TheSportsNotebook.com’s MLB coverage breaks this series as we’ve done all others in this postseason, and that’s by comparing each team in the four key component parts–the ability to get on base hit for power, starting pitching and the bullpen.
MLB doesn’t officially name Division Series MVPs, the way that will be done for each series the rest of the way. How about we rectify that omission with a shout-out to the top performers in all four LDS matchups?
Anyone who grew up watching John Madden broadcast NFL playoff games can remember saying the words “In big games, stars have to play like stars.” In the world of MLB there aren’t many stars brighter than those of Justin Verlander and Miguel Cabrera, the last two American League MVPs. It was those two that carried Detroit to a 3-0 win over Oakland in Game 5 of their Division Series and put the Tigers into the American League Championship Series for the third straight year.
Week 7 of the college football schedule is upon us, and it’s a day marked by a big rivalry game and some opportunities for the rankings to take a little shakeup.
Three Big Ten games get national TV attention in Week 7, and you can come pretty close to watching all three in their entirety. Here’s the rundown on the Big Ten football TV schedule for Saturday…
How close is Pitt to being a true contender in the Coastal Division, the side of the ACC they and Virginia Tech share with Miami? We find out Saturday afternoon in Blacksburg.
…let’s keep in mind that Texas is still 2-0 in conference play, just as OU is. If the Longhorns’ competitive wins over Kansas State and Iowa State don’t inspire you, can you really say the Sooners’ hard-fought victories over West Virginia and TCU are something that suggests dominance.
The Pac-12 football TV schedule gets started Thursday night with Arizona-USC, and the Trojans working to pick up the pieces in the post-Lane Kiffin era. When Saturday arrives, there’s a good card of conference games. Here’s a look at what’s on tap in the games getting national exposure…
issouri is undefeated and passed a preliminary SEC test last week with a blowout win over Vanderbilt. The real exams begin this week, as the visit to Athens starts a three-week run that continues with Florida and South Carolina.
Louisville, whose national championship hopes were discussed earlier this week by TheSportsNotebook plays a key Thursday night game with Rutgers, and ESPN will show Temple-Cincinnati at 8:30 PM ET on Friday. There’s one really big TV game on the midmajor college football schedule for Saturday though and it’s the Mountain West. Here’s a look at Boise State-Utah State, along with other notable Saturday games beyond the reach of the Five Families.
It wasn’t a surprise ending, but an otherwise great St. Louis-Pittsburgh series had an anti-climactic ending last night. No one in Busch Stadium had any complaints as some familiar heroes–Adam Wainwright and David Freese–led the way for the Cardinals to win Game 5 by a 6-1 count and move on to the National League Championship Series for the third consecutive year.
The winless New York Giants try to avoid national TV humiliation, a possible Super Bowl preview in Foxboro, a battle for first place in the NFC East that underscores divisional weakness and a Monday night battle that conjures up memories of playoff battles in the late ’00s.
