"The Stack" 10-27-16
There is a reason the Chicago Cubs brought Kyle Schwarber back for the World Series. The dude can hit. Schwarber went 2-for-4 with two RBI as the Cubs evened the World Series up 1-1 with a 5-1 win in Cleveland Wednesday night.
Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
The Chicago Cubs have evened the World Series at one game apiece. We hope you enjoyed the NBA season preview yesterday, but let’s get on to more important items today. The Stack is back on this Thursday with reaction to that plus football talk so let’s get right to it and see what’s in “the stack” for today, Thursday, October 27th:
Cubs even World Series
Despite being shut out in game one, Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon was optimistic and took some positives out of it. Those positives were well received and turned into many more positive things on the field Wednesday night as the Cubs evened the World Series with the Cleveland Indians 1-1 after a 5-1 win. Jake Arrieta was brilliant on the mound for the Cubs not allowing a hit through the first four innings. His counterpart Trevor Bauer lasted longer than his appearance against the Toronto Blue Jays, but the drone cutter didn’t last long, going only 3 2/3 innings and giving up two runs on six hits. There is a reason why the Cubs added Kyle Schwarber to their World Series roster. The due can hit. He drove in two runs and was 2-for-4 at the plate, but he didn’t drive in the first run. That was Anthony Rizzo. The Indians are in trouble if they can’t find a way to manufacture runs. Plus this was Terry Francona’s first ever loss in the World Series. H was 9-0 coming into Wednesday’s game. The Cubs have responded really well after a bad outing. Now it is time for the Indians to prove the same. Game three is Friday in Chicago and I’m guessing Cubs fans will be pretty amped up.
College football weekend forecast
There are a number of really good football games on the docket this weekend in college football. Too bad Michigan–Michigan State (Noon ET ESPN) isn’t going to be worth a damn since Sparty hasn’t won since beating Notre Dame. What a sad season for both of those proud programs. The World’s Largest Cocktail Party (3:30 PM ET CBS) isn’t really worth much with Florida and Georgia this year. Can Texas beat #8 Baylor (3:30 PM ET ABC)? Probably not.
OK let’s get to some games that will actually be good. The SEC has a couple, OK really just one (no, not Samford at Mississippi State) in #15 Auburn at Ole Miss (7:15 PM ET SEC Network). We saw Arkansas get spanked last week in Auburn. Not saying that Auburn will lose by that much and fail to show up, but this Ole Miss team is better than that, right? Auburn has certainly come a long way this season. The Big Ten will be prominently featured on ESPN all day and the big one of the day is in Madison, Wisconsin, where #7 Nebraska will try and earn some respect against #11 Wisconsin (7 PM ET ESPN). Few are believers in Nebraska. They can prove us wrong by beating Wisconsin though I do not think that is going to happen. College Gameday will be in Salt Lake City where #4 Washington visits the #17 ranked Utes of Utah (3:30 PM ET FS1). Do I smell an upset brewing? Possibly. Washington better be prepared for this one. Utah will come out sharp and full of energy. Finally at 8 PM ET on ABC, it’s #3 Clemson at #12 Florida State. This game looked at the beginning of the season like this would decide the ACC and possibly leave the loser in a decent position still to reach the College Football Playoff. Well, Florida State is all but out of it. Clemson must do Clemson this one. Deshaun Watson and company will go in and come out victorious. Should be a great weekend of games starting tonight. Enjoy it!
Jacksonville Jaguars @ Tennessee Titans 8:25 PM ET NFL Network
Apparently Jaguars owner Shad Khan had a meeting with his team on Monday. That does not bode well for Gus Bradley or the rest of the Jaguars. They have too much talent on their team to be so shitty this year, but I’m guessing it isn’t going to change much on a short week against a Titans team that has been playing much better this season. Marcus Mariota is throwing the ball better and if the Jaguars want to prove me wrong, Blake Bortles is the guy who is going to have to do it. And there you have it, more of a preview of Jaguars-Titans then you probably ever thought you would get or wanted.
Prediction: Titans 20 Jaguars 17
Coming up Friday: Week 8 NFL preview and predictions
Take a listen to this week's "The Sports Block" podcast here.
