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The Phillies are making a push for the playoffs

September 4, 2020

As of two weeks ago, it didn’t look good at all for the Phillies to make the playoffs, even with the expanded 16-team format. But this week, everything has seemingly turned around. The pitching staff has now been holding up their end of the bargain, and supporting the offense, which has been consistent for most of the season. The Phillies are now in second place in the division just behind the Atlanta Braves. Amazingly, the team has won 10 of the last 12 games to make up this ground. Hoping it continues!

Hard to believe, but the baseball season is already half over. I hope the Phillies can maintain this level of play for the remainder of the regular season. If Aaron Nola and Zach Wheeler continue to pitch well as they have so far, anything is possible.

In golf this week, the Tour Championship is taking place at the East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Ga. It is just the top 30 players in the FedEx Cup standings. They have a new (very confusing) format to determine the winner of this championship. In the Fed Ex Cup points race, Dustin Johnson finished first in the standings. As a result he starts at -10 even before he hits his first shot at the start of the tournament. I think this format change makes it way too complicated for the fans to understand what is going on in the first round. And while I am complaining, I think this basically makes it impossible for the bottom 15 people in the tournament to have any chance of winning from the beginning.

Hopefully the PGA will change the format again. I would like to see them still have the two playoff rounds before the Tour Championship, but everybody should start at zero once they qualify in the top 30 making it all or nothing with no more crazy mathematical formulas to worry about. I think the only three guys who even have a chance to win the tournament are Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm and Justin Thomas.

Last week, there was a very exciting playoff between Jon Rahm and Dustin Johnson at the BMW Championship in Chicago. Dustin Johnson made a crazy 48-foot putt to force a playoff against Jon, but Jon made a 66-foot putt to win on the first playoff hole. I hope the Tour Championship is this dramatic.

The U.S. Open tennis tournament has begun. I will be very surprised if at the end Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic do not win the championships because they’re the only multiple-time grand slam champions playing in the tournament. The field is thin because of the uncertainty about the pandemic for the international players. I will be starting to watch a lot of the tournament over this weekend.

Next week will be all about the Flyers’ playoff hockey series.

Labor Day weekend. Hard to believe after such a bizarre summer to have it almost be back to fall again. Enjoy it and stay well.

 

  • A 2002 Cape grad and 2007 UD grad, Lewes resident Sumner Spence is one of the Cape area's biggest sports fans. Although he’s used a wheelchair his entire life, he has lived vicariously through his sports-playing father, brother, and friends, who gave him his love of sports. He hopes to provide new and interesting perspectives on the sports stories and issues of the day. Email Sumner at sumspence@gmail.com.

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