Weekly Update April 8, 2024

Baseball – MLB: Astros fastest no-hitter. Betts leading the league. Shoehei’s first HR as Dodger. A’s set to play and then move. Friday day of walk offs. Sunday was HR day.

Baseball/Softball – NCAA: Texas > Oklahoma softball.

Basketball – NBA: Celtics get to 60. Wemby almost quad-doubles. Grizzlies #33 retired. Flynn puts up 50. Sunday had 2 OT games. Standings for the final week.

Basketball – NCAAM: Final Four and Natty tonight! NCAAW national champions = South Carolina.

Football: Chiefs WR Rice in a pile up. Huge Texans trade. Spring games start.

Golf: Bhatia wins his 2nd PGA Tour title and first bid to play in Masters. Burmester wins LIV Miami. Oh and it’s Masters week!

Hockey: Women’s World Hockey Championships. Benches clear 2 seconds into NHL game.

Olympic Sports: Shiffrin engaged! Cook ran Africa. NCAAW Gym.

Baseball – MLB:

• Astros get their first win of the season and it’s a no hitter by P Ronel Blanco. He threw 105 pitches and you could tell he was getting tired. He only made the Houston team on the last day of spring training with the Astros having 4 starting P injured. This was only his 8^th major league start and yet he gets the franchise’s 17^th no-hitter. This is the first no-hitter of the season and the earlier in the season ever in MLB history. The Astros would also shutout the Bluejays on Wednesday as well 8-0. Blanco would pitch again last night. He went 14.2 innings, 44 outs  without giving up his first hit.

• In similar fashion, Angels P Anderson went 7 scoreless innings in their win over the Marlins. The Marlins were 0-6 at that point. Phillies star Bryce Harper got 3 HRs in their game on Tuesday. They scored 9 runs to beat the Reds. The Dbacks destroyed the Yankees 7-0 to hand them their first loss of the season! Mookie Betts hit his 5^th HR in the Dodgers win over the Giants, which leads the MLB for now. The Red Sox/A’s game went into extra innings where the BOS team only won by 1 run despite having 12 hits! The A’s lost their next game to the Red Sox but they drew in a 45k person crowd over the 7 home games, despite going 1-6 and leading the AL in a -29 run differential.

• The Yankees got revenge on Wednesday, beating the Diamondbacks in 11 innings and Aaron Judge got his first HR of the season. Nationals 1B Joey Gallo was 0-12 before Wednesday’s game against the Pirates. Then he got 3 hits including a HR. That lifted the Washington team to a win 5-3. Shohei Ohtani hit his first HR as a Dodger on Wednesday. The LA team beat the Giants by 1. Phew!

• The Tigers/Mets game that was postponed earlier in the week is now a doubleheader. The first game went into extra innings, 11 of them. The Tigers win that one by 3 though. The Mets won game 2 that day though by 1. That is the Mets’ first win of the season. Something about the 7^th inning on Thursday. The Cardinals scored 5 runs in their 7^th against the Marlins. Then the Royals crushed their 7^th inning with 8 runs to win over the White Sox.
• Friday was the day of walk offs. The Rockies hit a walk off Grand Slam in the 9^th to win 10-7. The Braves had a walk off single to beat the Diamondbacks in the 10^th.The Brewers had a walk off walk with bases loaded in the 9^th to beat the Mariners.
• Saturday continued the walk offs. Pirates and Orioles game went into extra innings before Cruz walked it off in the 11^th. Pirates get the W, despite having an error but they had 11 hits vs their 4. They would win in another walk off on Sunday. The Braves came back big from a 6-run deficit by putting up 2 and another 2 in the 7^th and 8^th to win over the Dbacks by 1. The Rays put up 5 in the 8^th inning over the Rockies to win 8-6.

• Sunday was the day of homers. 24 HRs were hit that day alone. The Red Sox and the Brewers both put up 12 runs against their opponents. The Astros finally got a W over their Texas rival after the Rangers had every batter with a hit against the Houston team the first two nights. Astros got the win last night 3-1.

• The A’s are going to play out of west Sacramento for the 2025-2027 seasons before they officially move to Vegas in 2028.
• There are no winless teams and no undefeated teams left!

Baseball/Softball – NCAA:

• It was the Red River Rivalry but on the softball field (Diamond). #1 Oklahoma vs #2 Texas. Oklahoma took game 1 5-2 but the Longhorns fought back winning the next two 1-2. One of those games ended on a controversial ‘obstruction’ call that was rolled back for this season. Ultimately the call was correct from most that I have heard but it would’ve tied the game for the Sooners. That ends Oklahoma’s 40 game Big 12 winning streak.

Basketball – NBA:

• This week in the NBA:
  • The Celtics are putting the ! on the season winning their 14^th game in 16. They won their 60^th of the season on Wednesday by destroying the Thunder by 35. The Hawks had won 8 of their last 10 as well (including 2 Ws against the Celtics). Then they lost on both Saturday and Sunday. Oops but they secured a play-in berth. On the flip side of that, the Knicks have majorly cooled off. They have lost 4 of their last 6.

• • The Suns came out swinging this week with a strong 1Q on Monday’s game, putting up 46. They held on to beat the Pelicans 124-111 and Devin Booker was responsible for 52 of those points alone. The Bucks lost their game by 4 on Tuesday in a close one to the Wizards even with Giannis putting up 35. The 76ers also upset the Thunder by 4 with the return of Embiid. The Spurs almost had the Nuggets but fell 5 points short. Wemby tried his best with a near quadruple-double but Jokic put up 42 points. The Mavs/Warriors game was rescheduled from Jan 19^th was played on Tuesday at GS. It was a very even game with only one point separating the two each Q until the 3Q when the Warriors got a little bit of room and they kept it despite Luka’s triple-double.
  • On Wednesday, the Nets upset the Pacers by 4 after a slow start (19 points in 1Q) but they bounced back nicely in 2Q with 42. The Grizzlies also upset the Bucks by 10. Suns Devin Booker put up 40 in the Sun’s win over the Cavaliers. He’s having a good week.

• • I told you the Knicks were not doing well but they won on Thursday against the Kings to stop their 3-game losing streak. GS won their 6^th game in a row, this one against the Rockets by 23. That’s crucial to stay in the playoff hunt. The Clippers upset the Nuggets as Jokic missed the game-winning 3 pointer.
  • The Thunder not having a good week as they lose another one after the embarrassing loss to the Celtics. Their game on Friday, the Pacers beat them by 14. The Bulls/Knicks game got nasty. Josh Hart kicked Javonte Green in the head. Needless to say he was ejected for that. Green before that, threw down a dunk that was so intense that another Bull got a technical on the sideline. The Raptors played well in the middle 2Qs to upset the Bucks by 6. Wemby didn’t put up as many points as he usually did with only 17 but the Spurs beat the Pelicans in a close one. Speaking of a close one, the Mavs got revenge on their make up game loss to the Warriors by beating them on Friday. The Suns upset the Timberwolves in a low scoring affair. Neither team scored 100 points.

• • On the weekend, the Grizzlies retired Marc Gasol’s #33 jersey on Saturday but still lost that game to an Embiid-led 76ers team by 20. Celtics Jaylon Brown got the 10k career point milestone during their win against the Trail Blazers on Sunday. They won 124-107. Like I said at the beginning of the post, the Knicks are not doing well but they managed to get the upset over the Bucks and in solid fashion. Brunson put up 43 points and they win 122-109. Two games went into OT yesterday. The Spurs played well against the 76ers including outscoring Phili by 17 in the 2Q alone. But the 76ers came back from a 7 point deficit starting the 4Q to taking a 1-point lead in the final 10 seconds. Both teams end OT scoring 10 apiece. However the 76ers had the lead or tie in all but 45 seconds in the 2OT. 76ers escape. The 2^nd game to go into OT was the Mavericks/Rockets matchup. The game was very back and forth. All Qs flip flopped who put up the most points. The Rockets put up 42 then DAL 39 in 2Q, HOU with 35 in 3^rd and DAL with 31 in 4^th. But it was allllll Mavs in OT, 18 points to 7 yikes.

• Not the highest scorer of the week but dangerously close was Piston’s PG Malachi Flynn, even more impressive as he was not a starter. He threw up 50 points and DET still lost to the Hawks. Counting extra time (like 2OT), Tyrese Maxey of the 76ers is the highest scorer with 52 during their game on Sunday.

• Playoffs anyone? Standings with Sunday being the final day of the season:
  • In the East: the Celtics are in and clinched the conference. The Bucks have clinched a playoff berth now. The Heat and Hawks have secured their play-in berth at least. Eliminated: Pistons, Wizards, Hornets, Raptors and Nets.
  • The West is much tighter of a race. The Timberwolves are tied with the Nuggets the top of the conference with all three (Thunder included) securing a spot in playoffs. Eliminated: Spurs, Trail Blazers, Grizzlies, Jazz and the Rockets.

Basketball – NCAAM:

• NCAAM Final Four:
  • Game 1 went as expected (or at least for me). #11 NC State’s Cinderella run came to an end by the Boiler Makers who beat them in both halves by 6 in 1^st and 7 in the 2^nd. Purdue beat the Pack by 13.

• • Game 2 was closer for the 1H. #1 UConn was up by 4 at half on #4 Alabama but then it got ugly in 2H. UConn beat the Tide by 10 in that half alone and 14 total.

• Big news, Kentucky HC John Calipari has announced that he will become he new HC for Arkansas.

• Also Bronny James has declared for the draft. Get ready for a James vs James match up years in the making! I guess that also means LeBron is on retirement watch.

Basketball – NCAAW:

• Final Four:
  • Well #1 South Carolina continued to do what they do best, win. They are #1 and undefeated for a reason. #3 NC State didn’t help themselves when they only sored 6 in the 3Q. Yikes. Gamecocks win by 18.

• • The 2^nd game was much closer and a better game. #3 UConn and Paige Bueckers vs #1 Iowa and Caitlin Clark. It was awesome! UConn was up 6 at half. But the Hawkeyes had a big 3Q putting up 25 and outscoring the Huskies by 6 so making up the difference. Iowa then brought it home to win by 2. Clark scored 21 points, the leading scorer for Iowa while both Paige and Aaliyah Edwards had 17 a piece for UConn.

• National Championship: Iowa came out hot going up 11 in the 1Q but South Carolina came back big time in the 2Q putting up 29. Iowa was up 1 with 53 seconds left in the half but SC hit a beautiful 3-pointer and then got a steal to a layup causing a big momentum shift going into the locker room. Iowa got worse in the 3Q, letting the gamecocks go up by even more. They continued to pile on in the 4Q and every time Iowa looked to be making a come back, SC would also. South Carolina became the 10^th undefeated team to win the national championship and the first since 2016.

• Angel Reese has declared for the draft. Also Shaq said she is the best athlete to come out of LSU, man or woman.

Football:

• Chiefs WR Rashee Rice was driving a Lamborghini and speeding along Dallas’ 75 when he crashed into another car that was also speeding and caused a 6 car pile up. Then they walked away from the scene! Rice is familiar with the area having gone to SMU and playing ball for the Mustangs during undergrad.
• Huge trade! Houston Texans got WR Steffon Diggs from the Bills on Wednesday in exchange for a 2^nd round pick in next year’s draft. Houston also got two later round picks in this and next year’s draft. This trade didn’t make a ton of sense to me so ought to be interesting who the Bills are targeting next year with that additional pick. But before it seems too good, Texans were required to wipe out the remaining 3 years on Diggs’ contract meaning that he will become a free agent after this next season.
• Spring games are starting: Ohio State, Clemson, Auburn and NC State so far.

Golf:

• Akshay Bhatia is going to the Masters. He took his first big win on the PGA Tour at the Valero Texas Open. Technically he won on the PGA Tour at the Barracuda Championship last year but that was the same week as the British Open so it does not get you in the major championships. Bhatia was leading after the 3^rd round by 5 strokes but Denny McCarthy came back in a big way on the final stretch. McCarthy sunk 6 straight birdies to tie for the lead and into a playoff. But that is where McCarthy’s luck ends as his second shot went into the water and essentially giving Bhatia the win. Good thing too because when Bhatia sunk his final birdie to go into a playoff on 18, his emphatic fist bump popped his shoulder out.
  • Also noteworthy was Jordan Spieth got his 4^th ace on Tour this week as well.

• The LIV tour was back in action this week in Miami. Legion XIII won their 2^nd team championship in 5 starts but the big winner was Dean Burmester. Dean won his first LIV event this weekend over another, more well known LIV-winless golfer, Sergio Garcia. After 3 rounds, the two were tied and we went into playoff holes. Both got a par the first time around but when Sergio got a bogey on the 2^nd hole, that was enough for Burmester to step through the door.

• It’s Masters week! So here’s a Master’s week preview:
  • To a golfer, Masters green is as recognizable as Tiffany blue to any woman. The exact shade? According to Golf magazine its Pantone 342.
  • Par for the course: 72 at 7,545 yard long (+247 over average par 72s)
  • Tiger Woods is planning to tee it up. There will be 13 LIV golfers in action at the Masters: Brooks Koepka, Jon Rahm*, Bryson DeChambeau, Segio Garcia*, Tyrrell Hatton, Dustin Johnson*, Adrian Meronk, Phil Mickelson*, Jaoquin Niemann, Patrick Reed*, Charl Schwartzel*, Cameron Smith and Bubba Watson*. *s note the previous Masters Champions. 66 PGA tour players,
  • Some of the Vegas favorites to win: Scottie Scheffler (4-1 odds), Rory McIlroy (10-1) – who only needs the Masters to complete the career Grand Slam, Jon Rahm (12-1), Xander Schauffle (16-1), Brooks Koepka (18-1), Hideki Matsuyama (18-1) and Jordan Speith (20-1). Highest odds: Santiago de la Fuente.
  • It started at Augusta National in 1934, the first year of the tournament. Horton Smith won the first one and only took home $1,500 for winning. Now the purse (for everyone) is $18MM. Last year, Rahm took home $3.24MM.

• • Amen corner will be featured on your ESPN app. That is holes 11-13 and tournaments have been lost there. There is an eagle opportunity on a par 5, a  500 yard par 4 and a risky par 3 in that stretch. There are only 4 reachable par 5s, the only holes with an under par scoring average. You need to be good at your short game (Clark) and long Par-4 scoring. Those have done well at this course. Knowing the course is also very important, more so than other courses. Golfers also say its not about always hitting the exact shot but its about knowing where to miss. 9 of the last 14 previous winners had a Green jacket already or at least a top 10 finish.
  • Trends to follow when betting: If you want to go big, both Wyndham Clark and rising star Ludvig Aberg will be making their debut at the Masters. No one has won in their debut since 1979 and only 3xs in Masters history. Don’t pick the winner of the week before (cough Bahtia and hes a debut Masters competitors so double ding). The last person to win the Masters after a win was Mickelson in 2006. Defending at Augusta is also tough. Only 3 players have done it and you know their names: Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods (01-02). Since Tiger, only Tiger and Jordan Spieth have ever even been in the Top 5 the year follow their wins. 3 of the last 7 champions have missed the cut.
  • Other news going into this week: Justin Thomas has also changed his caddy this week. Bones is one of the most well-known caddies on tour and you will not see him on the major winner’s bag after 2 years together. Jon Rahm’s Champions Dinner will be Spanish cusine and sounds delicious.
  • Some weird rules at Augusta:
    • No swag can be purchased online, only on site.

Hockey:

• Not the NHL but Women’s Hockey World Championships are going on. The USA destroyed Czechia 6-0 but that wasn’t what was noteworthy. Laila Edwards became the first black woman to score a goal for the US hockey team, with 2. Canada also got their 100^th win in world championship history with their win over FIN 4-1 on Thursday. The US and CAN are in the same group so they will meet before the finals in the group play. Finals will be on the 14^th.
• The Devils/Rangers game made national headlines when 2 seconds after the puck dropped. Every single player was fighting and 8 players were ejected. These two teams hate each other and have a history of big fights between them, especially rookie Rempe. The Rangers ended up winning 4-3.

Olympic Sports:

• Mikaela Shiffrin is in the news for a different reason then winning on the slopes. She’s winning in life too. Shiffrin and Aleksander Aamodt Kilde are engaged! The 31 year old NOR skiing star is a World Cup champion and 2x Olympic medalist as well.

• Russ Cook, British ultra runner, ran the entire length of Africa in 352 days. He took off on April 22, 2023 and faced health scares, dehydration, sandstorms, via problems and armed robbery. He raised $872k for charity after running 10,190 miles.
• NCAA Gymnastics Regionals was this weekend. 16 teams went into the final 2 days and then 8 teams came out. Oklahoma, Alabama, LSU and Arkansas won Day 1. Day 2 was Florida (only behind OU by 0.075), Utah, Cal, Stanford. Cal, LSU, Florida and OU were all in the 198s. Kentucky was first out by 0.1.

What to watch this week

Baseball – MLB:

• Tues 4/9
  • Cubs at Padres @ 9:05pm on TBS
• Fri 4/12
  • Brewers at Orioles @ 6:05pm on Apple TV+
    • Hall vs Wells
  • Cubs at Mariners @ 8:40pm on Apple TV+
    • Wicks vs Miller
• Sat 4/13
  • Rangers at Astros @ 3:05pm on FS1
    • Heaney vs Valdez
• Sun 4/14
  • Padres at Dodgers @ 6pm on ESPN
    • Darvish vs Paxton

Baseball/Softball-NCAA:

• Mon 4/8
  • Softball: 7. LSU vs 10. Florida @ 6pm on SEC
• Tues 4/9
  • Softball: 13. Vtech vs NC St @ 12pm on ESPNU
  • Softball: 3. Georgia vs 4. Tennessee @ 4pm on ESPNU
  • Softball: Clemson vs 25. South Carolina @ 6pm on ESPNU
  • Baseball: 6. Florida vs 14. Florida St @ 6pm on ESPN2
• Thurs 4/11
  • Baseball: Miami vs 14. Florida St @ 6pm on ACC
  • Baseball: 17 Kentucky vs Auburn @ 6:30pm on ESPNU
• Fri 4/12
  • Baseball: Miami vs 14. Florida St @ 12pm on ACC
  • Softball: 19 Arkansas vs 25. South Carolina @ 5pm on SEC
  • Softball: 2. Duke vs 17. Clemson @ 6pm on ESPN2
  • Baseball: 23. Mississippi St vs Ole Miss @ 7pm on SEC
  • Baseball: 18. LSU vs 4. Tennessee @ 7pm on ESPNU
• Sat 4/13
  • Softball: 19. Arkansas vs 25. South Carolina @ 10:30am on SEC
  • Softball: 14. Texas A&M vs 15. Alabama @ 11:30am on ESPN2
  • Softball: 10. Florida vs 11. Mizzou @ 12:30pm on SEC
  • Softball: 21. Baylor vs 5. Texas @ 1:30pm on ESPN2
  • Softball: 4. Tennessee vs 16. Mississippi St @ 2:30pm on SEC
  • Baseball: 18. LSU vs 4. Tennessee @ 4:30pm on SEC
  • Softball: Notre Dame at 18. Florida St @ 5pm on ACC
  • Baseball: 19. NC St vs 2. Clemson @ 7pm on ACC
  • Baseball: 23. Mississippi St vs Ole Miss @ 7:30pm on ESPN2
  • Baseball: 7. Vanderbilt vs 3. Texas A&M @ 7:30pm on SEC
• Sun 4/14
  • Baseball: 22. South Carolina vs 6. Florida @ 11am on SEC
  • Softball: Boston College vs 13. Vtech @ 11am on ACC
  • Softball: 3. Georgia vs Kentucky @ 1:30pm on ESPN2
  • Baseball: 18. LSU vs 4. Tennessee @ 2pm on SEC
  • Softball: Notre Dame vs 18. Florida St @ 3pm on ACC
  • Softball: 14. Texas A&M vs 15. Alabama @ 3:30pm on ESPN2
  • Softball: 5. Duke vs 17. Clemson @ 5pm on ACC

Basketball – NBA:

• Tues 4/9
  • Celtics at Bucks @ 6:30pm on TNT
  • Warriors at Lakers @ 9pm on TNT
• Wed 4/10
  • Mavericks at Heat @ 6:30pm on ESPN
  • Timberwolves at Nuggets @ 9pm on ESPN
• Thurs 4/11
  • Knicks at Celtics @ 6:30pm on TNT
  • Pelicans at Kings @ 9pm on TNT

Basketball – NCAAM:

• Mon 4/8
  • National Championship: #1 Purdue vs #1 UConn @ 8:20pm
• Sat 4/13
  • High School ASG: Women’s Nike Hoop Summit @ 6:30pm on FS1
  • High School ASG: Men’s Nike Hoop Summit @ 9pm on FS1

Football – UFL:

• Sat 4/13
  • Ohio State Spring Game @ 11am on FOX
  • DC Defenders at Arlington Renegades @ 12pm on ESPN
  • Memphis Showboats at Birmingham Stallions @ 6pm on FOX
• Sun 4/14
  • Houston Roughnecks at Michigan Panthers @ 11am on ABC
  • Louis Battlehawks vs San Antonio Brahamas @ 2pm on ABC

Golf:

• Wed 4/10
  • Par 3 Contest @ 2pm on ESPN
• Thurs 4/11
  • Masters – Round 1 @ 2pm on ESPN
    • Highlights @ 10:35pm on CBS
• Fri 4/12
  • Masters – Round 2 @ 2pm on ESPN
    • Highlights @ 10:35pm on CBS
• Sat 4/13
  • Masters – Round 3 @ 2pm on CBS
• Sun 4/14
  • Masters – Final Round @ 1pm on CBS

Hockey:

• Tues 4/9
  • Capitals at Red Wings @ 6pm on ESPN
  • Wild at Avalanche @ 8:30pm on ESPN
• Wed 4/10
  • Golden Knights at Oilers @ 7:30pm on TNT
• Thurs 4/11
  • NCAA: Frozen Four: Denver vs BU @ 4pm on ESPN2
  • NCAA: Frozen Four: BC vs Michigan @ 7:30pm on ESPN2
• Sat 4/13
  • Islanders at Rangers @ 11:30am on ABC
  • Kraken at Stars @ 2pm on ABC
  • NCAA: Frozen Four: National Championship @ 5pm on ESPN
  • Bruins at Penguins @ 7pm on ABC
• Sun 4/14
  • Kraken at Blues @ 12pm on TNT
  • Avalanche at Golden Knights @ 2:30pm on TNT

Olympic Sports:

• Sat 4/13
  • Swimming: TYR Pro Swim Series San Antonio @ 2:30pm on NBC
• Sun 4/14
  • Figure Skating: World Championships @ 2pm on NBC

Soccer:

• Tues 4/9
  • UEFA Champions League: Quarterfinal: Arsenal vs Bayern Munich @ 2pm on CBS
  • CONCACAF Champions: Tigre vs Columbus Crew @ 7:30pmon FS1
  • CONCACAF Champions: Club America vs NE Revolution @ 10pm on FS1
• Wed 4/10
  • UEFA Champions League: Quarterfinal: PSG vs FC Barcelona @ 2pm on CBS
  • CONCACAF Champions: Pachuca vs CS Herediano @ 7pm on FS1
  • CONCACAF Champions: Monterrey vs Intern Miami CF @ 9:20pm on FS1
• Sat 4/13
  • Premier League: Nottingham Forest vs Wolves @ 9am on USA
  • Premier League: Teams TBA @ 11:30am on NBC
  • MLS: Portland Timber vs LA FC @ 3:30pm on FOX
• Sun 4/14
  • Premier League: Liverpool vs Crystal Palace @ 8am on USA
  • Premier League: Arsenal vs Aston Villa @ 10:30am on USA
  • MLS: Atlanta United vs Phili Union @ 1:30pm on FOX
  • MLS: St. Louis City vs Austin FC @ 3:30pm on FOX