Month: October 2024

We’re approaching the final weekend of the baseball season, and a lot remains up in the air, with several playoff spots still yet to be clinched. At an individual level, the awards races are plenty hot, too — so much so that with only a few days left in the season, these awards picks feel less than final. On most of them, there’s not going to be a clear-cut “right answer” for who wins, so it’ll be very interesting to see how it all plays out. For now, with the caveat in mind that someone can change things with a big final weekend, here are the choices for baseball’s 2020 awards. National League MVP The easiest way to start here is to look at the leaderboards for wins above replacement by the two major formulas for the stat — Baseball-Reference (bWAR) and Fangraphs (fWA…

There were 33 minutes on the clock at Wembley when Gareth Southgate decided that he had to do something before England descended into the kind of demented, frazzled state not seen in a major tournament since Brazil’s implosion in their World Cup semi-final against Germany seven years ago.

Southgate being Southgate, a rather restrained gesture followed. There was no bellowing, no flinging of the arms, no rage as he plotted a way back into the semi-final. After all, it was a time for composure. England were a goal down to a smart and dangerous Denmark, their run of clean sheets ended by Mikkel Damsgaard’s beautiful free-kick, and they were in danger of a total systems meltdown, especially with Jordan Pickford overly pumped and in too much …

Manchester City host Arsenal on Saturday with the teams level on points, City having played a game more. The chance to take the advantage in the race for Champions League qualification is on the line, with the Gunners third and City outside the UWCL places in fourth. Both clubs will also retain hope of winning the title. City still have to travel to Arsenal in the league and their 1-0 extra-time defeat at Arsenal in the Continental Cup semi-final on Wednesday showed the tightness of the margin between the teams. What did we learn from that encounter, what can we expect on Saturday and what could decide the outcome?

Chelsea land Lyon as Arsenal draw Bayern in Women’s Champions LeagueRead more

Nullifying City�…

Eddie and Paul are at war. Eddie may leave for England. But hold on a minute, Paul is close to walking out. No, scrub that, seems like they’ve called a truce and it will be all smiles at Wolves on Sunday.

Events at Newcastle have been nothing if not confusing lately but the latest twist, a rapprochement between the manager, Eddie Howe, and the sporting director, Paul Mitchell, appears genuine. For the moment at least everyone is on their best behaviour and fathoming out the best way of signing Marc Guéhi from Crystal Palace in January.

‘I’ve shown I can do it’: Carsley shrugs off talk of impossible job with EnglandRead more

Mitchell’s failure to buy the England centre-half became a running sore, scarring h…

We’ll get the “motherfuck” possibilities out of the way at the top, and perhaps immediately speaking to them will hold them off for a little while longer. But they will happen. 1. The NL Central is complete clown-shoes, and no matter how bad the St. Louis Cardinals play they’ll never be out of it. 2. We know they’re going to go on some ridiculous streak where they win 24 games in two weeks somehow and charge up the lifeless standings of the division. These are givens. Which is why it’s good to laugh at the Cards when you can, and we’re coming back for a second helping! St. Louis got caught up in the recent upward momentum of the Cincinnati Reds this weekend after the call-up of Elly De La Cruz and his ability to turn a baseball into putty, losing two of three at home. Tha…

The Indianapolis Colts are now Gardner Minshew's team for at least four games — and possibly longer. With No. 4 overall pick Anthony Richardson (throwing shoulder) placed on injured reserve, Minshew can remind his former team about his skills when the Colts visit the Jacksonville Jaguars in an AFC South battle on Sunday. Minshew spent two seasons (2019-20) with Jacksonville and passed for 37 touchdowns against only 11 interceptions in 23 games (20 starts) while producing outbreaks of "Minshew Mania." But the Jaguars weren't a good club, received the No. 1 overall pick of the 2021 draft and selected fellow quarterback Trevor Lawrence. Lawrence and Minshew spent a lot of time together in the offseason and training camp, but when it became clear Lawrence was read…