Thursday’s 6-pack
Last six teams to win the NBA Championship:
2022— Golden State
2021— Milwaukee
2020— LA Lakers
2019— Toronto
2018— Golden State
2017— Golden State
Quote of the Day
“A reform that has been of interest to ownership for a number of years is a limitation of contract length……those (long) contracts result in a transfer from the current stars to yesterday’s stars. At some point, that has to be true. And I think it is an issue that is important for us to stay focused on, because it creates inflexibility that affects the quality of the teams that you put on the field.”
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred
Thursday’s quiz
When was the last time the Angels made the playoffs?
Wednesday’s quiz
Clint Hurdle was the Pittsburgh Pirates’ manager in 2015, last time they made the playoffs.
Tuesday’s quiz
Since 2020, Washington Commanders started eight quarterbacks, the most of any team.
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Thursday’s Den: XFL trends, and other relevant Thursday things…….
— Mets 5, Dodgers 3
Max Scherzer was tossed in the 4th inning; a sticky substance dispute.
Brandon Nimmo went 5-for-5, hit a home run for the Mets.
Dodgers are 9-10 and look very ordinary.
— Pirates 14, Rockies 3— Pittsburgh outscored Colorado 33-9 in their three-game sweep; Pirates are 12-7, would be in the playoffs if they started today.
— Padres 1, Braves 0— San Diego has scored total of two runs in their last four games; Martinez tossed seven shutout IP, Soto homered for the only run.
— Bronx 3, Angels 2 (10)— Judge homered, also made two great catches that both saved a run; two teams were a combined 1-24 with runners in scoring position.
— Brewers 5, Mariners 3— Milwaukee is 6-0 in games where the winning run scored from the 7th inning on.
— Orioles 4, Nationals 0— Baltimore is 11-7; just like the Pirates, if the season ended now, they would make the playoffs.
— Cincinnati Reds signed P Hunter Greene to a six-year, $53M contract extension. Greene has started 28 games for the Reds; he is 5-13, with a 4.42 ERA.
— Josiah Gray pitches for Washington; in his last three starts, the Nationals lost 1-0/2-0/1-0. Not a lot of support there.
— It can’t be a lot of fun being a mid-major college basketball coach; Kansas Jayhawks just poached a player from Towson State. Nick Timberlake scored 17.7 ppg in 35.7 minutes/game this past year, shooting 41.6% on the arc. Shooting is marketable.
When a player plays 35.7 minutes/game, it means he is indispensable; Towson was 21-12 this past season, 12-6 in the CAA, a good team- they’re 46-21 the last two years, but now they’re going to regress, because their best guy just jumped ship to play in the big time.
— Chris Ledlum scored 18.8 ppg, grabbed 8.4 rebounds/game for Harvard last year; he goes to Tennessee as a grad student, choosing the Vols over Indiana.
— Home teams won all three NBA games Wednesday; Heat-Bucks, Lakers-Grizzlies series are both 1-1. Nuggets beat Minnesota 122-113, lead that series 2-0.
— Since 1997, LA Lakers have won 30 consecutive playoff series when they won Game 1, the NBA’s longest-such streak; the next three longest streaks:
Bulls 24 (1990-98)
Celtics 24 (1957-73)
Rockets 17 (1975-97)
— NFL Draft starts a week from tonight; there are five teams that don’t have a first round pick this year. One of the teams, the LA Rams, haven’t had a first round pick since they took Jared Goff in 2016. Rams do have their first round pick next year.
— There is an Arena Football team here in Albany, the Albany Empire, which plays in the National Arena League, which has seven teams, two of them in Texas; former NFL WR Antonio Brown recently became the majority owner— he owns 95% of the team.
Since Brown took over the team, he fired the head coach (who won the championship the last two years), and then the director of media relations and team president also left the team. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.
Long time ago, Brown’s father Eddie Brown was a great WR for the Albany Firebirds in the Arena Football League; Firebirds won the Arena Bowl in 1999. Eddie Brown once scored seven TD’s in a game— right now, he is the Empire’s vice president of operations.
— Here are trends for XFL teams, with one week left in their 10-game regular season.
Arlington Renegades (4-5)
4-1 in games decided by 1 or 2 points.
0-4 in games decided by 6+ points.
Six of their last eight games stayed under the total.
Last eight games, scored 14.4 ppg.
3-6 ATS this season, 0-3 ATS as a favorite.
DC Defenders (8-1)
8-1 SU/7-2 ATS this season.
Eight of their nine games went over the total.
Last seven games, Defenders scored 32.7 ppg.
Last four weeks, they allowed 26-37-33-26 points.
4-2 ATS as a favorite, 3-0 ATS as an underdog.
Houston Renegades (5-3)
4-0 ATS first four games, 1-4 last five games.
Scored 30.5 ppg in first four games, 20.2 ppg in last five.
4-1 SU/ATS at home, 1-3 on the road.
Under is 5-3 in their last eight games.
5-0 if they allow 16 or less points, 1-3 if they allow 21+.
Las Vegas Vipers (2-7)
2-3 SU last five games, after an 0-4 start.
Vipers are 2-6 ATS in their last eight games.
Three of their last four games stayed under the total.
1-3 in games decided by 4 or less points.
Vipers are 0-6 when they score less than 26 points.
Orlando Guardians (1-8)
Last three games were decided by total of five points.
Orlando is 4-2-1 ATS in last seven games.
Their only win was against 8-1 Defenders.
Seven of their nine games went over total.
Four of their eight losses were by 3 or fewer points.
St Louis Battlehawks (6-3)
St Louis allowed 18 or less points in its wins.
Battlehawks allowed 34-28-30 points in their losses.
Battlehawks are 3-0 in games decided by 4 or less points.
St Louis is 3-2 ATS as an underdog.
Five of their last six games stayed under the total.
San Antonio Brahmas (3-6)
Brahmas were held to 15 or less points in seven of nine games.
Seven of their nine games stayed under the total.
Average total in their last five games: 31.2.
Brahmas are 1-5 if they allow more than 12 points.
Three of their last three games were decided by exactly 2 points.
Seattle Sea Dragons (6-3)
Seattle won six of its last seven games, after an 0-2 start.
Sea Dragons covered five of their last seven games.
Three of their four games went over the total.
Last four weeks, Seattle scored 28.3 ppg.
Seattle’s losses were by 1-2-4 points.
