Baseball: This week in the MLB. Lots of scoring. Standings update. LLWS goes to FL.
Football: FSU upset in week 0. Week 1 begins and its going to be awesome! New rules, new conferences and new CFP. NFL preseason over.
Golf: Bradley unlikely winner of the BMW Championship.
Motorsports: Norris wins 2nd F1 race.
Olympic Sports: Paralympic flag bearers announced. More WRs on the track. Dressel to LA28. Nedoroscik to DTWS
Tennis: US Open begins this week!
Baseball – MLB:
- MLB this week:
- Astros got the W over Red Sox on the final 2 outs of the game to win by 1, although they had twice as many hits. That was the same story for the Mets upsetting the Orioles with a solo HR in the final inning. In contrast the DBacks only had 8 hits but 9 runs scored including a grand slam. They beat the Marlins 9-6.
- The Angels and Royals both had 11 hits apiece, but the Angels scored 9 compared to the Royals’ 5. That ended KC’s 5-game win streak. The rangers won 1-0 over the Pirates with a single to bring in that run in the final out of the 9th The DBacks/Marlins game was a good one once again. DBacks got the win again 10-8 with a 4-run double. Quite impressive and high scoring. The Twins then beat the Padres 11-4 with a 7-run 4th inning and the Reds beat the Blue Jays 11-7. Those were 2 of the 4 games that had scores in double digits that day!
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- Thursday the Astros held the Orioles scoreless 6-0. That was their only win in the last 4 games (now 2 wins of the last 6 games). So did the Yankees to the Guardians. Literally same score as Aaron Judge hit his 48th HR this season. He would get his 49th the next day (Yanks win that game 3-0). Speaking of notable performances, Nationals P Patrick Corbin got his 100th career victory as they beat the Rockies 8-3.
- The Dbacks have had themselves a week. They beat the Red Sox 12-2 on Friday. The Padres killed the Mets 7-0. The Mariners get the win in the 10th by 1 over the Giants. They both have the same record of 65-64. Shoehei Ohtani got into the 40/40 club in their game against the Rays. Dodgers win 7-3 with Ohtani’s walk off grand slam.
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- Blue Jays P Francis was so close to a no hitter until Angels Taylor Ward hit a HR to start the 9th That would be their only hit of the game though as they lose 1-3 and had two errors. Francis K’d 12 batters. Other than that there was a lot of scoring on Saturday. The Cubs had 17 hits and 14 runs against the Marlins. They won 14-2. The Reds started off their game against the Pirates hot scoring 4 runs in the first inning, ultimately winning 10-2. The Tigers beat the White Sox 13-4 although they both had almost the same amount of hits. The CHI team just couldn’t capitalize. The Phillies put up 11 on the Royals who only managed 2 runs. The Guardians scored 13 in their win over the Rangers who had 5. The Dodgers had won 5 in a row before their loss in the 10th to the Rays on Saturday. It was a close one although not by hits. Rays win 9-8 with 15 hits (compared to the Dodgers 8 runs and 8 hits).
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- On Sunday, Aaron Judge would had HR #50 and #51 as they beat the Rockies 10-3. The A’s were done with their scoring in one inning. Their 4th inning had 4 runs and that was enough to hold on to upset the Brewers by 1. The Padres had a walkoff HR to win by 1 run over the Mets in a close one! Dodgers Mookie Betts hit a 2-run HR to take the lead in the 8th inning for the LA team over the Rays.
- The longest game of the week was Tuesday between the Guardians and Yankees. It went into the 12th The Yankees came out hot, putting up 2 in the 1st but the Guardians came back one run at a time for the next 3 innings. We were tied 3-3 at the end of the 4th inning and regulation. We had no runs until the 12th and then it got crazy. The Guardians got a single, double and triple in their rally to score 6! The Yankees tried to mount a comeback but only managed to put up 2. Cleveland won 9-5.
- Standings: Oct 1 is the first day of playoffs with the wild card games. Things are starting to heat up! No one has clinched their division yet but we do have our first team to be eliminated.
- In the AL, it is close at the top. The Yankees lead with 77 wins but the Guardians and Orioles are both close behind by 1.5 games.
- Eliminated: we have our first team eliminated from playoffs already in the White Sox. They have 100 losses and only 31 wins. Yikes!!
- In the NL, the Dodgers lead with 78 wins over the Phillies with 76 wins. But then there are 3 teams close behind them. 4 teams are sitting at 75 wins or more.
- No teams have been eliminated yet in the NL. The Marlins are the bottom of the league but only by .5 over the Rockies. They both have less than 50 wins.
- In the AL, it is close at the top. The Yankees lead with 77 wins but the Guardians and Orioles are both close behind by 1.5 games.
- The LLWS came down to Florida from the US and Taipei for the international. Taipei scored first early in the game. Florida finally managed to come back in the 6th with 2 outs. We then headed to extra innings before Taipei had a throwing error to allow Florida to get the win. Quite a way to end.
Football:
- Week 0 only had 3 games on tv but it was a great game 1 in Ireland. #10 Florida State vs Georgia Tech was the Aer Lingus game this year. This game was the perfect start for this crazy season. We were tied 14-14 at half and FSU had 2 FGs over 50 yards+ including a 59 yarder. GT took the lead with a long drive at the beginning of the 4Q. FSU came back and did the exact same thing so again we were tied in the final 7 minutes of the game. But GT had the ball last and they made it count. Fittingly the game ended on a 44 yard FG and that completes the Top 10 upset. Crazy start!!
- This is the first season of the 12 team playoff. Let’s talk about what that means. The teams will be the 5 highest ranked conference champions and 7 at large teams. The highest ranked Group of 5 conference champion is guaranteed a spot! The 4 highest ranked conference champions will be seeded 1-4 and will get a first round bye. Conference Championships is highly prioritized in this new system. Meaning independents like a Notre Dame will never have a first-round bye. The first round will be played at home for the teams ranked 5-10. Then the games progress as normal. The Quarterfinals onward will be played at normal bowl game locals (New Year’s Six). This year’s semifinals will be the Orange and Cotton Bowl with the final being held in Atlanta. The final game will be played on Jan 20th, later than every before.
- Conference Realignment:
- ACC: SMU, Cal and Stanford joined.
- Big 10: Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington
- Big 12: Arizona, Arizona St, Colorado and Utah
- SEC: Texas and Oklahoma.
- Pac 12: Now its just the Pac 2 with Oregon St and Washington St. Those two will play against the WCC for most of the season but are guaranteed in the Pac 12 championship. Although the Pac 12 is now considered a Group of 5 conference.
- There are some new rules for this season. First one player on each team will have in-helmet communications. Their helmets have been fitted with radios that go back to the coaches for play calls. Radios will be cut off when the play clock reached 15 seconds or at the snap whichever happens first. This will mitigate the sign stealing controversy from last year. If you see the green dot on the back of the helmet that indicates that they have the radio. Teams can also use tablets for in-game video. A rule from the NFL has made its way to CFB. There will now be a 2 min TO in the final 2 min of each half. Horse-collar tackles’ in the tackle box will now be penalized 15 yards (prev not a foul).
- Preseason is now over. Week 1 of the NFL will begin Sept 5th and will run through Jan 5th at week 18. Feb 9th is Super Bowl LIX in NOLA.
Golf:
- Keegan Bradley won the 2nd FedEx Cup event, the BMW Championship in Denver. It was a surprise to say the least as he was LAST golfer in the event after the St. Jude event in TN. He won with a par in the final round to win by 1 over Adam Scott, Sam Burns and Ludvig Aberg. So he went from being ranked 50th to 4th and will start just 4 shots off Scottie Scheffler at the Tour Championship in East Lake next week for the FedEx Cup finale. Bradley was also named a Ryder Cup captain and is the first one to win a PGA Tour tournament in 9 years.
- Next week we have the finale of the FedEx Cup Championship at East Lake with the Tour Championship. Remember this is a different format with some golfers starting with a score below par. Scottie Scheffler, #1 in the FedEx Cup standings, will be leading starting with a -10. Xander Schauffle will be 2nd at -8 and Hideki Matsuyama will be 3rd at -7. Only 30 golfers will play this week. Remember last year, Scottie Scheffler had a dominant year but then lost the championship in the final days.
Motorsports:
- Lando Norris dominated all weekend leading free practice 1 and then taking pole in qualifying. He then messed up the start, giving the lead to Verstappen. But he bided his time and passed Max on the 18th lap and lead the entire race after that. He won by 22 seconds and even set the fastest lap of the race on the final lap as well. Verstappen still leads the championship but only by 70 points with 9 races to go. This is Norris’ 2nd.
Olympic Sports:
- Steve Serio and Nicky Nieves have been names as the US flag bearers for the Paralympic games which is set to start this week. Serio plays wheelchair bball and won gold in the 2016 and 2020 games. Nieves plays sitting vball and won gold in 2016.
- As if you need more Olympic news, but the Diamond Legaue got back in action this week (with multiple meets) so we have some more to go over. SWE Mondo Duplantis broke his WR in the men’s PV again for the 10th time, clearing 6.26m. Just keeps chipping away at it .1m at a time. The podium at the Diamond League event in POL was the exact same from Paris. Also a gold medalist from Paris, NOR Jakob Ingebrigtsen broke the WR in the 3000m that was set back in 1996 and he did so by 3 seconds! Ingrebrigtsen won the 5000m in Paris but lost his defending chance int eh 1500m to Cole Hocker. Jakob got revenge on Cole at the DL meet in Lausanne this week as well.
- Good news! Caleb Dressel has said that he wants to keep swimming and compete in LA28, mainly in the 50 free. It was no secret that he didn’t have the Olympics he wanted this go around but he said he feels good and wants to keep racing. Def good news for Team USA.
- Stephen Nedoroscik, the viral sensation on the US men’s gymnastics team for his pommel horse, will be on this season of DTWS.
Tennis:
- The US Open begins
What to watch this week
Baseball – MLB:
- Mon 8/26
- Astros at Phillies @ 5:40pm on FS1
- Blanco vs Wheeler
- Rays at Mariners @ 8:40pm on FS1
- Pepiot vs Miller
- Astros at Phillies @ 5:40pm on FS1
- Tues 8/27
- Astros at Phillies @ 5:40pm on TBS
- Verlander vs Nola
- Astros at Phillies @ 5:40pm on TBS
- Fri 8/30
- Padres at Rats @ 5:50pm on Apple TV+
- Mariners at Angels @ 8:38pm on Apple TV+
- Sat 8/31
- Braves at Phillies – or – Brewers at Reds @ 6:15pm on FOX
- Sun 9/1
- Braves at Phillies @ 6pm on ESPN
- Schwellenbach vs Nola
- Braves at Phillies @ 6pm on ESPN
Football – NCAAF:
| Top 25 | |||||
| Week 1 | |||||
| Top 25 Games | |||||
| Visitor | Home | Day | Time (CT) | TV | Line |
| 14. Clemson | 1. Georgia | Sat 8/31 | 11:00 AM | ABC | +13.5 |
| SD St | 17. Oklahoma St | Sat 8/31 | 1:00 PM | ESPN+ | +10 |
| 19. Miami | Florida | Sat 8/31 | 2:30 PM | ABC | -2.5 |
| 7. Notre Dame | 20. Texas A&M | Sat 8/31 | 6:30 PM | ABC | +3 |
| 23. USC | 13. LSU | Sun 9/1 | 6:30 PM | ABC | +4 |
| *GameDay indicated in bold* | |||||
Golf:
- Thurs 8/29
- Tour Championship – Round 1 @ 12pm on Golf Channel
- Fri 8/30
- Tour Championship – Round 2 @ 12pm on Golf Channel
- Sat 8/31
- Tour Championship – Round 3
- @12pm on Golf Channel
- @ 1:30pm on NBC
- Tour Championship – Round 3
- Sun 9/1
- Tour Championship – Final Round
- @ 11am on Golf Channel
- @ 12:30pm on NBC
- Tour Championship – Final Round
Motorsports:
- Sun 9/1
- F1: Pirelli ITA GP @ 8am on ESPN
Olympics Sports:
- Wed 8/28
- Paralympics: Opening Ceremony @ 1pm on USA
- Thurs 8/29
- Paralympics: Heats, Group play, T&F, etc @ 9am – 4pm @ USA
- Fri 8/30
- Paralympics: Swim, T&F, Group play @ 4am – 4pm on USA
- Paralympics: Gold Medals Day 2 @ 3pm on USA
- Paralympics: Opening Ceremony @ 8pm on NBC
- Sun 9/1
- Paralympics: Swim and others @ 11am on NBC
- NCAA Volleyball: Stanford vs Minnesota @ 2pm on FS1
- Paralympics: Primetime @ 6pm on NBC
- NCAA Volleyball: Texas vs Wisconsin @ 9:30pm on FS1
- Mon 9/2
- Paralympics: Triathlon, Swim, T&F, Group play, tennis, etc @ 4am – 4pm on USA
- Paralympics: Gold Medal Final Wheelchair Rugby @ 2:45pm on USA
Soccer:
- Sat 8/31
- Premier League: Arsenal vs Brighton @ 6:30am on USA
- Premier League: Everton vs Bournemouth @ 9am on USA
- Premier League: Teams TBA @ 11:30am on NBC
- Sun 9/1
- Premier League: Newcastle vs Tottenham @ 7:30am on USA
- NWSL: NC Courage vs KC Current @ 1pm on CBS
- NWSL: Angel City vs Chicago Red Stars @ 3pm on CBS
Tennis:
- Mon 8/26
- US Open: Primetime @ 6pm on ESPN
- Tues 8/27
- US Open: 1st Round @ 11am on ESPN
- US Open: Primetime @ 6pm on ESPN
- Wed 8/28
- US Open: 2nd Round @ 11am on ESPN
- US Open: Primetime @ 6pm on ESPN
- Thurs 8/29
- US Open: 2nd Round @ 11am on ESPN
- US Open: 2nd Round @ 5pm on ESPN2
- US Open: Primetime @ 6pm on ESPN
- Fri 8/30
- US Open: 3rd Round @ 11am on ESPN
- US Open: 3rd Round @ 5pm on ESPN2
- US Open: Primetime @ 6pm on ESPN2
- Sat 8/31
- US Open: 3rd Round @ 10am on ESPN2
- US Open: Primetime @ 6pm on ESPN2
- Sun 9/1
- US Open: Round of 16 @ 10am on ESPN
- US Open: Round of 16 @ 5pm on ESPN2
- US Open: Primetime @ 6pm on ESPN2
- Mon 9/2
- US Open: Round of 16 @ 10am on ESPN
- US Open: Primetime @ 6pm on ESPN2
