August 31, 2026
Phillies
The Phillies continue on their west coast road trip with games against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Aaron Nola, Jesus Luzardo, and Andrew Painter are set as the starting rotation for the team. The Phillies started this trip losing the first two games to the Seattle Mariners before winning the final game of the set, then springboarded that to a sweep over the Los Angeles Angels. During the trip Kyle Schwarber hit his 40th home run of the season. But it was Edmundo Sosa who starred for the team in crucial situations. More on that later. Zack Wheeler had a tough outing against the Mariners pitching just 4 innings giving up 9 earned runs on 8 hits. He allowed 4 home runs while walking 4 and striking out 5 batters. Wheeler made a comeback against the Angels going 6 innings giving up an earned run and fanned 6 while walking 3.
The Phillies come back home to a critical series against the Braves over Labor Day Weekend. If the Phillies are going to win the National League East, they must win or sweep this series.
Major League Baseball
Elsewhere in major league baseball, items of note; The Atlanta Braves Chris Sale pitched a complete game shutout over the Los Angeles Dodgers. He struck out 11 players and threw a pitch of 100 miles per hour. The Braves swept the Dodgers.
Atlanta comes into the week on a seven-game winning streak. They are hot, the Phillies are … Warm.
Max Scherzer fanned 11 in the game where Blue Jays beat the Mariners. The Orioles Gunnar Henderson hit two home runs in the game against the Athletics. But compare that to Austin Wells who parked two in the 8th inning in the New York Yankees 16 – 1 win over the Boston Red Sox. 2 in the 8th when the Yankees scored 9 runs.
The Dog Days of August are over. September is here. Division titles and wild cards to be decided. Tampa Bay, the White Sox, Atlanta, Milwaukee, and the Los Angeles Dodgers have solid leads. The Houston Astros and Texas Rangers are fighting for the AL West crown.
The wild cards are a toss up in the American League with Baltimore, Toronto, and Texas vying for the third spot. In the National League the final spot is coming down to San Diego and Arizona.
The Philadelphia Union
The Union brought a 3 – 1 win back southbound on the New Jersey Turnpike defeating the New York Red Bulls. Montreal comes to town in the only scheduled game for the week.
WNBA
The final playoff spots have been finalized with Dallas clinching the 8th position. The seedings have yet to be determined. The league takes a break until the 17th of September as many players are competing for the United States in the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup.
How about the performances of Kelsey Mitchell and Caitin Clark for the Fever. Both players scored 24 points apiece in the win at Connecticut. Clark added 12 assists. Lots of offense.
Angel Reese is rewriting the record book for rebounding. More on that later.
Little League World Series
The Midatlantic representative in the Little League World Series West Chester East Side lost to Alabama 6 – 5 and were eliminated. Nonetheless, congratulations to the team, an experience the players, coaches, and fans will never forget.
Time for the college football talk
The Villanova Wildcats opened the football season. An hour before the game the Wildcats learned that quarterback Pat McQuaide was ruled eligible to play. There was an injunction issued in an Ohio Court against the Patriot League who said that McQuaide could not play because he used his years of eligibility. McQuaide and Villanova argued that his year in Junior College should not count.
The start was crazy. The end was crazier. Nearly forgotten was Villanova playing the William & Mary Tribe. The Wildcats held a 32 – 22 lead on a 37-yard rushing touchdown by Isaiah Ragland with 2:43 left to play. Then everything that could go wrong for Nova went wrong.
The Tribe got a field goal, recovered the onsides kick, scored a touchdown on the possession 22 seconds on the clock tying the game at 32. McQuaide’s pass was intercepted setting the ball at the Villanova 35. The Tribe sent out Max Lipinski for the winning field goal with 5 ticks to go. He made it as time expired. William and Mary wins 35 – 32.
The competition starts in earnest this week, NCAA Football Week One
September 3rd the season begins for the Blue Hens meeting Merrimack at 7 at Delaware Stadium.
Penn State hosts Marshall on September 5th.
Villanova plays at Bucknell
Temple hosts Rhode Island for a 2 PM kickoff at the Linc
And at 6 PM West Chester opens the season at Lincoln.
In other collegiate sports locally speaking
Villanova
At Villanova the women’s soccer team is off to a great start. The Wildcats are 3 – 0 – 1 and lead the opposition in scoring 20 – 0. Nova scored 9 goals at Lehigh and 11 over Iona. Upcoming Villanova hosts Penn on September 3rd.
In field hockey La Salle plays on the Main Line.
La Salle
The Explorers tied the Drexel Dragons at 1 in women’s soccer.
Temple
In men’s soccer Saint Joseph’s and Temple played to a one-all tie on North Broad Street on a goal by Carlos Rojas in the 87th minute. The Hawks and Owls play a women’s soccer match prior to Labor Day. The SJU team is 4 – 0 this season.
Delaware
The University of Delaware had a big men’s soccer match at #6 Georgetown but fell 1 – 0.
Penn State
In field hockey the Nittany Lions lost a 4 – 3 overtime game to the 5th ranked Virginia Cavaliers.
Are you looking for an exciting field hockey game? Saint Joseph’s plays at Drexel on September 6th. It is always a good match when these teams meet.
The Honor Roll
Time for the Honor Roll and a big shout out to Edmundo Sosa of the Phillies.
The Phillies were facing defeat at Los Angeles trailing 3 – 1 in the 9th. The Angels stole a home run from Bryson Stott earlier. With the bases loaded Don Mattingly sent Sosa to pinch hit. And Sosa rewarded his confidence by hitting a game-winning grand slam home run in the Phillies 5 – 3 victory. On Sunday Sosa hit a tie-breaking home run to propel the team to the sweep.
Our Player of the Week goes to Angel Reese of the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream.
In one game Reese broke 2 WNBA rebound records. She pulled down 24 to break the single game record of 22 set by Chamique Holdsclaw. And the single season record of 458 rebounds currently belongs to her. In the next game the forward set the mark for number of double-doubles in a single season with 29. Congratulations to Angel Reese the Sports Desk Player of the Week.
Commentary
College player eligibility ….. Who is eligible? There are court rulings, conference bans, court cases, professionals wanting to return to college competitions, government involvement, and mo money, mo money, mo money.
Here we are at the start of the season and we still are not sure. And we have seen decisions made on the game day. If you are confused and frustrated, think of the coaches and Athletic Directors.
Hopefully, there will be one’s who will bring some common sense solutions to this problem.
Common sense, not legalese.
Written By: Glenn Papazian
Contact: glenn@PhillyCollegeSports.com
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