World Series 2025 prediction update

On the face of it my World Series forecast is currently showing 50% accuracy, but I’d point out that I got the American League side of the bracket completely right, and I spotted that the Dodgers would have some trouble getting past the Phillies, so I think I can claim something more like 75%.

Anyway I need to revise my pick for the Championship. If one believes the LA press it’s looking more like a coronation than a contest, but I wouldn’t be much of a Giants fan if I backed the Dodgers, and the Blue Jays do have home field advantage, so I’m going with Toronto in seven games.

World Series 2025 prediction

Although I have some fond memories associated with attending baseball games, I had, until this year, experienced the actual matches as a little dull. That changed over the summer though, as I found myself rather obsessively following the fortunes of the San Francisco Giants, aided by the discovery that I could stream live commentary of their games, courtesy of Northern California sports station KNBR. Radio seems like the perfect medium for baseball; one can selectively tune in to the moments when something is happening, and get on with another activity during the quieter spells.

Even paying partial attention I was able to pick up on much more of the dynamics of the sport, and develop an appreciation of the nuances of which I had been hitherto unaware, and as the months rolled by I began to feel more invested in the results, and to have increasingly strong opinions on starting pitchers, situational hitting, and the like.

Of course living several time zones away meant that I mainly listened to the Giants’ east coast fixtures, or afternoon matches at Oracle Park, though I did stay up all night a few times to follow games that seemed particularly important, and I always checked the other scores first thing in the morning. I was rewarded with quite the rollercoaster of emotion; a bright start, a prolonged skid after the All-Star break, a disappointing trade deadline, a late rally that briefly promised a playoff berth before running out of gas as September drew to a close, all culminating in a decidedly mediocre .500 regular season record.

Anyway, now that I can at least affect to understand terms like ERA and SLG, I feel I should offer a postseason forecast.

In the National League, the Dodgers look strongest on offence and starting pitching, but their bullpen is shaky, so I think they might struggle to get past the Phillies. In the other half of the draw I fancy the Brewers over the Cubs, but I can’t see either of them winning the NLCS

I paid a bit less attention to the American League over the regular season, so this prediction is more tentative, but I think the ALCS will be between the Blue Jays and the Mariners, with the former coming out on top.

So, Phillies and Blue Jays for the World Series. And the winner? Philadelphia.

Go Birds

I finally managed to come up with an accurate sports prediction, though I have to admit that backing the Eagles to beat the Chiefs wasn’t too much of a stretch, if one looked at the actual numbers rather than buying in to the “invincible Mahomes” narrative.

Superbowl LIX prediction

I must admit that I rather lost interest in the NFL last month, as my adopted team stumbled towards the end of a disappointing season, but I have paid enough attention to have an opinion on who will win the final game tonight; Philadelphia.

Euro 2024 final prediction

OK, I’ll take one more shot at getting this right; Spain to win.

Euro 2024 update

Well, my tip of Germany to win Euro 2024 hasn’t worked out, though in my defence I’d note that they did run Spain, the form team of the tournament so far, pretty close, and a more favourable draw might have seen them go further.

Anyway, the evidence would seem to suggest that I should switch my prediction to Spain, but that’s too simple, so I’m going to go with France, who have had the most luck so far, which is often the decisive factor in these sort of fine-margin games.

Euro 2024 prediction

The tournament kicks off tomorrow, so, buoyed by my near-success with the Superbowl, I’m going to stick my neck out and back Germany to win Euro 2024.

It’s true that the last time I staked my reputation as a sports guru on Teutonic triumph they let me down badly, but this year they seem to be hitting good form at just the right moment, and when you add in home advantage they look to be unstoppable. France, Portugal, and perhaps even England, might give them some problems, but all things considered I’m confident that it will be Ilkay Gundogan who’ll be lifting the cup on the 14th of July.

Superbowl LVIII review

So it turns out that San Francisco didn’t need any bad luck from us to lose the game; they were able to fuck it all up entirely on their own.

To be fair, there’s no great dishonour in losing to a side as useful as Kansas City, but the 49ers had multiple chances to put the match beyond even Mahomes’ ability to stage a last-minute comeback.

That’s my deeply uninformed opinion anyhow, possibly not enhanced by sleep deprivation, as I stayed up to an ungodly hour to catch the game live. It was the first time I’d watched a full American football match for years, and I have to admit that, even with the high stakes, I found it a bit dull. I guess a true aficionado might have appreciated the efficiency of the defensive play, but it was too stop-start for me. My experience of US sports generally is that they are best watched in company, so there is some distraction when things get slow on the field, but I don’t really know anyone else who has more than a passing interest in anything other than Association football, so I might have to stick to just reading the match reports from now on.