Imagine you’re in a sea full of 47,000+ red clad fans screaming and waving white rally towels. The energy is electric and the crowd is loud. You look around and random strangers are hugging and high fiving each other. The stadium is rocking. That’s what Cardinals playoff baseball is like, and that’s the scene when Matt Adams hit his game-winning three run homerun. Shelby Miller and Clayton Kershaw were engaged in a pitchers’ duel through six, when the Dodgers scored two. Then the 7th inning rolled around. The 7th inning had proved to be the Cardinals’ rally time throughout the postseason. Clayton Kershaw may have been the best pitcher in the regular season, but he didn’t have his ace form when he took the mound in the 7th. Matt Holliday started off the inning with a hit, and Jhonny Peralta followed with his own. That set the scene for Matt Adams to be the hero. He launched a bomb into the bullpen for a three run homerun to put the Cardinals in the lead. The Cardinals’ bullpen held the lead the rest of the game. When Trevor Rosenthal got the last out in the 9th, the stadium erupted and the players stormed on the field. The Cardinals clinched a spot in the NLCS. Being present for the series-clinching game was one of the greatest experiences. As we now know, the Cardinals were eliminated from World Series contention by the Giants, but they still had a great season! If you’re a baseball fan, I highly recommend trying to go to a playoff game at Busch Stadium because it was one of the most fun games I’ve ever attended!
MLB- It is now September, and the season-long marathon is turning into a sprint. The St. Louis Cardinals are atop the NL Central standings, as they passed up the Milwaukee Brewers, who lost nine in a row from August 26th to September 4th. Last weekend, the two teams met in Milwaukee for a four game series. St. Louis took three of four games and knocked Milwaukee out of second place. The Cardinals now lead Pittsburgh by 3.5 games. As for the Cubs, they will not make the playoffs but there has been some excitement at Wrigley Field. The Cubs have called up two prized prospects in outfielder Jorge Soler, and infielder Javier Baez. Both players have great power and should be part of the Cubs lineup for years to come. Soler is hitting over .300 in his time with the big club, while Baez has hit 7 home runs. However, the difference between these players is that Jorge Soler is much more disciplined at the plate, and is able to lay off bad pitches and take them for balls. Baez, on the other hand, chases a lot of pitches out of the strike zone, and that is why he has struggled. Elsewhere around the league, the Washington Nationals have a big lead in the NL East, and the LA Dodgers are trying to hold off the San Francisco Giants in the NL West. In the American League, the Baltimore Orioles have wrapped up the AL East, the Los Angeles Angels have pulled away from Oakland in the AL West, and it’s a two team race in the AL Central, as Kansas City holds a slim lead on Detroit. College Football- The college football season is heading into week three, and a couple teams have left their mark. The Oregon Ducks, ranked third in the country hosted seventh ranked Michigan State. The game was back and forth before the high-powered Oregon offense pulled away and won 46-27. The Ducks picked up 491 yards against the Spartans’ defense, which was the second best in the country last year in yards per game. In another battle of ranked teams, fourteenth ranked USC traveled to Stanford, to take on the thirteenth ranked Cardinal. USC won on the road in a low-scoring battle 13-10, despite Stanford racking up over 400 yards of offense. Lastly, sixteenth ranked Notre Dame rolled over Michigan at home. The Irish shut out Michigan in a rivalry game 31-0. Notre Dame quarterback Everett Golson threw for three touchdowns in the win. Unfortunately, the series between the two teams is not scheduled to continue due to a scheduling conflict. Defending champions Florida State are 2-0, and atop the polls. Cubs players Javler Baez and Jorge Soler take a pose at Spring Training
NFL- We are now entering week 6 in the football season, and the local Chicago Bears enter the week with a 2-3 record. The Bears have lost two straight, and play another road game at Atlanta. The Bears turned it over in their last three possessions Sunday in a loss to Carolina. The Detroit Lions and the Green Bay Packers are tied atop the NFC North with 3-2 records. Green Bay has won two straight, both in blowout fashion against Chicago and Minnesota. Detroit fell at home to Buffalo 17-14 last week. And the Lions may have bigger problems, as star wide receiver Calvin Johnson has a nagging ankle injury.
Peyton Manning made some more history, as how surpassed the 500 touchdown plateau. Manning now has 503 touchdowns, five away from the all-time leader Brett Favre. MLB- The MLB playoffs have been very exciting, and four teams now remain. In the American League, the Baltimore Orioles and Kansas City Royals each swept their opponents in three games to advance to the American League Championship Series. Baltimore beat Detroit in three games, to advancing to their first ALCS since 1997. Detroit had the last three Cy Young award winners on their team. The Royals took down the Angels in three. The Angels finished the regular season with the best record in baseball. Kansas City used the combo of timely hitting and impressive defense to advance. Remember, this is the Royals’ first playoff appearance since 1985. The Royals and Orioles open up their series tonight. In the National League, the St. Louis Cardinals advanced to their fourth straight National League Championship Series, by defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers in four games. In game 4, with the Cardinals trailing 2-0, first baseman Matt Adams came up and hit a three-run homer to give the Cardinals a 3-2 lead which they would not relinquish. The Cardinals defeated the Dodgers’ star pitcher Clayton Kershaw twice in four games. Kershaw had just three losses in the regular season. In the other series, the Giants defeated the top-seeded Washington Nationals in four games. The Giants won all three games by one run, including a 2-1 victory in 18 innings in the second game of the series. The Cardinals and Giants start their series on Saturday in St. Louis. |