Here is the third episode of The Unlucky Irishman podcast. Music is A Taste Of Silver by Until The Ribbon Breaks. The Stats of the Day are provided by ESPN Stats & Info Twitter feed. Produced by Ashley Maciag and Boomer Dangel. Host is James “Preacher” Rowe.

Baseball is finally back as one team, the Houston Astros, will be looking to repeat as champions while 29 other clubs will be looking to dethrone them. It may be too early to make predictions as you can only assess teams by looking at them on paper, but it doesn’t hurt to do it. Last season was a very mediocre year, but this season looks to be a great one. With that being said, lets look at the teams

American League

East Division

Baltimore Orioles: After a strong start last season, the Birds suddenly fell flat and finished with a losing record. The starting pitching was their achilles heel, but over the offseason, the club added Andrew Cashner and Alex Cobb to strengthen the rotation and with a bullpen that has been fantastic for the last several years, the pitching is suddenly strong. Offensively there is no question they crush the ball, but some players like Chris Davis will need to step up after a disappointing 2017. An interesting story line will be Manny Machado switching his position from third base to shortstop (which is what he was before playing at third base when reaching the majors). He’s a gifted fielder so it could be fun to see him play his natural position. I truly believe this was the most improved team in the league.

Boston Red Sox: After getting a new manager, Alex Cora, and picking up the best hitter on the free agent market, J.D. Martinez, the Red Sox may be even better than they were last year when they won their second consecutive. They finally might have the bonafide designated hitter in Martinez that they needed to replace the legendary David Ortiz who retired after 2016. With a great rotation led by Chris Sale and 2016 Cy Young Winner Rick Porcello, a dominant bullpen featuring the best closer in the game Craig Kimbrel, and an offense that is led by an MVP candidate, Mookie Betts, this club is a strong contender for World Series glory.

New York Yankees: A club that is technically rebuilding, they are a very talented team that came within one win of being in the World Series last season. However, they added more fire power to an already powerful lineup by acquiring outfielder Giancarlo Stanton, the 2017 NL MVP and most prolific power hitter in MLB. Team up him and his 59 home runs from last year with Aaron Judge, 2017 AL Rookie of the Year, and his 52 home runs, which was a MLB rookie record and home runs are going to be flying out of Yankee Stadium like crazy. They already have a pretty good rotation with youngster Luis Severino, a future star, and Sonny Gray, plus a dominant bullpen with probably the hardest throwing pitcher in the league, Aroldis Chapman, as their closer. They could very well beat out the Red Sox for the division. Plus with a rookie manager in Aaron Boone, this could be an interesting season for the Bronx Bombers.

Tampa Bay Rays: The team was trending up every season in their rebuild, but then they suddenly decided this past offseason to trade some key players in Evan Longoria, Steven Souza, and Corey Dickerson. However, the future is bright for the team as they arguably have a very talented farm system, but this year, they probably will struggle. They still boast a talented rotation with Chris Archer, a Cy Young candidate, Blake Snell, and Jacob Faria. The bullpen will feature Alex Colome, but he should get some help with the veteran Sergio Romo joining the team. The offense might struggle this year as they are young and unproven, so it looks there will be some growing pains.

Toronto Blue Jays: While they are not yet there yet, this club could soon be in a rebuild, however, they have lots of talent in the farm system with Vladimir Guerrero Jr and Bo Bichette who will be coming up soon. The rotation is the best part of this team as they are led by Marcus Stroman, Aaron Sanchez, and Marco Estrada, plus the bullpen isn’t too shabby with the closer Roberto Osuna, but he will get even more help with the signings of Seung Hwan-Oh, John Axford, and Tyler Clippard. The offense, while not as powerful as it used to be, will still score a lot of runs as Josh Donaldson will lead the team in the lineup, but after seeing Justin Smoak have a breakout season in 2017, the team should still be somewhat competitive this year.

Division champion:

James Rowe: Red Sox. I think it will be a three way race for the division between them, Yankees, and Orioles, but I feel like Boston is the more experienced and more complete team here.

Boomer Dangel: New York Yankees

Central Division

Chicago White Sox: This team is in the midst of a rebuild, but after last year with how they played down the stretch, this team will play hard. With the motto of “Ricky’s Boys Don’t Quit,” manager Rick Renteria and the Pale Hose will not be denied of a win as they will make any team work harder to get a victory. The young rotation is developing as they hope Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, and Carson Fulmer blossom this year, but with more help coming in the farm system and with the hope that team ace Carlos Rodon recovers from an injury, this rotation could be sneaky good. The offense is led by Jose Abreu, 2014 AL Rookie of the Year and a valuable slugger, but will have some help from Avisail Garcia and two youngsters in Tim Anderson and Yoan Moncada. With Welington Castillo brought in to help with the pitchers and bring solid defense, the White Sox might compete despite what their record suggests.

Cleveland Indians: After coming off a 102 win season, including having a 22-game winning streak which was a record, the Indians should have no problem winning this division for a third straight season. The rotation will look to be dominant as ever with 2014 AL Cy Young winner Corey Kluber and Carlos Carrasco, this is a top five rotation in the league. The bullpen, which was very strong in 2016 and 2017, lost key pieces in Bryan Shaw and Joe Smith, but should still be dominant as they are led by Andrew Miller and Cody Allen. The offense lost a key player in Carlos Santana, but they still should be productive with Francisco Lindor, Jose Ramirez, Jason Kipnis, and Edwin Encarnacion being the main source of productivity.

Detroit Tigers: The Tigers are now in rebuild mode after what feels like an era of contending every year, which is now over. Miguel Cabrera, arguably one of the best right handed hitters in the last decade, will lead this young team, but he doesn’t have much help on offense. There is some talent like Jeimer Candelario and Mikie Mathtook, but they are all unproven. The rotation should be good with Jordan Zimmermann and Michael Fulmer anchoring it, but there are lots of question marks with most of the pitching staff. This will be a long season in Motown.

Kansas City Royals: How that 2014-15 run seems so long ago, the Royals will have to go young again and seemingly restart all over again. They are not quite a rebuilding team, but they will be soon. However, with some assets, they could get a nice package back in prospects. Their best hitter, Salvador Perez, will start the season on the disabled list, so their offense will struggle this year. The pitching is not quite as good as it was before, but they still have Danny Duffy, who had a breakout year in 2017, anchoring their rotation and Kelvin Herrera as their closer.

Minnesota Twins: Surprising every one last year, the Twins made the playoffs nabbing a Wild Card. The club has a young, but powerful lineup with Brian Dozier, Byron Buxton, and Miguel Sano being the main source of productivity. The lineup should score lots of runs. Pitching was a problem last year, but over the offseason they acquired Jake Odorizzi, Lance Lynn, and Michael Pineda to strengthen their rotation and Fernando Rodney, Addison Reed, and Zach Duke to make their bullpen even better. They had a great offseason and I fully expect them to have a good year.

Division champion:

James: Cleveland Indians. This year will be more competitive for the Tribe, but they still are the class of division.

Boomer: Cleveland Indians

West Division

Houston Astros: They are the defending champions, so there is going to be a lot of pressure on them, but believe it or not, the team they assembled in the offseason might be even better than last year. The rotation is arguably the best in all of baseball led by Justin Verlander and Dallas Keuchel, but they also added Gerrit Cole in a trade with Pittsburgh. Plus they acquired bullpen depth in Joe Smith and Hector Rondon to compliment closer Ken Giles and Will Harris. The offense is unbelievably good as they hit for average, power, and are speedy as I feel like this is the most complete lineup I’ve ever seen as they are led by AL MVP Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, and World Series MVP George Springer. They are the favorite to even win the World Series again as this squad is really special to watch.

Los Angeles Angels: This team might have won the offseason as they acquired numerous amount of talented players by getting Ian Kinsler, Justin Upton, Zack Cozart, and the Japanese two-way player phenom Shohei Ohtani (two-way meaning he can hit and pitch). The rotation could be sneaky good as they have Matt Shoemaker, Tyler Skaggs, and Garrett Richards while the bullpen is strong with pitchers like Cam Bedrosian and Jim Johnson. In terms of offense, they are going to slug with Albert Pujols and Mike Trout leading the lineup. They could contend for a Wild Card this year.

Oakland Athletics: This team is young, but they also could surprise every one as they are very talented. The rotation, like the White Sox, could be really good as they are anchored by Kendall Graveman. The bullpen will be good this year as they have the underrated Blake Treinen as their closer. While the offense will undoubtedly go through some growing pains, they could be really good as the season goes on as they are led by slugger Khris Davis and have a future gold glover in Matt Chapman. Don’t be shocked if they make a run at a Wild Card.

Seattle Mariners: It seems like every year this club has high hopes, but can’t seem to put it together. They are very talented and if they could finally click, this club could be very dangerous. The rotation has staff ace Felix Hernandez anchoring it, but after adding Mike Leake and Marco Gonzales, it’s significantly stronger. The bullpen is very good as Edwin Diaz is a talent everyone should watch for. The offense will be really good as they are led by Nelson Cruz, but will be complimented with Ryon Healy, Dee Gordon, Kyle Seager, Robinson Cano, Jean Segura, and yes, even the legend himself Ichiro Suzuki at the ripe ole’ age of 44 (you read that right). Keep an eye on them

Texas Rangers: A talented club that disappointed last season, they might make some noise this year as they helpled bolster their roster. They picked up pitcher Matt Moore to improve their rotation that is anchored by their ace Cole Hamels, so that will help them significantly. The bullpen is a question mark, but they have lots of guys who can throw very hard. Offensively, expect them to hit lots of home runs as Joey Gallo can slug somewhere between 40-50 home runs, but they also have future Hall of Famer Adrian Beltre, Elvis Andrus, Nomar Mazara, and Rougned Odor in the lineup.

Division champion:

James: Houston Astros. The West won’t quite be as uncompetitive as last year, but the Astros are really freaking good and are one of my favorites to win the title.

Boomer: Houston Astros

National League

East Division

Atlanta Braves: This team is still rebuilding, but they could take a lot of step forwards this season. And soon they will be very good, but for now, it’s all about progress. The rotation is very young as they are anchored by Julio Teheran, but with a plethora of prospects coming up, the rotation could be very good soon. The bullpen is also young so there is some uncertainty. The offense is led by Freddie Freeman, but the rest of team is very young and are talented which could become a good lineup very soon.

Miami Marlins: Story of this franchise: another fire sale. Trying to rebuild, once again, new ownership that includes the legendary Derek Jeter are going to basically start from scratch. The rotation will be led by José Ureña and Dan Straily, but outside of that, it will be a project and the same goes for the bullpen. The offense still has a few pieces in J.T. Realmuto, Justin Bour, Starlin Castro, and Martin Prado, but expect them to be traded. This will be a long year in Miami.

New York Mets: After a disappointing 2017, the team looked on improving the team and got some nice pieces, but there are still some question marks. The rotation would be the strength of the club with Noah Syndergaard, Jacob deGrom, Matt Harvey, and Steve Matz, but the question is whether those guys can stay healthy. The bullpen will be really good with closer Jeurys Familia who will have help in Anthony Swarzak, AJ Ramos, and Jerry Blevins. The offense will have some question marks, but if every one lives up to their potential, they will produce as they took a chance on a declining Adrian Gonzalez, but also have Todd Frazier, Yoenis Cespedes, and Michael Conforto helping out. Plus they will be counting on youngster Ahmed Rosario to live up to the hype.

Philadelphia Phillies: In what has seemed like an eternity after deciding to rebuild, the Phillies might actually make some noise this year after they acquired Jake Arrieta, Carlos Santana, Tommy Hunter, and Pat Neshek to boost their rotation, lineup, and bullpen. The team also has a lot of youngsters on the team that have a ton of potential like starter Aaron Nola, catcher Jorge Alfaro, infielders Maikel Franco, Scott Kingery, and J.P. Crawford and outfielders Rhys Hoskins and Odubel Herrera. These guys could be good really soon.

Washington Nationals: No question is the class of the division, but there is still some question marks as it’s more just uncertainty than anything else. New manager Dave Martinez, who is a first time manager, will be tasked with a talented club that seemingly can’t get over the postseason hump. The rotation might be the best in baseball as they have Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg and Gio Gonzalez leading the way. The bullpen is incredibly good as they have Sean Doolittle, Ryan Madson, and Brandon Kintzler. The offense is stacked as Bryce Harper is the main guy, but has help from Daniel Murphy, Adam Eaton, and Anthony Rendon. Oh yeah and a bench consisting of Matt Adams, Howie Kendrick, and Wilmer Difo is just incredible. This has to be the year, especially with it being Harper’s last year of his contract, to finally win the World Series.

Division champion:

James: Washington Nationals. This is a very weak division so the Nationals should have no problem. My intrigue will be how they fare against teams that are not in their division.

Boomer: Washington Nationals

Central Division

Chicago Cubs: Still the best team in the division, but whats scary is that they may now be even better than the team that won the World Series in 2016. The rotation will be led by Jose Quintana and Jon Lester, but they also added Yu Darvish and Tyler Chatwood, plus they already have quietly great pitcher in Kyle Hendricks. The bullpen is awesome as Carl Edwards Jr., Pedro Strop, Justin Wilson, Brandon Morrow, and Steve Cishek will be more than likely just very dominant even without a distinguished closer. The offense might be the best in baseball as they have Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Willson Contreras, Addison Russell, Javier Baez, and Ben Zobrist who can absolutely slug the ball.

Cincinnati Reds: This team does not get quite enough respect as they deserve, but they are a rebuilding team with a lot of uncertainty. Young, but very talented, this club could surprise this year if every thing goes right for them. The rotation will likely feature some young arms in Luis Castillo and Tyler Mahle who lots of people in the organization have high hopes for. The bullpen will be really solid with Raisel Iglesias as the closer, but also some veteran arms in Michael Lorenzen, David Hernandez, and Jared Hughes. There is no question that their offense will produce with the “should-have-been” 2017 MVP of the NL Joey Votto, but he should get some help from the underrated Eugenio Suarez, Adam Duvall, Scott Schebler, and Tucker Barnhart. The question mark will be whether Scooter Gennett is the real deal after having a break out season in 2017. And another question mark will be when will top hitting prospect Nick Senzel make his debut. If every thing clicks, watch them be a surprise team this year.

Milwaukee Brewers: While technically in a rebuild after contending a year ahead of schedule, these guys will surely make some noise this year as they could be a top-ten club this year. After grabbing a lot of great players like Lorenzo Cain, Christian Yelich, and Jhoulys Chacin over the offseason, this franchise feels like they can compete in 2018. The rotation is sneaky good with their ace Jimmy Nelson getting some help from Chacin. The bullpen is great as they have Jeremy Jeffress, Jacob Barnes, and Josh Hader setting up for closer Corey Knebel. The offense will be awesome with Cain and Yelich joining Ryan Braun, Travis Shaw, and Domingo Santana plus they have Eric Thames. Watch out for them this year.

Pittsburgh Pirates: What a fall from grace for this team as they have declined significantly after that 98-win season in 2015 and are now in rebuild mode. They traded their best player in Andrew McCutchen over the offseason so this team will struggle a lot this year. The rotation will be interesting as there is talent behind the now ace of Ivan Nova as he will get some help from promising Jameson Taillon, but the hope is that prospects Mitch Keller, Joe Musgrove, and Tyler Glasnow develop into a great five man tandem. The bullpen will have some questions, but overall they have assets in it that could help them nab more prospects like closer Felipe Rivero and George Kontos. The hope is that Kyle Crick and Michael Feliz, who they both picked up in the offseason, will help the bullpen. The offense still has some talent with Starling Marte, Gregory Polanco, Corey Dickerson, Jordy Mercer, Francisco Cervelli, and Josh Bell leading the way and the hope that prospects Austin Meadows and Bryan Reynolds can help make the team better soon.

St. Louis Cardinals: Believe it or not, this club improved a lot during the offseason with the acquisitions of outfielder Marcell Ozuna and reliever Luke Gregerson as they could make a run at the Wild Card. The rotation is really good with Carlos Martinez, Adam Wainwright, Michael Wacha and youngster Luke Weaver, but they also have options in Jack Flaherty and Alex Reyes who are youngsters like Weaver with tremendous amounts of talent. The bullpen is also great with Gregerson, Bud Norris, Tyler Lyons, Greg Holland, and Brett Cecil. The offense will be solid with Ozuna, Tommy Pham (a potential MVP), Paul DeJong, Matt Carpenter, Kolten Wong, and Dexter Fowler.

Division champion:

James: Chicago Cubs. They are even better than the 2016 club. I like their chances.

Boomer: Chicago Cubs

West Division

Arizona Diamondbacks: Coming out of nowhere last year, the Diamondbacks had a very strong club that might have been the best team in the National League after the Los Angeles Dodgers, but unfortunately got stuck with playing the Dodgers in the first round of the playoffs. The rotation is fantastic as it’s led by Zack Greinke and Robby Ray, but the other three starters are fantastic. However, they are backed up by a great bullpen that features Archie Bradley and Brad Boxberger. The lineup will be thumping a lot of pitching staffs this year even without J.D. Martinez as they do have Paul Goldschmidt who is a perennial MVP and they also have A.J. Pollock, David Peralta, Ketel Marte, Jake Lamb, and Steven Souza. Expect them to compete this year.

Colorado Rockies: What’s crazy about this team this year is that they are even better than last year’s club which was really good. The rotation is young, but super talented as they are led by Jon Gray. The bullpen should be great with pitchers like Wade Davis, Bryan Shaw, Jake McGee and Mike Dunn as this could be the best bullpen in baseball, even pitching in a ballpark where lots of runs are scored. The offense will be expected to slug with players like Charlie Blackmon, Nolan Arenado, D.J. LeMahieu, Carlos Gonzalez leading the way.

Los Angeles Dodgers: This team was expected to win more games in the history of the game when they seemingly could not lose before a mid-season swoon. However, this team is still the club to beat in the National League as they are super talented. The rotation boasts the best pitcher in baseball, Clayton Kershaw, but behind him he has some great comrades with Kenta Maeda and Alex Wood, however there are questions about whether Hyun-Jin Ryu or Julio Urias can stay healthy. The bullpen features the best closer in Kenley Jansen, but who will set him up will be a question. The offense is expected to produce again as they are led by Cody Bellinger, Justin Turner (who will start the season on the disabled list), Corey Seager, Yasiel Puig, and Joc Pederson. The road to win a pennant will go through Los Angeles if any other teams want to go to the World Series.

San Diego Padres: This team is in rebuild mode, but it’s still a long process for them as the prospects for this team are still developing. The ace of the rotation is Clayton Richard, who is at best the fifth guy in any other rotation. But if some pitchers like Anderson Espinoza and Cal Quantrill develop, the rotation in the near future could be really good. The bullpen is surprisingly strong with pitchers like Brad Hand and Craig Stammen in it. The offense is a question mark, but adding Eric Hosmer should help as it takes a load off the shoulders of Wil Myers.

San Francisco Giants: The most improved team in the National League, these guys are hoping to compete for a playoff spot this year after making a slew of moves. The rotation of Madison Bumgarner, Jeff Samardzija, and Johnny Cueto is great, however, Bumgarner and Samardzija will begin the season on the disabled list so that could hurt their chances. The bullpen should be good with closer Mark Melancon and help from Tony Watson, Hunter Strickland, Sam Dyson, Cody Gearrin, and Josh Osich. The offense should be great with the best catcher in the game in Buster Posey getting help from Brandon Crawford, Brandon Belt, and Joe Panik alongside newly acquired Andrew McCutchen and Evan Longoria.

Division champion:

James: Los Angeles Dodgers. Until someone else proves otherwise, this is still the best team in the division. But also, I see them going back to the World Series again.

Boomer: Los Angeles Dodgers

Wild Cards:

American League

James: New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles. Yankees are really freaking good so I find it hard to not see them in the playoffs, but the Orioles I think are sneaky good.

Boomer: Seattle Mariners and Los Angeles Angels

National League

James: Arizona Diamondbacks and San Francisco Giants. Arizona should continue to be really good as I love their roster. I just think the Giants are going to be good despite all the question marks. The West is just going to be filthy sick to watch.

Boomer: Arizona Diamondbacks and Atlanta Braves.

The other day I saw some of my former co-workers, colleagues, and bosses complaining about the new Minor League Baseball rule that was made the other day and I couldn’t understand the outrage. What the new rule is that once a game goes into extra innings, a runner will start at second base for the batting team per each half inning played. Yeah, it’s not true baseball, but the minor leagues are about development, not wins and losses. I may not agree that the runner should start at second base (rather I think they should start at first base as I feel like that would be more helpful to the development of a player), but I am not fretting over it as wins or losses don’t really matter. However, there were many people who were upset about it including some I used to work with or worked in the same industry as many exclaimed that it was “stupid.”

Here is the thing, I would understand if Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred had tried to implement that rule into the Majors and people being upset about it. It’s not real baseball. However, if Manfred did try to implement it, he would be laughed out of the room for even thinking of such a thing. What I’m trying to say here is that it would never ever happen at the Major League level. It wouldn’t even be taken serious. I know some people are upset with what Manfred has done with rule changes as I am one of them, especially with the new intentional walk rule, and think there are better ways of speeding up the game, but c’mon on! Do you really think Manfred would really dumb down the game? Absolutely not! He would know there would be people outside his door with pitchforks if that was to ever happen.

The other day, ESPN baseball insider Keith Law posted on Twitter about his outrage about it. He is not happy at all with the new rule. I tweeted at him saying that the minor leagues was about development, not wins and losses, but when he responded, I don’t think he appreciated that I was offering another narrative. I think the way he reacted to my tweet was just out of passion and because he was so mad about the rule change. I wasn’t even trying to argue or to debate, just opening up dialogue as I felt like there is another side to it that should be discussed. Well I was met with an interesting tweet from him when I said it would never happen: “No, it’s reality. To think you know more than people who work in the industry is…you know the rest.” For your information, I worked three years in minor league ball before coming to the majors in 2016 and have become friendly with the likes of Marty Brennaman, John Rooney, Pat Hughes, and even current Cincinnati Reds manager Bryan Price. Heck, if Kris Bryant was to walk down the street and come across me, he would say hi as I worked for the Tennessee Smokies at the time he was playing there. I know many other executives, broadcasters, and writers in the industry. So I am not some Joe Schmo. However, it seems like bringing up another narrative compromised Law’s and he didn’t like it. He also did tweet at me a few other childish things, but that’s aside the point

But that gives you an idea of how upset some people have become about it. After talking to one of my friends who is a broadcaster in the Minor Leagues, he said he was okay with the rules because of the same reasons I explained earlier (development, not wins and losses), but the one thing he thought was good about it was that it could also protect players health as there are constant player transactions in the Minors and typically extra inning games are meant to protect the players’ health (what that means is you have to use more pitchers when games go long, therefore you have to move pitchers on and off the disabled list after long games to space out their rest time appropriately which means that it creates more and more roster transactions). He also brought up that there is already an adjusted innings format for doubleheaders (seven innings in each game), so why should extra innings be off limits? And my favorite thing said about it was that no one ever pauses to consider the nuances involved in decisions and brought up that the international game seems to do fine with it.

People need to calm down about this, it’s not going to be implemented into the majors. The Minor Leagues are about development, not wins and losses. If Manfred tries to, you should absolutely bark back, but luckily you won’t have to as it will never happen. Just enjoy the game as it is in the minors. While I think there is a better way, no one should be this upset about it.

James Rowe

South Region

Moving on to Elite 8: Kentucky, Nevada

Regional winner and moving on to Final Four: Kentucky

West Region

Moving on to Elite 8: Gonzaga, Michigan

Regional winner and moving on to Final Four: Gonzaga

East Region

Moving on to Elite 8: Villanova, Purdue

Regional winner and moving on to Final Four: Villanova

Midwest Region

Moving on to Elite 8: Kansas, Duke

Regional winner and moving on to Final Four: Duke

Boomer Dangel

South Region

Moving on to Elite 8: Kentucky, Nevada

Moving on to Final 4: Kentucky

West Region

Moving on to Elite 8: Gonzaga, Texas A&M

Moving on to Final 4: Gonzaga

Midwest Region

Moving on to Elite 8: Kansas, Duke

Moving on to Final 4: Duke

East Region

Moving on to Elite 8: Villanova, Texas Tech

Moving on to Final 4: Villanova
Game to Watch: Villanova vs. West Virginia… Big offense against big defense. Villanova should run away with this game, unless they miss shots. They will not have trouble breaking past WVU’s full-court pressure. But it could tire them out to miss shots.

Team to watch out for: Not a secret any more, but Kentucky is likely headed to the Final Four. And to be frank, Kentucky would’ve won the region even the 1, 2 and 3 seeds advanced accordingly

Dan Nicotera

Here is the second episode of The Unlucky Irishman podcast. Music is A Taste Of Silver by Until The Ribbon Breaks. The Stats of the Day are provided by ESPN Stats & Info Twitter feed. Produced by Ashley Maciag and Boomer Dangel. Host is James “Preacher” Rowe.

In this series I look into whether a team could have gone on to do big things despite what the actual final outcome was and decide whether they could have done it or not.

In this very first piece of this Coulda Woulda Shoulda series I will look into whether the 2005 Washington Nationals could have made the postseason.

It was the first season in the Nation’s Capital for the team as they had just moved from Montreal and there was a lot of buzz in the air about a baseball team coming back to DC for the first time since 1971. The expectations were not high about the team’s performance, but that wasn’t anything to worry as the residents of DC and the rest of the baseball community were celebrating baseball returning to a city starved of the sport.

There were some trades made and some free agent pickups that looked decent, but never to the point where they thought it would be a postseason contender, let alone a winning record.

They lost their first game against the Phillies, but they would go on to finish the month of April with a 13-11 record. They certainly looked good, but it wasn’t enough to convince everyone that they could compete and that notion came even more into fruition when they struggled mightily with their offense and finished May with a 14-14 record for the month and 27-25 overall.

In June, it was a completely different storyline as they got hot, and I mean red hot. The pitching was absolutely lights out, the offense was scoring runs left and right, and nothing got past their gloves as they went 20-6 in the month including having a run of winning 10 consecutive games. They were 47-31 at that point and were the talk about baseball.

To start July, they were 5-5 going into the All-Star break, which was not a great record, but they were playing well in those games, just not getting the results they wanted. However they were 52-36 at the break, well ahead of their expectations.

Nick Johnson was having an All-Star like season (though he was snubbed from the roster) as he was driving in lots of runs including ones in the clutch and had an average around .340. Jose Guillen was driving in runs and hitting some clutch home runs. Ryan Church looked like he was going to be a breakout star. Livan Hernandez and Esteban Loaiza were solidifying the rotation. John Patterson looked like he was going to be a future ace. Chad Cordero looked to be a star  in the making as he was saving games left and right where it seemingly looked like the game was over when he entered. Any time it was a one-run game, the Nationals won basically every time. It was a good time to be in Washington, DC for the 2005 summer.

But the second half, things went awry as they were now losing those one-run games they were winning in the first half. The defense took a tumble and the offense was not producing consistently like they were before. Church got hurt earlier in the season and when he came back, he was not the same. Johnson, though finished with a .289 average, dropped off significantly in the second half as he hit a slump. They were playing well, just not playing well enough considering their pitching was outstanding. What happened!? To be honest, I’m not quite sure. There was some underachievement and there was some bad luck. The team even went and got Junior Spivey and Preston Wilson in trades, and picked up Mike Stanton via free agency, but that was just not enough. Getting Jose Vidro back from injury seemed like that this was destiny for the team, but not even that could help. It also didn’t help that the Braves, Mets, Marlins, and Phillies got hot in the second half as they all made a push for the playoffs where they were plucking wins off from the Nationals. The worst case scenario possibly imagined came to fruition. They just so happened to be in the best division in terms of record that season.

But what if they kept up that same type of play in the second half? Would it have been realistic of them to make the playoffs?

To be honest, they could have made the playoffs.

However, I don’t think the Nationals would have won the division as the Braves were just better than them, though the Nationals had the edge in pitching. It was also a very weak National League so there could have been a good chance at the Wild Card. The likelihood of even making it out of the Division Series would have been very slim as they would have matched up with the Cardinals who won a 100 games that season. St. Louis was way better than them.

If they had in fact won the division (I’m being hypothetical right now and not realistic), there they would have played the Padres unless the Astros had beaten out the Braves for the Wild Card. The Padres were not a very good club that season where they won a division in an incredibly weak National League West as their final record was 82-80. Nationals would have won that series as their pitching was way better (though San Diego had a decent bullpen). I am not sure if the Nationals would have beaten the Braves in the NLCS that year, but if it came down to pitching, they most certainly would have won that matchup. Now if they would have won that series, in the World Series, they would have faced the White Sox who were just too good to be beaten. The Pale Hose would have taken home the trophy with ease (which they actually did as they swept the Astros though the games that were played in that series were very close). If they had played the Astros in the Division Series, Houston would have won. Maybe I should do the simulator to see if these scenarios would have panned out.

What would have really helped the Nationals going into the playoffs was their bullpen. It was phenomenal all year long as Jon Rauch, Cordero, Luis Ayala, Hector Carrasco, Gary Majewski, Stanton, and Joey Eischen were each fantastic with Stanton being the weakest link. The rotation was good, but after Loaiza, Hernandez, and Patterson, a fourth starter was not their strongest suit as it would have likely been Tony Armas who was not that great after coming from the disabled list. If they had kept Tomo Ohka, then it would have been fine for the squad.

However, if it wasn’t for that such dominant bullpen and solid rotation, this team would have never come close to making the playoffs. There just wasn’t enough talent on offense to carry the club. I really believe that they overachieved a bit in the first half, but severely underachieved in the second half. I do, however, think they would have made the playoffs that season.

Ireland Vs England

James: “Ireland is the Six Nations Champions, but they are going for something even greater, they are looking to win a Grand Slam. That will be no easy task as they will have to take on England. England is very talented, but they don’t seem to be in form as they struggled against France last week. With Ireland peaking after a great win over Scotland and England floundering, I think Ireland gets that coveted Grand Slam. Winner: Ireland.”

Aaron: “Ireland.”

Italy Vs Scotland

James: “Scotland did not perform well at all against Ireland last week as they could not get into a rhythm, but they should have no problem this week getting back into one as they play Italy who was squashed by Wales last week. Scotland could theoretically finish second if they beat Italy big, but I don’t think that will be a problem. Winner: Scotland.”

Aaron: “Scotland.”

Wales Vs France

James: “The French defense looked superb against England last week in their upset win over the English, but will have to face Wales this week which is no easy task. Wales showed how potent offensively they are by putting up 38 points against Italy. This could make out into a great match to watch. Winner: Wales.”

Aaron: “France. They are the hotter team right now.”

Here at Rowe Sports Talk Network, we decided to do our predictions for this year’s version of the NCAA College Basketball Tournament (or as it’s commonly known as March Madness). Here are out predictions:

Dan Nicotera:

Advances to Round of 16: Villanova, Wichita State, Texas Tech, Purdue

Advances to Sweet 16: Kansas, Auburn, Michigan State, Duke

Advances to Sweet 16: Xavier, Gonzaga, Michigan, UNC

It shouldn’t have to come down to the FBI doing this, but it goes to show how bad of an organization the NCAA really is. We’ve all known that for a while that schools try to recruit players in the least ethical ways and hope they don’t get caught, but it seems as though the NCAA turned the other cheek and allowed so much corruption to happen that even the most powerful investigative agency in not only the country, but possibly the world to step in and uncover all of that. This isn’t the first time the FBI has done something like this as they helped uncover all of the corruption happening with FIFA. The FBI shouldn’t have to and shouldn’t be getting involved, but considering the NCAA can’t check themselves or check possible violators, something had to be done.

Yahoo! Sports recently published an article about the FBI’s investigation that showed around 20 of the top schools in college basketball were implicated in possible NCAA rules violations. According to the ESPN article that wrote about what Yahoo! Sports had published, here were some of the violators:

Potential impermissible benefits and preferential treatment for players and families
Alabama, Duke, Kentucky, LSU, Maryland, Michigan State, NC State, North Carolina, Seton Hall, Texas, USC, Washington

Schools named in former ASM Sports employee Christian Dawkins’ expense reports (seeking reimbursement for thousands of dollars he paid to college and high school players and their families)
Clemson, Kansas, Louisville, Michigan State, South Carolina, Texas, USC, Utah, Wichita State, Xavier

Schools that had players/families listed as meeting with Dawkins
Alabama, Creighton, Duke, Iowa State, Kentucky, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Texas, Vanderbilt, Virginia

Schools with active players implicated
Alabama (Collin Sexton), Duke (Wendell Carter), Kentucky (Kevin Knox), Michigan State (Miles Bridges), South Carolina (Brian Bowen), Texas (Eric Davis Jr.), USC (Bennie Boatwright)

Schools with former players implicated
Clemson, Creighton, Iowa State, Kansas, Louisville, LSU, Maryland, NC State, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Seton Hall, Utah, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Washington, Wichita State, Xavier

However, the is no bigger possible violator in all of this than University of Arizona. FBI had wiretapped intercepted telephone conversations between Arizona head coach Sean Miller and a man named Christian Dawkins (this name was mentioned earlier and a very important name to this investigation by the FBI) where Miller talked about paying $100,000 so that DeAndre Ayton, Arizona’s star freshman, would attend the school. The next day after the report, Miller did not coach Arizona’s game against Oregon as both he and the school agreed to him not coaching the game claiming “best interests of the University and the basketball program.”

So who is Christian Dawkins? Well before we get into who he is, you need to know who Andy Miller is. According to the ESPN article this is what was said who he is:

“A prominent former NBA agent and the founder of ASM Sports. He represented the likes of Kevin Garnett, Kristaps Porzingis and Kyle Lowry, but relinquished his certification in December amid unfolding allegations that his agency was heavily involved in the college basketball scandal. Miller’s computer was seized last year in an FBI raid. Teaming with Dawkins, Miller issued four- and five-figure payments to several high school and college players, according to Yahoo! Sports.”

Now you know who Miller is, but what about Dawkins? This is what the ESPN article had to say:

“The sports agent, former youth tournament director and AAU figure who is alleged to have been instrumental in conspiring with others implicated in the scandal to arrange payments to each of the four assistant coaches arrested in September. Before opening his own agency, Dawkins, 25, worked for Miller’s ASM Sports.”

According to the article, a few former players were listed in the documents such as Dennis Smith Jr (NC State), Isaiah Whitehead (Seton Hall), Bam Adebayo (Kentucky), Markelle Fultz (Washington), Kyle Kuzma (Utah), PJ Dozier (South Carolina), Josh Jackson (Kansas) as to having received money from their schools.

I also copy and pasted from the article some other key elements like people who are involved and the timeline of the FBI probe:

Chuck Person: The Auburn assistant employed by coach Bruce Pearl since 2014. Person previously served as an assistant with four NBA teams after 14 seasons as a player in the league. He played at Auburn from 1982 to 1986. He was fired after the November indictment.

Lamont Evans: Fired on Sept. 28 by Oklahoma State after six months on the job. Evans previously worked at South Carolina and was alleged, while at both schools, to have accepted payments.

Emanuel “Book” Richardson: The Arizona assistant employed by coach Sean Miller at the school since 2009 and previously at Xavier. Richardson was accused of accepting payments to steer players. He was fired on Jan. 11.

Tony Bland: The USC associate head coach employed by coach Andy Enfield since 2013. Bland was accused of accepting payments to steer players and was fired in January by USC; he was the last of four assistants named in the original report to lose his job.

Jim Gatto: The senior Adidas marketing executive at the center of the scheme, according to federal officials, to direct payments to prep players and their families in exchange for their commitments to play at Adidas-sponsored college programs. He was widely known in college basketball as a key dealmaker in the apparel and shoe industry.

Merl Code: The Adidas consultant, former Nike employee and Clemson basketball player charged with federal wire fraud for his work with Gatto to funnel payments to prep players and their families.

Brian Bowen: The No. 14-rated prospect in the recruiting class of 2017, he signed with Louisville and ultimately played a key role in the toppling of coach Rick Pitino. Bowen was identified in the initial FBI findings as a prospect who received payment. Yahoo! reported that Dawkins paid for $1,500 in plane tickets for Bowen and that his family received at least $7,000 in benefits. Bowen joined coach Frank Martin’s team at South Carolina in January and has not been cleared by the NCAA to play.

Jonathan Brad Augustine: Former AAU director and youth coach implicated in September as a co-conspirator in the scandal. Federal prosecutors asked a judge in early February to drop charges against Augustine.

Munish Sood: The financial adviser named in September by federal officials, he was accused of arranging at least $22,000 in payments to Evans. Sood formed a sports management firm in 2017 with Dawkins and also directed payments to Bland and Richardson in exchange for influence, according to the feds. Sood was not among the eight men indicted in November.

Rashan Michel: The former NCAA referee arrested in September who owned an Atlanta-based clothing company and was alleged to have arranged $91,500 in payments to Person for the coach’s influence. Michel reportedly outfitted many NBA and NFL stars.

Timeline of events

Sept. 26: The FBI and United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced the arrests of 10 men, including assistant coaches Person, Evans, Bland and Richardson, in connection with fraud and corruption schemes under investigation since 2015. The federal officials alleged that the coaches took cash bribes from business managers and financial advisers in exchange for the coaches’ influence to direct selected players and their families to retain the services of the advisers who provided the bribes once the players entered the NBA. Additionally, a senior executive with Adidas was accused by the feds of working with the corrupt advisers to funnel payments to high school players and their families in exchange for the players’ commitments to attend Adidas-sponsored schools.

Oct. 16: Pitino was fired by Louisville, completing the Hall of Fame coach’s separation from the school after he was placed on administrative leave on Sept. 27 — one day after the unveiling of the scandal by federal officials. Louisville was fingered by the feds for directing money from Adidas to two high school prospects, including Bowen.

Oct. 18: Tom Jurich was fired with cause as athletic director at Louisville.

Nov. 7: Eight of the 10 men arrested in September — the four coaches, plus Gatto, Code, Dawkins and Michel — were indicted by a federal grand jury in New York.

Feb. 15: A U.S. district court judge denied a motion to dismiss charges against Gatto, Code and Dawkins.

Feb. 23: Yahoo! Sports publishes documents from the FBI’s investigation into college basketball corruption that show possible NCAA rules violations by more than 20 Division I teams.

That is a lot to digest, but it doesn’t stop there. Clearly the NCAA were sitting on their hands and not doing a good job of keeping schools in check. Simply, they did not do their job or they did not do it well. It seemed like the NCAA was apathetic to keeping up with their standards and turned their cheeks to being ethical. The NCAA also has a history of committing some cold and heartless acts, along with some minor but petty ones too, as they have penalized schools for violations that are, for a lack of a better term, harsh. Actually, that might be an understatement as I would categorize it as cruel. A coach took one of his players, who had just lost a parent, out to lunch before putting him on a plane to go back home and the NCAA deemed that as a violation. That’s a violation you turn the other cheek on instead of turning your cheek on something thats a lot more serious because you either don’t want do your job to investigate it or you’re too incompetent to do it. Here is a segment that John Oliver did that talks about the NCAA as an organization.

Then there is the president of the organization Mark Emmert who came out with a statement after the Yahoo! Sports article:

“These allegations, if true, point to systematic failures that must be fixed and fixed now if we want college sports in America. Simply put, people who engage in this kind of behavior have no place in college sports. They are an affront to all those who play by the rules. Following the Southern District of New York’s indictments last year, the NCAA Board of Governors and I formed the independent Commission on College Basketball, chaired by Condoleezza Rice, to provide recommendations on how to clean up the sport. With these latest allegations, it’s clear this work is more important now than ever. The Board and I are completely committed to making transformational changes to the game and ensuring all involved in college basketball do so with integrity. We also will continue to cooperate with the efforts of federal prosecutors to identify and punish the unscrupulous parties seeking to exploit the system through criminal acts.”

Charles P. Pierce had the most perfect response to Emmert’s comments in his Sports Illustrated article:

“For the love of heaven, please shut up. There is some talk abroad in the land that the findings of this investigation will lay amateurism to rest once and for all. Read Emmert’s statement again. He sees this as an opportunity to position the NCAA again as the guardians of academic and athletic purity, as a way to break its two-year losing streak and regain control over the help. If you need more evidence that this is Emmert’s long game, consider that the FBI already has said that the universities involved are not objects of the investigation. So, players get named and shamed. Coaches get fired. Agents go broke on legal fees. But Boards of Regents go merrily on, waving their foam fingers in the air and grazing the buffet tables and groaning boards paid for by their ‘corporate partners.’

Emmert gets to puff himself up about ‘those who play by the rules’ while his lawyers equate the athletes who pay his salary with convicts working in prison sweatshops. (There’s a very audible dog whistle in there, too.) From all this I conclude that this FBI investigation, while a colossal waste of time and money, is one of the best things that ever happened to the NCAA and to its status quo, a status quo that remains an affront to common sense and simple justice. And the FBI, god knows, should have better things to do than to gumshoe around trying to figure out who paid for somebody’s sandwich.”

Thank you Charles, you cannot say it any better. Emmert is trying to make himself look serious, but I for the life of me cannot see him that way. Considering how adamant he is that players are just amateurs and shouldn’t be paid, he seems as though only cares about the money. In our article about the Larry Nassar trial, we mentioned that The Athlete’s Nicole Auerbach came out saying that NCAA president Mark Emmert was informed about 37 incidents at Michigan State that Nassar committed in 2010 and did nothing. So there are two hypotheses here about Emmert, he either only cares about the two money grabbing sports in football and in men’s basketball or he is incompetent. It also could be a combination of both, but with how much money the NCAA makes from television ad revenue during the Division I men’s basketball tournament (in the billions of dollars range), you cannot rule out corruption. Did the NCAA not learn from the mistakes of corruption from the FIFA scandal? Also, the FBI should not be coming in to do the NCAA’s job of investigating these violations. And lastly, with this probe, the NCAA should have done their job of suspending the players such as DeAndre Ayton because of the violations which would have made him ineligible (there is a rule that says that if a player accepts money from an agent, they are deemed ineligible). It didn’t though and because it was so close to the tournament, the NCAA let it be because they probably didn’t want a star player sitting out of their biggest money grabber (the NCAA had deemed a few players ineligible, but no big time names which only goes to show that money is only on their minds). Ayton is likely to be gone after this season anyways as he is probably going into the NBA draft, but over the offseason, the NCAA will have to do a lot of work. Clean up the mess and clear out any trace of corruption. But most importantly, the NCAA needs to do a better job of cracking down on schools.

*Tali Raphael’s column about the probe is linked as well. A great read for any college basketball fan.

Sources:

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/22555512/explaining-ncaa-college-basketball-scandal-players-coaches-agents

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/college-basketballs-fbi-probe-gets-specific-with-players-teams-named-in-report/

https://www.si.com/college-basketball/2018/02/26/ncaa-fbi-investigation-recruiting-violations-mark-emmert

https://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/2018/2/23/17043928/fbi-corruption-investigation-dennis-smith-asm-miles-bridges