Niagara Falls, NY: Happy Monday, Time flies by so fast—I can’t believe we’re already on the first Monday of August. But let’s get to it. Today we will look at the weekend review for the Mets, look at the NWSL (National Women’s Soccer League), and talk a little bit about World Rugby. If you’re wondering why those last two things, it’s because I did say I was going to try and use the summer to cover the less-known sports while the more known sports are on hiatus.
NY Mets Week in Review
The Mets officially sold at the trade deadline, and I will let the Sternberg Brothers and Angry Ward talk about those moves. I may chime in next week when it all settles. The level of disappointment for this season cannot be put into words—oh, actually it can. It’s the Mets. That sums it up in three words.
This week the Mets went 3-4. They won the last two against the Braves and then the first one against the Marlins before losing the remaining three. It’s hard to quantify, but it’s pretty much the same old Mets, especially against the Marlins. They lost 4-1, 1-0, and 1-0 in those last three games, and the amount of runners they left on base and opportunities to score is just abhorrent. It’s more than just not getting clutch hits at the right time. It’s not percentages or anything else—just good players not getting good hits.
Although I don’t know why Jorge Polanco is still on the team. He’s a DH, but a DH has to get hits. He has gone like 1-for-32 or something like that, and he’s still there.
Obviously, the Mets can’t make the playoffs now, so I hope they play for .500 ball. But I don’t know what they’re going to play for outside of pride, and usually when that happens, the Mets are just mercenaries with no pride. So it’s going to be a long couple of months.
NWSL
The NWSL stands for the National Women’s Soccer League. It is the professional women’s soccer league of America and is one of the top leagues in the world—some say probably somewhere in the 4th spot behind France, England, and Spain. They have 16 teams and an 18-game regular season.
Unlike their male counterparts, the New York/New Jersey women’s team, known as Gotham FC, has won the league in 2023 and in 2025. They currently sit first in the regular season with 18 of 28 games played.
This is the second iteration of pro women’s soccer. They tried the WPS for two years from 2008 to 2011, and then that kind of folded in 2012. But it came back in 2013 and has been around since. The league has grown along with the popularity of women’s soccer and the constant improvement of the women’s game. As its popularity has risen, it’s recruited famous people to become owners, such as Eli Manning and other celebrities. Almost all of the teams have a brother or sister team in the MLS, except for probably Louisville, whose sibling team is in the second division of American soccer.
Here’s the link for the website to catch up on everything, www.nwslsoccer.com —and let’s cheer for Gotham!
World Rugby
There’s been more conversation on the rugby side of things with the Rugby Odds and Rugby Wrap-up, but I just got a chance to finish watching some of the summer rugby. The women’s soccer World Cup took up my time, and I don’t like things that take away from that.
The new format in World Rugby—and I may not be familiar with it entirely—is basically two tiers. You know, the really great teams like England, New Zealand, and South Africa are in one tier, and then there’s a second tier where the USA, Canada, and Zimbabwe normally are. Tier-one teams will occasionally slip into a tour of the tier-two teams every couple of years—you’ll see England come through or Scotland come through. But now it looks like none of that is happening. The tier-two teams are going to battle each other until one has increased its ranking enough to join the tier-one teams. The tier-one teams will also battle each other, so it becomes a weird promotion/relegation kind of thing.
Does it grow the game? I don’t know. I think it’s just the tier-one teams trying to bank on the fact that their fans won’t rush to see England play the USA, but they will watch England play South Africa—and they’re trying to make money off of that.
Come back tomorrow for The Big Aristotle.
