Let the offseason begin

Holy smokes. This was quite an exciting and entertaining week of sports thus far. The world series has concluded and the NBA has begun in its spot. College Football is still going strong and so is the NFL. Exciting times.

But let's talk baseball, shall we? You may say that it is the offseason now so nothing is happening. That is not true. Free agency has begun and the Padres have already made some minor moves to their roster. 1) The Padres declined Josh Johnson's option of $4 million for 2015 although it is expected he will come back with a lesser deal. He signed a 1-year, $8 million deal for this past year but after a couple of starts in spring training started complaining about some elbow soreness. That resulted in his second round of Tommy John surgery in 5 years. This surgery requires a 12-18 month recovery time (which would pinpoint his return sometime during the next season) however, with medical advances reducing recovery times, he may be ready for the season. We'll see. "I look at [my time in San Diego] as unfinished business," Johnson said to padres.com reporter Corey Brock. Johnson won the ERA title with the Marlins in 2010 with a 2.30 clip. That is amazing. 2) Tim Stauffer became a free agent. He wants to start again in the majors, which would be very tough to find in SD. He was mostly a long reliever out of the bullpen over the past two years and was roughed up at times, so I do not expect him to return. I predict he will sign a minor league deal to some team who needs pitching (like the Rockies or Phillies). Free agency will really gain some momentum during the GM meetings from November 10-13 in Phoenix and then even more steam from December 7-11 in San Diego. Hopefully new GM AJ Preller can make some magic and produce a winning team this offseason. I sure hope so. I still have a sour taste from game 163 on a cold October 1st 2007 Denver evening.
In other baseball news, the World Series ended in dramatic fashion on Wednesday night. After the Royals pummeled the Giants with a 10-0 barrage in game 6 Tuesday, game 7 was certainly going to be exciting. Tim Hudson started for the Giants and only pitched 2 1/3 innings. The Royals' starter, Jeremy Guthrie, only lasted about the same as well before giving way to the bullpen. In the top of the fourth, the Giants' Michael Morse gave his team a 3-2 lead. Nobody thought it would hold...not until the Giants sent in Madison Bumgarner who just 3 days prior threw a 117-pitch shutout in a 5-0 victory in San Francisco came into the game to pitch 5 innings of shutout ball to seal the deal for the Giants third title in five years. I was disappointed with the result but I just witnessed arguably the best world series pitcher in the history of the game dominate a team that dominated everybody else throughout the playoffs. It was the first time that a home team lost a world series game 7 since the Pirates beat the Yankees in 1979. But an amazing pitching performance brought even the most passionate Giants haters to their knees in respect and honor. So for that, I applaud the Giants (mainly just Bumgarner).

NBA! LeBron James returned home to Cleveland Thursday night. However, they Cavaliers fell to the Knicks 95-90 at home. A revived city, a revived team - priceless. The Cavaliers beat the Bulls tonight in Overtime 111-106. The Bulls are predicted to be one of the top contenders to the Cavaliers in the eastern conference. In the west, both Kevin Durant and Russel Westbrook are out for a few weeks with broken bones on an already depleted Thunder team. The Spurs are again the favorites to win it all. All of these story lines are attractive to any level sports fan! What is to be an exciting season has begun!

In college football, 2Florida State played Louisville last night and the results will make my Mom mad. The Cardinals were ahead most of the game but Jameis Winston led a mad second half comeback to seal the victory 41-31. I am bummed, but I don't think they will be National Champions again. At least, I hope not. Other games of note are 10TCU heads into Morgantown to take on 20West Virginia in a crucial conference game 3:30 ET on ABC (or ESPN2), 11K-State plays host to Oklahoma State at 8 ET on ABC in Manhattan, Kansas (my last area!), and Stanford at 5Oregon 7:30 p.m. ET on FOX. However, the biggest game of the day has to be 4Auburn taking on 7Ole Miss at Ole Miss. That will be at 7ET on ESPN. I am excited for that one. So another exciting week in College Football looks to unfold!

In the NFl, Peyton Manning is still being Peyton Manning: throwing touchdowns and breaking records. The Chargers are struggling and yet to have beaten a difficult opponent. They will have their hands full this Sunday as they head to Miami to take on the Dolphins. Well I believe that is just about it! Thank you for taking the time to read this and have a lovely day and Happy Halloween!