Big Trade In Queens

The offseason has started off with a bang for the New York Mets. A very big bang. The New York Mets sent outfielder Brandon Nimmo to the Texas Rangers in exchange for second baseman Marcus Semien.

There's so much to take in from this trade on Monday night.

Brandon Nimmo is going to be a huge addition to the Rangers outfield. He joins Wyatt Langford  and Evan Carter as the potential starting outfield for Texas. It's adding a good glove in the outfield and a solid bat to a team that finished at .500 last year and ended the year as a third place team in the AL West. Nimmo is coming off a career year last year with 25 homers and 92 RBI to add to what could possibly be a decent team next season that will improve in Texas.

Going back to New York is Marcus Semien, who is coming off a down year at the plate last year. HE had a very off year in Texas last season a few years after signing a massive deal with the Rangers back in 2021. The offensive numbers might not be there, at least they weren't at the end of last season. What makes up for it is his play in the field/ He's still a very good defensive second baseman, a spot in which the Mets have been trying to address for a couple seasons now.

There's still a few other issues the Mets need to address this offseason. Closer, and first base are the primary holes that now need to be looked at. But the one at second base, at least in theory, is taken care of by adding Semien to the mix. There's still work to be done by the Mets to improve on last years club, but this could be a start.

Nimmo did so much and gave so much of himself to this Mets franchise. Both on and off the field. He as a big presence in the community, doing quite a bit of charity work for the team and his community. You could tell he loved what he did away from the field. And on the field he had as much of an infectious personality that rubbed off on a lot of his teammates.

Does it sting to lose Nimmo? Sure it does. But as the old saying goes, you have to give something to get something/

Best & Worst NFL Week Eleven

Another week down around the National Football League, and what a week it was. We not even two thirds of the way through the season and what we saw last week looked almost like a playoff preview. Buffalo pulled it off in a wild one at home against Tampa. How about Chicago, by some late game heroics, walking away with its seventh win in eight weeks. There was so much to dive into from last weekend, lets not waste any more time. Here's some of the best, and worst, from the week that was in the NFL.

Best: Josh Allen, Quarterback Buffalo Bills
There was some that were looking at this game between the Bills and Bucs as a possible big game preview. And it turned out that was as Buffalo walked away with a 44-32 win at home, thanks in large part to the MVP level play of Josh Allen. This isn't going to be a typo, this actually went down. Josh Allen finished the day with a total of six touchdowns. He ran for three of them (on six total carries for 40 yards), and of course threw for three of them (going 19 of 30 for 317 and a couple of picks). He spread the ball around to ten different receivers on the day, keeping the Tampa defense on its heels all day long. Josh is starting to find a rhythm, if he can keep it up it will be a big boost for the BIlls going on a deep playoff run. 

Worst: Sam Darnold, Quarterback Seattle Seahawks
It is a fair statement to say that, for the most part, 2025 has been a good year in Seattle for Sam Darnold. This went out to prove that what we saw last year out of Sam in Minnesota was no fluke. However, in the Seattle 21-19 loss to the rival Rams, it kind of went a little backwards for Darnold. Sure, he threw for 279 yards, which is a pretty impressive number. But he only went 29 of 44 to reach those yard totals. Oh yeah, he threw four picks on the day too, and wasn't able to toss a touchdown pass. The turnover problem plagued Sam early on in his career, and it picked a bad time to rear its head again this week. Hopefully for him, and the Seahawks, it was just a one off bad week.

Best: Bryce Young, Quarterback Carolina Panthers
To be fair, when you think of the Panthers offense this season, it is the running game that gets talked about. And that's with fair reason. But on Sunday, in a 30-27 win over division rival Atlanta, it was Young and the passing about that was the talk of the day. He was sacked five times, which was the only downside to his game. But the upside was the rest of it. Going 31 of 45 for 448 yards and three touchdowns. Those 448 yards became a franchise record and lead them to a big win. It kept Carolina within striking distance of the Bucs, just one game back of Tampa for the division.

Worst: Kansas City Chiefs Magic
Usually when you think of the Kansas City Chiefs, you can generally hold out some hope that they are going to have some late game magic in them at any given week. Look at what they managed to do last year, going 15-2 and win a lot of their one score games. IN fact, they had gone on a 17 game winning streak in one score games. This year, they sit at 5-5, following a 22-19 loss to the Broncos in Denver. This year, they are 0-5 in those one score games.  I only make this note as we are a month and a half or so out from the start of the post season. With that, Kansas City doesn't seem to have quite the same mojo they once did. If they want to have any chance of a deep playoff run, they need to get it back.

Best: Sean Tucker, Running Back Tampa Bay Buccaneers
We touched on it earlier with the matchup between the Bucs and the Bills in Buffalo. Yes, it turned out to be a crappy afternoon for the Bucs and their fanbase, but it wasn't for lack of effort on the part of running back Sean Tucker. With Bucky Irving still being out, this was Tucker's chance to take advantage of more opportunities, and he took every bit of it. Tucker finished the afternoon with 20 total touches on the day, 140 scrimmage yards and three touchdowns. Two of the three came on the ground, thanks to 19 carries for 109 yards. He added another score thanks to two catches for 34 yards. He was as much of a factor in this game, almost pulling this one out and out performing Josh Allen.

Worst: Jalin Hyatt, Wide Receiver New York Giants
There had been some potential for Hyatt in the Giants passing attack. The former third round pick was expected to be a factor for the G-Men in that pass attack. New York managed to hang around with the Packers the entire day, before Green Bay walked away with a 27-20 win. The Giants had a shot late to tie the game, but Hyatt made a critical mistake, stopping short on a corner route in the endzone that allowed for the pass to be picked off. Sure, Hyatt took the heat for it in the postgame, and he took full accountability. but the chances of him getting a shot again to really make an impact with this Giants team may have just faded with that mistake.

Best & Worst NFL Week Nine

Week nine has come and gone in the NFL. It was a strange week, to say the least. Green Bay shockingly went cold, meanwhile Joe Flacco never seems to age. Even with dealing to an injury to CJ Stroud, Houston nearly came all the way back against the Broncos. There were a lot of fireworks that went off last week. And here's a look at some of the best, and worst, of week nine in the NFL.

Best: Brian Flores, Head Coach Minnesota Vikings
It is clear to anybody with a pair of eyes that the Minnesota Vikings have taken a bit of a step back from the team we saw a season ago. Minnesota was able to get themselves back to .500 with a 27-24 win over the Lions, a very impressive win at that. The offense didn't blow you away with their performance, but it was good enough to get the job done. What really impressed here was what the Vikings defense was able to do to the Lions running attack. Detroit was held to just 65 yards on the ground the entire day. Detangling the Lions' intricate offense allowed the Vikings to tee off on Jared Goff, who took five sacks as the offense converted just five of 17 third-down attempts. Credit has to go to the coaching staff and Brian Flores for being able to dial up the defense to not only shut down Detroit, but allow his own offense to be able to do what it had to do to put points on the board. Hats off to Flores for pulling it off.

Worst: Zac Taylor, Head Coach Cincinnati Bengals
The coaches can only call the plays, they can't make the players execute what is called. But what has gone down as of late for the Bengals, the seat for coach Zac Taylor has to be getting a little bit hotter by the week. In the Bengals 47-42 loss to the Bears, the team has given up over 500 yards for the third time this season. I know its not the same without Joe Burrow under center in Cincy. But even with a guy like Joe Flacco, who is somehow turning back the hands of time, scoring over 40 points for you and you still can't win. That's a big problem. Yes its on the Defense, but it also falls on the head coach as well for not getting his players in the right place and getting them to stop the opposition, its not going to do a damn bit of good. It falls on the coach.

Best: Rico Dowdle, Running Back Carolina Panthers
There's great running performances, then there's what Dowdle ahs done for Carolina the last two weeks. He's gone for a franchise record 473 yards from scrimmage over the last two weeks. This week, in the Panthers 16-13 win over the Packers, it was a big day from Rico to help power it. He had two catches for 11 yards, but more of note, he finished with 25 carries for 130 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Look at his numbers over the last five weeks. He has more than twenty carries in a game, he gets over 130 or more yards on the ground. It means one thing for the Panthers. You want to have a chance at a win, feed Rico the ball.

Worst: Patrick Mahomes, Quarterback Kansas City Chiefs
For whatever reason, Mahomes hasn't had luck against the Bills during the regular season. During the playoffs, when it really matters most, Mahomes gets the job done. but during the regular season, it's a much different story. Mahomes has now lost five straight games during the regular season against Buffalo. The Bills won 28-21 and Yes Mahomes threw for 250 yards, which is a good day for most. But it was a rough day for Mahomes. Buffalo's defensive front hit Mahomes more than a dozen times, sacking him thrice, and the secondary did its part, too, with Maxwell Hairston snagging a game-sealing pick. He took a bit of a beating. But there's a chance they could meet again come the playoffs, where it could be a totally different story.

Best: Cam Little, Kicker Jacksonville Jaguars
Being a kicker in the National Football League can be a bit of a fickle thing. At times you can be a hero, as was the case with Cam Little of the Jaguars. 46 times in NFL history has a kicker nailed a kick from 60 yards or more. Little became the 46th name on that list. he had hit one from 70 yards out, but that was during the preseason. On Sunday, he set the NFL record with a 68 yard kick in a 30-29 overtime win by the Jags over the Raiders. Which comes as a nice surprise considering he missed a couple of kicks over the last two weeks. But hitting this kick more than made up for it.

Worst: Parker Romo, Kicker Atlanta Falcons
While we have had guys hitting big kicks, we have the other end of the spectrum and Parker Romo. Romo had a bit of a tough situation, taking over for Younghoe Koo in Atlanta. And he started off great, hitting five straight kicks to start his time in Atlanta. Then the rug was kind of pulled out from under him. He missed three field goals since then. One of them was a huge extra point that was missed that proved to be the difference in Atlanta's 24-23 loss to New England. Romo has steadied in a little in Atlanta, but with the Falcons having very little margin for error, he needs to be a little more close to perfect as he can get.

Big Day In Big Apple

Trade deadline day came and went in the National Football League. but it wasn't without its splashes. The biggest ones being made by the New York Jets, who in two separate trades, got rid of some big names on the defensive side of the football.

It started off with a bang. First, they sent cornerback Sauce Gardner to the Indianapolis Colts for a 2026 first-round pick, a 2027 first-round pick and wide receiver Adonai Mitchell. Then, just moments later, shipped defensive tackle Quinnen Williams to the Dallas Cowboys in exchange for a 2026 second-round pick, a 2027 first-round pick and defensive tackle Mazi Smith.

With a team that sitting at 1-7 to this point, a fire sale was almost inventible. Odds of making the playoffs, or even having a winning season this year for the Jets was a long shot, and that's being nice. Both guys are big losses for Gang Green, but there is a little bit of hope for the future. At least that's what management is hoping for. The returns are massive for the Jets over the next two seasons, and could be more than that if the Jets continue the downward slide they are currently riding on. After the deals, the Jets are looking at two first and two second round picks in 2026 and three first round picks in 2027!

Does it suck to lose two really good defenders in these trades? Yes it does. At the same time, as stated before, the team was going nowhere this season. They had an opportunity to be able to get rid of pieces that could bring in more draft capital for the next season and beyond. Either they use the picks and really be able to build a contending team going forward, or they can trade the picks again for a guy who's in their prime right now. Smart move would be to use the draft picks for themselves and start building a different, and winning, culture right now.

This also goes to show what kind of faith management has in Aaron Glenn, Darren Mougey and the rest of the staff staff. His first year has been a disaster, that's a given and was kind of expected with the talent that was here. now it gives the team a chance to add more capital and try to build going forward to being a contender. At least that's the hope after making all these moves.

Back To Back In LA

It was so nice in Los Angeles, they decide to do it twice! For the first time since the turn of the century, we have a team that has won back to back World Series championships, as the Los Angeles Dodgers knocked off the Toronto Blue Jays in seven games. This marks the 2nd consecutive title for the Dodgers, third in the last six seasons, and ninth in franchise history.

And there's a lot of interesting notes to take out of this series.

We went into the series saying that good pitching will always beat good hitting, and that's what the Dodgers did as the series went along, at least when it mattered the most. The Jays out hit and out scored the Dodgers as the series moved along. Scoring over the course of the series was 34-26 in favor of Toronto, as was hits,75 to 53 in favor of the Jays. Toronto woke up in the opener of the series, and then again in games four and five. They managed to knock around Blake Snell in both of his starts as during the course of the series. Then there's the play of series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto. He went 3-0 in this series alone, with a 1.02 ERA in 17.2 innings and striking out 17 total hitters. He managed to pitch in game seven, after having pitched before in game six. That's what turned the tide in the series. Los Angeles couldn't do much in the way of hitting as the series went along, but they got it done when it mattered the most.

It's been 25 years since we had a repeat champion. The Yankees were the last team to do it, having won three in a row from 1998-2000. It's one of the hardest things in sports to do, repeating as champions. The Dodgers managed to pull it off, and win their third in six seasons. And to make this season seem a little more amazing is that the Dodgers managed to do it with the injury bug hitting the rotation early on in the season. By the time they got to the playoffs, the pitching staff was at full strength.

And not to take anything away from what the Blue Jays did in this series. They managed to have those bats come through at key moments in this series. And this Jays team has a bright future to come back on another deep run, as most of the lineup is in tact for next year. Bo Bichette is the only big name from this team that's set to hit the free agent market as of this writing. So there's plenty of hope that the Jays could get back there again next season. They were just out done by the better team in this one, when it mattered the most.

And if you're like me, this World Series had a ton of first or records that were set or broken. Toronto's pinch hitter Addison Barger hit the first pinch-hit grand slam in World Series history in Game 1. Game 3 lasted 18 innings, tying the record for longest World Series game by innings, tied with Game 3 of the 2018 World Series. It also became the second-longest World Series game in terms of time (behind the same 2018 game). Toronto's utility player Ernie Clement broke the record for most hits in a single postseason with 30. Additionally, the Dodgers were the first team ever to trail in the 9th inning of a World Series Game 7 on the road and come back to win, with Rojas and Smith setting Game 7 home run firsts in the 9th and in extra innings.

Congratulations to the Dodgers on winning the World Series!