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๐จ Headlines
โพ๏ธ Phillies clinch NL East: The Phillies rallied past the Dodgers for an extra-innings victory to clinch their second straight NL East title, holding a massive 12.5-game lead over the Mets in second.
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๐ Another new Heisman favorite: Miami QB Carson Beck is the new Heisman Trophy favorite (+700 at BetMGM) following early-season turns from Texas QB Arch Manning, LSU QB Garrett Nussmeier and Oklahoma QB John Mateer.
๐ Mondo does it again: Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis set the pole vault world record for a 14th time, clearing 6.30 meters for his third straight gold medal at the World Athletics Championships.
๐ Brady is back (sort of): Tom Brady is “coming out of retirement” to play in the Fanatics Flag Football Classic, an exhibition tournament in Saudi Arabia in March. He’ll play alongside current NFL stars like Saquon Barkley and CeeDee Lamb, as well as former teammate Rob Gronkowski.
๐ Burton wins MIP: Valkyries guard Veronica Burton was named the WNBA’s Most Improved Player, taking full advantage of her first year as a starter by smashing her career-highs in points (11.9), rebounds (4.4) and assists per game (6.0).
โพ๏ธ Paul Skenes keeps leveling up
(Joseph Raines/Yahoo Sports)
Ahead of his start tonight in Pittsburgh, we’re shining the spotlight on NL Cy Young favorite Paul Skenes, whose cerebral approach to pitching is helping him elevate even further in his sophomore season.
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From Yahoo Sports’ Jordan Shusterman:
Even if you had zero knowledge of his record-setting statistics, Paul Skenes passes the eye test emphatically.
Witness an inning or two of the 6-foot-6 right-hander at work, and you’ll be treated to elite velocity, sharp movement and a varied assortment of pitches that routinely befuddle the best batters on the planet.
All of it makes sense on the surface. But dig deeper into what really enables Skenes’ success, and it becomes clear that his raw talent is far from the only thing fueling this unrivaled start to a career.
The Pirates’ ace thrives at the intersection of his profound physical ability and intense curiosity regarding his craft. And despite already being one of the greatest young pitchers the game has ever seen, the 23-year-old is still in the early stages of fully comprehending what he’s capable of.
Skenes celebrates after winning the 2023 national championship. (Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
In many respects, self-discovery has defined Skenes’ supercharged journey to the top of the sport.
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His first two years of college baseball were spent as a two-way player at the Air Force Academy, initially as a catcher and closer before he transitioned to the rotation as a sophomore while continuing to slug. At that point, Skenes still viewed baseball as secondary to his military track; he was merely playing for fun.
It wasn’t until he transferred to LSU and ditched the bat that his substantial potential on the mound started to crystallize, thanks in large part to the tutelage of pitching coach Wes Johnson (now the head coach at the University of Georgia).
Even then, Skenes overwhelmed opponents using almost exclusively two pitches โ a four-seam fastball and a slider โ in his season with the Tigers en route to being selected No. 1 overall by Pittsburgh. Barely more than two years later, Skenes’ repertoire is seven pitches deep.
As a rookie, Skenes seized headlines and dropped jaws with a pitch referred to as a “splinker” โ an offering that features the mid-90s velocity commensurate with a sinking two-seam fastball but with a grip and enough vertical drop to also be considered a splitter.
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What was so remarkable about the pitch, which immediately rated as one of the best in the league, wasn’t just its aesthetic absurdity but also the fact that Skenes developed it in the time between being drafted and making his major-league debut less than a year later.
Skenes has a career ERA of 1.94 through 311 innings. (Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)
That knack for innovation carried into Year 2. Skenes tinkered in spring training with adding a more traditional sinker and a cutter to an arsenal that had widened to six pitches in 2024, including three breaking-ball variations (curve, sweeper, slider) and a rarely used changeup.
It felt like overkill to some, but there was a method to the madness. And while Skenes shelved the cutter before the regular season (for now, anyway), the sinker has become a staple of his high-octane attack.
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More recently, however, a different one of Skenes’ many pitches has taken center stage as his most intriguing weapon: the changeup.
But unlike with the sinker, which Skenes intentionally introduced and has meticulously mastered, the changeup’s glow-up into a plus-plus offering has come as something of a surprise, even to Skenes himself.
“I don’t know what’s up with that pitch,” he admitted.
๐ MNF doubleheader
(Logan Bowles/Getty Images)
Buccaneers 20, Texans 19: For the second straight week, Baker Mayfield engineered a game-winning touchdown drive with two minutes to go. And for the fifth straight season, the Bucs are 2-0.
(Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
Chargers 20, Raiders 9: The Bolts look like the team to beat in the AFC West after defeating the Chiefs in Brazil in Week 1 and cruising past the Raiders in Vegas on Monday night.
โฝ๏ธ Champions League kicks off
(Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
The UEFA Champions League kicks off today across Europe, where 36 teams begin the League Phase portion of the tournament and PSG kicks off its title defense.
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How it works: Each team will play eight matches against a pre-determined draw. The top eight teams advance to the Round of 16; the next 16 teams (9-24 in the standings) advance to a two-leg playoff to determine the rest of the Round of 16; the bottom 12 teams (25-36) are eliminated.
The field:
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๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ England (6): Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Newcastle, Tottenham
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๐ช๐ธ Spain (5): Real Madrid, Barcelona, Athletic Bilbao, Atlรฉtico Madrid, Villarreal
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๐ฎ๐น Italy (4): Inter Milan, Juventus, Atalanta, Napoli
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๐ฉ๐ช Germany (4): Bayern Munich, Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund, Eintracht Frankfurt
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๐ซ๐ท France (3): PSG, Marseille, Monaco
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๐ง๐ช Belgium (2): Club Brugge, Union Saint-Gilloise
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๐ต๐น Portugal (2): Benfica, Sporting CP
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๐ณ๐ฑ Netherlands (2): Ajax, PSV
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๐ณ๐ด Norway (1): Bodรธ/Glimt
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๐ฉ๐ฐ Denmark (1): Copenhagen
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๐น๐ท Turkey (1): Galatasaray
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๐ฐ๐ฟ Kazakhstan (1): Kairat
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๐ฌ๐ท Greece (1): Olympiacos
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๐จ๐พ Cyprus (1): Pafos
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๐ฆ๐ฟ Azerbaijan (1): Qarabaฤ
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๐จ๐ฟ Czechia (1): Slavia Prague
Power rankings: Liverpool, PSG, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Arsenal are the early favorites.
๐ชจ Cheating scandal rocks stone skimming
(Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
Is nothing sacred?
The world stone skimming championships have been rocked by a cheating scandal, after several competitors were disqualified for tampering.
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More than 2,200 people, from 27 countries, attended this year’s event on the tiny island of Easdale off the west coast of Scotland.
Rules state that stones must come from naturally occurring island slate, however some were found to have been ground into a “suspiciously circular” shape to help them bounce on water.
Entrants choose their own stones and judges use a measuring device, the “ring of truth,” to ensure they are no bigger than three inches in diameter.
Each competitor is allowed three skims and stones must bounce at least twice on water before sinking.
Stones are measured by judges using the “ring of truth.” (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
What they’re saying: “There was a little bit of stone doctoring,” said organizer Dr. Kyle Mathews. “They had shaped it so that it was perfectly circular and fitted our three inch measurer [and] we just didn’t notice at the time that they were suspiciously circular.”
๐บ Watchlist: Tuesday, Sept. 16
The Aces have won 17 straight games. (Ian Maule/Getty Images)
๐ WNBA Playoffs, First Round | ESPN
Two road teams can clinch a spot in the semifinals tonight, while two home teams must win to keep their seasons alive. First up, the Dream (up 1-0) visit the Fever (7:30pm ET); then it’s the Aces (up 1-0) at the Storm in the nightcap (9:30pm).
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โพ๏ธ Padres at Mets | 7:10pm, TBS
New York (77-73) finally snapped its eight-game losing streak to remain in the third wild card spot by the narrowest of margins, but the Diamondbacks (76-75), Reds (75-75) and Giants (75-75) are all within two games of the Mets. San Diego (82-68) is firmly in the second wild card and could still catch the Dodgers (84-66) atop the NL West.
More to watch:
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โฝ๏ธ Champions League: Matchday 1 (12:45pm, Paramount+/CBSSN) โฆ Six games kick off the League Phase, headlined by Juventus vs. Dortmund (3pm, Paramount+).
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โฝ๏ธ U.S. Open Cup: Nashville vs. Philadelphia (8pm, CBSSN) โฆ Semifinal.
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๐ World Athletics Championships: Day 4 (7:30am, Peacock) โฆ Highlights include the women’s (8:07am) and men’s 400m semis (8:35am) and the men’s 110m hurdles final (9:20am).
๐ College football trivia
(Yahoo Sports)
Question: There are 11 remaining winless teams in FBS. Can you name them all?
Hint: Their logos are highlighted above.
๐ธ Photo finish
(Matthias Hangst/Getty Images)
It was literally a photo finish on Monday in Tokyo, where Tanzania’s Alphonce Felix Simbu (left) beat Germany’s Amanal Petros by 0.03 seconds to take gold in the marathon at the World Athletics Championships.
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That’s right: 26.2 miles boiled down to three-hundredths of a second. Pretty epic way for Simbu to win his country’s first-ever gold medal at worlds.
Trivia answer: Akron, Eastern Michigan, Massachusetts, Maryland, Notre Dame, Oregon State, Sam Houston, San Jose State, UCLA, Virginia Tech, Western Michigan
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