Weekly Update – Week of September 28, 2020 (COVID Week 29)

Baseball: MLB post season begins! Yankees take home AL batting and HR titles. Angels and Red Sox will have new GMs.

Basketball: NBA Finals are set: Lakers vs Heat. Beasley felony.

Football-NCAAF: 5 losses (2 shockers) in the Top 25. Pac 12 decides to play football (welcome to the club – you’re late). GA St postponed game on error. Georgia QB confusion. VTech still win down 23 players.

Football-NFL: Fun MNF tonight. 8 games were close (TD or less). Wilson sets TD record. Montana thwarts kidnapper.

Golf: Swafford takes Corales DR title.

Hockey: Stars won in 2OT to force Game 6 – plays tonight!

Olympic Sports: JPN PM vows to have Olympics but there are some changes. Alanphilippe and van der Breggen win Road World Championships. Ice skating coming back.

Tennis: French Open begins! Finals next week. Coco Gauff beats #9, Nadal returns to the clay, Serena all onto round 2.

Baseball:

• That it for the regular season for the MLB! Playoffs are set to begin and 16 teams will be in the postseason.
  • NL: Dodgers (West Champs), Braves (East Champs), Cubs (Central Champs), Padres, Cardinals, Marlins, Reds and Brewers
  • AL: Rays (East Champs), A’s (West Champs), Twins (Central Champs), Indians, Yankees, Astros, White Sox and Blue Jays
• Yankees’ 2B DJ LeMahieu won the AL batting title (goes to the player with the best batting average in the league). Despite the Yankees losing 6 of the last 8 games, LeMahieu is the 4^th Yankee to take home the title; his batting average was .364. Luke Voit took home the HR title with 22 in this shorter season. This is the first pair of teammates to win these titles since 1959.
  • The National League batting title went to Nationals PF Juan Soto who became the youngest champion at 21 yrs old with a batting average of .351.
• LA Angels have fired their GM after their 5^th straight losing season. Bill Eppler had one more year on his contract that he will now not finish out. This will be the 3^rd GM change during Mike Trout’s career at the Angels. Eppler was responsible for recruiting Ohtani however and he has shown interest in remaining a 2 way player next season as well.
• Another manager change is Ron Roenicke will not return to the Red Sox. He was named as interim manager after the dismissal of Alex Cora (remember him from the Astros scandal?). No word yet on his replacement.

Basketball:

• The NBA Finals are set: the Lakers vs the Heat!
  • The Heat put away the Celtics last night 125-113 to win the series 4-2. Bam Adebayo was responsible for 32 points and Jimmy Butler had 22 points. The teams were tied with 6 minutes left before the Heat had a late game press going 26-6. The win probability calculator changed teams ~22xs in the game.
  • The Lakers had an easier time with the Nuggets, winning the series 4-1. This means LeBron is playing in his 10^th finals although when asked he is unimpressed unless they win the whole thing. The Lakers haven’t made the finals since 2010 with Kobe Bryant.
• Timberwolves G Malik Beasley is facing felony charges of controlled substance/narcotics and receiving/concealing stolen property and was arrested Saturday.

Football – NCAAF:

• There were 5 losses in the Top 25 this past weekend and 2 were shockers. #3 Oklahoma and #6 LSU both lost to teams at home that they were supposed to handle easily (OU favored by 27.5 and LSU by 14.5). They have since dropped 15 and 14 spots in the rankings. #8 Texas also had a close call, trailing by 15 with 3 minutes to go in the game and then barely making it to OT before putting away Texas Tech (the Longhorns were favored by 17.5).
  • Oklahoma blew what is thought to be the biggest lead lost in the stadium and LSU got beat by Mike Leech’s debut at Miss St.

• The Big 10 and Pac 12 (well Oregon) have been added back into the rankings! But they have slipped since their previous ranking. This is due to some voters not including the teams that aren’t currently playing but the AP poll announced that those teams are eligible to be included in the rankings. Check out the Football Teams page to see where your team is.
  • The Pac 12 announced this past week that they too will resume play with a potential start date of November 6.
• Georgia St and Charlotte postponed their game due to COVID…except they didn’t actually need to do that. The test results that Georgia St received from Thursday’s tests were incorrect saying there were 4 positive COVID cases and 17 contact tracing players. All those players were retested and came back negative, but the damage was done.
• Georgia had a slow start to their season opener against Arkansas running 49 offensive plays but not scoring until the end of the first half with a FG. Then the Bulldogs changed QBs. Stetson Bennett, a former walk on, replaced D’Wan Mathis and the dawgs went onto win 37-10. So the starter job is still wide open but keep in mind that’s mostly because USC transfer JT Daniels has not been cleared from a knee injury. Also another potential starter, transfer from Wake Forest Jamie Newman, opted out of the season, so don’t blame Georgia for being confused at who their QB is.
• VTech had an impressive performance against NC St this weekend wining 45-24. The score isn’t the impressive part, the Hokies were without 23 players due to COVID and contact tracing including their starting QB.

Football – NFL:

• Get ready for a great game tonight with the Ravens vs the SB champs the Chiefs. 2 good QBs and 2 undefeated teams promises a good game!
• 8 games were decided by a TD or less this weekend. The Bears had a miraculous comeback win, scoring 20 points in the 4^th quarter to beat the Falcons 30-26. The Bears remain undefeated and the Falcons fall to 0-3. The Saints have now lost 2 in a row. The Lions ended their 11-game losing streak. The Bengals/Eagles game ended in a tie… This isn’t the first time either.
• In their win against the Cowboys yesterday, the Seahawks celebrated their QB Russell Wilson who passed Patrick Mahomes with 14 TDs in the first 3 games. Mahomes had the most for his start in 2018. Wilson also is the 5^th player to throw at least 4 TDs in 3 straight games (after household names like Manning, Marino, Mahomes and Brees).

• Joe Montana is not only a hero on the field but also off after he and his wife thwarted a kidnapper from stealing their grandchild. The 4x Super Bowl champion was watching over his sleeping grandchild when a woman came in and grabbed the child. Mrs. Montana then pried the baby from the woman*. It was a super scary situation that could’ve ended a lot worse. *I will not use the woman’s name so as to not give her her 15 seconds of fame but her name is published.

Golf:

• Hudson Swafford may not be a name you recognize on the PGA Tour but he won his 2^nd PGA Tour title on Sunday at the Corales Punatacana Resort Championship. His last win came in 2017 after which he has been plagued by injuries. His 3 under final round was enough to win although it looks a little dicey after he was tied going into the final 3 holes. A pretty good finish for a tournament that basically started with a hornet sting. Maybe he should get stung more often!

Hockey:

• Tonight is Game 6 in the Stanley Cup Finals and Tampa Bay leads the series 3-2. The Stars have to win tonight to force a Game 7 and they were not happy about the call during Game 4 but rallied to win in 2OT to force a game 6!

Olympic Sports:

• Japan’s new PM has vowed to have the Olympics next year as a sign that humanity conquered the virus. The Tokyo Olympic organizers are announcing their plans to ‘simplification changes’ to the games. These include athlete rules for entering Japan, whether or not there will be fans and possible quarantine as well as more cost cutting efforts like shortening press availability, canceling the welcome ceremony for the athletes into the village, less office space, etc. There will be no cut in the number of athletes competing of the number of events. The Tokyo Olympics will open July 23, 2021.
• Julian Alaphilippe won the UCI Road World Championships this weekend in Italy, giving France its first Rainbow jersey (awarded with this win) since 1997. The race was 258.2km and Tour de France champion, Tadej Pogacar, took his attack too early in the penultimate lap. Anna van der Breggen of the NED won the women’s side. She also won the time trial on Thursday, making her the first woman to take the road race and time trial double since 1995.
• Ice skating returns with Skate America to be held in Vegas on 10/23-25 without fans. This will be the first of 6 ISU Grand Prix events and the first since March.
• Russia has been given 5 more months to fix their ‘seriously deficient’ doping plan by the World Athletics task force.

Tennis:

• French Open…
  • Men’s bracketDefending Champion Rafael Nadal is back on the clay and though to round 2
    • • oh and its fine, he’s only won 12 of these French Open titles…
  • Women’s bracketDefending Champion: Ashleigh Barty
    • Serena Williams is onto round 2 and so is Coco Gauff after topping #9 ranked British player Johanna Konta.
  • The finals will be played next week. Games can be watched on the Tennis Channel. Semifinals and finals will be on NBC next week

What to watch this week

Baseball:

• Tues 9/29
  • Astros at Twins @ 1pm on ABC
    • Greinke vs Maeda
  • White Sox at A’s @ 2pm on ESPN
  • Blue Jays at Rays @ 4pm on TBS
    • Ryu vs Snell
  • Yankees at Indians @ 6pm on ESPN
    • Cole vs Bieber
• Wed 9/30
  • Reds at Braves @ 11am on ESPN
    • Bauer at Fried
  • Astros at Twins @ 12pm on ESPN2
  • Marlins at Cubs @ 1pm on ABC
  • White Sox at A’s @ 2pm on ESPN
  • Blue Jays at Rays @ 3pm on TBS
  • Cardinals at Padres @ 4pm on ESPN2
  • Yankees at Indians @ 6pm ESPN
    • Tanaka vs Carrasco
  • Brewers at Dodgers @ 9pm on ESPN
• Thurs 10/1
  • Yankees at Indians @ TBD
  • Astros at Twins @ TBD
  • Blue Jays at Rays @ TBD
  • White Sox at A’s @ TBD
  • Marlins at Cubs @ TBD
  • Cardinals at Padres @ TBD
  • Reds at Braves @ TBD
  • Brewers at Dodgers @ TBD
• Fri 10/2
  • Brewers at Dodgers @ TBD
  • Marlins at Cubs @ TBD
  • Cardinals at Padres @ TBD
  • Reds at Braves @ TBD

Basketball:

• Wed 9/30 – NBA Finals Game 1
  • Heat at Lakers @ 8pm on ABC
• Fri 10/2 – NBA Finals Game 2
  • Heat at Lakers @ 8pm on ABC
• Sun 10/4 – NBA Finals Game 3
  • Lakers at Heat @ 6:30pm on ABC
• Game 4 – 7 next week: Game 4 (Tues), Game 5 (Fri), Game 6 (Sun), Game 7 (Tues)

Football-NCAAF:

Top 25
Week 5
Top 25 Games
Visitor	Home	Day	Time (CT)	TV
13. Texas A&M	2. Alabama	Sat 10/3	2:30 PM	CBS
12. UNC	Boston College	Sat 10/3	2:30 PM	ABC
25. Memphis	SMU	Sat 10/3	2:30 PM	ESPN2
7. Auburn	4. Georgia	Sat 10/3	6:30 PM	ESPN
18. Oklahoma	Iowa St	Sat 10/3	6:30 PM	ABC
*GameDay indicated in bold*

Football – NFL:

• Mon 9/28
  • Chiefs at Ravens @ 7:15pm on ESPN
• Thurs 10/1
  • Broncos at Jets @ 7:20pm on NFL
• Sun 10/4
  • 10 games @ 12pm on CBS/FOX depending on your geographical location
    • Colts at Bears
    • Jaguars at Bengals
    • Browns at Cowboys
    • Saints at Lions
    • Steelers at Titans
    • Seahawks at Dolphins
    • Chargers at Buccaneers
    • Ravens at Washington
    • Cardinals at Panthers
    • Vikings at Texans
  • Giants at Rams @ 3:05pm on Fox
  • Patriots at Chiefs – or – Bills at Raiders @ 3:25 on CBS
  • Eagles at 49ers @ 7:20pm on NBC
• Mon 10/5
  • Falcons at Packers @ 7:15pm on ESPN

Golf:

• Thurs 10/1 – Sanderson Farms Championship – Round 1 @ 3pm on Golf Channel
• Fri 10/2 – Sanderson Farms Championship – Round 2 @ 3pm on Golf Channel
• Sat 10/3 – Sanderson Farms Championship – Round 3 @ 3pm on Golf Channel
• Sun 10/4 – Sanderson Farms Championship – Round 4 @ 3pm on Golf Channel

Hockey:

• Mon 9/28 – Stanley Cup Final – Game 6
  • Lightning at Stars @ 7pm on NBC
    • TB Leads 3-2
  • Wed 9/30 – Stanley Cup Final – Game 7 if necessary
    • Stars at Lightning @ 7pm on NBC

Motorsports:

• Sun 10/4
  • NASCAR: YellaWood 500 @ 1pm on NBC

Olympic Sports:

• Tues 9/29
  • Cycling: UCI Road World Championship @ 12am on NBCSN
• Sun 10/4
  • London Marathon @ 1am on NBCSN

Soccer:

• Sat 10/3
  • Premier League: Everton vs Brighton & Hove Albion @ 8:55am on NBCSN
  • Premier League: Leeds United vs Manchester City @ 11:30am on NBC
  • NCAA Women’s: Mizzou at Vanderbilt @ 5pm on SEC
  • NCAA Women’s: LSU at Auburn @ 7pm on SEC
• Sun 10/4
  • Italian Serie A: Atalanta vs Cagliari @ 5:30am on ESPN2
  • Premier League: Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Fulham @ 8am on NBCSN
  • Premier League: ManU vs Tottenham Hotspur @ 10:25am on NBCSN
  • NCAA Women’s: South Carolina vs Kentucky @ 12pm on SEC
  • Premier League: Aston Villa vs Liverpool @ 1:10pm on NBCSN
  • NCAA Women’s: Arkansas vs Texas A&M @ 2pm on SEC
  • NCAA Women’s: Florida at Alabama @ 4pm on SEC
  • Super League: Manchester City vs Tottenham Hotspur @ 8pm on NBCSN

Tennis:

• Mon 9/28 – Fri 10/2 – French Open
  • All games 1^st – 3^rd round can be watched on Tennis Channel @ 6am – 3pm
• Sat 10/3
  • 6am – 3pm on Tennis Channel
  • 10am on Peacock
• Sun 10/4 – Men’s and Women’s 4^th round
  • 6am – 3pm on Tennis Channel
  • 10am on Peacock