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🚨 Headlines
⚾️ 36-120: The White Sox suffered their 120th loss of the season on Sunday, tying the Mets’ 1962 record for most losses in a season (since 1901).
🏀 Embiid’s Huge Contract Extension: Joel Embiid signed a three-year, $193 million contract extension with the 76ers, increasing his total contract value to five years and $299.6 million, the third-richest contract in NBA history.
⚾️ No 100-win team: No MLB team will reach 100 wins this season. This will be the first time since 2014, when the Angels led the franchise with 98 wins. The Dodgers (93-63) are the closest with a maximum of 99 wins.
🏒 Jagr’s first goal: The 52-year-old Jaromír Jagr scored his first goal of his 37th professional season on Friday for Lyutiji Kladno, the Czech team he has owned since 2011. Jagr, a future NHL Hall of Famer, is set to retire at the end of this season.
⚾️ Expensive Gamble: Nationals All-Star C.J. Abrams was demoted to the minor leagues after reportedly spending all Thursday night at a Chicago casino, only to return just hours before Friday afternoon’s game against the Cubs.
🏈 A year of upsets
Bo Nix. (Kevin Savitas/Getty Images)
The 2024 NFL season has seen underdogs dominate so far, but Sunday was a particularly tough day for the favorites.
Upset year: In the NFL, underdogs that are at least 5.5 points are 13-2 against the spread this season and have nine wins, including four against four teams that entered Sunday with a combined 0-8 record.
Broncos 26, Buccaneers 7: Rookie quarterback Bo Nix earned his first career win, and winless Denver handed Tampa Bay its first loss.
Panthers 36, Raiders 22: Andy Dalton was great in place of the benched Bryce Young, throwing for 319 yards and three touchdowns in Carolina’s win over the Raiders. Even more amazing, it was the first time Dalton has thrown for 300 yards and three touchdowns in an NFL game this season.
Giants 21, Browns 15: Giants rookie Malik Neighbors overpowered the Browns secondary in New York’s win over Cleveland, scoring twice and becoming the youngest player in NFL history (21 years, 56 days) with two touchdown catches in a game.
Rams 27, 49ers 24: Los Angeles stunned San Francisco with a fourth-quarter comeback, scoring 13 points in the final six minutes, including the game-winning field goal with two seconds left, to hand the injury-riddled 49ers their second straight loss.
Survivor Pool Disaster: The most popular picks in Yahoo Sports’ Survivor Pool* have been losing every week this season, with the three most popular picks (Buccaneers, Giants and Raiders) all losing on Sunday, eliminating roughly 70% of the remaining contestants.
Bettors take note: The fourth and fifth most popular predictions this week were for tonight’s two “Monday Night Football” games, Bengals (-7.5) vs. Commanders and Bills (-5.5) vs. Jaguars.
Sam Darnold is spurring the Vikings on (Steven Maturen/Getty Images)
Continued from Sunday:
Minnesota Wins Again: The Vikings were expected to finish last in the NFC North, but they beat the Texans 34-7 to improve to 3-0 and 85-30 all-time. Kudos to Sam Darnold for throwing four touchdowns for the second time in his career.
The champions are still perfect. The Chiefs haven’t played great so far this season, but they still managed to withstand a late comeback by the Falcons on Sunday night to win 22-17 and improve to 3-0.
Second-longest field goal of all time: Cowboys kicker Brandon Aubrey booted a 65-yard field goal in a loss to the Ravens. It was the second-longest field goal in NFL history, just one yard shy of the record set by Justin Tucker in 2021.
Scoreboard: It probably won’t be a surprise to see more bottom-ranked teams (7th) win than the favorites (6th) on Sunday.
Underdogs win: Broncos 26, Buccaneers 7 // Rams 27, 49ers 24 // Giants 21, Browns 15 // Panthers 36, Raiders 22 // Vikings 34, Texans 7 // Eagles 15, Saints 12 // Packers 30, Titans 14
Likely to win: Steelers 20, Chargers 10 // Colts 21, Bears 16 // Seahawks 24, Dolphins 3 // Ravens 28, Cowboys 25 // Lions 20, Cardinals 13 // Chiefs 22, Falcons 17
Week 3: Winners and Losers | The Rise and Fall of Fantasy
*How the Survivor Pool works: Each week, you will select one team you think will win. If they win, they stay in the competition. If they lose, they’re out. However, you cannot select the same team more than once.
🌎 The world in pictures
Bjorn Borg and Team Europe celebrate their victory. (Clive Brunskill/Laver Cup via Getty Images)
BERLIN — Carlos Alcaraz beat Taylor Fritz on Sunday to give Team Europe its first Laver Cup victory over Team World since 2021. It was the end of an era for former rivals Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe, who is stepping down as team captain.
(Clive Rose/Formula 1 via Getty Images)
SINGAPORE — Lando Norris won the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday to cut his lead over Max Verstappen to 52 points and extend his lead over McLaren and Red Bull to 41 points with six races left in the Formula One season.
(Image Photo Agency/Getty Images)
MILAN — U.S. star Christian Pulisic scored the opening goal for Milan’s 2-1 win over Inter Milan on Saturday, ending a six-game losing streak in the Derby Madonnina.
(Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
SURREY, England — Billy Horschel made a 30-foot eagle putt on the second hole of a playoff to win the BMW PGA Championship. That’s not surprising, considering he’d made a 130-foot putt the day before to start off with seven straight birdies. The loser in the playoff? Rory McIlroy. It’s been a tough season.
(Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
LONDON — Daniel Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs) knocked out Anthony Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs) in the fifth round at Wembley Stadium to defend his heavyweight title and leave no doubt as to his status as an elite-level boxer.
🏀 Wilson and Clark were unanimously selected as MVP and ROY
L-R: Alyssa Thomas, Caitlin Clark, A’ja Wilson and Napheesa Collier. (Taylor Wilhelm/Yahoo Sports)
A’ja Wilson and Kaitlyn Clark were unanimously selected as this year’s WNBA MVP and Rookie of the Year when the awards were announced Sunday just before the start of the first round of the playoffs.
Wilson is the third player to win the award, joining Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie and Lauren Jackson, and just the second player in league history to win the MVP unanimously (Cynthia Cooper-Dyke in 1997).
Clark, who also finished fourth in MVP awards, became the sixth ROY to be selected unanimously.
All-WNBA Team: Wilson and Clark were also named to the All-WNBA First Team, with Clark becoming the first rookie to earn the honor since Candace Parker in 2008.
First team: Wilson (Aces), Clark (Fever), Napheesa Collier (Lynx), Breanna Stewart (Liberty), Alyssa Thomas (Sun).
Second team: Sabrina Ionescu (Liberty), Kalea Copper (Mercury), Nneka Ogwumike (Storm), Kayla McBride (Lynx), Arike Ogunbowale (Wings).
All-Rookie Team: Clark, Angel Reese (Sky), Camila Cardozo (Sky), Leonie Fiebic (Liberty) and Rikea Jackson (Sparks).
Other awards: The Lynx duo of Collier and Cheryl Reeve were named Defensive Player of the Year and Coach of the Year, Aces guard Tiffany Hayes was named Sixth Woman of the Year, Sparks forward Dearika Hamby was named Most Improved Player and Storm guard Skylar Diggins-Smith was named Comeback Player of the Year.
Nneka Ogwumike guards A’ja Wilson during Sunday’s game. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Sunday’s scoreboard: All four championship favorites won their first playoff games and are one win away from reaching the semifinals.
Aces 78, Storm 67: Wilson had 21 points, eight rebounds and five blocks for the back-to-back defending champions.
Sun 93, Fever 69: Thomas had a triple-double (12 points, 10 rebounds, 13 assists), but Clark struggled in his postseason debut (11 points on 4-of-17 shooting) in a blowout loss.
Liberty 83, Dream 69: Stewart (20 points, 11 rebounds) and Ionescu (17 points, five rebounds, five assists) led the No. 1 seeds to a stress-free win.
Lynx 102, Mercury 95: In a game that was much closer than expected, Collier had a big game with 38 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists.
Read more: What to expect from the WNBA playoffs
🏈 AP Poll: Vols and Wolverines move up the rankings
(Gregory Hodge/Yahoo Sports)
Tennessee and Michigan are big jumps in this week’s AP Top 25. Tennessee moves into the top five, but the rest of the rankings remain unchanged, while Michigan moves up six spots thanks to a dramatic last-minute win.
No. 5 Tennessee welcomes Oklahoma to the SEC with a 25-15 road win, dropping the Sooners six spots to No. 21.
No. 12 Michigan scored on fourth down with 37 seconds left to beat USC 27-24, which moved Michigan past the No. 13 Trojans as the highest-ranked one-loss team in the country.
Week 4 continued:
Cougars up, Wildcats down: BYU entered the rankings at No. 22 after a 38-9 thumping of then-No. 13 Kansas State. The biggest story of the week was the Wildcats dropping 10 spots to No. 23.
120-point blast: James Madison beats UNC, 70-50. In the weekend’s most competitive game, Duke scored a school-record 53 points in the first half and Tar Heels coach Mack Brown offered to resign, taking responsibility for the loss.
Buffaloes win thrilling game: Shedur Sanders hit a game-tying Hail Mary pass against Baylor to send the game into overtime, then Travis Hunter forced a fumble in the end zone to give Colorado a 38-31 victory.
Record-setting kick: Temple’s Maddux Trujillo kicked a 64-yard field goal in the Owls’ win over Utah State, the longest in college football since 2008 and one yard shy of the FBS record.
READ: Winners and Losers | LISTEN: College Football Power Hour
📆 September 23, 1988: Canseco creates the 40-40 Club
Canseco runs the bases during a game in 1988. (Otto Gruehl Jr./Getty Images)
36 years ago today, Jose Canseco became the first player in MLB history to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in the same season.
What a year it was. The 23-year-old right fielder won MVP that season and finished with an MLB-best 42 home runs and 124 RBIs for the Athletics, who won 104 games and lost to the Dodgers in the World Series.
He stole exactly 40 bases, tying him for 12th all-time that season, but none of the 13 players with 40 stolen bases also hit more than 13 home runs.
Canseco hit 462 home runs (tied for 38th all-time) and stole 200 bases (tied for 364th all-time).
The 40-40 Club: Only five players have joined Canseco since then, one in each of the past two seasons.
Canseco: 42 home runs, 40 stolen bases (1988, Athletics)
Barry Bonds: 42 home runs, 40 stolen bases (1996, Giants)
Alex Rodriguez: 42 home runs, 46 stolen bases (1998, Mariners)
Alfonso Soriano: 46 home runs, 41 stolen bases (2006, Nationals)
Ronald Acuña Jr.: 41 home runs, 73 stolen bases (2023, Braves)
Shohei Ohtani*: 53 home runs, 55+ stolen bases (2024, Dodgers)
Who to watch: Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez has 37 home runs and 40 stolen bases in the final five games and could be part of the team in the final week of the season.
*Fastest in history: Ohtani reached 40-40 in just 126 games, 21 fewer than anyone else. He did so by hitting a walk-off grand slam in the same game he already had 40 stolen bases. And, of course, he created the 50-50 club with the best offense in MLB history.
📺 Watchlist: NFL Doubleheaders
Cincinnati’s Paycore Stadium before the Bengals’ Week 1 loss to the Patriots. (Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
The NFL’s Week 3 schedule concludes tonight with a pair of “Monday Night Football” broadcasts.
Jaguars* vs. Bills (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN): BUF -5.5 | O/U 45.5 | BUF -250, JAX +200 (via BetMGM)
Commanders vs. Bengals* (8:15 p.m., ABC): CIN -7.5 | O/U 47 | CIN -350, WSH +280
See also:
⚾️ MLB: Giants vs Diamondbacks or Mariners vs Astros (9:30 p.m., MLB)
⚽️ NWSL: Angel City vs. Portland (10 p.m., CBSSN)
*Must-win game: The Jaguars and Bengals, both currently 0-2, have started 21 seasons combined with a 0-3 record and missed the playoffs in each of them.
⚽️ Soccer Trivia
(Carl Lesine/Getty Images)
Erling Haaland scored his 100th career goal in his 105th game for Manchester City on Sunday, tying him as the fastest player in European football history to reach that milestone.
Question: Who did he tie up?
Hint: he did it this century with a Spanish club.
The answer is at the bottom.
⚾️ Ohtani is still going strong
(John McCoy/Getty Images)
Shohei Ohtani recorded the best batting average per game in MLB history on Thursday, and he’s barely slowed down since then.
By the numbers: in the three games since his 6-for-6, three-home run masterpiece, he’s 8-12 with two home runs, four stolen bases, five runs scored and three RBIs, including a game-tying home run in the bottom of the ninth inning on Sunday.
With one week left, he has 53 home runs, 55 stolen bases, a .301 batting average and a 1.023 OPS. Not bad!
Trivia answer: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)
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