In today's edition: NFL Sunday recap, Team World wins Laver Cup, A'ja wins fourth MVP, historic home runs, Dabo Swinney is down bad, Baker's Dozen, and more.
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🚨 Headlines
⚾️ MLB playoff tracker: The Blue Jays became the first AL team to clinch a playoff spot, joining the Brewers, Phillies, Cubs and Dodgers. The Mets and Tigers, meanwhile, have suffered epic collapses that threaten to knock them out of the playoffs entirely.
🏀 Four-time MVP: A'ja Wilson beat out Napheesa Collier to become the WNBA's first four-time MVP ('20, '22, '24, '25), breaking a tie with three-time winners Lisa Leslie ('01, '04, '06), Sheryl Swoopes ('00, '02, '05) and Lauren Jackson ('03, '07, '10).
🏈 Week 4 AP Poll: Miami moved up two spots to No. 2 in this week's AP poll after beating unranked Florida; Indiana jumped 10 spots to No. 9 after their 63-10 rout of then-No. 9 Illinois; No. 12 Texas Tech has its highest ranking since 2013.
🏉 Women's rugby stunner: Canada stunned six-time champion New Zealand to reach the Women's Rugby World Cup final, where they'll face host nation England. This was New Zealand's first World Cup loss in 11 years and their first loss in a knockout match in 34 years.
⚾️ History averted: The Rockies (43-113) are guaranteed to finish with a better record than last year's White Sox (41-121), thus avoiding the label of "worst team ever" (by win-loss record).
🏈 Sunday storylines
Game of the day: The Eagles erased a 19-point deficit to stun the Rams, 33-26, and improve to 3-0 on the season. Jordan Davis blocked a last-second field-goal attempt and returned it 66 yards for a TD to ice the game and complete Philly's biggest comeback ever at Lincoln Financial Field.
Special teams in the spotlight: Sunday featured five blocked field goals (including two returned for TDs in the fourth quarter), which is tied for the most in a single week since at least 1991. There were also four game-winning field goals (Bucs, Browns, 49ers, Chargers) and two punt return TDs (Commanders, Seahawks).
Home teams dominate: There's been much written in recent years about the death of home-field advantage in the NFL. That certainly wasn't the case on Sunday, when home teams went 11-3.
New York is 0-6: For the third time in the last six seasons, the Jets and Giants are both 0-3. Meanwhile, ex-Giant Daniel Jones is playing like an MVP for the undefeated Colts and ex-Jet Aaron Rodgers has orchestrated two winning drives in his first three games as a Steeler. Hey, at least The Empire State can also claim the 3-0 Bills!
The Isaiah Rodgers game: The Vikings cornerback became the first player in NFL history with a pick 6, a fumble return for a TD and two forced fumbles in a single game… and he did it all in the first half. "I'm just happy to put on for my city and put on for the little guys out there like me who never thought they could make it this far in life," he said postgame.
Backup QBs go 3-2: Carson Wentz (Vikings), Marcus Mariota (Commanders) and Mac Jones (49ers) led their teams to victory, while Tyrod Taylor (Jets) and Jake Browning (Bengals) suffered losses.
Callahan on the hot seat: Titans head coach Brian Callahan was greeted by loud boos and "fire Callahan" chants during another sloppy loss — his 17th in 20 games at the helm. How long until Tennessee is forced to make a move?
Houston, we have a problem: The Texans offense is horrible. How horrible? They're the only team in the last 20 seasons to start 0-3 despite allowing fewer than 55 points.
Sunday scoreboard:
Sunday recap: Winners and losers | Fantasy booms and busts
🇺🇸 Photos across America
Las Vegas — The Fever's surprising postseason run continued on Sunday, as they cruised past newly-minted MVP A'ja Wilson and the Aces, 89-73, in Game 1 of their best-of-five semifinals. Kelsey Mitchell led all scorers with a playoff career-high 34 points.
Meanwhile, in Minneapolis: The top-seeded Lynx overcame a halftime deficit to beat the fourth-seeded Mercury, 82-69, and take a 1-0 lead in the other semifinal.
Los Angeles — Clayton Kershaw walked off the field at Dodger Stadium for the final time in his regular-season career on Friday, exiting to a chorus of cheers after, fittingly, striking out his final batter. "I can't even put into words how special this night was to me," he said after the game.
Total domination: Kershaw will retire with a 2.26 ERA across 228 regular-season starts at Dodger Stadium — the third-lowest by a pitcher at a single ballpark in the Live Ball Era (since 1920, minimum 100 starts), trailing only Jacob deGrom (2.14, Citi Field) and Don Drysdale (2.19, Dodger Stadium).
San Francisco — Team World took down Team Europe to win the Laver Cup and claim their third title in four years at the "Ryder Cup of Tennis."
MVPs: American Taylor Fritz beat world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz on Saturday and world No. 3 Alex Zverev on Sunday to seal the win for Team World; Australia's Alex de Minaur was the only player to go undefeated across multiple matches (3-0).
Denver — Mike Trout demolished his 400th career home run on Saturday, becoming the 59th player in MLB history to reach that milestone. The fan who caught the historic blast received some signed bats in exchange for the ball, and had one more request: to play catch with Trout.
More historic homers: Giancarlo Stanton became the 41st member of the 450-HR club; Cal Raleigh hit his 57th home run on Saturday to break Ken Griffey Jr.'s franchise record, then hit his 58th on Sunday. The AL record is within reach!
🌎 Photos around the world
🇯🇵 Tokyo, Japan — The U.S. ended the World Athletics Championships with a bang on Sunday, winning three of four relays to finish with a record 16 gold medals — two more than the previous record (USA in 2005, 2007 and 2019) and nine more than anyone else won this year (Kenya).
Weekend highlights: Anna Hall became the first American woman to win heptathlon gold since Jackie Joyner-Kersee in 1993; Noah Lyles matched Usain Bolt's record with four straight 200m titles; Melissa Jefferson-Wooden became the fourth woman to win the 100m/200m sprint double.
🇯🇵 Shenzhen, China — Italy won its second straight Billie Jean King Cup on Sunday, defeating the U.S. in the finals to become the first back-to-back champion in the Women's World Cup of Tennis since Czechia nearly a decade ago (2014-16).
All-time leaderboard: Italy's sixth title broke a tie with Spain and Russia for the fourth-most ever, trailing only the U.S. (18), Czechia (11) and Australia (7).
🏴 Liverpool, England — Liverpool remains perfect (5-0-0) after beating Everton, 2-1, in the Merseyside Derby, leaving Blues boss David Moyes winless in 21 games at Anfield. That's the most games any Premier League manager has coached at a single venue without winning.
Other marquee matchups: Arsenal rescued a point at home with a stoppage time equalizer against Manchester City; Manchester United defeated Chelsea, 2-1, in a chaotic match at Old Trafford that saw the Blues' goalkeeper sent off just five minutes into the game.
🇦🇿 Baku, Azerbaijan — Max Verstappen dominated the Azerbaijan Grand Prix for his second consecutive win and sixth career Grand Slam (pole, fastest lap, leads every lap, wins race), tying Lewis Hamilton for the second-most in Formula 1 history.
Chasing McLaren: Verstappen (255 points) is still in a relatively distant third place, but the four-time defending champion narrowed the gap on Sunday as Oscar Piastri (324) crashed out and Lando Norris (299) finished seventh in a rare non-podium finish for the McLaren duo.
🏈 Dabo is down bad
Clemson began the year as a popular pick to win the national championship. Instead, the Tigers (1-3) are off to their worst start in 21 years, and their season is effectively over following Saturday's disappointing 34-21 loss to Syracuse.
From Yahoo Sports' Dan Wolken:
Dabo Swinney, in a fit of delusion that has become all too frequent in recent years, basically dared Clemson to fire him earlier this week. "If Clemson's tired of winning, they can send me on my way," he said during a 14-minute rant. "I'll go somewhere else and coach. I ain't going to the beach. Hell, I'm 55. I got a long way to go."
Clemson won't send Swinney anywhere, of course. Besides the irresponsible finances involved — Swinney's $60 million buyout stands as a monument to the kind of unnecessary coach worship that schools no longer need to do in this NIL-driven era — there isn't any scenario where a Clemson coaching search in 2025 goes well.
Any time things have gotten rough the last few years, Swinney and his allies have held that reality as a be-careful-what-you-wish-for cudgel over a fan base they increasingly see as ungrateful for two national championships and a long run of sustained success.
But that also works the other direction. If Swinney is so convinced that he could go somewhere else and provide a new, more appreciative fan base with national championships, maybe that's exactly what he should do.
In the immediate aftermath of the Tigers' loss on Saturday, would anyone be particularly upset? It's really that bad at Clemson right now. Not only is this a 1-3 football team that dumped a bucket of ice on top of its overheated preseason expectations, it's even worse because this was supposed to be the year Clemson had built toward.
After several years where the talent level was clearly down a tick from the national championship teams, the experts spent all summer telling us Clemson was loaded on defense and finally had more playmakers on offense to help senior QB Cade Klubnik make the leap to the top of the NFL Draft. And now it's all gone bust.
📺 Watchlist: Monday, Sept. 22
🏈 Lions at Ravens | 8:15pm ET, ABC/ESPN
Two juggernaut offenses go head-to-head tonight in Baltimore, where Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry and the Ravens host Jared Goff, Jahmyr Gibbs and the Lions. For alternate viewing: the ManningCast airs on ESPN2.
Betting lines:
Spread: BAL -4.5 (via BetMGM)
Over/Under: 53.5
Moneyline: DET +195, BAL -235
🏈 NFL trivia
Aaron Rodgers threw his 509th and 510th career passing TDs on Sunday, moving him past former teammate Brett Favre (508) for the fourth-most in NFL history.
Question: Who are the three QBs ahead of him?
Answer at the bottom.
🍿 Baker's Dozen: Top plays of the weekend
Nationals CF Jacob Young made not one, but two incredible catches at the Citi Field wall on Sunday to lift the Nationals past the Mets. "Nothing's better than quieting 40,000 people," he said.
Honorable mention: Big save by Binnington … Idaho State hurdle … What a run by Leshon Williams … Field hockey goal!
Trivia answer: Tom Brady (649 passing TDs), Drew Brees (571) and Peyton Manning (539)
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Category: General Sports
