By Trejan Rowbotham
November 1, 2018
October is arguably the greatest month of sports. Between the MLB playoffs, the NFL, NBA, and NHL regular seasons, and the College Football Playoff rankings, October manages to produce a lot of content in its 31 days. Here is a brief rundown of it all:
MLB
The Boston Red Sox obliterated the MLB during the regular season. Winning 108 games during the regular season, the Sox clinched home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Boston seldom needed this advantage. They finished every series, including the World Series, on the road and lost three total games en route to their ninth World Series win in franchise history.
NFL
Backed by stellar defense and explosive offense, the Los Angeles Rams are the last remaining unbeaten team at the NFL’s halfway point. The Kansas City Chiefs, the AFC’s only one-loss team, are fending off the New England Patriots, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Houston Texans for the top spot in the AFC. The NFC divisional leaders are the Chicago Bears, Washington Redskins, New Orleans Saints, and the aforementioned Rams.
NBA
The NBA season has already seen some pretty incredible milestones. On October 29, the Golden State Warriors’ Klay Thompson scored 52 points and connected on 14 three-pointers over the course of 27 minutes to set the NBA single-game record for made three-pointers. Stephen Curry, Blake Griffin, and Derrick Rose have also joined Thompson in the 50-point club during the NBA’s opening month. These scoring eruptions set career-highs for Griffin and Rose.
NHL
With a blistering 9-3-0 record in their first 12 games, the Nashville Predators lead the NHL standings after the first month of competition. Mikko Rantanen, RW for the Colorado Avalanche, leads the NHL in assists (16) and total points (21), and the Chicago Blackhawks’ Patrick Kane leads the league in goals (11).
College Football
With only four undefeated teams remaining in college football, the College Football Playoff Committee revealed their first ranking on October 30. Strangely, the four undefeated teams were not the teams in the four highest slots. The University of Alabama (8-0), Clemson University (8-0), Louisiana State University (7-1), and the University of Notre Dame (8-0) round out the four playoff spots. The University of Central Florida, the undefeated team that was not included, ranked twelfth despite not losing a game since the 2016 calendar year. The University of Florida (6-2) even ranked one spot higher than their Floridian counterpart.
The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Infuse Student Media or Southwest Baptist University.
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