Molinaro: 3-1 start, seemingly easy schedule means Commanders should be NFC East contenders
As the rest of NFC East tries to find its footing, the Commanders’ schedule over the next five weeks serves up three teams that are currently 1-3.
Then there’s this: Since 2016, Week 4 NFL division leaders have won their division 68% of the time, making the playoffs 77% of the time.
Future watch: Don’t presume Jayden Daniels has simply locked up Rookie of the Year honors without also entertaining the way-too-early assessment that he’s in the running for league MVP.
Legacy: Think what you will of how baseball treated Pete Rose, but MLB climbing into bed with sportsbooks doesn’t mitigate his violation of the sacred rule. With the cozier relationship between baseball and gambling, it’s more important than ever that Rose be held up as an example for current players.
Idle thought: From a national perspective, MLB’s playoffs wouldn’t be worse at one round shorter. Having the winningest teams — this year the Yankees, Dodgers, Guardians and Phillies — parked on the sidelines for most of a week seems odd.
For what it’s worth: With an announced crowd of 36,698, Game 2 of the Orioles-Royals series was the lowest-attended playoff game in Camden Yards history. Baltimore may not be a good baseball town, after all.
Letdown: Of the celebrated Tides’ hitting stars who moved up to Baltimore, only Colton Cowser contributed in a meaningful way. Jackson Holliday and Coby Mayo struggled, while Heston Kjerstad’s season was derailed after a July beaning. Next season is a time to reassess their potential.
Split screen: Kansas City fans will be coping with divided attention when the Chiefs play on Monday Night Football while the Royals are playing the Yankees in the ALDS.
Money line: Two lawsuits have been filed in an argument over who owns Shohei Ohtani’s 50th home run ball, with a current high bid of just under $1.5 million. If Ohtani’s home run wasn’t twinned with his 50-plus stolen bases, the ball would be worth $5.
His arrival: Not to put more playoff pressure on anybody, but the world has been waiting seven years for Shohei Ohtani to introduce himself to October. Only in baseball could a star of such magnitude miss out so long on the postseason spotlight.
Catching up: When he left James Madison, where he was 52-9 in five seasons, to take over a puny Indiana football program, Curt Cignetti said, “It’s pretty simple. I win. Google me.” He’s backing up the swagger, leading the 5-0 Hoosiers to their best start in more than 50 years.
Add Hoosiers: Cignetti’s Indiana rebuild included bringing in 31 transfers, about half from JMU. Judging by the Dukes’ 4-0 record, they’ve been amply replaced.
TV timeout: As for the endgame controversy that resulted in Virginia Tech’s loss to Miami, it’s rare that a replay proves so inconclusive from every angle. Couldn’t tell anything. Makes the reversal that much stranger. And for VT, suspicious.
What he said: Before he snapped back into coach jargon, the Jaguars’ Doug Pederson unwittingly spoke for a lot of under-fire sideline masterminds when he said, “as coaches, we can’t go out there and make the plays. It’s a two-way street.” Nobody wants to hear that, though it’s true.
Hoop du jour: In basketball circles, the Knicks’ trade for Minnesota’s Karl-Anthony Towns is kind of a big deal, I suppose. But with so much going on in sports, it’s fallen between the cracks in the hardwood.
Family affair: With the opening of Lakers camp, the LeBron-Bronny dynamic is the kind of feel-good father-son moment that LeBron’s detractors are prepared to hate.
Bob Molinaro is a former Virginian-Pilot sports columnist. His Weekly Briefing runs Fridays in The Pilot and Daily Press. He can be reached at [email protected] and via Twitter@BobMolinaro.
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