Just how serious is the injury to Atlanta Braves prospect Ronald Acuna?

The seventh weekend of our local ESPN College Football Pick ‘Em Contest wrapped up on Saturday, and we had another reshuffling in the local standings.

Phig Newton remained in first place, and Mike Dailey went from sixth place to second place. Ricky Taylor moved into third place from fourth place. “Murder Creek Man 78” and I were tied for fourth place.

Arthur Ingram went from seventh place to sixth place, and Sharon Peacock was in seventh place. Hunter Norris was in eighth place, Rod Sims was in ninth place and Travis Presley was in tenth place.

With that said, if you’re playing in the contest and didn’t make the Top 10, don’t give up. The contest will run for a total of 14 weeks, and we’ve got seven more weeks to go. Remember, it’s a marathon, not a sprint.

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This coming Saturday, there will be five football games involving SEC teams and four of those games will feature head-to-head matchups between SEC teams. Here are my predictions in those games. I like Alabama over Tennessee, Auburn over Arkansas, Mississippi State over Kentucky, LSU over Ole Miss and Missouri over Idaho. Last week: 4-3. So far this year: 50-14.

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The big news from the world of the Atlanta Braves this week centered around former manager Fredi Gonzalez and hot prospect Ronald Acuna. Acuna, a 19-year-old outfielder, suffered a forearm contusion when he was hit by a pitch near his wrist during an Arizona Fall League game last Thursday. Acuna is arguably the top prospect in all of baseball, and the Braves removed him from the game early for medical tests to make sure it was nothing more than a severe bruise. I hope the injury to Acuna isn’t serious because, like most Braves fans, I would like to see him on the field next season.

Word around the campfire this week is that Gonzalez will likely be named the new manager for the Detroit Tigers very soon. Many in the reading audience will remember that Gonzalez managed the Braves from 2011 to 2016 after replacing longtime manager Bobby Cox. Gonzalez, who was fired and replaced by current Braves manager Brian Snitker, spent last season as the third base coach for the Miami Marlins. Personally, I was never a huge Gonzalez fan, but Detroit might be a good fit for him.

As of Monday, there were four teams left in the running for this year’s World Series title. The Los Angeles Dodgers held a 2-0 lead over the Chicago Cubs in the National League Championship Series, and the Houston Astros held a 2-0 lead over the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series.

The only team out of that bunch that I really don’t care for is the Dodgers, so I’m hoping that if they do make the World Series that Houston can pull it out in the end. Los Angeles and Houston both have really good teams, so a World Series between those two teams should prove to be very entertaining.