Thursday’s 6-pack:
NFL QB’s with most passing yards:
851— Dak Prescott, Dal
842— Brock Purdy, SF
787— Geno Smith, Sea
772— Jalen Hurts, Phil
754— Matthew Stafford, Rams
747— Gardner Minshew, LV
Quote of the Day
“This was one of the easiest [consignments] ever. Ohtani [hits #50] on Thursday, literally Friday we heard from the guy, he contacted Goldin on his own through social media, flew a security guard down to Miami on Monday with a representative from Goldin, met him, flew back Monday.”
Ken Goldin, founder and CEO of Goldin; bidding for Ohtani’s 50th home run baseball is going to start Friday at $500,000.
Thursday’s quiz
50 years ago, Oakland A’s won their third straight World Series; who was their manager that year?
Wednesday’s quiz
Of all the active players in the major leagues, Marcus Semien has played the most games in the Oakland Coliseum.
Tuesday’s quiz
Troy Aikman played college football for Oklahoma, UCLA.
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— Last week of baseball’s regular season, teams jockeying for position, but hideous weather in Atlanta caused MLB to postpone Wednesday/Thursday Mets-Braves games to a Monday doubleheader. Mets go to Milwaukee this weekend; the Braves host Kansas City.
The tropical storm pounding Georgia could bring 6-12 inches of rain, with lot of flooding; it figures to cost the Braves a bunch of $$$- the doubleheader Monday won’t be played unless it impacts the Wild Card race.
Whoever gets the Wild Card spot has to play Game 1 of the Wild Card round Tuesday, probably in San Diego, making it even more of a logistical mess.
— Braves’ P Chris Sale splits this season:
Home: 10-0, 2.28 in 14 starts
Away: 8-3, 2.48 in 15 starts
Will the Braves use Sale this weekend, or wait until Monday’s doubleheader?
— 50 years ago, Dodger pitcher Tommy John had this innovative surgery on his left elbow: he was 31 years old, had just gone 16-7/13-3 the previous two years, helping the Dodgers win the NL in 1974 (they lost the World Series to the A’s)
Tommy John didn’t pitch in 1975 because of the surgery, but he came back in 1976, and then he pitched for another 14 years!!! They named the surgery “Tommy John surgery” and since then, 1,247 major leaguers have had that surgery.
Second person to have Tommy John Surgery was Brent Strom, currently pitching coach for Arizona Diamondbacks.
— Pirates’ 1B Rowdy Tellez had a contract with performance incentives; as we speak, Tellez has 421 plate appearances. If he got to 425 PA’s, another $200,000 in his contract would’ve kicked in, but Pittsburgh cut him this week, saving the extra $200,000 expense.
Tellez only hit .243 this year, but he hit .310 from June 1st on; it is a bad look for a team that has had six straight losing seasons, hasn’t made the playoffs since 2015.
— Major League Baseball doesn’t market its sport very well; they’re arrogant people who assume that baseball is still our national pastime (it isn’t). For years, MLB relied on movies to promote the sport; it is time for them to do it themselves.
I have some ideas that would help MLB show people, especially young people, that baseball is a great game, because it is. Sometimes I wonder if Commissioner Manfred believes that
1) MLB needs a
Hard Knocks-type show, let people take a look behind the curtain at how teams are run. It would be fascinating:
Spring training
Cutting rosters
Home Run Derby/All-Star game
Hall of Fame inductions
Trade deadline stuff would be exceptional
Take a hard look at how the cheap teams do business.
Lot of opportunities for great TV and excellent exposure for the sport.
2) End TV blackouts; I spend a decent chunk of change every year on the MLB package on YouTube TV, but I can’t watch the New York teams live— have to wait until 90 minutes after the games end. It is nonsensical.
Why is this a good idea? Expose the game to as many people as possible.
3) ESPN or FS1 should run a big-money fantasy baseball league, with famous people owning some of the teams, fantasy experts owning some of the others. The draft would be tremendous; this would create a lot of interest during spring— have the draft early in a week, on two nights when the NCAA basketball tournament isn’t being played.
Imagine Kevin Costner owning a team? Joan Jett? Ludacris? Alex Rodriguez?
It would be very popular.
—
Famous birthdays, September 26th:
Kent McCord, 82
Dave Duncan, 79
Lucius Allen, 77
John Roche, 75
Craig Heyward, 58
Jim Caviezel, 56
Serena Williams, 43
Sean Doolittle, 38
Matt Waldron, 28
— Obscure trivia: There was a guy named Mel McGaha, who managed the Kansas City A’s in 1964-65; he was the A’s manager when I became a fan at age 5. The A’s were terrible back then, and he got fired fairly quickly.
McGaha never played in the major leagues, but he did play 51 basketball games for the Knicks in 1949, in the old BAA, a predecessor to the NBA.
— Diamondbacks 8, Giants 2
Zac Gallen struck out 11 guys, allowed one run in 6 IP.
Pavin Smith hit a 3-run homer.
Arizona/Mets are tied for last Wild Card slot, a game ahead of Atlanta.
— Dodgers 4, Padres 3
Dodgers leas NL West by three games, with four left to play.
Shohei Ohtani knocked in the winning run, in the 6th inning.
Padres magic number for clinching NL’s #1 Wild Card slot is at 2.
— Royals 3, Nationals 0
Kansas City gets off the mat by tossing consecutive shutouts.
Royals have scored total of five runs in their last five games.
Royals/Tigers are tied for last two AL playoff slots.
— Tigers 7, Rays 1
Detroit is 29-11 in its last 40 games.
Six Detroit pitchers combined to win this game.
— Phillies 9, Cubs 6
Phillies clinched a first-round bye in playoffs.
Nick Castellanos had three hits, scored three runs.
— If the baseball playoffs started today (they start next week):
NL: Phillies, Brewers, Dodgers. Wild Cards- Padres-Mets-Arizona
AL: New York, Guardians, Astros. Wild Cards- Orioles-Royals-Tigers
