinking 16 of a Finals-record 47 three-point attempts...And, once again, they were led by Anthony Davis and LeBron James but supported by everyone, Kyle Kuzma here, Dwight Howard there, Rajon Rondo everywhere."
Game 4: Lakers 102 - Heat 96
POSTED OCTOBER 7, 2020
The Heat's 11-point victory in Game 3 put the series back in reach for the underdogs. In Game 4 with 3 minutes left, Miami was down just 2 points. The Lakers went on a run and came away with a 102-96 victory to regain a two game lead.
Goran Dragic could not play but Bam Adebayo returned for the injury-plagued Miami Heat for Game 4 and finished with 15 points and 7 rebounds in 33 minutes of play.
CBS Sports (link right) : "Jimmy Butler and the Heat lit Los Angeles up in Game 3, and they were phenomenal on offense in their Game 2 loss, too. This was different. The Lakers' big adjustment was putting Davis on Butler, two days after his 40-point tour de force. Butler was often able to get lesser defenders switched onto him, but the matchup undeniably made things more difficult. James used it as an opportunity to once again say that Davis should have won the Defensive Player of the Year award."
Game 5: Heat 111 - Lakers 108
POSTED OCTOBER 10, 2020
Miami Herald (link right): "The Heat pulled within 3-2 in this best-of-7 Finals with Friday’s excruciatingly dramatic 111-108 had-to-have-it elimination-game victory in the Orlando bubble. Jimmy Butler’s 35-point triple-double led Miami, offsetting LeBron James’ 40-point show for L.A. Two heavyweights, to the final bell. Miami’s run at its fourth franchise crown has come out of nowhere, following a season in which the Heat hadn’t even made the playoffs. And, improbably, it lives on."
ESPN: "Jimmy Butler was slumped over a video board behind the baseline in the final seconds, exhausted, gasping for air. He gave it all. The Miami Heat needed nothing less...."That's Jimmy Butler," Heat center Bam Adebayo said. "That's our max player and that's who we go to in these moments."
"With good reason. He didn't let them down, not even on a night where LeBron James -- seeking a fourth title and the player with the best closeout-game record in NBA history -- was masterful."
LA Lakers are NBA champions for 17th time
POSTED OCTOBER 12, 2020
The Los Angeles Lakers took home their 17th NBA championship with a sixth game 106-93 victory over the Miami Heat. The Lakers are now tied with the Boston Celtics for the most championship titles. LeBron James was named the series MVP, becoming the first player to win the award with 3 different teams.
The Lakers dominated Miami defensively in the 6th game holding the heat to 44% shooting from the field. LeBron James led the way for the Lakers with 28 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists, winning his fourth Finals MVP award. CBS Sports' three takeaways from Game 6:
The Lakers "cooled the Heat" with a defensive masterpiece - "perhaps the single finest defensive performance by a team that has been shutting teams down for almost a full calendar year. "
The run that clinched the championship - "With less than two minutes left in the first quarter, Butler hit a corner 3 that cut the Lakers' lead to 23-19. Then Los Angeles went on a 41-15 run."
The Heat's Goran Dragic returned from the plantar fascia tear he suffered in the Finals opener, but he clearly wasn't 100 percent. The fact that he made it on the floor, though, is admirable. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra called Dragic "one of those special human beings" and said he was honored to have been able to coach him.
NBA Conference Finals
NBA conference finals are underway
POSTED SEPTEMBER 18, 2020
The Miami Heat lead the Boston Celtic two games to none after a second straight comeback from a double digit deficit. Goran Dragic scored 25 points, Bam Adebayo led a big third-quarter rally to finish with 21, and the Heat pulled off another comeback to beat the Celtics 106-101 and take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals. Full game highlights are in the link right. Game 3 will be Saturday night Sep 19.
In the West, the Denver Nuggets reached the finals after being down 3 games to 1 to the LA Clippers. On Tuesday the Nuggets beat the Clippers 104-89. Game 1 against the Lakers is tonight.
Lakers go 2 up against Nuggets; Celtics defeat Heat for 1st win in conference finals
POSTED SEPTEMBER 21, 2020
After his 3-point shot dropped to beat the buzzer, win the game and lift the Los Angeles Lakers to within two victories of their first NBA Finals appearance since 2010, Anthony Davis shouted out one word that said it all: "Kobe!" Davis' 3-pointer from the left wing won the game 105-103 as time expired, put L.A. up 2-0 over the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference finals. (ESPN sidebar) Full game highlights can be found here.
The East title series got a whole lot closer. Jaylen Brown scored 26 points, Jayson Tatum added 25 and the Celtics got right back into the East finals with a 117-106 victory over the Miami Heat in Game 3 on Saturday night. Kemba Walker added 21 to help Boston pull to 2-1 in the best-of-seven series. (AP/ESPN) Full game highlights can be found here.
Game 3 of the Lakers-Nuggets series will be played Tuesday; Game 4 of the Celtics - Heat series, on Wednesday.
Lakers, Heat each up 3 games to 1
POSTED SEPTEMBER 25, 2020
The Heat and the Lakers each took a commanding 3 games to 1 lead in their respective series against the Celtics and the Nuggets.
Miami's 20 year old rookie Tyler Herro scored a Heat rookie-record 37 points and the Heat beat the Boston Celtics 112-109 on Wednesday night in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals. Game highlights cane be found here. Below left, Tyler discusses his support for Black Lives Matter.
With the Los Angeles Lakers clinging to a four-point lead with just more than five minutes left in the fourth quarter on Thursday, James switched onto the Nuggets' star Jamal Murray . "LeBron asked for the assignment, and obviously I granted it," Lakers coach Frank Vogel said of the 35-year-old James after the Lakers' 114-108 win drew them to within one victory of the NBA Finals, as L.A. now leads the Western Conference finals 3-1. (Below Right)
Lakers and Heat to meet for NBA championship
POSTED SEPTEMBER 29, 2020
The Lakers and the Heat wrapped up their respective series with the Nuggets and Celtics over the weekend.
Sports Illustrated: The Finals are now set after nearly two months in the bubble, and our patience during the NBA’s hiatus has been rewarded with one of the more thrilling playoffs in recent memory. Denver erased a pair of 3–1 deficits, the Heat took down the top-seeded Bucks, and LeBron James continued to assert himself as the greatest player in the league. Some things stay the same regardless of the circumstance."
ESPN on the Lakers' 117-107 victory over the Nuggets on Saturday in Game 5 of the series: LeBron James punctuated his 27th postseason triple-double with a big fourth quarter, powering the Lakers to a 117-107 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night to win the Western Conference finals in five games. James finished with 38 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists to become the fourth player to reach 10 NBA Finals. It took him two seasons to make it with the Lakers, after falling short of the playoffs in an injury-plagued first season following eight consecutive trips with Miami and Cleveland.
CBS Sports on the Heat's 125-113 victory over the Celtics on Sunday in Game 6 of the series: Two days after Bam Adebayo blamed himself for a Game 5 loss, he arguably played the best game of his career and sent the Miami Heat to the NBA Finals. Adebayo scored a career-high 32 points on 11-for-15 shooting against the Boston Celtics on Sunday, with 14 rebounds and five assists. Adebayo also went 10-for-11 from the free throw line in the 125-113 win.
The first game of the finals will be Wednesday September 30 at 9 pm Eastern.
The 2020 World Series
GAME 1 Tuesday Oct 20 - Los Angeles Dodgers 8 - Tampa Bay Rays 3 (FULL GAME 1 HIGHLIGHTS)
GAME 2 Wednesday Oct 21 - Tampa Bay Rays 6 - LA Dodgers 4 (FULL GAME 2 HIGHLIGHTS)
GAME 3 Friday Oct 23 - LA Dodgers 6 - Tampa Bay Rays 2 (FULL GAME HIGHLIGHTS)
GAME 4 Saturday Oct 24 - Tampa Bay Rays 8 - LA Dodgers 7 (FULL GAME HIGHLIGHTS)
GAME 5 Sunday Oct 25 - LA Dodgers 4 - Tampa Bay Rays 2 (FULL GAME HIGHLIGHTS)
GAME 6 Tuesday Oct 27 -Rays at LA Dodgers 3 - Tampa Bay Rays 1 (FULL GAME HIGHLIGHTS)
All games televised on Fox
World Series starts Tuesday as LA Dodgers take on Tampa Bay Rays
POSTED OCTOBER 19, 2020
After a slow start and numerous rescheduled games, the 2020 Major League Baseball season is wrapping up in magnificent fashion. On Saturday the Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Houston Astros 4-2 in Game 7 of the ALCS [link in sidebar]. The Astros had forced a Game 7 after falling behind 3 games to none. On Sunday, the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Atlanta Braves 4-3 in Game 7 of the NLCS. [link sidebar] The Dodgers had forced a Game 7 after falling behind 3 games to 1. The Dodgers won their third National League Pennant in four years, while Tampa Bay is back in the World Series for the first time since 2008.
Below: the best plays in World Series history (at least those where video exists) Sidebar: a ranking of the 115 previous World Series
Rays even series with 6-4 win over Dodgers in Game 2
POSTED OCTOBER 22, 2020
Rays' starter Blake Snell struck out 9 in 4 2/3 inning, Brandon Lowe and Joey Wendle each drove in 3 runs, and the Rays' bullpen snuffed out potential late-inning Dodger rallies as Tampa Bay defeated the LA Dodgers 6-4 in Game 2 of the World Series. The Rays broke out of their recent offensive slump with 10 hits and 2 Brandon Lowe home runs to knot the Series at one game apiece.
Dodgers go up 3 games to 2 , Kershaw breaks postseason record in 4-2 win
POSTED OCTOBER 26, 2020
Dodger pitcher Clayton Kershaw became the all-time leader in postseason strikeouts as the Dodgers defeated the Rays 4-2 in Game 5 of the World Series. Kershaw has played 13 seasons in the major leagues since he debuted in 2008. He is an eight-time All-Star, three-time National League (NL) Cy Young Award winner, and the 2014 NL Most Valuable Player.
Home runs by Max Muncy and Joc Pederson and a strong effort by the Dodger bullpen sealed the victory.
Dodgers win 2020 World Series with 3-1 victory over Rays in Game 6
POSTED OCTOBER 28, 2020
The Los Angeles Dodgers won their first World Series since 1988, defeating the Rays 3-1. The Dodgers' bullpen was outstanding - pitching 8 innings of shutout ball. The Dodgers were unable to hit Rays' starter Blake Snell who was pitching a Cy Young level game. When Snell was pulled in the sixth inning after a one-out single, the Dodgers took the lead and went on to win the game and the Series.
The Dodgers' Corey Seager was named the World Series MVP. He was the unanimous choice for the award. Seager batted .400/.538/.700 (batting average/on base percentage/slugging percentage) with home runs in Games 2 and 4. Seager also had four doubles and a stolen base, and his 14 times on base led all comers. He also scored a series-best seven runs and drove in five more. (CBS Sports)
MLB 2020 Awards
POSTED NOV 12, 2020
Major League Baseball completed its awards week with the White Sox' Jose Abreu bringing home the American League MVP; and the Braves' Freddie Freeman, the National League MVP.
Chicago Sun-Times [link below left]: "Abreu, who won the Silver Slugger award for the best AL offensive performer at his position and the Sporting News Baseball Player of the Year award, led the AL with 60 RBI, his second RBI title in as many years. His 19 home runs ranked second to the 22 by the Yankees’ Luke Voit and his .317 batting average was fourth ....'One of the most underrated players in this game,” Sox third base coach Joe McEwing said in September. “A true professional who’s amazing in that clubhouse and comes up with clutch hits time and time again.' "
USA Today [link below right]: "Freddie Freeman's decade with the Atlanta Braves has largely been defined by his reliability, his statistics wonderfully predictive and his mood seemingly always upbeat as he evolved into one of the game's great ambassadors. In 2020, however, Freeman saw his own consistency and raised it a level, lifting the Braves along with him. Freeman won his first National League Most Valuable Player award Thursday evening, outpointing the Dodgers' Mookie Betts on the strength of a dominant offensive performance across this pandemic-shortened, 60-game season."
Monday night, Seattle Mariners outfielder Kyle Lewis was unanimously named the 2020 American League Rookie of the Year. He beat out White Sox outfielder Luis Robert and Astros righty Cristian Javier for the award. Lewis received all of the 30 first-place votes. In the shortened season, Lewis had a .262/.364/.437 batting line with 11 home runs in 58 games, and led all rookie position players with 1.7 WAR. Milwaukee Brewers reliever Devin Williams was named the 2020 National League Rookie of the Year. Williams received 14 of the 30 first-place votes. Williams, 26, surrendered just one earned run (0.33 ERA) and eight hits (0.63 WHIP) in 27 innings this season while striking out 53 batters. It works out to 1.2 WAR in only 27 innings.
It was a Sunshine State sweep for managers Tuesday night, with Miami’s Don Mattingly winning NL Manager of the Year and Tampa Bay's Kevin Cash receiving the AL award. Long regarded as one of baseball’s brightest young minds, Cash guided the Rays to an AL-best 40-20 record during the pandemic-shortened season. Mattingly led the Marlins to their first playoff appearance since 2003 despite dealing with a COVID-19 outbreak that paused their season and ravaged the roster.
Cleveland Indians ace Shane Bieber was the unanimous winner of the AL Cy Young Award on Wednesday, capping an impressive rise by the right-hander to his status as one of the game's best pitchers. Using a versatile repertoire that includes a looping curveball and a wipeout slider, Bieber went 8-1 with a 1.63 ERA and 122 strikeouts in 77⅓ innings during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, leading the majors in ERA and strikeouts, and tying Yu Darvish for the most wins. The Cincinnati Reds' Trevor Bauer won the NL Cy Young Award, giving Cincinnati its first winner of the award. He went 5-4 with a league-leading 1.73 ERA, a 100-17 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 73 innings and an opponents' batting average of .159.
A very uncertain year for football
POSTED AUGUST 18, 2020
Near the end of May, as the states that were hit hardest by the pandemic began to show a slowdown in cases and deaths, there was much optimism in the NFL league offices about the possibility of playing a full season. One person not as optimistic was NFLPA executive director DreMaurice Smith. During an interview with HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, Smith pointed out that the NFL will be closely monitoring how things play out for both MLB and the NBA. If baseball and basketball go off without a hitch this summer, then Smith will likely feel a lot better about the possibility of the NFL season happening. Well, baseball has not gone without a hitch. As of Saturday August 15, 32 games involving 12 teams have had to be postponed. The NBA - which is playing in the strict isolation zone of the "Orlando bubble" - has been much more fortunate and, as of now, things appear to be on track for the playoffs to begin next week. An isolation zone would be impossible for football - a football field being a lot harder to come by than a basketball court.
The college football season is already in disarray with two of the five power conferences (the Big 10 and the Pac 10) cancelling their entire season. The NCAA continues to send warning messages to the three major conferences (ACC, SEC, and Big 12) planning on playing football this fall. A week after starting classes, UNC at Chapel Hill had to move all classes online due to a Covid outbreak. Whether this will affect ACC play is unknown. The SEC plans for its season to begin September 26 - about a month later than usual. The Big 12 have scheduled their non-conference games for September 12 with conference play to begin September 26. Sports Illustrated (link sidebar top) tries to explain how some conferences decided to cancel and others are going ahead with a modified season.
CBS Sports (link sidebar bottom) points out that the NFL season has more in common with the MLB season than with the NBA season: "Baseball is the rival sport to focus on the most, given that it too is operating without a true bubble, and unlike the NBA and NHL, it was not completing a season when the virus struck, but rather preparing to start one. And, unlike what has transpired in Orlando and Canada, the MLB has dealt with daily Covid-related drama and controversy." Like MLB, adjustments may need to be made: "There is a very real chance the season gets paused, or altered on the fly, as we have seen repeatedly in MLB from everything to the schedule to the playoff format to how double-headers are played to extra-innings adjustments. And, it has never been more imperative for teams to get off to a quick start; if the NFL were to have to collapse to 10 or 12 games, after playing, say, a month or six weeks, then it would be just as paramount not to have to make up for lost time."
Catching Up with MLB in the Year of Ohtani
POSTED SEPTEMBER 22, 2021
The MLB playoffs are on the horizon. The format this year will have 5 teams from the National League and 5 from the American competing for a trip to the World Series. With a dozen or so games remaining in the regular season, the Rays, White Sox and Astros in the American League and the Brewers in the National League hold commanding leads for their divisions. The NL East and the NL West races will go down to the wire with the Braves and Phillies contending for the East crown and the Giants, the surprise team of 2021, and the Dodgers contending in the West.
The AL and NL wild card games will be played on October 5 and 6, respectively. In the American League, the Red Sox, the Blue Jays, the Yankees and the Athletics are battling it out for the fourth and fifth slots. In the National League, the Brewers, Giants and Dodgers have already clinched at least a wild card slot. If the current division leaders maintain their lead in the NL East (Braves) and West (Giants), the wild card game will be between the Dodgers and either the Phillies or Cardinals.
The Year of Ohtani
Shohei Ohtani, the greatest two-way player since the young Babe Ruth, has given Angels fans something to cheer about and the rest of us something to marvel at. Returning to regular duty as a pitcher and a designated hitter after three operations in the past two years, Ohtani still throws the ball faster and hits the ball harder than almost every other Major League ballplayer.
Going into the final weeks of the season, he has a 9-2 won loss record and 3.28 ERA with the 72-78 California Angels. Besides throwing a 96.7 mph fastball, his split-finger fastball is the most unhittable pitch in baseball. On Sunday Ohtani recorded 19 outs on his split-finger fastball. The opposing Oakland A’s went 0-for-19 against his splitter, dropping the league average against the pitch to .067.
On Tuesday night, Ohtani got all of a 2-1 fastball from Astros right-hander Cristian Javier in the eighth inning, as the home run left the bat at 116.1 mph for a 445 foot trip out of the park. With 45 home runs, he is just one behind MLB leaders Vladimir Guerrero and Salvador Perez. [link below left]
Baseball's best team is also its most surprising.
Sports Illustrated's pre-season baseball issue had the San Francisco Giants finishing 68-94, 39 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West. Instead, the team from the City by the Bay has had the best record in baseball for nearly the entire season. They are currently 1 game ahead of the Dodgers, who are finishing the season with a red-hot streak of their own.
An early season article at ESPN called the Giants baseball's "best and most intriguing/mystifying/idiosyncratic/just plain weird team," a "mostly interchangeable collection of players orbiting around three or four foundational veteran position players." Attributing much of the Giants' success to the team's president of baseball operations, Farhan Zaidi, who has a PhD in behavioral economics and is a man obsessed with overlooked skillsets, ESPN's Tim Keown concluded, "If it is possible to assemble the opposite of a superteam and still have it play like one, Zaidi has pulled it off."
Manager Gabe Kapler and his coaching staff, the largest in baseball, are another reason for the Giants' accomplishments this season. That staff has "overseen unfamiliar levels of consistency from very familiar names" - catcher Buster Posey, shortstop Brandon Crawford and first baseman Brandon Belt, the holdovers from the World Series Champions of 2012 and 2014. The Giants' team of multiple pitching coaches emphasizes strikes over velocity. As a result, the Giants’ pitching staff "has transformed from an unheralded group of low-priced reclamation projects to one of baseball’s best. The San Francisco bullpen has the lowest ERA in baseball." And in an era where the psychological stress on athletes has gained much attention, San Francisco coach Alyssa Nakken, the first woman to coach in an MLB game observed, “Kap has a way of making everybody feel psychologically safe in this environment that can be tough at times. Fans, media, being in the public eye. When we’re in the dugout and in the clubhouse, there’s a sense of safety there.” [link below right]
What a finish!
POSTED OCT 5, 2021
Major League Baseball finished the 2021 season with two great races. In National League West, the two best teams in baseball, the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers, went down to the wire with the 107-win Giants edging out the 106-win Dodgers for the division championship. The Giants and Dodgers finished the last weeks of the season with a combined record of 17 -3.
In the American League, four teams battled for the two AL wild card spots with the Yankees and Boston finishing a game ahead of the Blue Jays and two games ahead of the Mariners. The last day of the regular season saw the Yankees beat the American League-leading Rays 1-0, the Red Sox win over the Nationals 7-5, the Mariners losing to the Angels 7-3, and the Blue Jays blowing out the Orioles 12-4.
Highlights from the Yankees-Rays game and the Red Sox-Nationals game are below - two incredible games with the Yanks winning in the bottom of the ninth, and the Red Sox coming back from a 5-1 deficit to get the home field for the wild card game.
The wild card games will be played tonight (Yankees v Red Sox at Boston) and Wednesday (Dodgers v Cardinals in Los Angeles).
MLB League Championship Series begin this weekend
POSTED OCT 15, 2021
The ALCS starts Friday night in Houston with the Red Sox visiting the Astros. The NLCS begins tomorrow with the Dodgers going to Atlanta to face the Braves. The Dodgers advanced with a thrilling 2-1 victory over the Giants in Game 5 after a controversial strike call on an apparent check swing ended the game. (link below left) The Dodgers have a chance to become the first team in 21 years to repeat as MLB World Series Champions - the last team to do it being the Yankees when they won their third straight World Series in 2000. (link below right)
Astros are going to the World Series
POSTED OCT 23, 2021
Down two games to one to the Boston Red Sox, the Houston Astros won the next three to claim their third American League pennant in five years. The Astros shutout the Red Sox 5-0 in Friday night's game 6. [recap below left] They await the winners of the Dodgers-Braves series, which concludes this weekend.
The Astros continue to bounce back from the sign-stealing scandal of 2017, which ESPN points out, they really didn't need to do. They were, and are, really good. Managed now by 72 year old Dusty Baker, there are just a handful of players from the 2017 team still around, but the Astros have buttressed that core with young players like 24-year old's Luis Garcia, who pitched a brilliant Game 6; Yordan Alvarez, the ALCS MVP, who went 4-for-4 in the clincher with a pair of doubles and a triple and batted .524 in the series; and Kyle Tucker, whose eighth-inning three-run home run sealed Game 6 for the Astros. [link below right]
Braves to face Astros in 2021 World Series
POSTED OCT 24, 2021
The Atlanta Braves will be going to their first World Series in 22 years after defeating the Dodgers 4-2 in Game 6 of the NLCS. The hot-hitting Eddie Rosario powered the Braves with a go ahead three-run homer in the fourth. Reliever Tyler Matzek came in with the tying runs on base in the seventh and struck out three batters to save the game for the Braves. [Game 6 recap below left]
Midway through the summer, the Braves wouldn’t have been anyone’s choice to win the National League pennant. They were having trouble just breaking .500. Then general manager Alex Anthopoulos went out and bought a whole new outfield, and by September with Joc Pederson, Adam Duvall, and Eddie Rosario playing, the Braves were on their way to the NL East Division championship. [link below right]
The Braves travel to Houston to face the Astros in the first game of the Series on Tuesday night.
Braves take 2 games to 1 lead over Astros
POSTED OCT 30, 2021
It was a rainy night in Georgia, and the hitters were having a tougher time than the pitchers and fielders. The Atlanta Braves defeated the Houston Astros 2-0 on the strength of some amazing pitching to take a two games to one lead in the 2021 World Series. Led by starter Ian Anderson, who pitched 5 hitless innings, the Braves fell six outs short of a multi-pitcher no-hitter.
With Anderson and relievers A.J. Minter and Luke Jackson holding Houston hitless through seven innings, the Braves had the longest World Series no-hit bid since Jim Lonborg’s 7 2/3 no-hit innings for the Red Sox in Game 2 of the 1967 World Series against the Cardinals. [link below left]
Looking Back
In 1956, Don Larsen of the New York Yankees pitched the only perfect game (no hits, no walks, no errors) in World Series history. The Yankees won that game by an identical 2-0 score.
The iconic image of 5'7" catcher Yogi Berra leaping on the 6'4" Larsen after Larsen struck out Dodger hitter Dale Mitchell to end the fifth game of the 1956 World Series is in the sidebar right. Game highlights are in the link below right.
Braves defeat Astros 7-0 in Game 6, win their first World Series since 1995
POSTED NOV 3, 2021
Powered by three home runs and getting six shutout innings from starter Max Fried, the Atlanta Braves defeated the Houston Astros 7-0 in Game 6 of the World Series. It was the Braves' first World Series title in 26 years. A team winning barely half their games in the first half of the season was rejuvenated by mid-season trades engineered by Braves general manger Alex Anthopoulos. They finished with the twelfth best record in the regular season but won the National League East. With just its Atlanta fanbase thinking it had a shot at the title, the Braves went on to claim the franchise's fourth World Series crown, previously winning in 1914 as the Boston Braves, in 1957 as the Milwaukee Braves, and in 1995 as the Atlanta Braves.
Jorge Soler, who started the Braves scoring with a 446 foot three-run blast in the third inning, was named the MVP of the World Series. Soler had three go-ahead home runs in the Series and became just the second Cuban player to win the World Series MVP.
Link to the game recap is below left, and a look back to the previous three Braves' World Series titles is in the link below right.
Baseball's MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, Manager of the Year Awards
POSTED NOV 21, 2021
The 2021 Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) Awards winners have been announced. The awards recognizing the top performers in each league.
The AL MVP was Shohei Ohtani, the phenomenal two-way player of the Angels. The NL MVP was Bryce Harper of the Phillies. Ohtani and Harper became just the ninth pair of MVPs since the award was first handed out in 1931 to come from non-playoff teams and the first since George Bell (Blue Jays) and Andre Dawson (Cubs) in 1987. [link below left]
The Cy Young Award for the best pitchers went to Robbie Ray of the Blue Jays and Corbin Burnes of the Brewers. Both are pitchers who struggled as recently as two years ago, but who have rebounded to post career-best seasons. Both pitchers racked up gaudy strikeout totals and pitched to sub-3.00 ERAs. [link below center]
Rays outfielder Randy Arozarena and Reds second baseman Jonathan India won the Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year Awards. [link below right]
In the National League, Giants skipper Gabe Kapler won Manager-of- the Year, taking 28 of 30 first-place votes. This is his first win and it comes in his fourth season, second with the Giants. They won a franchise record 107 games and finished the regular season with the best record in baseball.for a team that most believed would not post even a .500 season. In the American League, Rays manager Kevin Cash won his second-straight Manager of the Year. Cash led the club to 100 wins -- a franchise record -- with his Rays operating on a shoestring budget and continuing to turn the roster over quicker than any other team. (CBS Sports)
The Baseball Greats Whose Names Grace the BBWAA MLB Awards
Cy Young was the winningest pitcher in baseball history, winning 511 games, almost 100 more than any other pitcher in history. He recorded 30 victories on five occasions and won 20-or-more games 16 times. [link below left]
Jackie Robinson was the first African American to play in Major League Baseball in the modern era. Robinson broke the color line when he started at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. [link below center]
Bryce Harper's 2nd MVP puts him in a select group of players with more than 1 MVP award. MLB.com looks at these outstanding players in the link below right.
An incredibly entertaining NFL playoff weekend
POSTED JANUARY 24, 2022
What a weekend for football fans!
We were treated to four dramatic playoff games, including perhaps the greatest two minutes of football ever played. Regulation time ended in all games with field goals as time ran out. Los Angeles QB Matthew Stafford had 42 seconds to mount his team's final drive; Cincinnati's Joe Burrow, 15 seconds; Kansas City's Patrick Mahomes, 13 seconds.
Kansas City Chiefs 42, Buffalo Bills 36 (Overtime)
Los Angeles Rams 30, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 27
Even though the Buccaneers did not ultimately prevail, forty-four year old Tom Brady cemented his reputation as the greatest quarterback of all time with two fourth-quarter drives that erased a two-touchdown Rams lead and left just 42 seconds on the clock. But that was enough. The Rams, who appeared to be self-destructing in historic fashion, came back to win it.
San Francisco 49ers 13, Green Bay Packers 10
Cincinnati Bengals 19, Tennessee Titans 16
Bengals' QB Joe Burrow was sacked 9 times but still had enough left to engineer a 15 second game-winning drive that ended with Evan McPherson's fourth field goal of the game as time ran out.
