Baseball: Verlander needs Tommy John. Voit hits 21 HR. Gardenhire retires. 7 clinched playoff berths. Padres in playoffs for first time since 2006.
Basketball: Conference Finals. Greek Freak MVP (LeBron being whiny).
Football-NCAAF: 2 losses in Top 25. SEC joins play. Big 10 announces their schedule. D1 diversity pledge. Coach Deion Sanders. No game this week for UNC.
Football-NFL: Alllll the injuries. Dallas wins in upset. Brady gets his first Buc W.
Golf: DeChambeau wins US Open. Furyk goes 2 for 2 on Champions.
Hockey: Stanley Cup finals are on: Dallas Stars vs Tampa Bay Lightening
Olympic Sports: Tour de France’s SLO stunner. Duplantis breaks 26 year old WR. Chani banned. More Gymnastics abuse.
Baseball:
- Sorry Houston fans – Astros RHP Justin Verlander Will undergo Tommy John surgery. He hadn’t pitched since his season debut on July 24 but in a simulated game in his home, he ‘felt something in his elbow.’ He ends his 2020 season undefeated (lol) 1-0 with 7 KOs. This is only the 2nd time Verlander has been on the IL (2015 being the last time) but not all is lost as Verlander is still under contract for 2021 at $33MM before he becomes a free agent.
- The Padres have made the playoffs for the first time since 2006! To put that in perspective, the top song that year was ‘Bad Day’ by Daniel Powter and the Da Vinci Code and Cars hit theaters…
- Yankees Luke Voit leads the MLB in HR hit so far with 21. He hit that homer in the Yankees loss to the Red Sox 10-2 on Sunday.
- Tigers manager, Ron Gardenhire has announced his retirement which goes into effect immediately to focus on his health. The 62-year-old has been with the club for 2 years but previously with the Twins for 12 years has had cancer, diabetes and lately stomach issues causing him to miss games. He was also a coach for the Twins for 10 years.
- Bryce Harper was taken out of Sunday’s game against the Blue Jays after he struck out in the 7th inning (bases loaded) for lower back stiffness. Harper is one of the best players in the league and the Phillies need him in their run to make playoffs in the final weeks of the season.
- The MLB and MLBPA have committed $10MM to fund The Players Alliance aimed at increasing Black Americans to participate in baseball.
- The Cubs pulled LF Kyle Schwarber after he made a double into a triple on a poor defensive play in the 2nd The next inning Cameron Maybin took his place in the lineup and in the field.
- Here are the standing so far as we enter the final month of regular season play:
- American League:
- East: Rays
- Central: White Sox
- West: A’s
- National League:
- East: Braves
- Central: Cubs
- West: Dodgers (most wins in MLB)
- The following teams have clinched playoff berths: Rays, Yankees, White Sox, Twins, A’s, Dodgers and Padres (first time in the playoffs since 2006)
- American League:
Basketball:
- It’s the conference finals! Heat vs Celtics and the Lakers vs Nuggets. Conference finals end 9/30 at the latest if the West goes to Game 7.
- The Lakers lead the series 2-0. Anthony Davis shot the game-winning 3-pointer after yelling “Kobe!” in honor of the former Laker in a thrilling game 2. 9 points and 3 lead changes were in the last minute alone! The Nuggets are used to being underdogs having come through the previous 2 rounds trailing 3-1 so don’t rule them out just yet.
- Celtics fought back in Game 3 but are still down 2-1 in the series. This was after the Celtics had a 14 and 15 point leads in the 4th quartering Game 1 and 3rd quarter in Game 2 respectively.
- Giannis Antetokounmpo is the league MVP for 2020. But LeBron has overshadowed the headlines with his whining about the result. You think someone who has finished 2nd 4xs in the MVP race (and won 4xs as well) would be a better loser. But back to who we should be talking about with this story – Giannis has won the MVP award 2 years in a row despite fizzling out in the playoffs this year. He joins Hakeem Olajuwon and Michael Jordan to win both MVP and Defensive Player of the Year in the same season.
Football – NCAAF:
- There were 2 losses in the Top 25 this past weekend: Louisville and Appalachian St. This week the SEC begins play. There are 3 ranked opponent games – but GameDay is at Florida St vs Miami for the Florida showdown.
- The Big 10 will play on October 24. Their schedule has been announced and they will be added back into the rankings in the upcoming weeks. The White House approves.
- The Big 10 isn’t the only one who has changed their tune. UMass has agreed to play a limited schedule starting in mid-October. The school has tested 1800 times with only 2 positive results over the last 13 weeks. I know we were all concerned…
- 30 ADs of D1 schools have signed a diversity pledge to diversify their hiring pools with at least one candidate who is from an underrepresented background with a non-diverse candidate in NCAAM, NCAAW and NCAAF. It should be noted that the Texas A&M AD is the only Power 5 AD to sign the pledge so far.
- Deion Sanders is taking on a new gig as HC at Jackson State. Sanders has worn many hats: HoF NFL player, MLB player, currently OC at Trinity Christian School and now HC of a collegiate team! Coach Sanders has a nice ring to it.
- UNC has tried (and failed) to find an opponent for a game this weekend after their last game got canceled due to covid concerns at Charlotte (their opponent last week). So the Tar Heels will not play again until Oct. 3 with their last game being on 9/12.
Football – NFL:
- It was a crazy week! 8 games were decided by less than a TD and a lot of fantasy football rosters got blown up with injuries. Brady got his first W as a Buc. Cowboys pulled off an upset of the Falcons after a successful onside kick.
- Important injuries to note: Nick Bosa (likely season – potentially torn ACL), Sequon Barkley (out for the season – ACL tear), QB Drew Lock (3-5 wks with sprained AC joint), QB Jimmy Garoppolo (TBD – high ankle sprain), RB Christian McCaffrey (out ~1 month – high ankle sprain), S Malik Hooker (out for the season with Achilles tear), WR Courtland Sutton (season – ACL tear). The tweet below was too good not to share – trust me your bf will find it funny!
- Texans DT Ross Blacklock threw a punch and was ejected with 5 minutes left in the game on Sunday against the Ravens. It was not on the broadcast and coach O’Brien didn’t see it but JJ Watt did and called it stupid and selfish.
Golf:
- Bryson DeChambeau has won his first major at this weekend’s US Open. He was the only one under par for the entire week and won by 6 shots. Not that this course is hard but in the 6xs the US Open has been played at Winged Foot, only 3 men have finished under par (of 894 competitors) and Bryson’s score of -3 is the best! Matt Wolff, who had the lead going into Sunday, shot a final round of 75 to finish solo 2nd in his US Open debut. Get ready for all your golfer bros to be downing protein shakes on the course instead of beers.
- Jim Furyk has won the last 2 PGA Tour Champions tournaments, joining Arnold Palmer and Bruce Fleisher as the only players to go 2 for 2. He won the Ally Championship last month and now the PURE Insurance Championship. He clearly can still compete and you will see him on the PGA Tour as well as the Champions.
Hockey:
- The Stanley Cup playoffs are this week between the Dallas Stars vs the Tampa Bay Lightning. Game 2 is tonight and Game 6 and 7 if needed will be next week!
Olympic Sports:
- The Tour de France has its second youngest winner ever (youngest since WWII) with SLO Tadej Pogacar at the age of 21 (just days before his 22nd bday). He’s also the first SLO to take the yellow jersey and his comrade Roglic took second after he held the jersey for 11 days. Pogacar took the lead on the last day (technically the second to last bc the Paris final stage is merely a formality) in a dramatic time trail stage after he trailed by 56 seconds (significant in the this race). the 5 Slovanians competing in the race, came down the Champs Elysees together on the final day (pictured above).
- PV Armand Duplantic has finally done it – all of us in the track world knew it was a matter of time. He broke the 26 year old PV record with a clearance of 6.15m on his second attempt at the Golden Gala meet in Rome. The previous record was held by Sergey Bubka from 1994 with a jump of 6.14m. Duplantis has already broken the indoor record 2xs with a WR of 6.18m so we already knew he had the height.
- Hassan Chani, Bahrain distance runner, has been banned from running for 4 years after he was found guilty of doping. All of his results have been stripped from him since Aug 2017 which includes his gold from the Asian Games.
- Gymnastics is in the news again. The drama continues for the sport as the International Gymnastics Federation will be holding a conference to examine the abuse recently reported in Britain, Australia and the Netherlands. There have been several athletes that have come forward to complain of abusive coaches and fat-shaming. FIG will host the conference online on Oct 26-27.
What to watch this week
Baseball:
- Tues 9/22
- Yankees at Blue Jays @ 5:30pm on ESPN
- Cole vs Roark
- Rangers at Diamondbacks @ 8:10pm on FS1
- Lyles vs Smith
- A’s at Dodgers @ 8:30pm on ESPN
- Montas vs May
- Yankees at Blue Jays @ 5:30pm on ESPN
- Wed 9/23
- Cardinals at Royals @ 7pm on ESPN2
- Martinez vs Duffy
- Cardinals at Royals @ 7pm on ESPN2
- Thurs 9/24
- Tigers at Royals @ 7:05pm on FS1
- Fulmer vs Bubic
- Tigers at Royals @ 7:05pm on FS1
- Sat 9/26
- Rays at Orioles @ 6:05pm on FS1
- Morton vs Lopez
- Phillies at Rays @ 6:07pm on Fox
- Wheeler vs Yarbrough
- Brewers at Cardinals @ 6:15pm on FOX
- Anderson vs Wacha
- Or
- Anderson vs Wacha
- Mets at Nationals @ 6:15pm on FOX
- deGrom vs Sanchez
- Rays at Orioles @ 6:05pm on FS1
Basketball:
- Tues 9/22
- West Final – Game 3: Lakers at Nuggets @ 8pm on TNT
- LAL leads 2-0
- West Final – Game 3: Lakers at Nuggets @ 8pm on TNT
- Wed 9/23
- East Finals – Game 4: Celtics at Heat @ 7:30pm on ESPN
- MIA leads 2-1
- East Finals – Game 4: Celtics at Heat @ 7:30pm on ESPN
- Thurs 9/24
- West Final – Game 4: Lakers at Nuggets @ 8pm on TNT
- Fri 9/25
- East Finals – Game 5: Heat at Celtics @ 7:30pm on ESPN
- Sat 9/26
- West Final – Game 5: Nuggets at Lakers @ 8pm on TNT
- Sun 9/27
- East Finals – Game 6: Celtics at Heat @ 6:30pm on ESPN
Football-NCAAF:
|
Top 25 |
||||
|
Week 4 |
||||
|
Top 25 Games |
||||
| Visitor | Home | Day | Time (CT) |
TV |
| 23. Kentucky | 8. Auburn | Sat 9/26 | 11:00 AM | SEC |
| 24. Louisville | 21. Pitt | Sat 9/26 | 11:00 AM | ACC |
| 22. Army | 14. Cincinnati | Sat 9/26 | 2:30 PM | ESPN |
| West Virginia | 15. Oklahoma St | Sat 9/26 | 2:30 PM | ABC |
| Florida St | 12. Miami | Sat 9/26 | 6:30 PM | ABC |
| *GameDay indicated in bold* | ||||
Football – NFL:
- Mon 9/21
- Saints at Raiders @ 7:15pm on ABC/ESPN
- Thurs 9/24
- Dolphins at Jaguars @ 7:20pm on NFL
- Sun 9/27
- 8 games @ 12pm on CBS/FOX depending on your geographical location
- Beats at Flacons
- Rams at Bills
- Washington at Browns
- Titans at Vikings
- Raiders at Patriots
- 49ers at Giants
- Bengals at Eagles
- Texans at Steelers
- Jets at Colts – or – Panthers at Chargers @ 3:05pm on CBS
- Buccaneers at Broncos – or – Lions at Cardinals – or – Dallas at Seahawks @ 3:25 on FOX
- Packers at Saints @ 7:20pm on NBC
- 8 games @ 12pm on CBS/FOX depending on your geographical location
- Mon 9/28
- Chiefs at Ravens @ 7:15pm on ESPN
Golf:
- Thurs 9/24 – Corales Puntacana – Round 1 @ 2pm on Golf Channel
- Fri 9/25 – Corales Puntacana – Round 2 @ 2pm on Golf Channel
- Sat 9/26 – Corales Puntacana – Round 3 @ 2pm on NBC
- Sun 9/27 – Corales Puntacana – Round 4 @ 2pm on NBC
Hockey:
- Mon 9/21 – Stanley Cup Final – Game 2
- Stars at Lightening @ 7pm on NBCSN
- DAL leads 1-0
- Stars at Lightening @ 7pm on NBCSN
- Wed 9/23 – Stanley Cup Final – Game 3
- Lightening at Stars @ 7pm on NBCSN
- Fri 9/25 – Stanley Cup Final – Game 4
- Lightening at Stars @ 7pm on NBC
- Sat 9/26– Stanley Cup Final – Game 5
- Stars at Lightening @ 7pm on NBC
- If necessary
- Stars at Lightening @ 7pm on NBC
- Game 6 would be on Monday and Game 7 would be on Wednesday on NBC
Motorsports:
- Sun 9/27
- NASCAR: South Point 400 @ 6pm on NBCSN
- MotoGP: Catalunya Race @ 3:30pm on NBCSN
Olympic Sports:
- Fri 9/25
- Track & Field – IAAF Diamond League: Doha @ 11am on NBCSN
Soccer:
- Fri 9/25
- NCAA Women’s: Mississippi St vs Alabama @ 6pm on SEC
- NCAA Men’s: Louisville vs Wake Forest @ 6:30pm on ACC
- NCAA Women’s: Texas at Oklahoma @ 7pm on LGHN
- Sat 9/26
- Premier League: Brighton & Hove Albion vs ManU @ 6:25am on NBCSN
- Premier League: Teams TBA @ 8:55am on NBCSN
- Sun 9/27
- Italian Serie A: Spezia vs Sassuolo @ 5:30am on ESPNEWS
- Premier League: Sheffield United vs Leeds United @ 6am on NBCSN
- Premier League: Teams TBA @ 7:55am on NBCSN
- Premier League: Manchester City vs Leicester City @ 10:25am on NBCSN
- NCAA Women’s: Florida vs Georgia @ 11am on SEC
- NCAA Women’s: LSU vs Ole Miss @ 1pm on SEC
- NCAA Women’s: Tennessee vs Vanderbilt @ 1pm on ESPNU
- NCAA Women’s: South Carolina vs Mizzou @ 3pm on ESPNU
- NCAA Women’s: Texas A&M vs Auburn @ 3pm on SEC
- NCAA Women’s: Duke at UNC @ 5pm on ACC
