MLB, FIFA, And The CFL …

There were far too many trades at the MLB deadline to tally all of them here with a smidgen of commentary on many of them.  Rather, let me mention a few of the player movements that I think will be most impactful:

• Justin Verlander back to the Astros:  The Astros need pitching help; they are only a half game behind the Rangers in the AL West as of this morning despite injuries galore to their starting rotation.  Verlander is big-time help there …
• The Rangers added pitching too:  Speaking of the Rangers, they strengthened their staff too with the addition of Max Scherzer and Aroldis Chapman.
• The Angels keep Otani and add pitching:  The Angels resisted the temptation to trade a superstar for a ton of prospects and make a run for it in 2023.  They are only 3 games out of a wild card slot as of today.  They did add another starter to the rotation in Lucas Giolito, which should help a bit.
• Tommy Pham to the D-Backs:  He adds a career OPS of .790 to the D-Backs’ outfield.  He is also the “other guy” the Mets cleared out of Queens this year.
• Michael Lorenzen to the Phillies:  Lorenzen was an All-Star about three weeks ago and is having the best year of his career.  The Phillies’ starting rotation is strong.
• Jeimer Candelario to the Cubs:  His OPS this year is .823 which is .084 higher than his career average and he is not an embarrassment in the field.  The Cubs’ lineup got better.

I think the AL West race will be the most interesting one to watch this year.  The Rangers and Astros are neck-and-neck.  They each got an aging starting pitcher from the Mets at the trade deadline; the Astros have hung in there while Yordan Alvarez and Jose Altuve were on the IL, and both are back now.  My advice for baseball fans is to keep a close eye on that race even if your favorite team is not involved in the race in any way.

Moving on …  The US Women’s National Team made it out of the Group Stage and into the Knockout Round of the Women’s World Cup tournament – – but by the skin of their teeth.  I missed about 15 minutes of the game against the Netherlands but watched the rest of the US team’s games, and they have looked anything but dominant except against Vietnam.  Put that game in perspective; if FIFA had not expanded the field for the tournament this year, Vietnam may never have made it to New Zealand for the competition.

Against the Netherlands, the US women managed to get a draw, but were outplayed for most of the time I was tuned in.  Against Portugal, the US women showed no superiority in any phase of the game and were saved from elimination by a late shot that hit the goal post and bounded out of the goal and not into the goal.

I am not nearly sufficiently familiar with the subtleties/technicalities of soccer to know what the problem is there, but this team is not nearly as dominant as ones in the past have been.  If they continue to play as they have, they could easily be an early team to pack up and go home.  If that happens, there could be an interesting irony to the situations:

• The US Women protested their second-class status as compared to the US Men in terms of pay and perks.  One argument was that the US Women won World Cups and the US Men always disappointed.
• This year marks the start of equal sharing of earnings and perks for the women and the men.
• Will this year be the start of equal disappointment on the pitch for the two teams?

Next up … Gregg Drinnan’s blog, Keeping Score has been tracking the futility of the Edmonton Elks of the CFL in their home games.  The Elks lost the last time they were at home to the BC Lions by a score of 27-0.  Shutouts in the CFL are unusual in themselves, but this game was far more than merely unusual:

• That was the Elks’ 21^st consecutive home loss.
• That is now the longest home losing streak by any North American sports franchise surpassing the St Louis Browns who lost 20 home games in a row in 1953.
• The Elks’ last home victory was in October 2019
• In those 21 straight home losses, the Elks have been outscored 660-365 if my calculations are correct.
• That was the second meeting between the Elks and the Lions; the first one was also a shutout by the Lions, 22-0.  That is the first time since 1970 that one team has shut out another team twice in a season.
• Since the start of the 2021 season, the Elks’ cumulative record – – home and away – – is 7-33.  For the 50-year period between 1970 and 2020, the Elks – – then known as the Eskimos – – only missed out on being in the CFL playoff 5 times.

The Elks’ next home game will be on August 10 when the Winnipeg Blue Bombers come to visit.  The Bombers are 5-2 so far this year; that is not a good omen for Elks’ fans.

Finally, let me close again today with another anecdote involving the poet, Dorothy Parker:

• A woman told Parker, “I really can’t come to your party, I can’t bear fools.”  To which Parker replied, “That’s strange, your mother could.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports ………