Trade Deadline WS Contenders; Watson Suspension; Aaron Rodgers & DMT

30th Anniversary of Camden Yards

Let’s just keep pointing out that Tom was wrong, and getting “wronger” with every O’s win. He’s going to love the Yard on a cool September evening!

30 years of the “Ballpark that forever changed baseball” this week, and the O’s are on the upswing way ahead of schedule. The fanbase was upset, and a bit disillusioned, after the Manicni and Lopez trades, while the team is in the middle of a Wild Card Race. That being said, it was the right thing to do. The Orioles added six (6) arms to the system for two journeyman players - however sentimental one of those two may be. 

The Orioles will be fine, and the moves were smart and calculated to keep the process moving forward. They are still very much in the hunt with big series’ coming up against Tampa, Toronto, and Boston. We all loved Mancini, but we’ll love extended playoff runs and a World Series much, much more!

Around the MLB

The Padres loaded up and FLEECED the Washington Nationals for Juan Soto and Josh Bell. That team is lethal from top to bottom. They added Josh Hader, which pleases Tom, the Cardinals fan. Brandon Drury is absolutely raking all of a sudden. At this point, they’ve got to be a favorite to go the distance in the NL, even with the Dodgers lingering around. 

The Brewers don’t make sense, and the Cubs just did nothing so the Cardinals should be in control of the division at this point. They picked up some Starting Pitching to help out Wainwright and McCallis. Paul Goldschmidt is consistently playing great baseball, and hopefully his mid/late-season slump is a thing of the past. 

World Series Favorites

We’re at the 100-ish game mark and it looks like the picture is pretty clear heading towards the playoffs. The A.L. favorites have to be the Yankees, Astros, Blue Jays, behind them the Mariners, Twins, and Rays. Seattle is an interesting squad, but they have the Astros to deal with. The Yankees got stronger at the deadline with Montez in and Galo out. Benintendi is also an interesting pick-up with A.L. East pedigree. The Astros are absolutely cruising, too. Verlander is just…wow. 

The N.L. have the Padres, Dodgers, and Mets, followed closely behind by the Braves. The second tier is probably the Cardinals and/or Brewers. Each one got stronger at the deadline whether by health or by wealth, getting guys back and picking up missing pieces. The Mets got DeGrom back and he looked good. The Braves maybe could’ve used a starter, but the core is locked up and healthy. 

Hall of Fame Game

“Watching Mark Davis eat those chicken wings was something”, Tom says, and we tend to agree here. The whole presentation is just outrageous at this point. It has to be a gimmick, right?

The football was pretty average, because it’s the Hall of Fame game. Besides the whole “culture revolution” storyline, it did seem like the Jags are playing with a more upbeat attitude. The Urban Meyer effect was talked about a lot, but maybe there’s just a little bit there. Josh Jacobs got a lot of touches in an early pre-season game, which is interesting from the Raiders. It feels like they may not know where they’re going at RB at this point. The Jags will still be bad, but it maybe won’t be as bad. 

Deshaun Watson Sussy

6 Games; that’s the story. 6 Games for his “premeditated predatory behavior”, according to Sue Robinson. We have been saying this would probably be the outcome, but it’s still sort of surprising that this would be a decision. That being said, Sue Robinson admitted that she used the NFL’s own historical practice on these sorts of cases in making her decision. She only reviewed what the NFL provided which was 4 of 5 cases, one having been thrown out for lack of merit. The NFL clearly doesn’t like looking in the mirror.

Now the NFL is appealing her decision, her first decision, because it’s not what they wanted as an outcome. They tried to deflect with the Dolphins “tampering” thing, but nobody really cares. The NFL continues to be a joke with how they handle discipline for serious issues, and minor issues alike. 

Grab Bag

Aaron Rodgers got enlightened on some Ayahuasca and saw the universe’s inception, or whatever, but he’s always been pretty vocal about it. He says it changed his life and how he approached the game. Back-to-Back MVPs don't hurt that argument.

Lebron and the Lakers are still a thing. The Lakers are going to be absolutely terrible. The Athletic wrote an article about their closing 5 and Tom “threw up [in his] mouth” so Lebron’s just chasing Kareem now! 

Marquise Brown was arrested whipping around at 126 mph in a 65 the other day. He had a lot of complaints about his time in Baltimore, and it looks like he’s off to a hot start in Arizona. This is just bonehead behavior, we’ll see how the Cardinals handle it.