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MLB Breakout Predictions: AL Central

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Caption: American League Central Teams

by Ryan Harless

Ryan Harless is a third-year undergraduate at BGSU from Hillsboro, Ohio. He is majoring in Sport Management with a Journalism Minor. Baseball and golf at all levels are his primary interests but he is also interested in combat sports, hockey, basketball, and football.

February 16, 2023

In my last article, I started a series of who I believe will be the breakout performer for each team in the National League Central. Now, for the second in a series of six, I will preview the American League Central.

Starting off is the last place team from 2022, the Kansas City Royals. This Royals’ team is an amalgamation of some long-time fan favorites like Salvador Perez and Hunter Dozier as well as a returning star in Zack Greinke. There are also some new faces like Aroldis Chapman who could help the Royals improve from last season.

However, I am looking to a very fresh face to make his stand as their breakout star. I think Maikel García will have a great year and set himself up as the ‘Shortstop of the future’ for KC. Through his five minor league seasons, he slashed .272/.349/.371 and while he only played in 9 games in 2022 he still put up a .318 batting average.

Garcia also boasts a .917 fielding percentage through his minor league career. I would look for Maikel to bat .270 with 120 hits and 60+ RBI. He should be a very exciting player to keep an eye on for 2023 and the future.

Finishing ahead of the Royals in 2022 were the 4th place Detroit Tigers. The Tigers are a very interesting team with a lot of young talent who could all have lasting impacts on the organization. I considered going with Casey Mize as I anticipate him to be a perennial all-star once he hits his stride, but he is expected to be out until September with an injury.

I think a lot of people might be looking at Spencer Torkelson to be their breakout star this year, but I believe that this is going to be the year that Akil Baddoo will fully take center stage in Detroit. Baddoo is uber fun to watch play the outfield, he is everywhere all at once and has an absolute cannon for an arm that allows him to pick off baserunners that didn’t do their homework.

Baddoo’s stats at the plate leave a little to be desired but he still has never played more than 124 games in his two years of Major League experience. If he is able to get his 27% strikeout rate down to at or below the league average (22%) he will have no issue batting .280 with 25+ homers and possibly even swiping 20+ bags. I could easily see Baddoo as a new member of the increasingly rare 20-20 club.

Finishing in the middle of the division last year were the Minnesota Twins. The Twins have had lot of notably good starting pitchers over the last few years, Jose Berrios and Sonny Gray come to mind. But I believe their breakout player this year will be Pablo Lopez who the Twins acquired from the Miami Marlins in addition to two prospects for the 2022 AL batting champion Luis Arraez.

While I don’t expect Lopez to have comparable accolades to what Arraez did last year, I do see him emerging as their new ace. He went 10-10 last year with a 3.75 ERA with Miami. But I can see him being a top-15 AL pitcher this year if he gets enough run support. I look for Lopez to go 16-8 this year with an ERA hovering around the 3.00 area. While I still don’t like the Twins trading Arraez away, I feel they could have done a lot worse than getting Lopez in return.

The Chicago White Sox finished in second place in the American League Central Division in 2022. Another team with a lot of young talent in Tim Anderson, Eloy Jimenez, and Yoan Moncada. But I’m going to chose Michael Kopech as my breakout star for the White Sox.

Kopech has had a rough go of it in his career so far, being a highly touted prospect in 2017 and ’18 with his first MLB start. But he has been plagued by injuries throughout his career and has never really put it all together. I think if he can stay healthy for a full year he can finally reach his full potential.

Look for Kopech to have 15+ wins with a sub 2.75 ERA and if he can throw anywhere close to 200 innings, he will surely have 200+ strikeouts as well.

Finally, rounding out the AL Central are the 2022 Central champions the Cleveland Guardians. The youngest team in MLB last year took their team all the way to the ALDS where they lost to the Yankees. The Guardians are going to have another really young team in 2023 and I look for their breakout star to be one of the faces of their 2022 team, Steven Kwan.

Kwan finished 3rd in Rookie of the Year voting last year as well as taking home a Gold Glove award. He was an amazing contact hitter for the Guardians slashing .298/.373/.400 with 168 hits while picking up 19 stolen bases. I expect Kwan to improve on last season and bat over .300 with 175+ hits and over 20 stolen bases. Kwan reminds me of a new age Juan Pierre as far as being a contact hitter who is more than serviceable in the field. I doubt that he will ever match Pierre in terms of stolen bases which shows how the game has changed. But I think that Steven Kwan will be a new Cleveland favorite for years to come.

Super Bowl LVII Predictions

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By Sam Morris

Sam Morris is from Madison Heights, Michigan, and is an undergraduate student at BGSU majoring in Sports Management. He has a passion for sports writing and journalism. In his free time, he volunteers in the strategic communications department at BGSU at various sporting events and he also performs, writes, and produces his own raps for the music industry club at BGSU.

February 11, 2023

Super Bowl Overview

After my undefeated first round and a 3-1 second round, the conference championship games did not go as I expected as the Niners and Bengals both lost. The Eagles absolutely crushed San Francisco 31-7. The Niners’ offense slowed to a halt, losing both Brock Purdy and 4th string QB Josh Johnson to injury, and leaving them with no healthy QB’s available to play. However, this doesn’t take away from the amazing job that Philly’s offense did against the number one defense in the league. Although the Chiefs also pulled off the win, it was not without controversy as there were a few flags against Cincinnati late in the game that Bengals fans thought had cost them their chance to win. However, the Bengals had plenty of opportunities to put the game away beforehand and couldn’t get the job done. With all the upsets and crazy storylines in these 2022-2023 playoffs, the Super Bowl features the two overall one seeds and there is no consensus favorite amongst the media. Below I is my final breakdown of the playoffs with my prediction of the winner of Super Bowl 57.

  1. Kansas City Chiefs (16-3) (AFC)    VS.     1. Philadelphia Eagles (16-3) (NFC)

                                   (Sunday, February 12th, 2023)

Breakdown: Super Bowl 57 has many interesting storylines to look for including the fact that this is the first Super Bowl where brothers (Jason and Travis Kelce) will be playing against each other. Being played in State Farm Stadium, one thing we know for sure about Super Bowl 57 is that there will be a lot of State Farm advertisements. Besides this, the Super Bowl outcome is anything but predictable. The Chiefs and Eagles overall have had the best seasons in their respective conferences, each amassing impressive 16-3 records to reach the Super Bowl. Because each of these teams has very few weaknesses, the Eagles are favored by just 1.5 points as of Saturday afternoon, making this the 4th shortest odds in any Super Bowl, according to CBS. These short odd are well-deserved, in my opinion, because of how close statistically these teams are to each other. On defense, the Eagles rank 1st (70) and the Chiefs rank 2nd (55) in sacks. Because these defenses are so similar and each quarterback has the ability to scramble, this game will be decided by which offense can put together consistently effective drives against the opposing powerhouse defenses.

In terms of offensive skill positions, the Eagles have a much better running game than the Chiefs behind Hurts, Sanders, Gainwell, and Scott. In fact, historically, the Eagles’ rushing game has the most rushing touchdowns in NFL History dating back to 1920, with 38 in total between the regular and postseason. However, I think the Chiefs’ explosive passing attack is better than Philadelphia’s with the chemistry and experience between the Mahomes-Kelce connection that can only be rivaled by Brady and Gronk. Adding Kadarius Toney has also been a sneaky signing because of his speed and ability to catch deep-ball fades consistently. The depth of JuJu Smith-Schuster and MVS (Marcus Valdez-Scantling) to the passing game also gives Mahomes quality second and third options to Kelce that I don’t think Devonta Smith and Quez Watkins match with the Eagles.

Although Mahomes is still working through the injury he suffered against Jacksonville, I believe the MVP’s talent and wealth of experience at such a young age will give him an overall advantage over Hurts in managing the atmosphere and pressure of the Super Bowl. Overall, it seems like Mahomes feels like he has something to prove against Hurts as Mahomes beat him for the MVP and has been consistently compared to him all year long. Mahomes also realizes that a second Super Bowl could put him in elite company among quarterbacks and help to solidify his ultimate legacy. To execute their game plan, the Chiefs need to score early and put pressure on the Eagles to throw the football, which is what the high-powered Chiefs offense is built to do. Although the Eagles are every bit as talented and deserving as the Chiefs to win the big game, I believe Mahomes and Andy Reid will execute their passing game plan against this dominant defense to win Super Bowl 57, giving Kansas City its 3rd Super Bowl victory in franchise history,   

Prediction: Chiefs (28)  Eagles (27)

MLB Breakout Predictions: NL Central

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by Ryan Harless

Ryan Harless is a third-year undergraduate at BGSU from Hillsboro, Ohio. He is majoring in Sport Management with a Journalism Minor. Baseball and golf at all levels are his primary interests but he is also interested in combat sports, hockey, basketball, and football.

February 11, 2023

MLB Breakout Predictions: NL Central

Early spring is one of my favorite times of year because it means I get to look forward to the upcoming Major League Baseball (MLB) season. While most teams and fans have an idea of where their team will end up, there is always a chance that a new star will emerge and stake their claim as a top talent.

In this entry, I plan to discuss who I believe will be the “dark horse” for each team (by division) across MLB in 2023, starting with the one that I have to most experience with. The National League (NL) Central.

Starting with the Pittsburgh Pirates, there are a lot of possibilities as they have plenty of young talent. I look for Andrew McCutchen to have a bounce back year in his return to the Pirates; Ke’Bryan Hayes is also super fun to watch and will be a key member of the team for years to come. However, you simply cannot miss my pick, Oneil Cruz, the 6’7” short stop with all five tools at his disposal.

Given Cruz‘s size, he has been compared to Cal Ripken Jr., even though Cruz has three inches on Ripken when talking about height. In 2022, he did worry fans with his 34.9% strikeout rate and .233 batting average, but I’m going to chalk that up to it being his first Major League experience.

I anticipate that Cruz will hit .275 with 80+ RBI and at least 20 homers.

Next, we can take a look at the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds are a team with loads of young players who could step up and bring the rebuilding process to an end. I would like to say that Alexis Diaz (younger brother of Mets closer Edwin Diaz) will be the breakout star for the Reds this year. But I don’t believe the team will give him enough save opportunities to consider him their star.

I look for another pitcher, Hunter Greene, to be the definitive ace of the staff and star of the team. Greene has shown flashes of greatness in the past with his blazing fastball and frisbee-like slider. He has already set many MLB records for pitch velocity in just his rookie year.

I think Greene will stay healthy this year and throw 175 innings. If he can keep his home runs against down, I think he can keep his ERA under 3.00 on the season.

Finishing ahead of the Reds in 2022, were the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs had a sneaky good offseason this year, picking up former league MVP Cody Bellinger and established star Dansby Swanson. But outside of established stars, I look for second baseman Nick Madrigal to finally hit his stride in the Majors.

Madrigal is yet to play 60 games in one season which I believe has prevented him from setting his feet and catching onto things. But through 552 plate appearances in his career so far, he’s got a .289/.336/.355 slash line. While the .355 slugging is a little lower than you’d like to see, he is a traditional second baseman.

If Madrigal plays the whole season, expect him to put up a .280+ average and at least 150 hits. With Madrigal, you are getting a sure handed second baseman who can bat leadoff and get ‘ducks on the pond’ for the power hitters in the lineup.

Finishing above the Cubs in the Central standings are the Milwaukee Brewers, another team with a lot of star power to show this season. Featuring former MVP Christian Yelich, all-stars Brandon Woodruff, Devin Williams, Corbin Burnes, and Willy Adames, this team can seriously contend for the NL Central crown and even more.

Aside from all of the above is one of my favorite players to watch, first baseman Rowdy Tellez. In a Brewers’ uniform, Tellez gives me flashbacks to another great Brewer first baseman, Prince Fielder; both are big boys who can hit the ball a country mile.

Tellez hit multiple clutch homers for the Brew Crew last postseason and I don’t see him stopping anytime soon. He is a true power hitting first baseman who brings a charge to the team when they’re down. Last year, he smashed 35 homeruns and 89 RBI yet he only managed a .219 average.

I’m expecting Rowdy to have a major breakout year where he hits 40 homers and 100 RBI. To do so, he needs to improve his average to somewhere around .240, but I know he can. Look for the Brewers to find their new franchise first baseman in a ‘Rowdy way’ this season.

Finally, there are the winners of the NL Central in 2022, the St. Louis Cardinals. Much like the Cubs, my choice for their breakout star isn’t someone known for his hitting (although he can still hold his own at the plate). The Cardinals have so much star power on the team that it is difficult to find someone primed for breakout who hasn’t already emerged.

Last year’s NL MVP Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado, and Willson Contreras to go along with their already strong pitching staff makes for a team primed to repeat as NL Central Champs.

I have chosen outfielder Lars Nootbaar as my breakout star for the Cardinals this season. Lars showed off his defensive prowess last year making many memorable grabs in right field along with some more than competent batting stats to boot. Last year he only batted .228 but he had a .340 on base percentage as well as a .448 slugging percentage. On top of that he already has a career 120 OPS+ meaning that he is 20% better than the average major leaguer today.

I can see Nootbaar batting .260 with 20 homers and 80 RBI this season. I would even venture to say that if he chooses to focus on power in his swing, he could hit 30+ homers at the sake of his average.

The ‘World Cup’ of Baseball

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Caption: Team USA Hoists the WBC trophy after winning in 2017

By Ryan Harless

Ryan Harless is a third-year undergraduate at BGSU from Hillsboro, Ohio. He is majoring in Sport Management with a Journalism Minor. Baseball and golf at all levels are his primary interests but he is also interested in combat sports, hockey, basketball, and football.

February 7, 2023

With Major League Baseball’s (MLB) Opening Day coming up at the end of March, baseball fans have a lot to anticipate. But, even before that, on March 8, the World Baseball Classic (WBC) begins.

The WBC is essentially the World Cup but just for baseball. Twenty teams from around the world compete in a tournament to determine who is best in baseball. There are four pools of five teams each that play a round-robin to determine seeding. The top two teams from each pool advance to the semifinals. Then begins the single-elimination tournament that culminates on March 21 when a champion is crowned.

Pool A consists of Chinese Taipei, the Netherlands, Cuba, Italy, and Panama.

Pool B is Japan, Korea, Australia, China, and the Czech Republic.

Pool C has the USA, Mexico, Colombia, Canada, and Great Britain.

And Pool D rounds out the field with Puerto Rico, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Israel, and Nicaragua.

There are talented stars from the majors on almost every team. Shohei Ohtani (the Angels) is making his WBC debut and will play for Japan while his Angels’ teammate Mike Trout is going to be the captain for Team USA. Yu Darvish (Padres) will be joining Ohtani on Team Japan as well.

Team USA boasts many all-stars including Mookie Betts (Dodgers), Paul Goldschmidt (Cardinals), and Pete Alonso (the Mets). The most interesting team, in my opinion, is the Dominican Republic as almost their whole team is full of bona fide stars: Julio Rodriguez (the Mariners), Jose Ramirez (the Guardians), Juan Soto (the Padres), Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. (Blue Jays), and Sandy Alcantara (Marlins) just to name a few.  

Of the first round matchups, I’m most excited for Team USA vs. Team Great Britain. After Team USA struggled to be competitive in the 2022 FIFA World Cup, I would like to see the USA get payback.

Of the round-robin play, there are a few games that I would consider must-see-TV. I think that Cuba vs. Italy will be a great game. Cuba has Luis Robert and Yoan Moncada (both of the Chicago White Sox) while Italy, which is managed by Mike Piazza, has MLB stars Trey Mancini (Cubs) and Brandon Nimmo (the Mets).

In Pool D, Puerto Rico vs. the Dominican Republic should be an amazing game with heaps of MLB talent on both sides. Puerto Rico has Marcus Stroman (Cubs), Edwin Diaz and Francisco Lindor (both of the Mets).

My prediction for the championship game is the Dominican Republic vs. Team Japan. I would love to see Ohtani on the mound against the stacked roster of Dominican sluggers.

Many games of the 2023 WBC are going to look like All-Star games featuring MLB players as well as stars of the past and future. The WBC really encompasses everything that makes baseball fun to watch. It is a serious competition, but has the nostalgic feel that helped players fall in love with baseball in the first place. Take Adam Jones’ dramatic catch (for Team USA) of what appeared to be a home run off the bat of Orioles’ teammate Manny Machado in the semifinal of the 2017 World Baseball Classic.

We only get to see these stars in rare form like this every four years and we haven’t gotten to see it since 2017 due to COVID. I’m very excited to see all the players having a blast and playing the game they have loved since they were kids.

2023 NFL Conference Championship Round Predictions

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By Sam Morris

Sam Morris is from Madison Heights, Michigan, and is an undergraduate student at BGSU majoring in Sports Management. He has a passion for sports writing and journalism. In his free time, he volunteers in the strategic communications department at BGSU at various sporting events and he also performs, writes, and produces his own raps for the music industry club at BGSU.

January 28, 2023

Conference Championship Round Overview

After such a crazy NFL season with so many unique storylines, at the conference championship round, the teams remaining are surprisingly predictable. In fact, three out of the four teams remaining were in the conference championship round last season. In the NFC, the Niners are looking to avenge their disappointing loss to the eventual Super Bowl champion Rams last season that was the result of a dropped interception by ex-Niner and current Philadelphia Eagle Jaquiski Tartt. On the other hand, the Eagles are looking for their second Super Bowl win in the last six years and will try to give the other three teams their second straight year of failing to win the Super Bowl after getting to the conference championship round. In the AFC, the Chiefs and Bengals meet in the AFC Championship for the second straight year. This is the Chiefs fifth straight AFC Championship game in a row. In their previous four they are 2-2, losing to the Patriots and Bengals but beating the Bills and Titans. The Bengals are attempting to get to the Super Bowl for the second straight season after upsetting the Bills in Buffalo in the divisional round. Below are my predictions for these conference championship matchups.

  1. Philadelphia Eagles (15-3) VS. 2. San Francisco 49’ers (15-4) (Sunday, January 29th, 3:00)

Breakdown: Last week, I went 3-1 and my undefeated playoff prediction record was broken as the Eagles absolutely destroyed the Giants on Sunday afternoon. The Eagles proved to me and the rest of the NFL that their defense is able to dominate any offense on any given day as they not only got heavy pressure on Daniel Jones but also held Saquon Barkley to just 61 rushing yards and no touchdowns. Statistically, Jalen Hurts also looked back to full form last week despite his shoulder still obviously looking like it is bugging him. As he goes up against a much more formidable defense in San Francisco, as opposed to New York, helping heal his injury will become even more of an interesting focal point for the Eagles to focus on. Although Philadelphia gave up just 7 points last week, San Francisco’s defense was almost as impressive, only giving up 12 points to a more explosive offense in Dallas. Like the Eagles, the Niners’ pass rush got immense pressure on Dak Prescott, and they also got 2 interceptions to win the game. Overall, I think these are the two best overall teams in the NFL this season. They are both extremely talented and have depth in many facets of their respective rosters. On defense, I think they are very similar and equally talented so I will be looking to their offensives to make this prediction.

Jalen Hurts is an MVP candidate and more experienced than Brock Purdy which gives Philadelphia an advantage at the Quarterback position. Despite this, I think San Francisco has a better running back group because McCaffrey has clearly been a top-3 back since being traded midseason. Although the Eagles have a very talented group as well with Sanders, Scott, and Kenneth Gainwell, McCaffrey’s star power combined with the depth of Elijah Mitchell and rookie Jordan Mason gives the Niners this advantage. The Niners also have Deebo Samuel who can play both wide receiver and running back which gives San Francisco another unique advantage. As for the receiver group, A.J. Brown is the best pure pass catcher out of all the players on each team, but I think San Francisco’s group of Deebo, Aiyuk, Jennings, and Kittle is overall more talented and has more depth than Brown, DeVonta Smith, Watkins, and Goedert. I mainly think this because of Deebo’s unique skillset and Kittle who gives the Niners another level to their offense in the passing and blocking game that Goedert doesn’t give the Eagles. Kittle has 60 receptions, 765 yards, and 11 touchdowns whereas Goedert has 55 receptions, 702 yards, and only 3 touchdowns. With a skill group of McCaffrey, Deebo, and Kittle, the Niners don’t need an MVP level quarterback like the Eagles have in Hurts. It became clear when the Eagles lost Hurts for two games that they needed him to give them their offensive firepower. For these reasons, I think the Niners have a slightly more talented offense and will win this game based on their skill group and by exposing some of the weaknesses in the Eagles’ offense with their elite pass rush defense.    

Prediction: Eagles (21)   49’ers (24)

  1. Kansas City Chiefs (15-3)  VS. 3. Cincinnati Bengals (14-4)  (Sunday, January 29th, 6:30)

Breakdown: While I incorrectly guessed the Giants-Eagles game, I correctly predicted that this would be the AFC championship. One of the most interesting things when looking at this matchup is that the Bengals-Chiefs will be meeting in the AFC Championship for the second straight year. Joe Burrow and the Bengals have beaten Mahomes and the Chiefs by exactly three points three times in a row, 27-24 in this year’s regular season, 27-24 in last year’s AFC Championship, and 34-31 in last year’s regular season. Mahomes and the Chiefs will look to get revenge on Sunday Night Football, but to do so they will have to go through the hottest offense in the NFL. Although the Chiefs have a dominant passing attack, the Bengals pass defense should be able to at least contain them. The Bengals have one of the best secondaries in the NFL, ranking third in passing touchdowns allowed. While the Chiefs barely beat Jacksonville 27-20 last week, the Bengals beat the Bills 27-10 in Orchard Park, mostly because their pass defense held Josh Allen to a mediocre game. With this being said, Mahomes is not on Allen’s level right now as he is still recovering from his mid-game injury against Jacksonville.

On the other hand, the Bengals’ already weak offensive line has lost left tackle Jonah Williams and right tackle La’el Collins. This is not good news for Cincinnati as they go up against the Chiefs pass rush that has 55 sacks, which is second in the NFL behind the Eagles. Although the Chiefs definitely have this advantage on the line of scrimmage, the Bengals have the advantage in the rushing game with Joe Mixon, an advantage at quarterback with Mahomes being injured, and the advantage in the secondary. Because of these advantages, and the fact that the Bengals seem to have Mahomes’ number with 3 victories in a row, I think the Bengals will barely pull off the victory over the Chiefs and will face the Niners in what would be a very exciting Super Bowl.

Prediction:  Chiefs (28)   Bengals (31)

Reach for the Sky Boy!

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Caption: Mark (L) and Jay (R) Briscoe

By Ryan Harless

Ryan Harless is a third-year undergraduate at BGSU from Hillsboro, Ohio. He is majoring in Sport Management with a Journalism Minor. Baseball and golf at all levels are his primary interests but he is also interested in combat sports, hockey, basketball, and football.

January 29, 2023

On Saturday, June, 30, 2012, I sat in my living room with my dad as we scrolled through the TV looking for sports to watch. At the time, I was mainly into baseball and football with little knowledge of other sport options. We stumbled on “Ring of Honor Wrestling” (ROH) on the CW channel.

I was only vaguely familiar with the concept of pro wrestling. I knew it looked cool, but never sought it out prior to this. “That’s Matt Hardy,” my dad said, telling me about the person in the ring cutting a promo. I was a little confused by the lack of action that was happening while this man was talking into a microphone.

After he left the ring, I heard “Reach for the sky boy!” ring out through the speakers as I watched a set of twins in camo-cut off pants with more camo bandanas and massive beards step out on the ramp. They were introduced as Jay and Mark Briscoe, “The Briscoe Brothers,” and I was instantly captivated.

They were set to square off against The Guardians of Truth (The Headbangers in their WWE run). The Briscoe Brothers moved with such purpose, everything they did was so crisp it looked like they were straight out of a comic book. Jay, the leader of the team and Mark with his unorthodox method of strikes that he deemed “Redneck Kung-Fu” immediately had me hooked.

From that night on, I was a pro wrestling fan through and through. In the coming years, I watched more mainstream pro wrestling such as WWE and TNA/Impact, but I always found myself following ROH. As the years went on and names came and went in the pro wrestling industry, two names remained synonymous with ROH, Jay and Mark Briscoe.

The Briscoes have held the ROH Tag Team Titles a record 13 times, and Jay himself won the ROH World Heavyweight Title twice on his own. Inseparable as a team, the Briscoes continued doing what they always did, carrying the ROH company name on their backs week after week.

But in early 2020, COVID-19 became a very real problem for pro wrestlers. How do you continue to wrestle when there are no crowds to wrestle for? The company pushed through fulfilling their dates with limited to no crowds until the end of 2021 where it was announced that ROH was no more.

This left a massive void in the pro wrestling world as ROH had made a name as the premier destination for the best independent pro wrestlers around the world. Luckily, for fans like myself, the Jacksonville Jaguars’ owner had a son who LOVES pro wrestling and happened to already own his own company named All Elite Wrestling (AEW).

Khan himself announced that he had purchased the rights to ROH and its library on March 2, 2022. With this purchase, came a rush of talent that had previously worked for ROH, including Jonathan Gresham and Dalton Castle. But noticeably absent were Jay and Mark Briscoe.

They still got a lot of amazing air time through their all-time great trilogy of matches with FTR (The Revival in WWE) over the course of 2022, which saw the Briscoe Brothers lose their titles in the first match, fail to regain them in the second, and finally reclaim the belts in the final match of the series. This was hands down one of the best rivalries in pro wrestling in 2022.

The Briscoes always had an element of “southern pride” to their gimmick in past years. Jay even went so far as having a confederate flag backplate on his ROH World Heavyweight title after he won it over Kevin Steen (Kevin Owens in WWE). But all the controversy stemming from the Briscoes took place over a decade ago.

There was also major controversy stemming from a Tweet Jay sent out regarding same sex marriage, which he later profusely apologized for and took steps to learn.

Both Briscoes had long since been through sensitivity training and learned about the harmful imagery they portrayed as well as about other minority groups and how they had impacted them. However, even after all of this, Warner Brothers Media (the company who owns the broadcasting rights of AEW) was adamant about their refusal to have either of the Briscoe Brothers on their programming.

Tony Khan fought to get them on tv for weeks on end to no avail and unfortunately, that is where a lot of closure happened.

On January 17, 2023, Jay was taking his two daughters to cheer practice in his truck when another truck veered over the center line and struck Jay’s vehicle head on. Both Jay and the driver of the other truck were reported dead at the scene while both of his daughters remained in the hospital in critical condition.

Jay Briscoe, known by his family as Jamin Pugh, was killed at the age of 38, just eight days before his 39th birthday. He was still ROH Tag Team Champion with his brother at the time of his death. We never got to see Jay Briscoe make an appearance on AEW programming.

The silver lining to this story would come just over a week later on the January 25th edition of AEW Dynamite as Warner Brothers finally allowed Mark to be on TV. He was put in the main event of the evening against longtime rival and friend Jay Lethal. Lethal was another one of the long-time ROH mainstays who eventually made his way to regular AEW programming.

What was already an emotional night got even more emotional as Lethal made his entrance to the ring, visibly distraught with tears in his eyes. Once Lethal got into the ring, he looked to the entrance ramp as everyone in the Lexington arena and viewers at home heard the classic “Reach for the sky boy” intro to the Briscoe’s theme music.

Mark then received an amazing ovation from everyone watching as he carried both his and his brother’s tag team titles into the ring. Mark and Lethal proceeded to put on a clinic in chain wrestling and chemistry. For 12 minutes and 26 seconds, these two held every wrestling fan’s attention and ensured there were no dry eyes.

Mark hit a beautiful flying elbow drop off the top rope onto Lethal through a table early in the match, while they played at the storyline of Mark struggling to use Jay’s finishing move, “The Jay-driller.”

Mark was finally able to get Lethal into the air for the Jay-driller and pinned him for the three count and the win. When Mark spoke into the camera after the match, he told Jay’s children to keep their heads up and told them he loved them.

When Mark exited the ring, all the stars from the AEW locker room stepped out onto the ramp to give him another standing ovation. Mark hugged Lethal and carried both titles back to the locker room but not before turning to the fans and celebrating Jay one last time.

You can say what you want about pro wrestling being fake or scripted or whatever you feel. But there is no denying how powerful that moment was to everyone like me who followed wrestling for any length of time.

Pro wrestling will continue to move on and evolve, but the contributions of legends past are always present.

Money: The Most Extreme Goal

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Caption: New York Yankees Executive Brian Cashman

By Ryan Harless

Ryan Harless is a third-year undergraduate at BGSU from Hillsboro, Ohio. He is majoring in Sport Management with a Journalism Minor. Baseball and golf at all levels are his primary interests but he is also interested in combat sports, hockey, basketball, and football.

January 25, 2023

Earlier this month, I wrote an article discussing how different teams in Major League Baseball (MLB) choose to spend their money. As most team sport leagues go, not every team in the league is built the same. Environmental factors are relatively out of the hands of the team owners. The city the team plays in and its economy can all impact a team’s ability to spend money.

We often categorize teams into two categories: large-market and small-market. It’s a pretty cut and dry concept, teams in New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago have larger shares of the market and are more likely to spend more money on their teams. Smaller cities like Cincinnati, Denver, and St. Louis will be more likely to have teams that spend less.

In an article written in 2012, teams were relegated to high, middle, and low markets. Teams were put into those categories based on the population of their city, their payroll per year, and their average cost per win. Through these different measurements, they were able to get a good breakdown of just where teams lie. Even just 10 years ago most of the teams are in the same place they were then.

There are some areas where you might think a team would be in a large market, yet they rarely spend money like others do. Examples of this would be the Miami Marlins and the Tampa Bay Rays. They are both based in relatively large markets in Florida, but both teams ranked among the bottom 10 teams in the league for payroll in 2022.

It is staggering to see the variances in payroll across the league, with the New York Mets ranking number one in payroll at $235.6 million for just one year, whereas the Cleveland Guardians who ranked last only paid their players a total of $29.1 million.

Here’s where one of my favorite parts of baseball comes into play, however. Both of these teams made the playoffs. Not only that, but the Guardians survived longer than the Mets who lost to the Padres (2022 payroll of $184.5 million) in the Wild Card round. Cleveland was eliminated in the next round by the Yankees ($249 million payroll) but it just goes to show that spending more money doesn’t always produce a winning team.

Now, while spending money guarantees nothing for your team, spending little to no money does guarantee you something as a team. Concern from your fans.

As I talked about in my previous article, every team in MLB is largely profitable on a year-to-year basis. There is only one current team that Forbes had sitting below $1 billion dollars in value, that being the Miami Marlins which was valued at $990 million.

The fact that so many of these low-ranking teams (based on payroll) could still afford to spend more makes little sense to me. Oftentimes, owners will excuse their spending habits by saying that they are in a small-market and players are going to chase the larger sums of money elsewhere. But if you look at how much the team could be spending on players to improve the team, that statement doesn’t make a lot of sense.

I just cannot see a reason as to why the owner of a team would intentionally not spend money towards improving their team if they are underperforming. Of course, there are situations where it makes sense not to spend money, such as when a team is undergoing a rebuild.

A rebuild is just what it sounds like. More than likely, the team has struggled for a few years and has built up a good farm system of prospects. So, the team will save money for when the prospects make it to the majors and perform well, and then be signed to long term contracts.

But what happens when the team isn’t in a rebuild or has been in a rebuild for years with nothing to show for it? The Oakland Athletics and Cincinnati Reds come to mind when you think of this. Both teams are toward the bottom of the list in team value and yearly payroll and have been stuck there for years.

These teams both have histories of trading away very talented homegrown players for aging veterans. Or they will let players walk in free agency after a year of great numbers because they don’t think they can afford what the player is asking.

The A’s traded away Josh Donaldson just a few seasons before he won the MVP with the Toronto Blue Jays. The A’s more recently traded their talented corner infielders, Matt Olson and Matt Chapman, with little to show in return. The Reds refused to reach out to their star outfielder Nick Castellanos with an offer after he declined his option. They let now infamous Cy Young winner Trevor Bauer go to the Dodgers after winning his award.

The owners of these teams will just continue along the paths that they are currently on unless something is done to prevent it.

This is something very similar to “tanking” in the NFL or the NBA, but with a twist. See, in those leagues, teams will tank to improve their chances of securing better players in the next season’s draft. But with those leagues, the pipeline from the draft to the league is often a lot quicker than in MLB.

Players typically spend 2 or 3 years in the minor leagues working and honing their craft so they can perform at the major league level. There is a lower correlation between a player’s pre-draft numbers and how they actually perform. That is why I see the owners’ action as nothing more than padding their own pockets with the revenue the team brings in.

If they don’t have to spend their money to get large returns on it, and if they have little to no interest in winning, then why wouldn’t they? Until the league is able to force team owners to place a certain portion of their teams’ value and revenue back into it, I’m not sure what is going to change for the teams and fans of the teams who are going through this process.

It is really difficult to continue rooting for your favorite team every year when you have little hope for them and their future. But, as a famed Cincinnati Reds owner Bob Castellini once said, “Well, where are you gonna go?”

2023 NFL Divisional Round Predictions

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By Sam Morris

Sam Morris is from Madison Heights, Michigan, and is an undergraduate student at BGSU majoring in Sports Management. He has a passion for sports writing and journalism. In his free time, he volunteers in the strategic communications department at BGSU at various sporting events and he also performs, writes, and produces his own raps for the music industry club at BGSU.

January 20th, 2023

Divisional Round Overview

The wild card round is over, and what a crazy one it was! The round included the third-largest comeback in NFL postseason history and three backup quarterbacks starting playoff games. Now, there are only 8 teams left in what has been a very interesting season. Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, and the defending Super Bowl Champions are all out of contention, leaving the Chiefs, 3 teams from last season’s worst division (the NFC East), a team led by the 2022 ‘Mr. Irrelevant,’ a team that had the worst record in the NFL last season, and two teams who played each other just over 2 weeks ago in one of the scariest games in NFL history. The schedule has been set for the divisional round and just like last week, below I attempt to predict the outcomes of each of the 4 games. Speaking of last week, I went a perfect 6-0 in predictions, and will attempt to carry that undefeated streak into the divisional round.

  1. Kansas City Chiefs (14-3)  VS. 4. Jacksonville Jaguars (10-8)  (Saturday, January 21st, 4:30)

Breakdown: The opening divisional round playoff game between the Chiefs and Jaguars should be an exciting way to kick off this weekend of football. The Jaguars beat the Chargers 31-30 in last week’s wild card matchup after coming back from being down 27-0 at halftime. I picked the Jaguars last week and was amazed to see them pull off the comeback after Trevor Lawrence played horribly in the first half by throwing 4 interceptions. As I predicted, the Chargers’ rushing defense imploded last week against the Jaguars offense, but their secondary played so well that they ended up leading for the majority of the game. The Jaguars are dangerous in this game because they are playing with nothing to lose as barely anyone expected them to make it to the playoffs, let alone to the final 8.

However, The top-seeded Chiefs will be a different team than the Chargers as they play with a lot more poise and are much more experienced in the playoffs. Mahomes, despite being just 27 years old, is the oldest and most experienced quarterback left in the AFC and his top-tier talent combined with the rest of their offensive skill players should be a problem for the surging Jaguars. Kelce has statistically been the best receiving tight end in the league this season and the WR core of JuJu Smith-Schuster, MVS (Marquez Valdes-Scantling), Mecole Hardman, and Kadarius Toney has also been one of the best in the league because they can catch deep ball passes and run clean routes. The running back duo of 7th round rookie Isiah Pacheco and Jerick McKinnon is also a dangerous part of the Chiefs offense because their speed, power running ability, and ability to pass catch all complement the receiving offense very well. Because the Chiefs’ offense is so much more experienced and talented than the Chargers, it makes sense that the Jaguars defense won’t be able to stop them since they could only hold the Chargers to 27 points in the first half; because of this, I think the Chiefs will win this game.

Prediction:  Chiefs (34)   Jaguars (24)

  1. Philadelphia Eagles (14-3) VS. 6. New York Giants (10-7-1) (Saturday, January 21st, 8:15)

Breakdown: This Saturday Night game featuring two NFC East rivals will feature two young quarterbacks in Jalen Hurts (one of the most improved and valuable players in the NFC) and Daniel Jones. While Hurts is coming off a much-deserved bye week to rest his injured right shoulder, Jones is coming off an impressive win against the Vikings where he threw for 301 passing yards, had a 68.6% completion percentage, 2 touchdowns, no interceptions, and 78 rushing yards. The Giants victory was the one upset I picked last week, and it proved to be the poor defense of the Vikings that was Minnesota’s downfall. However, against any defense, Saquon Barkley’s performance and Daniel Jones’ performance last week would have been very effective.

Philadelphia’s defense is much better than the Vikings as they led the league in sacks this year. In fact, they had 70 sacks as a defense which was 15 more than the Chiefs, who had the second most, and a whopping 26 more than the number one overall defense, the 49’ers. This will be an obvious problem for the Giants as their relatively weak wide receiver core of Slayton, Hodgins, and James will now have less time to get open for Daniel Jones. However, this could actually be a blessing in disguise for New York as their top 5 rushing offense goes up against the Eagles who blitz so heavily to get sacks that they often leave gaping holes in their secondary and linebacker levels of the defense. Therefore, the Eagles’ rushing defense is ranked 17th in yards per game. The ability to get big gains on the ground with Saquon coupled with the fact that the Eagles don’t overcompensate their blitz packages with secondary help make it so that Barkley has a big day with one or more huge gains down the field. In the regular season, the Eagles trounced the Giants 48-22 in their first matchup but only won 22-16 when they faced them in week 18.

This second matchup concerns me for the Eagles as they played Jalen Hurts and he did not perform well, really for the first time all season, as he threw for 1 interception and had no touchdowns. On the other hand, the Giants rested most of their starters in week 18 as they had already clinched the 6 seed. This meant that backup Davis Webb would play in his first career NFL game, despite it being his 6th season in the league, and he posted a better overall stat line than Hurts, throwing for a touchdown, and having zero turnovers. I think this will be the closest game of the weekend, but for the reasons I have presented I think the Giants once again pull off the upset and Barkley and Jones will have huge games.

Prediction: Eagles (24)   Giants (27)

2. Buffalo Bills (14-3) VS. 3. Cincinnati Bengals (13-4)  (Sunday, January 22nd, 3:00)

Breakdown: This, in my opinion, is the most intriguing game this weekend for a few reasons. First, this is a rematch of the game when Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest and was carted off the field. That game eventually got cancelled, and now that these two teams face each other again there will be much more at stake in terms of how they end their seasons. Because of the Damar Hamlin injury the Bills will be very motivated in this game. Secondly, these two teams have the best combined record out of all the games that are happening this weekend at 27-7. The Bills were many people’s Super Bowl favorites in the preseason after how last season ended so abruptly to the Chiefs in the divisional round. This pick made sense as Josh Allen is incredibly talented and the Bills offense and secondary is loaded with stars such as Stefon Diggs, Tre’Davious White, and Jordan Poyer. As the season has progressed, Allen has improved but the Bills themselves have had to rely on him too much as their defense has struggled in recent weeks, especially last week against Skylar Thompson and the Miami Dolphins. As well as the Dolphins started this season, they have imploded over the last half of the season and the fact that the Bills’ defense could only beat the Dolphins by 3 when the Dolphins had a third string quarterback playing is very concerning. Allen also struggled last week himself as he threw 2 interceptions. Overall, the immense pressure on Allen and Diggs could prove to be a lot for this team to overcome.

As for the Bengals, their defense played very well against the Ravens, holding them to just 17 points and forcing a fumble recovery for a touchdown as well as an interception. What this game will really come down to is the matchup between the Bengals receiving core and the Bills’ secondary, as a great performance by one of these units could prove vital in the game’s outcome. I believe that the Bengals’ receiving core and Joe Burrow will be able to overcome the Bills’ home field advantage and that Josh Allen’s relatively recent struggles won’t get better against a much better overall defense in Cincinnati compared to Miami. While this game will be close, I predict the Bengals will get a hard-fought win.   

Prediction: Bills (28)   Bengals (34)

2. San Francisco 49’ers (14-4) VS. 6. Dallas Cowboys (13-5)   (Sunday, January 22nd, 6:00)

Breakdown: The Sunday Night Football Matchup features a rematch of last season’s wild card game between the Niners and Cowboys. Although I predicted the Cowboys game correctly last week against the Bucs, I stated that I thought it would be the closest game of the weekend because of Dallas’ inconsistent defense. However, this was not the case as Dallas crushed Tampa Bay and sent Tom Brady packing. Dallas was one of the more impressive teams last week as Prescott played about as well as he has all season, and the Parsons-led defense got heavy pressure against Tampa Bay. Dallas will attempt to get revenge against San Francisco as last season the Niners eliminated Dallas in the infamous game that ended with Dak Prescott running the ball for a 20-yard gain despite the Cowboys only having 14 seconds on the clock and no timeouts left. This led to Dallas not being able to snap the ball in time before the play clock expired. This season, Tony Pollard has emerged as a true number one running back and their dominance against Tampa should be concerning for the Niners.  

However, despite Dallas’ great performance last week, it was against a team with a losing record. The Niners will be a much tougher test and if they play like they did in the final quarter against the Seahawks, it will be very tough for Dallas to win. Ultimately, I think San Francisco’s multitude of skill players on offense and amazing defense will be too much for Dak Prescott to handle and the Niners will move on to the NFC Championship game against the Giants for the second straight year.   

Prediction: 49’ers (30)   Cowboys (22)

Robots in the Major Leagues?

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Former Oakland manager Bob Melvin argues with Angel Hernandez in a 2021 game

By Ryan Harless

Ryan Harless is a third-year undergraduate at BGSU from Hillsboro, Ohio. He is majoring in Sport Management with a Journalism Minor. Baseball and golf at all levels are his primary interests but he is also interested in combat sports, hockey, basketball, and football.

January 20, 2023

If you are a baseball fan and have been paying attention to things happening in the league, you might be aware of the umpire problem. Umpires have been a part of the game since its inception. They are the enforcers of rules and, although they are human, they are ideally going to be impartial. But at the end of the day, they are in charge of the game and usually, what they say is final.

Recently Major League Baseball (MLB) has started to allow teams to “challenge” out calls on the bases as well as other fielding calls. When this happens, the umpires gather and listen to a crew in New York City break the play down and tell them what the correct call is. It works very similarly to American Football’s challenge rule.

The main instance where the shortcomings of umpires is the most prevalent, however, is with balls and strike calls. Teams are unable to challenge these calls meaning that even in crucial moments, the umpire can dictate that phase of the game.

While MLB has done many things to make the game more appealing to fans, they have also tried to make the game faster. They have already begun using a pitch clock to prevent unnecessary time between pitches in the minor leagues, with the possibility of major leagues usage this coming season.

One of the most divisive of these ideas is the implementation of “Robo” umpires. This would mean that a program reads where the pitch was located when it crossed the plate and spit out its ruling on every pitch.

The use of “Robo” umpires would change a lot of things we know about the game of baseball. While I like that it will likely ensure a definitive strike zone for every game going forward, I cannot help but feel badly for catchers. For their entire careers they have been taught how to receive pitches to give the umpire the best look as well as giving their pitcher the best chance to get a strike. “Catchers would really be required only to block balls in the dirt and throw,” ESPN’s Buster Olney said of the changes.

This would not change anything outside of balls and strikes as there would still be field umpires in charge of making calls at each base, but it would still be a massive change to the game.

Using “robo” umpires has proven to be divisive in baseball. Some personalities are in favor of the idea while others say they would prefer the human element to remain in the game. In mid-2022, Chicago Cubs catcher Yan Gomes said, when asked about the robot strike zone, “The best thing in baseball, and professional sports in general, is the human element of things.”

Jared Sandberg, manager of the El Paso Chihuahuas, said of the change, “I know there’s been some times where there’s been some frustrating calls, a ball clipped the zone or clipped the corner, or is off the plate and clips the line. So there has been some frustration, but it has brought some consistency to the game.”

For me personally, I was apprehensive of the idea of taking human umpires out of the equation. I agree with Gomes on the human element of the game. But the more I have watched and really paid attention to the game, I feel like umpires are able to let their ego take over the things that are happening on the field. Even though the umpire has the final say, there has always been an understanding that players and managers can confront umpires within reason when it comes to calls.

Sometimes, toward the end of games where umpires have been especially inconsistent, players’ tempers boil over when something small doesn’t go their way and they often get ejected from the game. I like that this way there will be a definite call on every ball and strike and there will be no major inconsistencies. On a large scale, I rarely agree with Commissioner Rob Manfred’s ideas on improving the game, but I think that robo-strike zones will be something we grow to appreciate… even if it takes a little while to get used to it.

National Football League Injuries and Damar Hamlin

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Caption: Bills fans sign a poster in support of Demar Hamlin’s recovery.

By Ryan Harless

Ryan Harless is a third-year undergraduate at BGSU from Hillsboro, Ohio. He is majoring in Sport Management with a Journalism Minor. Baseball and golf at all levels are his primary interests but he is also interested in combat sports, hockey, basketball, and football.

January 17, 2023

Over recent years, we have watched the National Football League come under scrutiny due to their responses to severe injuries that happen to players. Just this season alone we have seen frightening injuries on live TV. We know football is a potentially dangerous sport for participants and that players are risking their lives when they step on the field. But no one was prepared for what we saw when the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals faced off in the next-to-last regular season game.

On January 2nd of this year, Bills’ safety Demar Hamlin tackled Tee Higgins of the Cincinnati Bengals. Hamlin got up after the tackle, then stiffened and fell backwards. This caused widespread panic not only to the viewers at home and in the stadium but also to the players on the field. Bengals’ running back Joe Mixon immediately started waving for medical personnel after Hamlin collapsed while many of the other players looked on in horror and shock. CPR was performed on Hamlin while he was still on the field which led many to fear the worst.

Hamlin was unresponsive as he was carted off the field and transported to a hospital in Cincinnati. Looking at the hit, we realized that this was not the same sort of injury we are accustomed to seeing as there was no major impact to Hamlin’s head. Rather, the injury was to his heart as he suffered cardiac arrest on the field. At the time, we were unaware of what precisely his injury was.  

After many uncomfortable minutes for fans in the stadium and fans watching at home, it was announced that the game would be suspended. Coaches for both teams agreed that the game should not resume. The NFL agreed with the coaches and suspended the game around 10 p.m.

This decision proved to be divisive among sports writers and fans alike. Some agreed with the decision of the league to not continue play as no one (outside of medical personnel) was aware of the severity of Hamlin’s injury. Some, such as Skip Bayless, tweeted a question of how the NFL would be able to postpone such an important game with post-season implications.

Of course, Bayless was hit with a wave of negative backlash to the extent that his “Skip & Shannon” co-host protested by not showing up for their show the next day. After a day of Skip hosting by himself, Shannon was back on the show and they discussed the Tweet in question.

The silver lining of the Hamlin situation is that he has since been released from a hospital in Buffalo following his transfer from UC Medical Center and was reportedly up and cheering on his team from the former hospital. He was even on a phone call with his team before their game the following week. Hamlin’s playing days are still a point of uncertainly, however.

This instance goes to show that neither the NFL nor fans know what the proper response to injuries should be. The NFL seems to do everything they can to have games move forward. But I think there are times where situations arise that are infinitely bigger than the game. There have been many strides in the past few years towards making the game safer. Things like advanced helmets made to help reduce impact on shots to the head, and just knowing more about concussions as a whole. But it seems clear to me that the NFL is not going to be the one to step in and make a change. I just worry that if things do not improve soon, there might be an even more severe on field injury that changes the current course of action for dealing with injuries.