MLB preview
Well, it really does feel like it was just five or so months since we last saw baseball. A terrific World Series that ended in a blah-tastic Game 7 win for the Astros.
It was cool for the city of Houston, which celebrated its first MLB title.
It was cool for Jose Altuve, the 5-foot-5 dynamo who was cut before he was signed and went on to be an MVP and all-around good dude. (Remember, he held the "I Stand for Dan" sign for Dan Summerlin. RIP, Dan.)
But it was the opposite of cool for the Dodgers and Dodgers fans, a group that has expected winning for a while. At least as long as the Dodgers have amassed the highest payroll in the sport and continue to stretch the title drought. It's been 30 years since Kirk Gibson and Orel Hershisher willed the Dodgers past the A's. Yes, 30 bleepin' years people.
Well, heading into the start of this baseball season, the question must be probed about whether anyone can topple the Astros or the Dodgers. Heck, we have reached a place in the MLB and the NBA, that it feels like only 15-to-20 precent of the league has a legit chance to win the title. And it's not like the NFL is completely parity-based either. Yes, the NFC is pretty wide open and there have been nine NFC teams make the Super Bowl in the last 10 years. But the AFC is New England and everyone else.
With that, the Astros won the AL West by 21 games last year. Here's anticipating another runaway for Houston.
Cleveland is clearly the best team in the AL Central - it won that division by 17 in '17 - and should cruise.
Boston won the AL East, but the Yankees remodeled line-up has too much power.
In the NL, the Nationals sprinted by its East foes and should do it again.
The Cubs rebounded from a slow start and won the Central by six games, and we'll pick them too.
The NL West appears to be the best division in all of baseball, but from Clayton Kershaw to whomever is the 25th man on the Dodgers roster, L.A. has too much.
From there - and with projections that the wildcard teams will be the Red Sox and the Angels in the A.L. and the Rockies and the Cardinals in the N.L. - we'll say the playoffs flow like this:
Wildcard: Angels over Red Sox; Rockies over Cardinals.
Divisional: Astros over Angels and Yankees over Indians; Nationals over Rockies and Dodgers over Cubs.
LCS: Yankees over Astros; Dodgers over Nationals.
And yes, the World Series that baseball - and its broadcast partners would love to see, Yankees and Dodgers. This time, L.A. prevails, and yes, the images of Gibson 30 years ago and the Yankees-Dodgers from 40 years ago will get quite the play.
New look NFL
The post-free agency power rankings of the NFL have an interesting shape. Here's the ESPN list.
And here are a few of the moves we like the most so far.
We'll start with Monday's news that Ndamukong Suh's signing by the Rams. L.A. added two No. 1 corners and now gets Suh to put next to Aaron Donald on the interior. Donald and and a motivated Suh, who got a one-year deal, could very well be two of the best four defensive tackles in the league. Good luck blocking those dudes.
The Eagles lost two contributors from their defensive line rotation and replaced them with Michael Bennett and Haloti Ngata, two aging free agents who could be in for very productive years considering they will not be counted on as every-down players. (Now if Bennett ends up in the pokey, well, he'll be the first pick for the Mean Machine.)
Loved the Packers giving Aaron Rodgers a bona fide tight end in Jimmy Graham, and we think letting Jordy Nelson go a year early rather than signing him for three years and having a monster cap hit is a better play than most seem to think.
After allowing the most points in the NFL in 2017, the Texans will (hopefully) get J.J. Watt back on the line and added safety Tyrann Mathieu and corner Aaron Colvin to a beleaguered secondary.
Thoughts?
Fore for Four!
We have mentioned the Baylor School golfing alums a great deal of late.
And in truth, I'm not sure you can overstate what is happening with that bunch and the rarity of having four players in the same 120-or-so field of a PGA Tournament, like the four of them are this week in Houston.
And for what it's worth, here's an excellent catch-up with Keith Mitchell, the former Baylor School and UGA golfer who finished second on the PGA Tour last weekend, from all-around TFP ace David Paschall. And for that matter, after Luke List's run of top-20s, here are the odds to win the event according to VegasInsider.com:
Justin Rose - 17/2
Rickie Fowler - 17/2
Jordan Spieth - 9/1
Henrik Stenson - 10/1
Phil Mickelson - 12/1
Daniel Berger - 21/1
Luke List - 21/1
Yep, that's making major moves to the point that List is considered a better bet than more familiar names such as Kuchar and Stricker and major champions like Bradley, Dufner and Kaymer.
And to put a bigger point on it, there are four Baylor School golfers among the 150 players with credentials for the top-level PGA Tour.
Let's do some math.
Four of the 150, would mean, if there are 25 guys on 30 MLB rosters, there would have to be 20 MLB players in the big leagues at the same time from the same high school to be equal. According to this story from Max Preps four years ago, there was only one high school that has produced more than 20 MLB players all-time Bobby Doerr to Bob Watson to now.
Four of the 150, would mean, if there are 53 players on 32 NFL rosters, there would have to be 45 NFL players each Sunday from the same high school at the same time to be equal. St. Thomas Aquinas in Florida had the most with 12 players on rosters to start the 2017 season.
Four of the 150, would mean, if there are 15 players on 30 NBA rosters, there would have to be 12 NBA players dribbling from the same high school at the same time to be equal. As most recently as 2014, there were only four high schools/prep schools that had ever produced 12 or more NBA players and only of them had a chance of 12 at the same time. That was Oak Hill, which is technically the 13th grade and is internationally known for its basketball program.
So not only is this unprecedented in golf, it's really unprecedented in all of professional sports in this country. (Here's betting there are some international soccer or tennis academies that have some similar numbers.)
This and that
- Speaking of golf, here's the Masters field for next week and how each qualified. None of the four Baylor School players have qualified for Augusta. The only way for any of them would be a win this week.
- One more golf item, according to this Golf Week article, this likely is the last Houston Open that will be played before the Masters. There are a lot of reasons not to like this decision and only one reason to make this decision - money. The PGA Tour's juggling schedule in 2019 likely means the Valero Texas Open will be the week before the Masters, and here's betting that will not be a popular decision.
- Geno Auriemma and the UConn women's basketball team made their 19th Final Four, a new record. Auriemma was tied with Pat Summitt before last night's win. The most among men's coaches in Division I is 12.
- Here's TFP ace sports columnist Mark Wiedmer on the straight-forward approach of Jeremy Pruitt. Dare we say that Pruitt is not going to try to motivate the Vols using trick-by-trick?
- We mentioned Albert Belle's run-in with the law over the weekend at a spring training game in Arizona. Well, it gets worse as authorities told the AP that Belle and another man were arrested after "being accused of exposing themselves to two adults and two children in an Arizona parking lot." Egad.
- The NBA season is winding down, and while the usual suspects of Cavs, Rockets, Warriors, Celtics are all meandering their ways toward the finish line, do not sleep on the Philadelphia 76ers, who got top-overall choice Markelle Fultz back last night and have won seven straight.
Today's question
You know the day, true?
You know the drill, true?
True or false, you would pick the Dodgers and Astros over the MLB field to win the World Series.
True or false, Geno Auriemma is the best coach with a whistle in all of team sports right now.
True or false, you knew that Tom Hanks has more than 50 typewriters and that Leonardo DiCaprio collects Star Wars action figures.
On this day in 1914, the first blood transfusion happened in Brussels. Not sure if Vampire Rick Pitino was there or not.
Celebrating birthdays today are Quentin Tarantino (55), Mariah Carey (47) and Fergie (43). Randall Cunningham is also 55 today. (True or false, Randall Cunningham should be in the Hall of Fame. Now, another one, true or false, if Randall Cunningham was turning 35 today instead of 55, and with the changes in the NFL approach to QBs, he would be headed to Canton.)
Former Georgia Tech forward Tom Hammonds is 50 today, and man we thought he was going to have a Karl Malone-like career.
Milton Berle and Dudley Moore each died on this day in 2002.
Have a true or false, fire away.
As for a Rushmore, in honor of the Rams' boy named Suh, let's do a Rushmore of all-time best NFL free agent signings. (And yes, Reggie White to the Packers is likely far left.)