Weekly Update September 15, 2025

Baseball: This week’s games. Rizzo retires. Standings.

Football – NCAAF: 5 losses in the Top 25 and we had some banger games!

Football – NFL: 7 close games this week. Some injuries.

Golf: Scottie wins his 19th in Napa.

Olympic Sports: T&F Worlds.

Baseball – MLB:

• This week’s games:
  • The Giants hit 5 HRs in their Monday night win over the DBacks 11-5. Nationals 1B Josh Bell became just the 2^nd National to HR from both sides of the plate. Washington would crush the Marlins 15-7.
  • Tigers beat Yankees to start the week 12-2. DET had a 9-run 7^th The Angels also beat the Twins by the same score. Phillies Kyle Swarber hit his 50^th HR while their P struck out 12 batters for a Phili 9-3 win.
  • Wed saw the longest game of the week with the Carinals/Mariners needing 13 innings to get an outcome. Seattle would win by 2.

• • Phillies allowed 4 runs in the first then retired 25 straight batters to comeback to win 6-4 over the Mets.
  • Aaron judge hit 2 homers at first two at bats to make his career 361. 362 on Friday made him 4th in franchise history for the storied baseball team.

• • On Friday, the Giants got a walk off grand slam in the 10^th inning to beat the Dodgers. The Dodgers would get their revenge the next night winning 13-7.
  • The Brewers became the first to clinch a playoff spot during their game on Saturday. They also had a walk off win in that game. Juan Soto hits HR 40 of the season. That’s back-to-back seasons where he’s gotten 40+. Blue jays score 3 in the 9th to also have a walk off win. This is their 3rd come from behind win in a row.

• • Cal Raleigh hit 54 of the season which ties him with Mickey Mantle in 1961 on Sunday. The Mets lost 8 in a row before their game on Sunday when a 10^th inning 5-2 win over the Rangers stopped that streak. The Mariners sit at 9 straight wins going into next week. Let’s see how that streak continues.

• Anthony Rizzo (1B) is retiring from MLB. He got drafted in 2011 to the Padres who he only played for 1 season before moving to the Cubs where he played for 9. Then he went to the Yankees for 3 before retiring. He is a 3x All Star, a 2016 World Series champion and a 4x Gold Glove award winner. He is remembered for being diagnosed with Hodkin’s lymphoma in 2008 but he is in remission now.

• You heard that the Brewers were the first to secure their playoff spot as they sit atop the NL with 91 wins. The Phillies have also clinched theirs with 89. The AL is a little closer at the top with the Blue Jays at 87 wins and the Tigers at 85.
  • Eliminated: NL: Rockies, Nationals and Pirates / AL: White Sox and Twins

Football – NCAAF:

• There were 5 losses in the top 25 this week:
  • 8 notre dame hosted 16 Texas am who hadn’t looked great all season. It was a great game though. ND would get the first points on the board with a blocked punt for a TD. But two turnovers at the end of the 1H would set up the Aggies leading 28-24. We were tied going into the final Q and every drive would end with points on the board. NDs would score the go ahead TD in the final 3 min but the holder messed up the PAT so it would only be 6 points. That turned out to be the difference between winning and losing here. Marcel Reed let the Aggies down the field and they would need 4&goal but they would get the TD and the extra point to win by 1 and the fighting irish are now 0-2!
  • Called this one. #11 South Carolina got outplayed by unranked Vandy. Don’t sleep on the commodores this season as you may live to regret it. Vandy wins 31-7.

• • 12 Clemson was in a tough (should’ve been top 25 match up game) against GT – who I had making my CFP. Clemson made plenty of mistakes in this game including a fumble, int and a missed FG but 2H when they just needed 2 plays to score a TD and take the lead by 1. You thought they might do it. GT would nail a 55 yard FG as time expired to upset Clemson by 3! GT is 7-1 against ACC ranked opponents
  • The gameday game of the week. 15 tn vs 6 Georgia and it lived up to the hype. TN turned it on early going up 21-7 in 1Q but Georgia just hung around. We had 5 lead changes but the Vols had it in hand leading by 8 with 6ish min to go. But Georgia would tie it up. Tn went for the game winning 43 yard FG and missed to we would go to OT. The Vols wouldn’t miss that FG but Uga would get a TD and put it away.
  • 18 S FLs luck finally ran out. They got crushed as was what was expected 2 weeks ago. 5 Miami beat the bulls 49-12.

• Other headlines from around the football universe:
  • Florida holds their own against 3 Lsu. They only lost by 10 and yet Florida qb lawaay had 5 int!
  • Iowa sta and ark sr was way too close.
  • 17 ole Miss had their backup qb in for the game against Arkansas and the score showed it meaning it was closer than it should’ve been but hey a wins a win. 45 points was scored in the 2Q alone. Rebels would win 41-35.
  • Texas booed arch. They had 9 incompletions in a row.
  • Odu smacked VTech.
  • UCLA and VT fired their HCs

Football – NFL:

• MNF: Make it 11 close games last week. MNF was one to watch with the Vikings coming back to score 3 TDs in the 4Q to rally and beat the Bears 27-24.

• TNF: the Commanders wouldn’t make it in the endzone until the 4Q when they racked up 15 points and by then it was too late. The Packers put up 27 in Lambeau to send Washington home losing by 9.

• There were 7 close games this week:
  • The Cowboys/Giants game was a great one that ended up in OT. There would be 8 lead changes in this one. 1H was pretty normal and run of the mill but then hope you took the over bc in the 2H, the teams went off with only 1 drive not ending in points (really the 4Q – 41 points was scored) technically 2 if you count the INT that Dak threw 2 plays into the half. In the 4Q, the scores flip flopped DAL FG, NY TD, Dal TD, NY TD, Dal TD, NY TD and then the cowboys would tie it up with a 64 yard FG to take us to OT! 1OT no score by either. Then the Giants made a hug mistake throwing an INT in their 2^nd Dallas would get a FG to win 40-37.
  • A rematch of the Superbowl last year and it ends with the same result: the Chiefs/Eagles was a defensive game. 11 drives ended with no points. we were tied 10-10 at half. Things started to go south for KC in the 2H. The Chiefs fumbled the ball on 4^th down on their first possession of the 2H to give the Eagles an easy FG and then 2 drives later, Mahomes throws an INT which leads to a Phili TD. They would score with 3 min to go in the game but they would not get the onside kick and the Eagles would run out the clock to win by 3.
  • The Cardinals/Panthers game only looked close as Carolina put up 13 in the 4Q but the Cardinals put this one away early leading 27-3 although only winning by 5. New England got their first win for their new coach, Mike Vrabel with an upset of the Miami Dolphins. They had a clutch kickoff return in the 4Q to take the lead and keep it the rest of the way. Mac Jones was the QB that led the 49ers to their win over the Saints. Purdy was out with a toe injury. They never trailed and would win 26-21. The Broncos had the lead going into the locker room by 1 but in the 2H they would only get into the endzone once and no other points were scored. Indy came back with 3 FGs to take the narrow win and upset the Colts 29-28.

• • The Bengals/Jags had a lot of turnovers at 5 split between the two teams. Despite Joe Burrow going down in the 1H, the Bengals managed to fight their way back to lead for the first time with 18 seconds left and that was all they needed to win by 4. Burrow is having surgery so may want to pick someone up off the wire this week!
  • We also had a couple of blowouts: The Ravens looked good putting up 41 points on the Browns including 21 in the 4Q. But the highest scorers of the week was the Lions who talled up 52 in their dissemination of the Bears (21). The Vikings never got into the endzone in their 22-6 embarrassment to the Falcons. 4 turnovers doesn’t help!

Golf:

• Scottie Scheffler doing scottie things again in what was supposed to be just a Ryder Cup training tournament (4 of the Ryder Cup players finished in the top 10). He closed the final round with a -5, making up a 8 shot deficit on the weekend by Ben Griffin. This tournament had its largest crowd since it moved to Napa in 2014 – nice for their new sponsor. His win puts him in elite company of Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer to win 6xs in consecutive seasons.

Olympic Sports:

• Track Worlds: GBR was medal less after day 1!
  • In the 100m:
    • The women went first and USA remains perfect on the season Melissa Jefferson-Wooden upset the field and crushed the women in it but 100m standards with a championship record to boot. Sha’Carri only made the final by time. It was the final race for 16x world medalist JAM Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce who ended up 6th. Oly champ Alfred would get bronze.
    • On the men’s side – Noah Lyles wanted to defend his Olympic championship and try to be the first man to defend since Usain Bolt. But Oblique Seville would beat Lyles for the 3^rd time to take the title. JAM would go 1-2 with the Americans photo finishing for bronze but Lyles would run a SB 9.89 to take it.
  • The USA had not lost the W 100h for 3 world championships since 1991. SUI Kambundji takes the world title in a huge surprising win with a national record. That is the first medal for the Swiss in this event. OLY champ Masai Russell was off the podium. USA Stark would get bronze.
  • To no surprise here, Tara Davis-Woodhall (LJ), Ryan Crouser (shot), and Valerie Allman (Discus) win their events again for the Americans putting us at the top of the podium in those events again. Although Crouser had been nursing an injury he didn’t look like it (except maybe not throwing as many times).
  • Team USA had a good lead in the Mixed 4x400m relay but they needed it with NED Bol as the anchor but not even she could make up the distance. USA claims gold.
  • SWE PV Mondo Duplantis reset his own WR for the 4^th time this year. He has set the bar (literally) to 6.3m. this is his 14^th time to break the WR.
  • Drama in the 1500: NOR 1500m star Ingebritsen failed to qualify in the M 1500m. this was his Olympic gold medal and he got 8^th in the heats! USA Cole Hocker gets DQ’d in the Semis after he pushes past another athlete to get into 2^nd. It was a little too much shoving according to officials.

What to watch this week

Baseball – MLB:

• Tues 9/16
  • Phillies at Dodgers @ 9:10pm on TBS
• Wed 9/17
  • Guardians at Tigers @ 5:40pm on FS1
  • Yankees at Twins @ 6:40pm on Prime
• Thurs 9/18
  • Cubs at Reds – or – Yankees at Orioles @ 6:15pm on FOX
• Fri 9/19
  • Blue Jays at Royals @ 6:40pm on Apple TV+
  • Giants at Dodgers @ 9:10pm on Apple TV+
• Sun 9/21
  • Mariners at Astros @ 6pm on ESPN

Basketball:

• Tues 9/16
  • ATL at Indy @ 6:30pm on ESPN
  • Vegas at Seattle @ 8:30pm on ESPN
• Wed 9/17
  • PHX at NY @ 7pm on ESPN
  • MN at Golden St @ 9pm on ESPN
• Thurs 9/18
  • Seattle at Vegas @ TBD on ESPN2
  • Indy at ATL @ 6z:30pm on ESPN2
• Fri 9/19
  • Golden St at MN @ TBD on ESPN2
  • NY at PHX @ TBD on ESPN2
• Sun 9/21
  • TBD at TBD @ 2pm on ABC
  • TBD at TBD @ 4pm on ESPN

Football – NCAAF:

Top 25
Week 4
Top 25 Games
Visitor	Home	Day	Time (CT)	TV	Line
17. Texas Tech	16. Utah	Sat 9/20	11:00 AM	FOX	UT -3.5
22. Auburn	11. Oklahoma	Sat 9/20	2:30 PM	ABC	OU -6.5
Tulane	13. Ole Miss	Sat 9/20	2:30 PM	ESPN	Miss -11.5
21. Michigan	Nebraska	Sat 9/20	2:30 PM	CBS	Mich -2.5
9. Illinois	19. Indiana	Sat 9/20	6:30 PM	NBC	IU -3.5
Florida	4. Miami	Sat 9/20	6:30 PM	ABC	MIA -3
*GameDay indicated in bold*

Football – NFL:

• Mon 9/15
  • Bucs at Texans @ 6pm on ABC & ESPN
  • Chargers at Raiders @ 9pm on ESPN
• Thurs 9/18
  • Dolphins at Bills @ 7:15pm on Prime
• Sun 9/21
  • 9 games @ 12pm on CBS/FOX
    • CBS:
      • Colts at Titans
      • Bengals at Vikings
      • Steelers at Pats
      • Texans at Jags
    • FOX:
      • Packers at Browns
      • Rams at Eagles
      • Jets at Bucs
      • Raiders at Commanders
      • Falcons at Panthers
  • Broncos at Chargers – or – Saints at Seahawks @ 3:05pm on CBS
  • Cowboys at Bears – or – Cardinals at 49ers @ 3:25pm on FOX
  • Chiefs at Giants @ 7:20pm on NBC
• Mon 9/22
  • Lions at Ravens @ 7:15pm on ABC and ESPN

Golf:

• None

Motor Sports:

• Sun 9/21
  • F1: Azerbaijan GP @ 6am on ESPN

Olympic Sports:

• Mon 9/15
  • T&F: World Championships – Day 3 @ 5:30am on USA
• Tues 9/16
  • T&F: World Championships – Day 4 @ 5:30am on USA
  • Volleyball: NCAAW – Nebraska at Creighton @ 6:30pm on FS1
• Wed 9/17
  • T&F: World Championships – Day 5 @ 5:30am on USA
• Thurs 9/18
  • T&F: World Championships – Day 6 @ 5:30am on USA
• Fri 9/19
  • T&F: World Championships – Day 7 @ 6am on USA
  • Volleyball: NCAAW – Florida at Marquette @ 6pm on FS1
• Sat 9/20
  • T&F: World Championships – Day 8 @ 6am on CNBC
  • Sailing: FRA Sail GP @ 1pm on CBS
• Sun 9/21
  • T&F: World Championships – Day 9 @ 5:30am on CNBC
  • T&F: Worlds @ 11am on NBC
  • Volleyball: NCAAW – MN at Marquette @ 5pm on FS1

Soccer:

• Sat 9/20
  • Premier League: Liverpool vs Everton @ 6:30am on USA
  • Premier League: West Ham vs Crystal Palace @ 9am on USA
  • Premier League: Fulham vs Chelsea @ 11:30am on USA
• Sun 9/21
  • Premier League: AFC Bournemouth vs Newcastle @ 8am on USA
  • NCAAW: MN at Iowa @ 8pm on FS1