The Rundown: Weekend Preview Edition - Friday Festivities
Happy dance! It’s Friday and there’s football, baseball, NASCAR and more to watch this weekend. We hear a weekend of sports filled brunches calling our names.
We’ll take a mimosa please,
The Last Night’s Game Team
PS - Get excited for this week’s tailgate treat. It comes to us from a guy you might have heard of, Al Roker. His recipe for homemade brisket beef jerky is out of this world if you go light on the liquid smoke. That’s what’s going on in our neck of the woods.
NCAA Football (College)
- Force majeure. Hurricane Matthew has forced the cancellation of LSU (Louisiana State University) – University of Florida game this weekend. The teams do not have an open date in common for the rest of the season so it will not be rescheduled.
- Surprise guest. ESPN College GameDay heads to College Station, TX ahead of the Tennessee Volunteers (#9) and Texas A&M Aggies (#8) matchup. Will free agent and hometown hero Johnny Football, aka Johnny Manziel whose four-game NFL suspension is over, be the guest picker to try to improve his image?
NFL (National Football League)
- Welcome back. Tom Brady’s suspension for “deflategate” is officially over and just in time for his New England Patriots to face the winless Cleveland Browns. Brady seemed to enjoy his four week break by attending a football game at his alma matter, University of Michigan, and nude sunbathing in Italy with is wife, but it’s back to work for him this Sunday.
- Bottom of the barrel. In Thursday Night Football news, Arizona Cardinals improved from their 1-3 record (wins-losses), beating the equally dreadful San Francisco 49ers.
MLB (Major League Baseball)
- That was easy. Toronto Blue Jays used the momentum from their wild card win to thoroughly defeat Texas Rangers (final score 10-1) in Game One of the ALDS (American League Division Series).
- Hometown pride. Building off Cleveland Cavaliers’ NBA Championship momentum, Cleveland Indians a took step in the right direction with a Game One win over Boston Red Sox in the other ALDS game.
- If you’re looking for an excuse not to work, all four playoff games will be played today. Catch the full schedule here.
NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing)
- Shake and bake. The second round of the “The Chase for the Cup” begins on Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The 12 remaining drivers look to win this race to guarantee their spot in the next round. Kevin Harvick will start from the pole position.
WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association)
- Showdown. The WNBA finals begin on Sunday with Los Angeles Sparks (#2) taking on Minnesota Lynx (#1).
Overtime
- The Toronto Blue Jays win over the Baltimore Orioles in the wild card game was overshadowed by a fan incident. A Blue Jays fan threw a full beer at an Orioles outfielder catching a fly ball. The fan has since been identified and charged with criminal mischief and wasting a perfectly good beer.
Sideline stat
- Pittsburgh Steelers’ Antonio Brown received a fine of $24,000 for his “pump” (aka twerking) touchdown celebration. This is his second fine of the year for his suggestive celebrations.
Coaches’ corner
- Barry Bonds, the leading home run hitter of all-time, was fired as the Miami Marlins hitting coach after one season. Bonds rubbed everyone wrong as a player and apparently nothing changed in his career as a coach.
The Rundown: 5 Things to Know About the MLB Playoffs
Things are getting exciting around here with wild card games in baseball, a new partnership announcement between Sports Illustrated and Fox Sports AND the release of the Forbes 400 list. Whew. Try to control yourself. It’s only Wednesday and you’re going to need that energy to make it to Friday.
Simmer down now,
The Last Night’s Game
PS - If you like us, share us with your friends using the handy buttons at the bottom.
Five things to know about the MLB Playoffs
- The playoffs are made up of three division winners from the American League and National League, along with two wild card winners that are determined by a playoff game (see below).
- The first round (Division Series) is a best-of-five game series and the next two rounds (League Championship Series and World Series) are best-of-seven games.
- The Chicago Cubs had baseball’s best record this season, but haven’t won a World Series Championship since 1908, a 108-year drought. (Click here for more about the Cubs).
- The Washington Nationals won their division by hitting the ball harder than any other team. According to Statcast™, their batters had an average exit velocity (how fast the ball is going after it leaves the bat) of 90.3 miles per hour. Be glad that’s not coming at you when all you’re wearing is a little leather glove.
- What are the odds your team will win the World Series? Let’s check in with VegasInsider.com:
- Chicago Cubs – 9/4 odds
- Boston Red Sox and Texas Rangers - 6/1 odds
- Washington Nationals – 7/1 odds
See the full postseason schedule here.
MLB (Major League Baseball)
- Getting wild. In last night’s American League wild card game, Toronto Blue Jays beat Baltimore Orioles in 11 innings (two extra innings). Blue Jays’ Edwin Encarnacion hit a walk-off home run to secure his team’s spot in the postseason. This sets up a rematch of last year’s tense series between Blue Jays and Texas Rangers. Bring it on.
- Control your excitement. Tonight is the National League wild card game between San Francisco Giants and New York Mets (8 pm EST). The game will feature two of the most electric pitchers in baseball in a win or go home game – Giants’ Madison Bumgarner vs Mets’ Noah Syndergaard.
NFL (National Football League)
- Just plain stupid. Over the summer, Denver Broncos’ Aqib Talib was shot in the leg, but could not recall who shot him. Dallas police determined that Aqib actually shot himself in the leg. Hmm I thought he looked familiar.
Overtime
- Two of the biggest names in sports, Fox Sports and Sports Illustrated, have announced they’re partnering up to share content across digital platforms, combine talent for big sporting events like MLB playoffs and there’s a little revenue sharing involved. Swimsuit models not included.
What does that mean for you? More sports coverage. Oh hooray. For them? It means they might beat out ESPN.com in online visitors. ESPN.com has 79 million unique monthly visitors, while SI and Fox Sports combined have around 68 million.
Sideline stat
- The Forbes 400 list has been released and the list of people with a nifty net worth include some notable sports figures:
- #15 Steve Balmer- Los Angeles Clippers owner - $27.5 billion
- #18 Phil Knight - co-founder of Nike - $25.5 billion
- #21 Paul Allen - Seattle Seahawks owner - $18.9 billion
- #94 Jerry Jones - Dallas Cowboys owner - $5.2 billion
In case you’re curious, Bill Gates tops the list at a cool $81 billion. See the whole list here.
Coaches’ corner
- What does it meant to go into extra innings in baseball? When two teams are tied at the end of the nine innings in baseball, the game goes into extra innings. The two teams will continue to play inning by inning until a winner is determined. Remember – an inning consists of both teams getting a chance to bat. So it can be a long night and in some cases teams run out of pitchers and have to pull in other players on their team with any pitching experience to take the mound. The longest baseball game on record for time was an agonizing 8 hours and 6 minutes over 25 innings.
The Rundown: Weekend Wrap Up - The Streak Is Over
Was your weekend as wild as the Ryder Cup? Fans gone wild was the name of the game on the course in Minnesota. Did Team U.S.A. channel their inner Simone Biles or Michael Phelps to bring home a United States win? We have that and so much more in today’s Rundown.
But first - coffee,
The Last Night’s Game Team
Ryder Cup
- Big. Huge. Team U.S.A. defeated Team Europe for the first time since 2008 to win the Ryder Cup. The home-field advantage proved to be just that with U.S.A. fans draped in stars and stripes, taunting Team Europe like it was a high school basketball game. Team U.S.A.’s win was by the largest margin since 1981.
MLB (Major League Baseball)
- Every game counts. It took all 162 games to determine the two wild card spots in both leagues. The Toronto Blue Jays will host Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday in a one-game playoff for a spot in the postseason. The New York Mets will host the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday in the playoff game for the National League spot. If you've ever wanted to watch exciting baseball, these games are some of the best you’ll see with so much on the line.
- It’s time. See the post season schedule here. Stay tuned for Wednesday's five things to know about the MLB playoffs which are guaranteed to make you sports savvy.
NCAA Football (College)
- As good as advertised. Clemson (#3) vs Louisville (#5) had the potential to be one of the best games of the season and it lived up to the hype. The energy of the fans helped propel Clemson to a halftime lead, but Louisville took the lead over in the fourth quarter. Then Clemson scored the game winning touchdown with seconds left in the game. How’d Heisman front-runner, Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson play? Click here.
- Did your team win? See here.
NFL (National Football League)
- Can’t hold us. Coming into the weekend there were five undefeated teams in the NFL. Two teams no longer hold that title with Baltimore Ravens and New England Patriots both suffering their first loss. The Minnesota Vikings play tonight and they’ll try to hold off New York Giants to remain undefeated.
- Was your team victorious? Check here.
NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing)
- It’s mine…all mine! Going into the final race with the field of 16 in the Chase for the Cup (elimination-style NASCAR playoffs), Martin Truex Jr. and Kevin Harvick were the only drivers guaranteed to advance due to previous wins. Truex Jr. was showing off on Sunday when he won again. The field now shrinks to 12 drivers for the next race. Check here to see if your favorite driver made the cut.
F1 Racing (Formula One)
- Can I get you something to drink? Red Bull’s Daniel Riccardo won the Malaysian Grand Prix - his first win since 2014. Riccardo celebrated by drinking champagne out of his shoe after he had been wearing it for a few hours in the hot and humid Malaysian climate. Ew. We could think of better ways to celebrate.
Overtime
- Arguably the best Boston Red Sox player to ever wear the jersey, David Ortiz played in his last regular season game at Fenway Park on Sunday. The Red Sox pulled out all the stops - naming a street and a bridge after him and they will retire his number next season. Ortiz had such a big impact on baseball that Saturday Night Live spoofed him on “Weekend Update.”
Sideline stat
- Pittsburgh Steelers’ (NFL) quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had as many touchdowns as incomplete passes (five) in last night’s blowout of the Kansas City Chiefs.
Coaches’ corner
- What does it mean to retire a number in sports? Unlike the mourning period you go through when retiring a cell phone number, this is a positive thing. When a team retires a player’s number, such as Ortiz’s #34, no member of the team (in his case the Red Sox) will ever be able to wear that number again. Teams do this to honor the outstanding career of that player.