Volume 26:37

Losing Los Angeles

The Los Angeles Dodgers are considered by many to be the best team in the MLB. However, even the best teams struggle, and right now the Dodgers are struggling big time. LA has lost their last seven games. Los Angeles’s losing streak started on the final day of July when the Boston Red Sox beat them 9-4. In that matchup, the Dodgers went down 3-0 before rallying to take a 4-3 lead. However, Ceddanne Rafaela scored the go ahead run on his eventual game-winning homerun. The next day, Boston took a tight 3-2 win, thanks to two Rafaela home runs. Following that, the Red Sox secured the sweep with an 8-4 win, which featured Rafaela’s fourth home run of the series. Masataka Yoshida added three RBI’s in the victory. The Dodgers spiral continued, as they lost 10-5 to the Chicago Cubs. Cubs catcher Carson Kelly had a big day, as he homered and drove in a run on a walk. The next day Nico Hoerner had two RBI’s, and Dansby Swanson scored twice to lead the Cubs to a 5-1 win in Tarik Skubal’s Dodger debut. Skubal, the two time Cy Young winner, struck out six, and allowed two earned runs in the six innings he pitched. In the series finale, Shohei Ohtani and Pete Crow-Armstrong traded leadoff home runs. The Cubs eventually took a 7-1 lead. Los Angeles got very close to a comeback, but Chicago won 7-6 to complete the sweep. The Dodgers started last night just as they had been playing recently, struggling at the start of the game and falling into a 2-0 hole against the Arizona Diamondbacks. However, Freddie Freeman and Andy Pages helped pull the Dodgers in front 3-2. The Dodgers brought in closer Edwin Diaz in the ninth to hold on to the win. But the Diamondbacks had other plans. Max Kepler started the inning with a walk. Jorge Barrosa was subbed in as a pinch runner for Kepler. Diaz struck out Tim Tawa to get the first out. Ryan Waldschmidt then came up to the plate and smashed a Diaz pitch to center to hand LA their seventh straight loss. The Dodgers will try to stop that skid tonight, again against Arizona. Los Angeles had the best record in the league before this losing streak. The Milwaukee Brewers, Atlanta Braves, and Tampa Bay Rays all now have better records.

Red Hot Red Sox

The Dodgers may be losing, but another contender is doing the opposite. The Boston Red Sox have won their last nine straight games, and 27 of their last 30. At the start of all of this, Boston was 37-48. What happened? How did a below .500 team suddenly break out? The Red Sox started this streak with the extremely weak Los Angeles Angels. Boston cruised to three wins in Anaheim. The Red Sox then continued their road trip with a visit to the Chicago White Sox. Boston won games 1 and 2 of the series 7-5 and 8-1. Aroldis Chapman got his 19th save of the season to seal the sweep in their 5-0 victory. The Red Sox then traveled to Queens to face the struggling New York Mets. The Sox handled the Mets in the first two games of the series, then got the sweep in a ten-inning 3-2 win. Boston then came back home, and swept the first place Tampa Bay Rays in four games. That put their win streak up to 13 games. The Red Sox then beat the Baltimore Orioles 6-5 to extend their win streak to 14 games. Their next game was postponed due to weather, meaning there would be a Red Sox vs. Orioles doubleheader. The Red Sox took game one of the doubleheader, but lost game two ending their 15 game win streak. After that loss, the Red Sox sat at 52-49. They traded games with the Toronto Blue Jays, and Athletics before taking both series finales, and a third win against the A’s to get up to 57-51. The Sox then secured sweeps of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Chicago White Sox. Last night’s game extended their current win streak to nine after beating the A’s 13-1. Boston plays the Athletics again this afternoon as they try for ten straight wins.

NFL Hall Of Fame Game

Football is back!! Kind of. The NFL is once again in action, but right now it’s the preseason. This past Thursday we were able to get our first taste of the action in the NFL Hall of Fame Game. The first quarter of this preseason game was silent scoring wise. But the Arizona Cardinals were on the one yard line entering the second. On the first play of the second, Corey Kiner converted on a one yard rushing touchdown to give Arizona a 7-0 lead. AJ Dillion and the Carolina Panthers responded with a one yard touchdown run of their own. Carson Beck found Simi Fehoko in the end zone to get the Cardinals the lead back. Ja’seem Reed scored on a 15-yard touchdown catch to pull Carolina even. Chad Ryland and Ryan Fitzgerald traded field goals to send us to the half tied 17-17. Ryland scored the only points in the third to put Arizona up 20-17. Haynes King’s five-yard connection with Anthony Tyus III gave Carolina their first lead of the game. Ryland made it a one point game, but Fitzgerald extended the Carolina lead back to four with seven minutes to play. Bryson Green found the end zone with 1:55 left, giving the Cardinals a 30-27 lead. Haynes King started a two-minute drive at his own 35. He delivered a pair of incompletions before a ten-yard pass helped Carolina convert on third down. A pair of eight-yard gains got Carolina to the Arizona 47 with 57 seconds left on the clock. The Panthers lost four yards after that, then the clock stopped with an incompletion. Carolina QB Haynes King scampered to the Arizona 17 where he was forced out of bounds. King got a 12-yard pass down to the five yard line, then spiked the ball with seven seconds left. The Panthers threw an incompletion, meaning there was one play left. Since it’s the preseason, a field goal would mean a tie and a touchdown would get a win. With the game meaning nothing, the Panthers elected to go for it. King was pressured but escaped and dashed into the end zone as time expired to give Carolina a win. Rookie QB Haynes King finished 21/34 with 180 passing yards and 2 passing touchdowns. He added on 39 rushing yards, and the game winning rushing TD. Arizona wide receiver Jalen Brooks had three receptions for 99 yards.

Breakout Teams

Every year there are always teams that we expect to breakout. Who are those teams this year? This year our picks for breakout teams are the Dallas Cowboys and Los Angeles Chargers. Dallas finished 7-9-1 last season. Dallas retained WR George Picken, who played great last season. They added first round picks Caleb Downs and Malachi Lawrence to one of the NFL’s worst defenses. Dallas has had a good offseason and should definitely improve this year. The Cowboys play in the season’s first Sunday Night Football game on the road against the New York Giants. They are expected to win that matchup. we also see them winning in Weeks 2 and 3, as they host the Washington Commanders and Baltimore Ravens. Coming off a tough Ravens game, we see them losing to the Houston Texans on the road to fall to 3-1. They follow that up with the Buccaneers and Packers, which both look like wins. They are positioned to lose on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles after that. Wins against the Arizona Cardinals and Indianapolis Colts should improve them to 7-2. They are then projected to lose the San Francisco 49ers, before beating the Tennessee Titans and Philadelphia Eagles. They will then lose back-to-back games in Seattle and Los Angeles against the Seahawks and Rams. They will finish up with wins over the Jacksonville Jaguars, New York Giants, and Washington Commanders to go 12-5, and second in the NFC East.

As for the Los Angeles Chargers, we have a prediction not made by many. The CT predicts that the Los Angeles Chargers will finish first in the AFC West. Unlike their rival Denver Broncos, the Los Angeles Chargers made multiple big moves. They signed David Njoku, and retained Derwin James, Jr. However, the move that seems the biggest was the hiring of Mike McDaniel as their Offensive Coordinator. He is expected to be able to help QB Justin Herbert take the next step. We see the Chargers starting 2-2. But they will steal wins from the Denver Broncos and Kansas City Chiefs to move to 4-2. They lose to the Los Angeles Rams, then pull off tight wins against the Houston Texans and Baltimore Ravens. The Chargers will get hot, winning their next seven games, including wins over the New England Patriots, San Francisco 49ers, and Kansas City Chiefs. They will rest their starters in Week 18 and drop to 13-4 with a loss to the Denver Broncos. That will be good enough for the second seed in the AFC playoffs.