Weekly Update March 27, 2023

Baseball: Opening day this week! New rules. JPN>USA WBC

Basketball-NBA: Standings. Embiid out. Harden and Luka back. Young ejected.

Basketball-NCAA: Final Four is set and no #1s.

Football- NFL: Lamar requests trade.

Golf: Burns Dell Champ. Wallace wins Puntacana.

Olympic Sports: Ice Skating Worlds. World Athletics tightens trans rules. Mexico interested in summer games.

Baseball:

• It is opening week! The first games start at 12:05pm Braves vs Nationals and the Giants vs Yankees. But the first game on TV will be White Sox at Astros at 6pm on ESPN. You will notice some new rules this season. There is a pitch timer now with 15 seconds with no one on base and 20 with runners on. Violations can lead to an automatic ball or strike. Bases are now bigger as well from 15” to 18” which should reduce injuries and increase baserunning. There will also be 2 infielders on each side of 2^nd base and both have to have both feet on the dirt at release of the pitch. All of these are to lead to better pace of play and more action!
• Also a little golf in the baseball section. Angels Mike Trout is teaming up with Tiger Woods to build a golf course in NJ. The Trout National-The Reserve will be a private course, set to open in 2025.

• Team Japan beat USA in the final of the World Baseball Classic.

Basketball – NBA:

• Standings as season is coming to a close. In the East, we have 4 teams that have clinched their playoff spot: Bucks, Celtics, 76ers and Cavaliers in that order but no one team has clinched their division. Since the Bucks and Celtics are both in the Atlantic and the 76ers and Cavs are in the Central. In contrast in the West, the Nuggets have clinched their division (SW) as have the Grizzlies (NW).
  • Eliminated: (E) Hornets and Pistons, (W) Spurs and Rockets
• The 76ers are down Joel Embiid against the Nuggets tonight but might be getting Harden back. This is crucial as the 76ers are in the running for their division.

• Along the same lines, Luka Doncic is expected to play for the Mavericks, which are currently sitting outside of the playoffs. They have lost 4 in a row to fall one game out of a play-in spot. Luka originally was going to serve a one game suspension for his 16^th technical of the season but that technical was rescinded. The league rescinded it just 5 hours before tipoff. Their policy is 1 game suspension after the 16^th technical and every 2 after that.
• Hawks PG Trae Young was ejected from their game against the Pacers when he threw a ball to the refs in the 3Q. He had been called for a foul which led to a game tying 3 pointer when he threw the ball in anger. The Hawks won that game still 143-130.

Basketball-NCAA:

• It may be the end of march but the madness is not over. We no longer have a #1 seed in the tournament and our final four is set! Let’s start with the Sweet 16.
  • #3 Gonzaga survived a wild game with #2 UCLA, scoring 46 points in the 2H to win by 3. #4 UConn destroyed the #8 Razorbacks winning 88-65. #3 Kansas St and #7 Michigan St’s game went into OT before the Wildcats won. #9 FAU’s Cinderella story continued on Thursday after they beat #4 Tennessee after a slow 1H.
  • #5 San Diego St upset #1 seed and overall Alabama. Then the same thing happened in the next game #5 Miami sent #1 Houston home. That ends the #1 seeds – the first time since seeds started in 1979 that no #1s have reached the Elite 8. Houston was beat by double digits. #2 Texas is the highest remaining team to make it to the Elite 8 after beating #3 Xavier by 12. #15 Princeton’s storybook run came to an end against #6 Creighton who was just too much for the Tigers.

• • The Elite 8 began on Saturday and #4 UConn took their momentum from Thursday to put the beat down on #3 Gonzaga. The Huskies won 82-54 that is the largest Elite 8 win since 1992. #9 FAU pulls off an incredible upset, becoming the 3^rd 9 seed to make the Final Four in tournament history but the first since 2012.
  • Something about a #5 seed. #5 Miami sent home the Big 12’s last chance at a 3-peat #2 Texas. #5 San Diego St took down #6 Creighton by 1 point. This is the first Final Four trip for both Miami and San Diego St. FAU is also a first time FF team.

Football – NFL:

• Ravens QB Lamar Jackson has requested a trade from the Baltimore team! He came out on social media that he requested the trade after the team ‘has not been interested in meeting [his] value.’

Golf:

• Sam Burns had never played in the Dell Match Play until this year and he took the title. It wasn’t without it’s own madness in March. Sam Burns and World #1 Scottie Scheffler are buddies but it was a battle in the Semis that went into extra holes, 21 of them to be exact. Scottie looked to have Burns on the ropes but missed a 3 foot putt on the 20^th hole and that broke him. Burns won the next hole. The other semi was Cameron Young vs Rory McIlroy which also went to extra holes. Turns out the Semis should’ve been the final. Burns won the final 6&5 so at least that final 18 was over quickly. Rory beat Scottie to take 3^rd.

• ENG Matt Wallace took his first PGA Tour title at the Corales Puntacana Championship this weekend. Wallace closed in good form with 4 straight birdies which was a good thing since DEN Nicolai Hojgaard birdied the final hole with a 20 foot putt which would’ve taken the tournament to a playoff. This was Wallace’s 80^th start on the PGA Tour and he is a 4x European Tour Champ.

Olympic Sports:

• Ice Skating Worlds
  • Kaori Sakamoto became the first JPN woman to repeat as World Champion. She was leading over KOR Lee Hae-in after the short program and only made one mistake in her free skate (singling a triple jump). BEL took 3^rd and USA Levito took 4^th. Reason why that’s important that only gives USA two women’s spots at next year’s World Championships after placing 4^th, 12^th and 15^th.
  • US ice dancing pair Madison Chock and Evan Bates took home their first World Championship despite being together for 12 years. They beat the EU champs from ITA and CAN took bronze.

• World Athletics announced no transgender woman can compete in the women’s category is they went through puberty as a boy. They also tightened the maximum plasma testosterone for women competing as well by half to 2.5nanomoles per liter. This will effect Caster Semenya and Olympic silver medalist 200m Christine Mboma. Also the doping ban on Russia has ended, however RUS and BLR athletes will still be banned (or a neutral flag) due to the ban caused by the invasion of UKR.
• Mexico has announced it is interested in hosting the Summer Olympics in either 2036 or 2040. Mexico City had the games in 1968 but not since. In the running for the 2036 games is EGY, ENG, IND, INA, QTR, KOR

What to watch this week

Baseball – MLB:

• Thurs 3/30
  • White Sox at Astros @ 6pm on ESPN
    • Cease vs Valdez
• Sat 4/1
  • Phillies at Rangers @ 3:05pm on FOX
    • Wheeler vs Eovaldi
  • Giants at Yankees @ 3:05pm on FOX
  • Guardians at Mariners @ 8:40pm on FS1
    • Civale vs Gilbert
• Sun 4/2
  • Phillies at Rangers @ 6pm on ESPN
    • Walker vs Perez

Baseball/Softball – NCAA:

• Mon 3/27
  • Softball: 4. Clemson vs Georgia Tech @ 11:30am on ACC
  • Softball: Mizzou vs 22. Auburn @ 6pm on SEC
• Tues 3/28
  • Baseball: 6. Louisville vs Notre Dame @ 11am on ACC
  • Softball: Mizzou vs 22. Auburn @ 12pm on SEC
  • Baseball: Texas at 21. Texas A&M @ 6pm on SEC
  • Baseball: 3. Florida vs Florida St @ 6pm on ACC
• Wed 3/29
  • Softball: Texas Tech vs 9. Texas @ 4:30pm on LHGN
  • Softball: Louisville vs 14. Kentucky @ 5:30pm on ESPNU
• Thurs 3/30
  • Baseball: 11. South Carolina at Mississippi St @ 6pm on SEC
  • Baseball: 2. Wake Forest at Clemson @ 6pm on ACC
  • Baseball: 12. Tennessee vs 1. LSU @ 7pm on ESPNU
  • Baseball: Texas vs 21. Texas A&M @ 10:30pm on ESPNU
• Fri 3/31
  • Baseball: 11. South Carolina vs Mississippi St @ 11am on SEC
  • Baseball: 2. Wake Forest vs Clemson @ 12pm on ACC
  • Baseball: 11. South Carolina vs Mississippi St @ 1pm on ESPNU
  • Baseball: 12. Tennessee vs 1. LSU @ 6pm on SEC
  • Baseball: 8. UVA vs VTech @ 7pm on ACC
• Sat 4/1
  • Softball: 9. Texas vs 1. Oklahoma @ 11am on ESPN2
  • Softball: 4. Tennessee at 21. Texas A&M @ 1pm on SEC
  • Softball: Ole Miss vs 22. Auburn @ 3pm on SEC
  • Baseball: Georgia Tech vs 16. Boston College @ 3pm on ACC
  • Softball: 13. Alabama vs Mizzou @ 5pm on SEC
  • Baseball: Florida St vs 17. Miami @ 6pm on ACC
  • Baseball: 13. Ole Miss vs 21. Texas A&M @ 7pm on SEC
• Sun 4/2
  • Softball: 9. Texas vs 1. Oklahoma @ 11am on ESPN2
  • Softball: 16. Duke vs 15. VTech @ 11am on ACC
  • Baseball: 22. Mizzou vs 23. Kentucky @ 11am on SEC
  • Baseball: 6. Louisville vs NC St @ 11am on ESPNEWS
  • Baseball: Florida St vs 17. Miami @ 1pm on ESPNU
  • Softball: Georgia Tech vs 6. Florida St @ 1pm on ACC
  • Baseball: Alabama vs 5. Arkansas @ 2pm on SEC
  • Softball: 7. Stanford vs 3. UCLA @ 4pm on ESPNU
  • Softball: 14. Kentucky vs 17. Georgia @ 5pm on SEC

Basketball – NBA:

• Tues 3/28
  • Heat at Raptors @ 6:30pm on TNT
  • Pelicans at Warriors @ 9pm on TNT
• Wed 3/29
  • Mavericks at 76ers @ 6:30pm on ESPN
  • Timberwolves at Suns @ 9pm on ESPN
• Thurs 3/30
  • Celtics at Bucks @ 6:30pm on TNT
  • Pelicans at Nuggets @ 9pm on TNT

Basketball – NCAA:

• Thurs 3/30
  • NIT Championship @ 8:30pm on ESPN2
• Sat 4/1
  • Final Four: 9. FAU vs 5. San Diego St @ 5:09pm on CBS
  • Final Four: 5. Miami vs 4. UConn @ 7:49pm on CBS
• Mon 4/3
  • National Championship: Teams TBD @ TBD on TBD

Football – XFL:

• Mon 3/27
  • Houston Roughnecks at DC Defenders @ 6pm on ESPN2
• Fri 3/31
  • Sea Dragons at Renegades @ 6pm on FX
• Sat 4/1
  • Brahmas at Vipers @ 2pm on ESPN2
  • Defenders at Guardians @ 5pm on ESPN
• Sun 4/2
  • Battlehawks at Roughnecks @ 1pm on ESPN

Golf:

• Wed 3/29
  • Augusta Women’s Amateur – Round 1 @ 1:30pm on Golf Channel
• Thurs 3/30
  • Augusta Women’s Amateur – Round 2 @ 1:30pm on Golf Channel
  • Valspar Championship – Round 1 @ 4pm on Golf Channel
• Fri 3/31
  • LIV Tour: Orlando – Round 1 @ 12pm on CW
  • Valspar Championship – Round 2 @ 4pm on Golf Channel
• Sat 4/1
  • Valspar Championship – Round 3
    • @ 10am on Golf Channel
    • @ 2:30pm on NBC
  • Augusta Women’s Amateur – Final Round
    • @ 11am on NBC
    • @ 10pm on Golf Channel
  • LIV Tour: Orlando – Round 1 @ 12pm on CW
• Sun 4/2
  • Valspar Championship – Final Round
    • @ 10am on Golf Channel
    • @ 1:30pm on NBC
  • LIV Tour: Orlando – Round 1 @ 12pm on CW

Hockey:

• Mon 3/27
  • Kraken at Wild @ 7pm on hulu
• Tues 3/28
  • Oilers at Golden Knights @ 9pm on hulu
• Wed 3/29
  • Islanders at Capitals @ 6:30pm on TNT
  • Wild at Avalanche @ 9pm on TNT
• Thurs 3/30
  • Hurricanes at Red Wings @ 6:30pm on hulu
  • Ducks at Kraken @ 9pm on hulu
• Sat 4/1
  • Bruins at Penguins @ 2pm on ABC
  • Devils at Blackhawks @ 7pm on ESPN2
• Sun 4/2
  • Rangers at Capitals @ 12pm on TNT
  • Bruins at Blues @ 2:30pm on TNT

Motorsports:

• Sun 4/2
  • F1: Australian GP @ 12am on ESPN

 

Soccer:

• Mon 3/27
  • UEFA Euro Qualifying: IRE vs FRA @ 6pm on FS1
  • CONCACAF Nations League: USA vs ESA @ 6:30pm on TNT
• Tues 3/28
  • UEFA Euro Qualifying: NED vs Gibraltar @ 4am on FS1
  • UEFA Euro Qualifying: TUR vs CRO @ 1:30pm on FS1
  • UEFA Euro Qualifying: Wales vs LAT @ 6pm on FS1
  • International Friendly: GER vs BEL @ 10pm on FS1
• Sat 4/1
  • Premier League: Arsenal vs LeedsU @ 9am on USA
  • Premier League: Chelsea vs Aston Villa @ 11:30am on USA
  • German Bundesliga: Bayern Munich vs Borussia Dortmund @ 11:30am on ABC
• Sun 4/2
  • Premier League: West Ham vs Southampton @ 8am on USA
  • Premier League: NewcastleU vs ManU @ 10:30am on USA