SNY's The Warm-up: Cohen passes latest hurdle — NFC (L)East — '98 Yanks

Get Today’s New York Sports Here Tweet of the Day --------------------------------------------------------------- Good morning. We are all entitled to [a free taco]( in seven days. --------------------------------------------------------------- Today's sports schedule... - World Series Game 2: Rays vs. Dodgers, 8:08 p.m. ⚾ Word count: 718 words (about six minutes) --------------------------------------------------------------- SNY originals... What are the Odds? - [Which team is the better World Series bet -- Rays or Dodgers?]( Baseball Night in New York - [Should the Yankees consider trading Aaron Judge while he still has two years of team control left?]( --------------------------------------------------------------- 1. What yesterday's Steve Cohen news means SNY graphic Yesterday, Sportico's Scott Soshnick [reported that]( Steve Cohen's purchase of the Mets was approved by the MLB Ownership Committee. - The new development, according to Soshnick, assures "the hedge fund titan will be the team’s new owner, according to people familiar with the matter." Important distinction: The MLB Ownership Committee approval was not the overall owners vote -- in which Cohen needs 23 of 30 thumbs up -- which would make the purchase official. - Yesterday's news was a step along the way. Still to come, according to Soshnick, is a review by the commissioner's Executive Council, followed by the final owners vote. [According to]( SNY's Andy Martino, MLB "has not yet set a date or time for the vote on whether to approve Steve Cohen’s purchase of the Mets," but it could happen as soon as late-October. --------------------------------------------------------------- 2. As you may have inferred, the NFC East is historically bad Ryan Kerrigan/USA Today The 2-4 Cowboys are in first place in the NFC East. The 1-4-1 Eagles are a half-game out. The Giants and the No-Names, at 1-5, are knocking on the door. The Bad News Bears, the Replacements, the '62 Mets and the '08 Lions are looking to get in on the action. The NFC East is bad. But how bad? This bad: - Six other teams currently have the same amount of wins (five) as the entire division. - Three of the division's five wins have come within the division. - The best point differential belongs to the Eagles, at -34. Overall, the four teams are -184. At 5-18-1, this is the second-worst start for a division through six weeks since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970. The worst start comes via the 1985 AFC Central, which started 5-19. You can thank the Eagles' tie this season for the narrow edge. The worst record to make the playoffs is 7-9. Division-leading Dallas, led by Andy Dalton, will have to finish 5-5 to reach that mark. FYI: To be specific, two teams have made the playoffs with below .500 records (the 2010 Seahawks at 7-9 and the 2014 Panthers at 7-8-1). And both won a wild card round game -- the Seahawks ended up knocking off the defending champion Saints and the Panthers beat the Cardinals -- so there's some hope for whichever NFC East team outlasts the others. PS: The Giants [are four-point underdogs]( for their Thursday night game against the Eagles as of Tuesday night. On SNY.tv: [New Jersey natives Logan Ryan, Jabrill Peppers ready to partake in Giants-Eagles rivalry]( --------------------------------------------------------------- DAILY TRIVIA The Jets once made the playoffs as an 8-8 team. What year was that? 3. Reminder: Rutgers football is playing this weekend Chris Pedota/USA Today: New Rutgers coach Greg Schiano in August In case it slipped your mind, Big Ten football -- and the Rutgers Scarlet Knights -- are returning this weekend. How we got here: A once-doomed fall season for the power five conference was resurrected in late-September when the league's presidents and chancellors voted to reverse course and trudge on with an eight-game schedule. As for the Scarlet Knights: They start their eight-game, eight-week sprint on Saturday against Michigan State in Lansing. - (There could be a ninth game -- the Big Ten title game -- if Rutgers inexplicably turns into Alabama of the North). RU's full schedule: - 10/24: At Michigan State - 10/31: Indiana - 11/7: At Ohio State - 11/14: Illinois - 11/21: Michigan - 11/28: At Purdue - 12/5: Penn State - 12/12: At Maryland Also: Rutgers, an 11.5-point underdog against Michigan State, will be looking this season for its first conference win since Nov. 4, 2017. --------------------------------------------------------------- 4. 10/21/1998: The Yankees win their 24th World Series MLB/YouTube On this day 22 years ago, the Yankees completed a four-game sweep of the Padres to win their 24th World Series title in a 75-year span. GIF'd above: Mariano Rivera's induced groundout of Mark Sweeney, which finished off a shutout in which Andy Pettitte pitched the first 7.1 innings. That night's starting lineup for New York: - Chuck Knoblauch - Derek Jeter - Paul O'Neill - Bernie Williams - Tino Martinez - Scott Brosius - Rick Ledee - Joe Girardi - Andy Pettitte Also: That was the Yankees' 125th win of the season -- 114 in the regular season and 11 in the playoffs -- which still stands as the most ever in an MLB season. --------------------------------------------------------------- 5. The New York Minute - [READ]( Five under the radar free agents the Yankees could target this offseason. - [READ]( The Nets reportedly talked with the Pelicans at the trade deadline about a deal for Jrue Holiday. - [READ]( The Giants know they have a chance on Thursday night to put themselves in contention in the NFC East. - [READ]( Greg Van Roten has a message for Jets fans. - [READ]( The Giants placed Tae Crowder on IR yesterday with a hamstring injury. --------------------------------------------------------------- Trivia answer: 1991. That's the buzzer, folks. Stay safe and enjoy your Wednesday This email was sent by: SportsNet New York (SNY) 150 Greenwich st 50th floor New York, NY 10007 US [Unsubscribe]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [Facebook](