THE WEEKEND SPORTS WEATHER REPORT
A look at how weather will impact the NFL and ALCS this weekend
Stephen Uzick
Oct 12, 2018, 2:48 pm
Snow in Denver? Awesome! Doug Pensinger/Getty Images
This weekend we will finally be getting our first taste of fall down in Texas but elsewhere full on winter will be blasting on to the NFL scene. I don’t know about you but I absolutely love watching football in the snow. Maybe it’s the Texas kid in me relishing any chance I get to see snow, or maybe its because it's fun to watch abnormally large men try to move nimbly on ice. Whatever the reason is though it is fun. In addition to snow some other games may see some relatively minor weather impacts, so lets get to it:
Bears @ Dolphins (12:00 PM Sunday) – A matchup between teams that seem to be going in opposite directions. However, the fact that this game is in Miami may give the Dolphins a bit of help. While it should be dry in terms of precipitation the humidity will be oppressive as usual. During the game the heat index will be floating in the upper 90s which may take more of a toll on the Bears than it does on the Dolphins. I would guess we will see the Bears splitting more carries between their two running backs to keep them fresh and their defense may not be quite as sharp.
QB, RB, TE, WR & K: ↔
DEF: ↓
Ravens @ Titans: (3:25 PM Sunday) – As a cold front progresses across the country it could spark some showers in Nashville during this game. Right now it does not look to be a deluge but there is a healthy chance of at least some passing rain throughout the afternoon here. With two relatively vertically challenged offenses look for more of an emphasis on the ground game here.
QB: ↓
RB: ↑↑
TE: ↑
WR: ↓
K: ↓
DEF: ↑
Rams @ Broncos (3:05 PM Sunday) – Here we are at the most interesting weather game of the week. While one or two shots of snow isn’t all that uncommon in Denver in October, it’s a bit more rare for it to fall on an NFL Sunday there. Currently it looks like the bulk of the snow will be a little earlier in the day, but there will likely still be some lingering snow showers particularly in the first half of the game. This won’t be a white-out with significant accumulation on the field, but snow is snow. On top of the snow it is going to be downright cold. The temperature at kickoff will be around 20 degrees with a windchill of about 10 degrees. While neither team has practiced in these types of conditions this year (as opposed to southern teams becoming more acclimated to heat and humidity), the Broncos have at least played in this before. In fact, the Rams have not played an outdoor game where the temperature was below freezing in over 10 years. This is foreign territory for a team that used to play in a dome and now plays in southern California. The Broncos on the other hand have played 10 games below freezing since 2012 and have a record of 6-4 in those contests. Between the snow and the cold look for this to very much be a ground and pound kind of game.
QB: ↓↓
RB: ↑↑↑
TE: ↑
WR: ↓↓
K: ↓↓
DEF: ↑
Baseball Special
With the ALCS starting this weekend in Boston I thought I’d take a look at what kind of conditions the Astros would be encountering there.
Saturday (7:09 PM) – There will be rain earlier in the day but it should be dry by game time, but temperatures will only be in the mid 40’s. This isn’t ideal as the cold air makes hitting more difficult and the Astros don’t have the best history playing in the cold. However with Verlander on the mound I still like their chances.
Sunday (6:09 PM) – Temperatures will be a bit warmer for this game rising to the mid 50s. Still not ideal for hitting but better than the night before. Neither of these games look to have much impact from wind.
For more information on any other games, to check in on conditions before kickoff, or if you have any other questions you can find me on Twitter @stephenuzick.
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After finishing up with the Guardians the Astros have a rather important series for early May with the Seattle Mariners heading to town for the weekend. While it’s still too early to be an absolute must-win series for the Astros, losing the series to drop seven or eight games off the division lead would make successfully defending their American League West title that much more unlikely.
Since their own stumble out of the gate to a 6-10 record the Mariners have been racking up series wins, including one this week over the Atlanta Braves. The M’s offense is largely Mmm Mmm Bad, but their pitching is sensational. In 18 games after the 6-10 start, the Mariners gave up five runs in a game once. In the other 17 games they only gave up four runs once. Over the 18 games their starting pitchers gave up 18 earned runs total with a 1.44 earned run average. That’s absurd. Coming into the season Seattle’s starting rotation was clearly better on paper than those of the Astros and Texas Rangers, and it has crystal clearly played out as such into the second month of the schedule.
While it’s natural to focus on and fret over one’s own team's woes when they are plentiful as they have been for the Astros, a reminder that not all grass is greener elsewhere. Alex Bregman has been awful so far. So has young Mariners’ superstar Julio Rodriguez. A meager four extra base hits over his first 30 games were all Julio produced down at the ballyard. That the Mariners are well ahead of the Astros with J-Rod significantly underperforming is good news for Seattle.
Caratini comes through!
So it turns out the Astros are allowed to have a Puerto Rican-born catcher who can hit a little bit. Victor Caratini’s pedigree is not that of a quality offensive player, but he has swung the bat well thus far in his limited playing time and provided the most exciting moment of the Astros’ season with his two-out two-run 10th inning game winning home run Tuesday night. I grant that one could certainly say “Hey! Ronel Blanco finishing off his no-hitter has been the most exciting moment.” I opt for the suddenness of Caratini’s blow turning near defeat into instant victory for a team that has been lousy overall to this point. Frittering away a game the Astros had led 8-3 would have been another blow. Instead, to the Victor belong the spoils.
Pudge Rodriguez is the greatest native Puerto Rican catcher, but he was no longer a good hitter when with the Astros for the majority of the 2009 season. Then there’s Martin Maldonado.
Maldonado’s hitting stats with the Astros look Mike Piazza-ian compared to what Jose Abreu was doing this season. Finally, mercifully for all, Abreu is off the roster as he accepts a stint at rookie-level ball in Florida to see if he can perform baseball-CPR on his swing and career. Until or unless he proves otherwise, Abreu is washed up and at some point the Astros will have to accept it and swallow whatever is left on his contract that runs through next season. For now Abreu makes over $120,000 per game to not be on the roster. At his level of performance, that’s a better deal than paying him that money to be on the roster.
Abreu’s seven hits in 71 at bats for an .099 batting average with a .269 OPS is a humiliating stat line. In 2018 George Springer went to sleep the night of June 13 batting .293 after going hitless in his last four at bats in a 13-5 Astros’ win over Oakland. At the time no one could have ever envisioned that Springer had started a deep, deep funk which would have him endure a nightmarish six for 78 stretch at the plate (.077 batting average). Springer then hit .293 the rest of the season.
Abreu’s exile opened the door for Joey Loperfido to begin his Major League career. Very cool for Loperfido to smack a two-run single in his first game. He also struck out twice. Loperfido will amass whiffs by the bushel, he had 37 strikeouts in 101 at bats at AAA Sugar Land. Still, if he can hit .225 with some walks mixed in (he drew 16 with the Space Cowboys) and deliver some of his obvious power (13 homers in 25 games for the ex-Skeeters) that’s an upgrade over Abreu/Jon Singleton, as well as over Jake Meyers and the awful showing Chas McCormick has posted so far. Frankly, it seems unwise that the Astros only had Loperfido play seven games at first base in the minors this year. If McCormick doesn’t pick it up soon and with Meyers displaying limited offensive upside, the next guy worth a call-up is outfielder Pedro Leon. In January 2021 the Astros gave Leon four million dollars to sign out of Cuba and called him a “rapid mover to the Major Leagues.” Well…
Over his first three minor league seasons Leon flashed tools but definitely underwhelmed. He has been substantially better so far this year. He turns 26 May 28. Just maybe the Astros offense could be the cause of fewer Ls with Loperfido at first and Leon in center field.
Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday) via YouTube: stone cold stros - YouTube with the complete audio available via Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.