By Tyler Sonderholzer
The end of October and the beginning of November marks the gradual end of the Major League Baseball (MLB) postseason, the midpoint of the National Football League (NFL) season and the beginning of the National Hockey League’s (NHL) and National Basketball Association’s (NBA) seasons.
MLB
Out of the three Southern California teams in the MLB, only the Los Angeles Dodgers were able to make it to the postseason as the Los Angeles Angels, who finished with a 77-85 record, and San Diego Padres, who finished at 79-83, were unable to clinch a postseason berth.
The reigning World Series Champion Dodgers went 106-56 in the regular season, which earned them the top National League (NL) Wild Card spot as they finished one game behind the NL West division champion, the San Francisco Giants. As a result of taking the top Wild Card spot, the Dodgers had to play a winner take all playoff game against the St. Louis Cardinals at Dodger Stadium on Oct. 6.
The Wild Card game was mostly tied throughout as both teams traded a run but Chris Taylor hit a walk-off two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to win the game for the Dodgers. After their 3-1 win over the Cardinals, the Dodgers moved to face the Giants in the National League Division Series (NLDS) in a best of five format.
Games one and two of the NLDS took place in San Francisco and the Dodgers lost game one by a score of 4-0 after their offense fell short, but they rebounded in game two and won by a score of 9-2. The series shifted to Los Angeles for games three and four, where the Dodgers narrowly lost game three 1-0 but were able to force a game five after winning game four by a score of 7-2. In game five, the Dodgers narrowly defeated the Giants to win the series and move onto the National League Championship Series in a best of 7 series to face the NL East division champion, the Atlanta Braves.
Games one and two were played in Atlanta as they were a higher seed than the Dodgers by winning their division. However, both could not have done any worse for the Dodgers as they lost both games via walk-offs and faced a 2-0 series deficit heading back home. However, the Dodgers were able to win game three by a score of 6-5 after a four-run bottom of the eighth to cut the series deficit in half. The Braves’ offense came alive in game four as they won it by a score of 9-2 bringing the Dodgers to the brink of elimination. However, the Dodgers won game five 11-2 forcing a game six. In game six, however, the Dodger offense was unable to stay hot and they lost game six by a score of 4-2. The loss to the Braves meant the Dodgers were eliminated from the postseason and were unable to repeat as World Series champions.
NHL
Southern California’s two NHL teams, the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings, kicked off the regular season in mid-October.
The Ducks started off the season at home on Oct. 13, beating the Winnipeg Jets by a score of 4-1 with 18-year-old rookie forward Mason McTavish scoring his first career goal. However, the Ducks dropped the next game to the Minnesota Wild 2-1 after forward Marcus Foligno scored with eight seconds left to take the lead. After the Wild game, the Ducks went on a four-game road trip with three games in Canada and one game in Minnesota. The road trip kicked off in Calgary against the Calgary Flames who the Ducks narrowly beat 3-2 in overtime thanks to defenseman Jamie Drysdale’s overtime goal. After the win against Calgary, the Ducks traveled to Edmonton to face the Edmonton Oilers in a back and forth game but were unable to defeat them as they lost 6-5. The last game on the four-game road trip was in Minnesota against the Wild but the Ducks lost 4-3 in overtime.
After the road trip, the Ducks played the Jets for the third time in two weeks at home, however, they dropped the game after two late goals from the Jets and lost 4-3. The Ducks’ next game was against the Buffalo Sabres and the game started very badly for the Ducks as they faced a 3-0 deficit, however, they had strong second and third periods and tied the game at 3-3. Unfortunately, the Ducks lost in overtime 4-3, dropping their sixth straight game. The Ducks traveled to Las Vegas to face the Vegas Golden Knights and the Knights jumped out to a 4-1 lead, however with three third period goals, the Ducks were able to tie the game at 4-4. After very intense overtime, the game went into a shootout but the Ducks were unable to prevail and dropped their fourth straight one-goal game and their sixth straight overall loss.
To wrap up the month of October, the Ducks had a matinee game on Halloween against the Montreal Canadiens and the Ducks dominated play throughout the whole game, winning 4-2. The Ducks were able to end their six-game losing streak and team captain Ryan Getzlaf got an assist, his 989 point overall, that surpassed Ducks legend Teemu Selanne as the team’s all-time point leader. The Ducks next play on Nov. 2 at home against the New Jersey Devils. At the time of writing, the Ducks have three wins, four losses and three overtime losses for five points (overtime and shootout losses are worth one point) which places the Ducks fourth in the Pacific division.
As for the Los Angeles Kings, their season started out well with a 6-2 win against the Vegas Golden Knights with forward Anze Kopitar scoring three goals and two assists for five points and defensemen Drew Doughty scoring one goal and three assists for four points. However, the Kings lost six straight games with a 3-2 loss against Minnesota at home and four straight losses on the road. The road trip began in Nashville with a 2-1 loss to the Nashville Predators. They then traveled to Dallas to face the Dallas Stars but lost 3-2 in overtime. For the final two games of the road trip, the Kings faced the St. Louis Blues two times in a row, a very uncommon throughout the average team schedule, with a 7-3 loss on Oct. 23 and a 3-0 loss on Oct. 25.
The Kings returned home to start a five-game homestand to face the Winnipeg Jets. The Jets and Kings battled in a close game but the Jets ended up prevailing with two third-period goals to beat the Kings 3-2. Next up was the Montreal Canadiens and the Kings dominated play throughout the whole game with forward Alex Iafallo scoring two goals and earning one assist to beat the Canadiens 5-2, marking the end of the Kings six-game losing streak. For the last game in October, the Kings had a Halloween matinee game against the Buffalo Sabres and the Kings were able to erase a two-goal deficit with three straight goals to beat the Sabres 3-2. At the time of writing, the Kings have three wins, five losses and one overtime loss for seven points and eighth place in the Pacific division and next play at home on Nov. 3 against the St. Louis Blues
NFL
The Los Angeles Rams and The Los Angeles Chargers are in the midst of their season as, at the time of writing, Week 7 of the NFL season has just wrapped up.
The Rams opened up October with a 3-0 record and faced the Arizona Cardinals, who were also on a 3-0 streak, in Week 4, however, the Rams were unable to get their offense moving and lost 37-20. After the defeat against the Cardinals, the Rams traveled to Seattle to face the Seattle Seahawks, defeating them 26-17 and improving their record to 4-1, thanks to quarterback Matthew Stafford’s stellar performance throwing for a touchdown and 365 yards.
In Week 6, the Rams easily defeated the New York Giants on the road 38-11 with Stafford having another strong game throwing for four touchdown passes and 251 yards. During Week 7, the Rams had a home game against the winless Detroit Lions but it was a very close game as the Rams narrowly won 28-19. However, Stafford had his third straight stellar game as he threw for three touchdowns and 334 yards.
For Week 8, the Rams traveled to Houston to face the Houston Texans and the Rams dominated the first three quarters, jumping out to a 38-0 lead. The Texans scored 22 points in the fourth quarter to make it a close game, however, the Rams lead was too large for the Texans to overcome. The Rams won their fourth straight game thanks to Stafford throwing for three touchdowns and 305 yards. The Rams next play on Nov. 7 at home against the Tennessee Titans and are second in the National Football Conference West with a record of 7-1.
Meanwhile, the Chargers entered October with a 2-1 record and they faced the Las Vegas Raiders at home in Week 4. The Chargers were able to defeat the Raiders 28-14 after a strong performance from quarterback Justin Herbert throwing for three touchdowns and 222 yards. For Week 5, the Chargers faced the Cleveland Browns in an offensive slugfest that went back and forth, however, the Chargers were able to outlast the Browns and win 47-42 with another strong performance from Herbert who threw for four touchdowns and 398 yards.
The next game which was against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 6 was a complete reversal of the previous week as the Charger offense failed to get anything started and they got destroyed by the Ravens 34-6. The Chargers did not play in Week 7 as they had a bye week. For Week 8, the Chargers had a home game against the New England Patriots and it was a very close game with both teams trading points, however, the Patriots were able to narrowly defeat the Chargers by a score of 27-24. The Chargers next play on Nov. 7 on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles and are second in the American Football Conference West with a record of 4-3.
NBA
The Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers both kicked off their seasons in mid-October with the Clippers playing their first game on Oct. 21 while the Lakers first played on Oct. 19.
The Clippers opened up the NBA season against the Golden State Warriors on the road in a back and forth game, however, the Clippers were unable to prevail and lost 115-113 with forward Paul George leading his team by scoring 29 points. Next up was a game against the Memphis Grizzlies at home but the Clippers were just narrowly edged out in another close game and lost by a score of 120-114 with George again leading the team in scoring with 41 points. After the game against the Grizzlies, the Clippers destroyed the Portland Trail Blazers at home 116-86 in a great team game.
The Clippers faced the Cleveland Cavaliers at home, however, the Cavaliers dominated play in a low-scoring game and defeated the Clippers by a score of 92-79 in a poor effort game from the Clippers. After the against the Cavaliers, the Clippers traveled to Portland to face the Portland Trail Blazers and it was a high-scoring game but the Clippers were unable to keep up with the Trail Blazers offense and lost by a score of 111-92. The Clippers next play on Nov 1 at home against the Oklahoma City Thunder and rest twelfth in the Western Conference with a record of 1-4.
The Lakers’ first game of the season was against the Golden State Warriors at home and it was a high-scoring game but the Lakers were unable to keep up with the Warriors and lost 121-141. Forward Lebron James was the top scorer for the Lakers as James scored 34 points and Anthony Davis scored 33 points. After the game with the Warriors, the Lakers had a home game against the Phoenix Suns and this game was similar to the game with the Warriors.
The game was like the game against the Warriors with a high-scoring, back and forth game but the Suns pulled away and won 115-105. James had another strong game and led the team in points by scoring 25 points. To wrap up the three-game homestand, the Memphis Grizzlies came into town and it was the third straight close game in a row for the Lakers. However, they were able to just narrowly edge out the Grizzlies and won 121-118 with forward Carmelo Anthony leading the team with 28 points.
The Lakers then traveled to Texas to face the San Antonio Spurs and the game was tied at 114 after four quarters which meant the game would go to overtime. The Lakers eventually won in overtime after scoring 11 points compared to the Spurs scoring seven points. The final score was 125-121 with forward Anthony Davis’s 35 points leading the way. The Lakers traveled to Oklahoma to face the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Lakers dominated play early, at one point having a 26 point lead, however, the Thunder were able to storm back and defeat the Lakers 123-115.
After the game against the Thunder, the Lakers returned home to face the Cleveland Cavaliers to open up a four-game homestand and it was a close game all throughout but the Lakers were able to edge out the Cavaliers with a score of 113-101. To wrap up October, the Lakers faced the Houston Rockets in a low-scoring game, however, the Lakers were able to win by a score of 95-85. The Lakers are 4-3, which places them 6th in the Western Conference, and next play on Nov. 2 at home against the Rockets.
Overall, Southern California sports teams either had strong seasons or are were in the process of turning their seasons around and aiming to do better postseason. The Dodgers’ hopes of winning back-to-back World Series have come to an end, following their elimination from the MLB Postseason. Meanwhile, the Ducks, Kings, Clippers and Lakers have all had mediocre starts to the season as they all wish to turn it around to make the postseason. Lastly, the Rams and Chargers are both in playoff spots with a little less than half of the season remaining and both teams wish to continue their strong seasons in hopes of winning the Super Bowl in their home stadium.
