I got an email yesterday from Gregg Drinnan, the former sports editor of the Kamloops Daily News, reminding me that the CFL regular season kicks off tonight when the Ottawa Redblacks hit the road to play the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Regina. Both teams finished the 2024 regular season with records of 9-8-1; the Redblacks were unimpressive as a road team last year posting a road record of 2-7-0.
Here in the US, some CFL games will be shown on CBSSports Network, and all games can be livestreamed for free at CFL+. If someone is a football junkie and if the UFL does not satisfy your cravings, the CFL offers an alternative football experience. I have watched some CFL football for decades now and I still have to reset my thinking in the first possession or two as an adjustment to the rules about backs in motion on offense and about down and distance differences.
The defending Gray Cup Champions – – Toronto Argonauts – – will open on the road tomorrow night when they visit the Montreal Alouettes. Last year, the Alouettes had the best regular season record in the CFL but were eliminated in the playoffs by the Argonauts.
Readers here know that I like to have fun with player names, and I have a favorite player name in the CFL. BoLevi Mitchell is the starting QB for the Hamilton TigerCats; I always hoped he would get a shot in the NFL so fans could hold up signs that said:
- “I’m A BoLevier” or “I BoLieve In BoLevi”
Too bad … Thanks to Gregg Drinnan for the reminder.
Moving on … The NHL Stanley Cup Finals began last night, and Game 1 merely provided an overtime game for fans. The Edmonton Oilers came from behind to tie the game in regulation forcing the overtime and then won the game with a goal in the overtime period. In the playoffs, the NHL uses a sudden death format unlike the OT rules that obtain during the regular season. This overtime period almost went through the full 20 minutes before the Oilers scored the deciding goal on a power play. It was a very entertaining contest.
Switching gears … Taking a glance at the MLB standings in early June shows that several teams appear to be significantly improved in 2025 as compared to recent seasons:
- The Tigers lead the AL Central Division with a record of 41-22 (win percentage – .651). For the record, the last time the Tigers had a win percentage this high for a full season was in 1934 when the team lost in the World Series to the Cards. Last year, the Tigers finished with 86 wins and that was the first time the team was above .500 since 2016.
- The Cubs are on the upswing too. As of this morning, the Cubs are 38-23 (win percentage = .623) and that puts the Cubs on pace to win 101 games in 2025. If the Cubs manage to hit triple figures in wins, it would only be the fourth time the team accomplished that feat since 1900.
- The Giants have a record of 34-28 today (win percentage = .548). That projects to 89 wins and if the Giants reach that level, it would be only the second time the team has won that many games in a season since 2012.
Of course, looking at the MLB standings also allows me to check on teams having disastrous seasons.
- The White Sox have the worst record in the American League at 19-43 (win percentage = .306). The White Sox are on track to win only 50 games in 2025, which is an awful season. Nonetheless it represents a significant improvement over the team record in 2024 which was 41-121.
- The A’s have a miserable 23-40 record (win percentage = .365). In addition, the A’s have far and away the worst run differential in the AL at minus-128 runs. The White Sox have a worse record than the A’s, yet, the Sox have “only” been outscored by 58 runs.
- The Pirates are a disappointing 23-39 today (win percentage = .371). That puts the team on track to lose 102 games in 2025. For the last two years, the Pirates had only lost 86 games in a season and the last time they lost more than 102 games was back in 2010 when they lost 105 games.
- The Rockies continue to be a hapless bunch; their record this morning is 12-50 (win percentage = .194). If that continues to be the team “success rate”, their final record in 2025 will be 31-131 which would be 10 games worse than last year’s White Sox embarrassment.
I commented recently that I was surprised at the home attendance for the Rockies given their miserable state on the field. Well, it must be the fans and/or the stadium in Denver that is the attraction because the Rockies are not a huge draw on the road. Granted this week the Rockies were in Miami to play the less-than-sterling Marlins. But consider these data:
- June 4: Rockies 3 Marlins 2 Attendance = 6,251
- June 3: Rockies 3 Marlins2 Attendance = 5,894
- June 2: Rockies 6 Marlins 4 Attendance = 5,922
Yes, the Rockies swept the series in Miami and still post the record reported above. Yes, those are the reported attendance figures and teams suffering at the gate have been known to inflate those embarrassing totals. And here is the kicker:
- The Marlins play in a stadium that seats 37,442 souls.
- If you add up the reported attendance for the three games between the Rockies and the Marlins, that combined attendance would represent one event at the stadium where the stands were only at 48% of capacity.
Finally, having begun today with comments on Canadian sports, let me close with this observation by actor Ryan Reynolds:
“I’m not a hockey fan, which is probably why I had to leave Canada in the first place.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………