MLB
Francisco Lindor hit a grand slam in the sixth inning, his latest clutch swing in a storybook season, and the New York Mets reached the National League Championship Series with a 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. Edwin Díaz struck out Kyle Schwarber with two runners aboard to end it as New York finished off the rival Phillies in Game 4 of their best-of-five Division Series, winning 3-1 to wrap up a postseason series at home for the first time in 24 years. After three days of rest, New York will open the best-of-seven NLCS on Sunday at the San Diego Padres or Los Angeles Dodgers. San Diego held a 2-1 lead in their NLDS heading into Game 4 on Wednesday night.
Giancarlo Stanton hit a go-ahead homer in the eighth inning, and the New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals 3-2 in Game 3 of their American League Division Series at Kauffman Stadium. The Yankees will send six-time All-Star Gerrit Cole to the mound tonight at 8:08 with a chance to advance to the American League Championship Series. Stanton had three hits, drove in two runs and stole a base for the first time in four years for the Yankees, who won despite another tough night for MVP front-runner Aaron Judge. Kyle Isbel and Michael Massey drove in the runs for Kansas City, which was hosting a playoff game for the first time since Game 2 of the 2015 World Series.
Mookie Betts homered for the second straight night, Shohei Ohtani hit an RBI single and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat Dylan Cease and the San Diego Padres 8-0 to forcing a deciding Game 5 in their tense NL Division Series. Will Smith and Gavin Lux each hit a two-run homer for the Dodgers, who snapped a two-game losing streak and now return home for the next matchup between the NL West rivals on Friday night. The Padres won 10-2 at Dodger Stadium in Game 3 on Sunday night, when tempers flared on the field and in the stands.
Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson each drove in a run, and six pitchers combined to lift the The Detroit Tigers shutout the Cleveland Guardians 3-0 win taking a 2-1 lead in their AL Division Series. The Tigers, baseball’s hottest team the past two months, will have their first chance to advance to the American League Championship Series since 2013 on tonight at 6:08 in Game 4 at Comerica Park. Cleveland has gone 20 straight innings without scoring since opening the series with a five-run first and a two-run sixth in its 7-0 win.
The fabric roof over the home of the Tampa Bay Rays was ripped to shreds after Hurricane Milton came ashore in Florida, bringing wind gusts exceeding 100 mph and flooding parts of the state. Concerns over Milton and its effects on Florida also forced the cancellation of Friday’s NBA preseason game in Orlando between the Magic and the New Orleans Pelicans. The game won't be rescheduled. Orlando was playing at San Antonio on Wednesday night and was scheduled to return to Central Florida on Thursday. Those plans are now in flux because of the storm, which made landfall near Siesta Key, Florida, on Wednesday night.
NHL
Igor Shesterkin stopped 29 shots and the New York Rangers opened the season with a 6-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Chris Kreider scored twice for the reigning Metropolitan Division champions. Sam Carrick, Alexis Lafreniere, Filip Chytil and Vincent Trocheck also scored for New York, which dominated Pittsburgh while beating the Penguins for the fifth time in their last six meetings. Penguins captain Sidney Crosby was held scoreless in his 20th season opener.
Sam Montembeault made 48 saves, Cole Caufield scored on a first-period power play and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 1-0 on Wednesday night in the season opener for both teams. Montembeault set an NHL record for saves in a season-opening shutout. Caufield scored at 7:48 of the opening period, finishing off a tic-tac-toe play with Juraj Slafkovsky and Kirby Dach. The Canadiens were 1 for 5 on the power play after going 0 for 30 in the preseason. Anthony Stolarz made 26 saves for Toronto after expected starter Joseph Woll was held out of the lineup. Coach Craig Berube said Woll had “lower-body tightness.”
Connor Hellebuyck made 30 saves for his 38th career shutout and the Winnipeg Jets routed the Edmonton Oilers 6-0 on Wednesday night in the opener for both teams. Mason Appleton had a goal and two assists, Adam Lowry and Mark Scheifele each had a goal and an assist and Rasmus Kupari, Dylan Samberg and Kyle Connor also scored. Edmonton outshot Winnipeg 30-20. The Oilers lost to Florida in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final last season. Oilers starter Stuart Skinner allowed five goals on 13 shots before being pulled midway through the second period. Calvin Pickard gave up a goal on seven shots.
Ivan Barbashev, Mark Stone and Victor Olofsson each scored two goals and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Colorado Avalanche 8-4 in the teams’ season opener. Barbashev also had two assists, linemate Jack Eichel had four, and defenseman Shea Theodore added three. Adin Hill finished with 28 saves. Mikko Rantanen registered a hat trick, while Casey Mittelstadt also scored for the Avalanche. Alexandar Georgiev made 11 saves. Justus Annunen came in for Georgiev and stopped two of the four shots he faced.
Connor Zary scored 1:33 into overtime and the Calgary Flames opened their season with a 6-5 comeback win over the Vancouver Canucks. Anthony Mantha had a goal and an assist to lead Calgary. Rasmus Andersson, Martin Pospisil, MacKenzie Weegar and Jonathan Huberdeau also scored for the Flames, who trailed 3-0 midway through the first period. Brock Boeser had two goals and J.T. Miller, Daniel Sprong and Conor Garland also scored for the Canucks. Arturs Silovs stopped 20 shots for Vancouver.
NFL
The New England Patriots say safety Jabrill Peppers has been placed on the commissioner's exempt list while he goes through the legal process following his arrest on charges that he shoved his girlfriend’s head into the wall and choked her. Patriots coach Jerod Mayo said Wednesday that Peppers won’t be with the team “in the near term.” The exempt list is a form of paid leave.
Aaron Rodgers insisted he played no role in the firing of Robert Saleh as the New York Jets coach and called such allegations “patently false.” The star quarterback made his weekly appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Wednesday, a day after Jets owner Woody Johnson fired Saleh after the team got off to a 2-3 start in the coach’s fourth season. There was speculation by some media and fans that Rodgers might have had a hand in influencing Johnson, who said during a conference call Tuesday the decision was “my decision and my decision alone.” Defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich will be the Jets’ interim head coach the rest of the season.
Antonio Pierce's first major act after becoming the Las Vegas Raiders’ interim coach midway through last season was naming then-rookie Aidan O’Connell the starting quarterback. Pierce is now the full-time Las Vegas coach. He is turning again to O’Connell as the Raiders reach a critical part of their season and is benching Gardner Minshew with the Pittsburgh Steelers visiting on Sunday. O’Connell went 5-4 after he became the starter last season.
On Thursday Night Football: The 49ers take on the Seahawks in Seattle at 8:15 tonight.
WNBA PLAYOFFS
Minnesota is at New York at 8 p.m.
COLLEGE SPORTS
The Southeastern Conference’s biggest shakeups haven’t come courtesy of newcomers Oklahoma and Texas so far, but from more unlikely culprits. Think Kentucky over Mississippi, Arkansas over Tennessee, Texas A&M over Missouri. And the ultimate shocker: Vanderbilt over then-No. 1 Alabama for the first time in 40 years. Three Top 10 SEC teams fell last weekend, two of them to unranked league brethren. The Rebels lost a week earlier to the Wildcats. Top-ranked Texas is already the only unbeaten SEC team. The Longhorns face No. 18 Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry on Saturday.
No. 2 Ohio State at No. 3 Oregon is an even matchup on paper. One intangible would appear to favor the Ducks. The Big Ten is now a coast-to-coast conference with its expansion to 18 teams and early indicators show travel takes a toll. Teams playing at opponents three time zones away are a combined 1-8 in conference games. Indiana, from the Eastern time zone, won on the road against UCLA for the only victory. The 4:30 p.m. Pacific kickoff for Ohio State-Oregon is the standard 7:30 p.m. Eastern start. Ohio State coach Ryan Days says it's a non-factor.
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