Baseball: Lorenzen no-hitter. Standings update.
Football: Week 0. Bolden gets carted off and game stops.
Golf: Playoff updates for both BMW and FedEx. Ryder Cup auto qualifiers.
Olympic Sports: T&F World Championships have begun!
Soccer: Women’s World Cup has a new champ – Spain!
Baseball – MLB:
- On Aug 9th we had another no hitter (the 4th of the season). This time by the Phillies P Michael Lorenzen. The Phillies now have had 14 no-hitters in their history with this one against the Nationals. They won 7-0 with Lorenzen striking out 5, walking 4 and is now 2-0 since being traded to this team at the deadline. He threw 124 pitches, the most of any player this year. During the same game, 3B Weston Wilson hit his first HR in his first major league at-bat ever. He had been in the minors for 7 years before getting this shot.
- Standings: In the AL, the Orioles are at the top with 77 wins over the Rays. Followed by the two Texas teams, Rangers and Astros. All 4 of those teams are over 70 wins. At the bottom, it’s the A’s with 34 and Royals at 40. The NL is a little more spread out. The Braves lead the league with 80 wins. The Dodgers sit in 2nd with 76, no other team has 70 wins. The Rockies are the bottom of this side with 48 wins. Everyone else is above 50.
Football:
- Week 0 is upon us! There are only 7 games in action but hey it’s something! So if you’re like ‘hey Claire, I took the summer off of football, what do I need to know?’ I got you.
- Northwestern fired their coach after well we don’t know exactly, hazing maybe?
- There were tons of transfers and commits. 2024 SEC and Big 10 schedules were released where we first start to see some conference re-alignment (OU and Texas to SEC, USC and UCLA to Big 10). We also have some rule changes. CFB is going to the NFL model where we will have no stoppage of the clock after 1st downs until the last 2 minutes of each half. This should cut the games by 7-15 plays on the extremes of the spectrum (~20min). Then there was conference realignment craziness. San Diego State wanted to leave the Mountain West for the Pac 12 but the Pac 12 didn’t have their stuff together and that failed. Then the Pac 12 became the Pac-4. Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State and Utah departed for the Big 12. Oregon and Washington left for the Big 10. All of these changes will take place next year so ignore the Big 10 schedule as they now have 18 teams.
- We had another scary moment on the football field less than a year after Damar Hamlin’s heart stopping hit. Patriots rookie CB Isiah Bolden got hit and had to be carted off the field. He did have feeling in his extremities and was released from the hospital on Sunday. The game was suspended after the hit and practices are still postponed at this point. No official word on what his injury is.
- Michigan has self-imposed a 3-game ban on HC Harbaugh for violating committed during the COVID dead period. This is basically Michigan saying ‘hey were willing to play ball’ in hopes of minimizing the punishment when the NCAA looks at this case (which will likely be months from now). Those 3 games that Harbaugh will miss are easy games to say the least. Michigan is favored by 21 points in each of those.
Golf:
- World #1 Scottie Scheffler and Matt Fitzpatrick were up at the top on what was a two-man race at the BMW Championship, the 2nd FedEx Cup playoffs. But Viktor Hovland had something to say about that. He broke the course record and had his lowest round ever with a 61 (9-under). The previous mark of 62 had been tied the last 2 days by Max Homa and Sam Burns. Putting continued to be the story for Scheffler, who missed a 6-foot putt and a bogey on the 17th to give his lead up. Hovland won by 2. However, Scottie placed high enough to keep the top spot in the FedEx Cup playoffs giving him a 2-shot advantage over the field in next week’s Tour Championship. The Tour is only the top 30 players in the rankings in the finale of the season. Fitzpatrick was the only golfer who was sitting outside the top 30 who finished inside.
- FedEx St. Jude Championship was the first playoff event. That was two weeks ago and so I wont cover a ton of it but it was remarkable as Lucas Glover won the final event of the regular season, the Wyndham Championship to get into the FedEx Championship and then went back-to-back winning that tournament too! He won in playoff fashion as well, fitting for the first playoff event with Patrick Cantlay. Cantlay carded a bogey on the playoff hole while Glover took the par.
- The auto qualifiers for the Ryder Cup have been announced for Team USA and they are: Scottie Scheffler, Wyndham Clark, Xander Schauffle, Max Homa, Patrick Cantlay and Brian Harman. Zach Johnson, the team captain, will announce his captains picks on the 29th. The Ryder Cup will take place Sept 29-Oct 1 in Rome.
Olympic Sports:
- It is Track & Field World Championships and we have just gotten started.
- NED had gold in hand twice on day 1 but fell (literally)! Hassan was trying to do the 1500, 5k and 10k triple and she got tripped up in the last 40m. Then 4×4 mixed relay, NED was in the lead and had their best runner up in Femke Bol but she tripped three steps before the line. USA wins gold and a new WR in that event.
- Ryan Crouser competed on two blood clots and won in the M Shot Put. He also threw the 2nd farthest mark of all time, only 2nd to his WR throw. USA Joe Kovacs got 3rd. Another UT athlete placed, Tara Davis-Woodhall got silver in the W LJ.
- In the M 100m, the reigning world champ USA Fred Kerley out in semifinals after a slow start. But the USA was still well represented in the race with USA Noah Lyles and Christian Coleman (2019 champ). Lyles took it although he didn’t look as good as he did in the Semis. Botswana’s Tebogo got silver and that is Africa’s first medal. Lyles’ best race is the 200 which he will be competing in later in these championships.
- In the M 110h, Grant Holloway achieved the three-peat taking another world title and it was not close. He was in control the entire time. Now he just needs an Olympic gold, JAM Parchment took that in Tokyo and got silver this time. USA Roberts got 3rd.
- In the W 100m, CIV Ta Lou and LCA Alfred had not lost a 100m race in 2023. For the first time since 2017, USA took the 100m title! Sha’Carri does it from lane 9 and came from behind. She is the first person to qualify by time and not place to win gold. She beat the Jackson and Fraser-Price who was going for the 3-peat.
- No USA on the podium in the M&W 10,000m, M Hammer, M Discuss, M TJ,
Soccer:
- ESP became the 5th country to win a Women’s World Cup after beating ENG on Sunday 1-0. The lone goal came in the 29th minute by Olga Carmona. Carmona’s father passed away just hours after she scored that goal. The only countries to win a WWC are the USA, NOR, GER, JPN and now ESP. Each player will get a payday of $270k for winning. ESP had to go through SUI (5-1), NED (2-1 ET), SWE (2-1) and ENG (1-0). The game vs SWE was tied until Carmona scored in the 89th The host nation did well falling to ENG in the Semifinal. SWE got 3rd.
- ESP FA chief kissed a player on the mouth during the trophy presentation, causing some hoopla.
What to watch this week
Baseball – MLB:
- Mon 8/21
- Mariners at White Sox @ 7:10pm on FS1
- Tues 8/22
- Red Sox at Astros @ 7:10pm on TBS
- Wed 8/23
- Thurs 8/24
- Reds at Diamondbacks @ 8:40pm on FS1
- Fri 8/25
- Dodgers at Red Sox @ 6:10pm on Apple TV+
- Royals at Mariners @ 9:10pm on Apple TV+
- Sat 8/26
- LLWS: International Championship @ 11:30am on ABC
- LLWS: USA Championship @ 2:30pm on ABC
- Braves at Giants @ 3:05pm on FS1
- 3 games @ 6:15pm on FOX
- Cardinals at Phillies
- Rangers at Twins
- Cubs at Pirates
- Sun 8/27
- Angels at Mets @ 11:05am on Peacock
- Braves at Giants @ 6pm on ESPN
Basketball:
- Sat 8/26
- BIG3 Celebrity Game @ 11am on CBS
- BIG3 Championship and All-Star Game @ 12pm on CBS
Football-NCAAF:
- Sat 8/26
- Navy at 13. Notre Dame @ 1:30pm on NBC
- UTEP at Jacksonville St @ 4:30pm on CBSSN
- UMass at NM St @ 6pm on ESPN
- Ohio at San Diego St @ 6pm on FS1
- San Jose St at 6. USC @ 7pm on Pac12
- FIU at La Tech @ 8pm on CBSSN
Football-NFL:
- Mon 8/21
- Ravens at Commanders @ 7pm on ESPN
- Thurs 8/24
- Steelers at Falcons @ 6:30pm on NFL
- Colts at Eagles @ 7pm on Prime Video
- Fri 8/25
- Lions at Panthers @ 7pm on CBS
- Patriots at Titans @ 7:15pm on NFL
- Chargers at 49ers @ 9pm on NFL
- Sat 8/26
- Browns at Chiefs @ 12pm on NFL
- Jets at Giants @ 5pm on NFL
- Rams at Broncos @ 8pm on NFL
- Sun 8/27
- Texans at Saints @ 7pm on FOX
Golf:
- Thurs 8/24
- TOUR Championship – Round 1 @ 1pm on Golf Channel
- Fri 8/25
- TOUR Championship – Round 2 @ 1pm on Golf Channel
- Sat 8/26
- TOUR Championship – Round 3
- @ 1pm on Golf Channel
- @ 2pm on CBS
- TOUR Championship – Round 3
- Sun 8/27
- TOUR Championship – Final Round
- @ 12pm on Golf Channel
- @ 12:30pm on CBS
- TOUR Championship – Final Round
Motorsports:
- Sun 8/27
- F1: Dutch GP @ 8am on ESPN
Olympic Sports:
- Tues 8/22
- Athletics: World Championships – Day 4 @ 11:30am on USA
- Wed 8/23
- Athletics: World Championships – Day 5 @ 3am on USA
- Athletics: World Championships – Day 5 @ 12:30pm on USA
- Thurs 8/24
- Athletics: World Championships – Day 6 @ 12pm on USA
- Fri 8/25
- Athletics: World Championships – Day 7 @ 12:30pm on USA
- Sat 8/26
- Gymnastics: US Nationals – Men Day 1 @ 9:30am on CNBC
- Gymnastics: US Nationals – Women Day 1 @ 3:30pm on CNBC
- Gymnastics: US Nationals – Men Day 2 @ 6pm on CNBC
- Sun 8/27
- Gymnastics: US Nationals – Men Day 2 @ 11am on NBC
- Athletics: World Championships – Highlights @ 12pm on NBC
- Gymnastics: US Nationals – Women Day 2 @ 6pm on NBC
Soccer:
- Tues 8/22
- La Liga: Juarez vs Pumas UNAM @ 10pm on FS1
- Sat 8/26
- Premier League: Bournemouth vs Tottenham @ 6:30am on USA
- Premier League: Arsenal vs Fulham @ 9am on USA
- Premier League: Teams TBA @ 11:30am on NBC
- La Liga: Santos Laguna vs Guadalajara @ 10pm on FS1
- Sun 8/27
- Premier League: Sheffield United vs Manchester City @ 8am on USA
- Premier League: Newcastle vs Liverpool @ 10:30am on USA
