Friday, October 2, 2020

Sports this 'n' that

Fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers & Tennessee Titans will have to wait three weeks before their teams meet.

Sunday's game has been pushed back to October 25, due to a number of Titans players and personnel testing positive for COVID-19. The Steelers had a bye week, and moved a game that was scheduled for the 25th to November 1, so, essentially, this week's postponement gives the Steelers their bye week now as they chase Baltimore for the AFC North title.

Meanwhile, winless Minnesota has had only negative tests for the virus as they prepare for Sunday's game against Houston. If the shortened baseball season has taught us anything, recovering from the virus could give the Titans additional incentive going forward.
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The American League Division Series are now set, and by the end of business tonight, so will the National League Division Series.

In the AL, as you know by now, East rivals Tampa Bay and the Yankees will renew hostilities at Petco Park in San Diego on Monday. The division champion Rays went 8-2 vs. the Bombers this year, but New York has regained some momentum after sweeping Cleveland. The Yankees are healthy going into the series, and will have Gerrit Cole pitching game 1.

Karma being what it is, Houston will play their division series against AL West champion Oakland at Dodger Stadium, and there are still some folks salty over how Houston defeated the Dodgers in the World Series three years ago.

Los Angeles, on the other hand, will be at Minute Maid Park to play either St. Louis or San Diego, and they'll know their opponent later tonight. Sometimes, irony is a wonderful thing.

The other NLDS will be a NL East throwdown between division champion Atlanta and surprising Miami, which swept the Chicago Cubs earlier today. A point of emphasis for Atlanta is to continue their stellar run of pitching, after a historic shutout sweep of Cincinnati. As we noted over at Tri-City SportsBeat, Shenendehowa grad Ian Anderson, 0-1 with a no decision in 2 starts vs. Miami last month, righted his own ship against the Reds:


The Marlins & Braves will have at it in Arlington. Predictions coming on Sunday.
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It didn't take long for Glenn "Doc" Rivers to find another job.

After being fired by the Los Angeles Clippers earlier this week, Rivers was quickly signed by the Philadelphia 76ers, bringing him back to the NBA's Eastern Conference. Predictably, America's Idiot Savant, Screamin' A. Cosell (Stephen A. Smith) is venting for all the wrong reasons. Let's put it this way. Smith, as usual, has no clue what he's talking about, and that's what he's paid to do.
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After Ron Gardenhire retired last month, the Detroit Tigers plan to reach out to suspended managers A. J. Hinch and Alex Cora about the vacancy, despite the fact that Cora might just be on a short list to return to Boston after a year off. I honestly think those two could still be toxic in 2021, and may need another year or two before beginning reclamation projects.

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