· 5 Wild Card winners have won the World Series
· 10 wild card teams have made it to World Series
· The 2002 Angels vs Giants World Series was the
only World Series in which both teams were Wild Card teams
I am all for having a Wild Card team make and win the World Series. I am just glad that now, finally, if they do make it to the World Series, they would have had to do more than the teams that won their own divisions. This decision is only going to enhance the divisional rivalries during the regular season. This is also going to make the final weeks of the regular season that much more exciting as there will now be more teams involved in trying to get into the playoffs, and more teams trying to actually win their division, not settle for a Wild Card berth.
The only problem that this may cause is that the trade deadline may not be as exciting as in the past because more teams will still consider themselves in the hunt for the 2nd wild card spot. I’m willing to give up the excitement of trade deadline day to add to the excitement of the playoff chase.
I can’t wait for October baseball, it’s going to be exciting.
On the Diamond….
· I’ve been waiting a long time for this one. The Oakland A’s kicked off their spring
training schedule today with a game against the Seattle Mariners. Opening day is only 27 days away when these
same two teams play a two game series in Japan on March 28th and 29th.
· Yoenis Cespedes finally arrived in A’s camp
today. I’m excited to see this guy
play. I still have no idea why Oakland
signed him, but it has at least brought a little excitement into this
team.
· Grady Sizemore had surgery and is out 8-12
weeks. Big shocker there. When was the
last time this guy was healthy? 2008?
· Yadier Molina signed a 5 year, $75 million
contract with St. Louis yesterday. Good
signing by them. The best defensive
catcher in the game. Four gold-gloves,
three all-star games, and two World Series rings. Can’t complain about his production.
On the Ice…..
·
Ryan Miller has been on fire lately for the
Buffalo Sabres, picking up his 4th shutout since February 1st in
a 1-0 win last night over San Jose. He
has given up 2 goals or less in 9 of his last 13 starts and has given up 3
goals in the other 4 games he started.
The Sabres are 8-3-3 since in that time, and have climbed from last
place in the East to within striking distance of the playoffs. Miller’s great play has also come at a time
when his defensemen are also playing at their best. With Myers, Ehrhoff, Regehr, Leopold, Weber,
and Sekera playing good minutes in front of him, the Sabres haven’t needed to
score many goals to win games. How much
longer Miller and his defensive help can continue to play at this level is a
question. However, considering the
Sabres have scored more than two goals in only 7 of the 26 games played since
January 1st, I doubt the offense will come any time soon.
· Where has Thomas Vanek been lately? He only has 4 goals and 4 assists since
January 1st. Does playing
with Derek Roy make Vanek worse? I think
so. Lindy may need to shuffle the lines
to get him back on track.
· The arrival of Cory Hodgson has made the
Hodgson/Ennis/Stafford line the most exciting one to watch. It has only been two games, but this line has
been by far the best one of the four.
· It’s going to be fun to watch the Sabres play
the Canucks on Saturday night. I’m
calling my shot, Kaleta and Kassian are going to fight each other (or probably
do what they always do and just jaw at each other and skate away).
· My guess, Enroth will get the start against
Vancouver. It’s time for Miller to get a
break. Plus, it looked like Miller got
shaken up a little bit at the end of the San Jose game when Kaleta was pushed
into him. I wouldn’t be surprised if
Miller’s knee or ankle is sore today and Lindy gives him a night off tomorrow. Miller needs to be well rested for a big game
Monday night against Winnipeg.
On the Court….
· The Miami Heat won again last night over
Portland and have now won 9 games in a row, all by more than 12 points and with
7 of them coming on the road. Can the
Heat and Bulls play a 15 game series beginning now to see who will come out of
the Eastern Conference? Does anyone else
really stand a chance?
· I can’t believe I am typing this, but Lamar Odom
has officially been sent to the NBA D-League today by the Dallas
Mavericks. I have no idea how a player
can look so good on one team, and so terrible on another, but Lamar Odom to the
D-League? Wow. Trade him back to the Lakers and get something
for him. I’m sure somewhere out there,
Kris Humphries is chuckling.
· Big 4 basketball is starting to take center
stage locally. Tonight at 9:30, NU and
Canisius play each other in the 1st round of the MAAC
Tournament. MAAC Rookie of the Year
Juan’ya Green and fellow freshmen stud Antoine Mason should hopefully lead NU
to a win. I have high hopes for this NU
team for the next 3 years if they can keep this young group of freshmen and
sophomores together. Joe Mihalich did
another great job by bringing these guys to Niagara. With a loss tonight, head coach Tom Perrotta
will probably have coached his last game for Canisius. He’s been awful. To read more about Juan'ya Green, see this link...
· If you want to look for a team locally that can
make it to the NCAA Tournament, look at both St. Bonaventure and UB. Both teams have a good shot at winning their
conference regular season title with victories this weekend. Bonaventure has a legit NBA prospect in
Andrew Nicholson. If he stays out of
foul trouble, he can flat out dominate games.
Now I bleed NU purple and white, but if one of these two teams make it
to the NCAA tournament, I will have to root for them and will probably be
picking them to win at least one game.
On the Gridiron….
· The combine is wrapping up this week. Is there a more useless measure of how good a
player is going to be in the NFL than measuring players on how high they can
jump?
· The Bills need to sign Stevie Johnson ASAP. Here’s an idea, how about the Bills keep some
of the guys that actually produce and then build up other areas of your team
through the draft? I don’t want to waste
another high draft pick on a WR when a perfectly good one is already here. Johnson can be a very good player, and fills
a position of need. Why let him go? Hey Ralph, open up your penny jar and pay the
guy!
· Is anybody else sick of hearing everyone talk
about Peyton Manning? I know I am.
On the Home Front…..
· Birthday wishes go out this Saturday March 3rd
to both my sister and my father-in-law.
Happy birthday!
· If you want to read a couple articles relating
to the importance I think sports has today, please read the following
· This Sunday at 1:00, the Youngsters look to
bounce back from a 60-52 defeat at the hands of the Veterans in the friendly,
yet competitive series of basketball games played between the finest athletes
the City of Niagara Falls has ever seen.
Last week’s opening matchup was ugly, with all players shaking off their
rust. Can this week’s game be less than
the 2 1/2 hours that last week’s embarrassment was? We’ll soon find out.
No mention of SU basketball?
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