SWBL playoffs continue as the Virden Oilers find themselves in a do or die situation after splitting the first 2 games with the Hamiota Red Sox. Game 3 was Wednesday and IF all things could be equal, the Oilers should be advancing to the semis. In the other North Division series, the Oak River Dodgers swept the Rivers Comets, while in the South Division, the Boissevain Centenniels did sweep the Wawanesa Brewers while the Hartney Hoppers needed 3 games to get by the Deloraine Royals. Round 2 will also be a best of 3 with the finals are slated to be a best of 5 affair.
The 88th MLB ASG (all star game) was "more of the same" which equates to a low scoring affair (2-1), quite typical for these kinds of contests, as defence and pitching always seem dominate because of the outstanding talent available. For the 5th year in a row, the AL wins home field advantage in the World Series when Seattle's Robinson Cano belts a HR in extra innings. Trivia time, what team will host next year's ASG?
NY Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge (all rise) became the 1st rookie to ever win the home run derby contest at the all-star festivities, finishing with a total 47 dingers, 2nd most in history. This young man is a total "freak" of nature (in a positive way) and certainly bares watching as he enters the all star break with 30 HRS, hoping to go over that magic 60 mark before the season ends.
By the next baseball season (2018), Brandon will be the home for a franchise in the newly created Expedition League, a summer collegiate league made up of mostly NCAA American college players (ages 19-21 from Division I & II universities and colleges) with a few Canadian players sprinkled in for good taste. It would be very similar to WMBL (Western Major Baseball League), a successful 12 team loop that has operated throughout Saskatchewan and Alberta for the last number of years.
The league wants to start with at least 10 teams playing a 64 game schedule, with the hope of expanding to 12 soon after. Other cities confirmed that will participate in this league will be; Minot and Dickenson in North Dakota, Aberdeen, Pierre and Spearfish in South Dakota, Gering and Hastings in Nebraska plus Casper, Wyoming. The league is hoping that Rapid City, SD will be the 10th city. This is will be a developmental league, pro scouts will be in attendance looking for that diamond in the rough & if you go by the level of play on display in WMBL, ball fans will see good ball being played.
Obviously, enough is not enough. Many thought last week's signing of Warrior super guard Stephan Curry for $40 million a season was supposed to be the highest salary ever given to a NBA player, (sort of the high water mark). They, and I, were totally wrong. Along comes Houston's James Harden, this year's league MVP, and his super max salary extension of $170 million over 4 years, which maxes out at $46 million in 2023. This works out to $228 million for the next 6 years. This is a lot of money for someone who is a great shooter but goes MIA (missing in action) come playoff time.
Kudos have to go out to Canada's Junior National basketball team that just won the World Championships, the 1st time a Canadian team has come home with the gold.
It looks like the careers of Canada's 2 biggest tennis stars continue to go in opposite directions. As Genie Bouchard's game is mired in a brutal deep rut, Milos Raonic's game rises to new heights as the #7 ranked men's player in the world is now on to the quarter finals at Wimbledon, the 7th time he has reached at least the quarters in his last 8 majors. He now has the daunting task of trying once again to beat the greatest tennis player who ever lived, Roger Federer, who holds a 9-3 career record against Raonic but Milos has won the last two, which should give him a lot of confidence.
Trivia answer, Washington Nationals. Until next time....
