Bay State Sports Blog

            The extensive search for the Chaim Bloom replacement has finally ended, former reliever Craig Breslow has been hired officially as the Chief Baseball Officer. My honest reaction, I am open minded and willing to give it a chance to see how it goes. At the back of my head I know that Breslow was the 10th candidate in the search. Meaning not their first, not their second, all the way down to their 10th choice.  On the other hand he was the assistant general manager for Theo Epstein and the Chicago Cubs. Breslow's real claim to fame is his job in charge of pitching for the Chicago Cubs. Names such as Marcus Stroman and Justin Steele have Breslow written all over them.      The entire philosophy of Craig Breslow is the stamped on the pitching operation in Chicago. The arms on the staff, the arms in the farm, all go through Breslow. The Red Sox need an entire revamp when it comes to pitching, the have Sale who is past his...

               The 2024 NBA season is upon us, and the Boston Celtics play their first game of the season against the New York Knicks in Madison Square Garden tomorrow night. Following this is their home opener on Friday night against the Miami Heat in a revenge matchup. Out of the first 15 games, the Celtics should win every single one, this team should only lose trap games...     Yes my expectations for the Boston Celtics go like this... its Banner or Bust, the roster we have put on the floor this season is exceptionally talented. Ownership pushed all of their chips into the middle to put this roster on the floor. Along with Brad Stevens making the toughest deals, to move on from players that grew up in the system... for the betterment of the basketball team.      Stevens was laying down the law last week in sports talk radio, making it clear to the media, the fans and the players, there are no excuses, this is a sp...

            The upset of the year! The New England Patriots have taken down the Buffalo Bills in their first matchup of the season improving their record to 2-5 as opposed to a nail in the coffin 1-6. This was it for the Patriots and they took advantage of an undisciplined Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills. The Patriots defense played a pretty good game taking Stefon Diggs out for the majority of it. My one gripe was they could not make tackles... like at all in this game. Buffalos tight ends, Knox and Kincaid were the main weapons for Buffalo so taking Diggs out of the picture for most of the game was pivotal for Belichick showing yes, he still has it.      This game was massive for Mac Jones, who has taken incredible heat this season, from the sack tap, to the Dallas blowout, to the New Orleans shellacking to the Raiders loss, Mac Jones has been getting pummeled left and right on and off the field, in some spots righ...

            The New England Patriots fell once again in action at allegiant stadium. At this point for the Patriots the NFL trade deadline is quickly approaching and its time to make some hard decisions on the team. The Patriots lost the 2 games on the schedule they were supposed to win. Granted New Orleans defense looks better and better every week matched against your pitiful offense how likely was that win really? This matchup however with the Las Vegas Raiders who bottom feed in the AFC West , have Max Crosby as their only viable defensive player, this is the one you needed to have.      Mac looked a little better in this game, he is still the worst QB in the league right now, not all of it is on him but he also is playing like the worst QB right now. Mac threw another pick early in  the game and through for 200 yards. In the first two games of the season Mac Jones was playing exceptionally well, at this point he looks like a br...

      T he theme so far in these "eyes on" could be perceived as overreacting to what these prospects are bringing in the preseason. When in reality it simply highlights what they can bring when given the opportunity to get to work.     Payton Pritchard is in this group certainly, while he is older then the other prospects highlighted before, Payton Pritchard has a break out season written all over him. Last season with a log jam at guard the kid became somewhat frustrated with his role on the team being minimized to the maximum. Especially with a contract year around the corner, it can be an unnerving time period. Pritchard's role was essentially garbage time, the kid was going into his 3rd year in the league and was looking for a larger role to show what he could bring to an NBA team.     The Celtics knew what they had with Pritchard and gave him a Contract to keep him in Beantown, the kid is on an absolute tear in the pre season. Averaging 19 p...

            The  Boston Bruins had 1 major assignment this offseason, they needed to replace their top two centers. They have just done it, the emergence of Johnny Beecher and Matt Poitras has been an exciting start to the Bruins pre season and now regular season. Matt Poitras is the 19 year old phenom that with the opportunity given to him dominated during pre season and found his way to a spot on the Bruins roster. During Pre Season Poitras led the Bruins with 3 goals 2 assists and 5 points. The kid is definitely not afraid to shoot the puck if he can develop into the offense threat at center that the Bruins need the depth at center will have been addressed from within, showing that  Sweeney (who i have had some questions about in the past) might have known something that we did not.     The kid is electric and he has only just started is career in the NHL and with the Bruins, where I worry about the young center, c...

               The New England Patriots are currently in the midst of a total downwards spiral to the bottom of the NFL standings and the bottom of the NFL period. The Patriots are currently neighbors with the Carolina Panthers, Chicago Bears, and Arizona Cardinals, the Patriots lost to the Bears last year so I put them below Chicago. They beat Arizona, so the Patriots are not likely the absolute worst franchise but New England is right in the conversation with Carolina who should  have number 1 pick this season but owe to Chicago for trading up to 1 overall last season. Along with Arizona who has had a rotating door at Quarterback the last half decade using number 1 overall draft selections new offensive minded head coaches and electric weapons with the franchise still yet to pan out. This leads us to the disaster of the QB room that the Patriots built and what leads to our first young talent to keen in on... Malik Cunningham.   ...

               The final day of pre season hockey has finished the Boston Bruins kick off the 2024 campaign beginning tomorrow October 11th, the puck drops at 7:30 in TD Garden. Finishing the pre season the question with Bruins Hockey is can they make the playoffs in a stacked Atlantic Division surrounded by a deeper eastern conference.      It runs deep in the Atlantic, the Buffalo Sabres retained core center Zemgus Girgensons along with adding Erik Johnson to the defensive ice. The Toronto Maple Leaf's stole Bertuzzi in free agency from the Bruins, an affair that could prove devastating for Boston. The Florida Panthers run the Conference at the moment, Matthew Tkachuk and Florida now have a targets on their back following the run they went on last post season. The Tampa Bay Lightning traded Ross Colton to the Colorado Avalanche which a brutal move similar to the Bruins with Taylor Hall. Taylor Hall is reunited ...

          The 2023 Patriots team is offensive to the Aura of the franchise. The great name of the New England Patriots is being dragged through the mud... This product is simply unacceptable and disrespectful to the fanbase. The team is non competitive and whole sale changes are in high order.            As if it could not get any worse, The New England Patriots fall at home in a must win game to the New Orleans Saints 34-love. The Patriots had a blimp in their schedule where the competition is not the best teams in the entire NFL. The New Orleans Saints in Foxborough, one that you needed. Followed by the Las Vegas Raiders out west next Sunday. This one was killer and one you needed  playoff hopes get significantly hurt following the loss to one of the worst teams the Patriots play this season.     It truly looks like Mac Jones is broken, he threw two more picks in this game he's totally afraid out...

                The Boston Red Sox have ended their MLB 2023 season, its safe to say that the team did not reach expectations this season with a final record of 78-84. The team fell to last place in the American League east for the second consecutive year and missed playoffs again. Where I set the bar for the Red Sox this year was to make the Wild Card. There is an extra seed in the tournament  these days and I believed with the talent they had on the roster they should have been able to just squeak into that last Wild Card slot. The Red Sox were not close and it really was a shame to see.      The reality of the season reflects of failures of Chaim Bloom... obviously, but also players themselves with consistency issues, and finally, yes Alex Cora does not leave this season unscathed.. When it comes to Bloom, he did not field a major league level pitching staff, Corey Kluber, Chris Sale, Tanner Houck, Nick Pivetta, and Gar...

           On September 27th 2023 the Milwaukee Bucks pushed all their chips in the middle, they had a potentially disgruntled super star in Giannis A ntetokounmpo, the Bucks had came off a historic playoff failure losing to the 8 seated Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs. The Greek Freak had been teasing a potential exit from Milwaukee if it was not the ideal place for him to contend for a championship each and every year. The Bucks showed they were all in on Giannis, they moved Jrue Holiday, Grayson Allen and 3 first round picks to pair Giannis Antetokounmpo with Damien Lillard. The Greek Freak and Dame Dolla paired together. Undoubtedly the greatest duo in the NBA and potentially the strongest pairing since Kobe and Shaq.     The Boston Celtics went from undoubtedly the favorites in the Eastern Conference to now being undoubtedly the runner ups. They made a massive move to acquire Kristaps Porzingis and they were was no one...

          It is with great sadness that I write in response to the passing of Tim Wakefield, who was passed away on Sunday October 1st in his home as a victim to brain cancer. Tim Wakefield was a hero for the Boston Red Sox and not just on the field... he was a hero to the community and the city... of Boston. Wakefield was never the greatest player on the Red Sox... he had the biggest heart. Wakefield had a career total of 186 wins for the Boston Red Sox, second only to Cy Young and Roger Clemens, showing his tenure and total career was in elite company.     Wakefield was the embodiment of overcoming adversity, in 2003 he gave up the walk off to Aaron Boone and the Yankees, he would comeback and play a huge role in the Boston Red Sox breaking  the curse of the Bambino and winning the world series championship for the first time in 86 years. Wakefield also gave up his roster spot in 2007 he knew he had an injury to put the team ...

            The New England Patriots have just been dealt the worst loss of Bill Belichicks career. The Patriots went down to AT&T stadium and got absolutely PANTSED by the Dallas Cowboys. The Patriots put up 3 points in the thrashing and never once looked to be in a position to have a say in the matter other than the first drive of the game. The Patriots got destroyed, the final score was 38-3 the team looks to have taken steps back and are possibly worse than they were last year. If matters could not get any worse the Patriots two best players have gone down with injuries indefinitely. Star Edge Rusher Matthew Judon went down with a bicep tear. He hopes to return to the team as soon as he can he will likely miss at least the next two months of the season. Rookie sensation and defense player of the year candidate Christian Gonzales ; Cornerback went down with a dislocated shoulder injury, he could possibly miss the rest of...