Clay Buchholz exiled to Phillies

2016, man. What a year. First Tom Brady got suspended, then Pro Sports in Hingham closed, and now Claydro Buchholz is on his way to Philadelphia. Not much else happened, but those three events alone really tarnished an otherwise fine year.

Anyways with Buchholz, I'm sure gonna miss those Tuesday nights in July when the Red Sox are playing some anemic offense like the Athletics or Rays, I look away for a few minutes and the next thing you know, Buchholz is pulled after 2 2/3 and six earned runs on seven hits.

Fair or unfair, Buchholz was the de facto compensation the Red Sox received when Pedro Martinez signed with the Mets after the 2004 season. The Red Sox received a 'sandwich pick,' No. 42 overall from the Mets, and drafted the bullfrog out of a JuCo in Texas.

He was one of five Red Sox first round picks in '05, including Jacoby Ellsbury, Craig Hansen, Jed Lowrie and Michael Bowden.

Some people will remember the Clay Buchholz era for the no-hitter he threw in his second career start vs. the Orioles. Others will remember his very good 2010 season or his very good half-season in 2013. Some may even remember him as the 2015 Opening Day starter, just one year after Jon Lester held that role.

Me? I'll remember Buchholz as a god damned Twitter hero.

You know who would have been a prime candidate to pitch in a 4-run game in the 9th inning? Clay Buchholz.

— Jake Levin (@JakeLevin477) July 20, 2016

Karmic retribution to the Red Sox for retiring Wade Boggs' number on a Clay Buchholz day

— Jake Levin (@JakeLevin477) May 27, 2016

Sure feels like Buchholz will give the lead right back in 3...2...1...

— Jake Levin (@JakeLevin477) May 5, 2016

Is Clay Buchholz elite?

— Jake Levin (@JakeLevin477) April 6, 2016

Clay Buchholz is doing that thing where he sucks me right back into thinking he's not a trainwreck

— Jake Levin (@JakeLevin477) August 18, 2016

Color me shocked Clay Buchholz the 8th inning man isn't very good, either

— Jake Levin (@JakeLevin477) August 31, 2016

Clay Buchholz should never throw another pitch for the Red Sox. Period.

— Jake Levin (@JakeLevin477) September 11, 2016

At what point does Jason Varitek become the Sox manager? His only teammates still here are Pedroia and Ortiz *(Buchholz will be gone soon)

— Jake Levin (@JakeLevin477) May 9, 2015

In all honesty send Buchholz to AAA for awhile. Let him regain confidence down there and if that doesn't work, DFA him

— Jake Levin (@JakeLevin477) May 5, 2015

EEI coming back from commercial with "Won't Get Fooled Again." Couldn't have summed it up better for Buchholz

— Jake Levin (@JakeLevin477) July 11, 2015

Remember in Imgainationland when Butters was 'the key'? Well now Clay Buchholz, who's basically the Butters of the Red Sox, is the key

— Jake Levin (@JakeLevin477) October 7, 2016

But you wanna know something really crazy? I would have preferred the Red Sox dealt away Drew Pomeranz than Buchholz. At least with Claydro, you know what you're getting: you don't know what you're getting. With Pomeranz, you also know what you're getting: mediocrity and way too many curveballs and inevitable elbow reconstructive surgery. There's a reason he's on his fifth organization at age 28. Something tells me a Twitter search of "@jakelevin477 pomeranz" this time next year will yield a whole lotta negativity.

So thank you, Clay, for somehow surviving parts of 10 seasons in Boston. If Ortiz doesn't unretire, Dustin Pedroia is now the last member left of the 2007 World Series team. And with the recent defections of Koji and Taz, we're down to Pedey, Bogaerts, JBJ and Brock Holt as members of the 2013 team. Mind-bottling stuff.

Wild-card weekend is for suckers

Jan. 10, 2010. Ray Rice had an 83-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage at the Ravens beat the Patriots, 33-14.

That was the last time New England played on wild-card weekend.

By almost any metric, the 2009 Patriots were the worst team of the Belichick era. Sure, they missed the playoffs in 2002 and 2008, but 2009 represented rock bottom in a number of ways for New England.

Six seasons have elapsed since then, with a seventh nearing completion. All seven of these seasons will have ended with the Patriots securing a first-round bye.

Eight teams, or exactly one quarter of Roger Goodell's professional football league, also have not played on wild-card weekend since then: the Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tennessee Titans, Miami Dolphins, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, St. Louis Los Angeles Rams and Las Vegas Oakland Raiders.

Of course, none of those teams have made the playoffs at all in these last seven seasons (Oakland clinched a berth today, and actually may well avoid playing on WC weekend again).

There's no shortage of ways to describe what the Brady/Belichick era has been like, but if that little tidbit on the merits of not playing the first weekend of January doesn't do it for you I don't know what will.

Wild-card weekend really just serves as a way for the rest of the NFL to showcase just how far 31 other franchises lag behind the Patriots.

Are the Carolina Panthers having the worst follow-up season by a Super Bowl loser ever?

Admittedly, I haven't been paying as close attention the NFL this season as I have in year's past. All those fancy talking points you heard about with ratings declining back in October, with theories such as Kaepernick's protests or the election leading the charge, do not apply here. Can't really explain it...I do love the idea of Roger Goodell's world crashing and burning, which is maybe subliminally why I haven't tuned in to many games not involving the Patriots.

But one thing I have noticed from (somewhat) afar is the plight of the Carolina Panthers, who actually improved to 5-8 today with a win over the San Diego Chargers. Carolina has the fourth-worst point differential in the NFC (minus-26), while Cam Newton is 27th in the NFL in passer rating (80.6), behind quarterbacking luminaries such as Sam Bradford, Cody Kessler, Trevor Siemien and yes, even Colin Kaepernick. His completion percentage (54.7) is 31st out of 32 qualified passers...ahead of only Kaepernick. He's behind Ryan Fitzpatrick, Brock Osweiler and Blake Bortles, for example.

What a mess. Is it my fault for wearing this outfit during Super Bowl 50?

Probably not. And I discovered this year's Panthers, even though they already have eight losses, are already assured of not being the worst Super Bowl runner-up by means of won-loss record the following year. That would be the 2003 Oakland Raiders, who finished 4-12 after being blown out by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Prior to the salary cap era (1994-), I could find only two teams that lost the Super Bowl and didn't finish the following season with a winning record (the 1988 and 1990 Denver Broncos, which finished 8-8 and 5-11, respectively.

With the advent of the salary cap, and the difficulty of retaining that mojo year to year, unless you're the New England Patriots? It's been a tad more difficult to get back to the big game...or do anything noteworthy, for that matter.

Only twice in Super Bowl history has a franchise lost the game in one year and gone on to win the next. And it hasn't happened since the 1972 Miami Dolphins.

I won't go back quite that far, but here's a look at how the teams of the salary cap era have done following a Super loss - not just the following season, but the long-range impact of the loss:

1994 Buffalo Bills (lost Super Bowl XXVIII vs. Cowboys, 30-13)

Record: 7-9, missed playoffs

Give the Bills all the credit in the world, as the 1993 version was the last team to return to the Super Bowl following a loss, just like the 1992 Bills before them, and the 1991 Bills before them. Those Buffalo teams lost four consecutive Super Bowls, which is almost as unfathomable as the fact the Bills haven't even been to the playoffs since 1999.

1995 San Diego Chargers (lost Super Bowl XXIX vs. 49ers, 49-26)

Record: 9-7; lost in AFC wild-card game vs. Colts, 35-20

Unfortunately, this wouldn't be the only time Rodney Harrison and Junior Seau had to rebound from a Super Bowl loss.

1996 Pittsburgh Steelers (lost Super Bowl XXX vs. Cowboys, 27-17)

Record: 10-6; lost in AFC divisional round vs. Patriots, 28-3

People forget that Drew Bledsoe torched the Steelers in the playoffs long before he relieved an injured Tom Brady in the 2001 AFCCG. That back shoulder toss to David Patten still gives me chills.

1997 New England Patriots (lost Super Bowl XXXI vs. Packers, 35-14)

Record: 10-6; lost in AFC divisional round vs. Steelers, 7-6

People also forget that Mike Vrabel sacked Drew Bledsoe in this playoff loss. 

1998 Green Bay Packers (lost Super Bowl XXXII vs. Broncos, 31-24)

Record: 11-5; lost in NFC wild-card game vs. 49ers, 30-27

The legend of Terrell Owens was born when the Niners eliminated the Packers, who somehow never made it back to the Super Bowl with Brett Favre...and somehow still have been only once with Aaron Rodgers.

1999 Atlanta Falcons (lost Super Bowl XXXIII vs. Broncos, 34-19)

Record: 5-11; missed playoffs

Falcons safety Eugene Robinson was arrested for soliciting a prostitute the night before the game...just hours after accepting the Bart Starr Award as a player who "best exemplifies outstanding character and leadership in the home, on the field and in the community." Atlanta finished 4-12 the following season, securing a high enough pick to trade up to No. 1 overall for a certain quarterback who was later spent 23 months in prison for running an outfit called "Bad Newz Kennels." Had the Falcons stayed at No. 5, they could have drafted LaDanian Tomlinson, as the Chargers did, instead of Mike Vick.

2000 Tennessee Titans (lost Super Bowl XXXIV vs. Rams, 23-16)

Record: 13-3; lost in AFC divisional round vs. Ravens, 24-10

Believe it or not, Jeff Fisher's Titans made the playoffs five more times after coming up one yard short vs. the Greatest Show on Turf. 

2001 New York Giants (lost Super Bowl XXXV vs. Ravens, 34-7)

Record: 7-9; missed playoffs

Color me shocked, a Giants team that was inconsistent from year to year.

2002 St. Louis Rams (lost Super Bowl XXXVI vs. Patriots, 20-17)

Record: 7-9; missed playoffs

Marc Bulger, a forgotten member of the "Brady 6," supplanted Kurt Warner as the starter midway through this season. Bulger led St. Louis to a 12-4 record in 2003...which is the last time the Rams franchise posted a winning record, and also about the last time anyone deemed it sensible Bulger was selected 31 picks prior to Brady, at No. 168 overall in 2000. One could argue Adam Vinatieri's right foot sent the Rams back to Los Angeles all these years later.

2003 Oakland Raiders (lost Super Bowl XXXVII vs. Buccaneers, 48-21)

Record: 4-12; missed playoffs

As stated earlier, this is, by means of record, the worst Super Bowl runner-up of all-time. It's a common misnomer that the Tuck Rule is what led to the Raiders' demise; they recovered quite nicely, for one year at least, before not posting a winning record again until this season and potentially moving to Las Vegas. The Tuck Rule was more of a delayed reaction, akin to memes kids make about the Molly hitting.

2004 Carolina Panthers (lost Super Bowl XXXVIII vs. Patriots, 32-29)

Record: 7-9; missed playoffs

Carolina didn't exactly fall off the face of the earth after the Patriots knocked them off in Houston - they went 53-43 prior to a 2-14 season in 2010, enabling them to draft Cam Newton - but it sure doesn't feel like these Panthers are trending in a similar manner to the Jake Delhomme teams of the mid-2000s.

2005 Philadelphia Eagles (lost Super Bowl XXXIX vs. Patriots, 24-21)

Record: 6-10; missed playoffs

The Terrell Owens driveway press conference was the immediate fallout. The faces have changed, but the dysfunction has remained more or less the same.

2006 Seattle Seahawks (lost Super Bowl XL vs. Steelers, 21-10

Record: 9-7; lost in NFC divisional round vs. Bears, 27-24

Did the Patriots steal a Super Bowl from the Seahawks with Malcolm Butler's pick? Perhaps, but if you really think about it, it was payback for Seattle stealing Super Bowl XLI from the Patriots. But wait, XLI was Colts-Bears, right? Well it should have been Patriots-Bears, but the Seahawks had to go out and trade for Deion Branch during his holdout, thus leaving Tom Brady with Reche Caldwell as his No. 1 receiver. Indeed, the ends justified the means on the goal line in Arizona eight years later.

2007 Chicago Bears (lost Super Bowl XLI vs. Colts, 29-17)

Record: 7-9; missed playoffs

If only Devin Hester had returned a few more kicks for touchdowns, "Trent Dilfer has more rings than Dan Marino" would have become "Rex Grossman has more rings than [generic QB X]."

2008 New England Patriots (lost Super Bowl XLII vs. Giants, 17-14)

Record: 11-5; missed playoffs

One quirk of the Patriots' dynasty is that it includes a season in which they were the best team ever to not win the Super Bowl (18-1), followed by a year in which they were the best team ever to not make the playoffs at 11-5. The Browns also had an 11-5 playoff-less season in the '80s, but they most certainly were not coming off the best regular season in NFL history, either.

2009 Arizona Cardinals (lost Super Bowl XLIII vs. Steelers, 27-23)

Record: 10-6; lost in NFC divisional playoffs vs. Saints, 45-14

'Member Kurt Warner? His second act as a Cardinal wasn't all that shabby, especially considering he was behind Matt Leinart on the depth chart at one point. Somewhat related: now that the Bruce Arians Cardinals appear to be a flop, I'm so ready for the return of "Larry Fitzgerald to New England" rumors. Those used to be as automatic as a first-round bye for the Pats.

2010 Indianapolis Colts (lost Super Bowl XLIV vs. Saints, 31-17)

Record: 10-6; lost in AFC wild-card game vs. Jets, 17-16

Peyton Manning's final season in Indy ended in the most fitting of ways: with a one-and-done vs. Mark Sanchez...who would also send Tom Brady to a one-and-done the following week. Of course, Peyton's teams went one-and-done NINE times. Brady, to date, just twice.

2011 Pittsburgh Steelers (lost Super Bowl XLV vs. Packers, 31-25)

Record: 12-4; lost in AFC wild-card game vs. Broncos, 29-23 (OT)

Long before Tim Tebow was batting .125 in the Arizona Fall League, he was winning playoff games vs. Ben Roethlisberger.

2012 New England Patriots (lost Super Bowl XLVI vs. Giants, 21-17)

Record: 12-4; lost in AFC Championship Game vs. Ravens, 28-13

Just another quirk of the ol' dynasty: the Patriots became the first team in the salary cap era to get as far as the conference championship game the season after losing a Super Bowl. During a season which Aaron Hernandez played after (allegedly) killing two people in Boston the summer before. That is going to be among the more fascinating chapters of Belichick's autobiography post-career, by the way.

2013 San Francisco 49ers (lost Super Bowl XLVII vs. Ravens, 34-31)

Record: 12-4; lost NFC Championship Game vs. Seahawks, 23-17

The 49ers sure feel like the next team to fall into an abyss a la the Raiders or Rams. It's hard to believe this team was in the NFCCG just three short years ago. Until you consider they forced out the best coach in football not named Bill Belichick.

2014 Denver Broncos (lost Super Bowl XLVIII vs. Seahawks, 43-8)

Record: 12-4; lost in AFC divisional round vs. Colts, 24-13

Give Peyton Manning credit because those coattails he rode rebounding from this loss and winning a Super Bowl the following year is just part of what makes him so great.

2015 Seattle Seahawks (lost Super Bowl XLIX vs. Patriots, 28-24)

Record: 10-6; lost in NFC divisional round vs. Cardinals, 31-24

The Seahawks, similar to some Patriots and Broncos teams on this list, have some staying power. The Malcolm Butler interception is the most improbable play in Super Bowl history made by a defensive player, and yet the team was still talented enough to return to the playoffs and win a game the season after. This time, sans Marshawn Lynch and now Earl Thomas, too, suddenly? We'll see.

The Panthers could run the table and get to .500, which would put them right in the middle of the pack in terms of Super Bowl losers of the salary cap era. But the headline for that team, no matter what, will be the regression of Cam Newton. And perhaps their season won't be the worst encore off a Super Bowl loss, but the franchise itself could morph into one of the most disappointing one-hit wonders of all-time. I know I've already used "people forget that" several times in this blog, but did you even somewhat remember the Panthers were 15-1 last season regular season? And that loss came in the season finale? What a strange team indeed.

I Was Very Wrong: The CFP Picture is Confusing

Just about two weeks ago, I wrote a post titled, "The College Football Playoff Picture Isn't As Confusing As You Think." I consider myself an honorable guy, and I'm here to tell you that I was very, very wrong. The College Football Playoff picture is giving me some PTSD from the Biology For Non-Science Majors course that I earned a barely-passing grade in. Just couldn't figure it out. The playoff landscape is essentially the same as Westworld at this point. I watch, I enjoy, the games/episode ends, and I feel dumb and confused.

We've been presented with a scenario that even the legendary Madame Zeroni couldn't advise a solution to. This mass hysteria was most significantly triggered by Saturday's classic of Michigan vs. Ohio State. Due to Ohio State's controversial victory, Penn State has earned a spot in the B1G Championship Game against the Wisconsin Badgers.

In regards to the controversy in Columbus, I'm on Team "Barrett was stopped short on fourth down." It's a shame that the outcome had to come down to something so highly questioned. If they had ruled it short to begin with, the replay didn't show enough evidence to overturn it. But unfortunately for Michigan, that was the same case for overturning the first down. Personally, I thought the visual displayed that Barrett was stopped short, but I think I just convinced myself of that because I didn't want to see Urban Meyer come out on top.

Having said all of that, I thought it was incredibly lame of Harbaugh to blame the officiating for the loss. Want to know what actually caused the Wolverines to lose the game? The three turnovers. Simple as that. When you come into Columbus for a game of this magnitude, you need to play mistake-free football, NOT mistake-three football. They were in complete control of the game until that pick-six. Not to mention that Curtis Samuel's wild third down gain, which set up Barrett's controversial first down, should've been stopped behind the line of scrimmage. So as much as I wanted to see Michigan in the playoff, they're not getting any sympathy from me.



So as I mentioned before, we'll have Wisconsin facing off against Penn State in the BIG 10 Championship, with both teams being 10-2. Penn State's victory over Ohio State is the reason we're not seeing the Buckeyes in this game, which is unfortunate for Ohio State since that was their lone loss. The Buckeyes could be considered a better team than the Nittany Lions in every sense, other than the major fact that Penn State beat them head-to-head. Often times we get stuck in debates of which team is better than which because we haven't had the opportunity to see them face off. But in this case, throw away everything else; Penn State beat Ohio State and are therefore a better team. It's hard to argue against that. So if Penn State ends up being the BIG 10 Champ, you kind of have to put them in. And if Wisconsin wins? I mean, I think they would deserve to be in the playoff, but I could see the committee then putting in Ohio State over them (which I would not want to see), as Wisconsin's two losses came to Michigan and the Buckeyes. But then again, the B1G Champ deserves a playoff spot in my mind, regardless of how that came to be. Which leads to more confusion/hypocrisy because Ohio State beat Wisconsin head-to-head, so it's really just a vicious cycle.

I think it's pretty damn safe to say that we'll be seeing Alabama and Clemson in the playoff, a foresight that depends on Clemson taking care of business as scheduled against Virginia Tech. However, Clemson has looked shaky in multiple games this season, including their loss to Pitt. But I think the Tigers have plenty of momentum after spanking in-state rival South Carolina last weekend, and that'll carry over into their matchup against an inferior team.

So let's say 'Bama and Clemson are both in, and the BIG 10 Champ gets in, who's the fourth team? I think if Washington wins against Colorado, they absolutely get the fourth playoff spot. But Colorado is a good team this year, and if they beat Washington....I just don't know. I think maybe at that point two B1G teams could get in? It'd probably have to be Penn State/Wisconsin and Ohio State.

What makes this playoff picture so confusing is the fact that we're not entirely sure how the committee will exactly select these teams. Some people feel that it should be four champions of their respective Power 5 Conferences. Some people feel that the eye test should rule all. Some believe that a fluke loss shouldn't heavily influence your chances. We've been presented with a scenario that will combine every facet of evaluation, and it's going to come down to what the committee finds to be the most important criteria. At this point, I'm lost. I truly am. But just for the hell of it, here's my prediction:

#1 Alabama (risky prediction) vs. #4 Wisconsin (because why not?)
#2 Clemson vs. #3 Washington

And for the record: NO. I refuse to believe Oklahoma will sneak in. And that is the only time I will address that subpar team from a subpar conference.

The College Football Playoff Picture Is Not As Confusing As You Think

This past weekend was easily the craziest so far this college football season, as we saw No. 2 Clemson, No. 3 Michigan, and No. 4 Washington all got hit with their first L of 2016. The last time that No. 2, 3, and 4 lost in the same week was 1985. To add to the hysteria, No. 8 Texas A&M and No. 9 Auburn both lost. Half of the top 10 teams were upset, but I really don't think this shakes up the playoff picture as much as many people think.

I'll be honest, when it was all said and done Saturday night, I couldn't wrap my head around what the playoff would turn out to be. My confusion was distracted by watching the King of Dublin do his thing in the octagon, which added to the pure awesomeness of Saturday's sports slate. But once Sunday morning came around, I came to the realization that the amount of top 10 teams losing really just kind of canceled each other's misery out. The Week 12 rankings won't be released until tomorrow, but regardless of who lands where, most of these teams are in control of their own destiny.

Let's start with No. 1 Alabama. It's become pretty damn clear that 'Bama is the best team in the country. Now that's not to say they'll automatically win it all; anything can happen in the playoff. This Crimson Tide squad has yet to be defeated, but they're not invincible. Having said that, any team that faces off against 'Bama in the playoff will have to be mistake-free, and the best game plan aside from being perfect is to pray that the Tide suffer crucial turnovers and penalties. The remainder of the Crimson Tide's schedule features the Chattanooga Mocs and Auburn, who suffered their third loss to Georgia this past weekend. Auburn's No. 9 ranking will certainly fall in tomorrow's rankings, but the Tigers have proved that they can compete with some good teams. The only problem is that Alabama is far beyond a "good" team. If there's anyone you should bet on to be making the playoff, it's certain that the undefeated, No. 1 team in the country is the safe choice.

The No. 2 Clemson Tigers lost on a last second field goal to Pitt, which was an absolute dagger to their confidence and momentum. Despite not losing until Saturday night, Clemson has showed that they're far from perfect. The Tigers squeaked out close wins, which should have been blowouts, against Troy and NC State. However Clemson has also provided the Playoff Committee with evidence that they deserve a spot in the final four, most notably in victories over Auburn, Louisville, and Florida State. A loss at home to Pitt was obviously not ideal, but Clemson can easily still walk into the ACC Championship if they take care of Wake Forest and South Carolina in the next two weeks, as they should. If they do make it to the conference championship, they shouldn't be challenged much as they'll most likely face off against Virginia Tech. You can't sit there and tell me that a one-loss, ACC Champion won't earn a playoff berth.

Michigan's last second, 14-13 loss to Iowa makes things a little messier as the BIG 10 is essentially wide open. Well, wide open between Michigan, Ohio State, Wisconsin, and maybe kind of Penn State? So in last week's rankings, Michigan was No. 2 and lost to unranked Iowa. Ohio State, who was No. 5 last week, put the smackdown on the second most undeserving BIG 10 team, Maryland. Wisconsin, who was No. 7, put Illinois in their place 48-3. Penn State was at the No. 10 spot, and their ranking should improve after No. 8 A&M and No. 9 Auburn lost. To me, Penn State has the least convincing argument of these teams, despite beating Ohio State a few weeks back.

When it comes down to it, Michigan, Ohio State, and Wisconsin are all in the driver's seat of their own playoff chances. Much like the case with the ACC, I just don't think the playoff committee has any choice but to include the BIG 10 Champion. And these three teams all have a chance to play for that crown. So basically, the winner of the Michigan vs. Ohio State game will likely play Wisconsin in the conference championship, and the winner of that will go on to play in the final four. Which, let's be honest, is kind of the exact scenario we were looking at before all of these unexpected outcomes occurred on Saturday.

The fourth playoff spot did belong to Washington until they got worked by USC, which I was a fan of. I just don't think a Pac 12 team would compete in the playoff as much as other teams. But hey, what do I know? Another thing I for sure don't know is which team will eventually fill that fourth spot? Three spots will go to the champs of the SEC, ACC, and BIG 10. The ACC and BIG 10 are the only conferences that could have two teams in the playoff. If Wisconsin beat Michigan/Ohio State in the BIG 10 title game, I could see the loser of that game getting the fourth playoff spot. Regarding the ACC, Louisville's hopes of filling the fourth spot are still alive, and I think Lamar Jackson's insane performance so far will possibly persuade the committee to put them in. The only other scenario I could see for the fourth spot is a Big 12 team, which would either be Oklahoma or West Virginia. Fingers crossed that we don't have to see that, because either of those teams matched up with 'Bama would not be ideal for spectators. The only plus side to that would be watching the Big 12 get embarrassed in the playoff again.

While we're on the topic of the playoff, it's scenarios like these that get people all riled up about having an eight team playoff. But in my opinion, scenarios like this one make me love the fact that there are only four teams in the playoff. Having four teams allows college football to savor its identity; the major thing that makes college ball and the NFL is the significance of each and every regular season game. If your team slips up once, they'll have to rely on other teams to do the same. If there were an eight team playoff, we'd basically know the bracket already. The exclusiveness of the College Football Playoff is what makes earning a berth so prestigious. I could possibly, possibly, get on board with a six team playoff, with the first two seeds getting a first round bye, but extending it to eight would be an atrocity.

So regardless of what Tuesday evening's rankings present us with, I think we've got ourselves a relatively transparent idea of the playoff picture's potential.

The University of Rhode Island Lost by 77 on Saturday

Seventy-seven, man. The Rams lost by 77 points to the James Madison Dukes, 84-7, to fall to 1-8 on the season. Six of those eight losses have come by 20 or more points, four by 30 or more.

Just how high (low) did URI rise (sink) to on the grand scale of ineptitude on this particular Saturday though?

The appalling performance was the second-worst loss by a Division I team this season, including both the FBS and FCS. Only Michigan's 78-0 thumping of Rutgers surpasses Ray Bourque or Nate Solder's digits.

URI became just the second FCS team to give up 80-plus points in 2016, the first since Morehead State (Ky.) lost to James Madison, 80-7, on Sept. 3. (Tennessee-Martin beat Bacone College 84-6, but Bacone is in the NAIA, while Fordham put up 83 points vs. Elizabeth City State, a Division II school.)

So to be 100 percent transparent and fair, JMU is a very good FCS team. In the same conference as URI, by the way, so theoretically on the same playing field. 

The Dukes were ranked fifth in the polls coming into the weekend, owners of a 7-1 (5-0 CAA) record, its only loss to the FBS North Carolina Tar Heels. Only Sam Houston State, currently ranked No. 1 in the FCS, has scored more points (433) than James Madison (395). 

The Dukes set a program record with 84 points on Saturday, surpassing a 76-point outburst from 1995 vs. Morgan State (Md.) JMU is well on its way to the FCS playoffs again, looking very capable of an even higher nod than the No. 5 seed it earned a season ago. 

Speaking of the FCS playoffs, URI hasn't been there since 1985. 

They've had three winning seasons in the meantime, none since 2001. Since a 5-6 season in 2010 (for which then-head coach Joe Trainer won CAA coach of the year award), the Rams are 9-57 (.136 winning percentage), which includes a winless season in 2012. 

2012, 2013 and 2014 accounted for the three worst point-differentials in program history (-327, -243, -259). History which dates back to the 1800s. 

After being outscored by *only* 184 points in 2015 (another 1-10 season), URI's differential in 2016 is currently -244.

JMU's quarterback yesterday, Bryan Schor, basically looked like Tom Brady on crack with properly inflated footballs: 21 for 22, 309 yards, five touchdowns.

His counterpart on the Rams, Jordan Vazzano, had more interceptions (5) than completions to his own team (4). He was 4 for 25 overall with 12 passing yards.

I don't want to get on the players so much in this. It's not their fault just how in over their head they are. Who am I to criticize a kid for following their dreams of playing college football, no matter how sorry the program is?

But you know what really sucks? URI's next two games (at Elon, vs. Towson) are kinda sorta winnable. I mean they should lose both, but you never know because Elon is 2-6 with a -108 point differential, Towson is 1-7 with a -89. 

Those aren't exactly juggernauts standing in the way of the #RhodeToGreatness. 

Towson's loss to URI in the final game of the 2014 season denied a quest for a second winless season in a three year span, a denial of imperfection that causes me almost as many sleepless nights as David Tyree getting in the way of actual perfection. Almost. 

My fear is that even a 1-1 split in said games gets the Rams to 2-9 and will create enough of a false illusion of momentum moving forward to stay the course with Jim Fleming. Because any season in which your wins are over Brown (which can't give scholarships) and either Towson or Elon is about as momentous as Thursday Night Football's ratings following Jags-Titans.

What I want to happen, as I've been screeching for years now, is to put this embarrassing abomination of a football program out to pasture and invest in a Division I hockey program.

What will actually happen: Jim Fleming will get fired at the end of the season and the next poor bastard will step on in, commanding a contract that will cause the URI athletic department to not be able to pay Dan Hurley to stay after this year's eventual NCAA tournament run for men's hoops.

For whatever reason, 'hockey' is the H-word for the URI athletic department, much like your kindergarten teachers told you 'heck' was the forbidden H-word. Every other flagship state school in New England has a men's varsity hockey team, while all but UMass has a women's team as well.

Neither exist in Kingston.

There's also no varsity lacrosse team, men's or women's, on the campus at URI. There's no varsity field hockey team. There's no varsity men's swimming. No men's volleyball, no women's golf. 

I'm not gonna sit here and tell you I'd be a season ticket holder for any of those perspective teams, men's puck aside.

But I will tell you just because Rhode Island is the smallest state doesn't mean we can't have nice things. Cue the "it'll never happen" crowd when it comes to cutting football.

Of course its an eye sore to have to cut your football program. While URI is the only flagship school in New England without men's hockey, it would become one of just three flagship state schools in the country (University of Vermont, University of Alaska) without a varsity football team.

But what's the point of having a team just for the sake of having a team? I'm not seeing the correlation between having a football program and being without one as some sort of status symbol. 

Several URI contemporaries in recent years, namely former CAA opponents Northeastern and Hofstra, have cut their football programs. It's not like they've been relegated to the third world in college sports without a football team on campus.

There's also the issue of URI's field, Meade Stadium. Pretty much every high school field I've been to between both Massachusetts and Rhode Island is more structurally viable. I'm no engineer but one walk up and down those stands and you'll know what I mean.

I don't truly want URI to cut football. And I understand that the paydays from playing FBS schools ($500,000 for a 55-6 loss to Kansas this season, $400,000 for a 47-0 loss to Syracuse in 2015) are massive. 

What I want to happen is for URI to become a respectable program. To compete with its CAA contemporaries, such as UNH, Maine and Delaware every once in awhile. To have a winning season every now and again. Make a bad season 4-7, not 1-10 or 0-fer. I'm not looking to become the Alabama of the FCS.

I know better though. It's a sad, sad state of affairs in the Ocean State. 

Mediocrity never wins, but it sure reigns supreme for the brass in Kingston.

College Football Playoff Predictions

We are now in the last week of basing playoff predictions off of Associated Press rankings, as November 1st will bring us the official College Football Playoff rankings. If the committee decided to say "Screw it, let's play the playoff right now," we'd be looking at No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 4 Washington and No. 2 Michigan vs. No. 3 Clemson.

If the top four failed to change at all by the end of the season, and these were the matchups that we would see come New Year's Eve, I'd have some serious mixed feelings. First things first, I'm not totally sold on Washington yet. And to be honest, I don't think we'll be seeing them in the playoff. Sure, they've been absolutely stomping teams throughout this season. But so far the Huskies' wins have been the epitome of "quantity over quality." It's just tough to get quality wins when you're playing in a weak conference such as the Pac 12. At the time, their win over Stanford seemed pretty legit. However, it turns out that Stanford is one of the biggest busts in college football this year, right up there with Michigan State and Notre Dame. Washington takes on No. 17 Utah this Saturday, and the remainder of their schedule features Pac 12 teams: Cal, USC, Arizona State, and Washington State. If the Huskies do end up as the undefeated Pac 12 champs, I'd assume the CFP committee would have no other option than to grant them a playoff spot. But let's be honest, if Washington had to face off against Alabama in the playoff, that game would get uglier than Sloth from the Goonies. HEYYY YOU GUUYYYSS!

On the other side of this potential final four, a matchup between Clemson and Michigan would be one of those games that makes you genuinely appreciate the College Football Playoff. I'm thinking that these two squads will absolutely be in the playoff, and it just depends on how the seeding works out if we'll get to see them go against each other in the semifinal. Seeing Harbaugh and the Wolverines will be a refreshing change of scenery. A trip to the playoff for Michigan would entail a rivalry weekend victory over the Buckeyes, which shouldn't be a cake walk. But I think this Michigan defense is just too damn good for them to not find a way into one of those four playoff spots. They allow an average of only ten points per game, which is the best in the country. It'd be extremely interesting to see such a dominant defense go up against Deshaun Watson and his numerous targets.

Much like Michigan, Clemson's high playoff hopes have one major obstacle in the way. The Tigers take on Florida State this weekend, which is a matchup that seemed a little more noteworthy in the beginning of the season. The Seminoles have dropped two losses so far to Louisville and North Carolina, but have impressed with wins over Ole Miss and Miami. This ACC battle is interesting because both of these teams are capable of being very dangerous, but both teams have also had their fair share of looking pretty weak. Fortunately for Clemson, the games that they've performed in a subpar manner have still ended up as victories. But if Dabo Swinney's boys play like anything that resembles their close win over NC State two weeks ago, the playoff picture is about to be blown up. The Tigers go into Tallahassee as four point favorites this Saturday night.

So if the current top three does indeed make the playoff, and Washington somehow finds a way to not get in there, who would we be looking at for the fourth spot? Right now, the easy pick would be Louisville. Louisville is in a very similar position as Notre Dame was last year. The Fighting Irish were in the playoff picture for some time, with their resume highlighted by a few solid wins and a "good," close loss to Clemson, who was No. 1 at the time. Louisville's current resume is highlighted by laying a beatdown on Florida State and a nail biting 42-36 loss at Clemson. The remainder of Louisville's schedule shouldn't pose them any major problems: Virginia, BC, Wake Forest, Houston, and Kentucky. A few weeks back, the matchup against Houston was looking like it'd have some major playoff implications. But as we've seen, Houston just isn't as good as I initially thought. Some external factors would certainly have to fall into place for Louisville in order for them to get a playoff spot, but I do think they're a deserving team. If the Clemson game ends up being their only loss, it was a close enough game and early enough in the season for it to not diminish their playoff hopes.

The Big 12 currently has two undefeated teams in Baylor and West Virginia, but they face off in the last regular season game. The Big 12's idiotic lack of a conference championship is also something to take into consideration regarding the playoff picture, although this final regular season game will essentially serve as a conference championship if both teams are still unbeaten. I'm really hoping that the Big 12 will chew itself up, taking away the possibility of any teams in the conference being without a loss. It's known that I despise the Big 12, but even just for the quality of playoff games, I don't think a Big 12 team could compete with Alabama, Michigan, or Clemson.

Nebraska is still unbeaten and could potentially face Michigan in the B1G Championship game, but their playoff hopes rely on beating both Wisconsin and Ohio State in back to back weeks. If there were to be two teams from the same conference in the playoff, I wouldn't bet on the one-loss Texas A&M Aggies to achieve this since their loss to Alabama was not even close.

So my official College Football Playoff prediction (for now) is partially what I think will happen, blended with what I want to happen:

Alabama vs. Louisville and Clemson vs. Michigan.

I want to be excited for the Celtics

But they have about as good a chance as winning the NBA Championship this season as the Cleveland Browns do of winning the Super Bowl.

Welcome to the modern NBA, where you can make a case for no more than three teams to be hoisting the Larry O'Brien Trophy next June.

Interestingly enough, the two "Super Teams" went down by identical 29-point margins: the Cavs took down the Knicks, 117-88, while the Spurs embarrassed the Warriors, 129-100.

Yes the Knicks are a complete and utter joke but show me someone who says a team other than Cleveland, San Antonio or Golden State will win it all, and I'll show you the most forced contrarian taek of all-time.

POLL: Has Kevin Durant made the Warriors worse?

— First Take (@FirstTake) October 26, 2016

Close to it, anyways.

The Celtics just might be the fourth-best team in the NBA, and the second-best in the Eastern Conference. If we were living in a world where science could confirm LeBron still lacks the clutch gene, I might be able to talk myself into Celtics in 7 over the Cavs.

But the C's are nothing more than a plucky mid-major type of team, much like the kind Brad Stevens used to coach at Butler. They'll be entertaining as hell, sound defensively and garner more trade rumors for Boogie Cousins than Taylor Swift or a Kardashian romance rumor combined.

Even if they land the mercurial Boogie, there's no shot. The gap between the Celtics and the top three isn't that much smaller than the gap between the Celtics and the Nets or 76ers.

It's shaping up a lot like the 2015 NCAA Men's Basketball tournament. The Warriors are constructed like that John Calipari one-and-done juggernaut at Kentucky, whereas the Spurs are built like that Wisconsin powerhouse with Frank Kaminsky, Sam Dekker and Nigel Hayes.

On the other side of the aisle is LeBron and the Cavs, similar to the Duke team which won it all that season.

You remember those three teams from the Final Four, but you have to go back and look it up to realize that Michigan State was the fourth team.

Those are the Celtics. Better than the gap, not elite. And it's just hard for me to get too excited about a group that will win 50-55 games but have zero shot at winning 16 more after that.

It's not their fault necessarily, it's an NBA issue more than anything.

Danny Ainge deserves all kinds of credit for making the C's quasi-relevant so soon after the Pierce/Garnett/Allen exodus, requiring only one truly awful season (2013-14, when they finished 25-57) to get to where they are today. Going from awful to average was pretty seamless (25 wins to 40 wins in '15) and going from average to above-average wasn't all that bad either (40 to 48 wins in '16).

Leaping from above-average to a bona fide title contender is the hardest part, and Boston is somewhere in between those stages right now.

It's not an awful place to be in because at least you'll get to watch some competitive games, watch them put a scare into the great teams and beat up on the dregs of society.

But like the Cleveland Browns, who just may go 0-16, the end result is predetermined: no championship for you. If you're hoping for one, you're bound for a bigger disappointment than @DanaB_Number3's career at the Tavern.

Everything wrong with everything, NFL edition

Tomorrow morning at 9:30 a.m., the New York Giants will face the Los Angeles Rams at Twickenham Stadium in London.

That entire sentence is a neat microcosm of basically everything that's twisted in Roger Goodell's National Football League today.

First things first, London. The city that didn't ask for a team but just might get one anyways. I could think of a few American cities that are without a team...

...like St. Louis, which was robbed of the Rams last off-season.

'Robbed' may be a bit strong, as Los Angeles and St. Louis have now effectively played a 22-year long game of hot potato over the Rams, with the ball now back in LA's court.

Speaking of LA, wasn't the whole reason the NFL made its triumphant return to the second-largest city in the U.S. to increase ratings? How's that been working out?

The NFL was hardly "fine" without a team in the Los Angeles market, but that had literally less than zero to do with the fact there wasn't a team in Los Angeles. Did alienating an entire fan base to get back to the City of Angels justify the means?

Of course, if you think alienating one city is bad, how about alienating an entire gender?

The Giants' handling of the Josh Brown domestic violence incident has been nothing short of appalling, but you already knew that. Owner John Mara is a spineless, gutless weasel for not taking action on Brown before the public outcry forced his hand thanks to diligent reporting by Ralph Vacchiano of SNY.

Brown is now on the exempt list, with former Bears great Robbie Gould taking over kicking duties. You know what the exempt list is French for? A paid vacation. Yup, Brown will still be paid in full. The Giants could have released Brown, which would have been a dead cap hit of roughly $1.9 million (his salary is $1.6 million), according to Spotrac.

The business aspect is what it is, but when you consider the NFL spent almost $20 million on DeflateGate, what's $300,000 among friends (Mara was one of the owners at the forefront of the witch hunt with Goodell).

It's just another example that the Ray Rice incident of 2014 changed nothing. But it's okay, you can drape yourself in all the pink NFL apparel* you want to remind yourself the NFL cares about women!

*-for every $100 raised on pink NFL apparel, only $11.25 goes to breast cancer research. Look it up.

With Brown, you know what the real kicker is? Just that. It was Allen Iverson who once said "not a quarterback, not a quarterback...we talkin' bout a kicker."

This is the hill Mara and Giants head coach Ben McAdoo are going to die on?

McAdoo said on Friday "the team isn't going to abandon Brown," which is in stark contrast to some statements he made upon taking the head coaching gig. I believe the words he chose were along the lines of domestic violence being something he "won't tolerate as a head coach."

That's cute. He already showed he could waffle with the best of 'em back in August, when Brown drew his initial one-game suspension from the NFL. McAdoo said he supported Josh Brown "as a man, a father and a player." Even Donald Trump, Hilary Clinton and politicians everywhere are impressed with that kind of flip-flopping.

A one-game suspension, when domestic violence was supposed to be a six-game suspension following the Rice conundrum? How can Roger Goodell look his daughters or wife in the eye and tell them he cares about women?

Stop me if you've heard this before, but it sounds like the neither the NFL nor the Giants did enough digging into Brown's arrest in King County, Wash. in 2015. Just replace Brown with Rice and King County with Atlantic City and you've got yourself a carbon copy.

From a strict x's and o's standpoint, both the Giants and Rams are 3-3, which is right in line with how they've been for years. The Giants winning the Super Bowl with a 9-7, -6 point differential and Jeff Fisher's never-ending quest for .500 and all.

Throw out everything I just mentioned about Brown, London and Los Angeles/St. Louis, is a match-up of .500 teams enough to wake up at 9:30 on Sunday morning?

Hell no. Sunday mornings are for the Three Stooges and blue powerade. Again, the NFL forcing something down our collective throats that no one asked for.

"Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered," Mark Cuban said in March 2014, predicting the NFL was about 10 years away from implosion.

We're less than three years removed from that notion and I'm not saying doomsday is tomorrow, but literally everything wrong with the hoggy NFL will be on display early in the morning from across the pond.

Roger Goodell's day of reckoning can't be that far off. It just can't be.

Slowly but surely, we just might be seeing some seepage in the cracks. One owner called the Brown situation "embarrassing," while two league officials "believe the NFL was disinterested in the Brown case when compared to the fervor with which it pursued the New England Patriots over DeflateGate."

The NFL is salvageable, which feels odd to say when the average value of its franchises is $2.3 billion. What exactly needs to be salvaged?

Plenty. It starts at the top with that buffoon of a commissioner. I truly don't know what else needs to happen. Nothing's too big to fail and that includes the NFL.

Dare I say, the NFL needs a new commissioner to...make it great again?

The Bizarro 2016 Playoff Red Sox

All I ever wanted this summer was a baseball season, to have meaningful games to watch in August and September, and maybe, just maybe, in October.

Technically speaking, the Red Sox did just that, with plenty of meaningful games in the season's home stretch. They even won 11 games in a row at one point, right before they lost eight of their final nine (including the postseason). Terry Francona got fired for a slightly more elongated 7-20 stretch in 2011, though one could argue this was equally horrendous and certainly more inexcusable.

Lots of blame to go around over at Fenway, with truly no one player, coach or executive immune from criticism. This includes David Ortiz and Dustin Pedroia, two guys who've been around the block in October a few times; they were two of four Red Sox regulars who hit under .200 in the series vs. Cleveland (Jackie Bradley and Sandy Leon the others).

The quick flameout by the Sox was frustrating on a number of levels, constructed on two tiers.

The first one is somewhat subjective. You can't take away the 2013 World Series title...but if you could, the Red Sox haven't won a playoff game since Game 6 of the 2008 ALCS. Swept in 2009 and 2016, while they were absent every other year in between (again, 2013 aside).

The second tier is definitely bound by subjectivity, but at the onset of the postseason, you couldn't help but notice just how many former Red Sox players (or coaches and executives, for that matter) were scattered about the tournament.

It's inevitable for players to move on, what with free agency and trades, but it's really an abnormal amount of former Red Sox greats in the 2016 postseason.

So that meant only one thing: lineup time, similar to the Olympic baseball construction a few months back.

A few rules and quirks: 1) I included players even from teams that have been eliminated. I wish I'd thought of this before now, but it's also somewhat telling that the three teams remaining -- the Cleveland Indians, Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers -- are the most represented anyways.
And 2) I had to do a little bit of shifting position wise, but nothing as absurd as, say, Hanley Ramirez playing outfield.

It's almost sad how little of a reach this is. You'll see the middle infield might not exactly be the Derek Jeter-Robinson Cano connection, but this would be a legitimate major league starting lineup, with four starting pitchers and even a few relievers. And a manager. And a general manager.

So consider it all, while realizing your worst fear and/or darkest, most twisted fantasy as a Red Sox fan nears reality: Tito vs. Theo for all the marbles. I've included a "Hurt Meter" for each member of the roster, to indicate just how much it hurts to see said person in another uniform (1-hit your funny bone to 10-paper cut between your toes).


C-David Ross
Current team: Chicago Cubs
Years in Boston: 2008; 2013-14
Hurt Meter: 1

It's true, Ross had two stints in Boston, making only nine plate appearances in 2008 in his audition to fill Doug Mirabelli's shoes as Tim Wakefield's sidekick. Things were a little more memorable upon his return, but since he left again, he's hit just a clip above the Mendoza line (.203) with the Cubs.


1B-Anthony Rizzo
Current team: Chicago Cubs
Years in Boston: 2007-2010 (minors only)
Hurt Meter: 6

Anthony Rizzo (and others) for Adrian Gonzalez really wasn't that bad a trade at the time. That's a fact.

Anthony Rizzo for Andrew Cashner. Now THAT is a bad trade, then, now and forever.

In the Padres' defense, Rizzo hit only one home run in 153 plate appearances for San Diego in 2011 after coming over in the Gonzalez deal. But it wasn't like he was performing that way on a contending team; the Padres' lack of patience with Rizzo is dumbfounding and the most shocking move in San Diego since the man punted Baxter.

The reality is that 2013 probably doesn't happen without the Gonzalez for Rizzo swap -- even though neither player was on the roster. How do other years shake out if Rizzo had stayed in Boston? That's reminiscent of the Jeff Bagwell question in the '90s, but at least Rizzo netted more of a return than Larry Andersen.


2B-Kelly Johnson
Current team: New York Mets
Years in Boston: 2014
Hurt Meter: 0

I could have gone Stephen Drew on the Nationals, but I didn't. Walter White could have saved Jane, but he didn't. Life goes on.


3B-Adrian Beltre
Current team: Texas Rangers
Years in Boston: 2010
Hurt Meter: 6

The nerd community has been banging the drum for years that Beltre is not only a Hall of Famer, but a first ballot one at that. Took awhile for me to come around but I've gotta say, I now agree. Get out of my face with WAR, but Beltre's counting stats are more than enough: 445 home runs, 2,942 hits, 591 doubles (19th all-time, and he could move into the top 10 -- ahead of David Ortiz -- by the end of next season).

So why doesn't this hurt more?

The reason I was lukewarm on Beltre's hall credentials was his Seattle years, where he was average at best for many of those years. Throw out 2004 for the Dodgers, same thing.

I won't bore you with all the numbers, just go to his baseball reference page. But prior to his arrival in Texas for 2011, his year with the Red Sox was the second-best of his then 13-year career by almost any measure. Screamed of another contract year (he was hurt in 2009 with Seattle), followed by another "he fooled me, Jerry!" moment/half-decade.


SS-Michael Martinez
Current team: Cleveland Indians
Years in Boston: 2016
Hurt Meter: 0

The Red Sox purchased Martinez's contract from the Indians on July 8. He went 1-for-6 with a walk before the Tribe grabbed him back off waivers on Aug. 4. Ramon's place as the No. 2 Martinez to ever wear a Red Sox jersey remains safe.


OF-Josh Reddick
Current team: Los Angeles Dodgers
Years in Boston: 2009-2011
Hurt Meter: 2

Reddick hit 32 home runs in his first full season as a big leaguer in Oakland (2012) and has hit 54 since. Nice player, but nothing to necessarily lose sleep over.


OF-Coco Crisp
Current team: Cleveland Indians
Years in Boston: 2006-2008
Hurt Meter: 3

I mean, he directly hurt the Red Sox this postseason. So that hurt, more so in the reminder it served that Drew Pomeranz is gonna be a thing moving forward, but hurt nonetheless.

Kudos to Coco for carving out a pretty solid career post-Boston, where he got Wally Pipped by Jacoby Ellsbury during the postseason run in '07.

Three quick things on Ellsbury: A) notice he's not on this list, because the Yankees missed the playoffs B) in the 2008 ALCS, Crisp went 9-for-20 while Ellsbury went 0-for-14 C) his contract is so bad (four years, almost $90 million still to go) I probably would've left him off anyways.


OF-Adrian Gonzalez
Current team: Los Angeles Dodgers
Years in Boston: 2011-2012
Hurt Meter: 5

*Gonzalez has played a little outfield for both the Red Sox and Dodgers. Work with me.

There's not a single player left on the Red Sox from the Gonzalez/Beckett/Crawford/Nick Punto(!) salary dump, while Gonzo is the lone player left on the Dodgers side of the trade. The Red Sox won the World Series 14 months after shedding the dead weight; LA still hasn't even been to the Fall Classic. Call me crazy, call me insane, call me what you will...but I think I'm okay with Hanley Ramirez being the first baseman here over Gonzalez?

The only way this one will hurt is if the Dodgers wind up winning it all this year and he plays a major role. Great base running by Gonzalez last night to really help his team (he was safe but replay can kick rocks).

Warrants mentioning, Gonzalez (a former No. 1 overall pick, then in the minors) was traded by the Marlins to the Rangers at the deadline way back in 2003 for another former Red Sox great/machete safety spokesman Ugueth Urbina. The Marlins went on to win the World Series.


DH-Mike Napoli
Current team: Cleveland Indians
Years in Boston: 2013-2015
Hurt Meter: 4

Napoli had one fewer home run this year (34) than he did in 2014 and 2015 combined (35).

Again, this isn't so much on the Red Sox getting rid of him; he really didn't have much value when he was a post-waiver deadline deal last August. But Texas has now let Napoli walk in free agency twice, after both 2012 and last season.


SP-Jon Lester
Current team: Chicago Cubs
Years in Boston: 2006-2014
Hurt Meter: 10

Jon Lester career postseason: 7-6, 2.57 ERA
David Price career postseason: 2-8, 5.54 ERA

Lester 2016 playoffs: 1-0, 0.64 ERA (14 innings)
Price 2016 playoffs: 0-1, 13.50 ERA (3 1/3 innings)

Jon Lester contract: six years, $156 million (four, $104 million remaining)
David Price contract: seven years, $217 million (six, $186 million remaining)

At Price's introductory press conference, John Henry mentioned other great aces in recent Red Sox history, such as Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling and Josh Beckett, with Jon Lester conspicuously absent.

Is Jon Lester a Hall of Famer? Probably not. Did he deserve to have his No. 31 issued a year after his departure, to Alejandro de Aza and then Drew freaking Pomeranz? Considering Roger Clemens' No. 21 still hasn't been issued over 20 years after he left over contract squabbles (and a so-so 3.92 postseason ERA in Boston), I'd say no. But Larry Lucchino got that ball rolling with an insulting four year, $70 million offer in the spring of 2014.

Game 5 of the NLCS is tonight and aside from Madison Bumgarner there's not an active pitcher I'd want going for my team more than Jon Lester. That includes his opponent tonight, Clayton Kershaw.

This one more than hurts. This one straight up stings.


SP-John Lackey
Current team: Chicago Cubs
Years in Boston: 2010-2014
Hurt Meter: 6

The poker match that never was: Lackey vs. the Red Sox front office, seeing who would blink first when it came to Lackey playing in 2015 for the league minimum, as negotiated into his deal with Boston when he first signed in 2010.

We'll never know if it was a bluff of Lackey's part, but we do know that he did, in fact, pitch below poverty level at $507,500 for St. Louis in 2015 before signing with the Cubs for two years, $32 million last winter. And pitched damn well, at that, posting a 3.03 combined ERA over the two years.

Lackey's Red Sox legacy is complicated. His redemption in 2013 masks the fact he was on track to be one of the biggest free agent busts in team history, a failure beyond his 6.41 ERA in 28 starts in 2011.


SP-Rich Hill
Current team: Los Angeles Dodgers
Years in Boston: 2015
Hurt Meter: 4

As far as I can tell, he's the only active Bay State Conference alumnus in the big leagues. He also could have been a fantastic third or fourth starter at for a whopping $6 million, a.k.a 20 percent of what David Price makes per season.

PS I say third or fourth, because even though Eddie Rodriguez was the presumptive No. 3 playoff starter for the Red Sox, the nod wound up going to Buchholz. Not as egregious as, say, Buck Showalter not using Zach Britton at all in the AL Wild Card game, but it's worthy of further discussion.


SP-Bartolo Colon
Current team: New York Mets
Years in Boston: 2008
Hurt Meter: 2

In a vacuum, Colon's presence on the Mets in 2016 rather than the Red Sox means nothing. He did go missing in 2009, which a fair amount of people forget.

In reality, having Big Sexy around for Papi's swan song would have been pretty incredible. Colon also made his big league debut in 1997; could he have convinced Ortiz to ditch the sham of a farewell tour and hang around forever?

Alright that last part isn't quite reality, but this is: Colon would have been a better candidate to pitch in the postseason that either Buchholz or Pomeranz.


RP-Andrew Miller
Current team: Cleveland Indians
Years in Boston: 2011-2014
Hurt Meter: 5

Said hurt meter could rise or fall in the next couple of seasons depending on the emergence of Eduardo Rodriguez. If Eddie Rod does pan out? Red Sox fans shouldn't care about seeing Miller elsewhere -- even with his newly minted ALCS MVP award -- but we might want to check in down at Camden Yards. The O's traded Rodriguez to the Red Sox at the deadline in 2014 for two months of Miller, who was great for a Baltimore team that wound up losing in the ALCS, not giving up a run in 7 1/3 innings that postseason before he signed with the Yankees in the off-season.


RP-Javier Lopez
Current team: San Francisco Giants
Years in Boston: 2006-2009
Hurt Meter: 1

Did you know Lopez was on all three Giants teams that won it all? Life comes at you quick.


Manager-Terry Francona
Current team: Cleveland Indians
Years in Boston: 2004-2011
Hurt Meter: 7

There may be no more telling sign that Francona needed to go than the fact he took a year off from managing in 2012 before returning to the dugout with the Indians in 2013.

Then again, if you knew his direct successors would be Bobby Valentine and John Farrell, you'd deliver the case of Budweiser and family feed from Kenny Rogers' Roasters over to Fenway yourself.

If you want to draw your own conclusions on Tito, his book with Shaugnessy was pretty great. Shines a light on the identity crisis the Red Sox seemingly faced in 2010 and 2011 in particular.


General Manager-Theo Epstein
Current team: Chicago Cubs
Years in Boston: 2003-2011
Hurt Meter: 9

Big ticket free agents never worked out all that well for Theo in Boston, with Keith Foulke the lone exception to the rule. Edgar Renteria, Julio Lugo, JD Drew, John Lackey (sort of) and Carl Crawford were all disasters to varying degrees.

None of them can even hold a candle to the Jason Heyward debacle in Chicago, which is only one year down and seven years, $161 million to go...

...and yet the Cubs just might win the World Series anyways, just as the Red Sox did the same year they splurged on Drew and Lugo.

And that's because pretty much every facet of Epstein's executive game is flawless. Drafting, drafting drafting...but also the ability to assemble a bullpen, finding guys off the scrap heap (Kevin Millar, Bill Mueller, and yes, David Ortiz), and keeping players from free agency/having them come back to haunt you.

Johnny Damon's departure hurt about 10 times more than it should have because he went to the Yankees, but it was hardly 'haunting'; Coco Crisp wasn't the perfect replacement, but Epstein had drafted Jacoby Ellsbury in the first round in 2005, likely in anticipation of Damon's exodus. And wouldn't ya know it, the Red Sox won in 2007 sans Damon, with Ellsbury's emergence a major storyline.

Theo's Hurt Meter is likely to only keep rising. Even if the Cubs don't pull out the NLCS this year, that team is locked and loaded for another five years minimum.

Special bonus: imagine if San Diego was actually good and Don Orsillo was calling some NLCS or even World Series action?

SEC vs. BIG 10: Which conference is currently more intriguing?

We're still pretty far from the third edition of the College Football Playoff, but now that everyone has a better idea of what teams are legit, playoff predictions are starting to become a bit more educated. It's pretty safe to assume that any undefeated team from a Power Five conference will earn a playoff berth, and all five of those conferences feature at least one unbeaten squad. The ACC has Clemson and the Pac 12 has Washington. The Big 12 has two undefeated teams in Baylor and West Virginia, with neither team cracking the top 10 (Baylor No. 11 and West Virginia No. 20).

Things get really interesting regarding the four-team playoff when we take a look at the BIG 10 and the SEC. The SEC has two teams left that have yet to suffer a loss: No. 1 Alabama (surprise, surprise) and No. 6 Texas A&M. And although the Aggies took down Tennessee last week, the Vols still sit within the top ten at the No. 9 spot. Things seem even more interesting as Tennessee seeks to dish 'Bama their first loss this Saturday in Knoxville. Personally, I don't think the Crimson Tide will fall short of a win in this one. Saban and the boys are 13 point favorites heading into Saturday. So assuming that Alabama remains at the top spot in the rankings after their trip to Knoxville, they'll enter next week in preparation for the only other undefeated SEC team, Texas A&M. Luckily for the Aggies, they have a bye this week and will be plenty rested compared to the Tide, who might be a little banged up after a top 10 conference matchup. We'll look deeper into that game when the time comes, but I've learned over the years to never doubt Alabama. Year in and year out, 'Bama is the most reliable team regarding success, so I tend to just stick with them until they prove me wrong.

The discussion of having two teams from the same conference in the playoff is a difficult one, and a lot of things need to fall into place such as other conferences crumbling among themselves. But let's talk about some hypothetical scenarios here. If 'Bama does top Tennessee and Texas A&M in back to back weeks, the only remaining challenge would be the Iron Bowl against No. 23 Auburn. I don't think Auburn would take down 'Bama this year, but then again we've seen some crazy stuff in the Iron Bowl. After playing Alabama, the Aggies' biggest remaining challenge will come when they host No. 12 Ole Miss on Nov. 12. That'd be a great win late in the season for A&M, and I think that if they finished the regular season with only one loss to the unbeaten, No. 1 team in the country, it would warrant a playoff berth. But again, that would also be reliant on the Pac 12 and Big 12 not having any undefeated squads by the end of the regular season.

The current state of the BIG 10 is very similar to the SEC, except it's a bit deeper for now. The BIG 10 has three unbeaten teams as of right now, and four teams in the top ten. The conference boasts No. 2 Ohio State, No. 4 Michigan, No. 8 Wisconsin, and No. 10 Nebraska. The Badgers are the only one of those four that has a digit greater than zero in the loss column, which came in a 14-7 loss to Michigan at the Big House. The Badgers will be heavily tested again this Saturday as they host the No. 2 Buckeyes. Wisconsin is an eleven point underdog against Ohio State, which is the same spread that Sconnie covered against Michigan. The Badgers were also 13.5 point underdogs when they took down LSU at Lambeau. So don't let that double digit spread fool you, Wisconsin is capable of beating Ohio State. It's just a matter of if they, and their fans, bring their A-game.

The only regular season matchup between these four teams that we won't get to see is Nebraska vs. Michigan, but that could happen for the BIG 10 Championship Game. I think the only way that we could see two BIG 10 teams in the College Football Playoff this year is if Wisconsin beats Ohio State this weekend while failing to lose for the remainder of the season, and if Michigan wins out. However, the likeliness of Michigan finishing the season undefeated is obviously dependent on the outcome of their rivalry game with Ohio State at the end of the regular season. And Wisconsin's likeliness of winning out is challenged by the Buckeyes this week, along with their game against Nebraska on Oct. 29. There even could be a scenario where we see Wisconsin face off against Michigan in the BIG 10 Championship. If they took down Michigan in that game, could we see the both of them in the playoff? If they lose to Michigan again, how would two losses to a playoff team compare to just one (like the hypothetical A&M/'Bama situation)? All of these hypotheticals are making my head spin, but that's why the College Football Playoff is great.

If there were to be two BIG 10 playoff teams, I think it'd have to be Michigan and Wisconsin. Even if Ohio State's only loss was to Michigan, that's too late of a loss in the season. I feel like that would be too fresh of a loss for the playoff committee to grant them a spot. And if Ohio State beats Michigan, Wisconsin's loss to the Wolverines wouldn't be as valuable. But if Wisconsin beats Ohio State, and then Ohio State beats Michigan...well...I'm lost on that situation. For the Corn Huskers, they'll have to go unbeaten the rest of the season in order to get in, which would probably leave them as the sole BIG 10 representative in the playoff.

So after all of that rambling, to answer my question: the BIG 10 currently has the more intriguing landscape in comparison to the SEC. There are just so many different situations that could play out, all of which we as spectators have zero control over.

While we're chatting about a potential playoff picture that would feature two teams from the same conference, if the other conferences chew themselves up, the ACC could possibly have Clemson and Louisville. Louisville's remaining schedule is not that strong, with the exception of their Nov. 17 battle at No. 13 Houston. If the Cardinals do pull of that win, it won't be quite as valuable as once thought after Houston dropped their first loss to Navy. But if Louisville ends the regular season with only one loss to a potentially undefeated Clemson team and a potential Heisman winner, they could certainly earn a playoff spot.

Alright, my brain is officially mush after all of those "potentials" and "hypotheticals." If there's one thing you can take away from my ramblings, it's that the College Football Playoff is just simply the best.

Papi's Last Stand

I have absolutely positively zero idea what's gonna happen in the Red Sox game tonight. Every single sign points to them losing, namely the whole Clay Buchholz saving the season thing, but maybe the juju is so bad that it all cancels out, sort of like when Mr. Burns has every single disease known to man kind and they all merge together to a virus so big it can't fit inside his immune system? I don't know.

What I do know is that I'll have two trains of thought by the time Game 3 of the ALDS ends this evening. I'll be at Fenway and I really hope I don't have to rely on a silver lining of "hey at least I have the ticket stub to Ortiz's last game." Per the Elias Sports Bureau, Boston teams are 5-5 all-time when I'm in attendance at a post-season game; 5-4 with the Bruins, 0-1 with the Celtics. Took me exactly 26 years to get to a Sox playoff game but here we are.

So anyways, anything in normal type is what I'll think as the optimist that I am, anything in italic type is a deep, dark place I should really think about seeing a psychiatrist for. One more thing to consider before we begin...

I've never pinned a tweet, so here it goes: David Ortiz is not retiring -- unless the Red Sox win the World Series. So I guess he is?

— Jake Levin (@JakeLevin477) July 22, 2016

...of those 22 likes, I think 20 are porn bots. Call it Papi's Playhouse. Away we go...

Real Quick Playoff Taeks

LOVE the wild-card games. Hated the notion of them at first but man have they delivered. Still don't think a team that gets to the WC game and loses should consider it a true postseason berth, but that is what they call semantics.

One other minor quirk about the WC games is that I find them like NCAA men's basketball play-in games. Any bracket you enter that requires you to fill in those "First Four" games -- especially the 16-seed games -- is a farce.

I won't go that far with the WC games, but filling out your MLB playoff bracket before their completion just feels odd. We'll see how the games progress as the years go on.

American League Playoffs

ALDS: Red Sox over Indians in 4. Cleveland's only advantage, albeit a massive one, is at manager. Is home-field a true advantage when your team's attendance rank is reminiscent of the Atlanta Thrashers?

ALDS: Blue Jays over Rangers in 5. Joey Bats swings back at Odor.

ALCS: Red Sox over Blue Jays in 7. You know what happened last time Boston faced Toronto in a 7-game series.

National League Playoffs

NLDS: Cubs over Giants in 5. Madison Bumgarner will only be available for Game 3...right?

NLDS: Dodgers over Nationals in 3. So much underachievement in our nation's capital. Noted clubhouse killer Drake LaRoche is throwing out the first pitch in Game 2.

NLCS: Cubs over Dodgers in 5. Sneaky been almost 30 years since LA has been in the World Series (1988), which is also the last year Magic Johnson won a title with the Lakers.

World Series...

...Cubs over Red Sox in 5. Jon Lester's revenge. John Lackey's something. Theo Epstein's redemption. You won't even hate yourself after the series is over; remember how little animosity Bruins fans had towards the Blackhawks in '13? This, times a zillion with the whole empathy for decades-long droughts. 

PS: It's too bad the World Series is on Fox, because can you imagine it on TBS, with Don Orsillo calling the game, with Jon Lester pitching against Terry Francona's lineup? Only thing more compelling than the series itself would be a live webcam on Red Sox offices with Henry, Werner and Lucchino.

Tavern Game of the Week: No. 8 Texas A&M vs. No. 9 Tennessee

The Tavern Game of the Week is a top 10 SEC matchup, as No. 8 Texas A&M hosts No. 9 Tennessee. Surprisingly, these two squads are the highest ranked SEC teams besides Alabama, who obviously sits at the No. 1 spot. Both teams are 5-0 so far, with the Aggies earning three conference wins and the Vols with two conference wins. The in-conference battle kicks off at 3:30 Eastern Time on CBS.

The Volunteers are an extremely intriguing team so far this year. To say I was skeptical about their preseason ranking of No. 9 would be an understatement. That skepticism was reinforced when they squeaked by Appalachian State 20-13 in the season opener, to the point where I didn't think they even deserved a spot in the top 25. Well, the Vols just keep on winning, most notably in the Battle at Bristol where they stomped Virginia Tech 45-24. Tennessee continued to take care of business by beating Florida (currently ranked No. 19) 38-28, and took down the Georgia Bulldogs in a 34-31 miracle finish.

After the victory over Georgia, I heard a very interesting theory (credit where credit is due: @KevinTyburski) that this year's Tennessee team is kind of a "team of destiny" much like the 2013 Auburn team. That Auburn team just found ways to win; they also had a miracle win over Georgia, and who could forget the Iron Bowl victory over Alabama? Literally a top three sports moment that I've witnessed in my life. Now although the Tigers eventually lost to Jameis Winston and Florida State in the National Championship that year, they still truly were a team of destiny. It's a bit early to tell with Tennessee if their luck will last all season, but I definitely get the same vibe from the Vols. They certainly don't portray that they're the best team around, but they do keep finding ways to win and at the end of the day, that's what matters.

Texas A&M did not have as high of expectations from everyone at first, failing to land a spot in the preseason top 25, but have since looked very impressive. The Aggies have topped two currently-ranked opponents so far this year, beating UCLA 31-24 in their opening game, and trumping in-conference opponent Arkansas 45-24. The Aggies might be without a few key players this Saturday, most notably defensive end Myles Garrett, who is the most exciting defensive player to watch in the country. On the offensive side of the ball, A&M will potentially be missing offensive lineman Jermaine Eluemunor and wide receivers Speedy Noil and Ricky Seals-Jones. Speedy Noil has been pretty underwhelming this season, tallying six receptions for 84 yards and a touchdown. Seals-Jones hasn't been particularly stellar either, recording ten receptions for 175 yards. I think it's safe to say that if Aggies fans were to pick one of these guys to play on Saturday, it would hands down be Myles Garrett.

Comparing the two teams at the quarterback position, they're both wielding dual-threat players. A&M quarterback Trevor Knight, who used to play for Oklahoma, has thrown for 1,261 yards, seven touchdowns, and three interceptions, which has earned him a QB rating of 122.1. Tennessee quarterback Josh Dobbs has a higher rating of 146.5 as he's recorded 1,035 yards, 13 touchdowns, and six interceptions. So Dobbs has substantially more TD passes than Knight, but twice as many picks and less total yards. Knight has looked better with his feet than Dobbs, as the Aggies' QB has averaged 7.8 yards per carry, totaled 392 yards, and gotten into the endzone six times. Dobbs has rushed for a total of 267 yards and five touchdowns, averaging 4.1 yards per carry. At the end of the day, the QB competition between these two teams is a close one.

Texas A&M has averaged 39.2 points per game, and Tennessee's defense has allowed an average of 23 points per game. On the flip side, the Vols have averaged 33 points per game, and they'll be challenged by the Aggies' monstrous defense that has allowed an average of 15.4 points per game.

The Aggies enter Saturday as 7 point favorites, and the 12th Man (not you, dumb Seahawks fans) at Kyle Field should be beyond rowdy on Saturday afternoon. All season I've been impressed with Texas A&M and have done anything but praise the Vols. But after the victory over Georgia, this "team of destiny" theory has me convinced that Tennessee will come out on top, dishing A&M its first loss of the season.