NEW YORK, NY – This weekend brings the unofficial end of summer. The kids will be back to school after the Labor Day Weekend. The days will get shorter and cooler. And we’ll be entering the best time of year for sports.
Baseball is sprinting towards the playoffs as the final month of the regular season begins. The Yankees did well to salvage their West Coast swing. After being swept by JG Clancy’s (photo right) A’s in Oakland, the Bombers went on to win two of three against the Dodgers and they swept @AngryWard’s Mariners in Seattle. I’ll take the 5-4 road trip after the way things started.
This weekend they’ll host the Athletics and here’s hoping that this series goes a bit better than last week’s series in Oakland. The lead is 11 games on the Rays and 15.5 over the Red Sox. Barring an unprecedented collapse, the Bombers should cruise to the division title with time to rest some of their players. They are looking to secure home field advantage and are currently leading the Astros by a game for the best record in the American League.
The big question in the Bronx is whether the stars will be back to full health by the time the playoffs start. Luis Severino will start this weekend in Scranton. With the minor league season ending next week, Severino will more than likely join the big club to work out the kinks. He’ll probably come out of the bullpen or serve as an opener until he can get enough work to start games. The clock is ticking for Giancarlo Stanton and Dellin Betances also. Both are close to being healthy but they need work before rejoining the parent club.
Over in Queens the mood is a little less optimistic after a rough week for the Amazin’s. The Mets were a couple of games out of the last Wild Card spot but were then swept by both the Braves and Cubs. They’re now five games out with four teams ahead of them. The Metsies start another tough series today in Philadelphia. The Phillies are ahead of the Mets and are 2.5 games out of that second WC spot. The Amazin’s will need to right the ship quickly to get back in the race. Six of their next nine games are against the Phillies and the other three are against the Nationals in Washington. A good week could have the Mets back in the hunt. A bad week will put them out of contention for good.
The NFL season starts next week and the Giants and J-E-T-S played their last preseason games last night. The G-men beat the Patriots in Foxborough and the Jets beat Buddy Diaz’s Iggles at MetLife. Daniel Jones had a good preseason for the Giants but will now take a seat and back up Eli Manning. We’ll see how long that lasts. A bad run by Eli could see Jones starting the second half of the season.
We’re just two weeks away from the start of NHL training camps. Things are looking bright for a young Rangers team. I think the Broadway Blues will be good this year. I’m not sure that they’re a playoff team, but they could get close. They will have to move Chris Kreider this winter because they have no shot at signing the winger next summer when he hits the market as an unrestricted free agent. Let’s hope they can get another good prospect or young player in return. Camp starts September 12th.
