📝 The Week That Was (August 26-30, 2024)

A roundup of what I wrote, read, watched, etc. over the past week.

Aug 31, 2024

In this space on Saturdays, I do a weekly round-up of sorts: Sifting through what I wrote that you might have missed during the week, what I’ve been reading and watching myself, and some other fun things that have been going on. Let me know what you think about the format in the comments (or email me!1), and if there are running sections you’d like to see on a regular basis.

What I did this week

Stealing a bit from Will Leitch’s newsletter format, here are the things I wrote or podcasted about during the previous week, sorted in descending order by quality, popularity and/or current relevance.

⚾ Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani Are MLB’s Big-Market Superstar Dream Come True - On paper, the 2024 season should be MLB’s dream scenario: Judge and Ohtani, the game’s two biggest stars, are both chasing historic numbers for the league’s two biggest-market teams. But has that brought the sport — and its stars — any closer to the NFL or NBA?
🏈 QB U: Top 5 Quarterback Matchups of Week 1 (Based on 2023 Stats) - Ahead of Week 1, I launched a new column in which I list 5 QB-related items from the world of college football. This time, I look at the weekend’s matchups that feature the most productive QBs from last season (and earlier in their careers).
🏈 Of Course the Aaron Rodgers Doubters Have Emerged - After there was some dismay expressed at Rodgers dropping to Tier 2 of Mike Sando’s annual quarterback rankings, I wrote about why that shouldn’t be surprising at all for an aging QB coming off a major injury.
🏈 Will Passing Still Be King in 2024? - In the battle of efficiency between passing and rushing, the aerial game has reigned supreme since the late 1970s. But in an odd twist, the run has drawn fairly even with the pass over the past two NFL seasons. (Perhaps, not coincidentally, this came as scoring has dropped leaguewide.) Will that trend continue in 2024 or will things go back to normal with passing dominance?
⚾ Baseball Bytes: Scott Servais, Jerry Dipoto and the Foibles of 54 Percent - With the Seattle Mariners clinging to playoff odds in the teens (despite being much higher earlier in the year) and tracking to barely finish over .500, I couldn’t help but think back to GM Jerry Dipoto’s comments about only aiming to win 54 percent of the time — and the kind of downside risk that comes with aiming for OK-but-not-great.
🏀 WNBA rookie rankings: Reese, Clark battle for No. 1 spot - Caitlin Clark has finally pulled ahead of the other rookies in Estimated RAPTOR wins… but is that enough to be No. 1 in our composite of all the advanced value metrics? (Note: After Friday night, Clark pulled ahead of Reese in the composite for the first time this season.)