📈 Tubz Unfiltered - Volume 141
Moo Deng; Sportz; Pelosi Asset Management LLC
Happy [whatever day you are reading this], y’all!
Jam-packed newsletter today, ladies and gentlemen! It’s getting cold here in New England so what better way to stay warm than to type my little fingers away.
🛁 EXTRA BUBBLES 🛁
Could Moo Deng be canceled? Leaked video shows famed baby hippo biting zoo worker
I should have covered Moo Deng earlier, the viral baby hippo that has been sweeping the internet. That’s my marble brain in action.
This article is evidence that you should never meet your heroes. Everyone and their mother got sucked in by this fatso wittle rolie polie olie hippo and her adorableness. I’m all for it. But she evidently has a dark side. She was likely sick and tired of that grass and other things that herbivores devour, so she decided she wanted a bit more meat on the bone, gnawing into the leg of her caretaker. Ope, we’ve got a biter!
Some internet yappers, when reading the news, were probably like: “Noooo, like, stop, OmG, MoO dEnG iS iN hEr BrAt ErA 💅”. Touch some grass. I also don’t have kids, so maybe I’m overreacting. But the point still stands: touch some grass.
🏆 SPORTZ 🏆
CFB WEEK 5 RECAP
ALABAMA 41 Georgia 34: So this game ruled, even knocked my socks off for a hot minute. QB Jalen Milroe might not be the first QB taken in the 2025 NFL Draft (but who the hell knows, frankly), but he made so many tantalizing plays against Georgia, both on the ground and through the air. He finished with 491 total yards (374 passing yards + 117 rushing yards) and four touchdowns (2 passing, 2 rushing). He’s your Heisman frontrunner, even though he shouldn’t be because Colorado’s Travis Hunter is the best player in the sport. But that’s a discussion for a different day.
The Crimson Tide’s offense was clicking on all cylinders in the first half, sprinting out to a 30-7 halftime lead by scoring the game’s first 28 points. Carson Beck, who looks like he could play a lead role in South Park based on the geometric shape of his face, threw two interceptions in the opening half. But the Dawgs didn’t hear no bell and raced back like many of their players do on the roadways, albeit not as reckless. Trailing 33-28 with 3:30 remaining, they got a key third-down stop, and on the first play of the ensuing drive, Beck pumped and found Dillon Bell for a 67-yard pitch-and-catch to take a 34-33 lead (failed 2-point conversion). The Alabama frat brothers, sorority sisters, and general hillbillies put their hands on top of their heads with wide eyes in unison.
However, Alabama WR Ryan Williams, who is 17 years old (as mentioned countless times throughout the broadcast; just a reminder, he is in fact only 17 years of age) saved the day and made what will likely be the play of the year in college football. On the first play of the drive, Williams jumped in front of the Georgia cornerback to come back to the ball, sprinted up field, spun around two defenders, and put on the burners en route to a 75-yard TD reception. A “holy sh*t, I can sort of understand why Alabama football is the highest power/Jesus for Alabama peeps” sort of moment. Williams, who reclassified and was born in Feb. 2007, finished with six receptions for 177 yards. Beck threw his third and final interception on the final drive to seal the victory for Kalen DeBoer’s squad.
NFL WEEK 4 RECAP
No recap this week because it was my girlfriend’s birthday on Sunday so instead of watching seven hours of commercial-free football, I watched roughly seven hours of Netflix. No need to crown me Boyfriend of the Year, but if you must …
MLB PLAYOFFS
Here are Tubz Unfiltered’s keys to winning the World Series:
(1) Great pitching.
(2) Have dudes who hit bombs.
(3) Timely hits.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Odds to win the World Series in parentheses, according to FanGraphs
The New York Yankees (16.9%), led by AL MVP hopeful Aaron Judge, who led the league in Wins Above Replacement, On-Base%, Slugging %, OPS, HRs, RBIs, and BBs, are the number one seed in the AL. Good for them, but they will probably lose in devastating fashion at some point this postseason, seeing as how their closer, Clay Holmes, led the league in blown saves (13) during the regular season.
The Cleveland Guardians (6.7%), the No. 2 seed, had the best bullpen ERA during the regular season by a significant margin, anchored by closer Emmanuel Clase, who led all MLB pitchers in Win Probability Added. His ERA+, which “takes a player's ERA and normalizes it across the entire league [and] accounts for external factors like ballparks and opponents,” was 674. A score of 100 is league average. Wowzers.
The Wild Card Round is a best-of-three series, the entirety of which is hosted by the better seed.
(4) Baltimore Orioles (5.3%) vs. (5) Kansas City Royals (2.7%)
The Royals are back in the Fall Classic for the first time since 2015, ironically enough the last time they won the World Series. SS Bobby Witt Jr. is electric — jot that down. The Orioles, meanwhile, limped to the finish line. They were 19-21 in their last 40 games.
GAME 1
The slide for Baltimore continues as its batters were put into a blender by starting pitcher Cole Ragans, who allowed four hits while striking out eight. KC’s bullpen finished the job by allowing a mere three baserunners to reach in the final three innings.
GAME 2
After Cedric Mullin hit a home run to lead off the fifth to tie the game, Baltimore had the bases loaded with no outs. No ball got out of the infield. Kansas City’s bullpen allowed one hit over the final 4 and 2/3 innings as the team advanced to the ALDS after losing 100+ games in 2024. Brutal way for the Orioles’ season to end yet again.
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(3) Houston Astros (9.9%) vs. (6) Detroit Tigers (2.5%)
Among the 2024 postseason field, the best story is undoubtedly the Tigers. On August 11, with a 56-63 record in hand, their postseason odds stood at 0.2%, per Justin Spiro. August 24? 1.4%. September 14? 8.7%. But just like the auto industry, the team came roaring back from the dead and are back in the postseason for the first time since 2014. They are managed by former Houston skipper, A.J. Hinch, who was ousted after the trash can cheating scandal.
The Astros have made it to the League Championship Series (LCS) seven years running. Will they make it eight and tie the Braves for the most consecutive LCS appearances?
GAME 1
Detroit SP Tarik Skubal will win the AL Cy Young, and for good reason: buddy boy dominated Houston, throwing six scoreless innings while striking out six. The Astros, with Detroit leading 3-1, had runners on second and third with one out, and the bases loaded with two outs, in the bottom of the ninth. No enchilada, the first playoff win for Detroit since 2013.
GAME 2
2-2 in the top of the 8th. Bases juiced. Josh Hader on the bump for the Astros. Andy Ibáñez at the dish. The result? A bases-clearing triple to send Detroit to the ALDS. To put into perspective the money discrepancy between the two squads, the Tigers’ 26-man Wild Card roster had a combined salary of $18.8 million in 2024 — less than Hader’s $19 million.
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NATIONAL LEAGUE
Surprise, surprise — the Los Angeles Dodgers (16.9%) are the top seed in the NL. And while they have the luxury of the best three-headed monster in the sport in Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, and Mookie Betts, will they overcome the injuries to their starting rotation?
The Philadelphia Phillies (18.3%) have been knocking on the World Series title door the last two postseasons, having lost in the World Series in 2022 and in the NLCS in 2023. Is this the year they slay the proverbial dragon? They had the best starting rotation in baseball during the regular season and have dudes who can mash baseballs.
The Wild Card Round is a best-of-three series, the entirety of which is hosted by the better seed.
(3) Milwaukee Brewers (2.7%) vs. (6) New York Mets (2.7%)
I will not let my mood be dictated if the Brewers bow out in the first round yet again. I am a liar. Milwaukee has not won a playoff series since 2018. I don’t ask for much. Their starting rotation doesn’t have any Clydesdales, but the unit still finished 6th in ERA (3.65). The bullpen, filled with some dawgs, finished with the second-best ERA in the majors. Offensively, they’re good but not great. Will the rookie phenom and next face of the franchise, Jackson Chourio, rise to the occasion? He became the youngest MLB player to achieve 20 home runs and 20 steals in a single season and has an OPS of .887 since June 2.
The Mets finished the season strong, with a 17-9 record in September, but they slashed .230 AVG/.310 OBP/.387 SLG/.687 OPS over that stretch. (NL league average for OPS in 2024 was .719, according to StatMuse.) However, New York pitchers had a collective 3.56 ERA after the All-Star Game, including a 3.21 ERA in September, and held their opponents to a .595 OPS in September.
Altogether, more often times than not throughout the regular season, the Brewers found ways to win — against all odds. I hope to all that is holy they continue to find ways to win, at least for one round.
GAME 1
Same shit, different year. There I was, all giddy that the Brewers took a 4-3 lead through four innings, including a 2-0 lead after the first, only for the lead to evaporate after the Mets scored FIVE in the top of the fifth.
GAME 2
PANDEMONIUM. Jackson Churio hit a lead-off home run in the first inning after the Mets took a 1-0 lead. And with the Brewers trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the 8th, he socked another oppo-taco to tie things up. Those two home runs put him in elite company as he became “the second player in MLB history to hit two game-tying home runs in the same postseason game,” according to OptaSTATS. The other player? Maybe you’ve heard of him, BABE FRIGGIN’ RUTH. After Willy Adames battled and roped a single in that same inning, Garrett Mitchell, in his first at-bat of the game, let his plums hang low and socked a two-run homer to right center, the eventual game winner. I have watched every piece of Brewers content imaginable since that moment. It has been my crack, my solace, my comfort.
Game 3 should be electric, win or lose, because there will be electrical currents in the bathtub with my name possibly written on them in the event of a loss.
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(4) San Diego Padres (8.2%) vs. (5) Atlanta Braves (7.0%)
Chris Sale, the likely NL Cy Young winner, will be unavailable for the Braves this series after suffering back spasms. That’s no bueno. The Padres, meanwhile, have been red hot. They were 43-20 in the second half of the season, marked by a team OPS of .768, after a 50-49 record in the first half.
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GAME 1
Way past my East Coast bedtime! San Diego slugger Fernando Tatis Jr. smashed a two-run ding-dong in the bottom of the first en route to a 4-0 victory.
GAME 2
Again, way past my East Coast bedtime (and it was also during the Brewers game)! The Padres won again, setting up what should be an outstanding matchup with the Dodgers in the NLDS.
🤓 BATH TIME READING 🤓
Nancy Pelosi’s husband sold Visa shares 2 months before a DOJ lawsuit
Nancy Pelosi’s net worth in 1987, when she entered politics: $3.5 million. A nice chunk of change! In 2022, it rose to $250 million. A much nicer chunk of change — and a significant increase!1
Her husband is a venture capitalist, so it could be pure coincidence that he sold 2,000 shares of Visa in July, two months before the Department of Justice filed a “civil antitrust lawsuit against payments giant Visa on Tuesday, Sept. 24, for anticompetitive conduct and monopolizing the debit market.”
It could also be pure coincidence that Nancy’s No. 1 man, in December 2022, “sold 30,000 shares of Google stock just one month before the tech giant was sued over alleged antitrust violations.”
Let’s not rush to judgment, either way, according to Ron Geffner, a former enforcement attorney with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Before public opinion judges Pelosi unfairly, it is important to determine who engaged in the transaction on her behalf as well as whether it was part of a broader change of her portfolio.
Another reason we shouldn’t rush to judgment: her husband made other trades in July, including selling 2,500 Tesla shares (worth up to $500k) and buying 10k Nvidia shares (worth up to $5M).
On the flip side, more broadly … a 2022 New York Times analysis found that “at least 97 current members of Congress bought or sold stock, bonds or other financial assets that intersected with their congressional work or reported similar transactions by their spouse or a dependent child” between 2019 and 2021.
Altogether, politicians are privy to far too much insider information, so it makes sense for them to be severely limited in how they interact with the stock market. As Oregon Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley told NPR, “If you want to serve in Congress don't come here to serve your portfolio, come here to serve the people.”
The Ending Trading and Holdings In Congressional Stocks (ETHICS) Act would help in that regard. Sponsored by Merkley, the bill would prohibit members of Congress, as well as their spouses and dependents, “from purchasing or selling certain investments, such as individual stocks and related financial instruments that are not diversified investment funds, Treasury securities, or other specified holdings.”
The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs approved the bill in July, but the full Senate has not yet voted on it.
If you chuckled and/or enjoyed it, make sure to forward it to others and/or share it on social. Any corrections, omissions, suggestions, etc., send 'em my way. Much love. -Tubz
Let me be as clear as possible: I don’t support either side of the political aisle. We live in a broken system. So I’m not just picking on the left by writing this story.