The Key for the week of June 30
The All-Star Stretch
Even though the Reds past the 81-game mark last week as the official halfway point of the season, the All-Star game in mid-July is the unofficial middle of the schedule break. And if the Reds were entertaining any thoughts of being sellers as the trade deadline looms in a month, their recent rebound made the team more likely buyers, than sellers. A near-no hitter by Nick Martinez and a near four-homer game by Spencer Steer gave the Reds a boost as they hit the road this week to Boston and Philadelphia. If the team can remain above .500 on this road trip before they come next week to the lowly Marlins (near the bottom in the NL East) and can keep momentum through the All-Star break as they wait for Hunter Greene’s return, they can keep wild card hopes alive for the second half of the campaign.
Road Warriors Coming Home
FC Cincinnati has been busy this past month, just not at home. FC celebrates a three-road-win month and heads back to TQL Stadium on Saturday with the Chicago Fire. The team remains in second place in the East just behind Philadelphia while Chicago is eighth in the East. FC beat Chicago in April.
The Chicago match starts a three-match home stand, including “Hell is Real” with Columbus on July 12th and a visit by Messi and Miami on July 16th.
Don’t Look Now…
But a month from now, NFL and college football will be back at it, with the NFL camps starting at the end of July and college teams beginning organized workouts the first week of August (unless you’re playing during Week Zero, then you get to practice a week earlier). In ESPN’s admittedly way-too-early poll, Penn State leads the pre-season Top 25, with Clemson, Texas (and QB Arch Manning), Georgia and defending national champion Ohio State rounding out the Top 5. After that comes LSU, Notre Dame, Oregon, Alabama and BYU, although expect BYU quarterback Jake Rezlaff to enter the transfer portal after admitting he had a consensual relationship with a female who had brought a lawsuit against him. The lawsuit was dismissed this week, but having premarital sex is a no-no at BYU and Rezlaff faced a long suspension if he stayed. Oregon also will have to regroup to stay in the Top 10, after five-star recruit Richard Wesley, who committed to the Ducks in May, flipped and now will go to Texas.
Ben’s Best Bet
Well, that didn’t take long. Ben’s pick for the ladies’ singles title at Wimbledon, Coco Gauff, went out in straight sets in the first round and for the first time in Ladies’ Major History in the Open Era, two of the Top 3 seeds lose in the first round, Gauff (#2) joining fellow American Jessica Pegula (#3) in dropping their first match at Wimbledon. With Gauff out, Aryna Sabalenka now is a strong favorite to win with Madison Keys the highest ranked American standing as the third favorite to take the title two weeks from now. Ben says Sabalenka would like to add Wimbledon to her list of major titles (two Australian Opens, one US Open) so don’t be afraid to go to the window with Sabalenka as your pick to win Wimbledon.