Day: October 8, 2018

This week’s AP Poll

As predicted, UCF did finally make the top ten. Do they belong there? I dunno. The computer ratings suggest they are still not at that level. Sagarin’s calculations place them 26th. There are two other undefeated teams in the East half of the American Conference, but UCF doesn’t play them until their final two games, so you can expect the Knights to stay undefeated for a while, and maybe even creep a bit higher on the rankings ladder.

With their win over Oklahoma, the Texas Longhorns vaulted over several teams into the #9 spot.

Florida leapt into the #14 spot with their win over LSU.

The top four remained unchanged.

The Indians and Braves are gone. The Yankees are still alive, but limping.

It does not look good for the Yanks after the Sox pummeled them and their ace, Luis Severino, in front of a deeply disappointed Bronx crowd. The final score was 16-1, a historic beatdown which was the worst post-season loss in Yankee history.

The Yankees used six pitchers, not all of whom are actually supposed to be pitchers, and the Sox scored on every single one of them.

The Red Sox’s unheralded utility player, Brock Holt, hit for the cycle. In the entire history of MLB, no previous player had ever hit for the cycle in the post-season. He finished it with a homer off the Yankees’ second string catcher.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the ball, Red Sox starter Nathan Eovaldi handcuffed the Yankees and threw several pitches clocked in triple figures, including three against Aaron Judge in one at bat. Eovaldi has always been able to bring it, but so far has not been able to convert that into much of a career (44-53 4.16 for five different teams).

The NFL Week 5

After three games in Cleveland, the Browns are undefeated at home. As ol’ Mel Allen used to say, “How ABOUT that?”

The Rams and Chiefs are still undefeated, although the Rams needed a furious fourth-quarter comeback to stay unblemished.

The Jets finally had something to crow about. Isaiah Crowell rushed for 219 yards on only 15 carries as the Jets steamrolled over the Broncos!

The Braves stay alive; the Rockies do not.

The post-season often brings new heroes to our attention. The Braves got a grand slam from their lead-off hitter, Ronald Acuna Jr, a 20-year-old kid who appears to be an upcoming superstar. He had a .918 OPS in 2018, his rookie year. He led the team in homers despite limited playing time, and also tossed 16 stolen bases into the mix. The Dodgers battled back from Acuna’s blow to achieve a 5-5 tie, but the Braves’ veteran star, Freddie Freeman, put the game away with a homer of his own. The Braves managed to produce six runs with only four hits at exactly the right times.

The Rockies gave Cleveland and the Cubs a battle for the least post-season offense. They were shut out again Sunday, having gone home with only two runs in three games. Moreover, they were shut out in Coors Field, where they led the majors in home OPS during the regular season, at .852. They actually have one of the weakest offenses on baseball, with a road OPS of .665 (the MLB low is .654), but Coors normally covers a multitude of sins. Unfortunately for the Rocks, those sins were right out in the open on Sunday.

The Brewers’ post-season ERA is 0.64! Sunday’s game illustrates how much baseball has changed in recent years. The Brewers used six pitchers. The starter did not go five innings, which he must do in order be awarded a win, so the win went to some middle reliever you never heard of, a 23-year-old rookie named Corbin Burnes, who is undefeated for life! (7-0 in the regular season, 1-0 in the playoffs). The Brewers had two other relievers who were 6-1 and 8-1 in the regular season. That’s 21-2 from three guys who combined for fewer than 200 innings pitched.
Starters are not what they used to be. The Brewers managed their three brilliant post-season pitching performances without a single starter lasting more than five innings.