Series Memories; Stanford Thoughts; CFP Rankings; Coaching Carousel

When I was a kid, baseball was king.

It was the national pastime, the most popular sport in the country by far.

We all had our heroes. Mickey Mantle. Willie Mays. Sandy Koufax. Hank Aaron.

In those days there were only eight teams in each league, so you knew all the players on all the teams. Al Kaline on the Tigers. Minnie Minoso on the White Sox (and Indians). Camilo Pasqual on the Senators. Robin Roberts on the Phillies.

I grew up in New Jersey as a Yankees fan, and when I was just getting into baseball, it seemed we played the Dodgers in the World Series every year. In fact, we did, in 1952, '53, '55 and '56. 

When the World Series came around, we carried transistor radios to school and listened to the games between classes, during lunch break and recess, or whenever the teacher wasn't paying attention.

I watched Bill Mazeroski's home run to win it for the Pirates in 1960. Don Larsen's perfect game for the Yankees in '56. Lots of one-sided wins with Whitey Ford on the mound. Kirk Gibson's home run. The Oakland A's tri-fecta. Reggie Jackson, Mr. October. And of course, Madison Baumgarner's heroics for the Giants. I was in the ballpark when Pablo Sandoval hit three homers against the Tigers in 2012.

This year's World Series brought all those memories flooding back. It was a classic in every sense of the word. 

Before the Series started, there was a lot of talk about the Dodgers ruining baseball with their $350 million team, their lineup of MVPs and Hall of Famers. They swept Milwaukee to win the National League Championship, and many of the so-called pundits thought they would do the same to the Toronto Blue Jays, who had finished last in the American League East the year before.

But the Blue Jays gave the Dodgers all they could handle. The Dodgers only made it to Game 7 because of a ball that got stuck in the bottom of the wall and a historic double play in the ninth inning of Game 6.

Then in Game 7 the Blue Jays led until the ninth inning, when the most unlikeliest of heroes, a reserve infielder named Miguel Rojas, hit a game-tying home run for Los Angeles.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Dodgers held on due to two incredible defensive plays by the aforementioned Rojas and center fielder Andy Pages, who made a great catch up against the wall in left center by climbing over left fielder Kike Hernandez.

Then Will Smith won it in the 11th with yet another solo home run, making his Dodgers the first National League back-to-back champs since the 1975-76 Reds.

The real hero of the Series was pitcher Yoshinobu Yamomoto (above), who won three games. A complete game masterpiece in a 5-1 win in game 2. Six innings in a 3-1 win in game 6. And the final eight outs in game 7.

Yamamoto is the highest paid pitcher in baseball. He signed a 12-year, $325 million contract with the Dodgers in 2023, the largest and longest contract for a pitcher in MLB history. And judging from his performance in the World Series, he's worth every penny.

I'd be remiss not to mention some of the Blue Jays' stalwarts, including Vladimir Guerrero Jr., one of the best hitters in the game, Bo Bichette, returning from a month-long injury, whose three-run homer put the Jays in front in Game 7, right fielder Addison Barger, who hit almost .500 in the Series, including the ball that lodged in the wall, and third baseman Ernie Clement, whose bat and glove were brilliant throughout.

And we'll never forget the performance of 22-year old Trey Yesavage in Game 5, simply the best performance by a rookie in the history of the World Series with 12 strikeouts and no walks.

What made his performance all the more remarkable was that he started the season in Class A ball, then rose through the ranks before getting called up to the majors in mid-September. Yesavage had pitched only three games during the regular season.

I'll close by stealing this line from The Athletic's Andy McCullough:

"In the end, the Dodgers did not ruin baseball. For these seven games, they teamed with the Blue Jays to show just how special it can be."

Stanford Thoughts; Watching Stanford's 35-20 loss to Pitt on Saturday, I was struck by two things, other than Stanford's obvious inability to run the ball: 1. the lack of fans in the stadium, 2. the poor play of quarterback Ben Gulbranson.

The above photo illustrates the fact that there were less than 10,000 people in the stands to watch the Cardinal, a team that had won all three of its previous home games.

Fan apathy at Stanford has reached new heights over the past five years following four straight 3-9 seasons and the likelihood of another this year. 

Stanford is 3-6 after Saturday's loss. Interim coach Frank Reich has a chance to add a fourth win against North Carolina or Cal, but reaching bowl eligibility would require winning both of those games plus an unfathomable upset of Notre Dame.

One of the biggest challenges general manager Andrew Luck faces, along with hiring a new coach and raising enough money to pay players in the new, money-driven world of college football, is to regenerate fan interest in Stanford football. 

It won't be easy, given the aging of the Stanford crowd and the seeming disinterest of the student body. Cardinal fans got used to watching players like Luck, Toby Gerhart, Christian McCaffrey and Bryce Love. Now Luck needs to find a big draw to get them into the stadium.

As for the second item, Gulbranson's performance was one of the worst I've ever seen by a Stanford quarterback. He had three passes intercepted, one for a pick six, but easily could've had eight or nine interceptions. Almost every pass he threw could've been picked off. Even his touchdown pass should've been intercepted, but was deflected into the hands of a Stanford receiver. 

Mike Cordova, Stanford's quarterback in 1974-75, was very inaccurate, but at least his passes went into the turf (hence the nickname "Cordivot") rather than into the hands of an opposing player.

Elijah Brown, the former five-star recruit from Mater Dei, showed some promise in the final quarter, hitting seven of eight passes on the final touchdown drive, including four straight beautiful throws ending with the TD. He also played well in relief of Gulbranson against Florida State.

Asked after the game to evaluate the quarterback situation, Reich said he'd "have to look at the film."

Seriously, coach?

Playoff Rankings: Tomorrow marks the release of the first College Football Playoff rankings. There will be the usual gnashing of teeth and complaints from ESPN, Paul Finebaum and other SEC apologists that the league is not getting enough love.

Understanding that there is still a lot of football to be played, nothing is certain, and plenty of upsets will take place in the next few weeks, here's our latest projection of the 12-team field:

1. Ohio State; 2. Indiana; 3. Texas A&M; 4. Alabama; 5. Georgia; 6. Oregon, 7; Ole Miss; 8. Texas Tech; 9. BYU; 10, Notre Dame; 11. ACC champion (Louisville, Virginia or SMU); 12. Memphis.

Coaching Carousel: Used to be, schools waited til the end of the year to make coaching changes. No more. In the era of big money and $10M salaries, college football coaches are immediately on the hot seat if they fail to meet expectations.

This year, a stunning 12 coaches have been fired during the season, and it's quite possible there will be a few more in the coming weeks. Here are the 12 open jobs, rated more or less in terms of their desirability.

1. LSU

2. Penn State

3. Florida

4. Auburn

5. UCLA

6. Virginia Tech

7. Stanford

8. Arkansas

9. Oklahoma State

10. Oregon State

11. Colorado State

12. UAB