Elephant Rumblings: 2024 Wild Card round underway.
The 2024 MLB Postseason is underway, and the first games of all four Wild Card series are in the books. For the fourth straight season, the Athletics will see the playoffs as spectators only. But there are a number of former A’s with World Series hopes this fall, and as no teams were particularly dominant in the regular season, fans should hope for especially fierce competition and plenty of surprises this October.
Lucas Erceg recently donned green and gold, but he came up big for the Royals yesterday with his first postseason save as Kansas City held on to beat the Orioles by a razor thin 1-0 margin.
The winner of this best-of-three series at Camden Yards will advance to face the top-seeded Yankees in the divisional round.
The other AL Wild Card game between the Tigers and Astros was also a low scoring affair, as one might expect from a matchup between Tigers ace Tarik Skubal and Astros two-time All-Star Framber Valdez. Many fans should be happy that the Tigers came out on top, 3-1 and can punch their ticket to take on Stephen Vogt and the Guardians in the ALDS with one more win in Houston.
The Mets faced the Brewers in Milwaukee yesterday, fresh off Monday’s epic doubleheader split with the Braves that somehow got both teams Wild Card berths while eliminating the National League Champion Diamondbacks—even though all three teams finished even Steven in the regular season. Former A’s cameo Starling Marte is in his third season with the Mets, who pounded the Brew Crew 8-4 to take the series advantage. The winner of this series will move on to Philly.
The Atlanta Braves have a trio of former A’s stars, including Matt Olson, Sean Murphy, and Ramon Laureano.
As an Angeleno with tickets to a couple NLDS games, I’d love to see the Braves play the Dodgers this weekend.
But the Padres dealt my wishes a setback with a 4-0 shutout win over Atlanta last night at Petco Park in San Diego.
All four series continue today, and any of them can end with a repeat win by yesterday’s victor. Onward into October.
Good News: Nathan Cleary, the standout halfback for the Penrith Panthers, has officially extended 10Yrs contract with the Panthers….
Today News Charley Hull announced her disparture due to family 👪…..Legend Laura Davies backing Kettering’s Charley Hull to make a major breakthrough.Hull was the European team’s top scorer, claiming three points from five matches, as they came up short in their attempt to claim a fourth straight Solheim victory, eventually losing 15.5- 12.5.
They had gone into Sunday’s singles trailing 10-6 and in need of something of a miracle to retain the title, and Hull gave the team the perfect start as she trounced world number one Nelly Korda 6&4 in the opening singles contest.Earlier in the tournament, Hull had partnered Esther Henseleit to a final-hole victory in the Saturday foursomes and then teamed up with her friend Georgia Hall to win her fourballs match later the same day.Hull’s win over Korda in the singles gave Suzann Pettersen’s side hope that they could produce a glorious fightback, but Team USA held their nerve to seal the trophy.The world No 12 finished as Europe’s top scorer with three points from five matches and Davies, who served as vice-captain, was impressed with Hull’s display, believing she has the game to challenge for major.Davies, who was Team Europe’s vice-captain, is a four-time major champion and told Sky Sports News: “I can’t believe Charley’s not already a major champion, as she’s so talented.”It’s not easy to win major championships, we all know that, but that’s what we’d hope for her because she’s that good.
