Sports takes: Thoughts on the Patriots and the World Series ….

PATRIOTS: New England Patriots fans, in the wake of the team’s embarrassing home defeats the last two weekends against the Denver Broncos (18-12) and San Francisco 49ers (33-6), should drastically lower their expectations for the team for the rest of 2020 as the Patriots are mediocre at best, and extremely challenged and flawed at worst. 
Cam Newton has clearly not been the same quarterback since his COVID-19 positive test in early October, so you have to wonder if he’s hurt, or if he’s not fully recovered from his positive exposure. But, unless he’s able to turn around his play, starting with Sunday’s away game at the Buffalo Bills, the Patriots will be closer to the NFL’s bad teams than to the league’s better ones.
I’m hoping that the 2020 Patriots aren’t as bad as they’ve looked the last couple of weeks, but they ultimately have to show on the field that they’re much better than their last two losses.
WORLD SERIES: The Los Angeles Dodgers captured their first World Series title since 1988 with their 3-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday night --- a victory that was aided by the highly questionable decision by Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash to abruptly yank starter Blake Snell with one out in the sixth inning after the Dodgers got only their second hit off Snell. Cash’s decision had the announcers united in their opposition to the move, which was another example of how the new analytically-driven approach is hurting the game. 
Snell, the ace of the Rays’ starting staff, was humming along, pitching a 1-0 shutout. But after Cash pulled him, the Dodgers quickly tied the game at 1-1, thanks to a Mookie Betts double and a wild pitch. They then went ahead as Betts scored from third on a fielder’s choice as he showed what a great baserunner he is.
As I texted my Canadian cousin and longtime Red Sox and baseball fan Dave after Cash pulled Snell, could you have ever imagined St. Louis Cardinals’ uber-ace pitcher Bob Gibson being pulled in the 1967 or 1968 World Series, or the Red Sox pulling Luis Tiant in Games 1 or 4 of the 1975 World Series? And,Tiant still threw well more than 200 pitches when he left trailing the classic Game 6 of that series.
I get it that we’re talking about different eras, but having managers pull pitchers in the World Series because they’ve been told not to let them face the lineup for a third time is the kind of thinking that's killing baseball. 
Congrats to former Red Sox rightfielder Mookie Betts for playing a key role in the Game 6 win (homer, go-ahead run scored), and for his stellar defensive play the entire series.