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🚨 Headline
🏀 KAT to New York: Karl-Anthony Towns is reportedly headed to the Knicks in exchange for Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo and a first-round pick. The transaction has not yet been completed.
⚾️ Three consecutive batting titles: Padres 1B/DH Luis Arraez (.314 AVG) became the first player in MLB history to win three consecutive batting titles with three different teams (Padres, Marlins, Twins). Ta.
⚽️ Club World Cup Venue: MetLife Stadium in New Jersey will be the venue for the 2025 Club World Cup final, with venues in 10 other U.S. cities also hosting expansion matches for the 32-team tournament.
🏀 Lynx duo win awards: Lynx superstar Nafeesa Collier and head coach Cheryl Reeve were named WNBA Defensive Player and Coach of the Year after leading Minnesota to 30 wins and the No. 2 seed It was.
💔 Zurich tragedy: Swiss cyclist Muriel Ferrer died on Friday after sustaining head injuries in an accident during the World Cycling Championships. she was 18 years old.
⚾️ Playoffs are on the line in Atlanta
(Gregory Hodge/Yahoo Sports)
The MLB regular season concluded on Sunday for 28 of the 30 teams. The American League spots have been determined, and the National League will be finalized today.
Who’s in there?
American League: Yankees (94-68) and Guardians (92-69) get byes, Astros (88-73), Orioles (91-71), Royals (86-76), Tigers (86 wins, 76 losses) are behind them.
National League: The Dodgers (98-64) and Phillies (95-67) received byes, followed by the Brewers (93-69) and Padres (93-69). The final two spots will be decided today.
3 teams, 2 slots: The Braves host the Mets in a doubleheader today (1:10 p.m. ET, 4:40 p.m. ET on ESPN2) that will decide not only their postseason fate, but also the fate of the Diamondbacks, according to Yahoo Sports Jake Mintz points out…
How did we get here?
Mother Nature is the simple answer. Rain in Georgia last week made Trust Park unplayable. The league could have forced the Braves and Mets to play at neutral sites, but chose not to. Certainly, the league was hoping that the results of the final weekend’s games would make today’s doubleheader unnecessary.
MLB would have gotten its wish had the Diamondbacks not fought back Sunday against the Padres, giving up 11 points after falling behind early. If Arizona lost, it would have been eliminated, and New York and Atlanta would have advanced to the tournament in October.
If the Braves win on Sunday, perhaps the least favorable scenario will be triggered. In that case, Atlanta would have earned a wild card spot but would still have to play New York twice today. That’s because the Mets needed to win both to get him and get him. Eliminate D-back. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case. Still, we are left with plenty of confusion.
Scenario: If the Mets or Braves win both games, they will join the Diamondbacks in the playoffs. If the doubleheader is split, both players will play and the Diamondbacks will be eliminated. Let’s break it down a little more…
Atlanta enters with a win. The Braves can only be a No. 5 seed.
New York enters with a win. If the Mets win one game on Monday, they will be the No. 6 seed. If they win both, they will be the 5th seed.
If either Atlanta or New York wins the doubleheader, Arizona qualifies. The D-backs can only be a No. 6 seed.
Doesn’t that create strange incentives?
yes. The winner of today’s Game 1 will qualify for the playoffs with that victory, making Game 2 irrelevant for that team. Conversely, a team that loses Game 1 faces a win-or-go-home situation in Game 2.
This means that the winner of Game 1 is obliged to (1) lose Game 2 as quickly as possible and (2) lose while relying on the least important group of players. That’s understandable, given the exorbitant travel involved in all of this and the zero days off between this doubleheader and the start of the playoffs on Tuesday.
For example, if the Mets win Game 1, it would make no sense to bring in flamethrower closer Edwin Diaz in Game 2. That would put him under even more strain in Tuesday’s playoff game. And similar to what can happen on road days during the regular season, the winning batter of Game 1 could swing early and often to get Game 2 going.
Projected starting pitchers (per MLB.com): The Mets are expected to start Tyler Megill (4-5, 3.98 ERA) and Luis Severino (11-7, 3.91 ERA), while the Braves are expected to start Spencer Shu Wellenbach (8 wins, 7 losses, 3.47 ERA) is scheduled to start. ERA) and National League Triple Crown champion Chris Sale (18 wins, 3 losses, ERA 2.38).
🏈 NFL Sunday: By the numbers
(Michael Owens/Getty Images)
43: The Bills’ NFL record of 43 consecutive regular season games without a loss by six points or more came to an end with a 35-10 loss to Derrick Henry (199 rushing yards), Lamar Jackson (3 TDs) and Lamar Jackson (3 TDs). Ravens.
4-0: The Vikings beat the Packers 31-29 to improve to 4-0 for the first time since 2016, with Sam Darnold (who had three more passing TDs and an NFL-best 11) capitalizing on a surprise MVP candidate. continued. .
82.1: Commanders rookie Jayden Daniels had another great performance in a 42-14 win over the Cardinals. No QB has had a higher success rate (82.1%) through the first four games of the season (minimum 75 attempts).
58: The Falcons beat the Saints 26-24 on Younghoe Koo’s career-long 58-yard field goal with two seconds left. He is a perfect 15-15 on all kicks this season.
60: Broncos rookie QB Bo Nix set an NFL record for most passing yards (minimum 20 attempts) in a 10-9 win over the Jets, finishing with just 60 yards on 25 attempts. Ta.
2-2: The Eagles were 6-0 over the past two Septembers, but fell to 2-2 this year with a 33-16 loss to the Buccaneers.
39: Joe Flacco replaced the injured Anthony Richardson and led the Colts to a victory over the Steelers. Anthony Richardson’s mother is eight days older than the 39-year-old QB.
0-4: The Jaguars lost to the Texans, becoming the only team in the league with an 0-4 record. The Titans, also in the AFC South, could join them tonight.
Scoreboard:
Favorites: Ravens 35, Bills 10 // Bears 24, Rams 18 // Texans 24, Jaguars 20 // Bengals 34, Panthers 24 // Falcons 26, Saints 24 // 49ers 30, Patriots 13 // Chiefs 17, Chargers 10
Underdog wins: Colts 27, Steelers 24 // Buccaneers 33, Eagles 16 // Broncos 10, Jets 9 // Vikings 31, Packers 29 // Commanders 42, Cardinals 14 // Raiders 20, Browns 16
Fantasy Roundup: Booms and Busts
🏈 Alabama beats Georgia: Freshman saves the day
Ryan Williams, 17, celebrates his victory. (Todd Kirkland/Getty Images)
Alabama defeated Georgia 41-34 in an instant classic Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium. As a result, the Tide moved to No. 1 in this week’s Associated Press poll, while the Bulldogs slipped to No. 5.
From Ross Delenger of Yahoo Sports…
Ryan Williams gathered up Alabama’s receivers Friday night to play a little video game. He competed against his teammates in EA Sports College Football 25. It was a way to relax the day before kickoff of college football’s biggest game of the season.
As is often the case, Williams, a 17-year-old star receiver for the Tide, played a video game with his team. While engrossed in a close game with his teammates, Williams uses a controller to violently move the pieces around the virtual field, allowing one of his defensive backs, fellow freshman Xavian Brown, to snatch the ball out of the air and end the game. He made the decisive interception.
Williams celebrated the win, and the next day, hours before Alabama played Georgia, he texted Brown: “You’re going to be the winning pick!” nailed it.
ICYMI: The Tide opened up a 28-0 lead, but it almost turned into a disaster thanks to an acrobatic 75-yard TD catch by one freshman (Williams) and a last-minute interception by another (Brown). He avoided this and took the lead.
On the national stage, the Tide’s two rookies had a coming-out party in a top-five showdown. Their QB, Jalen Milroe, put together a Heisman Trophy-worthy day. And their coach, Karen DeBoer, not only picked up her first SEC win, but also a two-time national championship-winning coach.
It was refreshing. exciting. Explosive. Emotional. It can also be a bit tiring. “There’s a lot going on there,” DeBoer explained at the beginning of his postgame press conference. In fact, there’s a lot going on.
By the numbers, Georgia is 45-3 since 2021, with all three losses coming against Alabama, and Kirby Smart is now 1-6 against the Crimson Tide…DeBoer is 109-12 as a head coach; He has improved his record against Smart with 6 wins and 0 losses. , Steve Sarkisian and Dan Lanning.
📸 The world in photos
(Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
MONTREAL — The United States defeated the international team 18.5 to 11.5 to win its 10th consecutive Presidents Cup (13th in 15 tries). 2025 Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley scored the winning goal.
(David Dow/NBAE via Getty Images)
BROOKLYN — Breanna Stewart (34 points) and Sabrina Ionescu (21 points) led the Liberty to an 87-77 victory over the Aces in Game 1 of the WNBA semifinals. In the other semifinal, the Suns defeated the Lynx 73-70 to take a 1-0 lead.
(Chris Lee/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
LONDON — Chelsea’s Cole Palmer single-handedly led the Blues to a 4-2 win over Brighton on Saturday, becoming the first player in Premier League history to score four goals before half-time.
Marie-Josée Ta Roux-Smith (Ivory Coast) won the 100m. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images, Athlos)
NEW YORK — Athlos, a new women’s-only track and field competition with great prizes, opened this weekend at Icahn Stadium. The winner of each race earned $60,000, which is double the amount Diamond League winners receive after the entire season.
📆 September 30, 1939: Football on TV
A pair of newly patented iconoscope cameras were mounted on a trolley and moved around to capture the scene. (NBCU Photobank, Getty Images)
85 years ago today, Fordham University, then a national power, hosted tiny Waynesburg College (now the University) in the first-ever televised football game.
It was that year…television was a sensation at the Queen’s World’s Fair that year, but it was still in the experimental stage. Only about 500 people watched Fordham win 34-7 in the game at Randall’s Island in New York City.
“When I got home to Youngstown, Ohio, I told my wife about it. She got excited and asked me what a TV was and how it worked. Of course. I didn’t know.
— Game Official Jack McPhee
Here we are…Football is America’s most popular TV show – by a ridiculous margin. Of the 100 most-watched broadcasts in 2023, 96 were football games (93 NFL, 3 NCAA).
⚾️MLB trivia
(Justin Casterline/Getty Images)
Chris Sale became the second player in MLB history to lead the league in strikeouts with three different teams (Braves, Red Sox, and White Sox).
Question: Who will he join?
Hint: California and Texas.
The answer is at the bottom.
🍿 Baker’s Dozen: Top plays of the weekend
(Yahoo Sports)
🏈 Ryan Williams!!!
🏈 How did he figure that out?
⛳️Homa Hole Out
🏈 Josh Allen is crazy
🏈 Purdy to Kittle
⚽️ One of Cole’s four goals
🏈 Come Freakin’ Ward
🎾 Monfils earns epic points
🏈Jeremiah Smith! Twice!
🏈 Karin Lacey!
🏈 Pick Six
⚾️Clemence by the wall
🏈 Henry, go home
Please watch all 13 videos.
Trivia answer: Nolan Ryan (Angels, Astros, Rangers)
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