Life's Too Sports

The Atlanta Braves defeated the Cincinnati Reds by the score of 5-0 in Game 2 of the National League Wild Card Series on Thursday. Atlanta's first postseason series victory since 2001 sends them to an NLDS match-up with the victor of the (3) Cubs - (6) Marlins series -- beginning on Tuesday, October 6. The Braves' offensive firepower was largely held in check in their  Game 1 victory , and for the majority of Game 2, the Reds stifled this team once again. However, it's pretty difficult to lose a series when your opposition fails to score -- and that's exactly what happened here. Atlanta's second consecutive shutout was largely due to the efforts of starting pitcher Ian Anderson, who went six scoreless innings -- allowing two hits, two walks, and striking out nine batters. The Braves broke the scoreless tie in the bottom of the fifth, when Ronald Acuna Jr. drove an RBI double to left-center field to score Austin Riley. And in the eighth, Atlanta buried any h...

The Atlanta Braves defeated the Cincinnati Reds by the score of 1-0 in Game 1 of the National League Wild Card Series on Wednesday. Despite Reds' starter Trevor Bauer pitching an absolute gem (7.2 IP, 2 H, 12 SO), the Braves managed to capitalize in the clutch moments of a scoreless contest. Atlanta didn't make an error on Wednesday afternoon. Their defensive capabilities were on full display in the seventh inning, when Austin Riley's diving tag prevented Aristides Aquino from breaking the scoreless tie. Meanwhile, the Braves also received a stellar performance from their young starter Max Fried (7.0 IP, 6 H, 5 SO). As the matchup crept closer to becoming the longest scoreless game in MLB postseason history, however, it was Atlanta's relievers who repeatedly dealt clutch strikes to escape jams. In the 11th inning, Tyler Matzek struck out Mike Moustakas to strand the bases loaded. In the 12th, Matzek struck out Freddy Galvis with two runners in scoring positi...

On June 26, 1997,  Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling introduced the world to a remarkable new sport called Quidditch. In theory, Rowling's invention is fairly simple. For those who are unfamiliar with the game, I will provide a brief description of its rules.  Quidditch is played in a 7-on-7 format on flying broomsticks. Each team features three "Chasers" who attempt to throw a large ball (called the Quaffle) past the opposing team's "Keeper" into one of three circular hoops.  Every time the Chasers succeed in beating the Keeper, their team is awarded 10 points. Meanwhile, there are a pair of bat-wielding "Beaters" on each team who add to the chaos by clubbing two smaller balls (called Bludgers) at their opposition. However, the most important position on the field is that of the "Seeker", which is Harry Potter's position on Gryffindor's Quidditch team during his time at Hogwarts.  Each team has one Seeker who scours t...

For the first time since 2004, the Tampa Bay Lightning are Stanley Cup Champions. Despite faltering in Game 5 of the 2020 Stanley Cup Finals, the Lightning clinched eternal glory on Monday night with a 2-0 victory in Game 6. The deciding goal came off the stick of young phenom Brayden Point in the opening period, as the Dallas Stars mustered only 22 shots in the series finale. After falling in six games to the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2015 Stanley Cup Finals, Monday's victory had to feel particularly sweet for the Lightning, who endured 15 postseason overtime periods -- the most in NHL history -- en route to their second title. Emerging as the best in a 31-team league is no small feat, and the 2019-2020 NHL season tested this explosive Tampa Bay squad in more ways than one. After a four-month hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Lightning secured their spot as the 2-seed in the Eastern Conference following a series of mid-summer Round Robin matchups. However, a ...

The San Francisco Giants saw their season come to a premature conclusion on  Sunday , largely due to the subpar efforts of home plate umpire Rob Drake. According to Umpire Auditor, Drake made 27 incorrect calls during Sunday's game. Alongside the image posted above, Giants' insider Alex Pavlovic tweeted: "Rob Drake was awful all afternoon. Ended the game (and season) on this pitch. Bring on the robots." While it is easy to blame San Francisco's demise on a bad strike call rather than assessing their failures as a whole (the team wasted golden opportunities to clinch a postseason berth on  Thursday  and  Friday ), it isn't as though one poor call ended their season. All three of Austin Slater's strikeouts (including the one that eliminated San Francisco from postseason contention) came on pitches that Statcast registered as balls. In the seventh inning, Drake also rung up Mauricio Dubon on a pitch inside; in the eighth, he rung up Evan Longoria on a pitch b...

Following heartbreaking losses on Thursday and Friday , the San Francisco Giants (29-29) entered Saturday evening's matchup with their postseason fate still in their own hands. Unfortunately for the Giants, that is no longer the case. Despite a solid outing from Johnny Cueto, San Francisco's offense was unable to produce on Saturday. After the Giants finally tallied a pair of runs in the eighth inning, the Padres countered with three in the ninth en route to a lopsided 6-2 victory. Although San Francisco is technically tied with the Milwaukee Brewers for the National League's 8-seed (at 29-30), Milwaukee owns the tiebreaker heading into the final day of the regular season. In other words: for the Giants to qualify for the 2020 MLB Playoffs on Sunday, they must win  and the Brewers must lose. There is a small silver lining for San Francisco in considering the status of the St. Louis Cardinals (29-28). If the Cardinals lose to the Brewers tomorrow, their season i...

On Thursday, the San Francisco Giants suffered a heartbreaking loss against the Colorado Rockies. On Friday, the San Francisco Giants suffered a heartbreaking loss against the San Diego Padres. If that sounds like déjà vu, it should. Despite a shaky bullpen performance, the Giants seemed poised to turn their fortunes around after a 5-4 victory in Game 1 of Friday's double-header. However, any celebration was short-lived, as Trent Grisham launched a walk-off home run to propel the Padres to a 6-5 victory in Game 2. For San Francisco, the Game 2 defeat was particularly painful, as they took a major hit in the expanded Wild Card standings (pictured below) while allowing a visiting team to celebrate a walk-off victory on their home field. 2020 -- it's been an odd year. Furthermore, a proclivity for blowing leads isn't promising for these Giants (29-29) as they head into their two most crucial games of the season. The good news : the Giants still control their own d...