Mad Max Meets New York

As a Mets fan I never thought I would ever see the day. They had one of the best pitchers in the game in their rotation already in Jacob deGrom. They had a chance to bring Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz both back to Queens, but ended up losing out on both. That must have fired owner Steve Cohen up. He went out and got on the phone to Max Scherzer and his people. As of this writing, there's still some details to be worked out but, according top reports the Mets have locked up Scherzer to a three year deal with $130 million.

Of course, the details are still being worked on but it looks like a done deal. This is huge for the Mets.

Last year, at age 36, Scherzer went 15-4 with a 2.36 ERA between the Nationals and Dodgers. The guy has three Cy Young awards. Mad max has had a pretty good career too. He has a record of 190-97 with a 3.16 ERA over 14 seasons. He has 3,020 strikeouts, which ranks 18th on the all-time list. He's good, scary good. New York has deGrom and Scherzer at the top of the rotation and they could be scary good.

This is a big move for a Mets team to try and get back into contention. They are a team that had a division lead and it all fell apart, allowing the Braves to take the division and the rest is history. There's still a lot of work to be done for the Mets, like needing help in the bullpen and at the plate. But this is a massive signing for New York and will be a huge improvement and moving up into contention.

I only have one real reservation about this. I just worry that with all the money Scherzer got paid, and the fact that he's 37 years old, we won't see the best out of him. Meaning that we overpaid for an underperforming talent. Again my fears may be a little exaggerated, but you just never know. Still I have a strong feeling that the fears aren't going to come to lite and we, as Mets fans, are going to get exactly what ownership paid for with Max and be just fine.

Are the Mets a World Series contender? Too early to tell still. Are they closer now then they were a few months ago? Yes, yes they are.

Best & Worst NFL Week Eleven

Week eleven has come and gone in the NFL, which saw a mixed bag of performances. We had big upsets and performances, looking at you Colts and Justin Jefferson. Then we also have some bad performances as well, Tim Boyle raise your hand. All three teams in the state of New York laid an egg this weekend, while Green Bay and Kansas City found more of their footing again. All in all, a solid weekend of NFL action. That being said, here's a look at some of the best, and worst, from week eleven.

Best: Jonathan Taylor, Running Back Indianapolis Colts
Another week, another dominating performance by Jonathan Taylor. He's starting to really put his name into the MVP conversation with his performance during the Colts 41-15 over the Bills. Taylor had 32 carries for 185 yards and four touchdowns. He added a 5th touchdown, with three catches for 19 yards. He had over 200 yards with five touchdowns on the day, and doing it against a pretty good Bills team. Oh and those five total touchdowns were the first time ever that a Colts player has done that. He's been doing this since Wentz has struggled. They are going to need him to come up big over the next few games, playing the Bucs, Texans, Patriots and Cards.

Worst: Buffalo Bills
Talk about a Jeckyll and Hyde team. Buffalo got spanked by the Colts 41-15. This was a test for the Bills, having faced bad football teams the last three weeks. They went up against a red holt Colts team, and it didn't end well, as listed above. Facts are Buffalo was supposed to be, along with Kansas City, near the top of the heap in the AFC. At times they have shown it. And at times like last week, they look like they totally out of sync.

Best: Kirk Cousins, Quarterback Minnesota Vikings
Talk about having yourself a day. In a big division matchup against the Packers, Minnesota pulled off a major upset, with a 34-31 win over Green Bay. Cousins was a big factor in that, as he outplayed Aaron Rogers. Sure, Rogers put up outstanding numbers, so did Cousins. Kirk went 24 of 25 for 345 yards and three touchdowns. His 128 passer rating stands out as well. He's keeping the Vikings alive in the races and gave the Pack a serious run for their money on Sunday.

Worst: Tim Boyle, Quarterback Detroit Lions
When your being consider a worse quarterback in the NFL then Nathan Peterman, something isn't quite right. Enter Tim Boyle, who took over for an injured Jared Geoff as the Lions starter on Sunday. Detroit lost 13-10 to Cleveland and Boyle was beyond horrible. 77 total passing yards on the day. SEVENTY SEVEN. And he was picked off twice, which is all that he seems he can do. And this was a winable game for the Lions too, who had 136 rush yards from D'Andre Swift. But because the quarterback play was so horrible, this game ended the way it did. I mean there's bad, but this is just horrible levels of bad. There's a reason why he never got playing time in Green Bay.

Best: Colt McCoy, Quarterback Arizona Cardinals
For a guy who is 35 years old, Colt is still a pretty good ball player. He powered the Cardinals to a 23-13 win over Seattle. McCoy showed that he could still make plays at his age, and he made some plays in the vein of Cards regular starter Kyler Murray. Colt finished going 32 of 44 for 328 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He's now 3-0 as a starter in his career against Seattle, whereas he's won a total of 7 games against the rest of the league. No idea what it is that allows McCoy to perform this well against the Seahawks, but he always finds a way to.

Worst: Russel Wilson Quarterback Seattle Seahawks
While McCoy was having himself a pretty good day, the other starter, Russel Wilson, was not. McCoy outplayed Wilson in the Arizona win (see above). Wilson wasn't totally horrible, he threw for 207 yards and no picks. But he couldn't find the endzone, was sacked four times and has now lost three straight games for the first time in his careers. He's been really off his game since coming back from injury and it a glaring statement about Wilson. We knew he wanted out of Seattle after going 12-4 there last season. So what is this season telling you now about how he feels?

Best: Austin Ekler, Running Back Los Angeles Chargers
OK so Ekler didn't have quite the same day that Jonathan Taylor did, but boy did he come close. In a Chargers 41-37 win over the Steelers, Ekler had himself a solid day, 11 carries for 50 yards and a pair of touchdowns, and added six more catches for 65 yards and two more scores. Four touchdowns and 115 yards of total offense is a pretty good day for anybody in this league. It also goes to prove that Ekler is still a pretty good dual threat.

Worst: New Orleans Saints Defense
One of the big things that this Saints team was supposed to be know for was being able to stop the run. Yeah about that. New Orleans got blasted 40-29 by the Eagles, in Philly on Sunday. Four different eagles runners had a total of 50 carries for 242 rushing yards against what we thought was a tougher Saints D. Its pretty bad getting whipped that badly by six guys in the run game, but that's what happened to New Orleans. Its not looking to good right now for the Saints.

MLB Hands Out Hardware

Ah, its that time of year once again. Time to honor the best of the best in the game of baseball. Major League Baseball has just finished handing out the hardware for the 2021 season. Its the time to honor some of the best individual moments in a great team game. This year, with a full season back on, there's a much larger sample size for award winners then what we saw last year. With that being said, here's the award winners for the 2021 season.

Manager Of The Year: AL Kevin Cash (Rays), NL Gabe Kapler (Giants)
In the AL, it comes as no real surprise that it goes to Kevin Cash, who joins Bobby Cox as back to back winners. Cash is the first American League manager to win the award in back to back years. Look what he did in Tampa. The Rays had a $70 Million payroll, which was $30 million less than any other team that made the playoffs this year. Yet they managed to win the AL East for the 2nd year in a row and lead the AL with 100 wins. Cash did a masterful job of keeping the lineup moving along, and despite losing his best pitcher midway through the year, they pulled off an AL East title. Gape Kapler did just as masterful of a job in the NL, leading the Giants to an NL West title and the best record in all of baseball. 107 wins with a lineup mixed with veterans from the World Series runs and a bunch of up and coming kids in the lineup.

Rookie Of The Year: AL Randy Arozerana (Rays), NL Jonathan India (Reds)
Arozerana becomes the 4th Rays player to win the AL's top rookie award. He has played parts of the last two seasons, sure, but it wasn't enough games to qualify for above rookie status before this season. he played a full year finally and took full advantage of it. He even managed to out play fellow Rays rookie Wander Franco. India becomes the 8th Reds player to win the rookie of the year award, the first Red to win it since Scott Willamson in 1998. India collected all but one of the first place votes. He had turned into a huge bright spot for the Reds this season, powering the Reds with 21 home runs and 98 runs scored, as well as an all star selection.

Cy Young Award: AL Robbie Ray (Blue Jays), NL Corbin Burnes (Brewers)
In a close race in the NL, Burnes just edged out Zach Wheeler of the Phillies. It came as a bit of a surprise considering Wheeler had lead the league in innings pitched and strikeouts. But Burnes had the better ERA. Burnes is the first ever Brewer to win the award to win while in the NL. The franchise had won back to back in the AL in the early 80s with Yukovich and Fingers. He might not have had the most starts, as he only started 28 games and pitched 167 innings, both somewhat low for a winner, he still dominated games for the Brew Crew. Ray is the 5th Jay to win the Cy Young and the first since Doc Halladay in 2003. Ray went 13-7 with a 2.84 ERA and 248 strikeouts, just beating out Gerrit Cole for the award. His ERA and 181 innings of work were both tops in the AL and he had an eleven start stretch in the middle of the season where he was almost unhittable. Toronto struck gold signing him to the one year deal this year.

Most Valuable Player: AL Shohei Ohtani (Angels), NL Bryce Harper (Phillies)
Ohatni was the runaway winner in the American League, taking it by unanimous vote. And why not, it was the season that turned the baseball world on its ear. He had a 3.18 ERA and 130 innings in 23 starts. At the plate, he hit 46 home runs and stole 26 bases. He did it all for the Angels this season. because Ohtani did what he did this year, it was an easy choice. If he hadn't put up the unreal numbers, the award probably would have gone to Vlad Jr in Toronto. Over in the NL, Bryce Harper was playing, well, like Bryce Harper. he clubbed 35 homers and kid of did it all both at the plate and in the field for the Phillies.

Best & Worst NFL Week Ten

Week ten is now in the books in the National Football League, which means we are well into the second half of the season. And things were, and are, just as topsy turby now as they were a week ago. We saw a couple of guys have big comeback performances, while others totally laid an egg. If you we're a favorite going into this week, then you were going to have a bad time. Let's not waste any more time and dive right into it. Here's some of the best, and worst, from week ten.

Best: Patrick Mahomes, Quarterback Kansas City Chiefs
The best quarterback in the game started to look like it again on Sunday. There have been times this year when Kansas City looks like they might not be able to make a deep run. But what we saw last week against Vegas shows that Kansas City still has a high powered offense that's going to be really tough to beat if they keep it rolling. Mahomes was just doing Mahomes things on Sunday. He threw 35 for 50 for 406 yards and five touchdowns. This is a complete difference from what has been seen the last few weeks where he has had trouble hanging onto the football. Mahomes showed signs of his old MVP self and should he be able to keep it going, Kansas City is going to be really tough to beat.

Worst: Mike White, Quarterback New York Jets
This is coming from a Jets fan, I feel so bad for Mike White man. He had flashes against the Bengals like he could be a big deal in this league. He missed the game against the Colts. Comes back to face the Bills, and it didn't end well for White, or the Jets. Buffalo ran by, over and through the Jets, dominating to the tune of a 45-17 win. White was bad on Sunday, throwing four picks and completing only half of his passes. He was also upstaged by Joe Flacco. His fame fleeted quick.

Best: Cam Newton, Quarterback Carolina Panthers
Carolina walked away with a big 34-10 win over Arizona on Sunday and a small part of it came on the success of Cam Newton. Lets be fair, PJ Walker was the starter for the Panthers and did the bulk of the work and had a solid day. He did go 22 of 29 for 167 yards. But it was Newton who threw for the Panthers lone passing touchdown, going 3 for 4 for 8 yards. he also rushed for a touchdown, on three carries for 14 yards. It was Cam's first game action since getting cut by New England. He was able to help the Panthers in many ways and could be a bigger factor for Carolina with Sam Darnold now missing time.

Worst: Teddy Bridgewater, Quarterback Denver Broncos
It was one of those moments where you look at him and think "COME ON MAN" The Eagles pulled away in a 30-13 win over Denver and it was one play that Bridgewater made, or should I say didn't make, that sticks out. Yes he threw for 226 yards and that's nice but you can't go missing, or not even attempting to make a tackle. It was at the end of the fourth 1uarter Denver tried a run on 4th and 1 down by seven. Melvin Gordon fumbled the ball, allowing Darius Slay to recover the ball and run it all the way back for a score as the quarter ended. The last Broncos player who was there and could have made a play on him was Teddy. He did NOTHING he just kid of jogged and let Slay blow right past him to score. That's truly a COME ON MAN moment.

Best:  D'Andre Swift, Running Back Detroit Lions
If there was anything positive to take out of this football game for Detroit it was the performance from D'Andre Swift. Detroit walked away with a 16-16 tie against the Steelers. They haven't gotten a win yet this year, but they haven't lost either. Swift was a big factor in this ball game for the Lions pulling off the tie. 33 carries for a league best 130 rush yards. He was kept out of the endzone, but was still a force on the field Sunday, helping keep the Lions in this game

Worst: Detroit Lions
Only the Lions could do something like this, and in almost as Lions a way as possible. No they didn't lose, but they didn't win either, ending in the tie as mentioned above. The Lions defense forced a couple of Steelers turnovers in Overtime sure. And they held the Steelers to 16 points. But they allowed the Steelers to come back in the game. And to top it off, Jared Goff and the offense had just 77 net pass yards, because Goff was sacked four times on the day. It seems like no matter what they do, and no matter how hard they try, the Lions can't seem to get out of their own way.

Best: Deebo Samuel Wide Receiver San Francisco 49ers
The Monday night game lived up to the hype, for one side at least. San Francisco came away with a huge 31-10 win over the Rams and it turned out to be a very solid night for Deebo Samuel. He was was on his game for the 49ers and did everything he could to help keep San Francisco in that NFC West race. He scored two touchdowns on the night, one on the ground and one receiving. He finished with 5 carries for 36 yards and a score and had another 5 catches for 97 yards and a score. It's safe to say that Samuel was FEEEEELLLLLING it on Monday.

Worst: Seattle Seahawks
It was an all around bad day for Seattle on Sunday. They had to face Aaron Rogers, who was coming off missing last week cause of COVID. It was also the first game back for Russell Wilson, coming off his finger injury. Didn't end well for Wilson and company, as the Packers shut the Seahawks out to the tune of a 17-0 win. Wilson completed 50% of his passes and was picked off twice. You know its sad if Seattle actually played a little bit better with Geno Smith of all people under center. Just an all around bad performance against Green Bay

Thor Hits Hollywood

Thor is heading for Hollywood. After only two starts for the New York Mets in 2021, Noah Syndergaard is trying his luck on the free agent market. He turned down his qualifying offer from the team to test the waters. He got what he wanted in a big payday. The former Mets fan favorite is heading out west, signing a one year deal worth $21 million to pitch for the Los Angeles Angels next season.

Thor was the big surprise pickup by the Mets when they traded R.A. Dickey. He joined the big club in 2015. In the five years Noah has been in the Majors, he's won double digits in games in three of the five years. He missed all of 2020 and almost all (save for just two innings) last year after having Tommy John Surgery.

There's no denying that Noah has the stuff to be one of the best pitchers in the game and he's joining one of the weaker staffs in the sport in the Angels. Noah's got decent career numbers. He's 47-31 lifetime with a 3.32 ERA. And over 718 career innings, Noah has managed to fan 777 hitters, while walking 166 and allowed just 64 home runs. Again those are good numbers.

But here's the thing that's making me question the deal. He's pitched just two innings in the last two seasons after coming off the arm injury. Some pitchers, when coming back from Tommy John, don't pitch the same way they did prior to the operation. I mean, this is a small sample size, but look at a guy like Matt Harvey. He was one of the bright pitching stars the Mets had, he had the procedure, and some other problems as well, and his career hasn't been the same. I'm not saying that's going to happen with Noah by any stretch. It's just something to look at and be mindful of that's all. Plus, with what the Angels paid him on a one year deal, it seems to be a bit steep.

Looking at this from the Mets point of view, it hurts them too by taking away more of their pitching depth. They had a great young staff in 2016 with Harvey, Thor, Jake, Matz and Wheeler (Bart was there too). Now Jake is the only one left of that core young bunch. This is speaking volumes about what this team is doing. If it wants to get back into contention again it needs to keep some of its young talented arms, not get rid of them. And who knows, maybe after this one year (if there even is baseball this upcoming season but more on that at another time) Thor could find his way back to New York and wear the Blue and Orange once again. Just need to see what happens as the season rolls along.

If this was the last go around for Thor in the Big Apple, thanks for the memories and five good seasons Noah!

Best & Worst NFL Week Nine

Week nine in the NFL has come and gone and we got plenty to talk about. The NFC was looking like the better of the two conferences, but lost seven of the eight interconference matchups this week. Buffalo got taken down a peg by Jacksonville. We had quite a few running backs go off this week as well. There were upsets all over the place, as well as great performances. So lets not waste anymore time. Here's the best, and worst, of week nine in the NFL.

Best: Josh Allen, Defensive End, Jacksonville Jaguars
In the battle of Josh Allen's, its the defensive one who won the day. Jacksonville pulled off an upset, in a 9-6 drubbing of the Bills. For the first time in history, a player was able to sack, intercept and recover a fumble against the quarterback of the same name. Josh Allen of the Jaguars also lead his team with eight tackles. This is huge on so many levels. It rare to see players of the same name play each other and one dominate the other. IT also huge in the fact that it was the Jaguars of all teams to take down the Bills. Buffalo was favored by 14.5 points going into the game. The Jags Josh Allen was better than the Bills one on this day.

Worst: Robbie Anderson, Wide Receiver Carolina Panthers
Talk about a team starting to slip. The Panthers are now standing at 4-5, following a 24-6 drubbing by the Patriots. This was a Panthers team that had started the year at 3-0. IN this case, Robbie Anderson wasn't having a good day. He had started to show signs of life with Sam Darnold again, but Sunday against New England he's magic wasn't there. Anderson had one catch for two years. Quite day for sure. But to make matters worse, after Darnold threw his third pick of the day, Anderson was seen ripping into his quarterback on the sideline. He had showed signs last year that he was becoming a number one wide out again in Carolina. Now he started slipping back and this isn't good for a struggling Panthers team.

Best: Jonathan Taylor, Running Back Indianapolis Colts
Indy rolled over the Jets on Thursday night, to the tune of a 45-30 win. The score was made closer thanks to Josh Jonson performance for the Jets later in the game. That's not the real story here. The real story is the Colts offense. They had a balanced attack, gaining 272 yards on the ground and 250 more in the air. The biggest beneficiary of the day was Jonathan Taylor. He ran wild against the Jets defense, with 19 carries for a league leading 172 yards and a pair of touchdowns. The Jets defense had no way of stopping Taylor, who had himself a career day. This guy was good, scary good on prime time.

Worst: Jordan Love, Quarterback Green Bay Packers
Sitting behind a future hall of famer is a very tough thing to do. But that's what Jordan Love has had to endure, sitting behind Aaron Rogers. Love's first career start came against the defending AFC champions in Kansas City. KC walked away with a 13-7 win and Love wasn't great. He was 19 of 34 for 190 yards, a touchdown a pick and was sacked once. Those pass yard totals are the lowest against Kansas City the entire season. Kansas City has been struggling pretty badly this year, but they managed to keep it together enough to shut down the Rogers-less Packers. Love had a chance to make a name for himself and show the Packers organization that he could be ready to step up and take over when Aaron leaves. Now it seems Green Bay could have a big problem down the road.

Best: Xavier McKinney, Safety New York Giants
We look at a team like the Giants, they are a good example of an enigma. With all the talent that this team has, you'd like to think that they'd be better than they are. But the Giants are now sitting at 3-6 following a 23-16 win over the Las Vegas Raiders. Xavier McKinney is a big reason for that. He was the 36th overall pick in the draft and he was out there like he had something to prove. He picked Derek Carr off twice. The 2nd pick would be a pick six that put the Giants into the lead for good late in the game, giving the Giants a four point lead. He now has four picks on the year, good enough for fourth in the NFL on the year and 2nd amongst safety's. Yeah, this guy's kind of good.

Worst: Philadelphia Eagles Defense
Its turned into a rough going for the Eagles, who now fall to 0-4 on home field after falling 27-24 to the Chargers. Justin Herbert was able to complete 80% of his passes against this defense. That's the 5th time this season alone that an opposing QB has done that against them. Oh, and that vaunted defensive line the Eagles have barely got any pressure on Herbert, allowing him to make his throws, allowing him to throw for 356 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Philly is a second place team in the division and fading fast. Maybe this defense is an area that the Eagles really need to start looking into come this offseason.

Best: Mike Vrabel, Head Coach Tennessee Titans
The last month, on paper was going to be tough for the Titans. Over that time, they've had to face the Bills, Chiefs, Colts and Rams. All really good teams. Some would think that the Titans, who are without there best offensive player, would either go 1-3 or at best case 2-2. But the Titans have won all four of those games, following the 28-16 win over the Rams. They now sit at 7-2 and have the best record in the AFC South. It shows how well Mike Vrabel is able to gameplan. He knows how to get his guys ready. Oh they can be good, like scary good.

Worst: Dallas Cowboys
Dallas had a six game winning streak coming into this week. Then it came to an abrupt end, thanks to the Denver Broncos. Denver walked away with a 30-16 win in Dallas, and this coming with the Broncos having a 30-0 lead by the time the fourth quarter got underway. Dallas got two scores late, but it was all in garbage time. Dallas gave up over 400 yards of offense to the Broncos, something which looked an awful lot like they would have done last year. And the Dallas offense couldn't muster much of anything. 60 yards receiving between Cooper and Lamb combined, while Elliott had just 51 yards on the ground. All in all a day in which Dallas wants to forget

Gold Gloves Go To.......

It's that time of the year. Major League Baseball is honoring the best of the best. They are handing out the awards for the best defensive players in the game for the 2021 season. It is one of the highest honors in all of the baseball world to be able to get a gold glove. We will not only tell you who won the awards but break it down if they got it right or not. So lets not waste any more time. Here's the gold glove winners for this year.

American League: 
1st Base: Yuli Gurriel (Astross)
2md Base: Marcus Semien (Blue Jays)
3rd Base: Matt Chapman (Athletics)
Shortstop: Carlos Correa (Astros)
Left Field: Andrew Benintendi (Royals)
Center Field: Michael A. Tayloy (Royals)
Right Field: Joey Gallo (Rangers/Yankees)
Catcher: Sean Murphy (Athletics)
Pitcher: Dallas Keuchel (White Sox)

National League: 
1st Base: Paul Goldschmidt (Cardinals)
2nd Base: Tommy Edman (Cardinals)
3rd Base: Nolan Arenado (Cardinals)
Shortstop: Brandon Crawford (Giants)
Left Field: Tyler O'Neill (Cardinals)
Center Field: Harrison Bader (Cardinals)
Right Field: Adam Duval (Braves)
Catcher: Jacob Stallings (Pirates)
Pitcher: Max Fried (Braves)

We saw a record set with five guys from the same team winning gold gloves this year. 3./4 of the infield and 2/3 of the outfield come from St Louis. A BIG reason why the Cardinals made it to the playoffs as a wild card team in the National League. Nolan is keeping a hold on the award at 3rd for the NL, a title he has won every year since 2013, his first title. Chase Headly was the last 3rd baseman not named Arenado to win it at 3rd for the NL. It also worth noting that the gold glove at first base has been traded back and forth in some way, shape or form in the NL between Anthony Rizzo and Freddy Freeman the last seven years. Last time neither of those guys won the award was 2014 (Adrian Gonzalez).

In the AL, its three times in the last four years at third base for Matt Chapman winning. This marks the first time in the last four years that Alex Gordon didn't win it for left field, as Benintendi took the honors for the first time in his career.

It was a season filled with great defensive plays, and players.