The Cincinnati Bengals have not been mathematically eliminated, so they still have a shot at the postseason. There is a slim chance that they could actually pull off the last Wild Card spot.
The Bengals are playing the tough 10-3 Minnesota Vikings at 1:00 pm Eastern Standard Time in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The last time these two teams faced off, Week 16 of the 2013-14 season, Matt Cassel led the Vikes, but the Bengals, at home at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio, took them to the slaughterhouse with an astonishing 42-14 victory. The purple and gold is heavily favored over the 5-8 Jungle, but Andy Dalton and A.J. Green know how to surprise a crowd; with his accuracy only getting better this year and the constant threat of Green’s hands of steel, the Red Rifle and his offense can clearly upset the Twin Cities’ representative to the National Football League. The New York Jets are playing an NFC demon, the Drew Brees led New Orleans Saints. The Saints have a clear advantage over the J-E-T-S Jets! Jets! Jets!, so maybe “Who Dat?!” will help their brothers to the far north, “Who Dey?!” by eliminating the Jets. Incidentally, if the Bengals and Saints both win, Minnesota and New Orleans would be tied for the second bye week in the NFC (the Vikings, however have the tiebreaker as they defeated the Saints in their only matchup this year 29-19 in Week One). The Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills are playing each other and both teams are in the hunt. If the Bills win, the Dolphins are pretty much out of the picture and the Bills would continue to hold that last playoff spot in the AFC. The bright side of that for the Bengals is that they beat Buffalo in their sole clash 20-16 in Week Five, giving Cincy the tiebreaker, if the season should come to a tie between the two after Week 17 (the Bengals would have to go undefeated the rest of the way and the Bills would have to lose their last two games). The next game pertinent to Cincy is the Oakland Raiders versus the Dallas Cowboys. If Dak Prescott can pull off a victory, his last game without Ezekiel Elliott, over Derek Carr and Michael Crabtree, the Raiders would be tied with the Bengals and that would help Cincy a great deal to finally be equal with their rivals. The Raiders lost last week to the Kansas City Chiefs, 26-14 and the Cowboys won their last two games 38-14 over the Washington Redskins and 30-10 over the New York Giants respectively, so that points to a Dallas victory. The Los Angeles Chargers lost to the Kansas City Chiefs 30-13 on Thursday night, so at 7-7, if the Chargers go 1-1 the rest of the way, or 0-2, the Bengals have a shot. If the Chargers win against the Jets next week (that week doesn’t affect the Bengals’ chances if the Saints win), but they still lose the week after, Week 17, against the Oakland Raiders (who would have to lose both this week and next week to help Cincinnati), the two teams (Cincinnati and LA) would be tied at 8-8, with the Bengals having the tiebreaker because they would have the better record inside their own division. The last game the Bengals are counting on is rather unlikely, for it’s the 7-6 Baltimore Ravens against the 0-14 Cleveland Browns. That game looks like a gimme for Joe Flacco and the Ravens, but the Bengals and Ravens play each other in Week 17 and if they Bengals win, despite their 20-0 Week One loss to Baltimore, Cincy would have the better record in their division, the AFC North, and possess the tiebreaker, putting the 8-8 Cincinnati Bengals in the playoffs. Fans out of southwestern Ohio, southeastern Indiana and northern Kentucky got some exciting news this morning that hated Bengals’ coach Marvin Lewis would be leaving after this season, so they have more hope for next year, the 2018-19 season, but they’re not done for 2017-18. The Bengals, though unlucky, are optimistic. Jesse A. Cook “Not Impossible: The Bengals Can Make The Playoffs” December 17, 2017
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Lance McCullers of the Houston Astros is starting against Yu Darvish of the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game Seven of the World Series. That’s an all-star matchup, but it’s the last game of the year, the managers won’t hold back with bringing in their bullpen. It’s more likely that, unless either pitcher is tossing a perfect game, that by the fifth inning, the matchup will be Dallas Keuchel versus Clayton Kershaw.
Kershaw said, “I can go 27 innings. Whatever they need.” Clearly, he’s willing to follow in the footsteps of former Dodger and MVP of the 1988 World Series, Orel Hershiser, and sacrifice his arm for a ring. Darvish got rocked by the Houston bats in Game Three and didn’t finish the second inning, while McCullers led his team into the sixth inning before leaving. Granted, McCullers gave up three runs, Darvish allowed four, but as I said in the title, “Starting pitching will make no difference in Game Seven.” Why won’t it make a difference? Well, A.J. Hinch and Dave Roberts are smart managers, they understand that they have no possibility of playing another game after tonight, so they understand that they can throw literally every reliever they have in the game and take out the starting pitcher as early as they need. If George Springer and Alex Bregman hit back-to-back home runs to lead off the ballgame, Roberts will probably call to the bullpen and have Kershaw or Alex Wood start warming up their arms. If Chris Taylor starts a three-run first inning with Yasiel Puig on deck behind Cody Bellinger, Hinch is going to get Keuchel and Justin Verlander up and stretching. These managers have every starter and reliever at their disposal tonight because as far as this season goes, there’s really no tomorrow. If history tells us anything, Darvish will not be productive and McCullers will be able to go at least six innings. Considering that LA has a much, much better bullpen, the ‘Stros have to make sure that McCullers can go as long as they need, and Keuchel is ready to take the hill. Game Seven is just like the All-Star Game in how managers manage it: just put everybody in when one guy starts to get tired. Jesse A. Cook “Starting Pitching Will Make No Difference In Game Seven” November 1, 2017 With Justin Verlander starting on the mound, tonight, the Houston Astros should win the World Series. It’s Game Six in Los Angeles and the Astros starter is undefeated in his new uniform. A former Detroit Tiger, Verlander has not lost a game since heading to Southeastern Texas.
After his walk-off single to win Game Five and take a three games to two lead in the series Sunday night, Houston third baseman Alex Bregman excitedly said, “We've got Justin Verlander going for us in two days.” He means that they will undoubtedly win the series tonight because they have the best pitcher of the postseason on the hill. Verlander is facing the Dodgers’ Rich Hill who threw nine innings of a perfect game before giving up a walk-off home run to the Pittsburgh Pirates Josh Harrison to start the tenth inning in the latter half of the season. Hill recorded a no decision in every one of his playoff starts, including the Astros 7-6 Game Two victory. Verlander leads the postseason in wins, as he is 4-0, he has the only shutout and only complete game, and he only gave up three runs in his Game Two win. While the ‘Stros will be cautious about using their bullpen tonight, if Verlander shows the slightest signs of slowing down, A.J. Hinch will without a doubt take him out, but that’s not likely to happen. Hill, in Game Two, while he only gave up one run, Dave Roberts took him out of the game after only four innings! The Trolley Dodgers have a great pen, but after six of their pitchers in Sunday’s loss, they’re stretched a little thin, even after a day of rest. Tonight’s matchup will showcase a seasoned veteran who has proven that he is more than well suited to pitch long innings against a manager who is scared to keep his starter in the game past the fifth inning (when most Dodgers fans leave the ballpark anyway) with a tired bullpen. Dave Roberts has to be confident that Hill can go to the sixth inning, at least! Now say, Houston does not take the series tonight, it’s fair to say that Game Six will be a struggle. Both teams will probably go digging into their pens, a part of the team that LA is much better in, but Houston will go there later, use less relievers, and leave Lance McCullers, another long-innings pitcher, to pitch against a faltering Yu Darvish and an exhausted Dodger bullpen. As for tonight’s starting pitcher’s comparison, Verlander has 29 strikeouts, Hill has only 19, Verlander has 2.05 Earned Run Average, Hill has it at 2.77, Verlander has four wins, Hill has zero, and Verlander’s average of Walks and Hits per Innings Pitched is 0.88, while Hill’s is 1.23. Granted, Verlander has pitched 30.2 innings to Hill’s 13, awarding him more time to strike out more batters, all that means is that Verlander has had longer to allow more runs and more hits, thusly proving that Hinch’s starter has consistently performed much better than Roberts’ this postseason. While the stats point to Houston’s favor, as well as their momentum, coming off of a huge, hard-fought victory, it’s Halloween and Game Six. All baseball fans know that crazy things happen in Game Six and all people know crazy things happen on Halloween. Happy Halloween and wonderful World Series watching! Jesse A. Cook “Why Houston Should Take The Series” October 31, 2017 |
AuthorJesse Cook: High school junior. Does play-by-play for the Sharon Varsity Eagles softball, soccer, volleyball, basketball, and football teams. Fanatic of the Boston and Cincinnati teams in the Big Four sports. Designs graphics of athletes, politicians, and musicians at Picsart.com. Archives
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