RANKING BASEBALL’S BEST OUTFIELDS ---
RED SOX GET BOB’S NOD OVER THE YANKEES
Just for fun and to spark some friendly anti-blizzard debate, here’s my list of Major League Baseball’s best all-around outfields (in order of preference) entering this season:
1—Boston – Andrew Benintendi/J.D. Martinez, Jackie Bradley Jr., Mookie Betts. Martinez, of course, will see more duty at DH than in the outfield. I love the athleticism of Betts and Bradley and the potential of Benintendi.
2—Yankees – Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Hicks or Brett Gardner or Jacoby Ellsbury, Aaron Judge. Has there ever been a more powerful duo of corner outfielders? And Stanton and Judge are decent defensively, too. There are plenty of center fielders but I’m not high on any of them.
3—Angels – Justin Upton, Mike Trout, Kole Calhoun. Trout still could be baseball’s best player. Upton and Calhoun are solid.
4—St. Louis – Marcell Ozuna, Tommy Pham, Dexter Fowler, Jose Martinez. May better rating.
5—Milwaukee – Ryan Braun, Lorenzo Cain, Christian Yelich, Keon Broxton
6—Washington – Adam Eaton, Michael Taylor, Bryce Harper, Brian Goodwin
7—Houston – Marwin Gonzalez, George Springer, Josh Riddick, Jake Marisnick
8—Minnesota – Eddie Rosario, Byron Buxton, Max Kepler. Collectively should get nothing but better.
9—San Francisco – Hunter Pence, Austin Jackson, Andrew McCutchen
10—Baltimore – Trey Mancini, Adam Jones, Mark Trumbo
11—Mets – Yeonis Cespedes, Michael Conforto or Juan Lagares or Brandon Nimmo, Jay Bruce
12--Cubs – Kyle Schwarber, Albert Almora, Ian Happ, Jason Hayward
13--Pittsburgh – Adam Frazier, Starling Marte, Gregory Polanco
14—Dodgers – Joc Pederson, Chris Taylor, Yasiel Puig, Matt Kemp, Enrique Hernandez
15—Colorado – Ian Desmond, Charlie Blackmon, Gerardo Parra.
(Sleeper) Philadelphia – Rhys Hoskins, Odubel Herrera, Nick Williams, Aaron Altherr
(Overrated) Cleveland – Michael Brantley, Bradley Zimmer, Lonnie Chisenhall, Brandon Guyer.
JAMES HARDEN CLOSING IN ON NBA MOST VALUABLE PLAYER – FINALLY!
The Houston Rockets enter Friday with the NBA’s best record (48-13) and best point differential per game (+8.9), just ahead of the defending champion Golden State Warriors (48-14 and +8.6) in both categories.
Rockets star James Harden is the obvious frontrunner for NBA MVP honors. He leads the league in scoring by a lot (31.3 points per game; Anthony Davis is No. 2 at 28.1). Houston is an excellent team and Harden is obviously the main reason.
In the past five seasons (20-12-13 through 2016-17), Harden has finished 8th, 5th, 2nd, 9th and 2nd in league MVP balloting. He was runner-up to Russell Westbrook last season. I preferred Harden, but Westbrook was pretty much a one-man team for Oklahoma City and put up awesome numbers. The additions of Paul George and Carmelo Anthony have resulted in less gaudy numbers for Westbrook this season and he is not a serious candidate to repeat as league MVP.
My current MVP rankings: Harden 90 percent probability, followed by LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Giannis Antetokoumpo, Stephen Curry, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant and Westbrook.
OVERTIME WOES CONTINUE FOR AMERKS AND SABRES
The Rochester Americans and Buffalo Sabres both played overtime games Wednesday night. No surprise. The Amerks lost to Bridgeport at home and the Sabres won in Tampa Bay.
The Amerks have played an incredible 24 overtime games this season, most in the American Hockey League. They have 7 OT wins and 2 shootout wins, and 9 OT losses and 6 shootout losses.
The Sabres have played in 16 overtime games, with 5 OT wins, 10 OT losses and 1 shootout loss.
Rochester was 2-5-4-1 in the month of February (9 of 24 possible points in the standings). The Amerks scored 12 goals on one game and 7 goals in another game and 18 goals in the other 10 games.
CASHING IN ON NBA WINNERS IN LAS VEGAS IS NO EASY TASK
Savvy sports bettors in Las Vegas aren’t getting rich betting on all of the good teams.
Entering Friday, the most profitable teams against the point spread are Boston (37-24-2 against the point spread)...Philadelphia (34-24-2)...Brooklyn (36-26-1)...LA Clippers (34-25-1)...LA Lakers (35-26-0).
The least profitable teams have been Oklahoma City (25-38-0 against the point spread)...Cleveland (18-42-1).
Houston is 32-28-1 ATS and Golden State is 27-34-1 ATS.
THREE NEW MINOR-LEAGUE STADIUMS WILL OPEN IN 2019
Three minor-league baseball teams are scheduled to move into new stadiums for the 2019 season: Fayetteville, N.C.; Amarillo, Texas; and Las Vegas.
The new 10,000 seat for the Las Vegas 51s will be built just west of the city in land initially purchased by Howard Hughes in 1952. The Howard Hughes Corporation purchased the Triple-A Pacific Coast League franchise in full last year. The 51s have been playing at Cashman Field since it opened in 1983.
SHORT SHOTS
The Rochester RazorSharks dropped to 6-13 in the North American Premier Basketball League with a 106-101 loss to the Kentucky Thoroughbreds Thursday night at Blue Cross Arena. One of the new RazorSharks is Terrence Roberts, who averaged 7.6 points and 5.6 rebounds at Syracuse U. from 2003 through 2007. He’s made the pro basketball rounds since, with stints in the NBA D-League, Israel, Japan, Romania, Venezuela, Ukraine, Bolivia, New Zealand and Jordan. He also played in ESPN’s The Basketball Tournament in 2015-16-17.
Speculation in Minnesota is that the signing of free-agent slugger Logan Morrison as the team’s full-time DH figures to squeeze Kennys Vargas and/or Robbie Grossman off the Twins and open an Opening Day roster spot for 2017 Red Wings International League all-star center fielder Zack Granite.
Believe It Or Not: Major League Baseball last season had 41 players hit at least 30 home runs and 140 players strike out at least 100 times.
On this date in sports (March 2)...91 years ago (1927), Babe Ruth became the highest-paid baseball player for one season: $70,000; 56 years ago (1956), Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game in Hershey, Pa.; 49 years ago (1969), Boston’s Phil Esposito became the first NFL player to score 100 points in one season.
After the NFL’s compensatory draft picks were distributed, the Buffalo Bills will have these eight picks in the 2018 Draft (April 26, 27, 28): 21, 22, 53, 56, 96, 121, 158 and 166.
Seattle is going all out to join the NHL and return to the NBA. The city hopes to have an NHL team for the 2020-21 season. The NHL expansion fee is $650 million for Seattle is, up from the $500 million the Vegas Golden Knights paid to enter the league.
America’s Line odds on which NFL team Kirk Cousins will be playing for Week 1 of the 2018 NFL season: Broncos 4-to-5...Vikings 3-1...Jets 9-2...Browns 6-1...Cardinals 7-1...Bills 15-to-1...Jaguars 20-to-1...Giants 35-1...Steelers 50-to-1...Bengals 50-1...Field (any other team) 10-1.
One reason I believe left-handed hitting first baseman Greg Bird will have a huge 2018 season for the Yankees: The lineup has so much right-handed power that the Yankees will be facing a steady diet of right-handed starting pitching.
Bovada odds on the HBP PPV Gennady Golovkin versus Canelo Alvarez rematch May 5 (Cinco de Mayo): Golovkin -165 (bet $165 to win $100)...Alvarez +135 (bet $100 to win $135).
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...
Friday, March 2
Malcolm Butler (28)...Jonas Jerebko (31)...Reggie Bush (33)...Glen Perkins (35)...Ben Roethlisberger (36)...Henrik Lundqvist (36)...Sebastian Janikowski (40)...Tomas Kaberle (40)...Leo Gomez (51)...Ron Gant (53)...Michael Brooks (54)...Terry Steinbach (56)...Al Del Greco (56)...Ian Woosnam (60). Chris Martin (41), Daniel Craig (50) and Jon Bon Jovi (56) are invited to the birthday party.
Saturday, March 3
Jayson Tatum (20)...Eric Farris (32)...Santonio Holmes (34)...Colton Orr (36)...Rick Mirer (48)...Brian Leetch (50)...Herschel Walker (56)...Jackie Joyner-Kerseee (56)...Al Secord (60)...Zico (65)...Randy Gradishar (66). Jessica Biel (36) is invited to the birthday party.
Sunday, March 4
Jared Sullinger (26)...Draymond Green (28)...Rubby De La Rosa (29)...Landon Donovan (36)...Phillip Daniels (45)...Robert Smith (46)...former Red Wing pitcher Nerio Rodriguez (47)...Kevin Johnson (52)...Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini (57)...Judy Dickinson (68).