The Buscher

I just used Vegas as an example cause I always used to create the Las Vegas Blackjacks back in my Baseball Mogul days...but it would work just the same for Portland or wherever else out West. If the other new team was located in the East (Charlotte) then I’d guess Minnesota would be the team most likely to get bumped West. Although it would be funny to see the Raiders go right back to sharing a stadium with a baseball team.

I'd be all for seeing the two division format back when the league expands to 32. NL East: Braves, Brewers, EXPOS, Marlins, Mets, Nationals, Phillies, Pirates NL West: Cardinals, Cubs, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Giants, Padres, Reds, Rockies AL East: Blue Jays, Indians, Orioles, Rays, Red Sox, Tigers, Twins, Yankees AL West: Angels, Astros, Athletics, BLACKJACKS, Mariners, Rangers, Royals, White Sox You'll inevitably lose some Central rivalries and where you split the Central will depend on what cities the new teams end up in, but still.

New proposed playoff system that could go into effect as soon as 2022: -Expansion from five to seven playoff teams per league -Three division winners seeded 1-3, four wild cards seeded 4-7 -1 seed gets a bye to the divisional round -2 seed picks which wild card team between the 5-7 seeds they want to play in the wild card round -3 seed picks between the remaining two teams -4 seed (the top wild card) plays the remaining team -The above mentioned wild card matchups will be announced on a special televised event on the evening of the last day of the season -Three game wild card series, all hosted by the higher seed -Division series and on becomes business as usual Hello FBI, I'd like to report a meth den at the Manfred residence.

Rivers also isn’t being ambiguous about his future. He says he has two years left in him and that will be it.

And the owners would never allow a floor only, or if they did it would be such a low floor that it wouldn't really change anything from what's already happening. You'd still end up with over half the league not really making an effort to compete which defeats the whole purpose of implementing something like this in the first place.

I'd rather just have a cap and a floor and just stick with that instead of the luxury tax nonsense. You need both or you'd get an extreme one way or another. Adding both forces the cheap teams to pony up while not allowing the usual suspects to just dominate the market. It'll never happen though, and if it did they'd probably need to give each team the chance to grandfather at least one contract so that it doesn't fully hit the cap. Would benefit some teams more than others, the Angels would be the biggest winners since they could spend a decade not getting hit for all of Trout's contract...but it'd only be fair since so many deals were signed under the old rules.

LA Wildcats fire defensive coordinator Pepper Johnson after just one game.

Now the Wilpons are letting it be known that they're still selling the team AND the new owner will have immediate control. They put this out amid rumors that the Cohen deal fell apart because the Wilpons wanted a 5-year window to run the organization before the full takeover...which still brings into question of why they wouldn't let Cohen have immediate control in the first place. This is leading me to continue thinking the parties realized Cohen wasn't going to be approved by the league. When even big market teams are making conscience efforts to try to get below the luxury tax, the league doesn't want a guy to come in who will blow past it every year without a second thought and force everyone else to spend.

Eminem debuted his new gimmick, Oscars musical guest. It got a confused response.

X-F-L! X-F-L! X-F-L! X-F-L!

At some point in the future I see QBs being exempt from the salary cap. The league wants star QBs in the Super Bowl and if there's enough data to support that it's impossible to pay the QBs and still build a team around them, the league will change. That's part of the issue with it being a Pandora's Box situation among the QBs. Every QB wants a contract bigger than the last big QB contract, and teams aren't going to say no when it's a QB they feel they can win with. The Chiefs will at least always know they got a ring from the Mahomes era but the Chiefs giving him the largest contract in the history of the sport is not a question of if, but when.

Based on what I’m reading from numerous writers, there’s very real doubt that the owners would have approved Cohen anyway. That was one of my concerns when news of the potential deal first came out in December. The guy would’ve far and away been the richest owner in baseball. It’s partially an ego thing I’m sure. But the biggest thing is that Cohen would’ve turned free agency on its head at a time when owners are trying to get below the luxury tax and suppress salaries wherever possible.

Manfred also added in "the assertion that this deal fell through because of anything the Wilpons did is completely and utterly unfair". Tells me all I need to know. Another commissioner who is a Wilpon shill.

If Betts had to be traded to the NL I'm glad it was the Dodgers who were already locks to win the West even without him. Rather that than even a team like the Padres who would've become a legit Wild Card contender.

Yeah I burn out on spring baseball within a week. After a game or two Gary heads back north to finish the Seton Hall season and the other two only sporadically show up so for most of spring it's like their pre-game show host and on-field correspondent calling the game. I only really enjoy watching the first week and last week. The first week because it's the return of baseball, the last because the rosters have been trimmed from like 70 to 30 and guys are actually trying to hit their stride before the games start to count. Unfortunately I've feared this was coming for a few weeks. The news about Cohen buying the team broke in the first few days of December...and it seems to me that news like that doesn't leak until it's close to the finish line. So that there'd been no announcement or anything in two months made me think something was obviously holding the deal up. Jon Heyman says Cohen may have walked when he felt the deal changed but he's still "hoping the team calls back"...which makes me think maybe he's playing chess. The guy is a lifelong Mets fan and clearly has the money to get the deal done regardless of what the Wilpons might have changed at the 11th hour. Walking away from what he thinks is them trying to screw him is something he's doing on principle but the reality is if he really wants the team he can get it. This is the same dude who has a $1 billion art collection simply because he wanted it. Not trying to get my hopes up because the Wilpons bungling this is so typically them...but we'll see.

Spring Training is a cruel tease in a way. I absolutely love the first Mets' spring training home game...I'll go as far as to DVR if it's a weekday. Turning on SNY and being greeted by Gary, Keith, and Ron for the first time in almost five months...seeing baseball being played in the Sun while I'm in the northeast winter. Even though 95% of the game is gonna be played by dudes who won't make the team, it's just such a guilty pleasure.

Eli’s first MVP isnt even the least deserved MVP amongst Mannings. In Super Bowl 41, Manning went 25/38 for 247 yards 1 td 1 int and a lost fumble. 10 of his completions were dumpoffs to Addai and his TD was a busted coverage for a 53 yard Reggie Wayne TD. Hell, the NFL posted a video of the “top play from every Super Bowl” and all of them showed the winning team’s most impactful play...except for SB41 where they showed Hester’s game-opening kick return TD. It’s the only play anyone remembers from that game.

Yeah I meant MVP. Of course for years I heard people be like "Eli never should've won MVP of SB42!" and I doubt Mahomes will hear even 10% of that criticism. But yeah, when in doubt the game-winning drive goes to the QB.

Mahomes had the lowest QBR of any Super Bowl winning QB ever. Really feel like Damien Williams had a case for MVP but a RB hasn't won it in 20 years. Nowadays for a RB to get it you pretty much need the QB to be actively bad and have the RB carry the team to the win. When it's a late 4th quarter game-winning drive, it pretty much guarantees the QB the MVP unless there's an incredible catch like Santonio.

I mean I'm not optimistic the Giants can completely turn everything around in a year with all the holes they have, especially since most of the areas they're deficient in have very weak free agent classes...but still. Get a tackle at #4, hope Jones cures his fumbling problems, and just hope to hell that you can get a few playmakers on defense. The only certainty about the schedule is that they'll be sent to Dallas week one just like they always are.

If Brady actually does sign with the Chargers or Raiders, I think that team vs Chiefs is the Thursday night opener next year. If not, they host the Pats next year and that’s an easy big matchup to start the year with.

Aaaaaand the baton has officially been passed to baseball!

Kyle Shanahan with another Super Bowl chokejob.