Wednesday Roundup

Midwest Mountain Sports Report 4/28/21

Today it’s a quick-hit, hodge-podge sort of Midwest Mountain sports recap. The Avalanche are in a bit of a lull, after dropping two straight games to the Blues. The Rockies and the Twins are experiencing the end-of-April doldrums, riding the basements of their respective divisions. I’m getting duplicates in my latest Topps Heritage Box, and after riding first place through the fantasy basketball season, I’m going to get bounced in the first round because all of my players are injured, and my opponent has Bradley Beal, who is a man on a mission to get the Wizards to the playoffs. We’re almost at three straight days of rain in the Twin Cities, and I’m just going to try and peek behind those clouds for some sunshine. Let’s make some positivity out of this situation!

Avalanche: Recall my promise to make you aware the moment that the ESPN home page removed “NHL” from the category of niche sports to their main home bar? That moment is now! Maybe this is something they do every year, only updating their code when the playoffs draw near. Whatever their reasons, I only need one click to get to Avalanche info, and that’s a good thing. Additionally, they’ve already clinched the playoffs, and have scored the most goals in the West. Only Vegas has saved fewer goals, and they’re at a +50 for point differential. I would also like to point out that their last nine goals were at the expense of Devan Dubnyk and Jonas Johansson. While that’s not a great sign of encouragement for a deep goalie bench in the playoffs, at least Philipp Grubauer is still on the team. We have a series against San Jose and Los Angeles, and those are perfect opportunities to gain some playoff steam.

Twins: The Minnesota Twins have won 2 of their last 15 games, if my math checks out. Their woes are myriad, with veteran reliever Alex Colome blowing three different save opportunities in the tenth inning, increased fielding errors due in part to the absence of Andrelton Simmons, who contracted Covid-19 after opting out of a vaccine, and a general sense of malaise about the club. On Monday, I was reading Jim Souhan, who reminded me that we are only in April. Some of the Twins’ most storied seasons have come during seasons where they started the year with losing records, like 1991 when they started 2-9 (they later won the World Series), or in 2003 when they lost six in a row to fall to 3-6 on April 10 (they ended up winning the AL Central, and playing against the Yankees in the ALDS). His point is well taken: baseball is a marathon. Yet you’ll pardon me if I would say that this latest round of losing trumps 1991 and 2003. Which can only mean one thing; the Twins are destined to beat the Dodgers in the 2021 World Series. Glass half full, indeed.

Rockies: The Rockies have officially won their first road game! That’s right, it’s almost the end of April, and they finally fought through in extra innings last night to beat the Giants. For better or worse, Jeff Bridich “steps down” as the general manager, unable to survive the fallout of the Nolan Arenado trade to the St. Louis Cardinals. I’m trying to spin a positive here, but a changing of the guard in the front office, while warranted, isn’t exactly a sign of immediate stability. Jon Gray and Trevor Story will be free agents at the end of the year, and for a team that has every sign of rebuilding surrounding its aura, I will just try and enjoy the pitches and at-bats while we still have these guys. Jon Gray is one of the most exciting pitchers in the majors, primarily because you never know what’s going to happen. He can set opposing batters on ice, and fall apart an inning later. But so far, he’s been solid in 2021. Here’s hoping for more of that.

Baseball Cards: Trying to play “the market” of cards as a newbie seems to be a path of frustration at this time, as I simply don’t have the value of player/card value vocabulary, so I’m trying a different tactic, and am collecting just for fun at this point. If one of my cards happens to have more value than what I paid for it, lucky me. If not, I find collecting them right now to be a great exercise to wrap my arms around a group of players and learn more about their stats while managing a serious rotisserie fantasy baseball team for the first time. Right now, that’s where their “market value” lies in this buyer’s market.