Sign up for the daily newsletter, Jay’s Plays of the Day, to get sports betting recommendations for the top games of the night and the week ahead.
Braves
Look, the Braves are in trouble, and one good game against a mediocre Brewers crew does not change that.
Last night’s 7-1 win does not end the frustrations.
It mainly magnifies them, because this team is better than its record.
And, and this is an indictment on Brian Snitker — the sum is far less than its parts.
But, I am not in the camp that argues firing Snitker will solve this.
This team lacks toughness. And confidence. And finding a retread manager in late June will not change much.
Chris Sale was flawless. Ronald Acuña hit a bomb to right. (Side note: Oppo taco may be the dumbest home run slang I have ever heard.)
Marcel Ozuna delivered a big two-out, two-run insurance hit late. And with this Braves bullpen, they need more insurance than Jake from State Farm could bundle.
Heck, even Matt Olson homered. Yes, that Matt Olson.
But this team is terrible in one-run games and close games in general. How bad? Well, the Braves are nine games under .500 at 28-37 but have a run differential of plus-9. Those are in stark contrast, and at the other extreme, the gritty K.C. Royals — who have a much smaller payroll than the Braves — are 34-32 with a minus-9 payroll.
Sure, Snitker becomes the easy target for that kind of MLB math. But I have two counters.
First, the Braves turned around a similarly stagnant first 60 games in 2021 and won the whole thing.
So who are you going to find to replace Snit with the real-world experience required?
Secondly, if you are like me and never gave Snitker more than a smidge credit for that turnaround, then it’s the roster and the departures that plague this team.
And that’s not Snitker’s department, friends.
Do I want Brian Snitker to retire at the end of the year? Yep.
Do I think he is the reason the Braves are 3.5 games ahead of last-place Miami and 13.5 games behind first-place New York?
Nope. Just like he was not the reason when this franchise won it all four years ago.
College sports convergence
Couple of big college sports stories at work Monday.
There was a full workday to cover the House v. NCAA settlement and all the discourse about what it means and what it doesn’t.
That will go on for a while. (Side note: And the lack of Title IX discourse from federally funded universities on this matter has been perplexing.)
The other was Murray State beating host Duke and becoming the fourth 4 seed since 1999 to advance to the eight-team College World Series in Omaha since 1999.
Very cool story. Fun game by most accounts. Well, not most Duke accounts.
But how could those overlap?
Well, the unknowns are greater than the knowns about the future payment plans and avenues for college athletes at all levels.
Heck, UTC has been looking for an NIL manager since March.
They will not be alone, and the growing trend of legit front-office types like former NFL exec Mike Lombardi at UNC with Coach Hoodie, and Brent Venables hiring the former director of the Senior Bowl to be Oklahoma’s football GM, will be the norm not the exception.
But look at the growing divide in college sports, and unless you have powerful third-party collectives to help fund specific and multiple sports, it could be a time for program specialization.
Dallas Baptist is a college baseball power and spent time ranked this season and was a tournament 2 seed. DBU has 15 sports, baseball is the only one that is D-I.
We all know what Gonzaga is in hoops — and what they are not in everything else.
Mississippi State just pushed a ton of chips in an effort to return to dominance in baseball. The funds are not limitless in Starkville like they are in Austin or Columbus, so other programs will get less.
We briefly talked about the football-less Big East on Monday.
I wonder how serious specialization discussion are in athletic departments across the country, because remember, the money set aside for the athletes in the settlement is not a hard $20.5 million.
It’s revenue sharing up to $20.5 million, so if the athletic department is not making a revenue, well, there you go.
Fore real tough
We referenced it a bit Monday, but watching the clips makes it clear that this U.S. Open will be unreal hard.
How hard? The Golf Channel interviewed the 2024 Oakmont club champion Monday. Some dude who a) likely has more money than me and b) assuredly is a better golfer than all of us.
He said he is a plus-1 handicap. Oakmont was built in 1903 with designs on being the toughest golf course in the world.
That plus-1 means his average score is 1 under. Again, at Oakmont.
When asked about the current conditions — shaggy and full five-inch rough off the fairways and 168 bunkers on the 7,200-yard layout, this plus-1 player said he’d struggle to break 85.
Egad.
It also begs the question — and we’ll offer our picks tomorrow — is there any horse you would rather back right now than Scottie Scheffler, who is hitting it as far as anyone and straighter than everyone?
Thoughts?
This and that
› OK, there were a lot of pro-NBA folks who balked that a Thunder-Pacers Finals was going to be a yawn-fest. Even with the Pacers’ dramatic Game 1 comeback, it was the least-watched Finals Game 1 (non-COVID years) since the Nielsen meter era started in 1988. Yikes.
› Egg prices are about to go up again, with 20 million possibly tainted eggs being recalled.
› Boston promoted baseball’s top prospect, Roman Anthony, on Monday. It was a day after he hit a 497-foot homer in the minors. He went 0-for-4 with an RBI in his debut last night.
› Aaron Rodgers. Shedeur Sanders. NFL minicamps on the horizon. There’s your entire recap of the ESPN talking shows this morning. We could likely do that again tomorrow.
Today’s questions
True or False Tuesday, folks. It’s Tuesday. Morning, Ernie.
› True or false, UTC should number-crunch and try to be elite in hoops and something else (wrestling, beach volleyball or softball, maybe) at the expense of other sports.
› True or false, the Braves will fire Brian Snitker before the end of the season.
› True or false, you’ll take Scottie over the field.
› True or false, you could not break 120 on this Oakmont course.
› True or false, you watched Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
As for today, June 10, let’s review:
“The Sopranos” series finale aired on this day in 2007. Not many folks in the middle on their feelings on that one.
Elizabeth Hurley is 60 today.
Hattie McDaniel, the first Black actress to win an Academy Award, would have been 103 today.
From a historical stance, she’d have to make the Rushmore of Black actresses right? Who else is there?