The Oakland A’s are a franchise that has gone in cycles during the tenure of club president Billy Beane. They produced consistent contenders from 1999-2006, then had to tear it down and rebuild given the constraints of the small market. From 2012-14, the A’s had another nice run. They’ve spent the last three years in […]
The Seattle Mariners are the fly in the ointment for a lot of American League teams right now. At 37-22 and with a one-game lead in the AL West, they’ve prevented Houston from turning the next four months into one long coronation run. By joining the Astros, Yankees and Red Sox atop the American League, […]
The Finals for both the Stanley Cup and the NBA go in prime-time this weekend, on Saturday and Sunday respectively. The French Open is starting to pick up steam as it heads towards next weekend’s finals. And the NCAA Baseball Tournament starts on Friday at 16 regional sites across the country. Here’s a look at […]
There’s one team in the National League that’s on a pace to win 100 games this season and it’s not any of the usual suspects, from the Dodgers to the Cubs or the Nationals. Nope, it’s the Milwaukee Brewers who are setting the tone in the NL. The Brewers have a win percentage of .632 […]
How big of an underdog are the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals? The betting odds say they’re a 6-1 longshot to beat the Golden State Warriors. By comparison, the Chicago Cubs are 5-1 to reach the World Series. Let’s put that in perspective—the best basketball player in the world is giving a lesser chance […]
The Chicago Cubs are 3-for-3 under manager Joe Maddon when it comes to at least making the National League Championship Series and there’s every expectation that this year’s Cub team will make it four in a row in the NLCS—if not more. Chicago, in spite of being 3 ½ games behind the Milwaukee Brewers in […]
The St. Louis Cardinals have missed the playoffs each of the last two years and that’s just not something that happens very often. In fact, only once in the 21st century, have the Cardinals finished out of the money in two straight years (2007-08) and never in the new millennium have they missed October baseball […]
The Vegas Golden Knights and Washington Capitals have very different histories, the expansion Golden Knights just beginning and the Capitals a long and torturous existence. What they have in common is this—neither have won a Stanley Cup or even so much as one game in the Finals. A feel-good story is coming out of the […]
Earlier this week, TheSportsNotebook took a look at surprising NL East contenders in the Braves and the Phillies. A key premise of any long-term race in this division is that the Washington Nationals, the odds-on favorite and winner of four of the last six NL East crowns, won’t kick into high gear and leave everyone […]
Prior to the start of the NBA playoffs, Houston Rockets head coach Mike D’Antonio said that it was unfair to say his team’s impressive 65-win regular season had to be validated in the postseason, or to judge the entire year based on what the Rockets did in the playoffs. I thought that was a little […]
Remember the 2011 National League Division Series between the Phillies and Cardinals and the epic pitchers’ duel between the late Roy Halladay and Chris Carpenter? The Cards won that game 1-0 behind Carpenter and ended the Phillies’ 102-win season. Turns it out that was the last happy moment for the Phils. They haven’t had a […]
The NBA offseason is still almost a month away, but the Milwaukee Bucks have already won it. The Bucks secured their future when they signed Mike Budenholzer to a four-year contract to be their new head coach. GREAT 1980s SPORTS MOMENTS Start reading today. This was as significant a hire as the Bucks have ever made. […]
