Episode 210 - 2016 MLB Review and Batsu Game

The MLB regular season is over, which gives the guys a chance to review the season.

For his Royals pick, Tim decided to use his Free Pass.

For his Cardinals pick, Mike will have to do karaoke of a Billy Joel song.

Both the Nationals (Mike) and Giants (Tim) are still in it... for now, so we're guaranteed at least one more batsu game from this baseball season.  Stay tuned.



Click here to download.

2016 MLB Prediction Check

So, how did the guys do with their 2016 MLB picks?

Division	Mike's Original Picks	Mike's Adjusted Picks	Tim's Original Picks	Tim's Adjusted Picks	Actual
NL East	NY Mets	Washington	NY Mets	Washington	Washington
NL Central	St. Louis	Chicago Cubs	Chicago Cubs	Chicago Cubs	Chicago Cubs
NL West	San Francisco	San Francisco	San Francisco	San Francisco	LA Dodgers
NL Wild Cards	Washington Chicago Cubs	St. Louis NY Mets	St. Louis Pittsburgh	St. Louis Pittsburgh	San Francisco NY Mets
AL East	Toronto	Baltimore	Boston	Toronto	Boston
AL Central	Kansas City	Cleveland	Kansas City	Kansas City	Cleveland
AL West	Houston	Houston	Houston	Houston	Texas
AL Wild Cards	LA Angels Detroit	Toronto Kansas City	Texas Toronto	Cleveland Texas	Toronto Baltimore
NL Champions	St. Louis	Washington	San Francisco	San Francisco	TBA October
AL Champions	Houston	Cleveland	Kansas City	Kansas City	TBA October
World Series Champions	St. Louis	Washington	Kansas City	San Francisco	TBA October/November

Mike's Original: 5/10
Mike's Adjusted: 7/10
Tim's Original: 6/10
Tim's Adjusted: 6/10

No batsu games will be issued for the picks, as Mike's sets of picks cancel each other out and Tim's picks are tied.

However, in addition to the already announce batsu game for Tim's pick of Kansas City, Mike gets a batsu game for his St. Louis pick.

Last Day of MLB Regular Season - 3 Playoff Spots Up For Grabs, 5 Teams Vying For Them

Today is the last day of the 2016 Major League Baseball regular season.

So far, 7 of the 10 playoff spots have been filled.  They are:

• NL East: Washington Nationals
• NL Central: Chicago Cubs
• NL West: Los Angeles Dodgers
• NL Wild Card 1: New York Mets
• AL East: Boston Red Sox
• AL Central: Cleveland Indians
• AL West: Texas Rangers

So, it's one NL Wild Card and both AL Wild Cards left open and five teams wanting in.

NL first:

• If the Giants win today over the Dodgers, they're in.
• The Cardinals need to beat Pittsburgh, then hope the Giants lose to LA (what incredible irony).  In this scenario, there would be an extra game between San Francisco and St. Louis.

The filling of this spot does trigger a batsu game either way, as Mike picked the Cardinals to win the World Series with his initial picks, while Tim picked the Giants to win in his adjustments.

AL now:

• In the event of a Detroit win over Atlanta, they will have to make up a game against Cleveland to put them in a possible three-way tiebreaker situation that also involved Baltimore and Toronto.  Such a scenario is pretty convoluted for this blog.
• If the Orioles beat the Yankees today, they're in.
• If the Blue Jays beat Boston today, they're in.

For better details, click here.

How does this affect picks?

- Aside from the aforementioned batsu game implications, all four sets of picks have the Cards and the Giants making the playoffs.  Either way, there's a guarantee of a hit across the board.
- On the AL side: of the three remaining teams, Tim picked only Toronto while Mike has a combination of all three still in play (Blue Jays and Tigers in his originals; Blue Jays and Orioles in his adjustments).  A Toronto loss would affect all sets of picks, but would be more negative for Tim.

As picks stand right now:
- Mike's original set has 3 confirmed correct with 4 pending today's results.
- Mike's adjusted set has 4 confirmed, 4 pending.
- Both of Tim's sets have 4 confirmed, 3 pending.

Here's hoping for an entertaining day of baseball and some solidification of the playoff picture.

Who Said Something About the Royals Getting to 3 Straight World Series?

We can now announce the first batsu game of the 2016 MLB season, with less than a week to go.

The defending World Series champion Kansas City Royals have officially been eliminated from playoff contention, being 5 games back of the wild card (behind 6 different teams) and being 10 1/2 back of AL Central champions Cleveland.

Tim picked the hometown Royals to get back to the World Series for the third straight year - remember, they lost it in 2014 (after a 29-year playoff absence) to San Francisco in 7 games, and won it last year over the Mets in 5 - in both sets of picks, and picked KC to win it all in his original set of picks.

Before we get to the announcement, the last team to reach three straight World Series: the New York Yankees, from 1998 to 2001 (4 straight) - and they went 3-1.

Tim, batsu game!

Mike shouldn't feel too comfortable either.  His initial pick to win it all, St. Louis, is a game back of the wild card behind Tim's adjusted winner, San Francisco.

Mike's adjusted winner, Washington, won the NL East and are in the playoffs.

In terms of picks, at the moment:

Mike's originals: 5/10
Both sets of picks for Tim: 6/10
Mike's adjusteds: 7/10

Lastly, as tradition when we talk Royals and playoffs, let's cue "Stan's dad":

And Then There Were 7...

Mike's search for a new NFL team to pull for is a slow and deliberate process requiring lots of input.

That input - mostly from a phone conversation with his brother in Oklahoma - whittled his list of potential NFL teams down from 9 to 7.

Casualty #1: New England Patriots.  One word: Cheating.

Casualty #2: Cincinnati Bengals.  Because Pittsburgh is on the short list, and Mike's family (with the exception of his late mother) have pro-Steeler leanings, it was suggested that both Cincinnati and Cleveland be dropped from the list.  Cincinnati is being dropped out of this consideration... but Cleveland remains, mainly because Mike feels for the Dawg Pounders who had the actual Art Modell to deal with (and Mike sat with the Dawg Pound during the Browns' first game back in existence, the 1999 Hall of Fame Game in nearby Canton).

So, the list of potential teams is now:

• Arizona Cardinals
• Cleveland Browns
• Green Bay Packers
• Houston Texans
• New Orleans Saints
• New York Football Giants
• Pittsburgh Steelers

We may narrow it down further on an upcoming podcast, but for now it is what it is.

Episode 209 - 2016-17 UEFA Champions League Picks

The UEFA Champions League group stage is set, and once again Mike and Tim make their picks.

Group	Mike's Picks	Tim's Picks
Group A	Arsenal Paris Saint-Germain Ludogorets Razgrad Basel	Arsenal Paris Saint-Germain Basel Ludogorets Razgrad
Group B	Benfica Dynamo Kyiv Napoli Besiktas	Dynamo Kyiv Benfica Napoli Besiktas
Group C	Barcelona Manchester City Celtic Borussia Monchengladbach	Barcelona Manchester City Celtic Borussia Monchengladbach
Group D	Bayern Munich Atletico Madrid PSV Eindhoven Rostov	Bayern Munich Atletico Madrid PSV Eindhoven Rostov
Group E	Bayer Leverkusen CSKA Moscow Monaco Tottenham Hotspur	Bayer Leverkusen Monaco CSKA Moscow Tottenham Hotspur
Group F	Real Madrid Borussia Dortmund Sporting Portugal Legia Warsaw	Read Madrid Sporting Portugal Borussia Dortmund Legia Warsaw
Group G	Leicester City Porto Copenhagen Club Brugge	Porto Leicester City Copenhagen Club Brugge
Group H	Juventus Sevilla Lyon Dinamo Zagreb	Juventus Dinamo Zagreb Sevilla Lyon
UCL Winners	Barcelona	Arsenal

We agree on 13 of our final 16 (top 2 in each group).  The exceptions:
- Mike: CSKA Moscow, Dortmund, Sevilla
- Tim: Monaco, Sporting, Dinamo Zagreb

The tie-breaker is third place finishes (dropped to Europa League).  We agree on 4 of the 8.  Exceptions:
- Mike: Ludogorets, Monaco, Sporting, Lyon
- Tim: Basel, CSKA Moscow, Dortmund, Sevilla

The clubs lifting the European Cup are also different, with Mike picking 5-time champion Barcelona, and Tim picking Arsenal, who have never won the European Cup.

As always, picks are subject to batsu game.

Fair use this episode: the return of "Senor Stan," Jack Wilshere, and welcome to the podcast, Young Turks ("Bulgarian hate mail") and the cast of In Bruges.



Click here to download.

Episode 208 - 2016 NFL Preview - AFC and Super Bowl

Let year 4 of the Winning Side Coaches podcast begin!

Mike and Tim made their picks for the 2016 NFL season.  Today we do the AFC.

Please note that until their stadium situations are taken care of, we will be referring to the Chargers and Raiders by team name and not by city.

Here are the picks:

Division	Mike's Picks	Tim's Picks
AFC North	Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh
AFC South	Houston	Indianapolis
AFC East	New England	New England
AFC West	Raiders	Kansas City
AFC Wild Cards	Cincinnati Indianapolis	Jacksonville Raiders
AFC Champions	New England	New England

Super Bowl 51 picks:
Mike: New England over Green Bay
Tim: New England over Green Bay



Click here to download.