Good morning!

When the Dodgers took the lead in Milwaukee this week, casual fans could go to bed knowing they wouldn’t miss a thing. 

Brewers batters struck out 18 times against Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto and had five hits in 58 at-bats (.086).  Desperate for something to cheer about, fans gave Joey Ortiz a standing ovation for working a one-out walk. “Postseason rally when a man gets on,” said John Smoltz.

In the 15 inning game between Detroit and Seattle, the two teams combined to strike out 37 times and bat .163 (16-for-98). Was it an instant classic, or instant Sominex?

It’s reminiscent of the Stanley Cup playoffs where every score is 3-2 and fans have learned to record and fast forward until GOAL! flashes on the screen.

Low scores and predictable outcomes aren’t all that’s wrong with the postseason. Turning the volume off to avoid another intrusive dugout interview, I looked up to see Joe Davis in the TV booth carving a turkey. Is that what it’s come to, MLB meets the Food Channel?

There was a time when television cameras were behind home plate, in center field and next to the dugouts. Now they’re everywhere like weather forecasters in a hurricane. 

Cameramen with hand-helds scurry to get close-ups of home run trots; other cameras eavesdrop into the dugout like paparazzi to ogle at a batter who’s just struck out with the bases loaded. When Terry Francona was managing in Cleveland and the camera would zoom in on him, Francona would scratch the side of his face with his middle finger.

“They should have tried the in-game interviews when Billy Martin was managing,” wrote Skip Smith. “That would’ve put an end to them.”

Smith’s a retired cameraman from St. Petersburg who for decades was on production crews that televised the Tampa Bay Rays and Tampa Bay Lightning games. “Why MLB allows so many cameras on the field and in the dugouts is beyond me. The home run trot and walking off the pitcher does nothing for me, dugouts should be off limits the entire game.”

Out of sight out of mind which is why I listen to the radio broadcasts — just like the old days.

Don’t get me wrong, I dread the final out of the World Series and all it portends, the falling leaves, shorter days and long trek through winter to spring, but this feels like a fait accompli. The Dodgers have the pitching, hitting and the confidence that comes with being the West Coast version of Casey Stengel’s Yankees.

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The 2025-26 UMass men’s basketball season begins two weeks from Monday when the Minutemen host Marshall.

According to the 2026 Pomeroy College Basketball Rankings of the 365 D-1 teams, UMass is ranked No. 196 and Marshall is No. 197.

The MAC opener isn’t until Dec. 20 at 2 p.m. against Kent State at the Mullins Center. Using the Pomeroy rankings as a barometer, UMass will finish in sixth place in the 13-team conference behind Akron, Kent State, Miami-Ohio, Ohio and Toledo.  

Akron was 28-7 last season, including 17-1 in the MAC but the Zips were ousted in the first round of the NCAA tournament by Arizona, 93-65.

UMass was 12-20 last season and 7-11 in the A-10. The MAC is softer, but that doesn’t mean Frank Martin won’t be feeling the pressure. “I would expect we win every game we play in the MAC these next five years,” says Marty Maroon.

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Crawling through the Desert: The UMass football team has gone 721 consecutive days without beating an FBS opponent. … Last week Kent State snapped its 1,050-day winless streak by beating UMass 42-6 in front of 11,523 fans at Dix Stadium. … This afternoon the Minutemen are 16 1/2-point underdogs at home against Buffalo, and Kent State is a 26 1/2-point ‘dog at Toledo. … Derek Morris’s 39-yard field goal pulled UMass to within 14-3 in the second quarter, but an offside call ruined a perfectly executed onside kick. “Look at the difference between the special teams,” said Kent State radio analyst Rob Polinsky. … The Minutemen were 0-for-3 on fourth down conversions. Somebody forgot to tell Joe Harasymiak that the Flashes are eighth in the FBS in fourth down defense. … UMass is 0-6. Six more L’s and Charley Molnar will be off the hook. Molnar had back-to-back 1-11 seasons in 2012-13. … OK, let’s end this on a positive note. UMass linebacker Timmy Hinspeter is fifth in the FBS in tackles with 65. Hooray.

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At halftime of last week’s UMass – Kent State game, MAC president Jon Steinbrecher told the Kent State radio crew that he envisioned Buffalo and UMass becoming natural rivals. Who knew?

This week both schools announced the birth of the Flagship Cup Rivalry Series sponsored by Milton Cat. It turns out a rivalry is a rivalry when the marketing department says it is, even when the two campuses are 380 miles apart.

The hook, according to the press release, is that UMass and Buffalo are “the only two flagship public research campuses in the Mid American Conference.”

Move over Harvard and Yale, Amherst and Williams, here comes the Flagship Cup.

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Tickets to see Boston College (1-5) host No. 14 Notre Dame (4-2) on Nov. 1 are priced as low as $217 including fees on Seat Geek, but tailgate permits are around $1,000. BC has lost nine straight games to the Fighting Irish, the last four by a combined score of 178-58.

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SQUIBBERS:  There’s no doubt Kent State return man Da’realyst Clark would have been on Garry Brown’s list of all-time favorite sports names … Gavin McKenna has a goal and four assits in his first four games at Penn State. McKenna, who signed for a reported $750,000, had 41 goals and 88 assists in 56 games last season at Medicine Hat. … BSJ’s Greg Bedard on Drake Maye: “You’re going to start to hear some chatter about Drake Maye and MVP. The way he’s playing I’m not going to disregard that.” … The 22nd annual 5K Hot Chocolate Run for Safe Passage is Dec. 7 at 8 a.m. at Hampton Avenue and Old South Street in Northampton. Go to  hotchocolaterun.com for more details. … The voice of the Tigers Dan Dickerson wasn’t in the mood to do a postgame recap after the 15 inning loss to the Mariners and muttered, “F— this game recap.” Dickerson blamed a hot mic and apologized for the rough language. … Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernandez hopes the team doesn’t have to return to Milwaukee. It’s Halloween season and the the Pfister Hotel is supposedly haunted. “Teoscar Hernandez doesn’t believe in ghosts but his wife does, so they have switched hotels in downtown Milwaukee,” reported USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. … Chris Russo doesn’t like NFL games played overseas. “If I start betting at ten o’clock on a Sunday morning, God’s never gonna let me win,” Russo chuckled. … Detroit’s two-thru-five hitters, Gleyber Torres, Riley Greene, Spencer Torkleson and Colt Keith went 0-for-23 in the 15 inning game. Someone please blow up analytics. … When Tarik Skubal leaves after six innings with the season on the line you know baseball is about money more than winning. Skubal’s a free agent after next season. … “I took my family to the Northwestern game on Saturday,” said Ross Tucker. “Penn State toward the end of the game tried to let Northwestern score and Northwestern wouldn’t do it. They were being strategic. My mom thought they were just being nice.” … Alex Bregman is destined to play with the Yankees who need his glove and his bat, or for the Mets who need him to bridge the personality gap between Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto … Kyle Schwarber in a Red Sox uniform? Sure, if you can handle his 205 strikeouts this season including the playoffs. … Bob Socci and sidekick Scott Zolak were broadcasting from a booth near the PA announcer last week at the Superdome. “Loud PA announcer,” said Socci. “I wish he’d shut up!” yelled Zo. … The Cubs’ quick exit from the playoffs was painful, but nothing compared to what fans endured in the middle of last century when they had 20 straight losing seasons. “One thing you learned as a Cubs fan,” said Joe Garagiola, “was when you bought your ticket you could bank on seeing the bottom of the ninth.”

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