Max

is our day by day e-newsletter that retains you updated on all issues sports activities. to get it each weekday morning.

🚨 Headlines

🏈 Thursday evening thriller: The Bengals beat the Steelers, , 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 within the waning seconds.

Commercial

🏈 Cignetti will get paid: Indiana signed Curt Cignetti to an that may make him one of many highest-paid coaches in FBS. Cignetti, who’s gone 17-2 since arriving in Bloomington, mentioned he plans to retire as Indiana’s head coach.

🎾 Alcaraz vs. Sinner, once more: Carlos Alcaraz beat Taylor Fritz and Jannik Sinner beat Novak Djokovic within the Six Kings Slam semifinals . This one’s on Saturday in Riyadh, with the winner taking dwelling a cool $6 million.

🏀 Pearl’s new gig: Bruce Pearl as an analyst only a month after retiring as Auburn’s head coach.

🏒 Vegas indicators Hart: The Golden Knights to a two-year deal, making him the primary of the 5 gamers who have been accused — after which acquitted — of sexual assault within the Hockey Canada case to rejoin an NHL staff.

⚾️ Blue Jays tie it up, Brewers on the brink

(Alika Jenner/Getty Photographs)

ALCS: Max Scherzer hasn’t actually seemed like Max Scherzer all that a lot lately. However on Thursday in Seattle, in his five hundredth profession begin, the long run Corridor of Famer reminded anybody watching that Mad Max continues to be right here. And with an , so are the Blue Jays.

Commercial

Scherzer (5.2 IP, 5 Okay, 3H, 2R) was in classic type as he collected his first postseason victory since 2019 and usually seemed just like the Mad Max of outdated, stalking the mound and .

He additionally did one thing that even prime Scherzer did not do a lot, his first baserunner since 2016, and first ever within the postseason, to squash a possible third-inning rally.

The top of Scherzer’s efficiency got here within the fifth inning, when Arozarena got here to the plate with two outs and a runner on first. Arduous-throwing reliever Louis Varland was warming up. Even with a 5-1 lead and Scherzer at solely 70 pitches, it felt like a wise time for a supervisor to make a pitching change, particularly with the highest of Seattle’s lineup getting ready to face Scherzer a 3rd time. However as Schneider departed the dugout and headed towards the mound, it grew to become clear that Scherzer had little interest in exiting the sport.

“It was superior,” Schneider mentioned afterward. “I believed he was going to kill me. It was nice. He locked eyes with me, each colours, as I walked out.”

As soon as Schneider arrived on the hill, Scherzer started to state his case with ferocity.

Commercial

“I understood the place the sport state was, knew how I wished to assault, after which swiftly, I noticed Schneids popping out, and I sort of went, ‘Woah, woah, woah, I am not popping out of this ball sport. I really feel too good,'” Scherzer mentioned postgame. “So we had a little bit dialog that mainly I wished to remain within the ball sport, however simply with another phrases concerned. I simply knew I used to be robust. I knew I wished the ball. I knew I might get outs on this state of affairs. I simply wished to remain in. I wished it.”

What’s subsequent: Sport 5 is tonight in Seattle, the place the seven-game collection has changed into a race to 2 wins.

(Sean M. Haffey/Getty Photographs)

NLCS: The defending champs are a win away from returning to the Fall Traditional after shutting down the Brewers, , behind yet one more standout efficiency from the beginning rotation.

Commercial

Historic dominance: Because of Tyler Glasnow (5.2 IP, 8 Okay, 3 H, 1 R) and a bullpen that threw 3.1 near-perfect innings, the Dodgers have change into the to permit fewer than two runs and fewer than 5 hits in 4 consecutive video games.

If the NLCS is a relay for the Dodgers, Blake Snell was the primary leg, getting L.A. out to an early lead in Sport 1 and setting the tone for the collection. Yoshinobu Yamamoto took the second leg for the Dodgers in Sport 2, not solely extending the lead but in addition injecting confidence into the staff because the collection moved to Dodger Stadium.

Proper-hander Tyler Glasnow was handed the baton for Sport 3 on Thursday, with the purpose of constant the momentum and placing the Dodgers on the doorstep of one other World Collection look.

Commercial

For Glasnow, who missed the Dodgers’ 2024 World Collection run resulting from harm, efficiently passing the baton to the following starter represented a private victory.

What’s subsequent: The Dodgers will hand the baton to Shohei Ohtani tonight in Los Angeles with an opportunity to clinch the sweep.

🏈 Faculty soccer: Midseason predictions

(Taylor Wilhelm/Yahoo Sports activities)

We have arrived on the halfway level of the faculty soccer season, and aren’t wanting so sizzling. .

Plus:

📸 In pictures: Grand Sumo Event

(Ryan Pierse/Getty Photographs)

The Grand Sumo Event at London’s iconic Royal Albert Corridor, simply the second time within the sport’s 1,500-year historical past it has been held exterior Japan.

Commercial

Again in London: The primary occasion was additionally on the Royal Albert Corridor in 1991 as a part of the UK’s Japan Competition. They hoped to host once more in 2021 for the venue’s a hundred and fiftieth anniversary, however bought delayed as a result of pandemic.

Wrestlers line the ring throughout Wednesday’s opening ceremony. (Jordan Pettitt/PA Photographs by way of Getty Photographs)

The five-day event, ending on Sunday, options greater than 40 sumo wrestlers — or rikishi — preventing in 100 bouts. A majority of rikishi hail from Japan, however Mongolians have dominated the twenty first century and two Ukrainians are additionally competing in London this week.

Sumo ranks: There aren’t any weight lessons in sumo, simply rankings, with none increased than yokozuna — an elite stage that solely . The one two energetic yokozuna, Mongolia’s Hōshōryū Tomokatsu and Japan’s Ōnosato Daiki, are each competing this week.

(Frank Augstein/AP Picture)

A sumo match, or basho, ends both when one rikishi will get pushed out of the ring or has any physique half apart from the soles of their ft contact the bottom. Victories come both by way of penalty or on account of one of many 82 officially-recognized successful methods, referred to as .

Commercial

The dohyō: The ring, or dohyō, is a 15-foot circle of packed clay lined in sand. To construct the one in London, 11 tons of clay have been shipped by sea, and a staff of ring attendants (yobidashi) additionally made the journey to make sure its building adhered to sumo’s .

Ōnosato enjoys a sizzling canine close to the Homes of Parliament forward of the event. (Ryan Pierse/Getty Photographs)

Rikishi reside a regimented life-style centered round intense coaching and a (pictured above: a cheat day!). They do not eat breakfast, and lunch contains about 10,000 energy value of a protein-rich stew referred to as chankonabe, adopted by a three-hour nap for maximal weight acquire.

Large boys: Rikishi weigh about 330 kilos on common, with some tipping the scales at 550. In an effort to accommodate athletes of that stature, Royal Albert Corridor needed to supply new chairs and reinforce their bathrooms.

(Ryan Pierse/Getty Photographs)

Do not let their dimension (and form) idiot you — these are athletes. You may watch the ultimate three days of the event .

Commercial

🏈 The bros of New York

(Kathryn Riley/Getty Photographs)

Jaxson Dart and Cam Skattebo are injecting the Giants with a welcome dose of rookie chaos. And up to now, it is translating to wins.

From Yahoo Sports activities’ Jay Busbee:

There is a clip from final week’s dramatic Giants win over the Tremendous Bowl champion Eagles that completely sums up the brand new mentality taking root in New York’s locker room. Rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart spots rookie working again Cam Skattebo, and bellows like a delirious grizzly bear. Skattebo bellows again, and the 2 butt heads reside on digicam. It is ridiculous, it is absurd, it is wonderful.

Commercial

Dart is a longhaired SEC-by-way-of-Utah first-round slinger who leaped into the beginning job when it grew to become clear in September that Russell Wilson wasn’t a match. He is treating NFL soccer prefer it’s a Friday evening and he is the God of the Gridiron, proper as much as and together with high-fiving a ref after a landing.

Skattebo, in the meantime, appears to reside his life by the easy mantra of “what could be probably the most kick-ass factor to do proper this second?” The Giants’ personal scouting report referred to as Skattebo a “carnage creator,” which is just about the perfect evaluation you possibly can hope for.

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

Statistically, Dart and Skattebo are nonetheless constructing their foundations. Skattebo’s 56.3 yards per sport common ranks nineteenth within the league, although he’s tied for fifth with 24 first-down runs, and third with 5 dashing touchdowns. Dart’s progress has been slower, for the reason that quarterback place is a scalpel to the working again’s sledgehammer. However they’re bringing a spark that may’t be measured, not even by Subsequent Gen Stats.

Commercial

📺 Weekend Watchlist

(Bruno Rouby/Yahoo Sports activities)

🏈 NCAA Soccer, Week 8

We have got a season-high 5 matchups between ranked groups coming our manner , with Nashville, Athens, Tuscaloosa, South Bend and Provo enjoying 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)

Better of the remaining: 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 Collection continues tonight with what might be the ultimate day of the season to characteristic a number of baseball video games. First up is Blue Jays at Mariners (6pm, FS1), the place Seattle hopes to stem the bleeding in a vital Sport 5 after dropping two straight. Then it is Brewers at Dodgers (8:30pm, TBS), the place the defending champs will look to return to the Fall Traditional for the fifth time in 9 years. If needed, Sport 5 of the NLCS is tomorrow in L.A. (8pm, TBS) and Sport 6 of the ALCS is on Sunday in Toronto (8pm, FS1).

Commercial

🏈 NFL, Week 7

Sunday’s slate kicks off at Wembley Stadium, which hosts the ultimate London sport of the season, and ends with an intriguing NFC matchup on “Sunday Evening Soccer.”

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 in the past. If this sport goes as anticipated (the Pats are seven-point favorites), it is protected to say he’ll relish the victory over his former employer.

⚽️ MLS Resolution Day

The common season involves an finish on Saturday, with both at 6pm or 9pm. The Japanese Convention playoff discipline is about, however 4 groups are preventing for the final two spots within the West: Dallas (at Vancouver), Actual Salt Lake (at St. Louis), Colorado (vs. LAFC) and San Jose (vs. Austin).

Commercial

🏎️ United States Grand Prix

Method 1 heads to Austin’s Circuit of the Americas (Solar. 3pm, ESPN) for the second of three stateside races this season. However in contrast to Miami and Vegas, which each debuted in the previous couple of years, the dates all the best way again to 1908, and has been held at COTA since 2012.

🎾 Six Kings Slam

Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner will sq. off in yet one more last tomorrow in Riyadh, the place they will compete for a $6 million grand prize — the most important in tennis. The ultimate streams on on the conclusion of the third-place match between Novak Djokovic and Taylor Fritz (12:30pm).

Commercial

Extra to observe:

🏀 NBA: Nuggets at Thunder (Fri. 8pm, NBA); Kings at Lakers (Fri. 10:30pm, NBA) … Remaining day of preseason motion earlier than the season ideas off on Tuesday.

🏁 NASCAR Playoffs: Talladega (Solar. 2pm, NBC) … The second of three races within the Spherical of 8 might deliver chaos, as seven of the final 11 races on the Alabama monitor have been gained with a last-lap cross.

🏒 NHL: Kraken at Maple Leafs (Sat. 7pm, NHL); Bruins at Mammoth (Solar. 7pm, NHL)

⚽️ NWSL: Bay FC vs. North Carolina (Fri. 10pm, Prime); Washington vs. Orlando (Sat. 12:30pm, CBS); Angel Metropolis vs. Portland (Solar. 5pm, ESPN) … The penultimate weekend of the common season.

⚽️ Premier League: Fulham vs. Arsenal (Sat. 12:30pm, NBC); Liverpool vs. Manchester United (Solar. 11:30am, USA) … The Gunners (16 factors) maintain a slim lead over the Reds (15) .

⚾️ MLB trivia

(J. Meric/Getty Photographs)

Manny Ramírez, one in all three gamers who retired this century with no less than 500 dwelling runs and a profession .300 batting common, has put the phrase out to all 30 groups that .

Query: Are you able to identify the opposite two gamers from this century with 500 HR and a .300 AVG?

Trace: Proper-handed first basemen.

Reply on the backside.

⛳️ America’s impossible golf membership

(Darren Riehl/Golf.com)

At Cedar Creek Corrections Heart exterior Olympia, Washington, golf has change into greater than a sport. It is a second likelihood. Each Wednesday evening, a dozen males choose up borrowed golf equipment, hit foam balls throughout a makeshift vary and discuss the identical issues golfers discuss anyplace — good photographs, unhealthy photographs, and what’s subsequent.

Commercial

“It is not like every other sport I’ve performed as a result of — yeah, you are with individuals, but it surely’s you engaged on your self and discovering a solution to beat the percentages,” says inmate Tejuan Ball. “No matter what’s taking place, I nonetheless get an opportunity to come back again and I get to enhance on myself.”

Full story: |

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

We hope you loved this version of , our day by day e-newsletter that retains you updated on all issues sports activities. to get it delivered to your inbox each weekday morning.