Month of MLB: End of the Regular Season

Even by the usual standards of MLB, this regular season was a snoozer.  We've known for months who was going to the playoffs.  The Blue Jays, Mariners, and Tigers -- teams who played brilliantly in last season's playoffs -- all failed to make it this year.  They have been replaced by the Rays, Astros, and White Sox.  In the National League, everyone is back from last year's playoff group except for the Reds, who fell to last place in the Central.  The Phillies were forced to take a wild card spot this year, as the Braves returned to the top of the NL East.  So all the teams in the Senior Circuit playoffs look very familiar.

The Nats went 77-85, for their best record since 2019.  They scored 821 runs -- more than any team in the National League except for the Cubs and Brewers.  But they allowed 815 runs, because their owners refuse to pay for any pitching.

The A's went 64-98, finishing two games ahead of the Angels in the AL West.

There is something badly wrong in St. Louis, as the Cardinals went 77-85, but I have not paid enough attention to know what it is.

Howie Rose, the Mets' outstanding radio announcer, completed his last season.  He has been calling Mets games since 1987.  During that time, the Mets reached the World Series only twice, and they lost 4-1 both times.

San Francisco's experiment of hiring a college coach as the manager did not work out this year.  The Tennessee baseball fans probably feel the way I did watching Pitino struggle with the Boston Celtics.

Yes, Houston made the playoffs as the Number 3 seed with a record of 81-81.  Yes, either Cleveland, Chicago, or Houston is guaranteed to make the American League Championship Series.  Go complain to Rob Manfred, who set up this silly system.

No National League team has ever won three World Series in a row.  The Dodgers will be trying to do it this year.

Milwaukee and Tampa Bay have the best records in each league.  But we're going to lose most of the 2027 season because small-market clubs supposedly aren't competitive.

Here are the final standings in both leagues.  Each playoff team is in bold, with its seeding.  I will be rooting for the White Sox in the American League, in honor of the Pope, and rooting for the Dodgers to win the whole thing, in honor of my younger self, who picked the Dodgers as his favorite team back in 1973:

NATIONAL LEAGUE:

(1) Milwaukee:  103-59  ---

(2) Los Angeles:  100-62  3 games behind

(3) Atlanta:  94-68  9

(4) San Diego:  91-71  12

(5) Chicago:  89-73  14

(6) Philadelphia:  88-74  15

Arizona:  86-76  17

Pittsburgh:  82-80  21

Miami:  80-82  23

St. Louis:  77-85  26

Washington:  77-85  26

Cincinnati:  75-87  28

New York:  74-88  29

San Francisco:  65-97  38

Colorado:  58-104  45

AMERICAN LEAGUE:

(1) Tampa Bay:  98-64  ---

(4) New York:  93-68  4 1/2

(5) Boston:  87-75  11

(2) Cleveland:  85-77  13

(6) Chicago:  84-78  14

(3) Houston:  81-81  17

Texas:  80-82  18

Baltimore:  79-82  18 1/2

Toronto:  79-83  19

Minnesota:  77-85  21

Detroit:  76-86  22

Seattle:  76-86  22

Kansas City:  69-93  29

Oakland:  64-98  34

Los Angeles:  62-100  36

NFL Week 1 and Survivor Pick

The NFL season kicks off on Wednesday, so here is the top ten in the ESPN Power Rankings:

1.  Los Angeles

2.  Seattle

3.  Buffalo

4.  Denver

5.  Philadelphia

6.  New England

7.  Green Bay

8.  Baltimore

9.  San Francisco

10.  Houston

The Chiefs are Number 13.  Washington is Number 20.  The Dolphins are Number 32.

As usual, the Week One matchups are challenging for anyone interested in Survivor Pools, because the League does a good job of matching up teams of similar quality.  However, there is one clear favorite -- the Chargers are expected to beat the Cardinals by 10 points.  So I'm taking the Chargers as my team to survive Week One.

Scottie Scheffler Wins the FedEx Cup

Scottie Scheffler, who really is the greatest golfer in the world, had a frustrating year.  Until a few weeks ago, he was miles ahead of everyone in the FedEx Cup Standings, but he had only won a single tournament.  He finished 2d, T14, T4, and T4 in the majors, which is the epitome of close but no cigar.

He was a new man in the playoffs, however.  First, he won the First Playoff Tournament in Memphis two weeks ago.  And today, he shot a glorious 66 to chase down Viktor Hovland and win the Tour Championship in Atlanta by three shots.  That was good enough to win the FedEx Cup for the second time in three years.

Here are the last ten winners of the FedEx Cup:

2017:  Justin Thomas

2018:  Justin Rose (ENG)
2019:  Rory McIlroy (NIR)

2020:  Dustin Johnson

2021:  Patrick Cantlay

2022:  Rory McIlroy (NIR)

2023:  Viktor Hovland (NOR)
2024:  Scottie Scheffler

2025:  Tommy Fleetwood (ENG)

2026:  Scottie Scheffler

Here are the winners of the most significant tournaments in 2026:

AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am:  Collin Morikawa (7th PGA Tour victory)

Genesis Invitational:  Jacob Bridgeman (1)

Arnold Palmer Invitational:  Akshay Bhatia (3)

The Players Championship:  Cameron Young (2)

Masters Tournament:  Rory McIlroy (NIR) (30)

RBC Heritage:  Matt Fitzpatrick (ENG) (4)

Cadillac Championship:  Cameron Young (3)

Truist Championship:  Kristoffer Reitan (NOR) (1)

PGA Championship:  Aaron Rai (ENG) (2)

Memorial Tournament:  J.T. Poston (4)

U.S. Open:  Wyndham Clark (5)

Travelers Championship:  Viktor Hovland (8)

British Open:  Ryan Fox (NZL) (3)

FedEx St. Jude Championship:  Scottie Scheffler (21)

BMW Championship:  Wyndham Clark (6)

Tour Championship:  Scottie Scheffler (22)

We also had some Team Golf this summer.  The United States won the Curtis Cup, beating GB & I 13-7 at the Bel-Air C.C. in Los Angeles.

On the whole, it was a satisfying golf season, although the Majors were not very dramatic.  We still have a lot of team golf left to play.  The U.S. male amateurs will play amateurs from Great Britain and Ireland at the Walker Cup, to be contested from September 5-6 at Lahinch G.C. in Ireland.  The European and U.S. women professionals will contest the Solheim Cup at the Bernadus G.C. in the Netherlands from September 7 to 13.  The U.S. men professionals will take on the non-Europeans at the President's Cup from September 22 to 27 at the Medinah C.C. near Chicago.

Golf never ends, so here is the schedule for next year's majors.  We get Pebble Beach and St. Andrews in the same year, which will be fun:

The Masters Tournament:  Augusta National G.C., Augusta Ga. (April 8-11)

PGA Championship:  Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco, Frisco, Tex. (May 20-23)

U.S. Open:  Pebble Beach G.L., Pebble Beach, Calif. (June 17-20)

British Open:  The Old Course at St. Andrews, Fife, SCOTLAND (July 15-18)

It looks like the Ryder Cup will be the only major team competition next year.  The Americans will suffer their usual defeat at Adare Manor in County Limerick, Ireland from September 17-19.  But I will likely miss the whole thing, as I will be watching football.

More Classic Conference Previews

Three more Classic college football conferences with each team's preseason ranking on CBS Sports.  Here's the Classic Big Eight:

9.  Oklahoma

23.  Missouri

33.  Nebraska

34.  Kansas St.

44.  Oklahoma St.

56.  Kansas

65.  Colorado

69.  Iowa St.

Here's the Classic Southwest:

4.  Texas

8.  Texas Tech

11.  Texas A & M

20.  S.M.U.

26.  Houston

31.  T.C.U.

49.  Arkansas

53.  Baylor

121.  Rice

And, finally, here's the Classic Pac-10:

2.  Oregon

14.  U.S.C.

19.  Washington

30.  Arizona

41.  Arizona St.

42.  U.C.L.A.

50.  California

74.  Stanford

88.  Washington St.

94.  Oregon St.

Here are the six major conference Champions last year:

SEC:  Georgia (3d time in the last 4 years)

ACC:  Virginia (1st time since 2004)

SWC:  Texas Tech (1st time ever as outright champion)

Big 8:  Oklahoma (1st time since 2019)

Big 10:  Indiana (1st time since 1967)

Pac 10:  Oregon (2d year in a row)

It's Almost Time

Last week, CBS put out its ranking of the teams that play D-1A college football.  Here are the ranking for every team in the Classic SEC.  As you will see below, Kentucky is not in last place, because they are well ahead of the Tulane Green Wave:

5.  Georgia

10.  Louisiana St.

12.  Mississippi

13.  Alabama

17.  Tennessee

22.  Florida

32.  Auburn

36.  Vanderbilt

47.  Georgia Tech

51.  Mississippi St.

55.  Kentucky

86.  Tulane

Meanwhile, let's see how the Classic Big 10 is doing.  UK fans used to take comfort from comparing themselves to Indiana, but that probably won't be happening for awhile:

1.  Ohio St.

6.  Indiana

15.  Michigan

21.  Iowa

29.  Illinois

40.  Minnesota

48.  Northwestern

60.  Wisconsin

66.  Michigan St.

82.  Purdue

On the other hand, the Cats are ranked ahead of UNC.  Here's the Classic ACC:

27.  Clemson

28.  S. Carolina

37.  Virginia

45.  N. Carolina St.

46.  Duke

52.  Maryland

58.  Wake Forest

61.  N. Carolina

What's really striking about the Classic ACC is how closely bunched all the teams are, even though none of them is in the Top 20.  It seems obvious that fans at all eight of these schools would have more fun if these teams played a true round-robin schedule with each other.  Check out the 2026 home schedule for Maryland:

9/5:  Hampton

9/19:  Virginia Tech

9/26:  U.C.L.A.

10/17:  Rutgers

10/31:  Illinois

11/14:  Wisconsin

11/28:  Penn St.

Now, if you replaced U.C.L.A., Rutgers, Illinois, and Wisconsin with South Carolina, N. Carolina St., Duke, and N. Carolina -- and threw in road games against Clemson, UVA, and Wake -- wouldn't that be a lot more entertaining?  Of course it would.