You have got to love the Toronto Blue Jays who seem to relishing their role of taking it to the two teams going after the American League East Division title. The Blue Jays beat the Yankees today 4-1 cutting the magic number the for the Boston Red Sox to take the AL East to 5. As a Red Sox fan all I have to say to my brethren up north is “thank you, the sweep is forgiven”… 6 games left for the Sox. 6 games left for the Yank’s. Let the nail biting begin…
Counted here are NCAA Divisions I, II, and III as well as the NAIA.
Many thanks to Peter for pulling this together and keeping it up to date (no trivial task)…
We added a new sports trivia category to our site yesterday. Check it out -> . Here you will find trivia on “lesser” sports (and before anyone gets on my case lesser simply means not covered as often in the mainstream US sports media). Included are , , , and .
Don’t forget our other sports trivia categories:
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Three of the four teams are set for the ALDS playoffs. The Boston, Red Sox are in the playoffs, the Cleveland Indians have Clinched the American League Central, and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have clinched the American League West. Mathematically Detroit and Seattle are still in the hunt for the Wild Card, but while it is mathematically possible, their chances are highly improbably. The only thing at issue in the American League is will it be Boston or New York for the American League East. The other team will be the Wild Card Team.
Meanwhile the entire dance card for the National League is still open. Chicago is in the best shape - 3.5 up on Milwaukee with a magic number of 4. Both New York and Arizona are 2.5 up on their closest rivals, Philadelphia and San Diego. In both instances the magic number to eliminate is 5. For the National League Wild Card it is a three way cat fight between San Diego, Philadelphia, and Colorado.
One thing that we know for sure - it will all be decided by Sunday, and it make take ’til Sunday to decide what is left…
The magic number for the New England Patriots thus far is 38. 38 is the number of points that they have scored in each of their first three games as they have crushed the New York Jets, San Diego Chargers, and Buffalo Bills. 28 is the number of points that all three teams combined managed to score against the Patriots in the three games.
If the Patriots are really this good it really makes you wonder why they felt compelled to film the Jets coaches in game 1. Makes the whole incident look even more stupid, doesn’t it?
Granted, none of the Patriots opponents thus far has a winning record in 2007. But crushing the weak is what a good team is supposed to do. Time will tell but it looks like the first really big test for the Pat’s will not come until the match up against Peyton Manning and company in November…
The Boston Red Sox became the first team in MLB to clinch a playoff spot yesterday. They did it in dramatic fashion with a 3 run rally in the top of the 9th for a an 8-6 come from behind win over Tampa Bay. The Red Sox will at least be the wild card team for the American League. The Red Sox are still 2.5 up on the Yankees and the magic number for them to take the division is down to 6.
See:
Both Cleveland and the Los Angeles Angels can take their divisions today. Both of their magic numbers sit at 1. Cleveland needs to beat Oakland or have Detroit lose to Kansas City to take the American League Central. LAA needs a victory over Seattle (who they lost to yesterday) to take the American League West.
The Boston Red Sox put an end to their 4 game losing streak last night with a decisive 8-1 thumping of Tampa Bay. Josh Beckett got win number 20 - the first to win 20 in 2007. Eric “Gone-Yet?” Gagne even went out and pitched the 9th and retired the side 1-2-3 ….and…
The Yankees lost! The margin over New York is 2.5 games. The magic number for the Red Sox to clinch the division is 7.
Meanwhile the Angels can become the first team in MLB to clinch their division with a win today. Their (the Angels) magic number sits at 1.
With “the show” (Major League Baseball) about to put on its annual October show (Division Series, Championship Series, World Series), we thought that we would wrap up all of the rest of baseball for 2007. We have a new article:
which lists all of the champions for Little League Baseball, Independent Baseball, Minor League Baseball, and when October is done, Major League Baseball. Be sure to check it out.
Former U.S. Davis Cup captain John McEnroe says Swedish captain Mats Wilander and crew made a blunder when choosing a fast indoor carpet to host the U.S. in this Friday’s Davis Cup semifinals.
“I feel like they played into our hands really,” McEnroe told the BlackRock Tour of Champions senior tour where he is this week playing an event in Paris. “I’d be surprised if we didn’t win pretty comfortably, really. I know [Thomas] Johansson has had some good results in the past on hardcourts but [Andy] Roddick just destroyed him at the [US] Open and it’s hard to see Sweden winning three matches.”
The Swedes will likely go with Johansson and Joachim Johansson, returning from injury, in singles, with their big gun Robin Soderling sidelined with a wrist injury.
McEnroe commented that there will also be pressure on the U.S. captain, his brother Patrick, to end the U.S.’s 12-year drought.
“I’m a little bit tight for my brother just because he’s being doing it for a while and hasn’t won it yet and the pressure’s on,” said McEnroe, who coached the U.S. team for only one year after quitting in disgust at how difficult it was to get then-players Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi to play. “But I think that the cards have fallen for him this year and playing Sweden there is difficult but it’s better than playing Argentina down in Argentina. He’s had some pretty good things happen and now if we get to the finals we’ll probably play at home so I think it looks good for us.”
The winner of the U.S.-Sweden clash will face either Russia or Germany in the final. Roddick and James Blake will represent the U.S. in singles.
Joachim Johansson hasn’t played a match in eight months due to various injuries and opens against Roddick. The Swedes have history on their side as three times the Americans have visited Gothenburg’s Scandinavium arena in a semifinal or final, and three times the U.S. has left losers.