Phillies need to give themselves a little bit of a cushion

The Phillies have a lot of home games left in the season this year. If they continue playing as well as they are now at Citizens Bank Park, they should be in a good position to make the playoffs. It is important for them to get the top wild card position so they can play all of their first-round playoff games at home in front of their vocal fans.

The Phillies have an easy schedule this week. They play the St. Louis Cardinals at home, one of the most disappointing teams in baseball this year. Then they play the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, who are just barely in playoff contention in the American League, and lastly they play the San Diego Padres on the road, who are the most overrated team in the National League this year.

The only player on the Phillies that needs to get his act together is All-Star Nick Castellanos. For some reason, over the last two weeks he has been swinging at everything and striking out most of the time.

I can’t believe the NFL regular season is almost here. Jalen Hurts is on the cover of Sports Illustrated for the football season preview issue, just adding a bit more pressure for him to perform this year. If he can stay healthy for most of the season, I believe the Eagles could become the first back-to-back NFC East team to win the division in a number of years. I won't go as far as to predict that they will be in the Super Bowl again this year. Professional football is too violent a sport to do that.

The Eagles’ first game is against the New England Patriots. They will be retiring Tom Brady‘s No. 12 jersey, so I know the Patriots will make it a very tough game for the Eagles to win. I think the Eagles’ season will be determined by how good the defense is this year, because the offense is definitely going to be producing points. And injuries. That's always a concern.

Spain won the Women’s World Cup by a score of 1-0 over England. The Spanish team was very consistent throughout the whole tournament. They definitely copied their style of play from the Spanish men’s team, who are well known for the incredible number of passes they complete during a game. This was definitely the most competitive Women’s World Cup ever.

I don’t know where the next one in 2027 is going to be contested, but I hope the location is closer to the U.S. East Coast so as to be able to watch the games live. I know the Men’s World Cup in 2026 is going to be in North America, co-hosted by the U.S., Mexico and Canada. I wouldn’t be surprised if England is the next country to host the Women’s World Cup. They did a good job hosting the 2012 Olympic tournament for soccer, and also the sport is so popular overall in the U.K.