A wild playoff day in 2 sports. Plus: NHL’s No. 1 pick debuts
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Good morning! A lot happened yesterday. Inside:
⚾ Postseason = on
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🏀 Top seed = out
🏒 Puck = dropped
The Postseason: Six stats from a massive day
October started on Sept. 29 this year. All four of MLB’s best-of-three Wild Card Series got underway yesterday. Here’s a key number from each of them:
71.5 percent: The Phillies’ win probability in Game 1 against the Braves when Austin Riley, the Atlanta third baseman who had the worst season of his career, came to the plate against lights-out reliever Jhoan Duran with two on and two out in the bottom of the eighth. Baseball is a funny game: Duran threw a 99.9 mph fastball that could hardly have been more over the heart of the plate. Riley hit it over the fence. Final: 5-3, Atlanta, after yet another postseason bullpen failure for the Phillies.
Eight: The number of pitchers the 81-81 Astros used just to lose the first game of their Wild Card Series to the White Sox, 6-3. Opener AJ Blubaugh walked three of the five batters he faced and did not provide the stability the Astros got from him in the regular season, when he led MLB relievers with 96 innings pitched. An 81-win team winning its division and doing a bullpen game in Game 1? What’s happening to society? (The 84-win White Sox also went with a bullpen game, but theirs was successful.)
Six: RBIs for Ben Rice, with four of those coming on a grand slam in the eighth inning (his second homer of the night) as the Yankees beat the Red Sox 9-0. New York’s Cam Schlittler continued to write his postseason legend against his boyhood team with 10 strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings. A series lead plus Max Fried and a fresh bullpen for Game 2 has the Yankees in a great spot.
19: Outs recorded by Padres starter Michael King before a Cub got a hit off him, and even Nico Hoerner’s single in the seventh did not leave the infield. King struck out eight and walked three in seven one-hit innings en route to an 8-0 victory that also preserved the dominant back end of the San Diego bullpen.The Cubs now have to win two road games in two days with Padres relievers Mason Miller, Adrian Morejon and Bradgley Rodriguez all fresh. It’s baseball, but good luck with that. First up: not giving up any more three-base steals in Game 2 …
Baseball did not have the postseason stage to itself, though. The WNBA’s best-of-three first-round series rolled on and included the league’s No. 8 seed knocking out the No. 1 for the first time. More numbers:
0: The number of playoff wins this year for the top seed and defending champion Lynx, who were swept out of the playoffs by the three-headed monster of the Liberty. In New York’s 87-71 Game 2 clincher, the Liberty got a combined 60 points and 22 rebounds from Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones and Sabrina Ionescu. Full recap here.
27, 7 and 15: Caitlin Clark’s line (points, rebounds and assists) as the Fever beat the Aces 99-89 to force a decisive Game 3 on Thursday in Las Vegas. It was a classic Clark news day, in that she made headlines for 1) her basketball excellence and 2) a story that had nothing to do with her. It’s a long, sordid tale involving the United States Senate, a 2024 Iowa-Maryland game and the Atlanta Hawks.The biggest in-game story: a technical foul for A’ja Wilson after she confronted an Indiana fan. The soon-to-be five-time MVP said the fan “stepped towards me.” He did not step onto the court and was several feet away when he yelled something at the superstar.
We will continue to discuss various playoffs until all but one team in each sport is played off. And don’t worry: We will return to the debate about the best sports month tomorrow.
News to Know
Prized rookie McKenna debuts
Five regular-season games down, 1,339 to go. The NHL season got underway last night, and we got little glimpses of some of James Mirtle’s biggest storylines of the season. The Panthers beat the Hurricanes 1-0 in an opener between the teams that have won each of the last three Stanley Cup titles and accounted for the last four Eastern Conference participants in the finals.
No. 1 draft pick Gavin McKenna, 18, had an uneventful debut for the Maple Leafs, who lost 3-2 to the rival Canadiens. Reporter eval of the rookie out of Penn State: “He struggled with the pace and physicality of the NHL and was moved down to the third line for stretches.”
Not-so-friendly USMNT win
The 2030 World Cup cycle is off to a nice start for the U.S. men’s national team, which trotted out a youthful roster for a 4-2 win over Chile in a friendly in St. Louis last night. “Friendly” is something of a misnomer here, as the sides had what our reporters called “benches-clearing dustups” both shortly before and after the final whistle. Cavan Sullivan, the 17-year-old with enormous expectations on him, came off the bench. The Americans already beat Peru last Saturday.
2026 U.S. World Cup captain Tim Ream, 38, also announced his retirement from international soccer yesterday. Big boots to fill.
More news
“A former Auburn football staffer was arrested after authorities said he took computer information to share Tigers’ secrets with opponents, according to court documents.” Full story here.
Florida is the near-certain preseason No. 1 in men’s college basketball after a judge granted a fifth year to guard Denzel Aberdeen.
The NFL properly followed its concussion protocols when someone briefly pulled Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts out of Monday’s loss to the Bears to check him for a concussion, as Saad Yousuf explains. Hurts’ status was the subject of some confusion during the game.
The Giants released Odell Beckham Jr., a quick ending to the 33-year-old’s homecoming. He had played 20 snaps and did not record a catch.
In an unusual lawsuit, Athletics utilityman Zack Gelof is suing the Tigers over exposed metal on a fence that he says caused a laceration below his knee and could impact his future earnings.
Brock Faber, a defenseman for the Wild and the gold medal-winning U.S. men’s hockey team, suffered a fractured skull in Minnesota’s preseason finale, the team said.
Sixteen-year NBA veteran J.R. Smith was arrested on family violence charges in Hunt County, Texas, on Monday, near the Dallas/Fort Worth Area.
Michael Jordan’s jersey from Game 3 of the 1998 NBA Finals sold for $12.26 million. The auction house practically gave it away.
Pulse Picks
A winding report from Adam Kilgore: Was former NFL general manager Steve Keim a victim of a Ponzi scheme that ensnared a handful of league figures, or a part of it?
The Athletic empaneled a team of experts to fix how the NFL officiates pass interference.Thanks in advance for your complete agreement with their solutions.
Five years ago, the NWSL was in crisis. Now it’s not, thanks to its players.
A story about Karl-Anthony Towns being happy may make you happy, too.
Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: The NFL asking the Department of Homeland Security to take down a video featuring Brian Dawkins.
Most-read on the website yesterday: NFL Week 4 Power Rankings.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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