MLB
Nick Castellanos became the first player to hit multiple homers in consecutive postseason games, leading the Philadelphia Phillies to a 3-1 win in Game 4 of their National League Division Series that knocked the 104-win Atlanta Braves out of the playoffs for the second straight year. The Phillies head next week to the NLCS and will play the Arizona Diamondbacks, making their first trip since 2007. Game 1 is Monday in Philadelphia. Trea Turner hit a solo homer in the fifth for a 2-1 lead as the Phillies make another run at the franchise’s first World Series title since 2008.
The Los Angeles Dodgers were left wondering why they can’t win in October after they were swept out of the NL Division Series. They’ll spend all winter searching for answers while reliving their quick exit for the second straight season. Three-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw has a major decision to make on whether he returns for a 17th season or retires. He dealt with a lingering shoulder injury over the final months of the season and got lit up by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NLDS opener. The Dodgers' rotation could be bolstered next year by the return of Walker Buehler.
NFL
Patrick Mahomes threw for 306 yards and a touchdown, Harrison Butker kicked four field goals, and the Kansas City Chiefs held off the Denver Broncos 19-8. It was the Chiefs' 16th straight win over their longtime AFC West rivals. Travis Kelce had nine catches for 124 yards for Kansas City with Taylor Swift again cheering him on from an Arrowhead Stadium suite. The Broncos' Russell Wilson was held to 95 yards passing with a touchdown and a pair of interceptions. Denver has not beaten the Chiefs since Sept. 17, 2015, the year Peyton Manning led the Broncos to the Super Bowl.
Pop superstar Taylor Swift was back at Arrowhead Stadium on Thursday night to watch Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs take on the Denver Broncos. Her return came one day after Swift walked the red carpet in Los Angeles for the premiere of her concert movie at The Grove. Swift and Kelce have been in a budding relationship the past few weeks, ever since the All-Pro tight end invited her to a game when he failed to meet her during her Eras Tour. Thursday night's game was the third that Swift has attended in four weeks.
Walt Garrison, who led the Big 8 in rushing for the Oklahoma State Cowboys, won a Super Bowl as a fullback with the Dallas Cowboys and competed as a rodeo cowboy, has died. He was 79. The NFL team said on its website Thursday that Garrison died overnight. It did not give a cause of death. A fifth-round draft choice out of Oklahoma State, the 6-foot, 205-pound Garrison played nine years in Dallas and retired in 1974 as the No. 3 rusher and No. 4 receiver in franchise history. But it was Garrison’s rodeo career — which he called his first love — that made him the ultimate cowboy. He also was a longtime spokesman for U.S. Tobacco and its Skoal smokeless brand.
Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson still isn't practicing and it's starting to look as if he won't play Sunday against San Francisco. Watson is dealing with a bruise to his throwing shoulder, an injury sustained on Sept. 24 against Tennessee. He surprisingly sat out Cleveland’s game against Baltimore the following week, and the Browns had hoped he would get healthier during their bye. However, Watson hasn't practiced this week and there’s a strong chance he’ll miss his second straight game when the Browns host the unbeaten 49ers. If Watson sits, P.J. Walker, who is currently on the practice squad, will start at QB.
NHL
Chris Kreider scored power-play and short-handed goals, Igor Shesterkin stopped 23 shots for his 100th career victory and the New York Rangers beat the Buffalo Sabres 5-1 in their season opener last night. The Rangers won in Peter Laviolette’s debut as coach. In doing so, New York showed, for one game at least, it’s capable of playing a more defensively responsible style following a first-round seven-game playoff exit to New Jersey that led to Gerard Gallant’s dismissal. Artemi Panarin had a goal and assist, and Alexis Lafreniere and Jacob Trouba, with an empty-netter, also scored. Mika Zibanejad had three assists. JJ Peterka scored for Buffalo.
Dougie Hamilton snapped a third-period tie, Vitek Vanecek made 32 saves and the New Jersey Devils beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-3 in the season opener for each team. Hamilton beat Ville Husso with a blast from the point at 15:37, helping the Devils pick up where left off last season when they finished with 112 points. Jack Hughes scored twice in the second period for New Jersey, and Jonas Siegenthaler had three assists. Erik Haula made it 4-2 with an empty-net goal at 18:29, and Detroit’s Robby Fabbri scored at 19:26.
Joel Farabee and Travis Konecny had first-period goals, Carter Hart stopped 31 shots and the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-2 in the opener for two teams looking to rebound from disappointing seasons. The Blue Jackets lost their top defender, Zach Werenski, to a leg injury in the second period. The team said he had a quad contusion and coach Pascal Vincent said it isn’t believed to be serious. The Flyers spoiled the debuts of Columbus coach Pascal Vincent and Adam Fantilli, the third overall pick in the 2023 NHL draft.
NBA PRESEASON
Yehu Orland wore a shirt honoring a close friend who was killed two days earlier defending Israel, and cried a little when his country’s national anthem played before a game in Brooklyn. But the coach of Maccabi Ra’anana believes continuing his team’s tour against NBA teams while his country is at war was the right decision. The team from the Israeli National League was playing the first of three games during its tour last night against the Nets. There was a police presence outside the arena, with barricades set up in the plaza.
OLYMPICS
The Russian Olympic Committee has been suspended by the IOC for breaching the Olympic Charter by incorporating sports bodies in four regions in eastern Ukraine. Russian Olympic officials provoked the dispute last week by accepting the councils in Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia as its members. The suspension does not immediately affect any Russians who are returning to compete in international sporting events as neutral athletes. The Russian Olympic Committee can challenge the IOC decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland.
PGA TOUR
Lexi Thompson is holding her own on the PGA Tour. Thompson is the seventh woman to play the PGA Tour. She was 1-over par through 16 holes in the Shriners Children's Open in Las Vegas when the first round was halted by darkness. Thompson will have a 20-foot par putt when she resumes Friday morning. She's still at least one shot out of the cut line. Thompson says she played decently and had one bad hole. That was a three-putt from 12 feet on the seventh hole for double bogey. Beau Hossler set the pace in the first round with a 9-under 62.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
The Colorado Buffaloes will play another late game when they host Stanford on Friday night at sold-out Folsom Field. The game won’t start until at least 8 p.m. Mountain and doesn’t figure to finish until at least 11:30 p.m. Coach Deion Sanders isn’t a big fan of the late kickoffs, calling it the stupidest thing ever invented. The only other time Colorado has played on a Friday the 13th was in November 2015, when the Buffs lost 27-24 to Southern California.
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