Sport Thoughts

There are long shots in every sport. A long shot is a team who is not mathematically eliminated from contention and has a slim chance of hope towards making the playoffs. With 25 games or less to play, there are quite a few playoff long shots. In terms of being a Wild Card, the first two wild cards in both leagues are nearly settled. The first American League Wild Card will either be the Tampa Bay Rays or the Baltimore Orioles. The second Wild Card could either be the Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers or Houston Astros. The Toronto Blue Jays are half a game behind the Texas Rangers for the last Wild Card. The long shots in the American League are the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees. The Red Sox and New York Yankees are 4.5 and 8 games behind of the Rangers. The Cleveland Guardians could also be considered a long shot of winning the AL Central Division. They are 6 games behind the Minnesota Twins. The New York Yankees have a easier remaining schedule compared to the Boston Red Sox rem...

2023 has been an interesting year for several MLB contenders. There have been quite a few disappointing teams. The New Mets and New York Yankees have disappointed on a large scale. Perhaps the most disappointing team of the 2023 season is actually the San Diego Padres. The Padres entered the 2023 season expecting to compete for a championship. They had a success 2022 season, upsetting the 101 win New York Mets and 111 win LA Dodgers in the MLB playoffs. The Padres entered the offseason with a plethora of moves. They extended third basemen Many Machado to a multi year contract. They would sign All-Star shortstop Xander Bogaerts, starting pitcher Seth Lugo, starting pitcher Michael Wacha and designated hitter Matt Carpenter in free agency. They would also see the return of All-Star outfielder Fernando Tatis, back from a year of injuries and a steroid suspension. The team raised their payroll and spoke about championship expectations at a fan appeciation event. 2023 has gone the complete ...

The 2023 MLB season is down to a month and a half left. The fight for playoff contention continues each for the teams still in the race. Baseball is known as a major sport that does not have a salary cap. The New York Mets, New York Yankees and San Diego Padres have the three largest payrolls in the entire MLB. If the MLB Season were to end today, all three high salary teams would miss the playoffs. The New York Mets waived the white flag to begin the month of August with a payroll of $343,809,689. The Mets payroll is the most expensive roster in MLB history. That roster prior to the trade deadline was 5.5 games back from a playoff spot and 5 games under .500. The New York Mets are now 12 games under .500 and 8.5 games back of a wild card. The New York Yankees have a payroll of $279,372,803. That large payroll has them in last place in the AL East division, 2 games over .500 and 5 games back of the last wild card spot. The San Diego Padre’s payroll is slightly lower at $252,800,149. En...