10-21-26
Before we start the festivities with the World Series, let’s detour into College Football with a mid-week clash between the NM State Aggies and the Sam Houston Bearkats. The Aggie Broadcasters praised new pressbox at Sam Houston, which was a subtle shade being cast on their own pressbox. (They’re going to remodel it in the offseason.) Before the game, Coach Sanchez was asked about the questionable quarterback situation and said we may see all three quarterbacks in the game. Groan.
And SH blocked the punt on the Aggies’ opening drive for a touchdown. Groan. Okay, don’t lose heart. In the second quarter, Josiah Charles intercepted a Bearkat pass and nearly took it back to the house. Star running back, James Jones, finished it, 7-7. Broadcaster MJ Newsom was really into the play call here. I like him.
SH took the lead on a field goal, 10-7. They were using all three of their quarterbacks, but the Aggies were sticking with Adam Damante. After a fourth down stop and turnover, the Aggies took it downfield with under a minute left in the half. Damante found AJ Williams in the endzone on a short field for a 27-yard pass, 14-10 Aggies at the half.
SH wasn’t giving up. They began the third quarter with 81-yard bomb and retook the lead, 17-14. The Aggies came back with Williams’ second touchdown, a field goal, and TD off of a fumble (missed PAT), 30-17 Aggies. It was a productive quarter for NM State.
In the fourth quarter, SH drove downfield and had a fourth and goal, but the Aggie defense held. However, Damante was intercepted right after and SH would finally score a touchdown after accruing several penalties, 30-24. It took forever and SH was now out of timeouts. The winning play was a fourth and 1 for Aggies in SH territory. Jones rushed and got it by the nose of the football. They actually brought out the chains to measure it. 30-24 Aggies final. James Jones had a great game with 178 yards and a touchdown. It’s a decent win for the Aggies, but against a really bad team.
10-23-26
Yeah, I got a Chourio with my Ariana Grande at Taco Bell the other day. Delicious.
And with that inauspicious comment we begin our 2026 World Series coverage. How much of this I’ll be actually able to watch or listen to is up in the air. Tonight, I’m listening to the radio coverage at work. Game 1 featured the Rays versus the Brewers and Nick Martinez facing Jacob Misiorowski in starting pitching.
The Miz was hittable to start the game. The Rays got two on with one out, but lined into a double play to end the threat. That one was thanks to some poor baserunning, as a runner was doubled off. In the bottom, Christian Yelich tripled in Jackson Chourio. Jonny DeLuca in the outfield nearly ran it down, but couldn’t come up with it. William Contreras singled Yelich home, 2-0.
We jump to the fourth, the Rays scratched out a run on a fielder’s choice, 2-1. In the fifth, Victor Mesa Jr. was thrown out trying to steal third by Contreras. In the bottom of the fifth, David Hamilton hit one into the corner. He stumbled around second and was thrown out at third.
In the sixth, the Miz was out and Abner Uribe was in. A strikeout and caught stealing ended the inning. In the bottom, Martinez came out. He had 5 strikeouts with no walks, but gave up those 2 runs in the first. In the top of the seventh, Uribe got the first out and Aaron Ashby came in. In the breaks, the game sponsor was Visit Milwaukee. Seemed like some conflict of interest bias in the coverage.
In the bottom of the seventh with two outs and a runner on second, Kevin Kelly was in to pitch for the Rays. On the first pitch to Chourio, he singled in a run. Jake Bauers then painted the line for a single. The broadcasters disagreed with the fair call even after the play was reviewed, though two runners were left stranded anyway. 3-1 Brewers. The eighth was a 1-2-3 inning for Ashby. In the bottom, the Brewers got two on. A double play nearly ended it, but the play was challenged successfully for only one out. The two runners were left stranded after a pitching change.
In the top of the ninth, Trevor Megill was in to close. Joey Ortiz was also in the game as a defensive replacement. Joey got a mention on a baseball World Series preview podcast I was listening to earlier. Unfortunately, they were just talking about his mustache. He made a tough play for the first out, but next two batters singled. The Rays executed a double steal and the bases were walked full.
The Brewers suddenly turned a DP on the first pitch to the next batter. This was challenged and the crowd literally groaned on the replay. One of the runners was safe and a run scored. For some reason, the moment the game seemed to be over, a stage was brought out on field and fireworks were set off. The stage had to be taken back off the field, but smoke remained from the fireworks. A strikeout finally finished it, though I wonder if there might have been the smoke in the batter’s eyes. Brewers win 3-2 and take a 1-0 lead in the Series.
10-24-26
We were under a severe thunderstorm and/or flood watch this evening. I could believe it as I noticed a large blue/black cloud on the way. It took its time getting here, but in the meantime, I was watching the World Series on a Mexican station. I was grateful they were broadcasting it, as otherwise, I would have been out-of-luck and following along on Gameday.
Game 2 between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Milwaukee Brewers was going to feature Drew Rasmussen versus a Brewers’ staff day. Shakes his head. Five years from now, all games will be staff days. Given the contract prices of good starters, this may be ultimate limiter on player salaries more than a cap. Also featured for the game was Front Row Amy’s cleavage in her low-cut top. She was keeping score, as always. I could empathize watching her standing and cheering, while still marking down plays.
It did not start well for the Brewers with an error at short on the first Ray batter of the game. Chandler Simpson cashed in that runner and then stole second. Junior Caminero singled in a run. Then Liam Hicks crushed a second deck 2-run homer. It’s a disaster! The Brewers were already warming up a new pitcher before the inning ended. Rays up 4-0. During the inning, the home plate ump had to stop play for a problem on his electrical equipment (maybe his helmet-mounted camera). Should the ump be assessed a penalty of some sort for not being game-ready like the pitchers and their Pitch Coms?
Of course the Brewers were thinking at this point, We’ve got them right where we want them. The bottom of the first started with a pair of hits. Jonathan Aranda should have gotten an error for clanking on a foul ball. William Contreras took that extra life and drove in a run. Garrett Mitchell drove in a run with two outs to make it, 4-2. Hey, the Brewers have cheerleaders. They were performing on top of the dugout. They weren’t super coordinated, but they were cheering.
In the top of the second, the Rays got a walk, who was sac’d over to second, but was left stranded. The Brewers went to their next pitcher by the fourth. In the bottom, the Brewers got two on with one out. David Hamilton hit a little grounder to Aranda at first, who let it go right between his legs. That one was an error and an unearned run. We had a Barrelman sighting in the crowd cheering. The bases were walked full with two outs. Rasmussen came out and Cam Booser faced Christian Yelich, who grounded out. 4-3 Rays.
In the top of the fifth, Dustin May was in pitching for the Brewers. Cooper Pratt made up for his earlier error with a good play on an infield hit, which saved a run. I was sort of flipping over to a Mountain West Football game on the CW between San Diego State and Colorado State between innings. The final was 56-49 Rams. I missed a good one. I was looking forward to the next game between North Dakota State and New Mexico. It was around this time that the storm finally hit. I had turned on my computer five minutes before and had to turn it right off. Actually, the bulk of the storm missed us, so play on.
In the top of the sixth, DL Hall was pitching. With a Rays’ runner on, a little bleeder went through the infield. It was a bad send and the runner was out by a mile. The play was challenged, but upheld. In the bottom, Sal Frelick hit a line drive homer to center to tie it. Take a slide, Bernie Brewer! It didn’t seem to be hit that hard. It was like the crowd’s will carried it out. With two outs, there was an error in the outfield on a miscommunication between the fielders (not scored as such), which put two on. The Rays brought out a new pitcher to end the inning.
The Brewers brought out their fifth pitcher in the seventh. In the bottom, Brice Turang led off with a double. The Mexican announcer was sick and starting to lose his voice calling the big plays. Victor Mesa Jr. made a great play on a fly ball at the wall, but Turang tagged up and took second. Pratt then singled him in to make it, 5-4 Brewers. Mesa would make another great catch at the right field wall before the inning ended.
In the top of the eighth, the Brewers brought out their seventh and final pitcher, Aaron Ashby, with one out. He closed that out. During the break, the coverage went their good-looking blonde stadium reporter. She was wearing a cheese head borrowed from a fan. She sort of conversed with another fan, though the language difference made that difficult, but she was very enthusiastic. In another break, she was walking in the concourse showing the attractions. While she was there, the Brewers took the lead and everyone started cheering. She didn’t know what exactly had happened, but she started cheering, too.
In the bottom of the eighth, with two on and one out, the Brewers executed a double steal. A grounder to the drawn in infield resulted in a runner getting thrown out at the plate. This was challenged, but upheld. (I hope we’re not setting the precedent that every play at the plate is going to be challenged, along with every double play.) A new pitcher came in to get the final out.
Top of the ninth and Jonny DeLuca led off for the Rays with a double. Ashby knuckled down and left him stranded. Yandy Diaz was the final out on a check swing strikeout. He was pissed and ready to throw down and had to be led away from the plate. (It was a swing.) Brewers win 5-4 and are up 2-0 in the series.
Okay, let’s cover some of that Bisons and Lobos Football game for fun. Both are good one-loss teams. The game was scheduled late and was delayed by the late finish of the previous game. It was also cold in Albuquerque with a chance of rain, judging by the coats and rain ponchos in the crowd, but 35k showed up at University Stadium. The CW announcers were impressed with a lights-out flashlight display by the crowd. The Lobos were looking sharp in turquoise jerseys and a Route 66 stripe on their helmets with a New State flag sticker on the back.
I basically missed the first half, but didn’t miss much as it was only 7-3 Lobos at the two-minute timeout. The Lobo defense had briefly knocked out the Bisons’ quarterback, but he did return to play. The Lobos got a 44-yard punt return and scored a touchdown starting from midfield, 14-3 Lobos.
The stadium had a giant American flag on display from a crane, except it was dragging the ground. (Flag etiquette, guys.) By the fourth quarter, it was 14-9 in a second half of near offensive futility. A UNM interception and run back finally opened it up, 21-9 Lobos. NDST came back with a quick touchdown.
UNM couldn’t run it out against the stout Bison defense and had to give it back. However, after the two-minute timeout, NDST was out of timeouts and deep in their own end. A fumble on third down killed their drive, even though they recovered it. With the clock winding down, they threw an incomplete deep ball on fourth down and turned it over. The Lobos took a knee and won it, 21-16. They are 6-1 and will be going to a bowl game, as I predicted earlier in the season (9-26-26).
10-26-26
The World Series resumed in Tampa Bay with Game 3. The Brewers started Robert Gasser and former Brewer, Freddy Peralta, was in for the Rays. I was listening to the ESPN Radio call. I found out that the minimum ticket price for this game was $550. Undaunted, at least 2,200 Brewers fans were present. It was in the low 70’s in Tropicana Field and about the same temperature outside.
The Brewers started the top of the first by getting two on, but they were left stranded. In the bottom of the first, Chandler Simpson was thrown out stealing. He over-slid and came off the bag. However, he had the play of the game in the top of the second. Simpson jumped into the low left field wall to rob a home run. He went down, but was okay. A caught stealing ended the inning.
In the top of the third, Jackson Chourio collected his second hit of the game. There was a loud cheer from the crowd. My, there were a bunch of Brewer fans there. It was two on with no outs, Christian Yelich drove in Chourio with a single. William Contreras singled in Jake Bauers, but he was thrown out at second trying to stretch it into a double. 2-0 Brewers.
There was a discussion amongst the broadcasters about Tampa Bay mascots. They didn’t approve of them having three: Raymond, Stinger, and DJ Kitty. Admittedly, they only really need DJ Kitty. I don’t know about the other two.
It was a fairly normal game to this point. Then the top of the fifth happened. The bases were loaded via an overturned fielder’s choice call. Credit Yelich’s hustle for that. Peralta was taken out and Cam Booser was in with 2 outs. Brice Turang singled off an infielder’s glove and scored 2. Garrett Mitchell singled in a run. Cooper Pratt doubled in 2 more runs. Sal Frelick doubled in Pratt. A new pitcher came in after Booser failed to retire a batter. The hit parade continued. David Hamilton singled and Chourio doubled him in. Finally, a fly ball ended it.
After the smoke cleared, it was now 10-0 Brewers. That was an 8-run inning and a World Series record. No home runs. Many of those hits went to the opposite field and several were on the first pitch. Also, all of the runs came with 2 outs.
The game was pretty much functionally over. Gasser worked 6 innings. In the seventh, Joey Ortiz got an at bat. In the eighth, there was a story about the roof. Eduardo Perez, the color guy, said he couldn’t spot a fly ball off the roof and got seriously razzed for it by his teammates. The new roof is better for picking up balls up off of. The Rays fans had deserted by this point. Presumably, the Brewers fans were still there.
In the bottom eighth, Sal Frelick jumped and dove for a ball to make a catch. He had the wind knocked out of him, but stayed in. What did Manager Pat Murphy say? “This team has gamers.” In the bottom of the ninth, Brandon Woodruff, back from injury, came in to pitch. Yandy Diaz drove in a run to keep the Rays from being shutout. 10-1 Brewers was the final and they took a commanding 3-0 lead in the Series. Your key stat was the Brewers up 16 to 3 in hits.
10-27-26
World Series Game 4 between the Brewers and the Rays was a possible close-out game. In the top of the first, Christian Yelich walked with two outs via a successful challenge. He stole second and the throw went into centerfield, which sent him to third. Another walk put two on, but a ground out ended it.
In the bottom of the second, Chandler Simpson drove in the first run to make it, 1-0 Rays. The Tampa Bay fans made some noise. In the top of the fourth, Jonny DeLuca made a diving catch in the outfield, but the Brewers made a two-out rally. Sal Frelick singled and Cooper Pratt doubled him in, 1-1. The Brewers fans present started making some noise.
In the bottom of the fourth, Brewers’ starter, Dustin May, came out after giving up a single. On a grounder to third, David Hamilton tried to tag Junior Caminero coming by, missed him, and then made a wild throw to first, which scored a run. The tag was challenged, but denied. 2-1 Rays.
I was sure Joey Ortiz might have made the play, but I would have said to keep Hamilton in, since he’s batting over .350 for the postseason. He proved me right in top of the fifth with a leadoff home run that chased Griffin Jax, the Rays’ starter, from the game. Kevin Kelly came in. He accidentally forgot the number of outs, but retired the side. 2-2 tie.
In the bottom of the sixth, Brice Turang caught a liner and doubled off a runner at first. In the top of the eighth, Bryan Baker, the Rays’ closer, came in and worked a 1-2-3 inning for the Rays. In the bottom, DL Hall got the first two batters and, Brewer’s closer, Trevor Megill, came in to face Yandy Diaz and get the out.
In the top of the ninth, Simpson made a great leaping catch at wall with a runner going on a hit and run. Pratt would steal second. The call was challenged. The broadcasters thought he was out and the call was overturned to end the inning. In the bottom of the ninth, Aaron Ashby, the Brewers’ un-scored upon reliever in the playoffs, came in, along with Joey at third as a defensive replacement. A grounder came right to Joey immediately. It was a poor throw, but he got the out. Nobody scored. We went to extras.
The tenth was also scoreless. In the eleventh, Cam Booser came in for the Rays after one out. Part of the mound came up after a pitch, which caused a grounds keeping delay to fix. In the bottom, it was Ashby’s third inning of work. He got the first out and was relieved by Antonio Senzatela. Ashby did not want to come out. Senzatela issued first Brewer walk of the game. The Rays brought in a pinch runner, who stole second, but was left stranded.
By the twelfth, guys I hadn’t heard of came in to pitch. Pratt hit a leadoff home run to begin the inning. He was hot going 4 for 5 tonight. The TV call was “Go on, get up, get out of here!” which was Bob Uecker’s home run call. Jackson Chourio doubled after 12-pitch at bat, but was left on. 3-2 Brewers.
In the bottom of the twelfth, Senzatela was still in. Caminero got on via an error by Joey on a bad throw. Another Brewer reliever came in, Shane Drohan. A hit put runners at the corners with nobody out. DeLuca tied it with single. Another hit loaded the bases. The Brewers went with a five-man infield, but Ben Williamson still got a hit through it. Rays win 4-3 and the Series was now 3-1 Brewers.
I would have felt bad about the Brewers’ loss, but Joey’s error was crushing for me. While Hamilton’s error at third earlier directly cost a run, Joey’s precipitated losing the game. Joey also hasn’t hit at all in his World Series plate appearances. I’m worried he won’t get a chance to redeem himself in another game. I’m sure Manager Pat Murphy is second-guessing himself on bringing him in with the score tied in the ninth. He didn’t imagine it’d go three more innings.
10-28-26
We’ll get this nonsense out of the way first. I was really hoping the World Series would finish last night so that I could listen to tonight’s College Football game between the Aggies and Jax State, though I wasn’t entirely hopeful since TK King and another main receiver were injured and out for the rest of the season. I was following along on Gameday. The first quarter was scoreless. The Aggies got an interception that set up a missed field goal. Jax State got a touchdown to start the second quarter, which turned out to be the only score of the half. Aggie quarterback, Adam Damante, was 1 for 6 for 6 yards receiving.
Jax State added a field goal and a touchdown in the third quarter and another touchdown in the fourth quarter. Well, that was the game, Jax State wins, 24-0. On second thought, thank goodness the baseball game was on. The Aggie offense was positively offensive. They could only manage two missed field goals. Damante was 6 for 19 for 29 yards. The only question is why the other quarterbacks weren’t brought in after halftime? Why not? The sole highlight was running back, James Jones, rushing for 112 yards, which was basically half of the Aggies’ yardage.
I thought I was done commenting on Aggie Football a month ago. This time, I may be abandoning it for real, since they’re not actually playing. I did have one amusing C-USA sidenote for this Wednesday. Degenerate gambler/political commentator, Clay Travis, was pitching for his sports betting sponsor earlier in the day and was trying to get people to bet on the Middle Tennessee game tonight. That’s when you know you have a problem.
The Trop has four catwalks under the roof -- the A-, B-, C- and D-rings. Any fair ball that hits the lower- and outermost two catwalks (C-ring and D-ring) is a home run. A fair ball that hits either of the top two catwalks (A-ring and B-ring) is in play, and the fielders can catch it for an out.
The most amazing thing about this Series is that there weren’t any balls hitting stadium roofs. I finally had the Trop’s rules ready to go to commentate on. Then again, there were only four home runs in the Series, so the guys weren’t hitting it in the air much. When you’re not relying on the long ball and have to play with hits and stolen bases, the game is more entertaining, though.
It was the pitching matchup we were all waiting for Jacob Misorowski versus Drew Rasmussen going the Brewers and Rays respectively in Game 5 of the World Series. It was ace versus ace. However, The Miz was working on full rest. Rasmussen was on three day’s rest and had a pitch limit.
There were odd mound issues in the first. The Miz’s stride pitching was so long, it was tearing up the clay in front of the mound. It had to be fixed during the game (again). In the top of the second, Brice Turang doubled and Sal Frelick was hit (and hurt) to put two on with one out. Cooper Pratt drove in Turang. Pratt got tagged out trying to get into a run-down to score Frelick. 1-0 Brewers.
In the bottom of the third, Jake Bauers made a dive stop at first and tagged the bag for an out. Yandy Diaz worked a walk, though he pulled something in the at bat and wouldn’t come out. The Miz did not have any strikeouts to this point. He was taking something off his pitches to stay in the game longer. In the bottom of the fourth, the Miz hit a batter and got his first strikeout. Chandler Simpson then got a single, and a bobble in outfield, allowed him to take second. This put two on in scoring position with two outs, but a ground out ended the inning.
In the top of the fifth, Rasmussen was out and Kevin Kelly was in. Pratt singled. It was his sixth straight hit over two games. A hit by Garrett Mitchell put runners on the corners with one out. David Hamilton brought in a run with a single. The Rays went to another pitcher to finish the inning, but he Brewers were up, 2-0.
In the top of the sixth, Christian Yelich got a hit to start the inning. William Contreras doubled him in with a shot into the corner. The crowd cheered? Brewer fans really did take over there in Tampa. After another single, a pitching change, and a stolen base, Contreras was on third and was brought in by a sac fly by Pratt. The Rays had to go another pitcher to get the last out, but now it was 4-0 Brewers.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Miz cramped up after getting first two outs and he had to come out. He got a standing ovation from the crowd and the crowd watching at the park in Milwaukee. (They were sold out at AmFam Field for all three games at Tampa for a viewing party.) Rays’ closer, Bryan Baker, was in for the eighth. The Brewers’ closer, Trevor Megill, was in in the bottom. The crowd was roaring with each of the outs Megill got. In the bottom of the ninth, Liam Hicks hit the first base bag on a grounder and got a double. Aaron Ashby was warming up, but Megill stayed in. Simpson drove in Hicks with two outs, but a ground out ended it. Brewers win 4-1 and take the Series 4-1.
The Miz was letting loose tears after the game. Yelich gave Bob Uecker a shout out in his postgame interview. William Contreras was your MVP. He hit .373 with a 1.000+ OPS and a lot correct ABS calls, 9 for 12, and threw out four runners. The Brewers went though the postseason with an 11-2 record.
I don’t know what Joey Ortiz’s fate with the team will be, especially after his postseason performance. However, he is a World Series winner. I did a search and saw several people on Twitter shouting him out as a former Aggie, including Adam Young, who doesn’t even work for the university anymore. I don’t know what’s going to happen to him and I’m sure he has regrets, but he reached the mountain top in his baseball. (I also found out there was a Lobo pitcher on the team with Joey, Robert Gasser.)
I feel bad for the Rays. I was not rooting against them. It’s amazing that this “under-funded” team has reached the World Series three times. This is a team that’s doing it the “right way,” like the Brewers, so they’re easy to root for, especially when they beat up on the Yankees and other big money teams. They’re the only team I’ve seen that is completely un-intimidated by Yankee Stadium (mostly because they’re used to playing in front of Yankee fans at their own stadium).
Nothing but good vibes came from this win by the Brewers. We have at least a month to savor this, until the CBA is up and a likely lockout comes in December. I’ll eventually be forced to cover what happens and whatever there is of a Hot Stove League this winter.
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