The Washington Nationals take on the Houston Astros in the 115th edition of the Fall Classic. First pitch tonight is at 7:08 PM CT at Minute Maid Park in Houston with the great Max Scherzer of the Nationals facing the equally great Gerrit Cole of the ‘Stros. Tomorrow night at 7:08 CT is another pitching classic with the awesome Stephen Strasburg squaring off with the ageless phenom Justin Verlander, who at 36, is still throwing 95-97. Both games are in Houston. The series shifts to Nationals Park in Washington Friday Saturday and Sunday with all game times at 7:08 PM CT. Next Tuesday and Wednesday are in Houston for games 6 and 7 respectively if necessary. FOX will broadcast the entire series with Joe and Smoltzie on the call and Tom Verducci and Ken Rosenthal reporting from the field.

Everybody is picking the Astros. With Verlander, Cole, Zack Grienke as their top line starters, though Grienke has struggled in this postseason, and the historically great Jose Altuve, along with the ultra talented George Springer and Alex Bregman, the Astros lineup is phenomenal. The Nats do counter with Scherzer, Strasburg and a very solid lefty in Patrick Corbin. They also have exceptional hitters led by Anthony Rendon, Juan Soto and Trea Turner.

There is a lot of talk about the Nationals having a week off since they last played as they swept the Cardinals in 4 games. They were cookin. They had just pulled off an amazing upset of the Dodgers in 5 games in the National League Division series.

Bob Nightengale of USA Today pointed out today in his WS column that the Detroit Tigers swept the A’s in the ALCS in 2006, had six days off, were heavy favorites over the Cardinals, and lost in 5 games. In 2012, the Tigers swept the Yankees in the ALCS, had 5 days off, came into that Fall Classic as favorites over the Giants and got swept.

The Nats are the most prohibitive World Series underdog since the 2007 Colorado Rockies who got swept by the Boston Red Sox that year.

With all that said, Max Scherzer is the greatest warrior in sports along with another guy I’ll mention below. I like Scherzer to win tonight, the great Strasburg to win tomorrow night, Scherzer to win in game 5 and Strasburg to win in game 6.

Nationals in 6

MVP

Max Scherzer

NBA Predictions

The NBA opens up its season tonight with the Celtics @ the 76ers at 6:30 PM CT on ESPN and Denver at Portland at 9 PM CT on ESPN.

Here are my predictions:

Eastern Conference Finals

Milwaukee Bucks over the Philadelphia 76ers in 6

Western Conference Finals

LA Clippers over Denver Nuggets in 6

NBA Champion

The other warrior I was referring to above is Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Greek Freak, who averaged 27.7 points per game, 12 1/2 rebounds per game, and 5.8 assists per game in 2018-19 and won the NBA Most Valuable Player Award. The Bucks finished with the best regular season record in the league last year, but lost to Kawhi Leonard and the Toronto Raptors in 6 games in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Raptors went on to defeat the Golden State Warriors in 6 to capture the Larry O’Brien Trophy as NBA champions. I think Giannis learned his lesson from last season and he’s more determined than he’s ever been to win it all. He’ll face Kawhi and Paul George, 2 of the top 6 players in the NBA, along with Giannis, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, and Klay Thompson, but I like Giannis and the Bucks to get over the hump this year, have the best record in the NBA, have the home court advantage throughout the playoffs and defeat the Clippers for Milwaukee’s first world championship since 1971, that’s 49 years.

In his second year as a professional, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was dominating the league with his patented sky hooks and led his Bucks team to the NBA Championship that year when he was known as Lou Alcindor. Giannis has that type of impact. Like Scherzer, he’s built for great moments. I like the other best warrior in sports to get it done in June in the NBA Championship. It’ll be tough against the great Kawhi and Paul George, but I’m going with my main man in the National Basketball Association like I’m going with my main man in Major League Baseball.

Bucks over Clippers in 7

MVP of NBA Finals

Giannis