Another night, another masterpiece from the Dodgers' rotation

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🚨 Headlines

⚽️ USA 2, Australia 1: Haji Wright (2 goals) and Cristian Roldan (2 assists) led the USMNT to victory in their final game of the international window, but an ankle injury to Christian Pulisic clouded an otherwise feel-good evening.

🏈 New MVP favorite: Patrick Mahomes (+200 at BetMGM) leapfrogged Josh Allen (+275) as the new betting favorite for NFL MVP. Baker Mayfield (+350) is the only other player with single-digit odds.

🏀 Preseason poll: UConn and South Carolina, last year’s champion and runner-up, are the top two teams in the AP preseason women’s college hoops poll. Rounding out the top 10 are UCLA, Texas, LSU, Oklahoma, Duke, Tennessee, NC State and Maryland.

🏒 Shut out, again: The Rangers lost 2-0 to the Oilers at Madison Square Garden, making them the first team in NHL history to score zero goals in their first three home games of a season.

🏀 Kidd extended: The Mavericks signed head coach Jason Kidd to a multi-year extension. Previously, there was speculation that he might seek an exit from Dallas following the shocking Luka Dončić trade.

⚾️ Another night, another masterpiece

The Dodgers beat the Brewers, 5-1, on Tuesday night in Milwaukee to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the NLCS. The key to victory for Los Angeles? Starting pitching, as it has been all month.

Game recap: Yoshinobu Yamamoto followed Blake Snell’s historic Game 1 performance with a masterpiece of his own, retiring the final 14 batters he faced to notch MLB’s first postseason complete game since Justin Verlander in the 2017 ALCS.

Snell, Game 1: 8 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 10 K
Yamamoto, Game 2: 9 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K

Dominant rotation: The Dodgers’ rotation ERA (1.54) is the second-lowest in postseason history among teams that played at least eight games. Snell (21 IP, 2 ER, 28 K) and Yamamoto (19.2 IP, 4 ER, 18 K) deserve the bulk of the credit, having started six of the eight games, but Shohei Ohtani (6 IP, 3 ER, 9 K) and Tyler Glasnow (6 IP, 0 ER, 8 K) also contributed.

From Yahoo Sports’ Russell Dorsey:

For so much of the 2025 regular season, the Dodgers’ biggest question was their starting pitching, and most of the time, it was more about health than production. For as talented as L.A.’s rotation is on paper, it didn’t matter if the hurlers couldn’t stay on the mound. But over the course of August and September, the rotation rounded into form as Snell, Yamamoto, Glasnow and Ohtani finally all got healthy at the same time.

“I don’t know if you can write enough words in your stories about our starting pitching. It really has been amazing,” first baseman Freddie Freeman said postgame. … “The last two nights have been impressive,” said catcher Will Smith, who caught both gems. “It’s probably the two best back-to-back games pitched ever that I’ve seen.”

Wild stat: Entering Tuesday, no MLB rotation had posted a sub-1.50 ERA over a 30-game span since the mound was lowered in 1969. Neither had any rotation allowed a sub-.150 batting average over a 30-game span. The Dodgers have now done both over their last 30. (Source: Opta)

By the numbers:

4-0: The Dodgers have yet to lose a road game this postseason, picking up two wins in Philadelphia and two in Milwaukee. (Of note: The ALCS-leading Mariners are 3-1 on the road. Home-field advantage, where art thou?)
14 HR: Max Muncy’s sixth-inning solo blast was the 14th home run of his playoff career, breaking a tie with Corey Seager and Justin Turner for the most in Dodgers history.
21 years, 217 days old: Jackson Chourio became the second-youngest player in postseason history to hit a leadoff home run. The only player younger? Himself last year (20 years, 205 days old).

What’s next: The NLCS shifts to L.A. for Game 3 (Thursday), Game 4 (Friday) and Game 5 (Saturday). The Dodgers will be hoping to clinch the series at home so they don’t have to fly back to Milwaukee and return to their haunted hotel.*

*Spooky season: The Pfister Hotel in downtown Milwaukee has long had a reputation for being haunted. Bryce Harper felt the presence of a ghost during a visit with the Nationals, Giancarlo Stanton called the 132-year-old hotel “creepy as sh*t,” Mookie Betts has refused to stay there for years, and Teoscar Hernández opted for separate accommodations this week. “I don’t believe in ghosts,” the Dodgers outfielder said Tuesday. “But my wife is on this trip, and she says she doesn’t want to stay there. … I’ve been hearing from other players and other wives that it’s something happening these past couple nights,” he continued. “The lights go off and on. The doors — there are noises, footsteps.”

🎓 Big Ten faces pushback on $24B deal

As the Big Ten inches toward a $2.4 billion private equity deal, a resistance has formed that may delay or nix the project entirely.

From Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger:

On Saturday in Los Angeles, Michigan and USC’s football programs battled at The Coliseum. The Trojans won, 31-13. But what happened off the field, in and around that game, is perhaps more interesting and impactful than the game itself.

At fancy parties in the hills of California and within luxury suites high above the football field, influential donors and university board members of these two storied programs met, mingled and dished on the latest big story from their conference: Is the Big Ten really about to enter into a $2.4 billion capital deal with a California pension fund?

“We don’t have any reason why we need to do this particular deal,” said one university board member who requested anonymity. “The more people understand this, the more people have questions,” added another.

This is straight out of a Hollywood movie script: A week before Big Ten schools appeared poised for a definitive conclusion to the landmark capital proposal, the powerbrokers of two blue bloods were strategizing over, at the very least, delaying the deal while their two football teams clashed.

As explored in a story last Friday at Yahoo Sports, the Big Ten’s year-long pursuit of private capital cash is nearing a decision. The league is in deep negotiations with its membership over a 20-year partnership with the University of California pension system’s investment fund, UC Investments.

The fund would infuse $2.4 billion in upfront, uneven payments to the Big Ten’s 18 schools (an average of $135-140 million per school). The league would secure a 10-year extension of the grant of rights (through 2046), create a business subsidiary (Big Ten Enterprises) and establish a new uneven distribution of conference revenues (three schools would get a slightly bigger cut).

It is a significant undertaking that, for the most part, many of its members overwhelmingly support. But as a decision nears, detractors are emerging, not only from Michigan’s influential board of regents, as previously thought, but at USC, too.

“They aren’t on board,” said one person with knowledge of the position of USC’s board of trustees, as well as some within its university and athletic administration. That’s why the weekend’s confluence of events — leaders of the two programs together in LA — provided a timely marriage of like-minded people ahead of this week’s potential decision.

Could two of the league’s biggest brands stop or delay the entire thing? Could the other 16 agree to a portion of the deal without them?

Keep reading.

🌎 The world in photos

The bike portion of the race in Kona. (Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)

🇺🇸 Kailua Kona, Hawaii — Norway’s Solveig Løvseth won one of the most dramatic IRONMAN World Championships ever this past weekend, overtaking the two race leaders late on the run after both women succumbed to the brutal conditions. Race rewind.

🇪🇬 Al-Qudah, Egypt — Getty Images photographer Mahmoud Khaled captured some incredible moments during a football tournament in a small Egyptian village.

🇩🇪 Hallbergmoos, Germany — Aelan Vaast of French Polynesia during a private training session at Surftown MUC, an “endless surfing lagoon” that uses advanced technology to create a variety of waves and conditions.

🇮🇹 Bergamo, Italy — Four-time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar competes in the breakaway while fans cheers during the 119th Il Lombardia, a 150-mile one day race from Como to Bergamo. Pogačar went on to win the race for the fifth straight time.

🇦🇺 Melbourne, Australia — Half Yours, the favorite to win this weekend’s Caulfield Cup, is seen during a beach session at Altona Beach.

🏀 NBA co-stars, ranked

The ideal NBA lineup has a superstar, a deferential co-star, a third star who owns that role, a fourth option and a fifth starter to tie it all together. Today, Yahoo Sports’ Ben Rohrbach ranks the best No. 2 options.

Top 10:

Karl-Anthony Towns (Knicks)
Alperen Şengün (Rockets)
Jaren Jackson Jr. (Grizzlies)

Full list: 11-30

📺 Watchlist: Wednesday, Oct. 15

A Mariners fan holds up a sign during Game 5 of the ALDS in Seattle. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

⚾️ ALCS, Game 3 | 8pm ET, FS1

The Mariners, up 2-0 on the Blue Jays, host their first ALCS game since 2001. How long ago was that? Their lineup that night featured Ichiro Suzuki (as a rookie!), Edgar Martínez and John Olerud; Mike Mussina earned the win for the Yankees; and Julio Rodríguez, Seattle’s current centerfielder, was 10 months old. Think they’ll be excited at T-Mobile Park tonight?

🏒 NHL Doubleheader | TNT

The Red Wings host the defending champion Panthers (7pm) in the opener, with Detroit seeking its third straight win and Florida seeking its fourth victory in five games. Then it’s Blackhawks at Blues (9:30pm) in a clash of Central Division foes.

More to watch:

🏈 NCAAF: Delaware at Jax State (7pm, ESPN); UTEP at Sam Houston (7pm, CBSSN) … Sam Houston is one of three winless FBS teams remaining (Oregon State, UMass).
🏀 NBA Preseason: Mavericks at Lakers (10:30pm, ESPN) … Cooper Flagg’s final preseason tune-up before he makes his official debut next week.
⛳️ Golf: St. Andrews Collegiate (9am, Golf) … The final day of competition at The Old Course in a coed event featuring Michigan State, Princeton, Cal and the University of St. Andrews.

Today’s full slate.

🎨 Team name trivia

(Brandon Sloter/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

The Blue Jays are one of 10 teams across the “Big Four” sports leagues (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL) with a color in their name.

Question: Can you name the other nine?

Hint: Five NHL, three MLB, one NFL.

Answer at the bottom.

🏀 The best names in basketball

With the men’s college basketball season just around the corner, it’s time to unveil the best names in the sport.

My top 5:

Tennessee Rainwater (Le Moyne)
Po’Boigh King (Sam Houston)
Maximus Gizzi (Minnesota)

Courtesy: The 2025-26 NCAA D1 Men’s Basketball All Name Team

Trivia answer: Blackhawks, Blue Jackets, Blues, Golden Knights, Red Wings, Reds, Red Sox, White Sox, Browns

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