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🚨 Headlines
🏀 Finals rematch: The Aces beat the Liberty in last year’s WNBA Finals, and they’ll meet in the semifinals this year after Las Vegas beat Seattle and New York beat Atlanta.
📺 NOW STREAMING: Netflix’s “Mr. McMahon,” a six-part documentary series chronicling the rise and fall of WWE founder Vince McMahon, was released this morning.
🏈 Favre has Parkinson’s disease: Brett Favre revealed on Tuesday that he was recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. The retired quarterback made the revelation while testifying before Congress during hearings into the Mississippi welfare fraud scandal.
🏀 Sparks part ways with Miller: Veteran head coach Kurt Miller and the Sparks have “mutually agreed to part ways.” Miller compiled a 25-55 record in two seasons with the franchise. The franchise has had 17 coaches in 28 seasons.
🎾 Teenager Wins: 19-year-old Shang Junchen beat Olympic bronze medalist Lorenzo Musetti to win the Chengdu Open, becoming the second Chinese player to win an ATP title and the youngest ATP winner this year.
⚾️ We won!
(Caitlin Mulcahy/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES — The Padres secured a playoff berth after a game-ending triple play that put Shohei Ohtani in a bind (just the third in the last 30 years). San Diego (91-66) is now just two games behind Los Angeles (93-64) for the National League West title with five games remaining.
(Jim MacIsaac/Getty Images)
NEW YORK — The Orioles beat the Yankees, 5-3, to clinch a spot in the postseason and deny New York a chance to win the division. The Orioles will be in the playoffs in consecutive years for the first time since 1996-97.
(Tim Werner/Getty Images)
HOUSTON — The Astros defeated the Mariners, 4 games to 3, to win their fourth consecutive American League West title. Who was the last team to do that? The Oakland Athletics, nearly 50 years ago (five straight years, from 1971 to 1975).
MLB Playoff Tracker: Standings, Championship Scenarios, Tiebreakers, Postseason Schedule
🎓 What is the academic ability of the Power 4?
Stanford University. (David Madison/Getty Images)
U.S. News and World Report’s annual college rankings are out. Here are the Power 4 conferences ranked:
Australian Central Committee
Average rank: 51.7
Top 50 schools: 9 out of 18
Top 100: 17 out of 18
Highest ranking: Stanford University (4)
Last place: Louisville (179)
Full list: Stanford (4), Duke (6), University of California (17), Notre Dame (18), University of Virginia (24), University of North Carolina (27), Georgia Tech (33), Boston University (37), Wake Forest (46), Virginia Tech (51), Florida State (54), North Carolina State (58), Miami (63), University of Pittsburgh (70), Syracuse (73), Clemson (80), SMU (91), University of Louisville (179)
Big Ten
Average rank: 53.5
Top 50 schools: 11 of 18
Top 100: 16 out of 18
Highest ranking: Northwestern University (6)
Last place: Nebraska (152)
Full list: Northwestern University (6), UCLA (15), University of Michigan (21), USC (27), University of Illinois (33), University of Wisconsin (39), Rutgers University (41), Ohio State University (41), University of Maryland (44), Purdue University (46), University of Washington (46), University of Minnesota (54), Michigan State University (63), Pennsylvania State University (63), Indiana University (73), University of Iowa (98), University of Oregon (101), University of Nebraska (152)
SEC
Average rank: 114.2
Top 50 schools: 4 out of 16
Top 100 schools: 5 out of 16
Highest ranking: Vanderbilt University (18)
Last place: Mississippi State University (214)
The full list: Vanderbilt (18), Florida (30), Texas (30), Georgia (46), Texas A&M (51), Auburn (105), Tennessee (109), Missouri (109), South Carolina (121), Oklahoma (132), Kentucky (152), Ole Miss (171), Alabama (171), LSU (179), Arkansas (189), Mississippi State (214).
Big 12
Average rank: 125.2
Top 50 schools: 0 out of 16
Top 100 schools: 2 out of 16
Highest ranking: Baylor University (91)
Last: West Virginia (220)
Full list: Baylor University (91), University of Colorado (98), Texas College of Medicine (105), BYU (109), University of Arizona (109), Arizona State University (121), Iowa State University (121), University of California, San Francisco (121), University of Utah (136), University of Houston (144), University of Cincinnati (152), University of Kansas (152), Kansas State University (165), Oklahoma State University (196), Texas Tech University (214), West Virginia University (220)
READER COMMENT: Thanks to Yahoo Sports AM reader Richard Rothschild for the idea for this article last year and his help again this year. Thanks, Richard!
🏈 NFL Power Rankings: Week 4
(Mallory Bielecki/Yahoo Sports)
Yahoo Sports’ Frank Schwab’s NFL power rankings for Week 4 have the Bills, led by MVP candidate Josh Allen, at the top of the list.
The Bills have been consistently good under Sean McDermott and Josh Allen — five straight playoff appearances, four straight division titles, and two straight 13-win seasons are impressive — and after an offseason that saw them worry their chances of a Super Bowl appearance were over, they’re arguably the best team of this era this season.
MVP odds (via BetMGM):
Josh Allen (+200)
Patrick Mahomes (+350)
CJ Stroud (+1300)
Jalen Hurts (+1600)
Aaron Rodgers (+1600)
A chaotic middle ground: The NFL is in a state of equilibrium this season, with 25 teams at 1-2 or 2-1, five at 3-0 (Bills, Chiefs, Vikings, Seahawks, Steelers) and three at 0-3 (Bengals, Jaguars, Titans).
🎙️ FreshPod: Analyzing 3-0 Teams (Football 301)
⚾️ Skubal vs Sale: Close match
(Giftie)
Detroit’s Tarik Skubal and Atlanta’s Chris Sale are the near-certain candidates to win the American League and National League Cy Young Awards, and the two left-handed pitchers have had roughly identical stats this season.
Looking at the numbers, can you imagine if voters had to choose between these two?
Skubal: 18 wins, 2.39 ERA, 142 hits, 35 walks, 228 strikeouts
Sale: 18 wins, 2.38 ERA, 141 hits, 39 walks, 225 strikeouts
Triple Crown hopes: Both Skubal and Sale lead their respective leagues in wins, ERA and strikeouts, putting them in position to win the extremely rare MLB Triple Crown.
An intriguing point: Both pitchers are taking the mound in high-stakes games with their teams battling for a playoff spot. Skubal pitched seven scoreless innings Tuesday, moving the Tigers one step closer to an unlikely postseason berth. His next appearance could come on the season finale (Sunday). Sale takes the mound tonight in Atlanta as the Braves (86-71) try to tie with the Mets (87-70) for the National League Wild Card spot.
📆 September 25, 1965: Satch’s last song
Paige will pitch in his final MLB game (Bruce Bennett Studios via Getty Images)
Fifty-nine years ago today, Leroy “Satchel” Paige played his final major league game, pitching three scoreless innings at age 59 for the Kansas City Athletics.
By the numbers, Paige, who hadn’t pitched a professional game in 12 years and it had been 40 years since his debut, needed just 28 pitches to dismantle the Red Sox lineup, with the only hit he allowed coming off the bat of future Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski.
“Whether he was 23, 53, 63 or 73, he showed a lot of people that he still had that old-fashioned love for baseball.”
— Athletics play-by-play announcer Red Rush after Paige was ejected from the game.
Paige watched the game from a rocking chair just days before taking the mound (Bettman Archives/Getty Images)
How it happened: The Athletics, who had their last winning season 13 years ago while still in Philadelphia, had always struggled to draw big crowds (sound familiar?), so owner Charlie Finley came up with “Satchel Paige Night” as a promotional ploy to boost attendance and pay tribute to the local legend who spent eight seasons with the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues.
But Finley didn’t just want to congratulate Paige, he wanted him to pitch, so he signed him to a $3,500 contract and hired him as a coach and cheerleader for a month, giving Paige the time he needed to be eligible for an MLB pension.
The Athletics made a big deal about Paige’s age, putting a rocking chair in the bullpen and calling in a nurse before games to apply ointment to his shoulder for all to see.
Hall of Fame career: Paige pitched professionally in the 1920s, ’30s, ’40s, ’50s and ’60s, compiling a 124-82 record with a 2.73 ERA in 22 seasons. In 1971, he became the first former Negro League player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
*It’s not his first stunt: Earlier this month, Finley had shortstop Bert Campaneris play all nine positions in the same game, becoming the first of five major leaguers to do so.
📺 Watchlist: Loser Round
(Kate Frese/NBAE via Getty Images)
Caitlin Clark and Diana Taurasi are two of the best players of their respective generations, yet both are in danger of elimination tonight on ESPN.
What’s interesting is that this season may be the last chance to watch Clark play basketball, and the last chance to watch Taurasi play basketball. Taurasi, 42, has been tight-lipped about retirement, but it’s starting to feel like this might be the last.
See also:
⚾️ MLB: Mets vs Braves (7:20 p.m., MLB.TV free game), Giants vs Diamondbacks or Padres vs Dodgers (9:40 p.m., MLB) … Can the Braves keep up with the Diamondbacks and Mets? Can the Padres keep up with the Dodgers? There’s a lot at stake tonight.
⚽️ US Open Cup: LAFC vs. Sporting KC (10:30 p.m., Free on Apple) … The final of the nation’s longest-running soccer tournament.*
*95 in, 2 to go: The 109th US Open Cup kicked off in March with 95 teams from all levels of American soccer. The two teams that made it to the finals were, predictably, both MLS teams. Guess the last non-MLS club to win the tournament? The Rochester Raging Rhinos in 1999.
⚾️ MLB Trivia
(Jim MacIsaac/Getty Images)
Aaron Judge hit another home run on Tuesday, his 56th of the season.
Question: Who are the only seven players to hit the most home runs in a season this century?
Hint: two are still active.
The answer is at the bottom.
🇳🇴 Meanwhile in Norway…
(Reddit)
Bryne FK, the Norwegian club famous for developing a young Erling Haaland, came up with a unique way to appeal to fans in the country’s agricultural regions: bringing tractors into the stadium.
Tractor Suite: The second-division club is inviting fans to drive a tractor to its 4,000-seat stadium, park it close to the pitch and “watch the game from the driver’s seat.” Up to four fans can ride with the driver for an affordable price of 250 Norwegian kroner (about $20).
Trivia answer: Barry Bonds (2001, age 73), Sammy Sosa (2001, age 64), Judge (2022, age 62), Giancarlo Stanton (2017, age 59), Ryan Howard (2006, age 58), Luis Gonzalez (2001, age 57), Alex Rodriguez (2002, age 57).
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