
September 29, 2025
Well here we are, the 2025 baseball postseason. The Dodgers are going to be playing the Cincinnati Reds in what is sure to be a very stressful 3-game series beginning Tuesday night at the Ravine. I realize that in the baseball postseason, it’s somewhat of a crap shoot and anything can happen. However, I trust the Dodgers bullpen about as much as I trust getting financial advice from Bernie Madoff. We’ve seen this play out for 162 games. How much more do you need to see? The Dodgers shouldn’t be using Tanner Scott, Blake Treinen, and a whole bunch of other un-trustworthy relievers. But in reality, Andrew Friedman’s computer doesn’t care what I think, and will ultimately live and die in the playoffs with veteran relievers. Sure they have a lot of great starters that can piggy back each other, but I’m just not convinced they will do that. Aside from that, I also hope the Dodgers are going to be aggressive in trying to manufacture runs in the postseason, rather than sitting back and waiting for the big 3-run homer, which has cost them in recent postseasons. I’m trying to be optimistic here people, but can’t say I feel great about what I’ve seen in recent weeks from this team, so they won’t be defending their title.
Meanwhile, the Angels ended their miserable 2025 campaign yesterday at The Big A. With 72-wins, they finish another 18 games out of 1st place in the AL West, and 16 games out of a playoff spot. If I told you back in April that this was going to be the result, you wouldn’t be surprised at all. I know some of you are clinging to the hopes of Zach Neto, Logan O’Hoppe, Nolan Schanuel, or even Christian Moore, but you shouldn’t. The reality is that there is not a single player in the organization right now that you feel like should be a vital piece to turning this organization around, and there is no end in sight to turning the tide. Just to show you the level of dysfunction, Ron Washington wants to come back and manage next year, but Arte Moreno has not even spoken to him in months. That’s embarrassing, but also not surprising. I’m sure most Angels fans are hoping that the lawsuit Tyler Skaggs family is filing against the organization will force Arte to sell the team to pay off the settlement.

To the NFL, where the Rams reminded us all yesterday that they are a very good and very mentally tough football team. They trailed 20-13 against an excellent Colts team midway through the 4th quarter, but pulled off a clutch 27-20 win. Tutu Atwell picked a really good time to make some noise for the game-winning TD catch. We had not heard much from him this season prior to that. Of course it didn’t hurt that Adonai Mitchell is a complete moron and prematurely celebrated a touchdown by dropping the ball before crossing the goal line. It blows my mind that NFL players still do this. How hard is it to hold on to the ball and celebrate after you get in the end zone. The last time the Rams were 3-1, they went to the Super Bowl! The NFC and the NFC West in particular is very competitive, but the Rams are right in there, as good as anybody in the league. Puka Nacua is the best wide receiver in the NFL right now. He may not be the most athletic, fast, or polished route runner, but he’s the best player at that position. It also doesn’t hurt to have an elite #2 receiver in Davante Adams playing alongside him too. Their next 3 games are looking pretty tough against the 49ers, Ravens, and Jaguars, but you’ve gotta feel pretty good about this team against any opponent.

Just when you think the Chargers are going to reel off a bunch of wins, they fall victim to a trap game against the New York Giants. It turns out it’s pretty hard to win when you can’t protect your quarterback, and Justin Herbert was under duress all day after Joe Alt went down with an ankle injury. Jaxton Dart is also looking like a pretty good quarterback too, and the Bolts didn’t have much tape on him, so it was the perfect storm of pit fall for a Bolts team that had been on a roll. To make matters worse, suddenly the Kansas City Chiefs look like themselves again, so taking the division by storm may not be as easy as they though it was going to be a week ago.

To College Football where USC had their first Top 25 test over the weekend, and did not pass. The Trojans lost a close one to Illinois on the road, which felt all too familiar for Lincoln Riley. Riley described the Trojans defense on Saturday as “unacceptable”. I think it’s safe to say that the entire scope of the Trojan defense was unacceptable. This was typical USC, especially against a quality Big Ten team. They have plenty of skill on offense, but not nearly enough talent and depth on defense to hang with quality teams. It also didn’t help that Lincoln Riley managed the clock at the end of that game worse than the government manages daylight savings time. Don’t forget the typical undisciplined penalties we saw from the Trojans as well. With the upcoming schedule, this is quite easily a 7-8 win team at it’s best, and if things really don’t go their way, 6-wins isn’t out of the question. USC football just isn’t where you think it would be, and it’s going to take some elite level recruiting to get them there. Given that we’re talking about Lincoln Riley’s recruiting, it’s hard to imagine even the #1 recruiting class in 2026 is going to change that.

As for UCLA, a change at head coach wasn’t enough to get them a win against Northwestern. It was actually quite ugly for much of the game, before they at least didn’t give up at the end and made it interesting. This is really just sad. UCLA doesn’t have the talent it needs to compete at anywhere near a competitive level in College Football, let alone The Big Ten. Nico Iamaleava is truly an overpaid and overrated quarterback, who swindled NIL boosters out of millions. This could quite easily be an 0-12 season now that the Bruins are through the easiest part of their schedule. The real issue might be with AD Martin Jarmond. Do you really trust him to get the next hire right for this program? I sure don’t.

NBA Training Camp begins today for the Lakers. They surprised us all by announcing that they gave JJ Redick a contract extension. He has 3 years left on his deal, which most people would scratch their heads about. However, keep in mind, the Lakers have historically not valued their coaches, and that is well known in NBA coaching circles. Giving Redick a contract extension is actually an over and above gesture by the organization, which will hopefully improve their perception in coaching circles around the Association. The next extension the Lakers will have to give out will be to Austin Reaves, who will be an unrestricted free agent next summer. Former Laker and Spectrum SportsNet analyst Robert Horry said while he likes Reaves, he thinks the Lakers are better off trading him to get max value for him, simply because he and Luka Doncic have a very similar skillset. While I understand Robert Horry’s rationale, in reality trading Reaves is far more difficult in practice than it sounds. Reaves is a borderline all-star, and possibly the best 3rd option in the NBA. If you trade him, you would want an all-star player in return, or in the most ideal world, a Top 10 NBA player. That’s unlikely to happen. Otherwise, you certainly wouldn’t want to trade him for a multitude of lesser parts. Besides, I think we’re going to see Austin become an All-Star this year, and at that point, nobody will want to trade him.

Finally, the LA Kings are about a week away from starting the regular season. On the heels of the news that Anze Kopitar is retiring, and with the salary cap going up, the Kings are going to be in need of more star talent. Unfortunately for the Kings, LA is not a hockey free agent destination the same way it is for the NBA. The Kings need to draft and trade for their talent. With that being said, there have been some rumors that LA could make a play for Sidney Crosby if he requests at trade from the rebuilding Penguins. That would be a fantastic piece to add to this roster, but hard to imagine what the Kings would give up for a 38-year old player. Crosby is a win now player that could be paired nicely with talent like Kopitar, Quintin Byfield, and Adrian Kempe. However, the Penguins would need to ask for a ransom for PR purposes to trade the face of their franchise, and the Kings probably couldn’t afford to give up that much for a player that is near the end of the line.
