Author: Armadillo Sports

Notes on the 2025 NFL schedule:
AFC East
Bills
Four of their first five games are at home.
Three of their first five games are in primetime.
Chiefs visit Buffalo in Week 9
Weeks 12-16, four road games in five weeks.

Dolphins
3/last 5 games are in cold weather: @ Jets, Steelers, Patriots.
Five primetime games, plus a game vs Washington, in Spain
Don’t play any 4:00 games.

Patriots
Weeks 5-7: 3 straight road games, at Buffalo, New Orleans, Tennessee
Week 7, Patriots @ Titans; Vrabel coached Tennessee from 2018-23.
Three of first four games at home.
Week 1, Raiders @ Patriots (Tom Brady owns part of Raiders now)

Jets
Week 1: Steelers @ Jets- Justin Fields played for Pittsburgh last year.
3/last 4 games are on the road.
Play Broncos in London in Week 6, don’t have a bye in Week 7.
Right now, 14 of their 17 games are at 1:00; low expectations.

AFC North
Ravens
Five of their first seven games are at home.
Weeks 5-8, have three home games and a bye week.
Weeks 9-11, 3 straight road games, at Miami, Minnesota, Cleveland
Play the Bengals in weeks 13/15.
Three of their last four games are on the road.

Bengals
Last three years, Bengals are 5-10 in Weeks 1-5, 25-10 from Week 6 on.
Three of their first four games are on the road.
Have four primetime games, plus four 4:25 games that aren’t on West Coast.
Weeks 7-10: three home games, then their bye week.

Browns
Browns have 40-year old QB Flacco, and two rookie QB’s,
Cleveland plays its first game and its last game against Cincinnati.
14 of their 17 games are in the Eastern time zone.
No primetime games; they play the Vikings in England in Week 5.

Steelers
Who will the QB be? Right now, it would be Mason Rudolph.
Only 5 of their 17 games are vs teams that were in playoffs last year.
Steelers have four primetime games, plus a game vs Vikings in Ireland.
Their games with the Ravens are in Weeks 14/18.

AFC South
Texans
Weeks 8-10, have three straight home games.
Visit SoFi Stadium twice; Week 1 vs Rams, Week 17 vs Chargers
Chargers beat Houston 32-12 in playoffs last year.
Visit Chiefs in Week 14; KC beat them 23-14 in playoffs LY.

Colts
Four of their first six games are at home.
Also visit SoFi Stadium twice; vs Rams in Week 4, Chargers in Week 7
Only one primetime game, Week 16 vs 49ers.
12 of their 17 games are in domed stadiums.

Jaguars
Play only one game in England this year, Week 7 vs Rams
Play only one primetime game, Week 5 vs Chiefs.
Two games vs Colts are in Weeks 14/17.
Two games vs Tennessee are in Week 13/18.

Titans
Weeks 4-6- 3 straight road games, at Houston, Arizona, Las Vegas (all domes)
No primetime games; league has low expectations for them.
Weeks 9-13- have four home games and their bye week.
Only cold weather game figures to be Week 14 in Cleveland.

AFC West
Broncos
First three games are against their three AFC West rivals.
Open season vs Chiefs on a Friday night in Brazil.
Five primetime games; league has high expectations for them.

Chiefs
Open season in Brazil vs Chargers; host the Eagles in Week 2.
5 of their first 8 games are in primetime.
Weeks 6-8, have three straight home games.
Play on both Thanksgiving/Christmas this year.

Raiders
Two of first three games are on East Coast, at New England/Washington
Raiders open season vs Patriots; Pete Carroll coached Patriots from 1997-99.
Weeks 15-16 are only time they play consecutive weeks on the road.

Chargers
Open season against the Chiefs, in Brazil.
Have two trips to east coast in Weeks 4, 6; lot of travel early on.
Three of their last four games are on the road. .
Five primetime games; league has high expectations for them.

Thanksgiving Day games:
Packers @ Detroit
Chiefs @ Dallas
Bengals @ Baltimore

Christmas Day games
Cowboys @ Washington
Lions @ Minnesota
Broncos @ Kansas City

NFC East
Cowboys
Open season at Super Bowl champion Eagles in Week 1.
Play four of their games on Thursdays. 
Weeks 12-16, play four home games in five weeks.
Play on both Thanksgiving/Christmas this year.

Giants
Open season with road games at Washington/Dallas.
Two games vs Cowboys are in Weeks 2/18.
Have a late bye week, Week 14.
Have only one road game in the last five weeks. 

Eagles
Don’t have back/back home games all season.
Two games vs Washington are in Weeks 16/18.
Two games vs Giants are in Weeks 6/8.
Host Bears on Black Friday afternoon, the day after Thanksgiving

Commanders
Washington is 18-1 to win Super Bowl; this time last year, they were 150-1
Their last four games are against NFC East rivals.
Weeks 4-8, play four road games in five weeks.
Have five primetime games, plus a Week 8 game in Spain. 

NFC North
Bears
Their games vs Detroit are in Weeks 2/18
Three of their last four games are at home.
Weeks 4-9, have tour road games and a bye week.
Thought it was odd that Ben Johnson turned down Washington job LY, but left the Lions to coach division rival Chicago this year. Both teams have promising young QB’s.

Lions
Detroit has two new coordinators this year, the price of success.
Weeks 12-14, have three straight home games.
Week 15, they visit the Rams, a renewal of the Stafford-Goff thing.
Play on both Thanksgiving/Christmas this year.

Packers
Open season with home games vs Lions/Commanders.
Play three of last four games on the road.
Have four primetime games, four 4:25 games.
Two games with the Bears are in Weeks 14/16.

Vikings- unusual schedule
Week 1- visit Chicago on Monday night
Weeks 2-3- two home games
Weeks 4-5- a game in Ireland, a game in England
Week 6- bye
Week 7- host the Eagles
Weeks 8-16- six road games in nine weeks.
Weeks 17-18- home games vs Lions/Packers. 

NFC South
Falcons
Week 5 is an early bye week.
Week 2 is at Minnesota, interesting if Kirk Cousins is still a Falcon.
12 of their 17 games are in domed stadiums.
Four primetime games, plus a Week 9 game in Germany,
They don’t have a bye week the game after playing in Germany.

Panthers
Three of their first four games are on the road.
Week 9 game in Germany, against the Falcons.
They don’t have a bye week the game after playing in Germany.
Two games with Tampa Bay are in Weeks 16/18.

Saints
It is unclear who Saints’ QB will be, but whoever it is will be young.
Open with home games vs Cardinals/49ers.
Finish with road games at Tennessee/Atlanta.
No primetime games; league has low expectations for them.

Buccaneers
Open season with road games, at Atlanta/Houston.
Weeks 13-15, have three straight home games.
Have four primetime games, three of them on road.
Four of their last five games are vs NFC South rivals. 

NFC West
Cardinals
Three of their last four games are on the road.
12 of their 17 games are in domed stadiums.
Two games with the Rams are in Weeks 14/18.
Have only two games in the eastern time zone.

Rams
Three of their first four games are vs AFC South teams.
Play Jaguars in England in Week 7.
Week 8-12, have three home games and a bye week.
Two of their last three games are in primetime.

49ers
Open season with road games, against teams with new QB’s (Seattle/NO)
Three of their last four games are at home.
Have five primetime games, including two of last three weeks.
First game and last game are both against the Seahawks.

Seahawks
Sam Darnold faces his old team (Vikings) in Week 13.
Cooper Kupp plays against his old team (Rams) in Weeks 11/16
Seahawks have five trips to the eastern time zone.
Seattle finishes with road games, at Panthers/49ers. 

2025 NFL schedule gets released Wednesday night; here is what we know:

— Cowboys @ Eagles opens the season September 4th; these division rivals play twice a year, but this is the first time since 2000 that they’ll meet in Week 1. 

— Chargers are going to start their season in Brazil the next night, September 5th; they haven’t announced who their opponent will be.

— Vikings are going to be the first team in NFL history to play consecutive international games in different countries; they’re playing the Steelers September 28 in Ireland, then they’re playing the Browns in England October 5th.

— Bears @ Eagles is a Friday afternoon game the day after Thanksgiving, the game Amazon shows because they want to you to stay home and go Christmas shopping on their website.

— Rams-Jaguars are playing a game in England October 19th, I think they said.

— Tomorrow’s Den will be loaded with info on the 2025 schedule.

— Famous birthdays, May 14th:
Tony Perez, 83
Dave LaRoche, 77
Dennis Martinez, 71
Mike Quick, 66

Pat Borders, 62
Pooh Richardson, 59
Sofia Coppola, 54
Rob Gronkowski, 36

Kyle Freeland, 32
Tony Gonsolin, 31
Brenton Doyle, 27
Zach Edey, 23

— Pacers 114, Cavaliers 105
Indiana eliminates top-seeded Cleveland in five games.
Pacers outscored Cleveland 33-20 in third quarter.
Tyrese Halliburton scored 31 points, was +27.

— Thunder 112, Nuggets 105
Shea Gilgeous-Alexander scored 31 points.
Nikola Jokic scored 44 points, had 15 rebounds.
Nuggets led 86-78 after the third quarter.
Oklahoma City leads series, 3-2

— New York Knicks are first NBA team ever to have three wins in the same playoff series, when they trailed by 9+ points at halftime in all three games.

— Boston Celtics’ star Jayson Tatum ruptured his Achilles tendon late in Monday night’s loss to the Knicks; he had surgery on his leg Tuesday afternoon.

— Top 4 picks in the 2025 NBA Draft:
Dallas
San Antonio
Philadelphia
Charlotte

— Movie of the Day: The Fugitive (1993)- A well-known surgeon is unjustly accused of murdering his wife, so he tries to find the real killer while being the target of a nationwide manhunt led by a veteran U.S. Marshal.

Harrison Ford is the surgeon, Tommie Lee Jones is the Marshal, Julianne Moore, Sela Ward and Joe Pantoliano are also in the cast. 

This is an excellent movie, really, really good.

— A’s 11, Dodgers 1
If the season ended right now, the A’s would be in the playoffs.
Jacob Wilson went 4-5, with two homers, 4 RBI
A’s are a major league-best 14-7 on the road.
1B Nick Kurtz hit his first major league home run.

— Guardians 2, Brewers 0
Cleveland shut the Brewers out for the second day in a row.
Logan Allen allowed three hits and a walk in six IP.
Milwaukee is 12-7 at home, 8-16 on the road.

— Rays 11, Blue Jays 9
Junior Caminero hit a grand slam in the ninth inning.
Rays gave up five runs in the last two innings but still won.
Daulton Varsho homered twice for Toronto.

— Phillies got rained out Tuesday; Kyle Schwarber has a 47-game on-base streak. The all-time best on-base streak is 84 games, by Ted Williams.

— Tigers 10, Red Sox 9 (11)
Javier Baez hit two homers, knocked in six runs; he had the walk-of HR in this game.
Red Sox tied game 8-8 with two runs in 8th inning.
Detroit is 28-15 now, 16-5 at home.

— Astros 2, Royals 1
Isaac Paredes hit a walk-off home run for Houston.
Framber Valdez threw 8 innings, on only 89 pitches.
Jeremy Pena has 13 RBI in 15 games since moving to the leadoff spot.

— Padres 6, Angels 4
Fernando Tatis hit a walk-off home run for San Diego.
Angels led this game 4-2 in the 8th inning.

— If the playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Mets, Cubs, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Padres, Phillies, Giants
AL: New York, Tigers, Mariners. Wild Cards: Guardians, Royals, A’s

— You can bet on whether or not a team will score in the first inning of a game; with the season six weeks old, here are each teams’ results for first inning scoring:

NL (Home/Away….total)
Braves 5-18/6-21…..11-39
Marlins 7-22/5-18…..12-40
Mets 6-19/4-20…..10-39
Phillies 11-19/4-21…..15-40
Nationals 7-22/3-19…..10-41

Cubs 5-17/5-24…..10-41
Reds 5-17/5-24…..10-41
Brewers 2-19/7-24…..9-43
Pirates 6-22/6-19…..12-41
St Louis 4-21/7-20…..11-41

Arizona 8-22/5-19……13-41
Colorado 8-22/2-19…..10-41
Dodgers 8-18/8-21…..16-39
Padres 7-18/9-21…..16-39
Giants 4-16/5-23…..9-39

AL
Orioles 5-16/7-23…..12-39
Red Sox 7-20/6-22…..13-42
New York 8-21/8-19…..16-40
Rays 8-28/0-12…..8-40
Toronto 6-19/5-21…..11-40

White Sox 9-21/8-20……17-41
Cleveland 5-19/5-21…..10-40
Detroit 5-19/7-22…..12-41
Royals 7-23/5-19…..12-42
Twins 3-21/3-18…..6-39

A’s 7-21/6-21…..13-42
Astros 3-21/3-18…..6-39
Angels 6-19/7-20…..13-39
Seattle 4-21/10-18…..14-39
Texas 3-20/5-21…..8-41

— Famous birthdays, May 12th:
Ted Kubiak, 83
Bruce Boxleitner, 75
George Karl, 74
Kevin Grevey, 72

Lou Whitaker, 68
James Wilder, 67
Ving Rhames, 66
Emilio Estevez, 63

Lawrence Phillips, 50
Malin Ackerman, 47
Steve Smith, 46 (NFL WR)
Lance Lynn, 38

— Thunder 92, Nuggets 87
Denver shot 2-22 in first quarter, trailed 17-8.
OKC shot 35.6% from floor, Nuggets 31.3%. Ugly game.
Thunder outscored Denver 29-18 in 4th quarter.
Series is 2-2; Game 5 is Tuesday in Oklahoma City.

— Pacers 129, Cavaliers 109
Indiana led 80-39 at halftime!!!! 80 to freakin’ 39!!!
If you’re coaching #1-seed Cleveland, what do you say at halftime?
Indiana’s starters shot 59.1% from the floor.
Underdog Pacers lead series, 3-1.

— Colorado Rockies beat San Diego 9-3 Sunday, then fired manager Bud Black, because they’re 7-33, which isn’t Bud Black’s fault, but you can’t fire the players, although you could fire the guy who assembled this awful roster of players.

— New York Mets are the only team that hasn’t lost three games in a row this season.

— Los Angeles Rams are having their mini-camp in Maui, which seems like a fun place to have your mini-camp, even though mini-camps aren’t necessarily supposed to be fun.

— Movie of the Day: Sea of Love (1989)- A detective investigating a series of murders becomes involved with a woman who may be the culprit.

Al Pacino is the detective, Ellen Barkin is the woman; John Goodman, Samuel L Jackson, John Spencer are also in this movie. Really good cast.

A movie worth watching, if only because Ellen Barkin is in it.

— Twins 7, Giants 6 (10)
Minnesota won its eighth game in a row.
Brooks Lee was 3-5, with three runs scored, 2 RBI
Heliot Ramos homered, had four RBI for the Giants.

— Cardinals 6, Nationals 1
St Louis also won its eighth game in a row.
Miles Mikolas got 16 outs, allowed only four hits.
Nootbaar, Contreras, Arenado homered for the Redbirds. 

— Pirates 4, Braves 3
Pirates blew a 3-0 run lead in 8th inning, won it in bottom of 9th.
Sean Murphy tied the game with a 3-run double in 8th inning.
Atlanta is 19-21, still hasn’t gotten to .500 this season.
Pittsburgh is 2-1 under interim manager Don Kelly.

— White Sox 4, Marlins 2
Tim Elko’s first major league hit was a 3-run homer.
Marlins are 15-24, 5-12 on the road.

— Mets 6, Cubs 2
Mets scored four runs in 8th inning; Lindor’s HR sparked the rally.
Pete Crow-Armstrong homered for Chicago.
Mets are 15-4 at home, 11-11 on the road.

— If the playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Mets, Cubs, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Padres, Giants, Phillies
AL: New York, Tigers, Mariners. Wild Cards: Guardians, Royals, Red Sox

— Arizona (20-18)
Diamondbacks are 3-6 in their last nine home games,
Arizona is 16-11 vs right starters, 4-7 vs lefties.
Under is 7-2 in their last seven nine games.

— Braves (18-19)
Atlanta won four of their last five games.
Braves are 12-6 at home, 6-13 on the road.
Under is 8-2 in their last ten games.

— Cubs (22-16)
Chicago is 6-0 in home series openers.
Over is 12-5 in their last 17 home games.
Cubs are 14-8 in night games, 8-8 in day games.

— Reds (19-20)
Reds lost five of their last six games.
Under is 7-2 in their last nine road games.
Reds are 2-5 in games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Rockies (6-31)
Colorado lost 13 of its last 15 games.
Rockies are 2-17 on the road (under 13-6).
Rockies have already had four losing streaks of 6+ games.
Over is 4-1 in their last five games.

— Dodgers (25-13)
Dodgers won nine of their last 12 games.
Dodgers are 15-3 at home, 10-10 on the road.
Over is 12-6 in their home games.

— Marlins (14-22)
Marlins lost nine of their last eleven games.
Marlins are 3-9 in series openers.
Over is 9-0 in their last nine road games.

— Brewers (19-19)
Milwaukee is 12-7 at home, 7-12 on the road.
Brewers are 1-11 on the road if they score less than seven runs.
Brewers are 2-5 in games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Mets (24-14)
Mets are 13-3 at home, 11-11 on road.
Mets are 10-2 in series openers.
Under is 4-1 their last five home games.

— Phillies (22-15)
Phillies won nine of their last eleven games.
Phillies are 19-9 vs righty starters, 3-6 vs lefties.
Philly is 16-6 at home, 6-9 on road.

— Pirates (12-26)
Pirates fired their manager Thursday; it isn’t his fault.
Pittsburgh lost ten of their last eleven games.
Last 8 series, Pirates are 1-4 in games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.
Under is 4-1 in their last five games.

— St Louis (19-19)
St Louis won its last five games.
Cardinals are 15-6 at home, 4-13 on road.
St Louis is 2-6 vs lefty starters, 17-13 vs righties.
Seven of their last nine games went over the total.
St Louis is 3-8 in games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Padres (23-13)
San Diego is 6-2 since Arraez got back in lineup.
Padres are 14-4 at home, 9-9 on the road.
Under is 8-3 in their last eleven road games.

— Giants (24-14)
Giants are 22-6 vs rightly pitchers, 2-8 vs lefties.
SF is 7-4 in one-run games.
Over is 6-2 in their last eight games.

— Washington (17-21)
Nationals are 10-9 at home, 7-12 on the road.
Over is 6-1 in their last seven home games.
Nats scored in 1st inning in 7 of 19 home games, 3 of 19 on the road.
Washington is 6-1 in last seven games when winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Famous birthdays, May 9th:
Candice Bergen, 79
Billy Joel, 77
Calvin Murphy, 77
Doug Christie, 55
Brandon Webb, 46

Prince Fielder, 41
Jace Peterson, 35
Samson Ebukam, 30
Tommy Edman, 30
Trey Lance, 25

— Orioles (13-23)
Baltimore is 4-12 in its last 16 games.
Orioles are 11-14 vs righty starters, 2-9 vs lefties.
Under is 13-2 in their last 15 games.

— Red Sox (20-19)
Boston is 4-9 in one-run games.
Red Sox are 11-9 at home, 9-10 on the road.
Under is 5-2 in their last seven games.

— White Sox (10-28)
Chicago lost its last four games, outscored 19-4.
White Sox are 7-11 at home, 3-17 on the road.
Chicago is 2-9 in games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Cleveland (22-15)
Cleveland won seven of its last nine games.
Cleveland is 10-3 against its AL Central rivals.
Over is 5-0 in their last five games.

— Detroit (25-13)
Tigers won seven of last eight games, scoring 65 runs.
Detroit is 13-3 at home, 12-10 on the road.
Over is 6-2 in their last eight games.

— Houston (18-18)
Astros are 5-11 in the game following a win.
Houston is 11-7 at home, 7-11 on road.
Over is 8-2 in their last ten games.
Astros scored in first inning run in only 2 of 18 home games.

— Royals (23-16)
Royals won 15 of their last 17 games.
Kansas City is 15-5 at home, 8-11 on the road.
13 of Royals’ last 16 home games stayed under the total.

— Angels (15-21)
Halos lost 11 of last 15 games overall.
Angels lost their last nine road games.
Over is 8-1 in their last nine games.

— Twins (18-20)
Twins won their last five games.
Minnesota is 12-6 at home, 6-14 on the road.
Under is 9-3 in their last dozen games.
Twins are 7-10 vs their AL Central rivals.

— New York (21-16)
New York is 7-8 in its last 15 games.
New York is 13-8 at home, 8-8 on the road.
New York is 18-12 vs righty starters, 3-4 vs lefties.
Under is 5-2 in their last seven games.

— A’s (20-18)
A’s are 14-8 in their last 22 games.
A’s are 7-11 in Sacramento, 13-7 on the road.
Under is 5-2 in their last seven road games.
In 8 of their last 13 games, winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Seattle (22-14)
Mariners won 19 of their last 26 games.
Over is 8-3 in their last eleven road games.
Seattle is 12-6 at home, 10-8 on road.

— Tampa Bay (16-21)
Rays are 9-16 at home, 7-5 on the road.
Rays are 11-7 vs NL teams, 5-14 vs AL teams.
Rays are 4-1 in last five games where winning run scored from 7th inning on.

— Texas (18-20)
Texas lost six of its last eight games.
Rangers fired their hitting coach last week
Under is 16-4 in their home games.
Rangers haven’t scored in first inning in their last 10 home games.

— Toronto (17-20)
Blue Jays are 9-7 vs their AL East rivals, 8-13 vs everyone else .
Toronto’s last four games went over the total. 
Toronto is 13-15 vs righty starters, 4-5 vs lefties.

— If the playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Mets, Cubs, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Padres, Giants, Phillies
AL: New York, Tigers, Mariners. Wild Cards: Guardians, A’s, Royals

— Warriors 109, Rockets 106
Houston led 57-50 at halftime.
Butler scored 27 points, Podziemski 26 for the Warriors.
Golden State’s subs were a combined minus-40, their starters +55.
Warriors lead series, 3-1. 

— Cavaliers 138, Heat 83
Cavaliers led 72-33 at halftime.
Cleveland sweeps series, 4-0; only one win was by less than 21 points.
Cavaliers’ two wins in Miami: 124-87 and this game.

— Milwaukee Bucks’ star Damian Lillard tore his Achilles tendon Sunday, his 2025-26 season is now in serious doubt.

— Shaquille O’Neal is going to be general manager of the Sacramento State basketball program; his son Shaqir is playing for the Hornets next fall, after transferring from Florida A&M. Hornets haven’t made the NCAA Tournament since moving up to Division I in 1991- they play in the Big Sky Conference. Former NBA star Mike Bibby is Sac State’s new head coach.

— Famous birthdays, April 29th:
Willie Nelson, 92
Luis Aparicio, 91
Jim Hart, 81
Tom House, 78
Rick Burleson, 74

Ron Washington, 73
Bob McClure, 73
Jerry Seinfeld, 71
Michelle Pfeiffer, 67
Eve Plumb, 67

Uma Thurman, 55
Jay Cutler, 42
David Lee, 42
Josh Booty, 50
Zach McKinstry, 30

— Mets 19, Nationals 5
Brandon Nimmo went 4-6, with two homers, 9 RBI.
Before Monday, Nimmo was in a 7-for-47 slump.
Francisco Lindor got hit by a pitch twice in the 7th inning, the first player in 11 years to have that happen.

— Reds 3, Cardinals 1
Nick Martinez gave up one run, five hits in his six IP.
Noelvi Marte knocked in the go-ahead run with his first career triple.
Gavin Lux went 3-for-4, is hitting .352.

— Braves 6, Rockies 3
Colorado has lost seven in a row, is now 4-24.
Braves have won eight of their last ten games.
Alex Verdugo went 2-for-4, is hitting .350.

— Dodgers 7, Marlins 6 (10)
Tommy Edman had a walk-off 2-run single in 10th inning.
Dodgers led 5-0 after the fifth inning.
Dane Myers tied the game with a 6th inning grand slam. 

— Movie of the Day: Tequila Sunrise (1988)- A former Los Angeles drug dealer tries to go straight, but his past and his underworld connections bring him into the focus of the DEA, the Mexican feds and the Mexican drug cartels.

Mel Gibson is the drug dealer, Michelle Pfeiffer owns a restaurant, Kurt Russell is a cop and Raul Julia is a Mexican commandante. JT Walsh, Arye Gross are also in this movie.

— A’s 2, Rangers 1
Tyler Soderstrom had a 2-run double in the fifth inning.
A’s bullpen got 10 outs, didn’t allow a run in relief of JP Sears.
Spunky A’s have won nine of their last 13 games.

— Orioles 4, Bronx 3
Ryan O’Hearn hit a three-run homer.
Baltimore led 4-0 after the sixth inning.
Aaron Judge had two hits, is now batting .405.

— Twins 11, Guardians 1
Minnesota has won six of its last seven games.
Cleveland lost four of its last five games.
Twins had 17 hits; six players had 2+ hits.

— Astros 8, Tigers 5
Jose Altuve went 2-4, with a homer, three RBI.
Riley Greene homered twice for Detroit.
Loss snaps the Tigers’ four-game winning streak.

— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Mets, Cubs, Giants. Wild Cards: Dodgers, Padres, Reds
AL: Bronx, Tigers, Mariners. Wild Cards: Guardians, Astros, Red Sox

— NFL Draft is over for this year; the league is tremendous at staying in the news just about year-round. Moving the draft around the country (next year is Pittsburgh) has jazzed the whole thing up a little bit. Must be a tremendous amount of work that goes into setting up the whole thing, but now they can relax until they release the 2025 schedule on May 14th.

Everyone has their opinions on which teams did best/worst in the draft, but no one knows for sure until the games start in September

— One thing we don’t get to see, but it is important; as the draft ends, and it is only seven rounds, teams sign undrafted free agents to try out for their teams— lot of good players do not get picked.

Sometimes, it is better for a player not to get drafted; that way, he can choose which team he tries out for, and can choose a team that might need a player like him.

— Seattle Seahawks traded QB Sam Howell to the Vikings; they moved up 30 slots in the fifth round to acquire Howell, who was 5-13 as a starter for Washington in 2022-23, but threw only 14 passes for the Seahawks last year.

Vikings also have JJ McCarthy, Brett Rypien at QB; Seattle has former Vikings’ starter Sam Darnold, Drew Lock and rookie Jalen Milroe.

— Detroit Lions signed S Kerby Joseph to a 4-year, $86M contract; Lions are 29-9 the last two years, losing the NFC title game in 2023.

— Last year, Baltimore Ravens had more rushing yards than every team they played, first time that happened since 1970. Ravens made the playoffs six of the last seven years, but haven’t been in the Super Bowl since they won it after the 2012 season,

— Famous birthdays, April 27th:
Gary Huff, 74
George Gervin, 73
Herm Edwards, 71
David Whitehurst, 70

Dave Wilson, 66
Roland Williams, 50
Keenan Allen, 33
Corey Seager, 31

The great actor Jack Klugman (Oscar Madison on The Odd Couple) was born 104 years ago today; Casey Kasem, who did the top 40 music countdown on the radio for years, was born on this day 93 years ago.

How NFL teams trended in the draft:
NFC
— Six of seven players the Cardinals drafted play defense.

— Four of five players Atlanta drafted play defense.

— Carolina drafted Tetairoa McMillan, the best WR in the draft, as they try to help young QB Bryce Young, after he went 6-22 in his first 28 NFL starts.

— Bears’ first two picks were a TE/WR; third pick was an offensive lineman, as new coach Ben Johnson, brought in to make Caleb Williams a winning QB, gets some more weapons.

— Cowboys drafted nine guys; their first round pick is an offensive lineman. Dallas missed the playoffs last year for first time in four years, then fired their coach.

— Four of Detroit’s first five draft picks are linemen, two each on offense/defense.

— Host team Green Bay drafted a WR in the first round for the first time since 2002; they also added another WR in the 3rd round- they’re serious about helping QB Jordan Love.

— Rams’ first pick was a tight end; they had the fewest receiving yards by tight ends last year. Their second pick in a linebacker that was highly endorsed by Nick Saban.

— Minnesota traded for QB Sam Howell, to back up JJ McCarthy; they only had five draft picks- the first two were an offensive lineman and a receiver.

— Saints drafted two guys from Texas, two from Louisville, including a 26-year old QB (Jalen Hurts is 26, has already played five years in the NFL). New Orleans missed the playoffs the last four years- will be interesting to see who they start at QB.

— Giants traded up a for a QB who played at Ole Miss, kind of like Eli Manning; two of their first three picks are offensive linemen.

— Eagles’ first five picks in this draft all play defense.

— 49ers drafted 11 players; the first five all play defense. They took QB Kurtis Rourke from Indiana in the 7th round (their QB Brock Purdy was also a 7th round pick)

— Seattle drafted 11 guys, nine of them play offense; they took QB Milroe from Alabama, then dealt Sam Howell to the Vikings.

— Buccaneers only had six picks; they took two WRs, four defensive players.

— Washington had only five draft picks; three of them were Pac-12 guys, back when the Pac-12 still existed.

AFC
— Baltimore drafted 11 players, including a kicker in the 6th round; Justin Tucker has been a great kicker for years for the Ravens, but he has some off-field issues now, and they may be moving on from him.

— Buffalo’s first five draft picks all play defense.

— Bengals only drafted six guys; the first two play defense.

— You may have heard; Cleveland drafted two QB’s, one from Oregon, one from Colorado- he played for his father, both in high school and college. Browns have made the playoffs twice in the last 22 years; you’d think they have more needs than backup QB’s.

— Denver drafted seven guys after trading down a couple times; they picked a punter, which isn’t terribly optimistic, also added a couple of defensive ends. 

— Houston drafted two players each from Iowa State/USC; two of their first three picks were wide receivers.

— Colts’ first three draft picks played in the Big 18; they later drafted Duke/Notre Dame QB Riley Leonard— it irritates me when starting QB’s bolt to a different school without his head coach going too. Indy’s first round pick is a tight end from Penn State. 

— Jaguars traded up for WR/DB Travis Hunter; will he play both ways? Jags drafted nine guys, including a DB from the Naval Academy.

— Kansas City drafted an offensive tackle first, then took three straight defensive players. They picked a WR from Utah State who got some praise from the TV guys.

— Raiders had 11 draft picks; they took a pair of I-AA quarterbacks, one of who is apparently moving to receiver. Five of their first six picks were spent on offensive players.

— Four of Chargers’ first six picks were either RB/WR/TE; they’re trying to give QB Herbert some help.

— Four of Dolphins’ five draft picks play defense; they took a QB from Texas in the 7th round, about 90 seconds after the TV guys on ABC gave him the thumbs down.

— New England drafted 11 players; the first four play offense, two of them the offensive line. They also drafted a kicker from Miami; wonder how he’ll like December in Boston?

— Jets drafted seven guys; all seven either played in the SEC, or at Miami/Florida State. Three of their first four picks play offense.

— Five of Pittsburgh’s seven selections play defense; they took two guys each from Ohio State, Iowa, two winning programs. Some teams prefer to draft guys who are used to winning. 

— Tennessee drafted QB Cam Ward with its #1 pick, later added two WRs and a tight end to help him out. 

— Thursday night, 26 of the 32 players taken in the first round of the NFL Draft played in either the SEC or the Big 18……..15 SEC players, 11 from the Big 18.

— Four of the first 12 players drafted were offensive linemen. QB’s make the most money, but they need to be protected.

— Last eleven years, the first pick in the draft was a quarterback nine times.

— Tennessee Titans took Miami QB Cam Ward with the #1 pick; Giants later traded up to the 25th pick and took Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart; they were the only two QB’s drafted.

Cam Ward started 57 college games, albeit at three different schools; Dart played for former NFL head coach Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss.

— Giants traded a 2nd-round pick and two third round picks to Houston to draft Dart, who started for three years at Ole Miss, and threw for 4,279 yards, 29 TD’s for a 10-3 Ole Miss squad that won its bowl game 52-20 over Duke.

— Cleveland has two of the first four picks Friday night; if they don’t take a QB, they go into the season with Joe Flacco/Kenny Pickett as their QB’s, so chances are they’re taking a QB Friday.

— Last three years combined, only one QB has been drafted in the 2nd round, when Tennessee took Will Levis two years ago. Levis will probably start for a while longer, before Ward takes his place as the Titans’ starter.

— Green Bay took WR Matthew Golden in the first round; it was the first time since 2002 (Javon Walker) that Green Bay used a first-round pick on a receiver.

— Famous birthdays, April 25th:
Al Pacino, 85
Talia Shire, 79
Jeffrey DeMunn, 78
Craig Minetto, 71
Randy Cross, 71

Dave Corzine, 69
Tony Phillips, 66
Art Schlichter, 65
Hank Azaria, 61
Gina Torres, 56

Darren Woodson, 56
Tim Duncan, 49
Sean Mannion, 33
Trevor Williams, 33
AJ Puk, 30

— Jacksonville Jaguars traded up with Cleveland and took WR/DB Travis Hunter; he is the first WR drafted #2 since 2007, when the Lions picked Calvin Johnson.

— Eagles/Chiefs flipped the last two picks in the first round, with Chiefs getting a 5th round pick to fall back one spot. Eagles then drafted a linebacker from Alabama, who they must really like if they spent a 5th round pick to move up one place.

— Georgia had three guys taken in the first round; Kirby Smart is 105-19 as Georgia’s coach, with 20 players drafted in the first round. More first round picks than losses is impressive.

— Three of the first 13 players taken played college ball at Michigan; had to turn NFL Network off, because studio host Rich Eisen went to Michigan and never shuts up about it.

Nick Saban was on the ABC feed; he is very good at analyzing the draft; smart, concise and gives his opinions, which is how we learn things.

— Rams traded out of the first round, getting a 2nd round pick Friday and a first round pick next year from Atlanta, which took a defensive end from Tennessee.

— There were 120,000 people watching the draft in Green Bay, a city whose population is less than 120,000. Moving the draft around the country has been an excellent idea.

— 2025 NFL schedule release will be Wednesday, May 14; this is a fun night to be in a casino, to see gamblers scurrying to the windows when the opening lines get posted. 

Recent trends for major league teams……..
National League
Arizona- Missed playoffs six of last seven years, but in that one year, they got to the World Series, losing to Texas in five games. Last two years, Arizona was 84-78/89-73.

Atlanta- Made playoffs the last seven years, but made only one World Series in those years, beating Houston in six games in 2021. Braves’ last losing season? 2017. 

Cubs- Missed playoffs last four years, went 83-79/83-79 the last two years. From 2015-20, they made the playoffs five times in six years, winning 2016 World Series.

Cincinnati- Missed playoffs 10 of last 11 years, losing 2-0 to Atlanta in Wild Card round in 2020. Hiring Terry Francona as manager figures to be a huge upgrade for the Reds.

Colorado- Missed playoffs the last six years, losing 101/103 games the last two years. Since they got swept in the 2007 World Series, Rockies have made playoffs three times in 17 years.

Dodgers- Made playoffs the last 12 years, winning World Series in 2020/2024, losing Series in 2017/2018. Their last losing season was in 2010, when they were 80-82.

Miami- Marlins made playoffs twice in last four years, ending a 17-year drought; they went 62-100 last year, after making playoffs in 2023. They have their third manager in four years.

Milwaukee- Made playoffs six of last seven years; their last losing season in a 162-game schedule was 2016. Brewers won 92+ games in three of their last four seasons.

Mets- Made playoffs two of last three years, have made playoffs only four times since 2007. Mets fans are lucky to have a very wealthy owner who is also a fan and really wants to win.

Phillies- Made playoffs the last three years, ending a 10-year drought; From 2013-20, Phillies weren’t over .500 in any season. Phillies lost World Series to Houston in six games in 2022. 

Pittsburgh- Missed playoffs the last nine years, after making it three years in a row under Clint Hurdle, from 2013-15. Won 76/76 games last two years, after winning 61/62 in 2021-22.

St Louis- Missed playoffs last two years, after making it four years in a row before that; they’ve made the playoffs eight times in 13 years since winning the 2011 World Series.

San Diego- Made playoffs three of last five years, lost NLDS 3-2 to the Dodgers last year. Their owner died last year; is still unclear if the new ownership will still be spending $$$. 

San Francisco- Made playoffs once in last seven years; they were 107-55 in 2021, haven’t been over .500 since then. Made playoffs twice in last 10 years, since winning 3 WS in five years.

Washington- Won 2019 World Series, have had five losing seasons in a row since, but still have same manager/GM. They let Bryce Harper/Juan Soto/Trey Turner walk.

— Famous birthdays, March 27th:
Dick Ruthven, 74
Cliff Stoudt, 70
Randall Cunningham, 62
Quentin Tarantino, 62
Ed Pinckney, 62

Buster Posey, 38
Clay Holmes, 32
Brandon Nimmo, 32
Brycen Hopkins, 28
Tyler Kolek, 24

American League
Baltimore— Won 101-91 games the last two years; four years ago, they were 52-110, so a huge turnaround down by manager Brandon Hyde. Last World Series title: 1983.

Boston— Missed playoffs last three years, winning 78-78-81 games; they’ve made playoffs once in six years, since winning 2018 World Series- they’ve won four World Series since 2004.

White Sox— Were 41-121 last year, a historically bad season; they lost 101 games the year before, two years after they went 93-69, losing the ALDS. LY, they were 13-29 in one-run games.

Cleveland— Guardians made playoffs six of last nine years; they finished over .500 in 10 of their last 12 seasons. Cleveland was 10-3 in extra-inning games last year.

Detroit— Made playoffs last year for first time in 10 years; they were 21-12 vs lefty starters, 65-64 vs RHP. Detroit was 21-10 when Tarik Skubal was the starting pitcher.

Houston— Made playoffs the last eight years, winning World Series in 2017, 2022. Changed up some this year; Altuve will play LF, Christian Walker 1B, Paredes 3B. 

Kansas City— Made playoffs last year for first time since winning 2015 World Series; last year, Royals were 33-19 against AL Central rivals, 53-55 vs everyone else.

Angels— Have had nine straight losing seasons; Mike Trout has been in big leagues 14 years, has played in three playoff games. They still owe Anthony Rendon $77M+ the next two years.

Minnesota— Missed playoffs three of last four years; since 2006, they’re 3-18 in playoff games. Last year, Twins were 18-28 vs NL teams, 10-21 vs AL East, 29-23 vs AL Central rivals.

Bronx— Made playoffs 12 of last 16 years; lost World Series LY, their first WS since 2009. Last year, they were 73-46 vs lefty starters, only 21-23 vs lefties.

A’s— Last three years, lost 102-112-93 games; they were in the playoffs in 2020. .Will play home games the next three years in Sacramento. LY, from July 1st on, A’s were 39-37.

Seattle— Have made playoffs once since 2001; losing 3-0 to Astros in ALDS. Last year, Mariners were 32-20 vs AL West rivals, 53-57 vs everyone else- they missed the playoffs by a game.

Tampa Bay— Missed playoffs LY for first time in six years; they were 80-82, 30-22 in one-run games. This year, Rays are playing in a spring training stadium in Tampa; their dome got shredded by a hurricane this winter..

Texas— Made playoffs once in last eight years, winning 2023 World Series. Bruce Bochy has won four World Series, in his last 12 years as a manager. Rangers were 9-2 in extra innings LY.

Toronto— Made playoffs three of last five years, but went 0-6 in playoffs; last year, Blue Jays were 14-22 vs lefty starters, 19-30 in one-run games. 

— Baylor 75, Mississippi State 72
Baylor shot 55.3% inside arc, had 16 offensive rebounds.
Miss State shot 72.7% inside arc, only 10-30 on arc.
Baylor has won its last seven first round games.
Miss State lost its last six NCAA Tournament games.

— Ole Miss 71, North Carolina 64
Ole Miss led 44-26 at halftime.
Coach Beard is 6-0 in first round games, for four different schools.
Tar Heels shot only 5-24 on the arc.
UNC was 2-6 this year in non-ACC games vs top 100 teams.

— Saint Mary’s 59, Vanderbilt 56
Vandy led 29-22 at half 0f a slow-paced (59 possessions) game.
Saint Mary’s out-rebounded the Commodores, 41-28
Vandy finished 20-13, making their first NCAA since 2016.
Saint Mary’s-Alabama Sunday will definitely be worlds colliding.

— Colorado State 78, Memphis 70
Rams outscored Memphis 47-34 in second half.
Colorado State was 11-30 on arc, Tigers 6-23
Memphis star Haggerty was only 7-23 from the floor.
Rams have now won 11 games in a row.

This was first time since 2017 that a #12-seed was favored over a #5-seed.

— Iowa State 82, Lipscomb 55
Cyclones shot 68.3% inside arc, led 40-24 at halftime.
Last six years, #3-seeds are 16-8 ATS in first round.
Lipscomb was 0-3 vs top 100 teams, losing by 16-29-27 points.
Iowa State-Ole Miss will be fun to watch Sunday.

— Alabama 90, Robert Morris 81
Most points a #2-seed allowed in a 1st round win since Arizona in 2017..
Underdog Colonials led by a point with 7:01 left to play.
Alabama shot 75.7% (28-37) inside the arc.
Horizon teams have now covered their last six NCAA Tourney games.

This was the most points a #2-seed was favored by Arizona in 2015.

— Maryland 81, Grand Canyon 49
Dismal performance by the Antelopes, who shot 32.1%
Could’ve been worse; Terps were 12-24 on foul line.
Maryland has won 13 of its last 16 games.
Maryland plays Colorado State in the 2nd round Sunday.

— Duke 93, Mt St Mary’s 49
Awful game; Duke led 54-28 at halftime.
Duke had only two turnovers in 70 possessions.
#1-seeds went 4-0/2-2 in first round (wins by 20-38-44-26 points)
Blue Devils play Baylor Sunday.

— Famous birthdays, March 22nd:
William Shatner, 94
Matthew Modine, 66
Jimbo Covert, 65
Brian Shaw, 59

Ramón Martínez, 57
Shawn Bradley, 53
Marcus Camby, 51
Reese Witherspoon, 49

Marques Tuiasosopo, 46
Dexter Fowler, 39
Ike Davis, 38
JJ Watt, 36

— New Mexico 75, Marquette 66
Marquette led by 3 with 12:29 left in the game.
Lobos were 18-21 on foul line, Marquette 7-12.
Mountain West is 2-2 SU in NCAA’s this week; previous three years, they were 3-16.
Lobos play Michigan State in second round Sunday. 

— UConn 67, Oklahoma 59
Sooners led by a point with 9:03 left in the game.
UConn shot 58.1% inside arc, 6-25 on the arc.
Oklahoma shot 32.1% from the floor.
Huskies won 6 of last 7 games, after a 6-6 stretch.

— Kentucky 76, Troy 57
Kentucky led 35-27 at the half, pulled away in second half.
Amari Williams only had 5 points, but had 12 rebounds, 4 assists.
Troy took lot of 3’s, but made only 8-32.
Kentucky-Illinois should be a good game Sunday.

— Illinois 86, Xavier 73
Illini out-rebounded Xavier, 45-25.
Xavier was +9 in turnovers (14-5)
Illinois is in bottom 5 in country at forcing turnovers.
Illini shot 57.1% inside arc, scored 1.21 points/possession.
Last year was the first Sweet 16 for Illinois since 2005.

— Michigan State 87, Bryant 62
Bryant actually led 19-15 midway thru first half.
Spartans out-rebounded Bryant, 54-29.
Michigan State shot 10-26 on arc, scored 1.23 points/possession.
This was Bryant’s second trip to NCAA’s in last four years.

— Florida 95, Norfolk State 69
Gators won easily, led 53-32 at halftime.
Florida shot 67.9% inside arc, scored 1.44 points/possession.
Florida had 21 offensive rebounds, Norfolk 14 defensive rebounds.
Gators-UConn is an interesting matchup for Sunday.

— Arizona 93, Akron 65
Arizona out-rebounded the Zips, 53-22.
Wildcats outscored Akron 52-34 in second half.
Akron shot 33.3% from the floor.
Arizona shot 12-25 on the arc, scored 1.24 points/possession.

— Oregon 81, Liberty 52
Ducks sprinted out to 25-8 lead, jogged to an easy win. (do ducks jog?)
Oregon out-rebounded Liberty, 43-27
Liberty shot 8-37 on the arc.
Oregon won nine of last ten games; they play Arizona Sunday. 

Thursday was March 20, 2025, which reminded me of something………

Back in 1978, Warren Beatty starred in a movie, Heaven Can Wait; he played a QB for the Rams (Joe Pendleton) who got hit by a truck while riding his bicycle. An over-anxious angel sent his body to heaven but he hadn’t died in the accident, but by the time they realized this, it was too late. His body had to stay in heaven.

Buck Henry played the angel; James Mason was his supervisor. When the supervisor asked the angel to research when Joe Pendleton was supposed to die, the angel looked it up and came back with a sheepish look on his face.

“March 20, 2025”

In real life, Warren Beatty turns 88 on March 30th.

— McNeese State 69, Clemson 67
McNeese led 40-16 early in the second half.
Brandon Murray scored 21 for McNeese; he didn’t start.
McNeese coach Will Wade was a student manager in college……at Clemson.
Last 5+ years, #12-seeds are 9-12 SU vs #5-seeds.

— Purdue 75, High Point 63
Purdue out-rebounded the Panthers, 45-24.
Junior G Smith scored 20 points, had 6 assists, played all 40:00.
Purdue-McNeese State should be fun to watch Saturday.
Purdue is 6-2 ATS in last eight first round games.

— BYU 80, VCU 71
VCU was 15-38 on arc, only 4-6 on foul line, a bad combination.
BYU shot 58.8% inside the arc
BYU has the #6 eFG% offense in the country.
Cougars have won 10 of their last 11 games.

— Wisconsin 85, Montana 66
Wisconsin shot 72.7% inside the arc.
Badgers out-rebounded Montana, 41-29.
Big Sky teams haven’t won an NCAA game since Montana, in 2006.
BYU-Wisconsin will be one of the better games Saturday.

— Creighton 89, Louisville 75
Bluejays shot 11-24 on arc, scored 1.27 points/possession.
Creighton was 14-21 on foul line, Louisville 7-8.
6-5 senior Neal scored 29 points, had 12 rebounds, 6 assists.
Creighton wins its fifth straight first round game.

— Auburn 83, Alabama State 63
Auburn led 32-31, ended first half on a 9-0 run.
Auburn was only 18-32 on foul line, Alabama State 11-19.
Tigers were 11-35 on the arc, 16-25 inside the arc.
Last five years, #1-seeds are 17-3 SU/10-10 ATS in 2nd round. 

— Gonzaga 89, Georgia 68
Zags raced out to an early 27-3 lead.
Gonzaga shot 12-20 on the arc.
Zags are 24-0 in games decided by 9+ points, 2-8 in games decided by 8 or fewer points.
Georgia finished 20-13; this was their first NCAA Tournament since 2015.

— Houston 78, SIU-Edwardsville 40
#1-seed Houston led 52-24 at halftime.
Underdog SIU-E shot 2-24 on the arc.
Houston is 5-1 ATS in last six first round games.
Houston-Gonzaga is an interesting game on Saturday.

— Famous birthdays, March 21st
Tom Flores, 88
Manny Sanguillén, 81
Gary Oldman, 67
Matthew Broderick, 63

Shawon Dunston, 62
Scott Williams, 57
Tony Horne, 49
Carlos Carrasco, 38

Frankie Montas, 32
Sebastian Joseph-Day, 30
A’Shawn Robinson, 30
Nick Mullens, 30

— Drake 67, Missouri 57
Drake has four starters who were playing D2 basketball last year.
Drake has won 19 of its last 20 games.
Missouri shot only 33.3% from the floor.
Bulldogs had two starters play 40:00; no one else played more than 25:00.

— Michigan 68, Cal-San Diego 65
Michigan led 41-27 at halftime.
Tritons led 65-63, but didn’t score in last 2:29.
Michigan survived going 11-20 on foul line.
Wolverines play Texas A&M Saturday.

— Texas Tech 82, NC-Wilmington 72
Red Raiders led only 38-34 at halftime.
Tech shot 13-46 on arc, 14-23 inside arc.
First time in six years a CAA team covered in NCAA’s.
Texas Tech-Drake Sunday; the two head coaches are good friends.

— Arkansas 79, Kansas 72
Arkansas led by 11 early in second half.
Kansas led by 3 with 3:10 left in game.
Arkansas was +6 in turnovers (16-10)
Razorbacks have won six of their last eight games.

— Texas A&M 80, Yale 71
Just third win in last eight games for Texas A&M.
Aggies led 40-29 at halftime.
Texas A&M shot 71.4% inside the arc.
6-9 junior Payne had 25 points, 10 boards; he didn’t start.

— Tennessee 77, Wofford 62
Stress-free win for Vols, who shot 61.5% inside arc.
Senior G Lanier scored 29 points, shot 6-13 on arc.
Under Barnes, Tennessee is 3-2 in second round games.
SoCon teams are 1-3 SU/2-2 ATS so far this week.

— UCLA 72, Utah State 47
Stress-free win for Bruins, who led by 12 at halftime.
UCLA shot 10-24 on arc, scored 1.22 points/possession.
Mountain West is 2-17 ATS in its last 19 first round games.
UCLA-Tennessee Sunday should be quite the defensive struggle.

— St John’s 83, Omaha 53
St John’s shot 14-37 on arc, tied for most 3’s they made in a game this year.
3:07 into the game, Omaha led 7-0; Johnnies led 33-28 at halftime.
Omaha shot 5-36 on the arc.
St John’s-Arkansas should be the featured game Saturday. 

— Final Four by seed, the last five tournaments:
2024- 1-1-4-11 (NC State was #11)
2023- 4-5-5-9 (Florida Atlantic was #9)
2022- 1-2-2-8 (North Carolina was #8)
2021- 1-1-2-11 (UCLA was #11)
2019- 1-2-3-5

Last five tournaments, only six #1-seeds made the Final Four

— Final Four by conference, the last five tournaments:
2024- ACC, Big East, Big 18, SEC
2023- ACC, Big East, C-USA, Mountain West
2022- ACC (2), Big East, Big X
2021- AAC, Big X, Pac-12, WCC
2019- ACC, Big 18, Big X, SEC

5- ACC
3- Big East, Big X
2- Big 18, SEC
1- AAC, C-USA, Mountain West, Pac-12, WCC

First round trends…….
— Last four years, #1-seeds are 9-7 ATS in first round games.

— Last three years, #2-seeds are 8-4 ATS

A #2-seed has been upset in first round in three of last four years.

— Last five years, #3-seeds are 13-7 ATS.

Last seven years, only 2 of 28 #3-seeds lost in first round.

— Last six years, underdogs are 16-8 ATS in 4-13 first round games.

— Last five years, underdogs are 11-9 ATS in 5-12 games.

— Last six years, the underdog is 6-0 SU/ATS in the 6-11 game in the Midwest region; this year, #6-seed Illinois will play the Texas-Xavier play-in winner.

— Last six years, underdogs are 14-10 SU/20-4 ATS in 8-9 games.

— Famous birthdays, March 18
Jeff Mullins, 83
Dwayne Murphy, 70
Vanessa Williams, 62
Pat Terrell, 57
Andre Rison, 57

Rob Johnson, 52
Brian Griese, 50
Adam Levine, 46
JT Realmuto, 34
Trey Mancini, 33

Conference trends:
— Last three years, ACC teams are 11-4 ATS in first round
Since 2018, ACC teams are 18-8 ATS in second round.

— No team from the A-15 has made the Sweet 16 since Dayton in 2014.

— Last three years, Big East teams are 9-5 ATS in first round
Last three years, Big East had a team in Final Four (Villanova-UConn-UConn)

— Since 2006, Big Sky teams are 0-17 SU/3-13-1 ATS in first round games.
Last Big Sky team to win an NCAA game: Montana 87, Nevada 79 in 2006.

— Last three years, Big 18 teams are 13-8-1 ATS in first round
Last four years, Big 18 teams are 9-12 ATS in second round.

Last four years, only one Big 18 team made the Final Four (Purdue LY)

Last Big 18 team to win a national title? Michigan State, in 2000.

— Since 2019, Big X teams are 21-11 ATS in first round
Since 2021, Big X teams are 6-16 ATS in second round

— Since 2015, Big West teams are 7-3 ATS in first round

— Since 2013, CAA teams are 0-11 SU/5-6 ATS in first round
Last five years, CAA teams are 0-5 ATS

— Since 2015, U-USA teams are 6-3 ATS in first round

— Last three years, Horizon teams are 5-0 ATS in play-in/first round games.

— Since 2010, Ivy League teams are 10-3 ATS in first round.

— Since 2010, MAAC teams are 3-12 ATS in first round (3-2 in last five)

— Since 2017, MAC teams are 6-2 ATS in first round

— Last three years, MVC teams were 0-3 ATS in first round
From 2013-21, MVC teams were 11-3 ATS in first round

— Since 2019, Mountain West teams are 3-14 SU/2-15 ATS in first round

— Last three years, SEC teams are 9-12 ATS in first round
Since 2016, SEC teams are 11-18 ATS in second round

— Last six years, SoCon teams are 5-1 ATS in first round.

— Last five years, WAC teams are 2-3 SU?5-0 ATS in first roun

We’ll get into the games more as the week goes on, but here are some quick thoughts, facts after seeing the brackets/Field of 68.

— #8-seeds are a prominent group: UConn, Gonzaga, Louisville, Mississippi State.

How would you like to be a #1-seed and see the two-time champ Huskies in your bracket? 

Auburn-Louisville would be in Lexington, KY; Bruce Pearl must be thrilled with that, though that game being an afternoon tip-off probably helps Auburn a little bit.

Gonzaga has made nine straight Sweet 16’s; they’re going to have to upset Houston to make it ten in a row.

— Brackets came out out between 6-7 pm; Maryland coach Kevin Willard was on a CBS brackets show at 8:30- he said his team had already had a film session on Grand Canyon, their first round opponent in Seattle Friday.

These teams don’t waste any time studying their opponents.

— Iowa State point guard Keshon Gilbert is out for the NCAA Tournament; he missed four of the Cyclones’ last seven games, and Iowa State went 1-3 in those games.

— Clemson-McNeese State is a first round game; McNeese coach Will Wade was a student manager at Clemson, later a grad assistant coach there.

Wade’s Wikipedia page says that he is the new coach at NC State, which might be wishful thinking by whoever posted that note.

— Teams that played on Sunday who have a tournament game this Thursday:
VCU, Yale, Michigan, Wisconsin, all in Denver, in high altitude. Tennessee plays in Kentucky.

Sunday/Thursday is a quick turnaround, especially if a lot of travel is involved.

— Arkansas-Kansas; John Calipari vs Bill Self, with the winner probably playing against Rick Pitino’s St John’s team. Lot of Hall of Famers in that bracket. 

St John’s hasn’t won an NCAA Tournament game since 2000, which is also the last time they won the Big East tournament (before this week).

— With no Pac-12 this season or next, there was an extra at-large bid this season; two years from now, the Pac-12 will be back, and the tournament will have one fewer at-large team. 

— Famous birthdays, March 17th:
Cito Gaston, 81
Patrick Duffy, 75
Kurt Russell, 74
Gary Sinise, 70

Danny Ainge, 66
Arye Gross, 65
Sam Bowie, 64
Rob Lowe, 61

Kyle Korver, 44
Juan Lagares, 36
Cordarrelle Patterson, 34
Rhys Hoskins, 32

— 14 of 16 SEC teams made the tournament; Texas was the lowest ranked of the 14- they play Xavier in a play-in game in Dayton.

— #1-seeds won 17 of the 31 conference tournaments this year.

Some trends on conferences in the NCAA’s:
— Since 2019, Mountain West teams are 3-14 SU/2-15 ATS in first round games.

New Mexico, Utah State, Colorado State, San Diego State are in this year’s tournament.

— Since 2010, Ivy League teams are 10-3 ATS in first round games; Yale is a 7.5-point underdog against Texas A&M Thursday.

— CAA teams are 0-11 SU in the last 11 NCAA Tournaments, 0-5 ATS in the last five. NC-Wilmington is a 15.5-point underdog against Texas Tech Thursday night.

— Big West teams are 7-3 ATS in their last ten first round games; the last five years, five different schools have represented the Big West.

Was surprised to see that Cal-San Diego is only a 3.5-point underdog vs Michigan in their first round game. This is the first year the Tritons were eligible for March Madness- they’re 30-4 and have won their last 15 games. They’re 3-2 vs teams ranked in the top 100.

— There must be a lot of $$$ involved with the advertising involved in these bracket pools; ESPN pushes their contest pretty hard.

— I’m off to do more studying; will be back tomorrow with some more knowledge. 

Lot of conference tournaments going on; here is what we know:

— SEC
Alabama 99, Kentucky 70
Crimson Tide outscored Kentucky 54-35 in second half.
Alabama had three subs score in double figures
Crimson Tide is shooting 59.9% inside the arc (#3)

Auburn 62, Ole Miss 57
Fewest points Auburn has scored since January 25 vs Tennessee
Game was tied with 6:26 left; then Auburn went on a 10-1 run.
Teams shot a combined 10-44 on the arc.

Saturday’s semi-finals:
Auburn-Tennessee…….Florida-Alabama

— Big X
Arizona 86, Texas Tech 80
Caleb Love scored 27 points for Arizona.
Wildcats shot 8-16 on the arc, scored 1.26 points/possession.
Texas Tech’s best player was sick, barfing during timeouts. 

Saturday’s final: Arizona-Houston

— ACC
Duke 74, North Carolina 71
Duke star Flagg didn’t play, is done for the weekend.
Duke led 45-24 at halftime.
Teams combined to shoot 8-39 on the arc.
Blue Devils are 26-1 since Thanksgiving.

Louisville 76, Clemson 73
Cardinals led 69-54 with 3:24 left, held on for dear life.
Lousiville’s wins last two nights were by 2-3 points.
Cardinals have won 11 games in a row.
Loss snaps Clemson’s nine-game winning streak.

Duke-Louisville is Saturday’s ACC final

— Big East
St John’s 79, Marquette 63
6-9 Ejiofor scored 33 points, had nine rebounds.
Marquette led 24-9 early on, 37-35 at halftime.
Marquette is 5-7 in its last 12 games.
St John’s is in Big East final for first time in 25 years.

Creighton 71, UConn 62
Bluejays had only 4 turnovers, scored 1.27 points/possession.
Creighton was 13-18 on foul line, UConn 2-4
Creighton is shooting 60.6% inside arc (#1 in country)

St John’s-Creighton is the Big East final Saturday

— Big 18
All four games Friday were decided by 10+ points. 

Wisconsin 86, UCLA 70
Badgers shot 19-32 on arc, 12-17 in first half.
UCLA split its last eight games.

Saturday’s semi-finals:
Wisconsin-Michigan State
Michigan-Maryland

— Mountain West
Boise State 72, New Mexico 69
#1-seed New Mexico led 34-28 at halftime.
Boise State shot 64% inside the arc.
Broncos won 11 of their last 13 games.

Saturday’s final is Boise State-Colorado State

— Big West
Cal-San Diego 69, Cal-Santa Barbara 51
Gauchos led 27-26 at halftime.
Cal-San Diego shot 62.5% inside the arc.
Tritons have won their last 14 games. 

Saturday’s final is Cal-San Diego/Cal-Irvine.

— Famous birthdays, March 15th:
Judd Hirsch, 90
Mike Kruczek, 72
Clay Matthews, 69
Stump Mitchell, 66

Harold Baines, 66
Terry Cummings, 64
Eva Longoria, 50
Kevin Youkilis, 46

Tavon Austin, 35
Nick Ahmed, 35
Taylor Heinicke, 32
Matt Gay, 31

— American
Memphis 83, Wichita State 80
Wichita led 20-10 early in the game.
PJ Haggerty scored 42 points, shot 16-23 inside arc.
Tigers have won six in row, 14 of last 15 games.

Bubble teams all over America are rooting for Memphis; if they lose in this tournament, whoever wins AAC tournament would be a bid stealer. 

Saturday’s semi-finals:
Memphis-Tulane…….North Texas-UAB

— MAC
Miami OH 72, Kent State 64
Kent State led by a hoop with 4:57 left to play.
Golden Flashes were only 11-21 on the foul line.
Miami is 19-4 in its last 23 games.

Saturday’s final is #1-seed Akron vs Miami.

— Atlantic 15
St Joe’s 73, Dayton 68 OT
Dayton led by 4 with 0:18 left in regulation.
St Joe’s was 20-28 on foul line, Flyers 7-11.
Hawks have won seven of their last eight games.

Saturday’s semi-finals: Saint Louis-VCU…….St Joe’s-George Mason

— Conference USA
Jacksonville State 70, Middle Tennessee 68
Middle Tennessee played a 2pm game, after playing a 2OT game Thursday nite
Blue Raiders shot 11-24 on arc, but were only 9-17 on foul line.
Jax State senior G Pierre played all 40:00, scored 19 points.

Saturday’s final: #1-seed Liberty vs Jacksonville State

— WAC
Grand Canyon 75, Cal Baptist 66
Grand Canyon led 25-16 at half; 2nd half had a faster pace.
Grand Canyon is trying to win WAC tourney for third year in a row.
Antelopes have won eight of their last nine games.

Saturday’s final: Utah Valley-Grand Canyon

— Metro Atlantic
Iona 81, Quinnipiac 73
Iona shot 59.2% inside arc, upsets top-seeded Quinnipiac
Iona has been in six of last eight NCAA tournaments.
Quinnipiac shot 9-29 on arc; for year, they’re shooting 29.8% on arc (#346)

Saturday’s final: Iona-Mount St Mary’s

— As I started writing this, Shohei Ohtani hit a home run in his first at-bat of the 2025 Cactus League; Ohtani was a 50-50 guy last year, but this year he figures to get back on the mound too.

Ohtani is 38-19, 3.01 in 86 MLB starts, with a 1.08 WHIP; he is coming back from Tommy John surgery.

Dodgers have spent a boatload of $$$; they’re favored to win the World Series again this year. It has been 25 years since a team won the World Series two years in a row.

— Juan Soto signed a 15-year, $765M contract with the Mets, who went 89-73 last year but lost the NLCS to the Dodgers in six games. Mets have Lindor-Soto-Alonso leading off their lineup, but how good is their batting order after that? 

— New York’s American League team hasn’t won a World Series since 2009, despite having a huge payroll every year; last year was first time since ’09 they were in a World Series. They’ve made the playoffs seven of last eight years, but now they lost Soto, but added Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger and Max Fried.

— Tampa Bay Rays will play their home games this year in a minor league stadium in Tampa, because the Trop was wicked by a hurricane last year. Rays will play ton of home games early in the season, to avoid the humid summer weather in Florida. 

A’s will be playing home games in Sacramento’s minor league stadium the next three years; hopefully they’ll move to Las Vegas for the ’28 season, but since their owner is a cheap bastard, no one knows for sure.

Summer weather in Sacramento is said to be a lot warmer than Oakland, so A’s home games figure to be more high scoring than previous years.

— Still unclear what the Red Sox lineup is going to look like; they signed Alex Bregman, but also have Rafael Devers- they both play third base. Devers is banged-up right now; when he gets back  in the lineup, does Bregman move to 2B? Does Devers move to 1B?

Boston seems to have an excess of hitters; will they trade one for a pitcher (Dylan Cease)?

— Pittsburgh haven’t had a winning season since 2018, haven’t made the playoffs since 2015, but their pitching rotation is pretty good; too bad they won’t spend $$$ on some hitters- they could compete for a playoff spot in a less-than-stellar NL Central.

— Wish they’d put in the ball/strike replay challenge thing in for this season; it seems to be a very good idea, from what I’ve seen in spring training. MLB and the players’ union could get together and make this happen right?

— Famous birthdays, March 1st:
Elvin Bethea, 79
Brian Winters, 73
Ron Howard, 71
Catherine Bach, 71
George Eads, 58

Chris Webber, 52
Trevor Cahill, 37
Michael Conforto, 32

Tyreek Hill, 31
Ja’Maar Chase, 25

— Watching spring training games is fun (to a point); watch lot of Dodger games, listen to Rick Monday do analysis- he does radio during the season. He is 79 years old, has a great voice.

When I was a little kid, Rick Monday was an outfielder for the A’s; he was the first player taken in the 1965 amateur draft, which was the first-ever amateur draft.

He played 19 years in the majors and since has had an excellent broadcasting career.

— Read that All-Stars will be wearing their team’s uniform during the All-Star Game this year, which is a good thing, a throwback to the old days.

— Jose Altuve is going to play LF for the Astros this year; Christian Walker will play 1B, Isaac Paredes will replace Bregman at 3B, and it looks like Brendan Rodgers will play 2B.

Altuve’s defensive metrics at 2B weren’t good last year, so they’re moving him to the outfield. Left field in Houston’s stadium isn’t big; am curious where he’ll play in road games.

— Will Nolan Arenado remain a Cardinal, or get traded to a contender? He is on the books for $32M this year, $27M next year, $15M in 2027; he said he wanted to get traded to a contender, but apparently vetoed a trade to Houston.

Cardinals don’t appear to be a contender this season, so unloading a big contract makes some sense for St Louis.

— Mike Trout is moving to right field this year, as he tries to stay healthier; Trout will be 34 in August, has played in only 266 games the last four years, 41% of the Angels’ games. Not ideal for a guy who is on the books for $37M a year through 2030.

— Terry Francona is the new manager in Cincinnati; Reds have made the playoffs only once since 2013, the short season in 2020, but Francona is a Hall of Fame-level manager, winning two World Series in Boston, winning an AL title in Cleveland.

Reds have had three winning seasons the last five years, but were 77-85 last year, going 15-28 in one-run games. Reverse that stat, and Cincinnati would’ve been a playoff team.

— Arizona Diamondbacks lost the World Series in 2023, then won five more games last year than they did in ’23, but narrowly missed the playoffs.

Arizona added P Corbin Burnes, 1B Josh Naylor, but lost Christian Walker; they’re trying hard to win, but being a division rival of the Dodgers can be discouraging. More than likely, they’ll be hunting for a Wild Card spot, like the one they got in 2023. 

Mariano Rivera is the only Hall of Famer who was elected unanimously.

Here are 13 Hall of Famers who also should’ve been elected unanimously…….

13) Hank Aaron
755 home runs, 2,297 RBI, 6,856 total bases. He wasn’t unanimous?
Knocked in 100+ runs in eleven different seasons.
won World Series ring in 1957 with Milwaukee Braves.
OPS didn’t exist when he played, but his career OPS was .928.

12) Willie Mays
660 home runs, 1,909 RBI, won 12 Gold Gloves; who didn’t vote for him?
Had five seasons with a slugging %age over .600.
In 1954, he hit .345 with a 1.078 OPS, after he was in the military during the ’53 season.
Giants also won the World Series in 1954.

11) Ted Williams
.344 career batting average, .482 on-base %age, career OPS of 1.116.
In 1941, he hit .406, playing 143 games, with 147 walks.
He hit .316 in his last season, when he was 41 years old.
Missed three years due to military service; he was a fighter pilot.

10) Babe Ruth
714 home runs, 2,214 RBI, career OPS of 1.164
From 1920-31, he hit 40+ home runs in 10 of 12 seasons.
Hit 15 homers, had 33 RBI in 41 World Series games.
Oh yeah, he was 94-46, 2.28 in 147 starts as a pitcher.

9) Bob Gibson
251-174 with a 2.92 ERA in 482 career starts (255 complete games)
in 1968, he was 22-9, 1.12 in 34 starts, with 13 shutouts.
made All-Star team seven years in row, from 1964-70.
won two World Series MVP’s (1964/1967)

8) Rickey Henderson
scored 2,295 runs, stole 1,406 bases, both the most ever.
drew 2,190 walks, had a career on-base %age of .401
won two World Series rings, with A’s/Blue Jays.
scored 47 runs in 60 postseason games.
played for nine teams in his 25-year career. 

7) Mickey Mantle
536 home runs, 1,509 RBI, a career on-base %age of .421
won seven World Series rings.
scored 42 runs, had 40 RBI in 65 playoff games.
had eight seasons with an OPS over 1.000.

— Famous birthdays, February 11th:
Tina Louise, 91
James Silas, 76
Carey Lowell, 64
Jennifer Aniston, 56

Damian Lewis, 54
Jacque Vaughn, 50
Dansby Swanson, 31
Josh Jacobs, 27

6) Tom Seaver
was 311-205, 2.86 in 647 career starts (231 career games)
made 12 All-Star Games, won three Cy Young awards.
led the Mets to the 1969 World Series title.

5) Ichiro Suzuki
career batting average of .311, scored 1,420 runs.
made 10 All-Star games, won ten Gold Gloves
was Rookie of Year/MVP in the same year (2001)

4) Greg Maddux
was 355-227, 3.16 in 740 starts in his 23-year career.
helped Braves win the 1995 World Series
made 8 All-Star games, won 18 Gold Gloves

3) Stan Musial
.331 career batting average, career OPS of .976.
made seven batting titles, won three World Series titles.
had 3,630 hits, knocked in 1,951 runs in his career.

2) Frank Robinson
won an MVP in both leagues, for Reds/Orioles.
Hit 586 career home runs, had an OPS .926.
from 1960-62, had three years in row with an OPS of 1.000+.

1) Steve Carlton
won 329 career games in 709 starts (254 complete games)
won two World Series rings, won four Cy Young awards.
in 1972, he was 27-10, 1.97 in 41 starts for a Phillies team that went 59-97.