— Why do the two New York baseball teams only play each other four times this year? They’re eight miles apart; their games are pretty much automatic sellouts, why not play at last six times a year? It makes no sense.
Hopefully when MLB expands to 32 teams in a few years, they’ll re-arrange geographically and local rivals can play 12-13 times a year. MLB will make more money that way.
— The new balanced schedule is odd; Twins-Tigers are in the same division, but didn’t play each other this season until Thursday. Now they’ll play each other seven times in 10 days, then only six more times the rest of the season.
— If you have MLB.com, the show Recap Rundown is very good; it shows all the highlights from that night, with no talking heads, just a well-edited highlight package that shows all the biggest plays from that day’s games.
— Pitching today: Andrew Heaney threw 95 pitches Wednesday, only allowed one run, but he also only got 11 outs— he threw 3.2 innings. Not good.
Successful pitchers get thru six innings a start; they reduce stress on the team’s bullpen, they give their team a chance to win every 5th or 6th day. Pitching 3.2 innings in a start can screw up a bullpen for a few days.
— Dodgers 5, White Sox 4 (10)— Chicago led 4-0 in sixth inning; Chris Taylor hit a grand slam to tie the game, his 100th career home run. Taylor apparently is the only player ever whose first career home run and 100th home run were both grand slams.
— Nationals 4, Astros 1 (10)— Jose Altuve scored his 1,000th career run this week, but the Astros are 3-6 in their last nine games; they miss Yordan Alvarez, who is out for a month with an oblique injury.
— Movie of the Day: Molly’s Game (2017)— True story about a young lady who ran the world’s most exclusive high-stakes poker game and became an FBI target, because Russian mobsters started playing in her game.
This movie is actually a continuation of the book she wrote about her experiences to try and pay her legal bills.
Jessica Chastain plays Molly; Idris Elba is great as her lawyer. Kevin Costner has a small role as Molly’s father; she was a world-class skier as a teenager, missing out on the Olympics when she crashed in her last run in the Qualifiers.
This is an excellent movie; truth is stranger than fiction.
— USFL trends, thru nine weeks:
Stallions (7-2)
6-0 allowing 20 or less points; gave up 45-27 in losses.
5-4 ATS (favored in every game)
3-1 in games decided by 7 or less points.
under 5-4
Gamblers (5-4)
won five of last seven games, after an 0-2 start
2-3 ATS as a favorite
four of last five games stayed under.
5-1 if they allow less than 29 points
allowed 29-38-23-38 points in their losses
Showboats (5-4)
won/covered four of last five games, after an 0-3 start.
allowed 27-42-30-31 points in losses; 10-10-0-20-16 in wins
under seven of last eight games
5-4 ATS; 5-3 as an underdog, 0-1 as favorite.
Panthers (3-6)
lost six of last seven games, after a 2-0 start
3-0 if they score 24+ points, 0-6 if they score less than 24.
3-3 ATS as an underdog, 0-3 as a favorite.
six of last eight games stayed under total.
Generals (3-6)
lost five of last six games, losing by by 3-3-6-3-9 points.
1-6 when they give up more than 13 points.
2-4 ATS as a favorite, 1-2 as an underdog.
Six of nine games stayed under total.
Breakers (6-3)
Started year 4-0, then lost 3 in row; won last two, 24-20/31-3.
five of last six games stayed under total.
4-2 ATS as a favorite, 2-1 as an underdog
5-0 if they score more than 20 points; 0-2 if they score less than 20.
Stars (4-5)
Lost last two games, 27-24/37-33.
4-2 in games decided by 6 or less points.
Covered four of last five games.
4 of last 5 games went over the total.
Maulers (3-6)
0-6 if they give up more than 13 points.
Three wins were 21-13/23-7/19-7
under 4-1 last five games
1-5 if they score less than 21 points
