NEW YORK, NY – If you were expecting to see Cheesy Bruin here today, you weren’t the only one.
I was, too. But after Replacement Matt Wally Pipp’ed me on Friday, my turn in the rotation was suspended in some warped MTM Purgatory. It’s all good, though, as Cheesy Bruin went AWOL last night after too much candy corn. See the picture below… With him went is FREE NFL Picks, unfortunately, and we’re left to pick up the pieces. Damn Halloween. Now to sports.
This fall will be like no other in recent history. With the World Series being wrapped up earlier this week and the NBA and NHL seasons still a ways away, we are now entering a holiday season stretch with only football (and maybe a contested election result) to see us through.
The Dodgers (with a little help from Kevin Cash) won their first World Series since 1988. During normal years, the WS marks the beginning of a busy time of year for sports. October is usually the start of the NHL and NBA seasons. The college football season really heats up, as teams jockey for position to lose to an SEC powerhouse in a bowl game. And the NFL is in full swing, as the playoff picture starts to develop.
But 2020 is no normal year. The NBA and NHL seasons only wrapped up recently, so the new seasons will not start until early 2021. NFL and NCAA football games are being played in mostly empty stadiums due to the pandemic that only seems to be getting worse (unless you live by Cheesy Bruin, apparently). Cases among NFL players and staff continue to rise. I don’t think it will happen, but there’s always the chance that the season will need to be suspended. In hindsight, you can’t rule anything out in 2020. Let that sit… Anyway, this nightmare year may be ending quietly on the sports front.
That’s probably for the best, since I can’t handle any more this year. We should all be looking forward to a 2021 that could eventually look normal. Maybe we’ll get a full baseball season next year. Maybe by the playoffs and by football season next year, the stadiums will be full again.
In the meantime we get to do what all sports fans love to do: Speculate!
Segue to…
Trust the process pic.twitter.com/IIaRBw8AI4
— Henrik Lundqvist (@hlundqvist35) October 30, 2020
The NY Rangers are still in need of a few pieces and it seems like they are looking to tread lightly until after the expansion draft next year. They still lack depth through the middle, but as a team they will be better than last year. Every fan is excited to see Lafreniere on the ice. The Blueshirts could be playoff-bound next season. But they’ll have some stiff competition in the Metropolitan Division…
Barry Trotz had the Islanders playing some solid hockey last season and there’s no indication that that will be any different this coming season.
Henrik Lundqvist and the Washington Capitals (never thought I would say that) will be another playoff-bound team. The Carolina Hurricanes, who bounced the Rangers from the playoffs, will be in the fight also. It should make for some great hockey.
And finally here’s Brian with Baseball…
In the world of Major League Baseball, the Yankees have a lot of unanswered questions going into the off-season. They’ll re-sign DJ LeMahieu for sure and are keeping left-hander Zack Britton in their bullpen through 2022. But the let Gardner and Kahnle opt for free agency and declined picking up JA Happ’s option. Will they re-sign Masahiro Tanaka or James Paxton? Will Severino be effective coming off of Tommy John surgery? Will Miguel Andujar be put out to pasture? Some big questions.
Meanwhile, the Mets only have one important question at the moment: Will Bill de Blasio torpedo them by wearing a Mets hat or throwing out the first pitch on Opening Day? Stranger things have happened.
That’s it. Feel free to chime in below and leave your version of the Angry Ward’s FREE NFL Picks below.
