The NBA In-Season Tournament is happening and MLB Home Run Derby Preview
The Monday morning edition of "Four things to know before 4 AM" is here!
Happy MLB All-Star week, everyone! Before I dive into tonight’s Home Run Derby preview, we had quite the entertaining sports-filled weekend on what otherwise is considered one of the quiet sports months of the year:
“Electric” Elly De La Cruz stole second base, third base and home plate within one at-bat - the first time in MLB history in 50-plus years
The Team USA men’s soccer squad (their backup team) won an entertaining and roller-coaster Gold Cup semifinal game against Canada, 2-2 (won 3-2 in penalty kicks - thank you, goalkeeper Matt Turner!)
Team USA women’s team scored two goals - both coming from substitute Trinity Rodman (daughter of Dennis Rodman - yes, that Dennis Rodman!) - in their tune-up match against Wales on Sunday afternoon before their first World Cup game on Friday, July 21 against Vietnam
Newly drafted number one overall pick Victor Wembanyama made his much-anticipated but disappointing Summer League debut on Friday night (9 points, but was 2-13 from the field); but made up for it on Sunday night (9-14 from the field, 27 points, 12 rebounds and 3 blocked shots)
However, we have to begin with Wimbledon for the first headline:
1) Wimbledon Third Round Wrap-Up and Quarterfinals Preview
We are nearly into the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, with some surprises (Elina Svitolina) making it this far, while some mainstays (Iga Swiatek and Jessica Pegula) return to this second week of the third grand slam.
Some of the fourth round matches that took place yesterday were instant classics. (7) Andrey Rublev and (23) Alexander Bublik went the distance, but Rublev was victorious in the end, winning 7-5, 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 6-7 (5-7), 6-4. (1) Iga Swiatek initially had trouble with (14) Belinda Bencic, dropping the first set, but was able to pick herself up and win the next two sets: 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-2), 6-3. But the best women’s match on Sunday was (19) Victoria Azarenka against wild card Elina Svitolina. The Ukrainian won on a third set tie-break (11-9) after being down 6-2 in that tie-break to take down the veteran Azarenka.
A majority of the other Round of 16 matches will take place over the next couple of days; here are my matches to watch:
On the men’s side:
(6) Holger Rune versus (21) Grigor Dimitrov
(5) Stefanos Tsitsipas versus unranked Christopher Eubanks
(2) Novak Djokovic versus (17) Hubert Hurkacz (Djokovic leading, 7-6, 7-6)
I am very fascinated by the Tsitsipas-Eubanks matchup, as the former went through two grueling first and second round matches against Europeans Dominic Thiem and Andy Murray, while the latter, a lanky and tall (6-foot, 7-inches) African-American who spent three years at Georgia Tech, has flown under-the-radar to reach his first grand slam fourth round match.
On the women’s side:
(6) Ons Jabeur versus (9) Petra Kvitova
(25) Madison Keys versus unranked Mirra Aleksandrovna
I can see the Jabeur-Kvitova battle going a full three sets - that should be an entertaining watch! As for the Keys - Aleksandrovna match - I’m intrigued by the latter, as the Russian is only 16 years old (still an amateur) and this is the furthest she has ever gotten in just two years of playing in the grand slams. She last made the third round of the French Open a couple of months ago.
As for an update to my Wimbledon predictions: Both the men’s and women’s draws have one player eliminated (Casper Ruud on the men’s side and Coco Gauff on the women’s side), but the championship matches (Djokovic-Rune and Sabalenka-Pegula) are still alive.
2) Northwestern football head coach in hot water
Northwestern University football head coach Pat Fitzgerald could receive harsher punishment than was already given, based on an article run in its student newspaper publication, The Daily Northwestern.
The story, published on Saturday, discussed a multitude of hazing incidents with the football team that involved sexual acts, including one called ‘running’, in which a freshman football player ‘would be restrained by a group of 8-10 upperclassmen dressed in various “Purge-like” masks, who would then begin “dry-humping” the victim in a dark locker room.’ That was just one of dozens of these types of hazing ‘games’ that took place under Fitzgerald.
Northwestern hired an independent law firm to investigate these hazing reports, and found that these hazing activities were ‘widespread’ across the Northwestern players.
Fitzgerald only received a two-week unpaid suspension, and he said after hearing of the suspension that he was “not aware of the alleged incidents.”
As of Saturday afternoon, the university will reconsider the current penalty for Fitzgerald.
3) An NBA… Early [regular] season tournament?
As you may or may not be aware, the NBA had a regular season issue this past season - many of the stars, like LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo, routinely took ‘rest days’ (when healthy) and skipped regular season games. These players would have played if those games on long road trips or home stays actually mattered. The NBA, under commissioner Adam Silver, did not like that superstar players were missing games in droves, which is why all of the awards starting next season-onwards have a minimum 65 games played qualifier.
This past weekend, the NBA held its first-ever “NBA Con” - an NBA convention in Las Vegas - to run concurrently with the annual Summer League. To headline this event, on Saturday night, the league is promoting their first-ever “In-Season Tournament” to spark more excitement about regular season games.
The basis is simple, and takes in part much of what the WNBA has (the “Commissioner’s Cup”) and what many soccer leagues, like the Premier League annually hold (the “FA Cup”) during their regular seasons. Here are the details:
All NBA Regular season games on Tuesdays and Thursdays in November are considered ‘group stage’ games (four games total for each team)
Each group is composed of two elite teams, two average teams and one lottery team from their conference, based on last season’s standings (picked randomly on Saturday)
The best eight teams (the top team from each of the six groups plus two wild-cards) will qualify for the knockout stage. Those quarterfinal games will take place on either December 4th or 5th at the top team’s arena
The semifinal games will occur at the neutral site T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on Dec. 7 (Thursday), with the championship game at the same location on Dec. 9
Winning team earns the “NBA Cup”, with each player earning $500,000. Championship-losing team’s players earn $200,000, with the semifinal losers taking home $100,000 and the quarterfinal losers, $50,000
My Thoughts:
I like the idea and execution to spice-up the first month of the NBA season. My slight concern is how serious the players take these “In-season tournament” games compared to the standard regular season ones. But my main concern is how the games attract the casual NBA fans. The placement is plum in the heart of the NFL and college football seasons. Yes, the NBA tournament group stage games are on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the latter lands on the same five Thursdays as Thursday Night Football, including the three staple Thanksgiving Day NFL games. I would have preferred if the tournament ran in February into March (after the football seasons), and ending around Selection Sunday (mid-March) for NCAA Basketball, for maximum viewership.
There were some ideas thrown around that the “In-Season Tournament” winner could have some playoff rewards (like higher seeding or home court advantage), but that would be too extreme too early in this development. However, I would have liked if there was some other reward other than the monetary bonus (and trophy).
Let’s see how this tournament plays out later this year.
4) MLB Home Run Derby Preview and Predictions
Last, but not least, is the best (in my opinion) All-Star event among the four major sports - MLB’s Home Run Derby (8 p.m. EST on ESPN). The event is very straightforward: hit as many home runs as you can within three minutes, with bonus time (30 seconds) awarded if a batter hits at least one home run that is 440 feet or further. A batter can earn 30 additional seconds if two-plus HRs travel that far.
Should there be a tie between two players in a head-to-head round, they both go on a swing-off: the player that hits the most HRs within a minute thereafter advances.
You can see the pairings below; the seeds were determined by the participants’ 2023 home run totals through play on July 4. Tiebreakers were determined by most homers hit from June 15 through July 4.
So, the matchups (with applicable homer totals at the time in parentheses) are as follows:
No. 1 Robert (25) vs. No. 8 Rutschman (11)
No. 2 Alonso (25) vs. No. 7 Rodríguez (13)
No. 3 Betts (23) vs. No. 6 Guerrero (13)
No. 4 García (21) vs. No. 5 Arozarena (16)
The favorite is Pete Alonso, as he won in back-to-back years in 2019 and in 2021 (there was no HR Derby during the 2020 COVID-stricken year).
Here are my predictions:
First Round
Luis Robert defeats Adley Rutschman
Pete Alonso defeats Julio Rodriguez
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. defeats Mookie Betts
Adolis Garcia defeats Randy Arozarena
Semifinals
Robert defeats Garcia
Guerrero Jr. defeats Alonso
Championship
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. defeats Luis Robert
That will do it for this Monday morning edition of my Snippets. Enjoy the Wimbledon fourth round matches today.
Until next time, signing off.