The Rundown: Weekend Preview Edition - Full On Friday

You never thought we’d make it. No, we’re not talking about it being Friday at last, but the final weekend of regular season baseball. Finally, six months later. Which reminds us it’s time to head to the dentist.  

Time for your checkup,

The Last Night’s Game Team

PS - It's Friday of football season and today's tailgate treat is a recipe for spicy pretzels, courtesy of ultimate fan Robin. 

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MLB (Major League Baseball)

• Who says baseball is boring? While the battles for the two wild card spots in each league are hot and heavy heading into the last weekend of regular season baseball, the division winners have clinched their spots:

American League

• East: Boston Red Sox
• Central: Cleveland Indians
• West: Texas Rangers
• Wild card: ?

National League

• East: Washington Nationals
• Central: Chicago Cubs
• West: Los Angeles Dodgers
• Wild card: ?

Click here for the wild card standings.

NCAA Football (College)

• Dominating Death Valley. ESPN College GameDay is in South Carolina tomorrow for the Louisville Cardinals – Clemson Tigers game which features a matchup of two undefeated, top five teams. Heisman frontrunner Lamar Jackson (who has an amazing 25 touchdowns in four games) has a tough task ahead of him heading into “Death Valley” to face the Tigers.
• See the full college football schedule here. 

NFL (National Football League)

• Tea, crumpets and football? Indianapolis Colts and Jacksonville Jaguars are set to play in England this Sunday. With the time change, the teams will be playing while you’re making breakfast (9:30 am EST). The winless Jaguars have played in London the past four seasons but this is the Colts' first time. This is the first of three NFL games that will be played in London this season.
• Who is your team playing this weekend? Find out here.  

Ryder Cup (Golf) 

• You will miss this putt. During Ryder Cup practice, Team Europe’s Rory McIlroy was struggling to make a putt and a Happy Gilmore style heckler in the crowd was relentless during his failed attempts. McIlroy invited the heckling fan to attempt the putt. Teammate Justin Rose upped the stakes by throwing in $100. The cool, calm and collected American fan stepped up and nailed the putt. What like it was hard?
• The foursome parings have been revealed for today. See who will be representing Team U.S.A. here.

Hockey

• Victorious eh? Team Canada beat Team Europe to win the World Cup of Hockey.

Overtime

• Team U.S.A. visited the White House (minus Ryan Lochte and his gas station buddies) on Thursday. Coincidentally, their visit came on the same day the U.S. Senate passed legislation for a tax exemption on the “victory tax" associated with winning Olympic medals (excluding athletes who make more than $1 million). 

Sideline stat

• The Cleveland Cavaliers broke the city’s 52-year championship losing streak by winning the NBA (basketball) Championship earlier this year. They announced that over 1,000 part-time and full-time employees associated with the team will receive championship rings, a cost of over $1 million. Feeling generous, they will even send one to former head coach David Blatt, who was fired midseason. 

Coaches’ corner

• What is the wild card in baseball playoffs? In 2011, MLB added wild card spots to the postseason. There are two wild card winners from each league (National League and American League) who play each other in a one game playoff to advance into the postseason. Essentially, the playoff game is between the two best teams from each league who didn’t clinch their division title. Consider it the bonus spot in the playoffs. For more on the wild card, read here. 

The Rundown: 5 Things to Know About the World's Most Obscure Sporting Event

With all of America focused on football and baseball, we didn’t want our international readers to feel left out. For this reason, we decided to diversify your sports knowledge. Today we bring you Five Things to Know About the Nomad Games. We’re not sure how these sports missed the Olympics. 

This post is not PETA approved,

The Last Night’s Game Team

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Five things to know about the Nomad Games

1. The Nomad Games began in 2014 designed to celebrate the nomadic heritage of the Central Asian nations (although it has expanded as the U.S. and several African countries have a team). Their goal is to show the world "the greatness of nomadic civilization" and to promote the revival and preservation of the historical heritage of nomadic people.  
2. 2,000 athletes from 40 different cultures came to compete for a week in host country Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyzstan dominated the games winning 79 medals, of which 16 were gold. 
3. The impressive opening ceremony featured none other than guest of honor, action hero Steven Seagal riding in on horseback donning armor of an ancient Kyrgyz warrior.
4. The Games are comprised of 16 events or “ethnosports,” which include horseback javelin-throwing, bone throwing, archery and wrestling on a horse. One of the most popular sports is kok-buru, where two teams of horsemen attempt to push a headless goat into a goal. Think polo with a dead goat. Sorry if you were eating breakfast. 
5. Most of those attending stayed in traditional yurts and like any other sporting event they attended concerts and a host of other activities including a fashion show and taking eagle selfies. 

MLB (Major League Baseball)

• Don’t poke the bear. With the playoffs approaching, division rivalries are picking up in intensity. On Monday night, Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner and Dodgers Yasiel Puig had a staring contest which ended with the benches clearing and a heated exchange. Bumgarner kept yelling "don’t look at me” at Puig. Yesterday the Dodgers continued to stir the pot wearing #dontlookatme shirts in the clubhouse and sharing their photos on Instagram. The Dodgers and Giants are fighting for a spot in the playoffs.  
• With only a few more weeks of regular season baseball, keep up with who’s in and who’s out of the postseason here.  

NCAA Football (College)

• We’ll always have Rio. Devon Allen was in Rio running for Team U.S.A., finishing fifth in the 100-meter hurdles. From Rio, he went straight to the University of Oregon Ducks to play football. Unfortunately, on Saturday he tore his ACL in the game against Nebraska. 

Hockey

• Don’t dream it’s over. The World Cup of Hockey started this weekend and the dream is already over for Team U.S.A. They were expected to make a run for the championship but things didn’t go as planned. Team U.S.A. was knocked out of the tournament last night after losing to Canada.

Overtime

• As one of the bottom four couples, Ryan Lochte was at risk of being eliminated in last night’s Dancing with the Stars. Luckily he once again lived to see another day and former Disney star Jake T. Austin was eliminated.

Sideline stat

• Seattle Seahawks violated the league's "no live contact" rule during an off-season organized team activity and they paid the price. The NFL fined the team $400,000, head coach Pete Carroll $200,000 and they will also lose their fifth round draft pick next year. The incident in violation of the rules occurred when two helmet-less players “bumped heads” and were injured. This is not Seattle's first violation under Pete Carroll.

Coaches’ corner

• The WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association) playoffs start today and we’ll see a new postseason format.  In a different format than most professional sports, the top eight teams by winning percentage, regardless of conference, make the playoffs. Playoffs start with two single elimination games. Minnesota Lynx and Los Angeles Sparks are the top teams coming into the postseason. Here’s the full schedule.

The Rundown: Weekend Wrap Up - The Edge of Glory

Sometimes we wish we could predict the future simply for the sake of our fantasy football teams. While we can’t predict the future, we can tell you that the newly selected Super Bowl halftime show performer will be entertaining.

Born this way,

The Last Night’s Game Team

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NFL (National Football League)

• Who’s the new guy? New England Patriots beat Miami Dolphins, but replacement quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo was knocked out of the game with a shoulder injury that could keep him out for awhile. With Tom Brady’s suspension lasting another two weeks, Patriots rookie Jacoby Brissett will now take on the task of leading the Patriots.

NCAA Football (College)

• The prodigal son returns. Tom Brady is making the most of his four game suspension from the Patriots. This week he traveled to his alma mater Michigan to serve as the honorary captain. Brady and Michigan head coach, Jim Harbaugh, even played a spirited game of catch before the game.
• Bummer sooner. Oklahoma Sooners and Notre Dame Fighting Irish may be on the outside looking in at the college football playoffs because both ranked teams suffered their second loss of the season at home this weekend. The Fighting Irish lost to Michigan State and the Sooners lost to Ohio State.

Did your team win? Find out here.  

F1 (Formula One Racing)

• Light it up. Nico Rosberg won the Singapore Grand Prix, his first ever win under the lights. (Singapore is a night track). Rosberg also took the overall points lead from his teammate Lewis Hamilton with six races to go in the season.
• Oh the irony. Singapore is known as a “fine city” because they don’t hesitate to penalize anyone who breaks their rules. One Ferrari team member, who happened to also be an ex-Philip Morris staffer, found that out the hard way. He was fined $730 USD for throwing his cigarette butt on the ground while in the country. 

Hockey

• Tough loss. In a shocking victory, Team Europe upset Team U.S.A in the World Cup of Hockey. To advance Team U.S.A. must beat favored Team Canada on Tuesday, or hope for a miracle. Same same but different.  

NASCAR (National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing)

• Cowabunga. Martin Truex Jr won the first “Chase for the Cup” race this weekend at the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400. (Yes that’s the real name – we can’t make this stuff up).

Overtime

• After rumors that Adele turned down the opportunity, the all important halftime performance for this season’s Super Bowl has been announced. Lady Gaga has accepted the challenge of entertaining the nation in February. We have no doubt she’ll put together a memorable performance.

Sideline stat

• Los Angeles Rams beat Seattle Seahawks 9-3 as football returned to L.A. The Rams scored in the game with three field goals which means they still have not scored a touchdown as the L.A. Rams since 1994 (that’s when the team left L.A).

Coaches’ Corner

• What is this NASCAR “The Chase for the Cup?" The “Chase” is an elimination-style playoff to crown the best driver in NASCAR. It starts with 16 drivers in 10 races. It’s quite an in depth points system so if you’re interested in hearing more click here to learn from the experts. We just play ones on TV.