— TV recommendation: ESPN has a Hard Knocks-type show about last year’s Chiefs, The Kingdom; watched the first two episodes Monday night, it is very good, more in-depth than what is usually in Hard Knocks. NFL Films always does quality stuff, but with ESPN starting its new stand-alone service this week, this seems a little better than usual.
First episode dealt mostly with Patrick Mahomes and the Hunt family, which owns the Chiefs. Second episode was all about Andy Reid and his career.
If you like the NFL and history and don’t dislike the Chiefs, it is worth your time- there has even been a little Hank Stram footage in there (“65 toss power trap, boys. Could break wide open”).
— Trade deadline in Major League Baseball is July 31st; I’m wondering if it would be better for the sport if the deadline was August 31st, the way it used to be?
Trades/trade rumors equal publicity, contenders trying to get better, more people talking about the sport, which is good for everyone involved. MLB does a terrible job of promoting the game, which is a great game, but they have to work at promoting it, the way the NFL does.
— Commissioner Manfred had an interesting suggestion at the Little League Classic Sunday night on ESPN; when the sport expands to 32 teams in the next few years, and they will, could be that there will be geographic re-alignment, and no more American/National Leagues.
Less travel for the teams, more games between geographic rivals, better TV ratings, more $$$ made for the teams, which is what everyone wants.
We posted that idea in this space 15 years ago, still think it is a good idea.
By the way, Salt Lake City/Nashville seem like frontrunners to get an expansion team.
— Indianapolis Colts named Daniel Jones their starting QB; Jones was 25-45-1 as a starter for the Giants, splitting two playoff games three years ago.
— Random stat: Chicago White Sox have lost their last 14 games in Kansas City.
— Cincinnati Reds DFA’d OF Jake Fraley, and Atlanta scooped him up. Reds are contending, Braves aren’t. Fraley hit .232 for the Reds this year with a .719 OPS; his career OPS is .736.
— Long time ago, when I was a kid, seemed like no one ever swung at a 3-0 pitch, batters just took it, except for the very best hitters. Nowadays, do hitters swing at more 3-0 pitches?
In 2022, there were 7,197 pitches thrown in 3-0 counts across MLB and 6,838 of them, or 95%, were fastballs. Compare that to 2-0 counts, where out of 23,542 pitches, only 17,134 of them, or 72%, were fastballs.
In 2022, Atlanta saw 231 pitches in a 3-0 count and swung at 50 of them, for a 22% swing rate. Only the Texas Rangers at 24% swung at a higher percentage.
— Baseball players need to slide feet-first more, especially into home plate; guys are hurting their hands/fingers sliding head-first into bases.
— Famous birthdays, August 20th:
Peter Horton, 72
Quinn Buckner, 71
Mark Langston, 65
Andy Benes, 58
Todd Helton, 52
Amy Adams, 51
Jerryd Bayless, 37
Mitch Trubisky, 31
Jung Hoo Lee, 27
— Tigers 1, Astros 0 (10)
Hunter Brown/Tarik Skubal had a pretty good pitchers’ duel here.
Astros were shut out for third day in a row, and fourth time in five games.
Game ended on a bases loaded walk to Gleyber Torres.
— Cubs 6-4, Brewers 4-1
Chicago sweeps a pair, moves within 7 games of Milwaukee in the NL Central.
— Braves 11, White Sox 10
Chicago led 10-4 after the sixth inning.
Matt Olson went 4-for-5, scored three runs.
White Sox have scored 10+ runs in 6 of 29 games since the All-Star break.
— Reds 6, Angels 4
Reds blew a 4-1 lead, but scored twice in ninth inning for the win.
Noelvi Marte homered, doubled for Cincinnati.
Jo Adell homered twice for the Angels.
— A’s 6, Twins 3
Nick Kurtz went 3-for-3, with two walks.
A’s are 11-5 when Jacob Lopez starts on the mound.
A’s are 15-8 in their last 23 games overall.
— Orioles 4, Red Sox 3 (11)
Rookie C Basallo knocked in winning run in top of the 11th.
Newly-acquired Nathaniel Lowe tied game in the 9th inning for Boston.
Red Sox are 4-8 in their last dozen games.
— Royals 5, Rangers 2
Bobby Witt Jr hit his 100th career home run.
Royals have won five games in a row.
Rangers lost 10 of their last 12 games.
— If the baseball playoffs started today (they do not):
NL: Phillies, Brewers, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Cubs, Mets, Padres.
AL: Blue Jays, Tigers, Astros. Wild Cards: New York, Mariners, Red Sox
