Random Thoughts: baseball, football

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports

This week’s installment of Random Thoughts includes thoughts on the Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Guardians, MLB collapses, start times, a lopsided game, an NFL tie, time for a change, an impressive stat, and a matchup of top ground gainers.

MLB

How about the Cincinnati Reds and the Cleveland Guardians? Both are set to begin playoff action today. A week ago, it didn’t seem like it would be a possibility – maybe one, but not both.

Despite losing the regular season finale, the Reds got in thanks to Miami beating the slumping Mets. Meanwhile, Cleveland completed the biggest comeback in MLB history (down 15.5 games) to clinch the AL Central Division title. The team they took it from – Detroit – is the team they’ll face in the Wild Card Series.

Best of luck to both the Reds and Guardians. While it’s an extreme long shot, would it be great to see them meet in the World Series?

Start times

I know a lot of Guardians fans are upset about their Wild Card Series games starting at 1 p.m. Why not primetime they ask? Primetime goes to the Yankees and/or Dodgers, who will play at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. tonight. Personally, I’m okay with a 1 p.m. start time. I’d rather have that then a 9 p.m. start time.

Collapse

I’ll admit, as a Guardians fan I’m leery about facing the Tigers in the Wild Card Series. We all know about Detroit’s collapse after ringing up a 15.5 game lead in the AL Central. It’s a short series, best of three, which means anything can happen.

In some ways, the collapse by the Mets is worse, simply because of their massive payroll, $333 million. They went from having the best record in baseball at one point (45-24 in mid-June) to finishing 83-79 and no playoff spot. Sorry, but that’s stunning. At least the Tigers got still in, despite the recent woes. 

100-0

That was the score of a high school football game in Alabama Friday night. Williamson High School defeated Murphy High School 100-0. It’s not a misprint. It was 73-0 at halftime.

If you’re wondering, Alabama has a running clock rule, but it doesn’t kick in until the fourth quarter. The coaches can agree to start it earlier or shorten the clock, but the coach on the losing side apparently declined both options at halftime.

By all indications, the starters on the winning team were out of the game long before it was over. Outside of taking a knee on every play, I’m not sure what else the winning team was supposed to do.

A tie

The end of Sunday night’s Dallas Cowboys-Green Bay game was anti-climatic. Overall, it was a fun game but it ended in a 40-40 tie. The NFL overtime rules leave a lot to be desired. It used to be sudden death but it changed when people complained it wasn’t fair. Honestly, I’d much rather have sudden death than these rules, which include a 10-minute session and each team gets a possession, or even the college overtime rules. Anything but this.

Cleveland Browns

Dear Cleveland Browns coaching staff and/or front office – whoever really makes these decisions – Joe Flacco is a great guy to have on the team. Young players can learn a lot from him, but please, please, please start one of the rookie quarterbacks Sunday in London. Please. It’s painful watching Flacco. Again, seems like a great guy, but it’s already time to switch. Please do it this week. What do you have to lose?

A stat

Here’s a stat for you. 35 percent of Bluffton quarterback Tayte Giesige’s passes have gone for touchdowns. That’s an incredibly high percentage, almost unheard of. He’s completed 70-of-95 passes for 1,470 yards, 25 touchdowns and three interceptions. At this rate, he’ll finish with 42 touchdown passes at the end of the regular season.

Top two rushers

Friday’s game between Van Wert and St. Marys Memorial will feature the Western Buckeye League’s top two rushers, Xavier Kelly and Caleb Schmidt. Check Wednesday’s Sports page for a full game preview.

As always, if you have thoughts or comments on any of the above subjects, feel free to email me at sports@thevwindependent.com.