Baseball: Updates. Valdez no-hitter. Verlander back in H-Town. Guardians/White Sox brawl.
Football: Conference re-alignment craziness. Pro HoFers adds 9.
Golf: Glover wins Wyndham. DeChambeau shoots 58 and wins Greenbrier. 2024 PGA scheduled announced.
Olympic Sports: Biles is back! USA Gym and Nike extend sponsorship.
Soccer: SWE send USA home in PKs.
Coming up this month:
Sailing World Championships (Aug 10-18), Little League World Series (Aug 17-27), Track & Field World Championships (Aug 19-27), US Gymnastics (Aug 24-27), FIBA World Games (Aug 25- Sept 10), College Football Week 0 (Aug 26), Aer Lingus College Football Classic – Notre Dame vs Navy (Aug 26), US Open – Tennis (Aug 28 – Sept 10), CFB Week 1 (Aug 31-Sept 4)
Baseball – MLB:
- This week’s updates: Starting off the week, Phillies P Taijuan Walker is the first to hit 12 wins this season after beating the Marlins on Monday 4-2 and rallied in the 9th on Tuesday to take that win too. The Angels got 10 hits and 3 solo HRs to beat the MLB leading Braves 4-1. The Rockies upset the Padres in the 10th off a sacrifice fly to win 4-3. The Diamondbacks took the W in the 11th over the Giants by 1 run. The Brewers stopped their 4 game skid by beating the Nationals on Tuesday 6-4. Walker may have been the first but Rays P Eflin got his 12th win on Tuesday over the Yankees thanks to 6 shutout innings and a 5-2 score. The Orioles destroyed the Blue Jays 13-3 with RF Santander’s 2nd GS of his career. And if you thought that score was bad, the Cubs beat the Reds 20-9 that same day and then 16-6 the next day. The Twins finally broke their 5-game losing streak by a 3-2 win over the Cardinals. Rangers P Heaney struck out 11 batters and the Rangers beat the White Sox 2-0 in under 2 hours. On Wednesday, the Braves put the beat down on the Angels beating them 12-5, 3 of those being HRs. The Brewers had 3 errors including a costly one in the 9th to give the Nationals the W. The Marlins came back to win in the 12th inning after bases were loaded, winning 9-8. The Orioles stopped their 5-game at home losing streak by beating the Orioles 4-1. Dodgers star Mookie Betts hit his 29th HR in their 10-1 win over the A’s. Scherzer won his debut for the Rangers 5-3 over the White Sox. The Brewers took back the NL Central after winning 14-1 over the Pirates. Shohei Ohtani hit his 40th HR on Thursday after exiting the mound early with finger cramps and thus the Mariners got the W 5-3. The Braves had back-to-back HRs on Friday to stop the Cubs hot streak, winning 8-0. Blue Jays 2B Davis Schneider hit a HR in his first major league at-bat to help his team win over the Red Sox 7-3 and then 13-1 on Sunday. The Royals swept the Twins and Mets and won their 7th game straight on Friday before losing to the Phillies on Saturday. Verlander threw 7 innings to debut his 2nd time as a Astro but they lose to the Yankees 3-1. Rangers rallied from 0-5 start to beat the Marlins 9-8. The Reds took their 5th straight loss as the Nationals P Adon retired the first 17 batters, winning 7-3. The Reds would lose another on Sunday to get to 6. On the flip side, the Cubs beat the leading Braves 6-4 to take their 6th straight win. Mariners are on their 5th straight victory on Sunday in the 10th inning and they sweep the Angels.
- Astros Framber Valdez threw the 16th no-hitter in Astros history on Tuesday against the Guardians on Tuesday. He only took 93 pitches with 65 of those being strikes. He did walk one batter in the 5th but the team got him out on a double play in that inning. This is only the 3rd no-hitter this season.
- That’s not the only headline the Houston team had this week. They re-acquired P Justin Verlander from the Mets. They shipped off OF Drew Gilbert and Ryan Clifford to get their ace back.
- The White Sox took the W over the Guardians on Saturday but after a brawl broke out. White Sox SS Tim Anderson and Guardians 3B Jose Ramirez exchanged punches and have since gotten suspended for their bench clearing fight. Anderson has been suspended for 6 games and Ramirez for 3. Also suspended for 1 game is the Guardians closer Emmanuel Chase, the managers and Guardians 3B coach. The fight broke out after Ramirez slid into 2nd safely I will also add n the 6th inning. The White Sox won 7-4 as they had 3 solo HR in 5 batters.
Football:
- Ok so craziness went down in college football this week. Moral of the story, the fact that the Pac 12 did not have a TV deal solidified. So last week, Colorado re-joined the Big 12. And that started the dominoes falling. Thursday, Arizona looked to join te Big 12 too. Then we thought that was a maybe and the Pac 12 was saved. Friday, Washington and Oregon joined the Big 10. But we weren’t done, later on Friday Arizona State and Utah also announced they were leaving and joining the Big 12. That only leaves 4 teams in the Pac 12 which was formed in 1915. To put that in perspective, the SEC wasn’t created until 1934. So that leaves Cal, Stanford, Oregon State and Washington State. We are left with a lot of rumors and questions. What happens to the rest of the Pac 12? Potentially being absorbed by the Mountain West. The ACC is potentially looking at Cal and Stanford joining. Are we done with all of this? Who knows! Notre Dame and Florida State are still ‘up for grabs’ and for those of you confused, Florida State has been talking with PE firms to fund their early exit from the ACC.
- The NFL added 9 HoF. LB/DE DeMarcus Ware, LB Zach Thomas, OT Joe Thomas, CB Darelle Revis, CB Ronde Barber, DL Joe Klecko, LB Chuck Howley, CB Ken Riley, coach Don Coryell congratulations.
Golf:
- Lucas Glover solidified his spot in the FedEx Cup Playoffs after taking the Wyndham Championship. He won by 2 strokes over Russell Henley and Byeong Hun An on the birthday of his late grandfather that to him into the game of golf. This was Glovers’ 5th PGA Tour win starting from 2005 and including the 2009 US Open.
- JT will not be in the FedEx Cup playoffs after this putt to get him into the Top 70 lipped out.
- The LIV event this past week saw a first. Bryson DeChambeau shot a 58 on Sunday, carding 13 birdies at Greenbrier. This was also Bryson’s first LIV Tour victory by 6 shots over Mito Pereira. The Greenbrier you might recognize as it hosted a PGA Tour event for 9 years and in fact at it’s inaugural tournament, the winner Stuart Appleby shot s 59 in the final round to win! His Torque team won as well.
- Only happened 1 time on PGA Tour (2016 Travelers by Furyk) and 4th time in a top league of golf. The lowest score ever recorded is a 57.
- 2024 PGA Tour schedule is announced. There will be 36 regular season events from Jan – Aug with 8 signatures and only 3 of those will have cuts after 36 holes. Those 8 do not include the majors and the PLAYERS. We have not seen a calendar year schedule since 2012. Playoffs will begin (like this year) with the FedEx St. Jude hosting the top 70 by FedEx Cup points, then BMW top 50 and Tour top 30. The 8 signature events are the Sentry, AT&T Pebble Beach, Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational, RBC Heritage, WF Championship, Memorial and Travelers, meaning they will reward higher purses and more FedEx Cup points. The 3 that will have cuts are the player hosted tournaments.
Olympic Sports:
- Biles is back! Simone competed for the first time in 2 years at the Hydration Classic this weekend and took home the All-Around, Floor, Vault and Beam titles. She took the All-Around title by 5 points over LeAnn Wong, looking just like her old self. This was the final meet to qualify for Nationals which is at the end of the month. Suni Lee, Jade Carey and Jordan Chiles all competed this weekend. But no one shone quite like the GOAT herself.
- Sticking with Gymnastics news. Nike and USA Gymnastics have extended their sponsorship deal through the 2028 Olympic Games.
Soccer:
- The USWNT is out of the World Cup. This is the earliest exit for the US team ever as we had either won the entire thing or at least made it to the Semifinal. SWE and USA were evenly matched although the USA looked better than they had all WC. MVP has to go to the SWE goalkeeper Musovic who had 11 saves. In comparison, Naher only had 1. So the USA had their chances including 9 corners, 4 offsides calls and 22 shots (11 on target). But we ended regulation 0-0 with very limited ET added. Then we played the additional 30 minute with no goals so we headed to penalty kicks.
- We were perfect through the first 4 PKs, Tied 2-2. Then Naher saves the next one. USA scores (were up 1). SWE missed. All Rapinoe had to do was make it and we win… but she missed. Then we get a killer save. Then Sophia Smith could put it away and missed. SWE had to make the final goal to keep their WC dream alive and they do. Then we go 1 for 1 now. Goalie Naher takes a PK and makes it. Then SWE scores. Sub at the last minute, Ohara hits the post and misses. SWE Hurtig shoots and Naher gets another save but it goes over the goal line by the slightest of margins, literally had to be reviewed by VAR and the USA goes home. SWE was #3 coming in and sends #1 home.
- Julie Ertz has announced her retirement. Rapinoe had said she would also retire and did mention that it’s a sick joke to miss the final goal of her career.
What to watch this week
Baseball – MLB:
- Tues 8/8
- Astros at Orioles @ 6:05pm on TBS
- France vs Rodriguez
- Astros at Orioles @ 6:05pm on TBS
- Fri 8/11
- Cubs at Blue Jays @ 6:07pm on Apple TV+
- Rangers at Giants @ 9:15pm on Apple TV+
- Sat 8/12
- 3 games @ 6:15pm on FOX
- Angels at Astros
- Braves at Mets
- Brewers at White Sox
- Orioles at Mariners @ 8:40pm on FS1
- Bradish vs Kirby
- 3 games @ 6:15pm on FOX
- Sun 8/13
- Tigers at Red Sox @ 11:05am on Peacock
- Braves at Mets @ 6pm on ESPN
- Fried vs Carrasco
Basketball:
- Mon 8/7
- USA Showcase: USA vs PR @ 9pm on FS1
- Sat 8/12
- USA Showcase: USA vs SLO @ 2:30pm on FS1
- Sun 8/13
- USA Showcase: USA vs ESP @ 2:30pm on FOX
Football:
- Thurs 8/10
- Texans at Patriots @ 6pm on NFL Network
- Vikings at Seahawks @ 9pm on NFL Network
- Fri 8/11
- Packers at Bengals @ 6pm on NFL Network
- Broncos at Cardinals @ 9pm on NFL Network
- Sat 8/12
- Titans at Bears @ 12pm on NBC
- Jets at Panthers @ 3pm on NFL Network
- Eagles at Ravens @ 6pm on NFL Network
- Chargers at Rams @ 8pm on NFL Network
- Sun 8/13
- Chiefs at Saints @ 12pm on NFL Network
- 49ers at Raiders @ 3pm on NFL Network
Golf:
- Thurs 8/10
- LPGA: AIG Women’s Open – Round 1 @ 5am on USA
- PGA: FedEx St. Jude Championship – Round 1 @ 2pm on Golf Channel
- Fri 8/11
- LPGA: AIG Women’s Open – Round 2 @ 5am on USA
- LIV: Bedminster – Round 1 @ 12pm on CW
- PGA: FedEx St. Jude Championship – Round 2 @ 2pm on Golf Channel
- Sat 8/12
- LPGA: AIG Women’s Open – Round 3 @ 6am on USA
- LIV: Bedminster – Round 2 @ 12pm on CW
- PGA: FedEx St. Jude Championship – Round 3
- @ 1pm on Golf Channel
- @ 2pm on CBS
- Sun 8/13
- LPGA: AIG Women’s Open – Final round
- @ 6am on USA
- @ 11am on NBC
- PGA: FedEx St. Jude Championship – Final Round
- @ 1pm on Golf Channel
- @ 2pm on CBS
- LIV: Bedminster – Final Round @ 12pm on CW
- LPGA: AIG Women’s Open – Final round
Soccer:
- Mon 8/7
- FIFA W World Cup: ENG vs NIG @ 2:30am on FS1
- FIFA W World Cup: AUS vs DEN @ 5:30am on FS1
- Leagues Cup: Queretaro vs NE Revolution @ 7pm on FS1
- Tues 8/8
- FIFA W World Cup: COL vs JAM @ 3am on FS1
- FIFA W World Cup: FRA vs MOR @ 6am on FS1
- Leagues Cup: Round of 16 @ 7pm on FS1
- Thurs 8/10
- FC Barcelona vs Tottenham @ 3am on FS1
- FIFA W World Cup: Quarterfinal: ESP vs NED @ 8pm on FOX
- @ 11pm on FS1
- Fri 8/11
- FIFA W World Cup: Quarterfinal: JPN vs SWE @ 2:30am on FOX
- @ 5:30am on FS1
- Premier League: Burnley vs Manchester City @ 2pm on USA
- FIFA W World Cup: Quarterfinal: JPN vs SWE @ 2:30am on FOX
- Sat 8/12
- FIFA W World Cup: Quarterfinal: AUS vs TBD @ 2am on FOX
- FIFA W World Cup: Quarterfinal: ENG vs TBD @ 5:30am on FOX
