Maybe the price tag attached to Jon Lester was too high, but that’s irrelevant. It’s only money, and the Chicago Cubs have plenty more of it. Timing is what matters, and in this case it’s perfect.
Aviators/Baseball
Mike Kennedy is a collector of baseball things: cards, bats, anything once belonging to Mike Trout of the Angels, because Kennedy is a longtime Halos fan and Trout is his favorite player.
It’s a World Series missing star power, but not without an ace. Madison Bumgarner, a country strong left-hander, is the San Francisco Giants’ best shot at spoiling a Cinderella story.
Here it is, the middle of October, and there’s no baseball today. This is what baseball fans get when the Royals — the Royals?! — and Giants take care of business early, albeit in the most dramatic of fashions.
A dysfunctional element exists within the Los Angeles Dodgers, a team resembling an uncontrollable kindergarten class at times. But amid the chaos there is Clayton Kershaw, who is cool and in control.
Las Vegan Ken Korach called the A’s-Royals instant classic on radio. “It was just one of those games that took you with it, that took you for a ride,” he said.
It’s been a great season for local baseball fans, who got to watch the Mountain Ridge Little Leaguers and the champion Las Vegas 51s, cheer for hometown heroes Kris Bryant, Joey Gallo, Chris Carter and Bryce Harper, and see Greg Maddux inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Playoff baseball is not to be taken for granted at any level, its importance felt on the field and at the box office and everywhere in between. The 51s have made it a reality for consecutive seasons.
Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman temporarily cut short a San Diego vacation to hand the Mountain Ridge Little League kids the keys to the city on the steps of city hall before a parade down the strip on Saturday morning.
Ashton Cave, on the last time he would manage the Las Vegas team, again proved he understood the mission of Little League baseball better than anyone.
The Mountain Ridge Little League team, regardless of their final finishing position, are the clear No. 2 in Nevada sports history in terms of success. And it’s not close.
Mountain Ridge was defeated by Chicago 7-5 in the U.S. Championship game of the Little League World Series on Saturday.
If coaching truly is taking a group of players where they can’t take themselves, Ashton Cave this summer set a historic standard for future Little League managers throughout Nevada to emulate.
The first team in Nevada history to advance to the Little League World Series has now reached the United States championship game, the result of a 8-1 victory on Wednesday night.
There is every chance that under the bright lights of Lamade Stadium at 4:30 p.m. PDT Wednesday, no Little League World Series game involving teams from the United States will have been more hyped and anticipated.