SU says that the Yankees certainly finished the season strong and beat up on the teams that they had to beat to grab a share of the Eastern Division with Toronto. Ultimately, they paid the price of so many Devin Williams blown saves back in April – that was the diference in winning the division.

Now, the reality is that their record vs. the AL East was pretty bad as was their record vs. teams with winning records. SU watched its share of games and the reality is that they really, really (as in really) struggle against the top starting pitchers and relievers. This is a team built on the home run and it’s just harder to do that against the top tier pitchers.

Soooo, what is going to happen in October? SU is not feeling it. Playing a best of 3 series against the Red Sox – even with them down a top starter in Giolito – is a tough lift. While regular season records are not necessarily an indicator of playoff outcomes, it has to give Boston a lot of confidence going into this series. Crochet is always tough and no doubt the Yankees will load up on the right-handed hitters which makes the defense weaker by sitting McMahon and the offense worse by sitting Rice. Maybe it will work – no doubt the analytics guys are busy doing their thing – but SU wants Rice in there every game.

Not winning the division puts you in this position, and the Yankees were bad for about half the season as in past years. SU is concerned and would not be surprised by an early post-season exit. Toronto awaits in the next round and they dominated the Yankees this year – also with top starting pitching.

Elsewhere:

1. Wow, the Mets just collapsed the 2nd half of the year. Sure, they had a lot of injuries but the offense should have been good enough to win one more game to get to October. I guess the good news is that they have some talented young starters coming up which should set them up for the future but they needed to quality for the playoffs and no doubt Steve Cohen will make changes. But the manager deserves to stay for sure.
2. Ryder Cup: credit to the Americans for making a gallant run on Sunday. No credit to the fans in Bethpage this weekend though. Golf is not one of the sports that lends itself well to act out against the opponent. It’s not a constant motion type of sport (you think?) and like tennis, you have a bunch of individual players going at it with downtime galore. In SU’s opinion, it made the NY fans look bad and drunk – trying to summon support by jeering the Europeans vs. cheering their own. It’s a bad look. Will the European fans return the favor in Ireland in 2 years? Probably and that won’t look any better. But revving up the crowd is dumb. Do better.
3. Injuries in the NFL just keep piling up – and to top stars. Long-term, the NFL needs to figure it out to lower the level of hitting and injury.
4. Enjoy October: the best time of year with the MLB playoffs, college football in full swing, the NFL and then the NHL and NBA seasons getting started.

So, Yankee fans, are you seeing a World Series in the team’s future this post-season?

While you were sleeping, no doubt some NFL team had a field goal blocked or a pass interecepted and run back for a touchdown. What a crazy day in the NFL yesterday? We are only 3 weeks into the NFL season but there have already been a slew of missed field goals and extra points combined with made 60-yard kicks that would have been jaw dropping 10 years ago. Are the balls juiced?

We enter the final week of the MLB season and the Mets are running on fumes. They have gone from having almost the best record in baseball back in June (they may have had it and maybe it wasn’t in June but the SU research team is off for the Jewish holidays) to desperately hanging on for the final wild card spot in the National League. Now, we know past history says that the Mets can turn it on in October and you can never count them out but at this point, making the playoffs and losing in the Wild Card round will be a failed season. Is this the week that you paid over $700 million for Juan Soto to do something?

The Yankees appear to be comfortably locked into the top Wild Card slot and there is a tremendous battle now for the other two spots between Cleveland, Houston and Boston. Even Detroit is now in the mix. The Yankees cannot beat the good teams but they sure are good against the bad ones. Making the World Series this year is just not that hard in the American League as most of the teams are really medicore – including the Yankees. Note to Aaron Boone: stop platooning Ben Rice and find a spot for him every game. He is learning to hit lefties and there is no reason to sit him given his bat. Sure, his defense is a bit of a problem but just tell Volpe to throw strikes to first base.

Will this be the year where Aaron Judge has a great post-season? SU says it is. He is ready to stop swinging for the fences and put the ball in play come October. The Yankees will need to score a lot of runs – we all know that – and no lead is safe with this bullpen. As in no lead. SU still believes that they are overpowered by good pitching and Boston is scary in a short series given their starters. Success for this season has to be another World Series appearance.

SU believes the World Series champion will come out of the National League this year.

It used to be that only in college football did we see teams score with 25 seconds left in the game or half. But now, the NFL is in the same boat. Really, no lead is safe with long passes and kickers who are money from 60+ yards out. Crazy.

Can NFL and college players stop with the taunting and the gestures that come with 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalties? A Michigan defensive player cost his team a punting situation on Saturday and last night, Karim Hunt, after scoring on a 1-yard touchdown run had to do the throat slash gesture. Kicked then missed the extra point which was 15 yards further back. SU knows it is a different generation and players want to get the social media hits as well as show up the opposition’s players and fans, but how about “act like you’ve been there before?” I know: old man talking but the rules were made by old guys and they will enforce them.

Finally, a happy and healthy New Year to the SU Jewish subscribers who are celebrating this week. Really hoping for a better new year – in this country and abroad.

He’s never been the most popular player, never received the adoration of the fans the way Federer and Nadal did. For his career, every match is pretty much a road match. With the exception of Australia at times, Djokovic has never had the home town support that Federer and Nadal did all over the world. It has made his achievements all the more impressive. He’s a guy that came from nothing in Serbia and had to learn as he goes – making mistakes along the way and ruffling feathers here and there.

Sure, he has some bizarre world views and as we know, is not a fan of the Covid vaccine. But at 38, he has now made it to the semi-finals of all 4 Grand Slam tournaments this year. In the era of Alcaraz and Sinner, that basically means he is the best of the rest out there. At 38 – an age when most tennis stars are in the twilight of their careers or have already retired. His body is breaking down now and he seems to require a trainer in almost every match for some ailment. And because he plays so few tournaments now, he has to work himself into shape as he goes in the early rounds.

If you watch him closely, you will see that he just tries to keep the ball in play in the early rounds, and as he progresses, he will start going more for the lines and for more risk as the quality of opponent ramps up. We are certainly seeing that in this US Open. Taylor Fritz had his chances last night but truth be told, he has a ceiling due to his style of play. Big guy with a big forehand and serve but rarely comes to the net. That lack of variety hurts him against the top players. He has made the most of his physical ability but hard to beat the elite players without that other aspect of his game. SU thought he had a shot last night going in if he could extend the match to 4 or 5 sets. He almost got there. Their playing styles are not that different and quite frankly, the points were a bit boring and repetitive. But Djokovic perservered and now has Alcaraz on Friday.

Amazingly, Djokovic has a 5 – 3 career record vs. Alcaraz and has not lost to him on hard courts. But you can see how Alcaraz is a sponge and is constantly learning and processing information. He has the complete game and the only hope of opponents is that he is so confident and cocky that he will go for too much risk on shots and miss some. SU believes that Djokovic has a better shot vs. Alcaraz as opposed to Sinner who just overpowers him. Their games are very similar but Sinner at this point of his career does it better, faster and younger.

SU says that for Djokovic, does he want to hang around another year making it to the semis of Grand Slams? Is that rewarding enough for him? I don’t think so. 2026 will be his last year and he will play the big events and say good bye to the fans. I hope the fans will give him his due – he has earned it and why not? But when he hangs it up, is every tournament going to be won by either Alcaraz or Sinner? And is that entertaining? Surely, some other phenom will come along – maybe it’s Ben Shelton although SU says he needs to fix that backhand to really threaten them. But tennis needs other players to be more in the mix.

I will miss him when he goes. The good and the bad. I hope the tennis world give him his due.

After flat lining vs. the Red Sox a couple of weeks ago, the Yankees are taking care of business against the bad teams and are once again, threatening to win the division. The formula for them is simple: hit home runs and win. Don’t hit home runs and rely on putting the ball in play and moving runner along – and lose. SU is still not a believer, and I don’t see how this approach plays out in their favor in October against the better pitchers. Love that Ben Rice is now playing every day. Concerned that Jasson Dominguez is not progressing although he is still young. And any ground ball to Vope in the 9th inning is terrifying.

Juan Soto is on a tear although I thought I heard some stat that most of his home runs this year have been solo shots. Can that be true? SU still believes that the Mets will go further in the post-season than the Yankees. Time will tell.