“2026-BASEBALL-DIFFERENT”=========

MLB just released its schedule for next season and it may have a different feel to it.  That’s laying the ground work for what may be a radical difference in baseball by the time we get to 2029.

Baseball will have its earliest start ever, when the Yankees-Giants open the season on March 25th.  Never been done that early on the calendar ever.  Everybody else will start the next day, the 26th.

The season ends September 27th with a push to get onto the wildcard playoff games earlier, so we are not playing the World Series in November.

Baseball is going back to Iowa for the ‘Field of Dreams’ Game.

There will be two more teams playing a game to celebrate the Little League World Series-and why not.

There will be baseball at hurricane damaged Tropicana Field in Tampa, but the Rays will have to play 9-games on the road before they get to go home the 2nd week of April.

The Athletics experiment in Sacramento has had problems.  The A’s say they asked for, and were granted , the right to play 6-games in Las Vegas next season in that AAA-park.

Baseball will honor the memory of 9/11..with a Memorial Game that week to remember the 25th anniversary of the tragedy and it will feature the Mets-Yankees in what will be a moving tribute.

Right in the middle of spring training, there will be the World Baseball Classic in Japan.

The popular ‘Rivalry Weekend’ baseball had this year, will be held next year too.

And still to be decided, when and who plays International games, maybe in Mexico City in early spring before that country gets gripped by the World Cup soccer tourney.

And all things in 2026 will likely connect us to what could be a very different 2929 season, with Commissioner Rob Manfred leading a drive to realign geographically, and dissolve the American and National League.  Time will tell on that idea.

Baseball has wrapped its arms around marketing unique events and gift wrapping it into the 2026-schedule.  Baseball history is so great.  So is modern day marketing too.

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Hacksaw’s Monday Bonus Podcast
You Tube-Lee Hacksaw Hamilton
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“AZTECS MUST WIN SEASON”
========
They are about to open the football season..a must win season.
They are about to say goodbye to the Mountain West Conference
This looks like a bitter divorce from the MWC
They have to win to stop the divorce the SDSU fans-alums shown to the program

Coach Sean Lewis-Opening Press Conference

Stony Brook…took 0-10 to 8-4 season
All American RB candidate
3-veteran OL
New QB
Know their offense

Veteran captain-our players voted for 6-captains
Epitome of how veterans go about their business
We over me philosophy
The leaders are a cut above

Napier-White put team first and foremost
These kids are real connections to what we are all about
This game is about teaching life lessons
School-program come first.these kids have learned from that
Players safe-confident to be the best they can be themselve

Want a raucous atmosphere-want our community show up

In camp-you install everything..get looks-reps
Now we flip the page and go play what we do and defend what they do
Teach why we make this call..
Game night-we solve the problems opponents created
Me as coach..improve moment by moment
Tap in to our players emotional needs
I am different in my sales pitch at unity of these team
I mean what I say…I am not a fraud
Decisions last year not whom I should have been
Again…we over me for our team

9-of our guys making lst start on offense
Jayden Denegal-dials into details of our playcalls
Gotten alot more vocal in camp-empower others-leadership
Jordan Napier at WR has helped him with knowledge of playbook
Bert Emanuel dynamics..develop as a QB..find a way for him to find the field

What do I have at RB..by committee..I trust these guys
Lucky Sutton’s turn…Cardwell-Washington will get touches on returns
Miles Kitt-Denton is a freak speed receiver
We have depth of talent in that room

This OL can really determine our identify
This group learns quicker…we tie together lots of days of quality reps
15-OL-mass of numbers..at different layers

Defense continuity-9 returning starters..alot of game reps
Defense has to be our true north

We now have 12-days that count…12-game days
Stony Brook is a great 1AA program
Kind of crazy to go into the unknown
Thursday night is our first test night
Talk everything thru with our QB
Want Aztecs FB to be most challenging course they take

Confident we can be a bowl team
Something special brewing in this building
Hell yes-bowl team

What you did at Colorado-Kent State..pace and prodcution
We positioned ourselves with talent and depth
Kids embraced the identity of playing fast
Having necessary people..decision making QB..depth OL
Continuity of seeing things with same set of eyes
Build this over a couple of years

Players who stayed here impressive…Tampered with…offered to transferred
Guys who stayed-believed in us…now we see the product on Thursday
We will make this worthwhile for the community

Last year was last year..so much movement..staff and players
Nerves and butterflies-you don’t care
I want to use that stress as a positive..their jobs are meaningful
They get great degree..great friends…now we go play elite football
Focus time, energy to doing the right thing every snap

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Hacksaw’s Monday Bonus Podcast…1:30pm
You Tube Channel-Lee Hacksaw Hamilton
Hot Topics on Table..Stay for Fans Forum
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‘PADRES-DODGERS-WHAT DO YOU THINK”
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That was worth the price of admission at Petco Park.
That was worth all my weekend TV viewing time
The Dodgers-Padres 3-game series was everything you could want.

Tension filled.  Heat of the moment action.  Heart in your throat innings.

Home runs, huge defensive plays.  Dominant pitching.

Loud fans wearing both teams’ colors.

Call it a sneak preview of what could once this calendar turns to October and the schedule reads playoff games.

As we sit here now, we know San Diego and LA may be the top two teams in the National League.

The Phillies pitching staff has been devastated by the Zach Wheeler surgery and the long rehab of Aaron Nola.

The Cubs hitters have been streaky and their frontline pitching has cooled down.

The Mets aren’t hitting and have fewer and fewer healthy pitchers.

Milwaukee is red hot and has been for months, but that is a younger team who have never been deep into the pressure cooker of the post season.

The Dodgers have superb starting pitching.  LA has big home run bats.
The Padres have the gold standard bullpen, seasoned veterans and a load of guys able to play defense.

Granted the LA bullpen is a true weak link.  But the Padres lack of home run hitters, they are ranked 29th in MLB, is a significant issue too.

They don’t play each other again in the regular season, so we will be scoreboard watching alot going forward.

The wheels turn when Dave Roberts starts making Mike Shildt type moves with his bullpen.  And Shildt, with the big IQ, has the added edge with his fundamentally sound big plays, and move the base runners around to create rallies via bunts and sacrifices..

The intangible in all this.  Who gets homefield advantage for the most critical playoff series.  If it’s at Dodger Stadium, LA has a big edge.  If it is in the raucous corners of Petco Park, that fuels the Brown & Gold.

It does not start till the first week of October, and we have some 30-plus games left to play.

Dodgers-Padres, yeah I’d sign up for NL-championship games.  We could see that happening.  And it would be wilder than we have seen during the regular season.

LA-San Diego, yeah, what you thought it would be.  Damn good baseball.

Looks like a pennant race, felt like playoff games.  Does not get any better than that.  And it’s only late August.
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Hacksaw’s Thursday Podcast
You Tube-Lee Hacksaw Hamilton
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=====
“A RIVALRY RIGHT NOW”
=====

It has seldom been like this ever, but it is something right now.

Dodgers-Padres…the fight for 1st place, starting Friday night thru Sunday at Petco Park.

Granted a weekend ago, the Dodgers won all 3-games against the Friars, knocking them out of first place.

The Padres have been playing catchup all summer long, trailing at one point by 9-games in the NL-West standings.  At breakfast this morning, the Dodgers have a 1-game lead.

It has been only in the last five years that we have seen the Padres became a thorn in the side of the Dodgers, little brother antagonizing big brother in what has not been a real rivalry since it all started in 1969.

The Dodgers none-the-less have beaten the Padres 60-of-the 95-games they have played since 2020, when the Friars started acting like a big market team, spending, signing, trading for big name-big money players.

But at the end of the day, the feeling is still that the Dodgers are inside the head of the Padres with that (60-35) modern day record.

They are (8-2) this year against the Friars.  They have won the last 5-series they have met including the gut wrenching playoff lost last October, when a 2-1 series Padres lead turned into 24-straight shutout innings  into a horrid series loss

Here we are 5-weeks left in the season and though they are battling for top spots, both teams have issues.

How trustworthy is the Padres rotation once you get beyond 13-game winner Nick Pivetta?

Has Shohei Ohtani hit a wall after back to back struggles in starts?

Can you trust anybody in that LA bullpen on a night to night basis?

With little bench help and without the injured Max Muncy and Tom Edman, how much depth does LA have in its lineup.

Can the Padres holdup against the LA front line starters who seem to be about to rally?

Will the streaky Padres bats come together against a first place LA pitching staff?

Will there be beanballs this series like the last time?  Doubtful, too much at stake.  Will the managers erupt?  Probably not till the next controversy.

The Padres think they filled all their flaws-holes with the 5-trading deadline deals.  The Dodgers are still waiting to put a full healthy lineup on the field and on the mound.

We know about Dodger Dollars (Evil Empire) buying the best team money can buy.  We also know about Peter Seidler’s ‘Slay the Dragon’ legacy too.

And we know the passion play the fans at Petco Park have created with sellout after sellout.

Oh the fans are going crazy on Social media with things like ‘Dodgers want to win World Series games, the Padres try to win against the Dodgers’.

It never ends does it, ‘Beat LA-Beat LA’ ringing in your ears.

Is it Friday night yet?  Enjoy the weekend.

=========

=====

Hacksaw’s Thursday Podcast
You Tube-Lee Hacksaw Hamilton
Look-Listen-Share-Subscribe

=====
“A RIVALRY RIGHT NOW”
=====

It has seldom been like this ever, but it is something right now.

Dodgers-Padres…the fight for 1st place, starting Friday night thru Sunday at Petco Park.

Granted a weekend ago, the Dodgers won all 3-games against the Friars, knocking them out of first place.

The Padres have been playing catchup all summer long, trailing at one point by 9-games in the NL-West standings.  At breakfast this morning, the Dodgers have a 1-game lead.

It has been only in the last five years that we have seen the Padres became a thorn in the side of the Dodgers, little brother antagonizing big brother in what has not been a real rivalry since it all started in 1969.

The Dodgers none-the-less have beaten the Padres 60-of-the 95-games they have played since 2020, when the Friars started acting like a big market team, spending, signing, trading for big name-big money players.

But at the end of the day, the feeling is still that the Dodgers are inside the head of the Padres with that (60-35) modern day record.

They are (8-2) this year against the Friars.  They have won the last 5-series they have met including the gut wrenching playoff lost last October, when a 2-1 series Padres lead turned into 24-straight shutout innings  into a horrid series loss

Here we are 5-weeks left in the season and though they are battling for top spots, both teams have issues.

How trustworthy is the Padres rotation once you get beyond 13-game winner Nick Pivetta?

Has Shohei Ohtani hit a wall after back to back struggles in starts?

Can you trust anybody in that LA bullpen on a night to night basis?

With little bench help and without the injured Max Muncy and Tom Edman, how much depth does LA have in its lineup.

Can the Padres holdup against the LA front line starters who seem to be about to rally?

Will the streaky Padres bats come together against a first place LA pitching staff?

Will there be beanballs this series like the last time?  Doubtful, too much at stake.  Will the managers erupt?  Probably not till the next controversy.

The Padres think they filled all their flaws-holes with the 5-trading deadline deals.  The Dodgers are still waiting to put a full healthy lineup on the field and on the mound.

We know about Dodger Dollars (Evil Empire) buying the best team money can buy.  We also know about Peter Seidler’s ‘Slay the Dragon’ legacy too.

And we know the passion play the fans at Petco Park have created with sellout after sellout.

Oh the fans are going crazy on Social media with things like ‘Dodgers want to win World Series games, the Padres try to win against the Dodgers’.

It never ends does it, ‘Beat LA-Beat LA’ ringing in your ears.

Is it Friday night yet?  Enjoy the weekend.

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