Mike Dailey takes lead in local ESPN College Football Pick 'Em contest

Major League Baseball wrapped up its regular season schedule on Sunday, and 10 teams made the playoff cut. 

In the American League, you’ve got the Kansas City Royals, the Oakland A’s, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the Baltimore Orioles and the Detroit Tigers. 

From the National League, it’s the Pittsburgh Pirates, the San Francisco Giants, the Washington Nationals, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the St. Louis Cardinals.

Almost before this paper hits the streets, the two Wild Card games will be over, which will set the stage for the four best-of-five Division Series, which will start tomorrow and Saturday.

On paper, I look for the Nationals and the Angels to make it to the Worlds Series, but I’m kind of pulling for the Royals. If I had to pick a favorite out of the Nats and the Angels, I’d probably go with the Nats to win it all.

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The fifth week of our local ESPN College Football Pick ‘Em contest is in the books, and the standings on Sunday morning showed that we had a new name in the No. 1 spot.

Mike Dailey jumped from third place into sole possession of this week’s first place spot. Glennis Curry, who’d been in first place for three straight weeks, fell to No. 2. Barlow_91, who was tied for third place last week, remained in third place this week. (Barlow_91, if you’re reading this, please send me your real name.)

Rod Sims dropped from third place to fourth place, and Steve Stacey went from seventh place to fifth place. Aaron Albritton dropped from second place to sixth place.

We had a three-way tie at seventh place with Arthur Ingram III, Ricky Powell and Mark Peacock all filling that spot. Sharon Peacock dropped from eighth place to tenth place.

In the interest of full disclosure, your friendly neighborhood sports columnist went from 16th place to 13th place.

If you’re playing this local contest and didn’t finish in the Top 10, don’t sweat it. This contest will run for nine more weeks, and it’s a marathon not a sprint. You’ll find that the standings will change a lot over the next 2-1/2 months.

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In the SEC this week, there are six head-to-head games between conference opponents on Saturday.

No. 3 Alabama will play No. 11 Ole Miss in Oxford at 2:30 p.m. (CBS), and No. 5 Auburn will play No. 15 LSU in Auburn at 6 p.m. (ESPN). No. 6 Texas A&M will play No. 12 Mississippi State in Starkville at 11 a.m. (ESPN), and No. 13 Georgia will play Vanderbilt in Athens at 3 p.m. (SECN). Florida will play Tennessee in Knoxville at 11 a.m. (SECN), and South Carolina will play Kentucky in Lexington at 6:30 p.m. (SECN). Missouri and Arkansas have open dates this week.

For what it’s worth, here’s how I see each of those games playing out. I like Alabama over Ole Miss, Auburn over LSU, Tennessee over Florida, Texas A&M over Mississippi State, Georgia over Vanderbilt and South Carolina over Kentucky.

Last week: 6-1. So far this season: 42-8.