— Here’s a suggestion for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles; a 64-person, 1-on-1 basketball tournament. This would be wildly popular; imagine the bracket pools and all the betting that would surround that?
— Pointspreads for Thursday’s Olympic semi-final basketball games:
Team USA (-16.5) vs Serbia
Germany (-5) @ France
There are also two NFL games Thursday:
Panthers @ New England (-6)
Lions @ NJ Giants (-3.5)
— There has been cruddy weather in the Carolinas this week; NC State did something nice, letting the Coastal Carolina football team practice in their facility for three days, so the Chanticleers could avoid the storms on their campus.
Coastal Carolina coach Tim Beck spent three seasons as the Wolfpack’s offensive coordinator, which is why the favor was granted.
— I’m not a big fan of having Little League games on national TV; lot of pressure on kids in 6th or 7th grade.
— Next summer, there will be a major league baseball game (Reds-Braves) at the Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee. Bristol hosted an NFL game (Eagles-Redskins) in 1961 and two college games in 2016.
Baseball is trying to play games at unique venues, and Bristol fits that description.
— Corey Seager is now the only major leaguer ever to break up two no-hitters with two outs in the ninth inning; he homered off Framber Valdez Tuesday, and he singled off Matt Moore back in 2016.
— There have been only 58 switch-hitters to play in the major leagues this year, on pace to be the least amount of switch-hitters in one season in big league history.
— Famous birthdays, August 8th:
Dustin Hoffman, 87
Jose Cruz, 77
Brian Sipe, 75
Rashard Lewis, 45
Craig Breslow, 44
Danilo Gallinari, 36
Anthony Rizzo, 35
Yandy Diaz, 33
Jarrett Stidham, 28
— Garrett Crochet has been a revelation for the White Sox this year, 6-8, 3.19 in 23 starts; he is a huge part of Chicago’s future, but there is a problem for the rest of this season.
Crochet’s innings pitched the last four years:
2021- 54.1
2022- zero (he was hurt)
2023- 12.2
2024- 118.1
There is a thing now; when a pitcher makes huge jump in innings pitched from one year to the next, he takes on a much bigger injury risk, and the White Sox need Crochet healthy, so they’re going to limit his innings from here on in. Jumping from 12 to 118 IP is a very big leap.
Crochet’s innings pitched, in his last five starts:
4-2-4-3-4 innings; they seem to be limiting him to 75 pitches each start.
If he is on your fantasy team, he won’t help you much the rest of this summer.
— As I type this, there are only three hitters in the National League batting .300+:
.302 Shohei Ohtani
.302 Luis Arraez
.300 Jurickson Profar
There are nine American League batters hitting .300+.
— Phillies 9, Dodgers 4
Kyle Schwarber went 4-4, with three home runs, 7 RBI.
Dodgers’ lead in NL West is down to three games over Arizona.
— Arizona 7-5, Cleveland 3-3
Diamondbacks sweep a twinbill, are now 24-9 in their last 33 games.
Josh Bell homered twice in the nightcap for Arizona.
— Mets 5, Rockies 3
Francisco Lindor had the game-winning hit in the 9th inning.
Newly-acquired Paul Blackburn allowed one earned run in six IP.
— Orioles 7, Blue Jays 3
Anthony Santander homered twice for the Orioles.
Rookie 2B Jackson Holliday homered for the third straight game.
— Padres 9, Pirates 8 (10)
Jackson Merrill homered twice in a wildly entertaining game.
San Diego is 13-3 since the All-Star break.
