Archive for the ‘football’ Category

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: November 28, 2018 by Sports Time Radio in football, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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If you had to make a pick right now; who would you say is the best team in the NFL? I’m sure there are three or maybe four teams that you had in mind, but which one would you go with as the best. Let’s see what we can find out.

Did you take the New Orleans Saints? Right now you’d have to that the Saints are most people’s choice. They’ve won 10 games in a row since Week 1 when they surprisingly lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Saints have scored more points (409) than any other team in the NFL. The defense has always been a question mark in New Orleans, but so far they’ve given up just an average of 73.2 yards rushing per game which is the best in the NFL. Now that rushing defense may be helped by the fact that teams have to throw to try and keep pace with the Saints offense, but is it possible that the way to beat this team is to keep Drew Brees on the sidelines with a good running game.

Maybe you went with the Kansas City Chiefs as the best team. The Chiefs are coming off of that wild Monday Night game against the Los Angeles Rams since they had a Week 12 bye. The Chiefs have two losses both by 3 points. Kansas City can also score as they are right behind the Saints in points scored with 404. Week 13 features a classic trap game for the Chiefs against the Oakland Raiders; so will see if they get caught looking past this game. Kansas City’s defense has had it’s issues this season, but they got some good news this week as safety Eric Berry is expected to return to practice this week and might be ready to play against the Raiders this week. Berry has yet to play this season and should make the Chiefs defense better the minute he steps on the field.

Could the Los Angeles Rams be the best team? Right out of the gate here we have three teams with big time offenses. The Rams have the third highest scoring offense in the league behind the Saints and the Chiefs and while the Rams did find a way to win their shootout against the Chiefs they dropped their Week 9 match up with the Saints. It’s possible that the Rams have the easiest schedule out of the top contenders as they face just one team with a currently with a winning record. That team is the Chicago Bears who’ll the Rams face in Week 14. Defensively I’m not sure if the Rams have been as good as people thought they would be with eight former #1 draft choices lining up on that side of the football. Maybe with what could be an easier schedule the Rams defense can build some momentum heading into the playoffs.

Now at the start of this blog I mentioned that there could be three or four teams that could be the best in the NFL. Now we’ve covered three teams; so who could that fourth team be?

Even though they’re 8-3 can you really count the New England Patriots out. It’s ben a bit of an up and down year for the Patriots as they have a win over the Chiefs, but have lost games to the Jacksonville Jaquars, Detroit Lions and Tennessee Titans. You have to think that with the return of Rob Gronkowski the Patriots offense should improve; of course he’ll have to stay healthy. I’m not sure if you can call New England’s defense spectacular, but it may be the best out of the four teams we’ve been through. Maybe you don’t agree and you don’t have the Patriots as a contender, but how can you count Tom Brady and Bill Belichick out until they’ve been eliminated from the playoffs.

There are some other teams out there, but at this point I’m not sure if they could beat one of the four we started with in a playoff game, but you never know.

The Los Angeles Chargers and the Houston Texans are 8-3 and the Texans have won 8 games in a row. The Chargers and the Texans along with the Pittsburgh Steelers who are 7-3-1 should all make the playoffs, but do you think they’d be good enough to knock off the Chiefs or the Patriots? Remember that the Chiefs would be the home team against any of those teams; so they’d have to go into Arrowhead to beat them. There’s a chance that New England would have to go to Houston in the playoff format, but otherwise they’d host a playoff game.

In the NFC the Chicago Bears have been a surprise at 8-3 right now, but do you see them beating the Saints or the Rams in a playoff game. Will get a sneak peak of how the Bears will match up with the Rams as they’ll meet in Week 14 in Chicago. Other than the Bears is there another 6 win team in the NFC that you have confidence in going up against the Rams or the Saints. You’ve got the Dallas Cowboys and the Washington Redskins on of which may win the NFC East. There’s the Carolina Panthers, Seattle Seahawks and Minnesota Vikings all with 6 wins. How do you think they’d do against New Orleans or Los Angeles?

As of right now it would take a major playoff upset for the either the Saints or Rams to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl while in the AFC if you’re not counting New England in that top group then Kansas City would have to be upset to not be the AFC counter part in the Super Bowl.

So you’ve seen what’s out there. Which two of the big teams do you see making it to the Super Bowl? Or do you think that there’s a possibility that a team with more playoff experience could sneak in and knock off one of the better teams? Let me know who you’re going with in the comments.

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but don’t forget that the podcast is also available for you to listen to any time you want at TuneIn.com.

You can also find me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your week

Posted: November 24, 2018 by Sports Time Radio in football, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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This past Monday the NFL had a game that everyone was talking about. The Los Angeles Rams and the Kansas City Chiefs showed what two quality offensive teams can do with the new rules the NFL has put in. Coming off of that showcase type of a game the NFL had three more chances on Thanksgiving day to highlight what the NFL is turning into. Being that it was the Thanksgiving holiday instead of just one Thursday night game there where three games on the schedule.

The day opened with the NFC North leading Chicago Bears going to Detroit to take on the Lions. Detroit is one of the two teams and cite that traditionally host a Thanksgiving day game. The second game of the day featured a battle for the top spot on the NFC East as the Dallas Cowboys hosted the Washington Redskins. Dallas is the other place where there is always a Thanksgiving day game played. The third and final game had what many people think is the best team in football the New Orleans Saints hosting the Atlanta Falcons in an NFC South match up.

With the NFL coming in on just about as high of a note as they could be after the Monday night game the opener on Thursday did just about everything in it’s power to kill that. It was as boring and uninteresting as an NFL game could be and if you are anything like me you where starting to hope that there was something else on.

Now the Bears where playing without their starting quarterback as Mitchell Trubisky mossed the game with a shoulder injury. Chase Daniels got the start in Trubisky’s place and even though he has played in this type of offensive system for a few seasons now the Bears need to hope that Trubisky has a quick recovery.

The Lions where playing with a bit of an offensive handicap as well. They where missing their top wide receiver and top running back for this game as both where out injured. It was also pointed out over and over on the broadcast that with the injury to Marvin Jones Jr. and the trade of Golden Tate the Lions don’t have a receiver who can really break away from a defender.

As the game plodded along I really lost interest in it and I was hoping that it would be time to eat very soon. Oddly just as I thought I was being saved from this terrible game both teams decided they wanted to score some points. Some how Detroit was leading this snore-fest 13-9 heading into the 4th quarter when I was very happy that it was time to eat. I ended up missing the Bears putting up two touchdowns in the 4th quarter. Their final score was an Eddie Jackson 41 yard interception return which ended up being the winning touchdown as the Bears pulled out a 23-16 victory.

While I’m sure this wasn’t the type of game that the NFL wanted to kick the day off with you kind of get what you get with the Lions who just aren’t a very good team this season.

The second game had a little more interest to it as the winner would be in 1st place in the NFC East.

The Redskins where also starting a back up quarterback as Colt McCoy would be making the start in place of the inured Alex Smith.

This was a much better game than the first one as both teams where able to move the football. This game featured some big scoring plays which also makes the game a lot more fun to watch. Washington tied the game at 7-7 when McCoy connected with Vernon Davis for a 53-yard touchdown pass. The Redskins took a 13-10 lead before the Cowboys hit their first big play as Dak Prescott hit Amari Cooper for a 40-yard touchdown pass to give Dallas the lead back at 17-13. On the Cowboys next series Prescott went to Cooper again, but this time it was for a 90-yard touchdown pass to extend the Cowboys lead to 24-13. Prescott threw his third and final touchdown pass of the game with about 14 minutes left in the game and it looked as though the Cowboys would cruise to a victory as they had a 31-13 lead. The Redskins where unable to comeback, but they did manage to make it interesting as they scored 10 straight points to get the game to 31-23 where it ended.

With the win both Dallas and Washington have a 6-5 record, but due to tiebreakers the Cowboys are considered the 1st place team in the NFC East.

While the second game kind of got Thanksgiving day football back on track I’m not sure if the third game of the day was what everyone had hoped it would be.

The Falcons have had a down year coming into the game at 4-6 they still have what looks like a talented offense. On the other side the Saints have only lost one game this season and that was back in Week 1. How many people remember that New Orleans lost that Week 1 game to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

I don’t think anyone was surprised when the Saints got out to a quick lead 7-0 as Drew Brees threw the first of his four touchdown passes. The Falcons answered with a field goal to make it a 7-3 game, but the surprise here was that would be the only points the Falcons would score in the first half.

The Saints added 10 points to their lead as Brees threw his second touchdown pass with just about three minutes left before halftime to make it a 17-3 game. Sadly the game was pretty much over at this point, but you know every fantasy owner wanted to know what Brees would do in the second half.

The Falcons did score first in the 3rd quarter to make it a 17-10 game, but the Saints scored the next two touchdown in the making the score 31-10 Atlanta did get into the end zone one more time to get the game to it’s final score of 31-17.

Brees didn’t put up too many yards in the game; just 171, but he threw 4 touchdown passes. interestingly those touchdown asses went to receivers who probably aren’t on a lot of fantasy rosters. Tommylee Lewis, Austin Carr, Keith Kirkwood and Dan Arnold where the four Saints players who caught touchdown passes from Brees. I know there are people who have picked up Carr and Kirkwood in some bigger leagues, but I’m willing to bet they didn’t play them. I get the feeling that Lewis and Arnold will be waive wire pick ups this next week.

Let me know how you Thanksgiving football watching experience was and don’t forget that you can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but the podcast is also available any time you want to listen to it at TuneIn.com.

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @Burketime

 

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: November 21, 2018 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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The Seattle Mariners finished the 2018 season with a record of 89-73. They ended up finishing 8 games out of a wild card spot after contending for it most of the season. Now it looks as though the Mariners will be the next team to go through a tear down and rebuild.

On Monday the Mariners got started down this road as they sent starting pitcher James Paxton to the New York Yankees for three minor leaguers.

The Mariners picked up Justus Sheffield who was the Yankees top pitching prospect. Sheffield started the season in Double-A, but pitched more in Triple-A. Sheffield made 20 appearances with 15 of those being starts in Triple-A. He went 6-4 with a 2.56 ERA. Sheffield did make 3 appearances at the major league level last season with 2 of those being starts, but they didn’t go so well. He pitched just 2 2/3rd innings and had an ERA of 10.13. Sheffield doesn’t turn 23 until May of 2019; so there’s no rush to get him to the majors.

The Mariners also got 25 year old right handed pitcher Erik Swanson. He pitched at three minor league levels last season Class-A, Class-AA and like Sheffield spent most of his time at the Triple-A level. Swanson made 14 appearances at Triple-A with 13 of those being starts. He went 3-2 with a 3.86 ERA, but he did throw a complete game. Swanson should compete for a spot in the starting rotation this spring.

The third player the Mariners got in this deal was 23 year old centerfielder Dom Thompson-Williams. He played 100 games between two Class-A levels last season with 90 of those games being played at High Class-A. For the season he hit .299 with 22 home runs and 74 RBI’s. He also stole 20 bases, but struck out 102 times. Since Thompson-Williams hasn’t played above the Class-A level it will be a few seasons before he might make it to the majors.

There are also some reports out there that the Mariners have engaged the San Diego Padres in trade talks centering around Will Myers. Now there are conflicting reports on how far along this type of a deal might be. There are reports that have this deal as on the table and other reports that say it’s not anywhere close to being done.

The actually trade as of now would see the Mariners send Jean Segura and Mike Leake to San Diego for Myers. Both Segura and Leake have full no trade clauses in their contracts; so that would have to be worked out before the deal could happen. Segura is signed through 2024 while Leake’s contract runs through the 2022 season.

With talk of Segura and Leake possibly being dealt you have to wonder how long before we’ll start to hear rumors about some of the other Mariners with bigger contracts. You’d have to think that Seattle would be interested in moving players like Kyle Seager and Dee Gordon. Another guy who they might like to move is Robinson Cano, but he still has 6 years left in his contract and he’ll be 41 by the time that contract comes to an end. I doubt there would be much interest in him unless a contender has an serious injury and Seattle would probably still have to pick up a very, very large chunk of that remaining contract.

Of course there’s also “The King” Felix Hernandez. Now Hernandez is in the final year of his contract, but he’s had his struggles the last couple of seasons. Hernandez was actually taken out of the starting rotation last season, but due to injury he only made one relief appearance. Hernandez made 28 starts and had a record of 8-14 with an ERA of 5.55. That was the highest ERA Hernandez has ever had in a season. He has also missed starts in the last three seasons due to injuries. Hernandez is just 32 years old, but will be starting his 15 major league season in 2019. As you can guess Hernandez is the Mariners all-time leader in every major category for starting pitchers.

Now with a salary of $25 million dollars for this coming season if Hernandez gets off to a good start and is looking more like his old self than he has the past couple of seasons could he be traded? You have to think that’s it’s possible in the final year of his contract that a contender might be interested in a pitcher like Hernandez.

While it would be sad to see Hernandez go and strange to see him in another uniform he might have a chance to add a World Series ring to his resume that should have him as a borderline Hall of Fame player.

Well if you where looking for some offense; you got it out of the Monday Night game as the Los Angeles Rams beat the Kansas City Chiefs 54-51.

Now interestingly I heard someone reviewing the game in Tuesday morning and they where going on and on about how Patrick Mahomes had the greatest game in the history of the NFL for a quarterback. Now Mahomes was 33 of 46 while throwing for 478 yards and 6 touchdowns. Now those are great numbers and that’s what this guy was really pumping up on television. Now what he forgot to mention was the fact that Mahomes threw 3 interceptions; lost 2 fumbles and I think more importantly his team came out on the losing end. The question I have for everyone is; can this be considered the greatest game ever for a quarterback when your team doesn’t win?

Now with my work schedule I didn’t get to see as much of this game as I would’ve like to have. I’m sure it was fun to watch and it seems as though everyone thinks that this is the way the NFL is going to go. Is this the style of NFL game you’d like to see played? I do enjoy seeing good defense payed, but with the new rules that are set to try and limit injuries it’s difficult to play good defense and against teams like this it’s even more difficult. I guess will have to wait nd see if and or how the league tries to react to what’s going on; until just enjoy the offense.

The Sports Time Radio podcast can be heard live on BlogTalkRadio.com. Don’t forget that the podcast is also available for you to listen to any time you want at TuneIn.com.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @Burketime and have a Happy Thanksgiving.

How was your week

Posted: November 10, 2018 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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Dez Bryant waited to sign until he thought he had found the right fit for him. If you remember he turned down an offer earlier this season from the Baltimore Ravens and while I don’t know if they ever made an official offer to Bryant the Cleveland Browns where interested in signing him. It appeared as Bryant found a good landing spot for a wide receiver when he signed a 1-year $1.250 million dollar deal with the New Orleans Saints.

Bryant was official signed on November 7th and his first practice was this past Thursday. Then on the final play of practice on Friday just his second official practice Bryant was injured. Now the injury isn’t officially confirmed, but everyone is reporting that Bryant tore his Achilles. There hasn’t been any type of announcement from the Saints as they’re waiting for the results of an MRI, but that was called “a formality” as team doctors already believe it’s a torn Achilles.

If this diagnosis is correct this type of an injury would keep Bryant out approximately 8 months. That would make him healthy for training camp, but he would also be a free agent again.

There was talk that the Saints where willing to give Bryant a 2-year deal, but he wanted to sign for just the remainder of this season as a way to prove that he was still a top flight receiver in the NFL. He was hoping to use the final seven games of the Saints season to do that. I know that the Saints have eight games left this season, but Bryant wasn’t going to play this week against the Cincinnati Bengals since he had only been with the Saints for two practices.

Bryant was a three-time Pro Bowler for the Dallas Cowboys before they released him in April of this year. Bryant was due to make $12.5 million dollar with the Cowboys this season.

In 8 seasons with the Cowboys Bryant caught 531 passes for 7459 yards; averaging 14 yards per reception. For three straight seasons 2012-2014 Bryant had at least 1200 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns. Bryant led the NFL in receiving touchdowns with 16 in 2014.

After an injury limited him to just 9 games and 31 receptions in 2015 there was talk that Bryant may no longer be a top receiving threat. He did bounce back with a Pro Bowl season in 2016, but it still wasn’t the season people where looking for out of Bryant. He had 50 catches for 796 yards and 8 touchdowns. Bryant did have better numbers in 2016 with 69 catches and 838 yards with 6 touchdowns, but he averaged the lowest yards per catch number of his career at 12.1.

Will we see Bryant in an NFL training camp next season?

The Bryant injury still leaves the Saints short at receiver; so what can they do? Remember Bryant wasn’t the only receiver they worked out. The Saints also had Kamar Aiken and Brandon Marshall in for workouts.

Aiken played in 5 games with the Philadelphia Eagles this season where he caught 6 passes for 53 yards.

Marshall played in 6 games for the Seattle Seahawks where he caught 11 passes for 136 yards and 1 touchdown.

It is possible that the Saints could bring one of these veteran receivers back and there where reports that Marshall “impressed” in his workout. New Orleans also has a wide receiver on their practice squad. Undrafted rookie Keith Kirkwood could possible be added to the roster for Sunday’s game just to add some depth at that position.

The Saints ended up needing some depth at wide receiver when Cameron Meredith joined Ted Ginn Jr. on inured reserve this week. Meredith is recovering from arthroscopic left knee surgery while Ginn had been in the injured reserve since Week 5 also with a knee injury. If he’s healthy Ginn can return Week 15 against the Carolina Panthers, but it’s unclear right now if he’ll be able to return.

Even with all of the losses at the wide receiver position the Saints are still very talented. They’ll head into Cincinnati for Sundays game with Michael Thomas and Tre’Quan Smith as their starters at wide receiver. They’ll get contributions from Benjamin Watson and Josh Hill at the tight end position and of course don’t forget that Alvin Kamara can catch the football out of the backfield. Who knows maybe this is the week that Taysom Hill lines up at wide receiver.

With all the talk being centered on where Bryce Harper will be playing next season I’m wondering how many people noticed the report that Joe Mauer will officially announce his retirement from baseball.

Mauer has taken out a full page newspaper ad and wrote a letter to Minnesota Twins fans announcing his decision.

The Twins handled what turned out to be Mauer’s last game perfectly. Mauer started at 1st base. He took the field alone and was greeted by his two daughters at 1st base. Then it what turned out now to be his final at bat Mauer sliced a doubled to left centerfield in the signature way he had for 15 seasons with the Twins. Then for the first time in five years Mauer put his catching gear on. He caught one pitch from Twins reliever Matt Belisle before exiting the game to a standing ovation from the Twins fans.

With Mauer’s retirement the talk will turn to will he be elected to the Hall of Fame. It’s an interesting case and it looks as though he has a good chance to go to Cooperstown.

Mauer was a catcher for the first 10 years of his career, but was forced to move out from behind the plate after battling concussion issues. As a catcher Mauer won the MVP in 2009. He also won 3 batting titles, 3 Gold Gloves and was named to the All-Star team 6 times. I know the sabermetric people are jumping up and down right now screaming that batting average doesn’t mean anything. First off you’re stupid so shut up, but Mauer also led the league in On Base Percentage 2 times as well as Slugging Percentage and On Base plus Slugging Percentage once each.

Mauer played in 1858 career games. He had 2123 hits in his career. Mauer was never a big time power hitter as he hit 10 homers or more just six times in his career with 28 being his career high in 2009, but he has a career batting average of .306.

Mauer’s Hall of Fame candidacy may hinge n who’s voting at the time his name hits the ballot. If there are enough older writers still casting votes he should have a good chance to find his way in, but since he’s not a sabermetric darling if there’s enough new voters who believe in those stats he might run into trouble.

Take some time to look at Mauer’s numbers and tell me if you think he belongs in the Hall of Fame. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mauerjo01.shtml

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but don’t forget that the podcast is available for you to listen to any time you want at TuneIn.com.

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your week

Posted: November 3, 2018 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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On Thursday night the San Francisco 49ers had to turn to their third quarterback of this season. Nick Mullins mad the start for the injured C.J. Beathard who had been starting in place of the injured Jimmy Garoppolo. In the end it didn’t matter who was playing quarterback for the 49ers as they cruised to a 34-3 victory over the Oakland Raiders.

Mullins ended up going 16 for 22 in the game for 262 yards and 3 touchdowns. Not to bad of a first start for an undrafted free agent, but I actually want to take a look at the Raiders today.

With the loss the Raiders fall to 1-7 and are currently tied for the worst record in the NFL with the New York Giants. With 8 games to go it looks as though the Raiders really only have one solid shot at getting another win. In two weeks Oakland is on the road against the Arizona Cardinals. The Cardinals are 2-6 and while I think it would still be an upset for Oakland to win this game I think it’s the best chance on their schedule for them to get another win. As for the Giants they appear to have multiple games on their schedule that they could find a way to win.

So let’s say that the Raiders end up with the #1 pick in the draft. Now the Raiders also have the Chicago Bears #1 pick in 2019 and also 2020 from the Khalil Mack trade. Then they added the Dallas Cowboys 1st round pick when they traded Amari Cooper there. Right now those picks would come in at #13 and #22, but that should change as the season moves forward.

Unlike baseball in the NFL you can turn your franchise around in one good off season. If the Raiders can hit on two of those three 1st rounders and they need to do that; they would improve greatly. Just imagine if they somehow found three players that could contribute.

Now right now Oakland might not be a prime destination for free agents, but there is something about being a Raider has always been something that has drawn players. Maybe the top free agents wouldn’t be interested in joining a team that’s rebuilding, but the Raiders should be able to upgrade at positions of need in free agency.

So let’s say that two of the draft picks the Raiders made contribute during the 2019 season. With the addition of some key free agents I don’t think that Oakland would be a playoff team, but they could get close to .500. Then when the 2020 draft rolls around they’ll have their 1st round pick and the Bears 1st round pick. That gives them the chance to add two more top picks that can contribute.

Now this is all speculation and with Jon Gruden it’s tough to predict which direction the Raiders will go, but it wouldn’t be a complete surprise if the Raiders where contending for a playoff spot in 2020.

Now rebuilding isn’t something that’s normally done in the NFL, but if the Raiders find success with this could we see other teams try to make a quick turnaround?

It looks as though the Cleveland Indians have some concerns about their teams payroll and they’re willing to deal some of their veteran players to get that payroll where they want it.

The Indians came out yesterday and more or less said that with the exception of shortstop Francisco Lindor and MVP candidate Jose Ramirez who played 2nd and 3rd base for the Indians last season.

That means that the Indians would be willing to listen to offers or possible trade players like starting pitchers Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco. Or how about veterans like Edwin Encarnacion, Jason Kipnis or either of or both catchers Yan Gomes and Roberto Perez.

The Indians starting working on that payroll by not extending qualifying offers to Michael Brantley, Andrew Miller and Cody Allen.

If Cleveland had made a qualifying offer to any or all of those three players to and it had been accepted they would’ve been paid $17.9 million dollars for next season.

While the Indians wouldn’t deal all of those veteran players  some of the contracts they’re trying to move look like this. Kluber is scheduled to make $17 million dollars next season. His contract also has two options years. In 2020 he’d make $17.5 million dollars and then in 2018 his salary would be $18 million dollars. Carrasco has what has to be considered a team friendly deal as he’ll make $9.75 million dollars next season and he has an option for the 2020 for $9.5 million dollars. Kipnis will make $14,666,667 next season and he also has a 2020 option that would pay him $16.5 million dollars. Gomes is scheduled to be paid $7,083,334 next season, but there are two option years in his contract, If picked up in 2020 Gomes would be paid $9 million dollars and in 2021 his salary would jump to $11 million dollars. Perez is signed for two more seasons and has two option years on his contract. Next season Perez will be paid $2.625 million dollars in 2020 his salary will be $3.625 million dollars. If picked up his option years would pay him $5.5 million dollars in 2021 and $7 million dollars in 2022. Encarnacion has the biggest salary of all of the players the Indians would be willing to move. Encarnacion will make $21.667, 000 next season; he also has an option year on his contract that would pay him $20 million dollars if it was picked up.

It’s unclear how many of these players the Indians would be willing tp deal to get their payroll to what they consider an acceptable level, but you have to think they’ll get a lot of interest in these players; especially those two pitchers.

Kluber won 20 games last season and willing be in the running to win the Cy Young award which would be his 3rd if he won it. Kluber has three 18-win seasons as well as finally getting to the 20 number this season. You’d have to think that Cleveland is getting calls on him already.

Carrasco has had some injuries in his career, but noting that has affected his shoulder or elbow. Carrasco has won double digit games the last four season; he had 17 wins last season. With the salary he carries you have to think that Cleveland has already had some calls on him as well.

How many of these players do you see the Indians actually trading? Also how many do you think they can trade and still not have to worry to much about the other teams in the AL Central?

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but don’t forget that the podcast is available for you to listen to any time you want at TuneIn.com.

Look for me on Twitter @Burketime

 

 

 

Let’s call it Halloween

Posted: October 31, 2018 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, football, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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The NFL’s trade deadline was yesterday and in most cases there aren’t very many trades made let alone players who’s names we know actually getting moved. Yesterday ended up being a little different. While there wasn’t what you’d call a big name player traded all of the guys that where dealt had a name fans would know. Let’s see what we think of who went were.

With it being announced that Will Fuller would miss the rest of the season due to injury the Houston Texans where one of the teams in the market for a wide receiver and they managed to find one in Demaryius Thomas. The Texans sent two draft picks a 4th and a 7th round pick in the 2019 draft to the Denver Broncos to get Thomas and a 2019 7th round pick.

Thomas is in the last year of his contract that pays him $14 million dollars this season. Thomas had started all 8 games for the Broncos this season. He has caught 36 passes for 402 yards and 3 touchdowns. Thomas is a 4 time Pro Bowl selection and while he may not quite be the #1 receiver he use to be the Texans don’t need him to be that guy.

The Philadelphia Eagles where another one of the teams that where reported to be in the market for a wide receiver. With Thomas off the board the Eagles found their receiver in a deal with the Detroit Lions. Philadelphia sent a 3rd round pick in the 2019 draft to the Lions for Golden Tate.

Tate is 31 years old and is in the final year of his contract that pays him a little over $3.7 million dollars this season. Tate has played in 7 games for the Lions this season starting 4 of them. He has caught 44 passes for 517 yards and 3 touchdowns. Tate made his only Pro Bowl in 2014, but has caught at least 90 passes or more in each of the last four seasons.

After what went down in Sunday’s game I guess it wasn’t too big of a surprise when the Green Bay Packers sent Ty Montgomery to the Baltimore Ravens for a 2019 7th round draft pick. Montgomery is just 25 years old and is in the last year of a contract that pays him $379,324 this season.

In Montgomery the Ravens get a versatile player. He started his career as a wide receiver, but when injuries decimated the Packers running backs in 2016 Montgomery stepped in and filled the role for them.

In 7 games this season Montgomery has carried he football 26 times for 105 yards and a touchdown. He has also caught 15 passes for 170 yards. Montgomery has also returned 10 kickoffs with an average of 21 yards per return.

There where also a couple of defensive players who found their way to new teams at the trade deadline.

The Los Angeles Rams added to their defense line as they sent two draft picks a 2019 3rd round pick and a 2020 5th round pick to the Jacksonville Jaquars for Dante Fowler Jr.

In 2015 Fowler Jr. was the 3rd overall pick in that draft, but has been kind of a disappointment in Jacksonville. In 7 games this season Fowler Jr. has 2 sacks and for his career he has 14 sacks in 39 games.

Fowler Jr. is still playing under his rookie contract which has him making a little over $1.9 million dollars this season. There is a 5th year on his rookie contract that would see his salary jump to $14.2 million dollars for next season, but I’m not sure if the Rams would be interested in picking that option up.

In what may have been the biggest surprise at the trade deadline the Green Bay Packers sent HaHa Clinton-Dix to the Washington Redskins for a 2019 4th round draft pick. Clinton-Dix was the 21st pick in the 2014 draft and has started 65 of the 71 games he’s played in for the Packers.

There was some talk that this was a monetary move by the Packers as Clinton-Dix is in the final year of his contract and Green Bay wanted to get something for him before he went into free agency.  Washington will pick up the rest of Clinton-Dix’s contract which pays him a little over $3.15 million this season.

What do you think of these trades? Who do you feel made the best move at the trade deadline? Is there one player that you thought would get traded that didn’t?

The Cleveland Cavaliers made the first coaching change of the NBA season when they started off 0-6. With Larry Drew as “the voice” as he described it the Cavaliers went out and got their first win of the season last night as they beat the Atlanta Hawks 136-114.

The Cavaliers had seven players score in double digits led by Rodney Hood with 26 points. Tristan Thompson put up a double-double with 11 points and a game high 13 rebounds. #1 draft pick Colin Sexton came off the bench to play 28 minutes and scored 17 points. Sexton’s playing time was stated as one of the big reasons the Cavaliers made a coaching change.

Humorously at 1-6 the Cavaliers aren’t out of any type of playoff race in the Eastern Conference, but if there going to get back into things they’re going to have to do it without Kevin Love.

Love is out with a toe injury and as of now there is no timetable for his return. Love’s injury first came up in pre-season and right now he is just resting hoping to recover in two to three weeks.

You do have to ask yourself if Cleveland is really in all that big of a hurry for Love to return. With the 0-6 start now 1-6 it appeared as though the Cavaliers where in for a down season. If that was the case a healthy Love who is signed to a long term deal could bring back good quality in a trade. Of course to get full value for Love in a trade he’d have to be 100% healthy.

Do you think that Love will be with the Cavaliers for the entire season? Or do you see him being traded?

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but don’t forget that the podcast is also available for you to listen to any time you want at TuneIn.com.

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime Happy Halloween

 

 

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: October 10, 2018 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, post season, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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We’re all set for the American and National League Championship Series to kick off this weekend.

The Milwaukee Brewers will host the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 1 of the NLCS on Friday while the ALCS gets started on Saturday as the Boston Red Sox will play host to the Houston Astros.

It appears as the Dodgers are the only team that has announced a starting pitcher for Game 1 and it’s not a huge surprise that they’re going with Clayton Kershaw.

The Brewers had a bullpen game to open the NLDS against the Colorado Rockies and they got 3 shutout innings from Brandon Woodruff. Would the Brewers try to go that route again or will we see Jhoulys Chacin brought back for Game 1.

The Astros have some extra time to get their starting rotation et up for the ALCS, but which starter will they go with in game 1? Gerrit Cole had the best start of the Houston pitchers tat started against the Cleveland Indians, but it’s difficult to see Houston pass over Justin Verlander. Since the Astros swept the ALDS Charlie Morton never made a start; so their is an outside chance they’d go with him in Game 1, but you’d have to think it will be Verlander.

AS for the Red Sox you have to think that Chris Sale get the Game 1 start. Sale was planned to be the Game 5 starter in the ALDS if needed and ended up coming out of the bullpen to pitch one inning last night. Even with throwing that inning he should be just fine to make the Game 1 start as the Red Sox get three days off before the ALCS starts.

In the National League match up no matter who’s pitching they’re going to have to deal with some hot hitter from both teams. Ryan Braun hit .385 while Travis Shaw and Mike Moustakas each hit .364 and while Christian Yelich hit just .250 in the NLDS he drew 6 walks in three games and stole 2 bases. Justin Turner led the way average wise for the Dodgers in the NLDS hitting .357 while Yasiel Puig hit .333. Manny Machado and Max Muncy each hit two home runs apiece in the NLDS and Muncy also drew 6 walks. Don’t worry I didn’t forget Brewers catcher Eric Kratz. He was 5 for 8 (.625) with 2 RBI’s a double and a run scored in the two games he appeared in.

Over in the American League the Astros are bringing 5 players who hit .400 or better in the ALDS. Alex Bregman led the way with a .556 batting average plus 2 home runs. Marwin Gonzalez hit .538, Tyler White hit .500 while George Springer not only hit .429 he also had 3 home runs. Josh Reddick rounds out the hot Astros hitter as he hit .400 in the ALDS. The Red Sox aren’t sporting as high averages as the Astros as J.D. Martinez was their top hitter with a .357 average and 6 RBI’s. Steve Pearce hit .333 as did Mitch Moreland, but Moreland appeared in just 2 games. Christian Vazquez hit .333 plus what turned out to be the game winning home run in Game 4 of the ALDS. Brock Holt played in just one of the ALDS games, but it was memorable. Holt went 4 for 6 in that game hitting for the cycle and driving in 5 runs.

I’m sure you’ve heard the baseball phrase “good pitching beats good hitting”. In these two series we just might find out if that applies.

We’re through fie weeks in the NFL season and here’s how we did with our picks. For Week 5 I got the win going 10-5. Dan the Man and Schaumburg Stu where both 8-7 while Mr. Fantasy had a sub .500 week at 7-8. For the season I’m in the lead at 46-32. Schaumburg Stu is in 2nd place at 44-34 with Mr. Fantasy in 3rd at 43-35. Dan the Man is still at the bottom of the pile, but he’s gotten himself back to .500 at 39-39. Who knows how Week 6 will go.

While the Jacksonville Jaquars have one of the best defenses in the NFL their running backs seem to keep getting injured. There top running back Leonard Fournette has been battling a hamstring injury and has carried the football just 20 time this season. It looked as though the Jaquars would be just fine with T.J. Yeldon as the #1 running back and Corey Grant spelling him until Fournette returned from injury. Yeldon is averaging 4.4 yards per carry and has caught 22 passes while Grant hasn’t run the football as well just 3.1 yards per carry he’s done well in the passing game catching 9 passes.

Unfortunately for the Jaquars Grant was lost for the season in Week 5’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs as he suffered a Lisfranc injury and will miss he rest of the season.

With the injury to Grant Jacksonville would need someone to pair with Yeldon until Fornette can return; so yesterday the Jaquars signed veteran Jamaal Charles to a contract.

Charles spent last season with the Denver Broncos playing in 14 games for them, but carrying the football just 69 times for 269 yards and 1 touchdown. He also caught 23 passes for 129 yards.

Charles will turn 32 in December, but had five seasons where he rushed for over 1000 yards as a member of the Kansas City Chiefs. In 2012 Charles rushed for 1509 yards and in 2013 he led the NFL in rushing touchdowns with 12; so he has a solid resume.

Now Charles himself has had his share of injury issues in his career. in 2011 he played in just 2 games, in 2015 he played in just 5 games and in 2016 he played in just 3 games due to injuries.

Charles has a similar style to Yeldon’s; so it should be an interesting backfield mix for Jacksonville until Fornette returns. It also wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Jaquars add another running back before Sunday’s game since Charles and Yeldon are the only two healthy one’s on their roster right now.

Jacksonville is currently 3-2 and tied with the Tennessee Titans at the top of the AFC South. The Jaquars are on the road this week against the struggling Dallas Cowboys.

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but don’t forget that the podcast is available for you to listen to whenever you want at TuneIn.com.

Also you can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: October 3, 2018 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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Now I’ve been a sports fan for as long as I could remember, but I have to admit it’s getting more and more difficult to watch some of them. I’m not sure what I would do if I didn’t have sports to watch, but with the way things are going I might have to find out.

If you’ve listened to the Sports Time Radio podcast you know that I am completely down on the NBA and I watch very little of it. I loss interest when the league started to make the rule changes to eliminate defense so scoring would increase and they got it. Now every night it’s a 3-point shooting contest and I don’t understand how that’s fun to watch. It wasn’t for me; so I’ve pretty much stopped watching.

The NFL is starting to make some changes that are making me watch less and less of it. In the first 4 weeks of this NFL season I’ve watched less football than I ever have. To be fair the NFL started try to eliminate defense a long, long time ago, but now it’s the rule changes that are just killing me.

The biggest plus is they seem to have simplified the catch rule even though I’m pretty sure most to the referees don’t know what a catch is. Of course that little plus doesn’t make up for the gigantic negative that roughing the passer has become. It as bad enough when they started throwing flags when the quarterback got touched anywhere around the head area; now it’s just ridiculous. I’m sure there are some out their, but I haven’t seen one legitimate roughing the passer call this season and some of these terrible calls have cost teams games. That’s when it becomes a big deal. Just imagine your favorite team missing the playoffs by one game and you can look back at that one bad roughing that passer call that a referee shouldn’t of thrown a flag on.

With the road that the NFL is on right now I don’t know how much longer I’ll be watching games.

Now if you’ve listened to the podcast or even followed the blog for a while you know that baseball is my favorite sport out of all of them, but I am very frightened that my enjoyment of the game is going to be taken away from me.

Now I’m not a fan of sabermetric or any of the analytics that have been brought into the game recently, but I heard something yesterday that scared me to death when it comes to baseball.

During one of the many pre-game shows I watched yesterday they where having a discussion about the Oakland A’s using Liam Hendricks as their “opener” for wild card game against the New York Yankees tonight. Now using an “opener” is the new fade in baseball and the A’s going that route didn’t bother me; it was the way the conversation went after that.

The panel started discussing how soon there would be no more starting pitchers in baseball and ever game would be a bullpen game. This would be the end of it for me. I just don’t understand why teams would feel the need to do this, but the panel I was listening to was pretty sure that this was going to happen and happen sooner than people think it will.

I’ve always understood that from time to time you’re going to need a bullpen game or a game is going to turn into a bullpen game if your starting pitcher exits the game early, but to use it on a daily basis tells me a lot about your organization. The biggest thing it tells me it that your organization doesn’t know how to draft a starting pitcher or develop them once you get them into your minor league system. It also tells me that your coaching staff at the major league level has so little confidence in that pitchers ability that they’re not comfortable running the guy out their for the 1st inning. What’s the difference if the pitcher who was going to start the game and comes in after the “opener” faces the top of the opponents order to start the game or in the 3rd inning.

The “opener” seems like a gimmick to me, but the Tampa Bay Rays won 90 games this season and they used an “opener” more than any other team and they had success with it; so that means other teams will follow suit.

Now when I gave up on the NBA it wasn’t that big of a deal or even that difficult for me to do. I didn’t play basketball at a very high level; so I wasn’t invested in the game that much.

Football fading away for me is a little tougher. I played quite a bit of football in my life and I was actually a decent player and while I haven’t completely let go of the game if I get to that point it’s going to be tough for me.

Now I pray that baseball doesn’t put me through this. I am attached to baseball. I started playing baseball as soon as I was old enough to join and I played it as long as I could. It was easily my best sport and I have to admit that I don’t want to give it up, but I need them to stop ruining the game for me. Sadly for me I’m not sure if they’ll be able to stop destroying the game because it allows the people who couldn’t play it because they weren’t good enough to be involved and have some control and you know they enjoy that. Man am I going to miss baseball.

I guess I still got hockey and their regular season starts tonight.

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but don’t forget that the podcast is available for you to listen to any time you want at TuneIn.com.

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: September 26, 2018 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, post season, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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With all of the playoff spots decided in the American League with the exception of where the wild card game will be played we turn to the National League for excitement with just 5 or 6 games left per team.

Now the Atlanta Braves have wrapped up the NL East, but the Chicago Cubs and the Los Angeles Dodgers leads in their divisions are down to just 1/2 a game. It’s the Milwaukee Brewers chasing the Cubs while the Colorado Rockies are the team hot on the Dodgers heels.

The Cubs have dropped their last two games to the Pittsburgh Pirates and they have two more games against the Pirates today and tomorrow before they wrap the season up with three games against their biggest rival the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals will be playing for something themselves as they’re trying to hang on in the wild card race and you know there’s nothing more than the Cardinals would like would be to knock the Cubs out of the division lead.

The Brewers have won their last three games and five f their last six including two in a row against the Cardinals. Milwaukee wraps up their series with St. Louis tonight; they’re off on Thursday before they head home for the final three games of the season against the Detroit Tigers.

I think most of the experts feel that the Cubs are the better team out of the two, but the schedule really set up in the Brewers favor. Do you think it’s possible for the Brewers to go into the playoffs as the NL Central champions?

The Dodgers dropped their game to the Arizona Diamondbacks last night 4-3, but that was just the Dodgers third loss in their last thirteen games. The Dodgers wrap the season up on the road. They have one more game in Arizona against the Diamondbacks before they head to San Francisco for the final three games of the season against the Giants. The Giants have had a down year, but a great way to end it for them would be to knock the Dodgers out of the playoffs.

The Rockies are a hot team and their offense is hitting right now. Colorado has won five games in a row and they’ve scored 10 runs in each of their last two win over the Philadelphia Phillies. The Rockies have two more games in Colorado against the Phillies before the Washington Nationals come to Coors Field for the final three games of the season.

It’s an interesting schedule set up for both of these teams and I’m not sure either one has an advantage. Both the Dodgers and the Rockies wrap up with teams that have had disappointing season, but could also be dangerous. The biggest difference is the Dodgers have to face a rival in the Giants while the Rockies wrap up against the National League East.

The Rockies currently hold the final wild card spot, but they’re just 1/2 games ahead of St. Louis; so there’s a chance that only the winner of the National League West will make the playoffs.

Who do you have winning the NL West? Do the Dodgers hang on and win it or will the Rockies get past them and take the division?

As for the Cardinals they clearly have the toughest schedule out of all the playoff contenders. After sweeping three games from San Francisco the Cardinals have dropped their last two games to the Brewers. St. Louis wraps up their series with Milwaukee tonight and then as we mentioned before they’ll head to Chicago to close out the season with three games against the Cubs.

Can the Cardinals be the third NL Central team o make the playoffs? Or is their schedule just to tough?

Is it possible that Le’Von Bell has played his last down for the Pittsburgh Steelers. There has been a lot of talk that the Steelers would be willing to trade Bell. as I’m sure you know Bell had the franchise tag placed on him this past off season, but refused to sign the contract and is holding out for a new deal. If the Steelers where to trade Bell who would be interested and what could they get for him.

Bell would fit with any team that doesn’t have a top tier running back and the New York Jets where the first team to step up and say they’d be interested in making a deal for Bell. The Jets have been in on a lot of top players, but haven’t landed any of them yet. Remember they offered Kirk Cousins  lot of money this off season in free agency, but he choose to sign with the Minnesota Vikings. The Jets where also interested in trading for Khalil Mack, but it was the Chicago Bears who ended up landing him. Could Bell be the first top player the Jets land and if they where to deal for him would he be willing to sign long term with them.

While the Jets have been the only team to formally address a trade for Bell there are some teams that he could fit in with very nicely. I’ve seen these four teams names mentioned more than any other; so what do you think about them?

How about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Buccaneers are a surprising 2-1, but they’re averaging just 3.0 yards per carry on he ground an they only have one rushing touchdown. Oh; who scored that rushing touchdown, that’s right it was Ryan Fitzpatrick. Bell would immediately upgrade the Buccaneers running game and actually make it something teams would have to game plan against.

It would probably be to good to be true, but what if the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles acquired Bell. Top rusher Jay Ajayi has been injured and there probably isn’t a more perfect fit for this offense at the running back position than Bell. The biggest question the Eagles would have to address if they did make a deal for Bell is what would they do with Ajayi and Corey Clement.

Maybe the Green Bay Packers could add Bell and give Aaron Rodgers another weapon. Green Bay has an interesting trio of running backs in Jamaal Williams, Ty Montgomery and Aaron Jones, but Bell would be the full time running back they need. Montgomery could return to being a wide receiver while Jones and Williams could learn from Bell.

Finally how about Bell going to the Miami Dolphins. I knw Miami like Kenyan Drake, but Bell is the better running back. in a season where the New England Patriots haven’t looked like they’re going to dominant the AFC East the addition of Bell could make the Dolphins a contender.

Now like I said Bell would be a good fit for any of these teams and more interesting is the fact that it appears as it would just take a 3rd round pick to get him. Even if Bell turns out to be a rent a player for any team that acquires him giving up just a 3rd round pick to get him is well worth the risk.

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but don’t forget that the podcast is available for you to listen to ay time you want at TuneIn.com.

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your week

Posted: September 22, 2018 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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As I’m sure you know by now; the Cleveland Browns won a football game for the first time in over 600 plus days. Now not only did the Browns get win, but myself, Dan the Man and Mr. Fantasy start Week 3 off 1-0. Schaumburg Stu was the only won who picked the New York Jets; so he’s starting the week off 0-1.

With the Browns down 14-0 nd starting quarterback Tyrod Taylor out of the game with a concussion it was time for the #1 overall pick Baker Mayfield to make his NFL debut.

Mayfield led the Browns on two drives that ended in field goals to make it a 14-6 game. Mayfield almost threw the first touchdown pass of his career, but Jarvis Landry was brought down on the 1 yard line leaving it to Carols Hyde to pound it in to make it 14-12. The Browns decided to go to 2 and it was Landry and Mayfield involved in the play, but the other way around. Landry threw to a wide open Mayfield in the end zone to convert the 2-point conversion and tie the game at 14 all. The Jets turned around with their rookie quarterback Sam Darnold and kicked a field goal to take the lead back at 17-14. Now it was Mayfield’s turn again to try and see if he could lead the Browns down the field and to that first win. Now this is Cleveland; so I’m sure everyone was expecting them to find a way to lose the game, but not this time. Mayfield did lead the Browns down the field and again it was Hyde who scored on a 1 yard touchdown run to put Cleveland ahead 21-17. Now with 2:04 left in the game the question was; can Cleveland hold on? The Jets first comeback attempt ended when Joe Schobert picked off Darnold with 1:27 left to play. The Jets had all 3 of their timeouts left and with the Browns unable to generate a 1st down Darnold and the Jets where going to get one more chance to try and win the game with 56 seconds left. The Jets drive started with a 31 yard completion to former Browns wide receiver Terrelle Pryor for 31 yards, but after an incompletion the Jets where down to just 15 seconds. Darnold took a shot down the left hand side of the field for Robbie Anderson, but Terrance Mitchell intercepted the pass and sealed the win for the Browns.

Mayfield went 17 for 23 in the game for 201 yards. While he didn’t throw a touchdown pass he also didn’t throw any interception, but he was sacked 1 time. He also caught the pass to complete the Browns 2-point conversion.

The Browns are now 1-1-1 on the season, but could easily be 3-0. In Week 4 Cleveland travels west to face the Oakland Raiders and the question now is; do Mayfield be the starting quarterback for that game? I don’t think that anyone was surprised when Cleveland’s head coach Hue Jackson said he wouldn’t announce a starting quarterback until next week.

This is an interesting decision because if the Browns decide to go to Mayfield under center I think they have to stay with him as their starting quarterback for the rest of the season.

I’m also sure that you’ve heard the term in football that you don’t lose your job because of injury and to be fair Taylor has been solid at quarterback in his three starts. He’s 41 for 84 (48.8%) for 462 yards with 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. Taylor is also a very mobile quarterback as he’s ran the football 16 times for 125 yards (7.8 yards per carry) with 1 touchdown. Taylor is actually the Browns 2nd leading rusher.

Now Mayfield truly did look ready to take over the Browns quarterback job, but remember all the talk there was about Darnold after Week 1 when he looked so good against the Detroit Lions.

If you’re Hue Jackson what do you do? Are you starting Taylor or Mayfield in Week 4?

The Colorado Rockies went into a 3-game series with the Los Angeles Dodgers five days ago with a 1/2 game lead in the NL West. The Rockies left Los Angeles in 2nd place after the Dodgers swept them in that three game series to take a 1 1/2 lead in the division.

The Dodgers have won 7 of their last 9 games and with the sweep over the Rockies showed that they are the best team in the NL West, but will they win the division?

Now Colorado is 2-5 in their last 7 games, but did get a win last night against the struggling Arizona Diamondbacks.

The Rockies look to have the tougher schedule down the stretch. Colorado has two more game with Arizona before wrapping up the season at home against two NL East teams. They’ll host the Philadelphia Phillies for 4 games and then finish the season with 3 games against the Washington Nationals. All three team the Rockies will play have fallen out of their respective playoff races, but they’re still quality teams.

The Dodgers have 2 more games against the San Diego Padres; who they lost to last night 5-3. After the Padres series the Dodgers not only go on the road, but stay in the division. The head to Arizona for 3 games before they wrap up the season with 3 games against the San Francisco Giants. The Diamondbacks are the only team over .500 that the Dodgers will play, but you have to think that if those final 3 games against the Giants mean anything that San Francisco would want to do everything they can to knock their rival out of the playoffs.

Down the stretch; who do you got, the Dodgers or the Rockies?

The NL Central is set up the same way coming down the stretch. The Chicago Cubs have a 1 1/2 game lead over the Milwaukee Brewers. The Cubs are now dealing with an off the field distraction as their shortstop Addison Russell was placed on leave after allegations of abuse from his now ex-wife surfaced in a blog. How will the Cubs deal with the Russell situation and a pennant race?

It didn’t start off good for the Cubs as their crosstown rival the Chicago White Sox roughed them up 10-4, but the game wasn’t that close. The Cubs will close out the season with 2 more games against the White Sox. Then they’ll play their last 7 games at Wrigley field. The Pittsburgh Pirates visit for 4 games and then the season ends with a visit from the St. Louis Cardinals who might need those games to get into a wild card spot.

Milwaukee picked up some ground on the Cubs with an 8-3 win over the Pirates. The Brewers have 2 more games against the Pirates before they head to St. Louis for 3 games against the Cardinals. Milwaukee heads home to wrap up their season with 3 games against the Detroit Tigers.

Just like in the NL West; who are you going with to win the NL Central, the Cubs or the Brewers?

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but don’t forget that the podcast is also available for you to listen to whenever you want at TuneIn.com.

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @Burketime

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