Down go the Giants!

With the playoffs in full swing, I bring some great news! The Giants have finally lost a playoff series! I predicted them to win it all again, but I have been rooting against them ever since the 2010 season in which they essentially stole Cody Ross from us (the Padres), who provided a crucial role in helping the Giants win the wild card and eventually the world series. It felt good to see them lose a 5-2 lead in the ninth inning and fall 6-5 to the Cubs. Such a satisfying meltdown now allows me to nervously shift my attention to tonight's game between the Nationals and Dodgers in the nation's capital. I guess it's an easy call as to who I want to win. I predict the Nationals will win because they have their ace in Max Scherzer on the mound facing off against Rich Hill, the veteran who is pitching in the biggest game of his life. It's ace versus the pitcher behind Clayton Kershaw. Just that fact gives us a pretty good indication as to who will win.

 The Padres have been in the news again. They have fired long-time employee Randy Smith after 25 years in the organization. He played a role as GM of the Padres during the strike year of 1994 and fulfilled that role for 2 years, during which time he hired Bruce Bochy as manager who took the team to the world series. He also traded away away Gary Sheffield for a former infielder who was trying to make it as a reliever in the form of Trevor Hoffman. During his time, Ken Caminiti earned the MVP award. But that wasn't even the biggest fire of the week. The Padres on Tuesday fired CEO Mike Dee after three years with the team. This comes at an odd time to do so, since the organization has said that they want to stick with Dee back in June. But perhaps Mike Dee stuck his nose into too many places, despite the excellent job that he performed. Honestly, there is not a concrete reason for his firing, all I know is that he was fired.

College football is also becoming exciting as we come closer to the first college football playoff poll on November first. In other news, the SEC has rescheduled the game between LSU and Florida for November 19, which is two weeks before the SEC championship game. This time, however, the game will be played in Baton Rouge and not in Gainseville. Here are your games for the week:
- #1 Alabama at #9 Tennessee, 3:30 ET, CBS
- North Carolina at #16 Miami, 3:30 ET, ABC/ESPN2
- #12 Ole Miss at #22 Arkansas, 7 ET, ESPN
- #2 Ohio State at #8 Wisconsin, 8ET, ABC

Welcome to October

With the end of the regular season upon us, we shift our attention to the playoffs in the MLB. This is an exciting time to be a baseball fan. The Giants beat the Mets to move on to face the Cubs to start the playoffs, but now Chicago leads 1-0. The Blue Jays won their Wild Card game on a walk-off homer from Edwin Encarnacion and are up 2-0 on the Rangers headed back to Toronto tomorrow. The Dodgers lead the Nationals 1-0 and the Indians lead the Red Sox 2-0 headed to Boston tomorrow. You know who I want to see lose. Those blasted Giants and Dodgers better fall eventually. Because I don't want to see either of them hoist the world series trophy.

The Padres lost their final series to the Diamondbacks in the form of a sweep. That was quite depressing, but the good part about it is that it put us in last place in the division and now we will pick third overall in next year's draft and be allotted $3 million more to our bonus pool next June. Had we won one of the games against the D-Backs, we would be selecting number seven overall without the bonus money. So I guess it's a win for us, even though we lost. Now begins the long and dreadful winter until games start up again in April. The number one thing I hope we get this offseason is trust for A.J. Preller. Hopefully he can put his magic hat on, gain the trust of the rest of the league and build upon the farm system that we already have.

 In Gainseville, there was supposed to be a big game today between Florida and LSU, but it has been postponed due to Hurricane Matthew. In fact, LSU Athletic Director Joe Alleva is not even sure if the game against Florida will even be played. This is a real bummer because LSU dominated Missouri last week, showcasing what their offense really has the potential to do. I think with Les Miles gone, this team can go a long way, even defeating some of the other big boys in the SEC West such as Ole Miss, Alabama, Arkansas and Texas A&M. Here are your games for the week.
- #25 Virginia Tech at #17 North Carolina, 3:30 ET, ABC/ESPN2
- #9 Tennessee at #8 Texas A&M, 3:30 ET, CBS
- #1 Alabama at #16 Arkansas, 7 ET, ESPN
- #23 Florida St. at #10 Miami, 8 ET, ABC

That should do it for this week. As we get further into October, the NBA will start up pretty shortly and the playoff chase in baseball will heat up into the league championship series. Don't forget to see who pulls out on top!