2018 MLB Season Preview

 

The Red Sox and Yankees seemingly pulled away from the division with their 2 big offseason moves, J.D Martinez and Giancarlo Stanton. Both have some starting pitching concerns though; will Price return to form, and for New York, what will Tanaka bring? The Orioles tried to keep up, bringing in Alex Cobb. The Blue Jays made some depth moves, and they could have the pitching to hang in there. Meanwhile, the Rays have had a rough go of things, with pitcher after pitcher going down for the season in spring training. They'll try rolling out a 4-man rotation with a bullpen 5th start. On top of that, they shipped out Evan Longoria, Jake Odorizzi and Corey Dickerson. 

1) Red Sox: 96-66

2) Yankees: 94-68 (wc)

3) Orioles: 85-77

4) Blue Jays: 80-82

5) Rays: 75-87

 

The Indians will see if they can replicate Carlos Santana's offense, as he signed with the Phillies. The Twins will be seeing if they can replicate last year's playoff push. They added Lance Lynn to the rotation, plus some solid bullpen additions in Addison Reed and Fernando Rodney. The White Sox feel like they could be contending soon, with a good young corps in place (maybe mirroring the crosstown Cubs in the future?). The Royals did bring back Mike Moustakas, but lost Lorenzo Cain, and look like they could be rebuilding. One club certainly going through a rebuilding phase are the Tigers.

1) Indians: 94-68
2) Twins: 84-78
3) White Sox: 80-82
4) Royals: 74-88
5) Tigers: 69-93

The Astros will be seeing if they can pace the rest of the west like they did last season. They added Gerrit Cole to an already stacked rotation. The Angels made some moves to try and keep up, retaining Justin Upton, and winning the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes. The Rangers will be hoping for some better health from their pitching, along with Adrian Beltre. The Mariners made move after move (a Jerry DiPoto specialty), but pitching will be the test for them. The A's may have a solid foundation in place, but it'll be tough for them to make it to that next level with the rotation that they have.

1) Astros: 97-65
2) Angels: 87-75 (wc)
3) Rangers: 84-78
4) Mariners: 83-79
5) A's: 78-84

AL MVP: Mike Trout
AL Cy Young: Chris Sale
AL ROY: Shohei Ohtani

The Nationals may feel a window closing, entering Bryce Harper's contract year. With a new manager, will they be able to make that next postseason push? The Mets will be looking for healthy pitching, which they haven't had these past couple of years. If they could get that, they'd be a legit contender. The Phillies could be quickly on the rise, bringing in Carlos Santana and Jake Arrieta. The Braves could also be close, though faced some turmoil this offseason in an international prospect scandal. And the Marlins...well....its going to be a long season for them.

1)  Nationals: 95-67
2) Phillies: 80-82
3) Mets: 79-83
4) Braves: 78-84
5) Marlins: 63-99

The Cubs were able to add Yu Darvish and Tyler Chatwood, replacing Arrieta and John Lackey. The Brewers made a big push, getting Lorenzo Cain and Christian Yelich, but have some questions in the rotation. The Cardinals will be looking to bounce back from an uncharacteristic down season last year. The Pirates, minus McCutchen and Cole, will have a hard time contending. The Reds seem like they could be a dark horse team to sneak in and contend for a wild card (but I'm not sure).

1) Cubs: 94-68
2) Cardinals: 86-76 (wc)
3) Brewers: 85-77 (wc)
4) Pirates: 79-83
5) Reds: 77-85 

The Dodgers will be looking to shake off their 2017 world series loss moving forward. They'll have to start the season without Justin Turner. The Rockies will try to replicate their success. They revamped their bullpen....but maybe spending too much on it. The D'Backs may have a tough time replacing J.D Martinez's 2nd half offense that propelled them to the postseason. The Giants added Evan Longoria and McCutchen...but will be without Madison Bumgarner for a little while. The Padres made some surprising moves, like adding Eric Hosmer. I'm not sure how close they are to contending.

1) Dodgers: 94-68
2) Rockies: 84-78
3) Giants: 82-80
4) D'Backs: 81-81
5) Padres: 78-84

NL MVP: Bryce Harper
NL Cy Young: Clayton Kershaw
NL ROY: Ronald Acuna

AL Wildcard:

 Winner - Yankees


ALDS: 

Winner - Yankees

 

Winner - Red Sox

ALCS:

 Winner - Red Sox

NL Wildcard:

 

Winner - Brewers

NLDS:

 

 Winner - Nationals

 

 Winner - Dodgers


NLCS:

 Winner - Nationals





World Series:

 Winner - Nationals

SNL Season 43: Bill Hader

Bill Hader made his return to host SNL this week. Onto the review

Anderson Cooper White House Turmoil Cold Open: This felt like a "classic" cold open....well classic in regarding to the days of when Hader was still a castmember. John Goodman made a cameo playing a disgruntled Rex Tillerson. On top of that, we got Hader as "The Mooch" and Fred Armisen as Michael Wolff. Armisen's Wollf is spot on...the way he tries to sell a story and talks around on whether its accurate or not. (7.5)

Monologue/The Californians - Replacing Rosa: I included these two together because of how the monologue segued into The Californians. I'd never seen a monologue quite like this, directly going into the opening sketch, full costume and all. (7.0)

Irish Dating Show: I'm not sure if "kissing cousins" is a popular Irish stereotype or not....but SNL sure thought it was. Maybe we were all Aidy Bryant, an Irish-American who was confused throughout this dating show. (7.3)

Girlfriends Game Night: This was something else. Bill Hader showed why he was so special on SNL, just through his work driving his wheelchair.....at times nearly toppling the set and breaking character. (8.3)

Jurassic Park Auditions (short): This was good at the start....but then it just kept going, and going, and going. Also, some of the impressions didn't really make sense of why they'd be there...like Gwen Stefani and Lisa Kudrow, given when their rise to fame was. (6.7)

(Arcade Fire): (7.1)

Weekend Update: The first guest saw Kate McKinnon as Betsy DeVos talking about her 60 minutes interview disaster. Is there any government official McKinnon can't play?

Pete Davidson then talked about mental illness in regards to his own and Kevin Love's. This was a real hit and miss for me. I get that he was accepting his own struggles and wasn't ashamed to talk about it....but it was weird how he was dumping all over Kevin Love and his anxiety issues. You would think that Pete would know better.

And last but not least....Stefon made his triumphant return. Stefon is just a constant...no matter what, its always hilarious. (8.0)


Sacred Rock: (6.2)

CBC Report: (7.0)

(Arcade Fire): (7.5)

 Undercover Office Potty (short): This was another classic 10 to 1 piece. Beck Bennett just played this up so well as it progressed. (9.0)

All in all, a solid show. It again ran into the problem of lulling after weekend update, but Bill Hader brought what he does best. (7.42)


 Will Ferrell: 8.02
Chance The Rapper: 7.83
Ryan Gosling: 7.63
Sam Rockwell: 7.55
Kumali Nanjiani: 7.48 
Bill Hader: 7.42
Charles Barkley: 7.41
Sterling K. Brown: 7.30
James Franco: 7.28
Kevin Hart: 7.20
Saoirse Ronan: 7.16
Tiffany Haddish: 7.15
Larry David: 7.14
Jessica Chastain: 7.11
Gal Gadot: 7.08 
Natalie Portman: 7.03    

SNL Season 43: Sterling K. Brown

This Is Us star Sterling K. Brown got his shot at hosting. Onto the review


Bachelor Finale Cold Open: Recently, SNL cold opens have been at their best when they get creative about talking about Trump. This was one of those cold opens. Under the guise of The Bachelor, Robert Mueller (McKinnon) gives the honest truth that the special counsel may not be able to be the "savior". It was some dark comedy to say the least, but helped to show us that yes, while people should support Mueller and let him do his job, they can't rely on him and him alone. (8.3)

Monologue: (7.5)


Family Feud - Oscars Edition: These often get tedious, and this one wasn't all that different, besides a few good moments. Heidi Gardner's Allison Janney impression was inspiring, and Sterling played a great Common. (7.1)

This Is U.S. (short): I wondered how they would tie in This Is Us to the show. This was pretty clever...but much too short. It felt like it ended just when it was getting going. (7.3)
Family Dinner - Shrek: Talk about a sketch out of left field. Sterling plays a dinner guest at his girlfriend's house....who start arguing about Coco vs. Shrek. Sterling played this up very well, showing off his acting chops. (8.8)

Sasquatch (short): (5.9)


(James Bay): (7.2)


Weekend Update: The first guests saw a new fan favorite return....Eric and Don Jr (Alex Moffat/Mikey Day). Alex plays up his Eric Trump character perfectly, through his movements and facial expressions. This has quickly become my favorite Update guest.

Vanessa Bay made a surprise return as meteorologist Dawn Lazarus. This spot seemed really short. I'm surprised she just came back for this. (7.6)


Black Panther New Scene: (5.6)

Doctor Love: (6.0)

Movie Coverage: (6.8)

Rock vs Rap (short): Kyle Mooney brought his Chris Fitzpatrick character on the streets to debate rock and rap. I think this character works better in these on the street hits than the usual shorts he appears in. He certainly ran into some interesting characters here. (7.5)
(James Bay): (7.7)

Dying Mrs. Gomez: A classic 10 to 1 oddball sketch. This was flat out brilliant. I don't know how the writers came up with this one, but they must have had Nickelback's "How You Remind Me" on their mind. This kind of sketch required everyone buying into it, and that's exactly what happened. (8.9)

Sterling K. Brown put on a pretty good show. He had a pair of the better sketches of the season, but there was a notable lull after Weekend Update. (7.30)

Will Ferrell: 8.02
Chance The Rapper: 7.83
Ryan Gosling: 7.63
Sam Rockwell: 7.55
Kumali Nanjiani: 7.48 
Charles Barkley: 7.41
Sterling K. Brown: 7.30
James Franco: 7.28
Kevin Hart: 7.20
Saoirse Ronan: 7.16
Tiffany Haddish: 7.15
Larry David: 7.14
Jessica Chastain: 7.11
Gal Gadot: 7.08 
Natalie Portman: 7.03     

SNL Season 43: Charles Barkley

SNL returned from its Olympics hiatus with Charles Barkley. Onto the review



Presidential Address Cold Open: President Trump may be wrong by a lot of things.....but his sentiment on Alec Baldwin's trump is fairly spot on. Its just gotten lazy, and Alec's own personal life (defending Woody Allen, etc) really detracts from his Trump impersonation. (5.9)



Monologue: This was actually an interesting monologue. Instead of a Q&A or musical number, Barkley basically just spoke about whatever he wanted, wading into the waters on what an athlete should say about politics and other social issues. (7.0)


Harassment Awards:  SNL put on the "other" main awards of the week.."The Grabbies". There were a lot of good singular moments here, particularly from Pete Davidson. Its good to see him getting some solid sketch work. (7.4)


Roach Product (ad): This perfectly parodied the typical NRA talking points of a "good guy with a gun stopping a bad guy with a gun", demonstrating it with stopping a roach infestation. Just the sight alone of roaches carrying miniature assault rifles was just hilarious. (8.2)

Homework Hotline: This may have been a one-note sketch, but its one that more or less worked. This sketch was worth it just for that final moment with the puppet. (7.6)


The Champions: (7.1)

(Migos): (6.3)

Weekend Update: The first guest saw Cecily Strong as Hope Hicks. She's starting to catch up with Kate McKinnon in regards to Trump-era impersonations.

Kyle Mooney then showed up, pondering why he wasn't invited to Colin and Michael's Oscars party. Kyle has the kind of style where he makes the audience come to him.

Leslie Jones arrived talking about the Olympics, and she brought along Hilary Knight of the gold-medal winning U.S Hockey team to rag on Jost. (8.5)


Hump or Dump: This was certainly a daring sketch. I'm not sure many hosts could pull this character off, but Barkley committed, going all out to win this dating show. Maybe this sketch was in poor taste...but I'll admit it had me laughing hysterically. (7.8)

Con Ed Repair Site: (7.5)

(Migos): (6.7)


Last Call: I wasn't expecting to see Barkley show up in a last call sketch, but this one may have been the best iteration yet. There was just something about Barkley and Kate McKinnon that meshed here...plus Kenan's side gags really clicked. (8.9)

A fairly solid show overall. There's just something about a Charles Barkley hosted show...he brings a different sort of energy. Not necessarily more than any other type of host, but just different...I'm not sure how to explain it. (7.41)



Will Ferrell: 8.02
Chance The Rapper: 7.83
Ryan Gosling: 7.63
Sam Rockwell: 7.55
Kumali Nanjiani: 7.48 
Charles Barkley: 7.41
James Franco: 7.28
Kevin Hart: 7.20
Saoirse Ronan: 7.16
Tiffany Haddish: 7.15
Larry David: 7.14
Jessica Chastain: 7.11
Gal Gadot: 7.08 
Natalie Portman: 7.03        

2018 Oscar's Predictions

An unpredictable awards season is poised to wrap up with the 90th Academy Awards. The Best Picture race has been totally unpredictable. So with that, here we go with my predictions.



Short Film, Animated:
Dear Basketball
Garden Party
Lou
Negative Space
Revolting Rhymes

A bit of a surprise, but Pixar's entry here, Lou is actually really weak. This feels like it'll be between Kobe Bryant's Dear Basketball, and Garden Party. I'm going with Garden Party. For being just 6-7 minutes, there was a lot that went into it, including a twist ending.

Short Film, Live Action:
DeKalb Elementary
The Eleven O'Clock
My Nephew Emmett
The Silent Child
Watu Wote: All Of Us

I'm going with DeKalb Elementary. Its a shame how relevant it is, but it tells an important story.

Documentary Short Subject:
Edith + Eddie
Heaven Is A Traffic Jam On The 405
Heroin(e)
Knife Skills
Traffic Stop

Calling this for Edith + Eddie.

Visual Effects:
Blade Runner 2049
Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol.2
Kong: Skull Island
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
War For The Planet Of The Apes

It may have under-performed at the box office, but Blade Runner 2049 should be getting its due.

Film Editing:
Baby Driver
Dunkirk
I,Tonya
The Shape Of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

This could be a precursor to Best Picture....or could make the night even more unpredictable. I'm going with the latter, Dunkirk. It was really impressive how they spliced together the three arenas of Dunkirk.

Production Design:
Beauty And The Beast
Blade Runner 2049
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
The Shape Of Water  

Blade Runner 2049 again comes up in the technical category.

Cinematography:
Blade Runner 2049
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
Mudbound
The Shape Of Water

Roger Deakins gets his Oscar for Blade Runner 2049

Costume Design:
Beauty And The Beast  
Darkest Hour
Phantom Thread
The Shape Of Water
Victoria & Abdul

Maybe a bit of an upset here, but I'm going with  The Shape Of Water, for the fish-man alone.

Makeup And Hairstyling:
Darkest Hour
Victoria & Abdul
Wonder

For how they transformed Gary Oldman into Churchill, Darkest Hour takes this.

Sound Mixing:
Baby Driver
Blade Runner 2049
Dunkirk
The Shape Of Water
Star Wars: The Last Jedi 

Calling this for Dunkirk, war movies seem to do well in the sound categories.

Sound Editing:
Baby Driver
Blade Runner 2049
Dunkirk
The Shape Of Water
Star Wars: The Last Jedi

A sounds sweep, Dunkirk.

Original Song:
"Mighty River", Mudbound (Mary J. Blige, Raphael Saadiq & Taura Stinson, music & lyrics)

"Mystery Of Love", Call Me By Your Name (Sufjan Stevens, music & lyrics)

"Remember Me", Coco (Kristen Anderson-Lopez & Robert Lopez, music & lyrics)

"Stand Up For Something", Marshall (Diane Warren, music) (Lonnie Lynn & Warren, lyrics)

"This Is Me", The Greatest Showman (Benj Pasek & Justin Paul, music & lyrics) 

This could come down to "Remember Me" and "This Is Me". I'm calling it for "This Is Me. Its become such a hit, even outside the movie.

Original Score:
Dunkirk (Hans Zimmer)

Phantom Thread (Jonny Greenwood)

The Shape Of Water (Alexandre Desplat)

Star Wars: The Last Jedi (John Williams)

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Carter Burwell)

I'm going The Shape Of Water. Desplat provided such a fantastic score.

Foreign Language Film:
A Fantastic Woman (Chile)

The Insult (Lebanon)

Loveless (Russia)

On Body And Soul (Hungary)

The Square (Sweden)

Feels like this is between A Fantastic Woman and The Square. I'm leaning towards A Fantastic Woman.

Documentary Feature:
Abacus: Small Enough To Jail
Faces Places
Icarus
Last Men In Aleppo
Strong Island

The Documentary Field  featured some surprising omissions, including Jane. With this current field, I'm going with Faces Places, its brought in a lot of wins over the season.

Animated Feature:
The Boss Baby
The Breadwinner
Coco
Ferdinand
Loving Vincent

No surprise here...Coco. But its well deserved.

Adapted Screenplay:
Call Me By Your Name (James Ivory)

The Disaster Artist (Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber)

Logan (Michael Green, James Mangold, Scott Frank)

Molly's Game (Aaron Sorkin)

Mudbound (Dee Rees, Virgil Williams) 

This feels like the easiest of the 2 screenplay awards. I'm going with Call Me By Your Name.

Original Screenplay:
The Big Sick (Emily V. Gordon, Kumail Nanjiani)

Get Out (Jordan Peele)

Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig)

The Shape Of Water (Guillermo Del Toro, Vanessa Taylor)

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Martin McDonagh)

This could also go a long way towards signaling Best Picture.....or make it even more convoluted. I'm going again with the latter, and calling it for Get Out.

Actor In A Supporting Role:
Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project
Woody Harrelson, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Richard Jenkins, The Shape Of Water
Christopher Plummer, All The Money In The World
Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

The acting fields seem pre-determined this season, though if there's any upset here it'd come from Dafoe. This is going to Sam Rockwell.

Actress In A Supporting Role:
Mary J. Blige, Mudbound
Allison Janney, I,Tonya
Lesley Manville, Phantom Thread
Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird
Octavia Spencer, The Shape of Water

This one's going to Allison Janney.

Actor In A Leading Role:
Timothee Chalamet, Call Me By Your Name
Daniel Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread
Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out
Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour
Denzel Washington, Roman J. Israel, Esq.

Almost like a Casey Affleck situation, where everyone is rooting against Gary Oldman due to a shady past, but he's going to take this.

Actress In A Leading Role:
Sally Hawkins, The Shape Of Water
Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Margot Robbie, I,Tonya
Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird 
Meryl Streep, The Post

Another easy call, Frances McDormand.

Director:
Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk
Jordan Peele, Get Out
Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
Paul Thomas Anderson, Phantom Thread
Guillermo del Toro, The Shape Of Water

Coming off a Golden Globe and Director's Guild win, this is going to Guillermo del Toro. 

Best Picture:
Call Me By Your Name
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
Get Out
Lady Bird
Phantom Thread
The Post
The Shape Of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

We've finally arrived to Best Picture. There are a number of ways this could go. Right now, it seems to be between The Shape Of Water and Three Billboards. Though I wouldn't count out an upset coming from Get Out or even Dunkirk. Its a tough call, but I'm going with The Shape Of Water.