It’s officially the best time of year for sports.
Major League baseball is winding down its regular season, the NFL and college football are now into the third and fourth weeks of play, and high school sports are about to begin league games.
It’s a lot to be excited about, but also a lot to gauge.
Unlike the New York Mets, who recently lost eight games in a row and put the San Francisco Giants back in the wild card race, the Thomas Guide will help send you in the right direction. So let’s get started …
#### Local sports
Vallejo High School has a football bye week after defeating ELITE on Saturday to go 2-1 on the year, but there are plenty of local games to head to.
One of Vallejo’s favorite sons — C.J. Anderson — is looking to pick up his first win of the year as Benicia’s head coach. The Panthers are at home against 3-0 Miramonte, which will be a tough matchup.
St. Patrick-St. Vincent played much better at home on Friday, defeating Terra Linda 41-26 thanks to four touchdowns by Dylan Santos. This week the Bruins are at home on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. with a contest against Berean Christian.
American Canyon — 2-1 this year after a win over Benicia on Friday — is also at home this week against Hayward, which is also 2-1. The Wolves have been led by an excellent running game of Andre Lopez and Isaac Anderson, as well as a stellar defense that has twice held opponents to under 15 points.
Bethel, which lost to Pinole Valley last week, is on the road against Vintage on Friday. The Jaguars then have a bye week before playing Vallejo in the Mayor’s Cup on Saturday, Oct. 4. In fact, Bethel doesn’t play away from Vallejo after this week until Halloween. So make big plans for October if you’re a fan.
ELITE, coming off back-to-back losses to the two Vallejo public high schools, plays at Rio Vista on Friday night.
It’s going to be hot the first few days this week, so maybe you want to be around a pool. If so, check out American Canyon’s water polo teams take on Benicia on Tuesday. The girls start at 5 p.m. while the boys play an hour later. Those matches are at Vallejo’s Cunningham Pool.
In flag football, it’s rivalry week, with Bethel taking on Vallejo on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. at Corbus Field.
In girls volleyball, Vallejo took on Richmond on Monday night, but returns home on Wednesday to face De Anza. Bethel’s long home stand continues this week. After three home matches a week ago the Jaguars will play El Cerrito on Wednesday night. Benicia plays at home against Acalanes on Tuesday night, while American Canyon is at home on Thursday with a match against Sonoma Valley.
Solano College is in San Mateo on Wednesday for a volleyball tournament, but returns home on Friday for a matchup against Feather River at 2 p.m. and then Gavilan at 5:45 p.m. later that day.
The Cal Maritime women’s soccer team plays at home on Friday at 4:30 p.m. against Menlo, while Solano plays at home on Tuesday at 4 p.m. against Siskiyous.
#### College football
Stanford picked up a big win against Boston College last Saturday and the Cardinal will attempt to keep up the momentum with a 4:30 p.m. road matchup at Virginia Saturday.
Meanwhile, Cal plays on the road this week as well, but a little closer to home with a 7:30 p.m. matchup at San Diego State.
Sacramento State is at home on Saturday evening with a matchup against Central Arkansas, San Jose State is at home against Idaho on Saturday with a 2 p.m. matchup and UC Davis is at home against Southern Utah that same day at 7 p.m.
On Saturday morning start your day off with Texas Tech and Utah at 9 a.m., then prepare for the “Civil War” when Oregon State and Oregon University meet up at noon. Another big game around noon is Auburn at Oklahoma, while Purdue plays at Notre Dame at 12:30 p.m. and Michigan is at Nebraska at the same time.
The games I’m looking forward to the most — Florida at No. 4 ranked Miami, and Illinois at Indiana — are at 4 p.m. or later. Michigan State is your late, late, late game at USC. Kickoff is at 8 p.m., which basically means Spartans fans in Michigan may have to see that last call go later than 2 a.m. That’s way too late for a team not on the West Coast to start a game.
#### NFL
The San Francisco 49ers keep losing players to injuries, but keep picking up wins in the meantime.
The Niners will finally play at home this week with a 1 p.m. Sunday matchup against Arizona, which is also 2-0. Get there early for this game, as the Who are playing nearby at Shoreline Amphitheatre and there is likely to be a lot of traffic. Seriously, I can already see it for miles, and miles and miles. Don’t get fooled again — tailgate early.
The Raiders are on the road in Washington, but may or may not go against talented quarterback Jayden Daniels, who was injured Thursday against Green Bay.
This week’s Thursday game is Buffalo at home against the Dolphins. This one could be a laugher, but it’s your fix this week in the middle of the week as the Bills try to go 3-0.
Sunday early morning matchups I’m interested in include Cincinnati without quarterback Joe Burrow playing at Minnesota, which is also without its quarterback. Atlanta at Carolina might be another one worth watching.
Most of the big games are at 1 p.m. this week. The Denver Broncos play at the Los Angeles Chargers and the Dallas Cowboys at the Bears join the Raider and 49er games at that time.
The 5:15 game is a matchup of two 0-2 squads in the Kansas City Chiefs and the New York Giants, although, yeah, I’m going to take the Chiefs in this one. The Monday night matchup is the best one of the week when the Detroit Lions visit the Baltimore Ravens.
#### Major League Baseball
The San Francisco Giants are back in the race again, but fans should probably refrain from the “Beat LA” chants for a few days, because to get in the postseason they need to start beating everyone.
That starts this week with a road trip to Arizona, which is also in the wild card hunt, courtesy of the New York Mets’ recent struggles. The Dodgers play the Giants in Los Angeles starting on Thursday, and you can start up those chants again. A better chant may be asking the bats to come back alive or for Logan Webb to go more than four innings in his next start.
The Sacramento Athletics have moved into fourth place but could be eliminated from postseason eligibility starting as early as Tuesday. The A’s are in Boston to start the week and then play in Pittsburgh during the weekend.
Other early-in-the-week matchups worth watching include the Cleveland Guardians at Detroit Tigers, San Diego Padres at the New York Mets, the Seattle Mariners at Kansas City Royals and the Houston Astros playing the Texas Rangers in a key AL West matchup. Weekend series to watch include the Chicago Cubs at the Cincinnati Reds, the Toronto Blue Jays at the Royals, the Phillies at the Diamondbacks and the Seattle Mariners at the Houston Astros in the last-ever Sunday night ESPN game. The network is deciding to let go of baseball instead of Stephen A. Smith in the its latest dumb decision.
#### WNBA
Golden State lost its first game against Minnesota on Sunday in the WNBA first round playoffs. Golden State will look to get even at home on Wednesday night before the series heads to Minneapolis on Friday night.
#### Read
“The Era” by Roger Kahn (To read while the Dodgers play the Giants).
#### Watch
“The Gambler and his Cowboys” Netflix show on ’90s Dallas Cowboys.