Armadillo Sports

September’s Too……..is a good bar
1165 Central Avenue in Colonie, just west of Osborne Road

Wednesday- 25-cent wings; its a great deal……..
Thursday- Open Mike Night, 7:00
Friday- Karaoke at 8:00
Saturday- Live music at 8:00…….

You can order food from them via Door Dash
There’s a pool table, only 25 cents/game.

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Info on Monday night’s NFL game is posted

Monday’s 6-pack:
— Rays 14, Angels 4- Freddy Peralta threw 5 IP, didn’t give up a hit.
— Padres 6, Giants 4- San Diego has won seven games in a row.
— Phillies 9, Braves 4- Phillies scored seven runs in the 8th inning.
— A’s 8, Mariners 7- Lawrence Butler homered twice, including a walk-off blast
— Nationals 7, Angels 6- Angels need to go 7-6 to avoid their first 100-loss season.
— Marlins 6, Dodgers 4- Agustin Ramirez hit a pinch hit, walk-off, 2-run HR.

Quote of the Day
“That’s tough when the ball goes backwards. I felt like even if your arms went forward, the ball went backwards it looked like, but I don’t know.”
Saints QB Tyler Shough, talking about a Jared Goff fumble that was reversed, and called an incomplete pass

Monday’s quiz
What year did the designated hitter come to the American League?

Sunday’s quiz
First time the Rams played in the Super Bowl, Vince Ferragamo was their QB. 

Saturday’s quiz
Colts’ QB Daniel Jones played his college football at Duke.

Lions 31, Saints 30 OT
Both teams scored TD in OT; Saints went for 2 points with 1:34 left, but failed.
Detroit led this game 7-0 at halftime.
RB Gibbs ran ball 29 times for 156 yards, two TD’s.
Total yardage: Saints 469, Lions 369 (Detroit +2 turnovers0

QB Slough was 35-56/410 passing, with three TD’s.
WR Olave caught 10 passes for 182 yards.
New Orleans is 18-10-1 ATS last 29 games as a road underdog.
Over is 5-1 in last six series games.

Bills 36, Texans 31
QB Allen threw a 34-yard TD pass with 1:36 left for the winning score.
Texans had the ball on the 9-yard line after that, but couldn’t score.
Allen was 20-29/334 passing, with two TD’s.
Last three years, Buffalo scored 34-41-36 points in Week 1.

Bills had lost their previous six visits to Houston.
Texans in first half: 35 plays, 246 yards, 21 points.
Texans in second half: 39 plays, 141 yards, 10 points.
Houston is 2-8 ATS in its last ten home openers.

Jaguars 34, Browns 10
Lawrence was 18-23/245 passing, with four TD’s.
Jacksonville led 24-0 at halftime.
Jaguars’ first four drives: 33 plays, 220 yards, 24 points.
Liam Coen is 14-5 as an NFL head coach.

Browns in first half: 36 plays, 65 yards, 2 turnovers, no points.
Jaguars were 5-10 on third down, Cleveland 1-8.
Browns were minus-2 in turnovers, committed 11 penalties for 75 yards.
Last 4+ years, Browns are 9-19 ATS as a road underdog.

Bengals 33, Buccaneers 27
Bengals were +3 in turnovers; Tampa lost four fumbles.
Burrow was 25-35/254 passing, with one TD.
Cincinnati is 13-6-2 ATS last 21 games vs NFC teams.
Burrow is 49-35-1 as an NFL starter. 

Cincinnati led 24-10 at halftime.
Both teams scored a defensive touchdown.
Bengals’ K McPherson kicked four FGs: 20-55-58-32 yards.
Tampa Bay is 2-8 SU/0-10 ATS in their last ten games.

Ravens 41, Colts 23
QB Jackson was 17-25/324 passing, with one TD
RB Henry ran ball 24 times for 144 yards, with 3 TD’s.
Ravens are 14-8 ATS last 22 games as a road favorite.
Baltimore is 12-6 ATS in last 18 road openers.

Ravens’ first five drives: 27 plays, 254 yards, 28 points.
Baltimore led this game 31-13 at halftime.
Jones is 33-51 as an NFL starter (8-6 with Colts).
Colts are 4-10-1 ATS in last 15 home openers.

Steelers 20, Falcons 13
Leading 13-10, TJ Watt had a 35-yard pick-6, early in 4th quarter.
Total yardage in game: Steelers 264, Atlanta 238
Steelers only ran the ball 21 times, for 58 yards.
Pittsburgh is 15-8 ATS in last 23 games vs NFC teams.

Falcons’ last ten drives: 48 plays, 190 yards, six points.
#3 QB Rush was 12-22/143 passing; he is 9-8 as an NFL starter.
As a head coach, Stefanski is 12-24-1 ATS as a road underdog
Teams combined to convert 5 of 25 third down plays.

Bears 59, Panthers 37
Chicago scored TD’s on eight of its 13 drives.
Bears ran ball 39 times for 291 yards.
QB Williams was 21-29/269 passing, with two TD’s.
Over is 7-2-1 in their last ten road games. 

QB Young was 23-37/361 passing, with three TD’s.
Young is now 14-32 as an NFL starter.
Last eight years, Carolina is 2-5-1 ATS in its home opener.
Panthers committed 11 penalties for 84 yards. 

Famous birthdays, September 14th:
Larry Brown, 86
Tim Wallach, 69
David Bell, 54
Chad Bradford, 52

Brandon Hicks, 41
Jimmy Butler, 37
DeShaun Watson, 31
Bubba Chandler, 24

Jets 23, Titans 10
Jets’ first two drives: 30 plays, 132 yards, 10 points.
RB Hall ran ball 22 times for 102 yards and a TD.
K Sanders made FG’s of 33-51-52 yards.
Jets outgained Tennessee 367-195.

Last 2+ years, Titans are 0-8 ATS as a favorite, 0-7 at home.
Last six years, Titans are 0-6 SU/2-4 ATS in Week 1.
Robert Saleh is 20-37 as an NFL head coach.
QB Ward is 3-15 as an NFL starter.

Cardinals 26, Chargers 14
Cardinals’ first five drives: 49 plays, 220 yards, 16 points.
QB Brissett was 27-37/277 passing, with a TD.
Arizona is 10-5 ATS last 15 games as a road underdog. 
K Ryland kicked four field goals: 27-44-34-49 yards. 

Since 2013, Week 1 underdogs of 6.5+ points are 33-13-1 ATS.
Chargers were 2-8 on third down, Arizona 6-14.
Cardinals outgained the Bolts, 393-268.
Chargers’ last five drives: 22 plays, 31 yards, no points.

Raiders 27, Dolphins 13
Raiders’ first three drives: 32 plays, 200 yards, 17 points.
Las Vegas led 17-6 at halftime.
RB Jeanty ran ball 23 times for 102 yards.
QB Cousins is 90-80-2 as an NFL starter.

Dolphins ran only 50 plays for 259 yards.
Last 3+ years, Miami is 5-14 ATS as a road underdog.
Under is 20-3 in their last 23 road openers.
Dolphins are 11-17-1 ATS in last 29 games with spread of 3 or fewer points.

Eagles 24, Commanders 22
Washington scored TD with 1:01 left; tying 2-point play failed.
QB Hurts was 14-23/203 passing, with three TDs.
Hurts is now 64-29 as an NFL starter.
Philadelphia is 1-7 ATS in last eight home openers.  

Eagles won 14 of last 18 series games.
Commanders are 5-2 ATS in last seven visits to Philly.
Washington’s first nine drives: 47 plays, 117 yards, 9 points.
Washington’s last two drives: 21 plays, 125 yards, 13 points. 

Vikings 39, Packers 22
Green Bay led 22-10 with 3:00 left in third quarter.
Vikings’ last four drives: 19 plays, 126 yards, 29 points.
QB Wentz came off bench, was 12-19/133 passing, with three TD’s.
Over is 7-4-1 in last 12 meetings.

Last 3 times Packers led by 10+ points in 2nd half, they lost the game.
Green Bay in 4th quarter: 24 plays, 97 yards, no points. 
Green Bay is 6-10 ATS in last sixteen road openers.
Minnesota won four of last five series games.

Giants 28, Cowboys 20
John Harbaugh wins his debut with the Giants.
Big Blue ran ball 37 times for 165 yards.
Giants converted 9 of 11 third down plays.
QB Dart threw for 230 yards, ran for 54 more.

Cowboys are 1-5-1 ATS last seven games as a road favorite.
Dallas ran the ball only 18 times, for 69 yards.
Giants outgained Dallas, 394-244.
Cowboys had nine penalties for 90 yards, Giants 10 for 114. 

— Oklahoma State 39, Oregon 31
Last year, Ducks beat Oklahoma State, 69-3.
Cowboys outgained Oregon, 554-281.
Oregon had a 96-yard pick-6 in the first quarter.
Oklahoma State ran ball 40 times for 237 yards (5.9/carry).

— Texas 24, Ohio State 23
Ohio State led 23-3 after the third quarter.
First 7 drives for Texas: 38 plays, 116 yards, 3 points.
Last 3 drives for Texas: 40 plays, 211 yards, 21 points.

— Michigan 17, Oklahoma 10
Wolverines have two wins: 13-12/17-10.
Michigan scored winning TD with 7:53 left, on a six-yard drive after an INT.
Teams combined for 166 penalty yards, converted only 7-26 on 3rd down

— Iowa 16, Iowa State 13
Iowa drove 31 yards, kicked a 42-yard field goal with 0:15 left.
Cyclones are 11-3 ATS in last 14 visits to Iowa City.
Under is 18-3 in last 21 series games.

— Texas Tech 35, Oregon State 24
Beavers led 24-21 with 7:00 left in the game.
Tech threw a 32-yard TD pass with 6:37 left for the winning score.
Oregon State QB Atkinson was 29-49/399 passing, with two TD’s.

— Wake Forest 38, Purdue 36, OT
Purdue scored 10 points in last 3:53 of regulation, to force OT.
Wake QB Lopez threw for 225 yards, ran for 59 more.
Total yardage: Purdue 455, Wake 411; there were no turnovers.

— Texas- San Antonio 31, Texas State 26
UTSA scored on a 25-yard TD run with 0:14 left.
Texas State led 17-7 at halftime.
Roadrunners were outgained 481-398, but were +3 in turnovers.

— Upsets of the Week:
Oklahoma State (+23) 39, Oregon 31
Georgia State (+8.5) 31, Kennesaw State 17
Appalachian State (+6.5) 27, East Carolina 24
Duke (+6) 31, Illinois 27
Michigan (+5.5) 17, Oklahoma 10
California (+3.5) 21, Syracuse 18

— Famous birthdays, September 13th:
Jacqueline Bisset, 82
Rick Wise, 81
Clyde Kusatsu, 78
Jean Smart, 75
Mike Pagel, 66

Brad Johnson, 58
Bernie Williams, 58
Denny Neagle, 58
Trent McDuffie, 26
Riley Leonard, 24

— Braves 12, Phillies 2
Michael Harris was 4-for-5, knocked in three runs.
Atlanta scored eight runs in the fourth inning.
Braves lead the NL East by six games.

— White Sox 6, Cardinals 5
Randal Grichuk hit a 2-run HR in top of the 9th.
Leo Bernal homered in the bottom of the 8th.
White Sox extend their lead in AL Central to 1.5 games.

— Padres 7, Giants 6
Xander Bogaerts was 4-for-5, scored two runs.
Rafael Devers hit his 7th home run in 12 September games.
Mason Miller logged his 36th save.

— Red Sox 5, Royals 1
Ranger Suarez struck out eight guys in 7 IP.
Royals are 12-30 vs lefties, 54-53 vs righties.
Carter Jensen homered for Kansas City’s only run.

— New York (N) 12, New York (A) 2
Francisco Lindor homered twice, drove in five runs.
In his last eight games, Lindor has four first-inning home runs.
Mets are 22-13 since the trade deadline.

— Nationals 6, Angels 5 (10)
Washington led 4-0 after seven innings.
Nationals blew their 39th save this year, an MLB record.
Washington scored the winning run on an Angels’ error.

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Braves, Brewers, Dodgers Wild Cards: Cubs, Phillies, Padres
AL: Rays, White Sox, Astros Wild Cards: New York, Red Sox, Guardians

— Rays 3, Astros 1
Junior Caminero’s 40th home run was a walk-off blast.
Tampa Bay clinches its first playoff spot since 2023.
Drew Rasmussen allowed one run in his seven IP.

— Brewers 20, Reds 0
Garrett Mitchell hit Milwaukee’s first grand slam this season.
Brewers clinched their 8th playoff spot in nine years.
Milwaukee led 8-0 in the second inning.

— Braves 6, Phillies 5 (11)
Drake Baldwin hit a walk-off double for Atlanta.
Phillies led 3-1 in the 7th inning.
Atlanta now leads the Phillies by five games in the NL East.

— New York (A) 6, New York (N) 4
Cody Bellinger hit a three-run homer in the 2nd inning.
Bronx is 17-7 in its last 24 games.
Loss snapped the Mets’ four-game winning streak.

— Guardians 5, Twins 2
Angel Martinez homered, doubled, had two RBI.
Taj Bradley allowed only one hit in his six shutout IP.
Cleveland has a two-game lead for the last Wild Card spot.

— Royals 3, Red Sox 2
Carter Jensen had two hits, scored two runs.
Red Sox were 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
Boston has lost its last three games.

— Dodgers 6, Marlins 2
Kyle Tucker hit a grand slam in the 7th inning.
Blake Snell improved to 4-1, 1.91 this season.
Dodgers have won eight games in a row.

— Famous birthdays, September 12th:
Linda Gray, 86
Joe Pantoliano, 75
Rachel Ward, 69
Vernon Maxwell, 61

Yao Ming, 46
Freddie Freeman, 37
Andrew Luck, 37
Kyle Bradish, 30

— Boston College 28, Rutgers 21
Eagles led 14-0 after the first quarter.
BC QB McKenzie threw ball for 252 yards, ran for 94 more.
Rutgers turned ball over four times, BC had 3 turnovers.

— Missouri 38, Kansas 21
Game was tied 14-14 at halftime.
Kansas scored a TD on an 88-yard return of a blocked FG
Mizzou QB Simmons was 19-29/292 passing, with three TD’s.

— Patriots WR AJ Brown (high ankle sprain) is out at last four weeks.

— Bears signed RB D’Andre Swift for three more years, $33.75M; $27.5M of that money is guaranteed. 

— Vladimir Guerrero’s splits this year:
Home: 241 AB, no homers, 18 RBI, 28 runs
Road: 256 AB, 8 HR’s, 36 RBI, 40 runs

— Texas Rangers have lost their last eight road series. 

— Friday is the 25th anniversary of 9/11/2001, when 2,977 people died after two airplanes purposely crashed into the two towers of the World Trade Center, one of the worst days in the history of this country.

343 New York City fire fighters died that day; 65 of their sons/daughters are fire fighters now.

— 49ers 27, Rams 7
49ers’ first drive of game: 15 plays, 65 yards, FG
49ers’ first drive of 2nd half: 7 plays, 51 yards, TD
San Francisco outgained the Rams, 379-290.

49ers were 7-12 on third down, Rams were 2-9.
49ers in second half: TD-TD-FG-MFG
Rams in second half: 32 plays, 159 yards, no points.

— Seahawks’ QB Sam Darnold has a hip injury, is probably going to miss their Week 2 game at Arizona. Drew Lock will get the start for Seattle. 

— Falcons’ QB Tua Tagavailoa got hurt in practice this week, is a ??? for this week’s opener in Pittsburgh. Tagavailoa has an oblique strain; Cooper Rush took all the first-team reps for the Falcons in Thursday’s practice.

Spread on the game jumped from Steelers -3.5 to -4.5 when this news got out.

— Teams that allowed the most passing yards last year:
4,521- Cowboys
4,462- Colts
4,427- Steelers

— Dodgers put Shohei Ohtani on the injured list Thursday, with a couple injuries; only 17 days left in the regular season, curious to see if he’ll be ready for the playoffs.

— Famous birthdays, September 11th:
Johnny Neumann, 75
Rod Perry, 73
Virginia Madsen, 65

Gerald Wilkins, 63
Ellis Burks, 62
Bern Brostek, 60

Ed Reed, 48
Andrew Cashner, 40
Mike Moustakas, 38

— Word of the Day— Euphemism- A polite term for an impolite thing.

— Tuesday night in Philly, future Hall of Famer Jose Altuve got his 2,500th career hit. 

— Colorado Rockies, Los Angeles Angels were the first two teams eliminated from playoff contention.

— Pirates put P Braxton Ashcroft on the IL, with right arm discomfort; he is 14-6, 3.65 in 28 starts this year, throwing 165.1 innings, but he only he only threw 69.2 innings last year.

There is a belief in front offices that if you throw 20% more innings than you threw the year before, that greatly increases your chance of injury. For Ashcraft, 84 innings would’ve been 20% more than last year. 165.1 IP is a huge increase.

— Astros 2, Phillies 1
Cam Smith hit a home run in the ninth inning.
Cristian Javier allowed a run, three hits in 6 IP.
Astros lead the AL West by three games.

— Braves 3, Rays 1
Game was scoreless after seven innings.
Austin Riley had the go-ahead hit for Atlanta.
Tampa Bay leads the AL East by three games.

— Bronx 10, Rockies 3
Anthony Volpe hit a grand slam, drove in five runs.
New York has won 16 of its last 23 games.
Colorado has lost four in a row, 10 of last 13 games.

— Mariners 4, Rangers 3
Jacob deGrom retired the first 15 Mariners, had a 3-0 lead.
Seattle scored four runs in the 7th inning.
Julio Rodriguez hit a three-run homer.

— Pirates 2, White Sox 0
Jared Jones allowed one hit in seven IP.
Oneil Cruz was 3-for-4, including a home run.
Chicago’s lead in AL Central is down to 1.5 games.

— To the victor goes the spoils: Knicks’ G Jalen Brunson is going to host Saturday Night Live September 26th.

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Braves, Brewers, Dodgers Wild Cards: Cubs, Phillies, Padres
AL: Rays, White Sox, Astros Wild Cards: New York, Red Sox, Guardians

— RIP to Barry Melrose, a former NHL player and coach who was a hockey analyst for ESPN for over 25 years. He passed away Wednesday, at age 70.

I met Barry Melrose at a minor league game in Glens Falls; he was very nice to me, talked for ten minutes or so. Same personality he showed on TV, he was a great ambassador for the sport.

RIP, sir.

— Seahawks 13, Patriots 10
New England led 10-0 with 5:00 left in third quarter.
Patriots’ last four drives: 34 plays, 53 yards, a punt, three INTs.
New England was 5-16 on third down, Seattle 2-11.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba caught 8 passes for 122 yards and a TD
Seahawks in first half: 25 plays, 82 yards, no points.
Seahawk QB Darnold hurt his hip, played only five plays.

— When NFL teams cut their rosters down, Miami Dolphins added seven players from other teams, not exactly a ringing endorsement of their roster. As of now, Miami’s QB’s are Malik Willis, Kyle McCord and Brady Cook.

— Modern college sports; USC poached the guy who was UAB’s long snapper for kicks.

— I know very little about tennis, but there was a match from the US Open Tuesday that lasted until almost 4am in New York City. Match went five sets; I turned it on and watched; the two guys wound up in a fifth set tiebreaker, and fans appreciated their great effort.

— If you’re Freddy Peralta, are you telling your agent you want to sign with Tampa Bay for next season? Peralta is a free agent this winter; after a dismal 22 starts for the Mets this year, he has gone 3-0, 1.00 in his last three starts for the Rays, who have him throwing his change-up a lot more.

— Get well soon to Rutgers basketball coach Steve Pikiell, who announced Wednesday that has been diagnosed with cancer, and will undergo chemotherapy for the next few months. Brandin Knight is going to run the team in Pikiell’s absence.

— Famous birthdays, September 10th:
Gary Danielson, 75
Amy Irving, 73
Randy Johnson, 63

Roger Mason, 47
Joey Votto, 43
Neil Walker, 41

Paul Goldschmidt, 39
Landon Roupp, 28
JJ Wetherholt, 24

— Phillies 11, Astros 7
Kyle Schwarber hit a grand slam, his 44th homer this year.
Hunter Brown/Cristopher Sanchez gave up 11 runs in 11 IP.
Isaac Paredes homered, had three RBI for Houston.

— Brewers 8, Cubs 6
Milwaukee led 6-0 in the second inning.
Logan Henderson allowed 2 hits, an unearned tun in 5 IP.
Brewers lead the NL Central by ten games.

— Angels 6, Red Sox 4
Zach Neto hit a three-run homer over the Green Monster.
Jose Siri homered, had two RBI for the Halos.
Angels won only 4th time in their last fifteen games.

— A’s 2, Blue Jays 0
Henry Bolte homered in the third inning.
A’s have won six of their last eight games.
Toronto is 1.5 games out of the last playoff spot.

— Rays 7, Braves 2
Griffin Jax allowed two hit and a run in 5 IP.
Victor Mesa homered, scored two runs.
Atlanta’s lead in NL East is down to three games.

— Mets 15, Marlins 14
Mets led 8-0 in third inning, hung on for dear life.
#8-9 spots in Mets’ order: 7-for-10, five runs, 8 RBI
Jacob Marsee was 4-for-6, with three RBI.

— Giants 7, Cardinals 6
San Francisco scored six runs in the bottom of 8th inning.
Leo Bernal hit a three-run homer for St Louis.
Last eight games between these teams were decided by one run.

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Braves, Brewers, Dodgers Wild Cards: Cubs, Phillies, Padres
AL: Rays, White Sox, Astros Wild Cards: New York, Red Sox, Guardians

— Tampa Bay Bucs signed QB Baker Mayfield to a three-year deal worth $55M/year, lot of cabbage. Mayfield is 28-26 as Tampa’s QB, making the playoffs two of three years there.

— Week 1 NFL games are tough to predict; starters don’t play much in exhibition games, you don’t know what new coaches have up their sleeves. You’d think defenses would be ahead of offenses early on, but the Bills beat Baltimore 41-40 in Week 1 last year. Go figure.

— Now that Stan Kroenke owns the Angels, I’m curious who he’ll hire to run the baseball operations. Kroenke generally hires smart people, then gets out of their way.

— They’re saying the major leagues will add two expansion teams in a few years, after their labor dispute gets settled next year. These are the six cities rumored to be in the hunt:

Montreal, Nashville, Orlando, Portland OR, Raleigh, Salt Lake City.

— Houston Astros have used 18 starting pitchers this year, more than any other team.

— Odd Stat of the Day: Dansby Swanson leads the major leagues this year, with 44 RBI out of the #9 spot in the batting order.

— Star DT Aaron Donald won’t be playing for the Rams in Australia Thursday night; he’s still amping up for the long season.

— Famous birthdays, September 9th:
Joe Theismann, 77
Hugh Grant, 66
Jack Trudeau, 64
Dan Majerle, 61
Todd Zeile, 61

Adam Sandler, 60
BJ Armstrong, 59
Edwin Jackson, 43
Nick Sogard, 29
Troy Taylor, 25

— Rays 7, Braves 1
Freddy Peralta’s last three starts: 18 IP, 10 H, 2 BB, 2 runs, 3 wins
Junior Caminero homered, scored two runs.
Braves lead the NL East by four games over the Phillies.

— Astros 6, Phillies 5
Houston led 5-0 in sixth inning, held on for dear life.
Walker, Varsho, Cam Smith homered for the Astros.
Trea Turner homered, had two RBI for the Phillies. 

— Diamondbacks 5, Royals 3 (11)
Lourdes Gurriel tripled in the 11th inning.
Tim Tawa was 3-for-5, with a homer, two RBI.
Corbin Burnes threw 57 pitches in his first start in 15 months.

— Brewers 4, Cubs 3 (10)
Milwaukee tied game with two runs in bottom of the 9th.
Luis Lara had the walk-off hit for the Brewers.
Milwaukee now leads the NL Central by nine games.

— Angels 6, Red Sox 1
Reid Detmers gave up one hit, no runs in six IP.
Zach Neto went 4-for-5 with a home run.
Loss ends the Red Sox’ five-game winning streak.

— Pirates 9, White Sox 3
Rafael Flores went 3-for-5, with a home run.
Top four guys in the order: 9-for-18, with six runs scored.
Bubba Chandler allowed four hits, two runs in six IP.

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Braves, Brewers, Dodgers Wild Cards: Cubs, Phillies, Diamondbacks
AL: Rays, White Sox, Astros Wild Cards: New York, Red Sox, Guardians

— SMU 27, Florida State 24
SMU drove 71 yards, kicked 20-yard FG with 0:21 left.
Mustangs led 17-6 at halftime.
SMU outgained Florida State, 585-302
Mustangs won despite being minus-3 in turnovers. 

— Eight major league teams had Labor Day off; why?
Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day; every team should play on holidays. 

— Phillies 1, Braves 0
Kyle Schwarber’s 8th inning HR was the game’s only run.
It was Schwarber’s fifth career homer in a 1-0 game, tied with Ted Williams for the most ever.
Jesus Luzardo threw a 109-pitch complete game, striking out 12 guys, 

— Brewers 4, Cubs 3
Milwaukee scored three runs in the bottom of the 8th.
Jackson Chourio had the game-winning hit.
Pete Crow-Armstrong hit his 41st homer for the Cubs.

— Orioles 6, Guardians 4
Trevor Rogers allowed one run in 7.1 IP.
Orioles’ win snapped their six-game closing skid.
Coby Mayo homered, drove in three runs.

— Diamondbacks 5, Royals 4 (10)
Game was scoreless after nine innings.
If you bet over 9.5, you took a huge sigh of relief at the end.
Arizona used five pitchers to get thru the first nine innings. 

— Red Sox 5, Angels 2
Adley Ruschman hit a 3-run homer in the second inning.
Boston’s magic number to clinch a playoff spot is 11.
Red Sox are 34-17 since the All-Star break. 

— Tigers 5, Twins 4
Riley Greene had three hits, including a three-run homer.
Four relievers got the last 10 outs for Detroit.
Twins are 4.5 games out of the playoffs, with 18 games left to play.

— Famous birthdays, September 8th:
Lem Barney, 81
Heather Thomas, 69
Clarence Weatherspoon, 56
Latrell Sprewell, 56
Matt Barkley, 36

Gerrit Cole, 36
Leonard Floyd, 34
Lars Nootbaar, 29
Leody Taveras, 28
Victor Mesa Jr., 25

September 8th was my grandfather’s birthday; he was a conductor on the subway in New York City. He was a quiet guy who was always nice to me. Happy birthday, Pop!!!

— Conference records in non-league games:
AAC: 6-5
ACC: 4-6
Big 18: 7-7

Big X: 3-5
C-USA: 4-3
MAC: 3-5

MW: 4-3
Pac-12: 3-3
SEC: 8-2
Sun Belt: 2-4

— Western Michigan got hosed the other night, when Michigan was given an extra play by the refs, after time had expired, and the Wolverines completed a 47-yard Hail Mary to walk off with a 13-12 win. Bad call by the officials.

— With college football starting, Nick Saban is in more freakin’ commercials than Jennifer Garner and Samuel L Jackson, combined.

— Memo to college football announcers: How about not mentioning the Heisman Trophy until after Columbus Day? Talking about it on Labor Day is ridiculous.

—Florida basketball coach Todd Golden got a pay raise; he’ll be making $8.25M/year on a deal that runs through 2032. Florida is 87-24 the last three years; they won the national title in 2025, are 41-13 in SEC games the last three seasons.

— Congrats to Reds 3B/DH Eugenio Suarez, who passed his test to become a US citizen last week. He missed two games to go take the test, then in his first game back with Cincinnati, he hit a. home run in his first at-bat.

— Twice in the last 10 days, my doorbell rang in the morning, while I was still asleep; two guys who wanted to talk about religion. I am not a morning person; the first time I was polite, then on Labor Day, I just told them I wasn’t interested. No idea what/why they were doing; the one guy looked like Johnny Bench (he doesn’t know who Johnny Bench is). They handed me a card with bible verses on it, and went on their way.

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Braves, Brewers, Dodgers Wild Cards: Cubs, Phillies, Diamondbacks
AL: Rays, White Sox, Astros Wild Cards: New York, Red Sox, Guardians

— LSU 51, Clemson 10
LSU led this game 31-3 at halftime.
Total yardage: LSU 644, Clemson 145.
LSU ran ball 58 times for 309 yards. 

Ugly start to the season for Dabo Swinney; his QB’s have very little experience.

— SEC teams were 8-1 ATS Saturday, 8-0 as home favorites; only team that didn’t cover was Auburn (-7) which nipped Baylor 17-16 on a neutral field in Atlanta.  Ole Miss won Sunday night, but didn’t cover.

— This is how a great a coaching job Curt Cignetti has done at Indiana; from 1992-2023, the Hoosiers were 0-6 in bowl games. Only six bowls in 32 years, no wins, then Cignetti wins the national title in his second year there. Pretty amazing.

— Former TCU head coach Gary Patterson is the defensive coordinator at USC now, which is really going to help the Trojans under HC Lincoln Riley. USC was 16-11 in conference games the last three years.

— Washington 24, Washington State 10
Homestanding Huskies led 10-0 at halftime.
Coogs missed field goals of 52-32 yards.
Washington outgained Wazzu, 402-242. 

— Notre Dame 41, Wisconsin 13
Notre Dame’s first TD drive was 13 yards, after a fumbled kickoff.
Notre Dame led 13-10 at halftime.
Notre Dame got a pick-6 to lead 27-10, break game open.

— Ole Miss 41, Louisville 38
Rebels kicked a 49-yard FG at the gun for the exciting win.
Louisville scored two TD’s in last 4:42 to tie game, 38-38
Ole Miss led 10-6 at halftime; second half was lot more fun.

— Famous birthdays, September 7th:
Joe Rudi, 80
Bert Jones, 75
Corbin Bernsen, 72

Bill Schroeder, 68
Jason Isringhausen, 54
Mark Prior, 46

Kevin Love, 38
Sandy Alcantara, 31
Donovan Mitchell, 30

— Braves 5, Phillies 4
Phillies led 4-1 in the 8th inning.
Ronald Acuna hit a 3-run homer in the 8th.
Austin Riley hit a game-winning triple in the 9th.

— Red Sox 3, Orioles 1
Eli White hit a three-run homer in the 8th inning.
Payton Tolle struck out 12 guys in six IP.
Aroldis Chapman got his 400th career save.

— Diamondbacks 3, Astros 2
Nolan Arenado hit a two-run homer in third inning.
Arizona won Eduardo Rodriguez’s last eight road starts.
Diamondbacks have a slim lead for the NL’s last Wild Card spot.

— Guardians 3, Tigers 2 (10)
Danel Schneeman had a walk-off single in the 10th inning.
Cleveland had three walk-off wins in this four-game series.
Guardians have a one-game lead for the AL’s last Wild Card spot.

— Pirates 1, Angels 0
Pirates scored 1-1-1 runs in the series, but had two 1-0 wins.
Paul Skenes allowed four hits, got his first win in eight starts.
Henry Davis, hitting .169, homered for the game’s only run.

— Mets 4, Giants 2
Bo Bichette hit a three-run homer in the 8th inning.
Giants walked Juan Soto intentionally to pitch to Bichette.
Cesar Perdomo allowed three hits in six IP in his first MLB start.

— Rangers 8, Rays 6
Jake Burger homered twice, drove in three runs.
Ezequiel Duran had his 13th game with 3+ hits.
71-73 Rangers are two games out a playoff spot.

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Braves, Brewers, Dodgers Wild Cards: Cubs, Phillies, Padres
AL: Rays, White Sox, Astros Wild Cards: New York, Red Sox, Diamondbacks

— Blue Jays 4, Royals 3
Kazuma Okamoto was 4-for-5, drove in two runs.
Blue Jays are over .500 for first time since April 3rd.
Toronto is tied for the AL’s last playoff spot.

— Red Sox 5, Orioles 0
Sonny Gray gave up three hits in his seven IP.
Game was scoreless after five innings.
Trevor Story was 3-for-5, scored two runs.

— Diamondbacks 4, Astros 3 (10)
Ketel Marte tied the game with an 8th inning home run.
Gabriel Moreno had the game-winning hit in the 10th.
Isaac Paredes knocked in all three of Houston’s runs. 

— Cubs 6, Marlins 5
Ian Happ had two hits, two RBI for Chicago.
Cubs improved their road record to 40-31.
Stowers, Conine homered for the Marlins. 

— Phillies 4, Braves 2
Kyle Schwarber hit his 41st home run this season.
Zack Wheeler gave up 3 hits, struck out 9 in 6 IP.
Braves still lead NL East by four games. 

— Rays 6, Rangers 3 (10)
Jonathan Aranda hit a three-run homer in 10th inning.
Texas tied game with two runs in bottom of the 8th.
Rays lead the AL East by four games.

— Rockies 10, Cardinals 7
Colorado scored six runs in the bottom of 5th inning.
#8-9 hitters in order were 4-for-8, with three runs scored.
Jordan Romero got his 15th save for the Rockies.

— Famous birthdays, September 6th:
Ron Boone, 80
Jane Curtin, 79
Idris Elba, 54

Eric Zeier, 54
Derrek Lee, 51
Jerry Blevins, 43

Mitch Moreland, 41
Mark Andrews, 31
Romy Gonzalez, 30

— College football Upsets of the Week:
UMass (+29.5) 37, Rutgers 21
Tulsa (+14) 24, Oklahoma State 10
Colorado (+6.5) 14, Georgia Tech 13

— Michigan 13, Western Michigan 12
Michigan threw a 47-yard TD pass at the gun to avoid a huge upset.
Wolverines were favored by 27.5 points.
Michigan was minus-3 in turnovers, only 3-10 on third down.

— Auburn 17, Baylor 16
Baylor scored TD with 0:09 left; instead of kicking PAT and going to OT, they went for two points, but they came up short.

Pet Peeve of Mine: This game was on national TV. Go to overtime, and get your program more TV exposure, which would help their recruiting.

Auburn drove 75 yards, scored game-winning TD with 3:21 left.

Baylor QB Lagway played with a heavily-taped right ankle; he was 27-54/333 passing. 

— Oregon 34, Boise State 27
Ducks threw a 62-yard TD pass with 8:45 left for the winning score.
Boise led 17-14 at halftime.
Oregon outgained the Broncos, 497-274

— Colorado State 35, Wyoming 13
Rams’ QB Henjy was 23-33/214 passes, with 5 TD passes.
Jim Mora Jr wins his debut as Colorado State’s coach.
Colorado State has 76 new players this year (41 transfers)

— Nebraska 49, Ohio U 21
Ohio led 13-7, going TD-FG-FG on first three drives.
Nebraska outscored the Bobcats 35-8 in the second half.
Nebraska QB Colandrea was 18-32/275 passing, with three TD’s.

— Pitt 59, Miami OH 14
Pitt QB Heintschel was 31-41/453 passing, with 7 TD passes.
Panthers outgained Miami, 646-289

— Last year, there were 126 football games between I-A and I-AA teams; the I-AA teams won four of those 126 games. Tarleton State beat Army 30-27 last year.

There were three I-AA upsets Saturday:

Tarleton State 20, Bowling Green 13
Citadel 43, Charlotte 41 OT
Idaho State 29, Utah State 17

— Lot of re-shuffling of teams/conferences again this year; I’m keeping a sheet of paper next to me here as I write this, which lists what league every team plays in now. Why in God’s name is Sacramento State in the Mid American Conference? 

— Guardians 7-4, Tigers 6-3
Brayan Rocchio hit a grand slam in 4th inning, then had a walk-off HR.
Rocchio is first player since 1991 (Jack Clark) to do that.
Travis Bazzana had a walk-off hit in the nightcap. 

— Braves 5, Phillies 2
Mauricio Dubon homered, scored two runs.
Chris Sale got the win; he is 14-9, 2.10 this year.
Braves now lead the NL East by five games.

— Rays 7, Rangers 6
Tampa Bay led 6-1 in the 7th inning.
Jonathan Aranda homered, scored two runs.
Nick Martinez got the win; he is 14-4, 3.04 this year.

— Red Sox 1, Orioles 0
Mickey Gasper’s first inning homer was the game’s only run.
Gasper has eight home runs in his last sixteen games.
Ranger Suarez gave up five hits in his seven IP.

— Astros 3, Diamondbacks 1
Cristian Javier got the win, giving up one hit in five IP.
Yainer Diaz homered for Houston.
Astros lead the AL West by three games.

— Brewers 10, Reds 7
Brice Turang had three hits, knocked in three runs.
Cooper Pratt had a bases-loaded triple, drove in four runs.
Trevor Megill recorded his 26th save.

— Blue Jays 9, Royals 2
Toronto is 71-71, at .500 for first time since June 22.
Springer, Kirk, Clement all had two RBI.
Blue Jays are a game out of the AL’s last playoff spot.

— Cardinals 7, Rockies 6
St Louis scored three runs in the top of the 9th
Ivan Herrera’s 3-run homer was a game-winner.
Cardinals improved to 36-33 in road games.

— St Louis RF Jordan Walker has 55 career home runs, against 55 different pitchers.

— Famous birthdays, September 5th
William Devane, 87
Billy Kilmer, 87
Michael Keaton, 75
Willie Gault, 66

Jeff Brantley, 63
Dennis Scott, 58
Ryan Spilborghs, 47
Chris Young, 43

Brandon Allen, 34
Austin Corbett, 31
Jarren Duran, 30
Steven Kwan, 29

— San Jose State 27, Eastern Michigan 21
Spartans outscored Eastern Michigan 10-0 in 4th quarter.
San Jose QB Weaver was 23-39/316 passing, with 3 TD’s.
San Jose outgained the Eagles, 453-281

— Michigan State 30, Toledo 20
Toledo was up 20-19 with 12:00 left in the game.
MSU QB Milivojevic was 26-34/247 passing.
Spartans outgained Toledo, 397-273

— Oklahoma 51, Texas-El Paso 0
Oklahoma had three TD passes of 34+ yards.
Sooners scored on an 88-yard punt return.
UTEP was 10-18 on third down, but was outgained 401-198.

— Miami 45, Stanford 6
Why are these teams in the same league???
Darian Mensah was 27-30/401 passing, with five TD’s.
Malachi Toney caught 12 passes for 234 yards, three TD’s.

— USC 39, Fresno State 0
Jayden Maiava was 23-25/349 passing, with three TDs
Trojans led 30-0 at halftime.
USC scored 81 points in winning their first two games. 

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Braves, Brewers, Dodgers Wild Cards: Cubs, Phillies, Padres
AL: Rays, White Sox, Astros Wild Cards: New York, Red Sox, Guardians

— Red Sox 6, Orioles 5
Adley Rutschman homered in his first game against his old team.
Nick Sogard hit a two-run homer in the 8th inning.
Pete Alonso homered; he has 94 RBI, tied for most in the AL.  

— Astros 6, White Sox 2
Jose Altuve hit a two-run homer in the first inning.
Hunter Brown gave up two runs in 6 IP, got the win.
Astros leads the AL West by two games over Texas.

— Rangers 6, Rays 0
Cal Quantrill gave up two hits, two walks in 7 IP.
Quantrill has a 1.25 ERA in his last seven starts.
Corey Seager hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning.

— Cubs 2, Brewers 1
Pete Crow-Armstrong hit his 39th home run this year.
Kevin Gausman gave up a run, five hits in 7 IP.
Milwaukee still leads the NL Central by eight games. 

— Royals 7, Marlins 3
Carter Jensen hit a double, triple, home run, scored three runs.
Michael Wacha pitched six innings, got his 9th win of the year.
Only 10,803 fans were there, on a 97-degree night.

— Blue Jays 6, Guardians 3
Nathan Lukes had two hits, drove in two runs.
Toronto has won five of its last six games.
Blue Jays are half-game behind Cleveland for the last Wild Card spot.

— Pirates 5, Giants 2
Six Pittsburgh relievers held the Giants to two hits.
Pirates have won five of their last six series.
San Francisco starter threw 46 balls, only 49 strikes

— There have been 15 players in the major leagues this year who hit a home run in their first big league game, the most ever in one season.

— Cubs hit 62 home runs in August; no one else had more than 42.

— Famous birthdays, September 4th:
Wendell Tucker, 83
Doyle Alexander, 76
Khandi Alexander, 69

Lloyd Daniels, 59
Mike Piazza, 58
Ione Skye, 56

Beyonce Knowles, 45
Scott Tolzien, 39
Andrelton Simmons, 37

— UMass 37, Rutgers 21
Rutgers was a 29.5-point home favorite.
UMass QB Watson was 19-22/197 passing, with three TD’s.
UMass win snaps their 16-game losing streak.

— Colorado 14, Georgia Tech 13
Colorado scored game-winning TD with 0:37 left.
Colorado blocked a Georgia Tech 42-yard FG try on the last play.
Tech’s only touchdown came on a 100-yard kickoff return.

— Wake Forest 38, Akron 16
Gio Lopez threw for 350 yards, three TD’s.
Lopez has previously started at South Alabama, North Carolina.
Wake Forest outgained the Zips, 559-305

— Clemson isn’t ranked in the football pre-season top 25 for first time since 2011.

— The VSIN network out of Las Vegas has its shows on YouTube; you can get a lot of good handicapping/gambling knowledge on there.

— Since 2005, NFL underdogs of 8+ points are 26-9 ATS in Week 1.

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Braves, Brewers, Dodgers Wild Cards: Cubs, Phillies, Diamondbacks
AL: Rays, White Sox, Astros Wild Cards: New York, Red Sox, Guardians

— Arte Moreno bought the Anaheim Angels in 2003, for $184M; this week, he sold the Angels to Stan Kroenke, for a record $4B, that’s billion, with a B. A profit of $3.816B ain’t bad. 

When owners/players have their labor negotiations this winter, this stuff is going to come up.

a) In 2020, Steve Cohen bought the Mets, for $2.4B
b) This April, Padres were sold for $3.9B
c) Angels, who haven’t won squat since 2002, just sold for $4B. Last time the Angels made the playoffs was in 2014.

— If you’re an Angels fan, or Mike Trout, you’re happy; Stan Kroenke’s teams win:

a) Rams won the Super Bowl in 2021, are 10-6 in playoffs since 2017.
b) Denver Nuggets won the NBA title in 2023; they’ve been over .500 the last nine year.
c) Colorado Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in 2022.

— NBA came down hard on the Los Angeles Clippers Wednesday; they were docked five future first-round draft picks, fined $30M and owner Steve Ballmer was suspended for a year.

In a statement, the NBA said a near year-long investigation “found a pattern of misconduct and multiple significant rules violations by the Clippers organization, a prior offender of the salary cap circumvention rules.”

Five first round draft picks is a big penalty.

— UCLA has a new football coach this year, Bob Chesney, who comes to the Bruins from James Madison, where he went 21-6 in two seasons.

Chesney brought 10 players, five assistant coaches with him from JMU.

— In basketball, Michigan’s star incoming freshman Brandon McCoy tore his ACL, won’t play this coming season, bad news for the defending national champs.

— If you haven’t seen it yet, go online and check out the catch Orioles’ CF Colton Cowser made Monday night to save the game, robbing Colorado of what would’ve been a walk-off home run. Orioles are two games out of a Wild Card spot; that was a huge play.

— Have the Tampa Bay Rays fixed Freddy Peralta? His last two starts:
a) 8/26 @ Detroit- 6 IP, 2 hits, no walks, no runs, 81 PT
b) 9/1 vs Mets- 6 IP, 3 hits, no walks, one run, 74 PT

They have him throwing his change-up a lot more now; he got 24 whiffs on 80 swings in those two games.

— Famous birthdays, September 3rd:
Eric Plunk, 63
Charlie Sheen, 61
Luis Gonzalez, 59
Damon Stoudanire, 53

Nichole Hiltz, 48
Mason Crosby, 42
David Peterson, 31
Javier Sanoja, 24

— Diamondbacks 1, Phillies 0
Backup catcher James McCann homered in bottom of the 8th.
Andrew Painter gave up two hits in 7 IP for Philly.
Loss ends the Phillies’ six-game winning streak.

— Mariners 8, Red Sox 3
Seattle scored four runs in 3rd, four runs in 6th innings.
Roman Anthony hit his first HR since coming off the IL.
Red Sox have lost six of their last eight games.

— Brewers 9, Cubs 5
Jackson Chourio had four hits, scored twice, homered.
Brewers led 6-5 in the fourth inning.
Milwaukee has won six of its last eight games.

— Astros 2, White Sox 0
Nelson Velasquez hit a two-run single in the 8th inning.
Hayden Wesneski gave up one hit in seven IP.
Josh Hader got his 22nd save of the season.

— A’s 9, Rangers 2
Henry Bolte homered in the 3rd and 4th innings.
Jacob Lopez has a 2.28 ERA in his last ten starts.
Rangers are two games behind Houston in AL West.

— Rockies 6, Orioles 5 (11)
Brett Sullivan had a walk-off 2-run single to win it.
Rockies tied the game with two outs in the ninth.
Orioles are two games out of the last AL Wild Card spot. 

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Braves, Brewers, Dodgers Wild Cards: Cubs, Phillies, Diamondbacks
AL: Rays, White Sox, Astros Wild Cards: New York, Red Sox, Guardians

Big news Tuesday which we’ll talk more about tomorrow; Stan Kroenke bought the Los Angeles Angels from Arte Moreno, who owned the team for 23 years.

Kroenke owns the LA Rams, the Denver Nuggets, the Colorado Avalanche and a soccer team in England. He is really, really rich and doesn’t meddle.

This is a good day to be an Angels’ fan.

AFC teams’ recent playoff histories:
Ravens
Since winning Super Bowl in 2012, Ravens are 4-7 in playoff games.
Baltimore is 11-8 in their last 19 road playoff games.
Ravens are 4-6 in their last ten home playoff games. 

Bills
Since 1993, Buffalo is 1-9 in road playoff games.
In Super Bowl era, Bills are 16-4 in home playoff games.
Since 2020, Bills are 0-4 vs Chiefs in playoffs, 8-2 vs everyone else.

Bengals
From 1990-2020, Bengals were 0-7 in playoff games.
In 2021/2022, Bengals were 5-2 in playoff games.
Cincinnati is 0-3 in Super Bowls, losing by 5-4-3 points. 

Browns
Since returning to NFL in 1999, Browns are 1-3 in playoff games.
Browns allowed 35 ppg in those games, which were all on road.
In 2020, Browns won 48-37 at Pittsburgh, their one playoff win.

Broncos
Since winning Super Bowl in 2015, Denver is 1-2 in playoff games.
Since 1997, Broncos are 10-4 in home playoff games.
Since 1998, Denver is 0-4 in road playoff games; their last one was 2011.

Texans
Last three years, Houston went WL-WL-WL in playoffs.
Texans are 6-2 in home playoff games, 1-6 in road playoff games.
Houston’s one road playoff win: 30-6 at Pittsburgh last year.

Colts
Colts haven’t made the playoffs since 2020.
Since winning Super Bowl 20 years ago, Colts are 2-6 in road playoff games.
Colts’ last playoff game at home was in 2014.

Jaguars
In their history, Jaguars are 8-9 in playoff games.
Jacksonville lost seven of last nine road playoff games.
Jaguars are 4-2 in home playoff games.

— Famous birthdays, September 2nd:
Terry Bradshaw, 78
Nate Archibald, 78
Mark Harmon, 75
Rick Manning, 72
Eric Dickerson, 66

Rex Hudler, 66
Keanu Reeves, 62
Selma Hayek, 60
Tommy Maddox, 55
Kerry Carpenter, 29

— Chiefs
From 1994-2018, Chiefs were 2-10 in playoff games.
Since 2019, Kansas City is 16-3 in playoff games.
Chiefs have won three of their last seven Super Bowls. 

— Raiders
Since 2002, Raiders are 0-2 in playoff games.
Raiders lost their last seven road playoff games (last win, 1980)
Raiders won Super Bowls in 1976, 1980, 1983

— Chargers
Since 2019, Chargers are 0-3 in playoff games.
Chargers’ last home playoff game was in 2009.
Chargers made the Super Bowl once, in 1994.

— Dolphins
Since 2001, Dolphins are 0-4 in playoff games.
Since 1973, Miami is 1-10 in road playoff games.
1971-73, Miami made three Super Bowls in a row, winning twice.

— Patriots
From 2001-19, New England was 29-11 in playoff games.
Only 10 of those 40 games were true road games (5-5)
Patriots are 6-5 in Super Bowls. 

— Jets
Jets haven’t made the playoffs since 2010.
Jets’ last home playoff game was in 2002.
Jets are 5-4 in their last nine road playoff games.

— Steelers
McCarthy/Rodgers won a Super Bowl together, but that was in 2010.
Since 2017, Steelers are 0-6 in playoff games.
Pittsburgh is 6-2 in Super Bowls; they lost to Packers in 2010.

— Titans
Titans haven’t made the playoffs since 2021.
Tennessee is 5-4 in its last nine road playoff games.
Titans made one Super Bowl, losing 23-16 to Rams in 1999. 

— Movie of the Day: Molly’s Game (2017) True story about a young woman who ran high-stakes poker games, and because of it, unwittingly became a target of the FBI. 

Jessica Chastain is Molly, Idris Elba is her lawyer, Kevin Costner has a small-ish role as her father. Molly Bloom wrote the book before this movie was made; it is very well done. 

— Pirates 13, Giants 12
Pittsburgh led this game 11-5 in the third inning.
Winning run scored on a throwing error by the Giants’ 3B.
Oneil Cruz was 4-for-5, with four RBI. 

— Rays 6, Mets 2
Freddy Peralta gave up 3 hits, one run against his old team.
Peralta was 5-9, 4.99 in 22 starts for the Mets earlier this year.
Yandy Diaz hit a home run, scored two runs.

— Reds 4, Padres 3
Jose Trevino had the go-ahead hit in the 8th inning.
San Diego lost four of its last five games.
Cincinnati is 24-14 in one-run games.

— Guardians 6, Blue Jays 1
Gavin Williams gave up two hits in 7 IP, struck out 13.
Cleveland has won 11 of its last 15 games.
Angel Martinez homered, scored three runs.

— Twins 15, Tigers 2
Game was tied 1-1 in the fifth inning.
Twins scored ten runs in the bottom of the sixth.
Royce Lewis was 3-for-4, homered, had three RBI.

— Mariners 9, Red Sox 6
Lazaro Montes homered in his first big league game.
Seattle led 6-0 in the second inning.
Red Sox have a 4.5-game lead for the AL’s #2 Wild Card slot.

— Nationals 9, Braves 5
Yohandy Morales homered in his first big league game.
Morales was 3-for-5 in his debut, scoring two runs.
Reliever Jared Simpson threw 3 perfect IP, got win in his MLB debut. 

NFC teams’ recent playoff histories:
Cardinals
Last made the playoffs in 2021
Since 2008, they’re 4-0 in home playoff games.
Lost last four road playoff games, all by 11+ points. 

Falcons
Haven’t made the playoffs since 2017.
won last three home playoff games, scoring 30-36-44 points.
In franchise history, they’re 4-10 in road playoff games.

Panthers
Carolina made playoffs last year for first time since 2017.
Panthers are 5-2 in home playoff games, 4-4 in road games.
Carolina is 0-2 in Super Bowls (32-29 Patriots/24-10 Broncos)

Bears
Last 40 years, Chicago is 2-6 in road playoff games.
Since 1991, Bears are 4-6 in home playoff games.
Last year’s win over Green Bay was their first playoff win since 2010.

Cowboys
Cowboys haven’t made the NFC title game since 1995.
Last 30 years, Dallas is 5-13 in playoff games.
Cowboys lost nine of their last ten road playoff games.

Lions
In Super Bowl era, Detroit is 3-14 in playoff games.
Lions lost their last 12 road playoff games.
Two of those three wins came in 2023.

Packers
Since 2019, Green Bay is 3-6 in playoff games.
Packers lost their last three home playoff games.
Green Bay has won four Super Bowls, last one in 2010.

Rams
Under Sean McVay, Rams are 10-6 in playoff games.
Last three years, Rams were 3-3 in playoffs, losing by 1-3-4 points.
Rams won their last four home playoff games.
Rams won two Super Bowls, in 1999, 2021.

— Famous birthdays, September 1st:
Lily Tomlin, 87
Ed Podolak, 79
Garry Maddox, 77
Pat Thomas, 72

Vinnie Johnson, 70
Tim Hardaway, 60
Zach Thomas, 53
Jason Taylor, 52

Cutting Mobley, 51
Calais Campbell, 40
Shota Imanaga, 33
Aidan O’Connell, 26

— Vikings
Since 2012, Minnesota is 2-6 in playoff games.
Vikings lost four of their last six home playoff games.
Minnesota is 0-4 in Super Bowls; last one was in 1976.

— Giants
Since 2011, Giants are 1-2 in playoff games.
Giants’ last home playoff game was in 2011.
Giants won four of their five Super Bowls.

— Saints
Saints’ first playoff game was in 1987, first playoff win was in 2000.
New Orleans lost its last three home playoff games.
Saints are 1-7 in road playoff games (won 26-24 in Philly in 2013).

— Eagles
Last nine years, Eagles are 10-6 in playoff games.
Since 2009, Eagles are 1-4 in road playoff games.
Eagles are 2-3 in Super Bowls, winning in 2014, 2024.

— 49ers
Since 2002, 49ers are 9-0 in their first playoff game of a season.
6 of last 7 times 49ers made playoffs, 49ers went WWL
49ers haven’t won the Super Bowl since 1994. 

— Seahawks
Since 2005, Seattle won 12 of 13 home playoff games.
In their history, Seahawks are 4-14 in road playoff games.
Seattle won the Super Bowl last year, and also in 2013.

— Buccaneers
Bucs won Super Bowls in 2002/2020; in between, they were 0-2 in playoff games.
Since winning Super Bowl in 2020, Bucs are 2-4 in playoff games.
Tampa Bay lost three of its last four home playoff games.

— Commanders
Commanders lost their last three home playoff games.
Washington’s last home playoff win was in 1999.
Commanders/Redskins won three Super Bowls, under Joe Gibbs.

— Movie of the Day: Any Given Sunday (1999)- Al Pacino coaches the Miami Sharks, a football team with a beautiful owner (Cameron Diaz) and injury problems at QB.

Lawrence Taylor, Dennis Quaid, Jamie Foxx are some of the team’s players; Ann Margret is the owner’s mother, James Woods is the team doctor. All the opposing coaches in the movie are Pro Football Hall of Famers.

— Cubs 17, Brewers 3
Alex Bregman hit three of the Cubs’ nine home runs.
Clay Holmes allowed five hits in his six shutout IP.
Brewers slipped to 22-12 vs their NL Central rivals.

— Nationals 6, Marlins 3
Daylen Lile homered twice, drove in four runs.
Erik Tolman recorded his first major league save.
Marlins are four games out of the last Wild Card spot.

— Red Sox 9, Mariners 8 (10)
Trevor Story had the walk-off hit for Boston.
Seattle led 8-5 in the 8th inning.
Mariners have lost five games in a row.

— Mets 3, Rays 2
Robert Stock gave up five hits in his 5.1 scoreless IP
It was his first MLB win since 2019, when he was on San Diego.
Mark Vientos homered for the Mets.

— Padres 5, Reds 0
Michael King gave up four hits in six shutout IP.
Manny Machado was 4-for-5 at the plate.
The home plate ump left after four innings, with heat exhaustion.

— Astros 6, White Sox 3
Cam Smith was 2-for-4, drove in two runs.
Houston bullpen got the last 13 outs, giving up two hits.
70-68 Astros lead the AL West by two games.

— Giants 7, Braves 3
Rafael Devers hit his 30th home run of the year.
Giants’ bullpen didn’t allow a run in four IP.
Loss snaps Atlanta’s seven-game winning streak.