Each sport has its championships. This time of year some of the biggest championships of the year are underway, including preparations for the World Series of Baseball and Aussie Rules Football's Grand Final. Late September is truly the reason many Baseball fans exist, as the races in the standings of the various divisions really heat up. The race in National League Central has been particularly pressurized in recent weeks. The Chicago Cubs, the Milwaukee Brewers, and the St. Louis Cardinals have been shuffling around at the top spots, with the Cardinals leading the division in recent weeks, but being challenged again and again by the other two teams. Until. Last. Weekend. Starting with a homestand of four games at the Cubs' storied Wrigley Field, they dropped four games to the Cardinals, and saw their second place behind the Brewers, drop to a third place, losing even the possibility of a Wild Card berth. While it is still theoretically possible for the Brewers to take first place, that is unlikely, and further the Cardinals have clinched at least a wild card spot in the playoffs, and likely will take the division. The Atlanta Braves and the Los Angeles Dodgers have already clinched their divisions in the other races in the National League. In the American League, the New York Yankees, and the Houston Astros have clinched their divisions. In the American League Central Division the surprising Minnesota Twins are currently leading, with the Cleveland Indians still somewhat motivated, and keeping that division as an all bets are off. The regular season ends on next Sunday, and the playoffs begin Tuesday. The Australian Autumn and Winter, and right up into early Spring, is filled with the sounds of stadiums of hundreds of thousands of fans cheering as they watch Australian Rules Football. Filling the Winter vacancy of cricketers from their home grounds, warming the cockles of the hearts of Aussies everywhere, at least those who don't prefer Rugby, or soccer... but who except a few Tasmanians could prefer soccer, right? The Melbourne Cricket Grounds will play host to the Grandest of Grand Finals next Saturday, by two great teams, either of whom finished with the minor premiership. The Richmond Tigers, who finished the regular season in third place, with play the Greater Western Sydney Giants, who finished sixth in the standings. The Greater Western Sydney Giants, nicknamed the GWS Giants, celebrates the 10th anniversary of its founding this year. Representing the Greater Western Sydney area and Canberra, the club has many homes. It is based at the Tom Wills Oval in Sydney Olympic Park, but plays the majority of it's home matches at the Sydney Showground Stadium, also located in the Olympic Park precinct. The club plays four home games a year at Manuka Oval in Canberra as part of a deal with the government of the Australian Capital Territory. Team colours are orange, white, and charcoal. Founded in 2009, they played their first game in the AFL in 2012, and this past was their eighth pro season. It has never won the premiership, so has great hope of winning to top off its 10th anniversary. While GWS represents brash newness, the Richmond Tigers represent the height of AFL tradition, with their earliest team dating back to 1860. Beginning in 1885 they began competing in the Victorian Football Association, adopting the Gold and Black colours of the Richmond Cricket Club, and winning the premiership twice. Richmond joined the Victorian Football League (now known as the AFL) in 1908 and has since won eleven premierships, most recently in 2017. Richmond's headquarters and training facilities are located at its original home ground, the Punt Road Oval, which sits adjacent to the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), the club's playing home since 1965. When they last met, on July 14th, Richmond won the day. The final score showed the Tigers triumphing by 27, winning 94-67. Greater Western Sydney, though, has thwarted the 'dream' Richmond-Collingwood Grand Final and will now take aim at revenge for its 2017 preliminary final defeat to the Tigers. That was the Giants' second straight loss at that stage of the season and came after going down by six points to the Western Bulldogs a year earlier. Both Richmond and the Bulldogs went on to win the premiership in those years, whereas GWS has not yet, as stated above. This coming Saturday's match should be great! As Always, Eric http://speedorex.blogspot.com/ https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/omnisporthttps://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Triathletepix/info -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "omnisport" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/omnisport/1707799930.7977725.1569303087174%40mail.yahoo.com.
