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The NFL Week 5 Undercard: Atlanta Goes To Washington

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The Atlanta Falcons stand on the verge of blowing open the NFC South race before it even begins, with their 4-0 record having built up a three-game cushion and inspiring hopes that this could finally be the year Matt Ryan’s teams translate regular season success into postseason wins. The Washington Redskins have been given new hope with the play of Robert Griffin III, and are at 2-2. The Falcons-Redskins matchup keys TheSportsNotebook’s look at the NFL Week 5 undercard (defined as games not seen much outside the local area, plus the Thursday night game).

College Football Week 6: Pac-12 North Keys The Undercard

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The Pac-12 South kicks of college football Week 6 tonight, as USC pays a visit to Utah. While it’s unlikely this one will be much of a game—in addition to not being good enough, the Utes have some injuries on the offensive line—the powers-that-be on the other side of the conference have some key games Saturday that lead up our discussion of the Saturday undercard.

American League All-Stars: The Final Ballot

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There’s one more day left in the regular season, and the AL West & AL East titles are still up for grabs. I’ve been holding off doing my final American League All-Star team, hoping we’d get some clarity on the division winners, but there’s no time left, as we’ll run MVP articles tomorrow and playoff commentary starting Friday.

We know St. Louis will visit Atlanta for one wild-card, but Texas, Baltimore, Oakland and New York are all possibilities to be playing in the American League game. It’s also possible the Yankees/Orioles could have a one-game playoff in the AL East. So with all that ahead of us, let’s do another round of individual honors today in celebrating the best at each position in the American League.

NFL Week 4 Recap: How Long Can Philly Live On The Edge?

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The Philadelphia Eagles are the only NFC East team that hasn’t gotten a rush of positive publicity at some point in the first four weeks of the NFL season. The Redskins are riding the wave of RG3 hype. The Cowboys played their brilliant opening game in New York. And the Giants hammered Carolina with several second-stringers in the lineup. Philadelphia, meanwhile, turns the ball over, barely escapes games and its quarterback and head coach both are under the gun. But it’s Philadelphia that’s alone atop the NFC East with a 3-1 record, while their rivals are all 2-2.

MLB Playoff Picture: Oakland’s In; St. Louis On The Brink

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The American League playoff field is complete, as the Oakland A’s clinched the final wild-card spot and still have a shot at winning the AL West. The A’s beat the Rangers last night 4-3 in front of their home wins. Meanwhile, the St. Louis Cardinals moved to the brink of closing out the National League field, with a 4-2 win in Cincinnati. The Cards now lead the Los Angeles Dodgers by two games with two to play, as the MLB playoff picture comes into sharp focus.

College Football Week 5 Recap: The Big 12 Needs To Get Defensive

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The Big 12 got the headlines on Saturday with the thrilling win by Texas over Oklahoma State, and the electrifying performance put up by West Virginia quarterback Geno Smith, as he marked himself the clear frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy, but both the Longhorns and Mountaineers have plenty of reasons to be concerned as they look ahead on the rest of the season and consider their hopes of a major bowl game.

MLB Playoff Picture: Detroit Looks Home Free In AL Central

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The AL Central race is all but over after this weekend, and it’s because Detroit’s pitching come through, while Chicago’s big hitters did not. The Tigers won a series over the Twins, while the White Sox dropped three of four from the Rays. The end result is that Detroit is plus-3 games with the same number left.

Detroit got the usual stellar outing from Justin Verlander on Saturday, who pitched seven innings and allowed just an unearned run. Less expected was great work from Drew Smyly on Friday and Anibal Sanchez on Sunday. Though neither went deep into the game—they combined for 11.2 innings—both starters shut down the Minnesota bats, and though Friday’s opener ended up in Twins’ hands, the Tiger bullpen—with help from a big home run by Prince Fielder—delivered the Sunday victory that all but sealed this division title.

National League All-Stars: The Final Ballot

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There’s only five days left in the regular season and time to put together a season-ending All-Star team for each league. With the National League playoff picture looking close to settled (St. Louis won again last night, Los Angeles is still three back and Milwaukee is all but eliminated from the one race still really hot), we’ll start in the senior circuit.

TheSportsNotebook’s format starts, obviously enough, with a player at each everyday position. We will then round the team out with five starting pitchers, two setup relievers and one closer. The MVP selection that then derives from this ballot will appear sometime next week before the playoffs start on Friday. On we go with TheSportsNotebook’s 2012 National League All-Stars

NASCAR Chase For The Cup: Sunday In Dover

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The third race of the 10-installment NASCAR Chase For The Cup goes Sunday afternoon in Dover at 1 PM EST. While any of the 12 drivers eligible for NASCAR’s top prize can still win it, only four are in realistic striking distance and after an up-and-down year marked by controversy, Jimmie Johnson has an opportunity to take control of this race.

Johnson is holding a narrow one-point lead over Brad Keselowski in the point standings and Dover is a track that’s been quite good to the leader. Johnson won here in June. While he didn’t get a Dover win in 2011, he grabbed three of the four races here in 2009-10. A win on Sunday gives him a chance to open up some breathing room at the top and effectively eliminate a lot of drivers who are fighting to hang on.

The MLB Playoff Race With A Week Left

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Every team in baseball has two series left as the MLB playoff race hits its final week. Let’s take a look at how the races shape up, who plays who and what we have to look forward to in these closing days…

Saturday’s Three Marquee Games For College Football Week 5

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The Big 12 promised a balanced and competitive year in the conference’s broad middle class, meaning there would be an exciting race for a possible at-large bid to the BCS and at the very least to get the conference’s spot in the Cotton Bowl. With Kansas State’s win over front-runner Oklahoma, we can add the race for the league championship itself into that mix, and every game among contenders in this league is a big deal. That’s why Texas-Oklahoma State is likely to be the most consequential game of Saturday and where TheSportsNotebook, after looking at the undercard games yesterday, will begin the Friday previews of the three marquee games of college football Week 5…

NFL Week 4: The Big Six National Games

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There are six games on the NFL Week 4 schedule that will be seen by either all, or at least good chunks of the country, with the AFC East dominating the early Sunday window, and the NFC East ruling the roost in the prime-time Sunday-Monday slots. After previewing the undercard games yesterday, let’s dive into a preview of the national TV six-pack…

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