There is just about two weeks left of the 2009 MLB regular season. Most teams have played 149 or 150 games, leaving only 12  games left on the schedule to make a run for the playoffs. With only 4 playoff spots for each league, it is tough to make a move this late. We’ve seen it in the past with teams like Houston and Colorado who win something like 20 of their last 21 games and end up in the playoffs. Could it happen again in 2009?

Let’s take a look at the current division leaders:

AL East – New York Yankees
AL Central – Detroit Tigers
AL West – Los Angeles Angels

NL East – Philadelphia Phillies
NL Central – St. Louis Cardinals
NL West – Los Angeles Dodgers

AL WC Leader – Boston Red Sox
NL WC Leader – Colorado Rockies

Of the current division leaders, the closest races are in the NL West with the Dodgers and Rockies, and the AL Central with the Tigers and Twins. Unless there is a collapse for all ages, the Yankees and Red Sox will be in the playoffs. Boston trails New York by 5 games in the division, so it’s not likely they’ll pass the Yankees there but the Wild Card should be theirs.

In the AL Central, the Tigers are only up by 3 games. If the Twins want to make the playoffs, they’ll have to dethrone the Tigers. With 12 games left, it’s quite possible… especially considering the Twins and Tigers still have to play a 4-game series next week.

In the National League, it’s likely the Dodgers will win the West, but Colorado only trails by 5 games. The Dodgers and Rockies finish the 2009 season with a 3-game series in LA. If the Dodgers stumble this week, the West could come down to the final three games. Either way, both teams should be a lock for the playoffs.

Anything can happen in the final two weeks of the season. There are still 17 teams with a mathematical chance of making the playoffs. We’ve seen weird things happen in the past so do you think a surprise team will win something like 11 of their last 13 games and sneak into the playoffs? Maybe the Giants or the Marlins?

Did you struggle in the opening week of Fantasy Football last Sunday? That’s probably because you didn’t have my list of sleepers, top performers and who to sit in front of you. I don’t like to toot my own horn, but I was the top scorer in our Fantasy Football league last week. So take my advice and ride these players to the top of your league standing.

Sleepers:
QB – Brett Favre – Facing the Lion who Drew Brees threw 6 TD’s against last week. Not to mention, 0-18 last 18 games.

WR – Laurent Robinson – Strong week 1 after a strong preseason, in his 3rd year which is widely regarded as the breakout year for WR’s…. look out for this guy as long as his QB can be at least respectable, he is targeted frequently. This is the only one I’m iffy about. Only start him if you have no other options.

RB: Fred Jackson – Looked really good as an all purpose back running and catching the ball last week vs a good NE Patriot’s defense. Start Jackson until week3 when Bills #1 back Lynch comes back.

TE – Todd Heap – Faces San Diego who’s defense should be improved with the return of Shawne Merriman…onlyt thing is the just can’t seem to guard TE’s. They gave up over 90 yards last week to Zach Miller of Oakland which does not have a good passing offense around inaccurate QB JaMarcus Russel. Start Todd Heap, TRUST ME!

Who To Sit –

QB – Donovan Mcnabb – Do not wait for Andy Reid to make a decision, Mcnabb will not play on Sunday…pick up an extra QB if you have to and set your starting line ups not to include him now.

RB – Pierre Thomas – I think his knee is giving him more problems than we know about, owners should start Mike bell instead who looked really good last week besides a fumble.

K – Kris Brown – Brown who was ranked in the preseason as a top 5 kicker was the most dropped player in Yahoo leagues last week after a terrible 1 point performance in most leagues. Nuff’ said!!! (Yeah I had him in one of my leagues)

DE – Dallas – They let Tampa Bay run all over them in the first half, expect more of the same except all game vs NY Giants.

Top Performers –

QB – Aaron Rodgers – The obvious pick would be Drew Brees every week but I like Rodgers vs a suspect Bengal pass defense.

WR- Larry Fitzgerald – Reggie Wayne was the top WR last week vs the same Jacksonville defense Larry F. will face this week, expect Larry to capitalize as he always does.

RB – Adrian Peterson – Facing 0-18 Detroit who just let a backup…Mike Bell…run all of them for 143 yards. I wouldn’t be surprised by a 200 yard game from “All Day”.

DE- Washington Redskins – Facing St Louis who couldn’t even get on the board last week. Expect a lot of man on man action with Haynesworth on top of Bulger all game.

Rookie of the week:

WR – Percy Harvin – I like Percy to continue his strong start to the season vs a terrible Detroit pass defense. Seems to be good ol’ #4 Bret Favre’s go to guy so far this season

One Week 3 college football game is already wrapped up. The Miami Hurricanes took care of business last night with a 33-17 victory over No. 14 Georgia Tech. There is a lot of talk in the sports world about Miami and how they are on their way back to national prominence. There are a few games this weekend that catch my eye. Let’s take a look at who is playing and my final score predictions.

The biggest game of the week is not a matchup between two Top 10 teams like last week’s USC vs. OSU game. This week we have a good ole SEC rivalry game: unranked Tennessee Volunteers vs. No.1 Florida Gators. Tennessee doesn’t have the firepower on offense or speed on defense that the Gators have, but Lane Kiffin has made a big deal of this game during the offseason so you know the Gators will be ready for it, just like they were ready for UGA in 2008. CBS picked this game up so the entire nation will get a chance to see what unfolds in The Swamp.

Another game I’m looking forward to is Texas Tech vs. No. 2 Texas. The Red Raiders don’t have Graham Harrell or Michael Crabtree anymore, and in fact, they aren’t even ranked heading into this game… but that doesn’t mean the Longhorns aren’t out for vengeance. You can guarantee they remember that last second touchdown that handed them defeat in 2008 and cost the Longhorns an opportunity to play in the national championship.

So let’s take a look at my predictions for some of the weekend’s games:

Tennessee 10 – Florida 56
Texas Tech 14 – Texas 49
Nebraska 31 – Virginia Tech 21
Ohio State 17 – Toledo 14
Florida State 20 – BYU 35

What are your predictions for this weekend’s big games? Post a comment below and let me know.

Sticking with the fantasy football theme this week… let’s turn our attention to the subject of several of our past videos: The Corporate Gangsters. The Gangsters were on the wrong end of a Week 1 fantasy beat down. He put up only 45 points! That has to be some sort of record. Check out this video we shot of Dave C. talking about his team and the moves he made to get things on the right path for Week 2.

In this segment, Fantasy Football newbie Dave from IT recaps his results from last week’s action and weighs in on his strategy for the upcoming days. Having won his round last week, Dave’s mulling over changing his offensive players including swapping out his quarterback for another big-name QB who had an unusually good weekend. Our own stats guru, Zeke even throw his 2 cents into the fray.

How would you advise David M. ?

Remember that “friendly wager” over the outcome of the fantasy football season? Well, things got off to a great start for Andrew as Zeke beat Chancel in the opening week thanks to Drew Brees and his six touchdown passes! Check out Zeke and Chancel recap the NFL’s opening week and several of the Football Fanatics fantasy football matchups.

By now you should know that we take fantasy football very seriously at Football Fanatics. No one comes out of the womb with a wealth of football knowledge already consumed in the back of their brain … well, maybe Zeke did, he’s our resident guru and human sports almanac. Most of us learn the game over time. We watch games, become familiar with players and remember key events and statistics over the years.

At some point, we all joined our first Fantasy Football league. Maybe you started in 1995 or 2001? Well David M. (part of the IT team) is playing fantasy football for the first time ever this season! In fact, before the 2008 season he didn’t know much about football at all. Here’s a quick video of David talking about his newly drafted fantasy team and his expectations for the year.

Side note: David won his week 1 Fantasy match-up by like 30 points.