The ACC should have a fascinating season in 2013. There are a number of true contenders as you can see below and they have some great matches with their geographical big brother the SEC, which could really shake up the way things look at the top of the polls this season.
Except for a couple of runs the Arizona Diamondbacks couldn’t solve Pittsburgh rookie Gerrit Cole in dropping the first game of their series last night.
The Giants and Marlins combined for a week’s worth of offense in their opener Friday night with the Giants winning 14-10. San Francisco cranked out 19 hits with OF Hunter Pence and 3B Pablo Sandoval going a combined 7 for 10 with 8 RBI.
The Cleveland Indians are in the thick of the American League race thats for sure.
New York was showing some signs of life before getting hammered by the Angels in the closing game of their 4 game set on Thursday. Prior to that they had won 4 in a row and 5 of 6 and things are slowly getting to a normal stage with 3B Alex Rodriguez in the lineup – if there is a normal.
A month ago it didn’t look like this series would be all that meaningful…but with Kansas City’s recent strong play they are actually in the conversation as it relates to the American League Central and certainly the Wild Card race.
There is no rest for some of the PGA wicked this week as the TOUR moves on from its last Major this week and moves to North Carolina and the Wyndham Championship.
The Minnesota Twins took both ends of their Friday double header to distance themselves even further from the last place Chicago White Sox. We are through two thirds of the season and the Twins are proving to be closer to bad than horrible, with a great chance to extend their winning on Saturday afternoon.
The Big 12 should be one of the most competitive conferences in the nation this season. Usually a conference has one or maybe two legit contenders but this year in the B12 there are 4 programs that could reasonably walk away with the title.
There is little hope that the Jacksonville Jaguars are going to surprise and be good this season. The question is whether they are going to be bad, as bad as last year or worse.
Tennessee is a classic team that is not sure if they have a quarterback or not. The athletic Jake Locker has been outshined by other young signal callers and until they know whether he can be a legit pro or not it is going to be tough to know whether this current group can be a playoff contender.
Things went about as good as could be expected last season for the Indianapols Colts. They transitioned from one franchise QB to another about as seamlessly as possible and made the playoffs in the process. It was almost a little too fortuitous which is why almost nobody thinks Indianapolis can repeat that success against in 2013.
Baltimore is working their way up the coast trying to steal some wins against struggling National League teams to stay afloat in the American League Wild Card race. They took two at San Diego and are now hoping the Giants will be equally hospitable.
Detroit is wicked hot right now. Not only have they won 12 games in a row but they just walked into the second place team in their division’s house – Cleveland – to take the last 4. They have now built a 7 game cushion and asserted their dominance over the division.
There is little doubt that the Houston Texans are the top team in the AFC South. The question is whether or not they are a true Super Bowl contender. On paper it looks like they are but I think this team lacks some of that grittiness you expect to see from champions.
Carolina finished the season as one of the hottest teams in the NFL but it can be easy to play loose when there is no pressure on you. The Panthers have one of the most dynamic players in the NFL in Cam Newton but the rest of their playmakers are probably on offense are not quite good enough to push this team into serious contention.
