The Mets on the 24th win knocked the the Brewers out of the ranks of the undefeated... and down to 5th place and 2nd favorite. The undefeated Phil's (4-0 25%) are the new 1st&favs. Up today: the defending SDDC champion Reds, and this preseason's favs, the D'backs, attempt to stay relevant in this season's race.

Next up: the Cubs, Pirates, and Mighty Rangers attempt to get back in the thick of the SDDC race... kinda like the D'backs just did by beating the defending champ Reds. OTOH the Marlins, Mariners, and Sabo's Padres will certainly retain the dreaded "~0"... win -or- lose.

Today's feature game: the Twins make their dog game debut... in what is an elimination game for them.

Yesterday the Twins lost their dog game debut, and became the 3rd team to bite the dust in the SDDC race. The Phil's (4-0 25%) remain 1st&fav. Next up: Miami finishes their yearly visit to the Barkyard. This is an elimination game for the Marlins. Then defending SDDC champ Cincinnati start their yearly Barkyard visit.

Thursday: Sabo's Padres eliminated the Marlins... who became the 4th team to bite the dust in the SDDC race. Tonight: Sabo's Padres hung the dreaded "~0" on the defending SDDC champion Reds. Tomorrow: those eliminated Marlins travel to Phoenix for a dog game, while the Reds complete their yearly visit to the Barkyard.

Next up: the Braves, tied for 2nd, begin their yearly visit to the Barkyard.

Monday: Sabo's Padres beat the Braves on Monday. Next up: the Dodgers and Rockies each won on Tuesday. The Dodgers win tied them for 4th and made them the new favorites. The top five favorites are rounded out with the 1st place Phillies (4-0 21%), Brewers (5-1 21%), Rockies, and D'backs (4-3 9%). OTOH the Pirates were hung with the dreaded "~0"... while the defending SDDC champion Reds were eliminated. Today: Sabo's Padres try to hang the dreaded "~0" upon the Braves.

Wednesday: Sabo's Padres hung the dreaded "~0" on the Braves. Next up: A proxy war at The Diamond between Sabo's Padres and the hated Dodgers high-A teams. The Quake need a win to keep the Dodgers organization SDDC favorites.

Yesterday: In the proxy war... Sabo's Padres high-A Storm lost a few leads, the last one in the 9th, and got beat by the hated Dodgers high-A Quakes. This was Sabo's 2nd trip to The Diamond... and his 44th pro game overall. Cost: free parking (we got waved in the employee lot for no reason), my tix $13, Sabo's tix $1. Next up: Sunday the Mets have an elimination game in Phoenix.

Today: The Mets (only for now and just mathematically) stayed alive by beating the D'backs. Next up Tuesday: Milwaukee plays in front of the Pittsburgh dogs. A Brewers win would eliminate the Indians, Mets, and World Series champion Astros... and proly make Milwaukee All-Star Sabo-Metric favorites. Also on Tuesday: the A's, tied for 2nd and the 6th fav, start a critical stretch where they play in three of the next four dog games.

Sabo's never seen the A's before... but he'll be seeing them two of these three games. The first is his Padres yearly Dog Days of Summer... their general dog day in The Park at the Park. This is Sabo's second biggest day of the year (second to May Day... he is Sabo, of course).

Yesterday: the Brewers win in Pittsburgh tied them for 4th with, and made them co-favorites with, the Dodgers... while also causing our first mass extinction event of 2018. The Indians (0-1), Mets (5-4), Yankees, World Series champion Astros (1-1), and my Mighty Red Sox all dined on that dirt sandwich. Yesterday & today: the A's moved into undisputed 2nd place, and are now 5th favorite, by sweeping Sabo's Padres in the Barkyard. Saturday: A win by the 1st place and 3rd favorite Phillies would proly make them the new All-Star Sabo-Metric favorite... while also hanging the Nationals with that dreaded "~0".

Last week the 1st place Phillies hung the dreaded "~0" on the Nationals, and were made All-Star Sabo-Metric favorites to win the SDDC championship. The Dodgers (6-1 26%) and Brewers (6-1 25%) are now close 2nd & 3rd favorites.

• Today: For most dogs, our St.Louis-Chicago-Indianapolis-Cincinnati trip last month would be their big trip for the year... but not for Sabo. That trip starts today. @@Earlier Sabo & JQ & me spent the afternoon in Coronado. Then I picked up my rental car at the Hotel Del. Now Sabo & me are off to Valencia to visit our friend C, and spend the night.
  
  
• Tomorrow: We head over the Grapevine, and then up CA-99 through Visalia (start new mileage for Sabo), through Fresno and Manteca, over to a short stretch of I-5 south, to I-205 (end new mileage), to our hotel in Oakland. Then we're going to walk over to the Oakland-Alameda Co Coliseum and join our friend J, who we went to the Giants game back in 2015, for the A's game. An Indians win would hang the dreaded "~0" on the 2nd place A's.
  
  
• June 30th: Three years ago Sabo & me drove to the Giants game, then spent three days cruising the coast southbound, stopping at (pretty much) every dog beach on the way. This year, after going to the A's game, we're going to spend six days cruising the coast northbound, and stopping at (hopefully) every dog beach on the way. We'll spend this night in Ft.Bragg. Meantime back in San Diego... the Pirates begin their yearly visit to the Barkyard. They'll need to win this three game series to avoid being eliminated.
  
  
• July 1st: We'll spend this night in Arcata. We're also going to visit with another J, who is actually our friends D & C son attending Humboldt State. Meanwhile... in Phoenix, the Giants play in the first of two "dog box" games.
  
  
• July 2nd: We'll spend this night in Lincoln City, Oregon. Meanwhile... in Phoenix, the Card's need a win to avoid elimination.
  
  
• July 3rd: We'll spend this night in Ocean Shore, Washington.
  
  
• The 4th of July: We'll celebrate our country's birthday by visiting to estreem north-west corner: Pt.Flattery Washington. Our cruise up the coast then completed, we'll head inland to Bremerton, Washington to spend the night (and prolly hide from the fireworks).
  
  
• July 5th: Sabo will take his first ferry ride to Seattle, where we'll see the Angels-Mariners game. After the game we're driving to Olympia, WA for the evening. The Mariners need to win to avoid elimination.
  
  
• July 6th: Long drive south on I-5 to Redding CA for the evening.
  
  
• July 7th: Another long drive south on I-5 back to Valencia.
  
  
• July 8th: We are going to spend the morning in LA. Then back home to the Sabotat... and back over to the Hotel Del to return my rental car.

Next up: In game #84 yesterday, Sabo's Padres hung the dreaded '~0' on the pre-season favorite D'backs. However, the big news in the SDDC world is the Dodgers organization... whose season turns on this stretch of 5/9 next dog games. That hated team from LA invades the Barkyard for four games... as co-favorites with the first place Phillies (5-0 27%).

• Padres Sweep !!!1!
  
  Honestly, the Padres announced they weren't going to compete in 2017 and 2018. To a die hard Padres fan, like Sabo, that makes this series, the last and longest visit by the hated Dodgers, akin to the post-season. A sweep would be likened to winning the World Series. A sweep would eliminates the hated Dodgers from the SDDC race.
  
  
• Padres win 3-1:... hangs the '~0' on the hated Dodgers.
• Split Series:... makes the hated Dodgers ~5th-fav at ~10%.
  
  
• Dodgers win 3-1:
  
  Makes the hated Dodgers sole favorites at ~39%. Eliminates the Braves (2-2 ~0), White Sox (1-1 ~0), Card's, Angels, Mariners, Orioles, and the survivor of the Nationals-Pirates game.
  
  
• Dodgers sweep:
  
  This might well make Sabo despondent. It would also make the hated Dodgers odds-on favorites at ~73%. The Tigers (1-0 ~0), Royals (1-1 ~0) and Giants would be eliminated, in addition to the teams listed above. Nobody wan't to see a despondent little dog.

Well... we have a pretty bummed out doggie. The hated Dodgers won the series 3-1, and are now the sole favorite to win the SDDC. Also we had a mass extinction event... as the Pirates, then the Card's (4-2), Nationals (5-4), Braves (2-2), White Sox (1-1), Mariners (1-3), Angels (0-2), and my Mighty zombie Red Sox were eliminated. In a correction, the Orioles (~0) were not eliminated.

Next up: heading into the MLB All-Star break, the Cubs make their yearly pilgrimage to the Barkyard. They need a sweep to avoid elimination. Also tomorrow, first place Philadelphia plays in Miami. A Phillies win proly makes them favorites once again.

The Cubs stayed alive by sweeping Sabo's Padres... while the former first place Phillies faltered from the ranks of the undefeated. Next up: even though that MLB season is on it's all-star hiatus, doesn't mean the SDDC season must needs pause. This season it doesn't, as Sabo will be making his third annual trip to Loanmart Field (fka The Epicenter). A RC Quakes win would make the Dodgers organization odds-on favorites at ~60%, and eliminating the Giants (both San Francisco & San Jose), as well as the Tigers (1-0 ~0), Royals (1-1 ~0), and Orioles (~0). Also... with this game Sabo will have attended games of all eight members of the A California League.

Although the Quakes won 15-6, we had a flat on the way out of Dago and didn't make it to the game. This cancellation eliminated the Giants and Tigers (1-0). Instead, game #94 was on Sunday... as the Rockies lost a dog box game in Phoenix.


Coming out of the All-Star game, and into the traditional second half of the season... already 24 organizations have been eliminated, or hung with the dreaded "~0". Only six contenders remain (above). That means the next five dog games have little relevance to the SDDC race. There is still a feature game... in today's Boston@Baltimore game, my Red Sox need a win to retain their Mighty status, while the Orioles need a win to avoid elimination... in the first ever dog game in Camden Yards.

As the season started it looked like dog game teams would remain steady... as the Braves started doing dog games @SunTrust, while the Marlins didn't schedule a dog game. However, later in the season, both the Marlins (1) and Orioles (2) added dog games. This means that currently 23/30 teams have dog games. Sabo's been to 11/23 (pd dm dd gn mt pr ex cr rd at mr). I've been to 2/23 w/o Sabo (or ws). There are 10/23 others (rc rn as ry bz br tg dr mz ph). I've been to 3/7 no dogs allowed stadiums (an cb yn). There are 4/7 others (tw in bj rs).

The first ever attempt to have a dog game @Camden Yards was rained out. They'll try again on Sept. 12th. The cancellation eliminates the Tigers and Orioles. Also... Sabo's Padres went 0-4 in the Barkyard vs those Giant Diamondbacks... and got themselves eliminated too.

Next up: Today is an elimination game for the Cubs in Pittsburgh.

Last week the Cubs were eliminated in Pittsburgh. Next up: the D'backs host the next two dog games. They'll need a sweep to avoid being rehung with the dreaded "~0". Then... the Rangers face an elimination game in San Francisco... although they'll keep their Mighty status win-or-lose. Also, the Phillies start a make-or-break stretch playing in four of the next five dog games.

Oops... a couple of typos last post. First, the Rangers@Giants dog game is the 26th (not the 6th). My bad. Second, the Phillies came into Phoenix as 11% favorites (not 1%). After that loss, and in the middle of this pivotal stretch of four straight dog games, the Phillies are down to 4%. They'll need to win the series in the Barkyard to avoid elimination, and sweep to avoid being hung with the dreaded "~0".

The Phillies got eliminated in The Barkyard, then the Royals got eliminated in KC. Next up: two big dog games tomorrow. Sabo's Padres travel to Denver to play the 4th favorite Rockies. Also, Sabo has rescheduled his yearly trip to Rancho Cucamonga. This newest game being an added game, the two teams eliminated when the prior scheduled Quakes game was cancelled have sprung back to live. However, a Quakes win would eliminate the D'backs, as well as re-eliminating the zombie Tigers (1-0 1%) and the zombie Giants (5-4 ~0).

Wow... this football season crept up fast. Or maybe it feels that way because I haven't provisioned our football TV services...yet, and there already is FBS on some obscure channels: Duquesne(FCS) @UMass on Eleven Sports (???), Prairie View A&M(FCS) at Rice on ESPN+ (brand new streaming service), Hawaii @Colorado State on elusive CBSSN, and Wyoming @New Mexico State on ESPN2. I've been waiting to see who ends up carrying the PAC-12 Networks this season, but it seems nobody is saying until next week. Oh well... off to the bars I guess.

Wednesday wasn't a good day for Sabo. His Padres lost the yearly dog game in Denver. And... the freeway just south of Temecula was effectively closed by a truck of construction junk turning over. Which meant we spend 2+ hours stuck almost still on the freeway and missed the game. So, we went 0-2 trying to get to Rancho Cucamonga this season. Also, if we would have got there, I would have noticed I misread the schedule, and the visiting team was the Lancaster Jethawks (rc). The Quakes won 13-8.

It was also not a good day for the former zombie Giants, and the former zombie Tigers (1-0). They were both eliminated again, when the Quakes game was cancelled again. Next up: The Rangers and D'backs have elimination games today.

The D'backs survived their elimination game on Sunday. The Rangers did not... although they retained their Mighty status. Next up: an elimination game for the 3rd favorite Brewers tomorrow.

Today, in a wild game, the Brewers escaped elimination in Cincy... and yes, they did show the dogs on the broadcast. Next up: the 4th favorite Rockies make their third and final visit to the Barkyard. A series win by Sabo's Padres would eliminate the Rockies. A split would hang the Rockies with the dreaded "~0".

Well, while the NFLers are stuck playing friendlies today (my Patriots are in Jersey), the FBS season is well underway. Last week Hawaii pulled off the upset @Colorado State, putting Sabo's Aztecs a half game back in the Mountain West west division. Unlike the last few seasons where SDSU was the consensus picks, last season's west winner (Fresno State), and conference champ (Boise State), are consensus picks to repeat. SDSU is playing 10 of the same 13 teams they faced last season, including both P5 teams, at the opposite venues. The difference is (a) an extra home game, (b) a different MAC team (E.Michigan in 2018/@N. Illinois in 2017), and (c) a new KGB Skyshow FCS sacrificial guest (Sacramento St./UC Davis), and if they play in a school record 9th bowl, they're highly unlikely to play Army again. Rocky Long returns as coach, and Christian Chapman returns for his fourth season as starting QB.

I'm just pulling Sabo's tail here a little... he's not actually going to the game, it's on tv. However, his Aztecs are going, and this Friday road non-conference game is SDSU's only against a team in the AP preseason poll, and looks to be their toughest game of the season. But... they swept the Pac-12 2-0 least season, and can do it again this season. That's the way Sabo sees it. Sabo sez... Go Aztecs !!!1!


Also kicking off the season is my Golden Bears. Justin Wilcox returns for a second season as head coach. Ross Bowers returns for a second season as his starting QB. Even though last season ended with the same 5-7 record as under the previous S.Dykes regime... and ended with the exact same lack of bowling... there was an air of optimism about this new Wilcox era, which has carried over to this season. Are we looking at Cal going bowling, regaining that pesky axe, or even (gulp) going to the Rose Bowl? We'll see. Cal plays 10 of the 12 teams they faced last season, in opposite venues. The difference is (a) an extra home game, as 6 of those 10 are at home in 2018 (b) in theory at least, a schedule down as they play an independent other than Notre Dame instead of a P5 team (@BYU/Ole Miss), (c) a different FCS guest (Idaho St/Weber St).

It is clear that Cal will need to have continued success out of conference, they were 3-0 last season, to except to be trying on those bowling shoes come December. North Carolina is coming off an off-season, and has several key players suspended for selling gear. The time to beat a traditional power team is when they are in a down stretch, and especially when you got them at home. That (hopefully) starts Saturday with the Tar Heels first ever visit to Memorial Stadium. Go Golden Bears !!!1!