End of An Era For Baseball

Officiating a sport is a very tough thing to do, no matter the sport. If you get lucky enough, you can make it all the way to the pro level as the person controlling the action. If you make a name for yourself, that says a lot about what you've done at your job. More often than not that's a good thing. Unless your name is Angel Hernandez, then you get ripped.

Angel has been an umpire in Major League Baseball now since 1991. He worked from 1991 to 1999 strictly for the National League. Ever since 2000, Angel has worked in both leagues. And after all this time, Angel has called it a career and retired.

To which most players and fans all say the same thing. THANK GOD!

I will say this much for Angel. If he had been able to stay in Baseball  for thirty three years as a Major League Umpire, he must have done something right. To have that kind of longevity, you have to be somewhat good at what your doing. There have been some good Umpires over the years who's names you know. Jim Joyce (outside of blowing the Galaraga perfect game call), Durwood Merril, Greg Gibson, Bill Kelm, Cal Hubbaard all come to mind. Hernandez does too, but not for the same reasons.

More often than not, when people say the name Angel Hernandez, its usually met with some kind of disgust. From both fans and players alike. What Angel was known for was his horrible calls. Whether it was out on the field or badly missing balls and strikes behind home plate. It was all the same. Many around the game considered him one of the worst to ever do it.

To be fair, Angel was never actually considered the worst MLB umpire, according to MLB's statistical studies and reports. The court of public opinion however, which does include players and fans alike, begs to differ. To many, nobody missed more calls behind home plate than he did.

So Angel can now ride off into the sunset and into retirement.

Basketball Legend Passes

When the name Bill Walton gets brought up, it usually puts a smile on peoples faces. To call him one of a kind would be an understatement. He practically did it all on the floor. And he was even better human off the floor. After dealing with a long battle with Cancer, Bill Walton passed away on Monday at the age of 71.

The career numbers speak for themselves. In College: 2x NCAA Champion, 2x NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player, 3x National College Player of the Year, 3x First-Team All American, 1993 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Inductee. In the Pros: 6,215 points, 4,923 rebounds, 1,590 assists, 2× NBA champion (1977, 1986), NBA Finals MVP (1977), NBA Most Valuable Player (1978), 2× NBA All-Star (1977, 1978), All-NBA First Team (1978), All-NBA Second Team (1977), 2× NBA All-Defensive First Team (1977, 1978), NBA Sixth Man of the Year (1986), NBA rebounding leader (1977), NBA blocks leader (1977).

When Walton's playing career finished up, he took on as second life in basketball. He became a color commentator for national broadcasts for CBS in 1990. He then went to work for the LA Clippers and NBC calling games for both from 1990 until 2002. He then moved to ABC till 2009.

His playing exploits are well documented. But there was so much more to Bill Walton than that. He loved living life as much as he loved playing basketball. He had such a great personality and positivity about living and life.

He will be greatly missed by one and all!

Stanley Cup Conference Finals Preview

And now there are four. Four teams left standing for a shot at hockey's ultimate prize. Dallas, Edmonton, New York and Florida. That's who's left. All Four teams in search of glory. Dallas last won the big one in 1999, Edmonton hasn't won since 1990, New York in 1994 and Florida never. So there's plenty to talk about going into the final four. So with that being said, lets get right into it. Here's how we see things going down in the conference finals.

Eastern Conference Finals
(M1) New York Rangers vs (A1) Florida Panthers
For the 2nd year in a row the Panthers have made it all the way to the conference finals. As a matter of fact, this marks the 5th year in a row that the conference finals will be played in the state of Florida. And the Panthers are building off wins over the Lightning and Bruins in the opening two rounds of the playoffs. Sergei Bobrovsky has played very well in the Panthers nets during the playoffs, reminding everybody why he got the contract that he did when he signed as a free agent. And when you got Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Reinhart having not only fantastic regular season, but they are delivering now in the playoffs as well. Adding a huge output in the playoffs have been Carter Verhaeghe and Aleksander Barkov as well. It's been a balanced Panther team getting back to the conference finals.

But they going up against a Rangers team that was the best team in hockey during the regular season. And they continued to show it by beating the Capitals and Hurricanes in the opening two rounds. Igor Shesterkin has been just as impressive during his starts as Bobrovsky in the post season. Whena it comes to this time of the year, you not only want your best offensive players playing that way, but you want to role guys to produce as well. That's what's been happening with the Rangers over the course of the first two rounds. Sure, you got guys like Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin are producing, no surprise there. But you also getting the role guys like Chris Kreider and Vincent Trocheck scoring over the first two rounds.

It's going to be a very hard fought series, but at the end of the day, the best team in the league will come out on top.

Pick: Rangers in 6!

Western Conference Finals
(C1) Dallas Stars vs (P2) Edmonton Oilers
Edmonton is looking to be the first Canadian franchise to hoist the Cup over its head since Montreal all the way back in 1993. This is the 11th time for Edmonton in the conference finals, as they look to reach the finals for the first time since 2006. Stuart Skinner has been fantastic in the playoffs for the Oilers this year. It also helps when you have the four leading scorers in the playoffs going into this semifinal round playing on the same club. Those four guys just so happen to be Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid, Evan Bouchard, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. They have the balance and firepower to be able to go the distance this year. Question is can the goaltending hold up in this round?

That's what gives Dallas the edge in this series. Jake Oettinger has been outstanding in these playoffs, as he's lead Dallas to knock off wins over both Vegas and Colorado. You got a mix up front of vets and young guns who have been coming up big in the big moments during the post season. Joe Pavelski, Roope Hintz, Jason Robertson, Wyatt Johnston, Miro Heiskanen and numerous others have been the big driving force for the Stars in the first two rounds.

Sure Edmonton may have the greater firepower up front, but its the back end where Dallas has the advantage.

Pick: Stars in 6!

2024 NFL Schedule Released

Its time to start marking the calendars. The 2024 NFL schedule is out and we now have Sundays set from early September till the middle of February.

Before we dive into the schedules for the teams we cover here on the show, here's some of the big time games on the schedule from around the rest of the league.

Week 1: Ravens @ Chiefs AFC title game rematch
Week 2: Steelers @ Broncos Wilson against his former club
Week 2: Bears @ Texans Caleb Williams vs CJ Stroud
Week 7: Chiefs @ 49ers Super Bowl Rematch
Week 12: Ravens @ Chargers the Battle of the Harbaughs on the sidelines
Week 17: Lions @ 49ers NFC title game rematch

Now that we got that out of the way, here's what we been looking for. The full regular season schedules for the teams we cover here on the show.

September 8th vs Washington 4:25PM (FOX)
September 15th @ Detroit 1PM (FOX)
September 22nd vs Denver 1PM (FOX)
September 29th vs Philadelphia 1PM (FOX)
October 3rd @ Atlanta 8:15PM (PRIME)
October 13 @ New Orleans 1PM (FOX)
October 21st vs Baltimore 8:15PM (ESPN)
October 27th vs Atlanta 1PM (FOX)
November 4th @ Kansas City 8:15PM (ESPN)
November 10th vs San Francisco 1PM (FOX)
BYE WEEK
November 24th @ NY Giants 1PM (CBS)
December 1st @ Carolina 4:05PM (FOX)
December 8th vs Las Vegas 1PM (CBS)
December 15th @ LA Chargers 4:25PM (FOX)
December 22nd @ Dallas 8:20PM (NBC)
December 29th vs Carolina 1PM (CBS)
January 5th vs New Orleans TBD

September 8th vs Minnesota 1PM (FOX)
September 15th @ Washington 1PM (FOX)
September 22nd @ Cleveland 1PM (FOX)
September 26th vs Dallas 8:15PM (PRIME)
October 6th @ Seattle 4:25PM (CBS)
October 13th vs Cincinnati 8:20PM (NBC)
October 20th vs Philadelphia 1PM (FOX)
October 28th @ Pittsburgh 8:15PM (ESPN)
November 3rd vs Washington 1PM (FOX)
November 10th vs Carolina 9:30AM (NFL NET)
BYE WEEK
November 24th vs Tampa Bay 1PM (CBS)
November 28th @ Dallas 4:30PM (FOX)
December 8th vs New Orleans 1PM (FOX)
December 15h vs Baltimore 1PM (CBS)
December 22nd @ Atlanta 1PM (FOX)
December 29th vs Indianapolis TBD
January 5th @ Philadelphia TBD

September 9th @ San Francisco 8:20PM (ESPN)
September 15th @ Tennessee 1PM (CBS)
September 19th vs New England 8:15PM (PRIME)
September 29th vs Denver 1PM (CBS)
October 6th vs Minnesota 9:30AM (NFL NET)
October 14th vs Buffalo 8:15PM (ESPN)
October 20th @ Pittsburgh 8:20PM (NBC)
October 27th @ New England 1PM (CBS)
October 31st vs Houston 8:15PM (PRIME)
November 10th @ Arizona 4:25PM (CBS)
November 17th vs Indianapolis 8:20PM (NBC)
BYE WEEK
December 1st vs Seattle 1PM (FOX)
December 8th @ Miami 1PM (CBS)
December 15 @ Jacksonville 1PM (FOX)
December 22nd vs LA Rams 1PM (CBS)
December 29th @ Buffalo 1PM (CBS)
January 5th vs Miami TBD

Injury Impact On Baseball

You never want to see any athlete get hurt. When you play sports, you have to understand going into action that injuries are a part of the game. Wilson Contreras is no stranger to that. The Cardinals catcher has had his fair share playing the game. He had gotten off to a hot start for the Cardinals, but now will be out of action for the next ten weeks.

Why? 

He got hit in the forearm from a swing by J.D. Martinez of the Mets, fracturing his arm.

How did this happen? Well it has to do with Contreras, and a lot of other catchers around baseball, moving up closer to the plate in order to better frame pitches and try and "steal" strikes from umpires. There is a reason stuff like this his happening. IN an article written earlier this season from the Athletic, it explains this a little bit better. 

Per the Athletic: Weeks before Opening Day this season, Major League Baseball sent a memo to all 30 clubs highlighting a rise in catcher’s interference. The instances of catchers being struck by the bats of opposing hitters were rising rapidly. Catcher’s interference was called 94 times in 2023, nearly 20 more times than in 2022. What was causing the dramatic uptick? Catchers kept moving closer to the plate. In the era of pitch framing, teams deduced that the closer a catcher is to receiving a pitch, the better chance he has to “steal” a strike.

What impact could this have on the game? well for one thing, maybe baseball can keep catchers a little more back in the catchers box so that way they aren't interfering in the hitters swing. Yes, that will make it a little harder to frame pitches. Pitch framing has been around in the game of baseball forever it seems. It just seems like its more prominent in today's game because of the umpiring.

There have been times, and this has been documented by the television coverage of games, that the umpires are getting calls wrong on the location of balls and strikes. Calling a game as an umpire isn't an easy job. You have to make a call in a split second, and you don't have access to replay, like the viewer does. If that were the case, it would slow the game down a lot more. Yes that would make sure there's more accuracy in the calls, but length of game would slow down more. Which is something that baseball is trying to speed up as it is (that's another debate in and of itself).

As for calling balls and strikes, there's been debate for quite some time now as to whether or not their should be an automated strike zone from a camera in center field. That could work, but the system will never be perfect, no matter how hard you try. There will still be an umpire behind the plate to make the physical call, and make calls on fair foul and plays at the plate. But there is something that needs to be done in order to prevent injuries to catchers ion the game.

New Record Holder In Tampa Bay

For the last twenty six season, the Tampa Bay Rays have been exciting baseball fans on the west coast of Florida. For the last ten of those years, Kevin Cash has been the man leading the charge. He took over the job here in Tampa on December 5th, 2014, replacing Joe Maddon. On Saturday night in a 3-1 win over the New York Mets, Cash passed Maddon to become the winningest manager in Rays history.

Cash was hired as the 5th manager in Rays history in 2014 and now sit atop the list with 756 wins (he added another win to that total with a walk off win earlier today over the Mets). Cash and Maddon are the only men to manage over 1,000 games for the Rays.

The managers that this team has had are Larry Rothschild (499 games 209 wins), Hal McRae (309 games and 113 wins), Lou Piniella (489 games and 200 wins), Joe Maddon 1,459 games and 754 wins) and Cash 1,357 games and 756 and counting wins).

The first three managers did what they could with what they had. It got baseball into the bay area, it just wasn't very good baseball. Maddon came in and left behind a very good team and got the Rays on the map in a sense. Kevin Cash then took that and raised that bar even higher. No it hasn't translated into a World Championship just yet, but its gotten them to a new level of consistency with this club.

Kevin Cash has been able to take what he can get out of the talent that he has and is able to find wins. It hasn't been able to translate to wins come October, except for the 2020 World Series run. He always finds a way to get done what he has to do.

During his first four years as Rays skipper, Cash missed the playoffs each time, with records of 80-82, 68-94, 82-80, 90-72. Then the better years, and playoff appearances started to roll in. The next years saw wins totals on 96, 40 (covid shortened year), 100, 86, and 99. The only downside is the last two years have been playoff appearances, but no wins in October. That's bound to change at some point.

Cash had done some pretty great things for baseball in the Tampa Bay area, and more is on the way.

Stanley Cup First Round Picks

Today's the day. We started this journey with 32 teams back in October. Now after a& grueling 82 game schedule for all of those teams, we have sixteen left standing. The ultimate prize is two months from now and its the Stanley Cup. The best of the bunch will be the one holding the trophy over its head at the end of this run.

So lets not waste any more time. Here's how we see the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs going down.

A1 Florida Panthers vs WC1 Tampa Bay Lightning
For just the 3rd time in history, we get a battle of Florida in the playoffs. Tampa has won the last two series and there's strong faith in Nikita Kucherov and his superior level of play this year. There's some questions behind him Point and Stamkos in the offensive depth. And there is some worry about the play of Andrei Vasilevskiy. He hasn't looked like himself at times this season. Florida has one of the best goaltending tandoms in the league this season and they have a balanced scoring attack. Vasy may steal a game or two and Kucherov could have a big series. At the end of the day the Panthers depth could win out.

Pick: Panthers in 6!

A2 Boston Bruins vs A# Toronto Maple Leafs
Auston Matthews is coming off having a monster year in his own right for the Leafs. He finished with 69 goals, the highest total in the league since 1996. The Leafs have been rolling and have scoring depth to match. But they still have questions in my mind between the pipes for a deep playoff run. Boston is coming in on a mission, trying to get rid of the bad taste in their mouth from last year. Boston has one of the best one two punches in net this year and they have scoring to match it.

Pick: Bruins in 7!

M1 New York Rangers vs WC2 Washington Capitals
Talk about two teams coming in as sort of polar opposites into the playoffs. The Rangers come is as the Presidents trophy winners with 54 wins (which is a franchise record) and 114 points. Washington came in as the last wild card spot with 91 points and a negative goal differntial this year. They backed into the playoffs and haven't looked very good this year. Rangers looked like a well oiled machine this should be a quick series

Pick: Rangers in 5!

M2 Carolina Hurricanes vs M3 New York Islanders
Carolina has been a solid team from wire to wire this season. The Islanders looked, at stretches this year, like a team that was going to bottom out this season. They got hot at the right time near the end of the year to get into the playoffs. New York has blown over 20 games where they have leads in the 3rd period. Sure they have [played much better under head coach Patrick Roy, but there really isn't much hope going in. They may steal a game or two this series, but it's going to be the same result as the first round matchup last year.

Pick: Hurricanes in 6!

C1 Dallas Stars vs WC2 Vegas Golden Knights
Vegas is back to defend their title, an d the first hurtle on that title defense is the best team in the West the Dallas Stars. Vegas has the experience of doing this last year, and they get help at the start of this playoff run. They get Thomas Hertl off LTIR and into the lineup. Vegas will be without Mark Stone for the playoffs, who's been dealing with injury since February. Dallas is one of the most balanced and deep teams left standing and they have the solid goaltending that could get them far into the post season.

Pick: Stars in 5!

C2 Winnipeg Jets vs C3 Colorado Avalanche
This is gonna be a fun matchups between one of the best scorers in the league and one of the best goalies in the game. Nathan MacKinnon finished second in the NHL in scoring this year, behind only Nikita Kucherov. He Rantanin and Makar lead the offensive charge. After that the scoring totals per player drop off. And not to take anything away from Alexandar Georgiev, but the guy at the other end of the ice in Connor Hellebuyck has been slightly better this year. This is going to be a tough series, but the depth in Winnipeg wins out.

Pick: Jets in 6!

P1 Vancouver Canucks vs WC1 Nashville Predators
What's really intriguing about this series is going to be the battle between the pipes. Jussi Saros against Thatcher Demko.  Give credit where it's due up front, Nashville does have some high powered weapons and a touch more scoring depth. Where the Canucks have the edge is the better defensive game and their high powered weapons top that of what's in the Music City.

Pick: Canucks in 5!

P2 Edmonton Oilers vs P3 Los Angeles Kings
Credit has to be given where its due in Los Angeles, the have a pretty balanced scoring attack. But lets face facts here, you going against the best offensive one-two punch in the game right now. Sure, Conor McDavid got off to a slow start by his standards. But by the time all was said and done, he was playing like a man possessed. And Stuart Skinner has turned another fine season in while tending goal in Edmonton. What has me worried going past round one is can he carry that all the way to a title?

Pick: Oilers in 5!