The winning teams will be division champs. The losing teams will have to play each other in another one-game showdown!

One of these four solid teams – the one that loses two games in a row – will not make it to the division series.

Yelich did not get his triple crown. In the final stats, he led the league in batting average, missed by one in homers, missed by two in RBI. So close!

HOWEVER, as two commenters reminded me, the division playoff game is considered part of the regular season, so Yelich will get one more shot at a big game for all the marbles. (His chief competitors, Baez, Story and Arenado, will also get an additional game.)

Thanks for the reminder guys. I can still remember a year from my childhood when Ernie Banks lost the NL homer crown because Eddie Mathews got to play in a playoff. In those days the NL used a three-game tie-breaker and Eddie hit his final homer in the last of those three games (a 12-inning thriller), thus beating Mr. Cub by one dinger.

J.D. Martinez had a similar result in the AL: first in RBI, second in average, second in HR. (And he’s not even the best hitter on his own team! Mookie Betts beat him in OPS, 1.078 to 1.031. Quite a 1-2 punch!)

Neither Betts nor Martinez led the league in OPS. That was, as usual, the amazing Mike Trout, who has now won that category in three of the past four seasons.

 

College pigskin round-up

The top six teams all won, but Ohio State escaped with a rally (against another top ten team), and Clemson had trouble with unranked Syracuse

#8 Notre Dame crushed #7 Stanford, 38-17.

The two items above represent double good news for Notre Dame. They want the Orange to seem very strong, because they will play Syracuse later in the year. If they can destroy them while staying undefeated, they will have staked a solid claim to make the college playoffs …

… and lose to Alabama by 40

but still …

#9 Penn State barely lost to #4 Ohio State

Kentucky (#17) won again, proving they are no fluke with a solid win over South Carolina.

#22 Duke lost, but nobody with any sense though Duke belonged in the top 25 to begin with. I reckon they will lose several more before the season ends.

The rest of the week went more or less according to script.

Yelich had another big game, with two dingers. If he has another one tomorrow, he has a chance to win the first triple crown in the National League in more than 80 years! The last guy to do it was “Ducky” Medwick in 1937. (It has been more common in the AL, where there have been six post-Medwick triple crowns including one in 2012.)

As of now, with one game remaining, here are the stats:

Batting Average: he has it locked.

Homers: he’s tied for the lead

RBI: he’s two behind the leader.

He will definitely play tomorrow because the game is important to the Brewers, who are deadlocked with the Cubs, with one game to play.

It’s hard to believe the Marlins let this guy go. They drafted him, developed him through the majors and minors for eight years, then traded him to get prospects and keep payroll low.

And now it seems that he’ll be the league MVP.

And the Marlins have the worst record in the league.

Being a Marlin fan must be one of the most frustrating things in sports. They do this all the time. Yelich was the fourth key starter traded by the Marlins under their new CEO Derek Jeter. They also dumped last year’s MVP (home run king Giancarlo Stanton), plus speedy stolen base king Dee Gordon and an all-star left fielder in Marcell Ozuna (whose triple crown numbers last year were better than Yelich’s this year). Yeah, that’s right. In Stanton, Yelich and Ozuna, they dumped their entire outfield. And not just any outfield, but arguably the best in the majors.

This is not something that began under Jeter. The Marlins have done this for decades. After their World Series win in 1997, they basically jettisoned the entire team and lost 108 games the very next year.


Another interesting thing to watch tomorrow in the NL:

Although the five playoff teams have been determined, two of the three division champions have not! The Brewers and Cubs are tied in their division, and the Rockies and Dodgers are tied in theirs. They will be trying their best tomorrow. Nobody wants to be a “wild card” team, because that requires a one-game playoff to make the REAL post-season.

The teams do not play one another, so it is possible that both division races may result in ties. If that happens, there is a one-game playoff between the deadlocked teams. The loser (or losers, if both divisions end in a tie) will then face a second one-game playoff with the other wild card team.

… but it’s not a record he’ll crow about.

In the long and storied history of major league baseball, dating back to 1871 or 1876 (historians disagree about whether the National Association {1871-1875} should be considered a major league), no player has ever compiled a worse batting average in 500 or more plate appearances.

He set the record at .168. The previous record was .179.

It looked iffy for a while because Davis was batting .180 on September 5th, and was on a tear, having batted .344 in his last eight games. But he was more than up to the challenge, finishing the season 1-for-37 to crush the record.

Davis also made a run at the record in 2014, when he finished at .196, 14th-worst in history.

He is in the third year of a 7-year, $161 million contract.

2018 College Football Rankings – Week 5

Nothing really worth mentioning. Everything proceeded according to expectations, possibly excepting the appearance of Duke in the Top 25.

Sagarin’s computer ratings present a somewhat different take on the matter. He ranks some two-loss teams pretty high based on the strength of their schedules.

(Texas A&M is ranked #12 by Sagarin, for example. They are not in the top 25 in the AP poll. The computer rating of the Aggies actually makes sense given that their two losses are to the top two teams in the country, and they came close to beating Clemson, although they were pummeled by Alabama. But then, who doesn’t get pummeled by Alabama? The Aggies lost by a “mere” 22. ‘Bama’s other opponents have lost by 37, 50 and 55.)

That’s not surprising. He’s the best young player I’ve ever seen, including Mickey. The guy is brilliant at every aspect of the game, and he’s still only 27 years old, although this is his eighth year in the bigs. And before that he tore up the minors when he was just a kid, amassing a cumulative minor league batting average of .341, including .403 in AAA. The last guy to tear up the minors like that was Willie Mays, who is often considered the greatest overall player in history. Yes, I know another player also has a case to make that claim, a certain George Herman Ruth, but when the dust clears Trout may have surpassed both of them.

But the key point here is that the Angels are 1-5 in that streak. In the game where Trout did not homer, they were shut out! He is, more or less, the whole team. As good as he is, maybe the Angels ought to consider trading him for a massive package of prospects or up-and-comers. (Maybe nobody has that level of resources, but there are a few teams that could peel off some big bucks from an unlimited bankroll instead.)

Penalty on Clay Matthews’ Textbook Hit Embroils NFL in Another Rules Controversy

“The NFL has made its policy on how to treat quarterbacks clear: Do not touch them. Do not hit them too hard, either. Don’t put your weight on them. Be delicate. No tussling of hair. Wedgies will lead to ejections. No harsh language, finger-pointing or sarcasm aimed at them. Tickling will be a 15-yard penalty. Talking about a quarterback’s momma will lead to a fine.”

“If the penalties hadn’t made the policy clear enough, the NFL even released a statement Sunday to make it clearer: ‘We strongly encourage all defensive players to not hit the quarterback ever,’ the letter from Commissioner Roger Goodell’s office read. ‘Instead, buy them a drink. Treat QBs like silk pillows. Cuddle them. Hug them. Speak to them softly.'”

This week in the NFL:

Drew Brees set the all-time record for the most completed passes.

The Buffalo Bills got their first win in spectacular fashion – by amassing a 27-0 halftime lead on the road.

The once-mighty Patriots dropped to 1-2 as previously winless Detroit gave them a 26-10 beatdown. Brady had a QB rating of 65 with only 14 completions.

The Titans and Jaguars played one of the most boring games in history, a 9-6 yawner with only 465 yards from scrimmage for both teams added together.

Still undefeated: the Dolphins, Chiefs and Rams at 3-0. Tampa Bay can join them if they win the Monday night game.

The week in college football:

There were no significant upsets in the top echelon this week. The top 12 teams all won, although Stanford and Oklahoma required an overtime to pull it off.

The Stanford result was no surprise since they played Oregon, which is also excellent (#20 coming in).

The Oklahoma game was another story. They definitely showed a few chinks in the armor by nearly losing a home game to Army, and producing fewer yards from scrimmage than the unheralded Knights. The Oklahoma weakness was their rushing defense, which allowed 339 yards on the ground to the cadets. (That’s slightly misleading because Army rarely passes. But still – if you know it’s going to be a rushing play, which it almost always is with Army, you should have more success slowing it down.)

Further down the list, there will be some shake-ups in next week’s polls:

#13 Virginia Tech was blown out of the water, allowing 49 points to lowly, previously winless Old Dominion. Allowing Old Dominion to score 28 in the fourth quarter will probably drop VT totally off the Top 25 list. (And would cost the defensive co-ordinator his job in a just world.)

#14 Mississippi State was shellacked by … (wait for it) … Kentucky! The Wildcats are no longer the patsy of the SEC. They are 4-0, with two conference wins, both of which came against Top 25 teams (at the time). Kentucky will probably climb into the Top 25, so it seems their fans will now have something to do before basketball season.

#15 Oklahoma State lost big at home (41-17).

#17 TCU dropped a road game to the Longhorns.

#23 Boston College was pummeled by lowly Purdue, which had not previously won a game. But at least BC got to sniff the Top 25 list, if only for a moment. Don’t expect them back. The ACC is tough. They Eagles face a grueling second-half schedule and will probably finish with 4-5 losses.

Guys really love sports, part 1,713

According to a survey of 2,000 people done by Fathead, 1 in 5 sports fans would turn down sex to watch the big game.

It hinges on how the question is worded. I would turn down some sex. It depends on with whom. I’ll pass on sex with Kathy Bates, for example. In general, however, I’d be happy to have the sex now and watch the game on tape.

The Dodgers are the first team in NL history with seven 20-homer players

It’s tough to accomplish this in the NL because the pitchers still bat, so setting that record pretty much requires seven guys out of eight. The Dodgers have hit 218 homers as I type this, which is a high number (best in the league), but not anywhere near a record high, because they don’t have any players with more than 33 homers. They just have a well-balanced attack.

The Yankees already have 247 this year, fueled by 140 at home. The all-time team record for an entire season is 264 (1997 Mariners). The team record for the most round-trippers at home is 153 (2005 Rangers); the road record is 138 (2001 Giants).

The Oakland A’s score 21 against the Angels

The A’s are the most underrated team in the game. People extol the virtues of the AL’s superteams: Boston, Houston, Cleveland and the Yankees, but the road stats show that Oakland has the best offense in the American League. Have you heard even one person mention that?

Houston is close, by the way, by virtue of the league’s highest OBP (Oakland has the highest slugging average). The Red Sox are good, but far behind those two.

The Yankees are nowhere near. They appear to be stronger than they are because the New Yankee Stadium is a hitter’s paradise. The Yankees and their opponents have scored 756 runs at home, only 629 on the road. That’s a difference of 127 runs. To put that in perspective, the Rockies and their opponents have scored 770 at home and 653 on the road, a difference of 117 runs. In other words, New Yankee Stadium is the American League Coors!

On the other hand, road stats also show that the Yankees have the second-best pitching staff. They are behind the Astros.

I guess you can determine from that set of facts that the Astros, not the Red Sox, are the best team in the league. That is confirmed by their run ratio. They have outscored their opponents by 242 runs, compared to 211 for the Red Sox. I hope they both make it through to the ALCS. It’ll one of baseball’s strongest match-ups in history.

College pigskin, week three

The top five all won, although Ohio State had to come back to do it. ‘Bama put up 49 points in the first half, whereupon they emptied the bench. And the bench players held Ole Miss scoreless in the second half! I’m pretty sure Alabama could have won the game even if they had suited up their marching band.

#6 Wisconsin lost to unranked BYU.

#7 Auburn lost to #12 LSU by a single point. LSU remains undefeated.

Farther down the list, #22 USC made it clear they did not belong among the ranked teams after they were shellacked 37-14 by the Texas Longhorns.

Some of the ranked teams were scheduled to play in the path of the hurricane, and those games were therefore postponed or canceled.

The Mets’ Jacob deGrom makes history

“Padding his Cy Young bona fides, deGrom tossed a 26th straight start allowing three runs or fewer. He broke a century-old major league record set by the Cubs’ Leslie ‘King’ Cole in 1910.”

And he also got saddled with a loss.

Again.

Despite a 1.71 ERA, which leads the league by a wide margin, DeGrom’s W-L record is 8-9.