This ranges anywhere from extreme heat, rain delays, snow storms and everywhere in between. If you need parts or accessories for your karting sports just visit streeter basic stationary kart stand. While Mother Nature always has a trick up her sleeve, these events just stick out to me.If you’re planning to travel on a beach and want some adventure just visit fins for snorkeling.

With some research involved, here are some memorable events where the weather has played a role in determining the outcome.

NFL December 31, 1967

The game known as the “Ice Bowl” takes the cake for the coldest NFL game of all-time. The Dallas Cowboys made their way up to Green Bay to face-off against the Packers. The temperature during the game was a high of -13 Fahrenheit and a Windchill of -48.

While the game named the “Freezer Bowl” between the Charges and the Bengals had the lower windchill of -59 recorded, the high was only -9. The “Ice Bowl” still hauls in the trophy for the coldest game in NFL history.

MLB August 12, 1990

The Rangers and White Sox were scheduled to play a matinee against the team from Texas and never got the game started. Why is that you may ask? Major League Baseball postponed the game after a rain delay of seven hours and 23 minutes. While White Sox Owner Jerry Reinsdorf said “the weather man kept saying it’d stop.” No, Jerry, it did not stop. Over an inch and a half of rain fell throughout the course of the day.

NFL December 31, 1998

Mike Ditka and his Chicago Bears played host to his former defensive coordinator and head coach at the time Buddy Ryan and his Philadelphia Eagles in this late season clash.

This game looked like the kind game that you would hear about in a ghost story. In a game coined as the “Fog Bowl”, visibility during the game off the shores of Lake Michigan was just over 15 yards. While Eagles quarter back Randall Cunningham did throw for 407 yards, his team could not find the end zone. The Bears needed up beating the Eagles 20-12.

NFL December 8, 2013

The Lions and the Eagles played in a snowstorm in Philadelphia for this week 14 contest.

LeSean McCoy rushed for 217 yards and two touchdowns as over eight inches of snow fell from pregame warmups all the way through the end of the game. The Eagles were down 6-14 heading into the fourth quarter and stormed back by scoring 28 points in the last frame to move to 8-5 on the regular season.

The Open Championship 2015

As a caddie, I’ve been through some downpours, incredibly hot and humid weather and some wicked wind. So windy that you could not reach the green of a par three.

Watching this British Open was a complete mixed bag of weather. A rain delay derailed the second round of play after the second group teed off. The last group of the day teed off at 7:27 p.m. Play would later be suspended, as expected, due to darkness.

After that debacle, players got back on the course the next day only to even windier conditions than the day before. Players had their ball blown off the green or had their ball oscillating on the green once they had marked it and addressed it. This brings in a complicated rule into play as the USGA states. 

While all sports have had their fair share of weather related debacles, these stood out to me for obvious reasons. While no fan likes a delay or anything to hinder their viewing of the game, the weather helps make the event even more memorable.

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Final Standings from the AL West in 2011:
1. Texas Rangers (96-66)
2. LA Angels (86-76)
3. Oakland Athletics (74-88)
4. Seattle Mariners (67-95)

Team Break-Downs:

#4. Seattle Mariners (67-95)
Losses: SP Michael Pineda, RP George Sherrill, P Jose Campos
Additions: C. Jesus Montero, SP Hector Noesi

The Mariners had an interesting offseason in the trade department. One of the top young pitchers in 2011 was Michael Pineda and it appeared that they would be able to field a solid 1-2 punch with 2010 Cy Young winner, “King” Felix Hernandez and Pineda, but the Yankees came calling, needing starting pitching. The Mariners jumped at the chance, with the Yankees dangling their top prospect in catcher, Jesus Montero. The trade put the Yankees in a better position to compete for a World Series, and many are skeptical as to where that puts the Mariners. Montero is one of the top catching prospects in MLB and he should prove to be impactful almost immediately, learning from veteran Miguel Olivo. The Mariners have talent, there is no question about that in youngsters at the corners in Justin Smoak, who they acquired from the Rangers last year, and rookie Kyle Seager at third who only played 53 games in 2011. Once Montero becomes the everyday catcher, the only player over 30 years old will be veteran, future hall-of-famer Ichiro Suzuki at 38. The Mariners will just look to continue the development of a team who had some bright spots last year, among the dismal record. The biggest issue will probably be that the division got even tougher.

#3. Oakland Athletics (74-88)
Losses: SP Gio Gonzalez, RP Andrew Bailey, OF Ryan Sweeney, SP Craig Breslow
Addition: OF Jonny Gomes, OF Yoenis Cespedes, OF Josh Reddick, SP Tom Milone, SP Jarrod Parker, OF Manny Ramirez

The Oakland Athletics were the final team of the 2011-2012 offseason to sign a big name “free-agent” in Yoenis Cespedes for $36 Million over 4 years. The A’s also did the unthinkable in the offseason and went out on a limb to sign Manny Ramirez, the veteran slugger. Man-Ram will miss the first 50 games for his second positive drug test, but sources are saying that Manny is in good condition, and the shortened season after the suspension will benefit him. The Hollywood film gave the public an inside look at Bill Beane and his tactics using sabermetrics, and this season will be no different for Beane. In typical A’s fashion, he allowed a budding young superstar in Gio Gonzalez go to the Nationals, with potential prospects coming in for his staff to develop. The story in Oakland will revolve around the youngsters around the infield this year. Jemile weeks (brother of Brewers 2B Rickie) could have a big impact on the base pads, and they will need to have 1B Brandon Allen and 3B Scott Sizemore to bounce back from injuries from last year and continue on their progression. The A’s will struggle, much like the Mariners because of the development and dynamic around the AL West in Anaheim and Arlington.

#2 Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (86-76)
Losses: SP Scott Kazmir,
Additions: SP C.J. Wilson, 1B Albert Pujols, C Chris Iannetta

The Angels are the most improved team in the offseason and there really is no debate because they are really the only organization that improved all aspects of the game with the additions of Pujols and Wilson. The rotation will be one of the best in baseball with Weaver, Haren, Wilson, and Ervin Santana, all with ERA’s last season under 3.4. Those starters combined with the young arm out of the University of Oklahoma, Garret Richards. Their pitching will be better, and their hitting should be better as well. The only real questions on the offensive side for the Angels is whether Vernon Wells(33) and Torii Hunter(36) can continue to play at a high level, even though they are getting older. The Angels are in a great position to make a huge move at the trade deadline because of how deep they are at multiple positions. The DH spot for instance has budding stars Kendry Morales and Mark Trumbo in front of veteran, Bobby Abreu. The CF spot has Peter Bourjos on the preseason depth chart, but top prospect, Mike Trout could make a splash this season for the Angels or for another team at the break. The Angels are the most improved team in the division via the free agent wire, but will it be enough to make them the team to beat in the division, after losing the race by 10 games last year.

#1 Texas Rangers (96-66)
Losses: SP C.J. WIlson
Additions: SP Yu Darvish, CL Joe Nathan

Although the Rangers lost Wilson to the Angels in the offseason, they did add Japanese phenom Yu Darvish. The 25 year old Darvish towers at 6’5 and weights in at 215, much bigger than Daisuke Matsuzaka, who many compare his to. The Rangers hitting will be present in 2012 because they have an incredible line-up filled with all-star caliber players and even a couple MVP contenders. Top to bottom they have proven hitters in Michael Young, Ian Kinsler, Nelson Cruz, Adrian Beltre, Mike Napoli, Josh Hamilton and Elvis Andrus. All of those players play a different role and fit together well, which creates a tough team to compete against because there is not break for pitchers. The biggest questions for the Rangers will be when they are in the field. The mound will be an interesting storyline all year for Texas. Yu Darvish and Neftali Feliz are the newcomers to the starting rotation (Feliz moving up from the bullpen), and a lot of the success of this staff will hinge on the success of these two guys immediately. Colby Lewis will be the seasoned veteran, leading a staff with youngsters and they will need to perform well. The Rangers are in a nice spot though because they can create enough run support for the starters to get beat up once in a while, but if it happens repeatedly, they are going to struggle. Another story that will surround the Rangers all season long is OF Josh Hamilton’s relapse over the offseason with alcohol. 2012 is a contract year for the star and there will be all kinds of storylines surrounding his new contract and relapse. Ron Washington and Nolan Ryan will have to handle the situation with care and make sure distraction are minimal.

Division Outlook:
There is no debate that this division has two of the best teams in the American League and Baseball. The Angels and Rangers are going to run away with this division, but who wins? Both teams have quality line-ups. The Angels have proven pitchers, but Texas has a lot of young talent and if a couple questions are answered for them with Darvish and Feliz, they should have a great rotation too. Both have great coaches in Ron Washington and Mike Scioscia and each has the “it” factor with team chemistry. The results will be fun to watch.
Another possibly interesting development in the West is the young talent on the Mariners and A’s. Each squad possesses a plethora of youngsters that could make an impact, this season or in the future. Some names off these two teams that could be potential all-stars are 2B Weeks from the A’s who should be able to retain a .300+ BA with 35+ steals and a bunch of runs scores, Jesus Montero as a DH or Catcher for the Mariners as well as Justin Smoak at 1B. These two teams are stacked with players with lots of upside and could be producing some trade bait for the deadline.

My “Early” Prediction:
1. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (106-56)
2. Texas Rangers (100-62)
3. Oakland Athletics (75-87)
4. Seattle Mariners (67-95)

Reasoning:
The Mariners and Athletics are going to be fun to watch because of the young talent, but wins will not happen. The A’s are set up to get more wins this year than the Mariners because of the development that their staff is able to accomplish throughout the season. They have a couple pitchers like Dallas Braden, Brandon McCarthy, and Brett Anderson who can shine in a system like Bill Beane’s, but the fact of the matter is that the A’s and Mariners each play 36 games against the Angels and Rangers, with another handful of games against the Yankees, Red Sox, Tigers and Rays. This will ultimately be death for them trying to win a division that has the best chance of two teams winning 100 games this year.
The Rangers and Angels will both win 100 games and both teams will get into the playoffs with or without a 5th team expansion. The dynamic is simple. The majority will tell you that they won’t because of the AL East, but the fact of the matter is that the bottom of this division is better than that of the AL East (which we will elaborate on in the AL East Preview Post in a couple weeks). The Rangers and Angels should each, realistically win 28 or more games of the 36 they play in the division not against each other. They will more than likely split, or at least be close to a split when they play each other. The AL Central is extremely down this year unless the Indians or White Sox surprise, so they should be able to win the majority of the games against those teams, as well as the AL East because they match up well with all the teams. Both of these teams have the ability to win every season series that they will play on their schedule.
The reason that I project the Angels to win the division is strictly because of the lack of questions. The Angels do not have any nagging areas that could potentially go wrong very quickly. The Ranger have Yu Darvish, who could not adapt to MLB right away, or adapt and then falter because of the longer season down the stretch. Many times with relievers converting to starters, as Neftali Feliz is doing, things can go wrong. With The names on the rotation do not particularly pop, and even though they play really well together, the Angels have a better team. Each of Anaheim’s top 4 pitchers has a chance to win 15 games, with an incredible ERA. Haren and Weaver could both be in the Cy Young race at seasons end because their winning percentage and totals will be up due to increased run support. The Angels will be the best team in this division in the regular season, but both will make the playoffs. Once October hits though, all bets are off and each of these teams can make a run.

The post MLB Preview: American League West appeared first on KRUI Radio.

ALDS Series 1: Rangers vs. Rays
Series Begins Friday, September 30
4:07 pm on TBS

It’s deja vu all over again between these two teams. The Rays and Rangers matched up last season in the ALDS where the Rangers, on the arm of Cliff Lee dominated the Rays, taking the series 3-2 and ultimately getting to the World Series, only to come up short against Lincecum and the pitching of the Giants.  Joe Maddon has elected to start Matt Moore in game 1 of this series.  This will be Moore’s second start as a Major Leaguer.  Yes, I said SECOND career start.  In his first start he sparkled against the Yankees, winning the game.  The rookie will face off against C.J. Wilson who has the number of the big hitters for the Rays.  Evan Longoria and B.J. Upton are a combined 3-27 against him with 13 strikeouts.  This first match-up could prove to be a big momentum booster for the Rangers.  After Moore/Wilson, we will see James Shield for the Rays and Derek Holland for the Rangers.  Holland went 1-0 against the Rays this season, but the Rays did hit him well, bringing his ERA up to a 5.84 this season against the Rays.  After Saturdays’ games neither team has established a for sure starter.  One would assume that the Rays will throw David Price off short rest, or Jeremy Hellickson off even shorter rest.  Either of these guys is a good option for them to face off against what should be Colby Lewis and Matt Harrison who respectively have had solid seasons.  The Rangers have Alexi Ogando on reserve here as well to come in if needed, but Ron Washington could limit Ogando’s work in the postseason, because Ogando is not used to throwing this many innings, as he only threw 72 1/3 innings last season compared to his 169 2/3.  The series will come down to which teams hitting can perform better.  The scale tends to tip towards the Rangers in the hitting categories, because of the way they are able to drive in runs and consistently hit for average, as well as power, but the Rays can also be extremely potent and should be able to manufacture runs against Texas.  This series could fly under the radar as one of the better match-ups in the playoffs this season, but that isn’t anything new to these two teams.  They are used to nobody talking about them, but look who’s talking now.

–By Tyler Tjelmeland

ALDS Series 2: Yankees vs. Tigers
Series Begins Friday, September 30
7:37 pm on TBS

This match-up is one of the more intriguing match-ups in recent memory in playoff baseball.  The Detroit Tigers have a great 1-2 pitching punch with Verlander and Valverde.  The Yankees grabbed home field advantage so this game will feature “new” Yankees Stadium and should be a fun one for those left handed bats.  It was extremely important for the Yanks to lock up the advantage for Granderson, Tex, and Nick Swisher to showcase that left-handed power on the Yankees side.  The Tigers will throw ace Justin Verlander and the Yankees will throw C.C. Sabathia in game one, in what should prove to be an awesome match-up.  The rotation is set-up very nicely for the Tigers, throwing Verlander against C.C. could be the best method, because beating Sabathia is the game you absolutely need.  They need to dictate the tempo of the series, and getting an early win in game 1, in New York would give the Tigers the best chance to succeed in these playoffs.  The Yankees not surprisingly dropped two starters in A.J Burnett and Bartolo Colon (completely off the postseason roster) and will throw a 3 man rotation with Sabathia, Ivan Nova, and Freddy Garcia, with 8 pitchers in the bullpen, including Burnett and Phil Hughes.  The Tigers will throw Verlander in game 1 and then red-hot Doug Fister is the projected starter in game 2.  Fister went 7-0 in his last 8 starts with an unprecedented 0.65 ERA.  After Fister, the slider chucking Max Scherzer will be slated against Garcia in game 3.  The pitching match-ups favor the Tigers and that could prove to be a tough obstacle for the Yankees to overcome, but hey, it’s the Bronx Bombers, with home-field advantage. Should be an awesome series!

-By Tyler Tjelmeland

NLDS Series 1: Brewers vs. Diamondbacks
Series Begins Saturday, October 1^st
1:07 pm on TBS

Both the Brewers and Diamondbacks went to the wire in a fight for home field advantage in the first round. The Brewers won
that battle and will now host Arizona at Miller Park for games one and two. The Brewers had to use Zach Greinke to secure home field, so Yovani Gallardo will start game one on Saturday. The D-Backs have announced that their Cy Young Award candidate, Ian Kennedy, will be on the mound in the opener. The Brewers will send Zach Greinke to the mound on short rest in game two and Shaun Marcum has game three. The Diamondbacks have yet to announce the rest of their rotation. Arizona is a young team with little postseason experience while the Brewers are determined to win before they likely lose slugger Price Fielder to free agency. The Diamondbacks won the season series with the Brewers four games to three, getting two of those wins at Miller Park. However, October baseball in Milwaukee is a whole different atmosphere when the Brewers close the roof and pack the place with over 41,000 fans. This should play out to be an exciting series and has a good chance of going all five games.   –By Jordan Kabialis

Predictions:

Jordan Kabialis: Phillies in 4 games

Tyler Tjelmeland: Phillies in 4 games

Adam Gassensmith: Phillies in 4 games

Stephen McDonald: Phillies in 3 games

Predictions:

Jordan Kabialis: Phillies vs. Brewers, Phillies in 6

Tyler Tjelmeland: Phillies vs. Brewers, Phillies in 6

Adam Gassensmith: Phillies vs. Brewers, Brewers in 7

Stephen McDonald: Phillies vs. Brewers, Phillies in 6

– National League Playoff Picture

– American League Playoff Picture

ALDS, NLDS, ALCS, NLCS, WorldSeries photos courtesy of MLB.com

The post MLB Playoff Predictions appeared first on KRUI Radio.