NBA Finals
I picked the Warriors over the Cavs in seven before the playoffs started and I’m sticking with that prediction. Like Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Harrison Barnes, Andrew Bogut and the Warriors to get the franchise’s first NBA title since 1975. The Oracle Arena home court, where the Warriors are 45-3 this year, will get the team over the top against LeBron and the Cavs. If the Cavs had the home court advantage, I would probably pick the Cavs, because they have a very strong home court advantage at Quicken Loans Arena having won 26 of their last 28 there. But the Warriors earned it by having the best regular season record in the NBA, so I’m going with the Warriors in a classic series.
Warriors over Cavs in 7
College baseball
Like the Gators of Florida to win the national title. Their stud pitcher, A.J. Puk, throws it 97 and 98 MPH and is almost un-hittable. Puk is 8-3 with a 4.23 ERA, but that ERA is deceiving because he has been impossible to hit the last month of the season. He has 28 walks and 85 ring ups. Logan Shore (7-6, 2.79) is the Gators’ number one guy and he is pretty outstanding, too. They play excellent defense and hit it well. Every pitcher coming out of the bullpen seems to have an ERA under 3.00. They are loaded with arms and they hit it pretty well, too, and their defense, which has only committed 35 errors in 60 games for a .985 fielding percentage (No.1 nationally), is the best in the country. Catcher Mike Rivera had 302 chances this year and committed only one error. He also threw out 14 of 28 attempted base stealers, which is an amazing 50% rate. Third baseman Josh Tobias (116 chances) and center fielder Buddy Reed (132 chances) committed only one error apiece. Tobias, a switch hitter, is the Gators’ leading hitter at .357. They hit 53 homers this season, 14 by DH J.J. Schwartz and 13 by left fielder Harrison Bader. They get the job done with the bats, and with their pitching and defense, they’ll claim the national title, the Gators first in the program’s history. The Gators finished national runners-up in 2005 and 2011, and have appeared in eight previous College World Series.
Florida over LSU for the national title in 3
games.
