"The Stack" 10-8-19
The New York Yankees are on to the ALCS following their sweep of the Minnesota Twins. The Twins have now lost 16 straight playoff games, 13 of which have come to the Yankees. Their streak ties the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks of the 1970s for most consecutive playoff losses.
The Stack is back on this Tuesday and we have plenty to discuss today so why waste another moment. Let’s get right to “the stack” for today, Tuesday, October 8th:
49ers embarrass Browns on MNF
The San Francisco 49ers had two weeks to prepare for the Cleveland Browns. It showed as they whooped the Cleveland Browns right out of the gate. The Browns got the ball to start the game and had to punt right away. The 49ers first play on offense: an 83-yard touchdown run by Matt Breida. And the rout was on. The Browns had a chance to get back into the game with a third and goal, but Baker Mayfield’s pass to Antonio Calloway was picked off and that was as close as the Browns would get to scoring again. The 49ers dominated in all three phases all night winning 31-3. The Browns now have a short week to prepare for the Seahawks. Hopefully they show up for that one. The 49ers, the undefeated 49ers get the Rams who have had a few extra days to prepare. That should be a great game.
MLB Playoffs update
Three of the four MLB Playoff series are still happening. The one series that isn’t…the New York Yankees and Minnesota Twins. A series that was supposed to have homeruns galore had very few, especially from the Minnesota Twins. Their pitching was a concern heading into the series and it showed. The starters weren’t great and their bats came up empty throughout the series. The Yankees, in case you didn’t know, are really good. The Houston Astros or Tampa Bay Rays are going to have their hands full. Minnesota Twins, get some freaking pitching in the offseason. This is too good of a team to not win a playoff game.
Speaking of Astros and Rays, the Rays avoided elimination Monday with a 10-3 win over the Houston Astros. Their bats came alive after being non-existent the first two games hitting four homes and getting after the Astros pitching. The Astros, I don’t know if they are panicking yet, but they are starting Justin Verlander today on short rest. They want to put the Rays to bed right now.
In the NL, both the St. Louis Cardinals and Washington Nationals staved off elimination on Monday. The Cardinals needed extra innings to beat the Atlanta Braves 5-4 while the Nationals took care of the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-1. For the Cardinals, I still think the Braves are the better team and they will win game five in Atlanta on Wednesday. All of the pressure in the world is on the Dodgers to win game five. The Nationals don’t have much pressure on them at all. That could bode well for them against the Dodgers in game five Wednesday night. The NL Playoffs have been very, very, good.
College football weekend recap
We were hoping for some good games last week, because you never know what happens on a college football Saturday. Most ranked teams didn’t do that, but one ranked team did. #24 SMU came back from being down 30-9 in the fourth quarter to come back and beat Tulsa 43-37 in triple overtime. Tulsa had a chance to win in double overtime, but missed a field goal. Another missed field goal in triple overtime gave TCU the ball needing just a field goal to win. They won on the first play with a tremendous catch in the endzone. Game over. SMU went crazy as they should. From Death Penalty to currently undefeated. Big moments have been few and far between for them. Good for them.
Pittsburgh-Duke also gave us one helluva game. Pittsburgh was up 26-3 before Duke rallied back to take a 30-26 lead with only a minute and change to go. Pitt went four plays and 82 yards for a touchdown to give them the lead at 33-30. They would hang on to win by that score. Quite a remarkable finish to the game.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that Virginia Tech built up a 28-0 lead on Miami (FL) in South Beach, gave up a Hail Mary touchdown at the end of the half, saw Miami coming storming back to tie the game 35-35, but scored a touchdown late and then hung on to win 42-35. Whew!
Even Boston College-Louisville was good with the two teams going back and forth before Louisville ultimately won 41-39.
If you had to suffer through #19 Michigan beating #14 Iowa 10-3 in that punt-fest, I’m sorry. Maybe it was a good thing that FOX and Dish were in a dispute until Sunday so I didn’t have that option. There really wasn’t much else of note. #10 Florida beat # 7 Auburn 24-13. Auburn just wasn’t ready for the Swamp. #4 Ohio State showed why they may be the best team in college football, beating #25 Michigan State 34-10. And the Pac-12 has lost one more potential playoff team as #15 Washington lost to Stanford 23-13. Ouch. Oregon, you’re only hope and they barely got by Cal 17-7.
Will this week be better? Let’s hope so!
Coming up Thursday: TNF preview, college football weekend forecast and MLB Playoffs update
