Month of MLB: Day One

We have long complained about the silliness of the MLB playoff system, but the odds are that this year's playoffs will look like Game Six in 1975 compared to whatever absurdities the owners come up with after next year's lockdown.  And I'm too old to stop watching baseball anyway.  So I will merely point out that this year, the Atlanta Braves won 94 games, while the Phillies won only 88 -- and today we begin a three-game series between Atlanta and Philadelphia to see who moves on to the quarter-finals.  Similarly, the Yankees finished 6 1/2 games ahead of the Red Sox -- and their reward is a best two-out-of-three series with the Red Sox.

Anyway, it is what it is.  But I have salved a lot of my pain by largely ignoring the regular season and saving all my energy for the Playoffs.  I think MLB fans at this point have to adopt the mentality of NHL fans.  There's regular season baseball -- hot dogs, fan gear, sitting in the sun, ghost runners -- and then there's Playoff Baseball, where there are no ghost runners and the games count for real.  This year, I truly enjoyed watching a young Nats team with almost no pitching slug its way to 77 wins.  And now, I can watch my Beloved Dodgers play games that matter.

Here are Vegas's odds for the 12 Playoff teams to win the World Series:

Dodgers:  +210

Brewers:  +550

Yankees:  +800

Devil Rays:  +800

Guardians:  +1000

Braves:  +1500

Red Sox:  +1500

Cubs:  +1600

Phillies:  +1800

Padres:  +2200

Astros:  +2200

White Sox:  +3500

This week, we start with the four Wild Card Series.  Here's how they work.  The
Brewers, Dodgers, Devil Rays, and Guardians all get a bye to the Divisional Series.  The Braves, Astros, Yankees, and Padres are all hosting best two-out-of-three Wild Card Series at home.  Those games will take place today, tomorrow, and Thursday.  Each series starts at the same time every day.  For example, the Braves and Phillies will start at 1 PM Central during each game of their Wild Card Series, while the Yankees and Red Sox will start at  7 PM Central.  NBC owns the rights to all four Wild Card Series, so the games will all be on NBC, Peacock, or NBC Sports (I thought NBC Sports was still shut down, but  the Internet tells me that it relaunched on November 17, 2025).

Starting on Saturday, we will transition to the Divisional Series.  The American League Divisional Series, and the American League Championship Series, will be on TBS or HBO Max.  The National League Divisional Series, and the National League Championship Series, will be on Fox or Fox Sports One.  Finally, the World Series will begin on Friday, October 23.  All World Series games will be on Fox.

One final point.  ESPN Radio has the exclusive national radio broadcast rights to the entire MLB postseason, including the Wild Card Series, Division Series, League Championship Series, and the World Series.

OK, got it?  Here are today's games (all times Central):

1 P.M.:  Philadelphia at Atlanta (NBC)

4 P.M.:  Chicago White Sox at Houston (NBC Sports)

7 P.M.:  Boston at New York Yankees (NBC)

9 P.M.:  Chicago Cubs at San Diego (NBC Sports)

Let's go and best of luck to everyone.  Last year's Post-Season was a cracker, and next year's will be a mess because of the lockout.  So, let's enjoy this one while we can.  I have the mini-helmets and the old-school 1969 Pennants set to go.  For purposes of MLB, I am a Coastal Elite, having rooted for the Dodgers since I was seven years old and having lived on the East Coast since 1992.  So, I will be focused on the Braves/Phillies and Yankees/Red Sox series.  We will be rooting for the two Chicago teams to advance, but we probably won't give as much time to their efforts.

Month of MLB: End of the Regular Season

Even by the usual standards of MLB, this regular season was a snoozer.  We've known for months who was going to the playoffs.  The Blue Jays, Mariners, and Tigers -- teams who played brilliantly in last season's playoffs -- all failed to make it this year.  They have been replaced by the Rays, Astros, and White Sox.  In the National League, everyone is back from last year's playoff group except for the Reds, who fell to last place in the Central.  The Phillies were forced to take a wild card spot this year, as the Braves returned to the top of the NL East.  So all the teams in the Senior Circuit playoffs look very familiar.

The Nats went 77-85, for their best record since 2019.  They scored 821 runs -- more than any team in the National League except for the Cubs and Brewers.  But they allowed 815 runs, because their owners refuse to pay for any pitching.

The A's went 64-98, finishing two games ahead of the Angels in the AL West.

There is something badly wrong in St. Louis, as the Cardinals went 77-85, but I have not paid enough attention to know what it is.

Howie Rose, the Mets' outstanding radio announcer, completed his last season.  He has been calling Mets games since 1987.  During that time, the Mets reached the World Series only twice, and they lost 4-1 both times.

San Francisco's experiment of hiring a college coach as the manager did not work out this year.  The Tennessee baseball fans probably feel the way I did watching Pitino struggle with the Boston Celtics.

Yes, Houston made the playoffs as the Number 3 seed with a record of 81-81.  Yes, either Cleveland, Chicago, or Houston is guaranteed to make the American League Championship Series.  Go complain to Rob Manfred, who set up this silly system.

No National League team has ever won three World Series in a row.  The Dodgers will be trying to do it this year.

Milwaukee and Tampa Bay have the best records in each league.  But we're going to lose most of the 2027 season because small-market clubs supposedly aren't competitive.

Here are the final standings in both leagues.  Each playoff team is in bold, with its seeding.  I will be rooting for the White Sox in the American League, in honor of the Pope, and rooting for the Dodgers to win the whole thing, in honor of my younger self, who picked the Dodgers as his favorite team back in 1973:

NATIONAL LEAGUE:

(1) Milwaukee:  103-59  ---

(2) Los Angeles:  100-62  3 games behind

(3) Atlanta:  94-68  9

(4) San Diego:  91-71  12

(5) Chicago:  89-73  14

(6) Philadelphia:  88-74  15

Arizona:  86-76  17

Pittsburgh:  82-80  21

Miami:  80-82  23

St. Louis:  77-85  26

Washington:  77-85  26

Cincinnati:  75-87  28

New York:  74-88  29

San Francisco:  65-97  38

Colorado:  58-104  45

AMERICAN LEAGUE:

(1) Tampa Bay:  98-64  ---

(4) New York:  93-68  4 1/2

(5) Boston:  87-75  11

(2) Cleveland:  85-77  13

(6) Chicago:  84-78  14

(3) Houston:  81-81  17

Texas:  80-82  18

Baltimore:  79-82  18 1/2

Toronto:  79-83  19

Minnesota:  77-85  21

Detroit:  76-86  22

Seattle:  76-86  22

Kansas City:  69-93  29

Oakland:  64-98  34

Los Angeles:  62-100  36

NFL Week 1 and Survivor Pick

The NFL season kicks off on Wednesday, so here is the top ten in the ESPN Power Rankings:

1.  Los Angeles

2.  Seattle

3.  Buffalo

4.  Denver

5.  Philadelphia

6.  New England

7.  Green Bay

8.  Baltimore

9.  San Francisco

10.  Houston

The Chiefs are Number 13.  Washington is Number 20.  The Dolphins are Number 32.

As usual, the Week One matchups are challenging for anyone interested in Survivor Pools, because the League does a good job of matching up teams of similar quality.  However, there is one clear favorite -- the Chargers are expected to beat the Cardinals by 10 points.  So I'm taking the Chargers as my team to survive Week One.

Scottie Scheffler Wins the FedEx Cup

Scottie Scheffler, who really is the greatest golfer in the world, had a frustrating year.  Until a few weeks ago, he was miles ahead of everyone in the FedEx Cup Standings, but he had only won a single tournament.  He finished 2d, T14, T4, and T4 in the majors, which is the epitome of close but no cigar.

He was a new man in the playoffs, however.  First, he won the First Playoff Tournament in Memphis two weeks ago.  And today, he shot a glorious 66 to chase down Viktor Hovland and win the Tour Championship in Atlanta by three shots.  That was good enough to win the FedEx Cup for the second time in three years.

Here are the last ten winners of the FedEx Cup:

2017:  Justin Thomas

2018:  Justin Rose (ENG)
2019:  Rory McIlroy (NIR)

2020:  Dustin Johnson

2021:  Patrick Cantlay

2022:  Rory McIlroy (NIR)

2023:  Viktor Hovland (NOR)
2024:  Scottie Scheffler

2025:  Tommy Fleetwood (ENG)

2026:  Scottie Scheffler

Here are the winners of the most significant tournaments in 2026:

AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am:  Collin Morikawa (7th PGA Tour victory)

Genesis Invitational:  Jacob Bridgeman (1)

Arnold Palmer Invitational:  Akshay Bhatia (3)

The Players Championship:  Cameron Young (2)

Masters Tournament:  Rory McIlroy (NIR) (30)

RBC Heritage:  Matt Fitzpatrick (ENG) (4)

Cadillac Championship:  Cameron Young (3)

Truist Championship:  Kristoffer Reitan (NOR) (1)

PGA Championship:  Aaron Rai (ENG) (2)

Memorial Tournament:  J.T. Poston (4)

U.S. Open:  Wyndham Clark (5)

Travelers Championship:  Viktor Hovland (8)

British Open:  Ryan Fox (NZL) (3)

FedEx St. Jude Championship:  Scottie Scheffler (21)

BMW Championship:  Wyndham Clark (6)

Tour Championship:  Scottie Scheffler (22)

We also had some Team Golf this summer.  The United States won the Curtis Cup, beating GB & I 13-7 at the Bel-Air C.C. in Los Angeles.

On the whole, it was a satisfying golf season, although the Majors were not very dramatic.  We still have a lot of team golf left to play.  The U.S. male amateurs will play amateurs from Great Britain and Ireland at the Walker Cup, to be contested from September 5-6 at Lahinch G.C. in Ireland.  The European and U.S. women professionals will contest the Solheim Cup at the Bernadus G.C. in the Netherlands from September 7 to 13.  The U.S. men professionals will take on the non-Europeans at the President's Cup from September 22 to 27 at the Medinah C.C. near Chicago.

Golf never ends, so here is the schedule for next year's majors.  We get Pebble Beach and St. Andrews in the same year, which will be fun:

The Masters Tournament:  Augusta National G.C., Augusta Ga. (April 8-11)

PGA Championship:  Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco, Frisco, Tex. (May 20-23)

U.S. Open:  Pebble Beach G.L., Pebble Beach, Calif. (June 17-20)

British Open:  The Old Course at St. Andrews, Fife, SCOTLAND (July 15-18)

It looks like the Ryder Cup will be the only major team competition next year.  The Americans will suffer their usual defeat at Adare Manor in County Limerick, Ireland from September 17-19.  But I will likely miss the whole thing, as I will be watching football.

More Classic Conference Previews

Three more Classic college football conferences with each team's preseason ranking on CBS Sports.  Here's the Classic Big Eight:

9.  Oklahoma

23.  Missouri

33.  Nebraska

34.  Kansas St.

44.  Oklahoma St.

56.  Kansas

65.  Colorado

69.  Iowa St.

Here's the Classic Southwest:

4.  Texas

8.  Texas Tech

11.  Texas A & M

20.  S.M.U.

26.  Houston

31.  T.C.U.

49.  Arkansas

53.  Baylor

121.  Rice

And, finally, here's the Classic Pac-10:

2.  Oregon

14.  U.S.C.

19.  Washington

30.  Arizona

41.  Arizona St.

42.  U.C.L.A.

50.  California

74.  Stanford

88.  Washington St.

94.  Oregon St.

Here are the six major conference Champions last year:

SEC:  Georgia (3d time in the last 4 years)

ACC:  Virginia (1st time since 2004)

SWC:  Texas Tech (1st time ever as outright champion)

Big 8:  Oklahoma (1st time since 2019)

Big 10:  Indiana (1st time since 1967)

Pac 10:  Oregon (2d year in a row)