Tuesday, October 06, 2015

WHAT ARE THE ODDS?

This is it: the final 10 teams. I won't post any odds on the teams because that's more a function of
betting than the actual strength of the teams. Remember, any professional team, regardless of it's regular season record, can get hot and ride that streak for the next 4 weeks.
Here are my thoughts on the possibilities of each team to win it all, from most likely to "how-did-they-get-in?"

1) St Louis Cardinals - Injuries don't bother them, slumps don't bother them, hot teams don't scare them, somehow they always seem to be there.
2) Toronto Blue Jays  - They got hot, stayed hot and they have the scariest lineup in the postseason
3) New York Mets  - The best pitching of the ten. The rule is: "Good Pitching Stops Good Hitting" A NY/Toronto series would be verrrry interesting.
4) Pittsburgh Pirates  - Gritty team, very gritty. They don't seem to know when they're beaten.
5) Kansas City Royals  - A talented group but they won't surprise anyone this year. Their young players will find out how hard it is to repeat success.
6) Chicago Cubs  - The Cinderella team of the year. Joe Madden may still have some tricks up his sleeve. It wouldn't surprise me if he brought Steve Bartman into the clubhouse. No shock if they were to win it all.
7) Los Angeles Dodgers  - They should be higher, but this team underachieves every year. They are very talented but Don Mattingly doesn't seem to know how to use it.
8) Texas Rangers  - They ended strong, but they're a flawed team.
9) New York Yankees  - If they hit, they will beat up a lot of teams...but they won't hit. They should be #10 but, I'm a Yankee fan
10) Houston Astros  - A young unknown team. I don't think they even know how they got here. The plan was for them to make a move next year, but here they are. With Keuchel pitching, they will probably advance at least to the next round.

Everybody has their favorites and their own idea of the results, and these are mine. If I was smart enough to really know how this would turn out, I wouldn't be writing this blog; I'd be sitting in an easy chair in a Vegas casino, eating open-faced prime rib sandwiches and drinking scotch. How's that sound, Fran?

Brad Dickson's Bottom Ten
4. UCF (0-5): At halftime, the Knights’ marching band spelled out “Enough Already!”
8. Miami (Ohio) (1-4): Miami lost to Kent State in a game that you’re not allowed to show POWs according to the Geneva Conventions.
10. Texas State (1-3): Pessimistic fans have been spotted waving signs reading: “Just wait till the year after next year or maybe the one after that.”

Too bad about CC Sabathia. He wasn't going to be the #1 vital cog in the postseason for the Yanks, but he always gave everything he had every time he went out there. We wish him luck.

***THEY SAID IT***
"What’s the big deal about pitcher Jonathan Papelbon trying to wring teammate Bryce Harper’s neck? The Nationals have spent the last three years choking"  -- RJ Currie
"Yankees pitcher C.C. Sabathia has checked himself into alcohol rehab. Shocking. Not that an athlete goes to rehab, but he does it without being arrested first."  -- Janice Hough
"After only four games, the Miami Dolphins have axed head coach Bill Philbin. I guess Philbin now sleeps with the fishes"  -- Marc Ragovin
"Jonathan Papelbon arrested after strangling man with 17 grocery items in ‘15 items or less’ line."  -- SportsPickle.com
"Grateful Dead fans are petitioning the NFL for the group to perform at halftime of the Super Bowl. This is a terrific idea, if you don’t mind a 7-hour halftime show.This would allow me to realize my longtime dream of witnessing a Super Bowl second half where everyone is playing with a contact high."  -- Brad Dickson
"That ball is so far left, Lassie couldn’t find it even if it was wrapped in bacon."  -- golf commentator David Feherty
"The Hot New Thing every quarterback has to have: eye discipline. How do QBs develop that? I don’t know. Take their wives to the beach?"  -- Scott Ostler
"Orlando’s Basement bar is offering free beer until Central Florida’s 0-4 football team wins a game.
Coincidence? The Knights’ top-selling jersey has the number .08 on it."  -- Dwight Perry
" Pete Rose met with MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred on Monday. Neither party would reveal what was discussed, but an unnamed source claims that they both agreed that the Toronto Blue Jays would be 3-2 favorites to win The World Series."  -- TC Chong
"Reuters reports mathematicians used a unique formula to prove a 17th-century emperor fathered 888 children in just 30 years. He also excelled at basketball."  -- RJ Currie
"The Aksarben Rodeo was just held in Omaha. The World-Herald assigned its rodeo expert. Our “rodeo expert” is a guy who once rode a mechanical bull in a Dallas nightclub after two vodka gimlets."  -- Brad Dickson

CP-


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