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Yahoo Sports AM: Home-field disadvantage
The Rangers beat the Astros on Sunday to force a Game 7 and continue a bizarre trend: The road team has won every game in the ALCS.
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🚨 HEADLINES
⚽️ NWSL playoffs: OL Reign beat Angel City, 1-0, and Gotham FC beat the North Carolina Courage, 2-0, to advance to next month's semifinals where San Diego and Portland await.
⚽️ MLS Decision Day: The league's first 18-team playoff field is set. East: Cincinnati, Orlando, Columbus, Philadelphia, New England, Atlanta, Nashville, NY Red Bulls and Charlotte. West: St. Louis, Seattle, LAFC, Houston, Salt Lake, Vancouver, Dallas, KC and San Jose.
⛳️ LIV finale: Bryson DeChambeau and the Crushers won the LIV Golf Team Championship on Sunday at Trump National Doral, taking home $14 million of the massive $50 million purse.
🏁 NASCAR playoffs: Christopher Bell won at Homestead to clinch a spot in next month's title race, joining Kyle Larson who did the same with a win last weekend.
🎾 Shelton's first title: 21-year-old American Ben Shelton, who reached his first ATP Tour semifinal at last month’s US Open, won the Japan Open on Sunday for his first ATP title.
⚾️ GAME 7, BABY
The Rangers beat the Astros, 9-2, on Sunday night in Houston to force a Game 7 tonight and continue a bizarre trend: The road team has won every game this series, Jeff writes.
Home-field disadvantage: This is familiar territory for the 2023 Astros, the first team in MLB history to finish below .500 at home (39-42) and 20+ games above .500 on the road (51-30). It's also not the first time Houston has been part of such a road-friendly playoff series.
Flashback: The Astros lost the 2019 World Series to the Nationals in the first best-of-seven postseason series in MLB, NBA or NHL history in which the road team won every game. If they lose tonight in Houston, history will repeat itself.
Déjà vu: Max Scherzer started Game 7 for the Nationals during that 2019 World Series, gutting out five innings after his status had been in doubt due to neck spasms. Scherzer, once again battling injuries, will start against the Astros tonight. Sort of eerie, no?
A fitting end: The Astros and Rangers finished with identical 90-72 records in a division that wasn't decided until the final day, so it's only right that this series went the distance.
Game 7s: Tonight's winner-take-all contest will be the 20th Game 7 in League Championship history, with the other 19 coming between 1985 and 2020.
2020 NLCS: Dodgers 4, Braves 3
2020 ALCS: Rays 4, Astros 2
2018 NLCS: Dodgers 5, Brewers 1
2017 ALCS: Astros 4, Yankees 0
2012 NLCS: Giants 9, Cardinals 0
2008 ALCS: Rays 3, Red Sox 1
2007 ALCS: Red Sox 11, Indians 2
2006 NLCS: Cardinals 3, Mets 1
2004 NLCS: Cardinals 5, Astros 2
2004 ALCS: Red Sox 10, Yankees 3
2003 ALCS: Yankees 6, Red Sox 5
2003 NLCS: Marlins 9, Cubs 6
1996 NLCS: Braves 15, Cardinals 0
1992 NLCS: Braves 3, Pirates 2
1991 NLCS: Braves 4, Pirates 0
1988 NLCS: Dodgers 6, Mets 0
1987 NLCS: Cardinals 6, Giants 0
1986 ALCS: Red Sox 8, Angels 1
1985 ALCS: Royals 6, Blue Jays 2
Meanwhile, in the NLCS… Home-field advantage is very much alive (home teams are 4-1). That's particularly true in Philadelphia, where the Phillies have yet to lose this October and will look to close things out against the Diamondbacks tonight.
🏈 NFL SUNDAY: 300 WINS FOR BELICHICK
The Patriots stunned the Bills on Sunday in Foxborough, winning 29-25 in the final seconds for their second victory of the year — and the 300th of Bill Belichick's career, Jeff writes.
300-win club: Belichick, who reportedly agreed to a multi-year contract extension this offseason, is the third head coach in NFL history to win 300 regular-season games, joining Don Shula (328) and George Halas (318).
Elsewhere:
Eagles 31, Dolphins 17: Philly won Sunday night's battle of 5-1 teams behind 279 yards and 3 total TDs from Jalen Hurts, whose 32nd career rushing TD tied him with Randall Cunningham for the most by a QB in franchise history.
Browns 39, Colts 38: Kareem Hunt's TD with 15 seconds left won it for Cleveland, but it was Myles Garrett who took over this game, becoming the first player since at least 2000 with two sacks, two forced fumbles and a blocked field goal in a single game.
Chiefs 31, Chargers 17: Patrick Mahomes (424 yards, 4 TDs, INT) and Travis Kelce (12 catches, 179 yards, TD) had monster games for Kansas City, who took a commanding lead in the AFC West with Taylor Swift in attendance yet again.
Falcons 16, Bucs 13: Younghoe Koo nailed a 51-yard kick as time expired, his third game-winner in the final minute this season. Atlanta, now 4-3, sits alone atop the NFC South.
Ravens 38, Lions 6: Lamar Jackson was nearly flawless in Baltimore's statement victory. Between John's Ravens and Jim's Wolverines, the Harbaugh brothers outscored Michigan teams 87-6 over the weekend.
More scores: Giants 14, Commanders 7; Bears 30, Raiders 12; Steelers 24, Rams 17; Seahawks 20, Cardinals 10; Broncos 19, Packers 17 … Full scoreboard
Fantasy recap: Booms and busts
🇺🇸 PHOTOS ACROSS AMERICA
Austin — Max Verstappen won the U.S. Grand Prix for his 50th career victory, joining Lewis Hamilton (103 wins), Michael Schumacher (91), Sebastian Vettel (53) and Alain Prost (51) as Formula 1's only 50-time winners.
San Francisco — Victor Wembanyama is not a human being, and this photo confirms it. Two more sleeps until he makes his NBA regular-season debut against the Mavericks on ESPN.
Chicago — Connor Bedard scored 90 seconds into his home debut, but the Golden Knights beat the Blackhawks, 5-3, to become the first defending champions in NHL history to start the season with six straight wins.
🌎 PHOTOS AROUND THE WORLD
Paris — Defending champion South Africa squeaked past England, 16-15, to reach the Rugby World Cup final. They'll face New Zealand, who crushed Argentina, 44-6.
Santiago, Chile — The U.S. women won their sixth straight gold medal in the gymnastics team competition at the Pan Am Games.
Inzai, Japan — Collin Morikawa won the Zozo Championship by six strokes to claim his sixth career PGA Tour victory, and first in over two years.
🏈 AP POLL: WEEK 9
The top six spots remained the same in this week's AP poll, as those six undefeated teams either got the week off or took care of business on a whirlwind Saturday in college football, Jeff writes.
Rising: Alabama moved up two spots to No. 9 after beating rival Tennessee, and No. 15 LSU and No. 16 Missouri both jumped four spots after blowing out unranked opponents.
Falling: UNC dropped seven spots to No. 17 after a stunning home loss to Virginia, and USC fell six spots to No. 24 after losing to Utah for the fourth straight time.
Top 10: Nine of the current top 10 teams (everybody except Florida State) will be in either the SEC or Big Ten next year.
Georgia (7-0)
Michigan (8-0)
Ohio State (7-0)
FSU (7-0)
Washington (7-0)
Oklahoma (7-0)
Texas (6-1)
Oregon (6-1)
Alabama (7-1)
Penn State (6-1)
11-25: 11. Oregon State (6-1), 12. Ole Miss (6-1), 13. Utah (6-1), 14. Notre Dame (6-2), 15. LSU (6-2), 16. Missouri (7-1), 17. UNC (6-1), 18. Louisville (6-1), 19. Air Force (7-0), 20. Duke (5-2), 21. Tennessee (5-2), 22. Tulane (6-1), 23. UCLA (5-2), 24. USC (6-2), 25. JMU (7-0)
Coming up: There are two ranked matchups this weekend, with No. 13 Utah hosting No. 8 Oregon and No. 18 Louisville hosting No. 20 Duke.
Saturday recap: Winners and losers
📆 OCT. 23, 1993: TOUCH 'EM ALL JOE
30 years ago today, Blue Jays outfielder Joe Carter hit a walk-off home run* in Game 6 of the World Series to clinch Toronto's second straight championship, Jeff writes.
What they said: As Carter hopped around the bases like a little kid, Blue Jays announcer Tom Cheek uttered the famous words, "Touch 'em all Joe! You'll never hit a bigger home run in your life!"
⚾️ 1945: Jackie Robinson signed with the Montreal Royals (Dodgers affiliate), a critical step towards his historic MLB debut two years later.
🏈 2000: The Jets, down 30-7 entering the fourth quarter, stormed back to beat the Dolphins in overtime — an epic comeback dubbed the "Monday Night Miracle."
*One of two: Carter's walk-off blast remains one of just two World Series-ending home runs, along with Bill Mazeroski's in 1960 for the Pirates.
📺 WATCHLIST: MLB DOUBLEHEADER
Baseball takes center stage this evening, as the Phillies host the Diamondbacks in Game 6 of the NLCS and the Astros host the Rangers in Game 7 of the ALCS.
NLCS, Game 6 (5:07pm ET, TBS): It's a rematch of Philly's lopsided Game 2 victory that saw Aaron Nola (3-0, 0.96 ERA this postseason) pitch six scoreless innings and Merrill Kelly (1-1, 3.00 ERA) surrender three long balls* in a 10-0 loss.
ALCS, Game 7 (8:03pm, Fox): Houston's Christian Javier (2-0, 1.69 ERA) has held opponents to a .071 BA through four career postseason starts. Texas' Max Scherzer (0-1, 11.25 ERA) has been a shell of himself lately, but he's still Max Scherzer.
More to watch:
🏈 NFL: 49ers (-7) at Vikings (8:15pm, ESPN/ABC) … ESPN2's ManningCast will feature guest Aaron Rodgers.
🏒 NHL: Canadiens at Sabres (7pm, NHL)
⚽️ Premier League: Tottenham vs. Fulham (3pm, USA)
⛳️ NCAA Golf: St. Andrews Links Collegiate (9am, Golf/Peacock) … The historic Old Course in Scotland hosts its inaugural U.S. college golf tournament.
*Philly's got pop: 23 of the 87 HRs hit this postseason have been by the Phillies, with five each from Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper and Nick Castellanos. Schwarber made history over the weekend, surpassing Albert Pujols for the most homers in NLCS history (11).
⚽️ SOCCER TRIVIA
Michael Bradley, the longtime USMNT star and Toronto FC captain, retired on Saturday.
Question: Bradley's 151 USMNT caps ranks third all-time. Which two players does he trail?
Hint: Both starred for the LA Galaxy.
Answer at the bottom.
🍿 BAKER'S DOZEN: HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEKEND
Boston College defensive back Amari Jackson, Browns pass rusher Myles Garrett and Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon headline the top 13 plays of the weekend.
___
Trivia answer: Cobi Jones (164 caps) and Landon Donovan (157)
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