Stanzel’s Sports Takeout — BREAKING NEWS: 8.26.24
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Gopher football opens up Thursday against North Carolina on Fox.
Trip two to the Fair today. Drink plenty of ice water.
Twins’ End Woeful Week with Late Loss to Cardinals
If the Twins lose the Central - and they’ll have a hard time advancing in the post-season if they do - they’ll have three bullpen blown leads in the last two weeks to blame. Although it wasn’t much Jhoan Duran’s fault in yesterday’s 3-2 loss to the Cardinals; Eddie Joulien’s errant throw from second base let two runs in, in the top of the ninth with the Twins up 2-1. The Twins had been 58-1 when leading after eight innings.
Minnesota took just one of three from the Cardinals to open their nine-game homestand that continues tonight with the Braves.
I addressed this subject in Saturday’s Make Glove not W.A.R. with Pulltab Sports live at the Minnesota State Fair (it’ll be posted this week), but the Twins desperately need to win this division. They enter the week three games back of Cleveland, and tied with Kansas City. At this point they’re pretty safely in the wild card. But they’ve got two proven starting pitchers, so having to play a best-of-three wild card series just to get to a best-of-five division series would be dicey.
The division is there for the taking. Kansas City was on a roll but they got drilled twice by Philadelphia. The Royals and Guardians open up a three-game series tonight in Cleveland that will go a long way towards deciding the Central.
Lynx Clinch Playoff Spot with Sixth Straight Win
What a week for the Lynx. They swept the defending champion Las Vegas Aces in a home-and-home, then ran their win streak to six games by beating Caitlin Clark’s Indiana Fever after retiring Maya Moore’s number. Suddenly the Lynx, who clinched a playoff spot Saturday, could conceivably be the WNBA’s top seed - they’re just three games back of New York which has been in the top spot all season and widely regarded as one of the top WNBA teams in recent memory.
The Lynx has averaged more than a 10-point victory throughout this stretch - the final five games coming after the Olympic break. Just untested, with Napheesa Collier leading the way as she does most nights with 31 points Saturday against Clark’s Fever.
All five players from the Lynx’ 2017 WNBA Championship team now have jerseys in the Target Center rafters. It was an especially special night Saturday, since Moore was Clark’s favorite player growing up.
Minnesota visits Phoenix on Wednesday looking for No. 7.
Vikings Finish Pre-Season 3-0; What to Do with Jaren Hall
All eyes were on Vikings No. 3 QB Jaren Hall heading into Saturday’s pre-season finale, and all eyes are on him now after an impressive outing leading the Vikings to a 26-3 win in Philadelphia en route to a 3-0 post-season.
Hall hurt his leg on a hit that Kevin O’Connell didn’t like. While the severity is still unknown, the Vikings are in a bit of a pickle with Hall.
As mentioned last week, teams now have the option of putting a No. 3 quarterback on the practice squad. However, that means he’s got to go through waivers. With quarterbacks hurt in this league on an hourly basis, and Hall having a pretty darn good pre-season, you’d have to think another team would take a chance on him. But, leave him on the 53-man roster, and it takes someone else’s spot.
Tuesday at 3 p.m. Central is the NFL’s roster deadline.
The Vikings open up at the New York Football Giants Sept. 8.
Loons Lose to Seattle
Two goals will win a lot of MLS games, but that wasn’t the case for the Loons who fell 3-2 to Seattle at home on Saturday.
It was a big night for Kelvin Yeboah in his MNUFC debut. The Ghana native scored twice.
The Loons are at Seattle on Saturday. While the Loons dropped out of the top nine with the loss, they’ve got a golden opportunity for three points against the five-wins-in-26 games Earthquake this weekend.
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