October is the best time of yearin the North American Sportsworld. The National HockeyLeague and National BasketballSeasons get under way. TheNational Football League is infull swing and nearing the midpointof their schedule andMajor League Baseball’s playoffsare on.Let’s take a look at all fourleagues and the news they havebeen making this week.Major League Baseball is nearingthe League Championshipseries in both the American andNational League. It is great tosee small market teams like theOakland Athletics andPittsburgh Pirates in the playoffs.As of this write up; bothteams face a deciding game 5 intheir respective divisional roundseries. It would be great to seeboth teams make the LeagueChampionship series. A dreamWorld Series for fans and MLBwould have the Los AngelesDodgers face off against theBoston Red Sox. TV ratingswould break records becauseboth teams are in largeAmerican markets. As much as Iwould like the Pirates or A’s towin the World Series, I see theDodgers winning it all this season.The National Hockey Leagueseason is almost two weeks oldand there have already beensome surprises. Hall of famegoalie Patrick Roy has theColorado Avalanche playingtheir best hockey in years. Theteam is loaded with young talent.18 year old NathanMackinnon is playing like asuperstar that belongs in theleague. I doubt the Avs will sendMacKinnon back to his JR. clubafter the maximum nine games.Matt Duchene is having a greatstart to the season also; PatrickRoy has the Ontario native playinghis best hockey of his youngcareer. The Toronto MapleLeafs has also come out strongout of the starting gates. MasonRaymond has surprisingly beenone of the best players for theLeafs. I think the change ofscenery has been the key to hisgreat start with the Leafs. As forthe Canucks, I am liking thestyle they are playing under JohnTortorella. He has the Canucksplaying hard every shift andkeeping players accountable fortheir players. The only issue Ihave is shot blocking. It onlytook one game for a key playerto go out for a long period oftime after blocking a shot.Alexandre Burrows is out atleast a month after blocking ashot in the season openeragainst the Sharks.The Seattle Seahawks finallylooked human last Sunday afterlosing the Indianapolis Colts.The loss was huge for a coupleof reasons. The Seahawks divisionlead shrunk to one gameover the 49ers that have an easythree game stretch before theirbye week.
The Seahawks also showed some weaknessin their secondary as Andrew Lucktore them up in the comeback victory.Luckily for the Seahawks they have fourvery winnable games coming up againstthe Titans, Cardinals, Rams and Bucs.The NFC West looks like it will be settledon December 8th when the Hawks visitthe 49ers for a rematch.NFL Power Rankings: 1.Broncos 2.Saints 3.Colts 4. Seahawks 5.49ersThe National Basketball season is only afew weeks from starting and all eyes areon the Miami Heat going for the 3 peat.The road to the finals will be tougherthan the last 3 seasons for the Heat.Derek Rose is finally back after his kneeinjury and will look to knock off the Heatwith his talented Chicago Bulls. I have toadmit that I am Toronto Raptors fan andam hoping they finally will make the playoffsafter years of struggling. They dohave a young talented team that may surpriseteams this season. In the west I seeOklahoma City and the Steph Curry ledGolden State Warriors battling it out forfirst and a spot in the finals. I feel theThunder would have made the finals lastseason if not for Russell Westbrook’sinjury in the playoffs.Sit back and enjoy October!
