When any team reaches the midway point of the season, they’re AT THE CROSSROADS of their season! Will their team get better, hold onto their current pace, drop or fade in the 2nd half. Take a look at the CROSSROADS for some teams-past & present.
… In the CROSS ROADS of the Indianapolis 500, the leader at the halfway point (lap 100) has gone on to win the race just 41 times out of 103 races, according to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This represents a 39.8% success rate.
… The CROSS ROADS of the MLB season’s halfway point has won the World Series approximately 30-40% of the time. This means that, on average, the team leading at the All-Star break with the most wins has won the World Series roughly once every 2.5 to 3.3 seasons.
…Masyn Winn reaches a CROSS ROADS when he’s on base. Winn has stolen 4 bases in ’25 but has been thrown out 5 times! 4 for 9 – is it worth the try? It’s his (or the Cardinals) CROSS ROADS to make that decision to have him attempt to steal a base. It’s always a CROSS ROAD! … Mizzou has decided to go “heavy” on the home games in 2025 with 8 home games including the first 6 of the year. That heavy home schedule includes several “cup cakes”. From my view, it really doesn’t prepare the coach or the team for the pressure packed games against top-flight opponents that come in SEC competition. Sure, it’s good to pile up the wins and guarantee a bowl bid but what about preparing the team for a top flight opponent? You can’t simulate the speed or skill of a top flight opponent in practice or against over-matched teams. Further, Mizzou doesn’t have it’s first road game until game 7!!! It appears to me that MU is “shooting for” a top 10 rating during those early weeks of the season. But….will the experience against weaker teams prepare them for their tough SEC games?
…In the history of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament only 7 teams of the 20 teams that entered the NCAA tournament undefeated have succeeded past the CROSS ROADS on to win the playoffs undefeated. These undefeated teams are: San Francisco (1956), North Carolina (1957), UCLA (1964, 1967, 1972, 1973), and Indiana (1976). While not going undefeated in all these seasons, UCLA did win NCAA titles in: 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, and 1995. It’s 11 undefeated seasons for UCLA!! Isn’t that unbelievable? HC John Wooden won the title with a whole-court pressing teams and then won it with dominant post-players. Talk about a coach adapting to his talent!!! WOW!! For those of you who are too young to have seen the games, Wooden sat on his chair throughout the entire game with the program folded up in his hand. He NEVER got up, never called a time out or NEVER yelled at his players. It was his contention that he’d prepared the team for every situation and it wasn’t necessary to repeat it to them if he had prepared them properly!! Boy….I guess the fans in the 2nd row actually got to see the game! I can’t say too much….I didn’t sit too long on the bench either 😊
…Which NFL teams began their season 0-3, then they reached a CROSS ROADS in their play and reached the playoffs? Only 5 teams have accomplished this feat:
1981 New York Jets: Started 0-3, finished 10-5-1.
1992 San Diego Chargers: Started 0-4, finished 11-5.
1995 Detroit Lions: Started 0-3, finished 10-6.
1998 Buffalo Bills: Started 0-3, finished 10-6.
2018 Houston Texans: Started 0-3, finished 11-5.
…On the negative side of the CROSSROADS….The St. Louis Cardinals, now the Arizona Cardinals, began their season with 3 consecutive losses 18 times since joining the NFL in 1920! Further, they didn’t reach the playoffs in any of those seasons!!
….In the MLB here in 2025, we’re just slightly past the midway point which is the CROSS ROADS of the season according to some fans and some MLB teams. The Cardinals have gone through several streaks his season. In order (from my view streaks doesn’t begin until you reach 3 games in a row). In CHRONILOGICAL order…Cards streaks in 2025 are: 3-wins; 4 losses; 5 losses; 3 wins; 3 wins; 6 losses, 5 wins, 3 wins, 4 losses! WOW That’s 31 of their 48 wins have been in “streaks”. Some, maybe most of it, is determined by the caliber of the opposition. A “Big Ace” on the staff could halt some of these streaks but the Cardinals can’t have Sonny Gray on the mound every time a losing streak occurs! The multiple 3 game losing streaks make the CROSSROADS of having a real solid season difficult.
…The Cardinals seemed to have reached the CROSSROADS with Miles Mikolas & Eric Fedde. The Cardinals are now a combined 8-15 in games started by Mikolas and Fedde this season. Fedde hasn’t won a decision since June 19. Fedde has given up 17 earned runs in his last 3 outings…OUCH! He holds an ugly 4.79 ERA for 2025. Mikolas had a magnificent start a couple days ago. He gave up only 2 hits in 5 2/3 innings. Prior to that in 2 starts, he’d given up 14 runs! UGH! This is really tough for the Birds to swallow. These 2 starters were thought of as the #2 & #3 starter for the Cards by MLB observers early in the year. The Cards management thought so too. According to BetMGM and Spotrac.com the Cards signed Mikolas to a $17.7m (ish) salary for 2025 and Fedde to a $7.5m salary. That $25m expense for this pair of starters is close to 19% of the total team salary! GULP! They HAVE to produce!!
…On the other side of the mound, I must admit that Sonny Gray has been a terrific ace for the Redbirds thus far in 2025. He holds a 9-3 record with 113 strikeouts in 105 innings. He’s the ACE by far in 2025. We’ll expect the same for Gray in 2026 when his salary jumps up to $35m!! Will that drive the Cardinals to trading him to a contender this year or over the winter?
…Hoping to make the CROSSROADS to the MLB soon are 3 of the Cardinals top pitching prospects. Ranked #2 is RHP, Quin Mathews, #3 is RHP Tink Hence, #6 LHP Cooper Hjerpe. Hjerpe has been up already for the Cards. I don’t like his arm angle in his delivery and I don’t think he’ll ever really “make it”. The #11 prospect is Michael McGreevy. He has shined the most on the mound in his short work in the MLB. He has a 1.96 ERA in 4 appearances, 3 of them starts. Why are we waiting?.. OOPs… why are we holding these players back? Maybe because…If they are on the MLB roster for 172 days on the active roster, it “counts’ as an MLB year. If 171 days, it does not count as a full year. Keep in mind, that these “days of service” carry over from one season to the next.
…Time to think about the CROSSROADS of sports seasons. Shortly, the St Louis U Women’s Soccer team will open up their 2025 season. If you’ve forgotten, the 2024 SLU Womens Soccer team (15-2-6) reached the NCAA Tournament-Semi-Final round game. It was a tight, exciting game but a disappointing game for the Lady Billikens who fell to USC (So California) 4-3 in overtime!! Whenever you reach the National Semifinals, it’s been a good year. The SLU team is shooting for that goal again in 2025.
…It’s time to dribble over the CROSSROADS to Mizzou Mens basketball. The Tigers have completed their 25-26 schedule. It is an upgrade!! 19 of their 31 game schedule is against teams that made the NCAA tournament last year and 9 of them are home games! There are a couple cupcakes as every school seems to do on the schedule. But, that’s how it’s played these days. A pair of neutral-site rivalry, non-conference games: 1) the Border War Game in Kansas City this year against Kansas (Dec. 7). 2) The Braggin’ Rights Game in St. Louis against Illinois (Dec. 22) are attractive non-league opponents. Both border our state and both generally have good, solid teams. Both teams border Missouri so home-pride emotion takes a place on those games. In 24-25 season, the Tigers defeated 3 top-five schools in the same year for the first time since 1988-89, while earning their second bid in three years to the NCAA Tourney and finishing 6th in the SEC. From my view, the most attractive non-league opponent (outside of the local rivalries-KU & Illinois, for the Tigers is Tuesday, Dec 2 to face Notre Dame in the ACC/SEC Challenge.
…Somehow, MLB players reach a CROSS ROAD at some point in their carer. They become better for some reason or from some they “bottom out” at a lower level. A Classic Case is former Cardinal, Carson Kelly. He played with the Cards for 3 years. He really struggled at the plate as he hit .154, .174, .114 in his 3 years with the Cards. Then he was moved to Arizona. Now he only played in 63 Cardinal games total in those 3 years so maybe it’s not a large enough sample size. Then, he moved on to 5 years with Arizona. Followed by the Tigers for 2 years & Rangers for a single year and finally landed in Chicago as a Cub this year. All of a sudden….This is his best year at the plate… he’s batting .268, it’s far above his lifetime average of .229!! Good for him…it’s been a long, long ride for him to reach those heights.
…Let’s wrap up by looking at some fantastic MLB hitting stats currently. For some, it’s a real CROSS ROADS in their career. But….not in this case…. I have to point out the stats of Aaron Judge for 2025! They are really incredible! He’s first in the Major leagues in several categories—he has the most HITS(122- at that rate, he’d finish 2025 with 213 hits), Runs Scored (83), Average (.339), HR (34), 3rd in Walks (67), 1st in OBP (.463), Slugging %-.729 (1st), 1st in OPS 1.192!! WOW!! Any doubt about the AL-MVP award in 2025?
…The MLB has passed THEIR CROSSROAD with respect to electronic ball/strikes. Surprisingly, it will used during the 2025 All-Star Game! This seems like a very strange place to me to “begin a new process and showcase it immediately to the fans.” Surely, there will be some “kinks” in the 1st time process. Why not use it for the 1st time in a regular season game between 2 non-contenders for a few games? Oh well…it’s a step forward. The sooner the better!
…Thanks for taking your time to read this Buzz-CROSS ROADS. YOUR thoughts are always invited. You don’t have to comment on every topic, nor do you have to agree (although that’s nice to hear too 😊) Send via email or put on my Facebook page
Thanks! Bob
bobryansportsblog 