The day the Mavericks, Stars, Rangers and Cowboys* were all in action
Because 2020 is memorable for all the wrong reasons, and everything we do is a fat guy squeezing into a two-piece bikini, all four of our local teams combined to make history on 8/30/20.
Sunday is the first time the Dallas Cowboys, Texas Rangers, Dallas Stars and Dallas Mavericks all played on the same day.
Shout-out to my friends at the Elias Sports Bureau for fleshing out a fact that covers regular season and postseason schedules beginning when the Stars moved to Texas in 1993.
(I know the Cowboys technically didn’t play a game on Sunday, but in the time of COVID their intra-squad Blue vs. White scrimmage at Jerry World functions just as well as a playoff game.)
When someone asks you what you love most about this year, other than the chance to clean your house 54,235 times and save on gas money, we will always have 8/30/20.
The Stars played a playoff game in Edmonton against Colorado; the Mavericks played a home playoff game in a bubble at Disney World in front of fans who were beamed into their seats; the Texas Rangers played the L.A. Dodgers in their new stadium, that’s closed, in front of cardboard cutouts of fans; and the Dallas Cowboys played their first “game” against each other in a preseason that’s canceled.
Game 1: Rangers Are Losers, and Sellers
The abbreviated schedule is more than half over, and the Texas Rangers are one of the worst teams in baseball. The roster is terrible, and the Rangers are not going to make a playoff where the postseason field has been expanded.
Their .363 winning percentage is “bailed out” by the likes of the Seattle Mariners, California Angels and Pittsburgh Pirates.
The L.A. Dodgers kicked around the Rangers on Sunday to take the weekend series at Globe Life Mall.
The best development for the Rangers this season is the coronavirus. The COVID cancellations reduced our pain of watching this team suffer through a 162-game schedule.
The Rangers have the worst batting stats in the American League, their team earned run average is 11th in the AL, and their team fielding percentage ranks 14th out of 15.
Reports from national MLB types have the Rangers exploring potential trades of starting pitcher Lance Lynn, and outfielder Joseph Gallo. The trade deadline is Monday at 3 p.m.
When I asked Rangers manager Chris Woodward about the team’s morale, he said, “It’s OK. We’re fighting. We’re grinding. A lot of guys are trying to figure things out. I applaud them for that. But we have to play better to win games, that’s for sure.”
Lynn was supposed to anchor a starting staff that was the strength of the entire team. Dealing him makes sense.
If the Rangers are exploring dealing Gallo, it’s an admission the rebuilding efforts of the roster are not a failure, but a disaster.
Game 2: Mavericks’ season ends when it should against L.A. Clippers
While the Rangers were busy doin’ Ranger thangs, the Dallas Mavericks’ season came to its expected finish.
The L.A. Clippers closed out the Mavericks with a 111-97 win in Game 6 of their NBA first round playoff series in Orlando. The Clippers won the series, 4-2.
The Mavs can now leave the bubble and come home.
With Kristaps Porzingis out with a torn meniscus in his right knee, the Mavs did not have enough to beat the Clippers for a second time without their starting center.
The Mavs out-played the Clippers in the first two games of the series, but the Clippers are a better team.
Clippers’ forward Marcus Morris was justifiably ejected in the first half after a hard foul on Doncic, but even that absence made little difference.
“The play speaks for itself,” Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said on a Zoom interview after the game.
After falling behind 77-54 in the third quarter on Sunday, Luka Doncic carried the Mavs back into the game as they cut the deficit early in the fourth quarter to six.
Clippers’ forward Kawhi Leonard is too good, and the surrounding pieces for Luka are not good enough.
The Mavs succeeded this season as they made the playoffs for the first time since 2015. Luka is one of the best players in the sport.
The Mavs played well in the playoffs against a superior opponent, and provided an indelible moment for DFW - Luka’s step-back game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer to win Game 4.
There are concerns, starting with KP’s knees. Will they hold up for a season, and a playoff run? The Mavs need a rebounder, and a point guard to take pressure off Luka.
“We had a productive year. A lot was accomplished,” Carlisle said. “There are a lot of bright things that came out of this season. We have to keep building the roster around Luka and KP.”
Game 3: Stars are primed to reach the conference finals
As the Mavs wrapped up, the Stars started Game 4 of their Western Conference playoff series against the Colorado Avalanche.
Colorado is the deeper team, but the Stars have out-played the Avs for most of the series and now lead 3-1 after a 5-4 win on Sunday.
The Stars took a 1-0 lead in Game 4 in the first period when defenseman John Klingberg scored on a loose rebound. The lead grew to 3-0 by the end of the period.
Don’t sleep on Klingberg. All of hockey is justifiably in love with defenseman Miro Heiskanen, but Klingberg gives the Stars the type of depth and skill on the blue line good enough to win a title.
Game 5 is Monday, and the Stars are one game away from reaching the NHL’s conference finals for the first time since 2008.
“Game 4”: Cowboys’ Blue versus White
Speaking of winning a title, there are our Cowboys, who sell hope like a drug and deliver like a politician.
While the Stars played, the Cowboys “scrimmaged,” even if it really was more of a glorified practice, and no one could see a thing.
The team will not play a preseason game, and Sunday night’s practice was the first chance for coach Mike McCarthy and his new staff to be on the field at Jerry World.
The mission for every single NFL coach in August is to avoid injury, and not to show anybody anything.
Mellow Mike took it to unique lengths on Sunday; the televised scrimmage was permitted to show nothing, and the players wore jerseys with no names or numbers.
When the Cowboys finish 16-0, we’ll know why.
The Cowboys are still scheduled to play the L.A. Rams in Los Angeles on Sept. 13, in front of zero fans. That will be the first time we know anything genuine about the 2020 Dallas Cowboys.
On Sunday, a sports’ schedule shot to hell by the coronavirus let us all consume all of our teams on the same day, pretty much at the same time.
Like everything else about 2020, it’s not the way we want it, but we’ll never forget it.
