The Rays and the Judges have punched their ticket to the playoffs. They have both clinched, which is baseball's way of saying that even if they lost all of their remaining games, they would still be in the playoffs.
There are 12 games left in the regular season. The Red Sox are in the 2
nd wildcard slot with a 6½ game lead over the Guardians and a7½ game lead over the Blue Jays. That means that if the Red Sox lose 8 of their remaining 12 games, the Guardians win 7 of their remaining 12 games and the Blue Jays win 8 of their remaining 12 games, the Red Sox will be bumped from the wildcard race.
Do I think that is possible? Yes, it is mathematically possible that the Red Sox can be eliminated from the playoffs. Their remaining 12 games are against four pretty solid opponents, the Rangers (.493), the Rays (.604), the Guardians (.503) and the Cubs (.556) which means not only is it possible, it is slightly more than a little possible.
They should win the series against the Rangers, win at least 1 game against the Rays, win the series against the Guardians and win the series against the Cubs.
Is that a guarantee? No, it is not.
Baseball is a funny sport. All it takes is for a pitcher to have a bad inning and the game can go to hell quickly. If one baserunner makes a mistake, a game-winning rally can be cut short. If one fielder makes an error, the opponent can feed off that and come from behind to take the lead. If the manager makes a bad in-game decision to substitute a batter or a pitcher, everything can fall apart. Hell, an umpire having a bad day and making some terrible calls can mean that all bets are off on who will win that kind of game.
Baseball is a funny game and that, my friends, is why I enjoy it so much.
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They basically propped this guy up in a chair and wheeled him onto the floor of the senate.
This is a perfect example of why we need both term limits and age limits.
Personally, I think the term limit should be 4 terms for congress and 2 terms for senate. I think the age limit should 80 for all elected offices.
It's not only insane, it's also kinda dangerous that McConnell, a guy who is having more medical issues than my crippled grandmother had before she died and has fewer functioning brain cells than my dog did, is able to make decisions that impact all of us.
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I may be in the throes of lawn tractor failure...
I had to replace my walk-behind mower this spring and now it appears my lawn tractor is experiencing some significant issues with the engine.
There is a major power loss when under load and it's popping/backfiring a lot.
It could be a bad valve, it could be a dirty carburetor, it could be bad spark plugs, it could be timing/ignition issues. The bottom line is I have no idea what the problem is and to be honest with you, I'm not sure I want to spend a lot of time trying to fix a 16 year old lawn tractor that could require an engine rebuild.
I'm going to shop around a bit while I'm buying some new plugs, oil filter and air filter. I figure I can replace the easy-to-replace stuff to see if that helps any and if I run across a good deal on a lawn tractor, maybe I'll just bite the bullet and replace this one.
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Here are some links:
