Blue Sports Day

Well, things went to hell for the Bengals this weekend. Looked absolutely pathetic on offense and the defense completely wore down by the middle of the third quarter. For some reason, Palmer never tested the New England secondary. Part of that might have been the breakdown of the offensive line. Palmer has been getting far too much pressure on him this season and unless they find a way to slow down the pass rush, some defensive lineman will knock out Palmer later this season.

Meanwhile, my worst fear came true in baseball: Minnesota won the division. I’m happy for them, but this gives the Yankees an almost clear path to another World Series victory. Had Detroit managed to hold on and win the division, Minnesota would have played the Yankees. Santana would have faced the Yankees in games 1 and possibly 5, plus Minnesota has one of the best home records in the majors. New York might still have won, but Minnesota would have had a very good chance of beating the Yankees in the first round. Now, the Yankees will knock out the reeling and starry-eyed Tigers in either three or four games while Minnesota and Oakland punish each other in their series. Once New York is out of the short series, they’ll be able to rely on their bats and moderate pitching to moderate the effects of one or two great pitchers that either Minnesota or Oakland would be able to throw at them.

As for the National League, the road is pretty much paved with gold for San Diego. The Mets pitching staff is in shambles and they go up against a very good lineup in the Dodgers aces. San Diego should cake walk through St. Louis (whom they beat up heavily on in the second to last series of the season). This puts a strong possibility of a San Diego – LA pennant and San Diego has beaten Los Angeles very effectively this year. So the road seems open for a rematch of the 1998 World Series. Hopefully San Diego can manage to win at least one game this time, but the odds strongly favor another Yankees title.