For Your Viewing Pleasure

     The coolness of Autumn has suddenly collided with the last gasps of the departed Summer which officially ended three weeks ago. With a flooding rain fed by moisture from the remainder of a devastating hurricane, the transition to windiness and unswept daylight has insured that the chill of wintry days cannot be too far away. Only the leaves have not turned their majestic colors despite falling now at a regular pace; the cacophony of colors will be on hand soon enough even if a tad bit late this year.

     What is not late is the baseball post-season. While the warmth and humidity remained in the skies above, the Boston Red Sox ended the season for the Yankees, dispatching their hated rivals in 4 games. The resounding 16-1 thumping that New York received in Yankee Stadium, on the heels of a signature win by Boston in Game 1, told Yankees’ fans what they not-so-secretly knew—that the Red Sox deservedly won 108 games this year and they were the better team. 

     It is clearly evident that the best position player for New York is Aaron Judge. When the post-season and the bright lights are focused on the Yankees, Judge performs like the superstar he is. He hits homers, gets on base and leads by example. 

     However, the Yankees were a home run hitting team, having set the all-time mark for one season. With that swing for the fences mentality, a team can win more than it loses, but when the team comes up against strong pitching, the team falters. 

     Boston, via Chris Sale, ex-Yankee Nathan Eovaldi and Rick Porcello, dominated the Yankees. Mixing a variety of pitches befuddled the Yankees lineup, causing feared hitters like Giancarlo Stanton to chase waste pitches en route to repeated strikeouts or ground outs. Routinely, the Yankees would have a few hits and a couple of walks through the first five innings. The Red Sox bullpen was just enough to finish off New York. Only against David Price, whose 0-9 record as a starter in the post-season is mind boggling, did the Bombers act like the 100 win team they were.

     Two significant injuries happened during the Boston series. Aaron Hicks tweaked his hamstring injury which occurred in the last week of the regular season, minimizing his impact. And we learned after the team was eliminated that shortstop Didi Gregorius, playing with torn cartilage in his wrist, hurt himself enough to require Tommy John surgery and will be out of the  lineup for a significant time during the 2019 season.

     The bullpen was strong for New York. Dellin Betances continued his late season surge. Free agent David Robertson looked very good, too. 

     Outside of Masahiro Tanaka in Game 2, the starting trio of J.A. Happ, Luis Severino and C.C. Sabathia did not pitch long or well during the playoffs. Lance Lynn, a starter in the regular season, failed miserably in his bullpen stint in Game 3.

     Contrastingly, Boston manager Alex Cora deftly used Porcello in Game 1 and Sale in Game 3 to halt potential Yankee rallies. Cora was the better of the rookie managers; his insertion of Brock Holt into the lineup in Game 3 produced the first batter hitting for the cycle in the post-season when Holt homered off of catcher turned pitcher Austin Romine.

     So, in this off season, the Yankees have a lot of decisions to make about players like Sabathia, Happ, Brett Gardner, Robertson, Andrew Mc Cutcheon, Luke Voit, Greg Byrd, Lynn, just to name a few. They have some talented young pitchers who could fill the void. But will Didi’s injury force the Yankees to take a longer look at free agents like Manny Machado and Bryce Harper? Will they make trades to obtain pitching? When the World Series ends, next season really begins for the Yankees.

     I know that I thought the Cleveland Indians would be facing Boston or even head to the World Series. The defending world champion Houston Astros, winners of 103 regular season games, played like underdogs and with a serious chip on their shoulders for being under appreciated. Everybody is back in the lineup for Houston and that makes their team as formidable as the Red Sox. What will decide the A.L.C.S. is which pitching staff is better. Will there be pitchers who stymie the best hitters in star-studded lineups just enough for their team to win the series? Whoever emerges will definitively be the best in the American League.

     Milwaukee is host this weekend to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the N.L.C.S. It took LA four games to dispatch the NL East champs, the Atlanta Braves, while the Brewers swept the Colorado Rockies. The two teams match up well in pitching and hitting. Milwaukee sports probable NL M.V.P. Christian Yelich; the Dodgers set a franchise record for home runs and are led by late season acquisition Manny Machado.

     Another college football weekend is upon us. Second-ranked Georgia travels to Baton Rouge where a tough LSU Tigers squad awaits them. UCF puts its undefeated skein on the line when it plays at Memphis. Penn State and Michigan State square off in State College. The Miami Hurricanes make the trek to play a dangerous Virginia team. In the Pac 12, the Washington Huskies and Oregon Ducks play a critical game in Eugene. West Virginia meets Iowa State in Ames where the Cyclones have a habit of beating ranked teams. Michigan hosts the Wisconsin Badgers in a top Big Ten matchup. Alabama has a date with visiting Missouri; the Crimson Tide is favored by 28 points. And Rutgers visits Maryland where the Terrapins are only a 24 point favorite.

     The NFL weekend started on Thursday night. The defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles flexed their muscle on offense and defense in trouncing the Giants in East Rutherford. Eli Manning looked horrible and the jackals are calling for his demise and a new QB next season. The defense showed some signs of good play, but they too were overrun by a determined Eagles juggernaut led by ever-improving QB Carson Wentz. Saquan Barkley is the real deal, the only redeeming light for New York. I found it especially amusing watching Giants WR Odell Beckham repeatedly smash his helmet-clad head into a sideline fan.

     Indianapolis, with a 1-4 record, plays the Jets on Sunday. The question is this: which Jets’ team will show up—the one who handily defeated Detroit and Denver, or the one which lost to the Browns, Jaguars and Miami?

     Most intriguing is the Sunday night contest involving the 5-0 Kansas City Chiefs and the 3-2 New England Patriots. It is good test for the Chiefs and Pat Mahomes, Jr. The offense has been clicking almost on all cylinders. But the Chiefs defense has been spotty, and Patriots QB Tom Brady has plenty of experience in exploiting mediocre defensive talent.

     Mercifully, the NBA pre-season has ended. Too many games were televised. They mean absolutely nothing. The games that count begin on Tuesday with a doubleheader, with the first game between the two Eastern Conference, Philadelphia and Boston. The second game pits the Oklahoma City Thunder and the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors. The marathon of the NBA season including the playoffs runs into June, 2019. 

     Hockey season is moving along. The Vegas Golden Knights, last year’s Cinderella story, is currently 1-4, having played the bulk of their games on the road. The rebuilding New York Rangers sit in the basement of the Metropolitan Division, the only team under .500. Most of he predicted playoff teams have started out well. Of interest is a match between the young and hungry Toronto Maple Leafs, led by Auston Matthews, taking on the Alexander Ovechkin-led Stanley Cup Champion Washington Capitals.

     If there isn’t enough sports on television for you, NASCAR is in Talladega this weekend; the Ironman World Championship is on NBCSN; ESPN is showing a middleweight title fight; and the GOLF Channel has lots of golf.

     Yet the most impressive thing I saw was when I was able to tune into TV on Friday night after a power surge had knocked our house off of the Internet for a couple hours. While watching Game 1 of the Dodgers-Brewers series, I saw Marlins Man, attorney Lawrence Leavy, at Miller Park, sitting in the first row of seats behind home plate. 

     Noticeably next to him was this beautiful woman ardently cheering for her Brewers. I was taken by the fact that she kept score AND charted pitches. I thought she was some kind of attention hound, but to the contrary, she is a regular season ticket holder since 2007, a mother of three, who loves the game and her team. That woman is Amy Williams, a.k.a. Front Row Amy. She is a mini-celebrity in her own right, a Democrat who signed the Scott Walker recall petition, who has a Facebook page and Twitter following. Her husband, who has a property management business where Amy works, takes care of the children when she drives in from Oshkosh. Amy never takes a bathroom break so that she will not miss a pitch and she drinks only water while eating nothing. With the Brewers making the NLCS and perhaps the World Series, her image is a divergent reason why the the ample use of the centerfield camera is for more than capturing the strike zone.

     So, unless you are into some of the aforementioned contests this weekend or plan to take in a movie, maybe a look-see of the NLCS might be both captivating and interesting for your viewing pleasure. Did you really think that I would end with a comment about the Mets?