The lack of an MLB thread is disappointing. Go Blue Jays!

Braves surprising me so far with their goodness. All those injuries, I didn't think they was going to do much this year either.

Cubs look decent. Reds? Well, let's let the season play out a bit more. And that foul ball 'hit' on the San Diego guy was complete BS.

Oh, F the Yankers, as per usual.

St Louis is on a 6 game win streak. Can/will they make the playoffs this year? Weren’t expected to do much this season but find themselves in second place.

Chris Sale with the nowadays rare Complete Game Shutout over the Dogs to complete a Braves 3-game sweep.
Scoring? Drake Baldwin HR on 1st pitch. That's it.
Wow! 11K's and Sale beats Yammermodoo.
Got to hand it to Sale for how he's come back stronger since his injury-plagued mid-career years.
Nice to sweep the Dogs, but it doesn't matter much since everyone starts out even in playoffs and you know Dogs will want revenge, as well as going for 3 in a row.
Meanwhile, Braves have a bunch of games coming up next week versus Philberts, so division is far, far from a certainty. Phils have come back strong after a terrible start and a Manager change.

Some additional trivia from Braves-Dogs Sale sweep game tonight:

• Sale (13-9) threw 80 of his 109 pitches for strikes and did not walk a batter
• Sale lowered his ERA to 2.06 with his first complete game in more than seven years
• Sale posted his fourth double-digit strikeout game this season and the 95th of his career, which ranks seventh in major league history.
• It was Sale's fourth career shutout and first since that three-hitter against the Royals on June 5, 2019
• Sale threw a 100.1 mph fastball to Shohei Ohtani in the third, reaching triple digits on a pitch for the first time since July 2018 with the Red Sox
• Not that it really matters but the NL East-leading Braves won the season series 5-1 against the Dodgers, who sit atop the NL West
  

Angels sold for record $4B valuation to local L.A. Owner

Quote:In a surprise development that puts an end to a tumultuous ownership tenure, longtime Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno agreed to sell the team to Stan Kroenke, who presides over the NFL's Los Angeles Rams.

Kroenke's purchase is for a "controlling interest" in the franchise and will be done through Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, the Kroenke holding company that also owns the NBA's Denver Nuggets, the NHL's Colorado Avalanche, the Colorado Rapids of MLS and Arsenal F.C. of the Premier League, according to a news release Tuesday.

The release stated that the transaction would close "in the first quarter of 2027," subject to approval of Major League Baseball.

The Angels were sold for a valuation of $4 billion, sources told ESPN's Buster Olney, beating the previous MLB record for a sale of $3.9 billion set by the Padres' new owner earlier this year....

What a shame Trout has wasted so much of his career there. Maybe they'll be able to get a decent team around him finally before he retires?

Braves vs Philberts starting Fri. First of seven that might decide the NL East. Phils are only 4 games back. Braves have not been playing so well. Should be a good test for both teams.

Rays head to Arlington this evening hoping to get back in the win column tonight & set the lead at 4 over the Yankees rather than 3.

Could be an underrated series with the Rangers 1.5 games out of the AL WC & the Rays looking to keep ahold of the AL East division lead.

September will be anything but boring, especially for the Rays & Yankees, who are 3.5 games separated with a 4-game series that could decide the division if the Rays haven't locked it in over the next 2 weeks. The thing the Rays have going for them is that they are 1 win away from securing the head-to-head tiebreaker, while the Yankees must sweep the 4-game series to secure it.

Go Rays!

Well....Braves have got at least a split of the first series at Philly. Phils still too close, but really, with almost everyone making the MLB playoffs these days, it doesn't matter so m uch as it used to whether you win Division or not. It's a shame they added the extra WC teams. I'd prefer go back to two divisions per league and win your division or go home. Four best teams make playoffs after 162. Also not a fan of everyone playing everyone. Oh, well, there are worse things in life....right, Western Michigan?

Tough 0-1 loss today. Both pitched very well. After four games, it's a draw. Three more together in a bit down South in Atl. Braves need to win 1 more and play decent against remaining schedule. Not sure if that will happen, but it's Sept.

(09-07-2026 07:39 PM)GoodOwl Wrote:  Tough 0-1 loss today. Both pitched very well. After four games, it's a draw. Three more together in a bit down South in Atl. Braves need to win 1 more and play decent against remaining schedule. Not sure if that will happen, but it's Sept.

See you tonight, Atlanta!

(09-08-2026 10:29 AM)Keswick_Crusaders_Forever51 Wrote:  

(09-07-2026 07:39 PM)GoodOwl Wrote:  Tough 0-1 loss today. Both pitched very well. After four games, it's a draw. Three more together in a bit down South in Atl. Braves need to win 1 more and play decent against remaining schedule. Not sure if that will happen, but it's Sept.

See you tonight, Atlanta!

Have to be impressed with the Rays' organization and despite all the challenges, how they consistently put decent to great teams together. Congrats on your new stadium, too, finally! Now, about that Lightning....

Braves take the second series with Philberts, 2-1. Should be enough for the Division, but still can blow it. Nowadays it doesn't really matter all that much as Braves will be 3rd Division if they win, so auto Wild-Card game for Atlanta anyway. Really hate they added yet another WC team in each league. Having just tow WCs in each League with a 1-game all-or-nothing was about the best compromise if you have to have WC teams. This is way too much.

Atlanta still faces a tough schedule as does Philly. Not looking forward to drawing SD in the WC round. Oh, well, hockey starts soon anyways....

Braves lloked kinda moribund vs Astros in 2nd game, then Acuna, Jr. hits the grand slam in 7th for the win. He has 20 HR and 55RBi after being injured much of the season. Our offense will have to dominate if we are to win any in playoffs.

Now Phillies in 3rd WC, and I don't want to draw them in 1st round.

inordinate number of important players getting injured just beofre playoffs start it seems....

White Sox 14
Royals 11

playing football tonight?....

At this point, shouldn’t the Red Sox try to tank:

Wildcard #1 is out of reach

getting the #2 wild card gets them a road trip to Yankee Stadium, and if they advance, they face TB

getting the #3 wild card spot, get them a trip to Texas/Houston to face a team that might not even have a winning record, and advancing means a trip to the Southside of Chicago or Cleveland.

Wildcard #3 seems like a much easier path.

(09-24-2026 08:27 AM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  At this point, shouldn’t the Red Sox try to tank:

Wildcard #1 is out of reach

getting the #2 wild card gets them a road trip to Yankee Stadium, and if they advance, they face TB

getting the #3 wild card spot, get them a trip to Texas/Houston to face a team that might not even have a winning record, and advancing means a trip to the Southside of Chicago or Cleveland.

Wildcard #3 seems like a much easier path.

Seems like when teams try to get too cute and manipulate their playoffs position it often backfires on them spectacularly...just do the best you can, get in, and let chips fall..overfinessing it can get you in trouble. That said, I don;t know which poison is best for my Bravos: any of the 3 WC teams will give us problems. But we seem to have learned it is better for us to play thru 1st round than get the bye.

I am thinking given the blowback about the early start times, MLB should do this when they expand to 32 teams:

Western Conference
American Division - SEA, ATH, LAA, TEX, HOU, KC, MIN, (Expansion)
National Division - SF, LAD, SD, ARZ, COL, STL, MIL, CHC

Eastern Conference
American Division - NYY, BOS, BAL, TB, TOR, CLE, DET, CHW
National Division - NYM, PHI, WAS, ATL, MIA, PIT, CIN, (Expansion)

Drop the regular season to 156 games but expand the playoffs to 16 teams and make each round best-of-7. Saturday and Sundays would still have four broadcast windows, but during the week all of the games would be in primetime, typically at 6 PM and 9 PM Eastern, although 7 PM and 10 PM might be viable if you have a Western Conference series with no Central Time Zone teams.

Because the Commissioner has made statements about adding one eastern and one western team, it becomes necessary to split the Cubs and White Sox, as they are the natural dividing line now in a strictly east-west setup.

White Sox takes first game.
Bo Graves!