First of all, I hope none of you took my football predictions too seriously. There were three predictions and all three were wrong.
Two of those picks involved two of the three NFL teams that are perfect both in their record and against the point spread.
One team, the Denver Broncos are (3-0) and almost even money to win the AFC and appear in the New York/New Jersey area Super Bowl.
The other team, the Seattle Seahawks are the overall NFC favorites though not quite as prohibitive as the Broncos are in the AFC.
Seattle visits the (2-1) Houston Texans this week. Houston though (2-1) is (0-3) vs the points.
Last week the Baltimore Ravens ripped the Texans in Baltimore. Last year, the Texans ripped the Ravens in Houston. The Ravens went on to win the Super Bowl.
It is virtually impossible to forecast what will happen next. However, unlike certain radio personalities with the “initials” Mike Francesa, I know my limitations.
The other (3-0) (3-0) team is Miami (Dolphins).
The Kansas City Chiefs, New England Patriots, Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints are also (3-0) in the league standings.
This week, the Saints are about a touchdown favorite, playing before their frenzied crowd vs the Dolphins in a clash of (3-0) teams. The game is to be played on Monday night.
Some of the final series of the baseball regular season begin today. This includes the two biggest as the Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers both begin four game, season ending series today.
The Tampa Rays still lead the Indians by one game for the top wild card spot. In turn, the Indians still lead the Rangers by one game for playoffs qualification.
All three teams have won all their games this week. Now the Indians, who did what they had to do, winning all 7 games from incredibly weak Houston Astros and Chicago White Sox teams, visit the Minnesota Twins for the last four games.
The Rangers, after sweeping the (51-108) Astros, handing Houston its 12th straight loss in the series finale last night, now host the Angels in the last four games. Texas won 17 of 19 games from Houston this season, 18 of 19 after losing in the season’s first game.
The wild card leading Rays, bidding for their 3rd appearance as the/a wild card team in the past four seasons have one game left at the New York Yankees before journeying north of the border to face the Toronto Blue Jays in the final three games.
The two wild card teams meet in a one game playoff at the home of the higher seeded team. That game is scheduled for Wednesday October 2nd.
The tiebreakers are as follows: The Rays have it vs the Indians. The Indians, in turn have the tiebreaker vs the Rangers. The Rangers have it vs the Rays.
There are six days left in the regular season and though it pains me to do so, let’s look at the race for the two wild card positions in the American League.
Having just swept the Baltimore Orioles, all but eliminating Lee Lowenfish’s favorite team, the Tampa Rays lead the Cleveland Indians by one game in the race for the top wild card position.
The Indians, in turn, lead the Texas Rangers by one game for the second spot and tournament qualification.
The division winners are set. The Boston Red Sox and Oakland A’s have clinched titles while the Detroit Tigers have a magic number of 2 for a third straight A.L. Central title.
In the battle for better tournament seeding, the Red Sox lead the A’s by one game with the tiebreaker uncertain. At this point, since the teams split the season series it will come down to which team has a better divisional record.
Starting the week Boston is (43-30) in its division while Oakland is (42 -29). Detroit almost certainly will be the third seed and open the division series either in Oakland or Boston.
Only tournament seeding is up for grabs in the National League as the regular season enters its final week.
The Atlanta Braves, who won 14 straight divisional titles, (likely avoiding a failure to do so in 1994 by the stoppage) from (1991-2005) won their first one since that point, clinching at 99 year old Wrigley Field.
Yesterday I waxed (not so) poetic about over 100 year old World Series rematches involving the Pittsburgh Pirates.
How about a 99 year old redux between the Braves and A’s, the latter now in Oakland and like the Braves in its third city in franchise history.
Perhaps it is no small coincidence that the A’s also clinched a divisional title yesterday, the same day the Braves clinched in a 99 year old park.
In the seeding battle, likely it is the Cardinals in the Central Division. The “Redbirds” lead both the Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates, each of whom is tournament bound, by two games entering the final week of the regular season.
Among the division winners/leader, the Braves lead the Cards by two and a half games and the Dodgers by three and a half games.
The half game is added by virtue of the fact that Atlanta owns the tiebreaker for higher seeding over both the Cardinals and Dodgers.
This is because Atlanta won the season series from each team. The Dodgers own the tiebreaker with the Cardinals for the same reason.
As the baseball regular season winds down, it is nice to reflect on some possible, interesting, what would be historic, rematches in the 2013 post season.
Two, involve the Pittsburgh Pirates, who almost certainly will be in the tournament, likely playing in the one game playoff between the two wild card teams.
In the first World Series played 110 years ago the Pirates franchise met the Red Sox franchise. The Red Sox then known as the Boston Pilgrims, prevailed 5 games to 3 in a best of nine contest.
Another involving the Pirates over 100 years ago resulted in a Pittsburgh victory.
That World Series was in 1909. In the first decisive 7th game of a World Series, Pittsburgh defeated the Detroit Tigers.
The 1909 World Series matched Pittsburgh’s Honus Wagner and the Tigers’ Ty Cobb.
With both Boston and Detroit in the American League side of the “draw,” it is possible there will be a redux of a World Series played at least 100 years ago.
There has not been such a “repeat of history” in the 10 possible years for such an occurrence, (2003-2012).
The San Francisco Giants won it all in both 2010 and 2012. Each title season was followed by a really bad season. It is pretty clear to me, this is a great period for the Giants. Winning one title is hard enough, no less winning two.
This past week I had a chance to talk with three classy members of the Giants organization. I will share a highlight and some comments on each person.
Duane Kuiper is a fine S.F. Giant’s broadcaster, working on television in the Bay area with Mike Krukow. Duane also hit but one home run in 3,379 official at bats, the most number of at bats for a player with exactly one home run in his career.
Kuiper told me that unless the other four would have been game ending or grand slams, he is glad that he hit but one home run and not five.
Next, I spoke to near namesake Madison Bumgarner (we laughed at the various mispronunciations of our names, mine is Baumgarten).
Madison is very proud of being a big part of two title teams. He was very humble as we talked of his great pitching performance in the key game 4 victory, at Texas, vs the Rangers in the 2010 World Series.
He was equally proud of his wife Ali’s charity work in the Bay area. Again humble, even concerning his “better half,” he cited the other Giant’s wives and their contributions.
It was refreshing to see and meet a truly talented, classy young player. I am glad we have similar last names.
Last, but certainly not least, I had a meaningful conversation with a still young looking, but “wise beyond his still young years,” Dave Righetti, the longtime Giant’s pitching coach.
David realizes how fortunate he is to have lasted so long in the game. We talked about his no hitter, 30 years ago, when he pitched with the New York Yankees.
We talked about disappointments he overcame including those involving the Yankees’ near misses in the very competitive AL East of the 1980’s. I added and he knew how different things were when a team had to win its division to qualify for the playoffs.
Righetti has come out “the other side” from any disappointments and is a funny, personable man. He also happens to be a great pitching coach.
There is much good in someone like Righetti being a part of two World Series winning teams in three seasons.
Dave was nice enough to send a personal message to a friend and Giants fan. Having told Dave my friend does “second guess” certain managerial decisions, he greeted my friend and said he was glad that he was a Giants fan.
He added “watch the second guessing but we will consult with you first.” That comment made me laugh and capped my chats with three good Giants, who more important, are good people.
The third week of the 2013 N.F.L. season commences tonight in Philadelphia where the (2-0) Kansas City Chiefs, coached by longtime Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid, visit the (1-1) Eagles.
There are two teams that are favored by more than two touchdowns this week. This is a very rare occurrence in the N.F.L.
Each team is the favorite to win its conference at this very early point in the season.
One big favorite, the (2-0) Seattle Seahawks host the (0-2) Jacksonville Jaguars. In fact, Seattle is about a 19 point favorite, one of the highest lines that I can remember.
The other big favorite, the (2-0) Denver Broncos host to the (1-1) Oakland Raiders on Monday night. This is still a big rivalry and I predict the Raiders will play fairly well.
Rare predictions with margins of victory: Eagles by 7, Seahawks by 13 and Broncos by only four points.
While eight N.F.L. teams are (2-0), only three won and covered the point spread (usually a good barometer of a team’s strength, certainly not always the case) in both games.
One of those teams, the Denver Broncos loom large as a Super Bowl threat. Thus far, Denver eased to victories vs the last two Supe winners, the Baltimore Ravens in week one, and the “Ultimate Value Team,” New York Giants in the second game.
The Miami Dolphins, under second year coach Joe Philbin, have two road victories, winning as approximately a field goal underdog in each, first at Cleveland (Browns) and then at the home of the Indianapolis Colts.
Three other teams from each conference are off to (2-0) starts. The Kansas City Chiefs, who covered one of two are joined by the New England Patriots and Houston Texans who have not only not covered but really struggled.
In the NFC, the New Orleans Saints, Chicago Bears and Seattle Seahawks are (2-0). Seattle has covered in both victories including an impressive home victory vs the San Francisco 49ers in the week two, Sunday night tilt.
It is very probable that the three American League divisional races have been decided.
In the A.L. East, the Boston Red Sox who have a team of bearded players, are anything but the “beard.”
Instead, they are the real thing and will win the division title for the first time since 2007. The Red Sox won the World Series that year and are among the favorites to do so this season.
The Detroit Tigers have a five game lead over the Cleveland Indians and almost certainly will win a third straight A.L. Central crown.
The Oakland A’s, who swept the slumping Texas Rangers over the weekend, now lead Texas by six and a half games in the A.L. West. It almost certainly will be a second straight A.L. West crown for the A’s.
The race for the two bogus wild card berths is sure to bring joy to the baseball commissioner, who allowed this travesty into what once was a great game.
Right now the Tampa Rays and Texas Rangers are tied for the two spots. The Cleveland Indians are just a half game behind. The Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees and even the Kansas City Royals still have a shot, though a fairly long shot at this point.
There are less than two weeks to play in the baseball regular season. It still appears that the five National League qualifiers for the baseball tournament are set.
Both the Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers long ago wrapped up their divisional titles, though neither has clinched at this point.
In the N.L. Central, with just 13 games left, the St. Louis Cardinals and the upstart Pittsburgh Pirates, who will finish above .500 for the first time since 1992, are tied for first place.
Each will make the playoffs, the Pirates for the first time since 1992. The division winner avoids the one game wild card playoff game slated for Tuesday October first.
In a far more compelling race in 1974 also between the Pirates and Cardinals it was Pittsburgh which won the “one out of four” division, gaining a game to win it on the final day of the season, Wednesday October second.
1974 and 2013 have the same calendar but this 2013 race is so much less dramatic.
If there is a need to decide the division winner in a playoff, that playoff is scheduled for Monday September 30th.
Sure, one wants to win the division and be one of eight and avoid a one game playoff. However, in 1974 a team had to finish first and its reward was being one of only four teams in the playoffs.
Meanwhile in the race for playoff qualification, the Cincinnati Reds have a four and a half game lead over the Washington Nationals.
