Sunday’s 6-pack:
Major league leaders in stolen bases:
63— Ronald Acuna, Atl
54— Esteury Ruiz, A’s
41— Corbin Carroll, Ariz
38— CJ Abrams, Wash/Bobby Witt, KC
36— Julio Rodriguez, Sea/Nico Hoerner, Cubs
30— Wander Franco, TB
Quote of the Day
“We had very few penalties. I thought we played a clean game. The offensive line did a good job. That’s a tough, physical team we played.”
Fresno State coach Jeff Tedford, who was Aaron Rodgers’ coach at Cal
Sunday’s quiz
In the classic TV show
Magnum PI, what state did Thomas Magnum live in when he was a kid?
Saturday’s quiz
Major League Baseball switched to divisional play in 1969; Atlanta Braves won the National League West that season—they were in the Western Division until 1994.
Friday’s quiz
Dallas Cowboys have won Super Bowls under three head coaches: Tom Landry, Jimmy Johnson, Barry Switzer
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Lot of stuff going on this weekend; there is even a FIBA basketball tournament going on in the Philippines, but unfortunately, those games are all being played while I’m sleeping.
— Colorado 45, TCU 42
Buffaloes were a 21-point underdog.
Colorado QB Sanders threw for 510 yards, four TD’s.
Four different Colorado receivers had 100+ receiving yards.
Buffaloes were 9-15 on third down, TCU 10-17.
— Texas State 42, Baylor 31
Bobcats were a 27-point underdog.
QB Finley threw for 298 yards with 3 TD’s; he ran for another score.
Finley previously played one season at LSU and two at Auburn.
— Colorado has 87 new players this season; Texas State has 71— they’re the two teams in the country with the most new players this season. Both posted huge upsets Saturday.
— Penn State 38, West Virginia 15– 0:13 left in the game, Penn State (-21) led 31-15- they had the ball on the West Virginia 5-yard line. Take a knee and go home, right?
Not so much; Penn State runs a QB draw, scores a TD, covering the spread and putting the game over the total. Postgame handshake between the coaches must’ve been interesting.
— Wyoming 35, Texas Tech 33 OT
Tech led this game 17-0 after the first quarter.
Red Raiders outgained Wyoming, 431-320.
— Fresno State 39, Purdue 35
Fresno QB Keane threw for 366 yards, four TD’s.
Fresno WR Brooks caught 9 passes for 170 yards, two TD’s.
Bulldogs were 11-17 on third down, Purdue 3-11.
— Illinois 30, Toledo 28
Illini kicked a 26-yard FG with 0:05 left to avoid an Opening Day upset.
Toledo led this game 12-7 at halftime.
Rockets were 7-15 on third down, Illinois 3-9.
— UCLA 27, Coastal Carolina 13— Bruins were struggling in this game; they brought freshman QB Moore in off the bench, and he provided a spark. Probably the last time he comes off the bench for UCLA.
— Temple 24, Akron 21
Akron led 21-7 with a minute left in the first half.
EJ Warner (son of Kurt Warner) threw two 2nd half TD passes.
Zips had 10 penalties for 82 yards, Temple 3 for 15.
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Upsets of the Day:
Texas State (+27) 42, Baylor 31
Colorado (+21) 45, TCU 42
Wyoming (+13) 35, Texas Tech 33, OT
Northern Illinois (+9) 27, Boston College 24 OT
Fresno State (+4) 39, Purdue 35
— Reds 2, Cubs 1
Cubs led 1-0 in 9th inning, but their bullpen blew the game.
Reds are in a 3-way tie for the last Wild Card spot in the NL.
— Guardians 7, Rays 6 (11)
Tampa Bay falls 2.5 games behind Baltimore in the AL East.
Cleveland is still five games behind Minnesota in the AL Central.
— Twins 9, Rangers 7 (10)— Texas is 3-12 in its last 15 games; they’re two games out of first place in the AL West, have a 1.5-game lead for the last Wild Card slot in the AL.
— Mariners 8, Mets 7— Seattle blew a 7-3 lead with their ace Luis Castillo on the mound, but JP Crawford homered in the 9th inning for the win.
— Baltimore 7, Arizona 3
This was 46th Arizona game this year started by a rookie pitcher.
— A’s 2, Angels 1
Oakland is 7-5 in its last 12 games.
A’s are 9-7 when Blackburn is their starting pitcher.
Angels are 7-21 in their last 28 games.
Angels put six players on waivers this week, trying to get under the luxury tax threshold, but because no one claimed Randal Grichuk, the Angels are still above the threshold for this year.
The tax the Angels would pay for 2023 would be 20% of how much they went over the threshold. More significant, however, is that it would set them up to pay 30%, instead of 20%, if they go over again in 2024.
— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Braves, Brewers, Dodgers. Wild Cards- Phillies, Cubs, SF/Az/Cin
AL: Orioles, Twins, Mariners. Wild Cards- Rays, Astros, Rangers
— There were 15 baseball games Saturday; of the 30 starting pitchers, only seven of them finished the sixth inning.
