Apologies for the lack of posts over the past few weeks. SU has been totally immersed in what is going on in Israel, and quite frankly the developments in the sports world are all pretty trivial in comparison of course.

No doubt the higher ups at MLB and FOX could not have been too pleased to see Arizona take out the Phillies in game 7 last night. I mean the ratings for this World Series are going to be epically low.

Congrats to fairly long-time SU subscriber, J. Levine (no relation), who is one of the new baseball data analytics gurus at the Diamondbacks. Clearly, he has had an immediate impact on the team’s fortunes. SU has enjoyed watching Arizona: they put the ball in play. What a concept! They don’t have any big name/big contract players, they run the bases, catch the ball and seem to be athletic. Very anti-Yankee like I must say. Texas is a fun team to watch: high octane offense, 3 ex-Yankee pitchers in their starting rotation and of course, Aroldis Chapman to make things exciting in the 8th inning. He may have set a record with hitting a batter with a 104 mph fastball the other night. At this point in his career, it has to be scary facing him as Chapman has no idea where his pitches are going.

SU has to say that after watching Yankee games for much of the season, it is refreshing to see teams play the right way. The Phillies had a great run but in the end, they were too reliant on the home run, and when those stopped, they could not recover.

We are nearing the half-way point of the NFL season. SU cannot recall a season where so many teams were either bad or just mediocre. There are few top tier teams in either Conference. Probably the Chiefs and Eagles qualify and the Dolphins are trying to get there. Beyond that, not so much. Now, that can make for an exciting playoff picture where a lot of teams can win it all. That is the positive for sure.

The NBA season has kicked off. SU is back on the Knicks’ bandwagon for this season. I like having 3 ex-Villanova players on the roster who will all play important minutes. They come with high basketball IQs. SU has once again purchased the NBA Season Pass so I can watch every game, every night (if I wanted to, of course). Per usual, SU will keep an eye on the ex-Michigan players. If you do fantasy hoops, you have to get Jordan Poole on your team. Now that he is on the Wizards, he will lead the League in shots per minute. He is fun to watch and can put up some big points when he is on. He can also do a John Starks 2 for 17 when he is not but he surely does not lack confidence. SU also has its eye on Orlando – a lot of young players and they are ready to emerge this year.

SU is keeping an eye on the Michigan video scandal. I do find it a little odd how the NCAA, which takes months and months to do any investigation and impose penalties, is leaking information to the media. Or, and more likely, it’s the teams that they have been speaking to whose games have been videotaped that are leaking information. Either way, it’s a bad look for a team that is having a great season so far – against bad competition. What happened to the Big Ten? You have Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State and I suppose, Maryland. And then a lot of bad teams.

The PAC-12, soon to be the no more conference, has some very fun teams to watch. Washington, Oregon and USC can all light it up, and Oregon State is actually pretty decent as well along with Utah. SU is looking forward to next year with the expanded 12-team playoff format. That will be really good as the bowl games have become mostly irrelevant the last few years. A good move by the powers that be. I mean, it’s not about education for these players (unfortunately) or for the schools. It’s about more money and this will help that cause.

Finally, Yankee fans await the results of the “audit” that Hal has commissioned of the team’s operations. SU says no one is leaving. Aaron Boone will be back as will Cashman. Stanton is untradeable – don’t get your hopes up there. Keep an eye on Soto in San Diego and a possible trade for many of the Yankee prospects and Michael King. He is young, left-handed and in his prime. He even seems athletic which I know does not fit the team profile but the auditors may have uncovered something. Who knows?

Let’s face it: the Giants are really under-performing this season given what were more hopeful expectations coming off of last season. Now, the truth may be that they over-achieved last year and the start to this season should not even be a surprise. The injury to Saquon Barkley is a big factor but truth be told, he had to earn every yard last year running behind a less than stellar offensive line.

And the offensive line is what is killing the Giants this year (along with special teams which I guess we take for granted on other teams). Daniel Jones has no time back there. 10 sacks last night is a number you never see in the NFL – not even in college. He was running for his life all night long. The pick-6 at the goal line was a huge mistake but SU can forgive him for not being at his sharpest as he was suffering from PTSD from all the hits before that. Jones is not a top tier NFL quarterback but he’s a good athlete, can run and takes his share of hits going for a few extra yards. SU says it’s easy to criticize him but definitely not all his fault. No quarterback in the NFL was going to shine last night behind that offensive line.

This Sunday will be a good test vs. a Miami defense that is not top tier. But the season is going to head south very quickly with Buffalo on the schedule to follow.

The Jets meanwhile showed some fight on Sunday night to give their fans some hope. Zach Wilson definitely looked a lot better – at least for one game.

SU will be checking in on the MLB playoffs starting today. I have to say that the Wild Card format is fun and fair to the team with the better records. A Baltimore – Atlanta World Series would be fun this year. However, SU says don’t be surprised if neither team gets there. Funny things happen in October.

While Aaron Boone’s job is no doubt reasonably safe, SU says keep an eye on Don Mattingly. He is the bench coach for the Blue Jays but if Hal wanted to make a move and have the fan base fully behind him, Donnie Baseball is a good choice. Yankee royalty.

SU knows attendance in MLB is way up this year. Hey, the Yankees continued to draw more than 3 million fans this year for a team that was unwatchable for most of the season. My take is that those tickets were purchased in April, and fans were stuck with them.

The games are faster: good. More steals: good. No more shifts: good. SU is not a major stats guy – I go by feel. I look at batting average, on base percentage and batting average with runners in scoring position (RISP) – which of course YES Network never shows as the numbers are so dismal. For fun this morning, I decided to look up the Yankees’ averages with RISP this year. I can tell that I am truly a dinosaur because it was impossible to find the stats. Apparently, hitting with RISP is no longer a valued stat for the analytics crowd. I am not sure batting average is anymore either.

Here is what SU believes:

1. From when I was a kid, .260 was the threshold for a good batting average. Guy hits .250? .240? That sucks. And the “Mendoza Line” named after Mario Mendoza was .200 and below that was truly an embarrassment.
2. I can remember when Yankee hitters in the modern era hit .300. Derek Jeter did it almost every year. Where did the .300 hitters go?
3. Michael Kay said the other night what a great year Gleyber Torres had for the Yankees. He hit .273 with 25 homeruns and 68 rbis. I suppose among 2nd basemen that is very good but I don’t know. Are they going to pay him $25 million a year now for a new long-term deal? He came to play every day but man, do you ever watch him run out ground balls? You could time him with a sun dial. But that’s OK because it’s a long season and you can’t expect a better to run hard 4 times a game? Sorry, does not cut it for SU. Gleyber is a good guy but SU feels like he is their best trade chip and time to exercise that this off season.
4. 100 rbis is a big year. Not 70 and not 80 – at least not for a full-time player. I don’t blame all the Yankee hitters this year for their feeble RBI totals as they had no hitters after the #4 spot in the line up. No one on base most of the time.
5. No-one who hits .200 or .210 had a “good” year. Anthony Volpe was brought up a year too soon but he competed and this year will help him over the long term in his career. He hit .209. He is a good fielder, he’s fast and has big upside. SU has no complaints but let’s not go crazy just yet.

Bottom line: does SU need to recalibrate? Clearly, I am looking at the wrong things when it comes to statistics.

Aaron Judge has been quietly speaking out of late about his feelings re Boone, Cashman, the whole team approach going down to the minor leagues. Will Hal Steinbrenner pay attention? Should he? Judge is under contract until he is in his early 40s. SU likes that he cares but fans should not think that Hal will be making decisions based on his input. No doubt Hal feels he overpaid for Judge and while he is the face of the franchise, he relies on others’ advice.

SU predicts no change at the manager or GM/President of Baseball Operations for the Yankees. But he will insist that the Analytics guys start to preach hitting for average and stop the launch angle stuff where hitters can’t touch 95 mph+ fastballs. And stop with the all right-handed lineups. Gone forever. And stop with the Josh Donaldson trades. For those keeping score at home, his average with RISP in 2023 was .074. And stop anticipating the “bounce back” years. Will Stanton be better in 2024? Of course he will but he won’t stay healthy – no way do you count on that.

The Yankees made me not care in 2023. I never thought that could ever happen. Diehard fan forever. But the players played like they didn’t care so why should I? It was painful watching the youngsters hit .150 or .200 in September but I can live with that in the hope of better times ahead. This will be a multi-year fix – could be no playoffs for a couple of years but at least be entertaining and show that you care. Happy to start there.