On Friday, the Phillies start a huge four-game series against the Atlanta Braves. This series will most likely determine who wins the National League East division. The Braves have a four-game lead over the Phillies. In the next two weeks, they are playing seven games against each other starting with this series in Philadelphia. We will see who can really shine. Hopefully the Phillies! 

The Phillies just completed a very successful nine-game road trip to the West Coast with a 6-3 record. This gives them a good cushion in terms of the wild card standings. I think they have a 95% chance of making the playoffs now. Friday’s first game is very critical for the Phillies. Their hopes of catching the Braves are going to start with a great pitching matchup between Cristopher Sanchez for the Phillies and Chris Sale for the Braves. If the Phillies can win this first game, it will give them momentum for the rest of the series. They must win three of the four games if they want to have a legitimate chance to catch the Braves. 

Another great sign for the Phillies has been the progress of their rookie pitcher Andrew Painter. Ever since he came back from the minors in late July, he has pitched like a completely different person. Hopefully he can keep this up.

I am glad the NFL preseason is over. I will start watching the Eagles games now. There are only 17 games in the NFL regular season and every one is important. The Eagles first game is against the Washington Commanders and their quarterback Jayden Daniels, who hasn't played in a real game in a long time. I’m curious what his prior injuries have done to him. The Eagles defense is supposed to be very good this year, and one of their defensive ends, Jalyx Hunt, had a great training camp according to all of the reporters. I hope he continues to have success going into the season. If the defense is as good as they say it's going to be, we should make the playoffs easily and be competing with the Cowboys for the division championship.

The U.S. Open tennis tournament started this week. Novak Djokovic lost in the first round of a major tournament for the first time since 2006 due to being ill. I would be very surprised if he makes this his last major tournament as a player. I wouldn’t think that he would want this performance to be how he is remembered for his last major tournament appearance in his career. Carlos Alcaraz is doing quite well, coming back from his wrist injury, which sidelined him for four plus months. There are still a number of American men in the tournament. Let's see how many of them can make it to the second week. I hope there are no more rain delays. They got enough rain in New York already. On the women’s side, Coco Gauff and Madison Keys are still in the tournament. Gauff has been playing very well in the US open series events leading up to the tournament. We’ll see how far she can go. 

Can't believe it's September! Where did the summer go?