the mad sports man

the Boston Red Sox have taken their second straight A.L. East crown after beating Houston 6-3.  they will either face Houston or Cleveland in the ALDS.  the Yankees will face Minnesota at home in the wild card game.

the Minnesota Twins are making their first postseason appearance since 2010 after clinching the wild card last night.  they got some help from the Chicago White Sox when they beat the L.A.Angels. meanwhile the Chicago Cubs took the N.L. Central crown after beating the Cardinals in St.Louis.  only thing to be decided is the A.L. East.  Boston and New York are already postseason bound.  one will take the division. stay tuned

in 1981 Nolan Ryan throws his 5th no hitter as the Houston Astros beat the L.A.Dodgers 5-0 at the Astrodome.  he walked 3 and struck out 11 in the process

last night the Arizona Diamondbacks clinched the wild card after beating Miami 3-2 and having the Brewers and Cardinals both lose.  they will be hosting the wild card game.  things are picking up.  stay tuned

last night, the L.A. Dodgers became N.L. West champs after beating the San Francisco Giants 4-2.  Kenley Jansen picked up his 40th save and Cody Bellinger broke the National League rookie record for home runs, hitting his 39th homer.  the win was on Tommy Lasorda's 90th birthday as well.

Fall begins at 2:02pm today and it has felt like it the last few day.  mostly rainy.  although it snowed a bit on Tuesday.  feels like baseball postseason weather.  looks pretty with all the leaves changing color.  enjoy the day.  it's going to get cold yet soon.

the Houston Astros are AL West champions after a 7-1 win over Seattle.  15 up with 14 left.  wow. congrats to the Astros. meanwhile on this day in 1953 Ernie Banks takes the field to become the Chicago Cubs first African American Player.  he went 0 for 3, scoring a run in a 16-4 loss to the Phillies. also on this day in 1984, Reggie Jackson hits career home run 500 at Anaheim Stadium in a 10-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals.  he hits it off of Bud Black in the 7th inning.  so that is it for today.  stay tuned.

Cleveland Indians have taken the AL Central after beating Kansas City 8-4, this and Minnesota losing to Toronto 8-2 gave Cleveland the Central division.  congrats and on this day in 1975, Rennie Stennett becomes  the only player in the 20th century to go 7 for 7 as the Pittsburgh Pirates blow out the Chicago Cubs 22-0.  he scored 5 runs and drove in two in the win.

i think i am a bit behind.  saw the Washington Nationals are the NL East champs.  not sure when it happened (couple or three days ago maybe). Cleveland's now 22 game winning streak got them into the post season and the L.A. Dodgers are also in.  more to come soon.

it became official today.  Paris was chosen to host the 2024 Summer Olympics and Los Angeles was chosen to host the 2028 Summer Olympics.  became official at 1pm in Lima Peru.  both votes were unanimous.  also Milan was chosen to host the 134 IOC session in 2019. the Cleveland Indians tied the 2nd longest and broke an American League record, recording their 21st straight win over the Detroit Tigers this afternoon.  the previous A.L. record was 20 by the Oakland A's in 2002.  the longest is 26 games by the 1916 New York Giants. there was a tie thrown in the middle of it, making it a 27 game "undefeated streak." and today it sure felt like fall.  cool day plus it rained on top of that.  not sure what the temp was.  a good fall day to say the least.  and the leaves are already changing color.  wow.

1.  in 1966, a 19 year old Nolan Ryan records his first strike out in an 8-3 loss to the Atlanta Braves at Shea Stadium.  he recorded three in his two innings of work. 2. in 1976 the Chicago White Sox start 50 year old Minnie Minoso.  he goes 0 for 3 in a 7-3 loss to the Angels.  he records his first hit in 13 years the next day. 3. and on this day in 1985 Pete Rose singles off of Eric Show of the Padres to become the all time hits leader.  Cincinnati wins the game 2-0.

boy what a beginning. Kansas City walks into New England and beats the Patriots 42-27 to kick off the season and week one.  wow.  i didn't see the game.  listened to the last 4 minutes of it..  was interesting.  should be a fun season.

Saudi Arabia joined South Korea into the World Cup after beating Japan 1-0 and finishing second behind Japan in group B.  that is now eight teams in the world cup (Russia, Brazil, Iran, japan Mexico and Belgium are the other six).   stay tuned.  more to follow.

South Korea has qualified for the World Cup, even though they finished second in their group. (top two in both groups in their federation).  someone from group B will be joining them in a couple of hours.  and more qualifying as the day goes on.  more updates later and tomorrow.

Belgium is the sixth team to qualify for  the World Cup after beating Greece 2-1 and finishing first in group H in UEFA qualifying.  another round of games tomorrow.  who will qualify?  stay tuned. meanwhile we are in the midst of the CFL Labour Day games.  this past  Thursday Ottawa beat Montreal 32-4 and earlier today, Saskatchewan beat Winnipeg 38-24.  caught some of this game while at work.  tomorrow's games finishes the weekend with Edmonton at Calgary and Toronto at Hamilton.  this is where the season really begins.  stay tuned for that.

Mexico is into the World Cup after beating Panama 1-0 in qualifying, becoming the 5th team to qualify (after Japan, Iran, Brazil and Russia).  hopefully more to come this weekend.

Alberta and Saskatchewan both became provinces today in 1905.  happy 112th birthday to both provinces.