9-27-25
Friday at work was a blur. There was no Baseball available. Saturday was a bunch of College Football that I watched. I won’t go into the games here, except for mentioning that, former Aggie great, Diego Pavia, is 5-0 with Vanderbilt this season. He had 5 touchdowns in a 55-35 win over Utah State. He is working his way into Heisman consideration.
I will talk about the Aggie Football playing the Lobos in Albuquerque today. There were 37k there, a near sellout, and you could hear them clearly over the radio call. The Aggies built up a 17-14 lead at halftime. They’d had a wide receiver pass for a touchdown and a scoop-and-score on a fumble. The Lobos muffed a punt that gave the Aggies the ball on the Lobo 19yd line. After a sack (Aggie quarterback Logan Fife was getting sacked a bunch), they had to settle for a 51yd field goal attempt that missed. The defense made a late fourth down stop that gave the Aggies the ball on the Lobo 41, but gave it back on an interception.
In the third quarter, the Lobos went for it on a fourth and eight on the 48, but an Aggie penalty gave them the first down and they tied it at 17 with a field goal. The Lobos got a TD late in the quarter for 24-17 lead. Crowd noise was becoming a factor on Aggie possessions, but they got a fourth quarter field goal to close it to 24-20. Then I had to go out and walk dad’s neighbor’s dogs. When I got back, the Lobos had scored two more touchdowns and won 38-20. The Aggies had a couple of chances in the first half, but couldn’t convert and that was the difference (and 15 total yards rushing).
I listened to the Miners’ game against LA Tech later in the evening. If you thought the Aggies did badly, the Miners said, “Hold my beer.” They lost 30-11, but it was the way they lost. It was 7-0 LA Tech until 5 minutes left in the third quarter. There were 9 turnovers in the game, including two interceptions by the Miners that went for touchdowns. LA Tech scored 20 points in the fourth quarter. It was a close game until that point.
There was a NASCAR Xfinity Playoff race on in Kansas today. Brandon Jones won. Connor Zilisch came in second. He set a record for consecutive top 5 finishes with that. This kid . . .
Meanwhile in Baseball, I was watching the MLB.TV Free Game that was the Mets at the Marlins, though it seemed that there were a bunch of Met fans there. The Mets won, 5-0, to keep their playoff hopes alive. The Reds won as well, so this will come down to whatever happens tomorrow.
On the radio in another game with playoff implications, the Indians took a 2-1 lead in the first against the Rangers. Adolis Garcia would tie it with a solo home run in the fourth. Unfortunately, when the sun went down, I lost the station and my nighttime station was broadcasting a football game (and even after listening for 10 minutes, I couldn’t figure out who was playing). The Indians would win it late, 3-2. The Tigers would keep pace with a 2-1 win over the Red Sox. They’re both in, but it’s a question of who and where will they play.
9-28-25
It’s the last day of the Baseball season. Where does the time go? I took my portable radio to Aggie Soccer to listen to the final Rangers game. I did this last year, as well (9-29-24). Reception was kinda weak, but okay. I was worried about having the earbuds in and the radio sitting next to me. If I had to stand up suddenly to celebrate a goal, I’d yank the earbuds out and knock over the radio. That turned out to not be an issue this afternoon with 2-0 Aggie loss.
Given how the Soccer went, I was glad to have the radio to listen to. The Rangers would be playing the Indians in Cleveland. The Indians were already in the playoffs, but this game and the Tigers’ game against the Red Sox would determine who would be playing where. While it was bright and sunny out, there were a bunch of big clouds around. I mention this because my radio coverage would be interrupted about every 20 minutes with a weather alert. Thankfully, none of the heavy weather was nearby.
The Indians got two on in the first. Alejandro Osuna robbed a three-run homer at the wall, but Jonathan Rodriguez ended up driving in two runs anyway on a hit. 2-0 Cleveland. In the second, Osuna drove in 2 to tie it. In the third, the Rangers scored a couple more (I couldn’t hear with the Band performing at the Soccer game) and it was 4-2 Rangers. In the bottom, Cleveland loaded the bases and sac’d in a run to make it, 4-3. In the fifth, the Rangers left the bases loaded, but in the sixth, Michael Hellman successfully executed a safety squeeze, and the Rangers had a 5-3 lead.
The Tigers ended up losing to the Red Sox. This meant Cleveland had won the AL Central and would host the Tigers in the Wild Card series. The announcement at the stadium caused a celebration in the crowd. On with the game, the Indians would tie it with runs in the seventh and eighth. We went to extras.
Broadcaster Eric Nadel was maybe not entirely thrilled with this development in this now meaningless game, but at least it was entertaining. Rowdy Tellez hit a pinch hit three-run homer in the top of the tenth. In the bottom, Bo Naylor led off by singling in a run. Brayan Rocchio, with two on, hit the foul pole for a walk off three-run homer. Indians win 9-8 and the team celebrated with fans.
By the postgame, we learned that the Reds won and the Mets lost, which completed the playoff picture. Apparently, just money alone won’t buy a championship to this point, as the Mets have learned. There was an interesting observation in the Rangers’ postgame. The broadcasters mentioned Austin Hedges, who’d been on the Rangers’ 2023 championship team, was now the cheerleader for the Indians. His upbeat clubhouse presence was something that the Rangers lacked this season.
Anyway, that’s it for the 2025 regular season. I didn’t even cover a fraction of the ups, downs, and drama of the MLB season. It’s been fun, as always. I’ll cover what I can of the postseason.
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