In today's edition: Buffalo's dynasty that never was, Welcome to Cooperstown, Cig is finally happy, NBA midseason awards, Photo Finish, and more.
Yahoo Sports AM is our daily newsletter that keeps you up to date on all things sports. Sign up here to get it every weekday morning.
🚨 Headlines
🏈 Duke sues its own QB: Duke has filed a lawsuit against QB Darian Mensah in an attempt to prevent him from transferring to a different school, arguing that such a move would violate the terms of his NIL deal. Mensah announced Friday that he'd be entering the portal amid heavily rumored interest from Miami.
🏀 Knicks in crisis: Jalen Brunson called a players-only meeting this week in the midst of a recent slump that has seen the Knicks (25-18) lose nine of their last 11 games, leading to frustration in the locker room and among a vocal New York fan base.
🏈 Buckeyes open as favorites: Ohio State has opened as the favorite to win the 2026-27 CFP National Championship (+600 at BetMGM), followed by Notre Dame (+700), Oregon (+700), Texas (+700) and newly-crowned champion Indiana (+800).
⛳️ LIV lands NCAA champ: Reigning NCAA champion Michael La Sasso of Ole Miss is forfeiting the rest of his college eligibility (plus his Masters invite) to join Phil Mickelson's HyFlyers GC team with LIV Golf.
⚽️ City stunned again: Three days after losing to rival Manchester United, Manchester City suffered another shock defeat, this time in the Champions League to Norwegian side Bodø/Glimt, which had entered the match winless in their first six league phase games.
🏈 Buffalo’s dynasty that never was
As Buffalo licks its wounds following yet another heartbreaking postseason loss, it's worth exploring whether the early 2020s Bills — an era that officially ended with Sean McDermott's recent firing — are the best team in NFL history to never win a Super Bowl.
Consider this: The Bills are one of just four NFL teams to win a playoff game in six consecutive seasons. But while the Cowboys (1991-96), Patriots (2011-18) and Chiefs (2018-24) each won three Super Bowls during their streaks, Buffalo didn't even appear in one during theirs (2020-25).
They've also turned losing postseason games into an art form, becoming the first team in NFL history to lose by three or fewer points in the playoffs in back-to-back-to-back seasons.
And it's not like the Bills have just snuck into the playoffs, either. They've won five of the last six AFC East titles and, statistically, they've been the NFL's best regular-season team of the first half of the decade.
By the numbers: It took a couple years for the Bills to jell under McDermott (hired in 2017) and Josh Allen (drafted in 2018), but since 2020 they lead the NFL in all four major regular-season stats, boasting the most wins of any team while having the best scoring offense and defense.
Wins: 73 (Chiefs are second with 72)
Points for: 2,896 (Cowboys: 2,722)
Points against: 1,994 (Chiefs: 2,043)
Differential: +902* (Ravens: +581)
*First place by a mile: The gap between the Bills and second-place Ravens is larger than the gap between the Ravens and ninth-place Rams (+267).
The dynasty that never was: Unfortunately for Buffalo, greatness is measured in rings, and the Bills are one of just four teams in the history of the "Big Four" leagues to have a .600+ win percentage in at least seven straight seasons without ever advancing to a championship, joining the 1968-75 Oakland Raiders, 1981-87 Milwaukee Bucks and 2004-11 San Jose Sharks.
A different kind of sadness: This half-decade of near-dominance calls to mind the infamous "Four Falls of Buffalo," when Jim Kelly's Bills advanced to four straight Super Bowls from 1990-93… and lost all four of them. It begs the question: Is the current iteration of the team even more disappointing? It just might be.
While losing four straight Super Bowls is devastating — particularly in retrospect, given Buffalo has still never won a championship — at least they made it to the grandest stage in American sports and gave themselves multiple chances.
This decade's team, on the other hand, has yet to reach "The Big Game" and they've made only two AFC title games despite all their regular-season success. This year was especially crushing, as they failed to capitalize when their kryptonite in Kansas City finally faltered.
Looking ahead: Keep your heads up, Bills Mafia. Josh Allen is only 29, and it takes only one glorious championship to forget all the past heartbreak. But you'd better get it done soon, because that kid in New England looks poised to turn your division into a gauntlet for the foreseeable future.
⚾️ Beltrán, Jones elected to Hall of Fame
Cooperstown welcomed two new members on Tuesday, as Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones were voted into the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
Class of 2026: Beltrán (84.2% of the vote) and Jones (78.4%) — alongside Jeff Kent, voted in by the Contemporary Era Committee last month — will be inducted this summer in upstate New York.
Beltrán (4th ballot): Few combined power and speed like Beltrán, who is one of five players in MLB history with 500 doubles, 400 homers and 300 steals. He was also as clutch as they come, with his 1.021 OPS in the postseason ranking eighth all-time (min. 100 PA).
Jones (9th): He's on the shortlist of the best two-way players ever, joining Willie Mays, Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Schmidt as the only guys with at least 10 Gold Gloves and 400 home runs. And his 24.4 defensive WAR ranks first all-time among outfielders, lending credence to former teammate Chipper Jones calling him the single best outfielder ever.
Not quite there: Chase Utley (59.1%) made a big jump after receiving just 39.8% of the vote last year, and with seven years left on the ballot he's a near lock to make it eventually. Andy Pettitte (48.5% in his eighth year) and Félix Hernández (46.1% in his second year) were the only other players to earn more than 40% of the vote.
Manny and Alex: As expected, Manny Ramirez (38.8%) didn't earn enough votes in his final year on the ballot, while Alex Rodriguez (40% in his fifth year) gained modest ground after last year's high-water mark of 37.1%. Can he earn another 35% of the vote over the next half-decade?
The rest: Nine others earned enough of the vote to remain on the ballot another year, while 11 fell short of the 5% threshold.
Still on the ballot: Bobby Abreu (30.8%), Jimmy Rollins (25.4%), Cole Hamels (23.8%), Dustin Pedroia (20.7%), Mark Buehrle (20%), Omar Vizquel (18.4%), David Wright (14.8%), Francisco Rodríguez (11.8%), Torii Hunter (8.7%)
Fell off: Ryan Braun (3.5%), Edwin Encarnación (1.4%), Shin-Soo Choo (0.7%), Matt Kemp (0.5%), Hunter Pence (0.5%), Rick Porcello (0.5%), Nick Markakis (0.2%), Alex Gordon (0.2%), Howie Kendrick (0%), Daniel Murphy (0%), Gio González (0%)
Looking ahead: After no newcomers were elected this time around — and just one, Hamels, even earned enough votes to stay on the ballot — next year's class includes at least one likely first-ballot Hall of Famer in Buster Posey.
Further reading:
With induction to Hall of Fame, voters forgive Beltrán's role in Astros sign-stealing scandal(Jake Mintz, Yahoo Sports)
What we learned about the cases of Utley, King Félix, Pettitte and more(Jordan Shusterman, Yahoo Sports)
😄 Coach Cig is finally happy
Curt Cignetti, who rarely smiles on the sidelines, is finally happy — and his daughter has the text receipts to prove it.
From Yahoo Sports' Andy Backstrom:
"Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Curt said in response to Natalie asking her dad if he's happy in the wake of the Hoosiers winning the national championship. The answer might sound obvious, but the question felt necessary, especially for Natalie, who asked the same one six years ago.
At the time, Curt was in his first season as James Madison's head coach. The Dukes were still an FCS program, and a mighty good one at that. They were coming off a 66-21 win over Monmouth, Curt's first Division I playoff victory. JMU was 12-1. Natalie texted Curt, "are you happy!!!" His response: "No."
Six years later: Cignetti is happy, 14 exclamation points and all. He also enjoyed a beer after Monday night's historic victory, which he called the best he's ever had.
🏀 Good reads: NBA edition
Midseason Awards:MVP, ROY, Sixth Man of the Year and other awards at the halfway mark
Who has been the MVP of the league at the season's halfway point? Who's winning the Rookie of the Year race? With every team hitting the 41-game mark, let's hand out midseason awards.
Injury Report:What does losing Jimmy Butler mean for the Warriors as we know them?
Losing Jimmy Butler to a torn right ACL fundamentally changes who the Warriors are this season, and threatens a devastating alteration to who they could conceivably still be in the "fading" dynasty stage of the Stephen Curry/Draymond Green/Steve Kerr era.
Trade Deadline:Ranking the 25 'available' trade candidates, from worst to first
With the NBA trade deadline two weeks away, let's rank the players who have reportedly been in trade talks. Can any of them meaningfully change a team's championship chances? Here we try to sort them in order, mostly, based on how much each could alter this year's title picture.
📺 Watchlist: Wednesday, Jan. 21
🏒 NHL on TNT
The Maple Leafs host the Red Wings in the first leg of tonight's doubleheader (7pm ET), followed by the Islanders at the Kraken in the second (9:30pm).
Milestone watch: Detroit winger Patrick Kane (1,372) is three points away from passing Stars legend Mike Modano (1,374) for the most by an American-born player in NHL history.
🏀 NBA on ESPN
The Hornets host the Cavaliers in the first game (7pm), while the Bucks host the Thunder in the star-studded nightcap (9:30pm).
Leading scorers: Three of the NBA's top eight scorers are playing tonight, with OKC's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (31.8 ppg) ranking second, Cleveland's Donovan Mitchell (29.0) ranking seventh and Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo (28.5) ranking eighth.
More to watch:
🏀 NCAAM: Cincinnati at No. 1 Arizona (9pm, FS1); Washington at No. 7 Nebraska (9pm, BTN) … The Wildcats and Cornhuskers look to keep their perfect seasons alive.
🎾 Australian Open: Round 2 (7pm, ESPN+; 9pm, ESPN2) … Ben Shelton, Novak Djokovic, Madison Keys and Amanda Anisimova headline today's action in Melbourne.
⚽️ Champions League:Juventus vs. Benfica(3pm, Paramount+); Marseille vs. Liverpool(3pm, Paramount+)… Two of nine games to wrap up the penultimate matchday.
🏆 Championship trivia
Indiana is one of three schools to win both an FBS national championship and an NCAA men's basketball tournament in the past 50 years (1976-present).
Question: Can you name the other two?
Answer at the bottom.
📸 Photo finish
Two-time Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka made quite the entrance in Melbourne, stealing the show with her jellyfish-inspired outfit. She won her match to advance to the second round.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Trivia answer: Michigan and Florida
We hope you enjoyed this edition of Yahoo Sports AM, our daily newsletter that keeps you up to date on all things sports. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.
Category: General Sports
