Divisional Winners:
Milwaukee (C)
Philadelphia (E)
Los Angeles (W)
Milwaukee and Philly will get the two byes.
Wild Cards:
Chicago
San Diego
Eliminated:
Arizona
San Francisco
St. Louis
Miami
Atlanta
Pittsburgh
Washington
Colorado
The Reds (82-78) and the Mets (82-78) are battling for the last wild card spot. The Reds' last two games are in Milwaukee. The Mets' last two games are in Miami.
AMERICAN LEAGUE:
Divisional Winners:
Seattle (W)
Seattle will get one of the two byes. The other bye will go to the winner of the AL East.
Playoff Spots Clinched:
Toronto
New York
Boston
Boston will be a wild card. New York (93-68) and Toronto (92-68) are battling for the championship of the AL East. The Yankees have already beaten Baltimore 6-1 today; the Blue Jays lead Tampa Bay 3-0 in the bottom of the 4th.
Eliminated:
Texas
Kansas City
Tampa Bay
Oakland
Baltimore
Los Angeles
Minnesota
Chicago
Either Cleveland (86-74) or Detroit (86-74) will win the AL Central. Whichever of those teams loses the AL Central can still make the playoffs if they beat out Houston (85-75) for the last Wild Card. Detroit's last two games are in Boston. Cleveland's last two games are at home against Texas. Houston's last two games are in Orange County, California against the Angels.
The Blue Jays beat the Rays 5-1, so Toronto and New York remained tied with one game left.
ReplyDeleteDetroit beats the Red Sox, 2-1.
ReplyDeleteDetroit's win clinches a spot in the playoffs for the Tigers.
ReplyDeleteOle Miss beats LSU 24-19, and the Tigers haven't won in Oxford since 2019.
ReplyDeleteWith 1:55 left in Starkvegas, Tennessee and Mississippi State are tied at 33. MSU is about to receive the kickoff.
ReplyDeleteActually, they're tied at 34. Sorry about that.
DeleteTennessee and Mississippi State are headed to overtime.
ReplyDeleteThe Vols win 41-34 in Overtime. Meanwhile, Texas A & M beats Auburn 16-10 in College Station.
ReplyDeleteKentucky leads South Carolina 10-7 after one. Alabama leads Georgia 7-0 after one.
ReplyDeleteSouth Carolina uses a fumble recovery and an interception return to score two touchdowns and take a 21-10 lead in the second quarter. Alabama leads Georgia 14-7 in the second quarter, but the Dawgs are taking this game more seriously now.
ReplyDeleteUnless Texas has a quality that I haven't seen so far, the National Championship Game will feature Ohio State and Georgia.
ReplyDeleteA Georgia fumble sets up a field goal for Alabama, and the Tide lead 17-7 in Athens with 8:30 left in the first half. Meanwhile, feel the excitement in College Station as Penn State and Oregon are tied 3-3 with 3:42 left in the first half.
ReplyDeleteI meant "State College," not "College Station."
DeleteIn 2016, his first year as the head coach at Georgia, Kirby Smart went 4-4 in the SEC. Since then, he has gone 59-7 in SEC regular season games. Here are the seven:
ReplyDelete11/11/17: Auburn 40 - 17 Georgia
10/13/18: LSU 36- 16 Georgia
10/12/19: Georgia 17 - 20 S. Carolina (2 OT)
10/17/20: Alabama 41 - 24 Georgia
11/07/20: Florida 44 - 28 Georgia (in Jacksonville)
09/28/24: Alabama 41 - 34 Georgia
11/09/24: Mississippi 28 - 10 Georgia
Two points about those losses: Smart almost never loses at home and he almost never loses a close game. Meanwhile, Georgia closes to within 17-14 with 2:08 left in the first half.
ReplyDeleteWith 46 seconds left in the half, Alabama throws a screen pass to a LINEMAN who rumbles for a first down at the Georgia 2. On the next play, the Bama quarterback scrambles in for a TOUCHDOWN to put the Tide up 24-14 with 34 seconds left in the first half. Meanwhile, in State College, the score is 3-3 at the half. Can you blame Southerners for preferring our version of football?
ReplyDeleteAt the half:
ReplyDeleteS. Carolina 28 - 10 Kentucky
Georgia 14 - 24 Alabama
I checked the Kentucky score on my computer, and it was 10-to-something with UK ahead fairly late in the first half. Kentucky had the ball, and I thought to myself, ... well, wow. Then it felt like I went away for no more than five minutes, and South Carolina was now leading and had the ball again. That's pretty much all I paid attention to UK this weekend.
DeleteWKU went out to Springfield, Missouri, on Saturday and came from behind at halftime to beat the Missouri State Bears (they used to be "Southwest Missouri State"), 27-22. The Hilltoppers are now 4-1 overall and 2-0 in Conference USA and next play Delaware in Newark (the one in Delaware) at 6 Central Friday. I have enjoyed memorable trips to Springfield, Delaware and Newark, New Jersey (but not so much Newark, Delaware, specifically).
Meanwhile, Cleveland and the Rangers are tied at 2 in the bottom of the 8th. The Reds lead the Brewers 7-4 in the top of the 7th. The Mets have beaten Miami 5-0.
ReplyDeleteRemember that the Mets and Reds have the same record -- but the Reds have the tiebreaker. So if the Reds win today and tomorrow, they are in the playoffs no matter what New York does.
ReplyDeleteMark Stoops's all-time record at Kentucky is 67-73, and this is probably his last season, so it does not look as though he will finish his time at UK with a winning record. This means that the last coach to leave UK with a winning record will still be Blanton Collier, who went 41-36-3 from 1954 to 1961.
ReplyDeleteCollier went 21-34-3 in SEC play. The last (and only) UK coach to leave with a winning record in the SEC was, of course, Bear Bryant, who went 25-19-4 in SEC games at UK.
ReplyDeleteStoops has won more SEC games than any coach in UK history. His SEC record at UK is 28-62.
ReplyDeleteWe finally have action in State College. Oregon leads 17-10 with 10:30 left in the 4th quarter. Meanwhile, UGA has closed to within 24-21 with 2:42 left in the 3d.
ReplyDeleteGeorgia pounds down the field, trying to take the lead. With 4th and 1 from the Bama 6, Kirby Smart eschews the tying field goal. But the Tide hit Georgia for a loss and take over on downs with 13 minutes left.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, the Reds and Cleveland both won. Cleveland goes into the playoffs, and HOUSTON IS ELIMINATED.
ReplyDeleteAlabama drives to midfield, but the drive stalls, and the Tide punt with 8:10 left. UGA will start from its own 5.
ReplyDeleteBama still leads 24-21. Again, Kirby Smart has lost exactly one SEC game in Athens since 2016.
DeleteEven that loss was in double OT. The last SEC team to beat Georgia in regulation in Athens was Vanderbilt, who beat Georgia 17-16 on October 15, 2016.
DeleteFacing 3d and 11 deep in its own territory, Georgia makes a huge pass to get the ball out to the Georgia 36 with 5:30 left. They will be hard to stop now.
ReplyDeleteWith 3:30 left, UGA faces a 4th and 13, thanks to some great tackling by Alabama. So they punt down to the 11. Meanwhile, Penn State and Oregon are tied at 17 with 4 seconds left.
ReplyDeleteIn one of the most violent games I've seen in years, Alabama faces 3d and 1 deep in its own territory with just over two minutes to go. They try a quarterback sneak, and it's about as violent as you can imagine. A UGA guy finally hurls himself into the pile, crashing into the Alabama QB and drawing a personal foul. I think the Tide would have gotten the first down anyway, but that was a bad penalty for UGA.
ReplyDeleteSouth Carolina crushes UK, 35 to 13.
ReplyDeleteAlabama completes a huge 3d and 6 pass to make the first down it needed, and the Tide runs out the clock. UGA's 33-game home winning streak finally comes to an end, as Alabama wins 24-21. Meanwhile, Oregon beats Penn State 30-24 in double overtime.
ReplyDeleteSo the AP's number 3 team (Penn State), its number 4 team (LSU), and its number 5 team (Georgia) all lose. The number 8 team (Florida St.) lost last night. So we will see a shakeup.
ReplyDeleteThe only undefeated teams left in the Classic SEC are Ole Miss (5-0), Georgia Tech (5-0), and Vanderbilt (5-0).
ReplyDeleteThe Astros will miss the playoffs for the first time since 2016. The Astros reached the American League Championship Series every year from 2017 through 2023 -- seven ALCS appearances in a row. I won't miss them at all.
ReplyDeleteHear, hear!
Delete