Giants Are Baseball Royalty Again

Madison Bumgarner (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The San Francisco Giants won the World Series in 2010 and 2012, which were even numbered years.  So is 2014, and they won here too.  They defeated the Kansas City Royals 3-2 in the seventh game at Kauffman Stadium Wednesday night for their third title in five years.

Madison Bumgarner was the Series' MVP, pitching the last five innings of Game Seven in relief on two days rest after defeating the Royals in Game Five.  That made his record 3-0 during the Series, with plenty of help from teammates Joe Panik, Pablo Sandoval and Hunter Pence.

This Series was marked by great pitching (mostly by Bumgarner) and sometimes not-so-great pitching and fielding, leading to lopsided blowouts that sent Fox's TV ratings south.

Neither the Giants nor the Royals won a division title, so they had to get here through the Wild Card route, only losing one game between them.  The Giants defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates, Washington Nationals and St. Louis Cardinals to take the National League crown.  The Royals, which had not been to a Series since Ronald Reagan was President, won the American League pennant by defeating the Oakland Athletics, Los Angeles Angels and Baltimore Orioles.

Now that the Series is over, San Francisco radio stations can start playing the Lorde hit "Royals" again.  They had banned the tune for the duration in the mistaken belief that this was the official song of the Kansas City team.  Let's just say that the good citizens of San Francisco will never be royals, but the Giants are once again kings of baseball.  At least until next season, which will be in an odd-numbered year.

Wolves 2014-15: Starting Over

Washington Wizards v/s Denver Nuggets January 25, 2011 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Minnesota Timberwolves have been a train wreck for most of its 25-year history.  Bad teams, bad deals, turnovers in the front office and in the coaching ranks, etc. have turned this franchise into not just one of the worst in the NBA, but in all of pro sports.  Even the once-in-a-lifetime players--Kevin Garnett and Kevin Love, to name a couple--that have passed through have honored the new Minnesota tradition of doing better somewhere else.

So here we are again, about to start another NBA season of the Timberwolves' commitment to mediocrity.  The big news, of course, is that Love has gone to the Cleveland Cavaliers to play with his new best friend LeBron James.  In Love's place are the Cavs' #1 draft pick Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett, Zach LaVine and Thaddeus Young--all highly-touted young players who haven't had much (or any) NBA experience.  Ricky Rubio, Kevin Martin and Nikola Pekovic are still here, of course.  None of them have yet to whine their way out of Minnesota.

All of this dealing was engineered by general manager Flip Saunders, who has gotten good marks for getting whatever he could from the Love trade.  Now the task of taking these new players and molding them into a competent basketball team falls on coach Flip Saunders, who took the job for the second time when no one else wanted it after Rick Adelman resigned.

It goes without saying that the Wolves will not make the playoffs this season.  They haven't been there since the last time Saunders coached here, and that was over a decade ago.  Instead, they could end up challenging the Philadelphia 76ers for the worst record in the NBA.

Until then, enjoy Wiggins, LaVine and Rubio while you can.  It won't be long before these players get attractive offers to jump to competitive teams in bigger (and warmer) markets.  Or they become complete busts.  And the Wolves will once again be starting over.

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As for the rest of the NBA . . .

• LeBron James returns to Cleveland as the conquering hero.  Is it possible that James has already won his championships in Miami, and is winding down his career?
• Oh, by the way, the San Antonio Spurs are the defending champions.
• The Charlotte Hornets are back, but only after New Orleans gave up that nickname to become the Pelicans.
• The NBA no longer has a Donald Sterling problem, having forced him and his wife to sell the Los Angeles Clippers to former Microsoft executive Steve Ballmer.  For two billion dollars.
• But they do have an Atlanta Hawks problem.  That team is for sale because their owner also uttered racially insensitive remarks, forcing him to sell his stake.
• The Sacramento Kings and Milwaukee Bucks are still in the league under new ownership.  Seattle continues to wait its turn.
• The NBA has re-upped with TV partners ESPN/ABC and TNT for the next decade.  Which means that the only way Rupert Murdoch can get Fox's foot in the door is to buy out Time Warner, TNT's parent company.  Oh wait . . . Murdoch tried that already and failed.

Here's who we think will survive the 82-game schedule come April.

EAST:  Cleveland Cavaliers, Chicago Bulls, Washington Wizards, Miami Heat, Atlanta Hawks, Toronto Raptors, Brooklyn Nets and New York Knicks.

WEST:  San Antonio Spurs, Memphis Grizzlies, Oklahoma City Thunder, Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Clippers, Golden State Warriors and Portland Trail Blazers. 

Wild 2014-15: An Oasis of Stability

Minnesota Wild (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Minnesota Wild are in a unique position among the local men's professional sports teams.  They are the only ones that have made the playoffs in the past year.  They have the longest-serving coach in Mike Yeo, who's just signed a contract extension.  They don't have a player who demanded to be traded, or is in trouble with the law.  And the future is, at least on paper, better than it used to be.

The Wild, who made it as far as the second round of the NHL playoffs last spring, have added Thomas Vanek to their collection of blockbuster free agent signings.  Unlike the signings of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, this one has considerably less impact because everyone knew the Wild coveted the former Gopher Vanek.  They should compliment Mikko Koivu and Mikael Granlund rather nicely on offense.  Now if they could only get through a season without forgetting how to put the puck in the net.

Because of injuries, infirmities and other shortcomings, the Wild had to use every Tom, Dick and Harry they could get to play goal.  That is still a problem, because the Wild have somehow decided to stick with Niklas Backstrom, Josh Harding and Darcy Kuemper in the nets.  If those three can stay healthy and effective, the Wild can become real contenders.  If not, then you can start up the merry-go-round.

The Wild will make the playoffs again, but the issues with goaltending and offense must be resolved if they want to compete with the big boys in their own division (Chicago, St. Louis, Colorado, Dallas).  If not, then there won't be a dime's worth of difference between themselves and the other Minnesota pro sports teams in terms of mediocrity.

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As for the rest of the NHL, we find that the defending Stanley Cup champions are royally ensconced on the West Coast for the second time in three years. 

The Toronto Maple Leafs are generally considered to be the worst-run franchise in pro sports.  And this is supposed to be the league's flagship franchise.

The NHL can't shake rumors of a pending expansion.

In related news, it's the Arizona Coyotes now.  Which makes sense because the team has been playing in an empty building in Glendale instead of Phoenix for several years.

There are just two outdoor games this season:  The Winter Classic in Washington, and another game in the new San Francisco 49ers stadium in Santa Clara.  Maybe the novelty has worn off?

Our choices for who will be in the playoffs come April 2015 are as follows:

EASTERN CONFERENCE:  Boston Bruins, Montreal Canadiens, Pittsburgh Penguins, Philadelphia Flyers, New York Rangers, Columbus Blue Jackets, Washington Capitals, Detroit Red Wings.

WESTERN CONFERENCE;  Los Angeles Kings, Anaheim Ducks, San Jose Sharks, Arizona Coyotes, Chicago Blackhawks, Colorado Avalanche, St. Louis Blues, Minnesota Wild.