
October 13, 2025
The Dodgers somehow survived a 5-game series against the Phillies and advanced to the NLCS vs The Brewers. The baseball Gods definitely evened the scales of justice after the Dodgers lost to the Phillies in devastating fashion in 2008 and 2009. That came when Orion Kerkering lost his mind and threw the ball home in extra innings instead of making an easy play by throwing to 1st base, which would have ended the 11th inning. The Dodgers somehow won 2 games on the road in Philly, and won 2 games at home while hitting like Little Leaguers. That’s because their starting pitching has been lights out, and their bullpen has been stabilized by Roki Sasaki, who suddenly looks like the 2nd coming of Mariano Rivera. If the Dodgers are going to beat the Brewers and ultimately win the World Series, they will need Shohei Ohtani to hit. The man is struggling so bad to hit anything right now, even his wife has been saying no. The Brewers remind me of the Lakers vs Spurs playoff matches from 2000-2010. You always knew the Lakers were the more talented team, but they had to execute at a very high level to beat the Spurs because they were so fundamentally sound. That’s exactly what will need to happen here. The Dodgers will need to put the ball in play, manufacture runs, run the bases well, and play good defense. You can count on both teams pitching well, but it will take a much higher level of execution for the Dodgers to win this one.
Before we get to some football, I’ve gotta mention how embarrassing the Angels are. Yusei Kukuchi told Japanese reporters after his final start that he had to exit due to cramping. The reason for that is because the weight room in Anaheim has no A/C, so he is always drenched in sweat. He even asked the team to fix the lack of A/C, but they did never did all season. An additional story is floating around on Twitter that an Armenian friend of Perry Minasian is saying that Arte Moreno won’t even pay for a personal assistant or admin for his GM. Who knows if that part is true, but it certainly fits the narrative that Moreno is the slum lord of MLB owners. For the life of me I can’t understand why Albert Pujols or Tori Hunter would want to manage a team with limited talent and resources. They must be incredibly bored.

To the NFL, where the Rams defeated the Ravens yesterday on the road. I don’t know what happened in the 1st half, as it was another case of the Rams playing down to their competition. It’s hard to enjoy a sloppy lifeless win when your expectations are winning the Super Bowl. However, the good news is that the Rams are still 4-2, and firmly in the mix for a top playoff spot in the NFC. It’s also clear that some of the other top teams like the Eagles, Packers, and 49ers are having their own issues at times as well against what you would think is inferior competition. What’s up with Davante Adams? He’s suddenly dropping balls like it’s New Years Eve. The injuries are a bit of a concern too with Puka dealing with a foot issue, and then Blake Corum with an ankle injury. It was good to see Kyren Williams get in the end zone though, and get his confidence back up after last week’s disaster against the 49ers.

The Chargers also had to deal with some injury issues, but still got by the Dolphins 29-27 on the road yesterday. Justin Herbert still looks amazing, throwing two more touchdown passes. Kimani Vidal was piling up receiving yardage like he was playing PlayStation, and Ladd McConkey looked like last years elite receiver. Ironally, the Bolts are one of the worst teams in the red zone in the NFL. Although it almost cost them, Cameron Dicker is the most accurate kicker in the NFL. Imagine that? A Chargers kicker that is actually accurate! That has never happened! I do think they are a playoff team, but I’m not totally convinced the Chiefs aren’t going to come back and win this division. They have Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, and Taylor Swift on their team. We know anything is possible with Taylor Swift on your side!

In College Football, the Trojans took down Michigan at home on Saturday night at the Coliseum. That put them up to #20 in the AP Poll, heading into a showdown with Notre Dame, who is #13 in the polls. We give Lincoln Riley a lot of crap for his coaching when they’ve lost, but in this case he deserves a lot of credit. A lot of people pegged the Trojans as a soft team, and his coaching style as very finesse. He had his team ready to play, and it was by far the most complete game we had seen USC play in a long time. Now with USC sitting at #20, it’s a huge game next weekend for both teams, with major playoff implications on the line. If USC wins, they have some momentum and may actually have a shot at the College Football Playoff. If Notre Dame wins, they will suddenly launch themselves back into the Top 12, and strengthen their case for a playoff spot with a win over a ranked opponent.

In another shocking development, UCLA went on the road and dismantled Michigan State 38-13. All of a sudden this looks like a totally different team than the one we saw the first 4 games of the season. Most of that is thanks to the offensive genius of Jerry Neuheisel, who is making his offense look like the Greatest Show On Turf from the early 2000’s. He really did revive Nico Iamaleava, and this team might actually be fun to watch for the rest of the season. However, I’m not ready to anoint these guys Big Ten contenders or anything like that. Let’s slow our roll a bit. What I would do though if I were UCLA is call James Franklin, who would be an excellent hire if this program is serious about football. The problem is I’m not so sure that Martin Jarmond is a serious Athletic Director.

In the NBA, Lebron is the biggest troll I’ve ever seen. Making us all think he’s going to retire, only to announce some cheesy Hennessey partnership. The guy suing Lebron because he bought tickets to the last game is an idiot though. Why don’t you just ask for money back on your stock market losses while you’re at it? The Lakers also learned that Lebron James is going to miss the start of the season, and will be re-evaluated in 3-4 weeks with a glute injury. You know, I really want to believe he’s hurt, and for the time being I’m going to believe that Lebron is really hurt. However, there is a small part of me, and maybe a big part of some of you that think he doesn’t want to risk his 40-year old body until he sees what this Laker team can do without him. It’s so ridiculous to think that a player as good as Lebron would need to feel like he is on a completely stacked team in order to compete, but I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt for now and assume he is really hurt. I reserve the right to change my mind depending on how this plays out. It would be pretty funny though if the Lakers started 10-1 with Luka, yet Lebron ends up coming back and ruining team chemistry. More than anything though Lebron’s glute injury is symbolic because lately, he and Rich Paul have just been a big pain in the ass!

Finally, it’s been quiet in Clipper land for a couple of weeks now since Pablo Torres latest reports on Kawhi Leonard and Aspiration. The Clips have to hope it dies down because on the court, it appears as though they have a pretty good team. Like every year, it always depends on the health of Kawhi, but also, health of everyone else. The Clips are talented but older. Chris Paul, Brooke Lopez, Bradley Beal, James Harden. They are getting long in the tooth and can miss games. If and when that happens, the Clippers will once again be just a great concept, with not actual reality of winning.
