There’s a lot going on in this edition of the FlurrySports NHL Power Rankings. While the top trio is the same, there are some big jumps and plenty of moving parts in the middle of the pack. A few young teams are slowly inching their way up the back end, and a pair of struggling teams have already canned their coaches with the season only a month old. Read on to find out where your team stacks up. *Records and statistics through Monday, 11/5* 31. Detroit Red Wings: 4-8-2 (10 points) Previous: 31 (-) Excitement is starting to build…
Author: Henry John
The MLS Cup Playoffs are well under way with the first legs of all four Conference Semifinal matchups in the books. After a Knockout Round that saw three out of four lower seeds claim victory, there is still plenty up in the air for the second legs of the home-and-home format that will play out this coming Thursday (11/8) and Sunday (11/11). Here is a full update following Sunday’s action. *Seeding Number in Parenthesis* Eastern Conference Semifinals (1) New York Red Bulls vs. (5) Columbus Crew (Crew lead aggregate 1-0) First Leg: Crew 1, Red Bulls 0 Second Leg:…
Major League Soccer concluded its 34-game regular season schedule this past Sunday, meaning the chase for the MLS Cup is officially on. With the Knockout Round games right around the corner, let’s take a look at the playoff structure and this year’s playoff field. MLS Playoff Structure 12 of the 23 teams, who currently make up the MLS, qualified for postseason play. The top two seeds in both the Eastern and Western Conferences receive byes through to the Conference Semifinal round. Seeds 3-6 in each conference will play a one-game elimination match in what is known as the Knockout…
With the first three weeks of the 2018-19 NHL season in the books, it’s time to start examining the league from top to bottom. Each team has had at least seven games to show us what they are all about on the ice. With the majority of a long season still ahead, these first rankings will likely be far from how things ultimately shake out. Nevertheless, here is how I have each team stacking up from worst to first with a week to go in October. 31–Detroit Red Wings: 1-6-2 (4 points) The streak of 25 consecutive playoff appearances…
The Boston Red Sox are showing everyone that their 108-win season was no fluke. Following impressive victories over the New York Yankees and Houston Astros in the ALDS and ALCS respectively, the Red Sox have gotten their first World Series appearance since 2013 off to a perfect start by taking Games 1 and 2 over the Los Angeles Dodgers. After producing 8 runs on 11 hits in the Series opener, the Red Sox followed it up with superb pitching in Game 2 and some timely two-out offense to come away with a 4-2 triumph. Red Sox Roll The story…
Season Off to Perfect Start WE THE NORTH! If you are a Toronto Raptors fan, you could not have asked for a better start to the 2018 NBA season. Canada’s team capped off the season’s first week of play with a win over the Charlotte Hornets, giving them a perfect 4-0 mark. With the offseason changes of promoting former assistant Nick Nurse to head coach and trading for superstar Kawhi Leonard, the fast start is an encouraging sign for what is to come this season. Here’s a quick rewind of the biggest takeaways from the season’s first week. Wins…
It must have been the old Lucky 7’s at work, because Week 7 of the College Football season was truly insane. All told, eight teams ranked in the AP Top-25 took an L Saturday, with four of those residing in the Top-10. With the College Football Playoff Committee set to release its first rankings this week, the question is how much will these upsets affect teams moving forward? Shifting through so much chaos and upheaval is no easy task, but we will give it a shot! Top-10 Teams to Fall (13) LSU 36, (2) Georgia 16 The Game A…
The old adage that starting pitching is the most critical part of postseason baseball may not be dead just yet. It received a big vote of confidence in Monday’s NLCS Game 3 between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Brewers starter Jhoulys Chacin pitched brilliantly over 5.1 innings, Orlando Arcia slugged a two-run homer, and Milwaukee blanked the Dodgers 4-0 to go up 2 games to 1 in the best-of-7 series. A lot of the focus around postseason baseball in recent years has been on the relief pitching that teams employ coming out of the bullpen, and for…
“WE WANT BOSTON!” was the chant raining down from the Yankee Stadium crowd in the latter stages of Wednesday evening’s AL Wild Card Game. Well New York, you’ve got Boston. Aaron Judge started the party with a two-run homer in the bottom of the 1st inning, Luke Voit smacked a two-run RBI triple in the 5th, and the Yankees coasted to a 7-2 win over the Oakland Athletics to advance to the American League Division Series. Home Field Advantage By finishing three games better than the Athletics in the regular season, New York earned the right to host the…
It took over five hours, but the Colorado Rockies did it! Tony Wolters punched a 2-out single into centerfield to bring home Trevor Story with the go-ahead run in the top half of the 13th inning. After getting the final out of the 12th inning, Scott Oberg struck out the side in the bottom half of the 13th to send the Rockies through to the National League Division Series, beating the Cubs 2-1. Timely Hits After failing to record much of anything in the way of timely hits, the Rockies finally put it together in the 13th, and it…