⚾️ October Baseball Begins, WNBA Playoffs + A Look at the NIL Landscape

Blitzers,

Playoffs, playoffs, playoffs! We've made it to the Wild Card round in the MLB and game 2 of the Semi-Finals in the WNBA. Plus, we got some Free Forum Wednesday thoughts, and NFL and College Basketball news. So keep scrolling!

WTF Stat: Tarik Skubal threw a 94 MPH slider last night. This is 2 MPH harder than any pitcher averaged all season and 6 MPH faster than what Skubal averaged during the season.

🏈 The Las Vegas Raiders are open to trading three-time All-Pro WR Davante Adams, potentially for a package including a second-round draft pick and additional compensation, as reported by ESPN. Adams missed his first game with the team due to a hamstring injury but has expressed uncertainty about his future with the Raiders. He has a substantial contract, with $13.5 million remaining this season and higher salaries for the next two years, which may require a restructured deal for any trade partner.

• 🔥 Take: Dream landing spots for Adams has to be the: Bills, Jets, Chiefs, Eagles (depending on WR health), or Commanders. Unlikely that the Raiders would want to trade in division to the Chiefs, and teams would need $13.5 million in cap space (and $36+ million the next two season) to bring him in. That would eliminate the Bills, Chiefs, and Eagles without some restructures/workarounds. My pick would be the Commanders. It would give young QB Jayden Daniel another weapon to go along with WR Terry McLaurin, and they are a team that has $25 mill in cap space this year and $121+ next year.

🏀 Gonzaga University will join the Pac-12 Conference in all sports starting July 2026, as announced by the conference. Known for its basketball program, Gonzaga has consistently performed well, reaching the NCAA tournament's round of 16 for nine consecutive years and maintaining a streak of 25 straight tournament appearances since 1999.

• 🔥Take: Another day, another conference realignment. At this point the conference just exist to exist, right? They can no longer operate under the guise that they are to organize things, make things better, or have any sort of history or prestige. They’re just corporations that will do anything to survive and make money.

MLB Playoffs

Things to note about the Wild Card round:

→ The Nos. 1 and 2 seeds ( Yankees, Guardians, and Dodgers, Phillies) receive first-round byes

→ These series are best-of-three

→ Each Wild Card Series game will be played in the home park of the team with the higher seed

→ The regular-season rule in which an automatic runner is placed on second base at the start of extra innings is not used in the postseason

→ Managers have two replay challenges at the start of each game

• Tiger 3, Astros 1: Tarik Skubal incredible season continued into the postseason as he went 6 innings, allowing 4 hits, 0 runs and striking out 6. The game ended with some drama, however, in the bottom of the 9th, Houston scored their first run of the game and then loaded the bases, but Jason Heyward hit a game-ending lineout against Beau Brieske.

• Royals 1, Orioles 0: A true pitchers duel in this one as Cole Ragans (6 IP, 4 hits, 0 runs, 8ks), and Corbin Burnes (8 IP, 5 hits, 1 run, 3ks) went to work. The difference in the game was a 2-out RBI single from Bobby Witt Jr. in the 6th and that was all that was needed to secure the win for Kansas City. Zach Eflin will take on Seth Lugo today in a win-or-go-home game for the Orioles.

• Mets 8, Brewers 4: The double header yesterday did not tire out the Mets bats, as they saw timely hitting all night long. The Mets hung 5 runs in the 5th and never looked back. Mark Vientos, Jesse Winker and pinch-hitter J.D. Martinez each drove in 2 runs. From the Brewers side a positive is that rookie Jackson Chourio (2/4, 1 RBI) looked comfortable at the plate, and they out hit the Mets (8 to 7), they’re just going to need some clutch plays today to survive. Or a few hustle plays like this:

• Padres 8, Braves 4: Fernando Tatis Jr. got things going early, hitting a two-run homer on his first playoff swing in four years. That was all Michael King (7 IP, 5 hits, 0 runs, 12ks) needed, as he had everything working in this one. The Braves top 5 hitters did combine for 6 hits (which is more than the Padres had as a team), but King was able to pitch around all the hits. Chris Sale is not available for this series because of a back injury so Max Fried will take the hill tonight.

Game 2 action begins today again at 2:32 EST.

WNBA Playoffs

• Liberty 88, Aces 84: Sabrina Ionescu led the Liberty with 24 points and emphasized that they haven't achieved anything yet, stressing their focus on the next game. The series shifts to Las Vegas for Game 3, where the Aces will try to avoid elimination. Historically, no team has come back from a 2-0 deficit in a WNBA best-of-five series.

• Lynx 77, Sun 70: The Lynx evened the series at 1-1 despite Napheesa Collier struggling with just nine points on 3/14 shooting. Her teammates stepped up, with Courtney Williams scoring 17 points and Alanna Smith contributing 15. The Lynx will host Game 3 on Friday, aiming to take the lead in the best-of-five series.

Free Forum Wednesdays

Free Forum Wednesdays continue - we'll be writing a bit more outside-the-box, fun sports content, hope you enjoy it!

Today’s Topic: NIL Deals & Matthew Sluka

What's on my brain this week? Matthew Sluka. The former UNLV quarterback who led the Rebels to an undefeated start, decided to redshirt and skip the rest of the season. His camp says it's because the NIL deals he agreed to weren't met. The football program is saying that the QB's agent started making additional demands after the hot start. Another UNLV player followed suit by echoing Sluka's complaints. A Mississippi State player chose to redshirt for the rest of the season as well because of NIL.

When the NIL decision came down, it was widely celebrated, as it should. Finally, players can cash in on their performances and avoid being punished by the big bad NCAA. In theory, it's great. No more Reggie Bush scenarios, no more hypocrisy around coaches making millions upon millions of dollars while players couldn't sign a $10 autograph.

However, ever since this decision was made, we’ve been hurtling towards a breaking point. Former NCAA president, Mark Emmert after running the sport with an iron fist, essentially said, ‘F*** it, do what you want.’ NIL, transfer portal, it is all now the wild west. New president, Charlie Baker, has to decide where to put guard rails up before the term "college athlete" doesn't exist anymore.

This is what Matthew Sluka is bringing on. Utilizing the transfer portal to increase monetary gains was fine, I mean I don't love it, but that's a personal choice and teams adjusted to it pretty quickly.

Why we like college football, and college sports in general, is because it isn't professional sports. The NCAA needs to start reeling in the transfer portal and the NIL. That means investigations into whether programs are holding up their end of the bargain and dissuading players from self-redshirting in the middle of the season because a team is doing poorly or if a team is doing well.

I hate what Matthew Sluka did, no matter the circumstance, but his selfishness should spark action amongst the college athletic leadership to start scaling back the influence of NIL and the transfer portal. And for that, I thank you, Matthew.

Have something you want to sound off on? Shoot us an email at [email protected] with your thoughts!

On this day in 1974, Hank Aaron hits his final home run as a member of the Atlanta Braves, Aaron's 733rd career HR. Aaron would play two more years for the Milwaukee Brewers before retiring with 755 HRs.

Yesterday’s Trivia Time Answer

What MLB pitcher has the most career postseason wins?

A) Andy Pettitte - Pettitte went 19-11 in his career in the postseason, pitching 276.2 innings, and a 3.81 ERA. Justin Verlander (17-12), Clayton Kershaw (13-13) and Gerrit Cole (10-6) are some of the active players on the list.

Check back tomorrow for the answer to today's trivia question and more info!