Blue Jays Tie Up ALCS Behind Vintage Mad Max Performance

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🚨 Headlines

🏈 Thursday night thriller: The Bengals beat the Steelers, 33-31, as Joe Flacco (342 yards, 3 TD) outdueled Aaron Rodgers (249 yards, 4 TD, 2 INT) in a battle of 40-year-old QBs and Evan McPherson hit a game-winning field goal in the waning seconds.

🏈 Cignetti gets paid: Indiana signed Curt Cignetti to an eight-year, $93 million extension that will make him one of the highest-paid coaches in FBS. Cignetti, who’s gone 17-2 since arriving in Bloomington, said he plans to retire as Indiana’s head coach.

🎾 Alcaraz vs. Sinner, again: Carlos Alcaraz beat Taylor Fritz and Jannik Sinner beat Novak Djokovic in the Six Kings Slam semifinals to book yet another championship showdown. This one’s on Saturday in Riyadh, with the winner taking home a cool $6 million.

🏀 Pearl’s new gig: Bruce Pearl will join TNT’s new college basketball show as an analyst just a month after retiring as Auburn’s head coach.

🏒 Vegas signs Hart: The Golden Knights signed Carter Hart to a two-year deal, making him the first of the five players who were accused — and then acquitted — of sexual assault in the Hockey Canada case to rejoin an NHL team.

⚾️ Blue Jays tie it up, Brewers on the brink

ALCS: Max Scherzer hasn’t really looked like Max Scherzer all that much in recent years. But on Thursday in Seattle, in his 500th career start, the future Hall of Famer reminded anyone watching that Mad Max is still here. And with an 8-2 series-tying win, so are the Blue Jays.

Scherzer (5.2 IP, 5 K, 3H, 2R) was in vintage form as he collected his first postseason victory since 2019 and generally looked like the Mad Max of old, stalking the mound and yelling his way into staying in the game.
He also did something that even prime Scherzer didn’t do much, picking off his first baserunner since 2016, and first ever in the postseason, to squash a potential third-inning rally.

From Yahoo Sports’ Jordan Shusterman:

The pinnacle of Scherzer’s performance came in the fifth inning, when Arozarena came to the plate with two outs and a runner on first. Hard-throwing reliever Louis Varland was warming up. Even with a 5-1 lead and Scherzer at only 70 pitches, it felt like a sensible time for a manager to make a pitching change, especially with the top of Seattle’s lineup preparing to face Scherzer a third time. But as Schneider departed the dugout and headed toward the mound, it became clear that Scherzer had no interest in exiting the game.

“It was awesome,” Schneider said afterward. “I thought he was going to kill me. It was great. He locked eyes with me, both colors, as I walked out.”

Once Schneider arrived on the hill, Scherzer began to state his case with ferocity.

“I understood where the game state was, knew how I wanted to attack, and then all of a sudden, I saw Schneids coming out, and I kind of went, ‘Woah, woah, woah, I’m not coming out of this ball game. I feel too good,'” Scherzer said postgame. “So we had a little conversation that basically I wanted to stay in the ball game, but just with some other words involved. I just knew I was strong. I knew I wanted the ball. I knew I could get outs in this situation. I just wanted to stay in. I wanted it.”

What’s next: Game 5 is tonight in Seattle, where the seven-game series has turned into a race to two wins.

NLCS: The defending champs are a win away from returning to the Fall Classic after shutting down the Brewers, 3-1, behind yet another standout performance from the starting rotation.

Historic dominance: Thanks to Tyler Glasnow (5.2 IP, 8 K, 3 H, 1 R) and a bullpen that threw 3.1 near-perfect innings, the Dodgers have become the first team in postseason history to allow fewer than two runs and fewer than five hits in four consecutive games.

From Yahoo Sports’ Russell Dorsey:

If the NLCS is a relay for the Dodgers, Blake Snell was the first leg, getting L.A. out to an early lead in Game 1 and setting the tone for the series. Yoshinobu Yamamoto took the second leg for the Dodgers in Game 2, not only extending the lead but also injecting confidence into the team as the series moved to Dodger Stadium.

Right-hander Tyler Glasnow was handed the baton for Game 3 on Thursday, with the goal of continuing the momentum and putting the Dodgers on the doorstep of another World Series appearance.

For Glasnow, who missed the Dodgers’ 2024 World Series run due to injury, successfully passing the baton to the next starter represented a personal victory.

What’s next: The Dodgers will hand the baton to Shohei Ohtani tonight in Los Angeles with a chance to clinch the sweep.

🏈 College football: Midseason predictions

We’ve arrived at the midway point of the college football season, and our preseason predictions aren’t looking so hot. Here’s how our experts think the rest of the season will unfold.

Plus: Midseason awards

📸 In photos: Grand Sumo Tournament

The Grand Sumo Tournament is being contested this week at London’s iconic Royal Albert Hall, just the second time in the sport’s 1,500-year history it’s been held outside Japan.

Back in London: The first instance was also at the Royal Albert Hall in 1991 as part of the UK’s Japan Festival. They hoped to host again in 2021 for the venue’s 150th anniversary, but got delayed due to the pandemic.

Wrestlers line the ring during Wednesday's opening ceremony. (Jordan Pettitt/PA Images via Getty Images) — Wrestlers line the ring during Wednesday’s opening ceremony. (Jordan Pettitt/PA Images via Getty Images)

The five-day tournament, ending on Sunday, features more than 40 sumo wrestlers — or rikishi — fighting in 100 bouts. A majority of rikishi hail from Japan, but Mongolians have dominated the 21st century and two Ukrainians are also competing in London this week.

Sumo ranks: There are no weight classes in sumo, just rankings, with none higher than yokozuna — an elite level that only 75 rikishi have ever reached. The only two active yokozuna, Mongolia’s Hōshōryū Tomokatsu and Japan’s Ōnosato Daiki, are both competing this week.

A sumo match, or basho, ends either when one rikishi gets pushed out of the ring or has any body part other than the soles of their feet touch the ground. Victories come either via penalty or as a result of one of the 82 officially-recognized winning techniques, called kimarite.

The dohyō: The ring, or dohyō, is a 15-foot circle of packed clay covered in sand. To build the one in London, 11 tons of clay were shipped by sea, and a team of ring attendants (yobidashi) also made the trip to ensure its construction adhered to sumo’s rigid traditional standards.

Ōnosato enjoys a hot dog near the Houses of Parliament ahead of the tournament. (Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

Rikishi live a regimented lifestyle centered around intense training and a strict diet (pictured above: a cheat day!). They don’t eat breakfast, and lunch comprises about 10,000 calories worth of a protein-rich stew called chankonabe, followed by a three-hour nap for maximal weight gain.

Big boys: Rikishi weigh about 330 pounds on average, with some tipping the scales at 550. In order to accommodate athletes of that stature, Royal Albert Hall had to source new chairs and reinforce their toilets.

Don’t let their size (and shape) fool you — these are athletes. You can watch the final three days of the tournament on DAZN.

Day 1 highlights.

🏈 The bros of New York

Jaxson Dart and Cam Skattebo are injecting the Giants with a welcome dose of rookie chaos. And so far, it’s translating to wins.

From Yahoo Sports’ Jay Busbee:

There’s a clip from last week’s dramatic Giants win over the Super Bowl champion Eagles that perfectly sums up the new mentality taking root in New York’s locker room. Rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart spots rookie running back Cam Skattebo, and bellows like a delirious grizzly bear. Skattebo bellows back, and the two butt heads live on camera. It’s ridiculous, it’s absurd, it’s glorious.

Dart is a longhaired SEC-by-way-of-Utah first-round slinger who leaped into the starting job when it became clear in September that Russell Wilson wasn’t a fit. He’s treating NFL football like it’s a Friday night and he’s the God of the Gridiron, right up to and including high-fiving a ref after a touchdown.

Skattebo, meanwhile, seems to live his life by the simple mantra of “what would be the most kick-ass thing to do right this moment?” The Giants’ own scouting report called Skattebo a “carnage creator,” which is pretty much the best assessment you could hope for.

And their names, man. Their names! If you wrote a screenplay with a blonde QB named “Jaxson Dart” and a swerving bowling ball named “Skattebo,” you’d get it thrown back in your face for being too on-the-nose.

Statistically, Dart and Skattebo are still building their foundations. Skattebo’s 56.3 yards per game average ranks 19th in the league, though he is tied for fifth with 24 first-down runs, and third with five rushing touchdowns. Dart’s progress has been slower, since the quarterback position is a scalpel to the running back’s sledgehammer. But they’re bringing a spark that can’t be measured, not even by Next Gen Stats.

Keep reading.

📺 Weekend Watchlist

🏈 NCAA Football, Week 8

We’ve got a season-high five matchups between ranked teams coming our way on Saturday, with Nashville, Athens, Tuscaloosa, South Bend and Provo playing host.

No. 10 LSU at No. 17 Vanderbilt (12pm ET, ABC)
No. 5 Ole Miss at No. 9 Georgia (3:30pm, ABC)
No. 11 Tennessee at No. 6 Alabama (7:30pm, ABC)
No. 20 USC at No. 13 Notre Dame (7:30pm, NBC)
No. 23 Utah at No. 15 BYU (8pm, Fox)

Best of the rest: Louisville at No. 2 Miami (Fri. 7pm, ESPN); No. 1 Ohio State at Wisconsin (Sat. 3:30pm, CBS); Michigan State at No. 3 Indiana (Sat. 3:30pm, Peacock); No. 7 Texas Tech at Arizona State (Sat. 4pm, Fox); No. 21 Texas at Kentucky (Sat. 7pm, ESPN).

⚾️ MLB Playoffs

The League Championship Series continues tonight with what could be the final day of the season to feature multiple baseball games. First up is Blue Jays at Mariners (6pm, FS1), where Seattle hopes to stem the bleeding in a critical Game 5 after dropping two straight. Then it’s Brewers at Dodgers (8:30pm, TBS), where the defending champs will look to return to the Fall Classic for the fifth time in nine years. If necessary, Game 5 of the NLCS is tomorrow in L.A. (8pm, TBS) and Game 6 of the ALCS is on Sunday in Toronto (8pm, FS1).

🏈 NFL, Week 7

Sunday’s slate kicks off at Wembley Stadium, which hosts the final London game of the season, and ends with an intriguing NFC matchup on “Sunday Night Football.”

Rams at Jaguars (9:30am, NFL)
Eagles at Vikings (1pm, Fox)
Colts at Chargers (4:05pm, CBS)
Commanders at Cowboys (4:25pm, Fox)
Falcons at 49ers (8:20pm, NBC)

The Vra-Bowl: Mike Vrabel and the first-place Patriots return to Tennessee (1pm, CBS), which has gone an abysmal 4-19 since firing Vrabel two years ago. If this game goes as expected (the Pats are seven-point favorites), it’s safe to say he’ll relish the victory over his former employer.

⚽️ MLS Decision Day

The regular season comes to an end on Saturday, with all 30 teams in action either at 6pm or 9pm. The Eastern Conference playoff field is set, but four teams are fighting for the last two spots in the West: Dallas (at Vancouver), Real Salt Lake (at St. Louis), Colorado (vs. LAFC) and San Jose (vs. Austin).

🏎️ United States Grand Prix

Formula 1 heads to Austin’s Circuit of the Americas (Sun. 3pm, ESPN) for the second of three stateside races this season. But unlike Miami and Vegas, which both debuted in the last few years, the U.S. Grand Prix dates all the way back to 1908, and has been held at COTA since 2012.

🎾 Six Kings Slam

Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner will square off in yet another final tomorrow in Riyadh, where they’ll compete for a $6 million grand prize — the largest in tennis. The final streams on Netflix at the conclusion of the third-place match between Novak Djokovic and Taylor Fritz (12:30pm).

More to watch:

🏀 NBA: Nuggets at Thunder (Fri. 8pm, NBA); Kings at Lakers (Fri. 10:30pm, NBA) … Final day of preseason action before the season tips off on Tuesday.
🏁 NASCAR Playoffs: Talladega (Sun. 2pm, NBC) … The second of three races in the Round of 8 could bring chaos, as seven of the last 11 races at the Alabama track have been won with a last-lap pass.
🏒 NHL: Kraken at Maple Leafs (Sat. 7pm, NHL); Bruins at Mammoth (Sun. 7pm, NHL)
⚽️ NWSL: Bay FC vs. North Carolina (Fri. 10pm, Prime); Washington vs. Orlando (Sat. 12:30pm, CBS); Angel City vs. Portland (Sun. 5pm, ESPN) … The penultimate weekend of the regular season.
⚽️ Premier League: Fulham vs. Arsenal (Sat. 12:30pm, NBC); Liverpool vs. Manchester United (Sun. 11:30am, USA) … The Gunners (16 points) hold a slim lead over the Reds (15) atop the table.

Full weekend slate.

⚾️ MLB trivia

Manny Ramírez, one of three players who retired this century with at least 500 home runs and a career .300 batting average, has put the word out to all 30 teams that he’d like to be an MLB hitting coach.

Question: Can you name the other two players from this century with 500 HR and a .300 AVG?

Hint: Right-handed first basemen.

Answer at the bottom.

⛳️ America’s most unlikely golf club

At Cedar Creek Corrections Center outside Olympia, Washington, golf has become more than a game. It’s a second chance. Every Wednesday night, a dozen men pick up borrowed clubs, hit foam balls across a makeshift range and talk about the same things golfers talk about anywhere — good shots, bad shots, and what’s next.

“It’s not like any other sport I’ve played because — yeah, you’re with people, but it’s you working on yourself and finding a way to beat the odds,” says inmate Tejuan Ball. “Regardless of what’s happening, I still get a chance to come back and I get to improve on myself.”

Full story: Read | Watch

Trivia answer: Frank Thomas (521 HR, .301 AVG) and Miguel Cabrera (511, .306)

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Blue Jays tie up ALCS behind vintage Mad Max performance