Archive for the ‘post season’ Category

How was your week

Posted: August 22, 2020 by Sports Time Radio in basketball, hockey, post season, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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I know I’ve mentioned this here before, but in case you’re new to this blog I’ll go over it again. I’m not a fan of the style of play in today’s NBA. Now don’t get me wrong I enjoy a good highlight reel dunk like everyone else, but when it take that player four steps to do that dunk well then it’s something that should be in the dunk contest. I also don’t enjoy how there’s no movement on offense. Four players stand around at the 3-point line while the player with the basketball tries to drive to the hoop. If he is unsuccessful he kicks the basketball out to one of his teammates for a 3-pointer. It just makes the game boring for me. I’m not going to talk about defense because let’s face it they stopped playing defense a very long time ago in the NBA.

Now with all tat being said I was quite surprised when I heard that the television ratings are down as much as 7% in some cases. Now after NASCAR returned and did some really big ratings I thought with as long as we went with sports that when they came back the ratings would be through the roof, but apparently that’s not the case in the NBA. I was trying to think of reasons for this ratings drop and I think I have a couple of ideas.

When the NBA returned they played meaningless games. When the NBA came back I thought they’d go right into the playoffs, but instead they had some more regular season games. Unfortunately with the exception of who would be the 8th seed in the Western Conference everything else was pretty much decided. The odd regular season return ended up with just the Memphis Grizzlies and the Portland Trailblazers being the only two teams that had anything to play for, but there where 22 teams invited to play in the NBA bubble. I’m still not sure why the Washington Wizards where added to this regular season. I guess the NBA decided that they just couldn’t add all Western Conference teams, but the Wizards never had a shot at getting into the playoffs.

Another reason for the ratings being down piggybacks of my first reason. Since these games didn’t mean anything to the top teams the star players sat out. Load management is the word used in the NBA now, but it made perfect sense that players like LeBron James and Anthony Davis of the Los Angeles Lakers skipped games. Now James and Davis weren’t the only top players to skip games. Kawhi Leonard of the Los Angeles Clippers sat out as did Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks. To be fair though one of the games Antetokounmpo missed was because he was suspended for headbutting another player, but you see where I’m going here. Since the NBA really pushes their star players especially James; why would you watch a game if those players aren’t playing?

Another reason for the decline in ratings could be just the simple fact that it’s August and it’s normally the NBA off season. It might be tough for the average fan to watch an NBA game because they’re just not use to doing it this time of the year. I know it might seem like a weird reason, but there are fan that move from sport to sport and this time of year is looked at as baseball season with football right around the corner. Don’t forget that there are fans with children who might be playing other sports and they might not be around a television to watch an NBA game.

It also possible that the fans of those eight teams that where left out of the bubble format just stopped watching NBA games because their favorite team wasn’t playing. If you’re a fan of a certain team then there’s a good chance that you’re a fan of the NBA as a whole, but since you’re favorite team wasn’t playing there wasn’t a reason for these fans to have an interest in what was going on in the bubble. That leaves eight teams worth of fans not watching and I’d bet that they where much more interested in the draft lottery that happened this week over what’s going on in the  playoffs.

If you’re the networks covering these game; ESPN and TNT there has to be some concern especially at ESPN since they paid the most to get the rights to televise these games. Now there is a chance as the playoffs continue on that fans will more interested as the match ups get better. NBA fans know that it’s almost impossible for a 8th seed to beat the #1 seed or a 7th seeded team to beat that 2nd seeded team, but as the top seeds move on to face better teams it might spark some more interest in fans. You’d have to think that fans would want to see a Lakers/Clippers match up in the Western Conference finals. Of course over in the Eastern Conference Milwaukee seemed like the best team; so will fans have any interest in a rematch of last years Eastern Conference finals if we get the Bucks against the Toronto Raptors or might they be more inclined to watch the Bucks against the Boston Celtics.

I guess we won’t have the answers to this until the playoffs move forward. I am interested to know why you think the NBA ratings are down. I’d also like to know if you’re watching NBA games.

Happily for the NHL they are on the opposite end of the television ratings game. NHL games are actually slightly up ratings wise in the United States while in Canada they have put up excellent numbers. There where reports that in times in Canada there have been between five and seven million people watching the NHL. Of course hockey was invented in Canada and I’m sure if you’re a fan of the NHL you’ve heard the term that we’re just borrowing the game here.

What do you think the reason for the increase in NHL ratings is? Do you think it helps that both of the NHL’s bubble set ups are in Canada? Please let me know what you think in the comment section.

Don’t forget to listen to Sports Time Radio live Monday thru Friday on BlogTalkRadio.com, but if you do miss out on the live version of the podcast just head on over to TuneIn.com and you can listen to it any time you want to.

Also feel free to look me up on Twitter @Burketime

 

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How was your week

Posted: March 14, 2020 by Sports Time Radio in College Basketball, football, post season, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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I’ve been watching sports for a long time and this is the first time I can remember that everything is completely shutdown. There’s been a few times that a game has been postponed do to a non-weather event, but nothing like this. I guess to be fair not every sport is shutdown. In the warmer weather areas the horse racing season has started and while they’re not allowing spectators in to watch the races you can still bet and watch them online or there’s actually a channel on most cable system that shows horse races from around the United States.

What I found strange was how quickly some of the people who talk about sports on television jumped allover the NCAA. These people believed that the NCAA wouldn’t cancel the men’s basketball tournament. They called them greedy and talked about how they really don’t care about the players. Now as we now know the NCAA not only canceled the men’s basketball tournament, but the woman’s basketball tournament was also canceled. I believe that every conference basketball tournament was canceled as well. So it appears that the NCAA did the right thing in this situation and yet I still haven’t heard the people who just destroyed them on television acknowledge this.

I’m not saying that the NCAA is a great organization, but under these circumstances they seem to have made the correct call and I believe they’re owed an apology. Now I know that’s never going to happen, but it should.

It was odd how quickly these television sports commentators attacked the NCAA for talking about holding games with limited people allowed into the building. At the time the NCAA talked about doing that the PGA and NASCAR where both going to continue their events this week under the same guidelines, but neither of them got a mention from the people who dumped all over the NCAA. I get that it’s very, very clear that these certain sports personalities don’t like the NCAA and I can see that there are reason for this, but they put the cart way before the horse here and they ended up looking incredibly stupid. Of course I may have been the only one paying attention to that.

Luckily we have the NFL still moving along as it’s their off season and they can do business that doesn’t require fans to attend anything or even people to have contact if they choose not to.

Yesterday there where four players give the franchise tag by their teams and there were also a number of bigger names cut to try to make salary cap room for teams.

Let’s start with the franchise tags.

The Baltimore Ravens used a franchise tag on linebacker Matt Judon. He was the Ravens leader in sacks last season with 9 1/2 which was also a career high. Judon is coming off what some people have called his best season.

The Denver Broncos used their franchise tag on free safety Justin Simmons. He led Denver in interceptions with 4 which was also a career high and he was second on the team in tackles with 93.

Now we knew this franchise tag was coming, but the Jacksonville Jaquars made it official and tagged Yannick Ngakoue. He was second on the team in sacks with 8 and he also added an interceptions which he returned for a touchdown.

Ngakoue has made it clear that he doesn’t want to stay with Jacksonville; so will have to see if this could turn into a hold out.

The final franchise tag used yesterday was by the Los Angeles Chargers. The Chargers franchise tagged tight end Hunter Henry. He has always been looked at as someone who would develop into a top receiving tight end, but injuries have limited him.

Henry has never played 16 games in a season and missed all of 2018 with an injury. Last season in 12 games Henry caught 55 passes and scored 5 touchdowns.

With NFL free agency getting ready to start next week teams are looking to make salary cap room; so not only along with tagging players cuts where made to try to get those teams in position to either try to resign their own free agents or to pursue new ones.

You probably have heard of some of the players that have been cut the last couple of days.

The Cincinnati Bengals cut offensive tackle Cordy Glenn. He played in 6 games for the Bengals last season staring 5 of those.

The Chargers not only used their franchise tag, but they also cut linebacker Thomas Davis and defensive tackle Brandon Mebane.

Last season was Davis’ first with the Chargers, but his 14th in the NFL. He started all 16 games for Los Angeles last season. He had 112 tackles and 1 interception last season. Mebane missed three games last season with an injury, but he started the other 13. He had 27 tackles and a sack last season.

The Minnesota Vikings cut defensive back Xavier Rhodes and defensive tackle Linal Joseph.

Rhodes was a 1st round pick of the Vikings on 2013. He made three Pro Bowls while with Mnnesota and played in 104 games starting 97. He has 10 career interceptions, but didn’t record one last season. Rhodes did post a career high 63 tackles last season.

Last season was Joseph’s 10th in the NFL; the last six being with the Vikings. He recorded 3 sacks, 44 tackles and 6 tackles for loss and he also recovered a fumble. Joseph played in and started 13 games for Minnesota last season.

The Tennessee Titans made a four cuts the last two days of players who’s names you should know. Running back Dion Lewis, tight end Delanie Walker, defensive end Cameron Wake and kicker Ryan Succop where all released by the Titans as they try to clear salary cap space.

Lewis spent two seasons with the Titans and played in every game while with them. Last season with the emergence of Derrick Henry Lewis’s touches where way down. He had 54 carries for 209 yards and caught 25 passes for 164 yards and 1 touchdown.

Walker has spent the better part of the last two season injured. In 2018 he played in just 1 game and last season he played in 7 games starting 4 of them. Walker caught 221 passes for 215 yards and 2 touchdowns 14th NFL season.

Wake was signed by the Titans as a free agent last off season after spending 10 years with the Miami Dolphins. It was hoped that Wake would add pass rush to the Tennessee defense, but injuries limited him to 9 games and he recorded just 2 1/2 sacks. He did record a safety last season.

Last season was Succop’s 6th with Tennessee after spending 4 years with the Kansas City Chiefs. Succop missed 10 games with an injury and made only 1 of the 6 field goals he attempted last season.

The Green Bay Packers decided to part ways with tight end Jimmy Graham. He was with Green Bay for two seasons and last season he caught 38 passes for 447 yards and 3 touchdowns. Graham has played 10 seasons in the NFL, but he has yet to find the success he had with the New Orleans Saints at the beginning of his career.

Now these where just the cuts that where made in the last couple of days. I’m sure that there where more cuts made before this, but I didn’t want to search the entire waiver wire; so I went with the most recent ones. I hope that acceptable to you.

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

If you’re interested you can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your week

Posted: January 18, 2020 by Sports Time Radio in football, post season, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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It’s conference championship weekend in the NFL. After tomorrow’s games will know who will be facing each other in the Super Bowl.

The first game tomorrow has a kickoff time of 2:05 p.m. as the Kansas City Chiefs are hosting the Tennessee Titans.

I’m guessing that if you’re not a fan of the Chiefs you haven’t jumped on their bandwagon and you’re rooting for the upstart Titans. No one was expecting the Titans to be here, but they’ve got here by running the football and running the football well. Derrick Henry has carried the football 64 time this post season for 377 yards. Henry is averaging just under 6 yards a carry. Henry has 234 yards more than the next closest playoff rusher. Now even though Henry has racked up all these rushing yards here has scored just one rushing touchdown and it might be a bit odd that he has just as many passing touchdowns. Kansas City gave up 94 yards in their one playoff game and you have to wonder if they have an answer on defense for Henry.

The Chiefs are coming off of a game where they found themselves down 24-0 before they knew what happened. Now for a lot of teams tat would’ve been it and their playoff run would be over, but not for an offense like the Chiefs. Kansas City ran up 51 points in the final 3 quarters of the game and ended up cruising to a 51-31 victory. I’m not sure if the Titans have the type of offense that could score 24 points in a quarter without quite a bit of help from the Chiefs. Patrick Mahomes threw for 321 yards and 5 touchdowns in the Chiefs comeback last week and Mahomes will probably be the key for the Chiefs tomorrow as well. Damien Williams had 2 rushing touchdowns last week, but ran for just 47 yards. Of course as quickly as the Chiefs got down they had to go away from the run. The running game hasn’t been the Chiefs strength; so it will be interesting to see how they use it against Tennessee.

This is a rematch of a Week 10 game that the Titans won 35-32. With Tennessee down 32-27 Ryan Tannehill connected with Adam Humphries on a 23 yard touchdown. Tannehill also converted the 2-point conversion to get the game to it’s final score of 35-32. This was Mahomes first game back from injury and he went 36 of 50 for 446 yards and 3 touchdowns. Henry also found success as he carried the football 23 times for 188 yards and 2 touchdowns. Can both these players repeat performances like this?

The second game on Sunday features the top two seeds facing off against one another as the San Francisco 49ers host the Green Bay Packers. This game has a scheduled kickoff tie of 5:40 p.m.

The Packers got out to a 21-3 lead on their way to beating the Seattle Seahawks last week 28-23. the score looks much closer than the game itself actually way.

Aaron Rodgers was solid going 16 of 27 for 243 yards and 2 touchdowns. What Rodgers did was avoid sacks and keep plays alive and while he ran 5 times for just 14 yards he was only sacked 2 times. Rodgers did establish his favorite receiver Davante Adams who had 8 receptions for 160 yards and 2 touchdowns. No other Packers receiver had more than 49 receiving yards. It’s the other Aaron; Jones that will make or break the Packers offense. Jones had 21 carries for 62 yards and 2 touchdowns against Seattle and on the season had 16 rushing touchdowns. Jones may be an even bigger factor against the 49ers as they have the ability to get to Rodgers and Richard Sherman will do his best to take away Adams in the passing game; so if Jones can find success running the football it will make a huge difference in this game.

San Francisco advanced to the conference championship with a 27-10 win over the Minnesota Vikings. Even though San Francisco had an easier time than expected beating the Vikings there have to be some questions about Jimmy Garoppolo. The 49ers running game needed to carry them against the Vikings and it did as Garoppolo went 11 of 19 for 131 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception. Garoppolo looked like a quarterback making his first playoff start, but luckily for San Francisco their running game was great. The 49ers ran the football 47 times for 186 yards and 2 touchdowns. I this game it was Tevin Coleman leading the way with 22 carries, 105 yards and 2 touchdowns while Raheem Mostert kicked in 12 carries and 58 yards. Add in Matt Breida and the 49ers have a three headed backfield monster that Green Bay will have to find a way to deal with. The 49ers will rely on their defense to harass Rodgers, but they’re going to need Garoppolo to play better than he did against Minnesota for them to get another win.

This game just so happens to be a rematch as well. In Week 12 the Packers made a trip to Levi’s stadium and got blown out by the 49ers 37-8. It was the 49ers defense that came through in that game as they held Rodgers to just 104 passing yards and sacked him 5 times. Will have to see if the Packers have made some adjusts for this game. If they haven’t will we see another San Francisco blow out?

As for last week Schaumburg Stu hit on three of his four picks. The only game he lost was the Baltimore Ravens/ Tennessee Titans game. Like the majority of people Stu had Baltimore winning that game. As four this week Stu likes the Chiefs to beat the Titans in the AFC championship game, but over in the NFC championship game Stu sees an upset as he has the Packers beating the 49ers.

Do you agree with Stu’s picks? Feel free to let me know how you think will advance to the Super Bowl. Just leave your picks in the comment section.

If you’d like join us Monday thru Friday for the Sports Time Radio podcast. We broadcast live over on BlogTalkRadio.com, but if you can’t catch the podcast live and you’re still interested in listening head on over to TuneIn.com and you can listen whenever you want to.

You can also look me up on Twitter @Burketime

How was your week

Posted: January 11, 2020 by Sports Time Radio in football, NFL picks, post season, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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Today starts the divisional round of the NFL playoffs and just like last weekend there will be two games on Saturday and then two games on Sunday. Let’s see who plays when and where.

The Minnesota Vikings are at the San Francisco 49ers and it has a scheduled kickoff time of 3:35 p.m.

Minnesota is coming off of an upset of the New Orleans Saints in the wild card round while the 49ers are the #1 seed in the NFC and have been able to try and get healthy with their week off. This game has a chance to be a big of a slugfest as it seems as tough both teams will try to establish their running game. The biggest issue for the Vikings maybe be the health of their wide receivers. Stephon Diggs missed some practices during the week and Adam Thielen had stiches in his ankle. Both are expected to play today. Now San Francisco may be on the opposite end of the injury situation. The 49ers are expecting linebacker Kwon Alexander and defensive end Dee Ford returning. Of course will look to see how Jimmy Garappolo he does in his first playoffs start.

This should be a good game to start off the divisional round and will have to see if the close run of playoff games continues.

The second Saturday game also has the #1 seed playing as the AFC’s #1 seed the Baltimore Ravens host the Tennessee Titans. This game has a scheduled kickoff time of 7:15 p.m.

There where a lot of people on the Tennessee bandwagon last week as they went into Foxboro and beat the New England Patriots. It doesn’t seem as though as many people believe the Titans will be able to pull off the upset this week against the Ravens, but they do have the NFL’s leading rusher Derrick Henry to try to pull it off. Mark Ingram is dealing with a calf injury that has limited him in practice, but he is expected to play. If Ingram is limited in what he can do look for Gus Edwards to pick up his carries. Of course the Ravens are going to go as Lamar Jackson goes. Jackson has looked like a completely different player than the quarterback that started for Baltimore in the playoffs last season, but it may take him a series or two to settle into the flow of the game.

Now I haven’t heard anyone go out on a limb and take Tennessee to win this game and I can’t say I’m surprised by that. Do you think the Titans have a chance tonight?

We move into the Sunday games with the Houston Texans at the Kansas City Chiefs. This game has a scheduled 2:05 p.m. kickoff time.

Back in Week 6 of the regular season the Texans went into Arrowhead and beat the Chiefs 31-24. It’s difficult to judge how much weight to give that won, but it should give the Texans some type of confidence coning into this game. What should also help Houston’s confidence is the return of wide receiver Will Fuller. All signs are pointing to Fuller playing in this game, but it’s going to be a game time decision. What could also have a big affect on this game is the health of Travis Kelce. A sore knee has kept Kelce out of practice this week and while it appears that he will play you have to wonder how much of an affect this injury will have on his performance. Kelce was the Chiefs leader in receptions with 97 and yards with 1229.

This is another game where I haven’t seen anyone say the Texans can repeat what they did in Week 6. Do you give Houston a chance to upset Kansas City?

The divisional round of the playoffs wraps up with the Green Bay Packers hosting the Seattle Seahawks. This game is schedule to kickoff at 5:40 p.m.

Will have to see if the weather has any thing to do with how this game goes. There’s a big storm system that has a chance of dropping a foot of snow in and around Lambeau Field. The Packers have actually asked for volunteers to come out and help shovel the snow at Lambeau Field. We won’t know if weather will play a part in this game until game time, but it could be something that the teams will have to deal with. Both quarterbacks Russell Wilson and Aaron Rodgers have a similar skill set; so I don’t think the weather will have any affect on how they play. The key to this game may be if and how effectively Seattle can run the football. While the Packers will have to keep a clean pocket for Rodgers to work out of.

This is another game that looks like it might be close. Can Seattle pull off a playoff upset? Or will the Packers hold serve on their home field?

Yesterday on the Sports Time Radio podcast Schaumburg Stu made his picks for these games. Now Stu went 2-2 in the wild card round and here’s what he has for this weekend. Stu likes San Francisco to beat Minnesota on Saturday. In the other Saturday game Stu has Baltimore beating Tennessee. Kicking off Sunday Stu likes the Kansas City to beat Houston. In the final game of the divisional round Stu is taking Green Bay to beat Seattle.

In case you didn’t notice Stu selected all the home teams to win this weekend and he also took all of the favorites to win. Do you agree with Stu? Or do you have one of the road underdogs finding a way to pull off an upset?

There was a lot of talk about the hit Jadeveon Clowney put on Carson Wentz that eventually knocked Wentz out of last weeks games. Clowney came down on Wentz’s upper back and then made helmet to helmet contact as they where going to the ground. There was no penalty on the play as Wentz was ruled a runner and wasn’t giving himself up by the referees. After seeing it in slow motion there where quite a few people who thought it was a dirt hit, but apparently the NFL didn’t see it that way as Clowney was not fined for the hit.

“It was a bang-bang play,” Clowney said. “I don’t intend to hurt anybody in this league, let me just put that out there. I’ve been down the injury road; it’s not fun. My intention was not to hurt him. I was just playing fast.”

Do you think the referees for Sunday’s game will watch Clowney more closely than normal?

I mentioned the Sports Time Radio podcast a little earlier, but in case you don’t know you can listen to the podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but if you miss the podcast you can just head on over to TuneIn.com and you can listen any time you want.

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @Burketime

 

 

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: January 8, 2020 by Sports Time Radio in football, NFL picks, post season, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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I get the impression that there weren’t as many NFL head coaching openings as the pundits thought there would be. It actually started during the regular season when the Carolina Panthers and the Washington Redskins parted ways with their head coaches. At the end of the regular season the New York Giants and the Cleveland Browns decided they’d ne making a change at the head coaching position as well. Then finally this week the Dallas Cowboys finally made their decision on Jason Garrett, but they used the term “moving on” instead of firing.

Interestingly it didn’t take very long for four of these five teams to find new head coaches. The Redskins quickly made a move and hired Ron Rivera who was just let go by Carolina. Then even though Dallas was the last of these teams to decide to change head coaches it didn’t take them long to hire a new one. The Cowboys interviewed just two head coaching candidates and they decided that Mike McCarthy the former Green Bay Packers head coach would be their new head coach. Then yesterday the Panthers and the Giants made their choices for head coach. Carolina was the only team so far to reach into the college ranks for their new head coach as they hired Matt Rhule away from the University of Baylor. The Giants made what has the be the hiring that surprised most people as they went with Joe Judge who was the New England Patriots Wide Receiver/Special Teams coach. So we’re just waiting for Cleveland to hire a new head coach and they’ve said they’d like to have someone in place by Saturday.

Coming into the off season it looked like Cleveland was the best of the open positions with Dallas not far behind; so it’s a bit of a surprise that Cleveland is the only team in the NFL without a head coach. There have been a lot of names banded about and it doesn’t seem like there’s a front runner for the job right now. Who do you think the Browns will end up hiring as their new head coach?

The other interesting thing we might see in the NFL when free agency starts is who might be available. It’s actually possible that Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Philip Rivers could all be on the open market.

Tom Brady is 42 years old and is coming off what may have been the worse year of his career. Now it did come out yesterday that Brady was dealing with foot and elbow injuries; so you have to wonder how much those injuries had to do with his down year. Patriots owner Bob Kraft has already come out and said that they’re interested in bringing Brady back. Remember with the way Brady’s contract was structured the Patriots can’t use the franchise or transition tags on him. It would be weird to see Brady in another uniform besides the Patriots, but it looks like that may actually happen.

Drew Brees will turn 41 years old in a week. He set the record for most passing yards in a career this season, but there have been some questions lately about his arm strength. Brees averaged 7.9 yards per passing attempt and while that down a little from his last two seasons it’s actually better than his career average. If the Saints can’t workout a new deal with Brees they could use either a franchise or transition tag on him if they do want to keep him. Even though Brees did start his career with the San Diego Chargers; he’s a Saint and like Brady it would be odd to see him in another uniform.

Philip Rivers just turned 38 years old last month and not only are we waiting to see if the now Los Angeles Chargers have any interest in bringing him back, but if Rivers is interested in continuing to play in the NFL. Rivers has thrown for 4200 or more yards in each of the last seven seasons, but this season he only threw three more touchdowns 23 than interceptions 20. Rivers has played in and started all 16 games for the Chargers since 2006 and someone else under center for the Chargers would look strange. Out of these three veteran quarterbacks Rivers seems to be the only one who’s team isn’t sure if they’d like him back.

If these three quarterbacks do change teams; where would they go? Would one of the teams that are going to be drafting a quarterback be interested in bringing one of these quarterbacks in to mentor their rookie quarterback? How many teams that have quarterbacks would be willing to bring in one of these guys and give them the starting quarterback job over the guy they have? There should be a couple of teams that have an opening at the quarterback position and you’d have to think that if they think there in a position to win they’d be interested in one of these three quarterbacks.

Where do you think these three veteran and probably Hall of Fame quarterbacks end up? Do they all end up back with their teams? Or is it at all possible that one or more of them could be wearing a different jersey next season? Whatever happens with these three quarterbacks it will add some intrigue to NFL free agency when it starts.

As far as Schaumburg Stu’s picks went for wild card weekend. Well he ended up spitting his picks going 2-2. On Saturday he correctly picked the Houston Texans, but he also had the New England Patriots on Saturday. His Sunday didn’t start well as he had the New Orleans Saints, but he got his record back to .500 by picking the Seattle Seahawks in late Sunday game. On this Friday’s edition of Sports Time Radio Stu will make his picks for the divisional round.

Speaking of Sports Time Radio you can listen to it live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but if you miss it live just head over to TuneIn.com and you can listen when you want to.

You can also follow me on Twitter @Burketime

 

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: October 30, 2019 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, post season, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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Even after a controversial call the Washington Nationals where able to pick up a 7-2 win over the Houston Astros in a must win Game 6 for them. Of course with the win the Nationals force what a lot of people think is the best thing in sports a winner take all Game 7 tonight.

The Nationals took a quick 1-0 lead in the top of the 1st. Trea Turner led off the game with an infield single and was moved up to 2nd base on an Adam Eaton sacrifice bunt. Anthony Rendon single to centerfield to drive to drive Turner home and give the Astros an early lead.

The Astros came right back in the bottom of the 1st inning and put up 2 runs of their own.

George Springer started the inning with a double and moved up to 3rd on a Steven Strasburg wild pitch. Jose Altuve drove him home with sacrifice fly to leftfield. After a strikeout for the second out of the inning Alex Bregman homered to leftfield to give the Astros a 2-0 lead.

At the time no one knew that these would be the only 2 runs that the Astros would score in the game as Strasburg held them in check. Justin Verlander was able to keep the Nationals bats silent until the top of the 5th.

With one out Eaton homered down the rightfield line to tie the game at 2-2. Verlender recorded a second out before Juan Soto touched him for another solo home run to rightfield giving the Astros a 3-2 lead.

Brad Peacock entered the game for the Astros and worked a 1,2,3 6th inning. Peacock started the 7th inning and gave up a single to Yan Gomes. Turner then hit a soft ground ball back to the mound, but the throw carried Houston’s 1st baseman Yuli Gurriel into the baseline and while it didn’t appear that Turner had ventured out of his running lane he was called out for batter interference and Gomes was sent back to 1st base. There was  long delay as the play was reviewed; so the Astros made a pitching change as Will Harris came in from the bullpen. Harris got the first batter he faced out, but Rendon hit his a home run to leftfield to give the Nationals a 5-2 lead.

Chris Devenski came out of the bullpen to start the 9th inning for the Astros and quickly got two outs. Turner doubled and then Eaton was hit by a pitch. Rendon was up next and sure enough he came through and drove Turner and Eaton in with a double to rightfield. That made it 7-2 heading into the bottom of the 9th.

Strasburg actually came out to start the bottom of the 9th for the Nationals, but after getting the first batter out on a line drive back to him he was removed from the game for Sean Doolittle. After getting the first batter he faced on a line out to leftfield. Carlos Correa doubled to keep any hope Astros fans had alive, but they didn’t last long. Doolittle got Robinson Chrinos to pop out to 2nd base for the final out of the game.

While Rendon was clearly Washington’s hero at the plate going 3 for 4 with a double a home run and 5 RBI’s. Strasburg was clearly a huge factor on the mound. He pitched 8 1/3rd innings giving up 2 runs on 5 hits while walking 2 and striking out 7. Strasburg threw 104 pitches and improved his record to 2-0 in this World Series.

Verlander was solid for the Astros in his start. He pitched 5 innings, but it took him 93 pitches to get through those 5 innings. He gave up 3 runs on 5 hits while walking 3 and striking out 3. When Verlander exited the game the Astros where only down one run at 3-2. Ryan Pressly was the only Houston reliever who didn’t give up a run. Peacock gave up a run in his 1 1/3rd inning, Harris gave up a run in his 2/3rds of an inning and Devenski gave up 2 runs in his inning of work.

So we’ve got Game 7 tonight in Houston. Before this series many people might’ve thought that Houston have home field advantage was a good thing, but for the first time in any playoff series the road team has won every game. Now when I said any series it includes all the sports that play seven game series. It’s an unbelievable to think about how many times you’ve heard an announcer say that a team is playing for a win to help secure home field advantage only to have this happen. Can the Astros break this odd road team winning streak tonight? and capture the World Series title or do the Nationals have one more road win stored up for tonight’s game?

You’d have to guess that there won’t be any major changes in either teams batting order; so the only real difference to look at is who’s starting on the mound.

Max Scherzer gets the start for the Nationals tonight. Scherzer was scratched from his start in Game 4 with a stiff neck. Scherzer has pitched in 5 post season games starting 4 of them. He’s thrown 25 innings and is 3-0 with a 2.16 ERA. Scherzer got the win in Game 1 of this series throwing 5 innings giving up 2 runs on 5 hits while striking out 7 and walking 3.

The Astros will turn to Zack Greinke to start Game 7 for them. Greinke got a no-decision in his only World Series start. He lasted just 4 2/3rd innings. He gave up 1 run on 7 hits while walking 3 and striking out 6. Greinke is 0-2 in his 4 post season starts and has an ERA of 5.30 over a span of 18 2/3rd innings. Greinke has struck out 22 hitters while walking 5 this post season.

Looking at the starting pithing match up you’d think that the Nationals have a big advantage, but you never know. Greinke has made 15 career post season starts; so he has experience and he is a former Cy Young award winner. Scherzer has actually made 21 post season appearances with 17 of those being starts and he is a multiple time Cy Young award winner.

Well it’s down to one game and as they say all hands are on deck. So who do you have winning tonight? I have to stick with the Astros since they where my pick to win it all when we made are pre-season predictions.

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but if you happen to miss the podcast live just head on over to TuneIn.com and you can listen to the podcast any time you want.

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @Burketime

How was your week

Posted: October 19, 2019 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, post season, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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The New York Yankees picked up a 4-1 win over the Houston Astros in Game 5 of the American League Championship series last night. The win by the Yankees allows the series to continue, but they are still just won game away from elimination. The Astros hold a three games to two lead in the series.

Game 5 saw the Yankees send out James Paxson as their starting pitcher while the Astros countered with Justin Verlander. Both of these pitchers started game 2 of this series, but neither was around for the decision as the Astros on that game 3-2 in 11 innings. Paxson was looking to bounce back from an outing where he lasted 2 1/3rd innings. Verlander was solid in Game 2 going 6 2/3rds for Houston.

Game 5 played out a little differently for these two pitchers and it can only be described as odd or maybe weird, but definitely different.

George Springer led off the game with a single. Springer advanced to 2nd base in what was ruled a passed ball on Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez. Jose Altuve grounded out for the first out of the inning with Springer moving over to 3rd base. Michael Brantley drew a walk to out runners on 1st and 3rd for Alex Bregman. The first pitch that Paxson threw to Bregman went to the backstop as a wild pitch allowing Springer to score giving the Astros a 1-0 lead; Brantley to move up to 2nd base. Bregman ended up lining out to leftfield. Yuli Gurriel made the final out of the inning for the Astros by lining out to centerfield; so the Astros took that 1-0 lead into the bottom of the 1st inning.

Houston’s lead didn’t last long as D.J. LeMahieu hit the second pitch he saw from Verlander into the rightfield bleacher to tie the game at 1-1. Aaron Judge followed tat with a single and after a Gleybar Torres double the Yankees had 2nd and 3rd with just o outs. Giancarlo Stanton was returning to the Yankees line up and battling a quad strain; he struck out for the 1st out of the inning. Aaron Hicks was up next for the Yankees. Hicks had also just recently returned from injury. Hicks after two quick strikes Hicks managed to work the count full. He then hit the 6th pitch of his at bat which was a hanging slider from Verlander off the rightfield foul pole for a three-run home run to give the Yankees a 4-1 lead. Gary Sanchez struck out and Didi Gregorius popped out to end the inning.

I’m sure after reading this you’ve realized that the score was 4-1 after the 1st inning and that the final score of the game was 4-1. Yes you are correct about that. It was the first time in post season history that both teams have scored in the 1st inning and then failed to score again in the game.

Both pitchers settled down after that 1st inning and Verlander actually only gave up one more hit in the game, but still took the loss. Verlander ending up pitching 7 innings. He gave up 4 runs on 5 hits while he struck out 9 throwing 105 pitches. Paxson greatly improved on his Game 2 start as he pitched 6 innings giving up just the 1 run on 4 hits while walking 4 and striking out 9 in getting the win. Paxton’s pitch count ended up at 112 pitches.

After Paxson Tommy Kahnle pitched 1/3rd of an inning allowing a hit and a walk. Zach Britton was next out of the Yankees bullpen. Britton went 1 2/3rds striking out 2 batters before giving way to the Yankees Closer Arlodis Chapman who picked up the save pitching the final inning of the game. Chaman threw just 9 pitches 7 of which where strikes and recorded 1 strikeout as he recorded the save.

The Astros just needed one pitcher out of their bullpen. Brad Peacock came into the game to pitch a 1,2,3 bottom of the 8th. Peacock recorded 1 strikeout in his inning of work.

With the rain out earlier in the week both teams will have to fly to Houston and get ready for Game 6 tonight. With the Game 4 rain out you would’ve thought we would see a rematch of Game 3 starting pitchers which was Gerrit Cole for the Astros and Luis Severino for the Yankees, but it doesn’t appear that’s what we’re going to get.

Neither team has said who will be making the start for them; so we still make get that Cole/Severino rematch, but there are multiple report that both teas are considering making Game 6 a bullpen game. I believe that both Cole and Severino would be on regular rest, but there was also talk of these two teams making Game 4 of the series a bullpen game; so maybe will see that tonight.

The Astros bullpen has thrown 15 inning so far this series while the Yankees bullpen has thrown 23 1/3rd innings this series. The Astros have Wade Miley in their bullpen who hasn’t pitched in this series, but the Yankees could counter that with J.A. Happ who’s only worked 2/3rds of an inning in the series. Miley and Happ have started games in the post season and they would give their teams a chance to get multiple innings out of a pitcher without trying to stretch them out. You have to wonder if the Yankees hadn’t lost C.C. Sabathia to injury in Game 4 of this series if he would’ve been able to give them multiple innings and helped in this game.

Sabathia dislocated his shoulder and was replaced on the Yankees ALCS roster, Sadly that move means that if the Yankees manage to comeback and win this series Sabathia if healthy would not be eligible to pitch in the World Series. It looks like this injury has end the future Hall of Famers career. Sabathia announced that 2019 would be his last season.

So what do you see happening tonight? With Houston returning home; do they close out the series tonight? Or do the Yankees have enough in them to turn this into a 7 game series? I guess will get those answers tonight.

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live 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.

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: October 16, 2019 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, football, post season, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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On this past Friday edition of the Sports Time Radio podcast I said that I thought the St. Louis Cardinals needed to win Game 1 of their National League Championship Series against the Washington Nationals. I felt that if the Cardinals didn’t win Game 1 there would be a very good chance that they’d get swept.

Well Game 1 ended up being won by the Nationals 2-0 and the rest of the series went as I said and with last nights 7-4 Washington victory the Cardinals where swept out of the playoffs.

There’s an old baseball adage that says good pitching will beat good hitting and the Nationals used very good pitching to lock down their first ever trip to the World Series.

Patrick Corbin made the starts for the Nationals last night and while he wasn’t as dominant as the other Washington starters where in this series he got the job done. Corbin pitched 5 innings giving 4 runs on 4 hits while walking 3 and striking out 12. Even though Corbin gave up those 4 runs the Nationals had already posted the 7 runs they needed to win this game.

Washington scored all of there runs in the first inning off of Cardinals starter Dakota Hudson. Officially Hudson pitched just 1/3rd of an inning. He was charged with 7 runs; 4 of which where earned on 5 hits and 1 walk.

As the Nationals head to their first World Series a major contributor to their offense was 36 year old veteran Howie Kendrick who was name MVP of the NLCS. Kendrick is in his 14th season, but just like the Nationals he’ll be making his first trip to the World Series. Kendrick went 5 for 15 in the series against the Cardinals with 4 doubles and 4 RBI’s. Kendrick’s big game was Game 3 when he went 3 of 4 with 3 RBI’s. All 3 of Kendrick’s hits in that game where doubles. Kendrick became the fourth player in LCS history to have three doubles in a game.

With the Nationals locked into a World Series spot the question becomes; who will they play?

Last night the Houston Astros took a two games to one lead on the New York Yankees with a 4-1 win in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series.

Gerrit Cole made the start for the Astros and while he wasn’t as dominating as he was against the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Division Series; he made it through 7 innings without giving up any runs. Cole threw 112 pitches in his seven inning outing. He gave up 4 hits while walking 5 and striking out 7. Cole picked up the win for the Astros.

Luis Severino made the start for the Yankees and pitched 4 2/3rds innings. Severino gave up 2 runs on 5 hits while walking 3 and striking out 6. Severino ended up throwing 97 pitches in his outing.

Both starters had to sit through a 16 minute delay as there was a change in home plate umpires.

Jeff Nelson was behind the plate for Game 3, but after getting hit by a foul tip off the bat of Yuli Gurriel in the 3rd inning and then in the 4th inning another foul tip this time off the bat of Martin Maldonado caught Nelson; he exited the game after the 4th inning with a concussion.

Houston was leading 2-0 when the delay occurred as Kerwin Danely who was umpiring at 2nd base went back to the umpires locker room to change into his gear to work behind home plate.

Mark Carlson went from 3rd base to 2nd base while Marvin Hudson came in from leftfield to umpire 3rd base. There are 6-man umpiring crews in the post season instead of the 4-man crews that work regular season games. The two extra umpires are positioned down the left and right field lines.

Since there was a delay and it was the Yankees that where in the field Severino was given additional time to warm up.

Game 4 is scheduled to be played tonight in New York, but there has been a lot of talk about what the weather will be like tonight as there is rain in the forecast. If the game does end up being rained out tonight it would just be pushed back one day to tomorrow and it would eliminate the off day the teams would have.

I’m not sure if this is because of the weather or if the teams have or had another season for doing it, but either team has announced their starter for Game 4. I guess if it is played tonight will have to wait and see who each team goes with.

There aren’t a ton of trades made in the NFL during the regular season. It’s not only tough to switch teams, but then you have to learn a new playbook as well as everything else that goes along with being traded. Even with all of this in mind it didn’t stop the Los Angeles Rams from making three deals yesterday.

The Rams started there trading frenzy by dealing their top cornerback Marcus Peters to the Baltimore Ravens. In return for Peters the Rams received linebacker Kenny Young and an undisclosed draft pick which is believed to be a 5th rounder.

After dealing away one cornerback the Rams went out and acquired another cornerback. The Rams sent a 1st round pick in 2020, a 1st round pick in 2021 and a 4th round pick in 2021 for Jalen Ramsey.

Ramsey has been disgruntled as a member of the Jacksonville Jaquars and hasn’t played since Week 3. He had been demanding a trade, but Jacksonville’s owner Shahid Kahn had been hoping to work thing out with Ramsey and get him to say. Reports say that Khan had a heart to heart with Ramsey yesterday and after that meeting Khan agreed to trading Ramsey and now he’s with the Rams.

In their final deal of the day the Rams added some offensive line depth acquiring Austin Corbett from the Cleveland Browns for and undisclosed 2021 draft pick. Corbett has played in three games for the Browns this season mostly on special teams.

If Peters and Ramsey can get up to speed expect both of them to either be I the starting line up or play a significant amount of snaps for their new teams.

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but if you miss the podcast live all you have to do is head over to TuneIn.com and you can listen at your leisure.

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @Burketime

 

How was your week

Posted: October 12, 2019 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, post season, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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Did you have Anibal Sanchez throwing 7 2/3d no-hit innings and leading the Washington Nationals to a 2-0 win in Game  of the National League Championship Series. If you where predicting or expecting this type of outing from Sanchez you’re better at picking baseball than I am. I actually questioned the choice of starting Sanchez last night, but it was clear the Nationals and their manager Dave Martinez knew what they had in the veteran starter.

There always seem to be certain things that you need in a no-hitter and it seemed like Sanchez had those going for him last night. Sanchez had good command of his fastball and even though he’s not a hard thrower get strikes and outs with the fastball is important. Sanchez also had all of his off speed pitches working for him. The only thing that seemed to be missing was a great defensive play. Ryan Zimmerman ended up providing that in the bottom of the 8th inning. Tommy Edman hit a line drive that looked like it was ticketed for rightfield when Zimmerman dove to his right. Zimmerman had to fully extend his body, but he made the catch to preserve the no-hitter.

Paul DeJong was the next batter for the Cardinals. DeJong went after the first pitch an hit a routine flyball to centerfield for the second out of the inning. Jose Martinez was announced as a pinch hitter and stepped into the batters box for his at bat.

Martinez has been a very good pinch hitter for the Cardinals this post season. In the NLDS against the Atlanta Braves Martinez had three pinch hit appearance. In those three at bats Martinez came through with two hits.

Martinez worked the count to full and pushed Sanchez pitch total over the 100 mark. Sanchez threw his 103rd pitch of the night which was a change-up to Martinez who hit that pitch into centerfield to break up the no-hitter attempt and end Sanchez’s night.

In his 7 2/3rds inning of work Sanchez threw those 103 pitches; 67 for strikes. Out of the 27 batters Sanchez faced he threw 20 first pitch strikes. He allowed just the 1 hit to Martinez, he walked 1 and struck out 5 while also hitting 2 batters.

Sanchez left the Nationals with a 2-0 lead and turned the game over to a much maligned bullpen. To make things even a little more interesting for that Nationals Bullpen they where without their closer Daniel Hudson who is on paternity leave because of the birth of his daughter.

The Nationals turned to Sean Doolittle who did have 29 saves during the regular season, but also had an ERA of 4.05. Washington was looking at Doolittle to get a 4 out save in Game 1 of the NLCS.

Doolittle got Dexter Fowler to ground out to end the 8th inning. Kolten Wong tried to bunt hos way on to start the bottom of the 9th for St. Louis, but Doolittle was able to make the play and get the out at 1st base. The play was reviewed, but the call stood. Paul Goldschmidt grounded out for the 2nd out of the inning and then Doolittle struck out Marcell swinging to end the game and give the Nationals a 2-0 win in Game 1.

Sanchez’s run at a no-hitter overshadowed the quality performance that the Cardinals got out of their Game 1 starter Miles Mikolas. Mikolas pitched threw 6 innings giving up 7 hits, but holding Washington to just 1 run while striking out 7 and walking 2. Mikolas threw 98 pitches; 67 of those for strikes.

Washington got their only run off of Mikolas in the top of the 2nd inning. Howie Kendrick started the inning with a double, but Mikolas got the next two hitters out before Yan Gomes hit another double to drive Kendrick in and give Washington a 1-0 lead.

In the top of the 7th Giovanny Gallegos came out of the Cardinals bullpen to replace Mikolas. Gallegos got the first out of the inning, but Adam Eaton followed that up with a triple. Anthony Rendon was intentional walked putting runners on 1st and 3rd. Gallegos was taken out of the game for left hander Andrew Miller who was brought in to face Juan Soto. Miller struck Soto out for the 2nd out if the inning. Miller was then removed for right hand pitcher John Brebbia. Kendrick greeted Brebbia with a single driving in Eaton and giving the Nationals that 2-0 lead.

It’s a pretty quick turn around for these teams as they have the afternoon game today. Adam Wainwright will make the start for St. Louis while Max Scherzer gets the start for Washington.

The 37 year old Wainwright had a fantastic start in the NLDS against the Braves. Wainwright pitched 7 2/3rd shutout inning. He struck out and walked 2 in that start. Can he give the Cardinals another start like that in what is almost a must win type of game for St. Louis.

Scherzer has made three post season appearances this year. He got a no decision in the wild card game against the Milwaukee Brewers. He went 5 inning s giving up 3 run while walking 3 and striking out 6. Scherzer worked an inning of relief in Game 2 of the NLDS against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He threw one inning of relief and picked up a hold as he struck out 3 in his one inning. Then Scherzer came back as a starter in Game and got the win. He went 7 innings giving up just 1 run while walking 3 and striking out 7.

I forgot to mention that if Sanchez would’ve been successful in his no-hit bid he would’ve been the third pitcher to throw a no-hitter in post season history. Sanchez would’ve joined Roy Halladay and Don Larsen as pitchers who threw post season no-hitters.

This also would’ve been the second no-hitter of Sanchez’s career. Back in 2006 when Sanchez was a rookie with the Miami Marlins he no-hit the Arizona Diamondbacks in just the 13th start of his career. Sanchez was 22 years old when he no-hit the Diamondbacks. He’s now 35 years old and if he would’ve completed the no-hitter he would’ve had the second largest gap between no-hitters. Only Randy Johnson would have had a bigger one.

Do you have the Cardinals bouncing back and winning Game 2? Or do you see the Nationals taking both games in St. Louis and heading home with a commanding two games to none lead?

You can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but if you end up missing the podcast live all you have to do is head over to TuneIn.com and you can listen to the podcast at your leisure.

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @Burketime

Let’s call it Wednesday

Posted: October 9, 2019 by Sports Time Radio in baseball, post season, sports, Sports Time Radio, Uncategorized
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So the division round of the Major League Baseball playoffs has given us one sweep. The New York Yankees over the Minnesota Twins while the three other divisional series are all headed to a winner take all Game 5.

Both of the National League Game 5’s are today. The Atlanta Braves host the St. Louis Cardinals in the first game while the night cap has the Washington Nationals at the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Cardinals have Jack Flaherty as their starter while the Braves list Mike Foltynewicz as their starter. The Nationals have Steven Strasburg listed as their starter while the Dodgers are countering with Walker Buehler. Now I expect all four of these pitchers to start for their respective teams right now they are all listed as the probably starter.

Flaherty made the start for the Cardinals in Game 2 and had a solid outing. He went 7 innings giving up 8 hits and 3 runs while striking out 8 and walking 1. Flaherty took the lose as the Cardinals didn’t score in Game 2.

Foltynewicz was on the winning side in Game 2 for Atlanta. He went 7 innings allowing 3 hits and 0 runs while striking out 7.

Strasburg was the Nationals starter in Game 2 and picked up the win. He went 6 innings giving up 3 hits and 1 run while striking out 10.

The Dodgers are bringing back Buehler who was their Game 1 starter. He pitched 6 innings giving up just 1 hit and not allowing a run; he struck out 8 and walked 3.

Each one of these teams is bringing back a starting pitcher who had a good outing for them in their first start. It might be the pitcher who can repeat that first outing that gives his team the best chance to advance. The question of course is; which pitcher will that be?

How big of a failure would the Dodgers season be if they lost tonight’s Game 5 to the Nationals?

The Dodgers won 106 games in the regular season and have been to the World Series the past two seasons. Now unfortunately the Dodgers didn’t manage to win ether of them World Series, but they where the first team to get into back to back World Series since the Kansas City Royals did it in 2014 and 2015.

Now we know that Walker Buehler is getting the start for the Dodgers tonight, but what is the availability of Clayton Kershaw and Hyun-Jin Ryu if needed. Kershaw last pitched on October 4th while Ryu lasted pitched on October 6th. Being that it’s Game 5 you have to figure that all hands are on deck for both teams tonight, but especially the Dodgers.

The Dodgers have solid numbers in the series against the Nationals except for in the bullpen. Pedro Baez, Joe Kelly, Ross Stripling and Julio Urias have all had issues coming out of the Dodgers bullpen. Baez and Kelly have double digit ERA’s while Stripling isn’t far away from a double digit ERA. Kenta Maeda has been the Dodgers most consistent reliever this series. Adam Kolarek has appeared in three out of the four games in this series, but he’s only pitched 1 total inning. With the way this series has went Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen has only made one appearance and has only pitched 1 inning.

How will the Dodgers use the bullpen tonight. Will a starter be the first pitcher we see out of the bullpen or will they trust one of the relievers who have struggled in this series. Jansen should be available for multiple innings if needed. I guess will have to see how the game goes and what the Dodgers do with there bullpen.

We have to wait one more day for the American League series to play there Game 5. The teams are headed back to Houston since the Astros had the best record in baseball for the regular season they get to host Game 5.

You could ask the same thing about the Astros that we just did about the Dodgers. How would you quantify the Astros season if they get knocked out tomorrow night by the Tampa Bay Rays.

Both the Rays and the Nationals are the upstart wild card teams in this situation and I’m sure they’ll have a lot of people rooting for them. Do you think that either of these teams can get a Game 5 victory on the road? It should make for some must watch baseball.

With the division series winding down you have to wonder if we’ve seen some of these players in that uniform for the last time. There are quite a few players in the division series that will hit the free agent market this off season.

The Nationals made a big money offer to 3rd baseman Anthony Rendon, but there’s been no word on how close the two sides might be to agreeing on a deal. Will Rendon be in Washington next season?

Gerrit Cole picked the best time to have a career year. The Astros have a decent amount of money already tied up in two of there starting pitchers; so you have to wonder if they have room for the salary Cole is going to command.

Hyun-Jin Ryu accepted the Dodgers qualifying offer last season and then preceded to have the best season of his career. The Dodgers are loaded with starting pitchers; so you have to wonder if they’ll allow Ryu to leave as a free agent this off season.

The Braves have two players that we might see elsewhere next season. Josh Donaldson signed on for just one season in Atlanta and the Braves have said they’re open to bringing him back next season. The Braves have a strong farm system and everyone thought that Austin Riley would be taking over at 3rd base next season. I guess will have to see what they do. Dallas Keuchel ended up with Atlanta after not signing with a team until June. Keuchel was solid for the Braves going 8-8 with a 3.75 ERA. I think there’s a better chance of Donaldson returning to Atlanta than Keuchel.

That is just a small sample size of players currently in the playoffs that might be with another team next season. As free agency gets closer will take harder look at who might end up where. Right now it’s just way too early to tell.

You can 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 to the podcast at your leisure.

You can follow me on Twitter @Burketime

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