The Washington Capitals will almost certainly gain the top mark in the NHL for the first time in their 41 completed seasons in the NHL.
They made a decent run in the NHL playoffs last year, losing in 7 games in the quarterfinal series to the New York Rangers as Derek Stepan’s overtime goal in the 7th game was decisive.
Last year the Rangers had the top record in the league and faced Washington after the Caps won a home seventh game from the New York Islanders.
This year it may well be a Capitals vs the winner of the Rangers/Islanders series in the NHL quarterfinals.
It was a fun night, highlighted by some very informative trivia at a meetup organized by “Bob’s Westchester Singles Group,” at the Garth Road Inn last night.
I met some new people and was part of a trivia team that did well, but faded in the end, short of the top finishers.
Questions were provided by Bob and the event hosted by Mike was a great deal of fun, with 5 rounds of trivia questions with some prizes awarded.
It is a really good way to meet new people and get involved with a team trying hard, but not overwhelmingly so, to register answers in a fun environment.
Garth Road Inn at 96 Gath Road in Scarsdale, New York is a great place with food, drinks and ambiance that is top notch.
Add trivia and meeting people and I highly recommend it on upcoming Tuesday nights beginning around seven thirty.
Click below for more information. There will be trivia nights each Tuesday at The Garth Road Inn.
*BOB’S *WESTCHESTER SINGLES GROUP*
The National League East is considered to be a tight race between the defending N.L. champion New York Mets and the Washington Nationals.
Last year, the Nationals were considered overwhelming favorites in the division but it was the Mets who won it pretty easily.
The Florida Marlins are the third choice in the division.
Both the Philadelphia Phillies and the once powerful Atlanta Braves are considered long shots.
Eventually I will give my predictions on all the baseball divisions but not the bogus wild card race.
The Detroit Tigers’ last two World Series victories came in Presidential election years, 1984 and 1968.
In 1984 the club managed by George “Sparky” Anderson roared to a (35-5) start and never looked back to win the A.L. East and eventually the ALCS and World Series.
Their victory in 1968 was stirring in that the city had been divided by race riots the year before, a season in which the Tigers’ bid that eventually fell short in a great American League pennant race, helped heal the city.
Volatile 1968 was a united effort in the city of Detroit. So many years later, amidst the horrors that took Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, there is some positive memory involving Al Kaline, Mickey Lolich and 31 game winner Dennis McLain and the Tigers winning it all.
Jaromir Jagr moved past the legendary Gordie Howe into third place in all-time NHL scoring last night.
Who was the reporter clearly chewing gum at the White House press conference held earlier today?!
The Detroit Tigers’ 32 year World Series title drought ties their longest in team history.
They were around for the first World Series in 1903 and did not win one until 1935. Their last title was 1984.
Did you “catch” the NBA shenanigans the last two days, as the long, boring, virtually meaningless regular season grinds on?
First in what some statistical gurus (fools) call the NBA’s biggest upset, the Los Angeles Lakers a 17 point home underdog won at home vs mighty Golden State (Warriors) on Sunday afternoon.
How could it be a great upset as the Warriors have so little reason to play hard?!
As if to prove the point, the Indiana Pacers raised the Warriors’ loss column lead to 4, in a bid for a second straight top record for “G.S.,” winning as a 7 point underdog at home, vs the San Antonio Spurs last night.
The Memphis Grizzlies, around 16 to 1 underdogs, won a meaningless game at Cleveland, vs the Cavaliers last night.
I wish the NBA would disappear and certainly wish its endless, boring, meaningless, regular season would do so even quicker.
Last year I wrote more than once, that there easily could be a playoffs meeting between the New York Rangers and New York Islanders.
It was not likely to be in the first round of the playoffs playoffs, as the Rangers were on their way to the NHL’s top regular season record while the Islanders were high enough in the standings to avoid the first place Rangers in a first round clash.
As it turned out, the teams did not meet as the Washington Capitals “7’d” the Isles in the first round only to meet the same fate vs the Rangers in the next round.
This year the Rangers are in solid possession of second place and the Islanders lead for third so there may well be a Rangers/Islanders first round battle.
Why are the Cleveland Indians, for so many years predicted to win but failing, the favorites to win the A.L. Central?
Their primary play by play announcer Tom Hamilton is excellent.
Last year I heard a couple of their wins vs eventual World champion Kansas City (Royals.)
Yet this making them the favorite is not only statistically unlikely, but it smacks of bandwagon jumping.
Yet as always to see what happens is why they play the games.
In recalling the 1971 Baltimore Orioles, I have a note pointed out to me by a great baseball fan, better known as a football expert, namely Ernie Accorsi.
The Pirates beat the Orioles in the 1971 World Series winning the first night game in World Series history on a hit by Milt May.
Mr. Accorsi once pointed out where he was when May got the winning hit.
Baltimore had four twenty game or more winners on their pitching staff. They were Jim Palmer, Dave McNally, Pat Dobson and Mike Cuellar.
Pittsburgh’s Steve Blass took pitching honors in the Series, winning two games, normally enough to be MVP if his team won but alas those honors rightfully went to Roberto Clemente for one of the greatest post-season efforts in any sports’ annals.
Entering the final day of the 1964 season, the St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds, each of whom having made up ground in a hurry on the Philadelphia Phillies, were tied for first place. The Phils were one game out.
In a 1988 interview with me, Bill White, at the time, a New York Yankees broadcaster, recalled the final weekend of the ’64 campaign, when he was a fine first baseman for the Cards.
“The Mets played us tough” he emphasized, citing Al Jackson out dueling the great St. Louis pitcher Bob Gibson in the Friday night tilt, (1-0). The Mets eased to victory in the Saturday game, surely in the day (another thing they have done to ruin baseball is to take away most of the Saturday afternoon games).
The Cardinals hosted the Mets and the Reds visited the Phillies on that final Sunday. wins by the Mets and Phillies would force the first three way playoff in baseball history.
There would be no playoff, not even a two way as the Phillies ripped the Reds led by rookie Richie “Dick” Allen while the Cards overcame an early deficit and with Mr. Gibson pitching in relief, eased by the Mets, to win their first pennant in 18 years.
Andy B Sports 