The Life of a Smallballer 🙌
On Tuesday, we looked back at last weekend: the best games, biggest stories, and wildest plays from college football and the NFL.
Today, we’re watching highlights from this week and looking forward to the most important games this weekend.
Let’s start with baseball!
MLB Playoffs ⚾️
The Wild Card round is over. Let’s play a game and find out which teams moved on! 🎲
Remember, there were four Wild Card matchups. And each was a best-of-three series. That means the first team to win two games wins the series.
Well, three of the four series came down to a final, third game.
Got all that? Great! Here’s the question:
Make your prediction… let’s see if you nailed it!
Detroit Tigers vs. Cleveland Guardians
In Game 1, Detroit’s pitcher, Tarik Skubal, struck out 14 batters. And the key run came on a bunt in the 7th inning for a 2–1 Tigers win.
In Game 2, Cleveland bounced back. Tied 1–1 in the 8th inning, the Guardians scored 5 runs and pulled away for a 6–1 win.
❌ Hope you didn’t pick this series! It definitely needed a Game 3.
🎥 Ready to see who’s moving on?
I love that message about having fun and enjoying the moment!
Boston Red Sox vs. New York Yankees
In Game 1, Boston led 3–1 in the bottom of the ninth. But the Yankees loaded the bases with no outs and… failed to score. Advantage: Red Sox.
In Game 2, the Yankees won 4–3 thanks to an 8th-inning single. Jazz Chisholm flew around the bases to score from first!
❌ Another Game 3.
🎥 Let’s see if it came down to the final inning again!
San Diego Padres vs. Chicago Cubs
In Game 1, the Padres took an early lead but Chicago smashed back-to-back homers in the 5th and won, 3–1.
In Game 2, the Cubs didn’t do any smashing in a 3–0 shutout win for San Diego.
❌ That’s our third Game 3.
🎥 Was three runs the magic number again last night?
So that means…
Cincinnati Reds vs. Los Angeles Dodgers
✅ The Dodgers completed a 2–0 sweep.
They doubled the Reds’ runs in both games: 10–5 and 8–4.
Here’s the updated bracket as we head to the next round (which is called the Divisional round).
All four series start tomorrow (Saturday)!
Also on Saturday, we’ll see…
College Football Week 6 🎓🏈
Last week, we watched big-time upsets: #3, #4, #5, and #8 all lost.
This week? We’ve got fewer matchups between top 25 teams. But the two ranked matchups are great ones:
#3 Miami at #18 Florida State: Experts say “The U” (that’s the nickname for Miami) has a 65% chance to beat their biggest rivals and stay undefeated.
#16 Vanderbilt at #10 Alabama: Experts say Bama has a 74% chance of winning and knocking Vanderbilt off the list of undefeated teams.
That undefeated list? Just 20 out of 136 teams are still on it. We’ll see how many are left after this weekend!
The game I’m most excited about has zero undefeated teams.
It’s #9 Texas, with a record of 3–1, against 1–3 Florida.
Before the season, we said “A is for Arch.” But he’s been struggling. Now A is for how I feel watching Texas on offense: anxious!
Ready for more football? Good, because we’ve still got…
NFL Week 5 👔🏈
Let’s start with some highlights.
Thursday Night Football. Rams vs. 49ers. Both teams are from the NFC West. Both are 3–1.
The only difference? The 49ers have injuries all over.
Quarterback Brock Purdy: out with a toe injury. Receivers Jauan Jennings and Ricky Pearsall: also out injured.
🎥 Click here to see if San Francisco kept it close!
Let’s talk about that final play! 4th and 1. The Rams were close enough to kick a field goal and tie the game.
But they went for the first down. They played to win, but came up short.
What a great start to the week!
These are the other games that could deliver best-game-of-the-week drama:
Broncos (2–2) at Eagles (4–0): The defending champs are perfect so far, but it hasn’t always been pretty. Can Denver upset the Eagles in Philly?
Texans (1–3) at Ravens (1–3): These were both supposed to be playoff teams. But now? The loser may be out of the race. Will Lamar be healthy enough to play?
Buccaneers (3–1) at Seahawks (3–1): Baker Mayfield and the Bucs have made comebacks in all of their wins. They nearly did it again last week vs. the Eagles. Seattle’s fans are among the loudest in the NFL. Can Tampa Bay quiet them?
Patriots (2–2) at Bills (4–0): Josh Allen is playing like the best QB in the NFL. Can he and the Bills keep rolling in this AFC East rivalry?
Chiefs (2–2) at Jaguars (3–1): Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs finally have some momentum after a rough start. Will they celebrate a win… or just Taylor Swift’s new album?
All these teams want a win.
And they should have what they want. They deserve what they want. I hope they get what they want.
I just want (to watch with) you. 🎶
One more update before we go! Let’s talk basketball.
The NBA season starts on October 21. Teams are getting ready and the preseason is tipping off.
But before then, we get to watch the WNBA Finals!
Game 1 is tonight (Friday), and it’s between the Phoenix Mercury and Las Vegas Aces.
The Mercury took down #1 seed Minnesota after Lynx star Napheesa Collier went down in Game 3 with an injury.
The Aces survived a roller coaster ride against Indiana thanks to A’ja Wilson, who scored 35 points in Game 5.
Experts think it’s going to be close: ~55% chance A’ja leads the Aces to a title. It would be their third in the last four years!
You know we’ll have all the updates when we’re back Tuesday.
Until then, have a great weekend!
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