Bleacher Report - Articles by Dustin Woolridge

NFC East vs. NFC South; Which Is the NFL's Top Division?

Dustin Woolridge — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 14:51:38 -0500

It’s been one of the most hotly contested questions of this ever-so-intriguing NFL season: Is the league’s best division the NFC East or the NFC South?

You’re about to find out.

What a season it’s been for the National Football League.

Following Tom Brady’s monumental season-ending injury in Week One, the downfall of the San Diego Chargers (a team that many prognosticators had winning it all this year – they must feel pretty stupid right about now), and the emergence of the Tennessee Titans (yes, the Tennessee Titans) as the team sporting the AFC’s best record with two weeks remaining, the NFC has suddenly became the NFL’s powerhouse conference.

What a dramatic role reversal from two or three years ago, when everyone just assumed that a Colts/Bears Super Bowl would be a lopsided affair (and how right they were!), or that the Patriots were a lock to be hoisting the Lombardi Trophy the first weekend of February.

That, my friends, is no longer the case.

The NFC now boasts the stronger teams and the marquee matchups, after years of being deemed the ugly, red-headed stepsister of its mighty counterpart, and its Super Bowl representative will likely come from one of two divisions: the NFC East or the NFC South (no offense Cardinals/Vikings fans), which leads us to the $64,000 Question.

Which is the best?

First of all, if we want to make this argument based solely on which division has the highest grand total of wins, the South wins by one (36-to-35), and that’s only because of the infamous Eagles tie with the lowly Cincinnati Bengals, a game that most view as a loss for the Eagles.

But, there’s a lot more to it than wins and losses.

When considering which division is the NFL’s elite, we should probably focus on the top three teams in each division, discounting the Washington Redskins and New Orleans Saints, both of which carry a subpar, disappointing record of 7-7.

The Redskins, after jumping out to a 6-2 start and looking like legit contenders in the NFC, have suddenly became the laughingstock of the NFL, coming off an embarrassing loss to the Bengals (a team that, despite its 2-11-1 record, has proven that it can hang tough with the big boys in the East, beating the ‘Skins, tying the Eagles, taking the Giants to OT, and losing to the Cowboys by single digits).

The ‘Skins have lost five of their last six, disappearing into irrelevance. This weekend, they’ll play the role of spoiler to the Eagles.

As for the Saints, they can’t seem to buy a win on the road. They have lost all but two of their eight games away from the Louisiana Superdome (one “away” game for the Saints was a game in London versus the Chargers, which they won 37-32).

Fortunately for them, they travel to the Motor City to face the Lions this weekend. On the flip side, the Saints are 5-1 at home. Nevertheless, like the ‘Skins (yet another team that they lost to on the road), the Saints’ playoff hopes are all but dead.

That leaves us with the Giants, Cowboys and Eagles in the Beastly East, and the Panthers, Bucs and Falcons in the Dirty South.

If we wanted to play the strength-of-schedule card, you would have to give that one to the East.

Their AFC opponents hail from the AFC North, a top-heavy division featuring two of the league’s elite defenses with the Steelers and Ravens, and a bottom-heavy one as well thanks to the Bengals and Browns.

The South got matched up with the AFC West this season, arguably the worst division in the NFL that is not the NFC West. Speaking of the NFC West, the South got paired up with those fine teams for interconference division play.

So, there’s really no question that the East teams have traveled a tougher road through 14 games.

Next, if we wanted to see which was the more competitive division, it would be hard to argue against the South.

The Carolina Panthers, the team that is poised to take this division crown, have a record of 3-2 within the division. If they lose to the Saints the final week of the season, they could end up winning the division with a .500 record versus their most intimate foes.

Another sign of how treacherous the South is: Home teams are a jaw-dropping 11-0 in interdivisional games. Translation: If you go play on the road in the NFC South, be prepared for a long flight back home.

The NFC East, despite having three really good teams, has not been as near as competitive.

For the greater part of the season, the Giants dominated divisional play, knocking out the Redskins, Cowboys and Eagles in convincing fashion. However, their last two losses have come to division foes in back-to-back weeks—the Eagles and then the Cowboys.

The Cowboys have also played extremely well within the division, losing only two games—one to the Redskins, a two-point game that they had a chance to win at the very end, and the other coming to the Giants, a game in which they were manhandled; however, they made up for that on Sunday night.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Eagles have not fared so well in division play. Their only win came two weeks ago versus the G-Men in the post-Plaxico Burress era.

With that being said, the Giants are the only East team that has clinched a winning interdivisional record, a major reason why they locked up the NFC East so early; the Cowboys have a shot at ending the season with a winning record inside of the Beastly East if they can beat the Eagles in the final week, while the Eagles could get to .500 if they win out by beating the Redskins (a likely 'W') and Cowboys (a fight for the final wild-card spot?).

The ultra-competitive NFC South, on the other hand, may not be clinched until the final week of the season.

So far, here’s what we have established: The South is the more cutthroat of the two divisions and has more wins, while the East teams have a much tougher strength of schedule. Another major factor the teams in the Beastly East have going for them: recognition.

Whether or not you want to admit it, the Cowboys, Eagles, and Giants get more media attention than just about any three teams in the National Football League. The Cowboys boast the title of “America’s Team,” and are ESPN’s favorite topic to discuss, week-in-and-week-out (hence Ed Werder residing at Texas Stadium!).

On a similar note, the Eagles seem to be a glutton for drama, and Sal Paolantonio seems to always be reporting live from Philly. Perhaps the Giants are the only team of the bunch that deserves this kind of recognition, by virtue of being the defending Super Bowl champs.

If the Cowboys, Eagles, or even Redskins won the Super Bowl, ESPN would have nothing else to talk about for an entire year!

Unlike the teams that make up the NFC South, all four teams in the East are BIG MARKET teams—New York City, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Dallas (or the whole state of Texas, whichever way you want to look at it).

All four are major, metropolitan areas and their teams are able to reach out and create huge fan bases. As a matter of fact, the quadruplet of teams in the NFC East have four of the largest fan bases in the NFL, along with the Steelers, Packers, and bandwagon Patriots fans. Ever wonder why there’s a prime-time, nationally televised matchup featuring two NFC East rivals every single week (or at least it seems like that)?

The South, on the contrary, doesn’t have teams from grand metropolises. None of the four cities representing this division—Charlotte, Tampa, Atlanta, New Orleans—can be found in the top 10 on the list of the most populated cities in the United States.

Charlotte’s the closest thing at No. 19. Sadly, these four teams often get overlooked because not a single one is a “big-market team.” After all, an NFC South team has made it to the NFC Championship Game five of the last six years (last season’s Giants/Packers matchup being the only exception).

On top of that, all four teams have been in the mix somewhere in that six-year stretch, and a team from the South is likely to go to the NFC title game again this season.

So, now the moment of truth: Exactly which division reigns supreme over all others? It’s already been established that the NFC’s Super Bowl candidate will probably hail from either the Beastly East or the Dirty South, and I would bet money that two teams from each division will end up making the playoffs (don’t ask me which four teams it will be—that is wide open for debate!).

The NFC has been no stranger to headline games in 2008, so why not let this argument be settled on the gridiron, under the bright lights on prime-time television with John Madden and Al Michaels calling the show?

That’s right–Sunday night’s matchup between the Giants and Panthers, the top teams in their respective divisions, is perhaps the most highly anticipated game of the season, and it’s only fitting that the winner gets home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs, as well as all the marbles in the head-scratching, brain-busting "which-is-the-best-division-in-the-NFL" sweepstakes.

Until then, let the debating rage on!

Kyle Busch Vs The Field—Chase for the Cup Has Only One Outcome

Dustin Woolridge — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 15:49:45 -0400

Before I begin, put your hatred and disdain for Kyle Busch aside for just a moment.Yes, he’s arrogant. Yes, he’s unlikable, but boy, is he one heck of a racecar driver! Following his victory at the Centurion Boats at the Glen on Sunday, his eighth of the season, Busch clinched the no. 1 seed in NASCAR’s version of the playoffs.

Last year, NASCAR restructured the Chase for the Sprint Cup format, awarding the top spot to the driver(s) that has the most wins after Richmond, the last event before the final 10 races. The driver with the second-most wins would be ranked second, and so on.

Busch is so far ahead in the wins department that he could go winless the next four races (I know that’s hard to imagine!) and still at least have a share of the top seed in the Chase with Carl Edwards. Who is second to Busch in wins this season, with only half as many (four).

Looking back at the first four years of the Chase for the Sprint Cup, when a driver is ranked first prior to the 10-race sprint, his chances of winning the championship look pretty darn good. Two of the previous four champions held the number-one spot going into the Chase—Tony Stewart in 2005 and Jimmie Johnson in 2007.

It’s also worth mentioning that 2007 was the first year that NASCAR implemented the "whoever-wins-the-most-races-gets-the-most-points" rule—Johnson led the league with six W’s before the Chase began, and went on to win the championship for the second season in a row, finishing out with 10 victories.

Will Busch experience a similar fate? Something keeps telling me "yes". With a whopping eight wins in 2008, there’s no type of track that Busch has not won on. He’s gotten it done on the restrictor-plate tracks, winning at both Daytona and Talladega. He’s visited Victory Lane at the “cookie-cutter,” one-and-a-half mile ovals—Atlanta and Chicago. He’s tamed some of the toughest tracks on the circuit—Darlington and Dover.

Most recently, Busch elevated himself into “road course ringer” status, scoring victories at Infineon and Watkins Glen, the two road courses on the Cup schedule. Additionally, with Sunday’s win at the Glen, Busch became the first driver in NASCAR history to win on threeroad courses in a single season—besides winning at Infineon and Watkins Glen, Busch also won a Nationwide series race in Mexico back in April, yet another winding road course.

For the other 42 drivers out there every weekend, it’s pretty difficult to beat a guy who wins like that. With that being said, it’s not like Busch has won eight races here and there and had bouts with inconsistency when he isn’t winning—he has been flat-out dominating, leading a mind-boggling 1,131 laps on the season. He has also scored 13 top-fives in 22 races and led the Sprint Cup standings for all but five weeks this season.

After looking over those numbers, the following question comes to mind: how can Kyle Busch not win the Sprint Cup championship? And that’s a really good question, considering car 18 is having one of the best seasons in recent NASCAR history. But, just for the heck of it, let’s size up his biggest competitors.

Carl Edwards, with his four wins on the ’08 campaign, currently rides second in points behind Busch, and has more top-10 finishes than anybody on the Sprint Cup circuit this season (16). Ironically enough, Edwards has finished second to Busch in threeraces this season—Darlington, Dover, and Daytona. He also finished bridesmaid to Jimmie Johnson at the Brickyard 400 two weeks ago, a race that he very well could’ve won. If Edwards can out-win Busch down the final 10-race stretch, he might have a shot at pulling off an upset of sorts and beating him out for the championship crown.

The other major contender is Jimmie Johnson, the Sprint Cup series’ two-time defending champ, who sits third in the standings. Unlike Busch or Edwards, Johnson can look at a Cup title and say, “been there, done that," although he has not quite found his winning ways that have highlighted his two championship runs (he currently has two W’s on the season, which is way down for car 48’s standards).

On the other hand, he has still proved to be Mr. Consistency, completing 98.97% of laps run in 2008 and ranking fifth in the average finish category with a solid 12.3, behind only Busch, Edwards, Jeff Burton, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Another scary sign is the fact that Johnson has been heating up as of late, with four straight finishes of seventh or better, including three top-threes. If he can keep this momentum going, don’t overlook Johnson as possible candidate to win the Sprint Cup…again.

Nonetheless, I would still take Busch over either of these guys. As for the rest of the field, I really don’t see anyone else who can overthrow Busch.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. has a history of inconsistent finishes that have doomed his chances at winning a championship in seasons past (hence he has not even qualified for the Chase for the Sprint Cup on two separate occasions), and as good as he has been in his new ride, he’s shown flashes of that inconsistency in 2008—however, look for Dale Jr. to be a serious threat to win it in 2009, his sophomore year with Hendrick Motorsports.

Jeff Burton has remained near the top of the standings throughout the course of this season by virtue of finishes between sixth and 15th week-in and week-out. It takes a little bit more than that to win a championship.

Jeff Gordon’s championship-winning days have come and gone, as the four-time Sprint Cup champ now finds himself struggling to make it into the winners column this season.

If Tony Stewart was not a lame duck with Joe Gibbs Racing, perhaps he could be a legit threat to challenge his teammate for the title. Unfortunately, Smoke has his very own race team to focus on.

With only four more races left until the Chase gets under way, right now there’s only one guy that I would put my money on. Love him or hate his guts, Kyle Busch has gone above and beyond in proving that he’s the man to beat in 2008, whether it’s for the championship or the race next week!

Tony Stewart, Driver/Owner—Is It the Right Move for Smoke?

Dustin Woolridge — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 18:01:38 -0400

Like most NASCAR fans, I can’t envision Tony Stewart NOT driving the bright orange No. 20 Home Depot car for Joe Gibbs Racing.

Then again, I couldn’t fathom Mark Martin coming out of “retirement”, leaving Roush, and then completely jumping ship to Chevrolet!

Since 2006, when Martin left Roush a year after his grand retirement tour around the circuit, he has played musical chairs with Chevy-based Sprint Cup teams. He drove for Ginn Racing in 2007, D.E.I. this season after the two teams merged, and recently announced back in July that he would be driving for Hendrick Motorsports, NASCAR’s premier organization, next season. Who would’ve thought?

If that’s not crazy, what about Dale Earnhardt, Jr.’s highly publicized switch from the Budweiser Chevy at D.E.I. to the National Guard/Mountain Dew Amp Energy Drink Chevy at Hendrick? Much like Stewart in the 20, fans had grown accustomed to seeing Dale Jr. race around the track in that red No. 8 Budweiser hot rod on Sundays.

Then, just this week, all doubts that I ever had about a big name in sports moving on from the team that he’d become an icon with suddenly vanished when Brett Favre was traded from the Green Bay Packers to the New York Jets (the New York Jets?!?).

Now I guess anything is possible, even Smoke parting ways with Gibbs.

Stewart has been a part of Joe Gibbs Racing since 1999, winning two Sprint Cup championships along the way, one in 2002 and the other in 2005.

However, Stewart’s 10-year tenure has not been free of controversy. Incidents such as punching a photographer at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and numerous altercations with fellow drivers—including Jeff Gordon and Robby Gordon—have been prevalent throughout his career with Gibbs.

On July 9th, Stewart confirmed one of the worst-kept secrets in all of NASCAR—that he would be departing JGR at the end of the season to race for Haas-CNC Racing, which would soon become Stewart-Haas Racing, as he was given half-ownership of the entire organization.

With 50% of Haas-CNC belonging to Stewart, the deal will make him the highest paid driver in the Sprint Cup series.

More recently, his ride for 2009 was unveiled. Stewart will drive the No. 14, same as his lifelong idol A.J. Foyt, and be co-sponsored by Office Depot and Old Spice.

Additionally, it’s all but written in stone that Ryan Newman, who is also a native Hoosier, will drive the other car in Stewart-Haas’ two-car operation, which gives the team a duo of top-tier drivers and a good outlook for its inaugural season.

The $64,000 Question is this: Did Tony Stewart make the right move by leaving Joe Gibbs Racing and joining up with Haas-CNC?

Of course he did! He’ll be making tons of money as driver and part owner of his race team, and plus, after 10 tumultuous seasons with Gibbs, it was time for a change…right?

Not necessarily.

The reasons as to why Stewart bolted make perfect sense.

For one, he had driven a General Motors car his entire Cup career until 2008, when Gibbs made the transition from Chevrolet to Toyota. After driving a Pontiac and Chevy for nine seasons, Stewart was less than thrilled to be behind the wheel of a foreign-manufactured machine, especially given the way that the Toyotas performed during their first season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series.

Who was to say that they would show signs of improvement in their second season? From the time that Gibbs made the manufacturer switch, there were murmurs that Stewart would get out of the final year of his contract with JGR and head to a Chevy squad.

There was great uncertainty regarding which team it would be—Hendrick? Childress? D.E.I.?

Then came Haas-CNC’s offer of part-ownership, and it was all said and done. Stewart’s opportunity to be his own boss, if you will, was the other major reason that the two-time Cup champion went looking for greener pastures. He has accomplished so much as a driver, so why not embark on a new journey as an owner?

The situation also presented Stewart with all kinds of freedom, something that was a lot harder to obtain as one of three talented and ultra-competitive drivers at JGR.

With that being said, why would it have been in Stewart’s best interest to remain with Gibbs? Let’s just say that the pros outweigh the cons.

Joe Gibbs Racing is one of the elite franchises in all of NASCAR.

No one in a million years would’ve thought that their shift from Chevrolet to Toyota would go this smoothly after Toyota’s nightmare of a maiden voyage in the Sprint Cup, but they have by far exceeded expectations.

Kyle Busch currently has seven wins on the season, and all three of the Gibbs cars are in position to qualify for the Chase.

When the team fielded GM-manufactured cars, JGR took three championships in NASCAR’s top series (Stewart two, Bobby Labonte one). Consequently, their continued success with a different make of machines does not come as that big of a shocker—it’s a winning organization.

On the other end of the spectrum, Haas-CNC, now Stewart-Haas, is unproven.

From a Cup driver’s perspective, it’s always a huge risk branching out and starting your own race team. Just ask Michael Waltrip, who has experienced a disastrous first season-and-a-half at the helm of his Toyota-based franchise. Likewise, Robby Gordon Motorsports has yet to break through and put itself on the map.

Haas-CNC is a race team that has been relatively unsuccessful and struggled to hold on to consistent sponsors over the last few years. There has also been a plethora of different drivers occupying Haas-CNC’s two rides—Scott Riggs, Tony Raines, Johnny Sauter, Jeff Green…the list of "C-listers" seems to go on and on.

Acquiring sponsors suddenly became a lot easier when Stewart, a proven, well-known driver in the sport, signed with Haas.

Another upside to the program is their valued partnership with Hendrick, the super-team in which Haas receives engines from. Keep in mind that Hendrick has won more races that any other Sprint Cup team throughout the last five years.

Granted, there is potential for a bright future at Stewart-Haas Racing. At 37 years of age, Tony Stewart’s window of opportunity is closing, and his best chance to win another championship is with Gibbs.

I cannot see a championship anywhere on the horizon at Stewart-Haas, because in a league as competitive as the NASCAR Sprint Cup series, teams are not born and then winning titles soon thereafter.

The teams that win big are Gibbs, Hendrick, Roush—the already established "mega-teams", kind of like the Yankees and Red Sox in Major League Baseball. Going along with that analogy, Stewart-Haas Racing would be the upstart Tampa Bay Rays.

Stewart’s tenure with JGR has produced eye-popping results. Other than his two championships, he has garnered 32 wins (and counting…), 126 top-five finishes, and two victories at the Brickyard 400.

Crew chief Greg Zipadelli has been with Stewart every step of the way throughout his prosperous career, and together they make one of the most potent driver/crew chief combinations in NASCAR. They have been paired up longer than any active driver-crew chief tandem, and only Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus have more wins together than Stewart and Zipadelli.

Being without Zippy next season will have an extremely significant impact on Stewart’s performance, as his crew chief of 10 years announced that he would remain with JGR and work with Joey Logano, the 18-year-old phenom who is replacing Smoke in car 20.

The dynamic duo has yet to score a win in 2008, but has had quite a few slip through their fingers, like at the Coca Cola 600 when Stewart had a tire go down with two laps to go as he was cruising to the win.

Nevertheless, don’t look for Smoke to go winless on the season (he has a great shot at getting that first win of the ’08 campaign this weekend at Watkins Glen, all you Fantasy NASCAR geeks).

And, even though he has not been in contention to win every single race so far this season like his teammate Kyle Busch, Stewart’s car has been one of the most consistent front-runners (seven top-fives, 10 top-tens), and he will in all likelihood make the Chase for the fourth time in the playoff’s five-year existence.

With the kind of success that he has found at JGR, in addition to the success that the team itself has enjoyed over the years, I think that Stewart would be crazy to ditch Gibbs. But, as they always say, money talks, and there’s a lot more money for Stewart in running his own race team than there is in driving for somebody else’s!

Besides being one rich son of a gun, love him or hate him, Stewart is truly one of the most talented drivers in NASCAR’s most elite series, and if anybody can pull through and turn heads with an unfamiliar, unsung organization, he would be just the guy to do it.

Will he turn heads to the point where analysts are comparing his run with his new team to Kyle Busch’s this season or Jimmie Johnson’s the last couple of seasons?

My answer to that is a definitive "no".

Post-Trade Deadline Predictions: World Series

Dustin Woolridge — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 12:31:40 -0400

At last, it is time for me to unveil the 2008 World Series.

Before I do so, let me just say that it’s been especially tough this season, trying to come up with a World Series pick, given the fact that there are so many good, evenly-matched teams out there.

Just take a look at the standings right now—every division (with the exception of the AL West) still has two or more teams, in most cases three, with a shot at winning it.

No club, except for the Angels in a weak AL West, can separate themselves from the competition.

It’s great for the sport, as this season has put Major League Baseball back into an upswing (or maybe it’s just the whole post-Barry Bonds era?).

Of the eight teams that I’ve got in the playoffs, I can honestly see any of them going to the World Series and winning it all.

Lastly, before I make my final predictions, here is a recap of my other picks:

AMERICAN LEAGUE:

AL EAST – Red Sox

AL CENTRAL – White Sox

AL WEST – Angels

WILD CARD – Rays

NATIONAL LEAGUE:

NL EAST – Phillies

NL CENTRAL – Cubs

NL WEST – Diamondbacks

WILD CARD – Brewers

And with that…

First of all, I know that it’s lame and unoriginal to go with the two teams that currently have the best records in their respective leagues when it comes to making your World Series pick, but unfortunately, that’s what I’ve got to go with.

In other words, the Chicago Cubs (68-46) and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (70-43), baseball’s two most consistent winners all season long, have a date in October.

I, personally, think that an all-Chicago World Series between the Cubs and White Sox would be awesome, but I just can’t see the White Sox hanging around that long...or maybe it’s just that I like the Angels a little bit more!

If all goes according to plan, the Cubs and Angels will garner the top seeds in each league, which actually means next to nothing.

Look back at the last SIX World Series matchups, what do they all have in common? All six have featured a wild-card team!

Three of those teams, the Anaheim Angels of 2002 (when they were still just the Anaheim Angels), Florida Marlins of 2003, and Boston Red Sox of 2004, went on to win the World Series.

So, as it turns out, owning the best record in your league does not automatically translate to a world championship.

Now, with that being said, I’m sure a lot of you expect me to declare either the Tampa Bay Rays or Milwaukee Brewers (my two wild-card picks) a lock to make the World Series.

Wrong!

Obviously, this highly-unusual streak that has come to be will end in 2008, only because the Cubs and Angels are so darn good!

The biggest strength that they both have going for them is starting pitching.

I can’t reiterate the following statement enough: Pitching wins championships!

For example, let’s refer back to the past again and glance at the last five World Series champions – ’07 Red Sox, Cardinals, White Sox, ’04 Red Sox, and Marlins.

Every single one of these teams had dominant, slam-the-door-in-your-face starting pitching.

Not one was able to win because they outslugged their opponent.

Getting good performances on the mound should not be a problem for either of these teams.

The Angels have the deepest pitching staff in the American League, if not in all of baseball, while the Cubs possess a lethal one-two punch with Carlos Zambrano and Rich Harden, in addition to two other formidable starters.

The Angels’ rotation is led by John Lackey, a reliable veteran that they can give the ball to and count on a quality start.

Lackey’s postseason experience is yet another intangible—he started and won Game Seven of the 2002 World Series for the Halos; not to mention, they are a club that makes the playoffs year-in-and-year-out, so obviously their longest-tenured starting pitcher knows what it’s like to be in the middle of a playoff atmosphere.

Beyond Lackey, Ervin Santana and Joe Saunders are two young guns that have really come into their own in 2008.

Santana boasts a record of 12-5 with a 3.38 ERA and 143 strikeouts; Saunders’ numbers are outstanding as well: 14-5, 3.03.

There has been intense speculation that both Santana and Saunders are in the running to be Barack Obama’s VP…I mean, the AL Cy Young recipient. The same goes for Francisco Rodriguez, who’s having a decent year at closer for the Angels.

At the bottom of their seemingly endless rotation are Jon Garland and Jered Weaver, two guys that would be solid No. 2 starters on most teams in the majors, but on this team, they’re rounding out the rotation!

It’s almost ridiculous to think any club could have a starting rotation that good!

Did I mention the Cubs don’t have bad starting pitching themselves?
Zambrano and Harden make the Cubbies one of the few teams in Major League Baseball with two No. 1 starters.

Both of these guys make opposing teams afraid that they’re going to get no-hit.

Ryan Dempster and Ted Lilly, the "second tier" pitchers within the Cubs’ rotation, have a combined 23 wins. Not too bad!

So, if it’s true that starting pitching is the key to winning championships, I think it’s safe to say that the Cubs and Angels are built to win.

In addition to having the best starting pitching in their respective leagues, the Cubbies and Halos exhibit scary lineups.

A year ago, the Angels were manhandled by the Boston Red Sox in the ALDS, simply because they could not generate enough runs to keep up with the high-powered Sox.

That has changed dramatically.

Even though manager Mike Scioscia is still the master of "small ball", the Angels’ new-look lineup has a lot more pop to it than it did last season.

Three through six in the batting order looks like this: Mark Teixeira, Vlad Guerrero, Torii Hunter, and Garrett Anderson.

Talk about a minefield for opposing pitchers to maneuver through!

The trademark of Angels baseball in recent years has been not giving up many runs; hopefully now they can actually score a few.

With the recent acquisition of Teixeira, the Angels have done more than enough to address their past offensive issues, but I would still give the Cubs a slight edge on offense in this World Series matchup.

Leadoff man Alfonso Soriano is such a dynamic threat, as he has been known to frequently hit ‘em out of the park and steal bases…over and over again.

Derek Lee and Aramis Ramirez, two all-around solid hitters, provide the big bats in the middle of the Cubs’ dangerous lineup and drive in a ton of runs.

Then there’s catcher Geovany Soto, who has suddenly morphed into a very potent offensive force.

There’s definitely a reason why the Cubs rank first in the National League in both team batting average and runs scored!

It’s not unusual to see two teams that mirror one another like the Angels and Cubs meeting in late October. They both possess a winning formula: masterful starting pitching, complete with lots and lots of hitting, and maybe even a few big-name sluggers.

Well, I’ve told you who is World Series-bound and why, so the only question that remains is which team will win this thing: the Chicago Cubs or Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim?

I just have this eerie gut feeling that, after 100 years of pain and agony, the time has finally come for the Chicago Cubs to be crowned World Series Champions.

Let’s be honest, it’s their turn to win. The Red Sox "reversed the curse" four years ago, and then a year later the White Sox watered their World Series drought. It’s time that Cubs fans throw the black cat, Steve Bartman, and the Curse of the Billy Goat out the window!

They can think to themselves, with a sense of satisfaction, "Why not us?"

This year presents the Cubs with as good of an opportunity as any to break through and do it.

Nevertheless, please don’t bet your mortgage on my predictions! I don’t want to be retrieving dirty emails a year from now when everything doesn’t turn out just as I had imagined.

Waitin’ On a Rainy Day

Dustin Woolridge — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:46:53 -0400

Nobody likes to see a sporting event shortened by inclement weather, but in some cases, you can’t help but smile.

Just ask Kurt Busch, who won Sunday’s Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway after the impending rain arrived, washing out the remaining 16 laps.

Kurt Busch, much like younger brother, Kyle, the week before at the treacherous Infineon Raceway road course, may not have had the fastest car, but instead went gambling and hit the jackpot.

Following a caution on Lap 271, twenty-nine miles from the finish, Busch’s Miller Lite Dodge, and a handful of other cars running at the tail end of the lead lap, elected not to stop for gas.

These drivers and their crew chiefs weren’t idiots – they realized that not a single car on the track had enough fuel to make it the full 300 laps.

What they were banking on was a rainstorm, and a torrential one at that.

It didn’t seem like a bad plan, considering a band of rain showers had New Hampshire Motor Speedway completely surrounded.

Under this yellow flag, the race leaders, including Tony Stewart; Jimmie Johnson; Jeff Gordon; and Denny Hamlin, all pitted and filled up their gas tanks.

Stewart, who was in first before coming to pit road, took right-side tires and fell all the way down to 14^th.

The only cars that didn’t pit were the ones that simply had nothing to lose – Kurt Busch, Michael Waltrip, J.J. Yeley, Martin Truex Jr., Elliott Sadler, Casey Mears, Reed Sorenson, and Bobby Labonte – none of these guys had any shot at winning unless they were to take a tremendous gamble, and that’s exactly what they did.

As a result, the running order was completely reshuffled when the green flag came back out on Lap 278.

Kurt Busch led the field around the one-mile oval the next two laps, until yet another caution paused the race.

The seventh yellow flag of the race was brought out by a crash involving Clint Bowyer and Sam Hornish Jr., but that’s not what the fans were paying attention to.

The biggest story of the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 wasn’t Kurt Busch winning; it was the on-track feud between Kyle Busch and Juan Pablo Montoya.

Under this caution, Montoya blatantly drove into the side of Busch’s Interstate Batteries machine, spinning him out, and then got clipped by Busch as the lime green Toyota whirled around.

Montoya, without any reservations, stated that he “intentionally” took out Busch, because he was angry about how Busch had gotten around him earlier in the race.

Busch, however, talked as though he was blind sighted by Montoya’s bumper.

The Busch-Montoya fiasco will be something that’s watched closely by NASCAR fans for weeks to come.

After the field drove around the track for a couple of caution laps, the red flag came out as the rain began to fall persistently. The race was then called and Busch was declared victor.

To rounding out the top five was Waltrip, Yeley, Truex and Sadler.

Who would’ve thought that a rainy day would bring such joy?

Let’s start with Busch.

For a guy that won two races and made the Chase a year ago, his performance leading up to New Hampshire had failed to meet expectations.

Entering Sunday’s event, Busch found himself sitting 22^nd in the standings with only one top-five and two top-tens. His win vaulted him four spots in the standings to 18^th.

Waltrip, the runner-up, had been disastrous ever since moving to Toyota and starting his very own race team.

Last season, during Toyota’s maiden voyage in the Sprint Cup series, Waltrip compiled two top-tens the whole entire season and probably more DNF’s than finishes.

Waltrip has not scored a victory in five years— his last one coming at Talladega in the fall of ’03— his second-place finish was his best since 2005.

Yeley wound up third.

This is the guy who was the lame duck at Joe Gibbs Racing after being released to make room for Kyle Busch in the “18 car.”

He then headed to Hall of Fame Racing, an organization owned by two relatively famous former NFL players, Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach.

Until New Hampshire, 2008 had been a disappointment for Yeley as well. This was his first top-ten finish of the season.

Truex, similar to Kurt Busch, qualified for the Chase in 2007 and was competitive in just about every race.

Even though he has not been quite as bad as the three drivers that finished ahead of him on Sunday, Truex probably expected a lot more from his team this year.

His fourth-place was his best finish of the season.

Nevertheless, he still finds himself on the outside looking in when it comes to the grand Chase picture, in 14^th, 71 points behind 12^th-place Kevin Harvick.

Sadler has had unbelievably terrible luck this season.

Despite having fast cars week in and week out, he does not have the finishes to show for it, due to the misfortunes that seem to plague him.

Take for example last week at Infineon: Sadler was essentially robbed of a top-five when his tire went flat with two to go.

He would go on to finish the race 19^th, as opposed to third or fourth. His luck was actually able to hold up for 284 laps on Sunday, and the result was a fifth-place finish.

And how about Mears?

He announced earlier in the week that he would be leaving Hendrick Motorsports at the end of 2008.

By looking at his list of finishes this season, one would never guess that Mears drove for one of NASCAR’s top-tier teams.

The “five car” seems to be miles behind its teammates – the 48, 88, and 24 – every week, and his subpar results are a big reason why Mears finds himself mired back in 23^rd in the Sprint Cup standings.

It must’ve been nice to be Hendrick’s top dog for a weekend, as Mears’ seventh-place finish was the highest of the super-team’s quartet.

It might’ve been a race that produced results no one could’ve imagined, but the rain-shortened Lenox Industrial Tools 301 and hopefully served as a “change of tide” for some drivers who have experienced their fair share of struggles.

The Comeback Kid

Dustin Woolridge — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:21:22 -0400

It’s kind of hard not to like Kasey Kahne.

He’s not cocky like Kyle Busch.

He’s doesn’t have a persona surrounding him that some people might find unappealing, like Jeff Gordon or Tony Stewart.

He doesn’t drive recklessly and cause a plethora of accidents, like Juan Pablo Montoya.

Certain people don’t hate him just because far more love him, like Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Simply put, Kahne is one of the more likable drivers in the sport; hence the fans voting him into the All-Star Race by a “popular vote” back in May, an event that he went on to win along with a luxurious $1 million prize.

It was that race three weeks ago that kick-started Kahne’s recent hot streak.

The following week, Kahne won the Coca-Cola 600, a race that he probably shouldn’t have won but did anyway. He had the second or third-best car on the track and managed to steal one when Tony Stewart’s tire went down with three laps to go.

Sunday’s race at Pocono was an entirely different story.

Kahne had what was far and away the best car, and there was no way he was not going to win barring any unforeseen circumstances. Every time he would fall back, the bright red Budweiser Dodge would somehow finds its way right back to the front. Kahne’s victory looked as though it was meant to be.

The Pocono win was Kahne’s third in the last four races (if you include his surprising win at the All-Star Race, an exhibition event on the Sprint Cup schedule.)

After celebrating in Victory Lane three times in the last month, Kahne’s 2007 campaign must seem like a distant memory.

Last season was a disastrous one for Kahne. He wound up 19th in the Sprint Cup standings at the end of the year, and was left with a big fat bagel in the wins column. There were several races in 2007 where neither Kahne nor Gillett-Evernham teammate Elliott Sadler were even competitive.

Things have changed drastically since then, and what made Kahne’s disappointing season an even bigger shocker was how he ran the year before that.

In 2006, the No. 9 team won a series-high six races, including a sweep of the Charlotte races. Kahne flat-out dominated the mile-and-a-half ovals, getting all six of his victories from these “cookie cutter” tracks.

So far, we have seen the Kasey Kahne of 2006, not the Kasey Kahne of 2007.

What has been the catalyst for such an impressive comeback?

In addition to some personnel reshuffling, car owner Ray Evernham stuck to his promise and has taken a “hands-on” approach to his job.

Evernham, who was once apart of one of NASCAR’s most successful driver/crew chief tandems as Jeff Gordon’s crew chief (1993-1999), has put more of his time into configuring the setups of his cars, which has led to a substantially better performance from Kahne, as well as Sadler (who just can’t seem to escape a rash of bad luck despite having strong cars).

As Evernham has experienced his rebirth as a crew chief on the Cup circuit, George Gillett, the Montreal Canadiens owner who teamed up with Evernham last season to form Gillett-Evernham Motorsports, has dealt with the business affairs at GEM.

His accomplishments include bringing on Budweiser, the beer brand that graced the hood of NASCAR’s most renowned ride over the last few years, to sponsor Kahne (a sponsorship mega-deal). In addition, he's agreed to a multi-year contract extension with Sadler and picked up Best Buy to be the No. 19 car’s primary sponsor in 2008.

The new formula that GEM is trying out appears to be a winning one for Kahne and the No. 9 crew, and the Budweiser car in Victory Lane agrees with NASCAR nation, even if the guy behind the wheel isn’t Little E.

A Fair Deal?

Dustin Woolridge — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 16:36:56 -0400

It has become one of the fiercest rivalries in NASCAR’s most elite series: Kyle Busch vs. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

In one corner, you’ve got the sport’s newest “bad boy,” who goes out and drives the wheels off his car week in and week out, taking Vince Lombardi’s approach to auto racing: “winning isn’t everything—it’s the only thing!”

In the other, you’ve got the sport’s "golden boy," and just to give you a clue, it’s not Jeff Gordon anymore! Dale Jr. has everything that you could ask for in a stereotypical, “good ‘ole boy” NASCAR driver, especially the surname!

I think it’s safe to say that NASCAR nation could’ve seen this tug of war coming long before there were three laps to go at Richmond.

Let’s go back to last season.

Dale Jr. was in the middle of a nasty feud with his stepmom and then-car owner Teresa Earnhardt, and wanted out of D.E.I., the race team that used to belong to his late father, A.S.A.P. He was mired in a tumultuous season and not happy with the way things were going at D.E.I.

Then there was Kyle Busch, who despite his talent, was the third man in line over at Hendrick Motorsports. Busch was consistently winning races and qualifying for Chases, yet he was frequently overshadowed by Hendrick teammates Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, two of NASCAR’s biggest superstars. It was clear that both drivers were in dire need of a change in scenery.

So when it became public knowledge that Dale Jr. desired to go elsewhere, the betting wars began among NASCAR’s top teams. Speculation ran rampant; where would he end up? Childress, the team that his father won so many races and championships with? Or Gibbs, which had won its fair share of championships in recent years? Or what about Hendrick, NASCAR’s elite team.

It turned out that Dale Jr. chose to go to Hendrick, surprising many pundits, and in order to give him a spot on the roster, Hendrick parted ways with Busch. With the addition of Dale Jr., Hendrick Motorsports suddenly became NASCAR’s version of the Boston Celtics, sporting a “Big Three” (Gordon, Johnson, Little E) comparable to no other.

Nonetheless, Busch’s status for 2008 didn’t remain as “unemployed” for very long—Gibbs picked him right up like a $20 bill off the sidewalk. Busch was given the reins to the famed No. 18 car, once driven by Bobby Labonte, and so began one of the most dominating first half’s of the season that NASCAR nation has ever witnessed.

Just to give you a general idea of how spectacular Busch has been thus far, check out these stats: four wins and nine top-fives in only 13 races plus a comfortable 142 point-lead in the standings. Dale Jr. replacing Busch at one of the sport’s most fabled franchises and Busch going on to run laps around the field with a different super-team just scratches the surface of this newfound rivalry.

Dale Jr. & Busch are, simply put, two polar opposites. Little E is a North Carolina boy; Busch is from Las Vegas. Women flock to Dale Jr.; Busch might have a grand total of three female fans. Dale Jr. drives a Chevy; Busch a Toyota. Dale Jr. is sponsored by an energy drink and a branch of the armed services; Busch a candy bar company.

I could probably go on all day listing differences between the two; however, the most distinguishable is how the majority of NASCAR fans view them. Dale Jr. is far and away the fan favorite—when he is introduced at a NASCAR race, the fanfare is comparable to that of The Beatles’ arrival in America.

If you asked some of his fans, they would probably tell you with a straight face that Dale Jr. can walk on water. Why is he so immensely popular? Try his last name.

On the other end of the spectrum, Busch is usually greeted with a smattering of “boo's” and he is officially NASCAR’s most hated driver after the incident at Richmond back in May when he took out Little E as the two were battling for the lead with three laps to go (on a side note, Busch did not end up winning the race—Clint Bowyer did—but he finished second).

As a result of this event, it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to even mention Kyle Busch’s name to a die-hard Dale Jr. fan.

Similar to Dale Jr., Kyle Busch’s last name is another reason why NASCAR’s fans despise him; after all, brother Kurt was the most hated before Kyle arrived on the scene at Gibbs and took the sport by storm. What further contributes to their hatred for Busch (besides the fact that he foiled Dale Jr.’s chance to snap a two-year winless streak and his surname is ‘Busch’) is his tendency to win at will, kind of like the New England Patriots pre-Super Bowl XLII.

NASCAR fans get sick of watching the same guys win all the time, just like football fans get tired of the Patriots or baseball fans get burnt out on the Yankees, especially when they’re as unpopular as Busch.

Furthermore, he is winning after leaving Hendrick, the team that seems to compile the most wins of any year after year, and ironically enough, Dale Jr. is there and has still yet to win a race. What sense does that make?

Additionally, Busch packed his bags and went to a race team that was making a huge transition from Chevrolet to Toyota at Joe Gibbs Racing, and no one would have thought that the transition would go this smoothly.

Toyotas were miles behind the competition in 2007, but have racked up FIVE wins close to the halfway point of 2008—all of which have come courtesy of Gibbs cars (Busch’s four, Denny Hamlin’s one at Martinsville). It’s not a stretch to say that Gibbs has been the strongest team this season in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series.

As for Hendrick, they haven’t had a bad first-half of the season by any means, but for an organization that won a whopping 18 races in 2007 and nine in 2006, only one in 2008 among auto racing titans Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon (Phoenix, won by Johnson) just doesn’t cut it. Also, Dale Jr. has had a very respectable season himself, and to the delight of many of his fans, outdone both Johnson and Gordon at Hendrick.

He sits third in points and has accumulated five top-five finishes, but what is it that separates him from Busch’s league? The wins—Busch leads 4-0 in that department. And what is it that the new Chase format is placing heavy emphasis on? Wins!

If you lead the league in wins at the end of the season, your chances of winning a championship look pretty darn good! With that being said, it certainly looks like Gibbs got the better end of the Dale Jr./Kyle Busch deal halfway through 2008.

- DW