MLB
Aaron Judge finally delivered the kind of postseason moment in October that turns Yankees into legends. It became a footnote when New York’s bullpen blew up. Judge’s game-tying, two-out, two-run homer in the eighth inning — followed by Giancarlo Stanton’s solo shot — were upstaged by a pair of lesser-known Cleveland players as the Guardians rallied for a 7-5 win in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series. Rookie Jhonkensy Noel hit a two-out, pinch-hit in the ninth inning off Luke Weaver and David Fry connected for a two-run shot in the 10th off Clay Holmes as the Guardians rallied against New York’s lights-out bullpen and shocked the Yankees. Game 4 is at 8:08 tonight in Cleveland.
The New York Mets insist their greatest rebound of 2024 may be yet to come after they dropped into a 3-1 NL Championship Series deficit with a 10-2 dud against the Los Angeles Dodgers. They dropped six games back of a wild card berth with a 22-33 start and made the playoffs. They were two outs from elimination before Pete Alonso’s three-run home run saved them in the Wild Card Series at Milwaukee. They rallied with five runs in the eighth inning of the Division Series opener at Philadelphia.
Shohei Ohtani hit a leadoff homer and scored four times, Mookie Betts also went deep and drove in four runs, and the Los Angeles Dodgers routed the New York Mets 10-2 for a 3-1 lead in their lopsided National League Championship Series. Betts had a two-run homer and a two-run double among his four hits. Max Muncy extended his streak of reaching base safely to 12 plate appearances, a postseason record, and the Dodgers moved within one win of their 25th pennant — most in NL history. Game 5 is at 5:08 tonight at Citi Field, with Jack Flaherty expected to pitch for Los Angeles with an opportunity to put his hometown team in the World Series.
Pinch-hitter Jhonkensy Noel tied the score with a two-out home run in the ninth inning and David Fry hit a two-run homer in the 10th, rallying Cleveland over the New York Yankees 7-5 and pulling the Guardians to 2-1 in the AL Championship Series. Cleveland led 3-1 in the eighth inning before Aaron Judge hit a two-run homer off All-Star closer Emanuel Clase and Giancarlo Stanton followed with a solo shot. With the Guardians trailing 5-3 and one out from falling into a 3-0 series deficit, Lane Thomas doubled against Luke Weaver in the ninth and Noel tied the score.
The Los Angeles Dodgers’ Max Muncy has become the first player to reach base in 12 consecutive plate appearances during a single postseason. Muncy had a single and three walks in his first four plate appearances in Game 4 of the NL Championship Series against the New York Mets. The streak ended when he struck out against Danny Young in the eighth. Muncy’s streak included two singles, two homers and eight walks.
Shohei Ohtani homered against Jose Quintana leading off Game 4 of the National League Championship Series, putting the Los Angeles Dodgers ahead of the New York Mets. Ohtani took Quintana’s first pitch for a ball, then drove a sinker over the middle of the plate 422 feet into the Mets' bullpen in right-center field for his third postseason homer. This one gave Ohtani home runs on consecutive swings, after his three-run shot off Tylor Megill in the eighth inning of the Dodgers’ 8-0 win Wednesday night helped give Los Angeles a 2-1 series lead.
NHL
Artemi Panarin had his eighth career hat trick and the New York Rangers rolled to a 5-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night. Panarin became (to become) the first Rangers player to have multiple points in the first four games of a season. He scored twice on the power play. Vincent Trocheck also had a power-play goal and assisted on all of Panarin’s goals. Jonathan Quick made 29 saves in his season debut. Victor Mancini also scored. The Rangers have won the last five meetings, including twice this week. Moritz Seider and J.T. Compher scored for Detroit. Red Wings goalie Cam Talbot was pulled in the second period after allowing five goals.
Joel Hofer made 34 saves and assisted on Jake Neighbours’ goal at 2:04 of overtime in the St. Louis Blues’ 1-0 victory over the New York Islanders on Thursday night. Hofer had his second career shutout in his and the team’s second overtime victory of the season. Philip Broberg carried the puck into the New York zone and made a centering pass to Neighbours for the winner. Islanders goalie Ilya Sorkin made 29 saves.
Kirill Marchenko and Mathieu Olivier each had a goal and an assist and Daniil Tarasov made 21 saves to help Columbus to a 6-4 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night for the Blue Jackets’ first home win this season. Yegor Chinakhov, Adam Fantilli, Zachary Aston-Reese and Damon Severson also scored for Columbus (2-2-0), and Zach Werenski added two assists. Ryan McLeod, Owen Power and JJ Peterka scored for Buffalo, and Jiri Kulich added his first NHL goal. Devon Lev stopped 19 shots for the Sabres (1-5-1), who have lost two straight road games and five of their first six overall.
Jacob Markstrom stopped 30 shots and lost his shutout bid in the final minutes as the New Jersey Devils beat the Ottawa Senators 3-1. Erik Haula, Nathan Bastian and Paul Cotter scored for the Devils, who won for the third time in four games and improved to 5-2-0. Brady Tkachuk was the only scorer for the Senators, beating Markstrom, with a power-play goal with 65 seconds remaining in the third period. Anton Forsberg, making his second straight start and hoping to rebound after getting pulled Monday, made 32 saves in the loss.
Eeli Tolvanen, Jordan Eberle, and Shane Wright scored three goals in less than three minutes in the second period and the Seattle Kraken held off a Philadelphia Flyers rally for a 6-4 victory. Tolvanen’s goal broke a 2-2 tie at the 14:57 mark. Eberle made it a two-goal game with a goal at 17:44. Eight seconds later, Wright scored to give Seattle a three-goal lead. Cam York and Jamie Drysdale scored to pull Philadelphia within 5-4 in the third period, but Oliver Bjorkstrand responded with just over five minutes left in the game. Scott Laughton scored twice for the Flyers in the first period.
Nikita Kucherov scored the go-ahead goal with less than a minute to play just 1:27 after Brandon Hagel had tied it and the Tampa Bay Lightning rallied to beat the Vegas Golden Knights 4-3. Kucherov’s second goal of the game with 55 seconds left was his sixth of the season. Janis Moser also scored for the Lightning, who remained unbeaten at 3-0-0, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves. Brayden McNabb, Pavel Dorofeyev and Ivan Barbashev had goals for Vegas. Adin Hill turned aside 21 shots.
David Rittich made 26 saves a night after being benched in the second period in Toronto, helping the road-weary Los Angeles Kings snap a three-game losing streak with a 4-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night. Los Angeles improved to 2-1-2 on a season-opening, seven-game trip necessitated by arena renovations. Rittich rebounded after allowing four goals on 14 shots in a 6-2 loss to the Maple Leafs. Alex Laferriere, Mikey Anderson, Andreas Englund and Adrian Kempe scored. Justin Barron scored for Montreal (2-3-0). Sam Montembeault stopped 28 shots. He made a save on Kevin Fiala on a penalty shot.
Tom Wilson, Dylan Strome and Taylor Raddysh scored to help the Washington Capitals end the Dallas Stars’ season-opening winning streak at four with a 3-2 victory. Charlie Lindgren made 22 saves as the Capitals wrapped up this early homestand with back-to-back wins. The Stars fell from the ranks of the league’s unbeaten teams despite a short-handed goal by Colin Blackwell and one at even strength from Jason Robertson. Alex Ovechkin was one of the best players on the ice even without a point.
J.T. Miller scored 2:09 into overtime and the Vancouver Canucks got their first win of the season, beating the Florida Panthers 3-2. Teddy Blueger and Quinn Hughes had goals for Vancouver, with Kevin Lankinen stopping 26 shots. Anton Lundell got his fourth goal in the last three games for Floridand Jesper Boqvist also scored for the Panthers, who got 30 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky. Mackie Samoskevich got an assist on Florida’s first goal, the first career point for the 24th pick in the 2021 draft out of Michigan.
Brett Kulak scored twice and Connor McDavid added his first goal of the season to lead the Edmonton Oilers to a 4-2 victory over the reeling Nashville Predators. Jeff Skinner also scored and Calvin Pickard made 25 saves for the defending Western Conference champion Oilers, who have won consecutive games after beginning the season with a three-game skid. Filip Forsberg and Jonathan Marchessault scored and Juuse Saros made 32 saves for Nashville, which fell to 0-4. The Oilers went 0 for 4 on the power play to fall to 1 for 13 on the season with the man advantage.
Tyler Bertuzzi and Nick Foligno each scored a power-play goal, and Chicago beat the San Jose Sharks 4-2 in the Blackhawks’ home opener. Taylor Hall and Jason Dickinson also scored for Chicago. Connor Bedard and Teuvo Teravainen each had two assists. Hall, who missed most of last season because of right knee surgery, put the Blackhawks in front 4:20 into the first period. It was Hall’s first goal since Nov. 5 and No. 267 for his career. Tyler Toffoli and Fabian Zetterlund scored for San Jose, which trailed 3-0 early in the second.
NFL
Javonte Williams rushed for two touchdowns and the Denver Broncos triumphed in coach Sean Payton’s return to New Orleans, beating the banged-up and reeling Saints 33-10. Bo Nix passed for 164 yards and ran for 75 yards for Denver. The Broncos outgained New Orleans 389 yards to 271 while sending the Saints to their fifth straight defeat. Rookie quarterback Spencer Rattler made his second straight start for New Orleans and his lack of experience was exacerbated by injuries all across the the offense. The Saints fell to 2-5, while the Broncos improved to 4-3.
The Browns are moving out of their lakefront home. The team officially announced plans to leave their 25-year-old stadium on the shores of Lake Erie when the lease expires in 2028 and move to a domed facility in suburban Brook Park despite the city’s efforts to keep it in Cleveland. Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb says he met with Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslem, who announced their intent to relocate the NFL team to suburban Brook Park despite the city’s efforts to keep it in Cleveland. The Haslams explored several possible sites and considered renovating their current home before deciding the move was their best option.
NBA
LeBron James and his 20-year-son, Bronny, are about to become the first father and son to play on the same NBA team. Yet their historic pairing presents unique challenges that could affect the Los Angeles Lakers' determination to become a title contender again. Bronny has already acknowledged and lamented the social media stigma of favoritism and nepotism hovering over the start of his NBA career. The Lakers have also been criticized for using a draft pick to guarantee this father-son pairing. But Bronny’s first few months on the roster have generated overwhelming positivity around the Lakers, both from the front office that orchestrated it and from the players suiting up alongside the James duo.
Kawhi Leonard won’t play for the Los Angeles Clippers to start the season because of ongoing rehabilitation from inflammation in his right knee. That's according to a report by ESPN, which cites unidentified sources saying that Leonard will be sidelined indefinitely. Leonard hasn't played during the preseason, which ends Thursday night at home against Sacramento. Leonard is attempting to stabilize his knee to the point where he would be available for potential postseason play.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Virginia basketball coach Tony Bennett is retiring effective immediately. The program said Thursday that Bennett will announce his retirement at a news conference Friday. No reasons were given for Bennett's abrupt departure less than three weeks before the start of the season. The 55-year-old Bennett led the Cavaliers to the national title in 2019. In his 15 seasons as the coach in Charlottesville, he made 10 NCAA Tournament appearances. He just signed an extension in June to keep him in the job through at least 2030.
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