Baseball is back
We have picked the Yankees-Dodgers in the world Series.
We think the Braves will win 75 games.
We've covered those things earlier this week in the 5-at-10.
There are a few other baseball items we need to address as every MLB team opens the season today. (It's the first, across-the-board Opening Day with every team in action since divisional play started in the late 1960s.) Here are the five most interesting story lines for this baseball season:
1) It's Sho time. Shohei Ohtani, the 23-year-old Japanese import who will start at DH today and start on the mound Sunday, brings a level of intrigue baseball has not seen before. His spring results were better as a pitcher than a hitter (he finished 4-for-32 at the play in the Cactus League) but neither was really strong. Still, the experiment will be fun to watch and if he finds success it will be a model that other teams will try to duplicate.
2) The Yankees line-up. Dear buckets of power, the Yankees have a lot of lumber. Today's lineup will have Brett Gardner (21 homers in 2017), Aaron Judge (52), Giancarlo Stanton (59), Gary Sanchez (33), Aaron Hicks (15 in 88 games), DiDi Gregorius (25), Brandon Drury (13), Neil Walker (14) and Tyler Austin (2 in 20 games). That's 234 homers from those nine last year in a lineup so deep Jacoby Ellsbury is relegated to a very expensive bench player, and that's with slugging first baseman Greg Bird recovering from an ankle injury.
3) How good will Clayton Kershaw be? He allowed the same number of runs that Fat Vader did in spring training. Zilch. The spring numbers were staggering: 21.1 innings, 23 Ks, four walks and 12 hits allowed against the 78 batters he faced. In fact, as he hits the big 3-0, it's fair to look back on the brilliance that has been Kershaw's 10-year big league career. Since his rookie season he has not had an ERA over 3 and has led the league in ERA five times in the last seven years. His career average is a 17-7 record with almost 250 Ks per season. His career marks in winning percentage (144-64, which is .692) and ERA (2.36) rank third and 24th all-time. Of all the names with 1,000 or more innings ahead of Kershaw on the ERA list, only one - Mariano Rivera - has pitched in the last 50 years. And, it's a contract year for Kershaw, who already makes $33 million - or about $1 million for each start - and like Nick Saban, can make an argument that even as the highest paid person in his profession, he's underpaid.
4) Whether the new measures - limited number of mound visits especially - will help speed the pace of play without being too big of a hinderance on the fabric of the game.
5) Trading deadline deals. In addition to Kershaw, there are a couple of monster names on the free agent horizon. Guys such as Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, Josh Donaldson and Charlie Blackmon. If any of their teams are struggling and those clubs are unsure if they can retain them, well, here's wondering if the Yankees or the Red Sox or some of the other big spenders could make a move for one of those guys come July.
As for the individual awards, let's go here:
AL MVP: Gary Sanchez, Yankees catcher. (This dude will be hitting with the population of Rivermont on the bases with those guys in front of him and could drive in 125-plus runs as a catcher.)
AL Cy Young: Justin Verlander, Astros.
AL Rookie: Willie Calhoun, Rangers.
AL Comeback: David Price, Red Sox.
AL Manager: Aaron Boone, Yankees.
NL MVP: Bryce Harper, Nationals.
NL Cy Young: Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers.
NL Rookie: Ronald Acuna, Braves.
NL Comeback: Noah Sundergaard, Mets.
NL Manager: Gabe Kapler, Phillies.
Thoughts? Speak now or forever hold your peace. (Or forever hold your piece, it's completely up to you.)
Drafty predictions
OK, we know two things, for sure, about Mel Kiper Jr.
First, dude has great, Great, GREAT hair. I mean a legit coif that is the envy of other men and the object of desire of women everywhere.
Second, no one is more prepared and knowledgeable about draft prospects. Not the top guys. All of them. From the quarterbacks at the top to the seventh-round edge rusher from Northern Arizona.
In fact, in our view across all of college football only Phil Steele has more of a detailed knowledge of every meaningful player on every team. (That said, we'll put our man David Paschall up against either of them in terms of the SEC and especially in terms of SEC history. But that's a topic for a different day.)
This brings us back to Kiper, and how we should all respect his bona fides. And that brings us to the following two items:
First, Kiper's most recent mock draft (this one is 3.0) has five QBs going in the top 15. Kiper has Josh Allen going 1 to the Browns, Sam Darnold going 2 to the Giants (and if the Giants draft a quarterback at 2, then why not deal Odell Beckham and really rebuild), Josh Rosen to the Jets at 3, Baker Mayfield to the Broncos at 5 and Lamar Jackson to the Cardinals at 15.
That means the Bills would have passed on a quarterback at 12 and 22, as well.
The other things that jumped from Kiper's mock is that Bradley Chubb falls to the Indy at 6, and that would make the Colts a monster winner to start. Remember the Colts traded down and got three second-rounders from the Jets to go from 3 to 6. And if they still get Chubb at 6, well, wow.
As we discussed on Press Row on Wednesday, Kiper's 3.0 has Calvin Ridley dropping all the way to Atlanta at No. 26. If Ridley's still on the board when it becomes the Falcons' turn, they need to run to the podium and bear hug Roger Goodell. Yes Atlanta needs a defensive lineman, but you can find those dudes in a lot of spots, and the simple math of taking the fourth- or fifth-best DT or the best wide out is a no-brainer.
And, while we are praising Kiper's preparation, there was this story circulating Wednesday, too.
Here's the actual exchange between in January 2010 between Kiper and Todd McShay on NFL Live on ESPN:
Kiper: "If Jimmy Clausen is not a successful quarterback in the NFL, I'm done. That's it. I'm out."
Replied McShay: "What is your time frame, Mel? When do we make that assessment?"
Kiper: "I want eight years."
McShay: "It will only take three years, Mel. We can tell inside three years."
Kiper: "I want eight."
Let us be the next in line to wish Mel a happy retirement. You - and your hair - will be missed.
King James
There have been a couple of interesting LeBron stories out there this week, don't you think.
First, he matched Michael Jordan's mark with 866 consecutive games scoring 10-or-more points on Wednesday. He did it with a 41-10-8 showing against the Hornets, the team Jordan owns. James has scored double figures every game since positing eight on 3-of-13 shooting against the Bucks on Jan. 5 2007.
(Side story: One of our goals playing high school basketball was to get into double figures every game. There were two games we did not make it: Our first start as a sophomore, game 2 of the season at Douglas County. We scored two points because we only took one shot all night. Coach Boyd said after the game that if I was afraid to shoot, he would be afraid to put me in. Let's just say that a lack of attempts was not a problem moving forward. The other was senior night against McEachern, and I scored 4 on 1-of-13 shooting in a game we got just obliterated. Every game in between we scored at least 10, something like 60 straight. Which means all we need is another 800 or so to catch MJ and James.)
As for the other, well James is starting to get some backlash because he said he would vote for himself for MVP.
There may not be a more lose-lose question in sports than a player being asked about the MVP race or who's the best QB or whatever. (side point: The biggest-lose-lose situation in sports is being a high school wrestler and going against a girl. No es bueno.)
It harkens back to the time that Joe Flacco said he thought he was the best quarterback in the NFL. Is he? Well, of course not.
But don't you want your guy thinking he is?
Same with James and the MVP.
(And James is half right, by the way. James Harden will be the MVP.)
This and that
- RIP Rusty Staub, a guy that was made famous by baseball card photos back in the day. Staub died Thursday. He was 73.
- The cast of "Dawson's Creek" got back together for the 20th anniversary of that show. Hard to believe that show is 20 years old. Wow. Where does the time go. And the four main players on that show went on to some pretty stellar accomplishments and acting achievements, no?
- CBS announced it is expanding some of its Masters coverage with some added technology. Among the changes will be the popular shot-tracer technology on holes 9, 10, 13, 15 and 18.
- Also, in that Masters story were two pretty eye-popping numbers. First, this is the 63rd consecutive year of CBS covering the Masters. And amazingly, this is Jim Nantz' 33rd year calling the tournament. Wow.
- Hey, we did go out on a Kiper-like limb (he's made a few more nickels, he can threaten to quit his gig; we however can not because what if someone took us up on it), but we thought that the "Roseanne" reboot would be a re-bomb. We were wrong. And one of the secrets to the surprising success apparently was the show's willingness to talk about President Trump in a way that most households possibly have. Interesting reading.
- Thought we would pass this along. Anthony Davis has an interweb poll question asking fans whether he should shave his eye brow.
- In last night's Mickey D's All-American game, UNC commit Nassir Little scored 28 points. In the game's 41-year history, only Jonathan Bender (31) and Michael Jordan (30) have scored more.
- Speaking of points, Karl-Anthony Towns scored 56 last night, the most in T-wolves history. And in a fact that leaves little doubt to the lack of history in the Charlotte Hornets' organization, last night Kemba Walker became the franchise's all-time leading scorer, passing Dell Curry. Yes, you read that right.
Today's question
Let's do a little MLB True or False Thursday, shall we?
True or false, Shohei Ohtani will succeed as a two-way player.
True or false, Tim Tebow will get a call-up to the Mets this season.
True or false, you would take the Dodgers, Yankees, Astros and Nationals against the field to win the World Series.
As for today's day, well, let's see.
On this day in 2004, Ireland becomes the first country to ban smoking in all work places. Man, if there was time travel, the dude that comes from 1978, the biggest overall change could be the lack of smoking acceptance by comparison.
Sam Walton would be 100 today.
Cy Young would be 151.
It was 25 years ago today at the 65th Academy Awards, "Unforgiven" won best picture (and Clint got best director, too). Rushmore of actors/directors in the same movie, because that one could be far left. Go and remember the mailbag.