MLB predictions
Happy Opening Day everyone.
This may be the most excited I have been for MLB to start in a long time. A long time.
And the idea - or wishful hope, maybe - that we are going to be back in ballparks in the coming weeks or months makes my heart glad.
On that note: I have already had round one of the vaccine and am in the wait for round 2. I am planning for the shots and the two-week period for it to take are all wrapped before the Lookouts home opener May 4. May the 4th be with you, and may I be in AT&T for that one with a CoCola and hot dog.
#Merica.
But the big leagues start today. The storylines are everywhere.
The Braves are the favorites in the NL East, but there's nothing written in stone.
The Mets have money and talent - and reportedly just signed Francisco Lindor to a 10-year, $341-million deal. That's a smidge more than what the paper signed me to a few years ago.
Speaking of the Mets, Jacob deGrom is 33 and he's doing Nolan Ryan/Randy Johnson stuff in an inning-count age when dudes are washed by 29. According to CBSsports.com, deGrom averaged - yes, AVERAGED - 99.0 mph on his fastball last year and reached as high as 102.7. Over the last five years, his average velocity has increased by 5 mph. That's nuts.
The Nationals still have depth at the top of their rotation and a bona fide hitting savant in Juan Soto. The Phillies, who face the Braves today, are good too.
The NL Central is filled with pretty good-to-good teams and who wins that division is anyone's guess.
The West is top-heavy with the defending champs in L.A. and the hard-charging Padres, who added a slew of pitching to go with their young line-up. (Side note: Saw this stat in my Opening Day research. Did you know that in their 29 years of existence, a Colorado Rockies player has won 11 batting titles? Cheers for Coors Field. Hiccup.)
In the AL, the White Sox are better. The Blue Jays are better. The Angels could surprise a whole lot of folks.
Sorry, Spy but the Red Sox are bad. Not Orioles bad, but bad. (Side note: Did you know that there have been more 60-homer seasons than 60-double seasons? Thought that was strange. Told you I did some research.)
To make matters worse for Spy, the Yankees are good, provided they can stay healthy. And that's a big if, but if they get 600-plate appearances, the Yankees could have multiple 40-plus-homer guys, no matter how much they have claimed to deaden the baseball.
So let's make some picks.
The five-team playoff format stays, so give me the Braves, Cardinals and Dodgers to win their divisions with the Padres and the Mets grabbing wildcard spots.
In the AL, we'll go Yankees, White Sox and Angels in a surprise in the West, with the Blue Jays and the Twins holding the wildcard tickets.
Dodgers over Padres in the NLCS; Yankees over White Sox in the ALCS.
Dodgers repeat. (For what it's worth, I think I have picked the same World Series match-up for like the last few years. So there's that.)
Social media square off
This is what it's like for me when Alabama plays THE Ohio State or even Clemson in the national football playoffs. Is there a way for both to lose?
Because I'm pretty sure there's not a rootable side in this modern-day, social media cuss off between fringe celebrity Michael Rapaport and NBA superstar Kevin Durant.
It started late last year when Rapaport, who has been in several movies but now spends most of his time trying to get into social media scuffles and talk basketball, criticized KD in an interview he did with the TNT crew. I remember the interview and KD looked less than pleased to be there.
Anywell, KD certainly did not take Rapaport's criticism kindly or lightly. Here's the screen shots Rapaport released this week, and friends, the language is so salty it makes my hate mail look like a Dr. Suess book. One of the non-racist ones, that is.
Yikes.
Also, who else is in the KD camp of modern-era sports superstars that have gotten a major pass? KD was a darling in OKC and when he cried and mentioned his momma at the MVP ceremony, he was everyone's darling.
But in truth, he's a great big jerk. The Warriors knew it and broke up a perennial title-winner because of it.
And if you read that exchange with Rapaport, and you can't use language like that and be a decent dude. No possible way.
I wonder how the league will react, because in a time of sensitivity and inclusion, this is a terrible look. For everyone involved, if you ask me, but especially KD.
Because I can't help but wonder if this came from say white NBA star like a Luka Doncic to say Kevin Hart - scratch that, he's much too big a star for this comparison - or even, hey, Arsenio Hall and included that kind of hatred, it would be leading the nightly news.
NCAA day in court
The NCAA's appeal of the lower courts' decisions appeared before the Supreme Court on Wednesday and by every report on Twitter and news item on the interwebs that I've seen, it went about as you would expect.
The NCAA is a walking cluster. A Martian having a conversation with a fungo. An interface between a hockey mask and a puppy. A long distance connection between two Folgers cans with barbed wire.
A mess. A hot, bona fide, mess.
The court's ruling is not expected until the late spring or into the summer, but that the NCAA has fought it this far - and who knows at what expense - is a failure of leadership.
Not exploring all the options to maintain the benefits of what the NCAA calls amateurism and what everyone sees is extremely cheap labor as coaches make millions, conferences make tens of millions and the universities make hundreds of millions.
To call it free labor is not right either, because the price of tuition and all the covered costs of going to college are far from free.
But the equation is out of whack, and made more clear every time Auburn and UT and whomever else pays a coach millions not to coach. And if we're going to talk about fair, let's have Nick Saban's next round of bonuses include getting to take a few extra classes and all the textbooks he can read.
No, the failure on the NCAA's part is not working toward a balanced solution for the athletes and the universities. Plus, the NCAA's defense has all-but amounted to, "Well, this is the way we've always done it" which is as hollow as the Tin Man's chest.
(Side note: The NCAA attorney said the district court's ruling amounted to a judge 'micromanaging' the NCAA's business. Feel free to insert your version of "Well someone needs to" punchline wherever you see fit.)
Plus, the other NCAA argument was that the sports would lose interest if the players were paid, which is hogwash.
Heck, I know Auburn football players (and basketball players) are paid. Just like the dudes at every major program that has a major following.
And the NCAA knows it too, but instead of finding ways to make that doable, the NCAA has dug its heels in and used the rerun "this will ruin college sports" angle.
That said, it will greatly change college sports, and for a lot of small schools could threaten their current existence and certainly the amount spent there.
Because as the big boys and girls tighten their purse strings, the trickle down theories of money games and revenue sharing will be closely examined and potentially eliminated.
The NCAA has clearly been more Nero than hero as it watched its business model burn.
It's important to note this is NCAA vs. Alston, not the Name, Image and Likeness case. This about rewards and payments to players.
And after reading the details from the ESPN story on it, gang, it's hard to see the NCAA winning this case. And it's harder still to try to imagine what the future of college sports will look like.
This and that
- Speaking of MLB's start, we all love Ronald Acuña. Of course we do. And what's not to love. He fields like Andruw and hits like Sheffield and runs like Gant. And 40-40 is completely within his grasp, especially if he can find just a smidge more contact and keep the Ks under 150. But as great as 40-40 is, I'm am stoked to watch Shohei Ohtani chase some unimaginable numbers like 150 innings pitched and 150 total bases, which has happened four times in MLB history, the most recent being when Dave Foutz and Bob Caruthers did it for the St. Louis Browns in 1886. So, yeah, been a while.
- Thought this was interesting. Kiké Hernández has the ninth-best selling jersey in baseball, one spot ahead of some dude named Mike Trout, as crazy as that sounds. Three of the top-five are Dodgers, and Acuña is 7th.
- You know the rules. Here's Paschall on the pace of the new UT offense.
- This caught my eye. Wanna take a guess who has a top-10 football recruiting class in the 2022 cycle? That would be Greg Schiano and the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, who have 10 verbal commitments and are ranked No. 9.
- The SEC is amazingly great at baseball. Like mid-1980s Big East basketball dominant. How good? Well, Arkansas is 1, Vandy is 2 and Ole Miss is 3. Mississippi State is 5 and Tennessee is 10. South Carolina is 11 and Florida is 14 in the Baseball America poll. I also saw that Vandy's two famous right-hander power pitchers are prospects 1 and 4 in the eyes of the MLB draftniks.
- We have warned of the perils of the lack of the blue-bloods and big-time names in this NCAA tournament. After a solid start in the ratings - behooved by more gambling access and a true 'absence makes the heart grow fonder' vibe - the faceless Elite Eight was historically bad and down 45% percent from 2019. The revamped schedule did not help the matter to be sure, but according to Sports Media Watch, the Gonzaga-USC and Houston-Oregon State games were the least watched on record.
- Speaking of viewership, J-Mac, did you see the NASCAR numbers from Bristol? They were the opposite of dirty, as in the biggest Bristol numbers in five years, and that's with the racing being on Monday.
Today's questions
The news that Tampa Bay coach Bruce Arians got a tattoo on his back to commemorate the Bucs winning the Super Bowl made me wonder. Arians made a random comment to a media type that if the Bucs won it all he'd get some ink. (A way better pledge than Titans coach Mike Vrable, who said he'd cut off his thingy to win the Super Bowl. Seriously.)
Is there any sport stake you'd wager getting a tat for your team to win it all? If so what.
Also, the league has to suspend KD, right?
Happy April Fool's Day friends. Never really big into the pranks that accompany this day though. You?
As for the rest, let's review.
It's national burrito day. Friend. It's also national sourdough bread day. Bigger friend.
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak found Apple Computers on this day 45 years ago. Who knows they may actually make a buck or three with that one.
Jackie Mitchell signed with the Lookouts on this day in 1931.
Does she make the Rushmore of baseball women? Go and remember the mailbag.