Arizona Cardinals

The Arizona Cardinals are 9-1 this season and will face the Seattle Seahawks on the road this Sunday. Despite their obvious positive record, the Cards are heading into Seattle as the underdogs this weekend. In response to this mindset, Arizona head coach Bruce Arians noted he was not surprised by this Seattle favoritism, noting many teams are not favored to win when playing at Century Link Field, a notoriously loud stadium that has provided the home team an advantage, contributing to visiting opponents’ false start penalties, time and time again.

The Cards began their season at home, beating the San Diego Chargers 18-17. They continued to remain victorious the following 2 weeks and after returning from an early season bye week, suffered their only loss in early October against the Denver Broncos on the road, falling 41-20. Since then, they have managed to stay victorious beating teams from coast-to-coast. Arizona is 1st in the NFC West division, which includes the Seahawks, the San Francisco 49ers, who the Cards beat 23-14 in week 3, and the St. Louis Rams who the team beat 31-14 in week 10. Arizona will finish their regular season play this year with 3 division rivalry games.

While they have been playing great throughout the season, the Cardinals did suffer another loss, that of their quarterback Carson Palmer who tore his ACL during the team’s faceoff with the Rams. This is Carson’s 2nd career ACL injury although the timetable for return is more optimistic this time around based on the severity of the injury. Fortunately for the Cards, Drew Stanton has been able to step in at quarterback and the team also has impressive wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald and cornerback Antonio Cromartie.

After this Sunday, the Seahawks and Cardinals will face off again in week 16 in Phoenix. Last season the Cardinals upset the Super Bowl championship team 17-10 in the final regular season game. This was Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson’s first loss at home and also ended the Seahawks’ home winning streak of 14-games. The Cardinals know it won’t come easily, but they will try for a similar victorious outcome with each of these 2 games against the Seahawks.

San Francisco Giants

It’s not unreasonable that late in 2014, when you ask someone what they think of when they hear “San Francisco Giants”, that they respond with something along the lines of “winning” or “champions” or “3 in 5.” The Giants have won 3 of the last 5 World Series. Talented, skilled, hungry and determined are just a few words that could sum up the attitude and performance of this ball club.

Most recently, the Giants defeated the Kansas City Royals in 7 games to claim their 3rd World Series title in the past half-decade. Pitcher Madison Bumgarner delivered a stellar performance, leading him to be named the series MVP, allowing just 1 run to be delivered in his 21 innings of play throughout the series.

In 2012, the Giants swept the Detroit Tigers in 4 games. The Giants had home field advantage and began the series in San Francisco, then were able to wrap things up less than a week later at Comerica Park. The Giants started the series off strong, winning game 1 8-3. The victories continued with scores of: 2-0, 2-0 and 4-3 in each of the following games.

In 2010, the Giants defeated the Texas Rangers in 5 games. This was the Rangers’ 1st World Series appearance in the team’s 50 year history. Pitcher Tim Lincecum was instrumental in the Giants’ victory, which was their 1st series victory since 1954, when the team defeated the Cleveland Indians.

San Francisco celebrated its most recent victory with a downtown parade and will now focus on roster changes and free agency. Most notably, third baseman Pablo Sandoval’s status of return as a Giant will have the greatest impact on how the team shapes its roster for 2014-2015. It was reported that Sandoval previously rejected a 3-year, $40 million dollar deal from the Giants and is seeking at least a 6-year deal.

General manager Bruce Bochy’s leadership and expertise are considered to be among the factors which have led the Giants to their recent successes. Bochy was named a finalist for National League Manager of the Year. He has previously won the award in 1996 when he was with the San Diego Padres.