October 6, 2025
What a great win by the Dodgers on Saturday night in game 1 against the Phillies. That was definitely the game they needed to win on the road, with Ohtani going in game 1, Glasnow backing him up, and little middle relief help. Say what you will about Teo’s shortcomings as a defender, but he is proving to be an excellent postseason performer, with clutch hits. The same can be said for Kike Hernandez, who basically becomes Barry Bonds in October. Ironically, the Dodgers were starting to get more from Michael Conforto in September, but it wasn’t enough for him to make the postseason roster. It turns out they were just waiting for Kike to be completely healthy to give him a regular spot in the lineup. On the other hand, if the Dodgers are unable to use Tanner Scott to close a game right now, then he shouldn’t be on the playoff roster. Not sure they even trust him with an 8-run lead. I’m afraid someone is going to accuse me of being racist, but the Dodgers DH looks exactly like their game 1 starter, but that’s impossible right? Not if you’re Shohei Ohtani. He really did pitch outstanding and settled down after 1 tough inning. It was a rough night at the plate, but he can’t always be lights out every night on both sides. The Phillies have such a potent lineup and can make you pay, I’m still not 100% convinced the Dodgers will win this series, only because of that shaky bullpen.
As for the Angels, Perry Minasian spoke to the media on Saturday to answer some questions about the Halos season. As usual, there was 0 accountability. We heard the same thing we’ve heard for maybe a decade, that they have to drastically improve the pitching. Minasian also said they have to stop striking out and improve their defense. Well at least it’s good to know that the man knows how to read a stat sheet. There was also no indication from Minasian that the Angels were going to spend more money to try and be more competitive. Of course the candidates for their manager position are Albert Pujols and Tori Hunter. They are already on the club payroll, so Arte Moreno won’t have to pay them much more! And of course Arte wasn’t going to bring back Ron Washington when he might have to incur great cost on his health insurance. This situation is the most Moreno thing in the world.

In the NFL, that was a terrible loss for the Rams on Thursday night against 49ers. San Francisco had a handful of their very best players sittings out because of injury. They should have never been down 14-0 in the first place, Kyren Williams cannot fumble on the goal line with the game on the line, and Sean Payton has to call better plays than we saw on the last play. This team has always had a tendency to play down to competition, so when an opponent like San Francisco is missing so many players and they play like this, it’s not all that surprising. At least Sean McVay owned it, saying that he put his players in a bad situation and has to call better plays. Given his track record, I’m sure he will.

All of a sudden, the Chargers look like the Chargers of old, and that’s not a good thing. They really Chargered that game yesterday against the Commanders. They were up 10-0, and in the blink of an eye, took a lot of bad penalties and made costly turnovers, which cost them the game. Suddenly the team can’t block, they can’t catch, and they can’t tackle for all the talent that they have. Jim Harbaugh says that all of these mistakes are extremely correctable, and some of them are. However, I’m not sure how they protect Justin Herbert with the injuries they have. The penalties though, they can do better. What they really need to be worried about is the Chiefs and Broncos, who suddenly look really good and ready to take the division by storm.

For just one week, we can feel good about UCLA Football. They pulled off an absolutely stunning win at the Rose Bowl Saturday against Penn State. I would have assumed the odds of winning the Power Ball were higher than the Bruins winning that game. Even better is Jerry Neuheisel, who brought so much emotion and attitude to the table that rubbed off on his players for a week. I’m not going to get caught up in some prisoner of the moment, “he should be the next head coach” campaign, but it was really nice to see some pride from everyone for a week in symbolizing what UCLA football can actually look like.

I know many of you just hate Notre Dame, but it’s happening. The Irish lost their first two games by a combined 4 points to two top 5 teams. After that they handled business easily against Purdue, Arkansas, and Boise State. They are now ranked #16 in the AP Poll, when a couple of weeks ago, you thought they shouldn’t be ranked at all. Of course as an alum, I hate it when people act like their ranking isn’t earned, just because they are Notre Dame. Well their #16 ranking is now in fact justified, because they should be one of the Top 16 teams, and probably even Top 12 when it’s all said and done.
In the NBA, the Lakers opened the preseason over the weekend. It’s that time of year where everyone loves to micro analyze every little thing wrong with the team. I refuse to do it. It’s preseason. Many of the guys on the floor are going to be delivering my Door Dash in about a week. For that reason, I’m not going to jump on DeAndre Ayton for only scoring 1 point in a preseason game, and micro analyzing his 8 rebounds and 2 blocks. Relax people. 72 hours after camp starts for a preseason game is a little ridiculous. You can start your complaints about players on October 21st. As for LeBron, I’m a litttle surprised he hasn’t come out during media day and announced this will be his last season. I think he knows, but he’s waiting for the right time to make the announcement. You know he will want a real farewell tour, and the way he is talking makes it seem like it’s coming very soon. Let’s see if he announces it in the next two weeks before the season starts.

Then there’s the Clippers, who opened training camp with the Kawhi Leonard-Aspiration investigation hanging over their heads. Kawhi was clearly perfectly coached on media day, saying the company defrauded the Clippers and that it’s old news to him. For all the criticizing we do of Ramona Shelburne, she asked good questions and pressed him on the issue. It’s still suspicious that Kawhi can’t exactly explain what he did for Aspiration. At some point; it’s going to be fascinating to see if the NBA comes down with a huge punishment on the Clippers, and if so, what that does to their season.
