by Julian Spivey The Atlanta Braves and its fan base must find themselves in déjà vu again as the team, which won its division by a whopping 14 games over the Philadelphia Phillies, finds itself playing against the red-hot Phillies for the second straight year in the National League Division Series. Despite winning the division in 2022 by 14 games over the Phillies, the Braves were thoroughly dominated by the Phillies in the NLDS last year being eliminated in four games. I have rough news for Braves fans this year. It’s not going to be easy facing this ballclub in October. The Braves were the best team in baseball in 2023 from the very beginning of the season. The team slugged a record-tying 307 home runs this season and has, without a doubt, the most firepower of any offense in the entire game. However, pitching wins in the playoffs, especially in a shorter series like the best-of-5 NLDS and the Braves' pitching has looked a little sloppy toward the end of the season, and the team’s best pitcher Max Fried, who missed a bulk of the regular season, is facing a blister problem on his throwing hand that may or may not be fixed heading into the series. The Braves are also without their most veteran presence on the mound in Charlie Morton, who certainly would’ve taken the ball in game three of the series. The Braves are going with second-year stud Spencer Strider on the bump in game one and he was one of the N.L.’s Cy Young Award favorites for most of the season but had a few hiccups in the second half where he allowed a splurge of runs in bunches. He won’t be able to get away with doing that in the postseason and the Phillies offense is fairly high-powered itself, as Strider certainly remembers from the last postseason when they knocked him around. Fried is an uncertainty in game two with that blister issue. Then it’s probably a bullpen game for the Braves in game three and back to Strider on Fried on short rest for the remainder of the series, which is always an iffy proposition. The Braves bullpen, led by closer Raisel Iglesias and veterans A.J. Minter, Joe Jimenez and Kirby Yates was solid for the majority of the season, but at times can also be shaky, especially as of late. Meanwhile, the Phillies have a pretty good 1-2-3 punch at the top of their rotation, which will feature Ranger Suarez, who was 4-6 with a 4.18 ERA (but capable of being better) this season, in game one. Game two will most likely feature Zack Wheeler, who thoroughly dominated the Miami Marlins in game one of the Wild Card round with 6.2 innings in which he allowed only one run and struck out eight batters. Game three would likely see Aaron Nola on the hill for Philly. Nola, was even better than Wheeler in the NLWC, with seven shutout innings of three-hit ball. Now, the Braves' offense is FAR better than the Marlins, but these pitchers all had a lot of success and experience last season leading the Phillies to the National League pennant. The Phillies also have a strong bullpen bolstered by Craig Kimbrel and Jose Alvarado. I really think with the uncertainties of the Braves pitching staff, mostly Fried’s blister and a likely bullpen game in the mix, that the Phillies have the pitching advantage in this series. Now, as I mentioned, the Braves have a superior offense to the last team the Phillies faced and that includes a whopping fiver hitters who had 30-plus homers this season and three of which had 40-plus homers, including the majors leader in first baseman Matt Olson, who hit 54. Right fielder Ronald Acuna Jr. had 41 homers and 106 RBI to go along with his league-leading 73 stolen bases, and he is the best player of any team in this postseason, no matter what MLB.com will try to tell you. Braves designated hitter Marcell Ozuna got to the 40-homer mark on the final day of the season with a two-homer game that also got him to an even 100 RBI on the season and he comes into the playoffs hot. The Braves also have third baseman Austin Riley (.281, 37, 97) and second baseman Ozzie Albies (.280, 33, 109) who would be the best offensive player on a great many teams in the league to contend with. The Phillies' offense is led by a couple of the most exciting players in the game in first baseman Bryce Harper who hit .293 with 21 homers and 72 RBI in somewhat limited action this season (he missed around 40 games) and shortstop Trea Turner who hit a disappointing-for-him .266 with 26 homers and 76 RBI. Turner was also a perfect 30-for-30 in stolen bases this season so it would behoove the Braves pitching staff to keep him off the basepaths. Phillies left fielder Kyle Schwarber is always one of the scariest hitters in the game, but at least you know he’s either going to hit a homer, walk or strikeout – though if he hits enough homers (he had 47 on the season) good luck keeping the team down. Right fielder Nick Castellanos also had a nice comeback season for the Phils with 29 homers, a team-leading 106 RBI and hit .272. If the Phillies' pitching staff can keep the Braves’ offense under five runs per game during the NLDS I honestly think the Phils are going to pull off the ridiculous feat of upsetting a team that was 14 games ahead of them in the standings for the second straight year. Doing so this season would be even more impressive than last season. If I may drop the objectivity of a journalist for just one second, the Braves are my favorite MLB team and have been since I was an eight-year-old and the Phillies are the one team I did not want to see the team face this postseason. Prediction: Phillies in 5 Game 1: Saturday, Oct. 7 @ 5 p.m. (CST) on TBS
Game 2: Monday, Oct. 9 @ 5 p.m. (CST) on TBS Game 3: Wednesday, Oct. 11 @ TBD (CST) on TBS Game 4: Thursday, Oct. 12 @ TBD on TBS (if necessary) Game 5: Saturday, Oct. 14 @ TBD on TBS (if necessary)
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by Julian Spivey The American League Central Division champion Minnesota Twins dominated the Toronto Blue Jays in the Wild Card round and now move on to the American League Division Series to take on the A.L. West Division champion and reigning World Series champion Houston Astros. The first game of that series is on Saturday, Oct. 7 at 3:45 p.m. (CST) on FS1. The Twins dominated the Blue Jays in the Wild Card round because of terrific pitching from their one-two punch of Pablo Lopez and Sonny Gray, but those guys will need a bit of rest before taking on the killer Astros lineup. Lopez may be able to go in game two on Sunday on slightly short rest because if the Twins save their best pitching for games three and four this could be a quick series. The Twins haven’t announced their game one starter as of this writing but it’ll either be Joe Ryan, who was 11-10 with a 4.51 ERA this season, or Bailey Ober, who was 8-6 with a 3.43 ERA this season. Whoever takes the mound in game one for the Twins will be going up against future hall of famer and multi-time former World Series champion Justin Verlander, whom the Astros re-acquired from the New York Mets at the trade deadline. Verlander has been really strong since rejoining the team with a 7-3 record and a 3.31 ERA. Verlander’s 16 postseason wins are the second-most in baseball history behind Andy Pettitte’s 19 and if the Astros run this postseason lasts long enough that record could be in jeopardy. The Astros have a clear advantage in game one of the series when it comes to starting pitching and in game two of the series they’re going to toss Framber Valdez, who’s one of the most consistent pitchers in the game. Valdez was 12-11 this season with a 3.45 ERA and a team-leading 200 strikeouts. The Twins could find themselves quickly on the brink of elimination against Verlander and Valdez. The Astros used to have the “Killers Bees” on offense with Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio and Lance Berkman. Now it's the “Killer Vs” you have to worry about from them on the mound. I don’t want to be too negative toward the Twins in this series prediction piece but I can say for certain their offense is nowhere near as good as the Astros. The Twins offense is led by outfielder Max Kepler, who led the team in home runs with 24 this season and also 66 RBI. It’s hard to believe a team could win a division in today’s game without a single hitter reaching 70 RBI. Rookie Royce Lewis has been the best hitter for the team since being called up. Lewis played in 58 games this season and managed 15 homers and 52 RBI in just that small amount of time. He also became just the third hitter in MLB postseason history to homer in his first two postseason at-bats against the Toronto Blue Jays a couple of days ago. Then there’s also maybe the biggest storyline of the series – Twins shortstop Carlos Correa playing against the Houston Astros, whom he won a World Series with in 2017. Correa hit .230 this season with 18 homers and 65 RBI and always seems to be a big threat come playoff time. The Astros probably have the scariest lineup in the American League with Yordan Alvarez, fresh off winning A.L. Player of the Month in September, with a .293 average, eight homers and 20 RBU in the month – and he didn’t even lead his own team in RBI in September. First baseman Jose Abreu, who began the season with a ridiculously long homer drought, hit seven homers and drove in 28 runs in September. Those guys come into the postseason on fire. Then you have one of the all-time great postseason players in second baseman Jose Altuve, who missed two months this season but still hit 17 homers, drove in 51 runs and hit .311. I haven’t even yet mentioned the team’s probable MVP this season in outfielder Kyle Tucker who led the team with 112 RBI, while hitting .284 with 29 homers. For the Twins to have any chance in the ALDS they are going to have to win when Lopez and Gray start. It’s going to be a tough task even if they do that. Prediction: Astros in 5 Game 1: Saturday, Oct. 7 @ 3:45 p.m. (CST) on FS1
Game 2: Sunday, Oct. 8 @ 7 p.m. (CST) on FS1 Game 3: Tuesday, Oct. 10 @ 3 p.m. (CST) on Fox Game 4: Wednesday, Oct. 11 @ TBD on Fox or FS1 (if necessary) Game 5: Friday, Oct. 13 @ TBD on Fox or FS1 (if necessary) by Julian Spivey The American League Division Series between the Texas Rangers, hot off of the dominant Wild Card round performance over the Tampa Bay Rays, and the Baltimore Orioles begins Saturday, October 7 at noon on FS1. This should be a really fun series with two teams that haven’t made the postseason in many years and are young and hungry. The Orioles had the luxury of having a bye for the Wild Card round so they are able to match their pitchers up exactly how they’d like to, while the Rangers two best starting pitchers – Jordan Montgomery and Nathan Eovaldi – will have to go later in the ALDS. The Orioles pitching staff might not yet be household names in upstarts Kyle Bradish, who had a breakout sophomore season with a 2.83 ERA, 168 strikeouts and a 12-7 record in 30 starts. The O’s haven’t announced a game one starter as of this writing, but I imagine it’ll be Bradish taking the hill. The O’s No. 2 starter has been the hard-throwing rookie Grayson Rodriguez, who had a 4.35 ERA on the season but has been much better in the second half of the year at 2.58. Rodriguez was 7-4 in 23 starts. The Orioles will have Kyle Gibson (15-9, 4.73) and Dean Kremer (13-5, 4.12) lined up after that. If the Rangers were able to throw out Montgomery and Eovaldi in the first couple of games (I suppose Montgomery might start game 2 on slightly short rest on Sunday) I’d feel a little bit better about the Rangers pitching chances. Behind Montgomery and Eovaldi, Texas has Jon Gray (9-8, 4.12), who’s solid but has cloudy availability at the moment with a right forearm injury. After Gray would be Dane Dunning (12-7, 3.70) and Andrew Heaney (10-6, 4.15). The biggest blow to the Orioles pitching staff was losing dominant reliever Felix Bautista late in the season to Tommy John Surgery, but they still have Yennier Cano and Danny Coulombe, who have had great seasons. The Rangers probably have the advantage now without the O’s having Bautista in the bullpen. Jose Leclerc and Aroldis Chapman were pretty great shutting down the Rays late in games and Chapman has been there, don’t that when it comes to the postseason before. The offenses for both of these teams are pretty even. It’s going to be great for America to get a big stage to see young studs like Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman and Orioles infielder Gunnar Henderson. Rutschman, considering by many already to be the best catcher in the game, hit .277 this season with 20 homers and 80 RBI. Henderson tied for the team lead in homers this season with 28, while driving in 82 runs and hitting .255. Anthony Santander, the Orioles right fielder, was the biggest offensive threat for the team this season hitting 28 homers and driving in a team-high 95 runs, while hitting .257. The Orioles could be a threat on the basepaths this series with spark plug Cedric Mullins in center field and Jorge Mateo at shortstop who combined for more than 50 stolen bases this season. The Rangers middle infield is the best in all of baseball with Marcus Semien at second base and Corey Seager at shortstop. These vets won’t be stunned by the big stage of the MLB postseason and will be the major key to the Rangers success in the series. Seager was second in the A.L. this season in hitting with a .327 average. He also hit 33 homers, drove in 96 runs and had 42 doubles. Semien led the Rangers with 185 hits, which included 29 homers and 40 doubles. Semien’s 100 RBI were second on the team behind All Star outfielder Adolis Garcia, who drove in 107. Garcia also led the Rangers with 39 homers, while hitting .245. Throw in All Star catcher Jonah Heim, All Star third baseman Josh Jung and first baseman Nathaniel Lowe and this is a pretty scary offense for the Orioles young pitching staff to have to face. The Orioles were clearly the best team in the American League this season with a league best record of 101-61, in what was probably the toughest division to compete in in the league, but I worry about their lack of experience on the big stage and the young age of the ballclub this early in the team’s success. I think this will be a great and close series, but I’m leaning toward … Prediction: Rangers in 5 Game 1: Saturday, Oct. 7 @ Noon (CST) on FS1
Game 2: Sunday, Oct. 8 @ 3 p.m. (CST) on FS1 Game 3: Tuesday, Oct. 10 @ 7 p.m. (CST) on Fox Game 4: Wednesday, Oct. 11 @ TBD on Fox or FS1 (if necessary) Game 5: Friday, Oct. 13 @ TBD on Fox or FS1 (if necessary) by Julian Spivey Texas Rangers @ Tampa Bay Rays The first American League Wild Card series beginning today is the No. 5 seed Texas Rangers heading to Tropicana Field to take on the No. 4 seed Tampa Bay Rays. The Rangers are an interesting team in that the ballclub features one of the deadliest offenses in the entire playoffs led by its middle infield of Corey Seager and Marcus Semien but has one of the weakest pitching staffs in the postseason. The Rays, meanwhile, are kind of middle of the road in both aspects of the 12 teams that made the Major League Baseball Postseason. The Rays aren’t quite the same team they were for much of the season with the loss of their ace Shane McClanahan to Tommy John Surgery and one of their offensive stars Wander Franco suspended indefinitely while being investigated for relationships with underage girls. Still, with hitters like Randy Arozarena, Yandy Diaz and Isaac Paredes it’s a better offense than one we’ve seen the Rays take all the way to the World Series before. In a short series like the Wild Card round, it’s the pitching that will likely have the biggest impact. Game one today will see Tyler Glasnow take the hill for Tampa Bay and Jordan Montgomery for Texas. Glasnow was 10-7 this season with a 3.53 ERA. Montgomery was 10-11 in time split between St. Louis and Texas with a 3.20 ERA. I’m willing to give the Rangers the advantage here due to the offense. Zach Eflin, who tied Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Chris Bassitt for most American League wins this season with 16, will go for the Rays in game two on Wednesday. The Rangers have yet to name a starter for that game but I would assume it will be Nathan Eovaldi, who was an All-Star for the Rangers in the first half but has struggled in the month or so since returning from an injury. I’ll give the Rays the advantage in game two forcing the series to a winner-take-all game three. Kevin Cash has been somewhat of a genius manager for the Rays interchanging parts to frequently take his team further than typically expected. But I’m leaning toward this Rangers offense in this series. Game one begins at 2 p.m. (CST) on ABC. Games two and three would also be at the same time and network on Wednesday and Thursday. Prediction: Rangers in 3. Toronto Blue Jays @ Minnesota Twins Much like the Texas Rangers in the previous American League Wild Card matchup, the Toronto Blue Jays have a deadly lineup featuring the likes of former A.L. MVP Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette and George Springer. The Twins have two top-of-the-line pitchers leading their rotation in Pablo Lopez, who was 11-8 with a 3.66 ERA this season and Sonny Gray, who was 8-8 but had the A.L.’s second-best ERA at 2.79. The Blue Jays have a couple of pretty good starting pitchers themselves in Kevin Gausman and Jose Berrios, and that’s not even considering that it’s Chris Bassitt, who tied for the league lead with 16 wins this season. Gausman was 12-9 with a 3.16 ERA this season and is one of the best strikeout pitchers in the game. Berrios, who not too long ago was an All-Star for Minnesota, was 11-12 with a 3.65 ERA. There aren’t game three probables yet if it goes that far (and I think it will) but I assume it would be Bassitt for Toronto and Joe Ryan, who was 11-10 with a 4.51 ERA, for Minnesota. The Twins have one of the weaker offenses in the entire postseason and the worst of the A.L. teams. Max Kepler led the team in homers and RBI with only 24 and 66. The pitching should be close between the teams, but I just don’t think the Twins can slug enough to take out the visiting Blue Jays. Game one begins today at 3:30 p.m. (CST) on ESPN. Games two and three would also be at the same time and network on Wednesday and Thursday. Prediction: Blue Jays in 3. Arizona Diamondbacks @ Milwaukee Brewers Word came out on Monday afternoon that one of the Milwaukee Brewers best pitchers Brandon Woodruff wouldn’t be available for the National League Wild Card round due to a shoulder injury that may keep him out longer if the Brewers advance. The Brewers likely have the best rotation of all 12 teams in the postseason, which could play huge dividends, but the team also has one of the weakest offenses in the postseason so an injury to a top-flight pitcher like Woodruff could be enough to sway a short series like the one against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Arizona has a couple of good starting pitchers in N.L. Cy Young Award candidate Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly, but because the team had to use them over the weekend in an effort to clinch a postseason berth neither will be available in game one of the series leading the team to send Brandon Pfaadt and his 5.72 ERA to the mound against Brewers ace Corbin Burnes, who was 10-8 with a 3.39 ERA this season. I don’t expect the Diamondbacks to win game one today with that matchup. So, it’ll be up to Gallen, who was 17-9 with a 3.47 ERA, to beat Freddy Peralta (I assume, he hasn’t been announced yet), who was 12-10 with a 3.86 ERA this season. If Gallen and the Diamondbacks offense led by probable N.L. Rookie of the Year Corbin Carroll and Christian Walker can do that it would force a deciding game three, which would probably give Kelly, who was 12-8 with a team-best 3.29 ERA this season, an advantage over whoever the Brewers tossed out there. Game one begins today at 6 p.m. (CST) on ESPN2. Games two and three would also be at the same time and network on Wednesday and Thursday. Prediction: Diamondbacks in 3. Miami Marlins @ Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are giving me the 2022 Phillies vibes where they ran their way through teams that had been better than them all season long in the National League side of the playoff bracket before finally succumbing to the Houston Astros in the World Series. I wouldn’t put it past them doing that again, especially if the offense is clicking and aces Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola do what they’re capable of doing on the mound. The Phillies also have one of the most powerful offenses in the postseason featuring Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, Nick Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber. The Marlins offense features batting champion Luis Arraez and some power in Jorge Soler but overall, it’s not that scary. Game one today features Wheeler, who was 13-6 with a 3.61 ERA, on the bump for the Phillies. Jesus Luzardo, who was 10-9 with a 3.63 ERA, will take the mound for Miami. Game two would feature Aaron Nola, who was 12-9 with a 4.46 ERA, pitching for Philly and Braxton Garrett, who was 9-7 with a 3.66 ERA, going for the Marlins. I expect the Phillies offense to be too much for Miami and this is the one series I’m predicting over in two games. Game one begins today at 7 p.m. (CST) on ESPN. Games two and three would also be at the same time and network on Wednesday and Thursday. Prediction: Phillies in 2. by Julian Spivey Detroit Lions @ Kansas City Chiefs (Week 1) – Thursday, Sept. 7 on NBC at 7:20 p.m. (CST) The defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs have the honor of kicking off the 2023 NFL season at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City hosting the Detroit Lions. Reigning MVP Patrick Mahomes looks to have another stellar season in control of the offense, though the team’s defensive leader Chris Jones is holding out for a better contract and there’s no telling when he’ll be available. The Lions, who were 9-8 last year, are looking to make their first playoff appearance since the 2016 season. Expect to see the Chiefs a bunch on this list. Buffalo Bills @ New York Jets (Week 1) – Monday, Sept. 11 on ESPN at 7:15 p.m. (CST) The biggest player acquisition of the offseason was the Green Bay Packers trading three-time MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers to the New York Jets after years of whining to get out of Green Bay. Rodgers had the weakest year of his career last season but was MVP of the league the season prior to that. The Jets have their first star-caliber QB in ages and hope to ride him to their first playoff appearance since the 2010 season. The team hasn’t had a winning season since 2015. Rodgers and the Jets will have a big task facing them in his team debut taking on the Buffalo Bills, one of the perennial favorites in the AFC over the last few years led by quarterback Josh Allen. The matchup kicks off Monday Night Football’s season. Minnesota Vikings @ Philadelphia Eagles (Week 2) – Thursday, Sept. 14 on Amazon Prime Video at 7:15 p.m. (CST) Football fans how have you liked the NFL on streaming-only options? Might want to get used to it and it’ll probably become more commonplace not only for the NFL but sports in general. Amazon Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football debut for the season features a doozy of a matchup they may wind up being the NFC Championship preview with the Minnesota Vikings going into Philadelphia to face the Eagles, the league’s best team by record last season. Remember when TNF used to get the absolute worst matchups? Well, this ain’t it. Kirk Cousins and Justin Jefferson vs. Jalen Hurts and DeVonta Smith is going to be a fun watch. Kansas City Chiefs @ New York Jets (Week 4) – Sunday, Oct. 1 on NBC at 7:20 p.m. (CST) This matchup is here because it features the MVPs of four of the last five seasons with Patrick Mahomes (2018 and 2022) and Aaron Rodgers (2020 and 2021). Mahomes and Rodgers might be the two most recognizable faces in the league with the retirement of Tom Brady during the offseason and you better believe this Chiefs vs. Jets matchup is going to bring in big Nielsen ratings. Also, get used to seeing the Jets on national broadcasts all of a sudden with the addition of Rodgers. Kansas City Chiefs @ Minnesota Vikings (Week 5) – Sunday, Oct. 8 on CBS at 3:25 p.m. (CST) It isn’t all that often you get a matchup during the regular season of teams that go on to meet up in the Super Bowl, but many believe Chiefs/Vikings is a likely potential Super Bowl LVIII matchup next February. Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce against Kirk Cousins and Justin Jefferson will be a fun watch and sorry Fox your Bengals vs. Cardinals and Eagles vs. Rams matchups that afternoon won’t be getting too many eyes scheduled against this one. Buffalo Bills @ Cincinnati Bengals (Week 9) – Sunday, Nov. 5 on NBC at 7:20 p.m. (CST) Most notably this will be the first matchup between the Bills and Bengals since the late season Monday Night Football matchup last season that saw the horrific injury to Bills safety Damar Hamlin on the field when he collapsed and stopped breathing after a hit and had to be revived by Bills medical personnel in the scariest on-field moment the NFL has seen in many years. Thankfully, Hamlin recovered and made the Bills roster this season and hopefully, he will be eligible to play in week nine in what will surely be an emotional matchup between these two teams. Not only will it be emotional, but it could be a potential AFC Championship matchup if these teams can find their way past the Kansas City Chiefs. Philadelphia Eagles @ Kansas City Chiefs (Week 11) – Monday, Nov. 20 on ESPN at 7:15 p.m. (CST) It’s also not that often you get a Super Bowl rematch the next season, but that’s what will happen in Week 11 when the Philadelphia Eagles travel to Arrowhead Stadium to take on the Kansas City Chiefs, who beat them 38-35 in Super Bowl LVII with a fourth-quarter comeback, on Monday Night Football. The Chiefs are undoubtedly the best team in the league in my opinion, but have a tough schedule this season, which includes the Eagles, Vikings, Bills, Bengals, Chargers and potentially better than we’ve been accustomed to Jets and Lions teams. Washington Commanders @ Dallas Cowboys (Week 12) – Thursday, Nov. 23 on CBS at 3:30 p.m. (CST) OK, so in all honesty, this isn’t really one of the 10 best matchups during the NFL season as far as competition goes – but Dallas Cowboys Thanksgiving football is my favorite NFL tradition that isn’t the Super Bowl. The Cowboys are still America’s Team when it comes to television ratings too so I had to get them involved in this list somehow. The Cowboys should be a contender in the NFC this season, but I don’t expect a whole lot from the Commanders squad. Christmas Games: Las Vegas Raiders @ Kansas City Chiefs, New York Giants @ Philadelphia Eagles and Baltimore Ravens @ San Francisco 49ers (Week 16) – Monday, December 25 – All Day on CBS, Fox and ABC So, I’m honestly a bit perturbed by this because it’s the NFL – already the top dog in the sports world – encroaching on the NBA’s territory. Encroachment as you know is supposed to be a penalty. Christmas Day has long been the NBA’s biggest regular season day of the season and now the NFL is coming in and will no doubt top the NBA in television ratings. I’ll be honest with you again – I’ll likely be tuning into the NBA instead. But there’s no doubt this will be a big day for NFL and featuring the reigning AFC and NFC champs in the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles is big. This also allows me to get some other teams that won’t be featured on this list into the mix with the Raiders, Giants, Ravens and 49ers. Cincinnati Bengals @ Kansas City Chiefs (Week 17) – Sunday, Dec. 31 on CBS at 3:25 p.m. (CST) Are you tired of the Kansas City Chiefs on this list yet? They are such a great football team and have such a star-studded schedule this season that it’s hard to trim some of their matchups off this list, but we accept that appearing on more than half of the matchups on this list is a lot. The Week 17 matchup between the Chiefs and the Cincinnati Bengals is one of the last four AFC Champions with the Chiefs winning three of those and the Bengals winning over the Chiefs in the 2021 season. In fact, Chiefs/Bengals has been the matchup in the last two consecutive AFC Championship games and there’s little reason to believe it won’t happen again this year. by Julian Spivey 16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Every now and then a driver who we know doesn’t have much chance of winning the championship makes it into the playoffs by winning a race, usually at a superspeedway drafting track or via some abnormal strategy in a weather-shortened race. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. for JTG-Daugherty Racing is that driver this season. Stenhouse was the first driver locked into the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs by virtue of winning the season-opening Daytona 500 in February, which while being an underdog team wasn’t all that surprising as Stenhouse’s previous two career Cup wins also came at superspeedways (Talladega and Daytona) in 2017. Stenhouse has only had one other top-5 finish since winning the Great American Race and has only led 25 laps all year and you simply must win races to win the title under the current NASCAR playoff system. 15. Michael McDowell Michael McDowell’s dominance at the Indianapolis Road Course a few weeks ago led to his second career Cup Series win and a spot in the playoffs. McDowell is having the best season of his career but his team Front Row Motorsports just doesn’t have what it takes to really give the championship a run against the big teams. Like Stenhouse, McDowell only has one other top-5 finish all season besides his win. If he can point his way into the round of 12, he’ll have a good shot at making the round of 8 thanks to the Charlotte Roval and Talladega Superspeedway – with two of his specialties being road racing and drafting races. 14. Darrell Wallace Jr. As a fan of the sport, I’m thrilled to see Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. make his first playoff appearance of his NASCAR Cup Series career but as a realist, I can see that he doesn’t win enough to truly have a championship shot, and as mentioned above you have to win to be successful in this format. Nobody has fewer career wins in this playoff field than Bubba’s two. Now, in the pro column for him is one of the tracks in the first round of the playoffs is Kansas Speedway, where he dominated last fall for his second career victory. If he can do that again it’s straight to the round of 12 for him. 13. Tyler Reddick I hate to do this to the 23XI organization, which for the first time in its three-year history has a driver in the playoff field (Kurt Busch qualified last season but was forced to give his spot up due to injury) and the organization has both of its drivers in the playoffs in Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick, but I have both Wallace and Reddick failing to make it out of the first round. Reddick does have a win this year at the Circuit of Americas road course in Austin, Texas early in the season but I just haven’t seen enough from him and his no. 45 Toyota team this summer to think he’s a big threat at the title. 12. Kevin Harvick It’s Kevin Harvick’s final season and he’s running out of races to win before he calls it quits in November. The whole Stewart-Hass Racing organization has been down this year and Harvick was the only one of the four drivers on the team to make the playoffs due to his consistency. His average finish has been 13.8 and his career did not finish (DNF) percentage may be the best in the sport’s history who’s competed in as many races as he has. Harvick has six top-5s and 12 top-10s this season but just hasn’t been leading many laps (122 total). 11. Ryan Blaney Ryan Blaney finally got off the schneid with a win this season at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the Coca-Cola 600 in May after going winless in 2022. But the no. 12 Penske Racing driver still doesn’t seem to have the swagger he did in the 2021 season when he won three races and had 20 top-10s. Blaney has four top-5s and 12 top-10s this season with an average finish of 15.8 (his worst since 2017). The whole Penske organization seems down this season. 10. Brad Keselowski Brad Keselowski has looked worlds better in his second season driving for his own organization of Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing than he did in his first year with the organization in 2022 but he still hasn’t found Victory Lane driving for the team he co-owns. He’s had a solid 2023 otherwise with six top-5s (he had only one last season) and 11 top-10s and an average finish of 13.8. His teammate Chris Buescher has won three of the last five races coming into the playoffs – but like I’ve already said you have to win in this format and I’ll have to see Keselowski do it in the no. 6 Ford to believe it. 9. Ross Chastain Ross Chastain just doesn’t seem to be quite the driver he was in 2022 and it seems like it is because he’s toned down his aggression on the track after numerous run-ins with fellow drivers on the track that gave his reputation a bit of a black eye. He did win at Nashville Superspeedway this summer but overall, he’s not running up front near as much as he did last season when he made it all the way to the Championship Four. His average finish this season is two positions worse than last season. Maybe Trackhouse Racing owner Justin Marks needs to tell Chastain to go back to his aggressive ways and forget about the competition. 8. Chris Buescher I feel bad about having Chris Buescher this low on the list after the last month-plus he’s had winning three of the last five races of the series regular season. He’s the hottest driver in the Cup Series headed into the playoffs bar none, but I can’t get over the feeling that he needs a bit more playoff experience to really be successful in the format. At this time last season, Buescher only had one career Cup win and that came in a strategy call to stay out in a race that ended under foggy conditions at Pocono Raceway. He’s been a great story lately for the sport so maybe he’ll show us the high-stress conditions of playoff racing won’t hinder him any. 7. Joey Logano The reigning NASCAR champion hasn’t had a season you would think would be befitting of the reigning champion with only one win, which came very early in the season at the drafting super speedway of Atlanta Motor Speedway. Logano has eight top-5s, 13 top-10s and has led 260 laps this season but overall, his performance, along with that of the entire Penske Racing organization, has just kind of felt ho-hum. I’d never count him out though. I don’t think he was ever the title favorite last season until he was hoisting the trophy at Phoenix. 6. Kyle Busch Kyle Busch has three wins this year in his first season with Richard Childress Racing after having the best years of his career, which included two championships, with Joe Gibbs Racing. The three wins are likely more than anybody had predicted for Busch in his first year with RCR but for some reason, some of the luster has already seemed to have worn off for him and his new team this season with those three wins coming in the first 15 races of the year and him having three finishes of 36th or worse in the last six races. The team is going to need to find that gear it had in the first part of the season to have a successful playoff. 5. Christopher Bell Christopher Bell has about the most fairytale playoffs a driver could have without actually winning a championship in 2022 needing to win in the cutoff race of a playoff round on multiple occasions to survive to the next round and doing so. His clutch gene must be massive. He feels like he’s kind of just been hanging around this year with one win, six top-5s and 13 top-10s, but it also kind of felt that way last season before he turned it on in the playoffs. 4. Kyle Larson Kyle Larson feels like he’s having a down season simply because he’s only found Victory Lane twice thus far and memories of his extremely dominant championship year in 2021 where he won 10 races are still fresh. But Larson has been one of the most consistent drivers all season long and even has more top-5 finishes with 10 than any driver in the sport this season. The only thing really keeping him behind this year is he already has six did not finish (DNF) results. If he can finish races he’ll be a title threat for sure. 3. William Byron William Byron is no doubt having a career year and has somewhat surprisingly been the top driver at Hendrick Motorsports this season. His five wins, which lead the sport, through the first 26 races of the season are more than the rest of his five-year career coming into 2023 combined. He has nine top-5s and 13 top-10s on the season and enters the playoffs tied with Martin Truex Jr. in the lead position. What he doesn’t have – and this is the factor that keeps me from putting him any higher than I have – is the experience in the late stages of the NASCAR playoffs. When it comes to competing in the postseason against six former champions and the greatest driver in the sport’s history to never win a title it’s probably going to get a bit harder on Byron and the no. 24 team over the next 10 weeks. 2. Martin Truex Jr. Martin Truex Jr. is having his typical sneaky good season after a shocking playoff absence in 2022. His three wins during the regular season are second only to William Byron’s five. His nine top-5s are second only to Kyle Larson’s 10 and his 15 top-10s lead the sport. His clinching of the regular season points title allowed him to equal Byron’s point total going into the playoffs, where they each begin the fight toward the championship race with 2036 points. Truex has been to the Championship race five of the eight times since the creation of the current playoff format, with one title (2017) and three runner-up positions. When it comes to experience there is nobody more successful in this format than Martin Truex Jr. 1. Denny Hamlin Denny Hamlin didn’t have the best regular season of all of the playoff drivers. William Byron, Chris Buescher, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. all had more wins in the season’s first 26 races. Truex, Busch, Christopher Bell, Byron and Joey Logano all had more top-5 finishes in the regular season. Truex, Byron, Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain have all led more laps. But he’s always consistent and finds himself in a good position to start the playoffs in third place just 11 points behind the two leaders Byron and Truex. I’ve got a hunch that this might be the year Hamlin finally wins the title – and he’s certainly running out of chances. Hamlin has reached the point where he’s the greatest driver in the history of NASCAR to never win a championship and I bet he tries like hell to get it this year. by Charles Bell Sr. I have been a Philadelphia Eagles fan since 1999. Growing up as a black kid in southwest Arkansas, I didn’t see many black quarterbacks when I watched football on TV. I remember the first time I saw Donovan McNabb play. I was amazed and I have been an Eagles fan ever since. I have gone back and looked at some of Randall Cunningham’s highlights, but I was too young to remember his run with the Eagles. Any Eagles fan will tell you; we have had our share of ups, downs and shocks over the years. In my opinion, the biggest shock was the Eagles selecting Jalen Hurts out of the University of Alabama in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft. This did not have as much to do with Hurts, but rather the needs of the team. At that time, Philadelphia had one of the worst secondaries in the league. Guys like Jeremy Chinn were on the board. The Eagles also suffered injuries on the offensive line and general manager Howie Roseman is notorious for beefing up both lines. Oh yeah, they also just signed their franchise quarterback Carson Wentz to a 4-year/$132 million contract. This pick sent shockwaves throughout the entire Eagles fanbase. Eagle fans were already pissed at the selection of receiver Jalen Reagor over Justin Jefferson in the first round. I remember tons of Eagle fans losing it. Twitter, which is now known as X(LOL), was a crazy place. It’s something I will never forget. Fans wanted Roseman fired on the spot. But then Wentz had a horrible 2020 season and was replaced by Hurts in a game against the Green Bay Packers. Wentz was traded the following offseason and Hurts was named starting QB. Fast forward three years and Hurts is one of the best quarterbacks in the league. I have no problem admitting, I was dead wrong about him. I wish other people would admit that, but we will get to that later. As I mentioned previously, I had nothing against Hurts, but the Eagles had other needs. At the time I was a big Wentz fan. I thought his struggles were more about the banged-up offensive line and the mediocre receiving core than his abilities. The pick was just odd to me. We can now definitely say it was a great pick. Hurts is everything you want in a franchise quarterback. Other people, however, do not view things that way. Even after the last season he had and the fact that he has improved every year, he has critics and skeptics. They say: it’s only been one year, the Eagles had an easy schedule, etc etc. But I have not heard these things when it comes to other quarterbacks in similar positions around the league. When Joe Burrow led the Cincinnati Bengals to the Super Bowl in his second year, no one said it was just one good year. The consensus was he built on his rookie year and was ascending into superstardom. Another thing I hear is he only had 22 touchdown passes. Let’s put that into perspective. I can think of four fourth quarters Hurts mostly sat on the bench or played conservatively because the Eagles were winning big. He also missed two games due to injury. I can easily make the case he could have thrown 30-plus TD passes if those things didn’t happen. Let’s compare this with another young Quarterback, Justin Herbert of the Los Angeles Chargers. Herbert played in all 17 games last year and “only” threw for 25 TD passes. Have you heard people calling him a running back or question his throwing? Jacksonville Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence only threw for 12 TD passes his rookie year and followed that up with 25 in his second. Fans and media seem to all say Lawrence is ascending (which I agree with) instead of saying only one good year. We all know of the racial components when it comes to black quarterbacks. Hurts alluded to this recently in an interview. When it comes to the critics of Hurst, I think it’s more ego-driven. Scouts and executives can’t fathom they were so wrong about a player. I’ve personally never seen a player improve this quickly. Hurts went from being called a gadget player to signing a $250 million dollar deal within 18 months. I am not a scout or player developer. I am simply a fan of the Eagles who pays attention to every move. I gladly admit I was wrong about Hurts. It’s time others did it too. Trust me I know, it Hurts. by Julian Spivey A 57-member voting panel selected the 2024 class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame on Wednesday, August 2 and seven-time NASCAR champion driver Jimmie Johnson and seven-time champion crew chief Chad Knaus - the duo winning those seven championships together – were each elected on their first year on the Modern Era ballot. After being chosen on the Pioneer Ballot, Donnie Allison will join Johnson and Knaus in the 2024 class. Janet Guthrie, the first female driver to start in the Daytona 500, received the Landmark Award for Outstanding Contributions to NASCAR and will be celebrated alongside Johnson, Knaus and Allison at the Hall of Fame Induction ceremony next January in Charlotte. Johnson received 93% of the vote, Knauss received 81% and Allison 53%. Much of the controversy online around the NASCAR community, including drivers, media and fans alike, was the fact that Johnson wasn’t a unanimous choice by the voting panel with four members leaving him off their ballot. The Athletic reporter Jeff Gluck was among the media personnel saying the four members of the voting panel who didn’t vote for Johnson should be removed from the panel. Luckily for those four individuals, the balloting is anonymous, unless the individuals announce who they voted for themselves. The fact that Johnson, arguably the greatest driver in the history of NASCAR with his record-tying seven titles and 83 career Cup Series wins placing him sixth all-time, wasn’t a unanimous choice is idiotic for sure but I don’t think quarreling about the percentage of vote he got was the most controversial NASCAR Hall of Fame choice of the day – though seemingly few are talking about the one that truly is. There is simply no reasonable metric or reasoning I can think of as to how or why Donnie Allison is a NASCAR Hall of Famer. Nothing about his 21-year, 242-race Cup Series career comes close to explaining why he’s now a NASCAR Hall of Famer. He won 10 races in his career. That’s 61st all-time in Cup Series history. Of those 10 wins only the 1970 World 600 is really the only one considered a “grand jewel” of the sport. Three wins in the 1970 season were his career high for a single season. Do you know who else won 10 career NASCAR Cup Series races? Clint Bowyer. No one is out there clamoring that Bowyer is a Hall of Famer. Hell, Clint Bowyer is more worthy of the NASCAR Hall of Fame candidate than Allison because he also had lower-level NASCAR success with an Xfinity Series championship and eight wins in that series, as well as three wins in the Craftsman Truck Series. Allison’s highest career finish in the season-long point standings was 17th. It was the only time he finished in the top 20. Now, Allison never ran a full-time NASCAR Cup Series schedule. He never ran more than 65% of any season, but should that matter when it comes to the Hall of Fame? I’d argue it shouldn’t help his Hall of Fame case, especially when other drivers who never ran full seasons are in the NASCAR Hall of Fame with much more impressive resumes. Hell, Junior Johnson never ran a full-time NASCAR schedule and won 50 races, good enough for the 13th all-time in the sport’s 75-year history. Another head-scratcher to me is how Allison topped the Pioneer Ballot when it featured legitimate candidates like A.J. Foyt, Sam Ard, Ralph Moody and Banjo Matthews. Every single one of those other Pioneer Ballot candidates is more deserving of Hall of Fame induction than Allison. Ard was one of the first greats of what’s now the NASCAR Xfinity Series winning two championships and 22 wins over three years in that series before his career was cut short due to injury. Foyt, perhaps the greatest open-wheel driver in motorsports history, wasn’t too shabby when he moonlighted in NASCAR. His seven career Cup wins might be fewer than Allison, but Foyt won the sport’s biggest race in the Daytona 500 in 1972. Those three fewer wins than Allison also came in more than 100 fewer career races. Matthews and Moody were legendary owners and mechanical geniuses. Moody was a two-time NASCAR Cup Series championship-winning car owner. Matthews won three championships as a car owner and won more than 250 Cup Series races, including five of Allison’s 10 career wins. I would really love for the 53% of voting members who checked Allison’s name on the Pioneer Ballot to explain why they chose him over any of the other four members because right now all I have are theories. Theory #1: The Allison name Donnie’s older brother, Bobby, is one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history. Bobby Allison’s 84 career Cup Series wins are tied for fourth most all-time. Allison was also a champion (1983) and won bukoos of “grand jewel” races like the Daytona 500 four times, the Southern 500 at Darlington three times and the World 600 at Charlotte three times. Donnie’s association with his brother and the gang of drivers known as the “Alabama Gang” for their shared home area around Birmingham, Ala. has no doubt helped further his name and legacy. The plain truth to me is that if Donnie Allison had any other surname he would not have been inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame now or ever. Why do I believe this? Just look at some of the drivers he’s jumped over into the Hall of Fame. Dick Hutcherson won 14 races in just over 100 career races for a much higher winning percentage than Allison and hasn’t even sniffed the Hall of Fame. Jim Paschal won 15 more races than Allison. He can’t even get his name on the Pioneer Ballot. Jack Smith, Speedy Thompson, Fonty Flock and Marvin Panch all have better resumes than Allison. Crickets. Theory #2: The Good Old Boys Club This one kind of goes along with Allison’s name but a bit differently. I think Allison still being alive at almost 84 years old and being such an effervescent personality has helped his case. Maybe more so than still being around and his personality though is the fact that many of the drivers he raced against and owners he competed against – some who are no doubt on the 57-member voting panel – helped his cause. That just doesn’t seem fair to more worthy candidates. Theory #3: His Association With Maybe the Most Famous Moment in NASCAR History It’s very likely Donnie Allison was a player in one of the most famous moments in the 75-year history of NASCAR, along with his brother Bobby and fellow Hall of Fame driver Cale Yarborough, at the end of the 1979 Daytona 500, the first-ever NASCAR race aired live from start-to-finish on television and had the luxury of doing so while most of the Eastern Seaboard was snowed in from a massive blizzard. Allison and Yarborough were racing for the lead and win in the sport’s biggest race when the two contacted each other and wrecked into the infield. A fight between Yarborough and both Bobby and Donnie Allison would break out in the infield near the wrecked racecars in front of millions watching from home. It’s likely more people could tell you about that fight today than the fact that Richard Petty won the race after driving by the wreckage. Maybe some of the writers feel like Donnie Allison was owed a Daytona 500 win because of that moment and that win would be enough to get him in. To that I’d say – Sterling Marlin won two Daytona 500s and has the exact same number of Cup Series wins as Allison and we’ll see if he ever makes it down the road on the Pioneer Ballot. One honor Marlin has that Allison doesn’t is this year he was named one of the 75 greatest drivers in NASCAR history. However, Foyt and Ard are also among the 75 greatest drivers honorees and we see what good that did them. There are more than a dozen drivers on the 75 greatest drivers list eligible for the NASCAR Hall of Fame that haven’t been inducted yet, many of them eligible for the Pioneer Ballot, yet Allison will be enshrined come January. Why does all of this bother me so much? Because I want to believe in the sanctity of the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Are Hall of Fames perfect? No. We’ve seen head-scratching inductions in every other sports hall of fame. I remember feeling this same way a few years ago when Harold Baines was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Donnie Allison isn’t even at the level in NASCAR that Baines was in Major League Baseball in my opinion. My wife said to me tonight as I was telling her of the 2024 NASCAR Hall of Fame class: “Do you believe everybody in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is worthy?” My answer: “No. But music is something that’s subjective. Sports are something that is mostly objective. You have statistics and things like championships and awards/honors to go by.” Allison doesn’t have the statistics, championships or awards/honors to qualify in my opinion for such an esteemed title as “Hall of Famer.” It makes the process of getting into the NASCAR Hall of Fame feel dirty or at least confusing. Most importantly, Donnie Allison's induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame dilutes the entire hall of fame. Now that might put it on the same level as all of the other halls of fame, but up until Wednesday the NASCAR Hall of Fame hadn’t undergone such a dilution. by Julian Spivey The Major League Baseball trade deadline is today (August 1) at 5 p.m. (CST) and some big names have already been dealt like three-time Cy Young winner Max Scherzer from the disappointing New York Mets to the American League West Division leading Texas Rangers. But the biggest name, not just thought to have been a potential deal at the trade deadline, but in the sport right now in general – Shohei Ohtani, baseball’s unicorn who is both an All-Star pitcher and hitter for the Los Angeles Angels, is not going to be dealt. The Angels made that known a week or more ago. The Angels, currently five games out of the A.L. West Division lead and four games out of the final A.L. Wild Card spot, have opted to hold onto the player who will be the most coveted free agent in the history of baseball once the season ends in order to attempt a playoff or even championship run. Ohtani, who is currently leading Major League Baseball with 39 home runs as a hitter and has the lowest batting average against him in the majors as a pitcher, is projected to make between $500-600 million in free agency this offseason. The Angels currently have a 4.9% chance to win the A.L. West, a 19.4% chance to make the playoffs as one of the three A.L. Wild Cards and a 1.2% chance at winning the World Series, according to FanGraphs. This means the Angels are 80.6% likely to miss the postseason altogether. The Angels front office has opted to risk losing Ohtani – and he’s more than likely not going to re-sign with the franchise, which hasn’t shown the ability to even come close to winning in his six seasons with the team despite having arguably the two best hitters in the entire league (Ohtani and Mike Trout) – for a minuscule chance at postseason glory. Some fans might appreciate the Angels ballclub for not packing it in by the end of July and going for broke, but others might be disappointed in a franchise that has managed to put together losing season after losing season while having two of the most talented players to ever set foot on a baseball diamond. Sure, the Angels have made some acquisitions prior to the trade deadline in hopes of bettering themselves for a run toward the postseason – but it’s unlikely Lucas Giolito, from the Chicago White Sox, and Randal Grichuk and C.J. Cron, from the Colorado Rockies, are going to move the needle in such a manner that the team gets to where it hopes to go. Ohtani is currently having one of the greatest, if not the greatest, single seasons of any player in the history of baseball and some fans might want to see him stick around in an Angels jersey until the end of the season to have a shot at the American League single-season home run record of 62 set last season by New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge. Ohtani is currently on pace to hit 60 homers. But the sheer truth of the Angels refusing to even take offers on Ohtani before the trade deadline is that it’s just setting the franchise up for many more seasons of failure. Ohtani is likely walking this offseason to a team that can both break the bank for him and compete annually for a title. Trout is getting older by the minute and has shown himself to be more and more injury prone as he ages. The team is essentially going nowhere. Now, it’s true that teams don’t really want to give up the farm for a two-month (potentially three if they go all the way to the World Series) rental and the package the Angels would have gotten in a deal for Ohtani would’ve been less than he was worth, but by-God King Midas’ touch would be less than this one-of-a-kind ballplayer is worth. The Mets got the 44th-ranked prospect in the game in Luisangel Acuna, a middle infielder with a great pedigree (his brother is Atlanta Braves likely National League M.V.P. Ronald Acuna Jr.), from the Texas Rangers for a 39-year old pitcher in Scherzer, who’s having his worst season arguably of his career, but at least in the last dozen years. The Tampa Bay Rays just gave up the 37th-ranked prospect in the game first baseman Kyle Manzardo yesterday for pitcher Aaron Civale from the Cleveland Guardians. Civale is having a good season with a 2.34 ERA in 13 starts, but it might also be an anomaly as his career ERA through his first few seasons is closer to 4 than 2. So, there were potential gains for the Angels to make for the right to have Ohtani in the box and on the mound for the last few months of the season. Now the Angels just get to watch their unicorn leave for a better franchise in the offseason for nothing in return. That’s no way for a franchise, with the longest active playoff drought in the sport, to engender faith from its fanbase for the future. by Eric Fulton The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup kicks off early Thursday morning (our time) in Australia and New Zealand. For the next month, the best national women’s soccer teams will compete to see who the best in the world is. The United States Women’s Team has been the most successful women’s international team in the World Cup, winning four titles, including the previous World Cup in 2019. However, coming into this year’s World Cup, they will go through some adversity with a couple of key players not available for the entire tournament due to injuries and a new head coach taking over the team. Players Becky Sauerbrunn and Mallory Swanson will not participate in the World Cup due to injuries. While both players will be sorely missed on the team, they will have a new voice as former FC Kansas City head coach Vlatko Andonovski takes over the head coaching duties. With a lot going on, the focus is to win, and they still have what it takes to extend their record by winning a fifth World Cup. Here are five players everyone should focus on during the U.S. run toward that fifth World Cup. 5. Alyssa Naeher – Goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher is the most experienced goalkeeper on the roster. She has made 91 appearances for Team USA with 53 clean sheets. Naeher ranks third all-time in caps, wins and shutouts for a goalkeeper in U.S. history. Her shutout in the CONCACAF final helped the United States clinch this year’s World Cup appearance and the Summer Olympics in 2024. 4. Crystal Dunn – Defender Crystal Dunn has made 132 appearances, scoring 24 goals and 19 assists in international play. Dunn is also a two-time Olympian. In the last World Cup in 2019, Dunn played a key role in defense against host country France shutting down France’s attack and helping the U.S. win that match. Dunn started all six matches in 2019, scoring one assist in the tournament. 3. Rose Lavelle – Midfielder Lavelle has made 88 appearances, scoring 24 goals and 20 assists in international play. In 2021 and 2022, Lavelle played 38 matches for the United States, scoring nine goals and 11 assists, while playing 2,518 minutes. In the 2019 World Cup, Lavelle won the Bronze Ball as the third-best player in the tournament. She scored the clinching goal in the 2-0 victory over the Netherlands in World Cup Final. 2. Alex Morgan – Forward Making her fourth World Cup appearance, Alex Morgan is one of the best women’s soccer players of all time. Last year, Morgan became just the 13th player in USWNT history to reach 200 matches played. She is also a two-time United States Female Soccer Athlete of the Year, a four-time CONCACAF Player of the Year, and a three-time Olympian. Her performance in the 2019 World Cup was one of the greatest of all time. She scored six goals and added three assists in France. Five of her six goals came in one game alone against Thailand, which tied a single-game record for the United States. Morgan will look to continue to add to her 121 goals and 49 assists in Australia and New Zealand. 1. Megan Rapinoe – Forward Rapinoe announced recently that this year will be her final World Cup as she plans to retire at the end of the year. You know she would love to finish her career in a blaze of glory. Rapinoe is one appearance away from reaching the 200 matches played milestone. She has scored 63 goals and 73 assists in her international career, both rank in the top 10 in USWNT history. Her play in the 2019 World Cup was memorable and unforgettable. She won the Golden Ball and Golden Boot as the most outstanding player in the World Cup with her six goals and three assists. She scored a penalty kick goal in the World Cup Final, which was her 50th career goal. Rapinoe has even made a tremendous impact off the soccer field, advocating that her teammates and women’s soccer, in general, should have equal pay to men’s soccer. The two-time World Cup champion received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2022. The United States Women’s National Team will be in group E of the 2023 Women’s World Cup. Teams in Group E include Vietnam, Netherlands and Portugal. The United States and the Netherlands played in the final in 2019, with the U.S. winning the match 2-0. The USWNT’s first game will be against Vietnam on Friday, July 21 at 8 pm Central time and can be seen in the U.S. on Fox. The championship match will be on Sunday, August 20 on Fox. |
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