Baseball, the College Playoffs and my Dawgs and Bucks

Baseball, the College Playoffs and my Dawgs and Bucks

Juan Soto is joining the Mets for $755 million over 15 years. The contract is being cited as the largest in major league history. But isn’t Otani’s contract $700 million for 10 years? Otani’s is rare because he may be one of the few to sign a big deal and then win a World Series. Isn’t that right Bryce Harper, Mike Trout, Aaron Judge, Manny Machado, Francisco Lindor, Fernando Tatis and Giancarlo Stanton? History is not on the Mets’ side. 

However, the allure of a power hitter is that home runs have become more important in the game (chicks love the long ball). Yet Aaron Judge was a bust in this year’s World Series. The Yankees with all that power – Judge, Stanton and Solo – still lost. Consider that the Yankees had more hits, more runs, more home runs, more walks (Solo), a higher batting average and a lower ERA than the Dodgers and still lost! However, the Dodgers were more athletic and more aggressive baserunners. During the season the Dodgers led the majors in taking the extra base. The Yankees were last. I’m no expert but it seemed that the Dodgers were a better team while the Yankees were a bunch of individuals. But I didn’t like either team (except Freddie Freeman) and hoped that they both would lose. Now that the Dodgers have added Blake Snell, they have cemented their status as the evil empire of the west – the Yankees being the evil empire of the east.

I remain a Braves fan although I will never forgive them for not re-signing Freddie. Hank Aaron went to my home church. He was kind, humble and warm. If you didn’t know he was the great immortal Hank Aaron you would have just thought of him as being a wonderful devoted member of the congregation. 

We go camping in St Petersburg every year for a week, mainly to see the Rays. Mind you, we are not Rays fans. I just love baseball and pick the opponent. This year we will see the Orioles – we also saw them last year. The Rays will be playing in the Yankee’s minor league park in Tampa due to the damage to Tropicana Field caused by Hurricane Milton. BTW, the Trop is the worse baseball park in the league by far. Yes even worse than Oakland.

Now for football. Alabama got left out of the new 12 team playoff. Naturally they are whining. Their AD says that they are going to reconsider their out of conference schedule and play a softer schedule. Softer? This year they played Western Kentucky, South Florida, Wisconsin and Mercer out of conference. Mercer? They lost to Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Oklahoma. Vanderbilt? How can you get a softer out of conference schedule? Maybe substitute Fort Valley State for Wisconsin (which was 5-7)? What Alabama should do is get out of the SEC and go to the ACC, Big 12 or better yet the Mountain West. Then it can get one of those guaranteed slots in the playoffs. Word to the Alabama AD: shut up.

I think the SEC should have 9 conference games rather than 8. I hate getting rid of the divisions and losing traditional rivalries. Why can’t Texas play Texas A&M and Oklahoma every year? Why can’t Tennessee play Alabama and Vanderbilt or Georgia play Auburn and Florida?

I also don’t like the 12 team playoff. I know it was put in because of money. ESPN is paying $7.8 billion for the playoffs. Each of the 12 teams gets $4 million. The quarterfinalists get an additional $4 million. The semifinalists get $6 million and the finalists also get $6 million. Each team gets $3 million to cover expenses. Hmm. Maybe I will get invited to the Georgia games like in the past. Hopefully, there is a money pool set aside for the players to divide. 

There is a lot of whining that Oregon seeded number one has gotten a tough draw. It gets the winner of the Tennessee Ohio State game. Penn St seeded 6 gets to play SMU at home and then Boise State if it beats SMU. Is this fair? Probably not but that’s the way the proverbial cookie crumbles. What would be better is for there not to be any guaranteed byes by conference. Rather rank the teams and give the byes to the top four regardless of conference.

If we still had the four team playoff, it would be Oregon versus Texas and Georgia versus Penn State. I think that Notre Dame is better than Penn State but that loss to Northern Illinois is inexplicable.

With Georgia’s starting quarterback out, the Dawg haters are saying that the Dawgs should be out of the playoffs. They call it the “Florida State rule.” Last year, Florida State lost its starting quarterback and was not included in the playoffs. They then lost to Georgia in a bowl game 63-3. Clearly they were not a playoff team and if Georgia had not lost to Alabama, it would have likely won its third national championship. However, Georgia has a capable backup. Remember when in 2015, Ohio State lost its starting quarterback and its backup too? The third stringer Cardele Jones led the Buckeyes over Wisconsin in the Big 10 title game 59-0 with Ezekiel Elliott running for 220 yards. Then my other half and I were in New Orleans to see the Bucks beat Alabama and at Jerry’s World where they beat Oregon and Marcus Mariota for the national championship. Look for Georgia to do the same.

Georgia and Ohio State are in opposite brackets so I am hoping for another Georgia Ohio State final. I’ll be there. Maybe this time instead of wearing my Herschel Walker jersey and Woody Hayes t-shirt I will wear my Jack Tatum jersey and a Georgia bulldog cap. Go Dawgs/Bucks!