The Big Story – World Series/Lockout Coming: While it’s been over for a while for the local nine, the baseball season is finally done, and with a lockout looming, perhaps for 2027 as well.
But with the Brewers and their 19th-ranked $130 million payroll winning the World Series and having baseball’s best record the last two seasons, it came at the perfect time for the players. Ditto with AL champ Tampa Bay having an even smaller 28th-ranked payroll.
That’s because the coming labor fight will be about getting a salary cap most fans want and the players will vehemently refuse to give. And they’ll point to the World Series in saying teams can compete with the free-spending Dodgers even when the Dodgers’ payroll is more than the combined payroll of both World Series teams.
But for now, let’s tip a cap to the Brewers, who have done it the way John Henry envisioned since pulling the pin on his one-time gigantic payrolls: (1) having a farm system that fills holes left by departing players for big contracts, (2) not overpaying for big names, and (3) playing a style counter to the homer-ball most do now.
Sports 101: This is one for old-timers. Who was the last QB to wear a number above 19 in the NFL?
News Item – Pats 24, Miami 19: It wasn’t so much lucking out as that they woke up in the second half to overcome a 13-3 halftime deficit.
• Good – Drake Maye accounted for three passing and running TDs while Rhamondre Stevenson banged his way to 82 rushing yards.
• Bad – how does a team playing prevent defense with 2:05 left allow Miami’s Kevin Coleman to get behind them for a 35-yard TD to keep their hopes alive?
• Ugly – too many ill-timed penalties (seven for 46 yards) again, which took away three first downs and an interception.
• Grade – C+
News Item – CTE Update: Alarming news last week from the Boston University study on brain damage from playing in the NFL. It said nearly 75 percent of NFL players who died between 2008 and 2023 had significant CTE damage.
The Numbers:
15 – second most in the NFL turnovers committed by the Patriots in their first eight games.
154 – 28th-ranked number of homers hit by World Series winning Milwaukee.
… Of the Week Awards
Thumbs Up – The Golden State Valkyries: If you had GS’s second year expansion WNBA team winning a title before/if Steph Curry did in the company pool you win. Plus they beat dastardly Angel Reese and the Atlanta Dream.
The Holy Moly Award – Tampa Bay: For the Bucs somehow scoring 16 points to beat Atlanta 16-0 without completing even one pass as they ran for a franchise 324 yards instead. The only other time that’s happened was 1974 when Buffalo beat (of course) the Jets 16-12.
Random Thought: Earth to Bob Kraft. The Patriots’ main uniform should be the dynasty years blue jersey with silver pants they wore Sunday.
Sports 101 Answer: Nope, not Doug Flutie; he wore 2, not 22, in the NFL. It’s John Hadl, a solid AFL-er who brought 21 with him when San Diego joined the NFL in the 1966 merger and kept it until retiring in 1973.
Final Thought – David Hamilton: The thing I liked most about the World Series was how dumb it made all the media folks look who claimed one of the biggest reasons the Red Sox only went as far as they did was that they didn’t invest big money in a third baseman.
First, the Prince of Darkness (Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe) keeps litigating last year’s trade of Raffy Devers to the Giants as just “a salary dump” instead of what it actually was, removing an insubordinate, grossly expensive, immature dog who walked out on his team ’cause he didn’t get his way. Saying his production numbers (37 homers and 98 RBI) would’ve made a big difference here. Well, how come they didn’t help SF? They were 10 games over .500 the day they got him, and since are 69-93. That doesn’t sound like a difference-maker to me. Plus the $35 million saved was spent to bring on Willson Contreras (27 and 81) and Sonny Gray (18 wins), which is a good two-for-one return for Devers.
Then came the demand to spend $40 million per year for Alex Bregman. Yes, he had a big last six weeks, but the Cubs still went out meekly in Round 1 of the playoffs too.
Meanwhile, with their miniscule payroll, the Brewers built a T-E-A-M that won more than anyone else for two years and rolled through the playoffs to win the World Series. And who was their primary third baseman who homered in the World Series deciding game? Red Sox reject David Hamilton, who made a whopping $780k.
Which goes to show that while money can be very helpful it still comes down to who you spend it on, not how much you spend.
Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.