Yankees and Dodgers clinch division titles; Cowboys beat Giants however lose key gamers

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⚾ Good morning to everybody however particularly …

THE NEW YORK YANKEES AND THE LOS ANGELES DODGERS

For the second time in three years, the Yankees are AL East champs, and with a historic duo and an ace pitcher main the way in which, they’re searching for extra. Aaron Choose hit his 58th home run of the season because the Yankees topped the Orioles 10-1 for the division crown. The win assured New York a bye into the divisional sequence.

Choose and Juan Soto have put up numbers comparable to some of the best duos ever and have mixed for 99 dwelling runs this season. Other than them, Gleyber Torres has come round lately because the leadoff hitter and Austin Wells has thrived behind Choose and Soto. As for pitching, Gerrit Cole has a 2.25 ERA in his final 10 begins, and the bullpen has a bunch of choices.

So is that this the yr the drought ends? Mike Axisa says the elements are there … as is the stress.

The Dodgers, in the meantime, claimed their 11th NL West title in 12 years with a 7-2 win over the Padres. Shohei Ohtani — who else? — had the go-ahead hit as a part of a five-run seventh inning, and him finally playing in the playoffs is a baseball fan’s dream.

It isn’t simply Ohtani. There’s Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernández on offense. The Dodgers are simply 1-6 of their final two postseasons, however maybe Ohtani is the important thing to altering that, even with an injury-ravaged pitching employees a serious query mark.

As we enter the ultimate weekend of the season, here’s the playoff picture, with 4 spots up for grabs. Issues will go all over Monday, by the way in which, so the Braves and Mets can make up their games postponed by Hurricane Helene.

Lastly, listed here are Matt Snyder’s awards predictions.

😁 Honorable mentions

🥲 And never such a very good morning for …

FANS OF THE OAKLAND ATHLETICS

Don’t go light into that good evening,
Outdated age ought to burn and rave at shut of day;
Rage, rage in opposition to the dying of the sunshine.

That is poet Dylan Thomas in 1947. And in 2024, followers of the Oakland Athletics took heed, with 46,889 fans — full of emotions and alcohol — packing the Oakland Coliseum for the Athletics’ ultimate dwelling sport earlier than the crew leaves for Sacramento and, then, Las Vegas.

Rickey Henderson and Dave Stewart threw out first pitches. Barry Zito sang the nationwide anthem. Groundskeepers collected grime for followers as keepsakes. It was a bittersweet goodbye — extra bitter than candy.

It did not must be this fashion. Proprietor John Fisher ran the organization into the ground and now is running them out of town. Then he had the audacity to jot down to followers that it was “so very hard.” Yeah, proper. Within the final 5 years, Oakland has misplaced the Athletics, the Raiders and the Warriors. It has uprooted lives and robbed fandoms. It simply stinks.

Thanks for the reminiscences, you little engine that might (and did), you “Moneyball” professionals, you four-time champs. R.J. Anderson has a wonderful retrospective on 56 years of Oakland Athletics baseball.

👎 Not so honorable mentions

🏈 Cowboys beat Giants, plus NFL Week 4 picks

The Cowboys wanted a win, and so they received one. Who cares if it was fairly? (It wasn’t.) Dallas received previous the Giants 20-15 to enhance to 2-2 on the season. Dak Prescott tossed a pair of touchdowns and earned his thirteenth straight win over the Giants, the second-longest successful streak by one quarterback in opposition to a single opponent on report (Bob Griese gained 17 straight in opposition to the Payments.)

Pay attention, the Cowboys are not great right now. They battle to run the ball. The protection, beneath new coordinator Mike Zimmer, is not making the massive performs it did final yr. For what it is value, Dallas beat New York 49-17 and 40-0 final yr.

Plus, this win could have come at a value after Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence left with injuries. Giants star rookie Malik Nabers additionally suffered a concussion.

It is exhausting to win within the NFL. It was a brief week on the highway. Prescott was environment friendly, and the protection, one week after getting gashed, allowed a franchise-low 1.1 yards per rush (min. 20 carries). Dallas will not be the juggernaut it has been the previous few years, however this was a much-needed win.

There are many nice Week 4 video games to come back, however in my eyes, the perfect is Payments-Ravens on Sunday evening. In his picks, John Breech says …

• Breech: “Since John Harbaugh took over as coach in 2008, the Ravens have rushed for at the very least 200 yards in 40 regular-season video games and Baltimore has gone 35-5 in these video games … With Derrick Henry, the Ravens offense is principally a freight prepare that is rolling down the tracks at full pace, and never many groups have a powerful sufficient protection to decelerate a freight prepare. The choose: Ravens 23-20 over Payments“

Vikings-Packers is an awfully shut second, although, particularly if Jordan Love (knee) returns. He’d be greeted by a Minnesota protection that has befuddled the sport’s greatest, and Chris Trapasso’s look at Minnesota’s defense is a must-read.

Listed here are our skilled picks:

Pete Prisco | John Breech | Tyler Sullivan | Jordan Dajani

After forgetting to make picks final week, I am nonetheless 5-2 on the season. This week, we’re rolling with …

• Buccaneers over Eagles
• Steelers over Colts
• Bengals over Panthers

🏈 Georgia-Alabama is faculty soccer sport of the yr to this point, plus Week 5 picks

Nicely, I understand how I will be spending my Saturday evening. No. 2 Georgia visits No. 4 Alabama within the early sport of the yr (preview here). The Bulldogs have gained 42 straight regular-season video games, however their final one — 13-12 over Kentucky — raised loads of questions on Kirby Sensible‘s bunch. We’ve a boatload of preview content material acceptable for such a giant sport:

And, shock, this one leads off Tom Fornelli’s Six Pack of picks.

• Fornelli: “I am a bit of anxious about Georgia! … It isn’t completely out of character for this crew to play with its meals, however it normally turns issues on on the finish of these video games. That did not occur in opposition to Kentucky. To prime it off, they’re with out guard Tate Ratledge (ankle) for in all probability a month or extra, and they’re banged up at different spots as properly. … The Crimson Tide offense is explosive and the protection is inflicting issues, the latter of which supplies me trigger for concern for Georgia right here. The Choose: Alabama +2.5 (-115)“

Listed here are another prime video games:

• No. 3 Ohio State at Michigan State (preview)
• No. 19 Illinois at No. 9 Penn State (preview)
• Wisconsin at No. 13 USC (preview)
• No. 15 Louisville at No. 16 Notre Dame (preview)
• No. 20 Oklahoma State at No. 23 Kansas State (preview)

And this is extra …

⛳ United States sweeps solution to historic 5-0 lead on Day 1 of Presidents Cup

On paper, the US was an enormous favourite.

On the course, it was in some way even extra dominant. The U.S. leads the International team 5-0 after the first day of the Presidents Cup, a clobbering of historic proportions.

• It is the fifth time in Presidents Cup historical past — and first time since 2007 — {that a} crew swept a session.
• Throughout the 5 matches, the Worldwide pairing had a lead after simply 10 of the 87 holes.

That is to not say there weren’t some shut matches, nor to say it wasn’t fiery. Issues received spicy on the seventh gap of the Scottie Scheffler & Russell Henley vs. Tom Kim & Sungjae Im match when Kim celebrated a protracted birdie and Scheffler responded with a birdie of his personal and a “What was that?!” yell at Kim. On the eighth, Kim and Im left the inexperienced early, not even watching Scheffler putt, which ruffled feathers.

Finally, the Worldwide crew messed with the bull and received the horns … and the U.S. has a ton of bulls. Scheffler, the world No. 1, and Henley beat Kim and Im 3 & 2, the largest win of the day. Xander Schauffele, the world No. 2, posted a surprising birdie-birdie end to guide himself and Tony Finau to a 1 UP win over Ben An and Jason Day.

Here are the full Day 1 results.

📺 What we’re watching this weekend

⛳ We’re watching the Presidents Cup. Here’s how.

Friday

🏈 Virginia Tech at No. 7 Miami, 7:30 p.m. on ESPN
🏈 Washington at Rutgers, 8 p.m. on Fox

Saturday

🏈 Kentucky at No. 6 Ole Miss, midday on ABC
🏈 Minnesota at No. 12 Michigan, midday on Fox
🏈 No. 20 Oklahoma State at No. 23 Kansas State, midday on ESPN
🏈 Wisconsin at No. 13 USC, 3:30 p.m. on CBS
🏈 No. 15 Louisville at No. 16 Notre Dame, 3:30 p.m. on Peacock
🏈 Mississippi State at No. 1 Texas, 4:15 p.m. on SEC Community
🏈 No. 3 Ohio State at Michigan State, 7 p.m. on Peacock
⚾ Orioles at Twins OR Mets at Brewers, 7:15 p.m. on Fox
🏈 No. 2 Georgia at No. 4 Alabama, 7:30 p.m. on ABC
🏈 No. 19 Illinois at No. 9 Penn State, 7:30 p.m. on NBC
🏈 Arizona at No. 10 Utah, 10:15 p.m. on ESPN
🏈 No. 8 Oregon at UCLA, 10:30 p.m. on Fox

Sunday

🏈 Vikings at Falcons, 1 p.m. on CBS
🏈 Steelers at Colts, 1 p.m. on CBS
🏈 Eagles at Buccaneers, 1 p.m. on Fox
🏈 Saints at Falcons, 1 p.m. on Fox
🏀 Aces at Liberty Recreation 1, 3:30 p.m. on ABC
🏈 Commanders at Cardinals, 4:05 p.m. on Fox
🏈 Chiefs at Chargers, 4:25 p.m. on CBS
🏈 Payments at Ravens, 8:20 p.m. on NBC
🏀 Solar at Lynx Recreation 1, 8:30 p.m. on ESPN