Author: Dave Long

The Big Story – Sox Go Down Hard:Well, the Red Sox season ended pretty much the way it started — badly — as they were swept out of the playoffs for the second year in a row by the Yankees. Making it worse was being run over by Boston area products their local scouts whiffed on, Ben Rice and Cam Schlittler, who they’ll now have to deal with for years, along with looking so overmatched against a team missing Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton.

In the end it left all wondering who they actually were. The team that burned through most of June and July? Or the one that went 15-15 in their last 30 games?

See you next spring.

Sports 101: Who holds the NFL career record for most receptions by a non-drafted player?

News Item – Pats Beat Bills 26-24

Phew! That was close. But amid an up-and-down start they finished where they needed to be after their tough opening four games at 2-2.

Biggest highlights: (1) Drake Maye had a couple of scary plays, but in throwing for 268 yards and three TDs he looked back on track. (2) Spectacular one-handed catches by Romeo Doubs and Efton Chism on the Pats’ last two TDs. (3) Decent job by the D containing Josh Allen without the Christians Barmore and Gonzalez.

Special teams: Bad all day by allowing several big kickoff returns and the punter kept killing the net gain by sending booming punts into the end zone rather than dropping them inside the 20.

The Numbers:

17 – catches by Cowboys receiver CeeDee Lamb for 189 yards in Dallas’ comeback 36-30 win over Houston.

94.8 – the average mph of all 2026 MLB pitches according to MLB Statcast, up from 91.9 mph when tracking began in 2015.

658 – days (and 643 attempts) between interceptions before Minkah Fitzpatrick got one to end the Jets’ 21-game streak without a pick. Though they’re still the Jets, who lost 23-12 to a Bears team using their third-string QB.

… Of the Week Awards:

• Thumbs Up – Drake Maye: Patriot Nation gets to breathe easier since he returned to normal on Sunday.

• Thumbs Down – U of Texas DE Colin Simmons and RB Raleek Brown: For their vulgar on-field “celebrations” during the top-ranked Longhorns win over Tennessee.

• Quote of the Week: Texas AD Chris Del Conte wrote“… it was embarrassing to our proud and widely respected football team…” in a blog post apologizing for his nitwit players. Nice, but a two-game suspension would have been better.

• Play of Week – Igor Shesterkin: The New York Rangers have had 93 goaltenders since entering the NHL in 1926-1927. And none had scored a goal until Thursday when Shesterkin buried an empty netter in NY’s opening night 5-1 win over Tampa Bay.

Sports 101 Answer: With 903 Wes Welker has the record for most NFL receptions by an undrafted player.

Final Thoughts – On The Red Sox’ Demise

• Chad Tracy: He deserves much credit for righting the ship after taking over for Alex Cora. But, while they still would’ve lost, he turned manageable deficits into full Yankee blowouts by panicking to yank Payton Tolle and especially Sonny Gray far too early.

• Roman Anthony: Lost year for a guy who many thought was on track to be Yaz-like. He’ll be more of a question mark next spring because after missing most of 2026 and with his first two seasons ending early he’s starting to look brittle.

• Early Signings Strategy: With Anthony missing most of the year, Brayan Bello being so awful he got sent to AAA in June and Kristian Campbell still buried there, the “let’s sign the young guys early” strategy to lower their cost as the career progresses ain’t working out too well.

• Off-Season Work Ahead: To start, they need; a BIG bopper to hit fourth, to re-sign Gray and a permanent second baseman.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story – Sox and Yanks Face Off Again: It’s playoff Round 7 of baseball’s greatest rivalry. And since I’m writing on Monday morning, it could be over by the time you see this or it could be the decisive Game 3 happening.

The Sox’ biggest problem going in is their lack of hitting, where they averaged just 2.3 runs a game in their final 13 games, exacerbated by the iffy status of Willson Contreras. Of course, Aaron Judge was the same for NY and most would take that one-for-one trade.

Prediction: Sox in three.

Sports 101: With 45 homers and 40 steals Pete Crow–Armstrong became the seventh member of baseball’s 40-40 club. Name the other six.

News Item – Pats Embarrassed 35-6 by Jax: Maye-day, Maye-day is what the pilot of Patriot Nation Airlines is screaming into the mic after seven turnovers in the first three games as the confidence drains from their young star Drake Maye. Question: Why in the name of Babe Parilli did Mike Vrabel take a T.O. with just 49 seconds left in the first half when Jax had the ball on its own 20, no timeouts left and having the kicker with the league’s strongest leg?

Time to panic? No. I said in my pre-season predictions they’d be doing well to get out of their first four games at 2-2. But it does make next week in Buffalo huge!

News Item – Red Sox Prediction: I had them going 92-72. Missed by five games. My biggest miss since taking Baltimore big in SB 3.

News Item – Baseball 2026 Notables:

• Anyone else notice old friend Eduardo Rodriguez had the second most wins in baseball in going 16-7 with a 2.89 ERA?

• Jacob Misiorowski: The young Milwaukee hurler had 252 k’s in 174.2 innings. At that rate of 13 k’s per 9 innings, if he pitched the same 335 innings Sandy Koufax did when he struck out 382 in 1965, Miso would whiff 492.

• Houston somehow won the pathetically weak AL West with the worst ever division-winning record of 81-81.

• Got to love the All Name Team Trade executedby now St. Louis GM Chaim Bloom of sending Brendan Donovan to Seattle in a three-team deal that brought back pitching prospect Jurrangelo Cijntje along with outfielders Tai Peete and Colton Ledbetter.

• Love seeing the second-highest-payrolled $350 million Mets finish last in the NL East at 74-88, while $128 million Milwaukee produced baseball’s best record at 103-59.

The Numbers:

7 – Brewers struck out by the Phillies’ Zack Wheeler to start the game in a win last week.

224 – MLB record most batter strikeouts in one season recorded by White Sox infielder Colson Montgomery.

… Of the Week Awards

Thumbs Up OTW – Detroit Tigers: For their classy celebration of certain Hall of Famer Justin Verlander’s final game by having daughter Genevieve come to the mound for an emotional embrace and be with him as he left it for the final time.

Broadcasting Faux Pas OTW: Tom Brady saying, “oh, [blank]” live on Fox as Jayden Daniels dislocated his left elbow in an ugly sight. Realizing the whoops, the quick thinking we’re accustomed to followed as he immediately said “excuse me.”

Weird NFL Stat OTW: After being the second guy on a hook and ladder play, SF wideout Deebo Samuel was credited with 80 receiving yards and a receiving TD despite having no official catches in SF’s 36-30 win over Arizona.

Random Thought: What’s with those yellow batting gloves from Caleb Durbin? He looks like he’s in a 1960s TV commercial doing the dishes with Palmolive.

Sports 101 Answer: Jose Canseco (42 & 40), Barry Bonds (42 & 40), A-Rod (42 & 46), Ronald Acuña (41 & 73), Shohei Ohtani (54 & 59) and Alfonso Soriano (46 & 41) are the members of 40-40 club.

Final Thought – Prospect Expectations vs. Reality:

Red Sox Nation spent the 2025 off-season talking/lusting over/bragging about the four supposedly can’t miss guys they had from MLB’s Top 35 prospects. Here’s what all have done two years later.

Kyle Teel – The catcher who delivered Garrett Crochet in a big trade struggled through an injury-riddled season where he hit .210 with five homers and 26 RBI in 28 games.

Kristian Campbell – still in the minors searching for a position since his 2025 demotion last June where he hit .256 with eight homers and 51 RBI. Good thing they hired those Driveline swing coaches, ’cause all they did was wreck the swing of a guy who hit .362 on the way up in 2024.

Marcelo Mayer – the biggest bust. The once fourth overall pick hit .223 with seven homers and 32 RBI in 114 games over two years, which both ended with him on the DL.

Roman Anthony – After a solid Year 1, he was .243-5-15 in 54 games in 2026. True, it was affected by injury, which has already wrecked or ended his two seasons. The 2026 numbers project to 15 homers and 45 RBI in a full season. Hardly superstar numbers.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story – Sox Headed for Postseason: The good news is, after a truly dreadful first three months of the season, the Red Sox somehow are headed to a wild card playoff match-up with the Yankees starting Tuesday.

The bad news is after going 9-9 in September against a line-up of mostly bad teams they backed into it while losing two of three in Tampa Bay over the weekend. Some of that understandably was from resting banged up guys to get healthy for the playoffs. But that’s a delicate balance, as you wonder if a mediocre team can regain the momentum of winning 24 of 27 in July and August.

Worse, they’ve hit .233 during 18 September games while averaging just 3.3 runs per game. That’s daunting especially with their best hitter, Roman Anthony, striking out 35 percent of the time as he struggles to find his form after missing four full months with injury. It all sets up the ancient what’s best conundrum: keep your foot on the gas, or get everyone healthy through needed rest?

Sports 101: Name the three NFL quarterbacks to win an MVP award before turning 25.

News Item – Pats Even Record at 1-1: Here’s the good, bad and ugly from the 20-3 win over Pittsburgh.

Good – The D: True, they played against a backup QB in Game 1 and a QB with a horrid O-line who should have retired five years ago in Week 2. But they’ve given up just 16 points with six sacks while holding the bad guys to 161 yards passing and 94 on the ground.

Bad – The O: The D (Elijah Ponder) scored as many TDs as the O vs. Pittsburgh, after the fourth-quarter horror show when they scored just 10 in the Seattle loss.

Ugly – Injuries: RG Mike Onwenu broke his ankle, so he’s done for a long while at best, while starters Craig Woodson and Dre’Mont Jones were lost with significant shoulder injuries.

News Item – Baseball’s Pennant Races: The only race of note entering the final week is the National League wild card chase, where only two of Philly, Chicago and San Diego will get in. And a la 1967, Philly starts one game behind the other two.

The Numbers:

18 – pitches Tristan Peters forced Cleveland’s Gavin Williams to throw before drawing the sixth-inning walk that opened floodgates to a six-run rally and a 7-3 White Sox win.

37 – of the Red Sox’ 84 wins are of the comeback variety after Trevor Story’s three-run eighth-inning homer that gave them a much needed 4-3 comeback win over Texas on Thursday.

157 – temperature on the artificial turf in Nashville Sunday that actually melted players’ cleats and forced Philly Coach Nick Sirianni to be given an IV after Philly’s 24-20 win over Tennessee.

… Of the Week Awards

Thumbs Up – Return Of Patrick Mahomes: For his Jayson Tatum-like quick return from last December’s torn ACL.

Let’s Run It Up Game of the Week – Oregon vs. Portland State: OU laid the wood 84-0 to schedule patsy P.U., er, I mean P. S. on Saturday.

Random Thoughts: Congrats to the USA women for winning gold in the World Basketball Classic. But I wasn’t a big fan of its wildly over-rated coach Kara Lawson before the WBC. Less so now. Too arrogant and too stubborn.

Sports 101 Answer: The three under-25 QBs to win an MVP are Dan Marino, Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson.

Final Thought – Coach B Update: Despite a surprising opening week upset of TCU to start this year, most know his tenure at North Carolina has been barreling out of control right from the jump. But it got even worse as the calendar turned to 2026. Here’s the recap. (1) The mouthy girlfriend, young enough to be his granddaughter, caught attention in all the wrong ways from Day 1; (2) They went a shocking 4-8 in Year 1; (3) An internal university investigation this summer yielded the resignation of program GM/Belichick lackey Mike Lombardi, and last week his son/DC Steve Belichick resigned; and (4) They’re now 1-2 after losing 28-20 to Clemson Saturday. The UNC mess is dragging the coaching legacy down and it’s looking like a good time for a course correction. Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story — Patriots’ First Game: For the folks who don’t see the paper until Thursday, the Patriots will have already played Game 1 in Seattle in a Super Bowl rematch.

Prediction: 31-24 Seattle.

We’ll look closer at the team all month. But first, some quick thoughts on the offense.

With deep threat A.J. Brown and solid Romeo Doubs joining an already explosive back field and the best deep thrower in football they’ll be very tough to defend.

That’s if Will Campbell and company take the needed step forward in both drive blocking and pass protection.

With those new weapons, expect Drake Maye to top last year’s 31 TD passes if healthy.

Kyle Williams won’t have huge reception numbers, but despite the negative noise, I’m betting he’ll have an impact as a deep ball threat.

We’ll look at the D next week.

Sports 101: Cincinnati Reds rookie Sal Stewart is challenging to become just the third rookie to lead MLB in RBIs. Name the two rookies who’ve already done it.

News Item – Who’s Hot: Not even a one-day demotion to AAA could stop the white hot Merrimackian Mickey Gasper from looking like Roy Hobbs. As he hit a homer in the Sox’ stirring 9-8 comeback win over Seattle the day of his original Aug. 17 recall, his stats were, well, Hobbs-like — 12 for 30 with six homers and 13 RBI in his first 13 games back.

News Item – Dallas Cowboys Myth: With it being the 30 long years since the vaunted Cowboys have even been to a Super Bowl, why are they considered an “iconic” NFL franchise by many? That history actually says they’re an also-ran franchise run by a doofus owner that never meets their annual over-the-top pre-season hype.

News Item — Five Random NFL Observations:

If Aaron Donald can knock off the rust quickly, he and Myles Garrett might lead the Rams to beat the all-time record 72 sacks put up by the hellacious 1984 Bears.

The Patriots will be doing well to make it out of September at 2-2.

Buffalo’s the trendy pick over NE in the AFC East. But with up to 11 losable games their schedule is just as tough, the Patriots added more new ammo and Buffalo has a first-year coach. So I don’t see it.

After reversing Sam Darnold’s downward career start, can Minnesota Coach/QB whisperer Kevin O’Connell do the same with 2019 first overall pick Kyler Murray after he was dumped by Phoenix? Bet yes.

If I can’t pick the Seahawks vs. the Rams in the SB, I’ll take Denver vs. L.A.

The Numbers:

5 – years Tiger Woods lost his driver’s license for after pleading guilty to his latest speed-induced car crash.

62 – second most homers ever hit in one month, which the Chicago Cubs reached with a second most ever nine bombs in a 17-3 rout of Milwaukee on August’s final day.

… Of the Week Award

Thumbs Down – Will Flemming: The Red Sox radio announcer made a fool of himself in calling on the Sox to drill Yankee batter Austin Wells because teammate Jazz Chisholm had the temerity to steal two bases left UNCOVERED late in the 16-1 Yankees win at the end of the month.

Here are two tips for the fan boy announcer. If a team doesn’t want the score run up, it needs to pitch better. And if you leave bases uncovered as the Sox did in (I guess) conceding the win, you’re inviting stolen bases, because real players play hard until the final out.

Here’s a third tip: grow up.

Ludicrous Quote OTW – New Angels Owner Stan Kroenke: He said in announcing the purchase, “The Angels are a storied franchise anchored in a great market.”

Based on what? Going to the World Series once in 67 years and being a stepchild city for L.A. area sports fans?

Sports 101 Answer: One-time Red Sox teammates Ted Williams with 145 in 1939 and Walt Dropo with 144 in 1950 are the only rookies to lead the league in RBI.

Final Thought — A Little History – 1972 Dolphins: Since nobody I saw on TV or anywhere else mentioned it amid last year’s hoo-ha about the Patriots’ weak 2025 schedule, I’ll do it now before everything gets underway in 2026.

No doubt their weak schedule helped. But how come when the undefeated Dolphins of 1972 come up their schedule is never mentioned? Is the reason no one mentions they had one of the weakest schedules in history that I’m the only one who knows that?

Yup, when they did it, the combined winning percentage of the opponents was a paltry 35%, whereas it was 39% for 2025 NE. And Miami only played two teams all year who were over. .500, where both the Chiefs and Giants were only 8-6. It wasn’t much better for the Pats, who faced just three.

But to Miami’s credit they finished it off with a SB win and the Pats did not. So how much does the schedule mean?

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story — Patriots’ First Game: For the folks who don’t see the paper until Thursday, the Patriots will have already played Game 1 in Seattle in a Super Bowl rematch.

Prediction: 31-24 Seattle.

We’ll look closer at the team all month. But first, some quick thoughts on the offense.

With deep threat A.J. Brown and solid Romeo Doubs joining an already explosive back field and the best deep thrower in football they’ll be very tough to defend.

That’s if Will Campbell and company take the needed step forward in both drive blocking and pass protection.

With those new weapons, expect Drake Maye to top last year’s 31 TD passes if healthy.

Kyle Williams won’t have huge reception numbers, but despite the negative noise, I’m betting he’ll have an impact as a deep ball threat.

We’ll look at the D next week.

Sports 101: Cincinnati Reds rookie Sal Stewart is challenging to become just the third rookie to lead MLB in RBIs. Name the two rookies who’ve already done it.

News Item – Who’s Hot: Not even a one-day demotion to AAA could stop the white hot Merrimackian Mickey Gasper from looking like Roy Hobbs. As he hit a homer in the Sox’ stirring 9-8 comeback win over Seattle the day of his original Aug. 17 recall, his stats were, well, Hobbs-like — 12 for 30 with six homers and 13 RBI in his first 13 games back.

News Item – Dallas Cowboys Myth: With it being the 30 long years since the vaunted Cowboys have even been to a Super Bowl, why are they considered an “iconic” NFL franchise by many? That history actually says they’re an also-ran franchise run by a doofus owner that never meets their annual over-the-top pre-season hype.

News Item — Five Random NFL Observations:

If Aaron Donald can knock off the rust quickly, he and Myles Garrett might lead the Rams to beat the all-time record 72 sacks put up by the hellacious 1984 Bears.

The Patriots will be doing well to make it out of September at 2-2.

Buffalo’s the trendy pick over NE in the AFC East. But with up to 11 losable games their schedule is just as tough, the Patriots added more new ammo and Buffalo has a first-year coach. So I don’t see it.

After reversing Sam Darnold’s downward career start, can Minnesota Coach/QB whisperer Kevin O’Connell do the same with 2019 first overall pick Kyler Murray after he was dumped by Phoenix? Bet yes.

If I can’t pick the Seahawks vs. the Rams in the SB, I’ll take Denver vs. L.A.

The Numbers:

5 – years Tiger Woods lost his driver’s license for after pleading guilty to his latest speed-induced car crash.

62 – second most homers ever hit in one month, which the Chicago Cubs reached with a second most ever nine bombs in a 17-3 rout of Milwaukee on August’s final day.

… Of the Week Award

Thumbs Down – Will Flemming: The Red Sox radio announcer made a fool of himself in calling on the Sox to drill Yankee batter Austin Wells because teammate Jazz Chisholm had the temerity to steal two bases left UNCOVERED late in the 16-1 Yankees win at the end of the month.

Here are two tips for the fan boy announcer. If a team doesn’t want the score run up, it needs to pitch better. And if you leave bases uncovered as the Sox did in (I guess) conceding the win, you’re inviting stolen bases, because real players play hard until the final out.

Here’s a third tip: grow up.

Ludicrous Quote OTW – New Angels Owner Stan Kroenke: He said in announcing the purchase, “The Angels are a storied franchise anchored in a great market.”

Based on what? Going to the World Series once in 67 years and being a stepchild city for L.A. area sports fans?

Sports 101 Answer: One-time Red Sox teammates Ted Williams with 145 in 1939 and Walt Dropo with 144 in 1950 are the only rookies to lead the league in RBI.

Final Thought — A Little History – 1972 Dolphins: Since nobody I saw on TV or anywhere else mentioned it amid last year’s hoo-ha about the Patriots’ weak 2025 schedule, I’ll do it now before everything gets underway in 2026.

No doubt their weak schedule helped. But how come when the undefeated Dolphins of 1972 come up their schedule is never mentioned? Is the reason no one mentions they had one of the weakest schedules in history that I’m the only one who knows that?

Yup, when they did it, the combined winning percentage of the opponents was a paltry 35%, whereas it was 39% for 2025 NE. And Miami only played two teams all year who were over. .500, where both the Chiefs and Giants were only 8-6. It wasn’t much better for the Pats, who faced just three.

But to Miami’s credit they finished it off with a SB win and the Pats did not. So how much does the schedule mean?

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

The Big Story – September Baseball Arrives: The best month in sports got off badly for the Sox. In their last shot at the Yanks this year they lost three of four over the weekend, with the last two being 9-2 and 16-1 demolitions. It dropped them four games behind New York for the top wild card spot and 8.5 behind division-leading Tampa.

The good news is their next 17 games are/were all against teams under .500, including all three of the last-place teams in the AL. First up are the Mariners at Fenway followed by Baltimore this weekend. If they take care of business, then the playoffs will be dead ahead. Enjoy.

Sports 101: Who holds the career records for most TDs scored and TD passes thrown on opening day in NFL history?

News Item – Patriots Update: They opened Wednesday in Seattle vs. the Seahawks — ready or not. Given that no player of consequence played a down in preseason, when the D has been awful, they haven’t looked like they are ready so far. Exhibit A was being brutalized 37- 13 by Cleveland Thursday night.

Kyle Williams – I’m Just Saying: I know he’s played against bench players so far. But after another deep strike TD, this time for 45 yards, the yards per catch average on his four pre-season catches was 32.7. And when added to last year’s three TDs on 10 catches, it’s five TDs on just 14 catches for a yards per catch average of 24.1. That’s nearly two yards better than all-time record holder Homer Jones’ 22.3.

News Item – Red Sox Update:

The bad guys are hitting just .218 vs. Payton Tolle while he’s struck out 141 in a career high 125.1 innings with a 3.09 ERA.

How much credit does Pitching Coach Andrew Bailey deserve for all the career years guys on the pitching staff are having?

Even Aroldis Chapman had consecutive ERAs in the high 3s just before getting here. Here it’s been 1.17 and 1.81 with 143 Ks in 106 innings over two Boston seasons.

As we enter the final month, has anybody got any idea who the Sox MVP is so far?

The Numbers:

227 – homers hit by Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber since the Sox let him walk after 2021, to close in on the Babe’s record 235 for most homers in the first five seasons with a new team.

16 – after exceeding the second luxury tax threshold, MLB teams whose entire payrolls are less than what the L.A. Dodgers luxury tax payments will be.

25 – starts Milwaukee hurler Jacob Misiorowski has allowed three earned runs or less to begin the season, to be the first to do that since Dwight Gooden in 1985.

… Of the Week

Thumbs Up – Sox (Interim) Manager Chad Tracy: For turning around the Sox after taking over from Alex Cora to make it a more enjoyable sports summer.

Alumni News – Bill Belichick: A good start for Coach B in Year 2 at UNC, as the Tar Heels upset TCU 15-10.

Alumni News – Ryan Day: The local lad’s Ohio State Buckeyes start the season as college football’s top ranked team.

What A Stupid I Yam Award – Me. Reader Harvey Silverman emailed to say it was Anthony Seigler (sent back to AAA on Sunday) who came in the spring trade with Milwaukee, not Nick Sogard as I said last week.

Sports 101 Answer: Hall of Famers Marcus Allen and Tom Brady hold the records for most TDs scored and TD passes thrown on opening day with 14 and 44 respectively.

Final Thought – A Little History For Bob Kraft: As the Christian Gonzalez contract saga meanders along the Patriots owner apparently needs a little history reminder. So OK.

Yes, Brady won those six Super Bowls, but never without having an A-list cornerback on the team.

The first three came with Hall of Famer Ty Law aboard. But after Coach B made one of his biggest mistakes letting Law walk after 2004 they didn’t win again for 10 long years.

That streak stopped when Darrelle Revis came in 2014 when they beat Seattle. DR left after one year and the Pats lost in 2015. They won in 2016 as Malcolm Butler, he of the greatest play in NFL history, had developed into a solid player. Then won in 2018 as Stephon Gilmore was the Defensive Player of the Year.

Since then, bupkis.

So it seems the Pats’ math for winning a SB goes like this: great QB + A-list CB = SB win. Not a guarantee of course, but it is the common denominator for their six SB wins. Which they now also have. So while you have two huge cash layouts coming up for the Gonzalez and Drake Maye contracts, that’s part of winning, Bob. If you want to win, suck it up and get the deals done.

And if not willing to do that, fine. It’s your money. But then it’s time to sell the team.

Prediction: Seattle 27 – NE 20.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.