New York, NY – Once again the circus act that is the NFL fails to punish its biggest star for blatantly cheating. The rules are clear. If you’re Tom Brady, you can get away with anything. Yesterday some jackmo in a robe decided that Tom Brady could cheat with impunity so the golden boy will be under center next week in the Pats’ season opener. The judge ruled that under the CBA, Roger Goodell had no authority to punish Brady for cheating. The league is a joke. But that’s enough football talk. We’ve got a pennant race on our hands.
In Queens, the Mets had been doing just enough to win but lately they have been doing less than that. Last weekend the Amazin’s dropped two of three at home to the cellar-dwelling Boston Red Sox. They bounced back this week taking the series against the hapless Phillies. It’s a good thing that the Nationals can’t win for losing. I haven’t seen a collapse like this since, well, the Mets a bunch of years ago. This weekend the Mets head to South Florida to take on the Miami Marlins where they should continue their winning ways.
Since the rest of the NL East is terrible, the Mets should have no problem locking up the division. They’ll be able to rest their starters down the stretch and set up their rotation as they see fit to try to make a deep run into the playoffs. The only real concern for the Mets is whether Familia and company can hold things together at the back end of the bullpen.
In the Bronx the Yankees are treading water and keeping pace with the Toronto Blue Jays. They’re within a game of the Jays in the loss column. And the Yanks are staying afloat without Mark Teixeira, who has been on the shelf for two weeks after fouling a ball off of his leg. He was the Yanks’ best hitter this season but now Tex is set to be out a couple more weeks with news that the bone bruise hasn’t healed at all. It wouldn’t surprise anyone if he was done for the season.
Alex Rodriguez cooled off in August. He had a great July but he’s hit the skids of late. Rodriguez had the weekend off with the Yanks playing in a National League park. Hopefully that rest does A-Rod some good and he can get back to his July form down the stretch.
Right now the Yankees have a four game lead over the Rangers for the first wild card slot. And they’re 5.5 games ahead of the Twins who are on the outside looking in. It will be interesting to see who the Yanks choose as their starter for a potential 1 game playoff should they clinch the wild card. The smart money would be on Masahiro Tanaka, but Nathan Eovaldi has been the Bombers’ best starter of late. We’ll see what unfolds over the coming weeks.
Finally, we’re only a couple of weeks away from the start of NHL training camps. Hockey is almost back!
