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| Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri. |
The brutal reality began to set in for the Atlanta Braves
this week as word came down that they were officially out of the running for a
Wild Card spot.
As of Monday, the Braves were 51-59 overall and running
third in their division, which makes it mathematically impossible for them to
catch the six teams ahead of them in the Wild Card race.
With that said, the Braves could still secure a spot in the
playoffs, but they’ll have to win their division, which isn’t impossible (but
highly unlikely). As of Monday, Atlanta was 14.5 games behind the Washington
Nationals in the National League East standings and 1.5 games behind the
second-place Miami Marlins.
Atlanta, with 51 games left on their regular season
schedule, had a much-needed day off on Monday as they prepared for a two-game
home series against the Phillies before getting on a plane for St. Louis, where
they’re scheduled to play a three-game series against the Cardinals. The
Phillies currently have the worst record in the Major Leagues, so the Braves
should be able to take both of those games, especially since they’re playing in
Atlanta. Of course, there are no guarantees as the Braves have inexplicably struggled
against the Phillies this year.
As of Monday, the Cardinals were a whisker below .500 and
sitting in third place in the NL Central behind the Cubs and Brewers. St. Louis
is very much alive for a NL Wild Card spot, so you can bet they’ll be all business
when the Braves visit Busch Stadium.
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As baseball enters its last two months of the regular
season, football begins to crank up. Hillcrest and Sparta have both started
preseason practice, and this time next week Sparta will be preparing to host
their first game of the regular season. A week later, Hillcrest will be
preparing to host a preseason game against Pickens County with their
regular-season opener scheduled for the following Friday.
The much-anticipated start of the college season will follow
shortly thereafter, and I’ve got a feeling that this year’s college season
might be one of the best we’ve seen in years. Alabama will have a really good
team, but I think several SEC teams have closed the gap between themselves and
the Crimson Tide, especially LSU.
The NFL season will begin on Sept. 7 with a game between the
Chiefs and the Patriots, followed by a full slate of games on Sunday, and the
first Monday Night Football game of the year on the day after that. Preseason
games are already underway, but I don’t put a lot of stock in those. Many of
the players you see in the preseason won’t make the final cut when it’s all
said and done, and I’ve never heard of any correlation between preseason
success and Super Bowl championships.
In the end, we’ve got a lot of great football to look
forward to, and I’m wishing both of our local high school teams much luck as
they prepare to kick off their seasons.
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