Sports Time Radio

On July 21st the NHL will be adding their 32nd team as the Seattle Kraken will have there expansion draft and assemble their team for the upcoming 2021-22 NHL season. The expansion draft starts at 7:00 p.m. on the 21st and will be shown on ESPN2.

Here’s how the expansion draft will play out. The Kraken will select one player from each team for a total of 30 players. Yes I know there are 31 NHL teams, but the Las Vegas Golden Knights will not have a player selected from their team. At the minimum the Kraken must draft 14 forwards, 9 defenseman and 3 goaltenders. Seattle can then fill the four remaining roster spots with players from any position and of the 30 players drafted; at least 20 must be under contract for the 2021-22 season.

All first and second year professionals, unsigned draft picks and players who have suffered career-ending injuries are exempt from selection and will not count toward their team’s applicable protection limits. Players with no movement clauses must be protected unless they agree to waive those clauses.

Teams can protect 8 “skaters” a combination of forwards and defenseman and 1 goaltender or they can break it down this way by protecting 7 forwards, 3 defenseman and 1 goaltender.

All teams must expose 2 forwards 1 defenseman and under contract for the 2021-22 season who played in at least 27 NHL games in 2020-21 or played in at least 54 NHL games in the last two seasons combined. As well as 1 goaltender who is under contract for the 2021-22 season or is a restricted free agent who has already received his qualifying offer.

Each teams protection list are due today; July 17th. The NHL will check each teams list and then they will publish them tomorrow.

It will be interesting to see how the Kraken go about assembling their roster and comparing it to how the Golden Knights put there’s together before the 2017-18 NHL season.

In their first season the Golden Knights finished in 1st place in the Pacific division with a record of 51-24-7 and made it all the way to the Stanley Cup finals before losing 4 games to 1 to the Washington Capitals. In there four years of existents the Golden Knights have made the playoffs every season and just this past season they went to the Stanley Cup semi-finals where they where knocked out by the Montreal Canadiens 4 games to 2.

Will the Kraken be able to have similar success to what the Golden Knights have had? Or will they fall more in line with what we’re used to seeing expansion teams do? I guess will start to find that out on July 21st.

Last night Jake Cronenworth of the San Diego Padres hit for the cycle as his team put up 24 runs on there way to a 24-8 victory over the Washington Nationals.

Cronenworth went four for five on the night and actually started off his evening by lining out in the 1st inning. In the 2nd inning Cronenworth drove in two runs with a double. Then in the 3rd inning Cronenworth hit an RBI triple. After a solo home run in the 5th inning al Cronenworth needed for the cycle was a single and he got that in his next at bat. Cronenworth picked up an infield single against the shift in the 6th inning.

After picking up the cycle it was the end of Cronenworth’s night. Jurickson Profar came out in the 7th inning to play second base in Cronenworth’s place.

This was the second time that a player has hit for the cycle against the Nationals. Charlie Blackmon of the Colorado Rockies did it in on the final day of the 2018 season. It was also the third time that a Padres players has hit for the cycle. Cronenworth follows Matt Kemp who did it in 2015 and his teammate Will Myers who hit for the cycle in 2017.

As fun as it was to watch Cronenworth hit for the cycle what may have been more important was just seeing the Padres offense wake up. San Diego headed into the All-Star break by losing two of three games to the Colorado Rockies. Last night the San Diego offense put up had 22 hits against seven Washington pitchers and set a franchise record for runs. San Diego scored in every inning except the seventh, as the Nationals allowed the most runs since the franchise moved to Washington in 2005.

Will have to see if the Padres saved any offense for tonight’s game as Patrick Corbin makes the start for the Nationals and tries to hold down the San Diego offense.

Well Schaumburg Stu’s picks got off to a rough start last night a she had the Arizona Diamondbacks to bet the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs won 5-1 last night. Now he has two chances to redeem himself today as he has the Chicago White Sox beating the Houston Astros and then he’s going with the Phoenix Suns to beat the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 5 of the NBA finals tonight. To wrap up his weekend of picks Schaumburg Stu likes Carlos Rodon to strikeout more batters than Framber Valdez, Zach Davies or Merrill Kelly on Sunday.

You can tune in to the Sports Time Radio podcast on Friday to see how Schaumburg Stu’s picks worked out and who he’s taking for that upcoming weekend. Of course you should still be listening to the podcast live the other days of the week as well on BlogTalkRadio.com, but if you miss the podcast live just head over to TuneIn.com and you can listen any time you want to.

You can also find me on Twitter @Burketime

I brought up a bit of an interesting point on the Sports Time Radio podcast yesterday and I’d like to take a deeper look at it here. If you weren’t listening yesterday to catch you up I asked if the Atlanta Braves could be sellers at the trade deadline.

Now the Braves have had some bad injury luck this season like a few other teams. Of course the worst blow for the Braves was losing Ronald Acuna Jr. for the remainder of the season with a torn ACL. Now add this to the other injured Braves. Travis d’Arnaud is also out for the rest of the season while Marcel Ozuna is recovery from a dislocated finger, but is also dealing with the domestic violence situation he had with his wife; so who knows if he’ll be back this season. They’re also missing starting pitchers Mike Sororka and Touki Toussaint for what seems like the rest of this season. You can also throw in the injured Huascar Ynoa who actually fractured his hand while in the dugout. Ynoa had been filling in as a starter and while it appears he may be ready to return this season it’s unclear when he’ll be back.

Now the Braves are far from out of the race in the National League East. Atlanta comes out of the All-Star break one game under .500 with a record of 44-45. That puts the Braves in 3rd place 4 games behind the division leading New York Mets and a half of a game behind the 2nd place Philadelphia Phillies.

The question is; do the Braves have enough to compete with the injuries they’ve had? Or might they be better off dealing some of their veterans and adding some more young pieces to an already good minor league system?

Atlanta has some veteran pitchers on good contracts that could interest teams that think they’re contending and they probably wouldn’t have to give up a very top level prospect to get them.

Charlie Morton is just under contract for the rest of this season and has 8-3 record with an ERA of 3.64 in 18 starts. Now Morton is 37 years old and has an impressive post season resume. I think every contending team could use some like Morton in their starting rotation down the stretch.

Drew Smyly is also just under contract for the remainder of this season. Now Smyly is just 32 years old and has had some injury issues throughout his career, but he’s made 15 starts for Atlanta covering 78 1/3rd innings. Smyly is 7-3 with a 4.48 ERA this season. He could be a solid add to the back end of a contenders starting rotation.

Now the Braves also have some relievers that could draw some interest. Chris Martin, Josh Tomlin and Shane Greene are all just under contract for the rest of this season.

Martin would probably draw the most interest if he was made available. While Martin is 0-3 this season he has posted an ERA of 3.32 in 23 appearances. Martin Is just owed the rest of his $7 million dollar contract for this season.

Tomlin could function as a swing man and has been a starter in the past. Tomlin is 36 years old and has appeared in 27 games this season. He is 3-0, but has an ERA of 5.94 over 36 1/3 innings which is the second most out of the Braves bullpen this season. Tomlin would be owed the remainder of his $1 million dollar salary.

Greene is an interesting case. He wasn’t signed with a team at the beginning of the season and the Braves brought him in on a prorated contract of just under $1.2 million dollars for this season. No Greene hasn’t pitched well since being brought up by Atlanta. He is 0-1 with an ERA of 10.64 in 13 games this season covering 11 innings. Now if a team thinks they can get Greene right he could probably be had for a low level minor leaguers. Remember is a former closer who once posted 32 saves in a season.

Now it’s not just pitchers that could draw some interest if the Braves decided to look into the trade market. Atlanta has a couple of veteran bench players that could be very solid adds for a contending team.

Now Ender Inciarte is in the final year of his contract, but does have a $9 million dollar club option for next season. Inciarte has appeared in 52 games this season for Atlanta, but has only gotten 79 at bats; so it appears he being used more as a defensive replacement this season. As a result of limited at bats Inciarte is hitting just .215 this season, but has posted better numbers with regular at bats.

The other bench player who might draw some interest could be “The Panda” Pablo Sandoval. Now it’s clear that Sandoval wouldn’t be a huge add for a team and would probably be used as a pinch hitter, but he’s shown that he’s been able to have success in that role and could give a team some time at 1st or 3rd base and of course as a Designated Hitter. Plus we’re talking about a player who has been on three World Series winner and was the MVP of one of those World Series. Then add in the fact that Sandoval would only be owed the remainder of his $1 million dollar salary for this season.

Alright; so what do you think the Braves will do. It’s very doubtful that they would be buyers at the trade deadline, but do you have them as standing pat or as sellers?

Don’t forget to listen to the live edition of the Sports Time Radio podcast on BlogTalkRadio.com, but if you miss the podcast live just head on over to TuneIn.com and you can listen any time you want to.

You can also find me on Twitter @Burketime

If you’re not listening to the Sports Time Radio podcast my first question would be well why not? If you are listening you know that Schaumburg Stu steps in to co-host with me on Friday’s and I always have him make predictions concerning the Chicago teams. As I’ve mentioned before we live in the Chicago suburbs; so it makes sense we go with those teams.

Coming into yesterday’s podcast Stu was two games over .500 with a record of 42-40 on his predictions. His weekend got off to a good start as he had the Chicago White Sox beating the Baltimore Orioles last night and they did. The White Sox actually had an easy win last night as they beat the Orioles 12-1.

Now as for the rest of the weekend here’s what Schaumburg Stu has happening. Today he has the Chicago Cubs beating the St. Louis Cardinals. For tomorrow Schaumburg Stu likes Dylan Cease to strikeout more than 5 1/2 Orioles in his start on Sunday. He also thinks the Cubs will hit more than 1 1/2 home runs in their game against the Cardinals on Sunday.

What do you think of Schaumburg Stu’s picks? Do you agree? Or disagree with him?

On Friday’s the Sports Time Radio podcast airs from 5:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. with Schaumburg Stu and I; so you can listen and get his picks live. The rest of the week the podcast airs live from 4:30 p.m. until 5:30 p.m. with Dan the Man and I running the show. Dan the Man and I are on three days a week; Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Generally I’d remind of this at the end of the blog, but however since I posted Schaumburg Stu’s picks today will drop it right here. Remember that if you miss the live edition of the Sports Time Radio podcast all you have to do is head on over to TuneIn.com and you can listen any time you want to.

Now I don’t know if I’m just out of the loop or if I just wasn’t paying attention, but until yesterday I had no idea that Connor McGregor and Dustin Porier where fighting each other tonight. Maybe their wasn’t as much publicity for this fight as there was for the first two.

I mentioned that this is the third fight between these two fighters. McGregor won the first fight back on September 27th of 2014. The rematch took place on January 23rd of 2021 and Porier was the winner in that fight. This was also McGregor’s last fight by the way. So this fight makes this match up a trilogy.

McGregor has lost two of his last three fights and has just three wins in his last six fights. Porier has won six of his last seven fights. Interestingly they both suffered losses at the hands of Khabib Nurmagomedov. Porier’s last fight was also the January fight against McGregor.

If you’re betting on this fight McGregor is a slight favorite. If you bet $115 dollars on McGregor you’d win $100 dollars while $105 dollars on Porier would get you a $100 dollar return.

There are 13 other fights on UFC’s card tonight which takes place in Las Vegas, Nevada at the T-Mobile Arena. Bell time is set for 5:00 p.m. with eight fights that will air on ESPN and ESPN Plus. At 9:00 p.m. the pay per view is scheduled to take over and I believe ESPN Plus will still be carrying the event. The pay per view has 5 fights on it with Porier/McGregor being the main event.

It appears as though Gilbert Burns vs. Stephen Thompson will be the semi-main event. You’ll also see Tai Tuivasa vs. former NFL player Greg Hardy, Irene Aldana vs. Yana Kunitskaya and Sean O’Malley vs. Kris Moutinho on the pay per view.

So who do you have winning the third meeting between Connor McGregor and Dustin Porier? Also are you planning on buying the pay per view?

As always we end with reminding you that you can find me on Twitter @Burketime

The NBA finals tipped off las night, but I’m not sure that the Milwaukee Bucks and the Phoenix Suns where the teams that the NBA wanted to see in the finals. It seems that the NBA prefers bigger markets in the finals and Phoenix and Milwaukee aren’t exactly two of the markets the NBS has targeted.

Now in Game 1 the Suns picked up the win over the Bucks by a 118-105 score. Phoenix led 30-26 after the 1st quarter and outscored Milwaukee in every quarter except the 4th and by then the game had pretty much been decided.

Chris Paul scored a game high 32 points for the Suns and also tied for the game high in assists with 9. This is Paul’s first trip to the NBA finals in his career and he was the odds on favorite to be named MVP of this series. He got off to a very good start to win that MVP award with last night’s performance.

Now Paul did have some help. Even though Devin Booker struggled from behind the 3-point line going just 1 for 8 he still scored 27 points. Deandre Ayton posted a double-double for Phoenix as he scored 22 points and grabbed a game high 19 rebounds. Mikal Bridges also scored in double figures for the Suns as he scored 14 points while Cameron Johnson and Cameron Payne came off the Suns bench to each score 10 points.

Now Milwaukee got good news before the start of Game 1 as it was announced that Giannis Antetokounmpo had been cleared and would play in Game 1. Antetokounmpo was injured in the Bucks series against the Atlanta Hawks and missed the series clinching victory and was questionable coming into last night with a strained knee.

Now Antetokounmpo posted a double-double for Milwaukee last night scoring 20 points and grabbing 17 rebounds, but it was Kris Middleton who stepped up again and led the Bucks in scoring with 29 points. Brook Lopez added 17 points for Milwaukee while Jrue Holiday scored 10 points and tied Paul for with a game high 9 assists. Unfortunately the Bucks bench scored just 22 points total in this game.

Game 2 of the finals is scheduled for tomorrow in Phoenix before the teams get a three day break as they head to Milwaukee for games 3 and 4.

Phoenix was the popular pick to win this series, but Milwaukee always seems to play the underdog role and should be used to that. With the return of Antetokounmpo this may end up being a better series than most people expected it to be. I guess will just have to wait and see how it plays out.

Believe it or not, but the Chicago White Sox have suffered another long term injury to a player they expected to be a major contributor this season. It was announced this morning that catcher Yasmani Grandel was placed on the injury list with a torn tendon in his left knee. Grandel is expected to miss 4 to 6 weeks and joins a list of injured top players for the White Sox.

The White Sox lost Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert in spring training. Jimenez suffered went down with a pectoral injury while Robert suffered a hip flexor. Now luckily for the White Sox both Jimenez and Robert are doing baseball activities and should return this season. When they where injured it was thought that both players would miss the entire 2021 season. Now those weren’t the only two starters the White Sox lost long term. Second baseman Nick Madrigal went down after playing in just 54 games this season with a torn hamstring.

Now even with these injuries the White Sox have found a way to hang onto 1st place in the American League Central. You’d think with the return of Jimenez, Robert and Grandel the White Sox may be in a good position come playoff time.

How will they find playing time for all of these returning players. They may have answered that question today. Adam Engel returned from the 10-day IL and to make room for him on the roster the White Sox designated Adam Eaton for assignment.

Eaton was signed by the White Sox as a free agent this past off season, but he was struggling. In 58 games this season Eaton was hitting .201 with 5 home runs while striking out 55 times.

The White Sox now have 10 days to either trade or release Eaton, but with his contract unless the White Sox would be willing to pay it off you can expect Eaton to be released and become a free agent.

Don’t forget to listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com. Now if you miss the podcast live just head on over to TuneIn.com and you can listen any time you want to.

You can also find me on Twitter @Burketime

I’m sure by now that you’ve heard or read that Major League Baseball has paced Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer on administrative leave. That means Bauer will still be paid and continue to a crew major league service time. Now I’m not going to go into what Bauer was accused of doing. Instead I’d like to take a look at the Dodgers and see how they replace a top starting pitcher because let’s face it there’s very little chance he’ll be reinstated after those seven days.

Now Bauer’s next start for the Dodgers was scheduled for tomorrow (Sunday) against the Washington Nationals. Now as of now the Dodgers haven’t announced a starting pitcher as it’s listed as undecided.

Now Walker Buehler is scheduled to start on Monday while Tony Gonsolin is scheduled for Tuesday’s game. It is possible that the Dodgers could move both guys up a day, but I don’t think that’s what they’ll do. Don’t forget that the Dodgers have former Cy Young award winner David Price in their bullpen along with former starter Jimmy Nelson as well. Price has made three starts while Nelson and Victor Gonzalez have each made one start this season. With the All-Star break coming up the Dodgers might also just make every fifth day a bullpen day and make a decision after the break. It looks like no matter who makes the start they won’t be able to give the Dodgers too many innings as they won’t be stretched out like a starting pitcher.

The Dodgers called up reliever Brusdar Graterol to take Bauer’s roster spot, but I’m not expecting to see him making starts. Now don’t forget that the Dodgers have Dustin May and Caleb Ferguson unavailable. Both of those pitchers are recovering from Tommy John surgery. Now the Dodgers would’ve probably turned to their #1 prospect Josiah Gray or Brock Stewart who has some major league starts under his belt, but both are currently injured at Triple-A. Maybe will see Mitch White or Edwin Uceta get a call up to make some starts. Both have made appearances for the Dodgers this season and Uceta has even made a start this season.

Now depending on how much time Bauer will miss and there are some who think he’s done for the season. The Dodgers could always look at making a trade. They have one of the top rated farm systems; so they can go out and can whatever type of starter they think they need. Of course the question with a trade is when does a team decide it’s a seller.

There was talk this past off season that the Dodgers where interested in acquiring Jose Berrios of the Minnesota Twins. With the Twins in last place in the A.L. Central at 33-47 maybe this deal could get started again. Then again if not Berrios maybe the Dodgers could bring back Kenta Maeda who is also a member of the Twins.

With the exception of the Twins it’s unclear which other teams might have a pitcher that could help the Dodgers right now. They might have to wait until thigs shuffle out a little more i the standings if there’s no deal with the Twins.

What do you see the Dodgers doing? Also do you think Bauer pitches again for them this season?

Don’t forget to listen to the live edition of the Sports Time Radio podcast on BlogTalkRadio.com, but if you miss the podcast live just head on over to TuneIn.com and you can listen any time you’d like to.

You can also find me on Twitter @Burketime

Not that it’s a bad thing but Shohei Otani hit two home runs last night in the Los Angeles Angels game against the New York Yankees. That means that I can’t turn on the MLB Network at all today because they won’t talk about anything else. Now I have an overnight work schedule; so I didn’t know Otani had accomplished this feat until this morning. Of course the one thing that they forgot to mention while talking about Otani was that the Angels got crushed by the Yankees 11-5. I’m under the impression that winning the game is no longer important in baseball.

We’ve been over the Otani phenomenon quite a few times not only here in the blog, but on the Sports Time Radio podcast; so I don’t want to take you down that road again. Here’s the bottom line on this. The Angels are currently three games under .500 at 38-41 which puts them in 4th place in the American League West. They are 9 1/2 games behind the 1st place Houston Astros and 8 games out of a wild card spot. While I’ve mentioned before; Otani is having a good season, but no matter what kind of numbers he outs up unless they’re record breaking we won’t see him in the playoffs and he doesn’t deserve to win the Most Valuable Player award. Unfortunately there are too many stupid people who vote for the MVP award and they’ve already decided that he’ll win it.

Last night the Atlanta Hawks went into Game 4 of their Eastern Conference final series against the Milwaukee Bucks not only down 2 games to 1, but also down there best player.

Shortly before Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals the Hawks announced that Trae Young would miss the game with a bone bruise in his foot. Young was injured in an odd fashion as he bruised that bone when he stepped on the foot of a referee in Game 3.

Even without Young in their line up the Hawks found a way to even their series against the Bucks at 2-2 with a 110-88 win.

Lou Williams stepped into the starting line up for Atlanta in place of Young and scored a game high 21 points in 35 minutes of action. Williams went 7 of 9from the field including 2 of 3 on his 3-point attempts. Williams also made 5 of his 6 free throws and handed a team high 8 assists.

Just think when Williams was traded to the Hawks by the Los Angeles Clippers he was so upset with the deal that he almost retired. Now he’s the Hawks Game 4 hero.

Williams did have some help from his teammates. Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 20 points, Clint Capela and Kevin Huerter each scored 15 points while Cam Reddish and Danilo Gallinari came off the Hawks bench to each score in double figures. Reddish had 12 points while Gallinari added 10 points.

The Bucks only had three players score in double figures led by Jrue Holiday with 19 points. Kris Middleton added 16 points while Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 14 points, but only played 24 minutes as he injured a knee.

It actually looked like Milwaukee would get the win in Game 4 and even when Antetokounmpo went out they where still up by 10 points, but couldn’t hold the lead.

It’s unclear right now if either Antetokounmpo or Young will be ready go to when Game 5 comes around on Thursday night in Milwaukee.

Over in the Western Conference the Phoenix Suns have a chance to close out the Los Angeles Clippers in Game 6 if their series.

I haven’t heard if it’s been officially announced yet, but it appears as though Kawhi Leonard won’t be playing again for Los Angeles. Leonard hasn’t played since Game 7 of the Clippers series against the Dallas Mavericks; so the Suns haven’t even seen him on the floor.

If Phoenix can win this series it will be the first time they have made it to the NBA Finals since 1993. The Suns have never won the NBA title and besides that 1993 trip to the NBA Finals their only other trip there was back in 1976. No matter which finals match up we get we’re going to see teams that haven’t been there or won a title in quite some time. Milwaukee won their only title in 1971 and haven’t ben to the NBA Finals since 1974. Atlanta also has one title win, but it was back in 1958. The Hawks have made the most trips to the NBA finals besides the win in 1958 they where also there in 1957,1960 and 1961. As for the Clippers; well they have yet to make a trip to the NBA Finals.

Don’t forget to listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but if you miss the podcast live just head over to TuneIn.com and you can listen anytime you’d like to.

I’m also on Twitter if you want to look me up @Burketime

We’re closing in on the halfway point of the MLB season; so it’s time to start talking about who’s going to win what awards. Now remember we’re not even halfway through the regular season, but this is what the media likes to do. Now I don’t have too many problems with who they think will win what except for the American League Most Valuable Player award.

I’m not sure, but the media seems to think that Shohei Otani is the overwhelming favorite To win MVP and unfortunately they’re the ones that vote. The real question is; is he the MVP?

Now Otani is doing something we haven’t seen before and for the first time in his major league career he’s been able to stay healthy. He did hit his 24th home run last night, but he’s hitting just .269. He’s also got an ERA of 2.58 in his 11 starts, but he only averages a little over 5 innings a start; so there’s a lot of innings for a bullpen to cover when he makes a start. You also have to look at the fact that he’s only going to make about 20 starts this season as long as he can stay healthy.

Not what he’s doing is interesting you have to wonder if he’s the first guy to do it because he’s been allowed to do it. I’m sure if you went through the careers of Major League Baseball players you’d find plenty that pitched or played a position very well until they where forced to choose one or the other. I can remember playing Little League and High School baseball and some of the best pitchers on the team where also are best hitters. Then on days they didn’t pitch they played another big time position like shortstop.

While Otani is the first to pitch and hit at the Major League level you also have to remember that he rarely plays defense and is a DH when not pitching.

You can also throw in the fact that the Los Angeles Angels are three game under .500 and nowhere near to being a playoff contender. Apparently when it comes to Angels players it doesn’t matter where they finish in the standings.

Now the other player who has been mentioned in the AL MVP race if Vladimir Guerrero of the Toronto Blue Jays, but I’d like to bring up another candidate that I haven’t heard mentioned at all.

Someone please explain to me how no one has mentioned Xander Bogaerts of the Boston Red Sox as a candidate for MVP?

The Red Sox have been one of the biggest surprises of this MLB season as they are currently 45-31 just a 1/2 game behind the Tampa Bay Rays for 1st place in the A.L. East which is considered one of the toughest division in baseball. Bogaerts is clearly the leader of the Red Sox and there best player. With as high a profile as the Red Sox have you’d think that someone would’ve mentioned Bogaerts in the MVP conversation, but nothing yet.

Maybe the draw back is that in this era where only home runs matter Bogaerts only has 13 on the season. Even though he doesn’t pitch he is an everyday shortstop. Bogaerts has made just 7 errors this season and has a fielding percentage of .973. That puts Bogaerts in the Top 15 of all shortstops defensively, but his offensive numbers are much better than any of the shortstops ahead of him.

I mentioned that Bogaerts has those 13 home runs, but he’s also hitting .320 which is good for 4th in the American League. Bogaerts also has 21 doubles and 45 RBI’s this season. Bogaerts also plays everyday as he has been in 71 of the 76 games the Red Sox have played this season.

Does that sound like someone who deserves to be mentioned in the MVP race? Maybe the home run numbers aren’t as gaudy as some of the other players who’s names have some up in the MVP talk, but is that really how you want an MVP chosen?

Let me know if you think Bogaerts should at least have gotten some mention in this MVP race. I’d also be interested to know if there’s a payer that hasn’t gotten proper mention that you thinks belong in any of these award races.

Don’t forget to listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com. Remember if you miss the podcast live all you have to do is stop by TuneIn.com and you can listen any time you want to.

If you’re looking for me on Twitter I am @Burketime

Well Major League Baseball started having their umpires, but you think they could’ve come up with a better way for them to do it.

Apparently someone decided that the best way for the umpires to do this check is to stop the pitcher at the baseline as he comes off the field. He removes his hat and glove and in the case of Joe Kelly his googles. I didn’t think it was going to be as big of a spectacle as it is. It looks like the worse police frisk job of all time.

Umpires have told pitchers that they will do two inspection of a pitcher during a game. Now this really will just affect starting pitchers as relievers generally won’t be in the game long enough for to inspections. Now managers can request a third inspection and this happened last night and it lead to a little bit of arguing and an ejection.

Max Scherzer made his return from the Injury List to start last night against the Philadelphia Phillies. Now Scherzer had already been inspected by the umpires twice, but in the middle of the 4th inning Phillies manager Joe Girardi asked the umpires to look at Scherzer one more time. Oddly Girardi swore Tuesday afternoon that he would not ask an umpire to check an opposing pitcher for a foreign substance for purely gamesmanship purposes.

As Alfonso Marquez and the rest of the umpiring crew approached Scherzer he dropped his Glove and hat and you could tell by the look on his face that he wasn’t happy about this third inspection. At one point Scherzer started to unbuckle his pants, but the inspection never got that far. Marquez actually told Scherzer “Hey, don’t get ejected over this,” he told him. “Let us just do our job and then we’ll be fine.”

The reason for Girardi’s third inspection idea came from Scherzer running his hands through his hair. When Marquez was asked about Scherzer’s hair after the game he said “Nothing but sweat”.

It’s no surprise that this third inspection led to some hard feelings. Nationals manager Dave Martinez joined Scherzer on the mound. He pointed into the Phillies dugout. Girardi threw up his arms and moved to the top step. The game restarted and Scherzer finished with inning without any issues.

Since it was Scherzer’s first start back he only pitched 5 innings, but after that 5th inning Scherzer stared down Girardi as he left the field. Once in the dugout, he showed Girardi his right hand, cap and glove one more time. Girardi walked onto the field as several Nationals coaches yelled at him. He gestured for them to come to his side of the field. Nationals pitching coach Jim Hickey mocked Girardi at one point, gesturing to be held back from the confrontation.

This confrontation led to Girardi being ejected by home plate umpire Tim Timmons. This was the 40th time that Girardi has been ejected in his managerial career.

Now this was the first game of a short two game series between these two teams. Of course both teams are from the National League East division; so they play each other quite bit. Will this 3rd inspection incident roll over into today’s game over possibly into a later game or games this season?

Don’t forget to listen to the live edition of Sports Time Radio. The podcast airs live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but you can hear the podcast any time you want at TuneIn.com

You can also find me on Twitter @Burketime

Last night the Los Angeles Clippers advanced to the Western Conference finals for the first time in franchise history. They got their by beating the Utah Jazz 131-119 in Game 6 of their playoff series.

The Clippers found a surprising hero last night as Terance Mann scored a game high 39 points for Los Angeles. Mann averaged only 7 points a game for the Clippers during the regular season, but saw his minutes increased with Kawhi Leonard out with an injury. Mann played 36 minutes in last nights game and went 15 of 21 from the field including making 7 of the 10 3-pointers he attempted. Mann also converted his only two free throw chances to get him to his 39 points.

Mann did have some help as Paul George scored 28 points. Reggie Jackson posted a double-double last night with 27 points and a game high 10 assists. Nicholas Batum was the other Clippers starter to score in double digits adding 16 points while Patrick Beverly came off the Los Angeles bench and pitched in 12 points.

Donavan Mitchell did everything he could last ight to help the Jazz as he almost posted a triple-double. Mitchell tied Mann for the games scoring lead with 39 points while he also grabbed 9 rebounds and handed out 9 assists. Royce O’Neale and Rudy Gobert put up double-doubles for Utah last night. O’Neale had 21 points and 10 rebounds while Gobert scored 12 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. The other Utah starter to reach double figures in points was Bojan Bogdanovic who had 14 points. Jordan Clarkson came off the Jazz bench to contribute 21 points unfortunately the Jazz bench only scored 28 points in last nights game.

The Jazz where the #1 seed in the Western Conference, but they’re making another early playoff exit. To be fair to Utah the Clippers where in the 4th spot coming into the playoffs and everyone thought they where a much better team than that seeding spot. Of course the Clippers also won the final two games of this series without their best player; Leonard.

Now the Clippers are in the Western Conference finals which actually tips off tomorrow as the Phoenix Suns have been waiting for the winner of the Utah/Los Angeles Series. Game 1 of the Western Conference finals is scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m. and you can find the game on ABC.

Now over in the Eastern Conference it’s a little bit different story as we’re still waiting to find out who will face off in the conference finals.

We have two Game 7’s in the Eastern Conference one tonight and one tomorrow night. The winners of those game 7’s will face off in the Eastern Conference finals.

Tonight the Brooklyn Nets are the home team as they’ll face the Milwaukee Bucks in that game 7. It’s been the home team in every game in this series that has gotten the win. You would think that would make the Nets the favorites coming into tonight’s game, but remember they’re playing without Kyrie Irving again and James Harden still doesn’t seem to be 100% after coming back from his hamstring injury.

Let me know who you got in this one!

Then tomorrow night the Philadelphia 76ers will host the Atlanta Hawks it their game 7. This series has been very back and forth; so it looks like the game could go either way. Of course if Joel Embiid can find a way to takeover then that gives Philadelphia a big edge, but he’s also been a little banged up.

Same thing here; let me know who you got!

Don’t forget to listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but if you do miss the live edition of the podcast all you have to do is head on over to TuneIn.com and you can listen any time you want.

You can also find me on Twitter @Burketime

Now it’s no surprise that there are a lot of pitchers speaking out against this new rule Major League Baseball is going to start enforcing about putting foreign substances on the baseball. It was announced that any pitcher caught doing this would face a 10-day suspension.

Now Tyler Glasnow of the Tampa Bay Rays was injured in his last start and he pointed to the fact that Major League Baseball is instituting this rule and he had to change the way he approached his start. Glasnow talked about using sunscreen and rosin on the baseball to get a better grip and there seems to be a lot of talk about how a lot of pitcher use these two substances on the baseball to help with their grip as well.

Glasnow was having a great season and had to be considered one of the leading Cy Young candidates in the American League. Glasnow has made 14 starts covering 88 innings. He is 5-2 with an ERA of 2.66 and has struck out 123 batters while walking just 27.

Glasnow came out of his start on Monday against the Chicago White Sox after just 4 innings and it was announced yesterday that Glasnow has a with a partially torn UCL and a flexor tendon strain. Tampa Bay has placed him on the 10-day IL and there hasn’t been any kind of timetable about a possible return this season. Glasnow himself did say that he’s hoping to avoid surgery by strengthening the area around the injury.

Now if you haven’t been paying attention the Rays actually have the best record in Major League Baseball right now at 43-25. That record puts them two games ahead of the Boston Red Sox for 1st place in the American League East. Of course will now have to see how Glasnow’s injury affect the Rays.

It looks like Tampa Bay will go with Ryan Yarbrough, Rich Hill, Michael Wacha and Shane McClanahan as the first four in their starting rotation, but where they go with that fifth spot is up in the air. Now Josh Fleming, Colin McHugh and Luis Patino have made starts for the Rays this season, but you have to wonder if it might be time for them to let top prospect Brent Honeywell Jr. fill Glasnow’s spot in the starting rotation and take a regular turn at the big league level.

Now Honeywell Jr. has made three appearances this season with two of them being starts and has had some issues, but you wonder if allowing him to take a turn in the starting rotation regularly would help him relax and find his place. Honeywell Jr. has only pitched 4 1/3rd innings in his three appearances this season and his ERA 8.31, but in the minor leagues this season his ERA is just 2.38. The issue may be that Honeywell Jr. has made 8 appearances at Triple-A this season, but only one of them has been a start. Of course throughout the rest of his minor league career he’s been a starter.

Glasnow’s spot in the Rays rotation is due to come up again on Friday when they face the Seattle Mariners, but Tampa Bay has yet to make an announcement on who will be the starting pitcher in that game. I don’t think it would surprise anyone if they just had a bullpen day for Glasnow’s first missed start to give them a little more time to make a decision.

Now Glasnow isn’t the only top starting pitcher to hit the IL recently. The Washington Nationals announced yesterday that Max Scherzer had been placed on the IL retroactive to June 12th with what was described as groin inflammation.

Now the Nationals have had their issues this season and are currently in last place in the National League East, but the division is so close that they find themselves just 6 or 7 games from 1st place.

Scherzer was forced out of his start on Friday night in the first inning with the groin issue. He downplayed the injury after his start, but he’ll apparently still need some time on the IL to recover. The team didn’t announce an initial timetable for his return.

Scherzer has made 13 starts for the Nationals this season covering 77 1/3rd innings. He is just 5-4 in those 13 starts, but has an ERA of 2.21; so it doesn’t appear as though he’s getting much run support. Scherzer has walked just 15 batters this season while striking out 104.

With no timetable for his return it makes things interesting with what might happen to Scherzer. He is in the last year of his contract and even though he turns 37 years old in July you’d have to expect he’ll be a very popular free agent. If the Nationals continue to struggle is it possible that they might consider trading Scherzer and look forward to next season. Then if they do deal Scherzer would they attempt to bring him back as a free agent this coming off season.

Scherzer is in his seventh season with the Nationals and he has won two Cy Young awards with them and of course he was a huge part of their 2019 World Series winner.

Scherzer is a Scott Boras client, but so was Steven Strasburg and the Nationals where able to get him signed before he went into free agency. Is it possible that they could do the same thing with Scherzer or will we see him dealt and then they’ll try to bring him back. I guess will have to see where the Nationals are in the standings when Scherzer returns.

Don’t forget that the Sports Time Radio podcast airs live on BlogTalkRadio.com. If you miss the podcast live all you have to do is head on over to TuneIn.com and you can listen any time you want to.

You can also find me on Twitter @Burketime