1. The baseball playoffs aren’t starting off any more interesting than the regular season finished. Three sweeps in the LCS round?!?!?!?! How painfully dull. Baseball has never been in more need of excitement than it is right now. That play-in game was brilliant, but very little since then has been even remotely compelling.
Major League Baseball teams have each played about 53 games. About one-third of the regular-season has been played and here’s a quick sketch of what’s going on and a more detailed look at one team.
After reading the news yesterday and reading my colleague’s insightful blog on Manny Ramirez, I had to chime in on the situation. Just when you think the air may be clear in MLB, it clouds up again with accusations and evidence of wrongdoing. Because it’s baseball the effects are huge on the game, the world of sports betting and society. (Yes, even society.)
I can’t put my finger on why, but I have especially enjoyed the start of this baseball season. I usually enjoy it, but this year has been especially good. As I have been watching, though, something has jumped out at me – some players really piss me off. I like some teams more than others, but I don’t really have a huge problem with most teams. I can’t say the same about some players, though. Here are five who really get my blood boiling:
Imagine buying a $200,000 car. Your neighbor paid just $43,000 for his. You’d certainly expect yours to run better, wouldn’t you? If you’re the much-maligned George Steinbrenner, this is pretty much the situation you find yourself in. The Yankees are shelling out $201,449,189 in player salaries this year. This actually represents a cut of about $8 million. Are the Yankees are getting thrifty?
Opening Day is here. Or, technically, it was yesterday, but today is the one that counts. The National Championship game certainly isn’t holding my attention here in the first half, so I’ll take a second or two to look at all the opening day action to pick out some interesting tidbits:
As the 2009 MLB season opens, you can’t help but give the futures market one more look. This 162-game, 30-team, seven-month drama is just about impossible to predict. That would explain the fact that although the Yanks have been the favorites to win it all every year in this century, they have finished out of the running each time. Here’s how it looks as far as futures wagering goes.
Well, it is almost here. Right? So, what the heck is going to happen? The baseball season runs 162 games—the longest season in the professional sports. It is an unforgiving seven-month marathon that demands innumerable roster moves, amazing stamina and individual team play that can make or break an entire season in one game, swing or pitch. What can we expect? Here are ten things that I do believe will happen. Some are for sure and others may appear to be farfetched. Then again, futures are one of the toughest things to get right in sports.
I snuck away with my wife and my dad for a few days a week ago to Phoenix and Las Vegas. I won’t bore you with a lot of details, but I do want to briefly reminisce about two very worthwhile destinations for sports fans:
The MLB season is about two weeks away and there’s been news and happenings that are worth looking at and discussing. Yesterday, pitcher Curt Schilling announced his retirement from professional baseball. He did it through an announcement on his highly popular and controversial blog.
