Collecting Sports – October 16th, 2018

Start of the NBA 2018 Season
The NBA season starts tonight as the Philadelphia 76ers take on the Boston Celtics. Both of these teams look to be the top dog in the East as the reign of Lebron in the East is over with him playing for the Lakers. The Celtics will get Gordon Hayward back in action to add to Kyrie Irving, Al Horford, and Jayson Tatum. The 76ers are led by big man Joel Embiid, guard Ben Simmons and 3 point specialist JJ Redick. These 2 teams look to be the early favorite to lead the East in the standings at the end of the season. The youth among both these teams appears to be the beginning of a long rivalry as both these historic teams are filled with youth.

The West coast game for the night will be the defending NBA Champion Golden State Warriors against the OKC Thunder. This will be a battle at the point guard position as Steph Curry and Russel Westbrook will battle it out. This looks to be a high scoring battle between two of the top teams in the West. Make sure to tune in to see other all stats such as Klay Thompson, Paul George, Keven Durant and Draymond Green.


Collecting Sports – October 3rd, 2018

MLB Wild Card Game Review
The addition of the one game wild card playoff adds an exciting aspect to the MLB playoff. The first wild card game was a battle in Chicago against the Cubs and the Colorado Rockies. Veteran starter Jon Lester started for the Cubs and pitched a strong 6 innings. Kyle Freeland took the mound for the Rockies as he pitched 6.2 shutout innings. The Rockies struck first and scored 1 run in the first inning but after that it was zeros across the board until the Cubs tied it up in the 8th inning on a Javier Baez RBI double. It was a battle of the bullpens until the 13th inning when Rockies catcher Tony Walters came through in the clutch to take the lead that the bullpen did not let up. Now, the Rockies will fly to Milwaukee to face the red hot Brewers.

The second wild card game was not as close of a battle but was way more exciting to watch. The Oakland Athletics were facing the New York Yankees for the chance to face the Red Sox in the next round of the playoffs. The Yankees led the league in homers, and home runs at home while the Oakland Athletics led the MLB in home runs while on the road. This game was destined to be a high scoring affair. The game started with a quick 2 run home run by the Yankees superstar Aaron Judge and they never let up the lead from there. Scoring 4 more in the 6th inning on a Aaron Hicks double and player of the week Luke Voit triple. Oakland got on the scoreboard in the 8th inning with a Khris Davis 2 run homer to prove why he led the league with 48 homers this season, but this wasn’t enough to top the New York Yankees. The Yankees could not allow Oakland to score the last run in this game, Giancarlo Stanton smashed a moonshot to left field in the bottom of the 8th inning. This is Stanton’s first career playoff home run. The Yankees will now face Boston in the next round. This will be the first time the Red Sox and Yankees will face each other in the playoffs in 14 years.


Collecting Sports – October 1st, 2018

Getting Ready for the 2018-19 NHL Season
The 2018-19 NHL season opens on October 3rd with 4 games highlighted by Stanley Cup defending champion Washington Capitals. The Capitals will raise their banner before they face off against the Boston Bruins to kick of a well anticipated season. There are a few big questions going into this season. Will the Golden Nights be able to repeat their stellar first NHL season? Will young center Connor McDavid repeat his MVP season or will established veteran stars regain control of the MVP trophy? The Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning are the early favorite to end on top of this NHL season but what are the chances that the Capitals make another run for the Cup? Vegas has them at a 1-11 chance of making it 2 in a row.

MLB Regular Season Coming to An End:
The MLB regular is coming to an end but for a few teams, 162 games wasn’t enough. The NL has 2 more games today, October 1st, to see who wins the NL Central and who wins the NL West. First up, is the Brewers at the Cubs as Christian Yelich tries to continue his hot playing against Javier Baez and the Cubs. Jose Quintana will take the mound for Chicago to try and prevent the 1 game wild card matchup against the loser of the Rockies and Dodgers game. Rockies third basemen Nolan Arenado leads his team in home runs (37), batting average (.297) and RBI’s (109) as he hopes to lead his team to victory.

The only wild card game that’s already set after the 162 game season will be hosted in New York and the 100-62 Yankees will host the 97-65 Oakland Athletics. The real question is who will the Yankees send to take the mound? Do they send their true ace Luis Severino or do they send one of their hot starters such as J.A Happ or Masahiro Tanaka? More importantly, who will Oakland send out to pitch against the best power hitting team in MLB history as they broke the home run record by any team and have over 20 homers from every position on the field.


Collecting Sports – September 25th, 2018

The sports day that was 9/25/18
MLB Playoff Race Update 9/26
The MLB playoff race is coming down to the wire as some teams are fighting for home field for the wild card game playoff. In the AL we have the Yankees and Athletics already clinched for the wild card game with the Yankees holding a 2.5 game lead for home field. The Athletics are filled with young stars such are Matt Olson and Matt Chapman and veteran leader Khris Davis. The real question is who the Yankees will start in this wild card game, they could go with their young star Luis Severino but maybe they will want to save him for if they win that game. They would square off against division rival Boston Red Sox and may want to save their ace for game 1. The NL race is more of a race with the second wild card spot still up for grabs. The First spot has Milwaukee locked in, but the second spot is a battle between the Rockies and the red-hot Cardinals. Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich is red hot going into the final stretch of the season and is making a case for NL MVP. He is hitting .321 with 33 homers, 104 RBIs and 21 stolen bases. His offense and defensive presence makes him a top outfielder in the MLB at only 26 years old.

christian_yelich_milwaukee_brewers_autographed_rawlings_official_major_league_baseball_psa_dna_2018_nl_mvp_p1703682

NFL Week 4 Preview:
This weeks TNF matchup looks to be a battle between two of the top teams in the NFL. The Rams look to stay undefeated as they are led by Todd Gurley and Jared Goff against the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings had a tough loss last week but look to rebound behind Dalvin Cook and Adam Theilen. In other shocking news, the 3-0 Dolphins head to New England to face the 1-2 Patriots. Even though the Dolphins have a better record, the Pats are still 6.5-point favorites as Tom Brady plans to turn the team’s season around and get back on top of the division. If we move to the West Coast the Cleveland Browns head to Oakland and Baker Mayfield gets his first NFL start. Oakland is looking to get their first win of the season but Baker and his group of young up and coming stars are making a push to be on top of the division standings.

baker_mayfield_autographed_football_jersey_2018_1st_draft_pick_beckett_authentic_p2101468