Positive Numbers: Gopher softball (Last Week: 0). Don't look now, but the U. softballers are on a holy roll. Five wins this week, two sweeps of their two closest geographic rivals -- a Doubleheader sweep at Wisconsin Wednesday, a three-Game sweep of Iowa at Cowles over the weekend by a combined score of 23-1. Suck it, Kendyl Lindamann!
This team has won its last 11, stand at 37-10 overall and 18-1 in the Big Ten. It is now very appropriate to project where the U. will be placed in the NCAA Tournament. The only college softball bracketologist on the Internet has, as of press time, Minnesota as the overall eight-seed. So not only would they host a Regional (which would be sweet seeing as I have not been to a softball game yet this year) but, if they win out, be in line to host a Super Regional, too. And maybe make it to the club's first-ever Women's College World Series??
And yet, despite all of their powerful bona fides, the Golden Gophers are not in first place in the B1G. In fact, they're not even in second. Michigan is a half-Game ahead of them at 19-1, and Northwestern is leading the conference at 20-0. Which makes this weekend so mouth-watering. The Gophers play the Wildcats to finish out the regular season at home. Considering that both the 'Cats and the Wolverines are projected by College Sports Madness to make the field but as unseeded squads, this should mean that Minnesota is favored. Heck, if the Gophers sweep, they might take the regular season conference title. I feel bad, then, that I'll probably miss the series.
#0: United FC (Last Week: -3). Well, at least the Loons went undefeated this screening week. On Wednesday, without the services of Jan Gregus and Francisco Calvo (both of whom got Red-Carded late in the defeat to Toronto), a fortified Backline of substitutes Brent Kallman and Eric Miller battled to a scoreless draw against the Los Angeles Galaxy (a match I had to miss because I was filling in at work second shift). Adrian Heath, a Manager loathe to change starting lineups if his starters are healthy, apparently liked what he saw during that match (in particular the combination of Kallman and Ike Opara bottling up Zlatan Ibrahimovich) and not only kept Calvo but also Michael Boxall (who did not start midweek because of, well, sucking) on the bench Sunday afternoon against Wayne Rooney and D.C. United.
And, finally!
Courtesy of a (admittedly weak) tap-in by Angelo Rodriguez (with an assist by Romain Metanire, a Defender who is fast becoming a godsend for MNUFC), the good guys finally won their first match at Allianz Field. (It also helped that a D.C. United Goal was overturned after VAR.) So four Points and no defeats this week means that, as of right now, United FC are in a playoff spot. (Not a difficult challenge; more than half the teams will make it.)
Can the XI continue their non-losing ways at home Saturday versus Seattle?
#-1: Twins (Last Week: -1). A lot has been made that the Twin Cities is the worst of the metropolitan areas with Quadspo (that is teams in the Big Four Sports) since the Wild were eliminated from the playoffs. That means that neither the Wild, Timberwolves, Vikings nor Twins made it to the postseason their last year. That fact has recurred a lot over the past two decades.
But if you have to take a guess as to which of those four franchises has the best chance of winning a championship, no foolin', you might as well bet on the Twins. Sure, they began this screening week by dropping the last two Games of a series in Houston. And sure, everybody will probably beat up on the Baltimore Orioles the same way Minnesota did at Target over the weekend (they swept the season series, 6-0, and have Major League Baseball's active streak of most consecutive wins over another squad). But last (Monday) night Jake Odorizzi somehow outdueled the Astros' Justin Verlander (who smoked the Twins back on Wednesday, 7-1) in a 1-0 thriller, thus ending the Twins' week at 4-2. Better yet, they sit atop the American League Central.
But maybe best of all is the feeling you get around these guys. They are young, they are a tad cocky, and they are fun to watch. Mostly it's because of their full embrace of analytics, and the dividends they are beginning to reap from obeying them. The Twins currently lead the majors (I think?) in Slugging Percentage. (It helps to uncork, like, a dozen Home Runs against The Bastard St. Louis Browns.) Jose Berrios and Kyle Gibson are rounding into form as good, and maybe even reliable, starters. And all this without Miguel Sano, who finally can start facing at-bats in the minor leagues this week. In short, this is a team that feels like it's on the rise. And it's possible that this season is going to extend into October. Really, I have never felt so good about a team that finished third in a Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey!
But first things first: Three more against Houston (who leads the American League West) at Target Field, then the dreaded annual trip to the Bronx to face the Yankees. Then they cross the border to start a three-Game set against Toronto starting on Monday.
#-2: Gopher baseball (Last Week: -2). And finally, bringing up the wah-wah rear, are the Goofer male Nine, who lost two-of-three over the weekend at 23rd-ranked Indiana. (Weirdly, the winning team scored seven Runs all three tilts.) Oh, and tonight's (Tuesday night's) match vs. North Dakota St. at Siebert has been cancelled because rain's supposed to move into our area this evening. But tomorrow's (Wednesday evening's) home Game against Wisconsin-Milwaukee is still supposed to be on. That is scheduled to be the first of nine Games that will end the home portion of this club's schedule; they host Ohio St. over the weekend.
This team has won its last 11, stand at 37-10 overall and 18-1 in the Big Ten. It is now very appropriate to project where the U. will be placed in the NCAA Tournament. The only college softball bracketologist on the Internet has, as of press time, Minnesota as the overall eight-seed. So not only would they host a Regional (which would be sweet seeing as I have not been to a softball game yet this year) but, if they win out, be in line to host a Super Regional, too. And maybe make it to the club's first-ever Women's College World Series??
And yet, despite all of their powerful bona fides, the Golden Gophers are not in first place in the B1G. In fact, they're not even in second. Michigan is a half-Game ahead of them at 19-1, and Northwestern is leading the conference at 20-0. Which makes this weekend so mouth-watering. The Gophers play the Wildcats to finish out the regular season at home. Considering that both the 'Cats and the Wolverines are projected by College Sports Madness to make the field but as unseeded squads, this should mean that Minnesota is favored. Heck, if the Gophers sweep, they might take the regular season conference title. I feel bad, then, that I'll probably miss the series.
#0: United FC (Last Week: -3). Well, at least the Loons went undefeated this screening week. On Wednesday, without the services of Jan Gregus and Francisco Calvo (both of whom got Red-Carded late in the defeat to Toronto), a fortified Backline of substitutes Brent Kallman and Eric Miller battled to a scoreless draw against the Los Angeles Galaxy (a match I had to miss because I was filling in at work second shift). Adrian Heath, a Manager loathe to change starting lineups if his starters are healthy, apparently liked what he saw during that match (in particular the combination of Kallman and Ike Opara bottling up Zlatan Ibrahimovich) and not only kept Calvo but also Michael Boxall (who did not start midweek because of, well, sucking) on the bench Sunday afternoon against Wayne Rooney and D.C. United.
And, finally!
Courtesy of a (admittedly weak) tap-in by Angelo Rodriguez (with an assist by Romain Metanire, a Defender who is fast becoming a godsend for MNUFC), the good guys finally won their first match at Allianz Field. (It also helped that a D.C. United Goal was overturned after VAR.) So four Points and no defeats this week means that, as of right now, United FC are in a playoff spot. (Not a difficult challenge; more than half the teams will make it.)
Can the XI continue their non-losing ways at home Saturday versus Seattle?
#-1: Twins (Last Week: -1). A lot has been made that the Twin Cities is the worst of the metropolitan areas with Quadspo (that is teams in the Big Four Sports) since the Wild were eliminated from the playoffs. That means that neither the Wild, Timberwolves, Vikings nor Twins made it to the postseason their last year. That fact has recurred a lot over the past two decades.
But if you have to take a guess as to which of those four franchises has the best chance of winning a championship, no foolin', you might as well bet on the Twins. Sure, they began this screening week by dropping the last two Games of a series in Houston. And sure, everybody will probably beat up on the Baltimore Orioles the same way Minnesota did at Target over the weekend (they swept the season series, 6-0, and have Major League Baseball's active streak of most consecutive wins over another squad). But last (Monday) night Jake Odorizzi somehow outdueled the Astros' Justin Verlander (who smoked the Twins back on Wednesday, 7-1) in a 1-0 thriller, thus ending the Twins' week at 4-2. Better yet, they sit atop the American League Central.
But maybe best of all is the feeling you get around these guys. They are young, they are a tad cocky, and they are fun to watch. Mostly it's because of their full embrace of analytics, and the dividends they are beginning to reap from obeying them. The Twins currently lead the majors (I think?) in Slugging Percentage. (It helps to uncork, like, a dozen Home Runs against The Bastard St. Louis Browns.) Jose Berrios and Kyle Gibson are rounding into form as good, and maybe even reliable, starters. And all this without Miguel Sano, who finally can start facing at-bats in the minor leagues this week. In short, this is a team that feels like it's on the rise. And it's possible that this season is going to extend into October. Really, I have never felt so good about a team that finished third in a Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey!
But first things first: Three more against Houston (who leads the American League West) at Target Field, then the dreaded annual trip to the Bronx to face the Yankees. Then they cross the border to start a three-Game set against Toronto starting on Monday.
#-2: Gopher baseball (Last Week: -2). And finally, bringing up the wah-wah rear, are the Goofer male Nine, who lost two-of-three over the weekend at 23rd-ranked Indiana. (Weirdly, the winning team scored seven Runs all three tilts.) Oh, and tonight's (Tuesday night's) match vs. North Dakota St. at Siebert has been cancelled because rain's supposed to move into our area this evening. But tomorrow's (Wednesday evening's) home Game against Wisconsin-Milwaukee is still supposed to be on. That is scheduled to be the first of nine Games that will end the home portion of this club's schedule; they host Ohio St. over the weekend.
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