What’s up everyone!
I am super excited to drop my first blog post here at Brodes Media! We are going to have a ton of fun as we shoot the shit on a Monday, looking ahead towards the early portion of the week and what intrigues me in the sports world.
NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs
Unless you grew up playing hockey in your driveaway every day pretending to score the game winning goal of game 7 to hoist the Cup, you might not understand.
There is nothing better. Seriously. I know where it falls on the list of sports popularity, but at the end of the day, playoff hockey is the best postseason in all of competition. The physicality, the toughness, the adrenaline, the passion to fight for Lord’s Stanley……
Since the Flyers are sadly not involved, I can’t wait to just appreciate all of these games for the beauty of it. I think the Orange and the Black put me through so much pain this season that I forget what good hockey feels like. I don’t give a damn who wins honestly.
I am not going to go through every series, but I will share a few things that I am looking forward to even though some of the games already kicked off!
I am a die-hard Sidney Crosby supporter so if you told me the Penguins win the Cup and I get to witness the most perfect player my eyes have ever seen do it again? SIGN. ME. UP.
I know, I know. It’s a HUGE violation. Kiss my ass. How about that? Of course, he already tallied a highlight reel goal in Game 1 as he redirected a shot with one hand on his twig. At the time it took the lead, but the Isles snagged the first game in overtime.
I can’t wait to see how Barry Trotz and the Islanders try to slow down the Penguins with their systematic play. Goaltending is always a top question in the playoffs, but Tristan Jarry’s play for Pittsburgh is significant.
Will the Maple Leafs be able to finally get over the hump and win a playoff series? Just to put it into perspective for maybe some that are not as familiar with Toronto. Their fanbase is equivalent to the Dallas Cowboys. You either hate them or love them. Their market and fandom is wild which makes me naturally drawn to their results as I listen to Toronto Sports Radio weekly to check in on the pulse of the fans.
Think of our passion for the Eagles and that’s how they feel about their hockey team. It’s kind of funny to listen to considering I have never heard a caller in Philly bitch and complain about Nolan Patrick being on the 4 th line instead of Michael Raffl on a random Wednesday night in October!
Anyway, Maple Leafs vs Habs should be a fun series.
The North Division, aka the Canadian Division, will not have fans while the United States will so I’m curious how that’s going to impact the viewing for me. I LOVED everything about this division from day one so it’s just crazy to think when the most important games come around, I might be missing something emotionally due to the environment.
The Boston Bruins and Washington Capitals will face off in round one! Boston has issues with depth scoring, but the addition of Taylor Hall has been everything they could have hoped for. Caps currently lead the series 1-0. Why wouldn’t Tom Wilson start the scoring for the playoffs…..
We will get a chance to watch Connor McDavid compete as he just continues to make stupid plays out on the ice that makes no sense whatsoever. In what world do you record over 100 points in 56 games?
It’s just too easy for the Oiler captain. How about this young Minnesota team that came out of nowhere. Vegas is a tough matchup for them, but it can be a great steppingstone for guys like Kirill Kaprizov and Jordan Greenway.
Okay, let’s now look at the Phillies, who seem to control my life!
What we witnessed on Sunday afternoon against the Blue Jays was flat out embarrassing. Joe Girardi and Jean Segura going at it in the dugout, Bryce Harper playing through injury while bunting in a key spot, Scott Kingery is horrendous, and errors out the wazoo! I don’t know where this team goes from here, but listening to Girardi pissed off in his postgame presser combined with the injuries to Didi Gregorius, JT Realmuto, and Andrew Knapp…. this is going to be a tough bounce back spot.
Perfect time for the Marlins to come to town, am I right?!
How many times over the last few years have we seen this squad underachieve against the Marlins? Are we watching “the same old Phillies” or are they going to have a different identity this year? I am dying to find out as they are 21-20, but it seems pretty inevitable at this point. An off day can do wonders as the team recharges today after the Blue Jays series and they’ll head back to Citizens Bank Park where the Phils are 13-6.
We have experienced the Phillies strikeout a ton to this point. For context, they strikeout more than 27 teams per game! They rank 28 out of 30 with 10.22 Ks so far this season according to Team Rankins. I’ve seen this team make Jon Lester and Patrick Corbin look like it’s 2013! Sometimes I feel it doesn’t even matter who is on the bump on the other side because it’s inevitable there will be double-digit strikeouts recorded regardless.
Is it the approach at the plate? Is it a product of pitchers having a nasty repertoire of pitches with unreal movement and velocity? A combination of both? I’ll tell you what though, some guy named Anthony Kay should not be going 4 innings with 6 strikeouts, that’s for damn sure! That happened Saturday night against Toronto. In 13.2 innings he is 0-2 with a 7.24 ERA this season. Yeah…..
To give more context of where the strikeouts numbers fall compared to the rest of the league, the Astros strikeout the least amount of times per game at 7.12 followed by the Padres at 7.92 and the Royals at 8.26 according to Team Rankings.
Expected Series Matchup – (According to ESPN)
Game 1: Zack Wheeler vs Cody Poteet
Zack Wheeler is 3-2 with a 2.85 ERA. He won his last start throwing 6 innings and striking out 7 against the Nationals. Prior to that, he threw a complete game shutout with 8 strikeouts and ZERO walks at home vs Milwaukee. I am looking forward to see his fantastic start to the season continue.
Game 2: Zach Eflin vs Trevor Rogers
Eflin has clearly taken a huge leap in his professional career and he’s exciting to watch. With that being said, his most recent start he’d probably want back as the Phils lost 5-2 to Washington. In the first inning, he allowed a two-run home run to Kyle Schwarber and a two-run home run to Josh Bell after walking Starlin Castro. He went on to strikeout the side two innings in a row and found a groove. My problem was, the umpire behind the dish had such an open strike zone on the corners that half of his Ks probably should not have been called. I guess you can give Eflin credit for knowing what he could work with though. Trevor Rogers is 5-2 with a 1.84 ERA and 1.07 WHIP. He is coming off of 2 straight wins only allowing 2 runs and striking out 13 batters in 11 innings.
Game 3: Vince Velasquez vs Sandy Alcantara
Vinny Velo has been a shocking surprise and I’ll be honest, I would have never expected this in a million years. I’ll tip my cap to him and see if he can continue this stretch that he is on. I have been fooled too many times though so I need more than 3 solid starts for me to hop back on the train. He is 1-0 with a 3.68 ERA. Alcantara is 1-2 with a 6.86 ERA, but 1 game sticks out like a sore thumb which inflates his numbers. On May 14 th , the Marlins took on the Dodgers and he could not go deeper than 1.1 with 7 hits and 8 earned runs tagged to his name. His other starts are very decent though, only allowing 1 or 2 runs per game ranging anywhere from 5-7 innings of a work.
This Phillies team is crushing my soul. I don’t even know how to comprehend the garbage we have seen to this point! 41 down and A LOT more to go! I can’t wait!