Saturday’s 6-pack
Major League leaders in batting average:
.500— Brian Anderson, Milw
.458— Adam Duvall, Bos
.452— Matt Chapman, Tor
.448— Bryan Reynolds, Pitt
.444— Luis Arraez, Miami
.419— Vladimir Guerrero, Tor
Tweet of the Day
“Obviously, there was so much talk and speculation on whether or not he deserved to be here. If you were here and didn’t know anything about who was who when they took the names out, you would certainly feel that he belonged. In a class that doesn’t have many guys who make catch and shoot jump shots, that’s one thing he did to separate himself from other guys here.”
247Sports national basketball director Eric Bossi, talking about Bronny James
Saturday’s quiz
From 1967-73, UCLA won seven consecutive national titles in college basketball; what team beat UCLA at the 1974 Final Four and ended their streak?
Friday’s quiz
Buck Showalter was the first manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Thursday’s quiz
Oakland A’s have won four World Series titles, under three managers- Dick Williams, Alvin Dark and Tony LaRussa.
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Saturday’s Den: XFL trends, and some observations……..
— Chicago White Sox’ last 126 games have all been started by right-handed pitchers; Dallas Keuchel was the last lefty to start a game for the Pale Hose.
— In 2021, there were 277 home runs hit in Oriole games at Camden Yards; last year, after they moved the left field fence back, there were only 151 homers hit in Baltimore home games.
— College kid named Brady Ware from the U of Indianapolis tossed a no-hitter this week, and also hit for the cycle in the same game. You don’t see that every day.
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Mets 9, Marlins 3— Miami P Edwin Cabrera got only eight outs on 85 pitches; he didn’t give up a hit, but walked seven guys. Mets scored nine runs despite going 2-15 with runners in scoring position. Tyler Megill threw six scoreless innings.
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Blue Jays 4, Angels 3— Trout/Ohtani were 3-8; rest of the Angels were 0-22. Sandoval threw six solid innings, but Anaheim’s bullpen blew a 3-1 lead in 7th inning.
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Pirates 13, White Sox 9— Pittsburgh is off to a 5-2 start; Reynolds tripled, homered, scored three runs, knocked in six more. White Sox’ last seven games went over the total.
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Cubs 2, Rangers 0— Marcus Stroman hasn’t allowed a run in 12 IP this season, putting only 11 men on base.
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Padres 5, Braves 4— From 2019-22, San Diego reliever Brent Honeywell had four operations in three years on his throwing arm; he got his first career win in this game, in the city where he used to go to games as a kid.
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Phillies 5, Reds 2— JT Realmuto hit a 448-foot home run as the Phillies won their home opener, after starting the season with a 1-5 road trip.
— North Carolina’s leading scorer, Caleb Love, transferred to Michigan this week. Love led the Tar Heels last year, scoring 16.7 ppg, grabbing 3.7 rebounds/game, dishing out 2.8 assists/game.
— Phillies’ 1B Darick Hall hurt his thumb, meeds surgery, is out indefinitely.
— In the history of The Masters, there has been only one hole-in-one on the 213-yard, 4th hole. Back in 1992, Jeff Sluman used a 4-iron to ace the hole.
All these years, and it has only happened once. Pretty impressive.
— RIP to former Ohio U/LaSalle basketball coach Billy Hahn, who passed away this week after suffering a heart attack. He was 69 years old.
Hahn spent 12 years on the coaching staff at Maryland under Gary Williams, helping lead the Terrapins to the 2002 national title. He spent the last 10 years of his coaching career as an assistant at West Virginia under Bob Huggins, retiring after the 2016-17 season.
RIP, coach.
— I posted this earlier this week, but with Week 8 of the XFL season starting today, here are team trends for all eight XFL teams.
Arlington Renegades (3-4)
Renegades lost three of their last four games.
Five of their last six games stayed under the total.
Last six games, scored 11.8 ppg.
All three wins were by 6 or less points.
1-6 ATS this season, 0-3 ATS as a favorite.
DC Defenders (6-1)
Won/covered first six games, then lost to 0-6 Orlando.
Six of their seven games went over the total.
Last five games, Defenders scored 33.4 ppg.
Last two weeks, they allowed 26-37 points.
Houston Renegades (4-3)
Lost last three games, after a 4-0 start.
Scored 30.5 ppg in first four games, 18.7 ppg in last three.
3-1 SU/ATS at home, 1-2 on the road.
Favorite covered five of their seven games.
Last three home games stayed under the total.
Las Vegas Vipers (2-5)
Won two of last three games, after an 0-4 start.
Vipers are 1-5 ATS in their last six games.
Last five games, Las Vegas allowed 27 ppg.
Their last three games are all on the road.
Vipers are 0-4 when they score less than 26 points.
Orlando Guardians (1-6)
Orlando beat spread in four of last five games.
They were 0-6, then upset 6-0 Defenders last week.
Six of their seven games went over total.
Guardians are giving up 30.6 ppg.
St Louis Battlehawks (5-2)
Both their losses are to 6-1 Defenders (34-28/28-20)
St Louis allowed 18 or less points in its wins.
Battlehawks covered both times they were favored.
St Louis is 3-2 ATS as an underdog.
Three of their last four games stayed under the total.
San Antonio Brahmas (2-5)
San Antonio scored 12 points LW; they had a 97-yard kick return TD.
Brahmas were held to 15 or less points in six of seven games.
Six of their seven games stayed under the total.
Average total in their last four games: 25.8.
Their last three games are all at home.
Seattle Sea Dragons (5-2)
Seattle won its last five games, after an 0-2 start.
Sea Dragons covered four of their last five games.
Five of their seven games went over the total.
Their four road games all went over the total.
Last four games, they allowed only 13.5 ppg.
