Mr. Fantasy and I had a bounce back week in picks after a horrible Week 2. Mr. Fantasy won the week with a 12-4 record, Dan the Man and I went 11-5 while Schaumburg Stu was 9-7. Dan the Man still has the overall lead after three weeks at 29-18. Mr. Fantasy moved into 2nd at 27-21, I improved to 26-22 while Schaumburg Stu is 25-23. Week 4 has the first set of bye’s for teams; so will see how we do with fewer games.
It looks like the 10 teams are set for the Major League Baseball (MLB) playoffs. All that it looks like is left is to decide who will win the divisions and who gets the wild card spots. The Baltimore Orioles and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have locked up their respective divisions and it looks like the Oakland A’s will claim one of the wild card spots. The Detroit Tigers have a one game lead over the Kansas City Royals in the American League (A.L.) Central. It;s looking more and more like the team that doesn’t win the division will get the second wild card spot. The Royals currently have a 3 game lead over the Seattle Mariners for that second wild card spot. The Mariners picked the wrong time to have a losing streak; they’ve lost 4 games in a row going into today. While only the Washington Nationals have clinched their division in the National League (N.L.) the Los Angeles Dodgers magic number is 1 to win the N.L. West. The St. Louis cardinals have a 1 game lead over the Pittsburgh Pirates in the N.L. Central. So again one will win the division and the other will go into the wild card game. The San Francisco Giants are in the other wild card spot. It looks like the Angels and the Nationals will have the best records in their leagues and get home field through the playoffs. In our pre-season picks Schaumburg Stu and I have the Nationals winning it all, Dan the Man has the Dodgers to win the whole thing and Mr. Fantasy has the Oakland A’s as his World Series champions. So all of your picks are in the playoffs and will have to see how it plays out.
With the first three weeks of the National Football League (NFL) season in the books no team has really looked like the dominant team. There are still 3 undefeated teams. The Philadelphia Eagles, the Arizona Cardinals and the Cincinnati Bengals are all 3-0, but I don’t think the 1972 Miami Dolphins have anything to worry about this season. The 1972 Dolphins where the only NFL team to go undefeated through the season including the playoffs and every year the former players get together and toast their old team when there are no more undefeated teams left in a season. I would be very surprised if the Eagles, Cardinals or Bengals made a run at that record. Looking the other way the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Oakland Raiders and the Jacksonville Jaquars are all 0-3 and trying ti find that 1st win.
When it came to the running back position for fantasy football this season there was a big 4 and then the rest. Well those 4 running backs haven’t gotten off to great starts and you have to wonder if fantasy owners are in panic mode yet. Jamaal Charles of the Kansas City Chiefs had been banged up this season, but even when he was healthy he wasn’t putting up numbers. Charles has 9 carries for 23 yards; he’s also caught 5 passes for 23 yards. Not the weapon fantasy owners thought they where getting. Matt Forte Chicago Bears; Forte normally handles a good percentage of the chances for the Bears offense, but this season he’s not producing with those chances. Forte has 42 carries for 136 yards and 19 catches for 145 yards. LeShon McCoy Philadelphia Eagles; McCoy is averaging 2.9 yards a carry, but he does have a rushing touchdown which neither Charles or Forte have. McCoy has carried the football 60 times for 175 yards and has caught 10 passes for 64 yards. The 4th running back was Adrian Petersen. We all know the situation Petersen has gotten into; so we don’t need to go over it all again here, but from a fantasy prospective he’s a bust this season and maybe done as a football player. If you own McCoy or Forte I don’t think you have anything to worry about and they should get themselves on track. Charles however they may be some concern and it would revolve around his health. Charles has an ankle injury and is expected to participate when the team resumes practice Thursday. If you’re a Charles owner you’ll have to watch his health from game to game and see if he’s improving. Hopefully he’ll get healthy and you won’t have any concerns, but right now you’ll need to watch his status.
I hope you’re ready for the National Hockey League (NHL) season to start. October 8th is opening night with 4 games on the schedule. The Montreal Canadians and the Toronto Maple Leafs kick things off in Toronto. A half an hour after that the Philadelphia Flyers are in Boston to play the Bruins. Then there are 2 late starting games. The Vancouver Canucks are in Calgary against the Flames and the defending Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings host the San Jose Sharks. With the regular season close to getting underway a lot of experts are taking the Chicago Blackhawks to win the Stanley Cup. This of course is good news for us here at Sports Time Radio since the show is based in the Chicagoland area. It would be nice to see the Blackhawks win another cup, but there are a lot of good hockey teams out there. I’m sure will make are picks before the regular season gets started; so you’ll have to tune in and see who we go with.
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